Chapter 159
Chapter 159
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 159
Chapter Title: A Visitor from the Sword Pavilion
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The warriors from the Blood Fortress of Hell who arrived before the abandoned estate all had nails singed black and emanated a fishy odor.
They were poison adepts who had mastered such extreme poison arts that the toxins naturally seeped from their bodies.
“Those fiends!”
Yeong-seon, the youngest of the Wudang Seven, who had arrived behind Bu Eun-seol, spoke in a low voice as he watched the poison adepts of the Blood Fortress of Hell.
“That is Ok Gi-ryung, the master of the Blood Hand Hall.”
Ok Gi-ryung. He was the master of the Blood Hand Hall, known for practicing the most bizarre and sinister poison arts in the entire Blood Fortress of Hell.
Yeong-heo scoffed, trying to swallow his surprise.
“I wondered why you were so bold. A trap, as expected.”
The Wudang Seven believed that Bu Eun-seol had been pretending to wander alone while secretly having masters from the Blood Fortress of Hell lying in wait.
‘What is this now?’
Ok Gi-ryung was just as bewildered.
He had tracked Bu Eun-seol’s location to deal with him, only to find a cluster of Taoists in their robes.
“The Wudang Seven?”
Only then did Ok Gi-ryung notice the seven Taoists standing in the formation of the Big Dipper, his brow twitching.
“Why are all you stinking, long-nosed Taoists gathered here?”
Ok Gi-ryung's original objective was to eliminate Bu Eun-seol on his way to the Demonic Palace.
From their perspective, Bu Eun-seol was a great enemy who had killed Yang Myeong, the master of the Blood Demon Hall, and stolen the Divine Spirit Serpent Sword.
For such a man to become a candidate for the succession of the Demonic Heavenly Emperor was absolutely unacceptable.
“Stinking, long-nosed Taoists?”
Yeong-heo’s brow furrowed as he shouted.
“We humble Taoists have come to dispose of the spawn of the demonic path who sow chaos in the Murim.”
At that moment, Ok Gi-ryung’s expression hardened.
If they were talking about the spawn of the demonic path, wouldn't that include him and the masters of the Blood Hand Hall, who had also come to deal with Bu Eun-seol?
At Yeong-heo’s words, Ok Gi-ryung swept his cold gaze over the Wudang Seven and Bu Eun-seol before shouting icily.
“Wipe them all out at once!”
The Blood Hand Hall was one of the three great poison halls of the Blood Fortress of Hell. Its members had all mastered the Blood Shadow Poison Hand, one of the Fortress’s three great poison arts, to at least the third level.
Moreover, the Blood Shadow Poison Hand Formation they used was as dense as a net; once it was deployed, retreat was exceedingly difficult.
“Wudang Seven, dispose of all those demonic fiends!”
At that moment, Ok Gi-ryung unleashed his Blood Shadow Poison Hand Art at Bu Eun-seol’s back.
*Kwoooaaar!*
Just as the potent Blood Hand Poison Art, said to melt even steel on contact, was about to envelop Bu Eun-seol’s body—
*Whooosh!*
—the toxic energy was repelled as if by an invisible wall, unable to get any closer.
Using the First Manifestation of the Fist Demon from his Seven Forms of the Fist Demon, Bu Eun-seol had instantly blown away the Blood Shadow Poison Hand.
“You bastard!”
Greatly angered, Ok Gi-ryung redoubled his attack and unleashed his poison art once more.
But Bu Eun-seol had already moved, and Yeong-hyeon of the Wudang Seven, who was charging forward, was engulfed by the poison.
“These fiends!”
Enraged, the other Wudang Seven began to unleash their Lesser Azure Sword Art against the masters of the Blood Hand Hall.
“Do you think we Taoists fear the likes of poison arts!”
The Wudang Seven were ascetics bound by a strong sense of pride.
