Blood Demon of the Past Life – Chapter 139

Chapter 139: Nightmare （4）

Thought ceased.

Seo Mun-ho stammered.

“……Wha, what do you mean? The Peng family is lucky?!”

He wasn’t unaware of the truth.

Moyeongcheon’s words, Moyeongcheon’s expression, everything he saw and felt spoke of the grim truth, but Seo Mun-ho couldn’t bring himself to accept it. He wished he had been mistaken. Or even if it was a joke that had gone too far, he wished Moyeongcheon would suddenly change his expression and say, as the leader of the Murim Alliance, that he would handle this matter properly.

It was a vain hope.

Moyeongcheon laughed.

“You’re pretending not to know when you do. Seo Mun-ho, was it? Why do you think the Hebei Peng family spared your life?”

He couldn’t answer.

He listened blankly to Moyeongcheon’s words.

“Because they knew it wouldn’t cause any major problems. If you had revealed the truth to people, the Peng family would have dismissed it as the nonsense of a criminal and publicly executed you. And even if you came to the righteous Murim and appealed to the truth like you are now, they believed that we would not turn our backs on the Peng family. Think about it. The Hebei Peng family is one of the Five Great Clans. If we turn our backs on them, who have exchanged countless secrets under the name of the ‘righteous Murim’ for a long time, do you think the Peng family would just die quietly? No. They are trying to make us accomplices now. They’re asking us to keep their secrets as fellow Five Great Clans, saying that if we overlook them, the entire righteous Murim will not be safe. They’re cunning. Peng Mujeong, that man is too cruel for the righteous Murim to handle.”

The masks came off.

Both Peng Mujeong and Moyeongcheon.

They didn’t even bother to hide their true nature when dealing with someone like Seo Mun-ho, who posed no threat to them.

“It was something we needed in the righteous Murim as well. It’s been boringly peaceful lately. In order for the Murim Alliance to receive overwhelming support, a necessary evil must exist. Seo Mun-ho. Run away from here right now.”

Creak.

The door opened.

The Murim warriors guarding the Moyeong family opened the way wide, as if to say they wouldn’t stop him.

“The world won’t listen to you anyway, so become a spy for the Demonic Cult and do your best to struggle.”

✦✦✦✦✦✦

Seo Mun-ho ran away.

He was angry and despaired at Moyeongcheon’s words, but he didn’t even have time to feel such emotions.

He had no plan.

He headed towards the familiar mountains.

During the day, he hid in caves or bushes, and at night, he ran hard, grazing on grass or gulping down water from the valley. A few days later, while hiding in a cave, he heard people passing by talking.

As a result of the investigation by the righteous Murim.

Seo Mun-ho was confirmed to be a spy of the Demonic Cult and declared a public enemy of the Murim.

An ominous atmosphere was created, as if a war between the righteous and the demonic would break out at any moment, and the Hebei Peng family declared that they would catch the culprit, Seo Mun-ho, with fire in their eyes. However, Seo Mun-ho knew that it was just an act. The abilities of the Murim warriors were enough to turn the sky and the earth upside down, and no matter how much he thought about it, it didn’t make sense that he could escape like this. Perhaps to create a more dramatic situation, they seemed to be intentionally leaving a path open.

And indeed, it was.

Peng Mujeong wanted Seo Mun-ho to be brutally killed by his pursuers, not to die in Hebei.

He even put a bounty on his head.

He said that he didn’t need him alive, and that he would pay a large sum of money even if they just brought his head.

Bounty hunters followed.

Seo Mun-ho noticed the movements chasing him.

When he was hiding in the cave, holding his breath, the people moving busily above him showed a deep murderous intent.

‘……I must survive.’

He gritted his teeth.

He couldn’t die like this.

Peng Mujeong, who killed his village and his family, and even Moyeongcheon.

He had to take revenge on all of them.

