Chapter 671
Murim Alliance, Pinnacle Pavilion.
As Bu Eun-seol attended to various tasks in his office, he gradually began preparing to depart for the Demon Hall.
Baek Mu-seong had completely changed.
No matter what was said to him, he would not listen—and if it meant becoming a Leader, he would not hesitate to kill Bu Eun-seol himself.
'Do I really need to stay in the Murim Alliance?'
Unlike before, his aspiration to become a Leader was slowly fading.
And it wasn't solely because of Baek Mu-seong.
'A place I'll have to leave soon, anyway.'
The Murim Alliance was merely a temporary stop—a place to stay briefly before moving on.
As for the Peak Realm Members, they could simply be reassigned to the Soul-Seeking Unit instead of the Murim Alliance.
One of the reasons he had founded the Soul-Seeking Unit in the first place was to give the Peak Realm Members a place to return to.
'Another major factor is that I still haven't uncovered the connection between the Martial Venerable and the Divine Calculator.'
Ever since joining the Murim Alliance,
Bu Eun-seol hadn't even been able to confirm whether the Divine Calculator was truly the Martial Venerable, let alone meet the Martial Venerable himself.
Moreover, the reasons behind granting him the identity of Seon-u Jin and assigning him those bizarre missions remained unclear.
Even if he were fortunate enough to become the leader of the Heavenly Martial Brigade...
The Martial Venerable possessed both the martial prowess and the authority to execute him at any moment.
After all, the Martial Venerable's martial prowess was said to surpass even that of the Human Demon Ak Mu-ryeong, who was known as the strongest among the Three Demons.
In the end, with so many risks looming...
There was no real need to stubbornly cling to the Murim Alliance.
'Especially with the matter of the Heavenly Sword Society involved.'
Through the Heavenly Sword Society incident, Bu Eun-seol had come to realize something.
The title of Foremost Sage of the Murim and the Gratitude Coin—these sacred relics—
Could be used as tools by the Divine Calculator to manipulate the martial world as he pleased.
Given this situation, even the claim that one of the Seven Great Leaders had murdered his grandfather...
Now seemed doubtful in its credibility.
'Perhaps he senses it too.'
Bu Eun-seol turned his gaze out the window.
The Martial Venerable must have already guessed.
That he no longer felt any reverence for the Murim Alliance.
That he was questioning whether it was truly worth risking his life for the position of Leader.
And yet, the Martial Venerable had shown no particular reaction.
Was it because he was confident Bu Eun-seol wouldn't leave? Or because he simply didn't care if he did?
At this point, no matter how much he pondered, he couldn't find the answer.
'Perhaps it would be better to take the time to merge the intelligence network of the Heavenly Martial Society with the Death Soul Squad and strengthen it further... Wouldn't that grant me intelligence capabilities as formidable as those of a Murim Alliance Leader?'
The Soul-Seeking Unit already had a firm grip on the information flowing from the Ronin Market.
Even if he left the Murim Alliance and lost the Peak Realm Members' intelligence network, this alternative might very well fill that void.
"I need to make a decision."
For Bu Eun-seol, the position of Leader was no longer essential—he had the fallback option of expanding the Soul-Seeking Unit's intelligence network.
There was no reason to stubbornly endure the perilous environment of the Murim Alliance.
Besides, this wasn't the first time he had felt this way.
It was only after his sincere conversation with Gongson Dan-gyeong that he had reconsidered and decided to remain in the Murim Alliance.
But meeting Baek Mu-seong had shaken that resolve once more.
Even if it was now clear that Baek Mu-seong had joined the Three Realms and would become his enemy in the future...
Right now, he simply wanted to relinquish the position of Leader to Baek Mu-seong and leave quietly.
Because, however faintly, he had sensed that Baek Mu-seong's true nature was not evil—that he still harbored some semblance of friendship toward him.
'This is my last chance to leave the Murim Alliance.'
The time to choose had come.
