Zhuge Inhwi resolved that he must take Tang Sohwa to the Hall of Four Seasons (Sagye Hall).He had to personally read those thoughts trapped in that abyss.Yet instead of showing his confusion, he spoke calmly.“Then please wait as well, Young Lady Tang. I also cannot return leaving the Alliance Leader behind. And for that matter, I cannot send only Young Lady Tang and the Young Clan Head ahead to headquarters. It is because the Blood Cult kidnapped Young Lady Tang that we came this far. We do not know what might happen on the road the two of you take, and we cannot split our strength by sending people to accompany Young Lady Tang.”Tang Sohwa took one step back.“I will wait for only a quarter of an hour.”And immediately she bared an edge again.“But after a quarter of an hour, I will leave even if you say so.”Zhuge Inhwi was about to say that even a quarter of an hour would not do.“Administrator.”If Namgung Jin had not interposed.The Namgung Young Clan Head, smiling as if he had no intent to fight, blocked Zhuge Inhwi’s front.“We will move.”At the tactless words, Zhuge Inhwi’s head turned toward the Young Clan Head.He chattered in a bright voice as if he felt nothing at all.“In truth, we did not come out from headquarters, so we are under no obligation to be screened at Sagye Hall, are we? It is not as if those at headquarters permitted us to leave, either.”Namgung Jin, with his characteristic upright voice, ignored the pressure of the Sagye Hall Administrator.“And is there not the Hubei Branch near headquarters? We will take Young Clan Head Tang Hak to the Medical Division of the Hubei Branch for urgent treatment, and by the time you arrive, we will bring him back to headquarters.”Before Zhuge Inhwi could answer, Namgung Jin added sensitive words.“If we go to the Hubei Branch, the Tang Clan will not receive needless suspicion either. Wudang and the Zhuge family are at the Hubei Branch.”As soon as Namgung Jin stepped in, Tang Sohwa turned the conversation as it was.“Upon arriving at the Hubei Branch, I will request support. We will send people here.”“Ah, Young Lady Tang, there is no need. We already requested support from the Branch on the way. By the time you and I reach the Branch, the support will have arrived here.”At those words, Tang Sohwa’s gaze moved to the side.“You are still quick in judgment.”Namgung Jin gave a bitter smile and shrugged.“Yes. People do not change easily.”It seemed to be a conversation only the two of them could understand.The Tang clan’s eldest daughter and the Namgung clan’s eldest son exchanged looks and toyed with the power-holder of headquarters standing before them.The energy of Namgung Hyun, standing behind them, also sank into darkness.The Sagye Hall Administrator, his head growing complicated, swallowed a deep sigh.Fortunately, fortune was on the Administrator’s side.Zhuge Inhwi sensed the passage opening behind his back.Wind blew through the great cleft in the rock.Ssshhhh.And he also felt the aura of those standing before him change.Particularly, Tang Sohwa’s energy froze cold.Perhaps the Alliance Leader had crossed; Wu So rejoiced greatly.“Alliance Leader! What on earth happened?”“It is a relief to see you seem uninjured.”“……But why are even those Blood Cult bastards who were sprawled around gone?”Those who had waited for the Alliance Leader each threw out a question, but no answer came from the Alliance Leader.He walked straight this way.Thud.Zhuge Inhwi lowered his head to the ground. It was because the Alliance Leader had thrown something. From the dull sound, it seemed a wooden block.“Do you know what this is?”If the Alliance Leader’s question had been aimed at Tang Sohwa, she answered.“It is a mokham.”A brief silence flowed.In that instant, countless ripples passed between the two.Yet Zhuge Inhwi could not understand the situation.After quite a while, the Alliance Leader spoke in a low voice.“It seemed to be yours, so I picked it up.”“It is not mine.”“Really? It looks like a case for pills, and is there not only you here who makes pills?”“Well now. It seems there are more elders behind you, Alliance Leader, who would be the ones to take pills; is it not stranger that you suspect me out of the blue?”Tang Sohwa cheekily batted aside the suspicion.Yet that voice trembled subtly.The Alliance Leader looked like he had much more to ask, but he swallowed his words.It was because the Tang Clan Head stepped in front of the Alliance Leader, pointing to his daughter.