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Mount Hua.
A season when plum blossoms should have filled the air, but Mount Hua was thick with the scent of blood.
"Aaaargh!!"
"Block them! I said block them!!"
Red-haired warriors with crimson bands around their heads swung their swords, voices twisted with fury. The sword formation they unfolded bloomed like a single plum blossom.
"Khahahaha!"
A man in martial robes far redder than the warriors'—red as blood itself—swung a violet-stained sword wildly. It was a brutish blade so ruined its original shape was unrecognizable, yet the warriors in crimson robes were helpless before the sword of the Blood Sword Ghost.
"Martial Uncle! Snap out of—kyaaak!!"
"I am not your martial uncle!!"
The Blood Sword Ghost split a martial artist clean in two, lengthwise. So fierce was his Sword Qi that the warrior wasn't merely cut vertically—his very bones were sliced apart in a single stroke.
"U, uwaaah!!"
One young man died a death too brutal. The warriors near him swung their swords, their eyes bleeding with rage.
"Vengeance for our senior brother!!"
"Die, traitor!"
Plum blossom fragrance bloomed from the warriors' swords. The Illusion Swords they simultaneously unleashed fanned out so widely it was as if dozens of blades were thrusting in at once.
"Hmph!"
But the Blood Sword Ghost merely sneered and swung his sword in a single wide arc.
Where the Mount Hua Sect's martial artists bloomed plum blossom fragrance, from the Blood Sword Ghost's sword bloomed corpse flowers thick with the stench of blood.
Petals, incomparably more numerous than plum blossoms, burst forth in an instant and raked across the bodies of the Mount Hua warriors.
Pshuuuut---!!
Fountains of blood erupted all over their bodies. The three warriors who had swung their swords crying for vengeance collapsed to the ground, bleeding from at least ten places each, without inflicting a single wound.
Sereureu.
The warriors' blood soaked the earth. The ground of Mount Hua was drenched in the blood of warriors meant to protect Mount Hua, Shaanxi, and the Central Plains.
"Hahaha! How weak you are, Mount Hua! Was it to raise mere warriors like these that you cast me out?!"
The Blood Sword Ghost, his white martial robes now dyed crimson, burst into deranged laughter as he shook the blood from his sword. Still cackling, he slaughtered the warriors forming the sword formation.
"Senior brother, please!!"
"I am not your senior brother!!"
Senior brothers and junior brothers who had once shared joy and sorrow. Martial nephews he had once taught and praised, urging them to achieve greatness. And the martial artists of Mount Hua who had once treasured one another as family.
"I have... come as this Blood Ghost Sword, to take my revenge!!"
Chijik, jijijik.
The voice was hard to hear. I was clearly watching the Blood Ghost Sword from behind through the eyes of a Blood Jiangshi, yet I could not make out his name.
"Truly incomprehensible. The way martial artists obsess over the position of Sect Leader."
Right beside me, the Blood Cult Leader murmured. Her hair was brighter than Mount Hua's plum blossoms yet red as blood, and it rippled as she turned her body toward me.
"What do you think? As one who has already devoured nearly ten sect leaders."
The Blood Cult Leader asked me. She posed the question knowing better than anyone that I could give no answer.
Sect Leader.
If someone stronger than me became Sect Leader, I could fully accept it.
If someone stronger but of poor character became Sect Leader, I could assist from their side and help them walk the right path.
But if someone weaker than me became Sect Leader... acceptance would be difficult.
"The Sect Leader is the representative of a martial sect. Ultimately, whoever takes it is bound to handle only troublesome and irritating affairs, yet murim stakes its life on the position. Despite it being a seat only one can ever hold."
The Blood Cult Leader clicked her tongue.
"And so those who fail to become Sect Leader inevitably run amok. Claiming decades of their lives have been betrayed."
Countless corpses lined both sides of our advancing path, and the one who had caused this killing calamity was, the Blood Sword Ghost slaughtering Mount Hua's warriors before our eyes.
One who had once been a Maehwa Swordman and rose as a candidate for Sect Leader.
But one who was defeated at the final moment, losing to another rival.
"And on top of that, a woman was involved. So as long as we exploit his petty vengefulness, we can use him as our puppet."
The Blood Cult Leader sneered at the Blood Sword Ghost. The Blood Women following the Blood Cult Leader also poured scorn upon the Blood Sword Ghost.
"Ridiculous. It was never his to begin with."
"He lost the Sect Leader position himself in a martial match, and he never won the woman's heart in the first place."
