Chapter 702
'No. This is that bastard's scheme.'
Seon-u Jin's signature martial art lies in the sword, and his epithet "Sword King" is well-earned given his mastery of Sword Studies.
Hadn't it been said that he even defeated Seok Chi-haeng, the Fist King—who had long been compared to him—with a single stroke of his sword technique?
Though he himself had revealed that he obtained the Martial Emperor's secret transmissions, he had never once properly demonstrated the Martial Emperor's martial arts.
'He must have studied my martial arts for a long time.'
Seon-u Jin was a figure whose wisdom was as exceptional as his martial prowess.
Him unleashing fist techniques like a water ghost might very well be a ploy to draw out his opponent's trump card.
Only to then strike them down in an instant with his exquisite Sword Studies.
'Don't get agitated. Even if this drags on, it doesn't mean I'll lose.'
Yuk Jang-cheon suppressed his rage and responded calmly.
—Was the Hall Master Yuk's martial reputation merely empty fame?
As Bu Eun-seol and Yuk Jang-cheon's close-quarters combat dragged on, the watching martial artists wore expressions of disbelief.
How could Yuk Jang-cheon, a master of Fist and Palm Learning, fail to defeat Seon-u Jin, who primarily used sword techniques?
—Or had he neglected his martial training all this time?
Yuk Jang-cheon had ascended to the ranks of the Four Gods and Seven Kings over twenty years ago.
Ambitious as he was, he had gathered those who followed him or shared deep ties, forming a martial alliance called the Nine Heavens Society.
But in the end, he was betrayed, and the organization was dissolved in disgrace.
Yet he rose again, resilient as a roly-poly toy.
At Yuk Cheong-a's suggestion, he rejoined the Martial Alliance, becoming the Hall Master of the Hall of Ascending Martial, and entered a second golden age.
Amidst the shifting tides of the Martial Alliance's atmosphere, he guided the younger generation and mingled with others.
But had his martial arts regressed because he grew complacent in peaceful times and neglected his training?
—The level of this duel is disappointing.
Even the Martial Alliance's senior officials watching from the stands couldn't hide their disappointment.
Battles between masters either display exquisitely refined martial arts or unleash terrifying, transcendent techniques of unimaginable might.
But the duel between Seon-u Jin and Yuk Jang-cheon right now was nothing but crude and brutal.
For a clash between masters who had both risen to the Seat of the Four Gods and Seven Kings, wasn't their performance somewhat underwhelming?
Swoosh! Thud!
Sweat had already begun trickling down Yuk Jang-cheon's forehead as he poured on the attacks.
He repeatedly tried to create distance and unleash his Cloudfire Palm, but Bu Eun-seol had no intention of letting him.
And the fact that this situation was possible at all... was proof that Bu Eun-seol's fist techniques were no less formidable than his Cloudfire Palm.
However, only a few of the Martial Alliance's senior officials on the platform were at a level where they could appreciate such martial prowess.
From most of the martial artists present, disappointed sighs could be heard.
'Did I underestimate this bastard too much?'
After becoming the Hall Master of the Hall of Ascending Martial, he had focused more on building connections with the Alliance's senior officials than on honing his martial arts.
Because the Martial Alliance was a place that ran on hierarchy, seniority, and connections.
Desperate to climb higher, he had fully adapted to the wilderness that was the Martial Alliance.
'They must think my martial arts have regressed.'
But that was a misconception on the part of the martial artists.
Yuk Jang-cheon had never forgotten.
To survive in the wilderness of the Martial Alliance, one needed their own weapon from the very beginning.
He had never once forgotten that and had continued to train his martial arts.
But because he practiced in secrecy and humility, few knew of his relentless dedication.
'And despite all that effort, this greenhorn has caught up to me?'
Yuk Jang-cheon bit his lip.
'That can't be.'
Finally resolving himself, he drew up his Body Protection True Qi to its limits.
He deliberately took a punch from Bu Eun-seol to widen the distance, intending to unleash his Cloudfire Palm once more.
Boom!
