As the door opened completely, the Blood King walked out.
Having just emerged from a tank filled with blood, he was naked, and bloody water dripped from his body.
The stench of blood was so foul that Yang Seok wanted to run outside.
It was the first time in his life he had smelled such a thick scent of blood.
It was strong enough to make him think that if wine had a spirit, this must be the scent of the spirit of blood itself.
On the other hand, the Northern Blood Sect Master paid no mind to the smell and was staring at the Blood King.
He was younger than he had thought.
He had a handsome face, long limbs, and a perfectly sculpted body.
And on top of that, his fiery red hair was captivating.
The first impression he gave off was more intense than any martial artist he had ever seen.
‘He is insanely strong.’
Even though the Blood King did not reveal his aura, that thought came to mind from his first impression alone.
Yang Seok, on the other hand, was so overwhelmed by the stench of blood that he couldn't properly assess the Blood King.
However, he was certain of one thing.
‘So he's the one behind it all.’
The fact that he had been hiding in a secret room behind the Sect Master’s Hall was shocking.
‘To think he was hiding such a secret.
He should have told me, his own son.’
Even in this moment, he was filled with resentment toward his father.
Step, step, step, step!
A dozen martial artists who emerged from the left and right doors blocked the way in front of the Northern Blood Sect Master.
They too frowned at the terrible smell.
Usually, when the Northern Blood Sect Master entered the secret door, he always dismissed his subordinates first.
But today, he hadn't expected the man from the secret room to come out, so he hadn't dismissed them beforehand.
The Blood King looked down at the martial artists with an indifferent gaze.
The Northern Blood Sect Master got several impressions from that gaze.
It wasn't a cold, emotionless gaze.
It was a gaze as hot as blood, as sticky as blood, and as chilling as blood.
There was another feeling.
It seemed as if order or logic would not work on him, and that he lived purely by instinct, no, by the pull of blood.
But the Northern Blood Sect Master knew.
That wasn't all there was to him.
If he were a man who only followed his instincts, he would not have been able to spend such a long time in the secret room.
He possessed a dreadful patience that overwhelmed everything else.
That was the most frightening thing about him.
At that very moment.
The Blood King slowly extended both his hands forward.
Fwoosh!
From the Blood King's outstretched fingers, red lines shot out all at once.
Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!
One line from each finger, ten lines in total, pierced through the foreheads of the martial artists.
Their skills were not so poor as to die so futilely.
But with that single move, the martial artists all collapsed and died.
It was a martial art the Northern Blood Sect Master had never seen before.
It wasn't finger wind, nor was it a flying weapon.
The Blood King slowly walked towards the Grand Advisor's seat.
As he walked, blood continued to drip from his body.
The Blood King sat on the Grand Advisor's seat, still naked.
The aura and presence he exuded were truly immense.
Added to that was the suffocating stench of blood.
The Blood King gently closed his eyes and chanted some kind of formula, then held out his hand to the side.
Without any wound, blood flowed from his palm.
Drip.
From the blood that fell to the floor, red smoke began to rise.
Crash!
The Blood King threw a palm strike, blowing the ceiling away.
The red smoke rising from the floor continued to ascend through the hole in the ceiling.
It looked as if he was sending a signal to someone.
Hearing the commotion, the sound of murmuring could be heard from outside.
The Northern Blood Sect Master shouted, his voice laced with inner energy.
“Everyone, stand down!”
Soon, the commotion outside subsided, and silence fell.
Sitting on the Grand Advisor's seat, the Blood King looked down at the Northern Blood Sect Master without a word.
The Northern Blood Sect Master knelt on the spot and bowed.
“I greet my lord!”
Since becoming the Sect Master, no, since the day he was born, this was the first time the Northern Blood Sect Master had ever knelt to someone other than his parents or master.
But he knew instinctively.
If he didn't kneel now, he would die at this man's hands.
Yang Seok, who had been standing awkwardly, quickly knelt down as well.
He was truly shocked.
He had sensed that the naked man was strong, but he never expected his father to kneel.
Especially not without a single word exchanged.
‘My lord?’
That word coming from his father's mouth sounded completely foreign.
Then, the Blood King finally opened his mouth.
His voice was low yet deeply resonant.
“How did Ha Gyeol die?”
Had he heard the conversation outside from the secret room? Or was he connected to Ha Gyeol by blood? He knew that Ha Gyeol was dead.
“We do not know yet. We just received the news.”
The Northern Blood Sect Master replied respectfully.
The Blood King rose from the Grand Advisor's seat and walked forward.
With each step he took, the hearts of the Northern Blood Sect Master and Yang Seok pounded.
Even the Northern Blood Sect Master, who had experienced all sorts of hardships, felt fear.
This man possessed an aura incomparable to Ha Gyeol's.
He couldn't have imagined such a terrifying person was in the secret room.
The person the Blood King approached was Yang Seok.
Up close, the Blood King's eyes felt even more terrifying, and the intensified stench of blood made Yang Seok feel as if he would suffocate.
“You were there when Ha Gyeol died, weren't you?”
