After sending Yu Pyo back to Mount Hua, Seolhwa stopped by an inn in Dengfeng before going to meet the Red Dragon Unit members who were waiting for her.

With her bamboo hat pressed low to hide her identity, she settled into a corner seat. A waiter hurried over to take her order.

“Welcome, honored guest! What would you like to eat?”

Seolhwa drew two iron coins from her sleeve and set them down on the table.

“Two bowls of wheat noodles, and a plate of dumplings.”

“...!”

At the sight of the engraving on the coins, the waiter’s eyes widened like lanterns.

But quickly erasing all sign of surprise, he slipped the iron coins into his sleeve and answered naturally, as though nothing had happened.

“Yes, right away—coming right up!”

When the waiter left, Seolhwa let her gaze wander across the noisy crowd in the inn before lowering her eyes to her own hand.

Her right arm, the bone still not properly knit, was bound with cloth beneath her robe sleeve. She had to use her uninjured left hand for everything.

It had been more than three days since she had lost consciousness in the battle against the Blood Demon and awoken again.

The Imoogi was still silent, with no word or sign.

There was much she wished to ask about that battle, but perhaps because she had overexerted herself, her meridians of blood were recovering at a sluggish pace.

In those past three days, Seolhwa had turned the Blood Demon’s words over and over in her mind.

“You are a being that was never meant to exist. A variable... yes, that is what you are. A variable.”

She had understood the meaning at once.

For someone living life over and over, it was impossible not to understand.

He could only have been referring to the emergence of the Sado Union and the Shadowless Demon God—entities that had not existed in her previous life.

But why had the Blood Demon spoken those words? 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

There was only one possible conclusion.

The Blood Demon also knows of the previous life.

The most unlikely of conjectures—but if she herself had turned back time, there was no guarantee that he could not have done the same.

How much he knew, from where and to what extent, whether he remembered everything as she did, or only fragments—she could not know.

What mattered was that if the Blood Demon knew of the previous life, then he also knew what was to come.

I may have to revise all of my plans from the ground up.

Until now she had prepared for the Blood Demon Cult’s uprising under the premise that she alone knew the future.

But if the Blood Demon also knew what was ahead, then the mere appearance of the Sado Union was enough to prove that something had already gone awry.

But it’s strange.

Hadn’t the Blood Demon clearly shown delight at the “variable”?

If he knew the future had been altered, why had he been so pleased at the sight of the Shadowless Demon God and the Imoogi?

Seolhwa tapped her fingers on the table.

No matter how much she thought on it, she could not fathom why he had smiled upon seeing her and the Imoogi.

Tok, tok. The tapping of her fingers suddenly halted.

She lifted her head and looked forward.

Across the table stood another figure, bamboo hat pressed low.

A faint smile curved Seolhwa’s lips beneath the brim of her own hat.

The newcomer also smiled, offered a cupped-fist salute, and took a seat across from her.

“Have you been waiting long?”

At her question, the bamboo-hatted one shook her head.

“No. I too only arrived a few days ago.”

“So you’ve been waiting several days, then.”

Seolhwa let out a soft chuckle.

At that moment, the waiter returned with the dishes.

Seolhwa picked up a steaming dumpling, placed it into the other’s bowl, and poured her a cup of tea with her own hand.

“It’s been a while, Ryeong. You’ve worked hard, handling the Sado Union’s affairs alone.”

“It was nothing. The Hao Clan Leader lent me much aid, so it was not difficult.”

“How did it go?”

“I succeeded in gaining the surrender of the Fortress of Ten Thousand Demons.”

Seolhwa set down her teacup and fixed her gaze on her.

The Fortress of Ten Thousand Demons.

After the Iron Blood Hall had submitted to the Sado Union, it had been the only major black-path power left in Hebei.

When the Iron Blood Hall Lord had gone of his own accord to kneel before the Union Lord, everyone believed the Fortress of Ten Thousand Demons would soon follow. But that expectation had been thoroughly overturned.

Not only had the fortress refused surrender, it had provoked the Union and openly challenged them to battle.

Seolhwa had left the handling of the fortress to the Iron Blood Hall Lord, the Black Cloud Hall, and Ryeong.

And now, this was the result.

“The Sado Union is now, in truth, a united black-path alliance. Before long, all the factions of the Central Plains will hear of this.”

Seolhwa nodded.

“Well done.”

“But...”

“?”

With chopsticks in her left hand, Seolhwa looked at Ryeong, puzzled by her tone.

Ryeong’s gaze had settled on the arm hidden beneath Seolhwa’s sleeve.

