Chapter 23: Red Lotus

[Title: How to Create a Companion Mind]

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Here’s a guide for the new mod, “Destruction of Demons”.

This is a conditional cheat mode that lets you go on an unstoppable rampage against demons (Destruction of Demons), but the problem is that the activation conditions are more annoying to trigger than you’d think.

The explanation is also incredibly unhelpful.

The cheat only activates when you encounter a demon as an “enemy,” but the criteria for that are vague as hell.

You need to know how it works to strategize, but the modder bastard didn’t even bother to explain it properly and is ignoring all questions, so I tested it myself.

(Image)

As you can see, once you enter a “hostile” state against a demon, the ability activates unconditionally.

So, what’s the method to maintain a permanent “hostile” state?

After testing, it turns out you just need to keep the demon under constant life-threatening pressure.

For example, creating a situation where you can kill them at any moment if you choose to.

The demon doesn’t actually need to feel hostility toward you.

It doesn’t matter if they consider you an ally or a savior.

The key isn’t the relationship— it’s maintaining a status effect where the demon can never escape your grasp.

If you do this, the system will keep recognizing it as a “hostile” state.

The core strategy is making sure they can never escape.

There are a few ways to do this, but first……

…

…

…

****

Cheongun felt regretful.

Because she was broken much sooner than expected.

Why did she ask for her name?

Was she curious about it? 

As if that could be the reason.

What good would knowing the name of a damn demon do?

She just asked.

To piss her off.

“It’s Jeok Hwaryeon.”

Fortunately, it was a name she knew.

It was a fairly notable NPC, so there was no way she wouldn’t recognize it.

Honestly, she had seemed unusual from the start.

An outstanding appearance and flamboyant exterior usually indicated significant importance in the game.

In that sense, Jeok Hwaryeon seemed like a character meticulously crafted to target gamers like her, didn’t she?

Cheongun stared at Jeok Hwaryeon with drowsy eyes.

Perhaps because of all the pent-up emotions, Jeok Hwaryeon’s face was flushed red as she seethed.

She even had tears welling up in her eyes!

Uncharacteristically, Cheongun smirked and asked,

“You’re a demon, right?”

“Can’t you tell by looking?”

“You’ve learned demonic arts, then?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s the name of the demonic art you learned?”

“Ha! What’s it to you?”

As Cheongun raised her hand again to press on Jeok Hwaryeon’s demonic veins, the latter panicked and spoke up.

“W-wait!”

“Hmm?”

“No, what does it matter to you what demonic arts I’ve learned? Are you planning to learn them now or something?”

“As if.”

“Then stop fucking asking!”

Cheongun silently stared at her.

Suddenly, she didn’t like her attitude.

“You’ve been using informal speech with me this whole time.”

“What, you expect me to use honorifics with the likes of… you…?”

Before the words could even finish—

Whoosh!

Something sliced through the air, and in an instant, her face was slammed into the ground.

“Argh!!”

An excruciating pain tore through her forehead, shooting through her entire body.

Blood slowly spread across the dirt.

The moment the thick scent of blood filled the air, Jeok Hwaryeon realized something had gone terribly wrong.

But it was already too late.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Cheongun slammed her head into the ground repeatedly.

Jeok Hwaryeon, overwhelmed by the searing pain, instinctively sensed death approaching and immediately tried to summon her inner energy.

But Cheongun wasn’t about to just stand by and watch.

He pressed his palm (the center of the palm) against her forehead.

A scorching energy surged through her pressure points, flooding into her body.

Demonic practitioners typically cultivate demonic arts, which are fundamentally aligned with Yin energy.

Her extreme Yin-based inner energy clashed with Cheongun’s extreme Yang-based energy.

Naturally, there was no way her rudimentary demonic arts could withstand the pure, refined energy he had cultivated through the Heaven and Earth Primordial Unity Art.

The energy she had been gathering inside her was forcibly disrupted, and the backlash made her cough up a mouthful of blood.

“Y-you think you’ll get away with this?”

“Yeah, I think I will.”

“If I die, the Divine Cult will form an extermination squad.”

“Oh? Even better.”

“……”

Is this bastard serious?

Judging by his eyes, he really is.

For a moment, Jeok Hwaryeon felt the certainty of her own death.

The last flicker of hope vanished, replaced by overwhelming terror.

But it didn’t matter.

Pah- pah- pah- pah!

Cheongun began sealing her pressure points with his fingers.

“P-please… spare me…”

“Ah, don’t worry. I won’t kill you. I’ll just destroy your dantian— nothing more, nothing less. You know what the dantian is, right?”

Her pupils trembled in horror at his words.

“Just kill me instead!”

“Nah. Why would I kill a demonic practitioner?”

“I’ll get my revenge!”

“Sure, what exactly can you do once your dantian’s shattered?”

Jeok Hwaryeon struggled with all her might, but it was futile.

Whatever he had done to her pressure points made her insides churn every time she tried to summon energy, and no matter how hard she thrashed, she couldn’t break free from his grip.

