Ilryong, Imoe, and Sambong were sworn brothers with no blood relation.

Originally, Ryong was a fisherman who caught river fish to sell and live on, Moe was a government slave, and Bong was a clerk who calculated taxes at the yamen.

But each, for his own reasons, ended up being hunted.

When Ryong fought with other fishermen who tried to seize his boat, one of them fell into the water and died, and he became a fugitive.

Moe, accused of selling government secrets, became a fugitive pursued by the authorities.

Bong, on orders from his superiors, collected extra taxes from villagers and skimmed them; when he was caught, he too had to flee.

While they were on the run, the three were each eating a meal in a small village inn.

Officials came into that inn.

They too had entered purely by chance to eat, but unfortunately, they recognized Moe, the runaway slave.

In front of everyone, they handled him—both slave and criminal—with merciless brutality.

They forced Moe, who could not even resist, to the ground, stomped him, and made him a laughingstock.

Perhaps because, as men being hunted the same as he, they projected themselves onto that sight—

Ryong, no longer able to endure it, knocked the officials down, and before more could arrive, Bong took the two and fled the place.

‘Name’s Ryong! Thanks for the help! You okay?’

‘...Call me Bong. Damn it, best policy is not to get tangled in things like this.... Why were you standing there like a fool...! Argh! I’m out of my mind!!’

‘...’

But Moe could not introduce himself.

When he opened his mouth, Ryong and Bong could only be horrified.

Moe had no tongue.

Just before he escaped the yamen, his tongue had been cut out as punishment for the crime of leaking secrets.

The three grew close quickly.

‘What kind of unfair world is this! I only stopped them from taking what’s mine! Isn’t the one who misstepped and fell the one at fault?’

‘Ah, and those rich bastards too. Skimming a little off money they wring from common folk and they come at you like it’s the end! Ugh, ptooey! Filthy!’

‘Since it’s come to this, let’s just live wild from now on! Everyone else lives as they please! What law says we can’t do the same?’

‘...’

The three bound themselves as brothers and became bandits.

At first, Moe—whose life had been saved by the other two—offered to be the youngest, but Bong insisted on serving the elder Moe as big brother.

Thus they became Ilryong, Imoe, and Sambong.

****

Kwaang—

“U-Union Lord!”

“Union...!”

The Sado Union warriors guarding the dungeon where the assassins were held started and straightened in alarm.

Before they could even offer a proper salute, Seolhwa passed them and went into the dungeon.

“Out.”

After Ryeong drove them all outside, she followed in.

Tap—

Entering the dungeon, Seolhwa swept a quick gaze across the captives.

Then she smashed the lock of the cell holding the assassin with the strongest internal power among them, stepped in, and seized him by the collar.

He was, in truth, a sub-lord of the Flesh Curtain who had been at Ak Jaryu’s side.

“Ghk—! W-what are you—!”

“What was the poison you fed my man.”

The Flesh Curtain sub-lord shouted, flustered.

“P-poison...! What poison! We didn’t feed him any poison...!”

“You didn’t feed him...?”

“Y-yeah! We roughed him a little to pry out information about you...! But the Blood-Slaying Fiend ordered under no circumstances to kill that guy, so we couldn’t use poison!”

Seolhwa knit her brows.

If even the Flesh Curtain hadn’t poisoned him, then where had Imoe been poisoned?

Just then—

“I saw it!”

From the opposite cell, another assassin cried out urgently.

Seolhwa turned to him.

“I saw it! If you just promise to spare me, I—I’ll tell you everything...!”

Thud—

“Urk...!”

Letting go of the sub-lord’s collar, Seolhwa strode to the cell of the assassin who claimed to know something.

“You saw it?”

“Th-that...”

“If what you saw is true, I promise at least your life.”

“!”

“So speak straight. If you don’t, your tongue will be the first thing torn out.”

The assassin gulped down a dry swallow.

He had set out to beg for his life, but if he said anything foolish, his neck would be the first to roll.

“T-the truth is, I don’t know if what he gave was poison....”

In that instant, the assassin felt his breath choke off.

A dense killing intent slowly tightened around his windpipe.

“Kh—! B-but he said this! ‘Your master is so soft he can’t even swat a fly, so I’ll harvest the man in his place.’ That’s what!”

“Why didn’t you stop him?”

“H-he called himself the Second Blood Lord...! The Flesh Curtain Lord said if anyone called a ‘Blood Lord’ came, leave them be no matter what they did...!”

“!”

Seolhwa’s killing intent vanished in a blink.

Clutching his nape, the assassin wheezed and sucked in air in a panic.

