Candidate for Sect Leader
Why was the Demonic Sea Heart Scripture here? My mind went stiff, unable to make sense of the situation.
I opened the book, wondering if the contents might at least be different, but it was filled with familiar lines.
A verse that contaminated a cultivator’s mind.
It was too early to be disappointed. Beneath the Demonic Sea Heart Scripture, there was another volume.
Blood Sea Divine Art. A manual whose cover and pages were all stained bloodred, as though soaked in fresh gore.
First it was demonic sea, and now blood sea. The name itself practically shouted its purpose.
When I turned the pages, I found something else written on the very first sheet—not a verse, but another passage entirely.
There was the answer. To everything: the crimson energy I’d gained in the library, and the secret of the Demonic Sea Heart Scripture.
The Demonic Sea Heart Scripture had been the mental cultivation art practiced by the founding sect leader of the Blood Sect.
His solution to the madness of the Demonic Sea Heart Scripture was to bring a new kind of energy into his body.
Demonic energy built through the Blood Sea Divine Art. The same kind of power that had resonated with the Demonic Sea Heart Scripture in the library.
The two energies circulated, suppressing each other. That was the answer he had found.
Because the Demonic Sect knew nothing of the Blood Sea Divine Art, they must have treated the Demonic Sea Heart Scripture as a third-rate demonic manual.
Everything finally clicked into place. There had been a reason the sword manuals in the library harmonized with the Demonic Sea Heart Scripture.
They had been created from the start on the foundation of the demonic energy in the Blood Sea Divine Art and the Demonic Sea Heart Scripture. Of course they fit.
I sat down and recited the verses of the Blood Sea Divine Art. As I accepted the new energy, demonic qi and blood qi formed a strange deadlock in my dantian.
If either side ran wild, the other would step in to restrain it. At last, the madness that had tormented me had been resolved. There was no longer any need to narrow the flow of blood and energy toward my head.
I had gained so much in the Mahwa Library, but now I had a choice to make. Leave the library and return to Maryeongwan, or stay here.
No matter how I thought about it, there was no reason to go back to Maryeongwan. I’d only be at the mercy of those Demonic Sect bastards again.
If that was the case, it was better to keep building strength in this underground cave. So that no one could ever treat me carelessly again.
My hand brushed over the wooden chest crammed with Bigu Pills.
"None left..."
My own voice, still strangely unfamiliar to my ears, echoed through the cave. That deep a sound coming out of my throat.
When I moved, hair down to my waist swayed against me. I had no idea how much time had passed outside.
At first I hadn’t intended to stay this long, either—but I’d become addicted to the rapid rise of my achievements.
Whenever I sat cross-legged and circulated my energy, my internal power surged day by day. Drunk on the exhilarating rush of my body filling with strength, I cultivated through sleepless days and nights.
I never had time to grow bored. No, even if I had, I could always climb the passage back up to the library. It was packed with martial arts manuals in every direction. Everything needed to complete my sword was here.
I’d lived like a madman, but now I could feel it was time to stop. I didn’t even have a Bigu Pill left for tomorrow.
Then, suddenly, Yiryeong flashed through my mind. Surely the day she had promised was still not yet past?
A ripple of unease rose in me, but instinct told me otherwise. Ten years still hadn’t passed.
I missed Yiryeong. I missed the hand that used to pat my head, and her face when tears gathered in her eyes.
My chest trembled with feelings I couldn’t contain. I felt the pounding of my heart, faster and faster.
There it was again. Lately, whenever I thought of Yiryeong, my body stopped listening to me.
I wanted to gather her into both arms and hold her there forever. From sunrise to sunset, I wanted to stay glued to her side all day long. I didn’t want to let Yiryeong out of my sight for even a moment.
Yiryeong... I wanted her to be mine.
That had definitely not been the case before.
"Haah..."
Frustration welled up inside me. How much longer did I have to wait before I could see her?
It didn’t seem like thinking any further would help, so I stood.
I left the underground cave where I had spent so long and emerged in the library. This place, too, was goodbye now.
I infused qi into my sword, and a crimson demonic aura wrapped around its blade. It was a familiar sword aura by now, but I still didn’t know why it had to be such an ominous color. Was it because of the Blood Sea Divine Art?
I extended the sword aura in a long arc and swung lightly.
KUGUGUGUNG!
The massive library split diagonally in two and collapsed. I slipped through the flying debris and stepped outside, where the light was so bright it was hard to keep my eyes open.
Sunlight streamed down on me for the first time in years. Feeling its warmth, I gauged my accomplishments.
I wasn’t far from Transcendence.
I sprinted across a desolate plain where it was hard to find even a trace of life.
How long had I run? At last, a cluster of houses came into view. It wasn’t large, but it was enough to count as a village.
As I slowed and entered, the people began whispering to one another while staring at me.
Fear?
I didn’t know why, but their eyes seemed to say exactly that.
It was hard to endure those looks, so I asked the first person I saw.
"Hey, what’s everyone staring at?"
The person I grabbed shuddered as if they’d seen a ghost, then tore away and ran.
As I stood there blankly, someone approached me. It was a woman with a bamboo hat pulled low over her face.
"Please rein in your energy. You’re frightening people."
Only then did I realize I’d been scattering demonic qi everywhere. I hadn’t even noticed after spending so long alone.
"Ah..."
When I drew my power back in, the people relaxed and stepped away. A trace of demonic qi still leaked out, but that was the fate of every demonic practitioner.
"Shall I show you to an inn?"
The woman from before asked me. I’d been needing a place to stay anyway, so that worked out.
