Chapter 495
"Did you think mere imitation would be enough?!"
Gwa Cheok scowled in displeasure as he shouted.
Then, moving erratically on all fours, he conjured dozens of shadowy afterimages.
Thud!
Finally, Gwa Cheok's shadow shot forward like a flash of light.
But Bu Eun-seol was no longer there.
Whoosh! Splat!
Bu Eun-seol and Gwa Cheok moved like two wild beasts, clashing and separating in a chaotic dance, over and over again.
Pshht!
And then, the decisive moment arrived.
Blood gushed once more from Gwa Cheok's throat as he collided with Bu Eun-seol.
"How... how can you perform the opening move of A Cornered Beast Bites...?"
Gwa Cheok clutched his throat as he asked, to which Bu Eun-seol replied indifferently,
"I know nothing of such things."
Gwa Cheok had used the Beast Martial Arts, which imitated the movements of wild beasts.
But Bu Eun-seol was different.
He wasn't imitating the Beast Martial Arts—he had become the beast itself.
A human mimicking a beast versus a true beast.
The outcome was inevitable.
"You've reached the pinnacle of Beast Martial Arts..."
Thud.
In the end, Gwa Cheok collapsed, having lost too much blood.
Grrrl.
The moment Bu Eun-seol felled Gwa Cheok in a single breath, the men engaged in the surrounding melee halted their movements and glared at him.
They sensed that Bu Eun-seol was the strongest among them, and instinct drove them to eliminate him first.
Only then would they stand a chance of victory.
Splat!
The dozen or so men still standing all lunged at Bu Eun-seol at once.
They moved with the systematic coordination of a pride of lions.
Though they had formed their group spontaneously, they attacked Bu Eun-seol like beasts who had hunted together for years.
Swish! Splat!
As the dozen men pressed forward and retreated in waves, Bu Eun-seol's body became covered in scratches.
But none were fatal.
Even if a pack of puppies attacked, a lion would not fall.
Instead, with every strike, the damage only mounted for the attacking pack.
Splat! Swish!
Bu Eun-seol, now a beast himself, took them down one by one.
Beast Martial Arts had no fixed opening moves.
It combined the movements of a powerful physique with instinct, creating new techniques on the fly.
Whoosh! Splat!
The Beast Martial Arts Bu Eun-seol wielded were movements so fluid and elusive that even the disciples of the Beast Palace had never seen them before.
Swift and agile as a leopard, cunning as a monkey.
Majestic as a lion, yet relentless as a wolf.
—Ooooh.
The eyes of the Beast Palace disciples watching widened in awe.
Bu Eun-seol's Beast Martial Arts lacked any flashy or showy movements.
But there was not a single wasted motion—it was as sharp as a discarded blade.
Every time Bu Eun-seol unleashed his techniques, the disciples couldn't tear their eyes away.
Grrr. Grrr.
One by one, the attacking disciples of the Beast Palace fell, bleeding.
Those still standing dared not approach, crouching low, unable to move a muscle.
They had instinctively submitted, realizing they stood no chance against such overwhelming skill.
Shiver. Shiver.
With no one left to challenge him, the remaining men trembled in place.
—Waaaah!
Cheers erupted from all directions.
The winner of the Barehanded Contest had been decided.
—Gu-hwi has been preparing for this tournament for a long time.
The senior members of the Beast Palace exchanged glances as they watched.
They mistakenly believed Bu Eun-seol was a secret subordinate Dae Gu-hwi had been training for years.
And it wasn't an unreasonable assumption.
Bu Eun-seol's Beast Martial Arts were nothing short of perfection itself.
But in truth, what Bu Eun-seol had displayed wasn't Beast Martial Arts at all.
It was merely the martial arts of Langya Pavilion—absorbing the essence of an opponent's techniques with terrifying speed.
And thanks to the Way of the Beast, which aligned perfectly with the Mind-Training Formula, what he had unleashed was the pure slaughtering instinct of a beast.
—Waaaah!
