Nangyang Heart Eye.
Stimulated by Baekri Mujo’s overwhelming martial prowess, the highest realm of practical martial learning had unconsciously manifested.
Kwa-ruuung!
In that gap, Baekri Mujo’s sword strike cleaved toward Bu Eunseol once more.
It was as if it carried the combined might of the entire world, yet descended as swiftly as lightning striking the earth.
Yet to Bu Eunseol’s eyes, now opened by the Nangyang Heart Eye, the trajectory was perfectly visible.
‘I’ll shatter it!’
Flash!
At the same instant, purple lightning burst from the Silent Tiger Soul Sword in a zig-zag.
The ultimate swift killing stroke, the Unmatched Thunderbolt, had been unleashed.
Chiiik!
But Baekri Mujo, as though he had foreseen the path of Unmatched Thunderbolt, instantly poured forth tremendous qi and twisted the lightning-fast killing stroke aside.
That very motion, however, had already been predicted by Bu Eunseol.
Shwak, shwak, shwak, shwak!
The Unmatched Thunderbolt, having left its original trajectory, changed direction four times in midair and bored toward Baekri Mujo’s throat.
In an instant, Bu Eunseol had transformed it into the Nine Dragons Flashing Thunder, unleashing a new killing stroke that cleaved straight through Baekri Mujo’s center.
Cheoong!
With a strange metallic ring, the Silent Tiger Soul Sword and the white treasure sword froze in midair.
More precisely, the Silent Tiger Soul Sword had—like a salmon swimming upstream—slipped through the opening in Baekri Mujo’s strike and stabbed precisely into the weakest point of the blade’s middle section.
“Hm.”
At that moment, something changed in Baekri Mujo’s eyes.
“Interesting.”
He narrowed his eyes at Bu Eunseol.
It looked like the most refined of smiles, yet within those folded pupils white killing intent flashed, as though a white-eyed demon were laughing.
“You hide your power and insist on deciding this with pure martial learning… How admirable.”
Baekri Mujo had seen through it: Bu Eunseol had sealed away his trump cards and was staking everything on martial skill alone.
“So the throne to the Seven Kings was not won by luck…” As Baekri Mujo opened his mouth, it felt as though black smoke spread in all directions. “…was it?”
Kuuung!
The moment his words ended, a tremor shook the very earth.
At the same instant, sword pressure poured down upon Bu Eunseol’s head.
‘I cannot read the trajectory.’
Clearly a sword strike was falling toward his head, yet no path could be felt.
No—he could not even tell whether Baekri Mujo had executed a sword technique at all.
Kuuung!
In the end, Bu Eunseol instantly retreated.
Baekri Mujo took one more step forward.
Kuuung!
Again, a massive tremor, and once more invisible sword pressure crashed toward Bu Eunseol.
It could not be seen with the eyes, nor could its trajectory be predicted.
Realizing he could not block this attack either, Bu Eunseol retreated again.
“Heh heh.” Baekri Mujo laughed low and continued stepping forward, one measured pace at a time.
Kuuung! Kuuung!
With every step, an invisible mortal blow flew forth, and Bu Eunseol was forced to keep retreating.
The sword pressure was unseen; he could not sense where it aimed or what technique had been used.
Of course, the space was wide enough that he could retreat indefinitely… but if he kept falling back?
Psychological oppression would set in, and he would be admitting an unbridgeable gap in martial prowess.
‘Despair.’
Bu Eunseol suddenly recalled Master Iron, who had been defeated by Peng Ak after mastering the Emperor Blade’s ultimate technique.
When fighting Wang Geol, Peng Yeok had deliberately exaggerated the gap in their martial levels.
In the end, Wang Geol spent the rest of his life crushed by the agony and despair of believing he could never defeat Peng Yeok.
And now Baekri Mujo was using the very same tactic, trying to brand into Bu Eunseol’s soul the eternal truth that he could never oppose him.
‘Petty tricks.’
Chiiing.
For an instant the entire world seemed to freeze, and the blade of the Silent Tiger Soul Sword began to glow crimson.
A single demonic stroke capable of showing death with the naked eye, Meteor Chasing the Moon’s Escape form.
“Hmph.” Baekri Mujo snorted and unleashed yet another invisible sword strike.
But Bu Eunseol’s target was not Baekri Mujo’s throat.
Chaaang!
A clear metallic ring resounded as a massive shockwave rippled outward.
Once again, the Silent Tiger Soul Sword had whipped against Baekri Mujo’s blade.
Kwa-u!
At the same moment, a membrane of black true qi enveloped Bu Eunseol’s body.
Instead of defending, he had ignored all protection the instant he struck the opponent’s sword.
