Chapter 41
Stepping outside, a garden with beautifully blooming rare flowers and plants came into view.
Ten Thousand Demons Pavilion.
From the name alone, one would expect all manner of evil ghosts to be gathered there, but in reality it was adorned like a Wuling Paradise.
Trickle, trickle.
Following Jin Seol, a small pond came into view beside the sprawling flower garden. And before it stood a pavilion as picturesque as a painting.
Inside the pavilion, a tea table had been prepared, and an old man with the air of an immortal sat upright.
"Come, sit."
The old man naturally extended his hand to offer the seat.
His voice was very low and quiet, but within it was contained a power that could not be defied.
As Bu Eun-seol took his seat, the old man pointed to the teacup and said,
"Drink."
People who have lived their lives commanding others naturally possess an energy that overwhelms people.
Bu Eun-seol could surmise that the old man before him not only held a high position, but had also commanded countless people.
"This is Jade Blossom Tea, made from jade blossom leaves that this old man picked and dried himself."
Gulp.
After taking a sip of tea, Bu Eun-seol set down the teacup, and the old man asked,
"How is it?"
Judging by his expression, he seemed to be asking for an appraisal of the tea's flavor.
After a moment of deliberation, Bu Eun-seol answered briefly.
"I do not know."
"You do not know?"
"I have rarely ever drunk tea."
The old man, as though he had already grasped Bu Eun-seol's personal history, spoke with a puzzled expression.
"However harsh the work of an undertaker may be, surely it was not so bad that you could not even drink a proper cup of tea?"
"It was a place where I handled those who died alone on the road without kin."
Bu Eun-seol continued in a calm voice.
"Even that was mostly work ordered by the government office, so they only paid me enough to cover the coffin."
"Heh."
"Above all, I disliked going out to guest inns. I took my meals at home, and replaced tea with clear water."
"Why was that?"
"I disliked receiving gazes full of contempt."
Bu Eun-seol's eyes grew dim, as though recalling those days.
"The stench of corpses never left my body, so even when I went to a guest inn, I was usually driven out. Even if I was fortunate enough to get in, I had to gulp down my food like water."
"So that is how it was."
The old man wore a bitter smile, as though regretful.
"The Five Dragon Tea grown on Sword Brow Mountain, where Langya Pavilion is located, is the finest under heaven. This old man had hoped you would compare the Five Dragon Tea and the Jade Blossom Tea."
The old man, who had been smacking his lips, looked at Bu Eun-seol.
"But from the look of it, it seems you did not even receive a proper meal, let alone Five Dragon Tea."
"As soon as I entered, I was too preoccupied with learning martial arts."
"That would be so. Langya Pavilion does not even treat you as a disciple unless you properly learn their martial arts."
The old man chuckled and said,
"Then today, enjoy this old man's tea to your heart's content. And give me your appraisal next time."
And he poured tea into Bu Eun-seol's cup once more.
"Do you know who this old man is?"
"I have only heard that this is where the Lord of the Elders' Hall resides."
"Lord of the Elders' Hall, indeed. I am merely the most idle among old men who live because they cannot die."
This old man was none other than the elder of the Demon Hall, the Lord of the Elders' Hall, Jeok Bung.
The Blood Demon, Jeok Bung.
Excluding the Twin Celestial Emperors of Righteousness and Demon, he was a master who had reached the pinnacle of the martial world, belonging to the Three Demons among the Three Demons and Three Honored Ones.
He had rampaged through the martial world for a long time, building his fame, and the righteous faction masters who died by his hand were beyond counting.
That Absolute Demonic Lord who had wielded such terrifying renown was an old man with the appearance of an immortal.
"Bu Eun-seol, disciple of Langya Pavilion, greets the Lord of the Elders' Hall."
As Bu Eun-seol rose from his seat and offered a formal bow, Jeok Bung narrowed his eyes.
"You are a little different from what I heard."
And then he brought up something slightly different from the praise he had heard so far.
