Blood Cult (6)
“Master?”
In response to my words, the wooden puppet tilted its head.
I tried to say something more.
But—
Wheeze!
Blood gushed from my mouth.
Good thing this was a wuxia world. In reality, internal bleeding like this would've killed me on the spot.
Treatment required.
Anyway, the wooden puppet had suddenly acknowledged me as its master and even urged me to heal, so it seemed I'd escaped immediate danger for now.
Thanks to the martial arts I'd learned from Pa Cheon, I quickly assumed a cross-legged position and began circulating the Heavenly Demon Divine Art's energy through my meridians.
Roooar—
The Heavenly Demon Divine Art's energy raced through my wrecked insides.
According to the legends, the Heavenly Demon Divine Art was created by the First Heavenly Demon, who believed “the Heavenly Demon must fight without tiring.”
As a result, it was unparalleled in recovery and endurance.
Of course, “gentle” healing wasn't the case. True to its wild nature, the process was a total pain in the ass.
Frankly, it hurt like hell.
It felt like rubbing ulcer cream into my meridians during a mouth sore outbreak.
The energy surged through my meridians—scorching hot one moment, ice-cold the next, stinging all the while. Total chaos.
If I couldn't feel my body healing in real-time, no way I'd endure this sane.
After a full circuit, two, three along my cleared Ren and Du meridians...
“Hoo.”
I'd finally recovered enough to move.
Of course, my injuries weren't fully gone.
My gut still churned, and moving was tough.
I wasn't a doctor in my old life, but if I showed up at a hospital like this, they'd shove me straight into the ICU.
I unfolded my legs and stood.
[Master. Medicine. Deliver.]
The wooden puppet handed me a glass vial.
“......”
It was an ampoule I recognized all too well.
Ten Elixirs of the Medicine Sage.
Identical in appearance.
The difference? This one's liquid was a murky, thick red that screamed “don't drink me.”
So it's connected to the First Heavenly Demon after all.
I couldn't emit energy due to my constitution.
So the puppet hadn't recognized it at first, but when I spat blood, it sensed the Heavenly Demon Divine Art inside. That explained everything.
“What is this?”
[Recovery. Aid.]
I nodded and took the ampoule.
If it wanted me dead, it could've done it earlier.
In my current state, I couldn't handle the puppet anyway.
It knew that.
Yet it called me master instead of finishing me off. Meant it had other plans.
I uncapped the ampoule and drank.
Tasted like tomato juice left out too long at room temp.
As for the flavor...
No need to say—it was revoltingly excellent.
The texture and taste made me suspect poison for a second, but my Avoid Poison Jade didn't react.
Hell, the Heavenly Demon Divine Art's energy surged out on its own, distributing the medicine through my meridians.
“Whoa.”
Like turning on AC in my stomach.
The burning ache vanished, leaving a refreshing coolness.
So it was like the Medicine Sage's elixirs.
“How'd you make this?”
The puppet pointed at its hammer.
“You make medicine with a hammer?”
It nodded, then moved to the anvil.
Standing before it, its belly split open like doors.
It rummaged inside and pulled out a few herbs.
Thud thud thud.
It hammered away.
Putting herbs on an anvil and hammering? Bizarre enough.
But what followed was even wilder.
Fwoosh!
After a few strikes, the anvil glowed gold.
Plop.
A medicine vial popped out.
The puppet brought it to me.
[Gold Creation Medicine.]
I was speechless.
This was straight out of a game's crafting menu.
A skill.
The First Heavenly Demon's technique, no doubt.
Daoist alchemists would spit blood and suffer deviation into devil watching this.
In a world without proper clocks, making elixirs took days to months—or years—of devotion.
And this? A few hammer strikes.
Hell, the vial hadn't even existed before. It ignored all rules of the world, laws, providence—pure outlier power.
The First Heavenly Demon was an ultimate crafter geek.
And not even himself—this puppet.
“What are you, exactly?”
The puppet cocked its head, as if asking, “Why don't you know?”
Then.
[Understanding complete. Clone body. Weak. Natural.]
“......”
From context, it saw me as a clone—a partial body or avatar—of the First Heavenly Demon.
Hence, weakness was expected.
Calling it a 'clone' means some kind of clone skill.
Makes sense—he made tons of alts, after all.
The puppet, still staring, turned only its segmented lower half backward.
“Follow you?”
Nod.
I trailed it.
At the workshop's end was what looked like a pond.
Up close, a massive well—about three zhang wide.
[Gate. Craft.]
“Gate” hit me like a hammer to the head.
“This is the gate?”
Nod.
Made by the Heavenly Demon, and it specifically called it a “gate”? Had to be the way back to the original world.
So the Muhonjibyeok being gate-shaped was foreshadowing.
“You made this?”
Nod.
“How?”
It casually lifted its hammer—like a clone holding it up.
At this point, “omnipotent crafting hammer” fit.
Cheol Mu Geuk might get hypertension seeing it. Not that the old man's hot-tempered...
“Specifically, what do you do?”
It extended a hand, demanding something.
“What?”
[Master. Item.]
Master's item?
