Chapter 552
"How?"
Heonwon Dam-cheong blinked, his voice trembling with disbelief.
For a swordsman who had lived his entire life with a blade in hand, this was utterly incomprehensible.
Could Bu Eun-seol have truly broken through the Extreme Heaven Realm?
'No... That boy hasn't reached the Heavenly Human Domain.'
When one transcends the Extreme Heaven Realm, orthodox martial artists are either showered with the energy of the Dharma Heaven Golden Immortal or attain the Golden Summit Divine Body.
Demonic Path practitioners, on the other hand, either retain the aura of a Demon God's visage or gain the World-Destroying Black Spirit God's physical form.
Yet Bu Eun-seol displayed none of these four phenomena.
Moreover, his martial prowess clearly remained within the Extreme Heaven Realm.
'No... Could it not be the Extreme Heaven Realm at all?'
Heonwon Dam-cheong was bewildered.
Upon closer inspection, something was rising from Bu Eun-seol's body.
But it was neither the energy of the Dharma Heaven Golden Immortal nor the aura of a Demon God's visage.
Nor was it the Golden Summit Divine Body or the World-Destroying Black Spirit God's form.
An indescribable, grotesque energy—
A monstrous, patchwork body, its true nature impossible to discern.
"What are you doing right now?"
Heonwon Dam-cheong's voice shook as he spoke.
"What in the world are you cultivating?!"
"I don't know."
"You don't know?"
"I'm simply walking the path I must take."
After a brief silence, Bu Eun-seol shifted the topic with an indifferent expression.
"I believe I've deciphered the Sword Principle and Sword Force of the Nature Sword."
"What?"
"Now, would you switch to the opening stance? I'll dismantle the Nature Sword's Sword Stroke."
Heonwon Dam-cheong's face went blank.
"Dismantle... the Sword Stroke?"
"Wouldn't that complete the dismantling of the sword technique?"
Crack.
Heonwon Dam-cheong clenched his fist.
'If I don't kill him here, I'll never have another chance.'
If Bu Eun-seol were allowed to continue like this, there would come a time when even if he wanted to kill him, he wouldn't be able to.
"If you wish, you may also unfold the Myriad Forms One Style. I wouldn't mind."
As if reading his thoughts, Bu Eun-seol spoke calmly.
"I would never resent you for it."
Heonwon Dam-cheong stared intently at Bu Eun-seol.
His gaze was as clear as the autumn sky reflected in a well, devoid of any discernible emotion.
'How could I possibly make such a decision?'
That was Heonwon Dam-cheong's last shred of pride.
The original promise had been the dismantling of the Nature Sword.
If he broke that promise and launched an attack, he would deserve to be called not the Sword Sovereign, but the Fallen Sovereign.
"Fine."
Whoosh—
At that moment, a gentle wind brushed against Bu Eun-seol's body.
Though invisible, it was a sword technique.
It resembled an impossibly tangled thread, or perhaps a chaotic geometric pattern.
Thousand Changes, Myriad Transformations.
The Nature Sword's Sword Stroke could shift into anything, embodying the power of the Great Nature itself.
It was, in every sense, a perfect Sword Stroke.
'Ah...'
Bu Eun-seol finally understood.
Having grasped the method to dismantle the Nature Sword's Sword Stroke, he drove the Ink Soul Sword into the ground.
Then, he closed his eyes.
Ssshh—
In that instant, hundreds of wounds appeared on Bu Eun-seol's body.
Blood dripped steadily, yet not a single one was fatal.
In the end, Bu Eun-seol—
Simply by standing still—had flawlessly dismantled the Nature Sword's Sword Strokes.
"How?"
Heonwon Dam-cheong's eyes widened.
He no longer had the strength to be shocked, nor the energy to shout.
"How... in the world did you dismantle this sword form?"
Bu Eun-seol answered plainly.
"Wouldn't it be impossible for a human to execute a perfect Sword Stroke?"
The Nature Sword's form was perfect.
The problem was that the human wielding it was not.
An imperfect being attempting to manifest perfection inevitably introduced flaws.
Thus, there had been no need to dismantle the sword form at all.
By merely standing still—
The Nature Sword's form had simply brushed past him.
"Hahahaha!"
The Sword Sovereign, Heonwon Dam-cheong, let out a hollow laugh.
In truth, he had known this all along.
Ever since creating the Nature Sword—
After three years of arduous training, he had realized that no human could execute this sword form.
A grandmaster who had reached the pinnacle of swordsmanship had wasted three years—yet this young man had grasped it in just three days.
