*Kwaaaang!*
A huge shockwave and a hot surge of energy brushed past Yi Rown’s cheek.
Next to where Yi Rown stood, a large flame soared, melting the ground.
On the opposite side.
Pajijijik!
Blue lightning burst out, tearing the ground apart.
Next to that.
Kwakwakwang!
They were clashing.
Kang Han-cheol and Ha Se-min.
Their opponents were clear.
Tatat!
Using the nimble footwork of the famed Mount Jom-chang, they moved swiftly, cutting through the air.
Shweeek!
Their swordsmanship delivered fatal blows in between.
-Jom-chang.
It was Jom-chang.
Moreover, they were among the most renowned experts of Jom-chang, the Jom-chang Six Swords.
They were the ones.
Kwakwakwang!
Ha Se-min and Kang Han-cheol’s opponents.
Two of the Jom-chang Six Swords.
And the other two were.
“Ah! They’re damn fast.”
Lee Yong-jin.
“Their movements are somewhat strange.”
Lee Shin-woo was taking them on.
The Jom-chang Six Swords were indeed not opponents to be taken lightly.
Real martial artists, not fakes.
Martial artists who had reached a high level by dedicating all their time to training in martial arts within the isolated world.
Their foundation was solid inner energy, not the Demonic Blood Pill, and their method was enlightenment, not force.
The elegant, splendid, yet honest.
And deadly swordsmanship of Jom-chang.
It was swordsmanship that could be called the history of the Silver [a term for the martial arts world], filled with the mysteries of the Nine Great Sects, which could be called prestigious orthodox sects.
However.
Kwang!
Their end was different.
“These guys….”
Lee Shin-woo adjusted his glasses and said.
“They’re using Blood Demonic Energy.”
Blood Demonic Energy.
It was an energy already familiar to them.
An energy similar to, yet different from, the inner energy created based on Blood Art.
Although it originated from inner energy, the Blood Demonic Energy, with its destructive power and nature, was distinctly different from that of the orthodox sects.
Kwaaang!
It was mixed with the swordsmanship of Jom-chang.
“Again….”
Lee Shin-woo quickly retreated, creating a will-o’-the-wisp, and said.
“It’s like… they’re not alive.”
Empty pupils.
Also, a martial artist’s sword usually reveals the thoughts, ideologies, and values of the martial artist.
However, the swords of the Jom-chang Six Swords did not feel the virtues that the orthodox sects possessed, only death and slaughter.
And only an empty void was felt.
Lee Shin-woo had felt this before.
“They’re like the undead.”
The undead.
Beings who hated the living, born from death and made of death.
It was as if they were like that.
However, there wasn’t much time to analyze them.
“Keuk!”
Their momentum was intense, their attacks were fierce, and the Jom-chang swordsmanship unfolded with Blood Demonic Energy was extremely sharp.
Indeed, the name Jom-chang Six Swords was not just for show, and they were the ones who could understand why the name of Jom-chang was so highly regarded in the Silver.
And.
Kwadeudeuk!
The ground was overturned and burst open.
It was astonishing that the destructive power was caused by the clash of weapons.
The remaining two of the Jom-chang Six Swords.
Goooo!
It was Hashman who was facing them.
The former chieftain of the Black Oak tribe.
And he, who was reborn after meeting Yi Rown.
“It’s good that there’s a fight, I was getting bored without any battles.”
With his two red eyes flickering, he was facing two experts with glaives in both hands.
“I’ll show you the pride of a warrior.”
In the center of such an earth-shattering battle, Yi Rown simply stood there silently.
On the opposite side.
Sseuk.
Tak Jin-soo was smiling.
“They are Blood Ghouls.”
He spoke calmly, as if teaching.
“I know.”
Yi Rown pierced through the noise of the battlefield and spoke to Tak Jin-soo.
“Ah, you’ve already met the Blood Ascendant. Yes. These are….”
“Failures.”
“……!”
Tak Jin-soo’s eyes narrowed.
“I heard you were his first disciple.”
“…….”
This time, Yi Rown’s eyes narrowed.
“But it seems you haven’t received everything from him.”
Tak Jin-soo curled up the corners of his mouth as if he thought it was his own victory.
“Blood Ghouls are a new concept of martial artists created by him.”
What is a ghoul?
In the end, it was an undead.
They were made to move by reviving the dead with spells and talismans.
Also, in the process, various chemical treatments were performed on the corpse to make it stronger and more powerful.
That was a ghoul.
For example.
-Ghoul.
However, unlike the undead of Einheart or Gehenna [fictional realms], where the species changes, the ghouls of the Silver are all unified as ghouls.
However, they were divided according to their level.
Ghouls.
Iron Ghouls, which were made with the same strength as steel.
And those like Poison Ghouls, who attack with poison or poison their opponents even when they are hit.
“Blood Ghouls are the ultimate form of ghoul techniques….”
Tak Jin-soo said with a smile.
“They can be called Living Ghouls.”
Living Ghouls.
They were the ghouls of the same level as the realm of life and death in the Silver.
It didn’t mean that they were ghouls but not dead.
It meant absolute experts who were ghouls but could use their power from when they were alive and followed the caster’s words.
Also, since they were already dead, they could strengthen their bodies at will and use their martial arts and inner energy from their previous lives with that body.
The worst and most terrible.
That was a Living Ghoul.
“These guys have escaped death by being filled with Blood Demonic Energy….”
“They’re failures.”
Yi Rown said again.
“Are you denying it?”
“It’s just the truth.”
Yi Rown was talking to Tak Jin-soo amidst the noise of the battle.
