The instant he finished speaking, Namgung Jin swung his sword behind him. The charging Blood fiend was cleaved in two once again.“Go on ahead. I’ll cover the rear.”“Thank you.”Knowing she was the burden, Sohwa turned without a word.At the boundary stood Namgung’s martial men. As Tang Sohwa was about to run, she faltered—because Namgung Hyun was there.Namgung Hyun’s gaze was fixed solely on her, as if the world around them did not exist.At that eerie sight, Sohwa momentarily forgot to flee.It was strange that he alone looked so disheveled, and his expression was even harder to read.“What are you standing there dazed for!”The Black Heaven Dark Ghost bellowed and hoisted her onto his back.Even as he ran, he didn’t forget to address Namgung Jin.“Well done.”“Go safely. I’ll guard the rear.”Namgung Jin showed that signature Namgung arrogance in his smile—one Tang Min always loathed. Yet since Jin had lent a hand, Tang Min did not mock the Young Clan Head this time.In an instant, they crossed the boundary.The others followed suit. The gate that could stay open barely half a gak still remained active, proof of how swiftly the situation had been wrapped up.But the Alliance Leader did not come through.“Alliance Leader!”Wu So shouted, but the Alliance Leader didn’t even glance toward the gate.He raged as if intent on slaughtering every last Blood Cultist.It didn’t suit a man who had declared that fleeing to the Central Plains took priority over standing and fighting.Sensing something wrong, Wu So shouted again.“You must come, Alliance Leader!”As the gate began to close, the Sagye Hall Administrator tried to rush back in. The Sword Sovereign, standing beside him, hastily grabbed his arm.“Wait!”Though even the Sword Sovereign was startled by the Alliance Leader’s strange behavior, he kept his voice calm to restrain the Administrator.“He must have a plan. Since he can open the gate, he’ll come through soon enough.”As soon as the Sword Sovereign finished speaking, silence fell.Even breathing felt sinful in the heavy stillness.But contrary to his reassurance, the gate remained unopened for a long time.***Sssshh.The Alliance Leader straightened his stance after cutting down the last Blood fiend.The rustling wild grass muffled the approach of the reaper’s presence.He waited with a calm face, as if accustomed to such pressure.Soon the wind stilled and the world went silent.Even the drop of a blood bead from a blade of grass felt loud.Tap.Though there should have been no shadows on the open plain, a long one stretched across the grass.A man as black as darkness curved his crimson lips.“So, a precious guest from the Central Plains has come.”The Blood Demon spoke as though he knew him, but the Alliance Leader knew the man had never seen his face. He had only memorized the Martial Alliance Leader’s features from the grim dossiers the cult had gathered.In the beginning, that knowledge had made him tense whenever the man spoke his name.Now, it all felt laughable.The Alliance Leader sighed.“You’ve changed little since the day I saw you on Mount Emei.”Seeing that ageless face, an old helplessness rose within him.The absolute evil before him was indeed a monster living eternally.“Mount Emei? How do you know I went there?”A glint appeared in the Blood Demon’s red eyes.The Alliance Leader understood what the Blood Demon was thinking—what he expected to hear next.Yet reading his mind brought him no sense of superiority.He exhaled, long and tired.“This time, the sorcerer has changed. It’s been long since Honggak was vacant, hasn’t it?”“So you’ve come to avenge the sorcerer I killed that day?”At the Blood Demon’s misconception, the Alliance Leader let out a hollow laugh.“No. I’ve no right to blame you for that. You obtained the sorcerer, but I was the one who took her life.”The first-life Cheong-ga had loathed this fiend, but as time went on, that loathing had taken root within himself instead.He had repeated sins rather than saving the girl imprisoned by demonic forces.He could not call it a mistake.He’d had hundreds of chances, yet each time he sacrificed her.He couldn’t even excuse it as being for the greater good.In the end, he abandoned the last life she had given him.Forgetting their countless battles, the Blood Demon asked,“Hm. I thought you were explaining why you came to see me before dying. How unexpected. I’ve seen so many like you.”To the Blood Demon, Cheong-ga was not special—just one among many who had turned back time and still failed to kill him.The Alliance Leader sheathed his sword.“You think you lost the master of Honggak by accident, but that wasn’t an accident.”The Blood Demon stepped closer.