The man had described women as treasures that brought benefit to men.
Those few words fully revealed his true feelings. He did not regard women as people worthy of respect, but as possessions.
"Do you bear a grudge?"
Bu Eunseol saw straight through the man's life.
"Were women always ignoring you and turning away from you before you obtained the True Demon's secret art?"
"Hmph."
The man snorted before speaking again.
"I heard that you never formally learned the Mind-Seizing Secret Art from Ak Muryeong."
He tilted his head.
"Judging by the method you used to infiltrate the Young Palace Lord's spirit, it seems you received proper instruction after all."
Only the senior members of Nangyang Pavilion knew that Bu Eunseol had never formally learned Illusion Upon Illusion from Ak Muryeong.
That single remark from the man was enough to infer the truth.
The True Demon Palace had eyes and ears planted deep within Nangyang Pavilion and every other faction in the martial world.
"Princess Hwijeong will report this to the Emperor and have the Dragon-Phoenix Ring reclaimed anyway. There is nothing you can do."
The man's gaze fixed on the Dragon-Phoenix Ring around Bu Eunseol's wrist.
"From now on, we will conquer not only the Divine Maiden Palace, but every woman connected to you. Once that happens, the sects entangled with you will turn their backs on you one after another."
"You talk too much."
Shhing.
Bu Eunseol immediately drew the Silent Tiger Soul Sword.
No matter how reasonably he tried to persuade the man...
There was no chance he would release the Mind-Seizing Secret Art he had forced upon the Young Palace Lord and Princess Hwijeong.
"Of course. You must have rushed here eager to kill me."
As if he had expected this, the man twisted the corners of his mouth.
"But if I die, their spirits will collapse with mine."
It was an astonishing claim.
Did that mean he had bound their spirits to his own and tied them together as one?
"I waited for you because I wanted to see whether you could abandon the Young Palace Lord by killing me."
He continued with a confident smile.
"Or whether you would be unable to bring yourself to do it, left wavering in torment."
The Empress Dowager's schemes were truly profound.
With this one move, she intended to measure the weight of Bu Eunseol's ties with those women and fasten shackles around him.
What if he killed the man without hesitation?
They would stop targeting other women, but Yeon Soha would die.
And what if he could not kill the man?
Every woman around Bu Eunseol would become a fatal weakness that could be used against him.
"I will make you an offer."
The man spread his arms.
"Surrender the Dragon-Phoenix Ring and kneel before the Empress Dowager, and I will stop with Princess Hwijeong and Young Palace Lord Yeon."
A sinister smile appeared on his face.
"But if you entertain even the slightest thought of resisting, I will continue conquering every woman connected to you after today."
It was a dilemma with no path forward or back.
Even Bu Eunseol had no way to act this time.
He possessed neither a method capable of surpassing the ancient secret arts of the True Demon nor a means of lifting the Mind-Seizing Secret Art placed upon Princess Hwijeong and Yeon Soha.
Yet he could not kill the man either. It truly was an impossible dilemma.
Rrrrumble.
At that moment, thunder echoed from the distant sky, and a snow-white figure began descending through the air.
Swooosh.
Moving with lightning speed, the figure looked like a single streak of white.
Tap.
She landed precisely beside Bu Eunseol.
She was a tall beauty with eyes as deep and clear as the sea, along with a pure and transparent innocence seemingly untouched by the grime of the mundane world.
It was So Okrim.
"Okrim."
"Why are you here? Did you not hear the news?"
So Okrim spoke urgently.
"There is chaos at the Death Shadow Corps right now. We need to hurry back."
The man looked at So Okrim and exclaimed in admiration.
"What a remarkable peerless beauty."
"Huh? What is this?"
So Okrim looked back and forth between the man and Bu Eunseol, blinking her large eyes.
"Are you twins?"
"Twins?"
"Your appearances and auras are almost identical."
The man had mastered an evil demonic art that projected the heart of whoever faced him.
