Chapter 355
Bu Eun-seol was making his way down from Great Sword Mountain.
He wasn't employing Lightness Skill—instead, he moved step by step, unhurriedly.
Moreover, as if drawing up an abundance of true qi, faint shockwaves of energy rose like mist across his entire body.
It was as though he were fusing flesh and spirit in preparation for imminent battle, elevating his senses to their peak.
Upon descending the peak and reaching the broad midslopes—
Thud.
He abruptly halted.
Surveying the razor-sharp energies encircling him, he spoke:
"Show yourself."
"Hoh."
A dry exclamation shook the heavens.
Simultaneously, from behind a massive boulder opposite him, a small shadow revealed itself—Elder Nun Neung-in.
"Judging by your expression, it seems you didn't just notice me moments ago from the rooftop... You knew from the very beginning, didn't you?"
Elder Nun Neung-in had been hiding on the rooftop of the medicinal stone garden where A-yeon and Ok Yu-ha were, eavesdropping on their entire conversation.
Bu Eun-seol had known this yet feigned ignorance.
Undoing What One Tied. The one who tangled the thread must be the one to unravel it.
"Indeed."
"How did you know?"
"Since you intend to kill me anyway, surely you wouldn't mind passing on your Internal Energy Method as well?"
Bu Eun-seol spoke calmly.
"Given that you're acting as the Pavilion Lord... you must also be controlling the Sword Pavilion's forces."
"Oh? And how did you deduce that?"
Elder Nun Neung-in wore an enigmatic smile.
"I haven't done anything particularly suspicious, have I?"
"Even if the position of Pavilion Lord is vacant, how could an elder unilaterally decide to pass on the sect's teachings to an outsider?"
Transmitting secret techniques to outsiders is strictly forbidden in any martial sect.
Yet, under the pretext of saving A-yeon, Elder Nun Neung-in had unhesitatingly imparted to him the complete essence of the Honey Origin Heart Technique.
This implied that she held the authority of the vacant Sword Pavilion Lord.
"That was an unavoidable decision."
Elder Nun Neung-in nodded as if conceding.
"Not just This Humble Nun—anyone would have made the same choice. If even that child were to be lost, our sect would face irreversible consequences."
"Still, I find it incomprehensible."
Bu Eun-seol tilted his head in puzzlement.
"Is repaying kindness with enmity part of the Sword Pavilion's doctrine? I devoted myself wholeheartedly to curing her, so why do you seek my death?"
At this, Elder Nun Neung-in's expression twisted in anguish.
"The previous successor also fell ill after succumbing to an inner demon because of a man... How could we allow the next successor to meet the same fate?"
"The previous successor...?"
Bu Eun-seol caught the implication.
"Then, not only the former Sword Empress, Director Ok, but all of the Sword Pavilion's successors... must possess the Yang Radiance Body."
A seemingly abrupt statement.
Yet Elder Nun Neung-in's eyes flashed with unmistakable surprise.
"How did you know that?"
"The Sword Pavilion's Mystic Art is remarkable, but its demands are excessively greedy."
"Greedy?"
"To master Mystic Art, one must simultaneously open both the lower and upper dantians... So you sought women who, despite their gender, carried yang energy to groom as successors, didn't you?"
Elder Nun Neung-in nodded, seemingly impressed by Bu Eun-seol's deduction.
"Correct. To achieve Great Completion in our sect's Heart Technique, one must possess the Yang Radiance Body."
"So that was the cause."
"The cause?"
"Women with the Yang Radiance Body, harboring scorching yang energy within them, naturally have far more intense emotions and passionate temperaments than ordinary women."
Bu Eun-seol clicked his tongue and shook his head.
"And yet you impart to them a meditation technique meant to pacify the mind? Isn't that just inviting disaster?"
"It was precisely because of that fiery, impassioned nature that our sect nearly lost its successor."
Elder Nun Neung-in, who had seemed on the verge of an outburst, readily conceded.
"Twice, no less."
"Twice?"
As Bu Eun-seol tilted his head in confusion, Elder Nun Neung-in's gaze darkened with resentment.
"Because of you, history is repeating itself."
"What do you mean?"
"Are you pretending not to know A-yeon's condition?"
"I'm not pretending—I'm stating facts. I have no connection to her whatsoever."
"No connection?"
Elder Nun Neung-in scoffed.
"No connection, yet she's lost in longing, unable to regain her senses, calling your name in her sleep every night—is that what you're saying?"
"Her?"
Bu Eun-seol couldn't hide his disbelief.
Of all people, A-yeon had never once so much as glanced his way.
And yet she harbored such deep affection for him that she called out his name in her dreams?