"That would be appreciated."
I followed behind her and looked over the village. It seemed to be under the Demonic Sect’s control.
As we walked, I asked her, "Do you know about the sect bringing children from the Central Plains?"
"Of course. It was a famous affair."
"When was that? There’s a reason I’m asking."
"You must’ve been in closed-door training? You look the part. It was six years ago."
"…"
Six years. If I’d spent almost a year in Maryeongwan, that meant I’d trained in the Mahwa Library for five years.
I was already seventeen, apparently, though it didn’t feel real at all. My memory still stopped at the moment I’d been separated from Yiryeong.
Still dazed from the shock, I walked on until we reached the inn.
The woman glanced me over, then paid for my room as well.
"You don’t need to thank me. You look like a master of the sect, so I’m just trying to make a good impression."
She seemed to have misunderstood something, but I didn’t bother correcting her.
"Wash up and come down. Let’s have a meal together."
"Sure. See you later."
While washing in my room, I bent over the water and saw why she’d mistaken me.
My face had been buried under a bristly beard and a mop of tangled hair. Add in the threadbare clothes, and I must have looked like some mountain fiend.
It bothered me, so I picked up my sword and cut off every last bit of beard.
With the things hiding my face gone, an unfamiliar countenance appeared in their place. The youthful face I remembered had been reduced to little more than a trace.
Was this really me? Even I found my changed face strange, and I worried Yiryeong might not recognize me either.
I wondered if I should cut my hair too, but for some reason I felt reluctant and left it alone.
A little later, I went down to the room below and saw the woman already seated.
When I took the seat beside her, she jumped up in confusion.
"Who are you? I’m already with someone, so please move."
"...You really don’t recognize me?"
"Your voice sounds familiar... Wait, don’t tell me—"
When I gave a light nod, she sank back down with a stunned look on her face.
"At the very least, you’re in your mid-twenties, and with that kind of demonic aura... Are you by any chance going to challenge for a candidate spot for the young sect leader?"
"A candidate spot for the young sect leader?"
"You didn’t know? Even though you knew they brought children in from the Central Plains?"
"I had a bit of a situation."
"Ah, right, you said you were in closed-door training?"
I didn’t remember actually saying that, but it seemed to have become fact in her head.
"The children I mentioned earlier have now been reduced to seven. They’re the candidates for the young sect leader."
"So that’s why they brought those kids here—to choose the young sect leader?"
"You didn’t know? That’s amazing..."
So the one the old man in Maryeongwan had spoken of was the young sect leader.
"Anyway, tomorrow is the ceremony where they’ll be formally named candidates. Something like a festival, really. And young sect members will also have the chance to challenge them properly."
"So if someone wins a fight, they can take the position?"
"Exactly. You’re young and strong, so I thought you were heading there to challenge them."
Seven candidates for the young sect leader. It looked like the many children had been whittled down at last.
Were the Danri siblings among them? I’d know soon enough.
"Can you guide me there?"
"I was going anyway to watch, so it’s no trouble. You really are planning to challenge them, aren’t you?"
"Yes."
"Well, then. Good luck. With your strength, you might actually pull it off."
The Demonic Sect’s main compound wasn’t far from the village. I arrived without being late and took a look around first, and just as I’d heard, the whole place felt like a festival.
While I waited among the crowd, someone stepped up onto the platform.
A middle-aged man in black robes.
Unlike the old man from Maryeongwan, I couldn’t feel even a trace of his energy, and yet something about him was profoundly off.
That man had to be the Demonic Sect leader, the Heavenly Demon.
The crowd saw him and erupted into cheers.
"Waaaah!"
"May the Heavenly Demon live ten thousand years! May all under heaven know boundless blessing!"
Amid the roaring voices filling my ears, familiar faces emerged behind the sect leader.
The old man, and seven demonic practitioners radiating extraordinary energy.
Two of them had changed a great deal, but they were unmistakably the Danri siblings. So they had survived after all.
After letting the cheers wash over him for a moment, the sect leader raised a hand, and the whole crowd fell silent as death.
Then the old man stepped forward and shouted through the hush.
"This may be your first formal introduction. These are the candidates for the next young sect leader."
All at once, every gaze in the crowd converged on one place. Everyone seemed to be judging their level.
Four of them were at the very end of First-class, while three—including Danri Myeong—were at the early Peak stage. Achievements impressive enough to be recognized by any martial artist, but if that was all, there was no problem.
"Anyone under twenty years of age may challenge them. If you defeat one of them, you become the new candidate."
Murmurs swelled from every direction. If you won, you’d become one of the Demonic Sect’s future pillars, so of course everyone would want a shot.
"But!"
The old man’s voice shattered their fantasies.
"The battle cannot end until one side is dead."
Somewhere between the later stage of First-class and Peak. No matter who showed up, they were experts hard to defeat in a straight contest. They’d even restricted challengers to those under twenty.
It was only natural that no one would step forward for a gamble where the price of defeat was their life.
When still no challenger appeared after a long silence, the old man spoke again.
"If no one wishes to step forward, then we’ll confirm them as they are."
Tap.
I loaded qi into my legs and leapt high. I saw people below me start in surprise.
I had no intention of fighting the Danri siblings, so I would choose one of the remaining two Peak experts.
I spread the power I had hidden inside me wide open. It felt as though the entire world had turned crimson around me.
I walked up to the old man and met his eyes.
"It’s been a while."
"..."
"I came to take my place back. That won’t be a problem, will it?"
I could see his expression freeze in silent shock.
Yes. From here on out, it began.