“So this is all the Earth-Killer Star amounted to.”
As Bu Eunseol gazed at the pouring black radiance, a transparent glow flowed from his back.
He had unfolded the Wishful True Binding infused with Crystal Divine Energy, forming a massive umbrella above him.
Pat-pat-patter.
Even though the Hundred-Spirit Earth-Killing Qi had been strengthened further, it could not pierce the Wishful True Binding that held Crystal Divine Energy; it simply dissipated powerlessly.
[Uuugh.]
The Earth-Killer Star refused to give up. He unleashed the Hundred-Spirit Earth-Killing Qi once more and attacked Bu Eunseol.
Hundred-Spirit Earth-Killing Qi was something that no blade could cut and no defense could block. Yet before the Wishful True Binding infused with Crystal Divine Energy, it tore like paper.
Shaaa—!
Having extinguished the aura in an instant, Bu Eunseol continuously slashed at the Earth-Killer Star with Wishful True Binding and stabbed his vital points. Every time he was struck by the tangible blade-like true qi, the Earth-Killer Star suffered fatal wounds.
[Guuh!]
At last, with a single choked scream, the Earth-Killer Star died once again.
[Heh heh heh.]
Yet, as if nothing had happened, he laughed and rose like a tumbler doll.
Pshht!
This time Bu Eunseol drove Wishful True Binding straight through the Earth-Killer Star’s heart.
As long as he possessed a human body, he would never rise again.
The Earth-Killer Star’s eyes lost focus and he collapsed to the ground.
Thud.
Bu Eunseol stared down at him for a long while, then turned to leave—
BOOM!
—as though waiting for exactly that moment, the Earth-Killer Star fired the Golden Demon Soul-Summoning Hand at Bu Eunseol’s back, heavy as an iron hammer.
BOOM!
An explosion rang out and dust flew in all directions.
Pat-pat.
Bu Eunseol merely brushed off his clothes, completely unharmed.
[Uuugh.]
The Earth-Killer Star let out a groan of rage.
His inner force and power—still far from the level of a Great Blood Calamity—could not even scratch Bu Eunseol’s protective body true qi, which was backed by five hundred years of cultivation.
[…]
The trembling Earth-Killer Star suddenly regained an icy expression.
Crunch.
Without hesitation he bit into the artery of his own left arm.
Glug, glug.
He began drinking his own blood endlessly.
His body changed once more—from a young man back into that of an old man.
“So because you cannot kill people, you drink your own blood to increase your strength.” Bu Eunseol watched coldly, unmoving.
Killing him like this would not satisfy him.
He wanted the Earth-Killer Star to realize that even after using every last hidden card he still could not win—to drown him in unbearable terror and despair.
[Huuu.]
Returned to the form of an elder, the Earth-Killer Star’s eyes had turned pitch black.
Shaaa—!
At the same instant, crimson-tinged Hundred-Spirit Earth-Killing Qi gushed from his body.
Sizzle!
It melted the Wishful True Binding in a flash and burrowed into Bu Eunseol’s flesh.
Rumble.
That scorching, ferocious power pierced even Bu Eunseol’s skin.
It ignored five hundred years of inner force and poured sharp strands of energy into his meridians.
Shiiing!
Bu Eunseol drew the Silent Tiger Soul Sword and instantly slashed away the Hundred-Spirit Earth-Killing Qi, then began carving the Earth-Killer Star’s body once more.
Slash-slash-slash-slash!
Blood sprayed in every direction, yet the Earth-Killer Star wore a sinister smile.
No matter how deeply flesh and muscle were severed or bones cut, his body healed endlessly.
[Heh heh heh.]
The Earth-Killer Star laughed wickedly.
He could clearly see Bu Eunseol growing weary of this immortal flesh.
“Immortal, you say.” Contrary to expectation, Bu Eunseol muttered with an indifferent face. “As if such a thing could exist.”
He spread Crystal Divine Energy wide.
Not to attack the Earth-Killer Star, but to search, through the transparent crystal light, for the weakness of this endlessly regenerating body.
Bzzz.
