Papapak.
As hidden weapons rained down, Bu Eunseol immediately ducked behind a tree.
In such a densely forested area, hidden projectiles lost much of their effectiveness.
Moreover, with countless places to conceal oneself… a forest was an ideal terrain for facing a large number of enemies.
Whoosh!
But the Short-Life Gate assassins were no fools. Having learned that Bu Eunseol was heading deep into the mountains, they had come thoroughly prepared to capture him.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, acrid smoke billowed up around where Bu Eunseol stood.
They had spread poison smoke to cut off any possibility of him dodging and counterattacking while hiding among the trees. Furthermore, they seemed to have set up a special formation in advance—the poison smoke did not disperse outward but remained tightly concentrated within roughly fifty zhang around him.
Ding.
Hiding behind the tree, Bu Eunseol inhaled the poison smoke and immediately felt dizzy.
‘At least that’s fortunate.’
But he soon let out a small breath of relief.
The Short-Life Gate assassins, believing Bu Eunseol to be an extraordinary master, had mixed Dispersion Powder—a powder that scatters inner force—into the poison smoke.
Yet right now, Bu Eunseol’s meridians were completely blocked from the start. Even if he swallowed an entire bowl of Dispersion Powder, it would cause him no additional harm.
Pyu pyu pyu pyu!
Even so, the barrage of hidden weapons never ceased.
Surrounded and under constant fire, Bu Eunseol did not panic. Instead, he deliberately moved toward the direction from which the projectiles were coming.
“Gah!”
“Kaah!”
At the same instant, screams erupted from various places in the forest.
Bu Eunseol was sweeping through the poison-smoke-filled woods, severing the assassins’ throats one by one.
Assassins who made killing their profession inevitably trained secret arts to amplify their senses.
Moreover, the Short-Life Gate assassins had deployed a profound positional formation, allowing them to see the entire forest situation clearly. Yet they could not detect Bu Eunseol’s presence at all.
Worse, the vision-obscuring poison smoke caused them to be hunted down one after another.
Splurt! Squelch!
No matter how much they heightened their senses, Bu Eunseol’s aura remained undetectable and only the horrifying sound of cutting flesh echoed in every direction.
“Gurgh!”
“Ugh.”
In contrast, Bu Eunseol moved freely within the poison smoke, reaping the assassins’ lives.
He had once trained blindly under one the top masters of the Nangyang Pavilion, Sa Woo, enduring life-or-death strikes to learn the Beast Way. Because of that, even in pitch-black darkness with not a single ray of light, he suffered no restriction whatsoever.
Shuk!
When the Silent Tiger Soul Sword pierced straight through solid rock, blood burst forth.
The Short-Life Gate’s concealment arts were unique so they could even disguise themselves as rocks or trees, but, to Bu Eunseol, they were merely targets that had changed shape.
“Disperse the poison smoke!”
Only then did the Short-Life Gate assassins realize that Bu Eunseol possessed superior concealment techniques and hyper-senses compared to their own.
In frantic haste, they stopped fueling the poison smoke.
“Damn it.”
As the smoke cleared, the commanding assassin bit his lip.
In that short time, more than forty assassins had become departed souls.
“Scatter and strike him!”
At the leader’s command, the assassins vanished once more.
“Haa… haa…”
Bu Eunseol stood tall in the forest, breathing heavily.
The poison smoke had completely dissipated, yet the assassins remained perfectly hidden, and the killing intent spreading through the woods grew even thicker.
Now the real battle was beginning.
Shuuu!
With a bizarre whooshing sound, a round, razor-sharp projectile arced in a wide curve toward Bu Eunseol’s body.
He quickly dodged.
Clang clang clang!
Sparks erupted with a deafening metallic clash from the large boulder where he had stood moments before.
The embedded weapon resembled several circular saw blades linked together. Not only was its trajectory unpredictable from the sound alone, but it had been specially designed to tear wide, gaping wounds upon impact—a truly unique hidden weapon.
Clang! Clang!
Flicking aside the saw-blade projectiles, Bu Eunseol gradually moved down the mountainside. Though he had no inner force, once combat began, the instincts of the Beast Way sharpened even further.
Since he could no longer move with agility, he calmly deflected the incoming barrage while slowly retreating.
“Strike!”
Finally realizing hidden weapons alone could not deal with him, the Short-Life Gate assassins drew their blades and charged.
Whoosh! Shuk!
True to their reputation as legendary assassins, even in open combat their saber techniques were formidable enough to rival any martial master.
