Sohwa wanted to kill the Blood Demon.If she failed, she was prepared to take her own life. She had even brought with her the ultimate poison she had swallowed in the final moment of her previous life.And if the situation allowed, she wanted to stay inside the Blood Demon’s fortress, observe the Cult, and uncover its weaknesses.It didn’t matter whether she was tortured or imprisoned. She simply intended to learn their structure over time and kill as many members of Geumeunsan’s Blood Cult as she could.Just as she had done in Namgung long ago.But that sly creature of the Blood Cult seemed to have read her thoughts.The look in his eyes carried reproach, as if warning her not even to think of trying.The Blood Demon’s laughter echoed.“You make me even more curious when you say things like that.”The Blood Demon appeared to loathe Hae-rak, yet at the same time seemed to trust him. Raising a brow at the cryptic words that could have been ignored, he asked Hae-rak,“What are these strange proposals and bizarre words you mentioned?”Hae-rak’s gaze returned to the Blood Demon.“He’ll sway you by saying he’ll give you what you want, then demand something absurd in return.”Sohwa was starting to find Hae-rak’s interruptions annoying.She turned her eyes to the Blood Demon and spoke.“He’s not wrong. I can give you what you want.”“Oh? You think you know what it is I want?”The Blood Demon tilted his lips crookedly.Sohwa glanced around the room. Her gaze stopped at Hae-rak. After silently watching him, she turned back to the Blood Demon.“I don’t mind if there are many listeners, but are you fine with that?”Her red lips curved faintly.“If you don’t mind everyone here hearing the name you wish to confine inside that crimson pavilion, then speak now.”Out of the corner of her eye she saw Hae-rak narrowing his eyes.It was brief, but Sohwa understood that the Blood Demon trusted the Blue Blood Hall Lord and his guards. They appeared to be loyal retainers willing to die for him.'The Alliance Leader said as much, too.'But Hae-rak was different.Here stood the one who would one day sever the Blood Demon’s throat.As expected, the Blood Demon’s gaze slid toward Hae-rak.Watching that, Sohwa spoke again.“My strange proposal is the name of the one who will become the master of that crimson pavilion, and my bizarre words are the price I’ll demand in return.”The Blood Demon brushed his dark-red lips with his fingers. Sohwa did not give him time to think.“So? Will you hear the strange proposal first, or the bizarre words first?”“Haha.”The Blood Demon burst into laughter.“Gatekeeper.”At his call, the door opened.The gatekeeper standing by the door quietly awaited orders. Without even looking at him, the Blood Demon commanded,“Open the Black Pavilion.”“Yes.”“And prepare a chamber. The child of Geumso will stay there.”He tilted his lips toward Sohwa.“Depending on what your ‘bizarre words’ are, your quarters will either be a chamber or a dungeon.”Even under the Blood Demon’s threat, Sohwa remained composed. Her reply came in an indifferent voice.“It’s only a pavilion of the Blood Cult, so I don’t expect much—but tell them to clear out the best room.”“Haha. Yes, that’s how you bluff. Amusing.”With an unreadable smile, the Blood Demon ordered the gatekeeper,“You heard her. Empty both the finest room and the most humiliating dungeon.”The bowing gatekeeper vanished like smoke, but the door did not close.“Now then, since you requested a private audience with me, shall we move?”Sohwa did not refuse. She stepped toward the Blood Demon.“Are you insane? Where are you going?”Hae-rak cut in incredulously, but the Blood Demon’s guards and the Blue Blood Hall Lord blocked his way.The Blood Demon clicked his tongue.“The one who must never step in is you, Hae-rak. Stay here.”“Didn’t I say I know too?”At Hae-rak’s shout, the Blood Demon smiled.“Hae-rak, the fact that you’re here proves that you know nothing.”Sohwa did not avoid the Blood Demon’s gaze.What he wanted was not a mere name.He wanted certainty about the sorcerer.He wanted to confirm whether Sohwa knew the future—to assure himself of the sorcerer’s existence.He was cautious, and Sohwa understood why.If he killed the sorcerer to verify whether the being was chosen by the gods, he would, paradoxically, lose the sorcerer altogether.In her previous life, the Blood Demon had crossed into the Central Plains and killed the last sorcerer, confirming that she had indeed been chosen by the gods. But the moment he confirmed it, he lost her. As a result, he was forever unable to turn back time through her.Whether he viewed regression as a chance or as punishment, having once lost the sorcerer before his eyes, the Blood Demon could only be cautious.He would try to draw out the future Sohwa knew, to verify the existence of the sorcerer.Just as he had once learned of the sorcerer’s existence by chance in the past—so that he would never again let the gods take the sorcerer from him.Thus Sohwa intended to make use of his test.In her previous life, the Blood Demon had sent Namgung Hyun to her. Even if she didn’t know his ultimate goal, she knew what he had wanted from her then.And so, she could shake his heart.Sohwa took a quiet breath.'Even peony scent and the metallic smell of coins lingering in rotten blood cannot pierce this air, yet why does the Absolute being before me smell of nothing at all?'Sohwa gazed at the Blood Demon, waiting for their private meeting to begin.