A day had passed since Seongheon collapsed.

The fact the Sect Master went down in the middle of a meeting wasn’t something you could hide from the disciples.

So the news that Seongheon was critical spread everywhere.

One of the few living Heaven-Beyond-Heaven.

A figure carved into Mount Hua’s history, a hero of the Orthodox-Demonic War—Plum Blossom Single Sword Seongheon.

The Central Plains’ star, once mentioned alongside Divine Spear as a Martial Alliance Leader candidate, had fallen.

And that fact couldn’t be wrapped in simple sorrow like it was the will of the world.

“The Sect Master collapsed—are you saying that’s true?”

“Branch Lord. Answer us.”

From morning, a crowd packed the front gate of Mount Hua Sect.

They were all merchant company people.

And on their faces, it wasn’t worry so much as a restless, nameless impatience.

“Tell us—now...!”

“Damn it... if it’s like this, what the hell do we do....”

There was a reason they’d come at sunrise.

The Sect Master collapsing meant a storm was going to hit Huayin County’s merchant companies—and maybe all of Shaanxi.

“If this happens, our deal with the Martial Alliance—”

“Do we have to start talking to Zhongnan now...?”

A Sect Master replacement always came with ripples like that.

Merchants lived by reading the flow of an era, so they had no choice but to dig into every one of those ripples.

But—

“Please restrain yourselves...! We can’t tell you anything right now.”

The ones receiving them looked nothing but trapped.

“Can’t tell us anything—my ass!”

One merchant lord snapped.

“A massacre just happened in the county. And we’re hearing some HEAVEN-BREAKING PALACE bastards dug in this far and are running wild. How are we supposed to sit still!”

“Damn it... don’t tell me those unorthodox bastards moved because they knew the Sect Master was sick...? If that’s true, then how far have they already—”

It was pure chaos.

To their eyes, what mattered more than the Sect Master collapsing was everything that would happen because of it.

Of course it was.

They were merchants.

And when they wobbled, Mount Hua wobbled with them.

Merchant companies were the ones supplying support—so if they started shaking, you didn’t know what that support would turn into.

“......For now, there’s nothing we can tell you. Please wait....”

Shouting bounced back and forth. I could even see disciples who looked like they were choking on it.

“Hmmm.”

Watching it, I tilted my head.

This is a fucking mess.

There was no “almost” about it.

I expected it—

But °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° seeing it with my own eyes just made me laugh.

“So.”

I looked to my side.

Yeo Hyeok had his lips clamped tight, trying to swallow discomfort.

Not that he could really hide it.

“How did it go?”

I asked Yeo Hyeok again.

He wet his lips and answered.

“......The meeting happened.”

“Yes. I heard.”

The meeting that started in the morning.

The attendees were Mount Hua elders and the Plum Blossom Swordsmen.

Their Sect Master collapsing—of course it was a meeting they had to hold among themselves.

And since we were Blue Moon Sect, there was nothing for us to do there.

So we hadn’t heard the content.

“So what did they decide?”

That was why I asked Yeo Hyeok.

And Yeo Hyeok said—

“First was the Sect Master’s condition.”

“Right.”

“......They say it was poison. Poison from island jade grass.”

“Island jade grass?”

“......A kind of extreme poison. It’s not scentless, but the scent is faint, and when it meets liquid the toxicity manifests—paralyzing the internal organs.”

“And the Sect Master ingested that?”

“Yes... they did make an antidote and he took it, but...”

GRAB—!

Yeo Hyeok curled his fist mid-sentence.

I didn’t need to hear the rest.

In the first place—

Seongheon’s living spirit is right here.

Seongheon was at my side as a living spirit.

The problem was—

...Was it really that poison?

Yeo Hyeok said it was extreme poison.

I didn’t think so.

Seongheon said it himself.

That he’d been taking small amounts every day.

And the result showed up today.

So odds were high that this “island jade grass” wasn’t it.

Which means—

The physician who checked and reported it was in on it, too.

...Tsk.

I rubbed my jaw inside my head.

“......So what next?”

“......Since we don’t know when the Sect Master will wake...”

Yeo Hyeok swallowed the rest.

I said it for him.

“They brought up finding a new Sect Master.”

“.......”

Instead of answering out loud, Yeo Hyeok nodded.

Of course.

If the Sect Master was unconscious and couldn’t perform the role, installing a new head was the natural move.

But—

“Who did they bring up as the candidate?”

Who did Mount Hua float as the next Sect Master?

When I asked, Yeo Hyeok answered—

“......The Commander.”

“Tsk.”

The answer I expected.

The Plum Blossom Commander.

He’d been put forward.

Ah. Of course.

Him being floated wasn’t, by itself, some shocking thing.

He had plenty of justification.

Mount Hua’s strongest—besides Seongheon.

He led the Plum Blossom Swordsmen, basically a living symbol.

He’d been active forever.

And he’d done plenty during the Orthodox-Demonic War.

If you set Seongheon aside, the Plum Blossom Commander being named a candidate wasn’t weird.

It’s just that it’s almost certain that bastard prepared this.

Almost certain?

No. It was certain.

This whole board was the Plum Blossom Commander’s work.

