Chapter 934
Invisible eyes were scattered everywhere around the pavilion within the Elders' Hall.
Even if he didn't kill outright but merely broke their edge, it would be a perfect opportunity to demonstrate the Blood Demon's majesty.
Flash!
As Jeok Bung's pupils emitted light—
KWA-BOOM!
An invisible, colossal pressure descended from the void and crushed down upon Bu Eun-seol's head.
Creak— Crunch.
The ground slightly caved inward before the sounds of shattering bones and tearing muscles began echoing through the air.
Sky Shattering Extreme Wheel.
Jeok Bung's secret forbidden art—one of the most brutal crushing techniques in martial arts history—had been unleashed.
Oooom.
As the terrifying pressure poured down, Bu Eun-seol's internal energy instinctively surged forth.
His cultivated power, having surpassed ten cycles, was so immense it could prop up the heavens themselves.
'I already knew your internal energy was extraordinary.'
Jeok Bung was well aware that Bu Eun-seol's internal energy had transcended unfathomable heights, nearing the pinnacle of the world.
But the newly devised Sky Shattering Extreme Wheel didn't just destroy the physical body.
It pierced straight into the abyss of a human's spirit and mind.
Flash!
A sharp radiance from the heavens struck directly into Bu Eun-seol's Hundred Meetings Acupoint.
That keen, razor-like force—
Like the primordial Chaos devouring all existence—seeped into the depths of his spirit.
Squelch.
The sound of Bu Eun-seol's soul being torn apart rang clearly in Jeok Bung's ears.
The pressure, sharp as an intangible blade, cleaved through his consciousness and twisted the very grain of his soul.
'Even if he doesn't die, his spirit will suffer severe damage.'
Until now, Bu Eun-seol—
Ever since becoming the Heir of the Demon Hall—had never once tasted defeat or failure.
Jeok Bung would soon become the new hall master, and this man could prove a major obstacle to the Grand Design.
Thus, this was the perfect chance to thoroughly break his edge while reaffirming his own authority.
However, if rumors spread that he had laid hands on Bu Eun-seol, Sado Mu-myeong—
That man would undoubtedly trace the evidence.
Which was why he refrained from using the new martial arts that had allowed him to surpass the boundaries of the Martial Extreme Realm.
Instead, he employed only the recently refined Sky Shattering Extreme Wheel.
Whoooosh.
To resist the crushing force, the mingled energies within Bu Eun-seol's body began swirling violently.
Though none could rival the sturdiness of his spirit and the sheer magnitude of his internal energy, the Sky Shattering Extreme Wheel that Jeok Bung had unleashed now was a Limitless Power that transcended the limits of martial arts.
Without manifesting the same level of Limitless Power, there was no way to withstand it.
'I've held back long enough.'
Until now, despite his epithet as the Blood Demon, Jeok Bung had treated Bu Eun-seol with considerable leniency.
Partly because he highly valued his exceptional talent and boldness... but more importantly, because he had thoroughly dissected his lineage and internal energy.
But now, as the Abyssal Forces and the Servants of the True Demon gradually revealed themselves—
Bu Eun-seol's internal energy no longer held any particular fascination or advantage.
'Let's see just what kind of Limitless Power you possess.'
Jeok Bung arrogantly looked down at Bu Eun-seol, who crouched under the crushing weight of the Sky Shattering Extreme Wheel.
Though not widely known in the martial world, intelligence networks had confirmed that he had entered the Martial Extreme Realm.
Limitless Power was a force that surpassed human limits—one that couldn't be defended against without understanding its attributes.
Thus, masters who reached the Martial Extreme Realm rarely unleashed their Limitless Power and kept its nature deeply concealed.
Now, Jeok Bung intended not only to break Bu Eun-seol's edge but also to test the extent of his Limitless Power.
GRRRRUMBLE.
The pressure of the Sky Shattering Extreme Wheel intensified further—
Transforming into an overwhelming force that crushed the world without end, merging the very sky and earth beneath Bu Eun-seol's feet.
Yet, Bu Eun-seol remained crouched, silently enduring without manifesting any Limitless Power or martial techniques.
'In the end, he doesn't exceed expectations.'
A crimson glow flickered in Bu Eun-seol's eyes as he withstood the Sky Shattering Extreme Wheel.
