Bu Eunseol ultimately saw through that the information Chu So was rambling on about had neither credibility nor significant substance.
And he unleashed the Heavenly Star Explosion, bursting with destructive fist power akin to an exploding sun.
Swish.
However, the body of Chu So, who was struck by the lightning-like fist power, had somehow turned transparent.
As it turned out, his true body had already left this place, leaving only an illusion behind through a special secret art.
"The Blood Body Transfer Gate, the Mortal Realm Return Formation?"
Han Sangja murmured lowly.
Just as the Vajra Demon Ancestor had forcefully teleported the distant secret vault in an instant using ancient formation arts in the past, Chu So right now.
Had used the Blood Waves as formation materials along with ancient secret arts, leaving an illusion behind.
While he himself had already moved hundreds of miles away.
"Surely you didn't think I would step into the martial world without knowing that you would pursue me?"
The fading Chu So looked at the two and smiled.
"The Blood Waves have several functions. And now, I will show you the final function."
He revealed his white teeth and laughed.
"From now on, have a friendly chat in hell."
Bzzzt.
At that moment, the waiting Blood Waves began to shine brightly.
The reason he had stalled for time with irrelevant stories.
It was to prepare a death by explosion using the Blood Waves, ensuring he could kill Bu Eunseol and Han Sangja.
Flash!
What reflected in the eyes of Bu Eunseol and Han Sangja was a massive sun that seemed to rise from the earth.
And at that moment.
A massive flash surged up to the edge of the sky, along with a heat that seemed to evaporate the entire world.
Following a silence as fleeting as an instant,
Boooom!
As if detonating everything in the world.
Simultaneous with an earth-tearing roar and a heaven-collapsing bellow, a massive, unseen hand grabbed the entire village and shook it.
The perfectly fine village was pulverized and blown away, and Geum Mungun's corpse was evaporated.
It was like the breath of destruction exhaled by the creator god of heaven and earth in a fit of rage.
In order to eliminate the two who repeatedly interfered with his affairs, Chu So.
Had sacrificed the unit of Blood Waves to create an inescapable trap of death.
Rumble.
Over the ashen earth where everything had been swept away.
A fog composed of intertwined debris and the dust of death, which had swallowed everything on the ground, rose up.
Rumble, rumble.
That dust floated into the empty air, covering the sky and blocking the sunlight.
The world was submerged in darkness for a moment.
But just then,
"Indeed."
Above the village where everything had disappeared, Han Sangja's low voice echoed.
"It is just as the Command Lord predicted."
Bzzzt.
Suddenly, the entire village became blurry, and its color slowly faded away.
Just like a water drop falling and spreading on a piece of rice paper, the colors were disappearing quietly and soundlessly.
Sizzle.
At the same time, within that colorless space, the shadows of the two people slowly began to reveal themselves.
It was none other than Bu Eunseol and Han Sangja.
"As expected, you intentionally revealed yourself to set up a trap to kill us."
Han Sangja shook his head.
The two had already seen through the full story of the disguised diviner murder cases.
Guessing that it was meant to lure the figures pursuing him.
―He will create a trap that can absolutely not be avoided.
Upon hearing those words, Han Sangja nodded his head.
―He will surely create a trap to devastate the entire area.
From Chu So's perspective, rather than the method of revealing his full power or mobilizing secret troops to eliminate his enemies.
He would choose an easy method capable of erasing his enemies cleanly without a trace at once.
―If he unleashes such a measure, the only thing we can defend against it with is.
The two were of one mind.
―A barrier.
The only thing that could avoid Chu So's trap was a barrier that divides space from space.
―Although I cannot create the barrier of the Three Families.
Han Sangja took a deep breath and said.
―By using the Two Hundred Yin-Slayers as materials, I believe I can deploy a formation art... that separates space, somewhat similar to a barrier in my own way.
The fact that they came here despite knowing it was a trap.
It was because Han Sangja as well.
Was confident he could block whatever scheme Chu So unleashed.
"Even so, it is remarkable."
Han Sangja shook his head.
"To think he could show this much power by self-destructing dozens of soldiers."
