Whoosh—
The heat radiating from the burning hall seared his skin. Yet, paying it no mind, Cheon Hwi threw himself deeper into the flames.
Watching his back, which looked as if he were willingly stepping through the gates of hell, the three women swallowed their silence.
"…It seems this time, it will continue beyond the end we saw before."
"Because we still haven't seen what happened to the Iron Blood Faction Leader."
"…"
Sensing the end drawing near, Tang So-wol, and Seol Ri-hyang, who nodded heavily, felt the weight of the approaching conclusion.
But Seomun Hwa-rin was different. As if possessed by something, she stared blankly at the blazing surroundings and at Cheon Hwi.
Was it worry over her unusual state? Seol Ri-hyang approached and carefully tugged at her sleeve.
"Sister Seomun? Are you alright?"
"…Hmm. This one is fine. It's just."
"Just?"
"Just, somehow it reminds me of something I miss yet do not wish to recall… Yes, it brings to mind the days of this one's youth."
"Ah!"
The extermination of the Seomun Clan.
Seomun Hwa-rin saw the fall of the Iron Blood Faction reflected in the scene before her.
Seol Ri-hyang silently moved her wrist, and instead of grabbing her sleeve, she took Seomun Hwa-rin's hand.
Tang So-wol added her own warmth by taking the other hand.
Only then did Seomun Hwa-rin's pale complexion return to its usual state.
"You are all kind. But this way, it is inconvenient to move, is it not? We must hurry and follow Hwi, so release me."
At Seomun Hwa-rin's words, the two let go of her hands, but they clung close, showing no intention of leaving her side.
Seomun Hwa-rin let out a bitter smile and nodded.
"Did I not say this one is fine now? …Rather, I am more worried about Hwi."
Tang So-wol and Seol Ri-hyang turned their heads at Seomun Hwa-rin's words, focusing intently.
There, beyond the main gate, stood Cheon Hwi, who had reached the only living quarters maintained within the vast Iron Blood Faction grounds.
The few servants lay dead, collapsed facing Cheon Hwi's direction, as if they had died while fleeing.
The other martial artists of the Iron Blood Faction lay tangled together with a black-clad intruder, their eyes closed in death.
They were not people he had been close to. But he had exchanged greetings with them in passing, and knew at least their names.
No one had survived.
"…"
Cheon Hwi gritted his teeth in silence. At this point in time, Cheon Hwi's expressions rarely changed, but even a blank face had its varieties.
A hollow grief, but swallowed whole by anger and impatience.
The energy wave felt from afar was still fierce. It meant the Iron Blood Faction Leader was still fighting the intruders.
His martial arts were shallow, but Cheon Hwi's Qi Sense was exceptional — there was no way he wouldn't know this.
"It's not too late yet."
Shing.
A certain resolve settled in Cheon Hwi's eyes as he drew his sword.
As if he could no longer contain his killing intent, he unleashed it in all directions and used his footwork to press deeper into the fray.
At this point, the remaining intruders — the martial artists of the Black Heaven Sword Gate — would have no choice but to notice Cheon Hwi as well.
Those searching for survivors of the Iron Blood Faction in the burning hall suddenly flinched at the killing intent drawing near and turned around.
"An enemy! There's still one alive!"
"Kill him! He's a servant of our enemy!"
"Don't let him interfere with the sect leader!"
The martial artists of the Black Heaven Sword Gate rushed at Cheon Hwi, each brandishing their weapon.
Their numbers were far from small, but the martial level of each individual was not high. Nor was there anyone among them capable of commanding such a force.
It was an awkward sight, as if all the experts had been pulled away somewhere else.
Of course, lacking in martial level did not mean lacking in poison energy.
Those who had lost family or sworn brothers to the Iron Blood Faction Leader's hands.
They charged at Cheon Hwi with desperate fury, seeking to vent their grudges. And then—
Swerch.
In the order they charged, their necks were severed, their hearts pierced, and they collapsed to the ground.
Having trained under the Iron Blood Faction Leader, Cheon Hwi's martial art had already reached a considerable level.
Among Peak Realm martial artists, those who could face him with a sword could be counted on one hand.
Yet how could these men, numerous in number but far inferior in martial level, hope to cut down Cheon Hwi?
Before the overwhelming gap in skill, they fell without even managing to slice a single corner of his robe.
