Southern Shandong Province, Mount Meng—Yacha Valley.

Inside the Gate Lord’s chamber of the Yacha Blood Gate.

A martial artist in a bright-red uniform was reporting defeat to the Gate Lord of the Yacha Blood Gate, Sa Heegwang the Blood Yacha.

A horrific defeat.

“Ju Heung-a is dead?”

Sa Heegwang stared down at his subordinate with a look like he couldn’t believe it.

Dead?

A martial artist who had reached the threshold of Transcendent Apex?

And it wasn’t even a head-on fight—it was a hit-and-run engagement.

“Yes. He has passed away.”

“Who killed him, exactly?”

“That is…”

The martial artist’s eyes darted around.

To hesitate this much in a report.

Who in the world had shown up to make him act like this?

“Did the Sword Sovereign come down here or something?”

“No… if anything, it’s the opposite…”

“The opposite?”

A master who could kill that bastard Ju Heung-a in Shandong—

There weren’t many.

Maybe the head of the Shandong Ak Family, or the head of the Hwangbo Household, would be able to claim victory with confidence.

If it wasn’t them…

There were no Nine Great Sects here, and no Five Great Households either.

And neither Hwangbo nor Ak even counted among the Five Great Households.

“An underage girl from Mount Hua…”

“…A girl? And underage?”

He’d heard of it.

That Mount Hua had sent three young Third Generation disciples to visit the Ak Family.

He hadn’t cared.

Sa Heegwang was a man who didn’t even care about the Alliance’s One-Under-Heaven Corps.

Because the Sura Unit had the Sword Ghost—disciple of the Sword Demon.

They would kill everyone and wipe it all out on their own.

That was why he never imagined he’d lose his right arm.

Night Ghost Ju Heung-a had been with him for twenty years.

A relationship built on absolute hierarchy—yet also on loyalty that could not be replaced.

And because of that, Sa Heegwang knew Ju Heung-a’s skill better than anyone.

The threshold of Transcendent Apex.

And a martial art that had reached a rising realm with help from the Demonic Cult—like the Yacha Blood Ghost Spear.

The Crimson Shadow Saber Canon was a martial art that could draw Sword Qi and launch it.

“Yes… We gathered intelligence, and it wasn’t ordinary.”

“A girl from the Nine Great Sects wouldn’t be ordinary. No—still, that doesn’t make sense.”

No matter how talented she was.

Ju Heung-a was a master of the unorthodox world—one with a name even among the demonic factions.

From the difference in years alone, to the difference in killing experience.

And the moment it stopped being a match and became a blood fight, the advantage was overwhelmingly his.

Could it be she wasn’t actually Third Generation?

He hadn’t heard that Mount Hua had a woman among the Second Generation disciples, but…

“…Was she really a Third Generation disciple?”

“She’s fourteen, so yes. For sure.”

“Insane.”

That settled it.

There was no way a fourteen-year-old Second Generation disciple existed.

She had to be Third Generation.

But…

At fourteen, she killed someone?

And not just anyone—a master at the threshold of Transcendent Apex?

It wasn’t easy to kill even a peasant farmer.

That was what a first kill was like.

To cut off a human life—

To watch the final will of their existence keep twitching…

Someone always ended up running off to vomit.

But in this peaceful world—

A precious Third Generation disciple of the Nine Great Sects, someone who would rarely ever stain her blade with blood unless something truly extreme happened…

Killed a person?

And not just a person—a master of the unorthodox path who spat killing intent in thick strands?

“Dig deeper. Find out what that girl is.”

“As it happens, there’s a rumor going around lately—from Shaanxi.”

“A rumor?”

“That a small Third Generation girl defeated the young head of the Namgung Household…”

There was no way it was a baseless rumor.

The Namgung Household was involved.

A rumor tied to the young head—the future of the household?

If it were idle talk, every tongue involved would have already been cut out.

“The Namgung young head? The one who reached Apex?”

“Yes. They say she defeated him quite easily…”

She beat the Namgung young head—who used the Boundless Azure Sky Sword and the Emperor’s Sword Form—easily.

And she killed Night Ghost Ju Heung-a, the user of the Crimson Shadow Saber Canon, a rising saber art.

There was only one conclusion.

“…A girl who hasn’t even come of age is already Transcendent Apex.”

*****

The departure was delayed by a day.

Soyak sat on the same stone pillar base where she’d been attacked last night.

Bathed in the same moonlight.

Cheonjeong had been called away by the elders of the Ak Family.

Because Soyak had proven the truth herself.

She had cut down the commander of the Blood Sword Unit—the Yacha Blood Gate’s armed force.

And almost entirely on her own.

At the end, the Family Head had impaled the fleeing bastard and pinned him in place, but…

From the fact that they had “routed” them, there was nothing more to say.

If he hadn’t retreated?

If it hadn’t been just an intrusion to ruin the Ak Family’s rest, but an all-out offensive—

At the moment it became life-or-death, Soyak would already have severed his throat.