Clang clang clang!
Under their fierce assault, Bu Eunseol was gradually driven farther down the slope.
The assassins formed a tight encirclement, clinging to him like water ghosts.
Combined with their pre-installed positional formations and swift movement arts, nothing but flashing black blades filled his vision.
Pyu pyu pyu pyu!
Whenever distance opened, they seized the moment like specters and hurled more hidden weapons.
Truly relentless chained attacks without a single gap.
‘Mm…’
Leaning against a boulder to evade another volley, Bu Eunseol let out a low groan.
Black blood flowed from his wounds, a clear proof that both the hidden weapons and blades had been coated with deadly poison.
Gulp.
He took out a Potential Demon Divine Pellet from his robes and swallowed it.
This miraculous medicine was effective not only for external injuries but possessed outstanding detoxification properties.
‘The Short-Life Gate’s assassination arts are truly unique.’
Bu Eunseol inwardly admired their Hundred-and-Eight Killing Methods.
‘Not only is their concealment traceless, but they’ve already laid down the Delusion Principle Formation and the Soul-Deluding Formation across the entire mountain.’
No matter how far he moved, he could not escape the forest.
It felt as though an invisible wall surrounded him—they had clearly overlapped multiple layers of illusion and soul-confusing arrays.
Moreover, they pinpointed his exact position as though looking down at a Go board. In some places, even without assassins present, hidden weapons launched automatically.
They had undoubtedly pre-installed killing formations nested within the forest, with traps containing automated projectile mechanisms.
Flash!
Sensing something, Bu Eunseol sprang away from the boulder like a rebounding arrow.
Shuk!
A black poison blade shot out from the exact spot he had been leaning against.
The assassins had closed in tight.
Whoosh!
As he evaded, four blade shadows descended from above.
Bu Eunseol swiftly swung the Silent Tiger Soul Sword, deflecting the shadows and aiming to sever one attacker’s wrist.
‘Tch.’
But the injury near his shoulder disrupted the smoothness of his motion.
In the end, he only managed to cut off one assassin’s wrist out of the four.
Shuk.
Knowing full well how high Bu Eunseol’s swordsmanship was, the assassins never lingered after a missed strike—they immediately vanished again.
For one full incense stick of time, the forest rang with the ceaseless clash of weapons and hidden projectiles.
During that period, Bu Eunseol consumed two more Potential Demon Divine Pellets to suppress the spreading poison.
The Short-Life Gate assassins were far more tenacious than expected, displaying an iron will to kill him even if it cost their own lives.
‘Only one pill left.’
Bu Eunseol clenched his fist tightly.
His internal injuries had deepened further, and only a single Potential Demon Divine Pellet remained. The number of assassins was still unknown, and the longer this dragged on, the more disadvantageous the situation became.
Yet his eyes remained calm.
From the moment he stepped into the martial world, he had erased the boundary between life and death.
What was there to fear? What was there to regret?
Pyu!
Perhaps they had exhausted their prepared hidden weapons?
Suddenly the volume of projectiles decreased noticeably.
Papapak.
Seizing the opening, Bu Eunseol spun and moved quickly.
But something was strange.
Instead of breaking out of the encirclement, he deliberately advanced toward the very center of the forest where the assassins were hiding.
—Has he gone mad?
As Bu Eunseol entered the heart of the woods, the Short-Life Gate’s stealthily spread encirclement slowly began to tighten around him.
Squelch.
He stabbed sideways into a nearby tree.
An assassin collapsed, forehead pierced clean through.
Shuk!
But at the same instant, dozens of blades jutted up from the ground beneath him.
Swish.
Lacking inner force to leap into the air, Bu Eunseol rolled across the ground using the Lazy Donkey Roll.
Pyu pyu pyu!
Seizing the chance, the assassins rained hidden weapons down from above like a storm.
Clang clang clang.
Even while rolling, Bu Eunseol swung the Silent Tiger Soul Sword to deflect the barrage.
—What a tenacious bastard…
The assassins muttered in frustration.
No such technique existed in the current martial world.
Bu Eunseol was not performing orthodox martial arts—he was desperately adapting the practical combat techniques of the Nangyang Pavilion simply to survive.
Tap.
Rising once more, Bu Eunseol swung his sword rapidly.
But the assassins no longer closed in recklessly; they merely scattered the few remaining hidden weapons from a distance.
They knew he would soon collapse from poison or exhaustion.
Their plan was to keep their distance, drag out time, and slowly wear him to death.
