Chapter 1088
Whoosh!
Bu Eun-seol activated his Movement Technique, eyes closed as he followed the faintly spreading fragrance.
Unlike other Poison People, he had never formally learned Poison Arts—yet he had surpassed even the limits of a Saint Among Poisons.
The poison essence within his body had vanished entirely, allowing him to freely create toxins based on his surroundings.
This time, the poison he had administered to Naria was a combination of Fragrance Poison, which carried its distinct scent for hundreds of miles, and Dream Soul Powder, which robbed its victims of consciousness in moments.
Fortunately, the area was littered with Stinking Shadow Grass, which emitted a peculiar odor, and Sleep Soul Roots, the key ingredient for Dream Soul Powder.
Creating such poisons posed no difficulty for him.
Crash.
After running for some time, Bu Eun-seol halted his Lightness Art as a vast Reed Field came into view.
The spreading fragrance was vibrating here—pulsing.
She was definitely here.
Swoooosh—
A desolate wind blew.
The reeds stood stiff, like the fur of a beast that had died and hardened, dyed in an ashen hue devoid of any vitality.
"Hmm."
Bu Eun-seol surveyed the area before letting out a low hum.
The scent of the air, mixed with the Fragrance Poison, felt strangely alien.
Instead of the earthy musk and grassy fragrance, there was a metallic stench of blood and the musty rust of old iron, blending into something unnervingly sinister.
He took a step forward, pressing his weight into the reed forest. The cool touch of damp mud met his feet.
The moisture-laden soil clung to him—
As if countless vengeful spirits were dragging him down with their icy grips.
'She hasn't lost consciousness.'
Naria hadn't collapsed unconscious in the reed field. Instead, she was perfectly alert—and had laid out a trap laced with death.
'Even if it kills her, she refuses to enter the stronghold.'
Bu Eun-seol had sensed that Naria was closely tied to Chu-so and knew the location of his base.
That was why he had covertly poisoned her with Dream Soul Fragrance.
Yet she hadn't succumbed.
Instead, she had hidden in this reed field and woven a deadly snare.
Rumble...
Suddenly, the earth began to tremble with a low vibration.
At first, it was a faint tremor, barely noticeable—but soon, it swelled into a heavy, rhythmic pulse, like the beating of a heart.
Sssssss—
A chilling sound, like sand crumbling, filled the air as the reed field was instantly swallowed by the Abyss's blackness.
What emerged were creatures too grotesque to be called mere insects.
As they surged forth, the reeds—and even the surrounding solid rocks—began to dissolve like acid rain.
Bubble, bubble—
With a sound like boiling water being poured, a tide of pitch-black insects rushed toward Bu Eun-seol in waves.
Skitter-skitter-skitter!
Not only did they fly—
They burrowed beneath his feet, swarming to cover his entire body.
Flash!
Bu Eun-seol unsheathed his sword and began cutting them down.
But their numbers were overwhelming.
And their size was so small that they slipped through even the finest gaps in his Sword Strokes.
Uuuung—
Finally, he channeled his Internal Energy, forming a spherical Astral Energy Barrier around himself.
Sssss—
Yet the insects' venom, potent enough to melt stone, was already corroding even his steel-like Protective Astral Energy.
Had he been an ordinary martial artist?
Trapped within this swarm—where neither swordplay nor defensive energy could save him—he would have lost his life in an instant.
But they had chosen the wrong opponent.
Ziiiiing—
The energy Bu Eun-seol emitted gradually turned crimson.
Hot River Great Essence True Qi.
The most extreme of Extreme Yang Martial Arts unfolded alongside his Protective Astral Energy.
Whoooosh—
The attacking insects began melting instantly.
No matter how resilient their bodies were, they couldn't withstand the scorching yang energy capable of liquefying iron.
Fwoooosh—
The insects charged endlessly, but Bu Eun-seol's energy was inexhaustible.
Even if they attacked for an entire day instead of a quarter of an hour, his reserves would never run dry.
Crackle, whoooosh!
Finally, the reed field turned into a heap of charcoal, and the insects pouring in from all directions vanished.
"To think she could imbue insects with spells."
Bu Eun-seol clicked his tongue as he observed the charred remains scattered among the ashes.
Surprisingly, she had used actual living insects as vessels for her Art of Spells.
"If you won't come out, I'll go to you."
Swoosh—Flash!
Without hesitation, he unleashed Harmonization.
Drip, drip—
One side of the reed field began melting like strands of yarn, and within the dissolving scenery, a woman in black robes appeared—forming hand seals, pouring out dark energy.
Naria.
"What...?"
She couldn't hide her bewildered expression.
This Dark Filth Insect-Shifting Realm was a spell of the True Demon's lineage—one that no martial art could block.
