Hands trembling as they leaned on the saber, an arm that had lost all strength, a bowed head and shoulders heaving up and down.

Legs that looked as if they would never rise again. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Blood Channels in turmoil.

Anyone who saw Yu Gang’s state would have known he was at his limit.

It would not have been strange if he lost consciousness and collapsed at any moment.

However.

“You’re right... I don’t know....”

With difficulty, Yu Gang raised his head.

He straightened his back that kept wanting to bend, used the saber planted in the ground as a support, and forced his staggering body to stand.

“Because you never told me....”

If you hated Mount Hua, you should have said you hated it.

Mount Hua’s spirit, Mount Hua’s sword.

Crimson plum blossoms that bloom amid collapse.

You taught me only those things, and now you claim you loathe Mount Hua?

“Isn’t the hypocrite... you...?”

If your grudge had grown so deep that no one could notice it.

“I... will fight... to the very end.... Because my Master... is not a liar like you....”

If he was hurt, he said he was hurt. If he did well, he said he did well. If he was pathetic, he said he was pathetic.

Because he was someone who spoke that honestly.

Because he was someone who showed, completely, how much he cherished him.

“Until you... kill me... you’re not getting past....”

Yu Gang raised his saber.

He gathered the qi that had already been exhausted and poured it into the hand gripping the saber, into his arm, and into the legs planted on the ground.

Around him, the qi of the sun rose like a mirage.

Nomon’s expression hardened as he watched that sight.

“If you insist on hastening your death.”

Nomon lifted his sword.

“I will give you what you want.”

SWISH—

Nomon swung his sword toward Yu Gang.

A dark blood-red sword-trail, as if it had sliced open the very air above Yu Gang’s head, poured down on a diagonal.

It closed in on him with terrifying speed, filled with killing intent and a foul aura of blood, as if it would devour him.

Yu Gang did not run.

He forced open eyes streaked with blood to face the death rushing down upon him.

And at the very moment when the Force Aura and Yu Gang’s saber collided—

SWEEEESH— KWA-AANG—!!

FWOOOSH—

From the fierce clash of the two energies, Yu Gang’s body was flung backward, as if bounced away, and in an instant he was hurled behind.

He instinctively squeezed his eyes shut at the impact rushing in to crush him.

But.

FLOP—

“?”

When Yu Gang opened his eyes again, he was in someone’s arms.

It was his former senior, Yu Pyo.

TAP—

Yu Pyo landed a short distance away from Nomon and carefully set Yu Gang down.

He propped Yu Gang up so he could sit with his back against the trunk of a large tree, then briefly checked his pulse to assess his condition and ruffled his hair with a light stroke.

“You did well, holding out alone. Leave the rest to us and rest here for a while.”

With a warm smile meant to put him at ease, Yu Pyo turned his back on Yu Gang.

SHRING—

As he turned, drawing his sword, the back he showed was the back of the senior brother Yu Gang had watched for so long.

The back of a comrade he had once vowed to trust for life and entrust his own life to.

Yu Pyo raised his ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) sword toward Nomon.

SHRING, SHRIING—

Those standing at his sides also drew their swords.

Lined up to either side of Yu Pyo were the first-generation disciples of Mount Hua Sect.

Warriors of the Yu-line Branch.

Yu Gang’s former seniors.

And there were already people standing in front of them with swords in hand.

They were the elders and hall lords of Mount Hua Sect, and standing at the very front was the one who had blocked Nomon’s sword—Sect Leader of Mount Hua, Jade-Plum Sword Nok Woon.

TAP— TADAT—

The Martial Alliance martial unit that had arrived late surrounded the warriors of Mount Hua.

More than a hundred warriors ringed one man, Nomon; the sight was nothing short of spectacular.

STEP—

Sect Leader Nok Woon took a step forward.

A chill wind whipped the hem of his long robe as he stood there with his sword raised.

“Nomon. No, that name was struck from Mount Hua’s rolls long ago, so I should call you O Blood Lord.”

The voice with which the Sect Leader spoke was colder than ever before.

Because he had always guided his disciples with a gentle voice, that voice now felt colder than anything.

“It seems it is time to finally sever this long, twisted karma between us.”

Nomon also turned toward Nok Woon and the warriors of Mount Hua standing behind him.

Mount Hua, which he had resented and cursed for so long, stood before his eyes.

“If you hadn’t come up here, I would have personally gone down to you.”

“Had you done so, you would have taken yet another innocent child’s life. Your former disciple’s life, to be precise.”

Nomon’s lips twisted into a thin, crooked smile.

The gaze with which he stared at Sect Leader Nok Woon was steeped in deep resentment.

“Since when did Mount Hua become a place that bothers with the life of a mere disciple? Especially when that boy has already been expelled?”

“He was not expelled. That child took on the burden of the sin you committed and sacrificed himself.”

“I’m asking you when Mount Hua ever started talking about burdens of sin.”

Around Nomon, a dark blood-red qi of blood began to surge.

