Seolhwa’s eyes went round.

“...What?”

He already knew?

‘That I’m the Sado Union Lord?’

“How....”

Namgoong Mucheon let out a soft, hearty chuckle.

“When I first heard talk of the Shadowless Demon God, you were the first to come to mind.”

A man who raised a serpent, wielded pitch-black power, and hid his face behind a mask.

The three warriors you {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} took when you left the Clan, and the black-path forces that began to unite after you were gone.

“At first it was a suspicion; after you returned, I was certain. You saved Mugwang as well, did you not?”

“Ah....”

Come to think of it, she had fought the Flesh Curtain at Heunghyeon as the Shadowless Demon God.

Looking back, it was odd the Shadowless Demon God had just happened to be in Heunghyeon the very moment crisis struck.

“I also understand why you could not say it.”

If he learned the Sado Union Lord was his own granddaughter, she must have worried it might affect the founding of the Martial Alliance.

“So it’s fine. I know well how hard you’re working.”

Back when she had first returned to Namgoong—

Seolhwa had left the clan without a word and fought enemies, then returned.

There were many other times she had tried to shoulder things alone, reluctant to ask for help.

Compared to then, now she knew to ask for help, and to share her plans.

Namgoong Mucheon knew she had grown that much, and that she was leaning on them.

His hand tightened slightly around Seolhwa’s.

That gentle yet firm strength felt like it was telling her he trusted her, and a warm feeling spread through her chest.

“Thank you, Grandfather.”

“Good.”

At the sight of the affectionate pair, Ouyang Do folded his arms and chuckled.

Gong Cheon wore a kindly smile without a word.

Ouyang Do said,

“I envy him. Had I a grandchild like you, I’d count myself lucky.”

“You have Yu Gang.”

“That brat has not a whit of cuteness.”

Ouyang Do clicked his tongue.

Seolhwa, a little puzzled, asked,

“Really?”

Yu Gang smiled often and knew how to be warm, didn’t he?

By the measure of “cute,” wasn’t Yu Gang closer than she was?

“He’s a thoroughly stiff one. In all my years, I’ve never seen a fellow so stiff.”

“...Is that so....”

“Look at him even now. I came all this way and the master is nowhere to be seen. He’s off, busy with his own training... tch.”

“Training? At this hour?”

Today was the day the tournament ended.

On a day when even a good rest wasn’t enough, he went to train?

“Yes. Seems he gained some insight crossing blades with you. Tch. How can a stork hope to chase a phoenix?”

Seolhwa’s lips parted slightly.

She had known he’d worked himself to the bone, but this hard?

‘Well, judging by the prowess he showed in the tournament, it would have been impossible without that.’

He had been far stronger than anyone expected.

“More to the point, let’s hear about that day.”

Seolhwa looked to Ouyang Do.

His expression had turned markedly solemn.

“The day of the clash with the Hwaoru Lord.”

The day Seolhwa appeared and saved Ouyang Do and Gong Cheon.

“What became of him?”

Seolhwa set her hand on the table.

From her sleeve, the Imoogi slipped out with a soft slide.

Coiling at the center of the table, it tapped its tail—tak, tak—against the wood.

Its black eyes narrowed as it looked at Ouyang Do.

[Weakling.]

“I owe you my life.”

Ouyang Do dipped his chin briefly to the Imoogi in thanks.

The Imoogi, after a narrow-eyed glance at Ouyang Do, snorted.

[Enough. I’ve long known humans are weak.]

“So—how did the fight go?”

[We lost.]

“!”

[We lost miserably.]

Shock spread over Ouyang Do’s face.

The Imoogi was a spirit-beast who had lived for millennia—powerful, and just as proud.

It was startling enough for such a being to admit defeat so readily—miserably?

[He severed my head. I could not even see him move. Had my true body not been with Namgoong Seolhwa, I would have vanished on the spot.]

That was why the Imoogi could not return easily.

It had been a short battle, but in the fight with the Blood Demon the Imoogi had suffered a mortal wound, and it took a long time to recover.

[Avoid fighting that one if you can. Even if I fought him with my true body, I cannot guarantee victory.]

“To that extent?”

Back when he stayed at Mount Hua, Ouyang Do had sparred with the Imoogi countless times.

Even for him—who stood at Heaven Beyond Heaven—the Imoogi’s true body was burdensome to face.

“He stood at our same realm, Heaven Beyond Heaven.”

The Imoogi snorted.

[Do you think I wouldn’t know after being driven to the brink of death? He knows a realm beyond Heaven Beyond Heaven.]

“!”

Shock flickered across the faces of Ouyang Do, Gong Cheon, and Namgoong Mucheon.

