Reincarnation of the Blood Demon - Chapter 21

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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 Hall
Chapter 21
Bearable, at least.
After the youngest son had vanished.
Jeok Wi-geuk, who had been staring at the space where he’d stood, spoke softly into the emptiness.
“What was your assessment?”
Slip—
The void split, and suddenly a martial artist with an unremarkable face materialized before him.
It was the same attendant who had driven Jeok Wi-geuk’s carriage not long ago.
He hesitated for a moment before answering.
“I would never have believed it if I hadn’t witnessed it myself.”
The third son’s bearing before the sect master had been uncannily composed.
Even if the head of the Murim Alliance had stood in his place, he doubted such serenity would have shown itself.
The third son’s case was even more remarkable. For the Blood Sect, the authority of the Blood Demon was absolute.
“Regardless of martial prowess, he seemed like a martial artist who had already reached a higher realm.”
“…….”
Jeok Wi-geuk’s eyes grew distant.
Even the master of the Blood Heaven Guard, possessing the sect’s finest Concealment Technique and discernment, assessed him in such terms.
‘Already reached a higher realm…….’
Perhaps those words were true.
“At the very least, his Inner World matched my own in depth.”
“……I beg your pardon?”
In that instant, Hyeol Cheon-wi-ju forgot all propriety and stared directly at his master in shock.
Jeok Wi-geuk had drawn only Jeok Un-hui into his Mental Realm Technique.
Because of this, even the master of the Blood Heaven Guard could not know what had transpired within the sect master’s Inner World.
Jeok Wi-geuk spoke matter-of-factly.
“It was hellish. So much so that if he were called the Blood Demon instead of me, I would believe it.”
Hyeol Cheon-wi-ju regarded his superior with a hardened expression.
A sect master who had lived his entire life in the carnage that was the Blood Sect.
That such a man would describe something as hellish—he could not fathom what it might truly be like.
‘I myself lack the confidence to properly withstand the sect master’s Mental Realm Technique.’
Of course, this did not mean the third son was stronger than Hyeol Cheon-wi-ju.
The Inner World was purely a realm of spirit—it did not always correlate directly with martial prowess.
Yet it remained an undeniable truth that those who had transcended boundaries possessed their own worlds within them.
‘To manifest one’s inner world in this physical realm, and moreover, to assimilate the very world itself to one’s will.’
In other words, the Creation Realm.
The sect master claimed that a fifteen-year-old boy stood at the same height as those rare transcendents few in all the world.
‘……Is the Blood Sovereign testing me?’
So incredible were the sect master’s words that doubt felt almost impious.
While Hyeol Cheon-wi-ju sank into deep contemplation, Jeok Wi-geuk gazed quietly at the great gate. Unlike his subordinate, he was not overwhelmed by shock. He had already felt the full force of it within the Mental Realm.
Jeok Wi-geuk’s eyes grew heavy and grave.
‘Only five years outside the Main Sect, in Namhwa County.’
In that brief span, what had honed that boy to such steel?
‘Or perhaps it began even before then.’
There was nothing of which he could be truly certain.
For the first time since becoming sect master, Jeok Wi-geuk felt genuine bewilderment. His eyes closed heavily.
‘The sect will grow turbulent.’
This time, not a suspicion, but a certainty.
* * *
Creak—Bang!
As the iron-reinforced gate swung shut, the oppressive weight of the Blood Demon Hall was cut off.
After walking in silence for a distance, once the Blood Demon Hall lay completely behind him.
“Phew…….”
Jeok Un-hui rolled his neck and released a long breath.
“That was close.”
Crack, crack.
As he rolled his shoulders and neck to loosen up, a strange snapping sound echoed from his joints.
The aftershock of the strain from his confrontation with the sect master.
His heart hammered as though it might burst, and cold sweat drenched his entire body.
‘The spiritual exhaustion is unbelievable.’
Though the mind had reached the highest realm, the body of the Third Son bore all the aftershock.
It seemed he would need a few days of Spiritual Cultivation Rest.
Ju Yi-gyeom, who had been watching, exhaled heavily. “But why did you do that, exactly? The Sect Leader let it pass—thankfully. Otherwise things could have gone very badly.”
“Surely Father wouldn’t kill his own son just for talking back?”
“Hah…….”
Of course, Ju Yi-gyeom himself hadn’t expected the Sect Leader to go that far, but even so, displaying such reckless behavior toward him was an entirely different matter.
“And after that, when neither of you said anything, I was even more frightened.”
He hadn’t considered that the Sect Leader might have pulled Jeok Un-hui, who possessed only Earthly Wisdom, into the Mental Realm Technique—so he’d misunderstood.
Jeok Un-hui answered vaguely. “We had a conversation of the heart, that’s all.”
“A conversation of the heart……?”
Incomprehensible words yet again.
Ju Yi-gyeom furrowed his brow, but Jeok Un-hui offered no explanation.
He simply walked ahead, moving at a leisurely pace.
“Hmm…….”
Truly, one unexpected situation after another—and yet it wasn’t confusing, strangely enough.
From the start, the Third Son was not a man one could easily predict.
He’d never expected things to unfold according to plan in the first place.
Of course, watching it all unfold was another matter—it was wearing him down.
‘I feel more exhausted than he does, somehow.’
Standing beside him, Ju Yi-gyeom felt aged, as if several years had passed compared to Jeok Un-hui, who had directly faced the Sect Leader.
Shaking his head slowly, Ju Yi-gyeom hurried to catch up with Jeok Un-hui and asked, “So what do you intend to do now?”
“First, return to Namhwa County and—.”
Jeok Un-hui’s words trailed off.
Someone was approaching from ahead.
“Ah.”
Ju Yi-gyeom, noticing it only moments later, widened his eyes at the sight of him.
Pallid as a corpse. Seven feet tall or thereabouts, with unnaturally long limbs. Eyes as gloomy as one already dying, and pupils so enormous they seemed inhuman.
Though the face hadn’t appeared many times in the Third Son’s memories, the features were distinctive enough to recognize instantly.
“Yuk Jang-ro?”
Yuk Jang-ro, also called Mong Yeom.
The architect of the Human Sacrifice Ritual.
He was walking toward them now.
“……Third Son.”
Yuk Jang-ro, upon spotting Jeok Un-hui, blinked slowly before giving a slight bow.
“What brings you to the Main Sect?”
An utterly composed response from someone who had tried to kill Jeok Un-hui—shockingly so.
On the surface, he seemed a man with no connection to the matter whatsoever.
─Third Son.
Ju Yi-gyeom urgently transmitted his thoughts to Jeok Un-hui.
That Yuk Jang-ro was behind the Human Sacrifice Ritual—he’d already learned this from Jeok Un-hui before, so he knew.
He could not predict how his superior, face to face with his enemy, would act.
─Not now. If we take a confrontational stance with Yuk Jang-ro already…….
─I know.
Dismissing Ju Yi-gyeom’s concern with a single word, Jeok Un-hui nodded.
“I came at Father’s summons for a time. And you, Yuk Jang-ro—what of you?”
“The Elder Council Meeting is about to convene. I arrived a little early.”
The Elder Council Meeting was a quarterly gathering where seven elders of the Blood Sect came to report their accomplishments to the Sect Leader.
On the surface, that was its purpose. In reality, it was the Sect Leader’s way of periodically summoning the elders to keep watch on them and maintain control.
“I see. You must be quite occupied.”
“Not at all. It is good to see you looking well, Third Son. I shall take my leave now.”
Yuk Jang-ro smiled faintly and passed by Jeok Un-hui.
Jeok Un-hui spoke to his back. “Now that I think of it, I didn’t thank you.”
“……Thank me, you say?”
Yuk Jang-ro turned around with a puzzled expression.
Jeok Un-hui smiled broadly in return. “Thanks to you, I feel as though I’ve awakened from a long sleep.”
“What do you mean…….”

