Chapter 107. The Second Desire

So-hwa wanted to kill the Blood Demon.

She had even brought along the deadly poison she took in the final moment of her past life, ready to end her own life if she failed.

And if the situation allowed, she wanted to stay in the Blood Demon's fortress, understand the sect, and uncover its weaknesses.

She didn't care if she was tortured or imprisoned. She just wanted to take the time to understand their structure and kill as many members of the Blood Sect as possible.

Just as she had done long ago in Namgung.

But that cunning Blood Sect bastard acted as if he had read her mind.

There was a reproachful look in his gaze, as if telling her not to even try.

The Blood Demon's laughter echoed.

"Hearing you say that makes it all the more interesting."

Though the Blood Demon seemed to despise Haerak, he also appeared to trust him. He questioned Haerak with suspicion, curious about the vague words that could be brushed off by others.

"So what is this strange proposal and bizarre talk?"

Haerak's gaze returned to the Blood Demon.

"She'll dangle what you want to shake you, then demand something absurd."

So-hwa was gradually getting irritated by Haerak's interference.

She looked at the Blood Demon and spoke.

"He's not wrong. I can give you what you want."

"Oh? And do you know what it is that I want?"

The Blood Demon tilted his lips crookedly.

So-hwa looked around the room. At the end of her gaze was Haerak. She silently stared at him before turning her eyes back to the Blood Demon.

"I don't mind if there are many listening, but are you fine with it?"

Her red lips curved.

"If you're fine with those here hearing the name you want to lock away in that Red Pavilion, then I say it now."

From the corner of her eye, she saw Haerak narrowing his eyes.

It was only a short moment, but So-hwa realized that the Blood Demon trusted the Blue Blood Hall Lord and his guards. They seemed like loyal retainers ready to die for him.

'The Alliance Leader said so, too.'

But Haerak was different.

The one who would one day cut the Blood Demon's throat was right here.

As expected, the Blood Demon's gaze drifted to Haerak.

So-hwa spoke again as she watched him.

"My strange proposal is the name of the one who will become the master of that Red Pavilion, and the bizarre talk is the price I will demand."

The Blood Demon brushed his dark red lips with his hand. So-hwa didn't give him time to ponder.

"What will it be? Will you hear the strange proposal first, or the bizarre talk?"

"Haha."

The Blood Demon burst out laughing.

"Gatekeeper."

At the Blood Demon's call, the door opened.

The gatekeeper, who had been standing in front of the door, quietly awaited orders. The Blood Demon gave the command without even looking at him.

"Open the Black Pavilion."

"Yes."

"Prepare the bedchamber as well. The child of Jin Su will stay there."

He glanced at So-hwa and tilted his lips.

"Depending on what your bizarre talk is, your place will either be a bedchamber or a dungeon."

So-hwa remained calm in the face of the Blood Demon's threat. Instead, she responded in an indifferent voice.

"At best, it's just a sect's pavilion, so I have no high expectations, but tell them to prepare the best room."

"Haha. Yes, that's how one should bluff. Amusing."

The Blood Demon gave an unreadable smile and commanded the Gatekeeper.

"Did you hear? Vacate the best room and the most disgraceful dungeon."

The gatekeeper, with head bowed, disappeared like smoke, but the door did not close.

"Now, since you've asked to speak to me in private, shall we move?"

So-hwa did not refuse. She took a step toward the Blood Demon.

"Are you crazy? Where do you think you're going?"

Haerak interrupted, seemingly in disbelief, but the Blood Demon's guards and the Blue Blood Hall Lord blocked his way.

The Blood Demon clicked his tongue.

"The one who should never come in is you, Haerak. Stay here and don't follow."

"Didn't you say I also knew?"

In response to Haerak's shout, the Blood Demon smiled.

"Haerak, the very fact that you're here proves you know nothing."

So-hwa did not avoid the Blood Demon's gaze.

What the Blood Demon wanted wasn't just a name.

He wanted certainty about the sorcerer.

He was trying to confirm whether So-hwa knew the future — to reassure himself of the sorcerer's existence.

He was cautious, and So-hwa understood that reaction.

If he killed the sorcerer to confirm the divine selection, paradoxically, he would lose the sorcerer and thus fail to gain them.

In her past life, the Blood Demon had crossed even into the Central Plains to kill the last sorcerer and confirm that she was chosen by the God, but the moment he confirmed it, he lost the sorcerer. As a result, he could no longer use her to turn back time — forever.

Whether the Blood Demon saw regression as an opportunity or a punishment, having once lost the sorcerer right before his eyes, he could only act with caution.

He would try to extract knowledge of the future from So-hwa to confirm the sorcerer's existence.

