Star Instructor, Master Baek

TL: FoodieMonster007

【Blood Demon Divine Cult (Anhui Branch)】

Baek Suryong's eyes widened. "This place… was the Blood Cult's Anhui Branch?"

Below the signboard lay a door obstructed by a massive boulder, as if someone had sealed it from the outside.

Baek Suryong drew his sword, stepped forward, and swung it like lightning.

SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH!

The boulder fell apart, shattering into dozens of small fragments.

Channeling his inner qi to enhance his strength, Baek Suryong swept the debris aside to reveal a massive, dented iron door. Despite the warping, he could still make out the grotesque image of the bleeding demon worshipped by the Blood Cult etched on its surface.

WHOOOOSH~

An intense chill that made his skin crawl was seeping through the cracks in the dented iron door. Gathering his inner qi to resist it, he pushed the door open with both hands.

CREEEEEAK…

The door slowly opened with an unpleasant, ear-jarring creak.

Baek Suryong remained vigilant as he stepped inside. He had already confirmed there were no signs of life inside, but there was no harm in being careful.

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"……"

He took in the scene before him. Unlike the treasure vault in the Valley of Evil, which the Demonic Strategist had prepared for the future Blood Demon, the atmosphere here was completely different.

This was a place where the Blood Cult followers had actually lived. Everywhere, he could see the personal belongings, clothes, and training scars left behind by the cultists.

And…

Hundreds of frozen corpses, unable to decay due to the strange cold within the cavern, lay scattered everywhere.

"……"

Seeing the cultists dressed in those familiar crimson and black robes after such a long time, Baek Suryong felt an unusual stir in his heart.

TAP TAP…

In the dead silent cavern, only the sound of his footsteps echoed.

He walked slowly through the cavern, examining the bodies. The dead, with white frost on their skin, greeted their first visitor in decades. Some had faces twisted in anger, others seemed to be writhing in pain. Still others wore peaceful expressions, perhaps not realizing what had happened even in the moment of death. Р𝙖

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Most of the corpses were adults, but there were children under ten among them… and they had all died from the same cause.

They were all killed by a single swordsman.

Even to Baek Suryong's critical eyes, the swordsman's technique was worthy of admiration. Judging by the circumstances, a peerless master had single-handedly massacred hundreds of Blood Cult followers.

There aren't many swordsmen of this caliber across the entire murim… and only one in the Namgung Clan.

"The Blue Sky Sword King…"

Muttering to himself, Baek Suryong walked deeper into the cavern. He didn't feel pity for the dead. If they had been alive, they would have ultimately contributed to the revival of the Blood Cult and caused a lot of bloodshed in the murim.

Why is there a Blood Cult branch beneath the Namgung Clan's ancestral shrine?

Establishing a Blood Cult branch here would be impossible without the Namgung Clan's consent and cooperation.

When was this branch established? Before the fall of the Blood Cult? Or after? Was the Namgung Clan actually a vassal faction of the Blood Cult? Then what are these corpses? Why did the Blue Sky Sword King kill them?

Questions only sparked more questions. Baek Suryong had several hypotheses in mind, but it was too early to jump to conclusions. He needed more clues.

He walked deeper inside.

If this place was indeed a Blood Cult branch, there should be an altar for offering sacrifices deeper inside the cavern.

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As expected, he eventually came upon a large altar. Approaching it, he noticed a corpse lying next to it. For some reason, the corpse looked familiar.

Baek Suryong's eyes widened. The corpse's right arm was severed and half of his face was crushed, so it was hard to recognize him at first, but the distinctive half-black and half-white clothing immediately gave him away.

"Could it be… the Yin Yang Demon Lord?"

Half a century ago, the Yin Yang Demon Lord was the Fifth Elder of the Blood Cult, a supreme demonic master who simultaneously practiced extreme yin and extreme yang martial arts due to his unique Yin Yang body constitution.

Even in death, his eyes were wide open, his gaze fixed permanently upward in resentment.

"…It seems he left a will."

Baek Suryong noticed messy scribbles written in blood around the corpse. To an untrained eye, they might seem like meaningless scribbles, but it was actually the Blood Cult's secret cipher.

Death to the traitor!

The Yin Yang Demon Lord's left index finger lay next to the last character like a broken brush. He had bitten off his own finger and used the blood from the wound to leave a dying message on the floor.

Baek Suryong got to work deciphering the secret message he had written around the altar. Starting from the last character, he worked his way backward to find the first sentence.

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I should never have trusted that bastard Namgung Jaehak from the beginning.

He came to me while I was being pursued by the Murim Alliance and made a proposal. In exchange for handing over our Cult's martial arts manuals and the location of our secret treasure vaults, he would provide a haven for the hundred cultists under my command.

Baek Suryong's eyes widened in shock. Namgung Jaehak was the Blue Sky Sword King's name.

Through the Yin Yang Demon Lord's dying message, the secrets entangling the Namgung Clan and the Blood Cult were being unraveled one by one.

For the first ten years, he kept his promise. He created a hideout for us beneath the Namgung Clan's ancestral shrine and even took in rogue cultists who were being chased by the Murim Alliance's pursuit squads. In return, I told him some of the locations where our Cult's martial arts manuals and treasures were hidden. I didn't have much of a choice…

Baek Suryong recalled the Yin Yang Demon Lord of the past. For a Blood Cult elder, he was an unusually compassionate man who especially loved to teach martial arts. Whenever the Cult's martial arts instructors sought his advice, he always gave them plenty of tips without holding back. Because of this, even though he sometimes appeared grumpy, many of the Blood Cult's martial arts instructors liked him and followed him.