“This might sting a little.”

Cheongun placed his palm near her qihai acupoint.

The moment he released his energy, she would lose her dantian forever.

Suddenly, Jeok Hwaryeon’s eyes reddened.

Ever since becoming a demonic practitioner, she had lived expecting death at any moment.

She had convinced herself that she wasn’t afraid of death, but now, faced with true peril, extreme terror washed over her.

The head was buzzing, the stomach burned as if melting away, and the legs trembled uncontrollably.

“Ugh…”

Her throat tightened, and tears fell drop by drop.

Jeok Hwaryeon had lost her parents before she even turned ten.

Righteous sect martial artists and evil sect martial artists had clashed over a dispute, and in their reckless fighting, they paid no heed to their surroundings, leading to the unjust deaths of her parents who happened to be nearby.

Naturally, there was no apology or compensation.

They left, and in an instant, Jeok Hwaryeon lost her parents before her very eyes.

Weak and powerless, she didn’t even have the chance to demand justice.

She wandered the streets, dreaming of revenge.

But what could a girl with nothing do against martial artists?

Without a strong backer, a master to teach her martial arts, or anything at all, revenge was little more than an illusion to her.

Then, by chance, she caught the attention of the Heavenly Demon Cult and learned demonic arts, finally gaining the inner strength she had longed for.

She had just taken her first steps toward revenge.

To advance further, to earn the cult’s favor, she took on the role of a lackey, collecting tribute to prove her usefulness.

And now.

All of that was on the verge of collapsing in an instant.

“Hey, are you crying?”

“……”

“You’re really crying?”

“……”

Jeok Hwaryeon’s eyes were stained with fear and regret.

This, too, was part of Cheongun’s plan.

It wasn’t for nothing that he had spent days meticulously breaking her spirit.

He had taken his time, gauging her until she no longer spat out defiant words like “Kuh! Kill me!” even in the face of death.

He had pondered it.

Even if the dantian was destroyed, a demonic practitioner remained a demonic practitioner.

Their abilities could still be activated without hindrance.

So, wouldn’t it be possible to just destroy the dantians of all demonic practitioners?

No.

Because when facing a stronger demonic practitioner, the amplification of their abilities was far greater— much, much greater.

Thus, a method was needed to control them without destroying their dantians.

Cheongun paused for a moment and asked her:

“Do you want to live?”

“……”

Jeok Hwaryeon nodded, tears streaming down her face.

Cheongun nodded in satisfaction a couple of times before pulling something out from his robes.

It was a piece of pristine white silk.

Unwrapping it revealed a reddish pill nestled inside.

Blood Devotion Pill.

A rare treasure kept in the medicine vault of the Blood Lotus Sect’s main headquarters.

“Loneliness. And of the worst kind— Bloodworm Loneliness.”

For a moment, Jeok Hwaryeon was stunned.

Bloodworm Loneliness— she had heard of it before.

It was a notorious poison that, if left untreated with a monthly antidote, would gnaw away at the internal organs, leading to a torturous death.

Moreover, each variation of Bloodworm Loneliness required a slightly different antidote, making it impossible to cure unless Cheongun himself provided the specific remedy.

And so, Cheongun thought:

If she takes this poison, won’t she become my enemy regardless of her feelings?

This way, I can keep a demon as an ally while also activating her abilities.

“Swallow it.”

“……”

“Not going to? Then I have no choice. I’ll just destroy your dantian—”

Before he could even finish, Jeok Hwaryeon gulped down the poison.

“Do you know what Bloodworm Loneliness is?”

“…Yes, I do.”

Cheongun continued.

“I’ll give you the antidote once a month.”

“What do you want from me?”

“Loyalty.”

“…Understood.”

Cheongun shook his head.

“No, empty words of loyalty mean nothing. Tell me— how did you become a demon?”

Cheongun asked.

After hesitating, Jeok Hwaryeon let out a deep sigh and briefly summarized her life story.

“So, you learned demonic arts to get revenge?”

“That’s right.”

This much, he already knew.

The answer he would give next was already decided.

Cheongun nodded a couple of times before parting his lips.

“Then I’ll take care of that revenge for you.”

“What?”

“I’ll do it. That revenge. So from now on, you’re no longer a member of the Divine Cult— you’re my person.”

“……”

She was speechless.

Honestly, she was a little shocked, so her words got stuck in her throat.

“…Are you serious?”

“Why, don’t you trust me?”

Jeok Hwaryeon was at a loss for words.

First, he suddenly asked for her story, and now he was offering to take revenge for her out of nowhere.

She found the situation absurd, yet she also felt relief at having survived, and above all, his promise of revenge gave her a faint glimmer of hope, even if it was hard to believe.

Amidst those complicated emotions, her eyes reddened once more, and a single tear rolled down her cheek.

Seeing this, Cheongun spoke with a distant expression.

“…It was summer.”

“???”

Jeok Hwaryeon stared at him as if he were insane.