From a woman's perspective, it gave him the power to reproduce almost perfectly the ideal image she had long carried deep within her heart.
In other words, So Okrim had always dreamed of a husband who looked like Bu Eunseol.
Even now, she considered his appearance and aura the very height of perfection.
That was why the man's face appeared to overlap perfectly with Bu Eunseol's.
"To think I would find such an exquisite beauty here, when I could not find one even after wearing out iron shoes searching the whole world."
"Your faces may look alike, but the way you speak could not be more sinister."
So Okrim frowned and raised her small, slender fist.
"You dare treat this lady like an object? Do you want to die?"
"This lady?"
"Hehehe. Can you not tell just by looking?"
So Okrim crossed her arms, letting her long hair flutter as she declared,
"I am the Celestial Goddess."
"The Celestial Goddess?"
The man furrowed his brow deeply.
As a True Law Herald of the True Demon Palace, he was reasonably well informed about developments in the martial world. Yet he had never heard the name Celestial Goddess.
That was only natural.
So Okrim had invented the byname herself.
"Well, what does it matter?"
Sensing the lively energy flowing through So Okrim's body, the man licked his lips.
"It seems you are fond of the Martial Soul Command Lord. Am I wrong?"
"What business is that of yours?"
"It is very much my business."
The man's eyes gleamed strangely as the corners of his mouth rose.
"I was ordered to make every woman belonging to the Martial Soul Command Lord mine."
"What did you say?"
So Okrim was about to fly into a rage, but the instant her gaze met the man's head-on, dizziness suddenly swept over her.
Her body froze from an instinctive fear, like a rabbit confronting a lion.
'My body froze from a single look?'
So Okrim bit her lip.
'Mine, when I fear nothing under heaven?'
The man had mastered a secret art of the True Demon capable of capturing a woman's heart in an instant.
As a result, an energy that naturally subjugated women flowed not only through his words and actions, but from his entire body.
"Something feels strange."
Before she knew it, the focus had vanished from So Okrim's pupils.
"I do not like the way that man is looking at me."
Bu Eunseol immediately stepped in front of her and spoke coldly.
"Do you think I will let you do that again?"
Just as he was about to strike with lightning speed...
"You would be better off not interfering."
The man spoke languidly.
"If you touch me now, her mind will collapse completely."
"What did you say?"
"From the moment our eyes met, a bridge formed between her spirit and mine."
The True Demon's secret art was as astonishing as it was vicious.
Like a mysterious pupil technique, merely meeting a woman's gaze allowed him to bind her spirit to his own.
He had made it so that if he died, the woman's spirit would perish with him.
"If you do not believe me, you are welcome to strike immediately."
Bu Eunseol could not move.
The energy flowing from the man's pupils...
Extended like transparent tentacles and touched So Okrim's temples.
"Get out of my head this instant!"
When So Okrim shouted in a trembling voice, the man answered with endless composure.
"Do not resist. If you continue fighting me, I will erase every memory you have of the person you loved."
What would happen if she resisted that power to the end?
So Okrim would ultimately suffer the same fate as Yeon Soha.
She would lose every memory connected to Bu Eunseol forever.
"A memory that vanishes once will never return. It will be lost forever."
Conflict began clouding her unfocused eyes.
If her memories of Bu Eunseol disappeared...
It would be no different from completely losing the very existence of the person she had always loved.
"Even if I cannot kill you, I can still remove an arm or a leg."
Rather than feeling threatened by Bu Eunseol's words, the man burst into hearty laughter.
"Try it."
He tilted his head with complete leisure.
"If you do, she will feel pain hundreds of times worse than having her limbs severed, and she will go completely insane."
Clack.
In the end, Bu Eunseol dropped the Silent Tiger Soul Sword to the ground. The man smiled with satisfaction and beckoned to So Okrim.
"Come here."
By then, all focus had completely vanished from So Okrim's eyes.
Like an obedient child, she slowly walked to the man's side without the slightest hesitation.