…But after ten years, he began to change. Support dwindled, and he started demanding our Cult's secret techniques.

I should have escaped from here then… but I was too foolish to see the truth. This cavern was never a haven for us, it was a cage for animals!

From his words, Baek Suryong could sense the Yin Yang Demon Lord's intense anger and regret.

That monster even coveted our Cult's methods for martial arts instruction, because we were the absolute best at nurturing powerful martial artists.

"…What?" Baek Suryong's expression hardened. This was something he hadn't known even in his past life!

Namgung Jaehak assured me that he would arrange a suitable refuge for us above ground when the time was right and asked me to wait until then. In the meantime, he had the instructors who followed me pass on our teaching methodologies to the Namgung Clan.

However, the promise was postponed again and again… and before I knew it, thirty years had passed.

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Then, a few days ago, he came to us with his sword drawn.

Perhaps the Yin Yang Demon Lord's finger had momentarily stopped, as the blood pooled thickly in that part.

I begged him to at least spare the innocent children, but fearing that secrets might leak, he slaughtered even the newborn infants.

Baek Suryong closed his eyes. He could feel the Yin Yang Demon Lord's deep resentment and sorrow in his writing, and he needed a moment to regain his composure.

"……"

A scene unfolded in his mind. The Yin Yang Demon Lord screaming in horror as he helplessly watched the cultists being mercilessly butchered, and the Blue Sky Sword King standing before him with an expressionless face, holding a bloodied sword.

The true face of a hypocrite wearing the mask of a righteous hero.

"That bastard…!"

Opening his eyes again, Baek Suryong calmed himself and continued to read the dying message.

Still, it seems he had a shred of conscience left. When I told him that my last wish was to go to our Cult's altar, offer a prayer, and die, he retreated without hesitation and sealed the entrance before leaving. He must have thought that I, who was rendered incapable of using martial arts due to the injuries I sustained during the war, could do nothing.

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…Well, he was right. Here I am, dying, without the strength to break through the door he sealed. I probably won't last even five more minutes.

Although there was a bit more left, Baek Suryong paused to organize his thoughts. The Yin Yang Demon Lord's writing was gradually getting fainter. Strength was leaving his fingers.

"So, to sum it up… The Blue Sky Sword King came across some Blood Cult survivors who were being pursued by the Murim Alliance and offered them refuge in exchange for their martial arts, treasures, and teaching methodologies. Then, after exploiting them to the fullest, he discarded them."

In other words, the Blood Cult's treasures, martial arts, and methods of training powerful martial artists became the foundation of the Namgung Clan, now called the world's strongest martial family and the home of the best martial arts instructors.

"If this gets out, it'll be the end of the Namgung Clan."

The Namgung Clan, known for their pivotal role in destroying the Blood Cult, had actually secretly imprisoned the cult's remnants in their own household for decades, exploiting these captives and eventually massacring them.

For a prestigious, orthodox clan that claimed to uphold righteousness and virtue, such an action was unthinkable. The moment Namgung Jaehak's deeds were revealed to the murim, chaos would undoubtedly break out.

"Blue Sky Sword King. You've done something truly insane."

Shaking his head, Baek Suryong read the last part of the Yin Yang Demon Lord's dying message.

Hehe… But he doesn't know that I didn't just sit around doing nothing for thirty years. I don't know when it'll sprout, but we have sown the seeds of destruction in the future of the Namgung Clan…

"The seeds of destruction?"

The letters were becoming fainter, but Baek Suryong could feel a thick killing intent in the writing.

Fortunately, before he discarded us, we managed to send a few children outside. If those children can find the rest of our Cult members, whether it takes ten years or a hundred, they will definitely return and avenge me!

Death to the traitor!

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That was the end of the message. The previously faint letters regained their boldness right before the end, as if the Yin Yang Demon Lord was mustering the last of his energy.

"……"

Baek Suryong looked at the corpse for a moment, then laid it neatly on the Blood Cult's altar. Even though the Yin Yang Demon Lord was a detestable Blood Cult Elder, he was one of the rare demonic masters who actually cared for his followers.

Sighing, he said, "Allow me to perform your funeral rites."

Baek Suryong decided to cremate the Yin Yang Demon Lord according to the Blood Cult's funeral rites, not as a former follower of the Blood Cult, but as a courtesy to a martial artist he had once respected. After all, back when he was a Blood Cult martial arts instructor, he had also sought the man's advice several times.

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It was a small connection, but a connection nonetheless.

He collected flammable items from the area and arranged them around the corpse. Using his inner arts, he dispelled the surrounding cold and then removed all the clothes. The Blood Cult's tradition was to cremate the body in the same state as when one was born.

"Farewell, Fifth Elder."

He lit a piece of paper and tossed it onto the firewood.

WHOOSH!

Flames spread across the corpse, and the heat drove away some of the biting cold.

At that moment, a final message hidden on the Yin Yang Demon Lord's body appeared.

Greetings, fellow believer. The Murim Alliance bastards might be able to decipher our Cult's secret codes, but they would never think to undress me and cremate me.

Surprised by the unexpected final message, Baek Suryong's eyes widened.

"This is…"

Cut open my belly. Inside, I have hidden the key to destroying the Namgung Clan.