novelraw Chapter 21
Chapter 21
Chapter 21:7.1. A Vessel for God (2)
Gyeong Ga-ryeong returned to her seat. In the meantime, Jeong-min thought.
Gyeong Ga-ryeong is powerful.
She was strong enough to ascend to the position of Blood Cult Leader—so how had she lost both her eyes?
Azure Sky Shattering Spindle is the alias of some man.
And that man was the very one who had taken Gyeong Ga-ryeong's eyes.
At Jeong-min's proposal, Gyeong Ga-ryeong's expression shifted. Even without pupils, it was plain enough to see that she had been caught off guard.
It was just then.
Splash!
A sound like someone slapping water came from somewhere, and a cold presence closed in on the back of Jeong-min's neck.
Gyeong Ga-ryeong's most trusted—Blood Shadow Death Demon Wi Un-heo and Poison Hand Blood Seong Ju-gwan.
Each had their weapon pressed forward as though ready to sever Jeong-min's neck at any moment.
"You crafty little brat. How do you know the relationship between our Leader and Azure Sky Shattering Spindle?"
"Munch munch—Even within the Blood Cult, barely anyone knows that information."
But Jeong-min, even with death an inch away, did nothing more than straighten his back with perfect composure.
"Hey. Chunk and Beanpole."
"Wh—what?"
"Munch munch—Chunk?"
Wi Un-heo and Seong Ju-gwan turned to stare at Jeong-min with disbelief.
Jeong-min raised a finger.
"Stop interrupting and get lost."
Fwoosh!
The pair flinched at the surging Demonic Energy.
The youngest of the Heavenly Demon Cult—they had heard the rumors well enough. Word was he had brought down the Qinghai Escort Bureau single-handedly, and it seemed it was true.
Even so, neither weapon moved from the edge of Jeong-min's neck.
"Are you prepared?"
"For what?"
"To run me through."
Whoooosh—
Something small and spherical formed at the tip of Jeong-min's finger, condensing like a bead of dew.
A Demon Bullet.
"Want me to put a nice hole in your lungs?"
"……!"
If they still won't back down after this, there's nothing to be done.
Jeong-min filled his mind with the Heavenly Demon Divine Art's 3rd Stage.
Heavenly Demon Divine Art, 3rd Stage—Shadow Stabilization Formation—
It was just then that Gyeong Ga-ryeong raised her hand.
"Enough."
Clank! At those single words, Wi Un-heo and Seong Ju-gwan drew back their weapons.
Yet even if Gyeong Ga-ryeong had not spoken, Wi Un-heo would have sheathed his sword within a few seconds regardless.
The same went for Seong Ju-gwan. She had to fight the urge to wipe the sweat trickling from her temple.
What was that just now? I felt something ominous.
Wasn't he said to be fourteen? Fourteen years old, and already that monstrous an aura.
But Gyeong Ga-ryeong alone remained utterly unshaken, and merely let out a quiet laugh.
"It seems the rumor that the Heavenly Demon Cult toppled the Forest Bandits was no empty boast."
"Word traveled this far already?"
"Rumor has no legs, yet travels a thousand li."
Jeong-min looked up at Gyeong Ga-ryeong and spoke.
"But is that truly what matters? How I came to learn of the connection between Azure Sky Shattering Spindle and yourself?"
"……No. That is of no importance."
It's a good thing Gyeong Ga-ryeong judged it that way.
Because if she had truly demanded he tell her how he found out, he would have had no choice but to bring up nonsense about a past life.
Then I'd be lucky if I kept my head.
He had no interest in dying a hollow death here at Gyeong Ga-ryeong's hands.
Gyeong Ga-ryeong returned to her seat and rested her chin in her hand.
"Blood Shadow Death Demon and Poison Hand Blood—step back."
"But, Leader."
"Step back. If you kill him by accident, the Heavenly Demon will come to the Ten Thousand Mountain Range."
At Gyeong Ga-ryeong's firm order, Blood Shadow Death Demon and Poison Hand Blood finally leapt away and vanished.
Jeong-min, too, dispersed the Demon Bullet he had been forming at his fingertips.
Curious, Jeong-min glanced at the spot where the 2 had stood. There had clearly been a splashing sound earlier, yet the blood spread in all directions hadn't rippled in the slightest.
Fascinating. Do they have some art for avoiding stepping in blood?