He had already steeled himself for the possibility that Jeok Bung might take action.
In fact, it was almost admirable how the old man had restrained his notoriously ruthless and volatile nature until now.
'Truly, only that old man deserves the title of Blood Demon.'
And he could feel it—
That to achieve a pure Demonic Murim, a figure like Jeok Bung was necessary.
GRRRRUMBLE.
At the same time, a mysterious light erupted from Bu Eun-seol's body, followed by a shockwave that shook heaven and earth.
From the moment he met Jeok Bung, he had cloaked himself in Harmonization.
And if the old man made a move—
He planned to immediately neutralize the attack and resume their conversation.
Because to truly converse with a figure like the Blood Demon, he had to prove he possessed equal strength.
'But to be this powerful...'
Bu Eun-seol had risen to a level where he could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the superlative martial experts of past generations.
But to be precise, he hadn't completely caught up to them.
The Three Demons and Three Venerables were also grandmasters of martial arts, blessed with once-in-a-generation talent.
Having long peered into the abyss of the martial world, they restrained their external activities and ceaselessly refined their martial prowess.
That decades-long gap couldn't be closed in a short time.
'I needed to confirm this.'
Yet the reason he had provoked Jeok Bung was this:
The disparity in martial prowess among the Three Demons and Three Venerables was immense, and until now, only the Sword Sage and Ak Mu-ryeong had displayed their true capabilities.
Since they would all inevitably become his adversaries in the future,
he absolutely had to confirm the strength of Jeok Bung—the lowest-ranked among the Three Demons, yet one who had fought against all the others in both groups.
Crack. Crack.
In that brief moment, his body was being split apart.
'I can't hold on any longer.'
He tried to unleash Harmonization, but the overwhelming pressure prevented even that from manifesting.
Fortunately, the Power of Harmony still shrouded his body, preventing complete destruction—yet he remained trapped within the crushing force of the Sky Shattering Extreme Wheel.
Crunch.
His flesh split, his spirit fractured, and the very origin of his existence threatened to dissolve.
Even if one could withstand its pressure, the refined Sky Shattering Extreme Wheel would destroy the Spirit and Mind.
Bu Eun-seol focused every ounce of his will, channeling all his strength—his internal power, the vast energies stored within him—to endure.
But even that was reaching its limit.
Drip.
Then, blood seeped from his palm.
The wound that had formed when he grasped that strange orb—back when he had been lured into the Masked Man's trap while the Masked Man was disguised as Hwa Mu-gi—had reopened.
Drip. Drip.
As the wound split open, a faint, barely visible fragment of the orb was embedded within.
Crack.
And when that tiny fragment shattered—
BOOM!
His heart pounded once—a deafening drumbeat that shook heaven and earth.
At the same time, a long-forgotten memory from his childhood flashed through his mind like a fleeting crescent.
"It was only after meeting Seol-i that I realized..."
Bu Jan-yang, stroking his beloved grandson's sleeping cheek, let out a deep sigh.
"Just how lonely and desolate this old man's life had been... how deeply the darkness had stolen my soul."
As he withdrew his hand, a radiant light began to flow from Bu Jan-yang's body.
"Life and death, sorrow and parting... Who could ever understand this pain?"
"O Heaven... I beg you, do not condemn this child to the life of a martial artist—stained with suffering and grief."
And then, all the light pouring from his body seeped into his grandson, Bu Eun-seol.
"Swallow peerless wisdom behind closed lips."
"Bury the power to shake heaven and earth deep within your chest."
"All I ask is a peaceful day of honest labor... just an ordinary life."
As the memory faded—
The earth trembled. The sky split.
And from somewhere, a presence both familiar and foreign began to rise.
A serene yet abyssal energy—an endlessly ordinary, quiet flow.
Huuuung...
With a low, resonant vibration, a blue radiance began to envelop Bu Eun-seol's entire body.
That light outshone even the sun, more majestic than all the stars in the night sky.
Though he had awakened from the brief memory, reality remained unchanged.
His flesh was still being crushed, his spirit fading under the pressure of the Sky Shattering Extreme Wheel.
Except for one difference.
The energy flowing through his Bloodline now warmly embraced the pavilion around him.
Whoosh.
