A stillness and silence, as if all sounds in the world had ceased, enveloped Bu Eunseol’s body. This was not an actual physical silence, but rather the result of a mysterious, hidden power within his body manifesting in a calm yet majestic manner.
Swish—
Before long, his hair was dyed pure white from the roots like the first snow, radiating a transparent luster like silver threads woven from moonlight. His skin also grew pale—not in a sickly way, but turning a cool, mystical white, as if he had become a piece of finely polished white jade ] or a crystalline snowflake itself.
The most significant change occurred in his eyes. His once ordinary eyes turned into a winter lake of unfathomable depth, and in their centers, a faint light swirled as if containing the nebulae of the night sky.
"What is this?"
For a moment, Jongbaek hesitated to strike.
The change in Bu Eunseol’s appearance was not the issue. It was because the moment their eyes met, he felt an untouchable authority—the kind emitted by a being who has cast off the shackles of mortality. It was akin to the Divine Majesty of one who has reached the realm of invincibility—a power similar to the one that had granted him strength, and the very state he had long desired.
"What on earth are you!"
Jongbaek reached out with a scream that sounded like a desperate struggle. Something invisible brushed past Bu Eunseol’s body, and a bizarre bursting sound echoed.
Flash!
As if preemptively blocking any counterattack, Jongbaek’s shadow melted into space with a flash of light, vanishing from Bu Eunseol’s sight.
Screeech!
Soon, with the sound of space tearing apart, invisible blades began to hack at Bu Eunseol. However, that sharp and violent power was merely neutralized and scattered the moment it touched his body, like waves crashing against a solid rock.
Boom! Boom!
The attacks surged with explosions that shook the very axis of the earth. Each time, a pure white energy erupted from Bu Eunseol’s body. As those holy rays of light enveloped him, his consciousness gradually grew distant, and his eyes became hollow, losing their focus.
Bu Eunseol suddenly looked down at his own hands. They were not the hands of a human made of flesh and blood. Like a work of art fashioned by a divine touch, they shone with an unrealistic whiteness.
Slide.
When he unconsciously reached out his hand lightly—
Thump!
Jongbaek, who had been pouring out attacks while hiding his form, suddenly revealed himself.
Crash!
He was slammed deep into the ground before leaping back into the air.
Clatter.
Jongbaek, landing on the ground as awkwardly as a man who knew no martial arts, quickly regained his stance.
"What are you?" Jongbaek could not understand. "I asked, what the hell are you!"
No matter how fast he moved, no matter how clever the direction he shifted to, no matter what attack he unleashed—it was all useless. He was merely a doll repeating meaningless motions before a superhuman possessed of divine authority.
Vroom.
When Bu Eunseol did not even offer an answer, a black radiance surged from Jongbaek’s eyes.
"Roar!"
As if trying to attack the mind directly, he poured out a wicked Sound Art this time. His roar was not a simple sonic technique, but a curse itself created through the Primal Demon Artifact, designed to freeze the soul of any listener.
For a moment, the eyes of the dazed Bu Eunseol wavered slightly. As if containing the will of the True Demon, Jongbaek’s roar was filled with malice and chaos, gnawing at his mind like a living creature.
But that was as far as it went. Bu Eunseol merely looked down at Jongbaek once more with an arrogant expression.
"Heh, heh..."
Stopping his Sound Art, Jongbaek crouched like a beast and inhaled raggedly. By now, his skin had turned pitch black, and nearly half the skin on his face had melted away.
"This cannot be. This simply cannot be!"
As he dispersed his Primal Demon Artifact in all directions with a battle cry, hundreds of shadows poured toward Bu Eunseol’s surroundings. It looked as if messengers from hell had descended to dye the entire world black. The hundreds of shadows filling heaven and earth spread out like thousands of black feathers, digging into Bu Eunseol’s body. They possessed a rapid speed that even a master of the world’s greatest footwork could never avoid, containing a terrifying energy capable of destroying even a Heavenly Steel Body upon contact.
Crack.
However, the one who suffered constant damage was actually Jongbaek.
Bu Eunseol remained uninjured by even a single hair.
Each time Jongbaek unleashed an attack using the Primal Demon Artifact, his own skin cracked, and from within, a dark red light shimmered with horrific illusions of a hellish landscape.
He was not fighting... he was being consumed. Every time he forced his power to attack Bu Eunseol, chunks of his flesh were torn away and fell to the floor.
Drip, drop.
They were pieces of flesh that had fallen off, unable to withstand the Primal Demon Artifact any longer.
