Blood Demon of the Past Life – Chapter 81

Chapter 81: Fragments of Memory （2）

A cool breeze blew.

The moment the door opened, the sight that came into view was a group of people who had come to see what the commotion outside was all about.

They were commoners.

They were merely doing chores for the Geumho Merchant Guild; the probability of them being related to the Baek Family’s affairs was extremely low. They blinked. The moment the sight of the guards sprawled outside was reflected in their slowly opening and closing eyes, faces contorted in horror floated in the air.

Puck━!

He blew their heads off.

Not a single word.

Not a single exchange of dialogue.

The man, who had blown the heads off the people simply because they were there, began to slaughter everyone in sight, kicking off the ground.

Squeak!

Phukhwak━!

“Gyaak!”

“Ugh, eww!”

“Run away!”

Screams erupted from all directions.

Like wolves unleashed among a flock of sheep, people collapsed and their limbs were torn apart as soon as they encountered the man. The opponent was indiscriminate. Old people, men, women, children, he killed them all indiscriminately if he judged them to be part of the Geumho Merchant Guild, and the guards had their heads blown off before they could even exchange a few blows.

“This crazy bastard.”

“Stop him!”

Beep!

Beep━!

Martial artists poured out from inside the building.

They were the martial artists protecting the Geumho Merchant Guild’s goods, and befitting the reputation of being the best merchant guild in the area, there were some among them who possessed formidable strength. Blades gleamed in the moonlight. Countless people lunged at the man covered in blood, and like a flickering torch, the man’s situation seemed extremely precarious.

Killing intent surged.

In the eyes of his enemies right now, he would be a blood-soaked demon.

A heinous devil who suddenly appeared in the dead of night, slaughtering innocent people, shattering the peace of everyday life.

It’s funny.

Do they know?

That while they were comfortably tucked into their beds, peacefully ending their day, the Geumho Merchant Guild’s plot had driven a family to ruin. Even if they didn’t know the truth. Even if they were unrelated to the Baek Family’s affairs. It didn’t matter. The mere fact that they existed in this space was enough justification for the man to kill them.

“Blood Demon Sword Technique, Third Style: Explosive Kill.”

Poohwak.

Papapapapat.

Blood splattered everywhere.

He killed, and killed, and killed again.

The martial artists, who had gritted their teeth, determined to protect the household members, could only helplessly watch as their own limbs were torn apart. They lay sprawled on the ground, gasping for breath. The man continued to advance, killing people, and once the martial artists had fallen, those who had never held a sword in their lives were exposed. A martial artist who had lost his limbs moved his lips. Please, please don’t touch them. My wife, my parents. Please spare them.

Wow.

The man did not hesitate.

He grabbed the wife by the back of her neck and plunged his sword into her, then dashed over and split the old man’s chest open.

He cleared a path.

He advanced, and advanced again.

And finally.

Thud.

“Wh, why are you doing this? This is the Geumho Merchant Guild. It’s under the protection of the Nine Sects and One Clan. Can you handle the aftermath of this?”

The man trembled.

The owner of the Geumho Merchant Guild sat on the ground, looking up at the man.

The man smirked.

“That’s funny. I just happened to be coming from messing with the Five Great Clans.”

✦✦✦✦✦✦

It was a bizarre scene.

The man did not kill the Merchant Guild Leader.

Puck.

“Ugh, ugh, uwaaaaack!”

He stabbed the dagger into his leg.

As the Merchant Guild Leader screamed, the man moved the dagger along the grain of his muscles.

The muscles tore, and the Merchant Guild Leader’s face swelled as if it would burst, but the hand moving the dagger did not stop.

“So, what was the reason you tried to exterminate the Baek Family?”

“I, I told you. I never did such a thing… Uwaaaaack!”

Squeeze.

He applied force.

When the dagger, which had started from the thigh, reached the tip of his foot, the man nonchalantly withdrew it and began to thinly slice off the flesh. The Merchant Guild Leader thrashed. At first, he begged for his life, but now he cursed his existence and glared with malice.

“Kill me! Kill me!”

“I’m warning you in advance. I know very well how to torture people for a long time without killing them. So, it would be wise to answer carefully. Tonight, the Baek Family was exterminated. Why did that happen?”

“Ugh, ughhh.”

“Why, is this the first time you’ve heard of it?”

He laughed.

At that demonic laughter, the Merchant Guild Leader’s eyes vibrated violently.

Flesh was peeled off.

At the cold sensation penetrating thinly, the Merchant Guild Leader screamed as if in agony.

“I, I ordered it… Uwaaaaack! Why don’t you stop even though I told you!”

“It’s strange no matter how I think about it. Even though the Geumho Merchant Guild enjoys the best reputation in Hubei, exterminating a whole family is never a light matter. Moreover, now that the Baek Family is trying to contact the Wudang Sect to publicize your usury issues, a sudden extermination would be grounds to point to you as the culprit. Yet, what is the basis for carrying out the deed without hesitation? Were you not afraid of the aftermath?”

“Th, that’s…!”

In the pain-filled eyes.

The man saw the truth.

