“The Sect Leader?”

“Do you want to see his face?”

A nod.

The guides thought it was unusual, but answered Na Rin’s question.

“If you work hard and advance, you might be able to see him someday, but I can’t guarantee it. If you just want to meet him, there might be a better way.”

“Another way?”

“Joining the Maseong Faction and becoming a doctor, or becoming a palace servant and working as a court lady in the royal palace.”

When Na Rin asked about the Maseong Faction in detail, Dae Heung continued the explanation he had been giving.

“The Maseong Faction contributes to the sect through knowledge and skills, not martial arts. The Medical King Hall and Medicinal King Hall belong here. Even the Sect Leader must rely on the Maseong Faction when he needs specialized skills, right?”

Na Rin nodded.

It meant that the Maseong Faction, which uses their brains, has more chances to see the Sect Leader’s face than the Sect Leader Faction, which toils like dogs.

‘If my intelligence stat was higher, the Maseong Faction might have been good.’

However, unfortunately, intelligence was Na Rin’s second weakest ability after speech.

To study seriously as a scholar, one would need at least 300 intelligence. Na Rin’s intelligence stat was only 179 even after living ten lives.

“What about palace servants?”

“To become a palace servant, you have to start as a lay believer. All lay believers live in the elders’ districts, so technically they belong to the Elder Faction, but, um, how should I put it…”

“Let me explain!”

Bi Cha, who had been itching to speak, couldn’t hold back and interrupted.

“The Elder Faction is dedicated to spreading Ma and enriching the sect members. You can learn various martial arts without restrictions, and the huge library that collects all the knowledge of the demonic cult also has many lost supreme techniques from the central plains. If you want to freely pursue strength without limiting yourself to demonic arts, the Elder Faction is the best.”

Oh, that sounds good.

As soon as Na Rin made an interested expression, Dae Heung added:

“But the pay is low.”

“It’s stable though.”

“And there are almost no promotion opportunities.”

“But you have freedom of movement.”

“If there’s a flood, you have to drop everything and rush to help.”

“That’s… well… we should help each other in emergencies…”

“You also have to build bridges, repair buildings, help with farming.”

“There are miscellaneous tasks everywhere you go!”

“And raise cows.”

“Cows… ugh…”

Bi Cha, who had been eloquently explaining about the Elder Faction, gradually closed his mouth.

Perhaps he couldn’t sugarcoat the unavoidable reality of having to raise cows.

Well, it doesn’t matter anyway.

‘I’ve raised cows before.’

Na Rin smiled confidently, befitting an 11th regression.

“So, which one do you prefer?”

Ma Jung asked.

The other children also seemed curious about Na Rin’s choice.

“I’ll go to the Elder Faction.”

At Na Rin’s words, Bi Cha cheered while Dae Heung’s face darkened.

Ma Jung, on the other hand, seemed indifferent.

“Were you swayed by Bi Cha’s crafty mouth? Should I explain more carefully?”

“Crafty? Hey!”

“That’s not it.”

Na Rin flatly denied it.

Bi Cha didn’t know whether to be happy or sad at that cold attitude.

“Na Rin likes freedom.”

“Hmm. Freedom… Well, can’t be helped then.”

Although it sounded like an excuse, Na Rin’s answer was somewhat true.

It seems that advancing in the Sect Leader Faction to meet the Sect Leader is nearly impossible.

Working in the Maseong Faction might be possible, but for Na Rin, who lacks confidence in her intelligence, the time required to learn specialized skills couldn’t be ignored.

‘I can’t take such a roundabout way when I was born as the demonic cult leader’s daughter.’

Na Rin wasn’t worried much as long as she could encounter the Sect Leader.

Above all, her innate white hair would prove everything. It’ll work out somehow.

Then the most likely option is to join an organization with freedom of movement and hang around places where the Sect Leader might go.

Then Dae Heung asked with a worried face.

“If you go to the Elder Faction, you’ll be under ‘Gwan’, one level below ‘Jeon’. Is that okay?”

“Yes. It’s fine.”

“That’s settled then. Now we just need to decide which Gwan to send you to.”

At Ma Jung’s casual tone, Bi Cha and Dae Heung made dumbfounded expressions.

There were only ten ‘Jeon’ in total within the demonic cult, but there were hundreds of ‘Gwan’.

‘One mountain after another. How to choose again.’

Just when it seemed a direction was in sight, the feeling of falling back into a maze returned.

As Dae Heung lowered his head with an expression of having a headache, Na Rin tugged at his collar and said:

“Library.”

“…Library? Are you interested in the library?”

Na Rin nodded with unusually sparkling eyes.

There was a part that had caught her attention when listening to Bi Cha’s explanation about the Elder Faction.

‘He said the library has many secret manuals from the righteous sects too.’

She may be just an insignificant child now, but who is Na Rin?

The martial artist among martial artists who once dominated the world with the Plum Blossom Sword Technique. The Blood Plum Blossom, Ju Na Rin.

Old habits die hard. If she carelessly used Huashan Sect techniques after becoming a demonic cult member and someone asked, “Where did you learn that?”, it would be troublesome.

‘In that case, if I say “I learned it from books in the library”, all problems are solved!’

Hurray! I’m so smart! Even though my intelligence is 179!

Of course, the skill might be too amazing to claim it was learned just from books, but she could insist if pressed. It wasn’t exactly a lie since she didn’t have a proper martial arts master in her past life either.

‘The only thing I learned directly from my master was how to brew delicious tea.’

Na Rin’s master, Hyeon Baek, was of the same generation as the leader of Huashan Sect, but he had long ago given up the path of a martial artist and became a Taoist. That’s why Na Rin’s martial arts were practically self-taught.

“This is another unusual choice.”