Even if a supreme Master appeared, they should have been able to hold out for at least two hours.
Yet he had shattered it in less than a quarter of an hour?
"Were you waiting for reinforcements?"
Bu Eun-seol snorted as he studied Naria's venomous expression.
"They won't come."
Then, with frigid eyes, he looked down at her.
"You think someone like Chu-so would lay only a single layer of schemes? Had he intended to send reinforcements, they would have appeared from the very beginning."
Naria had known this as well.
But the Twelve Guests were something Chu-so had spent twenty years perfecting.
She had believed he wouldn't simply stand by and watch them be destroyed.
"You seem to already know."
Bu Eun-seol spoke indifferently, as if sensing the unease in Naria's heart.
"That he sent you knowing you would fail."
Naria bit her lip hard.
She, too, had been plagued by the thought—had Chu-so truly sent her to her death?
But she had trusted him.
No, she had wanted to trust him.
That he could never have harbored such intentions.
"None of that matters."
Naria's voice was icy.
"You will die here."
"I don't usually kill women."
Bu Eun-seol's tone was solemn.
"But if you touch my people, there are no exceptions."
"What do you want me to do?"
"Tell me where Chu-so is."
Truthfully, he had endured this for far too long.
Chu-so had tried to harm Gongson Dan-gyeong. He had attempted to assassinate him.
But above all, the unforgivable sin—
He had reached into the Fire Rain Sword Sect and turned Instructor Jin Gak into a monster.
He had long wanted to hunt him down and deliver the punishment he deserved.
But even Han Sang-ja had yet to uncover his whereabouts, leaving him grinding his teeth in frustration.
Now, however, the Saintess of the True Demon Family—a woman who knew Chu-so's location—stood before him.
He could not let this opportunity slip away.
"Do you really think I'll tell you?"
"You'll soon be screaming and begging for mercy."
A bloody light flickered in Bu Eun-seol's pupils.
"Please, let me tell you where he is."
"Why do you want to kill him so badly?"
"Because I can't forgive him."
Tap tap tap—
Then, with a flick of his fingers, he sealed all thirty-six of her major acupoints with Finger Wind.
"I will use every means at my disposal to strike him down."
Had Naria only tried to kill him?
Bu Eun-seol would never have resorted to torture.
But she had attempted to murder Seo Jin-ha and the Supreme Peak Squad—and had nearly succeeded.
That meant she could still pose a threat to his people in the future.
No matter what it took, he would extract the whereabouts of the mastermind behind all this—Chu-so.
Crack—
Fine fissures began to spread across Naria's body.
Bu Eun-seol had administered Blood Death Torture, known as the most excruciating method of interrogation in the martial world.
Alongside it, he had injected Smiling Face Surging Venom—a toxin dozens of times more potent than the Truth-Telling Grass used by the Unorthodox Faction.
Yet Naria didn't so much as blink, her gaze locked onto Bu Eun-seol with unyielding defiance.
"Even without martial training, she maintains perfect control over her body..."
As Naria stared back at him with unnervingly clear eyes, a frigid light erupted in Bu Eun-seol's pupils.
"You've cast a spell to control your Spirit and Mind. Let's break that first."
Zzzing—
A sickly yellow glow spread through his irises.
Phantom Restoration.
Using the principles of the most formidable Mind Seizing Secret Art in the world, he sought to collapse her mental defenses and extract the information by force.
The moment their eyes met, Naria's gaze turned eerily transparent.
Humans instinctively read emotions and intent through the eyes.
Merely locking gazes triggers automatic neural responses, emitting unique brainwave patterns.
Phantom Restoration synchronized the target's brainwaves with the caster's, placing their Spirit and Mind under absolute control.
Thud—
Before he knew it, Bu Eun-seol had breached Naria's psyche.
Around him, twisted, grotesque structures rose in chaotic disarray.
Spires that seemed carved from bone stretched toward the sky—only to shatter into black dust the moment a flash of light struck them.
Irregular tremors pulsed from beneath the earth.
Frozen droplets of water drifted through the void, while fissures in the ground cradled flames hot enough to melt the world.
'Sorrow and rage.'
Bu Eun-seol instantly recognized the droplets and flames for what they were—
The grief and fury that saturated her heart.
'How can a person's emotions consist of nothing but sorrow and rage?'
Something was wrong.
Moreover, this desolate landscape held only the flickering light of emotions—no hidden vaults of knowledge or memory.
'Has she fortified her mental barriers for years?'
Like a martial artist who had honed their Spirit and Mind through decades of discipline—
Even under Phantom Restoration, Naria retained perfect control over her psyche.
Step. Step.
Bu Eun-seol walked calmly forward, his eyes fixed on the crimson flames writhing beneath the earth.
With every step, shadowy hands seemed to form in the darkness, stretching toward his ears.