As the poison adepts of the Blood Hand Hall spewed their toxins, they defiantly countered with the Two-Form Sword and the Lesser Azure Sword, pushing back the poison.
*Woooong.*
*Tsssssssss.*
In the midst of the chaos, Bu Eun-seol activated his Extreme Speed Shadowless Step and discreetly slipped away from the battlefield.
‘They’re doing well.’
Standing behind a thicket of bushes, Bu Eun-seol leisurely observed the fierce battle between the Wudang Seven and the Blood Hand Hall.
‘As expected of the Wudang Seven... they wield their swords without a care for the Blood Hand Hall’s poison arts.’
He calmly watched their bloody struggle.
‘This fight won't end easily.’
The situation was a stalemate.
The Blood Hand Hall had the advantage in numbers, but the Wudang Seven had committed to a purely defensive sword style.
Thanks to their impenetrable curtain of sword energy, the effects of the poison were minimal.
‘Their defense is formidable, but it lacks sharpness. A characteristic of Wudang swordsmanship, I suppose.’
Most of the Wudang school's sword arts focused on defense, thus lacking in piercing sharpness.
‘It might be different with the Taiji Wisdom Sword, but this Lesser Azure Sword Art is boring.’
Feeling a sense of tedium, Bu Eun-seol watched the fight blankly for a while before letting out a yawn.
“You foolish Taoists! That bastard is standing right over there, out of the fight!”
Ok Gi-ryung, bloodied and directing his men, finally noticed Bu Eun-seol standing idly, away from the battlefield.
“And what of it?”
The Wudang Seven paid him no mind, gritting their teeth as they continued to execute their sword techniques.
Most of them were already mildly poisoned. Of course, they could have pushed out the toxins with their profound internal energy, but…
They were enraged by the poison adepts of the Blood Hand Hall, who were relentlessly spewing poison.
“You dregs of the demonic path! You have always roamed the Murim, bringing harm to the innocent with your poisons!”
Yeong-heo let out a thunderous roar.
“Our sect will deliver your punishment, so accept it meekly!”
After watching the Wudang Seven and the Blood Hand Hall beat each other to a pulp, Bu Eun-seol turned and walked away.
* * *
Bu Eun-seol left the forest and entered a nearby village.
He wandered through the marketplace looking for a meal, but the taverns were bustling with the midday crowd.
‘Should I change my appearance?’
Everywhere he went, people stared at him, as if imprinting his face in their memory.
Not only was he a head taller than the average man, but his handsome features, visible between strands of his long hair, drew the gazes of not just women, but men as well.
‘No, that's a pointless thought.’
The Art of Illusory Face and Bone Alteration could easily change the musculature and bone structure of his face, but it constantly consumed about a tenth of his internal energy.
The problem was that even as Bu Eun-seol's internal energy level had increased, the consumption always remained at a tenth.
‘It can’t be helped. The Art of Illusory Face and Bone Alteration works by shifting the pathways and locations of my internal energy.’
Simply altering the facial structure changed the pathways of his meridians.
This interfered with the smooth flow of his true energy, causing a constant drain of a tenth of his reserves.
‘That place looks good.’
A small tavern was tucked away in an alley slightly off the main market street.
It was so old that even the sign indicating it was a tavern had weathered away. It seemed like the kind of place frequented by locals looking for a cheap meal rather than by outsiders.
*Creeak.*
He opened the door to reveal the interior of the shabby tavern.
Despite it being the lunch hour, the place was quiet. There wasn't a single customer in sight.
“Welcome.”
An old man clearing dishes greeted Bu Eun-seol.
With only about seven tables, it seemed the owner handled the service himself instead of hiring a waiter.
“What will you have?”
After asking, the old man scratched his head in embarrassment.
“For food, all I have is somen noodles and dumplings. For drinks, only white liquor.”
“Then I’ll have three bottles of white liquor.”
After the drastic increase in his internal energy, his appetite had significantly decreased.
