novelraw Chapter 221 : The Moving Demonic Path
Chapter 221 : The Moving Demonic Path
Chapter 221: The Moving Demonic Path
Blood Demon Mountain.
The main base of the Blood Cult.
The vast conference hall, draped with countless stone lanterns that emitted a bloodlike crimson glow, evoked the image of a ritual altar where a ceremony was about to be conducted.
Originally, ten chairs had been arranged in a semicircle for ten attendees, but regrettably, not all of their seats were filled.
“Keheh, look at this—more empty seats by the day. These chairs are turning into memorial tablets.”
The one who spoke with a greasy grin was Sura Ssanggwa, one of the Ten Elders of the Blood Cult, summoned for today’s gathering.
Yet no one seated nearby reacted to his mockery.
It was not because they were ignoring him.
Rather, it was because they took it seriously.
Up until the previous meeting, they would have brushed aside such taunts from Sura Ssanggwa. But not now.
Baek Yacha, Prayer Demon, Soundwave Lute Demon—
And even Poison Demon.
At this point, it was all but certain that four elders were either dead or missing.
As if amused by the heavy atmosphere, Sura Ssanggwa continued his verbal abuse.
“Tsk tsk. Looks like even the Ten Elders need a purge. Once real combat starts, doesn’t it expose those who only looked impressive on the outside but were rotten within?”
“Stop your useless prattling before our master arrives, Sura Ssanggwa.”
At that moment, Gui Yeongja spoke with a furrowed brow.
But Sura Ssanggwa did not back down.
Instead, a strange light flickered in his eyes.
“Oh? So even the Blood Cult’s pride, the Blood Brain Gui Yeongja, is getting worked up. Did I hit a sore spot?”
“…How dare you.”
“Kehahaha!”
As Gui Yeongja ground his teeth and let killing intent leak out, Sura Ssanggwa burst into laughter, clearly enjoying himself.
At the same time, the corners of the other elders’ mouths twisted into peculiar expressions as they watched Gui Yeongja.
Once called the Blood Cult’s Grand Strategist and a man with considerable influence among the elders, Gui Yeongja had now fallen to the very bottom of their regard.
The reason was simple.
He had carried out an operation that should have easily secured Sichuan through the Qingcheng Sect—yet it had ended in utter failure.
“Am I wrong? Be honest. If you had succeeded with the Qingcheng Sect operation earlier, things in Sichuan wouldn’t have become this complicated.”
“Well, that’s not wrong.”
“…!”
“Heh. As expected, you know what you’re talking about, Mad Wolf.”
As Gui Yeongja trembled with rage, a man who had been resting both feet atop the conference table spoke in agreement with Sura Ssanggwa.
He was Mad Wolf Blood Blade, one wing of the Ten Elders and the Great Chief who led Gale Sand, the force that, together with Sa Bul, had exterminated the Kunlun Sect in Qinghai.
True to his status as the leader of the most infamous bandit horde in the martial world, Mad Wolf looked less like a Demonic Practitioner and more like a savage brigand.
“If you have any shame, just kill yourself now, Blood Brain.”
“!!”
“Hah, another talking piece of filth crawls out. Why is the mouth of the so-called Great Chief of Gale Sand so unbearably loose?”
The only one who sided with Gui Yeongja and tried to rein in the situation was Yo Uirim, the Black Bone Witch.
However, Mad Wolf showed no sign of retreat. Instead, he tilted his head and shifted his target toward her.
“What nonsense is this? From some vulgar courtesan.”
“…What did you just say?”
“Didn’t you hear? I said a vulgar courtesan.”
Saaaah!
The two simultaneously drew up their demonic aura. Two completely different demonic energies collided, spreading a horrific shockwave throughout the hall.
Just as it seemed they would tear out each other’s throats at any moment, Sa Bul spoke up.
“That is enough, Mad Wolf benefactor. Is this not a gathering to celebrate the success of the grand design?”
“Keheh, success? Don’t make me laugh.”
“!!”
But the response to Sa Bul’s words came from Sura Ssanggwa instead.
An icy silence seized the hall.
It was only natural.
The words Sura Ssanggwa had just spat out crossed the line by far.
He had dared to doubt the grand design decreed by their master, the Blood Demon.
That was blasphemy against a god.
“How dare you take our master’s will so lightly. Sura Ssanggwa, do you truly wish to die?”
“Hmph! I’m just stating facts!”
Tension stretched taut across the hall.
Sura Ssanggwa continued.
“Gale Sand merely wiped out the already insignificant Kunlun Sect, and the Southern Sea Sun Palace was completely annihilated without landing a single proper blow on the Mount Hainan Sect. How can this be called a success of the grand design?”
“…Nevertheless, our Ice Palace achieved a perfect victory.”
“Perfect? Pfft.”
At that moment, a middle-aged man who had been quietly observing from a corner finally spoke.
Snow-white hands, azure eyes like the sea, and a white fox pelt draped over his shoulders—he was Earthly Fiend Minor Hand, the newly ascended Palace Lord of the North Sea Ice Palace.
Having been confirmed to take one of the vacant elder seats, this was his first time being summoned here.
“That trash is an elder? Don’t make me laugh.”
“…!”
Sura Ssanggwa snorted.
But he did not consider a traitor of that sort to be his equal.
“A man who betrayed his own master and handed over the Ice Palace, no less.”
“Watch your words!”
“Watch my words? Keh, this scarecrow doesn’t even know his place.”
“-Hrk!”
From the start, Earthly Fiend Minor Hand had been nothing more than a spare to be used if the recruitment of the Ice Palace Lord failed.
That was right. He was the very cause of Seori being driven out of the North Sea Ice Palace and taken hostage, and in return for serving as the chief contributor to the Ice Palace’s complete fall into the Blood Cult’s hands, he had been granted the seat of an elder.