It wasn't a question, but an interrogation.
Yang Seok's vision went dark.
Fear gripped him, but he desperately denied it.
He felt that if he told the truth, he would be killed in a truly painful way.
“No.”
But the Blood King wasn't just testing him.
“You reek of Ha Gyeol's blood.”
“!”
Yang Seok's heart sank.
Since he had watched the fight, it was possible a few drops of his blood had splattered on him.
But to be able to smell that blood? Was that even possible?
The Blood King glared at Yang Seok with cold eyes.
“Who killed Ha Gyeol? Was it you?”
He should have said he didn't know, but the Blood King's glare was so terrifying that Yang Seok squeezed his eyes shut and shouted.
“No, no! I didn't kill him.”
“Then who was it?”
Yang Seok did not hesitate and told the truth.
“It was the Young Cult Master of the Demon Sect.”
The Blood King emanated a faint Blood Qi from his body and placed a hand on Yang Seok's head.
As his hand touched the crown of his head, Yang Seok shouted as if begging.
“Please! Spare me.”
He felt a strange energy entering his body from the crown of his head.
But he couldn't resist.
His whole body trembled like an aspen leaf, afraid that the energy would burst inside his head.
“Please!”
The Northern Blood Sect Master did not step forward to help his son.
It wasn't as if stepping in would stop him anyway.
Above all, he was furious with Yang Seok right now.
He had been at the scene of Ha Gyeol's death yet had blatantly lied to him.
He even pretended to be shocked by his death.
The Blood King removed the hand he had placed on his head.
“Haa, haa.”
He didn't know what that energy was, but for now, the thought that he had survived made Yang Seok gasp for breath in relief.
“What happened to the one with the Extreme Cold Body?”
When the Blood King asked again, Yang Seok answered without hesitation.
“The Drunken Demon took her.”
At the mention of the Drunken Demon, the Blood King's eyes narrowed, and his pupils turned red.
When Seo Nak died, he had resolved inside the tank.
He would definitely kill the Drunken Demon.
That same Drunken Demon had blocked his path once again.
Having lost both his subordinate and the Extreme Cold Body, the Blood King was relentless.
“Tell the Young Cult Master to meet me.”
The red pupils between his narrowed eyes were terrifying beyond compare.
“In the meantime, I will kill the Drunken Demon and retrieve the Extreme Cold Body.”
*
“He's going to aim for you, brother.”
At Geom Mugeuk's words, the Drunken Demon, who had been looking out the window, turned his head.
“He killed Elder Seo and took the Extreme Cold Body. He'll definitely try to get revenge on you.”
“That's what I'm hoping for.”
The Drunken Demon was not afraid at all.
He had the skills to back it up.
However, he had to be wary of the Blood King's Self-Destruction Art.
The Drunken Demon's intoxication wouldn't be able to block the Self-Destruction Art.
“I have a favor to ask.”
“What favor?”
“You have to grant it.”
“No. I refuse.”
Geom Mugeuk said nothing.
“What is it?”
“You said you refuse? Ah! You're just as I expected, brother. To refuse this favor.”
In the end, the Drunken Demon couldn't stand the curiosity.
“I'll at least hear you out.”
The Drunken Demon said, filling the cup in front of him.
“As long as you don't tell me to quit drinking. I realized it when I quit this time. Without alcohol, the joy of life disappeared.”
“So anything but that is fine?”
“Coming to see me last when you return to the sect is also not okay. And also….”
To be so relaxed even in a situation like this.
Geom Mugeuk smiled and drew the Black Demon Sword, still in its scabbard, from his waist.
“It's not a difficult favor….”
Feeling inexplicably reluctant, the Drunken Demon said loudly.
“I don't know what it is, but no! I don't want to!”
*
Watching Geom Mugeuk approach from a distance, Yang Seok's heart pounded as if it would burst.
—You must hold him for as long as possible.
If you fail, you die.
The image of the Blood King's cold warning came to mind.
‘He really will kill me.’
The Blood King is different from Geom Mugeuk.
He will kill me without a shred of hesitation.
And it's not like my father will help either.
Not when I think about the look in his eyes when the Blood King gave the order.
In that time, Geom Mugeuk arrived in front of him.
“You've come?”
Yang Seok bowed his head in greeting.
His attitude towards Geom Mugeuk was now completely different from before.
“I apologize for contacting you so urgently.”
“Why did you want to see me?”
“I've found information about the one behind all this.”
“What information?”
“Shall we walk for a bit?”
Yang Seok began to walk with Geom Mugeuk.
The place they met was a deserted field a short distance from the Northern Blood Sect.
Walking in silence, Yang Seok spoke cautiously.
“I went to see my father. I spoke to him honestly, just as you said. I told him I wanted to be of help. Then my father told me. I never knew that speaking honestly could be so powerful.”
“Where is the mastermind?”
“He said that person is at the Ice Sword Sect.”
The Ice Sword Sect, along with the Northern Sea Ice Palace and the Northern Blood Sect, was one of the Three Great Powers of the Northern Sea.
