Martial Alliance, Supreme Pavilion.
Bu Eunseol, who had been handling various tasks in his office, slowly prepared to depart for Majeon.
Baek Museong had completely changed.
No matter what he said, the man wouldn't listen, and if it meant becoming the leader, he seemed capable of killing him without hesitation.
‘Do I really need to stay in the Martial Alliance?’
Unlike before, his desire to become the leader was gradually fading.
It wasn't solely because of Baek Museong.
‘It's a place I'll have to leave soon anyway.’
After all, the Martial Alliance was just a temporary stop.
He could simply assign the Supreme Corps members to the Martial Soul Society instead of the Martial Alliance. One of the reasons he had created the Martial Soul Society, after all, was to give the Supreme Corps members a place to return to.
‘The failure to uncover the connection between the Martial Venerable and the Divine Mountain Sage is significant too.’
Since entering the Martial Alliance.
Bu Eunseol hadn't confirmed whether the Divine Mountain Sage was even the Martial Venerable, let alone anything about the Martial Venerable himself. Moreover, the reasons why he had been given the identity of Seon Woojin and assigned those bizarre missions remained unclear.
Even if he became the leader of the Martial Heaven Division... the Martial Venerable possessed the martial prowess and authority to eliminate him at any time.
The Martial Venerable's martial might was evaluated as being above even that of the strongest among the Three Demons, the Human Demon Ak Muryeong.
In the end, with all these numerous risks... there was no need to stubbornly cling to the Martial Alliance.
‘Especially with the matter of the Heavenly Sword Assembly weighing on me.’
Due to the incident with the Heavenly Sword Assembly, Bu Eunseol realized.
The identity of the martial world's Greatest Sage and the divine artifact known as the Boeun Coin could become tools for the Divine Mountain Sage to manipulate martial artists as he pleased.
In such a situation, even the claim that one of the Seven Commanders was the culprit who killed his grandfather…
Its credibility was now in doubt.
‘He might be sensing it too.’
Bu Eunseol turned his gaze toward the window.
The Martial Venerable must be aware.
That he sensed something off about the divine artifact in the Martial Alliance.
That he was questioning whether he really needed to obsess over the position of leader.
Yet, he showed no particular reaction.
Was it because he was certain Bu Eunseol wouldn't leave? Or because it didn't matter if he did?
For now, no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't find the answer.
‘Instead, even if it takes time, what if I combine the Martial Heaven Division's intelligence organization with the Death Spirit Corps and strengthen it further... to gain an intelligence power as formidable as that of a Martial Alliance leader?’
The Martial Soul Society firmly held onto information flowing from the mercenary market.
Even if he left the Martial Alliance and lost the Supreme Corps' intelligence network, it might sufficiently fill that gap.
“I suppose I need to decide.”
For Bu Eunseol, the position of Commander was no longer essential, and he had the alternative of growing the Martial Soul Society's intelligence organization.
There was no reason to endure the perilous dangers in the Martial Alliance.
Moreover, this mindset wasn't new to him.
He had simply reconsidered after his sincere conversation with Gongsun Dankyung and decided to stay in the Martial Alliance.
But after meeting Baek Museong, that resolve began to waver.
Even if it became clear that he had ties to the Three Realms and they became enemies in the future, for now, he wanted to quietly yield the leader position to Baek Museong and depart.
Baek Museong.
He had faintly confirmed that the man's true intentions weren't evil and that he still harbored feelings of friendship toward him.
‘This is the last chance to leave the Martial Alliance.’
The time had come to make a choice.
Either stay in the Martial Alliance.
Or secretly assign the Supreme Corps members to the Martial Soul Society and leave the Martial Alliance.
‘Is this an inevitable choice?’
Bu Eunseol sighed.
He realized that only the method he had considered as a last resort remained.
The place where the Divine Mountain Sage had summoned him and set up numerous traps and mechanisms.
Blood Shaolin.
He decided to go there and hear the truth about the person known as the Divine Mountain Sage.
***
After slipping out of the Martial Alliance, Bu Eunseol immediately changed his identity to Seolso and headed toward Shaolin Mountain.
Even with his current martial prowess, infiltrating Shaolin secretly and roaming freely was impossible.
But entering the Blood Shaolin was feasible.
Because in the Pagoda Forest, which was open to pilgrims, there was a secret passage that led directly into the Blood Shaolin.
Bu Eunseol, who had quickly ascended Shaolin Mountain, imitated a pilgrim as before and entered the Shaolin Temple grounds.
Fortunately, it coincided with the period when Shaolin accepted pilgrims, so he could enter without arousing suspicion.
‘I need to get in quickly.’
