Bu Eunseol’s primary hidden base was the secret residence of Majeon located in the Xi’an region.
That hideout was not particularly far from Henan, where the Martial Alliance was headquartered. Above all, the Xi’an branch had never once been exposed to any external force.
In truth, the foremost principle of security is this: Never repeatedly visit the same specific location, or travel the same route at the same time every time.
Of course, Bu Eunseol was well aware of this fact.
However, he had been overwhelmed with far too many matters, and more importantly, evading the eyes of intelligence organizations while establishing an entirely new hideout was no simple task. Thus, the Death Spirit Corps maintained security by perfectly concealing Bu Eunseol’s movements.
Yet there was one variable…
There existed someone who knew that the identity of Seon Woojin was merely his shadow.
Ziiing.
As Bu Eunseol raced toward Xi’an, an odd sensation brushed past his ear.
It felt like the faint sound of thin paper fluttering in the wind, accompanied by a strange vibrational wave that seemed to pursue him. This was not something detectable through internal energy or heightened senses—it was more like the natural, subtle ripple of his own body’s innate qi, an enigmatic undulation of power.
It was exactly the unpleasant premonition he always felt when powerful adversaries appeared.
‘About time something like this happened.’
A flash passed through Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
‘I’ll find out which faction it is.’
In fact, he had long anticipated a situation like this might arise.
No matter how carefully one conceals their movements, regularly visiting any location carries immense risk—he understood that better than anyone.
The more the name Seon Woojin rose to prominence in the martial world, the more it would inevitably draw the attention of forces lurking in the shadows.
Nevertheless, he had neither changed the contact point nor implemented new security measures.
Only by doing so could he identify and wipe out all the factions targeting him in one stroke.
‘They’re not waiting at the hideout—they’re tracking me on the way there…’
At present, Bu Eunseol had not yet reached the hideout; he was still rapidly heading toward Xi’an. That meant the force secretly tailing him had not actually pinpointed the location of the Xi’an residence.
Rather, they had obtained information that he frequently visited Xi’an and had lain in wait in this area for a long time, preparing to strike.
‘I’ll confirm it myself.’
Having made up his mind, Bu Eunseol sent a transmission to Soyo.
[There is a covert pursuit force attached. From now on, keep your distance.]
[Understood.]
[Also relay to Seo Jinha: do not wait at the hideout—return to Majeon immediately.]
Swish!
Bu Eunseol instantly changed direction, not toward Xi’an, but toward Taizhou.
Kwaaaa!
As he unleashed his lightning-swift movement technique, a vast reed field appeared before him. Using the qinggong, he occasionally spun his body to generate fierce vortices.
Without hesitation, he veered straight into the reed field.
Sasasasa.
Then came that strange fluttering sound—like paper scattering in the wind—followed by a transparent energy that seemed almost alive.
It left trails through the reeds, faithfully following the path he took.
‘So it’s not a stealth pursuit art after all.’
Even the greatest master of stealth pursuit techniques in the martial world would have long since been detected by the Death Spirit Corps, if they had followed this closely. But this pursuer was not relying on movement techniques or stealth arts but some bizarre sorcery to tail him.
“I’ll wait for you.”
Bu Eunseol completely halted his movement technique and stood tall in the very center of the reed field.
Sasasasa.
The spreading sound grew steadily louder, eventually reverberating through the entire reed field, sharpening until it threatened to tear the eardrums.
Yet Bu Eunseol paid it no mind. He simply stood motionless, watching the expanding energy.
Tss tss tss.
Finally the spreading sound ceased.
The once clear sky slowly began to stain crimson.
Shuk.
At the same moment, a single black shadow slowly began to form directly in front of Bu Eunseol. Merely from that eerie emergence, one could tell this was no ordinary martial faction, but someone belonging to a mysterious power that had never revealed itself in the martial world.
“Seon Woojin.”
The black shadow looked down at Bu Eunseol and spoke coldly.
“Is that correct?”
The question was not waiting for an answer—it was to confirm Bu Eunseol’s reaction.
Even if he said “No,” it would be impossible to deceive the dharma eyes of the man attached to that black shadow.