"Heh... heh..."
Jongbaek greedily swallowed those fragments again. After all, the Primal Demon Artifact was contained within them. All that remained was madness and a will to fight. He was moving purely on instinct to kill Bu Eunseol before he himself died. Even if a painful death was destined, he felt he would have no regrets once he defeated his enemy.
"Wooooo!"
Watching Jongbaek shove the fragments of his own flesh into his mouth with a desperate wail, the light in Bu Eunseol’s eyes began to slowly regain its original color.
‘This power...’
As Jongbaek’s Primal Demon Artifact dug into his body, an unknown energy had encroached upon his physique. Soon, he felt a massive power, unlike anything he had ever felt before, surging through his entire being. Triggered by Jongbaek’s dark energy, a power within him had awakened—one that was similar to the Secret Arts of the Heavenly Immortal and the power of the Baekri Clan's True Body, yet completely different in its attributes.
‘With this power...’
With this power, he could strike down anyone. He could bring everything to its knees. He could achieve everything he had planned in a single stroke.
However, as he watched Jongbaek howling, Bu Eunseol gained a profound realization.
Heart Mirror Reverse Reflection, Shock the Enemy's Heart and Soul.
It was a formula from the Illusion Upon Illusion, meaning that by using the mirror of the heart in reverse, one could shake the enemy's spirit and collapse their soul.
But Ak Muryeong had not simply passed on a martial formula.
‘The Pavilion Lord was trying to enlighten me.’
Ak Muryeong was the only person capable of examining Bu Eunseol’s body in minute detail. He had discovered this massive latent power within him and enlightened him so that he could make the right choice.
‘He wanted me to use the enemy as a mirror, to see and feel the state of an enemy whose spirit is shaken and whose soul is collapsed.’
Jongbaek had been encroached upon by transcendental power. He had abandoned both his sect and his martial arts to submit to the True Demon. But when exposed to an even greater and more powerful force, he was reacting with helpless rage and agony.
It was because, from the start, the power was not his own.
‘This power is not something the current me should use.’
Even if there was a massive power latent within his body, it must never be used unless he reached a realm where he could control it freely.
A slave to power.
If he pursued strength alone like Jongbaek, there would eventually be no progress, as he would become intoxicated by that powerful force alone.
Drip, melt.
Meanwhile, the skin on Jongbaek’s face was flowing down like candle wax. In truth, from the moment he transformed his body through the Primal Demon Artifact, such an end should have been expected. For there would surely be a price. If any martial artist could easily transform their body and gain potential through this treasure, the True Demon would not have bothered making separate subordinates.
Whether they were ordinary martial artists or commoners, if that power were passed to them, they would become beings of invincible strength.
"Uuuugh."
Jongbaek let out a groan of agony. It was not because of physical pain or suffering. He was regretting. He regretted choosing the path of abandoning martial arts and betraying his sect, even though he knew it was not the right way.
‘That is why the Pavilion Lord chose me.’
Falling into temptation, Jongbaek had made the wrong choice as a disciple of the Nangyang Pavilion. However, even if Ak Muryeong's martial arts were to increase several times over, he could not force Jongbaek to realize that fact.
So, he chose Bu Eunseol.
For the sake of Jongbaek, who was once his martial uncle, so that he could realize his error and die as a disciple of the Nangyang Pavilion.
Vroom.
Bu Eunseol reached out his hand. Then, the mysterious energy flowing through his body began to pour toward Jongbaek. Jongbaek’s body, firmly encased in the Primal Demon Artifact, was unaffected by any power, including the Secret Arts of the Heavenly Immortal. However, as Bu Eunseol injected the mysterious power flowing within him, the collapse of that body momentarily stopped.
"Why?"
Jongbaek wore an expression of incomprehension. Thanks to the Primal Demon Artifact, he instinctively realized that instead of using that massive power to strike him, Bu Eunseol had used it to extend his life.
"It was not a power I was meant to exert," Bu Eunseol answered. "I do not even know what that power is."
Had it been the Secret Arts of the Heavenly Immortal, he would have used it freely, thinking of it as the power of the Baekri Clan. But that power was extremely similar to the Baekri Clan’s power yet completely different in attribute. Furthermore, Bu Eunseol had polished his martial arts until now, and his potential for growth was infinite. If it was not a power he could control freely, there was no need to be consumed by it or cling to it.
"Do you not find it a waste?"
