CRS Chapter 32

The eyes of the Blood Cult martial artists darkened considerably.

“Are you saying you’ll fight us?”

They could tell the young man before them was skilled, but there were four Blood Cult martial artists right now.

Unless he was one of the Twenty-four Martial Arts Masters, it would be too much for him.

However, the answer they received was completely unexpected.

“Your question is wrong. Shouldn’t I be the one asking that?”

Eunho stepped forward, blocking Hwa-yeon.

“Are you saying you’ll fight me?”

It was an extremely arrogant statement.

The man let out a dry laugh and said.

“Where did you come from? Surely you’re not some idiot chasing chivalry in times like these.”

“When asking others, one should introduce oneself first.”

“Ah, I see.”

Eunho nodded.

Are they more reasonable than expected?

“Then I’ll kill you without asking.”

“…? Quite extreme, aren’t you.”

There was no way they’d be reasonable.

Of course, Eunho was pleased with that choice.

Eunho slowly raised his index finger, pointing it at the man in the lead.

The gazes of the Blood Cult martial artists and Hwa-yeon all followed the tip of Eunho’s finger.

A moment of silence fell.

Bang-!

“I haven’t fired yet?”

As the thick smoke cleared, the one who revealed himself was Lee Jagwang, the leader of the Aso Fortress.

“Accept me. I’ll earn my keep.”

This was an opportunity for Lee Jagwang.

He’d make achievements in this fight and score points with Eunho!

If his opponent wasn’t a Heaven beyond Heaven like the Twenty-four Martial Arts Masters, Lee Jagwang’s skills were nothing to scoff at.

He was in the middle stages of the Peak Realm, known as one of the hundred great masters in the martial world.

However, there was one thing Lee Jagwang hadn’t considered.

He hadn’t yet earned Eunho’s trust.

Hwa-yeon quickly leapt away from the scene, and Eunho followed suit.

Only the four Blood Cult martial artists and Lee Jagwang remained.

They glared at Lee Jagwang as if they would kill him right away.

“…”

The man in the lead spoke without taking his eyes off Lee Jagwang.

“Go ahead and chase the woman. We’ll kill this bastard and catch up soon.”

“Yes.”

The martial artist who received the order bowed his head and was about to leap away.

No, he tried to leap away.

Lee Jagwang quickly sprang forward and swung his axe at him.

Thanks to this, the martial artist who was about to leap away had no choice but to block the attack where he stood.

“Hah…”

Lee Jagwang let out a deep sigh.

He managed to stop them, but…

In plain terms… he seemed to be fucked.

The aura of the Blood Cult martial artists began to rise fiercely.

They’d kill this bastard quickly and go after the woman.

It was right at that moment when a huge shadow loomed over them.

A chill ran down their necks.

The martial artists carefully turned around, trying to suppress their uneasiness.

“So this is where you fuckers were.”

They gulped.

How could the situation get this twisted?

The Fist King, Peng Ji-yeol, was scanning them with blazing eyes.

Bang-! Kwang-!

He had no intention of giving them time to bite their poison pills like before.

***

Hwa-yeon was pouring all her strength into her lightness skill.

If she got caught here, all thoughts of revenge would be over!

The scenery beneath her feet flowed like a river.

It was quite a high-level lightness skill.

And beside her, a man running leisurely with his hands behind his back.

“Who are you, sir? Why are you helping me?”

Her voice was thick with suspicion.

Her family had been completely wiped out because the person her father trusted sold his name to the Blood Cult.

It was only natural that she couldn’t trust anyone.

“How should I explain this.”

Eunho pondered for a moment.

It was quite an ambiguous relationship, after all.

“Well, you were a woman I loved.”

Hwa-yeon recoiled as if she had heard something unbelievable.

Even after her family was wiped out, there was no shortage of righteous martial artists who offered to help her.

However, they all had subtle ulterior motives towards her.

In the end, when they realized they couldn’t face the Blood Cult with their own strength, they mercilessly abandoned her and left.

They at least had some pride, always sneaking away in the dead of night.

Ta-at-!

Hwa-yeon spurred her lightness skill.

But it was impossible to shake off Eunho.

Eunho quickly caught up to her side and continued to ask questions.

“It seems you’re being chased?”

