The Heavenly Demon Goes to See the Plum Blossoms (12)
The area outside the sect building was in utter chaos.
“Sect Leader! What do you mean you collaborated with the Blood Sect?!”
“This place was supposed to be part of the righteous path! How did things come to this?!”
“Come out and explain yourselves, you bastards!”
Outsiders who had learned—by whatever means—that Hwasan had joined hands with the Blood Sect were demanding answers from anyone connected to the sect. Their fury ran deep. Ever since Hwaryeong’s broadcast revealed that staying in Hwasan might cost them their lives, the vast majority had already evacuated. Those still inside the mountain were the original players who had stood with Hwasan since its reconstruction at the very start of Hwaryong Muin. They had poured their entire in-game lives into the sect.
These were the people who took genuine pride in having rebuilt a crumbling righteous faction with their own two hands. Now they stood before the sect gates prepared to die, voices raw with accusation. Perhaps their desperate cries finally reached the right ears. The doors of the main building swung open, and the Hwasan Sect Leader appeared alongside his elders.
“Sect Leader! Give us an answer!”
“Did you betray us?”
“I have not betrayed you.”
The Sect Leader’s tone was flat, almost bored. Yet not a single person present believed him. The proof of Hwasan’s collusion with the Blood Sect had already spread far and wide.
“Lying to the very end.”
“Lies? What lies have I told?”
“Everything coming out of your mouth right now is a lie!”
“I spoke only the truth. I never betrayed any of you—because from the beginning, I never considered you my comrades.”
The moment those words left the Sect Leader’s lips, the elders behind him drew their swords in unison.
“You filth!”
“How dare you call yourselves righteous warriors after this!”
The players responded by pulling out their own weapons. They too had spent years honing their martial skills. Like any dedicated Hwaryong Muin player, they had chased nothing but raw strength. While their realms might still fall short, their tempered bodies were now a match for the elders’.
Yet the battle was one-sided from the start. The Hwasan players could do nothing against the elders’ blades. It was only natural. The very elders who had taught them martial arts for years now stood against them. Matching bodies alone could never bridge that gap in technique and experience.
What stood out was that the elders refused to kill. They struck to incapacitate, knocking players unconscious rather than taking their lives. One by one, the number of fighters dwindled. They had already been at a disadvantage when numbers were even; now the outcome was painfully obvious.
The very last player left standing was Park Yeon. A veteran who had always fought at the forefront of Hwaryong Muin raids, he used every trick and technique he possessed in a final, frantic struggle. But he was not strong enough to withstand the overwhelming violence of superior numbers. Anger burned in the eyes of a man whose gentle nature had never let him do anything but smile.
“I pray you meet a truly miserable end.”
With those final words, Park Yeon closed his eyes. A heavy silence settled over Hwasan.
The silence was broken by a man’s languid voice.
“Well, you’ve certainly made things clear. Thank you for your hard work.”
The Blood Cult Leader, possessing a jiangshi’s body, swept his gaze across the interior of the Hwasan Sect before approaching its remaining members with a soft chuckle.
“No matter how much you dislike outsiders, I never imagined you would offer up comrades you spent years living and dying with as sacrifices without the slightest hesitation.”
His words dripped with open mockery. He was asking whether the man felt no guilt at all for betraying people who had struggled alongside him to rebuild Hwasan for years.
“They were never my comrades.”
The Hwasan Sect Leader ground his teeth as he answered. The Blood Cult Leader let out another quiet laugh.
“Ah, of course. My mistake. Forgive me.”
“Enough pointless chatter. Speak of the plan.”
“As you wish.”
The Blood Cult Leader explained. He would now activate the grand formation the Blood Sect had installed across the entire mountain. By offering every living thing on Hwasan as a sacrifice, they would ascend to a realm so lofty that ordinary eyes could not even bear to look upon it. The great cause they had longed for would finally be achieved. The long-cherished wish they had carried since the day of the Heavenly Demon’s assault would be fulfilled.
Yet even at that declaration, the people of Hwasan did not rejoice. It was because of what the Blood Cult Leader said next.
“As you already know, once the plan begins, all the life force across the mountain will converge into a single person. Not only the outsiders but even the esteemed elders will be unable to endure it. Only one person will survive. Have you chosen who that will be?”
“I have.”
“Who?”
“Me.”
At the Hwasan Sect Leader’s answer, grief clouded the faces of the others. It was not because they feared death. They grieved because all the burden and sin would now fall on one man’s shoulders. They grieved because they could imagine the agonizing, thorn-filled path that person would have to walk. No one could bring themselves to speak.
“Shall we begin immediately?”
“Yes.”
“Everyone.”
The Hwasan Sect Leader’s voice drew every elder’s gaze.
