Chapter 115 : Nine Heavens Immortal Maiden (1)

Chapter 115: Nine Heavens Immortal Maiden (1)

Sewoon, who had stopped Pa-eum Bima’s death, immediately moved on to the next step.

Sssaaa!

Outwardly, he only released cold air as a disguise.

‘This is the perfect chance to increase my Reverse Heaven Qi! I’ll absorb it all!’

He began transferring all of the Reverse Heaven Qi he had devoured from the Blood Demon into his Upper Dantian.

The Blood Demon’s perfectly refined Reverse Heaven Qi was being transformed into Sewoon’s own.

Wuuuuung!

An even greater surge of exhilaration swept over Sewoon than when he had absorbed Shaolin’s Great Cycle Pill.

He was mocking the Blood Demon’s schemes, turning them instead into fuel for his own growth.

And to others, the entire process had taken place in the blink of an eye.

“…Khh, grrrhh.”

At that moment, Pa-eum Bima let out another groan of pain.

Yet his outward state had improved far beyond comparison to before.

His complexion had returned to normal, the bulging veins had all subsided, and even the terrifying aura that seemed inhuman had vanished completely from his body.

Nevertheless, the faces of the Jecheon Unit warriors who were watching were filled with shock.

‘That demonic qi was absurd…’

‘The one who caused the Kaifeng Blood Massacre must surely have been the owner of that power.’

‘He was called… the Blood Demon.’

Two words had been branded into their minds.

The Blood Cult, and the Blood Demon.

In that moment, they had uncovered both the mysterious force that sought chaos in the Murim, and the master that force served.

–Are you merely a branch of the Demonic Cult?

–We are nothing like the Demonic Cult. We do not follow the Heavenly Demon, but rather the supreme master of blood, the Blood Demon!

Remembering the earlier exchange with the captain, the warriors felt chills run down their spines.

Among the martial world, whenever people spoke of the greatest being of past and present, the legendary Heavenly Demon was most often named.

Yet here were followers who openly belittled even the Heavenly Demon.

And the power of the Blood Demon, witnessed with their own eyes, was so overwhelming that it could inspire absolute faith among his followers.

That alone made it impossible for them to easily recover from the shock.

Then, it happened.

“I will ask again.”

Sewoon’s words cut through the silence, breaking everyone’s thoughts.

Having finished absorbing all of the Reverse Heaven Qi, Sewoon resumed questioning Pa-eum Bima.

“What is the purpose of this place?”

“…Khh, mass breeding of Gu. Raising the Thousand Blood Gu.”

Even through his hazy eyes and groaning voice, Pa-eum Bima answered clearly.

Sewoon asked about the breeding grounds for the sake of the warriors.

But he did not stop, pressing further to draw out even more critical information.

“Before you returned here, who did you meet?”

“…The Fourth Elder. The Prayer Demon.”

Prayer Demon?

A sharp glint appeared in Sewoon’s eyes.

It was because history had changed.

In his past life, the Prayer Demon, who oversaw the Jiangshi Sect among the Nine Great Demon Sects, had never once stepped outside the cult’s experimental facilities.

“What was his purpose?”

“Uhh, he said the mission entrusted by the cult was compromised…”

Compromised?

“Explain more clearly.”

“…To obtain the ‘Beast’s Blood’ and the ‘Wildfire’, he needed my help…”

Sewoon’s eyes trembled violently.

It was clear he had realized something.

But unlike him, the rest of the warriors only blinked in confusion.

‘…Beast’s Blood?’

‘Why bring up wildfire all of a sudden? What does that mean?’

‘Is the Blood Cult plotting something in the Great Yuan plains?’

The Young Successors conjured up images of the great plains in their minds—but their guesses were entirely wrong.

At this moment, Sewoon had grasped the Blood Cult’s true grand design.

In his past life, this role had been carried out by Baek Yacha Heo Sochang. Yet now, the Prayer Demon was acting in his place.

‘So, just as they accelerated the Blood Massacre, their next target… was the Outer Regions.’

They were advancing their plan to devour the Outer Regions.

And the place symbolized by Beast’s Blood and Wildfire was only one.

‘The Southern Barbarians.’

