“Chu So.”
Bu Eunseol gritted his teeth tightly.
Heavenly Mechanism Star, Chu So.
Just like the Three Realms of the past, he was desperately using people to achieve his goals.
“I… I……”
Baek Museong stuttered, trying to say something more, but he shook his head while drooling.
However, the repeated impacts from the seventh form seemed to have dealt a severe blow to his head.
Thud.
In the end, Baek Museong’s head lolled limply to the side as he lay there.
Unable to overcome his injuries, he had fainted.
Even in his unconscious state, his body trembled as he let out groans.
‘At this rate, his cultivation will suffer a massive loss.’
He had not yet reached the realm of Latent Inner Energy Circulation or Unconscious Flow, where one could continuously circulate internal energy without conscious effort. If he remained unconscious like this, he would suffer great loss in cultivation and his body could be severely damaged.
Papapak.
Bu Eunseol sealed the thirty-six major acupoints on the fallen Baek Museong.
‘His acupoints are not being suppressed…’
Whether due to his split personality or because he had undergone some great ritual, Bu Eunseol’s inner energy could not lock the acupoints. Instead, his entire body was filled with vicious, evil energy.
Moreover, he was running a high fever, and his forehead and cheeks began to burn like charcoal.
‘I must first expel that wicked evil energy.’
Baek Museong had lost consciousness due to the shock to his head.
“Even the Blue Spirit Stone Elixir and the Potential Demon Divine Pellet, which replenish life force and restore the body, will be useless. His acupoints cannot be sealed, and the evil energy filling his body is repelling all external energy, making treatment difficult.”
‘Shaolin.’
While looking at the unconscious Baek Museong, Bu Eunseol slapped his forehead.
He was a disciple of the Buddha Venerable and had learned Shaolin secret arts.
‘Prajna Great Power.’
He had forgotten about the greatest secret art of Shaolin, the life-saving technique capable of quickly healing others’ injuries—the Prajna Great Power.
Woooong.
As he raised the Prajna Great Power, a majestic Buddha light resembling the Guanyin Bodhisattva flowed from his entire body. At the same time, the wicked evil energy inside Baek Museong, which had refused to be expelled no matter what, slowly began to drain out.
Black blood flowed from the mouth of the unconscious Baek Museong.
The Prajna Great Power was embracing the evil energy within his body and healing him.
‘Done.’
Bu Eunseol wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Baek Museong’s face, which had been completely unconscious and hovering near death, gradually relaxed, and his fever dropped in an instant.
“Why…”
At that moment, a low voice came from behind Bu Eunseol.
When he turned his head, he saw the Little Phoenix approaching with a hollow expression, her body covered in blood.
The Red Flame Immortal had long foreseen the blood tragedy of Phoenix Valley and had made arrangements so that the Little Phoenix could survive. She knew that the girl would become one of the many pieces capable of ending the final extinction.
“What… why…”
The Little Phoenix walked toward Bu Eunseol with wide, glaring eyes.
“Did you save that bastard?”
“Did you save the villain who killed Master and all the senior sisters?”
Swish!
She drew the dagger from her waist and charged at Baek Museong with a gaze full of madness.
“The villain who killed Master and slaughtered all the senior sisters?!”
Bu Eunseol had no choice but to silently block her path.
“Get out of the way!”
The Little Phoenix swung her dagger wildly in resistance.
No matter how she stabbed or slashed, Bu Eunseol silently took every blow. His entire body became drenched in blood, yet he stood tall like a rock with his head lowered.
“Move, I said!”
“He cannot be killed.”
“Why?”
When Bu Eunseol could not continue, Little Phoenix shouted with tears streaming down her face.
“Say something!”
Swish! Swish!
As she swung the dagger madly,
Squelch.
She finally plunged it deep into Bu Eunseol’s shoulder.
“Why are you stopping me!”
“Because he… is also nothing more than a victim.”
“A victim?”
“Yes.”
Bu Eunseol lowered his head and murmured quietly.
“If I cut his throat now, he will wander the nine heavens without even knowing what sins he has committed.”
“You call that an answer…!”
Unable to contain her boiling rage, the Little Phoenix fiercely grabbed Bu Eunseol’s collar.
But at that moment, her body froze like stone.
The man before her showed no expression at all.
No sorrow, no anger, no despair…
It was as if all human emotions had been stripped away.
He simply stood there like a meticulously crafted white porcelain doll. Only his empty eyes, like ashes left after everything had burned away, calmly stared into the void.
Just how immense must one’s pain be for a human to sink into such deep and hollow silence?
Only then did the Little Phoenix realize.
