“Why is this here?”
The magical implement he had seen in his mindscape actually existed—and was stored right here. Did that mean the one who had performed that grand technique in Saha Manor was present in this place?
Wooong.
At that moment, a low vibration accompanied by light emanated from somewhere.
Turning his head, he saw mystical auspicious qi and a deep hum spreading from deep within the chamber.
As though entranced, Bu Eunseol unconsciously moved toward the source of the light.
He finally arrived at a vast stone chamber.
Srrrung.
As the massive stone door opened, a brilliant scene unfolded—as though all the light in the world were pouring out from within.
The walls were covered in intricate patterns engraved in gold and silver, studded here and there with star-like glittering gems.
The floor was smooth as marble, and upon closer inspection, faint, unknown glyphs softly glowed.
Stepping inside, he saw divine weapons and treasures—any one of which could overturn the entire martial world—arrayed on display.
And on one side lay magical implements that seemed imbued with uncanny power.
“That one.”
Among them, what drew his attention most was an eye-shaped bead placed at the very top of the altar.
Its surface appeared made of pure white glass—perfectly transparent—while at its center floated a form resembling a blue pupil.
That pupil seemed to pierce through every principle of the world, and it felt almost as though it were beckoning Bu Eunseol to come closer.
Thud. Thud.
As he approached, he felt a subtle power emanating from the bead’s surface.
Without realizing it, he reached out and touched it.
A sensation neither cold nor hot—utterly indescribable—spread from his fingertips.
In that instant, around the pupil pattern, thin threads of gold and silver began endlessly rotating, forming complex glyphs, and at their center, dazzling radiance like an exploding star flashed again and again.
Hwaaak!
At the same time, the entire world transformed into waves of light, and before Bu Eunseol’s eyes, a mystical vision began to unfold.
—Waaah! Waaah!
With the sound of a baby crying, the scene of the burning Saha Manor slowly emerged in his mind.
Saha Manor again.
Why did touching these treasure tablets imbued with strange energy always cause memories of that place to flood in like a tidal wave?
But soon, something even more astonishing happened.
Voices he had never been able to hear before—the conversation of mysterious figures—began to reach his ears.
—Her energy cannot be contained in a single vessel.
A murky voice came from one shadow; from the opposite shadow came a chilling, eerie reply.
—False becomes true. Even the fake has turned real.
At the same time, before the two shadows appeared another treasure tablet—and lying peacefully asleep beside it, a newborn infant.
‘So that’s how it was.’
In that moment, Bu Eunseol realized.
The middle-aged beauty bound to the pillar of fire had possessed such immense power that it could not be contained in one vessel at once.
Thus they had prepared two treasure tablets.
And two children.
Flash!
In the end, the light pouring from the burning woman’s body soared into the sky and soon divided, flowing toward both tablets.
—Waaah!
But the division was not perfectly equal.
The surging energy was far stronger than they had anticipated.
Most of it poured toward the child on the right rather than the one on the left.
—As expected.
Then the eerie voice spoke.
—Even the spiritual qi has all been absorbed this way.
The opposite shadow shook its head.
—A shadow is still a shadow. Eventually it will reach its limit.
And in a low voice, it continued.
—It might be better to give her trials so her power can fully manifest. After all, the treasure tablet remains intact...
Gradually their murmurs faded, and then-
Crash!
With the sound of something shattering, the vision before Bu Eunseol’s eyes vanished in an instant.
The illusion shown by the eye-shaped bead had come to an end.
‘If this is true...’
If the child on the right was Manwol… then she had been created as a contingency—a shadow—while the true body existed separately.
And those who orchestrated this were deliberately subjecting her to trials in order to maximize her power.
‘Then why is she helping me?’
Whenever he was in need, Manwol would mysteriously appear and aid him without asking for anything in return. She herself must be enduring unbearable trials—yet why would she help him even in such circumstances?
Could it be that the grand technique transferring that energy had conveyed not only power, but also the middle-aged beauty’s memories?
If so... was he truly Baekri Geomha?
‘Am I really Baekri Geomha, and because she possesses my mother’s memories... she helps me?’
It was possible.
If he had been raised by Saha Manor as bait, then Manwol would have no reason to help him so devotedly.
‘But why?’
