Chapter 91
Chapter 91
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 91
Chapter Title: Welcome, Master of the Blood Demon Divine Art (2)
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Let's turn back the clock a bit to the afternoon of the day Peng Wol and Kang Yun's sparring match took place.
Young Ho-kyeong racked her brain while watching Kang Yun's match, trying to pinpoint the source of that nagging sensation tickling the back of her mind.
'What... is it?'
There was something special about him. It felt like she could figure it out if she dug a little deeper into her memories, but her thoughts always fell short of the truth.
Kang Yun's attacks were relentless. Even as Peng Wol's saber kept blocking him, there was a tenacious drive in how he pressed forward.
He even attempted crude street-thug moves, like grabbing at collars or coat hems.
Peng Wol thwarted them midway, so he never actually pulled them off, but they were plain as day to her transcendent eyes.
[What do you make of him?]
The warrior standing guard beside her pondered for a moment before replying.
[He seems to have an incredibly strong desire for victory.]
He too had noticed the persistence in Kang Yun's attacks. Still, it was a cautious, neutral assessment, clearly mindful of her reaction.
But that alone didn't quite capture it.
Her puzzlement lingered even after Kang Yun's match ended and another bout followed.
Yet it wasn't an answer to her riddle that resolved it, but an outside factor.
[Young Cult Leader, we've captured a suspicious individual.]
The manor they had rented in its entirety actually belonged to someone who had long since pledged himself to the Ming Cult.
No Ming Cult experts ever came near Shaolin, so it had just been an ordinary manor—until new guests arrived.
"You actually caught him, huh. From the Underground Network?"
"Yes, Young Cult Leader."
The medicine Yeom Cho-hui and the other righteous faction juniors had taken was untraceable once swallowed.
Borrowed from Kunlun Sect elders or famed masters whose arts had leaked out, it would be exposed if checked with the originals, but not right now.
Young Ho-kyeong released the guest's pressure points with a flick of Finger Wind, but from then on, she had to endure words she didn't want to hear.
Pleading for his life, excuses about having no choice—tired of such pointless drivel, she opted to put him to sleep with a jab to the blood vessels.
"You've got all the details, right?"
"Yes, Young Cult Leader."
She had expected someone bold enough to tail the Demonic Cult would have real guts, but disappointment set in as her subordinate explained the situation.
"Kang Yun, was it."
"Shall we dispose of him?"
Young Ho-kyeong waved him off dismissively.
It wasn't some major scheme anyway. Nice if it stayed hidden, no big deal if it didn't.
Just a small act of defiance against her father, the Cult Leader, who had ordered her to quietly scout around Shaolin and come home.
He possessed the power to unify the martial world, yet used the excuse that any dominion would soon crumble, holing up in remote Xinjiang without stirring.
The Blood Demon was equally passive about aiding the Ming Cult, leaving her to merely watch her followers struggle in that barren land.
'If those two lent their strength, we could surely achieve Ming Cult supremacy...'
As that thought looped in her mind and the Blood Demon's face flashed across it, enlightenment struck Young Ho-kyeong.
Kang Yun.
She finally realized who his movements resembled.
The Blood Demon. Blood Demon incarnate. He had to be the master of the Blood Demon Divine Art.
Young Ho-kyeong could only conclude as much.
I felt like I was about to collapse.
If this aura were blasting everywhere, chaos would have erupted already, but the silence meant this vicious pressure was focused solely on me.
'Blood Demon Divine Art...?'
Is she talking about the Ascending Immortal Art? Damn it, how did she sniff it out?
Do Yeo-jung knows nothing!
I mustered my internal energy to resist as best I could, but it was like trying to dam a river with a sandcastle.
Just as I neared my limit, as if reading my mind, the pressure began to ease.
Whether my body had tensed forward mentally or not, the moment it vanished, I stumbled ahead two or three steps before stopping.
"Who...!"
"We're acquainted, aren't we?"
A woman's voice drifted from nearby, blandly casual. It came from Do Yeo-jung's corpse—my disguise.
Where had all those people been hiding? Six or seven of them now stood before me.
"You...!"
Leading them was the noblewoman I'd met before—Yoo Kyung.
"You remember me? Nice to see you again, disciple of the Blood Demon... You are his disciple, right?"
"...I have no idea what you're talking about."
My nerves, stretched to the breaking point, eased slightly at the familiar face. Not completely, of course.
"Don't play dumb. At your age, there's only one heart method that lets you build Daoist internal energy so deeply. The Blood Demon Divine Art."
"Disciples from other sects reach this level too."
"But they can't detect the demonic qi in the Sacred Blood Pill. Am I wrong?"
Sacred Blood Pill? Ah, damn. Yeom Cho-hui. That must be the name of the pill he took. Shouldn't have told him to look into it!