Some charged in with even greater fury, some fled in terror, and some, having already rushed forward, begged for their lives too late.
Cheon Hwi simply kept his eyes wide open, as if determined to remember all of it, and cut them all down.
And so the road that had been filled with the corpses of Iron Blood Faction members became a road paved with the bodies of Black Heaven Sword Gate martial artists.
The blood-soaked path broke off for a moment, and the place he arrived at was the garden the Iron Blood Faction Leader had favored.
The rest of the Iron Blood Faction was heavily damaged, but the garden's devastation was on another level.
The melted snow had mixed with blood to form a muddy mire, and the halls were smashed as if a massive boulder had fallen upon them.
The corpses of Black Heaven Sword Gate martial artists were scattered in every direction, and even those that remained intact were so badly mutilated that it was rare to find one in one piece.
But there was one place that remained perfectly untouched.
The center of the garden. The area around the camellia tree that the Iron Blood Faction Leader had boasted about with an excited voice, saying the flowers would bloom soon, was exactly like that.
Snow piled up thickly, as if the flames had never touched it. A camellia tree in full bloom with red flowers. …And the Iron Blood Faction Leader, kneeling, staring blankly up at it.
Before Cheon Hwi could go to help, the Iron Blood Faction Leader's fight had already ended. And it had ended in her victory, no less.
But that victory had not come without a price.
"Ah."
A hollow sigh, as if her breath had been caught in her throat.
The Iron Blood Faction Leader's condition was severe enough to draw such a reaction from Cheon Hwi.
One arm had been cut, her leg was bent in a direction it should never bend, and no fewer than five swords were embedded in her small frame.
In a situation where death would not have been surprising, Cheon Hwi rushed over urgently.
"Iron Blood Faction Leader!"
Was it Cheon Hwi's voice that she heard? Or had the piled snow, kicked up by his feet, startled her back to her senses?
The Iron Blood Faction Leader, who had been barely clinging to breath, turned her head with great effort to look at Cheon Hwi.
A dim gaze as the flame of life flickered out. Above it, a hint of gladness.
"You… came."
"…Yes. Wait just a moment. I will treat you right now."
"It is fine. This is not something that can be cured with treatment."
"Don't say such things. I have to do something, don't I?"
Despite the Iron Blood Faction Leader's resigned reaction, Cheon Hwi stubbornly shook his head and examined her.
He pulled out the embedded sword and used Acupoint Sealing to stop the bleeding. Her broken leg couldn't be fixed right now, but he adjusted its angle so it wouldn't be damaged further.
Cheon Hwi did his best to save the Iron Blood Faction Leader, but… he discovered it before long.
The large hole pierced through her chest. A violent sword wound that had torn away the place where her heart should have been, leaving nothing behind.
With this, no matter how much he stopped the bleeding or poured in the finest medicinal herbs, survival was a distant hope.
As Cheon Hwi froze, unable to accept this, the Iron Blood Faction Leader gave him a faint smile.
"Blood Wolf. What became of the Ghost Sound Witch?"
"…I saw her through to the end."
"That is some comfort. I too will soon meet the same fate, but it is not a bad feeling to see your face one last time."
The sight of her trying so hard to reassure him only twisted Cheon Hwi's face further.
Tang So-wol, who had been watching in hushed silence, finally spoke with a deep sigh.
"This is too much. No matter how ruthless the martial world is, how could you—"
"…So-wol, you may not understand. This is simply the way of Clan Extermination. The servant girl who was chattering yesterday about how soft her hair was—she took her own life after being humiliated. The gatekeeper who used to pretend not to notice when I snuck out—he lay there with his entrails spilled out."
"Sister Hwa-rin…"
"My brother, who was so proud of his martial arts, and my sister—both had their heads cut off without a chance to fight back. And my father, who seemed so mighty, knelt before our enemies and begged them to spare my life."
Seomun Hwa-rin continued speaking, her eyes unfocused as if she were looking at something far beyond Cheon Hwi standing before her.
"Everything that once brought me joy or anger has crumbled into meaninglessness. The goal I chased my entire life now lies worthless at my feet. And so a whole world collapses completely. That is what I know as Clan Extermination."
Having said that, Seomun Hwa-rin's gaze refocused on Cheon Hwi. Kinship. And pity.
Unaware that she was now looking at Cheon Hwi with the same eyes as the Iron Blood Faction Leader, a camellia flower fell.
