Bu Eunseol asked urgently.
"How did you know it was Nanchang Prefecture?"
"Because I was there."
The One-Eyed Immortal spoke out shocking words.
"It was also right then that I was ambushed and poisoned by an expert of the True Demon Palace."
Thump.
Bu Eunseol received a shock as if he had been struck on the back of the head.
At the time that miserable mother and son died, his grandfather had been saving the One-Eyed Immortal?
"What on earth happened there?"
The One-Eyed Immortal answered in a calm voice.
"Your grandfather had to travel back and forth between the Central Plains and beyond the frontier to handle various matters. Therefore, he selected righteous individuals and created shadows to take his place."
It was something he already knew.
He humored her so that the One-Eyed Immortal could easily bring out her story.
"I see."
"And the real Seven-Finger Demon Blade, Bu Zhanyang, was eliminating each spiritual land in the Central Plains."
It was said that in that process, Bu Zhanyang had clashed multiple times with the One-Eyed Immortal, who was the young master of the Fire Soul Land that managed the largest spiritual land and spirit vein in the Central Plains.
Then, through an extremely coincidental event, the One-Eyed Immortal learned the true nature of the man called the Seven-Finger Demon Blade Bu Zhanyang, and came to love him.
And keeping those feelings hidden, they hit it off and spent time together like friends.
Afterward, Bu Zhanyang received various kinds of help from her and handled all sorts of matters.
"But from some point on, someone who perfectly mimicked his appearance, atmosphere, and even his blade arts... was said to have appeared."
"The Seven Blood Tear Forms..."
"That is right. So I wandered everywhere in all directions to catch that impersonator."
As if recalling memories of that time, the One-Eyed Immortal's eyes grew endlessly distant.
* * *
The Fire Soul Land, which governed the wondrous flowers, rare herbs, and spirit creatures under heaven.
Its disciples roamed all over the Central Plains following the orders of the Land Lord.
They were carrying out the mission of looking after the safety of the spiritual lands and spirit creatures imbued with the energy of the earth.
Among them, Yang Yeong, who was considered the next Land Lord, possessed outstanding skill, having accumulated the most spiritual energy flowing from the Fire Soul Land.
Swish.
She was running rapidly along a forest path on the outskirts of Nanchang Prefecture where a thick fog had set in.
'I have finally found the traces of that fake that he had been searching for so desperately.'
Yang Yeong's eyes shone coldly.
Through the Fire Soul Land's information network, she had coincidentally discovered the whereabouts of that fake.
If she revealed the identity of that person?
Half of the evil deeds committed under the name of the Seven-Finger Demon Blade could be sufficiently explained away.
And the misunderstanding of him as the Great Murder Star of the world, who had driven the martial world into misery, could also be cleared.
Swish.
After running for a long time, a bizarrely shaped rocky mountain came into view before she knew it.
The inside of the mountain, where a damp and gloomy energy pierced the skin, was dark and deep like the maw of a massive beast.
Sssssss.
Suddenly, dozens of glowing eyes flashed in the darkness, and a gloomy killing intent surged forward like a wave.
At the same time, bizarre laughter that shook the soul echoed in all directions.
"So it is the Baek-Extinguishers."
The masked men who had suddenly appeared were the assassins of the True Demon Palace, who secretly roamed the martial world and killed the martial artists of the Baekri Branch Family.
"You bastards have continuously hindered him from finding the spiritual lands!"
The Baek-Extinguishers drew their strangely shaped swords instead of answering.
In the end, the information on this fake Seven-Finger Demon Blade was a trap of the True Demon Palace, meant to lure and kill her for providing Bu Zhanyang with information on the spirit lands.
Fweee!
Yang Yeong immediately took out a signal flare from her bosom and shot it up into the sky.
With a sharp sound of tearing air, a red flash soared into the sky, but the flame soon died out futilely.
As soon as she set off the signal flare, one of the Baek-Extinguishers unleashed sword aura like lightning and blew it away.
Ziiiing.
At the same time, a transparent film of astral energy appeared within dozens of jang all around. They had unfolded the Golden Lock Formation Studies so that Yang Yeong could not escape.
Now there was only one path left. She had to fight a life-and-death struggle.
"Kaaat!"
With a bizarre shout, the Baek-Extinguishers rushed in like evil spirits.
