The Martial Venerable knew everything through the Wooden Buddha.
That the Heavenly Emperor did not directly possess the chains, but rather had received the iron coffin containing the chains long ago and was keeping it.
But they were kicking at empty air, completely unaware of this.
―'Now that I've become the Alliance Leader, shall I slowly start looking?'
The interior of the Martial Alliance, which had continued its lineage for generations, was like a massive capital city.
Secret passages and hidden stone chambers were intertwined like a maze, making it difficult to even fathom their end.
Furthermore, while the Heavenly Emperor had been the Alliance Leader...
He had reinstalled the Martial Alliance's internal mechanisms or expanded the interior several times.
It was undoubtedly to secretly store the iron coffin.
The Martial Venerable played the role of Alliance Leader and checked the places where the Heavenly Emperor had altered the interior.
However, he was unable to discover anything.
―'Just where in the world did he hide it?'
Using his authority as Alliance Leader, he searched every nook and cranny, but the iron coffin's whereabouts remained a mystery.
Thus, time flowed by helplessly.
Meanwhile, in order to capture the Heavenly Emperor and extract the chains, they continuously cast forbidden grand methods.
They even deployed perilous secret arts that pushed the human mind and body to their limits, causing the soul to explode.
―'The Wooden Buddha must have told me everything, believing I would rescue my sworn younger brother.'
Just because he was the Wooden Buddha didn't mean he could foresee the entire future.
He could only foresee a 'single event' through the flow of heavenly secrets.
For example, if someone were to be struck by lightning, the Wooden Buddha could only accurately see up to the point of the lightning striking.
Because the events that unfolded after the lightning struck were another flow of heavenly secrets entirely.
Unless the energy of heavenly secrets was clearly revealed, even he could not know what happened afterward.
―'Or perhaps he had expected it.'
To maintain his identity as the Divine Sage, he had constantly worn a gentle mask.
But if it were the Wooden Buddha, he might have seen through his true nature.
And yet, the reason he had delivered the prophecy...
Might have been because it was a secondary choice, better than letting the chains fall into the hands of those wicked individuals.
―'Regardless, it's a matter unrelated to me.'
Because he had heard all the important information.
The chains were already in a fragmented state.
And the fact that they were hidden within the Alliance was something only he knew.
―'An incident has occurred in the Solitary Enlightenment Hall!'
In the midst of this, an incident erupted.
Upon receiving the urgent report from his confidant, the Martial Venerable immediately threw his body toward the basement of the Solitary Enlightenment Hall.
Arriving at the stone chamber, he found the lid of the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Jade Coffin shattered into pieces.
Three experts from the Martial Alliance's dark side who had tried to appease him were tangled in a fight with a masked intruder.
Astonishingly, the intruder's martial arts surpassed imagination, leisurely blocking the attacks of three experts on par with the Martial Venerable.
Clang! Bzzzt!
In the aftermath of the fierce battle, countless traces of martial arts began to be engraved on the fake Heavenly Emperor's corpse resting there.
―'Get lost!'
When the Martial Venerable, who had been watching the situation, joined in, the masked figure began to be pushed back.
The intruder ultimately slipped out of the Solitary Enlightenment Hall's basement and secretly fled, leaving no trace to be found.
―'The Heavenly Net Warning Bell!'
The Martial Venerable tried to ring the Heavenly Net Warning Bell to stop the intruder, but soon shook his head.
Because if he did that, the fact that the Heavenly Emperor's fake corpse was here would be revealed to the whole world.
―'This is...'
At that moment, the Martial Venerable suddenly flashed his eyes as he examined the corpse.
The fake corpse in the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Jade Coffin was split in half starting from the Baihui acupoint, with the back half of its body completely missing, wasn't it?
When he demanded the joint petition from them.
Because they had already brought the fake Heavenly Emperor's corpse resting within the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Jade Coffin.
He had been unable to know this point.
―'It is a corpse that failed after entering the Sacred Fire Branch.'
Only then was the Martial Venerable able to instantly see through the origin of that fake corpse.
Like the Land of the Limitless, a place whose location constantly shifted according to heavenly secrets, the place the Three Realms were so desperately searching for...
