Chapter 1222
Ziiing.
As he elevated his Empty Mind Spirit Communion, an extremely faint yet bizarre energy—a unique fusion of Formation Study and the Art of Spells—spread outward.
"This wasn't placed here originally."
The formations and spells imbued in this place weren't remnants from when the Secret Vault was first constructed. They were newly laid, and recently at that.
"Then that means..."
The emptiness here wasn't inherent. Someone had cleared out everything that had once been inside.
A-yeon had clearly stated that the Empress Dowager had only pinpointed the location of this place, never actually entering it...
But that had been false information.
"A trap, then."
Bu Eun-seol let out a sigh.
—No, thinking can wait.
Before arriving here,
as he had been deep in thought, multicolored glimmers had flickered through his pupils.
Even then, he had already considered the possibility that the Secret Vault might be a trap.
"That's why she raised A-yeon as an assassin."
Under the Empress Dowager's command, there were countless Masters of formidable strength stationed everywhere.
Yet despite that, she had deliberately trained A-yeon, a disciple of the Sword Pavilion, as an assassin—likely for two advantages.
The Sword Pavilion was a sect that secretly dispatched its disciples to resolve disturbances within the Martial World whenever turmoil arose.
If it were A-yeon, the Sword Pavilion's successor,
she would be able to relatively easily identify the Emperor's direct operatives—those who disguised themselves as martial artists while acting under imperial orders.
And the second advantage was...
"A disposable piece."
Once the Emperor's direct operatives were dealt with, it was only a matter of time before someone trusted by the Emperor would inevitably take up pursuit.
Whether A-yeon killed that person or not,
the process would reveal the identity of the blade the Emperor had sent.
Moreover, if they handed A-yeon the bead containing the location of the Secret Vault created by Baekri Mu-ha...
They could lure that person into the vault to capture or eliminate them.
"It's not that I didn't anticipate this situation..."
A desolate silence flowed through his eyes.
Still, he had held onto the faint hope that this might truly be the Secret Vault his father had created.
That perhaps he would find clues about his contract with the Primordial Dragon, a way for the Baekri Clan to enter,
or even just a small piece of information that could overturn the current state of affairs.
"In the end, it seems I've fully plunged into the imperial struggle."
The imperial court's shadow wars were like a bottomless swamp.
Once you set foot in, there was no escape—only sinking deeper into the mire as time passed.
"By now, this entire area must be surrounded."
Yet he had no intention of fleeing, nor any thought of avoiding the fight.
"Given that the door opened with the Baekri Clan's key, it's not a fake Secret Vault..."
Just as he muttered under his breath—
Skreeeek.
A grating, unpleasant sound tore through the silence, echoing from the darkness behind him.
Slowly turning his body,
he saw a man emerge from the pitch-black void, where not even a sliver of light reached, over thirty meters away.
His emaciated frame was tightly wrapped in a glossy leather outfit that looked as if it had been flayed from a serpent.
Above his pallid, corpse-like bluish skin, only his torn-looking crimson lips stood out vividly.
The moment Bu Eun-seol sensed the sinister energy radiating from the man's entire being, he knew.
'True Demon Palace.'
This was undoubtedly a Master from the True Demon Palace.
"So you weren't just loitering around the waterways—you actually came inside..."
A voice like rusted metal scraping against steel, both rough and sharp, spilled from the man's lips.
"You're not one of the Emperor's lackeys. You're a rat from the Baekri Side Family, sneaking in to steal our palace's knowledge."
When Bu Eun-seol had uncovered the hidden Secret Vault and entered,
the man seemed to have mistaken him for a descendant of the Baekri Side Family, like Baekri Ja-ha.
"These vermin just keep sprouting like weeds, no matter how many times we crush them."
The man's serpent-like eyes glinted with contempt and murderous intent.
From the True Demon Palace's perspective,
the Baekri Clan was nothing more than parasitic thieves, pilfering the knowledge of their great ancestors.
"You—?"
Then, as the man recognized Bu Eun-seol's face, a peculiar smile curled on his lips.
"You're not some stray from the Baekri Side Family... You're the one who broke the Restrictive Seal, allowing our palace's Masters to step into the Martial World, aren't you?"
Clicking his tongue, he slowly advanced,
baring his fangs in a cruel smile.
"Since you've helped us in your own way..."
"I will kill you without pain."
He stretched out both arms, his glossy sleeves spreading like enormous wings.
Fwoosh—
And from the darkness behind him,
hundreds—no, thousands—of bats poured forth all at once.
Their crimson eyes flashing, the bats seemed to be formed from Soul-Demon Magic Energy,
reducing the interior walls to dust as they surged forward.
Skreeeech.
The vast interior of the Secret Vault filled with the sound of flapping wings and ear-splitting shrieks.
