That brilliant radiance spread in all directions, dyeing the entire world white.
When the light finally disappeared,
Trickle.
The forest made of crystal began to melt down like water.
While Im Mujeong was buying time,
Bu Eunseol was concentrating the Heaven-Breaking Desolation Harmony into the Silent Tiger Soul Sword.
Rumble.
Upon being exposed to that harmonization, not only the Spirit Blood Shattering Extermination Formation but also the mysterious energies flowing within Mansangchongji vanished in an instant.
In the meantime, the United Heart Society Leader had disappeared.
Mistaking that Bu Eunseol had recovered all his power, he immediately fled.
Thud.
At that moment, Im Mujeong, who had been standing tall, collapsed as if crumbling.
His body, having been struck twice by the saber arts of the United Heart Society Leader who had exerted all his power,
Was so battered that it could no longer be recovered even with the Mad Demon Blood Aura.
"Brother Im."
Bu Eunseol immediately sealed his thirty-six major acupoints.
Gag.
As Im Mujeong vomited black blood from his mouth, he took out the Sleep Demon Divine Pill and Clear Spirit Stone Oil from his embrace.
"Stop."
Im Mujeong reached out his hand.
"It is useless."
Due to the saber qi fired by the United Heart Society Leader, the bones in his entire body were crushed and his internal organs were destroyed.
Even if a Great Firmament Immortal came, let alone Clear Spirit Stone Oil, he could not be saved.
"Why."
Bu Eunseol made an agonized expression.
"Why did you go this far?"
He had only asked him to hold out for one gak.
However, Im Mujeong had relentlessly lunged at the United Heart Society Leader, risking his life.
And when Bu Eunseol reached a desperate situation, he had sacrificed himself and taken that attack with his bare body.
"I didn't want to owe any more debts."
Im Mujeong stared at the empty air with a vacant gaze, reminiscing about the past.
"Having owed a debt of life for my entire life, to become such a tool."
* * *
Im Mujeong, the young master of the Im Family Manor, a great merchant of Shaanxi.
He was inherently born with boiling hot blood and a sense of chivalry.
Rather than the comfortable life of a wealthy merchant's son, he admired the life of a knight-errant holding a sword for the sake of chivalry.
His parents, hoping their son would set his mind on business, would send him on errands to the store where silk and spices were piled like a mountain, but
Every time, Im Mujeong would peer into the smithy where weapons were displayed, or seek out the battlegrounds where the cold winds of the martial world brushed past.
Eventually unable to break his stubbornness, his parents allowed Im Mujeong to attend the martial arts hall he so desperately desired.
One day, while diligently continuing his training like that.
Returning from the martial arts hall, Im Mujeong dragged his sweat-drenched body and stopped by his regular inn to satisfy his hunger.
In the boisterous inn, where the smell of greasy food and the scent of aged liquor mixed, a particularly sharp laughter pierced his ears.
Where his gaze landed, three men wearing expensive silk clothes and shiny swords were surrounding a woman.
The woman, seemingly uncomfortable with one leg, was struggling to support her body and trying hard to ignore their harassment.
"I told you to come here! This master is offering to pour you a cup of liquor, you should consider it an honor!"
"Where does a cripple get off playing hard to get!"
The men's arrogant tone and despicable laughter cut through the noise of the inn.
Something hot surged within Im Mujeong's blood vessels. He stood up from his seat and approached them.
"What is the meaning of this rudeness?"
His voice was low and heavy.
As the men's gazes all turned to him at once, he spoke in an even more solemn voice.
"To harass a woman who can barely even support her own body. As martial artists carrying swords, are you not ashamed?"
"Who the hell are you to dare lecture us!"
"Anyone can interfere with those doing wrong deeds."
"This bastard?"
The man who appeared to be the boss glared and shouted.
"Do you want to die?"
He drew the sword from his waist, but.
From the man's body, only arrogance overflowed, rather than the restrained energy unique to a martial artist.
"Are you trying to kill someone on top of harassing a woman?"
"This arrogant bastard!"
No sooner had he finished speaking than three swords flew toward Im Mujeong.
The sword techniques were quite fierce, but they were closer to a dance full of empty bravado.
On the other hand, Im Mujeong's sword heavily and concisely executed the sword techniques he had learned at the martial arts hall.
Clang! Clang-clang!
After a few exchanges of sword strikes, bewilderment colored the men's faces.
They had realized that the young boy was a step above them.
"This bastard!"
Murderous intent flashed in the eyes of the cornered boss.
