Chapter 1180
Just before the carriage exploded.
Bu Eun-seol, staring out the window, was lost in deep contemplation.
Buddhist Venerable.
Thanks to the picture book left behind by Dam-jeung, the abbot of Blood Shaolin, Bu Eun-seol was well aware of the Buddhist Venerable's hideous true nature.
The mask of the Holy Monk had been fabricated from the very beginning—from his youth, he had been a demonic fiend who had strayed into the path of Ma (Demonic Corruption).
—There's no way he would take on the role of the Phoenix Lord out of goodwill.
A sinister figure who raised countless shadows and schemed all manner of wicked plots—how could such a man become the Phoenix Lord and lead the orthodox martial world?
Even a stray dog would laugh at the absurdity.
—And the same goes for Baek Mu-seong, who became the Alliance Chief.
The moment he realized he could never obtain Gongson Dan-gyeong, his goodness vanished, and he ultimately chose the path of evil.
Now, these two men had stepped forward to save the Martial Alliance, just as the Forces from Beyond the Frontier invaded the Central Plains?
If so, there must surely be another conspiracy lurking beneath the surface.
Bu Eun-seol struggled to grasp the nature of that conspiracy but soon realized it was impossible to uncover in a short time.
So instead, he devised a brilliant scheme.
Through the identity of Seol-so, the Martial Soul Society Leader.
He would become the bait that would overturn the board they had so carefully arranged.
—Even in a situation where they desperately need every soldier and every ounce of strength, they refuse help?
They must be quite confident about this battle, then.
At Bu Eun-seol's words, Baek Mu-seong had no choice but to reluctantly accept him.
If he refused the Martial Soul Society's assistance after hearing such a statement?
It would only give the impression that the invasion from Beyond the Frontier wasn't truly urgent.
The problem was—the higher one's position, the more one had to go through the appropriate processes to reach it.
Especially to become the leader of a large-scale coalition.
One inevitably had to immerse themselves in a major faction and learn its operational systems.
Even Bukgung Ryeong, who had spent his life standing alone as a peerless master,
had once served as a Martial Alliance retainer for a time, allowing him to understand how such coalitions functioned.
That was why he could later accept Bu Eun-seol's proposal to become the Azure Heaven Alliance Leader.
But Seol-so's known history?
Only his exploits as a wandering martial artist.
No matter how much of a Special-Grade Wanderer he was, he had never undergone the process of acquiring the qualifications needed to lead a coalition force.
A risk factor.
If individuals with such unclear pasts were to join forces or organizations advancing a Grand Design,
they could only be seen as extremely unstable risk factors.
Especially since Baek Mu-seong had witnessed the Martial Venerable's failure firsthand—his unease would only have grown stronger.
Now that things had come to this,
Baek Mu-seong had no choice but to kill Seol-so, the Martial Soul Society Leader, by any means necessary.
—"Unusual movements have been detected within the Martial Alliance!"
The moment the bait was cast, a reaction finally came.
Not long after Seol-so, the Martial Soul Society Leader, joined the Righteous Faction,
secretive movements within the Martial Alliance's internal organizations were detected.
After relentless pursuit by the Death Soul Squad,
it was confirmed that they were secret organizations undergoing special training within the Martial Alliance—
and that they were investigating the movements of the Righteous Faction's leaders.
—They're plotting an assassination.
With the intelligence gathered by the Death Soul Squad, Bu Eun-seol discerned that Baek Mu-seong was executing an assassination plan.
—He'll surely use the invading Forces from Beyond the Frontier.
Unless Baek Mu-seong was a fool,
he wouldn't be reckless enough to send the Martial Alliance's elite soldiers.
Instead, he would mobilize a small assassination squad composed of exceptional martial artists from Beyond the Frontier—
ones capable of definitely eliminating the targets while evading the detection networks of the Central Plains' intelligence organizations.
Even if they failed, he would ensure there were no repercussions.
—We must identify the targets besides the Martial Soul Society Leader.
