Warm afternoon sunlight filtered in through the window.
Pyeongan Funeral Home.
It was a small funeral home that mainly handled the preparation of bodies for those with no relatives or who had died far from home, at the request of Pocheong.
The young Bu Eunseol stood behind his grandfather.
Though thin, the old man had broad shoulders.
Bu Eunseol watched quietly as his grandfather carefully wiped the deceased’s face.
Bu Zhanyang’s hands were rough, yet his touch was endlessly gentle, his movements so reverent it was as though he were handling flower petals.
“The person is already dead. Why do you clean them so carefully?”
When the young Bu Eunseol asked, blinking his large eyes, Bu Zhanyang, who had been wiping the deceased’s face with a clean cloth, paused for a moment.
“This old man cleans the deceased’s body with such care because it is a way of showing respect for the stories they left behind.”
Lowering himself to meet the child’s eye level, Bu Zhanyang’s gaze was warm, a gentle smile resting on his lips.
“A person’s body carries the traces of the life they walked—their story.”
“Story....”
“Indeed. This old man listens to the stories they left behind... and in return, helps ensure the departed can leave cleanly and peacefully.”
The young Bu Eunseol blinked his big eyes and mulled over his grandfather’s words.
But no matter how much he thought, he couldn’t quite understand.
“Then, Grandfather, after you die, will you tell me your story too?”
“Of course.”
At the innocent question, Bu Zhanyang let out a hearty laugh and nodded.
“All the traces of laughing and crying, loving and fighting with our Seol-ah... I’ll leave them all abundantly behind.”
His smile, creasing every fine wrinkle, shone brightly, reflected in the setting sun streaming through the window, filling the young Bu Eunseol’s eyes completely.
But gradually, the brightly smiling grandfather began to turn transparent and the whole world darkened.
When the world brightened again, he saw his grandfather’s corpse lying pitifully under the moonlight.
The kind eyes were gone, replaced only by black hollows.
The thin arms that had once gently embraced and stroked his head were severed below the shoulders.
The broad, dry back that had carried him warmly when he couldn’t sleep was now exposed bone, studded with dozens of hidden weapons like a porcupine.
“Grandfather.”
Bu Eunseol clung to his grandfather’s corpse and wept.
“Why didn’t you keep your promise?”
What remained on his grandfather’s body was not happy memories, but only the traces of excruciating pain and the merciless wounds left by a cruel killer.
“You said you would fill it abundantly... only with the memories we shared!”
He hugged his grandfather tightly and shouted until his throat tore, but all that remained was a face both tender and sorrowful—as though the old man had been heartbroken and worried about leaving his young grandson alone.
“Because of me.”
Bu Eunseol sobbed, choking.
“You died trying to save me.”
If I hadn’t existed, if someone like me had never been born...
Grandfather could have lived happily.
Weeping bitterly all through the night in his grandfather’s arms, Bu Eunseol finally fainted.
―Geomha-ya.
At that moment, a gentle voice whispered in his ear.
The scene shifted again.
In a small room softly lit by moonlight, a child of five or six was held in his mother’s arms.
His mother cradled him warmly, while his father stroked his head with a large hand.
His mother’s hair carried the fragrance of apricot blossoms, and his father’s touch was warm like a hearth fire.
―You are the greatest gift heaven has given to us, your parents...
His mother whispered in the lowest, softest voice.
―Every day you live from now on... will be our pride and our joy.
His parents’ love enveloped the child like a thick, warm blanket.
A bright, happy smile spread across the child’s lips, as though showing just how precious and joyful this moment was.
As though telling him that simply being born was already an immense blessing and miracle.
Drip.
When he came to, a single tear rolled down his cheek.
The real Bu Eunseol, who had fallen into a heart demon unable to contain the overwhelming sorrow and grief, slowly opened his eyes.
“....”
Awakening from the long dream, he took a deep breath.
