Myriad Immortals Return to the Origin
Even a full day after Wi Ho and his crew turned up dead, we still had to tear the surrounding area apart in a frantic search.
Along the way I gave Dan Ha and So Ryeong a rough idea of what I’d actually done.
“Ha… I’m grateful you did it for our sakes, but thanks to you I can’t even live out the rest of my life in peace.”
“Seo-jun… what happens if we get caught…?”
“What do you think? You die, I die.”
“Hic.”
The word “die” made So Ryeong hiccup.
“Die? Who’s dying? So Ryeong, don’t worry. Only that idiot over there is going to die.”
“Nope. I only did this because of you two. If we get caught, I’ll just say it was for your sake, right?”
Dan Ha glared at my joking tone, and So Ryeong’s face went even whiter.
“Stop joking.”
“I’m not joking.”
Dan Ha let out a long sigh and pinched my arm hard.
“Ow!”
“That’s why I pinched you!”
We bickered like that for a while, pretending to search while mostly just loafing around.
Before long the search order was abruptly cancelled.
The mood turned strange. Disciples clustered in twos and threes, whispering, while a few inner disciples hurried toward the tents with grim faces.
I scanned the area, then casually approached an outer disciple famous for how fast he picked up gossip and slipped him a piece of jerky from my coat.
“Senior Brother Bang. The search got called off out of nowhere and everyone’s on edge. Any idea why?”
He gave me a quick once-over, accepted the jerky, glanced around, and lowered his voice.
“You know Wi Ho’s crew that got wiped yesterday?”
“Yeah.”
“Rumor is one of the inner disciples is the killer.”
“An inner disciple…?”
“Yeah… and this next part isn’t solid, but…”
He motioned me closer. I leaned in.
“They’re saying Senior Brother Myeong Hak is the prime suspect.”
My brow furrowed on its own the moment I heard it.
What? Why is Myeong Hak suddenly the one getting fingered?
The fact that suspicion was sliding toward the inner disciples meant someone else was using this situation for their own ends.
I nodded as naturally as I could and asked,
“Senior Brother Myeong Hak… isn’t he the one leading the detached force right now?”
“Yeah. That’s why it’s even more of a mess.”
“Anything else?”
“That’s all I’ve got. And I only heard it secondhand, so don’t take it as gospel.”
“Got it.”
I gave a light bow and walked away.
Windfall for someone else.
Me taking out Wi Ho had accidentally set the board for someone else’s game.
One thing was certain: someone was deliberately tying Myeong Hak into this. Who, I still didn’t know.
I’ll just have to keep watching for now.
I shoved my hands in my pockets and headed back toward Dan Ha and So Ryeong.
Dan Ha peered straight into my face.
“What’d he say?”
“Rumor is Senior Brother Myeong Hak is the prime suspect for this whole thing.”
Her brow creased slightly.
“…Weird. Why is the finger suddenly pointing that way?”
“Means somebody’s using the situation.”
Dan Ha frowned and sighed.
“Ha… my head hurts.”
“Guys, this is really okay, right? I’m… starting to get scared…”
“Don’t worry, nothing’s going to happen. Want a snack instead?”
“Snack?”
“That stuff from last time?!”
Both girls’ eyes lit up as they stared at my hands.
I pulled macarons from storage and handed them over.
So Ryeong stuffed one straight into her mouth and her eyes went wide.
“…So good.”
Dan Ha swallowed hers in one bite too, then looked up at me with faintly pink cheeks.
“I want another.”
“Me too!”
I pretended to dig through my pockets and pulled two more from storage.
“Here. Eat them slowly.”
Neither of them listened; they started wolfing them down.
Bang!
“Damn it.”
“Senior Brother Myeong. If we don’t turn back now we could actually die.”
Even at Jin-hu’s words, Myeong Hak just ground his teeth while staring at the letter.
That bitch… I’ve been cleaning up all her little messes, and now she tries to dispose of me like this?
But anger wouldn’t change a thing.
The other party was a late Gold Core monster. Against someone still stuck at Foundation Establishment, she was an unbreachable wall. If Seo Ran decided to end him, Myeong Hak would vanish without leaving so much as a drop of blood.
“Jin-hu.”
“Yes.”
“How many of the detached force have we brought over?”
“Senior Brother, you’re not seriously…?”
“I asked how many.”
“…Half.”
“Only half…”
Myeong Hak closed his eyes and gave the order in a cold voice.
“Poison the rest and kill them all.”
“Senior Brother!”
“If we go back to that woman like this, both of us die.”
He unfolded the crumpled letter and shoved it at Jin-hu.
“They found out about the funds and spirit pills we’ve been skimming. Better to grab the lot and run while we still can.”
Jin-hu took the letter, stared at it a long time, then finally clenched his teeth.
“…Understood.”
When Myeong Hak, who had been leading the detached force, failed to return even after several days, Seo Ran herself set out with a contingent of disciples.
By then half the detached force was already dead, and Myeong Hak had vanished without a trace.
