Seol Unhwi spoke slowly.
“They will mostly be martial artists of the Heavenly Snow Sect.”
“...”
“My relationship with my elder brother will worsen.”
He withdrew his hand.
“But if you cross that line, there is nothing I can do. I will have no choice but to settle matters with my elder brother as well.”
Sa Okryeong began to tremble like a leaf.
“You would do well to remember my words.”
Seol Unhwi flicked his hand.
Shhk—
At once, Chief Seong withdrew the sword that had been aimed at the First Ice Guard Envoy’s throat.
Of course, he did not forget to send her a voice transmission.
—If your hand touches your sword hilt even once more, you die.
The First Ice Guard Envoy slowly nodded.
Her entire body was drenched in cold sweat.
Seol Unhwi turned away.
Chief Seong followed behind him. Seol Unhwi spoke.
“Ju Soa.”
“...Yes?”
“We depart.”
“...They still haven’t moved.”
“If they do not move, run through them.”
Ju Soa awkwardly scratched her head.
“Well... if it’s an order, then... nothing to be done.”
At the same moment Seol Unhwi stepped back into the carriage, Ju Soa snapped the whip.
Crack!
The horses lurched forward.
The First Ice Guard Envoy hurriedly dragged the still-dazed First Lady to the side.
The carriage passed them.
The wagon followed behind.
Together with the thirty-five heads beneath the canopy.
And seated upon that wagon, Namgung Wonyang stared coldly at the First Ice Guard Envoy and Sa Okryeong.
Though only in the Five Qi Origin realm, killing intent blazed in his eyes.
It was obvious.
The three people Seol Unhwi had brought with him now—
if he told them to turn the Snow Palace upside down, they would follow him with their lives.
Sa Okryeong stared after their retreating figures.
Her whole body shook.
“...First Lady.”
The First Ice Guard Envoy called to her carefully.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine... fine.”
From the trembling in her voice, she did not look fine at all.
As she watched the disappearing carriage, she thought,
Seol Unhwi...
That child from back then... became this...
The Unhwi she had known in the past was a small, weak child.
Always hiding in the corners.
Always watching others.
A child of low birth who did nothing but read the room.
She had feared that he might one day become a threat, so she had done everything she could to crush his spirit.
And so she had crushed it.
She had schemed in every possible way.
So he would never grow.
Never rise.
Never become capable of anything.
And in truth, Seol Unhwi had once become exactly that sort of person.
But now, it was different.
...A monster.
That... is a monster.
Her legs wobbled.
The First Ice Guard Envoy supported her.
“Let us return, First Lady.”
“...Yes.”
Sa Okryeong nodded.
The carriage continued onward.
Toward the Heavenly Snow Sect.
***
Seated at the driver’s seat, Ju Soa let out a sigh.
What kind of day was this?
It was only natural for that thought to occur to her.
Because once again, someone was °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° standing in the path of the carriage.
She had faced the First Lady barely two shichen ago.
The road to the Heavenly Snow Sect was already long enough—why did people keep blocking the way?
Thinking this, Ju Soa slowly narrowed her eyes.
The distance was about twenty zhang.
Directly ahead of the carriage.
He showed no sign of avoiding them, and his expression looked resolute.
And his appearance—
A middle-aged man with a very firm impression. A square jaw, fierce eyes, the face of a general—
“...Huh?”
Ju Soa recognized him.
So she immediately pulled the reins.
The carriage stopped at about eight zhang away.
“...Well... I’m starting to feel awkward saying this over and over, but... Commander, I think you really do need to come out for this one.”
A sigh sounded from within the carriage.
It was not Seol Unhwi’s.
It was clearly Chief Seong’s.
Namgung Wonyang, who had been on the wagon, climbed over to the driver’s seat.
“Who is it?”
“...You don’t know?”
Namgung Wonyang looked at the middle-aged man.
Then his eyes widened.
“...Why... is the Vice Leader of the Sacheon Alliance...?”
Ghost-Eyed Demon Lord Murong Nantian.
A master of the Unity of Heaven and Man had come to the snowy mountains.
Seol Unhwi stepped down from the carriage and, as if he had expected this situation, slowly began to walk forward.
“...Young Master...”
Chief Seong’s voice was tinged with concern, but Seol Unhwi only glanced at him and said shortly,
“Wait. Pull the carriage back.”
“...How far?”
“Another ten zhang.”
“...Understood.”
Seol Unhwi resumed walking.
Murong Nantian.
He stopped at about one zhang from him.
Murong Nantian spoke first.
“Guo Seunghan, Elder of the Sacheon Alliance and One-Eyed Dragon Elder, is dead.”
Seol Unhwi answered as well.
“And isn’t Pyo Mujin, Lightning Step Hand, also dead?”
Murong Nantian flinched.
Who was Pyo Mujin?
The hall master of the Heavenly Thunder Hall, a man of no small prestige in the Central Plains.
His martial cultivation stood in the Heaven and Man realm.
“The Hwanmyeongdan organization is made up of the Commander, the direct executives under him called Hwanryeong, and the Hwanmyeongsa who oversee operations in each region. The Hwanmyeongsa and Hwanryeong are still dying even now.”
“...”
“What matters are the Hwanryeong and the Commander. Guo Seunghan and Pyo Mujin were Hwanryeong of the Hwanmyeongdan, men trying to cast the Central Plains into the abyss of war. Especially Pyo Mujin, who is still outwardly leading his sect well—he would have been thoroughly excluded from the purge against the Hwanmyeongdan.”
“...”
“And even now, it is the same. Other than me, no one knows.”
Murong Nantian wiped a hand over his face.
“Why did you ask to see me?”
