Chapter 113: The Evil Blood Cultists (1)
Chapter 113: The Evil Blood Cultists (1)
Generally, the term "Demonic Cult" does not refer to one specific sect; it is closer to a common noun.
Taoism and Buddhism are fundamentally polytheistic, and over their long histories, they have branched out into countless sects. Among them, those sects that were utterly unacceptable by social standards were lumped together and called "Demonic Cults."
Throughout the history of the Central Plains, more than a few sects have been explicitly designated as Demonic Cults in historical records.
While such anti-establishment, deviant pseudo-religions are generally called Demonic Cults, the ones commonly referred to by that name in this era are the Sixth Heaven Esoteric Buddhism—one of the Three Evils Beyond the Great Wall—otherwise known as the Heavenly Demon Cult. They have maintained that name for nearly three hundred years.
Since they have maintained a religious influence described as the strongest in the Outer Martial World beyond the borders of the Han people for so long, other sects had to be called by different names.
Representative examples include the White Lotus Cult, a cell-based terrorist organization, and the Blood Cult, located in the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains of the Southern Barbarians.
Among them, the ones the government officials guard against most are the White Lotus Cultists, while the ones the Orthodox Faction hates most are the Blood Cult.
Located right under the chin of Yunnan, unlike the Heavenly Demon Cult, communication between them and the Central Plains is far too easy. Their unique sorcery cannot be considered an Orthodox Martial Art by any stretch of the imagination. Furthermore, the process of refining their martial arts necessitates a craving for human life, blood, and flesh.
Originally, they called themselves the "Everlasting and Undying Red-Stained Shamans."
This was also known as the "Way of the Red-Stained Shaman."
In the Black Path, they are called the "Red Calamity," and in the Orthodox Faction, they are known as the "Blood Cult."
That was the true identity of Hwi-wol-geom, who was currently acting like a scene out of Parasyte right before my eyes.
*
39. The Evil Blood Cultists
Zhuge Yun’s sorcery proved to be quite effective.
As he waved his fan and recited an incantation, the parasitic Hwi-wol-geom staggered back, letting out a piercing scream.
"Hey, are you okay?"
"Where I got kicked... it hurts...!!"
"You're fine, then."
Murong Cheong stood up unsteadily, clutching her side, and drew her sword. She looked at Hwi-wol-geom’s head—which was boldly displaying a cross-section of a human skull—and made a face as if she were about to vomit.
"Why... why does this kind of thing happen every time I meet you...?"
"I’d like to ask the same thing."
Maybe it was a matter of compatibility. Or perhaps our personalities just clashed. It felt like there was never a clean ending whenever I got involved with her. No, looking back, there was never a clean ending whenever I moved, period. If I thought about it that way, maybe I was the cause.
"This is no time to idle about!"
"No, it’s fine to idle a bit."
"What? What kind of nonsense is that?"
"Well, this is the front yard of the Martial Alliance, isn't it?"
No matter how much of a fool the Alliance Leader’s office might be, and no matter how much of a puppet leader he was with his limbs cut off, as long as he said he would protect me and guide me out of Wuchang, it meant that a corresponding escort had to follow.
This was the reason I hadn't been worried about an ambush in the first place.
Ssssh—!!
The space between the snowflakes turned empty, revealing the night sky.
The immense pressure forced both Zhuge Yun and me to our knees simultaneously. When I looked up, Hwi-wol-geom’s lower body had vanished.
It was a strike on the level of erasing an object from existence. A hole the size of a copper coin was pierced into the ground. The arrow that created that tiny hole had effectively carved half of a martial artist's body out of reality.
Following the void where the snow had disappeared, I turned my head along the trajectory and saw the Murong Family Head lowering his bow atop a distant pavilion.
And then.
"Do not kill it!"
From the corners of the alleys, from atop the walls, and from the roofs of the pavilions, warriors came pouring down.
They were at least First-Rate, and some were even Super Peak masters whose traces of Intent could be felt. Warriors of that caliber poured down all at once like falling petals. Each used different footwork and held different weapons, but they were all dressed in the same martial uniform.
The martial force of the Martial Alliance had arrived.
"Young Master Peng. Are you unharmed?"
