Chapter 429: A Battle of Wits and Hearts (14)

Rangrang still remembers that day vividly.

The day her clan burned — the screams, the blood, her mother, her father, and the burning heat of a blade forcing its way into her belly.

“Hey, you bastard, what’s with stabbing right off the bat? You should’ve had a taste first, she’s a looker.”

“Why, want me to have a taste right now?”

“You into sticking it into corpses? Once there’s a hole in the gut it gets too tight to shove it in anyway. Thought I’d finally get to bed a noble’s daughter...”

Rangrang can’t understand.

Why? What did I do wrong?

And why won’t anyone help me?

They all smiled at me, thanked me, told me I had the heart of a heavenly maiden, that all of Jilin’s people would be grateful to me.

So why... why won’t anyone help me?

I’m the one who needs help — how cruel... traitors.

And then, that person.

Amid the burning world, someone stood alone, pale as death yet utterly graceful.

“Oh my. I came because I smelled a seedling of a spy. Does the Imperial Palace have a sorcerer? But how clumsy... Miss? How’s your body? It’d be a waste of your constitution to just die.”

“Please... help me. Save me.”

“Ah... I’m sorry. I can help you, but I can’t save you. I don’t know how to save people — nor do I want to. But if you could live not as a human, but as a monster?”

“Yes... help me. I don’t want to die.”

That person smiled with refined grace.

“Then, go to sleep and die for now. When you wake, the world will have changed.”

And so Hah Hu Rangrang died.

Even now, when she closes her eyes, she can almost feel it — the sensation of that time, like sinking into pitch-black water, that cool, peaceful rest.

And then Rangrang opened her eyes.

The first thought that came to her: Ah, I’m no longer human.

But I was alive.

I had survived.

The foolish Hah Hu Rangrang who loved people too much, who was used up and discarded — she was gone.

Rangrang would now live for Rangrang!

Rangrang’s resolve!

“So, what should Rangrang do now?”

“Nothing at all.”

“Why? Isn’t this the kind of time when you threaten me while holding my lifeline? Say, ‘Since your life’s been spared, obey my orders’?”

The person simply smiled warmly.

“You’re free. I may ask you for favors sometimes, but if you refuse I’ll just be a little hurt. ‘Oh, after I stayed up four nights and poured in a hundred gold ingots, you’re so heartless, sob sob,’ that sort of thing.”

“Why? Then why did you save Rangrang?”

Their smile deepened.

“Because we’re the only family in the world. You won’t understand yet, but if you live long enough, one day you will. That monsters who can never coexist — no... you must realize it yourself to truly understand. So for now, enjoy all the pleasures of life you didn’t get to have.”

Then, as if remembering something—

“Ah, right. I hid all sorts of convenient functions in your body. If you twist off your left ring finger — ta-da — a flintlock. You can start a fire anywhere.”

“...!?”

Rangrang quickly twisted her ring finger.

But it was firmly attached.

A soft, clear laugh rang out.

“I’m joking. You’re so gullible. But if you really want, I can give you something. Like a wine pouch in your chest. But when the wine runs out, it shrivels up, and Suah once... kyah, kyahaha, haaa... well, I can’t recommend it.”

“Don’t need it. That kind of function.”

“What about a blade that pops out if you remove your forearm?”

“I don’t need that either.”

“Then... perhaps you want revenge for your clan?”

Rangrang hesitated.

“The Imperial family will deal with them eventually, but I’m curious how it’ll play out. I’m afraid you’ll have to wait a while.”

Rangrang hesitated for a long while, then finally answered.

“Doesn’t matter. That has nothing to do with me or with Rangrang anymore.”

****

“Rangrang?”

The voice calling her snapped Rangrang out of her thoughts.

“Ah. Where was Rangrang in the story? Did I already tell you that a Blood Ghoul, shortened to Blood Devil, is what these monsters are called?”

Rangrang’s identity was vouched for by Jo Hakche.

That same Jo Hakche quietly asked:

“Pyo-mae, so... like a jiangshi?”

“Far inferior to a jiangshi. Comparing a Blood Devil to a jiangshi is like comparing a pine caterpillar to a human, or a candle to the sun. It’s a grave insult to a higher jiangshi. So Jo, you should apologize to Rangrang immediately.”

“...?”

“Ahem. Anyway — an incomplete Blood Ghoul is exactly that, a glutton, a low-class monster that can’t even resist its hunger. All its behavior revolves around eating human flesh.”

Rangrang sighed, then got to the point.

“There is no way to turn a Blood Ghoul back into a human.”

A murmur of dismay rippled through the group.

At the first rally point, the bound Blood Devils and the surviving Killing Moon Sect thugs were under heavy guard.

Even so, these Blood Devils weren’t fully complete — the final great technique hadn’t been performed — so their cultivation level was at most the Peak Realm.

Still, that was in just three months.

In only three months, late-starting young men with hardened bodies had been raised to the Peak Realm.

No wonder the Blood Sect is desperate to manufacture monsters.