The fluctuations of that qi, ready to go berserk at any moment, spoke of Nomon’s unstable state.

“Is Mount Hua not a selfish group that only stretches its legs once it’s checked where it can lie down? If that boy had been your own blood, then talk of burdens of sin and such things...!”

“You. Listen to my words clearly.”

The Sect Leader’s voice rang out low.

For a brief moment, a stillness fell, as if it had swallowed all sound around them.

“It was not we who made him bear that burden. Not once did we ever seek to hold that child responsible for the sin you committed. I will say it again. Leaving the main Sect was the child’s choice, and the burden was one you placed on him.”

No personal interests, no circumstances of the Sect had played any part in Yu Gang’s punishment.

The Sect Leader and elders of Mount Hua had made their decision solely for Yu Gang and for Yu Gang’s future.

Yu Gang had ultimately chosen to be expelled, but the Sect had not abandoned him.

They left room for him so he could return at any time.

“I have no intention of repeating the mistakes of the past. I only hope there will be no more people wounded as you were by wrong decisions and sacrifices.”

“And now you say...!”

KUUUUU....

Nomon’s qi grew even more violent.

The violet qi that had been eroding the left side of his body slowly began to expand its territory.

“Don’t put on airs and pretend to be virtuous now! All of you! When those decisions were made, did you not know everything and still turn a blind eye?”

If they knew it was wrong, they should at least have striven to set it right.

“Back then every one of you shut your eyes and ears, pretending not to see, pretending not to hear—and now, trying to put things right, what do you think will change?”

“Then why is it that you are only now raging so late?”

The Sect Leader’s voice rose.

Around him as well, a crimson qi began to creep up in thin wisps.

“We were young, and we had no power whatsoever to overturn a decision handed down from above! Do you think we just sat there enduring it? We gathered our will and went to the Sect Leader, but he would not even see us!”

If the financial support from those households were cut off, there would not be enough food to feed the disciples of Mount Hua, nor enough clothing to go around for everyone.

At that time, Mount Hua had no one with the kind of financial backing who could make up for that lack.

“Who was it whose eyes were covered and ears were closed? Who was it that, drowned in sorrow and anger, failed to see the situation for what it was?”

You could topple the water, but there was no one who could refill the emptied cup.

Back then, the Sect Leader and elders had chosen to protect the many disciples of Mount Hua by sending those two disciples back to their secular families.

It had been solely for the disciples of Mount Hua, not for wealth or fame.

“Do you not know what the previous generation did after that day?”

In order not to be swayed by forces that held power and money, Mount Hua began searching for ways to earn money on its own.

They sought out trading guilds, escort agencies, and wealthy clans, striving to understand the flow of wealth.

“Do you truly think those who resolved to walk the path of the Dao sought to learn of the world because of their greed?”

The result of that was the Mount Hua of today.

Now they could make their own judgments and decisions without being wholly swayed by interests or circumstances.

“During that long time when you were drowning in sorrow and raging, we set Mount Hua upright.”

“...”

“That was how we chose to remember the death of that child, Yu Seon.”

Yu Seon, the Mount Hua Sect disciple whose life had been cut off so futilely.

Nomon was not the only one who remembered that she had been a child who shone more brightly than anyone.

All those of the No-line Branch, including Nok Woon, and the warriors of their generation before them—

Every one of them had grieved Yu Seon’s death, and they most regretted that they had not been able to change Mount Hua before she died.

None of them had been able to easily forget her death.

“Let it end now, Nomon. Would that child truly have wished to see you like this?”

Nok Woon’s brows drew together with a look of sorrow.

It was a gaze directed at Nomon, who, even as he was being devoured by the violet qi, still could not let go of the thread of vengeance.

“...”

Nomon looked down at himself.

For a moment he silently stared at the vivid red thing that had sprouted where his severed arm had once been.

“...I’ve heard enough of your slick excuses.”

KWAK—!

His red arm wrapped itself tighter around the sword hilt.

“I already knew every word you just said.”

The dark blood-red qi that radiated from around Nomon began to whip about ever more violently.

“They are all nothing but excuses that aren’t worth listening to. If you knew the choice back then was wrong, you should have corrected it afterward.”

When the time came when Mount Hua could stand on its own strength alone.

At least then, they could have called Yu Rang and Yu Ga back and made them pay a proper price for their sin.

“But you did not. So I was the one who took their debt of sin with my own hands.”

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE....

A smile spread across Nomon’s face.

It was a laugh full of relief, as if he were glad his long-cherished desire had been fulfilled.

“Do you understand now? Mount Hua is still nothing more than a place full of loathsome wretches who only know how to flap their lips. Nok Woon, you are just one of them!”

Nomon shouted, thrusting the tip of his sword toward Nok Woon as if spewing out his indignation.

But Nok Woon saw it.

Nomon’s left face, which had been eaten away by the violet qi and turned black.

And within it, the red pupil curved like a crescent moon.