Mt. Baeun, which was around 20 li from Yunnan City in Shaanxi Province.
Around a dozen men were climbing the rugged mountain at night. Among them, there was one form that was ahead of everyone else.
Said figure climbed up the steep mountain faster than the others, as if running on flat ground.
Pat!
The shadow stopped halfway up the mountain. There were large rocks in the middle of the hill and a hermitage at the top.
As they passed through a dense forest and approached the large rock where the hermitage was located, a face was reflected in the full moon. It was a man standing six feet tall, Hang Ryong, one of the Seven Blood Stars of the Blood Sect.
As he approached the place, a middle-aged man walked out from behind the hermitage-like place.
The person bowed his head and greeted them.
“You came? I am Un Baek of the Mt. Baekun’s safehouse.”
Jang Ryong passed him by.
“Where is that person?”
“He is having his meal inside.”
Hearing those words, Jang Ryong bit his lips. Believing in his stubborn nature to improve his martial arts, he had been sent to Shaanxi alone.
But he never dreamed that such a thing would happen.
“Is his state serious?”
“Getting better now.”
“Then, I need to see him right away.”
Jang Ryong urgently tried to enter the place but was blocked by the middle-aged man, Un Baek.
Jang Ryong frowned and asked.
“What is it?”
“Forgive me for the rudeness. First Blood Star, it is better to not disturb the young lady now…”
“Disturb?”
Un Baek’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“The lady seems to have come to a realization.”
“Realization?”
“It was unusual for her energy to rise and then to explode, so she asked us to guard the area around here.”
At those words, he looked back at the structure. He concentrated, but he could feel nothing from within.
Instead, it was too silent. Then the door opened, and someone walked about.
The hair was red like blood under the moonlight. With her bright red eyes, she was Baek Hye-hyang, one of the two candidates for leadership of the Blood Sect.
‘… it is different.’
Jang Ryong paused for a moment.
He was the one who had felt Baek Hye-hyang’s qi to some extent until just a while ago, but it was now difficult to discern.
It was difficult to even notice it unless she was actively releasing qi.
‘Has it progressed further in the meantime?’
It was truly an incredible growth.
His heart filled with the thought that, if it was her, she would surpass the former Blood Demon.
“My lady!”
Jang Ryong dropped to one knee and greeted her.
“You came quickly.”
“How could I not come quickly? Rather, I congratulate you on gaining enlightenment.”
“I’m not there yet. I just have one more clue about Reverse Blood Cultivation.”
“Reverse Blood Cultivation?”
Jang Ryong’s face hardened.
“Are you saying you’ve had the fortune of knowing it?”
“Yes. When I performed the cultivation technique, it seemed like a different world had opened.”
“It is dangerous, my lady.”
Jang Ryong tried to stop her.
There was nothing more dangerous than going against a conventional cultivation technique. It was a way to immerse the self into hurting the body.
“I found a way, do not worry.”
“My lady!”
“Rather, how did it go? The fact that you came here after visiting the Second Blood Star means that the matter has come to an end.”
To which he nodded and said.
“We succeeded in persuading them.”
“The First Elder stepped forward too.”
“What?”
She was surprised at hearing that the First Elder had stepped forward. He was a man who had stayed isolated until now.
“Did the First Elder come out?”
“Yes.”
Her face looked a bit excited.
The strongest person of the current Blood Sect had finally come out of his isolated training.
Considering he was close to the level of the Eight Great Warriors and Four Great Evils, his exit meant that he had achieved something good.
“Good.”
“But we have two problems.”
“Two?”
“One has already been predicted.”
“It is the Murim Alliance.”
At Baek Hye-hyang’s words, Jang Ryong nodded.
“The alliance made a public announcement that committed them to wipe out all of the Blood Sect.”
Hearing that, she smiled and said.
“The dogs who broke away from Dual Martial Forces are acting out. Is it time to finally come out?”
She was waiting for the stage to be made.
The day when the Blood Sect would rise again would come when they started this. Before that, there would be no one who did anything.
She had to take the place of the Blood Demon in the Blood Sect.
Baek Hye-hyang then ordered Jang Ryong.
“Gather all the members of the sect right now.”
Hearing her words, Jang Ryong’s lips twitched. She looked at him with an eyebrow raised.
In response, he took something out of his shirt. In the middle of the red book were the characters of Blood.
