Nng.

In the early hour before sunrise, when the dawn air was cool—

So-and-so woke within a wash of burning heat and let out his ragged, surging breath as if he were coughing it up.

Heat and pain radiated from his abdomen.

It was a pain that knit his brows on its own.

‘Alive.’

To feel pain is to be alive.

That he had kept his life beneath the endless press of Jiangshi and the wreckage of the collapsing cliff was itself astonishing.

It hurt—but better to live.

“......”

So-and-so turned only his head slightly and looked toward the door.

Someone sat at the table near the door.

The world was still dark because the day had not yet fully broken; where that person sat, it felt overpainted with an even deeper black.

He seemed like a reaper, and So-and-so’s brow furrowed.

“You. You haven’t come to kill me, I trust?”

“That’s a severe greeting to offer the moment you wake.”

The figure rose from the darkness and came to the bedside.

In the thin light slipping in from the window, the owner of that silhouette became clear.

“To think the one who advised me was the head of the Sado Union.”

The eyes within the black mask that symbolized the Shadowless Demon God were the eyes he knew.

He wore a Human-Skin Mask, but the living gaze could not be hidden.

The Shadowless Demon God let out a small, amused breath and dragged a chair over, sitting at his side.

He wore, unlike usual, light, plain martial clothes.

Because of that, the body the roomy long coat had hidden showed plainly, and So-and-so realized he was more slightly built than he had thought.

‘At a glance, you could mistake him for a woman’s frame.’

That was how slender he was.

“Cheon Guiho is dead.”

“...”

So-and-so’s face darkened swiftly.

“Explain what happened.”

He kept his mouth closed for a time as if he were in deep deliberation.

Seolhwa waited, silent.

After a rather long quiet, So-and-so spoke, voice low.

“At the moment the cliff collapsed, he lunged at me.”

“...”

“Using the chaos to try to ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) kill me and take the Sacred Object, so it seemed.”

As the cliff went down, while he fled the pelting debris, something sharp had pierced So-and-so’s abdomen.

With a choking groan, he had fallen on the spot.

Everyone had been running mindlessly; no one in the rear had seen him go down.

He had seen who struck him.

Cheon Guiho. The Beggar’s Union’s Hugae.

“He rifled my fallen body. Fool that he was, he thought I would bring the Sacred Object out there.”

With a moment’s thought he should have known he would not—but Cheon Guiho committed that foolish error.

“When a man is pressed, his eyes go blind.”

“Yes. He looked rattled. Likely because his collusion with the Outlands had been exposed.”

Under the banner of guarding the Beggar’s Union, Cheon Guiho had taken Hwaoru’s hand first and persuaded the elders to go along with that collusion.

Hwaoru was neither Orthodox nor Unorthodox—an unknown, new, small force—but there is no law that says a rising power cannot grasp the Central Plains, so the Beggar’s Union gave way to the Hugae’s will.

Only, this time in the ravine the force they had sought to collude with proved to be from the Outlands.

As So-and-so said, even a guild that did not stand on pride had men of pride; they would not follow an Outlands power.

In this, Cheon Guiho stood to lose the trust of the elders who had backed him.

“Even so, the elders would have followed Cheon Guiho still.”

“Even after he tried to hand the Beggar’s Union to the Outlands?”

“He was the child who carried on the former Dragon-Head Lord’s will.”

The former Dragon-Head Lord had been murdered.

By Outlanders’ hands.

In the Beggar’s Union as So-and-so knew it, to honor the one who had left so suddenly and respect his will, they would be very likely to elevate the Hugae he had set in place to Dragon-Head Lord.

“Everyone errs. And since the misunderstanding was cleared, I had no reason not to turn the Sacred Object over.”

If he took the Sacred Object back and assumed the Dragon-Head’s seat, then labored for the guild, trust would return in due course.

What had him so afraid that he tried to take the Sacred Object by killing him?

“Perhaps I drove the boy to the cliff. I feel the guilt.”

“To think you can say that with your abdomen pierced. I’m impressed.”

Seolhwa drew something from her breast and set it by So-and-so’s pillow.

So-and-so rolled only his eyes to see what it was. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

“A written pledge: Cheon Guiho promised Hwaoru that if they killed the Dragon-Head Lord, he would hand them the Beggar’s Union’s power.”

It was found in the dead Mo-wol’s bosom.

It had weighed on her that she had not fully cleared the Beggar’s Union’s misunderstanding toward So-and-so; she had found the document by luck.

“...What...?”

Shock washed So-and-so’s face.

Cheon Guiho had asked them to kill the Dragon-Head Lord...?

“Chunpal said this: that you and Cheon Guiho suddenly came to blows, which delayed your escape from the debris.”

After the fight at the cliff’s edge, when he confirmed there was no Sacred Object, Cheon Guiho despaired.

And only then did he recognize death was bearing down upon them.

