Chapter 225
Chapter 225. The Help Thus Far
Late at night, bird calls could occasionally be heard in the headquarters, which ought to have been quiet.
Though the chaos had been triggered by her own actions, So-hwa could not gather the scattered Blood Sect members into a single direction.
Normally, she would have waited until she fully understood the situation, but now So-hwa ran until her breath caught in her throat. She was so frantic that she resented a body incapable of learning qinggong.
A dark hall came into view.
The scent of pine resin tickled her nose, making her stomach churn.
Her shallow breaths and racing heart reacted sharply to the smell.
Swallowing back the urge to retch, So-hwa asked the martial artist standing at the door,
"I am Tang So-hwa of the Tang Clan. I've come to see Young Master Namgung Hyun."
The martial artist shone his torch on her face, then hurriedly opened the door.
"He instructed us that if Young LadyTang came, we were to guide her directly to his room."
The speaker's lips curved in a peculiar way. It seemed teasing, but So-hwa did not react and followed where he led.
Since it was not early, the Namgung residence was quiet. Everyone seemed to be asleep.
Yet the guard did not think to wake Namgung Hyun in advance and instead went straight up to his room, as if he knew that Namgung Hyun did not sleep at this hour.
Among the many rooms lining the corridor, there was only one where the light had not gone out.
'What is he doing again.......'
Unease and suspicion had already taken root in her heart.
So-hwa barely managed to smooth the crease etched between her brows. Fortunately, just as she composed her expression, the door opened.
Creaak.
Perhaps sensing their presence, Namgung Hyun opened the door first and looked at them with surprised eyes.
"You told us that if a guest came, we were to guide them straight to your room......."
"Well done."
Namgung Hyun hurriedly cut off the martial artist's words, as if wary of sounds carrying nearby.
Noticing that, the gatekeeper clasped his hands in acknowledgment and immediately withdrew. As he left, he cast a lewd sideways glance at So-hwa. Judging by the atmosphere, he seemed to think she had come for a tryst.
However, Namgung Hyun knew full well that So-hwa had not come stirred by romantic longing.
He silently opened the door a little wider.
Understanding that he meant to talk inside, So-hwa stepped closer to Namgung Hyun.
As the door closed, the peaceful chirping of birds abruptly ceased.
"What brings you here?"
"You were right, young warrior. The Blood Demon has sent the Demonic Sect's vessel to the Tang Clan."
"The Demonic Sect?"
Namgung Hyun asked back as if he could not believe it. His neat eyebrows drew together, then spread apart again.
"...... That can't be. As far as I know, it's not yet time for the Demonic Sect to cross over."
Namgung Hyun searched through his memories.
"The Demonic Sect's vessel is an armed force that the Blood Demon created to present as enemies. The Blood Sect members who crossed into the Central Plains haven't firmly established themselves yet, so there's no reason to weed out expendable people or reorganize their forces."
He noticed that So-hwa's expression was strange and added, as if to prove his point,
"The Main Blood Hall Lord hasn't even taken the position of the Master of the Anguk Merchant Group yet, and there are only a few Profound Emptiness Pavilion Blood Sect members who've secured leadership roles within the Murim Alliance. Sending out the Demonic Sect now would make it hard for the Blood Sect members to gain a foothold."
So-hwa wanted to believe those words.
Deep down, she thought Namgung Hyun's reasoning was probably correct.
As he put it, the rise of the Demonic Sect was an event well suited to culling expendable forces and strengthening internal cohesion under newly installed leaders.
In fact, in her previous life, the Demonic Sect did not reveal itself until twenty years later.
Yet So-hwa denied Namgung Hyun's conclusion.
"A Blood Sect member just came to the hall. She said the Blood Demon sent the Demonic Sect to the Tang Clan estate to punish me."
So-hwa explained why she could not accept his words.
"It seems the Blood Demon changed his plans because I created the Gu poison antidote."
