Disciple of The Three Kings [EN]: Chapter 22

The Three Kings’ Disciple (23)

022

“I’ll show you. Why the Blood Demon is your god.”

With a smile, Lee Rowoon stood before the Myriad Blood Pond and spread his palm.

‘I really didn’t expect to use this power.’

He originally had no intention of returning.

He would either die unable to overcome the chaos, or be killed by his masters after containing it.

But he had returned.

‘Then I should try what I can.’

It’s not like anything would wear out.

Ssssk.

Though he hadn’t touched it, Lee Rowoon’s palm began to tear as if cut by something sharp.

“B-Blood Demon Lord!”

“Just watch.”

Swish.

Blood flowed from the wound on his torn palm.

Drip, drop, drip.

Three drops of blood.

They fell into the Myriad Blood Pond, creating small ripples.

Thrum.

A great resonance echoed through the Blood Demon Hall where the Myriad Blood Pond was located.

“W-What’s going on…!”

Unlike the astonished Kang Eun-ha, Lee Rowoon slowly closed his eyes.

‘I can feel it.’

His blood was mixing with the blood of tens of thousands of cult members in the Myriad Blood Pond.

Swoosh.

Lee Rowoon half-opened his closed eyes.

Whoooosh!

The blood in the Myriad Blood Pond began to surge.

The gushing blood swirled, filling the entire Blood Demon Hall.

Whoom.

Within it, they intertwined and formed patterns.

“T-This is….”

Kang Eun-ha’s shocked voice followed from behind.

“I’ve never seen it in the scriptures….”

“Of course not.”

It would have been impossible when the Blood Demon progenitor, no, when Master Muwang was around.

It was a different Blood Demon Divine Art from the one Shin Yeo-ul had completed in Eun [a fictional world].

‘The Demon King said my Blood Demon Divine Art was exactly like that of a certain extinct race he knew.’

‘So, Berzenaga helped a bit when redefining the Blood Demon Divine Art.’

‘Still, it’s my martial art, so it should be better than those weird races, right?’

The function of the newly completed Blood Demon Divine Art.

‘Well, if you can’t contain the chaos, it’ll be useless.’

But it was being used like this.

The Blood Demon Divine Art was not just a martial art, it was a martial art that was also a spell.

The Blood Art was a blood curse that had to support the Blood Demon Divine Art.

In exchange for being bound by that curse, there was the spell of physical strength and warding off diseases, and the effect of amplifying the effects when learning the Blood Cult’s martial arts.

That was all.

That was all the function of the original Blood Demon Divine Art and the Blood Art’s correlation.

However, the newly redefined Blood Demon Divine Art was different.

Whoooom!

Blood patterns drawn in the language of Eun, the language of Gehenna [a place of torment], and in unknown languages.

Lee Rowoon reached into it.

“What is a god?”

Lee Rowoon’s playful voice echoed through the Blood Demon Hall.

“Well, I don’t know about real gods, but if it’s the Blood Cult’s god, it should be like this.”

Whirrrrr!

The patterns that had risen swirled and crumbled.

“Even if not omniscient or omnipotent.”

Whoooosh!

The crumbled blood began to pour down again like rain.

“Shouldn’t they at least bestow direct grace?”

Swoosh.

The Myriad Blood Pond, which had surged, returned to its original state as if nothing had happened, creating only calm ripples.

Thud!

Turning around, Kang Eun-ha was kneeling with her hands spread out.

A face of disbelief.

She hadn’t knelt to pay her respects.

“W-What’s going on….”

Thump.

She was struggling to not lose consciousness.

It wouldn’t be just Kang Eun-ha.

Up there, outside the Blood Demon Hall, all the Blood Cult members would be collapsing one by one.

But look.

“You’ll be different when you wake up.”

The full smile that appeared on Kang Eun-ha’s unconscious face.

The corners of her mouth lifted in joy, filled with fulfillment and satisfaction.

Master had said.

‘Awakening.’

If I were to return and reclaim the Blood Cult, I would be able to awaken the Blood Cult members.

This was the second gift he was giving to the Blood Cult members who had endured their long wait as his master’s disciple.

