The Mystic Qi Grand Method.
It was a grand method created by Taoist Hwamyeong, who was once a disciple of a Taoist sect but became a great demon after learning the evil martial arts of the Extreme Blood Sect.
He would pretend to unleash righteous sword arts, but in reality, he injected evil qi through the tip of his sword: the most vicious technique in the world.
In other words, Bu Eunseol had not suffered internal injuries.
Rather, like a drop of ink falling into clear spring water, intense evil qi was spreading uncontrollably throughout his entire body.
"To think that someone known as the Martial Venerable would use an evil martial art fit only for a great demon."
When Bu Eunseol continued speaking with a calm expression, the Martial Venerable made a bizarre face.
Once struck by the Mystic Qi Grand Method, one could not hope for any stroke of luck, so how could he possibly have such a relaxed expression?
"Who on earth are you?"
The Martial Venerable's eyes sank coldly.
Only now did he realize that the person before him was not only outstanding in martial arts but also possessed an unfathomable, bizarre power.
'He must be flustered.'
Bu Eunseol's eyes gleamed coldly as he gazed at the Martial Venerable's rigidly frozen face.
He had made a promise with Seon Woojin in the past.
That he would deal with the Martial Venerable within five years.
And to strike him down as quickly as possible, he tirelessly operated the Death Spirit Corps' intelligence network to investigate the Martial Venerable's past deeds.
"Whatever martial art you use, I only need to break it."
"I am aware."
As the Martial Venerable took his stance once more, a strange smile graced Bu Eunseol's lips.
"The fact that you wandered the world studying martial arts. That it was to find the counter to every martial art in the world."
At those words, the Martial Venerable's eyes momentarily deepened.
Suddenly, memories of the past surfaced.
From his youth, he had wandered not only the Central Plains but also beyond the borders, studying martial arts.
At first, it was to create the world's greatest martial art, but he soon had to revise that goal.
―'I cannot become the world's greatest.'
The Martial Venerable could quickly and easily master any martial art, and he could almost perfectly imitate a martial art he had seen only once.
But paradoxically, because he could learn martial arts too easily, he could not reach the highest realm.
―'Because I have no walls.'
Training in martial arts meant, in other words, running into limits and walls.
And through the enlightenment gained while experiencing pain and despair to break them, one would tear down one's limits and achieve a breakthrough.
But because the Martial Venerable could so easily imitate and master the essence of martial arts, the very walls that would serve as a stepping stone to break through his limits and leap forward did not exist.
It was as though one could easily climb to the peak of a mountain, yet could not see the hidden realm that was the true essence of that mountain.
―'Is the ability to easily imitate martial arts actually a curse?'
Over the years, he had perfectly copied and utilized the principles and forms of countless martial arts.
Ultimately, he could perfectly copy someone else's answer sheet, but he had reached a state where he could not write his own answer.
He possessed breadth, but lacked essence... even if he could reach the Limitless Realm, he could not become the martial world's greatest, one who would create a martial art capable of standing alone in the world.
―'Anyway, isn't the realm of the world's greatest just a matter of never losing to anyone?'
From then on, the Martial Venerable changed his mindset.
Rather than creating the world's greatest martial art, he would master all the martial arts scattered throughout the world.
So that no matter what martial art an enemy used, he could unleash a countering martial art, thereby reigning invincible without defeat.
From that day forward.
The Western Regions, Dongying, the North Sea, the Great Desert, Cheonchuk, Pasa... wherever martial arts existed, he went and learned them.
When he met a strong enemy, he carefully selected the martial art that served as the exact counter and won.
That is, until he met the Heavenly Emperor.
―'Brother Dan Mok. Show some mercy in your strikes.'
It was around the time he was shattering the cervical vertebrae of the Three Ghosts of Qinghai, who had attacked him aiming for the Heavenly Mountain Sword Manual he had acquired by chance.
A handsome man, elegant as a jade ornament, appeared from the air.
It was the great grandmaster who stood alone in the martial world with a single Golden Immortal Sword, Shin Domubi.
―'I was going to seek you out anyway, so this works out well.'
Shin Domubi was in his prime years, but martial artists did not doubt that he would soon become the next greatest in the righteous faction.
Because he was a genius among geniuses with truly overwhelming talent.
―'Let us have a match.'
The Martial Venerable said, baring his sharp teeth.
―'Do you not know the iron rule of the martial world that to give advice to others, you must prove you are qualified?'
Shin Domubi only smiled gently and did not respond.
The Martial Venerable was greatly enraged and ceaselessly unleashed the martial arts he had trained for decades.
But Shin Domubi easily evaded them without even drawing his sword.
―'If you dodge like a rat, this match will never end!'
At the Martial Venerable's venomous shout, Shin Domubi sighed, formed a sword of energy, and reached out his hand.
