Chapter 1139
Bu Eun-seol had been at the First Patriarch's Hermitage, located at the foot of the mountain, a short distance from Shaolin Temple.
Before he knew it, he had infiltrated the temple grounds, passing through the Great Hero Hall and arriving at the Arhat Hall.
'Where exactly did the Buddhist Venerable hide the Sacred Artifact?'
No matter how impenetrable Shaolin was—said to be like an Impenetrable Golden Wall—they wouldn't have stored such a precious relic just anywhere.
'Ordinary monks wouldn't even know of its existence.'
Not only was the Buddhist Venerable leading multiple factions,
but there was no way he would keep a Sacred Artifact from Beyond the Frontier—something no figure of the Buddhist Order should possess—where Shaolin's disciples could stumble upon it.
'In that case...'
He must have hidden it in a secret place where no disciple could ever reach.
'I'll have to search for a place with hidden mechanisms.'
Bu Eun-seol unleashed his Empty Mind Spirit Communion.
Zzzing—
In an instant, the flow of time around him reversed.
His vision was overlaid with decades of accumulated traces, appearing as pale afterimages.
Footsteps of someone running in haste.
The figure of an old monk, his steps heavy with anguish after completing ascetic training. Even the faint outlines of two monks standing together, engaged in a secret conversation.
All the traces that had sunk into the river of time now vividly resurrected before his eyes.
'That place is suspicious.'
Unlike halls like the Thousand Buddha Hall, which bore traces of many disciples moving about,
there stood a hall where monks rarely came and went—like the Scripture Pavilion or the abbot's quarters.
Stepping inside, a strange scent, mingling incense with something else, pricked at his nostrils.
As if following invisible threads, Bu Eun-seol moved toward where the afterimages of his Empty Mind Spirit Communion lingered most thickly.
Entering the hall, he saw a crumbling stone pagoda overgrown with weeds, and beyond it, a small monk's quarters.
On the dust-layered plaque, the faded characters for "White Robe Hall" were barely visible.
Creaking open the door, the smell of ink and mold assaulted his nose.
Inside stood old bookshelves filled with ancient scriptures.
Judging by the various tools, it seemed to be a place where damaged scriptures were restored.
After following the traces revealed by his Empty Mind Spirit Communion for some time, he suddenly turned his gaze to a mural hanging on the inner wall.
'Someone stood here for a long time—the traces are thick.'
Bu Eun-seol reached out, following the white afterimage floating in the air.
Unconsciously tracing the flow of the mural, his fingers pressed gently against a slightly protruding stone in the wall—
Grrrrumble—
With a deep, grating sound, the mural slid aside, revealing a massive entrance.
'Found it.'
From within, a cold, damp wind blew out like a stifled breath.
Sensing something hidden beyond, Bu Eun-seol didn't hesitate for even an inch—he threw himself into the darkness.
At the end of what seemed like an endlessly steep passageway, an astonishing sight unfolded before him.
'What is this...?'
A massive underground cavern.
Night Shining Pearls were embedded at regular intervals in the ceiling.
Buddha statues, dozens of zhang tall, carved directly into the rock walls, gazed down with merciful eyes.
Hundreds of stone pagodas formed a forest, while exquisitely crafted stone bridges crossed underground waterways.
Beyond the bridges stood numerous halls densely packed together.
'Another passage to Blood Shaolin.'
Bu Eun-seol clicked his tongue.
This, too, was another hidden path leading to Blood Shaolin.
—Shaolin is without sin.
Abruptly, the voice of Dam-jeung, the dying abbot of Blood Shaolin, seemed to echo in his ears.
In his youth, Dam-jeung had been a Lecturing Monk before later becoming a warrior monk of Blood Shaolin, assisting in the Absolute Demon Saber Project.
'He became the abbot of Blood Shaolin... and must have learned that Shaolin had committed some great wrongdoing.'
Otherwise,
he wouldn't have left those words for Bu Eun-seol before taking his own life.
'This seems like the abbot's quarters.'
Surveying the buildings spread out before him, Bu Eun-seol spotted what appeared to be the abbot's quarters of Blood Shaolin.
After searching the empty quarters for some time, he suddenly noticed a book placed on the desk.
