The Fourth Blood Lord, the instant he sensed a threat to his own life, abandoned Mo-wol without a flicker of hesitation.

No—was it only Mo-wol he abandoned?

Over a hundred men of the Southern Wilds likewise lay as cold corpses, buried beneath the remnants of the collapsed ravine.

“Pathetic.”

“...”

Mo-wol sank down, hugging her arm, sliding to sit with her back to the wall.

When the forces of the Fourth Blood Lord and Seolhwa collided, she had been flung by the shockwave, smashed from side to side, and left in tatters.

The veil that had hidden her face was gone without a trace; hair in wild disarray, her ruined face lay bare.

A far cry from the elegance and refinement she had paraded until now.

Sss—

Seolhwa went down on one knee before Mo-wol and seized her by the chin.

Mo-wol looked up at Seolhwa with eyes that trembled uncontrollably.

“You said you were curious. How I knew your Blood-alias.”

Mo-wol’s eyes flew wide.

She shook her head in a panic.

“I—I’m not curious. Y-you don’t have to tell me...!”

“Afraid you’ll die if you learn it?”

“...”

Mo-wol swallowed dryly.

Information, the more you have, the greater your power—but at times, it turns to poison.

All the more so when your life is under the knife, as now.

Mo-wol knew it by instinct.

The moment she learned the Sado Union Lord’s true identity, she would not live to keep breathing.

“As expected, you are worthy of being called the head of Hwaoru.”

Mo-wol’s gaze wavered.

Her alias, and now even that she was the head of Hwaoru.

‘What in the world is this person...’

At that °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° moment, the Sado Union Lord’s right hand caught the edge of the mask she wore.

“Don’t...!”

She tried to shout no, but the Sado Union Lord’s hand was a beat faster.

“...!”

With no chance to evade, Mo-wol stared straight into the Sado Union Lord’s bare face—and her eyes heaved like a storm.

“Y-you are...”

“Been well?”

“Little House Lord...?”

A faint smile curved Seolhwa’s eyes.

A leisurely smile, the very opposite of Mo-wol’s shock-frozen expression.

“H-how are you....” 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The Shadowless Demon God was the Little House Lord?

The chieftain of the Unorthodox, the Sado Union Lord’s true identity was...?

“You clearly returned to the Namgoong Clan...”

“Let me ask just one thing.”

Seolhwa’s gaze met Mo-wol’s head-on, glacial enough to burn.

“You knew, that I was the child the Namgoong Clan lost.”

Mo-wol’s eyes shook again.

She couldn’t answer, but her silence and stricken face supplied a yes in her stead.

“Then was it you who proposed abducting the Namgoong Clan’s child?”

Seolhwa’s killing intent deepened by degrees.

Packed so densely it made breathing difficult.

Mo-wol’s teeth chattered audibly as she shook.

Undisguised fear.

The despair of recognizing death.

Perhaps the abduction had not been solely Mo-wol’s idea—but she was clearly entangled in it to some degree.

“Are you... seeking revenge...?”

“Both yes. And no.”

Revenge, sure.

But the wellspring of her resolve to oppose the Blood Cult—was it not closer to atonement than revenge?

“If—if it’s revenge you want, I’ll help you!”

“...What?”

“You know, Little House Lord, what I am inside Hwaoru...!”

“Hmm. That doesn’t tempt me.”

“I—I know things even you didn’t, Little House Lord. I know what happened while you were away. If you want, I’ll even tell you what Hwaoru plans to do soon! So please, spare my life...!”

Unluckily for Mo-wol, every card she offered was one Seolhwa already held.

What happened after Seolhwa left Hwaoru, she knew from her previous life—and beyond that, she knew of things yet to come.

“Was this done on the Lord’s orders?”

Mo-wol shook her head.

“The Lord knows nothing of it.”

“Is that so?”

Pft, a laugh slipped out.

As expected, the strike against the Sado Union had not been ordered by the Blood Demon—it was Mo-wol’s doing alone.

‘Even with time rewound and circumstances shifted, you commit much the same.’

Truly, people do not change.

“If I spare you and you crawl back to Hwaoru, do you think the Lord will let you live?”

“...Th-that...!”

No—he almost certainly would not.

Remembering how he had reacted to the Shadowless Demon God before.

“Foolish, Mo-wol.”

Bright mind or no, if she cannot even read what her sovereign desires—

“S-spare....”

Seolhwa tightened her grip on the jaw of Mo-wol, who was shaking and begging for her life.

Mo-wol was clever and sly; kept as an ally, she might prove quite useful.

But she was just as dangerous—and as now, who knew what she might set in motion.

“I asked if I meant to take revenge, didn’t I?”

Seolhwa lowered her brows and looked at Mo-wol.

Perhaps taking that gaze for pity, a flicker of hope touched Mo-wol’s face.

