Chapter 533
Bu Eun-seol's eyes narrowed.
'They said this was an ultimate battle formation—one where the only way to break free is to destroy every last silver shield.'
Once the Silver Shield Formation was deployed,
it was known to be absolutely inescapable, with the sole method of dismantling it being the complete destruction of all the shields.
The problem was that the shields were forged from a blend of dark iron and dark gold, making them harder than any weapon.
Moreover, due to the formation's internal energy, any martial arts techniques or weapons wielded within it would have their power drastically diminished.
Because of this, no matter how great a master one was, once trapped inside the Silver Shield Formation, they would inevitably exhaust all their strength and be subdued.
Whoosh—
As the Silver Shield Formation activated, the surroundings—even the sky, which had been tinged with blue—began to drown in a near-white silver hue.
'So this is the greatest battle formation of the Martial Heaven Unit.'
Originally, Bu Eun-seol had intended to use a fierce assault to shatter the formation before it could fully deploy.
But now that he was facing such an intricate formation firsthand, his competitive spirit and warrior soul blazed to life.
'I'll break it.'
Swoosh—
He lightly swung his sword, but no sound followed.
It seemed the formation's internal energy even blocked sound.
'It's like being trapped in a viscous liquid. Is that why martial techniques lose their power?'
Inside the Silver Shield Formation, a sticky force flowed, greatly reducing the effectiveness of movement and martial arts.
Shink!
At that moment, a cold blade abruptly shot toward the nape of Bu Eun-seol's neck.
With both sound and sensation completely cut off, his Way of the Beast did not activate.
But his body, honed to a state near Six Senses Communing with Spirit, and the countless life-and-death battles he had fought—
allowed Bu Eun-seol to evade the blade through sheer instinct.
Slash! Slash! Slash!
Then, six more blades suddenly thrust out from both his sides.
Clang—!
Bu Eun-seol immediately swung his sword to deflect the attacks and cut down his enemies.
But his blade merely sliced through empty air, filled with white light—the Martial Heaven Unit members were nowhere to be seen.
'In the end, I have to destroy the shields.'
Bu Eun-seol clicked his tongue.
The Silver Shield Formation, the greatest battle formation of the Martial Heaven Unit—one of the Seven Great Battle Corps—
completely suppressed even the Way of the Beast, perfectly concealing the positions and presence of the unit members crouching within.
If Bu Eun-seol were to ascend within the Martial Heaven Unit, these shields would eventually be passed down to new soldiers.
But what if he destroyed them?
The shields were crafted by Gye Muk, once called the Divine Craftsman. But he was no longer in the martial world, meaning the Silver Shield Formation could never be deployed again.
The Martial Heaven Unit's martial prowess would plummet in an instant.
'People can be replaced, but I didn't want to destroy the shields.'
Sshhk!
Just then, Bu Eun-seol sensed the sharp movement of a sword piercing toward the back of his head.
Flash—!
At the same time, his own sword erupted with a brilliant white light—
Thud.
A severed wrist, still gripping a sword, fell to the ground.
Timing his strike to the movement of the unit member extending his blade within the formation, Bu Eun-seol had used Caged Bird Longing for Clouds to slice off the man's wrist.
Flash—!
Once more, radiant light bloomed from Bu Eun-seol's sword.
With a crack, the body of a unit member hiding behind a shield was split clean in half.
Again, Bu Eun-seol had detected their presence, channeled his internal energy, and cleaved through both shield and soldier in a single stroke.
Hiss—!
As the shield was split, white smoke rose from Bu Eun-seol's sword, the blade glowing red-hot.
The Martial Heaven Unit's shields possessed properties nearing the Grand Perfection of Divine Swords and Treasured Sabers—
and forcing his way through them like this was putting immense strain on his weapon.
'So this is what the Seven Great Battle Corps are capable of.'
Bu Eun-seol was struck anew by the leaders' formidable abilities.
At the time, Jo Cheon-wang had possessed sword techniques superior to Bu Eun-seol's.
But in truth, Jo Cheon-wang's true talent lay not in swordsmanship, but in battle formations.
And it was because of this that he had risen to become the leader of the Martial Heaven Unit.
Crash! Crash!
Bu Eun-seol poured his internal power into his sword and cleaved through three shields.
Slash—!
The red-hot blade, nearly melting from the heat, severed three unit members in a single stroke.
Yet the Silver Shield Formation still did not collapse.
Slash! Slash!
The unit members weren't idle either.
Using the formation's power, they relentlessly unleashed sword techniques, carving thin blood lines across Bu Eun-seol's body.
