A roaring sound as if a thunderbolt struck out of a clear blue sky shook the desolate earth, and then.
A single black meteor crossed midair.
―According to the results of the Majeon meeting, all the martial artists of the Death Shadow Corps headed to the Shanhai Pass.
Saying they were ordered to find the secretly hidden Blood Cult branch and annihilate them without leaving a single one alive.
These were the words Soyo delivered as soon as he came out from finishing his closed-door training in the Absolute Domain of the Martial Soul Society.
'Blood Cult.'
Bu Eunseol's eyes flashed coldly.
The Blood Cult Lord, Donapgeuk, had sworn not to encroach upon the Central Plains, but.
He was continuously establishing secret branches, refusing to cast away his ambition to invade the Central Plains.
However, since they didn't invade openly and.
Since they cut off their tail and retreated without a word of complaint when the Death Shadow Corps moved, there hadn't been any major clashes so far.
But what if their establishing a branch was detected like this and they failed to stop it?
It was a situation where Bu Eunseol, who had extracted the oath, might take all the responsibility.
Giving the annihilation order to the Death Shadow Corps was an extremely natural action.
'I cannot blame the key figures.'
From some point on, Yeop Hyocheon obeyed only the orders of the Heavenly Demon Emperor and did not involve himself in any organization, including Bu Eunseol's.
Even so, in the Majeon meeting, the key figures handed down the Blood Cult annihilation mission to the Death Shadow Corps.
Because if it wasn't resolved swiftly, Bu Eunseol's standing would become difficult.
It was a situation where he should be grateful to the key figures of Majeon who issued this order.
Kwa-wooo!
Around the time Bu Eunseol, who was sprinting swiftly, reached the vicinity of the Shanhai Pass,
Kwang!
Along with a tremendous explosion, his body, which had been cleaving the void, plummeted to the ground.
A mighty power that could neither be seen nor sensed struck his body like lightning.
Sizzle.
Where Bu Eunseol fell, a large crater three zhang wide was gouged out.
It was a good thing the surroundings were a vast reed field; had it been near civilian homes, terrible damage would have occurred.
Tap.
Meanwhile, a shadow wearing a splendid robe alighted softly before the massive crater.
Wi Cheongun. No, it was Pamyeong, the True Demon's attendant who destroys fate.
"Stand up."
As Pamyeong spoke lowly, a pitch-black streak of light shot up from the crater as if waiting.
At the same time, a shadow emitting radiance from the sky slowly came down to the ground.
It was exactly Bu Eunseol.
"As expected, you've made progress in the meantime."
Not only did Bu Eunseol not have a single hair harmed.
When he showed eyes completely devoid of fear toward him, Pamyeong rather spread his two hands as if pleased.
"It seems you've polished some sort of secret plan to face this Venerable Lord in the meantime, haven't you?"
Instead of answering, Bu Eunseol looked around the reed field that had become a mess and murmured.
"You do keep your promises."
Pamyeong could have aimed for him in other advantageous locations as much as he wanted.
But he deliberately poured out an attack like a thunderbolt in a place where there were no civilian homes.
"Or perhaps you are bound by something."
A Great Demon like Pamyeong, whose joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure couldn't be predicted, would never terribly cherish commoners.
It was clear that he definitely had some sort of restriction or ban, and was trying not to violate it.
"Restriction?"
Pamyeong snorted.
"Does this Venerable Lord look like the riffraff you've encountered so far."
"Three Attendants or whatever, aren't you ultimately just the True Demon's dog?"
"Hehehe. Hahaha!"
Despite the harsh, venomous words, Pamyeong laughed heartily.
"I'll acknowledge it. That your eloquence is at a level that can match this Venerable Lord."
Showing a leisurely smile, he looked down at his two palms.
"Before long, this Venerable Lord will become a being that transcends all the laws of the martial world. The existing laws and such will have no meaning at all."
If another person had said it, it would have sounded like a joke.
But coming from Pamyeong's mouth, such words felt like a terrifying prophecy.
"So you mean you are bound by the laws right now, after all."
But Bu Eunseol spoke with an indifferent expression.
"That must be why you didn't act directly, but drove my subordinates into the trap called the Blood Cult branch."
"Didn't I say it."
Pamyeong leisurely responded.
"That if you don't die, I will create a fate where all the people around you are destroyed."
And he spoke terrifying words.
"You should know well what happens to those who reject the covenant, shouldn't you?"
In an instant, a flash of light surged in Bu Eunseol's pupils.
'So that was it.'