"Until now, I have fought not only the subordinates of the True Demon but also those with the power of the Baekri Clan." He continued calmly. "And their ends were always the same. They always had to pay the price for using power that was not their own."
Seoryeong, who was Chu So’s puppet, sacrificed her lifespan as the price for using the Secret Arts of the Heavenly Immortal. Yuk Jang-cheon also gave up his life in exchange for receiving power from the elder of the Baekri Clan. Therefore, he knew that Jongbaek, who used the Primal Demon Artifact of the True Demon, would surely have to pay that price as well.
"What of it!"
Jongbaek’s eyes were dyed black.
"Now that that strange power has vanished, you will no longer be able to block the Primal Demon Artifact, will you?"
By now, his form was no longer that of a rational human, but a demon with only burning hatred and destructive instincts remaining. Thus, even though Bu Eunseol had stopped the collapse of his body, he was determined to kill him.
"Try to exert it again."
Bu Eunseol, having gained realization, reached out his hand with a perfectly calm expression. "That great power of the True Demon."
At his leisurely attitude, Jongbaek’s face twisted hideously.
"Even if I die, I will surely kill you first!"
Boom! Thwack!
Jongbaek poured out a terrifying fist force, like Bu Eunseol’s Seven Fist Demon Forms. However, Bu Eunseol merely dodged his body cleverly and did not counterattack at all.
Despite the desperate attacks pouring down incessantly, Bu Eunseol’s gaze remained coldly settled; he silently blocked them and never struck back.
Hum.
Bu Eunseol’s eyes were now emitting a blue haze, and a faint pattern was engraved on his palm. From the start, the Ancient Sword Forest was a place that raised successors to stop the True Demon. Upon being exposed to the powerful Primal Demon Artifact, the mysterious power of the Ancient Sword Forest was naturally manifesting.
‘The more I counter, the stronger it becomes.’
Having grasped the attributes of the attacks Jongbaek was pouring out, Bu Eunseol began to deploy the Thirteen Hwa Wu Forms with his Silent Tiger Soul Sword. It was less versatile than the Supreme Heavenly Flow and less destructive than the Seven Blood Tear Forms, but it was the most stable and perfect sword art among the studies he could deploy.
Hum—
Before long, a circular sword barrier formed around Bu Eunseol’s entire body. Because it was a sword technique that had reached the Ultimate Transcendence with no openings, Jongbaek’s attacks could not penetrate it.
"Do you think blocking is the end!"
Jongbaek continued his attack, drooling like a beast filled with rage. But his gaze was gradually losing its strength. Because all the cards he held were failing. Because he was facing a reality different from the world he had known until now. He was slowly breaking down.
The power of the True Demon. Once, he believed that if he obtained the True Demon’s power, he could command the martial world. But the true powerhouses of the martial world were different.
Even after peering into the abyss of the martial world, they had not succumbed to that power like he had; instead, they had endured in silence and developed their martial arts to surpass it. And before he knew it, they were even moving beyond the boundaries of the Limitless Realm.
As if to prove it, Ak Muryeong had far transcended him, and he could not even defeat Bu Eunseol, who was dozens of years his junior.
"Aaaaah!"
He could not bear it. He felt so insignificant, so utterly trivial. Martial artists were surpassing the realms he had thought were mountains that could never be crossed. He was the only one who had guessed their power, become terrified, and abjectly surrendered.
"Are you saying I was wrong?!"
Jongbaek was screaming as if wailing. Bu Eunseol watched him silently before raising his sword again.
"Because you were once a disciple of this Pavilion, you must feel shame." He said with a sigh. "Your life is already spent, yet you cannot even end your own life in that misery..."
A white mist rose from Bu Eunseol’s sword.
Jongbaek’s body was already damaged beyond repair.
He intended to grant him eternal rest through the Martial Mist and Waves.
Sshhh.
As his martial prowess increased, the Martial Mist and Waves was changing from a sharp and cold energy into a natural and soft one.
Whoosh.
Seeing that the power of the Martial Mist and Waves was extremely weak, Jongbaek shouted, "Your mouth is the only thing alive!"
With a great roar, he pushed through the mist and threw a strike at Bu Eunseol.
Boom!
With a thunderous sound, Bu Eunseol’s body was pushed back again. But unlike before, there were no wounds. Because Jongbaek had scoffed at the mist of the Martial Mist and Waves, his body was completely exposed to the Natural Qi Bu Eunseol exerted, and his body was now refusing to manifest the power of the Primal Demon Artifact.
Grit.
