Chapter 440
Chapter 440
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 440
Chapter Title: A Body in Conflict
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The next day, inside a meeting room at the Seongwi Pavilion.
Seo Muk, the Vice-Commander of the Seongwi Division, blinked several times.
The reason was the young captain standing before him.
—I have decided to enter the Dengmu Hall.
He had been so sure the man would join the Seongwi Division.
The Dengmu Hall, a place that cleaned up after the Hall of Longevity or handled trivial tasks not addressed by the General Hall Masters' Council.
He wanted to become a Second-Class Captain there?
“The Dengmu Hall was originally a place for training the Alliance’s lower-ranking warriors.”
Seo Muk spoke with a calm expression.
“But the seven Commanders changed that policy, ordering the captains under them to train all warriors directly. Since then, the Dengmu Hall’s position has become rather ambiguous.”
He stared intently into Bu Eun-seol’s eyes and continued.
“Much like how you’ve ended up in a unit that is neither here nor there.”
“...”
“Do you know that Commander Baekri looks upon you favorably?”
Seo Muk sighed as if he knew everything on Bu Eun-seol’s mind.
“Our division has many outstanding individuals, but few have caught the Commander’s eye.”
He then spoke in a solemn voice, as if delivering a final notice.
“If you have grand ambitions, joining our division would be a far better choice.”
He was asserting that if Bu Eun-seol was ambitious, coming to the Seongwi Division would be the faster path.
“I am overwhelmed by the favor shown to me by the Commander and Vice-Commander. Thank you.”
Bu Eun-seol said, respectfully clasping his hands.
“But I have already made my decision.”
*Creak.*
Just then, the door opened, and a large, middle-aged man in ornate robes, reminiscent of a small mountain, entered.
It was Yuk Jang-cheon, the Master of Dengmu Hall.
“Hall Master.”
“Vice-Commander.”
Yuk Jang-cheon and Seo Muk exchanged brief greetings.
As Yuk Jang-cheon took a seat, Seo Muk asked.
“What brings the Hall Master here?”
“Though it may be an informal ceremony, how could I not attend the appointment of a captain joining my hall?”
“You are being far too considerate.”
Seo Muk said with a slight lift of his lips.
“For a Second-Class Captain, that is.”
At that, Yuk Jang-cheon offered a faint smile.
“Is Captain Seonwu not a talent who joined our hall on his own and has independently achieved great merits several times?”
He then looked directly at Seo Muk and spoke clearly.
“When such an outstanding talent comes to my hall, I have no choice but to give him my utmost attention.”
“I suppose Hall Master Yuk does need capable individuals under his command.”
It was a sarcastic remark, mocking the fact that Yuk Jang-cheon had always lacked distinguished subordinates.
Yuk Jang-cheon’s expression changed at Seo Muk’s rather disrespectful attitude.
In terms of rank, Hall Master Yuk Jang-cheon was superior to Vice-Commander Seo Muk.
But in terms of actual power, there was an insurmountable gap between them.
So much so that he couldn't even offer an immediate retort to such a provocative statement.
“Captain Seonwu.”
Seo Muk turned his gaze from Yuk Jang-cheon to Bu Eun-seol and asked coldly.
“Are you sure you won’t regret this?”
“I am.”
“Fine.”
The corners of Seo Muk’s mouth lifted as he rose from his seat.
“As of this moment, you are officially a Second-Class Captain of the Dengmu Hall.”
He gave Yuk Jang-cheon a slight nod and, without a single perfunctory word of congratulations, turned and left the meeting room.
*Grind.*
As soon as Seo Muk left, Yuk Jang-cheon clenched his teeth.
To be humiliated like this in front of Bu Eun-seol, who had just become his direct subordinate?
“Vice-Commander Seo is right.”
Yuk Jang-cheon said in a low voice after taking a deep breath to control his emotions.
“It is true that joining the Seongwi Division would have been a much more stable path than serving under me.”
“The day will soon come when Vice-Commander Seo bows his head to you, Hall Master.”
Bu Eun-seol said in a calm voice.