With an explosive sound, Yuk Jang-cheon took a punch to the shoulder on purpose and quickly retreated.
Though the strike wasn't enough to pierce his Body Protection True Qi, he staggered as if he had been hit.
'Good.'
Suppressing the pain, Yuk Jang-cheon prepared to deploy his Cloudfire Palm.
But there was one thing he had misjudged.
Bu Eun-seol had not only reached an extraordinary level in martial arts—his movement techniques were also peerlessly elusive.
Swoosh!
In an instant, Bu Eun-seol closed the distance again and resumed his close combat barrage.
"You bastard!"
Yuk Jang-cheon finally let out a furious roar.
But whether he did or not, Bu Eun-seol didn't stop, relentlessly pouring out fist techniques.
Throughout his travels in the martial world, Bu Eun-seol had fought countless strong opponents with his life on the line.
Among them were even those stronger than Yuk Jang-cheon.
And after the occurrence of Limitless Equal Enlightenment, as if they had been waiting—
One superlative martial expert after another emerged to threaten his life.
Because of this, since stepping into the martial world, Bu Eun-seol had never taken a single day off from training.
Even while eating, he pondered the principles of martial studies, and even while sleeping, he meditated on martial techniques.
If Yuk Jang-cheon was an ancient treasure sword that had long been renowned throughout the martial world,
Bu Eun-seol was a divine blade meticulously maintained and honed daily by a master blacksmith.
When the two clashed, the outcome was as clear as day.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Bu Eun-seol deliberately—
—employed a relentless barrage of crude, unsightly close-combat techniques.
The moment a fist strike was unleashed, he would rake with his nails, slam his body forward, or even deliver a headbutt without hesitation.
Outwardly, it appeared grotesque.
Yet the timing and execution of his martial forms were terrifyingly precise and swift, forcing Yuk Jang-cheon to stagger backward repeatedly.
—Is that really the Palm King's skill?
—How could the Palm King, a master of Fist, Palm, and Finger Arts, be overwhelmed by the Sword King's brawling techniques?
Hearing the murmurs of the martial artists, Yuk Jang-cheon felt as though his head would explode from rage.
His martial arts had not regressed.
It was simply that Bu Eun-seol's skill was so advanced—
—he could conceal his forms entirely.
But only a handful of masters could discern this truth... which meant most martial artists only had scathing words to offer.
—Is this really the martial prowess of one of the Four Gods and Seven Kings?
—All he does is buy favor with influential martial artists. Did he even buy his position among the Seven Kings?
Murmur, murmur.
Now, they weren't even whispering—they were openly mocking him.
As the relentless jeers of the martial artists filled his ears, Yuk Jang-cheon's fury became unbearable.
If judged purely on fist techniques alone—
—Bu Eun-seol's Seven Forms of the Fist Demon could never withstand Yuk Jang-cheon's Cloudfire Sword-Seal Palm.
But clinging to him like a water ghost—
—biting and tearing like a rabid dog in extreme close quarters, stubbornly refusing to yield—
—the battle dragged on without resolution,
—only tarnishing the long-standing prestige of Yuk Jang-cheon.
'Why should I hold back at this point?'
Finally resolving himself, Yuk Jang-cheon drew out his internal power to its absolute limit.
His goal was not to lead the Heavenly Martial Brigade—but to become the next Alliance Leader.
The reason he had trained his martial arts so rigorously—
—was to forge an Ultimate Art capable of overwhelming the other leaders when the time came.
He had kept it hidden all this time because, once revealed, he could never use it against them again.
But now, with his reputation crumbling in this disgraceful battle, he could conceal it no longer.
Rumble, rumble...
As Yuk Jang-cheon unleashed his full power, the entire martial stage trembled violently.
Screeeech—
Simultaneously, Bu Eun-seol's body was forced backward on its own.
The overwhelming energy radiating from Yuk Jang-cheon's body repelled him instantly.
Clink... clink...
Then, with a metallic resonance, hundreds of spherical lights rose around Yuk Jang-cheon's body.