Bu Eun-seol mobilized the Death Soul Squad once more,
attempting to clearly identify the assassination targets—
—"Other than confirming that the Sichuan Tang Clan Leader is among those being tracked... we couldn't uncover any further information."
After immense effort, the Death Soul Squad had only managed to confirm that Tang Gon, the Sichuan Tang Clan Leader, was one of their surveillance targets.
Nothing more could be obtained.
—I see.
But with just this one piece of intelligence—that Tang Gon was among those under investigation—
Bu Eun-seol could guess the targets Baek Mu-seong had designated.
He was affiliated with the Abyssal Forces.
Moreover, despite ruining the inauguration ceremony, he had shown hatred and competitive hostility toward the Martial Soul Lord, who had become the Martial Alliance's benefactor.
—They intend to eliminate the Azure Heaven Alliance Leader, the Sichuan Tang Clan Leader, the Namgung Family Head, the Wudang Sect Leader... and the Martial Soul Society Leader, Seol-so.
All of them possessed unyielding integrity, held the will to oppose the Abyssal Forces of the martial world,
and were either directly connected to Bu Eun-seol or had shown him goodwill.
—They must have a final, surefire method to eliminate their targets.
Bu Eun-seol sensed that the small squad of assassins Baek Mu-seong had sent
undoubtedly possessed means to exploit the weaknesses of each faction's leaders—
or even shatter their martial arts.
Therefore, he had personally sent letters to Bukgung Ryeong and Tang Gon—those he could trust—informing them of these facts.
As for Namgung Jeong and Daoist Master Yeong-cheong, where there was a risk of information exposure,
he had discreetly contacted Namgung Un and Song-ak instead, ensuring they could intervene to save them.
—Then I too must prepare for all possibilities.
There was only one reason this assassination plot had been set into motion.
The sudden appearance of the Martial Soul Society Leader at the inauguration of the Righteous Alliance.
—In other words, even if the heavens collapse, they will stop at nothing to kill Seol-so.
From Baek Mu-seong's perspective,
even if the others could be spared, the Martial Soul Society Leader Seol-so absolutely had to die...
Which meant they might even send an unpredictable powerhouse—perhaps even the Buddhist Venerable himself.
"So it begins."
The faint scent of gunpowder brushed past his nostrils.
Snapping out of his thoughts, Bu Eun-seol burst through the carriage roof in a single motion, soaring into the sky.
KWA-BOOOOOM—!
With an earth-shaking roar, the carriage exploded, and Bu Eun-seol landed gracefully back on the ground.
Whoosh.
From the thick smoke, a figure emerged.
A masked man, with two long swords strapped to his back and waist.
"You're late."
Bu Eun-seol spoke in an utterly relaxed tone.
"I nearly went blind waiting for you."
Click.
As if caught off guard by the unexpected remark,
the masked man tilted his head slightly, narrowing his eyes.
"You came alone?"
Bu Eun-seol had expected Baek Mu-seong or the Buddhist Venerable himself to come for him.
After all, the assassination of the Martial Soul Society Leader was a mission that absolutely had to succeed.
Yet, within a radius of three hundred paces, the only presence he could sense was that of the masked man before him.
"In that case, the Buddhist Venerable and Alliance Leader Baek must have extreme confidence in your skills."
He deliberately provoked by mentioning the Buddhist Venerable and Baek Mu-seong, but the masked man remained unresponsive.
'Strange.'
Bu Eun-seol's eyes narrowed to slits.
Having faced countless masters up to this point,
he could gauge an opponent's strength in an instant—like a spirit-sensitive shaman—just by their unique aura and presence.
Yet, from this masked man, he sensed no color, no form.
He felt almost disconnected from the surrounding scenery, as if his very existence was absent.
Srrrk.
The masked man drew not the sword on his back, but the one at his waist.
Shhk.
The sword had an abnormally broad blade—
and an unusual design: it lacked the rounded handguard that would normally keep the wielder's hand from sliding onto its edge.
Ssssss—
The surrounding air seemed to evaporate in an instant, the world growing darker.
