The Blood Death Sect's Final Strike
The heavy thud echoed through the cavern. A puddle of stagnant underground water splashed upward, and a thin stream of water trickled down the cave wall, forming a jagged line over the stalactites.
Once a deliberately carved passage, the space now opened into an enormous natural cavern that stretched far ahead.
The Blood Death Sect moved with deliberate slowness, taking careful steps. They strained their ears. No sounds of pursuit followed them.
“Koo-luck… koo-luck…”
So Yeomgyo stared at the trembling hand held before her. Fresh blood stained the palm.
“…This much is nothing.”
She flicked her wrist sharply, sending the blood flying across the stone floor.
In that instant, the past flashed through her mind—the day she had hurled her sword and driven it deep into the ground. She had spoken those words back then.
She recalled the memory with a bitter smile. “If you have the power to match your gaze, let’s see for ourselves. Grab the sword, Moyong Bi.”
“Useless memories.”
So Yeomgyo had delivered that final line with a sigh. “I’ll give you the chance to live.”
That had been the very beginning of this entire story.
“Even if I only brush you once, I’ll save you.”
She had looked down at the dazed man before her and added those words, sealing the fate of the tale itself.
“Not enough? Then one more. No matter what situation arises, I’ll save you once. I promise it under the heavens and the spirits.”
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
And then—
A piercing shriek split the air ahead, cutting through the chamber like a blade.
“Aaaah!!!”
So Yeomgyo’s eyes narrowed. She sprinted forward without hesitation.
[Movement/form description]
The thick fabric curtain of an enormous tent snapped open in an instant, revealing a vast plaza stretching endlessly.
It was so immense that for a fleeting moment it felt as though one had stepped out of the cave into open air.
The ceiling of the plaza was alive with the glow of thousands of iridescent purple gems, sparkling like a thousand sapphires set into the stone.
So Yeomgyo felt a sudden chill. She reached out and tapped the cave wall.
“Not ordinary rock at all. The density of each individual piece is several tens of times that of steel…”
Her knuckles struck the surface with a hollow clang, as though she were hammering steel.
Even the underground water now pooling around her ankles had turned a deep purple.
Above the surface, purple flames danced and flickered in unison.
—Hwuruk! Hwuruk!
From the torches embedded in the left and right pillars, the purple fire roared and whipped wildly in the sudden draft.
She fixed her gaze straight ahead.
There, standing in the center, was the source of the screams.
“This… this damned brat…! Ak Ryu-yeop, you Three Evil Young Master! I had planned to gift you the honor of becoming the perfect vessel for the Ten Thousand Blood Emperor, knowing that even in death you would be nothing more than a mere shell that would vanish—!”
In the center of the vast plaza, a giant cocoon lay soaked in glistening bodily fluids, from which two rusty twin swords protruded.
One of those swords had already pierced straight through Ryu Hwasa’s abdomen.
“I never imagined the mold that would rot and corrupt all purity into mere greed… Gaaah!!”
—Jjeok.
The cocoon split open. The twin swords rose high, dripping viscous liquid.
A dark, echoing voice thundered from within.
“Heh… heh heh. Even if I obtained this power, I never thought I’d be reduced to groveling before a weakling like you, a mere human!”
“Koo-oooh!!”
Ryu Hwasa was shaken violently, like a kebab on a spit.
His body convulsed as he vomited blood, writhing in agony.
The contract with Mara Jin had spared him instant death, but it had not stopped the slow, agonizing process of destruction.
—Kwaang!
Ryu Hwasa was hurled sideways with brutal force.
—Shake.
Even as he was tossed, the blood-soaked hand continued to tremble. Red mist swallowed his form.
So Yeomgyo tilted her head, watching the scene with narrowed eyes.
“Strange. The vessel’s consciousness should have been overwritten by the Ten Thousand Blood Emperor, yet the core is far stronger, more intense, and firmly rooted here.”
She took one more step.
—Chalpak.
A faint ripple spread outward from beneath her feet, centering on her like a wave.
“Even though Ryu Hwasa dominated the Seven Palace Lords and threatened the fake Heavenly Demon as the century’s greatest genius, this summoning was bound to fail. The ritual was simply incomplete. That is why the vessel’s mind remains unstable.”
—Jjeo-eok.
The cocoon split fully open.
—Kwoong.
Emerging from the sticky pool of blood was a colossal, stitched-together giant. The flesh had been torn into countless rags and crudely re-joined with thick ropes, then bound in layers of red bandages. From within, purple eyes glowed, long black hair fluttered, and twin rusty swords, each the length of a man, rested in his hands.
The man opened his mouth. The voice that spilled forth was thick and slurred.
“So Yeomgyo, leader of the Blood Death Sect. I remember. The intense memory of Ak Ryu-yeop has not vanished. In every sense of the word.”
His gaze raked greedily over her lithe thighs and then across her entire body.
So Yeomgyo frowned at the scrutiny.
“Should I call you Ak Ryu-yeop now, or the Ten Thousand Blood Emperor?”
The Ten Thousand Blood Emperor laughed.
“Does it matter? What matters now is that I will slaughter every trash and bottom-dweller in the entire jianghu, including all those who ignored me and scorned the young Ak Ryu-yeop. But wait.”
His purple eyes narrowed like a snake’s.
“Where is that cowardly bastard Bi Ryu? And here you are.”
His body swayed.
“I must exact revenge on him. I am both the Ten Thousand Blood Emperor and Ak Ryu-yeop. He insulted me. He called me a coward, a coward, a coward… He offered me a weak woman as a sacrifice to the Blood Sect. He must be humiliated. Wouldn’t you agree?”
