Chapter 469
Chapter 469
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 469
Chapter Title: The Fall of a Rival
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The man in black was drenched in blood, his head lolling limply.
He seemed to be dying from a grave injury.
Just as Bu Eun-seol, assessing the situation at a glance, was about to approach the man,
“…!”
his usually impassive expression hardened in an instant.
The man in black, dying with chains wrapped around his body.
Wasn't he Jeongcheon, the vice-chief of the Sky-Striding Division of the Red Heaven Unending Lands, the very man with whom he had once fought to a draw?
"Do you know him?"
Bu Eun-seol nodded at Gongson Dan-a's question.
"I do."
*Clang.*
Slicing through the chains in a single motion with his Ice Soul Sword, Bu Eun-seol drew closer to Jeongcheon.
"Brother Jeong, are you all right?"
The man in black, Jeongcheon, slowly lifted his head.
Seeing him, Bu Eun-seol was momentarily stunned.
*This is…*
Jeongcheon's eyes were stained black, and his canine teeth had grown slightly long, like a beast's.
Furthermore, the blood covering his body emitted a grotesque stench.
It was clear he had long been consuming the refined blood or artificial cores made from the Human Flower.
"What in the world happened to you?"
[Hnngh.]
A strange sound, neither human nor beast, escaped Jeongcheon's lips.
Bloodlust and fighting spirit.
All that remained in his eyes was the will to fight.
*Clank.*
Struggling to his feet, Jeongcheon reached out and gripped the great saber lying on the ground.
"So it was you, Brother Jeong."
The man who had defeated the Devouring King, Bukgung Ryeong.
He was Jeongcheon.
As if he hadn't heard a thing, Jeongcheon was sheathing the great saber at his waist.
*—They say the research has shown some results. They can partially detoxify the Human Flower, allowing those who have recently lost their souls to be restored…*
Yuk Cheong-a's words suddenly came to mind.
If I take him to the Jongri family immediately, could Jeongcheon be saved?
*No, it's impossible.*
Bu Eun-seol shook his head with a sorrowful expression.
Jeongcheon had struggled to his feet, but his side was torn open, revealing bone and internal organs.
His body was closer to a living corpse.
Even if the Human Flower could be detoxified, there was no way to heal such a wound.
*Shing.*
Just then, Jeongcheon looked at Bu Eun-seol and began to draw his great saber.
It seemed the warrior's instinct remained.
Seeing the gleam of the Ice Soul Sword in Bu Eun-seol's hand, he had drawn his own weapon to fight.
"My Lord."
"Stand back."
Bu Eun-seol drew his Ice Soul Sword and stood before Jeongcheon.
It was as if he had spent his life honing his swordsmanship. Jeongcheon's entire body bore the marks of grueling training.
And even as he was dying, seeing a sword made him rise to fight once more.
How could he possibly stop him?
The only thing Bu Eun-seol could do for him was to grant him one last fight.
"Brother Jeong. Come at me."
Clenching his teeth, Bu Eun-seol swallowed his anguish and spoke.
"I will show you the greatest swordsmanship I possess."
[Grrr.]
Jeongcheon groaned and gripped the chains.
As if energy were being infused into it, a sharp aura flowed from the tip of his great saber.
[Kaaah!]
With a roar, he thrust his great saber forward.
In that instant, hundreds of saber auras scattered around Bu Eun-seol's body.
*This is…*
Bu Eun-seol's eyes widened.
Wasn't the technique Jeongcheon had just used one of the Blood Tear Seven Forms, the fourth form, 'Desiring Death in a Landless Void'?
*—To wish for death, but find no place to die (欲死無地)…*
It seemed to perfectly describe Jeongcheon's current plight.
Unable to find a place to die, he had wandered the martial world, drifting into this unknown underground city.
But he had finally met Bu Eun-seol.
And now, he was seeking a long, final rest.
