From all sides came the sound of people drawing in their breath. Everyone seemed aghast.Then someone else cut into the exchange.“No, Clan Head! That is not something you can be so sure of.”A man who looked to be a Headquarters martial artist strode up, scolding.“The Alliance Leader asked that the Divine Physician and Lady Tang be sent to his quarters because he wished to receive treatment. You, Tang Clan Head, granted permission as well! Yet if you suddenly claim she was kidnapped and raise such a commotion, what are we to do?”He looked at the Administrator, at a loss.“And why did you make our Administrator end up like this, besides. Don’t tell me you were going to storm the Alliance Leader’s quarters? No, Clan Head! Do you know how many Alliance members are waiting to have an audience with the Alliance Leader? If they had all said it was urgent and smashed the door down like this, Headquarters would have collapsed several times over. There are regulations; if the Alliance Leader said to wait, you must wait! And besides, the Alliance Leader himself will present the awards tomorrow, so if you endure just three shichen you can meet him!”At those words, disappointment showed on the faces of the Alliance members.The mood drifted toward condemning the Tang Clan Head’s selfish behavior.Emboldened by the murmuring of Headquarters members, the man raised his voice.“Administrator, my goodness, Administrator, are you all right? If Headquarters martial artists are tormented like this whenever someone is angry, what is the point of Headquarters even existing?”“Then isn’t the answer to open the door?”Unable to hold back, Tang Hae-han stepped forward and shouted.“If Sohwa is in the Alliance Leader’s quarters, send her out. What is so hard about that? We begged only to confirm that Sohwa is safe, and it was the Alliance Leader who refused that simple request!”Tang Hae-han tried not to get worked up, but his voice kept rising.“Sohwa went in with tracking incense on her, yet the trail didn’t lead to the Alliance Leader’s quarters—it led to the northern mountain of Headquarters. It vanished like a ghost halfway up! Someone seems to be impersonating Sohwa, so we only asked to confirm it; why are you blocking this?”“The Alliance Leader is currently meeting no one, not only the Tang ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) Clan Head, but—”“Which is why we said we don’t need to see the Alliance Leader; just send Sohwa.”“The Alliance Leader told you to wait—”“Tracking incense is not eternal. The Alliance Leader told us to wait a day, but a day later we might never find Sohwa again.”Cutting off the Headquarters man, Tang Hae-han answered in haste.“It is certain Sohwa has been kidnapped by the Blood Cult. Because she became a target. And that is partly your fault as well!”Shaking, Tang Hae-han glared at the Alliance members surrounding them.“Sohwa warned the Martial Alliance of the Blood Cult’s rampage, and upon hearing that a Mount Hua Alliance member in far-off Shaanxi had suffered at the hands of the Blood Cult, she rushed to help. She even went to the Hubei Branch at the risk of her life—when there was no need to do so—to share medicine and elixirs for the Hubei Alliance members.”The more he spoke, the more Tang Hae-han trembled with a sense of betrayal.“So of course she would become a target of the Blood Cult! They wouldn’t dare lay a hand on masters like the Alliance Leader, or the elders here, or someone like the Taeguk Sword Sovereign, so they kidnapped Sohwa—whose martial skill is inferior—as an example, did they not?”Tang Hae-han was not one to be greatly consumed by emotion. He liked to classify and analyze, to pursue reason and principle.If someone from another sect had been kidnapped, he too would have folded his arms and watched, saying regulations come first.Paradoxically, because he understood the hearts of onlookers held at a hand’s breadth of remove, his indignation surged all the more.At this very moment, taken by the Blood Cult, who knew what cruel torture she might be suffering; and yet once this spectacle ended, they would return to their rooms and sleep in soft quilts with easy minds.