“What do you mean by that?”

Tang Sangcheon, just about to step out of his quarters, halted and looked at the attendant who had brought the news.

“So you’re telling me I can’t attend the meeting?”

The attendant bowed deeply.

“Yes. The Sado Union Lord has requested that only a few people join the Alliance Lord for this meeting.”

The reason was the commotion at the Friendly Match Grounds that morning.

There might be discomfort between the leaders of the Martial Alliance and the Sado Union, so the plan was to proceed with only some of the leaders.

Those permitted to attend were Ouyang Do; the Abbot of Shaolin and the Mount Hua Sect Leader; and the heads of the Namgoong Clan and the Jegal Clan.

Every one of them was a power with great influence even within the Martial Alliance.

“...What standard did they give?”

“I do not know. I only heard that they were people who had not been deeply involved in the morning’s affair.”

Leaders not deeply entangled in the morning’s matter—

Put that way, it was not incomprehensible.

Most of the leaders and elders of the smaller sects and clans had been swept up in the mood and had suspected Namgoong Seolhwa and the Sado Union Lord.

By contrast, the sects and clans represented at the meeting neither rejected the Sado Union nor, from the start, even took an interest in this affair.

Whether that was because their power was so great they had no need to concern themselves with the Sado Union, or because their trust in the Alliance Lord ran deep, could not be known.

Only—

“Did the Alliance Lord grant that outrageous request?”

“The Alliance Lord feared that relations with the Sado Union might sour because of what happened in the morning. He also asked that everyone show restraint, as the full truth of the matter has not yet been clarified.”

“The Alliance Lord has made a dangerous choice. I understand. You may go.”

The attendant bowed low and left the room.

Tang Sangcheon turned from the doorway and went back in, taking a seat at his desk chair.

Through the window, he could see the attendant receding into the distance.

He stroked his chin.

‘Namgoong Seolhwa was not the Sado Union Lord.’

Judging by various circumstances, he had thought this at least was reasonably certain.

But the Sado Union Lord and Namgoong Seolhwa had displayed their power side by side right before his eyes—as if to mock him.

Everyone had seen it clearly with their own eyes; there was no room left for suspicion.

Only—how had Namgoong Seolhwa, said to be in Closed-Door Cultivation, known to come to the grounds at that very moment?

And that power. That immeasurable realm.

“Namgoong Seolhwa....”

His eyes narrowed as he murmured low.

****

The Martial Alliance conference chamber.

Gathered were the leaders of the Martial Alliance and the Sado Union who had been permitted to attend.

As only some from the Martial Alliance were present, so too the Sado Union had not brought anyone directly tied to the morning’s affair.

‘Hmm.’

Namgoong Mucheon looked around at those seated in the hall.

Since the Sado Union Lord had limited the attendees, it meant those gathered here were people Seolhwa trusted wholly.

‘Shaolin and Mount Hua, and the Namgoong Clan and the Jegal Clan.’

In effect, the core pillars of the Martial Alliance.

Creak—

With everyone in their seats, the chamber door opened.

Presently, a woman entered, dressed in attire different from the morning’s.

Namgoong Mucheon could not suppress the smile that spread at the corners of his mouth.

It was Seolhwa.

“Greetings to the elders of the Sado Union and the Martial Alliance.”

Seolhwa lifted her head, glanced over the martialists she had gathered, and smiled.

“I heard you called for me.”

Namgoong Mucheon nodded and calmly looked her over.

He had seen it on the grounds as well, but again, her inner power was steady now, with no trace of the previous instability.

As if holding a boundless ocean, her cultivation was unimaginably vast—and serene.

The hue of the power she released was still red, but it was no longer blood or resentment—merely the qi of Heaven.

“You have achieved great attainment.”

As a grandfather, Namgoong Mucheon offered heartfelt praise for her growth.

“Lady Namgoong, our congratulations.”

“Truly astonishing.”

The expressions of the elders present—Abbot Beopgong of Shaolin and Sect Leader No Un of Mount Hua among them—were no different from Namgoong Mucheon’s.

Proud, and astonished.

Reverence for the martial skill of a young woman who, for all her youth, had not yielded when matched against the Green Forest War King.

Those gathered offered her achievements their sincere congratulations.

“Thank you. Though I did not achieve it by my strength alone, I am glad.”

Seolhwa thought back to what had happened in the training hall.

There had been crises—several times—when the Blood Demon’s energy nearly devoured her.

There had also been moments when, because of that energy, she nearly fell ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) into deviation.