This wasn't because their martial arts had reached some lofty realm, but rather due to endlessly drilling their battle formation's functions alongside relentless training in exploiting openings.
'Unless I destroy every last shield, no matter how profound my martial techniques may be, I'll never overcome this.'
Having reached this conclusion, Bu Eun-seol—
Click.
—took a moment to regulate his breathing and drew up his internal power.
Having realized that the formation couldn't be broken through martial artistry alone, he now sought to shatter it with raw power.
Huuuung. Huuuung.
But then, a low vibration resonated from his waist.
The sword's hilt grew searingly hot as if burning, and wasn't that... the strange resonance of a blade?
'Thunder Essence Divine Qi?'
This was astonishing.
The sword resonance flowing from the Slaughter Demon Blade seemed to stimulate Bu Eun-seol's Thunder Essence Divine Qi, almost as if demanding its release.
'I see. With Thunder Essence Divine Qi, I can subdue them without breaking the shields.'
Yet a chilling thought struck him instantly.
The Slaughter Demon Blade only revealed its true nature and demanded the Two Spirit Energies when facing demonic blades or formidable foes.
Otherwise, it had never resonated or displayed any will of its own.
So why would it suddenly resonate now, urging him to unleash Thunder Essence Divine Qi in this situation?
'Does this blade possess its own will?'
Demonic blades and divine swords were known to have spiritual nature.
But he'd never heard of one that could consciously select and demand specific energies from its wielder like a sentient being.
'No time for this now.'
Without hesitation, Bu Eun-seol channeled Thunder Essence Divine Qi into the Slaughter Demon Blade.
Zzzzt.
A violet radiance erupted from the blade's surface as an unfathomable energy current began swirling around it like a whirlwind.
The Slaughter Demon Blade, now concentrated with Thunder Essence Divine Qi, resembled a crackling bolt of violet lightning.
Crack! Zzzzt-crack!
As he began striking the silver shields with the electrified blade—
"Argh!"
"Ugh!"
—the warriors maintaining the Silver Shield Formation started screaming.
When the Thunder Essence Divine Qi penetrated through the shields, it felt like molten iron searing through their meridians.
Nerves went numb and muscles began convulsing uncontrollably.
Clatter. Clatter.
Finally, a chorus of agonized groans erupted as the unit members dropped their shields one after another.
Gradually, the Silver Shield Formation began collapsing, and the previously bleached surroundings regained their colors.
"Ugh... ugh..."
Around the broken formation, Heavenly Martial Brigade warriors who'd dropped their shields wore expressions of pure torment.
—What in the world...?
Gwa Geuk-cheon's pupils lost focus as he watched his men fall in an instant.
Within the Silver Shield Formation, one's presence became completely concealed.
Moreover, the shields were made of a special alloy that could withstand even external force techniques like the Mountain-Passing Bull Strike.
What kind of martial art could possibly defeat shield-bearing warriors—whose shields even treasured swords couldn't break—in a single move?
"We bear no grudges nor debts between us."
Click.
Planting the Slaughter Demon Blade into the ground, Bu Eun-seol addressed the fallen warriors.
"Let's end it here."
Shudder.
Every Heavenly Martial Brigade warrior trembled.
They were originally fearless fighters.
But when their meridians nearly burned away from Thunder Essence Divine Qi that seemed beyond human capability—
They completely lost their will to fight, hanging their heads in defeat.
"What do you think you're doing?!"
Crash!
Just then, Gwa Geuk-cheon—who'd been commanding the formation—slammed his sword into the earth.
"If you turn your backs on a demonic leader and flee, how dare you still call yourselves warriors of our brigade?!"
The warriors flinched at his roar.
Being a warrior of the Martial Alliance didn't bring great wealth or immense authority.
Their pride lay solely in protecting the orthodox Murim.
If they lost that, they could no longer call themselves Martial Alliance members—no, not even Heavenly Martial Brigade warriors.
Grit.
Having steeled their resolve, the warriors picked up their shields again, eyes flashing.
"So honor and pride matter more than lives?"
Bu Eun-seol's voice dripped with contempt.
"Or is sending your subordinates to their deaths a commander's duty?"
When facing an unbeatable foe—
Fleeing to survive was the natural choice.
Yet these orthodox warriors considered such basic instinct nothing but disgrace.
"Enough of your nonsense!"
Gwa Geuk-cheon advanced toward Bu Eun-seol, his eyes bloodshot.
"You may be able to kill us, but you will never break the pride of warriors belonging to the Heavenly Martial Brigade!"
"Pride, you say."
A desolate stillness swirled in Bu Eun-seol's pupils.
"So you willingly sacrifice your subordinates' lives to protect a worthless emotion?"
