Chapter 378

Chapter 378

The Blood Cult.

Obeying the commands of the Blood Cult Leader, their forces had assembled within Gansu Province, plotting to take advantage of the conflict between the Orthodox factions and the Demonic Cult.

However, because the Demonic Cult managed a clean withdrawal without breaking their ranks, the hidden faction found themselves stuck in an uncomfortable position, unable to move forward or pull back.

It was only when Mount Hua and the Jongnam Sect began pillaging innocent civilians for their own selfish desires that the Blood Cult Leader perceived a perfect opening.

They closely tracked the movements of the Jongnam Sect practitioners. Whenever those Jongnam Daoists inflicted torment and slaughter upon the local populations before moving along, the stalkers stepped in to harvest the blood qi emanating from the dead, leaving additional carnage in those settlements.

In certain regions, they went so far as to launch surprise attacks on isolated Jongnam Daoists, taking the identities of those they slaughtered.

They fashioned replicas of the deceased Daoists’ visages using human skin. Given that the Blood Cult commanded exceptional mystical arts—such as spells capable of extracting the recollections of lingering phantoms—passing themselves off as the victims was a effortless task.

Concealing their presence within the wake of the Jongnam Sect’s cruelties and waiting for the right moment, they watched as the Jongnam Sect suddenly advanced rapidly toward Qinghai. The Blood Cult Leader immediately felt a wave of absolute certainty.

• ‘They are tracing those Demonic Cult degenerates!’*

  Just as anticipated, a violent clash involving the Demonic Cult and the Orthodox sects was taking place within Qinghai.

  Wanting a massive slaughter to generate even more vitality, they watched closely to find the ideal second to strike.

  Suddenly, a startling shout echoed through the air, causing dread to ripple down the spine of the Blood Cult Leader.

• “Stop!! The Blood Cult has shown itself!” *

  The warning belonged to Il-mok.

• ‘This is our final opening!! *

  Responding to the signal from the Blood Cult Leader, the hidden mystics commenced their dark incantations, weaving an obfuscating magic that cloaked their presence from view.

  Kwachik!

  Across the chaotic warzone, Blood Cult fighters masquerading as Jongnam Daoists took action simultaneously.

  Their blades, drenched in the lifeblood of real Jongnam Daoists, began to hum, casting the massive Reverse Heaven Blood Dream Array across the entire region.

  …

  Wheeeeeng.

  The revered blade Ascension Blade vibrated violently in reaction to the malevolent formation blanketing the warzone, causing Il-mok to suppress a bitter oath.

  Having attained an incredibly advanced level of martial mastery, Il-mok was capable of defending against the formation’s insidious energy using his personal internal force without significant trouble.

  Even though he remained unaffected by the sorcery, the overall state of the battle was incredibly critical.

• “Perish!!”

  Across every corner of the field, those trapped by the illusionary magic screamed in madness, hacking their blades blindly at the air.

  Every single person was reliving their most agonizing nightmare, a memory they desperately wished to keep buried.

• “Stop!! Leave my daughter alone!!”

• “My lady!! Wake up, please, my lady!!””

  The individuals most susceptible to this devastating psychological formation were none other than the practitioners of the Demonic Cult.

  “The world is utterly corrupted!! It requires total purification!!” *

  “Uwaaaah!! Every single one of you will die!!” *

  “…Exactly. What could a worthless piece of trash like me hope to accomplish?”*

  As they were already plagued by unstable minds, the Demonic Cultists babbled incoherently while falling prey to internal aberrations or slashing their sabers at empty space like madmen.

• “Nangong Clan Head!! Prioritize the safety of your own martial artists!!” *

  Il-mok directed that urgent command to Nangong Jin before sprinting directly into the thick of the panicked Demonic Cult warriors.

  In that frantic crowd, the primary person he needed to halt was Baekcheon.

• “Why does nobody recognize my worth!! Look at th—”

• “Look at me right now~!!”

  The completely unhinged warrior was on the verge of tossing every remaining projectile weapon in his possession into the surrounding crowd.

  n!!

  Il-mok concentrated his willpower to its absolute peak and slammed his foot down hard onto the earth.

  “Guh…”

  A massive shockwave of internal pressure slammed into Baekcheon’s frame the instant his madness erupted.

  Halting Baekcheon’s chaotic frenzy by utilizing the Supremacy of the Heavenly Demon, Il-mok closed the distance rapidly and struck his acupoints to render him unconscious.

• “Focus on restraining the individuals trapped in the illusion first!!!” *

  Following Il-mok’s booming order, Yang Muja shouted back from across the field.

• “That is nonsense!! Not while those heretics are performing their dark magic!” *

  Yang Muja thrust his blade toward the location where the Blood Cultists had aggregated.

  A massive quantity of sanguine energy was pooling at that exact coordinate.

