Tssst.
Bu Eunseol was moving with his hands clasped behind his back, executing his movement technique.
To avoid revealing his identity, he had not only used disguise techniques but also wore a face veil made of heavenly silkworm thread and altered his physique.
He also kept the Boundary Prosperity Jade he had obtained previously tucked inside his robes.
Tssssss.
Using the power of the Wind-Cloud Divine Qi, he surpassed mere ground flight and was soaring through the sky like a bird.
After flying at high speed for quite some time, a mysterious island appeared through the faint mist above the sea, not far from the mainland. Around the island, it felt as though something like a transparent curtain was draped over it.
It seemed that part of the Absolute Array had collapsed or been improperly deployed, preventing it from perfectly dividing the space.
‘An array.’
Bu Eunseol realized why the Martial Venerable had given him this key.
This unique array, similar to the Absolute Array, completely separated the entire island from the original world. Even for Bu Eunseol, who could be considered an expert in breaking arrays, it was so ever-changing and complex that no method to unravel it came to mind.
‘Even the array of the Heavenly Mechanism Star was not like this.’
In the past, the array that Heavenly Mechanism Star Chu So had used to imprison Gongsun Dankyung had been complex, but its structure could still be grasped. With enough time, breaking it would not have been impossible.
However, the array laid over this place was so intricate that he could not even discern its structure.
Click.
When he finally took out the wooden box from his robes, the orb began to sparkle with light. Then, near the array where the light poured out, a transparent and thin membrane slowly revealed itself.
It was as if a door allowing entry had opened.
The moment he naturally crossed that transparent membrane…
Flash.
A brilliant light burst forth, and a landscape so alien unfolded that it felt as though he had stepped into another world.
‘Its size is considerable.’
From the outside, it had clearly looked like a small island yet once inside, it appeared ten times larger than the hellish landscape where hundreds of people had fought.
Tssst.
As he entered the shoreline, an endless sandy beach stretched out, and the water where it met the sea was exceptionally transparent. In the shallow waters, colorful fish and nameless seaweeds mingled together, and around the sandy beach stood massive, bizarrely shaped rocks.
They looked quite artificial.
They had been shaped into mysterious forms, like sculptures left behind by some ancient beings.
‘Soon this island will be stained with blood.’
With a low sigh, he advanced deeper into the island, where a vast forest came into view.
The trees intertwined their branches to form a roof, and every time the leaves swayed in the wind, a faint light seemed to ripple.
‘This is no ordinary forest.’
Colorful flowers bloomed within the forest, and when he caught the faint fragrance emanating from them, it made his head spin as if he had inhaled an enchanting scent, and all sorts of distracting thoughts arose in his mind.
‘Even to this extent?’
Bu Eunseol had reached the Poison Saint realm and could neutralize any poison.
He had even attained the Spirit Regulation Harmony, making it nearly impossible to break through the barriers of his mind.
Yet he was experiencing hallucinations from merely the scent of flowers?
‘This is not good.’
Bu Eunseol once again deployed his Swift Beyond Shadow and secretly headed toward the center of the island.
There stood a towering, immensely high mountain.
The summit was obscured by clouds, making its end impossible to see, and the surrounding rocks maintained somewhat alien shapes. Some rocks resembled humans or animals, while in other places, ores containing light could be seen.
It truly felt like looking at a mountain created in a dream rather than reality.
‘Is the person called the Wood Buddha on that mountain?’
No matter how much he spread his ultra-senses, nothing could be detected.
While looking around, he headed toward the mountainside where a waterfall was cascading down.
The stream did not seem like ordinary water; when it caught the sunlight, it glowed in five colors, and a clear lake had formed beneath the waterfall.
‘Am I the first one here?’
If he had wandered this far without detecting any presence, there were only two possibilities.
Either he had arrived first…
Bu Eunseol’s eyes, which had been deep in thought, suddenly flashed.
‘Or there are countless people here using stealth techniques superior to mine… so I cannot detect their presence at all.’
Whirring.
At that moment, a strange sensation entered his mind.
Bu Eunseol immediately stopped his movement technique, raised his Wind-Cloud Divine Qi to make his body transparent, and merged himself with the surrounding scenery.
However, no matter how much he looked around, nothing was visible.
‘Was it my imagination?’
He tried to move stealthily once more, but he suddenly froze.
Feeling the strange sensation again, he halted his movement. It was not the detection of any sound or sensation, but rather the flow of air that only someone possessing Wind-Cloud Divine Qi like the Wind God could feel.
More precisely, it was something close to intuition.
Sssss.
At that moment, a very faint and tiny piercing sound brushed past his ear,
Flutter.
Six figures in yellow robes wearing face veils were executing qinggong directly above Bu Eunseol’s head.
‘Impressive.’
The six moved as if they were a single entity, perfectly synchronized.
From a distance, they looked like a cloud of yellow drifting through the air.
Moreover, the aura and movements of the yellow-robed figures were so natural that even Bu Eunseol, who possessed the Three Divine Energies, was astonished.
