When Bu Eunseol remained silent, the server cautiously asked, “Sir?”
“Three bottles of white wine. Bring peanuts as the side dish.”
“Understood, sir.”
Once the server left, Bu Eunseol once again scanned the surroundings of the inn.
At every table where martial artists were seated, without fail, cheap white wine and dried peanuts were placed.
“Here you are, sir.”
The server brought the white wine and peanuts.
Bu Eunseol filled his cup to the brim and drained it in one go.
“Hm.”
As the sour liquor went down, Bu Eunseol slightly furrowed his brow.
The cheap white wine wasn’t particularly strong; it was merely sour and sharp like vinegar.
“Hmm.”
He might not care about other things, but Bu Eunseol was extremely particular when it came to choosing alcohol.
If he weren’t going to drink at all, that would be one thing but when he did drink, he always sought liquor that was fragrant and potent.
Why? Because opportunities to drink came so rarely. Whenever he did drink, he wanted to pursue the greatest possible satisfaction.
‘But this is what people of the martial world call liquor, isn’t it.’
Martial practitioners who trained in the martial arts possessed astonishing alcohol tolerance.
Yet strong liquor was rare and expensive, so for martial world wanderers who weren’t flush with money, most simply ordered cheap white wine to drown the worries of the day.
Gulp, gulp.
Bu Eunseol drank the white wine in quick, successive gulps, like an ox chewing fodder.
Since the liquor wasn’t especially strong, he had to drink this way just to feel even a hint of intoxication.
‘Not bad.’
A faint smile appeared on Bu Eunseol’s lips.
Even though the liquor was harsh and sour, it gave him more satisfaction than any famous vintage he had tasted before.
It allowed him to experience—for the first time—the genuine atmosphere of an ordinary martial world man.
Murmur, murmur.
The conversations of countless people.
The hurried movements of the servers.
The sounds of people eating and drinking.
All of it blended into a quiet, soothing fragrance that satisfied his five senses.
“Three more bottles.”
Having finished the first set, Bu Eunseol ordered three more bottles of white wine.
From time to time he popped the dried, shriveled peanuts into his mouth as a side dish.
Clack.
Just as he was nearly finished with the third bottle and filling his last cup, suddenly, the buzzing noise that had filled the inn came to an abrupt halt.
It felt as though the entire world’s time had frozen.
Thud, thud.
At the same moment, faint footsteps could be heard.
Someone was climbing the stairs to the second floor.
Bu Eunseol naturally turned his gaze toward the staircase.
The person who finally appeared was an utterly ordinary-looking middle-aged man. A face one could see anywhere, a slow gait, dim and somewhat hazy eyes.
Nothing about him stood out; he was the very picture of averageness.
Yet there was a mysterious pull that made one unable to look away.
“Is there a seat available?”
When the middle-aged man spoke, the approaching server scratched his head.
“Sir, we’re currently full…”
At that moment the middle-aged man glanced around, noticed the empty bottles on Bu Eunseol’s table, and cautiously approached.
“It looks like there’s room here. Would it be all right to share the table?”
Normally the server would be the one to suggest sharing yet here was this middle-aged man, ascending into the now-silent inn and casually proposing to sit with Bu Eunseol.
“Of course.”
At the acceptance, the middle-aged man broke into a bright smile and sat down across from him.
“Three bottles of white wine. For the side dish, bring stir-fried fresh pork in chili oil. Use fresh meat, and put in whole dried chilies.”
The server took the order and, before long, returned with the liquor and dish.
The middle-aged man seemed quite hungry; he gulped down the liquor while devouring the stir-fried meat.
The inn’s cook was skilled—the pork carried a subtle, appetizing spiciness that whetted the appetite.
Bu Eunseol slowly finished his last cup, using the middle-aged man’s hearty eating as his side entertainment.
“Kuuh.”
After a long period of eating and drinking, the middle-aged man slowly wiped his mouth.
Then, smiling at Bu Eunseol who had been staring straight at him, he asked, “Well? Was it a satisfying meal?”
