Chapter 644
Bu Eun-seol had finished preparing to leave the Martial Alliance.
With the first trial now over, there wouldn't be any further examinations to select the leader of the Heavenly Martial Brigade for some time.
He intended to return to the Demon Hall and take care of the various matters he had postponed.
Arriving in Chengdu by carriage, Bu Eun-seol met with Seo Jin-ha and switched identities.
Originally, as a Hall Leader and a candidate for the Heavenly Martial Brigade's leadership within the Martial Alliance, it would have been difficult for him to continue traveling the martial world for information gathering.
However, Seon-u Jin was in a situation where he constantly had to carry out covert missions assigned by Gongson Dan-gyeong and the Martial Venerable.
Gongson Dan-gyeong had elevated both Seon-u Jin and the Pinnacle Unit in rank, officially recognizing him as an independent Information Warfare Unit under the Grand Strategy Hall.
This meant he no longer had to worry about anyone's scrutiny and could leave the Martial Alliance at any time.
However, since there were no vacancies for Hall Leader positions in the Grand Strategy Hall, his official rank remained that of the Pinnacle Unit's commander.
And his office—the Pinnacle Pavilion in the North Gate Bamboo Grove—remained unchanged.
Creak.
As the gates of the Martial Alliance opened, a carriage adorned with two phoenix-emblazoned banners began its swift departure.
Bu Eun-seol, seated in the Eight Horse Carriage—a privilege reserved only for Martial Alliance Hall Leaders—had set out on his journey through the martial world.
'No wonder people fight tooth and nail to climb the ranks.'
Bu Eun-seol smirked as he glanced around the opulent interior of the carriage.
The Martial Alliance's stipends were somewhat meager compared to those of the Demon Hall, and their ceremonial protocols were lacking.
But from the rank of Hall Leader onward, things were different.
To maintain dignity, stipends doubled, and exclusive carriages and attendants were assigned.
Moreover, simply holding the title of Hall Leader ensured a certain level of respect wherever one went within the orthodox factions.
'Not that I have any use for it.'
Having long ago ascended to the position of successor in the Demon Hall, Bu Eun-seol had already been receiving the highest honors the Demon Hall could offer.
Thus, the ceremonial privileges granted to Martial Alliance Hall Leaders held little significance for him.
'She really went through a lot for this.'
Suddenly, Gongson Dan-gyeong's face flashed through his mind.
'She truly keeps her promises.'
Looking back, she was someone who upheld her word with unwavering resolve.
—No matter what doubts I may harbor, I will not show them. I will support Commander Seon-u unconditionally.
That was the promise she had made in the past.
And from then until now, she had kept it without the slightest wavering.
Even when the Martial Venerable broke trust with his actions, she had done her utmost to fulfill her word.
If not for the lack of a beard,
Gongson Dan-gyeong was a woman of far greater integrity than most men.
'Then my feelings must change as well.'
Clack, clack.
Before he knew it, Bu Eun-seol had arrived in Chengdu and sent the Martial Alliance carriage back.
Then, stopping at a relay station, he switched to an ordinary carriage.
This one was driven by a member of the Death Soul Squad disguised as a coachman.
Ever since an innocent coachman had been caught in the crossfire and killed during the Heavenly Venerable's ambush, Bu Eun-seol had refused to ride in carriages driven by ordinary coachmen.
This way, even if a sudden battle broke out, no innocent civilians would die.
"...!"
But as the carriage continued on its way, a strange sensation prickled across Bu Eun-seol's body.
It was an indescribable feeling—akin to a foreboding premonition.
In that instant, Bu Eun-seol immediately sent out a Thousand-Li Voice Transmission.
[Emergency. So-yo. Leave this area immediately with the unit members. Now.]
The moment his words ended, the disguised coachman—
and So-yo, who had been secretly following, vanished in an instant.
The foremost rule Bu Eun-seol demanded of his subordinates was survival above all else.
And when danger signals arose, they were to retreat without hesitation.
Moreover, Bu Eun-seol had absolute confidence that he could survive any crisis.
Thus, So-yo and the Death Soul Squad member withdrew without a moment's delay.
Clack.
