Bu Eunseol stepped outside.
The bamboo-hat person stood there impassively, her drawn sword lowered in a relaxed grip.
The utter lack of tension in her stance, even with an enemy before her, spoke volumes about the heights she had reached.
'So it was a woman.'
The bamboo-hat person wore thick clothing that completely concealed the lines of her body.
Even so, Bu Eunseol saw through it at a glance and discerned the slender figure hidden beneath.
The Poison Hand Demonic Sword was a woman.
Flash!
Without hesitation, the bamboo-hat woman thrust at Bu Eunseol's neck. It was a Fast Sword Form as swift as lightning itself.
Whisk, whisk.
The instant radiance burst forth, dozens of shadows scattered in every direction.
Bu Eunseol had unleashed Swift Beyond Shadow in time with her sword art.
Tiiing!
The razor-sharp sword aura released along the quick sword's path struck a cliff dozens of jang away and sprayed sparks.
'Impressive.'
A quick sword was a technique that pushed the profound principle of speed to its utmost limit.
For that reason, it was normally deployed without releasing sword aura.
Firing sword aura alongside it would drastically slow the sword form, making it no quick sword at all.
Yet despite wreathing her attack in sword aura, the bamboo-hat woman had unleashed a terrifying quick sword like flashing thunder.
It was an unconventional technique that overturned the martial world's accepted wisdom.
'There's no need to seal the vacuum.'
Shhing.
Bu Eunseol drew the Silent Tiger Soul Sword and immediately unleashed Transcendent Meteor Chasing the Moon.
Even if he killed the Poison Hand Demonic Sword through covert means, it would change nothing.
The Emperor would mobilize his intelligence network and quietly spread word that the Martial Soul Command Lord was his blade.
There was no reason to hide his skill. Bu Eunseol intended to unleash his signature supreme art at once and cut down the Poison Hand Demonic Sword.
But something unexpected happened.
Having perfectly grasped the trajectory of Transcendent Meteor Chasing the Moon, she held her sword upright and brushed the Silent Tiger Soul Sword aside.
Sizzle, sizzle.
Sparks flew as the blades passed within a hair's breadth of each other. Unable to conceal his surprise, Bu Eunseol retreated.
Paaat!
Though he had withdrawn, the bamboo-hat woman made no effort to pursue. She merely watched him in silence.
Her eyes beneath the veil were cold and still, betraying not a trace of emotion.
"Hmm."
Bu Eunseol gave a contemplative hum.
With the Sword Venerable dead and the Profound Demon gone from the martial world, Bu Eunseol could be counted among the finest swordsmen under heaven.
Yet the bamboo-hat woman had instantly predicted the path of Meteor Chasing the Moon and effortlessly deflected it.
Her speed and precision were extraordinary.
They were on a level even Bu Eunseol, who had fought countless mighty masters, had never encountered.
'No. That can't be.'
Had he been an ordinary martial artist, he might have reached a simple conclusion.
He would merely have assumed that the bamboo-hat woman possessed an extraordinary ability to predict his moves.
But Bu Eunseol knew better.
No master under heaven could do such a thing.
None could predict his sword path in advance.
'She already knows my Supreme Heavenly Flow.'
That bamboo-hat woman had surely either studied his Supreme Heavenly Flow or witnessed it before.
'I'll test her with sword arts again.'
If he poured out transcendent supreme arts such as the Seven Blood Tear Forms, he could defeat the bamboo-hat woman without much difficulty.
But Bu Eunseol was a Great Grandmaster of the sword.
Since she challenged him using sword arts alone, he intended to answer with nothing but sword arts.
Swoosh!
In that instant, the bamboo-hat woman attacked first.
Razor-sharp sword aura cleaved cleanly between heaven and earth and coiled around Bu Eunseol's entire body.
At the same time, streams of formidable inner power poured evenly from the sword tip and began burrowing into his meridians.
She had even predicted Bu Eunseol's movements and the circulation of his true energy.
By sealing off his movement entirely, she unleashed a sword art designed to deliver the decisive blow.
Srrrk.
The Silent Tiger Soul Sword traced a wave-like path through the air.
At the same time, hundreds of rays erupted from beneath his feet like water bursting from a spring.
Countless motes of shattered light spread outward.
Profound and More Profound.
