Chapter 1221
Emerging from the Imperial Palace Secret Repository, Bu Eun-seol
distributed the Dragon Tokens to those who had achieved Limitless Equal Enlightenment—Bukgung Ryeong, Noe Bi-hon, and So Ok-rim—
as well as those who would soon reach that state: Yu Un-ryong, Myo Cheon-u, Do Cheon-rin, Seo Jin-ha, Tang Gon, Heuk-pyo, and Namgung Un.
These were no mere treasures.
They were divine artifacts imbued with Dragon Qi—the sole power unbound by either the Baekri Clan or the True Demon—
a lifeline that connected the fates of those who had escaped the flow of heavenly providence.
Simply put, through the Dragon Tokens,
they had become a shared community of fate with Bu Eun-seol, who stood beyond the influence of heavenly will.
***
Within the absolute domain of the Martial Soul Society,
Bu Eun-seol met once more with the Old Man of the Sanctuary and, presenting the remaining Dragon Tokens, declared boldly:
"They are now one with my fate."
His voice was low but firm.
"Observe the heavenly providence once more. Like me, they have become beings who break neither the Covenant nor the natural order—yet stand apart from its flow."
"Hmm..."
The Old Man of the Sanctuary could not conceal his astonishment, his lips parting slightly.
"I never imagined you would do something so absurd."
His tone was one of disbelief.
"You've taken treasures meant solely for the Emperor's use?"
Such artifacts were to be possessed only by the Son of Heaven. Even if the Emperor wished to bestow them, he could not.
So how in the world had Bu Eun-seol obtained them?
"What trick did you use to bend the Emperor to your will?"
"Well, let's just say we exchanged pleasantries."
"Hmm..."
The old man swallowed another sigh and shook his head.
There was no point pressing further—Bu Eun-seol would not elaborate.
"In the past, there were others who attempted the same method as you."
The old man's words carried a weight of revelation.
"But all failed. While it is possible to avoid disrupting the flow of heavenly providence through Dragon Qi... they could not intertwine their fates."
Looking back through the annals of martial history, many had tried this very approach.
Yet none succeeded.
Even if they shared artifacts imbued with Dragon Qi, their destinies could not be bound as one.
No matter how potent the Dragon Qi within their treasures, the result was the same.
The flow of heavenly providence was akin to fate itself.
To bind multiple destinies as one was impossible—not even twins could achieve it.
With a deep sigh, the old man studied Bu Eun-seol.
"And yet... you have done it."
By distributing the Dragon Tokens, Bu Eun-seol had unified the fates of those around him.
This was not due to the tokens' power alone.
It was because every one of them—
were comrades who would not hesitate to lay down their lives for Bu Eun-seol.
In other words, even before receiving the tokens... they had already been a single entity of shared fate.
"Very well."
The old man nodded, as if in admiration.
"I acknowledge it."
His voice was resolute.
"You did not defy the flow of heavenly providence, and you released the covenants binding those around you. For that, I acknowledge you."
Bu Eun-seol pressed his palms together, bowed deeply, and offered the utmost respect.
"My gratitude."
"Hahaha."
The old man laughed, though it sounded almost like a lament.
"You did not bow your head to me when I released you from the life-forfeiting Covenant."
"......"
"Nor when I revealed the secrets of your bloodline, nor when I warned you of the dangers to your life."
He shook his head slowly.
"But now that I have spared those around you from peril, you lower your head and bend your waist before me."
His expression turned sorrowful.
"Tell me—you and your father, your grandfather... is it truly impossible for you to live for your own happiness?"
The Seven Fingers Demonic Blade, Bu Jan-yang.
The First Beauty of the Martial World, Baekri Mu-ha.
Both were divine beings who could have left immortal legacies in the martial world.
Yet one bore the infamy of a slaughter-crazed Great Killing Star, while the other lived reclusively, never stepping into the light—
all while saving countless lives.
And now, Bu Eun-seol followed the same path...
forsaking his own happiness, moving only for the sake of the Greater Righteousness.
"Those words alone reassure me that the path I walk is not misguided."
Bu Eun-seol's tone grew reverent as he bowed once more.
"Honored Elder."
This old man had consistently shown him kindness, trust, and patience.
Moreover, in acknowledging the righteousness of his father and grandfather's paths while still lamenting his future—
Bu Eun-seol had come to recognize him as someone truly worthy of trust and respect.