"I'll kill this woman first and then kill you."
And he swung his sword at the trembling woman.
"Stop!"
"You fell for it."
The man smiled insidiously.
He had disturbed Im Mujeong's sword technique with a cunning trick, and then aimed for his vitals.
In that instant, Im Mujeong's eyes also sank coldly.
He held back no longer, lightly flowing away the man's lethal move, and created a sharp trajectory.
Slash!
Along with a scream, red blood sprouted like a fountain from the man's shoulder.
"Ughh!"
The boss gritted his teeth and shouted.
"This grudge, I will definitely repay! I'll make you shed tears of blood!"
They poured out curses and turned tail to flee.
Im Mujeong merely clicked his tongue as he watched their cowardly retreating figures.
Today's event.
Without ever dreaming that it would become the seed of misfortune that would take away everything he had.
The boss was the immature only son of Ak Unsang, the master of the Pungdo Martial Arts Hall that commanded Sichuan.
Upon hearing that his son had been defeated by a young boy, Ak Unsang went wild, and after a persistent pursuit, he found out Im Mujeong's identity and the location of the Im Family Manor where he lived.
A few days later, a wind of blood blew through the Im Family Manor where Im Mujeong lived.
Screams stopped before they could even become echoes, and the flames that burned all night turned everything in the manor to ashes.
The price for a mere small wound on the shoulder had been far too horrific.
Im Mujeong miraculously survived alone and made a desperate escape.
However, Ak Unsang's pursuit was persistent. Fleeing while starving for days and nights, he was eventually cornered at a dead end in a deep, damp forest.
"Caught you, you little rat!"
Ak Unsang struck the back of the fleeing Im Mujeong.
Thud!
Amidst the pain of his lungs twisting and his joints crushing, he plummeted face-first into the mud.
"Huhuhu."
Ak Unsang looked down at Im Mujeong, who was flailing while vomiting blood, as if looking at a bug, and mocked him.
"If you kneel and beg even now, I will leave your corpse intact."
Blaze.
In Im Mujeong's eyes, rather than fear, there was hatred and resentment as if to burn everything away.
He spat out blood-mixed saliva and shouted.
"Even if I die and become a vengeful ghost, I will tear you bastards to shreds and kill you!"
"You're a spiteful one."
Ak Unsang nodded to his henchmen.
"Kill him in one strike! If you fail to kill him, you guys will die!"
Did that desperate scream reach the heavens?
Rumble.
Suddenly, a streak of dark red auspicious light seemed to shine upon the forest from the distant sky, and,
Vmmmm.
With a bizarre sound, space distorted.
Where the black flash bloomed.
Stood an elderly man who was extraordinary precisely because he seemed ordinary.
It was the pinnacle of the Demonic Path, the Heavenly Demon Emperor.
He was no apostle of justice.
He neither saved the fallen Im Mujeong nor scolded Ak Unsang.
Like an audience member appreciating a well-crafted opera, he merely watched the situation with interested eyes.
"Yes, it was that madness."
The Heavenly Demon Emperor looked at Im Mujeong, who was emitting venom while collapsed on the ground.
The energy flowing from his body was.
A desperate madness and killing intent that even the absolute grandmaster of the Demonic Path, who had experienced all the hardships of the martial world, had never seen.
"Indeed, worthy of drawing this seat's interest."
With a flick of his finger, the Heavenly Demon Emperor flowed a breath of true qi into the dying Im Mujeong.
—Uwaaaaaah!
Im Mujeong felt a pain as if boiling lava was flowing along his meridians.
It felt as though his body would burst, and his internal organs were spasming uncontrollably.
Sizzle, sizzle.
However, his wounds conversely healed, and black demonic qi flowed from his eyes.
He had perfectly absorbed the primordial spirit true qi injected by the foremost person of the Demonic Path without missing a single drop.
It was the moment his innate talent of Heavenly Innate Martial Bone manifested.
"Heuuu. Uwaaaaah!"
In that instant, explosive power spread throughout Im Mujeong's entire body.
Gripping a broken sword, he sprang up and charged at Ak Unsang like a madman.
Swaeek! Swae-swae-swaek!
It was not a sword technique.
It was a madness-infused thrashing burning solely with a thirst for revenge.
Slash.
Ultimately, Ak Unsang's head rolled off and was planted in the mud.
Watching Im Mujeong standing drenched in blood while panting heavily, the Heavenly Demon Emperor nodded in satisfaction.
"Useful. That madness."