The number of pilgrims had decreased compared to before, but the number of warrior monks inside seemed to have increased.
Bu Eunseol walked toward the Pagoda Forest within the Shaolin grounds with a very natural gait.
Thud.
He then attempted to activate the mechanism installed at the base of the pagoda to enter the secret passage.
‘It's changed.’
But even after stepping on or moving the fixed stone beside the pagoda, the passage didn't open.
‘Is that only natural?’
Even if there was no hostility, the secret passage connecting the Scripture Pavilion and the Blood Shaolin had been exposed to a figure from the demonic path.
The abbot of the Blood Shaolin, Dam Jeung, must have naturally sealed or altered the mechanism after meeting him.
‘I have no choice.’
At this point, he couldn't search for another secret passage separately.
Unlike before, there weren't many pilgrims, so he couldn't roam the interior secretly any longer.
If he lingered awkwardly, the warrior monks might sense something suspicious and surround him en masse.
‘Hold on.’
As Bu Eunseol was about to turn away, he sensed something and his eyes sparkled.
‘Perhaps they've only blocked the inner entrance.’
The secret passage in the Pagoda Forest was enormously vast, extending from Shaolin's underground all the way outside Shaolin Mountain.
They couldn't have sealed such an expansive mechanism all at once. It was more likely that they had only firmly blocked this entrance.
‘In that case.’
Zing.
Bu Eunseol immediately drew upon the Wishful True Binding, infused with the Crystal Divine Energy. He twisted it into an infinitely thin strand and began pushing it through the gap in the pagoda's mechanism.
Click. Grind.
Then, the closed mechanism door began to open slowly.
As Bu Eunseol had predicted, they hadn't completely sealed the mechanism but had only removed the device that opened the door.
‘They probably didn't expect someone to force it open.’
No matter how formidable a master, there was no madman who would infiltrate Shaolin's grounds and boldly use martial arts to pry open a secret mechanism.
Because breaking the door would immediately draw the warrior monks.
Shaolin seemed to have considered that and only sealed the door.
‘The Wishful True Binding is indeed a wondrous technique.’
If Shaolin had known about Bu Eunseol's secret art that could twist true energy into such an infinitely thin, tangible form?
They would never have sealed the mechanism so clumsily.
Swoosh.
After forcibly opening the door connected to the pagoda, Bu Eunseol stealthily entered.
‘It's completely changed.’
Upon entering, the passage was empty.
The Scripture Pavilion, where scriptures had been stacked, was the same.
Even the weight-measuring mechanisms seemed to have vanished completely; inside, there weren't even bookshelves, let alone a speck of dust.
‘In that case...’
Bu Eunseol passed through the Scripture Pavilion and descended into the underground passage connected to the Blood Shaolin.
But that place was also completely empty.
The Scripture Pavilion of the Blood Shaolin, which had been filled with demonic secret manuals, had vanished entirely.
They had probably relocated everything to a completely different place after their base was exposed to Bu Eunseol.
‘Then, what about the Repentance Cave?’
To rehabilitate demonic figures within the Blood Shaolin or to prevent the leakage of Shaolin's secret arts, Shaolin secretly operated a prison where great demonic figures were confined: the Repentance Cave.
Fortunately, Shaolin's plan to rehabilitate the demonic figures had succeeded.
Except for Flying Demon Tak Ilhon, most of the demonic figures had been completely reformed and were living without any greed.
‘I'll check it out.’
Bu Eunseol found the deep pit leading to the Repentance Cave and immediately jumped down.
Whoosh.
The height was dozens of zhang, so the fall alone took quite a while.
As the ground came into view, Bu Eunseol immediately used his inner energy to lighten his body, performed a somersault in the air, and landed softly on the ground.
“......”
Unlike the past, a chilling silence filled the interior of the Repentance Cave.
‘This place too.’
They seemed to have completely relocated the Repentance Cave as well, considering it exposed.
“Was it inevitable?”
In the end, his plan to infiltrate the Blood Shaolin and extract information about the Divine Mountain Sage had completely fallen apart.
“I didn't expect much to begin with.”
From the moment the Divine Mountain Sage had set traps here, the Blood Shaolin was essentially exposed to the outside.
Moreover, since he had tested Bu Eunseol, the successor of Majeon, here... closing these places was the natural course.
‘I need to find another way.’
Bu Eunseol immediately turned to leave the Repentance Cave.
Zing.
But then, a very peculiar sensation arose.
It was like an intuition.
Swish.
Bu Eunseol, who had been heading out, slowly moved deeper into the Repentance Cave.