“This is not an issue of the grand design.”
“…!”
At that moment, Gui Yeongja quietly opened his mouth.
All eyes instantly turned toward him.
“The grand design created by our master was perfect. If there was a problem, it was only one.”
“Hah.”
Sura Ssanggwa frowned, as if he already knew exactly what was about to come out of the man’s mouth.
“How many times did I say it? Blood-Thread Tyrant Tang Sewoon is absolutely not someone to take lightly. He is the greatest enemy of our Blood Cult—!”
“Tang Sewoon, Tang Sewoon. I’m getting calluses in my ears. Don’t you ever get tired of it?”
“…!”
“Does the Qingcheng Sect affair still gnaw at you? Do you truly think it makes sense that all of this happened because of that man?”
Sura Ssanggwa finally exploded in irritation.
Ever since the Qingcheng Sect affair had ended in failure, Gui Yeongja had seized every opportunity to mechanically repeat the same claim—that everything was the work of the Sichuan Tang Clan and Tang Sewoon, and that they must be eliminated as the highest priority.
“You picked up some absurd rumor that the man wandering the Central Plains reached the Extreme of the Manifestation Realm, and now you think I wouldn’t see through your scheme to reframe your failure as a mere mistake?”
“Even if that isn’t true! By now, he has completed a massive force comparable to the Murim Alliance and the Demonic Alliance! Do you think I’d cling to such a flimsy reason—!!”
Gui Yeongja was in the middle of raising his voice in frustration when—
Kwarururur!
Kururung!!
“…!!”
“!!”
As if gigantic waves from the great sea had swallowed a coastal village, an overwhelmingly powerful aura engulfed the space, defying all common sense.
No—it was not demonic aura.
To call it demonic aura would have been insufficient. It was far too immense, too dreadful, too ferocious.
That presence, reminiscent of a dark chaos that devoured all light, swallowed the bodies of everyone in the room before any of them could even think of resisting.
All of the Ten Elders were beings who could rightfully be called absolute demonic overlords of the martial world—
‘W-When did he get this close…?!’
‘Did he hear everything we said…?!’
They trembled as if stripped naked and exposed to the freezing winds and snowstorms of the North Sea.
Yet there was nothing they could do.
There was only one master capable of wielding such inhuman, transcendent power beyond the realm of humanity.
Kiiiiiik!
The massive doors of the conference hall swung wide open.
The interior seemed to churn, as if their internal organs were being twisted apart.
Thud!
Crash!
All the elders collapsed as one, falling to their knees and pressing their heads to the ground.
Not daring to look up, they shouted at the top of their lungs.
“Blood God Descends!”
“All Demons Bow in Submission!!”
“Blood Cult for Ten Thousand Generations!!”
It was the moment when the master of the Blood Cult, the god of ten thousand demons—
The Blood Demon—descended upon them.
The Blood Demon slowly walked forward and sat upon the grand seat.
Standing guard at his sides were the First Elder Sword Demon and the Right Protector Blood Wheel Asura, who had entered together with him.
As the elders lay prostrate, anxiously awaiting their master’s words, their minds were in turmoil.
‘But Sword Demon’s aura… how is it like that?’
‘It rivals even the Right Protector’s presence?’
‘Don’t tell me Sword Demon, like the Right Protector, has reached the Extreme of the Extreme Demon Realm…?!’
The Blood Demon’s arrival alone was overwhelming, but what truly unsettled them was Sword Demon’s martial attainment, which had surged at an incomprehensible rate.
The Extreme Demon Realm was equivalent to what the orthodox sects called the Manifestation Realm.
Just days ago, Sword Demon’s realm had been only slightly above theirs—yet now he had leapt several stages in a single bound.
As they barely suppressed the turmoil burning in their chests—
“I was hearing quite an interesting discussion.”
“!!”
At last, the Blood Demon spoke.
He heard everything!
The faces of all who lay prostrate drained of color, turning deathly pale.
The most shaken of all, Sura Ssanggwa, hurriedly blurted out an excuse.
“M-Master! That is not what I meant—!”
“Jong Muyeom.”
“Y-Yes! Master!”
Jong Muyeom was Sura Ssanggwa’s true name.
Cold sweat streamed down his back.
The Blood Demon looked at him with chilling eyes devoid of all emotion and spoke.
“It has been twenty years since I first met you.”
“Y-Yes. That is correct, Master.”
“While pursuing the Heavenly Demon’s legacy, you were ambushed by an existence of the Demonic Cult, your Dantian shattered, and you fell beneath the Heavenly Cliff.”
“…That is correct. It is my shameful past….”
Why was he suddenly bringing this up?
Sura Ssanggwa’s eyes rolled about in confusion.
“Had you not happened upon me and taken me in, Master, I surely would not have escaped death! This debt of gratitude, for my entire life—!”
“No.”
“…Pardon?”
Startled by the Blood Demon’s response, Sura Ssanggwa involuntarily raised his head.
Two eyes containing an inhuman, grotesque presence fixed upon him.
“It was not a coincidence.”
“H-However….”
Then how could he have known that I would fall from the Heavenly Cliff?
Sura Ssanggwa wanted to say that—but the Blood Demon spoke first.
“It was a necessity that repeated itself time and again.”
“…!”
Thump! Thump-thump!
An indescribable dread seized his entire body as Sura Ssanggwa’s heart pounded as if it would burst.
“Even ‘this time,’ you failed to escape doubt.”
“T-That is not—!”
With that single, unfathomable sentence from the Blood Demon—
Pueong!!
Sura Ssanggwa’s head exploded, flesh scattering violently in all directions.