No, the Empress Dowager did not have even the slightest grounds on which to object.
Because the position of Dragon Scale Guard Commander was a special official post, somewhat separated from the existing bureaucratic system.
'I have no choice.'
He had guessed that the Emperor would grant him an official position because of this matter.
However, contrary to his expectations, the rank was too high.
And he simply hadn't expected to be appointed as the Commander of a secret organization directly under the Emperor.
'It means he intends to use me properly.'
In the current situation, whether it was Commander of the Dragon Scale Guard or Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he had no choice but to accept the position in the end.
Eventually, Bu Eunseol knelt on one knee and paid his respects.
"Your subject, Bu Eunseol, receives the Imperial Command."
Having accepted an official post, Bu Eunseol had referred to himself as a subject of the throne.
Yet even so, he did not kneel fully on both knees and shout "Ten Thousand Years."
The Emperor felt somewhat disappointed, but knowing well that martial artists of the rivers and lakes did not shout "Ten Thousand Years," he calmly nodded.
Moreover, even if he was young, he was a great grandmaster managing the current martial world.
Although unofficial.
With him accepting the official post, the Emperor felt as if he had gained a thousand troops and ten thousand horses.
"My expectations for you are very high."
The Emperor spoke in a low voice.
"With the same spirit you used to govern the rivers and lakes, now seek the peace of the world."
Bu Eunseol brought his hands together and bowed his head.
"I will engrave Your Majesty's will deep in my heart."
Even if it was temporary.
He had changed his plans and ended up in the same boat as the Emperor.
From now on, in the darkness where no eye reached, he had to root out the poisonous weeds threatening the Emperor and guard the safety of the Imperial Family.
* * *
Having finished his private audience with the Emperor, Bu Eunseol headed out of the Imperial Palace through the route he had entered.
At that moment, a eunuch dressed in silk clothes approached like a shadow and bowed deeply at the waist.
"Her Highness the Empress Dowager has summoned you."
Bu Eunseol's eyebrow twitched slightly.
'If the Emperor knows, it means the Empress Dowager soon knows as well.'
Even though it was a secret audience, the Empress Dowager had already seen through his movements completely.
"Very well."
The place Bu Eunseol arrived at, following the eunuch, was the Palace of Compassionate Tranquility, situated deep in the western part of the Imperial Palace.
The interior was splendid, yet an inexplicably desolate and dank air lingered about it.
As he stepped into the pavilion, the thick scent of agarwood seeped deep into his lungs.
Contrary to expectations, the Empress Dowager did not hide herself behind a screen or lowered blinds behind the dragon throne.
Rather, like a wealthy madam treating a young nephew, she sat comfortably without formality at a table set with tea and snacks.
'Is she the Empress Dowager?'
He was someone who wouldn't bat an eyelash at most things, but he couldn't hide his surprise.
The Empress Dowager showed almost no traces of time on her face; she had the appearance of a beautiful middle-aged woman.
Her cool eyes were like plum blossoms blooming on ice, and her pale, smooth skin was so clean it seemed as though not a speck of dust could touch it.
Her lips, though not red, revealed dignity without a single word.
That elegance was incomparable to anyone else, imbued with a cold yet mysterious atmosphere.
'She seems to resemble someone.'
She definitely seemed to resemble someone, but for some reason, he couldn't think of who.
Perhaps it was the unusually dark shadows under her eyes and the bizarre gleam flashing within them.
It was as though a thousand-year-old imugi had draped itself in human skin.
Perhaps it was because she gave off such a wicked energy that he could not remember.
"This lowly man of the rivers and lakes, Bu Eunseol, pays his respects to Her Highness the Empress Dowager."
Just as with the Emperor, he did not perform the rite of kneeling three times and kowtowing nine times.
But he used far more polite diction toward the Empress Dowager.
"Yes. I heard you refused the Dragon-Phoenix Ring bestowed by the Princess?"
It was a soft voice, but a chill shot up Bu Eunseol's spine.
To think his firm mind, which didn't waver even before the Heavenly Demon Emperor, was shaken in front of a mere old monster of the Imperial Family?
