Here’s a polished English novel-style translation of Episode 1, Chapter 1 from your provided text:
Episode 1
Crunch—!
A head hit the ground with a heavy thud.
The black-haired man, panting, stared down at the fallen corpse. Etched into the forehead was a distinct tattoo—a blood-red mark, symbol of the highest bloodline within the Bonwon Blood Sect, the most feared sect in all of the Central Plains.
Without another glance, the man turned away.
He began ascending the fog-drenched, snow-covered mountain. His steps were unsteady, arms trembling, body battered and worn—but still, he walked.
Even if death waited at the peak, he had to go.
His footsteps never paused.
Handa Kyung, Ilgak, Han Sijin, Du Sijin…
As the sun moved toward its fifth position in the sky, the man finally stopped.
Before him stood the ruins of the Eternal Snow Palace—a shattered monument, destroyed over a dozen years ago.
He simply stood there, silently watching.
It was nearly an hour later when it began.
He gripped the sword in his hand, tightly.
A biting wind swept past, grazing his cheek.
He could feel it.
The pursuers from the Original Blood Sect were closing in. Their powerful energy—on par with the second level of the Five Realms of the Martial God—pressed down on the mountain like a divine weight.
Even the aura of just one among them was enough to shake the heavens.
“So… this is it,” he muttered to himself.
Then, five figures descended from the sky.
One of them—a bald man with an intimidating presence—shouted:
“You ungrateful bastard!”
“Are you talking to me?” the man replied calmly.
“Who else would I be talking to?”
He gave a slight chuckle.
“Well, you’ve got four people standing beside you. Could’ve been any of them.”
“You… little—”
Despite the tension, the man’s smile remained.
“I’ve never once betrayed the sect since I joined,” he said.
“That’s rich, coming from you. The whole cult is in chaos because of you.”
“Oh? Because of me?”
The bald man remained silent.
Seol Woon-hwi continued, his tone still easygoing.
“The ones who ambushed and poisoned those trying to leave—that was your doing. I merely responded. And Elder, even if the Blood Sect rules the world, at the very least, its leaders should hold some measure of integrity.”
“You… dare lecture me?”
“Why not? As the saying goes—‘When three people walk together, one of them can be your teacher.’ I’m just trying to give you some advice. No need to get all riled up.”
“Blood Heaven is in control now, Seol Woon-hwi!”
“I threw that title away a long time ago.”
“You’ll regret this.”
“No, I don’t think I will. So why don’t you just leave?”
The bald elder scoffed.
“Unfortunately, I can’t. I was ordered to bring your head back. Orders are orders.”
“So the Blood Cult Leader sent you himself?”
The man pointed upward with his index finger.
“No. Above him.”
At that, Seol Woon-hwi smiled knowingly.
“Ah… so the true overlords are upset now.”
“You already know why.”
Seol listed off casually, “Let’s see… destroying the Bloodstone meant for sacrifice, setting the Peach Garden ablaze, and killing the head of the Thunder and Lightning Cult. That about right?”
“Each of those is a crime punishable by dismemberment.”
“Yeah, I figured. But come on, it was all so annoying.”
“You’ve lost your mind.”
“There are people way crazier than me—some of them even outrank you.”
A pause.
Then Seol added, his gaze hardening:
“And let’s be honest—even you don’t know who ‘they’ really are.”
“There are truths in this world that should never be known.”
“You’re a coward.”
“You’re dangerous.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t. You’re the only person alive who poses a real threat to the Blood Lord.”
“That’s… quite the compliment.”
Seol Woon-hwi, once the most feared martial artist in the world, stood alone.
His position—Blood Heavenly Chongjeong (血天重正)—was one that had never existed before in the Blood Cult. Created by the leader himself, it meant “the one who sets right the heavens of the Blood Cult.” It granted him near-absolute power—greater even than the elders, and untouchable by the vice-chief.
He could inspect sect operations, discipline leaders, and cultivate rising talents. A position only one step beneath the Blood Lord.
Which is why they couldn’t let him go.
He knew too many secrets.
This ending… was always inevitable.
Elder Yeongwoonseong slowly shook his head.
