Chapter 997
Shuffle, shuffle.
Just then, the sound of footsteps could be heard—
Creeeak.
The door of a distant pavilion opened, and a woman in white garments stepped outside.
It was none other than Ga Gyeong, the leader of the Socheon Pavilion, who had given the speech at the banquet hall.
'Her?'
Just as a sharp glint flashed in Bu Eun-seol's eyes, sensing something amiss—
Nod.
Ga Gyeong quietly inclined her head toward the martial artists carrying large trunks.
At her signal, the trunk-bearing martial artists hurried inside the pavilion before emerging once more.
Lurch.
Unlike before, the weight of the trunks seemed to have changed—their footsteps now somewhat sluggish and heavy.
It was unmistakable—they had placed the sleeping man inside the trunk.
Meanwhile, Ga Gyeong moved again, heading toward another pavilion.
For a while, she went back and forth between the pavilions where the invited youths were sleeping,
repeatedly nodding at the martial artists carrying the trunks.
Then, abruptly, her gaze shifted toward the innermost pavilion—one with an excellent view.
"..."
Without hesitation, she quickened her pace toward it.
That place was none other than the pavilion where Bu Eun-seol had been assigned.
'Damn.'
Having assessed the situation, Bu Eun-seol instantly propelled himself forward.
Even in the midst of this,
he briefly stopped by another pavilion, swiftly tucking away one of the plain gray martial uniforms worn by the Immortal Valley martial artists into his robes.
Finally returning to his quarters, he lay on the bed, feigning deep slumber.
Shuffle, shuffle.
The faint sound of light footsteps approached—
and soon, Ga Gyeong stepped inside, moving toward the bed where Bu Eun-seol pretended to sleep.
Plunge.
Without hesitation, she drew out a long needle and drove it into his middle finger.
Drip.
As a single drop of blood gathered at the needle's tip, she unhesitatingly licked it with her tongue.
Flash.
In that instant, her pupils narrowed into feline-like slits, and a silvery-white gleam flickered in them.
For a long moment, she closed her eyes, savoring the taste, before finally nodding.
"So it's true... that he's mastered the flawed Snow Emperor's Art up to the Fourth Star."
She let out an impressed murmur before stepping out of the pavilion.
Soon after, the sound of heavy footsteps approached as martial artists carrying a large trunk arrived.
One of them began hastily stripping Bu Eun-seol's clothes.
'So they just need me inside the trunk.'
Thud.
Bu Eun-seol activated the Finger Art—striking the martial artists' Hundred Meetings Acupoints with a windless, soundless precision.
Their bodies stiffened like statues, eyes glazed over, mouths hanging slack.
Seizing the moment, Bu Eun-seol removed his own clothes, scattering them messily across the bed.
Then, donning the Immortal Valley uniform he had taken earlier, he climbed inside the trunk.
Fwoosh!
With a flick of Finger Wind, he struck their Hundred Meetings Acupoints once more—
"Huh?"
"Eh?"
The dazed martial artists blinked their eyes wide, as if waking from a dream.
Then, noticing the discarded uniform and the trunk's weight, they shook their heads.
"Did we... already put him in?"
"Seems like it."
"Must be more tired than I thought."
"Yeah, let's hurry."
Without further suspicion, they hoisted the trunk and carried it outside.
Tap-tap-tap!
Once outside, the martial artists unleashed a swift Movement Technique, darting forward.
Judging by their speed and direction, they seemed to be heading deep into Immortal Valley for quite some time.
Clank. Screeeech.
The sound of footsteps halting and an iron gate opening echoed before an endless sensation of descending took over.
'Underground again, huh.'
A dry laugh escaped him inwardly.
'Seems my destiny is written to keep crawling through hidden tunnels.'
Secretive and concealed places always lay buried deep beneath the earth.
Having wandered the Martial World, exploring all manner of hidden places across the land,
Bu Eun-seol had long since grown accustomed to detecting and investigating underground passages.
Thud.
Finally, the trunk was set down, and the martial artists' presence faded as they slipped away somewhere.
'This doesn't make sense.'
When the trunk was placed, a strong vibration spread—triggering his Void-Breaking Mind's Eye.
Thanks to that, Bu Eun-seol could now clearly perceive the interior of the space where the trunk had been placed.
'Are they really planning to steam people?'
Inside this space, rows of large trunks were neatly arranged,
while below lay a kitchen equipped with fire pits—capable of steaming dozens of people at once.