“Let’s go.”The Blood Demon gestured to her.Sohwa followed him out of the room.Sounds of fierce battle could be heard behind them, but once the door closed, the noise vanished as if it had never existed.The Blood Demon walked down the corridor toward a window.The gatekeeper reappeared and opened the enormous window. A bridge came into view, connecting to the crimson pavilion.Behind the crimson pavilion stood a black one.The Blood Demon passed straight through the corridor of the crimson pavilion and, in the same way, entered the black pavilion.The crimson pavilion seemed to be the prison the Alliance Leader had mentioned—the one holding the sorcerer. But as for what the black pavilion was, she could not tell.The peculiar thing about the Black Pavilion was its garden.Unlike the other pavilions, which were paved with stone, this one was full of grass and flowers, with all kinds of trees encircling the garden like a fence.As she followed the Blood Demon down the steps, Sohwa asked,“I heard rumors that you’re obsessed with sorcery, but it seems those rumors were greatly understated.”“Is that so?”The Blood Demon muttered as if to himself.“Hearing you say you’ve only heard of me means you must never have met me in your previous life.”He gave a short laugh and turned his head.“Then why do you act as though you know me so well? Hae-rak is a snake—he wouldn’t have told you anything about me unless it served his purpose.”“You don’t seem to know your own subordinate very well.”“Child of Geumso.”He added in a low voice,“I’ll overlook it once, but if you lie to me again, you’ll end up in the dungeon immediately.”Sohwa quietly watched his back.Tap.Reaching the first floor, the Blood Demon walked straight to the main doors. When he opened them, the garden she had glimpsed from the bridge came fully into view.It was filled with plants and flowers of every color, and along its borders stood massive old trees and low shrubs.The vegetation before her eyes was familiar. Medicinal herbs and precious elixirs grew mixed together like weeds.Some might have called it beautiful, but to Sohwa, it looked disorderly.Flowers that thrived in extreme yin soil and grasses that required blazing yang were growing barely three paces apart.It was an impossible sight.Then the Blood Demon’s voice reached her ears.“Now, make your proposal. The name.”“Namgung Hyun.”The Blood Demon’s lips curved.“Unexpected. I thought you’d lie or stall for time.”As expected, the name itself didn’t seem to matter to him; he showed no sign of agitation.Instead, he appeared to doubt her for giving it up so easily.“But it seems you’ve got some other scheme. You threw out an answer before even naming your price.”A crease formed between his brows.“Now that I’ve got what I want, I could kill you right here. Why would you answer so fearlessly? What are those ‘bizarre words’ of yours?”Sohwa looked straight at him and slowly opened her mouth.“You still want something more from me, don’t you?”The Blood Demon’s frown smoothed away—inviting her to continue.Sohwa calmly met his eyes.Having lived two lives, she had read the Tang Clan’s secret manuals countless times. She could transcribe from memory the records stored in the Oral Transmission Pavilion and the Medical Hall.They had been of great help, but the text that aided her when creating the ultimate poison for the Poison-Impervious Body came from a different source.It was a folk medical text Namgung Hyun had occasionally brought to the Tang Clan while compiling Central Plains records at the Four Seasons Pavilion.Looking back now, it hadn’t been a folk text at all—but rather a record that the Blood Demon himself had passed to her through Namgung Hyun.Medical techniques that could alter a person’s very constitution.'Probably the reason you sought me out in the last life.'If so, this would be proof enough of her having returned from the future.Proof that Tang Sohwa, who bore the same body as the Blood Demon, was the very one who had killed the sorcerer.Recalling the contents of that text, Sohwa spoke.“Tell me what medicine you need.”“What?”The Blood Demon’s brow furrowed.“That’s my ‘bizarre words.’ The thing I want from you.”Her calm voice came to the point.“The secret of the body you’re trying to change.”

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