Gongsun Dankyung spoke.
“He tried to kill you by using the Fist Man. But in the end, you survived.”
She shook her head.
“At the time, my mind was so complicated that I couldn’t even think of that point.”
“So… you’re saying his prediction was wrong.”
“Yes. Unlike the legends, he is not accurately predicting every variable.”
After taking a deep breath, she continued.
“This time, he deliberately sent someone who could unfold the supreme move of Heavenly Origin and whose body was even harder than the Indestructible Body.”
“…”
“To measure the combat strength called Seon Woojin. To uncover his trump card technique.”
Gongsun Dankyung gave a wry smile.
“But you pierced that man’s mouth with your sword purely through improvisation, not through any grand martial art. I can guarantee you that such an outcome was never part of his calculations.”
Bu Eunseol nodded.
This had been nothing more than a move born of improvisation through Nangyang Heart Eye—no profound martial prowess or secret trump card.
“And it must be quite bewildering for him. He can only tell that your martial arts are impressive, but he cannot accurately predict the true extent of Seon Woojin’s combat power.”
Chu So was the Heavenly Mechanism Star who could foresee the future and preside over everything in the world yet in reality, there were things he got wrong and events he failed to predict.
“In the end, he too is just an ordinary human. That means it is entirely possible to strike back.”
Gongsun Dankyung spoke calmly.
“In truth, until now I always believed that whatever Chu So did could never be stopped. That’s why I tried to meet him directly like this.”
She spoke with confidence.
“But today, for the first time, I realized. He is just an ordinary human… and that means he can definitely be defeated in the future.”
Shuuu.
At that moment, the densely layered energy of the Absolute Boundary began to slowly disperse.
As Bu Eunseol had pierced through part of the Absolute Boundary, it could no longer maintain balance and the formation collapsed.
“Amazing. To think such a formation exists in the world.”
“This isn’t a formation.” Gongsun Dankyung explained calmly. “It’s called an Absolute Boundary used by the Three Families. A secret art that completely separates one space by overlapping countless formations.”
“Absolute Boundary. I see.”
That was how the Three Families and their secret forces had managed to hide their main base so perfectly until now and how the Ancient Sword Forest had previously lived inside a completely different space from the existing one.
All of it was thanks to this secret art called the Absolute Boundary, which could divide space.
“But an Absolute Boundary can only be broken by the one who unfolded it.”
Gongsun Dankyung looked at Bu Eunseol with astonished eyes.
“How exactly did you break it?”
In the past she might have asked suspiciously whether Bu Eunseol was perhaps someone from the Three Families.
But now her expression showed only pure curiosity.
“I have three of the four Divine Energies.” Bu Eunseol answered honestly as well.
Now Gongsun Dankyung had become not just a comrade he could entrust his life to, but something more.
“Three Divine Energies?”
“Yes. I happened to acquire them while trying to organize the energy within my body…”
Bu Eunseol calmly recounted how he came to possess the Three Divine Energies.
However, he did not mention that it was Gongsun Dana who had given him the taoist secret method allowing him to operate all three simultaneously. There had already been various matters concerning Gongsun Dana, so speaking about her felt awkward.
“Then, has the Three Realms ever coveted the Four Divine Energies in the past?”
At Gongsun Dankyung’s question, Bu Eunseol nodded.
“Yes. In the past, the Infinite Realm was obsessed with the Four Divine Energies for a time.”
“I see.”
She narrowed her eyes.
“Then it’s unlikely the Three Realms ever used the Absolute Boundary technique. And they never tried to fuse a power like the Four Divine Energies into martial arts either.”
“Correct.”
Gongsun Dankyung’s large eyes sparkled.
“Though this is only a guess, I think the reason the Three Realms wanted the Four Divine Energies… might’ve been to break the Absolute Boundaries of the Three Families.”
If the Four Divine Energies had the power to shatter Absolute Boundaries, and the Three Realms desired them, was it possible their goal was to destroy the Absolute Boundaries of the Three Families?
