Shing.
Drawing his Black Blade, Bu Eunseol deployed his sword technique.
Rustle rustle!
Unlike usual, the sword strikes he unleashed had few variations and were extremely monotonous. But the forms themselves were so swift that the assassins had no leeway to dodge.
Pop pop!
The assassins within the range of his pouring sword momentum spewed blood from their necks and toppled like logs.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Then, the remaining assassins once again widened the distance and showered Bu Eunseol with hidden weapons.
Boom!
But this time, the hidden weapons exploded with a bang before even touching Bu Eunseol's body, spewing white smoke. From the acrid smell spreading everywhere, it seemed the smoke was mixed with acid powder that diminished inner power.
“Hmm.” As the smoke spread in all directions, it began to obscure even the assassins' forms.
Hum!
As he raised his inner power, a powerful flow of true energy emanated from the Black Blade.
He intended to deploy the seventh form of the Supreme Heavenly Flow, Return to Origin, using intense blazing true energy to incinerate all poisons.
'No.' In that instant, a flash crossed Bu Eunseol's mind. 'Hadn't they already investigated me thoroughly?'
Their long-range hidden weapon tactics and the close-range mutual destruction method were designed assuming Bu Eunseol's Supreme Heavenly Flow. Thus, they couldn't possibly be unaware of the Return to Origin technique that incinerated poisons in one go.
Whoosh!
Bu Eunseol immediately retreated over twenty paces. Then, he drew up powerful blazing true energy and flicked his fingers.
Boom!
With an explosion, the smoke spreading everywhere instantly turned to flames. At the same time, along with heat hot enough to melt iron, the flames congealed like molten wax and spread in all directions.
Sizzle.
Even as the flames fell to the ground, they burned fiercely without care. It seemed the fog contained not only acid powder but also specially manufactured flammable substances.
'As I thought.'
If he hadn't evaded immediately and tried to deploy Return to Origin to dissipate the poison fog? Bu Eunseol would have been trapped in the blast radius and suffered severe injuries.
'They've grasped all the characteristics of the Supreme Heavenly Flow....' Bu Eunseol had deployed Return to Origin only once, during the journey to receive confirmation of his successor status.
After that, only when facing the experts of Hell's Blood Fortress. That meant they had been meticulously investigating him for a long time.
Swish.
As the smoke cleared, the remaining assassins strode forward through the burning flames and once again surrounded Bu Eunseol. Their eyes showed no fear or hesitation.
Only the will to kill until their last breath filled them.
'No matter how many times they've investigated.' Sharp glints poured from Bu Eunseol's pupils as he gazed at the menacingly approaching assassins.
Old information was useless.
He advanced ceaselessly, bit by bit, every day without stopping.
Click.
Suddenly, Bu Eunseol sheathed his Black Blade again. And he drew up his inner power to its limit.
Whish!
A sharp wind began to blow from his entire body. At the same time, sharp energy started flowing from both his legs and arms.
Thirteen Guiding Energies.
He was using the Martial Emperor's absolute secret technique, which at its peak could unleash thirteen streams of true energy each.
Whoosh!
Bu Eunseol's body became a streak of light, brushing past the assassins.
Each time, blood spurted, and assassins toppled like bundles of straw.
Rumble! Growl!
Thunder echoed across the darkened sky.
From the sound alone, one could guess how ferocious the momentum and true energy Bu Eunseol poured out were. The assassins resisted fiercely with hidden weapons and firearms, but it was futile.
The Thirteen Guiding Energies seemed to deploy multiple martial arts simultaneously, but in truth, it was executing a unified mass of offense and defense. The moment the sharp true energy brushed past, the assassins' bodies scattered as if sliced by a keen blade.
Moreover, due to that sharp true energy, no matter what attacks they launched, nothing touched Bu Eunseol's body.
Plop plop.
The assassins' corpses piled up like fallen leaves everywhere.
The mechanical, ever-cold gazes of the assassins began to waver like ripples.
They had investigated Bu Eunseol thoroughly, but how could they even dream? That his martial progress, even during meals and sleep, had long surpassed the level of so-called prodigies. And that it was the technique of the Martial Emperor, the strongest of the orthodox faction four hundred years ago.
Thud. Thud.
As the true energy pouring from Bu Eunseol's body turned into three streaks of lightning, the assassins fell helplessly once more. Before long, the over a hundred assassins numbered fewer than ten.