The numerous martial secret arts inscribed on the cave walls had all been cleanly erased and the prison where the nameless old man, who had died as the Seven-Finger Demon Blade to protect his grandfather, had been confined had vanished without a trace.
‘There's no presence. But.’
Bu Eunseol searched the entire interior of the Repentance Cave but couldn't find any trace of people anywhere.
Zing.
However, Bu Eunseol didn't give up and drew upon the Crystal Divine Energy again.
He spread it out endlessly and widely.
Whoosh.
As the transparent and pure energy spread in all directions, what had been invisible until now appeared.
A secretly hidden fork in the cave.
‘It's possible since it's the Blood Shaolin.’
Among Shaolin's Seventy-Two Supreme Arts, there were no sorcery techniques, and naturally, they didn't use methods like the Gate-Sealing Art or demonic external paths.
But the Blood Shaolin, if it meant becoming stronger, would unhesitatingly learn body modification and even demonic arts...
So, it wasn't strange for them to use array arts.
Step, step.
Upon entering the hidden cave, a long passage that hadn't been visible before appeared.
As he went further inside the passage, an enormously thick iron door came into view.
Creak.
Opening the iron door and entering, a spacious stone chamber appeared, and on one side, an old man was firmly bound with thick chains piercing his shoulders.
It was none other than the abbot of the Blood Shaolin, Dam Jeung.
“Abbot.”
Greatly surprised, Bu Eunseol immediately approached and tore away the thick chains restraining his body.
Having been imprisoned for a long time, Dam Jeung's complexion was very poor, and his pulse was faintly on the verge of stopping.
His life force was ebbing away, leading to death.
Hum.
Bu Eunseol immediately infused the Ban-Geuk Method into his Mingmen acupoint.
Then, with a whoosh, Dam Jeung slowly opened his eyes.
“You've come.”
Dam Jeung wasn't particularly surprised to see Bu Eunseol.
Despite the fact that he was dying, a peaceful smile lingered on his lips.
“What on earth happened?”
“What happened? I merely received the punishment I deserved.”
“Punishment? What crime did you commit?”
“Didn't I give you one of the scriptures kept in this temple?”
Dam Jeung showed a faint smile.
“Not even a speck of dust from the Blood Shaolin should be leaked to the outside.”
Dam Jeung had kept one scripture that his grandfather Bu Zhanyang had read and passed it to Bu Eunseol.
From Bu Eunseol's perspective, it was receiving one of his grandfather's relics.
But from Dam Jeung's perspective, it was committing the grave sin of leaking one of Shaolin's scriptures to the outside.
“You mean they severed your limbs' meridians and starved you to death just for leaking one book?”
Bu Eunseol couldn't contain his anger.
“Is this the true face of Shaolin, which claims mercy as its foundation?”
“Didn't I tell you? The Blood Shaolin is separate from Shaolin, and unless Shaolin is in danger... we cannot intervene.”
Dam Jeung showed a faint smile as if it were no big deal.
“I wasn't unaware that I would receive such punishment.”
Suddenly, a strange thought occurred to Bu Eunseol.
“You don't mean... you imposed this penalty on yourself, not someone else?”
“It was something I was prepared for from the start.”
Dam Jeung spoke nonchalantly.
“Even if they were villains, this poor monk set up mechanisms to kill them under the pretext of testing you.” Dam Jeung said calmly. “Though the Blood Shaolin can do anything, if something is done, someone must take responsibility, right?”
He meant that since he had caused villains to die to test Bu Eunseol... he was taking responsibility for it.
“Moreover, it was this poor monk who permitted the installation of the mechanisms.”
A gleam appeared in Bu Eunseol's eyes.
Then, the numerous traps that the Divine Mountain Sage had set up in the Blood Shaolin in the past.
Were they not installed with the permission of Shaolin's abbot, but rather something Dam Jeung had decided unilaterally?
“The Blood Shaolin enhances martial arts by modifying villains' bodies, doesn't it? And yet, you're punished for killing villains?”
“The modification of villains was to advance Shaolin's martial studies. But testing you was not for Shaolin's sake, was it?”
If it was to protect Shaolin or to make Shaolin stronger, the Blood Shaolin could do anything but testing Bu Eunseol had nothing to do with the Blood Shaolin's duty to guard Shaolin.
So, it seemed Dam Jeung had no choice but to receive this punishment.
However, Bu Eunseol shook his head.
For some unknown reason, he intuited that Dam Jeung's words weren't the truth.
“You don't mean... you're taking the blame for a sin committed by Shaolin?”
“Amitabha.”
Dam Jeung chanted the Buddha's name and shook his head.
“This temple has done no wrong. If there is any wrongdoing, it was all committed by this poor monk.”