"That's certainly something that would provoke a reaction from the Blood Demon. Still, it won't be the Demonic Sect. He's not someone who would abandon his final plan so easily. If you know his obsession with the Central Plains, Young Lady Tang, you'll understand what I mean."
Namgung Hyun's words did not sound unfamiliar to So-hwa.
Everyone who knew of the Blood Demon said his obsession with the Central Plains was extreme. That was why they believed he would not easily abandon his plans or come to the Central Plains prematurely.
However, just as she had overreached and severed the Blood Demon's limbs, he, too, might make an excessive move.
"I've heard that the Blood Demon's direct armed forces are the Red Blood Hall and the Blue Blood Hall. Both have been half-destroyed, and as for the North Sea and Great Desert vessels, I don't know if you've heard, but they've broken free of the Blood Sect."
So-hwa spoke of the variables she herself had created.
"He may have thought himself cornered."
Despite the turmoil in her mind, her voice came out calm.
Rather than pouring out her anxiety to Namgung Hyun, she tried to find a solution.
"The Blood Sect member said it took less than two days to cross from Sichuan to Hubei. Could you tell me where the passage leading to Sichuan is?"
Namgung Hyun shook his head with a regretful expression.
"I don't know the location of the passage leading to Sichuan either. I used a passage when returning from Jin Yin Mountain, so I know the routes between Jin Yin Mountain and Hubei, and from Hubei to Anhui, but I've never taken a passage that leads to Sichuan."
"Then, as before, could you create a passage to Sichuan for me?"
"To do that, I'd need a mold, and making the mold takes some time."
"How much time do you need?"
"Before, it took about three days to make. We'd also need time to acquire the materials, so that has to be factored in as well."
At least three days.
Seeing that Namgung Hyun could not speak optimistically, it seemed the time needed to gather materials would not be insignificant either.
So-hwa let out a small breath and asked again,
"You said you could draw a formation on the ground and send me to the North Sea yourself."
"Ah, that's still possible even now."
Namgung Hyun's face brightened.
"May you take others along? If possible, how many people can you bring at most?"
Namgung Hyun's brightened expression darkened in an instant.
"...... Who are you planning to go with?"
"At the very least, I'd like a hundred Tang Clan martial artists to accompany me."
"That would be difficult."
Namgung Hyun replied in a troubled voice.
"Is a hundred too many? Then what is the maximum number you could send?"
Namgung Hyun bit his lip, then answered with a pained sound,
"The method I described is slightly different from opening a passage. You could call it a forbidden art that swaps the space we're standing in with the space of another location."
He moved his hand as if outlining the contours of his room.
"It's a ritual where one identifies the positions of the four directions and asks the heavens' permission to move that area. Since it depends on the will of the heavens, everyone must be present in that space at the moment the formation is drawn. It's not something you can seek permission for in advance."
In truth, So-hwa did not understand Namgung Hyun's explanation all at once. Noticing that, he spoke again,
"If I draw the formation in front of that many people, won't everyone realize that I'm a Blood Sect member?"
Only then did So-hwa understand why Namgung Hyun was troubled.
Namgung Hyun was a cautious man. He could not openly reveal that he was a Blood Sect member.
No—it was not merely a matter of temperament.
Anyone would find it difficult to reveal themselves as a Blood Sect member in the very heart of the Murim Alliance headquarters.
So-hwa felt disheartened, but she did not press further.
"I understand."
She answered briefly and turned toward the door.
If she could not secure a way to Sichuan, there was no need to remain here any longer.
Namgung Hyun let out a sigh and said.
"I'm sorry."
Those words touched something delicate within Tang So-hwa.
She knew that the present Namgung Hyun was helping her.
Yet over that face, the image of someone she knew overlapped.
Long ago, the voice and expression of the Namgung Clan Head who had refused the Tang Clan Head's request were much the same as his now.
Of course.
They were the same person.