Crystal Divine Energy now covering his eyes, Bu Eunseol curved his lips into a cold smile.
“You recover by absorbing the blood of the dead. Just like recovering the body with Thunder Spirit Energy?”
In that instant the Earth-Killer Star’s eyes widened.
The reason he grew stronger the more he slaughtered was that he could endlessly absorb the blood of the dead.
It was exactly like how Nae Bihon healed wounds instantly with the fierce Thunder Spirit Energy inherited in the bloodline.
He too had healed fatal wounds in a heartbeat by absorbing the blood of those he killed.
[You…] The Earth-Killer Star trembled.
Only now did he understand what kind of power Bu Eunseol possessed.
[You possess one of the Four Divine Energies.]
Hundred-Spirit Earth-Killing Qi was a power bestowed by heaven—in other words, a natural force, extremely similar in nature to the Four Divine Energies, and thus able to counter it.
[But in the end, the one who dies will be you.]
The Earth-Killer Star could absorb the blood of the dead and recover. But if Bu Eunseol suffered a fatal wound, his life would be in immediate danger.
Victory was already decided.
[Die!]
Wrapping himself in Hundred-Spirit Earth-Killing Qi, the Earth-Killer Star attempted close-quarters assault.
No matter how perfectly Bu Eunseol neutralized Hundred-Spirit Earth-Killing Qi before counterattacking, he could not forever block attacks that feared no death and spammed mutual destruction.
Slash-slash-slash!
Bu Eunseol unleashed sword techniques in rapid succession.
Yet because of the thick layer of Hundred-Spirit Earth-Killing Qi, he could not sever neck or limbs, and even if he did, the Earth-Killer Star could heal instantly.
In the end, the Earth-Killer Star intended to force mutual destruction against Bu Eunseol.
[Got you.]
Finally closing into melee range, the Earth-Killer Star smiled in victory.
At this distance, no matter how great the expert, neither could fully evade the other’s attacks. Even if they struck simultaneously, the Earth-Killer Star would recover instantly; the outcome was obvious.
“You still haven’t realized.” Bu Eunseol muttered with a bored expression.
At the same moment, purple lightning flashed from his body.
Thunder Spirit Energy that seemed capable of incinerating the entire world began coiling around the Earth-Killer Star.
[GWAAAH!]
As the Thunder Spirit Energy endlessly burrowed into him, the Earth-Killer Star began screaming in agony.
[How…]
Focus vanished from the writhing Earth-Killer Star’s eyes.
How could the one who possessed Crystal Divine Energy also wield Thunder Spirit Energy?
“You’re surprised too early.”
Within Bu Eunseol’s blazing eyes, a chill colder than ten-thousand-year ice also rose.
“Because now I will begin overlapping.”
[Overlapping?]
The instant the Earth-Killer Star blinked—
FWOOSH!
Tremendous heat accompanying the Thunder Spirit Energy began burning the Earth-Killer Star’s body.
He had overlapped and poured forth the Yeolha Great True Energy.
Sizzle-sizzle-sizzle.
The Earth-Killer Star’s body collapsed, charred like coal.
[No… way…]
Crack.
Yet once more the Earth-Killer Star healed and stood.
Even extreme yang force accompanied by Thunder Spirit Energy could not prevent recovery through blood.
“Well risen.” Bu Eunseol nodded as he watched. “You still have far to go before you feel despair and terror.”
Hummm—
He instantly infused the Silent Tiger Soul Sword with energy.
Brilliant patterns entwined with golden and crimson light appeared on the scabbard.
Feeling sudden foreboding, the Earth-Killer Star immediately wrapped himself in Hundred-Spirit Earth-Killing Qi and charged Bu Eunseol.
Slash! Slash! Slaaaash!
But Bu Eunseol’s sword was faster.
Lightning-like afterimages shifted four times in the air and carved across the Earth-Killer Star’s body.
Nine Dragons Flashing Thunder had been unleashed.
Slash.
A red line finally appeared on the Earth-Killer Star’s neck.
Nine Dragons Flashing Thunder had severed his throat in a single stroke.