The thought occurred to her.
“Artificially creating the Four Divine Energies is difficult, but if the purpose is to break an Absolute Boundary, there might be ways to manifest a similar power.”
“That could very well be.”
After pondering, Bu Eunseol spoke.
“If it’s not too much trouble, may I ask the Gongsun family head to research ways to break Absolute Boundaries?”
“My father?”
“Yes. I have a strong intuition that this thing called the Absolute Boundary may become quite an important clue in the future.”
Gongsun Dankyung nodded.
“I understand. I’ll do that.”
“And…”
Bu Eunseol wanted to say something to give her strength.
Because of the person called Chu So, her entire past life had been completely denied.
Though she pretended to be calm, he could see she had received a tremendous shock.
“Thank you.”
Gongsun Dankyung smiled beautifully, as if she could see straight into Bu Eunseol’s heart.
“I’ll be strong.”
Bu Eunseol felt a strange sensation.
At some point, hadn’t Gongsun Dankyung begun reading his mind as clearly as if she were using mind-reading?
Strangely enough, he didn’t dislike it at all.
Whooosh.
At that moment, a sound of something tearing through the air came from the distant sky.
Now that the Absolute Boundary had collapsed, the Supreme Corps members who had been frantically searching the area were rushing toward them.
“Return with them. I have business in Majeon, so I’ll be going.”
“Understood. Be careful.”
“You too, Chief.”
When their eyes met, he somehow felt awkward. Bu Eunseol turned and unleashed his movement technique at full power.
***
The Death Shadow Corps held the most unique position within Majeon.
It was an organization directly under the successor of Majeon, the Martial Soul Command Lord, and wielded immense authority.
Yet it almost never involved itself in the affairs of Majeon.
When activating the Martial Soul Command, it appointed Captain Yoo Unryong as Vice Lord and gave him the position to oversee inspection duties.
The problem was that all the captains of the Death Shadow Corps were treated only as second or third-grade captains.
Considering their martial prowess and past achievements, Yoo Unryong and Myo Cheonwoo should have been special-grade, and the rest at least first-grade.
But the Martial Soul Command Lord had no intention of promoting anyone in the Death Shadow Corps and none of the captains ever asked for a promotion.
As a result, not only Wi Cheongyeong but even Myo Cheonwoo and Yoo Unryong, when showing respect to the higher-grade captains, often received awkward coughs and half-hearted acknowledgements in return.
—Why won’t he promote them?
Special-grade captains were appointed by the Demon Emperor, so that was understandable—but first-grade should be entirely within the Martial Soul Command Lord’s authority. Yet he seemed to have no intention of promoting them, as if he wanted to keep his subordinates at the bottom forever.
Because of this, some of the mid-level figures occasionally voiced complaints to the Martial Soul Command Lord, but Bu Eunseol remained silent.
In truth, the reason was simple.
Second-grade captains only had to follow the commander’s orders and bore no real responsibility but becoming special- or first-grade meant far more responsibility, including participation in the mid-level council.
As long as he remained in Majeon, Bu Eunseol was determined never to let his subordinates bear any responsibility or be interfered with by others.
Even so, there had been one single occasion when Bu Eunseol used his immense authority to grant someone a status akin to special treatment and that person had, for the first time in a while, entered Majeon and headed toward the Suppressed Demon Pavilion.
Inside the Suppressed Demon Pavilion’s main training hall.
Murmur murmur.
There, Won Semun, Jo Namcheon, Wi Cheongyeong, and even the unit leaders of each hall were holding horse stance.
They were using purely physical strength—no internal energy at all—for an entire hour now.
“Ughhh.”
Their faces were flushed red, thick veins bulging on their foreheads.
On the training platform stood a seven-cheok giant with long, flowing hair, arms crossed, watching solemnly.
It was none other than the Heaven-Collapsing Strike So Okrim.
