Bu Eunseol’s eyes flashed with a sharp glint.
“The ‘ghosts’ are merely a metaphor. But it’s entirely possible.”
The illustrated book was as thin as a cicada’s wing—fragile enough to crumble at the slightest touch—and appeared to date back at least three or four hundred years.
If his guess was correct…
Beings capable of turning humans into monsters had existed in the martial world for a very long time. Those beings were surely connected—either to the gradually emerging kin of the True Demon, or to transcendent existences like Heavenly Mechanism Star.
“But I can’t understand it.” Bu Eunseol took a deep breath. “If that’s the case, why have such beings remained completely unknown until now?”
The Three Realms had dominated the martial world across generations.
Even the forces lurking in the Abyss had begun revealing themselves one after another…
So how could an organization like that have stayed hidden?
If such beings truly existed in the martial world, how had no one ever learned of them?
‘Then…’
A sudden thought crossed Bu Eunseol’s mind.
There was one force that, even in the current situation, had never once revealed itself.
The very group that had tried to force the covenant upon him.
‘Naturally, these ghost-like beings must belong to the same faction that demanded the covenant.’
The blue-robed old man’s true identity had been the Hidden Forest Pavilion Lord who managed the Solitary Enlightenment Hall. If so… then the ones carrying out these acts were likely one of the factions secretly embedded within the Martial Alliance?
‘It’s possible.’
The old man had solemnly declared that if the covenant was refused, something terrifying would occur. The probability that this very situation was the catastrophe he had warned about was extremely high.
“Whether it’s the Martial Alliance or not… what’s certain is that such beings have existed in the martial world for generations.”
Bu Eunseol’s expression darkened.
That meant this was not something that would end in a single incident.
“…?”
At the very end of the book, however, extremely faint and transparent characters were engraved.
“The sage resides amid mountains reflected in a lake…”
The writing was so delicate and minuscule that only a supreme master like Bu Eunseol could possibly detect it.
“…surrounded layer upon layer by silk?”
Moreover, the characters were heavily damaged, forcing him to roughly piece together the remaining fragments to read them.
“Then…”
After a long moment of contemplation, Bu Eunseol’s eyes narrowed.
He had realized what the phrase was implying.
“It’s indicating the location where the sages who wrote this book are located.”
In the present martial world, the only person worthy of being called a sage was the Divine Mountain Sage.
But just a few decades ago, countless sages had existed throughout the martial world.
Then, at some point, they vanished like mist—never to appear in the world again.
“Are they there?”
The phrase resembled a cipher.
Yet Bu Eunseol instantly understood the place these words were hinting at.
“It’s Diecai Mountain in Guilin.”
A unique mountain where water reflects the scenery and layered colors resemble stacked silks.
In all the Central Plains, only Diecai Mountain in Guilin fit such a description.
“I should go there.”
With heavy steps, Bu Eunseol returned to his office.
In the end, bizarre manipulators of people had existed in the martial world for generations and the sages had known about their existence.
That meant he needed to head to Diecai Mountain as quickly as possible to resolve this matter.
“My Lord.”
But upon returning to the office, Wi Cheongyeong delivered astonishing news.
“Lord Bu Bok-un is getting married.”
Bu Bok-un.
At the sound of that name, the shadow on Bu Eunseol’s face lifted, replaced by a warm, sunlit smile.
The chubby beggar who once lived in Byeokgye Village.
He was the benefactor who had saved Bu Eunseol when he lay unconscious and amnesiac by the riverbank. The blunt, seemingly emotionless beggar had given him the name “Mumu” and cared for him like a true older brother.
In all of Bu Eunseol’s life—aside from his grandfather—Bu Bok-un was the only person who had saved his life, shared food with him, and given him genuine warmth.
‘I could never go see him.’
Yet despite that, Bu Eunseol had never visited.
Living a life drenched in swordplay and bloodshed in the martial world, he feared that his presence might bring harm to Bu Bok-un or disrupt that peaceful life.
So he had always only inquired about his well-being through subordinates.
And now… he was getting married?
“Who is it with?”
“A young, beautiful woman who has reached the divine level of medicine—the Divine Hands Miracle Physician, Gu Yak-bing.”
“The Divine Hands Miracle Physician.”
Bu Eunseol smiled.
“A well-matched pair.”
Bu Bok-un had a gentle, warm personality, overflowing with benevolence, and he was naturally gifted in business.
After Bu Eunseol built him a grand estate and provided financial support, Bu Bok-un had used it to perform countless acts of charity, expanding his network.
Before long, he had become one of the wealthiest men in Jinan.
