Chapter 495

A long silence passed before Chief Seong finally spoke.

“The Heaven-Law Platform.”

“......”

“Were all three of them from the Heaven-Law Platform?”

Namgung Wonyang nodded.

“Ninth Seat of the Heaven-Law Platform. A man named Seop Gyeong.”

Ju Soa immediately spoke.

“Twelfth Seat of the Heaven-Law Platform. Some ill-mannered bitch named Han Soyeong.”

Chief Seong nodded.

“Mine was the Seventh Seat of the Heaven-Law Platform. A man named Baek Ryeon.”

The three fell silent.

Chief Seong continued.

“Baek Ryeon was at least at Unity of Heaven and Man. He ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) was so skilled at concealing his senses that I could not read his realm at all. If he stands even higher than that...... then Manifestation of the Boundless is also possible.”

Ju Soa and Namgung Wonyang had experienced much the same.

Ordinarily, once blades were exchanged, one could gain at least a rough sense of an opponent’s realm.

But they had sensed nothing at all.

It was truly strange.

Seen another way, it was possible that the members of the Heaven-Law Platform possessed some unique method that concealed their realms.

Unhwi, with his extraordinary insight, might have seen through it.

There was no chance these three could.

Chief Seong asked, “He left me a message to deliver to the Young Master. Did the same happen to you?”

“Yes.”

Namgung Wonyang continued.

“He said Blood Spirit Hall was already within the Heaven-Law Platform’s reach.”

Ju Soa spoke as well.

“She spouted some bullshit about how we would already be dead if the Heaven-Law Platform wanted us dead.”

Chief Seong clenched his fist.

“......He told me they could enter Blood Spirit Hall whenever they wished.”

Taken together, the three messages meant only one thing.

They could reach Unhwi’s residence whenever they pleased.

They could also reach anyone close to him.

It was an overt threat.

And behind that threat lay another declaration.

We do not bow to you, or even to the Blood Heaven Arbiter.

Chief Seong rose.

“......This is complicated.”

Namgung Wonyang asked, “We should tell my lord when he returns, shouldn’t we?”

Chief Seong considered it for a moment, then nodded.

Whatever this was, it concerned Unhwi.

Those people had ultimately treated the three of them as nothing more than a folding screen.

Every threat they had made against them had been aimed at Unhwi.

They could not keep it from him.

Only after hearing about it could Unhwi predict the other side’s next move.

That settled the matter.

“......We should.”

It was the right thing to do.

“And the Young Master is not a man who simply endures something like this.”

Ju Soa smiled faintly, as though looking forward to what came next.

Wonyang let out a quiet breath, clearly worried.

“......Let us watch and see.”

“Yes.”

***

Viper Valley.

It was exactly as its name suggested.

The air changed from the very entrance to the valley.

It was humid.

Sticky.

A faint poisonous miasma flowed among the grass and moss.

An ordinary person would not have survived half a day there.

But it posed no problem for Unhwi.

The scenery changed the deeper he went.

Fields filled with poisonous weeds.

Rocks crawling with venomous insects.

Trees coiled with vipers.

Buildings appeared between them.

The martial artists of Viper Valley stood on guard.

The moment Unhwi appeared, every gaze turned toward him.

“The Blood Heaven Arbiter.”

“The Blood Heaven Arbiter has arrived.”

A stir spread through the valley.

But no one approached him.

Wariness.

Viper Valley was not a place that welcomed outsiders.

It would have been stranger still for them to welcome a man who stood at the center of the deaths of their former master and vice master.

Unhwi paid them no mind and continued walking.

Deep into the valley.

The valley master’s residence came into view.

Poison Fragrance Pavilion.

Despite its name, there was nothing fragrant about it.

There was no scent at all.

It was a perfectly purified space.

The only place in Viper Valley without poisonous miasma.

A martial artist stood before the door.

“Blood Heaven Arbiter. The valley master is waiting for you.”

Unhwi nodded, and the door opened.

He entered.

The chamber was spacious.

A single table.

Two chairs.

Tea had been prepared.

Yang Uiji sat across from the entrance.

The Poison Marquis Witch.

A woman in her mid-thirties.

Sharp eyes.

Thin lips.

The energy emanating from her was cold, but it was not poison.

It was pure internal energy.

The power of the late Harmony realm rested quietly around her body.

She looked at Unhwi.

Their eyes met.

For a moment.

Yang Uiji spoke first.

“You came.”

“I received your letter. It was only proper that I come.”

Unhwi sat across from her.

Yang Uiji poured the tea.

Unhwi lifted his cup.

He did not drink.

Yang Uiji gave a faint laugh.

“There is no poison in it.”

“I know.”

Unhwi answered briefly, then drank.

Bitterness came first.

Then sweetness.

It was different from Gongsun Jinhae’s tea.

Rougher.

Wilder.

Yang Uiji watched him.

“I will speak plainly.”

“Please.”

“Sending a letter to the Blood Heaven Arbiter was not an easy decision.”

“I assumed as much.”

“......”

The corners of Yang Uiji’s mouth lowered slightly.

“When I first met you on Snow Mountain.”

Unhwi’s hand paused.

Snow Mountain.

When the Heavenly Wayfarer had first come to meet Unhwi.

Yang Uiji had accompanied him as one of his protectors.

When she saw Unhwi speaking casually to the Heavenly Wayfarer, conversing with him as an equal, she had tried to draw her sword.

Unhwi had rebuked her for it.

That had been their first meeting in this life.

Yang Uiji continued.

“To be honest, I was displeased.”

“I understand.”

“Understand...... Yes. I could not comprehend how someone so young and of such a low realm could speak to the Heavenly Lord in that way.”

“......”

“I felt the same when you later became the Blood Heaven Arbiter.”