From the last words of his parents that he had heard, he understood everything.
He was not a being who dragged those around him into misfortune.
Rather, he was the one who connected everything—the lives they had lived, everything they had loved… into a single thread.
‘I must never lose control of my emotions and collapse like that again.’
True to his status as a grandmaster of martial arts, he gathered his emotions and at the same time washed away the remnants of the passionate feelings he had long kept hidden deep in his heart—his greatest weakness.
‘But falling into a heart demon was not solely due to the shock to my spirit.’
For someone of his martial level to faint was impossible.
Even if it was a heart demon, the same applied.
‘I lost control of my emotions, and suddenly an unknown power erupted from the Baihui acupoint and the three meridians.’
Bu Eunseol’s expression grew extremely grave.
In the end, it meant there was an uncontrollable energy inside his body.
Ziiing.
Suddenly his vision went dark, and an aged voice rang out.
―I examined the energies inside your body. Various things are mixed together... (omitted)... Even if you are their half-blood, you are fated to belong nowhere...
The Wisdom Light Implantation left by the old man of the Sacred Domain echoed in his mind.
―I will seek you out again before long. Until then, you must survive.
Having heard everything, Bu Eunseol wore a dazed expression.
If the old man of the Sacred Domain had harbored malicious intent, he would already be wandering the nine heavens or opening his eyes before King Yama’s hall.
The old man of the Sacred Domain clearly held goodwill toward him.
‘Yet even so... I might not actually be their bloodline?’
If he had not lost consciousness and dreamed the dream he just had, he would have believed those words.
But now he did not.
Because it was not a dream.
It was one fragment of memory sealed within the Baihui acupoint… a clue that convinced him he truly was Baekri Geomha.
“Ugh.”
At that moment, Han Sangja and the members of the Death Spirit Corps also groaned and began to regain consciousness.
“My Lord.”
Han Sangja, looking as though he had taken a deep nap, glanced around and asked.
“What in the world happened?”
“Did you not see the child who appeared from the sky?”
“A child?”
Han Sangja’s eyes widened as realization dawned.
“Did you meet him? The one who controls the Executioners?”
“Yes.”
“Then-”
Han Sangja opened his mouth wide and shouted.
“What is their true identity?”
“They were not transcendent beings. They were members of a mysterious force called the Sacred Domain.”
“The Sacred Domain?”
“You know of it?”
Han Sangja shook his head with an ambiguous expression.
“I’ve never heard of it in my life.”
“I see.”
Bu Eunseol calmly explained once more.
He told him that the Covenant was ultimately the process of choosing between the Baekri Family and the True Demon, and that the Executioners were not god-like existences, but agents of the two forces, tasked with maintaining the balance in the battle between the Baekri Family and the True Demon.
“In the end, all the secret forces in the martial world... are connected to either the Baekri Family or the True Demon.”
After hearing everything, Han Sangja wore a somewhat dumbfounded expression.
Countless secrets of the martial world all converged on the Baekri Family and the True Demon.
Which meant that the keys to unlocking those secrets were held almost entirely by those two forces.
“It feels like ten years of study have just gone down the drain.”
Bu Eunseol could somewhat sympathize with Han Sangja’s hollow sigh.
Once the truth was known, everyone in the world felt like mere pawns existing beneath the Baekri Family, the True Demon, and the Sacred Domain.
“Then, my Lord, does that mean you have now become a member of the Baekri Family?”
Before Bu Eunseol could answer, Han Sangja’s eyes sparkled as he poured out questions.
“How exactly does the Covenant work? How do they bind martial artists?”
Bu Eunseol himself had been deeply curious and astonished by the parchment’s effect.
So he told him everything.
“Pressing a thumb seal in blood on the parchment to bind a human....”
Han Sangja wore a blank look.
“It sounds like something demons do in old tales.”
Bu Eunseol was surprised.