Hwoom.
In that instant, light erupted from Bu Eun-seol's pupils like an explosion.
Simultaneously, transparent ripples spread in concentric circles, faintly erasing the colors within the Secret Vault.
The absolute domain that nullifies all supernatural powers—mine and his alike—had been unleashed: the power of World and Realm Annihilation.
Ziiing.
As the authority of the Void Boundary swept over the swarm of bats, their colors too began to fade.
If they had been mere illusions conjured by Soul-Demon Magic Energy, they should have dissipated like smoke.
Thud! Slash! Screech!
Yet even after the ripples of the Void Boundary had passed, more than one-third of the bats continued their frenzied assault toward Bu Eun-seol.
His eyes narrowed sharply as he caught sight of the bats' vividly defined fangs and claws.
'Living bats.'
Not only had the man created bats from Soul-Demon Magic Energy—
He had also cunningly mixed in real, living bats, controlling them at will.
CRACK!
Bu Eun-seol immediately unleashed the Fist Demon Seven Forms, but—
The swarm of bats scattered and regrouped effortlessly, evading his strikes with ease.
Astonishingly, the hundreds of bats moved—
With the same profound and lightning-quick agility as martial masters of the murim.
'There's an easier way.'
Shhhk—
With a thunderous resonance, Bu Eun-seol's long-sheathed sword, Mukhongeom, revealed itself.
Vrrrm.
The blade trembled incessantly for a moment before releasing needle-like sword energy, razor-sharp, toward the oncoming bats.
Deploying the Returning Energy Foundation, he instantly struck down the bats' eyes in a single motion.
"......!"
The man, who had been looking down at Bu Eun-seol with arrogance, stiffened coldly.
Not only had the Soul-Demon Magic Energy flowing through his body vanished in an instant—
But the eyes of his Black Inferno Bats, meticulously raised over decades, were being precisely targeted and destroyed.
In the darkness, cutting down bats that moved unpredictably was no easy feat.
Bu Eun-seol had chosen a simple yet ingenious method.
Instead of slashing their bodies, he aimed for their glowing red eyes—the clearest targets in the dark.
Thud-thud-thud!
With each strike, the bats fell effortlessly.
"You bastard...!"
The man trembled.
His Black Inferno Bats were not only shrouded in Soul-Demon Magic Energy—
They had been trained to move in ways that transcended the principles of modern martial arts, making them impervious to conventional sword techniques.
Yet Bu Eun-seol had annihilated them in an instant, and now, an unfamiliar emotion spread through the man's chest.
Its name was fear.
'I can't face him.'
Whoosh!
Without realizing it, the man retreated hundreds of feet.
He instinctively knew that if all his Black Inferno Bats fell beneath this man's sword, escape would become impossible.
'Huh?'
But as he retreated about three hundred feet, the once-faded scenery of the Secret Vault gradually regained its clarity.
And the lost Soul-Demon Magic Energy began to return.
"This is...?"
A faint smile crept onto the man's face as if he had realized something.
"Ah, so there's a range limitation."
Had it not been for the Black Inferno Bats, his head would have flown off in an instant.
But thanks to them buying time—
He had uncovered a critical weakness in Bu Eun-seol's Void Boundary: a distance constraint.
"Hmm."
The man did not flee.
Instead, he coldly observed how Bu Eun-seol's ability functioned, calculating its exact effective range.
"Indeed, just as I thought."
Having grasped everything, the man spread his arms with a sinister grin.
"In any other place, I wouldn't have even had the chance to act before losing... but this Secret Vault has long been under my palace's control."
His lips curled into a vicious smile as he murmured lowly.
"Then just disappear."
Fwoosh!
Just as Bu Eun-seol had finished cutting down the last of the Black Inferno Bats—
Millions of black glows poured forth, and a dark radiance began to cling to the space around him.
"Useless."
Bu Eun-seol scoffed.
As long as he stood within the Domain of World and Realm Annihilation, no supernatural power could harm him.
"Are you sure about that?"
The man smirked.
"What if I obliterate the entire Secret Vault?"
Bu Eun-seol didn't even bother reacting, merely pointing Mukhongeom at the man as he spoke.
"Are you from the Demon Palace?"
Because even this method contained its own paradox.
The power of the Void Boundary was akin to an absolute domain—even if the man used Soul-Demon Magic Energy to annihilate the entire Secret Vault—
The several hundred feet around Bu Eun-seol would remain untouched.
"Heh. Save those questions for after you've defeated me."
Huuuum.
As the man's words ended, the dark radiance hovering around Bu Eun-seol's body began to cling to him.
There were two variables Bu Eun-seol had failed to anticipate.
First, this Secret Vault had long been under the True Demon Palace's control, its interior saturated with Soul-Demon Magic Energy.
