When the Five Venoms Sect took the Blood Cult under its control, it didn’t seize all of its Central Plains branches in one fell swoop.

The main headquarters of the Blood Cult might have been another matter, but the branches scattered across the Central Plains could not be captured all at once.

They had been established in secret to avoid the eyes of the martial world, and the information about their existence was known only to the upper leadership of the Cult—so the Five Venoms Sect couldn’t identify them quickly.

Moreover, the Martial Alliance's vigilant watch made it difficult to move troops into the Central Plains.

Still, by feeding the higher-ups of the Blood Cult with parasites and interrogating them, the Five Venoms Sect was eventually able to uncover the locations of many branches and secretly dispatch forces to take over the larger ones.

However, some members of the Blood Cult slipped through the Five Venoms Sect’s grasp.

These were the branches that had gone into hiding after realizing other branches were under attack.

And then there were the spies who had been secretly collecting information in the Central Plains and only communicated with a select few of the main headquarters' high command—they were lucky enough to escape the Five Venoms Sect’s clutches.

A few months ago, a Blood Cult member who had infiltrated the Martial Alliance was exposed, resulting in the annihilation of the Wuhuan branch. With their foundation for advancing into the Central Plains completely destroyed, many Blood Cult members lost their lives. But ironically, that incident became a blessing in disguise.

When a branch near Wuhuan was exposed and the Martial Alliance began to crack down on Blood Cult operatives, most of the spies severed contact with the main headquarters and went into hiding, allowing a good number of them to avoid falling into the Five Venoms ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ Sect’s hands.

One of those who went into hiding was Nan-hwa, Vice Commander of the Blood Cult’s Blood Shade Unit.

Her role had been to gather intelligence along with a dozen subordinates throughout Hebei and Shandong—regions where factions like the Taesan Sect, the Hwangbo Clan, the Shandong Ak Clan, the Jinju Eon Clan, and the Peng Clan were located—and report back to the main headquarters.

Thanks to that, Nan-hwa quickly realized the Wuhuan branch had been exposed and severed contact with the headquarters, vanishing with her subordinates.

Or rather than vanishing... it would be more accurate to say she stayed put?

There was no real need to disappear, after all—the headquarters hadn’t even been informed of their current identities. So they simply remained where they were.

The place they settled in was a cluster of small villages in Hebei.

Because she and her subordinates had already been dispersed across those villages, it was easy for them to pass as villagers.

There was absolutely no chance of being discovered.

Thanks to her Soul-Snaring Technique, the villagers believed she was the daughter-in-law of the village head—so there was no reason anyone would suspect her.

The powerful suggestion of her Soul-Snaring Technique made the villagers sincerely believe she was one of their own.

It was during this period, with all contact from the upper command cut off for several months, that an emergency order came through a different covert channel.

“Lay down your life for His resurrection.”

Nan-hwa was horrified by the command.

To give one’s life for His resurrection—that was a directive issued only when the Blood Cult faced total annihilation, telling the remaining members to carry on the Cult’s legacy.

It was an acknowledgment that the Cult could no longer be saved, and that those who remained should instead devote themselves to the revival of the Blood Demon, the ultimate dream of the Blood Cult.

She had heard the order had been issued once before when the Cult was driven from the Central Plains. This was the first time since then.

“I can’t believe this! Go check the state of the headquarters at once!”

“Yes, Vice Commander!”

Nan-hwa couldn’t comprehend the idea that the Cult was on the brink of destruction.

She immediately dispatched four of her remaining subordinates, who had been scattered across nearby villages, to investigate the main headquarters—but months later, only one returned.

“Khrrk... The Cult has fallen to the Five Venoms Sect!”

The returning Blood Cult warrior reported with a voice full of anguish.

“Fallen?!”

“They used poison capable of incapacitating Blood Cult members to subdue all the elders and warriors. They forced them to swallow parasites and now treat them like slaves.

The brothers I traveled with were discovered by the Five Venoms bastards... and because they weren’t strong enough, they were fed to venomous beasts on the spot! Khrrk... khrrk!”

“What—what’s happening to you?!”

“I-I’m sorry... Vice Commander... Blood Reigns Beneath Heaven!”

—SPLURCH!

