Chapter 148

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"We should tell Yoo Cheon-so about the Demon Soul Insects."

At Dang Ran-yeong's words, the gazes of those present turned to him. The monk, who was the most compassionate among the three, shook his head.

"Lord Dang, if someone as proud as Yoo Cheon-so, whose pride reaches the sky, learns that he has mind-controlling insects in his body, and finds out what his son has done, something terrible will surely happen."

"That's why we're telling him."

Dang Ran-yeong carelessly pushed aside a scroll containing information about his surveillance of the Golden Flower Merchant Group. The scroll detailed that the Golden Flower Merchant Group was secretly preparing to host some kind of contest.

"Someone like Yoo Cheon-so becoming a slave of the Blood Cult would be more troublesome. It's better to deal with him before the Demon Soul Insects awaken. To do that, making him take his own life is simpler."

His tone when mentioning someone's death was not just cynical, but completely devoid of emotion. Nam Gang-ryong chanted "Amitabha," but he didn't object either. Like everyone present, he shared the goal of destroying the Blood Cult by any means necessary.

So, a few days later, Lightning Whip Sword Yoo Cheon-so came out to engage in a life-and-death duel with Dang Ran-yeong, only to realize a terrible truth.

As expected, he canceled the duel and returned home, where he killed his son and then took his own life. The Yoo family hushed up the tragedy their head had committed and covered it up as if he had simply gone missing. This was not a bad outcome for Dang Ran-yeong either.

Lightning Whip Sword Yoo Cheon-so was a highly skilled expert with a wide network of connections, so if he had become a slave of the Blood Cult, it would have been extremely troublesome. Such a person becoming a sacrifice was equivalent to another expert being born into the Blood Cult. So if he was going to die anyway, it was better to deal with him before he could be of use to the Blood Cult.

And Yoo Cheon-so wasn't the only one who needed to be eliminated in advance.

On the day he heard of Yoo Cheon-so's death, he once again opened a book made of human skin. This was a list of names obtained from a now-destroyed Blood Cult branch not long ago.

The list contained hundreds of names. Upon checking them, they were all people of high reputation in the martial arts world and likely to be hosts of Demon Soul Insects, as they met the appropriate conditions to be sacrifices.

However, fortunately, when he went to check on some of them individually, not all were hosts of Demon Soul Insects. It was merely a list of potential sacrifice candidates. It seemed that even the Blood Cult found it difficult to approach experts, as there weren't many as strong as Lightning Whip Sword Yoo Cheon-so.

Among the martial artists, the name that particularly caught Dang Ran-yeong's eye was Moonlight Flashing Sword Baek Ri Cheong-ra. All conditions were such that the Blood Cult would be crazy about him. Though his father was unknown, he was of Baek Ri family bloodline and likely had good physical attributes, and since his mother was once the most beautiful woman in the Central Plains, his appearance was guaranteed.

Moreover, and most importantly, when he checked the date and time of birth, he was the Purple Subtlety Star.

Like Lightning Whip Sword Yoo Cheon-so, he would be a troublesome existence if the Demon Soul Insects awakened. Although not as much as Hwan-hong's now-extinct Blossom Garden Sect, Moon Lake Sect was also a thorn in the Blood Cult's side. Their martial arts, which pursued harmony with nature and had strong Taoist tendencies, were completely at odds with the Blood Cult.

And as if by fate, didn't Moon Lake Sect have the character for "moon" in its name? In many ways, it was perfect for the Blood Cult to target, so Dang Ran-yeong felt the need to check for himself.

Upon arriving in Chang'an, he followed Baek Ri Cheong-ra and observed his daily life while in hiding.

Baek Ri Cheong-ra was typical of a righteous faction martial artist. No, perhaps because of that, he could be considered different.

All he did was wake up early every day to diligently train, and occasionally go down to the lower village to buy necessary items. He got along exceptionally well with those around him and was well-respected. Far from enjoying entertainment, even his hobby was just playing the zither, making him a righteous faction martial artist of a different caliber from the hypocrite-filled Martial Arts Alliance.

However, evidence of the Blood Cult's influence was already visible to Dang Ran-yeong's eyes. As evidence, Baek Ri Cheong-ra was obsessively meticulous about maintaining his appearance to an extreme degree.

This, too, was very typical.

There's a consistent pattern shown by those touched by the Blood Cult from a young age. They are brainwashed in some way to obsessively focus on maintaining their appearance. It's to make them become appealing sacrifices of their own accord. And perhaps as a side effect, he had insomnia.

