Thud.
The old woman, who had fainted, hit her head on the ground.
“Argh!” The shock snapped her back to consciousness, her eyes wide open.
The sight of her collapsing in a faint, only to bounce back up like a roly-poly toy after hitting her head, was so comical that it was hard to stifle a laugh.
“Those weren’t spiders—they were puppets,” Bu Eunseol said.
“They crawled like spiders, didn’t they?” she retorted.
“Then how did you deal with the puppets earlier? They all had grotesque appearances too.”
“They walked on two legs, didn’t they?” The old woman shuddered and shook her head. “I hate bugs. Especially crawling ones.”
“Hmm,” Bu Eunseol murmured, glancing at the empty gourd before pointing to the passage. “You should turn back now. More of those puppets might appear.”
“Fine,” she replied, surprisingly nodding without protest.
Looking around, she gave him a thumbs-up. “Now that I think about it, your martial arts are quite impressive.”
She seemed to recall Bu Eunseol’s swordsmanship, which had effortlessly destroyed the pressure stones and the puppets scattered around.
“You don’t seem like an ordinary mercenary. I wonder what you’re really here for,” she muttered under her breath, turning to walk toward the opposite iron door to open it.
Clank.
But the door was designed to open only from the entry side, making it impossible to exit from this direction.
“Everything’s such a hassle,” she grumbled, summoning her inner energy again.
The water droplets clinging to her hair and clothes began to rise into the air. With no water left in her gourd, she intended to use these droplets to break the iron door.
“Wait a moment,” Bu Eunseol said, sensing something off and approaching the door.
“What is it?” she asked.
“I heard something strange,” he replied.
Closing his eyes briefly, he detected a faint mechanical sound near the door and shook his head. “This won’t do. Forcing this door open will trigger another mechanism.”
Having experienced countless mechanical formations in the Martial Emperor’s Vault, and with the heightened senses of the Beast Way, Bu Eunseol’s ability to detect such mechanisms surpassed even the most renowned formation experts in the martial world.
“I’m not afraid of mechanisms. As long as those bug-like puppets aren’t around, I’m fine,” she said with a nonchalant expression, extending her hand.
Dozens of water droplets aligned in the air, then—
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
—they struck the iron door in rapid succession.
As the heavy water droplets relentlessly pounded the door—
Rumble!
—the thick iron door finally collapsed outward, swinging wide open.
“I’m leaving,” the old woman declared, stepping through the door without hesitation.
Clank.
A loud metallic sound echoed, as if a massive piece of iron was moving.
Wooong.
A strange resonance filled the tunnel.
“What’s that?” The old woman, looking around, suddenly widened her eyes as she stared at a dark cloud approaching from the distance.
It wasn’t fog.
A massive swarm of blood-sucking flies, the Demonic Blood Flies, was flying toward them.
“Demonic Blood Flies?” Bu Eunseol exclaimed, his eyes widening.
These were vampiric flies found in the jungles of Namman. Unlike typical Demonic Blood Flies, these were as large as a child’s fist, likely grown from feeding on something unnatural.
If they were engulfed by such a number of Demonic Blood Flies, they’d be drained dry in an instant, reduced to mere husks.
“W-What do we do?” the old woman stammered, trembling and at a loss.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
A brilliant white light flashed as Bu Eunseol stepped in front of her, unleashing his swordsmanship to cut down the oncoming swarm.
“Ugh,” she groaned, staggering back as fragments of the Demonic Blood Flies piled up at Bu Eunseol’s feet, nearly fainting again.
But no matter how many he cut down, the swarm didn’t diminish.
“Hmm,” Bu Eunseol frowned.
Creating such a wide sword barrier consumed immense energy and stamina.
Though his stamina and inner energy could sustain it for a while, the problem was not knowing what lay ahead.
He needed to deal with the swarm as quickly as possible.
“Old woman, use the technique you used to take down those puppets earlier and wipe these out!” Bu Eunseol shouted, maintaining his relentless swordplay.
She had used the water from her gourd to unleash a tidal wave-like force, annihilating over a hundred puppets. A similar technique could likely clear the Demonic Blood Flies in one go.
“There’s no more water in the gourd!” she cried.
“There’s something else besides water,” Bu Eunseol said, pointing to the slime and blood from the fallen puppets. “You could use that instead.”
“What?!”
The old woman stared in horror at the yellowish slime oozing from the puppets’s mouths and the blood dripping from their necks.
“No way!” she protested, shaking her head.
