Chapter 70. The New Sorcerer

This time, the Red Blood Hall Lord didn’t resist and answered obediently.

“It’s for manipulating the mind. Exposure to Five Minerals Powder allows temporary memory alteration.”

“The Murim Alliance bastards aren’t fools. Wouldn’t tampering with memories carelessly be dangerous?”

“I wasn’t going to use it for long. Just briefly during the Martial Arts Tournament.”

“The tournament? Why?”

“I needed Hancheol.”

“Hancheol? Ah, right—the prize of the Murim Alliance’s tournament was Hancheol.”

Haerak let out a short laugh.

“Were you trying to fix the match or something? What were you going to use Hancheol for?”

After some hesitation, the Red Blood Hall Lord spoke.

“…I planned to create a new passage.”

At that, Haerak’s smile turned strange.

Passage.

It referred to a space imbued with sorcery, allowing one to cross distances.

Haerak’s gaze slid to the human-skin mask lying on the floor—once the face of the original owner of Blue Sea Pavilion. Slowly, his eyes rose again.

“You killed the sorcerer left in Guangdong with your own hands. How exactly were you planning to create one?”

The Blood Demon cherished the unbelievers who handled sorcery. Some weren’t even forced to take the Poison gu. But if this man had killed a sorcerer, his loyalty was twisted beyond measure.

He loved the Blood Demon yet abhorred the unbelievers, and in that emotional contradiction, he often made mistakes.

The Red Blood Hall Lord looked up at Haerak with a displeased expression and said:

“I didn’t kill him. He fell and died on his own.”

“Same thing. How badly did you scare him?”

Haerak laughed as if he realized something.

“Ah, so that’s why you lured me here. To make it look like I killed him.”

“…”

“But the plan went awry, huh? Tsk tsk, Pyowol-ah—this is what happens when dumb people try to use their heads. Remember that next time.”

Not clear whether it was an insult or consolation, Haerak patted Pyowol’s shoulder.

“So, how exactly were you planning to make the passage? Did you capture another sorcerer from somewhere else?”

The Red Blood Hall Lord did not deny it. But it was hard to call it an affirmation, either.

He hesitated for a long while, then glanced at his twitching severed arm in front of him and shut his eyes tightly.

“…Yes, there is one more sorcerer.”

“Oh? Who?”

“The bastard child of the Namgung Clan Head.”

“Ah, the son of that sorcerer? I heard he lost his power because of the Namgung blood.”

“That’s not true. He’s just been keeping his mouth shut all this time.”

The structure of noble clans, where the Clan Head ruled everything, was an appealing system of control to the Blood Demon, who was obsessed with blood.

He sent one of his favored unbelievers to sire a direct descendant, hoping to easily take over the clan.

But there was one thing the Blood Demon overlooked.

A child with the Clan Head’s blood didn’t automatically inherit the clan’s power. To become the head, not just blood but also influence, was essential.

Direct descendants born of lowborn mothers were either eliminated early due to scrutiny or treated worse than collateral branches, always on the fringes.

It was then that the Blood Demon realized his mistake.

Just as the orthodox sects saw the Blood Sect as absolute evil, the Blood Demon, without realizing it, had viewed the orthodox sects as absolute good. But they, too, had greed, and could be cruel in pursuit of desire—they were, in the end, just people.

After that, the Blood Demon stopped coveting the blood of direct descendants and instead planted countless blades within the clans.

Recalling that old tale, Haerak’s expression darkened.

The Red Blood Hall Lord cut through Haerak’s reverie.

“That Namgung Hyun came to Jin Yin Mountain.”

The Namgung bastard was a child the Blood Demon had abandoned long ago. There was no way that kid would know the location of the passage. Which meant—he must have created one himself to go meet the Blood Demon.

Haerak guessed at the untold story and let out a dry laugh.

“So he inherited the sorcerer’s power.”

“Yes. He learned the characters of sorcery from his mother.”

The Red Blood Hall Lord tried to stop there, but when Haerak stepped on a shard of the broken bead, he spoke again.

“He also knows how to design sorcery.”

“The old geezer must’ve fainted. He already loses his mind over any sorcerer, and now someone who can actually design new sorcery falls into his lap.”

