The great blade of the Returning to One Realm Lord was so massive that even a sturdy adult could not hope to wield it.
The width of the blade, which glowed gloomily as it absorbed the surrounding light, exceeded three feet, and its hilt was as thick as a log. It emitted a low vibration, as if constantly thirsting for blood.
Chuk.
As he gripped the great blade properly, a ferocious energy began to spread out.
"Aaaaaah!"
With a loud cry resembling the wailing of a witch, the great blade cut through the air. A powerful blade-qi blossomed, and the space around him seemed to converge into one. Then, there was an illusion of it expanding infinitely once more.
Destruction and Annihilation.
The Seven Blood Tear Forms of the Returning to One Realm Lord contained a sword intent that was of a completely different caliber from the Seven Blood Tear Forms created by Bu Zhanyang.
Pah-ang!
In response, a brilliant light burst forth from Bu Eunseol’s body.
He had suffered fatal injuries while facing the formidable enemies that appeared in the Valley of Immortals in succession. In such a state, he did not believe he could defeat the Returning to One Realm Lord.
No, he didn't even hope for victory.
However, since this was the man who had stolen his grandfather’s remains, he intended to strike a decisive blow with all his might.
—Kiii!
Bu Eunseol’s eyes were stained with madness as he poured out the same Blood Mist Erosion as the Returning to One Realm Lord. However, in terms of the mastery of the Seven Blood Tear Forms, he was somewhat inferior to the Realm Lord.
Furthermore, because it was fueled by a desperate desire for revenge, it was not the original power of the Seven Blood Tear Forms that was unleashed, but a mixture of murderous Qi-Sword Studies.
Nevertheless, its power increased drastically. While facing Gakyung and the others, he had mastered a nearly perfected form of the Seven Blood Tear Forms that could contain his emotions.
However, the pent-up resentment and fierce murderous intent exploded now.
Kwa-rung! Flash!
As the ink-colored blade-qi crossed repeatedly, Bu Eunseol’s body began to be pushed back.
Flash!
Bu Eunseol suddenly threw his sword into the sky.
The Silent Tiger Soul Sword flickered with an ink-colored brilliance like a living Black Dragon.
While clinging to the Realm Lord's body, it poured out the Supreme Heavenly Flow.
He had unfolded the Mind-Intent Sword Control, a realm where one controls the sword freely with the mind, surpassing the stage of Sword-Body Unity.
Grind.
In the meantime, Bu Eunseol, who had reset his dislocated shoulder, stretched out both arms with a battle cry. From his left hand, a frigid coldness that seemed capable of freezing everything in the world swirled, and from his right hand, a heat that seemed capable of melting everything spiraled.
Ku-ru-ru!
The Heavenly Glacial Secret and the Thunder Spirit Energy.
The power of those two opposing extremes formed a massive, spiraling storm and rushed fiercely toward the Returning to One Realm Lord.
Crackle, Kwa-ang!
A strange phenomenon occurred where the air froze and then exploded repeatedly. In an instant, the Scorching Hell and the Freezing Tundra unfolded alternately, devastating the area within a forty-zhang radius where the Realm Lord stood.
With a snort, the Returning to One Realm Lord swung his great blade.
Ku-rung!
A thunderous roar that shook heaven and earth rang out, and the attacks Bu Eunseol had poured out vanished as if they had evaporated in an instant.
However, as if anticipating this, an intangible True Qi erupted from Bu Eunseol’s entire body like a flash of lightning. Once again, it spat out hundreds, thousands of blades. He had unfolded the Wishful True Binding
Chwa-ak!
The blades of death, having torn through the defensive space created by the Realm Lord, displayed overwhelming destructive power, changing shape countless times at a fierce speed to shatter everything.
"Hung! Hong! Hong!"
At that moment, the Realm Lord's great blade, imbued with a blood-red light, drew a large circle. Then, a square shape opened in the air like a gate to the underworld that sucked everything in, absorbing every single attack Bu Eunseol had unleashed.
Chuk.
Ultimately, pushed back by that immense power, the Silent Tiger Soul Sword, which had been performing the Supreme Heavenly Flow in mid-air, returned to Bu Eunseol’s hand.
