Chapter 1258
"This one must also be someone whose life was ruined by the Demonic Heavenly Emperor."
Before unfolding the Domain of World and Realm Annihilation—
The heat haze rising from the man's body was a force that seized control of space itself, ensuring that the Quick Spear could never be stopped.
And this was not a realm attainable through relentless martial training alone.
It was only possible because of a forbidden Great Art, one that demanded the sacrifice of not just life force but even intellect.
Had he sensed that his power had waned due to the effects of the Void Extreme Realm, reducing him to the level of a Quick Spear wielder with only 120 years of cultivation—
He should have sought another way to fight.
But lacking intellect, he calmly unleashed a full-powered, life-draining final strike.
Thud. Thud.
Bu Eun-seol stepped back onto this floor.
There, crouched low, was a single figure.
'How peculiar.'
A massive lump of metal was fused to his back.
Multiple layers of iron plates were stacked together, forming a rounded shell like a tortoise's carapace, its surface covered in countless scratches and gouges.
The metal had a dull, aged hue, but faint metallic glints seeped through in places, revealing that this was no ordinary armor.
The man lay flat on the ground, his stomach pressed against the floor.
His limbs were drawn tightly inward, as if ready to retreat beneath his shell at any moment.
Tortoise Shell Man.
The man looked as though a tortoise had been reshaped into human form.
"......."
Even without fully raising his head, his upturned eyes persistently tracked Bu Eun-seol's movements.
Click.
Then, still lying prone, he twisted his neck slightly—
Swish!
One of the iron plates forming his shell shot toward Bu Eun-seol's lower abdomen.
He tried to dodge lightly, but strangely, his foot moved in the wrong direction.
Swish!
A thin iron fragment flashed past Bu Eun-seol's face.
He bent his waist parallel to the ground, barely avoiding it.
Drip.
Yet, a shallow cut split the skin near his brow.
If a mere graze from the iron fragment could pierce his Body Protection True Qi and draw blood—
Then the force behind it was enough to cleave even a Diamond Bronze Man in two with a single strike.
A direct hit would be fatal.
Swish! Swish!
Before he knew it, the iron plates multiplied—one, two, then dozens.
Spinning at high speed, they churned through the air like living creatures, relentlessly seeking to carve into Bu Eun-seol's flesh.
'No openings.'
Whoosh.
He activated the power of World and Realm Annihilation, but there was no noticeable change—if anything, his movements became even more sluggish.
A step to the left would shift him diagonally instead.
Attempting to retreat, he felt as though something blocked his path, forcing him sideways.
'The power of World and Realm Annihilation isn't activating...'
Even in this life-or-death battle, Bu Eun-seol's eyes gleamed with vitality and curiosity.
Grasping the principles of martial arts amid combat was the essence of Langya Pavilion's martial arts—and his own specialty.
'I thought it might be a trap set by the Demonic Heavenly Emperor using the Mad Doctor.'
Bu Eun-seol exhaled softly as he dodged the iron fragments.
'It seems this really is the Demonic Heavenly Emperor's Secret Vault.'
—Perhaps this letter was a trap laid by the Demonic Heavenly Emperor, one that accounted for even the Mad Doctor's lingering resentment.
A man like the Demonic Heavenly Emperor would never have failed to discern the hatred and grudges festering within the Mad Doctor.
And when he realized that each floor was guarded by—
Only a single gatekeeper, that suspicion seemed to solidify into reality.
Had the Demonic Heavenly Emperor truly intended to defend this place with his life, he wouldn't have stationed just one gatekeeper per floor.
'This is the real Secret Vault of the Demonic Heavenly Emperor.'
But the moment the man carrying the iron mass began his assault—
Bu Eun-seol knew this vault was genuine.
'Rather than thousands or tens of thousands of troops guarding it, a single person dominating this space is far more formidable.'
The reason only one gatekeeper was placed on each floor was that a single master controlling the space itself was far more perfect than deploying multiple experts.
'They've completely linked the gatekeepers to the tower's space.'
Thwip! Thwip!
Even as he thought this, the iron fragments continued grazing his body.
"He controls the space, and the rounded iron plates function more like fixed artillery...."
