Chapter 930
"I have no more business with the Sacred Realm."
Yet in time,
the masters of the Sacred Realm would realize they had been deceived.
And just as in the past, they would send pursuers after him.
"Though it won't be like before."
There was no need to live in constant dread as he once had.
He had mastered the Darkness Secret Arts, allowing him to evade their pursuit with ease.
The supreme Art of Spells of the Sacred Realm was flawless—so perfect that no one in the world could detect his disguise.
"Let's leave."
Chil-ho departed the Sacred Realm, setting out into the Martial World to live a new life.
From that day onward,
he killed countless Murim Masters, stole their martial arts, and lived under new identities.
At times, the Buddhist Venerable, who had advanced the Absolute Demon Saber Project, and the Same Heart Society behind him sent trackers.
At other times, pursuers from the Sacred Realm caught up to him... but it didn't matter.
He could keep living by endlessly stealing the physical bodies of others.
"It's getting tedious."
Living by stealing the lives of others was convenient, but it had a fatal flaw.
If he kept changing lives like this, he would eventually lose his ego.
—To truly end everything... I must take Bu Jan-yang's power.
During the final days of the Absolute Demon Saber, when he had last competed against Sambaek-ho—no, Bu Jan-yang—
by sheer coincidence, the two of them had discovered a Secret Vault beneath Blood Shaolin.
Within it lay the origin of the power that had created the Murim, along with its secrets.
To claim it all for himself, Chil-ho ambushed Bu Jan-yang.
Yet he lost.
And found himself on the verge of falling into flowing lava.
—I won't kill you.
Bu Jan-yang's heart was endlessly merciful—so much so that he tried to save Chil-ho, the very man who had ambushed him.
—Who's killing who here?!
Instead, Chil-ho exploited that mercy, shoving Bu Jan-yang into the lava and seizing the secret manuals within the vault for himself.
But the manuals contained nothing more than methods to read Heaven's Will—techniques meant to serve the Absolute One.
The true power of the vault—the power to change the world and shatter fate—
lay within the lava.
And it was claimed by Bu Jan-yang, who returned alive from its depths.
—So my fate is to serve him?!
Had all his life-and-death training, all the rivals he had crushed and climbed over to reach the summit,
been nothing more than a process to cultivate the ability to serve the one destined to become the Absolute One?
—I refuse to accept this!
Rejecting his fate, he incited a rebellion using his surviving crew.
Amid the chaos, he murdered their instructor and escaped—only to find himself hunted by both the Sacred Realm and the high command of the Orthodox Murim.
To end it all... he had to take the power of the Seven Fingers Demonic Blade, Bu Jan-yang.
—Is it truly impossible?
In the meantime, Bu Jan-yang had been perfecting his absolute martial prowess.
He flawlessly executed the Absolute Demon Saber Project, became the Deputy Hall Lord of the Demon Hall,
and transformed into a figure no one dared to challenge.
But Heaven had not abandoned Chil-ho.
By chance, he discovered the Dark King, Yeop Hyo-cheon, who had emerged into the Martial World.
—Found you.
The Dark King, Yeop Hyo-cheon—
the Night-Dancing Heavenly Lord, trusted by the Demonic Heavenly Emperor, and soon to become the third most powerful figure in the Demon Hall.
If he could steal his identity...
He might gain access to Bu Jan-yang, now the Deputy Hall Lord, and seize the opportunity to take his power.
From that day on,
he killed Yeop Hyo-cheon's subordinates one by one, gathering every detail of his behavior and information.
—The terror of the Demonic Heavenly Emperor lies in his terrifying observation and insight.
The Demonic Heavenly Emperor had cultivated unfathomable martial arts and wielded the dreadful Limitless Power known as Nature Shattering.
To avoid detection at all costs, to become the perfect Yeop Hyo-cheon, he collected intelligence and investigated those around him.
After three years of meticulous preparation, he finally ambushed Yeop Hyo-cheon and stole his identity.
But by then, Bu Jan-yang had vanished without a trace.
—I'll find him, no matter what!
Now as Yeop Hyo-cheon, he relentlessly tracked Bu Jan-yang's movements.
Bu Jan-yang, the Heavenly Might Star who defied fate—
the man who possessed the power of Transcendent Fate Path-Severing was truly invincible. There was no way to touch him.
But Chil-ho refused to give up.
With persistence that could melt iron, he ceaselessly targeted Bu Jan-yang.
