Thud—!

Noh Seon, who had exchanged dozens of blows, collapsed the moment Namgoong Mucheon struck the back of his neck.

The elders of Mount Hua could not believe their eyes.

They could not understand what was happening.

“Will you explain this...?”

Noh Il stepped forward and asked Namgoong Mucheon.

Namgoong Mucheon looked down at Noh Seon and spoke.

“It is a spell called hypnosis—a type of suggestion, you could say. Once the spell is triggered, one loses reason and attacks others indiscriminately. And...”

Namgoong Mucheon turned to face the elders.

“All of you are under this spell.”

“!”

The elders of Mount Hua were struck with shock.

They had heard of spells, but the term “hypnosis” was unfamiliar.

A spell that manipulated a person’s mind to make them act in specific ways?

That such a thing was cast on all of them?

“Who... could have done something like this...?”

“That, I do not know. I thought it might be one of you—but that seems unlikely now.”

Namgoong Mucheon raised his sword toward the elders.

“That explanation should suffice. I will now undo the hypnosis on each of you, one by one. As for who the culprit is, we can find that out after we save your disciples.”

“!”

The disciples!

The disciples who had gone out into Mount Hua to search for the herb.

The elders’ faces turned pale.

Could it be that the hypnosis spell had been placed on the disciples as well?

“The longer we delay, the more danger your disciples will be in. Are you going to just leave them like this?”

Urged by Namgoong Mucheon, Noh Il stepped forward.

There were many things he could not understand, but these were the words of the Heavenly Dragon Sword Emperor, and it concerned the lives of their disciples.

Moreover, even the Sect Leader seemed to have known about this situation—there was no choice now but to believe.

“I will go.”

Tap—!

Noh Il stepped up onto the sparring platform.

Just as Namgoong Mucheon approached to inject internal energy into him—

Piiiiiiiiiiii—

A sharp whistle rang out from somewhere.

A piercing sound that seemed to rip through the ears.

“!”

Namgoong Mucheon withdrew his hand from Noh Il and took a step back.

He turned his gaze toward the gathered elders.

‘...Damn.’

The hypnosis had activated.

All of them.

The elders drew their swords.

The sound of sharp blades echoed throughout the Mount Hua sparring ground.

‘This might actually be quicker.’

Namgoong Mucheon gripped his sword firmly.

Now that it had come to this, he would subdue the elders quickly and then—

Whoosh—!

“!”

An unexpected situation unfolded.

Noh Il, under hypnosis, charged not at Namgoong Mucheon but at the fallen Noh Seon.

‘No, you don’t!’

Thud—

Namgoong Mucheon struck the back of his neck in an instant, suppressing him. However—

Tap—tatap! Ta-at—!

The moment Namgoong Mucheon turned his gaze, the elders scattered in different directions and began to flee.

“!”

The possibility that those under hypnosis might try to escape had not even occurred to him, and it caught him off guard.

‘They are targeting the disciples of Mount Hua.’

Tap—!

Namgoong Mucheon quickly dashed after the scattering elders.

****

The resistance of those controlled by hypnosis was formidable. Just because they were under a spell did not mean their combat ability diminished—in fact, it became even trickier as they attacked blindly and without restraint.

Thud—!

“Do not kill them! We cannot let them die!”

“Subdue them! Aim for the back of the neck!”

Clang—! Clang!

That the hypnosis might trigger mid-mission had been anticipated. The Black Dragon Division and the squads joining Namgoong Mugang had already been given instructions for this scenario.

However—

Thud—

After felling one first-generation disciple under hypnosis, Seolhwa glanced around at the chaos.

‘We were discovered too soon.’

How had they figured out the plan so quickly?

At this time, the first-generation disciples should not have even reached their assigned areas yet.

If all of them had already fallen under hypnosis—

‘There are not enough people to fight them.’

The level of the first-generation disciples surpassed even the Black Dragon Division.

Especially disciples like Yu Baek, accompanied by the Black Dragon Division Leader, who was a supreme-level master. A few Black Dragon members would not be enough to handle them.

Clang—! Clang!

Was it a mistake after all?

Should they have done as Namgoong Mucheon said and secured more support?

‘At this rate...’

Rustle.

“!”

While fending off a first-generation disciple under hypnosis, someone attacked Seolhwa from behind.

Whether it was because they had deliberately masked their presence, or because Seolhwa had been lost in thought—she realized it too late.

‘I have to dodge—’

Whoosh—

The disciple in front swung their sword at her. If she dodged, the one approaching from behind would take the full force of the blow.

To make things worse, the one behind was also a Mount Hua disciple under hypnosis.

‘What should I...’

Unable to decide, Seolhwa instinctively raised her sword to block the frontal attack.

“My lady!”

Thud—!

The one behind her collapsed.

At the same time, Seolhwa deflected the incoming sword and spun around to strike the back of the other disciple’s neck.

Two Mount Hua disciples fell.

“My lady...!”

“Ryeong.”

“The hypnosis... the spell... haah... it’s spreading to all of them...!”

“I know. But—how did you find me?”