Just like in some past when he accidentally discovered the sorcerer. So that he would never again have the sorcerer taken by the God.

Thus, So-hwa planned to make use of his test.

In her past life, the Blood Demon had sent Namgung Hyun to her. Even if she didn't know his ultimate goal in that life, she knew what he had wanted from her.

Therefore, she could shake his heart.

So-hwa quietly drew a breath.

'Even the scent of peonies and the metallic stench of coins can't cut through the smell of long-stagnant blood, and yet — why does the absolute being before me seem scentless?'

So-hwa stared at the Blood Demon, waiting for their private meeting.

"Let's go."

The Blood Demon gestured to So-hwa.

So-hwa followed him out of the room.

Though the sounds of fierce fighting erupted behind them, once the door closed, the noise vanished as if it had all been a lie.

The Blood Demon walked down the corridor toward a window.

The gatekeeper, who had disappeared, appeared again and opened the large window. A bridge came into view — it connected to the Red Pavilion.

Behind the Red Pavilion stood a Black Pavilion.

The Blood Demon passed through the corridor of the Red Pavilion and, in the same manner, entered the Black Pavilion.

The Red Pavilion seemed to be the prison for the sorcerer that the Alliance Leader had mentioned, but it was unclear what the Black Pavilion was.

What stood out about the Black Pavilion was its garden.

Unlike the other pavilions paved with stone, this place was filled with grass and flowers, and various trees formed a fence around the garden.

As So-hwa followed the Blood Demon down the stairs, she asked.

“I’d heard rumors you were obsessed with dark arts, but it seems those rumors greatly understated the truth.”

"Is that so?"

The Blood Demon murmured as if speaking to himself.

"Hearing you say you heard it secondhand, I guess you never met me in your past life."

He gave a small laugh and turned his head.

"But why do you act like you know everything about me? Haerak is a snake — he wouldn't have told you anything about me unless it was to his benefit."

"You don't seem to know your own subordinates very well."

"Child of Jin Su."

He added in a low voice,

"I'll let it go once, but if you lie to me again, you'll go straight to the dungeon."

So-hwa silently stared at the Blood Demon's back.

Step.

Arriving on the first floor, the Blood Demon walked straight to the main door. When he opened it, the garden seen from the bridge was revealed.

It was filled with all kinds of grasses and flowers. At the edge of the garden stood enormous old trees and low shrubs.

The plants in view were familiar. Medicinal herbs and rare elixirs were mixed together like weeds.

Some might call it beautiful, but to So-hwa's eyes, it looked disorderly.

Flowers that grow in extreme yin (places filled with cold, dark, or deathly qi) and grasses that grow in intense yang (represents heat, life, vitality, or pure energy) were placed barely three jang (10 meters) apart.

It was an illogical sight.

Then the Blood Demon's voice pierced her eardrums.

"Now, make your proposal. That name, I mean."

"Namgung Hyun."

The Blood Demon's lips curved.

"Unexpected. I thought you'd lie or stall for time."

As expected, the name didn't seem to be what mattered — the Blood Demon wasn't particularly shaken.

Instead, he doubted So-hwa for giving it up so easily.

"Still, you seem to be scheming something. To blurt out an answer even before I ask for the price..."

A wrinkle formed between the Blood Demon's brows.

"Now that I've gotten what I wanted, I could kill you right here — and yet you answered so fearlessly. So what is this bizarre talk of yours?"

So-hwa stared at the Blood Demon and slowly opened her mouth.

"You still want more from me, don't you?"

The wrinkle between his brows smoothed out.

As if telling her to go on.

So-hwa calmly met that gaze.

Living two lifetimes, she had read the Tang Clan's secret texts many times. She could copy the records stored in the Nine Turns Pavilion and the Medical Hall without even needing to look.

She had gained much from them, but when she created the deadly poison to develop the "Body Impervious to All Poisons," the book that had helped her wasn't one of those.

It was a folk medical text occasionally delivered to her by Namgung Hyun, who came by while collecting news of the Central Plains at the Four Seasons Hall.

Thinking back now, it wasn't a folk text passed down among the people, but rather a record handed over to her by this very Blood Demon hiding behind Namgung Hyun.

A medical technique that could alter a person's constitution.

'Probably the reason you sought me in my past life.'

If so, this would be the proof he needed to confirm she had returned from the future.

Proof that Tang So-hwa, who possessed a body like the Blood Demon’s, was the one who killed the sorcerer.

So-hwa chewed over the contents of that book and then spoke.

"Tell me what medicine you need."

"What?"

The Blood Demon furrowed his brow.

"That's my 'bizarre talk.' The thing I want from you."

Her calm voice went straight to the point.

"The secret of the body you want to change."

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