"Grandfather. Is our Lee family truly a family of traitors?"
"Ji-yeom. Is your question related to the scars on your face?"
"..."
The eleven-year-old Lee Ji-yeom did not answer his grandfather's question. Such things were a common occurrence while he attended the Society's martial academy. A family of traitors, a family of betrayal.
He was ignored and bullied, hearing all sorts of remarks. He tried to ignore them, and he fought back against their bullying in defiance. But it was meaningless.
It was a shackle passed down from his grandfather, who had sworn allegiance to the vanished Moon Vein, and this was the price.
"... Isn't this a shackle our Lee family can never escape?"
"Ji-yeom..."
His grandfather looked at the scar-covered Lee Ji-yeom with pity. Then, he pulled him into a warm embrace and soothed him with a voice that was both gentle and firm.
"Do you remember what this old man told you?"
"To endure hardship for a later day."
Lie on firewood and taste gall. It meant to sleep on thorny firewood and chew on bile, enduring hardship for the future. His grandfather used to say those words to him like a habit.
It was understandable. As one of the ten founding members of the Society, his grandfather's honor, which had once soared through the heavens, had plummeted to the ground after that day.
"..."
"Why don't you answer?"
"I don't know anymore."
He tried to endure and persevere as his grandfather said. But it was useless trying to piece his crumbling heart back together. Why did his grandfather, his father, and he himself have to suffer so much?
Was it right to be ostracized by the Society just because they had once sworn allegiance, even though it was not a sin they themselves had committed?
"Grandfather, it would be better to swear eternal allegiance to the Lord..."
"Nonsense!"
That day, for the first time, he saw a fearsome expression on his grandfather's face. To think that his grandfather, who had never shown his feelings, would become so enraged at the suggestion of escaping the shackle of this stigma by swearing allegiance to the Lord. Why was he angry at him?
Had he said something wrong? A surge of emotion gave rise to a rebellious spirit for the first time.
"Did I... Did I say something wrong? Our family is one of the founding contributors of the Society, so why..."
"Silence!"
An ear-splitting pain stopped Lee Ji-yeom from continuing. As he writhed in pain, his grandfather spoke, his eyes filled with bulging veins.
"Regardless of the outcome, it is the duty of a vassal to trust the lord to whom he has sworn allegiance to the very end! Is that not how this old man taught you?"
"That person you call a lord fell to the wrong path, branding our family as traitors. So what meaning does it hold? And isn't it because you accepted that fault that you also accepted being confined to the Corpse Blood Valley for four generations and demoted to Valley Master?"
The more he thought about it, the more furious he became. Why didn't his grandfather forcefully declare that he had nothing to do with her? Why did he have to inherit her sins?
Because he was a vassal?
‘I can’t accept it!’
After that day, Lee Ji-yeom no longer spoke with his grandfather. He grit his teeth and immersed himself in martial arts training. He couldn't bear it unless he was engrossed in something.
Immersed in his training, he became the first in his family to master the Great Flame Art, the divine art of the Red Flame Sword Art, to the fifth star before the age of twenty. This spurred Lee Ji-yeom on with even greater motivation.
‘I can do it.’
No one among his ancestors had ever completed the Red Flame Sword Art. Even his grandfather's limit was the eighth star. This was because as one trained in the Great Flame Art, the fiery yang energy grew stronger, but it didn't just end with getting stronger; it also burned the practitioner's body.
But he was confident that he could surpass the eighth star, reach the ninth, and even the tenth star. But perhaps this excessive greed was poison? -Do not attempt the sixth star until the fifth star is perfectly assimilated into your body.
"Aaaaaaaargh!"
Ignoring his father's warning, Lee Ji-yeom's body burst into flames as he recklessly attempted the sixth star. Upon reaching the sixth star of the Great Flame Art, one could imbue the Red Flame Sword Art with fiery yang energy, but he had failed and suffered a backlash.
In an instant, flames traveled up his arm and engulfed half his face, and he couldn't regain his senses. The rampaging fiery yang energy had already surpassed a level he could control.
"Aaaaaaaargh!"
Was he going to die like this from his own greed? At that moment, someone grabbed hold of his rampaging form. And they began to absorb the raging fiery yang energy, stabilizing it.
‘!?’
The one who absorbed the fiery yang energy from his burning body was none other than his grandfather, Lee Hwa-mun. Barely regaining his senses amidst the pain, Lee Ji-yeom could not hide his astonishment. Neither his grandfather nor his father could perfectly control the fiery yang energy within their bodies, so if they were to forcibly take it in, -Fwooooosh!
