Hyeok Sojin followed Sanghak discreetly to the heart of Majeon.
‘This is the Eight Demon Hall.’
Typically, a “hall” referred to a place for practicing martial arts or gathering people. But the Eight Demon Hall was merely a name for a massive, intricately built armory. Its title likely came from the statues, adorned with weapons, displayed within.
‘Overwhelming.’ Hyeok Sojin’s jaw dropped as he surveyed the interior.
Even Heaven and Earth Severing Sect, where great demonic figures resided, housed many divine weapons. But compared to the Eight Demon Hall, it felt like a local dojo’s armory.
Legendary swords like Fish Flow, Ganjiang, Moye, Juque, and Zhanlu, renowned through generations, along with ancient weapons, were displayed. There were also armors like the Golden Form Armor and Iron Essence Armor, and deadly hidden weapons like the Blue Poison Blood Hand and Ice Ghost Blood Wheel Tube, adorning the statues.
“Carefully choose one weapon,” Sanghak said.
“Anything?” Hyeok Sojin asked.
“Yes. If you don’t need a weapon, armor or hidden weapons are fine. Choose as you wish.” Hyeok Sojin was baffled.
He had merely followed Bu Eunseol to Majeon. Why was he being offered such a reward?
“Aren’t you mistaken? I’m not a successor candidate…”
“I know. You’re the assistant of a successor candidate,” Sanghak said, frowning. “I don’t have time. Choose quickly.”
‘An assistant of a successor candidate?’ Hyeok Sojin couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity.
To think that following Bu Eunseol, a successor candidate, granted him access to a treasure from the Eight Demon Hall. Only now did he grasp the weight of being a successor candidate of Majeon.
“Can I look around a bit?” he asked.
“Hmm, you have one hour,” Sanghak replied.
With permission granted, Hyeok Sojin carefully examined the armory. As expected of Majeon’s great armory, every item was a demonic divine weapon. Moreover, the exclusive weapons of ancient demonic masters were displayed with their origins and manuals for their use.
“Hmm.” After exploring the hall, Hyeok Sojin hesitated.
At his waist hung Seollan, an ancient sword from Heaven and Earth Severing Sect. Though not a divine sword, its sharpness rivaled Bu Eunseol’s black sword.
‘No matter how I think about it, I don’t need a weapon.’ The Divine Rift Demon Energy, Heaven and Earth Severing Sect’s ultimate technique, wasn’t reliant on weapons.
As a martial art that wielded intangible energy intricately, a sword sometimes felt cumbersome.
‘Should I take armor?’ Hyeok Sojin shook his head.
Wearing armor could lead to arrogance or hinder evasion techniques. Moreover, it was useless against techniques like the Heavy Hand Method, making it ineffective against Transcendent Realm masters.
‘Better to pass.’ Rather than take a weapon or armor that didn’t suit him, it was better to take nothing.
As Hyeok Sojin turned to leave without hesitation—
Thud.
Something caught his foot.
“This is…” Looking down, he smiled brightly. ‘This could properly enhance my Divine Rift Demon Energy.’
Without hesitation, he picked it up.
“I’ll take this,” he said.
“Hmm?” Sanghak looked at Hyeok Sojin’s choice with a dumbfounded expression. “You’re taking that?”
“Yes, I like it.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
Hyeok Sojin nodded with a bright smile, and Sanghak, with a grunt, nodded back. “If it suits you, take it.”
“Thank you,” Hyeok Sojin said, clasping his hands and tucking the item into his robes.
It was a bundle of Blood Silk Rope, used in a trap mechanism to capture intruders in the Eight Demon Hall.
***
The second floor of the Myriad Demon Scripture Vault.
It was a completely different scene from the first floor Bu Eunseol had visited before.
The first floor, packed with countless manuals, was like a cave with massive bookshelves, filled with salt and charcoal to preserve them. But the second floor was designed like a vast labyrinth, with manuals housed in transparent glass cases. Due to its scale, a large guidebook at the entrance detailed the locations and structure of the manuals.
Beside it was a storeroom with fasting pills and clear water.
“Hmm.” After briefly surveying the dizzying interior, Bu Eunseol returned to the entrance and opened the guidebook.
‘Better to understand the labyrinth’s structure and explore systematically.’ Realizing this was another of the Demon Emperor’s tests, he needed to move quickly and efficiently.
“Hmm.” The guidebook was unnecessarily thick.
It detailed not only the pavilion’s structure but also descriptions of the 7,387 manuals displayed. Bu Eunseol memorized the layout and began exploring.
Iron Emperor Non-Killing Sword Manual.
Blade Soul Black Wheel Sword.
Death Emperor Blood Shadow Bullet Sword.
Fierce Binding Blood Phosphorus Sword.
The initial passage held advanced sword techniques, each capable of shaking the world, encased in glass.
‘No need to look at sword techniques.’ Bu Eunseol shook his head.
The Supreme Heavenly Flow, built on Dan Cheong’s teachings, transcended all sword technique limitations. It grew stronger with each fight, finding and breaking enemy weaknesses—its ultimate secret. As an art of enlightenment, there was no need to learn new sword techniques.
