Chapter 153 - Blood Cult
Blood Cult.
The kind of religion usually depicted in wuxia tales as a deranged cult obsessed with blood.
It was the same in the world of Return to the Murim.
They were a group constantly pondering how to kill even one more person, how to carry out even larger massacres.
All because they believed that if they drenched the world in blood, and that blood purified it, the Blood God would descend once more to set the world right.
The Blood God was the Blood Demon who ascended to the heavens.
And then, the information I'd learned from the Wall of Demonless Traces during the gathering of the Six Demonic Families on Jan Hon Do not long ago.
The Blood Demon was the early moniker of the First Heavenly Demon.
In other words, the equation First Heavenly Demon = First Blood Demon = Blood God held true.
So yeah, they're even crazier bastards.
True to his name as the Heavenly Demon, the First Heavenly Demon had charged forward with savage abandon, heedless of anyone's gaze.
Even so, he wasn't the type to indiscriminately unleash a blood calamity. In fact, when the Fourth Heavenly Demon, Cheon Yu-hak, caused chaos, he'd secretly gone and subdued him—proof he wouldn't stand idly by for such madness. He simply never refused a challenge.
A cult that deified such a Heavenly Demon as the Blood Demon, and believed the ascended Blood Demon would return? No way they were sane.
In truth, the Blood Cult did appear in the mid-to-late parts of Return to the Murim. They just faded away so pathetically compared to their mad portrayal.
That's why they got the nickname 'No. 3 after the North Sea Ice Palace.'
Just as the Heavenly Demon's name had carried on, so too did the Blood Demon's in the Blood Cult. Something about being the first to serve him upon his return?
Well, they probably got the hint from that 'No. 3 after the North Sea Ice Palace' line, but the Blood Demon messed with Yi Se-ryeong and ended up s/a/n/d/w/i/c/h/e/d into pieces. Lol.
...Yi Se-ryeong really is something else. Taking down the North Sea Ice Palace and the Blood Cult all by herself.
It reaffirmed that in this world, you don't mess with Yi Se-ryeong.
This is no time for daydreaming, yokai! Focus on the situation before your eyes!
Pa Cheon was right. Paeng Yu-gun's eyebrows were starting to furrow.
"You intend not to answer?"
The wine cup was already overflowing, wine spilling everywhere.
The strain on my arm holding it up was immense. It felt like something of tremendous weight was pressing down on it.
"...I'm just surprised to hear such an unexpected name."
"Unexpected?"
"I swear on everything I have. I am not with the Blood Cult."
Paeng Yu-gun let out a hollow laugh.
"Your background, your martial arts, your inner energy. I already distrust them all. Even if you swear on everything you have, what use is it?"
"It seems you won't believe whatever I say."
To my words, Paeng Yu-gun replied,
"Simple enough. Give me your wrist."
"Brother!"
"Didn't we agree to stay out of it, Mugi-ya?"
From the situation unfolding, I could roughly guess.
Paeng Yu-gun heard something and suspects me, while Dang Mugi's trying to protect me.
True to the Sichuan Tang Clan, treating family with unconditional support. If not for getting caught up in the Paeng So-so incident, Dang Mugi would've probably drawn his hidden weapons by now.
"But a wrist, of all things!"
The wrist was the pulse point. You could channel qi through it to sense the opponent's inner energy.
But that was tantamount to handing over your life and death to a martial artist.
"Blood Cultists cultivate a unique qi reeking of blood. Confirming that is all. If you have nothing to hide, you can offer your wrist without issue. Or can you not?"
Of course, I couldn't offer my wrist.
I naturally had no bloody qi. But my body housed the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, the art of the Lord of Ten Thousand Demons.
That thing only calmed down after smashing any qi it didn't recognize. The moment Paeng Yu-gun sent even a trickle of his qi to probe mine...
He'd sense tremendous demonic qi.
Then it wouldn't be the Blood Cult they'd worry about—it'd be instant execution. From a righteous faction martial artist's view like Paeng Yu-gun's, Blood Cult or Divine Cult were enemies all the same.
How to escape this...
Simple.
Just have Pa Cheon stir its energy.
The Yak Clan was famed for poison arts, but also known for wielding red lightning qi.
Show them the Red Dragon's qi with Pa Cheon, and that proves it.
Thanks to absorbing Gongjin's pure inner energy, the Red Dragon qi had been purified.
But—
It was a slightly—no, pretty damn—crazy idea, but in the world of Return to the Murim, where crisis bred opportunity and high risk meant high return...
If this world's law was that you had to face death's door to earn fateful encounters...
This was a chance for another fateful encounter.
A mad idea! The opponent is the Dao King, yokai!
Possessors are half-crazy by cliché anyway.
An ordinary person's ordinary thinking didn't suit this mad world.
And I've got a safety net.
The Poison King, Dang Mugi.
He'd acknowledged me as family.
Right now, he was holding back for the greater good, but if things got truly dangerous, he'd step in for sure.
Can I take just one frontal hit from Paeng Yu-gun? Just once.
Blocking was easy—the Guardian Tablet could handle most attacks. But I'd used the Guardian Tablet too often in the Divine Cult, making it seem like my signature move. And the Eastern Sword Dragon using the same technique? Not a great choice.
Besides, for a musclehead like Paeng whose brain was pure white muscle up to his skull, landing a hit on him would impress more than just blocking.
You'll get hurt. You'll die.
Not to the point of dying.
Why go that far?
Once I prove I'm not Blood Cult, the Poison King won't stay quiet.
Given Dang Mugi's personality, he'd wring something out of Paeng Yu-gun for sure, and it'd all benefit me.
Haa—.
Mad bastard.
You gotta be mad to survive.
After sharing the plan with Pa Cheon, I answered Paeng Yu-gun.
