Chapter 1090
Confusion swirled within him.
The revelation that his mother was the reincarnation of a woman who had existed alongside the True Demon since the dawn of time—
Drip, drip.
Before he knew it, a black liquid, thick as ink, rose like water and coiled around Bu Eun-seol's entire body.
'If this continues, I'll die.'
The place where he was now trapped was none other than inside Naria's Spirit and Mind.
Time flowed sluggishly within the Mindscape, so there was still some leeway, but in reality, her Heart Meridian was already on the verge of snapping.
What if Naria's breath stopped completely?
Even if he wielded power dozens of times stronger than the Power of Harmony—
He would still vanish along with her Spirit and Mind.
Squelch.
In that brief moment, the black liquid transformed into a viscous prison, binding him so tightly he couldn't even twitch.
Because she was dying in despair, agony, regret, and torment... even the very form and nature of her Spirit and Mind had become distorted.
'But if it's the Martial Emperor's Enlightenment...'
A Mind-Training Formula that amplified martial prowess by drawing upon the most intense and beautiful memories among the countless emotions of humanity—
Perhaps it could soothe, even just a little, the heart of a woman dying in despair and suffering.
Flick.
As he spread the Mind-Training Formula, a faint light surged before Bu Eun-seol's eyes.
Simultaneously, the scenery of a small martial sect nestled deep within a tranquil mountain unfolded before him.
Born as the Saintess of the True Demon Family—
Her fate was to face the filth of the mortal world and the cruelty of humanity.
Because of that, she had to live with darkness buried deep in her soul.
Yet even for Naria, there had been a time of untainted purity.
While training in India, she had learned that she had only received a fraction—barely one-tenth—of the Star God's Power.
At the age of ten, she was briefly entrusted to a sanctuary.
It was an attempt to draw out even a little more of the Star God's Power.
—Do not fear. Even without the Star God's Power, you possess the strength to illuminate the truth.
The teacher she met there was a nun who had renounced the world despite being of the True Demon's bloodline.
Her vocal cords had been severely damaged, so their conversations were exchanged only in writing.
Training that began at dawn with the crowing of roosters, a hermitage filled with tranquility, the simple meals shared with her teacher—
A small peace had settled into her barren heart.
Though that time was brief, for a woman who had spent her entire life accumulating the Star God's Power by harming others...
It was the only memory of happiness she had ever known.
Drip, drip.
The despairing black liquid that had coiled around Bu Eun-seol's body gradually receded.
And the exit, which had once felt impossibly distant, slowly revealed itself.
Snap!
The moment he escaped from Naria's collapsing Spirit and Mind—
Flash!
Bu Eun-seol finally opened his eyes in the real world.
Before him stood the black-clad woman, Naria, slowly bleeding out as she approached death.
"How strange."
Tears pooled at the corners of her eyes.
What she had always yearned for was a grand ambition—to hold the world beneath her feet and seize eternal life.
But what she had truly desired, deep in her heart, was nothing more than a simple, modest happiness.
Bu Eun-seol gazed at her with a solemn expression.
When he had used the Martial Emperor's Enlightenment to escape her Spirit and Mind, he too had glimpsed fragments of her childhood memories.
It was only the fate of being born as the Saintess of the True Demon's bloodline that had twisted her life—at her core, she had merely been a girl who dreamed of ordinary happiness.
Plink.
A single teardrop fell as she tilted her head and breathed her last.
"Only in the face of death do you regret the life you lived."
Yet Bu Eun-seol's gaze remained stern and cold.
"The one who chose that path was none other than yourself."
Though born under the same fate as a Saintess—
Man-wol had lived a life of devotion to others, while Naria had chosen the path of harming others, ensnared by her desires.
Even if what she had truly longed for was simple happiness, it was already far too late.
Sigh.
Bu Eun-seol quietly closed his eyes and offered a prayer for the dead.
He had been taught that it was only proper for the living to pay respects to the departed.
"Chu-so... that man will surely try to retrieve her corpse."
Even in death, Naria must have wished to reunite with the one she loved.
But if her remains fell into his hands, she would never find eternal rest.
"May you..."
Bu Eun-seol pressed his palms together.
"...forgive me."
Whoosh.
As he unleashed the Hot River Great Essence True Qi, Naria's remains burst into flames.
As if she still clung to regrets while leaving the Saha World—
The silhouette of a woman dancing with bitter sorrow lingered in the air, etched into the flames for a long moment.
"The True Demon..."
Lost in thought, Bu Eun-seol murmured.
"He abandoned everything... because of a wager with Mother?"
As he sifted through the memories implanted in Naria's mind, he let out a sigh.
That True Demon—
To reunite eternally with the lover who remembered him—
He had forsaken even the Chain of Reincarnation and accepted an absurd wager?
