Chronicles of the Demonic Cult Conversion-Chapter 24 : Chapter 24

Chapter 24. I will torment you to death.
‘What is he talking about.’
Jin Yeong-in's expression became distant.
No matter how he thought about it, Yeom Bi's words sounded like something a fortune-teller who divines fortunes, or a sorcerer, would say.
"Is there someone hovering around me?"
"There is. A very persistent one."
"Who on earth could be around me… Don't tell me."
Jin Yeong-in's face hardened as a thought suddenly occurred to him.
The magnificent estate located across from his house.
He recalled the unpleasant gaze he would feel from the pavilion of the Sacred Blood Clan.
Although he had been trying to ignore it as per Danmok Cheong's advice, the truth was that even after that day, he would feel a gaze from the top of the pavilion whenever he was about to forget…….
"Could this persistent fellow be a member of the Sacred Blood Clan?"
"Huh? You know? Did you meet him?"
Yeom Bi asked back, as if wondering how he knew.
"That's not it."
"Then how do you know?"
"Actually, my house is across from the Sacred Blood Clan's estate, and I've often felt like someone was watching me, so I mentioned it."
"Hmm. Move out immediately."
Yeom Bi said flatly.
"It was the Outer Chief Steward, Elder Yi Ja-yeong, who assigned you the house, right? Go and tell her. You want to move immediately, so ask her to find you a new house."
"Who on earth is this annoying fellow that you're telling me to move out immediately?"
"My junior brother."
"By junior brother, you mean…."
Jin Yeong-in recalled the story he had heard from Danmok Cheong.
Currently, the Iron-Blooded Demonic God had a total of six disciples.
First, the First Young Master, Cheon U-jin.
Second, the Second Young Lady, Cheol Yu-ra.
Third, the Third Young Master, Wi Mu-rin.
Fourth, the Fourth Young Master, Yeom Bi.
Fifth, the Fifth Young Master, So U-bin.
And sixth, the Sixth Young Master, Sa Cheon-pa.
Since the Fourth Young Master, Yeom Bi, referred to him as his junior brother, that annoying fellow must be either the Fifth Young Master, So U-bin, or the Sixth Young Master, Sa Cheon-pa.
Between the two, if one was from the Sacred Blood Clan…….
"Are you saying the Sixth Young Master is hovering around me?"
"Yeah."
Sixth Young Master, Sa Cheon-pa.
The eldest son of the Sacred Blood Clan, known within the cult as the Blood Qilin.
Like the other members of the Sacred Blood Clan who had Western blood, he was a handsome man with radiant golden hair and red eyes.
His handsome features were so splendid and mysterious, how could the title 'Qilin' not be attached to his alias?
"It's unfortunate, but you're in big trouble."
"Pardon?"
"There's never been a case where someone targeted by him had a good end."
"For example…?"
"I don't even want to talk about it. Ask around for details. It's no exaggeration to say that there's no one in the cult who doesn't know about him."
"I understand. But why me, of all people…?"
"Does a flood have a reason?"
"Pardon?"
"Floods, typhoons, lightning strikes. Do things like plagues have a reason?"
"Well… I suppose they don't?"
Natural disasters would have no reason.
There would only be a cause.
"Being targeted by him means something like that. It's easier to think of it as a natural disaster or a mysterious phenomenon. If I had to pick a reason, it would be that you're someone who converted from the Righteous Faction."
"Are you saying it's a game born out of curiosity?"
An image of a cat playing with a snake flashed through Jin Yeong-in's mind.
"That seems like an appropriate metaphor."
Yeom Bi nodded his head.
"…Hmm."
Jin Yeong-in recalled a memory that was not so long ago.
It was an event that happened in a distant future that had now become null and void.
However, for Jin Yeong-in, it was a memory from less than three months ago.
* * *
“Keuk!”
The sunlight he saw for the first time in a long while was so dazzling that he could barely open his eyes.
The air was so clear that it felt as if even his tainted soul was being purified.
“Ah, ahhh…!”
Jin Yeong-in collapsed and sobbed.
How long had it been since he had seen the outside world?
After being trapped in a dark prison for a period long enough for the mountains and rivers to change twice, the feeling of liberation seemed impossible to describe with any expression in the world.
‘I should never have gone to see that son of a bitch back then…!’
Jin Yeong-in ground his teeth as he thought of his sworn enemy and mortal foe, the Great Divine Physician of Immortals.
Clench!
His fists clenched on their own.
‘I will have my revenge. By any means necessary.’
A rage that pierced his very soul, and a vague belief that the day of revenge would someday come.
If it weren't for those two emotions, he would have gone mad long ago.
Perhaps he was already mad.
“There is no time. You can savor your liberation after we escape this place.”
Golden hair, red eyes.
A man wearing a red robe embroidered with a golden qilin pulled Jin Yeong-in up.
Sa Cheon-pa.
The sixth disciple of the Iron-Blooded Demonic God, who was once called the Blood Qilin, and came to be known as the Blood Demon after the Second Righteous-Demonic War.
After the fall of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, he gathered the remaining forces and was said to be acting as the de facto leader.
He was the one who led the remaining forces of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult to attack the Demonic Prison and rescue Jin Yeong-in and the other inmates.
“Can you move?”
“Of course.”
Jin Yeong-in answered briefly to the Blood Demon's question.
Among the inmates, Jin Yeong-in was the one who could move most freely.
Why?
Because his dantian and his four limbs had to be intact for the research on demonic arts.
Moreover, the iron chains that had bound Jin Yeong-in for the past 20 years had been broken, so there was no hindrance to his movement.
“Then, let’s go.”
The Blood Demon's gaze, as he glanced away, was complicated.
Yes, it was understandable.