The clash between the two masters, who had exchanged over a hundred moves in a single breath, paused for a moment. Due to their fight, which transcended the limits of martial arts, the ground boiled like lava, and the heat emanating from all directions distorted the surrounding air.
Whirrr.
The Returning to One Realm Lord lightly flicked the blade of his weapon, displaying overwhelming composure. His blade techniques had already reached the ultimate realm of the Great Way of Heaven and Earth, meaning conventional attacks could not even wound his body in the first place.
"Ha-ap!"
But Bu Eunseol did not care and let out a roar like thunder.
Pah-ang!
With an explosive sound, a red flash of condensed fighting spirit rose from his body once again. Closing the distance in an instant, Bu Eunseol unfolded the Supreme Heavenly Flow once more. Wherever the Silent Tiger Soul Sword passed, space distorted, and ink-colored waves spread out for dozens of zhang.
In contrast, the Returning to One Realm Lord stood firm, and there was not a hint of agitation in his coldly shining eyes. With minimal movement, he performed an extremely restrained blade art, leisurely parrying Bu Eunseol’s storm-like attacks.
‘Be even more careless!’
Bu Eunseol’s eyes, as he unleashed a frantic barrage of strikes, were coldly calm. When he first encountered the Realm Lord, he was truly enraged, but he was soon able to regain his composure. He had constantly disciplined his spirit so that he would no longer be agitated by matters concerning his grandfather.
Even so, he continued to deliberately vent his anger, appearing as if he had lost his reason. In his current state of severe injury, the maximum attack he could perform was the Triple Overlap Harmony. He was creating an opportunity to strike by inducing the Realm Lord’s carelessness.
"Humph."
The Realm Lord swung his great blade broadly as if bored. Then, the traces of the strikes Bu Eunseol had poured out so far were forced open as if by a giant invisible hand.
Jji-uk!
At the same time, an abyss-like blade-qi, gushing from his weapon like the mouth of a monster, erupted toward Bu Eunseol. The Realm Lord was certain that this series of moves would definitely strike and that they could never be avoided; thus, he performed the technique in an extremely slow and solemn form.
However, in the eyes of Bu Eunseol, who was mobilizing all his transcendental senses and using the power of the Nangyang Heart Eye and the Ancient Sword Forest, a perfect opening for a decisive blow was captured.
Ging, ging, gi-ing—
Low vibrations rang out three times from the Silent Tiger Soul Sword.
Flash!
A brilliant light shot straight toward the Returning to One Realm Lord. Finally, he had launched the Triple Overlap Harmony, accumulated with all his might, at the Realm Lord.
‘You won’t bother to evade!’
The Realm Lord treated him as an inferior. Therefore, even if a counterattack came, he would not dodge but would ostentatiously neutralize the attack.
Paaaah!
Ultimately, the Triple Overlap Harmony instantly annihilated the Realm Lord's abyss-like blade-qi and pierced toward his face.
The Realm Lord’s expression changed in an instant. Only then did he instinctively realize that he should not take that eerie streak of light, descending like a thunderbolt, head-on.
Ku-ong. Wa-uuu!
The Returning to One Realm Lord showed unbelievable reaction speed. The moment the Harmony touched him, along with a thunderous roar, his massive body spun fiercely in the air as if he had become the eye of a typhoon.
Paaaah!
The place where Harmony passed became a smooth plain, as if carved by a sharp blade. But the Realm Lord had, in the end, avoided the decisive strike that had been delivered by splitting a fraction of a second.
Ssss.
However, because the streak of light from the Harmony had grazed his ear, half of the iron mask covering his face began to melt away. Then, half of the face hidden beneath the mask was clearly revealed.
"You are..."
Bu Eunseol’s eyes widened as he saw the Realm Lord’s face hidden behind the mask. An unbelievable sight had unfolded.
The Realm Lord's gaze changed drastically as he realized half of his face was exposed. He then delivered a palm strike as fast as lightning.
But Bu Eunseol did not avoid it. He had staked his life on a final gamble to kill the Realm Lord.
Kwa-ang!
Bu Eunseol, struck in the chest by the palm force, crashed into a rock twenty zhang behind him.
Kwa-ung!
Rumble.
The rock collapsed, and dust rose in all directions.
Ssss.