“I see.”
As Bu Eunseol had expected, the shadow did not wait for a reply.
After observing his physiological responses and the look in his eyes, it nodded.
‘A master indeed.’
Bu Eunseol was impressed.
No matter how sharp one’s observation, penetrating the bodily reactions of a master who has reached the pinnacle of stillness is no easy feat.
“Are you from the Three Families?”
At Bu Eunseol’s question, the qi flowing from the black shadow slightly wavered.
“Why do you think so?”
“If it were the Three Realms, they would have at least once attempted to recruit someone of my apparent status.” Bu Eunseol spoke calmly. “But if it were a force like Inbiin, they would have simply unleashed all sorts of miscellaneous pawns without ever showing themselves.”
The shadow stared at Bu Eunseol for a long while, then narrowed its eyes.
“So that’s why you came to Seoryeong Mountain and disrupted our family’s event…”
The shadow started to say something, then its eyes flashed.
“You are someone who absolutely cannot be allowed to live.”
‘So it’s the Jungson family.’
In the past, members of the Jungson family had surrounded Seoryeong Mountain in pursuit of Manwol.
From the mention of that event, this shadow was undoubtedly from the Jungson family.
“Is that so?”
When Bu Eunseol maintained a relaxed expression, the black shadow chuckled.
“Have you become so arrogant just because you matched swords with the Sword Demon?”
“Perhaps.”
“Of course, it’s possible you’ve mastered martial arts far greater than what is publicly known.”
The shadow shook its head.
“But you’ve been far too leisurely.”
Sasasasasa.
In an instant, thousands upon thousands of black insects shot into the sky around the reed field.
The strange noise that had persisted until now—it was the sound of these insects moving.
‘Controlling ants?’
The flying swarm consisted of nothing but ants.
Bu Eunseol frowned as he watched the cloud of ants rise into the sky.
“You’re unleashing this as your secret trump card?”
Martial artists can deflect falling raindrops with their swords and generate protective gang membranes.
Even if one controlled not insects but countless beasts, it would pose no real threat.
Yet to confront the world-renowned Sword King Seon Woojin, this shadow was boasting about controlling mere ants?
Swaaak!
Suddenly the swarm of ants coalesced into the shape of an enormous net and swallowed Bu Eunseol’s body whole.
Instinctively, Bu Eunseol circulated his internal energy and deployed a gang membrane.
“Got you!”
The black shadow burst into loud laughter.
Why would deploying a gang membrane be considered “caught”?
“You should never underestimate the power of the Intelligence Star.”
‘One of the Hundred and Eight Stars?’
Shockingly, the black shadow was none other than Intelligence Star—one of the Hundred and Eight Stars.
“From now on, hell begins.”
Drip.
With the Intelligence Star’s words, the scenery of the reed field rippled like water.
In the same instant, hundreds—no, thousands—of masked figures suddenly surrounded him.
Within a hundred zhang, Bu Eunseol could sense everything. Yet now, as though they had been hiding in this vast reed field all along, thousands of masked figures had appeared and encircled him.
“For hell, it’s awfully peaceful.”
When Bu Eunseol maintained a calm expression, Intelligence Star curled his lips.
“Is it?”
Rumble rumble rumble!
As soon as the words fell, the sound of a stampeding herd accompanied thousands of masked figures charging toward Bu Eunseol.
Flash!
Bu Eunseol immediately drew the Silent Tiger Soul Sword and severed the neck of the nearest masked figure.
Then something astonishing happened.
Clang!
Instead of cutting through, the sword rebounded with a metallic ring.
‘All of them are trained in external arts?’
Frowning, Bu Eunseol finally noticed something strange.
The masked figures’ bodies were abnormally large, yet their limbs were so thin they were nearly invisible.
‘Could it be…’
Swish swish swish!
Bu Eunseol instantly shifted his sword style, slicing away their masks and clothing.
An unbelievable sight unfolded.
‘Ants?’
Incredibly, the masked figures were not human at all. They were giant ants enlarged to human size.