Learning such a truth was not particularly shocking.
Discovering it now brought no real harm, nor did it change much.
So why had she never directly told him this truth?
‘Is it the Jungson family?’
The first time he had peered into Saha Manor’s memories had been triggered by a middle-aged man who appeared to be a high-ranking member of the Jungson family.
Could the shadows he had conversed with also have been from the Jungson family?
Thud. Thud.
Suddenly, He sensed someone’s presence approaching from deeper inside.
Bu Eunseol tried to conceal himself, but the footsteps ceased.
Shrrrr.
In an instant, a faint shadow materialized right in front of him.
It was an incomprehensibly divine movement technique.
“You arrived just in time.”
The figure who mysteriously revealed himself was an old man shrouded in a black cloak that covered even his face.
Deep scars like charred black flames marked the area around his eyes, and his pupils were a transparent gray—devoid of irises.
He was blind.
“I was just at the point where completion draws near.”
The old man did not speak aloud; rather, it felt as though his words whispered directly into Bu Eunseol’s ear through the wind.
Realizing the old man was no ordinary blind person but possessed an extremely mystical power, Bu Eunseol tensed.
‘Why would an old man with such ability mistake my identity?’
Just from that single movement technique, he was a supreme master capable of deceiving even Bu Eunseol’s senses.
So why was he confusing him for someone else?
Puzzled, Bu Eunseol soon noticed that the mysterious light which had flowed from the eye-shaped bead still lingered around his body.
‘Why is this energy wrapping around me?’
At that moment, the old man spoke in a respectful tone.
“Soon the young lady will be able to regain her power once more.”
‘Young lady?’
Bu Eunseol flinched.
‘Then these treasure tablets... were prepared for the person Manwol is substituting for?’
If that were the case, then this old man was clearly one of those who had used the treasure tablets in Saha Manor to extract power from the woman’s body.
Moreover, the overwhelming aura he emanated made it unmistakably clear that he possessed power on an entirely different level from any powerhouse Bu Eunseol had ever faced.
‘What in the world is this old man’s identity?’
Yet he could hardly ask outright.
For now, the wisest course was to leave quickly before the old man realized his true identity.
But contrary to Bu Eunseol’s hopes, the old man slowly approached him.
“Look. With this energy....”
Then something unexpected happened.
Crack.
The large eye-shaped bead standing beside Bu Eunseol suddenly split in half, and
Paaaa!
One of the fragments shattered into powder and enveloped his body.
Sssss.
As the dust touched him, white smoke rose from Bu Eunseol’s body as though bone-dissolving powder had been sprinkled on him, and at the same time, most of the power circulating within him vanished in chunks.
Strangely, though, the auspicious qi and light rising from his body grew even denser.
“Who are you!”
Only then did the blind old man sense something wrong and unleash a thunderous palm strike.
Already on guard, Bu Eunseol immediately tried to evade but an unforeseen situation occurred.
Rumble!
What the old man unleashed was not a martial palm strike, but some bizarre sorcery.
Suddenly a gigantic demonic dragon’s head formed and swallowed Bu Eunseol whole.
Hwaaak.
Yet another bizarre turn of events unfolded.
As the demonic dragon devoured him, black blood instead burst from the old man’s mouth.
“Gahk.”
The old man doubled over in pain, as though struck in the back by an enormous iron hammer.
‘What is this now?’
Bu Eunseol tilted his head, staring at the black mist spreading around him.
The world-devouring pressure of the black demonic dragon had vanished, leaving only thick fog behind.
Swish.
When Bu Eunseol waved his hand, the black mist disappeared in an instant.
No—it felt less like it vanished and more like it had been drawn into his hand.
‘No need to fight.’
Though strange phenomena kept occurring, Bu Eunseol had no desire to probe deeper or battle the blind old man.
Even if he asked questions, the man probably wouldn’t answer.
He simply planned to leave quietly.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
Kwaaaaa!
In an instant, more than a dozen gigantic demonic dragons rose before Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
The blood-vomiting old man had spread both arms wide, unleashing his full power in bizarre sorcery.
“Die!”
With a roar from the old man, the dozen dragons that had soared to the ceiling swallowed Bu Eunseol’s body in one gulp.
Gulp. Gulp.
Then something uncanny happened.
