Chapter 66

"Devotee Ye! Are you alright?"

As Mu-hwa approached, Cheong-ra held out his hand to stop her. Mu-hwa stood there, hesitating.

"Nun Mu-hwa. Please don't come this way. I don't think it would be good for you to see."

"Yes? ...Oh."

Understanding Cheong-ra's meaning, Mu-hwa paused and then stepped back. Her face looked particularly young, making Cheong-ra smile bitterly.

"Nun Mu-gyeol said she knows where the other nuns are being held, so I'll entrust their rescue to you."

"Yes, as a disciple of the Hengshan Sect, it's naturally my duty. Thank you so much."

Mu-hwa expressed her deep gratitude and then disappeared in a certain direction with Mu-gyeol. After quietly taking a deep breath, Cheong-ra stepped into the hellish scene. There was a squelching sound, but he didn't look down.

Surprisingly, among these corpses, there was someone still alive. It was the man wearing the iron mask. The mask had flown off somewhere from Dang Ran-yeong's attack, revealing his bare face, which looked surprisingly ordinary except for his red eyes. Coughing up blood, the cultist crawled on the ground. Dang Ran-yeong stepped on his hand with a crunching sound and asked,

"Where is the sacred stone?"

"Oh, Demon Army, Demon Army... Heavenly Demon, please descend upon this place..."

The cultist kept calling out to the Demon Army and struggled to grab Dang Ran-yeong's leg. Even in that state, his eyes were filled with fierce determination, and his grip tightened as if trying to break the leg. However, Dang Ran-yeong's gaze looking down at him held no mercy or compassion.

"If you're just going to spout nonsense, die."

In an instant, the whip wrapped around the cultist's neck. Compared to what the cultist was experiencing, Dang Ran-yeong strangling Cheong-ra's neck last time was close to a joke. The cultist's tongue protruded from his mouth. Before his breath was completely cut off, the cultist managed to say something in a choking voice.

"Central, passage, underground, underground..."

Although he got the answer he wanted, the price the cultist paid was a slow and painful death. Cheong-ra, somewhat disgusted by Dang Ran-yeong's actions, stood still and looked at the dead cultist. Instead of retreating or running away, he gathered his courage and approached Dang Ran-yeong.

"What's this sacred stone?"

Dang Ran-yeong whipped the wall a couple of times with a swishing sound to shake off the blood droplets, then coiled it and attached it to his waist. His voice was calm, unlike someone who had just strangled a person to death.

"It's an object these guys revere as a sacred stone. It's essential for their rituals and disrupts the dragon vein, so it must be destroyed."

A sacred stone, judging from the cultists' behavior, it didn't seem to be an ordinary object. Cheong-ra's gaze turned to the brass bowl that had earlier received the blood from the slaughtered goat.

'Come to think of it... how did they react to my blood?'

A momentary trivial curiosity arose, but he soon erased it from his mind. Even if he was curious about these cultists' rituals, the result didn't seem like it would make him feel pleasant. As Dang Ran-yeong left the cavern, Cheong-ra followed behind him.

Mu-hwa and the others seemed to have already left, as there were no signs of presence. Cheong-ra silently followed Dang Ran-yeong, organizing the events he had witnessed today in his mind.

The cave here was a natural cave with a large cavern, artificially extended with long passages by pickaxe work. There were paths everywhere, with food and weapon storage areas, a place where many goats were confined, a place with piles of Ghost King Herb (a type of herb), and a warehouse full of alcohol. Cheong-ra was able to retrieve the weapons that had been confiscated when he was kidnapped from the weapon storage.

After following Dang Ran-yeong for a while, Cheong-ra carefully opened his mouth.

"Um, Young Master Dang. I'm asking just in case..."

Dang Ran-yeong abruptly stopped and looked at Cheong-ra. His gaze was naturally intimidating, but Cheong-ra couldn't bear not asking.

"You don't happen to be lost, do you?"

This was because he couldn't stay still seeing Dang Ran-yeong going back and forth on the same path three or four times. He even moved as if he couldn't see the path that seemed to be the central passage. At first, Cheong-ra thought there might be a formation laid out, but that didn't seem to be the case either. Dang Ran-yeong said arrogantly without any sign of embarrassment.

