Episode 521: Return of the Demon Sect
Clang! Clang!
Sparks flew in every direction as a fierce battle raged on.
So Cheon-ak watched the ten demon knights in action, inwardly shaking his head in disbelief.
“These guys are relentless!”
The demon knights were truly a force to be reckoned with.
They conjured walls out of thin air with their magic and summoned fireballs from the void.
They even replicated themselves, creating multiple copies like phantoms.
No matter how many warriors the Blood Alliance had, they were no match for these foes.
The unfamiliar combat style was one thing, but their sheer strength was another.
Each one of them was beyond the pinnacle of martial prowess.
“But what on earth is that…?”
So Cheon-ak sliced through one of the demon knight’s clones, watching it dissipate like smoke, and looked up.
A black sphere hovered in the air.
Black tendrils intertwined to form a dense, spherical shape.
Inside, he was sure, were Sabi-gang and Jonya.
“Please, find a way to win!”
He launched himself at another clone of the demon knight.
**
Thud!
“Ugh…!”
A warrior fell, mouth agape.
Sam Ho turned slowly.
“Eek…!”
The warrior behind her swallowed hard, retreating in fear.
He had lost all will to fight.
The woman before him seemed anything but human.
He was a newly minted master, but she was beyond his reach.
Clang!
The warrior dropped his sword.
He knelt, pressing his forehead to the ground.
If he fought, he would surely die.
Perhaps begging for mercy would give him a better chance of survival.
“Please, spare me! I have a wife and a newborn at home…”
Thud!
Without a moment’s hesitation, Sam Ho reversed her sword and drove it into the back of his neck.
The man who had pleaded for his life collapsed, lifeless.
She muttered with an indifferent expression.
“Why should I care?”
Did you know my circumstances when you came after me?
Did you know my brother was enduring hellish solitude in a small house?
Did you know I just sent him far away?
It’s all meaningless. Everything is…
Just then,
Thud, thud, thud!
“Don’t move!”
Warriors appeared from nowhere, surrounding her completely.
Their weapons bristled with lethal intent, ready to strike her down.
Sam Ho smiled faintly.
Her smile was so chilling that even those surrounding her felt a sense of danger.
She murmured like someone half out of their mind.
“Quite a crowd, just to kill me?”
“Shut up! If you resist…”
“If I resist? Will you spare me? You who’ve hunted me for years?”
”…”
“Or will you use some strange magic to experiment on me again?”
“What are you waiting for? Kill her!”
“Attack!”
The warriors charged at Sam Ho in unison.
Sam Ho’s lips twisted into a grin.
“Fine, no need for more words.”
Whoosh!
Sam Ho’s form glided like a specter, colliding with her foes.
In a trance, she wielded her sword.
It was like a swarm of bees taking flight, or butterflies fluttering.
At times, she moved with the stealth of an ant, at others, she swayed like petals in the wind.
Sometimes she was as heavy as a rock, sometimes as light as a breeze.
The warriors couldn’t withstand her ever-changing swordplay.
After a quarter of an hour, all but one of the warriors surrounding her lay dead.
The sole survivor was their leader.
“Ugh…!”
The leader, his neck gripped by Sam Ho, spat blood from his lips.
“Why do you torment us so?”
Sam Ho asked with a sorrowful expression.
For a moment, the leader looked confused.
This wicked demon seemed almost human.
But she was a demon that had to be eradicated.
She should not exist in this world!
“Because… you… are capable of… such unspeakable acts… you are the ultimate evil!”
“Ultimate evil…”
Sam Ho repeated the words quietly.
Corpses lay strewn around her.
She shook her head, still unable to understand.
Wasn’t it you who drove me to this?
Why do we see things so differently?
Even when faced with the same reality!
Why do we think so differently?
“Why…”
As she murmured, the warrior quickly drew a dagger from his waist and lunged at Sam Ho’s chest.
Clang!
But the dagger never reached her heart.
It bounced off her protective aura.
Crack!
The leader’s neck snapped, and he died on the spot.
As his body slumped to the ground, Sam Ho muttered absently.
“You abandoned us first. Why, when we’re all human, do you treat us like vermin? Why…”
She walked through the corpses, her voice barely audible.
“In that case… I won’t become human first.”
**
Time passed.
Flowers bloomed and withered, snow fell and melted.
Countless years went by.
Sam Ho’s blade was stained with blood, which dried and flaked away.
Gradually, the battles dwindled.
Perhaps they had forgotten her, or given up, for no one came for her anymore.
She wandered aimlessly.
And she forgot.
Everything.
Even herself.
Perhaps it was the overuse of dark magic.
In any case, she was forgotten by the martial world and by herself.
The martial world remained peaceful under the righteous alliance’s rule.
But stagnant waters eventually rot.
Tensions arose, and something began to stir.
The secretive Demon Sect was one of those forces.
Practitioners of dark magic began to gather, plotting to revive the sect.
But reviving the sect, uprooted decades ago in the Great War, seemed nearly impossible.
They needed a stronger leader.
If the deceased sect leader could be reborn, it would be ideal, but such miracles were impossible.
Then they remembered the demon.