*Shhhwwwaaaaa.*
The saber auras pouring toward Bu Eun-seol were not only immensely powerful, but they also sealed off every possible escape route.
*Fwoosh!*
Bu Eun-seol immediately used the Ultimate Speed Shadowless Step to escape the assault of saber auras.
But something astonishing happened.
The saber auras Jeongcheon had unleashed did not dissipate; they were pursuing Bu Eun-seol.
"Impossible."
Gongson Dan-a, watching from a distance, gaped in disbelief.
With just a single saber form.
Not only had he made countless saber auras hang in the air as if frozen, but they were also chasing his opponent?
What kind of saber art was this?
*This is…*
Bu Eun-seol also wore a look of surprise.
But it wasn't because of the saber form Jeongcheon had used. He already knew all the forms of the Blood Tear Seven Forms.
It was just that Jeongcheon's version of the Blood Tear Seven Forms felt completely opposite to the saber principles Bu Eun-seol had learned.
The Blood Tear Seven Forms that Bu Eun-seol had learned craved his own death with every form.
But Jeongcheon's version used saber principles that seemed to inflict death upon others, not himself.
*Fwoosh.*
In that moment, hundreds of sword auras also rose from Bu Eun-seol's body.
Seeing Jeongcheon execute 'Desiring Death in a Landless Void' had allowed him to deeply comprehend the saber principles of the fourth form.
*Shhhhhwwwaaaaa!*
The sword auras Bu Eun-seol unleashed were similar to Jeongcheon's, but their range was far wider.
Desiring Death in a Landless Void.
This form, filled with the desperation of one who wishes to die but can find no place to do so… was not about trapping an enemy with terrifying saber aura, sealing their escape, and killing them.
*'It's about turning this battlefield into a place of death, with no distinction between friend and foe.'*
Jeongcheon, who had enveloped Bu Eun-seol with saber aura to ensure his enemy's death.
Bu Eun-seol, who had poured out sword aura over a radius of dozens of feet to inflict death without distinguishing between ally and enemy.
As the two ultimate forms clashed, a thunderous explosion erupted, sending dust and dirt soaring into the air.
*Whoosh.*
A desolate wind blew, clearing the rising dust, and the figures of the two men slowly came into view.
*Drip. Drip. Drip.*
Red blood trickled from several places on Bu Eun-seol's body.
He had failed to block all of Jeongcheon's saber auras, which had poured in from every direction.
In contrast, Jeongcheon's body was as it was before.
*Tremble.*
But his eyes were glazed over, as if all life had drained from them, and his body trembled lightly.
Desiring Death in a Landless Void.
A saber form said to silence all living beings within a hundred feet when mastered.
His life force had been extinguished by that immense saber aura.
One who desires the death of others.
One who brings death to all surroundings where he stands.
The stark difference in their saber principles had produced opposite results.
Jeongcheon stood tall, his back ramrod straight.
Even as death claimed him, he refused to fall weakly.
"It's been a while…"
Just then, a clear light shone in Jeongcheon's eyes.
He had regained a moment of clarity due to the phenomenon of terminal lucidity.
"Brother Jeong."
"So the wanderer Seol-so… was indeed the Martial Soul Lord who shakes the world."
Astonishingly, Jeongcheon not only recognized Bu Eun-seol's face at once,
but he also knew that "Wanderer Seol-so" was Bu Eun-seol's false identity.
"I was relentlessly searching for you, hoping for a rematch… and I happened to find out."
Jeongcheon smiled faintly and asked again.
"The sword art you used… that is the true Blood Tear Seven Forms, isn't it?"
He seemed to remember everything that had just happened with perfect clarity.
"What happened to you?"
Bu Eun-seol asked, and Jeongcheon smiled faintly.
"I made a foolish choice. I was impatient, desperate to grow stronger."
Though he smiled, his eyes were filled with bitter regret.
"You became a young grandmaster who shook the world… while I, no matter how hard I tried, couldn't achieve anything significant."