In the past, the Executioners transformed ordinary commoners in the surroundings into martial artists with powerful strength, then.
Manipulated them to attack those who rejected the covenant.
At the time, he couldn't solve the question of how the Sacred Domain.
Could coerce and bind martial artists with such incomprehensible power.
Now that he saw it, the secret arts of the Sacred Domain.
Originated from the secret art Pamyeong used.
No, from the secret art the True Demon created, which snatched physical bodies.
"Really, you analyze endlessly."
Pamyeong let out a sigh upon seeing Bu Eunseol's pupils sparkling ceaselessly.
"You don't let a single word slip by and try to dig it out somehow."
"Are you afraid."
"I was saying it's truly futile when you are fated to die anyway."
Shrugging his shoulders, he spoke as if amused.
"Come at me. I won't kill you in a single breath, I'll give you a chance to resist."
"You'll regret it."
"If you make me regret."
Pamyeong spread his two arms and laughed cheerfully.
"It will be a truly delightful thing."
Schwing.
Bu Eunseol drew the Silent Tiger Soul Sword with a cautious expression.
Pamyeong was still merely spreading his two arms, not taking a defensive stance.
Since any form of attack wouldn't reach him anyway, and he could instantly return it.
He was confident that no matter what attack was made, he couldn't be defeated.
Swish.
Bu Eunseol cautiously, with an extremely slow movement, aimed at Pamyeong.
Slash.
At that, surprisingly, the clothes near Pamyeong's shoulder were sharply torn.
Had he finally completed the secret technique to break the method he used?
"You didn't deploy a sword form, nor did you shoot out sword aura."
Pamyeong glanced at the wound on his body, then nodded his head.
"The Void Heart Sword, huh. Do you intend to become a Taoist?"
Pamyeong can return or absorb everything that touches his body.
Bu Eunseol had found the solution after deep deliberation.
It was not a special secret technique, but the Void Heart Sword used by Taoist experts.
If it is completely empty? Because he wouldn't be able to return it.
Pat-pat!
As the Void Heart Sword, which completely emptied even intent, was deployed, wounds continuously increased on Pamyeong's body.
"As expected, you can be called a prodigy of peerless martial arts."
Pamyeong nodded his head.
"To deploy the Void Heart Sword, which even Taoists can only use after decades of comprehension, at your age? It is a truly astonishing thing."
He soon wore a disappointed expression.
"But it is not a perfect solution."
"……."
"Because numerous experts in the past also performed such tricks before this Venerable Lord."
Pssh!
Suddenly, a long wound appeared on Bu Eunseol's shoulder.
He had ultimately returned even the Void Heart Sword.
Even though Pamyeong had merely suffered scratches, Bu Eunseol had suffered a sharp sword wound.
"This is also a paradox of martial arts."
Pamyeong shrugged his shoulders.
"Since ordinary attacks are returned, you probably thought it would be possible if it's a Heart Sword without even consciousness or concept……."
Staring intently at Bu Eunseol, he spoke as if explaining an interesting riddle.
"But having nothing also eventually becomes 'something' when you deploy it."
What Pamyeong spoke of was the principle of nothingness (無), the supreme mystery of martial arts.
Void (空虛) should originally be nothing.
But in order to cut Pamyeong, Bu Eunseol ultimately deployed a Heart Sword containing the meaning of emptiness (空), so……
It was akin to filling the concept of nothingness (無) with emptiness (空).
In the end, he had failed to reach the realm of nothingness (無).
"Even so, you have aptitude."
Pamyeong looked at Bu Eunseol, his eyes sparkling.
"If about ten years pass, you will probably become a Peerless Great Grandmaster who can shatter even this paradox."
That attitude was like.
Praising a young child for courageously attacking him.
He was genuinely finding Bu Eunseol commendable and also enjoying it.
"You're probably hiding about one critical secret plan to defeat this Venerable Lord besides such techniques, aren't you?"
He spoke leisurely as if he had looked into Bu Eunseol's head.
"Since you were able to sever the connection with that greenhorn from Nangyang Pavilion."
He had left remnants of the Soul Demon Dharma Energy so he could dominate Sa Woo at any time.
Because Sa Woo's physical body would be an excellent substitute in case he didn't perfectly recover his body.
But that connection was severed a while ago.
And while investigating the cause of it.
He realized Bu Eunseol had done such a thing, and guessed that he possessed a secret art capable of breaking his great art.
"Now let's end the conversation here."
Pamyeong chuckled.
"With this much, you wouldn't feel wronged even if you wander the Nine Springs."
