Yu Baek was that pure of a person.
If she had not been abandoned by Hyeok Ryeon-eung, if she had never become an assassin of Heartless Blood, she would surely have lived a good life.
“The only bitter part is that, even though I have a bad fate with Hyeok Ryeon-eung, I must kill even his blood kin.”
Seeing Bu Eunseol’s melancholy expression, Yoo Unryong bit his lip.
The Demon Emperor’s plan had struck true.
It not only complicated and shook Bu Eunseol’s mind but was also forcing him to adopt a heartless demeanor.
“The martial world is a heartless place anyway.” Yoo Unryong spoke as if consoling him. “Those who hold onto attachments are always the ones who get hurt in the martial world.”
Myo Cheonwoo chimed in as well.
“This time you have to finish it for sure. If you fail to kill her, not only you but all of us will be in danger.”
The Demon Emperor had not truly withdrawn his suspicions.
If Bu Eunseol, in his identity as Seon Woojin, failed to kill her, the Demon Emperor would instantly see through the hidden identity.
“I know.”
Bu Eunseol looked at the captains and spoke.
“That is why I have already made a plan. Even if I kill Yu Baek, this matter will not end here.”
A fierce light exploded from Bu Eunseol’s eyes as he gazed at the captains.
If everything proceeded exactly according to plan, if all his predictions proved correct… from this point forward, the Demon Emperor would never again be able to manipulate him within Majeon.
***
Bu Eunseol immediately swapped identities with Seo Jinha and returned to the Martial Alliance.
Once inside the Supreme Pavilion, he secretly contacted the Supreme Corps members and the Death Spirit Corps members, preparing many things.
Not only did he have to completely erase Yu Baek from this world, he also had to flawlessly handle all the aftermath.
Therefore, he had to devise a plan even more meticulous than any he had poured out before.
A plan perfected to the point of absolute perfection.
—She has moved.
Finally, the Supreme Corps’ information network captured Yu Baek’s movements.
Although the Intelligence Bureau alone could never have detected it, once the information networks of both righteous and demonic sides were combined, not only her position as she secretly left Majeon but even her travel route could be perfectly predicted.
—Let us begin.
From this moment, Bu Eunseol intended not only to perfectly dispose of Yu Baek but also to execute a plan that would free him from the Demon Emperor’s pressure forever.
As dusk settled, a desolate wind blew through the dense reed field.
Thud, thud.
A shadow walked indifferently toward that reed field.
It was a tall man in white robes, slender in build.
His appearance was somewhat ordinary, yet even from afar, his clear, still eyes shone distinctly.
It was Bu Eunseol, disguised as Seon Woojin.
After learning that Yu Baek had left Majeon, he deliberately left the Martial Alliance and wandered the martial world alone, pretending to gather information.
Not long after, he sensed a tail.
He had detected that Yu Baek was watching for an opportunity to assassinate him.
Once she began following, Bu Eunseol intentionally left Chengdu and walked through this reed field.
He was luring her in for a one-on-one confrontation.
After walking around the dense reed field for a long while, Bu Eunseol suddenly halted.
He scanned the surroundings and spoke coldly.
“Come out.”
No response came to his resonant voice.
“Surely you didn’t think I wouldn’t notice a single tail clinging to me.”
As Bu Eunseol stared confidently into empty air,
Swaaaak!
Countless thin, razor-sharp lines formed around the reed field and immediately surged toward his body.
Yu Baek was a legitimate assassin of Heartless Blood.
The moment Bu Eunseol lingered around the reed field, she realized he had detected her and chosen this place as the battlefield.
In that short time, she had secretly installed various traps around the reed field.
“Even nowadays, assassins use tricks like this?”
Bu Eunseol smirked.
“Quite classic.”
With his index and middle fingers, he wrapped and flicked away the steel wires slicing through the reeds. He was imitating the Immortal Thread Finger Art once used by Yang Daeryang, the Heaven-Piercing Division Commander.
Paaat!
At that moment, sharp hidden weapons shot skyward from above the reed field.
Anticipating that Bu Eunseol would easily deflect the wires, she had buried hundreds of hidden weapon mechanisms in the ground.
Hwiririk.