The Beast Palace, seated there, was the Blood Cult’s true target.

“What did you give him in return?”

“Ghh! He left with my Male and Female Gu Poison.”

Male and Female Gu Poison.

It was a particularly fearsome form of Gu poison.

Born as a pair, whenever one was harmed, the other would feel the same pain, no matter the distance.

And while the Gu suffered, its host would fall into seizures akin to qi deviation.

‘In other words, with Male and Female Gu Poison, one could completely control another.’

But just who did the Prayer Demon intend to use it on within the Beast Palace?

In Sewoon’s past life, by the time he had been dragged into the Blood Cult, the Beast Palace had already fallen into the Blood Demon’s hands. So the one being threatened remained unknown to him.

“Who does the Prayer Demon intend to use the Male and Female Gu Poison on?”

“That… that…! Grrrk!!”

Suddenly, Pa-eum Bima began foaming at the mouth and collapsed.

His limbs twisted as he convulsed, completely losing consciousness.

Sewoon immediately checked his pulse.

It was not the Blood Demon’s influence.

It seemed his body and mind had simply reached their limits.

‘Tch, his mind was shaken. It will take more than a month to restore him to a stable state.’

Clicking his tongue, Sewoon addressed the warriors.

“Bind him. Take him with us and lock him in the prison at the base.”

“Yes!”

The warriors moved in perfect unison at Sewoon’s command, restraining the enemy.

Seeing how the Jecheon Unit had become united under his trust, Sewoon spoke softly.

“Do you see? The shadow that seeks to engulf the Murim has already reached right before our eyes.”

“But do not fear. The path we walk will be the light that illuminates the martial world.”

Chachak!

Sewoon once again grasped the handle of the Great Axe he had placed down.

And without hesitation, he swung it.

Chwaaaa!

Seogeogeok!

Two characters were carved into the wall as the Axe Qi swept through.

“From now on, it will be our enemies who tremble in fear.”

Jecheon (齊天).

It was Sewoon’s challenge to the Blood Cult and the Blood Demon.

A day had passed since Sewoon and the Jecheon Unit departed.

Amidst the eerie scene heavy with the stench of thick blood…

Warriors cloaked in black hats and black robes to conceal their identities scouted the breeding grounds above ground.

They were thoroughly inspecting the corpses of the remaining Blood Cultists and the traces left behind by the intruders.

“…They rampaged completely before leaving.”

A middle-aged man, leading the warriors, spoke softly.

Unlike the others, the Taiyang Acupoint at his temples had sunken like that of an ordinary man, but the natural authority and presence he exuded were in no way beneath that of the Sword Emperor Yoo Jinhak.

At that moment, one subordinate bowed deeply with utmost respect and spoke to the middle-aged man.

“Great Protector (大護法), we have found it.”

At those words, a gleam appeared in the Great Protector’s eyes.

He followed his subordinate into a hidden underground chamber.

The instant they reached its deepest point—

Cheocheok.

‘This is…!’

Both of them halted at once.

Something they discovered brought a strange light to the Great Protector’s eyes.

“It is without doubt the trace of ‘that one’…!”

The subordinate could not hide the tremor of emotion in his voice.

But the Great Protector was no different.

With a gaze tinged with yearning, he spoke quietly.

“…Yes. It is exactly the same as the aura left upon the old tree on Geummundo Island.”

Geummundo was the name of an island in Fujian Province.

It was also the place where the axe—later forged into the Frozen Shackles that Sewoon had received as a reward from the Murim Alliance—had been discovered.

“To rule the heavens, is it.”

Jecheon.

So it was inscribed upon the wall before him.

For any mere human to claim to rule the heavens—it was words of arrogance and conceit.

But to their master, it was no more than rightful truth.

‘For that one is Heaven itself.’

Then, the Great Protector of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, the Heaven-Piercing Spear Demon, Bukri Seung (北里承), gave orders to all his watching subordinates.

“Erase all traces of us before the Blood Cult arrives. From this moment on, the entire strength of the Cult shall be devoted solely to pursuing the trace of ‘Jecheon’.”

“We shall carry out your command.”

At his decree, the subordinates moved in perfect order.