“Send a discreet congratulatory gift.”
Even as he said it, deep regret lingered in his heart.
Sensing his feelings, Wi Cheongyeong spoke cautiously.
“It is not just any day—it is a once-in-a-lifetime wedding. Would it not be fine to attend quietly?”
All the subordinates of the Death Shadow Corps knew—through Yoo Unryong—exactly what kind of person Bu Bok-un was to their Lord and how desperately he longed to see him, yet never went.
“If the Lord personally offers his congratulations, Lord Bu would be happier than with any gift.”
“Hmm.”
Bu Eunseol let out a low hum.
As Wi Cheongyeong said, it was a once-in-a-lifetime event…
Going in secret just to see his face should be acceptable.
“Understood.”
Bu Eunseol nodded.
“Then I’ll go see his face for a moment and return.”
“Understood.”
Wi Cheongyeong smiled.
“I will request the Death Spirit Corps to thoroughly erase any trace of the Lord’s movements.”
***
The entrance to Geumran Manor was adorned with red silk banners, and large red lanterns lined the path.
The road from the main gate to the garden was decorated with splendid flowers.
Inside, guests gathered like clouds.
Many who had not yet entered still formed a long line outside the gate.
Because the master of Geumran Manor was getting married.
He was not only very young but also a man who constantly performed good deeds.
Whenever drought or flood struck, he opened his granaries to distribute food.
He invited physicians to treat the sick for free.
He helped poor children attend school so they could learn.
For the most outstanding among them, he provided support so they could continue their studies in the capital.
This was not merely because he had wealth.
He understood that only when people were healthy could a village prosper, and only by educating children could capable talents emerge.
And those talents would, in turn, greatly benefit the village again.
When word spread that such a man was getting married, not only the villagers, but also officials and merchants who knew of his good deeds sent envoys.
Truly, an endless stream of congratulations continued to arrive.
“The groom enters!”
Before long, the wedding ceremony began at Geumran Manor.
In the garden stood a large pond, covered with blooming red lotus flowers.
On the central stage, numerous musicians played instruments to heighten the festive mood.
Thud, thud.
Then, wearing ceremonial robes embroidered with red and gold thread, the master of the manor—Bu Bok-un—strode forward with a wide smile.
The bride wore a red skirt adorned with gold thread and a beautiful golden crown on her head.
Since both were orphans, they did not offer wine to ancestral elders or parents; they simply bowed to each other in respect.
“Why would Lord Bu take such a rootless physician as his wife?”
Yet among the guests from merchant and official circles, some murmured regretfully as they watched the ceremony.
“No matter how beautiful her appearance or how good her character, it feels like a waste for Lord Bu.”
Bu Bok-un was the master of Geumran Manor—one of the wealthiest men in the seven provinces nearby.
To marry a mere nameless wandering physician?
“Come now, don’t say such things. Hasn’t she been treating the sick for free out of admiration for Lord Bu’s character all this time?”
A middle-aged man with a goat-like beard spoke in a low voice.
“Moreover, calling the Divine Hands Miracle Physician Gu Yak-bing a mere ‘wanderer’ is quite inaccurate.”
Gu Yak-bing, the Divine Hands Miracle Physician.
Not only had she cultivated outstanding martial arts, but by her thirties she had reached a level of medical skill so profound she was called divine.
However, she usually demanded large sums for her miraculous treatments, and thus mainly treated the wealthy.
But by chance she formed a connection with Geumran Manor, and she was deeply moved by Bu Bok-un’s character and good deeds.
From that day on, Gu Yak-bing stayed at Geumran Manor, treating countless patients for free.
And finally, she formed a marital bond with him.
‘That’s just like him.’
Disguised and watching the wedding from a corner, Bu Eunseol smiled faintly.
Bu Bok-un was naturally warm and kind-hearted.
He possessed an energy that brightened those around him.
Moreover, ever since Bu Eunseol had used powerful internal energy to open his meridians, his five viscera and six bowels had become as clean and pure as a child’s, regaining full function. The excess fat had melted away, his skin had improved dramatically, and he had transformed into a man whose appearance naturally drew favor from everyone.
The bride was as beautiful as a flower.
The two of them looked so perfectly matched that just watching them brought a contented smile.
The wedding proceeded grandly, and night soon fell.
Murmur, murmur.
After drinking heartily with the guests, Bu Bok-un slipped into a room to change into more comfortable clothes.
But when he opened the door, a man in gray robes stood silently inside.
It was Bu Eunseol, his disguise removed and original appearance restored.
“You…”
Shocked, Bu Bok-un rushed forward and enveloped Bu Eunseol in a fierce hug.
