TWELWH 00

Prologue

Ten-Li Demon Flame Hell

[Ten-Li Demon Flame Hell]

An absolutely forbidden demonic art that burns the caster’s own body and transforms a radius of ten li into a scorching hell.

The blazing karmic flames of the scorching hell summoned by the Ten-Li Demon Flame will not be extinguished for a hundred years. Everyone trapped within the scorching hell will have their entire bodies consumed by karmic fire.

Flames of hellfire known as Bundariga spread throughout the ten-li radius, binding everyone who tries to hide or flee, crushing them before reducing them to ash.

The attendants and maids who had followed Yeongryeong from the Demonic Cult and lived with her in the imperial palace bowed before her spirit.

Yeongryeong sat cross-legged, slowly drawing up her demonic energy.

Clouds began to cover the previously clear sky, and an ominous aura slowly crept up from somewhere. Everyone instinctively pulled their collars tighter.

The Emperor, who had been enjoying a boat ride on the pond of the Hexagonal Pavilion while embracing his newly acquired young consort, suddenly looked up at the sky.

The Empress Dowager, who had been flaunting her authority at a banquet in Subangjae while surrounded by her consorts, also furrowed her brows at the sinister aura.

Crack—

In an instant, silence descended upon every corner of the imperial palace.

Then, accompanied by a roar that seemed to tear the heavens apart, the earth split open.

Lava-like karmic flames violently erupted from the cracks.

The beautiful halls and the trees surrounding them were engulfed in flames in an instant.

The Emperor’s boat overturned, and the consort who had fallen into the water screamed for someone to save her.

The Emperor managed to climb to the edge of the pond by grasping a stone. He stared in horror at the scene that had transformed into a depiction of hell and looked around.

Everything around him was engulfed in dark crimson flames.

The memorial stones he had erected for his children born to his consorts were torn apart from bottom to top, as though paper were being ripped apart.

Breathing heavily and desperately, he began to run.

The consort’s cries for help were swallowed by the pond, which had turned into boiling, flaming mud.

The ground shook terribly and continued to split apart.

He wanted to believe that all of this was merely a horrible nightmare.

But then he encountered a woman running out of Subangjae, screaming as flames engulfed her body.

He froze in place.

“Mother……!”

The palace maids and eunuchs desperately threw water over her, but the flames clinging to her body only grew more fierce.

‘Your Majesty… Your Majesty, please save me.’

He could hear her screams of agony, yet he could not bring himself to reach out his hand to his mother.

This place, filled with horrifying screams, was a perfect scene from the Scorching Hell of Karmic Fire.

“……”

Yeongryeong.

My Yeongryeong.

As his consciousness began to fade, he heard a man’s voice.

Turning into a burning lotus, Yeongryeong slowly lifted her eyelids.

Before her stood a man crying out in grief.

“Yeongryeong, I cannot let you go like this.”

He leaned Yeongryeong’s burning body against his shoulder.

The infernal flames of hell spread onto his own body, but he paid them no heed.

“I have loved only you all this time. And so, all I ever wished for was your happiness. But if all that remains for you is this terrible hatred and suffering……”

His aching voice seeped into her ears.

“Then let us go to hell together.”

Everything burns.

Everything is consumed by flames.

“If I meet you again in our next life, then I will never hesitate. I will take your hand.”