Since wise men were well-versed in the great laws and secret arts of the martial world, he had expected Han Sangja to be able to explain the parchment.
Yet even he reacted as though hearing a bizarre legend?
“Are you saying no such art exists in the martial world?”
“If one insists, perhaps a few do exist. The problem is that they are all ancient sorcery.” Han Sangja spoke gravely. “Many ancient sorceries and secret studies allowed ordinary humans to wield tremendous power. But today, almost all of them have been lost.”
Bu Eunseol nodded.
The secret manual Record of Inherited Essentials that Yoo Unryong had discovered also contained the ancient mystical formation study and the Heart Mirror Technique that manifested the mind-world.
“Even so, the fact that there is a method to bind people by staining parchment with blood is astonishing.”
In truth, a normal martial artist would not even be able to believe such a thing.
But somehow, once the words the Baekri Family and the True Demon were attached, nothing seemed strange anymore.
‘As expected, something is deeply wrong with the current martial world.’
Until now, the history of the martial world had been described merely as a place of cultivating martial arts and contending for hegemony. But from the moment the Baekri Family and the True Demon revealed themselves, the most absurd things were suddenly treated as natural.
“I see.”
Bu Eunseol set the question aside for the moment.
There was no need to forcibly understand things that didn’t make sense right now.
In any case, the matter of the Executioners had been resolved. There would be no more danger.
―Isn’t it the bloodline of Saya, the Holy Maiden of the True Demon?
Recalling the words of the old man of the Sacred Domain—no, of the Executioner—Bu Eunseol grew melancholic.
In the end, the truth of his blood had been revealed, but he was a stranger who belonged nowhere.
Moreover, Baekri Muha, once called the greatest martial artist and a descendant of the Baekri Family, had taken as his wife Saya, the Holy Maiden of the True Demon.
If so, then the bloodbath of Saha Manor was not merely a matter of personal grudges, but an enormous incident capable of shifting the entire landscape of the martial world.
Throb.
The Baihui acupoint ached sharply.
Right now, both his body and mind were too exhausted to think about it.
‘I will find out soon enough. Just as I always have.’
“Please tell me, my Lord.”
At that moment, Han Sangja asked urgently, like a child begging for candy.
“Then, since you became part of the Baekri Family, has anything changed?”
“I did not become a member of the Baekri Family.”
“Then you became a dependent of the True Demon!”
“No, no.”
Bu Eunseol spoke honestly.
“For certain reasons, the Covenant was canceled.”
“For certain reasons?”
“I went through the process of the Covenant... but it turned out I was not someone who fit into either of the choices they spoke of.”
“Not fitting into either choice?”
“It seems I possess an unexpectedly ordinary constitution.”
That was the pure truth—except for the fact that he carried the blood of both the Baekri Family and the True Demon.
“I see.”
Though Han Sangja looked somewhat dazed at first, he soon broke into a wide smile.
“In any case, my Lord, you broke the Covenant, and I uncovered a secret of the martial world that had never been revealed before.”
His smile was weary but filled with fulfillment.
Though the plan had gone completely awry, in the end everything had turned out well.
“Yes. It is all thanks to Brother Han.”
“Hahaha, why say it like that? It was just good luck.”
Han Sangja scratched his head.
“Then, I shall take my leave now.”
He bowed politely to Bu Eunseol.
“And... thank you for understanding that I deceived you.”
“Not at all. You simply risked your life to resolve the Covenant for my sake.”
Bu Eunseol clasped his hands together respectfully in return.
“I will never forget what came after.”
A faint smile bloomed on both their lips.
It was the radiant smile of young heroes who, in a brief moment, had staked their lives to protect each other.
“Then.”
Still smiling, Han Sangja turned away.
Having mastered the mysterious concealment art of the Sage Forest, he naturally vanished as he executed his movement technique.
“Ugh.”
At that moment, the members of the Death Spirit Corps who had fainted also slowly regained consciousness.