She was the one Bu Eunseol had promoted—using the authority of the Martial Soul Command Lord—to the position of martial arts instructor in the Death Shadow Corps, equivalent to first-grade captain status.
Even if one gained first-grade status, as a martial arts instructor, there were no restrictions, no responsibilities, and no obligation to forcibly carry out missions.
As if to boast that she was the only first-grade captain in the Death Shadow Corps, every time she visited the Suppressed Demon Pavilion, she trained the warriors of the Death Shadow Corps as mercilessly as catching rats.
“Sigh, look at this sagging gut. Did you just drink every day and play around?”
So Okrim grabbed and pulled on Won Semun’s flabby belly.
“Ughhh.”
Won Semun was furious to the tips of his hair but clenched his teeth tightly.
How brutally had he been beaten every time he defied her in the past?
Moreover, her fists were so vicious that even after a month the bruises wouldn’t fade, and any spot that had been grazed would ache to the bone at the slightest cold wind.
If he wanted to live comfortably in his later years without suffering… he absolutely could not provoke So Okrim’s temper.
“Argh. I can’t do this anymore.”
At that moment Jo Namcheon released his horse stance and stood up abruptly.
“What is this in front of our subordinates?”
He had some confidence.
Having mainly trained in external arts, he had long ago reached the realm of Hard Steel—where even breathing alone could unleash formidable rigid energy. At that level, not only were swords and blades unable to pierce him, but even strikes from internal-energy specialists designed to shatter external arts could be endured without flinching.
“Instructor So! We too have our own—”
But Jo Namcheon’s words did not continue.
So Okrim’s fist had already buried itself deep into his lower abdomen.
“Guh.”
The confident expression on Jo Namcheon’s face vanished.
His eyes rolled back white, lips pursed into a perfect circle.
It had been just one light punch yet it felt as though his internal organs had been yanked out and spun around.
“Look at this, look at this. Always drinking, so your belly’s gone all soft like this.”
So Okrim grabbed the hair of Jo Namcheon—who still had only the whites of his eyes showing and mouth rounded—and spun him toward the line of warriors, clicking her tongue.
“Is this what you call external arts? Or did you learn some whining divine technique instead?”
Gurgle gurgle…
Seeing Jo Namcheon—hair grabbed by So Okrim, eyes rolled back, foaming at the mouth—the warriors shuddered and snapped back into perfect stance in perfect unison.
Thud thud.
At that moment, a man in black walked into the main training hall.
It was Bu Eunseol.
“Instructor So.”
After parting with Gongsun Dankyung, he had stopped by the Martial Soul Society to handle a few matters. Upon hearing from Yoo Unryong that So Okrim had entered Majeon, he hurried here.
“Have you been well?”
So Okrim, who had been glaring at the warriors with fierce eyes, suddenly broke into a bright smile like a child sucking on candy.
—Good grief, that vixen—no, that bear of a woman.
—Even when Gang Yu smiles, he’s still Gang Yu!
The warriors of the Death Shadow Corps pouted, but none of them had the guts to actually voice such thoughts.
“Is something the matter?”
“Yes. Good news.”
“Ah, in that case—”
As Bu Eunseol seemed to remember something and opened his mouth, So Okrim nodded.
“That’s right, I found it.”
So Okrim wore a confident smile.
“I finally found one of the secret vaults.”
The mysterious vault said to contain the power of the Baekri Family.
At last, So Okrim had found one.
***
Kwaaaaa!
Bu Eunseol and So Okrim, having left Majeon, were racing southward at a speed like a gale using their movement techniques.
The Baekri Family vault she had found was said to be located deep in the mountains of a remote area in Yunnan, where in the past a mysterious sect once existed and now only a small minority tribe lived.
It was a place once called a holy land blessed by the gods yet upon arrival… far from blessed, it looked so barren one might think it was cursed.
The ground was cracked like shattered porcelain, the soil hard as iron with no trace of life.
The rocks were stained black or red, and beyond the hills stretched wasteland.
