Chapter 248
Chapter 248. The Silver's Arrangement
So-hwa handed the Deputy Hall Lord a sheet of paper on which the ink had not yet fully dried.
"Show it to the Fourth Seat. It'll shorten the time needed to persuade them."
Perhaps afraid the ink might smudge, he accepted the paper carefully. As he lightly waved it to hurry the ink along, So-hwa asked, looking exasperated,
"Can't you dry it with Fiery Yang Art?"
From the other side came an even more exasperated look.
"...... Do you think Fiery Yang Art is a spring breeze? The paper would burn from the heat."
"But the Main Blood Hall Lord controls the heat without burning things."
"That's only possible because he's the Hall Lord. Do you think monsters like him are common in this world?"
Shaking his head, he glanced back at Namgung Hyun standing behind him.
"Since you associate with people the Blood Demon values so highly, it seems your standards have risen. The Blood Demon is someone who treats people as less than dust, so if he assigns high value to someone, that person is no longer at a human level. Keep that in mind."
He added words whose intent was unclear.
"If you grasp a famed sword you cannot control, it may instead bring disaster upon its owner."
The corners of So-hwa's lips curved faintly. At that attitude, the Deputy Hall Lord bristled.
"This is advice from someone who has lived more than a dozen years longer than you, so do not laugh it off."
However, So-hwa had not been mocking him. Rather, she sympathized with him.
Her gaze also shifted to Namgung Hyun.
Had she not suffered great harm while living beside someone with such frightening abilities?
Tang So-hwa had once blamed herself for her foolishness in the past, but looking at the current Namgung Hyun, she could understand why she had been deceived.
His youthful face, and the sincerity that sometimes flickered across it, unsettled people.
Tang So-hwa soon withdrew her gaze and slipped a hand into her sleeve.
When a small iron plate emerged, the Deputy Hall Lord's eyes flashed.
He had already seen this passage before. Even knowing that the Deputy Hall Lord coveted Cold Iron, So-hwa handed him the Cold Iron.
"Place your hand in the center and let your internal energy flow."
If she were to trust someone again and face a wrong outcome, she decided she would accept it as the will of heaven.
The Deputy Hall Lord placed the Cold Iron passage on his palm and set his other hand atop it.
The hand seething with greed trembled subtly.
The Deputy Hall Lord's internal energy quickly made a full circuit and touched the Cold Iron.
Paaat.
As the path to the North Sea opened, So-hwa stared at him and said,
"You know the way to the Ice Palace better than anyone, so go on your own."
"I understand."
Fortunately, the Deputy Hall Lord was not someone excessively greedy. He immediately returned the Cold Iron to So-hwa and crossed through the passage.
Lowering her gaze to the Cold Iron, So-hwa asked Namgung Hyun,
"Even if it's used in Sichuan, is there a way to open a passage to the Great Desert?"
Namgung Hyun fell silent for a moment before replying,
"That is a mistaken question from the start. Since it is a ritual that begs heaven to open a path, if one wishes to return, heaven will send you back through that same passage."
He added,
"It all depends on heaven's permission; only that matters. The point where it connects to the Great Desert or the North Sea is not important."
His tone was humble, yet it sounded arrogant.
He showed not a trace of unease. One could feel his confidence that there was no situation in which he would fail to receive heaven's permission.
So-hwa nodded slightly, as if confirming,
"So if we go from Sichuan, we can return to Sichuan."
"Yes, that is correct."
At his answer, So-hwa's expression brightened in a subtle way. As if she had set aside her worries, her voice grew lighter.
"Then let's return as well."
As So-hwa moved to go down the stairs, Namgung Hyun stepped to the side, blocking her path.
Namgung Hyun's expression was grim.
"Are you, by any chance, planning to ask Namgung Jin to go to the Great Desert?"
At the sudden question, So-hwa frowned.
"Is that important?"
"Namgung Jin is not that strong. And the Main Blood Hall Lord will not want his identity revealed to others."
"I understand."
Since it was not a conversation worth wasting time on, So-hwa cut him off curtly.
"First, let's return to the Tang Clan. Haven't we been away for quite some time?"
Perhaps unsettled that Tang So-hwa accepted his words so readily, Namgung Hyun looked uneasy.
However, with all the forces of the Main Blood Hall absent, the Platinum Pavilion was no safer than the Tang Clan estate.
He also knew it would be better to go to the Tang Clan, where members of the Murim Alliance were gathered. Thus, setting aside his desire to continue the conversation, he went to the open ground of Platinum Pavilion and spread the formation.
Was it because even the weather was good, or because he was one chosen by heaven?
Though he sought heaven's permission three times in a single day, heaven did not find him bothersome and granted his wishes.
Shaaah.
The sound of the flower garden swaying in the night breeze tickled their ears.
When they opened their eyes, only the center of the garden was hollowed out in a circle, the flowers gone.
"It's fine. We often dumped leftover poison here and ruined the flowerbed, so no one will find this suspicious."
Namgung Hyun, who had been staring at the ground, lifted his gaze. When their eyes met, Tang So-hwa stared straight at him.
After a short while, Tang So-hwa asked,
"Young warrior, I know you've already been away from your seat for a long time, but would you come inside for a moment?"
"...... Are you referring to Young Lady Tang's quarters?"
Yet the one who had spoken looked calm. With an impassive expression, she nodded.
"It won't take much time."
Namgung Hyun could not refuse the request.
'It's not as if I'd start worrying about time at this point.......'
As Tang So-hwa turned first, he took a tense step forward.
