“Haa, haa.”
At that moment, So Okrim collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.
She had been so excited that she momentarily forgot she had suffered serious internal injuries and had been jumping around wildly.
“Huu.”
So Okrim sprawled out flat, still breathing heavily.
“Still… it’s fortunate.”
“What is?”
“I thought that after finally strengthening my martial arts, I could finally compete with the strongest under heaven. But that guy turned us into complete fledglings, didn’t he?”
Bu Eunseol nodded.
He was the sky of the righteous faction, the one who never yielded even an inch to the Demon Emperor—the Heavenly Emperor.
Even though they had attacked together, surviving unscathed against the Heavenly Emperor, who wielded the martial arts of the Black Star with complete freedom… was something worth rejoicing over.
“But he wasn’t in his right mind.” Bu Eunseol wore a bitter expression. “If he had displayed his full strength, we wouldn’t have lasted even ten seconds.”
“Yeah, he really was terrifyingly strong.”
So Okrim let out a long sigh and stared blankly up at the sky.
“Strong enough that calling him the number one under heaven wouldn’t be an exaggeration.”
Bu Eunseol silently nodded.
If asked to name the strongest person he had ever seen, he would unhesitatingly pick the Demon Emperor.
But that had changed.
The level of martial prowess the Heavenly Emperor had displayed just now was truly worthy of being called the strongest under heaven.
He had reached a realm far beyond even the Demon Emperor.
“The fact that someone like that doesn’t go around proclaiming himself the best under heaven… probably means there exists an even greater monster in the martial world, right?”
“I don’t know.” Bu Eunseol murmured in a low voice. “But I’m certain there are far fewer people who wield a more mysterious power than that.”
The Heavenly Emperor had used the Black Star’s Extreme Blood Storm, yet the essence hidden within it was something he had never seen before—something he hadn’t even imagined.
It was an alien, and utterly unique power.
‘Is it because he unfolded the original source of the martial art created in imitation of the Baekri Family’s power?’
If not that, then perhaps the Heavenly Emperor had reached the Heaven's Will Realm that no one else had ever attained, and, unable to overcome his heart demon, had temporarily become insane.
Bu Eunseol shook his head, clearing away the thought.
“And it felt like there was some kind of story behind it.”
The look in the Heavenly Emperor’s eyes at the very end kept bothering him. It didn’t feel so much like a heart demon as it did like someone who had lost their reason entirely.
“Perhaps he…”
Bu Eunseol, who had been gazing at the distant sky, turned his eyes toward So Okrim. In that instant, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“Instructor So.”
“What?”
“Have you performed the Bone-Shrinking technique?”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
“Look.”
Bu Eunseol pointed at her body.
In the meantime, her massive frame had shrunk by about half, her skin had turned snow-white, and her face had become much slimmer and more beautiful.
“Huh? Wait, what?”
Only then did she finally notice the change in her own body. She grabbed both cheeks and stood up.
Srrrng.
She drew a dagger with an extremely wide blade from her waist and used its surface to look at her reflection.
“Eh?”
After holding her cheeks and staring for a long moment, she suddenly let out a cry of realization.
“Wow… no way?”
“What do you mean?”
“Then… the Heavenly Emperor was someone from the Baekri Family?”
For a moment, sparks seemed to fly in Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m Heavenly Martial Star, you know.”
So Okrim pointed at herself with her thumb and shrugged.
“My second grandfather told me that if I ever found the original source of the Baekri Family or was exposed to its power, my original appearance would be restored!”
“The Baekri Family’s power, you say?”
“Yeah.” So Okrim spoke with a somewhat gloomy expression. “The truth is, my Heavenly Martial Star power hasn’t even awakened yet, but because I learned Dual-Severed Galaxy Strike… my body ended up changing like this.”
“Was the martial art of the Celestial Emperor something only Heavenly Martial Star could learn?”
“Yes, exactly.”
So Okrim winked with her big eyes and smiled.
“I was supposedly much prettier when I was little. Seriously.”
Under normal circumstances, he would have taken it as a joke but her frame had genuinely shrunk, and her features had become far more refined.