The more he exerted the power of Phantom Restoration—
The more the surroundings twisted into something even more bizarre.
'A trap anticipating the Mind Seizing Secret Art.'
This landscape was not the state of a normal psyche.
She had foreseen Bu Eun-seol's use of the technique.
Carving a spell into her own mind, she had laid an intricate trap—and waited for this very moment.
Grrr—
But Phantom Restoration hadn't earned its reputation as the world's foremost mind technique for nothing.
As Bu Eun-seol realized that a spell-like trap had been laid within Naria's spirit,
a black gate materialized in the distance.
Carved into its surface was the grotesque visage of a demon, jaws agape amidst fragments of bone—as though it were the entrance to hell itself.
That was the gate leading to the true depths of Naria's spirit.
"......."
Bu Eun-seol stared fixedly at the entrance before his eyes flashed.
Any ordinary martial artist, no matter how confident in the Mind Seizing Secret Art, would never have stepped inside.
Because if the Mind Seizing Secret Art failed, the counterforce would rebound onto the caster.
'Nothing can be gained without risk.'
Without hesitation, he stepped through.
Inside stretched an endless expanse of darkness.
"Too deep."
Bu Eun-seol activated his movement technique and dashed forward.
How long had he been running?
Faint stars sprawled across the ceiling, giving the illusion that he stood alone in the vast cosmos.
Click-clack.
Suddenly, the sound of wooden shoes tapping against marble echoed, and a dark silhouette appeared in the distance.
Naria.
"You truly are formidable."
Within the spirit realm, Bu Eun-seol's form was wreathed in a swirling golden radiance.
He remained entirely untouched by the sorrow and rage she had laid as traps.
Moreover, the martial arts he displayed in shattering the Twelve Guests suggested that within a decade, no one in the world would be his match.
"Martial arts, wisdom, spirit, and body—none are neglected. You advance toward the pinnacle with perfect balance."
"Enough praise."
Bu Eun-seol spoke with the solemnity of a judge delivering a sentence.
"This is your last chance. Tell me in detail where Chu-so is and what he's doing."
Then he added,
"Do that, and I won't kill you."
He meant it.
The true culprit wasn't Naria—it was Chu-so.
Rather than eliminating a mere subordinate, it was better to uproot the source.
"Martial Soul Lord."
Naria's voice was low.
"As long as someone like you lives, you will be an obstacle to my brother's great undertaking."
'Brother?'
Just as Bu Eun-seol's eyes widened—
Rumble.
From Naria's eyes erupted resentment darker and deeper than the abyss itself.
'Damn it.'
Finally comprehending the situation, Bu Eun-seol's eyes snapped open.
He had assumed Naria was merely Chu-so's subordinate or lackey.
But she harbored affection for him—genuine love.
And now, in this hopeless situation, she had resolved to throw away her life in mutual destruction.
"We're going together!"
With that piercing cry—
Crrrrack—
The cosmic landscape began fracturing apart.
Light vanished, and the ground melted like liquid.
'She killed herself.'
Bu Eun-seol realized instantly.
In the real world, Naria had severed her heart meridian—committing suicide.
As a result, her spirit was collapsing in an instant.
'Dangerous.'
If he didn't escape now?
His consciousness would vanish into eternal darkness alongside her spirit.
'Stop it.'
Zzzing—
White light spilled from Bu Eun-seol's outstretched palm.
The crumbling landscape froze momentarily.
Using his ability to reconstruct the mindscape, he had briefly halted the spirit's annihilation.
Drip, drip—
Yet the effect was imperfect—the ground continued melting bit by bit.
'No time.'
Bu Eun-seol sprinted back toward the exit.
Drip, drip—
But this wasn't his mindscape—it was Naria's spirit.
The collapse outpaced his reconstruction.
Crrrrack—
The ground caved endlessly, forming a bottomless abyss.
BANG!
Activating his Land-Flying Technique, he shot toward the entrance.
But black liquid had already risen around him.
Splash—
Ceiling and ground vanished, and the world filled with dark fluid.
No matter how fast he flew, the liquid engulfed him in moments.
Drip, drip—
Soon, it reached his neck.
Bu Eun-seol summoned every ounce of his strength.
Bubble, bubble—
But the black liquid swallowed him whole.
A night so still, even the stars held their breath.
Amidst the deep silence, a gentle drizzle fell upon a secluded pavilion.
The sound of rain brushing against grass leaves resembled the whispers of fairies, and the moonlit forest shimmered in mystical silver.
Within the pavilion stood a man and woman, shoulder to shoulder.
The man, even shrouded in darkness,
exuded a transcendent nobility, as if unburdened by worldly attachments.
Though only his silhouette was visible,
an aura capable of subduing all under heaven radiated outward.