Chu So, who was well-versed in ancient knowledge and secret arts.
Had created human explosives possessing the power to devastate hundreds of zhang with a mere dozens of soldiers.
"Those aren't ordinary soldiers, but demonic creatures he must have created from long ago."
At Bu Eunseol's words, Han Sangja nodded his head.
"I feel like I can finally see his abilities clearly now."
Until now, he hadn't known Chu So's strength, abilities, or the cards he held at all.
But this time, they had seen through the confident trap Chu So created, and in the process of defending against it,
They became able to gauge his methods and abilities.
"The regrettable part is that I didn't know he could unleash secret arts like the Blood Body Transfer Gate and the Mortal Realm Return Formation... so we couldn't fight him properly."
Han Sangja had prepared a scheme that could definitely kill Chu So, apart from the Two Hundred Yin-Slayers.
However, Chu So had unleashed ancient formation arts that folded space to move, which was completely unexpected.
And in the end, they lost him without even fighting properly.
"Even though he left smiling, his insides must be churning."
Bu Eunseol spoke as if to comfort Han Sangja.
"Because it must have taken at least a dozen years to create demonic creatures that cause this much explosive power."
What if Chu So could easily create such demonic creatures within a few years?
He would have dominated the martial world alone, without needing to join hands with the Three Ancestors and various factions.
"That's right."
Han Sangja cheered up as well and said.
"If I just complete a secret art that can break secret arts like the Mortal Realm Return Formation... we will be able to catch that wicked Heavenly Mechanism Star."
The reason Chu So had been able to stir up the martial world without getting his tail caught was also thanks to that secret art.
Since Han Sangja was able to somewhat grasp the cards Chu So held through this incident.
It was by no means a vain effort.
"The Command Lord continues to help me."
Guessing that the diviner murder cases this time were the deeds of the Heavenly Mechanism Star, Bu Eunseol had called for Han Sangja.
However, Han Sangja did not yet have a massive information organization like the Death Spirit Corps to gather and refine information from all over the Central Plains.
"I just repaid the debt for the absolute domain from last time."
Bu Eunseol spoke honestly.
"And now the Heavenly Mechanism Star is no longer just Brother Han's enemy."
"What does that mean?"
"Chu So is now my great enemy as well."
Bu Eunseol honestly confessed the story of what he had experienced so far.
That he had caused great harm to the people he cherished, including the Jingak of the Hwa Wu Sword Sect.
Meaning that Chu So was no longer just Han Sangja's target of revenge.
"...Is that so."
"As long as I am here, I will provide information regarding Chu So. So Brother Han doesn't need to worry about establishing a separate information organization."
To begin with, Bu Eunseol became the successor of Majeon in order to build a powerful information organization,
And currently, he was operating the strongest information network in the martial world through the Crystal Guard and the Martial Soul Society.
What if Han Sangja were to newly create an organization like the Death Spirit Corps to chase Chu So?
No matter how outstanding his capabilities were, it would take a good dozen years to complete.
In order to handle Chu So, Bu Eunseol.
Had decided to share the information network of the Death Spirit Corps with Han Sangja.
"Are you serious?"
From Bu Eunseol's perspective, maintaining a transactional relationship like before would have been much more advantageous.
Pretending not to know the situation up to now, while borrowing Han Sangja's wisdom and strength.
Because he would have been able to achieve more and gain more.
However, Bu Eunseol was honestly confessing everything and joining forces with Han Sangja.
"The Command Lord is someone who should absolutely never do business."
Han Sangja offered a joke mixed with gratitude.
"Because while valuing loyalty, you will eventually take a huge loss."
Bu Eunseol smiled softly.
"Even if I don't see a profit, the people will remain, won't they?"
At those words, Han Sangja wore a blank expression for a moment.
...The people will remain.
The reason Bu Eunseol had wandered the martial world until now.
Forming connections with numerous people and receiving much help.
It must be because he did not weigh his interests, but rather continuously left people behind.
And right now, Han Sangja too.
Had become Bu Eunseol's person.