“Sohwa is…”That hard, cynical Tang Sohwa would never meekly obey the Blood Cult’s words.She would have scratched at them this way and that and raised havoc, and now, receiving very cruel torture, she would be suffering a pain she had brought upon herself.Because Tang Sohwa had not a speck of social grace, that was surely how it would be.Feeling an extreme rage, his voice grew the calmer for it. As if weighing right and wrong, Tang Hae-han shot back in a razor-edged tone.“Is this the reward for swallowing fear and working for the safety of Alliance members? Is it such a great favor to ask that we confirm only life or death? Regulations. Ah, keeping regulations is important indeed. Though we cannot even guess what those Blood Cult bastards might be doing to Sohwa at this very moment, we must hold it in and wait until the Alliance Leader, as if granting a benevolence, sees fit to show his face! Is that not what an alliance is? To respect the alliance by following the Martial Alliance’s regulations. Thus, to avert our eyes from an Alliance member’s peril. Sohwa should have done the same. Had she done so, she would not have drawn the Blood Cult bastards’ gaze.”As the Tang youth’s sharp words lengthened, no one stopped him.Listening to the surrounding silence, Tang Hae-han spoke in a calm tone.“Though we are an alliance formed to aid each other in hardship, we will not ask you to help. Merely allow us to confirm whether my younger sister was kidnapped by the Blood Cult bastards. We will find her ourselves!”Yet anger kept surging up in waves.“We will not expect any help from the Martial Alliance—”“Administrator.”The Taeguk Sword Sovereign cut off Tang Hae-han’s icy voice and called to the Administrator.Zhuge Inhwi’s gaze moved to the Taeguk Sword Sovereign.“Open the door.”“……”“When an Alliance member is in danger, it is not good to leave the impression that the Alliance Leader turns his back.”With his back to the door, Zhuge Inhwi turned his gaze forward again.He felt the weight of countless eyes upon him. Young men peeking their heads over the wall, older martial artists up on the wall quietly looking down at the situation. And the Plum Blossom Swordsman filling the passage with Wudang experts.The cynical mood grew heated.Whether in clans or sects, martial artists grow up with brothers or fellow disciples and form close affections. At times those bonds harden to the point they will lay down their lives.The plea of a cousin elder brother named Tang Hae-han stirred their hearts.If one’s brother or fellow disciple were in danger and Alliance members turned away.Those who were swept up in that earnestness and fear waited for the Alliance Leader’s answer.Still, all eyes were fixed on those quarters that remained silent.Zhuge Inhwi could retreat no further.If here he again cited regulations and replied that they should return, it could leave the impression that Headquarters did not care about the peril of Alliance members.It would plant a fundamental doubt about the very reason for Headquarters’ existence.Zhuge Inhwi was not a foolish man.He nodded and set his hand upon the door.And he released the formation that the Alliance Leader had taught only to him.Click.With the sound of metal unfastening, the heavy door opened.As the Tang Clan Head moved forward, Heukcheon Amgui spoke to him.“Clan Head.”When the Clan Head looked at him, Heukcheon Amgui spoke with a composed face.“When you see Sohwa, do not question her there. Bring her out here. Do not decide alone; hear everyone’s opinion.”Everyone’s opinion—he did not mean the Tang Clan’s.For the moment the Alliance members were taking the Tang Clan’s side, but those eyes could at any moment become blades aimed at the Tang.They had to show in front of everyone that a Blood Cultist had impersonated an Alliance member.Understanding that intent, the Tang Clan Head gave a small nod and entered the Alliance Leader’s quarters.The Alliance Leader’s quarters were such a small place that Zhuge Inhwi and the Tang Clan Head reached the pavilion at once. The Divine Physician, already outside because of the commotion, saw the Tang Clan Head and widened his eyes. Lady Tang standing beside him did the same.The Tang Clan Head flinched.For an instant he wondered if he truly had been mistaken.Tang Sohwa looked between the Clan Head and the Administrator and asked,“What is the matter?”But Zhuge Inhwi said nothing. At that silence, Tang Sohwa swiftly slid her gaze past him.“Father, what is it? It seems you came because of me. What is going on?”