“I will make sure of it.”
His words were a promise that Yuk Jang-cheon would ascend to the vacant position of Commander of the Mocheon Division.
“I will trust your words.”
Yuk Jang-cheon nodded and gripped Bu Eun-seol’s shoulder.
“In return, I will not spare any support for you.”
“Thank you.”
Yuk Jang-cheon was indeed a man of his word.
The very next day after Bu Eun-seol became a Second-Class Captain, he had Yuk Cheong-a bring a new mission so that Bu Eun-seol could quickly accumulate merits.
Inside a meeting room at the Jeoljeong Pavilion.
Bu Eun-seol and all his subordinates were gathered there.
At the head of the table, Yuk Cheong-a was speaking in a low voice.
“The mission is to pursue the Blood Heat Lewd Demon, whom the Alliance has been unable to capture.”
Despite being a Hall Mistress, she had come to the Jeoljeong Squad personally to deliver the mission.
This was, of course, an order from Yuk Jang-cheon to help him build merits quickly.
“His whereabouts have been unknown for some time, but he has actually been continuing his evil deeds under various identities.”
“Do we simply need to track him?”
At Bu Eun-seol’s question, Yuk Cheong-a’s eyes curved into crescents.
“If that were the case, I would have sent the mission via a messenger instead of coming myself, wouldn’t I?”
With a faint smile, Yuk Cheong-a swept her gaze over Bu Eun-seol, Tae Mu-ryong, and the others.
“I’ve heard that the reason the Blood Heat Lewd Demon has been able to evade the Alliance’s pursuit until now is that he leads a coalition of various demonic figures known as public enemies of the martial world.”
In short, the order was to not only capture the Blood Heat Lewd Demon but also to wipe out the entire network of criminals attached to him.
“I believe that Captain Seonwu and the Jeoljeong Squad are capable of achieving even greater merits than that.”
The Blood Heat Lewd Demon was a fiend known to have entered the Transcendent Realm long ago.
But Yuk Jang-cheon and Yuk Cheong-a had thoroughly investigated everything about Seonwu Jin.
They had learned not only that Seonwu Jin’s martial prowess had reached the Transcendent Realm but also that he had mastered various martial arts from beyond the borders that he had not yet revealed.
That was why they had brought him such a difficult mission, confident that he was more than capable of handling it.
“Of course.”
Bu Eun-seol calmly clasped his hands.
“I will not disappoint you.”
“I’ll be looking forward to it.”
As Yuk Cheong-a left the meeting room, Tae Mu-ryong let out a strange sigh.
“So now we’ve truly become Hall Master Yuk’s personal squad.”
His voice was thick with disappointment, questioning why they hadn't joined the Seongwi Division.
“You seem disappointed.”
At Bu Eun-seol’s words, Tae Mu-ryong scratched his cheek with an embarrassed expression.
“It would be a lie to say I’m not.”
Then, Jeong Jong-do spoke in a low voice.
“The Captain must have a plan. Isn’t that right?”
Bu Eun-seol nodded and spoke frankly.
“Even if we joined the Seongwi Division and quickly accumulated merits, we would, at best, become First-Class Captains. Even after a long time, we would likely remain as Hall Masters.”
He looked over his subordinates and said forcefully.
“But if Hall Master Deng is appointed as the Commander of the vacant Mocheon Division... I could rise to the position of Vice-Commander. As you know, that is an extremely high-ranking position, one that only needs to heed the orders of the Alliance Leader and the Division Commanders.”
At those words, the squad members were left speechless.
Due to the structure of the Martial Alliance, no matter how outstanding an individual was, it was difficult to rise above the level of Hall Master unless a vacancy opened up.
But Bu Eun-seol, for the sake of the highest position he could attain...
Was planning to carve out a position that didn't even exist for him yet?
—We need to set different goals for ourselves, too.
Tae Mu-ryong, Jeong Jong-do, and the other squad members had thought that they would have nothing more to wish for if they could just become members of a first-class squad.