Hearing this, Bu Eun-seol's expression turned pained.
He knew instantly.
The reason Jeongcheon had ended up like this.
It was because of their match.
Jeongcheon, who had believed himself unrivaled among the younger generation, could not accept the result of a draw. His pride wouldn't allow it.
"Brother Jeong."
The light in Jeongcheon's eyes was fading.
Seeing that his life was hanging by a thread, Bu Eun-seol asked carefully.
"How did you learn the Blood Tear Seven Forms?"
The version Jeongcheon had used was a modified one, slightly different from the original saber principles.
Bu Eun-seol had to find out why.
"It was… the natural course of things."
Jeongcheon muttered with a lonely expression.
"The ruin of a man whose desires outstripped his abilities."
His eyes deepened as if recalling a distant past.
* * *
Jeongcheon had prided himself on being unmatched among his peers.
But after his duel with Bu Eun-seol, he was deeply shocked, and his pride was wounded.
In the end, he left the Red Heaven Unending Lands to train, seeking greater strength.
But even after long hours of training, he failed to make any significant progress.
In the meantime, Bu Eun-seol had become a young grandmaster whose name echoed throughout the martial world.
He had defeated King Geol and ascended to the position of aide to the Seven Kings of the God of Death.
Jeongcheon despaired.
He had once been confident that he would become the future's number one demonic path practitioner.
But was it all just the delusion of a frog in a well?
"A pity."
Then, a low voice spoke.
"Is there any need for someone your age to train in such a self-destructive manner?"
A mysterious figure had been watching Jeongcheon train in the remote wilderness near the Heavenly Mountains.
He was dressed in black with a cloth covering his face. His voice was deep, and he sounded to be over fifty years of age.
"Mind your own business."
Jeongcheon didn't even glance at the man in black, continuing to practice his swordsmanship relentlessly.
Seeing this, the man in black sighed.
It reminded him of his own past, when he had trained like a madman after realizing his lack of talent.
"Free yourself from your shackles. Even from the desire to become stronger."
*Shwwiik!*
As he spoke, the man in black unleashed a single saber form toward Jeongcheon.
In that instant, Jeongcheon stood frozen, his face utterly stunned.
It had no inherent form or shape. Even with his eyes wide open, he could see no substance or figure. It was something that could not be distinguished or fathomed in any way.
It was death itself.
*Such a saber art…*
Jeongcheon rubbed his eyes.
Until now, he had thought what he lacked was not martial arts, but effort.
But seeing the man's saber art, he realized what he lacked was not effort, but the martial art itself.
"If you can cast it aside… you might instead be able to ascend."
The man in black turned away, his voice low.
"Sir!"
Coming to his senses, a startled Jeongcheon knelt and prostrated himself before the man in black.
"Please, take me as your disciple."
Fearing rejection, Jeongcheon pressed his forehead to the ground and cried out desperately.
"If you intend to leave, then please take my head before you go!"
The man in black sighed heavily.
He had only intended, on a whim, to make the young man realize his training was flawed.
Instead, he realized he had stirred the heart of a young man who was training with such desperation.
"I am a man who has been hunted his entire life. I cannot take a disciple. However…"
*Shhh.*
The man in black took a thin booklet from his robes and offered it to Jeongcheon.
It was a manual containing two saber forms.
"I had already promised to pass this manual on to a talented young man anyway."
The man in black said with a deep sigh.
"If you can master the two saber forms remaining in here… you could become a saber master who dominates the martial world."
And he added solemnly.
"Read it and burn it. Keeping it will only bring disaster."
"This is…"
Jeongcheon hastily opened the booklet.
"The Blood Tear Seven Forms?"
His eyes widened in disbelief.
The manual the man had given him was the unique saber art of the legendary demonic path saber master, the Seven-Fingered Demonic Saber, Bu Jan-yang.
But the manual was heavily damaged, and only two of the forms were legible.
