Like a grim reaper who had ascended from hell, So Okrim glared at Bu Eunseol with an extremely vicious expression.
"No more."
"What do you mean?"
"If I say no, just take it as a no."
And as if trying to secure a promise, she stuck out her pinky finger.
"I am the last one. Got it?"
Bu Eunseol blankly stared at So Okrim's stiffly raised pinky finger.
If he were to say no.
That pinky finger wouldn't just hook onto a finger, but looked like it would punch a round hole anywhere.
'So that was it.'
Bu Eunseol realized one thing.
Why his grandfather had constantly given vain hope to the women he met.
It wasn't that he tried to toy with them.
Because if he hadn't done so, he wouldn't have been able to escape from the grasp of heroines who had mastered the greatest martial arts in the martial world.
"I'm asking if you got it!"
As So Okrim brought her pinky finger right up to his eyes, Bu Eunseol nodded.
"I understand."
"Really?"
"Yes."
Whirl.
As if she had never worn a vicious expression, So Okrim's face brightened and she broke into a broad smile.
"Mm."
Since she had regained her original appearance, she had the lovely bearing of a celestial maiden.
And yet whenever something displeased her, the image of Guan Gong swinging his Blue Dragon Crescent Blade still seemed to overlap with her.
"But it's a bit of a shame."
At that time, So Okrim muttered while looking at the distant sky.
"They say when such an affectionate atmosphere flows, men usually kneel and swear eternal love."
When Bu Eunseol was about to open his mouth to say something, So Okrim grinned.
"I know, I was joking."
And she opened her arms.
As Bu Eunseol's eyes flinched slightly.
She pouted for a moment, and soon gently embraced his body.
"Thanks for accepting my complaining."
Ziiiing.
As their bodies touched, their minds were connected once again by the method of Connecting Qi as One Body.
Bu Eunseol could feel So Okrim's true feelings deep in her heart.
―'I'm afraid. Afraid my feelings will be discovered.'
―'I don't want to lose you, even if I have to be unreasonable.'
―'Because you are my destiny.'
'So that was it.'
She was someone who had willingly thrown away her life to save him in the Sacred Fire Branch.
On the outside she looked fierce and overbearing.
In truth, deep in her heart, she had been afraid that her feelings of love would be discovered.
And she had fretted endlessly over whether she might have earned his dislike...
Each time, she had been hiding herself with an even more boisterous and vicious appearance.
Squeeze.
Bu Eunseol hugged So Okrim's body tightly.
Had this sincerity been conveyed to her as well?
In an instant, So Okrim's cheeks reddened and a sweet smile hovered around her lips.
"Ahem, anyway."
As if to hide her embarrassment, So Okrim detached her body and pointed at the transparent wrist that had fallen on the ground.
"What are you going to do about that?"
It was still emitting a wicked light, but it could no longer captivate her mind.
It was because Bu Eunseol had resolved all the dark knots in her heart.
―'It's fine even if my strength is lacking.'
Because as long as she was with him, she would definitely be able to achieve her revenge.
"It's a cursed demonic creature, so I don't think it should fall into the hands of people."
"I agree."
Float.
Bu Eunseol used Void Grasp to float the crystal wrist beneath his palm.
"Be careful."
"It is fine."
The wrist was still spewing out an evil energy, but it wasn't having any particular effect on Bu Eunseol.
'Bizarre.'
Come to think of it, it was a bit strange.
If it were only about the deep knots in the heart, his would be far deeper and darker than So Okrim's.
Even so, how could this bizarre ability not work on him alone?
'In the end, it means it has nothing to do with the mind's barrier.'
Through her journey in the martial world with Bu Eunseol in the past, So Okrim had realized that the firmness of the mind was more important than anything else.
Afterwards, through arduous training and effort, she was able to build a mighty barrier of the mind that was second to none compared to Bu Eunseol.
For such a person to have her mind captured just by a glance, and for it to have no effect whatsoever on him?
'What is certain is that within this transparent wrist, a power more mighty than any demonic creature that has ever revealed itself in the martial world is condensed.'
Ziiiing.
At that moment, Bu Eunseol's nerves trembled minutely.