Beneath the torn masks protruded horrifying bristles and pincer-like mouths.
Their entire bodies were covered in armor-like exoskeletons.
‘This is worse than the Inbiin.’
The Inbiin had utilized something explainable within martial theory—the Mental Realm.
But the Hundred and Eight Stars were different.
They displayed truly supernatural, monstrous powers that transcended human limits.
“Fine.”
His surprise lasted only a moment.
Bu Eunseol doubled his internal energy and tried to cleave through their bodies. No matter what form they took, destroying them would end it.
Swaaak! Splatter!
Each time his sword passed, thick fluid sprayed outward. No matter how tough their exoskeletons, they could not withstand a blade infused with overwhelming internal power.
Sssss.
Yet every time he swung, pale white smoke rose from Bu Eunseol’s body.
The power flowing from the surrounding ground was rapidly draining his internal energy.
‘The Earth-Killer Star was the same.’
The first of the Hundred and Eight Stars Bu Eunseol had encountered—the Earth-Killer Star—had used the corpses of those he killed to create a domain. Within it, he possessed near-immortal flesh and the ability to instantly mimic an opponent’s martial arts.
The sheer absurdity of the Hundred and Eight Stars’ powers was such that, during his earlier battle with the Sword Demon, Bu Eunseol had—using only the power contained within the Boundary Prosperity Jade—caused an entire small island to quake.
In comparison, enlarging ants to human size seemed almost believable.
Clang clang clang!
As his internal energy gradually depleted, striking the masked figures now produced metallic echoes.
The charging warriors had fully transformed into insect-like beings possessing rock-hard bodies, with no blind spots in their vision, and displaying terrifying brute strength.
“Haa!”
Unable to continue cutting them down with his sword, Bu Eunseol roared and switched to pouring out the Seven Fist Demon Forms.
Kwaaaa!
Each blast of fist power summoned violent storms that hurled the charging masked figures away.
Because their bodies were harder than iron, he intended to launch them like hidden weapons with the Seven Fist Demon Forms, clearing the attackers in groups.
Shuuu.
Yet every time he executed the Seven Fist Demon Forms, his internal energy vanished in great chunks.
The symptoms worsened and eventually even breathing caused his qi to leak away.
‘So this doesn’t work either.’
Previously, the Inbiin who controlled Ghosts had also used mysterious arts to dissipate internal energy. But after recovering his strength in the vault of the Martial Venerable, such techniques no longer affected him.
Yet the power unleashed by the Hundred and Eight Stars seemed different—his dantian was steadily running dry.
‘The Mental Realm used by Inbiin and the power used by the Hundred and Eight Stars have fundamentally different natures.’
Clang clang clang!
Even so, Bu Eunseol kept swinging the Silent Tiger Soul Sword, constantly pushing back the masked figures.
Fighting thousands of such powerful enemies with completely depleted internal energy was no easy task yet he had once engaged in a desperate struggle against assassins after losing all his internal energy.
Since then, he had learned how to amplify sword techniques through the subtleties of martial arts even without qi.
Thanks to that, no immediate crisis had arisen.
Swaaak!
But at that moment, a masked figure with razor-sharp claws exploited a gap in Bu Eunseol’s swordplay and raked his shoulder.
Crackle.
As the sharp claws dug in, the Thunder Spirit Energy within him instinctively surged, greatly nullifying the attack’s power.
Yet the moment Thunder Spirit Energy manifested, it too began to slowly dissipate—just like his internal energy.
‘So this is what it means to be one of the Hundred and Eight Stars.’
This entire vast reed field had already become the domain of Intelligence Star.
When Bu Eunseol used internal energy, it was sealed.
When he used Thunder Spirit Energy, that too was sealed.
‘Then I must not use innate qi either.’
There might be other allies nearby.
As Seon Woojin, he absolutely could not reveal his innate qi.
Swaaak!
Instead, Bu Eunseol employed External Lightness, Internal Weight—a sword style where the movements were infinitely light yet carried crushing power—and began piercing through the masked figures’ tough exoskeletons however he could.
Thump.
Yet even when he clearly ran them through, the masked figures rose again and charged.
