Tang So-So had only ever wanted freedom.
Though she loved her family, she loved her personal freedom even more.
Being a woman of the Sichuan Tang Clan, she was strictly forbidden from learning weapons unless she possessed overwhelming genius. Unfortunately, she did not. Yet she flatly refused to spend her life as an ordinary bargaining chip for her clan’s political marriages.
So, to claim her freedom, she made a deal with a devil disguised as a friendly old man who promised her unlimited potential.
She was young, sheltered, and naive, so she accepted the offer. From that day on, everyone in the clan looked at her with awe. Her martial talent skyrocketed, and the elders finally permitted her to master the clan’s hidden arts.
Later, as she wandered the martial world, she earned the proud title of Poison Phoenix. But she never imagined that the dark bargain she accepted as a child would return to destroy her the moment she reached the peak of her life.
When she first laid eyes on Lucian in the streets of Luoyang, her senses had flared. She felt a boundless, terrifying life-force radiating from his body, an aura so deep it felt like standing before her grandfather, the Poison God.
At that moment, she had only one thought.
’He can definitely kill me.’
Even the devil who granted her talent did not know she was born with special eyes that could perceive the vitality of living beings.
To defy her fate of being used as a blood puppet to butcher innocent people, she chose to die. But her death had to appear completely natural. If the spell detected intentional sabotage, the mental curse locked inside her brain would detonate, turning her into a mindless beast that slaughtered everyone until she was cut down.
She knew her grandfather could stop her, but a public clash between the Poison God and his granddaughter would create deep cracks between the Tang Clan and the Martial Alliance. That was exactly what the Blood Cult wanted.
So, as her heart gave out, she smiled, deeply grateful to the stranger who sent her to the afterlife in peace. Through their quiet dinner the night before, she had already deduced that Lucian was no cultist.
– T-Thank you...
She could now rest as an ordinary human.
Just like her name suggested—simple and pure—she loved looking at blooming flowers, finding shapes in drifting clouds, eating sweets, and dreaming of martial arts.
She had received great recognition in life, but in her final moments, she was happier than she had ever been.
With that gentle thought, Tang So-So closed her eyes.
***
’You have left me with a heavy burden, Miss Tang,’ Lucian thought, exhaling a quiet breath.
He looked toward the VIP pavilion.
The Poison God, Tang Hyeol, was trembling with silent, violent fury. Yet the old man was firmly held back by the Alliance Leader, who had recognized the demonic Blood Qi radiating from his granddaughter’s corpse.
’I think he knew...’ Lucian narrowed his eyes.
There was no way a master holding the title of God would be completely blind to the dark curse eating his own granddaughter. Lucian had noticed her strange aura from the start, guided by his cultivator instincts and the passive perception of the Eternal Profound Scripture.
As if receiving a silent mental order, the fifty Tang Clan martial artists lowered their poisoned daggers. Two of them stepped onto the shattered stage, lifted Tang So-So’s body with gentle care, and retreated into the shadows.
A wave of panicked whispers swept through the stands. People could not believe that a young mistress from a great noble clan had fallen to the Blood Cult.
Among the crowd, Peng Tai stared in disbelief, Jin Biwah looked completely stunned, and the remaining members of Tang So-So’s travel group stood pale and motionless.
The main announcer stepped onto the boundary stones, his voice booming over the noise.
"Though an unfortunate incident happened, the remaining matches will be held as they are scheduled, we will show the blood cult that the righteous people never back down!"
The crowd erupted into furious shouts.
"Destroy the blood cult!"
"Kill the Blood Demon!"
Cries demanding the total destruction of the cult grew louder.
"The next match is between Hyeon Gwang from Shaolin and Ryu Woon, a wanderer!" the announcer called out.
Two figures leaped onto the second platform; a bald monk in saffron robes and a quiet wanderer with a plain sword.
"Namo Amitabha, this humble monk seeks a lesson," Hyeon Gwang greeted, holding his wooden staff with one hand.
The wanderer gave a quiet nod, resting his hand on his hilt.
The moment the gong sounded, both men charged forward.
Hyeon Gwang’s wooden staff ignited with a golden, evil-cleansing radiance as he unleashed Shaolin’s 72 Arts. The wanderer countered with flowing, dark blue water qi. Both fighters were firmly at the Peak Realm.
Hyeon Gwang swung his staff in a wide circle, then thrust his free palm forward: the Arhat’s Palm. A golden hand of light shot across the stones to pin the wanderer down.
Ryu Woon twisted his body mid-air, dodging the palm strike by an inch. He closed the gap in a blur, engaging the monk in rapid close combat.
SWISH! THWACK!
Heavy wind whipped across the platform as steel met treated wood. Yet despite the rapid exchanges, neither fighter seemed willing to commit to a decisive blow.
The clash dragged on. Hyeon Gwang’s brow furrowed, sensing that the wanderer was deliberately stalling for time.
Suddenly, a series of muffled thuds echoed from the spectator stands.
Several people in the crowd abruptly detonated into showers of dark crimson blood. One such explosion erupted where Lucian was standing.
Ryu Woon smiled coldly. He stopped fighting, lowered his blade, and spoke a short, guttural phrase in an unknown language.
SHING—!
From the high pavilion, a colossal sword strike descended from the clouds. Infused with the pure, swirling balance of Taiji, the strike swallowed Ryu Woon whole, turning him to ash.
It was an attack from Alliance Leader Cheong Heo himself.
Yet the moment Ryu Woon died, the spilled blood in the stands reacted. A dark, sickening sorcery flared to life across the arena.
Every single person who had been splashed by the fresh blood suddenly vanished into thin air, leaving only empty space behind.
The Alliance Leader, the clan patriarchs, and the grandmasters looked around the empty seats in absolute shock.
"How can such a thing exist?" Namgung Cheonryeong muttered, his face pale.
Dozens of people had been abducted in broad daylight before the eyes of the greatest masters in the Central Plains.
Cheong Heo’s voice cut through the terrified silence like a sharpened blade.
"We are now at an all out war with the blood cult, gather every small and big force and someone calls the Head of Mount Mao Sect, and if he says he is in seclusion again tell him he will be declared enemy of the alliance."
Every martial enforcer on the field dropped to one knee.
"We follow your orders."
Thus came an abrupt conclusion to the Dragon Phoenix Tournament.
Yet, this sudden end unexpectedly yielded the exact outcome the Martial Alliance wanted. That fateful day, Murim’s new public enemy was born.
***
Lucian felt the space around him violently distort. He tried to resist the binding force with his qi, but the strange sorcery overwhelmed him.
In the next moment, he landed on cold stone inside a pitch-black cave alongside the other tournament finalists.
Before anyone had time to think, hundreds of flying daggers appeared in the air. Each blade dripped with thick, malicious Blood Qi, shooting straight toward their throats.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Lucian used Qi Sense Breath immediately mapped the dark cavern, sensing the other candidates reacting around him.
A black dragon made of dark Sword Qi roared into the gloom. A storm of pink plum blossom petals bloomed across the cave, slicing through incoming daggers. A white crane seemed to leap across the ceiling, a glowing Yin-Yang symbol redirected a barrage of blades, and a heavy golden palm strike slammed downward to crush the remaining weapons.
Kwa! Kwa! Boom! Boom!
Everyone unleashed their martial arts at once.
When the dust finally cleared, Lucian saw the five figures standing beside him: Seo Jin, the Divine Dragon of Mount Hua; Mu Cheong-yeon, the Sword Phoenix from Kunlun; Do-won, a First Class Wudang disciple; Hyeon Gwang from Shaolin; and Han Mu-gyeol, the Black Dragon from the Black Dragon Sect.
"It seems we are now trapped in a formation, what a strange sorcery," Seo Jin commented, lowering his sword.
"Namo Amitabha, donors, we should immediately contact the alliance after getting out from here," Hyeon Gwang stated, gripping his wooden staff.
"Damn it! I shouldn’t have left home, but monk, I don’t think we can easily escape this formation?" Han Mu-gyeol commented, spitting on the cave floor.
The barrage of daggers ended, but a thick, purple mist immediately flooded the chamber.
Everyone’s expression turned grim as their internal breath stalled.
"Qi dispersing poison, these blood cult bastards!" Mu Cheong-yeon, the Sword Phoenix, gritted her teeth.
"It seems this was not a random plan attack, does anyone have any ideas on how we can get out of here?" Do-won, the Wudang disciple, asked with strangely calm eyes.
"I think this will be easier than I thought," Lucian said, stepping forward.
The others looked at him sharply.
Lucian had already mapped the entire structure using his sense. It was mostly a mechanical array operated by hidden gears. The poison was meant to paralyze ordinary martial artists so they couldn’t break the walls.
For a cultivator, however, the poison was useless. The toxin barely entered his veins before Lucian channeled pure Fire Qi, burning the foreign poison completely out of his body.
Lucian drew his sword. Circulating his qi, he unleashed Micro-Point Piercing Light.
Dozens of needle-sharp beams of white light erupted from his blade, striking the hidden gears in the stone walls with pin-point precision.
Boom! Boom! Creak!
The mechanical formation shattered completely.
Before the dust settled, Lucian gathered dense Earth Qi into his right fist and threw an upward punch into the low ceiling.
CRASH!
The solid bedrock parted like soft sand. Daylight poured down into the dark cavern from an open hole leading directly to the forest floor above.
"..."
Silence reigned over the cave.
Seo Jin stared at Lucian, his voice shaking.
"S-Supreme Peak?"
"Let’s get out of here first, we can discuss later," Lucian said plainly. Explaining cultivation to them right now would be far too bothersome.
One by one, the prodigies leaped through the opening. When they arrived on the grassy surface, their hearts sank.
They were already surrounded.
Nearly fifty fighters in crimson robes stood in a tight perimeter. At the front stood a young man with crimson hair and matching red eyes, wearing luxurious blood-red silk.
"How strange? You all should be deeply exhausted by the formation, not to mention you didn’t appear on the exit route we planted? I already did my research, none among you know mechanical formations, so how is this possible?" The red-robed man spoke.
The prodigies fell into despair the moment they felt the suffocating aura radiating from his body.
"H-How are you here?" Mu Cheong-yeon asked, taking an involuntary step back.
It was impossible for her not to recognize him. Kunlun had placed this monster at the very top of their sect’s kill list.
"Heaven Slaying Star!"
Lucian observed the young man’s abnormal red energy.
’Does he have some special body?’
Lucian focused his gaze past the front line, spotting another figure standing quietly. It was an old man with a horribly disfigured face.
The elder wasn’t paying attention to the battle; his cold eyes were carefully searching the six candidates, as if looking for someone specific among them.
Surrounded by fifty elite cultists, the six prodigies appeared completely doomed.
Before long, their severed heads would be paraded as trophies before the dogs of the righteous factions, signaling the terrifying re-emergence of the Blood Cult.
Or at least, they should have been.