The dozen dragons filling the stone chamber transformed into black mist at Bu Eunseol’s gesture and vanished without a trace in the blink of an eye.
“Urk.”
The old man vomited another large spurt of black blood and dropped to his knees.
“Just who the hell are you....”
When Bu Eunseol gave no reply, the old man dipped his middle and index fingers into the dark red blood he had spat out.
He smeared it across his eyelids, and slowly a scarlet pupil began to form in his transparent eyes.
But the pupil formed only halfway before stopping; in the end, he was left with eyes that could see only hazy afterimages.
“Reveal yourself at once!”
“Actually, I’m the one who wants to ask. Just what is this place....”
As Bu Eunseol continued speaking, he opened his mouth in shock upon seeing his left arm dyed completely black.
Only now did he realize the mist had not disappeared—it had remained coiled around his arm.
“No matter how much this old man lost all his power due to the Sun and Moon Creation and was left with only a shred of Mixed Demonic Magic Energy... how could you possibly absorb it?”
As the old man trembled and shouted, Bu Eunseol could only gape.
Mixed Demonic Magic Energy.
Wasn’t that the very energy referred to as the power of the True Demon?
“So that’s what it was.”
The ones who had used the grand technique in Saha Manor to divide the woman’s spiritual qi between two children were not sorcerers of the Jungson family... but rather the subordinates of the True Demon.
‘Since the Lord of Saha Manor, Baekri Muha, was from the Baekri family, it’s not strange that True Demon subordinates were involved.’
Then the bloodbath of Saha Manor—which he had thought to be the work of the Abyss forces including the Three Realms—had actually been carried out by the True Demon, who stood in opposition to the Baekri family?
‘No, it can’t be that simple.’
If the True Demon had rallied forces to attack Saha Manor, the Baekri family would never have stood idly by.
‘Just who am I, really?’
Confusion reigned.
Was he truly a shadow created in Saha Manor?
Or had the Pavilion Lord lied to him?
How had his grandfather mastered not only Shaolin’s secret arts but also the Heavenly Emperor’s unique supreme technique?
Why did that magical implement transmit memories of Saha Manor to him?
Why had he been constantly mistaken for the Heaven-Dark Star?
Just what was the Heaven-Dark Star?
“Speak!”
By then the old man seemed to have recovered somewhat; he unleashed an earth-shaking roar.
“Your true identity!”
“That’s what I want to know.”
Bu Eunseol looked at the old man with endlessly dark, despairing eyes.
“Who am I?”
His gaze was filled with silence.
It would have been better to remain an orphan.
He wouldn’t have cared whether he was Baekri or related to the True Demon.
He could simply long for parents whose faces he had never seen.
In the end, he had tried to turn away from his roots and ignore them but whenever he almost forgot, Saha Manor returned like a persistent specter, tormenting his mind.
“How dare you mock this old man?”
Bu Eunseol had merely spoken the honest truth, yet the old man took it as mockery and flashed a sinister glare.
At the same time, an indescribable, colossal aura spread from his body.
It was an overwhelming, untouchable power that surpassed every supreme expert he had encountered in the martial world.
‘If he unleashes that aura, no martial artist under heaven could withstand it.’
“I’ll give it to you.”
At that moment Bu Eunseol spoke calmly.
“Just tell me how I can return this cumbersome, pitch-black energy.”
“What?”
When the old man blinked in surprise, he pointed at the shattered bead.
“I came here by chance. I just touched that bead because it looked strange. Here—look.”
Wuuung.
Bu Eunseol placed his hand on the eye-shaped bead, of which only half remained.
Paaaaaaa!
The remaining half instantly turned to powder and covered his body once more.
Sssss.
White smoke rose from him again, and the radiance flowing over his body grew even denser.
“You dare touch our family’s greatest treasure?!”
Anticipating that sorcery would not work as before, the old man unleashed a palm technique capable of splitting mountains in a single strike.
Boom!
An explosion rang out, and dust scattered in all directions.
Crackle.
A round sphere of light materialized around Bu Eunseol’s body as though it were protective qi.
When the palm force struck, the light flowing from him automatically formed a protective barrier.
“What in the world have you done!”
“Stop shouting and explain calmly.”