But their superior, Bu Eun-seol, was aiming for the very pinnacle of status a young warrior could achieve.
In that case, they too had to change their goals.
—Let’s go where no one else has gone!
Before they knew it, a great ambition had taken root in the hearts of the Jeoljeong Squad members.
* * *
Okryeong Mountain.
A famous mountain in Yuanzhou, Jiangxi, it was known since ancient times to be filled with spiritual energy, a place where Daoists and mages often came to train.
Furthermore, the area around Okryeong Mountain had clear, clean water, so there were many distilleries that made wine and taverns that sold good liquor.
After leaving the Martial Alliance, Bu Eun-seol compiled the information his Jeoljeong Squad members received from the Hall of Ten Thousand Sceneries with the intelligence gathered by the Sahon Squad.
Thanks to their promotion to a second-class squad, the amount of information the Jeoljeong Squad could obtain had increased considerably.
By combining this with the Sahon Squad’s intelligence network... they were able to find the location of the Blood Heat Lewd Demon, whose trail even the Martial Alliance had lost, much faster than expected.
‘No wonder he was hard to find, a lewd demon running a distillery.’
Bu Eun-seol nodded as he checked various spots in the village while drinking like a passing traveler who had found a tavern.
Surprisingly, the Blood Heat Lewd Demon had set up a rather respectable distillery near Okryeong Mountain and was avoiding pursuit by playing the part of its owner.
But that alone wasn't enough to completely shake off the Martial Alliance's pursuit.
Therefore, the Blood Heat Lewd Demon had built a secret passage in the distillery that connected to Okryeong Mountain.
He used it exclusively when he went out to commit his depraved acts.
‘The absence of the Beggars’ Sect is certainly a huge blow.’
The Beggars’ Sect was, without a doubt, the largest intelligence organization of the Orthodox Faction.
But when they went into seclusion, a massive intelligence vacuum was created throughout the Orthodox Faction.
The Martial Alliance had tried to overcome this by drastically increasing the number of agents in the Hall of Ten Thousand Sceneries and reorganizing various intelligence units, but...
The intelligence gap still existed.
‘If the Beggars’ Sect hadn’t gone into seclusion, they would have found the Blood Heat Lewd Demon and his distillery without much difficulty.’
The Central Plains was teeming with beggars.
The Martial Alliance had even recruited some beggars, partially modeling their intelligence organization after the Beggars’ Sect.
But they couldn't maintain the vast intelligence network that the Beggars' Sect had once commanded.
‘He should be crawling out soon.’
The Blood Heat Lewd Demon, holed up in his distillery, was not only extremely cautious but also never let his guard down for a moment.
That meant he was waiting for an opportunity to commit his next vile act.
‘Lewd demons are beyond redemption.’
Lewd demons were periodically overcome by their lust, compelling them to commit their crimes at regular intervals.
Furthermore, they felt no guilt for their actions, and their crimes tended to become bolder over time.
Even his grandfather, Bu Jan-yang, who rarely frowned at anything, would erupt in great fury upon seeing the body of someone who had been raped and murdered by a lewd fiend.
—Robbers steal the wealth of the common people and cause them harm, but lewd fiends steal their very souls!
For that reason, Bu Eun-seol also held an extreme contempt for such fiends and had killed every one he came across since entering the martial world.
And now, he was preparing to send another one to hell.
*Swoosh.*
Bu Eun-seol’s prediction was correct.
Late at night, the Blood Heat Lewd Demon entered the secret passage he had built in the distillery.
When he finally emerged near Okryeong Mountain, he began to use his movement arts.
But something was strange.
He wasn’t using the secret passage to go to another village, but was instead loitering around the area where the passage was located?
‘Interesting.’
Bu Eun-seol’s eyes glinted.
He had seen through the Blood Heat Lewd Demon’s intention to deliberately lure him out.
‘He couldn’t have detected my surveillance. That means there was a flaw in my investigation process.’
Curiosity bloomed within him.
How on earth did he detect his surveillance?
“Come out, you little brat.”
The Blood Heat Lewd Demon suddenly shouted.