* * *
Returning to Xuanyao Pavilion, Chu So headed toward a space densely covered in blue fog.
"Ugh."
His face, which always bore a smile, was distorted hideously.
His life's masterpiece, created over a whopping twelve years, a card that could perfectly eliminate the super-experts interfering with his grand cause.
Had evaporated in vain.
Because of completely unexpected figures.
The Martial Soul Society Leader and the greenhorn of the Sage Forest.
"Uuuugh."
Not all the plans he had made so far were successful. There had been frustrations and failures as well.
However, for a plan he had personally commanded and established everything for to collapse like this.
A military force he had put effort into for over a dozen years disappearing in an instant had never happened even once.
"I still have many cards."
Grinding his teeth with a crunching sound, he.
Abruptly turned his body and headed to a cave a short distance away from the hermitage.
After walking for a long time and passing through the cave.
A quiet space unfolded where all the sounds and energies of the world.
And even time itself seemed to have stopped.
In a space where the boundary between heaven and earth blurred, a bizarre energy rippled.
Unseen waves were swimming through the air and splitting apart.
In the center of it, Chu So quietly took his seat at the altar where the Star Plate was placed.
His pupils were continuously flickering as if harboring starlight.
Swish.
As he silently raised his finger and pointed at the empty air, a silver trajectory rose up following his movement.
The trajectories intertwined and tangled with each other, beginning to draw the pattern of a massive Heavenly Mechanism.
At that moment, the breath of the wind, the breathing of the mountain range, the subtle trembling of the stars, and even the thoughts of people, all seeped into his mind.
The flow of heavenly secrets.
Chu So was receiving all those wavelengths as sensations and interpreting them without a single inch of disarray.
"Why?"
Chu So couldn't understand it at all.
"Is that sage of the Sage Forest escaping the heavenly secrets?"
Even when he found out about the existence of the person tracking his whereabouts, they hadn't been detected as an existence capable of defying heavenly secrets.
However, today, having perfectly grasped his identity.
Following the Martial Soul Command Lord, the Martial Soul Society Leader, and the Crystal Guard Leader, to think even he had become a figure outside the scope of his plans?
This was because Han Sangja had finally hit it off with Bu Eunseol and firmed up his resolve to defeat their great enemy together, but.
From Chu So's perspective, knowing nothing of this fact, he couldn't help but feel it was bizarre.
Whoosh.
Just then, a faint fog rose in front of Chu So.
Soon, like layered thin sheets of paper spreading open in an instant, another space began to open.
From within, intangible lines that had been tangled like a skein unravelled and soon formed a human shape.
The Heaven-Killer Star, Eung Bi.
One of the 108 Stars created just like Chu So, and the only confidant Chu So trusted.
"How is the situation?"
At Chu So's question, Eung Bi politely offered a greeting and then spoke carefully.
"Everything you anticipated was correct."
"Is that so?"
Chu So shook his head with a miserable expression.
"That's a shame. Even though it was a place I put effort into for a long time."
No matter how covetable a faction is, if it isn't perfectly his own, it must be discarded.
Because if he keeps holding onto it, it will eventually become a disaster that swallows even himself.
Staring into the empty air with a despondent expression, Chu So shook his head again.
"Since it has come to this anyway..."
He bore a wicked smile.
The Jungson Family.
Using the legendary Three Families he had swallowed as a sacrifice, he intended to eliminate the thorns in his eyes once again.
* * *
Songs and dances are as common as grains of sand throughout the Central Plains.
And wandering troupes that sell stories are as common as grains of sand.
Of course, most troupes were born anew and disappeared in every generation.
But among them, there were those who maintained their lineage for generations.
They endlessly changed their names and.
Stayed briefly in cities or villages, offering fleeting joy and comfort to people before disappearing like smoke.
People only briefly laughed and cried at the sad love stories and heroic tales they told.
No one was curious about the names or true identities of the wandering troupes that were like a one-night's dream.
However, there was a fact that no one could imagine.
The melodies of the troupe could echo to every corner of the Central Plains where the ears of information organizations could not reach.
And that they could easily discover outstanding prodigies or talented children.