“Playing dumb.”
Jeok Un-hui abruptly shifted his tone, addressing Yuk Jang-ro, who had raised his eyebrows in confusion.
“That Human Sacrifice Ritual you orchestrated. It certainly sharpened the mind.”
“……!”
A shocking statement delivered without warning.
Ju Yi-gyeom’s expression hardened to stone as he fixed his gaze on Jeok Un-hui.
‘But he said he knew……?’
Of course Jeok Un-hui had claimed to know.
What he’d overlooked, however, was that merely knowing something didn’t mean he’d promised to be cautious about it.
Jeok Un-hui stared through Yuk Jang-ro as he spoke.
“The stench of filthy blood reaches all the way here. What scheme are you running?”
His words and manner crossed the line into outright provocation, yet Yuk Jang-ro’s expression didn’t shift.
He narrowed the space between his brows with visible displeasure and continued.
“Third Young Master, what are you going on about? It’s been some time since we’ve met, and I’m taken aback by such harsh words. Could you perhaps be suffering from Demonic Obsession?”
The way he spoke with half-lidded eyes was so convincing that anyone unaware of the truth would have nodded along without question.
‘Shameless bastard.’
Even Ju Yi-gyeom, who knew the reality, could only shake his head in disbelief.
Yuk Jang-ro shook his head with a cold expression.
“Your mental state appears unstable. I’ll overlook this matter for now. Do visit the medical hall for treatment at your earliest convenience.”
He was about to move past when Jeok Un-hui’s next words stopped him dead in his tracks.
“Yuk Jang-ro, you may look forward to the coming Elder Council Meeting.”
As if he hadn’t just been pushing hard moments before, Jeok Un-hui returned to a formal tone and offered a slight smile.
“……What do you mean by that, suddenly?”
“Did I not mention I’ve met with Father?”
“…….”
For the first time, Yuk Jang-ro’s expression froze. He stopped in his tracks, turning to face Jeok Un-hui directly.
As the man—nearly seven feet tall—looked down at him, a dangerously tense atmosphere descended.
“What did you discuss with the Sect Master?”
Unlike before, his face and voice were now completely expressionless. If anything, that made him all the more menacing.
His eyes—hollow and lifeless as those of a corpse—fixed on Jeok Un-hui.
“Step back.”
“Enough.”
Ju Yi-gyeom reacted immediately from where he’d been watching, but Jeok Un-hui waved him off instead.
Then, gazing up at Yuk Jang-ro, he drew back the corners of his mouth in a grin.
“So even our Yuk Jang-ro fears Father?”
“…….”
The Sect Master already detested sorcery.
Since Yuk Jang-ro’s specialties were sorcerous arts like Soul Binding Sorcery, he had no choice but to be acutely aware of the Sect Master’s displeasure.
‘Especially having just conducted the Human Sacrifice Ritual.’
No matter how bold a man might be, there was no way he could simply let that pass.
“……Young Master.”
As expected, a change flickered across Yuk Jang-ro’s barren eyes. Unmistakable killing intent.
“See that you concern yourself only with what you can handle.”
Jeok Un-hui merely shrugged his shoulders.
“Right. I appreciate the advice.”
“Then──.”
“But.”
He cut off Yuk Jang-ro’s words, flashing his teeth in a grin.
“I did it because I could handle it.”

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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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