Seolhwa’s fingertips trembled against the bars.

‘The Second Blood Lord....’

Of the six Blood Lords, the one about whom nothing could be learned.

In her previous life, she had met him a few times together with the other Blood Lords, but he had never properly spoken a word; she did not even know his voice.

A Blood Lord who, no matter what the Blood Demon did or what the Blood Lords plotted, kept only an attitude of detachment and indifference.

There was only one thing Seolhwa knew about this Second Blood Lord.

‘A master of poison.’

The one who created most of the Great Asura Blood Sect’s myriad cruel and grotesque new toxins.

A man rumored to have joined the sect because he needed subjects on which to test poisons.

Crunch.

The iron bars crumpled limply in Seolhwa’s grip.

‘If the one who poisoned Imoe truly was the Second Blood Lord...’

There would be no way to antidote it.

****

Word that the Sado Union had won its war with the Flesh Curtain reached the Martial Alliance in an instant.

“What did I say. Didn’t I tell you the Sado Union would win.”

“Just so. If it was to be settled this easily, why did we fret so...? Heh heh... The Alliance Lord will be truly pleased.”

At the mention of the Martial Alliance Lord, an awkward current ran through those gathered.

Most present had not voiced it, but they had believed, to some extent, the rumor that Namgoong Seolhwa had betrayed the orthodox martial world and entered the Great Asura Blood Sect.

In truth, the Dragon & Phoenix Gathering’s defensive array could not easily be breached unless its formation was damaged from within, and she had appeared leading the Blood Cult’s forces in battle with the Alliance, so it had seemed credible.

But not long ago—

News arrived that Namgoong Seolhwa had been found in the mountains.

The shocking part was that, when found, she had lost her memory.

Word said she could not recognize members of the Namgoong, which was only natural, and that she did not even remember herself.

At once, the rumor casting suspicion on Namgoong Seolhwa °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° was smothered, and the Alliance Lord, Namgoong Mucheon, had gone to the Namgoong estate to look in on her.

“A-hem...! The sooner Lady Namgoong recovers her health, the sooner the Alliance Lord’s worries will ease.”

“When one thing is solved, another problem arises.”

Just then—

“Have you fellows ever thought of this?”

A short man in green robes approached the group.

“Ah, Elder Tang Sangcheon.”

Tang Sangcheon, Supreme Lord of the Sichuan Tang Clan and one of the current Fourteen Elders of the Martial Alliance.

Among the elders, he was one of the few seniors whose standing was higher than the Alliance Lord, Namgoong Mucheon.

Thus, though his office was no more than an elder of the Alliance, the influence of his words exceeded that.

“We greet Elder Tang.”

Those gathered all bowed to Tang Sangcheon.

He dipped his chin slightly, accepting their salute.

“What did you mean to speak of?”

“The very subject you were discussing.”

“You mean Namgoong Seolhwa and the Sado Union?”

Tang Sangcheon nodded.

“For some time now, there has been something I found strange. About the relationship between those two.”

“By those two, you mean...?”

Namgoong Seolhwa and the Sado Union?

Was that what he meant?

Those gathered flicked glances at one another.

What relationship could there be between Namgoong Seolhwa and the Sado Union?

“I suspect Namgoong Seolhwa is the Sado Union Master.”

“...Pardon?”

For an instant, the faces of the gathered went blank.

But soon, they could not help it and burst out laughing.

“Hahaha! Elder Tang, that jest goes too far! How could Lady Namgoong...!”

“When the Shadowless Demon God appeared at the tournament, where was Namgoong Seolhwa?”

At Tang Sangcheon’s question, the laughter that had taken it as a joke ceased at once.

“T-that would be... Didn’t Namgoong Seolhwa lose right before the Shadowless Demon God appeared?”

Having lost and left the arena, she was likely off somewhere nursing her regret...

“On Mount Wudang, Namgoong Seolhwa suffered a laceration on her right arm. A few days before that, the Shadowless Demon God took a wound in the same place while assisting the Beggar’s Union. My grandson was there; he saw it himself.”

“!”

“And Namgoong Seolhwa was absent from that scene. I hear she had received a private order from the Alliance Lord. Does any one of us know what that order was?”

What had seemed a jest turned, as testimony was added, into suspicion.

Those gathered no longer laughed.

The tournament and the wound on Mount Wudang.

And the Sado Union’s victory that had been reported along with the news of Namgoong Seolhwa’s return.

“You seem not to know yet.”

They looked to Tang Sangcheon.

“At the tournament, Namgoong Seolhwa did not lose.”

A cold venom flashed in Tang Sangcheon’s eyes.

“She made it look that way.”