Elixir
The Black Sand Gang leader’s mind was dazed. He was so overwhelmed, he couldn’t even muster fear. It was all too sudden.
He had just been encouraging his subordinates, planning to corner Seo Yeonwoo.
Up until then, he’d felt utterly confident.
Even before Seo Yeonwoo reached this place, he’d been sure he could capture and kill him, no matter how strong he was.
But not anymore.
His numerical advantage crumbled in an instant, and even the secret techniques he’d long treasured lost their effect to Seo Yeonwoo’s skills—even though they’d come from the Heaven Piercing Cult, the nightmare of the Central Plains.
His spirit was broken. Worse than the deep internal injuries that made it hard to move.
The cultivated power swirling throughout his entire body began to slip from his control.
On top of that, the red pill he’d gotten from Heaven Piercing Cult—the energy it gave him rampaged inside, making his condition even worse.
“Get up. Are you going to die this pathetically?”
Just then, Seo Yeonwoo approached him with a mocking sneer.
The sight of Seo Yeonwoo terrified the Black Sand Gang leader even more than the pain.
By sheer will, the Black Sand Gang leader staggered to his feet.
“That’s right, just like that.”
Seo Yeonwoo looked at him as if he was a child who’d done something praiseworthy, continuing to mock him.
Seogeok―
In that moment, Seo Yeonwoo’s sword flashed.
At the same time, the Black Sand Gang leader’s left hand was severed.
“Kuaaaagh―!”
Barely upright, the Black Sand Gang leader screamed.
But it seemed he hadn’t fully surrendered yet—his body squirmed in resistance.
However, he didn’t have a chance to act on it.
Seo Yeonwoo swung his sword again, this time carving a wound into his side.
It was a powerful strike, deep enough to shatter bone and tear organs.
And then, after a breath—a moment for the enemy to savor the pain and fear—Seo Yeonwoo moved again.
By the time both arms were severed, the Black Sand Gang leader’s eyes turned pitch black.
He’d fallen into complete demonic deviation. Not long after, dark red blood streamed from his Seven Apertures.
Before he knew it, Seo Yeonwoo had already finished off all the Black Sand Gang members and stood there with an imposing presence, watching him.
The Black Sand Gang leader cried out to Seo Yeonwoo, almost pleading.
“Kill me. Please.”
He wanted nothing else—just for the pain to stop, for the fear to end, to escape, even through death. The Black Sand Gang leader wanted only that.
Ulkeok― Again, he vomited a bowlful of blood; his eyes already had the dull, empty look of death, as if his soul had departed.
“Please, please kill me!”
Summoning the last of his strength, the Black Sand Gang leader shouted with all his might.
“… Very well.”
Seo Yeonwoo nodded.
The sword flashed—a world flipping, tumbling to black—
“… Very well.”
After swinging the sword, Seo Yeonwoo watched as the Black Sand Gang leader, now beheaded, slowly toppled over.
‘That was excessive.’
He’d gotten too worked up by the trace of the Heaven Piercing Cult. There was no need to go this far.
Yet for all that, Seo Yeonwoo felt a heavy weight in his heart.
The Heaven Piercing Cult Leader.
In the last moments before his regression, it was that absolute master who’d overwhelmed him.
Standing before the Heaven Piercing Cult Leader, Seo Yeonwoo had been hardly different from the Black Sand Gang leader.
His heart had been full of nothing but rage and hatred, and though his will had never been broken, that was all.
Had it not been for the miraculous regression, he would have died just as meaninglessly.
It wasn’t something he needed to rush, but clearly, he needed to become far stronger than he had been before his regression.
To end all of this, he would have to face the Heaven Piercing Cult Leader.
‘No, just facing him isn’t enough.’
I have to be able to cut him down.
Seo Yeonwoo muttered to himself, his voice barely audible.
The hand clutching his sword bulged with pale veins.
Resolute, Seo Yeonwoo stepped over the scattered corpses and moved forward.
He stopped at the gate marked with the nameplate of the Black Sand Gang.
Drawing his sword, Seo Yeonwoo looked up at the plaque engraved with “Black Sand Gang”.