They looked around blankly, then spotted Bu Eunseol and wore embarrassed expressions.
After all, they were elite members of the demonic path’s foremost intelligence unit, yet they had lost consciousness without understanding why.
“It was the great art of a master who has transcended the Limitless Realm. Even this Lord lost consciousness.”
Bu Eunseol looked at the Death Spirit Corps members and nodded comfortingly.
“You’ve worked hard. Return at once.”
The members knew well that Bu Eunseol had come through hardship to save them so they bowed with utmost respect and vanished in a flash of movement technique.
“Now, shall we go?”
Suddenly, Bu Eunseol, about to execute his movement technique, froze mid-motion.
He remembered what the old man of the Sacred Domain had said when he appeared as the Executioner.
―Then I shall extend a small courtesy in return. After all, this sort of incident must never happen again.
‘This sort of incident....’
Bu Eunseol’s eyes narrowed to slits.
The old man of the Sacred Domain was an extremely meticulous person.
Just as Han Sangja had predicted, rather than targeting him—the primary objective—he would first eliminate anyone who might interfere with future Executioner operations.
In that case, the Heavenly Fragrancer—the one capable of duplicating heart scents—would naturally be… a major obstacle to the Sacred Domain’s operations.
If someone capable of duplicating heart scents existed, it would once again throw the Executioners into confusion.
“Hyebin!”
Boom!
Bu Eunseol immediately unleashed his movement technique and raced toward where Geuk Hyebin was.
Whoooosh! Thud.
When he finally arrived at Geuk Hyebin’s location, a strange hemispherical light was emanating outward.
It was the spot where Geuk Hyebin had concealed herself with a formation.
Unable to break the formation, they had clearly poured bizarre power straight into its interior.
Bu Eunseol had been about to unleash Harmony to erase the power, but he paused.
The hemispherical light did not carry any malicious, harmful energy.
It was extremely soft and warm, even tinged with a subtle western energy.
Shuuu.
At that moment, the hemispherical light completely vanished.
Using the formation-breaking method Han Sangja had taught him, Bu Eunseol instantly entered.
Crackle-crackle.
With blue flames, the interior scenery appeared, revealing various treasures set up all around.
In the center, a woman in black clothing lay collapsed as though asleep.
It was Geuk Hyebin.
“Hyebin.”
Bu Eunseol rushed over and immediately checked her condition.
But...
“This is.”
His eyes widened, and he furrowed his brow several times.
In the meantime, Geuk Hyebin had grown at least a handspan taller, and her appearance had blossomed like a flower—more radiant and beautiful than before?
“The Life-Death Mysterious acupoint?”
Carefully taking her pulse, Bu Eunseol’s eyes widened in shock.
Astonishingly, her Life-Death Mysterious acupoint had been opened, and all the spiritual medicine energy that had lain dormant in her acupoints had fully melted and integrated.
―Then I shall extend a small courtesy in return.
“Courtesy.”
Only now did Bu Eunseol fully grasp the meaning behind the old man’s words.
That courtesy had been to open Geuk Hyebin’s Life-Death Mysterious acupoint, instantly elevating her inner energy cultivation to the level of Five Energies Facing the Origin.
“He caught two birds with one stone.”
Because she had reached Five Energies Facing the Origin, intense energy swirled around her body.
The sudden massive increase in inner energy combined with the spiritual medicine energy within her had completely transformed her constitution, and her Heavenly Fragrancer had been shattered.
“Remarkable.”
Simply injecting inner energy could never alter a person’s fundamental constitution like this.
The old man of the Sacred Domain had not only used astonishing power but also mysterious great arts to perfectly remake Geuk Hyebin’s constitution.
“This is the capability of the Sacred Domain.”
Not only could they transform others into beings capable of threatening transcendent powerhouses, but they could also instantly remake another person’s body as though they were lifelong masters of poison arts and medicine.