In that instant So-and-so threw himself up through the pain and ran, and Cheon Guiho ran as well.

The two reached out at once.

“I heard the elders seized your hand and pulled.”

When their hands shot out, the elders who had already gotten ahead grabbed So-and-so’s hand.

Just before the debris buried them, Chunpal had clearly seen Cheon Guiho’s eyes fill with betrayal and despair.

“Even without such proof, the Beggar’s Union elders likely would not have followed Cheon Guiho. Whatever he had done up to now.”

Cheon Guiho had already forfeited his trust as a leader.

Otherwise there would be no explaining why, in that sliver of an instant, the elders had seized So-and-so’s hand without hesitation.

The elders had already known.

Cheon Guiho was not timber fit for a Dragon-Head.

“...I see.”

So-and-so lowered his eyes with a bitter look.

It was a complicated expression whose thoughts could not be read.

It seemed a little sad—and a little relieved.

“What becomes of the Beggar’s Union now?”

“That will depend on what you do, sir.”

“The Beggar’s Union has no strength.”

It had an information web that ran through the Central Plains, but lacked the strength to defend itself.

Thus, countless forces seeking its intelligence would seize beggars, torture them, and kill them to take it.

“So a beggar’s life, they say, isn’t a life.”

Filthy dogs.

His anger rose, and So-and-so muttered a curse.

“Join hands with me.”

So-and-so’s brow arched.

“You mean to have us go under the Sado Union? And yet, I hear you already have an excellent intelligence web.”

With the Hao Sect under her, what need had she of the Beggar’s Union?

Of course, add the Beggar’s Union atop the Hao Sect and it would be as good as holding the whole Central Plains—but forces with overlapping roles do not coexist easily.

“I’ve no wish to rent a room where the Hao Sect already sits.”

He would be put in the back, surely.

“Not the Sado Union.”

So-and-so’s brow rose again—what did she mean by that?

After a short silence, Seolhwa slowly removed the Shadowless Demon God’s mask and pressed the acupoints that altered her voice back to normal.

Watching her, So-and-so’s brows climbed higher and higher.

He worked his lips and pointed at Seolhwa.

“Y-you—you’ve another Human-Skin Mask... haven’t you...?”

Seolhwa smiled, small.

“Sadly, no. If you like, tug.”

She turned her head to bare the nape of her neck.

A Human-Skin Mask typically left a seam at the nape between the false face and true skin.

Seolhwa’s nape was, of course, clean.

“...”

So-and-so’s mouth fell open.

To anyone else it would have looked as if he’d frozen in place.

“Do you recognize me?”

“Nam—Namgoong...”

“As expected of a Beggar’s Union elder.”

She had never met him in the guise of Namgoong Seolhwa, and yet he had recognized her at once.

He must have investigated without her noticing, or seen a portrait.

“Then... four years ago, that was you as well...?”

“Most likely.”

“...!”

So-and-so’s mouth fell open again.

He stayed frozen long enough that Seolhwa waved a hand before his eyes.

Only then did he close his mouth.

“I know you’re shocked and have a great many questions, but I’m sorry—there is no time.”

“...What is it you want to say.”

At the words there was no time, So-and-so pivoted at once.

As befit an elder of the Beggar’s Union, he was quick on the uptake.

“Become the Martial Alliance’s intelligence web.”

“...That is not a request.”

If anything, it was the Beggar’s Union that should be asking the Martial Alliance to protect them in exchange for intelligence, was it not?

“That is enough. And...”

Seolhwa drew another paper from her breast and placed it in So-and-so’s hand.

“When you are recovered, I would like you to find the origin of this sigil.”

With effort, So-and-so unfolded the paper and checked the drawn mark.

It was a sigil he felt he might have seen somewhere.

“Is this Sado Union business—or Martial Alliance business?”

“A personal request.”

At the word personal, So-and-so looked at her with intrigued eyes.

Then he tucked the paper away and nodded.

“When my body mends, I’ll look into it first.”

“Thank you. And needless to say, the fact that I am the Shadowless Demon God is a secret.”

“That goes without saying.”

Seolhwa smiled lightly, nodded, and stood.

“Where are you off to?”

“I have business at Mount Wudang.”

“Ah.”

So-and-so, too, knew that the Wudang Sect and the Martial Alliance stood in opposition now.

Seolhwa donned the mask again, pressed the acupoints to shift her voice, and looked back to him.

“While you stay here, the Sado Union will protect the Beggar’s Union. Rest easy. If you need anything, say so freely.”

So-and-so stared, dazed, as the young lady of a martial clan became, in the blink of an eye, the Shadowless Demon God.

Slowly, he nodded.

“Understood.”

By now, clear light had taken hold in every corner of the room.

The Shadowless Demon God tipped his head in a brief farewell to So-and-so and stepped out.

Tak—

Watching the firmly closed door, So-and-so let out a long, faint sigh.