novelraw Chapter 13 : Black Tiger Sect (3)
Chapter 13 : Black Tiger Sect (3)
Chapter 13: Black Tiger Sect (3)
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Scatter Blood Demon.
Go Pae.
Even at over eighty years old, he was a man who devoured 5kg of meat a day.
Go Pae entered the Martial World after the age of thirty, and to make up for his late start, he drove himself into harsh ascetic training.
It was because the woman he loved unrequitedly rejected him coldly and married a renowned martial artist, leaving a wound in his heart.
Through relentless training, by the time he reached forty, his last molar shattered, and he lost all his teeth.
Even so, his obsession with martial arts did not fade. He fitted steel dentures and chewed meat like a madman.
Go Pae began to stand out only after turning sixty.
By chance, he discovered an elixir thought extinct in nature and, through that opportunity, reached the ranks of a master.
Gaining confidence, he sought out martial artists known for their virtue and requested duels.
Go Pae hid his vile nature behind a benevolent expression.
If his opponent failed to see through it and politely accepted, he would break their limbs and destroy their meridians.
The crippled victims would vomit blood and cry out,
‘Why! Why are you so cruel! We have no grudge against you!’
To those who pleaded, Go Pae would smile kindly and answer,
‘My apologies. But isn’t that how it is? The world is at fault. It’s unfair that only I am unhappy, don’t you think? So I made you like me. Please understand. Let us live each day burning in the flames that rise from our hearts.’
‘You vile fiend! You will surely face divine punishment!’
‘Punishment? I have already received it. A feeling I can never forget, whether I close my eyes, whether it rains, or the earth splits apart.’
‘You are twisted! Your mind is broken!’
‘Your crying is noisy.’
His atrocities grew worse by the day, and wherever he passed, bloodstains followed—earning him the nickname Scatter Blood.
Later, fearing his prowess and cunning as he continued to survive past eighty, those in the Martial World called him Scatter Blood Demon.
For half his life, Go Pae spent his days crippling or killing those weaker than himself.
Whenever someone asked why he lived that way, he always answered,
‘I am unhappy. Only when the happy fall into misery do I feel something like pity. Otherwise, I feel nothing. So even knowing my actions are wrong, I cannot stop. I am human too. I simply wish for someone to understand me.’
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Blue Mountain Club.
Second-floor office.
Scatter Blood Demon, Go Pae, looked at the palm that had struck Cheon Bigang’s dantian with suspicion.
“Is he finished?”
There had definitely been a sensation.
Go Pae had sought out many so-called geniuses and shattered their dantians before.
Anatomically, there was no difference between a normal person’s dantian and that of a martial artist.
But as the central axis of internal energy, its function was entirely different.
The dantian was the gate that emitted qi, the core of all meridian connections.
If struck with internal force, its axis would break, severing the flow.
That was what people called ‘a shattered dantian.’
For Go Pae, destroying the dantian of someone who had devoted their life to martial arts was an incomparable joy.
Yet now—
He felt nothing.
“How strange?”
He looked at Cheon Bigang, who lay on the ground.
His clothes had been torn apart by the force.
Yet the most important sensation—
The collapse of energy like a broken dam—
had not occurred.
Go Pae frowned.
“Don’t tell me… he never had internal energy to begin with?”
He laughed.
If so, it was absurd.
He had seemed formidable, yet he hadn’t even formed a dantian.
But—
Before he could finish speaking—
Amid dust and debris—
A low voice echoed.
“It’s finally done.”
“…!”
Go Pae jumped back.
“You!”
Cheon Bigang stood there.
Unharmed.
“How…?”
Go Pae stammered.
“That strike should have crushed your organs!”
He doubted himself—
But no.
He had definitely broken something.
“What did you hit?”
Cheon Bigang spoke calmly,
“Curious?”
“….”
“If a human lies bedridden too long, their body weakens. The dantian is the same. If unused for a long time, it hardens like a fossil.”
When he awoke after a thousand years, Cheon Bigang’s body had weakened.
Bones fragile.
Energy dried.
Even his dantian had been sealed shut.
He had waited—
For external stimulation—
To awaken it.
“Stillness and motion. Yin and Yang. When one rises, the other follows.”
“Th-that…!”
To open a sealed dantian required immense precision.
And power forged through years of battle.
Cheon Bigang smiled.
“I waited. For someone strong enough to use. Whether good or evil. And today—you were chosen. Be honored.”
“Ridiculous!”
Go Pae denied it.
But doubt crept in.
“Brat! Whatever you did, there won’t be a second chance!”
His muscles swelled.
“Haah!”
He moved—
Silent.
No wasted motion.
His palm struck—
Blood Shadow Palm.
At that instant—
Thud.
Cheon Bigang’s fingers struck behind his ear.
Go Pae’s balance shattered.
“W-what…?”
He collapsed.
BOOM!
The impact destroyed the office.
Cracks spread—
Glass shattered—
Lights exploded—
The floor split open.
“Y-you!”
Go Pae tried to stand—
But staggered.
Cheon Bigang stood calmly.
“Scatter Blood Demon. Who is backing the Black Tiger Sect?”
“You don’t need—”
BOOM!
A punch slammed him down.
“Guh!”
“Answer.”
“I refuse! I cannot accept this! How could someone like you—!”
CRASH!
He was slammed again.
“You tried to destroy my dantian. I saw your mind.”
“…!”
“You harmed innocent people out of self-pity.”
“No! That’s just life! Misery is fair!”
“Repent?”
“Repent?! I am innocent! Even if you kill me, I won’t regret it! You should pity me! The world should pity me!”
Trash.
Irredeemable.
Cheon Bigang decided.
“Then I’ll show you. The true Heavenly Demon Art.”
Flash.
His eyes turned blood-red.
“Look into my eyes.”
“…!”
Darkness consumed Go Pae.
He suffocated—
Could not scream—
Could not see—
Only endless darkness.
Then—
Light.
---
A training ground.
Under the blazing sun.
Cicadas cried.
An old man stood before him.
“Where…?”
The old man smiled—
And attacked.
Rip.
Pain.
Organs crushed.
“AAARGH!”
The attacker—
Was himself.
An illusion.
He relived everything—
His victims—
His cruelty—
Now inflicted upon himself.
Endlessly.
A nightmare without end.
No salvation.
Heavenly Demon Art.
Evil Resonance Chapter.
Mind Prison.
---
“Hehehe…!”
Go Pae laughed madly.
“Hehehehe!”
Cheon Bigang’s eyes returned to normal.
“If you can pity yourself, the illusion will break. Try your best.”
“Hehehe!”
But it wasn’t over.
“Now, I’ll return what you gave me.”
BOOM!
The floor collapsed—
Both fell—
CRASH!
Into the first floor.
Dust filled the air.
Everyone froze.
“What the—!”
“Cough!”
“W-what happened?!”
“Master?!”
Cheon Bigang dusted his hands.
“Caught an old rat.”
“Sc-Scatter Blood Demon?!”
“Ugh!”
Six and Kiri stared in shock at the fallen old man.