Shin Gang looked at this letter and became certain.

Seol Unhwi was already looking ahead and acting two moves—no, at least three moves or more—in advance.

‘Master (Mukse Society), you lost the battle of calculation.’

When no one else thought it was the critical moment, only two people thought it was the critical moment.

This was not a story about whose will was more correct.

It was a matter of timing, and a matter of proof.

Seol Unhwi had read it, and Master (Mukse Society) had not.

That was the only difference.

This letter from Master (Mukse Society) could not move Shin Gang.

Shin Gang was favorable to the reconstruction of the Thousand-Year Demon Cult, but there was something more important than that.

Cheonrim? To put it bluntly, organizations that could both make money and secure intelligence power were not rare.

It was extremely useful, and he had acted as its lord, but in the larger view it was ultimately an obstacle.

Shin Gang’s true objective was his own resurrection.

He was tired of acting under the name Yeon Songbaek.

Whether Seol Unhwi had the will to reconstruct the Thousand-Year Demon Cult or not, with a figure of that caliber, it was right to attach himself no matter what Seol Unhwi chose to do.

And the Preceptor would judge that now was the critical moment, too?

Ridiculous.

The fact that the Preceptor was remaining silent meant he was being told to judge of his own accord.

Seol Unhwi had presented Shin Gang with what he wanted most.

A “promise” in the true sense of the word.

Not trash like this letter.

Shin Gang, who had halted his steps, lifted his gaze to the eaves of the Sect Master’s Hall.

The seat where he had sat for twenty years under the name Yeon Songbaek—now, he would be able to sit there proudly under his true name, Shin Gang.

“Sect Master.”

Sang Jiheok’s voice came from behind.

“How did the matter in Calmheart County turn out?”

“It was resolved well. I can’t even remember how long it’s been since I ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) had a conversation this productive in my life. And….”

Shin Gang trailed off and handed the letter in his hand to Sang Jiheok.

“Take that to Seol Unhwi, who will be in Calmheart County.”

Sang Jiheok opened his eyes wide and asked carefully.

“Is it not possible he may return to the Heavenly Alliance?”

Shin Gang smiled as he spoke.

“He will still be in Calmheart County.”

Sang Jiheok was still doubtful.

From Seol Unhwi’s perspective, his business in Calmheart County was finished, so shouldn’t he return to the Alliance now?

As that doubt lingered near Sang Jiheok’s ear, Shin Gang’s voice came again.

“I didn’t know either.”

“Yes?”

“The value of the man named Seol Unhwi.”

Sang Jiheok closed his mouth. Shin Gang’s expression was not ordinary. It was an extremely complicated emotion—admiration mixed with wariness.

“The reason he came to Calmheart County was not because of meeting me.”

“Then….”

“Justification, and evidence.”

Shin Gang said to Sang Jiheok, who was blinking.

“He is demanding it from me right now. Evidence.”

“Then could it be that this letter….”

He had written a blood oath letter, but that was not Seol Unhwi’s true objective. Someone like Shin Gang could see that.

What Seol Unhwi truly wanted was something more certain.

Evidence to pressure the idiot playing mask games—evidence that would let Seol Unhwi kill him with full legitimacy.

In this moment, that idiot would have thought he was acting ahead of Seol Unhwi, but he was wrong.

Seol Unhwi was further ahead.

Shin Gang clasped his hands behind his back and looked up at the sky.

Clouds were flowing fast.

“Prepare it. From now on, I will run the sect under the Shin name, not the Yeon name.”

Sang Jiheok bowed his head deeply.

***

Seol Unhwi, who had been circulating his qi inside Calmheart Tower as usual, slowly opened his eyes.

There was no one around.

No—rather, that was only how it looked.

Seol Unhwi gave a small smile.

“It’s been a while.”

From the opposite side, from a shaded place, laughter sounded.

“I always feel it, but you really are ghostlike.”

A bald man.

He was Thousand-Li Divine Tree Hyunsim, the head of the White Spirit Guard of the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Palace.

He performed a respectful fist-and-palm salute.

“Have you been well, Hyun Seollin?”

“Yes. I have been safe, as always.”

Hyunsim quietly looked at Seol Unhwi.

What should he even say?

Because of what had happened at the summit of the snowy mountain, he had learned Seol Unhwi’s past.

But even so, this truly made no sense.

The Triple Profound Realm.

“You even created a new realm… are you all right?”

“Do I look sick?”

“On the outside you look perfectly fine, but what if you just don’t know? Truly… even just the rumors reaching us are far from ordinary.”

Seol Unhwi shrugged.

“And rather than me, the Palace Lord is worrying more.”

“The Palace Lord has always been busy with both public and private affairs, so of course his worries will be many. Still, I firmly believe he will handle it well.”

At Seol Unhwi’s words, Hyunsim scratched his head.

“That’s… these days, even I don’t really know.”

After saying that, Hyunsim sat facing Seol Unhwi.

Seol Unhwi tilted his head.

“May I ask what you mean.”

To Seol Unhwi’s eyes, Hyunsim’s attitude was clearly different from usual. What in the world was the problem?

“The Palace Lord believes you will return to the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Palace.”

Seol Unhwi smiled.

“You can speak without hesitation.”

“…Understood. The Palace Lord firmly believes you will certainly return to the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Palace.”

It was a matter of consideration.

Hyunsim did not want to burden him, and yet he also wanted to convey the same meaning—Seol Unhwi felt that intent clearly.

