Chapter 137
‘Ugh… Neo-Nazis? That’s the worst.’
Come to think of it, quite a few strange people came looking for us at first.
People who thought they could kill and rob others simply by invoking the Blood Cult’s name.
There was even one lunatic who brought the blood of an innocent person, calling it an offering.
Naturally, I had every one of them executed.
At the time, I thought they were just crazies.
‘So they came because they really thought the Blood Cult of the past had been resurrected.’
There was a reason my perception of the Blood Cult differed so greatly from that of the orthodox faction.
Of course, the Blood Cult had inflicted great harm on civilians in the past, but that was more than a century ago.
So ordinary people and wandering martial artists with no affiliation thought of it only as some vague villainous group from legend.
Since we fed them, cured their illnesses, and granted them power right before their eyes, they accepted it without much resistance.
Since I had only seen and heard reactions like that in Namyang, my own perception had naturally aligned with theirs.
But to the orthodox faction, which had suffered the greatest losses, the Blood Cult was still an ongoing trauma.
“And….”
The Namgung Family Head spoke with some hesitation.
“Since you are a white-haired woman with red eyes, your appearance naturally reminds us of that Blood Lord from the past. I understand you are not completely identical, but….”
‘Gasp.’
Hearing that, I understood how this situation must look from the Namgung Family’s perspective.
To put it metaphorically, it was like this.
The heir of a family had started associating with a group of neo-Nazis, then come home and said, ‘I think they might actually be nice!’
So the adults had panicked and locked her in her room, only for the neo-Nazi Führer with a distinctive mustache to suddenly smash through the front gate and barge in.
‘…That is a little violent.’
I could see why they felt that way.
There had been a reason the gatekeepers and the elder had freaked out even though I had only asked to talk.
Of course, it was wrong of them to draw their swords first without even hearing me out, but there were ample grounds to make allowances for them.
Just then.
The Namgung Family Head finally managed to speak.
“Are you… truly the same person as that Blood Lord from the past?”
The Namgung Family Head looked at me with an expression of taut tension.
Namgung Yeonhee, seated beside him, was also watching me with an anxious, earnest expression.
‘Hmm.’
I thought about it for a moment.
The quest I had been given was to make the Blood Cult’s renown resound among the orthodox and demonic factions.
If so, inheriting the infamous Blood Cult of the past exactly as it was might be more advantageous for my progress.
If I claimed to be that Blood Lord from the past, I would surely spread a tremendous infamy.
But.
‘No. How could I impersonate such a terrible bastard!’
Even if it was for a quest, I absolutely couldn’t pretend to be a murderer who treated people like livestock and thirsted for blood.
This time, even [Noble Demeanor] was entirely in agreement with my feelings.
For the first time in a while, I spoke with genuine displeasure in my voice.
“How insolent.”
The atmosphere turned icy.
Narrowing my eyes at the startled Namgung Family Head and Namgung Yeonhee,
“How dare you compare me to such a lowly scoundrel?”
“Th-then that means….”
“Indeed. This One is not the Blood Lord of the past.”
At my emphatic declaration, the tension left their stiffened shoulders.
Clear relief appeared on the Namgung Family Head’s face, while Namgung Yeonhee stared blankly at me.
But only for a moment.
“Then you seem to hate the Blood Cult and Blood Lord of the past as well. Why, then, would you deliberately use that name again?”
The Namgung Family Head voiced his doubts.
‘Why? Because of the quest.’
The system told me to rebuild the ‘Blood Cult,’ so obviously I had to call it the Blood Cult.
I would have preferred a name like the True Ancestor Order or the Prophet Order, but what else could I do when it told me to resurrect the Blood Cult?
But I couldn’t tell them any of that.
I wondered what to do for a moment, then.
‘Hmm. Should I come up with a backstory like this?’
I quickly racked my brain and came up with an answer.
“They were the ones who usurped my name and the name of my cult.”
“By ‘usurped’ you mean… they stole the name?”
“It is a long story, so I cannot tell you every detail of what happened.”
I put on a solemn expression, as though I were concealing some tremendous secret of the world.
“But this much is certain. While I was away for a time due to certain circumstances, that group foolishly sullied the name of the Blood Cult.”
I paused, then brought my statement to a close in a dignified voice.
“But now that I have returned, I have come to rebuild the True Blood Cult!”
“……!!”
My declaration greatly shook the Namgung Family Head and Namgung Yeonhee.
“The True… Blood Cult….”
The Namgung Family Head stroked his chin and muttered quietly, then looked at me.
“If what you say is true… then that fiend from the past was impersonating you, the true Blood Lord, and pretending to be you.”
I silently nodded.
Namgung Yeonhee gave a small gasp.
“The Blood Arts must be the same, then. The true Blood Arts can be practiced according to their proper principles without forcibly taking the blood of others, but because they were a false group, they had to harm people and use them as sacrifices to perform their sorcery.”
‘Huh?’