And it was his mother who had erased his memories.
Who had taken the Chain of Reincarnation.
"Then by what means did Grandfather obtain the Chain of Reincarnation?"
Assuming Mother was of a similar age to Father, such a thing would be impossible.
Because the eras in which Grandfather and Mother were active were separated by several decades.
'There are two possible conclusions.'
Contrary to her outward appearance,
Mother might have actually lived through the same generation as Grandfather.
Or, the Chain of Reincarnation that Grandfather possessed—
rather than coming from Mother, it might have been obtained from the True Demon himself, who sought to test the Chain, or from someone entirely different.
"Whatever the case, Mother foresaw the future with absolute clarity."
She had said that no ordinary human could ever possess the Chain of Reincarnation.
Had it not been so, even Mother—who could glimpse the future—would not have waited endlessly through countless cycles of reincarnation, yearning only to be reborn in her primordial flesh.
"Then the Chain of Reincarnation..."
Had the Chain of Reincarnation been shattered?
Or had it been stolen by someone? If not, was it now destroyed, rendered incapable of functioning?
"One thing is certain—if there is someone who knows its whereabouts or possesses it, they would never reveal their identity."
All the Abyssal Forces of this era were fixated on the True Demon—
or more precisely, on the Chain of Reincarnation.
Yet no one knew that the Chain had been stolen from someone's grasp...
Unless the one who held it—or knew its whereabouts—appeared,
the secret would remain unsolved until the True Demon himself emerged.
"Then the one who holds the Chain's location is most likely the very enemy who harmed my parents."
Thanks to Naria's trap,
he had instead obtained a clue about the murderer who had harmed his parents.
A wine table had been set atop a beautiful three-story pavilion.
Inside, arranged as if for a newlywed couple's first shared drink, sat a stunning woman.
Gongson Dan-gyeong.
The chief strategist of the Azure Heaven Alliance was dressed in incomparably elegant robes, sitting with demure grace.
And across from her sat a young man with eyes like the sea and a flawlessly clear smile.
None other than the Heavenly Secret Star, Chu-so.
"You must be confused, aren't you?"
Chu-so tilted his filled wine cup and shook his head.
"Truthfully, there's a secret I never told you."
"......."
"When we first met in the Jungson Clan, you and the other children were barely seven years old. But at the time, I was already well past twenty."
Clack.
Setting down his cup, Chu-so shook his head again.
"Because of the experiments the Sage Forest's specters conducted on my body, my aging nearly stopped... I don't grow old."
He pointed at his own head with a finger.
"They said that maintaining a youthful, vigorous body was necessary to smoothly absorb knowledge and wield brilliant wisdom."
Gongson Dan-gyeong remained silent, her head lowered.
"But the process wasn't easy. There, I was nothing more than a tool."
Chu-so laughed like a boy, giggling.
"They thought everything would be solved if they could complete and control the King of the Sages, you see? Hahaha."
His laughter cut off sharply, as if severed by a blade.
After a long silence, he spoke again.
"Do you know how absurd the process was? To birth just one of me, they bred countless talented women like sows, subjecting them to merciless experiments."
"......."
"My mother was no exception. She was experimented on while alive, like a pig in a pen. Sometimes alongside a young me."
Though a smile lingered on his lips, Chu-so's eyes did not laugh at all.
"And yet, they brainwashed me into believing I was the key to saving the world. Every time I endured those cruel experiences, they erased my memories."
Lifting his head, he stared straight into Gongson Dan-gyeong's eyes.
"But they failed. The memories didn't disappear—instead, I remember everything, vividly and clearly, to this day."
After a long silence, Gongson Dan-gyeong spoke cautiously.
"The sages of the Sage Forest tried to erase your memories, but since it didn't work, this is what you've become."
Her voice trembled slightly as she continued.
"And so, you want revenge—against the Sage Forest, and against the world."
"Revenge? No, no."
Chu-so shook his head.
"The sages of the Sage Forest manipulated the fates of others as they pleased. Like gods."
Grabbing his own cheeks, Chu-so's pupils dilated with ecstasy.
"And I thought that was so magnificent."
"......."
"I wanted to become a god like them. I wanted to control people's destinies, just as they did."
His breathing grew ragged, his expression flooding with rapture.
The Heavenly Secret Star, Chu-so—
what he desired was to become like a god,
to control the fates of all mankind.
"Then, at last, the chance to escape the Sage Forest came."
Chu-so, who had been staring into empty space, licked his lips.
"Because the Seven Fingers Demonic Blade attacked the Sage Forest."
The Seven Fingers Demonic Blade, the greatest swordsman of his era.
He had razed the martial world's sacred grounds to wastelands, and in the end, he tracked down the Sage Forest and annihilated it.
