Myriad Immortals Return to Origin
Ten of us stood in a single line across the training ground.
I had washed properly the night before, crawled into a real bed, and actually gotten some sleep—and still every face around me looked wrecked. Dark half-moons sat under bloodshot eyes; lips were cracked and dry.
I swept the line slowly. Dan Ha stood two places to my right. Her expression was as blank as ever, but a thin haze of exhaustion clung to the corners of her red eyes.
Then the sound of many footsteps rolled into the training ground.
At the head of the procession walked a woman whose long purple hair spilled down her back. Her body was the dictionary definition of voluptuous; every step sent her heavy breasts swaying.
Look at those tits bounce.
The purple-haired beauty climbed the high steps and settled into the ornate chair prepared at the seat of honor. When she crossed her long legs, a flash of smooth white thigh slipped between the folds of her robes.
Who the hell is she, though?
She lifted one hand a fraction. The crowd that had followed her snapped into formation with military precision—inner disciples directly beneath her, outer disciples ranked at the bottom.
Isn’t that the sect leader’s seat?
I was still wondering whether she was only standing in as a proxy when her voice cut the air.
“Wang O. Begin.”
The tone was calm, almost soft—and yet a chill ran straight down my spine. Absolute authority lived in every syllable.
“Yes, Sect Leader.”
Wait. That woman is the sect leader?
I felt a brief jolt of confusion. In the original novel the leader of the Red Blood Sect was unmistakably male—a sadistic lunatic who snacked on still-beating hearts. The person sitting in front of me was a purple-haired knockout with a body built for sin.
Then a scrap of memory flashed through my mind.
Right… the original said the current sect leader murdered the previous one and seized the position.
In the source material the Red Blood Sect only started clashing with the protagonist around the mid-game. We were clearly much earlier than that.
I scanned the inner disciples. Eight of them total—five men, three women.
I still remembered the exact description of the previous sect leader: big, ugly, trying (and failing) to hide the ugliness behind a thick beard that only made it worse.
My eyes stopped on one of them.
Huge frame. Brutal face. Patchy beard crawling along his jaw. He stood in the absolute last rank of the inner disciples.
That’s him.
If that bastard was still an inner disciple, the coup hadn’t happened yet.
One useful card just landed in my hand.
Wang O stepped forward and raised his voice so it filled the entire training ground.
“The outer-disciple initiation ceremony of the Red Blood Sect begins now.”
“First—to the one who killed the most people inside the Poison Pavilion—we bestow a single Blood Essence Pill.”
Wang O’s gaze locked onto me.
“Lee Seo-jun. Step forward!”
He raised a hand. One of the inner disciples approached carrying a small red jade box. The lid opened to reveal a single fingernail-sized pill the color of fresh blood.
“Take it.”
“Thank you.”
I received the Blood Essence Pill with both hands, bowed, and carefully tucked it into my sleeve before returning to my place.
So this is the famous Blood Essence Pill.
Wang O stepped forward again.
“All of you—extend your left hands.”
Ten left hands shot out as one. Outer disciples moved into position in front of us, each carrying a small dagger.
“Cut your palm. When the blood wells, recite the oath where you stand.”
I took the dagger and drew a shallow line across my left palm. Blood beaded slowly.
Wang O began the oath in a booming voice.
“I accept the blood of the Red Blood Sect—”
“I accept the blood of the Red Blood Sect—”
I mumbled through the cringeworthy lines without much enthusiasm. When the final verse ended, Wang O raised his hand high.
“From this moment you are outer disciples of the Red Blood Sect. The instant you break this blood oath, that same blood will close around your throat.”
“Yes!”
Wang O gave a slight nod.
“We will now bestow the basic cultivation manual.”
Inner disciples moved down the line and placed a crimson book in front of each of us. I picked mine up.
Blood Qi Art
A foundational mind method for those just entering Qi Condensation.
So it begins.
What followed was an endless stream of boring regulations delivered by Wang O. I lost track of how long we stood there under the sun.
“Dismissed!”
The moment the word left his mouth I stuffed the manual into my robes and cast a quick look around. Everyone else was already scattering. Far off, Dan Ha was walking away with another female disciple.
How am I going to fuck Dan Ha…
I was still staring at her ass and considering options when—
Thwack!
Pain exploded across the back of my skull.
“Ah—”
“Hey, newbie.”
I turned. Wi Ho’s irritating face filled my vision. Arms crossed, he looked me up and down and twisted his mouth into a smirk.
“So you actually survived. About Geom… yeah, my bad.”
My fist twitched. I forced it still, lowered my head, and put on the most harmless expression I owned.
“I only lived because of Senior Brother Wi’s advice.”
Wi Ho clapped my shoulder and gave a low chuckle.
“Kid’s still got sharp instincts. Anyway—looking forward to working with you.”
His whole face screamed that he planned to work me like a rented mule.
This bastard. I’m going to twist your neck off later.
Outwardly I smiled like the perfect sucker.
“The pleasure’s all mine, Senior Brother.”
Wi Ho nodded, satisfied, gave my shoulder one more hard shove, and swaggered off.
Not wanting to get snagged by anyone else, I headed straight for the new quarters assigned to outer disciples. They were a step up from the newbie building we had used before the Poison Pavilion—single rooms, beds that weren’t completely falling apart.
I shut the door, pulled out the manual, and opened it.
Blood Qi Art.
I read for a long time.
“Fuck me, what is this bullshit?”