"Like first love, perhaps."
The fever of first love visits everyone at least once.
Especially in childhood, one can fall in love with just a single aspect of someone's appearance or behavior.
Bu Eun-seol thought that A-yeon's heart was as pure as snow—that the foolish fever of first love had simply begun late for her.
"Well, fine."
Bu Eun-seol shrugged his shoulders.
"So you're saying she tried to kill me over something so trivial?"
"Something so trivial?!"
Neung-in Elder Nun's eyes flashed sharply as she shouted.
"From the very beginning, that Seven Fingers Demonic Blade bastard should have been killed the moment he set foot in our sect. Had we done so, Yu-ha would never have ended up like this!"
It was a shocking revelation.
The Seven Fingers Demonic Blade had actually come to the Sword Pavilion? Why had such a fact remained unknown?
"You're saying he came to the Sword Pavilion?"
As Bu Eun-seol furrowed his brow, Neung-in Elder Nun bit her lip.
"Yu-ha... He came to see her, saying she must have fallen ill in the heart."
Her pupils trembled faintly, as if recalling that moment.
"He arrived covered in blood, grievously wounded."
Bu Eun-seol's eyes widened.
The Seven Fingers Demonic Blade had anticipated that Ok Yu-ha would suffer a sickness of the heart due to the massacre of the Nine Great Elders... and had secretly come to the Sword Pavilion to free her from it.
"But why did he just leave like that?"
Neung-in Elder Nun wore a self-assured expression.
"He had no choice but to leave. The Sword Pavilion's greatest combat force—the Void Extinction Martial Formation—was right before his eyes."
As it turned out, Neung-in Elder Nun had obstructed the meeting between the Seven Fingers Demonic Blade and Ok Yu-ha, and had kept it hidden all this time.
"He said he didn't want to kill our sect's disciples, so in the end, he turned back."
Neung-in Elder Nun spoke with a sharp expression.
"But this humble nun made a grave mistake."
"What mistake?"
"I should not have let him leave so easily."
A chilling killing intent radiated from Neung-in Elder Nun's eyes.
"If we had activated the Void Extinction Martial Formation, we could have slain the Seven Fingers Demonic Blade in an instant. But because of misplaced mercy, Yu-ha ended up suffering for the rest of her life."
"And you're saying that's the Seven Fingers Demonic Blade's fault?"
"Had we killed him, Yu-ha would have cleanly severed her attachment. She wouldn't have fallen into such deep torment of the heart, would she?"
Neung-in Elder Nun clenched her teeth so hard they nearly shattered.
"But instead, she clung to the hope that he would return someday... and waited for him her entire life."
So that's why she never used her Dharma name.
Though she had been the Sword Pavilion's successor, Ok Yu-ha had never used her monastic name, as if she had returned to secular life.
She had waited her whole life for the Seven Fingers Demonic Blade—even as she hated him.
"Because of that vile Seven Fingers Demonic Blade, our sect lost its successor and was forced into decades of de facto seclusion—if not in name, then in practice."
"And now, another seed of the Demonic Path is leading our next successor astray. How can I stand by and watch?"
From Neung-in Elder Nun's perspective, the Sword Pavilion's successor had her life ruined because the Seven Fingers Demonic Blade stole her heart.
And now, the next successor, A-yeon, had fallen into an inner demon because of Bu Eun-seol... There was no way she could let this slide.
"So. You're determined to kill me, is that it?"
"Indeed."
Neung-in Elder Nun spoke with unwavering resolve.
"This humble nun has endured all these years under the pretense of being an elder for one reason alone—to ensure such a thing never happens again, and to secure a proper successor."
She sighed as she gazed at the distant sky.
"The sins of the past are repeating themselves. How can I simply stand by and watch?"
"And you think killing me will solve everything?"
"Hmph. At the very least, if the object of her affections is gone, she won't suffer a sickness of the heart or be consumed by regret for the rest of her life."
"Elder Nun."
Bu Eun-seol's voice carried not anger, but lament.
In a way, he understood Neung-in Elder Nun's anguish and resentment.
For someone who had lived solely for the sake of the Sword Pavilion, watching a successor ruin her life over a man... was simply unacceptable.
"Loving someone is a natural thing. How can you forcibly suppress it?"
"Such words only hold weight in the secular world. How can one remain in the Mystic Path while harboring carnal desires?"
"The Sword Pavilion's Mystic Art is too greedy. Was it truly necessary to choose a successor with a Yang Radiance Body—a constitution inherently prone to violent mental imagery?"
The Sword Pavilion had chosen a woman with a Yang Radiance Body as its successor for the sake of achieving Great Completion in Mystic Art.
