The smell of burning filled the air.
The smoke was faint but the stench was overwhelming.

Crackle, crackle.

The sound of embers burning reached my ears,
a familiar noise like that of burning firewood.

I murmured as I watched.

"How anticlimactic."

Pat, pat.

I brushed my clothes, and something black smeared onto my hand.
How bothersome.

It didn’t matter anyway, so I wiped it off carelessly.
With the tip of my foot, I nudged what lay on the ground.

The body that had struggled so much had finally grown still over time.
The screams that had been filled with anguish were now completely silent.

He had drawn his last breath.

"Considering how tight-lipped he was, he wasn’t very persistent in the end."

I muttered as if speaking to someone,
though there would be no reply.

I looked down at what was once a human being, now just a scorched shell.
I extinguished the flames.

Whoosh!

With the fire gone, the charred human form was revealed.
A light touch would probably cause it to crumble to dust.

I stared at it for a while, crouching down.
I had given him the extreme pain I had desired, killing him without leaving a trace of his original form.

"Surprisingly, I don’t feel much."

I was far calmer than I had expected.
This was the man I had longed to kill.

The purpose I had clung to since my regression,
the thing I had wanted so desperately to achieve in my previous life.

I had wanted to see him scream.
I had wanted to see him kneeling at my feet, begging for mercy.

But now that I had actually done it with my own hands,
what I felt wasn’t the euphoria I had imagined,
but rather a quiet sense of emptiness.

Thud.

I nudged the remains of what had once been Jang Seon-yeon with my foot,
and it crumbled with a dry crackle.
His life had long since ended.

I had planned to make it last, to take my time with the three stages of torment,
but he had died before I could even start the second.

That was a bit disappointing.

As I stood there, the longer I let time pass,
the more my inner fire cooled.

"It was duller than expected. Not nearly as fun as I thought it’d be."

The impact of Jang Seon-yeon’s death was minimal at best.
Why was that?

Shouldn’t I feel more satisfied and exhilarated?
This was one of the things I had wanted most.

‘Is it because you’re not Yuseonggeom?’

This Jang Seon-yeon wasn’t the same as the one I had known as Yuseonggeom.
The current Jang Seon-yeon had no memory of our past entanglements.

He was a different person.

So, in the end,
this death was more about removing an obstacle in the way of what I needed to do.

Maybe that’s why I didn’t feel much of anything.
Just a lingering sense of dissatisfaction.

With that thought, I clicked my tongue briefly.

‘More importantly, I didn’t get much information.’

I had hoped to learn a lot from Jang Seon-yeon,
but I hadn’t gotten as much out of him as I expected.

I knew there were restrictions in place, so I wasn’t too surprised,
but it was less than I had anticipated.

Perhaps...

It might have been better to corrupt him into a demon and use him,
but that would have been disgusting.

Even Namgung Cheonjun had been hard to deal with,
so there was no way I could stand Jang Seon-yeon.

It wasn’t about whether he was useful or not.
I just couldn’t stand the thought of him breathing the same air as me.

‘There’s one thing that bothers me, though.’

During the torturous questioning, Jang Seon-yeon had said something that stuck with me.

Ahhh...! Aaaargh!
How did you manage to attack me with the instructors all around?
Ugh!

Amidst his screams, as I started burning him from the feet up,
he hadn’t answered most of the questions I had asked.
Not that I had really expected him to.

This was an era where restriction techniques had been developed to the point that getting someone to talk was no easy task.

The Tang Clan and a few others specialized in removing such restrictions through torture,
but even their methods weren’t perfect.

When I had been a demon,
the Heavenly Demon could remove any restriction with a mere gesture,
but that was a different time.

Now, to get any information from someone,
I had to either remove the restriction or corrupt them into a demon.

I wasn’t skilled enough to delicately apply qi to remove restrictions,
and I had no desire to turn Jang Seon-yeon into a demon.

So torturing him had been more about satisfying my own curiosity than anything else.

Grrrr... Huff... Huff...