He had reached a point where he wouldn't feel any particular hunger even after three days without food. This was because he had reached the fifth stage of the Reverse-Polarity Heart Art, a state where his true energy circulated ceaselessly.
*Gulp, gulp.*
The liquor he poured, one glass after another, soon emptied all three bottles.
Just as he was about to get up and leave, a clear voice sounded from behind him.
“Bu Eun-seol.”
He turned his head to see a woman in white, her face covered by a veil, approaching him from the tavern entrance.
Her cool, clear eyes, with pupils like carved obsidian, were beautiful enough to captivate any soul.
However, an unapproachable dignity emanated from her entire being, and a bone-chilling coldness seemed to flow from the sword at her waist.
‘A master from the Sword Pavilion?’
The treasured sword hanging at the veiled woman’s waist was, scabbard and all, completely white.
In the entire Murim, only one school used such a sword: the Sword Pavilion.
“Bu Eun-seol, one of the Ten Demonic Palace Inheritors of Nang-ya-gak. Is that correct?”
As their eyes met, Bu Eun-seol felt the illusion of standing alone on a frozen lake.
“It is.”
When he answered readily, a silver light flared in the veiled woman’s eyes.
It was as if she were shooting sword energy from her gaze.
“I am a disciple of the Sword Pavilion, A-yeon.”
She raised two fingers and pressed her palms together.
It was the Lotus Palm Clasp, a gesture signifying a mind that, like a lotus, remains unstained by worldly troubles.
‘The Sword Pavilion is also a sect of the Profound Gate.’
Although all disciples of the Sword Pavilion grew their hair long, it was only because they were ascetics who practiced without shaving their heads.
Because their roots were in the Profound Gate, its disciples maintained a solemn demeanor.
“Do you have business with me?”
At Bu Eun-seol’s question, she answered in a cold, low voice.
“Since your appearance in the Jianghu, you have consistently slain the Great Righteous Masters. Do you admit to this?”
It was an abrupt question.
Bu Eun-seol found it somewhat absurd but simply nodded as he stared at the veiled woman, A-yeon.
“I do.”
“Then will you continue to harm the Great Righteous Masters of the orthodox faction in the future?”
His slaying of the Great Righteous Masters was not of his own will, but a strict order from the Demonic Palace.
Although the order to kill had been suspended by the Demonic Heavenly Emperor for now… the Ten Demonic Palace Inheritors and the Great Righteous Masters were fated to clash regardless.
“Have you come to stop me because of that?”
At his direct question, A-yeon fixed her cold eyes on Bu Eun-seol’s face.
“If you continue to harm innocent members of the orthodox faction…”
She continued in a chilling tone.
“Then our Pavilion will have no choice but to break its precept against killing.”
The Sword Pavilion was a mysterious female sect of the Murim that strictly refrained from engaging in the affairs of the Jianghu.
Even though they had produced Great Righteous Masters, their presence in the Jianghu was nonexistent.
That was why even Bu Eun-seol, who had memorized the characteristics of countless Jianghu sects, had made an exception for the Sword Pavilion.
And now they had sent a disciple into the Jianghu just to restrain him.
“Are you also a Great Righteous Master?”
When Bu Eun-seol asked with a bitter smile, A-yeon shook her head.
“No. I did not apply to be a Great Righteous Master.”
“Then you must be the official successor of the Sword Pavilion.”
At that question, her eyebrow raised slightly, but she remained silent.
However, that alone was answer enough.
‘Not a Great Righteous Master, but the successor…’
For generations, the Sword Pavilion had protected the orthodox Murim, dealing with villains.
Especially when a great demon appeared that no one else could handle, they would send not their ordinary disciples, but their successor into the Jianghu.
“Amusing. To think I’ve become a world-class villain that the Sword Pavilion is wary of.”
As he drew upon his internal energy, the Reverse-Polarity Blood Light, like burning embers, began to form in Bu Eun-seol’s eyes.
“Then, by all means, begin.”