Reincarnation of the Blood Demon - Chapter 45

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

Blood Demon Reincarnation
Chapter 45
A Dangerous Element
“How will the duel conclude……?”
Ma Hyeol Jin squinted through the swirling dust that rose into the air.
Though he knew this was not a fight he should meddle in, the thought of him being truly injured—or worse, killed—made it a matter of grave consequence.
Fortunately, after a little time had passed and the smoke cleared, two figures stood intact and unshaken in the space before them.
“……Let us stop here.”
It was Hyeon Won who first lowered his sword.
Admiration and acknowledgment, regret and unease—emotions flickered across his face like ripples on water, but with the composure of a seasoned master, he collected himself in an instant and withdrew.
“Agreed.”
Jeok Un Hui nodded without protest.
The final exchange had been equally perilous. To continue would be to cross into true life and death. It was right to end it here.
“So what does this mean?”
“A draw……? With Elder Hyeon Won?”
The result was a stalemate.
There was no victor, no vanquished—yet reactions diverged sharply among the martial artists of either faction.
Among some: awe that one not yet of age had matched blades evenly with an elder of the Gongdong Sect.
Among others: shock that the Blood Cult’s third young master had drawn with an elder they had trusted.
To fight an elder of the Gongdong Sect and achieve a draw at such an age—it was simply not possible.
Yet it had come to pass.
As the disciples stood stunned in silence, Hyeon Won calmly sheathed his blade and spoke.
“It has been long since I witnessed such remarkable swordplay. My Dao Heart has opened.”
“You praise me too highly.”
Jeok Un Hui acknowledged with a slight nod, as if it were nothing of consequence.
Hyeon Won chuckled softly, then gestured to the Gongdong Sect martial artists who had been watching.
“Let us depart.”
“Pardon?”
“But……!”
His senior disciples naturally protested, but Hyeon Won shook his head and dismissed their objections.
“Did we not say the old grievance with the Greenwood was settled? Even if it proves false, we can investigate later. There is nothing more we can do now; it is best we return.”
“……Understood.”
With an elder of such high rank speaking so firmly, the Gongdong Sect’s martial artists had no choice but to yield. His senior disciples nodded reluctantly and withdrew.
As the commotion came to an end, Hyeon Won fixed his gaze upon Jeok Un Hui and issued a warning.
“Your ambitions are impressive. As one who desires peace in the Gam Suk martial world, I hope they are genuine—but know this: our sect will be watching you.”
“By all means.”
His reply was as unflinching as ever. Hyeon Won, his expression complicated, released a soft sigh. Just then, Jin Gyeon, who had remained silent until now, clasped his fist toward Jeok Un Hui.
“First, I thank you for showing restraint. I have learned much from a superior.”
He possessed strength enough to match an elder. Had the third young master harbored killing intent, there would have been dozens of opportunities to end his life during that exchange.
“Well, that’s how it goes.”
Jeok Un Hui deflected the comment lightly, and Jin Gyeon’s eyes gleamed with unmistakable yearning.
He posed a question with loaded significance.
“Are you aware that autumn will soon arrive?”
“Not soon—there’s still half a year.”
“We shall meet again.”
There was a curious hint of competitive spirit in that tone.
Much went unsaid, yet the meaning was instantly clear.
If he had deliberately invoked autumn, there could be only one reason.
The season: autumn. The great festival held by the Orthodox Path’s martial alliance once every four years.
‘The Dragon Phoenix Assembly.’
And the time had come round again.
“Do you realize what you are saying?”
Now he was suggesting an invitation to the Blood Cult’s third young master to the very heart of the Orthodox Path’s martial world.
“Jin Gyeon, this is…….”
There was no precedent for such a thing.
Hyeon Won and his senior disciples were equally startled, their eyes fixed on Jin Gyeon, but he pressed forward undeterred with what he had to say.
“If you are as extraordinary as you have shown, what is the Dragon Phoenix Assembly to you?”
This was a clear provocation—one designed to prick his pride and draw him to the Dragon Phoenix Assembly.
‘Because there is no other opportunity for us to meet again.’