Either remain in the Murim Alliance indefinitely,
Or secretly reassign the Peak Realm Members to the Soul-Seeking Unit and leave the Murim Alliance behind.
'Is there really no other choice?'
Bu Eun-seol let out a sigh.
He had realized that only the option he had always considered as a last resort remained.
The place where the Divine Calculator had summoned him—where the Divine Calculator had made countless traps and mechanisms.
Blood Shaolin.
He would go there and hear the truth about the man known as the Divine Calculator.
Having slipped out of the Murim Alliance, Bu Eun-seol immediately changed his identity to Seol-so and headed for Mount Shaoshi.
With his current martial prowess, infiltrating Shaolin Temple undetected and wreaking havoc was impossible.
But entering Blood Shaolin was feasible.
Because within the Pagoda Forest, an area accessible to visitors, there was a secret passage leading directly into Blood Shaolin.
Upon swiftly ascending Mount Shaoshi, Bu Eun-seol disguised himself as a temple visitor and entered the Shaolin Temple grounds.
Fortunately, his arrival coincided with the period when Shaolin accepted visitors, allowing him to enter without raising suspicion.
'I need to get inside quickly.'
Though the number of visitors had decreased compared to before, the number of warrior monks inside seemed to have grown.
Bu Eun-seol headed toward the Pagoda Grove within the Shaolin Temple grounds with an utterly natural gait.
Tap.
Then, he attempted to activate the mechanism embedded in the base of the pagoda to enter the secret passage.
'It's changed.'
But no matter how much he pressed or shifted the stone fixed beside the pagoda, the passage refused to open.
'Of course.'
Even if they bore no hostility toward him.
A secret passage connecting the Scripture Pavilion and Blood Shaolin had been exposed to a figure from the Demonic Path.
Abbot Dam-jeung of Blood Shaolin, after meeting him, must have either sealed the mechanism entirely or altered its workings.
'No choice.'
At this point, there was no way to uncover another secret passage.
Moreover, unlike before, there were fewer visiting devotees now, making it impossible to move around the inner grounds unnoticed.
If he lingered clumsily, the warrior monks might grow suspicious and swarm him in an instant.
'Wait.'
Just as Bu Eun-seol was about to turn away, his eyes gleamed as he sensed something.
'Perhaps they only blocked the inner entrance.'
The secret passage installed in the Pagoda Grove was vast enough to stretch from Shaolin's underground all the way beyond Mount Shaoshi.
They couldn't have sealed off such an expansive mechanism all at once. It was far more likely they had only tightly barricaded this entrance.
'Then—'
Zzziiing.
Bu Eun-seol immediately drew upon the Willful True Binding, infused with Water Essence Divine Qi.
Then, he spun the energy into an impossibly fine thread and began feeding it into the gaps of the pagoda's mechanism.
Click. Clack.
Slowly, the sealed door of the mechanism began to open.
Just as Bu Eun-seol had predicted, they hadn't completely dismantled the mechanism—only removed the device that allowed the door to open normally.
'Naturally, they wouldn't expect someone to force it open.'
No matter how exceptional a master one was.
No lunatic would infiltrate Shaolin's sacred grounds and boldly use martial arts to pry open a hidden mechanism.
Breaking the door would immediately summon a swarm of warrior monks.
Shaolin must have considered that and simply blocked the door.
'The Willful True Binding truly is a profound technique.'
If Shaolin had known Bu Eun-seol's Emotion Severing Secret Art could refine True Qi into an infinitely thin, tangible form—
They would never have sealed the mechanism so carelessly.
Ssshh.
Forcing the pagoda's connected door open, Bu Eun-seol slipped inside unnoticed.
'Completely changed.'
Upon entering, the passage was utterly empty.
The Scripture Pavilion, once stacked with scriptures, was no different.
Even the weight-measuring mechanism had vanished entirely—no bookshelves, not even a speck of dust remained inside.