Bi Cha smiled amusedly.

On the other hand, the caring Ma Jung made a serious expression for the first time and asked Na Rin:

“But the library doesn’t take in children. It takes too long to teach them enough to work, so unless you’re already a knowledgeable adult…”

“It’s just a goal for now, right?”

Dae Heung patted Na Rin’s head.

Na Rin nodded again, and a look of relief spread across Ma Jung’s face.

“If you’re thinking of entering the library, attending a school would be best. Elder Seven is passionate about teaching children, so if we send you there, a path might open up.”

“Ah. A school, huh.”

Bi Cha crossed his arms and clicked his tongue in disappointment.

“To think a child like Na Rin would start as a lay believer. I thought she would enter the Sect Leader Faction or Maseong Faction and make a name for herself.”

“That’s just a guide’s greed.”

Na Rin tilted her head.

The guides understood that this cute action meant “I can’t understand what you’re saying, so give me more explanation.”

Ma Jung answered.

“We guides receive higher evaluations the more the children we bring contribute to the sect.”

“It would be shameful to receive travel expenses for a trip to the central plains and come back empty-handed.”

Ah. So that’s how it was.

Na Rin finally understood why the black-clothed people had been so earnestly considering her career path.

She thought they were just kidnapping children indiscriminately to use as test subjects or assassins.

‘The Righteous Alliance doesn’t know much about the demonic cult’s practices either.’

The preconception that the demonic cult is a terrifying pseudo-religious group probably hindered normal judgment.

Even Na Rin herself had vaguely thought that children kidnapped by the demonic cult would be treated as disposable, so there was nothing more to say.

Dae Heung laughed heartily.

“In that sense, this trip was a bountiful harvest!”

“That’s right. Although Na Rin will unfortunately become a lay believer, the other children will be active in the Sword King Hall.”

“Hehe, to think we’d accidentally meet children who all have excellent bone structure, good stamina, and even open meridians – they’re prodigies in martial arts! The Heavenly Demon must have helped us!”

Na Rin awkwardly laughed “Haha…” while avoiding eye contact at Bi Cha’s excited words.

The talents of the children that Bi Cha highly praised were the result of Na Rin tapping their acupuncture points with Chugongwahyeol.

“Now that our long-standing worry is resolved, let’s all sleep. We need to wake up early tomorrow, wash up, and go to the gate.”

“The gate?”

“Yes.”

Ma Jung said with a smile that couldn’t hide his pride:

“The front door of the Ten Thousand Great Mountains. We’ll go to the Sun Moon Gate (Ilwolmun).”

The Sun Moon Goddess (Ilwolsinnyeo) felt the morning air brushing her ears and opened her eyes.

Had she overslept? Surprised, the Sun Moon Goddess opened her eyes to find the cool dawn air and wondered.

Then what was the morning energy she had felt?

That question was soon answered.

Because she heard the children’s voices chattering loudly, yet lovably, like hungry young birds chirping.

‘The guides have arrived.’

A small smile appeared on the Sun Moon Goddess’s face.

Although countless guides had departed for various parts of the continent, there was only one group that had not yet passed through the Sun Moon Gate.

Ma Jung, Bi Cha, Dae Heung.

They were the most loyal guides who threw themselves into the task without complaint, traveling as far as Xi’an at the end of the Silk Road, solely for the prosperity of the sect.

“My heart is fluttering for no reason.”

The Sun Moon Goddess hurriedly dressed herself and headed to the Sun Moon Gate.

Meeting the new children entering the sect was her favorite task, so her steps naturally quickened.

As she got closer, the children’s boisterous voices grew louder.

– Aack! Na Rin, please! Urgh…!

– Oh my, someone save me!

– Don’t worry. I’m just trying to help you all.

– How can we believe that!

Something didn’t seem quite right in what she was hearing, but.

“Um, Na Rin. Do you really have to do this?”

Ma Jung gently asked Na Rin to restrain herself as he saw about twenty children from Bongnim Village lying around in a daze.

“I know massage is good for the body, but just beating them up like this is a bit…”

“It’s okay.”

“Uh, huh?”

“They say you grow as much as it hurts.”

‘Isn’t this pain different from that pain?’

It was a reasonable doubt, but the possibility of Ma Jung raising that doubt was extremely low.

Ju Na Rin. Age 4.

Intimidation stat: a whopping 1,009.

‘I’m sorry, kids.’

‘We’re scared of Na Rin too…!’

The Bongnim Village children and the guides alike felt like mice before a cat whenever those cold, round eyes looked at them.

“Th-that’s right! The human body has that aspect, you know. Right, Ma Jung?”

“Huh? Ah, yes! It’s true that the kids who got massages became healthier!”

The Bongnim Village children who were sprawled on the ground were dumbfounded.

Not only did they not save them from the violence disguised as massage, but they even said such things because they weren’t getting beaten!

‘Adults are liars!’

‘They have no conscience!’

The guides tried to avoid the gaze of the Bongnim Village children, who were looking at them as if betrayed by someone they trusted, as they moved away.

‘Geez. What do they take people for.’

It wasn’t as if Na Rin had beaten the children without any thought.

‘They shouldn’t die from getting cocky thinking they really have talent.’

It was somewhat true that the Bongnim Village children had talent in martial arts.

They must be gifted prodigies with above-average physiques to have become Huashan Sect disciples in their past lives.

But a large part of the guides’ high evaluation was due to Na Rin’s Chugongwahyeol.

A situation where they die because they turn out to be ordinary after being treated as geniuses could very well occur.

In other words, Na Rin was doing her own form of aftercare.

‘Don’t worry, sworn siblings. I’ll make sure to implant talent in you! This must be the karmic connection from our past lives, right?’