"It was no lie. The art worked properly."
The Mind-Seizing Secret Art the man had mastered...
Not only far surpassed the level of the present martial world, but also possessed the ability to relay even the smallest physical reaction to him.
If So Okrim had tried to deceive him, he would have seen through it at once.
"Truly remarkable."
His greedy gaze roamed over So Okrim's smooth, pale skin.
She was not merely as beautiful as a celestial maiden. Her body also radiated explosive vitality and an unpredictable charm.
There were many beautiful women in the Central Plains.
Yet it was difficult to find another woman with such unique beauty.
"One might not find material of such supreme quality even once in ten thousand years."
The man extended a hand toward So Okrim's head.
"I will make you completely mine as well."
He reached toward her Baihui acupoint to seize her spirit completely.
Ziiiing.
Then something strange happened.
Far from surrendering and passing into his grasp, So Okrim's spirit resisted him.
The colors of the surrounding landscape suddenly changed, and a desolate reed field appeared.
"This is..."
Realizing that a Mind World was unfolding, the man let out a hollow laugh.
"What a ridiculous trick. You dare use the Mind-Seizing Secret Art against this Herald?"
He immediately unleashed the power to collapse the Mind World.
But something was wrong.
No matter how he exerted his secret art, the landscape did not change. Instead, it felt as though his own spirit was being dragged somewhere.
Whooooosh.
Light slowly gathered before the man's eyes, gradually forming a tall human figure.
It was Bu Eunseol, recreated within the Mind World.
"How did this happen?"
The man surveyed his surroundings with venomous eyes.
He had mastered a secret art surpassing the Mind-Seizing Secret Art of the present age, yet a mere Mind World created by that wretch had imprisoned him.
He could not begin to understand the situation.
"I knew that you could not only seize a woman's spirit with ease, but also bind spirits together."
Bu Eunseol had closely examined Yeon Soha's spirit with the Boundless Benevolent Love Art.
He had learned that the Empress Dowager's subordinate was completely dominating the spirit itself with an extremely advanced soul-seizing secret technique.
That art stood far above the soul-seizing secret techniques of the present martial world.
By binding spirits together, it made intervention through any method impossible.
―'Would this never have happened if the Young Palace Lord had built walls around her spirit as solid as yours, Brother Bu?'
Yet Namgung Un's muttered remark had given Bu Eunseol an ingenious way to overcome the obstacle.
The Sacred Fire Secret Transmission.
It linked the bodies and hearts of a man and woman joined by fate into one.
As the secret art of the Essence Three Realms comprehended the flow and principles of power while minimizing all loss, what would happen if they used it here?
At the precise moment the man used his soul-seizing secret technique to seize So Okrim's spirit...
Bu Eunseol would also be able to enter directly into the spirit secret art the man had unfolded.
Using the Mind World he had built within the Mind's Eye art as a medium, he had instead drawn the man into his own Mind World.
"The moment you placed your secret art upon her..."
Bu Eunseol spoke calmly.
"It was no different from opening the gate of your spirit to me."
"You united your hearts into one?"
Finally grasping the situation in vague terms, the man shouted in disbelief.
"Nonsense!"
Even twins born from the same womb could not fuse their bodies and hearts perfectly.
How could two people of different sexes who had lived in different worlds make their hearts one?
"It does not matter whether you believe it."
"So..."
The man suppressed his bewilderment and twisted his lips.
"You intend to decide life and death within the Mind World?"
"Why not?"
Bu Eunseol spoke without emotion.
"Neither of us will be able to leave until one dies."
"This is the spirit of a woman who loves you. If we fight here..."
"She will endure it."
Bu Eunseol's eyes were filled with certainty.
"No matter what battle occurs here, she will surely endure it."
So Okrim was stronger than anyone.
Furthermore, her heart had become one with his. It would never collapse.
"Good. Very good."
As though he had regained his composure, the man nodded and extended his hand.
Within the infinitely vast and dark Mind World...
