Chapter 876
'Too fast.'
Feeling something amiss, Bu Eun-seol glanced out the window once more.
But when he looked outside, it wasn't the martial artists of Ghost King Valley rushing toward him—instead, the villagers were swarming this way in droves.
Their pupils burned crimson, and their hands gripped sharp sickles and blades.
"After we showed you kindness!"
At the village entrance, Chief Jang Pyeong—as if he had already discerned Bu Eun-seol hiding in the shrine—shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Why did you destroy our Sacred Land?!"
"Sacred Land?"
Bu Eun-seol, dumbfounded, pushed open the shrine door and slowly stepped out.
"You call this place a Sacred Land?"
"Of course!"
Jang Pyeong roared with fury.
"That is the Sacred Land where we offer prayers to the god who safeguards our village's health!"
In an instant, Bu Eun-seol's gaze turned sharper than ever.
Though the energy flowing through Ghost King Valley had drained all the strength from his body,
his ability to perceive the depths of a human's spirit and mind remained intact.
After observing Jang Pyeong's eyes, expression, and voice, he immediately grasped the man's true intentions.
"You know the full truth."
"..."
"That this isn't a place for prayer—it's where the villagers' Essence Blood is extracted."
Jang Pyeong flinched in shock but stammered out a denial.
"What nonsense are you spouting?"
"So the village chief incited the villagers with talk of a plague... and took the lead in helping Ghost King Valley's martial artists extract their Essence Blood?"
Jang Pyeong tried to lie.
But the moment he met Bu Eun-seol's blazing crimson eyes, he found himself unable to conceal his emotions any longer.
"What does it matter?!"
His face twisted as he spat the words.
"In return, Ghost King Valley provides us with Spirit Medicine and Spirit Pills!"
"Those Spirit Medicines and Pills are nothing but tools to drain your Essence Blood. Your vital energy never recovers."
"What does that have to do with anything?!"
Jang Pyeong's reply was incomprehensible.
"The outside world is a hell where greedy people claw at each other to survive! But here, under Ghost King Valley's protection, we can live happily!"
Bu Eun-seol let out a disbelieving laugh.
"You call this happiness? Watching innocent children suffer in agony?"
"If they were in the outside world, those children would've starved to death before turning five or six or been exploited by wicked men!"
Jang Pyeong declared proudly.
"But here? They only lose a little blood. With the Spirit Pills, they can live happily, can't they?"
Bu Eun-seol's eyes swept over the elderly surrounding him—
including Jang Pyeong—and he let out a deep sigh at the gleam in their pupils.
At first, he had assumed Jang Pyeong, like the others, had been brainwashed by Ghost King Valley, rendering him incapable of sound judgment.
But now, he understood clearly.
The elderly of Ghost King Village
were sacrificing the children purely for their own comfort and self-preservation.
"You're all old enough that you no longer need to offer Essence Blood, so you can live in peace."
Contempt flickered in Bu Eun-seol's eyes as he regarded Jang Pyeong and the other elders.
"While you consider it only natural for the young to suffer."
These greedy elders and their chief
had traded the younger generation's lives for their own comfort and safety.
"Enough of this!"
Jang Pyeong bellowed.
"Do you think you're the first outsiders we've dealt with?!"
In this territory of Ghost King Valley, neither Internal Energy nor any other power could be used.
In contrast, the villagers of Ghost King Village had long consumed miraculous Spirit Pills,
granting them strength and stamina rivaling that of Murim Masters. Some of the younger ones had even learned fragments of the martial arts manuals bestowed upon them.
Though they lacked Essence Blood, that only affected their lifespan.
If they truly attacked, martial artists who couldn't wield any power would be easily crushed.
"Strike them down!"
Just as Jang Pyeong raised his sickle high—
A sound like rushing water erupted, and from the throats of the elderly villagers surrounding Bu Eun-seol, fountains of blood sprayed forth.
Bu Eun-seol was a Grandmaster of Martial Arts, intimately familiar with the techniques of both Orthodox and Unorthodox Factions, having mastered the profound principles of the world's martial arts.