At that moment, white smoke drifted from the Realm Lord's hand. The moment he was hit by the palm force, Bu Eunseol had created a new poison with all his might and poured out the toxic qi.
Looking down at his blackened palm, the Realm Lord frowned for the first time. Suddenly, his senses grew dull, and he felt a cold, alien sensation as if metal had been attached to his entire palm.
'Poison.’
The toxic qi that had penetrated through his palm had not only easily broken his Body Immune to All Poisons, but it was also emitting a heat that seemed to melt his meridians and made his internal breathing uncomfortable.
U-yong.
The Realm Lord exerted his internal energy to push out the poison.
Ku-ku-ku.
Then, the leaves of trees in the forest hundreds of zhang away shook all at once, and a low vibration spread from deep underground. However, even with that transcendent internal power, he could not push the poison out.
It was as if one could push away water, but could not push away a shadow dissolved in the water. There was clearly a poisoning phenomenon, but there was no "toxic qi," and it possessed an unprecedented toxicity that could not be expelled by internal energy.
Such a poison had to be resolved with a spiritual elixir, not internal power.
Pat!
Touching his iron mask, of which only half remained, the Realm Lord ultimately became a black meteor soaring into the sky and vanished in an instant.
Whoosh.
As the wind blew and the dust cleared, the pale face of Bu Eunseol was clearly revealed. He had already lost too much blood. No matter how high the realm of Toxicity Within the Body one had reached, to generate poison, one must have sufficient blood.
Even in a state where a large amount of blood was lost, he had deliberately taken the palm strike to kill the Realm Lord and had created and released a new poison with all his strength.
Bu Eunseol stared in the direction where the Realm Lord had disappeared, wearing a dazed expression.
"How..."
The stubborn eyes and firmly closed mouth revealed through the broken iron mask... incredibly, the Realm Lord’s face closely resembled his grandfather’s face from his middle-aged years.
It was likely not a disguise. Since he wore an iron mask so hard it could only be broken by the light of the Harmony, he wouldn't have bothered to use a disguise underneath.
Thud.
Bu Eunseol collapsed onto his knees. Finally, one fact came to mind.
Bloodline.
He was told that his grandfather had a blood relative who had gone to the Baekri or True Demon kin.
"Was he my grandfather's son?"
There was no other way to explain this situation. Among the countless people in the martial world, he had never seen anyone who resembled his grandfather’s appearance and gaze.
Pu-shut. Pa-aa.
At that moment, many people were entering the collapsed and burned interior of the Valley of Immortals. Their outfits were uniformly black, and they wore masks revealing strange patterns on their faces.
The Returning to One Realm.
They were undoubtedly the warriors of the Returning to One Realm who had come under the orders of their Realm Lord.
Sa-sa-sa-sak.
They began to dispose of the corpses left throughout the Valley of Immortals. They melted the bodies with expensive Hwagolsan and quickly began to erase the traces remaining in the valley. Even as they erased the traces, they did not even glance at Bu Eunseol, who stood a distance away.
It was as if he were invisible.
‘Was that it?’
Only then could he realize another shocking fact.
‘The information network of the Martial Soul Society was completed much later.’
He had constantly clashed with the Three Realms since he began his journey in the martial world. Considering the incredible information network of the Three Realms, he could not have completely evaded their pursuit with his power at the time. The information network of the Martial Soul Society, which encompassed both the Demonic and Orthodox paths, was only completed long after he became the Martial Soul Command Lord.
Nevertheless, the Three Realms had not pursued him all along, nor had they attempted a preemptive strike with overwhelming force. At the time, he thought it was because he had perfectly erased his tracks.
As it turned out, the Returning to One Realm had been erasing his tracks for him.
"Why on earth?"
Staring into the air, Bu Eunseol thought about the reason for a long time. Then he reached a strange conclusion.
"Could it be that he, too, is seeking revenge for grandfather?"
What if the Returning to One Realm Lord was his grandfather’s blood relative and was seeking revenge? And what if he was watching his supposed grandson running wild for the sake of revenge?
—Would he not have tried to help?
‘Is that why he didn't kill me?’
The Realm Lord did not pour out his attacks with sincerity from the beginning. However, when he realized that Bu Eunseol would not stop his attacks even if his life ended, only then did he truly try to take his head.