"How could a mere martial man of the rivers and lakes dare to bear so noble a connection to the Imperial Family?"
"Hufufu. You speak prettily."
A chilling gleam crossed the eyes of the smiling Empress Dowager.
"But you are still wearing it."
The Dragon-Phoenix Ring had lost its brilliant appearance and taken the shape of a wrist guard.
Yet surprisingly, she recognized it at a glance.
"His Majesty permitted me to continue the connection if I handled a few matters, so I decided to keep it temporarily."
"Hmm."
The Empress Dowager did not pry further and changed the subject.
"I don't know where or how you met the Princess for that child to give you her token without hesitation."
A strange hue spread in her eyes as she continued speaking.
"It was an item she cherished so much she had never once taken it off her body."
"I have an acquaintance with the abbot of Jeongun Temple, so..."
Bu Eunseol told her the fabricated connection with Princess Hwijeong, exactly as Yoo Jeongpung had instructed.
"Hmm."
While listening to the story, the Empress Dowager kept chiming in with, "I see."
Even so, she was constantly scanning Bu Eunseol's entire body, as if looking at prey.
'She is seeing right through even my heartbeat and blood flow.'
The Empress Dowager wasn't listening to the story.
She was reading the biological reactions of Bu Eunseol, who was explaining aloud, with terrifying precision.
Ziiiing.
Moreover, as he met the Empress Dowager's sharp gaze while speaking, Bu Eunseol could grasp a shocking truth.
Her martial prowess was shocking.
Not once since she came out into the martial world had its true measure been revealed.
She had attained the martial prowess of the greatest of the current generation.
She was an absolute master comparable to the Heavenly Demon Emperor.
'To think such a terrifying powerhouse was crouching in the deepest part of the Imperial Palace?'
Bu Eunseol barely suppressed his pounding heart.
Perhaps the reason the Empress Dowager had been able to command numerous masters of the martial world until now was.
Not because she used that immense power.
But perhaps because she possessed an absolute strength capable of subduing them all.
"There is no need to be tense."
Whether she read Bu Eunseol's wariness, the Empress Dowager smiled faintly.
"I merely called you because I was curious about what kind of person the Princess gave her token to."
The Empress Dowager leisurely lifted her teacup.
"Who would have known we would see the Imperial Son-in-law in the martial world?"
At that relaxed gesture, memories of the past suddenly came to Bu Eunseol's mind.
It was his early days out in the martial world, when the Elder Hall Lord of Majeon, Blood Demon Jeok Bung, had summoned him without warning for a private audience.
From his perspective at the time, Jeok Bung was a superhuman of absolute martial prowess.
That depth could not even begin to be fathomed.
And now.
He was feeling that same overwhelming sense of the unknown from the Empress Dowager.
"How does the tea taste?"
Strangely enough, the Empress Dowager did the same.
She asked about the taste of the tea, just as Jeok Bung had once done to him.
If it were in the past, he would have thought hard and answered in his own way about how the tea tasted.
But now he knew.
She wasn't asking because she was genuinely curious about the tea's taste.
But to draw out an immense amount of information all at once through that answer.
'Empress Dowager, are you trying to figure me out with just a single word?'
Having grasped the Empress Dowager's ulterior motive, Bu Eunseol slyly hid the cold smile that was about to burst out.
Take a person of deep internal energy and firm resolve.
Even when drinking tea, he expresses its taste plainly and in its essentials.
But take an immature person.
He answers with unnecessary exclamation, emotion, or embellishment mixed in.
There is also the order in which he perceives and voices the tea's temperature, its fragrance, the taste of the water, the warmth of the cup, and so on.
From that, one can gauge his insight and his discernment.
In other words, what does he notice first, and what does he feel last?
From that, one can grasp the way the person thinks.
'Even deliberately revealing your martial level while doing so.'
The Empress Dowager was intentionally revealing her martial prowess without holding back.
Because if one's emotions wavered or they grew tense due to that martial prowess... they wouldn't be able to taste the tea properly or would react excessively.
Ultimately, it was through the question of how the tea tasted.
She was measuring Bu Eunseol's psychological composure and his control over his emotions.
