In his childhood, there was a memory of holding each other's hands tightly and sharing warmth on a cold winter day.

But now, that hand, instead of a warm affection, was holding a cold sword hilt and aiming at Zhang Sanfeng's throat.

Although Zhang Sanfeng could not bear to look, Sowol's fingertips were trembling slightly.

'Why now of all times...'

To Baek Sowol, Zhang Sanfeng's appearance was the worst variable.

No, perhaps she had been desperately hoping that this moment would not come, turning her eyes away, since the day she had dreamed of revenge.

'There are many eyes watching.'

Before she could even organize her complicated mind, she saw the shadows of people beyond the burning ruins of the Namgung.

The city's onlookers, who had gathered as if a good spectacle had occurred.

But Sowol knew.

That among those ordinary onlookers, the spies of the Martial Alliance and the eyes of an unknown faction were mixed.

Since they would have been trying to annihilate the Namgung in the first place, there was no way their gazes would not be there.

Therefore, Baek Sowol had to choose.

"You have abandoned both your surname and your name. Why is such a person here?"

Beak Sowol gritted her teeth to suppress her trembling.

The fishy taste of iron from her burst lips stimulated the tip of her tongue.

'Brother Cheon... you shouldn't be here...'

Contrary to the desperate cry in her heart, Beak Sowol's pupils shone coolly, as if her emotions had been carved out.

"...Sowol-ah? Did you... do all this?"

Zhang Sanfeng's dumbfounded voice crumbled in the empty air.

Instead of an answer, Sowol thrust her sword.

A rush without hesitation.

A resolute strike, as if refusing a question and answer, attacked Zhang Sanfeng.

Zhang Sanfeng unconsciously blocked the attack with his scabbard.

Clang!

A sharp metallic sound echoed through the roar of the burning pavilion.

Sowol's internal energy, transmitted through the scabbard, was as rough and sad as the roar of a beast.

"S-Sowol-ah?!"

"If you are here as a Namgung, I will cut you down."

The two's swords clashed in succession.

Zhang Sanfeng's sword drew a Taiji and deflected Baek Sowol's sword.

Going against that flow, Baek Sowol's sword flew towards Zhang Sanfeng.

Although Zhang Sanfeng had been superior when they had met in Shaolin, now they were evenly matched.

The two's close combat continued for a while.

"You are weak. A weak sword, just like your nature that has not properly decided on a path."

The one who broke that balance was Baek Sowol.

Although it was a strong and ferocious sword, it was an untamed, wild sword.

"At least Namgung Jehyun had clearly decided on his own path."

The momentum of that sword changed.

As if the king himself had descended to the earth.

Zhang Sanfeng had seen that sword before.

"That sword is?!"

"Take it!"

A sword with the momentum of a king was brought down on Zhang Sanfeng.

Although it did not reach the level of Namgung Jehyun's before, it was a sword close to it.

No, it was different.

That sword was closer to a ferocious beast than a noble king.

"Keuk!"

Zhang Sanfeng struggled to deflect the sword.

It seemed difficult to respond properly to the continuous shocking sights.

"You escape well. Just like you, who escaped from the Namgung family and then crawled back in."

Baek Sowol brought down the king's sword on Zhang Sanfeng in succession.

'Older brother... this is how you will live...'

Unlike her chilly exterior, her insides were in tearing pain.

The sword was embedded in Zhang Sanfeng's shoulder and tore his flesh.

"You are pathetic. Stop your struggle."

Baek Sowol's chilly voice.

That voice was trembling slightly.

'Please, just collapse... please.'

Clang.

Zhang Sanfeng's sword was shattered by Baek Sowol's sword, which had been brought down in succession.

The white sharpness of the White Iron Clear Dew glinted and shattered the firm Taiji.

Baek Sowol's heart felt as if it would break like his sword.

"Keoheuk...!"

Dark red fresh blood gushed from between Zhang Sanfeng's lips.

Zhang Sanfeng's body, collapsing as it was.

Baek Sowol roughly kicked that body.

"Kneel."

Baek Sowol's chilly, command-like words.

But unlike her words, her eyes were constantly trembling.

Fortunately, the collapsed Zhang Sanfeng did not notice Sowol's gaze.

Crack.

Baek Sowol pressed down on the collapsed Zhang Sanfeng's head with her foot.

"You, who are neither Namgung Cheon nor Zhang Sanfeng, are not even worth cutting down."

Sowol sheathed her sword and walked into the flames without looking back.

In the collapsed ruins, Zhang Sanfeng lost consciousness, looking at her distant back with empty pupils.