Even without Internal Energy or the Three Divine Powers,
his comprehension of martial principles alone allowed him to unleash devastating might up to a certain level.
Thud.
The moment the elders at the front collapsed dead, Jang Pyeong's body froze like ice.
Countless martial artists had come here before, yet not once had any escaped death at their hands.
But how could this man unleash invisible Killing Moves?
"How...?"
The reason martial artists were strong
wasn't just due to the profundity of their techniques—they wielded the mysterious power of Internal Energy.
And when deprived of it, they were consumed by loss, fear, and chaos.
Yet this young man before him had executed peerless Sword Strokes despite losing all his power.
"Only third-rate martial artists must have come here before."
Until now, the Abyssal Forces had endlessly employed methods to restrict martial artists' Internal Energy or erase the power within their bodies.
Because of this, Bu Eun-seol had repeatedly fought life-and-death battles without Internal Energy, without the Three Divine Powers.
There had even been times when he overcame enemies with nothing but the profound principles of Martial Arts, even while suffering fatal wounds.
He felt no sense of loss or fear at the prospect of losing power—none whatsoever.
Step. Step.
Jang Pyeong, witnessing Bu Eun-seol's overwhelming Martial Prowess, didn't dare even think of attacking.
"What are you cowering for?! Kill him now!"
"Come out yourself."
Bu Eun-seol pointed Ink Soul Sword at Jang Pyeong.
"Stop hiding behind these young men. Face me yourself."
Jang Pyeong swallowed hard as he stared at the razor-sharp tip of the blade.
The truth was, he wasn't even originally from Ghost King Village—he had been a wandering herb gatherer from outside.
But after wasting his youth on alcohol and gambling, he eventually became a drifter, roaming from place to place.
Then, by chance, he stumbled into Ghost King Valley.
They took notice of him, and he became a caretaker, managing the children they kidnapped and raised.
As time passed, those children grew up, started families of their own, and he—having displayed exceptional ability among the caretakers—became the Village Chief.
For years, he brainwashed them, offering their Essence Blood to Ghost King Valley in exchange for a comfortable life.
"I've been the one teaching and guiding these children all this time!" Jang Pyeong shouted.
"They would've died without me! So what's wrong with treating them like consumables?!"
He burst into a monstrous, hideous laugh.
"They were just orphans who would've starved to death out there anyway! Having their Essence Blood drained here is a far better life!"
At his words, the young men's faces twisted in anguish.
They had always followed Jang Pyeong like a father.
Even knowing the prayers here weren't good for their bodies... they had desperately denied it, bringing their own children to pray fervently.
They had hoped—
That if their sincerity reached the heavens, their children's sickly bodies would truly heal.
But now, seeing him scream that they were nothing but consumables, that having their Essence Blood drained was only natural—
They felt an indescribable rage and disappointment.
"We won't do it."
Clang.
One by one, the young men lowered their sickles.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
Jang Pyeong panicked at the sight.
"You think Ghost King Valley will just sit back if you rebel?!"
Then, one of the men spoke with a pained expression.
"I'd rather die."
"What?!"
"We've spent our whole lives having our blood drained—fine. But what crime have our children committed?"
His voice was filled with unbearable sorrow.
"Why should those poor children suffer for the rest of their lives too?"
Despair and resignation filled the young men's faces.
With the truth Bu Eun-seol had forced them to face—
Their longing for their children to live whole, unbroken lives surged forth.
"You bastards—!"
Jang Pyeong roared, pulling something from his robes.
Piiiiing— BOOM.
It was a signal flare, given by Ghost King Valley for emergencies.
"You're finished now!"
His eyes bulged as he screamed.
"Ungrateful wretches! I raised you, and this is how you repay me?! You vile little—!"
Kurung.
Then, a bizarre vibration echoed from the distant sky.
Whoosh.
A martial artist clad in crimson armor, engraved with eerie emblems, descended before the shrine.
