Chapter 1120
Before he knew it, Bu Eun-seol's consciousness—
Accompanied by the vivid sensations Baekri Geom-ha remembered—was drawn to a certain day in the past.
Gooooo.
On a day when the sky was unusually high and blue,
Baekri Geom-ha was flying through the sky, carried on the broad back of his father, Baekri Mu-ha.
His father's wide back was like the most solid and comforting earth in the world.
The wind tickled his cheeks as it brushed past, and beneath his feet, clouds spread like silk, gently wrapping around the ridges of the mountain range.
Was this the celestial scenery only immortals roamed?
Shooo.
Finally, they landed on a peak like an island floating in the middle of a sea of clouds—the summit of a deep, remote mountain untouched by human footsteps.
There stood a towering palace built of jade as black and smooth as ink.
Along its entire outer wall, as if alive and breathing,
a majestic sculpture of a black dragon coiled around the palace, looking as though it might roar and soar into the sky at any moment.
As Baekri Geom-ha opened his mouth in awe,
"There's no need to be afraid,"
Baekri Mu-ha took his son's hand and stepped toward the palace entrance.
Grrrr.
Then, as if it had been waiting, the enormous black dragon coiled around the palace stirred—
Sssss.
And in an instant, dozens of black-clad men in black rose from the ground like shadows, blocking their path.
"Baekri Mu-ha."
Their eyes were cold and emotionless, and their entire bodies radiated blade-like killing intent.
"Have you come here to die?"
They all extended their palms simultaneously, lunging at Baekri Mu-ha.
Baekri Mu-ha stood unshaken like a mountain, then lightly flicked his sleeve once.
Whoosh!
An invisible barrier of tremendous force spread out like a wave,
violently pushing the charging men in black back dozens of yards.
"I have not come to fight."
The voice of Baekri Geom-ha, standing with his hands behind his back, was extremely low, yet it resonated softly throughout the entire mountain.
"I came to speak with him."
"What nonsense are you spouting?"
Just as the men in black were about to attack again—
Creeeak, groooan.
The massive closed gates let out an eerie grating sound as they slowly opened.
Thud, thud.
From the deep darkness beyond the opened gates, a man emerged.
A black energy enveloping his entire body writhed like a living creature, and only his pair of pupils flickered like ghostly lanterns.
He looked like a sovereign ruling over darkness itself.
"Hm."
The man's mysteriously gleaming eyes swept not over Baekri Mu-ha, but over the young Baekri Geom-ha hiding behind him.
Nod.
When he gave a slight tilt of his head—
Whoosh.
Only the leader of the surrounding men in black remained, while the others vanished in an instant.
"Follow me."
The man in black guided Baekri Mu-ha inside.
The interior of the palace was submerged in deeper darkness and silence than the outside, filled with a thick and mysterious energy.
The man in black leading Baekri Mu-ha stopped
when they arrived before a pitch-black hall and turned to look at him.
"The child cannot enter."
Then he nodded to a middle-aged woman with a cold expression who had emerged from the hall.
"Take the child away."
At that, Baekri Mu-ha, as if resigned, gently grasped his son's shoulder and said,
"Geom-ha. Wait here quietly until I return."
Nod.
When Baekri Geom-ha nodded, Baekri Mu-ha disappeared into the hall.
The middle-aged woman then led Baekri Geom-ha to a large, palace-like space.
She pushed him into a hidden chamber on one side of the palace and said in an emotionless voice,
"Wait here as silent as a dead mouse."
Clang.
With the heavy sound of the iron door closing, the chamber was plunged into perfect darkness.
"Hmm."
But there was something they didn't know.
That Baekri Geom-ha was a genius born with eyes that could see through everything.
"A unique battle formation...."
To his eyes, the intricate flow of the battle formation sealing the door appeared like tangled golden threads.
"It wasn't meant to imprison a person—it was meant to imprison space."