"But was there truly a need to appoint someone with a Yang Radiance Body—so ill-suited to the Mystic Path—as your successor?"
These women possessed volatile emotions, their dispositions inclined toward passionate, unreserved expression in all matters.
"The Sword Pavilion's techniques are second to none among martial sects. Was it truly necessary to enthrone a woman with a Yang Radiance Body as your successor just to perfect the Mystic Art?"
"What do you know to speak such nonsense?"
Elder Nun Neung-in's face twisted in fury as she shouted.
"Women's sects have always been swept away by the martial world's strong. Yet our pavilion has stood unshaken through the ages precisely because we wielded power formidable enough to endure."
Bu Eun-seol exhaled a sigh of resignation.
It was undeniable—women's sects had often served as stepping stones for greater factions.
Moreover, maintaining a sect required martial strength to match.
As an outsider, Bu Eun-seol had no right to condemn the Sword Pavilion's methods.
"So," he said, his gaze sweeping over the razor-sharp energy encircling him,
"you've resolved to provoke a full-scale war with the Demon Hall over this?"
"Hahaha."
Elder Nun Neung-in's laughter was a grating, scornful sound.
"Had you traveled the martial world openly as the Demon Hall's heir, of course we couldn't have dared."
Her blade-like eyes fixed on him.
"But you came under a different identity—to move undetected, evading the intelligence networks. If we dispose of you quietly here, who would ever know?"
Elder Nun Neung-in was no mere stubborn old woman blinded by arrogance.
She was a visionary leader, one who had flawlessly governed the Sword Pavilion in the absent Pavilion Lord's stead.
"Had we killed the Seven Fingers Demonic Blade from the start, none of this would have happened. This Humble Nun's greatest regret in life is failing to sever Yu-ha's worldly attachments by ending that man."
Bu Eun-seol fell silent.
He had understood, to some degree, the elder nun's anguish.
After all, two successors had succumbed to inner demons after falling for men of the Demonic Path, forcing her to fret over the next heir in her twilight years.
But to resort to slaughter just to prevent disciples from harboring worldly attachments?
In Bu Eun-seol's eyes, Elder Nun Neung-in was no Mystic Path disciple—she was a butcher wielding a slaughterer's blade.
"Quite the ambition," he said coldly, realizing there was no room for repentance left in her.
"You didn't spare the Seven Fingers Demonic Blade out of mercy—you simply lacked the confidence to kill him. Had you failed, the Sword Pavilion would have lost its finest disciples in an instant."
A frosty smile touched his lips.
"But an unripe heir of the Demon Hall? That, you'd dare strike down without hesitation."
"Insult me all you like. My mind is made up."
Elder Nun Neung-in's expression was unshakable.
"If this Humble Nun does not descend to hell, who will?"
Whoosh.
As she raised her hand—
Rustle—
Before anyone realized, over sixty disciples flooded the clearing, cutting off Bu Eun-seol's retreat.
"You know well this is no fair duel. We will crush you with overwhelming force—do not resent us for our ruthlessness."
"Repaying kindness with enmity is already the height of villainy, is it not?"
Bu Eun-seol's smile remained indifferent.
"Nothing could be more depraved."
The battle had already begun.
With words alone, Bu Eun-seol had struck at Elder Nun Neung-in's conscience, dealing another blow.
Even she, being human, shuddered faintly—as if stung by shame.
But just as she steeled herself and raised her hand to activate the Sword Formation—
Crunch. Crunch.
From behind a great tree a dozen paces away, footsteps sounded, and a pale figure emerged.
Ok Yu-ha.
She strode forward, stopping before Elder Nun Neung-in. Her eyes were hollow.
"He... came to our pavilion... for me?"
She had come ahead of A-yeon, buying time for the younger woman to deliberate.
Her plan had been to delay the conflict with excuses if fighting broke out.
But after overhearing Bu Eun-seol and Elder Nun Neung-in's exchange—how could she ignore that Bu Jan-yang had risked his life to come here... for her?
"Bu Jan-yang... he... for my sake—"
Ok Yu-ha staggered as if her soul had been ripped away, reeling from the shock.
"How... how!"
A wretched cry tore from her throat.
"How could you be so cruel?!"
Her voice was drenched in sorrow and despair, as if decades of suffering had erupted at once.
"Do you know how I waited for him all these years? Do you know how I longed for him my entire life?"
She burst into tears, her wails filled with anguish.
"How could you deceive me like this?!"
"Then—what of our Sword Pavilion? What becomes of it?!"
Neung-in Elder Nun also let out a piercing cry.
