Sohwa did not think this was a conversation worth being stubborn over to that extent, so she did not add anything.
She turned her body toward the Bloodline Master.
“Could you first escort the Four-Directions Hall Daoist back to the main palace? I will take care of the cleanup and follow shortly. Since there is no time, please tell the Administrator to prepare at once for our return to the Central Plains.”
“Understood.”
Baek Unhyeon accepted at once. Since he had wanted to greet the Four-Directions Hall Administrator before leaving, he was pleased to have gained some time.
The Fourth Seat also gave his permission with a glance.
When Sohwa sensed that their presences had disappeared, she turned her gaze back to the old man.
“There is something I would like to ask.”
The Fourth Seat gave a slight nod, as if to say she could speak.
“Have you met the Crimson Blood Hall Lord?”
A brief silence followed.
That was the answer.
Tang Sohwa asked again.
“Do you know where he went?”
“Why are you asking me that?”
“Has he gone to the Great Desert?”
When the Fourth Seat again fell silent, Sohwa asked in a subdued voice.
“By any chance, do you know why he left?”
Perhaps judging that there was no point in evasion, the Fourth Seat finally opened his mouth.
“He said that if the Sun Palace were taken from him, the Blood Demon would be thrown into confusion, unable to go to either the Northern Sea or the Great Desert. And he would not readily cross over to the Central Plains either.”
Sohwa’s expression darkened. As expected, the plan had been to buy time.
“How much time do you think he can buy?”
“The Blood Demon is a cautious creature, and he has poured great effort into the Central Plains, so his confusion will be great. He should be able to buy quite a long time. However.”
The Fourth Seat’s blue gaze dropped to the tubs.
“That is only until he learns that someone has broken my will.”
Sohwa gave a small nod.
“If I start moving in the Central Plains, it will be hard to drag things out for long.”
The Fourth Seat did not deny it.
“For those who carry the dokgo, gaining their freedom is the wish of a lifetime. So rumors about you will spread quickly among the cultists of that pavilion.”
He spoke in a low voice.
“Within a few days, it will reach the Blood Demon’s ears.”
Sohwa agreed with that assessment. Looking with sunken eyes at the stained tubs, she spoke.
“May I ask you for a favor?”
“Say it.”
“If the Blood Demon goes first not to the Northern Sea, but to the Great Desert or to the Central Plains, Geumeunsan will be empty. And since the Crimson Blood Hall has been annihilated, the defenses of Geumeunsan will not be all that complicated.”
The Fourth Seat’s face took on a strange look, but Sohwa did not see that expression. On the way over to the island she had been organizing the thoughts she had been holding in her heart, and she had no leisure to pay attention to anything else.
“Among the Blood Demon’s pavilions, there is a black one.”
“Are you talking about Black Horn?”
“Yes. The Compilation Hall Lord is imprisoned in Black Horn’s archive.”
Only then did Tang Sohwa’s gaze lift.
“Please take that man out of Black Horn.”
“Why are you trying to save him of all people?”
“No. I am not trying to save him.”
Tang Sohwa let out a hollow laugh.
“There is a task the Blood Demon has given that cultist, and it is very important to him.”
To create the Blood Prison, the Blood Demon had been organizing the secret texts of the Outland Five Palaces. If he had wanted to finish quickly, it would have been better to assign the work to many, but he had left only the Compilation Hall Lord in Black Horn’s archive.
He had also personally warned that anyone who entered Black Horn’s archive would never be able to leave Geumeunsan.
He valued Black Horn’s archive extremely highly.
The Compilation Hall Lord was the only one in constant residence there, and he could sort the records needed for the Blood Prison.
So if they stole away the Compilation Hall Lord, the Blood Demon’s eyes would go bloodshot.
“If the Blood Demon learns that the Compilation Hall Lord has been abducted, he will immediately turn back to Geumeunsan. There is no need to bring the Compilation Hall Lord out of Geumeunsan. All that matters is making the Blood Demon turn his steps toward Geumeunsan. Do not overdo it; just hide him among the sands of Gold Mountain or the ice of Silver Mountain to hold the Blood Demon’s feet.”
“I owe you a debt, so if °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° I can, I would rather help without asking for a reason. But since the Blood Demon’s name has come up, I cannot help but ask. What are you thinking?”
“It is not some brilliant stratagem worth explaining at length.”
Her voice had its usual lack of inflection, yet now it sank as if bearing a sigh.
“If the Blood Demon crosses over into the Central Plains, there will no longer be any way to avoid an all-out war, so I need time to prepare a final move. Also, I owe the Crimson Blood Hall Lord a debt and cannot simply let him die; I have to bring him back before he is absorbed by the Blood Demon.”
Tang Sohwa rubbed at the corners of her eyes as if she were tired.
“To be honest, it is a move I would rather not use if I can help it. So I will hold out until the worst comes... but if a situation arises where I have to use that move against the Blood Demon, I will need about a day to prepare.”
When Sohwa finished speaking, the hall fell silent. It was because the Fourth Seat continued to hold his tongue.
It was impossible to tell whether that meant he would grant her request, or that he was still deliberating.