‘Truly insects, then.’
Insects have no vital acupoints and possess incomparably tenacious vitality and fighting spirit. Even as their comrades fell like straw, they charged madly without hesitation.
Splash! Splash!
Gradually, blood began to spray from Bu Eunseol’s body.
Countless masked figures still remained. They were truly human ants, possessing terrifying strength and vitality.
“Impressive. To endure more than an hour within the Demonic Ant Barrier.” Intelligence Star, who had been admiring him, soon sneered and shouted, “But you won’t last much longer! You should know well how strong ants truly are!”
At those murmured words, Bu Eunseol’s eyes flashed.
“Ants? You really enlarged real ants?”
“Indeed.”
“I see.”
In that instant, Bu Eunseol smiled.
Intelligence Star had made a mistake.
Because with that single sentence, Bu Eunseol had grasped how beings that could not possibly exist in this world—giant human-sized ants—had come to be.
Crack!
After cleaving another charging masked figure, Bu Eunseol muttered softly,
“You made me believe they were truly ant-humans.”
Having achieved the Spirit Penetration Eye, Bu Eunseol was immune to any soul-manipulating or mental attack.
Yet the power of the Hundred and Eight Stars could—within a certain domain—force any situation to manifest regardless of will.
And he realized: Intelligence Star’s power did not directly control minds or force actions against one’s intent.
Rather, it indirectly synchronized with the target’s existing thoughts and beliefs.
In short, even though Bu Eunseol remained fully rational and capable of judgment, he had been made to accept the impossible concept of giant ants.
“Remarkable. To realize that in the middle of battle.”
Hearing Bu Eunseol’s murmur, Intelligence Star sneered.
“But what changes now that you know? You’ve already accepted that these are ants.”
“…”
“No matter how strong your mental defenses—or even if you are a master capable of using Infinite Power—you will never survive!”
At Intelligence Star’s confident declaration, another flash lit Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
Something that can never be broken.
Hearing those words, a method to counter this bizarre power suddenly flashed through his mind.
‘Do I even need to break it?’
In an instant, old memories surfaced.
As a child, Bu Eunseol had once seen insects dragging objects many times their own size.
He had wondered: if those insects grew to human size, wouldn’t they become predators surpassing any beast?
—If insects became as large as humans, wouldn’t they become the strongest species in the world?
Just before falling asleep, Bu Eunseol had asked Bu Zhanyang, who was reading.
Bu Zhanyang smiled and shook his head.
—No. Insects are strong precisely because they are small.
—Strong because they are small?
Seeing Bu Eunseol’s confusion, Bu Zhanyang closed his book and smiled warmly.
—Think about it. If an insect grew to have the massive weight of a human, could its strength and agility possibly scale in proportion?
Bu Zhanyang explained calmly.
—Growing larger means an increase in volume. But insects lack an internal skeleton like humans—they have only a hard exoskeleton… The conclusion is obvious.
Bu Zhanyang stroked Bu Eunseol’s head.
—In other words, simply becoming larger does not make everything stronger.
Flash!
Snapping out of the memory, a brilliant light surged in Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
If an insect grew to the size of a human body, its exoskeleton would have to become enormously thick just to support the weight.
Moreover, if an ant became human-sized, its body weight would increase by tens of millions of times yet the strength its slender legs could support would increase by only a few hundred thousand times at most.
It would struggle even to hold up its own body.
“If you are insects, then that must be the case, right?”
Bu Eunseol’s reason still fully accepted that they were giant insects.
And he became clearly aware of exactly what would happen in the real world if human-sized giant ants were created.
Creak. Crack crack.
The lightning-fast movements of the masked figures suddenly slowed.
Intelligence Star’s suggestion had not been broken.
Bu Eunseol still believed they were real ant-humans.
But the moment he clearly recognized what phenomena would occur when ants grew to human size, that very phenomena began to manifest before his eyes.
Snap. Crack.
The slender legs, unable to bear the weight, began to shatter like brittle cookies.
Merely by directing his gaze, the thin legs of the countless masked figures filling the reed field started to break.
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