Bu Eunseol wore a cold smile.
“If you can withstand five moves, I’ll give up and leave without regret. How about it?”
“You just need to endure five moves?”
“Yes.” Go Gunpyeong’s face brightened instantly.
No matter how much Bu Eunseol was a Transcendent Realm martial artist, Go Gunpyeong was the Black Dragon Leader who had roamed the martial world for decades.
In the same initial stage of the Transcendent Realm, the one with more battle experience would win. He was confident of victory even if Bu Eunseol had reached the mid-stage of the Transcendent Realm.
“Are you serious?”
“Of course.”
“Good.”
Whoosh.
At that moment, a gray shadow descended from the air. Though not large in build, the figure was sturdy, with scars large and small across their body. Their hair was greasy and disheveled, but their eyes were sharp as arrows.
It was Yoo Unryong.
“Yoo Unryong?” Go Gunpyeong’s eyes gleamed.
“Let’s do the five-move test with me,” Yoo Unryong said.
“What?”
“If you endure my five moves, I’ll return to the White Horse Sect quietly. How about it?” Yoo Unryong seemed to have been hiding in the area all along.
Hearing Bu Eunseol propose the five-move wager, he aimed to sever ties with the White Horse Sect on his own, without Bu Eunseol’s help.
“Heh heh, good,” Go Gunpyeong said, chuckling with delight.
Bu Eunseol’s prowess was renowned as the highest among the Ten Demon Warriors. Conversely, everyone knew Yoo Unryong was the weakest.
“You won’t beg for their help after losing, right?” Go Gunpyeong asked.
Yoo Unryong smirked and shouted, “Bu Eunseol, this is my fight. Don’t interfere.”
“I refuse,” Bu Eunseol replied.
Unexpectedly, Yoo Unryong’s eyes widened. “What?”
“There’s no reason to yield.” Speechless, Yoo Unryong raised his eyebrows.
Biting his lips, he finally shouted, “This isn’t yielding—it’s resolving what I started!”
“Then even more so, no,” Bu Eunseol said coldly, looking down at Yoo Unryong. “I was the one who endured his five moves in Majeon.”
Yoo Unryong was at a loss for words.
Having been in the White Horse Sect, he knew well about the five-move test forced by White Horse Sect Leader Gang Muryun in Majeon.
‘Damn.’
Yoo Unryong gritted his teeth.
If Bu Eunseol drove off Go Gunpyeong like this, Yoo Unryong would owe him another huge debt. Just like when Bu Eunseol handed him the credit for killing the Beggars’ Sect’s righteous master, Seong Ryun, and sent back the Soul Annihilation Corps.
“Bu Eunseol!” Yoo Unryong finally voiced his inner thoughts. “I don’t want to owe you anymore!”
Bu Eunseol remained silent.
Clenching his fists, Yoo Unryong shouted again, “Or are you using this to make some request of me?”
“You think so?” Bu Eunseol said, smiling confidently. “Me?”
It was a radiant, bold smile.
Facing it, Yoo Unryong felt infinitely small. At the same time, he realized one truth. Bu Eunseol wasn’t someone who exploited others’ crises for gain. He had already extended a helping hand.
“Bu Eunseol…”
“Fine,” Bu Eunseol said, wearing an unprecedented dazzling smile. “If you don’t want to owe me, I have no choice. You do it.”
His smile was strangely captivating.
Yoo Unryong, staring blankly, snapped back and glared at Bu Eunseol with venomous eyes.
“Hmph, don’t act like you’re granting some great favor, Bu Eunseol.” His voice was laced with hostility.
He felt that if he didn’t lash out like this, his true feelings would show.
But he didn’t realize.
His axe-like glare at Bu Eunseol was gradually softening.
“Have you finished negotiating?” Go Gunpyeong asked, stepping forward with a sneer, whip in hand. “Come on, struggle all you want, Yoo Unryong.”
In the past, Yoo Unryong would have fallen for the provocation and attacked immediately.
But now, he maintained a terrifying calm.
After witnessing Bu Eunseol’s duel with Seong Ryun, he had learned the hard way. Losing composure before a decisive battle was like fighting with both hands tied.
Crack.
Yoo Unryong slowly gripped his white horse whip.
Whoosh!
In a flash, he struck, coiling the whip around his body.
White Horse Shooting Mystery.
The White Horse Sect’s foundational stance, a technique to protect oneself from sudden attacks.
“Hmph, at least you haven’t forgotten courtesy to your sect’s elder…” Go Gunpyeong began.
But his words trailed off.
Yoo Unryong’s whip, which should have circled his body, suddenly lunged at Go Gunpyeong’s throat.
“Petty trick!” Enraged, Go Gunpyeong swung his whip to deflect the incoming one.
Ping!
But an unexpected situation unfolded. Yoo Unryong’s whip moved like a living serpent, entangling Go Gunpyeong’s.