It was the Hwa Wu Sword's greatest defensive technique.
Ten Thousand Swords, capable of layering the profound principles of many different sword arts, had been unleashed.
Clang!
The bamboo-hat woman's treasured sword collided head-on with Bu Eunseol's Silent Tiger Soul Sword.
He used the profound sword form of Profound and More Profound to dissolve the power contained in her attack.
Then he unleashed the Absorption Technique, deliberately forcing their powers into collision.
Paaaaat!
Only some time after the two swords had met did the true impact erupt.
From the space between the two combatants, a storm-like vibration wave soared to the edge of the sky.
Whooooosh!
The blast sent not only the woman's bamboo hat but also her veil sailing high into the distant sky above Ice Abyss Valley.
Bu Eunseol's expression instantly froze solid.
"Lady A-Yeon."
The bamboo-hat woman had become the Empress Dowager's blade and earned the name Poison Hand Demonic Sword.
She was none other than A-Yeon, the successor of the Sword Pavilion.
"How could you..."
The corners of Bu Eunseol's eyes trembled violently.
He could remember people not only by their faces, but by their physiques and the very texture of their muscles.
Yet A-Yeon's body had changed beyond recognition.
She was gaunt, like a woman who had spent decades in grueling ascetic practice.
Even the shape of her body had changed completely, leaving him unable to recognize her.
"What in the world happened to you?"
She was the successor of the Sword Pavilion, revered by righteous martial artists for generations.
How could she have become the Empress Dowager's confidante and an assassin who disposed of warriors directly under the Emperor?
But as though she had heard nothing, A-Yeon raised her sword at him once more.
"Do you not recognize an old friend?"
Anguish crossed Bu Eunseol's face.
What possible story could explain this?
A-Yeon had once been innocence itself.
How had she become an assassin under the wicked Empress Dowager, her hands drenched in blood?
Boom!
An explosion erupted from A-Yeon's body, and brilliant white light began streaming from every inch of her.
Swoosh!
A supersonic Fast Sword Form, utterly devoid of any warning, shot before Bu Eunseol's eyes.
Whisk!
He attempted to evade the strike with Swift Beyond Shadow, but her sword art was faster still.
Pat!
The sword aura grazed him, drawing a red line of blood across his shoulder.
It was astonishing.
She had surpassed Bu Eunseol, whose movement art could rightly be called the fastest under heaven.
'Was this the power she sought to cultivate?'
Heat like that of a furnace poured ceaselessly from A-Yeon's emaciated body.
She had trained here all this time, refining and consuming pills for a single purpose.
She had sought to cultivate a unique martial art that allowed her to move at transcendent speed.
'Her body shouldn't be able to withstand it.'
Bu Eunseol could employ a movement art of ultra-extreme speed, far beyond the limits of humanity.
That was possible only because his transcendent inner power and varied energies firmly protected his body.
A-Yeon's body, however, was now so gaunt and feeble that even a light blow seemed capable of breaking her bones.
How could she possibly move as fast as he did?
'Is some supernatural power at work?'
Bu Eunseol soon shook his head.
'No. This unmistakably bears the texture of martial arts.'
Whatever power she was using, he had no leisure to ponder it now.
At this rate, his body would be sliced to ribbons.
In the simplest terms, superiority in swordsmanship could be reduced to one question: who was faster?
A-Yeon's sword and movement had surpassed the limits again and again.
She moved so quickly that even Bu Eunseol's super senses could neither perceive her perfectly nor land an attack.
Vwooong.
Five-colored light flashed in Bu Eunseol's eyes, and the landscape for dozens of jang around him slowly began to lose its color.
Void Extreme Realm.
It was a new realm of martial arts that no one had ever reached.
Through the power of the Realm of Destruction and Extinction, a domain of nothingness and emptiness unfolded, returning all things to their natural state.
Paaat!
Yet only the vibration waves of inner power coursing through A-Yeon's body had noticeably weakened.
Her movement barely slowed. She continued racing at extreme speed as she unleashed her sword art.
'She combined a grand method with martial arts.'
A-Yeon was not wielding a supernatural power.
She was using the grand method's power to withstand the physical burden imposed by her extreme-speed movement.
Swiiiish!
A-Yeon abruptly flipped through the air.