Perhaps Heaven, moved by his devotion, granted him an opportunity.
Bu Jan-yang had suddenly stolen the Sacred Heaven Jade from the Ancient Sword Forest, only to encounter a terrifying adversary and suffer severe injuries.
In the aftermath, half of the Sacred Heaven Jade he carried was shattered—
and Yeop Hyo-cheon, who had been doggedly tracking Bu Jan-yang's trail, seized it.
—This is it!
He let out a cry of ecstasy.
With the power of the Sacred Heaven Jade, said to absorb the fate and strength of those it touched—
he could steal Bu Jan-yang's power without having to defeat him.
—Everything is ready... but Bu Jan-yang has disappeared.
Yet Bu Jan-yang, now injured,
had vanished completely after that day.
Even reading Heaven's Will yielded nothing.
The star symbolizing him never rose again.
But Yeop Hyo-cheon was not disheartened.
Bu Jan-yang was immortal.
There was no way he could have died at someone else's hands.
—Dead?
Astonishingly, he had truly died.
The Heavenly Might Star, who could have reached the greatest of all time, had breathed his last.
But that wasn't the end.
When the grandson Bu Jan-yang had raised stepped into the Murim, Heaven's Will shifted once more.
—So that's it!
There was no way Bu Jan-yang would just die.
He must have passed all his power to his grandson. Otherwise, Heaven's Will wouldn't have changed the moment the boy appeared.
―The long years of waiting have borne fruit at last.
Now is the time for that child who inherited Bu Jan-yang's power to shine in full glory.
Once he overcomes all trials and awakens to the destiny of the Heavenly Might Star—
All that remains is to use the Sacred Heaven Jade to steal his power and dominate the world.
Emerging from his reminiscence, Yeop Hyo-cheon gazed at the corpse of the Black Shadow Dark Emperor and muttered under his breath:
"Shall I now become the perfect Black Shadow Dark Emperor?"
A strange statement.
Hadn't he already transformed into the Black Shadow Dark Emperor's physical form? What did he mean by becoming the Black Shadow Dark Emperor again?
Shuuuu—
As he exhaled calmly, a viscous darkness cascaded down his entire body.
Simultaneously, the corpse of Black Shadow Dark Emperor Hwa Mu-gi began breathing raggedly, exhaling scorching breaths like a furnace.
Shuuuu—
With each breath, the thick darkness clinging to Yeop Hyo-cheon's body was absorbed into his skin.
Conversely, Hwa Mu-gi's body flickered with a faint glow, ancient patterns surfacing and vanishing in rapid succession.
How much time had passed?
The husk of the Black Shadow Dark Emperor gradually melted away, dissolving into a murky pool of blood.
Drip... drip...
And before anyone realized, that pool of blood had slithered to Yeop Hyo-cheon's feet.
Squelch—
Suddenly, the blood surged upward, engulfing his entire body before being completely absorbed.
Flash!
When Yeop Hyo-cheon reopened his eyes, a glacial chill—cold as starlight—radiated from his pupils.
With every shift of his gaze, a mysterious light unfurled, and—
Crack.
His eyes—no, even his very soul—had now become that of Black Shadow Dark Emperor Hwa Mu-gi.
The Darkness Secret Arts.
This was no mere technique to manipulate another's spirit and mind—it was a secret art that allowed one to absorb even memories and habits through the vessel of a physical husk.
"Now, shall we begin?"
From the eyes of Yeop Hyo-cheon—now Hwa Mu-gi—flames that could scorch fate itself began to spread.
Demon Hall, Hidden Demon Pavilion. Bu Eun-seol's office.
He had been ceaselessly pondering and researching, attempting to unravel the secret of the orb obtained from the Forest Lord of the Ancient Sword Forest, hidden deep within Mount Hyeong.
'Come to think of it, all the treasures of the Abyssal Forces are orbs.'
The Boundary-Prosperity Jade, capable of containing the power of the One Hundred and Eight Stars used by the Three Clans.
The eyeball-shaped treasure once held by the True Demon, the old man who had revealed the secrets of his and Man-wol's past.
And now, the orb given to him as a means to locate the Forest Lord of the Ancient Sword Forest...
All of them took the form of orbs.
'This cannot possibly be a coincidence.'
There were no coincidences in this world.
The longer one lived in the martial world, the more this truth became undeniable.
'But I still don't understand.'
No matter how much he researched, the secret of the Ancient Sword Forest's orb remained beyond his grasp.