“Hoo. Hoo.” Bu Eunseol breathed heavily.
The Thirteen Guiding Energies possessed unfathomably superior power, but it refined various orthodox martial arts into a single mass and deployed them. Thus, the consumption of mental and inner power was extreme.
A few assassins stepped forward and drew their swords.
Clang!
The swords they drew had not two but four blade edges—an anomalous sword. They began pouring out unique sword techniques to counter Bu Eunseol's Thirteen Guiding Energies.
Clang! Rustle!
Their swordplay, deployed like linked strikes, was unexpectedly proficient.
Not only did it probe weaknesses with fast, concise movements, but each time Bu Eunseol's Thirteen Guiding Energies poured out, it created a wide sword barrier to block the true energy. Moreover, they wildly unleashed bizarre killing strikes to seal off Bu Eunseol's lightning-like movements.
'Orthodox martial arts?' Bu Eunseol couldn't hide his surprise upon seeing the sword technique brushing past his body.
Their swordplay not only slashed left and right but had many thrusting and stabbing motions. At a glance, it resembled vicious demonic or unorthodox sword arts, but that was merely deliberate concealment.
The roots of their swordplay were actually closer to orthodox martial arts.
'If I hadn't mastered the orthodox secret manuals from the Martial Emperor's Secret Vault, I wouldn't have discerned their roots.'
The Martial Emperor had created the Thirteen Guiding Energies based on the main stems of orthodox martial arts. And Bu Eunseol, having comprehended that essence, could instantly perceive the unique nature of orthodox martial arts.
Pop!
Proving it, the sword strikes pouring like lightning suddenly curved greatly, probing Bu Eunseol's vital points. If it were demonic or unorthodox martial arts, it would have plunged straight into the vital points without such a large arc. The assassins were hiding the trajectories of orthodox martial arts through those bizarre swords.
'They've deviated from the original sword path, so their power has greatly diminished.' The assassins had distorted orthodox swordsmanship into something bizarre and unpredictable like unorthodox sword arts.
In other words, by altering the original sword intent, they couldn't exert proper power.
Shing!
Bu Eunseol, having grasped all their weaknesses, drew his Black Blade again. And suddenly, he rapidly deployed his sword technique toward the sky.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!
The hundreds of sword energies poured toward the dark sky suddenly split left and right like living beings. At the same time, they began descending toward the masked figures on the ground like twin torrents.
He had deployed the ninth form of the Supreme Heavenly Flow, Cloudy Layers of Mist, freely maneuvering the unleashed sword energies.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The assassins swung their swords with all their might.
But they couldn't block Bu Eunseol's sword energies, unleashed after grasping all weaknesses.
Pew pew pew pew!
The sharp sword energies swiftly swept over their bodies like living serpents.
Thud.
The assassins toppled to the ground simultaneously, without a single error.
Step step.
Bu Eunseol slowly approached and removed the masks from the fallen assassins.
At the same time, his pupils slightly widened.
“....!” The assassins' faces had all their skin peeled off, with red blood and pus clumped together.
They had stripped their facial skin entirely to hide their identities. An ordinary martial artist would have grimaced at the gruesome sight, but Bu Eunseol calmly observed their bodies.
'They've ingested a special poison long-term.' As if fed poison over years, the assassins' teeth were corroded like rusted iron. Crouching, he now closely examined their fabrics, weapons, shoes, and so on.
But nothing held clues to guess their identities.
“Sahyang is connected to the orthodox faction....” It wasn't entirely fruitless.
All the assassins had used distorted orthodox-style martial arts. That meant the link to Sahyang was closer to the orthodox faction than the demonic path.
“I need to climb higher.” With his current status, he couldn't even investigate all Majeons, let alone the orthodox ones.
Crack.
Bloodlust flickered in Bu Eunseol's eyes.
In the end, he was fated to rise upward.
***
Bu Eunseol returned to Majeon.
For now, grasping Sahyang's tail in one go was impossible. Moreover, if they were truly connected to the orthodox faction, he absolutely couldn't act rashly.
He was still merely a successor candidate of Majeon.
Though it was the holy land of the world's myriad demons, it wasn't a place that offered unconditional support and cheers to mere candidates.
