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Clack! Clack!
Near the southeast corner of Liuchen County in Hunan Province.
A group of 3,000 men on horseback were galloping quickly.
Their flag had the blue color of the Murim Alliance and identified them as the Hunan Branch.
At the front of the cavalry unit was a middle-aged man wearing yellow armor, the high-ranking military head of the Hunan Branch of the Murim Alliance. Next to him was another middle-aged man with a handsome beard named Baek Wei-hyang, the fourth elder of the Murim Alliance.
They hastily moved south once they received word that the Blood Sect was gathering. After riding their horses for a while, they spotted small groups of people approaching from various places.
“Do not stop!”
“Yes!!!”
Because of the urgent situation, the warriors of the Hunan Branch continued to ride forward.
One of the riders at the front then said.
“I am the messenger of the Guizhou branch.”
The other riders responded to his greeting.
“I am the messenger of Gangseo.”
“I am the messenger of the Guangdong branch.”
They were messengers of the Murim Alliance branches from different provinces. Baek Wei-hyang, who also served as the third military head, then asked.
“Location?”
“The Guizhou branch has passed Uiju now.”
“The Jiangxi branch has reached Hezhou.”
“Guangdong branch is near Jamgae..”
Hearing their report, Baek Wei-hyang shook his head in disappointment. Seeing this, Wei Jisang, head of the Hunan Branch, asked,
“Is it because of the Yunnan Branch?”
“They should already be here, but the messenger is late. I think their information will come later than the other branches.”
“Do not worry too much, Military Head Baek. The combined power of our branches already outnumbers the Blood Sect. Besides, wouldn’t the Yunnan Branch be open to being part of an ambush?”
“That would be ideal, but we can’t take the Blood Sect so lightly. In order to root them out, we need to strike with force.”
There was no way that the Blood Sect could be eliminated easily. At that moment, a brown hawk landed on Baek Wei-hyang’s wrist.
He removed a sheet of paper tied around its ankle and frowned as he opened it.
“Is something wrong?”
“Seems like the government didn’t make a move.”
“Do you mean the Blood Sect gave up on fighting and retreated? Then, their remnants would be spread around…”
“No. They didn’t retreat.”
The Hunan Branch leader became puzzled at those words.
“What does that mean? They didn’t clash with the government army, nor did they retreat?”
“I didn’t know how the Blood Sect achieved it, but it seemed that the Guangxi Branch fought alone as the government army withdrew.”
“How can that… ahh.”
Wei Jisang, the leader of the Hunan Branch, sighed.
He heard that the Blood Sect numbered over ten thousand. The result was obvious.
Wei Jisang’s voice was filled with anger.
“I will make them pay for the lives of my Alliance brothers with their blood!”
He made a vow to get revenge.
“But there is a small problem.”
“A problem?”
“It looks like they took the members of the Guangxi Branch as prisoners.”
“Prisoners? Those savages from the Blood Sect?”
Wei Jisang couldn’t understand.
The Blood Sect, he knew, would never take prisoners. Were they not inflexible people who would kill people without another thought?
“Ha! These cunning bastards are using their brains now.”
The Blood Sect must be so weakened compared to the past that they were not confident in their strength. In any case, what would happen if they were captured was clear.
It was quite embarrassing.
“Military head. This has gone beyond the strategy we planned. Is that alright? If the Guangxi Branch warriors are being held hostage, attacking hastily…”
“You don’t have to worry about that.”
“What does that mean?”
“Even if they had become hostages, they sacrificed themselves for the sake of the Alliance. How could such a noble sacrifice be dishonored by falling for the enemy’s tricks?”
“We won’t negotiate then?”
“There will be no such thing.”
Elder Baek Wei-hyang expressed his intention firmly.
This meant that he wouldn’t even consider the lives and deaths of their captured allies.
“However, they also saw that blind intention…”
“It wouldn’t just be that, Branch Leader. The Blood Sect would never be able to continue with this. Don’t you also know what they have been through these past 20 years? If we let them survive this, they would kill the prisoners from the Guangxi Branch in some way or another instead of freeing them.”
Wei Jisang’s face became stiff at hearing those words.
Elder Baek Wei-hyang was right. They would never release the hostages.
“…Your words are correct. My heart is weak and almost fell for their tricks.”
“That is fine. Since the lives of our brothers are at stake, everyone would inevitably become shaken by this. Yet their noble sacrifice would be what ends our future troubles.”
Elder Baek Wei-hyang’s eyes shone as he said this.
“Woahhhh!!”
The headquarters of the Guangxi Branch of the Murim Alliance was filled with screams.
The Blood Sect members’ morale was rising. Contrary to that feeling, however, was the extremely messy surroundings.
-Oh my. This place became a blood bath. How was it worse here than on the battlefield?