Every figure in the Beast Palace cheered, convinced Bu Eun-seol was a long-trained master of Beast Martial Arts.
Only the Beast Palace Lord, Dae Gon, remained unmoved, his eyes flashing as his expression hardened.
—The winner, Seol-so!
At Yong Mun-gyeok's declaration, Dae Gu-hwi raised his fist in triumph.
'It's done!'
Truthfully, even if Bu Eun-seol had suddenly appeared and won, the optics weren't ideal.
Though outsiders were technically allowed to participate, his abrupt invitation just before the Beast Grand Tournament left much room for suspicion.
But now that Bu Eun-seol had seized victory using Beast Martial Arts, there was no ground left for objections.
"How did this happen?"
Dae Gu-hwi rushed over and asked Bu Eun-seol.
"How did Young Hero Seol come to know our Beast Palace's martial arts...?"
"I once met an eccentric in the past who taught me something similar," Bu Eun-seol replied.
When Bu Eun-seol gave a vague, evasive answer, Dae Gu-hwi seemed to accept it readily.
How he had learned the Beast Martial Arts wasn't important.
The mere fact that Bu Eun-seol had won was proof enough of his own standing.
It meant he could maintain his position as the leading successor candidate.
—Let the first stage of the Beast-Taming Tournament begin!
As soon as the Barehanded Contest concluded, the Beast-Taming Tournament commenced immediately.
The Beast-Taming Tournament was divided into two stages: the First Gate and the Second Hall.
For the First Gate, each participant had to step onto the same iron cage used in the Barehanded Contest and demonstrate their ability to tame and command animals through the Control of Ten Thousand Beasts.
Then, in the Second Hall, they would enter a building filled with numerous wild beasts, where they had to either tame or subdue them and exit through the other side as quickly as possible.
Yong Mun-gyeok, who had been checking the order of participants, suddenly shouted loudly.
—Noe Bi-hon! Begin the First Gate!
"Brother Noe, be careful."
At Bu Eun-seol's words, Noe Bi-hon curled the corner of his lips.
"Don't worry. I've prepared well."
Creak.
Noe Bi-hon clenched his fist tightly as he stepped into the iron cage.
'A bear? Or perhaps a lion?'
The Beast Palace would naturally prefer one of their own disciples to win over an outsider.
Since Bu Eun-seol had already won the Barehanded Contest, they must have prepared an especially difficult challenge to ensure Noe Bi-hon couldn't win.
Perhaps they would unleash a ferocious beast right from the first gate to crush his chances in an instant.
Rustle.
Finally, the iron bars on the opposite side slid open.
But the animals he was supposed to control were nowhere to be seen.
As Noe Bi-hon frowned and glanced around in confusion, Bu Eun-seol suddenly called out.
"Brother Noe. Look beneath your feet."
Noe Bi-hon looked down—and his eyes widened.
That small, dark shadow.
It was none other than a tiny mouse.
"This is..."
Dae Gu-hwi, watching from a distance, couldn't hide his disbelief.
He had expected them to send an extremely difficult animal to tame—one that couldn't be subdued by brute force.
After all, they wouldn't want an outsider they had brought in to win both the Barehanded Contest and the Beast-Taming Tournament.
But to send a mouse?
Wasn't that something only possible for someone who had perfectly mastered the Control of Ten Thousand Beasts?
"There's no way Brother Noe can handle this."
Dae Gu-hwi wore a pained expression.
Truthfully, he had already achieved his goal, so he didn't feel particularly regretful.
But if Noe Bi-hon failed to win the Beast-Taming Tournament, they might not be able to obtain the Divine Spirit Staff—
That was why he couldn't help but feel a pang of disappointment.
"It'll be fine."
Bu Eun-seol spoke calmly.
"Brother Noe will definitely be able to break through that mouse's defenses and tame it."
"Brother Noe, tame a mouse?"
Dae Gu-hwi couldn't comprehend it.
Unless one had perfectly mastered the Control of Ten Thousand Beasts, taming such a small creature was impossible.
