Thud.
The Supreme Command Token, forged from mysterious metals symbolizing the immortality of the demonic path, completely vanished.
Sparkling red particles, like the remnants of a dying star, scattered like jeweled dust. The absolute symbol that had commanded the demonic world had disappeared forever in this generation.
“From today onward, there is no successor in this hall.”
The Demon Emperor did not even glance at the scattering remnants. His expression remained infinitely calm.
There was no lingering attachment or pleasure—only the indifference of a child who had finally broken a toy he had grown tired of, mixed with long-held contempt for the shackles that had bound him.
Since when had the demonic path passed down power and authority to a successor?
Throughout the generations, the strongest of the Demon Emperor had taken everything, and the greatest of the demonic path had always shaken the world with their own will. Inherited authority, power reliant on a name, dependence on weakness—none of these suited a cold absolute being like the Demon Emperor.
‘I see now.’
Bu Eunseol’s eyes narrowed as he realized the truth.
‘He never intended to pass on the Lord’s seat… He was using it as cruel bait to lure the wolves with the scent of blood.’
The position of the Demon Emperor’s successor was far too powerful for the Martial Soul Command Lord. It had merely been fragrant bait, dripping with blood, meant to draw out the starving hyenas.
A heavy silence lingered for a while.
With his hands still clasped behind his back, the Demon Emperor looked up at the distant sky before turning his head to stare directly at Bu Eunseol.
“Crush them all, devour them, and seize everything.”
The moment their eyes met, a pressure as heavy as hundreds of mountains merging into one bore down on Bu Eunseol’s soul.
“If you can still stand before me after that, I will accept your challenge then.”
It meant that only after dragging out every force in the martial world, piercing their hearts, and defeating the ravenous beasts known as the strong… would he finally be qualified to challenge the Demon Emperor.
“I acknowledge it.”
He had no choice but to acknowledge it.
He currently lacked the qualifications to challenge the Demon Emperor.
Too many enemies still remained in the martial world—the Three Realms, the Three Families, the United Heart Society, the True Demon’s blood relatives and subordinates…
He would first use the authority of the Martial Soul Command Lord and the shadow of Majeon to eliminate the forces that could harm those around him. Only after turning the Martial Soul Society into a perfect righteous-demonic alliance that no one could touch would he be able to strike at the Demon Emperor.
That way, even if he died, his close friends and subordinates would be able to survive.
“There is no such thing as justice in the martial world—only the goals each person pursues.”
Blood-red light radiated from Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
“Therefore, after I deal with all of them, I will challenge you again.”
Excluding the demonic fiends and slaughterers who had committed evil deeds from the beginning, the martial world was not a place where one lived and died purely by right and wrong. It was simply a world of violence driven by goals, where unavoidable clashes of swords occurred.
There were standards for each matter, and he would follow the consequences.
If his path and the Demon Emperor’s shared similarities and they could be of help to each other for now, then this was not the time to fight.
He had accepted that.
“Then prove it.”
The Demon Emperor spoke solemnly.
“Prove that you are one who walks the same path as me.”
If the Demon Emperor had said “show your loyalty to me,” Bu Eunseol would have refused even at the cost of his life and never bowed his head.
But the Demon Emperor had said “prove that you walk the same path.”
That meant he acknowledged Bu Eunseol as someone on the same journey. Understanding the meaning, Bu Eunseol brought his hands together.
“I will bring you the head of the Vajra Demon Ancestor.”
A temporary alliance with a rival, just as his grandfather had done in the past.
Bu Eunseol would turn the blade he had pointed at others toward their common enemy first.
“However, I will not tolerate any further interference with Jin Seol.”
The Demon Emperor wore a bold smile.
“Do as you wish.”
“Understood.”
Bu Eunseol turned around without any particular expression.
Behind him, the Demon Emperor murmured softly.
“There was originally a good blade by my side.”
‘The Demon Emperor’s disciple.’
Bu Eunseol instinctively understood.
The “good blade” in the Demon Emperor’s mind referred to the disciple the supreme experts of the abyss had once mentioned.
“You should be on guard.”
The Demon Emperor turned his body indifferently.
“Because the only thing he has desperately longed for is the position of Martial Soul Command Lord.”
Bu Eunseol no longer replied. He turned and left through the western gate.
While heading to the Sacred Demon Hall, he had slaughtered the Demon Emperor’s Revered Divine Guards.
In the past, he would have worried about the consequences and the power that might strike back later, not knowing when the Demon Emperor might change his mind. But now it was different.
He knew the Demon Emperor’s true nature, and it aligned with his own path.
He no longer needed to hesitate.
‘From now on, I can kill anyone.’
