novelraw Chapter 70 : Chapter 70
Chapter 70 : Chapter 70
Chapter 70 Ghost Blood Sect (3)
─ Kkiiik.
─ Kkiiik.
Not long after the two hid themselves, the sound of the stairs shaking was heard.
─ Deureureuk.
Subsequently, the sound of footsteps of people struggling and dragging something followed.
“Kkeu-eung.”
“Uh-uh. Be careful. You know well that this is an item hard to obtain even once a year.”
A Ghost Blood Sect disciple wiped the sweat from his forehead and fanned himself with his hand to cool off.
“There was no news for a while, so how did they get it this time?”
“Well, since it's the Sect Leader’s birthday, the Imperial Court must have specially prepared one. Let's put it here for now.”
Footsteps approached the table, and soon the cloth on the table was lifted with a whirik.
Because they were sticking close to the table while moving the box, the disciples continued talking without discovering Jaun and Ice Rakshasa hiding under the table.
“Who is the person receiving the Blood Energy this time?”
“Who else could it be? It's the Branch Head of Hunan Province. Since he brought and offered wealth so endlessly, wouldn't the Sect Leader start taking care of him now?”
─ Kuung.
The sound of putting something down on the table was heard. Soon, with a rustling sound, an empty ornate box fell next to the table with a bang.
It was the box with a hole that Jaun had checked on the ship earlier.
Inside that box, as Jaun expected, it seemed there had been an incense burner like the ones on the table.
“Tsk. When will my name be able to go up here?”
“Keuk keuk. Even the Vice Sect Leader hasn't been able to put his name up yet, so how dare you even dream of saying such things.”
─ Jiiik.
Dragging a new incense burner on the table to adjust its position, the disciples unpacked another box they had dragged in.
With a rustling sound, the object the disciples took out from the box made a clattering noise.
[Young Hero Jaun. The smell of blood...]
At Ice Rakshasa’s Telepathic Message, Jaun nodded with a stiff expression.
“Whew. The color is quite good this time?”
“It has to be good. Isn't the owner quite young? Do you remember the second daughter of the Jang family who came for treatment a month ago?”
“Ah, that young lady with white skin and a good figure?”
“This person. When did you look so closely again?”
“Hehe. What do you mean 'looked'? It just caught my eye.”
“Anyway, they said that daughter had some condition... Anyway, due to being born with a certain constitution, her body is very weak, so she needs to receive treatment for a long time. From the Sect Leader’s perspective, a very good source has appeared.”
“Are they extracting blood through a procedure this time too?”
“That's right. What other way is there? They said they'd cut open her stomach with this and that excuse? This is already the second time.”
“Huh... Seeing a person live even after having their stomach cut open twice, the Sect Leader’s medical skills are indeed extraordinary.”
“Of course. In terms of medical arts, he is not lacking anywhere in the Central Plains. Thanks to that, he is entrusted with such important tasks.”
─ Jjororok.
Along with the sound of pouring liquid, a thick smell of blood spread to the surroundings.
It seemed they were pouring blood brought in a special container into the incense burner.
“Is the first one this person Gwak Mu-hyul and the Sect Leader this time too?”
“Would there be anything different? The first ones are always those two.”
The disciples, having set up two spirit tablets nicely next to the newly brought incense burner, dusted off their hands with a tak tak.
“By the way, did that boy from last time die?”
“You mean the orphan from the village below? He died. He lasted about four times, and that was it. Still, since he was a boy, I thought he would last a bit longer, but maybe because he grew up starving too much, his body was weak.”
At the conversation they shared, Jaun clenched his fist under the table.
[...So this is why they were doctors.]
At Ice Rakshasa’s Telepathic Message, Jaun nodded with a bitter expression.
[It seems they chose this place for a stable supply of blood. I definitely heard earlier that the Ghost Blood Sect Leader looks younger and younger. If that is connected to this ritual, it means he is taking other people's life force through this ritual.]