Second, the man was capable of wielding one of the True Demon Palace's forbidden arts—Annihilation Without Remnant.
Sssssssss—
The man wasn't merely unleashing a force of destruction and obliteration.
He was unraveling the very bonds that held the space of the Secret Vault together.
The domain where the Emptiness Realm's power manifested remained inviolable, impervious to any intrusion of supernatural force.
But because of Annihilation Without Remnant, the foundation sustaining the Emptiness Realm's absolute nature was disappearing.
Hwiiiiii—
Before he knew it, the black radiance had completely enveloped Bu Eun-seol's body.
The hardness that allowed stone to be stone.
The flow that allowed water to be water.
The fundamental principles that defined all things were unraveling into nothingness.
This was not mere bodily destruction, nor was it incineration.
By annihilating the Secret Vault itself, it was erasing even the origin of all things that existed within it.
Sssssssss—
As the black light poured forth, Bu Eun-seol's skin had already vanished, revealing only crimson muscle fibers beneath.
Of course, this was merely a visual representation of the process of erasure—his flesh had not truly melted away to expose muscle.
But if even his bones became visible, and then they too disappeared—
Then Bu Eun-seol's very existence would be wiped away as though he had never been.
'So even Soul-Demon Magic Energy has its own distinct functions.'
Even with his life hanging by a thread—
Bu Eun-seol never stopped analyzing the man's power.
Soul-Demon Magic Energy was not mere force.
It was a cursed authority, born beyond the world's laws, capable of gnawing away at the very roots of existence.
'But the Emptiness Realm is not mere power—it is the pinnacle of martial attainment.'
The moment he finished that thought—
Millions of luminous motes began streaming from Bu Eun-seol's body, resisting the black radiance.
"What—?"
For an instant, the man's eyes bulged in shock.
Bu Eun-seol's body, which should have been annihilated instantly by Annihilation Without Remnant, was now regenerating endlessly?
The Emptiness Realm was not a technique or mere power—it was the path and state of martial arts itself.
It followed the harmony of Yin and Yang, the order of the Five Elements, and the laws of heaven and earth.
The man had poured forth a force akin to a decree of Return to Oblivion, stripping away the meaning of existence and reverting all things to primordial void—
Forcing a new rule of "annihilation" over the Emptiness Realm's existing laws.
But the Emptiness Realm was erasing even that power—the very force that sought to render space itself nonexistent—
And regenerating it anew... no, restoring it to its complete form.
Sssssssss—
From Bu Eun-seol's body, where the Soul-Demon Magic Energy had stripped away muscle, reducing him toward a skeleton—
Muscle surged back, skin regrew.
"How—?!"
Just as the man opened his mouth in disbelief—
Shwip!
Bu Eun-seol, having escaped the spell of Annihilation Without Remnant, stood fully restored and spoke.
"Had the Emptiness Realm been merely a technique or force..."
He took slow, deliberate steps forward, his voice low.
"I would have perished without even resisting your power."
"The Emptiness Realm?"
"A state beyond your comprehension."
"Nonsense!"
The man spread his arms wide.
Zzziiing—
Instantly, a black demonic figure appeared before Bu Eun-seol's eyes.
Its obsidian skin stretched over an oval face, with only a mouth full of jagged teeth carved into it.
It stood over ten feet tall, its spindly limbs writhing like serpents.
The power of Annihilation Without Remnant, which had sought to erase his existence, had taken the form of this demonic entity wrought from Soul-Demon Magic Energy.
—Kiiiiiiiii!
The demon, sensing Bu Eun-seol's gaze locking onto it, bared its fangs and roared.
—KAAAAAAAH!
With that roar, everything the sound touched melted away.
A force hundreds of times greater than the Annihilation Without Remnant unleashed earlier.
A forbidden martial art that should never be unleashed in the Martial World while the True Demon Palace's Restrictive Seal remained unbroken—
And yet, the man wielded it without hesitation.
Clang.
But as that power surged forth—
A clear metallic resonance rippled from Bu Eun-seol's left hand.
The Chain of Reincarnation.
The True Demon's authority embedded in his body resonated with the forbidden art, revealing itself of its own accord.
Chaaang.
Instinctively gripping the chain—
Crunch.
Bu Eun-seol swung it with all his might toward the roaring demon.
KWA-BOOOOOOOM—!
For an instant, the entire landscape seemed to vanish—
A blinding light erupted, and with it, a deafening roar shook the chamber as though the ceiling and walls would shatter into fragments.
The radiance blooming from the epicenter surged upward as a towering pillar of flames, filling the entirety of the Secret Cave.
The scorching winds spreading outward melted everything within.
The ceiling collapsed, and dust and debris poured down like a torrential rain, instantly shrouding the interior in a haze of ashen fog.
