Chapter 161
Chapter 161
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 161
Chapter Title: The Poison Cauldron Hall
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“Ugh!”
The daggers, which Eum-wi had expected to fly toward him, instead struck the foreheads of the subordinates on either side of him.
“Strike him down now!”
At Eum-wi’s shout, the Hyeon-ok-gwan warriors surrounding Bu Eun-seol began to unfurl their White Horse Whips.
*Swish!*
With a strange whistling sound, dozens of White Horse Whips moved like living snakes, lashing out at Bu Eun-seol’s body.
“Hmph.”
Bu Eun-seol scoffed and lightly evaded the whips.
In that moment, the Hyeon-ok-gwan warriors shifted their formation into a two-layered encirclement.
Those who advanced shortened their whips to resemble swords, attacking Bu Eun-seol at close range, while those who remained hidden fired their whips from a distance.
*Crack! Swish!*
From up close, the White Horse Whips took the form of swords and spears. From afar, the whips, extended to their full length, aimed for the vital points all over Bu Eun-seol’s body.
‘The closest enemies first, one by one.’
It seemed like a chaotic strategy, but it was, in fact, simple.
All he had to do was deal with the enemies who charged in first, one at a time.
At that moment, a red glow bloomed from Bu Eun-seol’s left fist.
As he fiercely drew upon the true energy within his body to execute a fist technique, the Reverse Polarity Radiance manifested not only in his eyes but also in his fist.
*Fwoosh!*
Simultaneously, five streaks of lightning erupted from his left hand.
He had unleashed the ultimate technique of the Seven Forms of the Demonic Fist, the Extreme Lightning Soul Roar.
“Dodge!”
Realizing the formless fist energy pouring out was too powerful to block with their whips, the Hyeon-ok-gwan warriors scattered in all directions.
*Shing!*
But as if it had been waiting for their retreat, a black light poured from the Muk-geom.
*Flash!*
Each time the black light flashed, tearing through the air, the retreating Hyeon-ok-gwan warriors fell like logs.
“Keuk!”
“Aargh!”
Those who were grazed or took glancing blows let out screams of agony.
The thirteen streams of immense energy imbued in the Muk-geom melted their meridians as if pouring fire through them.
“That bastard!”
As Bu Eun-seol shattered their formation in an instant, Eum-wi cried out in shock.
He was well aware that Bu Eun-seol, having defeated one Grand Master after another, was a transcendent master.
That was why he had sent the masters of Hyeon-ok-gwan, who wielded powerful killing arts, but… to be broken in an instant?
‘Was this man a master of formation arts, capable of breaking our formation in a single breath?’
In truth, this was Eum-wi's mistake.
Since emerging in the martial world, Bu Eun-seol had constantly fought against multiple opponents who used formations.
As a result, he had become an expert at breaking them.
“Ugh!”
“Keuk!”
Screams rang out one after another.
Not a single one of them could block Bu Eun-seol’s sword.
No matter what formation they used, no matter what technique they employed, he blocked and swept them away in a single motion.
“Quite impressive.”
Biting his lip, Eum-wi shouted.
“Unleash the Five Hands of the White Horse Formation!”
The Five Hands of the White Horse Formation.
It was a deadly formation that alternated between using White Horse Whips and poisoned hidden weapons.
But this was Eum-wi’s second mistake.
‘Sloppy.’
Bu Eun-seol had experience fighting the entire Blood Demon Hall of the Hell Blood Fortress.
Because of this, he could hold and release his breath at will, and he could even use the Poison Gathering Technique while naturally employing his martial arts.
In short, the poisoned weapons of the Five Hands of the White Horse Formation posed no threat to him.
*Slice. Slice.*
Every time Bu Eun-seol’s Muk-geom danced, the Hyeon-ok-gwan warriors fell like scarecrows.
The Formless Celestial Flow poured from his right hand, the Seven Forms of the Demonic Fist from his left.
Whenever the Hyeon-ok-gwan warriors attacked from a distance, a dagger would invariably fly toward them.
It was the dagger technique from the Dagger Arts Treasury.
‘The essence of the Dagger Arts Treasury proves its worth at times like this.’
The Dagger Arts Treasury, passed down by Dang Pae, didn't just contain techniques for killing enemies with daggers.
It also explained their tactical use—how to create opportune moments or halt an enemy's movements by throwing a dagger.
“Aargh!”
“Gaaah!”
Just then, a series of screams erupted from the rear.
Turning to look, he saw A-yeon felling Hyeon-ok-gwan warriors with a sword that glowed with a white light.
Her strikes weren't particularly sharp, but those struck by her sword were rendered unable to move.
“That wench… she’s a disciple of the Sword Pavilion.”
Seeing the sword art A-yeon was using, Eum-wi scoffed.
