Yu Pyo asked in a shocked voice,

“Why were they not expelled?”

Just from what he had heard, that alone was more than enough reason for expulsion.

No matter how they had not intended to kill their martial sister, the outcome was that they had killed her.

“As far as I know, they were secular-family disciples....”

Nok Woon turned to look at Yu Pyo.

“That’s right.”

Yu Rang and Yu Ga were not expelled.

Their qualifications as true-mountain disciples were merely stripped away, and they were made to leave the main sect immediately.

That was why those who did not know the full story remembered them only as a couple of secular-family disciples.

“At the time, there were Elders who opposed their expulsion. I only learned of it later, but it seems that one of those Elders was a distant relative of Yu Rang’s. Their family was one of the secular families that formed the financial base of Mount Hua.”

“That’s...!”

That was utterly outrageous...!

By rights, those who entered a sect were supposed to cut their ties with the mundane world and resolve to live solely as disciples of the Mount Hua Sect.

The closer one’s goal was to becoming a true-mountain disciple, the more one’s family, origin, and background should have been treated as utterly irrelevant from the moment of entry.

“That’s... that’s unacceptable! To bring up blood relations in the decisions of the sect! How could the Sect Leader have allowed that? I cannot understand it!”

“We felt the same.”

No one in the No-line branch could accept the decision either.

“Perhaps that is why the No-line took the front-line positions earlier than the other branches.”

Among the Elders of that time as well, there had been many who could not abide that decision, and feeling disillusioned, they had withdrawn from the front line earlier than planned.

Yu Pyo could not believe it.

He and most of the other first-generation disciples had not known any of this until now.

“Those who wish to set themselves up as examples all the more desperately want to conceal their own shame. That was the gravest bad habit that the previous generation planted in Mount Hua.”

Nok Woon, who had watched and learned from that previous generation, had likewise, after becoming Sect Leader, tried to hide his own shame—and almost met with catastrophe seven years ago.

If not for Namgoong’s help, he would either have lost his life or still be cowering in that dark, narrow little room.

“Just because someone stands ahead does not mean they are wise, and just because one stands on the same path does not mean they all share the same intent.”

However, the upper generation that had left knew their own shame.

That was why they had wanted to set up the next generation’s Sect Leader as someone who could lead Mount Hua in the true spirit of the Way.

And that person was Nok Woon.

Nok Woon remembered.

How Nomon’s fists had trembled with unbearable rage as he watched the two disciples descending the mountain.

Yet, without any great commotion, the two disciples had gone down the mountain, and at the time they had thought that was the end of it.

“However, seven years ago, Yu Rang and Yu Ga suddenly died. And so we recalled that day.”

Yu Pyo’s lips parted slightly.

In the end, he killed them.

He had avenged the disciple who had been found in such a horrific state.

And that revenge....

“...Is still not over, is it.”

****

WHOOOOO...

As Nomon’s figure gradually emerged, Yu Gang shouted urgently once again.

“Go down! Hurry...!”

“But...!”

At some point, Jinye and Jinyeong had already drawn their swords and were standing behind Yu Gang.

“Senior, he is not someone you can face alone!”

“It’s the same even if you two are here! Do you not know who that man is?!”

Mount Hua’s foremost sword.

The one who led the Plum Blossom Swordsmen.

Whether Yu Gang stood alone or the two of them joined in the attack, it would make no difference to someone like that.

“Use that time to go down and bring people back. That’s how you help me.”

Yu Gang spoke as he stared at the blood-reeking energy wavering before his eyes.

“Either way, he can’t kill me.”

“....”

Jinye and Jinyeong did not hesitate for long.

TAK- TADAK-!

Just as the two of them were about to leap down the cliff on the opposite side from where Nomon had appeared—

SHEEEEK—

Nomon swung his sword, and a dark, blood-red Force Aura surged toward the two fleeing women. But—

KAAANG—!

Yu Gang’s saber-qi knocked aside his attack, and even in the instant they nearly died, Jinye and Jinyeong did not look back and leaped off the cliff.

Once he confirmed that the two had escaped safely, Yu Gang drew up his inner qi and looked at Nomon.

“Your opponent is me.”

Sunlight-like energy rippled around Yu Gang.

Nomon stared at that energy for a long time with a gaze utterly devoid of rise or fall.

Under that gaze of an old teacher, as if checking on an assignment he had set, Yu Gang unconsciously swallowed dryly.

“You have made a foolish choice.”

However, Nomon was not his master anymore. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

No, the days when Yu Gang had taken him as his master were what he regretted most.

“You’re the one who looks pathetic. Have you completely given up on being human?”

