Ye Wangxue felt the sword’s biting chill, her gaze drifting to Moonward—knocked several meters away and now embedded in the earth nearby.

She couldn’t fathom it. Especially after inspecting Hale’s damaged blade up close and confirming it was merely a Western knight’s ceremonial sword.

Hale looked her age, at most one or two years older.

Yet his strength was terrifying.

Among peers, the grueling training Ye Wangxue endured over three years far exceeded what most could bear. She’d also gathered rare cultivation herbs and treasures through servants and informants.

Only then had she reached near-seventh-rank sword cultivator strength.

In the Western Continent, that equated to nearly level seventy—a tier where one could securely apply for the 【Sanctum Gold Seat】 in the Papal Dominion.

The Sanctum Seats symbolized status within the Papal Dominion.

They ranged from 【Sanctum Bronze Seat】, 【Sanctum Silver Seat】, 【Sanctum Gold Seat】, 【Sanctum Jade Seat】, to the pinnacle 【Throne】—a title so exclusive each nation held only three slots.

Even her future father-in-law, a high-ranking general in the Papal Dominion, had never earned the Throne.

Yet this youth possessed Gold Seat-level power at such a young age.

House Childe could nurture talent, but someone this gifted—why serve as a disposable agent?

Still, Hale’s power seemed explosively temporary.

Ye Wangxue fell into thought.

After Hale retrieved and closed the Musical Casket, the young man’s imposing aura noticeably softened.

“Just who are you?”

“No need to know, Phoenix Fledgling. Come with me. The Inquisition Bureau’s elites will arrive within half an hour.”

Hearing her codename spoken aloud, Ye Wangxue grew puzzled. What was his goal?

This man was strange.

“Are you with the Inquisition Bureau… or the Salvation Sect?”

She could only guess he belonged to the Salvation Sect.

A heretical cult in the Western Continent, officially branded as heretics by the Holy Church.

They’d committed outrageous acts—once allying with the Demon Lord against the Holy Church.

In this turbulent Saint Louis, who else could dispatch such an elite to aid her *and* hinder pursuers?

Only the Salvation Sect. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” If he was from them, he’d never let her fall into the Holy Church’s hands.

Moreover, House Childe had likely aided the Salvation Sect before—hence rescuing Letitia today.

As economic emperors, House Childe never put all eggs in one basket.

Convinced he wasn’t hostile, Ye Wangxue slowly lowered her guard.

But then—her engagement deadline loomed. Returning now meant no further chance to act.

She’d be sent back to Saint Louis not as Phoenix Fledgling, but as Hall Fasius’s fiancée.

Unacceptable. Ye Wangxue burned with unwillingness.

She couldn’t leave like this. She had to do something.

“The Salvation Sect? You can consider me one of them,” Hale said, lowering his sword.

He knew the Salvation Sect well. In-game, they were a heretical cult seeking to overthrow the Holy Church’s rule—too small for open action, often collaborating with Demon Lord Armies of the Western or Southern Demon Lord Realms.

They usually surfaced mid-to-late game across heroine routes.

Only in Christine’s, the Demon God Princess’s, or the Northern Empress’s routes did hints appear earlier.

Their strongest were the Seven Sages. And Hale himself—in routes where he avoided the heroine and survived late—sometimes became one of the Seven Sages, even their chief: a dungeon boss.

Pretending to be from the Salvation Sect was a smart move to stay alive.

“So you’re from the Salvation Sect. Then you know why I wanted Letitia.”

Still wary, Ye Wangxue tested him.

Hale answered smoothly.

“It’s about the Seventh Princess Ye’s engagement, isn’t it?”

“Correct. I intend to annul it.”

“Who is your fiancé?”

Hale was curious. In his own Great Xia Princess playthrough, Ye Wangxue fled her wedding from the very start—and her fiancé was never mentioned again. Too little info.

“You need not know.”

Ye Wangxue relaxed. The engagement details were top secret—known only to select Papal Dominion and Great Xia officials.

“I’m not interested. Move. If the Inquisition Bureau arrives, I won’t save you.”

“As if I’d need a man like you to look after me,” Ye Wangxue shot back.

She studied Hale again… and found him unexpectedly handsome.

She’d never favored blond, blue-eyed types. She preferred Eastern youths like him—black hair, dark eyes, brows carrying heroic spirit and painterly grace.

…

“Are you Eastern?”

“Not exactly. But my mother likely was.”

“Then she must have been beautiful.”

They took a narrow side path.

A hidden passage lay here, requiring a mechanism to open.

Hale recalled it: in Christine’s route, after sparing the Phoenix Fledgling, Christine used this path to smuggle her out.

In-game, it opened automatically post-choice. Now, relying on memory, he fumbled briefly before finding the trigger.

“Mm. She was probably a beauty.”

A pity Lady Faxius died so young.

“Your attire suggests Sanctum University. Why join the Salvation Sect? How do you know this passage?”

“You ask too many questions.”

“Hmph. This princess is merely curious. Officials in the Papal Dominion *do* secretly collude with the Sect… but to grasp this chaos so clearly—even timing the Bureau’s arrival? Yet if prepared, you’d wield a better blade for such an event.”

Ye Wangxue concluded he’d acted on impulse.

“I was urgently summoned.”

Hale deflected. “By the way—how is Mandala? Is she in danger?”

Forum theories suggested Mandala was likely one of the Salvation Sect’s Seven Sages.

She appeared only early in Christine’s and the Demon God Princess’s routes—then vanished from the text.

If she fell, his fate might shift. Better play it safe.

“So you know her. No wonder you handled *her* Musical Casket so carefully. Old lovers?” Ye Wangxue teased.

Among peers, only Hale and *that woman* had ever bested her.

Hale simply shook his head.

“Don’t spread baseless rumors.”