Drip-drip.
Yet something astonishing happened.
The cleanly cut bloodline filled with black smoke and healed in an instant.
Wearing a triumphant expression, the Earth-Killer Star roared like a lion.
[WAHAHA! This old man is immor—!]
His words never finished.
Suddenly hundreds of crimson sword rings floated around his body.
Since neither Crystal nor Thunder Spirit Energy could sever the Earth-Killer Star’s lifeline, Bu Eunseol unfolded the first form of the Seven Blood Tear Forms:
Life Lodges, Death Returns.
Shaaaa—!
In that instant, surrounded by countless sword rings, the Earth-Killer Star tasted for the first time the meaning of death.
It was darkness so black he could not see ahead. Lonely, somewhat cold… and terrifying.
When at last that black darkness vanished from his sight,
Slash.
Diagonal crimson bloodlines were drawn across both of the Earth-Killer Star’s forearms.
In the face of the absolute sword art that dealt pure death, Seven Blood Tear Forms, no being could boast of life force.
Pshht!
As the muscles of both arms were severed and blood geysered, the Earth-Killer Star screamed.
Pain he had never experienced before and terror beyond words coiled through his mind.
[GWAAH!]
Slash!
Life Lodges, Death Returns unfolded once more and this time blood poured from both thighs.
[No… no…]
The Earth-Killer Star could no longer even scream; tears began to flow.
The authority of an absolute transcendent—the terror of death.
Unknown sensations and pains he had never felt before crashed over him all at once.
[Kill me…]
The Earth-Killer Star began to sob.
[Please… just kill me.]
Bu Eunseol had never intended to forgive him from the start. Yet seeing him weep while blood poured from all four limbs, the image of his pitifully dying grandfather surfaced in his mind.
Crunch.
Bu Eunseol gripped the Silent Tiger Soul Sword tighter.
Rumble—
Deciding to kill him with Seven Blood Tear Forms, black mist began rising from his body.
The closer he drew to the profound meaning of the true Seven Blood Tear Forms, the more Bu Eunseol truly emanated the aura of a god that bestowed death.
Flash!
Drawing a black line that should not exist in this world and slashing downward, a black bloodline was carved across the Earth-Killer Star’s neck.
Shaaa—!
At the same instant his body split in two, spraying blood.
The Earth-Killer Star—the monster that grew stronger the more enemies he killed and instantly recovered by turning the site of massacre into his domain—had finally sunk deep into the river of death.
BOOM!
Suddenly his body exploded with a thunderous sound.
The moment the flesh that had been sustained by absorbed blood collapsed, every wound he had endured erupted at once.
Drip-drip.
All traces of the Earth-Killer Star vanished and only blood remained, flowing everywhere.
Pat.
Yet at that moment, a small fragment rolled from the pooled blood to Bu Eunseol’s feet.
It was a small jade that glimmered with faint light.
“This is…”
Bu Eunseol picked it up without thinking.
A strange energy seemed to brush along his spine.
―It might be because the Boundary Prosperity Jade was shattered.
He suddenly recalled what Yangseol Rin had said.
If this jade was the Boundary Prosperity Jade they had spoken of…
‘Is that how the Earth-Killer Star was able to hide his aura?’
Unconsciously, Bu Eunseol slipped the small jade into his bosom.
“Ugh.” A groan escaped the lips of Baek Museong, who had lain as though dead.
“Brother Baek.”
Bu Eunseol immediately approached and examined him once more.
Thanks to having mastered the Shaolin Heart-Protection Art, even while unconscious he was circulating true qi to heal internal injuries.
But that was all.
His right arm, corrupted by Hundred-Spirit Earth-Killing Qi, remained in a horrific state.
‘If only it had been his dantian…’
The Azure Cloud Sea Palace stood at the pinnacle of the martial world in restoring shattered dantians.
But recovering an external wound this severe was impossible.
“Captain!”
Shouts rang out from afar as more than ten warriors rushed over.
It was Tae Muryong and the elite squad members who had followed Bu Eunseol here.