If her skeleton were to shrink to the size of an ordinary woman’s from here… she would undoubtedly transform into a peerless beauty comparable to the Three Great Beauties of the World.
“I don’t understand.”
Bu Eunseol asked, “How can mere exposure to the Baekri Family’s power change one’s appearance?”
“This is a secret, but…” So Okrim whispered, “I heard that all Thirty-Six Heavenly Spirits members are influenced by the Baekri Family’s power.”
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know. My second grandfather just said so. Probably the birth of the Thirty-Six Heavenly Spirits itself is closely tied to the Baekri Family.”
So Okrim scratched her cheek awkwardly under Bu Eunseol’s blatant stare.
“Don’t stare so openly. It’s embarrassing.”
She had only possessed monstrous height and a muscular build. Her original facial features had always been rather cute but now that her frame had slightly changed, she had turned into a beauty impossible to look away from.
Of course, she was still taller and bigger than him even now.
“The Heavenly Emperor is from the Baekri Family…”
If what So Okrim said was true, then the Heavenly Emperor hadn’t used a martial art created in imitation of the Baekri Family’s original source—he had used the Baekri Family’s power itself.
In other words, he was most likely from the Baekri Family to begin with.
Hearing Bu Eunseol’s murmur, So Okrim shook her head.
“The family name is different.”
“Family names can be changed.”
“It still doesn’t make sense. Why would someone from the Baekri Family destroy the Baekri Family’s secret vault?”
The moment he heard So Okrim’s grumbling, a flash passed through Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
“A person from the Baekri Family destroying the Baekri Family’s secret vault…”
In most such cases, it would be to prevent the leakage of the Baekri Family’s secrets or power.
But the Heavenly Emperor they had just seen had been moving purely on instinct, like someone whose mind was lost.
“Then even though his mind is not intact… there must be a reason he absolutely had to destroy the Baekri Family’s secret vault.”
Judging from how he had changed So Okrim’s appearance, the Heavenly Emperor had definitely used the Baekri Family’s power.
Even if he wasn’t of Baekri blood, he must have a very close connection to them. Moreover, didn’t the note the Heavenly Emperor left in the Spring and Autumn Annals mention that Baekri Muha must be protected?
“The fact that he called Baekri Muha ‘hope’… was it because they were from the same family?”
As Bu Eunseol muttered, So Okrim stroked her chin.
“What’s certain is that if we keep searching for the Baekri Family’s secret vaults like this, we’ll definitely run into the Heavenly Emperor again.”
She shrugged.
“Even in a state of lost reason, he came all the way here to smash it.”
“You’re right.” Bu Eunseol nodded.
As she said, his intuition told him the Heavenly Emperor would surely appear again at another Baekri Family secret vault.
“But we can’t tell anyone about this.”
So Okrim shrugged again.
“If we say the Heavenly Emperor, in an insane state, turned into a pitch-black monster and is wandering around destroying the Baekri Family secret vaults… no one would believe us anyway.”
Bu Eunseol had no choice but to agree.
The Heavenly Emperor was officially listed as alive, and that role was currently being fulfilled by the Martial Venerable.
Unless the Heavenly Emperor returned to the Martial Alliance completely sane and intact, spreading this information could instead provoke a counterattack from the Martial Venerable.
“From everything we’ve investigated so far, he was an extremely upright and righteous person.” Bu Eunseol let out a deep sigh. “I just don’t understand why he ended up like this.”
“Could he have become a servant of the True Demon?”
So Okrim stroked her chin.
“The only ones who would have reason to destroy the Baekri Family’s secret vault are the True Demon and his kin, right?”
“I considered that too… but he didn’t seem corrupted by evil. He just looked like someone who had lost his reason.”
“How can you tell?”
“Just… intuition.”
Bu Eunseol added, “Besides, if he were the True Demon’s kin, there’s no way Instructor So’s appearance would have changed, right?”
“Hmm… true.”
So Okrim, who had lowered her head, suddenly opened her eyes wide as if something occurred to her.
“This is the Baekri Family’s secret vault. Maybe the Baekri Family’s power is flowing through this place? It could be the energy here—not necessarily the Heavenly Emperor—that changed my body.”
She flared her nostrils and took a deep breath.
