Kwaang! Rumble rumble!
Every time the Fist Man unleashed a strike, a gale raged forth and the ground around him crumbled.
Bu Eunseol’s entire body was drenched in blood, yet he stubbornly continued to block the Fist Man’s attacks.
‘I have to endure somehow—even if it’s just one more form.’
Even in this life-or-death battle, he did not counterattack. Instead, he raised the Nangyang Heart Eye to its limit and staked his life purely on defense, all for the sake of extracting the latter three forms of the Seven Fist Demon Forms from the Fist Man.
Boom!
In the end, one strike landed squarely. Bu Eunseol was sent flying dozens of zhang away and spat out an arrow of blood with a puut sound.
Yet the internal injuries were not that deep.
Each time he was struck, he concentrated the thick, circulating true energy within his body at the exact point of impact to dissipate the fist power.
Moreover, he maintained a single thread of clarity in his acupoints.
This was not something he had been taught by anyone; it was a profound principle he had naturally internalized through endless battles against stronger opponents.
Shuuu—
The seemingly endless, eons-long barrage finally ceased.
The Fist Man, having halted his attack, opened his mouth in genuine astonishment.
“How strange. Just what sect’s martial arts have you cultivated?”
Not only was Bu Eunseol’s martial prowess extraordinary, but the precise level he had reached was almost impossible to gauge.
“It looks as though you’ve stretched time out endlessly, so perhaps you’ve reached the Supreme Heavenly Realm.”
“...”
“And yet you’re receiving this heavenly lord’s fist power with your bare body?”
The Fist Man let out an admiring exclamation as he looked at Bu Eunseol, who was breathing heavily while blood dripped from him.
“Could it be that a young fellow like you has already reached the Limitless Realm?”
“Is the Limitless Realm really such a big deal?”
“What?”
“Going the path I myself wish to walk is simply better.”
Those words were sincere.
To other martial artists, the Limitless Realm was a boundary they could only dream of reaching, but to Bu Eunseol, it was merely walking a road someone else had already paved.
“This guy is truly insane.”
The Fist Man tilted his head, then began reviewing the movements Bu Eunseol had displayed.
“Now that I think about it, you subtly incorporated the mysteries of the Myriad Phenomena Sword Style… Are you a disciple of the Sword Venerable?”
Under the identity of Seon Woojin, Bu Eunseol had been using the natural sword mysteries of the Sword Venerable to circulate his true energy and withstand the Fist Man’s ferocious onslaught. The Fist Man had perceived this with uncanny sharpness and declared that Bu Eunseol must be the Sword Venerable’s disciple.
“Well, among the Three Demons and Three Venerables, that one was the most tenacious and persistent.”
Bu Eunseol’s eyes flashed.
The Fist Man spoke as though he had crossed blades with all of the Three Demons and Three Venerables.
“You fought all of the Three Demons and Three Venerables?”
“Not all of them.”
The Fist Man gave a peculiar smile.
“The old bald Shaolin monk whose whereabouts are impossible to trace… I couldn’t find him.”
The Shaolin monk.
It seemed he was referring to the Buddha Venerable.
“Those fellows were already remarkable in their youth. Every one of them managed to block this old man’s single fist with ease.”
Thump.
Bu Eunseol felt as if he had been struck on the back of the head.
‘So that was it.’
At last he understood.
Why absolute masters such as the Human Demon and the Sword Venerable had devoted themselves so obsessively to closed-door training from their youth.
Before they ever encountered the towering wall called the Righteous and Demonic Twin Heavenly Emperors, they had all clashed with the Fist Man, or one of the Eight Human Heavens, and realized there was a heaven above the heavens.
‘Then perhaps…’
The closed-door training of the Righteous and Demonic Twin Heavenly Emperors was not about slaughtering one another, but rather preparation to defeat the Eight Human Heavens—or even the subordinates of the True Demon above them.
‘So that’s why the grandmasters who reached the absolute realm repeatedly entered closed-door cultivation.’
Until now, the strongest figures in the martial world must have discovered or encountered the True Demon’s subordinates long ago and had ceaselessly striven to surpass them.
