Chapter 1137: Scorched World.

Creakingly, Cheonjun raised his body. It was an alien and completely unnatural movement.

Uddeuk.

Perhaps because he moved his body forcibly, creaking sounds could also be heard from his flesh. It was obvious just by looking that he wasn’t normal.

I watched Cheonjun like that quietly. Eventually, Cheonjun, having completely gotten up, looked at me.

Seeing his eyes, I inwardly clicked my tongue.

‘As expected.’

Red.

Cheonjun’s eyes were red like bloodwater. An appearance that was just looking at them was annoying and somehow made one’s skin crawl.

Moreover, I was familiar with it. I had already experienced it several times. Even if not, I had been feeling it to some extent for a while now.

“Heu-eum…….”

He exhales lowly. Although the voice and face were the same, the atmosphere contained within was on a different level.

“How could you have known…… I don’t understand.”

Blood Demon (血魔).

Or the Dragon Emperor.

An existence from another world who was the former owner of the dimension called the Dragon Realm, the early calamity of the Central Plains, and who tried to appear as its new master.

Currently, whatever schemes he harbored, he was also the guy plotting something by settling in the Murim Alliance.

‘As expected.’

I thought, looking at him.

‘It seems he had already tampered with Cheonjun from this time.’

The pieces of what I suspected fit together effortlessly.

‘Just when did it start?’

I already knew that Cheonjun’s condition had been strange. Even if not.

‘It bothered me.’

When I briefly exchanged blows with Cheonjun last time. The fishy smell and irritating sensation I felt then.

I didn’t miss it.

‘When I saw this.’

Looking at Cheonjun’s condition, it would be right to say the Namgung family was already deeply under the Blood Demon’s influence.

‘……Could it be that the current family head is also like that?’

It struck me that someone somewhat lacking in ability had become the family head. Clearly, his abilities as a family head seemed not bad, but it was hard to explain with just that.

Looking at it, it seemed possible perhaps because Cheonjun’s influence was strongly involved.

‘It was a question why Cheonjun put that guy up.’

If the Blood Demon’s influence was involved, it made some sense.

“I will ask.”

The Blood Demon, wearing Cheonjun’s guise, asks me.

“Who are you?”

“…….”

Jjirit.

Something brushed past my body. I felt a subtle energy trying to penetrate, so I grabbed and crushed it.

Pas-seuseu.

Seeing the energy scatter, the Blood Demon’s eyes widened slightly.

“You’re using pathetic tricks.”

“Kkeul-kkul…….”

It seemed he was trying to do something, but tricks like these no longer worked.

The Blood Demon, having his energy thwarted, widened his eyes for a moment then chuckled lowly.

“This is a curious matter. The time shouldn’t have come yet. How did the calamity appear?”

I thought inwardly at the Blood Demon’s words.

‘Is he seeing me as a calamity?’

It seemed he wasn’t seeing me as a mere human.

“Who are you.”

“It’s laughable that you ask unnecessarily when you must have heard.”

Smirking, I said to the guy.

“I am Cheonma.”

“……Cheonma.”

The Blood Demon nods his head.

“You wouldn’t be one of the Nine Dragons. How can a dragon I don’t know exist?”

He seems to have noticed that I am a dragon. After all.

‘With instincts rampaging like this, there’s no way he wouldn’t know.’

The instincts of a dragon with hidden depths. It’s rampaging wildly, as if wanting to tear the opposing dragon to shreds somehow.

Am I the only one feeling this?

‘It won’t be.’

Dragons are inherently said to be arrogant beings. They cannot tolerate something existing above them.

They are beings who must tear it down and make it fall to the ground, no matter who it is.

The one who taught me that is none other than the Blood Demon in front of me. However, would he really feel differently about this? I thought not.

‘What’s important.’

Is not whether the Blood Demon noticed I’m a dragon.

‘Is that he doesn’t properly recognize me.’

He only grasped that I am a dragon. It was important that he hadn’t noticed any other aspect.

“O Dragon Emperor.”

“Kkeul-kkul…….”

The Blood Demon reacts to my call.

“……That’s a title I haven’t heard in a long time. Not only are you a surviving dragon, but you also seem to know who I am.”

“How could I not know?”

I recall the words Mother spoke when she confronted the Blood Demon. I had to mix in a pinpoint description of his condition.

“The master of a world that broke and disappeared. There would be fewer people who don’t know that.”

“…….”

The Blood Demon’s expression crumbled instantly.

“How amusing.”

Seu-eu-eu.

In that moment, I felt the air change. A faint smell of blood was mixed into the aura I felt.

Is it killing intent or fighting spirit? No, it wasn’t either of those. This is something hard to express as mere energy.

Vastness.

Or awe.

I could figure out what this was not long after. It’s an aura I’ve felt several times already.

It’s something possessed by a being of a different class.

When I faced Mother.

And when I faced Mujeogaeng.

Or.

‘When I saw that guy.’

The strange being who called himself the master of Taechen. The sensation felt when I saw that guy was like this.

This means. This sensation…

‘Is it something the Masters possess?’

Beings who are not humans or ordinary lifeforms.

Beings called Masters who manage a world and are its core. The primordial difference they possess.

I thought that might be what I’m feeling from the Blood Demon now.

“Seeing that you don’t bow your head even when looking at me, you seem like a being born later…… What purpose do you have?…… Or, if not that.”