Creak.
A black shadow suddenly formed, spindly, gaunt, and hideous.
Its joints jutted out as if nothing but bones remained, while its limbs bent at unnatural angles.
Its torso stretched to an abnormal length. The sunken chest, seemingly on the verge of exposing its ribs, writhed grotesquely with each breath.
Its neck was bent unnaturally, and its head was so distorted that its shape was almost impossible to discern.
Its overall outline seemed to imitate the human form, but its distorted proportions inspired instinctive revulsion and disgust in anyone who saw it.
"Try to withstand the Alluring Soul-Seizure!"
It had been born from the knowledge of the True Demon.
The demon that stole women's hearts revealed its true form within the Mind World of So Okrim's spirit.
"How ugly."
The man snorted at Bu Eunseol's remark.
"Enjoy your composure while it lasts."
He slowly raised both arms.
"Let us see how long you can endure!"
When he extended his hand...
Pitch-black beams shot out in every direction from the black shadow.
They were Dharma energy condensed from vicious resentment and evil.
'So that was it.'
Bu Eunseol had initially thought the man's ugly nature had caused the True Demon's secret art to assume such a hideous form.
But the instant the secret art spread, he understood the reason clearly.
Because he also possessed Soul Demon Dharma Energy, he could read the grain contained within the man's Dharma energy.
'He was born with a hideous face and suffered many wounds because of it.'
Humans could choose neither their appearance nor their birth.
Those with poor luck received bodies that forced them to endure a painful life for no reason.
Those even less fortunate were born without enough intelligence to comprehend their own suffering.
This man had been born with the intellect and insight required to accept the knowledge of the True Demon.
Yet for no reason other than his ugly appearance, he had become the object of hatred and revulsion.
"You should experience it too!"
The man's ten fingers repeatedly slashed through the air.
Rush!
The condensed black Dharma energy embroidered the air and slowly transformed the Mind World.
The secret art of the Alluring Soul-Seizure was penetrating Bu Eunseol's spirit and showing him an illusion.
Whirl.
The landscape of the Western Regions suddenly appeared, showing the time when he had first met So Okrim.
Back then, So Okrim had fallen in love with Seo Jinha at first sight, not Bu Eunseol.
That was because Seo Jinha had been wearing his true appearance.
Bu Eunseol, meanwhile, had disguised himself with an ordinary face.
―'Ugh. I do not like him.'
Within the illusion, So Okrim looked at Bu Eunseol standing beside Seo Jinha and scowled fiercely.
That was because Bu Eunseol's appearance had become hideous.
―'If possible, I would prefer that you not look at me.'
It was a natural reaction.
Humans were born loving beautiful things.
Even children did not need to be taught.
They favored beautiful, pretty things and instinctively disliked the ugly.
―'Is that half-formed creature your servant?'
In the end, the illusory So Okrim avoided Bu Eunseol and began liking Seo Jinha.
Afterward, they repeated the same adventures and journeys through the martial world as in reality, but Bu Eunseol and So Okrim never came together.
They merely became good friends who felt nothing for one another.
Whirl.
The landscape changed again, this time showing when he had first met Yeon Soha.
She reacted the same way.
Because of his ugly appearance, Yeon Soha did not fall for Bu Eunseol and never resolved to become engaged to him.
It was unavoidable.
His appearance was ugly.
There was no reason she would like a man with an ugly face.
Ziiiing.
As Bu Eunseol watched the illusion, his eyes gradually turned transparent.
Seeing this, the man formed an ominous smile.
What he had planted was not a simple illusion, but an extraordinarily sophisticated Mind-Seizing Secret Art.
What if Bu Eunseol empathized with it for even a moment or found any part of it convincing?
His heart would immediately be stolen by the man.
"What impoverished imagination. It is the kind of thing only children would dream up."
Then something completely unexpected happened.
Although he had witnessed a scene any human could understand and empathize with...
Bu Eunseol had already recovered his normal gaze and returned to perfect clarity.