"Yes, thanks to you."
"Haha, forgive the delay. This is the third time the same thing has happened within the Alliance today!"
The Alliance warriors were drenched in sweat, as if they had been running all over Wuchang. White steam billowed from their heated bodies.
As the remaining upper half of Hwi-wol-geom’s body squirmed, a faint flash of lightning suddenly pierced his nape.
Squelch!!
Unlike the Murong Family Head’s arrow, this one was barely visible to the naked eye. Setting aside whether one could dodge it if it flew straight at them, the fact that its trace was clearly visible meant...
The Alliance warriors all turned their heads at once.
A young man leaped from a pavilion roof and landed lightly on the ground. The lead warrior spoke to the young man.
"Young Hero Tang. To kill this creature—have you lost your mind? The Strategist’s Department would have had much information to gain from him."
"That thing explodes."
The young man, dressed in deep green robes with pale skin, gave a playful smile and gestured.
"It’s a product recently co-created by the Five Poisons Sect and the Jongri Family. It even contains the secret techniques of the Blood Cult. The outer gates of the Tang Family Fortress were breached by those things."
"It... it explodes?"
As the warriors quickly widened the distance, the young man called Young Hero Tang laughed brightly.
"Don't be so wary. I pierced the secret acupoint and destroyed the core. Besides, what information? How can you kill the dead twice, and what information could you possibly get from a sorcerer's black magic?"
The young man spoke as he strolled toward the corpse. He looked down at the face of Hwi-wol-geom, of which only the upper half remained, and let out a deep sigh.
"Rest in peace, Jang Yeok. I will surely see your revenge through."
He closed Hwi-wol-geom’s staring eyes, lightly tapped the fragmented head to fit it back together, and then turned around. The sadness that had lingered on his face vanished quickly.
"Poison Dragon...!"
"Yes, I was called by that name until yesterday. Pure and Clear Maiden Murong. It is a boundless pleasure to meet the renowned flower of the Murong Family in person. And, Peng Hyeon-hwi..."
The young man approached me and performed a formal bow. By the standards of common sense in the Central Plains, this was far too much etiquette to show a peer or a junior.
While I was flustered, the young man looked up and spoke.
"This Tang owes you his life. The elders of my family have prepared much for you, but since I didn't expect to meet you like this, I haven't prepared anything. Would you please stop by the Tang Family Fortress whenever you can?"
"It is an honor, Senior Tang."
"Senior, you say. Haha! Call me whatever is comfortable. I am Tang Cheon-seon of the Tang Family."
Poison Dragon Tang Cheon-seon. He was the eldest son of the Poison King Tang Mok-yeol and a rising master who was said to be on the verge of death after being poisoned by the Yin-Yang Twin Gu of the Five Poisons Sect. This young man, who had just passed thirty, was more cheerful and straightforward than I had expected.
He surveyed the chaotic surroundings and shrugged.
"I heard there was a bloodbath in Yunnan, and it seems something has happened to the Diancang Sect as well. I must return to the Tang Family Fortress at dawn tomorrow to prepare, but could you spare some time for the remainder of tonight?"
"Of course. Let us have a drink together."
"I appreciate that."
We headed straight to the guest hall.
The Murong Family Head was visibly bewildered.
Setting aside the fact that a man with injuries severe enough to warrant mandatory hospitalization suddenly went out for a late-night drink, and that his daughter, upon finding out, ran out while beating her chest in frustration... well, that could happen.
But then, his daughter, her ex-fiancé (whose family was suspected of treason), a direct descendant of the Tang Family, and I all returned together.
Furthermore, in the short time we were out, a new joint product of the Blood Cult-Five Poisons Sect-Jongri Family trio had suddenly popped up.
Even as I said it, it didn't make sense to me, so it must have been even harder for someone of the Murong Patriarch's age to understand.
Tang Cheon-seon, who had begun to form a proper rapport with me and had started speaking semi-formally, explained the situation.
"We’ve been calling those things 'Blood People' or 'Blood Jiangshi.' We don't know what they call them, and a proper analysis hasn't been completed yet, so it's just a temporary name."
"It's intuitive."
"That's our family style."