It was clearly the corpse of someone who had infiltrated the Essence Three Realms Branch and failed.
Otherwise, there was no way a physical body that had reached human limits could be severed so cleanly from the Baihui acupoint.
―'Who in the world was the masked figure?'
He investigated the intruder's identity, but it remained entirely a mystery.
He couldn't even figure out what martial arts they had used.
―'It's a matter unrelated to me.'
As long as he found out the location of the chains and simultaneously obtained power through the Baekri family's secret vault, that was it.
Regardless of what they did, the Martial Venerable didn't care and continued doing his own tasks.
Afterward, he heard the news that the Heavenly Emperor had been completely ruined due to the repeated grand methods.
He had become a madman flashing with madness and muttering incomprehensible words.
Then, displaying transcendent power, he had escaped from where he was imprisoned.
For whatever reason, it was said that he had become a specter wandering solely in search of the Baekri family's lost secret vault.
―'They'll take care of it themselves.'
The Martial Venerable didn't mind.
If it were them... they would easily handle it, even if it were the Heavenly Demon Emperor rather than the Heavenly Emperor.
Because there was no evidence anywhere that he had cooperated with them.
He simply had to find the things he wanted as quickly as possible, and that would be it.
* * *
Amidst the stone chamber's cold air, the Martial Venerable returned to reality.
He had become the Martial Alliance Leader and stood at the apex of the orthodox path martial world, but he held nothing in his hands.
What he had obtained by betraying his sworn younger brother was an empty throne, a cursed iron coffin, and the lingering image of the driven-mad Heavenly Emperor.
He still could not find his true goal, the Chains of Samsara.
He gazed at the iron coffin with remorseful eyes.
Every tragedy had begun with that very object, yet he had obtained nothing over a long period of time.
"Bu Eunseol, since you've figured out my identity, you will surely attend this inauguration ceremony."
He knew Bu Eunseol's personality all too well.
Moreover, since he had to unravel the secret of the Heavenly Emperor's corpse, he would inevitably have to come here.
A cruel smile surfaced around his mouth.
"But this will be your final struggle."
The Martial Alliance was his territory.
No matter what he pulled, no matter what he planned... he intended to prepare a fatal trap that could never be avoided.
* * *
An event that had never once happened in the Martial Alliance's history occurred.
The Alliance Leader's inauguration ceremony was being grandly held at the Martial Alliance's Grand Training Ground.
Originally, it was customary for the Alliance Leader's inauguration ceremony to be held simply, inviting only the sect leaders and elders of each faction, as well as renowned heroes closely related to the Martial Alliance and those with deep ties to the Alliance Leader.
However, this time, they had thrown the Heavenly Justice Gate wide open, welcoming the attendance of all martial artists regardless of their status.
The martial artists were half in doubt.
That they had only said so in words.
They thought they would face strict restriction from the Martial Alliance's warriors once they set foot inside the Alliance.
However, their expectations completely missed the mark.
Like a martial arts school opening its doors to neighborhood children on a holiday, they didn't restrict anyone's visit.
They let them in after only having them fill out a simple guestbook.
As they went inside, milky steam rose endlessly from makeshift dining areas set up everywhere.
Inside, dozens of chefs boiled noodles without rest, filling the empty stomachs of the visitors.
At this unexpected hospitality.
The martial artists' vigilance slowly melted away, and the buzzing sounds turned into anticipation.
And when it was around the hour of the Sheep (1-3 PM).
A resonant voice drawn up from the dantian shook the Alliance's interior.
"Shortly, the new Alliance Leader's inauguration ceremony will begin on the platform set up in front of the Heaven and Earth Pavilion, so we ask the esteemed guests to please move to the Grand Training Ground!"
At that sound, the footsteps of those who were sightseeing around the Alliance headed toward the Grand Training Ground in unison.
And those invited as esteemed guests began to head one by one to the platform erected high in the center of the Grand Training Ground.
Because their seats were prepared on the platform, the numerous martial artists gathered below were able to examine their appearances one by one with gazes of awe.
Low exclamations burst out from amidst the crowd.
―'It's the Martial Soul Command Lord!'
―'It's the Sword King Seon Woojin!'
The topic of discussion among the martial artists was decidedly those two people.