"What are you?"
Heonwon Dam-cheong's voice was thick with confusion.
"Just what the hell are you?!"
"I don't understand the question."
"At this point, the Limitless Equal Enlightenment should have already begun!"
He shouted as if unable to comprehend.
"Why is your martial prowess still confined to the Extreme Heaven Realm? Why haven't you stepped into the Heavenly Human Domain?"
"I don't know anything about the Martial Extremity Realm or whatever."
"What?"
"I simply didn't want to walk the same path as others."
Bu Eun-seol spoke flatly.
"That's why even the Pavilion Lord stopped teaching me."
Heonwon Dam-cheong looked at him as if he were a monster.
"You didn't want to follow the path others walked? So what? Did you create a new realm or something?"
"I don't know that either."
Bu Eun-seol shook his head and murmured.
"It's just... the so-called martial realms are merely concepts created by others. I wish they would all just... disappear."
—"Martial realms are merely concepts created by others..."
Heonwon Dam-cheong's face darkened.
Since the dawn of the Murim, who had dared to say such a thing? What grandmaster had ever entertained such an insolent thought?
"So? You suppressed the Limitless Equal Enlightenment?"
"I don't know what I suppressed."
"Limitless Equal Enlightenment! Didn't you ever experience light emanating from your body or something rising in your mind?"
Bu Eun-seol searched his memories.
Now that he thought about it, when he first manifested Harmonization, he had experienced something like that.
"Now that you mention it, I suppose there was something like that."
"And then?"
"But it felt like I was just copying someone else... So when I resolved to choose the path I wanted to forge myself, that light vanished."
"You madman, you absolute madman! At your age, you kicked away the chance to reach the Martial Extreme Realm? Are you out of your mind?"
Heonwon Dam-cheong pounded his chest in frustration, as if his anger might burst forth.
"At your age, you could have reached the Heavenly Will Realm—something no one in martial history has ever achieved! And you just threw it away?"
"Heavenly Will Realm or whatever..."
Bu Eun-seol replied with a disinterested expression.
"That's just another realm someone else made up, isn't it?"
Heonwon Dam-cheong's eyes widened.
'What kind of lunatic...?'
He finally realized it.
Bu Eun-seol was a madman unlike any other in the world—one whose thoughts defied all conventional reasoning.
"Madman. You're completely insane."
Any martial artist would dream of nothing more than ascending to a realm where they could look down upon the entire martial world.
But this lunatic before him had manifested Limitless Equal Enlightenment—the key to reaching the Martial Extreme Realm—and yet...
He had callously kicked away that precious opportunity and was now walking some absurd, uncharted path.
"Now that I've dismantled all your sword forms..."
Bu Eun-seol confidently extended his hand.
"Give me the Gratitude Coin."
In the end, he had used Harmonization to evade the power of the Nature Sword and discerned that the sword strokes were incomplete.
Thus, he had shattered the Sword Sovereign's Nature Sword Form—something no one had ever dismantled before.
And he had done so flawlessly, leaving no room for argument.
"Even if you dismantled the Nature Sword, I fully intended to kill you."
Heonwon Dam-cheong spoke with utmost gravity, his voice heavy with honesty.
"Because if I left you unchecked, the Demonic Martial World would unfold."
Bu Eun-seol had stepped beyond the Extreme Heaven Realm, treading a new and bizarre path no martial artist had ever walked.
Where he would end up, no one knew.
What kind of power he wielded, no one understood.
And whether he could fully unleash it, no one could say.
Thus, in terms of pure martial prowess...
Bu Eun-seol could not defeat Heonwon Dam-cheong, who had reached the Martial Extreme Realm.
Meaning, if Heonwon Dam-cheong truly wished it, Bu Eun-seol would have no hope of escaping death.
"Then why didn't you kill me?"
"Because you don't desire the Demonic Martial World."
"..."
"In all of martial history, no one your age has ever manifested Limitless Equal Enlightenment. Reaching the legendary Heavenly Will Realm wouldn't be just a dream for you, and yet..."
Heonwon Dam-cheong wore a hollow expression.
"What kind of madman who kicks that away without hesitation would ever establish a Demonic Martial World? You're just going to wreak havoc across the martial world, achieve whatever it is you want, and then vanish without a trace."
When Heonwon Dam-cheong instantly grasped his nature, Bu Eun-seol smiled faintly in admiration.
"Instead of wielding a sword, you should have laid out a divination mat, old man."
"Madman."