Stepping calmly out of the carriage, Bu Eun-seol faced forward.
Across the vast plains, a black fog had abruptly begun to rise.
A brief moment passed—then, in the distance, something enormous started rolling toward him.
'Don't tell me—'
Bu Eun-seol furrowed his brow.
'There's another spy?'
No matter how capable the Three Realms were, they couldn't have instantly pinpointed his movements and launched an ambush.
But the fact that they had sealed off the area and set a trap meant they had anticipated his movements in advance.
'That's impossible.'
After the Heavenly Venerable's ambush in the past,
Bu Eun-seol had rooted out all the spies within the Demon Hall who were colluding with the Three Realms.
Aside from the Secret Shadow Pavilion's master, there should have been no one left to report his whereabouts.
'No... Could there be?'
In the entire martial world, aside from the Death Soul Squad, there were two people who could track his movements.
The Demonic Heavenly Emperor and the Chief Doctrine Commander.
'The Demonic Heavenly Emperor wouldn't expose my movements to the Three Realms.'
As the undisputed Number One of the Demonic Path and the one who held absolute power over Bu Eun-seol's life and death, the Demonic Heavenly Emperor had no reason to leak his whereabouts to the Three Realms just to set up a shoddy trap.
That left only one suspect.
'The Chief Doctrine Commander.'
A flash of lightning flickered in Bu Eun-seol's pupils.
'Don't think you can brush this matter aside so carelessly.'
Rumble—
By then, the massive object had rolled to within about three hundred feet of Bu Eun-seol.
Surprisingly, it was a massive Beijing Opera stage.
Bu Eun-seol let out an exasperated sigh, utterly dumbfounded.
In the past, the Heavenly Venerable had created a vast, mystical Domain—akin to an immense Boundary Formation—spanning over a thousand feet.
And now, the space where Bu Eun-seol stood also felt strangely severed from the world.
Before his eyes, an impossible, grotesque phenomenon was unfolding.
And the only ones capable of wielding such an ability... were the highest echelons of the Three Realms.
Kwoong—
By then, the enormous wheeled stage had drawn close to Bu Eun-seol.
'This is no illusion.'
Those massive wheels. The stage veiled behind the curtains—astonishingly, it wasn't an illusion but something physically constructed.
Krrrr—
Finally, the Beijing Opera stage halted before Bu Eun-seol, its curtains slowly rising.
Thud, thud—
On the stage stood a small house and yard, with several coffins laid out in front.
A figure wearing the mask of an old man in tattered clothes and another wearing the mask of a boy were meticulously cleaning a corpse.
But then, with a sudden gust, a shadow clad in black appeared before the old man.
He wore a black mask, his eyes dyed crimson.
From his robes to his shoes, everything was black—from a distance, he looked like a dark evil ghost.
As the black shadow appeared, the masked old man trembled violently in fear.
He hurriedly shoved the boy into the house and shielded it.
As if terrified of the black-clad assassin entering the home.
Sssss—
The stage shifted again, and the old man and the black-clad assassin engaged in a duel.
The assassin relentlessly attacked with a razor-sharp sword, but the old man, with his hands behind his back, deflected the blade with just his fingers.
Clang!
Unable to defeat the old man, the shadow retreated and gestured as if speaking for a long while.
As the conversation continued, the old man suddenly extended both arms.
The shadow narrowed his crescent-moon eyes and, without hesitation, severed the old man's arms.
And as if fearing retaliation, he didn't stop at gouging out the old man's eyes—
He drove over a hundred hidden weapons into the fallen old man's back.
Shudder—
Thick veins of rage began bulging on Bu Eun-seol's face.
This single act of theater was showing how his grandfather, Bu Jan-yang, had died.
And these details—
Were things no one could possibly know unless they were the murderer... or someone who had examined his grandfather's corpse.
Kwaang!
As Bu Eun-seol unleashed his Internal Power, the stage before him shattered to pieces.
The masked figures performing on stage flinched in shock and scrambled away in panic.
Bu Eun-seol paid them no mind and strode toward the wreckage.
Kwoong—
There, a shadow enveloped in light stood.