Thanks to that, Chu-so—who had been trapped deep within Sage Forest—was finally able to escape the sages' grasp.
"But if my existence were discovered, wouldn't I just end up being used by the martial world's conquerors? So, after much deliberation, I subtly unleashed the aura of the Heavenly Mechanism Star."
Chu-so bared his white teeth in a smile.
"They had been wandering aimlessly in search of the Heavenly Mechanism Star for so long... They took the bait in an instant."
There was only one way to amass overwhelming power in a short time.
To seize the forces of others in a single stroke.
To protect himself,
Chu-so resolved to devour the Jungson Clan—the faction that possessed the greatest number of masters born under the One Hundred and Eight Stars.
"Taking control of the Jungson Clan was far too easy. They saw me as nothing more than a child and had made no preparations whatsoever against the ancient Mind Seizing Secret Art."
Hiding his true identity,
Chu-so deliberately allowed himself to be captured by the Jungson Clan—only to consume them from within.
"And then I saw you. You looked so much like Mother."
Chu-so bared his white teeth again.
"The moment I saw you, I knew."
He smiled with unparalleled brightness.
"That you were my destiny."
As Gongson Dan-gyeong quietly lowered her head, Chu-so added,
"I actually examined the heavenly signs. You were a solitary star—destined to live alone, never forming bonds with anyone, weren't you?"
He cautiously reached out and clasped Gongson Dan-gyeong's hand.
"That's why I spared you."
"......"
"Because from the very beginning, we were fated to be bound together."
The ever-smiling Chu-so's expression suddenly darkened with menace.
"That's also why I've let you be, even when you fancy another."
Thud.
The hand gripping Gongson Dan-gyeong's began to tighten.
Unable to bear the pain, she furrowed her brow.
At that, Chu-so's expression turned utterly frigid.
"She wouldn't grimace over something so trivial."
Snap.
He seized her face with both hands.
Creak.
As his fingers tightened, they dug deeper, sinking into her flesh.
"Let me go."
Tears welled in Gongson Dan-gyeong's eyes as she spoke in agony.
"Please."
For an instant, a flash of mingled fury and disappointment flickered in Chu-so's pupils.
"She would never beg, even if it killed her—"
Riiip.
As Chu-so's nails tore into her face, the paper-thin Human Skin Mask split apart.
She was not the real Gongson Dan-gyeong—just a woman wearing an exquisitely crafted mask.
"And she would never shed tears."
Drip.
But in his violent grip, even the skin beneath the mask was torn, blood trickling out.
"Ugh..."
As she wept in pain, Chu-so let out a soft ah, then clicked his tongue.
"Don't worry. I'll rewrite all the Laws."
Then, gently, he spoke to the trembling woman.
"When that happens, wounds like these will mean nothing."
Shudder.
As the woman quivered in terror, Chu-so's gaze twisted eerily.
Eyes trembling with fear, pleading.
Wasn't that the same look he had seen countless times in his mother's eyes as a child?
Thunk.
Driving his hand into the rosewood table as if it were tofu, Chu-so bowed his head.
Holding his forehead, he trembled for a long moment before lifting his face again.
Unlike before, his eyes were now clear and lucid, free of madness.
"It really is difficult."
Muttering lowly with a hand still pressed to his brow, he turned a gentle expression toward the shaking woman.
"You should leave now."
The woman impersonating Gongson Dan-gyeong hastily fled.
Chu-so stared blankly into the air before fixing his gaze on the bronze mirror placed on the opposite table.
Reflected in it was his own face—bearing a cruel smile.
"To love someone as if it were fate..."
He shook his head at the mirror.
"They say the True Demon poured Heaven-Shattering love upon a single woman... and through an obsession unmatched in this world, he reached the Heavenly Human Domain."
Chu-so's expression twisted in anguish.
"I don't understand why it's so difficult for me."
The reason he had shown such deep love and obsession toward Gongson Dan-gyeong—
Was because he sought to follow in the footsteps of the True Demon, who had reached the realm of human divinity, and achieve limitless growth.
"Eung-bi."
A low voice called from beyond the door.
"Come in."
The door opened, and in stepped a young man with hawk-like sharp eyes and nose.
Chu-so's loyal subordinate—the Heaven-Slaying Star, Eung-bi.
"I've located another position of the Baekri Side Family."
Eung-bi spoke cautiously.
"However, since most of their Secret Vaults have been sealed, raiding the Side Family's members would yield little practical benefit at this point."
"They're merely bait."
Chu-so, withdrawing his gaze from the mirror, smiled faintly.
"Someone has been relentlessly pursuing you using the Demon Eye Pearl's reaction we lost some time ago."
Eung-bi let out a soft gasp.
He recalled the young strategist who had ruined their plans in the Extinction Palace alongside the Martial Soul Lord.