That sword of energy had suddenly stopped just a hair's breadth away from the Martial Venerable's brow.
The Martial Venerable's technique of unleashing the martial arts scattered throughout the world all at once to create a storm had been broken in a mere single move.
―'So that was it.'
In this single move, the Martial Venerable intuited that his ten years of study had been shattered.
He had trained in a method to immediately pick out the countering martial art and suppress the enemy.
And he was confident that with this method, he could reign invincible in the world.
But Shin Domubi's sword arts were not included in any martial art that had ever appeared in the martial world.
Because it was a martial art that was newly created on the spot, it could not be dismantled by any martial art he knew.
Ultimately, the method he was certain was the path to the peak... had become utterly useless upon meeting a master of martial arts.
From that day forward.
The Martial Venerable gave up on learning all the martial arts scattered throughout the world.
Instead, he began to study grand methods and sorcery.
Because if he could not achieve greatness with martial arts, he simply had to break martial arts with other things.
That was how he came to master all the grand methods and sorcery, even those called evil arts.
"You have investigated me in detail."
Awaking from his recollection, the Martial Venerable looked down at Bu Eunseol and spoke coldly.
"That must mean you are a person belonging to a faction with an incredible intelligence organization."
The Martial Venerable's eyes harbored a strange light.
"Judging by your slip of the tongue, it seems you are not the leader of a sect, but a minion."
A cautious person would never vocalize what they know.
The fact that they had been investigating the Martial Venerable for a long time was quite significant information.
If the person before his eyes had been the very young man he was expecting... he would absolutely never have made such a mistake.
'Yes. Keep misunderstanding like that.'
Bu Eunseol swallowed a smile of satisfaction.
Knowing that the Martial Venerable suspected him, he had deliberately uttered words implying he had investigated the Martial Venerable deeply.
A manner of speaking seems trivial, but it is a habit not easily fixed, and a single word carries a great deal of information.
Deeply calculating veteran martial artists like the Martial Venerable think about and judge many things from trivial words and attitudes.
Bu Eunseol craftily used this point, deliberately leaking his own information.
And the Martial Venerable had subconsciously concluded that Bu Eunseol was a careless subordinate of some faction.
Whoooosh.
In the meantime, Bu Eunseol completely extinguished the energy of the Mystic Qi Grand Method all at once.
The reason Bu Eunseol had dragged out his speech was also because he needed time to perfectly remove this vicious energy.
"As expected, your martial arts are incredible."
The Martial Venerable smiled faintly.
"But it would be a mistake to think it was only the Mystic Qi Grand Method."
Crackle.
Bu Eunseol's body suddenly began to contort.
It looked as if transparent spider webs were slowly constricting his body.
"Shadowless Vajra Chain?"
The Martial Venerable had not only contained the Mystic Qi Grand Method within a normal sword-body unity, but he had also layered the Heavenly Emperor's secret art on top of it.
"As expected, you've stolen every single one of Alliance Leader Shin's secret arts."
The Martial Venerable was known to have absorbed only the Heavenly Emperor's Golden Immortal True Qi.
But looking at it now, he had also stolen his various martial arts.
"Nonsense."
The Martial Venerable curled his lips coldly.
"Most of my brother's exclusive supreme arts were created based on the martial arts of the righteous, unorthodox, and demonic factions that I provided. The Shadowless Vajra Chain is just one of them."
"You are incredibly shameless. To still refer to Shin Domubi as your brother in this situation."
"What did you say?"
Bu Eunseol spouted anything he could to buy time.
"Did you not kill Alliance Leader Shin!"
Ziiiing.
In that moment, he unleashed powerful internal energy and dispersed the Shadowless Vajra Chain in a single breath.
But that was a painful mistake.
The Head Seat of the Three Demons and Three Venerables had long been the Martial Venerable.
If he had remembered that Ak Muryeong's martial arts had leaped to an unfathomable level.
If he had reflected on the fact that the Martial Venerable had smoothly played the role of the Heavenly Emperor for a long time.
If he had recalled that the Martial Venerable had constantly mixed an unknown power into his attacks.
Even if it meant revealing his identity, he should have immediately used the Vacuum Secret Art to flee and aim for an opportunity in the future.
"It is over now."
Suddenly, the Martial Venerable looked at Bu Eunseol and raised the corners of his mouth.
"Even my brother at the time could not have unleashed a Quadruple Overlap martial art."
'What did you say?'
Bzzzt.
Before he knew it, pure white flames of true energy were sparking from the Martial Venerable's two hands.
"In the end, you were buried in and deceived by the technique of sword-body unity."
Crack, crackle.
At the same time, in front of Bu Eunseol's Danzhong acupoint, a transparent sword of true energy had suddenly formed, and it slowly began to dig into his body.