‘Was it because, with my skills, I wouldn't be able to achieve revenge anyway?’
All along, the Realm Lord had looked down on him with arrogant eyes. As if his skills were insufficient for revenge.
Step, step.
Bu Eunseol walked toward a masked man of the Returning to One Realm who was cleaning up the surroundings.
Pu-shut!
As soon as their eyes met, the masked man committed suicide on the spot by severing his heart-meridian without hesitation. Despite this chilling sight, the other masked men did not move a muscle and skillfully cleared away the body of their dead comrade.
They were perfectly brainwashed so that they could not leak any information.
Grind.
Bu Eunseol clenched his fist tightly. If the Returning to One Realm Lord really was his grandfather’s son...
"If you are my grandfather’s blood relative..."
Bu Eunseol shouted out in frustration.
"Why aren't you saying anything to me!"
If the Realm Lord was his grandfather’s blood relative, why would he turn away from him?
‘Could it be that the position of the Returning to One Realm Lord is not supreme?’
Even the high-ranking officials of the Three Realms evaluated the Realm Lord as a madman who only desired destruction. But what if even the position of Realm Lord was one that had to be wary of someone else?
He would absolutely avoid direct contact or exchanging opinions with Bu Eunseol.
If such a thing were discovered, his position could be shaken.
"Can I not lead the grand game as an equal yet?"
Bu Eunseol bit his lip.
The only reason he lost to the Realm Lord was one.
It was because of the unbridgeable gap of time.
He had reached the strongest rank among those of a young age, and his rate of development surpassed the youth of the Human Demon, who was evaluated as the best of the era.
But even so, the gap of time existed.
The Peerless Masters who currently overlooked the martial world had already practiced martial arts for decades more than Bu Eunseol. Furthermore, because their talent was also at a level comparable to his... it was impossible to surpass their martial prowess in a short period.
Squeeze.
Bu Eunseol clenched his fist to endure the dizziness. He had bled too much and suffered too many wounds, but there was no time to rest.
He took out a small wooden box from his robe and opened it. Inside was a small bottle made of carved jade.
Pop.
When he opened it, an indescribable refreshing fragrance spread out for over ten zhang. It was a rare spiritual elixir in the mortal world and a peerless treasure that would cost over 400,000 taels.
It was a bottle containing the Blue Spirit Stone Elixir.
‘I didn't prepare this for my own use.’
Until now, he had been injured in numerous battles, but thanks to his thick internal energy and superhuman recovery, he had never once received the help of a peerless medicine like the Stone Elixir.
However, in this fight, his bones were broken and dislocated, he had lost a large amount of blood, and suffered deep internal injuries. If he were an ordinary warrior, he would have already lost his life.
‘It will be difficult to find more.’
Even so, Bu Eunseol felt it was a waste to use it on his own wounds. Since the amount of Stone Elixir kept in the Suppressed Demon Pavilion was not much, he hoped it would be used when his subordinates were in danger rather than using it on himself.
‘But there is no choice now.
As he drank the liquid inside the bottle...
Crack, snap.
The broken bones mended at once, and the lost blood and internal and external wounds were quickly healed. Although there were many spiritual elixirs in the martial world, the Blue Spirit Stone Elixir was the only one capable of instantly recovering internal and external injuries in this manner.
In the meantime, the interior of the Valley of Immortals had been neatly organized, and most of the warriors of the Returning to One Realm had withdrawn.
—Where is the Realm Lord? Where is the main base?
Bu Eunseol once again subdued the departing warriors of the Returning to One Realm and interrogated them.
Puk.
Then, they immediately committed suicide by stabbing their hearts or severing their heart-meridians. If he asked one person, one person committed suicide; if he asked ten people, ten people committed suicide.
The Returning to One Realm Lord.
For the sake of a secret, he considered the lives of his subordinates as disposables that could be thrown away at any time.
‘No, I can find him.’
Suddenly, he realized he was forgetting one fact.
Had the Realm Lord not appeared, it would be different, but he had revealed himself in the Valley of Immortals and before Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
In other words, since he clearly knew the place and time of the appearance... he had found a clue to track the Realm Lord’s traces before and after that moment.
If so, through the information network of the Martial Soul Society, he could surely track his movements.
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