“How long has it been?!”
Silently, and with fierce warmth, Bu Eunseol hugged him back tightly.
Though not born of the same parents… the two were already no different from blood brothers.
“Have you been well?”
Hearing that blunt yet low, endlessly cold voice, Bu Bok-un’s eyes suddenly brimmed with tears.
The voice he had longed to hear so much.
Those eyes that seemed frozen in place.
That ice-cold, endlessly lonely aura.
Wasn’t this exactly the friend he had wanted to see even in his dreams?
“Of course.”
Wiping his cheek, Bu Bok-un quickly composed himself and spoke.
“I’ve been doing very well.”
He knew.
He knew how desperately Bu Eunseol had wanted to see him, yet deliberately stayed away.
How he had suppressed and suppressed the longing so as not to disturb Bu Bok-un’s peaceful life.
“And you? No troubles?”
“Of course not. I eat every meal without skipping, and I’m perfectly healthy.”
“Good, good.”
Bu Bok-un looked at him proudly for a moment, then suddenly exclaimed.
“Look at me—I forgot myself. Wait just a moment.”
Smiling, he said,
“I’ll introduce you to my wife.”
“No need. I saw the ceremony clearly. You two make a wonderful pair.”
Bu Eunseol smiled and shook his head.
“I only came quietly to offer congratulations. And I must leave soon.”
“Already… leaving so soon?”
Bu Bok-un couldn’t hide his disappointment.
He had thought that, since he had come at last, they could at least spend half a day together.
“Bok-un.”
Bu Eunseol spoke in a gentle yet somewhat solemn voice.
“The martial world will grow more brutal from now on. So… forget someone like me exists and live happily.”
“What are you saying?”
“I am merely a martial man bound by grudges and enmities, living a life stained with blood. I’m not someone who fits with you.”
With a darkened expression, Bu Eunseol shook his head, then showed a bright smile.
“Please be happy.”
“You…”
At those words, Bu Bok-un finally let the tears he had been holding back pour out.
“Is that really what you came all this way to say to me after so long?”
He knew.
How lonely and solitary Bu Eunseol’s path was. How much he had longed to see him.
He could tell just from the expression.
Because even that cold, impassive man had damp eyes.
“Never say such things again.”
Wiping his tears, Bu Bok-un deliberately raised his voice.
“Have you forgotten who I am? The fat lord who survived that venomous black bear bastard’s hands back in Byeokgye Village.”
“Bok-un.”
“And though I received your help, I am now one of the leading wealthy men in Jinan.”
He thumped his chest proudly.
“I have connections not only in official and merchant circles, but in the martial world as well.”
Then Bu Bok-un took Bu Eunseol’s hand and spoke earnestly.
“So… never say anything like that again.”
Bu Bok-un did not know.
The enemies Bu Eunseol faced.
They were supreme experts and abyssal forces that thousands of soldiers could not stop.
“Understood. I won’t say such things again.”
But Bu Eunseol nodded and told a gentle lie.
He had no choice.
“And if I have time in the future, I’ll come again.”
“Really? You promise?”
“Of course.”
It was the first lie Bu Eunseol had ever told him.
But Bu Bok-un—unaware—clasped both hands happily.
Bu Eunseol was a man who kept promises like they were worth a thousand gold.
“Then take care.”
At Bu Eunseol’s words, Bu Bok-un reluctantly released his hands with a regretful expression.
“You too. Stay healthy always.”
Between true men, long words were unnecessary.
They exchanged hundreds of unspoken words in a fierce embrace and bid a long farewell with their eyes alone.
They simply wished for the other to remain healthy until the day they met again.
Click.
Bu Eunseol left quietly.
Bu Bok-un did not watch him go.
Because if he saw that departing back, that would become his last memory of him.
Until the day they met again, Bu Bok-un wanted to remember the face of Bu Eunseol looking at him with that calm smile.
Not knowing how very long it would be until that day came.
***
‘He will live well.’
Leaving Bu Bok-un’s quarters, Bu Eunseol once again donned his face veil.
Seeing Bu Bok-un’s face had lifted his mood, yet at the same time, a bitter loneliness pressed into one corner of his heart.
Geumran Manor had prepared fine liquor for the guests, but he could not drink here.
For the sake of a friend he would never begrudge anything, he could only stay far away.
Thud, thud.
Bu Eunseol slowly stepped outside the manor to find some strong liquor to drown his solitude.
Just as he was about to leave Geumran Manor and enter a dark alley,
“There.”
A low voice called from behind.
