The Alliance Leader’s gaze dropped to Sohwa’s hand. Staring at the bundle of papers, he asked,“Did you go into the Blood Demon’s Bigo? And then smuggle out records you saw inside?”“……”“How far did he show you things?”He asked, yet he seemed to know exactly what she had seen. When Sohwa did not answer, he supplied his own.“So you’ve realized how obsessed the Blood Demon is with the notion of a mold.”“Have you ever entered the Blood Demon’s Bigo?”The Alliance Leader’s gaze lifted. Instead of answering, he spoke in a bitter voice.“Master of Ten Thousand Poisons and Cures, imagine it.”Invoking her old epithet, he prodded Sohwa.“What do you think a Blood Demon who obsesses over a warrior’s body and pure blood would do to a direct scion of the Tang Clan who fell into his hands?”He posed a chilly question as if delivering punishment.“Is that an outcome any better than the Tang Clan’s doom you saw?”Between the silence came the sound of paper crumpling. It was because Tang Sohwa’s hand tightened. Perhaps taking that as an answer, the Alliance Leader added in a low voice,“Today may become the first punishment you face.”Though Sohwa kept her lips closed, the Alliance Leader did not give her time to sink into confusion. He unfastened the sand pouch at his waist and hung it upside down as he spoke.“If a Honin leaves a hall vacant for more than half a shichen, an alarm goes off. Loud enough to rouse the Blood Demon from his midday sleep.”With a deep sigh, the Alliance Leader raised his weary eyes.“I’ll regret it, obviously, but today I intend to take you out. However, if you don’t want it, I won’t press further. If the Tang folk remain in Geumeunsan to search for you, I won’t stop them either.”“……”“Even if something dreadful befalls my old friend and the kind Little Clan Head, that too would be what Heaven has decreed, and I plan to bury my guilt here and leave.”The Alliance Leader’s unfeeling voice spurred Sohwa’s anxiety.No sooner had he finished than wind blew through the garden. Feeling it, the Alliance Leader slowly turned his gaze. It returned and fixed upon the woman standing before him.“See for yourself whether the plan you set goes as you wish. And if you’re fortunate enough to turn time back again, then, do not seek me.”He was not a man to speak idly. He did not wait; he simply turned his back.One could not call the Alliance Leader heartless. The fact that he had not killed her was already a kindness.Sohwa opened her mouth as if to seize him.“Hae-rak…”At the sudden name, the Alliance Leader frowned and turned his head. Sohwa hesitated, then spoke.“I can’t find Hae-rak.”“Hae-rak is here?”Tang Sohwa nodded.“If the Blood Demon realizes I’ve escaped, he’ll suspect Hae-rak.”The Alliance Leader let out a mirthless laugh.“There’s no need to worry about Hae-rak. The Blood Demon as he is now will never kill Hae-rak. You know that by now, don’t you?”His eyes fell to Sohwa’s hand. It was the Blood Demon’s secret book.It seemed the Alliance Leader also knew about the Blood Demon’s relationship with Hae-rak.He turned his body again.Watching his receding back, Sohwa slid the record up her sleeve. Then, gripping Tang Hak’s hair ribbon, she gathered up Maehwa.She ran after the Alliance Leader, who would not wait for her, into the garden.At the garden’s edge, the Alliance Leader halted. Opening a formation, he said,“Hae-rak can keep breathing, but the Tang Clan cannot. They’ll be toyed with by the Blood Demon, prodded this way and that to test their limits, and die in agony. You made the right choice.”Sohwa silently watched the formation the Alliance Leader had opened.He spoke of choosing, but she had never chosen.Tang Sohwa could not gamble with the lives of the family who had come to find her. From the start, there had been only one option.Can one say she chose a path when there was only one?“Let’s go.”Sohwa crossed the formation after the Alliance Leader into the dark.She ignored his warning that she would not be able to achieve her plan.Plans were things that changed regardless of Heaven’s will. The longer the time they demanded, the more impossible the goal seemed, the more so. She had experienced it countless times even before annihilating the Namgung.What did not change for her was not the plan but the goal. So long as she did not give up, there would always be a road that reached the end— a vague conviction earned through a former life.Walking through the forest where darkness had settled, Sohwa straightened her sleeve. The rustle of paper sliced the silence.The sound grated.Sometimes there were plans one did not wish to change even knowing the situation.Sohwa wished Min Hae-rak to be safe. She did not want to break her promise twice to the pitiable descendant of Sun Palace.Letting the Alliance Leader think as he pleased, she hid her heart and quickened her pace.