It was the Hundred Parables Sutra, a scripture filled with amusing stories and fables meant to impart lessons.
'This is different.'
Having read the Hundred Parables Sutra before, Bu Eun-seol knew exactly how thick it should be.
But the one placed here was far too thin.
Most of the scriptures Shaolin preserved were in worn condition.
Yet this Hundred Parables Sutra was pristine, as if it had been made recently.
Flick—
Without realizing it, Bu Eun-seol opened the book.
To his surprise, inside were illustrations and writings eerily similar to the picture book that had once revealed the location of the Sage Forest.
As if entranced, Bu Eun-seol began to read.
Within its pages was written the story of a certain monk.
Dawn mist hung thick over Shaolin Temple's stone steps, blanketed in white snow.
Upon the cold stone lay a single swaddling cloth.
"Waaah! Waaah!"
The newborn's cries shattered the tranquil silence of the mountain temple, and the monks sweeping the courtyard rushed outside.
The moment they laid eyes on the infant, they knew.
This was a fate sent by the Buddha.
The child was given the dharma name Hong-hyeon—
A name that embodied the vast and profound teachings of the Buddha, urging him to pursue boundless and mystical enlightenment.
Hong-hyeon was extraordinarily gifted.
He could memorize entire sutras after hearing them just once, and a single glance at a martial form was enough for him to grasp its deepest secrets.
The Shaolin abbot immediately recognized his brilliance and, overstepping the usual seniority order, took him in as a disciple.
Yet Hong-hyeon's gaze was always fixed on something farther, deeper.
The daily rituals of seated meditation and scripture recitation felt like an endless void to him.
—Shouldn't enlightenment be sought not in stillness, but in the heart of a raging storm?
His insatiable curiosity and thirst for wisdom eventually led him to Shaolin's most forbidden place—
The deepest recesses of the Scripture Pavilion.
—I'll take the hidden passage I found before.
As the abbot's direct disciple, Hong-hyeon was entrusted with tasks like organizing transcribed scriptures and delivering rare texts, granting him unrestricted access to the pavilion day and night.
And so, he had long ago discovered a hidden mechanism within the Scripture Pavilion—
A passage leading to the shelves of Blood Shaolin, where forbidden and demonic texts were kept.
Now, he finally stepped through that secret path and into their forbidden archive.
There, books filled with dangerous knowledge lay scattered—
Discourses on the principles of the world, the nature of humanity, and the blurred line between good and evil.
Every time he read them, his soul trembled as if struck by lightning.
Before he knew it, he was sneaking into the Scripture Pavilion daily, devouring the forbidden texts whenever he had a spare moment.
Then, one night—
Whoosh.
The candle flickered out, and he sensed a presence behind him.
Slowly turning his head, Hong-hyeon saw a massive silhouette standing against the moonlight pouring through the window.
At first, he thought it was the Scripture Pavilion's keeper—but something about this shadow was different.
Though clad in monastic robes, its face remained unseen, and an overwhelming, eerie aura radiated from it, as if spreading darkness itself.
One thing was certain: given its access to the Scripture Pavilion, this had to be a high-ranking monk of the Fang generation.
'This is the end.'
Hong-hyeon closed his eyes.
He had trespassed into the Scripture Pavilion without permission and sought knowledge no Shaolin disciple should ever touch.
Expulsion or even the destruction of his martial arts would be justified.
But instead of reprimand, what reached his ears was a low, profound voice:
["Even drinking the same water, a cow produces milk while a snake produces venom."]
Startled, Hong-hyeon opened his eyes. The shadow took a step forward and continued:
["All things in this world are shaped by the mind. If the vessel holding truth is pure, even poison can become divine nectar."]
The words struck Hong-hyeon like a thunderbolt.
This was no scolding—
It was an acknowledgment of his relentless pursuit of knowledge, even an encouragement to ascend to greater heights.
"But... is it permissible for a disciple of the Buddhist Order to cling to obsession?"
["Is not great obsession the only path to enlightenment?"]
With those final words, the shadow vanished.
That encounter with the mysterious monk in the Scripture Pavilion changed Hong-hyeon completely.
