Chapter 22
Chapter 22
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: Bloodline Pavilion (5)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Sichuan Province, Chengdu.
A mournful scream echoed from the Bloodline Pavilion headquarters.
The source of the scream was none other than the demonic cultists.
One girl and six escorts were tightly bound with fishing line and dragged along the ground.
"Kyaaak! Fuck! Let me go!"
The girl, whose acupoints had been unsealed, let out a shriek.
Her chubby cheeks and doll-like small face contrasted sharply with the crude curses spilling from her mouth.
It was a truly mismatched combination.
"Elder Jang."
No sooner had Cheongun spoken than Elder Jang pressed the girl's Demon Seal Acupoint once more.
In the Central Plains, the Demon Seal Acupoint referred to a point that caused paralysis when struck.
Demonic cultists were all foul-mouthed and caused chaos the moment they regained their senses, so striking the Demon Seal Acupoint was an exceedingly effective method.
Even so, the captured girl's face and figure were quite striking in many ways, drawing the gazes of the Bloodline Pavilion warriors surrounding them repeatedly toward her.
Jin Cheon-u was no exception.
He too swallowed hard while eyeing the girl's figure, exposed here and there through her torn clothes.
Seeing this, Cheongun smacked the back of Jin Cheon-u's head.
Smack!
"Argh!!"
Jin Cheon-u cried out, clutching the back of his head.
"Stop staring. It'll wear out."
"......"
This fucking guy.
Jin Cheon-u swallowed the words rising to his chin.
He didn't want to say something wrong to the new Pavilion Lord and end up in a bad spot.
Instead, Jin Cheon-u asked something else.
"Pavilion Lord."
"Yeah?"
"May I ask one thing?"
"What?"
"These guys... Aren't they just rice-wasters if we keep them alive? Is there a reason to spare them?"
Cheongun answered with a distant look on his face.
"There is."
"What is it?"
"Curious?"
"Yes."
"I see. Then keep being curious."
"......"
Cheongun walked on wistfully with his hands behind his back.
The Justice Alliance headquarters, which had been quiet for a while, erupted in chaos.
"Did you say the Crimson Night Sword Sovereign has taken a disciple?"
"Yes, a boy named Cheongun."
It all started with the report that the Crimson Night Sword Sovereign had acquired a disciple.
Crimson Night Sword Sovereign Jin Mu-seong.
Another title for him, who wandered the world with a single sword, was Sword Saint, placing him at the pinnacle of the current martial world as one of the Ten Great Masters of the World. He was a living legend, said to be the greatest swordsman of past and present.
One famous anecdote about him was how, simply because they demanded passage tolls from him, he stormed into the bandits' main base alone and severed the head of their leader—the Green Forest Chief, who was then one of the Ten Great Masters—in a single stroke.
He had been a wandering ronin with no affiliation and no proper title, but that night, the sky was dyed red with his sword qi and blood, earning him the moniker Crimson Night. And as the supreme lord of the sword, Sword Sovereign. Thus, he became known as the Crimson Night Sword Sovereign.
He often vanished like the wind, but there was no warrior in the Central Plains martial world who did not know his name.
That was why even the Justice Alliance, the core of the righteous factions, kept close tabs on his every move.
The presence of an absolute master was that overwhelmingly dominant in the jianghu.
Moreover, his unique swordsmanship, the Crimson Night Heaven-Severing Sword, was counted among the Five Great Sword Arts of the current martial world.
What was a unique sect sword art?
A proprietary sword technique held only by that sect, of course.
But someone of the Crimson Night Sword Sovereign's caliber could be called a one-man sect in himself, so the unique sword art he personally created fully qualified as a unique sect sword art.
However, the value of a sword art shone through transmission.
Yet Namgung Yeol, his only named disciple not from a sect, had not received proper swordsmanship instruction, which was the prevailing opinion that she did not meet his standards.
But a disciple—a true disciple who inherited his full martial arts legacy!
It was enough to turn the entire jianghu upside down.
But that wasn't the end of it.
"Um, Elder."
"I'm listening. Speak."
"Do you know of the Bloodline Pavilion?"
"I do. A black path force in Chengdu, right?"
It was a fairly familiar name.
Recent circumstances suggested ties to the Heavenly Demon God Cult.
Thus, the Justice Alliance had recently sent agents to investigate for evidence.
If it was indeed a Demonic Cult branch, action was needed before their power grew further.
That had been the plan.
Then, a report came from a spy planted not long ago.
"The Bloodline Pavilion Lord is dead."
"...What?"
"A single boy infiltrated the pavilion, and his throat was slit by that boy."
"The subordinates wouldn't have just stood by, would they?"
"Yes, dozens engaged in combat."
"And the result?"
"They were all subdued by the boy in less than half a shichen (30 minutes). The boy took the Pavilion Lord position, and all the existing subordinates fell under his control. Security is now even tighter than before."
The listening elder was dumbfounded.