Bukri Seung once more cast his gaze toward the inscription.

It had been such a long wait.

For centuries, their yearning prayers to the unanswering deity were finally beginning to stir with light.

Whether it was a thief who dared steal the power of their master that had appeared—

‘Or whether it truly means our long-awaited master has returned.’

Half a ke later,

Just as when they had first entered this forbidden land, they vanished without a trace, like a gust of wind.

It had already been half a month since the Murim Alliance’s General Assembly—an event that had sparked great controversy—had concluded.

The decisions made at the Assembly had brought dramatic shifts to the long-standing balance of power in the martial world.

And among them, the hottest topic in Sichuan Murim was without doubt the Sichuan Tang Clan, which had reclaimed its position among the Seven Great Clans.

In recent days, the prestige of the Sichuan Tang Clan soared sky-high among the martial artists of Sichuan.

“Hah, the growth of the Sichuan Tang Clan is beyond belief!”

“What, have you been buried away in the Southern Barbarians for months? Already, nearly thirty percent of the shops in Chengdu are paying protection fees to the Sichuan Tang Clan.”

“Heh, they say now that with the Tang Clan alongside Mount Emei and Qingcheng, they are called the Three Powers of Sichuan.”

“Three? No, it’s Two Powers. Qingcheng doesn’t count. It’s the Double Powers!”

The hero of the Kaifeng Blood Massacre, the first since the Shrine Maiden Sect Leader to receive the highest merit record, Tang Sewoon, was being revered by countless martial artists and common folk alike.

But it was not an illusion built upon fame alone.

The strength of the current Sichuan Tang Clan was solid, even unshakable.

Firstly, the Tang Clan Escort Agency led directly by the Four Absolutes String Gentleman, Tang Sewoon, was no longer just the foremost in Sichuan, but on the verge of becoming the greatest escort agency in all of Sichuan Province.

Their operations were no longer confined to Sichuan—they were expanding nationwide.

It was the fruit of Namgung Clan’s wholehearted support.

After all, the Namgung Clan possessed one of the Four Great Trading Companies and close ties with the Imperial Court.

Since the Assembly, they had been supporting the Sichuan Tang Clan more extensively than they had ever aided the Hwangbo Clan.

And under Tang Sewoon’s leadership, the Sichuan Tang Clan had accepted all of this support without hesitation, absorbing everything in full.

The result was an influx of wealth into the Tang Clan Escort Agency at a scale incomparable to before, due to escort operations of far higher quality.

Rumors even spread that within the year, they might rise to occupy one of the foremost seats among the escort agencies of the Central Plains.

But that was not the only good news.

Secondly, the Tang Clan’s Heaven’s Medicine Hall had newly risen in prominence.

It had been reestablished under the new name of Heaven’s Medicine Hospital.

Though Tang Serin held the post of its first Head, all within Sichuan knew the true master behind it was Tang Sewoon.

From the beginning, its explosive growth had stemmed from Sewoon’s radical vision.

Physicians who came to learn at Heaven’s Medicine Hospital, regardless of whether they belonged to the Tang Clan or not, were taught his vast knowledge of medicine under one condition alone.

That condition: in return, they were to treat patients for as long as they believed suitable repayment for the teachings they had received.

No other compensation in wealth was demanded.

And yet, none who came to learn had ever chosen to leave.

Sincerely moved by Sewoon’s character and medical skills, they chose instead to stay and follow his path of their own will.

Thus, patients began flocking from not only Sichuan but from other provinces as well.

So the Sichuan Tang Clan had firmly established itself as the largest medical institution in the martial world, surpassing even the Emei Sect.

Yet, amidst all this, one dark rumor concerning the Sichuan Tang Clan spread.

It was that the health of the Four Absolutes String Gentleman, Tang Sewoon—the man who had made all these miracles possible—was deteriorating day by day.

But the Sichuan Tang Clan made no official response.

In this atmosphere of uncertainty and doubt—

“This is the place.”

“…Yes, Master.”

The Shrine Maiden Sect Leader, the Nine Heavens Immortal Maiden Hwa Wolyung, had arrived at the Sichuan Tang Clan.