Chapter 385
"You bastard!"
Sim Wol's eyes widened in shock.
How could Bu Eun-seol have arrived here already?
"Sim Wol."
Bu Eun-seol, who had been surveying the surroundings, spoke in a low voice.
"It's over. Give up."
For a brief moment, Sim Wol hesitated before letting out a soft chuckle.
"Hehehe. So even you tell lies."
Then, pointing at Bu Eun-seol's torn clothes, he curled the corner of his mouth.
"If you pushed your Light Body Art to the point of tearing your clothes, it means you must have dashed here like a madman the moment you heard the news."
True to his background as a scholar of the Myriad Erudition Hall, Sim Wol instantly grasped Bu Eun-seol's situation.
"Even if your subordinates swarm in, there should still be at least a quarter-hour's gap before they arrive."
"You're mistaken."
Bu Eun-seol gazed down at Sim Wol with icy eyes.
"Do you truly believe I would call my subordinates just to kill you?"
A crimson glow flickered in his pupils.
It was a clear declaration—if Sim Wol resisted, he would strike him down without hesitation.
"That's fine by me."
But Sim Wol, undaunted, lifted Jin Seol, whose Demon Blood Point had been suppressed.
"But if you do, your beloved Jin Seol will be torn to pieces and die."
"Don't even think of chasing me. If you do, I'll kill her on the spot."
Seeing Bu Eun-seol remain still, Sim Wol smirked in satisfaction and prepared to activate his Movement Technique.
Just then—a crescent-shaped blade suddenly arced toward Sim Wol's face.
"Tch—!"
Startled, Sim Wol jerked his body backward.
In that instant, a black shadow emerged, relentlessly targeting his vital points.
It was No Trace, the leader of the Death Soul Squad, who had guided Bu Eun-seol here all along.
He had cultivated an extraordinary mastery of Lightness Body Art, allowing him to keep pace with Bu Eun-seol.
And the moment Bu Eun-seol landed with an earth-shaking shockwave and sonic boom, No Trace had used that split second to conceal himself near Sim Wol.
Swish!
As No Trace unleashed a flurry of saber techniques, Sim Wol, still holding Jin Seol, dodged with a scoff.
"Hmph!"
Then, without hesitation, he unleashed the force of the Sky Shattering Extreme Wheel upon him.
BOOM!
No Trace, who had struck like lightning, was sent flying backward as if he had crashed into a colossal wall.
Sim Wol's eyes widened in shock.
His left arm, which had been clutching Jin Seol, was now coiled with dark True Qi, writhing like a serpent.
The moment his opening was exposed, Bu Eun-seol had instantly ensnared his arm with the Willow Thread Art.
Zzzzing—!
As the serpentine True Qi emitted light and spun at high speed, Sim Wol had no choice but to fling Jin Seol away.
Otherwise, his left arm would have been instantly shredded into dozens of pieces.
Thud!
The moment Jin Seol hit the ground, Sim Wol clicked his tongue and shouted.
"Bu Eun-seol! This isn't over!"
WHOOSH!
In the next instant, he shot into mid-air, attempting to flee.
SHWING!
But in that brief moment, dozens of silver throwing knives rained down from the sky.
"What—?!"
Sim Wol was stunned.
Even within the Demon Hall, those capable of executing Movement Techniques on par with Bu Eun-seol were exceedingly rare.
Yet, in less than a quarter of an hour, another figure had caught up to him at the same speed?
CRACKLE!
Sim Wol unleashed the Sky Shattering Extreme Wheel once more, shattering the barrage of knives.
Standing firmly in his path was a man clad in a black-and-red harmonized martial uniform.
It was Wi Cheon-gyeong, the Great Leader of the Death Shadow War Unit.
"My Lord, are you unharmed?"
Yu Un-ryong had known full well that no matter how quickly he dispatched the Death Shadow War Unit's elites, none could match Bu Eun-seol's speed.