They were unfolding unique arts mixed with Soul Demon Dharma Energy, so martial artists of the martial world would not dare confront them.
However, their opponent was Yang Yeong, the next Land Lord, who had accumulated the spiritual energy of the Fire Soul Land.
"Ha-ap!"
As she raised her internal energy, a clear and sacred energy bloomed around her body.
She had trained in the auxiliary arts in a spirit land where a spirit vein flowed, and eaten spirit herbs like everyday meals.
Her spiritual energy was truly pure and intense enough to be compared to the Profound Divine Technique Qi of the Baekri Family.
Whoooosh!
As the white spiritual energy spread out like a wave, the arts unfolded by the Baek-Extinguishers died down in an instant.
Paaaat!
Not missing that opening, Yang Yeong pulled out the White Flawless Silver Thread from her sleeves and swung it dazzlingly.
The silver thread created the shapes of various spirit creatures in empty air.
Those shapes attacked the Baek-Extinguishers like living creatures and tore their limbs apart.
It was the Great Nature Origin Body Art of the Fire Soul Land.
[Having messed around with that swordsman, your cultivation method has improved.]
At that moment, a gloomy voice suddenly echoed out.
Shaaaa.
A sudden gust of wind blew from all directions.
A strange person enveloped entirely in black clothes and wearing a white skull-shaped mask on his face appeared.
Thooom.
In the sky behind his back, a bizarre demon-god idol with three eyes was formed.
Rumble.
As the massive demon-god idol with three eyes turned its head and looked at Yang Yeong, a green fog rolled in.
At the same time, the trees and grass within dozens of jang, and even the rocks, all began to melt away.
"Do you think something like poison will work!"
Yang Yeong snorted.
Half of what were called spirit herbs mostly harbored toxicity.
To her, who had grown up eating the spirit herbs of the Fire Soul Land since childhood, poison was practically no different from medicine.
However, the strange person's poison was different.
On a different level from the poison arts of the martial world, it was like a bizarre sorcery or a curse.
Swoosh.
The green fog seeped into her body.
An extreme pain, as if her entire body were freezing, spread out, and even her spiritual energy slowly scattered.
Thump.
Yang Yeong, who had been staggering, fell to one knee.
Her vision blurred and her consciousness slowly faded away.
The shadow of death was about to encroach upon her soul.
Craaash!
Along with a loud roar as if the sky was tearing, a single streak of black lightning plunged into the ground.
In the dust blossoming like clouds, the shadow of a man carrying a massive greatsword on his back was seen.
It was the Seven-Finger Demon Blade Bu Zhanyang.
[You bastard!]
Recognizing Bu Zhanyang, the strange person was greatly surprised and immediately moved the demon-god idol to pour out poison.
Schwing!
Bu Zhanyang silently drew his greatsword.
Just from drawing his sword, heaven and earth in all directions darkened and a desperate wailing sound of ghosts echoed.
Booom!
Along with an explosion, a massive blade energy reaching dozens of jang was unleashed.
A bizarre sound shook heaven and earth.
Slice.
Blood sprayed from the demon-god idol, which was made of Soul Demon Dharma Energy and was said to be physically uncuttable, and one massive arm fell to the ground.
[How dare you!]
As the greatly enraged strange person spread his two arms, poison that made the earth rot in an instant rushed into Bu Zhanyang's body.
A foul stench spread and his skin was instantly dyed black.
Whoom!
Bu Zhanyang lightly swung his greatsword.
Then, as if he had never been poisoned, his skin instantly regained its original color.
"..."
The strange person opened his two eyes wide.
An evil poison that could instantly kill even a poison master who had risen to the Poison Saint, gone in an instant from a single swing of his sword?
[Just wait and see!]
The strange person, realizing he could absolutely not defeat Bu Zhanyang, turned into black fog and slowly disappeared.
Bu Zhanyang did not bother chasing him and approached the fallen Yang Yeong to check her condition.
"Brother..."
The poison had already spread throughout her entire body, and even her blood vessels had turned black.
Bu Zhanyang placed his hand on her back without delay and injected his internal energy to begin sucking out the poison.
"So it was the Poison Spirit Demonic Lord."
The strange person was the Poison Spirit Demonic Lord, the Death Medicine Head who ruled the Poison Hall of the True Demon Palace.
The poison he had created could not be completely purified even with Bu Zhanyang's power.