“You know that better than anyone, do you not?”
“...”
“I made a request to Leader Kang. I asked him to send you to me. That was because I took his reputation into account.”
“...”
“And from your perspective, Senior Murong, this should have been an opportunity.”
“An opportunity?”
“I am not referring to that thing you are currently thinking of. I am referring to another path.”
Murong Nantian’s expression went cold.
“It seems you are under some mis—”
“No. That is not it.”
“...What?”
“That is not what you should be saying to me. You should be asking me a question.”
“...What question?”
“How much I know about the Hwanmyeongdan.”
“...”
“You are an intelligent man, are you not? We both know it. No other question is necessary.”
“...No. There is one more.”
“What is it?”
“How do you know?”
Seol Unhwi let out a faint laugh.
“That is a question I have no desire to answer, so let us pretend it was never asked.”
“Then do you intend to answer how much you know?”
“Yes.”
“...Then answer.”
“I shall. The Hwanmyeongdan, those bound together by malice, moved thoroughly within the shadows. For such people, what is needed is a base of operations. And you chose Yangryeong Province for that base.”
“...”
“It must have been your order. You must have become certain after seeing me at the inauguration ceremony of the Heavenly Alliance’s leader.”
“Certain of what?”
“That Seol Unhwi would now spend more of his years in the Heavenly Alliance, and would no longer return to Yangryeong Province.”
“...”
“But an unforeseen situation arose. My return to Yangryeong Province was the greater problem, but Han Seokhyeon of Yangryeong Province also noticed their infiltration.”
“...”
“If it had stopped there, it would not have been a problem. But those bound by malice moved before your orders could even reach them. You tried belatedly to cut off the tail, but a Hwanmyeongsa was captured, and you failed.”
Murong Nantian wiped his face again.
“You keep bringing up my name. What does any of that have to do with me?”
“The core of the Hwanmyeongdan lies in the three Hwanryeong commanded by its Commander. Guo Seunghan, Pyo Mujin, and Murong Nantian.”
“...You are making a false accusation.”
“Do you really wish to keep this up, when everything has already been exposed?”
“...”
“If those three Hwanryeong are captured and killed, the Hwanmyeongdan will collapse. It will completely lose its center.”
At those words, something twitched between Murong Nantian’s brows.
“After the Murong Family was exterminated, you must have honed your blade for revenge. But the target vanished, did it not? Was it from that point on that you began to nurture malice toward the world itself?”
“...If the Commander still remains, what does it mean for it to collapse?”
Seol Unhwi answered with his hands clasped behind his back.
“It means exactly what you are thinking.”
“What am I thinking?”
“That even Guo Seunghan and Pyo Mujin did not know it. That the Commander who gave them orders actually stood on the same level as themselves.”
“...”
“One man playing two roles—not bad. For a shadow organization like that, even the figure of its head had to remain hidden. It was ideal. There was only one problem.”
“What was that?”
“You touched my people. And you touched me.”
“...”
“That was your greatest mistake.”
Murong Nantian wiped a hand down his face.
“Is this all speculation?”
“It is certainty.”
“So what is it you want?”
“That is not a question you should be asking me.”
“...”
“You should be doing what you must if you wish to preserve your life. Yet the fact that you have shown yourself before me like this...”
Seol Unhwi’s voice turned cold.
“...is regrettable.”
Then it happened.
Murong Nantian’s body moved with ghostlike speed.
In an instant, his hand shot out to seize Seol Unhwi by the collar.
No—
it only seemed to.
Seol Unhwi took one step back, and the hand merely brushed his collar.
At once Murong Nantian spun, and a sword he had drawn without anyone seeing slashed out.
Its speed was like light itself.
The spiritual energy of heaven and earth spreading in all directions proved just how serious he was.
But—
Seol Unhwi’s foot struck the ground once more.
Shadowless Step.
His body slipped behind Murong Nantian.
At once he set his stance and thrust out his fist.
Immortal Vajra Palm.
Murong Nantian hurriedly twisted his head back and swung the retrieved sword.
Fist and blade collided.
KWA-BOOOOM—!!
A deafening explosion erupted.
Seol Unhwi was pushed back four steps.
Murong Nantian was driven back two.
What filled Murong Nantian’s eyes was shock.
This was impossible.
“...I heard... you fought Seol Cheonhwa yesterday... how can you...?”
Seol Unhwi shook out his hand.
Blood scattered.
A long wound had opened across the back of his hand, but steam suddenly rose from it, and the wound vanished.
“I took a fine medicinal pellet.”
“...”
“The plan was not bad. Hyeonsim, commander of the Baekryeong Guard, would have sensed your approach, Senior Murong, but he would not have known in detail why you had come.”
“...”
“That is why you approached me. I was already exhausted from my battle with Seol Cheonhwa, and while Hyeonsim would keep a close watch, at a distance this close, even an ambush could not be avoided. Senior Murong.”
“...Speak.”
“I do not particularly like the methods of the Hwanmyeongdan. But I find your methods even less agreeable.”
“...”
“If you had knelt and apologized, I had intended to spare your life at least.”
Murong Nantian adjusted his grip on his sword.
“But from the moment you approached me, you stopped concealing your killing intent... so I have no choice.”
Seol Unhwi drew the Trueflame Heavenly-Spirit Sword from his waist.
“Today, the Commander of the Hwanmyeongdan will die. That is how I intend to let Murim know. Then even the remaining martial artists of the Hwanmyeongdan, who are barely holding on, will fall into despair.”
“...”
“What are you doing? You should be silencing me.”
Grinding his teeth, Murong Nantian kicked off the ground.
“You wretched cur! I’ll kill you!”