“I know you’re there.”
“Impressive.”
At his confident shout, Bu Eun-seol slowly revealed himself.
“How did you know?”
Before the Blood Heat Lewd Demon could answer, the door to the secret passage opened, and dozens of people appeared.
They were the owners and servants of the tavern.
And weren’t most of the merchants selling goods in the marketplace also emerging from the secret passage?
“I see. I was wondering why there were so many merchants with stalls in such a remote village.”
Bu Eun-seol nodded as if impressed.
It turned out that most of the merchants in the village marketplace were in league with the Blood Heat Lewd Demon.
“You must have learned some secret arts of disguise.”
The merchants in the marketplace had played their roles so perfectly that Bu Eun-seol hadn't sensed anything amiss.
And because he had so many collaborators around him...
He had been able to consistently detect or covertly evade the Martial Alliance’s pursuit.
‘I suppose this is the only way.’
Villains known as public enemies of the martial world couldn't easily shake off coalitions like the Martial Alliance or the Demonic Alliance on their own.
That was why they were pooling their strength to evade pursuit.
“They say the Blood Heat Lewd Demon has plundered an astronomical amount of money. It seems you’ve used that money to rally these hunted fiends.”
“Where are you from?”
“The Martial Alliance.”
When Bu Eun-seol answered readily, the Blood Heat Lewd Demon frowned.
“So this village is done for.”
“You don’t need to worry about that. Your long life on the run is about to end.”
“Hahaha.”
The Blood Heat Lewd Demon shook his head.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Do you think I don’t know that you came alone to claim the credit?”
The fiends disguised as merchants in the marketplace had observed Bu Eun-seol carefully.
As a result, they were certain that he had no backup and hadn't made any contact with the outside.
“You’ve established a proper system. To be able to detect even attempts to contact the outside.”
As Bu Eun-seol let out a sound of admiration, the Blood Heat Lewd Demon gestured with his head.
“Let’s kill this bastard quickly and leave.”
At the Blood Heat Lewd Demon’s signal, the fiends who had followed him drew their weapons.
“Attack!”
About thirty fiends rushed toward Bu Eun-seol all at once.
‘This is tedious. I’ll just freeze them all with the Glacial River Flow Art.’
They had gained considerable experience and coordination while evading pursuit.
But in Bu Eun-seol’s eyes, they looked like children running in slow motion.
Finding it too troublesome to deal with them individually, he immediately extended his left arm.
*Crack, crackle.*
At that moment, white frost formed on Bu Eun-seol’s hair, and a pure white current of energy began to pour out.
The supreme art of the Glacial Grand Emperor, the Glacial River Flow Art, was unleashed.
*Fwoooosh!*
Instantly, the dozen or so fiends charging at him from the front came to a frozen halt.
Their internal energy was so weak that they couldn’t even resist the Glacial River Flow Art and were turned into human popsicles in an instant.
“What is this?!”
The remaining villains who were surrounding Bu Eun-seol leaped back in shock.
They had been in countless fights while roaming the martial world, but they had never even heard a joke about an ice art that could freeze a person solid in an instant.
“R-Run!”
Realizing that Bu Eun-seol was a master they couldn't possibly face, they turned and began to flee without a second thought.
“If you can escape my grasp, I won’t pursue you.”
Bu Eun-seol once again unleashed the Glacial River Flow Art.
Since freezing them to death with this art wouldn't leave any visible wounds, he poured out his extreme yin energy with all his might.
But suddenly, a sun-like heat gathered in his dantian, and something strange happened.
“Agh, aghhh!”
The villains struck by the white energy didn’t freeze. Instead, they suddenly let out agonizing screams and began to writhe on the ground.
“Uggghhh!”
The villains rolling on the ground seemed to have their skin melt like taffy, and then they collapsed as if boneless, turning into shapeless puddles.
Why was this happening when he had used the Glacial River Flow Art?
“This is…”
Bu Eun-seol examined their condition with a grave expression.