“Thanks to you.”
Bu Eunseol looked around the inn and spoke in a low voice.
“It has been a very good experience.”
“That’s fortunate.”
The middle-aged man gave a faint smile.
“I heard that you always travel the martial world alone and have never properly visited an inn in Chengdu. I felt quite sorry about that.”
“So you’ve been tracking my movements all along.”
“Of course. From the moment you first stepped into the martial world, I’ve followed you.”
The middle-aged man smiled gently.
“That’s why I prepared this. So you could enjoy the atmosphere of an ordinary inn.”
Shockingly, not only the inn, but every single person in Chengdu had been replaced with prepared personnel.
And Bu Eunseol, having realized this, had still entered the city, strolled through the market streets, and confidently stepped into this bustling inn to drink.
“Those many people really are ordinary commoners.”
It was astonishing.
The ones filling Chengdu and this inn were not martial artists at all, but genuine common folk who had never practiced any martial arts?
“To track down my movements—which no one else could find—and arrange all of this in advance… impressive.”
“No such thing.”
The middle-aged man shook his head.
“There is absolutely no information organization in the martial world capable of predicting and locating your whereabouts in advance.”
Then, smiling as if amused, he continued, “It was merely not difficult to scatter a certain aura that would immediately catch your interest.”
He had not tracked Bu Eunseol.
He had simply spread a specific energy along every path Bu Eunseol was likely to take, drawing him in like bait.
Had Bu Eunseol headed toward the Azure Sky Alliance instead of the Martial Soul Society, the exact same scene would have unfolded in some inn in Sichuan.
“You detained commoners just in case I might show up someday?”
When Bu Eunseol frowned, the middle-aged man shook his head.
“Of course not. We simply didn’t forget the fact that with enough money, even ghosts can be hired.”
For the sake of a Bu Eunseol whose arrival time was unknown, they had spent a huge sum to keep commoners on standby, finally making this arrangement possible.
“Why go to such lengths?”
“To earn your goodwill, of course.”
“What a shame.”
Bu Eunseol drained the remaining white wine in his cup and shook his head.
“Something like this will never earn my goodwill. And besides…”
Crimson light exploded in his pupils.
“I do not converse with liars.”
“It seems I’ve been found out after all.”
The middle-aged man shrugged, his eyes gleaming.
“But what if I have important information? Wouldn’t that make conversation worthwhile?”
“Perhaps—if you were one of the Three Realms’ Lords. Otherwise, I doubt you have anything that could pique my interest.”
“Realm Lord, is it?”
The middle-aged man tilted his head.
“Why do you assume I am not a Realm Lord of the Three Realms?”
“I once met a strange old man who called himself an ‘Emissary.’”
Bu Eunseol set his cup down and continued, “He unfolded quite an impressive mental landscape and claimed it had reached the third realm. That implies there are at least higher stages above it.”
He looked around with a hint of regret.
“If you truly were a Realm Lord of the Three Realms, shouldn’t you be showing power far beyond that old man’s, instead of this mix of heretical sorcery and mental illusions?”
Ssssssh.
As soon as the words left his mouth, the scenery around the inn suddenly began to melt away.
At the same time, an unexpected sight unfolded.
The figures of the customers filling the inn crumpled one by one, soon transforming into paper dolls shaped like humans.
The spacious inn itself shifted back into the appearance of a shabby, dilapidated roadside tavern.
In truth, this place was not in Chengdu at all, but a remote inn dozens of li away from the city.
The so-called commoners bought with money were not real commoners either.
Whoosh.
The middle-aged man had unfolded a mystical form of mental landscape—just like the blue-robed old man from before—covering a ten-li radius with the illusion of Chengdu’s scenery, while using strange sorcery to make paper human figures appear exactly like real people.
“So the Mosan Sect has been rebuilt after all.”
Bu Eunseol sighed as he looked at the densely packed paper dolls surrounding him.
“Only they could perform the Transforming Paper Sinister Soul.”
In the martial world, the only sect known to have created human forms from paper was the long-extinct Mosan Sect’s Taoist arts.
“Impressive eyesight.”
The middle-aged man readily nodded.
“Our sect perished long ago; traces of that art can no longer be found.”
Then he added, “However, this is not Transforming Paper Sinister Soul. It is Hundred Spirits Seed Transformation and Form-Energy Forging Form. The technique to infuse souls into paper figures has not yet been restored.”
When Bu Eunseol made an expression as though he understood nothing about sorcery,
“I suppose I said something unnecessary.”
The middle-aged man shook his head and continued,
“This old man is called Dong Wolhyeon, a disciple of the Mosan Sect.”
An unusual name.
“Mystery Emerging From the Eastern Moon*.”
*Dong Wolhyeon translates to that.
Bu Eunseol shook his head.
“Most likely a title or alias symbolizing profundity and stillness.”
When the middle-aged man did not reply, Bu Eunseol spoke again.
“The Mosan Sect perished long ago. I cannot fathom how their arts survived and were passed down.”
“You, of all people, should be able to guess the reason.”
After deep thought, Bu Eunseol’s eyes flashed.
“You received help from Shaolin.”
Shaolin’s Scripture Pavilion housed not only Shaolin’s own secret techniques, but martial secret manuals from sects all over the world.
And the Blood Shaolin Scripture Pavilion contained not just orthodox manuals, but forbidden demonic arts secret books and forgotten heretical sorcery texts as well.
If they received Shaolin’s assistance, restoring the Mosan Sect’s arts would not be especially difficult.
“Correct.”
“Then has the Mosan Sect truly been rebuilt?”
In the past, Bu Eunseol had fought puppets on Mosan Peak—where the Mosan Sect once stood—and met Gongsun Dana there. Yet back then the place had been in ruins. Had the Mosan Sect been rebuilt in the meantime?
“No.”
The old man—Dong Wolhyeon—nodded calmly.
“Our sect has not been rebuilt. We have merely kept the lineage of the arts alive.”
He continued, “And this old man serves as an instructor of the Living Spirit Hall in our society, while also holding the position of Ink-Form Lord.”
“Our society?”
“It is called the United Heart Society.”
United Heart Society.
In an instant, Bu Eunseol recalled the word “Society Lord” that the Ghost King had once mentioned.
‘Could it be the faction led by Chu So?’
But then Dong Wolhyeon revealed something astonishing.
“The United Heart Society is not so much the name of a single sect as it is the collective name for forces that have gathered with the same purpose.”
He added, “When we speak of the United Heart Society, you can think of it as… a coalition of the various factions you are already aware of.”
Bu Eunseol made an odd expression.
“So there are multiple forces operating under the banner of the United Heart Society?”
“Something like that. We are simply the United Heart Society formed to achieve our objective.”
“If you received help from Shaolin, does that mean this is the group that carried out the Absolute Demonic Blade Project together with the Buddha Venerable?”
“Correct.”
An unexpected answer.
Since the Buddha Venerable had restarted the Absolute Demonic Blade Project, Bu Eunseol had assumed that if he created any organization, he himself would be its head, and countless orthodox sects, including Shaolin, along with their experts, would rush to join the plan.
Yet it turned out an organization named the United Heart Society had been formed, and the middle-aged man before him was part of one of the many threads within that United Heart Society connected to the Absolute Demonic Blade Project?
“I cannot comprehend it. The Buddha Venerable, who came from Shaolin, separately formed a coalition?”
“The venerable elder was merely a key member who helped establish our society, just like this old man. He is not the Society Lord.”
That was shocking.
In other words, even Dong Wolhyeon—a sorcery lineage holder from the perished Mosan Sect—was a core member of the United Heart Society?
“Then who is the Society Lord?”
“That does not seem to be something I should reveal at this stage.”
Dong Wolhyeon said, “Merely mentioning the name of our society has already leaked a major secret.”
Bu Eunseol fell silent for a moment.
In the past, the Buddha Venerable had told him that the Absolute Demonic Blade Project had resumed and asked him to become the person who would manage them.
But why had he not clearly mentioned an organization called the United Heart Society at that time?
If he had, Bu Eunseol might have had some room to consider.
“You did not come here just to show off your sorcery.”
Swallowing his thoughts, Bu Eunseol asked, “Why go through all this trouble to summon me?”
“I came to make you a proposal.”
“Go ahead.”
“By now you understand the affairs of the martial world well enough to guess how many sacrifices our society’s plan has been built upon.” He sighed and continued, “And from now on, you will inevitably clash with our society again and again.”
“Sorry, but I have no interest.”
Bu Eunseol snorted.
“As long as you do not interfere with my path, I care nothing for the United Heart Society or any Divided Heart Society.”
“I’m afraid that will not be possible.”
“What do you mean?”
“Because our society’s banner is no different from that of the Three Realms.”
The middle-aged man dropped a bombshell.
“Our society was created with the support of the Three Realms.”
At those words, a past conversation with the Buddha Venerable suddenly resurfaced in Bu Eunseol’s mind.
―And that was… to protect the world and its people from corrupt forces.
―By corrupt forces, do you mean the Three Realms?
To that question the Buddha Venerable had answered ambiguously.
―Are the corrupt forces in the martial world only them?
‘So that’s why he spoke in such vague terms—because he was already connected to them.’
Yet Bu Eunseol was not greatly surprised to learn the Buddha Venerable had ties to them.
Ever since he heard that the Absolute Demonic Blade Project was meant to eliminate both the Baekri Family and the True Demon, he had felt something was off.
If such a plan were carried out, the greatest beneficiary would undoubtedly be the Three Realms.
Even after betraying the Baekri Family, they still had to face the formidable enemy the True Demon.
From the Three Realms’ perspective, the Absolute Demonic Blade Project was an irresistibly attractive scheme that would help them enormously.
“You knew the Three Realms were committing atrocities—dragging innocent people and martial artists into their experiments—yet you boarded the same ship as them?”
“To achieve a great undertaking, a price and sacrifices are inevitably required. It was the same with the previous Absolute Demonic Blade Project… and it remains so now.”
“If you’re going to spout nonsense, just leave. I have no intention of accepting any proposal.”
“I know. That is why, after much consideration, our society devised a proposal we believed you might accept.”
Dong Wolhyeon asked, “What if we restrict the Three Realms’ experimental subjects to vicious martial criminals or those who have already fallen onto an evil path—excluding ordinary humans?”
“……”
“Out of respect for your will, from now on the subjects of experimentation will be those who have committed evil in the martial world, not the innocent.”
“You claim to speak for the will of the Three Realms?”
“If we could do so, would you accept?”
It now seemed that Dong Wolhyeon, like the Buddha Venerable before him, had come here to recruit Bu Eunseol as the leader who would command the experts nurtured through the Absolute Demonic Blade Project.
“You are saying you can communicate with the Realm Lords of the Three Realms or present opinions to them?”
“That is our responsibility. You need only give your answer.”
“In the end, are you not simply playing with human lives as though you were gods?”
Bu Eunseol stated firmly, “Among those executed at the scaffold were people wrongly accused and put to death—people who suffered extreme injustice. Even the government’s thorough investigations make mistakes; how could the United Heart Society possibly distinguish clearly between criminals and those who have fallen to evil?”
In short, even those the Three Realms labeled as evil might not actually be evil.
With that, Bu Eunseol completely rejected the proposal.
“I thought as much.”
Dong Wolhyeon said, “The reason we brought up such a topic first was to demonstrate how seriously our society values your opinion—and how highly we regard you.”
“There is a real proposal apart from that?”
“Yes.”
Dong Wolhyeon’s expression grew resolute.
“Our society aims to protect the nobility of humanity and to protect the world. In truth, our banner is not so different from yours.”
