Chapter 124

There were eight presences beyond the door. Coincidentally, it was a number that reminded him of the Eight Trigrams, so he couldn't just pass by.

'Can I handle ten people at once?'

If he made a mistake and caused a commotion, all the Blood Cult members would come running. Cheong-ra recalled his experience of facing an iron-masked Blood Cult member last time. It was more difficult than dealing with wooden-masked members who seemed to be lay disciples, but it wasn't entirely impossible. So far, none of those beyond this door had noticed Cheong-ra's presence.

The problem was the guards vigilantly watching the surroundings. While he dealt with the two experts, those inside would surely notice the commotion.

'It would be good if I had poison.'

At times like this, he could really appreciate how convenient the Tang Clan's poison techniques were. As Cheong-ra was pondering how to deal with the doorkeepers first, a Blood Cult member came running from afar, out of breath. As he urgently reported something, the faces of the two experts hardened.

After deliberating, they opened the door, respectfully said something to those inside, and then left their posts. Cheong-ra didn't know what had happened outside, but it was a heaven-sent opportunity for him.

'If it's eight people who are off guard, I can manage somehow.'

Cheong-ra closed his eyes and visualized the fight in his mind. Then, after taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes wide. Recalling that they had been called an Executioner last time at the Hengshan Sect, he deliberately made his presence known and spoke in a low voice in front of the door.

"Executioner, I have an urgent report."

The presences beyond the door stopped, having heard Cheong-ra's words. A moment later, the door opened, and a Blood Cult member wearing an iron mask appeared. The Blood Cult Executioner spoke in a sharp voice.

"What is it? Is it related to the intruder from earlier?"

Intruder? At that moment, what came to Cheong-ra's mind was Dang Ran-yeong and his group.

"I saw someone on the third floor who shouldn't be here..."

Cheong-ra bowed his head, trailing off his voice while quickly surveying the interior. Confirming that none of them had yet placed their hands on their weapons, Cheong-ra took a step forward. As he leaned forward as if to convey urgent information, he drew his sword.

With a speed almost invisible to the eye, the tip of the sword instantly drawn slashed the Blood Cult member's throat. While receiving the gushing blood on his body, Cheong-ra kicked away the Executioner who had died instantly, and his swift sword flashed repeatedly.

The fifth form of the Rain Path Form Five Swords, the Violent Rain Pear Blossom Sword!

His form, lunging forward, drew five horizontal slashes. Without even the chance to use their protective inner energy, the bodies of three men were instantly cut apart by the sword energy. All this happened in the blink of an eye. Belatedly, four people reached for their weapons. Everything was still within Cheong-ra's calculations.

"You bastard!"

Three, as he slashed his sword diagonally from bottom to top, heads that had uttered a single cry rolled on the floor.

Two, as he pulled out his sword, blood sprayed, and then he deeply cut their chests.

"Intru-!"

The life of the last one who tried to shout belatedly was also ended on the spot. In the time it took to take one breath, eight people were slaughtered. Cheong-ra quietly turned around, closed the door first, then tilted his head back and exhaled the breath he had been holding.

"Huu..."

Everything was covered in blood. Having used excessive force to instantly kill multiple people, he didn't have the luxury of being neat this time. Blood was splattered everywhere, with droplets falling from his sharp chin.

"...It seems my skills have improved, or is it just my imagination?"

Cheong-ra, who had been neglecting his training recently, tilted his head as he swung his sword to shake off the blood. During his confinement in that villa, he had half-heartedly practiced. It wasn't because he had become lazy. Instead of training, he had devoted himself to sword dancing with gritted teeth. In any case, since sword dancing was also a form of training, it seemed to have helped improve his skills.

After roughly wiping the blood off his face with his sleeve, Cheong-ra examined the interior, and his face brightened. It seemed he had found what he was looking for.

The room was uniquely octagonal, and it appeared that the Executioners had each been sitting at one of the Eight Trigram positions. Cheong-ra found tools that a formation master might use on the body of one of the Executioners who had died with their eyes open.

"So the medium for the formation wasn't objects, but these people..."

Even the common Three Disasters Formation or Shaolin's One Hundred and Eight Arhats Formation are formations created by human bodies. However, being part of a formation with human bodies was on a different level from martial arts techniques. For this to be possible, all eight people would have to breathe in unison and maintain immovable postures like objects.

This meant that as long as they played their roles well, they could activate the brainwashing formation anywhere if an emergency situation arose and they had to flee. Just in case, Cheong-ra destroyed all the objects arranged inside as well.

"So, is my role finished now?"

Cheong-ra muttered with mixed feelings. With this, his deal with Dang Ran-yeong was perfectly fulfilled. Although Dang Ran-yeong seemed to have discarded their deal, saying he didn't care about it anymore... Having finished all his tasks, all that was left was to leave before Dang Ran-yeong and the intruders, presumed to be his group, burst in.

Cheong-ra, wearing the mask again, locked the door tightly and came out. Fortunately, the dark-colored martial arts uniform didn't show blood stains much, but he wanted to quickly wash off the filthy Blood Cult members' blood.

