Chapter 1002
The great saber wielded by the Return-to-One Realm Lord was so massive that even a burly adult would struggle to grip it.
The blade, absorbing the surrounding light with a gloomy glow, was over three feet wide, with a hilt as thick as a log.
And it emitted a low, ceaseless vibration—thirsting endlessly for blood.
Ghk.
As he properly grasped the great saber, a ferocious energy unfurled outward.
Kyaaaah!
With a deafening shriek resembling the wail of a witch, the great saber carved through the air.
Then, a powerful saber energy surged forth, condensing the space around him into a single point.
An illusion of infinite expansion followed.
Destruction and annihilation.
The Bloody Tears Seven Forms executed by the Return-to-One Realm Lord contained a completely different intent of the blade from the one created by Bu Jan-yang.
Pa-ang!
In response, a brilliant light erupted from Bu Eun-seol's body.
Having faced a succession of formidable enemies in Immortal Valley, he had sustained fatal injuries. In this state, he didn't believe he could defeat the Return-to-One Realm Lord.
No—he wasn't even hoping for victory.
But because this was the man who had stolen his grandfather's remains, he intended to pour everything into a single, decisive strike.
—Kiii!
Bu Eun-seol's eyes burned with madness as he unleashed the same Bloody Tears Seven Forms.
However, in terms of mastery alone, his execution fell slightly short of the Return-to-One Realm Lord's.
Moreover, because it was fueled by a desperate thirst for vengeance, what erupted wasn't the pure power of the Bloody Tears Seven Forms—but a hybrid of it and a killing intent-laden Strange Sword Study.
Yet its destructive force had drastically increased.
The vengeance and murderous intent he had suppressed for so long had exploded forth.
And after facing Ga Gyeong and others, he had grasped a near-perfected version of the Bloody Tears Seven Forms—one capable of channeling emotion.
KRA-BOOM! Flash!
But as the dark saber energies clashed repeatedly, Bu Eun-seol's body gradually began to be pushed back.
Flash!
Suddenly, Bu Eun-seol hurled his sword into the sky.
Then, the Ink Soul Sword flickered with a black radiance like a living dragon before clinging to the Return-to-One Realm Lord's body and unleashing the Formless Heavenly Flow.
He had surpassed the realm of Sword and Will as One—now freely manipulating the sword with his mind alone, displaying Mind-Controlled Swordplay.
Grk.
Meanwhile, Bu Eun-seol, having reset his dislocated shoulder, stretched both arms with a battle cry.
From his left hand, a freezing cold capable of icing over the world swirled—while from his right, a scorching heat that could melt everything roared in a vortex.
Kururur!
The Glacier Thousand Streams Art and the Hot River Great Essence True Qi.
The two opposing polar forces.
Formed a spiraling, colossal storm—rushing violently toward the Return-to-One Realm Lord.
Tzzek. Kwaang!
The air repeatedly froze and exploded in a bizarre phenomenon—
And in an instant, the Scorching Hell and Frozen Hell alternated, reducing the radius of over 130 yards around the Return-to-One Realm Lord to utter ruin.
[Hmph.]
With a derisive snort, the Return-to-One Realm Lord extended the great saber—
Kururung!
A deafening roar shook heaven and earth, and all of Bu Eun-seol's attacks vanished as if evaporated in an instant.
But as if anticipating this, an intangible True Qi burst from Bu Eun-seol's entire body like a flash—
And spat out hundreds, thousands of blades once more.
He had unleashed the Willful True Binding.
Shwaak!
The blades of death tore through the defensive space the Return-to-One Realm Lord had erected—
Shwa-shwa-shwa-shwa!
Changing forms endlessly at a furious speed, they displayed overwhelming destructive power, shattering everything in their path.
Hwoong! Hwoong! Hwoong!
Suddenly, the Return-to-One Realm Lord's great saber, now imbued with a blood-red saber light, drew a massive circle in the air.
Then, like the gates of the underworld sucking in all things, a square-shaped void opened in the air—
And swallowed every last one of Bu Eun-seol's attacks.
Ghk.
In the end, overwhelmed by that immense force, the Ink Soul Sword, which had been executing the Formless Heavenly Flow midair, returned to Bu Eun-seol's hand.
For a moment, the fierce exchange between the two masters—who had clashed over a hundred times in a single breath—came to a halt.
Their battle, transcending the limits of martial arts, had caused the earth to boil like lava, while the heat radiating in all directions distorted the surrounding air.
Hwing-hwing.