Jongbaek tried to pull up his power once more. But the Primal Demon Artifact would no longer manifest.
"This cannot be happening!"
When he reached out his hand, instead of a supernatural radiance, a wave of hot true qi spread out. Ultimately, unable to use the power obtained from the True Demon, he was burning the pure martial arts and soul he possessed within his body in his final moment.
Sizzle.
The sight of him pushing his fighting spirit while believing in the demonic power flowing through his body was both majestic and desperate.
Crunch, spit!
Jongbaek bit a mouthful of flesh from his own left forearm and spat it out. To use martial arts, one must maintain a calm and clear mind. He had applied pain to his own body to regain his senses.
"Very well."
Click.
Watching that desperate scene, Bu Eunseol sheathed his Silent Tiger Soul Sword. Because at this moment, the man was not a subordinate of the True Demon, but a single martial artist burning everything he had. He deserved to be granted a final moment befitting such a state.
"Come."
Boom!
And he began to deploy the Seven Fist Demon Forms with all his might. Jongbaek also continued the exchange by unconsciously using the practical martial arts of the Nangyang Pavilion.
It was a clash of power that transcended human limits, but at the same time, it was a process for Jongbaek to confirm himself once more.
‘Unleash your martial arts with more power.’
Bu Eunseol did not cut off his head with a single blade but was only deploying fist techniques. Because Jongbaek, who had sacrificed his soul to obtain the Primal Demon Artifact that could ignore all martial power, was resisting by deploying Nangyang Pavilion's martial arts, however desperately, in his final moment. He too was once a disciple of the Nangyang Pavilion. Through such an exchange of martial arts, Bu Eunseol wanted to revive even a small portion of Jongbaek’s pride. If he could continue this battle for even a short while, at least his end would not be pathetic.
"Ugh..."
Jongbaek let out a groan. As his body began to reject the Primal Demon Artifact, his physique was slowly collapsing. From the start, one could not possess the Primal Demon Artifact unless they were a subordinate of the True Demon. But what had allowed him to endure it was none other than the power of his martial arts.
"Power obtained through self-discipline..."
Jongbaek, finally realizing everything, stopped his attack and wore a hollow expression.
"Was I afraid?"
In the past, he possessed the peerless talent to become the Lord of the Nangyang Pavilion. But once he learned of the power of the Baekri Clan and the True Demon, training in martial arts felt too difficult, arduous, and like an endlessly long journey. And it seemed foolish. There were beings born strong, those who were powerful in their own right without training. The martial artists who stubbornly continued their training and meditation to become strong seemed pathetic.
But that was a mistake. They were born that way, and he could not become like them. The training he thought was foolish and pathetic, that cultivation... was instead the secret to becoming strong like them.
"I made the wrong choice."
Ultimately, the path he chose to pursue strength was the path to ruin, and its end was a pit of eternal despair.
"I owe you."
Regaining his clear mind only upon reaching death, Jongbaek could feel Bu Eunseol’s consideration. If he had simply wanted to defeat him?
He would have cut off his head in one stroke from the beginning. Even if not that, there were faster and more convenient ways. But to defeat him as a human, to ensure his end was not a pathetic death, to let him regain his clear mind and realize that his choice was wrong—Bu Eunseol had shown him excessive kindness.
"Did you treat me as a Martial Great-Uncle because we are from the same sect?"
Even if he won, nothing remained for him. His soul already belonged to the True Demon. Because he had sacrificed even his body as the price for power, in the end, even if he died, he would only be reduced to an empty shell eternally following the True Demon’s will. Bu Eunseol had allowed him to realize his fault and regain his clear mind so that at least he would not die as the True Demon’s puppet.
"It wasn't purely out of a simple heart," Bu Eunseol said calmly. "I wish to know even a little about the True Demon."
From the start, he was in a relationship where he could not coexist with the True Demon. Above all, to protect his cherished friends and subordinates, he could not tolerate a terrifying being who held the world in his grasp and destroyed it at will.
"I heard he lost his memory."
"That is correct. Because of that, the True Demon’s Three Attendants, the Three Attendants, have already split..."
If Jongbaek were still possessed by the Primal Demon Artifact, he could never have answered. But now that he was free from the True Demon’s shackles, he could open his mouth comfortably.
"The attendant who gave me power, the one called 'The One Who Cracks Fate,' Pamyeong..."
Jongbaek spoke words that were nothing short of shocking.
"He has joined hands with the Heavenly Mechanism Star and is creating a new chain of reincarnation."
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