“I wonder if there’s a backer who’s powerful enough that you don’t have to worry about the aftermath.”

He sliced off the flesh.

Screams that seemed to tear the air continued.

From then on, it was a repetition of conversation.

No matter how much the Merchant Guild Leader confessed the truth, no matter how much he cried out that he had ordered it, the man who had posed his questions did not answer and repeated the slashing. The man knew well. The world of Murim, at first glance, seemed like a chaotic world without rules, but within it, there were its own justifications and processes.

That’s why he didn’t believe the Merchant Guild Leader’s words.

If the Baek Family were to be exterminated.

It would be a natural consequence for the Geumho Merchant Guild, which had been causing the biggest conflict recently, to be pointed to as the culprit.

If they had ordered the extermination despite this, there would be a reason and a process behind it.

Eventually.

“…It, it was the Wudang Sect’s doing. We were funding the Wudang Sect through usury, but foolishly, those Baek Family bastards tried to attack us by reporting it to the Wudang Sect. It was a stupid move. They didn’t even know they were sticking their heads into a tiger’s mouth, and because they dared to touch the Wudang Sect’s finances, this happened. Now that I’ve told the truth, kill me. I’ll be killed by the Wudang Sect even if I survive here anyway.”

He confessed the truth.

It was as expected.

Behind the boldness of a single merchant guild to draw their swords, there was a truth that should not be revealed to the world.

It was then.

The man withdrew his dagger and spoke to the empty air where no one was present.

“According to the Merchant Guild Leader, this is the truth. What do you think about this?”

Whirr.

Thud.

Beyond the darkness.

A group of people appeared.

Their fluttering blue martial arts uniforms proved that they were members of the Namgung Family.

The Pursuit Squad.

They had finally caught their tail.

Having heard the truth at this opportune moment, they drew their swords with grim expressions.

“He just said anything under the threat of the devil. We will investigate the matter later, so you should offer your head here.”

Shing.

Shwing.

Swords were drawn from all directions.

The man covered his face as if amused.

The blood that was profusely on both his hands smeared all over his face, creating a figure resembling a devil shedding tears of blood.

“Yes, that’s right. That’s how it should be.”

He stood up.

And then.

“That’s the way you should be.”

The man trudged towards the surging killing intent.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

The man staggered.

He was thirsty.

The world spun.

As he collapsed from exhaustion, he felt something soft.

It was corpses.

The Namgung Family’s Pursuit Squad, who had been alive just moments ago, were all dead and scattered around.

“Ha━.”

He looked up at the sky.

It was dark.

He wanted to lose consciousness like this from the dizziness that washed over him, but the man knew that it meant death.

“Are you alright?”

A familiar face suddenly appeared in his vision.

Baek Hyun looked down at the man.

At the sight of him drenched in blood to the point where it was impossible to tell whose wounds it was, Baek Hyun took out a golden wound medicine with his small hands and smeared it all over the man’s wounds. His hands trembled for some reason. Whether it was because of the cold night wind or something psychological. He kept applying the medicine with trembling hands.

The man said.

“Why are you treating me? You saw it too. Like the people who destroyed your family, I kill innocent people too.”

Shock.

Baek Hyun’s hand stopped.

As the man had said.

When the man cut down the guards at the main gate, the boy ran at full speed and watched the whole situation unfold from beyond the wall. It was a horrifying sight. The man, who could be described as a demon, killed everyone indiscriminately, regardless of whether they were innocent or not. He also witnessed the shocking truth revealed by the Guild Leader and the arrival of the Namgung Family’s Pursuit Squad. He was confused. As a boy, rather than judging the situation, he couldn’t just stand by and watch the man die.

In any case.

Hadn’t the man kept his promise to take revenge?

“…I don’t know. I don’t know what to do.”

The man laughed.

He reached out his hand.

Wow.

He grabbed Baek Hyun’s face.

As Baek Hyun’s eyes widened in surprise, the man gave him a cold stare.

“You, from now on, saw nothing. What happened here, what conversations were exchanged. The unconscious Guild Leader won’t remember that you were here. Your family was exterminated by me, who is called a ‘demon,’ and you must call me a devil to survive as the sole survivor of the Baek Family. Remember this. A survivor who lived through this bloodbath has more value as a symbol than a boy with nothing. That’s how the adults who need you will approach you.”

“What does that…”

He couldn’t understand.

What the man was saying.

What he was supposed to do from now on.

He didn’t listen for an answer.

The man raised a finger and drew a single line across Baek Hyun’s immobile face.

Swoosh━

“Eww!”

He screamed.

Excruciating pain surged through him.

Blood splattered along the line, and Baek Hyun covered his face and lowered his head.

“Resent me. And…”

When he raised his head again.

“Survive no matter what.”

The man had vanished without a trace.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

Flash.

Kang San opened his eyes.

The nurse, who was checking Kang San’s condition, widened her eyes and made a fuss.

“Oh my! You’re awake! I’ll go get the doctor right away.”

Where this place was.

What his condition was.

Such things didn’t enter his mind.

The series of events he had experienced while in a coma.

At that memory, Kang San’s eyes were clouded with confusion.