‘Let’s find arts I lack.’ Passing quickly through the passage, he found manuals on fist techniques, finger techniques, and grappling arts.
‘No need for these either.’ The Seven Fist Demon Forms encompassed all principles of fist and finger techniques. Learning new manuals would merely refine variations of the Seven Fists.
“Besides, manuals…” Bu Eunseol’s eyes darkened as he recalled the Seven Fists manual.
No matter how detailed a manual’s instructions, applying them in real combat was difficult. If mastering martial arts through manuals were easy, sects would simply store manuals in their libraries instead of training disciples.
‘Even the Seven Fists, honed through real combat, is only at 50% mastery.’ Bu Eunseol couldn’t understand. Rather than deeply studying one manual, it would be more beneficial to skim many to gain various techniques.
‘Why insist on mastering one art?’ According to the guidebook, there were 7,387 advanced demonic arts here.
To use the ten days effectively, selecting and slowly digesting manuals was the best approach. Yet the Demon Emperor had specifically ordered him to master one and return to the Sacred Demon Pavilion for inspection.
‘One art. One art…’ Lost in thought, Bu Eunseol quickly scanned the manuals. None were less than exceptional, and their thickness was mostly uniform.
“One art. One art,” he repeated, flipping through the guidebook, when he recalled his first audience with the Demon Emperor.
Despite being a supreme figure splitting the martial world, he appeared as a not-so-old man.
‘That’s it.’ Most manuals here were ancient demonic arts.
But the Demon Emperor wasn’t an ancient figure. Nor was he a disciple of the Ten Demonic Sects, which had sustained the demonic world for generations. From the perspective of martial history, the Demon Emperor was a new figure.
Rustle.
With this realization, Bu Eunseol began closely examining the covers of the 7,000 manuals.
But there was nothing. All the manuals were old, written by past demonic masters.
“All ancient arts. No manual authored by the Demon Emperor.” The most recent was a manual from 200 years ago by a demonic monk, Bulma, but it was a mental fortification technique, not a martial art.
“And there are too many redundant arts.” Due to the disorganized nature of demonic martial arts, unlike the systematic righteous factions, there were more manuals.
For example, the famous demonic hand techniques Eternal Demon Blood Hand and Blood Jade Steel Hand shared the same principles and secrets.
From Bu Eunseol’s analysis, the 7,000 manuals could be reduced to about 300 distinct arts.
‘Was I mistaken?’ He had been certain the Demon Emperor’s manual would be here.
But no matter how he searched, he couldn’t find it.
‘It’s the sixth day tomorrow.’ Only four days remained.
Yet he hadn’t even chosen a martial art. Unable to defy the Demon Emperor’s command, he would have to master any manual.
“Even after checking everything…” Suddenly, lightning flashed in Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
He hadn’t checked everything. He hadn’t finished reading the back of the guidebook. Rushing to the entrance, he began poring over the guidebook’s latter pages.
Astonishingly, it contained summaries and explanations of the 7,000 manuals. As he read, his hand paused.
The guidebook was exactly that—a guide.
It detailed the pavilion’s structure, the types of manuals, and their contents in summary. But within its lengthy text lay profound martial principles.
The Essence.
The back of the guidebook deeply analyzed the core of the manuals. The author, undoubtedly the Demon Emperor, had mastered all the manuals on the second floor and explained them in detail.
‘The Demon Emperor intends to impart his martial cultivation secrets to those who enter.’
Bu Eunseol had synthesized Nangyang Pavilion’s martial arts, creating a sword art free from conventional frameworks. But the Demon Emperor had taken the opposite approach, condensing existing martial principles to create a new art.
‘I can’t synthesize over 7,000 demonic arts with my current ability.’
Then there was one thing to do.
In the remaining four days, study the Demon Emperor’s summarized essence, select a manual to address his deficiencies, and master it.
***
Four days passed.
After studying the guidebook’s summaries all day, Bu Eunseol identified his deficiencies.
Powerful internal energy. His internal energy was unmatched even by the world’s top masters. But he lacked a martial art to fully utilize it.
The Supreme Heavenly Flow and Seven Fist Demon Forms were immensely powerful, but they relied on intricate techniques rather than internal energy. While carefully reading the guidebook, Bu Eunseol found a secret.
The Emotion-Severing Secret.
An ordinary martial artist might have overlooked it. It described methods to fortify the mind. But Bu Eunseol, certain it was authored by the Demon Emperor, read it closely.
“What a radical method.” The Emotion-Severing Secret proposed a unique approach to mental fortification: severing emotions entirely.
“If you sharply cut away the emotions in your heart, what is there to fear?” Great martial masters often face the ordeal of inner demons.
The Emotion-Severing Secret offered an ingenious yet radical method: eliminating emotions and even the mind to overcome this hurdle.
“It’s less a secret and more an explanation of energy circulation.” At the end of the Emotion-Severing Secret was a unique energy circulation method.
The Ignorance True Binding.
A timeless principle allowing free transformation and release of internal energy.
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