Ryeong had been instructed to return to Seolhwa’s side if the hypnosis was triggered.

But in the chaos, that had seemed all but impossible.

Catching her breath, Ryeong replied.

“While I was searching for you, I noticed some Mount Hua disciples under hypnosis were moving in the same direction.”

“...Moving?”

“Yes. I subdued them as I went, but the further I went...”

Clang—! Thud—!

Another disciple of Mount Hua who had been approaching from behind Ryeong collapsed under Seolhwa’s sword.

Only then did Seolhwa realize it.

“So I was the target.”

What they had been after—was her.

All the events at Mount Hua flashed through her mind.

The cuckoo’s cries. The infiltrators who had so brazenly revealed their killing intent in front of her. Myeong’s death.

And the white peony that had withered from poison.

When had it started?

All of it—all of it had been a plot aimed at her.

She had been too focused on the Blood Demon threatening Namgoong, too distracted by the attack on Seop Mugwang, and had overlooked it.

‘The Blood Lords do not follow the Blood Demon’s orders unconditionally.’

Rather, they sought to grasp the Blood Demon’s weakness.

In a hierarchy where mutual destruction was impossible due to blood subjugation, they would do anything to seize the upper hand.

‘You know what? When that lunatic Lu Lord said he was going to make some crybaby brat the Small Lu Lord, I was against it.’

It had not only been the Sixth Blood Lord who had opposed that decision at the time.

The ones who had been displeased by it were the Sixth Blood Lord—and—

‘The Fifth Blood Lord.’

‘I always wanted to stick it to that crazy Lu Lord.’

The Sixth Blood Lord, who had hated the Blood Demon to the very end.

Would it really be any different with the Fifth Blood Lord?

“My lady...?”

Ryeong stood in front of Seolhwa with her sword raised.

At some point, five new presences had surrounded the two of them.

They carried an intense, refined aura—unlike the disciples that had approached earlier.

“These people... are not the elders of Mount Hua...?”

Seolhwa raised her eyes and looked at those who had gathered.

They pointed their swords at her with vacant, unfocused eyes—just as Ryeong had said, they were Mount Hua’s elders.

The cultivation of elders was at minimum peak level.

‘No... all of them are supreme-level masters.’

There was no way she or Ryeong could handle them.

Still, Seolhwa drew her sword.

‘Their goal is not to kill. If I do not kill either, I might be able to manage.’

And since the elders had gathered here, Namgoong Mucheon would soon arrive.

If they could just ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) hold out until then—they could live.

“Ryeong.”

“Yes, my lady.”

Seolhwa and Ryeong stood back to back, facing the elders.

“Do not die.”

“...Yes, understood.”

****

“Kyaaaah—!”

Caught off guard by the sudden attack, Jin Yeong dropped her sword without even managing a proper counter.

Her wrist throbbed, and tears sprang to her eyes.

“W-Why... what’s wrong, samae... Why are you...?”

Standing before her was a girl with a blank expression.

Her fellow disciple, and someone as close as a sister—Jin Ye.

“J-Jin Ye. What’s going on... huh?”

But Jin Ye, consumed by hypnosis, did not hear Jin Yeong’s trembling voice.

Because she had always been calm and composed, the eerie quiet of her current state did not seem strange at first. Jin Yeong failed to recognize the abnormality.

“Let’s... let’s talk, okay? First, we should—”

Whoosh—

“Kyaaa!”

Jin Yeong stumbled backward to dodge the blade and lost her footing, collapsing to the ground.

Jin Ye approached her step by step.

A few steps away, the fallen sword glinted on the ground.

‘The sword... I need to...’

Awkwardly crawling toward it, Jin Yeong suddenly saw a pair of feet appear before her.

She flinched and looked up.

Jin Ye was standing over her, raising her sword.

Whoosh—

“Kyaaaah—!”

Thud—! Flop—!

“Haa... haa...”

Instead of pain, ragged breathing echoed through the air.

Jin Yeong looked up in surprise once more.

“Are you alright?”

It was Yu Gang.

“S-Sasuk...”

Tears welled up in Jin Yeong’s clear eyes.

Her gaze turned toward Jin Ye, who now rested in Yu Gang’s arms.

“J-Jin Ye, she...”

“She is alright. She was caught in a spell.”

Yu Gang gently handed Jin Ye over to Jin Yeong. Jin Ye’s face was peaceful, as if she were merely asleep.

“You take care of her. Stay hidden as best you can—it’s dangerous.”

“S-Sasuk, what about you?”

“I need to go save the others.”

It was Yu Gang’s task to distinguish which second-generation disciples had fallen under hypnosis.

The fact that it had triggered so suddenly was concerning, but before the damage grew worse—

Step.

“Well, well—look who it is.”

Jin Yeong looked past Yu Gang’s shoulder at the figures emerging from the shadows.

“Isn’t that the great Yu Gang Sasuk?”

The sneering tone was anything but friendly.

Yu Gang remembered Seolhwa’s words.

‘Among those not under hypnosis, some infiltrators are mixed in.’

His gaze grew cold as he gently laid Jin Ye down.

‘The person who killed Myeong... is among them.’