The disaster would turn upon themselves. Thanks to his grandfather taking the fiery yang energy, Lee Ji-yeom's body could stabilize, but the same was not true for his grandfather, Lee Hwa-mun. In an instant, his entire body was covered in flames.
It was on a level incomparable to what Lee Ji-yeom had suffered.
"N-No! Noooooo! Grandfather! Grandfatheeeer!"
Lee Ji-yeom rushed forward, trying to calm Lee Hwa-mun's fiery yang energy. But his grandfather, Lee Hwa-mun, used his profound true energy to prevent him from entering his vicinity, so he couldn't get close.
"Grandfather! No, Grandpa!"
To face each other so closely after nearly four years, and in this way. Thanks to his profound internal energy, he was preventing his body from burning away too quickly, but his grandfather's skin was already turning red and oozing fluid.
"Grandpa! Please! Please!"
Lee Ji-yeom tried to forcibly break through his true energy. Toward him, his grandfather Lee Hwa-mun shook his head slowly with a bitter expression. He could tell from the shape of his lips.
‘Don’t come here, my grandson.’
That sight tore Lee Ji-yeom's heart to shreds. The feeling of watching his grandfather gradually burn up right before his eyes was nothing short of tragic. His grandfather's true energy weakened, and he waited to somehow calm the fiery yang energy, but this was too painful.
"Please! Please!"
He begged his grandfather to withdraw his true energy. But his grandfather did not withdraw his true energy, even as his flesh burned away in the fire. Only when his last breath was gone did the barrier of true energy disappear.
"Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
Lee Ji-yeom screamed. His grief, having watched his grandfather die from beginning to end because of him, was a tragedy. If he could, he would have swapped his life for his grandfather's. But he could not.
"Ugh... ugh..."
Having screamed and cried for more than half a day, Lee Ji-yeom finally stopped when he collapsed from exhaustion. After he woke up, everything moved in a complex and rapid whirl. He had to hold a funeral for his deceased grandfather.
He confessed to his father and everyone else in the family that his grandfather had died because of him. But no one blamed him.
"Even if you were hasty, it is not your fault. It is the fault of all of us who failed to teach you properly and gave you only a weak warning."
"Please... please punish me."
His father, now the family head, shook his head and firmly refused. The reason was that his grandfather, Lee Hwa-mun, would not have wanted it.
"But..."
"If your grandfather had resented you even a little in the moment his breath was cut off, then I would do so."
"..."
He hadn't. His grandfather had endured that immense pain of his body burning, yet he never once showed it. He simply kept his mouth shut with the most nonchalant face possible, as if he would be heartbroken if he showed any worry. All of it was out of consideration for him.
Throughout the funeral, Lee Ji-yeom shed silent tears. After laying his grandfather to rest amidst his sorrow, Lee Ji-yeom came to see the verse his grandfather had left behind as his last words. It was like the final will of the deceased. -Ah.
The day I followed, gazing at the black robes, always lingers. No matter how much time passes, could I ever forget those days, even in a dream? It felt as if he had no more tears left to cry.
But seeing this, painful tears were squeezed out once more. Despite being one of the ten founding members, most of the executives, including the Lord, did not attend the funeral due to the stigma of a traitor, yet he persisted in his loyalty to the end. Did he believe in her that much?
‘........’
His heart grew complicated. Lee Ji-yeom had despised that person so much. But now, seeing his grandfather's verse expressing longing for his old master even in his final will, he felt conflicted.
That person, whom his grandfather had not lost faith in until the very end. He, the grandson who inherited the direct line of the Lee family, had insulted his grandfather's loyalty and will.
‘Grandfather.’
At that moment, Lee Ji-yeom made a decision. His grandfather's will, who had endured everything and even cast aside his honor for a later day. He decided that he would carry on that will.
‘This unworthy grandson... will carry on that loyalty.’
Even if it was a terrible stigma. Even if it meant years of endurance. He decided to carry on that will, if only to restore his deceased grandfather's honor.
‘No... way.’
Corpse Blood Valley Master Lee Ji-yeom could not hide his shock at the scene unfolding before his eyes. At first, he thought Mok Gyeong-un was using some strange Demonic Arts. But as he saw the being taking shape within the bloody water, he was at a loss for words.
A peerless beauty with blood-red eyes, wearing a ceremonial crown and holding a long pipe. A face that held both arrogance and dignity at the same time. The moment he saw her, the image of that person his deceased grandfather, Lee Hwa-mun, had spoken of until his ears ached, naturally overlapped.