The disciple who could have become a revered master of the ages instead became a spectral wraith of knowledge, unable to restrain his hunger.
Every night, he waged a fierce war with wisdom itself.
The tens of thousands of scriptures he had studied no longer provided answers—
They only fanned the flames of his thirst.
Eventually, he reached even for the Demonic Arts Secret Manuals, texts so forbidden that not even Blood Shaolin's archive dared reveal them to the world.
As time passed, he emerged from Shaolin into the Martial World—
And before long, the name Hong-hyeon shook the heavens.
His Buddhist martial arts were praised as the reincarnation of the Sixth Patriarch Huineng, and his sermons were revered as the teachings of a Living Buddha.
In time, he ascended to become one of the Three Venerables—the Buddhist Venerable.
Yet the higher he climbed, the deeper his thirst for knowledge grew.
He had mastered every scripture in the world, yet the horizon of wisdom remained out of reach.
Then, he heard an ancient legend—
Of the True Demon, an entity that had accumulated all knowledge since the dawn of the universe, cycling through reincarnations.
If I could obtain his knowledge...
Then I could finally quench this tormenting thirst.
And then, the opportunity came.
One day, Cheol Mu-heun, the leader of the Martial Alliance and architect of countless schemes to protect the martial world, arrived before Hong-hyeon—
Reeking of blood, clutching a box that exuded a sinister aura.
"Venerable Buddha... I come to beg for your aid."
He pointed to the box engraved with strange sigils and said:
"By chance, I have obtained a fragment of the True Demon's Corpse."
Martial Alliance Leader Cheol Mu-heun believed that only the Buddhist Venerable—who possessed the highest divine power and dharma in the world—could purify this object tainted with demonic energy.
"If this falls into the hands of evil, it will bring calamity upon the world."
His voice was desperate.
"I beg you, Great Master, to annihilate it completely with your divine power."
Hong-hyeon gazed down at the box with tranquil eyes.
Though a compassionate smile graced his face, an uncontrollable storm of desire raged within his heart.
"Of course."
His mind was consumed by a single thought.
Nine Heavens Radiant Cloud Pearl.
A divine artifact capable of reading the memories and karmic imprints embedded in the blood—the very essence of life.
Legend spoke of how it could perfectly inherit the joys and sorrows, experiences, and even the martial sensations cultivated by one's ancestors.
What if I could gather them all?
Through that corpse...
I could ascend the infinite tower of knowledge the True Demon had built over countless eons in an instant.
And shatter the shackles of the Curse of Knowledge.
"This humble monk shall lend his strength to the task."
When the Buddhist Venerable made his benevolent vow once more, Cheol Mu-heun smiled.
Trust blossomed in his heart—after all, the Venerable had remained unshaken even before the True Demon's Corpse and had sworn to destroy it.
But the moment Cheol Mu-heun departed, Hong-hyeon's gaze burned with greed.
Was it the Martial Alliance Leader's mistake to trust the Shaolin Holy Monk?
By showing the Buddhist Venerable the True Demon's remains, he had unwittingly drawn out the darkest depths of the man's soul—inviting the worst possible outcome.
From that day forth...
Hong-hyeon, now resolved to obtain all fragments of the Nine Heavens Radiant Cloud Pearl, declared:
"If I cannot stain my own hands with blood, then I need a sword that will gladly drown the world in blood for me."
Merging the knowledge from the Demonic Arts Manual with his own sacred Buddhist power, he forged ten gates that defied the laws of this world.
The disciples who entered those gates did not chant sutras—they screamed in agony.
And what was born from within...
Were not enlightened beings, but asuras who existed solely for destruction and slaughter.
His face during this horrific ritual bore no trace of a seeker of truth—only the imprint of desperate madness.
The disciples he nurtured were powerful, but they lacked the justification to overturn the world.
Then, yet another perfect stage was set.
Martial Alliance Leader Cheol Mu-heun's covert Absolute Demon Saber Project—a grand scheme to birth the ultimate saber master, divide the factions, and lead them to self-destruction—
Was, in truth, little more than an experiment tied to the Chain of Reincarnation, orchestrated by the Shadow Force, who had manipulated the justice-driven Cheol Mu-heun.