"The cave is a bit complicated."

"No, it's not that complicated a cave, you know?"

Even though Cheong-ra shook his head and denied it, Dang Ran-yeong remained infinitely confident.

"If I say it's complicated, it's complicated."

"...Alright, let's just say I'm good at finding my way."

As Cheong-ra headed towards the path where the central passage was earlier, Dang Ran-yeong followed without a word. It was absurd that a man who seemed to be perfect at everything was such a severe directional idiot, but on the other hand, having seen the earlier scene, this human side of him was a relief and made Cheong-ra smile slightly.

The stairs in the central passage were dark and eerie, requiring a torch. After descending for quite a while, another cavern revealed itself. In the center of the cavern was a single black stone.

"Is that the so-called sacred stone?"

Cheong-ra approached, seeing it was placed in a revered manner, but then he hesitated. The sacred stone was in the shape of a human head with goat horns growing out of it. The face was horribly distorted as if it had suffered all kinds of agony, and it was so elaborate that it seemed to be made from a real human head rather than being carved.

"How on earth was this made?"

"Shall I tell you? Though it might be better not to know."

At those words, Cheong-ra completely abandoned his desire to know. Dang Ran-yeong took out a pair of leather gloves from his bosom and put them on, then clenched his fist tightly. He pulled his fist back, infused with inner energy, and then thrust it forward like an arrow. Crash! The stone object shattered into pieces.

Dang Ran-yeong thoroughly smashed even the remaining large fragments, gathered the shards, and poured an unknown chemical over them. As red smoke rose and the fragments slowly crumbled, Cheong-ra unconsciously looked around, feeling like he had heard something like a wailing sound.

"We're done here now. Let's go."

As Dang Ran-yeong swiftly moved, despite not being able to find the way out, Cheong-ra hurriedly walked ahead. Even though the wicked sacred stone had been destroyed, the ominous feeling didn't leave Cheong-ra's heart. He pondered for a moment and then recalled what the iron-masked man had said.

"He said 'Demon Army'... Could these people be the Demon Cult?"

At those words, Dang Ran-yeong sneered and shook his head in denial.

"No. Contrary to the rumors circulating in the Central Plains, the Demon Cult doesn't do things like this."

The Demon Cult was a force based in the Hundred Thousand Mountains and was also the most famous evil cult group in the Central Plains. Throughout the long history of the Central Plains, the Demon Cult had periodically caused disturbances and shed blood, so it was the first thing that came to mind when thinking of evil cults.

"But doesn't the Demon Cult worship demons?"

"The Demon Cult isn't the only one that worships demons."

Dang Ran-yeong paused for a moment and looked at Cheong-ra. After a brief pause, he finally revealed the identity of the mastermind that Cheong-ra had long been curious about.

"These people are the Blood Cult."

At Dang Ran-yeong's answer, Cheong-ra exclaimed in shock.

"They're the Blood Cult?!"

The Blood Cult. They were an evil cult group that had appeared fifty years ago, suddenly emerging one day and committing terrible acts. Even Cheong-ra, who hadn't been born at that time, was well aware of their notoriety that had lasted until now, fifty years later.

They were vicious people who took human sacrifice and slaughter as their doctrine and treated people like beasts, becoming the enemy of all forces, both righteous and evil. Afterwards, under the leadership of the Martial Arts Alliance, the righteous factions formed an alliance to eradicate them and uphold justice.

But for the Blood Cult to reappear, it was unbelievable for Cheong-ra. If he hadn't directly witnessed the bizarre scene with his own eyes, he would still be in doubt even now. Would the Sect Leader and his master believe him if he informed the sect about this?

'And if they're really the Blood Cult, I should also inform the Martial Arts Alliance...'

As if reading Cheong-ra's mind, Dang Ran-yeong said,

"What? You're going to tell the Martial Arts Alliance? Do you think the Martial Arts Alliance is unaware of the Blood Cult's existence?"

"The Martial Arts Alliance already knows about the Blood Cult's existence?"