Regardless of whether they were demonic or righteous, killing many when the Demon Emperor stepped forward would only benefit him.
Now, it no longer mattered who he killed.
‘Those who know the Demon Emperor’s true intentions...’
He realized once again just how terrifying that was. No matter who he killed or how he acted within Majeon, there would be no repercussions.
Because it would earn him the Demon Emperor’s absolute support.
‘But do not dream that after I handle everything, I will challenge you at the very end.’
The beings from ancient times were not ones to be used as mere tools.
A blade born for a single purpose would eventually have no use and would be discarded.
Bu Eunseol had accepted the joint front with the Demon Emperor as nothing more than one of many paving stones for the distant future.
‘Because you are more dangerous than the abyss that seeks to swallow the world.’
From this day forward, he had decided.
The Demon Emperor was someone he could never coexist with.
No matter what, when the time came, the Demon Emperor would try to kill him first.
Because he had completely seen through the inner thoughts of this great demon that no one else in the world knew.
‘Before that happens, I must bring down the Vajra Demon Ancestor.’
What the Demon Emperor wanted right now was the annihilation of the Seven Great Demon Ancestors. Bu Eunseol had also intended to cleanse the martial world by eliminating the Seven Great Demon Ancestors.
And now he would stir up everything.
The green of Mount Jangbaek and the eternal spring-like scent of Jangchun Valley did not seep into Ji Shuryeon’s heart today.
What settled over her was only a chilling silence and sorrow that seeped deep into the ground. Her shoulders, which had always been straight, were now faintly hunched.
Before her lay a rotten coffin containing her daughter, Jin Seol, who had returned as a corpse after twenty years.
She had never learned proper funeral rites, but she had her own way.
Twenty years ago, she had washed away the demonic energy and dressed her in beautiful clothes with those very hands. However, the warm touch from that time had now turned into cold chill, and instead of a loving voice, only eternal silence remained.
Ji Shuryeon held back her flowing tears with great effort as she gently wiped her daughter’s head and changed her into the fine silk clothes Jin Seol had loved in life.
She carefully applied powder to her pale face.
It was a face that looked peaceful as if asleep—yet it was a deep sleep from which she would never awaken.
Having witnessed all kinds of death during her years living in the perilous martial world, there was no moment more cruel than preparing the final journey for the child she had given birth to with her own flesh.
“My baby.”
The name that escaped her dry lips sounded like a broken sob.
It was a call that condensed twenty years of longing she had never been able to utter while her daughter was alive.
She carefully laid her daughter’s body inside the coffin. Now it was truly time to bury her in the earth.
The dug-up ground felt like a mother’s womb, yet the coffin placed within it looked far too small and shabby.
Ji Shuryeon scooped up a handful of dirt.
The moment she realized she had to pour cold soil over her daughter’s once-breathing body, it felt as if a sharp dagger had pierced her heart.
“My baby… my dear baby.”
She swallowed the sobs rising to her throat again and again.
She had once been proud of possessing an iron fortress-like strength that no one could break, yet before the separation from her child, that pride crumbled like a worthless sandcastle. All strength left her body, and it felt as if she herself was collapsing along with the earth.
Finally, the coffin lid was closed.
The thud sound tore through Ji Shuryeon’s heart.
It was a complete severance from the world—an eternal wall between mother and daughter.
For a fleeting moment, Ji Shuryeon was seized by the impulse to throw herself onto the coffin lid and cry out her daughter’s name, but she barely held herself back.
Because Soyo was tightly holding her hand.
Ji Shuryeon stood firm and stared at the wooden board where nothing could be seen anymore.
Not even tears flowed.
Sometimes overwhelming sorrow could even dry up tears.
Yet the soul crumbling inside her was deeper and darker than the valleys of Jangchun.
“She was the daughter I searched for over twenty years.”
Ji Shuryeon looked at Soyo with a sad smile.
“If I had known we would meet like this, would it have been better if we had never met at all?”
“Master.”
“Or should this mother be satisfied that I at least saw her face and personally sent her off on her final journey?”
Ji Shuryeon gently stroked the cold coffin.
It still seemed to hold some warmth… but that was nothing more than a vain lingering attachment created by a mother’s heart.
Only a heartless wind blew through Jangchun Valley.
It sounded low and sorrowful, like the sobs of a mother burying her daughter who had returned after twenty years.
“I almost forgot this.”
Just as she was about to cover the coffin with dirt, Ji Shuryeon’s hand stopped.
Was it the last spark of lingering attachment that had not broken even in her dry sorrow?
She took out a small object she had kept deep in her bosom.
It was the necklace her husband had shyly handed her with a smile twenty years ago.
It emitted a soft light as if it held moonlight and was embedded with a small but brilliant jewel.