Trickle.
Black blood flowed from wounds grazed by hidden weapons and Bu Eunseol’s movements gradually slowed.
No longer able to move nimbly, he rolled mindlessly across the ground while deflecting the barrage.
[Time to finish this.]
From their hiding places, the assassins sent a transmission using Six Harmonies Voice Transmission, toying with him.
Bu Eunseol’s injuries and poisoning symptoms were unmistakably real.
At this rate, within one incense stick—no, within a single gak—he would collapse and die on his own.
Slash slash!
But suddenly something bizarre happened.
As Bu Eunseol swung his sword into empty air,
Splurt!
Blood erupted—and without warning, one hidden assassin collapsed.
“What—?”
While the assassins faltered in confusion,
Splurt! Splurt!
One after another, concealed assassins were pierced by Bu Eunseol’s blade without understanding how.
“Evade!”
They quickly moved, trying to escape the pursuing sword.
But something was wrong.
No matter how they shifted, it felt as though invisible walls had appeared in the forest—they could not escape in any direction.
“No!”
Only then did the assassins realize that the very formations they had set to trap Bu Eunseol had been completely reversed.
“Impossible.”
Their pupils trembled.
They finally recalled how Bu Eunseol had rolled across the ground again and again, swinging his sword like a madman.
They had thought he was merely flailing wildly to dodge hidden weapons but in truth, he had been subtly interfering with every formation laid throughout the forest.
—Is such a thing even possible?
The hidden assassins could scarcely believe it.
In that kind of situation, breaking out of the encirclement should have been the priority. Yet even while his life hung by a thread, Bu Eunseol had analyzed every single formation in the woods and, while swinging his sword like a lunatic, quietly altered them all.
Shuk.
Finally the leader revealed himself before Bu Eunseol.
“Who in the world are you?”
His voice trembled.
To be able to analyze installed formations and secretly modify them in the midst of a life-or-death battle—that was something no one had ever heard of, even as a joke.
“You don’t need to know.”
Bu Eunseol’s tone carried a hint of annoyance.
The assassins felt both terror and rage at once.
This man was undoubtedly a master of terrifying background.
If they failed to kill him today, the Short-Life Gate itself might face extinction.
Swish.
At last, all the remaining assassins dropped their concealment and appeared.
There were eleven in total.
Every one of them wore herb-gatherer clothing and carried a sickle.
Yet those sickles were sharpened not like farming tools, but like lethal weapons.
Using sickles and the guise of herb gatherers, they had endlessly repeated the act of taking lives.
“Form the Binding Death Formation.”
At the leader’s shout, the surviving assassins began circling Bu Eunseol.
Whoosh, tap.
Once the Binding Death Formation was complete, their bodies flickered like mist, appearing and disappearing repeatedly.
The Short-Life Gate’s Binding Death Formation was an extremely unique positional array.
Even if every single person maintaining it died, it would still unleash a guaranteed fatal strike against the enemy.
It was truly a Certain-Kill Formation.
Click.
Bu Eunseol held the Silent Tiger Soul Sword at mid-level.
As though life and death meant nothing to him, his eyes showed not the slightest tremor, fully prepared to exploit any opening at any moment.
Shiver.
Seeing Bu Eunseol become one with his sword, the assassins’ eyes quivered.
They too were elite assassins who regarded death lightly.
Yet facing Bu Eunseol’s transparent gaze, a strange sensation passed through them—as though Death itself had latched onto their backs, sending chills down their spines.
“He’ll die from poison soon anyway!”
The leader spoke coldly.
“Keep him surrounded so he can’t escape while we drag this out!”
At those words, tremendous killing intent surged from the assassins’ bodies.
And just as they were about to launch the attack—
“The road of life is hard and perilous…”
Bu Eunseol gazed at the distant sky with endlessly lonely eyes.
“I cannot even speak fully of its repeated hardships.”
Instantly the assassins’ gazes shook violently.
They had been concentrating with every fiber of their being, analyzing Bu Eunseol’s every possible next move in that hair-trigger moment.
The way he gripped the sword, the way he positioned his stance, as it all determined the type of technique and its release timing.
Their every sense had been locked onto Bu Eunseol’s next action.
Yet in that razor-edge instant of impending clash, he suddenly recited poetry with a desolate look—and the taut string snapped.
Slash slash.
In that fleeting gap of distraction, the Silent Tiger Soul Sword cleaved through empty air.