The Jungson Family.
The true nature of the Jungson Family, one of the Three Families of the Martial World, existed in the form of a wandering troupe, and.
Endlessly wandering the Central Plains, luring and kidnapping numerous children and prodigies, and.
They were holding information from all over the Central Plains that even information organizations could not easily obtain.
* * *
The boy, Seokdu, was originally a vagrant but.
By chance, he formed a connection with Bu Eunseol, who was trying to obtain information about the saintess.
―Stand in front of a large inn with this piece of paper. Then, someone will come to pick you up.
Bu Eunseol, who recognized Seokdu's brilliance at a glance, made arrangements for him to become an information ronin for the branch operated by the Death Spirit Corps.
Seokdu, who was inherently smart and possessed outstanding aptitude.
Received instructions on how to handle information through the Death Spirit Corps branch, and brought good information while performing outstandingly day by day.
As time passed like that.
Before he knew it, he had become equipped with the ability to acquire and refine high-level information that even seasoned ronin could not handle.
Continuing to achieve merit endlessly like that, Seokdu finally caught the eyes of the members of the Death Spirit Corps as well.
―Your aptitude is a waste.
Woo Kyung, a member of the Death Spirit Corps who had been keeping a close eye on Seokdu, in order to raise him greatly.
Passed down martial arts capable of protecting his own body, including lightness arts, and.
Passed down tracking arts for pursuing enemies, and even the Art of Deceptive Enlightenment capable of infiltrating anywhere.
As a result, Seokdu became not an information ronin who did business with just his mouth.
But an information ronin possessing outstanding skills in his own right.
―The name Seokdu does not suit an information agent. You are brilliant and highly talented, so from now on, I will call you Soho.
The boy, Soho, who even gained a decent name from the name Seokdu.
Had eventually left the Sang'an Village area and become an information ronin encompassing the Taewon area.
―Why don't you cultivate martial arts more?
In Woo Kyung's eyes, Soho possessed peerless aptitude, so if he steadily cultivated martial arts, he could become an expert who looked down upon the martial world.
Therefore, he unsparingly taught his supreme arts, intending to report to the Death Spirit Corps Captain Mu Heon when the time came, and recommend him as a warrior of the Death Shadow Corps.
―I'm an information ronin, aren't I? I should be selling information instead of spending time learning martial arts!
However, instead of martial arts, Soho enjoyed acquiring and selling information.
Woo Kyung nodded his head as if he couldn't help it.
―I will pull some strings so you can become a waiter at the Jangan Inn. Sell the information that flows out from there from now on.
Woo Kyung, the Death Spirit Corps member who highly valued Soho's cleverness and agility.
Put him in as a waiter at the Jangan Inn, the most famous place in Taewon where information of martial artists could be actively gathered.
―Soho! Take this quickly.
―Wipe the table immediately!
The Jangan Inn is frantically busy due to the rushing customers when meal times arrive.
Soho, who had already become a fairly recognized waiter even at the Jangan Inn.
Steadily carried out the directives given by the Death Spirit Corps members in the midst of that.
Not only did he have his own informants to acquire information, but he even became acquainted with local merchants and officials.
"Phew."
Once the busy period passed, Soho went outside the inn and caught his breath.
'An inn is like a small city.'
Merchants, wanderers, warriors, scholars, officials, monks, troupes, and even thieves.
Various people come and go, sparking stories or sometimes causing conflicts.
'I think I know why the masters of the Death Spirit Corps always place informants in large inns.'
An inn is a strategic point where rumors and information between regions come and go.
Merchants coming up from the provinces, officials assigned to distant towns, and wandering scholars or warriors each brought their own news, and.
This quickly spread through other customers and waiters.
In short, an inn was.
A place where political rumors, incidents and accidents, and news of the martial world came and went.
Swish, swish.
Soho went outside through the back door of the inn.
There was a small alley there, and a beggar was squatted in an awkward posture.
"Still the same today."
Soho smiled broadly upon discovering the beggar squatted in a bizarre posture in front of the inn.
"Seulgae."