Tang Cheon-seon laughed refreshingly and sipped his warm tea. Murong Cheong, who hadn't grasped the situation at all, was pouring tea with a somewhat dazed expression.
She’s a good kid.
"It’s already widely known that the Five Poisons Sect recently tried to plot against the Tang Family Fortress. You played a part in that as well."
"Yes, Senior."
"Thanks to you, we were able to settle things quickly. In the process, my insignificant life was saved as well. There were two main reasons why we suffered such heavy losses in the initial battle."
The Five Poisons Sect is considered the sect most proficient in poison arts in the world, excluding the Sichuan Tang Family. The important part here is "excluding the Sichuan Tang Family."
Even stripping away the typical Han Chinese pride, the Sichuan Tang Family was simply the undisputed number one poison sect in the world.
Poison arts have a fatal flaw. It’s not the difficulty of poisoning someone, but the existence of immunity and antidotes. To put it simply, an antidote for a poison art is equivalent to a counter-formula for a martial art. The moment an antidote is completed, that entire line of poison arts is considered completely countered.
That was the reason the Five Poisons Sect could never cross the outer gates of the Tang Family Fortress. No matter what combination of poisons they brought from across the world, the Tang Family would create an antidote far too quickly. It was like playing rock-paper-scissors against someone who just shoots you with a gun. They were simply no match.
Therefore, when the Five Poisons Sect attempted to plot against the Tang Family again, they used two secret strategies.
"One was the Yin-Yang Twin Gu, and the other was these Blood People."
"I understand the Yin-Yang Twin Gu, but..."
While Gu poison is traditionally notorious, the Blood People were a bit ambiguous. Hwi-wol-geom was a clearly proven master of the Peak Realm. However, when he attacked me, he couldn't use his Middle Dantian at all. He couldn't perform the sophisticated martial arts expected of the Peak Realm, his physical axis was severely distorted, and he couldn't even achieve Sword Qi Hurt Humans, let alone Astral Energy.
In other words, creating a Blood Person of that level requires many steps.
I wanted to describe it as an extremely inefficient use of human resources.
At my words, Tang Cheon-seon shook his head gently.
"The problem isn't each individual Blood Person, but 'who' becomes a Blood Person. Aside from a slight worsening of their complexion, it’s extremely difficult to detect any signs beforehand."
"Ah, that would certainly be a problem."
"Why? What's the point of degrading a Peak Realm master to a First-Rate level?"
"You can plant spies."
No one knew that Hwi-wol-geom had transitioned into a Blood Cult puppet. Even if we assumed the chance of discovery was low because he wasn't accompanied by his sect elders, the fact that the Sichuan martial artists who were usually close to him, including Tang Cheon-seon, didn't notice is significant.
This meant that the Blood People created in this way possessed a minimum level of rational judgment and conversational ability.
In short, this was nothing short of a brainwashing app.
A friend you were close with until just a moment ago becomes a Blood Cult spy overnight, enters your walls, and throws open the gates. And to top it off, they even have a self-destruct move as a final struggle pattern.
"In the final moment, when a Blood Person detonates their body, anyone exposed to the blood fragments will be infected with a fairly potent Dragon Blood Poison. There are plenty of antidotes, and anyone at the First-Rate level could shake it off with simple treatment and meditation, but..."
"If such things exploded all over the place, the damage to your family members must have been immense."
"Exactly. Furthermore, until we grasped the situation, we didn't know the true identity of the Blood People, so we had to suspect our own family members of betrayal."
The Murong Family Head, who had been listening to the story, set down his teacup with a clack and spoke.
"The Zhuge Family has cut their tail."
I couldn't help but agree with those words. Zhuge Yun also seemed to have fully grasped the situation, as he lowered his head gloomily. Only Tang Cheon-seon, who knew nothing of the Zhuge Family's situation, and Murong Cheong, who just didn't know what was going on, were tilting their heads in confusion.
"There were recently circumstances where the Jinju Eon Family joined hands with the Jongri Family. Maiden Murong and I were directly involved in that situation, and the Murong Family Head personally came to Wuchang to settle the matter."
"I see..."
"And the Zhuge Family is behind it. It is clear they are at least assisting. We intended to resolve this matter in earnest as soon as the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering ended, but..."