Actually, his words were not simple chatter.
If the Heavenly Demon Emperor pierced through the enemy's spirit through conversation and manipulated everything……
Pamyeong breaks the enemy's fighting spirit and shatters their will through conversation.
Just as a lion would affectionately strike up a conversation with a rabbit.
Showing perfect leisure and momentum, making the enemy give up even the room for resistance.
"My, did I crush your spirit too much."
When Bu Eunseol stood completely still with his head bowed, Pamyeong clicked his tongue as if he thought his will was perfectly broken.
"It's no fun if it's like this."
And as he reached out his hand, a sharp sword blade began to form near Bu Eunseol's chest.
First Wind Through the Pine.
Using the soft sword form of the Mount Hua Green Pine Sword where a blue and elegant pine tree sways in the wind.
He intended to pierce through Bu Eunseol's heart in a single breath.
Clang.
Bu Eunseol instinctively defended with the Silent Tiger Soul Sword, but the sword aura already aimed for his lower abdomen.
Like a snake hiding under a branch shooting up to the sky, he had transformed the First Wind Through the Pine form into the sword form of Silver Pine, Hidden Dragon.
Ch-ch-ch-ch.
Bu Eunseol, having deployed Swift Beyond Shadow to create hundreds of shadows, barely managed to dodge that technique.
But in the meantime, thick drops of sweat had formed on his forehead.
"So you didn't give up, but were hiding a critical secret art while waiting for an opportunity until the end."
Pamyeong laughed even more excitedly as if he had seen through Bu Eunseol's inner thoughts.
"Interesting. Truly delightful."
And he began to spin the sword aura formed at his fingertips round and round.
Pine Needles Return to Stillness.
As if pine needles returned to their original place, he softly spun the sword in a circle and took a stable posture.
He suppressed counterattacks and finished preparing to continue the next attack.
'He's not simply trying to show arrogance.'
Bu Eunseol's eyes narrowed.
'He chose a sword art that will perfectly counter the sword art I am deploying.'
The Mount Hua sword art he was deploying.
Was a perfect antithesis to the Hwa Wu Sword Art Bu Eunseol deployed.
'So in the end, it wasn't the Mount Hua sword art.'
Bu Eunseol finally realized.
'It was the progenitor sword art.'
What Pamyeong was using was not the Mount Hua Sect's sword art, but.
The righteous path's source art used by the Ten Great Immortals.
Since the True Demon's kin was deploying the progenitor sword art of the Orthodox faction.
Even Bu Eunseol, who was as well-versed in martial arts as Ak Muryeong, had seen through that fact far too late.
Pat. Pa-pa-pa-pat.
Upon realizing that the sword art Pamyeong was deploying was not the Mount Hua Sect's sword art, but the progenitor sword art of the Orthodox faction, which was the extreme opposite of the Demonic Path Sword Art.
Bu Eunseol's sword art also changed accordingly.
'Ultimately, Pamyeong's technique flips normal and natural thinking upside down.'
Suddenly, the faces of the super powerhouses who had suffered helplessly despite fighting with all their might came to mind.
The maddened Heavenly Emperor, who used the Emperor of Death's martial arts, couldn't even dare to counterattack, and.
The Returning to One Realm Lord deployed a transformed Seven Blood Tear Forms whose power amounted to several times his own, only to suffer severe internal injuries instead every time they clashed.
But even though Pamyeong possessed power no less than theirs.
He deliberately gave room for counterattacks and fought while dragging out the time deploying seemingly ordinary sword arts.
At first, Bu Eunseol thought it was Pamyeong's amusement to play with him, but.
In reality, that behavior itself was a fatal technique.
'He created rigid thinking that he was an absolutely unbeatable enemy.'
If one was fighting with a sword, but the enemy could easily block the sword with chopsticks?
Naturally, one would think the enemy's skill was several levels above their own, their momentum would shrink, and their body would cower.
But what one thought were chopsticks…… were actually peerless treasure swords.
'The name Three Attendants was big.'
Swish. Pat!
Bu Eunseol's sword art, as if it had suddenly risen sharply, proudly continued an exchange of blows with Pamyeong.
Over eighty moves were deployed in an instant, with the two people's attacks not touching each other.
"Delightful."
Pamyeong finally realized Bu Eunseol had seen through his technique and laughed heartily.
"Nangyang Pavilion disciples are the best at realizing and developing amidst battle!"
With those words as the end, Pamyeong's eyes flashed, and instead of a sword art, he exerted a bizarre power.