In the next moment, his sword drew a fierce path through the air with a chilling slicing sound.
The end of that arc was the Black Sand Gang’s signboard.
Tuduk―
The signboard, split neatly in half, fell limply to the ground.
“The Black Sand Gang is finished.”
Seo Yeonwoo muttered with a complicated tone.
In just over a single night since his regression, he’d erased the Black Sand Gang from the world.
It was nothing more than the destruction of a 3rd-rate Black Path gang.
Such things happened every day across the vast Central Plains.
And yet, the Black Sand Gang was the place where, in his life before regression, Seo Yeonwoo had fought for years, risking his life.
Naturally, that left him feeling rather complicated.
Swallowing down those mixed emotions, Seo Yeonwoo stepped over the threshold and entered the Black Sand Gang’s compound.
After all, the true foe he needed to confront was the Heaven Piercing Cult.
Compared to that, the Black Sand Gang was nothing—a speck of dust. There was no will to waste any energy here.
All the gang members who could fight had already been mobilized and killed, so only servants, workers, and commoners remained inside.
Having heard and seen the commotion outside, everyone inside was tense. With the Black Sand Gang members slaughtered, they feared they might be next.
One young woman in servant’s garb broke down in terrified sobs.
“Huk, heuk.”
“I know you’re scared, but… keep quiet and don’t draw attention, unless you want to die first!”
Another similarly dressed woman whispered in her ear, whether in comfort or warning.
He held no intention of harming them. Even so, Seo Yeonwoo, who’d overheard their exchange with his sharply tuned hearing, sighed softly.
Come to think of it, it was only natural that they’d be so scared.
He’d just killed the Black Sand Gang leader and countless members they’d worshipped like the sky, and appeared before them, drenched in blood.
Seo Yeonwoo spoke.
“Who’s in charge here?”
No one dared breathe, let alone answer. So he asked again.
“I don’t care who—it could be anyone representing those here. I have no intention of harming you. I only want to discuss your circumstances.”
His calm, measured tone encouraged an old servant, who stepped forward after glancing at those around him.
“I manage the household affairs here, and I have been with the gang the longest.”
Bowing low enough for his head to touch the ground, the old servant answered.
“Good. Those who wish to leave, may leave. Old man, help anyone who leaves with some travel money.”
The old man’s face paled in shock at that.
“W-what do you mean?”
“I mean I’ll let you live, so leave. Oh, and if anyone feels a strong attachment to those who died and wants revenge, tell me now. I’ll gladly send you to join them.”
Seo Yeonwoo slowly swept his gaze over the crowd as he spoke.
“A chivalrous warrior, truly… Thank you, thank you!”
Despite his confusion, the old servant bowed repeatedly, expressing his gratitude.
A chivalrous warrior. Seo Yeonwoo smiled bitterly to himself. That wasn’t the sort of label that suited him.
Still, it wasn’t such a bad feeling being called a chivalrous warrior.
Maybe, in this life, he could play that role—even if only as a facade.
In any case, he was planning to head for the Murim Alliance next.
“In that case, since no one seems eager to fight me… I’ll look around inside for a bit. Old man, please tidy things up while I do.”
With that, Seo Yeonwoo trudged off toward the office the Black Sand Gang leader had used.
“Ah.”
He suddenly remembered something as he reached the door.
“Could you also help spread word of this? That a certain chivalrous warrior demolished the Black Sand Gang—a gang that slaughtered commoners, poisoned vagrants, and committed all manner of brutality.”
“Yes, of course! Certainly, I will!”
The old man replied eagerly, bowing deeply.
‘Did he suffer at the hands of the Black Sand Gang or something?’
It was almost too enthusiastic a response.
Well, that’s how people on the dark side are, Seo Yeonwoo thought, not giving it much more thought.
Spreading the story this way would help when he joined the Murim Alliance later.
The righteous sect types were more stringent than they appeared.
‘How archaic.’
That was Seo Yeonwoo’s brief judgement on the Black Sand Gang leader’s office.