"I heard you learned martial arts late, yet your joints and muscles are all smoothly loosened. Moreover, the foundation of your internal energy is firmly established."
Jeok Bung seemed able to discern Bu Eun-seol's bone and muscle structure and level of internal energy with just a single glance.
'Is he testing me?'
After a moment of thought, Bu Eun-seol answered.
"In my childhood, I learned a breathing technique while playing a game of getting into coffins."
"A breathing technique, you say?"
"It was only after entering the Main Pavilion that I learned it was the Qi Circulation and Breathing Method."
"So you did not learn martial arts late, but rather did not know that you had been learning martial arts since childhood."
"That is correct."
"Indeed, so that is how it came to be."
Jeok Bung's answer was ambiguous, and could be heard in two ways.
One was in the sense of "I knew it would be so," and the other was in the sense of "I did not know it would be so."
"You worked as an undertaker in Hwangju Prefecture all along?"
"That is correct."
"Hm."
Jeok Bung's eyes were fixed on Bu Eun-seol.
But his gaze was profound, as though looking not at Bu Eun-seol, but at somewhere far distant.
"Well, such things are not important."
Jeok Bung, who had muttered in a low voice, had a sharp gleam spreading from his eyes.
"I will speak directly."
The light shooting from his eyes seemed to pierce through Bu Eun-seol's body.
"Once you finish your training at Langya Pavilion, come to the Main Hall."
"You mean... to the Demon Hall."
"That is right."
Clatter.
Jeok Bung, who had lightly flicked away a water droplet clinging to the teacup lid, had eyes that grew even sharper.
"Langya Pavilion may be included among the Demonic Path Ten Gates, but it has a system unsuitable to be called a sect."
His voice did not seem to come from his mouth, but rather to strike down from the sky like a thunderbolt.
"For learning martial arts, there is no better place. But for achieving ambition, Langya Pavilion is a place far too narrow."
Clink.
"A great figure should play on a great stage, should he not? By the time you finish your training at Langya Pavilion, it will be about three years from now."
Clink.
Even as he spoke, Jeok Bung kept brushing the lid of Bu Eun-seol's teacup.
"When that time comes, this old man intends to petition the Demon Hall Lord and recommend you as a member of the Dark Heaven Squad."
The Dark Heaven Squad.
Alongside Heavenly Killing Squad and Soul-Extinguishing Squad, it was the most elite unit of the Demon Hall.
In particular, the Dark Heaven Squad was an elite unit directly under the Demon Hall Lord, and it held the most formidable authority to handle anything that obstructed the Demon Hall.
And yet he was saying he would put a greenhorn who had just left Langya Pavilion into the Dark Heaven Squad?
"You may or may not know this, but entering the Dark Heaven Squad means, without exaggeration, that you have grasped the finest possible connection to becoming part of the Demon Hall's high command in the future."
Clink.
Jeok Bung, who had once again brushed the teacup, asked calmly.
"What say you? Will you accept this old man's offer?"
After a moment of deep deliberation, Bu Eun-seol stared into Jeok Bung's eyes and answered calmly.
"I will refuse."
Clack.
At that instant, the hand of Jeok Bung, which had been brushing the teacup lid, stopped.
It was merely that the act of brushing the teacup lid had ceased.
But in that moment, an inexplicable unease and crisis blanketed the surroundings.
The air of the tranquil pavilion grew heavy as lead, and the bright sky seemed to darken to black.
"The reason."
The mirth that had lingered in Jeok Bung's eyes vanished.
With that alone, his appearance seemed to transform from that of an immortal into the visage of a demon.
"I do not yet have the composure to think of such things."
"Composure?"
"Learning the martial arts of Langya Pavilion requires risking my life every single day."
Bu Eun-seol answered in a calm voice.
"If such a position were guaranteed to me before I had even learned the martial arts..."
After steadying his breath for a moment, Bu Eun-seol spoke in a resolute voice.
"I would fall into comfort and would be unable to achieve Great Completion in Langya Pavilion's martial arts."