Naturally the news threw the Red Blood Sect into an uproar, but Seo Ran crushed the unrest in a single stroke and split the forces.
The main body would head for Hongyeon Valley; a new detached force would pursue Myeong Hak.
No matter how I look at it, something’s off about this whole situation.
It felt exactly like the moment in the original story when Kang Tae-ho killed the previous sect master and seized the position—only it was starting right now.
If Kang Tae-ho really is about to rebel… how does he beat Seo Ran at this stage?
I couldn’t see the current Kang Tae-ho taking down a Gold Core master. He’d even lost an arm last time and was supposedly recovering inside the Red Blood Sect.
No idea. Thinking about it won’t change anything I can do right now anyway.
“What are you fretting over all by yourself?”
Dan Ha had somehow come up beside me.
“Nothing.”
“Whatever. Probably some nonsense again. Anyway, we’re here.”
I looked up at her words. Hongyeon Valley stretched out in the distance.
Thick crimson mist blanketed the entire gorge, and closer in, the black banners of the Ghost Soul Sect snapped in the wind.
Strange as the larger situation might be, the fight between Taheo Pavilion and the Ghost Soul Sect had already begun, and the Red Blood Sect’s forces had arrived on the field.
The main bodies of both sides were covered in the scars of several prior clashes.
“Gulp…”
So Ryeong swallowed hard beside me, trembling. Dan Ha was scanning the surroundings with a tense face as well.
Both of them seemed to be shaking at the thought of standing on a real battlefield where people actually slaughtered one another.
Well, I’m a little nervous too.
The difference was that I felt none of the fear of death.
If anything, it was closer to excitement.
Even if I die here it probably won’t mean dying in reality.
Dying would waste all the effort so far, but I could always just start over in a new story.
Then a group in white martial robes came flooding in.
And Seo Ran appeared, leading Wang O and the inner disciples.
With her arrival the wind rose, sending her purple hair streaming. She wore a highly revealing red combat outfit under a scarlet cloak; no matter how you looked at it, she seemed like an exhibitionist.
God, I want to suck on those tits just once.
An elder of Taheo Pavilion hurried up to Seo Ran and bowed.
“The situation is extremely dire. We need you to move at once.”
“Very well.”
She glanced back at Wang O.
“Wang O. Assist Taheo Pavilion and wipe out the Ghost Soul Sect.”
“Understood.”
Wang O immediately roared the order.
“All Red Blood combatants, follow me! Everyone else, treat the wounded!”
At that single command the Red Blood disciples moved as one.
Meanwhile, acting on Wang O’s letter, Wang Tae-ho caught up to the fleeing Myeong Hak and killed him.
“Guh… Kang Tae-ho…!”
“Heh heh heh. Myeong Hak. This is the price for treating me like a dog all this time.”
With those words Wang Tae-ho’s hand plunged into Myeong Hak’s chest. Fingers shattered ribs and closed around the still-hot heart.
Thud.
“Khak…!”
Myeong Hak’s eyes bulged.
Wang Tae-ho smiled as he slowly drew the heart free. He brought the still-beating red organ to his mouth and took a bite.
“Chomp… gulp… Not a bad heart, all things considered.”
He chewed slowly, then licked the blood from his lips.
Madness glittered in his eyes.
“Don’t bother running. Just hand over all your hearts.”
He tossed Myeong Hak’s limp body aside and turned to Jin-hu and the rest of the surviving crew.
They were already on the ground, too terrified even to think of fleeing.
Wang Tae-ho’s spiritual pressure crushed everything around them. Even breathing was agony.
Jin-hu slammed his forehead into the dirt and spoke in a shaking voice.
“P-please spare us…! We were only dragged here against our will by Senior Brother Myeong Hak…!”
Wang Tae-ho barely seemed to hear him as he calmly wiped his bloody hand on his clothes.
“Against your will?”
“Y-yes…! We know nothing…!”
“Heh heh.”
A cold, ominous laugh slipped from Wang Tae-ho’s lips.
“What am I supposed to do with that? All I need is your blood and hearts.”
What followed was a slaughter that lasted mere moments.
Every living thing except Wang Tae-ho died with its heart torn out. He then opened the storage box Myeong Hak had been fleeing with and checked the contents.
He pulled out every spirit pill inside and swallowed them all.
As the pills slid down his throat, scorching energy slammed into his dantian. Wang Tae-ho’s body shuddered; veins bulged across his skin.
“Hoo… That puts me one step higher.”
While Seo Ran was gone he had already consumed every disciple left behind in the Red Blood Sect. After raiding the secret spirit-pill vault she had hidden and absorbing everything, the spiritual energy in his dantian boiled and swelled until it felt ready to burst. Meridians throughout his body were forcibly expanded, flooding him with searing pain, yet Wang Tae-ho only grinned, baring his teeth as if savoring it.
All that remained was to use the Ghost Soul Sect’s secret arts to force his realm even higher.
“Seo Ran… just wait a little longer. I’ll devour your heart too.”
Wang Tae-ho slowly wiped the blood from his hands and stepped into the darkness.