* * *

“Blood Demon, ten thousand years! Blood Demon….”

“Don’t do that.”

“Yes, yessir!”

Kang Eun-ha stood straight with her arms at her waist, like a newly enlisted soldier.

Shudder, shudder.

Even so, her mouth was trembling as she tried to hold back the laughter that was about to burst out.

“Are you that happy?”

“Of course!”

It wasn’t just Kang Eun-ha.

Twitch, twitch.

Kang Han-cheol and Han Do-baek, who were standing in the Blood Demon Hall.

“…….”

Even the corners of the mouth of the seemingly stubborn First Elder, who hadn’t even properly greeted him yet, were twitching.

‘Awakening.’

The change happened in an instant.

“To the Blood Demon’s boundless grace—!”

“Shut up!”

“Yes, yessir!”

The Blood Demon Divine Art that Master Muwang had newly completed was different from the past.

In the past, it only had the function of being able to control those who had learned the blood curse, that is, the Blood Art.

But the newly completed Blood Demon Divine Art could be described like this.

‘Blood subjugation.’

It was not a chain that bound them.

It flowed down from him and flowed to them.

That is.

‘It is affected by my existence.’

Their Blood Art changed its nature.

“Palm.”

“Yessir!”

“Let me see some blood.”

“Yessir!”

“Not you, Third Elder.”

“Yes! Blood Demon Lord!”

At Lee Rowoon’s words, Han Do-baek, who immediately stepped forward, took out his large greatsword and slashed his palm.

Swish.

The flowing blood, its color was peculiar.

A purplish hue swirling around….

“That’s called Violet Blood.”

“Ooooh! Violet Blood!”

“Do you even know what it is to be so happy?”

At Lee Rowoon’s words, Han Do-baek gripped his large greatsword tightly and said.

“I, a humble subordinate, report to the Blood Demon Lord. I do not know exactly what this Violet Blood is, but after waking up, I can use almost twice as much internal energy.”

It wasn’t exactly about the amount of internal energy.

‘Purity.’

Their blood was emitting impurities and becoming purer.

Rather, it could be said that their internal energy had decreased.

But had they become weaker?

Smirk.

One couldn’t speak of a martial artist with just internal energy, but they would have become at least twice as strong.

Everyone here was like that.

So were the Blood Cult members outside.

Of course, not all Blood Cult members had achieved Violet Blood.

Ordinary Blood Cult members had not even achieved the first stage of the Blood Demon Divine Art, Red Blood.

However, the purity of their blood had increased, making their bodies stronger and increasing the internal energy they could use.

‘I guess the original achievement is important.’

The Fourth Elder, the Left Protector, and the First Elder were all at the Violet Blood level.

And….

“You have Black Blood.”

“B-Black Blood, you say?”

“You wouldn’t know. It’s just good.”

“Yessir!”

Kang Eun-ha, perhaps because she was a Divine Maiden, had reached the level of Black Blood regardless of her achievements.

Of course, the blood they had was incomparable to the achievements gained through the Blood Demon Divine Art.

It was just that what Lee Rowoon had flowed into them through blood subjugation.

From now on, the color of the Blood Cult members’ blood would also deepen as they grew.

Then, someone might reach Black Blood.

‘True Blood is….’

It could never be achieved.

‘Without my permission.’

Those who reached the end of Black Blood with Lee Rowoon’s permission would be able to reach True Blood.

True Blood was different.

‘You can control them just by having it.’

They also acquired a similar right of control as the Blood Demon.

However, that did not mean that they had become equal to him.

They were just representatives who acted on his behalf.

Now and in the future, if they learned the Blood Art and became Blood Cult members, they would gain this power but be subjugated to him.

It was like that.

‘Progenitor.’

Just as Master Muwang was called their progenitor under the name of the Blood Demon, he had also become a new progenitor.

The blood subjugation that could not be defied even after thousands of years.

The top of that pyramid would not change even if the world were to perish.

The Demon King Master, while talking about the story of the extinct race, also said this.

“True Ancestor.”

“True Ancestor…?”

“You don’t need to know.”

“Yessir!”

Lee Rowoon leaned back on the throne and looked at them.

Their appearances had changed a lot.

