Chapter 19
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Blood Cult
-----------------------------------------------------------------
As always, he gripped the kiln poker and stirred the charcoal kiln when he suddenly noticed something strange.
"Huh? Why isn't my arm charcoal?"
A sense of wrongness.
The texture of his skin felt utterly awkward, and the nicely tanned color of his flesh was jarringly out of place.
His skin should have been rough and pitch-black by now.
Perhaps he was sick; his skin had taken on a bizarre appearance.
As soon as he realized something was off, a chill crept through his body, and he began to shiver uncontrollably.
"C-C-Cold...!"
Was he really coming down with something? He should take the day off and head home early—
"No, no. It's too cold for that!"
Even if he stoked the fire and piled on blankets, would this chill ever fade?
"I need to warm my body up... Ah, aha!"
What an odd thing.
The warmest blanket was right in front of him, so why had he even thought of going home?
The charcoal burner stepped lightly into the kiln.
"Gaaaaaaah!!!!!!"
It hurt terribly, burned like mad,
Why was he doing this, he had to get out—
Cozy.
Warm.
It felt so good. He couldn't understand why he hadn't entered the kiln until now.
Blissful.
To the point where all the joys and sorrows of his life seemed trivial.
A pleasure and ecstasy that fulfilled the soul.
The charcoal burner wanted nothing more than to lie forever in that cradle of gently flickering beautiful light, but—
"Zhang! What the hell are you doing?! Get out of there!!"
He caught sight of the workshop people calling out to him in horrified faces.
Wrapped in filthy skin, shivering in the cold, still alive.
How utterly horrific and pitiful.
Zhang the charcoal burner answered their calls and emerged from the kiln.
I'll warm you up.
His throat, now a lump of charcoal, couldn't produce sound, so his cracked lips merely flapped, scattering ash.
Don't worry.
The executor of the Ignorance Fire Execution drew a smile full of goodwill and shared his warmth and joy with the people.
-----
Sizzle—
The kiln poker let out a repulsive screech as it seared flesh.
"Indeed, quite the amusing tool."
It twisted reason to erase disgust, inflicted pain to cloud judgment, and swallowed one whole in pleasure.
The alien sensation spreading from the hand gripping the poker— the chill, the withdrawal-like anticipation of ecstasy on the horizon.
Driven by desires not his own, he yearned to become flame itself.
"Truly malicious, isn't it."
It made one crave utter ruin, stripping away even the will to resist.
Too deliberate in toying with and mocking humans to dismiss as mere inexplicable anomaly; a vicious intent permeated it.
"I can see why you despise demons so much."
How could one not hate such a thing?
"...Are you alright?"
"Just wanted to burn my skin off, felt like freezing to death, and craved to burst into flames is all."
"...Are you sure you're alright?"
"If anything, that lunatic shoving me through the heavens is far more dangerous."
No matter how impulsive a demon's nature, it couldn't match the mental image of the Transcendent Realm.
"Lunatic is a bit harsh."
"If it weren't for me, you'd be dead a hundred times over, you lunatic."
A massive influx of information.
Even So-hyang had felt her mind fray when he'd patted her head repeatedly while poking holes in the heavens.
"Come on, I knew you wouldn't die, that's why I messed around. Hurt your feelings?"
"Bullshit. Anyway, I get a sense of how this thing operates."
Demon weapons, at their core, were tools.
They unleashed their full power only when fulfilling the wielder's desires.
Of course, those desires were implanted by the poker itself—a condition bordering on wordplay.
"It amplifies its power through the constraint of voluntary action."
Even if born of deception and fraud, the more constraints it bore, the greater its strength grew.
"Let's test it."
So-hyang surrendered to the desire the poker had implanted: the urge to burn her body.
Sizzle!
A joyful screech emanated from the poker, illuminating the dark stone chamber.
"—Wait! What!?"
Had she failed to resist the demonic nature after all? Lee Se-min cried out in alarm, channeling his inner energy.
If things went south, he'd sever So-hyang's wrist gripping the poker, even if it meant that.
As Lee Se-min feared, So-hyang's body erupted in flames.
Limited to the nail of her left index finger, that is.
"Whoa, it actually catches fire."