'If you're curious, I'll let you know. What kind of person I am.'
In any case, the Empress Dowager was a great enemy he had to defeat.
There was no need to bow down, nor to hide his skills.
"It is calm in the mouth, but lingers long in the heart."
Bu Eunseol spoke in a low voice.
"If the tea had cooled, I think a deeper fragrance would have remained."
Instantly, the Empress Dowager's eyebrow shot up.
It wasn't a simple evaluation.
'Cooled tea' meant the years that had already passed, or power that had cooled down.
And 'remaining fragrance' meant the unextinguished desire still within it.
In other words, the Empress Dowager's era had faded.
And if she had quietly stepped down?
He was expressing that a more beautiful and profound fragrance would have remained.
"Indeed, I suppose so."
The Empress Dowager nodded as if she knew nothing.
And she asked nothing more.
She neither tried to conciliate him nor warned him.
"I have forgotten my boredom for the first time in a while."
She simply drank her tea normally.
And after exchanging a few words of light conversation, she sent Bu Eunseol back.
"When was the last time it was this enjoyable?"
That was the Empress Dowager's final sentiment.
"So much so that this unworthy one forgot, for a moment, even to drink her tea."
Instantly, Bu Eunseol's eyebrow lifted slightly.
The phrase "this unworthy one" denoted a person lacking in virtue, the humble self-address by which the Emperor lowered himself.
Officially, the only period in which the Empress Dowager had used this self-address was when she stood in place of the young Emperor.
In other words, it was only when she officially acknowledged she was not the formal monarch but a temporary ruler, showing the virtue of modesty.
But in the current situation, where the grown Emperor was ruling the country perfectly well.
To still call herself "this unworthy one"?
That meant.
She was proudly revealing that the Emperor was still in her grasp.
"I am glad you enjoyed it."
When Bu Eunseol politely bowed, the Empress Dowager showed an elegant smile and nodded.
On the surface, it was an incredibly peaceful and quiet atmosphere.
But every time their gazes met, it felt as if thunderbolts were striking and a storm was raging.
The two of them had finally understood.
They were great enemies capable of destroying each other's plans, and at the same time strong foes who could never coexist.
As Bu Eunseol left the pavilion, the Empress Dowager muttered in an incredibly low voice.
"So that is why he praised him so highly... He is more than the rumors said."
Bu Eunseol had shaken the world at the age of twenty, and was now managing the martial world under heaven.
Furthermore, there was his true internal strength.
It ran deeper than the Empress Dowager had expected, and his stratagems and schemes were beyond fathoming.
"However, since he is still young, I might be able to conciliate him. Shall I test him once?"
The Empress Dowager spoke in a low voice.
"But if you judge it to be impossible, eradicate him immediately."
As soon as those words ended, a certain presence vanished from the interior in an instant.
They had departed to carry out at once the order the Empress Dowager had murmured.
"Martial Soul Command Lord..."
The Empress Dowager's eyes deepened.
Until now, everything had been in her grasp, and she could predict everything.
At this point where everything was nearing completion, such a variable absolutely could not be allowed to arise.
* * *
Having left the Imperial Palace, Bu Eunseol was returning to Majeon in a carriage.
The carriage, which had been running for a long time, suddenly stopped on the secluded outskirts of the city.
Click.
As the door opened and Bu Eunseol stepped down, the carriage dashed off again like a gale.
Standing calmly in the quiet clearing, Bu Eunseol closed his eyes.
At some point, the flow of air twisted, and the surrounding space felt as if it had turned into a sticky swamp.
Shaaaa.
Then, pitch-black darkness rose like fog from all directions, instantly trapping his surroundings.
This rapidly spreading darkness cut him off from everything outside.
It was neither martial arts nor formations nor sorcery, but a unique power that had never once appeared in the martial world until now.
"I was wondering why you were so late."
Standing with his hands behind his back, Bu Eunseol looked at the black shadow and spoke calmly.
"The Empress Dowager must have sent you."
It was an all too obvious conclusion.
A person like the Empress Dowager wouldn't have offered him tea just to leisurely check on the enemy's situation.