—Chaos. Yes, there could be no better stage than this!
With a merciful smile, Hong-hyeon joined the plan.
Using his overwhelming wisdom, he mended its flaws and wove an even more meticulous and perfect scheme.
But no secret in this world remains forever hidden.
The fact that he had not sealed away the True Demon's Corpse, but kept it deep within his quarters—
Was discovered by Ji Gong, the then-abbot of Blood Shaolin.
On a night when the moonlight fell cold and silent...
The Buddhist Venerable and Ji Gong stood facing each other in Blood Shaolin's meditation hall.
"Why have you kept the True Demon's Corpse...?"
Ji Gong's voice trembled.
If this truth were to spread, Shaolin would not survive unscathed.
"Venerable One. It is not too late. We must set things right before it is."
Then, Hong-hyeon moved.
His hands were not those of a Buddha in prayer.
They were the hands of an asura, crushing the skulls of the living.
Thud.
Ji Gong's lifeless eyes stared into the void, never even recognizing who had killed him.
Thump.
With a dull sound, he collapsed, blood gushing from his lips.
"A sacrifice for the Greater Righteousness."
Not a flicker of remorse stirred in the Buddhist Venerable's eyes as he severed the towering tree that could have elevated Blood Shaolin to glory.
"A root of calamity must be torn out entirely."
He personally slaughtered every warrior monk of Blood Shaolin.
None survived.
Save for one—the Lecturing Monk Dam-jeung, who had been away from Shaolin on a mission.
But what the Buddhist Venerable did not know...
Was that Ji Gong had hidden records of everything—
Deep within the abbot's chambers, inside the Baiyou Jing, a scripture only read by young disciples of the Buddhist Order.
And that one day, Dam-jeung, who would become Blood Shaolin's abbot, would uncover it.
—Shaolin is already hell.
These words were left on the final page.
Dam-jeung's suicide...
His declaration that Shaolin was innocent...
Was because the atrocities were solely the Buddhist Venerable's doing—and all who followed him had been deceived.
"In the end, he committed the perfect crime."
Bu Eun-seol sighed.
Dam-jeung's suicide was, ultimately, part of the Buddhist Venerable's design—the final punctuation to his flawless crime.
"Now, there is no one left in Shaolin who can stop him."
Wearing the mask of the Holy Monk, revered by all under heaven...
Hong-hyeon now seeks to gather all fragments of the Nine Heavens Radiant Cloud Pearl and claim the True Demon's knowledge.
"A monk trapped in the curse of knowledge—who could stop such a Demon Monk?"
Bu Eun-seol had finally unraveled all of the Buddhist Venerable's secrets.
He had seized control of Shaolin, using its most outstanding disciples as his shadows to operate within the Martial World,
while he himself lurked in the darkness, advancing his myriad schemes.
"Then I was mistaken."
The sacred artifact said to have been obtained from the Land of the Ultimate Void, along with the True Demon's remains—they must have all been within Shaolin.
But due to Bu Eun-seol's infiltration this time, the Buddhist Venerable had likely moved them to a hidden location without delay.
That was precisely... the reason why the Buddhist Venerable had not come looking for him despite his presence in Shaolin.
"I thought that once he sensed my presence in Shaolin, he would immediately use his divine power to track me down."
Bu Eun-seol's final plan had been to lure the Buddhist Venerable to him while he infiltrated Shaolin.
With the Buddhist Venerable's abilities, he should have been able to trace even the faintest traces of Bu Eun-seol's presence within the temple grounds.
But he was in possession of a terrifying treasure—the True Demon's remains—and it was clear he had withdrawn to safeguard them.
"The only thing the Buddhist Venerable desperately seeks is the Nine Heavens Radiant Cloud Pearl."
If the records here were true, he wouldn't have the slightest interest in some sacred artifact from India.
So why had he taken the sacred artifact from the Land of the Ultimate Void?
"What did the remains look like?"
Unfortunately, the book contained no description of what the so-called "fragment of the True Demon's remains"—which Cheol Mu-heun had supposedly obtained—looked like, nor which part of the body it belonged to.