In contrast, the woman beside him glowed with a mysterious light, like the veil of night itself.
Her face remained unseen, but the delicate curve of her lashes and the soft contours of her profile were faintly visible.
The woman's hair cascaded down to her waist like billowing clouds,
while an aura as clear as morning dew radiated from her entire being.
"Congratulations are in order."
The man who had been gazing at the distant sky finally parted his lips.
"To awaken the Future Sight through the Star God's Power..."
Just then, a shooting star streaked across the heavens, scattering brilliant light before vanishing.
"Can't you stop now?"
After a long silence, the woman turned her head and spoke in an earnest voice.
"All this time, the world has suffered endlessly under the chaos you've wrought."
The countless upheavals, wars, and Blood Calamities that plagued the world...
They were all the work of this man, who possessed knowledge and forbidden arts passed down through generations.
The world called him evil, but that was merely their perspective.
To him, there was no distinction between good and evil.
Because he could have anything he desired, and no one could defy his will.
The world was already in the palm of his hand.
The only thing that eluded his grasp was the woman standing before him now.
"Suffering, you say..."
The man replied indifferently.
"They were born to endure hardship from the very beginning."
"Then why not just keep the world under your control as you have been?"
The woman murmured softly.
"Why insist on fixating on someone as insignificant as me?"
"Fixation, is it?"
A lonely expression flickered across the man's face.
His existence had begun with her.
Amidst the primordial chaos, she had been his sole order, the first mirror that allowed him to recognize himself.
Losing her would mean—
More than just losing a lover—it would mean losing the very foundation of his being,
the memory and meaning of who he truly was.
"Even after countless cycles of reincarnation, my memories of you never faded."
The man spoke quietly.
"Because they are the only memories truly mine."
The man had transcended the flow of time.
He had witnessed the rise and fall of civilizations, the ebb and flow of humanity.
And in all that endless expanse, he had known only solitude.
In that infinite stretch of time,
she alone was the one who could give meaning to his eternity and soothe his loneliness.
"You are the only warmth I can grasp in my eternal life, the only hope that makes enduring the ages bearable."
"......"
"The Great Art I perform on you is not merely about restoring memories... It is an attempt to forcibly revive the absolute connection we once shared, to return it to its purest state."
For ages, he had sought her through cycles of reincarnation.
It was as if he had lost a part of himself and was desperately trying to reclaim it.
Through her, he could reaffirm his past self—
his primordial self.
"You've overlooked one reason."
At her words, the man's expression shifted with interest.
"There's another reason I'm unaware of?"
"Of course."
The woman replied.
"You reject the instinct of forgetting that all humans possess."
"Rejecting forgetting?"
"Humans survive by forgetting. But you alone have escaped oblivion."
Her starlit eyes lifted to gaze at the distant sky.
"And yet, you force memories upon me."
She continued in a quiet voice.
"Your immortality is terrifying because it comes with endless loss."
"Afraid? Me?"
The woman met his gaze squarely.
"That primal fear—what if I, too, fade from memory one day... and vanish from existence entirely?"
The truth he had concealed.
It was the unbearable dread that if even the one he loved forgot him,
he, too, would be forgotten in the end.
And so, he had sought to bind her in the form of "love."
"Hahaha..."
After a long silence, the man let out a low laugh.
"Hahahaha."
His voice remained soft as he continued.
"Nothing in this world, no one, has ever held my interest..."
He exhaled deeply.
"And yet, you—how is it that a few words from you always shake my heart?"
"It's just a twisted form of salvation."
"It doesn't matter."
The man replied flatly.
"Even if it doesn't lead to eternal union or perfect understanding."
He knew full well that he was causing her pain.
"From my perspective, you losing your memories and living an ordinary life is the true loss."
His eyes locked onto hers.
"And restoring those memories... is the salvation that returns you and me to our original state."
The woman said nothing.
This man only ever made choices.
He did not reflect or regret like a human would.
He had lived far too long for that.
Even his affection had become—
a twisted form of salvation, incomprehensible to mortals.
"If you truly love me, can't you stop, even for a moment?"
For the first time, the woman pleaded with true desperation.
"Just for a while... let the Murim, the world, break free from your grasp and flourish in brilliance."
The man had been ensuring that foolish humans could never progress, sharing his profound knowledge and abilities only with his followers.
And if ever a genius emerged or someone devised a breakthrough,
his followers would immediately strike them down, stifling any chance of advancement.
Human lives were finite, but their potential was boundless.
What if they were allowed to progress across generations?
They might eventually create a power capable of threatening even him.
"That is not my will. It is merely the fear of my followers."
He himself knew no fear, no turmoil.
After all, long ago, he had ascended to the Heavenly Will Realm—where one could fathom the will of heaven itself.