When his small finger flicked through the air a few times, the core energy of the formation unraveled effortlessly.
Silently opening the door, Baekri Geom-ha
couldn't resist his curiosity and began exploring the palace's interior.
As he walked down the quiet corridor,
he discovered an underground space from which an eerie chill and sinister energy flowed.
"It's like... a prison."
Drawn in, he descended underground—and before his eyes unfolded a breathtaking sight.
A space filled with demonic energy so intense it could melt iron, and at its center,
shockingly, was a girl so beautiful she hardly seemed human, bound in chains as black as ink.
Skin as white as snow, a face as delicate as a painting.
But the girl showed no signs of consciousness, her head hanging limply, lips parched and cracked.
Sssssss—
As Baekri Geom-ha stepped inside, the Demonic Energy grew even denser.
For an ordinary person, this level of toxic miasma would have reduced them to ashes in an instant.
Yet Baekri Geom-ha walked forward without hesitation.
"Hey. Are you alri—"
Just as he approached the girl to speak, he froze in horror.
Not just her wrists and ankles—but embedded deep into the center of her chest—
Were fragments of iron chains, each engraved with strange, intricate sigils.
"How could anyone do something so cruel?"
Rage flickered in Baekri Geom-ha's eyes.
Without hesitation, he reached out to pull the chain fragment from the girl's chest.
Crrrrk!
The moment his fingers touched the chain, a ghastly screech echoed. Then, as if gripping a razor-sharp blade, deep wounds split open across both his hands.
Drip, drip—
His hands were drenched in blood in an instant, but he gritted his teeth and yanked the chain with all his strength.
Screeeech—CLANG!
With a spine-chilling metallic shriek, the chain fragment finally tore free—
And then dissolved into light, vanishing without a trace.
"Are you okay?"
But there was no time to be relieved.
The girl's condition had worsened.
As if the chains had been both a curse and a lifeline, the moment they were removed, her body began evaporating blood at a terrifying rate.
Shudder—
Her lips had already turned deathly blue.
Panicked, Baekri Geom-ha suddenly remembered—
A passage from the Medical Classics flashed through his mind:
"For a patient suffering from extreme blood loss, feeding them blood directly can replenish their qi."
Without hesitation, he pressed his bloodied hand against the girl's parched lips.
But the blood from his wounds dried up before it could even moisten her mouth.
Snap!
In the end, he drew a sharp dagger from his robes and slashed deeply across his own wrist.
Drip, drip—
A torrent of fresh blood poured into the girl's mouth.
"You have to drink."
Baekri Geom-ha clenched his wound, forcing more blood out.
"Just... a little more."
But his vision soon began to blur.
The sudden blood loss made his head spin violently.
'I have to hold on.'
If he passed out now, the girl would die.
Summoning every ounce of willpower to stay conscious—
Thud.
—he collapsed onto his back, unconscious.
At that moment, a miracle occurred.
Her long, dark lashes fluttered faintly—then, at last, the girl's heavy eyelids slowly parted.
Glimmer.
Her pupils were deep and mystical, as if containing every star in the night sky.
"......"
The first thing her newly awakened gaze fell upon—
Was the boy who had fed her his own blood until he collapsed. Baekri Geom-ha.
He lay sprawled, hands covering his face, drenched in the blood still flowing from his wrist.
"The blood of Baekri... and the blood of the True Demon."
The girl stared emptily at his fallen form and murmured softly.
"That's why... he didn't die upon entering this place."
Why he could step so calmly into this cursed space.
"And why he could save me."
Why he could pull out that cursed fragment—barehanded.
It was because this boy carried both divine and demonic bloodlines within him.
Zzzziiing—
A faint glow emanated from the girl's body.
With the chains removed from her chest—
Her long-stagnant flesh began to slowly regenerate.
"But it's still blocked."
Her gaze shifted to the Brain Gate Acupoint at the base of Baekri Geom-ha's skull.
