“I gave you a chance.”

“...”

“You said you wanted to be a strategist, so I made you one. You said you wanted honor, so I gave you an honor you couldn’t have found in any other sect.”

With every step the Sado Union Lord took, the shards of the shattered ornament crunched underfoot — crack, crack.

Each time that sound rang out, the Jade-Faced Master trembled.

It was a sound that pierced straight through his heart like a knife.

“You possessed the inner strength of the Orthodox Path, but I didn’t ask why. That was my mercy — and my patience.”

The Sado Union Lord closed the distance until she was right beside him.

Her low voice slid past his ear like a whisper.

“Did you think I wouldn’t know anything?”

“M—my Lord...”

“You killed Imoe.”

“!”

“So then... what should I do with you?”

“S—spare me, please!”

Thud—!

The Jade-Faced Master immediately dropped to his knees.

“M—my life was being threatened! They said they’d kill me if I didn’t pass along information!”

Seolhwa frowned.

“Who threatened you?”

“H—he called himself Blood Lord Yi! He said he was one of the Blood Cult’s Lords—!”

“...!”

Yi Blood Lord...?

‘He’s the same one who poisoned Imoe.’

Come to think of it, the period during which the Flesh Curtain had Imoe captive had only been a few days.

In that short time, someone had appeared as if waiting for it and fed her poison — not a normal toxin, but one that took several days of dormancy before symptoms appeared.

‘Yi Blood Lord knew Imoe would be captured.’

He had known everything through the Jade-Faced Master.

‘Yi Blood Lord... who are you...?’

Not once, in her previous life, had Seolhwa heard of such a person. Even the Third Blood Lord, Ak Jaryu, had known nothing about him.

Who could he be, that no one knew even a trivial detail beyond the fact that he used ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) poison?

“I—I was wrong. Please, spare my life...!”

The Jade-Faced Master clung to the hem of the Shadowless Demon God’s robe.

“I’ll never disappoint you again! No — if you spare me, I’ll return to my hometown and live as if dead. I swear it—!”

But Seolhwa’s gaze looking down upon him was ice-cold.

Facing his desperate eyes, she spoke in a flat, chilling tone.

“Do you know what your sin is, aside from leaking Black Cloud Hall’s information?”

“I—I only...”

“It’s that you didn’t say a word to me. Even though it’s been so long.”

“!”

“If you had come to me when you were being threatened — when you were truly cornered by fear — I would have helped you.”

The Jade-Faced Master had been in contact with the Blood Cult for a long time.

The moment she left her seat, he had immediately approached the three brothers of the Black Cloud Hall — proof enough.

He had been holding onto their reverse scales, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

Sssss...

A crimson killing aura crept around the Jade-Faced Master’s throat, tightening like a noose.

His face turned pale with horror.

“It wasn’t fear that drove you here.”

“M—my Lord, please...”

“It was your petty greed.”

“I—I was wrong. It’s all my fault. My Lord, I’ll never make another mistake again, never—!”

“Under normal circumstances, I would have plucked out your eyes, your teeth, and your tongue. So then...”

Shiiing—

Seolhwa drew her sword.

The Jade-Faced Master’s teeth began to chatter — clack, clack, clack, faster and faster.

“This is my final mercy.”

He saw the masked figure of the Sado Union Lord raise her blade.

Swoosh—

The sharp whistle of steel cutting through air filled his ears.

Thud—

That was the last thing he ever heard.

****

The Jade-Faced Master’s body was thrown into a mountain frequented by wild beasts, and his severed head was sent to the Black Cloud Hall.

When it was revealed that he had been the traitor responsible for Imoe’s death, Ilryong and Sambong wept bitterly, lamenting their blindness.

They burned the Jade-Faced Master’s head before Imoe’s grave.

When everything was finished, Seolhwa entered closed-door cultivation.

It was a seclusion of indefinite duration.

Ssssss....

At the center of the training ground, Seolhwa sat cross-legged and began to circulate her qi.

Almost immediately, she frowned as if something was off.

‘Blood Qi has filled my meridians everywhere.’

In sheer quantity, her inner power was several times greater than it had been before the Blood Cult.

But this power was unstable — its channels forcibly widened by the Blood Demon, its energy thick with impurities.

She recalled that moment —

When the Blood Demon’s energy coiled around her, tore open her meridians, and forced power into her veins.

“Let me help you. Isn’t it time you reclaimed your strength?”

Expanding the meridians and inflating one’s power by force — that was the Blood Demon’s secret art.