When sorrow becomes a river, even tears cannot flow. When pain reaches the heavens, even screams cannot escape.
A suppressed sob burst out.
The Little Phoenix’s body collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.
It was not the fault of that villain.
The blood tragedy of Phoenix Valley was entirely her own sin.
Driven by the foolish greed of wanting to break the seal and heavenly curse engraved on her master’s body, she had persuaded her senior sisters to open the forbidden vault that must never be opened.
The moment they touched that mysterious treasure, the mysterious power that had separated Phoenix Valley from the world scattered like a mirage, and as if they had been waiting, the blood-scented villains attacked from within.
Trapped inside the Absolute Boundary that prevented anyone from escaping, the senior sisters died without even being able to scream.
In the end, the true beginning of all this tragedy was none other than herself.
“Take this.”
Bu Eunseol took out a single orb from his pocket with an indifferent hand and held it out to her.
“It is the treasure that was taken from Phoenix Valley.”
The Nine Heavens Cloud Splendor Pearl.
Little Phoenix stared at the orb with hollow eyes.
Though it was called the greatest treasure in the martial world, to her it looked like a cursed object.
Because of it, Phoenix Valley had been destroyed, and her master and beloved senior sisters had all died.
“This… this damned rock!”
She snatched the orb from Bu Eunseol’s hand.
At that moment, the orb, which had been silently dormant in her grasp, suddenly emitted an intensely warm and brilliant light that was almost blinding.
‘…So that was it.’
A flash of realization pierced her mind along with the cruel truth.
By dying at Bu Eunseol’s hand, her master had finally escaped the shackles of being one of the Ten Great Immortals and achieved complete extinction.
From the massive karma of being the origin of the righteous path and from the beautiful prison called Phoenix Valley, her master had finally become free.
And the pure power contained within the Nine Heavens Cloud Splendor Pearl—the power her master had intended to pass on to her—began to flow into Little Phoenix.
Ziiing. Ziiing.
The Little Phoenix’s eyes sparkled.
She was no longer simply hearing words in her mind.
She could now read the lives of others themselves—the profound narratives engraved upon their souls.
And right now, her consciousness was helplessly sucked into the brutal life of the man named Bu Eunseol without any chance to resist.
The memory began in the bone-chilling winter north wind.
In a world without a mother’s embrace or a father’s face, the piercing cold air and the heat of the streets were his only cradle. He rolled around like a beast without a name and filled his hunger by digging through dirty sewers for rotten food scraps.
To survive, he had to become venomous. To avoid being hurt, he had to freeze his heart.
Into that gray, fading world, a single ray of light seeped in.
An old man who took in the freezing boy extended a warm hand, melting the boy’s frozen world for the first time.
From then on, he learned how to smile and realized the warmth that the word “family” carried.
The old man’s wrinkled hands were the warmest in the world, and the narrow thatched hut was the safest fortress.
But happiness scattered as fleetingly as a mirage, cut down by a single blade.
The old man was brutally murdered, and the boy’s world collapsed once again.
His once-warm heart became sharp fragments of broken ice, ready to cut anything it touched.
Sorrow turned to ashes and birthed the flames of hatred, which finally became the sole purpose of his life.
Revenge.
That word became his only milestone and the reason for his existence.
He grew stronger by drinking blood for the sake of revenge.
It was fine if he was called a vicious ghost or denounced as a demonic head. He was willing to sell his soul if it meant achieving revenge.
Yet his journey was not only stained with blood.
While wandering the world in search of his enemies, his steps always turned toward places where injustice existed, and he saved people. The sword forged for revenge always became a shield for the weak.
As he wandered through the blood-soaked winds of the martial world, he gradually began to recover fragments of his sealed memories. Through them, he learned that he had parents and that he carried noble blood.
And now, he was facing the one who had lost everything trying to protect his younger self and had become a puppet of villains, now miserably fallen.
He knew the sins the man had committed must be paid for with blood, yet he could not bring himself to cut his throat.
Because the horrific guilt that the twisted monster was ultimately something he himself had created held tightly onto his wrist and refused to let go.
“I’m sorry.”
Having realized everything, the Little Phoenix apologized to Bu Eunseol.
She too had been born an orphan.
But from a young age, the Red Flame Immortal had lovingly taken her in, and she had grown up without lacking anything.
She had learned that the martial world was full of evil, but she never knew there could be a life so harsh and brutal. She had never even imagined there could be a man who carried everything alone, to the point that just looking at him brought tears to her eyes.
“I understand everything now.”
The Little Phoenix’s eyes shone with the same mysterious radiance as the Nine Heavens Cloud Splendor Pearl.