“There are no ghouls in the Blood Cult.”
“……….”
Tak Jin-soo’s brow furrowed once more.
“You guys must have made it. So it’s a failure.”
“…….”
He couldn’t answer, so it was true.
“You’re just thinking about how to use Blood Demonic Energy, and you made ghouls with it. It’s not the Master’s.”
“But it originated from him….”
“No. That was stolen and made. It’s not what the Master made.”
Yi Rown continued.
“It’s just that you put Blood Demonic Energy into an incomplete vessel that can’t properly accept the Blood Demonic Divine Art. Those things must have been created as a side effect in the process.”
“How do you….”
This time, Tak Jin-soo seemed very flustered.
“The method must be simple. Submerge the body of the dead in blood and inject Blood Demonic Energy for several days. And then create a bond….”
“How do you know that!”
Tak Jin-soo shouted in surprise.
“I can do that much too.”
It was true.
They considered the Blood Ghouls they had created to be special, but in fact, they were nothing special.
Rather, they were closer to failures.
“Can you see it?”
Yi Rown’s gaze was not on the nearby battle but on the battle far away.
“If what you wanted was to use the martial arts of their previous lives and add Blood Demonic Energy on top of that.”
Kwang!
“What are those?”
There were the small and medium-sized sects of Luzon and the Myriad Blood Sect.
It was a battlefield where players were competing.
While the Jom-chang martial artists and their enemies were just going berserk, even drawing out their innate energy, which could be called the source of life, and fighting with red eyes.
“……How.”
The martial artists of Luzon had their eyes dyed red and used red energy, but they were not using their innate energy or going berserk.
So, the martial artists of Luzon, who should have been pushed back, were rather pushing back their opponents.
“The Master is a great person.”
Martial King, Shin Yeo-wool.
He was a person who had reached the pinnacle of martial arts.
That was something that even Yi Rown could not deny.
“However.”
Yi Rown said.
“The matter of the dead is a different story. There are experts for that separately.”
Psh.
“It can’t be perfected with what originated from the Master. If possible….”
Only he, who had received all the teachings of all the Masters, could do it.
Yi Rown had achieved what they so desperately wanted in a single moment.
The martial artists were alive, using their martial arts and Blood Demonic Energy.
Also, unlike ghouls who just had to wait to be stopped and broken.
Suwoong!
They would grow and develop.
“It’s the same for you guys.”
Yi Rown was rather expressionless.
“You’re just failures. What the Master wants to create is not the likes of you.”
Those who did not even know the meaning of what the Master’s will, the Blood Demonic Divine Art, and the Heavenly Demonic Divine Art held and meant.
They were in an area that those who just accepted it as a peerless martial art and an eternal martial art could never realize.
“Is that… so?”
Tak Jin-soo replied.
And.
“Then I’ll show you.”
Goooo!
The blood-colored mist that was emanating from Tak Jin-soo’s whole body.
It gradually began to change color.
The color was a deep purple.
“I am the combination of the old and new eras.”
The sword he was holding was dyed red-purple.
“I am the Crimson Blood Ghoul.”
Yes.
“You’ll never understand no matter what.”
From the moment they were given the name ghoul, their limits had become clear.
Slowly, very slowly.
Sseuk.
Yi Rown took a step forward.
* * *
Until now, the Blood Cult had hidden its name.
They did so because of the history of persecution, and they did so because of the reality of their decline.
Therefore, the Blood Cult could not reveal its name and had to hide and build its strength.
But that was also a difficult task.
For the Blood Cult, which had already declined and could not even put up its name, all they could do was struggle desperately.
It was even more difficult for the Blood Cult, which had already lost so much, to build strength in that situation.
-Blood Demonic Energy.
They met Yi Rown.
-Blood Demonic Divine Art.
They regained what they had lost.
It was something that could not be compared to any martial art the Blood Cult possessed.
It was also the identity of the Blood Cult.
At that time, many cult members did not know, but Kang Han-cheol could vaguely feel it.
-It’s different.
This was different from what had been passed down in the Blood Cult, what the Blood Cult had lost.
This was.
-More developed and evolved.
Although he did not even know what the proper Blood Demonic Divine Art was, Kang Han-cheol could feel it.
The situation of the Blood Cult changed in an instant.
Everything that was lacking was filled, and smiles bloomed on the faces of the cult members who had lost their smiles.
They dreamed of hope in despair, and that hope was becoming a reality.
However.
-Eunha.
The Blood Cult could not operate under that name.
Because they were still weak, they had to use the name Eunha.
Therefore, what they could do was limited.
-We’ll put restrictions on it.
The Blood Demonic Divine Art should not be revealed outside.
They had to hide their inner energy and act like members of the orthodox sects.
That was why.
The Blood Cult regained the Blood Demonic Divine Art.
Koo….
It could be said that they had rarely used the Blood Demonic Divine Art properly.
Kuwaaaaaaaaak-!
Flames were rising from Kang Han-cheol’s hands.
Until just now, Kang Han-cheol was on par with one of the Jom-chang Six Swords.
He had received a lot and grown under Yi Rown’s guidance, but his opponent was an expert who had reached the peak of the Profound Realm with his own power and a monster who was reborn as a Blood Ghoul.
So, even being on par was a fortunate thing for Kang Han-cheol.
Kwaaaaaaaa!
Now, that momentum had been reversed.
The red flames that had risen.
That was.
Saaaa.
The color of the flames slowly changed.
To a deep purple, to a violet.
And that was.
Kwang!
Soon, to black.
“Black Blood Demonic Fist.”
That was the essence of the Blood Cult that Kang Han-cheol would now show.