“When our child is born, you must put this on her.”
Her husband’s voice echoed faintly in her ears.
What use was it now for a daughter who had gone to death?
Yet a mother’s heart did not follow such logic.
“My baby…”
Ji Shuryeon opened the coffin once more.
With trembling hands, she gently placed the necklace on her daughter’s cold neck.
“It’s late, but this is the heart of your mother and father.”
Her voice came out like crumbling ashes, yet she smiled more brightly than ever.
And just as she was about to close the coffin lid again—
Jiiing.
The moment the jade bead of the necklace touched Jin Seol’s skin, a faint ray of light rose.
It was a soft and warm light, as if a sleeping firefly was whispering.
Paah!
In an instant, the light spread across the entire necklace and then seeped into Jin Seol’s body.
Ji Shuryeon held her breath. Was she seeing things in her grief?
But the light did not disappear.
Instead, it grew clearer and spread across Jin Seol’s previously pale face.
Saahk.
At that moment, astonishingly, a faint rosy blush began to return to her bloodless cheeks.
Her tightly closed lips trembled slightly.
“Huu… huu…”
Soon, a thin breath leaked out like the rustling of dry reeds.
“Ah… my baby.”
Ji Shuryeon’s eyes widened in disbelief.
Her frozen heart began to beat wildly.
Without realizing it, she reached into the coffin and touched Jin Seol’s cheek.
It was warm.
The skin that had been like ice when she was preparing the body was now filled with warm vitality.
“Ah… my baby.”
Her voice was choked and would not come out properly.
Ji Shuryeon held her daughter’s hand with a desperate expression.
Then, like a miracle, Jin Seol’s eyelashes fluttered, and she slowly opened her eyes.
Her unfocused pupils wandered in the air before faintly capturing Ji Shuryeon’s face right in front of her.
“Who…?”
It was a dry and cracked voice, but it was unmistakably the voice of a living person.
Ji Shuryeon could no longer hold back her bursting tears and cried out.
It was her daughter’s voice—the one she had longed for even in her dreams—after twenty years.
“My baby…”
A sound of joy blooming at the end of despair rang loudly through Jangchun Valley.
To be able to hold her daughter, who had returned from the brink of death, once more in her arms—what greater joy could there be in the world?
Jin Seol blinked her large eyes while looking at the tearful Ji Shuryeon.
Something seemed to come to mind, yet she could not remember anything. She simply felt her heart grow warm and sad at the sight of the middle-aged beauty before her.
“I am your mother.”
Ji Shuryeon embraced Jin Seol and shed tears of joy.
Jin Seol blinked for a long time, unable to understand the situation.
“Mother?”
She could not even remember her own name, but she could feel that Ji Shuryeon was truly her mother.
That she had never forgotten her for a long time, had always searched for her, and had endured with that aching longing.
Joo-roo-rook.
Soyo, who had been quietly watching the long-awaited reunion of the mother and daughter across many years, silently wiped away her own tears.
Jangchun Valley instantly turned into a sea of tears.
“So it was because of the power of the Sacred Domain.”
Bu Eunseol, who had been quietly watching the scene from afar, nodded.
Just as the Demon Emperor had said, Jin Seol had come back to life.
No—she had never truly been dead.
All the organs in her body had temporarily stopped due to the aftermath of the mysterious power manifesting.
‘So that is the power of the Sacred Domain.’
Bu Eunseol could sense the mysterious waves flowing from Jin Seol’s body.
It was not the true energy waves used by martial artists nor any supernatural power.
It was a natural force that had existed since the beginning of time—something even he, who possessed the Three Divine Energies, could barely sense.
‘Lady Jin should now leave the martial world and live happily.’
When the time came, the Demon Emperor would undoubtedly try to use Jin Seol’s power for something. Even though he had declared that Bu Eunseol would destroy that plan, he had shown no sign of concern.
‘That means even my actions are already calculated into his plans.’
Just as the Demon Emperor knew Bu Eunseol well, Bu Eunseol also knew the Demon Emperor far too well.
‘My Lord, it will never go according to your wishes.’
Having finished his thoughts, Bu Eunseol sent a sound transmission to Soyo as he entered the deep forest.
[It seems it is about time to return.]
Soyo, who had been quietly wiping her tears, smiled brightly.
She quietly used her movement technique toward the place where Bu Eunseol’s voice transmission had come from. After passing through the forest, a dazzling black-robed figure stood before a small pond where water flowed.
“Bu Eunseol!”
Soyo ran over and threw herself into Bu Eunseol’s arms.
When he had gone to challenge the Demon Emperor and left her behind, she had been terrified and sad. She had not been able to protect him in his final moments.
