Near the western gate of the Martial Soul Society.
Birdsong broke the silence along a secluded path steeped in the faint fragrance of grass.
Bu Eunseol and Do Cheonlin walked shoulder to shoulder down the narrow trail.
After they had walked for some time, the view opened up, revealing a picturesque pavilion.
Its exquisitely carved railings, its beautiful floral-lattice windows, and the delicate murals painted beneath its eaves made it seem less a space for martial artists than an academy where scholars gathered.
The traces of age and lofty beauty blended in perfect harmony. Anyone who saw it would have stopped for a moment to admire it.
Do Cheonlin halted and gazed up at the warm sunlight spilling across the pavilion's roof.
"Why don't we name it the Epang Palace?"
A mischievous smile filled his face.
"After all, it will be a home for beautiful women."
"Beautiful women?"
"The women you brought here."
Do Cheonlin gave a lecherous grin.
"It's hardly just one or two of them."
There was Yu Baek, Hyeokryeon Eung's illegitimate child, who now handled the Martial Soul Society's accounts.
There was Seong-ah, the first new bloodline created in the True Demon Palace.
There was Cheongah, formerly a clay doll of the House of the True Demon.
Moreover, Manwol, the Holy Maiden of the House of the True Demon, lay asleep within the Martial Soul Society's Absolute Domain.
"I even heard you prepared a bridal chamber at Nangyang Pavilion."
Apparently, Do Cheonlin had heard about Baekri Jaha. He clapped Bu Eunseol on the shoulder.
"Don't be embarrassed. Just bring them all here. Flowers only become more beautiful the more of them you gather, don't they?"
Whenever Bu Eunseol ventured into the martial world, he invariably returned with beautiful women.
That was why Do Cheonlin was suggesting that the newly built pavilion should become their residence.
"I never dreamed you would bring back even the successor of the Sword Pavilion."
"..."
"I don't know how badly she struck her head to become like a ten-year-old girl, but she truly behaves like an innocent child."
Do Cheonlin's eyes curved into crescents as he covered his mouth and laughed.
"At the very least, you should wait until she regains all her memories. No, at least until after you hold the wedding..."
"Cheonlin."
Bu Eunseol's expression turned grave.
"It isn't like that."
"What isn't?"
"She..."
He calmly explained to Do Cheonlin everything that had happened to A-Yeon.
Do Cheonlin listened in silence for a long while, his face gradually turning crimson.
"I-I'm sorry."
He bowed his head and apologized with utmost sincerity.
"I had no idea she had been through such things. I spoke utter nonsense."
Do Cheonlin understood.
Bu Eunseol had not brought the women here to indulge his own desires.
He had merely wanted to give them the safest home in the world.
More and more people had begun residing within the Martial Soul Society, and Do Cheonlin had seen the new pavilion being built.
He had made a harmless joke simply to tease Bu Eunseol.
How could he have known it would turn out like this?
"I'll speak with Yeon-mae and make sure she takes special care of Lady A-Yeon, so she wants for nothing."
"Good."
A somewhat forlorn smile crossed Bu Eunseol's face.
"Please take good care of Lady A-Yeon."
Until now, not once had he asked anyone to take good care of the people he had brought to the Martial Soul Society.
This time, however, was different.
He believed all of this was his fault.
"Lady A-Yeon was always extremely calm and quiet. She found it difficult to mingle with others."
Bu Eunseol spoke in a low voice.
"She may be like a child now, but there is no telling when her innately lonely nature will show itself again."
The A-Yeon of the past had loved deeply.
That love had led her to live in a hell of her own making.
While her memories were gone and she had the heart of a child, Bu Eunseol wanted her to live in comfort and happiness, if only for that brief time.
He had come to ask them to safeguard her peace.
Only Do Cheonlin and his lover, Dam Yuyeon, could do that.
"I understand."
Only then did it dawn on Do Cheonlin.
He realized why Bu Eunseol had come to see him first despite being so busy.
"Of course."
Knowing Bu Eunseol's gentle heart all too well, he thumped his chest with a solemn expression.
"While Lady A-Yeon remains in the Martial Soul Society, I'll make sure she never lacks for anything and can always rest in happiness."
"Good. Thank you."
Silence settled between them for a moment.
Do Cheonlin studied Bu Eunseol's profile and asked with a grave expression.