Although Baek Sowol did not look back, she was relieved, having confirmed with her qi sense that Zhang Sanfeng had lost consciousness.

Although there were wounds, his life would not be in danger.

Baek Sowol gritted her teeth and swallowed the rising sobs, and raised her head.

She opened her eyes wide and somehow continued to maintain her sternness.

There, the martial artists of Mount Tian were kneeling, looking at Baek Sowol.

"We are returning."

"As you command."

At Baek Sowol's command, the martial artists of Mount Tian scattered as they had been instructed beforehand.

She also moved as they had arranged beforehand and then moved her feet from a nearby mountain.

In a deep mountain near Anwei.

Sowol's movements gradually slowed down.

She stopped on the spot, as if her feet would not move.

"Heavenly Demon."

At such a change in Baek Sowol, the martial artists of Mount Tian stopped around her.

Baek Sowol gritted her teeth for a moment and then opened her mouth, which would not move.

"Go on ahead."

At Baek Sowol's command, the martial artists of Mount Tian moved.

"My lord, although we are far from Anhui, it may still be dangerous."

"Go on ahead."

Baek Sowol sent even Ju Wolryang and Go Hakryeong ahead and became alone on the wild mountain.

After everyone had left, only the chirping of insects spread around.

"Sob..."

A single tear flowed from Baek Sowol's eyes.

Perhaps because she had held it in until now, the tears continued to flow as if a dam had burst.

"Heuk..."

It was a path she had chosen.

It was something she had done of her own will.

But even so, her heart ached.

In front of Baek Sowol's eyes, memories of the past continued to pass by.

The memory of climbing the back mountain with Namgung Cheon in her childhood, laughing and talking, picking flowers, and swinging a wooden sword.

The warm heart of that time was now stained with blood.

"Hic... sob!"

The tears that had once flowed did not stop and flowed without rest.

'Master, what should I do...?'

What came to such a Baek Sowol's mind was Baek Yoonjun, who had led her.

But Baek Yoonjun in Baek Sowol's mind-image also did not easily answer her question and just looked at her with a pitiful look.

'I wonder if I am walking my path properly, so I have no face to see you, Master...'

Sowol bowed her head without rest to her master, who was like the sky, and shed tears.

At that moment.

"You were here."

At the voice heard from somewhere, the surrounding air froze.

At the sudden, familiar yet chilly voice, Sowol's head slowly turned.

"...Master?!"

Forgetting that she had been wailing, Baek Sowol could not help but be surprised.

There, stood Baek Yoonjun, who had led her and whom she had held in her heart as a support until now.

'No... no... it's not Master.'

But as time passed, she realized that it was not her master.

The opponent definitely had the same appearance as Baek Yoonjun, but he was wearing black hair and a black robe.

"Who... are you?"

He had a face as if he had no emotions, not the strict but kind appearance that had led her.

The man who resembled Baek Yoonjun with black hair did not answer Baek Sowol's question.

"That sword. Hand it over."

There was no pity in his pupils.

At that cool voice, which only had a purpose, and seemed as if it would even stop a heart, Sowol forgot even her sorrow until just before and froze on the spot.

---

At that time, in the secret residence of Shaolin.

Baek Yoonjun was still having a martial arts match with a virtual opponent.

The opponent was, as expected, the man in the black robe who had been his equal until he had drawn the Heart Sword.

However.

'Easy.'

Although it had been a close match at first, after grasping the flow to some extent, it had now become too easy.

Although the black lightning of the man in the black robe was strong, it was linear, and his martial arts were all the same as his.

Baek Yoonjun was dealing with the black man of the mind-image with just his feet, with his hands behind his back.

'Of course, the opponent will also develop, so it won't be the same as that time.'

As his thoughts reached this point, the negative thoughts that could be called the basic quality of a homebody introvert began to creep up.

'What if he becomes stronger than me?'

The battle at that time was about a pleasantly equal match.

But if he were to become stronger than Baek Yoonjun himself, his worries deepened as to how he should deal with him.

At that, the momentum of the black man of the mind-image changed.

The black lightning that had been erupting only from the man's body now raged around Baek Yoonjun as if it had occurred naturally, and his sword strikes became incomparably more complex than before.

At the suddenly strengthened opponent's momentum, Baek Yoonjun was about to release his hands from behind his back.

'I think I can handle it.'

He put his hands behind his back again.

He dodged the raging black lightning by stepping on the footwork and changed the trajectory of all the flying sword strikes by stepping on the surface of the sword with his foot.

