It was that night of the year that comes once in a decade, the Blood Moon. The night when the moon glows a bright crimson color like that of a human's blood.
The legend says it was first to have originated the night when the first Demon God of the Demonic cult, the nameless Demon God, Cheon Mu-Myeong, when he when on a killing spree into the central plains, slaughtering everyone in his path and painting the sky red.
Even after three hundred years, his name had never been forgotten in Murim.
At a branch Sect of the Demonic Cult, the Blood Demon Sect, which held the front-line position against the Murim Alliance. They were powerful: the hunting dogs of the Demonic Cult.
The most loyal of them all...
...but even the faithful hawk is blinded when it soars beyond the falconer's reach.
"Sul-si (戌時)" – the "Hour of the Dog (7 PM to 9 PM), Blood Moon Night".
BLOOD DEMON SECT
"Hyeolmu, have you fully memorized the martial techniques the master told you to learn?" one of the sect's martial uncles asked. His hair was dark black; he looked like a man in his late forties.
"Uncle!!! I don't want to. Why do I have to memorize all the books? When do I start real combat? Why doesn't Father want me to practice martial arts?" the boy snapped.
A response coming from a young boy with long white hair and an eerily beautiful face, about eight years in age, wearing the same martial attire of the sect: a red kimono with black patterns.
"Hyeolmu, your father knows best. He has his reasons for keeping you from combat, but don't worry — it shouldn't be long now. You'll begin training this coming month," the martial uncle said with a big smile and a calming tone.
One would never believe such warmth could come from a demonic cultivator; they were known for brutality and merciless killing, irrespective of age or status.
"Are you sure, Uncle? I hope you aren't messing with me this time. Don't tell me it's like when I was seven and you said the same thing, or the time after that when you said I'd begin in spring—"
"I know, I know — there have been many 'next times.' But this is different, I can assure you that for sure; the master gave his approval, so there's nothing that can stop you from beginning next mon—"
Thwack!
"We are under attack! Everyone, prepare your weapons!"
The voice changed the atmosphere of the sect. Everyone wondered who would dare attack a branch of the Demonic Cult — the most powerful of all. The only group bold enough was the Murim Alliance, only them could have the balls to attack the Blood cult and the strength to back it up.
It was a no-brainer as only the Murim Alliance had the strength to challenge them and put up a good fight, as well as the Murim and the Demonic Cult were long at loggerheads, and while the Murim had attacked before, they had never stood a real chance against the Blood Demon Sect... until now.
"Who is attacking? Is it the Murim Alliance bastards again? If it's them, I won't spare them, even if they beg!" Ma Hyeonseong, the sect leader of the Blood Demon Sect and one of the five warriors in Murim who had reached the Absolute Demon Realm (in Murim terms, the Transcendent Realm), declared with absolute power as if trying to strike fear into the hearts of the attackers.
"Sect leader, it is the Demonic Cult attacking — and they did not come alone. The Demon God is with them," another shouted.
The Demon God of the Demonic Cult — the absolute power of the central plains, rumored to have surpassed the Transcendent Realm — the twenty-seventh Demon God, Cheon Damheon, was present.
A mixture of suspense, curiosity, and worry edged on everyone faces. No one knew why the demon God would attack them, especially when the Blood Demon Sect had been one of the Cult's staunchest sect.
"Impossible!You must have seen wrong. You must be mistaken. There is no way it's the Demon God. It's probably someone from the Unorthodox Alliance," Ma Hyeonseong protested, his face going pale. Even in the face of demonic qi beginning released by the attacker— a unique qi of the Demonic Cult — washed over them, he denied the obvious.
Why would his friend, the one he treated as a brother, betray him? He had helped this friend rise within the Cult despite the friend's low maternal birth. His partner, his friend, his brother.
A deep, resonant voice came from beyond the sect walls, carrying a terrible internal qi.
"Ma Hyeonseong! Come out here and pay for your crimes against the Demonic Cult!"
A sentence even Murim would not have believed…
A sentence that carried more weight than one could bear.
Ma Hyeonseong's face drained of color. His trust had been betrayed, but he was not mentally prepared. Some hope still remained as he walked toward the direction the voice came.