The Heavenly Demon Emperor had seen it.
The demonic absolute art that endlessly trains the physical body using demonic qi and wraps protective astral energy made of blood, the Mad Demon Blood Aura.
The perfect timber to master that martial art, which had become deadwood because there was no one to learn it.
"I suppose I've gained one more good blade."
And he was certain.
That young boy covered in vengeance and madness would become the sharpest blade among all the blades he possessed.
After that day.
Im Mujeong's world existed solely for the Heavenly Demon Emperor.
He dedicated his life to the Heavenly Demon Emperor, and proved his worth by carrying out life-or-death missions.
And finally, he rose to the position of Night Soul Blood Lord, one of the Twelve Blood Lords.
Only then did he think he had repaid all his debts to the Heavenly Demon Emperor.
And as he set out on his final mission, an unexpected situation occurred.
He had ambushed the successor of the Sacred Domain, but.
Conversely, due to the bizarre power the successor exhibited, he failed to control the demonic qi of the Mad Demon Blood Aura and was consumed by madness.
In the end, unable to leave the Heavenly Demon Emperor, Im Mujeong was confined on Gwigeum Island.
—Uwoooo!
He despaired.
Having to sustain his life with the food and water provided by the subordinates sent by the Heavenly Demon Emperor there... he had ultimately ended up owing a debt to the Heavenly Demon Emperor yet again.
But an unexpected thing happened.
A figure who suddenly appeared.
Came to Gwigeum Island and eliminated in one breath the madness that supposedly would only disappear after ten years of bitter training,
And even though he could have killed him, he showed generosity and spared his life.
Im Mujeong thus incurred a debt of life once again.
So he made a final choice.
In order to repay all those debts.
He had risked his life to protect Bu Eunseol.
* * *
Having finished his reminiscence, Im Mujeong spoke in a low voice.
"I have repaid all debts."
Bu Eunseol nodded.
"That's right. Brother Im has repaid all debts."
"But it's a shame."
He stared into empty space with dim eyes.
"I had never failed a mission once in my entire life."
Im Mujeong had always lived as a tool of the Heavenly Demon Emperor, and completed every mission he was given.
"I failed to kill the United Heart Society Leader, and I also failed to retrieve the Nine Heavens Cloud Splendor Pearl here..."
The fake Nine Heavens Cloud Splendor Pearl that had been on the giant tree was already smashed.
Ultimately failing his mission at the final moment... he couldn't help but feel that his life up to now was somewhat in vain.
"No, Brother Im has completed the mission."
Bu Eunseol spoke with a gaze full of conviction.
"The United Heart Society Leader will surely die, and the Nine Heavens Cloud Splendor Pearl he possesses will be retrieved and returned to the Heavenly Demon Emperor."
It was an astonishing statement.
The Nine Heavens Cloud Splendor Pearl is what martial artists desperately desire more than their own lives.
But why give it to the Heavenly Demon Emperor?
"Why..."
"Because I have not yet repaid the favor I received from Brother Im."
Im Mujeong made a blank expression.
Even though Bu Eunseol considered the Heavenly Demon Emperor an enemy.
In order to protect his last shred of pride... he was intending to personally hand over that treasure to his mortal enemy.
"Huhuhu."
A hollow laugh burst out of Im Mujeong.
That young absolute grandmaster.
Without calculating immediate gains or his own safety... his heart was filled only with passionate loyalty.
Just like himself in the past.
"I had a late-born younger brother. If he were alive, he would have been about your age."
Showing a faint smile, he spoke in a low voice.
"The Heavenly Demon Emperor suffered a fatal injury long ago. That is why he is endlessly searching for the Genesis Sun and Moon and the Nine Heavens Cloud Splendor Pearl."
"An injury."
"Though I can no longer be certain whether that is true or not."
Im Mujeong said.
"Therefore, there is no need to hand the Nine Heavens Cloud Splendor Pearl over to him."
"Brother Im."
"I forcibly prolonged my life to repay my debts... but all that remains is regret."
He spoke with lonely eyes.
"Do not think you owe me a debt, and you... live your own life."
Thud.
Im Mujeong slowly dropped his head.
Finally having repaid all the grudges and favors of the martial world that had ensnared him, he departed unburdened.
"Brother Im."
Bu Eunseol paid his respects with a pained expression.
Though their connection was not long.
Im Mujeong's passionate martial spirit felt as if he were looking at a long-time senior martial brother of Nangyang Pavilion.
"Congratulations."
Bu Eunseol gave a sad smile.