Not a petal—a whole blossom dropped at once, an unusual sight.
The Iron Blood Faction Leader, who had been quietly watching this, opened his mouth.
"Blood Wolf."
"Yes."
"Though I am about to die, you will survive. Even if I have come to this state, ———— is dead. All that remains are those who are at best your equal, or weaker."
Midway through, the name of what seemed to be the leader of the intruders became blurred as if shrouded in fog, and could not be heard.
Seomun Hwa-rin, who had been committing this to memory separately, heard the Iron Blood Faction Leader's final words.
"So run. Should you not preserve your life?"
"You know that I value my life more than anyone, yet you speak thus."
"Yes. That was so."
The Iron Blood Faction Leader nodded with a somewhat weakened voice.
Because he was gazing at the camellia flower fallen upon the snow, the Iron Blood Faction Leader seemed not to have noticed… but the three women watching all of this from afar had perceived it.
Cheon Hwi was lying right now. And he was barely swallowing the burning desire for revenge.
"Just so you know, do not entertain any thoughts of revenge. ———— ultimately died by my hand, so there is no one left for you, Blood Wolf, to take vengeance upon."
"Why would I burden myself with someone else's revenge when my own life was never even threatened?"
A lie. A blood-red light was already rippling across Cheon Hwi's eyes.
Qi Deviation had already begun. His mind had long since been filled with the thought of cutting down those who had made the Iron Blood Faction what it was.
But he held back. Because the time he had left with the Iron Blood Faction Leader — so little of it remained — was more precious than revenge.
Seomun Hwa-rin swallowed unconsciously at that heavy resolve. The Iron Blood Faction Leader, unaware of any of it, reached out toward the camellia flower fallen upon the ground.
"…Then this is my final request. Do not remember me as I am now."
The Iron Blood Faction Leader carefully lifted a single camellia flower and gazed at it quietly before continuing.
"I once said that youth is like a blooming flower. Its meaning is…"
"A time that shines like a flower. The most beautiful period of one's life, is it not?"
"…Correct. You remember well."
The Iron Blood Faction Leader nodded with pride at Cheon Hwi, who now showed signs of having studied his letters well.
But the three women who had watched over Cheon Hwi throughout that compressed time knew the truth.
That Cheon Hwi had memorized the phrase about blooming youth not through diligent study, but because he remembered the voice filled with regret in which the Iron Blood Faction Leader had taught it to him.
"Blood Wolf. No, Cheon Hwi. Do not remember my death. Instead, I ask only that you remember the happy memories we shared together."
"I shall. No matter how long it takes, the Iron Blood Faction Leader… my master, you will be remembered by me as a single camellia flower."
"Master, is it. A little regrettable, but not bad. Yes. Not bad at all…"
With those words, the Iron Blood Faction Leader's voice gradually fades. And then.
Thud.
Her head droops limply, like a falling petal at the moment it drops. The camellia flower that slipped from her hand rolls across the snow.
Perhaps it was because the flow of qi had also reached its end as her life was severed. The blood that had been blocked around Seomun Hwa-rin's wound begins to flow out.
A vivid red stain blooming on the white snow.
Cheon Hwi quietly watched that figure, which resembled a camellia flower.
Endlessly. As if something had broken within him. Or as if he were carving something deep into his chest.
Yet this did not last long.
The remaining martial artists of the Black Heaven Sword Gate, having learned of the Iron Blood Faction Leader's death and realizing that Cheon Hwi was not in his right mind, began to swarm in.
This time, the group included several experts who had been facing the Iron Blood Faction Leader, though they were injured.
They possessed martial levels similar to or slightly below his own, and he was even outnumbered, but Cheon Hwi paid it no mind.
He simply staggered to his feet and pointed his sword.
"Come."
The eyes of Cheon Hwi as he spoke were dyed in unmistakable bloodlight.
It was at that moment that Seomun Hwa-rin, who had been watching all of this unfold, guessed the source of Cheon Hwi's killing intent and let out a bitter smile.
"Hm?"
The sense of dissonance that had been building since the hall caught fire suddenly surged violently, throwing her senses into chaos.
And then, in that instant, she spotted the satisfied smile hanging on the Iron Blood Faction Leader's lips.
The thick fog in Seomun Hwa-rin's mind scattered, and the face that had been hidden behind it came into view.
"…!"