“Blood Demon Order?”
Baek Hye-hyang’s eyes became cold. This was one that was handed down only to the head of the Blood Sect.
“And the second one?”
“Lady Baek Ryeon-ha sent out the Blood Demon order first.”
Jang Ryong, who finished his words, was ready for her anger. However, Baek Hye-hyang didn’t show anger but rather broke into mad laughter.
“Hehehehe.”
“My lady?”
After a while, she stopped and said,
“I thought she was stupid, but my sister knows how to play this game too.”
“It isn’t something that we can avoid.”
If this was allowed to happen, Baek Ryeon-ha would be the leader.
The Blood Demon Sword was with Baek Ryeon-ha, and three of the four elders were also on her side, so she was technically ahead. Jang Ryong then spoke with a serious face.
“We don’t have to respond to Lady Baek Ryeon-ha’s request. It would be better for us to just send out our own…”
“No. Accept it.”
“Uh?”
“The chance appeared, so why should we let it go?”
“What do you mean?”
Jang Ryong couldn’t understand this. If Baek Ryeon-ha declared her ownership of the Blood Demon Sword, Baek Hye-hyang’s words would look weak. Those who had sworn for her would also be shaken.
There was no way she would become the Blood Demon there.
Baek Hye-hyang smiled at him and said.
“This isn’t the real seal of the Blood Demon Order.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“The old man told me before he died. The Blood Demon Sword and the seal of the sect leader are one.”
This was something even Jang Ryong didn’t know of. He heard that only the second elder who escorted the former leader knew of this.
Before his death, he had taught both his daughters.
“The old man recognized me as the next Blood Demon and told me the secret to the Blood Demon Sword. He did not tell it to Baek Ryeon-ha, who was ill and unable to do martial arts properly.”
“Do you mean?”
“The child who loves him doesn’t have the real Blood Demon Sword.”
‘…!!’
Inside Jin Song-baek’s tower.
This was my father’s office, and I was drawing a person’s face using a thin brush. It was the face of a man with a normal but strong face.
It was the face of a man with golden eyes, which I had only seen in the memory of Iron Sword while using the heavenly qi.
Except one eye was filled with black, and the other had been left empty.
Father then asked.
“Is he No Name?”
“Yes.”
I told my father everything I knew about the man with the golden eye.
The story that Iron Sword told me was hard to explain, so I instead based it on what Jaegal Won-myung hand told me at the Murim Alliance.
“I don’t even know if this is his real face.”
It could be a mask for all I knew. But right now, this was the only clue we had. Father stroked his chin as he looked at it and said,
“If what you said is taken into consideration, there is a high chance that he, too, got the same power as your eye in the valley under the water.”
“… I was thinking the same.”
“Hmm. Then, the man with the golden eye could be related to the extinct Mount Mo sect.”
“Uh?”
“I also heard this from grandfather. It is said that the water valley was once called a sacred place in the Mount Mo sect.”
“Ah!”
I thought my father might have known something, but I discovered something unexpected instead. Iron Sword had talked about it, but he also brought up the topic of Mount Mo.
Those with advanced skills had died suddenly, and, as my father said, perhaps this man with the golden eye could have been a member of that sect.
-Then isn’t that the same for the one with the golden eye?
I don’t know that.
The other one said he was trapped down there. And, unlike the man with just one golden eye, he had two golden eyes.
It was difficult to even think of the real relationship between the two.
“Even if it wasn’t submerged in water, we would have been able to find clues, but this is just unfortunate.”
This was what I regretted as well. There were numerous things in there.
Based on what had been there, it would have been possible to find out what the man with the golden eye was trying to do and the secret behind the eye. However, that place was now submerged.
“One thing is certain, he is up to something,”
He was someone who attacked the Eight Great Warriors and destroyed the Kunlun Sect. They even concocted a plan to place the Dual Martial Forces under their command using the fake Chun Mu-seong.
-If you hadn’t returned, your father would have died.
Right. They even targeted my father. What was the real purpose of the man with the golden eye?
Was it to cause chaos in Murim?
“Then, if, as we said, he is a member or descendant of the Mount Mo sect, he must have resentment towards the entire Murim because they were persecuted for helping out the royal family.”
“Must be so.”
As my father said, there was enough reason to do it. There must be someone who had resentment against the entire Murim.
But there was one thing I didn’t understand.