"Cult Leader, why have you attacked the Blood Demon Sect? What have we done wrong?" someone cried.
"Stop acting dumb, Ma Hyeonseong. You know well what you did. You can't deceive anyone by pretending innocence — the Blood Demon Sect will not go unpunished today," Jun Seongrim said. He was one of the cultivators in the Demonic Cult who disliked Ma Hyeonseong because of the latter's strength and popularity, among the 10 elders in the demonic cult.
"Jun Seongrim, I wasn't speaking to you. Shut up and let the Cult Leader speak," Ma Hyeonseong snapped and unleashed a massive killing intent toward the elder.
"How dare you release killing intent in front of the Cult Leader? It seems like the Blood Demon thinks he is stronger than the Demon God," someone hissed.
Ma Hyeonseong's killing intent pressed on the elder, making him struggle to breathe — an effect produced by killing intent alone. But this time the aura of Yul Gwancheol, one of the Ten Elders, to be Precise — the first elder of the Demonic Cult, pushed back Hyeonseong's attack.
"Ma Hyeonseong, you are guilty of treason — colluding with the Murim Alliance in the death of the Young Lord," Yul Gwancheol announced.
The Young Lord of the Demonic Cult. Unlike his predecessors, Cheon Damheon, the current Cult Leader, had married only once. His wife had died giving birth to his one and only child — his daughter, the young lord of the Demonic Cult.
Dead?
The one woman who had kept the Cult Leader sane, the one who stopped him from falling into madness after the death of his wife, was dead.
The whole of Murim would soon feel his wrath. But it would be the Blood Demon Sect that tasted it first.
The anger of the Demon God, Cheon Damheon.
"Cult Leader, please spare the disciples, and I will gladly surrender my life… Please, my lord," Ma Hyeonseong begged, falling to his knees in full martial form, hands clasped together in absolute respect.
"…Take your own life in your hands, and the disciples might be spared," the Demon God finally spoke — calm but overwhelming, like a bottle filled with pressure waiting to burst at any moment.
Forced with the choice to fall on his sword or fight to the better end, Ma Hyeonseong, still on his knees, pulled out his long, heavy sword, and pointed it towards in dantia. The voices of disciples and his son, Hyeolmu, begging and screaming with tears in their eyes, trying to stop him, but Hyeonseong pulled the sword across his own body, spilling blood from his mouth as he fell upon it.
The once-mighty martial artist, who had reached the Absolute Demon Realm, died by his own sword to save his disciples and son. Too noble for a demonic faction, yet true — a powerful man was dead, and the world would soon know.
After a period of wailing in pain and sorrow over the loss of their leader, the disciples believed he had died to spare their lives.
Until...
"Kill them all. But spare only his son. The rest must not see the light of day," the absolute leader commanded.
"Demon God, you said you would spare the disciples. Why go back on your word?" one of the Blood Demon disciples asked, anger and sorrow in his voice.
A crazy and chilling laugh from the Demon God echoed. "Hahahaha… Do you think this ends with only one death? I will paint the sky red with your blood for what you have done. I never promised to spare you — I said I might spare you. But now I have changed my mind. Leave no one alive except his blood."
Thwackkk!!!
Blood.
Death.
The slashing of swords.
And...
DESPAIR.
Brothers, uncles, fathers, and his own master were all dead.
Their bodies headless and flesh rotting.
The Blood Demon Faction, whose strength once rivaled even the Murim Alliance, one of the major forces of he eastern continent, was destroyed in a single night.
The night of the Blood Moon.
"Cult Leader, what should we do with the son of Ma Hyeonseong, since you ordered us not to kill him?" one of the Ten Elders, Yul Gwancheol, stepped forward and asked.
"Lock him in the Ebon Sepulcher until I say otherwise. Make sure he does not die," Cheon Damheon ordered.
And so it was done.
The remnant blood of the Blood Demon — too young to grasp the depth of the treachery — Hyeolmu watched his master fall and his brothers slaughtered, despair written across his face.
All he could do was to cry, continuous until his eyes started to burn turning red. Until water could not flow but only blood.
To be continued...