In the brief moment their minds wandered, the moonlight-reflected blade pierced the assassins’ vital points.
“Evade!”
Snapping back to their senses, the assassins tried to block Bu Eunseol’s sword, but the blade—soft and sinuous like a viper’s tongue—suddenly vanished without reason.
Slash.
At the same instant, a deep sword wound opened on one assassin’s thigh.
Bu Eunseol had shifted his technique mid-motion, suddenly stabbing low instead of high.
“Ugh.” The wounded assassin staggered with a groan.
It looked like a mere graze across the thigh, but in truth the femoral artery had been deeply pierced.
Splurt.
A thigh wound might seem survivable—until the artery is severed.
As blood gushed forth, the assassin hurriedly pressed acupoints to staunch the flow.
“Uuu…”
Yet strangely, even after sealing the points, the bleeding did not stop.
Bu Eunseol was an expert in human anatomy.
He had not simply cut the artery—he had torn apart the surrounding blood vessels and muscles, rendering acupoint sealing completely useless.
Thud.
In the end, the assassin who took a single stab to the thigh breathed his last.
“So that’s why powerless-looking strikes were dropping assassins one after another.”
Looking at his subordinate’s wound, the leader drew in a deep breath.
“A sword master profoundly versed in human anatomy.”
What had seemed like casual, insignificant strikes were in fact utterly lethal, containing profound, subtle principles.
“But your body is far from normal.” The leader glared at Bu Eunseol, eyes blazing. “And you’re poisoned… In the end, you too will die!”
Shashashasha!
Once again, a desperate close-quarters battle erupted.
It did not take long before deep wounds appeared on Bu Eunseol’s body as well.
No matter how superior his swordsmanship, standing rooted in place meant he could not perfectly block every attack.
Moreover, every time he landed a fatal strike, he himself took a hit in return—a continuous exchange of flesh for bone, slowly wearing him down.
Trickle.
Before long Bu Eunseol had become a blood-soaked figure.
Now only three assassins remained, including the leader.
Yet Bu Eunseol seemed to have no strength left to move—head bowed, blood dripping steadily.
“I’ll kill you with an inescapable killing method.”
Gazing at the exhausted Bu Eunseol, the leader’s eyes gleamed.
The Short-Life Gate had never once failed.
Because for the sake of a single commission, they lived ordinary lives for a decade at the shortest, decades at the longest.
Yet out of nowhere, an unknown man had annihilated comrades they had shared life and death with for over ten years.
Their rage was beyond words.
“So even assassins have attachments.”
At Bu Eunseol’s words,
Hummm.
Instead of replying, the three assassins began emitting thick black energy.
Even if they died to a single strike from him, they would drag him down with them.
They unleashed the legendary modified art, Blood Heaven Toad Skill, an extreme killing technique derived from the demonic Toad Union Skill.
Grrrrr.
All three crouched like toads, glaring at Bu Eunseol.
And at that moment—
“He’s over there!”
A sharp, clear feminine voice rang out.
Thud thud thud.
Dozens of armed mercenaries surged into the forest toward Bu Eunseol.
At their head was a beauty clad in white and pale green—none other than Yeo Ryeong of the Dragon Flower Trading Company.
She had realized too late the true reason Bu Eunseol had taken her robe: to draw the pursuit away so she could escape safely.
After much agonizing, instead of heading straight to the Golden Blade Sect, she had spent an enormous sum to hire top-grade mercenaries and turned back to search for him.
But because he traveled only through deep mountain paths, finding him had proven difficult.
Finally, the continuous night-and-day battle with assassins had allowed her to locate his position.
“Save that man!”
At Yeo Ryeong’s command, the mercenary charged into the forest.
Crack!
But the pre-installed formations blocked their entry.
“It’s a formation. Find the anchor points!”
True to their elite status, they immediately began circling the perimeter, searching for the objects triggering the array.
“Hurry!”
Seeing black energy rising from the crouching assassins in the formation, Yeo Ryeong realized the situation was dire.
“Damn it! It won’t break easily!”
“Looks like an ancient formation? We’d need hundreds of pounds of gunpowder for this!”
The forest formations were terrifyingly sturdy.
The mercenary could only rush about in panic, unable to dismantle them.
Tap tap tap.
At that moment, blood dripping from Bu Eunseol’s forehead ran across his eye.
BOOM!
With an explosive sound, the three assassins shot forward like cannonballs.
Whoosh!
Bu Eunseol spun the Silent Tiger Soul Sword in circles, employing the mystery of Grafting Flowers onto Jade.