'It can't just be about consuming human flesh.'
The fact that they were fed spirit medicine certainly raises suspicions of human flesh consumption.
But then, there would be no reason to specifically lure in the successors or disciples of the Mysterious Sect using the martial arts of the Eight Emperors and Three Stars as bait.
There must be some hidden motive behind why they secretly drugged these young men and are now boiling them alive in steamers.
Moreover, inside this kitchen, four martial artists stood guard—each holding sharp weapons like the Judge's Brush—and they waited solemnly in front of the fire pits.
'They must be keeping watch in case someone inside the steamers wakes up—prepared for any emergency.'
Having assessed the situation, Bu Eun-seol hesitated briefly.
'If I stay still, I might uncover what they're plotting.'
Gurgle, gurgle.
By now, the inside of the steamer had filled with scorching heat.
But Bu Eun-seol had mastered both the Extreme Yin and Extreme Yang Martial Arts, the pinnacle of the martial world.
Even if he remained inside the steamer for hours, he wouldn't suffer any harm.
'But the others won't last.'
Though uncovering the truth was important, human lives took precedence.
If he left the unconscious martial artists in the other steamers, they'd end up boiled like dumplings.
They had to be saved—immediately.
Clang!
Finally making up his mind, Bu Eun-seol pushed open the steamer lid and rose—
Flash!
A swift gleam of light suddenly slashed toward his chest.
As if anticipating this exact moment, the rough-faced man at the front of the waiting group struck like lightning—
Using the sharp Judge's Brush like the Quick Sword Form, he precisely pierced Bu Eun-seol's Demon Blood Point.
Thud.
The pointed Judge's Brush stabbed mercilessly into the pressure point.
"See that?"
The rough-faced man withdrew his weapon and spoke in a low voice to the three martial artists behind him.
"Not a single drop of blood must be spilled... If any of them stir, suppress them instantly by striking the Demon Blood Point just like this."
He seemed to be their leader, instructing the others.
"And when you strike the Demon Blood Point, do it swiftly and decisively—but distribute the force evenly. If you focus the power only on the tip of the Judge's Brush, the acupoint might loosen too quickly..."
Mid-explanation, the rough-faced man noticed his subordinates staring past him.
"What the hell are you looking at?"
Frowning, he turned to follow their gaze—
And froze.
The man whose acupoint should have been completely suppressed was staring right back at him.
"How are you—"
His words died in his throat.
Tap-tap-tap!
The moment Bu Eun-seol widened his eyes, the rough-faced man and the three martial artists stiffened like statues.
An invisible Finger Wind had simultaneously struck their Demon Blood Point and Dumb Point, paralyzing them completely.
"A fine suggestion."
Bu Eun-seol looked down at the fallen leader and spoke coldly.
"But there are many in the martial world whose acupoints cannot be suppressed... Next time, make sure the pressure point is properly sealed before turning your back."
Crackle—Hiss!
At the same time, white frost cascaded down Bu Eun-seol's hair, and in an instant, the flames beneath dozens of steamers were extinguished.
Using the Glacier Thousand Streams Art, he had snuffed out the fires beneath the steamers in a single breath.
Shiver, shiver.
The paralyzed martial artists trembled uncontrollably.
The fires in the pits were fueled by Fire Essence Stones—even if someone poured ice water over them, they would never go out.
Yet this man had extinguished twenty fire pits with nothing but a glance?
"I will now release your Dumb Points one by one and ask questions."
Bu Eun-seol's voice was icy as he regarded them.
"Those who answer will live."
Tap.
First, he released the Dumb Point of the rough-faced man, the apparent leader.
"You dare—! Do you even know where this—"
Splurt!
Before he could finish, a fountain of blood erupted from his throat.
Thud.
His severed head rolled across the floor.
Bu Eun-seol needed to extract information quickly to uncover the truth of this place.
But if the leader remained defiant, glaring with bulging eyes, he wouldn't get any answers.
To break their morale and obtain intel swiftly, he had decapitated him in a single stroke.
Drip, drip.
As blood soaked the faces of the remaining three martial artists, they trembled violently.
They were realizing, once again, just how terrifying and ruthless the man before them truly was.
Crack.
Bu Eun-seol released the pressure point on the leftmost martial artist's Dumb Point.
"What is this place, and why are you boiling young martial artists alive in these cauldrons?"
His crimson-flaring eyes and impossibly low voice made him seem like the Grim Reaper himself had descended in human form.