"Huhuhu..."
Jeok Bung, who had been letting out a low laugh, suddenly burst into mad laughter.
"Heh-heh-heh... Hahahaha!"
The laughter that shook heaven and earth contained unimaginably immense internal energy.
"Uhahahaha! Wahaha!"
As the mad laughter resounded, the very axis of the earth seemed to tremble and the clouds seemed to be swept away to the distant sky.
As the enormous shockwave shook his body, Bu Eun-seol's internal organs were rattled, and a sweet, bloody fluid rose in his throat.
"Good."
The sharp light in Jeok Bung's eyes, whose laughter had abruptly ceased, disappeared, and a gentle energy spread once more.
"That is an excellent attitude for a martial artist, nothing less."
Clink.
Jeok Bung, who had nodded his head, gently swept the teacup lid again.
With that, the uneasy air that had been pressing into the pavilion seemed to be cleansed and purified once more.
"I shall watch."
Clack.
Jeok Bung, who had completely closed the teacup lid, spoke in a low voice.
"What kind of personage you will have become, three years from now."
And then he fixed his gaze not on Bu Eun-seol, but on the flower garden.
It was a silent expulsion order.
"Then."
Bu Eun-seol bowed deeply and turned his body.
And he slowly walked back along the path he had entered.
Drip. Drip.
With every step Bu Eun-seol took, thick beads of sweat fell from his forehead onto his clothes.
He had maintained a calm expression the entire time, but his upper garment was soaked through with cold sweat.
'If I had not made a plausible excuse...'
Bu Eun-seol, walking slowly, bit his lip.
The moment he had said, 'I will refuse,' an indescribable, colossal killing intent had enveloped his body.
If, at that moment, his reason for refusal had felt trivial to Jeok Bung, or had not been to his liking?
'That old man would have snuffed out my life on the spot.'
Trickle.
Another thick bead of sweat brushed past his forehead and ran down his cheek.
A wall. Bu Eun-seol felt a colossal wall for the first time.
The Master of the Elders' Hall, Jeok Bung.
He possessed a transcendent aura utterly different from any of the masters Bu Eun-seol had seen until now.
A formidable power that could crush Bu Eun-seol like a bug with the movement of a single finger.
'Becoming a Murim master is a lofty and arduous thing. I have been far too fortunate until now.'
In the Demon Hall, in the Murim... there existed monstrous superhumans who had reached unimaginable realms.
He felt it keenly in his bones: to achieve his revenge, a long road still remained.
Creak.
Finally, as Bu Eun-seol stepped out the gate,
Swoosh.
A faint shadow revealed itself behind the pavilion where Jeok Bung sat.
It was a young man of delicate appearance, dressed in scholar's robes. It was Sim Wol, the one who had guided Bu Eun-seol to Myriad Talents Hall.
"I have never seen anyone refuse your proposal with a single stroke, Elder."
Without even turning his head, Jeok Bung spoke calmly.
"How did he seem to you?"
"He is certainly someone with the ability to match."
Sim Wol's voice was grave.
"The first four forms aside, the fact that he blocked Chief Go's final form was by no means a coincidence."
"Was that not the Fire Rain Sword Technique, anyway?"
"It is a killing sword that even Cheon Un-gwang himself, the creator of the Peerless Thunderbolt, has yet to complete."
Sim Wol's eyes, which had been lowered, narrowed.
"If he could be taught and then use it within such a short time, Cheon Un-gwang would have risen at least to the position of Vice Sect Leader, not Hall Leader."
Sim Wol spoke in a very serious voice.
"He is the one the Fire Rain Sword Sect had marked as a successor. Whatever else may be said, it is clear he possesses a genius-level talent for sword techniques."
"Hmph."
Jeok Bung let out a low snort.
"Let us watch for now. See which path he chooses."
"Understood."
Sim Wol's bowed figure faded away once more.
As if nothing had happened, Jeok Bung slowly picked up his teacup.