'Then—'
Bu Eun-seol passed through the Scripture Pavilion and descended into the underground passage leading to Blood Shaolin.
But that, too, was completely hollow.
The Scripture Pavilion of Blood Shaolin, once crammed with demonic martial manuals, had entirely disappeared.
It seemed that after their headquarters had been exposed to Bu Eun-seol, they had relocated everything elsewhere.
'Then, the Repentance Cave too?'
Within Blood Shaolin, Shaolin secretly operated the Repentance Cave—a prison where Great Demons were held, either for rehabilitation or to prevent the leakage of Shaolin Secret Arts.
Fortunately, Shaolin's plan to rehabilitate the Great Demons had succeeded.
Most of them, except for the Flying Demon Tak Il-hon, had been completely reformed and now lived without any worldly desires.
'I'll check.'
Bu Eun-seol located the deep pit leading to the Repentance Cave and immediately leaped down.
Whoooosh.
The drop spanned hundreds of feet, taking a considerable time just to fall.
As the ground came into view, Bu Eun-seol instantly channeled his Internal Power to lighten his body, then flipped midair and landed gracefully.
"..."
Unlike before, the interior of the Repentance Cave was now filled with nothing but a chilling silence.
'This place too.'
It seemed that, fearing further exposure, they had completely relocated the cave as well.
"No helping it."
His plan to infiltrate Blood Shaolin and extract information from the Divine Calculator had completely fallen apart.
"Not that I expected much to begin with."
Ever since the Divine Calculator had laid a trap here, Blood Shaolin had already been as good as exposed.
Moreover, since they had tested Bu Eun-seol—the Heir of the Demon Hall—here... sealing these places was only natural.
'I'll have to find another way.'
Bu Eun-seol turned to leave the Repentance Cave immediately.
Zzziiing.
But then, an extremely peculiar sensation struck him.
It was akin to intuition.
Swoosh.
Abandoning his exit, Bu Eun-seol slowly advanced deeper into the Repentance Cave instead.
The countless secret martial arts techniques once inscribed on the cave walls had all been completely erased.
Even the prison cell where the Nameless Old Man—who had once faced death at the hands of the Seven Fingers Demonic Blade to protect Grandfather—had been confined.
Had vanished without a trace.
'There's no presence. But—'
Bu Eun-seol thoroughly searched every corner of the Repentance Cave, yet not a single trace of human activity remained.
Zzzing.
Still, he refused to give up and once again drew upon his Water Essence Divine Qi.
Then, he continuously expanded it outward in all directions.
Whoooosh—
As the transparent, pure energy spread, something that had remained hidden until now—
A secret branching path within the cave—revealed itself.
'Only Blood Shaolin could have done this.'
Among Shaolin's Seventy-Two Supreme Arts, there were no spell techniques, and naturally, they would never employ the methods of the Heterodox Side Path or Evil Demonic Heresies.
But Blood Shaolin—if it meant gaining strength, they would not hesitate to modify their bodies or master even demonic arts...
So it wouldn't be strange if they had used Esoteric Ritual Arts.
Crunch, crunch.
Stepping into the hidden passage, a long corridor that had been invisible until now came into view.
And as he ventured deeper inside, an enormous iron gate of staggering thickness appeared.
Groooan—
When he pushed open the gate and entered, a spacious stone chamber lay before him.
There, chained by thick shackles that pierced through his shoulders, was the figure of an old man.
It was none other than Dam-jeung, the abbot of Blood Shaolin.
"Abbot."
Startled, Bu Eun-seol immediately rushed forward and began tearing away the heavy chains binding him.
Having been imprisoned for so long, Dam-jeung's complexion was deathly pale, his pulse so faint it seemed on the verge of vanishing.
He was dying, his life force nearly exhausted.
Huuung.
Without hesitation, Bu Eun-seol channeled Reverse Polarity True Qi into his Life Gate Acupoint.
With a soft exhale, Dam-jeung slowly opened his eyes.