But in the end, he had returned safely.
“I am fine.”
Bu Eunseol gently patted her back.
He could clearly see from her shadowed eyes how much she had suffered during that time.
“Did you win?”
Even people who were rarely surprised could not hide their astonishment.
Bu Eunseol had gone to face the Demon Emperor in the heart of his territory and returned completely unharmed?
If she were not dreaming, she pinched her own cheek several times to check.
“No, we did not fight.”
Bu Eunseol took a deep breath.
“He already knew that Lady Jin was alive.”
“Then what exactly is the power of the Sacred Domain?”
Since Bu Eunseol had shared most of the information he knew, Soyo had vaguely sensed that it was related to the legendary bloodline of the Sacred Domain.
“That is correct.”
Bu Eunseol continued.
“The Demon Emperor said he intentionally drove her to such a state to release the power of the Sacred Domain.”
“Because he needs that power?”
“Yes.”
Bu Eunseol nodded.
“However, I do not know what he intends to use it for. Right now, he lacks nothing.”
He then told her everything about the conversation he had with the Demon Emperor.
Soyo, who had been listening silently, frowned several times.
It was not strange for someone like the Demon Emperor to desire unification of the martial world. But declaring that he would eliminate both the Seven Great Demon Ancestors and the Ten Great Immortals, and claiming he would even deal with the Baekri Family and the True Demon, was hard to believe.
“We cannot take all of his words at face value.”
“I agree. However, his plan to eliminate the abyssal forces is likely sincere.”
The Demon Emperor was the strongest in the current martial world, yet even he was heavily restricted by the abyssal forces and could not proceed as he wished.
From the moment he decided to destroy the demonic path with his grandfather, he must have planned to annihilate them all.
“I intend to go along with him until we deal with all the forces threatening the martial world.”
He looked at Soyo and said, “Lady Jin should stay with her mother for now to find stability, so how about we return soon?”
Soyo nodded as if she had been waiting for it. Bu Eunseol continued.
“I will go to the Azure Heaven Alliance regarding the Vajra Demon Ancestor matter and discuss a few things.”
He handed her two books.
They were summaries of all the information Bu Eunseol had uncovered so far, to be delivered to the martial artists of the Death Shadow Corps and the senior members of the Martial Soul Society.
“Deliver these to them so that the Death Shadow Corps and the Martial Soul Society can hold a meeting.”
The Demon Emperor’s ultimate goal was still unknown, but just knowing what convictions he held was enough to clearly set their future plans.
“Understood.”
“And give this to Senior Ji.”
What Bu Eunseol handed over was a map to one of the secret safe houses he had prepared.
The Demon Emperor was likely already aware that Jin Seol was staying here and would try to use her when the time came. This was a consideration so that the two could live comfortably outside the Demon Emperor’s information network.
“With just this, we won’t be able to avoid the Demon Emperor’s reach.”
“No, we will not avoid it.”
Bu Eunseol spoke confidently.
“Even if he comes looking for Lady Jin when the time comes, I will make sure she is not used by the Demon Emperor.”
Understanding his meaning, Soyo nodded.
“But Master will not leave Jangchun Valley.”
“In the past that would have been true, but now that she has regained her beloved daughter, she will not act recklessly.”
Having regained her precious daughter, her future actions would become extremely cautious and she would be highly sensitive to safety.
“Alright, I will try to persuade her.”
“Then I will go first. Do not tell Senior Ji or Lady Jin that I came.”
“Understood. And…”
Soyo gazed at Bu Eunseol’s tired eyes and gave a calm yet bright smile.
“Take care of yourself.”
It was only one short sentence, but it warmed his heart.
He could feel just how much she worried about and cherished him.
‘Let’s be a little more honest with our emotions from now on.’
When Jin Seol had reached the brink of death and confessed her feelings to him without giving up on her love, Bu Eunseol had regretted it.
He regretted turning away from the hearts of the women who loved him because of a fate that seemed impossible to survive.
After all, life could not be predicted even an inch ahead.
If so, he should act according to his current feelings.
“Understood.”
Bu Eunseol smiled brightly.
Seeing that smile, Soyo felt a sting in her chest and shed tears inside.
His smile was as warm as brilliant sunlight… yet it felt like a dreamscape she could never truly reach.
“Yes.”
She smiled with her eyes curved like crescents without showing it.
“I’ll go first.”
She used her movement technique and disappeared into the distant sky.
Watching Soyo’s retreating figure, Bu Eunseol immediately activated his extreme speed movement and left Jangchun Valley.
Now, as promised with the Demon Emperor, he would find and cut down the Vajra Demon Ancestor, who was throwing the martial world into chaos.
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