Rumble—
Just then, a deep tremor shook the ground, as if countless troops were moving in unison.
It seemed Baek Jeon-cheon, who had been playing his part, had concluded his negotiations and was now returning.
'There's no time.'
If all of Shaolin's masters returned to the temple grounds, he risked exposure.
It was regrettable that he hadn't found the Yona Tribe's sacred artifact, but he had uncovered the Buddhist Venerable's secret—something no one else knew.
'I must find the True Demon's remains and the sacred artifact.'
But now was not the time.
For now, he had to be satisfied with this much.
'This picture book may not serve as evidence of the Buddhist Venerable's atrocities... but I'll keep it for now.'
Tucking the picture book left behind by Dam-jeung into his robes, Bu Eun-seol swiftly slipped through the passage and exited Shaolin.
'The fact that the Buddhist Venerable is a Demon Monk isn't all that surprising.'
Even as he activated his movement technique, his thoughts raced without pause.
Shaolin's actions had long been abnormal, and the Buddhist Venerable had led them for ages.
Thus, Shaolin's corruption was hardly shocking.
'The ones who turned the Buddhist Venerable into a slave of knowledge... must be the True Demon or the Three Attendants.'
The Absolute Demon Saber Project was known to have been planned by the Buddhist Venerable and Cheol Mu-heun, but in truth, it had been an experiment for the Chain of Reincarnation.
If so, then the shadow lurking in the Scripture Pavilion that had corrupted the Buddhist Venerable, and the one who had given Cheol Mu-heun the True Demon's remains—
They were most likely the True Demon or its Servants.
BOOM—
Just then, a thunderous roar echoed from the distant sky,
and martial artists clad in strange, shimmering robes began pursuing Bu Eun-seol with movement techniques swift as a gale.
Hummm—
As they closed in, the stench of blood assaulted his nostrils.
A crimson glint flashed in Bu Eun-seol's pupils.
The bizarrely luminous robes they wore—they bore an uncanny resemblance to the masks used by the Messengers of the Three Realms.
CRASH—
With a deafening explosion, Bu Eun-seol descended like a meteor, lightning-fast, slamming into the ground.
The moment he landed, masked figures swarmed around him, encircling him from all sides.
Hummm—
In an instant, a wave of blood-red killing intent erupted from Bu Eun-seol's entire body.
The Ghostly Eclipse Faction.
That revolting stench of blood and those eerily glowing eyes—they were unmistakably the traits of a messenger belonging to the Ghostly Eclipse Faction.
"You've gone to great lengths to track me down."
The fact that Bu Eun-seol had openly appeared in Shaolin must have spread among intelligence organizations.
And the Ghostly Eclipse Faction had immediately dispatched their messengers to intercept him.
"Martial Soul Lord."
The messenger held out a blood-drenched scroll, so soaked it seemed to drip.
"What is this?"
"The Sect Leader's orders."
"Orders?"
Instead of answering, the messenger flung the scroll toward him.
'The Baekri Clan Secret Vault?'
Written on it were the detailed location of what appeared to be the Baekri Clan Secret Vault and the method to enter it.
The place name was one he had never heard in his life, and the method of entry was bizarrely complex.
'Is this truly the Baekri Clan Secret Vault?'
"You must go alone."
The messenger's voice was icy.
"If you reveal this to anyone, everything will be for naught."
"Hahahaha—"
Bu Eun-seol suddenly threw his head back and burst into roaring laughter.
As his laughter grew louder—
Tremble, tremble—
The messengers' bodies visibly shook, blood trickling from their eyes and ears.
"Do your eyes mistake this Lord for some escort guard from an escort agency?"
As Bu Eun-seol's pupils burned an endless crimson—
Crunch—
The ground beneath the Ghostly Eclipse messengers sank slightly.
His terrifying internal energy was mercilessly crushing them.
Thud— Squelch—
By the time the ground had sunk an inch, they were already vomiting streams of scarlet blood.
"Martial Soul Lord!"
The lead messenger coughed up blood as he shouted.
"You have a debt to repay!"
At that desperate cry—
Whoosh—
Bu Eun-seol, who had been staring down at them with eyes like smoldering coals, instantly withdrew his internal energy.