The Supreme Branch was granted a full month’s leave.
It was officially rewarded for their relentless service without a single day of rest until now.
But every member of the corps knew the truth.
It was for Seon Woojin, who had been wrongfully branded a spy and suffered unjustly.
And it was to quiet the restless murmurs swirling through the Martial Alliance.
By the grace of heaven, Tae Muryong—who had left the Alliance and then vanished—returned unharmed. Investigation revealed that he had been ambushed by assassins sent by the Dragon Coiling Hall Leader, fell from a cliff, yet miraculously survived.
The Alliance elders breathed sighs of relief.
Had Tae Muryong died a gruesome death, a thorough inquiry would have followed, and eventually the full extent of Yong Myeong’s crimes would have been laid bare before the world.
The Alliance pretended to investigate, but since the culprit—the Dragon Coiling Hall Leader—was already dead… they let the entire affair fade quietly away.
‘So that’s when the Captain went to save the Vice-Captain.’
Yet every member of the corps, Jeong Jongdo included, knew that Bu Eunseol and Tae Muryong were hiding the truth.
Still, no one asked a single question.
They were simply grateful that Tae Muryong had come back alive.
Martial Alliance, Supreme Pavilion—Seon Woojin’s office.
“Now it is time you all learned the whole truth.”
Having sealed the room with a barrier of strong qi so no sound could escape, Bu Eunseol summoned Tae Muryong, Jeong Jongdo, and every member of the Supreme Branch.
Tae Muryong, standing at the very front, looked far healthier than before.
Thanks to the Soul-Returning Divine Pellet and Blue Spirit Stone Elixir, his severed meridians had been perfectly restored. While receiving treatment from Gyo Junghak at a Majeon safe house and consuming various miraculous elixirs—including the Demon-Sealing Divine Pellet—his inner power had increased by more than a full cycle of sixty years. Even his aura and bearing had changed dramatically.
“I am a man of the Demonic Path.”
Bu Eunseol finally revealed his original manner of speech and presence.
“My true identity is a disciple of Nangyang Pavilion, and the Martial Soul Command Lord of Majeon.”
He explained in detail who he really was—and that he had entered the Martial Alliance solely to find the enemy who murdered his grandfather.
‘The Captain… is the Martial Soul Command Lord.’
Yet, surprisingly, neither Tae Muryong nor Jeong Jongdo nor any of the corps members appeared particularly shocked.
The Supreme Branch was an intelligence unit and its members were hand-picked elite operatives who had undergone the highest level of training under Bu Eunseol himself. They had long sensed that he was concealing his true strength and that his potential surpassed all imagination.
Thus, learning that he was the heir destined to rule over a hundred million demonic practitioners in the future did not feel especially astonishing.
“I never knew the Captain was the Martial Soul Command Lord,” Jeong Jongdo said with a shrug and a grin. “But we already guessed you were from the Demonic Path.”
Bu Eunseol’s brow rose in genuine surprise.
He had slipped only once—before Tae Muryong—and yet every member had suspected he belonged to the demonic faction?
‘Was there some flaw I never noticed all this time?’
“You used your movement art right in front of us, Captain,” Jeong Jongdo answered, still smiling. “You must have lost your composure the moment you heard Vice-Captain Tae was in danger.”
When Bu Eunseol heard Tae Muryong was in peril, he had unconsciously drawn upon Thunder Spirit Energy and executed his divine movement technique.
With only that single display, the entire corps had instantly recognized him as a master of the Demonic Path.
“I see. I truly hadn’t realized,” Tae Muryong laughed. “Actually, ever since the Hell's Blood Fortress incident, the men have suspected you possessed another identity.”
“No way.”
“If you had trained us only moderately, we might never have noticed. But Captain—you raised us far too capably.”
One of the members standing at the front, Gye Muk, chuckled and added, “Exactly. How could we possibly remain blind to the Captain’s true face?”
Bu Eunseol had poured his heart and soul into training them so that one day every member of the Supreme Branch could stand at the pinnacle of the martial world.
As a result, each of them had become peerless elite intelligence operatives counted among the very best in the martial world.
Moreover, because they watched him with absolute devotion and care, they had been able to catch every odd detail.
“I have returned to the Alliance according to the Vice-Captain’s wish,” Bu Eunseol declared firmly. “But if even one of you objects… I will leave the Martial Alliance at once.”
