Reincarnation of the Blood Demon - Chapter 16

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Blood Demon’s Rebirth
Chapter 16
Star Absorption Technique
“What I’m about to say…”
“Did I mishear?”
The statement was so utterly absurd that the sect leaders’ first response was not outrage but bewilderment.
“Third Young Master, did you misspeak? What are you saying?”
Among them, Bi Ryuu Boju, particularly hot-tempered, let out a hollow laugh and shot to his feet.
He stomped toward Juk Un-hui with heavy strides.
Drawing close enough to look him in the eye, Bi Ryuu Boju bared his teeth.
“Care to repeat that?”
Juk Un-hui remained seated, meeting his gaze calmly.
“Fight me, or surrender. Choose.”
“…Ha!”
Bi Ryuu Boju turned away in disbelief, then fixed his stare on Ma Hyul-jin, who stood silent at Juk Un-hui’s side.
Bi Ryuu Boju’s eyes narrowed to slits.
“So it was all your doing from the start. Did you kill the Black Moon Sect Leader too?”
“The Black Moon Sect Leader? That one died of natural causes, more or less.”
“What? I don’t know what you mean, but… it seems your confidence has gotten out of hand. To spring a trap like this? Did we really look so easy to you?”
As if to say that summoning all of them here had been a miscalculation, Bi Ryuu Boju grinned with vicious intent plain on his face.
Juk Un-hui smiled back and answered smoothly.
“You’re talking nonsense.”
“…What?”
Ignoring Bi Ryuu Boju’s confused repetition, Juk Un-hui’s gaze swept across the assembled sect leaders in the Private Chamber, one by one.
“Namhwa County was always mine to begin with.”
“…!”
“So why would it be a problem for me to summon parasites like you?”
Bi Ryuu Boju’s expression hardened visibly.
Juk Un-hui continued.
“You asked if I looked easy to read? The question itself is wrong. That’s what I should be asking you.”
“…”
Bi Ryuu Boju clamped his mouth shut, thrown off balance.
Juk Un-hui stared him down and spat out his words like bitter medicine.
“Do I look so easy to you? Enough that a wretch like you would dare maintain such stiff defiance in my presence?”
Before Bi Ryuu Boju could even form a response, Juk Un-hui suddenly smirked and turned to Ju Yi-gyeom, who stood to his right.
“I probably did look easy to them, didn’t I?”
Ju Yi-gyeom scratched his cheek and nodded.
“I’d say that’s fair.”
“This sudden…”
In the moment when waves of confusion rippled across Bi Ryuu Boju’s face at this unexpected mockery,
“But not anymore.”
Juk Un-hui’s expression hardened again, as if he’d never smiled at all.
“Everything I lost like a fool will become mine again, starting today. Namhwa County included. But men like you—you’ll need to see blood spilled before you’ll truly obey…”
Juk Un-hui’s quiet gaze pierced through Bi Ryuu Boju.
“So let’s establish the hierarchy first.”
“…!”
Bi Ryuu Boju’s shock was evident—he hadn’t expected such a bold move.
Yet Juk Un-hui’s gaze was not fixed on him alone.
He looked at each sect leader in turn and spoke.
“Anyone who objects—challenge me now.”
But it’s the nature of men that even when invited to challenge, they don’t step forward easily.
The sect leaders only exchanged uncomfortable glances, and Juk Un-hui smiled coldly, as if he’d known exactly what they would do.
Then, as that sneer faded, there emerged something truly merciless and oppressive in his gaze.
“If that’s not it, then shut your mouth and kneel.”
Can a mere glance carry weight?
The sect leaders felt themselves crushed by the very air of the Private Chamber.
‘He’s completely insane. What could possibly give him such confidence?’
A bearing that suggested he could face every person in this room alone.
It should have been ridiculous, but the sect leaders could feel it in their bones:
‘Whatever this is… it’s not mere bravado.’
Those were not the eyes of a liar.
The gaze of one who had lived commanding since birth until death, who had wielded authority nearly every waking hour—full of absolute certainty.
Gradually, the irritation that had pervaded the gathered sect leaders began to dissipate.
In its place came a suffocating pressure that tightened around them.
The weaker-willed sect leaders quietly averted their eyes.
And the pressure bearing down on Bi Ryuu Boju, standing across from him, was no less overwhelming.
‘This makes no sense. What in heaven’s name is——’
Everything he’d known about the Third Young Lord had become utterly worthless in an instant.
An oppressive unease swiftly seized the entire Private Chamber.
Yet he could not simply sit idle and surrender—that would mean losing everything he’d built, stripped away in one breath.
“……I shall challenge you.”
Not even realizing their position had shifted to that of challengers, the sect leaders rose to their feet with strained expressions.