“...Damn it....”

Yeo Hyeok spat rough words at my side.

His face was packed tight with frustration.

“It hasn’t even been a full day since the Sect Master collapsed... how can they...”

He didn’t understand.

Finding a new Sect Master already.

Watching him, I let out a low laugh.

This guy hasn’t been soaked in the world much.

Should everyone just leave the collapsed Sect Master alone because emotions?

When the rumor already spread everywhere?

Maybe if you could bury it like the Divine Spear rumor, sure—

But this time you couldn’t.

Because they’re the ones spreading it.

The HEAVEN-BREAKING PALACE bastards were probably blasting the rumor out with everything they had.

How could it be hidden?

And if there was a clear substitute, it would happen even faster.

Divine Spear is ambiguous. Seongheon isn’t.

The one being discussed as Martial Alliance Leader replacement was Seongheon.

Sure, you had the Peng Clan Head too—

But that was after Seongheon.

Mount Hua was different.

They had a replacement that was, at least on paper, clear enough.

And it just happens to be the Plum Blossom Commander.

The rumor was everywhere, merchant companies were about to riot, and we already knew unorthodox bastards were inside the county.

You couldn’t let Mount Hua keep shaking with a collapsed Sect Master.

They had to plug the hole fast.

Hmmm.

I tilted my head again.

“...Moon Knight.”

Yeo Hyeok called me.

“Ah, yes.”

“...What do we do?”

He asked me with a tired face.

He was looking for an answer from me?

Ah—yeah, I’m bad at this.

“...I don’t know. Before that.”

I looked into Yeo Hyeok’s anxious eyes and asked.

“What do you want to do?”

“.......”

“Aren’t you nervous?”

The Plum Blossom Commander was a suspect.

If he became Sect Master, who knew what would happen.

In that situation—what did Yeo Hyeok want to do?

The moment I asked—

“I...”

Yeo Hyeok spoke with a trembling voice.

I could tell.

This guy doesn’t have an answer either.

Someone with no answer asked me—

And I threw the question back.

Of course nothing was going to come out.

[.......]

Seongheon looked at Yeo Hyeok with an awkward expression.

What did that look mean?

Worry?

Pity?

Or something else?

I couldn’t read Seongheon’s emotions.

Honestly, I didn’t want to.

An answer...

If I had an answer, it was already decided.

No matter what kind of reaction they showed.

Then—

“Bang Sungyeon.”

Someone appeared, calling my name.

It was Do Hyeong.

“Ah, yes. Senior.”

Do Hyeong flicked a glance at Yeo Hyeok beside me.

I said it first.

“It’s fine. Speak.”

At “it’s fine,” Do Hyeong nodded and spoke to me.

“Everything you said. I confirmed it.”

“Oh.”

I actually meant it.

It was faster than I expected.

UUUUUUNG.

Light spun fast around Do Hyeong.

The guardian spirit I was always suspicious of.

I flinched inside as I watched it.

It looks pissed.

It was spinning faster than usual.

The feel of it was... angry.

...Is it mad because I made it run errands?

Was that really it?

When things were dangerous in Sichuan, it didn’t react at all—

And now it’s getting mad at this?

That would be ridiculous.

...Why is it acting so scary?

Still—mountain-spirit class.

If that thing got angry, I didn’t know what would happen.

So I should be a little scared.

Nothing happened, though.

“So... what, how did it go?”

I asked, forcing the anxiety down.

Do Hyeong continued.

“Just like you said.”

The rest came through voice transmission.

—There were stakes everywhere. In the ground.

“.......”

I narrowed my eyes.

...Fuck.

That made it certain.

These bastards...

HEAVEN-BREAKING PALACE was tied to the heretics.

Because what I’d asked my people to do was simple:

Go to specific points and check if stakes were there.

And the only reason I could point out those locations—

The six-point star.

That ritual formation they used.

Those were the points.

...So the positions didn’t change?

Every piece of my prediction clicked into place.

And that was the part that was absolute shit.

“Aaah....”

A groan came out on its own.

I pinched the bridge of my nose.

Those heretic bastards, in the end...

I expected stakes.

But a six-point star?

...They’re really going to do it?

A heretics’ six-point star—

After pouring in sacrifices like crazy—

It was the same as calling in a disaster deity.

But—

It doesn’t end at calling it in.

If “summon” was the goal, they wouldn’t have used something this annoying.

A six-point star wasn’t meant for “summoning.”

It meant—

Possession.

Stuffing a disaster deity into a single body and forcing possession.

In other words—revival. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

It looked like their goal was to revive a disaster deity.

SWISH.

I stood up.

“...Moon Knight?”

Yeo Hyeok stared at me like I’d gone strange.

“...Ah. Someone’s about to come.”

So naturally, the next move was obvious.

A collapsed Sect Master, and a six-point star in progress?

The next step was already decided.

“Excuse me.”

A Mount Hua disciple arrived like he’d been waiting.

I looked at him and thought through what he was about to say.

The Plum Blossom Commander wants to hear the schedule going forward.

“......The Plum Blossom Commander requests Moon Knight. He wishes to hear your plans going forward.”

“......”

I let out a little laugh.

Nailed it.