The Return-to-One Realm Lord flicked the blade of the great saber lightly, displaying overwhelming leisure.
His saber technique had already reached the pinnacle of Heaven and Earth as One—
Ordinary attacks couldn't even hope to wound him.
"Haaap!"
But Bu Eun-seol paid no heed, unleashing a thunderous roar of fury.
Pa-ang!
With an explosive sound, a condensed crimson flash erupted from his entire body once more.
In an instant, he closed the distance—pat!—and deployed the Formless Heavenly Flow again.
With every trajectory the Ink Soul Sword carved, space distorted, and dark ripples spread dozens of yards outward.
In contrast, the Return-to-One Realm Lord stood firm, his coldly gleaming eyes betraying not a flicker of disturbance.
With minimal movement, he executed an extremely restrained saber technique, effortlessly deflecting Bu Eun-seol's storm of attacks.
'Show more arrogance!'
Bu Eun-seol's eyes, though delivering frenzied slashes, were ice-cold.
When he had first encountered the Return-to-One Realm Lord, he had been consumed by genuine rage—but soon regained his composure.
He had tempered his Spirit and Mind relentlessly to ensure he would never lose control over his grandfather's matter again.
Yet now, he deliberately and continuously feigned outbursts of fury, pretending to lose all reason.
In his current state—bearing grievous injuries—
The strongest attack he could muster was the Triple Overlay Harmonization.
All to lure the Return-to-One Realm Lord into lowering his guard—and create the one opportunity to land it.
[Hmph.]
The Return-to-One Realm Lord swung his great saber with an air of boredom.
In an instant, the countless slash marks Bu Eun-seol had unleashed were forcibly parted—as if torn apart by an invisible, colossal hand.
SHREEE—!
At the same time, from his great saber, a blade energy surged forth—gaping like the maw of an abyssal beast—straight toward Bu Eun-seol.
The Return-to-One Realm Lord was utterly confident.
Confident that this series of martial forms would inevitably strike true.
Confident that there was no possible way to evade it.
That was why he had executed his technique with such deliberate, slow, and weighty movements.
But to Bu Eun-seol—who had mobilized every ounce of his extrasensory perception, wielding both the Langya Mind's Eye and the power of the Ancient Sword Forest—
A single, fatal opening had been revealed.
Creak... creak... creak...
A low vibration hummed thrice from the Ink Soul Sword before—
FLASH!
A brilliant streak of light shot straight toward the Return-to-One Realm Lord.
At last, the Triple-Layered Harmonization, accumulated with every ounce of his remaining strength, was unleashed upon him.
'You won't even think of dodging, will you?'
The Return-to-One Realm Lord had been treating him as nothing more than a mere underling.
Even if a counterattack came, he wouldn't evade—he would arrogantly nullify it instead.
WHOOSH—!
And so, the Triple-Layered Harmonization—
In an instant, it obliterated the abyssal maw of the Return-to-One Realm Lord's blade energy and pierced straight toward his face.
[......!]
The Return-to-One Realm Lord's expression twisted.
Only now did he realize—like a bolt of lightning—that he should never have taken that eerie beam of light head-on.
BOOM—! CRACKLE—!
The Return-to-One Realm Lord displayed an unbelievable reaction speed.
The moment the Harmonization touched him, with a thunderous roar—
His massive body spun violently in midair, as if he had become the eye of a storm.
WHOOSH—!
Where the Harmonization had grazed, the ground was left smooth—as if carved by a razor-sharp blade.
But in the end, the Return-to-One Realm Lord had—
By splitting and splitting again the fleeting instant—managed to evade the decisive strike.
Hiss...
However, as the beam of Harmonization brushed past his ear, half of the iron mask covering his face began to melt away.
And with it, half of the face hidden beneath was revealed in stark clarity.
"You... are..."
Bu Eun-seol's eyes widened as he beheld the Return-to-One Realm Lord's exposed visage.
An utterly unbelievable sight unfolded before him.
[......!]
The Return-to-One Realm Lord's gaze shifted drastically as he realized half his face had been revealed.
CRACK—!
And then, he unleashed a palm strike swift as lightning.
Yet Bu Eun-seol did not dodge.
He was staking his life—betting everything on this final gamble to kill the Return-to-One Realm Lord.
KWAANG—!
Struck squarely in the chest by the palm energy, Bu Eun-seol was sent flying over twenty zhang before crashing into a boulder.
RUMBLE—!
The rock shattered, sending plumes of dust and debris into the air.
Hiss...