Fwoosh.
With a flick of power, she levitated his body into the air.
Then, without hesitation, she pressed her lips to his.
A cold kiss—and with it, a sweet, crystalline fragrance seeped into the boy's unconscious mind.
This was no ordinary kiss.
As the girl poured her own True Power into him through their joined lips—
She also absorbed his heart and soul in an instant, intertwining their memories—
Infusing him with the Soul-Erasure Art, a forbidden technique the True Demon had once crafted for his beloved.
As she slowly pulled away—
Thud.
—she collapsed in a dead faint.
The Soul-Erasure Art was a secret technique only those with Soul-Demon Magic Energy equal to the True Demon could wield.
Having used it, her Spirit and Mind shattered instantly—her memories erased.
"No more... I can't..."
How much time had passed?
In the depths of unconsciousness, Baekri Geom-ha heard the sighs of his father and mother.
"If we don't seal his acupoints—"
"Shh. The child is waking."
At the same time, a surge of scorching heat—infused by Baekri Mu-ha—spread through his Life Gate Acupoint, coursing through his entire body.
And so, young Baekri Geom-ha's memories sank once more into the depths of fog.
'Dal-ri.'
Bu Eun-seol, who had finally returned to the real world, realized.
'She was... Pa Sun.'
Through this brief memory, he could understand.
The one who defies natural order, the being closest to the True Demon.
With her power sealed for some reason.
Pa Sun—no, Dal-ri—who had been dying in the True Demon's Palace.
She survived thanks to the young Baekri Geom-ha.
But in order to save the collapsed Baekri Geom-ha, she too risked her life and used the True Demon's Secret Arts, losing her memories in the process.
In the end, they had failed to recognize each other.
'So she ended up becoming the True Demon's attendant after all.'
Dal-ri must have risen to the position of one of the Three Attendants.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to wield enough influence to bypass the masters of the Same Heart Society, the Three Realms, and the Imperial Palace—enough to send him into the Land of the Ultimate Void.
And soon... she would undoubtedly come looking for him.
Having unleashed the Soul-Erasure Art,
they could never forget each other for the rest of their lives.
As if bound by fate.
"Why did you go so far as to injure yourself to show such kindness?"
At that moment, the Cloud-Dream Hermit asked again.
"Why, exactly?"
Finally snapping out of his thoughts, Bu Eun-seol wiped the blood from his lips and replied.
"It's not as if he's committed a crime worthy of death yet."
Then, locking eyes with the Pale-Handed Demon Empress, he continued.
"And she hasn't harmed anyone with the power of the origin."
His gaze shifted back to the Cloud-Dream Hermit.
"He's merely trapped in the quagmire of love."
Gurgle—
Bu Eun-seol finally spat out another mouthful of blood he had been holding back.
To unleash the Ink Soul First Form, he had taken the full brunt of both the Blood Shadow Pale Hands and the Essence Seizing Grasp with his bare body.
An ordinary martial artist would have exploded into pieces on the spot.
"However, we'll need time to confirm whether it's truly gone. It wasn't a sword form executed with perfect power."
Unless one obtained the Death God's Art and reached the state of Natural Harmony,
fully manifesting the Ink Soul First Form was something one shouldn't even dream of.
Creak.
With great effort, Bu Eun-seol took a step forward.
"I've done what I came to do. I'll take my leave now."
He walked past them slowly. But then—
Boom!
With a deafening explosion, Bu Eun-seol's body was sent crashing back into the cabin.
The Pale-Handed Demon Empress had launched a sudden strike of Palm Energy.
"Yeon-mae! What is the meaning of this?!"
As the Cloud-Dream Hermit shouted in shock, the Pale-Handed Demon Empress replied.
"That man is fatally wounded right now."
Her expression was sinister.
"If not now, when else can we kill him?"
"Have you lost your mind? He could have killed us, yet he severed the origin's vein and simply walked away."