"Enough."
The old man waved a cold hand.
"I merely sought to use you for my own ends. Trust others so easily, and you will live to regret it bitterly."
"Would someone who seeks to use another speak as you have, Honored Elder?"
"You still don't understand the ruthlessness of the Martial World."
The Old Man repeated the words in a low voice, his expression pained.
"In the Martial World, there are countless people who spend decades pretending to be good, wearing the mask of a righteous warrior while committing evil deeds—all to achieve their goals."
Bu Eun-seol disagreed.
"It's true that most people are selfish and far from just."
He met the Old Man's gaze steadily and continued calmly.
"But sometimes, they offer genuine kindness. Sometimes, they make the right choice in a moment of conscience."
"What are you trying to say?"
"Humans are simply... weak beings who waver between good and evil. That's why those who remain righteous are all the more noble."
Bu Eun-seol's eyes burned like molten steel.
"I don't wish to condemn or distrust human nature itself."
The Old Man's gaze trembled deeply.
How many people, at Bu Eun-seol's age, had ever contemplated the nature of humanity?
The Old Man gave a faint nod.
At last, he understood—how Bu Eun-seol had managed to ascend so swiftly to the True Martial Scripture despite not being born with any extraordinary physique.
How he had accomplished so much at such a young age.
"Still, I must give you one piece of advice."
Breaking his silence, the Old Man drew a deep breath before speaking.
"Try not to get too close to the Emperor."
Getting close to the Emperor was nearly impossible to begin with.
Yet the Old Man spoke with absolute certainty.
"Because your fate overlaps with his."
It was a warning—that if he stayed near the Emperor, his own destiny would be violently shaken.
The Emperor stood at the center of immense Authority.
The moment one lingered by his side, they would inevitably be swept into countless schemes and dangers.
And worse—their goals would clash, turning them into irreconcilable enemies by fate.
"I have no reason to oppose the Emperor."
"It's not just a matter of opposition."
The Old Man spoke decisively.
"If one of you prospers, the other will be endangered. You will become bound in a relationship where each determines the rise and fall of the other."
Only then did Bu Eun-seol grasp the deeper meaning behind the Old Man's words and let out a sigh.
"That will never happen. Once the Grand Design is complete, I will return to being a recluse."
"That is nothing more than wishful thinking."
The Old Man's expression remained firm.
"When you achieve great things, people will inevitably follow, and you will have no choice but to stand at the pinnacle."
His face darkened with severity.
"By then, even if you refuse, the will of the people will force you onto the throne of the Supreme Sovereign."
Seeing Bu Eun-seol's expression darken, the Old Man waved a hand and shifted the topic.
"At any rate, this method isn't eternal. If you've altered the flow of fate, then others may do the same."
"Of course."
Bu Eun-seol replied indifferently.
"But by then, everything will already be over."
The Old Man studied Bu Eun-seol for a long moment.
There was none of the arrogance or confidence typical of young, exceptional martial artists.
Instead, he was cautious—so cautious—like an old man weighed down by reflection, devoid of personal ambition.
The Old Man found it both pitiable and unsettling.
Predicting the actions of young prodigies was never difficult.
Their actions were always confined within the boundaries of their own interests.
But someone like Bu Eun-seol—
Who held no lingering attachments to this world—
There was nothing more terrifying.
"What do you plan to do now?"
Bu Eun-seol let out a soft snort.
"If I ask, will you answer?"
There were too many things he wanted to know.
The true purpose of the Baekri Clan. The contract with the Primordial Dragon. The True Demon and the Demon Palace.
The identities of the remaining realm lords and the goals of the Three Realms.
But he knew now.
The Old Man would never tell him.
"If only you had been a little more ordinary... I would have gladly answered all your questions from the start."
The Old Man voiced the honest thought he had buried deep in his heart.
"But you are someone who defies the flow of fate and carves his own destiny. I cannot interfere."
Bu Eun-seol existed outside fate, forging his own path.
What if careless words led him to do something unforeseen?
Not only would the flow of fate twist, but even the long-laid plans could crumble.
"I only hope you do not become an enemy of the Sacred Realm."
"Because I can't oppose them yet?"
"If the Sacred Realm were to collapse,"
Bu Eun-seol replied flatly.
"Where would you go, Old Man?"