“How… how did this…”
Tae Muryong and the others gaped at the scene.
The villagers and squad members were cruelly slaughtered, and the renowned prodigy of the new generation, Baek Museong, lay unconscious as if dead.
“Captain, what in the world happened?”
To Tae Muryong’s question, Bu Eunseol deliberately pointed at the blood clot with a weary face.
“When I arrived, Captain Baek was already fighting the slaughter demon.”
“The slaughter demon?”
“Yes. I tried to help, but I was insufficient. In the end, Captain Baek and the demon exchanged final blows simultaneously—the demon died, and he fell unconscious.”
Bu Eunseol intentionally gave all the credit to Baek Museong.
Otherwise the man would completely collapse.
Unaware of the truth, Tae Muryong and the others nodded.
“I see.”
“Let us return now.”
Bu Eunseol gazed at the distant sky with a tired face.
Contrary to expectations, the Earth-Killer Star had died by his hand, not Yangseol Rin’s, and Baek Museong had lost the use of his right arm.
‘The Earth-Killer Star… does such a being truly exist in this world?’
As Yangseol Rin had said, the Earth-Killer Star was destined to become a great murderous star who slaughtered martial artists and commoners indiscriminately.
That meant the Hundred and Eight Stars were not mere legend—they actually existed.
‘And the Yangseol Clan cannot escape that category either.’
They claimed to have imprisoned the Earth-Killer Star for the sake of the martial world, yet it did not feel like a place upholding justice. Not because he believed the Earth-Killer Star’s words, but because he sensed they might be an even more sinister and bizarre force than the Three Realms.
‘In the end, there is nothing in the martial world worth trusting.’
Everyone, every sect— they all simply lived for their own profit and purpose.
‘How tiring. For once.’
He was exhausted
The scenery of Nangyang Pavilion suddenly surfaced in Bu Eunseol’s mind.
Shuttling between Majeon and the Martial Alliance, constantly entangled in intrigue and schemes—he too had grown weary.
A place devoted solely to training martial arts and researching martial principles, indifferent to the martial world’s politics.
He missed life at Nangyang Pavilion.
‘But there is no time for that.’
Bu Eunseol had far too much to do.
The days at Nangyang Pavilion when he risked his life training martial arts and pondered only the principles of martial learning— at the time they had felt endlessly fierce and precarious, yet looking back, they were the most leisurely and peaceful days since becoming a warrior… now an unattainable dream-like memory.
***
Shocking news spread through the Martial Alliance.
The slaughterer of Qinghai, thought to be a mere slaughter demon, was actually an expert comparable to the Great Murder Star Bloody Massacre from three hundred years ago.
―I heard Captain Baek is leaving the Alliance for a while.
The next-generation prodigy called Golden True Dragon, who had risen to first-rank Captain, declared he would leave the Martial Alliance temporarily.
―What on earth happened?
Since joining, he had continuously achieved great merits.
This time he risked his life to slay the slaughter demon terrorizing Qinghai and Sichuan, did he not?
A man who would soon become Hall Lord if he simply waited—why return to wandering?
Yet a few days after the rumor spread, the reason finally came to light.
―They say his right arm is crippled.
He suffered severe injury to his right hand while slaying the demon.
The Alliance bestowed elixirs and summoned the greatest physicians, but they could not restore his torn muscles and nerves.
―Even if the arm is uncomfortable, he can still accomplish great things, can he not?
When Baek Museong announced his departure, not only his direct superior, Dragon Coiling Hall Lord, but even Vice-Alliance Leader Buk Ri-seung tried to dissuade him.
Yet Baek Museong’s resolve was firm.
“Of course. I will return once my arm is perfectly healed.”
With those words, he vanished from the Martial Alliance.
Without even seeking Gongsun Dankyung, whom he loved so dearly, or Bu Eunseol, his good friend.
In the office of Sixth Elder Yuk Jangcheon of the Ascendant Martial Hall.
Yuk Jangcheon and Bu Eunseol sat side by side at the table, conversing.
“So in the end, Captain Baek barely managed to fell the slaughter demon after a fierce battle…” Yuk Jangcheon nodded as though he had expected as much.