But Bu Eunseol’s super-senses had already detected every hidden weapon device in the reed field and had predicted her techniques as well.
‘In any case, she won’t rely on Heartless Blood’s secret killing techniques—she’ll bet everything on the Wishful True Binding.’
No matter how formidable Heartless Blood’s Hundred Kills Secret Techniques were, Seon Woojin was already known as a master who had entered the Supreme Heavenly Realm. In other words, he could divide time into five times finer increments than ordinary martial artists, rendering ambushes and hidden weapon mechanisms largely ineffective.
Yu Baek could not possibly be unaware of this, so she must have planned to distract him with hidden weapons and then, at ultra-close range, unleash the Wishful True Binding for an unavoidable fatal strike.
‘I’ll show her Seon Woojin’s true skill.’
Bu Eunseol had already once fought her fiercely while disguised as the Emmisary of the Three Realms.
He had grasped what martial arts she used and exactly how to counter them.
He had meticulously laid out every plan.
‘With the Thirteen Guiding Energies.’
And to perfectly execute this plan, he had to defeat her using the ultimate profound ability of the Thirteen Guiding Energies, which he had recently newly established and mastered.
Chik chik chik.
Bu Eunseol deliberately unfolded the Thirteen Iron Sword Forms to lure her closer.
Rather than intentionally showing many openings with a flawed sword style to tempt her into seizing a golden opportunity, using a perfect defensive sword form and then revealing tiny, subtle openings was far more natural at drawing the enemy in.
Shuuu!
With ghostly footwork, she closed in and both hands now gripped daggers thickly coated with poison.
Slash slash slash slash!
As she swung the daggers madly at close range, blade light exploded outward.
In a single breath, over forty dagger strikes poured toward Bu Eunseol’s face.
Clang clang clang!
Bu Eunseol swiftly swung the Silent Tiger Soul Sword to block her attacks.
Clang clang clang!
As the exchange continued at close quarters, Yu Baek seized the momentum and closed the distance even further.
The true strength of short weapons shone brightest the closer the range became.
Though Bu Eunseol tried to create distance somehow, Yu Baek charged relentlessly until their faces were almost touching.
Chik!
The moment their noses nearly met, Yu Baek executed the Absorbing Breath Technique to force a clash of weapons.
Chwaak!
At the same instant, dozens of black blades surged from behind her back like vipers devouring prey.
It was the Wishful True Binding.
‘This is a feint.’
Slash!
Swinging the Silent Tiger Soul Sword at high speed, he instantly created a sword net three jang wide. The dazzling web of sword energy collided with the blades of the Wishful True Binding, sparking flames before dissipating.
Flash!
At the same moment, sharp radiance burst from Bu Eunseol’s left hand.
He had thrown a flying dagger toward the space between her brows.
Shuk!
But the dagger harmlessly grazed her temple.
Yu Baek, too, had predicted Bu Eunseol’s dagger technique with her keen senses and twisted her head in an instant to evade.
Slash slash slash!
Dodging the dagger, she poured lightning-fast strikes and closed the gap even more.
Clang clang clang!
As two supreme masters exchanged blows at ultra-close range, waves of true energy and flashing sword qi spread in all directions.
Their exchange flowed without interruption like running water and at some point, neither moved a single step, yet they unleashed attacks like thunderbolts.
Because their weapons clashed so rapidly, it seemed as though an enormous wall had formed in front of them.
Tak!
Then something astonishing happened.
Through a space so densely packed with sword qi that not even a speck of dust could pass, Yu Baek accelerated her footwork and suddenly leaped straight into Bu Eunseol’s embrace.
Paat.
Caught off guard by the sudden assault, Bu Eunseol felt puzzled yet retreated slightly.
Ziiing.
But behind Bu Eunseol waited a flower bud brimming with countless blades.
Her Wishful True Binding had reached the realm of Following Heart’s Desire so not only could she spread formless true energy like mist, she could also pre-form energy into specific shapes and move them at will.
Slash slash slash!
In urgency, Bu Eunseol spun violently and swung the Silent Tiger Soul Sword at high speed.
But there were simply too many blades formed by the Wishful True Binding.
In the end, his robes tore and blood seeped out.
Halt.