As a chief disciple of the Gongdong Sect, he could not afford to associate privately with a young master of the Blood Cult. The next time they met, it might well be in a battle to the death.
‘Honestly, even if I faced that monster again, I can’t say I’d be confident of defeating him…….’
But having learned a technique like this, shouldn’t I at least demonstrate that something has changed?
And besides—his true intentions were transparently plain to see.
“Madman.”
Jeok Un Hui let out a hollow laugh, as if at a loss for words.
Jin Gyeon turned away, his robe fluttering behind him. It seemed he’d had no intention of hearing a reply from the start.
“I’ll be waiting!”
The elder disciple had said his piece, and the procession resumed its march.
“Let’s go. We have mountains of work ahead.”
Nearly a decade of conflict with the Blood Cult had come to an end.
* * *
“Master, are you truly certain it’s wise to withdraw like this?”
One of the senior disciples expressed his concern.
The disciples of the Gongdong Sect were generally gifted in spiritual perception. It wasn’t only Hyeon Won who grasped the danger posed by the Third Young Master.
Moreover, all those who had come out for this operation were veterans of the Demon Suppression Squad.
A force of arms created solely to oppose the Blood Cult, and yet he spoke in tones that belied his Daoist nature—his voice carrying an edge of killing intent.
“He will surely become a calamity later. Should he mature unchecked……!”
“Enough.”
When Hyeon Won’s calm yet weighty voice rang out, the warrior fell silent in an instant.
“Your mind has been clouded by delusion. The moment you harbor private killing intent, can you still call that the Dao?”
“But he is Blood Cult!”
The warrior protested with mounting fervor, his eyes gleaming with a sickly light—hatred and murderous intent burning within them.
Hyeon Won exhaled softly and regarded his disciples.
“To remain vigilant against the Blood Cult’s threat and to be consumed by hatred while harboring killing intent—these are utterly different. The moment your hatred blinds you and you lose sight of the Dao’s truth, the blade you wield will harm you before it ever touches Demonic Heresy.”
The warrior fell silent, his face grave. Hyeon Won spoke to him with a gentle countenance.
“The foundation of the Dao lies in Clear Stillness and Non-action. It is only through abandoning desire and attachment, and through singular devotion to cultivation, that we can protect the Gongdong Sect from the Blood Cult.”
“……I was shortsighted, Master.”
The senior disciple bowed his reddened face, and after tapping his shoulder once, Hyeon Won resumed walking. Yet on the face of the Master who walked ahead, a deep shadow of concern lingered.
‘I cannot say I don’t understand the boy’s thinking.’
How could he not? Ever since Hyeol Cheon had settled in Gam Suk and founded the Blood Cult five centuries ago, the relationship between the Blood Cult and the Gongdong Sect had always been thus.
Though the present age had seen no major friction, the accumulated grudges could not be resolved so simply.
Hatred, at times, passes down through generations. He himself had lived for years harboring youthful anger toward the Blood Cult, had he not?
And yet.
‘Perhaps now is the time for that to change.’
Just as the Third Young Master of the Blood Cult had done—abandoning the accumulated hostile methods and returning to the root.
The Non-action he had witnessed today in the Third Young Master could not be built in a single day. Even if he were a prodigy of the age, there were limits to such things.
It was more likely that the Blood Cult of this era, rather than projecting power outward, had been constructing a grand strategy to counter the Orthodox Path.
That the Third Young Master, who had shown no external activity, had appeared in person was surely a signal flare marking the completion of those preparations.
‘The Blood Cult Master—truly a fearsome individual.’
Such a thought came naturally.
Considering the hidden calculations of one who had deceived all eyes while appearing placid, cultivating strength in silence—he could not help but think so.
“The Third Young Master said it himself. We make no progress because we cling too much to the root.”
“…….”
“His words aren’t necessarily absolute truth, but they do seem worth contemplating.”
Perhaps we—perhaps the Gongdong Sect.
Have had our eyes veiled by ancient martial teachings and a history thick with resentment, unable to see the truth plainly.
‘And so, we failed to perceive how the great rivals at our very doorstep were transforming.’
As he pondered this, the senior disciple spoke again.
“Still, you did hold back, didn’t you?”