His mind in turmoil, Bu Eun-seol stepped outside for a moment.
As he emerged, attendants and martial artists on duty noticed him and bowed respectfully.
Though the Death Shadow War Unit's scale had tripled compared to the past,
In truth, this was only due to the increase in operatives active outside or those constantly processing intelligence—
The number of martial artists and attendants residing within the hall itself had hardly changed.
After clearing his mind with a walk through the hall grounds, he returned to his office.
But on his desk lay a small envelope.
No matter how casually he treated his subordinates, none would dare enter his empty office and leave an envelope behind without permission.
'Aside from Baek Jeon-cheon, the head of the Myriad Erudition Hall, no one would have the audacity to do such a thing.'
A sudden sense of foreboding gripped him as he opened the envelope on the desk.
Inside was a single letter—
And to his shock, it was densely packed with the Blade Essence of the Bloody Tears Seven Forms.
"This makes no sense."
As Bu Eun-seol scrutinized the Blade Essence inscribed in the letter, he couldn't suppress his astonishment.
The Blade Essence written here—
Was not the perfected, complete version his grandfather had finalized.
'The early-stage Blade Essence.'
This was undoubtedly the foundational Blade Essence of the Bloody Tears Seven Forms, painstakingly devised by the masters who had executed the Absolute Demon Saber Project.
'Utterly ruthless and merciless.'
Bu Eun-seol let out a deep sigh as he read through the Blade Essence inscribed in the letter.
'So this was the nature of the Absolute Demon Saber Project.'
Reading the Blade Essence here, he could now clearly grasp the project's true intent.
'A Number One of the Demonic Path... created by the Righteous Faction.'
What if the ruler of the Demonic Path turned out to be a spy planted by the Righteous Faction?
From the Righteous Faction's perspective, it would be the easiest way to seize and control the martial world.
'Even if they used the conflict between the Baekri Clan and the True Demon as an excuse, this is unforgivable.'
Wooden Buddha had claimed that the Absolute Demon Saber Project was initiated to end the war between the Baekri Clan and the True Demon.
But in hindsight, that was merely the banner of the Same Heart Society—this plan had nothing to do with the conflict between the two great forces.
―Red Sand Ravine.
And at the end of the letter was written the name of a ravine located in Tibet.
The Red Sand Ravine.
A cursed land where the entire ravine was formed of crimson sandstone, known to drive those who entered it to madness without reason.
'Without a doubt, one of the high-ranking elders sent this letter.'
Bu Eun-seol had only left his office for a brief moment.
In that short span, someone had noticed his absence and left this letter without leaving a single trace?
Such a feat was impossible for an outsider.
This had to be the work of one of the high-ranking elders who could closely monitor the Demon Hall's affairs.
'Moreover, the fact that they left the letter the instant I stepped out, without leaving any trace...'
A flash of light streaked through Bu Eun-seol's pupils.
'Deliberately revealing that they are a high-ranking member of the Demon Hall.'
After Hwa Jung-cheon, the Lord of the Secret Shadow Pavilion.
He had thought only the Demonic Heavenly Emperor and the Supreme Cult Commander could touch him—yet another figure had emerged.
'No, there's also the possibility it's the Supreme Cult Commander.'
The Demonic Heavenly Emperor wouldn't stoop so low as to provoke him again...
Perhaps this letter was sent by the Supreme Cult Commander—or a faction that had swayed him.
'Whatever the case, this was something I had expected to begin with.'
The Martial Alliance was not a unified coalition of the Righteous Faction but an abyss where the hidden forces of the Murim gathered, an endless darkness.
And the Demon Hall was no different.
Back then, when he had his consciousness stolen by Baekri Geom-ha, organized the Blood Heavenly Order, and become its leader.
When he had led the demonkin of the Crimson Demon Black Well and the Remnant Blood Black Water to root out and slaughter the spies of the Martial Soul Society and the Azure Heaven Alliance.
Only then had he realized.
That the Demon Hall was not all that met the eye.
That such demonkin lurked in the shadows.
That within the abyss of the Demon Hall, an unfathomably terrifying force lay in wait.
"Moreover, they've precisely grasped who I am."
Everything related to his grandfather.
The matter Bu Eun-seol prioritized above all else.
The sender of this letter knew that fact all too well.
Which was why they had dangled the Blade Essence, the foundation of the Bloody Tears Seven Forms.
