Thousand Venoms Empress Cheondok Hwang clenched her teeth, blood smearing the corner of her lips.
"Now that you've slaughtered everyone I raised… is your temper satisfied, Hyeolgeom Gunju?!"
Gunju crossed his arms, his posture relaxed but his eyes sharp.
"I don't give a damn about satisfaction.Once I decide something or someone needs to be erased, I follow through. If I don't, the taste in my mouth turns sour.And I hate bad taste."
Cheondok Hwang's body trembled not from fear, but from rage.
"You speak like you're the Heavenly Demon himself!" she snapped. "What happened to you, Gunju? The sweet, quiet boy who used to follow rules and smile at flowers?But now you're arrogant and evil!"
Gunju stared at her. Then, like a sudden crack of thunder, he burst into a wide, manic grin and laughed.
"Ha?" he snorted."Did you just say 'evil'? Pwahaha—pffAHAHAHAHA!"
His laughter echoed across the ruined sect like a curse.
"STOP LAUGHING!" she roared, releasing a wave of pure Qi, so sharp and violent that every bird in the surrounding forest took flight in terror.
But Gunju didn't flinch.
He stopped laughing. His expression shifted.
Dark. Hollow. Merciless.
His pupils vanished, overtaken by a deep crimson glow.
His Blood Eyes activated—at full stage five.
The aura that radiated from him was no longer human.Cheondok Hwang's breath hitched.
For the first time in a century… she felt hunted.
She turned—and realized it wasn't just him.
The entire Blood Blade Sect began to advance, silent and coordinated,Blades. Spears. Glowing red eyes.
Even the assassins hidden in the treetops—eyes shimmering like hellish specters—descended like wolves.
It was too much.
Too many of them she felt like a small rabbit surrounded by Thousands of wolfs.
"I…I…don't want to die."She turned her head and ran.
A sudden silence fell behind her.
They weren't following.
"Huh…why…they're not following me?"
Hyeolgeom Gunju stepped forward.
His voice, calm as a judge's verdict:
"She's mine."
The order was clear and No one interferes.
Meanwhile, deep within the forest…
Thousand Venoms Empress Cheondok Hwang ran like a hunted animal. Her breath came in sharp, ragged gasps, her heart pounding louder than the thunder of her own steps.
She had never been afraid—not once in her life—except when standing before the Heavenly Demon himself. But this?
This was something different.
Raw. Uncontrolled. Cold-blooded fear.
"Damn it… where do I run? Who do I turn to?!"
Her mind raced as fast as her legs.
"The Third Pillar? No… that monk bastard would betray me the moment I turn my back.
The Fourth? Fifth? Tch—those freaks are worse than me.
The Sixth… yes! The Widow Saint. Maybe she'll help. She always loved manipulating men. Maybe she can seduce Gunju… or distract him… or something."
But then another thought struck her—hard.
What if she teams up with Gunju to bury me?
That silence… that creeping dread in her spine…
Was this how her victims felt?
The terrified girls she poisoned?
The assassins she crushed beneath orders?
The servants who died for her amusement?
Faces flashed in her mind—contorted in fear, pain, and helpless, trembling respect.
"No way… No way in hell!"
She froze in place.
The forest behind her was silent.No one was following.
"Is this a trap?" she whispered. Her voice cracked.
She wrapped her arms around herself. Her skin crawled. Her breath hitched.
Something inside her mind twisted and snapped—like a child screaming from the dark corners of her memory.
It had been four hundred years.And still, she remembered it.The betrayal.
She slammed her forehead against a tree trunk,blood trickling down her face.
"Maybe if I poison myself again, I'll forget," she muttered, smiling through cracked lips."Maybe I can drown this fear."
But every step forward made her legs heavier—like the weight of a thousand corpses was dragging her back.Every soul she killed.Every life she ruined.
They were here now.
Whispering. Weeping. Clawing.
And behind all of it, she felt his presence.
That bastard.
"No. I won't die like this.Not like this!"
She started walking again—faster, then faster still, half-running downhill.
There was a bridge ahead.If she could cross it, maybe she could lure him there.
Maybe she could double back, follow the stream, and disappear into the caves.
She had to live.Because dying now would mean admitting she was nothing more than prey.
"Like hell I'll let him treat me like prey!"
Cheondok skidded to a stop, panting, her teeth clenched.
She turned sharply, staring back into the forest she'd just fled from.
Running? From a brat? From someone decades younger?Insulting. Humiliating. Unforgivable.
Then she saw him.
Hyeolgeom Gunju.
Standing at the top of a tree.Arms crossed.That crooked, amused smile on his lips.
"My, oh my… seeing you like this is hilarious," he called out casually."The mighty Thousand Venoms Empress… running like a scared girl?"
"Don't call me weak!" she roared.
She slammed her palm into the trunk beside her—shattering it in a single blow. Bark exploded, and the tree toppled behind her with a crack.
Gunju sighed theatrically as he stepped off the branch.
The leaves from every tree around them shivered, then peeled off, swirling like petals and shaping a stair beneath his feet as he slowly descended.
Her fists curled so tight her nails cut her palms.
When he touched the ground, she was already there.
She launched herself forward—a blur of poison and vengeance, her nails sharp and slick with toxins, aiming for his neck.
Gunju didn't even raise his head.
He tilted it slightly, just enough to dodge.
"Oh? You're still fast," he said.
Behind them, the force of her missed strike rippled through the forest—trees twisted, leaves blackened from the venom in her Qi.
Then Gunju finally looked up.
His eyes…Black sclera. Crimson pupils.The grin that followed made her stomach twist.
He stepped in and—Punched her.
It was slow. Simple. A lazy motion.
"What's that weak-ass punch supposed to do?" she scoffed.
Then it landed.
And suddenly it felt like a thousand fists exploded inside her gut all at once.
"GUGHH!"
Blood splattered from her lips.Her world slowed—the trees warped, the air froze.
She could hear her heartbeat.She could hear the crack of her ribs.She could see her own feet lift off the ground.
As her body flung backward, she saw him again.
Not Gunju.
But him.
The man she swore she'd never remember.
His robes… of the Tang Clan.His expression… soft, almost sad.Blood on his lips.
"Brother…?" she whispered.