Heonwon Dam-cheong retrieved the Gratitude Coin from his robes.
"Take this, but I have a request."
Having lost the wager, Heonwon Dam-cheong had no right to impose conditions.
So he called it a request instead.
"Speak."
"If you truly are the grandson of the Seven Fingers Demonic Blade... don't turn your back on the martial world."
In the past, he wouldn't have understood those words.
But now he knew.
The Seven Fingers Demonic Blade had not been a killing star of the Demonic Path.
He had helped countless people, and his actions had been part of a scheme to save the martial world.
"By any chance, do you also know about the Absolute Demon Saber Project?"
According to Dam-jeung, the abbot of Blood Shaolin, everyone who knew of the Absolute Demon Saber Project had been assassinated.
If the Three Realms could assassinate even an abbot surrounded by Shaolin's three thousand disciples, there was no reason they couldn't kill the Sword Sovereign, who wandered the martial world alone.
Still, he asked just in case.
"I think I've heard of it somewhere."
Heonwon Dam-cheong stroked his chin.
"Back then, the prophet Mo-ryun spouted some nonsense, because of which the Orthodox Murim planned something under that name."
He eyed Bu Eun-seol suspiciously.
"But how do you know about it?"
Bu Eun-seol took a deep breath.
In the end, Heonwon Dam-cheong only knew that Bu Jan-yang had been a righteous man.
As for the Absolute Demon Saber Project, it seemed he had merely heard of it in passing.
"I also happened to hear that such a thing existed. Since I don't know anyone else who might know, I thought I'd ask."
Bu Eun-seol swiftly changed the subject.
"I won't use the Gratitude Coin for anything evil, so you needn't worry."
"Hmph."
As the Sword Sovereign handed over the Gratitude Coin, Bu Eun-seol clasped his hands together in delight.
"Thank you."
Bu Eun-seol accepted the coin.
In the past, the Divine Calculator had said he didn't know the exact identity of the person who killed his grandfather.
Meaning, even if he tried, he wouldn't be able to uncover the murderer.
Now, he intended to hear about Baekri Mu-ha.
"Take care, old man."
Without hesitation, he turned away.
Heonwon Dam-cheong watched him go, then muttered under his breath.
"What a pity."
Attempting to walk a new path...
Though it might leave a profound impact on future generations...
It was like abandoning a well-paved road and stubbornly driving a carriage through a muddy swamp instead.
"To forsake a path that could lead you swiftly to greatness and instead struggle through a place that isn't even a road..."
Then, as a thought crossed his mind, he shook his head.
"No, perhaps not."
Perhaps it was precisely because he walked a new path that he had achieved such formidable martial prowess so quickly.
Upon finally reaching the destination,
one might even ascend to heights no one has ever reached before.
"The rear waves of the Yangtze push the front waves."
It meant that the later generations surpass those who came before.
Once, the Sword Sovereign had dominated the murim.
But now, he had become a figure of the past, and a new era of rising talents was dawning.
Having obtained the Gratitude Coin, Bu Eun-seol immediately sought out Heavenly Escape Ridge as promised with Mu-gyeol.
Though he now had the chance to uncover the truth of his origins, his expression remained dark.
'I still don't know what schemes he's plotting.'
When he had met Mu-gyeol, Bu Eun-seol could sense it—
that the Divine Calculator, too, was someone trying to pull his strings and manipulate his fate.
What if he had never intended to hand over the Gratitude Coin?
Would he have even revealed that the Sword Sovereign was at Ten Thousand Immortals Peak? Would he have instructed Mu-gyeol to test Bu Eun-seol's martial arts?
—If you spout nonsense, I'll cut your head off without hesitation.
That was what Bu Eun-seol had told Mu-gyeol back then.
And he had meant every word.
If, in this exchange, the Divine Calculator gave vague answers or showed even the slightest hint of trying to control him—
even if it meant abandoning the identity of Seon-u Jin, even if it meant facing defeat—
Bu Eun-seol had resolved to stake his life and fight the Divine Calculator.
Tsk, tsk, tsk!
Upon arriving at Heavenly Escape Ridge, an endless plain stretched before him.
A maddening gale howled across the land, and the sky had turned murky.
The atmosphere was as if the apocalypse had descended.
Crunch, crunch.
Bu Eun-seol walked forward, but no one was visible in this vast expanse.
Yet he could feel it—
that somewhere in this boundless plain, someone was watching him.
But because they had reached the pinnacle of martial arts,
they could conceal themselves even in a single gust of wind, even in a scattering of fallen leaves.