Sensing a great change in her, Bu Eunseol nodded.
“I am simply sorry.”
“No.”
Little Phoenix shook her head.
In that short time, she seemed to have transformed from a girl into a mature woman.
“How are your wounds?”
“It’s nothing.”
It was not nothing.
Perhaps because they carried the Little Phoenix’s pure and desperate desire for revenge, the cuts burned as if on fire, and some wounds were deep enough to expose bone.
Bu Eunseol calmly raised the Endless Heavenly Light Art.
The slashed wounds began to heal slowly.
“Thanks to you, Master was able to sever the chains of her evil karma, and I too have gained the Destined Heavenly Eyes, allowing me to see past connections without bearing the karma of the righteous origin.”
‘Destined Heavenly Eyes. So that was it.’
Only now did Bu Eunseol truly understand the power of the Red Flame Immortal.
Because she could see past karmic ties and connections, she had been able to pass on the secrets regarding the Seven Great Demonic Sects and the Ten Great Immortals.
Ssssh.
At that moment, a strange whistling sound came from the distant sky.
‘Martial Heaven Corps.’
Bu Eunseol’s eyes flashed.
The Martial Heaven Corps, which had been waiting in the area on Baek Museong’s orders, had begun to move.
“Come with me.”
Bu Eunseol extended his hand.
“The place I lead is the Martial Soul Society. Even the True Demon or the Sacred Domain cannot invade it recklessly.”
The Martial Soul Society was a place where powerful martial artists gathered and had been recognized by the Sacred Domain as part of the Middle Heaven. No faction could invade it lightly.
“I’m fine.”
Little Phoenix spoke with a resolute expression.
“You should avoid them. There is nothing to gain by clashing with them.”
She continued while looking at the fallen Baek Museong.
“He will recover soon. His subordinates will arrive shortly… so please let him go.”
“He is currently in a brainwashed state. I cannot send him away like this.”
The Little Phoenix quietly looked at him.
Then, as if she had read his heart, she spoke in a firm voice.
“You, who have not yet regained your own memories… intend to help him regain his and return him to his original place?”
Bu Eunseol tried to answer, but she shook her head.
“He is already overcoming the brainwashing on his own and finding his own path. If you intervene now… it will only end up harming you.”
“Then I should just leave him like this?”
“He has only become temporarily incapacitated due to the shock. When he wakes up, he won’t remember what just happened.”
The Little Phoenix spoke calmly.
“If you wish to untie the knot with him, if you wish to help him, you must first regain your own complete memories.”
Bu Eunseol unknowingly nodded.
He had not yet reached the level of his father, Baekri Muha, and thus could not recover his erased memories. If even he could not overcome it, how could he possibly restore Baek Museong’s memories?
“Do you not hate him?”
“Honestly, I am afraid.”
Bu Eunseol spoke honestly.
“I fear he might kill innocent people again like today, or commit more evil deeds.”
The Little Phoenix showed an extremely lonely smile but gave no answer.
Step. Step.
She approached the fallen Baek Museong and placed the Nine Heavens Cloud Splendor Pearl she had been holding into his chest.
“Is it alright to give that to him?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Little Phoenix spoke resolutely.
“After all, it won’t go according to their wishes.”
Bu Eunseol asked.
“The Immortal said it was the greatest treasure in the martial world. What kind of effects does it have?”
In truth, Little Phoenix did not know the exact details about the Nine Heavens Cloud Splendor Pearl either. However, thanks to the Destined Heavenly Eyes she had gained through the Red Flame Immortal’s arrangement, simply holding the pearl allowed her to learn about a pair of treasures considered the greatest secrets in the martial world.
“Harmony of Sun and Moon, Nine Heavens Cloud Splendor. These are the greatest treasures in the martial world.”
Little Phoenix explained calmly.
“The Harmony of Sun and Moon are called the ‘Precedence of Causality.’ They allow one to take a future result and use it in the present.”
After taking a short breath, she continued in a low voice.
“The Nine Heavens Cloud Splendor is called the ‘Return of Bloodline’ and is a treasure that allows one to inherit abilities accumulated in one’s bloodline.”
Bu Eunseol’s eyes widened.
Such miraculous treasures existed in the world?
—To protect it, I gave up my child and abandoned the position of successor, stealing the Harmony of Sun and Moon and leaving the Sacred Domain. If you see this, please forgive me…
Suddenly, Bu Eunseol recalled the characters engraved on the mysterious mirror left behind in the fake Saha Manor.
‘The Demon Emperor!’
As if struck in the back of the head, sparks flew from his eyes.
