episode_0039

Cheongun, who had been walking endlessly, fell deep into thought.

The Underworld Gate was a martial arts sect, and among them, one of the largest in scale.

Nor was it merely large in size.

The Central Plains was filled with people living at the bottom of society, and wasn’t the Underworld Gate formed precisely when such people united to protect their own rights and interests?

They were truly spread like a decentralized organization throughout every corner of the Central Plains, so in terms of sheer numbers, even the Beggars’ Sect had to concede a point to the Underworld Gate.

‘…That’s the generally known Underworld Gate.’

Before his transmigration, Cheongun had played the original game and gotten entangled with all the factions of the martial arts world, but among them, there was one particular faction that was the most secretive, gloomy, and unpredictable.

The Secret Society.

They were, in fact, the true core of the Underworld Gate.

The Underworld Gate was merely a mask they used for external activities, and in reality, all operations and information were secretly handled by the Secret Society, which was their true entity.

The funny thing was that they were a faction that thoroughly proclaimed neutrality.

On the surface, they operated like an unorthodox faction, wearing the mask of the Underworld Gate, but the Secret Society, their true entity, actually maintained a strict distance from other Dark Path factions.

That’s what made it strange.

Who was he, this person?

None other than the direct disciple of the Red Night Sword Sovereign.

The Secret Society wouldn’t be foolish enough to make an enemy of a Sword Sovereign just to take over a mere Black Forest Gate, would they?

“Hmm.”

Well, he’d know once he saw them in person.

Cheongun decided not to dwell on it deeply.

But there was something he needed to deal with first.

[Unique Trait: ‘Annihilate the Demonic Cult!’ is active!]

Cheongun stopped abruptly.

Then he sharply raised his head and flicked a hidden needle, clasped between his fingers, into the air.

The hidden needle flashed as it flew, then suddenly stopped mid-air.

From the darkness, a figure slowly revealed itself.

A man in a red mask stood proudly on a tree, lightly holding the hidden needle between two fingers.

The man asked with a feigned innocence.

“Since when did you know?”

“Since when did I know? I knew from the start.”

“You have keen eyes.”

“Your stealth technique is shoddy. For an assassin, you constantly leak killing intent and can’t even properly hide your presence, which makes me sigh. I don’t know which faction you belong to, but it’s clear that their fate is as precarious as a dewdrop hanging from a blade of grass.”

“……”

The man’s eyebrow twitched.

“I am not an assassin.”

“Then what are you?”

“I am a messenger.”

“A messenger?”

The man threw a scroll down to Cheongun from the tree.

As Cheongun immediately unrolled and read the scroll, his expression soured.

This guy was from the Flying Demon Brigade, part of the Inner Hall of the Divine Cult.

The Flying Demon Brigade, the Cult Leader’s direct force.

Vipers who hid in the shadows, handling only the dirtiest deeds.

Damn it, why the Flying Demon Brigade of all groups?

Cheongun frowned.

He already knew this guy was from the Divine Cult.

With his trait active, the blue windows were densely packed before his eyes, so there was no way he wouldn’t know.

But the Flying Demon Brigade, well.

Though all the Divine Cult members were crazy, the Flying Demon Brigade members were a step beyond.

Crazy bastards who were directly under the Cult Leader yet aimed for independence from the Divine Cult.

And even crazier bastards who actually pulled it off.

A faction of absolute psychos who gathered from among the Divine Cult’s already psycho members and gained independence.

The Blood Heaven Divine Cult.

Or, in short, the Blood Cult.

They were the progenitors of a fusion trash group that added a spoonful of human sacrifice to the Demonic Cult.

“Make your choice.”

“What?”

“Accept the invitation. Or die here.”

At those words, Cheongun pondered.

“If I accept the invitation?”

“We will admit you into our Cult.”

Oh, so that’s how it is?

Cheongun fell into contemplation for a moment.

And soon, he made up his mind.

“Lead the way.”

****

The man spoke.

The Flying Demon Brigade.

Among them, an old ghoul named ‘Soul Devouring Demon Head,’ holding a position akin to a general manager, beneath the Deputy Leader, who was beneath the Leader… had invited him.

When he heard that, he hesitated slightly.

Should he just kill this guy right now, without anyone knowing?

No, it was pointless.

If this guy, who came to invite him, disappeared, wouldn’t it obviously be his doing?

After all, his ultimate goal was the annihilation of the Demonic Cult.

That’s why he just followed along.

Come to think of it, it wasn’t a loss but rather a gain.

If they were inviting him, they would naturally invite him to their main base, and wouldn’t that place clearly be a den of demonic practitioners?

So, for now, he would quietly follow.

Because demonic practitioners were precious.

Missing even one would be a loss.

It was around the time Cheongun had made up his mind.

“We’ve arrived.”

It was quite a distance away.

A mountain region where rugged cliffs soared as if piercing the sky, and an eerie aura lingered.

In the distance, a majestic Taoist temple was located.

On the ground.

‘…Bloodstains?’

Black bloodstains clung to the rocks and dirt, continuing along the path.

He swallowed his unease and kept walking.

!!!

He involuntarily halted his steps for a moment, sensing the ominous energy emanating from below the cliff.

