“Of course that’s possi... huh?”

Yeon-a, answering boldly, flinched.

To check that he had properly understood Sohwa’s words, Namgung Jin asked back,

“When you say keep them here, do you mean you want the Namgung clan to stay near the Tang manor?”

“Yes. I would like you to keep them somewhere within a distance they can return from in one or two quarters of an hour at most.”

At that, Yeon-a let out a troubled groan.

“Mm, but... does everyone have to stay? Th-the Sect Leader and the Sword Sovereign... they can leave, right?”

“No. Everyone else may leave, but I would like those two to remain.”

Yeon-a moved her lips and said,

“The truth is... my own situation is not very good right now, so it’s hard for me to ask those two for a favor. I can certainly bring it up, but they probably won’t agree.”

“There are ways to persuade them, are there not? You can collapse, saying you’re sick, or make up an excuse that you left something behind, or create a situation where you have to say you accidentally took something from the Tang clan and have to come back and return it.”

Although Namgung Jin spoke in his usual mild tone, it did not seem to be what he really wanted to say.

Soon, in a stiff voice, he asked a question.

“But why are you asking us to keep them within at most an hour’s distance?”

“Mm? Young Clan Head, your words are a little strange.”

Perhaps feeling that Namgung Jin’s tone was not ordinary, Yeon-a quietly stepped in on Sohwa’s side.

“There might still be demonic warriors lying in ambush nearby, and no one knows when the Blood Cult might send reinforcements, so from Young Lady Tang’s point of view, she would certainly want the Martial Alliance people to stay a little longer.”

Namgung Jin replied in a voice that held a faint, hollow laugh.

“If you were worried that the Blood Cult might attack again, you would have asked us not to leave at all. No, without saying anything, you would have put poison into the meals that are brought into our pavilions so we could not leave. But right now, Young Lady Tang is asking us to go out and stay outside.”

“Heavens! How can you slander her with something so cruel...! Apologize at once!”

Yeon-a cried out, flaring up.

But the person in question could not refute it, because it was exactly the kind of thing she might do.

Namgung Jin’s gaze remained fixed on Tang Sohwa.

“The Young Lady Tang I’ve seen is not someone who asks favors easily.”

He suddenly cleared his throat, as if correcting himself.

“Well, she herself may think it’s a favor, but from the listener’s standpoint, it feels like a threat.”

Boom.

“I have listened and listened, and honestly! Young Lady Tang is not that kind of person!”

At Namgung Jin’s words, Yeon-a jumped to her feet. She was so worked up and fuming that she could not even continue speaking.

Namgung Jin thought Tang Sohwa had anticipated this situation, and Yeon-a thought she had been hurt.

“Young Clan Head, if you do not apologize right now, I’m going to, right here...”

When Yeon-a put a hand on her sword and looked ready to go off the rails, Sohwa spoke.

“No. Young Clan Head is right.”

Yeon-a looked at Sohwa as if her world had collapsed. Realizing that she had once again made some bizarre misunderstanding, Sohwa added,

“It is not a threat... I spoke out of a desire for your cooperation.”

“It is not difficult to help Young Lady Tang. But we need to know the reason in order to help you properly.”

At Namgung Jin’s words, Sohwa had no choice but to lay out her thinking.

“Every sect has its own circumstances, and now that the Tang clan’s situation has stabilized, it is only natural that opinions would arise about leaving the Tang manor. However, it is unnatural for all opinions to suddenly align overnight and for everyone to leave at once. If someone intentionally orchestrated everyone’s departure, would there not be a reason?”

Namgung Jin and Yeon-a agreed with her words in silence.

From the beginning, they were the ones who had found the situation strange, and despite how little time they had to pack, they had come to find Tang Sohwa.

To a few of the very few friends she could trust, Sohwa was a bit more honest.

“The truth is, I lured the Blood Demon to the Tang manor. And it seems he intends to answer that lure.”

“You... lured the Blood Demon?”

Unable to make sense of the current situation, Yeon-a stared back and forth between Sohwa and Namgung Jin with shocked eyes.

The two of them did not doubt the Blood Demon’s existence. On the contrary, the name seemed familiar, and they exchanged a brief, silent look.

“Did you spend those three days going to lure the Blood Demon?”

“Something like that.”

Namgung Jin let out a deep sigh.

“Does the Clan Head know as well?”

“No.”

He raised both hands and buried his face in them. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Still unable to grasp what was going on, Yeon-a knit her brows and asked,

“What are the two of you talking about right now? That Young Lady Tang lured the Blood Demon to the Tang manor... and that the Tang Clan Head doesn’t know...”

Taking his hands down, Namgung Jin said in a bitter voice,

“Get used to it as well, Commander. Once Young Lady Tang takes action, that becomes the will of the Sichuan Tang clan.”

“Huh?”

Because Namgung Jin was saying something strange, Sohwa’s eyes narrowed.

Sensing that the mood was going awry, she continued speaking.

“If the Martial Alliance support does not vacate their positions, he might not come in and instead try to lure me out. But I would prefer, if possible, for him to come into this place.”

“Are you planning to face the Blood Demon with the Tang clan’s manpower?”

“No. As I said, the Clan Head does not know. And the goal is to end it quickly so he does not need to know.”