In that instant, the pressure bearing down on Bu Eun-seol vanished.
Astonishingly, Jeok Bung had withdrawn his own power.
'Why?'
The one most shocked was Jeok Bung himself.
Forgetting all dignity, he stared wide-eyed at his own hand.
He didn't know why he had retracted it.
Why was this emptiness surging over him?
Why was this suffocating loneliness the only thing rising in his chest?
'I was assimilated.'
Only after a long moment of reflection did he understand.
The power of the Sky Shattering Extreme Wheel, meant to destroy Bu Eun-seol's soul, had somehow malfunctioned—
Instead, it had merged with his Spirit and Mind.
In that brief moment,
Jeok Bung had glimpsed the life of a man who had once roamed the world unchallenged, a peerless master who had dominated an era.
'Was it all just a dream?'
Right now, Jeok Bung stood at the height of his prime, aiming to swallow the Demon Hall and conquer the Demonic Path.
But through Bu Eun-seol's spirit,
he had received a fragment of that sorrow and enlightenment—the anguish of a transcendent sage of great magnanimity.
And in that instant, he realized:
Life was nothing but a fleeting dream.
Even if he became a Tyrant who subdued all under heaven, that life would still be nothing more than illusion and fantasy.
...Hah.
When he turned his head, he saw Bu Eun-seol standing tall and unbroken.
'So that's it.'
Jeok Bung's eyes narrowed.
Bu Eun-seol. Until now, no one had ever been able to touch him—the very figure he had longed to surpass even in his dreams.
A clone of the Greatest Saber Master of All Time.
Even if he were a Divine Being who could see through all things, his actions remained unpredictable.
The moment one opposed him,
they would be forced to live with an unspeakable unease.
"Heh... heh heh..."
Jeok Bung couldn't hold back his laughter.
No wonder he had remained stuck at the lowest rank among the Three Demons... Even at his age, he had failed to grasp such a simple truth.
"HAHAHAHA—!"
That laughter became a Mad Laughter that shook the heavens—before fading into an emptiness, a hollow echo slowly vanishing into silence.
"I should've just... eaten my fill each day, taken a wife, raised children, and lived quietly."
Those were words the Blood Demon Jeok Bung should never have spoken.
At that moment, Bu Eun-seol opened his mouth.
"Governing the Demonic Path and bringing peace to the world is also..."
He continued calmly,
"...an unparalleled achievement in its own right, is it not?"
A silence as deep as death settled around the pavilion.
"I don't understand what you're saying."
"Later, I shall yield the position of Hall Master to the Hall Master."
Jeok Bung wore a dazed expression.
Only after a long pause did he realize—
—Listening to the Hall Master's words makes me certain I must ascend to the position of Hall Master.
—that Bu Eun-seol had continued with the words that followed.
"Fufufu."
Jeok Bung burst into an inscrutable laugh before shaking his head.
"You should go now."
And with that, he turned away first.
"I have nothing more to say."
His gaze remained fixed on the distant sky.
Perhaps he wasn't looking at the sky at all—but at something beyond it, something existing above the heavens.
"Very well."
Bu Eun-seol bowed respectfully.
Step. Step.
Then he turned and slowly exited the Elders' Hall.
'Jeok Bung... He's more straightforward than I expected.'
Bu Eun-seol smiled faintly, having discerned Jeok Bung's thoughts.
Just moments ago, thanks to the orb embedded in his palm, he had recovered a lost memory.
'Grandfather truly gave me power.'
Not the power to dominate the world—
But the power to live an ordinary life.
'Jeok Bung. You will inevitably become my ally.'
Jeok Bung had been assimilated by the energy of his grandfather residing within Bu Eun-seol, and in that moment, he withdrew his hostility.
If so, then as Bu Eun-seol had anticipated—
There was a high probability he would not become a Great Demon who shattered the world, but rather a figure capable of managing the Demonic Path in a manner befitting its nature.
'Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.'
Setting aside all preconceptions and emotions he had held until now—
Bu Eun-seol resolved to make Jeok Bung his man in the future.
Upon returning to the Hidden Demon Pavilion, Bu Eun-seol gazed at the now-transparent orb from the Ancient Sword Forest.
If Jeok Bung was truly scheming something significant within the Demon Hall—
He might soon lack the time to travel the martial world freely.