“You seem to have realized something as well.”
But the Fist Man misinterpreted the look of realization on Bu Eunseol’s face in a rather absurd way… and spoke words that were utterly shocking.
“The very realm called the Limitless Realm is itself a shackle and a trap. It prevents anyone from advancing further.”
The Fist Man cackled.
“After using Infinite Reversal Power, no one has ever climbed higher…… The Heavenly Realm is merely an imaginary boundary? Hahaha!”
Bu Eunseol felt as though he had been hit on the back of the head again; stars danced before his eyes.
If that was true, then the True Demon himself had established the very concept and system of the Limitless Realm, precisely to ensure that no martial artist in the martial world could ever surpass it.
“No matter how strong worms like you become, what threat could you possibly pose?”
The Fist Man smirked, as though reading Bu Eunseol’s inner thoughts.
“The ones binding you are someone else entirely.”
It was an enigmatic statement.
Just who was suppressing the development of martial world martial artists?
“That can’t be possible.”
Regaining his composure, Bu Eunseol shook his head firmly.
“Even if someone established such a system, it doesn’t mean outstanding grandmasters cannot break through the limit…”
“What? You really don’t know?”
The Fist Man tilted his head at Bu Eunseol’s expression.
“Could it be that you suppressed the Infinite Ascendant Awakening without even knowing what it was?”
In that moment, Bu Eunseol realized.
The Infinite Ascendant Awakening—the precursor to entering the Limitless Realm, the sign that one’s body had fully adapted to wield Infinite Reversal Power—was itself the trap.
“Someone established the Limitless Realm, and the previous generation’s masters correctly interpreted the sign called Infinite Ascendant Awakening and advanced… so naturally, later generations simply accepted it as truth?”
The Fist Man did not reply and merely smiled.
The Infinite Ascendant Awakening was known as the omen of entering the Limitless Realm, but in reality it was a kind of heart demon—a mechanism designed to trap one forever within the single power of the Limitless Realm and Infinite Reversal Power.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve talked this much.”
Seeing Bu Eunseol’s expression of having understood everything, the Fist Man gave a gentle smile.
“Seeing outstanding young ones like you reminds me of the old days.”
His eyes grew infinitely deep and dark.
“But that’s enough. No more games—let’s finish this.”
At the same moment, pitch-black mist began rising from all directions.
Thump thump. Thump thump.
When the Fist Man clenched his fist, a heartbeat-like sound suddenly echoed from deep beneath the earth.
Bu Eunseol felt a bizarre sensation—as though his skin and bones were being cleanly dismantled.
Thud thud.
The Fist Man began walking slowly toward Bu Eunseol.
Each step he took split the ground, and from the fissures black flames seemed to surge upward.
It was as though the terrifying Demon God who annihilates all life had descended into the human world to deliver death upon foolish mortals.
‘Infinite Reversal Power.’
Yet Bu Eunseol realized that none of this was actually happening.
It was all a phenomenon caused by the Fist Man unleashing Infinite Reversal Power.
And that power would transcend imagination.
The difference between one who recognizes their limits and one who is trapped by them is as vast as the distance between heaven and earth.
‘There is only one way.’
The time Bu Eunseol spent thinking felt endlessly long.
But that was only because his martial prowess had broken through the Supreme Heavenly Realm, causing his mind to rotate at insane speed. It merely appeared as though he were stretching time infinitely.
No matter how much he racked his brain, he would not be able to evade the attack the Fist Man was about to unleash.
It would surely not come in the form of a single strike, but rather as the relentless pursuit of the Death God that would cling to him until he died.
‘However, the Fist Man’s Infinite Reversal Power… will first manifest from the mindscape world rather than pure martial technique.’
He was a man who possessed the original source of the Seven Fist Demon Forms—the pinnacle of fist learning under heaven.
He would not prolong the fight; he would undoubtedly begin by unleashing the mindscape world.
He must have already perceived that, given Bu Eunseol’s internal energy level and martial prowess, he could endure a drawn-out exchange for quite some time.
Such a prolonged battle would wound his pride.
‘Then there is only one method.’
