In the Western Regions, there once stood a temple called the Blissful Thunder Serenity Temple.
The Blissful Thunder Serenity Temple boasted a history as ancient as the Lesser Thunder Sound Temple itself.
Its doctrine held that truth could be attained through the harmonious union of yin and yang.
When the Blissful Thunder Serenity Temple was first established, it had operated under strict rules.
Chief among them was the stipulation that the pursuit of yin-yang harmony must never be carried out by force. But as the years passed, the rules were forgotten and the doctrine corrupted.
What had once been a pursuit of truth became a pursuit of pleasure for its own sake.
In the name of extreme gratification, the abduction of girls who had not yet come of age and handsome young boys became commonplace.
When public outrage against their atrocities reached a boiling point, the Lesser Thunder Sound Temple finally intervened.
The Lesser Thunder Sound Temple designated the Blissful Thunder Serenity Temple a public enemy of the Western Regions and rallied allied forces for a punitive campaign.
Though the Blissful Thunder Serenity Temple had built a formidable power base over its long history, it could not withstand the combined offensive of the Western Regions' warriors, united under the Lesser Thunder Sound Temple's banner.
In the end, the Blissful Thunder Serenity Temple crumbled like a sandcastle, and the monks who had committed atrocities for generations were hunted down and killed.
A handful of monks managed to flee. The one who founded White Crimson Temple in this village — the so-called Holy Monk — was their leader.
The Holy Monk settled here along with four maidens who had been his followers and a cadre of monks.
At the time, the realm was in the throes of chaos from the war between the Heavenly Mandate Society and the Nine Great Sects.
On top of that, natural disasters had struck, leaving the villagers' spirits in a state of extreme desolation.
Winning over such people had not been difficult for the Holy Monk and the White Crimson Holy Maidens.
They had staged a passage rite to deceive the people, and by sheer coincidence, the village's misfortunes ceased after that day.
The people came to believe every word the Holy Monk uttered without question.
From that point, the Holy Monk revealed his true ambitions in earnest.
He intended to rebuild White Crimson Temple as a second Blissful Thunder Serenity Temple. To achieve this, he needed power.
The White Crimson Holy Maidens used the Lustful Soul Rapture Art to siphon vital essence from men, and the Holy Monk then absorbed it from the maidens through a dark sorcery called the Blood Essence Absorption Art.
Over the past several years, many men in the village had their vital essence drained, yet not a single one died.
The White Crimson Holy Maidens carefully moderated their extraction.
The men who fell victim to the Lustful Soul Rapture Art never actually engaged in intercourse, yet they were convinced they had. Craving more pleasure, they willingly became the Holy Monk's slaves.
In this way, the Holy Monk and the White Crimson Holy Maidens had spent years bringing the village under their complete control.
"Ho ho. It has been a long time since I have seen such a handsome boy. After the Lesser Thunder Sound Temple destroyed the Blissful Thunder Serenity Temple, there has been no chance to encounter one this fine."
The woman in red licked her lips as she regarded Woo Geom-san.
Her name was Scarlet Child.
She favored robes the color of blood and was a master of seduction and carnal sorcery.
Normally, she used the Lustful Soul Rapture Art to gradually siphon vital essence from men. But when a boy this handsome or this young was brought to her, she would couple with him directly to absorb his essence.
Just then, the woman in blue spoke.
"Dear sister, you know you cannot take all the vital essence for yourself. You need to leave our share."
Her name was Azure Cold.
Her name sounded clean and aloof, but in truth, she was the most lascivious of all the White Crimson Holy Maidens.
Scarlet Child replied with a smile.
"Do not worry. When have I ever kept it all to myself? I will leave you your share, so wait your turn patiently."
"Ho ho. Very well."
"What luck. A handsome boy like this, arriving right before the Red Lotus Festival."
In truth, she preferred coupling directly over using the Lustful Soul Rapture Art to drain vital essence.
But she had no desire to bed the unsightly, foul-smelling village men, so she had relied on the Lustful Soul Rapture Art out of necessity. She was, therefore, quite famished.
The thought of coupling with a handsome young boy for the first time in ages made her feel a dampness stirring below.