While their outsides were frozen by the Glacial River Flow Art, the immense extreme yang energy contained within it had caused their internal organs to completely melt into liquid.
The Great Heat True Energy.
That powerful energy had mixed with the Glacial River Flow Art and been unleashed.
“How can this be…”
Bu Eun-seol looked down at his hands.
A white and red aura began to alternate, and he felt a discomfort in his internal circulation.
He was experiencing mild symptoms of Qi Deviation.
“Ugh... ughhh.”
The Blood Heat Lewd Demon, who had watched about thirty villains die horribly, turned without a second thought and fled using his movement technique.
Bu Eun-seol immediately tried to give chase, but he suddenly felt a tearing pain in his meridians, as if he had misused his internal energy.
‘I can catch that one anytime.’
Bu Eun-seol calmed his mind and circulated the Counter-Polarity Divine Art.
A magnificent golden light enveloped his body, and the chaotic energy within him began to subside slightly.
In this crisis, the Great Power of Prajna had suppressed the turmoil in his body.
“Hmm.”
But it didn't seem to be a complete cure, as he still felt nauseous and dizzy.
Not only that, but extreme yin energy and extreme yang energy began to flow alternately through his Ren and Du meridians.
“So that’s what it was.”
Bu Eun-seol finally realized that there was a problem with his body.
The battle with the Thunder God had reawakened the dormant energies of the Sacred Heat Energy and the Supreme Fire Wheel Energy within him.
The problem was that this energy was incredibly powerful, and his body also contained the opposing force of the Glacial River Flow Art.
“I have contained too many conflicting arts and techniques in one body.”
The foundation of martial arts was to clear one's mind and have few desires.
What if one tried to learn many different things at once?
It could cause the body’s energy to flow backward, like water flowing uphill, potentially ruining the body.
Furthermore, the arts of the righteous and demonic factions pursued entirely different paths, making them impossible to contain in a single body.
But Bu Eun-seol had mastered the supreme core arts of both the righteous and demonic paths, as well as unorthodox arts from beyond the borders that could wield extreme yin and extreme yang energy.
With all of them coexisting, the savage energy of the Great Heat True Energy had run wild like an untamed horse, causing all the martial arts and true energies within his body to become jumbled together.
“This is not something that can be easily resolved.”
Bu Eun-seol looked up at the distant sky with a grave expression.
If he couldn't resolve this quickly?
Not only would his identity as Seonwu Jin be at risk, but he might self-destruct before he could even face his powerful enemies.
“There is no other way.”
The only people who could understand why Bu Eun-seol had learned such a variety of martial arts were those who had raised him.
In other words, to solve this problem, Bu Eun-seol had to return to the place where his martial arts foundation was built.
To Nangya Pavilion.
[Soyo.]
When Bu Eun-seol used Thousand-Mile Telepathy, a faint shadow arrived near him in less than an instant.
“Are you okay?”
Soyo, who was concealed nearby, asked in a worried voice upon seeing Bu Eun-seol’s extremely pale complexion.
“Are you hurt?”
“I’m not hurt, just suffered some internal injuries from misusing my energy.”
Bu Eun-seol told a gentle lie and said in a low voice.
“I need to go to Nangya Pavilion for a while. Contact Seo Jin-ha and tell her to pursue the escaped Blood Heat Lewd Demon.”
“Okay. I will.”
Soyo, still hidden from view, replied calmly.
“Be safe.”
It was a short phrase, but it was filled with deep affection and concern.
“I will be.”
Bu Eun-seol leaped into the air in a single bound.
There was no time.
If he didn't assess his condition and treat his body as soon as possible, his martial power could be greatly diminished.
‘In a way, this might be for the best.’
As the legitimate successor of Nangya Pavilion, Bu Eun-seol was destined to succeed the Human Demon, Ak Mu-ryeong, and become the pavilion’s master.
His current martial level had reached the cusp of the Apex Realm, and his internal energy was arguably the greatest of his generation.
In other words, Bu Eun-seol was now...
Ready to learn the ultimate arts of Ak Mu-ryeong, the strongest of the Three Demons.