Gyeong Ga-ryeong gestured.
"Well—I understand you brought up Azure Sky Shattering Spindle's name to forge a Western Alliance. So? What is it you're after? Let's hear it."
"I will promise you 1 thing. Should the Western Alliance be formed, the head of Azure Sky Shattering Spindle will be yours, Leader Gyeong."
"Hmm."
The corner of Gyeong Ga-ryeong's lips curved upward.
"That is quite the alluring proposal. To cut down the one who left my eyes like this—by my own hand."
"Will you accept?"
"I have conditions of my own. Until we move against Azure Sky Shattering Spindle, the Blood Cult will be Western Alliance in name only—we will offer no aid to the Heavenly Demon Cult's movements. Understood?"
Jeong-min drew a map of the martial world across his mind.
This was Xinjiang. Reaching Anhui, where Azure Sky Shattering Spindle was located, would take at least a couple of months even just on foot.
In other words—she was saying she would not step onto the main front against the Martial Alliance?
Then it's no different from Potala Palace, I suppose.
Jeong-min gave a nod.
Either way, what mattered was weight. Having the Blood Cult's name attached to the Western Alliance on the surface was enough.
"Very well."
"Bring out the document for signing."
Jeong-min held out the Western Alliance's pledge, and Blood Cult Leader Gyeong Ga-ryeong had moved to sign it openly—
But her hand paused.
"It seems there is more you wish to say."
Damn. Sharp as ever.
"Sign first, and I'll speak then."
"I'll hear it before I sign."
"Mm."
Left with no choice, Jeong-min rolled up the left sleeve of his robe.
He showed Gyeong Ga-ryeong the faint black smudge that remained at the tip of his fingers.
Gyeong Ga-ryeong could not see it with her missing eyes—but she would sense something from it.
"That is……?"
As expected.
"Leader Gyeong. Would you happen to tell me a little about the tale of the Descending Evil God?"
Jeong-min had not come to the Blood Cult solely to forge the Western Alliance.
If I do not enter hell, who will enter hell?
Hell—that was another name for the Blood Cult.
The Demon Vein that afflicted Jeong-min.
The thread that might unravel it lay here, in this very hell.
.
.
.
In a time long, long ago, before the continent had even been given a name—
In the northern reaches of what is now Xinjiang, where the Blood Cult stands today, there lived a great and fearsome supernatural being called the Descending Evil God. One day, people came to him and offered him food.
Descending Evil God! These are our gifts to you!
Descending Evil God! We always hold you in the highest regard!
It is because you are here that we are always blessed!
Grateful for their goodwill, the Descending Evil God ate the food with great pleasure—and while he slept, full and content, the people began piling earth and sand atop his body.
Over the sand they stacked boulders, and over the boulders more sand.
The people buried the great Descending Evil God beneath a mountain of their own making. They had done it so they could build their homes in the northern reaches of Xinjiang.
When the Descending Evil God came to learn of this, he raged from beneath the mountain that imprisoned him and declared:
You who have dared to humiliate me—I curse you with a heavenly punishment! Henceforth you shall suffer an affliction called Blood Sky Evil, and misfortune shall follow your line for generations to come!
And the Descending Evil God twisted his body, coiling the people of northern Xinjiang within his embrace.
This was what became the Ten Thousand Mountain Range of today.
"In other words, the legend goes that beneath this Ten Thousand Mountain Range, the Descending Evil God still lives."
Gyeong Ga-ryeong finished telling the old tale.
Jeong-min gave a nod. It was a story he already knew from his past life.
Then what bearing did this ancient legend have now?
Blood Sky Evil.
A legend was a legend—it could not be taken as truth.
Yet the sickness that plagued the people of the Blood Cult was real.
The disease they called Blood Sky Evil caused crimson blotches to spread across the body, and the larger those blotches grew, the closer death drew near.
Every Blood Cult member I've encountered had those blotches. But Gyeong Ga-ryeong had none.
Even her closest—Wi Un-heo and Seong Ju-gwan—bore the blotches, yet Gyeong Ga-ryeong alone did not.
And that Blood Sky Evil closely resembled the Demon Vein.
"It is both an endemic disease of this village and a contagion. There is no cure, and few live past forty."
There was a bitterness to Gyeong Ga-ryeong's words.
She turned her face toward Jeong-min. Even without sight, there was something she could sense from that direction.