It was the trick by which he tempted countless masters and the reason they remained loyal to him.

But Seolhwa had never desired that strength — not in her past life, nor in this one.

‘I need time.’

Time to make this power her own.

Not just to purge the impurities, but to fully integrate the overflowing force within her.

‘Right now, I’m only half a master of the Flowering Realm.’

She could likely produce power on par with a full master, but in essence, she would be no different from before.

‘Power gained through the Blood Demon’s help is meaningless.’

She would drive out the Blood Qi and pursue enlightenment.

So that she could fill herself only with the Namgoong Clan’s pure energy — and the secret principles of Heaven.

Even without the Blood Demon’s Qi, she would advance on her own.

‘Just one step.’

Just one more step forward.

Ssssss....

A faint red aura whirled around her, spiraling in a stormlike motion.

Seolhwa continued to circulate her qi slowly, carefully, like chewing over a meal — engraving the essence of Heaven and Thunder deep into her meridians.

****

Upon Namgoong Mucheon’s return to the Martial Alliance, a meeting was convened almost immediately.

It was called by the Fourteen Elders of the Alliance.

The moment Namgoong Mucheon and Seob Mugwang entered the chamber, they sensed the peculiar stares directed their way — and they weren’t friendly ones.

“We heard that the Alliance Leader’s granddaughter has regained her memories.”

Namgoong Mucheon nodded.

“Thankfully, she recovered faster than expected.”

“That is fortunate indeed. Lady Namgoong is an extraordinary talent even among the young generation — all of us were greatly concerned.”

“A relief indeed, Alliance Leader.”

One by one, the elders offered their congratulations on Seolhwa’s recovery, and Namgoong Mucheon thanked them in turn.

“Thanks to your concern, my granddaughter was able to return safely. I apologize for my absence during that time.”

“Not at all. How could one turn away from family matters?”

“Then, I assume this meeting isn’t simply to celebrate my granddaughter’s return.”

Namgoong Mucheon smiled faintly as he looked around the chamber.

Though his lips curved in a smile, the weight in his gaze was unmistakable.

“What’s this about?”

The elders glanced at one another, gauging the air.

At last, the monk Beopseon from Shaolin broke the silence.

“We heard that the war between the Sado Union and the Flesh Curtain has ended in the Sado Union’s victory.”

“So I’ve been told.”

“With this, the Black Path forces of the Central Plains — the Black Cloud Hall, the Green Forest, the Waterway Stockade, and even the Flesh Curtain — have all fallen under the Sado Union’s banner, have they not?”

Indeed, if the Martial Alliance was the union of the Righteous Sects, then the Sado Union now stood as its counterpart among the Unorthodox.

When the Sado Union had first begun gathering minor factions of the Black Path, it hadn’t seemed like much of a threat.

But now it had grown to rival the Martial Alliance — one of the two great powers dividing the martial world of the Central Plains.

“It’s true that the Unorthodox world has stayed quiet thanks to the Sado Union. But once power is in hand, who can say how it will change? That’s the nature of the world.”

Namgoong Mucheon, who knew the Sado Union Lord was Seolhwa, felt no unease.

But for the elders, it was natural to remain wary when the dark side of the martial world grew too strong.

“You’re not wrong. So, what is it you want?”

Daoist Noh Seon of Mount Hua spoke up.

“I believe this would be a fine opportunity to invite the Sado Union Lord to the Martial Alliance. We should meet and learn what kind of person the Shadowless Demon God truly is — and whether our Alliance can share purpose with them.”

“Hmm.”

Namgoong Mucheon nodded slowly.

Anxiety, after all, must be eased swiftly before it spreads into division.

Someday they would all learn who truly led the Sado Union, but there was a reason Seolhwa had kept that secret.

If so, uniting the Martial Alliance and the Sado Union would indeed be a sound way to quell unrest.

“I agree with your proposal.”

At the Alliance Leader’s agreement, the elders’ faces brightened.

Several of them even allowed themselves faint, knowing smiles.

“Then we shall send envoys to congratulate the Sado Union on their victory and formally invite their Lord to the Martial Alliance.”

The decision was made, based on the consensus of the elders.

Just as Namgoong Mucheon was about to speak about the specific arrangements, another voice interjected.

“Would it not be fitting to invite your granddaughter as well, Alliance Leader?”

Namgoong Mucheon’s brow creased slightly as he turned toward the speaker —

It was Tang Sangcheon, the Supreme Elder of the Sichuan Tang Clan.