So he had sent Wi Cheon-gyeong—the fastest in the battalion—to pursue him instead.
"So much for not telling anyone."
Sim Wol glared down at Jin Seol with eyes burning in fury.
He now believed she had conspired with Bu Eun-seol to lead them both here.
"If you're going to run, run quickly."
Bu Eun-seol, looking down at Sim Wol, smiled coldly.
"You've learned some passable martial arts, so you might manage to escape for a while."
Then, with unwavering resolve, he added:
"But you'll never evade the pursuit of the Demon Hall and the Martial Alliance. You'll live as a fugitive, trembling in fear and misery, until you die a pitiful death."
"You think so?"
"Ah, are you counting on that Shadow Force who gave you the elixir?"
Bu Eun-seol curled his lips.
"They're desperately trying to keep their identities hidden. Do you really believe they'd embrace trash like you?"
Shudder—
Sim Wol's body trembled violently.
In the end, just as Bu Eun-seol had said, no matter what he did, he would remain a fugitive for life.
"Keheheh! Hahahaha!"
Suddenly, Sim Wol burst into mad laughter. Then, facing Bu Eun-seol, he spoke:
"You always think you've predicted everything, don't you?"
Step by step, he walked toward Bu Eun-seol.
"But your calculations are wrong."
CRACK!
An overwhelming shockwave erupted from Sim Wol's body.
Simultaneously, an invisible, colossal force radiated outward—reaching the Clear Fragrance Sect disciples, Jin Seol, Wi Cheon-gyeong, and even No Trace.
WHOOSH!
Bu Eun-seol immediately scooped up Jin Seol and leaped onto the rooftop of the pavilion.
Wi Cheon-gyeong and No Trace also evaded the attack, but the Clear Fragrance Sect disciples weren't so lucky.
SPLATTER—!
A spray of blood erupted as six disciples were torn apart, their remains scattering in all directions.
The martial arts of the Blood Demon Jeok Bung.
It was a technique so swift it defied the eye—and so destructive it left no room for resistance.
"This body possesses the power to slaughter every last one of you!"
Sim Wol exhaled a crimson mist from his mouth.
'He's completely liquefied the Artificial Inner Elixir.'
At a glance, Bu Eun-seol could tell that Sim Wol, unlike all the others before him, had fully dissolved his Artificial Inner Elixir.
"Evacuate everyone."
At Bu Eun-seol's command, No Trace and Wi Cheon-gyeong began moving Jin Seol and the subdued Clear Fragrance Sect disciples outside.
"No one leaves!"
Whoosh.
The moment he unleashed his Internal Power, a dozen fleeing Clear Fragrance Sect disciples were abruptly lifted into the air.
Flash!
In that same instant, Bu Eun-seol closed the distance between them and unleashed his sword technique.
Hummm!
But before the tip of Ink Sword could even touch his body, it was repelled into the air as if flicked away.
The sensation was like an enormous magnet effortlessly pushing the blade aside.
"The Sky Shattering Extreme Wheel can deflect any force."
Whish!
At that moment, an invisible, razor-sharp force descended as if to cleave Bu Eun-seol's skull in two.
Shhk!
Twisting his body at the last second, the force grazed past him—
—and gouged deep into the earth, leaving a trench about a foot wide and thirty or forty feet deep.
'This is the Blood Demon Jeok Bung's martial arts.'
The Sky Shattering Extreme Wheel.
One of the Heavenly Outer Absolute Arts that Jeok Bung had wielded relentlessly before reaching the Martial Extreme Realm.
It was an invisible force, capable of freely unleashing destructive power that could annihilate anything in its path.
"Die!"
A swirling, transparent current of energy erupted from Sim Wol's body.
And whatever it touched—whether rock, earth, or flesh—began shattering into fragments.
—Aaaagh!
Clear Fragrance Sect disciples who failed to evade the currents Sim Wol unleashed were reduced to pulped masses of blood in an instant.