Bu Eunseol’s voice turned cold. “Do you want to be sucked dry by those flies?”
“Ugh,” she groaned, reluctantly summoning her inner energy.
Wooong!
The yellowish slime and blood scattered around began to rise above her head.
“Ugh,” she grimaced.
The blood and slime emitted an indescribably foul stench.
Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to unleash the Divine Water Palace’s supreme technique, Heaven-Revolving Sun-Pulling.
The blood and slime began to swirl slowly, like a whirlwind.
Whooosh.
But as they swirled, the stench flooded her senses.
“Urk!” Unable to bear the smell, she gagged, disrupting the technique.
Splatter!
The swirling slime and blood collapsed, pouring over her head.
“Kyaa!” Screaming like a madwoman, she shook her head frantically, jumping up and down and shrieking.
The scream wasn’t the low, grating voice of an old woman but the clear, resonant voice of a young girl.
“Argh!” In a panic, she rushed to the opposite iron door, shaking it desperately.
“No! No!”
But no matter how hard she pulled, the door wouldn’t budge. She stomped her feet in frustration.
Clank.
A mechanical sound rang out, and—
“Kyaaa!”
With a piercing scream, the old woman vanished. The iron door wasn’t meant to be forced open but required a special method, with a trap below to deal with intruders.
As she jumped and shook the door, the trap activated, causing her to fall.
“She wasn’t an old woman,” Bu Eunseol sighed, hearing the clear, youthful scream.
Staring at the pit where she had fallen, he shook his head. “No choice, then.”
Extending his left hand—
Wooong!
—a black energy flowed from his hand, spreading wide like a massive wall.
He had unleashed the Wishful True Binding, creating a barrier to block the Demonic Blood Flies.
Whoosh.
Pushing back the swarm, Bu Eunseol swiftly leaped into the pit.
Whooosh!
Falling for a while, he finally saw the faint outline of the ground below. Striking his foot downward—
Swirl.
—he soared upward, performing a midair flip before landing lightly.
“Phew,” he exhaled, looking around.
A passage carved from a massive cave stretched before him, shrouded in darkness.
A faint light leaked from somewhere, enough to discern objects.
With his ability to see through darkness as if it were daylight, Bu Eunseol felt no discomfort.
“Now I understand why they placed iron doors everywhere,” he murmured.
The doors above were not only to deter intruders but also to contain the various demonic creatures hidden within the mechanical formations.
“Ugh,” a groan came from a corner where the old woman lay.
She seemed to have landed poorly in her panic, unable to cushion her fall.
“Are you alright?” Bu Eunseol asked.
“Where are we?” she replied.
“I don’t know. You were jumping like a madwoman by the door, and a pit opened up.”
“What? Jumping?” Struggling to stand, she snapped at him angrily. “What did you just say?”
“Are you still pretending to be an old woman?”
Instead of answering, Bu Eunseol pointed alternately at her head and face. In her frantic flailing, her wig had slipped askew, and the scabby patches on her face had half-fallen off.
The sight was so absurd that even the stoic Bu Eunseol struggled not to burst into laughter.
“Ah!” she gasped, horrified, hurriedly adjusting her wig and reapplying the fallen patches.
“You seem like a young woman—why disguise yourself as an old hag?” Bu Eunseol asked.
Turning away, she replied coldly, “None of your business.”
Though her disguise was exposed, she still spoke in the raspy voice of an old woman. But unlike her earlier confidence, she now seemed deeply afraid.
“Hmm,” Bu Eunseol said, studying her calmly. “You’re injured.”
Despite her attempts to appear composed, one of her legs was limp, and her face was deathly pale.
As he approached, she shouted, “Don’t worry about me!”
Her voice was filled with fear and wariness.
Bu Eunseol nodded, as if conceding. “Alright.”
He surveyed the surroundings and began walking calmly.
The cave had countless branching paths, with light leaking from somewhere.
Thud.
Bu Eunseol rolled on the ground, activating his Mind's Eye technique to analyze the internal structure.
‘It looks like a maze with multiple paths, but… they were dug to install mechanisms, not to create a labyrinth.’
The branching paths weren’t meant to confuse but to facilitate the placement of mechanisms.
‘If they’d dug it as a maze, this place would’ve collapsed,’ he thought, continuing forward.
A rustling sound came from behind.
Turning, he saw the disguised woman limping after him, struggling to keep up.
It was a mix of fear from being injured in this dark cave and wariness toward him.
‘Hmm,’ he thought, understanding her anxiety and deliberately avoiding her gaze.
