"I can’t stay with you; I don’t deserve you. I’m low and dirty, a blight on the world. But you’re pure and clean. I can’t stand next to you, Wanning. So please let me stand before you. I’ll block all the blood and blades for you—all of it, until the day I die."

Peace is over. The last volume was and will be the last time things were calm for everyone including CWN and MR, until much later. From here, things will go even more downhill.

This volume follows the sect leaders with the main cast in their journey to try to stop mass destruction after the

Spoiler

chess pieces technique

was discovered. As much as the group tries, it'll only become harder for them to avoid danger when many lives are exposed, more so when a rift appears in the mountain and CWN tries to contain it. After true intentions are revealed and someone from the past makes an appearance, both MR and CWN will have to deal with the aftermath of confronting such horrible secrets.

First, I genuinely wasn't expecting this volume to end on chapter 243 out of all, it's really evil! Not only because of the cliffhanger, but the devastation that will follow makes me feel like pulling my hair out. The angst is fully back and that has me both scared and excited (I'm clearly a masochist lol). Despite knowing what will happen, it's great to finally read these scenes with a good translation. It made me care for characters I used not to (now that I understood XSL and LFH's story much better, it felt more emotional). Besides that, I'm sad about the whole NGS situation but mostly for

Spoiler

YWX, I was never a big fan of NGS and his fate didn't change that but it felt awful to read YWX's suffering

. It also gutted me that XM was very confused in the middle of everything, poor boy.

Now it's time for me to squeal over some of the big reveals. I freaking love how Meatbun does this, one right after another so that your brain doesn't have time to catch up, it becomes more devastating. About TXJ, I confess that I used to have mixed feelings for him years ago. I despised him for his actions, but I also couldn't help but find him a very fascinating character. I still do, but now I am not ashamed to accept that I actually really like him, although I still feel resentment over the things he did. His

Spoiler

appearance here

is very impactful, and while it makes things worse, I cannot help but feel excited for what's to come. His dynamic with CWN remains one of the most intriguing, considering their history.

Another big thing was

Spoiler

CWN's true origins

, something I never expected on my first reading. It's a very sad revelation and even more so to see CWN be that affected, as well as MR in his desperation to protect him at any cost. It shows how far he has come, from hating his guts to caring so much for CWN that he suffers when he's reminded that he cannot change the past. Last one is the

Spoiler

recreation of their wedding night

, this one had me gasping even now. These two cannot have one good thing, goddamn.

I'm really impatient to read vol. 8 as soon as it comes out. That one will have some of my favorite scenes, so I wish time would hurry up. Volume 7 definitely leaves me with a sour taste in the mouth, but it's an impecable work in regards of the plot advancing and the emotional punches. The art was also great as always, especially the one of CWN and MR near the end, I got the chills. I'll go back to missing RanWan for the next months.

Tags: (might miss some of them)
-POV: third person
-Content warnings:

Spoiler

death of minor character, kidnapping, bugs/infections, noncon between MCs (in the present but forced for both), past abuse, non consensual drugging, mentions of past captivity, sexual harrassment, forced marriage

-Elements:

Spoiler

hurt no comfort, size difference, age gap, angst, jealousy

-Kinks:

Spoiler

humilliation/degradation, dirty talk, possessiveness, overstimulation, spanking

-Sexual act(s):

Spoiler

barebacking, creampie, riding, marathon sex, object insertion

-Dynamic:

Spoiler

strict top and bottom, older bottom x younger top, shizun or master x disciple