“You have all worked hard until now.”
They were comrades who had survived the massacre at Hwasan. They were men who had continued living only because they could not yet die for their revenge.
“I will handle what remains. Rest easy.”
“We will wait for you in hell.”
“Please come at your leisure.”
“Forgive us for going first.”
Fragmented farewells spilled from the elders’ lips. The Sect Leader listened in silence, then gave a single nod and drew his sword.
“I will carve the name of Hwasan into the Heavenly Demon without fail.”
The blood art took effect instantly. The sinister energy blanketing the sect grounds began forcibly drawing out the vitality of every living being inside it. Players who had been clinging to life closed their eyes one after another. With each new offering, the sinister energy swelled larger.
The elders were no exception. Their mastery of internal energy slowed the drain, but they too were slowly dying. Even so, not one of them showed any sign of panic. They sat in proper meditation, waiting for death without the slightest tremor.
The Sect Leader burned the image of each elder’s peaceful, closed-eyed face into his memory, then assumed the same meditative posture. Thick, heavy sinister energy began flowing into his body.
He had accepted such energy through human sacrifices many times before, yet this was on an entirely different scale. Absorbing the lives of a few people and swallowing the life force of an entire mountain were worlds apart. If he lost focus even for a moment, the energy would sweep his consciousness away.
In that precarious state, the memory that rose in the Hwasan Sect Leader’s mind was the day the Heavenly Demon had attacked. The ceaseless screams. The stench of blood so thick it eventually became imperceptible. The countless corpses littering the ground. The face of the previous sect leader he had tried but failed to protect. And the vow of revenge they had all sworn together at dawn the next day.
What now resided within him was no longer his alone. It was the collective life force of the entire mountain he had called home. Therefore he could not lose consciousness. The moment he did, it would not be only him who perished.
Gradually, the dense sinister energy seeped deeper into his body.
As time passed, the sinister energy that had flooded the mountain gradually receded. While I watched in leisure, a message arrived. It was from Park Yeon.
“So you didn’t run after all.”
“No, I didn’t.”
There was still time, so I asked him to tell me exactly what had happened. As I listened to Park Yeon’s account, I could only shake my head in disbelief. No matter how far they had fallen, to sacrifice the very sect members they had accepted… It was proof that they had never truly seen the players as part of Hwasan to begin with.
As if Park Yeon’s story had opened the floodgates, the Hwasan players watching my stream began pouring out their grievances one after another. No matter how much they told themselves this was just a game, they had still devoted years of their lives here. To those who had spent countless hours thinking of ways to make Hwasan prosper, this betrayal cut deeper than any blade.
“It’s not a difficult request.”
I had always planned to crush the Hwasan Sect Leader myself. Adding someone else’s grudge to the list wouldn’t change anything.
While we chatted, the sinister energy that had flooded the mountain finally converged, gathering at the center of the Hwasan Sect’s main building. It seemed the blood art had reached its conclusion. Time to move.
“Baru, would you wait here for a short while?”
“Do you think I would be a hindrance?”
“I simply don’t want you caught up in what’s about to happen.”
The Hwasan Sect Leader was already a warrior who had once surpassed the Transcendence Realm. Having now absorbed the life force of the entire mountain, he would have reached an even higher level. Whether he could control that power or not, the coming fight was guaranteed to grow fierce. I could not bring Baru into a situation full of unknown variables. Unlike me, she belonged to the game. There was every chance she could die and vanish like the mountain deity from before.
“I’ll return soon. Just watch from here.”
“...At least try to win.”
“That goes without saying.”
Leaving the pouting Baru behind, I stepped onto empty air and moved toward the mountain.
When I arrived at Hwasan’s gates, silence greeted me. I opened the doors and stepped inside. The sight of corpses strewn across the floor brought back old memories. The scene looked exactly as it had when I left after crushing Hwasan in the past.
I walked the path lined with bodies until I reached the central building. Concentrated sinister energy radiated from within. I lightly shattered the closed doors and stepped inside. The moment I did, an overwhelming pressure bore down on my shoulders.
Hoo. It seems he succeeded in making the sinister energy his own. Otherwise he could never have organized it so cleanly.
He must have noticed my arrival, yet there was no reaction. Was he inviting me to come to him? Very well. I accept the invitation.
I opened the door where the energy was thickest. There, floating in the air in a meditative posture, was the Hwasan Sect Leader. He was circulating his energy. The power that began in his lower dantian rose through the middle dantian, pierced the upper dantian, and spread outward. Pale purple flower petals bloomed above his head.
The energy contained within those petals was so dense that the flowers did not fade after blooming. They remained suspended in the air, layer upon layer. The sight was exactly like a plum tree in full bloom with the Hwasan Sect Leader as its trunk and roots.