Two young Great Grandmasters who had walked different paths, like orthodox and demonic, light and darkness.
The Martial Soul Command Lord, who was becoming a living legend of the demonic path.
And the Sword King Seon Woojin, who had been the favorite of the Martial Alliance but was now a Corps Leader of the Azure Sky Alliance.
Since these two were only surrounded by rumors and rarely revealed themselves in official settings.
They had no choice but to remain as mysterious icons, like protagonists in a folktale.
When the Sword King walked, it was chilling, as if invisible sword aura were slicing the surrounding air.
When the Martial Soul Command Lord moved, it was as if a pitch-black shadow were blooming beneath his feet.
However, those watching felt deep regret.
―'How strange. Why are the young grandmasters representing both factions all wearing veils?'
Only their faint silhouettes could be seen beyond the thin veils fluttering in the wind.
The fact that they couldn't directly see the peerless visages of the two heroes shaking the world burned the martial artists with impatience.
At that time when inauguration ceremony preparations were in full swing.
Into the Solitary Enlightenment Hall's basement stone chamber, submerged in deep darkness untouched even by light, a masked shadow slowly seeped in.
It was none other than Bu Eunseol.
He had sent Seo Jinha and the real Seon Woojin to the inauguration ceremony, and he himself had infiltrated this place like a ghost.
As he walked toward the passage where the secret mechanism was.
Along with the damp and cold air and the smell of moss on the stones, a terrible chill pierced his entire body.
The moment he finally entered the interior of the stone chamber, his breath stopped. And he couldn't help but doubt his own eyes.
'This is...'
Bu Eunseol's pupils shook uncontrollably.
The Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Jade Coffin, which had vanished without a trace from the Solitary Enlightenment Hall's basement in the past.
The one in which the Heavenly Emperor, the greatest figure of the orthodox path, had been resting.
Was it not placed right back in its spot in perfect condition, as if it had never left that place even once?
The blue cold energy spewing out from the Ice Jade Coffin was wriggling like a living creature.
Just as he approached the place without realizing it...
Ziiiing.
He felt a sensation crawling up his spine.
The darkness that had dyed the edge of the stone chamber began to sway like a living creature.
That darkness soon concentrated like a being with substance, creating a single form.
Amidst the billowing ink-colored mist, a cold voice that seemed ready to instantly freeze the stone chamber's interior echoed out.
"You really didn't need to wear a mask."
An elderly man covered in all sorts of scars on his face, it was none other than the Martial Venerable.
"Since you've learned even the Sacred Domain's vaunted secret art."
"Have you been waiting for me all this time?"
"Of course."
The Martial Venerable bore a fishy smile.
"Because once you entered the Alliance, you'd come to check the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Jade Coffin in the Solitary Enlightenment Hall's basement first."
He had timed it with when all the figures in the Alliance would come to the Grand Training Ground where the inauguration ceremony was being held.
He guessed that Bu Eunseol would infiltrate this place, and had been waiting.
"I've made you wait a long time."
Bu Eunseol replied calmly.
"I was wondering anyway when I should come to have a private meeting with you."
He too had guessed that the reason the Martial Alliance Leader's formal inauguration ceremony was being held so grandly...
Was because the Martial Venerable intended to summon him into the Martial Alliance.
"Indeed."
Examining the traces of the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Jade Coffin anew, Bu Eunseol nodded.
"Martial Venerable, you joined forces with a certain faction, and this was a joint petition."
"And you must have taken the Chains of Samsara that Mok Do-in hid?"
"Well."
"There's no need to act leisurely."
The Martial Venerable laughed coldly.
"Because it won't be as easy as before."
The Martial Venerable laughed.
"As long as it's not the complete chains, you must have felt your physical body breaking down every time you used it, right?"
He was well aware that not only had Bu Eunseol obtained a portion of the chains...
But he would also suffer a fatal injury if he used it.
"The moment you use it here, your body will be broken and the surrounding space of several dozen jang will be destroyed... It'll be a sight worth seeing."
"You're using shallow tricks."
Bu Eunseol snorted.
"Do you think I still have it?"
"I suppose I'll find out if I flay your hide."
"You seem confident you can beat me."
"I also have the ability to steal the chains."
