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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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BOOM!
The banquet hall shook as if it would collapse.
“Bl…Blood Demon…”
Kang Hangcheol. That was the sound he made as he fell to his knees.
“I greet you!”
Just seconds ago, Kang Hangcheol had been trying to take Lee Rowoon’s life.
But now, he was trembling, both knees on the ground, his head bowed.
“…”
That was the presence of the Blood Demon, a being revered by the Blood Cult.
Silence descended upon the banquet hall.
‘How….’
Even though he was prostrated, Kang Hangcheol still couldn’t fully comprehend the situation.
‘Two Blood Demons….’
There had been no such precedent throughout history.
But how could he deny it when he had felt it himself?
‘That was definitely… Blood Demon Arts.’
Blood Demon Arts, the martial art that only the Blood Demon, the master of the Blood Cult, could learn.
The technique Lee Rowoon had momentarily displayed was the Blood Curtain, usable only with the Blood Demon Arts.
He had never heard of a Blood Curtain being jet-black, but his own fist, which had come into contact with it, proved it.
The feeling of his energy being sucked out, the feeling of losing control of the Hellfire that shouldn’t be extinguished.
Only one thing could do that: the Blood Demon Arts.
He wanted to ask.
How could Lee Rowoon, known as a player, learn the power of a martial artist, and the Blood Demon Arts at that?
Rumble
But he couldn’t ask.
The absolute energy emanating from Lee Rowoon seemed to disallow even a shred of doubt.
“Bl…”
Kang Eun-ha, finally regaining her senses.
“I greet the Blood Demon!”
She, too, hurriedly prostrated herself, showing respect.
“Now you’re talking.”
Lee Rowoon’s voice was utterly languid.
“Can you relinquish the position of Blood Demon now?”
“Ugh.”
Kang Hangcheol bit his lip.
“Why aren’t you answering?”
If he had learned the Blood Demon Arts, he should rightfully take the position of the Blood Demon.
That was the law of the Blood Cult.
“That’s…”
But there was a problem.
“The current Blood Demon is already… ruling the Blood Cult.”
Two Blood Demons.
“I don’t know how you learned the Blood Demon Arts, but the elders of our cult… will not readily accept the existence of a new Blood Demon.”
He felt the same way.
If Lee Rowoon hadn’t thrust the Blood Curtain before his eyes, he would have called it utter nonsense. If he hadn’t experienced the Blood Curtain himself, he would have ordered the imposter who dared to impersonate the Blood Demon to be torn apart and killed.
‘It’s a problem even if the elders believe it.’
It had already been over a decade since the current Blood Demon ascended. The elders had reorganized the order around the new Blood Demon.
The appearance of a new Blood Demon would disrupt that order.
‘The elders who will lose their power will not acknowledge the Blood Demon before their eyes.’
Unless the current Blood Demon was a half-baked one who couldn’t learn the Blood Demon Arts.
If both had learned the Blood Demon Arts, Lee Rowoon’s future was clear.
‘At best, confinement, or worse… extermination.’
They would erase his existence before the ordinary members of the Blood Cult found out.
“Blood Demon Arts?”
At that moment, Lee Rowoon’s voice tickled Kang Hangcheol’s ears.
“Yes, Blood Demon. I am referring to the Blood Demon Arts, the proof of the Blood Demon and the symbol of the Blood Cult. Did you perhaps not know…?”
“Pff…”
Above his bowed head.
“Puhahaha-!”
Lee Rowoon’s laughter rained down.
“I was wondering why the Blood Cult had become like this, and there was a reason.”
“……?”
“It’s incomplete.”
“……!”
Kang Hangcheol’s eyes gleamed.
“The symbol of the Blood Demon is not the Blood Demon Arts.”
Splash!
Once again, the blood flowing from Lee Rowoon’s feet rippled before Kang Hangcheol’s eyes.
Flash!
The blood, suddenly taking shape and springing up, transformed into a hidden weapon and stopped between Kang Hangcheol’s eyebrows.
“It’s the Blood Demon Divine Arts.”
“Such a thing!”
“……!”
Kang Hangcheol was so surprised that he lifted his bowed head.