“Then the reason you came here is….”

“The Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Palace has been stabilizing, and the Palace Lord ordered me to deliver directly what has happened recently.”

“And you were also curious about my intentions.”

“…Yes.”

From Hyunsim’s view, Seol Unhwi was truly doing well right now.

Setting aside how he came to the Heavenly Alliance—who was the master of the Heavenly Alliance now?

They called it Mae Wuidong, but in practical terms Seol Unhwi was driving everything.

It was not Mae Wuidong’s Heavenly Alliance, but Seol Unhwi’s Heavenly Alliance.

In this situation, was it really right to say, Come back to the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Palace, the Chief Commander seat under the Yang Spirit Lord is still being kept empty?

Did he even need to return to the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Palace?

It was ambiguous—yet strangely, Seol Unhwi seemed to have anticipated this.

“I will tell you clearly.”

“…I will listen.”

“I have no intention of burying my bones in the Heavenly Alliance.”

“…Mm….”

“When I first came to the Heavenly Alliance, I told Senior No of the Yang Spirit Lord this. That I would not return within at least one year.”

Hyunsim’s eyes lit up.

“That one year matters. Around the one-year mark, I will return to the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Palace. Because I am a person of the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Palace.”

Hyunsim’s expression brightened, and a gentle smile formed at Seol Unhwi’s lips as well.

“More than that, I think I have a great deal to hear.”

“Haha, yes. Recently, a great many things have happened in the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Palace. Especially what the Polar Descendants have been doing in the north, and what the Palace Lord has been doing—I will tell you everything while I’m here.”

The two men’s conversation continued for several double-hours.

No matter how the Heavenly Alliance’s affairs proceeded,

Seol Unhwi was not the type to abandon what he was doing and run away.

There were things he intended to do.

A structure, placements being stacked, talent being put into position.

That work was not finished yet.

When that work was finished, then he would return.

To where he ought to be.

***

Seol Unhwi smiled faintly.

Han Murin, who had been looking at the high-grade letter in Seol Unhwi’s hand, asked.

“Is that a letter that came from the sect master of the Ihwa Sword Heaven Sect?”

“Do you want to see it once.”

Han Murin had not intended to, but Seol Unhwi handed it over, and in the end he unfolded the letter.

The more he read, the more his expression hardened.

“…Chief Commander… this….”

There was nothing new about it.

It could be summed up in one line: an assassination request.

“…If Master (Mukse Society) is trying to kill you right now…”

“We cut it off.”

“…”

“Master (Mukse Society)—his method has always been covert until now. He plants circumstance upon circumstance, and at the decisive moment he explodes everything at once. When I came to Calmheart County, he would have thought it was an opportunity.”

“But you were a step ahead, Chief Commander.”

“A step ahead.”

No matter who looked, Master (Mukse Society) had made a fatal mistake.

Sending this letter to Yeon Songbaek made his intent unmistakably clear—he meant to kill Seol Unhwi.

But Yeon Songbaek had chosen to take Seol Unhwi’s hand and cast aside Mukse Society’s hand.

If Seol Unhwi had not known the location of the Heaven-Extreme Sword, the divine relic of the Ihwa Sword Heaven Sect—and if Seol Unhwi had not known Yeon Songbaek’s secret—none of this could have held.

Master (Mukse Society) had believed Yeon Songbaek’s secret would have been airtight, and in truth it had been airtight.

Those who knew that secret numbered six in total.

And those six did not tell that truth to the subordinates they employed.

Because a secret only has meaning while it is held.

One by one, the six died, and now three remained.

Ihwa Sword Heaven Sect’s Grand Elder Sang Jiheok, the Original Blood Cult’s Vice Cult Master Yu Cheong.

And Master (Mukse Society).

“…I think I’ve got a sense of it.”

Seol Unhwi smiled and asked.

“Summarize it briefly.”

This, too, was instruction, and Han Murin watched Seol Unhwi from close by. The situation was complex, but conditions had been given such that he could not fail to notice.

“…Those who knew Yeon Songbaek’s secret kept coming in order to kill you, Chief Commander, and you killed them.”

“That’s right.”

“But if they begged for mercy and said they would confess the sect master’s secret, there could have been cases like that—yet not once did it happen.”

It could not happen. Seol Unhwi killed them without mercy.

He did not give them time to beg.

But seen another way, it could also be said he had no choice but to do that.

Even if they begged, Seol Unhwi and Han Murin were not the only ones there.

Han Murin swallowed.

On his chest was a small Twilight Case. And inside it was a Cheonrim Five Poisons Array that Seol Unhwi had secretly handed him.

Why had he given him this?

Seol Unhwi had said it: Trust no one around you, and if something happens, use this.

Han Murin’s gaze went to Wei Tianhu, who was re-forming the ranks in the distance.

A Mythic Stage martial artist.

He did not look like a man who would act alone, but no one knew what he might do if something happened.

No one knew that Seol Unhwi had known Yeon Songbaek’s secret from the beginning.

Preventing a situation where it would become known.

That was the most important thing—and if Han Murin’s hypothesis was right, it was fitting perfectly now.

If things had flowed naturally, Seol Unhwi would have died here without knowing anything.

There was only one thing all of this meant.

“…Chief Commander. Then right now….”

Seol Unhwi shook his head.

“That’s far enough.”

Han Murin had already realized everything.

To him as he closed his mouth, Seol Unhwi said.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep