Bu Eunseol’s pupils glinted sharply in the darkness.
In a sect that maintained such a solemn atmosphere, it was impossible for bizarre sounds like those to echo openly.
Moreover, the moans seemed to seep out as though from deep underground, from some tightly sealed place…
There must be a separate hidden space.
‘Come to think of it, something feels off.’
In most of the halls, the women were solemnly reading books or meditating but their eyes somehow looked lifeless.
It didn’t feel like genuine cultivation.
It was as though they were mechanically repeating a forced routine.
‘Is someone deliberately imposing this schedule on them?’
Even if someone like him had infiltrated secretly and observed, upon seeing this solemn and orderly daily life, they would likely have found nothing unusual and simply left.
Perhaps the disciples who appeared to the outside world were carefully selected and groomed, while the true core—the real body—of the Jade Qilin Sect existed elsewhere.
‘That’s the place.’
While meticulously scanning the interior, Bu Eunseol discovered a small well in front of a storage shed piled high with supplies.
The inside was bone-dry, and so deep that the bottom could not be seen.
Without hesitation, he leaped into the well and landed at the bottom, where a cave-like passage appeared.
As he ventured deeper, the path gradually widened until he reached a corridor completely enclosed by walls.
After walking for quite a while, he finally came upon a massive door forged of iron.
‘So well hidden that they didn’t even bother locking it.’
The iron door was extremely sturdy, yet it had no special lock.
He cautiously pushed it open and stepped inside.
Buildings far larger in scale than the Jade Qilin Sect above ground came into view.
‘As expected—the true body is down here.’
“Huuu…”
“Haaaa…”
The moment he entered, strange moans reverberated through the space.
The sounds he had sensed earlier were coming from right here.
Swish.
Using his Swift Beyond Shadow, Bu Eunseol peered inside the building from which the moans emanated—and his eyes widened.
Inside were various torture devices, and the women were gathered together… torturing themselves?
‘Why on earth…?’
No matter how many times he looked, the scene made no sense.
‘Is the entire place like this?’
He checked other buildings and saw the same thing.
In each structure, the women were either tormenting themselves or joining forces to torment others. Their expressions were utterly solemn, as though performing a sacred duty. They continued the brutal torture without regard for death.
‘A heretical cult, then.’
The martial world was no stranger to bizarre sects with twisted doctrines; most of them performed grotesque rituals. Even the Blood Cult, which constantly eyed the Central Plains, relied on blood-based sorcery and carried out freakish practices, didn’t it?
“Mumble… mumble…”
Yet in one building, instead of moans, he heard what sounded like incantations.
Peering inside, he saw animal heads and carcasses strewn about, while the women repeatedly chanted strange words.
The sight was so grotesque that even Bu Eunseol, with his iron nerves, felt a chill run down his spine.
‘So the place called the Holy Maidens’ Sect—the Jade Qilin Sect—is ultimately a heretical cult.’
Their behavior was not so different from other demonic sects in the martial world.
Only the fact that it was a female sect, combined with these bizarre rituals, gave it an even more eerie and sinister impression.
‘No choice, then.’
Originally, Bu Eunseol had planned to investigate quietly and slip away. After all, this was a sect rebuilt by women who had suffered the pain of annihilation at his grandfather’s hands.
But after witnessing this… he could no longer avoid a direct, forceful investigation.
‘I need to find the sect leader.’
The true core of Jade Qilin Sect lay in this hidden space beneath the well.
That meant the sect leader must also be here, directing the disciples.
Hum.
Raising his Void Heart Command, he began searching for the sect leader’s location.
Finally, he located the large hall where she was presumed to reside.
It was built like a grand palace, guarded at the entrance by women with fierce, sharp gazes.
Swish.
Bu Eunseol’s Swift Beyond Shadow had long surpassed the realm of High Moon and entered an almost miraculous domain. Especially in stealth, it rivaled the legendary hiding techniques passed down from ancient times.
Though countless disciples guarded the palace, not a single one detected his presence.
‘Here it is.’
Having located the sect leader’s quarters, Bu Eunseol could not hide his shock.
Jade Qilin Sect’s sect leader, Un Jeong.
She was intoxicated on opium, relentlessly abusing herself with a sharp blade.
Watching from behind a massive pillar, Bu Eunseol was dumbfounded.
So this was the true nature of the so-called Holy Maidens’ Sect.
‘If it’s a heretical cult, then all the better.’
If the Jade Qilin Sect had been a clean, upright sect maintaining proper operations, he would never have dared infiltrate the sect leader’s private chambers, let alone interrogate her.
But when the sect leader herself was drugged and committing such depravity, it already proved this place was a bizarre heretical group.
In that case, any martial artist in the world could enter openly and interrogate her without shame.
Swoosh.
The moment Bu Eunseol emerged from the shadows where he had concealed himself, Un Jeong—despite her intoxicated state—immediately sensed his presence and shouted.
“Who’s there!”
With a short cry, she swiftly reached under the table to activate a mechanism.
Whirr—crack!
In that instant, the air compressed with a sound, and the mechanism attached to the table shattered in one blow.
Bu Eunseol had sent a finger wind.
Thud. Thud.
Stepping forward with dignified strides, Bu Eunseol asked in a low voice.
“What exactly are you people doing here?”
“You are…”
Blood dripping from her wounds, Un Jeong stared at the masked Bu Eunseol’s stern eyes and opened her mouth.
“How did you get in here…?”
Even in her drugged state, Un Jeong trembled violently with shock.
Seeing his dark and frozen eyes, she suddenly recalled the most terrifying person in the world.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Un Jeong abruptly dropped to her knees and began begging.
“I won’t do it again.”
She was still intoxicated, her mind clouded.
Her clothes were disheveled, her pale thighs exposed beneath her skirt.
“What exactly are you doing?”
When Bu Eunseol asked sternly, Un Jeong answered.
“We are washing away the sins we have committed and purifying the bodies that have been defiled by them.”
Muttering incoherently, she raised the blade in her hand and smiled.
“Look. Even now, aren’t we constantly purifying ourselves without rest?”
As she stood, the strange incense wafting from all directions grew thicker.
Even a faint whiff made his vision blur dizzily—it was undoubtedly a mixture of opium and other hallucinogens.
‘Conversation is impossible in this state.’
A drugged Un Jeong could not speak rationally.
After a moment’s hesitation, Bu Eunseol gazed into her unfocused eyes and raised his internal energy.
Illusion Upon Illusion.
Imitating a signature technique of Human Demon Ak Muryeong, he attempted to peer into the memories within her mind.
Hum.
But in that instant, a strange resonance echoed in his head, and suddenly a scorching heat began pouring into his mind.
‘This is…’
Bu Eunseol was startled.
Unknowingly, without ever having learned it, he had unfolded a Mind World and entered her mind.
***
Deep night shrouded in thick darkness.
In the once-quiet mountain sect, flames suddenly erupted.
Black-red smoke coiled around the mountain and soared into the sky, spreading screams in every direction.
And at the center of it all stood a man radiating black sword energy.
As though he had crawled out of hell, his eyes glowed with yellowish madness, yet his gaze sank into an abyss-like coldness.
The massive greatsword in his hand continuously flashed with sword energy that pierced the darkness.
“Aaaah!”
Every time the greatsword cleaved the air, women fell in heaps like straw bundles amid wretched screams.
Between the burning buildings, the jet-black sword energy flashed relentlessly, sometimes exploding with a thunderous boom.
The power of the sword energy was so overwhelming that even a glancing touch would shatter a woman’s body as though it had exploded.
Splatter.
Blood and flesh scattered in all directions.
The agonized screams of the dying echoed like reverberations.
‘Grandfather…’
Bu Eunseol’s fingertips trembled as he peered into the Mind World.
Though his face was covered by a black hood, his eyes gleamed with tiger-like amber sharpness.
It was unmistakably his grandfather, Bu Zhanyang, in his prime.
“Stop that demon!”
The women attacked with desperate fury, but Bu Zhanyang’s martial prowess had already transcended the human realm.
Each swing of the greatsword sent black whirlwinds spiraling outward. Even without direct contact, the radiating shockwaves tore the women’s internal organs to shreds.
‘Why…?’
Bu Eunseol was shaken.
‘Even if they were the worst villains under heaven… was there any need to kill them so cruelly?’
In terms of pure martial strength, Grandfather could have ended their lives with a mere gesture.
A single slash to the throat or heart would have sufficed—yet he deliberately employed vicious, repeated techniques, brutally slaughtering the disciples of Heavenly Moon Palm Sect, once called a sacred ground of the martial world.
“Kaaah!”
By the time more than half of Heavenly Moon Palm Sect’s disciples had fallen,
Flash!
A brilliant light suddenly burst from the sky and poured down onto Bu Zhanyang.
The sect leader of Heavenly Moon Palm Sect and her thirty-two elders had appeared.
Hum.
In their hands, each held a treasure radiating intense light.
The moment Bu Zhanyang was exposed to that light, his body began to burn.
They were likely using the mysterious Dharma treasures stored in Heavenly Moon Palm Sect to unleash power akin to the Black Divine Energy in an attempt to eliminate him.
Sizzle.
Soon white smoke rose from Bu Zhanyang’s body, and thin threads of blood trickled from his mouth.
No matter how great his martial arts, he was still a human of flesh and blood. The combined might pouring from thirty-two Dharma treasures was a force no mortal body could withstand.
“Now!”
At the sect leader’s shout, the elders began moving their treasures in strange patterns.
Kiiiing.
At the same moment, a piercing, ear-splitting screech rang out as the ground split open,
Rumble rumble rumble.
Bu Zhanyang’s body was sucked into the crimson-lit fissure in an instant.
Judging by the continuous rumbling, he had been dragged at least dozens of jang deep.
“We did it.”
The sect leader stared into the massive pit, wiped cold sweat from her brow, and let out a sigh of relief.
The thirty-two Dharma treasures she had used possessed power on par with the divine artifacts said to be capable of sealing the True Demon—the primordial evil. To unleash all of them at once against the Seven-Finger Demon Blade—even an immortal would have no chance of survival.
Tap.
Descending from the air, they gripped their treasures again to fill the split pit.
Shuuu…
But something strange happened.
From the bottomless pit, black smoke began to rise.
Kukukuku.
The ground shook as though an earthquake had struck,
BOOM!
With an earth-shattering explosion, a single streak of black light shot into the distant sky.
Shuuu…
That light soon became a black shadow slowly descending back to the ground.
It was Bu Zhanyang—buried by the Dharma treasures, yet still alive.
Tap.
When he reappeared, amber madness blazed fiercely in his eyes.
“Seal him again!”
At the sect leader’s command, the thirty-two elders once more drew their treasures and rose into the air.
Flash!
Their bodies glowed golden like the bodies of Buddhas, and radiant light poured down onto Bu Zhanyang.
BOOM!
In response, the black energy flowing from Bu Zhanyang exploded outward, unleashing a storm that seemed to devour heaven and earth.
Shuuu…
The black storm instantly extinguished the pouring golden light and soared into the distant sky.
Click.
At the same moment, he raised his greatsword.
A colossal wave of sword energy began to spread across the entire mountain.
Paaaa…
The spreading wave of sword energy instantly nullified the power pouring from the thirty-two Dharma treasures and swallowed the thirty-two elders surrounding him as well.
Seven Blood Tear Forms.
Using that terrifying sword art, he erased not only the thirty-two Dharma treasures but also the disciples wielding them—leaving not even a trace.
Boom.
The sole survivor, the sect leader, dropped to her knees.
Thanks to her deep internal energy and the protective power of her treasure, her blood-soaked body still retained its form.
But her flesh was torn to rags; she writhed in agony.
“Spare… spare me…”
Unable to endure the pain, the sect leader stretched out her hand and begged.
“You cannot kill me.”
Thud. Thud.
As Bu Zhanyang slowly approached, she screamed in desperation.
“If you kill me, you will never find your son!”
Screech.
A diagonal flash of light and the sect leader’s head rolled grotesquely across the ground.
With lightning speed, he had severed her neck in a single stroke.
Crack crack.
At that moment, the sound of bones echoed from Bu Zhanyang’s body, and a dark crimson light began to flow out.
Hum. Hum.
It was as though his body flickered like stars in the night sky.
Silently gazing down at himself, Bu Zhanyang began gathering all the surging power within his body.
That power condensed like starlight from the night sky, gathering at the tip of his thumb.
Without hesitation, he pressed that thumb—now gleaming with light—against the razor-sharp edge of his blade.
Crunch. Crunch.
The sound of bones rang throughout his body; extreme conflict appeared in his eyes.
Sweat beaded on his forehead; his pupils shook as though consumed by pain.
Then the black light condensed at his fingertip erupted outward once more.
At the same time, those lights took shape—sharp fangs, sinister red eyes.
Bodies made of chain-like black smoke writhed endlessly, then opened massive jaws to swallow Bu Zhanyang whole.
‘Grandfather!’
Bu Eunseol cried out unconsciously in his mind.
The moment his spirit shook violently,
Whoosh—
A sensation like mist spreading in all directions washed over him, and the Mind World before his eyes completely vanished.
‘I have to see it again.’
Bu Eunseol poured his power into a technique like Illusion Upon Illusion once more.
But no matter how hard he tried, he could not re-enter the Mind World.
‘What in the world is happening?’
“I was wrong. I was wrong.”
Meanwhile, Un Jeong remained prostrated, still begging.
Her figure overlapped in his mind with the image of the Heavenly Moon Palm Sect sect leader begging his grandfather long ago.
Bu Eunseol pressed his forehead in confusion.
‘Grandfather had a child.’
Back when the Black-and-White Witch was on the verge of death, she had told him as much but afterward, no trace of such a person was ever found, and Bu Eunseol had gradually forgotten the matter.
Yet Grandfather truly had blood kin?
Then why had Grandfather never spoken of it?
Why had no information about the Seven-Finger Demon Blade having a child ever spread through the martial world?
And why would a sacred ground like Heavenly Moon Palm Sect… speak as though they had abducted Grandfather’s child?
“Speak.”
Bu Eunseol asked the still-begging Un Jeong.
“What connection does Heavenly Moon Palm Sect have with the Seven-Finger Demon Blade?”
“I was wrong. I was wrong.”
When Un Jeong continued begging, he shouted once more.
“Where is his bloodline?!”
Hum.
Using his internal energy, he immediately lifted Un Jeong’s body into the air.
Yet she dared not meet his eyes, keeping her head bowed and continuing to plead.
“Spare me. Spare me.”
Bu Eunseol bit his lip.
Drugged as she was, Un Jeong’s eyes were completely unfocused; rational thought seemed impossible.
‘I must hear the truth.’
If Grandfather’s blood kin was still alive, he had to find out who it was and what had become of them—no matter what.
Hum!
Bu Eunseol began using the Ban-Geuk Method to drive out the accumulated drug energy from her body.
Sizzle.
As pure true energy coursed through her meridians, her gaze gradually cleared.
Crack. Crack.
But as the true energy entered, a sound of bones came from her face, and her features began to warp grotesquely.
It turned out she had been using face-altering disguise.
“Huuu…”
Even when the pure true energy penetrated, she showed no particular reaction.
But once the disguise unraveled and her hideous true face returned, she suddenly came to her senses and touched her own face.
“You… who are you?”
Looking down at her floating body, she spoke sharply.
“How did you enter this sect leader’s quarters?”
“I ask the questions.”
Bu Eunseol swept her with an utterly murderous gaze.
“Tell me what connection exists between the Seven-Finger Demon Blade and Heavenly Moon Palm Sect.”
“…”
“And where his bloodline is.”
“His bloodline?”
When Bu Eunseol referred to the Seven-Finger Demon Blade with utmost respect, Un Jeong let a leisurely smile spread across her face.
“If you want to know that, you shouldn’t be holding me like this, should you?”
Crack.
Instead of answering, Bu Eunseol unleashed Reverse Heaven Bestowal Punishment, forcibly reversing every flow of energy in her body.
Reverse Heaven Bestowal Punishment not only amplified internal pain several times over—it simultaneously inflicted the agony of a body being torn into thousands of pieces and the torment of being burned alive.
It was said that even seasoned assassins hardened to torture would burst into tears and spill every secret the moment it was applied, yet-
“Good… very good. This is truly wonderful!”
Un Jeong cried out with an expression of ecstasy.
“Yes! More—give me more!”
All the women of Jade Qilin Sect, including Un Jeong, had been daily subjecting themselves to physical torture. Moreover, because they were constantly intoxicated with opium and their bodies were already ruined, they seemed unable to feel pain properly.
“The Dharma treasures of this sect respond only to blood and suffering. And we also possess a secret art that turns pain into pleasure.”
She flicked her tongue and continued.
“You can use any other method you like. Torment me more.”
Un Jeong looked at Bu Eunseol with relaxed confidence.
“Even if you use Soul-Seizing Mind Arts, it’s useless. The moment you try to seize my soul, my head will explode.”
‘There’s a backer behind them.’
Jade Qilin Sect had a hidden mastermind, and all the disciples were clearly bound by a deadly restriction that would kill them if they revealed secrets.
In that case, there was no way to force open her mouth.
‘Entering the Mind World was a fluke, then.’
Bu Eunseol felt regret.
‘If only I could manifest that power again…’
Most likely, Un Jeong—drugged and momentarily mistaking him completely for his grandfather—had triggered the Mind World by accident due to that overlap.
“Do you want to know where Bu Zhanyang’s child is?”
At that moment, Un Jeong—still floating in midair—looked at Bu Eunseol and smiled.
“If you entertain me, there’s no reason I can’t tell you.”
She deliberately disheveled her clothes even further and gave a seductive smile.
“How about it?”
“After your head explodes?”
When Bu Eunseol snorted, Un Jeong replied.
“Only I in the entire martial world know his whereabouts. It’s hardly a losing deal, is it?”
In that instant, Bu Eunseol’s pupils trembled violently.
If Grandfather’s blood kin was still alive… even if he had to descend into the fires of hell, he had to find them.
Entertaining Un Jeong was nothing—absolutely nothing.
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