Jin Yeong-in was one of the main causes of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's downfall.
Of course, to say that the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was destroyed because of Jin Yeong-in alone was close to absurd.
The reasons for the cult's downfall were very complex.
However, there was no room for disagreement that Jin Yeong-in was one of the decisive factors.
The martial arts created by the Righteous Heavenly Alliance through their research on Jin Yeong-in, the Heavenly Demon's Physique, demonstrated tremendous power in the Second Righteous-Demonic War.
Because of this, the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult suffered enormous losses in manpower, losing one important battle after another.
Thus, the Blood Demon's gaze upon Jin Yeong-in could not help but be complicated.
‘This is ridiculous.’
Jin Yeong-in's feelings were also complicated.
It was the Righteous Faction that had brought him to this state, yet it was the Blood Demon, a figure from the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, who had saved him…….
Of course, the Blood Demon hadn't saved Jin Yeong-in with purely good intentions.
Jin Yeong-in possessed the Heavenly Demon's Physique.
The Blood Demon must have judged that Jin Yeong-in was an essential existence for the reconstruction of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, and had orchestrated the attack on the Demonic Prison based on the calculation that he must secure his person.
“Let’s go.”
Jin Yeong-in looked behind him.
There were his fellow inmates with whom he had shared joys and sorrows for as little as a few years and as long as nearly twenty years.
Their origins were diverse, spanning the Righteous, Unorthodox, and Demonic factions, but their relationships were generally strong.
The Demonic Prison was a place of only pain and despair.
In such a place, the only ones they could rely on were their fellow inmates.
They were taking a short break while on the run.
“Jin Yeong-in.”
The Blood Demon said to Jin Yeong-in.
“Our discovery of your existence was purely coincidental. We obtained some internal intelligence from the Righteous Heavenly Alliance, and it contained information about the Demonic Prison and your existence.”
“I see.”
“It may be futile, but I had a thought. If I could turn back time, if I knew you had the Heavenly Demon's Physique. I thought I could have killed you to eliminate the root of the trouble.”
“Then you should have.”
Jin Yeong-in sneered at the Blood Demon with a twisted smile.
“If you had killed me twenty years ago, I wouldn’t have had to suffer in the Demonic Prison for twenty years.”
“……Keuk.”
The Blood Demon let out a hollow laugh as if he'd been one-upped.
Yes, it was the same for both of them.
Both Jin Yeong-in and the Blood Demon were just victims of the Righteous Heavenly Alliance's conspiracy; there was no reason for them to hate each other.
“Perhaps….”
The Blood Demon spoke with difficulty.
“It might have been better if you were a member of our cult.”
“A member of your cult?”
“A pine caterpillar must live on pine needles. If one has the Heavenly Demon's Physique, shouldn't they naturally join the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult and become a great demonic practitioner?”
“Heh heh.”
“Why do you laugh? Don't tell me you still have lingering attachments to that trash-like Righteous Faction?”
“Not a chance.”
Jin Yeong-in's expression turned chilling, as if the mere thought was horrifying.
“A great demonic practitioner, you say. Fine, if I were to go back to the past, I would join the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult and become the Heavenly Demon himself. Though, as you say, it's nothing more than a futile delusion.”
“Then I… will torment you to death.”
“What’s the reason? Because I have the Heavenly Demon's Physique?”
“For some reason, looking at your face makes me feel like it. That's all.”
“Who said I would meekly let you?”
“You don't seem to know how mischievous I was in my younger days. Do you know how many guys begged me to just kill them? Heh heh heh!”
The Blood Demon cackled as if reminiscing about the old days.
A few hours later.
Jin Yeong-in and the Blood Demon's group fell into a trap set by the Righteous Heavenly Alliance.
The Blood Demon was torn to shreds and died, and Jin Yeong-in self-destructed along with the Great Divine Physician of Immortals.
For some reason, with Jin Yeong-in's return to the past, it had become an event that never happened.
* * *
“……No way.”
Jin Yeong-in's expression hardened.
The nonsensical chat he had with the future Blood Demon, now the current Sixth Young Master, the Blood Qilin, was becoming a reality.
‘Did the Blood Demon also return to the past? With the same memories as me?’
The thought that it might be possible struck Jin Yeong-in's mind with great force.
It might just be a groundless fear born from a mere coincidence, but it was an undeniable fact that they had had such a conversation before he returned to the past.
“I didn't tell you too scary of a story, did I? Did I speak out of turn?”
Yeom Bi misunderstood Jin Yeong-in's expression and said.
“Could I meet the Blood… no, the Sixth Young Master?”
“You want to meet him? Of your own accord?”
“Yes.”
Jin Yeong-in nodded his head.
Since it was possible that he had returned to the past along with the Blood Demon, he felt he had to meet him first.
“That doesn't seem like a very good idea.”
“Why is that?”
“Because you could die.”
From Yeom Bi's serious expression, Jin Yeong-in could read that he was being sincere.
“He is dangerous. His actions are completely unpredictable. If I were to pick the most dangerous person among my brothers, I would choose him without hesitation.”
“I still want to meet him.”
“He’s not someone you can meet just because you want to. You'll meet him when the time comes anyway. You'll have no choice but to meet him even if you don't want to. So don't be impatient.”
“……I understand.”
At Yeom Bi's advice-filled dissuasion, Jin Yeong-in set aside his stubbornness for the time being.
‘Blood Demon, did you also return to the past? Like me?’
Jin Yeong-in's gaze turned towards the direction of the distant Sacred Blood Clan.
‘If that's the case, you and I must join forces. We have to prevent the Second Coming of the Heavenly Demon, that worst-case disaster.’
The revival of the Heavenly Demon.
The decisive cause of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's downfall.
That was the only concern Jin Yeong-in currently had.