The sense reached him that an unfamiliar energy, seeping quietly from somewhere on his left forearm, was gently blocking this demonic creature's evil qi.
'No way.'
Only then did Bu Eunseol remember.
The imperial treasure, the Dragon-Phoenix Ring, was fastened on his left wrist like a wrist guard.
And inside it, one of the greatest treasures in the martial world that he had received from the Beast Palace Lord, Dae Gon, was stored.
'It is resonating with these.'
Click.
Bu Eunseol injected internal energy to loosen the fastening of the Dragon-Phoenix Ring.
Then, a small pearl contained within it revealed itself.
Tens of thousands of colors like a nebula were swirling as if to bewitch a person.
"Wow."
Looking at the pearl, So Okrim made a surprised expression.
"What is that?"
"It is the Nine Heavens Cloud Splendor Pearl."
"The Nine Heavens Cloud Splendor Pearl."
She nodded as if realizing something.
"Did that treasure block the evil qi pouring out from that demonic creature?"
"It seems so."
Pondering for a moment, he carefully detached the Nine Heavens Cloud Splendor Pearl held by the Dragon-Phoenix Ring.
Click.
As the Nine Heavens Cloud Splendor Pearl was detached, the evil qi flowing out from the wrist rushed into his mind.
It was an extremely pure demonic energy.
'So this was the energy that bewitched her.'
Just resting his gaze on it for a moment brought the illusion of black smoke rising from his mouth.
And the urge to cut off his own wrist and attach that crystal-like wrist surged up.
'For it to fail to block the evil qi the moment its combination with the Nine Heavens Cloud Splendor Pearl was undone means...'
It was not simply the ability of the Nine Heavens Cloud Splendor Pearl, but that it blocked the demonic energy because the Dragon-Phoenix Ring was combined with it.
What on earth was this wrist?
Did it take two treasures of the ages like the Dragon-Phoenix Ring and the Nine Heavens Cloud Splendor Pearl, joined together, to hold it back?
"Bu Eunseol."
At that time, So Okrim's voice broke his thoughts.
"Someone is coming."
Ziiiing.
An immense energy was being felt from hundreds of jang, no, tens of li away.
It was not simple killing intent or hostility.
As if sneering at all the reason in the world.
It was a wave of absolute power that seemed to destroy the surrounding space just by existing.
'Who in the world.'
Bu Eunseol placed the wrist he was holding into his chest and opened his super senses.
Then, like ink spreading in clear water, he could sense a presence heading this way while covering the entire sky with a giant wave.
Whoooo.
Finally, a bizarre sound that shook heaven and earth approached from the distant sky, and,
Shwaaaak!
Soon, a point in the sky was torn open, and a sharp line like a thunderbolt traced across midair.
Craaack.
Before he knew it, the sharp line created a giant crack in the sky above Bu Eunseol's head, and,
Roooar.
Through that gap, a black energy poured down like a waterfall.
Unable to withstand that pressure, the surrounding trees were uprooted, the ground split open, and dust surged up.
Whoooom.
As all the waterfall-like black energy poured down and the dust rising everywhere settled.
At a distance of about ten jang opposite Bu Eunseol, a giant shadow stood like a phantom.
It was a monster wearing armor all over its body.
The surface of the armor wriggled minutely as if it were alive. Red patterns were flowing like blood vessels.
Cruuunch.
As he took a step forward, the red patterns disappeared.
The armor changed into a pitch-black armor that didn't reflect even an inch of light and seemed to suck in even the surrounding light.
Beneath the helmet, only two red points of light could be seen, giving off a presence that could not be called human.
"Returning to One Realm Lord."
Bu Eunseol cried out in a low voice.
A wall he could never surmount until now. He was one of the absolute supreme masters standing at the apex of the martial world.
And now he had suddenly appeared in the barren land of the Western Regions where Bu Eunseol stood?
"Returning to One Realm Lord? Is that man really the Returning to One Realm Lord?"
Just as So Okrim asked back in surprise,
Clamp.
He slowly drew out the great blade slung on his back.
As a giant blade the size of a person's upper body slipped out of the scabbard,
Scraaape.
A chilling and oppressive bizarre sound spread out, like the sound of a glacier cracking.