He had not empathized in the slightest with the illusion the man showed him.
"Impoverished imagination?"
"Indeed."
Bu Eunseol calmly extended his hand.
"Watch carefully."
This time, a different story began unfolding before the man's eyes.
Bu Eunseol's face remained ugly, but he was not ashamed of it.
As he traveled through the martial world, he continued doing what was right.
When innocent people faced danger, he risked his life to save them. He suppressed villains with overwhelming martial arts.
He constantly revealed his hideous, blood-drenched face before others.
Yet his gaze carried the bearing of one who looked down upon the whole world.
At first, So Okrim felt no interest in Bu Eunseol after seeing his ugly face.
Gradually, however, the Mount Tai-like presence radiating from him overwhelmed her and set her heart racing.
She did not admire him because he was handsome, but because he was extraordinary, righteous, and manly enough to inspire admiration.
The same was true of Yeon Soha.
At first, no bond of fate formed between them.
But when the Divine Maiden Palace faced a crisis, Bu Eunseol immediately went to help them.
Before long, Yeon Soha's feelings began to change.
She came to like Bu Eunseol for his indomitable will, which allowed him to walk forward silently without yielding to any hardship.
In the end, every woman who had fallen in love with Bu Eunseol...
Had not done so merely because of his beautiful appearance, but because they knew his character and the path he had walked.
Because he walked a lonely and desolate path that no one recognized... they had respected, admired, and loved him.
"Silence!"
Crash!
The man shattered the Mind World Bu Eunseol had created and shouted.
"This is merely your imagination! Your appearance never truly became ugly!"
"Is that not equally true for you?"
Bu Eunseol snorted.
"What you showed me was also nothing more than your imagination of what would happen if my appearance were ugly."
"What did you say?"
"The only difference was the amount of time involved."
He spoke with absolute certainty.
"Even if my appearance were ugly, those women and I would still have come together in the end."
Every woman who loved Bu Eunseol possessed exceptional judgment.
Even if his appearance had been ugly...
They would eventually have recognized the jewel-like true nature hidden within him and fallen in love.
The Seven-Finger Demon Blade, Bu Zhanyang, had not possessed the beautiful appearance women dreamed of either.
Yet had he not received an absolute love, causing the women who held him in their hearts to yearn for him their entire lives?
"You are drunk on dreams and spouting nonsense."
The man sneered.
"In any case, you..."
But the unwavering certainty in Bu Eunseol's eyes left him speechless.
The man truly believed it.
He genuinely believed that appearance did not matter.
"Had you shown me what you actually suffered because of your ugly appearance, I would have been unable to refute it."
Bu Eunseol looked directly at the man.
"But your desire to see me despair caused you to overreach."
The man could say nothing.
Bu Eunseol was right.
What if he had passed on his own memories of the terrible hardships he had suffered because of his ugly appearance?
Any human would have been able to understand and empathize with them, and Bu Eunseol would ultimately have been brought to his knees.
But the man wanted to attack Bu Eunseol's beautiful appearance and shatter his dazzling self-confidence.
He had overreached in his attack upon Bu Eunseol's self-worth and suffered an absurd defeat.
Trickle.
Blood flowed from the man's mouth.
The Mind-Seizing Secret Art possessed the convenient ability to seize an enemy's spirit without laying a hand upon them.
But it inevitably carried the weakness that failure caused the backlash to return upon the practitioner.
Shaaaa.
When Bu Eunseol withdrew the Mind World, the scenery of reality slowly reappeared.
The man opened his eyes and found himself standing there blankly.
So Okrim, the beautiful woman who should have been at his side, was standing beside Bu Eunseol instead.
"Ugh, what a truly vile wretch."
So Okrim glared at him with contempt.
The man's Mind-Seizing Secret Art had caused her to lose consciousness, but Bu Eunseol had soon restored her clarity.
She had seen and heard everything that had happened.