Yet something was strange.
Having gained the upper hand, she should have pressed the attack relentlessly.
Instead, Yu Baek stopped attacking and merely observed Bu Eunseol?
‘Is this a technique of Heartless Blood assassins?’
Even after seizing victory, she deliberately broke her own momentum and flow in a somewhat incomprehensible manner.
Such abrupt tactics were akin to playing with one’s life in a duel between supreme masters.
If Bu Eunseol had not been the type to analyze every single movement for meaning, a single eccentric action from her would have cost him his head instantly.
Sssss.
At that moment, black mist began rising from Yu Baek’s entire body.
Huuuuur.
The black mist that billowed up soon enveloped Bu Eunseol completely.
‘Could it be…’
In that instant, Bu Eunseol was unable to make any move.
‘She didn’t break the flow—she was preparing a vacuum strike.’
The black mist she created was a sure-kill form that instantly formed blades to pierce any opening, no matter what move Bu Eunseol attempted or how he positioned himself.
‘She instantly copied a sword form she had seen only once?’
And this technique perfectly adapted the variation of the Heon Won Bright Sword that Bu Eunseol had once shown her—the killing sword form—into the Wishful True Binding.
‘So this is the Wishful True Binding.’
Bu Eunseol could not hide his inner astonishment.
Yu Baek’s martial talent was astonishing enough, but the profound application of the Emotion-Severing Secret—the ability to freely materialize true energy through the Wishful True Binding—allowed her to instantly imitate and execute any martial art?
‘So it wasn’t just about poisoning me.’
Bu Eunseol bit his lip.
The final message the Demon Emperor wanted to convey through Yu Baek was not that he had left the Emotion-Severing Secret to ruin him.
It had already approached completion as one of the demonic path’s supreme martial arts, and it had been transmitted precisely for Bu Eunseol to inherit.
‘Demon Emperor.’
Bu Eunseol’s gaze wavered.
For a demonic practitioner resolved to enter the Impermanence Demonic Path and reach the pinnacle of demonic martial arts, the Emotion-Severing Secret was a treasure beyond measure, a supreme secret art of the ages.
The problem was that Bu Eunseol had not the slightest intention of entering the Impermanence Demonic Path.
Thus, the Emotion-Severing Secret became nothing but deadly poison—hindering his progress and preventing stable integration of internal power.
In other words, the Demon Emperor had already bestowed upon him, without reservation, the strongest martial art of the demonic path.
Papapat!
As his mind shook uncontrollably, the hazy mist formed by the Wishful True Binding pierced into Bu Eunseol’s body.
‘I am Seon Woojin right now.’
Bu Eunseol bit his lip until it bled.
If his mind wavered here, every plan he had built would collapse into nothing.
“Haaap!”
With a sharp battle cry, he focused his mind.
Swiik swiik!
With a sound like tearing air, nine streams of energy surged from his entire body and began slowly pushing back Yu Baek’s mist.
At last, he had unfolded the Thirteen Guiding Energies.
Saaaa!
As the Thirteen Guiding Energies manifested, in response, the mist of Yu Baek’s Wishful True Binding grew even denser. She, too, amplified her Wishful True Binding, ceaselessly erasing the Thirteen Guiding Energies enveloping Bu Eunseol’s body.
Wooong! Wooong!
When the supreme ultimate techniques of righteous and demonic paths collided head-on, a vibration as if heaven and earth were shaking spread outward.
The radiating streams of energy and waves of true qi became a storm that seemed to swallow the entire world.
Swiik! Swiik!
But gradually, the balance of victory and defeat began to tilt.
Bu Eunseol’s Thirteen Guiding Energies started annihilating Yu Baek’s Wishful True Binding, which had spread like black mist.
No matter how extraordinary the ability of the Wishful True Binding, Yu Baek’s true energy depth and internal cultivation level could not yet overcome Bu Eunseol.
Swiik! Swiik!
Finally, just as razor-sharp streams of energy were about to sever Yu Baek’s throat,
Paa! Saaaa!
Once again, jet-black mist clung to the axe-sharp streams of the Thirteen Guiding Energies.
At the same instant, Bu Eunseol’s body began trembling as if struck by lightning.