"To sense the demonic qi in a Sacred Blood Pill, you need pure Daoist or Buddhist internal energy at the transcendent realm or higher—no pill-boosted gains."
"..."
"But those heart methods grow agonizingly slowly, no matter how hard you train. That's why they developed elixir refinement techniques."
Even so they could feed low-grade elixirs to untalented disciples, she added with a smile.
"Get it? You're the only one. The only one who noticed the Sacred Blood Pill—and the only one who could."
"Who knows what other heart methods might be out there if you scour the world."
"Maybe, but it wouldn't be something easy to find. Besides, I'm convinced you're the Blood Demon's disciple. You two are too alike."
"...?"
"Your commonality? Martial arts are just a means to an end for both of you. Never the center of your lives."
It was absurd. I couldn't make sense of her nebulous ramblings.
"He's only interested in chasing skirts, not martial arts themselves. He just raised his skills to aid that pursuit."
"...And me?"
"You're only interested in victory. It's obvious from how you use your martial arts. To you, they're merely tools to defeat opponents."
"..."
"They seem different at first glance, but neither of you respects martial arts at all. Don't claim such fighters are common."
Sorry to burst her proud bubble, but even if the conclusion was right, her reasoning was way off.
My master was obsessed with perfecting his arts for ascension, while I only cared about seducing and bedding milfs.
"Two men possessing the world's greatest martial art, the Blood Demon Divine Art, and so alike—how could they not be master and disciple? But I like you more."
The problem with people spouting vague nonsense like this was their insistence that they were right regardless of rebuttals.
I gave up arguing early and asked something else instead.
"...Who the hell are you?"
I could guess roughly. This level of power gap meant only a transcendent expert.
And a woman at that. But the righteous factions had only one official female transcendent: Peng Yeon-hwa.
High chance she was from an unorthodox sect. But I'd heard their women used whips...?
"Oh, right—I never introduced myself."
Yoo Kyung, sword at her waist, crossed her arms below her chest and introduced herself.
"I'm the second daughter of the Ming Cult Leader and Young Cult Leader, Young Ho-kyeong."
She leaned in close, thrusting her face right up to my half-bowed one.
"Fancy becoming mine?"
Damn, those tits.
"No can do."
As the rejection hit her straight in the face, her subordinates reached for their sword hilts—only for Young Ho-kyeong to wave them off.
"Not that you hate the idea?"
"A disciple joining another faction without his master's permission? Ridiculous."
"So you're not denying it."
"If you're really the Ming Cult's Young Cult Leader, no need to hide it."
Young Ho-kyeong slightly released her sealed demonic qi. The man's face twisted at once.
"I'll retract that 'if you're really' part."
"Pfft."
Young Ho-kyeong chuckled, resealing her qi. She found it amusing how he spoke so bluntly yet yielded so readily.
"If your master objects, then what?"
"Depends on how I feel at the time, doesn't it? If I'm tempted, I'll follow even if it means sneaking behind his back. If not, I won't."
Young Ho-kyeong burst into laughter at the answer. Her subordinates' flustered faces only made her laugh harder.
"So, dangle a carrot if you want me under you?"
"What every organization head does."
"Could always use the whip to make you obey."
"My master would snap that whip first."
Her subordinates flushed with embarrassment and anger, but the young man's calm retort impressed Young Ho-kyeong enough to nod.
"Fine, then come to our cult headquarters first."
"...Pardon?"
"You have to see the headquarters to know what carrots I can offer, right?"
Elated at the prospect of recruiting the Blood Demon's disciple, Young Ho-kyeong pondered what to give him.
'Our cult's vast collection of martial manuals? Nah, he doesn't need those. Elixirs...? Money... he'd like money...'
"As much as it pains me to say it, my master gave me an order. I have to fulfill it."
"An order?"
Young Ho-kyeong scowled. Why act like he was coming along, only to back out now?
"Why do you think I'm operating among the righteous factions? To carry out my master's command."
"Hmm..."
It rang true enough to make her hesitate.
Even as a transcendent expert, interfering with the Blood Demon's affairs felt awkward.
"It won't take long, will it...?"
"It'll take a while."
Suspecting a lie, she scrutinized him closely but detected no signs.
No shifty eyes, irregular breathing, or twitching facial muscles.
In the end, she had no choice but to compromise.
"Then later... promise you'll visit our headquarters someday."
To Young Ho-kyeong, Kang Yun wasn't just personally appealing—he was the bridge to draw in the Blood Demon for Ming Cult supremacy.
"...Sure."
"You have to come. Or I'll hunt you down."
Young Ho-kyeong laid down the threat.
He was someone she absolutely couldn't let slip away, a potential key to saving her followers suffering in barren Xinjiang.
She'd let him go for now, but if he didn't show in a year, she'd return to the Central Plains to seize him.
Even if it meant clashing with the righteous factions and spilling blood.