"Th-That is..."
The martial artist stammered in fear—
Splurt!
A fountain of blood erupted, and his head rolled helplessly to the floor.
The two remaining survivors were once again splattered with fresh blood.
"Even failing to answer properly means death."
Bu Eun-seol's eyes brimmed with a killing intent he had never shown before.
Over time, he had witnessed countless atrocities—organizations like the Three Realms and other vile factions experimenting on or brutally slaughtering the innocent.
He rarely batted an eye at such things.
But this?
Boiling people alive—openly, cruelly, inhumanely—was something he had never seen before.
He was genuinely enraged.
Crack.
When Bu Eun-seol released the third martial artist's Dumb Point,
"Spare me!"
The man shouted desperately, his words tumbling out in a rush.
"We were just following orders!"
Schlick!
The third head, too, hit the ground.
"That wasn't the answer I wanted."
Bu Eun-seol looked down at the last remaining martial artist.
"You don't have to speak. I'll uncover the truth myself once I tear this place apart."
His gaze bore into the lone survivor.
Though the man's Dumb Point was still sealed, his pupils flickered with uncontainable emotion—as if he was desperately trying to convey something.
Crack.
The moment the pressure point was released, the martial artist blurted out:
"It's Blood God Heaven!"
The unexpected, shocking name slipped out.
Blood God Heaven.
Did that mean this Immortal Valley was the stronghold of one of the Servants of the True Demon, one of the Four Divine Heavens?
"And the reason they're boiling them whole is—"
Fearing Bu Eun-seol might behead him mid-sentence, he rushed to explain—
Crunch.
A sickening crack echoed as the man's neck began twisting unnaturally.
Snap. Snap. Snap.
Despite the Dumb Point being sealed, some overwhelming force was violently wrenching his neck apart.
'A Restrictive Seal?'
Crack-crack!
Bu Eun-seol immediately released the Demon Blood Point and tried to block the sinister energy spreading through the man's body.
Snap.
But it was too late. The martial artist's neck had already snapped.
"Blood God Heaven...?"
Bu Eun-seol's expression twisted in disbelief.
The Four Divine Heavens—
One of the Servants of the True Demon, beings of transcendent power who lurked in the upper echelons of the human world.
In other words, he had just stepped right into the tiger's maw.
"It's done."
Just then, a hoarse voice called from outside the kitchen.
There had been no footsteps—no warning at all.
The deep, resonant tone suggested an elderly man of formidable martial arts.
"They should be boiled enough by now. Time to extract the—"
The old man who entered froze, his eyes bulging.
The martial artists meant to be tending the cauldrons lay dead on the floor, and in their place stood a young man clad in Immortal Valley's plain gray uniform.
"You..."
Before the old man could voice his confusion—
Fwoooosh!
A blinding radiance erupted.
Now that he knew this was Blood God Heaven, Bu Eun-seol abandoned any thought of extracting information through interrogation.
Instead, he unleashed Harmonization, erasing the old man's body without a trace.
Hiss...
Where the elder had stood, only white smoke curled upward—no remnant of his existence remained.
'If this is Blood God Heaven, then I've walked straight into the tiger's jaws.'
The faction that had lured young martial artists under the banners of the Eight Emperors and Three Stars and the Purification of the Three Realms—
Was none other than Blood God Heaven?
Not even in his wildest dreams could he have anticipated this.
'Can I overturn this place alone?'
The men earlier—one even holding a Judge's Brush—had shown no signs of a Soul-Demon Magic Artifact or Demon-Sealing Fragments, nothing that would mark them as Servants of the True Demon.
Their skills were embarrassingly lacking for a supposedly mysterious sect.
But the old man had been different.
Though Bu Eun-seol had obliterated him instantly with Harmonization,
The elder had moved so stealthily that even Bu Eun-seol's extrasensory perception hadn't detected him.
That alone told him this Immortal Valley was a mix—
Ordinary martial artists unaffiliated with Blood God Heaven,
And true elites who served it.
'Do I turn back now... or—'
Though he didn't know exactly what they were doing here... the mere mention of Blood God Heaven had already revealed more than half the truth.
And if most of the people in this Immortal Valley were Blood God Heaven's subordinates?
What if the Lord of Blood God Heaven himself was here?
The Divine Heavens' Lords were still beings he couldn't afford to face casually, so he needed to escape this place immediately.
'Even if I escape, I should leave as much destruction behind as possible.'