He was beaten severely when he was young, badly injuring his knees, and because he had no name, he was called Seulgae.
Because he could not kneel properly.
He was always begging with one knee raised.
Soho had heard the circumstances of Seulgae, who was of similar age, and felt heartache, becoming close to him by bringing him leftover food every day, and.
Seulgae only had uncomfortable legs. He was very smart and had a wide network for a beggar.
Thanks to Seulgae bringing news from all over, Soho was naturally able to look into the news of the city at a glance.
Ultimately, Soho placed Seulgae as his informant and.
Named him Seulgae (Beggar), not Seulgae (Kneecap).
"It was a poor haul today too, huh."
Seeing that Seulgae's gourd was completely empty, Soho took out a dumpling filled with abundant meat from his bosom and handed it over.
"Thanks."
Seulgae didn't decline and took the dumpling, eating it voraciously.
Seeing Seulgae eating the dumpling with grime smeared all over, Soho recalled his own vagrant days.
'I was lucky.'
What if he hadn't met the Martial Soul Command Lord, whose name shook the world?
No matter how clever he was, he could not have become an information ronin for the Death Spirit Corps, and he would still be belonging to a beggar gang, begging for food.
"What's the news today?"
At Soho's question, Seulgae nodded his head.
"Chief Steward Ha of the Song Family Estate took in another concubine. This time, they say it's the daughter of Old Wang from the dumpling shop."
"Mmm."
"Old Man Baek, who sells leather at the West Gate, fell ill the day before yesterday and didn't come out. And the constables have been prowling around the Buyong Pavilion a lot lately."
"Why the constables?"
"They say a silk merchant from out of town lost his entire money pouch there a while ago. They say they're catching the culprit, but I think it's just a trick by the constables to get some free drinks."
Seulgae continuously rattled off trivial information.
With an incredible memory and observational skills, he.
Was vividly reporting all the events of the past fifteen days, which others would have had to write down and memorize for a long time, without leaving anything out.
"Nothing special other than that?"
"Yeah. Except that the White Snow Troupe has arrived."
Just in time, a large troupe called the White Snow Troupe had come to the city, making the marketplace bustling.
"So all the kids in the village flocked there."
Seulgae's eyes sparkled.
Perhaps he wanted to leave the marketplace and visit the properly set up troupe.
"Do you want to go see it?"
At Soho's question, Seulgae nodded his head as if it were obvious.
"Because it's the first time in my life I've seen such a large troupe come in."
Usually, street musicians or acrobats perform their skills openly in the marketplace.
However, a wandering troupe of such a large scale rented a corner of land on the outskirts and made people pay to enter.
However, because the cost was considerable, it was not easy for beggars, let alone ordinary people, to watch.
"Soho, have you been there?"
"Of course."
Soho puffed out his chest and spoke confidently.
"I've seen things like troupe performances so much since I was young that I'm sick of them."
"Wow, how is it? What kind of skills do they perform inside?"
"Well..."
Soho looked at Seulgae's sparkling eyes and let out a sigh.
And after rummaging through his bosom for a long time, he took out some coins and handed them to Seulgae.
"Go see for yourself."
"R-really?"
As Seulgae opened his mouth, Soho crossed his arms and said.
"You're my informant, aren't you? I should do at least this much for you."
The Death Spirit Corps warriors treated the witty and resourceful Soho very well and gave high prices for his information.
And since Seulgae's help had been the biggest factor in that... he was giving him that much treatment.
"Thanks!"
As Seulgae smiled brightly, Soho waved his hand and said.
"It's fine. Just work hard bringing me various news like now."
But Seulgae was already out of sight.
He was flying out of the alley with the coins clutched in his hand.
He must be excited at the thought of going to see a troupe performance for the first time in his life.
"Have a good look."
Soho, who was watching that sight, let out a sigh with a low voice.
"On my behalf."
From the beginning, Seulgae was under the misconception that Soho had been raised as an information ronin.
However, it had not been that long since Soho became an information ronin, and before that, he had been living the exact same vagrant life as Seulgae.
He, too, had never seen a troupe performance.
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