Clang.
Drawing his Ice Soul Sword, he infused it with inner energy.
A brilliant white light emanated from the blade, illuminating the surroundings. He didn’t need the light to see, but he produced it to ease her mind.
Rustle.
A strange sound echoed from the branching paths.
Halt.
Bu Eunseol dimmed the sword’s light and stopped. The cave plunged back into darkness, and silence fell.
After a while, he reignited the sword’s light and resumed walking.
The woman cautiously followed from a distance.
Halt.
He stopped again at another fork, dimming the light. After standing for a while, he moved forward again.
The woman grew anxious. A foul stench persisted, and she realized he was deliberately pausing whenever it intensified, only moving after neutralizing it.
‘I’d be better off taking another path,’ she thought, unsure when his intentions might change.
Making up her mind, she limped quickly toward him.
But at another fork, he stopped again.
Seizing the moment, she hurried past him, saying, “I’m going right. Don’t follow—”
Her words cut off as she froze, her expression shocked.
A thick poisonous fog filled the path ahead.
Bu Eunseol, with his left hand, used the Absorption Technique to gather the fog and dissipate it with his immense inner energy.
‘This man…’ Seeing him neutralize the poisonous fog, she realized not only was his inner energy extraordinary, but he was also unaffected by toxins—a true master.
He had been stopping to dispel the fog, knowing her injured state couldn’t withstand it.
“I’m sorry,” she said, clasping her hands and looking at him.
Switching to a young woman’s polite tone, she continued, “I knew you weren’t a bad person, but I was so afraid that I kept my guard up.”
Even when she was disguised as a grotesque old woman, Bu Eunseol had treated her with respect and never acted rudely.
Even now, trapped in this dark cave and knowing she was a young woman, he hadn’t complained about her wariness or irritation, silently protecting her.
“Will you forgive my rudeness?” she asked.
Bu Eunseol shook his head calmly. “There’s nothing to forgive.”
With that single sentence, he dismissed her actions.
‘This man… he’s different from others,’ she thought.
Taking a deep breath, she said, “Aren’t you curious why I disguised myself like this?”
She seemed troubled by having deceived him.
But Bu Eunseol shook his head nonchalantly. “Not really.”
“Why not?”
“The martial world is full of people with eccentric hobbies,” he replied.
Her jaw dropped at the unexpected response. “What does that mean? You think I did this as a hobby?”
“Did someone force you to dress like that, then?”
“No, that’s not it!”
As she struggled to respond, he said calmly, “It’s fine. I don’t judge others’ hobbies.”
“That’s not what I mean!”
She waved her hands in frustration, but Bu Eunseol nodded and turned away. “My mistake, then.”
Normally, someone might ask what circumstances led to this or at least show pity. But Bu Eunseol’s expression seemed to say, ‘She has a peculiar hobby,’ as if he’d accepted it.
“Aren’t you going to ask about my story?” she pressed, exasperated.
“Not interested,” he replied flatly, his gaze unwavering.
—A woman with strange tastes.
His blunt look infuriated her. “It’s not a hobby!”
“Alright,” he said.
“Then why do you look at me like that?”
“What’s wrong with my look? I’m wearing a mask.”
“Your eyes are saying I’m some crazy woman with weird hobbies!”
Flinch.
Bu Eunseol’s expression betrayed that she’d hit the mark, and she let out a groan. “Do I really look like a crazy woman to you? Really?”
He averted his gaze instead of answering, as if avoiding a troublesome lunatic.
She had never felt so wronged and frustrated in her life.
“It’s not like that!” she shouted, her eyes reddening with indignation. “Who in the world would dress like a beggar for fun?”
In a fit, she tore off her wig and the remaining scabby patches.
A stunningly beautiful face was revealed, radiant enough to light up the dark cave.
A small, delicate face, a refined nose, and large, mystical eyes.
Her beauty was so striking that even with dirt and yellowish grime on her face, it was undiminished.
“Whoa,” Bu Eunseol let out an involuntary gasp. “Who are you?”
Her beauty was so extraordinary that even he, usually indifferent to appearances, was taken aback.
Noticing his shocked expression beneath the mask, she smirked with restored pride. “My name is Gongsun Dana. Perhaps you’ve heard of me.”
‘The Three Beauties of the Martial World…’
The Flower of Eloquence, Gongsun Dana.
She was one of the three most beautiful women in the martial world, so stunning that she was nicknamed the ‘Flower of Eloquence.’
Her reputation was well-earned.
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