Ice Rakshasa’s expression hardened.
[To think they are doing such things in a place where they should be saving people...]
As Ice Rakshasa tried to stand up with a face full of anger, Jaun calmly reached out and restrained her.
[Let's watch a little longer.]
The Ghost Blood Sect disciples covered the incense burner filled with blood with a cotton cloth and then placed the spirit tablets of the Sect Leader and the Blood Demon on top.
After tidying up the table for a moment, the disciples took something out from their bosoms and soon began to mutter unintelligible words.
The room filled with the two people's muttering, and after a little time passed, an even thicker smell of blood began to spread.
‘...This is.’
Amidst the smell of blood filling the air and the mumbling noise, there was a memory flashing through Jaun’s mind.
Childhood memories of which almost nothing remained properly.
It was a memory from before meeting Jeong-cheon.
****
“Aaaaaak!”
Surroundings filled with screams.
Someone who was conveying warmth put his body into a small box dug deep into the ground.
“Baby. My baby. My beloved baby. Mom is so sorry. For not being able to protect you until the end... Rather than being caught by those demons, praying for the Heavens to save you here is the best this incapable mom can do.”
Soon, with the sound of sobbing, the box closed, and the sound of dirt pouring over it was heard.
Terrible darkness.
In that place where nothing could be felt, the child, unable to even vomit out a cry, trembled in fear and cold.
The screams continued endlessly, and soon a loud scream was heard right above his head.
A terrible scent of blood penetrating to the tip of the nose of the child hiding inside the box.
And along with that scent of blood, unknown mumbling was heard.
Amidst the thick scent of blood that seemed to paralyze the nose and the mumbling, the child's eyes slowly closed.
****
[Young Hero Jaun?]
At Ice Rakshasa’s Telepathic Message, Jaun came to his senses.
The memories of the past submerged in his subconscious vividly surfaced at the mumbling and the scent of blood, then faded away.
‘Biological parents to the Blood Cult. Adoptive father to the Demonic Cult.’
Jaun could now clearly realize what the memories of the past meant.
His life spanning fifteen years was wrapped tightly in chains of fate in this way.
Nausea rose at the endlessly continuing mumbling and the thick scent of blood.
[Young Hero Jaun? Are you okay?]
Ice Rakshasa’s hand warmly wrapped around Jaun’s pale hand.
Jaun, catching his breath with difficulty, shook his head and tried to regain his composure.
[Yes. I'm okay.]
Jaun bit his lip tightly.
[This is definitely a ritual of the Blood Cult.]
Feeling the energy emanating from the incense burner, Jaun sent a Telepathic Message to Ice Rakshasa.
“Haa.”
Jaun let out a heavy sigh.
Hearing Jaun’s sigh, the disciples' mumbling stopped.
“...What was that just now?”
“Wasn't it a sound you made?”
“What do you mean? We were reciting the incantation together.”
“Did I hear wrong?”
“...No. I don't think so.”
The disciples, exchanging glances, threw their bodies backward, and as if waiting for it, Jaun shot out from under the table like lightning.
─ Peoak!
As Jaun’s fist embedded itself into the lower abdomen of one of the Ghost Blood Sect disciples, the Millennium Silk extending from the Ink Ring on his left hand wrapped around the other one.
“I-Intru...! Ugh...”
Jaun, striking the back of the neck of the disciple trying to scream and knocking him out, took out a dagger from his bosom in the blink of an eye and placed it against the neck of the conscious middle-aged man.
“Scream and you die. Resist and you will also die. I know... everything about what you guys are doing.”
Realizing that Jaun was a master far surpassing himself just from the movement a moment ago, the middle-aged man quietly raised both hands.
“...How did you get in here?”
“I never permitted questions? Just answer everything you know to what I ask.”
At Jaun’s sharp gaze, the middle-aged man bit his lip once and nodded.
Jaun caught his breath and continued.
“The ritual you were just performing. What is it for?”