They were Palm Orbs—something only achievable after three centuries of internal power cultivation.
BOOM!
But that was not the end.
With a deafening roar, the orbs suddenly transformed into a single stream of energy, surging upward into a radiant beam connecting heaven and earth.
This was the purest essence of Yuk Jang-cheon's lifelong palm techniques.
He had named it—
—the Palm Line.
This single beam of light contained his life's accumulated power—
—and the perfected essence of his palm arts.
No method existed to block or shatter it.
"If you can withstand this... you win—"
Yuk Jang-cheon's words never reached their conclusion.
Before he realized it, a strange sword qi had already coiled around his body.
—How can sword qi remain suspended like that?
—Could Commander Seon-u's sword technique have reached the realm of Still Section and Motionless Action or Quiet Movement and Motionless Stillness—where sword qi can be unleashed unbound by time?
Bu Eun-seol smiled faintly.
He hadn't suddenly ascended to such a realm.
This sword form was merely a feint—
—a deceptive Unorthodox Sword Move called Praise and Blame in Equal Measure, designed to disrupt the completion of an opponent's technique and enrage Yuk Jang-cheon at the exact moment he arrogantly prepared to unleash their full power.
—The Hall Master loves to posture, so he'll deliberately draw out his final technique, flaunting its might before execution.
Bu Eun-seol had already dissected Yuk Jang-cheon's personality down to the bone.
And just as Yuk Jang-cheon assumed his Starting Stance to unleash the Palm Line—
—Bu Eun-seol sensed it was his real attack and immediately countered with Praise and Blame in Equal Measure,
—instantly severing his attack.
"Your windup was too long."
Bu Eun-seol transmitted his voice silently.
"It's been too long since you fought a master of similar strength in a life-or-death battle. That's why you resorted to such a shoddy technique."
The time Yuk Jang-cheon spent gathering energy to flaunt his Palm Line—
—was, in truth, only a fleeting instant.
But to Bu Eun-seol, who had spent years battling the strongest in mortal combat, it felt like an unbearably tedious eternity.
Shudder.
Yuk Jang-cheon's body trembled violently.
The Palm Line he had created was a one-strike-kill technique—once unleashed, it could neither be dodged nor blocked.
But in his eagerness to flaunt its might, he had drawn out the Starting Stance with excessive grandeur.
And Bu Eun-seol, not missing that opening, had wrapped himself in Sword Qi before the Palm Line could even fully form.
'Like this, he can't unleash the Palm Line's full power.'
Kukukuku.
The energy gathered in Yuk Jang-cheon's hands was already enough to shatter Mount Tai itself.
It radiated a momentum as vast as the towering peaks.
Even the martial artists who had been sneering at him until now abandoned their contempt, staring at him in awe.
—Wrong.
But the true Masters among them already knew the duel's outcome had been decided.
To unleash a strike with the Thunderous Weight of Ten Thousand Jun, one's body and mind must become one.
It required a full-powered, unreserved attack.
Yet Yuk Jang-cheon, having lost the initiative, was now clouded by distraction.
And the Sword Qi Bu Eun-seol had deployed would swallow most of the force he could unleash.
In the end, Yuk Jang-cheon had no choice but to lose.
Shudder.
Even with the power to annihilate everything condensed in his palms,
Yuk Jang-cheon could only tremble, unable to release the Palm Line.
'Have I... become a frog in a well?'
The Palm Line wasn't a technique born from desperate battles against formidable foes.
It was something he had devised alone, while striving to elevate his status and authority within the Martial Alliance.
And so, against a superlative expert like Bu Eun-seol—who had fought across countless life-or-death battlefields—
he had failed to realize that his drawn-out Starting Stance was entirely mismatched.
"Hall Master. Let's stop here."
Zzzzing.
Bu Eun-seol withdrew his Sword Qi.
Then, with a regretful expression, he approached Yuk Jang-cheon, who stood frozen.
"Fighting any further would be pointless, I think."
For an instant, Yuk Jang-cheon's eyes flashed.