Swish!
Bu Eun-seol immediately deployed the Formless Heavenly Flow, unleashing Waning Moon Morning Star and Meteor Chasing Moon in rapid succession.
Yet no matter how overwhelmingly powerful his sword strokes were, they couldn't block the transparent currents pouring from Sim Wol.
'Even the Move Heaven Exchange Force isn't working?'
No matter how formless the force, the principles of Neither Above Nor Below and the Move Heaven Exchange Force should have allowed him to materialize its nature.
But the currents Sim Wol was madly discharging were like a transparent fog—
—nullifying even the sword qi from Ink Sword and the Move Heaven Exchange Force itself.
"Stop scurrying like a rat and face me!"
Sim Wol, spewing spherical currents of energy, charged at Bu Eun-seol like a wild boar.
And the circular currents forming around him obliterated everything they touched.
'I must understand what that power is.'
An invisible current that couldn't be blocked by any means.
Unless he uncovered its true nature, Sim Wol's words would come true—not just Bu Eun-seol, but every disciple here would be slaughtered.
'Fine!'
Boom!
A violent surge of True Qi erupted from Bu Eun-seol's body.
At the same time—
Crackle.
His hair turned stark white, and a swirling azure-white current of energy coiled around him.
He had drawn upon the North Sea Ice Palace's supreme art—the Glacier Great Emperor's Glacial Heaven Flow Art.
"You think some paltry Ice Art can stop this power?!"
Sim Wol sneered as he lunged at Bu Eun-seol.
But this time, Bu Eun-seol didn't evade.
"Die!"
Seeing Bu Eun-seol stand his ground, Sim Wol closed the distance in an instant and unleashed a torrent of transparent energy.
Crrrack!
In that moment, a massive block of azure ice formed between Bu Eun-seol and Sim Wol.
Having converted four centuries of Internal Power into Cold Ice True Qi, Bu Eun-seol had instantly created a shield of ice capable of withstanding the attack.
Kwang! Kwang!
But the moment the currents touched it, the ice shattered instantly.
Crrrunch!
With every ounce of his strength, Bu Eun-seol conjured one final barrier—crystalline, pure-white ice.
Clang!
Yet even that was obliterated with a deafening explosion—
Splat!
—and blood sprayed from Bu Eun-seol's shoulder as he stood firm.
"Heh heh heh. Where did you pick up such a bizarre Ice Art—?"
Sim Wol's mocking grin froze.
Because Bu Eun-seol was staring back at him with a calm smile.
"It was a hand."
Whoosh.
Bu Eun-seol lifted the remnants of the shattered ice into the air.
Etched into its surface was the unmistakable imprint of a human palm.
The reason Bu Eun-seol had repeatedly forged layers of unbreakable ice wasn't to defeat Sim Wol—
—but to fully grasp the nature of his invisible force.
To understand exactly what kind of martial art the Sky Shattering Extreme Wheel was—and how it attacked.
"Approximately forty-three feet in length, invisible... but a hand vibrating at ultra-high speed."
Having deciphered everything, Bu Eun-seol murmured under his breath.
Jeok Bung's Sky Shattering Extreme Wheel.
It could almost be considered a martial art akin to the Willful True Binding.
By condensing immense Internal Power, it forged ultra-fast, ultra-vibrating hands capable of crushing or severing anything in their path.
"So what?"
Sim Wol's eyes, now bloodshot, radiated killing intent sharp enough to cleave the heavens.
"What changes just because you know?"
Shhk!
A transparent hand materialized behind Sim Wol and pierced toward Bu Eun-seol like lightning.
Thwip!
Yet Bu Eun-seol dodged effortlessly—as if he had predicted the trajectory of both invisible hands.
"You... sensed the hands of the Sky Shattering Extreme Wheel?"
Sim Wol's eyes widened in disbelief.