I could understand the intention behind Short Sword’s comments. The battle here seemed more intense than the battle we fought on the plains.
More than half the corpses here suffered grievous wounds, were crushed, dismembered, and general in a sight that was hard to look at.
This was total mayhem.
‘Is this the true form of the Blood Sect?’
It was a feast of blood made by the strongest of the Blood Sect, our elites, elders, and Blood Stars.
The warriors of the Guangxi Branch we had captured looked at the horrifying sight with ashen faces, unable to speak.
-Can you control them?
In response to Short Sword’s question, I looked at each of my men.
There were nine of them, my elites, who could handle even a thousand warriors.
‘It should work.’
Depending on how I deal with this burgeoning Blood Sect, I would be able to change the future history and break this cursed link.
-Wonwhi. You can do it. My previous master said that a sword is a weapon made for killing, but it can also be used to protect.
That’s right.
Iron Sword, you are right.
It all depended on me.
However, I did tell them not to take the lives of anyone except for the leaders and those who resisted too hard.
-Around 300 of them are alive, Wonhwi.
So if we add them to the captives, there were around 1,500 people.
The Guangxi Branch’s strength was around 3,000 warriors. Half of them had been spared and taken in as our captives?
[How did things go?]
Hae Ack-chun’s voice rang in my head. I spotted him standing on top of the main building.
Perhaps because it had been a long time since he saw blood, he seemed excited.
[There will be no problem with the government for the time being.]
[You succeeded. Ehe. You did well.]
Hae Ack-chun praised me with a smile.
Of course, I deserved that praise. If we had become entangled with the government, then the Blood Sect would have shared the same fate as my first life and be torn down before it even stood back up.
‘Hmm.’
Anyway, I will have to revise the plans.
-What plans?
I had originally thought about capturing this place and using it as a base for the Blood Sect. But could someone sleep when they couldn’t even stretch their body without touching blood?
-Why? Do you think their ghosts would come running?
This was frustrating. Even if we tried to clean the blood now, it wouldn’t come off.
-That is amazingly shocking. Tsk.
Do not do that, Blood Demon Sword.
I made sure to not see my enemies after I defeated them.
-Ahem.
The Blood Demon Sword cleared his throat after hearing this.
I could feel that he was slightly ashamed. Anyways, it was embarrassing, but since we had far more people than a central building of the Murim Alliance could accommodate, we had no choice but to create one here.
‘… it should take the form of a castle, like the Murim Alliance.’
That would make it easier to prepare for an enemy invasion.
-Look there.
A certain someone walked out of the door of the main building. It was Baek Hye-hyang.
Like everyone else, she had brought along a man by dragging him by the hair with her bloodied hands.
“Hehehe, it has been a while since I’ve seen that..”
Hae Ack-chun, who was guarding the entrance, recognized the man.
He was Oh Jaso, the branch leader of the Murim Alliance.
He was said to be the best swordsman in Guangxi. Yet, he was also a warrior who walked in the same era as the South Heavenly Swordsman,
How could such a person end up being dragged by Baek Hye-hyang like this?
Perhaps he wanted to die.
[Good job.]
[Ugh. It is natural to do this.]
Baek Hye-hyang looked at me and smiled. She was the only one who could look good with blood on her.
Someone then lightly touched my side.
Sima Young?
[Do not smile at other women. Hmph.]
… was I smiling?
-Be careful if you don’t want to be caught red-handed.
I was shocked at Short Sword’s words.
-What do you even mean? Traditionally, when one becomes the Blood Sect’s Blood Demon, they need at least 3 concubines to hold their name.
-Wonwhi will end up getting stomped on by her then.
Please don’t speak about such things.
In the meantime, Baek Hye-hyang grabbed Oh Jaso by the hair and forced him to kneel in front of me. His eyes shook as his head was lifted to look me in the eye.
It seemed like this demon mask was doing its job. Didn’t humans always say that they feared the unknown?
Tatata!
When Baek Hye-hyang released his blood points, his lips moved. She had sealed his blood points, and now that it was released, he began speaking in a trembling voice.
“Are you the new Blood Demon?”
He said this as his voice changed slightly.
“That’s right.”
The man glared at me, lifted his neck, and spoke.
“I will not suffer such disgrace and live. Just kill me.”
He was a man of considerable strength, seeing that he wasn’t afraid of death.
However, since this best swordsman had fallen, I had no reason to care.
“I don’t think that will happen. Because you are a precious one who will serve as our shield.”
Oh Jaso’s eyes narrowed at my words.
“… are you really the Blood Demon?”
Did he not believe it because I hadn’t opened my upper dantian?
It would be tiring to open it just to show this man. I wasn’t sure about doing it, but the man continued.