Cheongun had reached the Honwon realm, and his sensitivity to energy had become incredibly acute.

Especially for Cheongun, who handled natural energy like inner energy, the ghastly aura originating from nature felt even more sensitive to him.

He cautiously poked his head out.

The cliff was shrouded in mist, so deep that its end was indiscernible.

Torn clothes hung from branches protruding midway, and yellowish-brown bloodstains streaked the cliff face like fingernail marks.

And that wasn’t all.

Yellow and red papers, resembling talismans, were strung up here and there throughout the valley.

“……”

It was a sight he had never seen before.

A place he hadn’t seen even in the original work.

Since he had transmigrated at the point when a mod named ‘Demon Extermination’ was installed, the starting point was different from the original, and Cheongun had no way of knowing what mod-exclusive content had been added.

“Follow me.”

Far off, huge pits were dug here and there.

In them, corpses were haphazardly buried.

He glanced at the bodies.

Traces of hearts being gouged out from the center of the upper torsos.

The stench of decaying flesh pricked his nose.

He scanned his surroundings.

Severed limbs, contorted corpses, dried bloodstains.

Every single one of them appeared to be non-adults.

It was a true hellscape.

Ghastly aura overflowed.

No, at this point, it wasn’t just overflowing; the entire space itself was encroached upon by ghastly aura.

Even insignificant, trivial objects were emitting ghastly aura.

At that moment, the man leading the way spoke.

“To tell you one thing, all those buried are demonic practitioners who cultivated demonic arts.”

“Demonic practitioners?”

“Yes. They dragged in parentless orphans and forcibly taught them demonic arts. Then they killed them. Because the great ritual requires the life-soul and heart of someone consumed by ‘demons.’”

“……”

Cheongun walked on without a word.

Figures with bizarre appearances, in red masks and black martial robes, whose gender was indistinguishable, lined both sides.

[Unique Trait: ‘Annihilate the Demonic Cult!’ is active!]

This one too, a demonic practitioner.

That one too, a demonic practitioner.

Every single one of them was a demonic practitioner.

So many, so many.

Just how many are there?

As he exclaimed in admiration, he arrived at a place where an old ghoul stood, holding an iron fan.

“……”

Confirmed.

He’s quite strong.

Facing him, it felt as if all his meridians would burst from the overflowing true energy.

The old ghoul smiled, looking at Cheongun.

“Welcome. Welcome to Bloodstream Valley.”

His voice boomed and echoed from all directions like a hallucination.

“Your acceptance of the invitation means you have an interest in our Cult…”

The old ghoul was muttering something.

He had no intention of bothering to listen.

Because he wasn’t in the mood to listen intently to anything.

No, honestly, he just felt disgusted.

It was a primal unpleasantness.

“…To complete this great ritual, a sacrifice of pure blood is needed, so if you assist us, not only will you be admitted into the Cult, but you will also secure a place in the Inner Hall…”

That guy has just been spouting nonsense since earlier.

The smell of blood was nauseating.

Meanwhile, the true energy swirling through his meridians amplified uncontrollably as his trait activated.

It was noisy, the feeling was disgusting, and he felt inexplicably irritated and suffocated.

He genuinely felt like he was going to go crazy.

How could he relieve this dog-awful feeling?

It was when he was deep in thought.

“This bastard… dares to think of something else while the Grand Leader is speaking…!”

Damn it, you’re toast.

Cheongun dropped the fishing rod slung over his shoulder onto the ground.

Thud.

At the same time, he drew the Red Night Sword like lightning and raised it vertically.

He heard their startled cries.

Especially the one who had been guiding him just moments ago, shouting ‘You rascal!’ right beside him.

Instead of replying, Cheongun smiled.

And he gathered the overflowing natural energy, which felt like it would burst, cramming it into the sword as much as he could.

A dazzling, deep blue sword energy extended out from it.

Soon, beyond the straight-extending sword energy, sharp lightning streaks branched out.

A tingling sensation seemed to surge all the way to the hand gripping the scabbard.

Any ordinary iron sword would have been unable to withstand the surging lightning energy and would have broken.

As expected, it truly was a renowned sword acknowledged by his master.

And then.

!!!

Cheongun directly swung the sword downwards.

It was slow.

The sword strike descended, leaving afterimages.

Red and blue trajectories were drawn in the air.

They flickered, drawing a single line with a tail like a meteor.

“What the…!”

The old ghoul, startled by the Red Night Sword descending onto his head, quickly drew his own sword and raised it horizontally to block, but…

—*Slice*.

The Red Night Sword plunged deeply into his sword, cutting through it as if slicing tofu.

The old ghoul urgently cried out.

“S-save me…!”

“Shut up. You worm-like thing.”

The descending sword strike cleanly sliced through his sword, then landed directly on his crown.

As the sword blade pierced his crown, his soft scalp gently split open.

Even the skull, said to be so hard among bones?

Before the exquisitely refined sword energy, it was merely sliced through like a radish.

The piercing blade descended deeply, without any resistance.

Just like that, the sword continued to descend, as if breaking through seals one after another.

A moment later…

*CRACK!*

The old ghoul’s body split in half, collapsing separately to both sides.