“……”“Father?”Tang Ji-ha’s jaw muscle twitched.Because it was Tang Sohwa’s voice.Yet he clenched his hand with force so as not to be shaken. His gaze slid to the Divine Physician standing at her side.“My thanks.”At that brief remark, the Divine Physician closed his eyes.Made uneasy by the silence, Tang Sohwa began to read the mood.“Um…”“Lady Tang.”Cutting her off, the Administrator spoke in a calm voice.“Please step outside for a moment.”“Pardon? Why?”Startled, Tang Sohwa asked back.“It’s all right; come out.”Tang Ji-ha spoke to Sohwa.But sensing that something was going strangely, Tang Sohwa shook her head.“No. I can’t leave the Alliance Leader right now. His condition is very—”“I will tend to the Alliance Leader, so please go.”When the Divine Physician added his word, Tang Sohwa had nothing to say.With a chilly face, the Tang Clan Head walked forward.“Ah, Father! I’ll go! I’ll go! Please let go of this! Ah, it hurts!”Startled out of her wits, Tang Sohwa cried out. The face of Tang Ji-ha, who dragged her out, was dark.The Tang party waiting outside widened their eyes when they saw the Clan Head and Tang Sohwa.Thock.Dropping her to the ground as if tossing her, the Tang Clan Head sighed and looked down at her.“Tell us with your own mouth who you are.”“F—Father, why are you doing this?”Shrinking under the countless eyes fixed on her, Tang Sohwa cowered. Soon clear water brimmed in her large eyes.“I’m scared. Please don’t do this.”She wiped her eyes with her sleeve and sobbed.Alliance members who did not know Tang Sohwa looked to the Tang faces. Shouldn’t someone stop this? It looked like the Tang Clan Head had the wrong idea and was bearing down on his daughter.But those who saw the Tang faces shut their mouths.Their faces had gone chalk-white.As if they had seen a ghost.Into the silence rang the voice of the Tang woman.“What did you hear that makes you doubt me? Hic, why won’t you believe what I say.”A voice that hurt the heart just to hear.Yet the Tang Clan Head’s gaze was cold.Tang Sohwa turned her gaze to Tang Hak and crawled on her knees.“Hak, stop Father for me. I’m so scared.”Tang Hak’s eyes reddened.This person was not his older sister.Tang Sohwa would never crawl on the ground and weep so piteously.She looked around in haste and wept.“It’s all a misunderstanding. I don’t know what you heard, but someone is slandering me, Father.”“……”“Huuu, don’t look at me like that. Is it that I—I have shamed your face, Father? Why are you doing this?”Tang Sohwa begged in a rush.Little by little, fear crept over the faces of the Tang members.What in the world was that.The exact same face and the exact same voice. How could anyone imitate a person so exactly.Perhaps changing plans to win the sympathy of Headquarters martial artists rather than the Tang, Tang Sohwa looked around and appealed.“Help me! Save me! Master Wu So! You gave me a boeun pae, did you not? You must help me— Aagh!”A throwing dagger lodged in the back of Tang Sohwa’s hand.Expressionless, the Tang Clan Head’s hand had shot forward.He looked down at the bleeding back of her hand and his own hidden weapon.“Huuu, it hurts. It hurts! Father, why are you doing this? Why won’t you even listen to me!”Silent, the Tang Clan Head listened to Tang Sohwa’s frantic flailing.The floor she braced herself on was soaked with blood.The wound on the back of her hand did not close and kept bleeding.“…You are not my daughter.”The Tang Clan Head’s gaze rose slowly to the Administrator standing at the doorway. He had not yet come outside; he stood within the Alliance Leader’s quarters.“Administrator, do you know this one’s identity? You are the one who gathers all information in the Central Plains; do you not know?”The Tang Clan Head addressed him not as Zhuge Inhwi but as the Administrator of the Four Divinations.Zhuge Inhwi kept looking at Tang Sohwa’s face.At last, the Administrator moved his steps.Step.Crossing the boundary of the quarters to come outside, the Administrator approached Tang Sohwa and set his hand upon her brow.Rip.As the skin that imitated human-skin peeled, an old man’s face was revealed.“Eek!”The flustered Blood Cultist clutched at the hole, but everyone present had already seen the bare face.“A Blood Cult bastard who sneaked into Martial Alliance Headquarters without a shred of fear, no doubt.”The Administrator’s chilly voice split the silence.“Where is Lady Tang right now?”

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.