Chapter 375
"Submit?"
"That's right, submit."
"..."
Wei San-ho looked at the Mad Blood Demon with an expression that said 'what kind of nonsense is this?'
"Making jokes in a situation like this—you must really look down on me."
"It's unfortunate you think I look down on you. I've never done such a thing."
The Mad Blood Demon smiled broadly.
"What meaning would there be in taking someone like me to the cult?"
"The cult welcomes those who submit. When someone as talented as you offers their body to the sacred flame, who could oppose it? Everyone would be delighted. They're not stupid enough not to know that gaining one believer is worth a thousand, ten thousand times more than taking one life."
Rainwater that had been flowing down streamed across Wei San-ho's face.
His eyes didn't leave the Mad Blood Demon's, as if trying to discern his true intentions.
But reading the inner thoughts of a cunning great demon was no easy task.
"Your answer? I'm a busy man."
Wei San-ho let out a low sigh.
The answer had been decided from the beginning.
"It's not even worth listening to."
"…How unexpected."
The Mad Blood Demon looked at Wei San-ho with a slightly surprised expression.
"Didn't you say you wanted to save your younger brother? Don't tell me you think you can stop me and protect your brother just because I'm tired?"
Wei San-ho already knew what answer he had to give. No matter how hard he tried, without other support, he couldn't stop the Mad Blood Demon. He was feeling such overwhelming pressure that it seemed his body would crumble just from standing before him.
"I'm not that stupid."
"Yet you'll still refuse my proposal? Are you planning to die together? What an utterly foolish act."
Wei San-ho chuckled.
"Perhaps."
"What's the reason this fellow who seems quite clever is acting more foolishly than expected? You don't seem to have such poor judgment. Demon-Slaying Sword Wei San-ho—that's a name I've heard of as well. But to think that this Demon-Slaying Sword would be so foolish…"
"It's not foolishness."
The Mad Blood Demon quietly looked at Wei San-ho.
"It's because I know that dying together is better than being left alone. If I were to go to you people to save Yeon-ho, do you think Yeon-ho would bow to me in gratitude? On the surface he'd be jumping around saying kill or save, but his insides would rot away. Sometimes that becomes worse than death."
"Hmm…"
The Mad Blood Demon looked at Wei San-ho with fresh eyes.
"What touching brotherly love. But you can't deny it's foolish."
"Think whatever you want."
Wei San-ho quietly raised his sword. No matter how much he spoke, that person would never understand his heart.
After losing Wei Yan-ho due to his own mistake, he had lived in hell. That wasn't living even while alive. He couldn't put Wei Yan-ho through that same terrible experience.
The saying that living is better than dying is orthodox wisdom, but orthodox wisdom isn't always right.
"You really are alike."
The Mad Blood Demon muttered.
Having extraordinary power yet being swayed by emotions, not facing reality and always dreaming of ideals… he was someone who brought back old memories.
"Brothers… that's right, brothers are important. Then how about I add one more thing to the wager?"
"One more thing?"
Wei San-ho looked at the Mad Blood Demon with blank eyes.
It wasn't because of his words.
It was because an indescribably complex emotion had risen to the Mad Blood Demon's face.
"I'll tell you one truth. If your heart doesn't change even after hearing that truth, then I'll have no choice but to kill you and go."
The Mad Blood Demon slowly opened his mouth.
"Damn it!"
Zhang-il was acutely feeling his own powerlessness.
'Gap? Difference? This crazy bastard!'
What kind of nonsense was it to say he had no confidence to surpass Wei Yan-ho because Wei Yan-ho was too strong? Right now, he couldn't even handle the single demon in front of him.
What was the difference between someone who couldn't even crawl and someone saying he wouldn't walk because he had no confidence in flying?
"Uaaaaaaah!"
Zhang-il let out a blood-curdling roar as he pressed the demon. He thought he had never operated the Mighty Dragon Eighteen Palms so intensely in his entire life.
Yet it didn't work.
Zhang-il had no choice but to realize. He had never once faced a wall that he absolutely had to overcome as a martial artist. Even when he fought against those stronger than him, his life had never been at stake, nor would there be great damage if he lost.
He had never tried with all his might to overcome something in a situation where not winning meant certain death.
'When did such a gap open up?'
Originally, his target wasn't Wei Yan-ho but Wei San-ho. Demon-Slaying Sword Wei San-ho was everyone's idol and everyone's goal. Even while complaining verbally, he had never once thought the difference between him and Wei San-ho was stark.
But now he understood.
The difference between himself, who had grown like a flower in a greenhouse, and Wei San-ho, who had experienced countless real battles while chasing demons. That slightly opened gap had grown larger and larger until now it had widened to a point where he couldn't dare stand alongside him.
That fact was tormenting him.
Just because he had walked a few more comfortable paths, he was unable to provide any help in this terrible situation. Even if Wei Yan-ho and Wei San-ho died right before his eyes, there was nothing he could do right now. All because he was blocked by this nameless demon.
Where could there be a more hellish situation for a martial artist?
Bloody tears flowed from Zhang-il's eyes.
The sight was so desperate that even the demon blocking Zhang-il couldn't bring himself to mock him.