When Bu Eunseol raised the Martial Emperor Tranquil Awakening,
Shiiik! Shiiik!
Nine razor-sharp streams of energy coiled around his body.
He had unfolded the Martial Emperor’s supreme ultimate art—the Thirteen Guiding Energies.
‘But if he does not unfold the mindscape world and instead pours out martial technique first… I will die instantly.’
This was a gamble.
A gamble for survival.
Paaa!
In that instant, dazzling light bloomed before Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
At the same time, light descended from the sky in the shape of a sword and poured down, while spears of darkness surged upward from the ground.
The mindscape world.
The Fist Man, realizing that Bu Eunseol possessed powerful internal energy, an indomitable will to live, and now nine indestructible streams of energy—the Thirteen Guiding Energies—coiled around his entire body, understood that he could not easily destroy his physical form.
Thus he drew him into the mindscape world to shatter his spirit first, then crush his body in one blow.
‘It worked.’
Bu Eunseol inwardly shouted in triumph.
His gamble had succeeded.
Even the experts among the Inbiin—one of the Eight Human Heavens—primarily used mindscape-world attacks. Therefore the Fist Man could surely wield the mindscape world freely as well.
He would find a prolonged physical exchange tiresome, and before destroying the body, he would invariably precede it with an assault on the spirit.
Crack.
In an instant Bu Eunseol felt as though his brain had been torn in two.
Yet immediately afterward, his mind began to fill with happy, joyful memories.
At the same time, the vast majority of the power the Fist Man poured out was repelled before it could even enter his spirit.
The Martial Emperor Tranquil Awakening was not merely a mind technique that amplified martial power; it was an extremely effective defensive measure capable of blocking spirit-level attacks unleashed by supreme-realm experts such as the Fist Man.
“You bastard.”
The Fist Man wore a somewhat dumbfounded expression.
Despite Bu Eunseol’s unfocused gaze, he had erected a perfect barrier around his spirit and was effortlessly defending against the attack.
“In the end, you force this heavenly lord to use his fists.”
Kwaang!
With an earth-shaking explosion,
Rumble rumble.
A massive crater formed where Bu Eunseol had stood.
The Demon Fist had poured colossal fist power down from the heavens, driving Bu Eunseol’s body straight into the ground.
“What a pity.”
Looking down at the huge pit from which white smoke rose, the Fist Man narrowed his eyes for a moment.
“He was a talent who could have surpassed the Three Demons and Three Venerables.”
The Sword King Seon Woojin.
He had been an outstanding genius; if he had honed his martial arts for another ten years… he might have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the Fist Man himself.
But regrettably, by recklessly trying to protect a woman, he had ultimately lost his life.
Swish.
With a somewhat lonely expression, the Fist Man turned away.
There were few in the martial world worthy of crossing blades with him. For a long time now, the world had been nothing but silent and desolate.
“If you wait a little longer, many interesting things will happen.”
The Fist Man looked toward the distant sky with an expectant face.
“The one born with the Heavenly Mechanism Star won’t crouch like a rat forever.”
Murmuring lowly, his figure vanished into the heavens in an instant.
Silence returned to the plain where the Fist Man had departed.
Rumble rumble.
But at that moment, a low vibration rose from the depths of the huge crater, and a wretched shadow floated up into the air.
It was Bu Eunseol.
“Huff… huff…”
Having climbed out onto the ground, he collapsed, gasping for breath.
“If I had not clashed with the Demon Emperor before, I really would have died.”
Against a terrifying master like the Fist Man, it was impossible to conceal one’s vital signs.
But in the past he had partially comprehended the Great Natural Qi from the mysteries of the Natural Sword. Thanks to that, he had been able to temporarily merge his body with nature.
“If the mindscape world had failed, he would have poured out a single annihilating fist power directly.”
Bu Eunseol had predicted that the Fist Man would unfold the mindscape world first—and if that failed, his wounded pride would lead him to end it with one single fist.
Not multiple forms—just one devastating strike capable of taking his life.
He had prepared accordingly.
Not for victory, but solely to survive.