As a basic technique it wasn’t wildly different from any other cultivation method. The only real distinction was the combat applications that used blood. That much I could more or less follow.
But the endless jargon—blood vessels, qi meridians, every obscure term under the sun—packed the bamboo slips so densely that the more I read the less I understood.
How is this any different from learning magic?
I had chosen this world specifically to avoid studying, yet here I was. I clutched my head and flung the book onto the floor.
I completely misjudged this.
When you read novels, protagonists skim a manual once and instantly master it. Trying it myself made me want to lose my mind.
At this rate, when the hell am I supposed to get strong enough to leave?
I needed a new plan. I had intended to grow just strong enough and then get out, but simply understanding the terminology already felt like my skull was about to crack. At this pace I would rot away clutching books instead of growing stronger.
I stared at the ceiling and thought.
…Yeah. Dual cultivation.
This world had it too. In xianxia they usually called it dual-cultivation arts rather than “lust techniques.” In plain terms: bedroom arts. Man and woman become one, yin and yang complement each other, and both raise their realm.
The most powerful among them belonged to the Lust Immortal lineage.
Where was that one again…
I dug through my memories. Among the Lust Immortal manuals that appeared in the original, the usable one was hidden in a ruined shrine deep inside Hongyeon Valley, far to the east of the Mansang Realm.
Luckily, Hongyeon Valley was relatively close to the Red Blood Sect.
Problem is, the valley is full of demonic beasts.
To reach the shrine I would need to be at least fourth-star Qi Condensation.
…So in the end, I still have to train.
I picked the book back up.
If I wanted those beasts dead, I had no choice but to wrestle with this pile of gibberish bamboo slips.
I clung to the bamboo slips and threw myself into studying and training like a madman, and little by little I began to understand what kind of world this really was.
Reading about it and living it were two completely different things. Details that had merely been background flavor in the novel hit with an entirely different weight once I collided with them in the flesh.
The sensation of spiritual energy brushing across the skin, the gulf between a session that flowed and one that stalled—those were things no amount of careful reading could ever teach you.
Becoming an outer disciple also brought a flood of new information.
I was certain the Red Blood Sect was a demonic orthodox school… turns out it isn’t, not yet.
Comparing it to the true demonic factions that appeared later in the original, the current Red Blood Sect was brutal and extreme, yes, but it still sat somewhere in the gray zone between righteous and demonic.
At this point in time it’s definitely different from the Red Blood Sect I know from the novel.
Which meant that once Kang Tae-ho became sect leader in the future, that was when it would transform into a genuine demonic power.
Tch. There goes my concentration again.
The second I tried to study, my mind wandered. Studying for the first time in my life was pure torture.
The first week I spent nothing but memorizing terms: what blood vessels were, how qi meridians flowed, what spiritual energy actually was.
Anything I didn’t understand I asked Dan Ha. She pretended it was a nuisance, yet she explained everything clearly and simply.
Dan Ha’s seriously sharp.
Another two weeks passed.
One day, while I sat quietly regulating my breathing, something faint stirred near my dantian.
At first I thought I imagined it.
But the next day the same sensation returned, and the day after that. A thread-thin current was circulating deep inside my body.
Spiritual energy.
Finally I can feel it.
I had stepped into the entry level of Qi Condensation. I couldn’t circulate it yet—barely sensing it was the limit—but it had still taken more than two months just to reach this point. I had no idea whether that was fast or slow.
The protagonist felt it in two days, didn’t he?
Compared to him I was a slug. Curious how long ordinary people took, I casually asked Wi Ho.
“Me? About eight years, I guess?”
“Eight years?”
“Yeah. Pretty amazing, right? Only eight. My peers needed ten.”
That was when it clicked.
In this world, spending several years just to sense spiritual energy was completely normal. Sensing it in two months made me a genius by local standards.
Probably thanks to Body Enhancement Lv.2.
Or maybe something else. Either way, I had talent.
Better keep it hidden.
Jealous dogs would start circling the moment word got out. Until I was strong enough, lying low was the smart move.
More importantly… I can take the Blood Essence Pill now.
I slipped it from my sleeve. Resting on my palm, the vivid red surface caught the sunlight and glowed faintly.
Wang O had said to swallow it only after I could sense spiritual energy.
Condition met.
He mentioned it would hurt like hell.
I already knew extreme pain came with it—like someone slamming a fist straight into your dantian.
Whatever. It won’t kill me.
I tossed the Blood Essence Pill into my mouth and swallowed.
At first there was nothing.
Less than ten seconds later a molten lump of fire detonated deep in my gut.
“……Kh.”
My dantian felt like it had been punched by a steel fist. Breath locked in my throat; the world flashed pure white.
“Ghk—aaargh…”
The pain kept climbing. My dantian felt stabbed by white-hot iron. Every blood vessel and meridian was being forcibly stretched open; each one swelled as if it would burst.
I clenched my teeth and dropped to the floor. My fingertips trembled violently.
Endure it. Just endure…
The agony only deepened. My mind went blank, yet I refused to let go of consciousness.
A little longer… just a little more…
I have no idea how much time passed.
The pain finally began to recede. In its place a warm, heavy fullness flooded my dantian.
I dragged in ragged breaths and opened my eyes.
“…Huuuh.”
Something inside the dantian had changed. The spiritual energy that had been a single hair-thin thread was now several fine strands twisted together.
Definitely clearer than before.
I slowly raised a hand, clenched it into a fist, then opened it again. I could still feel the blood vessels twitching faintly beneath the skin.