Not killed, but subdued, dozens of them.
It was notoriously hard to hold back and control one's power in a fierce melee, so achieving that amid the chaos meant his level was several stages ahead of his opponents.
Yet he was just a boy.
It was utterly incomprehensible.
Even more astonishing were the boy's subsequent actions.
He released innocent civilians imprisoned in the gold cell, gave them generous compensation, and gathered all the demonic cultists into the gold cell.
And the boy's name was...
"Cheongun."
Cheongun.
The disciple of the Crimson Night Sword Sovereign.
"A new star has risen in the jianghu."
The elder's impression was simple.
The boy's actions exuded the demeanor and spirit of a true hero.
"So, what is that boy doing now?"
The elder was genuinely curious.
Having swallowed the entire Bloodline Pavilion, what ambitions would he unfold next?
His master, the Crimson Night Sword Sovereign, was affiliated with the righteous factions regardless, so there was no doubt about the disciple's character.
The elder asked with a benevolent smile.
And then.
"That's..."
"What's wrong?"
"It's just... a rather absurd story I heard..."
"Tell me."
At those words, the man cautiously finished his sentence.
"...He's fishing."
...Fishing?
"For what?"
"Well... He's fishing up demonic cultists..."
"???"
The answer he heard was rather unexpected.
Meanwhile.
Bloodline Pavilion headquarters, warehouse secret room.
"Demonic Cult, right?"
"You think I'll answer just because you ask?"
Cheongun was interrogating the freshly caught girl.
But she was so lively, still thrashing with all her might, making her unusually hard to handle.
Of course, Cheongun wasn't one to give up.
"What's your name?"
"Shut up."
"How old are you?"
"I told you. Shut your trap."
"Where do you live?"
"......"
The girl was flabbergasted.
Being suddenly bound with fishing line and dragged here was infuriating enough, but the guy who caught her was even more insane.
At first, she pondered what to say to lure him out, but after a few exchanges, she realized luring him was impossible.
Just looking into his eyes confirmed he was crazy.
This wasn't the kind of madness one could fake.
He was purely, simply deranged.
Cheongun clicked his tongue regretfully at the girl who kept her mouth shut tight.
The girl sneered inwardly.
Kill me then.
Having cultivated demonic arts, she never knew when Qi Deviation might claim her life, so mere death held no fear.
Of course, there were other options.
Torture, gang rape, crippling her dantian.
Fine.
If any sign of that appeared, she'd detonate the accumulated extreme yin energy in one burst, taking at least one bastard with her to the afterlife.
She resolved herself firmly.
But.
"Can't be helped."
And that was it.
Cheongun indifferently channeled inner energy into his finger and struck her Demon Seal Acupoint.
With that, he left the warehouse.
With her Demon Seal Acupoint sealed and her body wrapped tight in ropes, the girl couldn't move a muscle.
And that was just the beginning.
The place was a warehouse—damp air, musty smell, filthy floor crawling with endless bugs.
"......"
A day passed like that.
She could tell time from the sunlight filtering under the door—sunset and sunrise.
At dusk, the warehouse door opened.
Who entered was none other than Cheongun and Elder Jang.
The peculiar thing was that he carried a fishing rod over his shoulder, with demonic cultists bound like sausages trailing behind him.
Cheongun shoved them into one corner of the warehouse and immediately returned to the girl.
He then unsealed her Mute Acupoint.
"What's your name?"
"Ha, shut up."
And that was it.
"Elder Jang."
"Yes, Pavilion Lord."
"Tie up the new catches properly."
"Understood."
With that, Cheongun left.
The next day.
Once again, three burly men were dragged in bound with fishing line.
And again.
"What's your name?"
"Get lost!"
He asked once, resealed her Mute Acupoint, and vanished.
"Only three today."
The day after.
"Elder Jang, see anything today?"
"Hahaha! I did. Real whoppers, no doubt."
The day after that.
"Tsk tsk, no good bites today."
"Indeed. Seems the bait's lost its punch."
"You think so? Yeah, it's about time the effect wore off."
The day after that.
"......"
This mad bastard keeps fishing up demonic cultists like fish.
And every time, he asks for a name. By now, irritation had given way to creeping fear.
No, it was scary.
Even for a demonic cultist like her, it was madness she'd never seen before.
Now, staring blankly at the void, gazing at the ceiling, falling asleep—even in dreams.
'What's your name?'
The damned voice echoed like an auditory hallucination.
Why the hell does he keep asking my name!
What good is a demonic cultist's name to him!
Kill if you're gonna kill, extract info if you want—but just asking for a name was driving her insane.
Moreover, with her acupoints sealed for so long, her body was numb and her mind foggy; she could no longer make sound judgments.
A week later.
"What's your name?"
Hearing the question again, the girl finally broke.
"......Jeok Hwa-ryeon."
"What?"
"Jeok Hwa-ryeon! Happy now? Happy, you fucking bastard!!"
"Oh."
She had finally cracked.