But each time, Seolhwa thought of the people of the Namgoong Clan.

‘Grandfather. Father. Master....’

Woong, Hwarin, uncle, aunt, the Chief Steward, and....

‘...’

Calling to mind those she loved, she endured the pain and yielded to the current that flowed in.

‘I cannot pursue immediate enlightenment on my own.’

The Flowering Realm was not something one reached lightly.

No matter how exceptional Seolhwa was in the martial way, she could not arrive at enlightenment overnight.

After a long struggle, Seolhwa chose, in the end, to yield to the very strength she had attained in her previous life.

‘Since it was a power attained through Blood Qi, this once I wanted to achieve it by my own strength.’

But she realized, upon examining herself, that there was far too little time for that.

Thus, choosing to take what should be taken and discard what should be discarded, Seolhwa was able to end her seclusion in a shorter span than expected.

“I still lack much. I ask the seniors for your precious instruction.”

No master had reached the Flowering Realm at twenty.

It was said that even the peerless grandmaster who had reached it at the youngest age did so at forty.

So, leaving Seolhwa aside, there had never been—and would never be—such a genius again.

The elders could not wipe the smiles from their lips at the sight of her humbly requesting instruction.

“Do you know why we called you?”

“Is it not to ask about the Blood Cult?”

“It is.”

Seolhwa had waited a long time for this moment—

For the Interdiction concerning the Blood Cult to lift so that she could lay them bare before everyone.

Though, due to the Blood Cult’s interference, she could not speak before all the martial world gathered, compared to her powerless collapse in the previous life, she had achieved much.

Had she not saved those now gathered here?

“Their target is the Central Plains.”

Seolhwa looked at those who, in her previous life, had not been saved—those who must not be broken this time—and began to speak slowly.

“They worm into the cracks of the suffering and the aggrieved to claim righteousness, but in truth, they are more selfish than anyone.”

The Blood Cult—no, the Blood Demon—

To the angry they seemed to offer vengeance; to the dying, a false salvation; to the aggrieved, comfort.

But in reality, they were merely an Outlands power seeking to swallow the Central Plains and place the world beneath their feet.

Those who exploited others’ greed for their own.

Thus their end could not be an ideal, but only the abyss.

“I was the Little Cult Lord of the Blood Cult.”

Under the gaze of all, Seolhwa began to tell her story in measured words.

****

When the morning meeting ended and, after a meal, another meeting began—

The midday meeting was a gathering of all the leaders of the Martial Alliance and the Sado Union.

There, the Martial Alliance and the Sado Union announced their alliance and at last declared a true war against the Great Asura Blood Sect.

“As all of you know, the Great Asura Blood Sect is rapidly expanding its influence by granting the wishes of commoners! But! They are nothing but a wicked mob who deceive pitiable commoners, exploit them, and pursue their own profit!”

Namgoong Mucheon shouted to the martialists of the Martial Alliance and the Sado Union assembled in the chamber.

“The Blood Cult! Is an Outlands power composed of the North Sea Ice Palace and the barbarians of the Southern Wilds who covet our Central Plains! And further, they are traitorous, lawless wretches who would topple the imperial house and throw the world into chaos!”

The Sado Union Lord rose and stood beside Namgoong Mucheon.

“As of today, the Martial Alliance will ally with the Sado Union to stand against the Blood Cult! From this moment, the Sado Union is our brother and our comrade!”

Namgoong Mucheon drew his sword.

To speak with a raised blade was a martialist’s proclamation and a firm oath.

“Now that our enemy is clear! There must never again be anything like this morning!”

It was a declaration that quarrels born of mutual blame and contempt, such as those of the morning, would be punished strictly.

Thus the Martial Alliance and the Sado Union joined forces to oppose the Great Asura Blood Sect.

The representative for the two powers would be the Martial Alliance Lord, Namgoong Mucheon.

The reason was that Namgoong Seolhwa, who knew best the information and situation concerning the Blood Cult, was in the Martial Alliance.

The Sado Union would focus on locating and striking the Blood Cult’s hideouts secreted throughout the Central Plains, while the Martial Alliance would focus on finding and destroying their principal bases.

The Martial Alliance had many powerful masters and could readily muster strength into an army.

The Sado Union possessed a wide intelligence web and was spread across the whole of the Central Plains—mountains, fields, rivers, and shores alike.

It was, in short, an alliance formed so that the characteristics of the two powers could be employed with the greatest efficiency.