Chronicles of the Heavenly Demon

Mount Wuyi, Fujian. 

A man named Han was digging the ground with a shovel in his hand. After a few moments of digging, he stopped to lean on his shovel. Raising his head, he looked up at the sky and complained. 

“Whew. What a pain.”

The others around him nodded in harmony. 

“I just want to finish this already and go down for a drink.”

“Same here.”

Complaints could be heard from all around. 

It was hard not to complain if you had to dig all day with a shovel. 

Even though there was a nice breeze, the workers were soaked with sweat. 

At that time, one of the workers suddenly asked, “By the way, what exactly are we digging for here?”

Someone muttered as if they were answering, “What? You didn’t hear anything? They say there’s an iron vein somewhere down here.”

The story began to get muddy from there. 

“Iron veins? I heard it’s silver?”

“Really? I thought it was gold…”

Everyone had a different answer. 

It was clear no one knew what was buried on this mountain. 

“So nobody knows what we’re even digging for.”

After all the commotion, the oldest worker, Kwak, spoke. “Meh. That’s a problem for the higher-ups. We just have to worry about getting paid.”

After thinking about it, Han nodded. “Hmmm. I guess you’re right.”

“Right?”

Han nodded his head reluctantly once more. 

However, Han had a bad feeling. His gut feeling was warning him of something dangerous. 

After so many years on the job, Han was very trusting of his sixth sense. 

Whenever he began to feel anxious for no reason, something bad always happened. 

For example, the last job he’d taken. One day he had taken a day off because of an upset stomach. At the work site, there had been a sudden avalanche that day and none of the workers present had survived. 

If Han had ignored his gut feeling, he would have been caught up in the landslide too. 

It’s worse than back when that avalanche happened.

It could just be a coincidence. 

Either way, Han wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for a sudden increase in his gambling debt. 

Ugh. Damn gambling debt… When I’m done with this and pay off my debt, I’m not gambling ever again.

Han sighed to himself. He then turned to yell at a young man, who was still working hard. 

“Hey there. How about you rest a little too? Simply pushing yourself without rest isn’t the smartest way to do this job, you know!”

The young man stopped shoveling, turning around to face the other workers. 

“Haha, it’s okay. I just want to get a bit more done. I’ll take a break after I finish this part.”

The young man was obviously more sincere than the other workers. Thanks to his diligence and youth, his reputation amongst the workers was very good. 

Hearing his words, compliments immediately began to follow. 

“What a diligent young man.”

“If I had a daughter, I would’ve sent a marriage request immediately.”

“Your daughter? I’m not sure if she could marry anyone if she had a face like yours.”

“What?!”

“Ahahaha!”

“Shut up, you idiots!”

However, the praises of the workers soon led to lighthearted teasing. 

Maybe it was because of the laughter, but a young supervisor, who had been overseeing some other workers, came running over. 

“Misters! What are you all doing here? If the higher-ups find out that you guys are slacking off like this, we will all get into trouble.”

This young supervisor, who was named Jang Baek-gi, was also popular among the workers because he was nice. 

As soon as he appeared, the workers stood up and smiled, dusting off their clothing. 

“Look. It’s your nagging supervisor boy again.”

“We get it, we get it. We’ll get back to work.”

Jang Baek-gi faked being upset, but he was smiling too. 

The warm atmosphere showed that their relationship seemed to go beyond that of mere supervisor and laborer. 

It was then that a strange sound was heard. 

Clang—

“Huh?”

While the other workers had been resting, the young man continued to shovel dirt. Apparently, his shovel had just hit something. 

“‘What’s wrong?”

“Did you find a gold vein or something?”

The other workers gathered around him, causing a commotion. 

The young man slowly looked down, wiping the dirt away with his hands. 

The identity of the object the shovel hit was clearly revealed. 

“Isn’t this… a coffin?”

It was indeed a coffin, surrounded by stone tablets on all four sides. The stone tables seemed to have various paintings on them, but they were weathered by the soil. 

Han, who had studied a variety of things, walked up and muttered,  “A coffin…? Is this place supposed to be a grave? It looks like it’s the grave of no ordinary man. Just look at all the paintings on the grave walls.”

It was more correct to say that all four paintings on the walls were part of the same large mural, depicting a hell-like battlefield. 