And no wonder. The way Nomon appeared, exuding that revolting energy, was far too grotesque to be called an ordinary human.

On the left side where his arm had clearly been severed before, something red had grown in its place—something so dubious it was questionable whether it could even be called an arm. From the point where it connected, bulging, deep-violet veins jutted out all along the left side of his body.

It was as if half his body were rotting away.

His left eye too, perhaps affected by the same thing, was stained a deep, dark red, as if all the blood vessels in the eye had burst and dyed the eyeball.

“I’ve been desperately trying to erase the traces of what I learned from you, but it seems there was no need.”

The energy Nomon radiated likewise no longer bore even a trace of Mount Hua.

The serene energy of the Way was nowhere to be found, replaced entirely by a foul aura filled with blood and hatred.

“...Step aside. I have no time to waste on your petty chatter. The only thing I need is Ouyang Do’s power.”

“...!”

Yu Gang’s face hardened.

This training cave was a place that could not be reached without passing through the main compound.

He had already thought it strange that Nomon had come to the training caves without attacking the main sect.

He was going to absorb Master’s power.

Ouyang Do’s power could be called the greatest in the Central Plains.

It seemed Nomon meant to take advantage of Ouyang Do’s weakened state and devour his power with a Devouring-Qi Technique.

Is it because of that body?

Even before Nomon had appeared in person, from the moment he had felt his energy, Yu Gang had sensed something was off.

The energy was stronger and more overwhelming than when he had seen him seven years ago, but at the same time it felt somehow unstable.

It was as if a dam was about to burst, and even Nomon himself could not control it.

The energy streaming out of him felt not like something he was consciously releasing, but like power overflowing that he could not keep in check.

But whatever the case, for whatever reason—

“Do you think I’ll just stand by and watch while you kill my master? You’re not getting past me unless you kill me.”

“...Master?”

Nomon’s expression twisted faintly.

“Ah, yes.... So you discarded this body that took you in and made you human, and took that man as your master because his power was more tempting, is that it?”

“Do not insult my master!”

Yu Gang’s hand, gripping his saber, trembled.

“Do you think he took me in with some hidden black intent like you did? Master knew perfectly well what kind of person I was, and he still passed his martial arts on to me!”

Even knowing that Yu Gang had taken up the saber not out of any love for the saber itself, but to erase the traces of Nomon—

Even after saying that without love for the saber he would not pass on martial arts, in the end he had taken Yu Gang in and stood behind him.

“He’s... not like you.”

“I see.”

Nomon let out a soft laugh.

Then his expression slowly hardened, turning cold.

“Very well. You’re right. The reason I took you in was also because you looked useful.”

Nomon’s energy gradually grew more violent.

It was as if a fierce gale were beginning to rise around him.

“If you were not the Heavenly Demon’s child, I would never have spared you a glance.”

“...What...?”

In that instant, something inside Yu Gang, who had been meeting that energy with a resolute gaze, suddenly snapped.

“You knew I was the Heavenly Demon’s child...?”

He had taken him in as a disciple because of his birth?

“Otherwise, why would I bother with some beggar brat abandoned on the street?”

Nomon chuckled to himself.

He had learned of Yu Gang’s birth purely by chance.

He had heard of it in passing during a conversation with the Blood Demon, and, having no power base of his own, he had taken Yu Gang in on the off chance of what that might bring.

“The only thing that kept me from killing you was the prospect of having to stand against the Demonic Sect. Do you really think I couldn’t kill the likes of you?”

“....”

“You are nothing at all to me.”

FWOOOSH—

Nomon swung the red arm that had sprouted where his left arm had once been.

Immediately, a blood-dark Force Aura, as if soaked in blood, surged toward Yu Gang.

Hm. You have quite a decent look in your eyes. What do you say, will you follow me to Mount Hua?

It seems there is much to teach you. First, let us correct that wastrel-like way of speaking.

...Call me Master.

Once, he had followed that man so much he had all but considered him a father.

He had honed his martial arts day and night to become a disciple he could be proud of, and he had loved Mount Hua with all his heart because it was the place that man belonged to.

As he did so, Mount Hua naturally became precious to him as well, but in the beginning, it had been solely for that man’s sake.

And yet—

[You are nothing at all to me.]

“...I see.”

What Nomon had seen in him had been nothing more than usefulness stemming from his birth.

The reason he had ultimately not killed him had been nothing but fear of repercussions from the Demonic Sect.

“From the very beginning, I was... nothing to you.”

And he had not even known that, and had gone on until now, trying to find out the reason....

Yu Gang lifted his gaze and looked at the Force Aura surging toward him.

As he stared into the energy thick with killing intent, Yu Gang’s eyes filled with deep sorrow.