Just as Bu Eunseol expected, the Martial Venerable knew a way to absorb the Chains of Samsara.
"By fighting me here, you intend to take me down and force me to step down from the Alliance Leader seat, right?"
Though he fell somewhat short of Bu Eunseol, his mind was also genius.
Not only had he already predicted the entire situation.
Even if Bu Eunseol had brought some sort of evidence.
He was confident he could instantly refute it or rather pin the blame on him.
"Try whatever you want."
The Martial Venerable snorted while glaring at Bu Eunseol.
"Whatever scheme you've prepared, I'll shatter it in a single breath."
In an instant, a flash of light like lightning swept toward Bu Eunseol's face, and soon a brilliant golden light covered his entire body.
While conversing, he had unleashed palm power remarkably similar to the Buddha Venerable's Infinite Reversal Power, Vajra Extermination Wave.
"You still haven't fixed that nasty habit of launching surprise attacks mid-conversation."
Pat! Sizzle.
As if having waited, Bu Eunseol drew the Silent Tiger Soul Sword like lightning and scattered brilliant sword aura like a rain shower.
Sizzle.
When the two powers clashed, the oil lamps on the secret room's walls extinguished, dyeing the interior in darkness.
Flash! Fwoosh!
In the darkness, the continuous exchange between the two experts persisted, and the dark secret room was filled only with sparks and sword light.
As close combat continued in the narrow space, Bu Eunseol condensed his sword blade and exquisitely unleashed sharp sword aura like raindrops.
"Your sword arts have improved quite a bit."
The Martial Venerable swung both hands with a snort.
Bu Eunseol's sword arts were profound and flawless.
However, the points of light poured out by the Martial Venerable were as thin and minute as dust particles.
So even though he couldn't find a flaw.
They could easily dig in through the gaps of the sword moves Bu Eunseol deployed.
Clang, clang, clang!
In just one breath, Bu Eunseol and the Martial Venerable clashed thirty-six times.
Both were Great Grandmasters who shook the world, but when they deployed their moves, it was as quiet as a gentle breeze.
Even as they fiercely continued their exchange, only a thin sound like dew falling from a blade of grass could be heard.
If they used the vacuum, the secret room would collapse, and the Solitary Enlightenment Hall could even be destroyed.
Since there was a risk of both of their identities being exposed if that happened.
They refrained from drawing up their inner energy and were fighting a bloody battle using only pure martial arts.
The Martial Venerable endlessly unleashed palm power like scattering points of light, while Bu Eunseol's Silent Tiger Soul Sword deflected the pouring attacks without leaving a single chi of his body's vicinity.
'He's strong.'
The Martial Venerable leisurely deployed his palm arts like flowing clouds and flowing water.
Bu Eunseol repeatedly charged and retreated, moving swiftly like a starving lion.
Looking solely at the depth of their martial arts, he was still unable to match the Martial Venerable.
"Let's end the child's play here!"
The points of light the Martial Venerable poured out suddenly multiplied several times over.
He accurately seized the brief moment when Bu Eunseol's sword arts changed and dug into that gap.
Strongmen who commanded the world each possessed distinct traits, and those were bound to be clearly revealed in their martial arts.
The Martial Venerable knew that Bu Eunseol not only deployed his martial arts with extreme caution.
But basically utilized Nangyang Pavilion's tactics of first grasping the enemy's flaws and breaking them.
So he used a technique whose martial principles were entirely indiscernible, driving him into a corner.
Pa-pa-pat.
Before he knew it, large and small wounds had appeared all over Bu Eunseol's body.
"Are you still aiming for a decisive moment?"
Discovering Bu Eunseol's coldly settled eyes even amidst the frantic advances and retreats, the Martial Venerable...
Instead laughed leisurely and mocked him.
"You must know the difference in our martial arts now, so I should slowly prepare to sever your neck."
In truth, he was intentionally stalling for time.
Firstly, guessing that Bu Eunseol had surely prepared some sort of plan, he was waiting for it to be deployed first.
Secondly, by making him experience the stark difference in their martial arts levels through this battle...
He intended to frustrate him so that he would not dare challenge him after today.
Pat!
But suddenly, the fragments of sword aura the Martial Venerable poured out vanished without a trace.