Thus he immediately deployed the Wishful True Binding to take Baekri Mujo’s invisible strike with his flesh.
Bam!
With a thunderous boom, Bu Eunseol was flung three zhang sideways.
“Tch.” Yet soon, through the cloud of dust, Bu Eunseol spat a mouthful of blood and stepped forward with calm eyes.
“Let us try again.”
It was a truly chilling display of a warrior’s soul, but Baekri Mujo merely smiled serenely and swung once more.
Chachang!
This time was different.
Standing in place, Bu Eunseol instantly parried the invisible strike.
“…So that’s how it is.” Baekri Mujo glanced down at his own sword. “Quite a sturdy blade.”
Since he could not sense Baekri Mujo’s strikes, Bu Eunseol had deliberately caused the Silent Tiger Soul Sword to clash with the treasure sword.
After two collisions, hairline cracks—imperceptible to ordinary eyes—had appeared along the white blade.
Because of those cracks, the faintest whistle of air now leaked through.
Thanks to that sound, Bu Eunseol could now instantly grasp the sword qi that had been neither visible nor detectable.
“A slight pity.” Baekri Mujo clicked his tongue and looked at Bu Eunseol.
“That a talent like yours has fallen to the Demonic Path.”
“Why drag this out?” Bu Eunseol realized Baekri Mujo was deliberately prolonging the fight and asked, “You could end it quickly with your Sacred Sword.”
“Because it is enjoyable.” Baekri Mujo stretched his rather thick lips into a wide smile. “When will I ever again meet a martial genius like you?”
Bu Eunseol’s eyes wavered.
Baekri Mujo was a man even more obsessed with martial learning and life-or-death combat than he himself was.
“Now that I think of it, I do not understand.” Baekri Mujo tilted his head. “Why do you keep avoiding a decisive clash and look for chances to flee? If you killed this Commander, you could gain far greater fame and power.”
In the past, Bu Eunseol would have settled it without hesitation.
But not now.
If he lost this duel, Yangseol Rin would be captured.
She might even be tortured horribly or killed.
“So that’s it.”
Only then did Baekri Mujo read Bu Eunseol’s thoughts and shake his head.
“I did not realize you two were so deeply attached.”
He glanced at Yangseol Rin thirty zhang away and nodded.
“I will let her go.”
Shuk.
The moment he spoke, the transparent currents that had sealed the area vanished completely.
“Was it not the Martial Alliance that ordered her capture?”
When Bu Eunseol asked in puzzlement, Baekri Mujo gave a faint smile.
“It is regrettable to crush such a rare opportunity… but it cannot be helped. Greater pleasure stands before me.”
‘Opportunity.’
Bu Eunseol’s eyes narrowed.
Baekri Mujo’s answer was cryptic.
It was impossible to guess whose orders he followed or why he had come for Yangseol Rin.
“Go quickly.”
With the formation gone, Bu Eunseol spoke to Yangseol Rin.
“Only then can this Command Lord fight without restraint.”
He spoke calmly, yet with consideration so she could leave in peace.
Yangseol Rin glared fiercely at Baekri Mujo, then nodded to Bu Eunseol.
“Next time…”
She whispered softly, tenderly.
“…I’ll take you home. To my house.”
She knew it too—the chances of Bu Eunseol winning were slim.
Yet at the same time, she believed.
He would not fall.
That was why she spoke of meeting again. Of taking him to her home next time.
“Let us do that.” Bu Eunseol answered indifferently, and Yangseol Rin broke into a beaming smile.
That smile was as dazzling and beautiful as morning sunlight chasing away the darkness.
Pat!
In an instant she unfolded her movement art and vanished into the sky.
“Now, shall we truly begin?”
The moment Yangseol Rin departed, Baekri Mujo tilted his head.
Among the Commanders of the Seven Great Divisions, his ability stood alone like a crane among chickens.
He was a man who revealed neither joy nor anger, and the depth of his martial learning was unfathomable.
‘Then…’
Only now did Bu Eunseol realize there was a very high probability that this man was the one who had killed his grandfather.
“I have a question.”
“Your last words?”
“Think what you will.”
“Ask.”
Taking a deep breath, Bu Eunseol stared straight into Baekri Mujo’s eyes.
Then, with a voice infinitely heavy yet clear, he spoke.
“Did you perhaps… kill the Seven-Finger Demon Blade, Bu Zhanyang?”
“I do not know what you mean.”
Genuine puzzlement surfaced in Baekri Mujo’s eyes.
“The Seven-Finger Demon Blade Bu Zhanyang has been missing for thirty years. Why do you say I killed him?”
Bu Eunseol bit his lip.
