On Cheonju Peak of Mount Wudang, where a serene atmosphere could be felt.

From that peak where the wind and clouds rested, a hand suddenly shot out.

The hand fumbled in the air before it began to dig through the earth where it was buried, and soon, several more hands emerged and started digging.

Following that, a head popped out.

“Keuhaak!”

He was Gwak Myeong, the master of the Blue Dragon Daoist Temple and a master of the martial world known as the Parting Sword.

Gwak Myeong was struggling to pull his body out from the pile of dirt.

“Kkeuheueueup!!”

After writhing with all his might dozens of times.

Gwak Myeong finally escaped the dirt pile and began to dig the ground with his two hands imbued with internal energy.

Soon, Gu Yong’s head appeared.

“My apologies! Gu Yong!”

Gwak Myeong grabbed Gu Yong’s hair and pulled with all his might.

With that, Gu Yong was pulled out like a radish.

“Aack! My hair! My hair is falling out!”

“Please understand. That was the only place to grab.”

“Ugh… what happened to the others?”

“We have to look for them now.”

Gwak Myeong searched through the dirt and sand, looking for the two who had not yet escaped.

Dan Mugi and Ryang.

Gu Yong also dug through the ground, but when he couldn’t see the two no matter how much he dug, he shrugged his shoulders and let out a deep sigh.

“How about we just leave them? Ryang came here on the condition that we kill him in the first place, and Dan Mugi is the former leader of the Ming Cult who should have died and disappeared long ago. It’s better if he disappears now.”

“Didn’t we make a promise?”

“We promised, but… huh?”

Gu Yong discovered something caught on the tip of his foot.

It was a smooth stone.

Gu Yong looked at the stone, which was so smooth it reflected light, and then touched it with his fingertip.

The stone was soft.

“Don’t tell me…”

Gu Yong hurriedly began to dig around the soft, smooth stone, and finally, Dan Mugi’s face was revealed to the world.

“Are you alive?”

“I’ll kill you.”

“I can’t pull you out if you say that.”

“…Pull me out. Forget what I just said.”

“Sigh. How did I end up digging out the leader of the Ming Cult.”

Gu Yong diligently dug out Dan Mugi’s body with his two hands.

Soon after, Gwak Myeong found Ryang, who was buried.

As if he had no lingering attachment to life, Ryang was buried with his hands quietly clasped, unlike the other three who had struggled to escape the dirt.

“If you want to die, I’ll just bury you here.”

“Then you shouldn’t have pulled me out in the first place.”

Ryang grumbled as he came out of the dirt.

Finally, with Ryang also safely out of the dirt pile, the four of them caught their breath and looked around.

‘Ilmun… what a meticulous bastard.’

Just thinking about that time still made his head spin.

With the addition of Dan Mugi’s palm force, Gwak Myeong’s sword had shone and succeeded in cutting down the firmly shut iron gate.

But the joy was short-lived.

Gwak Myeong hoisted Dan Mugi onto his back and ran with all his might.

“We have to get out before it collapses!”

They had to escape before the prison was buried under the pouring earth.

But then, something no one had expected happened.

Gwak Myeong and Gu Yong had expected the collapse to center on the prison, but Ilmun was not such an easy opponent.

The place with the door was the entrance to the prison, but the part that began to collapse was the entrance to the long passage connecting the prison to the outside.

As the only exit and entrance began to crumble, Gwak Myeong ran with all his strength.

“Damn it!”

But as the entrance was buried in dirt, they had no choice but to throw their bodies to be buried as close to the outside as possible.

After that, to secure an airway, they stretched out their arms to create space before being completely trapped in the pouring dirt.

And only after digging little by little and without rest for several days were they able to completely escape from the collapsed prison.

“First, I’ll go get information from the nearest branch. Let’s go, Ryang.”

“…”

Ryang had a ‘why me?’ look on his face, but since there was nothing else he could do, he followed Gu Yong down the peak.

Gwak Myeong, left with Dan Mugi, also carried him on his back and descended the peak.

“How long has it been since that thief bastard took the Blood Jade?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Just once. I saw a fellow who succeeded in embracing the Blood Jade.”

Gwak Myeong opened his ears and focused on Dan Mugi’s words.

“I wasn’t very interested in the Blood Jade at the time… but the Blood Jade, with its power of special ability, was quite intriguing. Then, that fellow began to feast.”

“Feast?”