Thus, he needed to unravel the orb's secrets and meet the Ancient Sword Forest's master as quickly as possible.
'How exactly is this supposed to help me find the master of the Ancient Sword Forest?'
He had conducted research with the Great Lords, including Yu Un-ryong, but no answers had surfaced.
"There was some kind of power imbued in this..."
Clack.
Placing the orb on the table, Bu Eun-seol sank into thought.
The Ancient Sword Forest was scattered throughout the Central Plains, endlessly repeating experiments to artificially create Black Divine Artifacts.
But why were they forging Black Divine Artifacts?
Their exact purpose remained unknown.
The sole reason they had managed to conceal their movements all this time was simple—
They employed the Absolute Boundary, the same technique used by the Three Clans.
"Could this orb also be a key to locating the Absolute Boundary?"
In the past, So Ok-rim had used a mysterious orb to find and open the Baekri Clan's Secret Vault.
Perhaps this orb possessed the same function.
"Elder So has yet to return."
Currently, So Ok-rim was refining the primordial martial arts derived from the Baekri Clan's power—
And traveling through the Central Plains to train in the secret vaults of the Three Pure Realms.
Not only had she roamed the Murim world alone for years, but like a seasoned assassin, she left absolutely no traces behind.
Even if the Death Soul Squad mobilized its entire information network, tracking her down would be no easy feat.
"Normally, an orb like this would serve as a key to open a specific door—or as a tool to locate a particular place."
Yet no matter how much he investigated, no such function revealed itself.
'Unless—'
Suddenly, the face of a stunning beauty flashed through his mind.
Gongson Dan-gyeong.
She was the one who had entered the Jungson Clan's Scripture Archive Pavilion alongside Chu-so, where she had perused secret texts related to the Abyssal Forces of the martial world.
Perhaps she might know something about the Ancient Sword Forest.
Without hesitation, Bu Eun-seol immediately rushed to the Azure Heaven Alliance to seek her out.
And there, he shared everything he currently knew—
About the Ancient Sword Forest.
"The Ancient Sword Forest?"
Gongson Dan-gyeong, who had been listening silently, shook her head.
"I've never heard of such a faction."
"How strange. It's a mysterious organization with a lineage stretching back generations."
"A lineage stretching back generations..."
After blinking her large eyes for a while, she suddenly exclaimed, "Ah!"
"I have read about a faction with similar objectives in a text."
She then explained further.
"It was called the Nameless Marsh. An ancient faction said to craft mystical weapons of unimaginable power."
"Ancient..."
"Yes. And there's a spring there that halts aging. Its inhabitants never grow old."
"A spring that halts aging."
The Nameless Marsh she described aligned significantly with what he knew of the Ancient Sword Forest.
The mention of an anti-aging spring particularly stood out to him.
After all, the figures of the Ancient Sword Forest were also said to live there without aging.
"But the names are too different."
At Bu Eun-seol's remark, Gongson Dan-gyeong's eyes sparkled as she replied,
"If it's a secretive faction that doesn't operate publicly, changing its name wouldn't be difficult at all."
The Ancient Sword Forest was less like a martial sect of the Murim and more akin to a covert secret society.
If they had resolved to change their name, it wouldn't have been difficult.
"But for a sect deeply rooted in the Murim, changing its name is no simple matter either."
It was exceedingly rare for a sect with generations of history to suddenly alter its name.
A sect's name was its very identity.
No matter how secretive the organization, there would be no reason to change its name without extraordinary circumstances.
"Still, it's concerning."
Gongson Dan-gyeong spoke with a slightly darkened expression.
"The natural order of the world dictates that to gain something, one must lose something in return."
"Because they halted their aging?"
"Exactly."
A fleeting, almost imperceptible light passed through her eyes.
"Since the dawn of time, people have ceaselessly sought the secret to eternal youth. But the price has always been the sacrifice of something vital—memories, humanity, and the like."
Bu Eun-seol nodded quietly.
Aside from the divine elixir bestowed by the heavens, the Youthful-Complexion Fruit, maintaining youth invariably came with a cruel price.
Those who consumed the herbs grown in the Cloud Sea Azure Spirit Palace would never age—but they would remain forever trapped in the form of a young boy.