Not only to grasp his capabilities, but she had called him in to conciliate or kill him.
[Hmph.]
The shadow stared intently at Bu Eunseol.
Seeing the clear and bright energy flowing from his pupils, he slowly drew a dagger from his waist.
"Are you going to strike without a single word?"
At Bu Eunseol's words, the shadow spoke in a low voice.
[Someone with eyes like yours can never be conciliated.]
"You seem quite adept at reading faces."
Bu Eunseol said leisurely.
"Unfortunately, it seems you do not know how to read your own fate."
Swoosh.
Instead of an answer, the black shadow rushed out from the darkness like lightning.
The bizarrely shaped dagger in his hand contained a wicked energy that seemed to suck in a person's soul.
Srrk.
As Bu Eunseol lightly dodged the attack, the sword's trajectory cut through the air and reached a giant tree far away.
Slice!
In an instant, the thick giant tree was cleanly cut down, as smoothly as cutting a soft vegetable root.
Swoosh!
But the attack he thought he had dodged dug into Bu Eunseol's neck once again.
The shadow was much like the Martial Venerable in the past.
He had deliberately unfolded an easy-to-dodge opening move while superimposing a vicious killing move beneath it.
Claaang!
As their weapons clashed, the shockwave spread in all directions.
The power transmitted through the Silent Tiger Soul Sword was beyond imagination.
Crackle.
Along with a sound as if the Silent Tiger Soul Sword was splitting, light spread out, and simultaneously, a pain as if his bones and muscles were twisting spread throughout his entire body.
'This is not martial arts.'
Instantly, Bu Eunseol discovered the shape of a black demon-god idol floating behind the shadow's back.
And he finally realized.
'Empress Dowager.'
A mere assassin of the Empress Dowager could wield so powerful a Soul Demon Dharma Energy.
Then was there not only one possible identity for the Empress Dowager?
'Was she someone from the True Demon Palace?'
Only then did he finally realize why the Empress Dowager was so strong.
And yet why she maintained a standoff without overthrowing the Imperial Palace.
'But why?'
Neither the Baekri Family nor the bloodline of the True Demon Palace appeared openly in the martial world.
Of course, that might be due to some restriction or constraint.
But thinking about it differently.
They were merely continuing their own fight, and had no interest in the affairs of the martial world or the Imperial Palace.
If the two great factions, known to have continued their battle since ancient times, had decided to reveal their power to the world?
They would have taken over not only the martial world but the Imperial Palace a long time ago.
So why did the True Demon Palace suddenly make her the Empress Dowager?
Moreover, no matter how confident she was.
Why didn't she hide that fact and just carelessly send a single assassin?
[Farewell.]
Meanwhile, the demon-god idol behind the middle-aged man had taken solid form and begun to show clearly.
The two eyes of the statue burned red, and its two hands were clasped together.
Paaat!
Instantaneously, tens of millions of points of light wrapped around Bu Eunseol's body.
The Soul Demon Dharma Energy. That absolute energy was trying to obliterate Bu Eunseol.
Swoooosh.
But then the astonishing thing vanished.
The demon-god idol disappeared at once.
The human form that had looked like nothing but a black shadow slowly melted away.
Before he knew it the darkness had swept away entirely, revealing a middle-aged man with a hooked nose.
"What in the world..."
The middle-aged man's voice, which had resounded in all directions like the Transmission of the Six Harmonies, had turned into a natural voice flowing from his mouth.
"What is this."
He continuously looked around with a flustered expression.
No formation or grand method had been unleashed, and the surrounding scenery remained the same.
Yet the Soul Demon Dharma Energy and the supernatural power of the One Hundred and Eight Stars had vanished in an instant.
Clack.
At that moment, Bu Eunseol raised the Silent Tiger Soul Sword and said.
"This is normal."
"What?"
"It means, literally, the proper state."
Bu Eunseol muttered calmly.
"Without those tiresome dharma energies or whatever."
Bu Eunseol had finally unleashed it.
The new martial realm he had attained thanks to the Nine Heavens Cloud Splendor Pearl...
The Realm of Destruction and Extinction of the Void Extreme Realm.
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