Moreover, new characters had been written over the faded saber principles, as if someone had arbitrarily inserted them.
It seemed the man in black had restored the damaged principles himself.
"Why is the manual so damaged?"
"It's not damaged. The principles were intentionally changed."
The man in black sighed.
"Otherwise, those with ordinary talent, like us, wouldn't even be able to perform them."
As the man in black prepared to leave, Jeongcheon asked.
"Where are you going? If it's all right, I would like to accompany you, sir."
"I told you. I am being hunted."
"Then I will help you."
The man in black smiled faintly.
"He appears and disappears like a ghost and is like a demon against whom martial arts are useless. Not even the most powerful factions in the world could help me."
Jeongcheon blinked.
Appears and disappears like a ghost, and martial arts don't work on him like a demon.
And this was an opponent that even someone who had mastered such a saber art could not handle?
Jeongcheon wanted to say more, but the man in black quickly used his movement technique and departed.
*'In any case, with this saber art, it's possible.'*
Even if it was only two forms.
The Blood Tear Seven Forms was an ultimate saber art that could perfectly fill the void he had felt within himself.
From then on, Jeongcheon devoted himself to mastering these two forms.
But no matter how much he tried, he couldn't perfectly master them.
*'Is my talent truly this pathetic?'*
The man in black had clearly said he intentionally changed the principles so that even ordinary people could perform the art.
And Jeongcheon possessed enough talent that Cho Geom-rang, one of the Ten Demonic Prodigies, had considered taking him as a disciple in his later years.
Yet he couldn't even master these two forms?
*'Is this all I'm capable of?'*
After a year of grueling training with no progress, Jeongcheon fell into despair.
But just then,
"You must be his disciple."
Another person, who had discovered the traces of Jeongcheon's training, appeared.
He was an old man of no great height. He wore a mask, so only his pair of eyes, glinting with a mysterious light, were visible.
"Judging by the fact that you're learning a sham version of the Blood Tear Seven Forms."
Jeongcheon's eyes widened.
The saber art the man in black had shown him possessed such incredible power that it made all the martial arts he had ever learned feel like child's play.
And this man was calling that art a sham?
"Who are you?"
Jeongcheon asked, and the masked old man smiled faintly.
"A pity. You're not ripe enough to devour yet."
His smile and his gaze were like those of a lion licking its lips just before devouring a rabbit.
In that moment, Jeongcheon knew.
This masked old man was the demon who had hunted the man in black his entire life.
"Come at me."
Jeongcheon bravely drew his sword.
Even if the old man before him were King Yama himself, he had no intention of sitting back and waiting for death.
"Hmm."
The masked old man stared intently at the sharp glint in Jeongcheon's eyes and then nodded.
"Yes, you want to become stronger. Desperately."
Strangely, not only the man in black but also this masked old man had instantly perceived Jeongcheon's desperation.
"Good. What I desire is to taste the proper Blood Tear Seven Forms, after all."
The old man nodded and made a strange proposal.
"I will help you perfectly master the saber forms you've been learning."
"What do you mean?"
"Your talent isn't bad, but you met the wrong master. You're still practicing in such an old-fashioned way, which is why your martial arts aren't improving."
"What do you mean?"
"You don't eat properly, nor do you rest. On top of that, you're in no state to assess your own mistakes. Training alone in the deep mountains is meaningless."
"What do you want?"
"I will give you what you need. An environment where you can perfectly master the saber art, elixirs. And even a master."
Jeongcheon couldn't understand.
This masked old man was clearly an enemy of the man in black who had taught him the Blood Tear Seven Forms.
So why was he trying to help him, a practitioner of that same art?
"Why are you trying to help me?"
"I told you."
The masked old man said coldly.
"I want to taste the complete Blood Tear Seven Forms."
And then, like a flash of lightning, he drew his sword.
*Kiiiing!*
A terrifying saber aura spread out and poured down before Jeongcheon's eyes.
