Blood Demon
The crimson ornaments flashed brilliantly, and even the walls and floor were embroidered with gold thread in a dazzling great hall.
“...That is all. It was the honor of a lifetime to be able to report directly to the most noble being.”
A man knelt with his head bowed to the floor, waiting for his fate to be decided.
At the very back of the great hall, atop the highest step, a figure wearing a terrifying demon mask sat on the throne like the emperor of the Central Plains, looking down at him.
“......”
The demon tapped the armrest with one index finger, wordlessly.
Each time that tapping sound echoed through the hall, most of the people visibly shrank back, trying their best not to draw attention to themselves.
Tap, tap—
“......”
Tap, tap—
Gulp—
“......”
Tap, tap—
“......”
For a long, long while.
The Blood Demon sitting on the throne was deep in thought.
It wasn’t anger he felt, but confusion.
He couldn’t understand why even such a simple mission had failed.
It wasn’t an assassination or infiltration job, nor had it even been a simple escort mission.
He had even provided lowlifes from the Black Path, enough of them to serve as bait.
The only silver lining was that they hadn’t lost everything yet.
“......”
The sound that seemed as though it would go on forever finally stopped, and the great hall fell into a silence so complete not even breathing could be heard.
The demon mask turned toward the man on the floor, its eyes devoid of all emotion.
Feeling that gaze, the man trembled violently.
“I see. I understand well enough.”
“I-I’m sorry...! I swear I’ll never let something like this happen again!”
“...You’ve worked hard until now.”
“Wh-what... do you mean by that...?”
Then,
an overwhelming blood-red energy began surging around the demon mask.
Sensing that ominous power, the man wailed pitifully and begged for forgiveness.
“B-Blood Demon-nim, please, just one more chance for me—!”
Before he could even finish speaking, the blood energy crashed over him like a colossal tidal wave.
Whooooooosh—.
The man, swept away by that force, vanished in an instant, becoming nothing more than a handful of blood mist.
As though he had never existed at all.
“There is no second time.”
With those words, the Blood Demon closed his mouth again and resumed tapping the armrest.
Tap, tap—
Gulp—
“......”
How long had it been?
At last, the Blood Demon, lost in long thought, opened his mouth once more.
“We’ll stop here for today. Have the rest of the elders leave, except for Bloodlinn Soo and Bloodcheon.”
““Yes!””
One by one, the elders bowed with full respect and filed out of the great hall.
Soon, only three people remained inside.
“Bloodlinn Soo.”
“This elder, Bloodlinn Soo, greets the most noble Blood Demon-nim.”
“Bloodcheon.”
“Third Elder Bloodcheon greets Your Exalted Blood Demon-nim.”
The Blood Demon rose from the throne and slowly descended the steps.
“Raise your heads. I’ll ask plainly. Do you think this one could conquer the Central Plains without Hyeoloksinjo?”
“......”
The two elders exchanged troubled glances.
“Speak honestly.”
After a long hesitation, Bloodlinn Soo was the first to answer.
“...It would be difficult. There are still three major obstacles left to our sect.”
The Blood Demon folded his arms and gave a silent tilt of his chin.
He was telling them to continue.
“The Martial Alliance Leader, Cheonsal, and Cheonma. As long as those three are alive, Hyeoloksinjo is indispensable.”
“...I see.”
The words left a bitter taste in his mouth.
In other words, his own power alone would not be enough to bring them all down.
Seemingly sensing their master’s displeasure, the elders broke into a cold sweat.
“......”
“I understand. ...Summon Saheolseong.”
**********
A blood-red pill that looked eerie even at a glance glimmered in my hand.
A special elixir consumed by those who practiced demonic arts.
Should I really eat this now too?
The hesitation didn’t last long.
This was top-grade medicine that couldn’t even begin to compare to Gangjindan or Paehyeoldan.
You could only fully digest it if you cultivated demonic arts, but...
I’d just have to accept the risk.
I was short on internal energy, so this wasn’t the time to be picky.
I chose to swallow the Blood Demon Pill immediately.
I still had a long way to go, and I didn’t have time to hesitate over something like this. As for the side effects, I decided to trust my willpower and experience.
“......”
It was far more solid than I’d expected.
They said the stronger the elixir, the harder it was to take in, but this one was hard just to swallow.
Gulp—
Without a moment’s hesitation, I swallowed the Blood Demon Pill, sat down cross-legged, and began circulating my breath.
Sure enough, it was a top-grade elixir; it contained an enormous amount of energy.
The elixir’s force flowed through my dantian and slowly spread throughout my body.
However, what spread wasn’t just spiritual energy. Malevolent energy and demonic energy also filled my body along with it.
Ghk... already? That can’t be right....
I’d expected side effects, but the pain came before I could even complete one full cycle of circulation.
Ilwol Eumyang Singong was a martial art that stood in perfect opposition to corrupt energy, and yet—
As the malice spread through my body,
my blood vessels burned hot all over, and my internal organs—starting with my heart—seemed to shrink and twist in on themselves.
It was clashing with the Sun and Moon energy inside me, burning away parts of my body from the inside out.