"And you believe that severance is permanent?"
The Pale-Handed Demon Empress wore a fearful expression.
"What if, as he said, it's not completely severed but only temporary?"
"......"
"That man stands with the Demonic Heavenly Emperor. Sooner or later, he will surely come to kill us again."
The Cloud-Dream Hermit's face twisted in anguish and misery.
The moment he met the Pale-Handed Demon Empress, he had fallen deeply in love, and even now, decades later, his feelings remained pure and unchanging.
Even if she was inherently licentious.
Even if her nature was venomous and cruel.
The Cloud-Dream Hermit had never once hated her, nor had his love for her wavered.
But now, at last,
he realized she was not only wicked beyond measure but also a woman utterly undeserving of love.
Seeing the contempt in the Cloud-Dream Hermit's eyes, the Pale-Handed Demon Empress scoffed.
"After watching my actions all these years, are you suddenly trying to play the saint?"
Then, staring coldly at the fallen Bu Eun-seol, she said,
"Stay out of this. I'll handle him myself."
She began walking slowly toward Bu Eun-seol.
Whoooosh—
Her pale hands brimming with swirling energy, she smiled chillingly at the bleeding Bu Eun-seol.
"Martial Soul Lord. You must die."
Just as she was about to unleash her Palm Art—
Tremble!
Her body suddenly shuddered violently, as if struck by lightning.
Zzzzt—
Unnoticed, the Cloud-Dream Hermit had activated the Essence Seizing Grasp, completely cutting off her energy.
"Have you... lost your mind?"
The Cloud-Dream Hermit spread one hand, his expression devastated.
"Do you truly not understand what kind of sword technique he just used?"
"What?"
"He expended his own life force to wield a sword form meant to help us."
The Cloud-Dream Hermit pleaded earnestly.
"Yeon-mae, do not commit any more sins."
"What do you expect me to do?!"
As she attempted to summon the Blood Shadow Pale Hands again—
Whoooosh!
The Cloud-Dream Hermit exerted his power once more, gradually dispersing the pale energy gathered in her hands.
"Then let us die together."
He unleashed the Essence Seizing Grasp again, forcibly expelling the life force from her body.
"You're insane! Why?!"
"Because I adore you."
The Cloud-Dream Hermit spoke with a tormented expression.
"I cannot allow you to commit further sins."
"You've always done as you pleased!"
The Pale-Handed Demon Empress shrieked in desperation.
"I never once desired your concern or affection! It was always you—acting on your own whims!"
Blood trickled from her lips as she screamed.
"Unwanted attention is also wickedness! Do you have any idea how suffocating it was, having you cling to me like a servant all this time?!"
"My apologies."
The Cloud-Dream Hermit nodded.
"You are right. I have always done you wrong."
Then, he spoke calmly.
"That is why I intend to do the right thing—for the first time."
"What...?"
"Until now, you have drained the vitality of men who lost their memories, then used that amplified power to sever the memories of stronger warriors and absorb their strength."
The Cloud-Dream Hermit closed his eyes.
"All of this... was ultimately my fault for turning a blind eye to your evil."
Whoosh.
As he unleashed the Essence Seizing Grasp at full force, the Demon Empress's skin wrinkled like an old woman's.
He was expelling all of her life force.
"You... madman..."
With those final words—
Thud.
The Pale-Handed Demon Empress perished, her body grotesquely mummified.
The Cloud-Dream Hermit turned his head.
His gaze fell upon Bu Eun-seol, who was struggling to rise.
"By nature's law, humans cannot wield the power of the world. That is a strength reserved for the divine. If you keep using such sword forms, you will die young."
Slowly, he extended his right hand.
"Yet you act righteously, heedless of your own life... Heaven will surely open a path for you."
Huuuum.
At the same time, a radiant light poured from his palm.
He was reversing the Essence Seizing Grasp, transferring his own life force to Bu Eun-seol.