In the past, the Heavenly Venerable had taken the form of a black shadow, but the one before him now was dyed white.
Bu Eun-seol could sense it.
This was the Supreme Emperor—the one who, alongside the Heavenly Venerable, ruled over the Infinite Realm.
[You seem to recognize this one.]
As the shadow playfully nodded its head,
"You..."
Bu Eun-seol's eyes burned with crimson fury.
"Did you kill my grandfather?"
Then, on the shadow's face—
Where eyes should have been, crescent-moon shapes rose like twin moons.
[Indeed.]
The shadow—the Supreme Emperor—grinned, even forming the shape of white teeth.
[This one killed the Seven Fingers Demonic Blade.]
At that moment, the focus in Bu Eun-seol's pupils vanished.
He had finally found the murderer who killed his grandfather.
Kwaang!
With an earth-shattering roar, Bu Eun-seol's body became a flash of light, hurtling straight toward the Supreme Emperor.
Srrring— Kwaaaa!
Simultaneously, the Ink Soul Sword began carving thousands—no, tens of thousands—of slashes into the air.
This was no martial art. No sword technique.
It was sheer will—to erase the murderer before him. It was everything Bu Eun-seol could unleash.
Kwarung! Kwarurung!
In an instant, the area spanning about a thousand feet was utterly scorched.
The Ink Soul Sword, tearing through the void, left behind fleeting violet glows and transparent energy.
At times, black heat haze bloomed, only to be overtaken by surges of crimson radiance.
This was the totality of all the power contained within Bu Eun-seol's body.
And its might surpassed any martial art he had ever displayed before.
Kwaang! Paa!
With every sweep of Sword Qi, the earth caved in, and wherever trees and stones stood, they were flattened into barren ground.
The Supreme Emperor flitted like a specter, evading the onslaught.
But the thousands of Sword Qi slashes Bu Eun-seol had unleashed completely enveloped the area within about three hundred feet of where the Supreme Emperor stood.
Sssshwaaak! Sssshwaaaaa!
At last, the Supreme Emperor, slashed by thousands of Sword Qi blades, vanished as if dissolving into the heavens.
Zzziiing.
Yet, as if it had never happened, he reappeared before Bu Eun-seol's eyes.
Oooong.
A black heat haze bloomed from Bu Eun-seol's entire body.
Having discerned that the Supreme Emperor's white shadow, much like the Heavenly Venerable's, was an existence with a separate physical form—
He prepared to unleash the Extinction Saber Studies, the Bloody Tears Seven Forms, a martial art capable of annihilating all life.
Ssshaaaa!
As the True Life-and-Death Ghost form unfolded, not Sword Rings, but a black Sword Qi vast enough to drown the entire world poured toward the Supreme Emperor.
Everything touched by the Bloody Tears Seven Forms had its vitality extinguished.
Even if it was just a shadow, that energy could bring calamity to the original body.
Sssak! Ssshaaaaak!
Yet, despite being struck by the Bloody Tears Seven Forms, the Supreme Emperor still did not vanish.
Sssik.
A smiling mouth formed upon the Supreme Emperor's shadow.
[The Heavenly Venerable materialized his despair and suffering to deliver death upon others. That is why he died at your hands.]
"..."
[But I am different. I have neither form nor substance capable of delivering death in the first place.]
The Supreme Emperor gazed at Bu Eun-seol and formed a white mouth.
[Bu Jan-yang will weep in the underground.]
The shadow's voice was endlessly light, almost playful.
[The child he risked his life to save... can't even measure up to the tip of his toes with such pitiful skill.]
Shuuuu.
In an instant, all the radiance and energy flowing from Bu Eun-seol's body vanished.
Then, silence fell.
For hundreds of yards around, not a single sound could be heard.
As if the universe had halted its motion, as if time itself had frozen.
Tzzzzt.
Suddenly, a black fog began to rise around Bu Eun-seol's body.
Death, death, death.
The only word repeating in his mind was death.
To annihilate that shadow, the ordinary Bloody Tears Seven Forms would not suffice.
To become a Death God capable of delivering absolute death... he himself had to become death.
