My Core is the Boss-Chapter 114.2: Blood Master is a Great Demon

The world around Qi Yuan froze. When he opened his eyes again, he was back at Nine Plate Mountain.

However, the place was no longer the same. Weeds and thorns choked the land, silence replacing life. The once lively mountain was now barren.

"How many years have passed?" Qi Yuan looked around, a trace of loneliness in his eyes. Solitude filled his heart but soon hardened into resolve. "I will become a Golden Immortal, a Primordial Saint, and make the River of Time itself my plaything!"

Sweeping away the melancholy, he cast his divine sense across Nine Plate Mountain. Nothing familiar remained.

"Canary... Myriad Phenomena Gate... It seems this time, I can't just stay here. I must walk the world myself."

His comprehension of Origin was tied to the Myriad Phenomena Gate and now, at Level 120, he was strong enough to enter it. The closer he got, the faster his understanding, and the greater his gains.

Draped in his crimson robe, Qi Yuan looked over the ruined mountain with a hint of nostalgia. "Sometimes, when no one's nagging in your ear... it's actually kind of lonely."

As he descended the mountain, he slowed his pace pretending to be a low-level cultivator just beginning his path.

Moments later, several human cultivators in purple robes appeared, faces alight with excitement. "Blood Master remnant! Catch him!"

Five people charged at Qi Yuan, all of them around the Overlord level.

Qi Yuan's face turned cold. "What did you just call me?"

The leader blinked. "Wait... he might not be one of the Blood Master's remnants."

If he were, he'd have fled at once.

A purple-robed man with a large mole snarled. "Doesn't matter. He's here, that's proof enough. We'll still get the reward!"

The five lunged but before they could strike, a long spear swept across the air.

A black-robed youth appeared, his serpent-like spear piercing one man clean through. At the same time, several throwing knives whistled through the air, embedding themselves in the foreheads of the others.

All five fell before they could react.

The knife thrower, a short-skirted girl with a high ponytail, glared fiercely. "Hmph. All members of the Violet Heaven Alliance deserve death!"

The spear-wielding youth landed beside her. He turned to Qi Yuan and said evenly, "Brother, my junior sister and I have slain these men. You'd best leave quickly. When more from the Violet Heaven Alliance arrive, escape will be impossible."

"My thanks to you both," Qi Yuan said, frowning slightly. "May I ask what are the Blood Master remnants? And what is this Violet Heaven Alliance?"

The girl, White Snail, stared at him as though he were an alien."You... don't know the Violet Heaven Alliance?"

Qi Yuan replied, "I've been training in the mountains, I know little of the world."

The black-clad youth, Black Feather, grew wary. They had thought this man a weakling and saved him on a whim. Now, they began having doubts.

"This will take some explaining," Black Feather said. "Come with us. We'll talk on the way."

Staying here would only draw the Alliance's attention.

Qi Yuan nodded.

As they traveled, Black Feather explained, "The Violet Heaven Alliance rose a few centuries ago, they are a powerful force. Its leader, the Violet Heaven Maiden, claims to have come from the future."

Qi Yuan's eyes narrowed. "The future?”

He too had come from the future, though in a very different way. Still, the thought unsettled him. If Violet Heaven Maiden was really from the future, she would be a threat to him.

But I'm a player, why should I be afraid of an NPC? As he thought of this, his emotions settled.

"Three hundred years ago, the Blood Master vanished. His followers founded the Blood Palace, spreading his teachings, especially the Demon Binding Art. It was meant to save the world."

"But then, that so-called Violet Heaven Maiden appeared. She declared that the Blood Master was the source of all inner demons, the reincarnation of the Great Demon!" White Snail said angrily, her voice trembling with fury. "She claimed the Blood Master only created the Demon Binding Art because he felt guilty, as if saving the world was his atonement!"

Qi Yuan thought that logic sounded suspiciously like "If you didn't hit him, why did you help him?"

"Thus, the Blood Master became the 'Great Demon,' and the Blood Palace was branded a 'Demon Palace.' The Violet Heaven Alliance began a grand crusade against them," said Black Feather.

"To make matters worse," White Snail continued, "that old witch even seized the Demon Binding Art for herself, distributing it as her own creation!"

Qi Yuan sighed inwardly. They had coveted his work and branded him a villain to steal it.

"Are you two from the Blood Palace?" asked Qi Yuan.

Black Feather hesitated, then nodded. "Yes."