She spread both arms wide and inhaled earnestly for a long while, but felt nothing special.
“It really must have been because of the Heavenly Emperor’s power that I changed.”
“Let’s investigate this place once more.”
Bu Eunseol and So Okrim thoroughly searched the interior again.
“The Heavenly Emperor completely destroyed this place.”
It turned out he hadn’t drilled straight down through the ground.
There had been an underground space beneath this mysterious tree, and he had entered it and completely wrecked the interior before leaving.
“Something’s strange.”
She carefully examined the collapsed area and spoke.
“For a secret vault said to contain the Baekri Family’s power, it’s far too large.”
“I agree.”
The underground space beneath the tree was roughly the same scale as many of the underground facilities Bu Eunseol had seen during his journeys in the martial world. Since the exterior was perfectly sealed against intruders by the Absolute Boundary anyway, it was far too large to be merely a space for imparting martial arts or power to successors.
“It seems there’s nothing more to find here.”
“Yeah.”
So Okrim smacked her lips.
“It can’t be helped.”
Bu Eunseol also wore a bitter expression.
In the end, they hadn’t properly confirmed the Baekri Family’s secret vault. He couldn’t even verify whether he himself carried Baekri blood.
Even so, there were gains.
He had found out that the Thirty-Six Heavenly Spirits was connected to the Baekri Family and that the Heavenly Emperor was alive…
If they continued searching for the Baekri Family secret vaults, they could meet him again.
“Let’s head back.”
Bu Eunseol turned around.
“It doesn’t seem like this is the only Baekri Family secret vault, so there’s still hope.”
“Yeah.”
***
The two immediately returned to Majeon.
The captains were greatly shocked by the sight of the pair, who looked as though they had endured all kinds of hardship, and gathered around.
“Huh?”
But when Won Semun saw So Okrim, his eyes widened.
“What’s the matter, Instructor So?”
Seeing Won Semun’s stunned face, So Okrim swept her hair back and glared.
“Heh heh heh. Finally noticing my appearance?”
“No, that’s not it…”
Won Semun scratched his head and said, “It’s just… it feels like Instructor So went from eating three servings to one serving.”
“Three servings… one serving?”
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Right then and there, Won Semun began receiving a merciless beating from So Okrim.
The surrounding martial artists wanted to stop her, but So Okrim was punching so fiercely, and Won Semun’s endurance was considerable anyway, so everyone quietly backed away, figuring nothing serious would happen.
***
In the meeting, Bu Eunseol informed the captains that the Baekri Family secret vaults were scattered about, and ordered that, in conjunction with So Okrim and the Death Spirit Corps, they investigate whether more such vaults existed.
The true main body of the Essence Three Realms had not yet been revealed, and above all, So Okrim had no real base of support. That was why Bu Eunseol intended for the Death Spirit Corps to serve as her eyes and ears.
Toward the end of the long meeting, Mu Gwang—Yoo Unryong’s adjutant—hurriedly entered.
“My Lord, a guest has arrived.”
“A guest?”
“From the Wind God Palace, apparently… but it’s a bit strange.”
Mu Gwang hesitated before continuing.
“A woman wearing a face veil is acting very arrogantly, as if she’s someone extraordinary, and demanding that the Lord come out.”
“Wearing a face veil?”
“Yes. But she came alone without any subordinates… Judging from her speech and behavior, she doesn’t seem quite normal.”
‘Hae Yeon.’
Bu Eunseol instantly realized that Wind God Palace Lord Hae Yeon had come.
Previously, he had foiled Wind God Palace’s plot and saved Hae Yeon. He had also heard from the supreme elder, Elder Hyang, that the previous palace lord had been killed by the Demon Emperor.
She had once said she would someday visit Majeon to confirm the truth.
‘Is she really here to see the Demon Emperor?’
If the Demon Emperor and Hae Yeon met face to face?
That reckless woman, who had no idea how vast the heavens and earth were, might even try to challenge the Demon Emperor.
Even if it remained only conversation, she could end up blurting out incorrect information because of the Demon Emperor’s power.
“Where is she now?”
“She’s currently in the guest hall of this main building, but…”
Before Mu Gwang could finish, Bu Eunseol rushed out so quickly his eyebrows seemed to flutter.
