Rustle, rustle...
A leaf fell slowly on the wind.
The woman caught one of the countless falling leaves.
The leaf, which should have been beautifully colored for the season, was withered and dry.
"..."
Seeing this, the woman furrowed her brow.
The leaf had lost all vitality and dried up completely. To find the reason it had become like this, the woman turned her gaze.
The reason was right in front of her.
The land leading into Sichuan. Beyond that boundary, a distant hellscape stretched out.
The forest, which must originally have been brimming with vitality, had lost its form long ago.
What was surprising was that it had taken a mere five years for the once blue-green forest of Sichuan to reach this state.
All of this was due to the influence of demonic qi.
Furthermore, this forest was also a warning to the orthodox faction.
Shortly after the demonic humans' forces drove out the Tang Clan and killed Du Bi, spreading demonic qi to turn the forest into this state held considerable meaning.
In declaring this land the territory of the Demonic Cult, at the same time—
'...It is a warning that they will not permit orthodox practitioners to cross into this land.'
Because the woman knew this meaning all too well, she couldn't help but bite her lip.
Golden eyes filled with light turned toward the withered forest, and beyond it.
The woman seemed to stare straight at something. Or perhaps she was looking into the distance, as if searching for someone.
Perhaps because of that.
She failed to notice that someone had appeared behind her.
Crunch.
At the clear presence felt immediately after, the woman heightened her senses and grabbed her sword hilt, but.
Thud.
"...!"
She couldn't draw her sword. Because another person's hand had blocked her from drawing it.
The person who stopped the woman's sword spoke to her with a slight smile.
"You seem to have many worries, Little Sword Saint."
It was an old man with conspicuously white hair.
The moment she confirmed the old man's identity, the woman suppressed her fighting spirit in surprise.
And immediately bowed her head in courtesy.
For he was someone worthy of such respect.
"...I greet Heavenly Venerable."
The old man's identity was none other than one of the Three Venerables, Heavenly Venerable.
The woman examined the clothes Heavenly Venerable wore.
"..."
They were black.
Heavenly Venerable, who had originally worn blue martial robes symbolizing the Nangong Clan, insisted on wearing such black clothes after his family was annihilated.
The Last Nangong.
That was another alias Heavenly Venerable held.
"You don't seem to have sensed my presence at all. Is something the matter?"
At his words, the woman smiled bitterly.
"I apologize."
At the words of the woman, Little Sword Saint, Heavenly Venerable stroked his beard and smiled.
"It is not something for which you must apologize to me. I merely spoke out of an old man's concern. Rather, it is I who should apologize."
"No... I was lost in thought for a moment."
At Little Sword Saint's words, Heavenly Venerable nodded slightly.
After the brief exchange of greetings, Little Sword Saint asked him with somewhat subdued eyes.
"Are you participating in this operation as well, Heavenly Venerable?"
"I am."
At his answer, Little Sword Saint bit her lip slightly.
It seemed the helper the King of Hermits had spoken of was Heavenly Venerable.
"I heard from the King of Hermits that we would depart tomorrow—was this the will of Seonuinyeo?"
Seonuinyeo was the alias of the woman currently serving as the strategist of the Martial Alliance.
"I have not heard the details, but I presume so."
At Little Sword Saint's answer, Heavenly Venerable glanced away.
It seemed he was not particularly pleased with this.
However, no rebuttal came.
Because Seonuinyeo had accomplished a great many things, even if he didn't understand, it was difficult to express dissatisfaction for the time being.
"...Will you be alright?"
This was what Little Sword Saint asked Heavenly Venerable.
Having heard the question, Heavenly Venerable looked at Little Sword Saint with strange eyes.
Then he let out a brief laugh.
Because there was no way he didn't know what she was truly asking about.
Heavenly Venerable participating in this operation meant disregarding the warning Heavenly Demon had issued previously.
Perhaps because of that, Heavenly Venerable's eyes grew somewhat cold.
"Your question—are you worried about me, or are you worried about Heavenly Demon's movements?"
At his words, deeply steeped with emotion, Little Sword Saint hurriedly spoke.
"Why, of course..."
The moment she was about to speak, Little Sword Saint bit her lip and stopped.
She had been about to say she was of course worried about Heavenly Venerable, but she realized her true feelings were not so.
The moment she realized it, Little Sword Saint deeply bowed her head to Heavenly Venerable.
"I have been discourteous... I apologize."
At those words, the aura emanating from Heavenly Venerable seemed to subside slightly.
And.
At Little Sword Saint's apology, Heavenly Venerable remained silent for a moment, then walked past her with slow steps.
Where he headed was the boundary line separating Sichuan from the outside.
Having approached the very edge of the boundary line, Heavenly Venerable spoke in a somewhat heavy voice.
"Raise your head."
"..."
"I too know what it is you worry about."
In the voice that reached her, rather than anger, there was something filled with bitterness.
"...It is truly laughable, is it not? We old men who were revered as the Three Venerables, unable to move a single step at a mere warning spat out by one person."
"..."
A mere one person.
Everyone knew how terrible a being Heavenly Demon was—more than such words could convey.
"I shall not permit the Three Venerables to set foot upon Sichuan land from now on."
Those light words had bound the feet of the Three Venerables who had reigned over the Central Plains.
The martial might shown by the being called Heavenly Demon when he appeared.