According to his master, Jeok Bung, the hands forged by this technique were impossible to perceive or detect.
"Even with extraordinary extrasensory perception, how could Bu Eun-seol have dodged it so clearly?"
"Your real battle experience is sorely lacking."
Bu Eun-seol, having lowered the Ink Sword to the ground, narrowed his eyes.
"No matter how invisible or powerful a weapon may be... if it's wielded by a third-rate martial artist, predicting its trajectory isn't difficult."
"Just imagine two forty-three-foot-long whips being swung at once."
Sim Wol's eyes widened in an instant.
As his artificial dantian melted, his internal power surged exponentially.
He could now freely wield the Jeok Bung's Sky Shattering Extreme Wheel, a technique only accessible at the Extreme Heaven Realm.
But that was all.
Until now, Sim Wol had handled affairs at the Myriad Erudition Hall with exceptional intellect and perception.
Life-or-death battles, like those of wandering martial artists, were something he'd rarely experienced.
In stark contrast, Bu Eun-seol was a seasoned hero who had crossed the boundary between life and death countless times.
He had honed his martial arts in the crucible of combat, studying techniques to counter every conceivable battle strategy.
The Sky Shattering Extreme Wheel, a supreme art of the Jeok Bung's True Body Secret Art, was said to be undetectable by sensory means alone.
Yet when Sim Wol wielded it, to Bu Eun-seol's eyes, its movements were as predictable as a child clumsily swinging a blade.
He could even foresee exactly how Sim Wol would employ the technique.
Experience.
That became the decisive difference determining life and death between two adversaries of equal internal power.
"Don't mock me!"
With a thunderous roar, Sim Wol channeled his surging energy.
KWA-AANG!
Dozens of massive hands materialized around him, their forms so dense they became visible to the naked eye.
The spectacle resembled the thousand-armed Guanyin statue.
"However talented you may be, you'll never withstand this—Thousand Waves Thunder Explosion!"
Sim Wol's lips twisted into a cruel smile.
What opponent—Bu Eun-seol or any master—could possibly defend against dozens of forty-two-foot-long hands charging?
"Die!"
SHWAAAK!
With a battle cry, Sim Wol sent the whirling hands charging toward Bu Eun-seol.
WHOOSH!
Bu Eun-seol retaliated by unleashing an overwhelming surge of Cold Ice True Qi.
Yet these hands, forged from the Sky Shattering Extreme Wheel, possessed a destructive function akin to the Flame Emperor's Qi—capable of annihilating all things, just like the martial arts of the Flame Emperor from centuries past.
KRA-CRACK!
The hands obliterated even the four-hundred-year-level frigid energy as they closed in.
"Hahaha! Useless!"
Laughing maniacally, Sim Wol broke through the icy onslaught and reached within thirty feet of Bu Eun-seol.
"Perish!"
Just as the dozens of invisible hands were about to engulf Bu Eun-seol—
Sim Wol finally sensed something amiss.
Though he'd effortlessly nullified the freezing energy, his movements had grown unbearably sluggish.
'So that's it. The cold energy...'
What Bu Eun-seol had unleashed wasn't mere Ice Art.
This was the essence of the Extreme Yin Art—energy so frigid it could flash-freeze a human body or even the sky itself.
The Glacier Thousand Streams Art of the Glacier Great Emperor.
FLASH!
In that instant, the Ink Sword tilted at an oblique angle.
Hundreds of Sword Rings simultaneously erupted from both Bu Eun-seol and Sim Wol's bodies.
GLIMMER!
A radiant light blossomed above Bu Eun-seol's head.
At the same time, an imperceptible gleam of light pierced Sim Wol's throat from a blind spot.
Bloody Tears Seven Forms, First Stance: Life Returns to Death.
A peerless blade technique where both combatants are enveloped in Sword Rings at close range, delivering a fatal strike in a seemingly hopeless situation.