No matter how he looked, he could not tell whether the Commander was lying or speaking the truth.
‘Finding the culprit with a single question was impossible from the start.’
Even if the duel had not been fair, the culprit was a master capable of crossing blades with his grandfather, the invincible swordsman.
A few words would never shake such a man’s spirit or cause any physical change.
“A pointless question.”
Bu Eunseol raised the Silent Tiger Soul Sword.
He had yet to reach his own unique martial realm.
He had discovered neither the traces of the culprit nor the full story of his own past.
And Baekri Mujo was hiding his true power—an expert who could not guarantee an easy victory.
But so what?
He had lived every day until now giving his all.
Even if he lost this duel, he would have no regrets.
Wuuung.
As he drew forth his internal energy at full force, the power of the Divine Spirits began to faintly emanate from his body.
Faced with an overwhelmingly powerful foe, that energy was activating on its own.
“You hide much.”
“A pot calling the kettle black.”
“Indeed.”
KWAAANG!
An explosion rang out, and a pitch-black crater appeared where Bu Eunseol had stood—bottomless to the eye.
“As expected, fast.” Baekri Mujo nodded at Bu Eunseol, who had already shifted three zhang to the side. “I will drag everything out of you.”
“With that sword?”
Crack.
Cracks were already spreading across Baekri Mujo’s blade.
When Baekri Mujo had used his invisible strikes, Bu Eunseol had evaded while simultaneously whipping the treasure sword once more at imperceptible speed.
“Heh heh.” Baekri Mujo raised the blade with an unconcerned expression. “Did you think breaking the sword would give you the upper hand?”
Kwajijik.
As he poured energy in, the outer blade crumbled away.
Revealed beneath was an extremely thin sword—thinner even than the Southern Palace’s Golden Needle Sword, resembling nothing so much as a long skewer.
‘He made a double-layered sword, just like Grandfather.’
Grandfather’s beloved blade Journey had concealed a short sword within the main blade.
That was both to store the blade knot and to prevent just anyone from wielding the great sword, while also installing a hidden mechanism in the hilt for additional uses in close combat.
But why had Baekri Mujo hidden a mere thin sword differing only in thickness inside the treasure blade?
After a moment’s thought, Bu Eunseol nodded.
“The outer blade was nothing more than a tool to deploy the formation.”
At Bu Eunseol’s insight into the sword’s secret, Baekri Mujo curled the corner of his mouth.
“Most people run away. I had to keep them from escaping.”
A short reply, yet one that raised goosebumps.
Because his opponents always fled, he had overlaid the outer blade with a dharma-treasure-like function that allowed him to deploy a formation single-handedly, so no one could ever escape.
“Please do not run away either.”
Chik!
The instant Baekri Mujo thrust the thin sword, a faint whistle of air sounded, and the vital point on Bu Eunseol’s chest was instantly exposed.
There was no time to read the sword technique or shift to defense.
Moreover, the strike was so fast that before it pierced the chest point, identical moves had already targeted his lower abdomen and throat.
Shwak!
Bu Eunseol instantly unleashed Waning Moon, Dawn Star in rapid succession, creating massive cross-shaped sword screens in all directions.
That was to defend against the lightning-fast strikes whose changes could not be predicted.
Chik! Chichik!
As Bu Eunseol continuously generated sword screens, Baekri Mujo’s swordsmanship grew even faster.
His thin sword was swifter than the fastest Unmatched Thunderbolt Bu Eunseol could unleash, and it was unbound by the limitations of a physical weapon.
He wielded that single thin sword sometimes like a whip with endless variations, sometimes like a spear with pure overwhelming force.
‘His swordsmanship has reached such heights.’
Limitless Realm.
Baekri Mujo’s swordsmanship had not only surpassed the Peak Realm and Supreme Heaven Realm, breaking through the extreme of extremes.
Unless one reached the same level of martial prowess, counterattacking was utterly impossible.
‘So Commander Baekri is an Enlightened Master.’
Bu Eunseol could not hide his shock.
Baekri Mujo had not even unleashed his “Sacred Sword” yet.
Even so, he freely wielded countless martial principles like the Nangyang Pavilion Master or the Demon Emperor.
‘No choice.’
Bu Eunseol immediately abandoned trying to counter with martial principles by expanding the Nangyang Heart Eye.
Baekri Mujo’s sword learning had reached a unique realm that could not be grasped in an instant.
It was as if he manifested “phenomena” through the mysteries of martial learning alone, having reached the Limitless Realm.
In other words, Baekri Mujo’s martial learning was still beyond Bu Eunseol’s reach, and his martial prowess did not follow ordinary steps but had attained its own singular realm.
‘I cannot drag this out.’