A ghost mask covered his face, his pupils flashing with a sickly yellow light.
He looked like a general who had crawled out of a centuries-old battlefield grave.
"Hall Leader! Look!"
Jang Pyeong pointed at Bu Eun-seol and the young men, shouting—
"They've finally started to rebel—!"
But his words were cut short.
Dozens of crimson lines had already been carved across his entire body.
Swish— swish— swish!
Only after the red lines vanished did the razor-sharp sword winds begin to howl.
Dozens of slashes had already torn through Jang Pyeong's body.
Splat!
A mass of blood and flesh, he writhed before collapsing to the floor.
Thanks to the Spirit Pills he had consumed from Ghost King Valley, he didn't die instantly—
But the wounds were so severe that recovery was impossible.
"Why...?"
"Worthless mutt. Couldn't even control a bunch of vagrants properly, and now you've ruined our valley's treasures."
The martial artist from Ghost King Valley glared down at Jang Pyeong's blood-soaked face, his voice dripping with irritation.
"Those were priceless. Not even hundreds of your lives could repay their loss."
Jang Pyeong's eyes widened.
He had always believed himself a loyal retainer of Ghost King Valley.
He had ruled the village as they wished.
Brainwashed the children to willingly offer their blood.
But in their eyes—
He was nothing more than livestock, managing kidnapped children. Nothing more, nothing less.
"You damn bastards!"
Jang Pyeong raged like a madman.
He had thought himself special.
But in the end, was he being treated no differently than the livestock of Ghost King Village?
"After all the loyalty I showed you!"
They say an evil person remains evil until the end.
In the moment of death, ordinary people reflect on their sins with regret.
But Jang Pyeong, who had considered the children he raised as mere livestock, only cursed the wickedness of Ghost King Valley's martial artists when he realized that he, too, was nothing more than livestock.
"You sons of bitches—"
CRACK.
But that was the end of his consciousness.
A martial artist from Ghost King Valley crushed Jang Pyeong's skull beneath his foot.
Thus came the final moment of the village chief who had spent thirty years raising and brainwashing hundreds of kidnapped children for Ghost King Village.
"Who are you?"
The martial artist who had killed Jang Pyeong turned his gaze to Bu Eun-seol.
He was the master of the Precept Garden Hall, Jo Ja-gi, responsible for managing Ghost King Village and guarding the valley's outer perimeter.
'Truly, his confidence is astounding.'
Normally, ringing an alarm bell or firing a signal flare would summon at least the elite forces of a sect.
But Ghost King Valley had sent only a single masked hall master?
"..."
As Bu Eun-seol remained silent, Jo Ja-gi scrutinized his face intently.
Though Ghost King Valley remained hidden from the world,
it possessed an exceptional intelligence network, well-versed in the affairs and notable figures of the martial world.
Yet the face beneath Bu Eun-seol's Human Skin Mask was one he had never seen before.
"A little fly has wandered in."
Since he had memorized the appearances of all the Martial World's superlative martial experts,
he scoffed, assuming Bu Eun-seol was some insignificant nobody.
"Even the greatest masters who dominate the world cannot wield their strength here. And yet, some nameless brat dares to put on such a haughty expression."
"Oh? Should I have looked afraid instead?"
Bu Eun-seol smiled faintly at Jo Ja-gi's words.
"If I ever infiltrate another sect in the future, I'll keep that in mind."
SWISH!
And in the next instant, he unleashed his sword technique.
If he didn't deal with this nuisance quickly,
there was a chance all of Ghost King Valley's martial artists would swarm him.
Now that all his internal energy had vanished,
he had to kill Jo Ja-gi swiftly, seize whatever passable item he could, and infiltrate Ghost King Valley.
As his blade sliced through the air with a sharp hiss, Jo Ja-gi let out a derisive laugh and lightly dodged the sword stroke.
"With just this level of skill—"
But he couldn't finish his sentence.
Before he knew it, Bu Eun-seol had closed the distance in an instant, thrusting toward his throat.
"Perish!"