The question itself carried certainty in its tone. No matter how he thought about it, he could not believe that the sect’s elder had actually matched someone not yet of legal age. It seemed incredible.
“What sort of foolish question is that…… Do you truly think your Master would have unleashed his full power against a junior cultivator?”
Even as he reproached the disciple for asking such a trivial question, the senior disciples gazed at Hyeon Won with an ambiguous light in their eyes.
Hyeon Won stroked his beard while gazing at clouds drifting far away.
“……Mm.”
There was one truth he could not yet tell the people of the Gongdong Sect.
He had indeed deliberated whether he should have let the Third Young Master live…….
‘But perhaps that was never truly possible in the first place.’
The final exchange had ended in perfect symmetry.
A truly devastating blow—severing the sword path of the incomprehensibly vast Endless Heaven Piercing Sword in a single, clean stroke.
He could not tell his disciples this, but he had never shown mercy in that exchange. And yet the Third Young Master had accepted it as though it were only natural.
The match ended like that.
‘Clearly, there was something he was holding back.’
It was common knowledge that martial artists concealed a third of their true strength.
He hadn’t revealed all his own cards either, of course—but this felt like something on an entirely different scale.
‘If the Third Young Master had shown his real power…….’
Who, in truth, would still be standing?
But as an elder of the sect, he couldn’t afford to appear weak.
He clenched his trembling hands, hiding them from view, then Hyeon Won smiled faintly and spoke.
“Of course. The martial arts of our sect run deeper than that.”
If the Third Young Master of the Blood Cult was such a concern, then cultivation and refinement would simply have to follow.
There was no need for actions that strayed from one’s Dao Heart in the process.
Rather than shortcuts, to walk forward boldly and steadily, even if slower.
“That is the Orthodox Path.”
* * *
Watching Hyeon Won’s retreating figure, Jeok Un Hui let out a dry laugh.
“The whelp, viewing someone as a potential threat.”
That gaze which laid bare one’s every thought.
He knew it well. He’d received that same look countless times in his youth.
Why only in youth? Because once he’d grown, he’d been reclassified—not as a potential threat, but simply as a threat.
And it was then that voices thick with admiration rang out from all directions.
“Truly, you are the Young Master!”
“To have defeated an elder of the Gongdong Sect……!”
Cheers of victory echoed across the training ground.
They knew he was a monster, but never had they imagined he could stand unscathed after facing the Gongdong Sect’s elder.
‘I doubt even Hyeol Cheon himself could have managed this.’
Something that should never have happened had come to pass—reality itself felt distant, dreamlike. Perhaps, without knowing it, they were witnessing the making of history, the rise of an unprecedented talent.
Pride and belonging, emotions they’d never known before, surged through them. The members of the Jeok Un Group were in an uproar of excitement and celebration.
“Silence.”
“……!!”
Jeok Un Hui’s sharp command cut through the noise, his eyes glinting dangerously as he glared at his subordinates.
‘What’s wrong all of a sudden……?’
Confused and bewildered, the members of the Jeok Un Group heard Jeok Un Hui click his tongue in displeasure.
“You lot, cowering before the Gongdong Sect dogs? And you call yourselves Blood Cult disciples?”
“…….”
How many in this world could speak of the Gongdong Sect so dismissively?
Besides, they hadn’t truly been pushed back that badly. The Endless Heaven Piercing Sword had been troublesome, certainly, but expecting them to handle such a monster was unreasonable to begin with.
The Jeok Un Group members felt deeply wronged, yet surprisingly, their Young Master seemed to genuinely believe what he was saying.
“In any case, nothing works without me.”
Jeok Un Hui grumbled irritably, but his eyes suddenly gleamed.
“Well, since we’ve reunited after so long…….”
Their first gathering after four months of hellish training. The eyes of the Jeok Un Group members sparkled with anticipation.
‘Rest? A reward?’
With any normal organization, such words would have heralded good news—but their commander was Jeok Un Hui.
“Let’s start light. Just a hundred laps around the training grounds?”
Looking at their commander with that smug grin on his face.
‘Ah…… he really is that kind of bastard.’
The eyes of the members, who’d just lost their dreams, hopes, and so much more, grew dull and lifeless.

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