[Don’t hate her too much. The master this old man served for half his life was not the kind of despicable traitor you think she is. She was stronger and more beautiful than anyone in the Society.]
He had simply dismissed his grandfather's words lightly. He had felt they were not as heavy as the scars he had received while growing up. But the moment he saw her, he understood his grandfather's words.
They say that those who rule are born to it.
‘Ahhh!’
The being before him seemed literally born to rule. Just the way she looked down at him sent a shiver down his spine, inspiring a sense of awe. Mok Gyeong-un's voice reached his ears.
“What are your thoughts on seeing her in person?”
“Her...”
Lee Ji-yeom's heart pounded. Could this being before him truly be the one his grandfather had longed for until the very end? At that moment, Lee Ji-yeom fell to one knee as if his legs had given out. -Thud!
It didn't matter if the being before him was a ghost or something else. He had sworn an oath before his grandfather's ancestral tablet. That he would inherit the loyalty his grandfather had sublimely protected until his death.
Lee Ji-yeom lowered his head and clasped his hands in a gesture of respect.
“Lee Ji-yeom, head of the Lee family, pays his respects to the master of the Moon Vein!”
At Lee Ji-yeom's profound greeting, a strange light flashed in Mok Gyeong-un's eyes. In contrast, Blue Spirit glanced at Mok Gyeong-un with a triumphant look.
‘Do you see, mortal?’
She had boasted to Mok Gyeong-un. She didn't know about the other rotten ones, but if he was a blood descendant of Lee Hwa-mun of the Lee family, as she knew him, he would still uphold that loyalty. At her words, Mok Gyeong-un had inwardly scoffed.
A whole hundred years had passed. It was laughable to think that the will of that loyalty would remain.
‘She’s become a vengeful spirit, yet she still believes in humans?’
He had thought her truly foolish. Everything fades in just a few years. To believe that loyalty would continue when the person in question was dead and gone was nothing but a vain hope.
But something truly unexpected happened.
‘This wasn't my intention.’
Mok Gyeong-un licked his lips. He had wanted to see her reaction of being unable to hide her disappointment as her vain hope shattered. But instead, he had only made her more triumphant.
‘What a shame.’
Well, it wasn't all bad. The fact that the loyalty had been passed down even after a hundred years meant it had value to be used. As he was thinking, Blue Spirit was about to open her mouth. -It has been a lo— It was at that very moment. -Pak!
Pak! Pak! Pak!
Mok Gyeong-un formed a hand seal with one hand and extended the wooden doll toward Blue Spirit.
“By my command, your form is void. This vessel is your name. By my command, act with haste! Seal!”
The moment the incantation ended, Her spiritual body, which had just appeared, was instantly sucked into the wooden doll. Then, the blood-soaked ghost domain that had formed because of Blue Spirit vanished, and the office instantly returned to its original state. -Flinch! Lee Ji-yeom, noticing this change, furrowed his brow and raised his head.
Where had she, who was here just a moment ago, disappeared to? Of course, Blue Spirit was inside the wooden doll. -Twitch! The wooden doll squirmed, and Blue Spirit's voice echoed in Mok Gyeong-un's ears. -You damnable mortal!
What is the meaning of this? She had gone to the trouble of revealing her spiritual body to confirm his loyalty. So all he had to do was bring this fellow in and give an order, so why did he suddenly seal her back inside the wooden doll?
As she fumed, Mok Gyeong-un spoke.
“Did you see? She has become a vengeful spirit with such deep resentment and is now with me.”
“You bastard...”
Lee Ji-yeom stood up and looked at Mok Gyeong-un. The sight of her just now was definitely not an illusion. Lee Ji-yeom asked Mok Gyeong-un.
“Where is she?”
“I just told you. She is with me.”
“... Then let me see her again. There are so many things I want to ask.”
At Lee Ji-yeom's request, Mok Gyeong-un pointed to himself with his thumb.
“Am I not right before you?”
“What?”
To Lee Ji-yeom's questioning retort, Mok Gyeong-un smiled brightly and said.
“I am her vessel for possession. It may be difficult for you to understand, but as she possesses me, she is me, and I am her.” -Ha!
At Mok Gyeong-un's words, Blue Spirit, inside the wooden doll, was flabbergasted. She had wondered why he sealed her back inside after she had gone to the trouble of showing herself. Mok Gyeong-un's purpose was crystal clear.
‘That loyalty that transcends generations. I shall have to take it for myself.’