The Blood Cult's Way of Negotiation
"BWAHAHA! I expected great things from this so-called Immortal Realm, and this is all they amount to? Nothing but children who don't even know how to circulate their own qi!"
Beneath the sky of Beijing, the Mad Blood Venerable's crazed laughter rolled out across the city.
At a single wave of his hand, crimson sword energy came swirling down, and China's Awakened were reduced to bloody mist before they could even manage a proper scream.
To those who had relied solely on awakening powers that had appeared one day without warning, the strength of the Mad Blood Venerable—whose internal energy had reached its very pinnacle—was simply beyond anything they could comprehend.
"I-It's impossible. How are we supposed to fight monsters like that...?"
One of the Chinese Awakened murmured the words without realizing it, his eyes fixed on the Mad Blood Venerable.
For the first time, they were facing an opponent on an entirely higher plane than the returnees from Murim—Namgoong Hwi, the so-called Sword Emperor, and the rest of them, once hailed as the pride of China.
Of course, those very returnees, even fighting in concert, were at that moment being pushed back single-handedly by one man.
"Where do you think you're running, you rats?"
In that moment, Kang Samsik was carving through the battlefield like a fish in water.
The Murim Branch Association returnees who had surrounded him had already scattered in every direction, scrambling desperately just to evade his strikes.
Cheongseong's sword master and Namgoong Hwi—the self-styled Sword Emperor—were already rolling on the ground vomiting blood, while the remaining returnees hurriedly put distance between themselves and Samsik, shoving the Awakened around them into the line of fire as shields.
"GRAAAAGH!"
The scream tore from Namgoong Hwi's own mouth.
Someone had just stomped down on the small of his back as he tried to sneak a glance at an opening and make his escape.
"That's far enough, Blood Demon Guard. Hold position."
The man pinning Namgoong Hwi to the ground was none other than Hyeolnoe.
At Hyeolnoe's command, the slaughter unfolding all around them stopped as though a switch had been flipped.
In the Cult Leader's absence, after all, the word of the Military Strategist took absolute precedence.
"Hyeolnoe. What is the meaning of this? We were only just beginning to enjoy ourselves."
The Mad Blood Venerable strode over, his face full of complaint.
But Hyeolnoe merely gazed with calm eyes at the Chinese Awakened still fleeing for their lives.
"Mad Blood Venerable. Compose yourself. We are not a pack of blood-mad lunatics, are we?"
"Hmph. And yet they were the ones who struck first at members of our Cult—"
"I am aware. But have we not already collected payment enough for that?"
At Hyeolnoe's words, the Mad Blood Venerable glanced around with a sheepish look.
It had not been all that long, and yet a considerable number of Chinese Awakened already lay dead.
"Pointless slaughter will only hinder the Cult's settlement here."
Just as the Mad Blood Venerable's brow began to furrow at Hyeolnoe's firm pronouncement, a warrior of the Blood Shadow Squad—already returned from scouting the surroundings on Hyeolnoe's orders—prostrated himself before him and delivered his report.
"Military Strategist. A short distance from here, we have confirmed a cluster of palace halls resembling the Imperial City of Murim."
A faint smile touched Hyeolnoe's lips at the report.
If there was a place shaped like an imperial palace, the powerful of this world would most likely be gathered there.
"Did you hear that, Mad Blood Venerable? Our first priority is to meet with the Cult Leader. Until then, we have no need to make unnecessary enemies."
"...So what exactly are you proposing we do now?"
"What else, in a place like this? We have demonstrated overwhelming power. Now, we negotiate."
Hyeolnoe's logic was simple.
They had proven their strength to their opponents; now they would grip those opponents by the throat and extract whatever they wanted.
It was a method that had worked on Murim and the imperial court alike—there was no reason it should fail here.
"Well, well. Look what we caught. Heh heh heh."
Just then, Kang Samsik came strolling over, snickering down at Namgoong Hwi sprawled beneath Hyeolnoe's feet.
Needless to say, Kang Samsik felt nothing in particular toward the man calling himself the Sword Emperor.
In Murim, his head had been severed in the space of a single breath, and here, the man's attacks had offered nothing more than a rare novelty after so long.
"Mad Dog. Do you know this one?"
"Ah. He's from Murim. They seem to call his kind 'returnees' around here."
At Kang Samsik's words, Hyeolnoe looked down at the man beneath his feet with newfound interest.
Plans for how best to make use of him were already flashing rapidly through his mind.
"On another matter—where is the Cult Leader?"
"The Cult Leader? Ah! Allow me to go and inform him that you two have arrived."
"No, no. I'll come along with you, I said."
The Mad Blood Venerable was struck speechless mid-sentence.
A strangely shaped door had materialized out of nothing directly in front of Kang Samsik.
"It's a bit of a distance away. I'll deliver my report first and come straight back."
With that, Kang Samsik vanished through the door.
"Hoh. A handy trick."
Watching him disappear in an instant, the Mad Blood Venerable muttered the words without meaning to.
He had spread his qi sense wide across the surroundings, but nowhere could he feel any trace of Kang Samsik's energy.
"Truly a fascinating thing, is it not."
"Hyeolnoe. Did you make out what the Mad Dog just used?"
The Mad Blood Venerable turned to Hyeolnoe, who stood murmuring beside him.
Curiosity and competitive pride were the two traits that defined the man called the Mad Blood Venerable, after all.
"I do not know. However, I never saw him use anything of the sort before he arrived in this world—so it must be an ability gained here, must it not?"
"Oho. Now that's interesting. You mean to say that anyone could gain such a special power in this place?"
The Mad Blood Venerable's eyes gleamed at Hyeolnoe's words.
***
"N-Near-total annihilation? What on earth are you saying?"