Bu Eun-seol clenched his teeth as he stared at the fifteen steaming cauldrons lined up in a row.
'I can't just leave them like this.'
Him retreating from this place wasn't the issue.
But he couldn't abandon those young men.
The problem was that their martial arts were so pathetically weak that they had no hope of escaping this place undetected.
'No choice.'
Thud.
The moment he made his decision, he channeled his Internal Energy.
The lids of the cauldrons shot open simultaneously, and the young men lying inside floated into the air.
Pah-pah-pah-pahk!
With a flicker of his eyes, razor-sharp Finger Wind pierced thirty-six major acupoints in an instant.
They had been unable to wake up due to the lingering energy of the Spirit Medicine absorbed into their bodies.
In that case, he had to force their bodies to rapidly assimilate it and rouse them.
'Still not waking?'
Even after stimulating their Blood Circuits to accelerate the absorption of the Spirit Medicine's energy...
They showed no signs of regaining consciousness.
'A strange phenomenon.'
In all his years of wandering the martial world, he had never seen or heard of anything like this.
After a brief moment of contemplation, Bu Eun-seol activated the Heavenly Robe Mind Art to examine them in detail.
'Poison?'
A turbid energy had seeped into their bodies, clogging the normal flow of their Qi Vessels.
Squelch.
Bu Eun-seol tore open their flesh, drawing blood.
Drip-drip-drip.
Unlike normal blood, a murky, tainted liquid spilled out.
Some even had frothy spittle mixed with blood staining the corners of their mouths.
'What's keeping them unconscious... is an unprecedented, anomalous poison.'
Huuuung.
Bu Eun-seol summoned the power of the Sage Among Poisons.
But something unbelievable happened.
A power that could create any poison and neutralize them all—
Even the Sage Among Poisons' ability couldn't detoxify this?
'Then I'll try absorbing it.'
Huuuung.
He attempted to draw out the poison dominating their bodies, but it was futile.
'They show symptoms of poisoning, yet it can't be purified...'
A sense of urgency gripped him.
The fact that the old man had come to move them meant something was already in motion.
If he couldn't wake them soon, forget escaping—they would all die right here.
'Sour.'
Suddenly, he noticed a sharp, acidic scent rising from their spilled blood.
Whatever substance had altered their blood composition to this sour state had spread throughout their entire bodies.
'It's acid, then.'
Nothing else could produce such a sour, unnatural odor from bodily fluids.
'Is there a poison I can create to save them?'
Though he had reached the realm of the Sage Among Poisons, he didn't fully understand the principles or mechanisms behind poison's creation.
No—in truth, even attaining the Sage Among Poisons' realm had been...
A desperate, accidental breakthrough while searching for a way to save his poisoned Peak Realm Members.
In other words, it was a realm achieved solely through the sheer, desperate will to protect others.
Sssssss.
And now, that same pure resolve manifested once more—this time, as the burning desire to save these young men before him.
Uuuuuung.
In an instant, an abyssal darkness, deeper than pitch black, began flowing from Bu Eun-seol's body.
Though the light was darker than the void itself, it carried an oddly gentle energy.
Fundamentally, martial arts and mental cultivation methods...
Were merely tools to express a warrior's will.
And a will untainted by even a speck of impurity was, in itself, a complete doctrine—a force more potent than any Mind-Training Formula.
Fwoooosh!
Before he knew it, an even more majestic black radiance surged from Bu Eun-seol's body.
Poison Force Pure Origin, Nether Toxin Dominion.
Poison was the purest, most primordial force in existence, and its profound power could encompass and govern all Domains and Boundaries.
Without even realizing it...
Bu Eun-seol had begun unraveling the deepest, most esoteric principles of the Sage Among Poisons.
Shuuuu.
Before he knew it, forming in his palm was...
A highly refined poison—harmless to the human body yet capable of neutralizing acid.
Poison could become medicine, depending on how it was used.
There was a legend that the first Sage Among Poisons was not a Poison Person, but the Medical Saint, who sought to heal the suffering.
And now, Bu Eun-seol...
Had unknowingly taken his first steps toward that legendary Poison Person's realm.
Tssss.
When he introduced the poison into the blood pooled in his palm...
The sour scent faded as if neutralized, the murky liquid transforming into clear, healthy blood.
Just like the first Sage Among Poisons, the Medical Saint...
Bu Eun-seol, too, had finally created it—
Not a poison that harmed, but a poison that saved.