“Hmph, a mere disciple of the Sword Pavilion is…”
But Eum-wi, laughing in his confidence, did not know.
He didn't know that A-yeon was no ordinary disciple, but the designated successor, the next Sword Empress.
“Uwaaah!”
“Keoheok!”
As screams continued to echo from the rear, the battle line began to collapse.
“How can this be?”
Eum-wi’s expression gradually hardened.
No matter how powerful Bu Eun-seol’s martial arts were, he had brought a hundred warriors from Hyeon-ok-gwan.
If they dragged out the fight, they would have found a way to deal with him.
But the woman he had dismissed as a mere disciple of the Sword Pavilion was unleashing attacks on a level comparable to Bu Eun-seol’s.
With A-yeon felling all the warriors in the rear, the formation was collapsing beyond control.
“Th-This is…”
Eum-wi’s mouth fell open.
In the end, less than fifteen minutes had passed before the hundred Hyeon-ok-gwan warriors had been reduced by half.
*Grind.*
Gritting his teeth, Eum-wi shouted with a look of bitter resentment.
“Retreat!”
As Eum-wi and the Hyeon-ok-gwan warriors withdrew, the pouring rain began to subside, as if it had been waiting for this moment.
*Drip, drip, drip.*
Blood trickled down Bu Eun-seol's entire body.
Most of it belonged to the Hyeon-ok-gwan warriors, but his own body bore wounds, both large and small.
“I don’t understand.”
Sheathing her sword, A-yeon approached Bu Eun-seol and spoke.
“I heard the Ten Demonic Sects do not encroach on one another… Why is the White Horse Temple attacking you?”
Bu Eun-seol replied with an indifferent expression.
“Because I killed the grandson of the White Horse Temple Master.”
“What?”
A-yeon’s eyes widened.
How could one of the Ten Demonic Scions of the Nang-ya-gak kill the grandson of the White Horse Temple Master?
“If something like that happened, why hasn’t it become known in the martial world?”
“The affairs of the martial world are not as simple as you think.”
“There’s no need to strain your eyes over something so trivial.”
Though she said that, A-yeon’s expression was stiff.
Killing the grandson of the White Horse Temple Master was no trivial matter. It meant becoming a mortal enemy of one of the Ten Demonic Sects.
‘Not only is his hand ruthless, but his martial arts are also profound.’
Looking at the corpses of the Hyeon-ok-gwan warriors strewn around Bu Eun-seol, she furrowed her brow deeply.
In the time it took her to deal with fifteen of them, Bu Eun-seol had cut down a staggering thirty-eight.
“……”
But even after the fight had ended, Bu Eun-seol did not leave.
He bent down and began to carefully examine the dead bodies.
His gaze was as serious and intent as if he were appreciating a masterpiece of art.
“About an inch too shallow. That’s why he could swing his whip twice even after being struck by my sword…”
It turned out Bu Eun-seol was reviewing his own techniques by examining the wounds on the corpses.
‘Is this man in his right mind?’
A-yeon frowned deeply.
To press his face against the fresh corpses of men who had just stopped breathing, all to examine the flaws in his own swordsmanship?
“...I see.”
But Bu Eun-seol paid her no mind and continued to carefully observe the bodies.
When he finally turned to the wounds on the corpses she had dealt with, she spoke coldly.
“You’re doing something pointless.”
“Pointless?”
His gaze still fixed on the bodies, Bu Eun-seol spoke calmly.
“Are you worried? That I’ll discern your sword techniques by looking at the wounds?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Predicting the variations in my techniques won’t change anything.”
The power of a sword art varied drastically depending on the user.
For example, a third-rate martial artist executing a simple side slash could never compare to the greatest swordsman in the world performing the same move.
“If there was anything to be gained from the wounds left on a corpse, a group dedicated to studying them would have emerged in the martial world by now.”
A-yeon spoke with confidence… but how could she have possibly known?
That Bu Eun-seol had reached the highest state of the Beast's Path, the Empty Mind, All-Seeing Spirit, which allowed him to feel and perceive many things that ordinary people could not.
“Hmm.”
Having finally examined all the wounds on the corpses, Bu Eun-seol nodded.
‘The sword is truly without end.’
The Sword Pavilion’s sword art she had left behind was restrained in its killing intent, yet it was exquisite and full of unpredictable variations.
By joining the battle, A-yeon had unwittingly broadened Bu Eun-seol’s perspective.
*Ssk.*
He rose to his feet and, with his drenched body, began to walk again.
As if she couldn’t let him go, A-yeon followed behind him.
After leaving the dense forest, an old, dilapidated temple came into view at the foot of the mountain.
Without hesitation, Bu Eun-seol headed there. As he passed through the mountain gate, a crumbling main hall stood in the front courtyard.