A face that looked exactly like her own. The moment she recognized it, emotions that were hers yet not hers came flooding in like a tide.
How Seomun Hwa-rin had failed, the countless regrets she had felt since becoming the Iron Blood Faction Leader, and even the world that had been changing ever since she met Cheon Hwi.
She knew his indecisiveness—how, even after holding Cheon Hwi in his heart, he couldn't bring himself to reveal it because he was too content with the present.
She understood, too, the feelings that drove him to commit reckless acts without realizing it, unable to contain himself.
Above all, she finally understood why those words—"I will remember you as a single camellia flower, along with the phrase 'blooming youth'"—had made her so happy.
Seomun Hwa-rin had experienced Clan Extermination. She knew better than anyone what it felt like to be the sole survivor.
And so, at the final moment of her life, seeing Cheon Hwi endure the same ordeal she had, she found herself asking.
In the life that remains ahead of you, what kind of person will I be remembered as?
Just as her past self had been, she didn't want to remain a painful memory.
Even if the place where hands are held, shoulders brushed together, and futures are spoken of wasn't hers to have, that was fine.
As long as Cheon Hwi didn't suffer every time he thought of her, that was enough.
And so, she hoped he would forget all grudges and remember only the happiest of days.
Cheon Hwi had given Seomun Hwa-rin the answer she had wished for, and thanks to that, she should have been able to face death with a smile. But—
"…Foolish thing."
At the sensation of her heart being squeezed, Seomun Hwa-rin unconsciously clutched her chest.
Even a martial artist of the Harmony Realm could not overcome this, and tears fell drop by drop from her eyes.
Through her blurred, tear-filled vision, she watched Cheon Hwi dance his sword, brimming with killing intent.
It had all been a lie.
He had told her to forget, hoping that Cheon Hwi would not suffer, but Cheon Hwi had embraced even that pain, cherishing it as something precious.
Cheon Hwi swung his sword until no one remained alive in the Iron Blood Faction, yet his vengeance was far from over.
Perhaps because he had fallen into Qi Deviation, his memories were riddled with gaps as if cut away in the middle, and time flew past in a blur.
Even so, one thing was certain.
Killing intent.
Cheon Hwi's killing intent only grew thicker with each passing day, and as if keeping his word, he sought out those connected to his enemies one by one and slaughtered them all.
Blood and death never ceased, and Cheon Hwi, already trapped in Qi Deviation, began to crumble even further.
"I told you to forget, precisely because of this."
Watching a person descend into madness was exhausting in itself.
The reckless charge that threw his head into danger without a care for his own life. The indiscriminate slaughter, as if he had forgotten everything he had ever learned.
Normally, someone rampaging like this would soon have their qi and blood twisted, their movements growing simple, and they would be cut down by another martial artist, meeting the end of their rampage.
But Cheon Hwi's sword only shone brighter amidst the killing intent.
His innate talent refused to accept a mediocre death.
And so he cut, and cut again, and by killing everyone even remotely connected to his enemies, Cheon Hwi severed the chain of karmic debt.
Forged in the flames of rage and quenched in blood, Cheon Hwi's sword became sharp beyond recognition.
Before he knew it, he had crossed the wall of the Peak Realm and reached the Transcendent Peak…
As if a man had become a sword, he lost the expressions and emotions he had so painstakingly learned.
After finishing all his revenge, Cheon Hwi returned blankly to the tomb of the Ghost Sound Witch and the Iron Blood Faction Leader, and before him appeared a man of massive build.
"They say a man is called a Sword Demon if he carries nothing in his heart but a single sword."
"…"
"So. How does it feel to have become a Sword Demon?"
"…"
The moment the silent Cheon Hwi slightly parted his lips.
As if someone had grabbed them by the back and pulled, the bodies of the three women suddenly began to be sucked up into the sky.
"He cuts off at such an odd place again…!"
Cheon Hwi, who had done what he was told not to do. He woke from the bell's dream along with Seomun Hwa-rin's pouty remark, spoken because she hadn't been able to hear his answer.
And then he realized.
"Hic!"
If the Iron Blood Faction Leader was Seomun Hwa-rin herself.
Then the undergarment thief was also…
"Heek!"
Though she had woken from the dream, Seomun Hwa-rin, unable to bring herself to open her eyes, writhed in shame.
Her writhing form was utterly pathetic.