Yang Uiji took a sip of tea.

“Why this man? Why, of all people, him?”

“Do you still think that?”

Yang Uiji fell silent for a moment.

“......Half of me does. Half does not. But it is rare for the Heavenly Lord to take a liking to someone so quickly.”

It was an honest answer.

Unhwi thought inwardly.

It was different in my previous life.

Yang Uiji in his previous life.

As the years passed, the Poison Marquis Witch had eventually acknowledged Unhwi.

She had followed the Heavenly Wayfarer almost blindly, and so, in the end, she had accepted Unhwi, whom he genuinely cherished.

It had simply taken time.

Once she accepted him, the two had gotten along quite well.

That was simply the kind of woman she was.

Once she acknowledged someone, she stood by them to the end.

Just as her loyalty to the Heavenly Wayfarer never wavered, once she gave someone her trust, she never withdrew it.

But not yet.

She had not fully acknowledged him.

Only halfway.

Unhwi spoke.

“Valley Master.”

“Yes.”

“You wrote that a matter had arisen. What happened?”

Yang Uiji’s expression changed.

It grew heavy.

“......Heo Jinsa.”

One name.

Unhwi had already suspected as much.

“What has the vice master done?”

Yang Uiji set down her teacup.

“He was continuing Cheon Saeum’s research.”

Unhwi’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Cheon Saeum.

The man who had conducted poison experiments on commoners.

Even pregnant women.

When those atrocities were revealed, the Heavenly Wayfarer had personally beheaded him.

“Be specific.”

“Deep within Viper Valley is a stone chamber. It was the laboratory Cheon Saeum used while he was alive. After I became valley master, I sealed it.”

“......”

“The seal had been broken.”

“By whom?”

“Heo Jinsa.”

Yang Uiji’s voice lowered.

“He broke the seal and took Cheon Saeum’s research records. And then......”

She paused.

“We found people in an abandoned mine south of Viper Valley.”

Unhwi’s gaze turned cold.

“Were they alive?”

“Some of them. Most were not.”

Yang Uiji’s voice remained calm.

“There were seven. All had gone missing from nearby villages. Five were already dead. Two were alive, but their bodies were in a state worse than death.”

She could not continue.

Unhwi understood.

Test subjects.

Heo Jinsa had continued what Cheon Saeum had done.

He was following the same path as his master.

“What happened to the two survivors?”

“They are being treated. But I cannot promise a full recovery.”

“And Heo Jinsa?”

“He is still inside Viper Valley.”

Unhwi found that slightly puzzling.

Reading his reaction, Yang Uiji immediately continued.

“I could have dealt with him myself.”

“Why did you not?”

Yang Uiji was silent for a moment.

“......There are people who follow Heo Jinsa.”

“Cheon Saeum’s former subordinates.”

Yang Uiji nodded.

“Yes. Exactly. More than thirty in total.”

“That is not a small number.”

“They make up nearly a quarter of Viper Valley. More importantly, they are among its core members.”

Unhwi understood.

Yang Uiji’s position.

She was the valley master, but she was not native to Viper Valley.

She was an outsider personally installed by the Heavenly Wayfarer.

Of course, long before becoming master of Viper Valley, she had already been known throughout the martial world as the Poison Marquis Witch.

There were few under heaven who could rival her in the handling of poison.

But Cheon Saeum, the true power within Viper Valley, had been a genius capable of reducing even the valley master, Seon Yangbaek, to a mere puppet.

Yang Uiji lacked the power to erase his shadow completely.

And even if she erased every trace of that shadow, the Viper Valley that remained would no longer possess its former renown.

Ultimately, it was a matter of roots.

Heo Jinsa was Cheon Saeum’s foremost disciple.

A man born and raised in Viper Valley.

Cheon Saeum’s former subordinates followed him.

He had also been the first disciple Cheon Saeum ever accepted.

If Yang Uiji forcibly executed Heo Jinsa, nearly a quarter of Viper Valley would rise in revolt.

The valley would split apart.

That was why she had summoned Unhwi.

In the name of the Blood Heaven Arbiter.

If the matter were handled not by order of Viper Valley’s master, but by order of the Blood Heaven Sect, the internal division could be contained.

More than anything—

“Cheon Saeum’s second disciple died by my hand.”

“Yes.”

“If I lend you that same hand again, the resistance will certainly lessen. The problem is what comes afterward. You will have to reorganize the valley. Are you confident you can do it?”

Yang Uiji’s eyes gleamed.

The meaning contained in Unhwi’s words.

It was remarkably simple.

There were two meanings.

The first was that he would give her enough support to seize firm control of Viper Valley—and he was asking whether she had the ability to make proper use of it.

The second was what she would give him in return after receiving that support.

In other words, he was asking whether she clearly understood that if something was given, something had to be returned.

A strange smile appeared on Yang Uiji’s lips.

“You have a rather amusing way of speaking indirectly. Just as you did on Snow Mountain.”

“It is one of my talents.”

“......The Heavenly Lord possesses the same talent. You resemble him in more ways than one.”

“Is that a compliment?”

“It is.”

“Then your answer?”

She did not hesitate.

“I understand. If you give me something certain, then of course I will give something in return. Nearly twice what I receive.”

“Good.”

Yang Uiji shrugged.

Unhwi spoke in a quiet voice.

“Valley Master.”

“Yes.”

“When the Heavenly Lord executed Cheon Saeum.”

Yang Uiji’s eyes wavered.

“The justification was the Secret Record of the Supreme Sovereign.”

“......Yes.”

“If that same operation has begun again, then you must uproot that part completely.”

“You need not worry about that. And......”

Yang Uiji stopped speaking and bowed her head where she sat.

“Thank you for readily agreeing to my request.”