“Alliance Leader, why on earth are you only returning now?”Though he seemed worried, the Tang Clan Head’s force was fierce. It seemed he was not the only one who thought a troubling conversation had gone back and forth.“I went to take care of all the Blood Cult bastards. Just in case they might cross the passage.”“Did you not say the Blood Cult people would never chase as far as the Central Plains, Alliance Leader?”Perhaps worried by the Alliance Leader’s silence, Wu So entered the conversation.“……Alliance Leader, are you all right?”The Alliance Leader drew in a great breath and, like exhaling a sigh, spoke.“Let us talk after we go back first. Have you not all grown very weary?”There was no strength in the Alliance Leader’s voice.But hardly had the Alliance Leader said to go back when Tang Sohwa moved.As Tang Sohwa supported Tang Hak, Namgung Hyun, who had been silent all along, moved swiftly as well and instead moved Tang Hak to the cart.At that sight, the Namgung martial men glanced among themselves, and the Alliance Leader called the Young Clan Head.“Young Clan Head Namgung Jin.”Namgung Jin, having been about to go to the cart, turned his body.“Yes, Alliance Leader.”“You crossed the formation as well, so you must be screened. And as soon as the screening is over, let us talk together. There is something to say to everyone.”“Yes. I will do so.”When Namgung Jin agreed, the Alliance Leader immediately turned his head and examined the party one by one.“Everyone is safe…….”As if tension were releasing, the Alliance Leader rubbed his face with his hand.The Alliance Leader at last set out.“The conversation will not take long, so let us finish quickly and rest well.”Following him at the head, all began to walk toward Wuhan.Though they had crossed life and death together and completed the task, a troubling wall had arisen among them.They merely held their tongues for a moment out of respect for the Alliance Leader.They meant to wait until then, since the Alliance Leader had said he would speak after they returned.They believed the Alliance Leader would soon tell them what had happened in there.Thus the gate of the Martial Alliance headquarters, which had long been on the lips of gossips, opened once more and silently embraced those who had returned.***If one belonged to the martial world, one had heard at least once about the Martial Alliance’s Hall of Four Seasons (Sagye Hall).Considering that most would have no occasion to visit it in a lifetime, it was a place excessively famous.Yet contrary to its fame, its structure was very simple.Sagye Hall was only four pavilions in all. Even those were low pavilions enough that the sky fell straight into the eyes.Coming out of the Hall of Screening (Chuhyeon Hall), Tang Sohwa lowered her gaze.The surroundings were very quiet. It was because, aside from Chuhyeon Hall, everything had been vacated.Even those stationed in Chuhyeon Hall were not many.The Sagye Hall Administrator had grandly called it screening, but it was nothing much. They pressed hot fire to face and arms, then showed a few characters and told them to pronounce them, then cut fingernails and hair and took them.They said they would isolate and examine one by one, but it was a procedure so simple one could not tell why they had bothered to separate them.Sohwa stood still in front of Chuhyeon Hall.Seeing that she alone was standing here, it seemed she had been the first to be screened.The Alliance Leader had told everyone to wait, saying he had something to say as soon as the screening ended.Creak.Just then, she heard the sound of a door opening. They had clearly said they had emptied Sagye Hall so others could not make contact.Sohwa turned her gaze to where the sound had come.Thereupon, the signboard inscribed “Hall of Reports (Hahyeon Hall)” fell into her eyes.Hahyeon Hall was the place where one reported conflicts in the Branch or something secret.It was where many pieces of information gathered, including the Alliance members’ disgrace, and the place where, once, Namgung Hyun had been seconded.A man was buried in the shadow of Hahyeon Hall.Hair fallen over his shoulders made one recognize him from a far distance.Sohwa looked at him and opened her mouth.