This was quite troublesome.

If she stopped, the Blood Cult bastards would soon catch up, but if she kept running, this man with incredible lightness skill would keep following endlessly.

After a moment’s deliberation, Hwa-yeon spoke.

“I’m truly grateful for your help earlier.”

She didn’t say anything about repaying the favor.

She couldn’t guarantee her own survival in this situation, after all.

Hwa-yeon wasn’t the type to make empty promises.

“But it would be better if you left now. The ones chasing me are…”

“The Blood Cult?”

Hwa-yeon suddenly stopped in her tracks.

“How do you know that?”

Her eyes were once again filled with deep suspicion.

This was still a time before the Blood Cult had officially emerged.

Very few people should know about them.

“How could I not know? Those crazy bastards wearing bright red clothes are obviously the Blood Cult.”

Eunho was making good use of what he had learned from Peng Ji-yeol and his master.

“If it’s too much to handle alone, why not ask for help?”

Hwa-yeon still harbored some doubt, but she answered since he had helped her.

“Yes. That’s why I’m going to seek refuge with the Martial Alliance now. They’re the only ones who can help against those bastards.”

There was also a connection with her father.

She swallowed the bitter afterthought as she remembered her father.

“Hmm, I see. But from what I saw earlier, it looked like you might die before reaching the Martial Alliance.”

“…”

She wasn’t confident either.

Just now, if it weren’t for Eunho, she would have been caught without a chance.

Eunho’s gaze, watching this, turned towards a nearby thicket.

Rustle.

Soon, seven martial artists in blood-red wind-chasing robes emerged from there.

They weren’t the ones chasing Hwa-yeon earlier.

Those would be getting pummeled by Peng Ji-yeol’s fists right about now.

Moreover, these ones gave off an even stronger smell of blood than the previous ones.

Just like the ones they had encountered on the way to the Human King Fortress.

“Have they spread a Heavens Encompassing Earth Net?”

Despite Eunho’s question, the martial artists just silently approached.

“Step aside.”

His words were concise.

The martial artists who had come here now were members of the Blood Wind Squad.

If six or more of these elites of the Blood Cult combined their forces, they were confident they could at least force a draw even against one of the Twenty-four Martial Arts Masters.

“Hmm, alright.”

Eunho nodded and obediently stepped back.

They were puzzled, but their goal was Hwa-yeon anyway.

It was a good thing.

Hwa-yeon, realizing she could no longer escape, glared at them and drew her sword.

The Blood Wind Squad martial artists instantly surrounded her.

With their objectives clear, there was no reason to delay.

Chang-! Chachang-!

Their swords began to clash.

Her martial prowess was better than expected, but of course, she couldn’t overwhelm the Blood Wind Squad.

Rather, it was because their goal was to capture her alive that Hwa-yeon could still face them.

As she was gradually pushed back, small cuts began to appear all over her body.

Sharp winds whirled in all directions due to the fierce aura.

Eunho lightly brushed off his fluttering hair and stretched.

It was as if he were in a completely different space.

“Shall I help?”

Eunho asked casually, but Hwa-yeon refused.

“They can’t kill me anyway.”

They had a different objective, after all.

Moreover, she couldn’t involve an innocent person in this matter.

‘Her personality is still the same.’

Only that bastard could intervene in the cycle of life.

The more he looked, the more mischievous that Buddha seemed.

Her appearance was not just similar, but almost identical, and even her name and personality were the same.

Thinking of the Buddha watching this from somewhere made him a bit annoyed, but he wasn’t in a particularly bad mood.

Just then, one of the men’s swords aimed for Hwa-yeon’s waist.

She hurriedly twisted her body.

If she dodged by quickly turning her body, she would suffer a major injury from the follow-up attacks, but she had no other choice.

Ting-!

The sword that should have slashed her waist was suddenly deflected.

Eunho’s finger wind had knocked away the sword.

“…”

The distance between them momentarily widened, and silence fell.

“They might not be able to kill you, but they can push you to the brink of death. If you’re captured by these bastards, then what?”

Eunho’s calm gaze swept over the Blood Wind Squad martial artists.

“They look like experts in torture. Do you think you can withstand that?”