Twenty Peak-level fighters could be formidable, but these ones had their eyes rolled back, obsessed with devouring human flesh to suit their individual tastes.

Against a Martial Alliance battle squad in five-man formations, subduing them wasn’t difficult.

They even revealed their positions constantly with the screams and fleeing crowds wherever they went.

At that point, Jin Family Head Jin Jakang approached Wang U — the former Chief Steward of the Killing Moon Sect, now lying bloodied in the dirt.

This wasn’t the work of orthodox martial artists.

His torn clothing and bitten flesh made it clear he’d been rescued from Blood Devils by orthodox fighters.

“Do you have anything to say?”

“I’m innocent! Innocent, I tell you! I truly didn’t know! The new disciples were all under the management of Strategist Bang Jeommyeong, chief strategist of the Four Evils Alliance!”

“Choose your words carefully. You’re essentially accusing the Four Evils Alliance of creating the Blood Sect’s evil monsters.”

Wang U froze.

But he truly was innocent.

Four Evils Alliance, my ass — those bastards!

They deceived us and toyed with our sect!

His teeth ground together, rage boiling inside him.

“That’s right! Those Four Evils Alliance bastards said they had to take over Gwangju. They sent a crate of elixirs and Strategist Bang! They gave us twenty fighters, fifteen each to the Golden Pavilion and Gwangju Zen Hall — fifty in total — and promised to help us raise another fifty later!”

This explained why the Jin Family couldn’t take in new disciples — the young men of Gwangju were all waiting eagerly for the Four Evils Alliance’s next recruitment.

Jin Jakang exchanged a glance with Wolnyang, the Shaolin disciple commanding the battle unit.

This was no ordinary matter.

Rumors were already spreading that wherever the Blood Sect ravaged a city, the Four Evils Alliance would swoop in with “aid” and claim the territory.

If the Four Evils Alliance had truly joined hands with the Blood Sect...

Would the long peace of the martial world be shattered here and now?

“For now, break his arms and legs and take him to the Alliance.”

The orthodox fighters stepped forward with their scabbards and sheaths.

“Come on, just a bit closer!”

The Blood Devils showed no sign of fear, drooling and licking their lips.

And then—

“Please, sirs! No! There’s some mistake — you’re wrong! My Haseong could never— he’s such a good boy...!”

From the crowd, an old woman ran forward, shielding her son and weeping as she begged.

She knelt, rubbing her hands together, pleading — he’s always been so good, stupidly good, never capable of this.

“Madam, please step aside. Your son is already—”

“Sirs! If he’s done wrong, then scold him properly — or I’ll take him to the magistrate for a flogging myself. I only have this one son in my old age... if you must, cut me down instead. You! Why aren’t you begging? Say you’re sorry! Hurry!”

As she grabbed for her son’s hair—

Haseong’s eyes flashed.

He lunged forward, burying his face into his mother’s neck.

He bit down hard, dragging her to the ground and shoving his head into the wound.

Gulp, gulp — the sound of swallowing thundered in the air.

“Damn it! Stop him!”

“Get him off her!”

The orthodox fighters struggled {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} with the knots binding his limbs.

The mother’s neck stretched grotesquely with each pull, still connected to her son’s mouth.

“So good... Mother... sorry... but it’s so good... let go! Let go, Mother!”

The Blood Devil laughed and sobbed at once, thrashing beneath the orthodox fighters, screaming “Mine! My mother!” in a frenzy.

Qing rushed to the woman’s side.

The wound was a ragged mess, worse than any sword cut — torn apart by human teeth.

There was no saving her.

“Guh... gugh...”

Qing shoved her hand into the wound, clamping the arteries and blocking the windpipe — just to let her speak a last word before she went.

“My... son... it’s fine... Sirs... forgive him... please... he’s always been... such a good boy... truly good...”

Her eyes went blank.

Qing rose slowly.

Step. Step.

“The smell! Argh! What is that smell?! My nose! Get it away!”

“Lady Seo?”

Hmm. Looks like he was born a little bastard anyway.

Every child is precious in their parents’ eyes, right?

Others might see a thug, but to a mother he’s “good, just fell in with the wrong crowd.”

Maybe in this case... he fell in with the Blood Sect.

And if he truly was good once?

A Blood Ghoul now — unable to resist the monster’s nature.

What does it matter?

It’s already done.

If I’d cut off his head earlier, one innocent mother wouldn’t have had to die.

Oddly, Qing felt a certain relief.

An incomprehensible peace.

Even a faint spark of good cheer.

Come to think of it... there really are bastards in this world you can kill without a second thought.

Ones you can burn, smash, twist, and wring apart alive.

Crack.

The massive blade of Moonlight Sword No. 10 drove deep into the back of the monster’s neck.

“You should be grateful to your mother. If it were up to me, I’d start by breaking your fingers, one by one.”

Since it was the child of the dead woman, I could at least grant him a quick death.

Only then did true silence fall over the square.

The monster’s defining trait, the insatiable gluttony that left it blind to all else —

a creature that could never return to being human —

Now, after seeing one devour even his own mother, Rangrang’s words finally struck home.