Paaaaat!
In an instant, she split into six shadows that surged toward Bu Eunseol.
'They aren't illusions.'
Each of the six shadows executed a different sword art.
Only speed beyond human limits made such a feat possible.
'A body like the Diamond Indestructible Body and movement like a flash of lightning...'
At that moment, the name of a forbidden martial art that a woman must never learn surfaced in Bu Eunseol's mind.
Claaang! Clink, clink, clink!
As sword met sword, tens of millions of motes of light scattered in every direction.
A-Yeon seemed to have drawn up an immense qi art, for her sleeves had swollen greatly.
Every sweep of her sword sent waves of sword aura three jang wide crashing over Bu Eunseol.
Sizzle.
Bu Eunseol managed to strike her with several sword forms, yet each impact merely sprayed sparks as though he had hit a block of iron.
She did not so much as flinch.
'It is that martial art.'
Flash!
Bu Eunseol drew up his power once more and unleashed Waning Moon, Dawn Star Form, erasing all six shadows A-Yeon had created in an instant.
Swoosh!
Seizing upon the opening, A-Yeon thrust at Bu Eunseol's lower abdomen.
Claaang!
He barely blocked the strike. With a clear metallic ring, A-Yeon's shadow vanished from sight once again.
Clack.
Bu Eunseol settled into a middle guard, inhaled deeply, and regulated his inner breathing.
At last, he could dimly glimpse A-Yeon racing at extreme speed.
'There is no doubt. It is that martial art.'
Her eyes had turned a monstrous white, and faint cracks spread across her skin.
Her limbs were unnaturally gaunt, and all emotion had vanished from her eyes.
'Withered Wood Divine Art.'
It granted the body the strength to withstand any attack.
But it was an ultimate demonic art that hardened not only the body but the heart, ultimately transforming its practitioner into a stone woman.
A-Yeon had learned the Withered Wood Divine Art.
Swoosh!
In the meantime, A-Yeon created twelve shadows and charged Bu Eunseol again.
'She didn't simply increase their number.'
It appeared that A-Yeon had multiplied her afterimages by moving at high speed.
In truth, she had occupied every space Bu Eunseol could move through, cutting off any counterattack in advance.
Clash! Clang, clang, clang!
Bu Eunseol could do nothing but stand his ground, remain on the defensive, and block her attacks.
Pat, pat!
More and more wounds appeared across his body while the Silent Tiger Soul Sword cut through empty air.
Even so, Bu Eunseol's gaze settled into a chill as deep as the glaciers of the Northern Sea.
What if he abandoned his insistence on sword arts and used every martial essence he possessed?
Even if she had mastered the Divine Wood Divine Art rather than the Withered Wood Divine Art, he could have destroyed her body.
But now that he knew the Poison Hand Demonic Sword was A-Yeon, simply cutting off her head was no solution.
As Bu Eunseol used her attacks to advance his swordsmanship once more, he remained patient.
All the while, he watched relentlessly for the chance to unleash a certain secret art.
Flash!
At that moment, a gleam passed through Bu Eunseol's eyes.
He had found a way to counter A-Yeon's extreme-speed movements.
Paaat!
As he soared high into the air, layer after layer of sword aura formed over the Silent Tiger Soul Sword in his hand.
Flash! Flash!
He unleashed Waning Moon, Dawn Star Form without pause, his movements as swift as a flash of lightning.
Paaat! Paaat!
Rather than striking A-Yeon's body directly, the sword forms rained down upon the space surrounding her.
Fwoosh!
Her figure, previously moving too fast to see, gradually came into view.
The enormous cross-shaped sword aura formed from overlapping Waning Moon, Dawn Star Forms bore down upon her.
Its tremendous pressure suppressed the very space through which she moved.
Spin, spin.
A-Yeon wheeled around like a pinwheel, attempting to divert the descending Waning Moon, Dawn Star Forms.
In doing so, however, she was inevitably forced to trace a wide circular path.
No matter how swift a movement was, repetition would eventually reveal its trajectory.
Bu Eunseol had aimed for precisely that weakness.
By deliberately fixing her route of evasion, he had accurately captured her movement.
Flash!
The Silent Tiger Soul Sword spun rapidly in a spiral from his hand and bored toward her neck.