Nam Ho Mun-ju and Huk Rang Dae-ju.
Including Bi Ryuu Boju, who was already standing, that made three challengers in total.
A meager number compared to how many sect leaders had gathered.
“Pathetic wretches…….”
As Bi Ryuu Boju’s eyes blazed, the leaders of the smaller sects who remained seated bowed their heads in intimidation.
Though for them, it was a grievance they could not voice.
‘Why won’t my body——’
The moment they met the Third Young Lord’s gaze, their bodies froze as if locked in ice, unable to move.
There was no helping it.
This was the most primal response of any creature facing a predator.
Though his flesh might wither, the realm he had attained would never fade.
The instant Juk Un-hui harbored genuine killing intent, it transformed—no longer that of the Third Young Lord, but of Juk Sa-hyeok, the Blood Heavenly Assassin—and seeped outward.
Swallowing all those beneath his level.
Yet conversely, it meant the three martial masters now standing had enough skill to withstand such overwhelming force.
And not all such masters had declared their intention to challenge.
“Senior, will you not rise?” Nam Ho Mun-ju asked, as if bewildered.
Cheon Ryu Hoe-ju answered him with a genial smile.
“How could an elder oppress a junior who is still so young? I shall test my skills against you another time.”
The faces of Nam Ho Mun-ju and the other sect leaders twisted.
‘This cursed old dog…….’
Not a soul in this room took those words at face value.
‘He means to wait and watch, then strike when fortune favors him.’
This was precisely the sort of man he’d always been.
Yet his reasoning was sound enough that no one could muster a retort.
None of it mattered to Juk Un-hui, however.
He pointed directly at Cheon Ryu Hoe-ju and spoke.
“Shut your mouth and come at me. All you’ve learned is trivial nonsense.”
“Trivial……?”
Crude insults, regardless of rank or age.
He couldn’t recall the last time someone had called him trivial, yet Cheon Ryu Hoe-ju forced a laugh and replied.
“Your confidence is excessive. If I were to fight alongside these others, even a rotating wheel contest——”
“I said so. If you won’t challenge, then keep your mouth shut and kneel.”
He would not give another word the chance to be spoken.
Juk Un-hui cut off Cheon Ryu Hoe-ju’s words with a sharp stroke and asked curtly.
“Will you kneel?”
Now Cheon Ryu Hoe-ju found himself with nothing left to say.
…….
The warmth draining from his eyes, Cheon Ryu Hoe-ju fell silent, drew his sword without a word, and rose to his feet.
The gazes of the three sect leaders watching Juk Un-hui softened ever so slightly—satisfied, as if they’d just seen the irritating Cheon Ryu Hoe-ju take a well-deserved blow.
Thus four figures now stood facing Juk Un-hui.
“Allow me to begin——”
Bi Ryuu Boju, closest to him, moved to speak, but Juk Un-hui shook his head.
“No.”
……?”
“I can’t be bothered. Come at me all at once.”
What kind of madness was this—the sect leaders’ expressions went slack, if only for a moment.
He had no intention of waiting any longer.
“Then from now on——”
Juk Un-hui kicked the table hard, sending it skidding across the floor.
“……Begin.”
—Crash!
The table flew at an angle and struck Cheon Ryu Hoe-ju squarely in the chest.
Cheon Ryu Hoe-ju drew his blade and parried, but the force behind it drove him backward; simultaneously, Juk Un-hui unsheathed and unleashed a vicious slash toward Bi Ryuu Boju on his right.
“You mad bastard……!”
Bi Ryuu Boju stumbled back in alarm, but Juk Un-hui pursued relentlessly, pouring in a flurry of strikes.
Clang-clang-clang!
The metallic ring of blade on blade echoed in rapid succession.
Bi Ryuu Boju, his face drained of color, struggled to deflect each blow, only to be driven steadily backward.
Caught off guard, he couldn’t muster his full strength, and panic was beginning to shatter his defense.
Through that gap, a blade sharp as a predator’s fang came surging through.
‘It’s happening too fast——’
Just as Bi Ryuu Boju’s eyes widened in horror, Juk Un-hui withdrew his thrust and fell back.
A heartbeat later, a Straight Blade and a fist-wind tore through the space where he’d been standing.
Crash!
The fine furnishings and decorations that filled the Private Chamber shattered into worthless debris.
The faces of Nam Ho Mun-ju and Huk Rang Dae-ju, who had joined the fray belatedly, had visibly hardened from before.
This wasn’t the shame of a joint assault—it was primal fear.
They had witnessed firsthand that the young master’s blade was far sharper than they’d anticipated.
‘If we don’t kill him, we die.’
With expressions grown deadly serious, the three of them—Bi Ryuu Boju included, now steadying his stance—began their coordinated attack.
Whoosh——!