The individuals he had met in the Ancient Sword Forest had lived for so long that their minds had eroded into desolation.
The cost of preserving youth was always brutal.
"After hearing the Chief Strategist's words, I can roughly guess the purpose of this orb."
A sharp glint flashed in Bu Eun-seol's calm eyes.
"If the Ancient Sword Forest possesses a spring that halts human aging... then that place alone would be an extraordinary treasure, would it not?"
"It would."
"And since this orb can lead us to the Great Forest Lord of the Ancient Sword Forest..."
He gazed at the orb placed on the table.
"In other words, this orb contains the location of a place where one can maintain youth indefinitely—an immense treasure."
Bu Eun-seol, who had been staring intently into the orb's mysteriously glowing depths, continued.
"Then they must have prepared safeguards. To ensure that those who might bring harm to the Ancient Sword Forest... cannot simply possess the orb and learn its location."
"They are a sect capable of artificially crafting Black Divine Artifacts, after all. It's possible."
Gongson Dan-gyeong nodded.
"They would have needed a way to distinguish whether the orb's bearer intended them harm."
"In that case, the method of distinction would naturally be..."
Bu Eun-seol and Gongson Dan-gyeong spoke simultaneously.
"Heart-Qi Origin Flow."
The Murim was filled with countless Internal Energy Methods, branching further into the Demonic Path, the Righteous Path, and others.
And the True Qi generated by these mental cultivation methods was referred to by Daoists as Inner Spirit Qi.
Heart-Qi Origin Flow—the belief that one's heart and mind were embedded within their True Qi.
If the Ancient Sword Forest had devised a means to determine the morality of the orb's wielder, they would have surely incorporated something capable of discerning Heart-Qi Origin Flow.
Ziiing.
Bu Eun-seol channeled his breath into his Spirit and Mind through the Original Heart Root Breath technique of the Reverse Extreme Inner Method.
Then, he began infusing the True Qi that had passed through it into the orb.
Kukukuku...
The earth trembled faintly, and a pure white mist began seeping from the orb on the table.
"What in the world—?"
Bu Eun-seol glanced at Gongson Dan-gyeong in surprise.
But she merely stared back at him with an indifferent gaze—as if she couldn't perceive the mist at all.
"Chief Strategist, you don't see this fog?"
The moment he spoke—
Sssssssss...
The mist billowed outward, engulfing the entire world before abruptly reshaping into a new landscape.
Simultaneously, a woman with mystical, gem-like eyes appeared—her eyes like shattered jewels.
The very same woman he had seen repeatedly in Saha Manor's memories.
Bound to a pillar by the Servants of the True Demon, forced to share her power with Man-wol and another woman before dying.
His mother—Saintess Sa Ah.
Yet unlike before, she was clad in resplendent robes.
Her face, now in her twenties, bore an uncanny resemblance to Man-wol.
'A Divine Message, then.'
In the end, this orb was like the Bakyeon Legacy Site—a tool created by a figure of the Baekri Clan to directly transmit memories into one's mind.
Step. Step.
The woman walked across an endless desert, her gaze fixed on the heavens as she murmured something under her breath.
Her demeanor suggested she could foresee the future—or perhaps divine Heaven's Will.
Moreover, an overwhelming energy radiated from her entire being, stretching toward the sky, making it clear her power far surpassed Man-wol's.
"To stop him..."
The beauty whispered in a low voice.
"We need a hero capable of defying fate itself... and a Black Divine Artifact strong enough to bear that power."
Finally, she halted at her destination.
Before her stretched a vast, mystical desert landscape.
The Xinjiang region—the Sea of Death, where shifting sand dunes earned it the name Taklamakan Desert.
Specifically, the eastern reaches of the Kumtagh Ravine.
A place concealed by desert winds and countless dunes, repeatedly buried and unearthed.
Hidden within was a place of mystery.
As she stepped inside, a spring bathed in divine light came into view.
Scattered across the rocks were metallic masses that seemed almost alive, pulsing with movement.
"With the Nameless Marsh and the Heaven-Earth Spirit Metal... I shall forge here a single Ancient Sword capable of stopping him."
To his astonishment, the woman in this vision was not his mother from Saha Manor—
But the Founder of the Ancient Sword Forest.