They had become younger overall, and their colors had deepened.

A common change was red eyes.

They had also acquired the red eyes, the symbol of the Blood Demon Divine Art.

“I don’t know what exactly happened….”

Jeong Chi-soo said with trembling eyes.

“What do you mean, the Blood Demon God’s grace has finally descended.”

“Left Protector, that’s not what I mean. It’s just that everything feels like a dream.”

“Ah!”

Then Lee Rowoon stood up from the throne and said.

Their change was an awakening, but there was no way they would know what it was.

For the residents of the world of Eun, the martial artists, there was the best explanation.

“Rebirth!”

“Yes…?”

“You guys have half-rebirthed.”

Not like the one where I was in excruciating pain, but a comfortable and clean one.

“Yessir?”

Once again, there was an uproar.

* * *

Life had returned to the dying city, Blood King’s Castle.

There was a small but significant change in their lives, which had been festering and diseased from not eating properly.

Because they had awakened with the true descent of the Blood Demon God, their bodies had changed.

So, naturally, new life had been breathed into them.

However.

‘It’ll only be temporary.’

Their fundamental problem had not been solved.

Although the cult members were creating farmland at the edge of Blood King’s Castle and farming, it was far from enough to feed everyone in Blood King’s Castle.

The same was true whether they raised livestock or did anything else.

Originally, it was said that they had enough to feed all the cult members of the rather large Blood King’s Castle and still have some left over, but as the world’s nutrients became scarce, that land had disappeared.

‘The world of Eun.’

The destroyed world was tiny.

Even if it was larger than other worlds, there was a limit, and the larger the world, the more nutrients it needed.

If those nutrients were not properly supplied, the world would shrink even more.

They had been starving for a long time and could not live a proper life.

“I am sorry. It is all the fault of our protectors and elders.”

Kang Han-cheol bowed his head and said from the side.

“I know.”

There was a saying that even if a rich family went bankrupt, they would last for three generations.

The same was true for the Blood Cult.

As a force that once dominated Eun, the Blood Cult’s potential was not insignificant.

However.

“They’re completely bankrupt. The Blood Cult.”

Of course, it was also because it had been several thousand years, not three generations, and the situation had changed due to the destruction of the world.

What could be done in a fragmented world would be limited.

If Eun had been intact, they might have run away and hid, trying to find a way, but now even such movements were not easy.

Still, according to what he had heard from Kang Han-cheol, they had enough resources to last for the last two hundred years.

‘If it weren’t for that idiot.’

Blood Soo-baek.

That guy had used up resources like water while training in the Blood Demon Art.

On top of that, the elders had gone even further.

Even as the Blood Cult was collapsing, they did not refrain from indulgence and wasted resources for their own safety, squeezing the blood of the cult members.

So, he killed them.

The price for ruining what I should have was high.

“The elders will not be at peace even in death.”

“Yes. You are absolutely right.”

“I’m serious?”

“Of course! Isn’t the Blood Demon God right before my eyes!”

That’s not what I meant.

Swoosh.

Lee Rowoon brought his hand to his chest.

The elders, those guys were dead, but their souls were inside him.

That’s what the new Blood Demon Divine Art was like.

And he could use them when he needed them later.

Because of religion, the Blood Cult had become stagnant and rotten.

But ironically, because of religion, they had endured that long period of hardship.

However, however….

“Shit.”

“Yes?”

“Even if you go bankrupt, you should go bankrupt moderately.”

“…….”

“Is that true?”

Kang Han-cheol had no answer.

“Is it true that we can’t even last until next month?”

“That… is true. We have already sold off as much of the Kangha Group’s shares as we could. The guild is… on the verge of disbanding. Originally, we were planning to attack several gates, but because the Blood Demon Lord appeared….”

“Haa.”

Lee Rowoon looked up at the high sky.

The broken black sky of the destroyed world.

‘Master, I am so grateful and thankful for everything you and the other masters have done for me.’

But this is….

“Isn’t that too much?”

Shit.

“Don’t worry! Now that the Blood Demon God has returned…!”

“What are you going to do?”

“…….”

“What are you going to do?”

Kang Han-cheol lowered his head like a dog caught in the rain.