The disappearance of the guards inside the Martial Alliance when the guest hall was burned, and the Peak masters from the Chongqing Ten Thousand Ghosts Alliance who intruded that night—if you followed their tracks, an influential figure within the Alliance was bound to emerge. And if you dug up a figure of that stature, their tail would surely be caught.
The Zhuge Family needed to kill me at the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering. If they had, the situation would have immediately escalated into a Righteous-Demonic War, and minor incidents could have been boldly covered up.
However, since this was thwarted by the Little Arhat's unexpected behavior, the Zhuge Family's next move was truly remarkable.
"I heard from the Alliance warriors that this has happened three more times today. What do you think that means?"
Even the Tang Family was pushed to the point of suspecting their own people of betrayal before they fully understood the nature of the Blood People. Even if the members of the Sichuan Tang Family were to testify now, if the Zhuge Family advocated for "caution," additional investigations would inevitably take more time.
During that period, the Zhuge Family would erase their own traces while simultaneously wielding the frame of "traitors who joined the Blood Cult" like a family heirloom.
It was a new scheme activated the moment they gave up on protecting the Jinju Eon Family. Since the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering ended just this afternoon, it meant they had completed and pushed through a scheme of this magnitude in a mere half-day.
Now, the Martial Alliance would have to spend some time searching for Blood People within its ranks.
‘If the bloodbath in Yunnan was an uprising by the Blood Cult, and if it was the Zhuge Family’s intention to turn the attention of the Three Venerables of the World in that direction...’
The Zhuge Family wants a Righteous-Demonic War, and the Jinju Eon Family wants to hide their own shame in the midst of it and bury it forever. Since the objective was clear, it wasn't difficult to reverse-engineer the subsequent moves one by one.
‘This means the Zhuge Family and the Jinju Eon Family have joined hands with the Chongqing Ten Thousand Ghosts Alliance, the Five Poisons Sect, and even the Blood Cult.’
The Chongqing Ten Thousand Ghosts Alliance's range of activity covers a wide area including Sichuan and Yunnan, and the Blood Cult's sphere of influence is the vast territory stretching from the Kingdom of Đại Việt to Yunnan. In other words, if those two joined hands, it meant Yunnan and Sichuan were surrounded.
And if the Zhuge Family, who held the Strategist’s Department in their grip, were to add just a little "seasoning" to this fact...
‘They could control the speed at which the news of the Sichuan martial world's destruction spreads throughout the Central Plains.’
The Beggar Immortal has already left for Yunnan. Even before this, the Beggars' Sect was closer to a cell-based organization than a single unified group. This is because the Beggars' Sect is essentially a community of local beggars. While they had a sense of belonging to the same sect, they didn't have organic relationships like other martial sects.
In such a massive landmass, that was impossible from the start. In an era without telephones, satellites, or the internet, the idea of a local community of beggars having a nationwide communication network was closer to a delusion.
Therefore, the Beggars' Sect specialized in creating "rumors" rather than collecting "precise information." If they could just lend a hand to those local branches, it wouldn't be difficult for the Zhuge Family to use the name of the Martial Alliance to delay information from the Sichuan Beggars' Sect while the Beggar Immortal was absent.
If they brought disinformation and false reports to the Central Plains martial world, considering the time it would take to verify the truth...
‘Erasing the Sichuan martial world wouldn't be entirely impossible.’
The aftermath would inevitably lead to a Great Sect War. A theater of war on the scale of a Righteous-Demonic War, where the full power of the Martial Alliance would be concentrated, would be formed near Sichuan and Yunnan. The Zhuge Family would, in the end, achieve what they desired.
‘Terrifying.’
The fact that someone capable of making such a grand move—someone sufficiently cunning and brilliant—was leading the situation using every card at their disposal.
Discussing the world in our generation was enough with just a single sword and two fists. But those who truly discussed the world wielded thousands, tens of thousands of swords, and regarded the hilts in their hands not as human lives, but as pieces on a Go board.
The chaotic era of heroes rising from all corners of the world was coming to an end. Now, a turbulent era was arriving, where those heroes would entangle themselves for their own interests.