“Those who take the Blood Jade inevitably crave blood. It was the same for him. Once you taste another’s blood, you constantly crave it, and later, you madly desire the blood of masters with strong internal energy. There is no satisfaction for one who has taken the Blood Jade.”

Take and take again.

Devour and devour again.

Feast and feast again.

The endless hunger was like a curse for the one who took the Blood Jade.

You don’t feel full even if you eat, and you don’t feel sleepy even if you don’t sleep.

“In the end, they lose their reason and emotions and turn into a monster that only craves blood.”

“So… what happened to that person?”

“All the masters of our cult were mobilized and we barely succeeded in capturing him. After cutting off all his limbs, we succeeded in taking out the Blood Jade from his body.”

But the Blood Jade, having already feasted on blood to its heart’s content, no longer took a human as its host.

After that, Dan Mugi tried and researched to find a way to embrace the Blood Jade, but he couldn’t embrace it until the moment it was stolen.

“You still want to take the Blood Jade even after seeing the one who embraced it turn into a monster?”

“Hehehe… You wouldn’t know. Do you know what kind of person the fellow who took the Blood Jade originally was?”

“How would I know that?”

“A servant.”

Gwak Myeong’s steps came to a halt.

“A worthless… servant who spent his whole life sweeping. After that fellow took the Blood Jade… he was able to fight and win against the renowned masters of our cult. Hahahaha! Does that even make sense!? A servant who had never learned martial arts in his life trampling and killing the masters of our cult!”

“…”

“If I had embraced the Blood Jade… by now, the entire martial world… no, the world would be at my feet. I would have become the number one under heaven and the number one of all time and lived forever!! If it weren’t for that thief bastard!”

Dan Mugi’s deep hatred could be felt from his back.

‘Blood Jade…’

Gwak Myeong’s steps grew heavy with a budding sense of dread.

‘A divine artifact that can turn even a servant who has never learned martial arts into an absolute master.’

No, that shouldn’t be called a divine artifact.

It’s an abomination.

An abomination that should never exist in this world.

“You said you remember the location of the Blood Jade clearly… that’s not a lie, is it?”

“I watched with my own eyes as the Blood Jade was pulled from his body at that time. Though I can’t see anything now. Kilkilkil!”

Two empty eyes.

But the former leader of the Ming Cult, freed from his bonds, was emitting a ferocious aura from his entire body.

Even though he was old and defeated, he was still the leader of the Ming Cult.

“I don’t think you’ll turn over a new leaf and cooperate with us. The only evil man I trust… one is enough.”

The face of Gu Jucheol flashed through Gwak Myeong’s mind.

“I don’t expect your trust either. You just need to guide me to where the Blood Jade is.”

Gwak Myeong nodded and waited with Dan Mugi.

Soon, Gu Yong came running in a hurry.

“Great Master Gwak! We have a problem!”

Gu Yong, who had returned after hearing the news from the branch, explained what had happened in the land of Sichuan while they were trapped in the prison.

‘Sohyeon was defeated!?’

That monstrous fellow was defeated.

It was hard to believe.

But more than that, a war?

“A war broke out while I was gone?”

“Hehehe… Following the Righteous-Demon War, now they have to fight a monster. The Martial Alliance bastards… they’re going to have a hard time this time.”

Gwak Myeong ignored the muttering Dan Mugi and asked about the current situation.

“What’s the current situation?”

“They say the Martial Alliance won the first battle in Pyeongmu, north of Sichuan. A second round is scheduled to happen soon.”

“Damn it! There’s no time. We have to go to Sichuan too!”

“I’ll get a carriage. We won’t be able to run all the way to Sichuan in our current state.”

Gu Yong used his position as the vice-leader of the Beggars' Sect to its fullest to procure the four fastest horses and a carriage.

Dan Mugi and Ryang, who had lost his will to live, got on the carriage first, followed by Gu Yong and Gwak Myeong.

“Can we stop the war?”

At Gu Yong’s question, Gwak Myeong shook his head.

“We’re not stopping it… we have to eliminate the master of the Blood Jade.”

“The Blood Jade is mine! Remember that clearly! You thief bastards!”

As Dan Mugi shouted, spittle flying, Ryang glared at him with a dissatisfied expression.

Meanwhile, the carriage carrying the four people sped towards Sichuan.

***

“Attack!”

“Push them back!”

The Martial Alliance’s surprise attack at the hour of the rabbit worked brilliantly.

The men of the heretic path, unable to even open their eyes properly, couldn’t even mount a proper response, and in the second battle, the Martial Alliance and the righteous martial world succeeded in eliminating about half of the heretic martial world’s forces.