“Then why bring it up now?”Rustle.The sound of his black robe brushing the grass raised gooseflesh.The Blood Demon stopped, keeping distance between them. Curiosity flickered in him—for here stood another who knew the future.Just a few words had convinced him this man had returned through time.Living eternally, the Blood Demon must have met countless souls cursed for killing their sorcerers; recognizing another prisoner of that punishment was easy.It was fortunate for the Alliance Leader—his proposal had a chance to be heard.Gazing at the black figure so out of place on the green plains, he said,“I know you well. That’s why I thought you’d {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} never show yourself in the Central Plains.”His voice sank.“But it seems some variable arose. For you to cross over here…”His eyelids drooped slowly.“What did Tang Sohwa give you that made you willing to reveal yourself?”The Blood Demon looked at him through narrowed eyes.“You claim to know me well, yet you can’t even grasp that?”“I have a fair idea who the newly chosen sorcerer is. If you wish, I’ll find that person and send them to you. So return to Geumeunsan.”The Blood Demon chuckled.“Ah, yes. It’s only natural you’d think that. Sorcerers are coveted by all.”“……”“You don’t know how many have thrown their lives into torment searching for them. Or perhaps you do?”He goaded, but the Alliance Leader’s face remained calm.“But sadly, that one is no longer the most important to me.”The Blood Demon studied him, then parted his lips.“The sorcerers call what you suffer the punishment of the gods, but really, calling it punishment is overstating it. Don’t you find it rather entertaining, once you’ve lived it?”At that blasphemy, the Alliance Leader’s face chilled, yet the Blood Demon went on.“Even if you go back, you never live the same time twice, do you? Something always changes, and you learn something new.”His dark-red lips slanted in a smile.“It’s been ages, but I, too, remember my first taste of punishment. So I understand you acting like a sage who knows all things. Ah, it’s been long, hasn’t it? Facing someone so powerless and proud.”He raised his arm.From beneath the wide sleeve appeared a hand holding a small wooden case—no larger than to fit a coin or a pill.Tap.Snapping it shut, he said,“Shall I relieve the boredom of a contradictory man? I’m in quite a good mood today, so I’ll tell you something you never learned, Cheong-ga.”The Blood Demon lifted his gaze to the clear, cloudless sky.“They say the god of sorcerers looks down from the heavens, and the chosen sorcerer performs their gift upon the earth, earning love. For gods, time is divided according to that existence.”His dark-red eyes lowered slowly, reflecting the blood-soaked grass.“The time in which that existence lives is called the present. When the god withdraws affection, that time becomes the past.”In a gentle tone, he said,“When time is cut by the one beloved above all, can you imagine how great that love must be? Once affection fades, the god cares not for those of the past. If even one once loved is pushed back and forgotten, would the god remember a sinner of the past?”He smiled faintly.“The god only gives punishment, with devotion, to the sinner of the present.”The Blood Demon leaned close to him.“The sorcerers say sinners can never attain what they desire, to frighten people like us—but that’s not true. There is a way to be pardoned.”He lowered his voice as if revealing a secret.“When a new sorcerer appears, the punishment transfers to the new sinner.”The Alliance Leader’s gaze slid sideways.The Blood Demon, head tilted as though to press cheek to cheek, smiled at him.“Yes, Cheong-ga.”That revolting face, that chilling voice, crawled into his ears.“Your punishment is over. And so is mine.”The Blood Demon smiled brightly at the sight of the aged Alliance Leader.“I don’t know what you desired enough to repeat countless lives, but it’s truly pitiful. Had you not abandoned this one, you might have achieved it.”His joy was not from freedom—he already knew the rules of pardon, so there was nothing left to rejoice in.He was delighted simply by the sight of old Cheong-ga, who had wasted time not realizing his punishment had ended—mocking him with genuine glee.The Alliance Leader did not grow angry at his derision.If what the Blood Demon said was true, his wasted life was indeed regretful—but still, he did not draw his sword.His heart was no longer whole. Battle will, honor, passion, hope—all worn down, leaving a heart thin and brittle as a dead branch.Even if a chance had existed, he no longer had the will.As the Alliance Leader resigned easily, the Blood Demon clicked his tongue.“Tsk, tsk. You really are a pitiful human. Thanks to you, the expectations Tang Sohwa placed on the Central Plains have been halved.”The Alliance Leader asked quietly,“So you risk coming to the Central Plains because of Tang Sohwa?”The Blood Demon’s eyes curved.