Especially a mouse—weren't they creatures that hated bright places and instinctively avoided humans?
But as Bu Eun-seol sat down with an unbothered expression, Dae Gu-hwi had no choice but to follow suit.
"..."
Meanwhile, Noe Bi-hon stood silently inside the cage, staring at the mouse.
Even if he recovered his Thunder Essence Divine Qi, taming a mouse should have been impossible.
Yet, a faint, composed smile lingered at the corner of his lips.
"Here."
Then, Noe Bi-hon stretched out his hand and declared boldly:
"Come to me!"
—Hahaha!
The Beast Palace disciples watching from the sidelines burst into laughter.
The Control of Ten Thousand Beasts wasn't about talking to animals—it was about using the energy flowing through one's entire body to command them.
And yet, here he was, stretching out his hand and trying to converse?
This was absolutely not the Beast Palace's Control of Ten Thousand Beasts.
Squeak.
But then, something strange happened.
The mouse looked at Noe Bi-hon—and then, to everyone's shock, it happily scurried up onto his shoulder.
A creature that should have been wary of humans and fled in fear.
Squeak, squeak.
Then, it nuzzled affectionately into Noe Bi-hon's palm, as if begging to be petted.
—Does this mean he can speak to animals, just like the Founder of our palace?!
The Beast Palace disciples were stunned.
Not through the power of the Control of Ten Thousand Beasts—but through conversation?
—Noe Bi-hon, First Gate—passed!
With no choice but to acknowledge what had just happened, the disciples erupted into cheers.
"Just how did you do that?!"
Dae Gu-hwi, his voice a mix of shock and delight, rushed forward. Noe Bi-hon responded with a faint smile.
"Didn't I say it before? Humans and animals are no different."
Just then, Bu Eun-seol, wearing an enigmatic smile, glanced around before whispering to Noe Bi-hon:
"Brother Noe, until the Second Hall begins, let's rest inside the tent."
"Right."
Noe Bi-hon followed Bu Eun-seol into the tent where Dae Gu-hwi was staying.
Once inside, he carefully wiped something off his hands, cleaning them thoroughly.
"What is that?"
Only then did Dae Gu-hwi notice the water and powder smeared on Noe Bi-hon's hands.
"Surely not—"
Dae Gu-hwi's mouth fell open.
What clung to Noe Bi-hon's hands was a mixture of water and fine powder—a blend of various food ingredients that no animal would dislike.
"Young Hero Seol. How did this happen?"
Bu Eun-seol curled his lips into a faint smile.
"Brother Noe used a trick to pass the First Hall."
"No, that doesn't make sense."
Gu-hwi shook his head.
"If he had this powder in his hands, they would've smelled it."
Disciples of the Beast Palace possessed senses as keen as beasts, their noses as sharp as a hound's. Had he smeared such powder on his hands, there was no way they wouldn't have noticed.
"They couldn't have smelled it."
Bu Eun-seol spoke calmly.
"We froze and dried it to eliminate the scent."
After hearing Dae Gu-hwi's explanation of the Beast-Taming Contest, Noe Bi-hon had asked Bu Eun-seol:
—Can we obtain ice here as well?
Of course, they could.
Because Bu Eun-seol had mastered the Glacier Thousand Streams Art, the supreme Ice Art.
Following Noe Bi-hon's request, he had ground various foods into powder, mixed them with water, and then used the Glacier Thousand Streams Art to freeze them solid before drying them again.
And just before the contest began, Noe Bi-hon had clenched that mixture in his fist.
Eventually, the warmth of his body melted the food powder into his palm, allowing him to tame the animals with it.
No matter how sharp the noses of the Beast Palace disciples were, they couldn't possibly detect the scent of freeze-dried powder—let alone from Noe Bi-hon's hands, dozens of yards away behind iron bars.
"I expected them to send small animals from the start."
At Noe Bi-hon's muttering, Dae Gu-hwi's eyes widened.
"What do you mean?"
"That would be the hardest to tame."