“Excellent!”

Peng Sogeon sneered at the men of the heretic path who were turning tail, his face filled with joy.

“This isn’t even enough to settle the Peng family’s grudge. You cowardly and wicked bastards!”

“Victory is ours!”

“Waaah—!”

After winning the second battle following the first, the morale of the Martial Alliance and the righteous martial world’s martial artists seemed to pierce the sky.

The Blood Demon, Ma Seongun, who had made the Central Plains tremble in fear, couldn’t even exert his power.

Ju Cheon, who was said to have defeated the previous Alliance Leader, Gwak Doyeop, single-handedly, only poured his strength in the beginning and then quickly retreated.

“Easy.”

While everyone was intoxicated with the joy of victory, a few people were even feeling a sense of displeasure.

“This can’t be right.”

“What do you mean?”

At the question of the Azure Sky Unit Leader, Namgung Doun, Namgung Muhyeok frowned as if displeased with the consecutive victories and looked at the dead men of the heretic path.

‘Third-rate fighters who don’t even know how to fight properly.’

Most of the heretic path martial artists who died in this battle were third-rate fighters who seemed to have never even had a proper fight, let alone a war.

Of course, it was the way of war for the weak to die first, but the problem was the ratio.

‘In comparison, almost no masters of the first-rate or higher have died. It’s as if…’

“It’s like they set up scarecrows. Isn’t that so?”

Cheon Yusin approached Namgung Muhyeok, who was deep in thought.

“Alliance Leader…”

“Just call me White Moon Divine Lord. There are many who are not pleased with me being called Alliance Leader.”

“It’s just more surprising that there are people who care about such things even in a time of war.”

“That’s just how humans are. More importantly, I’m glad the Golden Dragon Divine Sword felt it too. I don’t know how sad I was, thinking I was the only one feeling something was strange.”

“The White Moon Divine Lord felt it too?”

Cheon Yusin said, kicking a dead heretic path martial artist with the tip of his foot.

“We are definitely being lured. The problem is what’s at the end of it… I don’t know if it’s right to press them further now that our morale is high.”

Namgung Muhyeok thought Cheon Yusin’s shoulders looked heavy.

And why wouldn’t they? He was currently the overall person in charge of the righteous martial world, including the Martial Alliance.

All of their lives depended on Cheon Yusin’s choice.

“I think… I’ll have to convene a summit meeting.”

“That’s a good idea.”

A summit meeting was held with Namgung Muhyeok’s agreement.

The leaders of each sect and family gathered in one place and gave their opinions on the current situation.

Among them, Peng Sogeon strongly wished to pursue the heretic martial world.

“We are already in a situation where we are riding a tiger! Before they can set up proper defenses, we must push them further and wipe them out without leaving a single seed!”

From the Five Great Families’ side, Peng Sogeon raised his voice, and then from the Nine Sects One Gang’s side, Gu Daepil raised his voice.

“It clearly seems to be a luring tactic, so going in there is no different from putting our heads in a tiger’s mouth.”

“Then are you saying we should just leave them be?”

At Peng Sogeon’s question, Gu Daepil shook his head.

“They don’t have a proper supply route anyway. If we leave them alone, they will surely self-destruct, so let’s take our time…”

“Time is not on our side.”

At that moment, Ilmun, who had been silent, slowly rose from his seat.

At that, everyone’s gaze turned to Ilmun.

His words, as the sect master of the Wudang Sect, carried a weight that was on a different level from the others.

“If they offer the entire heretic martial world as a sacrifice to the Blood Demon as a last resort, who will be able to stop the Blood Demon then? Time is poison to us as well.”

“Then what is Sect Master Ilmun’s thought?”

At Cheon Yusin’s question, Ilmun placed his hand on his sword hilt and said.

“How about all the leaders join forces to capture the Blood Demon in the next battle? If he disappears… the heretic path will lose its focal point and collapse.”

As everyone showed their agreement, Cheon Yusin’s gaze changed.

“Then, as Sect Master Ilmun said, we will prepare for the next battle.”

Namgung Muhyeok, who was watching the conversation of the leaders from a step behind, felt a slight sense of incongruity and looked at Cheon Yusin.

The corners of his mouth were forming a faint smile.

‘Ah…’

Only then could Namgung Muhyeok feel it.

Cheon Yusin had not been hesitating because he couldn’t make a decision.

“Huu… damn it.”

(End of Chapter)