Whoosh!
Then, from the distant sky, a man clad in white descended through the air with the Sound of Breaking Air—none other than Mu-gyeol.
"Where is the Divine Calculator?"
At Bu Eun-seol's question, Mu-gyeol smiled faintly.
"He is already here."
Whoosh!
In an instant, Bu Eun-seol's pupils dilated sharply, and a transparent energy surged from his body.
He spread the heightened senses of the Way of the Beast to its limits, attempting to detect the Divine Calculator's presence.
'It's not working.'
The Divine Calculator was a figure suspected to be Jeong Cheon-je, the Righteous Heavenly Emperor. No matter how much Bu Eun-seol sharpened his senses, he couldn't even detect a trace of the man's presence, let alone his whereabouts.
"And let me make one thing clear beforehand," Mu-gyeol spoke up.
"My master said that since this matter is entirely at your insistence... he will only answer the question you ask and then depart."
In other words, there would be no prolonged conversation like before.
"Do you accept this?"
The Divine Calculator had already guessed that Bu Eun-seol was filled with resentment and fury toward him.
That was why, before retrieving the Gratitude Coin, he had Mu-gyeol confirm this condition once more.
'Thorough, aren't you?'
Truthfully, aside from questions about his grandfather and father, there were countless things Bu Eun-seol wanted to ask.
Why had the identity of Seon-u Jin been created? What exactly did the Divine Calculator want from him? And was the Divine Calculator truly Jeong Cheon-je?
But the Divine Calculator had made it clear—he would answer only the question asked and engage in no further conversation.
"Fine."
Though frustration simmered within him, Bu Eun-seol nodded.
"Then let it be so."
"Good."
Mu-gyeol extended his hand.
"He asks that you hand over the Gratitude Coin."
"So he won't even show himself?"
"Indeed. The master will speak to you through me."
Bu Eun-seol furrowed his brow.
If the man wanted to hide, there were plenty of better places.
So why had the Divine Calculator summoned him to this wide-open plain? And why insist on speaking through Mu-gyeol?
Thud.
Bu Eun-seol tossed the Gratitude Coin to Mu-gyeol.
Mu-gyeol caught it and spoke calmly.
"He says you may now ask your question."
Bu Eun-seol took a deep breath.
"Have you still not found the exact culprit behind my grandfather's murder?"
"He says that is correct."
Mu-gyeol continued without pause.
"He instructs you to ask something else."
Bu Eun-seol exhaled slowly.
Aside from matters concerning his grandfather, there was only one thing he needed to ask the Divine Calculator about—
Baekri Mu-ha.
With just one question, Bu Eun-seol had to extract as much information as possible about this man.
'Then there's only this question left.'
After steadying himself, Bu Eun-seol cut straight to the core.
"The enigmatic master known as the Murim's First Beauty—Baekri Mu-ha."
His voice was low, deliberate.
"Tell me everything you know about him."
Baekri Mu-ha's true identity had never been properly revealed.
Some speculated he was the Emperor's hidden illegitimate child.
Others claimed he was the disciple of the Greatest Expert Within the Palace, Sang-gwan Bi, and he was the first person to open the Imperial Palace Treasury.
But if the Divine Calculator knew the truth?
This single question could unravel everything about Baekri Mu-ha in an instant.
"Baekri Mu-ha was..."
Mu-gyeol's lips parted.
And what followed was an answer so shocking, so utterly unexpected—
"The descendant of the legendary Baekri Clan, the most peerless genius of his era... and the successor destined to dominate all Three Realms."
Thud.
Bu Eun-seol felt as if darkness had swallowed his vision.
The successor of the Three Realms.
The enigmatic master once called the Murim's First Beauty...
Had been the heir of the Three Realms?
Did that mean he was the son of the Three Realms' successor?
Stagger—
Bu Eun-seol swayed on his feet.
Nausea rose in his throat, threatening to make him vomit.
The Divine Calculator did not lie.
If the Murim's First Beauty, the enigmatic master Baekri Mu-ha, had been the successor of the Three Realms—
Then he, by blood, was the son of that successor.
—...If you abandon your strength, even discard this demonic sword, how will you face them? The Three Realms can no longer protect you.
Suddenly, the memory he had recovered upon obtaining the Thunder Essence Divine Qi resurfaced.
A conversation between Father and some unknown personage surfaced in his mind.
So did that mean Father—even as the Successor of the Three Realms—had willingly shed his own Internal Power and even cast aside his Beloved Sword?