Kang Eun-ha was the same.
It was the moment when the truth they had known so far crumbled entirely.
“Good. What is your position?”
“I am ashamed to say, but I hold the position of Left Guardian.”
“Alright. Left Guardian.”
Lee Rowoon looked down at Kang Hangcheol, who had raised his head, and spoke.
“Now, what should I do?”
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A villa in Namyangju.
The walls soared high like ramparts, and guards in black suits stood guard around them like an iron wall.
The villa of Kang Hangcheol, chairman of Kangha Group.
“Phew.”
Inside, Kang Eun-ha was breathing heavily, looking tense.
After catching her breath, Kang Eun-ha carefully knocked on the door.
“I address the Blood Demon. For a moment…”
“Come in.”
Kang Eun-ha opened the door, entered, knelt down, and bowed her head.
“I greet the Blood Demon’s honorable presence.”
Well-dressed clothes, graceful and courteous gestures.
Indeed, Kang Eun-ha faced Lee Rowoon with the appearance befitting the Blood Cult’s Holy Maiden.
“Skip the pointless greetings. You don’t need to prostrate yourself or show excessive courtesy.”
“B-but…”
Kang Eun-ha fidgeted at Lee Rowoon’s words.
What kind of place was the Blood Cult?
It wasn’t a sect or a clan, but a cult.
And in the Blood Cult, the Blood Demon was the god they worshipped.
Even though many things about the Blood Cult had changed over the long years, the etiquette and formality towards the Blood Demon were something that every member of the Blood Cult had to learn and observe.
“Am I the Blood Demon, or are you?”
“….!”
“If I tell you not to do it, don’t do it.”
“I-I understand.”
Kang Eun-ha hurriedly raised her head and straightened her posture.
‘Sigh.’
Even at this moment, she couldn’t understand what was going on.
The beginning was just a deviation.
She had spent the past years confined to the Blood Cult as the Holy Maiden, and although she had thankfully come to Earth with her grandfather, it wasn’t much different from life in the hidden world.
That’s why she had secretly slipped out to recruit followers, hiding her identity, and she happened to be caught in the Red Player’s scheme.
She thought it was a good thing.
The people she was trying to recruit anyway, if she saved them, they would cooperate with her even more.
‘But….’
There was a man who bothered her.
A man who gave her a strange feeling, a wanderer, though she thought he was hiding something.
At first, she thought he was just a reclusive master hiding his identity.
When she learned that he was Lee Rowoon, infamous for killing his comrades, she became greedy.
Lee Rowoon was clearly a player.
Yet he possessed the inner energy of a martial artist, and his skills were so high that she couldn’t even compare.
She thought that if she recruited him and uncovered his secret, it would be a great help to the faltering Cult.
But for him to be the Blood Demon.
‘I never imagined.’
She felt a constant prickling sensation deep in her chest, but she never thought it was because Lee Rowoon was the Blood Demon.
“You must be confused. A guy who suddenly appeared, a player no less, claiming to be the Blood Demon.”
“……N-no.”
“Your speech. Can you please do something about it?”
“I’ll correct…”
“Your speech.”
Kang Eun-ha shook her head and took another deep breath.
“I understand.”
Lee Rowoon still looked dissatisfied, but seemed to be letting it go.
“Well, I didn’t expect this to happen either.”
“…….”
“A slave dying in the Hwasan Guild being the Blood Demon. It’s funny, isn’t it?”
He was serious.
When I thought it was the end, I met my masters, and I didn’t know if I could truly contain the chaos.
I thought I would die again, but I didn’t know I would return.
But I did return, took small revenge, and reached one of my masters’ legacies.
“What did the Left guardian say?”
“Grandfather…”
Kang Eunha finally regained her senses and spoke.
“He said he would ascertain the elders’ intentions and select those who can be trusted…”
“Lower your tone.”
“…Yes.”
Lee Rowoon nodded.
The current state of the Blood Cult, briefly explained, was this:
The Blood Cult, already cornered since the Eun Era, rarely saw the Blood Demon Art properly passed down, to the point that there were generations without a Blood Demon.