Burning in the flames, Jang Seon-yeon let out a scream mixed with a small laugh.

"Is he insane? What’s with the sudden laughter?"

Huff... Huff... Why...?

"Oh, you’re finally going to talk?"

Even if you escape this place by some miracle... it’s already too late. You won’t be able to do anything... Grrk!

Jang Seon-yeon’s words, spoken like a curse,
narrowed my eyes.

It seemed he hadn’t acted recklessly.
He had clearly set something up.

"What did you do?"

Did you think... I would die in a place like this...?

"What did you set up?"

As he kept spewing nonsense, I grabbed the burning part of his body and squeezed.

Grk!

His eyes widened in agony as he let out another scream.

Listening to his cries, I spoke again.

"If you keep this up, your last words will be begging me to kill you. If you don’t want that, let’s get to the point."

With that, I stoked the flames again.

Unfortunately, I hadn’t been able to keep my word.
Jang Seon-yeon never begged for death.
He screamed until his last breath but never asked me to end his suffering.

If he had even pleaded for mercy, things might have gone differently.

By this point, I wasn’t sure if his mouth had been sealed by restrictions or if he had simply chosen to remain silent, even in the face of death.

With that thought, I straightened up.

‘He must have set something up.’

But he didn’t know one thing.
I would return.

And no matter what happened, I wouldn’t be too late.

At most, only a few days would pass after I disappeared.
That’s how it had been in my previous life.

During the Magyeong Incident, when hundreds of people were swallowed into the Magyeong,
the martial alliance and the families of those dragged into the rift were thrown into chaos.

But just days later, the hundreds who had disappeared returned,
reappearing in the exact spot from which they had vanished.

As I said back then...

No one survived in the Magyeong except for me,
but everyone who had been swallowed returned.

Even though everyone had died,
they all came back.

The time I had spent in the Magyeong...
it must have been several years.

And yet, they returned without having aged a single day,
and none of them remembered what had happened.

How could such a thing be?

It was tied to the name I had given to this place:

The False World.

That name explained everything.

For reasons unknown, time flowed differently here compared to the world I came from.

Though I couldn’t be certain,
a few years here might only amount to a single day in the Central Plains.
Perhaps even less.

How many years had passed?

I had stopped counting after seven or so years.
It seemed pointless to keep track.

Even though this place had been filled with stories, events, and memories,
memories I could almost call fond...

Memories that only I carried were dull and pathetic.
This was a place I would rather forget.

The memories, like shackles, bound me,
preventing me from moving on.

Beneath the crimson sky,
the wind blew.

Carried on the wind was a faint scent of blood.
A hallmark of this world.

What I saw,
what I heard,
even what I smelled...

Nothing in this world was normal.

As I inhaled that acrid scent, I turned away.

"Still, now that I’m here, I should do what I came to do."

There was a reason I had gone to such lengths, using Jang Seon-yeon and Cheol Ji-seon to reach this world.

Part of it was to gather information and kill Jang Seon-yeon,
but that wasn’t the main purpose.

That was just a step in the process.

The real reason I had come...
was to find that cursed tree I had encountered in my previous life,
the one that had drawn the Heavenly Demon’s attention to me.

‘You’re probably watching me already. Why aren’t you showing yourself?’

I knew this world was created by that thing.

That was what it had told me.
Of course, it could have been lying.

But I was certain that tree was watching me right now.
Yet it refused to show itself.

‘Does it want me to come to it?’

It had been the same last time.

After watching the countless late-stage martial artists get devoured by the monsters of this world,
it hadn’t appeared until I was about to be sacrificed, used as a final card to buy time.

"So, you won’t come easily, huh?"

Fine, let’s see who has more patience.

We both have plenty of time.

I brushed off the remaining ashes and began walking in the direction I had chosen.

Before I could take more than a few steps,
I glanced back at Jang Seon-yeon’s body.

He hadn’t moved from where he lay, blackened and still.

As expected.
I had burned him thoroughly.