"I cannot do that."
"Hah, do you grasp what those words mean coming from you?"
"I'm not from the martial world... but in the jianghu, martial artists don't settle things with words, do they?"
"Indeed. A true martial artist proves it with skill, not words."
At that moment.
The wine spilling from the tilted cup suddenly stopped.
!?
At the same time, the saber Paeng Yu-gun drew flew toward my neck.
With the Time Wheel Jade's power stretching time's flow, anyone below Peak realm moved in slow motion, and even most Super Peak experts couldn't track me properly.
But the Dao King was the Dao King.
The saber hurtling at my neck moved with the speed of a master swordsman's swing, even under the Time Wheel Jade's effect.
And this wasn't even a full-powered strike. Just a casual probe from his seated position.
Pa Cheon slipped from its sheath, positioning between my neck and the Dao King's massive saber.
Channel inner energy around the Clear Ear Acupoint to block!
'Ear?'
Yes, so hurry!
I sent Heavenly Demon Divine Art energy to my ears.
Boom!
Even roughly channeling energy through the ear acupoints protected my eardrums from the deafening roar at my temples.
Worth studying all night on the full-body acupoints.
Crash!
With the roar came a ferocious qi wave that turned the pavilion into a wreck.
Thud!
I used the Flicker Jade to escape outside the pavilion.
Paeng Yu-gun rose leisurely, stalking out like a beast eyeing prey.
"Flying Sword and Shadow Form Shift. Suspicious indeed. At your age, wielding such arts so freely isn't normal. It's as natural as breathing."
His eyes gleamed fiercely as he spoke. In that instant, an illusion bloomed behind him.
A massive red tiger. Crimson lightning sparked around its body, its yellow beast eyes blazing.
The Dao King Paeng Yu-gun's simsang.
The Paeng Clan's signature tiger-form simsang, infused with lightning qi from mastering the Three Joys Blade City arts.
A simsang was ultimately the mental projection of a martial artist's life trajectory.
Most martial artists' lives were shaped by clan or sect, so those practicing the same arts often had similar simsangs. They'd grown up seeing them from birth.
It was natural for Paeng Clan warriors to manifest tiger forms.
And my honest reaction upon seeing it—
Kitty!
I nearly burst out laughing, reminded of Cho Ryang.
Maybe because of Cho Ryang, who'd dismissed Do Il Gwang's previous Heavenly Demon's hideous, demonic black tiger simsang—the one overflowing with savage qi—as just a 'kitty.'
For some reason, Paeng Yu-gun's red tiger felt cute too. Compared to Do Il Gwang's black tiger, it was pretty cool-looking. Cho Ryang would've loved it.
"...Not just keeping calm before a simsang, but laughing? You're just a madman after all."
A laugh had slipped out without me noticing.
"Manifest your simsang."
"I cannot."
"As expected. It'd reek of sticky blood."
The lightning encircling the red tiger intensified.
"Then try blocking without one."
The moment Paeng Yu-gun finished speaking.
Grrrrowl!
The red tiger crouching behind him roared and lunged at me. The instant it swung its forepaw—
Crackle!
Insane!
Pa Cheon cried out in shock, stepping forward to block the tiger's paw.
Clang—!
A simsang was a martial artist's mental world—a phantom, naturally.
Yet Paeng Yu-gun's simsang wielded physical force.
Pa Cheon had been pushed back by the tiger's paw.
"Heart Sword…!"
"Ho? You even recognize it. Suspicious indeed."
I couldn't not recognize it.
The Heart Sword realm was the foundation for breaking past Super Peak—the supposed limit for this world's martial artists early in the story—and advancing further.
'Foundation' was putting it mildly; it was absurd.
Exerting physical force with mere intent transcended martial arts, feeling like outright superpowers.
That's why later it gets called ability battles, not wuxia.
And when they manifested intent too, a Super Peak Heart Sword user became a walking calamity or disaster.
They could slice anything with a mere glance if they willed it.
...Can I land a hit on that guy?
At that level, excluding Yi Se-ryeong and Do Il Gwang, he was the strongest I'd met.
"A Blood Cultist with some skill, eh."
"I am not with the Blood Cult."
"Then prove it!"
Growl—!
As Paeng Yu-gun's words ended, the red tiger lunged again.
'Pa Cheon, now!'
I gripped Pa Cheon.
Ultra Vibration.
Vrrrrm—!
Pa Cheon's blade began trembling at an immense frequency.
Domination.
Weight pressed upon the space.
Bull Fist.
I concentrated all power into my arm, reinforced by the Diamond Needle.
Finally.
Whirlflow.
Crackle!
The surging lightning qi enveloped Pa Cheon—and
I hurled it.
Growl—!
The flying Pa Cheon clashed with the red tiger.
The legendary divine sword that could cleave sword gang succeeded in slicing the tiger's forepaw.
"Kraaak!"
In exchange, I vomited blood and collapsed. Agony surged.
Yokai, snap out of it!
"Yun-a!"
Dang Mugi rushed forward, blocking my path.
Maybe the pain had become too familiar.
This much didn't even make me think of blacking out.
I just endured it, staring ahead.
But Paeng Yu-gun's demeanor was off.
His face was gravely serious.
"Yun has proven it, brother. That pure lightning qi— no Blood Cultist could produce it!"
"…."
"Brother!"
Dang Mugi's sleeve fluttered. A sharp dagger was suddenly in his hand.
"If you continue, even if you're my brother, I—"
"It was clearly lightning qi. Yes, sword qi. But it cleaved my simsang? Impossible. The sword qi was a feint."
Soon, shock filled Paeng Yu-gun's face as he continued.
"Pure energy without form or shape. Did he use Formless Sword Gang?"
Pretending to be the Heavenly Demon