The Linked Strike.
It used the Golden Immortal True Qi to embed an invisible sword of true energy into the enemy.
The Heavenly Emperor's exclusive secret art had been layered in once again.
The Martial Venerable had feigned an attack by unleashing a lightning-like sword-body unity.
In reality, he had unleashed an overlap of the Mystic Qi Grand Method, the Shadowless Vajra Chain, and even the Linked Strike.
"Ughhh."
As the sword of true energy dug into his skin, a groan slipped from Bu Eunseol's lips.
For him, who wouldn't let out a single groan even if his limbs were severed, to let out such an agonizing groan?
"This is your last chance."
Pure white brilliance rose in the eyes of the Martial Venerable as he projected the Linked Strike.
"Reveal your identity. Then I will let you live."
Bzzzzzt.
But Bu Eunseol did not say a word.
He was enduring the pain of his meridians severing with his mighty internal energy, somehow trying to push out the Linked Strike.
"Your internal energy is incredible."
As the Martial Venerable projected the Golden Immortal True Qi even more intensely,
Bzzzzzt.
The sword of true energy had soon dug about an inch into Bu Eunseol's Danzhong acupoint.
It was going to pierce straight through his body at this rate.
"I shall see for myself if the secret art of the Sacred Domain is maintained even when your breath stops."
Trickle.
Crimson blood flowed from Bu Eunseol's mouth.
'I was arrogant.'
Trying to hide his identity against a formidable enemy like the Martial Venerable was a painful misstep.
He should have immediately unleashed the Vacuum Secret Art to stake everything on a single bout, or simply fled.
By attempting a counterattack with sloppy martial arts, he had ultimately allowed a fatal opening.
Cr-crack!
Just as the Martial Venerable's Linked Strike was finally about to pierce his chest,
Clink.
A clear and elegant sound rang out amid the deathly silence.
It was a sound that began from Bu Eunseol's powerlessly drooping left hand.
A dazzling golden thread of light wrapping around his wrist was drawn in the air.
Swoosh.
It wriggled like a living dragon, instantly wrapping around the sword of true energy and pushing it away.
"This bastard?"
As Bu Eunseol pushed the sword of true energy away, the Martial Venerable's eyes flew wide open.
Once the Linked Strike touched the skin, all of its force dispersed.
So how could a new power emerge?
"You are someone who absolutely must not be kept alive!"
The Martial Venerable reached his left hand over his head.
Boom.
At that, a massive sword was formed in the sky.
The Supreme Mind Sword.
He was going to cleave Bu Eunseol's Baihui acupoint by unleashing the absolute sword art said to have reached the apex of the mind sword.
Screeeech!
Just as the massive mind sword was about to split Bu Eunseol's head in a single breath with a sharp sound tearing through the air,
Clink.
The sound of transparent rings clashing together could be heard from Bu Eunseol's palm once more.
Ruuuumble!
A magnificent and overwhelming resonance, like the sound of thunder, echoed out.
At the same time, a single spot of dazzling light began to rise above Bu Eunseol's palm.
That light soon scattered into tens of millions of light particles, carving bizarre patterns in the air.
It had no beginning or end, and twisted like a massive spool of fate that wove all karma together.
With a static-like sound of space tearing apart, it slowly revealed its form following the trajectory of that light.
It was a chain emitting a chillingly white silver light, as if every single link contained eons of time and the birth and demise of countless souls.
Even though a part of it was severed, its mere presence exuded an overwhelming pressure that seemed to crush heaven and earth.
It was the Chains of Samsara.
Claaang!
As Bu Eunseol swung his left hand with all his will, the Chains of Samsara soared into the sky like a living divine dragon, becoming a massive force that seemed to twist all the laws of the world.
Paaaaang!
As the Supreme Mind Sword and that power collided, a shockwave erupted as if the whole world flashed white and returned to nothingness.
Because of that, the Martial Venerable's formation, which had blocked off a radius of several tens of jang, began to crumple like a piece of paper.
Ruuuumble.
The entirety of the space of several tens of jang coming into view lost all color, and a massive storm swallowed everything.
The earth turned to powder and scattered, and the sky lost its color and became completely empty.
How much time had passed?
As the storm that seemed to herald the end of the world slowly cleared, the Martial Venerable stood at its center.
"..."
He slowly raised his right hand.
The palm that had unleashed the Supreme Mind Sword was half melted away, its white bone slightly exposed.
"This is."
The thing that had annihilated the Supreme Mind Sword, the apex of sword arts that could pierce everything, and brought disaster upon his hand.
It was an absolute authority circulating through eternity with a destructive will that sought to devour everything.
It was the very result of clashing with the Chains of Samsara.
"Were you the successor of the Holy Constellation Immortal Family?"