Click.
He hurriedly opened the door and entered. Inside the Suppressed Demon Pavilion’s guest hall was a beautiful woman drinking tea.
Her white skin glowed with a translucent radiance like soft moonlight, and her long hair that reached her waist swayed gently in an unfelt breeze.
It was none other than the current era’s Wind God—Hae Yeon.
“Palace Lord Hae.”
“Bu Eunseol.”
Hae Yeon smiled brightly when she saw Bu Eunseol rushing in.
“Were you that eager to see me?”
Just as Bu Eunseol opened his mouth to reply,
Thud thud thud.
With heavy footsteps, a beauty who had changed from seven cheok to six cheok in height followed in behind him.
It was So Okrim.
“Oh?”
Hae Yeon tilted her head upon seeing So Okrim standing so close to Bu Eunseol that their shoulders nearly touched.
“Who is that child?”
Before Bu Eunseol could answer, So Okrim stepped forward.
“Me?”
When Hae Yeon nodded, So Okrim crossed her arms with a confident expression and declared boldly,
“I am the Celestial Goddess.”
“Instructor So.”
Bu Eunseol subtly tilted his head back and whispered to So Okrim,
“This is Palace Lord Hae of the Wind God Palace.”
“Palace Lord? So what?”
“Even if our paths differ, shouldn’t we still respect seniority and position?”
“Seniority? Position?”
So Okrim crossed her arms and said gravely,
“My seniority is quite high. You’d be shocked if you knew.”
At those words, Hae Yeon showed an interested expression.
“High seniority… huh.”
Hae Yeon was a figure from a hundred years ago.
In terms of seniority, there were hardly any people in the current martial world who could claim to be above her.
“Who is your master?”
“Heh heh.”
So Okrim, arms still crossed, said,
“Do you know who my youngest grandfather is? None other than the Taichi Heavenly Lord.”
Taichi Heavenly Lord—Go Hak.
Go Hak was Jeong Cheong-ja’s secular name.
Taichi Heavenly Lord was the title he received during his active martial world days; by the time he retired, he was already recognized as a legendary master of the righteous faction. Of course, within the Essence Three Realms there were people of even higher seniority, but most did not engage in public martial activities or were unknown figures. That was why So Okrim had named the most famous “youngest grandfather.”
“Indeed, your seniority really is quite high.” Hae Yeon nodded with a smile. “As a disciple of Taichi Heavenly Lord, you would have roughly the same seniority as the current leaders of the martial world.”
Since Taichi Heavenly Lord had been active during her own prime, So Okrim’s seniority truly was very high.
“Heh heh heh, good that you understand.”
“And your age?”
“Hm, about twenty-three now?”
“Oho.”
Hae Yeon said shamelessly,
“Then you may call this Palace Lord ‘Unni.’ Since my seniority is slightly higher.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I was acquainted with Senior Go Hak, so I’m making a special exception.”
“What?”
So Okrim’s face darkened.
This girl who had only just passed twenty was casually using her grandfather’s secular name?
But at that moment, Bu Eunseol stepped in.
«She is one hundred and twenty years old.»
He quickly relayed what had happened at Wind God Palace via transmission.
After listening to Bu Eunseol’s transmission for a long while, So Okrim snorted with an incredulous expression.
“That’s ridiculous. I already don’t believe in things like Heavenly Bestowal Dream Flower Poison or Ten-Thousand-Year Life Dream poison, but a hundred years in Hanok Ice Coffin? Why not just say she was born as a Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng child?”
Her skepticism was completely understandable.
Even Bu Eunseol wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes.
“If you call me Unni, something really good will happen.”
Hae Yeon winked at So Okrim and said, “Becoming my little sister isn’t something that happens easily, you know.”
“Keep dreaming.”
“I was hoping to gain a little sister, but what a shame.”
Hae Yeon smiled warmly.
“I was going to help you with many things if you called me Unni.”
She approached So Okrim and said,
“Come on, just call me Unni. From now on, whenever you’re in trouble, I’ll help you.”
“No way.”
Bu Eunseol, who had been watching the two converse like children playing house, asked, “Palace Lord. What brings you here without any prior notice?”
