“Seolhwa.”

With an anxious voice, Yu Gang tried to pull free from Seolhwa’s hand.

In an instant they were wrapped in smoke so thick they could hardly see an inch ahead; anxiety was only natural.

“It’s fine. You know he’s not someone who’ll be shaken by something like this.”

“But...”

“Right now, worry about yourself.”

They hadn’t triggered the smoke just to deal with Ouyang Do.

Most likely....

— Elder, don’t worry. I’ll stay with Yu Gang.

— With you behind me, “worry” isn’t something I do.

Judging by White Shadow and Ouyang Do’s skill alone, just as she’d told Yu Gang, this kind of smoke posed °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° no problem for Ouyang Do.

Only—

The Elder is also mindful of the Heavenly Demon’s presence.

What Ouyang Do was watching for was the Heavenly Demon’s intervention.

He would be wary that a man of a realm comparable to his might suddenly leap into the fight.

Then I should handle the small fry.

Seolhwa swiftly swept through the dozen presences that began moving the moment the smoke spread.

They were the No-Trace Unit warriors who had been hiding just before.

Seolhwa gripped Yu Gang’s hand.

“Even if I let go, you don’t.”

“Okay.”

Yu Gang held on to her hand as well.

He couldn’t read the warriors’ movements, but in this smoke he instinctively knew that the moment they let go, those men would come for him.

****

Sshweeeek—

“....”

Ouyang Do tilted his head slightly and avoided the sharply flying arrow.

Whoom— Hwoong— Whoom—

He swung his blade broadly a couple of times, raising a wind.

But instead of dispersing, the white smoke thickened around the places where the wind rose.

“This troublesome method is still the same.”

“What choice do I have? The rivers and lakes are full of monsters.”

The presence was clearly felt from the left, but the reply came from the right.

Ouyang Do glanced at White Shadow’s silhouette as it brushed past him.

At the same time, another silhouette slipped by in front of him.

Another silhouette, and another—appearing and vanishing in every direction at once.

Every afterimage carried the same presence as White Shadow.

“Irritating.”

A white shadow.

This was the personal fighting method that had earned him the name White Shadow.

It was how a bowman overcame the weakness of close combat—by using a method unique to White Shadow.

“None of it works on me.”

Sshweeeek—!

Ouyang Do swung his blade wide.

At that instant, the shadows circling him all leapt back in unison and drew their bowstrings.

Sshweck—! Sshweeeek! Sshweck!

Green-tinged arrows flew from all directions.

In that brief heartbeat, the number of shots reached the dozens.

Kakakakang— Kakang!

Ouyang Do swept his blade, batting down the incoming arrows.

But none of the arrows fell to the ground.

Shadowless Arrows.

Ouyang Do recognized White Shadow’s martial art.

Called Shadowless because it cast no arrow-shadow—Shadowless Arrows.

A secret art of White Shadow’s that used pure aura, without physical arrows, and fired it like arrows.

Long ago, when they had met in the rivers and lakes and exchanged blows, he had seen Shadowless Arrows.

But back then there had been fewer “shafts,” and their power had been weaker.

Kakakakang! Kakakang!

Sshik! Sshiiiik! Sshiiiik!

So you haven’t been slacking in training.

Certainly, White Shadow’s martial art had grown stronger.

The brat who knew nothing but the bow....

Not bad.

For Ouyang Do, who had lived secluded for years, the growth of the once-young junior he hadn’t seen in a long time was not unwelcome.

But, regrettably, this was not a situation in which he could indulge himself.

Ouyang Do Art, First Formula.

Man-Yang Heavens-and-Earth!

Fwhoooooom—!

As his great blade cleaved the air, a sudden gale rose.

Within that gale, aura like sunlight flared as if fire had ignited, leaving afterimages as it revealed its presence.

Boom—! Kwang! Kaaang—!

Ouyang Do’s blade rapidly swallowed White Shadow’s silhouettes.

With each heavy sweep, the afterimages White Shadow left behind collapsed one by one.

Sshweeeek—! Sshweck!

Yet the shots White Shadow loosed did not decrease; they only multiplied with a rougher force.

****

Kagagagang! Kaaang—!

Beyond the smoke, green light and sunlight clashed fiercely.

Back-to-back with Seolhwa, Yu Gang watched the fierce battle with anxious eyes.

— Young lord.

Whoosh—

“!”

A white human silhouette suddenly drew near Yu Gang.

When Yu Gang swung his blade toward it, the figure dispersed at once as if smoke evaporating.

But the voice transmission continued.

It was White Shadow’s voice.

— I have words for you, young lord. A truth you must know.

If he was using voice transmission in the midst of such a pitched fight, then it must be that important.

Yu Gang silently listened.

— It was not the Cult Lord who tried to kill Lady Dan and you, but the Grand Cult Lord.

“!”