The corps stood in solemn formation; not a single man voiced opposition.
Long ago they had sworn to lay down their lives for Bu Eunseol.
Whether he was demonic or orthodox—no such thing mattered any longer.
‘So that’s how it was.’
Only now did Bu Eunseol truly understand their hearts.
They harbored a loyalty so fierce they would die for him without hesitation.
What did labels like demonic or orthodox possibly mean in the face of that?
“Good. Then I’ll remain with the Alliance.”
Taking a deep breath, Bu Eunseol addressed them once more in his original tone and demeanor.
“I will now tell you the foremost principle that I—and every one of you—must uphold from this day forward.”
The men’s eyes flashed as they straightened their posture, ready to obey even an order to die without blinking.
“This corps is one. If we live, we live together. If we die, we die together.”
In that instant, proud smiles broke across the tense faces of the corps.
Bu Eunseol was a divine being none could ever hope to match, a man who would rewrite the history of the martial world.
For such a man to say he would live and die together with them…
They could ask for nothing more.
“Enjoy this leave,” Bu Eunseol said, smiling warmly at them. “From now on, things will only grow harder.”
No matter what lay ahead, he would walk the path with these men.
And so, the expression he must show them was a bright smile filled with hope.
Having obtained a full month’s leave, Bu Eunseol left the Alliance, switched identities with Seo Jinha, and sent Seo Jinha to rest comfortably at the Sunflower Merchant Guild.
He simply wanted Seo Jinha—who had endured the blood-soaked martial world for so long—to live peacefully for a while as Seon Woojin.
[I have urgent news that must reach you at once.]
Around the time he left Henan and neared the Guangshan region, Soyo sent him a Thousand-Li Sound Transmission.
As Bu Eunseol silently listened, a flash of cold light crossed his eyes.
‘They’ve grown bold. How dare they.’
After pondering deeply for a moment, he sent another transmission.
[Immediately select the fastest members and dispatch them beyond the borders. And…]
He gave Soyo several detailed instructions before adding one final line.
[Time is of the essence in this matter. Do not be late—no matter what.]
[Understood. I’m leaving right now.]
Having memorized every order, Soyo slipped secretly out of the mines.
As Bu Eunseol prepared to resume his qinggong, he stared in the direction Soyo had vanished, his face strangely blank.
Normally he would have felt only a brief pang of guilt for making her work so hard, then returned to Majeon at once to deal with piled-up duties.
But after everything that had happened in the Alliance, his heart had grown terribly complicated.
‘I came to the martial world for revenge. Not to ruin the lives of bright, lively young people.’
He had stepped into the martial world solely for vengeance.
Both Majeon and the Martial Alliance were merely temporary places to stay until that vengeance was complete.
Yet in both places he had gained subordinates who would wager their lives for him.
Still, deep inside, Bu Eunseol had been certain:
If the Supreme Branch ever learned his true identity—if they learned his purpose—they would be bitterly disappointed and turn away.
But that had been his misunderstanding.
They did not care in the slightest whether he belonged to the orthodox or demonic path, nor what goal he pursued.
Absolute loyalty.
They followed Bu Eunseol with their lives, placing nothing else above him.
It was deeply moving—yet at the same time it weighed heavily on his heart.
‘I almost feel sorry for the Death Shadow Corps men.’
When he returned to Majeon, men just like the Supreme Branch—who would throw their lives away for him—waited.
Yet right now he had no face to show them.
From his perspective they were like family, but the leaders of the Death Shadow Corps would never accept the orthodox faction—or the Supreme Branch.
‘For now… let me forget both Majeon and the Alliance.’
His mind tangled with complicated feelings, Bu Eunseol did not return to Majeon.
Like a wanderer who had lost his destination, he simply drifted aimlessly through the martial world.
Whenever he spotted a quiet, deserted tavern, he went inside and drank.
He always slept in cheap, rundown inns.
By the time he reached the outskirts of Sichuan, he rented another shabby room and found a dingy tavern to drink in once more.
Glug, glug.
Having ordered cup after cup of cheap white liquor, Bu Eunseol drank as though his only purpose in life was to fill his stomach with alcohol.
“Phew.”
Setting down an empty cup, he let out a satisfied sigh.
People drink to forget the troubles and pain of life.
Until now, Bu Eunseol had never lived a leisurely existence where he drowned his sorrows in wine.
He had treasured every second, always calculating, always planning.