I had taken care to make sure it didn’t happen too quickly.
Even so, controlling the intensity of the flames was still difficult.

After staring at him for a moment, I turned away again.

‘Persistent and disgusting. Let’s make sure we never see each other again.’

Two lives with that man were more than enough.

I hoped this was truly the end.

With that thought, I resumed walking.

Step.

As I walked, I scanned my surroundings.
I needed to check my bearings and figure out where to go next.

I took another step.

Wrapping qi around myself,
I prepared to leap forward.

I could feel the presence of monsters swarming throughout the Magyeong, but I wasn’t afraid.

Just as I was about to take my final step and leap forward—

Step.

Wooooong...

"...!"

An unfamiliar, unpleasant feeling washed over me.
I quickly turned around, compelled to look back.

All I saw was Jang Seon-yeon’s scorched corpse,
lying lifeless on the ground.

But for some reason...

Wooooong.

A sound reached my ears.
A strange resonance.

Was it really a sound? It felt too different to be called that.

It was more like a vibration, and I could feel it clearly.

I knew exactly where it was coming from.

My dantian.

From even deeper within.

‘...Blood energy?’

It was the place where I had stored the blood energy. Now, that energy was beginning to stir.
The power I thought I couldn’t use in this world had begun resonating on its own.

At that moment—

Rustle...

"...What?"

The body of Jang Seon-yeon, which had been completely charred beyond recognition,
began to move.

As it moved, black ashes fell from its body.
Yet it didn’t stop.

Rustle... Rustle...

It was rising.

The body of Jang Seon-yeon, which should have been utterly lifeless,
was lifting its upper half.

How could it move?

And what was this foul feeling emanating from it?

For a moment, I considered destroying it.

Jang Seon-yeon’s corpse lifted its upper body,
then slowly turned its head.

Even though its face had been completely burned away,
it seemed to be surveying its surroundings.

Every movement was accompanied by creaking sounds,
making it clear that nothing about this was natural.

Then, in that brief moment...

As Jang Seon-yeon’s head turned,
it faced me.

My body flinched involuntarily.

There was no expression left on that charred face,
and yet...

I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was smiling at me.

[Aaah...]

I heard a sound.

It wasn’t a voice, more like a telepathic transmission.

[So, this is why the connection was severed.]

I knew that voice.
Where had I heard it before?

For a moment, I couldn’t place it,
but the answer came quickly.

On the final day of the Friendly Martial Meet.

Back when I had smashed Jang Seon-yeon,
he had spoken to me through that body.

Jang Seon-yeon’s head nodded toward me.

No.

That wasn’t Jang Seon-yeon anymore.
That thing had a different name.

[It’s been a while. Do you remember me?]

When it asked if I remembered,
I quietly whispered its name.

"Blood Demon."

[Kekeke.]

It laughed, as if satisfied with my answer.

   **************
   

The Sword Saint of Cheonghae, one of the Five Great Sword Masters of the world and leader of the Nine Sect Alliance, stood quietly, gazing at the bushes in front of the Sinryong Hall's pavilion.

“Hmmm...”

The Sword Saint let out a sound resembling a sigh.
He looked around the empty air, still wearing a perplexed expression.

This was where Gu Yangcheon had claimed to have discovered the Bigo the other day, but...

No matter how much the Sword Saint looked, there was no trace, no aura to be felt.
Jinryong had said that once the formation was resolved, a door had appeared in mid-air.

But how could there be no evidence left behind?

“I just can’t figure it out.”

Even after extending his qi as much as possible, he couldn't find anything.

Either Jinryong and Gu Yangcheon had lied,
or the evidence had been erased so thoroughly that there wasn’t a single trace left, as if it had never existed.

The first assumption seemed more plausible,
but the Sword Saint didn’t believe those children would lie to him.

“The Bigo... how could such a thing have been here?”

Details would have to wait until the Martial Alliance arrived,
but he didn’t expect them to provide any satisfactory explanations.

“And even if it existed, why did it have to be that child who discovered it?”