Something rises from the line of the Blood Demon’s shoulders. It was a red aura. Blooming like heat haze, it took the form of water droplets and slowly floated up into the sky.

“Did Taechen betray me?”

“…….”

Hearing the words, I frowned.

Taechen?

‘That guy’s name is coming up here?’

The master from another world who failed trying to use a trick on the myriad worlds.

I didn’t expect his name to come out of the Blood Demon’s mouth.

‘It means the two are somehow connected.’

Since there was nothing I could say, I maintained silence for the time being. Then.

“How amusing. You surely know that his leash is also with me……. Kkeul-kkeul-kkeul.”

The Blood Demon, perhaps having finished his prediction, laughed lowly.

“That you summoned me unnecessarily means you also have some purpose.”

“It seems so.”

“However, unfortunately, time is not that plentiful. So…….”

The aura he was emitting slowly subsided. Not only was it fading, but I could feel his presence diminishing too.

At that moment.

Tuk.

The Blood Demon took off a ring from his hand and threw it at me.

“Let’s see each other again later. I’ll be looking forward to that time.”

The moment I looked at the ring.

Teol-sseok-!

Cheonjun lost consciousness and collapsed right there.

“…….”

I could no longer feel the Blood Demon’s aura, but just in case, I didn’t take off my mask.

I picked up the ring that had fallen onto the ground.

I looked intently, wondering if there was something, but.

‘Heu-eum.’

It was a ring that wasn’t particularly special.

‘The very act of giving something like that is strange, though.’

He gave something unremarkable and left. Seeing as he even left words saying we’d meet again later, it couldn’t just be a ring.

‘Should I take this or not?’

I pondered for a moment. Although I did ponder.

Seuuk.

I put it in my pocket for now. The encounter with the Blood Demon in this world. I learned the Blood Demon exists, and the thought that I might gain something from him occurred to me.

‘Even if I don’t know how long I’ll be here.’

Shouldn’t I gain everything I can? Thinking so, I nodded.

Next.

“Heu-eum.”

I looked back at the collapsed Cheonjun. I could still feel the Blood Demon’s presence in his body.

‘What should I do about this?’

I pondered.

‘How can I do what Father did?’

In the past, when Father pulverized Cheonjun in Sichuan. Back then, Father used the Nine Fiery Mountain Five Forms to erase the Blood Demon’s traces from Cheonjun and remove his possession.

If so.

‘Can’t I do it too?’

I’ve similarly reached Great Accomplishment and attained Transcendence, and learned the Nine Fiery Mountain Five Forms.

If I use this, couldn’t I also remove Cheonjun’s possession?

Having that thought, I considered trying it briefly, but.

‘……Heu-eum.’

I stopped my fidgeting hand.

‘I’ll hold back.’

I don’t even know how to do it, and even if I somehow succeed…

‘It’s unknown how the Blood Demon might react because of this.’

Since I know the Blood Demon is contained within his body, I couldn’t act rashly.

‘It’s a sorry thing to say to Cheonjun, but.’

Since it’s not even the world I came from in the first place, I had to minimize interfering unnecessarily as much as possible.

‘I’ve already caused a lot of trouble, but…’

Still, I felt I had to filter out what I could.

‘……Anyway. Letting Namgung Hyung escape was also a success.’

Let’s just leave Cheonjun for now.

Putting the ring in my pocket, I turned my back like that.

Since I ensured there was no danger to his life, he’ll open his eyes soon.

Thinking so, I moved away from the spot.

The next day, chaos erupted.

---

Too many things happened overnight.

Just when I was feeling good about blocking the White Demonic Mirror Gate, even briefly.

In that interim, the second young master of the Namgung family attempted to run away from home out of the blue.

He even succeeded.

What’s more surprising than this.

Rumors saying, “Even though Cheonjun personally moved, he couldn’t catch the second young master,” and “While searching, they found Cheonjun who had lost consciousness,” spread rampantly.

‘……It’s not just rumors, it’s the truth, even.’

Cheonjun moved to capture Namgung Hyung, but Namgung Hyung escaped without concern.

Moreover, when they went to search, Cheonjun was found collapsed.

Just that alone was enough to completely overturn the Namgung family.

‘Ah, damn… He was unconscious for longer than I thought?’

I expected him to wake up much earlier than that. Unlike my expectations, Cheonjun remained unconscious until morning, apparently.

‘Tsk.’

Was the energy I unleashed into his brain perhaps too strong? Or maybe it was the aftermath of the Blood Demon taking over his body.

Thanks to that, the rumors spread completely.

In response, the family head seems to be trying hard to calm the situation, but.

‘Oh well.’

I decided to ignore it. As long as I wasn’t caught, that’s all that matters.

Anyway, it’s merely the karma the current Namgung family head, who raised his children poorly, must bear.

Just like my father suffered his whole life because of my karma.

‘This is what happens when child-rearing fails.’

If you didn’t like it, you should have done better.

It’s not something I should say, coming from someone who grew up completely wrong, but… Since it’s not my business anyway, it was fine.

Anyway.

Right now, putting aside whether the Namgung family is in chaos or whatever, it was time to have an important conversation.

Early in the morning. Ignoring the noisy Namgung family, I said to the person in front of me.

“So, about that.”

The young man who heard me-my father in his youth-looked at me.

Saying this while looking at those blazing red eyes.

“I want to go to Shanxi for a bit. Could you take me?”

“……?”

At my sudden words, Father’s face crumpled.