“...Haven't you heard everything already? It is to obtain the power of new life by offering fresh blood.”
“Since when have you been doing this?”
“.......”
As the middle-aged man hesitated, Jaun’s dagger dug straight into his neck.
“Ugh.”
“If you don't answer now, there won't be any more chances, you know?”
At the sensation of the dagger digging into his neck little by little, the middle-aged man answered as if resigned.
“...It's been about five years here.”
At the middle-aged man’s words, Ice Rakshasa, who crawled out from under the table, sighed deeply.
“Five years, huh. It means at least five years have passed since the Blood Cult started operating.”
At Ice Rakshasa’s words, Jaun bit his lip again.
‘Five years just here. Probably in other places, such things were happening even before that. How did they perform rituals without being caught for such a long period?’
Jaun’s dagger dug a little deeper into the middle-aged man’s neck.
“Wait a moment. Blood Cult? Wh-What does that mean...!”
The middle-aged man looked up at Ice Rakshasa with puzzled eyes.
Jaun looked down at the middle-aged man.
It was definitely not a look feigned with lies.
It was a look of truly knowing nothing about the Blood Cult.
“You are performing a ritual of the Blood Cult, yet you say you don't know that the ritual belongs to the Blood Cult?”
At Ice Rakshasa’s words, the middle-aged man looked at her with puzzled eyes once again.
“Blood Cult, what nonsense is that! This is a secret method passed down through generations in the Imperial Court.”
“...Imperial Court?”
Ice Rakshasa covered her ears and shook her head from side to side as if she heard something she shouldn't have.
Jaun stared blankly at the middle-aged man and asked.
“Does everyone in the Ghost Blood Sect know that such things are being carried out?”
The middle-aged man, looking up at Jaun once, smirked.
“No way. It's a secret method obtained with difficulty, so the fewer people know, the better. Only a few of the Sect Leader’s relatives know about it. I was able to participate in this matter because I am also a distant cousin of the Sect Leader.”
“.......”
“Anyway, the ones who can receive the benefits are very few, so there is no reason to inform people around. The turn will come faster if fewer people know.”
Jaun felt strangeness in the demeanor of the middle-aged man, who calmly told the story looking up at him despite the situation where his life was clearly in danger.
“...How much do you know about this ritual?”
“Keuk keuk. Whatever you know, I probably know much more than you. I saw it with my own eyes dozens of times. I saw a person whose breath had stopped come back to life, and I saw a decrepit old man become decades younger.”
The middle-aged man’s eyes became unfocused and dreamy.
“This is a colossal power that can turn the world upside down. It is a power that those who haven't experienced it can never understand. With just this power, the Ghost Blood Sect will grow into the greatest sect in the Jianghu.”
The middle-aged man, giggling with dreamy eyes and looking back at the incense burner once, continued.
“I don't know how you got in here, but you made a big mistake. Even if I fall here, I will soon come back to life with the Sect Leader’s medical arts and secret method, but you bastards will eventually be used as sacrifices for this incense burner.”
“Ha. You've gone completely crazy. No matter how great the Blood Cult's ritual is, you say it can revive the dead?”
At Ice Rakshasa’s words, the middle-aged man smirked and nodded.
“Those who haven't seen won't believe. But I watched with my own eyes several times. Ridiculous miracles happened every time the Sect Leader finished all these rituals.”
“...He seems out of his mind.”
Ice Rakshasa shook her head from side to side.
“Foolish things. You won't believe even if you hear it a hundred times. To finish the ritual currently in progress here, the Sect Leader must be coming. At the same time the Sect Leader arrives, you will become sacrifices for the Ghost Blood Sect, so you'd better be prepared.”
“The Sect Leader is coming?”
Ice Rakshasa, tilting her head at the middle-aged man’s words, expanded her senses.
“Uh? The Sect Leader’s energy is really approaching this way.”
“That's good. I should settle this all at once.”
Jaun looked at the stairs with cold eyes.