Noe Bi-hon spoke plainly.
"I figured they'd send small creatures that couldn't be subdued at once. So I came up with this trick."
When not consumed by madness, Noe Bi-hon was a strategist no less cunning than Bu Eun-seol.
—Now, the Beast-Taming Contest's Second Hall begins!
Just then, Yong Mun-gyeok's voice rang out from outside.
At last, the Second Hall—the Ten Thousand Beasts Pass—had commenced.
The Ten Thousand Beasts Pass.
A gate filled with every dangerous beast the Beast Palace could gather.
To reach the exit, one had to completely tame and control every creature inside.
Otherwise, at each checkpoint, the beasts would attack.
Of course, it was possible to subdue them by force—so long as they weren't killed.
But since Internal Energy couldn't be used, one had to fight barehanded.
However, in the Ten Thousand Beasts Pass, the winner was determined by who reached the exit fastest. Fighting the beasts barehanded would waste endless time.
In the end, only those who had mastered the Control of Ten Thousand Beasts to perfection could claim victory.
—Noe Bi-hon! Enter now!
Noe Bi-hon was the last to go.
The fastest recorded time through the Ten Thousand Beasts Pass was one meal's time—set by Hyeol Cheon-sang, the subordinate of the fourth-ranked Dae Yu-ja, who had mastered the Control of Ten Thousand Beasts to at least the Eighth-Star Attainment.
"This won't work with just food."
Noe Bi-hon grinned and strode into the Ten Thousand Beasts Pass without hesitation.
Dae Gu-hwi turned to Bu Eun-seol with a worried expression.
"Will he be alright?"
The beasts inside the Ten Thousand Beasts Pass couldn't be tamed with mere food—they'd sooner see Noe Bi-hon as food.
"Of course."
Bu Eun-seol nodded firmly.
Noe Bi-hon was no ordinary man. Even if he had lost his strength, he would surely pass through the Ten Thousand Beasts Pass unharmed.
And the sooner his memories returned, the sooner he could deal with the Heir of the Blade Emperor.
The interior of the Ten Thousand Beasts Pass was a long metallic corridor.
Dim Night Shining Pearls embedded in the walls faintly illuminated the structure.
"So there are beasts at every turn."
The passage was wide enough for dozens of people to walk side by side.
And with every step, beasts hidden in the mechanisms would leap out.
Clang!
Just then, from the opposite end, the sound of iron grating echoed as a gate opened—revealing a massive shadow.
It was none other than a house-sized, ravenous giant bear.
The way its eyes reddened and drool dripped from its jaws at the sight of Noe Bi-hon made one thing clear:
This was a man-eating bear, no stranger to human flesh.
Shhh... Shhh...
The bear approached slowly, as if indifferent.
But thick Killing Intent oozed from its body, and its movements were deliberate.
It was biding its time—waiting for the right moment to pounce in a single burst.
Thud!
Before the bear could strike, Noe Bi-hon stepped forward and slammed his palm against its skull in one swift motion.
Boom!
The bear recoiled in shock, leaping back with a startled roar.
Even without his Thunder Essence Divine Qi, he was still the Thunder God who once dominated the martial world.
His body had been tempered through decades of rigorous training, and though his memories were lost, the combat instincts that had felled countless warriors remained.
That was why he could close the distance in an instant and strike the bear's skull with a single blow.
—Groooar!
Enraged, the bear charged at Noe Bi-hon like a beast gone mad.
He swung his fist again, but it was useless.
The bear's fur and hide were nearly three inches thick. No matter how monstrous his strength, bare fists without internal energy couldn't bring it down.
—Ghhhk!
As Noe Bi-hon bled from the claws raking his flesh, the bear grew even more frenzied.
What if this struggle continued?
Eventually, he wouldn't be able to withstand the bear's brute strength—Noe Bi-hon would be reduced to nothing more than live prey.
"Tch."
He moved swiftly, dodging the bear's relentless attacks, but he had no means to counter.
His body was torn open by claws, blood seeping from multiple wounds.