"So you've come."
Dam-jeung showed no surprise upon seeing Bu Eun-seol.
Even as he teetered on the brink of death, a serene smile graced his lips.
"What in the world happened?"
"What happened? I merely received the punishment I deserved."
"Punishment? What crime did you commit?"
"I gave you one of the scriptures kept in our temple, didn't I?"
Dam-jeung smiled faintly.
"Not a single speck of dust from Blood Shaolin is permitted to leave its confines."
Dam-jeung had secretly kept one of the scriptures that Grandfather Bu Jan-yang had once read—and later passed it on to Bu Eun-seol.
To Bu Eun-seol, it was merely receiving a memento of his grandfather.
But to Dam-jeung, it was the unforgivable crime of leaking one of Shaolin's sacred scriptures to the outside world.
"your tendons were severed and you were starved to death—just for passing on a single book?"
Bu Eun-seol couldn't suppress his fury.
"Is this the true face of Shaolin, which claims to be founded on mercy?"
"Didn't I tell you? Blood Shaolin is separate from Shaolin. Unless Shaolin itself is in danger... we cannot interfere."
Dam-jeung smiled weakly, as if it were nothing.
"I was well aware of the consequences."
For a moment, a strange thought crossed Bu Eun-seol's mind.
"Don't tell me—you weren't punished by others. You inflicted this upon yourself?"
"I had already prepared myself for it."
Dam-jeung spoke as if it were trivial.
"No matter how evil they were, this humble monk set up a mechanism to let them die—all for the sake of testing you."
His voice was calm.
"Blood Shaolin may be capable of anything, but if we commit wrongdoing, someone must take responsibility, no?"
Dam-jeung had allowed evil men to be killed in order to test Bu Eun-seol... and now, he was bearing the weight of that sin.
"Moreover, it was this humble monk who permitted the mechanism to be set up in the first place."
A glint of realization flickered in Bu Eun-seol's eyes.
If that was the case—then the countless traps the Divine Calculator had once laid within Blood Shaolin...
Were those not installed with the permission of the Shaolin abbot, but rather by Dam-jeung's own unilateral decision?
"Blood Shaolin modifies the bodies of evil men to enhance their martial arts, doesn't it? And yet, Blood Shaolin is being punished for killing those same evil men?"
"Modifying evil men was done to advance Shaolin's martial studies. But testing you—that had nothing to do with Shaolin's interests, did it?"
If it was to protect Shaolin, if it was to strengthen Shaolin—then Blood Shaolin would do anything.
But testing Bu Eun-seol had nothing to do with Blood Shaolin's duty as Shaolin's shield.
In the end, it seemed Dam-jeung had no choice but to accept this punishment.
Yet Bu Eun-seol shook his head.
For some unknown reason, Bu Eun-seol instinctively sensed that Dam-jeung's words were not the truth.
"Surely you haven't taken the blame for sins committed by Shaolin itself?"
"Amitabha."
Dam-jeung let out a hoarse exhalation and shook his head.
"This temple has done no wrong. If there was any wrongdoing, it was all committed by this humble monk alone."
With those words, Bu Eun-seol became certain—something had gone terribly wrong within Shaolin.
But he was an outsider.
Dam-jeung would never divulge Shaolin's secretive affairs to him.
"Why did you conduct such a test? Was it under the Divine Calculator's coercion?"
Bu Eun-seol spoke with a pained expression.
"Did you truly need to go this far, knowing full well what would happen?"
"Heavenly Darkness Star."
Dam-jeung's voice was barely above a whisper, yet it was unnervingly clear.
"He said the probability that you were the Heavenly Darkness Star was exceedingly high."
Bu Eun-seol's expression went blank.
He had merely assumed the Divine Calculator had been meticulously analyzing his temperament and personality.
But in truth, the man had long suspected that Bu Eun-seol might be the Heavenly Darkness Star.