The old man momentarily wore a dazed expression before—
"Heh-heh-heh."
In the end, he couldn't suppress the laughter forcing its way through his lips.
"Kahahahaha!"
Though his hair was streaked with white and his face deeply lined—
Not the Demonic Heavenly Emperor, hailed as the world's foremost. Not the leaders of the Three Realms. Not the bloodlines of the Baekri Clan or the True Demon's descendants... No figure under heaven had ever regarded him as merely an old, ailing man deserving of respect.
Yet Bu Eun-seol saw him simply as an ordinary elder.
"I shall observe your path."
The old man, his laughter subsided, stared intently into Bu Eun-seol's eyes before vanishing in an instant.
As Bu Eun-seol took a great leap through the void, the sound of breaking air erupted like thunder across the heavens.
Unfolding the Land-Flying Technique—
He shot forward at a speed even the wind couldn't hope to match.
'Time is of the essence.'
Across the night sky he traversed, lingering silver-white afterimages remained like long scars that refused to fade.
As his speed increased further, the edges of his vision blurred until they took on the sharp contours of a sword's form.
Swish—!
By the time the flickering landscapes below had shrunk to firefly-sized specks, Bu Eun-seol found himself already nearing Jiangnan.
Flicker.
In his hand, the mysterious orb given by A-yeon served as a guiding beacon through the darkness.
Having dealt with the most urgent matter of the Covenant—
He now followed the orb's guidance toward the secret vault his father had supposedly created, which the Empress Dowager had discovered.
'Father's secret vault.'
Though the Baekri Clan's secret vaults were scattered throughout the martial world of the Central Plains, he had never even imagined that his father might have left one of his own.
Moreover, that there were multiple—and of all possibilities, one had caught the Empress Dowager's attention?
'Impossible.'
Countless hues of light flickered through Bu Eun-seol's pupils as he pondered deeply.
'No—thoughts can wait.'
Flicker.
Meanwhile, the orb's blinking gradually quickened in pace.
They were nearing the destination.
'There.'
Without hesitation, he descended toward—
Neither a secluded mountain deep enough to conceal a mystical vault, nor a secluded valley surrounded by grotesque rock formations like a folding screen.
But rather the grim entrance to an underground waterway, where a stench so vile pierced deep into one's lungs.
"A secret vault... here?"
Bu Eun-seol glanced down at the orb once more.
The light it emitted still pointed unerringly toward the underground passage.
"Certainly, no martial artist would think to look here."
Unless one was fleeing from crimes, ordinary martial artists would have no reason to set foot in such a place.
But Bu Eun-seol had lived like a stray in these sewers during his vagrant days.
Even after entering the martial world, he had frequented these tunnels—so the space was hardly unfamiliar to him.
Squelch, squelch.
Stepping inside—
No light penetrated the rotting stench that hung thick in the air, and from the darkness came intermittent low groans of pain.
The sounds of the sick and destitute—those not even deemed worthy of being called beggars, branded instead as Hungry Ghosts.
With a deep sigh, Bu Eun-seol summoned his Internal Power. Golden light began to bloom from all ten of his fingers.
Thud, thud.
With each step he took, shimmering points of light split the darkness.
His formidable Internal Energy precisely pierced the acupoints of the groaning vagrants.
Sssk, sssk.
A faint glow emanated from the bodies of the sick as their acupoints were unblocked.
Their organs were already rotting—they wouldn't live much longer regardless.
'Had I not come, it would be one thing—but now that I'm here, I can't simply leave them be.'
Yet Bu Eun-seol—
If only to ease their suffering while they still drew breath—
Even at the cost of his own Internal Energy, he unblocked their acupoints.
The echoing groans gradually subsided.
After tending to all the vagrants' pressure points, he soon arrived at a place reeking of damp moss and filth.
Fzzzt!
Then, as if lying all along, the guiding light of the orb abruptly extinguished—
And pitch-black darkness swallowed him whole in an instant.
"Here?"
Frowning, he surveyed the interior of the waterway.
All he could see were stagnant pools of putrid water, viscous slime oozing down the walls, and the damp chill that seeped into his lungs with every breath.
No hidden chambers. No esoteric techniques like Formation Study or Absolute Boundary concealing anything.
"There isn't even space for a vault to begin with."
At the very least, a vault required sufficient room to exist.