“It’s over. The order’s been given. If you live to regret it, it’ll be too late.”
“I regret it deeply,” Seol said, his voice steady.
“Cutting us off like this?”
“We’re strangers now. And none of my regrets involve the Blood Sect. They’re all… from long ago.”
“That’s why you came here.”
“There’s nowhere else left for me.”
“You lunatic… the illegitimate child of the Eternal Snow Palace comes back here to repent? You destroyed this place yourself!”
“I’m not here to repent. I had reasons. After the former palace princess died, a madman seized control. What could I do? He needed to be stopped.”
Seol brushed his hair back, and with a calm breath, said:
“As you said, we go back a long way. So let me make one last offer.”
“A will?”
“No. Just a final request.”
Yeongwoonseong gestured for him to continue.
“Go back. Think of this as repayment for the thirty years we spent together.”
The elder nodded slowly.
“…Understood.”
“So you’ll leave?”
“Not a chance.”
That meant Seol Woon-hwi would live the rest of his life as a fugitive.
But Elder Yeongwoonseong had no intention of letting that happen.
Running? Hiding?
At best, he’d last two weeks before being caught.
The elder began to gather his heavenly energy, while Seol raised his sword.
He had brought countless gains to the Blood Sect. He’d trained disciples who would lead the cult in the future.
His talent, which bloomed late, was a gift from the heavens.
But because the sect wanted to use and drain him dry, this final battle was inevitable.
Cough—
Blood spilled from Seol’s lips. He didn’t bother to wipe it away.
They say life is like a shot arrow—it flies straight until it hits the mark.
For Seol Woon-hwi, that mark had arrived.
The last of his life’s energy surged into a single point.
“Goodbye, Elder.”
At those words, Yeongwoonseong shouted:
“Kill him—!”
The elite warriors of the Blood Cult moved into position.
Each of them, masters of the Five Realms of the Martial God, summoned their divine energy.
The heavens trembled.
Even with death looming, Seol Woon-hwi’s will—honed over fifty years—remained unshaken.
He remembered the day he conquered the martial world. The moment he shattered the gates of the Heavenly Sect. The awe of the elders who knelt before him.
His spirit was beyond fear.
Even if a touch could kill him in his current condition—his soul burned undeterred.
His arms tensed.
If I raise my sword and pierce the heavens, all laws shall fall.
A single sword against the world.
一劍穿萬世 神魔盡飛滅
(When one sword pierces the ages, even gods and demons are destroyed.)
The Reverse Sky-Piercing Sword (逆天蒼茫劍).
A lifetime condensed into one final slash.
The sword flashed—splitting the sky.
The Eternal Snow Mountain cracked in two. Ancient ice shattered, blood energy surged, and…
Crunch—!!
A line opened across Elder Yeongwoonseong’s neck. The four warriors fell with identical wounds around their waists.
All that divine force.
The mountain’s pressure.
The frozen peak—
All of it, cleaved in half.
A blizzard screamed across the range.
Seol Woon-hwi staggered, using his sword as a crutch.
There was no one left to listen.
No audience.
Even when he shattered the Bloodstone.
Even when he torched the Peach Garden.
Even when the world called him the cruelest monster alive.
He had no regrets about any of it.
Except one.
Just one.
A regret that had haunted him endlessly.
A truth he realized too late.
**“I shouldn’t have run away back
then…”**
The mountain began to collapse.
Thousands of years of ice came crashing down.
He didn’t move.
Didn’t flinch.
At the very end, we choose our fate.
This was his grave.
His acceptance.
His death.
But in that moment, he finally spoke the words he’d held for so long.
Because it was finally possible.
If—
If I had one more chance…
As the avalanche closed in, he saw the image of a man—his father.
The supreme master of the Eternal Snow Palace.
The very man whose chest he had once pierced.
“I wouldn’t run this time, Father. I’d face everything… without regret.”
The avalanche consumed him.
His body was torn apart.
He died.
And then—
A brilliant light shone through the whiteout.
A jewel embedded itself in Seol Woon-hwi’s heart.
He did not see it.
His consciousness faded.
It was death.
But perhaps—
It was the beginning.