Just by drawing the blade, the surrounding space was distorted, and it seemed as if the screams of countless vengeful spirits could be heard along the edge.
"Okrim."
Bu Eunseol said in a low but resolute voice.
"Absolutely do not interfere in this fight."
In truth, he had many things to ask the Returning to One Realm Lord.
Why he had helped him until now.
If he was really his grandfather's blood relative.
What exactly he was aiming for.
And what was the Returning to One Realm aiming for now?
But upon seeing his figure, suddenly seeking him out and drawing his great blade.
Bu Eunseol could feel it.
Even if he knelt down and begged... there was no answer he could hear from his mouth.
What he wanted now was one thing only.
It was a life-and-death duel that would divide the living from the dead.
"I got it."
Seeing Bu Eunseol's resolute expression, So Okrim nodded.
And so that he could fight with peace of mind, she unfolded her movement technique and backed away.
"But if something goes wrong with you, that man will die by my hands."
So Okrim knew well that the Returning to One Realm Lord was an expert who far surpassed Bu Eunseol.
Still, she believed in him.
And if Bu Eunseol did fall into danger, she had the Sacred Fire Secret Transmission, an absolute bargaining chip, so she was not particularly worried.
Clamp.
As So Okrim backed away, Bu Eunseol gripped the sword hilt of the Silent Tiger Soul Sword with an unprecedentedly cautious posture.
'Although it is a bit earlier than expected.'
He had no thought of avoiding it.
Because a battle with him was an unavoidable fate that had been destined from long ago.
Shhing.
As he slowly drew out the Silent Tiger Soul Sword, the sword body held the moonlight and faintly glowed.
There was no fear.
Rather, the blood in his entire body boiled.
Because he had trained ceaselessly until now for this very moment.
Just the two experts drawing their weapons caused the surrounding ground to crack and the air to evaporate.
At the instant all surrounding life held its breath,
Vwoosh!
Surprisingly, the Returning to One Realm Lord launched a preemptive strike.
The moment the great blade cut through midair, all sounds in the world disappeared.
No, all landscapes within his field of vision disappeared.
There was only the pressure of an entire mountain collapsing at once.
And with it, all he could feel was the terrifying great blade that shook heaven and earth splitting his head open.
'I cannot dodge it.'
The Returning to One Realm Lord's blade art was like a natural disaster that destroyed everything.
It was preemptively occupying the evasion space where Bu Eunseol could maneuver.
"Haap!"
Along with a battle cry, Bu Eunseol widely swung the Silent Tiger Soul Sword with the form of Heaven and Earth Severed in Two.
Then, the surrounding space became distorted, and the form of the giant blade splitting his head instantly disappeared.
Bu Eunseol closed his eyes.
When silence wrapped around the surroundings.
Flash!
He opened his eyes wide and swung the Silent Tiger Soul Sword with all his might once again, and,
Claaang!
The disappeared great blade was blocked by the Silent Tiger Soul Sword before he knew it, splashing out millions of sparks.
Swoosh!
In an instant, hundreds of strands of blade energy erupted from the Silent Tiger Soul Sword and covered the Returning to One Realm Lord's body like a wave.
The fourth form of the Seven Blood Tear Forms, Desiring Death, No Place Found.
Using the clash of weapons as a starting point, he transformed the opening move of the Seven Blood Tear Forms, that transcendent blade art.
He poured out hundreds of strands of blade energy capable of splitting mountains and cleaving rivers from close range.
Rumble! Kabooom!
If it were an ordinary martial artist, they would have already been torn into thousands of pieces and scattered in the wind.
[Hahahaha!]
As hundreds of strands of blade energy dug into his body in the blink of an eye, the Returning to One Realm Lord rather burst into a mad laughter that shook heaven and earth.
Swish, swish, swish, swish, swish!
As he began to wield his great blade like crazy, the sky split open, the ground overturned, and a storm raged.
The Returning to One Realm Lord was a person who had far surpassed the realm of dividing and dividing time, reaching the true realm of martial arts where even a falling thunderbolt looked slow.
At ultra-close range the Silent Tiger Soul Sword had emitted some three hundred and eighty strands of blade energy along with a black afterglow.
He deflected every one of them in the blink of an eye.
'Damn it!'
