The Blood-Filled Well and the Seventh Elder's Betrayal
A sinister aura permeated the village. Not a single living soul could be seen. Not even a single blade of vibrant grass grew anywhere. It was truly a place that screamed blood ghosts had passed through. Soso scanned her surroundings. The poison scattered thickly everywhere made her grit her teeth.
"What was in the well?"
"…The corpses of twenty young boys and fifteen girls who appeared to be their sisters. The blood was probably theirs."
Hearing that, Soso pondered why they had left the bodies behind. 'There have been reports from ten villages so far. They all mentioned wells filled with blood like this one…'
But there had been no reports of such a foul stench or actual corpses inside.
"Pull them out."
"Retrieve the corpses!"
She figured they needed to examine the bodies first. 'If it's a ritual unique to the blood cult…'
Soso glanced far off at Hayeon and Yeon. When it came to rituals and sorcery, the families and sects that came to mind were the Demonic, Zhuge, and Mount Mo. 'They didn't come for nothing.'
Convinced they must know something, Dang Soso smiled faintly. There might have been a slight mismatch in words, but Hayeon was a hidden master of the Murim Alliance. And Yeon, who followed and learned from such a Hayeon, could surely be considered a considerable expert herself. They had no doubt sensed the blood cult's vile schemes in advance and rushed here.
'…Great hero.'
Feeling a surge of admiration, Soso began examining the corpses even more diligently.
I examined the formation alongside Yeon and Seol Mang.
[What does the young lady of the Zhuge family make of it?]
"…It's pretty complicated, but it's not like I have no clue at all."
"I figured as much."
As Seol Mang and I saw it, this sorcery seemed designed simply to conceal the village itself. There were also traces of attempts to twist the natural order to protect something from collapsing in the process.
'It might have even succeeded.'
With that thought, I gently infused a bit of qi into the parched ground.
"……."
"Master?"
Yeon tilted her head at me.
"…The qi is draining away."
[Ho… It's true. As expected of Lady Seo! Impressive!]
Seol Mang bobbed its head with a cute voice. I smiled faintly, stroked Seol Mang's head, then placed my hand on the still-active formation.
"Yeon."
"Yes, Master."
"This thing is stealing the qi from the surroundings. Just like it's trying to replenish someone."
[It's similar to the Absorbing Star Great Law.]
Absorbing Star Great Law. According to Seol Mang's explanation, in this wuxia world, the Absorbing Star Great Law was a technique mainly used by blood ghosts—a qi art that absorbed others' qi into oneself. Taking in someone else's qi and using it was inherently extremely dangerous. If the qi didn't harmonize, it could run rampant and cause qi deviation.
However, to counteract that, blood ghosts craved their victims' blood. They needed the blood of the target they'd infused into their dantian to control and utilize the opponent's qi.
[That way, they could grow stronger without any backlash, which is why the blood cult expanded its forces so bizarrely quickly and powerfully among the riffraff of the unorthodox sects.]
"…Yes, the historical records describe it that way too. The riffraff of the unorthodox sects were bewitched by the Blood Demon's wondrous techniques."
[Sucking qi indiscriminately… They could handle the victim's qi freely too.]
As long as blood ghosts had the victim's blood, manipulating their qi posed no issue.
"How demonic… Truly revolting."
I clicked my tongue. In any wuxia tale, who tried to devour the orthodox sects with such trash sorcery? It was the mindset of unorthodox scum through and through.
[It looks like they're preparing to unleash that revolting sorcery.]
"……."
[To bring about the Blood Demon's reincarnation.]
"…!!"
Yeon's eyes trembled.
The Blood Demon's reincarnation.
"Then we just stop it."
I had a rough idea now. '…So that's why the well was full of blood.'
The blood ghosts were turning Sichuan—no, the entire Central Plains—into a massive altar. Sichuan was merely the starting point.
"Yeon, what do the historical records say about the Blood Demon's end?"
"…The Blood Demon's corpse was torn apart and buried across the lands held by the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Families. One portion even flowed into the Demonic Cult."
That meant even this Sichuan land, held by the Emei Sect of the Nine Great Sects and the Tang Family of the Five Great Families, contained part of the Blood Demon's corpse.
'…….'
I looked around. The ground was withered and twisted, without a single blade of grass—precisely along the formation's boundaries.
"…It's transferring inner energy."
Smiling brightly, I nodded and took a deep breath.
Black and white inner energy surged outward!
Using the power of Taiji Sword, I forcibly suppressed the blood ghosts' foul energy and, instead of breaking the sorcery, overlaid it with my own.