Wait, they were filling in even the detailed backstory among themselves without me doing anything?
I didn’t need to rack my brain and add anything at all.
“Hmm. You are indeed clever.”
I nodded slowly, putting on a grave air.
“……Thank you.”
Namgung Yeonhee slightly lowered her head, looking shy.
The atmosphere shifted somewhat.
Namgung Yeonhee now seemed to trust me almost completely,
while the Namgung Family Head still did not seem to fully believe me, but his hostility had definitely diminished considerably.
‘Good. It looks like it worked.’
The True Blood Cult.
It was an improvised backstory, but it sounded quite plausible.
All that time I spent reading wuxia web novels had paid off!
Relieved, I leisurely lifted my teacup and took a sip,
‘…Cough, it’s bitter!’
I regretted it almost immediately.
It smelled nice, but it tasted far too bitter.
I wanted to spit it out, but after making such a show of composure, I couldn’t do that.
In the end, I had no choice but to swallow the bitter tea by force, tears welling in my eyes.
‘Once this is over, I shall go back and eat two tanghulu. No—three…!’
I made a firm resolution to myself, even using my True Ancestor manner of speech.
***
Namgung Cheon was lost in deep thought as he watched the Blood Lord elegantly enjoy her tea.
Could the Blood Lord’s words be true?
At least, the Blood Lord’s actions so far had not greatly contradicted her claims.
Despite possessing overwhelming power, she had not killed a single person, had healed Yeonhee, and had said that Yeonhee could choose for herself where to live after her treatment was complete.
If everything had been a lie and she were merely an evil fiend, there would have been no need to continue this troublesome conversation.
She could simply have slaughtered the Namgung Family’s martial artists and forcibly taken his daughter away.
At the very least, in broad outline, the Blood Lord’s words were likely true.
However, there was another problem.
Even if the True Blood Cult really was a benevolent group, the fact remained that its name was still ‘Blood Cult.’
Moreover, according to what Yeonhee had told him, the current Blood Cult accepted people without regard for status or origin and even taught martial arts to commoners if they wished to learn.
Namgung Cheon knew what this meant.
‘It directly conflicts with the order of the murim.’
In family clans, martial arts were passed down only to blood relatives, and in sects, only to selected disciples.
One had to undergo years of training before learning even part of a secret art, and even then, the extent permitted varied according to one’s origins and talent.
Yet the Blood Cult accepted people regardless of status or origin and was teaching martial arts even to commoners.
If he let his daughter go to the Blood Cult without a word, people might misunderstand and think the Namgung Family had officially endorsed the Blood Cult’s actions.
He would also be unable to avoid suspicion from other sects and the Murim Alliance,
and even before that, fierce resistance from the family elders was a certainty.
But neither could he afford to make an enemy of the Blood Cult.
How was he, as head of the Namgung Family, supposed to navigate this predicament?
Deep furrows formed between Namgung Cheon’s brows.
Just as countless calculations and troubles churned through his mind,
his gaze naturally fell upon his daughter, Namgung Yeonhee, seated beside him.
“……”
Namgung Yeonhee’s gaze as she looked at the Blood Lord.
It was the gaze of a disciple facing a deeply revered master.
Namgung Cheon let out a quiet sigh.
‘Yeonhee… has already been captivated.’
As head of the Namgung Family, he had yet to make a decision.
But as Yeonhee’s father, the decision he had to make was already set.
***
Breaking the silence, the Namgung Family Head spoke.
“Yeonhee.”
“Yes, Father.”
“What do you want to do?”
In response to the Family Head’s question, Namgung Yeonhee answered without hesitation.
“I still have treatment to receive from Blood Lord-nim. And I want to stay close by a little longer and observe the path of the True Blood Cult for myself.”
Hearing her resolute answer, the Namgung Family Head closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them.
“If that is your wish, then do as you wish.”
“……!”
‘Oh. He’s giving her permission without a fuss?’
I was inwardly surprised.
Even after I had laid out the premise that this was the True Blood Cult, it could not have been easy to make such a choice.
The orthodox faction placed great importance on just cause, after all.
And yet, because his daughter wanted to go, he was willing to accept the risk and give her permission?
‘Wow. This guy really is a daughter-obsessed dad.’
I liked him.
I was even a little envious of Namgung Yeonhee for having a father like that.
In any case, I had safely reclaimed my potential servant, and it seemed to have helped the quest quite a bit!
Then, a thought suddenly occurred to me.
‘Hmm. Come to think of it, there sure were a lot of martial artists earlier.’
The Namgung Family’s countless martial artists.
If I drank their blood, reaching a maximum Blood Power of 400 would be a piece of cake.
Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to ask for just a little.
I licked my lips and began cautiously gauging the Namgung Family Head’s reaction.
Just then, the Namgung Family Head spoke as if he had made some major decision.
“In that case, how would you feel about the Blood Cult and the Namgung Family forming an alliance?”