Bu Eunseol stared at Wang Jeong’s lifeless body, his expression one of astonishment.
For a master like Wang Jeong to die instantly from a single, casual strike of the Seven Demon Fists?
Was it because I hit his life-gate point?
The life-gate point (Mingmen Xue). Literally meaning “the gate of life,” it was the most critical point along the poison vein, overseeing all yang meridians. It regulated the body’s energy flow and governed the condition of the kidneys and spirit.
In truth, the sheer power of the Seven Demon Fists had transmitted its force through Wang Jeong’s poison vein, causing his death. But Bu Eunseol mistakenly thought it was due to striking the life-gate point.
“He’s… dead?” Black Leopard asked.
Bu Eunseol nodded. “The job’s done. Let’s head back.”
“Ughh!” At that moment, the masked man, Namgung Un, whose pressure points were sealed, let out a muffled cry.
“Ughhh!” Bu Eunseol glanced at him and flicked his fingers.
Pop, pop, pop!
Instantly releasing Namgung Un’s pressure points, the man rose, wiping cold sweat from his brow.
“Thank you… thanks to you…” He clasped his hands in gratitude, but Bu Eunseol was already leaving the gorge.
“Wait, hold on!” Namgung Un scrambled after him. “Brother, let’s talk for a moment.”
When Bu Eunseol didn’t respond, Namgung Un tried again. “Where are you from, brother?”
“…” Receiving no answer, Namgung Un sidled up to Black Leopard with a grin. “There’s a Young Master too! I’m Namgung Un of the Southern Palace. Care to share your name?”
Black Leopard scratched his head. Despite everything, this was a scion of the Southern Palace, so he responded politely, despite the man acting like a street hawker.
“I’m just my young master’s attendant.”
“Oh, I see. And your young master, where’s he from?”
“Our young master… he’s a mercenary of the Red Sky Veil.”
“A mercenary?”
“Yes. He registered just yesterday.” Namgung Un blinked. A young master of such skill working as a mercenary?
“If he’s with the Red Sky Veil… are you heading back there now?” As Namgung Un pressed on, Bu Eunseol, visibly annoyed, suddenly unleashed his movement technique.
“Young master!” Black Leopard hurriedly followed as Bu Eunseol sped off.
Though he heard something behind him, Black Leopard ignored it and chased after Bu Eunseol.
***
At the third-floor office of the Crystal Hall, the office of the Crystal Hall Master.
When Bu Eunseol returned, Dam Yuyeon couldn’t hide her surprise. Wang Jeong, who had thwarted countless mercenaries and masters, had been dealt with in a single outing?
“I thought you were a novice in the martial world… but it seems you have some experience,” she said.
Dam Yuyeon knew why Wang Jeong was so hard to catch: his sharp instincts, cunning, and vast martial world experience. She had assumed Bu Eunseol was merely a skilled mercenary and sent him to face Wang Jeong, a master of traps and schemes. His swift success left her visibly shaken.
“He wasn’t much,” Bu Eunseol said.
“Impressive,” Dam Yuyeon replied, swallowing a bitter smile. She picked up a purple tassel from the table, one that could be worn at the waist. “This is proof of your status as a high-grade mercenary in our hall. Take it to the counter downstairs to collect your reward for dealing with Wang Jeong.”
“Understood.” Bu Eunseol nodded, attaching the tassel to his waist. “Now, give me the next job.”
“You want to take on another job right away?”
“Yes.”
“You’re quite impatient,” Dam Yuyeon said with a peculiar smile. But as if she’d been waiting for this, she pointed to one of the envelopes stacked on her table. “Then take care of this one.”
Bu Eunseol’s eyes widened as he looked at the envelope. “The Divine Origin Pearl?”
Having worked with the Nine Deaths Squad, Bu Eunseol was well-versed in the martial world’s affairs and the secrets of various sects. But the Divine Origin Pearl was something he’d never heard of.
“The Divine Origin Pearl isn’t well-known in the martial world,” Dam Yuyeon said with a faint smile. “It’s kept in the Divine Maiden Palace, one of the Seven Secret Palaces of the martial world.”
The Divine Maiden Palace.
One of the Seven Secret Palaces, it was a mysterious sect composed entirely of women. But the palace strictly forbade outsiders, making it a place Bu Eunseol couldn’t even approach.
“You’re not telling me to steal a treasure from the Divine Maiden Palace, are you?”
The Divine Maiden Palace wasn’t among the Seven Secret Palaces for nothing. Though a sect of women, their martial arts were exceptional, and the Palace Master was a supreme master who had reached the Extreme Heaven Realm. Even someone as strong as Bu Eunseol couldn’t infiltrate it alone.
“Of course not,” Dam Yuyeon said, laughing. “Obtaining the Divine Origin Pearl is simple. You just need to pass a test provided by the Divine Maiden Palace.”
Bu Eunseol frowned. “They’ll give it to me just for passing a test?”
“Exactly. But the test is extremely difficult, and the opportunity to take it is rare. That’s why no one has ever obtained the Divine Origin Pearl.”
“No matter how difficult, it’s just about getting a pearl. That’s considered a tough job?”
Dam Yuyeon looked at him as if his question was surprising. “The reward is three hundred thousand taels. Doesn’t that tell you how difficult it is?”
“I don’t understand. With three hundred thousand taels, you could buy any precious pearl.”
“The Divine Origin Pearl, when held, clears the skin and smooths wrinkles. It has significant rejuvenating effects.”
Three hundred thousand taels just to smooth out wrinkles? Bu Eunseol thought.
As if reading his mind, Dam Yuyeon smiled sweetly. “Those with high status and honor don’t care about cost. If they think it’s worth it, they’ll spend without hesitation.”