And all of Blood Shaolin's trials had been to confirm whether or not that was true.
"And he convinced this humble monk that the truth had to be verified at all costs."
'So the Chief Strategist's words were true.'
Then that meant—
Just as Gongson Dan-gyeong had said, the Martial Venerable undoubtedly possessed the ability to divine Heaven's Will.
"Just who is the Divine Calculator?"
Though Bu Eun-seol already suspected the Martial Venerable and the Divine Calculator were one and the same, he asked again.
"Who is he, that he could force such a thing upon you, Abbot?"
"You already know the answer, do you not?"
With that response, Bu Eun-seol finally heard the answer to the question that had plagued him for so long.
The Divine Calculator.
He was the Martial Venerable—and the title of Foremost Sage of the Murim was yet another of his identities.
"He said something else."
Dam-jeung's gaze dimmed gradually, as though his life force were flickering out.
"That you were never truly of the Demonic Path... but rather, a great benefactor to Blood Shaolin, including this abbot..."
And then he delivered the most shocking revelation of all.
"...That you are the son of Baekri Mu-ha—the man who was falsely accused of being the Heavenly Darkness Star and unjustly executed."
Thud.
The impact was so overwhelming that Bu Eun-seol's vision darkened.
"What are you saying? That Baekri Mu-ha was framed as the Heavenly Darkness Star?"
In his faint memories, he had only ever recalled a face and a voice.
But now he knew for certain—Baekri Mu-ha was his father. And upon learning the truth of his death...
The rage and loss of reason he felt surpassed even what he had experienced upon witnessing his grandfather's death.
"Baekri Mu-ha... my father... was falsely accused of being the Heavenly Darkness Star, the one who would bring about Murim's destruction?"
"Indeed."
"Who killed him?!"
Dam-jeung looked at Bu Eun-seol with fading eyes.
Then, mustering the last of his strength, he spoke one final sentence.
"Even this monk does not know. But if you wish to learn the truth of his death..."
Sensing his life slipping away, Dam-jeung forced his lips to move one last time.
"Find Jeong Cheon-je."
"He's dead."
Bu Eun-seol responded urgently.
"He passed away long ago and was entombed beneath the Martial Alliance headquarters in the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Jade Coffin. Isn't that why the Martial Venerable has been acting as the Alliance Chief?"
"He's dead?"
Dam-jeung's expression twisted grotesquely as he struggled to keep his drooping eyes open.
"Jeong Cheon-je... is very much alive."
"How is that possible? It's been ten years already since his death!"
"Ten years?"
Dam-jeung blinked weakly, then lifted his fingers as if counting.
"This humble monk met him just two years ago..."
But his words never reached completion.
His life finally extinguished, his eyes flew wide open—and then all movement ceased.
Thump.
His hand fell limply to the ground.
Dam-jeung, who had begun as Blood Shaolin's Lecturing Monk...
Who had witnessed the Absolute Demon Saber Project with his own eyes...
Who, after his fellow disciples were slaughtered by a mysterious faction, became Blood Shaolin's abbot and pursued their killers...
Who ultimately fell prey to the Divine Calculator's schemes, committed grave sins, and endured countless torments in an attempt to atone...
Had finally met his end.
Thud.
Bu Eun-seol collapsed to his knees.
A part of him wanted to use any means necessary to revive Dam-jeung and hear the full story.
"Jeong Cheon-je is alive... and he knows the truth behind my father's death."
His pupils were unfocused.
Could it be that Jeong Cheon-je had killed his father—and suffered fatal injuries in the process?
And then, while in secluded closed-door cultivation, was ambushed by an agent of the Three Realms?
"No... Jeong Cheon-je isn't the culprit."
If his father had been murdered by Jeong Cheon-je...
Dam-jeung would have had no reason to mince words—he would have outright named him.
There would have been no need to phrase it as "the truth of his death."
And most importantly...
Jeong Cheon-je wasn't dead at all.
He was alive and well.