His appearance of not being pushed back in the slightest even against the Three Venerables, and his ability to create calamity with a single gesture, must have been enough to instill terror in many.
Heavenly Venerable knew all too well.
That the reason the orthodox faction and the Martial Alliance were still holding out in the Central Plains was because Heavenly Demon was not moving.
Even if his pride was shattered and demonic thoughts took root in his heart because of it.
That was the reality.
Reality does not change.
He did not know why Heavenly Demon had not moved for the past several years.
Not only the Three Venerables, but the core figures of the orthodox faction all knew.
That if Heavenly Demon truly moved in earnest, this war would have ended long ago.
Heavenly Venerable thought of that overwhelming existence.
'What in the world is it waiting for?'
A monster whose true nature could not be known.
No one knew the intentions of that thing, which could have ended everything long ago yet deliberately did not move.
It was truly a terrible situation.
He recalled Little Sword Saint's worry.
The reason he had unknowingly grown angry was because he too knew that he could not defeat Heavenly Demon.
Even if it was called support, Heavenly Venerable would not cross into Sichuan land. The plan handed down by the Alliance was so.
'Tsk, tsk.'
He sneered inwardly as he recalled it.
'Not crossing.'
How laughable those words he thought to himself were.
It was not that he wouldn't cross, but that he couldn't.
The situation of still trying to save face even having come this far was truly pathetic.
Heavenly Venerable closed his eyes.
He could see nothing.
It was as if it reflected the future ahead.
Within it, he saw a very small light.
A faint light so small and delicate that it seemed it would crumble at the slightest touch.
Seeing that, Heavenly Venerable gently opened his eyes.
And turned around.
There stood a woman with golden hair and golden eyes, just as Sword Venerable had been in his youth.
A woman who looked toward the forest of Sichuan as if something still weighed on her mind.
Though her age was approaching thirty, her body was truly frail.
In Heavenly Venerable's eyes, she seemed far too weak to bear the hope of the Central Plains, but.
She was currently the hope of the Central Plains.
"..."
Heavenly Venerable forcibly swallowed the sigh welling up within him.
The world that placed its hopes upon that small woman.
Himself who looked forward to it.
The desire for revenge that gradually encroached upon him—everything was bitter.
Heavenly Venerable erased the layers upon layers of thoughts building within him and moved his feet.
"...Let us return together."
"Yes."
At Heavenly Venerable's words, Little Sword Saint also lifted her feet.
******************
The great hall stirred at the words Mukgwon spat out.
The Martial Alliance's forces had begun gathering in a village outside Sichuan.
The meaning contained in these words was by no means insignificant.
The Demon Lord sitting upon the jade throne asked Mukgwon with eyes gleaming with an unusual light.
"Is that true?"
"Yes, Great Lord."
Eyes turned at Mukgwon's firm answer.
Faces were full of questions.
I was no different.
'What is happening all of a sudden at this time?'
The Martial Alliance had suddenly begun gathering its forces.
This was a situation that did not exist in my memory.
'Furthermore...'
Mukgwon's words kept swirling in my head.
"They say the Little Sword Saint has been sighted."
'...Why?'
Divine Sword.
No, Wi Seol-ah, who was still being called the Little Sword Saint, should not be in Sichuan at this point in time.
If Sichuan had become the territory of the demonic humans, her task was to hunt demonic humans in the remaining territories and hold her position.
Since Sichuan was strictly the position designated by Heavenly Demon, she should not have appeared there now.
'I don't understand.'
The Martial Alliance would be even more aware of this fact.
That she should not carelessly step onto such a battlefield.
In the current situation, she was the Martial Alliance's only hope.
Losing her was tantamount to losing the war.
'They're deploying Wi Seol-ah here in this situation?'
The appearance of the Divine Sword in a situation where we didn't even know what operation this was.
My head began to ache.
I had thought she wouldn't appear, at least not in battles involving Sichuan.
Yet not only were forces gathering out of nowhere, but things had turned out like this.
'From where...?'
From where on earth did this world begin to distort?
If I were to find the cause of that.
'Surely not because I appeared?'
Naturally, that was the only possibility, but I still couldn't understand.
Was it possible for things to get this twisted just because I appeared?
Though even small actions can flip situations upside down.
This was far too nonsensical.
This was as if...
'As if someone found out that a person like me appeared.'
It was as if someone had noticed this anomaly and forcibly created this situation.
I furrowed my brow and clenched my fist.
Whatever the case, the Little Sword Saint should not have appeared in the current situation.
She was the hope of this world.
'Huu...'
I recalled the woman who would be turning her back on the world with her frail frame.
It was truly a damnable karma.
The woman who must have grasped that karma with her own hands because no one else could take her place would still be small at this point in time.
'...Damn it.'
Recalling that, curses spilled out involuntarily.
The Three Venerables, who had been called the heavens of the Central Plains.
The Four Great Families, who had been called the pillars of the orthodox faction.
The Nine Sects One Union, which had protected each region and built its power.
With such existences in abundance, how had a single woman become the hope?
Moreover, why shouldn't she appear in the current situation?
I recalled the reason it had to be so and chewed my tongue raw.
And indeed.
The reason the Little Sword Saint had become the hope of the Central Plains was the power she possessed.
'...Demon Slaying.'
Because it was specialized in dealing with demonic humans.