  Countless casualties were scattered across the ground. The lifeblood flowing from those corpses, reacting to the unsettling vocalizations of the Blood Cult mystics, tore away from the flesh and streamed directly toward that gathering point.

  The deceased were not the sole source. Vital fluid sprayed from the lacerations of the heavily wounded, pulled irresistibly toward the center as well.

  To halt this phenomenon, Il-mok could not simply restrict himself to subduing the frenzied Demonic Cultists—he was forced to close the energy channels around every single injury to arrest the hemorrhage.

  Gesticulating toward the terrifying scene that carried the hallmarks of a dark sacrifice, Yang Muja barked out once more,

• “We are required to destroy those heretics immediately!!””

  While the handful of high-tier martial artists who remained unaffected by the spell hesitated at his words, a deafening shout from Elder Qingmu shook the area.

• “Hold your tongue!!” *

  Elder Qingmu’s countenance was flushed crimson with absolute fury, contorted into a terrifying visage.

  “What did you say!?”

  Yang Muja snarled in anger, but Elder Qingmu paid no attention to his outrage.

• “If you wish to save your Qingcheng Sect from the nightmare of slaughtering your own brothers like we are experiencing, restrain your spellbound disciples this instant!!” *

  Even while delivering his fierce reprimand, Elder Qingmu directed his techniques away from the Blood Cult, channeling them entirely toward the rampaging Qingcheng disciples—his strikes designed not to cause harm, but strictly to immobilize their meridians.

  Perceiving the absolute danger of the moment, King Gwang and the Tai Chi Sword Sage likewise leaped forward to control the frenzied members of the Beggar Clan and the Wudang Sect.

• “Amitabha.”

  Even without needing Elder Qingmu’s frantic warning, the martial artists caught within the illusion had started attacking their own allies.

  The Venerable, Huangbo Ak, and several other supreme masters followed the example, diving straight toward their companions to restrain them.

• “Curse it all.”

  Only after observing this did Yang Muja and Nangong Jin finally dash forward to intervene among the Hwasan Daoists and the combatants of the Nangong Clan.

  However, the Blood Cultists had no intention of quietly observing from the sidelines.

• “Establish the supremacy of the Blood Cult!!”

  Blood Cult combatants, acting alongside their spellcasters, initiated a charge against the Orthodox coalitions.

  They deliberately bypassed the individuals who were unaffected by the array—knowing full well they were supreme masters capable of evading their strikes effortlessly.

  Slash.

  Instead, they focused their blades entirely on the victims who were lost inside the mental fog or striking blindly at illusions.

• “You wretched mongrels!!”*

  Il-mok, while still occupied with restraining the Demonic Cultists, roared out in an absolute, bloodshot rage.

  Should he continue protecting the Demonic Cultists, or should he pivot to eliminate the advancing Blood Cult threat?

  While he wavered in deep conflict, an explosion of biting, freezing energy manifested nearby, forming a massive barrier of solid ice right in front of the vulnerable Demonic Cultists.

• “Jin Sojeo!!””

• “Forgive my tardiness, Young Master.” *

  The defense was the work of Jin Ha-yeon; she had at last broken through the psychological shackles of the grand array.

• “Leave this line to me.” “

  Comforted by her dependable declaration, Il-mok gave a firm nod and redirected his efforts toward managing the inner circle of the Demonic Cultists.

  Meanwhile, Jin Ha-yeon engaged the frontline of Blood Cult fighters who were attempting to butcher the incapacitated Demonic Cultists.

• “Junior Brother! Defend this sector!!” “

  *”Elder!!”

  Throughout the ranks of the Orthodox forces as well, prominent figures were breaking out of the formation’s mental grasp one after another.

  Il-mok let out a silent, weary breath.

  It was a mixture of comfort and disappointment.

  Aside from Jin Ha-yeon, whose capabilities were on the verge of Transcending Demon, not a single other warrior from the Demonic Cult had managed to shake off the effects of the spell.

  Due to the unexpected arrival of the Blood Cult compounded by the grand array, the entire trajectory of the engagement had warped into a grotesque display.

  The high-ranking martial artists who broke free of the manipulation dedicated themselves entirely to protecting their respective sects.

  In the same manner that Il-mok and Jin Ha-yeon acted as shields for the Demonic Cultists, Elder Qingmu, the leader of the Qingcheng Sect, alongside several elite Qingcheng fighters, stood guard over their juniors. The Flame Venerable and the senior monks of Shaolin threw themselves in front of their disciples, and the rest followed a similar pattern.

  As a consequence of this scattered defense, the remaining fighters of the Martial Alliance and practitioners belonging to lesser factions were thoroughly neglected, dropping to the earth as casualties.

  “Please, regain your senses!!” “

  Huangbo Ak, who had traveled to the battlefield separate from his main Huangbo family, dashed frantically across the dirt in an attempt to shield them from harm.