“And that Fist Man is mistaken about something.”
Bu Eunseol looked in the direction where the Fist Man had disappeared.
“Not only the Demon Emperor, but the Pavilion Lord and all the supreme experts are already sensing such things and breaking free from the framework of the Limitless Realm.”
The Fist Man had fought the supreme experts of his youth and, afterward, had likely not been active in the martial world.
He must have found them laughable.
No matter how hard they tried, they could never surpass him.
But the current generation’s supreme experts had far exceeded those expectations… and were quietly amassing terrifying martial prowess in utmost secrecy, so that the crouching forces within the martial world would remain unaware.
“However.” Bu Eunseol took a deep breath. “Those Eight Human Heavens are merely the lowest rank. Then just how much stronger are the Four Divine Heavens or the Three Attendants?”
An ordinary martial artist would have fallen into despair.
But instead, his heart pounded with excitement and fighting spirit surged within him.
“Now it’s finally starting to feel worth fighting.”
For a long time Bu Eunseol had felt that the power structure of the martial world was somehow strange.
—The Righteous and Demonic Twin Heavenly Emperors, the Three Demons and Three Venerables, the Four Gods and Seven Kings.
Even considering only the hidden heads of the Three Families or the Three Realms who had yet to reveal themselves, the Four Gods and Seven Kings already possessed martial prowess that easily surpassed them.
Moreover, countless abyssal forces existed within the martial world.
So how had such a hierarchy of power come to be established?
—Clearly, a great many powerhouses were lying in wait.
And the appearance of the Fist Man had proven that prediction true.
There were countless hidden powerhouses in the martial world who had yet to show themselves.
“They must surely be connected to Grandfather and my parents as well.”
Both Grandfather and his parents were divine figures who had subdued the entire martial world.
Especially since the True Demon was said to have been in constant opposition to the Baekri family across generations…
In the end, the Eight Human Heavens too were fated to inevitably clash with the Three Realms.
“Chief Inspector.”
Only then did Bu Eunseol remember Gongsun Dankyung, whom he had buried in the ground.
Rumble rumble.
He quickly unfolded his movement technique and used his internal energy to pull her up from the earth in one motion.
Floating gently.
After carefully retrieving the Boundary Prosperity Jade he had placed inside her clothing, he swiftly released the Ghost Eating Great Law to awaken her.
“Lord Seon.”
Gongsun Dankyung was greatly shocked to see Bu Eunseol covered in wounds.
“The Fist Man… where is he?”
“He left, believing I was dead.”
“He believed you were dead?”
When Gongsun Dankyung made an incredulous face, Bu Eunseol gave a vague explanation.
“I possess a concealment technique that even a master like him cannot detect. I deliberately took his strike and pretended to be dead.”
Gongsun Dankyung wore an expression of disbelief.
She knew the level of the Fist Man’s martial prowess.
To deliberately take an attack from such a being and feign death?
That would mean Bu Eunseol’s martial level had never been confined to the Supreme Heavenly Realm in the first place.
“I see.”
Gongsun Dankyung took a deep breath.
“Lord Seon has always accomplished things others thought impossible.”
She did not probe any further.
Because her heart was already indescribably complicated.
“Chief Inspector, what in the world happened?”
Bu Eunseol’s question carried many layers of meaning.
But Gongsun Dankyung cut it short with one sentence.
“There was someone I’ve known for a very long time. It seems the Jungson Family impersonated him to lure me out and trap you.”
“The Jungson Family…”
Bu Eunseol’s eyes narrowed.
The Fist Man had referred to Gongsun Dankyung as “one of the children who survived the Jungson Family.”
‘The Chief Inspector is hiding something.’
He wanted to ask for the full story, but the pain filling her eyes made it impossible for him to press her.
No one has the right to dig up another person’s painful past.
“I understand. I see what you mean.”
Though he understood none of the details, Bu Eunseol answered that way.
“However, I would appreciate it if you could tell me the contents written in the Jungson Family’s secret manual at a later time.”
“I will. Thank you.”
Feeling Bu Eunseol’s consideration, Gongsun Dankyung gave a faint smile.