Fortunately, Seo Mun-ho was familiar with the mountain paths and clever enough to evade professional bounty hunters. There were times when he couldn’t avoid confrontation. When he saw a bounty hunter discover the well-hidden entrance to his cave and enter, Seo Mun-ho held his breath and ambushed him.

“You dog…… Argh!”

“Die.”

Thwack━!

He smashed the hunter’s head with a rock.

With the sound of a hard skull cracking, Seo Mun-ho rolled on the ground with the bounty hunter.

“There!”

“Attack!”

The hunter had companions.

Seo Mun-ho finished the hunter off with several blows to the head with the rock, then dealt with the hunters rushing at him. His body was soaked in blood. He was torn and cut by the weapons they wielded, but Seo Mun-ho gritted his teeth and killed them all. There was no hesitation. He gouged out eyeballs with his fingers, and if necessary, he bit into vital points. He survived by any means necessary.

Thud!

“Pant, pant.”

He stabbed the heart with a dagger.

It had been the hunter’s weapon just a moment ago, but he used it skillfully and wiped the blood off with his sleeve.

“……I won’t die.”

He staggered.

There was no time to rest.

Seo Mun-ho moved on, and soon a group arrived at the spot.

Bounty hunters.

They followed the path Seo Mun-ho had taken, their eyes gleaming sharply.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

For a whole month.

Seo Mun-ho did not die.

He killed countless people who chased him, and earned the nickname Hebei Murderer.

Stagger.

Thud.

He collapsed.

He had no strength left in his body and couldn’t move.

‘Is this the end?’

He hadn’t eaten properly.

He hadn’t slept properly.

It was a miracle that he had been running for a month, and his head was so dizzy that he saw double even when he was still. Yet, his memories were still vivid. His wife rejoicing, his wife screaming. His daughter running around, his daughter hanging lifeless and cold. Unlike the emotions that boiled with rage, he felt physically at his limit.

If.

If he hadn’t accepted the Peng family’s offer, would this have happened?

No.

This was an act of forced evil.

From the moment Peng Mujeong made his plan, it was an unavoidable disaster for Seo Mun-ho and the villagers.

‘What did I do wrong?’

Emotions welled up.

He had never done anything shameful in his life, but the series of events that befell him was too cruel. He was disgusted by the Murim warriors. If even the righteous Murim had been committing such atrocities, then the righteous, the evil, the Demonic Cult, all of them seemed inhuman. The system of the strong preying on the weak, where they acted on instinct, was the realm of beasts.

If he had power.

If he had the power to punish the Murim.

He would burn the entire Murim to the ground.

He would kill everyone who called themselves Murim warriors, without exception.

He was consumed by murderous intent.

He struggled to his feet and longed for life once more.

He ran frantically.

One day, two days passed quickly.

His eyes lost their vitality.

He was moving, but he knew there was no hope left.

Then one day.

Seo Mun-ho met an old man.

“The murderous intent is strong for someone with the eyes of a man who has given up on life. If someone like you had ‘power’, what would happen to the world? The Murim would be turned upside down by the appearance of a cruel and merciless murderer. Hahaha, it would be fun just to imagine it. Child. You have been given a great opportunity. So, to be certain that I should grant you this opportunity, prove to me how thirsty you are for murder in the next 100 days. If you prove your worth, I will grant you a powerful force that no one can stand against.”

He was a strange old man.

He uttered unexpected words.

But why?

Those words.

The old man’s words.

Felt like a lifeline.

It was as if the fortuitous encounter that people often talked about had come to him.

Seo Mun-ho had no more energy left.

He desperately needed rest to meet the old man’s expectations, and his mouth was parched from not drinking water for a week.

But he instinctively said,

“You will see me again.”

100 days later.

Seo Mun-ho.

I became the Blood Demon’s disciple.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

Whoosh━

『The nightmare consumes the abyss.』

“Ugh.”

Kang San grabbed his head.

