Chapter 13: Bounty of a Bloodborn
The news spread faster than wildfire.
"Tae Gwan wounded. Five Jade Tiger elites dead."
Whispers rippled across Murim.
By nightfall, the sects were in an uproar. The Jade Tiger Sect, humiliated for the first time in decades, responded not with silence—but with fury.
---
Inside the Jade Tiger Sect Headquarters — Tiger Hall
The grand hall echoed with curses.
Scrolls slammed shut. Seals broke as orders were signed in blood. A bounty parchment was hung beneath the sect banner—its red ink still wet, still smoking.
At the center of it all stood Sect Leader Jang Mu-hwan, the elder brother of Jang Hui and one of the Twelve Immortal Pillars of the northern sects.
He said nothing as the bounty was raised—again and again.
By the end of the meeting:
> "Kill Mu-won. Dead or dying. Fifty thousand gold taels. One Heaven-grade technique scroll. Immediate entry into Jade Tiger Inner Court."
The bounty shook the underworld awake.
---
In the shadows of Black Fang Pavilion
A cloaked figure chuckled after reading the notice.
> "Blood arts… Haven't seen those in fifty years. The boy's either cursed or brilliant. Either way, he bleeds like a king."
Behind him, five assassins knelt.
> "Contact every mercenary hall in the west. Let them know: we're hunting a prodigy."
---
In a snowy mountain temple — Silent Blade Monastery
A blind old monk sipped tea and smiled.
> "The wheel turns," he whispered. "The blood child walks."
---
Meanwhile — In the forest outside Stone Willow Village
Mu-won sat beneath an old tree, eyes closed, pulse steady. His body was still recovering, but his mind worked like a thousand turning gears.
> "They'll come in waves now. Sect hounds. Bounty hunters. Assassins."
He traced his fingers along the pendant around his neck.
It felt warmer now. More… aware.
> "You brought me back," he murmured to it. "But you didn't just want revenge, did you?"
As if in response, the pendant pulsed again—and he felt something stir within his dantian.
Not power.
Not memory.
But presence.
> "I'm not alone in this body."
---
Later that night
Seo Hana approached with a bundle of food and salve.
Mu-won took it silently, nodding once.
She sat beside him, hesitant.
> "You really wounded a Core Realm elder?" she asked softly.
> "I survived him. That's different."
> "And now they want your head."
Mu-won looked at her, a half-smile tugging at his lips.
> "They've wanted it since the day I was born. They just didn't know my name until now."
---
Elsewhere — In the Dark Ice Palace of the South
An icy beauty dressed in black robes held the bounty notice in her slender hand.
Her eyes glowed with interest.
> "A boy who bleeds qi and breaks bones of elders? Intriguing."
She set the notice on fire and whispered to her attendant:
> "Send our 'Shadow Orchid' to observe. If the boy lives another month… bring him to me."
---
Mu-won's name had entered the world.
And the world had begun to turn.
The gates of Murim were creaking open.
Sect leaders, assassins, fallen clans, rogue cultivators—they all smelled blood.
And none of them knew—
That the boy wasn't running.
He was waiting.
To be continued...