“Entangling whips? You want an inner energy contest?” Go Gunpyeong laughed, surging his inner power.
Boom!
Suddenly, a brilliant light burst from Yoo Unryong’s left hand, piercing toward Go Gunpyeong’s chest. Shockingly, he had concealed a second white horse whip on his left forearm.
“What bizarre technique!” Unprepared for Yoo Unryong using two whips, Go Gunpyeong was forced to lean back defensively.
But this was Go Gunpyeong’s fatal mistake.
He should have discarded pride, released his whip, and retreated.
Slash!
Yoo Unryong’s left whip suddenly split into hundreds of strands.
Millions of light specks engulfed Go Gunpyeong. Simultaneously, the entangled right whip uncoiled instantly, unleashing the same technique.
Divine Skill of Creation.
Yoo Unryong had executed the White Horse Whip’s ultimate art with both hands.
Papapak.
Millions of specks passed through Go Gunpyeong.
“Ugh.” The whip, sharp as blades, pierced his body multiple times.
But it seemed mercy was shown, as vital points were avoided.
“You used Divine Skill of Creation… with both hands?” Go Gunpyeong’s eyes lost focus.
Executing the technique, which barely manifested power even with full effort, with both hands? Yoo Unryong’s move was something no White Horse Sect master had conceived or dared attempt.
“Our sect’s whip arts have no such grotesque, lewd technique!” Go Gunpyeong roared.
Yoo Unryong gave a faint smile. “If it makes me stronger, I’ll try any method.” He looked up at the distant sky with a pained expression. “That’s how you survive.”
After meeting Bu Eunseol, Yoo Unryong realized.
To survive in this cruel, merciless martial world, one must break rigid conventions and rules. And relentlessly grow stronger.
Turning back to Go Gunpyeong, Yoo Unryong sneered. “You boast of your martial world experience, yet you can’t handle an unexpected technique.”
“You, you…” Go Gunpyeong stammered.
“Tell the sect leader: I’m no longer a disciple of the White Horse Sect.”
Go Gunpyeong bit his lip.
Caught off guard by the bizarre technique, he’d been defeated in just three moves. Losing to Yoo Unryong, the weakest Ten Demon Warrior, was the ultimate humiliation.
“Go. I spared you to deliver that message.” Even in his carelessness, Yoo Unryong’s skill had advanced leaps and bounds.
If he’d aimed to kill, he would have severed the head, not pierced the body.
Tremble.
Go Gunpyeong shook slightly.
But he wasn’t a fool. Pride wouldn’t save his life.
Biting his lip, he quickly turned and led his warriors away.
“Yoo Unryong,” Myo Cheonwoo said, stepping forward warmly. “Your martial arts have improved greatly.”
“Hmph.” Ignoring Myo Cheonwoo’s greeting, Yoo Unryong turned to Bu Eunseol. “You’ve made Myo Cheonwoo your subordinate too?”
“Not a subordinate—a collaborator,” Bu Eunseol said, giving Yoo Unryong a faint smile. “You’ll be my collaborator as well.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Why would I help you?”
“You owe me.”
“You said you wouldn’t use this to make requests!”
“Not this debt,” Bu Eunseol said, staring intently at Yoo Unryong. “The previous one.” Bu Eunseol’s clear eyes held no doubt.
He was certain Yoo Unryong would join.
“Hmph.” Unable to meet Bu Eunseol’s sky-clear gaze, Yoo Unryong looked away.
“One condition.”
“Speak.”
“Defeat me.” Gripping his white horse whip, Yoo Unryong smiled confidently. “If you beat me, I’ll help you.”
“Fine,” Bu Eunseol said, as if expecting it, drawing his black sword.
Shing.
As the black sword revealed its blade, a chilling aura brushed Yoo Unryong. Simultaneously, Bu Eunseol’s form blurred, overwhelmed by a massive energy surge.
‘This guy.’ Yoo Unryong panicked.
He’d witnessed Bu Eunseol’s duel with Seong Ryun. And in seclusion at Yuhongok, he’d honed his skills, convinced he’d surpassed that level. But Bu Eunseol had already ascended to an unfathomable realm.
‘Bu Eunseol…’
Grit.
His fingers whitened from gripping the whip.
The wall. Bu Eunseol was always a wall. Each encounter, it soared skyward, a despairingly insurmountable wall.
“Aren’t you attacking?” Bu Eunseol asked.
Snapping back, Yoo Unryong’s eyes flashed. “Don’t get cocky!”
Boom!
Manifesting his circulating inner energy, a whirlwind swirled around Yoo Unryong.
Screech!
With a monstrous bird’s cry, white energy surged from his body. Drawing full inner power, hundreds of transparent shadows rose behind him. The energy was dozens of times stronger than what felled Go Gunpyeong.
