Red Eyes
Though he had followed his master, Neng Huayun, into the Tang Clan, Seojin-yul could not settle his heart.
It bothered him that he had bullied people at the inn in Ohwahae while hiding his identity.
What could possibly have been written in that letter that they had hurried to the Tang Clan without properly informing the main sect?
His confusion lasted only a moment. The words that fell from his master’s mouth made Seojin-yul’s eyes fly wide open.
"The granddaughter of the martial world criminal Im Yuguang, and the last surviving descendant of the Im family! Im Cheongwol, reveal yourself at once!"
Im Yuguang was the one who had secretly practiced forbidden arts, been discovered, and then slaughtered countless righteous martial artists before fleeing beyond the borders.
To search for the heir of such a man within the Tang Clan was little different from insulting them gravely.
Even if relations between his own clan and the Tang Clan were poor, surely his master had not gone to such lengths for the sake of insult alone.
Just as he was struggling to keep calm, a woman stepped forward before his master.
"I hear someone is looking for Im Cheongwol, last descendant of the Im family, granddaughter of Im Yuguang."
To his shock, the woman who openly declared herself an heir of the Im family did not look unfamiliar.
The same righteous martial artist from Ohwahae—the one who had subdued him so effortlessly despite everything he had poured into his strongest techniques.
Because of her, he had checked his arrogance and kindled his desire for martial study once more, and yet she had been the heir of a martial world criminal all along.
Seojin-yul bit hard into the inside of his cheek, his feelings in turmoil.
Though one could not blame a newborn for the sins of her kin, she might still have learned forbidden arts, and the Murim Alliance would never stand idle if that were true.
He had just begun to turn his head away in pity when a thunderous crash rang through the hall of the family head.
---
The aura of the Emperor Sword Form pressed heavily upon her body, but the reason her palm strike, aimed at ending Neng Huayun’s life, had halted was something else entirely.
"What... did you say?"
Cheongwol’s eyes shook violently as she glared at Namgung Cheon, who was approaching her.
She could not understand what that man was spouting—this enemy who had destroyed the Im family and cut down her grandfather.
"Neng Huayun. I trust you also know of the tragedy that befell my family."
Namgung Cheon looked at Cheongwol for a moment, then turned his head away.
"An event brought about by none other than you."
The sharp killing intent pricked at her skin. Neng Huayun gasped roughly and spat out blood.
"I do find that event lamentable, but what does it have to do with that witch?"
The pressure of the Emperor Sword Form bore down even harder on Neng Huayun’s shoulder.
"Choose your words carefully. Call my family’s heir a witch one more time, and I’ll take it as an insult and hold you to account."
Straining with all his might to push back Namgung Cheon’s aura, Neng Huayun forced his twisted mouth open.
"Have you truly lost your mind? How could that person be the Namgung Clan’s—"
His voice, rising as if in outrage, slowly lost its force.
The day Namgung Cheon’s wife—the Tang Clan’s eldest daughter—had died at Im Yuguang’s hands. The child whom the Beggar Sect had searched for all around the area, yet never found a body for.
They had surely believed the child had been killed by Im Yuguang somewhere and devoured by wild beasts.
"...I can’t believe it. How on earth..."
Neng Huayun lowered his head and muttered under his breath, but Namgung Cheon had already withdrawn his gaze.
"Take your master and leave."
Seojin-yul knew the words were meant for him without needing to ask, and gave a slight nod.
"Yes, sir."
He slid his hands beneath Neng Huayun’s armpits to support him, just as if he were trying to help him stand—but then.
"Explain what you mean!"
A chill so cold it seemed to freeze even the soul swept over them together with the woman’s cry.
---
Her hair, once as dark as the night sky, had turned white as snow piled in the northern seas, and the pupils that had gleamed amber were now dyed a brilliant, savage red.
"...Miss Cheongwol."
Ak Seo-ah started forward at once, but Yeon Mukseol, who had been watching from somewhere nearby, caught her shoulder.
"Stay still. If you don’t want to die."
Then he clicked his tongue and glanced back and forth between Namgung Cheon and Dang Hyeongeuk.
"I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this."
His tone suggested he knew something, and Seomun Hwi hurriedly opened his mouth.
"What in the world is going on? Why is Cheongwol...?"
"Old man. Keep the kids from getting involved."
Ignoring Seomun Hwi’s question, Yeon Mukseol gave the order to Jeok Hanseong, who had already revealed himself.
"Can you manage it?"
"No idea. But seeing as she’s opened her eyes, it doesn’t look like she’s been swallowed completely yet."
"If she had been, our heads would already be rolling on the floor."
At Jeok Hanseong’s vicious remark—half joke, half dead serious—Yeon Mukseol let out a snort.
"If you think it’s hopeless, then run. Someone has to tell Father."