Whirl!
That moment, Bu Eunseol's sword art poured out in a completely wrong direction.
An unknown power spread out, and his movements began to twist uncontrollably.
If he unleashed a sword strike, it missed, and if he drew up inner force, he rather suffered an internal injury.
The martial arts he had polished with all his might were collapsing for no reason.
It was as if the laws of the world themselves rejected him, and.
Like an insect flailing in the void with even its wings and limbs torn off, he felt all attempts becoming meaningless.
'It doesn't matter!'
Pamyeong's terrifying point was not that he overwhelmed the enemy with terrifying martial prowess from the beginning, but.
The moment they thought, 'I might be able to face him?', he brought shame and despair to the enemy by suddenly increasing his martial prowess.
Because he had recognized that point from the start.
Bu Eunseol did not shrink back and was somehow able to defuse his attacks.
"Hehehe. Good, very good."
When his attacks no longer worked, Pamyeong wore a satisfied expression.
"Unable to recover my body, I could not set out into the martial world, and have secretly continued my grand plan while manipulating others. Meanwhile, there was no one who could face even the martial arts I deployed."
As a life without an opponent repeated for a long time, only a terrible sense of isolation covered his entire body.
But Bu Eunseol was different from the enemies he had encountered so far.
He did not despair and persistently dug into the source of power.
That fearless tenacity came to Pamyeong as an incredibly fresh stimulation.
"It's been the most enjoyable fight in thirty years."
Pamyeong reached out his hand with a satisfied expression.
"Now it's about time for you to fall."
There is no feast that does not end.
Since he had tasted such deep joy.
He intended to put Bu Eunseol to sleep forever now, leaving this pleasure and inspiration as a long lingering resonance.
Kwang!
From his hand, a massive spear that could absolutely never be sensed by human senses was created, and.
It pierced through Bu Eunseol's body in a single breath.
No, it should have pierced through.
Because that was not a martial art, but.
A spear 'that destroys fate', which only he could exert and absolutely could not be dodged.
Flash!
That moment, a pillar of pure white light stretched out from Bu Eunseol's body, and.
Sizzle.
At the same time, the spear made of true qi brushed past Bu Eunseol's flank.
Koo-woo-woo.
As the dazzling pillar of light slowly disappeared, Bu Eunseol stood in that spot grinning.
His skin was burning with a soft light, and the color of his pupils had completely changed.
It looked like a living statue created by the clash of cold and heat.
Transcendental Unity.
Ordinary unity is the mixing of two powers to create one new power.
But in the case of Bu Eunseol and Baekri Geomha, rather than simply fusing with each other…… they had created a completely different third power.
"What did you do."
Pamyeong wore an expression that he completely couldn't understand.
"The Kalpa-Breaking Sacred Halberd is something that can neither be dodged nor blocked."
He blinked for a long while.
Because no matter how he looked at it, Bu Eunseol's momentum and disposition had changed in an instant.
"Aha."
Finally grasping Bu Eunseol's situation, he laughed heartily.
"So in the end, you too were just a leftover created to save Baekri Geomha?"
Having laughed for a long while, Pamyeong pointed his finger at Bu Eunseol.
"To protect Baekri Muha's son, that is."
"What kind of bullshit is that."
When Bu Eunseol asked back, Pamyeong raised the corners of his mouth.
"I'm saying you too are ultimately a created fake."
And he spoke incredibly shocking words.
"Since the real one is under the protection of the Baekri Family."
In an instant, the words the old man of the Sacred Domain who handled the covenant had said came to Bu Eunseol's mind.
―Because a fake is acting as the real one…….
At the time he heard those words.
He thought it referred to Baek Museong, who acted as his shadow.
But listening to Pamyeong's words now, wasn't he talking as if there was a separate person playing his role?
If it were the usual Bu Eunseol, he would have been greatly shocked or heavily flustered and tried to discern the truth of those words.
"It doesn't matter either way."
But Bu Eunseol, having achieved Transcendental Unity, merely grinned.
"I am simply me."
Vwooong.
At the same time, hundreds of radiances rose from behind Bu Eunseol's back.
He had merely made up his mind to deploy the Seven Fist Demon Forms, yet hundreds of fist forces were created around his body.
Kwang-kwang-kwang-kwang!
Along with roaring sounds that shook heaven and earth.
Pamyeong's body began to be pushed backward rapidly.
Upon reaching Transcendental Unity, the power of his martial arts became several times stronger, and.
Even with the power that twists fate spread around Pamyeong's body, he could not offset his attacks.
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