Since the late Han Dynasty, murals were generally used to decorate palaces or statue altars. It was strange to see one decorating a tomb. 

“Looking at the style, I assume this is pretty old.”

“Yes. At least 400 to 500 years old.”

“Wow. This was the last thing I was expecting to see from digging this place… Is this supposed to be expensive?”

“It should be priceless. On top of that, grave wall paintings sometimes turn out to be secret martial art materials. And if that’s the case, the price skyrockets again.”

At the appearance of the coffin, there was a commotion as everyone started chattering. 

Meanwhile, the young supervisor Jang Baek-gi approached to take a look. Then, eyes glinting mysteriously, his hand went to grab something near his waist. “This is it. This is what we were looking for…”

Unlike how it had sounded before, Jang Baek-gi’s voice was now deep and cold. 

“Hmm? You’re saying we weren’t looking for a silver or gold mine, but this grave…?”

Confused, Han turned around and at that moment…

“Ah?”

Kacha—

Han’s head had already been detached from his neck and flew into the air. 

He’d just been beheaded. 

The face of the man surnamed Han showed that he had not even realized he was dead. As his head spun in the air, his brain was still wondering why his body was now invisible. 

Pu-huack—!

A fountain of blood sprayed everywhere. 

Standing beneath the blood shower, Jang Baek-gi licked his lips. In his hands was a sword, one no one had seen him pull out. 

“Now that I’ve found everything I need, you people are useless.”

The one standing there…

The Jang Baek-gi standing there was no longer a warm supervisor. 

“Everything is for the Inverted Sky…”

He was just a faithful fanatic. 

That day, none of the workers on Mount Wuyi survived. 

The cause was said to be a forest fire. 

Within the flames, the truth vanished into ashes. 

The coffin and Jang Baek-gi disappeared like smoke, leaving behind only burnt skeletons. 

But people did not know that similar incidents were happening not only in Fujian, but several places around the world. 

***

Thanks to the invention of the boat, it did not take Woon-seong long for him to reach his destination. 

City of Yichang, Hubei Province. 

“So this is Yichang…”

This city was always crowded with merchants because it was a popular place for boats to come and go.

If the Justice Blood Sect was a fairly famous sect, Woon-seong could just ask anyone on the street about it. 

So he asked around. 

But…

“Is there such a sect in Yichang?”

“Never heard of them.”

“I’ve lived here for quite some time, but I’ve never heard of the Justice Blood Sect.”

No matter how many people Woon-seong stopped and asked, no one knew about the Blood Justice Sect. 

He even commissioned a nearby branch of the Curiosity Sect, but the answer was the same. 

Even the Curiosity Sect doesn’t have a clue… 

Out of the fifteen local sects in Yichang, there is not a single sect named the Justice Blood Sect. 

Woon-seong stood in the middle of the street, closing his eyes. 

Did it disappear over the past decade?

That might be possible. 

Dozens of new sects were born and disappeared every day. 

But soon he shook his head. 

No, that’s not it. 

If that was the case, the Curiosity Sect would have said so. They were not a pleasant bunch, but they didn’t hide information if you had money. 

If so, they must be under a different name. 

Or hiding in the shadows…

Woon-seong opened his eyes. 

Yichang was a large place where numerous people came and went. 

Even if he picked out only the martial artists, their number would be in the hundreds. 

And if he wanted to find the Justice Blood Sect amongst them…?

It was easier to find a needle in a haystack. 

In other words, it was almost impossible to find them without any clues. 

But it wasn’t like all hope was lost. 

There was one way to find them. 

I should make them come find me. 

With that, Woon-seong set off. 

Soon, he sat down in an inn with a plate of food, a brush, and some paper. 

After eating, the first thing he did was take out a piece of paper to create a poster. 

The content was simple. 

There were no words and only a simple drawing. 

A knife with seven pieces of jade, the fifth piece black. 

Woon-seong made dozens of these drawings and pasted them all around the first floor of the inn, where people were sure to see them. 

He essentially made a trail of posters leading to his room, the last poster being attached near his door.

“The Justice Blood Sect would know what this drawing means.”

I also set my room on the second floor, where I can keep an eye on every person entering this inn. 

So Woon-seong sat and waited, gazing down at the first floor with a relaxed expression. 

After a few minutes and some furtive glances, one of the posters was ripped off the wall. 

The Justice Blood Sect had begun to move.