In the heart of Beijing, in the underground bunker of Zhongnanhai—the seat of the Party and the nation's leadership—a voice of sheer disbelief echoed off the walls.
Wang Jen, Premier of the State Council and one of the most powerful men in China, was glaring around the room, practically foaming at the mouth.
"Precisely what it sounds like. During the operation launched under Namgoong Hwi the Sword Emperor's command, our forces engaged the enemy. Not only the elite Awakened units deployed to the field but even the Murim Branch Association returnees were routed in full. We are currently confirming the exact extent of the casualties—"
BANG.
Liu Gang, Minister of State Security, keeper of every secret and every safeguard the nation possessed, clamped his mouth shut at the sound of the table being struck.
"How does several hundred of greater China's Awakened get crushed so one-sidedly? No—more to the point, no one ever told me that Namgoong Hwi fellow was preparing an operation like this!"
"...Well, you see, he never informed us precisely either."
"That's what you have to say right now?! However impressive the returnees' prestige may be, how dare they act without the Party's approval!"
"Our apologies. Cheonmuseong said only that they wished to conduct a test regarding the gate that opened over Beijing—"
Liu Gang piled excuse upon excuse, but naturally, none of it could smooth the situation over.
It was true that Cheonmuseong had never given the Party the full picture. But it was equally undeniable that the returnees and Awakened who had gathered in Beijing for the gate rampage had then shown highly suspicious movements. The only reason none of this had ever reached the Party leadership was that Namgoong Hwi's power was not to be trifled with.
"Hah. Premier Wang. That isn't what matters right now."
The one who stepped in to calm Wang Jen was Guo Zhenghua, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission.
As the real power behind the military, even the Premier could not afford to dismiss his words.
"Have you identified the enemy?"
"We're working on it. But according to survivor accounts, their power is completely unlike the mana-based skills of ordinary Awakened. There are reports that their abilities resemble those of the Murim returnees, and further intelligence—still being verified—suggests some connection to those same returnees."
At Liu Gang's report, a chill silence fell over the bunker, as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over the room.
The sword they had been proudest of, the one they had trusted most—Murim and its martial arts—now felt as if it were pointed at their own throats.
"Should we not mobilize the Capital Defense Command? Should we not bury them under every ounce of firepower we have—tanks, missiles, everything?"
"Hah. We already tested that on the Murim returnees. It was next to useless. Nuclear weapons might be another matter."
"The enemy is in the middle of Beijing! And you speak of nukes—are you out of your mind?!"
The underground bunker descended into outright panic.
An enemy none of them had ever imagined had simply dropped into the heart of the nation—no wonder they were reeling from the shock.
"S-Stop them! Who goes there?!"
"GRAAAAAAH!"
At that very moment, gunfire and screams began to intermingle outside the bunker's conference room.
A short while later, the door to the bunker—a space now filled with nothing but the terrified breathing of the Party's leadership—slowly swung open.
"Wh-What...? Where are the bodyguards?"
Premier Wang Jen cried out in horror, but the guards stationed at the bunker entrance were already sprawled across the floor like puppets with their strings cut.
They were not dead—they had merely been knocked unconscious, their blood channels sealed by a single touch.
"Wh-Who are you people?"
It was Guo Zhenghua who managed to collect himself enough to ask.
In response, one of the red-robed men slowly stepped forward.
Yuk Jurim—Blood Night Shadowless, Leader of the Blood Shadow Squad.
The eyes and ears of the Blood Heaven Cult, executor of its most clandestine affairs, pulled down his mask and regarded the Chinese leadership.
"Who is in charge here?"
At Yuk Jurim's question, every gaze among the Chinese leadership turned to Wang Jen.
In the Party hierarchy, after the General Secretary and the President, Premier Wang Jen ranked third.
"...I am."
"Are you the master of the Imperial Palace?"
Wang Jen swallowed hard at the question from the blood-robed man staring him down.
No such person as a "master of the Imperial Palace" existed—but he understood well enough that he was not the one these men were looking for.
"...He is elsewhere at the moment."
"Is that so? Our Cult's Military Strategist wishes to speak with the Emperor of this land."
Wang Jen frowned as he studied the blood-robed man and his blunt manner of speech.
He had never imagined there were people in this world who proposed negotiations like this.
***
"It's Uncle Samsik!"
"Whoa. Uncle, you already went all the way to China and back?"
When I returned home, I found Kang Samsik sitting in the living room.
Spatial movement is way more convenient than I expected.
I looked at him, back far sooner than anticipated, with an expression of interest.
Without that mutant ability, no matter how fast he moved, it would have taken him days longer.
"Cult Leader! I have carried out your orders!"
A vague sense of unease crept over me as I watched Samsik declare this with such confidence.
"Good. Well done. So, who came? Ah—you didn't drag anyone here against their will, did you?"
"Of course not. When I relayed your will exactly as spoken, they all wept tears of gratitude and volunteered."
I forced an awkward laugh at Samsik's theatrics.
Something about him being even more wired than usual kept setting off alarm bells in the back of my mind.
"So who came? No—how many of them came?"
At my question, Samsik flashed a grin full of teeth.
And seeing that grin, I couldn't help but arrive at the obvious conclusion.
He had well and truly screwed up.
"Well, there were quite a lot of them."
"How many?"
Cold sweat trickled down my spine at the proud look on Samsik's face.
If the word lot was coming out of his mouth, it was easy to guess the number blew far past any reasonable standard.
"For now, I sorted out just the advance party—the Blood Demon Guard and the Blood Shadow Squad included, one thousand in total."
"...What? How many?"
My vision blurred as I stared at Samsik's beaming face.
And that was merely the advance party.