***Light-green leaves glittered, and at times the sound of peaceful water could be heard. Deep in a mountain no people entered, there stood a wooden building.Before it, hundreds trained in martial arts, and within the pavilion, scores were practicing something else.The Blue Blood Hall had talent for changing appearances. They were adept at Expulsion Arts, and through the precious secret book bestowed by the Blood Demon, they learned various sorceries.In one broad room they taught how to change one’s voice; in a somewhat dim room, how to read the reactions of the one before you; in some underground hidden chamber, a sorcery for throwing the opponent into confusion. Like learning an inner cultivation method, they quietly focused on themselves and the surrounding currents as they learned sorcery.Because they were ones who changed appearances, the Blue Blood Hall, paradoxically, kept its pavilion deep in the mountains, far from the secular world. To walk in their own faces, they needed a world that could not recognize them.The Blue Blood Hall was like a hometown to the Blue Blood Hall Lord.Absorbing the elixir bestowed by the Blood Demon, he was spending tranquil time.It had already been days since he last left his room. The cultists lowered their voices of their own accord and trained so as not to disturb the Hall Lord. However, their careful effort soon became meaningless.Fweeeee—A sharp wind-siren rang from the front gate.Those training in the drill yard and those practicing inside the pavilion all ceased their movements. A strange light flickered in their eyes. It had been a long time since they had heard an alarm.Fweeeee—As if ordering the rigid cultists to come to their senses, the wind-siren shrilled without pause. Those in the drill yard naturally turned their gaze to the pavilion. Surely the Hall Lord would have heard it as well. They assumed he would go out first.“What are you doing!”Then a man who seemed highest in rank among them barked. Grabbing his weapon, he laughed.“Move now!”“Yes!”The cultists moved swiftly. It seemed the Hall Lord had no intention yet of coming out of the pavilion.The first man to shout sprinted to the gate. The formation connecting to Geumeunsan had already been opened.It was as he was about to cross that passage.Boom.With a thunderous sound, the cultist at the front rank was flung back.K-BOOM.Those running up belatedly stopped short, but could not tell what was happening.“Aaaargh!”The scream heard from before the passage grew closer and closer.The quick-witted twisted their bodies, and through the gap that opened in the ranks, they saw a corpse dried tight like sinew and a wavering heat like a mirage.“It’s the Red Blood Hall!”At a shout from a Blue Blood Hall cultist, those assessing the situation turned and fled.Red Blood Hall or not, those men were unbelievers ranked beneath them— but unless one were a fool, one could not look down on whoever had made a sudden strike on the Blue Blood Hall. If he had raided the Blue Blood Hall alone, the intruder was, by anyone’s eyes, the Red Blood Hall Lord.In the newly cleared view, a tall, clean-cut youth appeared. Lifting his thick brows, the Red Blood Hall Lord crooked a finger.“Don’t make me run around dealing with nuisances. Hurry up and come.”But those who had arrived first were agile and quick-witted enough to be the first to rush. They were not foolish enough to charge at the Red Blood Hall Lord without fear.In a blink, the Red Blood Hall Lord caught up and smashed half the retreating line.Those pulling back changed direction. It was to inform the Blue Blood Hall Lord of the situation.KWA-KRA-KRA-KRAK.“Urgh!”But before they even reached the Hall Lord’s pavilion, the cultist at the very front toppled to the ground. He had lost his balance from the wooden splinters embedded in his body.“Hall Lord…”The fallen man twitched. Bursting through the doors, the Blue Blood Hall Lord stretched with a refreshed look. He strolled over and plucked the splinters from his subordinate’s body.“Why are you standing there getting yourself hurt?”At the uncharacteristically gentle manner of the Blue Blood Hall Lord, the cultists pounding up behind stopped short.The Blue Blood Hall Lord looked in a very good mood.Having pulled the splinters from his subordinate, the Blue Blood Hall Lord straightened. Because the vanguard was almost wiped out, the Red Blood Hall Lord standing in the courtyard was perfectly visible. Beyond him, the open passage was also visible. The alarm sounded, too.Taking stock, the Blue Blood Hall Lord clicked his tongue.“After all this time, the intrusion alarm rings, and seeing you blocking the way here… it seems the people from the Central Plains have come to rescue that woman.”The Blue Blood Hall Lord let out a short laugh.“Are you an idiot? Why are you helping that woman escape?”In an instant, the Blue Blood Hall Lord’s figure shifted to the center. Facing the Red Blood Hall Lord, he clicked his tongue.“If you lock her in the Black Horn, you can break her and indulge to your heart’s content. Once she returns to the Central Plains, she won’t be easy to handle.”His voice said he couldn’t understand it.The Red Blood Hall Lord shook his head, looking at him with pity.“Never run a top-ranked merchant guild. With arithmetic that poor.”“Whatever it is, your coming here is good for me.”He gathered inner energy into the wooden splinter in his hand. In that instant, the wood became hard as iron. The Blue Blood Hall Lord’s lips tilted askew.