The insult toward the Blood Demon stung, but the Red Blood Hall Lord held back.

“Regardless… the Blood Demon ordered him to expand the passage, and sent me with him to the Central Plains.”

“To serve that Namgung bastard?”

The Red Blood Hall Lord clenched his teeth and answered.

“…To assist him.”

Haerak smiled as he patted the Red Blood Hall Lord’s shoulder with his palm. What bothered the Hall Lord immensely was that the hand doing the patting was his own. He couldn’t regenerate his arm until the bastard vanished, but Haerak showed no signs of leaving.

In truth, Haerak needed time to think.

Because he couldn’t predict what would change going forward.

There were already passages in the Central Plains designed by sorcerers. But they had limitations—they could only manage sorcery that transported someone from city to city. From Hubei to Shaanxi, from Shaanxi to Sichuan, and so on.

To get to Jin Yin Mountain, one had to travel to a passage in nearby Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan, or Shaanxi first.

But Anhui?

Since it covered a distance several times greater, it made sense for the Blood Demon to be so ecstatic that he would entrust the Red Blood Hall Lord over to him.

Most likely, he had activated the passage by inscribing sorcery on the ground or burning paper. Haerak had once seen a sorcerer try to escape by writing with his own blood.

The need for Hancheol suggested that the Blood Demon intended to craft a spell that, like those engraved in the cave, could not be erased—creating a permanent passage.

‘Hmm. If he’s not trying to engrave it in a cave but is using Hancheol, perhaps he’s planning to carry the passage with him. Is he seriously preparing to roam now?’

Haerak erased the flood of questions forming in his mind.

And left only the one that most intrigued him.

“But why did that Namgung bastard suddenly reveal his power?”

The Red Blood Hall Lord sneered and replied.

“He says he wants to become the Clan Head of Namgung.”

“The Clan Head?”

“So he says.”

“Why?”

“I don’t understand that myself. Considering what he could demand in exchange for the passage, a lowly martial clan in Anhui is a laughably small price.”

The clan head.

That much wouldn’t be difficult for the Blood Demon to grant. But since he hadn’t done so right away, it seemed the Blood Demon still didn’t trust the bastard.

Haerak asked to confirm his suspicion.

“Then why did the old geezer hand you over instead of flipping Namgung himself?”

“He said he would decide after seeing the boy’s abilities.”

When the Red Blood Hall Lord dodged the question vaguely, Haerak stared at him intently. Reluctantly, the Hall Lord spoke again.

“If he creates two passages linking the Central Plains to the Outer Regions, he promised to kill Namgung’s heir for him.”

Haerak’s expression turned cold.

He couldn’t care less whether Namgung’s heir died.

What bothered him was the location of these new links between the Central Plains and the Outer Regions.

“Where are they connecting to?”

“The North Sea Branch and the Great Desert Branch.”

The North Sea Branch and the Great Desert Branch were where the North Sea Ice Palace and the Great Desert Solar Palace once stood.

After those sects were ruined by the war with the Blood Sect, lunatics from the distant Central Plains arrived under the pretense of protecting the survivors.

These Central Plains fools, claiming to be from the Murim Alliance, established Murim Alliance branches there. They lived in the vast, magnificent North Sea Ice Palace and Great Desert Solar Palace—places far beyond the scale of the Murim Alliance’s usual branch offices.

In short, they effortlessly took over palaces whose masters had vanished. They were truly shameless bastards.

But it wasn’t really the will of the Murim Alliance.

The Murim Alliance never acknowledged them. Though decades had passed since those branches were established in the Outer Regions, the Alliance had never once engaged with them.

The Blood Demon had been pleased by this outcome. He had even helped them settle discreetly.

The North Sea Branch and Great Desert Branch were Blood Sect territory.

The Central Plains fools believed they were protecting survivors from the Blood Sect, but in truth, it was the Blood Demon who had permitted their presence. Thanks to that, the Blood Demon gained easy access to their martial arts and information from the Central Plains—delivered directly to him.

But now, the Blood Demon was trying to completely connect the Outer Regions and the Central Plains.