Like an earthbound spirit, the man dominated the space, perfectly dictating Bu Eun-seol's movements.
Thud.
Landing back on the ground, Bu Eun-seol looked down at the prone figure and sighed.
"Hall Master Sado. In the end, you see everyone as expendable, don't you?"
Just like the man on the first floor—
This one before him had clearly sacrificed his entire life force to achieve this result.
Thwip! Thwip! Thwip!
Before he knew it, all the iron plates on the man's back hurtled toward Bu Eun-seol.
They were not weapons meant to slash or cut—but more like weights that defined the parameters of space itself.
Because all concepts—distance, direction, speed—were under the man's absolute control.
No matter how he moved, the iron mass would strike him.
Thwip! Drip...
Wounds continued to multiply across Bu Eun-seol's body.
No evasive maneuver held meaning.
Once an attack was initiated, the outcome was as good as decided.
Kwa-woooong!
The dozens of iron plates moved like a swarm of living wasps, engulfing his body in an instant.
Clang!
With a deafening metallic sound, Bu Eun-seol was encased as if trapped inside a metal coffin.
The man had unleashed a fatal strike—one from which there was absolutely no escape.
Clang.
But then, something astonishing occurred.
The chunks of metal that had enveloped Bu Eun-seol's body began falling to the ground, one by one.
"......!"
The man sprawled on the floor widened his eyes in disbelief.
Clang, clang.
With each piece of metal that fell away, Bu Eun-seol's figure gradually became visible again.
Yet his irises and hair had turned pale and faint, as if drained of color—just as they had when he deceived the Buddhist Venerable during the Four Gates Battle. He had compressed the Domain of World and Realm Annihilation to its extreme, wrapping it around his own body.
"This way, I am no longer within the space you control."
Bu Eun-seol spoke in a low voice, as if answering the man's unspoken question.
"Space is akin to the natural laws—something no human can truly dominate."
The martial realm of Void-Breaking did not merely erase force—it sought to return all things to their natural state.
The man had dominated space.
But Bu Eun-seol had reached a higher martial realm—Void-Breaking—one that allowed him to grasp concepts beyond mere spatial control.
By cloaking himself in that power, he had excluded himself from the man's domain, becoming an imperceptible existence.
And so, the metal could no longer harm him.
Nod.
The man, having heard Bu Eun-seol's explanation, nodded as if he had understood everything—
Thud.
—then collapsed, his expression free of regret, and breathed his last.
"So even the Demonic Heavenly Emperor pondered the principles of Void-Breaking..."
By embedding the gatekeeper into the tower itself, he had devised a way to dominate space and block intruders.
The Demonic Heavenly Emperor must have contemplated a realm akin to Void-Breaking—
And had recreated it in his own way, crafting a flawless method to eliminate trespassers.
Sssshhh—
But the moment the man fully expired—
The endlessly vast Grand Hall suddenly transformed, its floor now etched with countless lines like a chessboard,
And towering stone statues stood erected throughout the space.
"I see."
The reason the man had been able to perfectly control the interior space—
Was because he had deployed a mysterious Formation Study, densely arranging the stone statues.
"Now, I can finally unravel the secret."
The Demonic Heavenly Emperor had sacrificed his subordinates—
To construct an impregnable defense system.
But Bu Eun-seol could breach it all... meaning he would surely uncover the truth hidden here.
As he ascended to the third floor and stepped inside—
Clank.
The interior became a completely sealed space.
And there—an assassin, undetectable by presence, once again dominated the inner domain.
'Impressive.'
Even with the heightened senses of the Beast Path, Bu Eun-seol could only confirm the assassin's existence—not their precise location.
In such cases, the usual solution was to counterattack the moment the enemy revealed themselves to strike—
Splurt!
Yet even as blood sprayed from his shoulder, Bu Eun-seol failed to detect the assassin's presence.
Fsssh...
Fortunately, the wound on his shoulder closed almost instantly.
Ever since attaining Void-Breaking—
Minor injuries healed naturally.
'No presence at all, even when attacking...'
The space was sealed, and a ghostly assassin, devoid of any detectable presence, rained down relentless attacks.
As long as a human body existed within space, complete disappearance was impossible—yet the gatekeeper guarding this third floor had achieved precisely that.
'Even if I unleash Harmonization indiscriminately, there's too much space to evade—it wouldn't land.'
After a brief moment of contemplation, Bu Eun-seol stood perfectly still.
'Spreading Extrasensory Perception to its limit might work... but the tower's interior is too vast.'
Slash! Slash!
Meanwhile, the attacks continued unabated, wounds healing only to be reopened again and again.
Only when a fatal strike came did he tilt his head or twist his body to evade.
He was buying time—to decipher the assassin's methods and find a way to sever their lifeline.
'An assassination technique utilizing the mysteries of wind...'
At last, Bu Eun-seol's eyes narrowed as he grasped the method of the third floor's guardian.
Long ago, he had faced a formidable foe—Wind Person—who could perfectly suppress killing intent, breath, and even the fluctuations of Internal Energy.
'The answer lies in Wind & Cloud Divine Qi.'
The assassin wielded the mysteries of wind.
But what if Bu Eun-seol flooded the space with his own senses using Wind & Cloud Divine Qi—a force of a higher order?
He could instantly locate and eliminate the hidden assassin.
'However...'
He hesitated.
After reaching Void-Breaking, he had avoided using the Three Divine Powers whenever possible.
No matter how natural the power—
It was not martial arts. And for a human to wield it felt... wrong.
Slash!
Meanwhile, the assassin's attacks continued unabated, striking Bu Eun-seol's body relentlessly.
But then—as he watched the blood trickling from his wounds—a lightning-like realization flashed through his mind.
'Instead of Wind & Cloud Divine Qi, I can integrate the martial mysteries of the Wind God Palace.'
The martial arts of the Wind God Palace—
Were not limited to merely harnessing Wind & Cloud Divine Qi. They delved deeply into the mysteries of flow.
What if he merged the principles of Wind & Cloud Divine Qi with the Void-Breaking Mind's Eye of the Beast Path and expanded them?
Through the martial arts he pursued—
He could fill the space with his senses without disrupting nature's harmony.
'Formless yet present, unseen yet existing.'
As he fused the Wind God Palace's martial arts with the Beast Path—
Huuuuum...
The sensory reach of Void-Breaking Mind's Eye expanded infinitely, and at last, he began perceiving what was once imperceptible.
The assassin's slightest movements, the preparation of an attack—the pressure of air, the reflection of sound, the minute vibrations transmitted through them...
Clank.
Bu Eun-seol planted the Ink Soul Sword vertically before him and closed his eyes.
Flash!
A crimson streak split the air—
Thud.
A bleeding figure plummeted from the void to the floor.
He had precisely pinpointed the assassin hiding at the edge of the Grand Hall's ceiling and severed their head with the Transcendent Meteor Chasing Moon Form.
Step. Step.
He ascended to the fourth floor once more.
The only sound breaking the suffocating silence was his own footsteps.
After passing through the seemingly endless spiral staircase, he finally arrived at the fourth floor.
There, nothing but stifling silence lingered.
No gatekeepers standing guard, no masters radiating killing intent, no assassins lying in wait.
Creak.
When he pushed open the door, what greeted him was an eerily pale blue light.
Beneath the cold radiance of the colossal Night Shining Pearls embedded in the ceiling, an unbelievable sight unfolded before him.
"...What in the world is all this?"
A low sigh escaped Bu Eun-seol's lips.
Filling the vast, endless expanse of the Grand Hall were hundreds—no, thousands—of stone statues.
Each one bore the likeness of a human, carved with such horrifying precision that it sent chills down his spine.
Every tendon, every fold of clothing was so lifelike that they seemed ready to gasp for breath and lunge at him any moment.
But the grotesqueness wasn't solely due to their craftsmanship.
Wasn't it that every single statue's expression and posture was frozen in extreme agony, fury, or resignation?
A warrior vomiting blood as he collapsed.
A woman's face twisted in the throes of poison.
An old man screaming as his limbs were shattered.
Gazing upon them was like looking at a gallery of souls sculpted in the throes of hellish torment.