"Your ugly face was never the problem. Your rotten personality was."
"Do not speak as you please!"
The man roared.
"You know nothing, so stop looking at me with those eyes!"
The contemptuous gaze of a beautiful woman...
Was it not the same gaze he had encountered until he grew sick of it, before learning the secret art passed down by the True Demon Palace?
"Do not delude yourself, ugly man."
So Okrim snorted and condemned him mercilessly.
"Do you think everyone born with an ugly face lives as twisted a life as yours?"
"Silence!"
The man shouted and extended his hand.
A hideous, skeletal shadow slowly appeared behind him.
He had materialized the form of the Alluring Soul-Seizure in reality.
"Die together!"
The Alluring Soul-Seizure became a massive giant and descended upon Bu Eunseol and So Okrim at once.
Thump.
At that moment, So Okrim naturally leaned into Bu Eunseol's embrace.
The man's expression turned bizarre.
How could they do such a thing at this moment of mortal peril?
Did she want to feel her lover's embrace one final time before dying?
As his eyes widened, Bu Eunseol lightly extended his hand.
A palm force dozens of jang across formed before him.
Paaat!
It shattered the form of the Alluring Soul-Seizure, which ordinary martial arts could never have broken, in a single blow.
The Sacred Fire Secret Transmission.
The two had not been indulging in romantic affection.
They had unleashed the greatest martial secret transmission of the Essence Three Realms, which united their power without the slightest loss.
Crack! Shatter!
Spiderweb-like cracks began spreading across the man's skin.
Unable to withstand the power of the Sacred Fire Secret Transmission released by Bu Eunseol and So Okrim, his body was collapsing.
Crunch, cruuunch!
The cracks spread across the man's entire body in an instant.
Like an ancient piece of porcelain on the verge of shattering, his body split apart, and faint light began leaking from every patch of skin.
"Ughhh."
A groan escaped the man's mouth.
He desperately gathered his Dharma energy to support his collapsing body, but before the overwhelming power of the Sacred Fire Secret Transmission, it was no different from building a castle of sand.
Bang!
The man's right arm burst like a firecracker. His left shoulder and then his legs exploded and shattered in succession.
Flop.
Reduced to nothing but a torso, the man fell unsightly to the ground.
Tremble, tremble.
The man began shaking like someone plunged into icy water in the middle of winter.
This True Law Herald of the True Demon Palace had mastered a secret art of the True Demon and once possessed the formidable power to seize a woman's heart in an instant.
Now he had been reduced to a weak, terrified creature incapable of controlling even his own flesh.
Sizzle.
Then something strange happened.
When the man's spirit collapsed and his secret art broke, Bu Eunseol suddenly felt something hot within his left wrist.
―'Do not extinguish your burning desire.'
No life could bloom from ashes after the flame had died. True enlightenment lay in using one's greed as firewood to burn the world.
'That is correct.'
Bu Eunseol's eyes turned transparent.
'Is the command to empty one's heart not merely a deception practiced by those who already possess much?'
An empty vessel existed to be filled.
Taking what belonged to others to fill one's emptiness was closer to the natural order of the universe.
―'Do not give water to the thirsty.'
Instead, intensify their thirst so that they would revere you like a god.
'Many people pretend to show mercy while controlling others.'
Bu Eunseol's eyes gradually turned black.
'There is no need to fear the consequences of karma. If overwhelming power suppresses the result, will the cause not disappear as well?'
Shaaa.
At that moment, the Soul Demon Dharma Energy inhabiting the man's body was drawn into Bu Eunseol's left hand.
Black light seeped outward from his wrist, spreading like ink and slowly staining his skin.
At the same time, teachings twisted concepts such as emptiness, karma, compassion, and liberation.
The teachings of a Demon Buddha poured into his mind, justifying human greed and selfishness while encouraging corruption.
After he shattered the True Demon's secret art and absorbed the man's Soul Demon Dharma Energy... the power lying dormant within his wrist began to awaken.
Comments