Nam Ho Mun-ju threw a heavy punch first, and a fist-wind erupted outward.
Juk Un-hui split it cleanly down the middle with a single sweep, and in that instant, Bi Ryuu Boju and Huk Rang Dae-ju burst forth from left and right, swinging blade and saber in perfect unison.
They’d never coordinated before, yet they moved by instinct alone, each filling the other’s gaps as steel rushed in from all sides.
It was a surprisingly high-level joint assault——
‘Barely.’
In a single motion, Juk Un-hui crossed both arms and spun like a top.
Blade met blade, blade met bare hand.
Clang—swish——
The long sword and Straight Blade, meeting no resistance, curved wildly off course and slashed through empty air like a lie.
‘He deflected us with sword-flat and unarmed technique……?’
The moment their eyes went wide with shock as their perfect strike crumbled, Juk Un-hui added the full force of his spin and drove a vicious kick into Bi Ryuu Boju’s ribs.
“Gack——!”
Bi Ryuu Boju’s torso bent at a right angle and he flew backward; simultaneously, Juk Un-hui’s blade extended naturally toward Huk Rang Dae-ju’s throat.
Shriek!
Huk Rang Dae-ju, realizing there was no time to evade, squeezed his eyes shut.
Swish——!
A sharp cutting sound split the air as a thin Sword Wind slashed toward Juk Un-hui’s flank from a distance.
Though the distance weakened its force, it was a precise and piercing check, aimed at exactly his blind spot and opening.
It was Cheon Ryu Hoe-ju, who had repositioned himself by then.
“Tsk.”
Juk Un-hui’s mouth twisted.
Cheon Ryu Hoe-ju had stayed out of the melee, simply hunting for openings—a cowardly tactic, but undeniably effective.
With a click of his tongue, Juk Un-hui retracted his blade and stepped back; the sect leaders facing him immediately put distance between them.
“…….”
The three sect leaders, now separated by a wide gap, looked ashen.
The three finest masters of Namhwa County, including Bi Ryuu Boju, had rushed him all at once, and yet they hadn’t even grazed the boy’s sleeve—they were gasping for breath.
Worse, two of them had come inches from death in those few seconds.
“How……”
Words wouldn’t come.
How could three men possibly fail to handle one boy?
And yet it was possible.
‘Even half-dead, he could manage Blood Heavenly Assassin Method.’
Juk Un-hui, moreover, had been constantly expending Qi these past few days, and it had only strengthened him.
With Inner Qi flowing perpetually through his entire body now, even three opponents using Blood Heavenly Assassin Method posed no real threat—he could handle five.
‘If that one truly commits, it might be different……’
But Cheon Ryu Hoe-ju was merely watching for his moment like a schemer.
The sect leaders didn’t see it that way, but the outcome was already decided.
“If you’re on par with that Blood Heavenly Assassin Method fool, there’s nothing more to see.”
Juk Un-hui, having spoken thus, let his sword hang loose at his side.
It was an odd stance, yet the sect leaders felt instinctive dread wash over them.
“Be careful——.”
Before the warning could even finish, Juk Un-hui kicked at the debris scattered across the floor.
The sect leaders’ eyes snapped toward the fragments by pure instinct, and in that heartbeat, Juk Un-hui dropped into an extreme crouch and exploded forward.
Swoosh—!
He surged low through the gap in their attention, and to those facing him, it felt as though their opponent had simply vanished.
‘Where is he……?!’
The moment the sect leaders realized their mistake, a chill ran through them.
A voice dripping with contempt came from beneath Huk Rang Dae-ju’s chin.
“You should always keep your Qi Sense active.”
“?!”
Huk Rang Dae-ju gasped and drew his blade, but his panic robbed the strike of proper force.
Clang, clang! Whish!
Two strikes were easily parried. As Juk Un-hui tilted his head to slip past the third, he channeled his momentum into a sword thrust that drove straight at Huk Rang Dae-ju’s solar plexus.
Crack—!
The force of the blow rang out violently through the Private Chamber.
“Agh——!”
Huk Rang Dae-ju coughed blood and crashed backward. Without so much as a glance, Juk Un-hui withdrew his blade, and the steel stopped precisely before Nam Ho Mun-ju’s collarbone as he surged in from behind.
“……!”
Nam Ho Mun-ju froze in an awkward posture.
Nam Ho Mun-ju was rigid with shock, but Juk Un-hui was not.
Pivoting on his right foot, he spun in a flash, and his leg cut down in a semicircle like a reaper’s scythe, aimed at Nam Ho Mun-ju’s neck.
Slash——!
“Hngh……!”
All his years of rigorous External Force training proved meaningless as Nam Ho Mun-ju’s massive frame crumpled.