Bu Eun-seol wandered through the forest of statues as if entranced.
With each cold stone figure he passed, the resentment trapped within seemed to pierce his skin like needles.
"...!"
Then, his gaze locked onto one figure in particular.
Amidst the countless faces of suffering, he spotted a familiar visage.
A man in physician's robes, kneeling on the ground.
His hands clutched his head as he screamed soundlessly toward the heavens.
Even though his face was carved from stone, the despair etched into his expression felt like it could gouge out the heart of any who saw it.
Self-loathing for failing to save a loved one, curses at his own incompetence, and bone-deep sorrow.
"...No way."
An image flickered through Bu Eun-seol's mind—
The Mad Doctor, said to have possessed the greatest medical skills in the world, yet who had gone mad after failing to save the woman he loved.
This was the moment of his breakdown, preserved in stone—the instant he had shed tears of blood and howled in despair.
"Why would something like this exist?"
Bu Eun-seol furrowed his brow.
The Demonic Heavenly Emperor was known for his eccentric cruelty, for taking pleasure in others' suffering.
Had he really immortalized the Mad Doctor's torment in a statue just to savor it?
Wait.
After staring at the statue for a long moment, Bu Eun-seol's eyes narrowed.
Something felt off—this was no mere work of art.
Carefully, he reached out and brushed his fingers against the screaming statue.
Beyond the cold touch of stone, he sensed a faint but unmistakable vibration—something unnatural.
A strange sensation, as if the stone were hollow inside... or perhaps filled to the brim with something else.
Bu Eun-seol's gaze sharpened.
CRASH—!
With a deafening roar, the solid statue shattered into countless fragments, a thick cloud of dust billowing upward like mist.
Swish.
He waved his hand to clear the debris.
And there, amidst the shattered remains of the statue, something slowly revealed itself.
"...This is—"
An ancient book lay nestled between the broken stone.
His hands trembling, Bu Eun-seol picked it up and flipped open the cover—then froze as if struck by lightning.
It was the legendary medical text of the Saint Physician, said to contain a cure for the Forbidden Divine Pulse—the worst of all Severed Meridian curses, known as "Heaven's Condemnation."
But wasn't this the very book the Demonic Heavenly Emperor had supposedly fabricated to deceive and manipulate the Mad Doctor? A text that never truly existed?
Then why was it here?
"...No way."
Bu Eun-seol's gaze darted frantically to the other statues nearby.
The warrior coughing blood. The woman poisoned.
Like a man possessed, he lunged forward, fists flying.
BANG! CRASH! KABOOM!
One by one, the statues crumbled beneath his blows—and from within each, unbelievable treasures spilled forth.
A Martial Arts Manual detailing peerless sword techniques. A Spirit Medicine that could make one impervious to all poisons. Legendary weapons of myth.
Standing amidst the swirling dust, Bu Eun-seol panted heavily as he stared down at the scattered artifacts.
Every single treasure was born from despair.
Just as the Mad Doctor's scream had concealed a medical text.
The warrior's defeat had hidden an unparalleled sword technique.
The poisoned woman's agony had contained the antidote.
'Red Sea Ancient Whale, Tiger-Seizing Eagle Claw, Moth-Flying Sword Ghost...'
Only then did the fog in his mind clear, revealing a horrifying truth.
Every one of them—whether family or lover—
Had one thing in common: someone they had loved with all their being.
"...The Demonic Heavenly Emperor—"
Bu Eun-seol's voice trembled thinly.
"—is advancing people through loss. Through the despair of losing those they love."
There were many ways for a person to break past their limits and awaken.
Among them, soul-crushing defeat, gnawing grief, and the kind of despair that leaves no room for retreat—
Could force one to transcend.
And the pinnacle of such despair?
Was the death of someone bound to them by the deepest ties of love.
The sheer agony and rage of that loss could drive a person to madness in an instant—that was no exaggeration.
"These grotesque statues aren't mere decorations..."
Bu Eun-seol clenched his fists tightly.
These stone statues here—
They depicted people he had awakened after they lost loved ones.
Carved in the likeness of those who had suffered through cruel despair and crushing defeat, awakened by their agony.