The Roaming Pillar Journey was Soyak’s path.

But she couldn’t avoid speaking with her Head Senior, the one traveling with her and leading her.

She would explain their circumstances to Cheonjeong and ask for his understanding.

Understanding for pushing her into a more dangerous place.

Because he would use her not as a child, but as a swordswoman.

That was why today, Cheongak was the one watching over Soyak.

Soyak was still staring blankly at the moon.

Cold, cool moonlight touched her small, straight nose and shattered.

Even in her pitch-black eyes that let in no light—

For this moment, a radiance fractured and scattered.

She was wearing clothes that Ak Hyenan—the Family Head’s second daughter—had worn when she was little.

Because the Mount Hua uniform she’d come in hadn’t fully dried yet.

Maybe because of that…

Cheongak realized anew how slender his junior sister disciple was.

“…Hey. What are you doing? Enjoying the moonlight?”

“Something like that.”

“Mind if I join?”

“Sit here.”

Soyak shifted over a little.

The stone base was broad, so even with two people it wasn’t too cramped.

And Soyak was small, too.

After about the time it took to drink a cup of tea—

Soyak finally couldn’t hold it in and shot Cheongak a look.

“You said you were enjoying the moonlight. Why are you looking at me?”

“Because you’re weird.”

“…Now, all of a sudden?”

Cheongak snorted a laugh.

It was weird, sure.

How did someone that small swing a sword like that?

With those tiny hands—how…

But there was something even stranger.

The power in Soyak’s unwavering mind—pressing down on what she’d been born as.

“I heard something.”

“I’m listening.”

“They say the Heavenly Killing Star is a star only a Heavenly Demon is born under.”

Heavenly Demon.

For reasons she couldn’t explain, Soyak thought of the black snake in her mindscape.

That place should have been her world alone.

But the inborn essence of the Heavenly Killing Star had invaded even that.

It wasn’t a fantasy.

Not a delusion.

Not imagination.

It was called a mindscape, but because the black qilin and her internal energy existed there, that world itself…

“…Heavenly Demon.”

“No—hey. I’m not saying you’re going to become a Heavenly Demon or anything.”

“I know. That’s not what you meant.”

Soyak’s voice softened.

But her black eyes held a sadness she couldn’t hide.

She stared at the ground where moonlight fell and broke apart.

A Heavenly Demon was chosen.

Chosen by what?

By something—something silent—out there between stars, in that boundless, vast cosmos.

If an existence had achieved law and the Way to that degree—

You’d think it would treat people with virtue and benevolence.

So why did it scatter demonic energy, create Heavenly Demons, and throw the world into chaos?

The Way rises, the demon flourishes.

They said the higher one’s cultivation, the more the demon boils up.

Was that what this meant?

Maybe…

“Soyak. Soyak? What are you thinking about again, all by yourself?”

“Ah.”

Cheongak hauled Soyak out of the thoughts she was sinking into.

A palm waving right in front of her eyes.

Only then did Soyak smile faintly.

“What were you thinking about?”

“Just… what if I really am the foundation for a Heavenly Demon…”

“That kind of crap? Then don’t do it.”

Soyak quietly looked up at him.

The innocent boy shrugged.

Then he spoke like he was refusing fate with his whole chest.

“If you don’t want to do it, then don’t. That’s it.”

“…Is it that simple?”

“You’re already screwing over the star you were born under just fine.”

Cheongak snickered and stood up from the stone base.

Then he crouched down and looked at Soyak.

“Head Senior… have you ever fallen into that state where you forget yourself?”

“Sure. Me too. Two, three times?”

“Have you ever looked into your own mindscape?”

Mindscape.

A world unique to each martial artist.

A landscape of the mind that reflected their soul and inner self.

“Yeah.”

If you reached First-Rate, everyone contemplated it at least once.

Sword resonance, Sword Light, Sword Qi, Sword Force…

All of it took its root from the mindscape.

“In there… I met the Heavenly Killing Star.”

“You met a star?”

“…It had a presence you could call a star. It looked like a black snake.”

Yes.

A star.

That black snake was a star in and of itself.

A star that had descended to the earth.

There was no other way to explain that overwhelming presence.

“So?”

“My power was weak, and the snake told me its name.”

“A name… You remember?”

“…I don’t.”

“Then forget it.”

“…What?”

Cheongak shrugged.

He grinned, full of mischief, then pressed down on Soyak’s nose with a finger.

“Must not be important. Forget it. There’s something else that matters to you right now, isn’t there?”

“…Ah.”

He meant: pay attention to what was in front of her.

Soyak nodded.

What she carried.

What had come to her.

Those were problems she could deal with later.

What mattered right now was—

“Get some sleep, and we’ll see each other tomorrow. Got it?”

“Yes, Head Senior.”

Crushing the malice of the Sura Unit and the Yacha Blood Gate that surrounded the Shandong Ak Family.

Helping Ak Taegyu with the revenge she had promised to support.

And…

Because it was her revenge, too.

Chapter 82

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