Scarlet Child carried Woo Geom-san to her private chamber and laid him on the plush mattress.
"I will show you paradise. Become my dog and serve this body."
She produced a small wooden box from her robe.
Inside lay a tiny crimson pill.
It was a secret elixir called the Heavenly Pleasure Pill, compounded using the arcane methods of the Blissful Thunder Serenity Temple.
A single dose destroyed reason and ignited such explosive lust that the taker would be consumed by intercourse for three days and three nights.
'Damn it!'
Though Woo Geom-san had not yet opened his eyes, he had heard every word exchanged between Scarlet Child and Azure Cold.
From their conversation, he now knew that White Crimson Temple was a successor to the Blissful Thunder Serenity Temple — but in this moment, there was nothing he could do.
His mind was slowly clearing through correct breathing, but his limbs still would not obey.
He had no means whatsoever to defend himself.
Woo Geom-san was a man.
A young man, at that, brimming with vitality.
Of course he was interested in women.
He had thoughts of someday meeting a beautiful, good-hearted woman and building a family.
He had no reason to object to relations with a beautiful woman — but not like this.
He could not lose his mind to a drug and be violated against his will.
Woo Geom-san tried with everything he had to resist, but his limbs still would not respond.
That was when Scarlet Child pried open his lips and pushed the Heavenly Pleasure Pill inside.
The moment it touched saliva, the pill dissolved and slid down his throat in an instant.
'Nngh!'
A searing heat surged into his lower abdomen.
The Heavenly Pleasure Pill was taking effect immediately.
The clarity he had fought so hard to reclaim began to blur again as an overwhelming lust erupted from within. Woo Geom-san felt his reason being paralyzed by desire.
At this rate, he would become the White Crimson Holy Maidens' plaything — drained of vital essence until the day he died.
'I have to control this energy.'
Even as his consciousness dimmed, Woo Geom-san desperately searched for a way.
But with his body paralyzed, there was only one thing he could do.
Breathe correctly.
'I need to let this vile energy flow through and out.'
Woo Geom-san called to mind the principle of non-action in accordance with nature.
Do not force your strength.
Do not resist the principles of nature, but follow the flow, and thereby keep the mind clear at all times.
He had no idea whether this principle would work against the Heavenly Pleasure Pill, but it was the only thing he had to believe in and rely upon.
'Hoo...... hoo......'
Woo Geom-san clung to his fraying thread of consciousness and breathed according to the principle of non-action in accordance with nature.
Scarlet Child watched his struggle with a puzzled expression.
All of this was taking place inside Woo Geom-san.
Naturally, nothing could be discerned from the outside alone.
To all appearances, Woo Geom-san looked perfectly at ease.
"What is this? Is the drug not working?"
Scarlet Child's elegant brows knit sharply.
After a moment of doubt, she shook her head.
This was the Heavenly Pleasure Pill — compounded by the secret methods of the Blissful Thunder Serenity Temple. Its efficacy had been proven over centuries.
Scarlet Child herself had used it dozens of times and had never once failed.
She leaned in and brought her face close to Woo Geom-san's.
His breath grazed her skin.
She noticed a steady rhythm in his breathing.
He was deliberately controlling it — that much was certain.
No one who had completely lost consciousness and reason could maintain such even, measured breathing.
"You...... you have not lost consciousness. How impudent......"
Scarlet Child's expression flickered between disbelief and amusement. But soon, a smile settled onto her face.
"I do not know how you managed to stay conscious, but it makes no difference. The Heavenly Pleasure Pill cannot be overcome by human willpower. In the end, you will submit to me."
The smile on Scarlet Child's lips deepened.
She began to remove her ornate red garments, one piece at a time.
Pale shoulders and a smooth back emerged first, and in moments she stood fully bare.
Unclothed, Scarlet Child's body was dazzlingly beautiful.
Years of draining men's vital essence had left her skin flawless and clear, with a faint, alluring fragrance wafting from it.
A bewitching beauty that could entrance any man, paired with those mesmerizing eyes.
She radiated a violent seductive energy that no able-bodied man could possibly resist.
With snow-white fingers, Scarlet Child caressed and teased Woo Geom-san's body. Each time her fingertips grazed him, his body flinched. He was reacting involuntarily.
Scarlet Child smiled more bewitchingly still and continued her ministrations.
"I wonder how long you can hold out. Ho ho."
She knew precisely how to handle a man.
She intended to use every technique in her arsenal on Woo Geom-san.
"Unless you are a stone Buddha, you will not escape me."
For Woo Geom-san, a time of endurance and agony was beginning.
***
"Hoo."
Baek Ho-yang opened his eyes with a deep exhale.
The residue of Heaven's Soul Incense scattered into the air with his breath.
"To think such a substance exists in this world."
Had it been a straightforward poison, it would have been easier.
His body was all but immune to toxins — almost nothing could penetrate his defenses.
Heaven's Soul Incense was not a poison harmful to the body.
Because it mimicked a poison's effects without being one, countering it was actually harder.
That was why even Baek Ho-yang had needed a considerable amount of time to expel the Heaven's Soul Incense from his system.
Baek Ho-yang surveyed his surroundings with eyes cold as frozen steel.
He was in an enclosed space walled entirely in stone.
Even the entrance was a heavy iron door, sealing him off completely from the outside.
"A dungeon, is it?"
Unlike Woo Geom-san, Baek Ho-yang had never truly lost consciousness.
He had simply refrained from acting in order to learn the identities and intentions of his captors.
But the Heaven's Soul Incense had proved far more potent than expected, costing him more time than he had planned.
Now that the incense had been fully purged from his body, the dungeon could no longer hold him.
"First, I must find Geom-san."
He was worried about what ordeals his grandson might be enduring.
Judging from the men's conversation, White Crimson Temple was very likely not a legitimate temple but a heretical cult.
THUD, THUD—!
Baek Ho-yang pounded on the iron door.
As expected, it held fast.
He formed a sword-finger seal with his right hand and swept it at the door.
SHRRK—!
With a chilling sound of shearing metal, the thick iron door split in two and crashed to the floor.
Though he had escaped the cell, Baek Ho-yang's expression did not brighten.
Aside from the room he had been locked in, dozens more lined a narrow corridor.
Baek Ho-yang peered through the small window set into each iron door.
Inside lay a man — emaciated as a withered husk, skin clinging to bone — sprawled on the floor, gasping for breath.
His vital essence had been nearly drained; the man clung to life by a thread.
And he was far from the only one.
Not every man in the village had welcomed White Crimson Temple.
Those locked in the dungeon had all spoken out against the temple's practices.
White Crimson Temple had imprisoned these dissenting men and was draining their vital energy.
The ghastly sight of the men made Baek Ho-yang shake his head.
"Hoo. I wonder how far human beings can fall."
That was when it happened.
"What? How did you get out?"
Someone spotted Baek Ho-yang and shouted.
It was a monk with a closely shaved head.
An ordinary monk should have had clear, calm eyes, but this one's were red and murky as blood.
Baek Ho-yang recognized instantly that the monk had cultivated heretical arts.
"When the world is in turmoil, heretics run rampant."
"What nonsense, old man?! Get back in your cell while I am still asking nicely."
"I need to find my grandson. I cannot do that."
"Grandson? What is this old fool babbling about—"
"Enough talk. Take me to your leader."
"You have lost your mind. How dare you demand an audience with the Holy Monk."
Killing intent erupted from the monk's eyes.
He unleashed the Rakshasa Soul-Seizing Hands — an ultimate art of the Blissful Thunder Serenity Temple.
Red energy hurtled toward Baek Ho-yang with a ferocity that seemed ready to split him apart.
SHRIEEEEK—!
Baek Ho-yang thrust his sword-finger seal at the Rakshasa Soul-Seizing Hands and murmured:
"Before Quanzhen's teachings, no wicked force holds any power."
Transcendent Sword Formula, Fourth Form — Heart-Shattering Formula.
It was a technique that destroyed not the body, but the mind.
The Heart-Shattering Formula pierced through the Rakshasa Soul-Seizing Hands and reached the monk's very core.
THWACK—!
The instant Baek Ho-yang's finger made contact, the monk felt every ounce of cultivation he had amassed — along with the wickedness festering in his heart — shatter to pieces.
"N— no!"