In that moment, Bu Eun-seol began crafting a death he could create—yet one he had never experienced before.
A flawless, absolute death.
Gguk, gguk.
From Bu Eun-seol's body, shrouded in black shadows, an endless Killing Intent poured forth.
This was the revenge for his grandfather he had awaited even in his dreams.
Even if he died—even if he had to slaughter every last human in this world—
He had no intention of stopping this revenge.
Chiiiii.
As Bu Eun-seol began entering the Realm of Perfect Death,
Goooooo.
His body darkened, and his infinite Killing Intent coalesced into a black fog, spreading like rolling storm clouds.
"I won't forgive."
Tzzzzt.
The Ink Soul Sword began to crack.
The death Bu Eun-seol had created—
That death, impartial to all, was now affecting not just living beings but even inanimate objects like the Ink Soul Sword.
Kwaaak!
In that instant, an immense death swallowed the Supreme Emperor's body.
Simultaneously, Bu Eun-seol, too, was being dragged into an endless, dark abyss of death.
Yet, from the Supreme Emperor's body, a white light began to shine even more brilliantly within the darkness.
He was enduring the death Bu Eun-seol had unleashed.
"Hahaha."
Suddenly, a low, eerie laugh spilled from Bu Eun-seol's lips.
So this is the Supreme Emperor of the Infinite Realm?
This is the extent of his power in the face of death?
Cowering like a bug, clinging to life, emitting light just to resist the darkness—wasn't that all he was doing?
"You prattle on like some god ruling the world..."
Contempt dripped from Bu Eun-seol's eyes.
"But in the end, you're just another pitiful human, struggling desperately to escape death."
The Supreme Emperor's light flared brighter—but it was futile.
Kuuuung.
His form was sinking deeper into the endless darkness.
No matter what power he exerted, the death Bu Eun-seol had crafted was absolute.
There was no Way Out.
Because Bu Eun-seol himself had no will to live.
If he could avenge his grandfather—
He would sever this worthless life without hesitation.
Ggrrrr.
Bu Eun-seol slowly sank into the black abyss alongside the Supreme Emperor.
At the same time, even the sky darkened, trembling as if struck by an earthquake.
The world shook as if the end had come, black death staining all of existence.
But just as the endless black energy was flowing out of Bu Eun-seol's body—
Zzziiing.
Suddenly, a warm surge of energy erupted near his Great Vertebra Acupoint.
That was the spot his grandfather would always soothe when he was in pain.
Oooong!
As the mysterious energy flowed from the acupoint, the Prajna Great Power within his body instinctively responded.
Light.
And then—
A warm, radiant glow blossomed before Bu Eun-seol's eyes.
The moment he saw that light, Bu Eun-seol recalled his grandfather's benevolent smile.
'Ah... I see.'
Bu Eun-seol, who had been sinking into darkness while being consumed by death, momentarily regained his clarity.
'Grandfather didn't die by the Supreme Emperor's hand.'
The act.
On stage, it had been portrayed as if the old man had hastily pushed the boy into the house.
But reality was different.
Bu Eun-seol hadn't entered the house—he had climbed into the iron coffin at his grandfather's instruction.
No doubt the old man had feared that staying in the house would make them vulnerable to the assassin's wrath.
Though outwardly indistinguishable from an ordinary wooden coffin...
The iron coffin possessed the unique function of suppressing all of Bu Eun-seol's vital signs when he entered for Corpse Game training.
'Most importantly... grandfather's senses cannot be deceived.'
Bu Eun-seol's current extrasensory perception range spanned approximately 1,000 feet.
For a man who once commanded the martial world, his grandfather's range must have been at least three or four times that.
Even the Demonic Heavenly Emperor couldn't have infiltrated Peaceful Burial House undetected under grandfather's watch.
'He didn't witness it.'
The Supreme Emperor hadn't directly observed the events of that day...
He must have reconstructed the scene by examining the scars left on the corpse.
After all, grandfather's remains had been stolen by the Three Realms.
Whoosh.
As this realization dawned, Bu Eun-seol's body—which had been sinking endlessly into darkness—began absorbing light and rising again.
The surrounding scenery came into sharp focus.