Bu Eun-seol's gaze sharpened.
The moment the masked man drew his sword,
the previously undetectable presence transformed into something entirely different.
It was a sensation he had never experienced before—alien and eerie.
'He's strong.'
It felt as though a monster that should not exist had donned a human mask and now wielded a sword.
"Heh."
The masked man let out a bizarre laugh, his serpent-like eyes flashing as he took a step forward.
Walking was a natural motion for humans.
But the masked man's gait resembled a four-legged beast forcing itself to walk upright.
'Was there ever a master of this caliber in the Martial Alliance?'
Though he hadn't fully uncovered the Martial Alliance's secret factions,
having spent considerable time in their inner circle under the identity of Seon-u Jin, he had a rough estimate of their martial artists' capabilities.
Yet this masked man—
radiated an aura so chillingly foreign and sinister, unlike anything he had ever encountered.
It wasn't just the oppressive weight of a supreme master's power, but the unsettling strangeness of encountering a new form of life.
'He doesn't belong under the Buddhist Venerable or Baek Mu-seong.'
Bu Eun-seol's instincts told him.
This man had slaughtered countless lives in the shadows—
and was absolutely not someone who would serve under the Buddhist Venerable or Baek Mu-seong.
Shhk.
Then, twisting the odd-shaped sword to expose its flat side, the masked man's figure vanished in an instant.
No—not vanished.
Space itself seemed to distort, and before he knew it, the blade was already piercing toward his throat at blinding speed.
Without hesitation, Bu Eun-seol unleashed the Vacuum Fist Art of the Martial Soul Society Leader Seol-so—
Heavenly Light Seven Forms, First Form: Piercing Radiance.
As the forces of the two masters collided in midair,
KWA-RUMBLE—!
The shockwave uprooted surrounding trees and gouged deep trenches into the earth.
'To wield such power with such effortless movements...'
This was a level of strength far beyond what he had anticipated.
Had Bu Eun-seol underestimated him and casually unleashed the Heavenly Light Seven Forms?
He would have suffered severe internal injuries in an instant.
Clang.
This time, the Masked Man remained standing and thrust his Odd-shaped Sword forward.
Whoosh!
The trees and stones around Bu Eun-seol turned to dust in an instant, scattering in the wind.
The Masked Man was effortlessly unleashing terrifyingly powerful techniques—twisting space and reversing the direction of force.
Snap!
But Bu Eun-seol, having anticipated the attack, had already leaped into the air.
Slash-slash-slash-slash!
Hundreds of sword shadows instantly enveloped his body.
The Masked Man, too, had predicted Bu Eun-seol's movement and unleashed an explosive sword technique skyward.
Boom.
Bu Eun-seol executed the Thousand-Catty Drop, landing on the ground in an instant.
As if waiting for this, the Masked Man charged at him, releasing thirty-six sword energies simultaneously.
Because Bu Eun-seol had mastered the essence of Practical Combat Martial Arts—
The moment the enemy's sword technique unfolded—
He could somewhat predict how it would develop.
But the Masked Man's swordplay unfolded without warning, its momentum expanding at the speed of lightning.
Slash-slash-slash-slash!
Moreover, the more Bu Eun-seol evaded, the more refined and rapid the Masked Man's swordplay became—
Reaching a level that no ordinary orthodox movement technique could withstand.
'If Buddhist Venerable and Baek Mu-seong haven't come...'
Bu Eun-seol's eyes flashed as he deliberately clashed his own fist energy against the Masked Man's sword force.
'There's no need to engage him directly.'
Bang!
A concentric shockwave rippled outward, and Bu Eun-seol, instead of being repelled, used the force to soar higher into the sky.
Rather than settling the fight, he intended to retreat and thoroughly investigate the Masked Man's identity.
Crackle.
But the moment he ascended, a transparent wall appeared alongside a blinding white flash.
'He deployed a battle formation I couldn't detect?'
Swish!
Not missing the moment Bu Eun-seol's mental power wavered, the Masked Man fired a crescent-shaped sword energy straight at his neck.