"So what happened with the Covenant?"
Bu Eunseol had gone after the Poison Hand Demonic Sword for one reason.
He wanted everyone around him, including Bukgung Ryeong and Nae Bihon, to be freed from the Covenant.
"I'm going to resolve it now."
"There are only six days left."
"That's enough."
Bu Eunseol smiled.
"Enough to break the Covenant."
Although he had tracked down and dealt with the Poison Hand Demonic Sword, barely six days remained.
Bu Eunseol now had to settle the matter of the Covenantors without coming into conflict with the Sacred Domain.
* * *
The Emperor kept his promise.
He praised Bu Eunseol highly for dealing with the Poison Hand Demonic Sword and immediately granted him permission to enter the Imperial Palace Secret Vault.
This was not merely a matter of eliminating an assassin under the Empress Dowager's command.
From now on, Bu Eunseol would become the Emperor's sword.
It was as good as a declaration that he would confront the Empress Dowager head-on.
The Emperor had now acquired a keen treasured sword.
That sword was Bu Eunseol.
The Emperor would need to wield it well in the future.
It was only proper that he grant Bu Eunseol a fitting reward.
The exact location of the Imperial Palace Secret Vault was unknown.
It was said that its entrance lay within Wenyuan Pavilion, the enormous imperial library where the Imperial Family's books were kept.
The truth, however, was different.
Its entrance stood in a dim corridor between the Hall of Supreme Harmony and the Palace of Heavenly Purity, at the heart of the Forbidden City.
It occupied a space that existed on neither maps nor written records.
Only the Emperor secretly knew where the entrance lay.
A jade plate had been installed within a hidden chamber.
It opened only when the Imperial Seal and the divine pendant were taken out and fitted precisely into that plate.
Thus, even someone who knew the location of the Imperial Palace Secret Vault could never enter without the Emperor's permission.
Clatterrr.
With a metallic rattle, a spiral stone staircase leading downward slowly opened its maw in the pitch-black corridor where Bu Eunseol stood.
Whoosh.
The scents of centuries-old paper and silk rose from the stairs, mingled with the chill smell of iron.
'Fascinating.'
At a glance, Bu Eunseol discerned that the staircase had exactly one hundred and eight steps.
He also saw that every step contained a mechanism designed to stop intruders.
In other words, an outsider would have to overcome all one hundred and eight trials to pass through.
There was a reason the countless Divine Thieves of the martial world who had tried to enter this place over the generations had never once succeeded.
Step, step.
At the bottom of the staircase stood an enormous door.
Its surface was sheathed in a mysterious metal even Bu Eunseol had never seen before, and twelve raised and recessed sections formed a regular pattern across it.
Clack.
As Bu Eunseol approached, the door responded.
Clank.
As though alive, it emitted a dull reverberation and swung wide in two halves.
Glint.
Blinding light and a brilliant glow gentle enough to embrace the whole world swept over him in alternating waves.
Hundreds of enormous Night Pearls embedded in the ceiling were shining on their own.
When he inhaled, the cool air that seeped deep into his lungs carried a pleasant fragrance.
It seemed to come from the energy of the spiritual medicines and treasures within the treasure vault.
Bu Eunseol opened the first door.
Beyond it were diamonds as large as a person's head and rubies that shone like miniature suns.
There were also gemstones that held the blue radiance of the deep sea.
One wall touched by the light shimmered like golden waves, lending the gems an even more mysterious brilliance.
"It is vast."
There was more than one treasure vault.
Numerous branching paths stretched through the interior, each lined with rows of secret-vault doors.
Grrrrind.
Bu Eunseol opened the next door.
Inside immense transparent crystal cases lay armor and treasured swords that seemed to have been imbued with souls by divine craftsmanship.
Before him lay a treasure vault where rare weapons, offered in tribute from distant foreign lands, slumbered.
"Remarkable."
If even one of these items appeared in the martial world, a bloody struggle for its possession would erupt.
He shut the door and walked for a long time.
Then he opened another of the many doors branching away from the passage.
This chamber held spiritual medicines such as Ten-Thousand-Year Ginseng and Jade-Oil Immortal Fruit.
There were also spiritual pellets said to have been made by immortals, including Sacred Jade Pellets, sealed in pure-white jade bottles that breathed cold air.
He entered yet another room.