  Furthermore, because the members of each individual sect were completely dispersed across the chaotic field, it was virtually impossible for a handful of elite masters to safeguard everyone.

  Jin Ha-yeon faced an identical struggle.

• “You miserable wretch!!”

  Jin Ha-yeon ground her teeth together as she deflected a vicious blade strike from a veteran Blood Cult practitioner using her frozen palms.

  Kkaduk.

  The old man was recognized as one of the elite elders of the Blood Cult. Nevertheless, that did not mean Jin Ha-yeon was suffering an internal disadvantage.

  As he was positioned two full realms beneath her current standing, he was a foe she could easily dispatch within a brief sequence of blows.

  The true difficulty lay elsewhere.

  *”Haaah!”

  While her attention was occupied by the old warrior, a group of Blood Cult fighters rushed past her toward the helpless Demonic Cultists further back.

  Since he was forced to seal the energy centers of each injury individually to prevent them from bleeding out, Il-mok was completely overwhelmed. Trying to intercept those incoming Blood Cultists on top of everything else was an incredibly daunting challenge.

• ‘I am bound to honor my pledge to the Young Master.’*

  Steeling her resolve to accept a grievous wound from the old man’s saber if necessary, Jin Ha-yeon prepared herself to leap toward the encroaching Blood Cultists.

  Swaaaaang.

  Right before she could execute her desperate maneuver, a piercing sound sliced through the atmosphere, and the advancing Blood Cultists collapsed to the dirt one after another.

  It was the work of Jeonghyeon.

  Only then did Jin Ha-yeon release a quiet sigh of relief, turning her frigid attention back to the elderly opponent before her.

• “Curse everything.”*

  Ignoring the complaints of the old warrior, Jin Ha-yeon pressed her offensive forward.

  As she overwhelmed the Blood Cult elder, additional high-tier combatants across the warzone finally recovered their mental clarity one after another.

  Among those returning to normal were Hyeok-ryeon Seon-a and Ouyang Mun representing the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.

  Alongside Jeonghyeon, these three had previously advanced past the level of Extreme Demon and had encountered this specific mental array in the past, which allowed them to eventually tear themselves away from its grip.

  Regrettably, they represented the very last of the Demonic Cult forces to break free.

  When combining them with Il-mok and Jin Ha-yeon, only five individuals in total had avoided the mental trap; the remaining members had either turned their weapons on each other or had been safely restrained by Il-mok’s fast actions.

  Tok.

  Successfully compressing the final meridian point of the last vulnerable Demonic Cultist, Il-mok straightened up with a soft exhalation.

  Puk!

  At that exact moment, Jin Ha-yeon drove her paired palms directly into the torso of the Blood Cult elder.

  “Guh…

  The elder froze entirely in place, the lethal sub-zero energy of her specialized ice martial arts instantly paralyzing his vital organs.

  Identical turnabouts were occurring across the entire field. As an increasing number of Orthodox elite figures shattered the illusionary spell, the vast majority of the Blood Cult vanguard was systematically wiped out. Those who survived but remained trapped in the magic were either immobilized or lay scattered across the ground as corpses.

  In this chaotic vortex of multiple factions colliding in an all-out brawl, a meager thirty individuals managed to remain standing upright.

  And then.

• “Emergency Blood Command!!” *

  Following the desperate, final proclamation of the Blood Cult mystics, the gathering of lifeblood across the warzone reached its culmination.

  Even within the massive volume of harvested fluid, the blood of the recently slain Blood Cult vanguard was integrated into the mix.

  As the horrific spell reached its absolute completion, an unsettling, suffocating quiet fell over the area for a brief instant.

  “Awaken!”

  The high-ranking mystic positioned at the epicenter of the spellcasters bellowed out, and a monstrous form that had fully integrated the countless splatters of gore from the dirt began to rise.

  It was a presence that Il-mok recognized instantly.

  *”This is madness…”

  The raw pressure it radiated was the sort that a person could never truly become desensitized to.

  Il-mok, who had grown immensely in strength following the events of the Great Blood Massacre, felt a wave of intense goosebumps break out across his entire skin.

  An unimaginable, suffocating energy radiated outward from the newly risen entity.

  Based strictly on the sheer volume of internal power, it stood on equal footing with the ascended form of the Heavenly Demon.

  While every surviving martial artist stared at the newly created jiangshi with expressions fraught with sheer terror amidst that suffocating aura, the senior mystic who had summoned it shattered the oppressive quiet.

• “Heavenly Blood Jiangshi, annihilate those pests.””

  The very instant the command left the caster’s mouth.

  Pat.

  The monstrous jiangshi standing at the center of the Blood Cultist formation vanished from sight.

  Puk!

  Immediately following that movement, a sickening, wet impact echoed out as a Hwasan Daoist’s skull shattered into fragments.