"Fufu, and thanks to that, we can simply watch and annihilate Mount Hua, can't we?"
The Blood Women laughed and chattered among themselves like ladies out to view flowers, kicking corpses aside with their feet.
As befitting madwomen who had willingly entered the Blood Cult and gladly sought to become sacrifices for the Moon Woman, they possessed not even the barest shred of human decency.
"It's about time for the Mount Hua Sect to emerge."
"Cult Leader, I report."
A man draped entirely in black appeared and knelt before the Blood Cult Leader. He shot me a look of open loathing, then lowered his head to the Blood Cult Leader.
"The Murim Alliance and the Demonic Cult have dispatched relief forces. From the Murim Alliance, the remaining Taoists of the Wudang Sect and an apostate monk of Shaolin, and from the Demonic Cult, the Heavenly Way Alliance, led by Blade Demon of the Flying Heaven Three Demons, is coming."
"Estimated arrival?"
"They will arrive within half a day."
"...Then the games end here."
Clap.
The Blood Cult Leader clapped her hands. The Blood Women, already waiting, each seized their weapons and rushed forward.
"I shall block the Murim Alliance."
"Good. Take the entire Blood Shadow Unit and go. Beware the apostate monk's Rakshasa Heavenly Palm. I do not wish to lose the Blood Shadow Unit yet."
"As you command. ...Cult Leader, your escort?"
At the Blood Shadow Unit Leader's words, the Blood Cult Leader sneered and flicked a finger into the air.
Then my body moved like a flash of light and flicked the Blood Shadow Unit Leader's forehead with a finger.
Kwa-----ang!!
The Blood Shadow Unit Leader flew away and tumbled across the ground. As he rolled down the slope, the Blood Cult Leader shook her head and grasped my hand.
"The mightiest escort is right here, and yet you dare forget your place and covet this position."
The Blood Cult Leader tilted her head up toward me.
"Shall we go and claim the Great Mother of Mount Hua—young lady Seon Ju-hee—who is said to have raised so many Maehwa Swordmen? A married woman... uheuheut."
The Blood Cult Leader wore a face alight with childlike glee as she laughed.
"Witness the power of Mount Hua!!"
"Shit, all of those are Maehwa Swordmen?"
That had been exactly one ke before the One Hundred Eight Maehwa Swordmen appeared.
* * *
Chirr.
A time when night birds cry. Deep night, before the sun had yet risen.
I slowly opened my eyes. Before I had collapsed as if losing consciousness, I had clearly been held in the world's softest embrace, but now my face rose and fell as if I floated on a sea of gentle waves.
Haa, haa, haa.
A warm breath tickled my bangs. At the same time, I realized where the tip of my member was touching.
"...I seem to have put you in an awkward position."
"Not at all, my lord."
Sagong Hee greeted me with tear-soaked eyes. Thoroughly disheveled, her entire body was drenched in sweat. Some of it was from my body heat, but her own body had also grown heated.
"How long was I unconscious?"
"About one two-hour watch."
"...I was out for quite a while."
One two-hour watch. If someone had entered, it could have been disastrous. I first disentangled myself from Sagong Hee's body.
"Ah...."
Sagong Hee let out a moan in a disappointed voice. She must have endured hardship for a long while, unable to do this or that because of me, yet when I actually pulled away, she began murmuring self-consciously.
"I wanted to keep watching you sleep...."
"Watch later, later."
Even before Sagong Hee ascended as the Taiji Flower at the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering, she had hardly ever seen me sleeping.
Before bed, she always cultivated Internal Energy with me, then collapsed into sleep as if fainting at the peak, and woke in the morning. Since I always woke before her, Sagong Hee had almost never seen me asleep.
Showing one's sleeping form means being exposed in a defenseless state, even if only for a brief moment.
In other words, I trusted Sagong Hee completely, and that was why I could fall asleep in her arms.
After my battle with the Sword Immortal, I had dragged a body unable to even properly use the Body Transformation Art and sought out Sagong Hee's arms. That was because the most trustworthy embrace in all of Shaanxi was by Sagong Hee's side.
"It seems you'll see this a few more times. I expended an enormous amount of Internal Energy."
"So it seems. Your qi appears greatly depleted. If you had brought a woman along, this wouldn't have happened...."
"Right. I fought a life-and-death duel with a Profound Realm master."
"......Pardon?"
At my words, Sagong Hee's expression turned cold. Her body's heat began to cool in an instant. I grasped her hand so the surprised woman could calm herself, then explained the full story from beginning to end.