So Yeomgyo’s eyes narrowed further. The man before her was a complete mess.
His physical body and power belonged to the Ten Thousand Blood Emperor, but his flawed judgment, values, and soul connection were still rooted in the incomplete vessel of Ak Ryu-yeop.
“In that sense, you are quite the tempting woman. As the Ten Thousand Blood Emperor, and as Ak Ryu-yeop.”
“I appreciate the compliment, but you seem to have a particular fondness for bad men. Honestly, it’s almost disappointing.”
So Yeomgyo nodded.
“If you’re going to play with monsters, why not call Bi Ryu over? Right?”
The Ten Thousand Blood Emperor stared blankly at her.
“Throw away that fresh brat and let the veterans play. You damnable child.”
—Jjak.
So Yeomgyo placed one leg atop the nearby rock, then casually lifted the hem of her red uniform to reveal her thigh.
She reached into the stocking and drew out the third Crimson Flame Demon Order Sword.
—Cheol-guk, cheol-guk.
She examined the blade she held and muttered,
“If the Ten Thousand Blood Emperor who once appeared in the annals after sacrificing ten thousand lives is correct, this moment of birth from the cocoon is when he is weakest. The peak of his power occurs when he is about sixty percent of his true strength. And even then, the survival rate of the Guardian opposing him is barely thirty percent. Am I right?”
The Ten Thousand Blood Emperor chuckled with amusement.
“Correct. Blood Death Sect leader. You truly possess deep knowledge. But so what? What will you do, a watermaster who is looked down upon by the literati and despised by the warriors? And I am the head of the watermasters.”
—Cheol-guk.
So Yeomgyo stared at the blood-red Crimson Flame Demon Order Sword she had now shaped and combined into a full set.
“That’s why I made my decision long ago.”
She gripped the enormous sword with both hands. The length was almost equal to her own five-foot-three frame.
She lifted the blade toward her forehead.
“You will never meet that man again. Jianghu trash meets the same fate as Jianghu trash. And!!”
—Jjeo-eong!!
Her inner energy surged like the fury of heaven and earth, resonating violently around the Crimson Flame Demon Order Sword and her body.
“You!! Die here before my Divine Killing Flame Eye!!”
[Movement/form description]
—Jjeok!
So Yeomgyo’s eyes turned blood-red.
With a sharp whoosh, the restraining cord around her head snapped. Her hair flew outward in all directions like a violent explosion.
Heat erupted from her body in waves.
—Bubul-bul.
The underground water beneath her feet boiled violently and instantly vaporized into steam.
Her entire body burned with crimson light.
“…! This is…”
The smile vanished from the Ten Thousand Blood Emperor’s face.
His veins bulged as he gripped the twin swords tightly.
His chest swelled. Purple veins crawled across his skin. The skin near his jaw tore open, revealing dozens of razor-sharp teeth that no human could possess.
His mouth opened wide.
—Kiiyaaaaaaa!!!!!!
It was not a human voice. It was a primal, terrifying roar that shook the plaza.
So Yeomgyo’s martial skill was clearly at the level of the final life-or-death choice against him before he even passed through the Seven Palace Lords or reached full maturity.
—Fun, I’ll toy with you using everything I have!!
The Ten Thousand Blood Emperor’s thick voice echoed from the cave like a beast’s howl.
So Yeomgyo’s hands tightened around the sword hilt.
Her eyes flashed. Her body began to tremble.
She vanished in a flash of red light.
—!! No!!
The Ten Thousand Blood Emperor’s eyes widened.
—Kwaa-aang!!!
Her explosive kick sent him crashing into the ground, but the shock wave came too late. The cavern floor cracked and shattered.
Cracks raced outward.
Water sprayed high.
The floor and walls, boasting density several tens of times that of steel, crumbled like cheap crackers.
—Kueup!!!
The Ten Thousand Blood Emperor blocked with his twin swords.
The instant they met, So Yeomgyo charged in with her blade, forming a perfect clash of equal strength.
—Kwaa-aang!!!
Purple shadows and red flames exploded outward in all directions, shattering the surrounding stalactites into fragments.
“Haap!!”
So Yeomgyo sprinted in circles around him, her red eyes blazing with crimson light.
—That speed… even faster than I thought.
The Ten Thousand Blood Emperor muttered.
—Paba-babam!!!
Her steps accelerated. Her red eyes stretched longer still.
—Faster?!
She twisted sharply and dove forward.
—Paat!
A talisman appeared in her hand.
“Pointing toward the second, third, and fourth directions, striking at the three positions.”
—Eok!!
The Ten Thousand Blood Emperor froze.
Her blade sliced across his side.
She glanced at the wound.
The blade had barely drawn a single drop of blood.
The Ten Thousand Blood Emperor roared in rage.
—You damned girl, using sneaky techniques too?! Fine, the game ends now!!
Purple sword qi swirled around his twin blades as he unleashed a frenzied sword dance.
—Jjeong! Jjeoong-jjeoong-jjeoong!!
Red soul and purple soul collided with all their might.
Each impact shook the air violently.
—Hutuk…
The ceiling cracked, sending dust and stone rubble cascading down.
—Dwoong… dwoong…
Wave after wave rolled outward, lifting the underground water by more than two feet before it fell again.
—Uuu-woong!
So Yeomgyo’s Crimson Flame Demon Order Sword qi sharpened with every second.
The Ten Thousand Blood Emperor’s purple sword qi became clearer and clearer, solidifying until it surpassed even the sharpness of the blade itself.
So Yeomgyo’s expression hardened.
“The sword intent… this is it…”
The Ten Thousand Blood Emperor swung his purple twin swords and roared,
—Die!!
[Movement/form description]