“...What do you mean, end it without him needing to know?”

Namgung Jin narrowed his eyes and asked.

“Surely you are not saying you intend to face the Blood Demon alone?”

Tang Sohwa nodded.

A brief silence fell.

Yeon-a blinked, then, as if she had just figured something out, let out an oh and asked,

“Ah, then the Blood Demon you’re talking about must not be the Blood Demon I’m thinking of! There must be some martial artist using the same epithet, right?”

“No. It will be that Blood Demon.”

When Namgung Jin corrected her, Sohwa gave a small nod.

“No, why is Young Lady Tang saying something so absurd... Ack, that slipped out.”

Yeon-a cut herself off mid-sentence and clapped a hand over her mouth.

“I know asking you to hold your headquarters back is an unreasonable request. Since pretending to be sick sounds like a good plan, I will prepare a poison that will make you suffer a high fever for about half a day.”

When she all but forced the favor on them, Namgung Jin sighed, giving up.

“No. There is no need to actually take it.”

“...Please give it to me. If I fall behind as well, when I’m not even sick, I really might get beaten.”

The two later-generation prodigies’ reactions were polar opposites.

Sohwa told them to wait a moment, then went into her sleeping quarters and came back with two small pouches.

“Young Clan Head said you do not need it, but since we do not know how things will turn out, please keep it on you.”

“Delaying time is not the issue. Just what is it that Young Lady Tang intends to do?”

“I have made poisons for the Blood Demon. I intend to try using them on him.”

“What? If you fail, won’t you only provoke his wrath further instead? Wouldn’t it be better to look for another opportunity later and leave it to someone like the Alliance Leader or the Four-Directions Hall Administrator?”

Sohwa shook her head.

“It is impossible to let it be known outside that there is a poison that is deadly to the Blood Demon. As you know, if word gets out, it will be taken away before we have any chance to do anything. This moment, when the Blood Demon is coming close to me here in the Central Plains, is the opportunity.”

“Why can you not tell anyone? If you are that confident in the poison, wouldn’t it be better to make as much as possible and launch a joint assault?”

Sohwa’s lips curved faintly.

“One of the poisons is not something that cannot be shared. Given that there are spies, we would have to accept a great loss, but if we can take the Blood Demon’s head, it would be worth the price. However, the other poison cannot be shared.”

Even as she emphasized that it absolutely could not be done, Sohwa’s voice remained calm.

“The aftermath is something I cannot bear, so it must be known only to me.”

Yeon-a moved her lips, wanting to say something more.

But Namgung Jin let out a soft laugh.

“So once again, you are telling us to follow without asking questions.”

He looked at Tang Sohwa with an unreadable expression.

Sohwa recalled the time she had trapped Namgung Jin in order to drag him to the Northern Sea. Now it felt newly shameful that she had subjected such an upright person to that insult.

“...I am sorry I cannot give you the details this time either.”

“It is all right.”

Namgung Jin spoke as if to reassure her.

“Even if it does not make sense at the time, when I look back, Young Lady Tang’s actions have always been necessary. If that day I had not gone to the Northern Sea, and had not helped restore the Northern Sea Ice Palace, all of the Ice Palace bloodline would have lost their lives.”

“What? Their lives?”

Yeon-a’s eyes flew wide in shock.

“The Northern Sea Ice Palace bloodline had been subjugated by the Blood Cult. They had been exploited, treated as less than human by the Blood Cult.”

A faint anger tinged Namgung Jin’s face.

“When we arrived, the bloodline’s children had been driven to a cliff, starving, and were in danger, exposed to sulfur.”

Yeon-a had known that the Northern Sea Ice Palace had been restored, but not the details; her face turned to one of shock.

“Then...”

Murmuring in a trembling voice, she suddenly turned her head sharply.

“Young Lady Tang... crossed over to the Northern Sea, crawling with the Blood Cult, even being suspected as a spy, in order to rescue the Northern Sea bloodline in crisis from the Blood Cult?”

It was true that she had tried to make the Northern Sea Ice Palace independent from within the Blood Cult, but judging by Yeon-a’s eyes, the purpose playing out in that girl’s mind seemed different.

As Yeon-a’s eyes reddened, Sohwa, appalled, parted her lips.

Just as she was about to speak, Namgung Jin said,

“Once again, Young Lady Tang is acting first without any explanation.”

With his lips curving, Namgung Jin added in a teasing tone,

“If that is the will of the Sichuan Tang clan, there must be a reason.”

“...”

There is no such reason.

At least, not the reason that would be in Namgung Jin’s head as a misunderstanding.

The second deadly poison that Tang Sohwa could not reveal was her own blood.

She had hypothesized that if she could change the will contained in the Blood Demon’s blood, perhaps she could also influence the body that held that blood.

But it was something she would only know by using it directly on the Blood Demon’s body, so at the moment, it was impossible to prove.

How could she possibly mention the existence of this poison, which was not even certain, to outsiders?

To explain why she placed such possibility in the second poison, she would have to reveal that the antidote for dokgo she had given the Martial Alliance was her own blood, and there was a chance that someone might infer her relationship with the Blood Demon.

Even if she trusted the people in front of her, she could not bare the secrets of her own body.