Among the figures of the Sacred Domain, only one possessed a fragment of the Chains of Samsara.
It could only be the successor of the Sacred Domain, who was said to have left the Sacred Domain for some unknown reason and to be secretly wandering the martial world in search of treasures.
"No wonder you felt young."
At first, because he gave off the feeling of a young man, he thought it was Bu Eunseol.
But because he exuded an incautious tone and aura, he thought he was an underling of another faction.
To think he was the successor of the Holy Constellation Immortal Family, who was said to be wandering the martial world after throwing away his position as successor?
"A wanderer of the Sacred Domain almost ruined the grand plan."
The Martial Venerable scoffed and turned his body.
"I will definitely catch you."
No matter how much a wanderer like him tried, he could not distort the grand tide.
Besides, since he had already properly grasped his identity... catching him was only a matter of time.
* * *
Plop.
A drop of red blood fell on the snow, blooming into a bright crimson flower.
Dragging his miserably broken body, Bu Eunseol was slowly walking through an endless snowfield on a plateau of a dizzyingly high mountain range.
With every step he took, the ankle-deep snow dug into his flesh like ice blades.
But a severe pain far worse than that was encroaching on his entire body.
Stop.
Pausing his steps for a moment, he looked down at his own left hand with trembling hands.
'The Chains of Samsara.'
It was close to a power belonging to the realm of gods, one that humans could not handle.
'To think my body would become like this just by using a piece of a severed chain.'
The moment the Martial Venerable's Supreme Mind Sword was about to pierce his head, a bizarre reaction occurred in Bu Eunseol's body.
As inescapable death approached, along with a sensation as if his entire body was shattering, a fierce power began to swirl from his palm.
The Chains of Samsara.
As that mighty authority was unleashed on its own, he immediately executed the Emotion-Severing Secret to manifest and swing the Chains of Samsara.
But the price for using it was beyond imagination.
His internal energy that had surged like a river evaporated in an instant, leaving only a hollow void.
Internal injuries that made the blood vessels and muscles of his whole body contort and his joints scream.
And a horrific pain, as if a massive mountain were crumbling down entirely inside his body.
But he didn't even have time to agonize over the pain.
The moment the Supreme Mind Sword was offset, he had to scrape together his remaining strength and execute Swift Beyond Shadow with all his might to quickly escape that place.
But his internal injuries eventually worsened.
He ended up crashing onto a plateau atop a dizzyingly high mountain range, unable to even tell where he was.
―'How dare you try to wield the authority of a god with a human body.'
A solemn voice seemed to ring out from the sky.
Even though he had not acquired the Heaven and Earth Divine Energy, the energies Bu Eunseol had stored within his body could easily be called the greatest in the world.
For him to have suffered such deep internal injuries just by using a single fragment of the chain.
In that case, did that mean the True Demon, who could wear the complete chains, was an existence that had reached the realm of a god?
"Huu, huu."
His ragged breaths brushed past his torn lungs and burst out mixed with the stench of blood.
His vision repeatedly flickered, turning black before dimly brightening again.
Although he had reached a level of martial prowess that commanded the world, he was a human with a mortal body.
The price for intruding upon the realm of a god was tearing down his physical body.
Stumble, stagger.
Along with the pain as if his body would burst, all his strength was draining away like an ebbing tide.
But he did not stop his steps.
How much time had passed walking like that?
A massive ancient tree covered in white snow came into view.
'I must not stop.'
But just then, he felt as if someone was standing behind his back.
When he turned his head to look behind him, he saw a faint shadow.
It looked like a spirit of a white snowflake, or like an incarnation of a white dragon descended from the heavens.
"Who are you?"
As Bu Eunseol asked,
Step, step.
The white shadow approached him wordlessly.
Clack.
Bu Eunseol quickly gripped the Silent Tiger Soul Sword and took a stance.
Ssssss.
But the shadow drifted closer as if floating, and passed right through Bu Eunseol's body.
"...!"
He swiftly looked around, but the white shadow was gone.
"Was it an illusion?"
Unaware that the illusion had been absorbed into his body, Bu Eunseol shook his head with a hollow expression.
Ziiiing.
Suddenly, he felt a foreign energy, and a burning sensation spread through his body.
"Keuugk."
His pitch-black hair began to turn pure white from the roots, as if frosted over.
His pale skin was dyed white, becoming almost as transparent as newly fallen snow.
His lips, which had been losing their color, became as vivid as if drops of red blood rested upon them.
Thump.
Without realizing it, Bu Eunseol closed his eyes as he leaned his back against the giant tree.
At that, his consciousness was drifting endlessly away deep into his spirit.
The Chains of Samsara were the True Demon itself.
As that mighty power permeated Bu Eunseol's body and ruined his physical form, the power of the Baekri Family that had been lying dormant deep within his blood awakened.
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