He earnestly continued, “If you truly wish to save countless people, if you truly wish to save the world… join our society.”
The middle-aged man declared firmly, “Our society has labored to end this long struggle, and now the fruits are finally within reach.”
“……”
“Yet a few things are still lacking. If you join us, all those deficiencies will be resolved.”
When Bu Eunseol curled his lip as though about to scoff, the middle-aged man quickly interjected.
“I am not saying we will recruit you as the leader of the Absolute Demonic Blade Project, like the venerable Buddha Venerable intended.”
“Then why recruit me?”
“We highly value your outstanding wisdom and martial learning.”
“……”
“Your brilliant mind and insight represent the very crystallization of everything our society has researched.”
Bu Eunseol stared blankly.
He had thought they wanted him to become the leader and overseer of the Absolute Demonic Blade Project, as the Buddha Venerable proposed.
Yet now they were inviting him to join their research?
In other words, was this not the golden opportunity to obtain the forbidden knowledge the Three Realms had been hoarding until now?
“Can you accept the proposal?”
Bu Eunseol furrowed his brow.
Such an offer was far too unexpected—almost a concession that could shake the very foundation of the Three Realms’ banner.
It could even be seen as proposing peace.
Or perhaps as an offer to jointly uncover the secrets of the Baekri Family and the True Demon.
“Research, is it.”
But Bu Eunseol quickly saw through the flaw in the Three Realms’ proposal.
“To do that, I would have to reveal every last bit of my foundation, wouldn’t I.”
“……”
“One of those ‘crystallizations’ you researched would surely be my martial lineage or my insights.”
Dong Wolhyeon let out a sigh.
“It’s impossible to deceive you.”
That was an honest admission.
“In the history of the martial world, no one your age has ever reached such a profound martial scripture. And that must be thanks to the education you received from Bu Zhanyang.”
Bu Eunseol had no choice but to acknowledge it.
Thanks to everything his grandfather had taught him, he had reached this level.
“You must also know that the Absolute Demonic Blade Project exists to suppress the Baekri Family and the True Demon?”
“Yes.”
“Bu Zhanyang was invincible. Yet he left behind nothing of his secret arts except the Seven Blood Tear Forms.”
Bu Eunseol frowned.
The remark sounded as though the United Heart Society knew of the Seven Blood Tear Forms.
“My grandfather raised me as a mortician, not as a martial artist.”
“It amounts to the same thing. In the end, aren’t you standing at the pinnacle of the new generation?” Dong Wolhyeon continued, “You are the perfect successor whom Bu Zhanyang raised after painstaking effort. I believe you can set foot on the great realm he achieved.”
Bu Eunseol gave a hollow laugh.
In the end, Dong Wolhyeon’s words were no different from the Buddha Venerable’s.
Perhaps for the same reason—they wanted to recruit him to obtain his and his grandfather’s secret arts, or his martial path and techniques.
“I refuse.”
“Is there truly no room to change your mind?”
“None.”
Bu Eunseol declared firmly, “Bring me every single one of the culprits who killed my grandfather and desecrated his remains. Then I will join the United Heart Society. I will allow you to experiment freely on everything I know—every martial principle, every technique—and even on my own body.”
“That is impossible.”
Bu Eunseol let out a cold smile.
“You say you can change the banner of the Three Realms… yet you cannot change anything concerning my grandfather.”
Crimson light burst violently from his eyes.
Only now did he see through one of the United Heart Society’s secrets.
“Then it is not that the United Heart Society was born with the support of the Three Realms…”
Bu Eunseol looked down at Dong Wolhyeon with eyes blazing red.
“From the very beginning, the Three Realms and the United Heart Society have been one and the same. Perhaps… it is the United Heart Society that contains the Three Realms.”
Instead of answering, Dong Wolhyeon merely gave a faint smile.
In the end, Won Semun’s words had been correct.
The Three Realms, struggling to escape the shadow of the Baekri Family… had ultimately allied with another force in order to break free from that yoke once and for all.
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