Startled, Jo Ja-gi immediately unleashed the pinnacle of Ghost King Valley's martial arts—the Yin Wind Bone-Piercing Palm.
But Bu Eun-seol had already anticipated his palm energy.
His sword was already piercing toward Jo Ja-gi's outstretched right palm.
"You—!"
Jo Ja-gi hadn't expected Bu Eun-seol's sword technique to be so swift and intricate. He hastily withdrew his hand and retreated.
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
Yet, as if he had foreseen it, Bu Eun-seol closed the distance further, drawing an arc in the air.
"Tch."
Unable to escape the range of Bu Eun-seol's sword pressure, Jo Ja-gi frantically traced circles with both hands.
It was the ultimate technique of the Bone-Piercing Yin Wind Palm—Bone-Piercing Fear-Banishing Strike—where even standing within the expanding range of its palm force would allow the bone-freezing Yin Cold Qi to invade the opponent's meridians.
SHIIK!
But before the strike could fully extend, Bu Eun-seol's Ink Soul Sword abruptly shot out from the void,
piercing down toward the acupoints on both of Jo Ja-gi's shoulders.
"You—you know our valley's martial arts?!"
Realizing that Bu Eun-seol had twice preempted his attack paths,
Jo Ja-gi concluded that he must have studied the Bone-Piercing Yin Wind Palm and was now disrupting him mid-execution.
"If you dared infiltrate our valley alone, you must have researched our martial arts to some extent!"
BOOM!
A deafening explosion erupted from Jo Ja-gi's body as razor-sharp palm energy surged outward in all directions.
He had unleashed the final technique of the Bone-Piercing Yin Wind Palm—Soul-Stealing Wind and Rain.
Unlike other techniques, this one didn't follow a set path—it unleashed palm energy in every direction, making it impossible to block even if the attack's trajectory was predicted.
"Guh—!"
But then, something strange happened.
Jo Ja-gi, who had been pouring out his ultimate technique, suddenly vomited blood and clutched his stomach.
"Ugh—!"
He staggered.
The Soul-Stealing Wind and Rain had been on the verge of release, his body brimming with fully charged internal energy.
Whether the Ink Soul Sword struck his shoulder acupoints or not, he had intended to unleash his palm force—but in truth, that had been Bu Eun-seol's feint.
Knowing Jo Ja-gi would release his Heaven-Shattering Form palm energy, Bu Eun-seol had abruptly altered his Sword Trajectory mid-execution and stabbed his Qi Sea Acupoint instead.
Though his strike lacked internal energy and couldn't pierce Jo Ja-gi's thick Body Protection True Qi,
the sudden interruption of his technique caused the backlash to inflict severe internal injuries.
"I—I surrender!"
Staggering, Jo Ja-gi placed both hands on the ground in a gesture of submission.
"Don't attack me anymore."
It was such a petty, cowardly display that it almost made Bu Eun-seol laugh.
"A warrior of the Ghost King Valley, trembling and begging for his life over mere internal injuries? Pathetic."
Zing.
Yet in that very moment—
A chilling palm energy, imperceptible and undetectable, pierced through both of Bu Eun-seol's sides.
'Heh heh, how do you like that?'
It was the most cunning technique of the Yin Wind Bone-Piercing Palm—the Yin Wind Hidden Current.
A vile method where the user feigns surrender by placing both hands on the ground, only to secretly unleash a hidden surge of palm energy to ambush the opponent.
"Ghk—!"
But in the next instant, a pained groan and a spray of blood erupted—
Not from Bu Eun-seol, but from Jo Ja-gi himself.
"H-How... is this possible...?"
His body trembled violently.
He had executed the Yin Wind Hidden Current flawlessly—
Yet once again, his technique was interrupted mid-motion, causing all the energy in his body to surge backward.
A scorching heat erupted in his chest, spreading unbearable agony through his entire being.
"How... do you know every single martial form of our valley's techniques?!"
The Ghost King Valley rarely interacted with the martial world and almost never clashed with martial artists.
As a result, their martial arts were virtually unknown to outsiders.