“… doesn’t matter. Whether you are Blood Demon or not, if you try to hold us hostage, you won’t be able to do anything, let alone keep us as shields.”
“You are against it so readily.”
“If you leave a small fire alone, the hut will eventually burn. The Alliance would not commit the same mistakes we did in the past. Taking hostages would not change a thing.”
“So you’re willing to make sacrifices?”
“If you could sacrifice yourself to stop all future calamities, it would be worth it.”
He was speaking quite strongly.
There was both an advantage and a significant disadvantage to this. Even mindless sacrifice was being attributed to justice.
“How respectable you all are.”
Oh Jaso snorted at hearing my words.
I pointed to the captives behind me and said.
“Will the warriors of the alliance regard their deaths as noble as well?”
“Do not insult the warriors of our Alliance. They, like me, are ready to accept death for justice….”
“If that is the case, they would have killed themselves when they were defeated.”
Hearing this, Oh Jaso frowned and looked at his warriors, some of whom were sobbing, cursing, and apologizing.
Oh Jaso spoke angrily.
“What did you do to them?”
At this, I smiled.
“I didn’t do anything. It just fills them with sadness that they would be leaving their family behind.”
“Sadness?”
I put my hands behind my back and said in a low voice.
“Being a sacrifice, do you think their families would accept that kind of death calmly? A child who lost their father, a wife who lost a husband, a mother, and a father losing their sons…”
The man’s face became blank as I said this.
Did he imagine that I would bring up the topic of family here?
No, I wasn’t going to use something that simple. I bent my knees slightly and looked him in the eye.
“Oh Jaso. Aren’t you the same, though?”
“Trying to sway me with emotions. I….”
“Sway you with emotions? Not at all. It is a reminder of reality.”
“Of reality?”
“Your wife, who is waiting for you, will hug and weep over your blood-soaked clothing. I don’t know if you have a son or a daughter, but they would also be upset hearing about the death of their cold-hearted father.”
The man was biting his lip hard. He seemed to be trying to avoid becoming emotional in front of me.
I then said to him,
“Even the Blood Demon knows of sorrow. That is why I want to break the chain of hatred by eliminating these sacrifices. What could be more horrible than having your family live in sorrow every day?”
“You… in this way…”
His eyes were red as he looked upset. I then spoke quietly, like a devil’s whisper.
“Do not think of this as shame or justice. All you have to do is say you want to live. If you do, you get to go home with your family.”
Baek Hye-hyang was staring at me with angry eyes.
Had she never tried to use this kind of method?
If needles were the basics for an assassin, manipulating the target’s emotions to get information or confuse them was an advanced spy skill.
The First Elder and all the others there shared Baek Hye-hyang’s expression.
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Not including the Blood Demons of the past, they knew of the previous generations of Blood Demons. This was clearly a first for them.
If it had been the old Blood Demon or Baek Hye-hyang, they would have stopped trying to do such things and used the hostages as a warning to stop the approaching enemies.
‘… they cannot understand it.’
What was I doing by trying to instill into them the desire to live?
Dan Wei-kang sent a message to Hae Ack-chun silently.
[Ghastly Monster. You… what did you teach the Blood Demon?]
Everyone knew that he was my teacher. He simply shrugged his shoulders and answered.
[As if I know.]
[Does it make sense for a teacher to not know their student?!]
Hae Ack-chun remembered the first time he had met Jin Wonwhi. That young man had been so intimidated and unable to speak, but even then, he had tried to negotiate.
Har Ack-chun laughed and said.
[Hehe, but I can tell you one thing.]
[What is it?]
[His tongue was already unusual even before he became my disciple.]
[…?!]
Three days have passed since then.
The various Murim Alliance branches that had moved out of their own provinces were getting closer. Their forces had reached the outskirts of Gunagxi and would reach this place in a day and a half.
Elder Baek Wei-hyang, the third military head, dispatched people around the province to increase their opinion toward them.
They would spread the word that they had a righteous reason to subjugate the Blood Sect.
Each branch had come to deliver justice at the request of the Murim Alliance of the Guangxi Province, which was being held hostage.
Then, the people of the Central Plains and the Murim would shed tears for the sacrifice of their Alliance brothers and praise them for coming to their aid.
Clack! Clack!
While they moved onwards, they spotted their propagandists returning.
‘What?’
Elder Baek Wei-hyang couldn’t hide his shock. They were returning after only a scant few hours.
It should have taken quite a while to spread the word around the villages, counties, and towns…
“Military head!”
The first to arrive had a stiff face.
“Why are you back already?”
“T-there is a problem!”
“What problem?”
Wei Jisang, the Hunan Branch Leader, asked this. The person then replied.
“Rumors have been spread in the villages and around the county that the Murim Alliance is coming to negotiate with the Blood Sect to free the surviving captives!”
“What!?”