If I’m not careful... I’ll explode...!
The pain seeped deep into my bones, and sweat poured down my entire body.
I hurriedly steadied myself and focused on operating Ilwol Eumyang Singong, but—
“Ugh! Ngh! Koff!”
The next instant, I couldn’t suppress the violent coughs bursting from my throat and kept hacking.
“Cough, cough! Kh, ahhhck....”
I tried for a long time to somehow suppress the surging energy, but it wasn’t easy.
The pain continued, as though insects were gnawing at my entire body, and my mind gradually blurred.
A thin line of blood dribbled from my nose and eyes.
If this were just ordinary demonic energy, it would have been purified in an instant, but the force contained in the elixir was beyond imagination.
“Ghh...!”
I tried to endure it, but this was different from the pain I’d felt before.
With a groan, I collapsed onto the floor.
When the coughing finally stopped, I spat a mouthful of blood onto the floor.
“Ha... haah...”
At this rate, I was going to die.
If this went wrong, it could become a disaster where the successor of Ilwol Eumyang Singong died from an elixir.
That can’t happen.
Under no circumstances could something like that happen.
I’d expected some resistance, but the intensity was simply too high.
Within my body, malice, demonic energy, and Sun and Moon energy raged like a storm.
In the midst of that horrible agony, as my consciousness grew hazy, I forced my mind to keep moving.
I clenched one fist tightly.
Before I lost consciousness,
the last thing I did was gather every trace of Sun and Moon energy I had and smash it into the elixir that hadn’t yet been fully digested.
*
*
When I came to, I was cleaning up after a meal.
What the hell?
“Jin Sojin, can’t you even do something this simple properly?”
“Huh?”
At that razor-sharp, slicing voice, a stupid sound slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it.
Honestly, what a ridiculous voice.
I felt a pang of self-loathing.
More importantly, where the hell was this?
Just a moment ago, I’d been in the training room, cultivating Ilwol Eumyang Singong.
“Haven’t I told you over and over? If the meat doesn’t have every last bit of gamey smell removed, I won’t eat it!!”
The woman with violet hair—Tang Soyeong—spat at me as she glared down.
Look at this bitch.
She must still not have come to her senses, even after getting hit with that thunderous crack to the forehead.
I didn’t discriminate between men and women.
That was what it meant to be a true martial artist of the orthodox path.
If I treated her as a fellow warrior, then gender didn’t matter.
“...Sorry.”
But what came out of my mouth was an apology.
What the hell? Why am I apologizing?
“Always, an apology. The exact same apology!! How many times is this now? Throw this trash away immediately and make it again!!”
If you’re unhappy, then you make it yourself, damn it!!!!
It was food that looked delicious enough.
“...It doesn’t smell bad at all.”
No matter how many times I shouted at it, other words kept coming out instead.
This wasn’t a dream.
There was no damn sense of wrongness.
The first thing I had to do now was figure out the situation.
“So now you’re saying I’m lying?”
“That’s not what I meant....”
“I’m offended. I’m not eating dinner tonight!!”
Tang Soyeong crossed her arms and shouted as if she were issuing some terrifying threat.
Are you insane?
Then don’t eat. Please.
Just starve to death.
“S-sorry, Soyeong. I was wrong. If you don’t eat, your body’s going to suffer, so you really should.”
But, as expected, the words that came out of my mouth were something else entirely.
I had no freedom of speech right now.
What in the hell kind of screwed-up situation is this!!
I wasn’t really the type to swear, and yet the words just came out naturally.
But it didn’t end there.
Smack!
Along with the brisk sound of impact came a stinging pain across my cheek.
......
There’s a saying that when you get too angry, you lose the ability to speak, and this was my first time experiencing such a rare phenomenon.
“Hmph! That’s the punishment I’m giving you. Reflect on your behavior until tomorrow. I’m not eating tonight, so keep that in mind.”
She spun around as though she were some queen and stalked into the tent.
“...Useless.”
I turned my head to look at the chair on the opposite side, where Shin Juha was glaring at me.
If there really were a place like this in hell, it would be absolutely horrifying.
I’d better start living decently from now on.
“A-are you okay? Sojin? Soyeong is really too much sometimes....”
While I was rubbing my stinging cheek, the one with blue hair and snow-white skin walked over to me.
Her face was strangely familiar.
“Thanks for worrying about me. ...Seola. But what’s going on?”
“U-um... well, I want to sleep now.”
If you want to sleep, then just sleep.
Was she asking me to sleep with her, or something?
“Ah! Seola, sorry.... I’ll pitch the tent right away!”
“It’s fine. Sometimes you’re late. Since it’s you, I can let that much slide.”
Han Seola smiled as though granting me a generous favor.
I stopped thinking.
“Jin Sojin.”
Then a familiar voice caught my ear.
Turning my head, I saw a beautiful woman with pink hair walking toward me.
“Jihui! Do you need something?”
“You’re really hopeless, aren’t you? Don’t you think it’s time you tried a little harder?”
Why the hell was I being treated like this?
So that’s it.
I finished piecing together the situation there.
I’d experienced something similar before.
A
heart demon had come for me.
##