Cheong-ra was walking briskly towards the entrance he had come through when he paused. Blood Cult members were gathered near the entrance. While the clothes he was wearing didn't stand out much from a distance, the bloodstains were clear up close. It seemed difficult to leave through the way he had come in.

'I have no choice but to find another exit.'

For such a large pavilion with secret passages, there surely had to be more than one exit. After quite a long time, Cheong-ra was able to find another exit. It was a passage connected to the kitchen on the second floor.

He moved stealthily, suppressing his presence. Fortunately, the kitchen was large and chaotic. Many of the cooks were ordinary civilians, and they were all too busy preparing food for the banquet hall to notice Cheong-ra. As he was about to slip out quietly, Cheong-ra's eyes caught sight of some strange individuals.

Two cooks who seemed to have martial arts training like Blood Cult members were carefully carrying small jars. They were not only hugging them tightly to their chests but had even tied them to their bodies with ropes. This looked extremely suspicious to Cheong-ra.

They disappeared towards the food storage room, sweating profusely and moving cautiously. Although he had finished his task and could leave now, Cheong-ra found it hard to walk away when the Blood Cult members were moving something that seemed important. After hesitating, he finally decided to follow the two.

They entered a secluded food storage room. Cheong-ra lightly jumped up and landed softly on the roof. Suppressing his presence as much as possible and looking closely, he found a gap between the roof tiles. Four Blood Cult members were up to something inside, and one of them was a highly skilled expert, so Cheong-ra lowered his breathing and peeked through the gap.

The interior of the food storage room looked ordinary at first glance. The Blood Cult members carefully put down the small jars they had brought. Others brought glasses from the storage and lined them up on the table. Then they started pouring an unidentified liquid into each one.

Were they trying to poison them? What was clear was that they weren't simply serving drinks. Soon, a Blood Cult member carefully untied the rope around a jar. Finally, when they opened the lid and checked the contents, Cheong-ra's heart raced.

"Who's there?"

The expert, who had sensed the momentary lapse, looked around. As he flung open the door and came out, Cheong-ra squeezed his eyes shut and held his breath. After looking around for a while, the Blood Cult member soon closed the door and returned.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing, I must have been sensitive with the operation ahead. Continue. It's precious cargo, so it must be handled very carefully."

Cheong-ra, having barely regained his composure, opened his eyes. The small jars were full of wriggling insects. They looked like black worms about the length of a pinky finger. It was the type of appearance Cheong-ra despised the most, making him dizzy just from looking at them.

Gritting his teeth, Cheong-ra watched wide-eyed what the Blood Cult members were doing. They didn't seem to be ordinary insects at all. At the very least, they had to be venomous insects, and in such cases usually...

'Mind-controlling insects!'

Mind-controlling insects were typically a vicious means used to control someone, and their use was strictly prohibited in the martial arts world. Moreover, being something used by the Blood Cult, he couldn't even imagine how terrible they might be.

By rough estimate, there seemed to be at least several dozen. Where on earth did they get so many mind-controlling insects? To prevent the insects from eating each other, fresh chunks of meat dripping with blood were placed in the jars. The ones that had sucked blood and flesh looked particularly plump. Cheong-ra barely suppressed the urge to vomit.

The Blood Cult members started carefully picking up the mind-controlling insects with long chopsticks and putting them one by one into the glasses. The insects wriggled and sank into the glasses. They moved very carefully, as if afraid of damaging them.

"Make sure they're ready to be served in the banquet hall as soon as the Executioner orders. It will be soon."

"Yes, understood."

Cheong-ra could finally understand the Blood Cult's plan. They intended to identify suitable sacrifices for the Phoenix-Qilin-Iris-Orchid Contest, cloud their minds with the brainwashing formation, and then feed them the mind-controlling insects! Thinking that he might have eaten the insects himself if things had gone wrong, Cheong-ra felt a chill.

'What should I do? I can't leave this be.'

Did Dang Ran-yeong know that these bastards planned to use mind-controlling insects? Although he had rendered the brainwashing formation useless, leaving these numerous mind-controlling insects alone meant they could be used somewhere else in the future. Seeing how preciously they handled them, they didn't seem to be easily obtainable.

'Then... I'll eliminate them all here and now.'

Cheong-ra made up his mind. There might be some commotion, but at least his identity would be hidden since he was wearing a mask. As he was slowly placing his hand on his sword hilt while suppressing his killing intent, a Blood Cult member who had been watching the work while walking around the storage room said,

"Don't forget to leave out the Demon Soul Insects for each ninth seat."

Demon Soul Insects... Cheong-ra took note of the insects' name. But why were they leaving out the ninth seats? As he was wondering, Cheong-ra suddenly remembered that the number tag for his assigned seat was nine. He had an ominous feeling. Then the Blood Cult member continued,

"We can't afford to kill valuable sacrifices by feeding them the Demon Soul Insects twice. Remember this well."

What...?

At that moment, his mind became dizzy, and cold sweat began to pour like rain.

Cheong-ra couldn't believe his ears. That Blood Cult bastard had clearly said they couldn't afford to kill valuable sacrifices by feeding them the insects twice. Did that mean that those sitting in the ninth seats had already...

That they had already eaten the mind-controlling insects?