It was his first time entering Tang So-hwa's sleeping quarters. No, it was his first time entering a woman's quarters at all.
Though he thought it wouldn't be much different from a man's quarters, a strange sense of anticipation swelled.
The moment the door slid open, and he stepped into the spacious room, Namgung Hyun thought his expectations had not been wrong.
He had expected it to be ornate, but Tang So-hwa's quarters contained even more rare items than he had imagined.
In particular, the red silk covering an entire wall drew his gaze. The painting laid upon it was also a magnificent sight. As if the world itself had been compressed, all manner of things under heaven were depicted there.
Without realizing it, Namgung Hyun stepped closer to the wall and asked.
"... Did Young Lady Tang place this herself?"
"Yes. It took a very long time to complete."
"I can imagine."
Namgung Hyun gave a small nod, sympathizing with her words.
A light laugh tickled his ear.
When he turned around, Tang So-hwa was already standing beside him, looking up at the embroidery on the wall.
Tang So-hwa suddenly raised her hand. Her slender finger pointed to a circle in the upper left.
"Do you know what that represents?"
Next to the circle holding rippling patterns, three lines stretched out in a wavering shape. It looked as though a blazing sun had been drawn.
"Isn't it the sun?"
Tang So-hwa explained the embroidery to him.
"It's a circle expressing the Tai Chi. The three lines extending beside it represent time."
Tang So-hwa's voice grew somewhat dark.
"It's an embroidery meant to remember how, three years from now, the Wudang Sect's chief disciple will have his body blackened as if scorched by the sun, his organs dried up, and die."
"What? Three years from now, the Wudang Sect's chief disciple dies? What do you mean by that?"
Namgung Hyun asked in shock, but instead of answering, Tang So-hwa lowered her hand.
She pointed to the river that continued downward. Her pale finger traced along the water, moving farther and farther down. Stopping before four plum blossoms, she spoke.
"And four years from now, the Taoist robe of a Mount Hua Sect disciple who went missing on the Yangtze River will be found."
Turning her hand toward the ferry by the riverside, So-hwa pointed to the dense green forest.
"And five years from now, the Dark Forest Stronghold, which was once annihilated, will reappear, intercept a Tang Clan merchant caravan heading to Hubei, and slaughter everyone traveling with it."
She explained the embroidery piece by piece.
Gradually, Namgung Hyun came to understand the meaning of her words.
Pointing to a tall pavilion hung with fifteen lanterns, she said,
"Fifteen years from now, the Anguk Merchant Group's head and Zhuge Cheon-yu, who were, in effect, in a betrothal relationship, will formally become engaged and hold their wedding that very month. At the time, I hadn't seen it in person, so I drew the pavilion vaguely, but it turned out recognizable since it isn't much different from the actual Platinum Pavilion."
She continued her explanation. At last, after explaining even the small image in the lower right, Tang So-hwa lowered her hand.
"These are things that will happen in the future. I was seventeen when I made this. If you calculate by subtracting three to four years, the timing should roughly line up. It is time that flowed according to what the Blood Demon desired, so if things change greatly or deviate from this, be aware that the Blood Demon may set his sights on your neck."
Tang So-hwa fell silent for a moment, then added,
"Of course, I've changed many things, so there's a strong chance it won't flow exactly this way. But if the Blood Demon comes to the Central Plains, things may once again proceed as he wishes."
Namgung Hyun asked in a trembling voice,
"Young Lady Tang, how do you know what will happen in the future?"
He seemed to have guessed the reason, yet was trying to deny it.
With an indifferent face, Tang So-hwa crushed that hope.
"I am receiving punishment for killing a sorcerer. About twenty years in the future, I killed a sorcerer chosen by heaven, returned to being seventeen, and am now blocking the things that will happen, one by one."
Meeting Namgung Hyun's eyes, she said coldly,
"Young warrior, you are a sorcerer chosen by heaven."
Namgung Hyun unconsciously stepped back.
So-hwa did not grab him. She merely raised a hand to her ear.
"The Blood Demon also knows that you are a sorcerer capable of turning back time, so he will try to kill you when the moment is right. If he crosses the line, you will repeat countless deaths without even remembering them."
So-hwa turned the red jade of her earring. A grain-like pill inside fell into her palm.
"This is the Three-Breath Poison. If you swallow it and take three breaths, your breath will be cut off. It's a lethal poison that lets you reach death without feeling pain."
The fact that Namgung Hyun looked different was an illusion created by overlapping timelines.
Present gratitude was obstructing her vision by veiling past resentment.
However, the massive resentment could not be hidden, no matter how much the gratitude swelled.
It only disturbed her heart.
So-hwa realized that she could neither escape the resentment of the past nor be free from the gratitude of the present.
Thus, before the pain born of confusion could seize her ankles, she decided to sever the silver threads that had accumulated.
She took one step toward Namgung Hyun.
Placing the poison pill onto Namgung Hyun's faintly trembling hand, So-hwa said,
"This is repayment for helping me in this life. If the Blood Demon comes to kill you, use it."
After handing over the Three-Breath Poison she had cherished, Tang So-hwa slipped her hand back into her sleeve.
She immediately poured what had been in a bottle onto a small piece of Cold Iron. Light flared in the center of the room, space tore apart, and So-hwa vanished from before Namgung Hyun.
Namgung Hyun’s mind was not intact as he tried to process the shocking words he had heard.
Absentminded, he neither followed Tang So-hwa to the Great Desert nor did anything else, merely watching until the door closed.