*Crackle.*
After gathering nearby branches and starting a fire, Bu Eun-seol finally sat down on a dusty platform in a corner.
*Sizzle.*
White steam rose from the body of A-yeon, who had followed him in.
She had used her internal energy to instantly dry her body and wet clothes.
‘Why isn’t he drying himself?’
Any martial artist could raise their internal energy in an instant to warm their body and dry their clothes.
But Bu Eun-seol had gone to the trouble of making a fire, only to sit in a corner without drying his drenched body.
‘That man is truly strange.’
She had thought him a vicious demonic swordsman who slaughtered reclusive Grand Masters.
But in person, Bu Eun-seol showed no emotion, much like a high priest of Buddhism, and his every movement was disciplined and stern.
“...!”
Staring intently at Bu Eun-seol in the firelight, A-yeon suddenly realized something and frowned.
She realized she was, without knowing it, paying deep attention to him.
‘Me, interested in that man?’
He was merely one of the Ten Demonic Scions of the Demonic Path, a man she was supposed to cut down…
Ever since meeting Bu Eun-seol, her spirit, once as calm as a lake, had become slightly agitated.
His unique aura. His powerful yet murderous martial arts. And his handsome features…
He seemed to possess all the qualities that would draw the interest of any woman in the world.
‘This won’t do.’
The swordsmanship of the Sword Pavilion could be expressed with a single word: ‘stillness.’
If she couldn't maintain the tranquility of her spirit, like a high priest who had cultivated the path of Zen, her swordsmanship would also fall to a lower level.
*Woooong.*
Taking a deep breath, she circulated her profound energy.
Her mind cleared, and all her confusing emotions dissipated.
*Shing.*
Just then, Bu Eun-seol rose and drew the sword from his back.
“What is it?”
“Enemies have arrived.”
“Enemies?”
A-yeon blinked.
What enemies could have come to this quiet, abandoned temple?
‘Ah.’
At that moment, an alarm went off in her senses. Only now did she detect the presence of a large group approaching.
‘He sensed them before I did?’
Her heightened senses, honed by training in the Sword Pavilion’s profound arts, were by no means inferior to those of the top masters of the era.
No matter how deep in thought she had been, how could Bu Eun-seol have sensed them faster than she?
*Step, step.*
Just then, Bu Eun-seol walked out of the main hall.
Watching him go without hesitation, A-yeon finally understood one thing.
‘There was no need to dry off.’
He was going to be drenched in blood again anyway.
That was why he hadn't bothered to dry his wet clothes.
*Click.*
A-yeon, who had drawn her sword and was about to go outside, shook her head.
“In any case, isn’t he my enemy?”
Before, she had gotten involved with Bu Eun-seol without realizing it, but things were different now.
Instead of going out, she used her movement technique to leap up to the hole in the roof.
From the rooftop, she would simply observe Bu Eun-seol’s fight.
***
The courtyard in front of the main hall was packed with over a hundred martial artists clad in crimson uniforms and masks.
The whites of their eyes were gone; their pupils were entirely black.
Strange warriors with red clothes and black eyes.
From a distance, they looked like demons that had clawed their way out of hell to feast on human flesh.
“The Poison Cauldron Hall this time?”
At Bu Eun-seol’s words, an old, unmasked man emerged from among the warriors.
“You know us well.”
The old man’s skin was as black as if it had been painted with charcoal.
When he opened his mouth, his white teeth looked like the grotesque fangs of a beast.
He was the master of the Hell Blood Fortress’s Poison Cauldron Hall, Jin Ja-myeong.
“I sent the Blood Hand Hall, but they ended up destroying themselves while brawling with some Wudang bastards.”
Jin Ja-myeong’s eyes blazed fiercely as he spoke.
“Since you recognize me, you must also know the terror of the Blood Wraiths, I presume?”
Blood Wraiths.
They were poison men created by infusing the body with five of Hell Blood Fortress’s most potent toxins through a device called a Poison Cauldron.
They felt no pain or fear and moved like machines solely to kill the enemy—beings closer to monsters than men.
“I’m honored. After the Blood Demon Hall and the Blood Hand Hall, now the Poison Cauldron Hall itself crawls out.”
“Hmph, your fate was never going to end well with our fortress anyway.”
A dark, death-like mist swirled in Jin Ja-myeong’s eyes.
“You will never reach the Demonic Sanctum.”
“Chattering every time we meet… how tiresome.”
“What did you say?”
As Bu Eun-seol raised his Muk-geom, a red mist began to billow around his body.
The fluctuations of his true energy, born from his immense internal power, had become tangible and visible to the naked eye.
“I have a long way to go…”
Within the swirling red mist, a light like the sun flashed in Bu Eun-seol’s eyes.
“So I’ll get rid of you quickly!”