Her melting smile made one thing clear to Bu Eunseol: Dam Yuyeon didn’t want him to succeed.
Her intentions are transparent.
But Bu Eunseol didn’t show it, tucking the envelope into his robe and saying calmly, “Understood. I’ll handle it immediately.”
***
At a large inn near the Red Sky Veil.
Bu Eunseol sat by a second-floor window, eating lunch with Black Leopard. Black Leopard, slurping noodles with chopsticks, kept glancing at Bu Eunseol. Ever since receiving the envelope, Bu Eunseol’s expression had been grim.
“Young master,” Black Leopard said cautiously, eyeing Bu Eunseol as he tilted a wine cup. “Is the food not to your liking?”
“It’s fine.”
“Good to hear.” Still, Black Leopard glanced at him again. “You don’t look happy. Is something troubling you?”
“Do I look that way?” Bu Eunseol was, for once, turning his focus inward rather than outward.
He wanted to become endlessly stronger. To do so, he needed to surpass his limits by facing opponents who were neither too strong nor too weak—exceptional masters. And, as if by fate, he met Jeong Cheon in the mercenary market. Bu Eunseol sensed Jeong Cheon was more skilled than himself. A life-or-death duel with him could elevate Bu Eunseol to a higher realm.
Working as a mercenary to fight that man…
This wasn’t in line with Bu Eunseol’s nature. Whether through schemes or brute force, he would typically find a way to force a duel with Jeong Cheon quickly. Yet now, he was quietly taking on jobs to become an elite-grade mercenary, as Jeong Cheon had requested.
The problem was, he didn’t understand why he was acting this way.
“I was thinking,” Bu Eunseol said.
“About what?” Black Leopard asked.
“Should I provoke Jeong Cheon into a forced duel, or keep handling these jobs?”
“I see,” Black Leopard said, nodding as if he understood everything. “You’re wondering whether to continue these jobs?”
“Yes.”
“Why not keep taking on the jobs?” Black Leopard said calmly. “With your skill and intellect, you could force a duel with the Skyward Manor Deputy Master in an instant. But you haven’t.”
“…”
“I think it’s because you instinctively know you can grow stronger not just through direct combat but through various methods.”
“Grow stronger through various tasks?”
“Exactly.” Black Leopard explained fluently. “I’ve been a mercenary since I was young. What made me stronger wasn’t just fighting but diverse experiences.”
Through varied experiences, you can gain insights to advance your martial arts. That’s what Black Leopard wanted to convey.
“That could be true,” Bu Eunseol said, his tangled thoughts clearing after hearing Black Leopard’s words.
He didn’t need to obsess over combat alone. Insights gained from tackling various tasks could advance his martial arts.
“Heh heh heh,” Bu Eunseol chuckled softly. “Sometimes you talk like an old sage who’s seen it all.”
“Do I? Back at the Eastern Watchtower, people often called me an old soul. Heh heh.” Black Leopard grinned, then suddenly frowned as if recalling something. “By the way, my gut’s telling me I’m right.”
“About what?”
“The Crystal Hall Master. She looked like she doesn’t want you to succeed.” Black Leopard had already noticed.
Dam Yuyeon, the Crystal Hall Master, knew Bu Eunseol’s martial prowess and was deliberately giving him jobs that couldn’t be solved with skill alone.
“All this talk of tests makes me uneasy. Why not sneak into the Divine Maiden Palace like a gentleman thief?”
“Impossible,” Bu Eunseol said, shaking his head. “The Divine Maiden Palace isn’t just skilled in martial arts; it’s filled with masters of mechanical traps. Trying to blindly search for a treasure whose location is unknown would get you caught or trapped.”
“Really?” Black Leopard’s shoulders slumped.
“There’s another problem. Even if you wanted to take the test, the Divine Maiden Palace doesn’t accept outsiders at all.”
At that moment, a clear voice rang out from somewhere.
“Hey, brother!” Turning, Bu Eunseol saw a man in white robes, his face covered with a white cloth, pointing at him.
It was Namgung Un, whom he’d seen not long ago.
“To meet again here? What a coincidence!”
“A coincidence you engineered,” Bu Eunseol said.
He had sensed Namgung Un persistently following him from Buljeong Mountain. Since he kept his distance and showed no malice, Bu Eunseol had let it slide.
“You knew,” Namgung Un said, coughing awkwardly at Bu Eunseol’s cold response. “I didn’t get to properly thank you for your help back there, so…”
“I wasn’t helping you, so don’t worry about it.”
As Bu Eunseol moved to leave, Namgung Un spread his hands to stop him. “Wait a moment.” Pointing to his waist, he said, “As of yesterday, I’m also a mercenary with the Red Sky Veil.”
A purple tassel hung at his waist, marking him, like Bu Eunseol, as a high-grade mercenary.
“After passing a few tests, they gave me this tassel.” The wastrel of the Southern Palace was indeed different, registering as a mercenary—something even the servants of the Eight Great Families wouldn’t do.
But Bu Eunseol stood, uninterested.
“Hold on, brother. I still have something to say…”
“If you have something to say, spit it out. And take off that mask,” Bu Eunseol said, his gaze cold.
Namgung Un bowed his head. “Understood.” Sighing, he removed the cloth covering his face, revealing the handsome features of a young man barely past his teens.
“Ahem, due to certain circumstances, I’m traveling the martial world alone…” Namgung Un said, embarrassed. “This incident taught me something. The martial world isn’t just about martial skill. Above all, I need to gain experience.”
With utmost sincerity, he said to Bu Eunseol, “I want to travel with you.”
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