As the blade energy he emitted returned right in front of his nose.
"Haap!"
Without even time to think, he pulled up the Endless Heavenly Light Art with all his might and unfolded the Return to Origin.
Clang, clang, clang, clang!
First came a blue hand dyed the color of water.
Then a transparent blade of wind.
And finally violet lightning, the three joining their strength.
Together they deflected the strands of blade energy that the Return to Origin could not stop on its own.
However, the Returning to One Realm Lord's mysterious principles of blade art had already seeped into the returned blade energy.
Its power transcended the limits of the human body, so Bu Eunseol felt pain as if the muscles all over his body were being torn apart.
Pat, pat!
Several sharp strands of blade energy pierced through the Return to Origin and cut his body, splashing blood everywhere.
[Hmph.]
A short snort came from the Returning to One Realm Lord.
And he emitted twice as much blade energy at once as the Desiring Death, No Place Found form that Bu Eunseol had unleashed.
Clang, clang, clang, clang!
Bu Eunseol created hundreds of sword blossoms, blocking the decisive strands of blade energy that would lead to fatal injuries.
The lighter ones he took on his body, enduring somehow.
Even so, his shoulder tore open and blood burst out, and he was constantly pushed back by a shock that made his bones ring.
Clang, clang, claaang! Paaat!
Finally blowing away all the blade energy, Bu Eunseol stood the Silent Tiger Soul Sword up at the middle again and adjusted his posture.
In the past, he had suffered internal injuries unable to block even a single move from the Returning to One Realm Lord.
But now, he had proudly blocked the Seven Blood Tear Forms while sustaining only light wounds.
Clamp.
In the meantime, the Returning to One Realm Lord's great blade caused another change.
As if by sorcery, the great blade stretched out long, and then it began to coil itself around Bu Eunseol's body.
Flash!
Bu Eunseol unfolded Overturning the Four Seas of the Thirteen Hwa Wu Forms and tried to split it in one breath.
Twang!
However, the moment the sword touched the blade energy, the Silent Tiger Soul Sword rather bounced off like rubber.
Fwooosh!
In the meantime, the blade energy unfolded by the Returning to One Realm Lord spread out like silk and began to coil around his body.
'Half-Life, Half-Death Form.'
The Returning to One Realm Lord transformed the Half-Life, Half-Death Form, which was said to synchronize with the enemy's qi and blood.
He created blade energy as thin as silk and as long as a flood dragon's sinews, and then began to cover Bu Eunseol's body in accordance with his movements.
'I cannot dodge it.'
Intuiting that he could not break this move with the sword techniques he could unfold, Bu Eunseol,
Boom!
Thrust out a thunderous blow with his left hand.
From his fist, a sharp fist power moved freely like a living venomous snake and stretched out.
Swoosh!
It raced up the wall of blade energy the Returning to One Realm Lord had laid out and drove into his throat.
It was emitted by transforming the first form of the Azure Heaven Seven Forms, the Water Cloud Void Form.
Paaat!
As the Water Cloud Void Form sprang up like a snake and tried to slit his neck, the Returning to One Realm Lord slightly twisted his neck.
Due to that, the Half-Life, Half-Death Form was briefly disordered.
Not missing that gap, Bu Eunseol immediately escaped from the range of the blade momentum.
In the end, he had broken the Returning to One Realm Lord's Seven Blood Tear Forms twice.
Trickle.
Fresh blood trickled down from the corners of Bu Eunseol's mouth.
He had blocked the blade art, but the force contained in the great blade... that he still could not block perfectly.
'It is neither internal energy nor a supernatural power.'
If it were simply internal energy power.
There was no way that he, who had reached the limit of internal energy a human could contain, could fail to block the wave of that power.
'Providence.'
What the Returning to One Realm Lord had put into the great blade was not the power of martial arts or a supernatural power...
It was extremely profound providence itself, the power of death that ruled the world.
'Is this the realm of death that the Returning to One Realm Lord has reached?'
Thanks to the battle with the monster previously, Bu Eunseol was able to get one step closer to his grandfather's blade method.
However, the Returning to One Realm Lord's Seven Blood Tear Forms had a completely different essence.
He did not follow the blade method that his grandfather had created.