"Haa..."
As the life-and-death struggle intensified, Noe Bi-hon's gaze shifted.
Though his memories were lost, the sight of blood and the brink of death awakened something within him—the visage of the Thunder God.
The bear suddenly halted mid-attack.
It had sensed the overwhelming killing intent and momentum radiating from Noe Bi-hon's body.
Crackle.
At that moment, faint arcs of lightning flickered across his skin.
With his life hanging by a thread, the last remnants of Thunder Essence Divine Qi gathered in his hands.
'One chance.'
Noe Bi-hon stared down at his glowing white hands.
Instinctively, he knew—this was his only opportunity to use this energy.
If he wasted it on just this bear, it would be over.
The Ten Thousand Beasts Pass would remain unconquered.
'Then there's only one way.'
His eyes flashed.
And step by step, he advanced toward the bear.
"This should do."
But his hands didn't strike the bear—they pressed against the metal floor beneath them.
From the faint hum of machinery, this area likely housed the mechanisms that restrained the beasts.
"Haaahp—!"
A thunderous shout erupted from his throat.
And instead of the bear, he unleashed the Thunder Essence Divine Qi into the metal beneath him.
Zzzzt—! THOOM!
At the same time, the bear before him collapsed.
Groooan...
From all directions, the sound of something collapsing echoed.
Every beast within the metal-lined Ten Thousand Beasts Pass had fallen in unison.
"Ugh..."
His body trembled, numb beyond bearing, but he refused to lose consciousness.
Clank.
As he staggered forward, a small door slid open beside the passage with a mechanical whir.
Inside, beasts lay strewn across the floor, motionless as if dead.
Because the entire floor of the Ten Thousand Beasts Pass was metal.
The Thunder Essence Divine Qi had surged through it, knocking out every waiting predator.
Clank.
Finally, Noe Bi-hon stepped outside.
—Waaaah!
Cheers erupted from all directions.
Breaking through the Ten Thousand Beasts Pass in less than a quarter of an hour?
Wasn't this the greatest achievement in the history of the Beast-Taming Tournament?
"The victor—Noe Bi-hon!"
—Waaaah!
The crowd roared once more.
This was an anomaly.
Dae Gu-hwi, who couldn't wield Beast Force, had long been slipping from the succession race, with almost no followers left.
He had never even had a proper subordinate—he was someone destined to fade into obscurity after this Beast Grand Tournament.
Yet now, out of nowhere, he had produced two champions.
—Waaaah!
The cheers continued for a long time.
As if blessing the new future unfolding before Dae Gu-hwi.
Beast Palace, Central Quarters—Dae Gon's Residence
Unlike typical palaces, the Beast Palace Lord's dwelling resembled a massive tent.
A grand carpet stretched across the floor, and beasts roamed freely, resting where they pleased.
True to his title as the Lord of Ten Thousand Beasts, Dae Gon did not adorn himself with opulent architecture.
Instead, he dwelled within this great tent, living among his beasts.
Dae Gon, Lord of the Beast Palace.
His skin was dark as scorched earth, his height towering over eight feet, his frame so massive it seemed five grown men could stand shoulder-to-shoulder within his shadow.
Yet his eyes were clear and sharp, his expression serene.
He looked like a beast of supreme intelligence that had taken human form.
And before him stood Dae Gu-hwi, Bu Eun-seol, and Noe Bi-hon.
Summoned to receive personal commendation for their victory in the Beast Grand Tournament.
Ssshh.
A pair of bestial eyes slid past Dae Gu-hwi and settled on Bu Eun-seol.
At that moment, the light in Dae Gon's gaze deepened.
As their stares locked in the air, the tent seemed to fill with swirling black clouds.
"Palace Lord!"
Unable to bear the suffocating atmosphere, Dae Gu-hwi stepped forward.
"Please, hear me first."
His voice was urgent.
Dae Gon was impossible to read, a peerless expert who had perfected the Beast Path.
A single flick of his hand could snuff out a life in an instant.