"What could a demonic spawn like you possibly know of a warrior's dignity?"
Gwa Geuk-cheon gnashed his teeth as he roared.
"The moment you forced Jo Hall Master into retirement, you forfeited any right to share the same sky as our brigade!"
"I see."
In the Martial World, grudges could only be settled with death.
Recalling the ruthless laws of the Rivers and Lakes, Bu Eun-seol gripped the Slaughter Demon Sword and nodded.
"Come at me."
"Attack!"
Crack!
At Gwa Geuk-cheon's command, the warriors of the Heavenly Martial Brigade leapt into the air as one, unleashing a torrent of sword qi.
It was a suicidal opening strike—one that disregarded their own lives, intent only on slaying the enemy.
Whoooosh—
The cascading sword qi was like an unavoidable downpour, impossible to evade or block.
Originally, Bu Eun-seol had planned to execute the Bloody Tears Seven Forms, granting them a painless death in one swift motion.
But as he watched the rain of sword qi, the transformations of Sword Laughs at Xuanyuan—those he had witnessed in the Pratyekabuddha Hall—suddenly flashed through his mind.
In that instant, time froze.
Thoughts faster than light streaked through Bu Eun-seol's mind.
Could over more than three hundred transformations be condensed into a single stroke?
If I were to gather the terrifying variations of that lethal sword form into one... would that brutal technique not instead scatter like millions of dazzling starlights?
Or shimmer like dewdrops catching the morning sun, coalescing into a single, radiant brilliance?
Or perhaps, like a rainbow painted across a clear sky... could it not spill forth in countless hues?
—No. Impossible.
The Sword Laughs at Xuanyuan manual was missing its final principle.
No—even if it had one, unleashing so many transformations in a single stroke would be impossible without freezing time itself.
Such a sword stroke could only be executed by an immortal like Master Gwangseong.
Then... should I not simply wield the sword techniques of a mortal, using only the transformations I know?
As his focus returned, time resumed its flow—and hundreds of sword qi rained down before him.
A faint glow flickered along the Slaughter Demon Sword in his grasp.
The light gathered at the blade's tip, condensing into translucent sword qi before spreading across the entire weapon.
The most ever-changing sword form Bu Eun-seol had ever witnessed was Dan Cheong's Sword Art—a technique that produced one hundred and eight transformations in a single stroke.
And by applying Dan Cheong's Sword Art...
The countless transformations of Sword Laughs at Xuanyuan in his mind began weaving through the air as one hundred and eight geometric patterns.
Fwoosh!
The patterns erased the Heavenly Martial Brigade's sword qi in an instant, then surged skyward—
Illuminating the world like a dazzling firework display.
Whoooosh—!
Then, the light descended as millions of starlights, pouring back toward the earth.
That moment felt eternal, as if the entire world had been dyed pure white.
Shhh—
Before he knew it, the light vanished, and Bu Eun-seol lowered his sword.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
A silence as profound as death settled over Smoke Moon Valley.
And from the bodies of the Heavenly Martial Brigade members, blood flowed like a river.
He had merely applied the transformations of Sword Laughs at Xuanyuan through Dan Cheong's Sword Art.
Yet with a single stroke, he had cut down every last warrior of the brigade.
Drip... drip... drip...
Sinisterly crimson blood trickled all the way to Bu Eun-seol's feet.
For a moment, his gaze darkened to an extreme degree.
This was the blood of warriors who had thrown away their lives to protect their pride—blood steeped in honor.
But in his eyes, it was nothing more than the bloody tears of fools who had snuffed out the candlelight of life... for nothing.
Swish.
When he raised his head, he saw Gwa Geuk-cheon—drenched in blood, trembling.
"Are you satisfied?"
Bu Eun-seol gazed down at him with pitch-black eyes.
"Did death preserve your honor?"
"..."
"Are you proud? For driving your precious subordinates to their deaths over petty pride?"
Gwa Geuk-cheon had intended to roar back defiantly.
—You were the one who killed them all!
—This is all your fault!
But when he met Bu Eun-seol's cold, motionless gaze, his body trembled like an aspen leaf.
The truth was, he had already known this outcome would unfold.
Bu Eun-seol was a master capable of defeating Jo Cheon-wang—he should have fled.
If he truly wanted vengeance, he should have faced him alone without sacrificing his innocent subordinates.
"You... are a demon."
Staring into Bu Eun-seol's eyes, clear as a lake yet darkly sunken in gloom...
Gwa Geuk-cheon could no longer endure the guilt surging within him.
"Even in death, I will curse you."
Gripping his sword in reverse grip, he drove it with all his might into his own stomach.