At that moment, white smoke began to rise from the Return-to-One Realm Lord's hand.
The instant the palm energy had landed, Bu Eun-seol had poured every last drop of his strength into creating a new poison—and unleashed it.
The Return-to-One Realm Lord frowned for the first time as he examined his blackened palm.
His senses had abruptly dulled, and an unnatural chill—as if metal had been fused to his skin—spread across his entire hand.
[Poison.]
The poison that had invaded through his palm had not only shattered his Myriad-Poison-Immunity Body with ease—
It was also emitting a scorching heat, as if melting his meridians, and disrupting his internal energy flow.
Grr...
The Return-to-One Realm Lord channeled his internal energy to expel the poison.
KUUU...
In response, the leaves of trees hundreds of zhang away trembled violently, and a deep vibration resonated from beneath the earth.
But even his transcendent internal energy could not force the poison out.
Like trying to push away water—but unable to expel the shadows dissolved within it.
There were clear symptoms of poisoning, yet no trace of poison energy to purge.
This was an unprecedented toxicity—one that could not be expelled through internal energy alone.
Such a poison could only be neutralized with spirit medicine, not brute force.
[.......]
Touching the half-destroyed iron mask still clinging to his face, the Return-to-One Realm Lord—
FWOOSH—!
—finally shot into the sky like a black meteor, vanishing in an instant.
Whiiir...
As the wind blew, the dust settled—revealing Bu Eun-seol's deathly pale face.
He had already lost far too much blood.
Even if he had reached the realm of the Saint Among Poisons, creating poison required ample blood—
Yet despite his severe blood loss,
He had deliberately taken the palm strike head-on—just to unleash this final, desperate poison upon the Return-to-One Realm Lord.
Bu Eun-seol stared blankly in the direction where the Return-to-One Realm Lord had disappeared.
"Why...?"
The stubborn eyes and firmly set lips—revealed beneath the shattered iron mask—
Were, to his shock... nearly identical to his grandfather's face in middle age.
It couldn't be a disguise.
The iron mask had been so durable that only the light of Harmonization could break it—
There was no reason for him to wear another layer of deception beneath it.
Thud.
Bu Eun-seol collapsed to his knees.
Only now did he recall a single, crucial fact.
"...Blood kin."
It had been said that his grandfather had a blood relative—one who had either joined the Baekri Clan... or the True Demon.
"Was he... my grandfather's son?"
There was no other explanation.
Among the countless figures in the martial world—
He had never seen anyone else who resembled his grandfather's eyes and bearing so closely.
Whoosh... Rustle...
But then—from the ruins of the scorched Immortal Valley—countless figures began pouring in.
All clad in identical black robes, their faces concealed behind eerie, patterned masks.
The Return-to-One Realm.
These were undoubtedly warriors of the Return-to-One Realm, sent under the orders of the Return-to-One Realm Lord.
Shhhhk—shhhhk—
They began disposing of the corpses scattered throughout Immortal Valley.
Not only did they dissolve the bodies with the prohibitively expensive Bone-Melting Powder, but they also swiftly erased all traces left behind in the valley.
"......"
Even as they worked, they didn't so much as glance at Bu Eun-seol, who stood watching from a distance.
As if he were invisible.
So that's how it was.
Only then did another shocking realization strike him.
The intelligence network of the Death Soul Squad wasn't fully established until much later.
From the moment he began his journey through the martial world, he had clashed endlessly with the Three Realms.
Considering the formidable reach of their intelligence network, it should have been impossible for him—with the resources he had at the time—to completely evade their pursuit.
After all, the Death Soul Squad's intelligence network, which spanned both the Demonic Path and the Righteous Faction, wasn't perfected until long after he had become the Martial Soul Lord.
And yet, the Three Realms had never actively hunted him down, nor had they launched a preemptive strike with their overwhelming martial might.
He had once believed it was because he had meticulously covered his tracks...
But now he knew the truth—the Return-to-One Realm had been erasing his traces for him.
"Why?"
Bu Eun-seol stared blankly into the air, turning the question over in his mind for a long while.
Then he arrived at a bizarre conclusion.
"Could it be... that he, too, is seeking revenge for Grandfather?"
If the Return-to-One Realm Lord was indeed Grandfather's flesh and blood, and if he was also pursuing vengeance...
And if he had been watching his supposed grandson rage forward in the same pursuit...
Wouldn't he have tried to lend his aid?
That's why he didn't kill me.
From the very beginning, the Return-to-One Realm Lord hadn't attacked him with true intent.