Bu Eun-seol blocked it with his Ink Soul Sword, but unable to withstand the recoil, he crashed to the ground with a thud.
Rumble.
Slowly rising from the shattered pile of rocks, Bu Eun-seol's gaze turned as cold as the glaciers of the North Sea.
"Let's settle this."
Fwoosh.
The shattered stones gradually floated into the air before—
Whoooosh!
Scattering in all directions as the sky began to turn transparent.
Realizing that ordinary martial arts wouldn't be enough to defeat the Masked Man, Bu Eun-seol activated—
The Binding Formation Arts, the Heavenly Tablet Sealing Hundred Gates Formation, a technique whose inner workings could never be discerned.
"Huuuuh."
As if sensing Bu Eun-seol's intent to unleash the True Void,
The Masked Man let out a bizarre laugh while staring at the increasingly transparent sky.
His demeanor seemed to say, Go ahead and try anything.
'I can't risk exposing Seol-so's True Void Absolute Art any further.'
While uncovering this assassination plot,
Bu Eun-seol had learned that the Martial Alliance's secret organization had not only planted spies among the Nine Great Sects and One Gang and the Eight Great Families—
But was also researching the True Void Absolute Arts of the grandmasters who roamed the martial world.
From now on, whether acting as the Martial Soul Lord or the Martial Soul Society Leader—
Whenever he used the True Void Absolute Art, he had to completely erase all traces of its exposure.
Hiss.
Bu Eun-seol's once-gentle eyes subtly shifted, and an icy aura seeped out, as if ready to strip flesh from bone.
Through facing powerful opponents, his mastery of the True Void Martial Arts as the Martial Soul Lord had deepened immeasurably.
But having rarely fought strong adversaries as the Martial Soul Society Leader, his Heavenly Light Seven Forms remained at a level barely different from its early stages.
Especially since the Darkness Secret Arts altered not just appearance—
But body structure and even the traits of one's spirit and mind...
Effectively making Seol-so's very identity a limitation.
'Then, like drawing water to cultivate fields... I'll have to compensate for the deficiency elsewhere.'
Zzzziiing.
Bu Eun-seol's pupils gradually turned pure white as a dark haze began rising from his entire body.
Haaaa.
Simultaneously, a thick wind began blowing toward the Masked Man.
Saint Among Poisons.
Using terrifying poison energy, he was weakening the Masked Man's extrasensory perception and physical abilities.
Zzzziiing.
Sensing the abnormality in his body, the Masked Man generated Protective Astral Energy and deployed his sword technique again.
But the gentle breeze had already turned into a raging gale.
The Masked Man's breath grew labored, his skin stinging as if being sliced by razor-sharp blades.
Slash-slash-slash-slash!
To suppress the spreading poison energy—
He swung his Odd-shaped Sword wildly, casting a net-like barrage of sword energies over Bu Eun-seol.
Fwoop!
From within that storm of blades, a single pinpoint of light flickered—
Swish!
In an instant, the glinting point shot straight toward Bu Eun-seol's throat.
This sword form was so bizarre and unique that it would be nearly impossible to find its equal in all the world. Even the most formidable master would struggle to defend against it.
Under normal circumstances, such a technique would never fail—
Whoosh!
Yet Bu Eun-seol swiftly twisted his body, narrowly evading the deadly fragment.
"......."
The masked man's eyes narrowed sharply toward the sky.
He realized the reason his sure-kill stroke had failed—his own biological reactions had slowed.
"If you remove your mask and reveal your affiliation now, I will spare your life."
Bu Eun-seol extended his hand leisurely.
"I already know you came under the orders of the Buddhist Venerable and the Alliance Leader Baek, so speak."
The ability he had attained as the Saint Among Poisons was unprecedented in the history of murim. Not only could he create poisons tailored to his surroundings—
Their nature was so peculiar that once they infiltrated the body, no amount of internal energy could expel them.
"I see you refuse."
When the masked man remained silent, Bu Eun-seol unleashed the Heavenly Light Seven Forms once more.