Clang!
But his blade was sent flying skyward.
Bu Eun-seol had flicked his Finger Wind, deflecting the sword.
"Live."
Bu Eun-seol's icy voice cut through the air as he spoke to Gwa Geuk-cheon.
"Remember the faces of the subordinates who died by your choice. Remember the blood they shed."
Thud.
Gwa Geuk-cheon collapsed to his knees, his eyes vacant.
Before he knew it, his hair had turned stark white, and his face had aged as if decades had passed in an instant.
At last, he realized he did not even deserve death.
He would have to live the rest of his life in regret, drowning in torment.
Stagger, stagger.
Gwa Geuk-cheon stumbled away, leaving Smoke Moon Valley behind.
Ptui.
The moment he was gone, Bu Eun-seol spat out the blood he had been holding back.
A clotted mass of blood, hard as a pebble, flew from his lips.
Sword Laughs at Xuanyuan.
When he had executed the sword strokes while recalling the incomplete technique's transformations, his qi and blood had been completely thrown into disarray.
That such a counterforce could injure Bu Eun-seol, who had reached the Sixth Layer of the Reverse Extreme Inner Method...
The sheer might of the complete Sword Laughs at Xuanyuan was beyond estimation.
"You're not a Messenger of the Three Realms?"
At that moment, the Demon Swordsmith approached Bu Eun-seol, who stood tall despite his condition.
"What do you mean?"
"I thought you were one of the Three Realms' people."
Wiping the blood from his lips with his sleeve, Bu Eun-seol frowned at the swordsmith's words.
"Are you saying the title of Martial Soul Lord allows one to become a Messenger of the Three Realms?"
"Of course."
The Demon Swordsmith's eyes were filled with despair as he spoke.
"To those of the Three Realms, status and position mean nothing. No matter how lofty their station, they can discard it without hesitation—and reclaim it just as easily."
Bu Eun-seol gave a faint nod.
Hyeokryeon Eung, once the Hall of Protectors' master in the Demon Hall, had also been the Royal Tutor of Prince Wei's Residence.
And when his true identity was exposed, he cast those titles aside without a second thought.
Which meant—
He had the confidence to forge such identities anew whenever he pleased.
"But why did you suddenly conclude I'm not one of them?"
"The sword."
The Demon Swordsmith exhaled a turbid breath before answering.
"Because you carry a demon sword, yet you don't harbor its energy within your body."
'If someone like him is certain this Slaughter Demon Sword is a demon sword... then there must be something I don't know.'
"Does this look like a demon sword to you?"
"Hmph. You might deceive ghosts, but not these old eyes."
The Demon Swordsmith smiled faintly as he pointed at the Slaughter Demon Sword.
"I, who have spent my life handling divine swords and demon blades—did you think I wouldn't recognize that dull gleam, that faint trace of demonic energy?"
'So that's it.'
As a master blacksmith who had spent his entire life crafting weapons—
He must have sensed the minuscule traces of demonic energy even Bu Eun-seol couldn't perceive.
'Well, if it's a demon sword, then it is what it is.'
In the sense that it made demands, the Slaughter Demon Sword could indeed be called a demon sword.
'Which means, under the identity of Seon-u Jin, I can't wield this blade.'
So far, he hadn't been exposed—
But there was no telling when another expert like the Demon Swordsmith might detect that faint demonic energy.
In the end, as the Martial Alliance's commander, he could not openly carry this Slaughter Demon Sword.
"Then, are you saying those of the Three Realms cannot wield demon swords?"
"Those of the Three Realms are all consumed by greed. When such people hold a demon sword, they inevitably absorb its demonic energy into their bodies."
The Demon Swordsmith's voice was firm with conviction.
"But you—despite carrying a demon sword, you show no signs of its influence... meaning you lack greed and desire. At the very least, you're not one of them."
"There's no such thing as a person without greed."
"Even if they exist, they're rare. Rare enough to resist a demon sword's temptation."
"Fine, let's say that's true."
Having vaguely grasped the swordsmith's circumstances, Bu Eun-seol pressed further.
"Seeing as you know of the Three Realms, I take it they were the reason. The reason you left the Demon Hall for the Martial Alliance."
"Correct."
The Demon Swordsmith's face twisted in pain.
"They demanded the impossible of me."
"What did they demand?"
"To forge the weapons once used by the Forgotten Ones."
"The Forgotten Ones? You mean ancient masters lost to time?"
"In a sense, yes."
A sudden, ominous premonition struck Bu Eun-seol.
The Demon Swordsmith, whose expertise lay in crafting demonic weapons—why would they demand he recreate the arms of past masters?