But the moment he realized Bu Eun-seol would keep fighting even if it meant death—
Only then had he truly resolved to cut him down.
Did he think I was too weak to ever achieve revenge?
The Return-to-One Realm Lord had always looked down on him with arrogant eyes.
As if to say his strength would never be enough.
Thud. Thud.
Bu Eun-seol stepped toward one of the masked Return-to-One Realm operatives cleaning up the area.
Fwip!
The moment their eyes met, the masked man severed his own Heart Meridian without hesitation, collapsing dead on the spot.
Even in the face of this chilling sight, the other operatives showed no reaction, swiftly disposing of their fallen comrade's body.
They had been brainwashed to perfection—ensuring no information could ever be leaked.
Grit.
Bu Eun-seol clenched his fist.
If the Return-to-One Realm Lord truly was Grandfather's grandson...
"If you are Grandfather's blood..."
Frustration boiled over, and he roared into the air.
"Then why won't you say a single word to me—?!"
Return-to-One Realm Lord. If he was Grandfather's kin, why had he turned his back on him?
Unless... the position of Return-to-One Realm Lord isn't as supreme as it seems.
Even the high-ranking members of the Three Realms—
They all regarded the Return-to-One Realm Lord as nothing more than a madman who sought only destruction.
But what if the title itself was merely a role forced to heed the will of another?
If that were the case, he would avoid any direct contact or exchange with Bu Eun-seol at all costs.
Because if such a thing were discovered, his position could crumble.
"We still can't stand as equals on this battlefield."
He bit his lip.
There was only one reason he had lost to the Return-to-One Realm Lord.
The insurmountable gap of time.
Among the young, he had reached the pinnacle of strength.
His rate of growth surpassed even that of the Demonic Heavenly Emperor in his youth—a man hailed as the greatest of the era.
And yet, the disparity remained.
The current Peerless Grandmasters who ruled the martial world had decades more training than Bu Eun-seol.
And their innate talent was no less than his own...
Making it impossible to surpass their martial prowess in a short time.
Grip.
He clenched his fist tightly, fighting back a wave of dizziness.
He had shed too much blood, suffered too many wounds—but there was no time to rest.
Click.
From his robes, he retrieved a small wooden case and opened it. Inside lay a delicate jade vial.
Pop.
The moment he uncorked it, an indescribably refreshing fragrance spread dozens of feet in every direction.
A rare treasure of the mortal world—priceless, worth well over four hundred thousand taels of silver.
The vial contained Azure Spirit Stone Fluid.
I didn't stockpile this for myself.
Until now, despite the countless battles and injuries he had endured—
His profound internal energy and superhuman regenerative abilities had never forced him to rely on a supreme spirit medicine like this.
But this time, his bones were broken, his joints dislocated, his blood spilled in torrents, and his internal injuries severe.
An ordinary martial artist would have already perished.
It's nearly impossible to obtain more.
Even so, he hesitated to use it on himself.
The Death Shadow War Unit's reserves of Azure Spirit Stone Fluid were limited, and he would rather save it for his subordinates in moments of true crisis.
But right now... I have no choice.
Gulp.
The moment the liquid touched his throat—
Crack. Snick.
His shattered bones instantly knit back together. His lost blood replenished, his internal and external wounds sealing in an instant.
Countless spirit medicines existed in the martial world, but none could heal such grievous injuries in mere moments like the Azure Spirit Stone Fluid.
Rumble—
By then, the interior of Immortal Valley had been completely cleared. Most of the Return-to-One Realm operatives had already withdrawn.
—Where is the Return-to-One Realm Lord? Where is his base?
Once more, Bu Eun-seol moved to intercept the departing operatives, intent on interrogation.
Thwip.
But the moment he approached, they pierced their own hearts or severed their Heart Meridians without hesitation.
Ask one, and one would die. Ask ten, and ten would perish.
The Return-to-One Realm Lord—
To him, secrecy was everything.
His subordinates were nothing more than expendable tools, discarded without a second thought.
No. There is a way.
A sudden realization struck him—he had forgotten one crucial fact.
If the Return-to-One Realm Lord hadn't revealed himself, it would have been impossible. But now—
The Return-to-One Realm Lord had revealed himself at Immortal Valley—and right before his very eyes.
Which meant they now knew the exact location and time of his appearance... With that, they'd gained a crucial lead to trace the Return-to-One Realm Lord's movements before and after that moment.
In that case, through the Death Soul Squad's information network—
They would absolutely be able to track his trail.