The Seven Fingers Demonic Blade's artistry unfolded once more.
"Not a chance!"
THUD-THUD!
Astoundingly, Sim Wol used the dozens of invisible hands from his Thousand Waves Thunder Explosion to intercept and consume the floating Sword Rings one by one.
The ultra-high-speed, super-vibrating hands annihilated the rings instantly.
"Kehaha!"
Incredibly, Sim Wol had already mastered a counter to Life Returns to Death—a technique Bu Eun-seol had never publicly revealed.
"Die!"
Having obliterated the Sword Rings, Sim Wol coiled his dozens of hands around Bu Eun-seol's body like closing flower petals, intent on crushing him instantly.
Yet something was wrong.
The Thousand Waves Thunder Explosion hands, which should have pulverized Bu Eun-seol immediately, began fading rapidly.
PSSHH—
Like air escaping a punctured vessel, the power of Sim Wol's technique dissipated.
"How...?"
Sim Wol's bulging eyes dropped to his lower abdomen.
Unbeknownst to him, a perfectly circular hole had been pierced through his dantian.
DRIP... DRIP...
With his Qi Sea Acupoint destroyed and his true qi scattering, the petal-like hands of his ultimate technique vanished completely.
Sim Wol stared at the blood dripping from his ruined dantian, his face a mask of disbelief.
"This can't be..."
He'd annihilated every one of the hundreds of Sword Rings rising from the ground. Bu Eun-seol hadn't even gotten close.
So how had his dantian been pierced without him realizing it?
"I destroyed all the Sword Rings! How could you have attacked my dantian?!"
So it was true—Sim Wol had already known the counter to Life Is Temporary Death Is Return.
'The Sword Pavilion...'
Bu Eun-seol's eyes narrowed to slits.
The only time he had ever unleashed the Bloody Tears Seven Forms in the presence of multiple opponents—rather than fighting alone—had been at the Sword Pavilion.
Which meant that the spy embedded within the Sword Pavilion must have relayed the variations of the first stance to the Shadow Force.
'They are far too formidable.'
"How?!"
Sim Wol's scream tore through the air as Bu Eun-seol leveled the Ink Sword at him.
"The Sword Rings you destroyed weren't all of them."
Sim Wol rubbed his eyes.
Because there, at the very tip of the blade, a single drop of condensed Sword Qi shimmered like morning dew.
"Using Nine Dragons Flashing Thunder, I embedded one of the Sword Rings into the blade's edge from the moment I unleashed them. And while you were frantically destroying the rest, I fired it straight into your dantian."
"W-What...?"
Sim Wol was a disciple of Jeok Bung, one of the Three Demons.
Though his martial prowess fell short of Bu Eun-seol's, his discernment was unmatched among the Rising Talents of the Younger Generation.
Yet to think—generating Sword Rings, concealing one within the blade's edge, and then firing it at an opponent?
What kind of absurd Sword Form was that?
"Don't mock me. How could such a thing even be possible?!"
"Martial arts never cease to evolve. This Sword Form isn't even something newly devised."
As Bu Eun-seol executed the Bloody Tears Seven Forms, he had utilized the principles of Neither Above Nor Below and the Move Heaven Exchange Force—from the Heavenly Sword—to solidify one of the Sword Rings into a tangible form, like dew.
Then, employing Nine Dragons Flashing Thunder, he had fired it at Sim Wol in the manner of Extreme Speed Killing Sword, perfectly synchronized with his movements.
In short, Bu Eun-seol had reached a level where he could freely blend the sword techniques and principles of both the Righteous and Demonic Paths—without restriction.
"You thought you had neutralized all the Sword Rings and attacked me in an instant, didn't you?"
Bu Eun-seol's voice was flat as he regarded the stunned Sim Wol.
"In the time it took you to execute a single stance, I had already unleashed five."
In battles between Masters who had reached the Extreme Heaven Realm, victory hinged on who could fragment time further—and seize that decisive moment.