Only Seolhwa remained calm—she had already heard this.

“What do you mean, ‘knows’?”

[He didn’t seem to have crossed beyond Heaven Beyond Heaven yet. But he clearly knew what lay above. Not vaguely—he understood that power.]

Heaven Beyond Heaven.

In days past, Ouyang Do had told Namgoong Mucheon the term signified a realm above the Flowering realm.

Only, upon reaching Heaven Beyond Heaven, one merely sensed there was something higher—an unfathomable height.

‘He already knows that power.’

The gap between knowing and not even grasping the outline is vast.

If you know, you can realize; if you can realize, you can reach.

Ouyang Do’s hand trembled faintly.

“So... it was possible.”

How.

How....

“Then what should be done? If we cannot stop him with our strength?”

“Cut off his arms and legs.”

Three gazes shifted from the Imoogi to Seolhwa.

“The Imoogi is right. We should avoid a direct fight with him if at all possible. Instead, we chip away at the power he commands, and seize what we can.”

That was what Seolhwa had done thus far.

Gathering the black-path forces and the Hao Sect—who in her previous life would have been absorbed into the Blood Cult—under the banner of the Sado Union.

“We must isolate him as much as possible. And in the same breath, grow our strength.”

The Blood Demon’s power was overwhelmingly strong; it must not be allowed to become a clash of forces.

The Blood Demon was formidable, and the Blood Lords’ power and followings were not to be ignored either.

Stall the Blood Cult’s growth; build the Central Plains’ strength; in the end, make it a fight between one Blood Demon and the martial world of the Central Plains.

Only then was there a chance to win.

‘To do that....’

They had to topple the Blood Cult’s influence, piece by piece.

And that, too, was what Seolhwa had been doing.

“To face him, I will need the strength of you two. Until now, I’ve leaned on myself and our Clan, but our power alone no longer suffices.”

Gong Cheon looked to Namgoong Mucheon.

“Was that why you feigned your death some time ago?”

“It became so.”

“Who are they?”

Ouyang Do asked.

Namgoong Mucheon answered evenly.

“The Great Asura Blood Sect. That is what they call themselves.”

Ouyang Do and Gong Cheon knit their brows.

They already knew these enemies used the power of blood.

But a sect?

Among powers that call themselves “sect,” there was the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect of the Hundred-Thousand Great Mountains.

They were, in the literal sense, a sect that exalted a being called the Heavenly Demon and worshiped a demon—a sect.

In sheer size and power, measured against the Martial Alliance, they yielded not at all.

Only, because they dwelled in the Hundred-Thousand Great Mountains and had severed all exchange with the Central Plains, they were regarded almost like an outside power.

‘If the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect ever led its force down into the Central Plains....’

A chill brushed the nape.

If the martial world of the Central Plains united to block them, it might not be impossible, but the blood spilled in that war would run like a river.

Thinking so, the danger of the Blood Cult hit home.

“In four and a half years, the only thing we have learned is that name. Seolhwa is bound by interdiction and cannot say more.”

“Interdiction...?”

Ouyang Do and Gong Cheon turned to Seolhwa with eyes full of surprise and concern.

“I knew you were no ordinary child, but still.”

An interdiction, at that age.

She was barely eighteen.

At such an age, she ought to be under adults’ protection, honing her martial skill—not flinging herself into peril.

“Were you once connected to them?”

“...Yes. Not now.”

Ouyang Do nodded slowly.

“So it was.”

An interdiction, martial skill far beyond her peers, and even an Imoogi—

People can be out of the ordinary. Sometimes there are those who surpass the extraordinary, and such people must carry circumstances beyond reckoning.

Ouyang Do could not even guess what twists and turns she had lived.

That those unfathomable circumstances had come to one so young pained him.

“What you’re trying to do is for the world. I see that.”

Having faced the Blood Demon, Ouyang Do and Gong Cheon knew better than anyone the danger of the Blood Cult.

“So from now on, we will lend you our strength.”

Seolhwa looked at Ouyang Do in surprise.

“Pardon...?”

“You are still young, and your standing is low—you cannot raise your voice within the Martial Alliance.”

Though Namgoong Mucheon sat as Alliance Lord, even his power had limits in moving the whole Alliance.

Even today, many had not opposed accepting Yu Gang—who had earned his qualification fair and square—yet there had still been dissent.

Therefore—

“I will be your voice in your stead. I will see your will carried through. If there is something you must achieve, I will see it done—by any means.”

He who stood at the highest standing of the Martial Alliance—

Ouyang Do, a man of the greatest strength, fixed a straight gaze on Seolhwa.

“Use me.”

And move the martial world.