Terrible memories flooded in, causing a massive headache.

It was sickening.

Before he could even judge what the Blood Demon’s nightmare was like, the world distorted and a familiar face appeared.

“Seo Mun-ho. You’re still alive.”

Before his eyes.

A man sneered.

It was Peng Mujeong.

The one who killed Seo Mun-ho’s family, massacred the villagers, and made him a public enemy of the Murim, completely shattering his life. He was there, exactly as Kang San remembered him. It felt like his reason was completely paralyzed. Kang San wanted to kill Peng Mujeong immediately and relieve the feeling that was suffocating his heart.

“Why, are you going to kill me?”

Peng Mujeong’s eyes gleamed with greed.

To be precise, it was the evil spirit’s eyes.

Kang San was caught in an illusion.

This was a nightmare presented by the evil spirit, and in this virtual world, Kang San recognized and accepted the ‘evil spirit’ as Peng Mujeong. Kang San had shown that ordinary nightmares didn’t work on him. In order to break his strong mental strength, the final stage of the nightmare was necessary, and the evil spirit exercised the authority it could only use once.

It was satisfying.

If Kang San’s mind collapsed, the evil spirit would be able to take over a new body.

And without a doubt, Kang San was the most perfect body it had been waiting for.

“Go ahead and kill me. I’m right here, the one who killed your wife.”

Inside Kang San’s head.

The puzzle pieces fit together.

Seo Mun-ho’s starting point and the time he spent training under the Blood Demon.

The reason why Seo Mun-ho couldn’t take revenge immediately even after mastering the Blood Demon Art was because, as time went by, figures like Peng Mujeong and Moyeongcheon had grown into even more formidable warriors. But now, the hilt of the sword was in his hand. If he wanted to, if he just walked over and swung the sword, he could finally take his revenge.

He took a step.

This was the right thing to do.

This was justifiable revenge.

Kang San’s eyes turned red.

“Yes, bastards like you deserve to die.”

There was no reason to hesitate.

Whenever he recalled the moment his family was dying, Kang San was willing to lose everything for a single act of murder.

He raised his hand.

The evil spirit’s expression brightened.

At that moment, just as he was about to swing the sword.

Thud.

Kang San’s eyes widened.

Excruciating pain spread.

Kang San had stabbed himself, not his enemy.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

His breath stopped.

To be precise, at the same time as the pain that could stop his breath spread, a voice that awakened Kang San’s mind was heard.

『Guardian’s Will has been activated.』

『All health is restored, and defense is temporarily increased by 3 times.』

“Gasp.”

He took a deep breath.

His hazy pupils quickly regained their original form.

『How on earth……!』

The evil spirit was horrified.

The nightmare it had given Kang San.

It was an authority that even a divine being would find difficult to handle.

But it never imagined that a mere human, not even an S-rank, could withstand it.

“……It was strange.”

『Strange?』

“The Peng Mujeong I remember, the murderous intent that Seo Mun-ho had been suppressing all this time, isn’t something that can be resolved so easily. If he was the kind of guy who would offer his neck to be killed, the Blood Demon wouldn’t have been born.”

Past times.

Kang San immersed himself in his past life.

Countless stories, complex emotions.

As he accepted them, he realized that the appearance of the evil spirit transformed into Peng Mujeong was unrealistic.

It was the irony of life.

The memories that had tormented Kang San were the very things that saved his mind in a dangerous situation.

Kang San staggered.

He took a difficult step and looked down at the evil spirit.

“So.”

『It was my mistake. You are a chosen one…….』

“Just die as an evil spirit.”

Flash.

Thwack.

He blew its head off.

The head of the S-rank evil spirit was blown off in a single blow.

Thump.

Roll.

At that moment.

『You have passed the twenty-fifth trial and tribulation.』

『The promised reward will be given.』

『You have defeated an S-rank monster. A special reward will be given.』

The voices he had been waiting for flooded in like a tide.