"And yet—you carry Blood Sky Evil as well?"
As expected. Jeong-min's guess had not been wrong.
From the moment he first laid eyes on the Demon Vein, he had thought its symptoms resembled the Blood Cult's Blood Sky Evil.
Even if they were not identical afflictions, their underlying principles would be similar.
Then the one who held the clues to suppressing it would be the Blood Cult Leader.
"Its nature seems somewhat different. Not red—yours is black."
She knew, even without eyes.
"I need the means to cure this Blood Sky Evil."
"Why."
"Because I want to live long."
At Jeong-min's blunt reply, Gyeong Ga-ryeong let out a soft, amused breath.
In truth, Jeong-min wanted less to simply live long and more to take this Demon Vein and bring it under his own power—but that was beside the point.
"Bold of you. Do you think I will help?"
"I'd prefer this to be treated separately from the Western Alliance."
"So it shall be. But my feelings are strangely mixed. You've come all the way to the Blood Cult in the Ten Thousand Mountain Range, and you intend to leave with only gains for yourself."
Caught.
When Jeong-min did not deny it, Gyeong Ga-ryeong spoke.
"Signing is on hold."
"Ah."
"Hear me out. I said on hold, not refused. I will tell you how to suppress the Blood Sky Evil. But before that, I have a request of my own."
"A request?"
"It's not only your side that gets to ask—it's only right that I receive something in return before I lend my strength, isn't it?"
That was the nature of politics. Give 1, receive 1.
There was nothing wrong in what she said, so Jeong-min brought his voice to the tip of his tongue.
"What is it you want?"
"You must have seen the Demonic Beasts living in the Ten Thousand Mountain Range."
The Blood Wolf—was that it?
When Jeong-min signaled that he knew, Gyeong Ga-ryeong continued.
"The Blood Wolf is a Demonic Beast that lives in the Ten Thousand Mountain Range and devours any who trespass. It was not always there—but at some point, it came to dwell there."
"You're saying they weren't originally there?"
"Yet from a certain point, the Blood Wolves began descending from the mountain more and more often, harming the people."
"Perhaps the mountain grew too crowded for them."
"Seeing innocent villagers fall victim has been a constant headache."
"Meaning?"
"Drive every last Blood Wolf out of the Ten Thousand Mountain Range."
A request that sounded simple, yet daunting.
In Jeong-min's estimation, Blood Wolves were not particularly strong. The issue was how to hunt every last one of them across a mountain this vast.
And—
Couldn't she just do it herself?
Gyeong Ga-ryeong was already more than strong enough—so why had she been unable to deal with the Blood Wolves for all these years?
Whether she sensed his question, Gyeong Ga-ryeong gave an awkward smile.
"Well—I have a phobia of wolves, you see."
"A wolf phobia……?"
Something struck him in those words.
Of all things, a Ten Thousand Mountain Range where Gyeong Ga-ryeong—who happened to have a wolf phobia—lived, and of all things, Blood Wolves happened to dwell there too?
It was almost as though someone had deliberately released wolves to trap Gyeong Ga-ryeong in this place.
"……."
Jeong-min thought for a long time.
From Gyeong Ga-ryeong's perspective, it seemed strange that something so simple should require such lengthy deliberation—but regardless.
Jeong-min thought for a long time, and at last reached a conclusion within himself.
"That is reasonable."
"Dispose of the Blood Wolves, and I will sign the Western Alliance pledge—and tell you the solution to suppressing Blood Sky Evil."
"Then that's settled. I'll go take care of it now."
"Very well… Wait, already?"
Jeong-min stood and brushed himself off without hesitation, and it was Gyeong Ga-ryeong who was flustered.
But Jeong-min had no reason to linger any further.
"Even now, the Martial Alliance is on the move. Where is the time to rest? Leave the wolf cubs to me. Then, farewell."
Leap—
Jeong-min sprang up and vanished.
Sensing his presence fade into the distance, Gyeong Ga-ryeong sat back down in her chair and rested her chin in her hand.
‘…….’
The Blood Wolves of the Ten Thousand Mountain Range.
She knew, too. The wolves that had appeared without warning in the Ten Thousand Mountain Range—how could she not know the Demonic Beasts that seemed to have shown up solely to target her?
Without a doubt……
In that mountain—surely.
The Red Dragon will be there.