-What is it?
Their power was strong enough to take down the Kunlun sect.
In addition, the man with the golden eye was someone we’d heard about. It seemed he wasn’t inferior to the Eight Great Warriors, so why was he working from the shadows instead of showing his face?
-Right?
There was no way to know.
But we needed to decide what needed to be done.
Inside the Blood Sect, there was a spy planted by the man with the golden eye. I had to find out who he was.
-It is one of the two.
Either the Third Elder, Gu Jae-yang, or the Second Blood Star, Yu Baek.
One of them was the Blood Leader. At that moment, my father asked me.
“You will head to the Blood Sect?”
My father knew the situation to some extent because I told him about what Mu Ack said before he died.
To this, I nodded and said.
“Yes.”
“You don’t need the help of your father, then?”
“Didn’t father say that we should seek out those who may remain in this place as spies?”
Hearing those words, he put his hand on my shoulder and said,
“Even if that is important if this place is important, would I let my son do it?”
His words made me frown. I never knew having a place to lean on would feel this good.
At this, I smiled and said,
“Even if I look like this, I am the Blood Demon. I am not someone father has to give up his identity over.”
I wouldn’t know if I could even take control of the Blood Sect entirely. It would be better to hide this identity now, as he might end up having enemies from Alliance.
That is why, until now, I hadn’t revealed this to anyone but my father.
“Are you worried your father would do something?”
“As if I would.”
The name of one of the Eight Great Warriors wasn’t something to be taken lightly.
Who would do that?
However, many hostile forces in the Blood Sect didn’t like the Dual Martial Forces.
If those forces decided to unite within the sect, my father would be in a tough position.
“I am just worried that my father’s position will be in trouble.”
“You don’t have to care about that. I am the leader of the order and one of the Eight Great Warriors who will support you, so you should take care of yourself.”
“Father…”
-He knows how to impress.
If only this thing had kept her mouth shut, these emotions might have lasted longer. But well, this was Short Sword.
Try to be a little subtler, like Iron Sword.
-What is this? I didn’t make any moaning sounds. Whenever you touch me, I feel so happye~.
… was he like that?
-Ahem. What are you saying? Short Sword?
Maybe next time, I should get a thicker sword sheath. And then my father took something out of his arms.
It was a plaque made of cold steel, which had the symbol of his sect engraved upon it. In the middle was the character for Wind.
“What is this?”
“It is the plaque from the head of the order.”
“Why, though?”
“I have been trying to give this to you all along. I haven’t made the young lord card yet, but you should have this for now. If you have it, you can contact me or any branch of the Dual Martial Forces and get help.”
A father who tried to help in any way he could. My heart pounded from this gesture.
I took out the plaque of my mother’s clan and handed it to him.
“Mother would definitely want you to have this.”
Hearing my words, he looked at the jade plaque. When he thought of mother, it seemed like his heart ached.
He gripped the plaque so tightly as he spoke with a choked voice.
“Thank you. Father will treasure this.”
“Ah!”
Because of this, something came to mind.
“What is it?”
“Can I ask for one thing?”
“Anything.”
“Can I ask you to take care of my younger sister, Yongyong?”
“Younger sister?”
“She isn’t father’s child, but she is a precious sister to me. I am afraid that if she ever comes out of Mount Hyeong, then it would be troublesome.”
Actually, I felt horrible asking him this. Although my sister was my mother’s daughter, she wasn’t my father’s child.
He smiled at this request and said,
“Wonhwi.”
“Uh?
“Do not worry. If it is the daughter of Ryeong, she is a daughter to me too. If anything happens, your father will protect that child.”
“Thank you.”
I had one less thing to worry about.
I could look ahead without fear if my father was standing behind me.
And my father stood up.
“Didn’t you say you would see your grandfather and Wicked Moon Sword early tomorrow?”
“Ah… yes.”
After guiding father to grandfather, I was scheduled to settle things with Sima Chak before heading to the Blood Sect.
I was leaving early, so was he asking me to rest?
“The night isn’t that long.”
My father opened the door to his office and nodded as if to ask me to follow.
I was puzzled, but then father said,
“Before the Blood Demon, you are the young lord here.”
“Uh?”
“We don’t have enough time, but I will teach you my martial arts.”
‘His martial arts!’
The martial arts which my father, Jin Song-baek, made?