Looking at such scenery made it feel as though they had been trapped in a silent space where time had completely stopped.
“You’re saying a Baekri family vault is here?”
“Yes.”
She walked toward a place where a river once flowed but had long since dried and twisted into scars. Then she took out a bead glowing with ethereal light from her bosom and pressed it to the ground.
As she stepped forward in that state, each step caused mysterious energy to rise from the earth, and auspicious light lingered around her body.
“This is the entrance. Follow me.”
At So Okrim’s words, Bu Eunseol also began walking along the traces of the river.
Immediately, light poured in from all directions in greater volume, and a brightly shining passage seemed to appear before their eyes.
When they finally reached the end, a massive door stood firmly closed.
“Is something wrong?”
“No, it’s fine.”
So Okrim took out another mysteriously shining bead from her bosom. It looked similar to the previous one, but the color and glow were completely different.
When she brought out the bead, astonishingly, her body passed lightly through the massive door.
“The door is merely symbolic. What blocks this place is the power that newly divides space.”
“You mean the Absolute Boundary.”
“You know about Absolute Boundaries?”
Bu Eunseol nodded.
“I learned about it through various experiences.”
“You really know everything, don’t you.”
“Then can all the Baekri Family vaults be opened with that bead?”
“No, this is only a treasure that can locate the entrance of an Absolute Boundary—it’s not a key that can pierce through and enter.”
After taking a deep breath, she gave a bitter smile.
“This place had its entrance collapsed from the beginning. We were just lucky to find one spot we could enter.”
With a sigh, she continued walking.
Bu Eunseol followed her inside.
‘…!’
An incomprehensible, unique wave of energy enveloped his skin, and at the same time an unknown shiver ran through him.
When Bu Eunseol hesitated, So Okrim blinked her large eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
She looked completely unaware of any wave.
“You don’t feel it?”
“Feel what?”
“When I entered this place, I felt some strange sensation.”
“Really?”
So Okrim smiled brightly.
“Maybe it’s because you have the Baekri Family blood?”
“I don’t know about that.”
What Bu Eunseol sensed was not something felt through physical senses—it was closer to an inexplicable intuition.
After walking quite a distance past the door, a new landscape slowly revealed itself.
“This place…”
Bu Eunseol could not hide his astonishment.
The scenery of the Baekri vault they had finally reached was like a paradise created by an immortal living in another world.
A vast, beautiful land blooming with rare flowers and mystical herbs, and at its center a lake holding sacred light. The water of the lake shimmered with blue hues, and tiny fragments of light danced like ripples across its surface.
Around the lake stood pillar-shaped sculptures engraved with intricate patterns.
The ceiling gathered golden points of light as if it had captured sunlight itself, almost visualizing the flow of time.
“It feels like people could actually live here.” Bu Eunseol marveled as he looked around.
The sky, as if at sunset, burned even more beautifully than the real sky.
A pleasant breeze blew from somewhere.
“Right?” So Okrim also exclaimed as she surveyed the interior. “Once everything is taken care of, maybe we could quietly retire here.”
“This really makes no sense.”
Bu Eunseol sighed as he took in the scenery.
Though nature’s power is endless, human ability has limits. How could one separate space and create a new sky and sun here?
“The Baekri Family existed alongside the history of the martial world, so they say they could not be called human.” So Okrim shrugged. “That monster called the True Demon too, is weird too, having a human body yet possessing memories and cycling through infinite reincarnation.”
Bu Eunseol fell silent.
In hindsight, both the Baekri Family and the True Demon were extremely abnormal existences.
Though people spoke of them naturally, when actually considered, they felt alien—beings that should not exist.
“Now that I think about it, it makes a certain sense.”
“What does?”
“Among the One Hundred and Eight Stars, the one called Heavenly Mechanism Star said that humans seem free but are ultimately bound by laws.”
“Bound?”
“Yes. And to escape that, he said he would deal with the Baekri Family and the True Demon.”