“I wanted to test my inner power as soon as I finished circulating qi. This works out. Facing you is a far more worthwhile hour than shredding that woman.”The moment he finished speaking, the twig shattered into dozens of pieces and shot toward the Red Blood Hall Lord.But wood was not compatible with fire. Before the shards even touched the Red Blood Hall Lord’s body, they burned up in the heat and vanished.In that time, the Blue Blood Hall Lord surged up to his nose-tip and tried to plant a shuriken in Hae-rak’s face. Hae-rak turned his head by a hair’s breadth and slid his body a full pace to the side, and the line of attack changed.With the formation at his back, the Blue Blood Hall Lord slashed his short blade in quick succession, as if to drive the Red Blood Hall Lord back into the inner compound.Then he shouted in a wrathful voice,“Don’t just stand there gaping— get out and seize that woman! Whoever brings her first gets a great reward.”He added coldly,“Since you can no longer use this watchdog as an excuse for failing to bring the woman, after I butcher this cur I’ll kill every one of you I see. If you laze about and gawk, you’ll regret it.”He was berating them for not moving faster. A cultist, coming to his senses, bolted for the passage.Fwoooooosh.“Aaaagh!”While Hae-rak fought the Blue Blood Hall Lord, he flung out heat. Those unlucky enough to be struck had the napes of their necks scorched, yet in that gap dozens of cultists crossed the formation.“Ah, missed them.”Murmuring as if at a loss, Hae-rak launched his body. He meant to block the passage.Thud.Sensing the Red Blood Hall Lord’s aim, the Blue Blood Hall Lord simply hurled a shuriken at him. The sharp short blade grazed Hae-rak’s arm, but it did not stop their positions from swapping yet again.With the door at his back, Hae-rak smiled and said,“Staying here is better than crossing the passage.”He smirked and shoved a cultist away.“Isn’t it better to keep breathing even a moment longer? Everyone knows the living world beats the netherworld.”BOOM.The Blue Blood Hall Lord bored through the cultists and threw throwing marks.“Madman. You’re defying the Blood Demon!”“If that were so, I’d be coughing blood in front of you.”Perhaps finding it strange as well, the Blue Blood Hall Lord squinted and cast more marks. The Red Blood Hall Lord dodged the flying iron and gave his answer.“The old man wants me not to die, and the drive to survive nullifies every restriction.”“What does your survival have to do with blocking our way?”“It means it’s fine because I’m doing it to live.”Annoyance flared at the nonsense, and the Blue Blood Hall Lord vented by flinging marks in rapid succession. The Red Blood Hall Lord snatched a few pieces of iron flying toward him. But because inner energy was packed into the hidden weapons, merely gripping them split the skin of his palm.Even so, the Red Blood Hall Lord never gave his back.Unable to hold themselves back, the cultists rushed the passage.“Aaagh!”“Gah!”Bravely trying to slip between the two Hall Lords to cross the formation, they either burned in the Red Blood Hall Lord’s heat or fell riddled by the Blue Blood Hall Lord’s hidden weapons.However, there were so many cultists, and the Blue Blood Hall Lord—who had just absorbed an elixir—now and then checked the Red Blood Hall Lord while rampaging, so a fair number managed to slip out by luck.Before they knew it, time had flown. In that while, the passage opened and closed several times.Suddenly the wind-siren that had been noisily assailing their ears cut off. Then a peal of thunder crashed down.Krrrrrrr-THOOM.It was the alarm that rang when a Honin had vacated his place for more than half a shichen. A sound heard only at the middle gate, east gate, and west gate where the Blood Demon’s pavilion stood.With eyes tinged with irritation, Hae-rak looked at the Blue Blood Hall Lord and said,“Thanks to you, I’m about to miss the send-off.”Wiping the blood at the corner of his mouth, the Blue Blood Hall Lord gave a fishy smile.“Why go to send her off? You’ll soon be by that woman’s side.”At the moment, anything his hand touched was a weapon for the Blue Blood Hall Lord. Scooping up a handful of stones from the ground and hurling them, he sent them screaming in like shells with explosive speed.It was, by anyone’s hearing, a vow to kill Hae-rak and send him to hell. But Hae-rak nodded as if thinking something else.“Fair point.”KRAAAASH.The sharpened stones turned into hidden weapons tore his hem and scored his cheek, but a smile hung on Hae-rak’s lips.“Right. ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ I almost did something useless. We’ll see each other again soon— why go to send her off?”At the nonsense, the Blue Blood Hall Lord’s eyes narrowed— and in that instant, a wave of overwhelming heat surged in.“Urk!”No sooner had the formation’s gate shut than Hae-rak, who had darted forward, seized the Blue Blood Hall Lord by the throat.“You put me through hell but didn’t give me a proper elixir, did you. Swear fealty to someone worth the trouble, Cheong-il. You poor bastard.”“Aaaagh!”The heat was as scorching as if he had thrust the sun to the man’s face. His reddening vision felt as if it were melting. Gripping the Blue Blood Hall Lord’s face, Hae-rak hurled him toward the side where the cultists were massed.“Strange, isn’t it? Your Hall Lord’s eyesight seems to recover fine when it’s the Red Blood Hall Lord he faces, but above the neck it seems hard for him to heal. I asked if I could cut off his head, and the old man had a fright and told me to let him go.”The Blood Demon’s mad hound spoke madness worthy of his name. At the blasphemy, the cultists recoiled, and the Red Blood Hall Lord added,“Your odds of keeping your lives are far higher if you pour your efforts into treating your Hall Lord than into chasing me. So don’t follow.”The Red Blood Hall Lord opened the closed formation again.For half an incense-stick’s time after he vanished, the gate stood wide open, but no one crossed after him.

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