"In the end, what the enemy wants is this body."
In his pupils, as he burned the letter to ashes in one breath, flames of fury as vast as eons erupted.
"Since they've provoked me with Grandfather's legacy, they'd best be prepared."
Having received the mysterious letter, Bu Eun-seol raced from the Demon Hall to the Red Sand Ravine in a single breath.
The majestic scenery of the ravine, dyed in the crimson hues of sunset, simultaneously evoked fear and awe in his heart.
The moment he stepped inside, a deep red glow spread from all directions.
For an instant, he even felt the illusion of stepping into a world drenched in blood.
The walls were formed of rough sandstone, its weathered texture tangled in chaotic patterns.
At times, those patterns resembled screaming faces.
At others, they looked like traces of ancient, indecipherable script.
"So they prepared in advance."
At the heart of the ravine lay a deep, dark crevice.
Hidden within it was a door, disguised as an ordinary fissure in the rock.
But as dusk began to fall.
Sunlight struck it at a precise angle, faintly illuminating the outline of what appeared to be a great gate.
"Lucky me."
Krrrung.
As he stepped into the crevice, the door swung open as if waiting for him.
An endless crimson staircase stretched downward like the tongue of a monstrous beast.
Thud. Thud.
The steps, colored like cooled lava in a dark crimson, bore faintly carved emblems.
The deeper he descended, the more the air grew cold and damp, pressing against his lungs like a warning—this was a place one should not enter.
"This is..."
At last, the underground chamber he arrived at was of staggering scale, like a temple built for ancient giants.
The dizzyingly high ceiling, some three hundred feet above, was adorned with eerie murals.
Massive pillars, thick as a giant's staff, supported the structure.
At the center stood a grand altar, its surface studded with dazzling treasures embedded with precious gems.
From a crimson jar at the altar's heart, smoke curled upward, and at its center was a deep indentation—as if meant to hold a hemispherical object.
This was clearly a place where rituals had been conducted for generations, likely up until recently.
"A treasure vault?"
Scattered around the altar were golden doors inlaid with glittering gemstones.
Judging by the large keyholes and faint metallic scraping sounds.
They seemed to be fitted with intricate mechanical locks.
"This is easy."
Standing before the nearest door, Bu Eun-seol pressed his finger against the keyhole.
In an instant, a solid ice key formed within.
Click.
Turning his finger, the door swung open.
Revealing a trove of gold, silver, jewels, and rare treasures.
Opening another door, he found an array of sharp divine weapons on display.
"This isn't the place."
If their goal was to deliver treasure to him, there would've been no need to dangle the Blade Essence of the Seven Fingers Demonic Blade.
This couldn't be the destination the sender intended.
Clank.
Stepping back out, Bu Eun-seol opened another door.
Click.
Finally, at the far end, he opened the last one.
"This—"
Beyond it lay a vast great hall, its walls covered in an enormous mural.
The mural depicted hundreds of children undergoing grueling training.
Following the artwork to the right.
He saw them falling into traps, drinking poison, plummeting from cliffs—scenes of death rendered in vivid detail.
"The Absolute Demon Saber."
Bu Eun-seol clenched his fists.
These murals.
They undoubtedly depicted the training his grandfather endured during the Absolute Demon Saber Project.
Because one of the locations illustrated here was unmistakably the inner sanctum of Blood Shaolin.
"Alongside the Buddhist Venerable, other leaders of the Righteous Faction must have pushed the Absolute Demon Saber Project forward."
Perhaps the one who painted these murals.
Had been part of the project alongside the Buddhist Venerable, now regretting the past—and that was why they had summoned him here?
["If you summoned someone, shouldn't you greet them properly?"]
Bu Eun-seol's voice, amplified by his infused Internal Energy, resonated powerfully through the hall.
Yet no answer returned, and no one revealed themselves.
"Seems there's no choice."
As Bu Eun-seol continued walking while studying the murals, he eventually reached the central chamber.
There, a massive Grand Hall came into view, and at its center lay a large hemispherical orb.
"This is..."
A flash of recognition flickered in Bu Eun-seol's eyes as he examined the orb.
The shape of this orb perfectly matched the empty socket in the treasure he had seen earlier at the heart of the Grand Hall.
"Am I supposed to embed this orb into that treasure?"
The distance between the central chamber and this location wasn't far.
Yet, if this orb was meant to be placed there, why had it been stored separately?
'Unless...'