‘Such an application exists?’
This time, Bu Eunseol was genuinely stunned to the point of fainting.
Yu Baek’s Wishful True Binding had even changed its properties, stickily coating the Thirteen Guiding Energies and, using them as a medium, pushing streams of internal energy into Bu Eunseol’s meridians, wildly disrupting the energy inside his body.
‘At this rate, I may have no choice but to use power beyond Seon Woojin’s capabilities…’
Although he had mastered the Wishful True Binding through the Emotion-Severing Secret, he had never deeply studied or researched its other profound principles and methods.
Yet astonishingly, within the Emotion-Severing Secret existed a way to use the opponent’s unleashed true energy techniques as a medium to shake or influence the opponent’s body.
Crack.
The destructive power of the Thirteen Guiding Energies was several times greater than the Wishful True Binding Yu Baek had unfolded. But as the sticky, tenacious power of the Wishful True Binding rode the Emotion-Severing Secret into his body, Bu Eunseol’s body instead froze rigid.
It was a moment shorter than the snap of a finger, yet to Yu Baek, who had spent her entire life honing Heartless Blood’s secret killing techniques in a dark cave, it must have felt like an interminably long, yawn-inducing instant.
Flash!
In that instant, Yu Baek closed the distance and thrust her dagger toward Bu Eunseol’s heart.
‘No choice.’
Bu Eunseol unleashed four hundred years’ worth of internal energy to repel the power of the Wishful True Binding that had invaded his body.
Flash!
At the same moment, he thrust the Silent Tiger Soul Sword toward Yu Baek’s chest.
The speed was lightning-fast, but unfortunately, because his body had momentarily frozen, it became a mutual destruction technique.
‘Wrong.’
Realizing he could not avoid the dagger piercing toward his heart, Bu Eunseol was about to spread Crystal Divine Energy when—
“……”
Bu Eunseol froze.
Then, eyes wide, he looked down at his own body.
The Silent Tiger Soul Sword had pierced through Yu Baek’s chest, yet Yu Baek had stopped her dagger just before it reached Bu Eunseol’s heart.
‘Why?’
As if reading his inner thoughts, Yu Baek blinked and stared fixedly at the area near his shoulder.
Looking down, through the torn clothing he saw the red-stained wound.
That stab wound was the one he had received when he reached out to neutralize the Joy of Heaven and Earth poison in her body and she had counterattacked, driving her dagger through his shoulder.
‘So that’s why she hesitated.’
Just moments ago, when countless blades created by Following Heart’s Desire tore his robes, Yu Baek had briefly paused her attack.
It had not been a life-risking feint.
From the moment she saw the wound on his shoulder… she had realized that Seon Woojin was Bu Eunseol.
[Take care of yourself.]
Hyeok Yu Baek left a final farewell to Bu Eunseol with her eyes.
The few days she had spent with Bu Eunseol had been the happiest and most joyful time of her life.
Not only had he taught her many things about the martial world, he had also taught her the gentle art of lying.
Bu Eunseol had lied, saying he melted the dagger with Supreme Yang Energy even though his shoulder was pierced.
It had been a lie that slipped out in the heat of the moment, but to her—someone who had spent her entire life honing killing techniques in a dark cave, living a cold, mechanical existence—it had been an immense kindness, one she was willing to repay even with her life.
Srr.
With a bright smile, Yu Baek drew her final breath.
Swiik swiik!
As the Wishful True Binding she had unfolded vanished, the Thirteen Guiding Energies, which had been blocked by the Wishful True Binding, instantly enveloped Yu Baek’s body.
Papapapak!
The razor-sharp streams of the Thirteen Guiding Energies sliced across her entire body as if to tear it to shreds.
Thud. Psssh.
Blood burst from the fallen Yu Baek’s body and her entire form was covered in cruel wounds. There was a thin layer of frost on her wounds, presumably from the repeated use of the Snow Blossom Sect’s arts but even that chill soon dissipated into mist.
“……”
Though Bu Eunseol’s mind was numb, he soon looked with a calm expression upon Yu Baek’s mangled body.
She lay with her eyes gently closed, as though fallen into a deep, peaceful sleep.
In the end, Yu Baek breathed her last.
Comments