Something from the First Heavenly Demon? Black Ox Thread? But it folded fingers into an “ㄴ” shape.
“Gun? Ah!”
I pulled out the pistol lighter from my robes—Jin So-cheong's treasured relic.
The puppet returned to the anvil and hammered it.
With a flash, the lighter vanished, replaced by a tiny, transparent crystal shard.
Rice-grain size, maybe a third. Easy to miss if not looking close.
“What's this?”
It rummaged in its belly again.
Out came a transparent orb. I recognized it instantly.
“Reinforcement Stone?”
Nod.
[Same-size crystals 1,000. One Reinforcement Stone.]
“Depends on size?”
It pointed at the Black Ox Thread.
[10 crystals. One Reinforcement Stone.]
Pa Cheon Sword—
[5 Reinforcement Stones.]
Seemed the quality and number of Reinforcement Stone fragments varied by item's performance and materials.
The puppet tossed the stone into the well. It flared bright, then dimmed.
[Failure prevention.]
“Got it.”
Reinforcement Stones enhanced all concepts. Not just me—Pa Cheon too.
If it could craft gates, reinforcing one made sense.
“How many Reinforcement Stones needed?”
[Unknown.]
Keep reinforcing till it worked, no telling how many.
Need to use them carefully.
Vital for survival specs and escape.
Still, good news. Dismantle treasures for them.
Gathering treasures was like backing up for a mouse—right answer by accident.
Just in case, I asked.
“Jump in there?”
Nod.
I squeezed my eyes shut and leaped in.
“......”
Nothing.
[Unopened.]
That thing just mocked me.
“Say so earlier.”
Hide my embarrassment, I climbed out.
Shaking off water, a chill hit me.
“Wait. If the gate's unopened... then the Heavenly Demon?”
The gate's existence meant the First Heavenly Demon was still in the Murim Return world.
[Unknown. Clone. Share?]
“......I'm an independent clone. No sharing.”
[Mission. Cheon Yu-hak. Retrieve.]
“Cheon Yu-hak?”
Nod.
[Mission. Cheon Yu-hak. Incident. Retrieve.]
Cheon Yu-hak—the fourth Heavenly Demon, starter of the Heavenly Demon Blood War.
“What're you saying? Why would Cheon Yu-hak—wait.”
I asked the puppet.
“Know the Murim Alliance?”
[Unknown.]
It cocked its head.
Zero clue about the Murim Alliance.
The Alliance formed after the Blood War.
Conclusion?
This thing's broken.
Over 100 years past the Blood War era.
The puppet had repeated the same motions beyond the Muhonjibyeok, waiting eternally for its master.
That gate down there's the failed one.
The Muhonjibyeok mentioned a gate failing, waiting over a century.
This was the failed project, abandoned.
Felt kinda pitiful.
Hated loneliness so much, yet left the puppet here.
Take it with me?
Top crafting, at least Super Peak strength—prime asset.
Bonus: Park it by Cheol Mu Geuk for scratching his itch. Craft whatever.
I suggested we leave together.
[Refuse. Gate. Craft.]
Refused.
Duty to craft the gate.
Even when I showed Heavenly Demon Divine Art via blood—same.
Felt a mocking vibe.
[Half. Clone. Refuse.]
......Speaking in full sentences might be better. Word-by-word pissed me off more.
True to its strong-eat-weak creator, it dismissed the weak.
Tried offering a Reinforcement Stone—no dice.
Maybe after 100+ years abandoned, blindly fixated on gate-making.
“How do I leave?”
It pointed at my entry tunnel.
“Back through the tunnel?”
Nod.
I patted its shoulder and retraced my steps.
Can always come back.
Still regrettable.
If my martial arts were stronger, maybe I'd have convinced it.
“Ah. Right.”
On the way back, it hit me—I was mid-Blood God's ritual.
Entered all dignified, exiting empty-handed? Lame.
Trouble.
Need something to save face.
“Screw it.”
Going back wouldn't get more from the puppet.
If the Blood Cult suspects or eyes me weird, just rampage.
Entered acting crazy anyway—exiting crazier fits.
As I neared the entrance, thoughts sorted—
“......What.”
A man leaned against the tunnel wall.
“You're back.”
Pa Cheon.
First face-to-face since the Red Dragon Eyes incident. Nice to see him, but the problem was—
“What the hell happened?”
“Spirit body. This space has some mystical power—lets spirit and flesh coexist. Probably 'cause our souls split two ways at the fork, then merged.”
“No, not that.”
I pointed at his feet.
Smashed wooden puppet parts. Not one—dozens.
“Ah. These.”
Pa Cheon shrugged it off.
“Smashed one, it auto-repaired into two. Smashed 'em, they doubled again. Kept going till they stopped multiplying.”
“Over thirty? Super Peak level?”
“So you met them too, demon.”
“Uh, yeah. Kinda.”
“Obviously. Just numbers—simple moves. No gang qi, really Peak edge at best. Easy, right?”
“......”
“You didn't lose to this, did you?”
“Look. I came back fine.”
I resolved.
Tone down the sass with Pa Cheon.