Bu Eunseol shook his head as though he couldn’t understand, looking down at his own body.
“I only touched the bead—yet my internal energy and power have all vanished. Why is this light and black mist covering me?”
“Your internal energy is all gone?”
Unable to comprehend, the old man scanned Bu Eunseol with scarlet pupils formed from blood.
Due to his hazy vision he could not make out the face clearly, yet he sensed no disguise technique or similar power.
“Not one of the Baekri bastards.”
He tilted his head.
“And you didn’t absorb the Mixed Demonic Magic Energy—you’re wearing it on your arm like a weapon.”
At those words, Bu Eunseol’s eyes narrowed to slits.
If he truly were a subordinate of the True Demon, he would naturally possess the ability to distinguish Baekri bloodline members.
Since he declared Bu Eunseol was not of the Baekri, it was certain he carried none of that lineage.
“Extend that arm.”
Confirming no hostility in Bu Eunseol’s gaze, the old man spoke.
“If everything you say is true, then this old man taking back the power should be no issue, correct?”
“Of course.”
With a calm expression, Bu Eunseol extended his left hand.
“In exchange, tell me who you are, old man—and what this place is.”
“You have no need to know.”
“Then do as you please. I’ll be leaving.”
“You’re dreaming. Did you think I couldn’t retrieve it if you refused to give it?”
The old man spread both arms and began chanting an incantation.
The black mist coiled around Bu Eunseol’s arm immediately began migrating back toward the old man’s body.
Crack.
As the old man opened his mouth wide,
Gulp. Gulp.
The black mist, now shaped like a serpent, poured endlessly into his mouth.
Suddenly the old man’s eyes widened.
The nature of the Mixed Demonic Magic Energy he had absorbed had completely reversed?
No—it could no longer even be called Mixed Demonic Magic Energy.
Sssss.
As he absorbed the black mist, the overwhelming, terrifying aura that had surrounded the old man’s body began to fade.
“Ughhh.”
With a groan, the old man transformed into the appearance of an ordinary martial artist, spreading only waves of internal energy.
“I see.”
Only then did the old man nod as though he understood.
“You came here on his orders to kill this old man.”
“His orders? Who are you talking about?”
“Impossible. Utterly impossible.”
The old man bared a vicious smile, as though resolved.
“This is this old man’s front yard. Did you think I would die so easily?”
“Old man.”
Bu Eunseol shouted in frustration and anger.
“Listen to what people say! Why do you keep babbling to yourself like a beast instead of hearing others out!”
Then something astonishing happened.
BOOM!
His shout became a massive wave of force that hurled the old man backward.
Swirl swirl.
The black mist coiled around his arm spread outward in the shape of an enraged monster, as though representing his very soul.
“Divine Qi Exhaustion, Heavenly God Mortalization? A being of the Sacred Domain?”
“Are you spouting nonsense again?”
When the old man began muttering incomprehensible words once more, Bu Eunseol shouted irritably.
“Explain so a person can understand!”
“Insolent brat. Do you think that power makes you invincible?”
Sneering, the old man turned his left palm downward.
Kuuung.
In that instant, mystical light flowed from the floor beneath Bu Eunseol.
At the same time, the black mist in monster form was instantly sucked into the light on the ground.
‘A domain? He possesses power like the one hundred and eight stars as well.’
Like the one hundred and eight stars, the old man dominated a specific domain and instantly extinguished the power coiled around Bu Eunseol’s body.
Ziiing.
As the black mist vanished, the mystical light from the bead powder clinging and sparkling around Bu Eunseol also disappeared.
And then... his vanished internal energy slowly began returning.
“Now you can no longer wield that trivial power, can you?”
Clatter clatter!
Suddenly sharp objects shot up from the ground into the air, beginning to form circular shapes one by one.
Sword Control.
Astonishingly, the old man was unleashing the supreme sword art of the former Heavenly Ingenuity Sword Sect—an otherworldly sword technique that allowed him to fire endless sword energy in the form of true qi.
“Martial arts?”
In that moment Bu Eunseol let out a hollow laugh.
The old man had mistaken the mysterious power enveloping Bu Eunseol’s body for his true cultivation, activated a force akin to the one hundred and eight stars, and turned the entire area into a space where only martial arts could be used to fight.
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