“...You’re injured?”

“Ah. Just a little. It’s fine. It will heal soon.”

Ryeong’s expression darkened.

Seolhwa lowered the noodles she had just lifted, setting her chopsticks down and meeting Ryeong’s eyes.

With her head bowed, Ryeong said,

“I fear I am unworthy of the role of your guard.”

“Don’t say that. You were handling another task I asked of you.”

“Even if I perform other tasks well, if a guard cannot protect her lord, then she has lost her qualification.”

Ryeong gave a bitter smile.

“If I had been more capable, the Fortress of Ten Thousand Demons would have bent in a single day, and I could have remained at your side...”

“Ryeong.”

“....”

“You’re doing more than enough. Don’t think yourself lacking.”

Seolhwa reached out and clasped Ryeong’s hand.

“Because you’re here, I can devote myself fully to what I must do. So please, don’t think yourself inadequate.”

It was the truth.

Thanks to Ryeong handling the Union’s affairs, she had been able to see to both the Sado Union and the Martial Alliance without hindrance.

Ryeong was a precious bond in this life, someone Seolhwa could trust.

“So let’s stop the self-reproach and eat. The noodles are going to get soggy.”

Ryeong lifted her gaze, meeting hers.

Her smile was still tinged with bitterness, but her expression lightened slightly as she spoke.

“The Clan Head and the Young Clan Head will be distressed.”

“...I know.”

Once she recovered, she wished to return, but with time too precious to waste, she would have to show her grandfather and father her injured state.

“How did you come by this wound? Was it Shaolin’s monks?”

“I was just training on my own...”

“....”

“...Would you believe me if I said that?”

“Not at all.”

Ryeong answered with a gaze gone heavy.

Seolhwa awkwardly slurped a bite of noodles and mumbled,

“Then I’ll have to come up with another excuse. But it really is true I hurt myself alone.”

She hadn’t truly fought the Blood Demon—when she had awoken, the bone was already broken.

She must have fractured it in her frantic escape. So it was true she had done it to herself.

“I see...”

Ryeong asked nothing more, instead biting into the dumpling Seolhwa had set in her bowl.

Her face brightened at once.

“This is delicious.”

“I asked the Clan Leader to pay special attention to it.”

“The taste of dumplings?”

“An inn must have good food, or it won’t draw customers.”

And only when customers gathered would information flow, strengthening the Hao Clan’s intelligence network.

“...That is not untrue.”

Though...

“Right?”

Ryeong glanced at Seolhwa, happily slurping noodles, then returned to her dumpling.

For all her reasoning, she seemed far too genuine about the taste.

But if it pleased her lady, what could be wrong with that?

****

“The Fortress of Ten Thousand Demons has submitted to the Sado Union. Now there is no black-path force left that can stand against them.”

In the Clan Head’s chamber of the Namgoong Clan.

At Chief Steward Namgoong Mun’s report, Namgoong Mucheon’s expression grew grave.

“The cat has become a tiger.”

Being the largest black-path power and being the sole overlord uniting all of the black path under one banner were entirely different matters.

Because of the Sado Union, countless petty disturbances had disappeared. Yet with ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ the black path now centered around the Union, if they so desired, their power could be rallied at a moment’s notice.

Listening beside him, Namgoong Cheongun spoke anxiously.

“Should we not, then, seek an audience with the Union Lord?”

To learn what the Sado Union truly desired, whether their conquest would stop with the black path.

“If you permit it, Father, I will go myself. You are already burdened enough with the affairs of the Martial Alliance.”

But Cheongun himself was no less busy—caught between clan duties and studying the Namgoong Clan’s secret arts under his father.

“It is said the Hao Clan supports the Union from behind. Contacting the Hao Clan is simpler. If we convey our clan’s intent through them—”

“That will not be necessary.”

Namgoong Mucheon shook his head.

“The Union’s swift rise may become a threat to the martial world. But on the contrary, has it not also brought positive effects?”

Since the Union’s emergence, riots in the streets had dwindled, and order had been established within the black path.

Whether the Union was merely hiding its claws or had held true intentions from the start, at present, the gains outweighed the losses.

“This is a matter we can debate after the Martial Alliance is founded. It will not be too late.”

Not only their clan, but every sect and house must be watching the Union closely. Better to share opinions together.

“For now, the Alliance must take precedence...”

Namgoong Mucheon broke off, his gaze turning toward the door.

A soft smile curved his lips.

“You’ve come.”

Cheongun and the Chief Steward followed his gaze.

The sound of familiar footsteps soon approached—step, step.

Cheongun’s face brightened swiftly.