There stood a book of prophecy set down at the command of Emperor Taizong of Tang by the astronomer Li Chunfeng and by Yuan Tiangang, a physiognomist and master of geomancy.
That book was the Tui Bei Tu, and it was only one among many.
Secret prophetic texts for tracing the currents of heavenly secrets and divining fortune and calamity lay scattered all around it.
"Just how many chambers are there?"
Bu Eunseol let out a low exclamation.
The Imperial Palace Secret Vault was said to contain ninety-nine chambers, but it appeared there were far more in reality.
Moreover, the complex covered tens of thousands of pyeong ≈ (3.305 m²). Simply looking through every chamber would take days.
"There is a certain pleasure in exploring it, but I don't have time to inspect everything."
Bu Eunseol drew upon the Void Heart Command.
He carefully scanned the surfaces of the doors scattered through the labyrinth.
At last, amid the countless branching paths, he found a secret-vault door hidden with extraordinary care.
Nine dragons were carved upon it, their bodies entwined as they ascended into the heavens.
Ssk.
He stepped before the door, but it did not open.
'Of course it wouldn't.'
A faint smile touched Bu Eunseol's lips.
The Emperor had permitted him to enter the Imperial Palace Secret Vault and take one treasure.
That did not mean he had permitted Bu Eunseol to enter every secret vault within it.
Some of the secret vaults here could be entered only by members of the Imperial Family's bloodline.
Ssk.
Bu Eunseol pressed the Dragon-Phoenix Ring, the treasure passed down through the Imperial Family and the divine object of Princess Hwijeong, against the door.
Thoom. Thooom.
Eight of the nine ascending dragons slowly vanished into the door.
One dragon, however, remained.
"So even possessing the Imperial Family's divine object is not enough to enter..."
A smile spread across Bu Eunseol's lips.
"Naturally."
In other words, unless one had been born with Dragon Qi like the Emperor's, there was no entering this place.
This was the very secret vault Bu Eunseol had sought.
Ssk.
He opened a wooden box inside his robes and took out a square piece of metal.
It was the key to the Baekri Family's secret vault, a mysterious metal object fashioned with the True Demon's knowledge.
Click.
He placed the small metal piece against the remaining dragon design.
Clack, clack.
It began filling every gap in the recessed dragon design.
Clunk. Rrrrumble.
Once the dragon design had been filled perfectly, Bu Eunseol channeled his internal energy and twisted it a full turn with all his strength.
Clank.
With a heavy metallic sound, the door slowly began to open.
This metal had been fashioned with the True Demon's knowledge.
It was essentially a master key capable of easily opening anything that had been locked.
"Urgh."
The instant Bu Eunseol stepped inside, a groan escaped him involuntarily.
He had taken only one step, yet unimaginable energy was already pouring from the chamber.
It felt as though his body would burst apart the moment he ventured any farther.
Dragon Qi.
The innate energy possessed only by members of the Imperial Family's bloodline was flooding the chamber with savage force.
Both powers bore the name of the dragon.
Yet this energy was entirely different from the Dragon Transformation Manifestation secret art passed down through the Baekri Family.
The Imperial Family's Dragon Qi was a power that embodied the principles of heaven and earth.
The Baekri Family's Dragon Transformation Manifestation was an ultimate secret art that embodied the Primeval Dragon's power in the flesh so its practitioner could absorb the True Demon's knowledge.
In other words, Dragon Qi was the law of heaven itself.
Dragon Transformation Manifestation was a secret art that manifested the Primeval Dragon's power within the body.
'I must not oppose the Dragon Qi or treat it as an enemy.'
Claaang!
Five-colored radiance blossomed across Bu Eunseol's entire body.
Even Bu Eunseol could not withstand such a vast torrent of Dragon Qi unharmed.
His very flesh could collapse or melt away beneath it.
That was why he unfurled Harmony like astral energy and wrapped his body in a thick layer of it.
'I have to find it quickly.'
Every treasure scattered through the chamber radiated its own energy.
Agony made his eyes feel ready to burst as his vision blurred. His senses tangled together until he could barely tell up from down.
'I must find the strongest one.'
Bu Eunseol wanted only one thing.
He sought the treasure in this chamber that possessed the strongest Dragon Qi.
Tremble, tremble.
Staggering through his blurred vision for a long while, Bu Eunseol finally spotted something gleaming in the distance.