They searched for the demon who had fled as a child.
And they found Sam Ho, wandering in a daze.
By then, she was an old woman, her body wrinkled with age.
She was begging outside a shabby inn.
Fortunately, the innkeeper was kind, giving her two leftover dumplings.
But after three days and nights without food, two dumplings were far from enough.
She devoured them hungrily, but her stomach still cried out in hunger.
Then someone offered her freshly steamed dumplings.
“Would you like more?”
Sam Ho looked up blankly.
The wrinkles on her forehead deepened.
The middle-aged man smiled gently.
“I wish to serve you. Please allow me.”
“Uh…”
Sam Ho didn’t understand.
She only ate the dumplings in her hunger.
The man bowed deeply.
“I’ll take that as consent. Until you regain your full strength, I am as good as nonexistent. From now on, I am Nameless.”
“Uh…? Ah…”
The man respectfully helped her to her feet.
Together, they walked away.
**
Nameless hurried to relocate the manor.
To safely protect the weakened and aged Sam Ho, he had to act quickly.
“Pack up quickly! The sect’s enemies will soon sweep through here. We could fend them off, but we might not be able to protect Jonya! If our sect’s existence is revealed now, everything will be for naught!”
“Understood!”
Just then, a subordinate rushed in, shouting.
“Urgent news! The enemies have changed direction! They’re not coming here.”
“What? Why the sudden change?”
“According to reports, someone named Sabi-gang from the righteous alliance appeared, disrupting their plans.”
“Sabi-gang…? Never heard of him.”
“The Blood Alliance is also caught off guard. It seems we’re safe for now.”
“That’s a relief.”
Nameless sighed in relief.
He didn’t know.
Had the Blood Alliance passed through, despite his haste, the Demon Sect would have withered before it even bloomed.
Jonya would have perished before regaining her senses.
If Sabi-gang hadn’t returned, his grand plan would have ended here.
**
“Where is she?”
Nameless entered the manor, asking sharply.
A subordinate, overwhelmed with emotion, bowed deeply and answered.
“She’s in the inner chamber.”
Nameless didn’t wait for the subordinate to finish and strode toward the inner chamber.
Finally, as he entered, he saw a woman sitting quietly beyond the hanging curtains.
She seemed a bit smaller.
But there was something different about the aura she exuded.
“Jonya…!”
He dropped to his knees with a thud.
The shadow behind the curtain slowly turned, then parted the drapery and stepped out.
Mumyeong remained bowed, unmoving.
She looked down at him quietly and spoke.
“Raise your head.”
Surprisingly, Jonya’s voice was as clear as a young girl’s.
With a trembling expression, Mumyeong lifted his head.
“Lady Jonya…!”
“You’ve done well. I remember everything now.”
She stood there, appearing as a young girl, the same girl who had once wept as the flames consumed the demonic sect.
It was as if she had reversed time.
Mumyeong’s eyes shimmered with emotion.
The girl smiled faintly and said, “I’m interested in the artifacts you’ve gathered. Can you bring the seed of the Hao clan to me again?”
“Of course!”
“Proceed.”
“Yes, my lady!”
Mumyeong bowed his head to the floor with a thud.
Jonya gazed out at the night sky, murmuring as if to herself, “After meeting him… there’s a place I must go.”
“Where to…?”
“It’s a beautiful place. I will establish a stronghold there.”
“Understood!”
Mumyeong bowed again.
**
Jonya looked down at the orb nestled in the box.
As expected…
There was a resonance.
Something within this orb could unify the artifacts the demonic cult had gathered.
She narrowed her eyes, focusing intently on the orb.
The voice echoed in her mind.
Though it was startling, Jonya wasn’t surprised.
Instead, she felt warmth in the voice, reminiscent of the warmth she felt long ago, surrounded by the flames that consumed the sect’s halls.
The voice echoed again in her mind.
“Thank you,” Jonya whispered softly.
The orb continued to speak to her.
Many words were exchanged, though outwardly, only a brief moment passed.
Finally, she spoke.
“Marquis Baritan… if my humble body is acceptable, make me your vessel.”
As the words resonated, a powerful magic surged from the orb.
Shiiiiiiiiing!
But at that moment!
Jonya sensed something was amiss.
An inexplicable sense of wrongness!
She sprang to her feet, glancing around.
The door was ajar, but no one was outside.
What was it?
Suddenly, she felt a disconnect with her actions and thoughts.
What am I angry about?
What have I lost to despair over?
Who… who am I?
In that instant, as the dark magic, like black smoke, threatened to engulf her, she spoke unexpectedly in a calm voice.
“Wait a moment.”
The dark magic, which had been about to seep into her, hesitated and withdrew.
The black smoke, shaped like a person, asked.
Jonya twisted her lips into a smirk.
“I almost fell for it, didn’t I? I wasn’t myself.”
“I thought I was you… but I’m not Jonya.”
“Fortunately, I did. I almost became one with you. I’ve lived through your desperate life, and it’s exhausting. But I’ve realized… I’m not you… I am ‘Sabigang’!”
The girl, in Jonya’s form, shouted, spreading her arms wide.
A brilliant light burst forth from her entire body.