Yet this young man before him had perfectly grasped the forms of the Yin Wind Bone-Piercing Palm—even preempting them.
"I didn't preempt your forms—I preempted your movements."
Flick.
Bu Eun-seol shook the blood off his sword and spoke flatly.
"You're too predictable. That's how I knew which technique you'd use."
"What kind of—?!"
Jo Ja-gi's furious shout was cut short.
Squelch.Gurgle.
Blood surged from his own heart.
The blood Bu Eun-seol had just flicked from his blade—
Had been the result of the Quick Sword Form, a lightning-fast thrust that had already pierced Jo Ja-gi's heart.
"You... who are you...?"
Jo Ja-gi's eyes bulged wide.
And those were his last words.
In all his life, he had never imagined someone with such transcendent swordsmanship could exist.
Thud.
Like a felled log, he collapsed.
Though Bu Eun-seol's body held no internal energy, he had used the Silk-Winding Principle and Spiral Return to pierce through Jo Ja-gi's Body Protection True Qi—
And with a single thrust of the Ink Soul Sword, pierced straight through his heart.
Clank.
Sheathing his sword, Bu Eun-seol thoroughly searched Jo Ja-gi's body.
But there was no Command Plaque or sacred relic that would grant him entry into the Ghost King Valley.
"Then it must be a boundary formation with a unique dismantling method."
The formation ahead was intricately complex—impossible to breach without the proper means.
And with no internal energy to draw on, brute force was not an option.
"That mask."
A young man pointed at Jo Ja-gi's corpse.
"All warriors of the Ghost King Valley wear those masks. Wearing one allows easy passage through their barriers."
"I see."
Bu Eun-seol tried to pry the iron mask from Jo Ja-gi's face—
But it was fused to the skin, refusing to budge.
The young man stepped forward, slicing his own wrist with a sickle. He let his blood spill onto the mask.
Hiss.
As the crimson liquid dripped, the mask emitted a faint glow—then detached.
"All of the Ghost King Valley's spells require blood infused with Essence Blood as a medium."
"How did you know that?"
"I was his son."
The young man's expression darkened as he pointed at the gruesomely slain village chief, Jang Pyeong.
"Though not his real one."
He was Jang Pyeong's adopted son—
And had tried countless times to persuade the chief to stop aiding the Ghost King Valley in harvesting people's Essence Blood.
But each attempt only earned him brutal beatings, filling him with unbearable self-loathing.
Now that Bu Eun-seol had killed Jang Pyeong, he was finally free from this cycle of evil.
"Thank you."
Clank.
When Bu Eun-seol donned the mask, it adhered seamlessly to his face.
Fortunately, Jo Ja-gi had been tall, and their builds were similar.
After putting on the red robes and armor Jo Ja-gi had worn, Bu Eun-seol became his perfect double in an instant.
"What will you do now?"
"We're leaving this place."
The young man's voice was bitter.
Having lived under the Ghost King Valley's "protection," they had always feared venturing outside.
But now, they had found the courage—
Because Bu Eun-seol had provoked Jang Pyeong into revealing the truth to them.
"You'll manage."
Bu Eun-seol nodded.
"If you have nowhere to go, seek out the Golden Orchid Manor in Jinan."
He gave them directions to Bu Bok-un's estate.
"Lord Bu will spare no effort in helping you settle down."
"Thank you."
The villagers of Ghost King Village gathered their children and left.
Though drained of their vitality, they might not live long—
But their children would now have a chance at an ordinary life.
And for parents of the children... that alone was enough to smile about.
'Ghost King.'
Bu Eun-seol clenched his fist, staring at the distant mountains.
He didn't care if they enslaved ghosts or devoured spirits.
But abducting innocent people to drain their Essence Blood?
That was a sin no amount of deaths could atone for.
'He was a man who needed killing anyway.'
Even without Han Sang-ja's request, the Ghost King was a villain who deserved death.
Slowly, he turned toward the valley.
He would sever the head of this vile leader without hesitation.