It was a sight as if fireworks that had filled the sky had ended in an instant.
Drip, drip.
At the same time, crimson blood flowed from the Martial Venerable's wrist.
Bu Eunseol had not only stopped his sword arts with a single strike, but had also inflicted a wound on his wrist.
"Hoh."
He pretended to be calm on the surface.
But in reality, the Martial Venerable could not suppress his shock and astonishment inwardly.
As to what sword move Bu Eunseol had deployed to stop his sword arts and wound his wrist...
It was because he had failed to properly sense it.
"Are you saying your sword arts are higher than this old man's?"
"As if."
Bu Eunseol spoke calmly.
"Ever since becoming a dependent of the True Demon, martial arts must have felt paltry to you. Becoming too strong, there must have been no need to exert your full effort in deploying martial arts."
Instantly, the Martial Venerable's eyes flashed.
From the past until now, he had sought out and painstakingly cultivated all the martial arts and techniques scattered across the world.
However, upon gaining power capable of tearing the sky, the power of the Martial God Heaven...
Drawing up his inner energy, accurately distributing true qi and power into every move...
The profundity of martial arts, where one had to dynamically adapt to the enemy's martial arts, inevitably came to feel somewhat bothersome and cumbersome.
"Yes, I see."
Until now, the biggest reason the Martial Venerable had stalled for time and continued the exchange with Bu Eunseol...
Was so that even if he failed to kill him this time...
He intended to completely shatter his spirit and psychology, frustrating the one who would become a great enemy in the future.
But that young man...
Possessed wisdom and insight so great that even he, who had fought adversaries and cultivated martial arts until his hair turned gray, could not dare to match.
Rather, he had seen through the flaw caused by gaining mighty power and had launched a counterattack with sword arts nearing a divine realm.
"I grew so conceited that I was almost buried by power."
The Martial Venerable admitted honestly.
"If today's confrontation had not happened... this old man would have looked down on the profundity of the martial arts I achieved over a lifetime, and would have made a huge mistake later on."
"It's nice to see you admit it refreshingly."
Bu Eunseol cracked a joke uncharacteristically.
"How nice would it be if you also revealed your past wrongdoings to the whole world like that?"
"Don't act leisurely."
The Martial Venerable snorted.
"You're trying to induce me into using true martial arts to destroy the Solitary Enlightenment Hall and reveal my true self to the world, aren't you?"
"If you know that, shouldn't you be deploying a strategy to strike me down in a single breath before scheming?"
"Huhu. It's useless no matter what you've plotted in the first place."
A cold sneer spread across the Martial Venerable's lips.
He stared at Bu Eunseol with an arrogant gaze, as if looking down on a bug crawling beneath his feet.
"I'll outright use your scheme against you and shatter it."
He slowly and sluggishly raised his hand.
Rumble.
Then, the Solitary Enlightenment Hall shook low and slowly began to collapse.
"You'll have to go outside if you don't want to be buried alive."
The Martial Venerable raised the corners of his mouth and went outside the Solitary Enlightenment Hall first.
When Bu Eunseol was forced to follow him outside... an astonishing sight unfolded.
The Primordial Heaven Forbidden Gate Heavenly Lock Formation had already been laid out inside the Martial Alliance.
The Martial Alliance's most elite warriors, bearing refined killing intent, were besieging the Solitary Enlightenment Hall's vicinity.
Also, due to whatever had happened.
Even the numerous guests who attended the inauguration ceremony had flocked over, hadn't they?
"Take off your mask and try using that vaunted disguise art of yours."
The Martial Venerable showed a fierce smile.
"Or try running away."
No matter what trick Bu Eunseol used.
He had taken measures not only to prevent him from revealing his original identity but also to make it absolutely impossible for him to escape the Martial Alliance.
Before they knew it, among the people flocking from the inauguration venue...
Seo Jinha, who was acting as the Martial Soul Command Lord in his stead, and the real Seon Woojin had arrived as well.
Because of this, he couldn't reveal his original identity, and even if he did, he would be instantly detained for the crime of infiltrating the Martial Alliance.
It was the worst situation where, depending on circumstances, the Great War between Orthodox and Demonic Factions could break out.
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