Bu Eunseol spoke with a grave expression.
“If that’s true, then doesn’t it mean the Baekri Family and the True Demon are the ones binding humanity?”
“Hmm.”
So Okrim also fell silent.
The current martial world had achieved brilliant development. Countless superhumans—including the Righteous and Demonic Twin Heavenly Emperors —were transcending even the Limitless Realm’s boundary.
Yet even so… when compared to the legends of the Baekri Family and the True Demon, it felt no more advanced than a child just learning to walk.
“It definitely is abnormal.”
So Okrim nodded in agreement as she looked around at the scenery.
“The current state of the martial world too.”
The present martial world was far too abnormal.
In the past, the sorcery once called evil techniques had been eradicated precisely because it wielded power incomprehensible to humans.
Yet now absurd sorcery and great dharma had reappeared.
There even existed something called Black Divine Energy that possessed unbelievable abilities.
Moreover, martial arts were developing at an absurd speed, and the meaning of the established martial realms was collapsing.
Even Bu Eunseol—with his outstanding insight and profound knowledge of martial arts—could not fully understand the current state of the martial world.
At some point, the speed of development in martial arts had reached a stage beyond prediction.
“Well, that may be true, but let’s not think too complicated right now.”
So Okrim pointed at the beautiful scenery and smiled.
“Anyway, even if we think about it, we can’t understand everything. Just like natural scenery.”
And she added one more thing.
“Besides, if you try to calculate too much with your head like you do, you’ll age quickly.”
Seeing the innocence still remaining in her eyes, Bu Eunseol gave a self-deprecating smile.
“Now that you mention it, I do seem to think about far too many things.”
Though So Okrim had a wild and eccentric side, Bu Eunseol did not dislike her, because of her pure and innocent nature, just like a child.
“Right, just enjoy the scenery here. It’s nice, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it really is pleasant to look at. Enough that I’d want to retire in a place like this someday.”
“Really? Then shall we really live here together later?”
“What do you mean by that?”
When Bu Eunseol looked flustered, So Okrim slyly changed the subject.
“No, I mean—not in a man-woman way, but like those senior hermits who retire together. Hahaha.”
While rambling incoherently, she suddenly spotted something and let out an “Ah.”
“Look at that.”
What she pointed to was a large round building without a roof, from which a single beam of light descended endlessly from the sky.
“Interesting. Let’s go see.”
The two walked side by side toward it.
When they finally reached the front of the building, a huge door appeared.
As they tried to enter, with a dull thud, her massive body was pushed back instead.
“Huh? What is this now?”
So Okrim tried to pass through by activating the power of the bead, but it was useless.
“If it won’t open, just break it.”
She gathered a tremendous amount of energy; white light bloomed around her large fist.
“Haaap!”
Boom!
She struck the empty air with all her might, but only an explosion rang out—the energy spread before the door showed no sign of disappearing.
“What is this? It feels different from an Absolute Boundary.”
“Can we not go in?”
“I don’t know. Could it be another Absolute Boundary of a different one of the Three Families?”
“Do the Absolute Boundary techniques differ between the Three Families?”
“Yes, apparently so.”
So Okrim pouted as she spoke.
“I only read about it in a booklet from one of the secret vaults my youngest grandfather told me to enter, so I don’t know exactly what the differences are.”
“I see.”
“Then it looks like we’ll have to break it with force.”
So Okrim gathered her energy once more and struck with all her strength, but the door didn’t budge.
“I’ll give it a try.”
Bu Eunseol reluctantly stepped forward.
Having come this far, he couldn’t return without learning anything.
‘If I harmonize the Three Divine Energies, I should be able to break it.’
Closing his eyes, Bu Eunseol slowly began to raise the Three Divine Energies within his body.
Hummm.
But then something strange happened.
With a low vibration, a sword hum rang out from the Silent Tiger Soul Sword… and from the scabbard, a single mysterious pattern slowly began to emerge?
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