“…Did he come up with some brilliant idea or what?”

At that, the Red Blood Hall Lord gave a small laugh.

“How could someone like me know the will of our Lord?”

“So you were going to manipulate the Martial Arts Tournament results to give him the Hancheol?”

Haerak looked down at the Hall Lord with a pitiful gaze.

“You’re doing your nanny duties well.”

“…….”

“But get the Hancheol some other way.”

“I told you already. It’s the Blood Demon’s order. He said to test the boy with the Hancheol, but I have no idea how else to obtain it.”

“Huh? You don’t know? That sounds strange…”

As Haerak narrowed his eyes, the Hall Lord smiled and revealed his true intention.

“If you acquire it for me, I’ll stop interfering in Hubei.”

“No.”

“I’ll say it again—this is the Blood Demon’s will…”

“Pyowol.”

Haerak let out a deep sigh.

“I only just found out you were even in the Central Plains.”

His sigh-laden voice pierced Pyowol’s eardrums.

“The fact that the Blood Demon tried to create a passage, and that arrogant sorcerer went to see the old geezer without even reporting to me—I’m hearing all of that from you now, for the first time.”

The Red Blood Hall Lord kept his mouth shut.

“If what you’re saying is true, then everything you’ve just told me is something I shouldn’t have known.”

The Hall Lord flinched.

“The old geezer must’ve lost his mind to entrust you with this, and now, just a few months later, I’ve learned all about his secret dealings with the sorcerer—and even that you helped the sorcerer become a clan head. Imagine how upset the old geezer will be when he finds out.”

Haerak suddenly reached out and shook the Hall Lord’s hand right in front of his face.

Flap flap.

“You really don’t know how awful it feels to be jerked around by someone else’s hand, do you?”

The Hall Lord’s jaw muscles twitched. He clenched so hard that his teeth ground audibly.

But to a madman, it posed no real threat.

Haerak smiled and said,

“I say this for your own good. Stay low and keep quiet for a while. In the Central Plains, all you can do is parade your incompetence before the old geezer. If you don’t want that, go back to Jin Yin Mountain.”

With that, Haerak stood up.

“I’ll keep this arm. Depending on how you behave, maybe I’ll return it to the old geezer—or just burn it myself.”

The Red Blood Hall Lord bit his tongue.

The taste of blood filled his mouth. But he couldn’t let it be known that he lost to an unbeliever, even after receiving divine artifact.

For his sake, and for his Lord’s.

With a twisted expression, the Hall Lord slammed his head against the floor again, as if to hide his shame.

“I will follow… the Hall Lord’s will.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes.”

“Ah, why don’t I believe you?”

“…….”

“Now I get why the old geezer wanted to test that Namgung bastard. Even if you meet a talent, you’ve gotta know if they’re trustworthy before you use them or toss them aside…”

Crack.

The sound of the Red Blood Hall Lord grinding his teeth echoed again.

Suppressing a laugh, Haerak spoke.

“Report everything by midnight: the ones who crossed over with you, your subordinates in Guangdong, and all your activities up until now.”

“Yes.”

“By midnight.”

“…….”

Haerak frowned after stating an impossible deadline.

“Don’t want to do it?”

“I want to…”

“Good. Then work hard.”

The Main Blood Hall Lord vanished without waiting for a reply.

Boom.

The wooden floor shattered under the Red Blood Hall Lord’s clawed hand.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

Unable to contain his rage, he struck the floor repeatedly.

Soon, calming himself, the Hall Lord exhaled and felt a flicker of relief.

…At least not everything was exposed.

Perhaps stirred by Namgung Hyun’s visit, the Blood Demon had decided to retrieve the blades he had once scattered.

Among the tests the Blood Demon gave to Namgung Hyun was the eldest daughter of the Tang Clan Head.

The Hall Lord believed that the only way to avoid exposure was to withdraw for the time being.

It was a test to begin with—let the boy handle it well.

Yes. Only then would he be worthy of receiving the Blood Demon’s hand.

The Hall Lord clung to that self-justification and focused on recovering his arm.

But on the day the sect’s hierarchy changed—

—an unexpected crack began to form in the Blood Demon’s plans.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep