Chapter 169
Bu Eun-seol looked at Pung Yeo-ryang, whose eyes had turned furious, and answered indifferently.
"I made it because it was necessary."
"Because it was necessary?"
"Won't there come a day when it'll be needed?"
"Are you mocking this old man right now?"
Black fog began to rise thickly from Pung Yeo-ryang's entire body.
Though he had reached the realm of the Ultimate Demon, his uncontrollable rage flared up, merging his Black Demon True Qi with killing intent.
"If you spout nonsense one more time, I'll smash your skull right now."
Bu Eun-seol let out a deep sigh and, instead of answering, picked up a saw and hammer and began shaping the wood.
Swish. Scrape.
With each delicate touch of his hands, the form of the wood gradually changed.
The way uniformly thick planks were created with every movement was almost like watching magic.
Tap, tap, tap.
As he assembled the split pieces of wood, a curved coffin slowly took shape.
His expression, utterly serious as he worked, was no different from that of a seasoned carpenter who had spent a lifetime crafting coffins.
"This is..."
Hyeok Gong-baek, who had been silently watching the coffin-making, narrowed his eyes.
He had sensed something in Bu Eun-seol's gaze and hands.
"You, are you just going to stand there and let him be?"
Raising a hand to stop Pung Yeo-ryang, Hyeok Gong-baek spoke in a low voice.
"Wait a moment."
For a brief while, Hyeok Gong-baek remained seated, observing Bu Eun-seol intently.
'So that's how it is.'
Bu Eun-seol wasn't just casually making a coffin.
He was crafting it meticulously, painstakingly—pouring his entire being into the task.
"This coffin..."
Taking a deep breath, Hyeok Gong-baek approached Bu Eun-seol and spoke quietly.
"...It doesn't seem like it's meant for me."
Hyeok Gong-baek stood nearly as tall as Bu Eun-seol, who was well over six feet.
But Bu Eun-seol, without even sparing him a glance, continued shaping the wood as he answered flatly.
"I'll make a coffin over six feet separately later."
"I see. Understood."
Nodding in satisfaction, Hyeok Gong-baek turned and walked back to Pung Yeo-ryang.
"Let's go back now."
"What?"
Pung Yeo-ryang pointed at Bu Eun-seol, as if unable to comprehend.
"You... you're just going to stand by after seeing what he's doing?"
"Can't you sense it?"
"What do you mean, sense it?"
Hyeok Gong-baek wore a bitter expression as he replied.
"Then shut your mouth and watch that boy craft the coffin for just one time it takes to eat a meal. You'll understand then."
"What?"
"I'll be heading back first."
Then, warmly, he added to Bu Eun-seol.
"Take care."
Too absorbed in his work to even respond, Bu Eun-seol continued shaping the wood without pause.
Watching him, Hyeok Gong-baek allowed a faint smile to cross his lips before turning away without hesitation.
Pung Yeo-ryang could only stare blankly at his retreating back, utterly dumbfounded.
Once again, rumors about Bu Eun-seol began to spread through Peach Garden Village.
—That young man from Langya Pavilion. I heard he worked as an undertaker before entering the martial world.
—Not only can he craft coffins properly, but they say his mortuary skills are astonishing too?
These rumors stemmed from Pung Yeo-ryang, who had been frequenting Bu Eun-seol's thatched cottage.
—That kid. He understands the honor of the dead.
After watching Bu Eun-seol craft the coffin, even Pung Yeo-ryang had finally realized.
These were men who had once shaken the world but were now merely old men living in quiet retirement.
They spent their days reminiscing about the past, nothing more.
They had not reached a level worthy of the Demon Hall's Elders' Hall, nor did they have children or relatives capable of carrying on their legacy.
Truthfully, even if young attendants were to swarm around them, they were at an age where such attention would only be bothersome.
—He's making a promise. That even after we die, he won't turn his back on us.
The Demonic Path does not honor the dead.
As always, once they drew their last breath, they would be coldly discarded in some nameless wild mountain.
No one in this world would remember them—those who had strived for the sake of the Demonic Martial World.
Of course, death meant the end of everything... but in the twilight of life, it was only natural to yearn for someone to remember and cherish their memory.
—...And he said he would pass down our lives to future generations.
But Bu Eun-seol was different.
Since he was crafting the coffin himself, he would surely make a memorial tablet as well. And by the time their breaths ceased, he would bury them in a sunny place, honoring their achievements.
Bu Eun-seol wasn't crafting coffins to mock the demonic martial artists—he was remembering their lives and showing his resolve to take responsibility for them.
Not with words, but with actions.
As this truth spread, the demonic martial artists residing in the Heaven-Severing Earth-Ending Sanctuary began to reveal their innermost thoughts candidly.
—Well, how much longer do we really have to live anyway?
—We came here because we couldn't die... but in truth, wasn't there only one thing we wanted?
The life of a martial artist, forgotten after death.
But now, there was someone who would honor them—and pass it on to future generations.
A man named Bu Eun-seol, who poured his entire being into crafting each coffin, one by one.
Finally understanding everything, the demonic martial artists of Peach Garden Village felt their rage subside.
Not only that, but some even began visiting Bu Eun-seol's thatched cottage, where he crafted their coffins, to strike up conversations with him.
"Are you always this quiet?"
At the thatched cottage nestled in the mountain slopes of Peach Blossom Paradise, the front yard.
The Ghost Whip Demon Elder, who had been squatting and watching Bu Eun-seol craft a coffin, finally clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction.
"Your hands are working, but your mouth isn't, eh?"
Yet Bu Eun-seol's lips remained tightly sealed.
"Have you eaten?"
Scritch-scratch.
"How's the martial world these days? No youngsters ever come here to share news, you see."
Shhk-shhk.
"Tch! Can't you at least keep this old man company?"
This was always how it went.
Though the demons of Peach Blossom Paradise lined up to visit the thatched cottage, Bu Eun-seol rarely spoke.
Even if they sat there stubbornly for hours, getting even one or two words out of him was considered a stroke of luck for the day.
"Hm? Wait—isn't that coffin for the Golden-Faced Blood Fiend, Yi Gyeom?"
The Ghost Whip Demon Elder blinked in surprise.
The width of the coffin Bu Eun-seol was currently making was at least three times that of an ordinary one.
And in all of Peach Blossom Paradise, the only person with a frame that massive was the Golden-Faced Blood Fiend, Yi Gyeom.
"Make him a normal coffin instead. This one won't suit him."
"..."
"That Yi Gyeom fellow—sure, he's got a burly physique now, but that's only because of the Black Poison Demon Art."
Ssshhhk—
At that, Bu Eun-seol's hands, which had been ceaselessly carving wood, paused.
"If the Black Poison Demon Art is broken, his physique will shrink?"
When Bu Eun-seol finally responded, the Ghost Whip Demon Elder's mouth fell open.
"You didn't know? The Black Poison Demon Art isn't a physical conditioning martial art—it alters muscles and body shape through true qi, just like Arhat Steel Qi."
"I see. I wasn't aware."
But that was the end of it.
Bu Eun-seol fell silent again, as mute as ever.
"Ah, now that I think of it, the martial art of that Thousand-Hand Poison Lord fellow was..."
And just like that, Bu Eun-seol responded again.
"The Thousand-Hand Blood Poison Art, you mean?"
"Hm? Yeah, that one."
Wait a minute. This kid...
Only then did the Ghost Whip Demon Elder seem to realize something, greasing his tongue with enthusiasm.
He began chattering away, eagerly spilling stories no one had even asked for.
"Say, aren't you curious about the first technique of my Ghostly Blood Shadow Whip?"
From that day onward,
Peach Blossom Paradise once again buzzed with talk about Bu Eun-seol.
—That block of wood? Turns out he's obsessed with martial arts talk!
—Could it be he wants to learn techniques?
—No, no. He just loves hearing about martial arts in general.
Bu Eun-seol, who had remained silent no matter what anyone said to him.
But then, by chance, the Ghost Whip Demon Elder had rambled on about martial arts.
And suddenly, that wooden block of a man had sparkled like a grandson listening to his grandfather's old tales.
—I could chat with that eccentric all day long! Heh-heh!
Old men with nothing better to do loved nothing more than spinning tales.
Once word spread, the demons began visiting Bu Eun-seol whenever they were bored, regaling him with martial arts stories.
"You know about this? Back when I fought that so-called 'Divine Pipa Sword,' I learned something..."
The Yin Mountain Demon Owl meticulously explained the opening moves of the Divine Pipa Sword's techniques.
"In my day, whenever we ran into righteous faction bastards, we'd start with an internal energy clash first. You know how to properly push a wine cup, right?"
The Raging Flame Great Fiend rambled on about the secret of infusing Searing Yang Qi into Void Object Retrieval.
And that wasn't all.
"In my youth, my epithet was 'Flying Shadow Ten Thousand Li.' I stole martial arts manuals whenever I got the chance. Once, when I went to Mount Hua, beneath the waterfall..."
The old men didn't just boast of their heroic exploits—they even spilled secrets they should have taken to their graves.
"You know about that old hag they used to call 'Silk Flower Lady,' right? Truth is, she was kicked out of Sword Pavilion because..."
Not only that, they began divulging untold histories of the martial world.
And when they finally ran out of things to say, they started reciting martial principles or insights they'd gained from wandering the murim.
"Back when I killed that bastard called the Flawless Sword, I improvised the opening move of my 'Blood-Hand Blade Thread' on the spot! It's a bit different from the usual demonic fan techniques..."
As the Heaven-Thundering Blood Hand prattled on while perched on a wooden chair in the cottage,
Shhk.
Bu Eun-seol, who had been hammering, stopped.
"Could I see it?"
"Huh? Oh—uh, sure?"
The Heaven-Thundering Blood Hand sprang up excitedly.
"Wait just a moment. I left my fan back at my place."
Bu Eun-seol's thatched cottage had become as lively as a marketplace.
The idle old men even began demonstrating their martial arts in his front yard while he crafted coffins.
'It's truly a treasure trove of martial knowledge.'
Watching the demons who streamed endlessly into his cottage, Bu Eun-seol allowed a faint smile to touch his lips.
Though they seemed to be doing nothing but rambling, their words were steeped in the insights and experiences of their lives.
Bu Eun-seol was indirectly absorbing the lifetime of martial comprehension these demons had accumulated—right here in his thatched cottage.
'But I still haven't heard the truly important part.'
The Illusion Demon, Hyeok Gong-baek.
A Great Demon who earned the epithet "Illusion Demon" through martial arts so fantastical and overwhelming they defied belief.
Bu Eun-seol had hoped to at least indirectly experience the martial prowess of such a figure.
But even the most skilled demons here, those who prided themselves on their abilities, had never dared to cross hands with Hyeok Gong-baek or witness his techniques firsthand.
"You there, you never seem to eat a proper meal."
While Cheon Gwang-hyeolsu had gone to fetch his fan, the Red Mountain Hidden Demon and the One-Cloud Ghost Demon entered the thatched cottage, clicking their tongues in amusement.
"What on earth have you been living on?"
"Just chestnuts and pine nuts I gather from the mountain."
"Raw? You eat them raw?"
"Too lazy even to eat."
The Red Mountain Hidden Demon tsked.
"Tsk, tsk. No appetite, eh? At your age, eating like that will ruin your health."
Then, as if struck by a sudden thought, he clapped his hands together.
"Nothing whets the appetite like liquor! I've got some fine brew—care for a drink?"
"Liquor?"
Even though the topic wasn't martial arts, Bu Eun-seol reacted immediately. The Red Mountain Hidden Demon's mouth stretched into a wide grin.
"Hahaha! What else do you think us old folks do when we gather? Pick berries and brew liquor, that's what!"
The Red Mountain Hidden Demon returned from his quarters, panting slightly, carrying a jar that exuded a rich, intoxicating aroma.