So-hyang's eyes sparkled as she wiggled her finger this way and that in fascination.
Simply harboring the will to become fire had altered her body's physical properties.
It looked like a lump of pitch-black charcoal on the surface, but its substance was entirely different.
From the transformed body rose fierce flames without consuming any fuel.
To her warped senses courtesy of the poker, those flames were warm, cozy, snug, and mesmerizingly beautiful.
And one more thing.
"This is... absurd pleasure too?"
In place of the agony that should have scorched her, an even more excruciating ecstasy took hold.
Sensorily, it dwarfed the high of cheap mixed drugs combined with sexual climax—several times over.
Of course, So-hyang brushed it off nonchalantly.
She steadied her dilating pupils, quelled her rising flush, straightened her curling legs, and calmed her throbbing lower abdomen.
Sizzle!?
As if bewildered by the impossibility, even the combustion sound from the poker carried a note of absurdity.
"...Have you actually experienced something like that?"
"In my past life, I've tried damn near everything."
It was the tale of when he'd reached the pinnacle of technique, only to hit the wall of physical limits.
He'd exhausted every method in training.
He'd even boosted physical prowess with steroids and chased focus with narcotics.
He'd gone to a supplier expecting military-grade combat stimulants, only to get injected with a viciously mixed cocktail drug.
"Turned out it was a trap from an organization with a grudge against me."
Probably that gang he'd turned into warlords in Mexico.
Heightened then dulled senses, a sympathetic nervous system rampaging on its own, semicircular canals wrecked beyond direction.
Pink tears streaming from his eyes, salivary glands out of control with his tongue lolling like a dog's, piss leaking uncontrollably.
Dozens of them unloading on an old man too drugged to stand—gutsy bastards.
"...Well, I killed them all somehow."
"...Pardon?"
"A delightful experience."
The human mind is slave to the flesh by nature, yet he'd learned overwhelming mentality could enslave the body in turn.
"That day gave me the clue to surpass the wall."
It sparked the idea of mentally dominating the body—sympathetic nerves, endocrine glands, the unconscious lot.
"Looking back, such precious memories..."
Her gaze lingered wistfully on the flame dancing on her finger.
Lee Se-min now regarded So-hyang with eyes reserved for monsters.
"Are you... human?"
"What? How rude!"
So-hyang scolded him with genuine hurt.
Even she felt pain hearing such words from a child she held dear.
After much experimentation with the flame at her fingertip, she flicked her nail like shaking off ash, shedding the charcoal lump.
"Alright, let's try what I did with the Blood Curse."
She curled her middle finger over her thumb and gathered force fiercely.
Crunch. The stone chamber filled with the sound of muscle fibers contracting, her finger quivering the air with raw power.
"...Won't that just break it?"
The Alliance Leader let out a chuckle.
A physical force so immense it elicited instinctive worry, despite knowing attacks below Gang Qi couldn't destroy demon tools.
"You called it fireproof, didn't you?"
As before, So-hyang infused the poker with Wave Evil intent and delivered a flick to its forehead.
"You little punk."
With playful words, a storm erupted from the flying finger, booming thunderously.
Boom!!!
Fierce winds and dust swirled, and So-hyang eyed the poker with an odd expression.
"Hmm..."
The powerful shockwave and gust swept away the ash and acrid stench filling the chamber, plastering it neatly against the walls.
The ominously rusted surfaces gleamed smoothly, polished clean.
Sizzle...
Its demonic nature suppressed—even an ordinary person wielding it now would see no difference from a normal poker.
However.
"Subjugation... doesn't seem to work?"
The Ignorance Fire Execution refused to acknowledge So-hyang as its master.
"Truth be told, suppressing demonic nature with Wave Evil or Anti-Demon arts is something we've tried extensively."
The issue was that it didn't make the demon weapons submit.
"Demon weapons don't serve masters—or so it's been thought until now."
Demons refuse subjugation by humans.
They merely toy with and mock the masses.
"...Perhaps it was the Blood Curse that was special, not you, So-hyang."
"What."
Lee Se-min said the sample size was too small for conclusions; they should check other demon weapons.
"County-grade demon weapon: Piercing Tool."