He’d clearly tried to show off with inkstones, blades, and all sorts of trinkets, but from Seo Yeonwoo’s perspective, none of it was worth much.
Judging by this, there wouldn’t be much to expect, but still, he couldn’t leave without searching.
With long strides, Seo Yeonwoo rummaged through every corner of the office.
He was looking for the secret chamber the bald man had mentioned.
He instinctively sensed there would be something connected to the Blood Demon Pill hidden there.
Using his ki sense to search, Seo Yeonwoo’s eyes gleamed as he found something.
A false wall that appeared empty caught his attention. Seo Yeonwoo pushed against it with his hand.
A hidden space was revealed.
‘Is this the Black Sand Gang leader’s cultivation chamber?’
As expected, there wasn’t much to see.
A few pills were lined up on a stone shelf, but they were mostly just nutritional supplements—hardly true elixirs, some of them even faulty.
Just as he was giving up hope, Seo Yeonwoo noticed something familiar hidden deep inside the shelf.
Several items that looked like the raw opium distributed from the Heaven Piercing Cult to the Central Plains.
As expected, at this point in time, the Black Sand Gang was already faithfully serving as the Heaven Piercing Cult’s lackeys.
But what really drew Seo Yeonwoo’s eye was a blood-red pill wrapped in white paper.
The Blood Demon Pill.
“There was a spare?”
He picked it up and murmured. A decent harvest.
For most martial artists, the Blood Demon Pill is poison.
Imbued with all sorts of sinister sorcery from the Heaven Piercing Cult, it’s more like a narcotic than an elixir.
‘But the Blood Demon Pill definitely contains pure ki, condensed within.’
It’s just that most martial artists can’t discern it or extract it.
But Seo Yeonwoo was different.
Having fought the Heaven Piercing Cult for many years, Seo Yeonwoo was exceptionally skilled at controlling the evil energy they wielded.
He’d also studied their pills, even consuming them himself.
Because of that, Seo Yeonwoo could use the Blood Demon Pill to replenish his internal energy.
He picked up the red pill and put it straight in his mouth, going into meditation.
Sitting cross-legged, he chewed the pill, spitting out part of it—those spots where the demonic energy had accumulated.
He would still need to circulate his energy and expel more later, but this alone reduced much of the risk.
After swallowing the remainder, Seo Yeonwoo slowly began circulating his Heaven-Gazing Ki Art.
The internal energy generated in his dantian spread out through his entire body.
Veins bulged in his bloodshot eyes as the vile energy from the Blood Demon Pill rebelled against his attempt to circulate pure ki, rampaging violently within him.
“Kgh….”
He stifled the groans that escaped his lips. Enduring this sort of pain was nothing new to him.
After regaining his calm, Seo Yeonwoo began reciting the mnemonic formula of the Heaven-Gazing Ki Art.
Guided by the formula, his will took complete command over the pill’s energy.
He discarded the energy he could not tolerate in his body, extracting and absorbing only the ki useful for enhancing his true energy.
Thus, what would be poison for most martial artists became an elixir in Seo Yeonwoo’s hands.
After a long while, when the distinction between what to discard and what to keep became perfectly clear—
The energy refined into medicinal efficacy gathered in his dantian.
Meanwhile, the waste energy clumped together, ready for expulsion.
Once the sinister energy was entirely under control, he forced the clumped impurities out in one go—retching up a lump of thick, blackened blood.
“Phew, vile stuff.”
Seo Yeonwoo muttered, squinting at the clot with a half-open eye.
Wiping his mouth, he focused again on the flow of true energy inside his body—specifically, the dantian, now infused with the pill’s medicinal power.
Even at a glance, the true energy in his dantian was vastly greater than before he took the Blood Demon Pill.
As Seo Yeonwoo gauged the amount, a smile crossed his lips.
‘At this rate, I should have more internal energy than that Gu Gyeom bastard.’
It was nonsense to compare himself with his pre-regression self, and even compared to the rising stars of the great orthodox sects, he was still behind in terms of raw internal power.
However, his ability to control and wield true energy was incomparably superior, so the martial prowess he could actually display would be a different story than mere internal power or its volume.
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