Sensing something amiss, Bu Eun-seol attempted to grasp the orb using Void Object Retrieval.
Uuung...
But no matter how much Internal Power he channeled, the orb didn't budge an inch.
Paaang!
A golden light erupted from his body as he poured ten cycles' worth of Internal Power into the technique.
Giiiiing...
Even a technique capable of moving boulders weighing tens of thousands of pounds failed to shift the orb.
It wasn't that the orb was heavy—
Rather, it seemed to possess some kind of resonance that repelled external forces like Internal Energy.
After a moment of contemplation, Bu Eun-seol reached out and grasped the orb with his bare hand.
Chiiiik!
Instantly, smoke rose from his palm as if he had grabbed a burning ember, and an excruciating pain—as though his veins were melting—seared through his entire body.
"So, I must endure this pain to move it."
His eyes narrowed.
For a prideful martial artist, this would be an irresistible provocation—a challenge impossible to refuse.
But Bu Eun-seol was no martial artist.
Nor was he the type to recklessly indulge in pride.
"On the other hand, this could just be an elaborately laid trap."
The Blade Essence of his grandfather, the murals depicting training from the Absolute Demon Saber Project, and now an orb that wouldn't move even with ten cycles of Internal Power...
All of these elements were designed to provoke an inevitable reaction from him.
And all of it ultimately served a single purpose:
'Demonstrate superhuman endurance and carry that orb to the altar in the Grand Hall.'
After a long silence, Bu Eun-seol's gaze sharpened.
Having come this far...
He couldn't possibly refuse such a provocation—what appeared to be a meticulously crafted test.
'Then...'
Closing his eyes briefly, he murmured something under his breath before slowly reaching out and gripping the orb again.
Chiiii—
A pain so vast it could shatter his consciousness in an instant surged through his body.
Yet, his expression remained blank as he took one slow step after another.
The orb weighed as though it were a boulder of millions of pounds, emitting a strange force that prevented him from using Lightness Art to move swiftly.
Step... step...
Even as his entire body burned with agony, he continued forward.
A distance that would normally take eight minutes at a brisk pace now felt like decades with each step.
By the time he reached the altar, his face was drenched in cold sweat, and the hair at his temples had turned white—
A temporary change from the unbearable torment.
Click.
The moment he placed the orb into the treasure embedded in the altar—
Kwaaauuuu!
A Dharma Instrument installed within the altar erupted with light, swiftly encasing Bu Eun-seol's body in a radiant prison.
Uuung... uuung...!
The light grew increasingly intense, spreading outward until it swallowed the entire surroundings.
Then, just as suddenly—
Uuuu...
The hemispherical orb began absorbing all the light back into itself.
With each passing moment, countless starlike specks filled the orb's surface as if millions of stars had been scattered inside.
Finally, when the last of the light vanished into the orb—
Thud.
Bu Eun-seol, who had been standing tall on the altar, collapsed without warning.
Given his level of Martial Arts, losing consciousness under any circumstances was unthinkable—let alone in an instant.
So how had this happened?
Krrrr...
At that moment, a square-shaped outline formed behind the altar, expanding into a massive gate that slowly swung open.
Step... step...
From the darkness emerged a Masked Man, his entire body shrouded in an ink-black aura.
His age was indeterminable, but his lower eyelids were stained dark, and an eerie energy radiated from him.
The Masked Man gazed down at Bu Eun-seol's unconscious form with indifferent eyes.
"..."
Then, he turned his attention to the orb at the altar's center, now brimming with light.
Shiver...
A faint tremble ran through him.
The orb's surface shimmered like an infinite universe.
As he slowly reached out, a deathly silence—as though time itself had frozen—spread through the chamber.
The moment his fingers touched the orb, now swirling with countless streams of light—
Drip.
The orb, once faint as a thread, began to emit an increasingly powerful vortex of light—
Fwaaaaaa!
A dazzling light flooded the chamber.
Kwaarrrr!
As gold and silver intertwined, the massive Grand Hall trembled violently.
Scorching heat and bitter cold swept through in alternating waves.
And at its center, the Masked Man's body blazed like a crimson sun.
Whoooosh...
How much time had passed?
Eventually, the light dimmed, and the Masked Man's form—once dissolved into radiance—reappeared.
"At last."
The Masked Man cried out in admiration.
The hemispherical orb, which had been swirling with mysterious Radiance, turned transparent once more.
And within his body, a power as vast as the Universe itself raged like a storm.