Chapter 1

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Prologue: The Lost Child of Namgung

Puuuk―

A sword, enveloped in pitch-black energy, pierced through Ilhwa’s heart.

Caught off guard by the entirely unexpected attack, Ilhwa could do nothing as dark crimson blood flowed from her lips.

“Wh…why….”

Ilhwa stared at the one who had driven the sword through her heart, her eyes filled with confusion.

The person who had raised her since childhood, taught her martial arts, and was both her master and the leader of the Blood Sect, a great unifier of the martial world.

Blood Demon (血魔).

The sword piercing her heart belonged to him.

“My disciple, do you remember what it was I wanted to achieve through you?”

Since childhood, Ilhwa had heard his words so many times they were ingrained in her memory.

“Destroy Namgung. With your own hands, you must break the sword of Namgung!”

She never knew why her master sought the destruction of Namgung, but Ilhwa had lived for 25 years solely to fulfill that command.

She mastered martial arts with the singular purpose of defeating Namgung’s sword. Because of this, within the Blood Sect, she was known as Cheonmyeolgeom (天滅劍), the sword that destroys the heavens.

And so, finally today, Namgung had been annihilated—by her hand.

Ilhwa looked at Namgung Cheongun, the last sword of Namgung, lying dead on the ground.

“I have fulfilled your will, Master.”

“Yes. At last, it is done.”

“But…why….”

The moment Namgung Cheongun took his last breath, the Blood Demon’s sword had pierced Ilhwa’s heart.

At the very moment she believed her long and arduous battle had finally come to fruition, the Blood Demon struck her down.

“Why…?”

“Now, only you remain of the Namgung lineage. Only when your life ends will my will be fully realized. What choice is there?”

Ilhwa stared at him with hardened eyes.

“Your gaze seems to say, ‘What nonsense is this mad master spouting?’”

Her master chuckled. He always had the infuriating habit of seeing right through her thoughts, as though he could peer directly into her mind.

“Do you know who lies at your feet?”

Ilhwa’s gaze shifted back to the fallen Namgung Cheongun. The sword wound that had nearly severed his neck was inflicted by her own hand.

“That is your father.”

“…!”

“A pathetic man who abandoned his position as head of Namgung to search for you.”

Ilhwa was overwhelmed with confusion.

Her master, the Blood Demon, was inherently cruel and malicious. He had no qualms about killing people to restore his inner energy, so trusting his words was difficult.

But—

“Now that I think about it, it was strange.”

Someone who treated human lives as nothing more than insects had raised her as his disciple for so long.

Even when warriors stronger than her pledged loyalty to him, he never abandoned her. He relentlessly pushed her to oppose Namgung until she destroyed them with her own hands.

Why?

Cough.

Dark crimson blood spilled from her lips. Her internal energy was holding the wound together, but she was reaching her limit.

“Hahaha! How does it feel to have killed your own father with your own hands?”

The Blood Demon’s laughter rang in her ears.

“When he realized you were his daughter, he withdrew his inner energy. How pitiful is that?”

“…!”

Ilhwa recalled Namgung Cheongun’s gaze as he looked at her with sorrowful eyes in his final moments.

In truth, she had been losing the battle.

After a long and grueling fight, Namgung Cheongun had prepared a strike imbued with his full inner energy, and Ilhwa had been certain of her defeat. Yet at the decisive moment, he suddenly froze, gazing at her with confusion.

She didn’t miss that brief hesitation and swiftly severed his neck.

Even as he knelt, blood pouring from his throat, his eyes never left hers.

“Seol…hwa….”

Recalling his final words, a single tear rolled down Ilhwa’s cheek.

She didn’t know why she was crying.

Her emotions were supposed to be destroyed, a consequence of her blood energy’s accumulation.

Yet tears fell from her eyes.

“Kuhuhu, don’t be too resentful. Didn’t you enjoy it at least a little?”

Her vision blurred as she stared at Namgung Cheongun’s lifeless body.

As the Blood Demon concentrated his inner energy, the sword piercing her heart began to hum.

“I raised you with my own hands for this day. For the moment when Namgung would be destroyed by its own bloodline! Hahahaha!”

His laughter shook the heavens, distorting the space around them. The Blood Demon was genuinely elated.

Ilhwa released the inner energy she had been using to suppress her wound.

Cough―

Dark crimson blood gushed from her mouth.

Her entire body grew limp, and she no longer had the strength to lift her arms. Her faintly lingering breaths began to fade quickly.

“Stop…this…. It’s not…entertaining.”

At that moment, the Blood Demon’s laughter abruptly ceased.

His indifferent gaze, tinged with a dark crimson aura, fell upon her.

“I was losing interest anyway.”

Terrifying energy swirled around the sword.

At that instant, the Blood Demon’s sword slashed through her body.

Beginning at her heart, it carved through her shoulder and withdrew. Ilhwa collapsed, vomiting blood.

“It was entertaining, my disciple.”

Thanks to you, Namgung has vanished from this world.

The Blood Demon’s laughter gradually dissipated into the air.

As she lay dying, his retreating figure seemed light and carefree.

“Cough….”

Watching the Blood Demon grow distant, dark crimson tears trickled down Ilhwa’s face.

“Foolish.”

What a foolish life she had lived.

Not realizing she had been deceived and used, she had followed him, calling him her master.

Why had she lived such a foolish life?

What had she believed in, chasing after someone who only knew blood and carnage?

Her entire life had been devoted to the Blood Demon and the destruction of Namgung. But in the end, all she received was the mockery of the one she trusted and a pitiful death.

All that remained was blood (血).

Dark crimson blood that stained the world around her.

The scent of Namgung’s blood, shed by her own hand, clung to her like a curse.

And within that scent of blood was her death.

Thud.

Ilhwa’s body fell lifelessly to the ground.

The Blood Sect’s vice-leader and tool for Namgung’s destruction. Cheonmyeolgeom Ilhwa (天滅劍一化).

Her life, manipulated by the Blood Demon, ended that way.