But a decade or so ago, the child of the previous Blood Cult Leader succeeded in inheriting the Blood Demon Art, became the Blood Demon, united the fragmented Blood Cult, and began building power.
The Blood Cult, which could have collapsed at any moment, was finding its center.
‘But then I appeared.’
My existence.
A Blood Demon who inherited a new Blood Demon Art.
No.
‘The true Blood Demon Divine Art.’
Since someone who inherited the true evolution of the Blood Demon, something even the Left guardian didn’t fully understand, had appeared, chaos was inevitable.
‘If things go wrong, the Blood Cult, which finally found its center, will be shaken.’
Kang Hangcheol , his head must be splitting.
“Can you trust your grandfather?”
“Of course! The guardians only wish for and are loyal to the true Blood Demon. The Left guardian, having witnessed the power of the Blood Demon firsthand, has realized who the true Blood Demon is.”
It was true. But, as expected, the other elders were the problem. Directly showing Lee Rowoon to them was an option, but…
“The other elders…”
“If they don’t want the Blood Cult to be divided again, or if they can’t acknowledge me, they might attack.”
“…”
Kang Eun-ha bit her lip. That was also true. And right now, Lee Rowoon couldn’t withstand the elders’ combined attack. Even though he possessed the power of the Blood Demon, each elder had reached the Extreme Demon realm, and the current Blood Demon possessed power beyond that.
They had found the true one, yet they could lose him.
“But Grandfather will succeed! As the Blood Demon said, if what the Blood Demon inherited is the true Blood Demon Divine Art, the legitimacy lies with the Blood Demon!”
“That process…”
A snort.
“…would be a coup.”
In the end, they had to fight. The Blood Cult, having barely found its center, would have to be shaken again.
“Even so, if the true Blood Demon who learned the Blood Demon Divine Art becomes the center, the Blood Cult will become stronger than ever.”
“Well, that’s obvious.”
Lee Rowoon shrugged and said,
“There’s a way.”
“…?”
“A way for me to become the Blood Demon without a coup, a way for me to become the Blood Demon without dividing the barely united Blood Cult.”
“What is it…?”
A grin. With sleepy eyes, Lee Rowoon curled up the corners of his mouth.
“I just have to defeat the elders and that half-baked Blood Demon by myself.”
“…!”
The Blood Cult is a religion. The reason the Blood Demon is absolute is because of the law. In other words, the law was absolute.
There was a fundamental principle at the heart of the Blood Cult’s law. It resonates with the Heavenly Demon Cult, and it is the reason why the Eun’s martial world points fingers at the Blood Cult and Heavenly Demon Cult as demonic factions.
‘Respect for the strong.’
The strong are the law. Of course, the Blood Demon’s existence is above that, and even if the elders were stronger than the Blood Demon and defeated him, they wouldn’t become the Blood Demon.
But what if there were two who inherited the Blood Demon Art, the symbol of the Blood Demon?
‘The victor becomes the Blood Demon.’
It was a simple matter. He heard about the current Blood Demon from Kang Eun-ha.
‘He has achieved the Extreme state of the Blood Demon Art, a Transcended Demon beyond the Extreme Demon.
‘ A high-ranker level. However, he hadn’t fully matured yet, so he wasn’t at the level of a top-tier high-ranker, or even a One-Hand, no, a Two-Hand.
If the Blood Demon had been complete, the Blood Cult would have already shed its veil and revealed itself.
So, the conclusion was simple.
“I just have to surpass the current Blood Demon.”
At that level, he could survive the combined attack of the elders and prove himself.
‘Show them.’
It felt as though Master shin Yeol’s words were ringing in his ears.
The Blood Cult was originally his, but he wasn’t annoyed that he couldn’t easily have it. Wasn’t that the way of the world? A world where the strong naturally take everything. He was the same. Prove himself and take it. That was what he learned from Master Shin yeol. And to do that…
A low rumble. A thick bloodlust began to swirl in Lee Rowoon’s half-closed eyes. The third stage of the Blood Demon Divine Art, Black Blood, was nearing its peak. From now on, he would complete Black Blood. And then…
“I will enter the fourth stage.”
The final stage of the Blood Demon Divine Art, True Blood.
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