Shuk.
The three assassins barely grazed past his body.
Bang! Bang!
But taking advantage of the sealed formation that blocked all escape, they bounced back instantly and unleashed the Blood Heaven Toad Skill once more toward him.
The terrifying aspect of Toad Union Skill was precisely this: the more the enemy dodged, the greater the acceleration built in their bodies, launching them with terrifying power.
“Hurry, hurry!”
Unable to break the formation, Yeo Ryeong cried out desperately.
“He’s going to die!”
In such a confined space, the Blood Heaven Toad Skill displayed absolute dominance.
In the worst case, they could even detonate their own bodies, turning the fragments into hidden weapons—an unavoidable mutual destruction strike.
In the end, Bu Eunseol was trapped here with only death awaiting him.
Paang! Whirr! Whirrr!
As Bu Eunseol deflected several attacks, the assassins transformed into black streaks of light, beginning to streak across the entire forest.
Sizzle! Sizzle!
Merely grazing against the ultra-high-speed assassins activated by the Blood Heaven Toad Skill, Bu Eunseol’s skin split open.
Shashashasha!
Eventually nothing but black lines remained visible and even the Beast Way senses could no longer track their trajectories.
Splurt!
Each time a black line passed, flesh tore and burst causing Bu Eunseol to become a crimson figure, his gaze gradually dimming.
He had lost far too much blood and he could hold on no longer.
Bang!
Seizing the moment, two assassins plunged in from left and right.
Whirrr.
In that instant Bu Eunseol spun the Silent Tiger Soul Sword like a windmill, generating circular force.
Though his hand movements were not fast, the profound principles blended within created flowing round currents.
Taichi Wisdom Sword.
Bu Eunseol was imitating the Accumulated Virtue Brings Remaining Blessings form once demonstrated by Song Ak from the ancient Taichi Wisdom Sword.
Swish swish.
Though he could not infuse inner force to produce dozens of circular sword flowers, the mysteries of Endless Continuity and Use Without Exhaustion were perfectly manifested.
Boom!
In the end the two black streaks collided, scattering fragments in all directions.
Before that happened, Bu Eunseol had swiftly thrown himself aside, yet countless chunks of flesh had already been torn from his back and shoulders.
“You—!”
But in that interval the leader had seized an absolutely unavoidable opening and shot toward Bu Eunseol.
Hummm!
Suddenly sharp sword energy rose from the Silent Tiger Soul Sword.
Flash!
A brilliant rainbow bloomed.
Over four days Bu Eunseol had slowly recovered his stamina, regaining roughly a decade’s worth of inner force.
Now, pouring that recovered energy into the sword at full power… it was no longer mere swordsmanship—it had become pure sword will.
The will to live and the agony of being unable to even end his own suffering.
His life held no value whatsoever.
Death would bring release to everything.
Yet for the sake of revenge he could not allow it.
And now he still had to uncover the truth behind his parents’ deaths.
How could he die here?
Kwaaaa!
The energy pouring from the Silent Tiger Soul Sword was like light pouring down from the heavens.
Unavoidable, unfathomable… it was simply something that existed as naturally as the world itself.
Squelch.
That light passed straight through the leader’s body as he lunged toward Bu Eunseol,
Thud!
The leader’s body was hurled backward.
Though protected by armor and empowered by Toad Union Skill, preventing him from being bisected, from head to torso, a thick red line of blood had been drawn by Bu Eunseol’s single strike.
“You… who are you.”
The leader staggered to his feet and asked.
Though the wound should have ended his life instantly, for someone who had lived on nothing but the pride of the Short-Life Gate, being defeated by an unknown figure was an unbearable humiliation.
“Answer… me!”
Because of that, his soul refused to depart; he clenched his teeth and persisted.
‘Is that too part of the sorrow of those who walk the martial world?’
Looking at the leader, pity flowed in Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
He could not comprehend the bizarre values of martial artists yet at the same time, he felt a strange respect for the sheer tenacity that allowed someone to endure this far on pride alone.
“Bu Eunseol.”
“Bu Eunseol… the Martial Soul Command Lord?”
…Nod.
Bu Eunseol gave a small nod.
Finally hearing the answer he had longed for,
“So that’s how it is.”
The light in the leader’s masked eyes became endlessly bright.
“I wasn’t weak after all.”
At last, with every mystery resolved, as though his body had fulfilled its purpose—
Splatter!
The forcibly held-together body finally split cleanly in two.
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