From those words, Bu Eunseol could be certain that something had befallen Shaolin.
But he was an outsider.
Dam Jeung would never explain Shaolin's secretive circumstances to him.
“Why exactly did you conduct such a test? Was it the Divine Mountain Sage's coercion?” Bu Eunseol said with a sorrowful expression. “Did you really need to do that, knowing it would lead to this?”
“The Heaven-Dark Star.”
Dam Jeung spoke in an extremely low but clear voice.
“He said the probability that you are the Heaven-Dark Star is very high.”
Bu Eunseol wore a dazed expression.
He had thought the Divine Mountain Sage was merely scrutinizing his temperament and personality in detail but it turned out he had known for a long time that Bu Eunseol might be the Heaven-Dark Star.
And all the tests in the Blood Shaolin were to confirm whether he was the Heaven-Dark Star or not.
“And he convinced this poor monk that we must verify the truth.”
‘The Chief Inspector's words were true.’
Then, the Martial Venerable, as Gongsun Dankyung had said, undoubtedly possessed the ability to divine heavenly secrets.
“Who exactly is the Divine Mountain Sage?”
Bu Eunseol had guessed that the Martial Venerable and the Divine Mountain Sage were the same person, but he asked once more.
“Who is he to be able to force you to do such a thing?”
“You know well, don't you?”
With that answer, Bu Eunseol could hear the solution to the mystery he had been so curious about.
The Divine Mountain Sage.
He was none other than the Martial Venerable… and the martial world’s Greatest Sage was simply another of his identities.
“He said this.”
Dam Jeung's eyes were gradually dimming, as if his life force was fading.
“You are not originally a demonic path figure, but also a great benefactor to the Blood Shaolin, including this abbot....”
And he continued with utterly shocking words.
“...The son of Baekri Muha, who was wrongly driven to death as the Heaven-Dark Star.”
Thud.
Bu Eunseol was so greatly shocked that his vision went dark.
“What do you mean? Baekri Muha was named as the Heaven-Dark Star?”
He only remembered a faint face and voice from hazy memories.
But confirming that Baekri Muha was indeed his father, and learning the truth of his death, he was becoming angrier by the minute and as unhinged as when he had witnessed his grandfather's death.
“You mean Baekri Muha... my father...was framed as the Heaven-Dark Star, who could bring about the martial world's destruction?”
“That's right.”
“Who exactly killed him?”
Dam Jeung looked at Bu Eunseol with faint eyes and with effort, he spoke.
“This poor monk doesn't know that. However, to learn the truth of his death....”
Feeling his life slipping away, Dam Jeung mustered all his strength and opened his mouth again.
“Find the Heavenly Emperor.”
“He's dead.”
Bu Eunseol said hurriedly.
“He passed away long ago and is enshrined in the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Jade Coffin underground in the Martial Alliance. That's why the Martial Venerable is acting as the Martial Alliance Lord, isn't it?”
“He's dead?”
Dam Jeung's expression twisted strangely as he barely kept his closing eyes open.
“the Heavenly Emperor... isn't he perfectly alive?”
“That can't be? It's been over ten years since the Heavenly Emperor passed away.”
“Ten years?”
Dam Jeung faintly blinked and extended his fingers as if counting.
“Even two years ago, this poor monk met him....”
But Dam Jeung's words didn't continue to the end.
Finally, as if his life force had expired, he stopped moving with his eyes wide open.
Thud.
In the end, his hand fell limply to the ground.
Starting as a strong white monk of the Blood Shaolin, he had witnessed the Absolute Demonic Blade Project with his own eyes.
When his fellow disciples were killed by a mysterious force, he became the abbot of the Blood Shaolin and pursued them.
In the end, he fell for the Divine Mountain Sage's deception, committed a great sin, and tried to atone by subjecting himself to all sorts of hardships...
Only to meet his death.
Slump.
Bu Eunseol collapsed to the ground.
If possible, he wanted to revive Dam Jeung by any means and hear the full story in detail.
“The Heavenly Emperor is alive... and he knows the truth about my father's death.”
His pupils were unfocused.
Could it be that the Heavenly Emperor killed his father and suffered a fatal injury as a result?
And that's why he went into secluded meditation and was assassinated by someone from the Three Realms?
“No, the Heavenly Emperor isn't the culprit.”
If his father had been killed by the Heavenly Emperor?
Dam Jeung wouldn't have needed to beat around the bush; he would have simply said, ‘The culprit is the Heavenly Emperor.’
There would have been no need to use the lengthy phrase ‘the truth of his death.’
And most importantly... the Heavenly Emperor was not dead but perfectly alive.
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