Sim Wol's martial power had surged to the Extreme Heaven Realm in an instant, but his combat methodology still lingered in the Transcendence Realm.
The difference between him and Bu Eun-seol?
A fivefold gap in time.
"I... was a frog in a well."
Pshht—
A wound split open across Sim Wol's chest, and an enormous torrent of blood gushed forth.
Hiiiiisssss...
Having lost to Bu Eun-seol, his fate was sealed—either execution or a lifetime imprisoned in the Prison, his limbs crippled beyond recovery.
"Thank you."
Sim Wol's lips curled into a faint smile.
He realized Bu Eun-seol had shown him mercy—allowing him the dignity of suicide.
"No... mercy would be too generous a word."
Sim Wol shook his head.
Bu Eun-seol was not the kind of man to forgive someone like him—who had harmed the innocent—so magnanimously.
If he refused to reveal the identity of the spy who had given him the Artificial Internal Core... Bu Eun-seol would ensure his death was anything but quick.
"If that's your plan, you could've been gentler."
Guhk—
Sim Wol spat a mouthful of black blood and glanced down at his abdomen.
Bu Eun-seol's Sword Ring wasn't merely sharp—the moment it struck, an overwhelming surge of internal energy had shattered his meridians into fragments.
"An impressive sword technique... but you haven't mastered it yet."
Sim Wol was right.
Bu Eun-seol could barely execute the Bloody Tears Seven Forms—let alone freely wield its profound mysteries or control its destructive power.
"So you won't talk."
"Who knows?"
Wiping the blood from his lips, Sim Wol let out a low chuckle.
"Even if I told you who gave me the Artificial Internal Core, you'd gain nothing. They vanish the moment their role is done."
Bu Eun-seol nodded.
The Shadow Force concealed themselves with ruthless efficiency.
Even those who issued orders and those who received them knew nothing of the organization's structure or composition.
"They are divided into three separate factions, each with independent objectives."
But then, Sim Wol uttered something astonishing.
"That's why they're called the Three Realms."
"Three Realms."
Bu Eun-seol's gaze sharpened like a blade's edge.
The Three Realms—as spoken of in the Buddhist Order: Celestial Realm, Human Realm, and Earthly Realm.
In other words—past life, present life, and next life.
—You truly know nothing.
Suddenly, the voice of No Bong, the Descendant of the Blood Emperor, echoed in his mind.
—Judging right and wrong is only possible in small matters.
Back at the Heavenly Flower Mountain Villa, No Bong had watched Namgung Un try to persuade him and uttered strange words.
—Great affairs cannot be judged by right or wrong. When you become the head of the Namgung Clan, you'll understand.
'Their goal isn't supremacy over Murim.'
Bu Eun-seol sensed it instinctively.
What the Three Realms sought wasn't domination—or even destruction—of the martial world. If it were, Murim would already be in chaos.
"So the faction that gave you the Artificial Internal Core is part of the Three Realms?"
"Correct."
True to his status as a disciple of the Myriad Learning Society, Sim Wol had investigated the ones behind the Artificial Internal Core and uncovered fragments of their true nature.
"And they belong to one of the Three Realms—the Infinite Realm... and—"
Shudder—
Sim Wol's body trembled faintly.
He realized that with his next exhale—
Death, that inexorable presence, would claim his soul and carry it away.
With the last of his strength, he forced out one final sentence.
"Hyeokryeon Eung... the Hyeokryeon Hall Master... gave me...?"
His words never reached completion.
Fear. Darkness swallowed his vision. His breath crystallized like ice in his throat.
When intoxicated by the Artificial Internal Core's power, he had felt like a god—one who ruled the world and governed human lives.
But now, as death claimed him—
"..."
Fear of Death and the terror of falling into Hell coiled around both body and mind.
Thud.
In the end, he collapsed right where he stood, eyes wide open.