"Seol Mang, will you help?"
[Lady Seo's energy originally came from me, so I can wield it.]
"I leave it to you."
Not me, of course—Seol Mang. Seol Mang absorbed the scattered energy and grew to the size of a person.
'Now it finally looks like a spirit beast.'
Seol Mang rose into the sky. Soon, a massive taiji symbol appeared overhead before slowly dissipating. It wasn't anything fancy. It merely gathered the qi absorbed from all directions here and funneled it into me.
The enemy's power becomes mine. It was one of Wudang's specialties, so I mixed in a bit of the blood ghosts' energy after analyzing it thoroughly.
[I never thought I'd take the lead in something like this.]
[The martial world has to exist first for you to fix it, right?]
I let out a sigh.
At the same moment Hayeon overlaid the formation.
"……."
Fallen elders. The Tang Family patriarch gazed at them vacantly. With cold eyes, he closed each of their eyes one by one. To those still clinging to life, he fed them the Universal Antidote Pill.
'…I will avenge you elders, no matter what.'
It had all happened in an instant. The moment the patriarch released his qi, the groveling Seventh Elder scattered Thousand Leaf Poison and turned his eyes blood-red.
"Kuhahaha…!!! Patriarch!!"
"Shut your mouth, you worm not even fit for livestock."
"What manner of speech is that for an elder?"
With those words, the Seventh Elder ripped off his human-skin mask with a sharp tear. Beneath it was the face of his younger self.
"When did you shed your mortal form?"
The patriarch asked, and the Seventh Elder replied.
"Rejuvenation. That's what the great blood cult calls it."
"……."
"By the grace of the Blood Demon, I have regained my youth…!! My strength!!!"
The Seventh Elder spread his arms wide as if to show himself off.
"……."
The patriarch simply approached slowly. Then he drew a secret needle from his sleeve and gripped it.
"…And you still call yourself an elder of the Tang Family?"
"Tang Family…? What does that pathetic Tang Family even—"
-Shweeeeeek!!!!
Before the Seventh Elder could finish, the patriarch's thrown secret needle flew straight at him. But the elder bent backward dramatically, dodging it. He didn't escape unscathed, though—his right eye was torn by the spinning needle.
Groaning in pain, the Seventh Elder bled on the ground. The blood poison coating it left him disoriented. The agony blood ghosts felt from blood poison was beyond imagination.
Not missing the opening, the patriarch tried to scatter blood poison powder immediately. But even moving in that split-second instant was too slow for the Seventh Elder, who had transcended human limits.
It was already enough time for him to escape.
"Kuhahahaha… The patriarch can't catch me… I am already…"
With those words, the Seventh Elder's form began to waver. Soon, his body dissolved into red mist and vanished completely.
"…Is there a physician?! Hurry and bring the elders to the medicine hall!!! Now! There's no time!!"
He could pursue no further. No matter the grudge, he had a Tang Family to protect. Deciding to minimize the sacrifices, the patriarch hurriedly checked the elders' conditions.
Then, a maid came rushing from afar, panting desperately as she called to the patriarch.
"Patriarch…!!!"
"What is it?"
"A young lady came looking for her benefactor here. She's urgently asking for you…!"
"Send her away…! Hurry and fetch the physicians. I'll handle things until then."
When he demanded how she could say such a thing amid the crisis, the maid replied.
"…The Huashan Plum Sword Seal has arrived."
"……."
Hua Ryeon, winner of the Dragon-Phoenix Tournament. A being impossible to ignore, having reached peak (entry) at just eighteen.
"Father."
Then, the young lord came rushing up behind the maid, saying he'd take over so their father should go.
"Please, go see her. I'll handle things here."
"…I'm counting on you."
"Yes."
The Tang Family wouldn't normally yield to such pressure. But under the Murim Alliance's scrutiny now, they needed to stay on good terms even with promising later-generation talents like the Plum Sword Seal.
Thus, the patriarch suppressed his boiling rage and headed toward where Hwa Ryeon waited.
At the same time, at the Tang Family's main gate.
"Has the esteemed guest not arrived, by any chance?"
"Esteemed guest…?"
Hwa Ryeon smiled brightly as she inquired about Hayeon.
"I mean the rather unique master who wears a deathcap hat pulled low over her hair and veils her face with white cloth…"
"I have no memory of such a person… Perhaps you came to the wrong place?"
"……."
Hwa Ryeon began to feel anxious, wondering if she'd been tricked.