Eventually, the remaining poisonous qi traveled along the Foot Shaoyang Gallbladder Meridian and shot up terrifyingly toward Yang Yeong's head.
If left like this, her brain would rot and she would die.
For a moment, a light of agony flashed across Bu Zhanyang's face.
"Endure it even if it hurts."
Having finally made a decision, he raised his internal energy again.
And after pressing the Taiyang acupoint and the Jingming acupoint to suppress the flow of the poison, he gathered all the residual poisonous qi into her left eye.
As the evil poison eventually converged on her eyeball,
Rumble.
Her left pupil was dyed in pitch-black darkness.
Pat!
Bu Zhanyang reached out without hesitation and plucked out her left eye, which had been encroached upon by the poison.
Sizzle.
Before long, the eyeball melted into black water and created a hole dozens of jang deep in the ground.
The terrible poisonous qi that almost took her life had been completely removed.
"Ugh."
Yang Yeong regained consciousness amidst extreme pain.
Along with the terrible sensation of her left eye area being completely empty, she saw Bu Zhanyang's pained face looking down at her.
"What happened?"
Bu Zhanyang opened his mouth with a heavy expression.
"I sensed the emergency signal of the Fire Soul Land near the city."
He began to explain the whole story.
Bu Zhanyang, who had come to Nanchang Prefecture to handle a few matters, stopped by the Drunken Immortals Pavilion for a moment.
At that time, a woman brought her young son and approached him, appealing with tears, asking if he remembered her.
At that moment, Bu Zhanyang felt a chill down his spine.
It was not only that the son the woman had brought was born with the Myriad Transformations Holy Physique, a natural martial bone structure; it was also that he sensed a secretive gaze from over three hundred jang away.
He immediately emitted killing intent from his entire body to capture the location of that gaze.
Then, the presence that clung like a snake disappeared in an instant.
For a moment, Bu Zhanyang's face turned serious.
If it was an expert capable of deceiving his senses and approaching within three hundred jang? They must have already eavesdropped on the conversation between the mother, son, and himself.
They could also plan a trap using them.
He sighed deeply and rose from his seat.
He had formed as few ties as possible in the martial world.
Because if someone approached him like this, they would invariably become a target.
Bu Zhanyang immediately tailed the mother and son to find out the cabin they lived in, and protected them all night.
But at that time, he sensed the emergency signal flare of the Fire Soul Land going off in a mountain not far away.
It was the emergency signal flare possessed by the young master of the Fire Soul Land, Yang Yeong.
Although he also had to protect a completely unfamiliar woman and boy, he could not ignore the danger to Yang Yeong, who had continuously helped him.
Bu Zhanyang eventually left the cabin.
And he flew with all his might toward Mount Huaiyu, where the signal had gone off.
Having heard the whole story, Yang Yeong touched her empty eye area and smiled faintly.
"I see."
She struggled to hide her pain and sadness, but spoke in a firm voice.
"Now that you have plucked out my eye, you must take responsibility for my future."
"Miss Yang."
"Do you perhaps mean to say you will feign ignorance after ruining the life of an intact maiden?"
It was a bold demand, yet the only demand a woman who had lost everything could make.
Bu Zhanyang silently looked at her remaining eye.
In that pupil, resentment, resignation, and a thread-like hope were mixed.
If he were to reject her?
She would fall into grief for the rest of her life, and unable to erase the torment of becoming crippled, she might take her own life.
But if he gave her a firm answer that he would take responsibility?
To her, the sorrow of losing an eye would instead become an even greater joy.
Eventually, Bu Zhanyang slowly and heavily nodded his head.
"Understood."
"Is it true?"
"That is right."
"You promised. You must never break it."
"Of course. However."
Bu Zhanyang added.
"I have much work left to do. Once everything is finished, I will definitely take responsibility for you, Miss."
Hearing that answer, Yang Yeong was overjoyed.
It had cost her a single eye.
But she had won the heart of that stone-like man, so the day had become an auspicious one instead.
Afterward, Yang Yeong, who recovered from her wounds, returned to the Fire Soul Land and prepared for the wedding.
Because it was a promise made by the world-renowned Bu Zhanyang.
Although she could not know the time when everything would end, the promise would certainly be kept.
It was all for the wedding she would hold one day.
She made a wedding dress out of the most beautiful silk and prepared precious spirit creatures.
Her face was filled with a smile of excitement and hope instead of the wound of her lost eye.