Rumble.
The shockwaves reached even the ancient underground waterways surrounding the cave,
and the aqueducts that had supported the structure for centuries began to crumble.
Crrrrrr.
Fragments of stone and churning water instantly transformed into a muddy storm, raging through the tunnels.
How much time had passed?
The man who had been inside the cave now floated high in the air, gazing down at the collapsed underground waterways.
"Just what kind of monster...?"
Unable to see the Chain of Reincarnation,
all he witnessed was Bu Eun-seol stretching out his hand with a battle cry—
and the unstoppable Soul-Demon Magic Energy, the forbidden Art of Spells known as Annihilation Without Remnant, seemingly being destroyed in an instant.
"To think this Heavenly Secrets Decree would fall so meaninglessly..."
Sssss.
His body began to vanish, dissipating like vapor.
"But that bastard won't walk away unscathed either."
With his final breath, he poured all his remaining strength—
and pierced Bu Eun-seol's heart with a spear forged from Annihilation Without Remnant.
There was no way he could survive that.
"But if someone else wields such power..."
Remembering the terror of the Void-Severing Realm, he mustered his last ounce of strength and stretched out his hand.
Fwip.
A single black bat formed and shot up into the sky.
Psssssh.
Simultaneously, his body crumbled into dust, scattering into the wind.
"Huff... huff..."
Bu Eun-seol crouched amidst the wreckage of the collapsed underground waterways, gasping for breath.
Though the tunnels had caved in,
he had managed to find a narrow gap in the destruction and barely escaped.
Huuuum.
A faint glow emanated from his chest, where he leaned against the rubble.
A translucent chain was coiled around it.
Another chain.
It had shielded his heart from the Annihilation Without Remnant spell the man had unleashed.
"I suppose I owe Jeong Cheon-je for saving my life."
The chain wrapped around his chest—
he had obtained it when he risked his life to restore Jeong Cheon-je's sanity using the Golden Needle Grand Technique.
Had he not gained the Chain of Reincarnation back then, his heart would have been pierced, and his soul would have been wandering the Nine Heavens by now.
"So summoning the Demon God Statue was just the lowest-tier technique, huh?"
Most who wielded Soul-Demon Magic Energy conjured a colossal Demon God Statue in the sky.
Yet this man had summoned only a small, humanoid demon—
but its power surpassed any of the Servants of the True Demon he had encountered so far.
—Wasn't he the one who broke the Restrictive Seal, allowing the masters of the main palace to emerge into the Martial World?
Moreover, the man who had summoned the bats had claimed he was the one who shattered the True Demon Palace's seal.
"Because I defeated the Three Attendants and the Four Divine Heavens?"
According to the blind elder of the Sacred Realm,
the True Demon rejoiced when its servants fought or perished.
Perhaps his slaying of the True Demon's subordinates had inadvertently triggered the lifting of the seals binding the True Demon Palace's bloodline.
"Haa..."
Exhausted, Bu Eun-seol slumped fully onto the rubble.
The Chain of Reincarnation was never meant to be wielded by a human body of flesh and blood.
When he had recklessly swung it before to resist the Martial Venerable's power,
hadn't he lost all strength in an instant?
Had he not absorbed Baekri Ye-ha's Manifestation Art Energy and the Soul-Demon Magic Energy of the one who mimicked the Sacred Realm's Heavenly Secrets Decree...
he might never have recovered.
'There must be a proper way to control the chain.'
Drip, drip.
Blood trickled from his split skin, but fortunately, he hadn't lost strength or suffered fatal internal injuries.
Unlike before, he had now entered the Void-Severing Realm, allowing him to somewhat offset the chain's backlash.
"I should get moving."
After the waterways collapsed, the man's presence had vanished—
but the Empress Dowager's subordinates could storm in at any moment. He needed to leave immediately and recover his strength.
Just as he was about to rise—
Clink.
Suddenly, the chain hanging from his left arm felt as if it had fused with the ground.
The chain in his hand seemed magnetically attached to the collapsed floor below.
"What is this?"
Gritting his teeth, Bu Eun-seol slowly raised his left arm.
The ground where the chain had stuck cracked apart, revealing a vast hidden space below.
"So the Chain of Reincarnation was the key to unlocking the Secret Vault's hidden door."
The Empress Dowager must have discovered the vault—
but without the chain, she couldn't access its concealed depths.
"I suppose I should thank Her Majesty."
Had he relied solely on the Death Soul Squad's intelligence network to find his father's vault, it would have taken years.
But thanks to the Empress Dowager laying a trap in his father's real vault, he had found it with ease.
"Finally."
Bu Eun-seol took a deep breath.
At last, he had found the true hidden space—the real Secret Vault his father had created.