"Don't regret this!"
The masked man countered with a rapid succession of sword techniques, but unlike before, he could no longer seize the advantage.
No—as time passed, Bu Eun-seol's Heavenly Light Seven Forms gradually began to overwhelm him.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Perhaps his pride had been wounded, for the masked man channeled his internal power even more fiercely, intensifying his swordplay.
As the two masters' martial arts clashed relentlessly, the forest collapsed, and the earth was carved deep.
Amid the fierce exchange, Bu Eun-seol analyzed the masked man's techniques.
'This isn't martial arts from the Central Plains.'
Like the martial arts of the Star Emperor that So Ok-rim wielded, the masked man's sword techniques were devastatingly powerful but consumed an immense amount of internal energy.
'The poison was effective, then.'
The martial arts of the Eight Emperors and Three Stars were so overwhelmingly potent that—
They were akin to wielding a weapon that could harm the user before it was even unleashed.
Because the masked man also employed such a sword technique—
The slightest slowing of his bodily reactions due to the poison had rendered him unable to unleash its full might.
Crack! Boom!
Meanwhile, Bu Eun-seol moved like a phantom, pouring forth the Heavenly Light Seven Forms.
At this rate, subduing the masked man seemed inevitable.
Zzziiing—
Suddenly, an overwhelming killing intent erupted from the masked man's entire body—so sharp it seemed capable of piercing the heavens.
Ooooom—
The air trembled violently as his energy explosively amplified.
Thud.
Abruptly, he discarded the odd-shaped sword in his hand and drew the blade strapped to his back.
This new sword was at least three chi longer than the one he had thrown aside, its width drastically narrower—
So excessively long that, from a distance, it almost resembled a spear.
Click.
The moment he gripped the new sword, his presence transformed entirely.
Rustle.
A razor-sharp energy flowed along the blade, spreading across his entire body—
Hiss.
His flesh began to thin gradually.
Thinner. Sharper.
Before long, his very existence had morphed into a single, cutting line—one that could sever heaven and earth.
Even when Bu Eun-seol focused his eye power, capable of discerning an ant from miles away—
All he saw before him was a single, slender line.
How could a being of flesh and blood suddenly become nothing more than a sharp line connecting sky and land?
Flick!
In an instant, the line vanished.
Not just from sight—it disappeared entirely from the domain Bu Eun-seol could perceive.
The moment lasted only a fraction of a second, but in a battle between masters, that was all it took to decide life and death.
Swish!
The masked man reappeared before Bu Eun-seol, his blade lashing out—
A vicious sword energy aimed straight for his knee.
If not blocked properly, his leg would be severed clean off.
Without hesitation, Bu Eun-seol deployed the fourth stance of the Heavenly Light Seven Forms, Jade Radiance Moonrise—
Coiling the incoming sword energy upward and flinging it skyward.
Shoooom—
But it had been a feint.
With an eerie sound, the masked man's arm stretched like taffy—
Swish!
And suddenly, his blade was piercing toward Bu Eun-seol's throat!
'Tch!'
The strike was so swift that Bu Eun-seol barely managed to tilt his head aside in time.
But even that had been a feint.
The true technique came from below—
A ruthless, brutal sword stroke designed to sever both arms in a single motion.
Clang—!
With a metallic resonance that seemed to shake the world—
The masked man's razor-sharp blade was caught between Bu Eun-seol's palms.
He had succeeded in performing Empty Hands Seize White Blade—a technique said to be impossible against true masters.
No—he had to succeed.
Because the masked man's swordplay variations—
Were something Bu Eun-seol could predict even with his eyes closed.
"You—"
In that instant, Bu Eun-seol's pupils flooded crimson.
His entire body turned ice-cold, his rage unleashing waves of dark True Qi.
How long had he searched for the wielder of this sword stroke?!
The same brutal technique he had encountered only once before—from an elder of the Namgung Family—with no further leads since.
The very sword stroke that had mercilessly slaughtered his grandfather.
And now, at last—he had found its user again.