“...That place is dangerous. Among the trading companies, there are groups that try to pass through it as a shortcut and end up slaughtered by Chaotic Heaven Kings that appear without warning. It happens at least once every half year.”

“I know.”

“.......”

“That is why I am going.”

“...Hah...”

“There are four in my party. Myself, Seong Yangho, and two martial artists.”

Ma Suhyeok thought for a moment.

“...How about forming a detached unit?”

“A detached unit?”

“Yes. A small unit that moves independently. Separate from ordinary troops, able to act under its own judgment.”

“That sounds fine.”

“It would allow both front-line investigation and the elimination of Chaotic Heaven Ones. However...”

“However?”

“I cannot interfere with it. It would effectively become a unit directly under the Polar Heir.”

“That does not matter.”

“Understood.”

Ma Suhyeok rose from his seat.

“I will provide the necessary supplies and information.”

“I will accept them gratefully.”

“This way. I will guide you to your lodging.”

Seol Unhwi rose and asked,

“How much do you know about the Northern Wind Trading Company?”

Ma Suhyeok turned his head and blinked.

“The Northern Wind Trading Company... is that not a fairly well-known trading company in the Central Plains?”

“I heard that its head, Yeom Muhyeok, is here in Windwall.”

“Yes. He is. I was drinking tea with him as recently as yesterday.”

“Did he make any particular request?”

The questions that followed from Seol Unhwi implied quite a great deal.

Ma Suhyeok read that.

His expression stiffened slightly.

“...It seems the Northern Wind Trading Company has committed a grave mistake.”

“Yes. I encountered them on the way here. They were secretly moving the corpse of a Chaotic Heaven One.”

“...The corpse of a Chaotic Heaven One?”

“Yes. So I killed them all.”

Ma Suhyeok’s eyes widened.

“All of them...?”

“Yes.”

“.......”

“I need to meet Yeom Muhyeok. Do you know where he is?”

“...This is... difficult to explain. Trading Company Head Yeom left Windwall this morning.”

Seol Unhwi’s brow twitched.

“As far as I know, he was traveling separately from the trade caravan, with no particular companions.”

“What did you discuss with him?”

Ma Suhyeok answered without hesitation.

“We discussed trade.”

“Trade?”

“As you know, Windwall is barren. At present, the trading companies carrying supplies here are the two I have designated: the Qinghe Trading Company and the Woonseong Trading Company. He requested that the Northern Wind Trading Company be added among them, and I told him I would consider it seriously and give him an answer in fifteen days.”

Seol Unhwi stared at Ma Suhyeok.

From Seol Unhwi’s gaze, Ma Suhyeok felt it.

It would have been stranger not to.

Ma Suhyeok was a man sharp enough to notice that much.

“Mysterious Snow Palace Lord.”

“Yes.”

“It was not me.”

“.......”

“I have not betrayed the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Palace, nor have I ever taken bribes for personal gain.”

Ma Suhyeok’s eyes were serious.

Seol Unhwi silently looked at him, then slowly nodded.

Because as Seol Unhwi saw it, Ma Suhyeok’s eyes were genuine.

“I will believe you. And I would like to ask one favor, if that is acceptable.”

“Please say anything.”

“Send a letter to Yeom Muhyeok of the Northern Wind Trading Company.”

“A letter?”

“Tell him you wish to meet separately, and that there are matters to discuss in depth regarding designation as a trading company.”

“...You intend to be present at that meeting.”

“Yes.”

“And you intend to see blood.”

“If circumstances require it.”

“...From the look of things, you seem to have some suspicion.”

Seol Unhwi nodded.

The Northern Wind Trading Company.

A trading company secretly moving corpses of Chaotic Heaven Ones.

Whether collectors truly found such things popular, Seol Unhwi did not know. But he did know that this was no ordinary matter.

At that moment, one name was being engraved in Seol Unhwi’s mind.

Yu Cheong.

The Deputy Cult Leader of the Original Blood Sect.

No matter how he looked at it, it seemed Yu Cheong had moved.

“Understood for now. I will send the letter today.”

Seol Unhwi nodded and rose.

Ma Suhyeok had offered to guide him to his residence, but Seol Unhwi said it was fine and stepped outside.

Then he stopped before the door.

Two people stood there.

One was a man.

Broad-built, with sharp eyes.

The second Polar Heir.

Cha Seollin, Seol Muryun.

The other was also a man.

A little younger, with a cold expression.

The fourth Polar Heir.

Sa Seollin, Seol Unhae.

He had only one arm.

Seol Muryun spoke first.

“It has been a long time, Unhwi.”

Seol Unhae said nothing.

He merely stared at Seol Unhwi with cold eyes.

Seol Unhwi answered quietly,

“It has been a long time, elder brothers.”

***

First, I looked at the fourth, Seol Unhae.

One-armed.

With one arm missing, he looked far more shabby than he had in the past, at least outwardly—but his eyes were different.

They were fierce.

Very much so.

The second elder brother, who had been looking at me for a moment, spoke.

“Unhwi.”

“Yes, second elder brother.”

“I will wait inside the room. Go speak with him.”

There was no way my second elder brother did not know the relationship between Seol Unhae and me. There was no need to go far back. I was the one who had made him one-armed.

And from the look of things, Seol Unhae also had something to say to me.

I looked at my second elder brother and said,

“Understood.”

After hearing my answer, my second elder brother moved away, and the people behind me also stepped aside.

It became a time for only Seol Unhae and me.

I asked him,

“I have heard news of you from time to time.”

“...News?”