In Seolhwa’s previous life, Mo-wol had already breathed her last around this very time.

“What I’m about to do to you...”

And regrettably, Seolhwa had no intention of changing the future.

“It is revenge.”

****

Tak—

Following Gong Cheon and Yu Gang, the Shadowless Demon God emerged from beyond the mounded debris.

“My lord!”

“Union Lord!”

Members of the Sado Union’s Guardian Patrols, waiting for him on one side, rushed over.

Seolhwa looked over the markedly dwindled ranks of the Guardian Patrols.

Those who had survived were plainly exhausted, bodies bandaged and bloodied here and there.

“The dead?”

“Se... seven in all.”

Seolhwa glanced back at the ravine choked by toppled wreckage.

Seven of her people lay buried below.

“It will take quite some time to recover the bodies.”

At the Sado Union Lord’s low murmur to herself, the Guardian Patrols showed startled faces.

They had thought the buried would be left as they were—but their lord would not abandon them, not to the very end.

Even had they themselves died in this ravine, she would not have left them to this cold heap of stone.

The thought swelled their hearts with emotion and loyalty.

“My lord.”

A Sub-Unit Lord approached and bowed his head.

“What is it?”

“The one you sought has been grievously injured.”

“...Injured?”

The Sub-Unit Lord stepped back and indicated to one side.

Toward the fallen mass of rock.

Now that she looked, Gong Cheon and Yu Gang stood there, along with the Green Forest War King and others.

‘If it’s the one I sought...’

So-and-so.

Seolhwa took in the Beggar’s Union elders mingled among the group and walked toward them.

Sensing her approach, the knot of people naturally parted to either side, opening a path.

“Master, please open your eyes... Master...!”

So-and-so lay collapsed, unconscious, blood soaking his abdomen, while Chunpal clutched him and sobbed.

Yu Gang held Chunpal at his side.

“You’re here.”

The Green Forest War King spotted Seolhwa and came over.

“There are many wounded. We should move, quickly, to a place where they can receive treatment.”

Seolhwa surveyed the surroundings.

Besides So-and-so, the injured lay scattered all around.

In that moment, her gaze slid to the fallen stones.

Between the layered blocks of rock, someone’s arm jutted out.

From the torn sleeve of the corpse, Seolhwa knew who it was.

‘Cheon Guiho...’

The Hugae of the Beggar’s Union.

He had failed to escape the collapse in time and been crushed to death.

Seolhwa stared for a moment at the hand turned white beneath the drift of stone dust, then turned on her heel.

“There is a Sado Union branch in the nearest village. We go there.”

****

With the help of those comparatively unhurt, the wounded were carried to the village inn.

Not long after, the Hao Sect Lord arrived at the inn with physicians and Sado Union warriors.

Thanks to the Sado Union’s swift response, none among the surviving wounded lost their lives.

Golden Lotus Rain and Tang Hojin—who had fainted when the cliff gave way—also regained consciousness before nightfall; their injuries were not severe.

So evening drew down and darkness began to settle.

Tak—

With a Sub-Unit Lord of the Guardian Patrols posted at the door, Seolhwa closed it.

Those within the room were Seolhwa, the Hao Sect Lord, Yu Gang, and Gong Cheon.

After shutting the door and throwing up a qi screen, Seolhwa sat and removed her mask.

Yu Gang’s gaze went to her arm as she set the mask down.

“Where were you hurt?”

“I was treated. I’m fine.”

He had seen how much blood she’d lost.

The wound had to be deep, yet Seolhwa betrayed not a hint of pain.

That pained Yu Gang, and his face shadowed.

“I truly am fine.”

Reassuring him once more, Seolhwa turned to Gong Cheon with a question.

“What happened? How did you know to come?”

Seolhwa had not called for Gong Cheon.

The only call she’d sent was to the Green Forest.

Even if victory had hinged on his hauling up that boulder at a desperate instant, she was just as curious as to how this had come to be.

“The Alliance Lord sent a man to me.”

“Grandfather?”

Gong Cheon nodded.

“He asked me to aid you. Said there was little time. With Ouyang Do’s whereabouts unclear, it seems he sought my help.”

Though he had lost one arm, Gong Cheon was still one of the few masters at the Heaven Beyond Heaven realm in the martial world, and one who knew the Shadowless Demon God’s identity.

Sure enough, in this moment he was the most suitable man to ask for aid.

‘Grandfather must have been greatly worried.’

It had been a crisis so urgent he would have had to send someone light-footed to beg assistance.

“Thank you, Master. Thanks to you, we all came away with our lives.”

Seolhwa offered Gong Cheon a cupped-fist salute.

Yu Gang and the Hao Sect Lord followed her lead and gave thanks.

“I only did what I should. Think nothing of it. More than that, I have something to ask.”

“Please speak, Master.”

“Why did you let that man go?”