Bu Zhanyang's journey in the martial world showed no sign of ending, but Yang Yeong could wait joyfully.
Because he was a man who would surely keep his promise even if the sky collapsed.
However, as the years flowed by and by, he disappeared without a sound or rumor.
Eventually, the dazzling wedding dress and rare wedding gifts she had so carefully prepared were moved into the deep, dark warehouse of the Fire Soul Land.
The dust of time piled up softly over them. A cold and empty wait, as much as her empty eye, had begun just like that.
* * *
"I see."
Bu Eunseol's face brightened after hearing the whole story.
'To think that was the reason he caused a killing intent at the Drunken Immortals Pavilion.'
His grandfather did not harbor murderous intent toward the woman and the boy.
Rather, he scattered killing intent to protect the mother and son and tried to ferret out the one in hiding.
And just in case, he even went to their cabin and protected them.
"Moreover, to think there was a fake."
Bu Eunseol clenched his fists tight.
He had known for a long time that his grandfather had created shadows.
But to think there was someone who reproduced his appearance, atmosphere, and even blade arts to the point where his grandfather acknowledged it?
Unless there were two Greatest Blades of All Time, wasn't that an impossible thing?
'But... what a relief.'
Even if he were the Greatest Villain in the World with a beastly heart, as a grandson, he had tried to bear that karma.
But that was not the case.
His grandfather was more righteous than anyone.
And he was a great man who protected the weak and considered the feelings and safety of others.
"But he did not keep his promise."
Tears flowed from the One-Eyed Immortal's eyes.
She had believed Bu Zhanyang's promise and waited without a speck of doubt.
In the end, he did not return.
The pain and loneliness she had to endure over those long years would be indescribable.
'So that is why all the wedding clothes and utensils were old.'
Bu Eunseol felt an ache in his chest.
Then there were the items used in the wedding ceremony with Gongsun Dana.
They were all things the One-Eyed Immortal had prepared to use when she made her own marriage vow.
The One-Eyed Immortal, Yang Yeong.
Through her grandson Bu Eunseol, in an eccentric but certain way, she had held the wedding ceremony she herself could never fulfill.
"My grandfather must have intended to keep his promise."
Bu Eunseol spoke in a warm voice to the crying One-Eyed Immortal.
"But he must have not come because he knew... that him not coming was the way to protect you, Aunt."
"How can you be certain of that."
"Because he did not cut off the spirit vein."
Bu Eunseol pointed to the traces of the Seven Blood Tear Forms left in the Fire Soul Land and said.
"Those blade forms were meant to give birth to new life by bringing down death."
The traces of blade energy that had remained for decades. They had not completely cut off the spirit vein of the Fire Soul Land.
He had given it time to accumulate spiritual energy so that the Fire Soul Land could spectacularly resurrect in the future.
"I knew it. I too."
The One-Eyed Immortal shed hot tears.
Because she knew Bu Zhanyang's true nature better than anyone.
Because she loved him more than anyone.
"Because he said that the Fire Soul Land would become the cradle to resurrect the spiritual lands of this earth in the future."
Just as Bu Eunseol expected.
His grandfather had completely cut off all the spirit veins of the Fire Soul Land for the resurrection of the spiritual lands.
"But there is still a part I do not understand."
Bu Eunseol asked carefully.
"The demonic path sword arts of the murderer who cruelly killed my grandfather are truly incredible. That means they possess that much outstanding insight and peerless talent."
Recalling the scars on his grandfather's body, which he didn't even want to think about, he spoke again.
"Could an expert of that level truly not distinguish between the fake Seven-Finger Demon Blade and the real Seven-Finger Demon Blade?"
Bu Eunseol grabbed his hair and muttered.
"Even if they could not distinguish that point, could they have not accurately recognized their biological father?"
"He would not have killed him without knowing."
The One-Eyed Immortal calmly continued.
"The Myriad Transformations Holy Physique gains a powerful intelligence as the body grows. Therefore, around adulthood, he would have possessed extremely outstanding wisdom and insight as well."
She sighed deeply and said.
"Would a person of the Baekri Family make such a mistake."
"A person of the Baekri Family. Suddenly, what does that..."
The One-Eyed Immortal spoke shocking words.
"The Myriad Transformations Holy Physique only appears from the blood relatives of the Baekri Family."
Comments