'First, I need to conceal my movements.' The first thing Bu Eunseol implemented was to disrupt any intelligence organizations from easily tracking his activities.
Now, he was a figure influencing the martial world situation.
Thus, many intelligence organizations would have their spies observing his movements. He was using the Affectionate Blossom Sect's network to constantly leak false information into the martial world, thereby concealing his tracks.
Knock knock.
Yet someone knocked on the door outside his office.
“Corps Leader. It's Jo Namcheon.”
“Come in.”
Slide.
The sliding door opened, and Jo Namcheon, with his scruffy beard, trudged in. With his unkempt beard and many wrinkles, he looked around forty, but in truth, he was a man not yet thirty.
“What is it.”
“Well, you see.” At Bu Eunseol's question, Jo Namcheon scratched his head and rummaged in his bosom. “The thing is, I was involved with the Twelve Earths in the past.”
Bu Eunseol's eyes gleamed with interest.
For Jo Namcheon, who always acted so affably, to be from the dark fixers who handled all the underworld's dirty work?
“And?”
“This came for you, Corps Leader.” Jo Namcheon carefully took out a secret letter from his bosom and placed it on the table. “Someone sent a letter to you through the Twelve Earths' intelligence network.”
“A letter?”
“Yes. And the sender is the Twelve Earths'... Chief.”
“Chief?” Originally, the Twelve Earths had no single head and was closer to a patchwork of intelligence and command structures.
Yet suddenly a Chief?
“They say the structure was recently reorganized, and a Chief was created.” Jo Namcheon scratched his head and said. “Since they mainly handle underworld affairs, they call the supreme head managing the entire Twelve Earths the Chief.”
Jo Namcheon looked at the letter on the table and said.
“Moreover, since they sent it precisely to you through me, it doesn't seem like a joke.” Bu Eunseol picked up the letter. But at that moment, murmuring voices came from outside. It seemed the squad members, having finished training, were returning to the Death Shadow Pavilion.
Crash.
Then, through the open door, a rough-looking man hurriedly entered. It was Won Semun.
“Corps Leader!”
“Won Semun. Why the fuss again?” Jo Namcheon chided. “Did you have another absurd dream and come running to the Corps Leader?”
“Shut up!” Glancing sharply at Jo Namcheon, Won Semun said to Bu Eunseol. “Big trouble, Corps Leader!”
“What happened.” At Bu Eunseol's question, Won Semun pursed his lips.
“The successor of the Extreme Slaughter Sect has been assassinated.” For a moment, Bu Eunseol doubted his ears.
“What?”
“Yong Jeokbi, the successor of the Extreme Slaughter Sect. He's been killed.”
Silence fell over the office for a moment.
Yong Jeokbi, the successor of the Extreme Slaughter Sect. Why would the prodigy chosen by that grand assassin sect suddenly die?
“The successor of the Extreme Slaughter Sect was assigned to single-handedly strike the Twelve Earths this time.” Won Semun looked at Bu Eunseol. “But.... they say he was done in by them instead. Moreover, the Twelve Earths used an escort bureau to send Yong Jeokbi's head to the Extreme Slaughter Sect. That's why the palace is in an uproar.”
—The Twelve Earths?
Instantly, Bu Eunseol and Jo Namcheon exchanged glances. And as if by prior agreement, they looked down at the envelope on the table.
Tear.
Even after tearing open the envelope, nothing was inside.
“Huh?” Jo Namcheon looked at the envelope with a baffled expression. “That's strange. This envelope clearly has the Chief's seal.”
To the flustered Jo Namcheon, Won Semun asked.
“Chief? Who's that?”
“Well....” As Jo Namcheon began explaining the situation to Won Semun in earnest,
“....!” A flash gleamed in Bu Eunseol's eyes.
A subtle sensation had transmitted to his fingertips touching the envelope. It was a minute trace that only Bu Eunseol, who had mastered the Beast Way, could feel.
Tear.
Tearing the outer surface of the envelope revealed a single needle thinner than a hair hidden inside the paper. Even bending it with his fingers, it snapped back to shape with such elasticity, and its surface had minute barbs.
Flash!
In an instant, a scorching heat hot enough to melt iron flowed from Bu Eunseol's pupils. At the same time, his heart pounded uncontrollably.
This unique needle, uncommon in the martial world.
Wasn't this precisely one of Sahyang's hidden weapons?
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