“I heard your realm has risen. And that you are on the verge of the Harmony realm.”

Seol Unhae’s expression did not change.

Expressionless.

“You say empty praise easily. I do not think the relationship between you and me is good enough for that.”

It was true that Seol Unhae had risen to the Five Qi Origin realm.

But that had only happened a month ago.

No matter how extraordinary Father’s bloodline was, not everyone was a genius.

For Seol Unhae to reach the Harmony realm, it would take until the year after next at the very fastest—perhaps even longer.

My words that he was on the verge of it had merely been courtesy, but unexpectedly, Seol Unhae had answered it directly.

He had certainly changed.

“Did the situation at Windwall develop you, elder brother? Or...”

“It was because of you.”

“Is that so?”

“I will not say that I have reflected on the past, or °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° that I am sorry, or anything of the sort.”

I silently looked at Seol Unhae.

“I tried to kill you, and you tried to kill me, but for Father’s sake you let it pass. I am grateful for that part, but I have no intention of expressing thanks.”

“Then what is it that you wish to say to me?”

After saying that, I immediately shook my head.

No.

That was not it.

“It seems there is something you wish to hear from me.”

I could guess what it was.

To me, the existence called Seol Unhae was one that mattered little whether he lived or not.

To speak bluntly, it would not matter if I killed him.

No matter how much we were blood kin, priorities existed, and the person at the very top of those priorities for me was Father.

He was one of the chief causes that had made my childhood extremely miserable.

Even so, the reason I did not kill him was simple.

If Seol Unhae died, Father would grieve.

Then what did Seol Unhae want to hear from me?

It was very simple.

“I no longer have any feelings toward you, fourth elder brother.”

“.......”

“No resentment. And no debt of gratitude. I have no wish to become close to you, and if we grow distant, it does not particularly matter.”

“.......”

“Even if you were to die suddenly somewhere, I would think only that such a thing had happened. However.”

“However?”

“Do not worry. If you die, and if that death comes through someone’s scheme, I will at least kill that person for you.”

“Because we are blood kin.”

“Yes. Because we are blood kin. Polar Heir, is that enough?”

Seol Unhae looked at me quietly, then slowly opened his mouth.

“No feelings. No debt. No resentment. I wanted to hear those words.”

“.......”

“In a way, saying this to you, who gave me a chance, may be inappropriate and foolish. But I decided to do so.” 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

No matter how much the exterior changed, the inside did not change easily.

There was only a little growth, and that growth slowly altered one’s flaws. Seeing him with my own eyes and speaking with him, I became certain.

Seol Unhae had definitely changed.

“Next time, I will place a debt of gratitude on you, not resentment.”

“You will have to work hard.”

“I am working hard.”

Seol Unhae turned.

Then he slowly began walking away, only to stop in place as if he had forgotten something.

“This is information I learned through the Cold Ice Sect. They say the corpses of Chaotic Heaven Ones are being moved toward the Thunderclap Demon Cult.”

My brow twitched.

Not anywhere else—the Thunderclap Demon Cult?

“Judging by your expression, you did not know.”

“.......”

“Now I see I have already planted a debt of gratitude. Let us call this payment for one arm.”

Seol Unhae laughed faintly and began walking again.

As I watched him slowly disappear, I knew what expression I had even without a mirror.

It was not good.

Truly not good.

The Cold Ice Sect’s skill in production and refinement was not inferior even compared to anywhere in the Central Plains.

Because it was such a place, it had ties to all sorts of trading companies, and often obtained information from them.

Though I had not said it aloud, the place where the largest number of White Snow Spirit Corps members had infiltrated was the trading companies of the Cold Ice Sect.

In any case, if information came from such a place, the chances of it being true were very high.

But the Thunderclap Demon Cult.

A branch of the Original Blood Sect. Its current Cult Leader, Jeong Docheon, was truly not even human.

I had never seen a piece of filth on that level in my life.

And such a bastard was aiming for the Chaotic Heaven Ones?

Seen another way, this was no different from Yu Cheong moving.

He had not given up on demonic constructs.

Suspicion was steadily becoming certainty.

The Northern Wind Trading Company, secretly moving corpses of Chaotic Heaven Ones.

And Yu Cheong, unable to give up on demonic constructs.

Before long, Chief Seong approached.

“Young master, are you all right?”

I turned my head.

“...You do not look all right. What conversation did you have?”

“Thunderclap Demon Cult.”

“...Pardon?”

As the name of an Original Blood Sect branch suddenly came up, Chief Seong tilted his head.

“Find every contact and trading company connected to the Thunderclap Demon Cult.”

“...There will be an enormous number...”

“As quickly as possible. And focus on the Northern Wind Trading Company.”

Chief Seong nodded.

“I will go meet my second elder brother, so send two messenger pigeons.”

“Two?”

“One to Han Seokhyeon of Yangryeong, and the other to Thousand-Hand Ghost of the Beggars’ Sect in Geon’gon Fortress.”

“...Understood.”

I turned and walked toward the private room where my second elder brother would be.

***

It was called a private room, but it was smaller than expected.

Just an ordinary room.

Inside was a table with two empty cups, and seated before it was Seol Muryun.

Seol Unhwi opened the door and entered.

Seol Muryun raised his head.

“You have come.”

“Were you waiting?”

“You must have had much to discuss with Unhae. It was only right that I wait.”

Seol Unhwi nodded and sat opposite him.

Seol Muryun poured tea.

For Seol Unhwi.

And for himself.

After a brief silence, Seol Muryun spoke first.

“Did things end well with Unhae?”

“In a manner of speaking.”