Bu Eun-seol stepped inside the cottage briefly before reemerging with a small paper bundle in hand.
"What's that?"
"Dried meat the Azure Demon Ghost Sword elder gave me earlier. It should pair well with the liquor."
—This brusque kid is treating us to dried meat?!
At Bu Eun-seol's words, the Red Mountain Hidden Demon and the One-Cloud Ghost Demon exchanged glances and burst into laughter.
For a long while, they would have something to boast about to the other demons in Peach Blossom Paradise.
Mountain River Study
The residence of the Illusion Demon, Hyeok Gong-baek, the master of Heaven-Severing, Earth-Destroying.
A teacup sat on the table, steam curling lazily from its surface.
Bu Eun-seol, staring down at the cup, felt a faint tension in the air.
'Surely he's not going to ask me about the taste again...'
Just as Bu Eun-seol was lost in that absurd thought, the door opened, and an elderly man with a neatly groomed white beard stepped inside.
It was none other than the master of Heaven-Severing, Earth-Destroying—the Illusion Demon, Hyeok Gong-baek.
"Impressive."
Seating himself, Hyeok Gong-baek smiled warmly at Bu Eun-seol.
"You've captured the hearts of every demon in this sanctuary without spending a single coin. Hahaha!"
The benevolent-looking elder let out a hearty laugh, and for a moment, Bu Eun-seol's eyes glazed over with nostalgia.
He was reminded of Bu Jan-yang, the grandfather who had always cherished him.
"I heard that before entering the Ten Demonic Heirs, you really worked as an undertaker. Is that true?"
"Yes."
"That explains the ingenious idea."
Hyeok Gong-baek sighed deeply before continuing.
"Truthfully, the people here don't deserve such treatment."
He took a sip of tea before speaking again.
"Those who reside here are the very pillars who built the Demon Hall and the Demonic Path. Yet, simply because they've grown old and infirm, they're cast aside like worn-out tools and left to rot in this place."
They were warriors who had fought tooth and nail for the Demonic Path.
Though injuries had left their bodies broken, their internal power diminished...
Though they could no longer wield the majesty of their prime, the mere fact that they survived those brutal battles should have earned them respect.
Clink.
Setting down his teacup, Hyeok Gong-baek continued.
"But the Demon Hall never spared them a glance—until suddenly, when the time came to choose a successor, they started paying attention."
"..."
"They know this all too well. That's why the people here recoil at the sight of a successor candidate."
"I apologize."
Bu Eun-seol felt an inexplicable guilt.
After all, he too was just another successor candidate who had come to secure the power of Heaven-Severing, Earth-Destroying.
"No need for apologies. This is a festering wound left by the generations before us."
After another sigh, he went on.
"Which faction in the Demonic Path bothers to care for the old and infirm? In a way, it's only because the Demon Hall exists as a united front that this place can even be maintained."
"To call them merely 'old and infirm' would be a grave understatement. They are still formidable."
"To your eyes, they may seem like Great Demons who've reached the Extreme Demon Realm. But to the true masters of our world, they are nothing more than wounded warriors."
Hyeok Gong-baek smiled bitterly.
"From their perspective, their internal power has waned drastically, their bodies no longer what they once were. Had they remained whole, they would have sat in the Elders' Council of the Demon Hall... But as it stands, all they feel is self-loathing for being stuck here."
He shook his head.
"Do you know why I'm telling you all this?"
Without waiting for an answer, he pressed on.
"If you truly intend to become the successor of the Demon Hall, you must understand the reality of this place."
His bitter smile faded, replaced by a calm expression.
"Regardless, you've done something remarkable. You've confronted and resolved the very fear and suffering that haunted the demons here. Because they believe you will honor the dead, they can finally rest easy."
Hyeok Gong-baek nodded, his smile warm and sincere.
"For that... I am truly grateful."
"Thank you."
"Now then. Since you've fulfilled the first condition, I shall now give you the second."
His gaze sharpened, his expression solemn and grave.
"Awaken my grandson for me."