One treasure sat there like the master of the secret vault, shrouded in the fiercest and most immense Dragon Qi of them all.
His vision had blurred, and his senses were in complete disarray.
He could not even make out the treasure's shape.
Crunch, crrrunch.
With every step, he felt as though the ground were splitting and the flesh across his entire body were being torn apart.
Even though he had cloaked himself in the energy of Harmony, the Dragon Qi was eroding him, turning his skin purple.
One step, then another.
Each time he advanced, the flesh on the soles of his feet burst, leaving bloody footprints seared into the floor.
The pain made it feel as if his body were melting away.
Bu Eunseol straightened his back instead.
No pain or ordeal could force his body to bend.
At last, he drew near the treasure.
Vwoom, vwoom, vwoom!
As if rejecting Bu Eunseol's Harmony-shrouded hand, the treasure released even more powerful Dragon Qi.
Fwoosh.
The energy pouring from it became a great flame that set Bu Eunseol's flesh ablaze.
The spreading heat surpassed imagination.
The moisture in his eyes evaporated instantly, leaving him unable even to open them.
Nevertheless, Bu Eunseol did not retreat. He approached the treasure and reached out.
"I need it."
The instant his fingertips touched the treasure, his nails melted and his blood vessels burst and evaporated.
Horrific agony slammed into his brain as the muscles of his forearm ran like candle wax.
Bu Eunseol paid it no heed and lifted the treasure.
"That overwhelming Dragon Qi..."
Clamp.
Bu Eunseol picked up the treasure and pulled it tightly against his chest.
Vwoom, vwoom, vwoom!
Trying to escape his embrace, the treasure began vibrating hard enough to shatter his rib cage.
When that failed, it began pouring out searing heat.
Sizzle.
His flesh melted, his bones softened, and even his soul seemed to dissolve.
Indescribable agony spread through him.
Even so, Bu Eunseol's arms remained steady as they held the treasure fast.
Had it been daunted by his vicious tenacity?
Or had the energy within Bu Eunseol's body finally neutralized the ferocity of the treasure's Dragon Qi?
Hissssss.
As the pain subsided, his vision and senses began returning to normal.
Sizzle.
When even the white mist dissipated, Bu Eunseol finally saw the treasure in his arms clearly.
It was a large incense burner engraved with nine dragons.
The incense burner was empty.
Even so, its interior remained red-hot, as though it were filled with blazing charcoal.
Bu Eunseol thrust his hand inside it.
Jangle.
Mysterious light began spilling from within.
Craaack. Claaang!
Cracks slowly spread across the incense burner until it shattered into pieces.
The nine dragons attached to it began falling to the floor one by one.
Click. Swoooosh.
The nine dragons writhed as if alive, then curled their bodies into circles.
Claaang!
They split into many pieces and became eighteen tiny command tablets.
In the blink of an eye, the shattered incense burner had transformed into eighteen mysterious Dragon Tablets engraved with dragons.
"Is this truly fate?"
Bu Eunseol's gaze deepened as he looked down at the Dragon Tablets.
There were exactly nine people whose Covenants had already begun or would begin before long.
He also expected that there would be nine people whose Covenants he would have to break in the future.
How could the numbers match exactly?
"Or is this heaven's arrangement?"
Bu Eunseol drew a deep breath and murmured softly.
"This is the Treasure of the Son of Heaven."
Float.
Bu Eunseol gathered all eighteen Dragon Tablets into his robes.
The incense burner that possessed the strongest Dragon Qi in the Imperial Palace Secret Vault was, in truth, a treasure that only the Son of Heaven could possess.
"Dragon Qi overcomes every other power..."
Thanks to his Dragon Qi, the Emperor was immune to the Profound Divine Technique Qi and Soul Demon Dharma Energy from the outset.
And if such powers had worked on him?
The Empress Dowager would already have turned the Emperor into a puppet.
"I have already escaped the bounds of heavenly secrets, so I will not disturb the ordained order..."
Bu Eunseol would use a treasure containing the Dragon Qi only an Emperor could possess.
With it, he could break the Covenants without disrupting heavenly secrets and bring those he desired into the flow of heavenly secrets to which he himself belonged.
"Now..."
Bu Eunseol drew a deep breath and stared into the empty air.
He would now meet the old man of the Sacred Domain and play the final move in this grand game.
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