“I came as promised.”
“To see the Demon Emperor?”
“Wouldn’t that put you in a difficult position? I came to see you.”
Hae Yeon smiled.
“I heard that the Demon Emperor is the invincible supreme of the demonic path. As you said, if he truly intended to kill the previous Palace Lord, there would have been no need for assassination—he is strong enough to leave no trace.”
She let out a sigh.
“Still, just in case, I tried to investigate the Demon Emperor, but couldn’t find any trace of his movements. Perhaps they anticipated that and deliberately mentioned the Demon Emperor’s name.”
There is no information organization in the entire martial world capable of tracking the Demon Emperor’s movements.
That was true even for the Three Realms, let alone the Eight Human Heavens.
Therefore, if one wanted to frame someone with an impossible-to-verify accusation, there was no better target than the Demon Emperor.
“I’m glad you understand.”
Bu Eunseol let out a relieved sigh.
It seemed she really hadn’t come for the Demon Emperor, but—as she said—for him.
“You didn’t perhaps think I came here to ruin your plans? That I would confront the Demon Emperor?”
Bu Eunseol, feeling awkward, made an excuse.
“Anyone would be shocked to learn Palace Lord Hae’s true identity. I was merely worried that your reputation might suffer.”
At that, Hae Yeon wore a lonely expression.
“I am already a dead woman in the martial world. Everyone who knew me is gone… so there is no reputation left to tarnish.”
Her gaze looked endlessly solitary.
It made sense—poisoned by extreme venom, she had fallen into suspended animation on a frozen coffin.
She had transcended a hundred years to return to the world, yet no one remembered her now.
Even in the Wind God Palace, she was remembered only as the little palace lord who died a hundred years ago.
Perhaps Hae Yeon had come to see Bu Eunseol again because of her extreme loneliness.
It might also be why she had told So Okrim—someone whose seniority was relatively close to hers—to call her Unni.
“Please don’t say such things.”
Bu Eunseol pointed at So Okrim.
“Haven’t you met such a good connection today?”
He could sympathize with the pain Hae Yeon felt.
When his grandfather had passed away, he too had felt the same.
He understood better than anyone the sorrow of being left alone in this world.
“Yes.”
Hae Yeon smiled.
“That’s why I came—to cherish this connection.”
“What do you mean?”
“Aren’t you also part of that connection?”
Hae Yeon truly possessed the wisdom and eloquence of someone who had lived a hundred and twenty years.
She had beautifully and indirectly expressed that she had wanted to see Bu Eunseol.
“I feel honored that you think so highly of me.”
“Are you being sarcastic?”
“No, I mean it sincerely.”
He truly did.
Because he knew her loneliness was genuine.
Moreover, the fact that she—the Wind God Palace Lord—had come here without revealing her identity showed great consideration toward him. He felt grateful for that.
“So, how have you been?” Hae Yeon’s voice was gentle and warm. “Looking at your face, it seems you’ve been carrying some worries.”
Bu Eunseol spoke honestly. “The achievements of martial artists in the martial world seem boundless. I think I now understand why the Demon Emperor kept going into closed training even until now.”
“What do you mean?”
Unable to speak about the Heavenly Emperor, Bu Eunseol vaguely dodged the question.
“I recently saw an unbelievably powerful expert.”
“An unbelievably powerful expert?”
With no choice, Bu Eunseol told her about the Baekri Family secret vault they had entered this time—except for the part where the monster they met there was Martial Alliance Leader the Heavenly Emperor.
“Hoo.”
Hae Yeon looked greatly surprised.
But the reason for her surprise wasn’t the monster.
“A place where the flow of time has stopped, and another space exists within space.”
She wore a somehow wistful expression.
“It sounds very much like our palace’s Wind and Cloud Spirit Ground.”
“What do you mean?”
“Our palace has also passed down such a place from generation to generation. But it is blocked by a mysterious power, so no one can enter.”
Bu Eunseol and So Okrim looked at each other with wide eyes.
—Could it be another Baekri Family secret vault?
If their guess was correct, then unexpectedly, without any effort at all, they had easily found another Baekri Family secret vault.
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