“The reason I won’t tell you about my past is not because I don’t trust you…”
Then, with an apologetic expression, she continued. “If I do, all the plans I’ve built up until now will fall apart.”
Bu Eunseol could understand her words.
If someone learned every detail of one’s circumstances, those plans could collapse in an instant.
“I’m fine with it.”
Bu Eunseol looked at her with gentle eyes.
“This place is dangerous. I will escort you at least as far as the Alliance-”
Sway.
But he could not finish speaking; his body staggered.
No matter how much he had wrapped himself in Great Natural Qi, he had taken that strike bare-bodied in order to deceive the Fist Man.
There was no way he could be unharmed.
“It’s all right.”
Gongsun Dankyung supported Bu Eunseol and said, “There is a secret organization that I lead. However, because this area was blocked by formations, I couldn’t call them.”
Piii—
When she blew a loud whistle, the sound of rushing air came from somewhere, and the presence of a great many people approaching could be felt.
Bu Eunseol nodded as though relieved.
“Then I’ll head back first.”
At that moment white smoke rose from Bu Eunseol’s body and waves of true energy spread outward.
The Fist Man’s fist power—like a living creature—had burrowed into Bu Eunseol’s body and was now attacking his heart veins once again.
Kwaaaa.
But in response, the Ban-Geuk Method instantly spread through him.
With a tremendous shockwave, the razor-sharp fist power melted away like snow.
Sway.
Yet Bu Eunseol dropped to one knee as though he had momentarily lost all strength.
“Lord Seon.”
Gongsun Dankyung hurriedly supported him.
Ziiing.
At that instant, her pupils sparkled with a violet light.
But Bu Eunseol did not notice and waved his hand.
“I’m fine.”
Rising calmly, he gave a smile.
“Then I’ll go ahead.”
As Bu Eunseol turned to bow in farewell, “Lord Seon.”
Gongsun Dankyung took his hand. Then she whispered softly,
“Return safely. We’ll talk again later—without fail.”
“Understood.”
“And… thank you.”
Gongsun Dankyung squeezed his hand once more.
“For risking your life to come save me.”
Then, apologetically, she added, “I really should tell you everything, but if you learn my circumstances, you will be placed in danger instead.”
Gongsun Dankyung looked straight into Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
“I no longer want anyone to get hurt because of me.”
There was a certain depth of sorrow in her gaze.
Bu Eunseol could understand her words.
Because he felt the same.
He never wanted anyone to be hurt because of him.
“I truly am fine.”
Bu Eunseol spoke politely.
“Whenever you feel ready, tell me at your leisure.”
After bowing respectfully, Bu Eunseol turned and instantly unfolded his movement technique.
As he unleashed Swift Beyond Shadow and even activated Thunder Spirit Energy, a hazy band of vapor formed in front of him.
Kwa-rung!
With a thunderclap that pierced heaven and earth, his figure became a single meteor that tore across the sky.
‘I can no longer hide my identity from the Pavilion Lord… or from everyone in our Pavilion.’
Suppressing his injuries, Bu Eunseol bit his lip as he poured every ounce of strength into his movement technique.
‘And I must hear the entire truth.’
Until now, the Demon Emperor and the Martial Venerable had been watching him ever since the days when they were close with Grandfather.
That meant they had known not only Grandfather’s identity, but Bu Eunseol’s true background for a very long time.
Then could the Three Demons and Three Venerables have been unaware?
Others might have been ignorant, but the Human Demon surely knew.
He had spent his entire life striving to defeat the Demon Emperor, and whenever the latter caused trouble, he always verified it personally.
Moreover, having now encountered the Fist Man… for the sake of his own future as the legitimate successor of Nangyang Pavilion, the Human Demon would not evade questions about the True Demon, the Baekri family, and Bu Eunseol’s own origins.
If he refused to answer in this situation?
It would be tantamount to telling Bu Eunseol to leave Nangyang Pavilion.
‘The True Demon. The Baekri Family.’
Right now, Bu Eunseol intended to seek out the Human Demon and demand clear answers about the truth hidden between those two legendary forces and about his own origins.
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