"...So, to gift me a fourth sword, you attempted to retrieve a Mount Hua sword, and you fought a duel with a reclusive eccentric guarding that sword?"
"To summarize, yes."
I recounted the battle against the Sword Immortal without omitting a single detail. Sagong Hee was greatly shocked when she heard that I had offered my neck twice and expended so much energy I nearly destroyed my own ankle before I finally managed to sever his arm.
"My lord, are you injured anywhere...! Shall I call a physician?"
"I'm fine for now. I am Physician Mubung for a reason. Would one who treats incurable diseases be unable to cure his own?"
"They say a renowned physician cannot cure his own illness."
"I am a Divine Doctor, so it's fine."
Time and Internal Energy were the issues; the Internal Energy still remaining in my body was sufficient to heal a broken ankle and treat the wounds on my neck.
Moreover, since I had also drawn in the Yang Energy of the Violet Mist Divine Art, there was no reason to even mention it.
"Right now, my body holds the Yang Energy of the Violet Mist Divine Art. In terms of Martial Power... roughly 20 years of Inner Energy. It's overflowing as if about to burst, which is proving troublesome. Heuheu."
I could consume it all, or I could store it well in my Dantian and use it at a critical moment. There was another method too, though it was awkward to discuss with Sagong Hee.
"Then since you defeated the Sword Immortal, can you now use Mount Hua Sect's martial arts at the Profound Realm level? Since you also obtained the Internal Energy of the Violet Mist Divine Art."
"...Hm? That's not the case."
"......What?"
Sagong Hee and I stared blankly at each other and tilted our heads.
"My lord, when you absorb an opponent's Internal Energy, don't you also absorb their martial arts?"
"Similar, but completely different. Did you perhaps think the secret to my strength was something like the Absorption Technique?"
"......Ah."
Sagong Hee covered her mouth with her hand and looked away. I laughed at her obvious verbal slip.
"Heuheu, was that the 'deduction' you girls made?"
"......It's a secret from the other two."
"Alright, alright."
I stroked Sagong Hee's hair. She had pretended otherwise in front of me, but they were indeed quite curious about the fundamentals of my martial arts.
"Defeat me in a martial match, and I'll tell you."
"So you're telling us not to even think about it unless we reach the Profound Realm?"
"Correct."
Even Paeng Yuwol, who knows the entire basis of my actions, does not know about the regression. I will likely reveal it someday, but that day is not now.
"Don't try to find out. You'll get hurt."
"But I'm curious."
"Which is why I said I'll tell you if you beat me in a duel."
Sometimes the unease of not knowing the truth is far better than the despair after learning it.
- There's more than one case where knowledge becomes poison. If your first girlfriend, who you thought was innocent, turned out to be a master of Bedroom Arts who sucked your balls and asshole on the first night... wouldn't curiosity exist, but be better left buried without needing to know? Hm? What kind of things she did with her ex-boyfriend....
The Blood Cult Leader had said so. Knowledge is power, but sometimes knowledge is poison.
"You just relax and enjoy yourself. Understand?"
"Yes, my lord. I will fully enjoy myself from now on."
Sagong Hee laid her head on my thigh.
"...My lord, but may I rest my eyes for just a moment?"
"Ha, to say that after already resting your head."
I tidied Sagong Hee's disheveled bangs and adjusted my position so she could sleep comfortably.
"Sleep well."
"My lord, I fought a match very diligently today. ...You're not really going to just put me to sleep, are you?"
"Heh?"
Sagong Hee rested her head sideways on my thigh, her eyes sparkling. Just as I was exhausted from fighting the Sword Immortal, her Internal Energy was also near its bottom from wielding the Sword Control Art against the Maehwa Swordmen.
"......Lift your head for a moment."
I slightly bent the leg Sagong Hee lay on so she could rest more comfortably, then twisted my body.
"A reward. But will you be alright? Doing it with your mouth."
"You're injured. I'll serve you with my mouth just as well as below."
Sagong Hee pulled down my pants, grasped the rigidly erect member inside, and smiled.
"I'll enjoy this meal."
Sagong Hee pulled my member downward and took a large mouthful. I pulled her blanket up to drape over her shoulders, then entrusted everything to her.
Slurp, slurp.
Sagong Hee began slowly licking my member. I whispered into her ear in a very low voice.
"Hee."
"Hahm, what is it?"
"Outside... someone is listening."
"......."
Sagong Hee froze with the organ still in her mouth.