"You, who abandoned everything for a man—should I have told you he was a man of honor who kept his promise? Should I have spoken these words myself?!"
"Master—!"
"Our Sword Pavilion was once the foremost of the Righteous Faction! But because of you, its standing has fallen to the depths!"
Neung-in Elder Nun, too, roared in fury.
"After finally nurturing a successor who could restore our Sword Pavilion's glory—must we repeat the same tragedy as yours?!"
"This can't be... This can't be..."
A faint mist began to rise from Ok Yu-ha's body as she reeled from the shock.
At the same time, her once-smooth skin slowly began to wrinkle.
Her rage was causing the Green Bin Flower Moisture Great Method to unravel.
"He came for me... knowing I would become heartsick... drenched in blood as he climbed Mount Daegyeom..."
Before Ok Yu-ha's eyes flashed the image of a solitary swordsman, ascending the mountain alone, covered in wounds.
A powerful frame, lips pressed tightly together.
Eyes unshaken even if heaven and earth collapsed. And an aura of loneliness steeped in sorrow...
The figure of that peerless, solitary swordsman.
"How could you...?"
Just as the Green Bin Flower Moisture Great Method shattered completely, aging her face—
Swoosh.
A gentle Finger Wind pierced her acupoints.
Bu Eun-seol, standing behind her, had sealed Ok Yu-ha's pressure points.
"Why...?"
As Ok Yu-ha's consciousness faded, Bu Eun-seol carefully seated her against a rock and whispered,
"Elder Bu Jan-yang would not have wished for Ok Pavilion Master to destroy her Internal Power in fury."
If even the Green Bin Flower Moisture Great Method—her lifelong sacrifice—were to collapse, nothing would remain for her.
Bu Eun-seol had sealed her acupoints for her own sake.
Huuu...
Then, he channeled warm True Qi into her to soothe her spirit.
"Rest now, Pavilion Master."
"Bu... Jan-yang..."
Before Ok Yu-ha's fading vision appeared the face of the man she had dreamed of all these years.
Even as the world pointed fingers at him, he walked his own path silently, a lonely smile on his lips...
The swordsman who had given her bittersweet memories.
"I'm sorry..."
Plink.
A single clear teardrop rolled down Ok Yu-ha's cheek as she fell asleep.
Bu Eun-seol carefully leaned her against a tree stump so she wouldn't fall, then draped his outer robe over her.
"Neung-in Elder Nun."
Turning, Bu Eun-seol fixed the elder with a solemn, icy gaze.
"Is this the petty mindset with which you sought to restore your sect? No wonder the Sword Pavilion has fallen to such depths."
"What did you say?!"
"It was the elder's greed that ruined the Sword Pavilion."
Slowly, Bu Eun-seol drew the Ink Sword.
"Now, I will show you that truth myself."
"Hahaha! So you've gained some reputation and now think yourself above all?"
Despite the terrifying aura radiating from Bu Eun-seol, Neung-in Elder Nun only cackled.
"I know your martial arts are formidable. But if a sect has guarded the summit for centuries, you should realize the depths of its hidden strength."
Then, she barked an order.
"Flame Flower Unit and Lotus Flower Unit—deploy the Void Extinction Martial Formation!"
Shhhhk—
Sixty Sword Pavilion disciples moved in a dizzying blur, encircling Bu Eun-seol.
In that instant, a bizarre pressure bore down on him from all directions.
"Even the Seven Fingers Demonic Blade in his prime, once trapped in this formation, would have died helplessly."
Neung-in Elder Nun curled her lips.
The Void Extinction Martial Formation was the Sword Pavilion's supreme sword array, divided into three stages and composed of its most elite disciples—the Flame Flower Unit and Lotus Flower Unit.
With this, even the greatest master could be crushed in an instant.
"Seven Fingers Demonic Blade..."
Bu Eun-seol muttered with a hollow smile.
"You think he would've died helplessly in a formation like this?"
A surge of fighting spirit rose in his heart.
Seven Fingers Demonic Blade Bu Jan-yang.
He had been a peerless grandmaster who once ruled the martial world with a single saber.
And was he not the inheritor of that man's Essence of Saber Arts?
"Deploy the First Formation!"
At Neung-in Elder Nun's command, the disciples moved chaotically, unleashing their sword techniques.
The crushing pressure transformed into a massive Qi vortex, swirling violently. It devoured the air so fiercely that breathing within it seemed impossible.
Yet Bu Eun-seol stepped into that swirling storm without hesitation.
Not out of reckless pride—but because he trusted in the absolute saber principles devised by the Seven Fingers Demonic Blade.
The might of the Bloody Tears Seven Forms.