Yet even when he expanded his Empty Mind Spirit Communion or Void-Breaking Mind's Eye, no hidden space revealed itself.
"Hmm."
Bu Eun-seol swallowed his impatience and sank into deep thought for a while.
When no answer came, he retrieved a square metal fragment from his pocket.
It was the divine artifact—and key—crafted from the True Demon's knowledge, obtained from within Baekri Ja-ha's prosthetic arm.
"This key can transform any metal it touches into whatever form I desire."
Unable to locate the secret vault,
he shifted his approach—now searching for a place where he could use this key.
But the result was the same.
No matter how much he scoured the surroundings, all he found were rotting wood, scattered stones, and filthy sludge.
There wasn't even a scrap of metal to work with.
"I'd need at least some metal to apply this to."
Frustrated, Bu Eun-seol ventured deeper, yet no suitable place for the key revealed itself.
"Was I misled about the vault's location?"
After pondering for a moment, he shook his head.
Until now, the light-emitting orb had always guided him to the exact designated spot.
Meaning—though unseen—the secret vault had to be here.
"Let's think calmly."
Refusing to give up, Bu Eun-seol carefully examined the sewer's interior while considering alternative methods to uncover the vault.
Squelch, squelch.
Black water splashed with every step.
How long had he walked?
Finally, he sensed something unusual.
'It's... heavy.'
The area where the light had stopped—
The mud beneath his feet didn't just drag; it felt unnaturally dense.
The sensation against his soles was oddly coarse.
Pausing, he crouched and, without hesitation, scooped a handful from the black, viscous sludge.
Ssshh—
What slipped through his fingers wasn't dirt.
But something far heavier, sharper, and colder.
"This is..."
His eyes flashed in the darkness. He knew this texture better than anyone.
"Iron scales."
Once, he had learned metallurgy from Master Cheol and even worked as a Master Blacksmith at Hwang Family Forge.
When hundreds of smiths hammered day and night in a forge,
fragments would scatter like shrieks of metal.
The countless iron filings left behind—
Blacksmiths called them iron scales.
Yet here, in the sludge of this underground sewer—
lay piles upon piles of them?
"Now I understand."
A faint smile curled at Bu Eun-seol's lips as he finally unraveled the vault's secret.
He had been standing atop a swamp of metal all along.
"If it can change form... then even these scattered particles can be gathered into one."
Without hesitation, he hurled the square metal fragment into the black mire beneath his feet.
Plop.
A small ripple spread.
Then, after a brief silence—
VOOOOOM—
The entire sewer trembled as if struck by an earthquake.
Bubble, bubble.
Even the filthy water began churning like boiling liquid—an eerie phenomenon unfolding.
Fizz, fizz.
From the murky sludge, silvery particles rose, separating from the water.
It looked as though thousands of fireflies were surging from the black depths.
Huuuum.
A powerful whirlpool formed around where the metal fragment had fallen, and—
CRREEAK—
The iron scales clumped together with a shrieking friction, and in an instant, the foul sewage vanished.
All impurities disappeared, leaving only pure iron crystals sinking back to the bottom.
Clank, clank.
The settled scales interlocked,
then began forming pillar-like structures atop the now-transparent floor.
Gradually, walls and a ceiling took shape—until finally, a massive grand hall materialized, and a door appeared.
In the deepest part of the sewer, where the Hungry Ghosts once roamed—
now stood the majestic, overwhelming entrance to the secret vault.
"This is the door to the vault Father built."
Bu Eun-seol exhaled in awe.
Unlike the Baekri Clan's vault, his father's was hidden where the world's discarded remnants gathered.
"The floating stones in the Baekri Clan's vault were said to be fragments of the True Demon's knowledge."
The knowledge-imparting stones from the vault weren't the Baekri Clan's wisdom—
but fragments stolen from the True Demon, who had accumulated knowledge beyond human limits across countless reincarnations.
Then—had his father also left behind the True Demon's knowledge?
"If he left a way into the Baekri Clan's vault, that would be best."
Muttering to himself, Bu Eun-seol stepped through the newly formed door.
What awaited him defied all expectations.
"A guest has arrived before me."
It was empty.
He had imagined a vault filled with intricate structures or infused with mystical energy—
Yet after all his trials, the interior was...
as if a giant had swept it clean from floor to ceiling.
Completely, utterly void.