Like the Nangyang Pavilion Master, Baekri Mujo was enlightened in martial principles.
The longer the fight lasted, the more likely he was to absorb the subtleties of Bu Eunseol’s own learning.
Saaaa.
In that instant, black mist rose from the Silent Tiger Soul Sword.
At the same time, hundreds of sword rings materialized around Bu Eunseol and Baekri Mujo.
Seven Blood Tear Forms.
The supreme blade art that governed the complete realm of death was being unleashed.
Hwaak! Hwaaaaak.
As the blade moves unfolded, Bu Eunseol’s body was dyed in darkness.
It resembled the scythe of a death god who ruled over demise, yet in truth it was an absolute demonic art that instead craved death itself.
Through the Seven Blood Tear Forms, Bu Eunseol could feel the realm his grandfather Bu Zhanyang had reached, along with boundless solitude… and a longing for death.
Saaaaaa.
In that moment, the swordsmanship Baekri Mujo had been displaying melted away like snow, trapped within the blade momentum of Bu Eunseol’s Seven Blood Tear Forms.
True Seven Blood Tear Forms, First Form: Life Lodges, Death Returns.
This life is but a temporary stay.
To die is to return to one’s origin.
Through the blade art Bu Eunseol unleashed, even Baekri Mujo was falling into infinite darkness.
Flicker.
Then, within the darkness, a white light flashed.
And that light was gradually pushing back the darkness Bu Eunseol poured forth.
In the end, Baekri Mujo was slowly escaping the death of the Seven Blood Tear Forms that Bu Eunseol had created.
‘I expected as much.’
The only form Bu Eunseol had perfectly mastered was the First Form, Life Lodges, Death Returns.
But strictly speaking, Life Lodges, Death Returns was not an attacking move; it was a defensive form that neutralized the attacks of countless enemies.
It was unsuitable for defeating a master like Baekri Mujo.
Even so, Bu Eunseol had unleashed it.
Because a sword demon of his caliber would fully savor every move of the true Seven Blood Tear Forms before escaping its momentum—and that would buy time.
Hwiiiing.
At the same time, a mysterious radiance flowed from Bu Eunseol’s body.
The instant he executed Life Lodges, Death Returns, he had drawn forth every mixed power within him.
But those powers were not yet aligned so they were instead tearing his body apart.
Flash!
Yet at that moment, the radiance Baekri Mujo unleashed enveloped Bu Eunseol.
Finally escaping Life Lodges, Death Returns, Baekri Mujo had poured a killing blow into him.
‘No!’
Bu Eunseol inwardly roared.
The powers within him were not yet aligned.
At this rate, far from achieving harmony, his body would explode from Baekri Mujo’s strike.
Wiiiing.
Then, five-colored brilliance flowed from Bu Eunseol’s body.
In the moment of crisis, the Great Prajna Ability briefly manifested, allowing him—however weakly—to generate the power of “Harmony.”
‘Now!’
Paaaaaaa!
Bu Eunseol poured forth the power of Harmony with everything he had.
Crack.
Because of the Harmony that burst from Bu Eunseol’s light-wreathed body, the entire world began to fracture like cracked glass.
Looking back, it was a power even the Demon Emperor had been unable to withstand and had dodged.
Even though it was imperfectly unleashed, Baekri Mujo would never be able to block it.
Paaaaaaa!
Yet at that instant, five-colored brilliance also flowed from Baekri Mujo’s sword.
Harmony.
Just like Bu Eunseol, Baekri Mujo too possessed multiple mixed powers within him and was using the force that unified them.
Paaaaaaa!
When the two powers collided, five-colored radiance spread across the world.
In the same moment, everything within a hundred zhang was instantly leveled flat.
Enveloped in radiance, Bu Eunseol and Baekri Mujo faced each other.
Their powers continued to clash without end.
Paaaaaa.
Yet slowly, the balance began to tip.
Bu Eunseol’s imperfectly aligned power was gradually being pushed back by the force Baekri Mujo unleashed.
“Urrrgh.”
Thick veins of blood bulged across Bu Eunseol’s entire body.
He could not be pushed back here.
He had not yet unleashed everything he possessed. The outcome was not decided.
‘Then—’
“Commander!”
At that moment, a gray shadow descended from the distant sky between Bu Eunseol and Baekri Mujo.
It was none other than Vice-Commander Seo Muk.
“That bastard…”
Seo Muk’s face filled with shock.
A young man in the martial world who could face Baekri Mujo one-on-one?
“Haaap!”
Instantly grasping the situation, Seo Muk drew his sword like lightning and fired sword force toward Bu Eunseol.
It was his life’s ultimate technique, Heavenly Lord Great Net Sword Force.
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