Sohwa waited for the Fourth Seat’s answer with patience.
The faint light that had been coming in through the window crack vanished, and complete darkness descended.
Only then did the Fourth Seat open his mouth.
“Are you thinking of dying together with the Blood Demon?”
Sohwa had meant to answer seriously, but a laugh slipped into her voice.
“Was the Blood Demon ever someone who could die together with the likes of me?”
“I ask because you called it a final move.”
“No. I only said that because I could not think of what would come after. It is not some great move that would let me die together with the Blood Demon. If what you mean to ask is to tell you what I am preparing, then I cannot answer.”
Since she was the one making the request, she had tried to explain in as much detail as possible, but she had no obligation to show an outsider even the weapon she held in her hand.
The Fourth Seat felt a strange emotion at the line Tang Sohwa drew.
It felt absurd, and also somehow a little hurtful.
So, uncharacteristically for him, a childish question came out.
“Is there not also the possibility that the Blood Demon will come to the Northern Sea first?”
“Yes, that could happen as well.”
Perhaps thinking it was a reasonable question, Tang Sohwa took it seriously.
Watching the woman frown in thought, the Fourth Seat asked.
“For the sake of the Northern Sea as well, will you use that move you are hiding?”
Sohwa looked at the Fourth Seat with an unreadable gaze.
She thought the Fourth Seat was being greedy.
Had she not helped them enough that they could handle what came after on their own?
How could he test her by asking whether she would use the same move for the Northern Sea, when he suspected she meant to die together with the Blood Demon? She could not understand it.
However, regardless of her feelings, Sohwa met the Fourth Seat’s gaze and nodded.
If the Blood Demon had decided to move personally, they would meet sooner or later no matter what, so there was no point in refusing the Northern Sea’s help.
Delaying the moment of facing the Blood Demon a little did not make things safer.
“Yes, if that is what you wish.”
“Good.”
The Fourth Seat was a man without expression. So even the slightest change felt enormous. Even the usually insensitive Tang Sohwa could feel that his face had relaxed.
“I will do as you wish.”
However, it was not such a large change that she could openly ask him why, so Sohwa swallowed her sense of discomfort and nodded.
“Let us return to the main palace.”
The Fourth Seat unfolded his arms as he spoke.
“Everyone still lacks that much in patience, it seems; they will be waiting for you and me to hurry back.”
From the context, he seemed to be talking about the Seven Seats.
Sohwa had been surprised when she first faced the six of the Seven Seats. It was because there was such a large difference in age between them and the Fourth Seat.
Not only the Fifth Seat, Sixth Seat, and Seventh Seat below the Fourth Seat, but also the higher-ranked First Seat, Second Seat, and Third Seat were all much younger.
The Fourth Seat treated the other Seven Seats above him in rank with scrupulous courtesy.
Yet now again he spoke as if talking to children.
Were they all his disciples?
Sohwa had seen a relationship similar to that of the Seven Seats at home. Heukcheon Amgui had taught the Tang Clan Head, and now was teaching the Young Clan Head as well.
Since Heukcheon Amgui showed a certain formality toward the Tang Clan Head, it did look somewhat similar.
At that moment, the Fourth Seat stretched out his hand and unfolded the Ice-White Divine Palm over the heap of prisoners.
Crack.
Ice sprang up, imprisoning the unconscious prisoners like a cage.
Having tidied up the prisoners in an instant, the Fourth Seat, with his usual composed face, was the first to leave the hall.
Sohwa gathered up the five volumes of records from the side table and followed him out.
Now she understood why the Fourth Seat had said that the Northern Sea was similar in nature to her.
Watching the Fourth Seat, she felt as if she were looking at Heukcheon Amgui’s back, even though their temperaments were completely different.
She thought that the atmosphere of the Tang Clan and that of the Northern Sea Ice Palace were similar.
But they were not exactly the same.
Sohwa had mixed her blood with the ink to hide the fact that her blood was the key.
Because their goals were aligned, they were walking together for now, but her heart did not truly touch the Northern Sea.
No.
Even with the Tang Clan, could she truly be honest in front of them?
'Should I tell them that I have received the Blood Demon’s blood?'
She held the dokgo records against her breast.
Crunch.
The moment she stepped out of the hall, a chill wrapped around her whole body. Her faint breath scattered through the cold night air.
'If the Tang Clan learns that I am a descendant of the Blood Demon, will they still regard me as family?'
The silvery river of stars spread across the pitch-black night sky. Tang Sohwa’s eyes closed slowly, then opened again.
The straight road drawn long across the sky seemed to urge her not to stop running.
Whatever her feelings might be, she had neither the leisure to agonize now, nor any place where she could abandon reality and run away.
It had not been a task she began in search of paradise to begin with.
She was only doing what she could.
Out of habit, Sohwa touched her sleeve and closed her fingers around the one item inside it.
A single worn throwing dagger added warmth to her frozen hand.
Her gaze, which had been turned toward the sky, dropped down to the snowfield dyed in darkness.
The Northern Sea Ice Palace, silent now that everything was over, filled her vision.
It was now time to return to the Central Plains.