He had finally seen through the Demon Emperor’s true purpose.
What he truly wanted was not the deaths of the Seven Great Demonic Sects and the Ten Great Immortals, but this very pair of treasures.
“If such treasures exist in the world,”
Bu Eunseol asked with sparkling eyes.
“There must be conditions for their powers to manifest……”
“Please forget about those two treasures if possible. For now,”
“For now…?”
“You will know everything soon.”
The Little Phoenix cut him off with a meaningful expression.
“Once you regain those sad memories.”
It was a strange thing.
The Little Phoenix had no power to see the future, yet she was giving Bu Eunseol words that sounded almost like a prophecy.
“You are the one who escapes the flow of heaven’s will and forges your own destiny.”
She spoke in a voice that lingered.
“Those who stay by your side will all walk the same path.”
“My Lady.”
“If someone like me stays by your side, it will only bring you greater trials and suffering.”
She left a short farewell.
“I will come find you again later.”
The Little Phoenix turned into a red cloud in an instant and disappeared into the distant sky.
The movement art she displayed was similar to what the Red Flame Immortal had used, and her level was in no way inferior.
“She gained power without bearing the karma of the righteous origin……”
Bu Eunseol stared at the sky in the direction Little Phoenix had disappeared and slowly lowered his head.
“Was that… really something that had to be done?”
The Red Flame Immortal, realizing she could not avoid death, had severed the repeating chains of origin to set Little Phoenix free.
In the end, his mother, Master Wood Buddha, and the Red Flame Immortal…
Those who could read heaven’s will or see the future always sacrificed themselves to complete their final arrangements. Yet from the perspective of the one who had to accept it, such choices could only be cruel and harsh.
—You will come to know it. That even the Ten Great Immortals are people who must die.
At that moment, it felt as if the Demon Emperor’s voice was striking his ears.
‘No, those words are wrong.’
A cold light exploded from Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
‘Because I will break that very shackle.’
Even if it was the will of heaven and the natural order, he could never accept it.
‘So that no one else will ever be bound by the chains of sacrifice and lose their life.’
Bu Eunseol made a firm resolution.
The only ones who should die were the villains who had committed evil deeds.
He would ensure that no more people would be sacrificed for the future or for arrangements.
Whoosh.
Before long, the whistling sounds drew closer.
It seemed the experts of the Martial Heaven Corps had discovered Baek Museong’s traces and were rushing this way.
“Brother Baek.”
Bu Eunseol bit his lip while looking at Baek Museong, who was sleeping with his eyes tightly closed.
He had originally intended to restrain him, help him regain his memories, and prevent him from committing further evil. But since the Little Phoenix—who had lost her master and all her fellow disciples—had asked him to let him go, he had no choice but to send him away this time.
“Do not commit any more evil deeds.”
Baek Museong, whose face had returned to its original state, was simply sleeping with his eyes tightly shut like an innocent child.
Swish. Saaaah.
At that moment, a strange whistling sound came from the distant sky again.
Soon, a small light fell toward where Bu Eunseol stood.
[You’re back.]
The small figure was none other than Soyo.
Having taken Ji Shuryeon as her master in the Jangbaek Mountains, she had greatly enhanced not only her movement art but also her martial learning. Not only could she now keep up with Bu Eunseol as he ran as fast as light, but she could also instantly locate even the traces of where he was hiding.
Under normal circumstances, upon her long-awaited return, he would have suggested a cheerful race to test Soyo’s newly improved abilities. However, with his mind heavily burdened, Bu Eunseol only asked her a brief greeting.
[You’ve worked hard.]
[Right now, the experts from the Martial Heaven Corps are gathering and heading this way.]
Soyo said while looking at the fallen Baek Museong.
[It looks like they’re searching for him.]
Bu Eunseol nodded and spoke in a low voice.
[Contact the Death Spirit Corps and track Baek Museong’s past movements.]
Bu Eunseol continued.
[He arrived at Phoenix Valley two days ago. If we trace his movements backward from there, we should be able to find his whereabouts for the past several days.]
Tracking the movements of experts protected by intelligence forces was extremely difficult. However, once they identified when and where he had arrived at a certain location, it became possible to clearly trace his activities for three to four days before and after that point.
[He is being controlled by some unknown faction and is also making deals with Heavenly Mechanism Star, Chu So.]
[Heavenly Mechanism Star…]
[That’s right. You must find his past movements without fail.]
As Bu Eunseol gazed at the distant sky, a bloody light rose in his eyes.
If he could not save Baek Museong right now...
He would track the man’s past movements and destroy the forces behind him first.
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