"I don't need it. Stop."
"I must die anyway."
"The karma has been severed. You need not die."
"That is not the reason."
The Cloud-Dream Hermit smiled faintly.
"I swore to perish alongside her on the same day and at the same time. I must keep that vow."
His expression was one of relief.
"Everything was my own greed, after all."
He had stayed by the Demon Empress's side, knowing full well his love would never be returned.
Even if she had permitted his presence out of necessity, he had still forced upon her actions she never desired.
Worse—he had turned a blind eye to her atrocities while standing beside her. In the end, he too was an accomplice.
"With my life force given to you, you should be able to wield that life-stealing sword form without severe consequences for some time."
Crackle.
As the last of his life force drained into Bu Eun-seol, the Cloud-Dream Hermit's body split like parched desert earth—
Whoosh.
—until, in an instant, he crumbled into dust and vanished.
Simultaneously, the mummified corpse of the Pale-Handed Demon Empress scattered into the wind, disappearing without a trace.
"......"
Bu Eun-seol stared blankly at the sight.
The Seven Great Demon Ancestors and the Ten Great Immortals.
Though born as opposing forces to maintain the world's balance, they had ultimately shared the same fate.
"May you find peace."
Bu Eun-seol bowed toward the remnants of the Cloud-Dream Hermit, now scattered across the distant sky.
Though he had forgotten his duty and aided a wicked woman like the Demon Empress in plunging the world into chaos...
In the end, he had performed a final act of kindness—transferring his life force—and chosen the righteous path of mutual destruction with her.
Thus, he had fulfilled his final duty as one of the Ten Great Immortals.
"Ink Soul First Form was not the solution."
Bu Eun-seol swallowed a bitter laugh.
Only after deploying it this time did he realize how perilous a sword form that manipulated life truly was.
Unlike when he had used it to eradicate soul-demon magic energy, severing the root of karma had consumed an overwhelming amount of vitality.
Had the Cloud-Dream Hermit not given him his life force, Bu Eun-seol might have been left with only a fleeting lifespan.
"I must find another way."
Many of the Seven Great Demon Ancestors and Ten Great Immortals still remained—and they had to be dealt with.
If he couldn't obtain the Heaven and Earth Divine Artifact...
If he couldn't stabilize the Ink Soul First Form...
Then he had no choice but to seek an alternative.
Ziiing.
But at that moment, a strange sensation began creeping into Bu Eun-seol's mind.
With the deaths of these two—another fragment of his being, as the Primordial Vessel, had emptied.
"Is this... causality?"
The Pale-Handed Demon Empress and the Cloud-Dream Hermit had not died by his hand.
Yet, in the end, their demise had been brought about because of him. As the Primordial Vessel, Bu Eun-seol had ensured their complete annihilation.
[Now.]
Then, the voice of Baekri Geom-ha echoed like an auditory hallucination in his mind.
[Our parting is not far off.]
The memories with Dal-ri.
Before the Blood Calamity of Saha Manor.
The agonizing journey of merging fractured personalities into one, preserving an unbroken spirit and mind—
This was not the Baekri Geom-ha who had endured it all, but the memory of his purer, younger self.
[To think you'd break the seal on your own—without the memories I gave you.]
His voice sounded weak, drained of strength.
In that instant, Bu Eun-seol understood.
According to the Scarlet Flame Immortal, he was the Primordial Vessel.
She had warned that each time a member of the Seven Great Demon Ancestors perished, something within him would hollow out—and indeed, he had felt as though he were losing something.
But that emptiness...
Was not affecting him.
It was Baekri Geom-ha who was being eroded.
[Don't worry. There's still time.]
Before retreating into the abyss of their shared consciousness, Baekri Geom-ha murmured in a low voice:
[Not that it matters whether the road is long or short. Whether I fade or vanish entirely...]
With those words—
Baekri Geom-ha disappeared into the depths.