Gu Yangcheon had been on the Sword Saint's mind recently.
His talents were evident, but that wasn’t the only reason for concern.

‘He said he got the information from Gaebang, but could they be involved in this as well?’

It was hard to believe.

The Sword Saint, who was well-acquainted with Gaebang’s leader, found it difficult to trust that claim.

‘And what is this “Ilgyeolpae” anyway?’

He had already suspected that Gu Yangcheon was a child with many secrets,
but the people connected to him were far from ordinary.

Was it like father, like son?

“Well, I will summon him again soon. I’ll make sure everything is clear then.”

The Sword Saint sighed deeply, stroking his beard.

The sighs that had been rare in his youth seemed to have increased with age.

Right now, with most of the disciples out for practical training,
this place had become rather quiet.

Perhaps a walk through the grounds would help clear his mind.

Just as he was about to leave for a short stroll—

Gr-gr-grrk!

“What...?”

The Sword Saint’s qi sense, spread throughout the entire Sinryong Hall, picked up on something.

Immediately, the Sword Saint wrapped himself in qi and drew his sword.
The aura he sensed made his stomach churn with unease.

It carried the distinct stench of dark energy associated with the Sapa.

Recognizing this, the Sword Saint let out a bitter chuckle.

“Have I really grown so old?”

For those filthy Sapa dogs to dare bare their fangs and come here,
even with the Sword Saint of Cheonghae present.

When he was younger, no one would have dared imagine such a thing.

As he prepared to leap in the direction of the ominous presence—

“Pardon my intrusion.”

A voice came from nearby.

“Are you, by any chance, the Sword Saint of Cheonghae?”

The question was asked casually,
but the Sword Saint’s sharp qi spread throughout the area.

He hadn’t noticed the presence until it was right behind him.

‘How is this possible?’

His qi sense was spread across the entire Sinryong Hall,
so how had someone approached him unnoticed?

Raising his guard, the Sword Saint addressed the voice’s owner.

“Who are you?”

He observed his opponent carefully.

The figure before him was a massive man,
clad in black martial garments and draped in what appeared to be the skin of a beast, its nature indiscernible.

A thick, long scar marred his neck,
and just looking at it gave the Sword Saint chills.

In that instant, the Sword Saint knew.

This was an opponent whose strength he could not easily gauge.

‘Who is he?’

A figure with such power, and yet his identity remained unknown.
A bead of cold sweat trickled down the Sword Saint’s back.

As tension filled the air—

“It seems you are indeed the Sword Saint. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

The man smiled at the Sword Saint,
revealing his yellowed teeth as his large mouth opened wide.

The Sword Saint raised his guard,
his mind focused solely on escape.

Pride as a martial artist meant nothing now.
The fact that such a person had infiltrated meant...

‘The students are in danger.’

The other disciples of Sinryong Hall were in peril.

The Sword Saint needed to find a way out, not for victory,
but for their protection.

At that moment—

“You seem to have many worries, Sword Saint. I can see it in your eyes.”

“...!”

“That’s fortunate. It means I still pose a threat to you. I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“Once again, I ask... who are you?”

“Me?”

The massive man smiled as if amused by the question.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve said this. I’m quite excited.”

Hoooomph!

With a deep breath, the man’s massive body seemed to serve as a bow,
and his fierce aura erupted outward, spreading in all directions.

“I hope you still remember me.”

As the energy began to fill the area,
the giant drew out a massive sword and slammed it into the ground with a thud.

“They call me the Black Dragon Sword.”

“...!”

“Judging by your expression, you seem to know the name.”

The Sword Saint’s eyes widened at the mention of the title.
He did know it.

But the owner of that name was supposed to have died long ago.

Enjoying the Sword Saint’s shock, the giant let out a chuckle,
then raised his massive sword and pointed it at the Sword Saint.

“Shall we dance with our blades?”

The Black Dragon Sword grinned,
clearly delighted at the thought of engaging in swordplay once again.