He had unleashed Limitless Infinity, the thirteenth move of the Thirteen Hwa Wu Forms.
Pat!
Realizing she could never evade the move, A-Yeon thrust her sword toward Bu Eunseol's chest.
Since death was inevitable, she intended to drag him into mutual destruction.
But something wholly unexpected happened.
A-Yeon's treasured sword sank into Bu Eunseol's chest.
Bu Eunseol's Silent Tiger Soul Sword stopped one chi from her neck.
Squelch.
The Cold Iron blade pierced his chest.
His Protective True Qi was extraordinarily dense, and the instant the sword entered him, his Crystal Divine Energy activated to protect the membrane surrounding his lungs.
Spurrrrt!
Even so, A-Yeon's treasured sword was exceptionally sharp and carried a tremendous concentration of power, leaving him deeply wounded.
Ziiiing.
But Bu Eunseol had no time to feel the pain.
The Withered Wood Divine Art was not the only influence at work on A-Yeon.
He had concluded that some strange grand method was preventing her from thinking clearly.
His aim had never been to kill her, but to shatter the Mind-Seizing Secret Art cast upon her.
Even at the cost of sacrificing his own body, he had watched all along for the instant in which he could unleash Illusion Upon Illusion.
'Damn.'
The light vanished from Bu Eunseol's eyes as he deployed Illusion Upon Illusion.
His judgment had been wrong.
She had not lost her mind to the Mind-Seizing Secret Art.
On the contrary, she was perfectly lucid and chillingly calm.
Flash!
Killing intent surged within A-Yeon's eyes.
Bu Eunseol now stood utterly defenseless.
If she drove her sword in with all her strength, she could pierce his chest at once.
Shudder.
Yet the hand clutching her sword hilt refused to move.
As she gazed into Bu Eunseol's eyes from such close range, emotions she had forgotten stirred back to life.
She remembered first meeting him at an inn, convinced he was a vile villain and intent on killing him.
She remembered visiting Majeon, where the women who loved him bickered and vied with one another.
She remembered when he came to save her after she was wounded.
With a massive coffin on his back, he had gone to the Sword Pavilion, dealt with the Sword Pavilion's traitors, and avenged her master.
Unable to forget him, she had fallen prey to the Clear River Realm's scheme, only for him to risk his life and save her once again.
Whenever danger found her, Bu Eunseol came to her rescue.
Through it all, A-Yeon had fallen deeply in love with him.
Yet despite the depth of that love, she could never express her feelings.
There were far too many women around him who loved him as well.
Each time, she had endured the ache and relinquished her love.
―'If I push the sword just one span farther... I can end this wretched bond.'
Her mind issued the command, but her heart refused.
The instant she pierced his heart, her own would stop forever as well.
Clang.
In the end, A-Yeon could only let the sword fall.
"My lady, what happened to you?"
His seemingly indifferent voice, laden with profound concern, lingered in her ears.
She raised her head. His eyes appeared cold as ice, but the warmth within them was unmistakable.
A-Yeon could bear it no longer.
She had no choice but to admit the truth.
She still loved him.
At last, a single hot tear welled in her eye.
It fell heavily upon the back of her bloodstained hand.
At the same moment, a harsh cracking sound echoed throughout her body.
The secret power she had accumulated over many years in Ice Abyss Valley to dispose of countless martial artists began to crumble.
The Withered Wood Divine Art that obliterated emotion crumbled with it.
Everything finally collapsed.
"Kill me."
A-Yeon looked at Bu Eunseol as she spoke.
"Otherwise, you will never find the secret vault built by Baekri Muha and hidden by the Empress Dowager."
"A secret vault... built by Baekri Muha?"
Bu Eunseol felt dizzy.
At the same time, he recalled the key to the secret vault that he had obtained from Baekri Jaha's prosthetic arm and kept in his robes.
It was as though fate had ordained this moment.
Had he come by that key, in the end, so that he could enter the secret vault his father had left behind?
'But...'
Bu Eunseol bit his lip.
Entering the secret vault was important, but how could he possibly kill A-Yeon?
"If you cannot kill me..."
Whirl.
Using Void Grasp, A-Yeon drew the fallen sword back into her hand.
"Then you will die!"
She drove the sword toward Bu Eunseol's heart with all her might.
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