Normally he would have laughed at a beggar shedding tears, but as long as he was human, he couldn't mock this scene.
"Get out of the waaaay!"
"Kuk!"
The face of the demon blocking the Mighty Dragon Eighteen Palms began to contort.
'This bastard, what's this?'
Usually when one becomes excited, they can't properly display their original skills. But this guy was gradually becoming more precise and stronger. What he had initially blocked with ease now required concentration.
And at that moment.
"Uaaaaaaah!"
The blade energy that Peng Dao-ji unleashed swept by like a storm.
"Kuk!"
"Huk!"
The demon and Zhang-il simultaneously cried out in alarm and left their positions. Peng Dao-ji's blade energy was that threatening. It was a scene that couldn't possibly be created with the martial prowess Zhang-il had previously thought Peng Dao-ji possessed.
The blade energy flickered and disappeared, and Peng Dao-ji reappeared in that spot, barely supporting his swaying body with his blade. His face was deathly pale, as if he had exhausted his internal energy to the limit.
But his expression was still seething.
He too, like Zhang-il, seemed to be acutely feeling his powerlessness, unable to straighten his contorted face.
Zhang-il, who had retreated and landed on the ground, took a deep breath.
Since the demons' orders seemed to be simply to block them, they no longer targeted them once distance was created and merely watched.
'Damn it.'
The rain kept pouring, constantly getting in his eyes. Zhang-il raised his hand to wipe around his eyes.
How many people had died feeling this kind of powerlessness?
He felt he could understand how truly horrible the war with the Demonic Cult must have actually been, something he had only known in his head.
In the end, knowledge cannot become living unless it's embodied physically. The fact that he realized this now was Zhang-il's misfortune.
A strange silence flowed.
Since Zhang-il's group knew they couldn't reverse the current situation even if they charged again, they had to find something new, and the demons didn't need to waste energy on them unless they charged.
Because of this, a standoff developed where they glared at each other.
Naturally, everyone's gaze was drawn to Wei San-ho. And at that moment, Wei San-ho's body swayed.
"Do you know the Great Demon Emperor?"
"…Is there anyone who doesn't know that name?"
"You know him. Yes, of course you should."
Wei San-ho felt a subtle dissonance. The 'knowing' that Wei San-ho spoke of and the 'knowing' that the Mad Blood Demon spoke of seemed to be the same word but with different meanings.
Anyone living in the martial world couldn't not know the name Great Demon Emperor. He was the cult leader of the Demonic Cult who led the demons and invaded the martial world.
How could one not know the head of the Demonic Cult, the undisputed number one under heaven of the previous generation who made all the martial artists of the world tremble, even if only for a moment?
But the Mad Blood Demon's tone was slightly different.
Right now the Mad Blood Demon was speaking as if Wei San-ho absolutely must not not know the name Great Demon Emperor.
"How much do you know about the Great Demon Emperor?"
"…How much?"
Wei San-ho increasingly couldn't understand the Mad Blood Demon.
What was this person trying to say?
What use was it how much he knew about the already dead cult leader of the previous generation?
As if understanding his feelings, the Mad Blood Demon curled up the corners of his mouth.
"The Great Demon Emperor was incomparably strong. He led us as the cult leader. But at the very last moment when everything could have been completed, he ultimately crumbled. If it hadn't been for that, the world would already be under the rule of the Sacred Cult. Because of that, we had to suffer in the borderlands again for this long time. We earnestly wished for it. For someone like the Great Demon Emperor to appear again, and to make the name of the Sacred Cult resound throughout the world once more."
Wei San-ho spoke as if he couldn't understand.
"Don't you have any intention of doing it yourself?"
The Mad Blood Demon's smile deepened.
"Do you know the term Demon Blood?"
Wei San-ho's brow furrowed.
"It refers to a body optimized for demonic arts. It's passed down through bloodlines. What takes us ten years to achieve, one who inherits Demon Blood can accomplish in one year."
"Is such a thing possible?"
"It's not a question of whether it's possible or not. It's a question of whether it exists or doesn't exist. Demon Blood exists. The Great Demon Emperor was the last inheritor of that Demon Blood. Until recently, I too thought so."
'Until recently?'
Those words meant that an inheritor of Demon Blood had appeared again recently. Which meant…
"The Great Demon Emperor had a son. A son that even we didn't know about. Can you guess by now? The Great Demon Emperor's young son was ridiculously handed over not to us but to a Central Plains person. And he thoroughly hid that fact and raised him as his own son. Until now."
Wei San-ho's pupils shook.
He couldn't accept it.
But he could understand it.
If those words were true, then everything about why the Mad Blood Demon had been spouting such nonsensical words to him until now was explained.
Then?
Wei San-ho slowly turned his head.
And looked at Wei Yan-ho with trembling eyes.
Wei Yan-ho lying collapsed.
Heavy rain was pouring down on him as he lay there pitifully.
"Don't tell me…"
The Mad Blood Demon quietly looked at Wei San-ho, then shook his head.
"It's not him. You are the Demon Blood, Wei San-ho. No…"
The Mad Blood Demon spoke grandly and with utmost gravity.
"Should I call you Jeok San-ho?"
Thunder and lightning crashed down loudly.
As if trying to hide this terrible truth.