“Administrator, will you not be screened?”“The Alliance Leader and I were screened first. We had to confirm how the screening is conducted.”“Then where is the Alliance Leader?”“He went to offer incense.”'Offer incense…'At behavior that did not depart from expectation, Sohwa swallowed a hollow laugh.She asked, with a sneer.“Did you not say we cannot leave Sagye Hall until the conversation is over?”Zhuge Inhwi’s lips curved.“The Alliance Leader is in Sagye Hall. After going out, he always offers incense first, and perhaps because it has become a habit, he said he would go to the Hall of Mediation (Chunhyeon Hall) first and offer incense.”Tang Sohwa wore a smile of unknown meaning.“Will it have meaning to offer incense where there is not even a spirit tablet?”“Meaning is found in the heart, not the place, so it would not matter.”Chunhyeon Hall was the conference hall that mediated conflicts of Alliance members. If compared to the Sichuan Tang Clan, something like Cheongso Hall. To say one would find a reverent mind in a place where all manner of conversations went back and forth was absurd.Yet the Sagye Hall Administrator seemed to understand the Alliance Leader’s mind.Tang Sohwa realized that the Administrator knew nothing. Therefore, she also answered as if she knew nothing.“Then we must not go to Chunhyeon Hall now.”“Yes. I would be grateful if you would do so.”Soon the Sagye Hall Administrator brought out the hidden main point.“Would you speak with me in the meantime?”The Administrator turned his head to the east.“You must be tired; let us go to the Hall of Punishment (Donghyeon Hall) and sit and talk.”“Must we go to Donghyeon Hall?”Hahyeon Hall contained secret information, and Chuhyeon Hall held the Alliance members receiving screening, so the only place left was Donghyeon Hall.Yet Donghyeon Hall was the place where one punished Alliance members who did not follow the decisions that came out of Chunhyeon Hall.It was disquieting to enter there alone with the master of Sagye Hall.When Sohwa did not move, the Administrator urged her with a smile.“All places in Sagye Hall are such, but Donghyeon Hall in particular does not let sound leak out.”It was the place that made those who had once been comrades into criminals; there was no way sound would leak out. It would be the place where the greatest care had been taken to block sound.The Sagye Hall Administrator, as if considering her, added:“It will be a place where Young Lady Tang can speak at ease.”Sohwa’s brow narrowed. Perhaps seeing even that subtle movement, the Administrator responded at once.“I wish to converse with you not as the Sagye Hall Administrator but merely as a Central Plains man with curiosity. I am ready to hear whatever Young Lady Tang says; you may think of it as reporting anonymously.”Sohwa smiled.“It seems the Administrator considers me a Blood Cult spy.”“No.”In an instant, all sound of the surroundings disappeared. It had already been a quiet place, but the flow of the air felt muffled, as if cotton had been stuffed in the ears.Over that stillness, a voice cold as first snow settled.“I know that you are a member of the Blood Cult.”“You have grasped the wrong person.”When Sohwa cut off the misunderstanding, the Administrator gave a small laugh.“You have only not yet chosen. You can become the Blood Cult’s hands and feet at any time, can you not?”At Zhuge Inhwi’s words, Sohwa closed her mouth.She had thought he knew nothing, yet he acted as if he knew something.Taking the measure of Sohwa’s silence, Zhuge Inhwi spoke in a calm voice.“Hahyeon Hall receives many stories you do not know. Recently, information strangely uncanny was collected, and by that much, your name, Young Lady Tang, has reached my ears often.”Darkness fell over Zhuge Inhwi’s blue-gray eyes. With a voice as dark as that, he spoke.“Likely, when today’s screening ends, the Alliance members will demand that your tracks be made ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) clear. Young Lady Tang will have to endlessly prove for a time that you are not on the Blood Cult’s side.”Zhuge Inhwi, as if to say it was her choice, looked intently at Sohwa.“Before that, I am giving you a chance.”With a neat voice, as if to entice her, he carefully proposed:“A chance to make me protect you.”

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