Jeok Hanseong scoffed and lifted one corner of his mouth.
"There’s the Beggar Sect’s Six Elders, isn’t there? They’ll know what to do. They’re faster at running than anyone."
"I keep telling you not to talk like that, but you just won’t stop. I’m telling Father on you."
"Go ahead and tell him, you brat. I’ve spent my old age cleaning up after you, and that’s what you say?"
While the two traded meaningless banter, Hong Chilsong instinctively shoved Dang Gangjin, Dang Sohye, and Ak Seo-ah behind him.
"If anything happens, I’ll buy you some space. Don’t look back—just get out of here."
And yet Dang Gangjin and Dang Sohye still held themselves like true warriors of the Tang Clan.
"I am the Tang Clan’s young clan leader. I can’t leave the family head behind and go first."
"This is my home. And didn’t you hear what Divine Doctor said? If anyone has to leave, it should be the old man."
Their voices were so solemn it was as if they were standing before a mortal enemy, and Ak Seo-ah could not understand them.
Even if her appearance had changed, that was unmistakably Cheongwol standing there. Why were they speaking like this?
She had just been about to protest and ask what on earth everyone was doing when Yeon Mukseol drew his sword and hurled himself at Cheongwol.
Startled, Seomun Hwi and Ak Seo-ah twitched as though they might leap forward at any second, but the sight that followed left both of them frozen in place.
-Crash!
Yeon Mukseol’s sword was a chaotic wild swing that could hardly be called a proper form, and that was precisely why it was so free, unbound by restraint.
And yet Cheongwol caught it between her index and middle fingers as though it were nothing at all.
The force was enough to make the air itself ring with impact, so the shock should have been enormous.
"Are you all just going to stand there and watch?"
When the trapped sword would not budge no matter how much force he used, Yeon Mukseol shouted toward Namgung Cheon and Dang Hyeongeuk, as if making sure they heard.
Dang Hyeongeuk clenched his teeth so hard it seemed they might shatter and drew the White Dragon Whip, but Namgung Cheon could not move.
How could he raise a sword against the child he had only just found again after more than twenty years?
In the end, only Dang Hyeongeuk and Yeon Mukseol faced the Cheongwol who seemed to have become someone else entirely.
"Don’t hold back—break something! As long as she keeps breathing, our old doctor will patch her up again, won’t he!"
Yeon Mukseol narrowly dodged Cheongwol’s hand as it flew toward him, then shouted in panic.
"And yet you still say that while seeing her like this!"
Dang Hyeongeuk swung the White Dragon Whip with all his strength, and unless it was a ten-thousand-year black iron, even metal should have been unable to withstand it.
But Cheongwol brushed it aside with a single motion of her hand, and Dang Hyeongeuk had no answer for her either.
As the situation grew more serious by the second, Hong Chilsong also drew up his internal energy.
He did not know who that young man was, but from the martial prowess he had just displayed, he would not be inferior to himself.
And yet even with that young man and Dang Hyeongeuk joining forces, the momentum was gradually shifting toward Cheongwol.
Im Cheongwol.
No wonder she had given off an aura so reminiscent of his old friend Im Yuguang.
The last surviving descendant of the Im family.
And the Namgung Clan’s heir.
Once this was over, he would dig into the truth until he knew every last detail.
"Hah..."
The moment Hong Chilsong’s toes left the ground, a faint tremor rose from the depths of the earth.
Dust surged up all at once, and the energy dispersed along his arms began gathering together.
Dragon Subduing Eighteen Palms.
The Beggar Sect’s secret ultimate technique, passed down only to the sect leader and the future leader, crashed down beneath the Tang Clan’s sky like a bolt of lightning.
-Boom!
The first palm burst forth, and a roar like a dragon’s cry split the air.
"That mad old bastard!"
Yeon Mukseol, who had narrowly escaped being caught in the blast, spat out a curse.
Dang Hyeongeuk, too, shouted at Hong Chilsong with a stunned expression.
"Show some restraint! That girl is...!"
Despite Dang Hyeongeuk’s words, Hong Chilsong’s palms continued to fall toward Cheongwol in rapid succession.
The second, the third, the fourth.
Dust and debris shot up from the ground, and the reverberation of a dragon’s roar filled the air.
When the eighteenth palm at last came to an end, the Tang Clan’s hall of the family head, which had never once permitted an intruder, looked as though heaven and earth had been overturned.
"Huff... huff..."
Hong Chilsong descended from the air, breathing hard, and looked through the cloud of dust he himself had raised.
Why had he not shown restraint?
The reason was simple.
At the very moment he had first struck Cheongwol with his palm, he had met her red eyes.
And now.
Those frightening red eyes were piercing him once again.
-Thud
"Elder!"
With a cry of shock, Dang Gangjin stared at Hong Chilsong’s arm lying broken on the ground.