The moment Bu Eun-seol stepped forward, the Sword Qi enveloping him vanished—revealing hundreds of openings in his stance.
'Your arrogance has sealed your fate!'
The match wasn't over yet.
And yet, Seon-u Jin had walked toward him, unguarded.
BOOM.
Yuk Jang-cheon struck Bu Eun-seol's chest with all his might.
It was as sudden as an ambush.
And the Palm Line was a Secret Art capable of annihilating anything.
In the end, Bu Eun-seol couldn't evade it—he was sent flying to the edge of the Martial Arts Stage.
"Pfft—!"
A spray of crimson blood burst from Bu Eun-seol's lips.
Struck by the Palm Line in an unguarded, defenseless state, every bone in his body must have been shattered.
Only death awaited him now.
Murmur, murmur.
The clamor from the spectating martial artists grew louder.
Even if the match hadn't been fully decided, Bu Eun-seol's attempt to help his opponent like a victor was—
as a martial artist—a reckless act.
But how could a senior of the Martial Alliance seize that moment to ambush him?
Considering his position and standing, even beyond his candidacy for Leader—
it was a pettily cunning move.
"Will you admit defeat?"
Yuk Jang-cheon spoke sternly to the bleeding Bu Eun-seol, ignoring the crowd's murmurs.
"Without immediate treatment, you will die."
"I'll continue."
Wiping the blood from his lips, Bu Eun-seol drew his sword.
"Good."
Yuk Jang-cheon seized the opportunity, relentlessly pouring out Palm Energy.
As if determined not to lose the initiative again, he unleashed his Palm Technique at full power.
But then—something strange happened.
The man who should have been on the verge of death from severe internal injuries—
now had vitality surging through his face, and divine light overflowing from his eyes.
'He tricked me.'
Yuk Jang-cheon realized Bu Eun-seol had deliberately exposed those openings.
'But how?'
No matter how many times he replayed the moment in his mind—
the Palm Line had struck Bu Eun-seol's body.
So how could he still fight in such perfect condition?
Even if he had used the Vajra Indestructible Body Art, surviving a direct hit from the Palm Line was impossible.
'That clothing.'
Only then did Yuk Jang-cheon notice the torn fabric near Bu Eun-seol's chest—slanted at an angle.
'From the start, he was using a sword technique meant to be struck.'
The Sword Qi Bu Eun-seol had deployed was a feint.
In truth, Praise and Blame in Equal Measure was a variation of the final stroke of the Iron Sword Thirteen Forms—Returning Heaven and Restoring the Sun.
Returning Heaven and Restoring the Sun was the pinnacle of Deflect Flowers and Receive Jade, a Sword Stroke capable of redirecting all force.
It was a Sword Study that wrapped the body in gentle Sword Qi to evade enemy attacks.
Of course, that alone couldn't fully disperse the Palm Line's might.
But by utilizing the mysteries of transformation and point control with over five centuries of internal energy, he had made his body like a rubber ball submerged in water—
The overwhelming force of the strike had been completely deflected.
In short, it was a life-or-death performance built upon sword mastery and internal energy pushed to its absolute limit—all to expose Yuk Jang-cheon's wretched depths to the martial artists watching.
But Yuk Jang-cheon, unable to grasp this truth, could only shudder in horror.
'Just how high has this bastard's martial arts reached?'
As uncontrollable distraction took hold, his limbs grew unsteady, and he unleashed a flurry of incomplete strikes.
Worse, he had already gambled his dignity on a dishonorable ambush to seize the advantage.
If he lost now, there would be no place left for him to stand.
'No. Absolutely not. That must never happen.'
Yuk Jang-cheon tried to steady his mind.
Yet, in the depths of his heart, he already knew.
Every plan he had laid had crumbled. There was nothing left he could do.
In this life-and-death battle, he felt nothing but utter despair.
Thud!
Then, Bu Eun-seol—having spotted an opening—deflected his iron-hard palm with his sword.
Swish.
Before Yuk Jang-cheon could react, the razor-sharp tip of the blade was already pressed against his throat.