Chu-so stared into empty space and murmured in a low voice.
"That man's Mystic Calculation Strategy will likely become quite the headache in the future... It would be best to confirm his identity and silence him now."
"The Baekri Side Family will make excellent bait."
Chu-so, looking back at the mirror, grinned.
"After all, the longer you delay, the more weeds grow rampant."
"I won't make any mistakes this time."
"No. There's no need for you to go."
"Then... do you intend to send the newly completed Pursuing Soul Guest?"
"Hohoho. Of course not."
Chu-so narrowed his eyes into crescents.
"As much as I'd hate to waste one of the Twelve Guests, for something like this, the Bloodline Shatterer would be far more certain."
"The Bloodline Shatterer... I see."
Eung-bi nodded.
No matter who appeared, in the end, none could defeat Chu-so.
Even if countless minds pooled their wisdom together, none could surpass the barrier of the Heavenly Mechanism Star.
The Death Soul Squad, having woven a surveillance network as dense as a spider's web,
collected not only the movements of the martial world but even the most trivial rumors spreading among the common folk.
Their purpose was to detect and eliminate any signs or threats that might endanger the people.
Thus, even the recent suspicious murder cases had been reported to the Death Shadow War Unit.
—There is a Killing Ghost who exclusively murders shamans and fortune-tellers.
When this information was relayed to Wi Cheon-gyeong, he carefully refined it before reporting it to Yu Un-ryong.
—Targeting only fortune-tellers and shamans with relentless precision...
Yu Un-ryong's eyes narrowed as he examined the detailed records compiled by Wi Cheon-gyeong.
He, too, sensed something deeply unsettling about this matter.
"This is troubling."
Rising from his seat, he hesitated briefly while staring down at the documents.
—Contact the Four Stars Trading Company in Nashik City and have them thoroughly investigate the traces of a young woman once called a saintess in India, or any woman bearing the name Naria.
—Also, re-examine the records of my grandfather's travels through the martial world.
—Scrutinize every person he met and every unusual incident he encountered without omission.
Bu Eun-seol, who had just returned after rescuing Seo Jin-ha and the Supreme Squad from the attack by the Invulnerable Guest sent by Naria and Chu-so,
had issued these incomprehensible orders to the Death Soul Squad with an expression as if his soul had left his body.
Yu Un-ryong was puzzled.
At this very moment, the Grand Designs long in the making were being set into motion.
An investigation like this would inevitably delay other critical plans.
There was no way Bu Eun-seol didn't know that—so why give such orders?
"But it is undeniably strange."
Swish.
In the end, Yu Un-ryong rose from his seat.
He intended to visit Bu Eun-seol's office.
"Strange indeed."
Bu Eun-seol's eyes narrowed as he examined the documents Yu Un-ryong had brought.
He had been ruminating over the knowledge extracted from Naria's Spirit and Mind, tracing the whereabouts of the Chain of Reincarnation that his grandfather and mother had once possessed.
That was a task more important than anything else.
Yet the information Yu Un-ryong delivered was so bizarre
that it instantly seized Bu Eun-seol's attention, pulling him away from his fixation on the Chain of Reincarnation.
"Even the method of killing...?"
The fact that a shaman and a copyist had been killed was strange enough, but even more grotesque was the manner of the killings.
It was vicious and cruel, as if designed to inflict every conceivable torment a human could endure.
This was not the work of a deranged Killing Ghost or a madman—no ordinary lunatic could replicate such a method.
"The Unit Members have expended considerable effort to track down the perpetrator, but they remain at a complete loss."
The Death Soul Squad had dedicated much time to uncovering the truth behind these crimes,
yet they hadn't even found a motive, let alone the culprit.
"Whoever is behind this must possess an intelligence network rivaling the Death Soul Squad. Otherwise, they wouldn't leave such clear traces yet remain untraceable."
"Fine."
After a long moment of contemplation, Bu Eun-seol spoke quietly.
"I'll investigate this myself."
The unsolvable mysteries that even the Death Soul Squad couldn't crack had always been resolved when he stepped in personally.
"You can't go as the Martial Soul Lord."
Yu Un-ryong's expression hardened as he interjected.
"It would be better if you investigated under the identity of the Martial Soul Society Leader."
In truth, Yu Un-ryong already had a suspicion about who might be behind these bizarre murders.
"Such precise torture requires not just martial skill but extensive knowledge of medicine and the human body. Moreover, the ability to design and execute the most efficient and agonizing methods without being swayed by emotion... suggests extreme intelligence."
This was not the work of a madman.
It was the deed of someone coldly rational, possessing meticulous precision, high intellect, and vast knowledge.
In this world, there was only one person who met all these conditions—
who was versed in such a breadth of expertise.
The Heavenly Mechanism Star.