He was like an overlord who ruled all under heaven.
He meant to cut down the very grim reaper who had come to claim his life.
He was pursuing the Heaven Destroying Tyrant Way, which even denied death itself.
Thooom, thooom.
Spewing out red energy from his entire body, the Returning to One Realm Lord slowly approached Bu Eunseol again.
Before he knew it, the distance was about four cheok.
For experts like them, it was a distance no different from right under the nose.
Since they had entered a range where they could each sever the opponent's windpipe in a single breath.
Now they had to determine life and death by emitting a supreme move with all their might.
'If I cannot block this blow, I will die.'
The red energy flowing from the body of the Returning to One Realm Lord wearing pitch-black armor seemed to dye the entire world with blood.
"Huu."
Taking a deep breath, Bu Eunseol rather slowly drained the power rising inside his body.
'There is no need to counter every single one.'
He had fought the monster that wielded such mighty power with his life on the line, and at last he had grasped the method of the Sacred Fire Secret Transmission that eliminated the loss of power.
The new principles of martial arts that he hadn't awakened to until now pierced his mind.
Turning Force into Dao, Softening the Hard, Reversing the Strong and Following Reason.
Strength wasn't about suppressing strength with strength, but rather changing the essence of strength itself.
There was a reason the Sacred Fire Secret Transmission could unleash even the smallest scrap of power within the body as overwhelming force.
It wasn't simply because it was a secret art that could eliminate power loss.
It was because it was a secret art that could meticulously tune power, and upon reaching its extreme, it could sublimate external force into reason.
It was also because it could bring forth a power that was fundamental and pure, mixed with nothing at all.
'A clash of strength is meaningless.'
Experts of the Limitless Realm could cause a special phenomenon called Infinite Reversal Power.
They contained a power that transcended martial logic even in an ordinary blow.
At one time he tried to exert such power, and when attacks poured down, he struggled to unfailingly break them.
But now he knew.
There was no need to obsess over a clash of strength.
Strong or weak, whatever came, letting the enemy's attack flow past was the best policy.
Whoooosh.
As he completely emptied the power of his entire body, faint points of light gathered one by one around Bu Eunseol's body.
At the same time, the space he was standing in itself rippled like wavelets.
It was true of any expert who had reached a certain realm.
Without meaning to, they gripped and dominated the space around them with the energy flowing out of their body.
But Bu Eunseol had emptied his power.
As a result, the space freed from the wave of his power began to shake violently, as if it had regained its freedom.
And that was no different from an immensely large opening being revealed.
Paaat!
Not missing that gap, the Returning to One Realm Lord's Seven Blood Tear Forms was unfolded once again.
It was not a blow that cut a specific point, but a severing form to swallow up the surrounding space that Bu Eunseol had left empty first.
The slash had started from four cheok away.
Three cheok, two cheok, one cheok...
At last it seized the space directly in front of Bu Eunseol, until he could not so much as twitch a finger.
Wobble.
At that time, Bu Eunseol moved his body smoothly and then suddenly stopped his motion, as if cutting off the flow.
It closely resembled the way explosive force is released in Taiji.
The flow is carried onward, and then the motion halts in an instant and detonates.
Paaat!
Then, a surprising thing happened.
It happened to the severing forms filling the space the Returning to One Realm Lord had seized.
All at once they sprang back the other way, like water drops flicked off a blade of grass.
Paaat!
The countless strands of blade energy that were pouring out from all directions simultaneously traced their trajectories backwards, as if time were flowing in reverse.
The dozens of silver severing lines that were drawn in midair began to scatter in all directions with Bu Eunseol at the center.
It was as if a transparent mirror had completely shattered and was scattering fragments of light everywhere.
Shiiiing.
Along with a sharp metallic sound, the deflected blade energy drew silver trajectories in midair and disappeared.
Some split the ground, some soared into the sky, and sometimes they just scattered in midair and became a brilliant light powder and vanished.
Around the body of Bu Eunseol, who stood at the center of it, shimmering ripples of energy swayed as if an invisible sphere had been formed.
The Returning to One Realm Lord's Seven Blood Tear Forms, which was woven without a single inch of an opening, had been completely neutralized with a single movement.
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