"On breaking free from the cycle of grudges and favors."
Through death, he had broken free from all grudges and favors.
That was not a matter to be mourned... but something that duly deserved congratulations.
Looking around Mansangchongji, Bu Eunseol quietly left that place.
It would soon be closed anyway.
It would be flawless as a tomb for a passionate martial artist who had lived a long time to repay a debt of blood.
The forces of the United Heart Society that had been near Mansangchongji disappeared cleanly.
No, even the traces that they had ever been there were completely erased.
The United Heart Society Leader had tried to fish for the Returning to One Realm Lord and figures of the Sacred Domain with this incident, but failed.
When Bu Eunseol destroyed the internal trap.
Realizing that he would have to risk his life to face him, he had fled without lingering attachment.
"United Heart Society Leader."
Looking at the distant sky, a blood-colored killing intent was spreading from Bu Eunseol's eyes.
"I will definitely sever your neck and retrieve the Nine Heavens Cloud Splendor Pearl."
Through this incident, Bu Eunseol incurred a favor from Im Mujeong, and accumulated a grudge with the United Heart Society Leader.
In the end, he too.
Was unable to break free from the cycle of grudges and favors, the karma of the ruthless Jianghu.
* * *
Majeon, a secret room inside Manbak Hall.
Bu Eunseol recounted the events at Mansangchongji to Baek Jeoncheon.
"...That is what happened."
Having heard the whole story, Baek Jeoncheon respectfully paid his respects.
"Thank you. For risking your life to fulfill my request."
Due to Baek Jeoncheon's request.
Bu Eunseol had gone to Mansangchongji knowing it was a trap, and uncovered that the United Heart Society Leader was the one who orchestrated such an event.
That was a great favor that Baek Jeoncheon would have to repay for a long time.
"It was merely a transaction."
At Bu Eunseol's words drawing a line, Baek Jeoncheon smiled brightly and said.
"Of course."
And then he asked.
"By any chance, does the Command Lord know about the Nine Heavens Cloud Splendor Pearl?"
"I heard it is a treasure that allows one to inherit a predecessor's achievements through blood."
"If so, you must know what the most powerful thing that can be done with the capabilities of the Nine Heavens Cloud Splendor Pearl is."
Bu Eunseol spoke without hesitation.
"It would be obtaining the True Demon's power through the True Demon's bloodline, wouldn't it?"
"That is correct."
Baek Jeoncheon nodded.
"If one were to inherit the True Demon's abilities passed down through generations of the bloodline... they might obtain a power even stronger than the Chain of Samsara."
He continued.
"However, to absorb the knowledge of a transcendent being like the True Demon, all nine are needed. That is why the Nine Heavens Cloud Splendor Pearls must not be gathered in one place."
Bu Eunseol had a realization.
"So you're saying the Hall Master's search for the Nine Heavens Cloud Splendor Pearl is not to use it, but to prevent it from being misused."
"That is correct."
'Is that why he sought out the Returning to One Realm Lord?'
The reason the United Heart Society Leader orchestrated this trap.
Was probably because the Returning to One Realm Lord and the Sacred Domain were each keeping a Nine Heavens Cloud Splendor Pearl.
"Then why are you keeping it?"
Bu Eunseol asked as if perplexed.
"Can't you just destroy it?"
"It is impossible."
Baek Jeoncheon said firmly.
"Dharma treasures bestowed by heaven cannot be destroyed by human power."
Bu Eunseol showed a light of disbelief.
He could not believe that a treasure taking the mere form of a pearl could absolutely not be destroyed.
"The Nine Heavens Cloud Splendor contains the logic of heaven, the fundamental principles and powers of the universe's creation, destruction, and cycle."
The logic of nature.
It is also the principle that governs all phenomena: the changing of seasons, the rising and setting of the sun and moon, and the birth and death of life.
Dharma treasures bestowed by heaven have a portion of this heavenly logic condensed into a form.
Because humans cannot surpass the power of nature, they cannot destroy it.
Baek Jeoncheon smiled as he looked at Bu Eunseol, who had an expression of disbelief.
"Would you like to test it once?"
Clack.
Baek Jeoncheon suddenly took out an iron box from his embrace.
When he opened it, a pearl emitting a mysterious radiance could be seen.
Its shape and color were different from the Nine Heavens Cloud Splendor Pearl, but auspicious energy was condensed within it.
"The Command Lord can try..."
Baek Jeoncheon held a strange smile and extended his hand.
"Try cutting it."
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