When pain came, he dispelled it not with drink but with martial training and meditation.
But now…
He calculated nothing, trained nothing, thought of nothing—and simply drank.
Like a wastrel, recalling the past and using old memories as side dishes for his liquor.
‘Grandfather.’
In the full bowl of liquor, the kind face of his grandfather seemed to shimmer.
The only happy memories Bu Eunseol possessed were those with his grandfather.
Bu Zhanyang had been his sky and his earth, his parents and his friend.
Every scrap of knowledge and thought in his mind had been placed there by Bu Zhanyang.
Even now, as a martial artist, the secret arts his grandfather had imparted still protected his life.
Time should have faded those memories, yet perhaps the reason he still burned for revenge even now…
…was because everything that filled Bu Eunseol—every part of him—had been given to him by his grandfather, Bu Zhanyang.
Glug, glug.
Once more he tilted the bottle to his lips and closed his eyes.
When he drank with his eyes shut like this, the harsh liquid sliding down his throat would surge back up into his mind, making memories of the past rise vividly.
And so he drank again and again, using those surfacing memories as his only side dish.
Stomp, stomp.
Late into the night, after drinking endlessly in the tavern, Bu Eunseol staggered out onto the street.
He could not remember how many bottles he had emptied.
As if his body understood the pain in his heart, the constitution that would normally dispel alcohol instantly now allowed the intoxication to linger.
Thanks to that, he could walk unsteadily, exhaling sweet, drunken breaths.
The ordinary life his grandfather had wished for him so badly…
‘If I had simply lived quietly as a mortician, Grandfather would have been even happier.’
Bu Eunseol smiled weakly.
Truthfully, he too had wanted an ordinary life.
But he could not live while forgetting the ones who had murdered his grandfather in cold blood.
If that were possible, he would have taken his own life long ago.
Totter, totter.
And so he walked with faltering steps toward the rundown inn where he was staying.
When he reached an empty lot with no one around, Bu Eunseol stopped.
He let out a deep, weary sigh.
“Even getting drunk is a luxury I’m not allowed, it seems.”
Shhhhhhh—
At that moment, the sound of countless insects scattering filled the air.
In an instant, dozens of black shadows surrounded him.
Swish.
The shadows parted neatly left and right as a man dressed in splendid silken robes strode toward Bu Eunseol.
Under the moonlight, his face was strikingly handsome—enough to make eyes widen—but his long, sharp, slit-like eyes gave him a somewhat sinister air.
“How curious,” the man said with a smile. “For the Martial Soul Command Lord who commands the entire demonic world to wander like a beggar, drinking cheap liquor and sleeping in filthy inns.”
Bu Eunseol’s gaze was not on the man’s face but fixed on his sword.
The blade was unusually wide, and from scabbard to hilt everything gleamed silver.
It was none other than the Blood Flame Saber used by masters of the Blood Flame Blade Sect.
“So you’re from the Blood Flame Blade Sect.”
At Bu Eunseol’s question, the man proudly cupped his hands.
“Do Yongrin, at your service.”
Bu Eunseol raised one eyebrow.
The second son who had taken Do Cheonlin’s place as heir to the Blood Flame Blade Sect—the Heaven-Shaking Single Blade, Do Yongrin.
“What do you want?”
“Soon I will inherit the position of Sect Leader,” Do Yongrin continued with a slightly arrogant expression. “I visited Majeon to pay respects to the Chief Inspector, but since the Martial Soul Command Lord I truly wished to meet was absent… I came running here in one breath.”
Bu Eunseol muttered as if annoyed. “You’ve seen me now. Satisfied?”
He turned to leave, but Do Yongrin spoke again.
“Didn’t my elder brother Do Cheonlin suffer a humiliating defeat at your hands, Lord, and then leave the sect?”
Bu Eunseol stopped. Do Yongrin smiled faintly.
“Big brother wasted his time learning all those imperial studies and miscellaneous arts, neglecting his martial training.”
“…”
“That is the point I came here to make clear.”
So Do Yongrin, the new heir of the Blood Flame Blade Sect, had come to wash away—at least a little—the shame his sect had suffered at Bu Eunseol’s hands and to restore his own pride.
“You say Do Cheonlin neglected his martial training?”
“Precisely.”
Do Yongrin wore a confident smile.
“Soon I will sit in the Sect Leader’s seat. Once that happens, speaking to you like this would become awkward.”