“If you block this, I’ll be your subordinate!”
Swish!
The fully extended white horse whip soared skyward—but it was an illusion. The real whip poured toward Bu Eunseol.
Illusion.
The White Horse Sect’s whip arts fundamentally mirrored illusory sword principles. Thus, when masters unleashed them, victims died amid countless illusory whip shadows without knowing why.
Click.
Bu Eunseol raised his black sword, gazing at the transparent energy cascading from the sky. Yoo Unryong had revealed his full power in the first move.
It was intangible energy, unavoidable, only blockable.
Whoosh!
The transparent light finally engulfed Bu Eunseol. It resembled a meteor shower endlessly raining on him.
Boom!
A heaven-shaking roar erupted, devastating the area where Bu Eunseol stood.
Whoosh.
As the dust cleared, the scene revealed.
The bamboo within ten zhang of Bu Eunseol had vanished, replaced by hundreds of craters.
‘Impossible.’ Yoo Unryong rubbed his eyes.
Bu Eunseol still stood firm.
Tremble.
His fingers shook at the unbelievable sight.
To surpass his limits, Yoo Unryong had created the Heaven and Earth Severing Sect, wielding Divine Skill of Creation with both hands. Wielding illusory ultimate arts with both hands was as impossible as fighting with arms while eating with feet.
“He blocked it standing still…” Yoo Unryong muttered.
His reason for risking his life honing martial arts in Yuhongok was singular. To surpass Bu Eunseol’s realm and stand above him. He’d endured, envisioning triumphantly defeating him.
Yet Bu Eunseol blocked the fully realized Heaven and Earth Severing Sect in place?
Sizzle.
Golden waves of light fluttered around Bu Eunseol like a breeze.
He had manifested his immense circulating inner energy to block the Divine Skill of Creation. Bu Eunseol deliberately showcased his supreme technique.
To ensure Yoo Unryong no longer saw him as an enemy or dared challenge him.
‘Still intense.’ Enduring the boiling blood vessels’ pain calmly, Bu Eunseol smiled.
“More?” With a relaxed expression, he said, “If you can’t accept it, attack again. I don’t mind.”
Tremble.
Yoo Unryong’s fingertips shook.
Bu Eunseol had blocked his full-powered ultimate strike with one move. Even fighting three days and nights, he wouldn’t be able to touch a hair on Bu Eunseol.
Kneel.
Overwhelmed by Bu Eunseol’s prowess, Yoo Unryong knelt unwittingly.
‘It wasn’t a wall.’ His eyes lost focus.
Bu Eunseol wasn’t a surmountable wall. He was an unyielding peak, soaring endlessly skyward, unapproachable.
‘I can’t be his rival.’ Yoo Unryong finally understood.
Bu Eunseol wasn’t a matchable opponent. He was a divine being destined to rule over all.
“Don’t despair too much, Yoo Unryong,” Myo Cheonwoo said, patting his shoulder warmly. “I thought I could catch up at first too. But after seeing his martial arts at Janggeom Mountain Manor, I realized.”
He grinned. “None of the Ten Demon Warriors can even be his rival.”
Slap.
Yoo Unryong sharply shook off Myo Cheonwoo’s arm from his shoulder.
“Get lost.”
“What?”
“Don’t act friendly, you second-rate subordinate of Bu Eunseol.”
“What? Second-rate? Then you’re first-rate?”
“No, that would be him.” Yoo Unryong’s finger pointed at Hyeok Sojin.
“Then what are you?”
Yoo Unryong stood calmly, pointing at himself with his thumb. “I’m the collaborator who’ll aid him and command you all.”
“Command me?”
“Yes.” Yoo Unryong’s expression was utterly serious.
Myo Cheonwoo’s face twisted in disbelief, then his eyes widened.
“You lunatic.”
“What?”
“You’re a madman who doesn’t make sense? Talking about commanding after getting crushed in one move?”
“Then can you beat him?”
“Well, at least I can beat you.”
“Oh, really.” Blue killing intent gleamed in Yoo Unryong’s eyes. “Then let’s see!”
Ping! Boom!
As Yoo Unryong and Myo Cheonwoo clashed, dust flew and the ground shook.
From Yoo Unryong’s hands poured dozens of whip shadows, eclipsing the sun; Myo Cheonwoo’s dozens of palm shadows shook the earth.
Boom! Crash!
The spectacle of two prodigies fighting at full power was magnificent.
The Death Shadow Corps warriors watched intently, exclaiming in awe.
But…
After an hour with no end in sight, they lost interest, sitting with bored expressions.
Even Hyeok Sojin yawned. “Brother Bu, when will it end?”
The overflowing energy suggested they could fight all night.
“Hm,” Bu Eunseol hummed, watching them silently. “Let’s leave them and go.”
Without regret, Bu Eunseol turned.
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