'Grandfather was stronger than anyone.'
Bu Eun-seol could state this with absolute certainty.
His grandfather could never have been some mere subordinate of the Twin Celestial Emperors.
Yet grandfather hadn't been enslaved by power—he had lived an ordinary life.
And in the end, he had sacrificed himself to protect Bu Eun-seol.
'I cannot... waste the life grandfather gave me.'
To be consumed by death simply because I couldn't control my rage...
To seek mutual destruction with some Supreme Emperor of the Infinite Realm who didn't even kill the real grandfather...
Such a thing must never happen.
Shoooom!
The light erupting from Bu Eun-seol's body shot straight through the heavens.
The darkness-drenched space gradually began regaining its original form.
And then—the shadow that had been dyed pure white...
From this spectral entity the Supreme Emperor had created, the true form became clearly visible.
The Supreme Emperor's real appearance, which Bu Eun-seol had assumed would resemble the wizened Heavenly Venerable...
Was in fact the visage of a youth bearing an innocent smile.
[How remarkable.]
The Supreme Emperor laughed softly, his voice human-like.
[To escape the stacked layers of the mental world on your own...]
Bu Eun-seol frowned.
He had created his own death, then combined the energy grandfather had instilled in him with the Prajna Great Power within his body.
That light had restored his calm and freed him from power's thrall.
What nonsense was this about "stacked mental worlds"?
[Now I understand everything.]
The Supreme Emperor gazed at Bu Eun-seol with a faint smile.
[It seems our realm was mistaken in its assumptions.]
Bu Eun-seol had no intention of listening to this rambling.
"Who killed grandfather?"
Crimson blood light erupted from Bu Eun-seol's eyes.
"Tell me!"
[This emperor does not know. However...]
The Supreme Emperor continued:
[As you suspected—I didn't witness it directly, only examined the scars on the corpse.]
[Did the Infinite Realm take grandfather's body?]
[Of course not.]
The Supreme Emperor within the shadow smiled faintly.
[Had we possessed it, we would have negotiated extensively with you.]
"Then how did you examine grandfather's corpse?"
[The Returned Ones Realm.]
The Supreme Emperor answered calmly.
[Bu Jan-yang's remains are kept by the Returned Ones Realm.]
Flames seemed to leap in Bu Eun-seol's eyes.
The Returned Ones Realm—recreating past masters by finding identical individuals.
Just as he'd suspected, they had taken grandfather's body.
"Where is the Returned Ones Realm's headquarters?"
[Rather than that question...]
The Supreme Emperor's voice grew quieter.
[Shouldn't you first ask why I came to find you personally?]
"I don't care."
Blood seemed ready to drip from Bu Eun-seol's eyes.
"Who killed grandfather? Where is the Returned Ones Realm's stronghold?"
Clank.
Gripping the Ink Soul Sword, Bu Eun-seol spoke in his coldest tone yet:
"If you won't answer, I'll kill you too."
KABOOM! Zzzzt!
With explosive sounds, violet lightning and transparent energy erupted from Bu Eun-seol's body, shooting skyward.
He had unleashed the full power of his Two Spirit Energies—previously kept hidden.
[So you've obtained the Two Spirit Energies.]
The Supreme Emperor looked impressed yet shook his head.
[But that level of power cannot bring down this realm.]
"Then let me demonstrate by killing you first."
Bu Eun-seol's eyes—now restored to calm—burned like crimson suns.
"When you die, all the rats of the Three Realms will come crawling out."
Bu Eun-seol had resolved himself.
After killing the Supreme Emperor, he would crush every ounce of the Three Realms' power that came against him.
[If you want revenge, you should hear this emperor's words first.]
The Supreme Emperor spoke with utmost gravity.
[You must survive to take revenge.]
Swish!
As the Supreme Emperor extended his hand, the raging Two Spirit Energies around Bu Eun-seol vanished.
No—not vanished, but temporarily suppressed.
"You expect me to listen... after you mocked grandfather's death?"
Crack. Creak.
Eerie sounds spread as wisps of Two Spirit Energies began leaking out.
Bu Eun-seol was breaking through the Supreme Emperor's inexplicable power.