“Didn’t you say yourself you know me well? If someone more important to me than the Honggak sorcerer stands beyond that passage, what do you think I’d do?”The Alliance Leader exhaled a deep sigh.“There’s no need to cross over. I’ll send Tang Sohwa to you myself.”“Oh? Since when was that child yours to give?”The Blood Demon’s mocking voice brimmed with laughter—amusement at the offer.If he could receive Tang Sohwa quietly without stepping into the Central Plains, all the better.He would gain both the finest field and the perfect chef to prepare its yield.Lifting his heavy eyelids, the Alliance Leader met his gaze.“I intended to close my eyes for the last time in this life. So in this final life, I resolved to preserve the false peace you created for as long as I could.”“So you’ve given up fighting. Seems you never once defeated me, then. Your eyes are full of helplessness.”The Blood Demon straightened.“I don’t dislike people like you. There are plenty in the world who kneel before those they can’t defeat—you’re hardly special.”The Alliance Leader stayed calm under his sneer.Having turned through time so long, he would not be shaken by words scratching pride.He made an offer.“If you don’t pursue us, I’ll ensure your existence is erased from the Central Plains—and send Tang Sohwa to you.”The Blood Demon glanced at his wooden case, feigning disinterest.“Well now, you people have already seen Geumeunsan. You know I exist. Do you plan to kill those outside the gate yourself and then return to headquarters?”He frowned up at him.“Then you’ll become the Martial Alliance’s public enemy. Struggling to save your own neck, how will you help me?”“They won’t remember Geumeunsan.”The Alliance Leader’s tone was flat.“Oseok exists in the Central Plains as well. You’re not the only ones who can tamper with minds.”The Blood Demon stalled, pretending to ponder, but the Alliance Leader did not play along.“You don’t even know what Tang Sohwa has, yet you’d throw away the time you’ve invested in the Central Plains?”The fiend, ever bored, sought to savor the fleeting thrill of holding the upper hand.He often spoke absurdities just to scrape others’ patience—but the Alliance Leader was long used to that.His cold voice cut to reality.“If we’re annihilated, as you say, the Central Plains will still hunt you. Everyone will speak your name. You don’t have enough Oseoksan to poison the entire land, so you can’t stop the rumors.”He let out a hollow laugh.“When the Blood Demon becomes the Martial World’s public enemy, that’ll be worth seeing. Every strong one will seek to face you. Before you can fulfill your obscene dream of filling your body with perfect qi, the martial world will be gone.”Suppressing his anger, the Alliance Leader added evenly,“You’ll end up salvaging only the feeble mold of scraps like Zhuge Clan Head, who already submitted to you. Fine. Not a bad punishment. Failing to complete your grotesque ambition will be its own revenge.”The Blood Demon did not look displeased.Rather, he smiled.“So it’s true—you really do know me well.”“……”“If you’d begged for my trust, I’d have killed you without hesitation. But fortunately, you’ve steadied my reason instead.”The fiend laughed, praising him.“Yes. It seems I got a little excited on the day I finally fulfilled my long desire.”Acknowledging his own lapse, the Blood Demon chuckled.Tap.He tossed the empty wooden case in his hand toward the Alliance Leader.When the Alliance Leader caught it, the Blood Demon said warmly,“Tell Tang Sohwa this: I’ve forgiven everything. That she only needs to come—with her body alone. I’ll give her not merely the finest room, but all of Honggak itself.”Still smiling in satisfaction, the Blood Demon looked at the case, then turned away.Sound returned; the Blood fiends that had been hiding burst out to cover his back. They must have erected a barrier, closing their ears.The Red Blood Hall Lord, who had been waiting on the ridge, moved between them to form a defensive line.But for all his swift movement, the Alliance Leader did nothing.He simply watched the Blood fiends’ retreat for a long while.Only when the Blood Demon’s presence had vanished completely, and the Blood fiends blocking him were gone from sight, did he finally turn toward the passage.Each step was heavy.He told himself some sacrifice was better than total annihilation, but the weight did not lift.Rustle.The pooled blood among the grass reflected his face.A visage lined deep with the marks of wasted years.Clink.The old man sank to his knees upon the bloody water and wept quietly. The sound, too soft for any to hear, was swallowed by the rustling of the grass.

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