Seon Woojin had shown astonishing martial skill and ability until now, but he could not compare to Baek Museong, disciple of the Buddha Venerable. In truth, Yuk Jangcheon had privately wagered that Baek Museong would claim the greatest merit in this mission.
What he could not understand was Baek Museong’s actions.
“This old man truly cannot comprehend it. Even if he can no longer use his right arm, for a man in his position it should not be such a great matter.” He tilted his head. “Shaolin martial arts are different from others—whether one has one arm or three, the power does not diminish.”
Bu Eunseol knew all too well why Baek Museong had made that decision.
First, it was because of Gongsun Dankyung.
He could not accept showing her his crippled self.
To Baek Museong, Gongsun Dankyung was more than a celestial maiden of perfect beauty and status. To become crippled and unable to use his arm—he would think himself unworthy of her.
“He is probably seeking a way to heal his forearm. There are many hidden transcendents in the martial world who do not reveal themselves.”
“Well, that could be. But if so, there was no need to leave the Alliance so hastily.”
And the second reason: Baek Museong’s pride had been utterly shattered.
In truth, the one who killed the Earth-Killer Star was Bu Eunseol. Baek Museong had failed to block the demon’s surprise attack and fainted.
Bu Eunseol had claimed that, right before losing consciousness, Baek Museong used Diamond Prajna Palm to burst the Earth-Killer Star’s body.
But Baek Museong knew the truth.
That Bu Eunseol was the one who killed the Earth-Killer Star.
And he could not bear it.
He who had always been praised as the greatest genius of his generation, who had never once believed Seon Woojin could surpass him. That was why he had confidently declared he would become Captain and take Seon Woojin as his deputy.
Yet Seon Woojin possessed strength that unbelievably surpassed his own, and the weak true face hidden beneath the title “Golden True Dragon” had been exposed.
Even so, Bu Eunseol had given him the merit of slaying the demon so he could rise again…
From Baek Museong’s perspective, the self-loathing must have been unbearable.
“Anyway, this is a blessing for us. With Baek Museong gone, both Cheongah and Dragon Coiling Hall Lord are like dogs that chased a chicken and ended up on the roof.”
Yuk Jangcheon burst into satisfied laughter.
He had never expected this, yet Baek Museong had voluntarily left the Alliance, even if only temporarily.
Even if he returned, he would no longer pose any threat.
The trump card that Yuk Cheongah and the Dragon Coiling Hall Lord had held was gone.
“You always bring fortune whenever you take a mission. Haha!” Yuk Jangcheon laughed heartily and nodded with a pleased face. “You have truly worked hard. The Hall Lord seat will soon be yours. Good news will come soon.”
“Thank you.”
“Then go and rest.”
Bu Eunseol bowed and turned to leave.
But even then he did not know—that his true identity would soon be completely exposed to someone utterly unexpected, and that, unable to contain uncontrollable rage, he would end up killing one of the Martial Alliance elders.
***
In a mysterious space shrouded in deep darkness, Baek Museong knelt.
[It is time you returned.]
From the darkness spread before him came a low, heavy voice.
[If you obtain that power, you may have anything you desire.]
Baek Museong prostrated himself and spoke.
“I need only Gongsun Dankyung. Nothing else.”
[Still clinging to a woman.]
Baek Museong only bowed his head in silence.
As though displeased, the voice in the darkness grew even lower and more sinister.
[Very well. I shall give her to you.]
Gongsun Dankyung was a Commander of the Martial Alliance, one of the highest-ranking figures in the righteous factions.
No one could force anything upon her— yet the voice in the darkness spoke as though she were a courtesan to be bought at will.
“Thank you.”
[However.]
The voice from the darkness was utterly firm.
[You will no longer be able to live as the Golden True Dragon.]
Baek Museong answered only by bowing his head once more.
In truth, abandoning the name Golden True Dragon and forcibly taking her heart was something worse than death to him.
Yet he had realized he could never obtain her otherwise.
Now he would offer his entire life and very existence to possess her.
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