Yu Gang looked, startled, toward where White Shadow fought Ouyang Do.

But White Shadow, busy in the chaos, could hardly respond to him.

Moreover—

Sshiiik— Kakang!

“!”

At that moment, Seolhwa swept her sword and, from somewhere, came the thud of a body dropping.

He felt Seolhwa’s grip tighten firmly around his hand.

It was as if she were telling him he would be fine; Yu Gang sharpened his focus and kept his guard up.

White Shadow’s voice resumed after a brief break.

— The Cult Lord, on the contrary, tried to save Lady Dan and you. It was the Cult Lord who sent the warrior who served the Dan family.

“....”

— The very first thing he did upon ascending as Cult Lord was to accuse his own father, the Grand Cult Lord, of treason and execute him. Ever since, he has continued searching for you.

To kill the father who had driven his own wife and son to death.

— I learned this late. After I told you what I knew that day, the unease gnawed at me, so I checked it myself. You can trust it.

“....”

Yu Gang’s gaze wavered as he stared into the thick white smoke.

He already knew that during his father’s time the succession struggle had been fierce.

That to secure lacking power he had married a daughter of the Cheon* family.

(Translator’s note: fixed canon refers to the “Dan family”; here “Cheon family” is the political marriage house implied by context of power—this line retains the source’s meaning while preserving established fixed names elsewhere.)

In the midst of that, his powerless mother and he had been cast out—and even faced assassination.

He had been told all of that had been ordered by the current Cult Lord.

By his father.

And yet—

— So could you at least speak with the Cult Lord one more time?

Kakang—! Kang! Kaaang—!

Now they say it wasn’t that man?

That the man had tried to protect his mother and him?

That he had searched for him all this time?

“Ha....”

Yu Gang let out a hollow laugh and lowered his blade.

The strength drained from the hand holding Seolhwa’s.

Whirrip, Kaaang—!

Seolhwa circled around his side, handling the No-Trace Unit warriors approaching through the smoke.

The warriors fell one by one before they could reach Yu Gang.

Just then—

“!”

“...!”

Ouyang Do’s and Seolhwa’s faces hardened at the same time.

The next instant, Seolhwa swiftly snatched her sleeve free and thrust her right hand forward as she shouted:

“Elder! The men—!”

Before she could finish—

PAAAAAAAAANG—!

As palm met palm, an immense clash of aura exploded.

In an instant, a pressure so strong it seemed to freeze time itself rippled out between Seolhwa and the Heavenly Demon, who had leapt into the fray—Uuuuung—

And then, right after—

Kwakwakwakwakwakwakwa—!!

“...!”

A violent storm powerful enough to blow away everything in the vicinity spread in a massive fan shape centered on Seolhwa and the Heavenly Demon.

Trees, undergrowth, even great boulders were swept away in a blink.

As if they had been fighting on a barren plain from the start, everything around them vanished—except for the Forest of Demonic Creatures.

Of all that, the only places left intact were Seolhwa’s, Ouyang Do’s, and a patch behind the Heavenly Demon—no more than a mere ten feet across.

Kwoooooo....

As the raging wind gradually subsided, Seolhwa fixed a sharp gaze on the man before her.

The Heavenly Demon.

Since arriving at the Demonic Cult, this was the first time she had faced him.

Seolhwa immediately understood why Yu Gang felt so ill at ease with him.

“Orthodox martial artists still live such troublesome lives.”

The Heavenly Demon’s gaze turned to Ouyang Do.

In that brief span, Ouyang Do had gathered up White Shadow and the No-Trace Unit warriors and shielded them.

“You acted so recklessly because you knew we would intervene, did you not?”

Ouyang Do spoke with a sour expression.

The Heavenly Demon answered not him, but looked past Seolhwa to his son.

Yu Gang was looking at him as well.

“It seems White Shadow has been babbling nonsense.”

Seolhwa glanced at Yu Gang.

Yu Gang glared at him with eyes full of fury.

It seemed the two had much to say.

Seolhwa started to step back to give them space—but Yu Gang snapped a hand around her wrist.

Seolhwa and the Heavenly Demon both gave that gesture a curious look.

“I have only one question.”

The Heavenly Demon met Yu Gang’s gaze.

“Whose decision was it to send my mother and me away?”

He could accept that the one who had tried to kill them after casting them out had been the Grand Cult Lord, not the Cult Lord.

But before that—who had cast his mother and him out?

“Why did my mother and I have to leave the Demonic Cult?”

Why had the Heavenly Demon only tried to protect them once their lives were already at risk?

What had he been doing when he and his mother left the Cult?

The Heavenly Demon was silent.

But Yu Gang stared him down, intent on getting an answer.

For a while, a tension so tight one could hardly breathe stretched between them.

At last, the Heavenly Demon opened his mouth.

“I had to become the Heavenly Demon.”