Qi Yuan asked, concern flashing through his eyes, especially for the canary. "How is the Blood Palace faring now?"

"Not well," White Snail said quietly. "We've been driven back to a single province."

"Is there a canary among you? How is she now?"

Black Feather's eyes widened in shock. "How do you know of Elder Canary? Are you one of the Blood Master's disciples?"

White Snail gasped too. "You're the Blood Master's student?"

Qi Yuan exhaled in relief. Their reactions told him the canary was alive. That was enough.

"Is it possible..." Qi Yuan said with a faint smile. "...that I am the Blood Master?"

Black Feather froze.

White Snail quickly stammered, "Sir, that's not a joke you should make."

Qi Yuan raised a brow. "Oh?"

White Snail said seriously, "The reason the Violet Heaven Maiden holds so much power is because she possesses a divine relic, the Slate of Fate."

Qi Yuan repeated, "The Slate of Fate?"

"When the Buddha was born, flowers bloomed, and snow fell in July. That relic was born alongside him, said to glimpse both past and future. From it, the Violet Heaven Maiden learned that the Blood Master was dead, and only then did she dare move against us. She controls the narrative with that relic, branding the Blood Master as the Great Demon!"

Black Feather clenched his spear. "When the Blood Master created the Demon Binding Art, he exhausted his very life. His death made sense. When the slate revealed his passing, the Blood Palace held a grand funeral in his honor."

Qi Yuan sighed. "I wasn't even dead yet, and they held a funeral? How premature. Where's the canary now?"

White Snail said softly, "Elder Canary didn't attend the funeral. She refused to accept the Blood Master's death. Now, she and the remaining elders dwell in the Ends of the Earth."

The southernmost edge of the Flowing Wind World, tens of thousands of miles away.

White Snail said bitterly, "These years, the Violet Heaven Alliance has relentlessly hunted us. If not for Senior Shang Yanran, who can match the Violet Heaven Maiden's strength, we'd have perished long ago. Even so, we've been driven to the Ends of the Earth."

Black Feather added, "Three months ago, the alliance united seven great sects, forming a coalition army to march on the Ends of the Earth, to annihilate the Blood Palace once and for all."

Qi Yuan's heart tightened. "Do you have a map?"

"I do," White Snail said, pulling out a wrinkled one.

Qi Yuan unfolded it. Crude, but clear enough.

Nine Plate Mountain, where he stood, lay in the far north. The Violet Heaven Alliance ruled the central lands. The Ends of the Earth lay to the far south. To reach it, he would have to cross the entire realm and go straight through the Violet Heaven Alliance's territory.

"Thank you both," Qi Yuan said after studying the map. "It's time I moved on."

He waved a hand. A droplet of crimson liquid appeared in midair, split in two, and floated into their palms. Then his figure vanished entirely. "Consider this a small gift."

Black Feather and White Snail exchanged stunned looks.

"He's definitely a master!"

"Could he be a Nation Subjugator?"

Half an hour later, the two returned to their village.

Someone shouted gruffly, "You two ran off again!"

A short, fiery old man stormed out, furious. At the sight of him, both Black Feather and White Snail shrank back. It was their master.

"Master, we didn't cause trouble!" White Snail protested. "We were doing good! Today, we saved a Blood Palace brother from Violet Heaven lackeys!"

The old man's anger eased a little. "I told you not to go out! If the alliance finds me here, you'll never see me again!"

White Snail teased, "Master, we know! You're one of the Alliance's top 500 wanted men, they think so highly of you!"

The old man snorted. "Blind fools. When the Blood Master preached, I was among the top hundred who entered Nine Plate Mountain to listen! And yet they rank me only 426th on the list. Outrageous!"

White Snail smiled helplessly. Her master was good at everything except modesty. Every so often, he'd tell tales of his "glorious past," claiming he'd sat among the first hundred listeners at the Blood Master's sermon. Then, he'd whisper nervously, "But don't tell anyone, the Alliance would kill me if they knew!"

White Snail's eyes twinkled. "Master, we met a senior today at Nine Plate Mountain. From his bearing, I'd say he might have heard the Blood Master's sermon too, perhaps even sat closer than you."

Sure enough, the old man bristled. "Impossible! Those who sat before me all went to the Ends of the Earth long ago. Who else could be closer to the Blood Master than I? That man must be an impostor! Describe him! I'll expose the fraud myself!"