'He had refined his sword techniques to this level?'
Yuk Jang-cheon's expression went blank.
Why hadn't he used such techniques from the start?
A single stroke like this—one that exploited openings with surgical precision—could have decided the match instantly.
Hmph.
When their eyes met, Bu Eun-seol silently sheathed his sword. Then, he looked at Yuk Jang-cheon with pity.
Pity for the man who had once founded the Nine Heavens Society, only to be betrayed by his own comrades.
Pity for the miserable future that awaited him.
'He won't be able to endure it.'
Bu Eun-seol knew.
A man who had lived his entire life clinging to pride and self-respect—what would happen when, in his final moments, he was pitied by his enemy?
And this was Bu Eun-seol's final move—the one that would send Yuk Jang-cheon plummeting into an abyss with no return.
BOOM!
With a deafening blast, Bu Eun-seol was sent flying like a severed kite, for thirty feet.
Yuk Jang-cheon, his reason shattered, had unknowingly unleashed another burst of palm energy straight into Bu Eun-seol's chest.
For a moment, deathly silence filled the martial stage.
"I..."
Only then did Yuk Jang-cheon regain his senses. He looked around.
The gazes of the martial artists watching him were all icy.
Even the elders of the Martial Alliance—those who had once fervently wished for him to become their leader—now stared at him with frozen contempt.
Turning his head, Yuk Jang-cheon looked at Bu Eun-seol.
Though clutching his bleeding chest, the faintest smile lingered on his lips.
From the very beginning, he had been an opponent beyond Yuk Jang-cheon's reach—in both martial arts and the realm of the mind.
The moment he had stepped onto this stage, he had already been ensnared in a web, struggling in meaningless defiance.
"Heh... heh heh..."
Finally realizing everything, Yuk Jang-cheon suddenly burst into laughter.
"Hahaha!"
That laughter carried depths of despair and resignation too profound to measure.
"Hahahaha!"
His ceaseless, wretched laughter was so harrowing it sent chills down the spines of all who heard it.
"Seon-u Jin."
Yuk Jang-cheon nodded at Bu Eun-seol.
"I admit defeat."
With those final words, he turned away.
The light in his eyes was utterly extinguished as he walked off the stage, his back to the crowd.
It was over.
He had bared his true self before the entire Martial Alliance.
There was no place left for him here.
'Elder Yuk. Did you never foresee this ending?'
Though Yuk Jang-cheon departed in the most pitiable state—almost crawling on all fours—Bu Eun-seol felt not a shred of sympathy.
He had sworn long ago.
To raise Yuk Jang-cheon to the heavens—only to send him crashing down in the most wretched manner possible.
That was why he had never revealed the incriminating evidence he had gathered while working under him.
Instead, he had allowed Yuk Jang-cheon to reach the final trial—to make him believe that defeating both Bu Eun-seol and Baek Mu-seong would secure his position as leader of the Heavenly Martial Brigade.
And he had analyzed Yuk Jang-cheon relentlessly, studying every lingering regret in his heart.
Betrayal and pity.
Those were the two things he could never endure.
So Bu Eun-seol had orchestrated this not as a duel, but as a performance—one that destabilized his spirit, provoked him, and drowned him in rage and despair.
Not cutting down the enemy with a blade, but destroying their spirit without lifting a finger—just like the methods of the Demonic Heavenly Emperor.
And just as he had sworn, he had raised Yuk Jang-cheon high into the sky, let him soar—
Then sent him plummeting down in an instant.
"The victor is Seon-u Jin, Commander Seon-u!"
As Paeng Jong-heon's declaration rang out—
"WAAAAAH!"
Cheers erupted from all directions.
A new-generation member of the Four Gods and Seven Kings had defeated one of the old.
The era of the Four Gods and Seven Kings had officially passed to the next generation.
Now, only two candidates remained—Baek Mu-seong and Seon-u Jin.
One of these two new-generation grandmasters would be chosen—an unprecedented upheaval in the history of the Martial Alliance.