He delivered the Cult’s final message... and then his head exploded.

A grotesque insect wriggled out from his skull.

—CRUNCH!

“You Five Venoms bastards... you damn parasites!”

Overcome with rage at the sight of her subordinate’s tragic end, Nan-hwa stomped the insect into paste.

And then, in her fury, she resolved to defy the Cult’s command.

Not once since joining the Cult had she ever disobeyed an order, but the rage she felt after seeing her subordinate’s head explode was too much to suppress.

“Five Venoms Sect... I swear I won’t die without taking you down first!”

Revenge.

This grudge would not be appeased without blood.

Someone else hiding in the shadows would carry on the mission to revive the Blood Cult.

No—if she could bring down the Five Venoms Sect, that itself would preserve the Cult’s legacy.

But her martial strength was lacking. To get revenge, she had to become stronger first.

And for a Blood Cultist, there was only one path to power.

By consuming large quantities of human blood.

And so, she began slowly harvesting blood from the villagers she was hiding among.

Thanks to the Soul-Snaring Technique already cast on them all, extracting blood wasn’t difficult.

“Just you wait...”

Using the techniques she had learned, she would make small incisions on their necks or wrists and draw a bit of blood each day. She continued this practice for several months.

But the blood she collected was limited in amount, and it wasn’t the blood of martial artists, so her cultivation didn’t rise as quickly as she hoped.

Then, troubling rumors reached her ears—and made her grow anxious.

“They say two hundred Blood Cult members were wiped out attacking the Sacheon Tang Clan?”

She had been slowly advancing her cultivation by drinking villager blood when she heard the shocking news that Blood Cult members had been annihilated while attacking the Tang Clan.

“Yes, Vice Commander. I just heard it from some warriors while selling charcoal to the Ak Clan.”

“Do you know who those brothers were?”

“No, I wasn’t able to find that out.”

They had sent a group to retrieve the Blood-Water Venom Claw from the Tang Clan, but it wasn’t supposed to be an all-out war. And with only two hundred people?

That made no sense.

As she pondered the bizarre report, she came to a conclusion.

“What on earth is going on?”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

“The Five Venoms bastards clearly used our brothers as a disposable gambit!”

According to the report her subordinate had risked his life to deliver, the Blood Cult was completely enslaved by the Five Venoms Sect’s parasites.

There was no way the Cult would have ordered two hundred of its own members to their deaths. It had to have been a throwaway move by the Five Venoms Sect for some unknown purpose.

Hearing this, Nan-hwa’s anger and anxiety intensified—and she began drawing even more blood than before.

Because the longer she delayed, the more of her brothers would be sacrificed.

Eventually, after pushing her blood harvesting to the limit, the villagers began showing signs of anemia.

And from there, events took an unexpected turn.

“How strange... everyone in the village seems to be suffering from anemia.”

One day, a passing physician, in return for lodging, checked the villagers’ pulses and suggested herbs that would help with anemia.

That visit seemed like it would end harmlessly with the doctor just giving advice.

But soon after, government officials arrived.

With their appearance, Nan-hwa began to worry that she might have to abandon the village.

But if they examined the situation even a little, they’d see it wasn’t an epidemic.

She didn’t feel especially threatened by mere officials. Yet after looking at the symptoms, the officials sent in government soldiers.

No—those damn officials had concluded it was an epidemic without even doing a proper investigation.

They didn’t even step into the village, just made a show of looking around from the outside, then reported that there seemed to be an outbreak.

“Damn it... I guess I’ll have to clean everything up and look for a new place.”

“Yes, Vice Commander. I’ll also inform the others nearby who are gathering blood to prepare.”

The situation was drawing far too much attention.

Just when Nan-hwa decided she could no longer hold out and had to clean up the village and leave, it happened.

She planned to depart the next day—but before she could, the weakest of the villagers she’d been feeding on suddenly died. And immediately, the village was sealed off.

Just yesterday, they had still been allowed to go to nearby fields or mountains, but now, no one was permitted a single step beyond the village.

‘Damn it... Why does everything just keep going wrong...?’

She thought the situation had already spiraled out of control—until it spiraled even further.

That’s when the Immortal of Medicine and the Immortal of Herbs arrived.