His eyes had rolled back from the impact, consciousness already fleeing.
Without the slightest hesitation, Juk Un-hui raised his blade to finish it.
Then he twisted sharply and swept his sword across in a diagonal arc.
Boom——!
Dust exploded through the Private Chamber with the force of the blast.
Cheon Ryu Hoe-ju had released another Sword Wind. This time, unlike before, it was heavy with Internal Force.
He blocked it nonetheless, but in doing so, an opening formed—small, but inevitable.
‘Now!’
In that instant, Bi Ryuu Boju’s eyes flared with opportunity.
Shriek—!
Having pulled his Internal Force high in mere moments, Bi Ryuu Boju’s Straight Blade rocketed toward Juk Un-hui’s left neck in a flash assault.
‘It’s over!’
The attack came from a perfect blind spot, and his sword was occupied blocking the wind technique, his stance shattered.
There was no way to defend against this strike.
A glint of triumph began to kindle in Bi Ryuu Boju’s eyes.
“Predictable.”
As if he’d been waiting, Juk Un-hui’s head snapped around with a thin smile.
Snap—!
His empty left hand shot up and seized Bi Ryuu Boju’s wrist with crushing force.
“……!”
A strike packed with full power, and yet what stopped it was the grip of a slender youth’s hand.
It defied all logic, and yet the moment those fingers closed, the blade went limp and froze as if the strength had been a lie.
“Nngh……!”
Bi Ryuu Boju panicked and wrenched his hand free, but it wouldn’t budge—as if clamped in an iron vice.
Crunch crunch…….
A strange sensation rippled through his wrist.
Then Bi Ryuu Boju saw it.
Whoooosh—!
The Qi that had been wrapped around his blade trembled erratically, then surged violently into Juk Un-hui’s grip.
“……What?”
Bi Ryuu Boju’s pupils dilated.
In that moment, his instincts screamed that something terrible—something impossible—was happening.
‘My Internal Force that I just drew up…….’
It vanished.
No—to be precise, it hadn’t vanished at all.
It had been absorbed. By the young man before him.
Crack—
In exchange, a grip of truly startling strength bore down on Bi Ryuu Boju’s wrist as though to shatter bone.
“Ugh……!”
Watching Bi Ryuu Boju’s face contort in agony, Juk Un-hui smiled coldly.
“Your Inner Qi is remarkably impure.”
Thud!
In the next instant, Juk Un-hui’s right hand seized Bi Ryuu Boju by the throat.
Bi Ryuu Boju desperately tried to pry the arm away with his free hand—the one not holding his blade—but it didn’t budge even slightly.
‘What is this……? Like gripping steel……!’
Juk Un-hui slowly raised his arm.
A boy so frail that a breath of wind might topple him lifted the tall frame of Bi Ryuu Boju effortlessly into the air.
“Hack, gakk!”
As breath was cut off, the terror of death came flooding in.
Bi Ryuu Boju’s feet left the ground, flailing helplessly in the void.
“Kek! W-wait! I’ve lost! I’ve lost──!”
“No.”
Though Bi Ryuu Boju cried out in desperation, Juk Un-hui shook his head.
“I don’t care about the others. But not you.”
A sneer played across Juk Un-hui’s lips.
Everyone expected Bi Ryuu Boju’s neck to snap then and there, but something else happened instead.
Crrrunch…….
A strange, visceral suction emanated from the hand clamped around his throat.
Experiencing that truly horrifying sensation again, Bi Ryuu Boju’s eyes flew open wide.
“I’ve only theorized about this until now—never tried it in actual combat. Seems to work rather well.”
“No, d-don’t! Stop! Stop──!”
Ignoring the frantic shouts, Juk Un-hui channeled his power.
Crrrunch──!!!
His Inner Qi, and with it the Innate True Qi that formed the very foundation of life.
Everything poured out of Bi Ryuu Boju like water through a broken dam.
“Gaaaaaahhh──!”
Bi Ryuu Boju’s scream tore through the air.
His trained musculature withered pathetically, and his hair lost its luster, becoming thin and dull.
As Bi Ryuu Boju was reduced to a pitiful husk, Juk Un-hui’s body grew radiant with vitality.
“──!!”
The hollow sensation of being torn away at the source itself.
“Hgh, gaaahhh……!”
Bi Ryuu Boju thrashed his limbs in a final, desperate struggle, but it was futile.
The screams that had echoed through the Private Chamber grew fainter and fainter, until they faded entirely into silence.
…….
A strange, suffocating quiet descended—a silence born of witnessing the impossible.
In its midst,
“The Star Absorption Blood-Essence Devouring Technique. That’s a bit of a mouthful…….”
Juk Un-hui’s lips curved upward in satisfaction.
“Let’s call it the Xixing Dafa for short.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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