‘Even if things go wrong later, I can just blame it all on my father.’
The Blood King was truly terrifying, but this opponent here was the Young Cult Master of the Demon Sect.
I have to dig an escape route.
Geom Mugeuk, who had been staring quietly at Yang Seok, suddenly asked.
“Is the idea that he's at the Ice Sword Sect your thought, Young Master Yang? Or did that person order you to say so?”
Yang Seok tried his best to ask back calmly.
“What do you mean?”
Yang Seok couldn't tell if Geom Mugeuk was testing him or if he had truly noticed he was lying.
“I see. It would have to be somewhere like the Ice Sword Sect to buy time. That means the mastermind has revealed himself to you.”
No matter how hard he tried not to be surprised, it was impossible not to be when with Geom Mugeuk.
“Deceiving me once wasn't enough, you're trying to deceive me again.”
He felt he could hide it no longer.
Yang Seok had decided to side with the Blood King because he was so terrifying.
But now, facing Geom Mugeuk again, he realized there was another kind of terror.
Before Geom Mugeuk, a man who seemed to see into his heart, he felt completely exposed.
“I was wrong. Please spare me!”
Yang Seok prostrated himself on the spot.
‘You perceptive bastard! No matter what, I will survive!’
Kneeling to this one, kneeling to that one.
I'll keep kneeling until my knees give out, but I will survive.
“But how did you know I was lying?”
“When you suggested we walk together.”
“Why is that?”
“If you had found information, you would have been busy trying to take credit for it the moment you saw me. But you suggested we walk together? Isn't that strange?”
Geom Mugeuk had accurately grasped what kind of person Yang Seok was.
“He forced me, I had no choice.”
“Where in the world is there anything that's unavoidable? There are only wrong choices you make yourself. Today is the same. The moment you met me, you could have just honestly told me how things were, couldn't you?”
Yang Seok couldn't find any excuse.
“What else did he say?”
“He just told me to meet with you, Young Cult Master.”
Geom Mugeuk stared into his eyes and said abruptly.
“He said he'd kill the Drunken Demon while you were buying time, didn't he?”
Geom Mugeuk saw an undeniable waver in Yang Seok's eyes.
“So, in the end, you were buying time like this to have the Drunken Demon killed.”
Startled, Yang Seok waved his hands dismissively.
“No.”
“Then?”
“I was just….”
He tried to make an excuse, but he was at a loss for words.
This was not an opponent who would be swayed by excuses.
Yang Seok knelt again.
“Please forgive me. If you see him, you'll understand me. That man is not human!”
As he bowed his head low, his inner thoughts were far from his wailing plea.
‘Forgive me. You high and mighty types get pleasure from forgiveness, don't you?’
That was a thought born of ignorance of the look Geom Mugeuk was giving him.
His sins were already too great, and his death was certain.
It was only a matter of time.
“Please go quickly. You must go and help the Drunken Demon right now, mustn't you?”
Geom Mugeuk was not worried about the Drunken Demon at all.
“Why are you worrying about a Demon Sovereign? The only person in this martial world qualified to worry about a Demon Sovereign is the Heavenly Demon himself.”
It was a statement that upheld the pride of a Demon Sovereign, and it meant he trusted the Drunken Demon that much.
Of course, Geom Mugeuk's composure and trust were not solely due to his faith in the Drunken Demon's skills.
The opponent was too strong for that.
The Supreme Heavenly Silkworm Thread that had been wrapped around the Black Demon Sword Geom Mugeuk was holding was gone.
Geom Mugeuk's favor had been to wrap that Supreme Heavenly Silkworm Thread around the Drunken Demon's body.
He had sworn he'd rather die than wear it, but in the end, Geom Mugeuk had made him wrap it all.
Not just around his heart, but multiple times around each of his vital points.
The fight with the Blood King was a battle where one never knew when or where something would explode.
And there was one more thing he trusted.
He had the Swift Step, which would allow him to return without being late.
“Get up.”
Getting up, Yang Seok tried his best to please Geom Mugeuk.
“I believe in you. The Young Cult Master will eliminate him. You'll do it in a satisfying way.”
“You won't get to see it.”
In an instant, Geom Mugeuk vanished from before his eyes.
Yang Seok, wearing a puzzled expression, did not realize.
His face and entire body had turned red in an instant.
BOOOOOM!
He exploded with the Self-Destruction Art.
A torrent of immensely powerful Blood Qi swept forward, but Geom Mugeuk had already entered the Space-Time Displacement Art.
Geom Mugeuk reappeared.
Yang Seok was dead, a large hole in his chest.
That man had mercilessly used the Young Sect Master of the Northern Blood Sect as a tool for his Self-Destruction Art.
And his target was none other than the Young Cult Master of the Demon Sect.
Geom Mugeuk finally realized that the Blood King had come out into the world.
He wouldn't have expected Yang Seok to kill him when even Ha Gyeol couldn't.
In that case, this was the Blood King's greeting.
Geom Mugeuk looked down at the gaping hole and said quietly.
“Yes, nice to meet you too. You crazy bastard.”