“That must be why, under the grand name of the Sacred Domain, they are able to move between the Baekri Family and the True Demon.”
The Sacred Domain was tasked with preventing the balance between the Baekri Family and the True Demon from breaking, and they possessed the parchments that allowed one to become a dependent of either force.
Which likely meant they also held a certain degree of power from both the Baekri Family and the True Demon.
That was how they could wield such mystical abilities.
“Oppa.”
At that moment, the sleeping Geuk Hyebin opened her eyes.
A transparent energy flowed around her body, and her skin had become so translucent that even the fine veins beneath were faintly visible.
Because the energies dormant within her had all spread at once, she had undergone something akin to a complete bodily rebirth.
“Are you awake?”
“Yes.”
Geuk Hyebin tried to rise.
In an instant, she floated a full palm’s height into the air.
Her inner energy had increased so rapidly that she could not yet control it.
“What happened to me?”
Only then did Geuk Hyebin realize her body had completely changed.
Overflowing true qi coursed through her meridians, and she had grown so tall she no longer needed to tilt her head up to look at Bu Eunseol.
“Your Life-Death Mysterious acupoint has been opened, and the spiritual medicine energy dormant in your acupoints has fully integrated.”
“Did you do this for me, Oppa?”
“No. Actually....”
Bu Eunseol had been about to lie—saying that a passing extraordinary person had seen her potential and, feeling a connection, opened her Life-Death Mysterious Gate.
But he soon shook his head.
Geuk Hyebin was no longer a child; she was the next Lord who would lead the Affectionate Blossom Sect.
He could not keep treating her like a child forever.
“The old man from the Sacred Domain... the one who controls the Executioners... changed my constitution?”
“Yes. His original purpose was likely to shatter your Heavenly Fragrancer. But it can only be seen as him extending a courtesy in his own way.”
Bu Eunseol calmly explained why the Executioners acted as they did and what role they played.
After hearing everything, Geuk Hyebin wore a dazed expression.
She was especially shocked when she heard that Bu Eunseol could become neither a dependent of the Baekri Family nor of the True Demon.
“Then that means Oppa possesses some ability different from all the martial artists the Executioners have encountered—or there is something else unique about you.”
“I don’t know.”
Bu Eunseol concealed the fact that he was a half-blood of the Baekri Family and the True Demon.
No—he had no choice but to conceal it.
Not only because of the old man’s request, but because this information could once again endanger everyone around him.
“From his perspective, it is probably advantageous—or even pleasing—for me to survive.”
“It is rare in the martial world to find goodwill without any reason.”
When Geuk Hyebin made a dubious face, Bu Eunseol smiled.
“It’s fine. What matters is that the Covenant has been broken. There will be no more danger.”
He quickly changed the subject.
“In any case, Sojin will have to be on her guard now.”
Bu Eunseol sent Geuk Hyebin words of admiration and celebration.
“Now you can come to Majeon.”
He had thought the next successor of Majeon would surely be Hyeok Sojin, but through this sudden stroke of fortune, Geuk Hyebin had surpassed that realm.
“Please wait just a few more years.”
Geuk Hyebin spoke with slightly flushed cheeks.
“I will come to Majeon where you are, Oppa. I absolutely will.”
Thinking she meant she would become the successor of Majeon, Bu Eunseol smiled brightly and nodded.
“Yes, I’ll wait.”
“You promised?”
Geuk Hyebin held out her palm.
In the martial world, heroes often swore oaths by clapping palms together.
When she extended her hand, Bu Eunseol smiled softly.
‘She’s only grown in body; she’s still a child at heart.’
Unaware of Geuk Hyebin’s true feelings, he clapped his palm against hers.
“Of course.”
When Bu Eunseol firmly met her palm, Geuk Hyebin showed a shy yet incomparably bright smile.
That smile was so pure, so joyful… that Bu Eunseol unconsciously revealed his even teeth and smiled back as brightly as sunlight.
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