Turning, he saw a beautiful woman dressed in a splendid palace robe of white and blue harmoniously blended.
Her trembling eyes gazed at him.
It was Seong Suryeo, the only daughter of the Seong family.
“Mumu… right?”
Astonishingly, she had recognized him—despite the face veil and disguise—merely from the outline of his body.
She had hurriedly followed him all the way to this secluded alley.
“It is you, isn’t it?”
Staring straight into Bu Eunseol’s eyes, Seong Suryeo trembled.
“Because in this world, only you have eyes so endlessly lonely.”
“You must have mistaken me for someone else.”
Bu Eunseol tried to leave as though he didn’t know her.
“Wait.”
She hurriedly grabbed his sleeve.
“Please answer honestly.”
Her gaze was desperately earnest.
If he coldly turned away now, it would leave an indelible wound in her heart for the rest of her life.
“I beg you.”
Seong Suryeo looked at him with quivering eyes.
Those eyes seemed engraved with all the tearful nights of waiting.
‘How can one stop the ties of fate?’
Seong Suryeo had not fallen for the Martial Soul Command Lord—a peerlessly handsome man with overwhelming martial prowess.
She had fallen for Mu-mu—the amnesiac beggar with burns on his face, who never smiled and spoke only in blunt, curt words.
It was an inescapable bond of fate, the capricious whim of the god who governs love.
“Yes, it’s me.”
In the end, Bu Eunseol removed his veil and met her gaze.
“Have you been well, Lady Suryeo?”
“Mumu!”
Overcome with relief and joy, Seong Suryeo threw her arms around him tightly.
“Mumu, Mumu!”
And she wept hot tears against his chest.
Knowing the depth of her longing, understanding how long she had waited, Bu Eunseol gently embraced her and patted her back.
“Don’t cry.”
Until now, he had never once warmly embraced a woman or whispered tender words.
But with Seong Suryeo, he could not help it.
Aside from Bu Bok-un, she was the only one who had cared for and loved the blunt beggar of Byeokgye Village.
In front of her… he could not be the great master of the Demonic Path, the Martial Soul Command Lord who shook the world.
He could only be Mumu, the beggar of Byeokgye Village.
“I thought that just seeing you once would be enough—no more regrets.”
Burying her face in his chest, Seong Suryeo sobbed like a child.
“But Father said that wish would never come true in this lifetime.”
“My Lady.”
“So I prayed every day. Beneath the moonlight, I begged—just once—let me meet you.”
Lifting her head, Seong Suryeo gazed at him with deer-like eyes.
“Heaven was not heartless after all. It finally granted my wish.”
Slowly pulling away from the embrace, she said, “Now I have no more regrets.”
She knew.
That nothing could come of them.
She had only wanted—once—to see his face again, meet his eyes, and speak with him.
And now that wish had been fulfilled, so she said she had no more regrets.
But soon she regretted those words.
“No… that’s not true.”
Just seeing him once could never sever the longing.
No—she realized this attachment would never fade in her lifetime.
“I… you…”
Ziiiing.
But at that moment, something deeply unpleasant brushed through Bu Eunseol’s mind.
At the same time, Seong Suryeo’s large pupils suddenly contracted to pinpoints… and then began trembling endlessly, as though splitting apart.
“Lady Suryeo.”
Crack.
Before he knew it, three pupils had appeared in her eyes.
Seong Suryeo tilted her head at an unnatural angle and stared at him with a bizarre expression.
It was as though someone were controlling her body like a toy.
“Snap out of it.”
Sensing the abnormality, Bu Eunseol immediately pressed her acupoints.
He struck sharply—but the pressure points did not seal.
Instead, a strange energy flowed out from within her body.
[Huuu…]
Her clear, high voice had already changed into a low, beast-like growl.
Shake, shake.
She shook her head as though in pain.
Yet with every left-right shake, her gaze and expression kept changing.
‘The coachman.’
Only then did Bu Eunseol realize why Seong Suryeo was transforming like this.
Just like the coachman he had seen before, she was losing her sense of self and turning into a complete killing machine.
‘No.’
Back then, the self-detonation of the coachman using the Dragon-Subduing Heaven-Shaking Explosion had devastated dozens of zhang around him.
If her body exploded here, the guests at Geumran Manor could be gravely injured.
Bu Bok-un’s wedding would be stained with blood.
“Forgive me.”
In a hurry, Bu Eunseol scooped Seong Suryeo into his arms.
Boom!
Leaping into the air in one bound, he unleashed his movement technique at full power.
He could not allow anyone to suffer or be harmed because of him.
Even if it cost his life… he had to stop this no matter what.
Comments