With the alias of Moonlight Beauty Sword, he was a rare beauty among men, so it could just be that he cherished his own good looks. But Dang Ran-yeong was certain that Baek Ri Cheong-ra also had Demon Soul Insects in his body. So he planned to take action when Baek Ri Cheong-ra was alone.

As if reading his mind, the time soon came when Baek Ri Cheong-ra was alone. Unable to sleep, he tossed and turned before going up to Full Moon Lake and starting to play the zither. And unexpectedly, his performance quite suited Dang Ran-yeong's taste.

Even for Dang Ran-yeong, who had become accustomed to all sorts of lavish and luxurious things and musical performances while staying at The Pavilion of Golden Fragrance, Baek Ri Cheong-ra's zither playing was exceptional. To the point of being flawless. It was the moment when he first developed a personal liking for Baek Ri Cheong-ra.

It seemed a waste to just kill him like Lightning Whip Sword Yoo Cheon-so. But that was all...

That night, under the pretense of picking a fight, he confirmed that Baek Ri Cheong-ra had the Blood Cult's sacrifice mark on the nape of his neck. Then he pondered how to deal with him.

If he poisoned him now, Baek Ri Cheong-ra would have an attack in a few months and peacefully close his eyes as if falling asleep. Or even without doing that, there was a way to handle him like Yoo Cheon-so. Baek Ri Cheong-ra was also the type to throw away his life to protect his family or sect.

But suddenly, he felt it was a pity. Above all, he wasn't just an ordinary sacrifice, but the Purple Subtlety Star. The Blood Cult's obsession would be no small matter. At that moment, something occurred to him.

'Wasn't that contest the Golden Flower Merchant Group was preparing some kind of beauty contest?'

It was obvious that it was a ploy to gather suitable sacrifices for human offerings, and he had been considering how to deal with it separately, but the Moonlight Beauty Sword would be good bait for the Blood Cult.

Sure enough, Chang'an was in an uproar. The Blood Cult members tried to approach him pretending to be an abandoned pitiful lover to drive Baek Ri Cheong-ra out of Chang'an, and when that didn't work well, they disguised themselves as Beggar Sect members to deliver early information about the Phoenix-Qilin-Iris-Orchid Contest. The response was better than expected.

So Dang Ran-yeong decided to use Baek Ri Cheong-ra instead of poisoning him. However, what he didn't anticipate was that Baek Ri Cheong-ra would be to his liking more than expected.

Not just his appearance, but surprisingly, his core as well.

Despite thorough investigation after investigation, even Dang Ran-yeong hadn't anticipated that the Moonlight Flashing Sword's preferences would be like that. Wasn't it as if he had been made to fit his tastes? It was pleasurable to break his pride, and the satisfaction of seeing him eventually obey submissively was extreme.

...In fact, thinking back, he had liked the Moonlight Flashing Sword quite a bit from the start. To the point where he wondered if this was because both he and Baek Ri Cheong-ra were the Star of Heavenly Killing and the Purple Subtlety Star.

But the Demon Soul Insects in Baek Ri Cheong-ra's body... That was something Dang Ran-yeong absolutely couldn't do anything about.

He didn't know when he might become a slave of the Blood Cult, or when his life might end early. Therefore, he didn't want to waste his mental energy by deliberately opening his heart. He had a strong intuition that once he let him in, he would never be able to let go.

And that intuition indeed hit the mark.

He didn't share important information. Also, he didn't get greedy because it was a life that would eventually perish. Even if he desired the body, he didn't touch it until the end. While acting like this and still being strongly drawn to the other, restraining himself every day, something happened that changed his mind.

While he was momentarily distracted playing with that Yao Guang, Baek Ri Cheong-ra almost died.

At that moment, more than feeling it was a pity, anger surged. He knew that someday Cheong-ra would lose his life at someone else's hands. However, when he actually felt what that was like, an uncontrollable possessiveness exploded in Dang Ran-yeong's heart.

If it was a life that would die anyway, he had to make it his own.

He wouldn't be satisfied unless he kept him by his side until he was completely worn out and disappeared, fully under his control. Even if he ended up being controlled by the Demon Soul Insects, he would either keep him in a dormant state by feeding him poison, or kill him with his own hands, but he couldn't give him to the Blood Cult. Even if he became a sacrifice for the Blood Cult, he would kill him with his own hands.

Being selfish and greedy by nature, as soon as the suppressed greed and desire burst out, Dang Ran-yeong took action.