A long iron rod implanting the 'horrific' compulsion to bore holes in human bodies.
"Village-grade demon weapon: Bone-Breaking Hammer."
A hefty hammer delivering an 'addictive' handfeel when smashing human bones.
"City-grade demon weapon: Tomb Breaker."
A deer's skull instilling the mission to treat the living as a horrific disease by turning them into zombies.
All took So-hyang's flicks, had their demonic natures suppressed, and groaned in defeat... but.
"...Still won't acknowledge me as master?"
Truthfully, So-hyang had intuited midway.
These godforsaken demon weapons lacked the very concept of serving a master; beating them senseless changed nothing.
"Looks like it was a trait of the Blood Curse."
Maintaining ego amid possession was So-hyang's ability, but serving humans as master was the Blood Curse's anomaly.
"I have a hunch."
Lee Se-min explained: the subjugated Blood Curse was a derivative from another demon weapon.
"The original is Blood Curse; this one could be called Blood Curse Blade, if we must name it."
From axes and spears to non-weapon biological forms, Blood Curse spawn numbered dozens.
"The original's trait: preserving the user's intelligence to some degree."
Intelligence persisted, but ego remained puppeted by the demon weapon—unchanged.
"Still, with intact appearances and glib tongues, the clueless fall easily to its sway."
The organization gathered under the original Blood Curse's puppet.
The murim's worst public enemy.
Blood Cult.
"Ah, so that's the 'cult' the Blood Chase Squad Leader mentioned."
"The original Blood Curse's power is optimized for deluding masses into forming groups."
Through vital Blood Qi, it heals and empowers subordinates, adding a dash of madness—even village women rival skilled warriors.
A ability turning starving vagrants into forces surpassing elite troops.
Ranked for threatening entire nations.
"The prime example of a Nation-grade demon."
Nation-grade: even Elders find them troublesome.
"...What?"
So-hyang reeled.
She'd experienced Transcendent Realm might firsthand—a monster beyond petty vows like severing fingers.
Troublesome even for such beings?
Her eyes trembled as she stared at the Alliance Leader.
"...Well, purely in raw power, not that there aren't monsters rivaling Transcendents."
But Blood Curse wasn't that type.
"That bastard's the annoyingly exhausting kind."
All engulfed in its Blood Qi become part of it; subjugating requires eliminating them entirely—near impossible.
Hunt down every Blood Cult follower scattered across the Central Plains.
Even total extermination merely destroys the main body temporarily; it respawns elsewhere.
"Escapes like it achieves celestial ascension. Drives you up the wall."
Classified as demon weapon for assuming weapon form when found, but.
In truth, more like a virulent plague, intangible concept, or horrific ideology.
"Hard to call it a weapon."
The nexus of the group, the Blood Cult itself.
It took the form of a blood-soaked banner.
"So, subjugating demon weapons is impossible for me... that's it?"
So-hyang glanced at the pale-faced Lee Se-min.
She'd started this to compensate for shaving his lifespan and health.
Ending up uselessly beating them amounted to nothing; her eyes began to waver faintly.
Contrasting her prior eccentric feats, now peeking at his mood—Lee Se-min sighed.
"As I keep saying, I was equally at fault, so no need to apologize."
"Still..."
"And what you've done today is hugely helpful."
Analyzing demon weapons' principles in detail would strengthen their seals.
"Suppressing them alone warrants us paying you a fortune."
Normally, they'd summon renowned shamans or virtuous monks for sealing rites— she'd done it for free.
If a bit of lifespan bought such recompense, Lee Se-min wouldn't miss it one bit.
"Really!?"
Her sullen face brightened; she eagerly offered to thrash more demons, taking the lead—but
"Rest for today."
So-hyang pushed like ripping off a bent ox horn, but Lee Se-min refused lightly.
"You trying to turn me into a scoundrel forcing overtime on a non-Alliance member?"
A sudden pragmatic turn.
Not urgent, and proper compensation needed planning; he'd arrange lodging first, he said, stopping her.
After a formal contract, work proper hours.
"Ah."
Separate from his hatred of demons, he knew propriety and acted sensibly—like an adult.
Unlike some maniac waving blades wildly.
"Got it..."