After that, Baek Yoonjun's kick hit the opponent's face.

Once it hit, Baek Yoonjun continued to kick the opponent in succession.

A one-sided offensive that continued for a while.

The result was, of course, Baek Yoonjun's victory.

'This works.'

Although Baek Yoonjun had won, he contemplated his mind-image with a reluctant look.

'I won, but does this make sense?'

Contemplating, he filled his head with negative thoughts as expected.

'Hmm... no matter how I think about it, it doesn't make sense...'

Baek Yoonjun dug a hole in his mind-image as he always did.

'In the end, is it a victory due to my lack of imagination?'

He came to the conclusion that his imagination was lacking.

Reaching such a conclusion, the thing called 'motivation' completely drained from Baek Yoonjun's body, like water from a burst dam.

'It's futile...'

Baek Yoonjun, who had stretched out on the floor, did not budge for several hours.

An appearance like a corpse.

And so, Baek Yoonjun, who had spent several hours without any thought.

'I'm bored.'

He had a thought that his original self would never have.

'I'm bored...?'

Of course, since Baek Yoonjun had prided himself on knowing himself well, he was startled at the sudden thought of being bored.

'What kind of absurd thought am I having...?'

Being cooped up in a corner of a room, which could now be called the purpose of his life.

Although it was limited now, he was perfectly achieving that purpose.

The thought of being bored that had come up in such a situation.

'Have I become complacent? Have I gone crazy after beating up some third-rates recently?'

Baek Yoonjun blamed himself.

He rebuked his own lax mind.

'I don't know where a first-rate master will appear from! I've become complacent! Complacent!!'

Blaming himself, Baek Yoonjun recalled the man in the black robe who had been his equal before, to have a sense of vigilance.

What had decided the outcome of the victory or defeat was the Heart Sword.

Although the opponent had been his equal, it seemed he could not use the Heart Sword.

'Hmm...? He's my equal, but he can't use the Heart Sword? Wasn't that brat a second-rate?'

Baek Yoonjun was suddenly plunged into a question.

Except for the Heart Sword, the opponent was definitely his equal.

However, he had felt that the opponent was using internal energy.

'A second-rate who uses internal energy... could it be...?'

After much thought, Baek Yoonjun.

'Could it be that I did something wrong when I reached the second-rate? Does a second-rate originally handle internal energy?'

As always, he began to dig a hole in his mind-image.

'Did I, train wrong?'

Baek Yoonjun went over his training process until now.

But since there was no particular object of comparison, it was just digging a hole.

At this point, it was a perfect digging of a hole that would make one wonder if what Baek Yoonjun held in his mind-image was a shovel and not a sword.

And so, as Baek Yoonjun was doing the digging he always did.

'A presence!'

Baek Yoonjun sensed a presence approaching the secret residence.

There was only one person who knew of the existence of this place, and there was no twist.

"Benefactor Baek. I am sorry to disturb your rest."

Shinseung politely performed a half-palm salute and bowed his head towards Baek Yoonjun.

"No. What is there to be sorry about..."

"Does Benefactor Baek not dislike troublesome things... but now, it could not be helped."

Baek Yoonjun became very embarrassed at Shinseung's repeated polite appearance.

Since he had been digging a hole in his mind-image anyway, he was glad for the presence of another person who had stopped that digging.

"I was really bored, so you came at a good time."

"I will gratefully accept Benefactor Baek's consideration."

Naturally, Baek Yoonjun had not shown any consideration at all, and had just stated a fact.

Shinseung, for whatever reason he had taken it, continued to speak with a rather moved look.

"Since I have received your consideration, I will immediately state the purpose of my coming here."

"What is it?"

"There is a patient now, and I would like Benefactor Baek to examine them."

"A patient?"

As Baek Yoonjun expressed a question, Shinseung uttered an answer seriously.

"It is not an ordinary patient."

"If it is not an ordinary patient, is it a patient with a serious illness?"

"That is not it either, but..."

Shinseung dragged his words for a moment.

At the sight of him, who seemed to find it quite difficult to utter the words, Baek Yoonjun also became tense.

'What kind of patient is it? To set the mood like this?'

Only when Baek Yoonjun had swallowed his saliva three or four times did Shinseung carefully open his mouth.

"...That patient, it seems he has come from the imperial palace."

"What? The imperial palace?"

At the unexpected words, Baek Yoonjun was astonished inside.

Because the word 'imperial palace' was a word that even Baek Yoonjun, who had no interest in the affairs of the world, could not help but be shaken by.

(End of Chapter)