It was a fearsome saber art comparable to the man in black's Blood Tear Seven Forms, powerful enough to shatter the boundary between heaven and earth.
"You mean to shatter the Blood Tear Seven Forms?"
The masked old man scoffed at Jeongcheon's question.
"'Shatter' is a funny word. If I had fought Bu Jan-yang, he never would have earned the title of the Demonic Path's greatest saber master."
A flash like starlight flared in the masked old man's eyes.
"Because he would have died by my hand."
Jeongcheon's eyes widened.
The masked man's words were no mere bluff.
The single saber form he had just displayed possessed a power and profundity that rivaled the man in black's Blood Tear Seven Forms.
"Since you couldn't fight the Seven-Fingered Demonic Saber, you're chasing after those who have learned his art. To determine a victor."
"That's right."
"Why couldn't you fight him? You seem to be of a similar age."
"That is none of your concern."
The masked old man's eyes curved into crescents as he spoke.
"Will you become prey that whets my appetite?"
In short, the masked old man acknowledged Jeongcheon's talent and intended to help him master the Blood Tear Seven Forms, only to cut him down afterward.
"Fine."
Jeongcheon took a deep breath.
The old man's saber art was formidable, but if he could master the two forms of the Blood Tear Seven Forms, he was confident he could face him.
And he looked at the masked old man with an intensely fervent gaze.
"I will go with you."
From that day on.
Jeongcheon followed the masked old man to an underground city built deep within the Nine Bends Mountain and began to master the saber art.
There, countless elixirs were piled up to enhance his stamina and memory.
There was also a man called the 'Lion' who would point out the flaws in his saber art.
He was also provided with a place and mental cultivation techniques to restore his exhausted body and spirit.
"I will return when you have mastered the saber art."
The old man left with a sinister smile and a final word.
"Do not disappoint me."
But Jeongcheon paid no heed to the old man's words.
This place was perfect for practicing martial arts. He immediately began to train in the two saber forms once more.
But mastering the true saber art of the Seven-Fingered Demonic Saber was no easy task.
To learn the Blood Tear Seven Forms, one needed to be innately fearless and equate life with death.
If that were all, it would have been fine. But it also required exceptional enlightenment and an unyielding spirit.
"Damn it!"
*CRASH!*
As time passed, Jeongcheon grew more desperate.
Even in an environment like this, he couldn't master a mere two forms?
Was he not even a frog in a well, but a mere insect?
Just as Jeongcheon, realizing that mastering the Blood Tear Seven Forms was impossible, was writhing in despair,
[Eat this.]
The 'Lion' who had been correcting his saber art held out a bottle filled with a red liquid.
[If you drink this, you will gain inexhaustible stamina, and the more you drink, the stronger your internal energy will become.]
"I've had enough elixirs."
[This is no ordinary elixir. You should know that, shouldn't you?]
At some point, Jeongcheon had realized it too.
That they were cultivating the Human Flower in this underground city and conducting bizarre experiments.
But by the time he learned of this, he was already mired in despair and grief, and he couldn't bring himself to care.
[If you drink this, you will transcend the limits of your abilities. The only problem is that you might suffer from addiction and a loss of reason.]
"You mean I'll become one of the Soulless."
[That's right. Our side is currently researching ways to mitigate those side effects.]
"So you're saying you'll use me as a test subject."
The Lion placed the bottle on the table and turned away.
[I won't force you.]
Jeongcheon stared blankly at the bottle.
That red liquid was a decoction of the Human Flower, a flower cultivated using human essence and blood.
If he drank it, he would, nine times out of ten, become one of the Soulless, devoid of reason.
Jeongcheon knew he shouldn't give in to this temptation.
But he was mired in deep despair and frustration, and the desire to become stronger was the only thing dominating his mind.
*Gulp.*
He swallowed the red liquid in a single gulp.
In the end, he couldn't resist the temptation and accepted the devil's bargain.