On that day, Namgung Hyun, wearing a worried expression and speaking in a regretful voice, had told the Tang Clan Head that he could not help immediately, but would go to the Tang Clan together once support from the headquarters was secured.
It had been a polite refusal.
He had not stopped the Tang Clan Head from returning to a dead end, nor had he spared even a single member of the Namgung Clan's forces as he left.
Only then did So-hwa realize it.
She had thought she believed that the Namgung Hyun of the past and the Namgung Hyun of the present were different, yet her inability to trust him had not changed, then or now.
She could not tell whether Namgung Hyun truly could not help and thus refused, or whether he was once again choosing to stand by and let the Tang Clan's annihilation happen.
The only thing that was certain was that she would not get the answer she wanted from him right now.
Just like the day the Demonic Sect had annihilated the Tang Clan in the past.
Hiding those thoughts, So-hwa immediately turned and opened the door.
"I apologize for the disturbance at such a late hour."
The moment the door opened, the cold night air brushed against her cheeks.
So-hwa planned to return to her hall and send a message to the Platinum Pavilion. The Main Blood Hall Deputy Lord seemed to know the passage leading to Sichuan. There had even been a time when the Main Blood Hall Lord had come to the Tang Clan estate's inner courtyard.
Tap.
As So-hwa walked down the dark corridor, she halted. Someone had covered her mouth and pulled her behind a pillar.
Through their backs pressed together, she felt a rapid heartbeat.
He loosened his grip so as not to stifle her, resting his hand lightly over her mouth.
The smell of ink clung to his hand.
His breath brushed her ear, yet no sound was made.
Namgung Hyun seemed to be asking for silence.
Though she did not know what was happening, he was not someone who would act so recklessly, so So-hwa remained still.
Once she complied, the heartbeat she felt through his back gradually slowed.
So-hwa slowly turned her head. Namgung Hyun was staring outside the hall.
She followed his gaze, but saw nothing. Only darkness had settled before the empty hall.
Click.
Then came the sound of a door opening, and light spilled out from below. It seemed someone had come out of a room.
Soon, a familiar figure emerged outside the hall. It was Namgung An, the Namgung Clan Head.
He stood quietly in front of the hall.
"Clan Head!"
The gatekeeper who came running toward the hall flinched. He seemed startled, having not expected the Clan Head to be out.
"Someone from the Four Seasons Hall has arrived."
"At this hour?"
"Yes. The Four Seasons Hall Lord has requested that you come to the Four Seasons Hall."
He did not look like someone who had just awakened from sleep. Suspicion flickered in his sharp eyes.
Nevertheless, he did not refuse the Four Seasons Hall's request.
"I understand."
Namgung An took a step forward. The guard at the door spoke with a flustered expression,
"A-are you going alone?"
"Given that I was summoned at this late hour, it's unlikely they intend to discuss something others should overhear. Don't wake anyone else. Tend to your duties."
"Yes, sir."
The Namgung martial artist replied in an uneasy voice, but faithfully carried out the Clan Head's order.
He went out as if guiding the Clan Head.
At that moment, the Clan Head's eyes briefly touched upon the hall.
So-hwa knew that Namgung An had sensed her presence.
However, Namgung An dismissed her as inconsequential and left.
Watching the torches beyond the wall fade away, Tang So-hwa pulled Namgung Hyun's hand down.
Then Namgung Hyun spoke to her in a low voice,
"Shall we go inside and talk? There may be another way I can help."
"It's all right. The help you've given me so far is more than enough."
Namgung Hyun was quick-witted.
He knew that So-hwa's reply was a perfunctory one meant to distance herself from him.
Yet he could not stop her from leaving. He could sense the presence of Namgung elders and martial artists awakening above and below.
If they made any more noise here, they would realize that So-hwa had come.
While he hesitated, unable to respond, Tang So-hwa went down the hall and completely disappeared beyond the wall.