“We’re saved!”

“They say the Immortal of Medicine has arrived!”

“T-The Immortal of Medicine?”

“Yes! He came with the Immortal of Herbs! Madam, we’re all saved!”

“W-With the Immortal of Herbs too?”

Things were rapidly heading toward the worst possible outcome.

***

The ones who arrived in the village were the Immortal of Medicine, the Immortal of Herbs, and what seemed to be a young boy—likely the grandson of one of the two.

He wore crimson armor, the kind that would only be given to someone extremely precious.

Which meant they were clearly protecting him.

But more importantly, Nan-hwa was beginning to panic at the arrival of the two legendary healers.

‘This is bad... really bad.’

And for good reason—her communication with her subordinates had been cut off with government soldiers surrounding the village.

If it were just some bumbling officials, she might not have worried. But these were the Immortal of Medicine and the Immortal of Herbs—renowned throughout the martial world for their skill. If anyone could identify the symptoms of someone being drained of blood, it would be them.

The situation was hopelessly tangled. Exposure felt imminent.

Nervous and desperate, Nan-hwa made a bold decision.

If it’s come to this, she would simply take both of them.

‘If I’m going down anyway, I’ll harvest both of their blood essences and use it to break through!’

When the Blood Cult’s Wuhuan branch was wiped out after one of their spies was discovered in the Martial Alliance, she and her subordinates had gone into hiding. That was what had spared them from the Five Venoms Sect.

She wondered if this, too, might be a blessing in disguise.

It was said that the martial levels of the Immortal of Medicine and Immortal of Herbs were not particularly high—just around the peak level.

Nan-hwa herself had reached peak level recently by drinking blood.

If she could take out even one of them, she could use the villagers already under her Soul-Snaring Technique and her martial arts to take down the other.

If the villagers died in the process of fighting back, all the better—they would still serve as sources of blood essence.

She decided to use the village chief to tail the boy who had left alone to collect medicinal herbs.

The excuse of carrying herbs was perfect.

As they made their way down a narrow forest path, she noticed the boy walking with a dazed expression.

It was the perfect moment.

“Young master?”

The boy turned his head with a vacant expression as Nan-hwa called out to him.

Wearing a bright smile, Nan-hwa cast her Soul-Snaring Technique.

And then came his dumbfounded reply.

“Huh...”

“You’ve fallen under my Soul-Snaring Technique. There’s no escaping it. Hehe.”

With a cold smile, Nan-hwa dove into the boy’s mental world to implant a suggestion.

“When you wake up... you’ll stab your grandfather for me.”

***

As Nan-hwa entered the boy’s mental realm, she felt a strange resistance.

Usually, entering the mind of an ordinary person was a simple task—but this time, it felt... blocked.

There was some kind of resistance, like trying to push through something thick.

She chalked it up to the boy’s young age. But the moment she opened her eyes inside the mental world—

The landscape reflected a dense tropical jungle, just like the Blood Cult’s main headquarters.

But that wasn’t what caught her attention.

Nan-hwa found herself surrounded.

Seven women encircled her, and behind each of them loomed the vague silhouettes of massive venomous beasts.

The boy lay behind them, the only one of them not shadowed by a spirit beast.

A cold voice rang out from the woman standing before him.

“You. This looks like So-ryong’s mind. What the hell are you doing here?”

“W-Well, that is...”

Nan-hwa stammered, crushed by the overwhelming pressure.

A red-haired girl looked at her and shouted.

—Tssr! That woman stared at Daddy and made him all dazed! She said something about Soul-Something!

The killing intent exploded.

An unimaginable wave of pressure bore down on Nan-hwa, suffocating her.

—Grrr... Then this is her doing for sure. You! What did you do to So-ryong?! If you hurt him, you won’t leave here alive!

—Tsstsstsr. Cheongwol, let’s just hurt her already!

—Tssrt! Yeah! How dare she touch Daddy?!

—Shiaa. Shall we start by ripping off her arms and legs?

—Piii? Food?

—Gulp.

Nan-hwa swallowed hard.

To think this boy harbored such monstrous things in his mental realm... He couldn’t be human.

It looked like this would be Nan-hwa’s final day.