“…”

The Blood Wind Squad martial artists who met Eunho’s gaze felt the hair all over their bodies standing on end.

They were martial artists too. Quite strong ones at that.

Their instincts were constantly warning them of danger.

They should have leapt forward immediately, killed Eunho, and then captured her, but they couldn’t.

Eunho moved to stand beside her.

His steps were as leisurely as if he were out for a stroll, but no one could stop Eunho’s movement.

No, rather, they were the ones who couldn’t move an inch, as if their movements were restricted.

“I understand you have strong pride and don’t want to involve others. But I heard earlier that you’re seeking revenge for your father. Is your pride more important than that? Is it such an easy task that you can accomplish while being considerate of others?”

Hwa-yeon couldn’t say anything.

For some reason, Eunho’s words stung sharply.

She still hadn’t fully abandoned her pride as a martial artist.

“And I’m strong enough not to be easily swayed. Choose. Shall I help?”

If she shook her head this time too, he was prepared to leave without delay.

Even if there was a connection from a past life, he had cut it all off when deciding to reincarnate.

The reason Eunho was stepping in now was because of a slight feeling of guilt.

Living as a human, he could somewhat understand how she must have felt in her past life.

She had lost her family because of Eunho, and loved him without knowing that fact. In the end, hadn’t she even been killed because of her connection to Eunho?

He could easily offer this much help.

Of course, only if she wanted it.

Hwa-yeon stared intently at Eunho.

He was clearly a man she was seeing for the first time.

But looking at him, she felt strangely at ease.

She felt she could trust him, felt reassured.

For some reason, she was reminded of her father.

‘Maybe this time, he’s really someone I can trust.’

There was no basis for it. It was just her intuition.

Among those who had abandoned her before, there were some she had truly trusted.

She had vowed never to trust people again.

But this time, she wanted to believe.

She slowly nodded her head.

Eunho’s red lips curved into a smirk.

Yes, that’s how it should be.

If he left her like this, it was obvious she would die.

It would have bothered him for a long time.

“Good.”

Eunho slowly began to raise his aura.

As if in response, a gentle breeze blew in and enveloped them.

“Ah, don’t run away.”

This was directed at everyone.

Both to the Blood Wind Squad martial artists and to her.

Facing Eunho’s aura, they felt their entire bodies tingling.

It was truly an overwhelming force.

They had never directly met one of the Twenty-four Martial Arts Masters before, but they were certain this was at least on par with them.

The Blood Lord they worshipped as a god.

It felt as if they were standing before the Blood Lord himself.

The one who seemed to be their leader stepped forward and glared at Eunho. He could tell instinctively.

“So you’re the one who killed our fellow disciples.”

Besides ordinary martial artists, the Blood Lord had his second-in-command, the Vice Sect Leader, and the Blood Wind Squad made up of thirteen disciples.

Six of them were the ones who had been killed by the Fist King and Eunho earlier.

Sensing that they couldn’t return alive, they bit down hard on the small poison pills hidden in their molars.

The poison pills would make their blood flow backwards, drawing out their primal energy.

For the great cause of the Blood Lord and to avenge their fellow disciples, they would take this bastard’s life!

The iron-like blood vessels that bulged near their hearts gradually spread throughout their bodies, along their necks, arms, and legs.

The capillaries in their eyes burst, and thin lines of blood trickled from their mouths.

Watching this, anxiety crept onto Hwa-yeon’s face.

She knew more about the Blood Cult than anyone else in the Central Plains.

After all, she had experienced her entire family being torn apart by them.

She could tell the man before her was overwhelmingly strong, but… the fear ingrained in her as she watched her family being brutally murdered was too deep.

Three Blood Wind Squad martial artists who had drawn out their primal energy charged at Eunho with intense aura.

At the same time, Hwa-yeon’s grip on her sword tightened.

‘I should step in now…’

At that moment, Eunho lightly swung his sword.

What she saw was only twice.

She didn’t know how many actual sword strikes there were.

Even those two glimpses were too blurry to see clearly.

Tuk. Tuduk.

Tududududuk.

The blood fragments of the three martial artists who had charged at Eunho rained down like a shower.

“…”

Amidst the surroundings dyed completely red like an asura realm, a man stood alone, noble and untainted.

Eunho’s figure came into view.