“…”
“That is why the current Sect Leader ordered me to make this matter absolutely clear to the Lord.”
‘Lies.’
Bu Eunseol gave a quiet snort.
A supreme master on the level of the Invincible Blade could not possibly fail to gauge Bu Eunseol’s skill.
He would never have ordered his son to pick a fight.
‘Just overconfidence, nothing more.’
Bu Eunseol saw through the whole situation.
Do Yongrin believed he had surpassed the once-famous Do Cheonlin through his own ability. Drunk on the joy of soon inheriting the Sect Leader position, he had come to provoke the very man who had repeatedly humiliated the Blood Flame Blade Sect.
“I see.”
Bu Eunseol turned away as if the other man was not worth his time.
“I understand. You may go.”
He began walking away lazily. Do Yongrin’s brow furrowed.
Turning his back so casually in front of him—was that not proof of the vast gap in their martial prowess?
“You’re just going to walk away?”
Do Yongrin provoked again.
“Since we’ve met like this, why not give me a little lesson?”
“There’s nothing to teach.” Bu Eunseol replied calmly. “As you said yourself—you merely defeated someone who neglected his training in the Blood Flame Blade Sect. That’s all.”
Thud.
A vein bulged on Do Yongrin’s forehead.
He had tried to belittle Bu Eunseol, yet the man had turned it around into an insult against the entire Blood Flame Blade Sect.
“How disappointing. So the title of Martial Soul Command Lord was earned with nothing but a sharp tongue.”
Bu Eunseol stopped.
Not because he was angry.
Normally he would not even bother with a mere pup like this.
But he had sensed an obvious gaze watching from afar… he had no choice.
“If it had been Do Cheonlin, he would have made an appointment with me beforehand—because he would have wanted to face me at my absolute peak.”
Bu Eunseol turned his head and gave a derisive snort.
“But you chose to provoke me knowing full well I am drunk.”
“…”
“That alone proves you can never match Do Cheonlin’s magnanimity.”
Do Yongrin frowned.
“Could a master like the Lord truly become drunk from a few cups of liquor?”
“To achieve a proper duel, both body and spirit must be brought to their absolute pinnacle. Not even a speck of error is permissible.”
Bu Eunseol smiled coldly.
“Has the second young master of the Blood Flame Blade Sect still not learned that much?”
“It feels a little lacking to give lessons with words alone.”
“Do Yongrin.”
Bu Eunseol sighed and spoke solemnly.
“Your current level of martial arts is an embarrassment even to call yourself the lesser Sect Leader of the Blood Flame Blade Sect. The Sect Leader knows this—that is why he hesitates.”
“What did you say?”
“Go back to the sect and enter closed-door training for three years. If you produce results, then try claiming the Sect Leader seat again.”
Shaking his head, Bu Eunseol let out a deep sigh.
“This is my sincere advice.”
He turned and began walking away once more.
“I’ve been saying it over and over,” Do Yongrin snarled, fury rising to the top of his head as he blocked Bu Eunseol’s path.
“Isn’t advice supposed to come with a demonstration?”
“Hmm.”
Bu Eunseol sighed as though the earth itself had caved in.
Do Yongrin possessed outstanding natural talent, yet compared to the rising stars of the current generation he was somewhat lacking.
He was not even guaranteed victory against Seo Jinha or Yoo Unryong—yet he dared challenge Bu Eunseol with such confidence.
‘They say people in the martial world only shed tears after seeing their coffin.’
Recalling the old saying, Bu Eunseol nodded.
It seemed tonight he would have to set aside his loneliness for a while…
…and open the eyes of the frog still living inside the well of the Blood Flame Blade Sect.
“Very well. Draw your technique.”
Bu Eunseol folded his arms and spoke indifferently.
“But come at me with everything you have. So you will have no regrets.”
“Unnecessary words.”
Shiiing.
Do Yongrin instantly drew his Blood Flame Saber.
Silver light exploded in all directions as sharp sword qi began pouring out.
“Draw your weapon.”
“If I let you force me to draw it, I’ll count it as your victory.”
“Heh heh… ha ha ha!”
“…”
“Your pride truly knows no bounds.”
With a furious shout, Do Yongrin unleashed the Blood Flame Saber Art.
“Don’t regret this!”
Shaaaaaaa!
Rainbow-colored sword light dyed the night sky as it came crashing down toward Bu Eunseol’s body.
Comments