‘They have mastered the Path of Nature.’
Even though the six warriors were executing extremely fast light footwork, only faint piercing sounds could be heard. In reality, they were emitting only the sounds that someone with Wind-Cloud Divine Qi could perceive…
It was extremely difficult to detect their presence, as if they were supreme experts who had perfectly completed the Path of Nature.
‘No, it is impossible for six people to reach such a realm at once.’
The Path of Nature was literally a path extremely close to nature itself.
If six high-level experts executed light footwork in perfect unison?
The Path of Nature would inevitably be broken.
Yet the fact that they had perfectly blended into nature meant that they had not each individually mastered the Path of Nature.
Instead, the six had combined their power to reach a realm similar to the Path of Nature.
‘It was true.’
The Martial Venerable had confidently declared that strong experts from all over the martial world would gather here and it was by no means an exaggeration.
‘If I had not obtained the Wind-Cloud Divine Qi, I would have been discovered immediately.’
He had not yet perfectly attained the Great Natural Qi and had only applied it to the Martial Mist and Waves Form. However, because he had additionally obtained the Wind-Cloud Divine Qi—a power close to nature—along with the other divine energies, he could completely hide his presence and even detect their stealth techniques.
‘There is no need to clash with them.’
His purpose for coming here was solely to find the person called the Wood Buddha and bring him to a certain location.
According to the letter the Martial Venerable had given him, the person called the Wood Buddha literally took the form of a Wood Buddha statue.
‘Then is he hiding near trees or in the forest?’
Bu Eunseol soon shook his head.
A prophet capable of deploying such an array and reading the heavenly secrets would never use such a crude stealth method tailored to a wooden form.
Tssst.
Bu Eunseol moved stealthily once more and returned to the spring he had seen earlier.
Perhaps because he was slightly tense?
He felt a bit thirsty.
‘……’
But something was strange.
The color of the clear spring was the same, yet something felt off.
‘Has the water become even clearer than before?’
The spring was so clear that one could see deep inside. Anyone who saw it would feel an overwhelming desire to scoop up the water and drink it refreshingly.
However, having sensed the anomaly, Bu Eunseol used his internal energy to lift a single droplet from the spring and let it fall onto a nearby tree.
Ssssssh.
The tree suddenly withered at an alarming rate and began to die.
‘Supreme Poison Body?’
No poison in the world possessed such an effect.
That meant someone had created a new poison. The only ones capable of such a feat were those who had reached the Supreme Poison Body realm.
‘Moreover.’
The poison in the spring was merely bait.
‘The real poisoning was done to the air around the spring.’
The air around the spring had become somewhat colder than before, and every time he breathed, a scorching heat entered his lungs.
However, this could only be noticed after one had already approached the spring…
Even if someone avoided the poison in the water and left feeling relieved, they would inevitably have already been poisoned.
‘Magnificent.’
Even Bu Eunseol, who had encountered all kinds of poisons during his journeys in the martial world, could not help but admire such exceptional poisoning skill.
That meant that not only supreme experts but also someone who had attained the Supreme Poison Body realm was present here.
‘Perhaps someone who rivals the Three Realms.’
The Three Realms had been secretly cultivating the Poison Horn Dragon.
Their goal must have been the completion of the Supreme Poison Body.
It was possible that a Supreme Poison Body expert opposing the Three Realms existed in the martial world, and the Three Realms were also cultivating their own to counter it.
‘But is that even possible?’
If someone had reached the Supreme Poison Body and displayed such poison arts even once, the entire martial world would have been thrown into chaos. The fact that it had not become known meant… that this Supreme Poison Body expert who had laid down this extraordinary poison also belonged to a mysterious force.
‘I really will have to risk my life here.’
On this island, experts whose strength was difficult to gauge were lurking.
Moreover, since he could not even identify their identities or numbers, a single wrong judgment could instantly cost him his life.
Whirring.
At that moment, Bu Eunseol felt another strange sensation.
It felt as though a large number of people were converging toward a specific location.
That meant… there was a high probability that some individuals had already located the area where the Wood Buddha was.
‘Let’s go.’
Bu Eunseol began using the highest and most profound stealth principle among the Swift Beyond Shadow techniques—one he had never used before.
The secret art of Marvelous Concealed Speed.
Tssst… Sss.
He reached perfect silence and soundlessness. Not only the sound of his movement but even his presence completely vanished.
‘At this level, even the Demon Emperor would not be able to find me.’
However, because he had raised the stealth technique to its utmost limit, his movement speed was reduced to that of an ordinary martial world practitioner’s light footwork.
‘Something feels off.’
As he continued executing his movement technique, Bu Eunseol’s eyes narrowed.
A strange suction force could be felt from the ground, and the internal energy circulating within his body was slowly disappearing.
‘It is not that my internal energy is vanishing.’
When Bu Eunseol stopped his movement technique and stood on the ground, the suction force grew even stronger.
‘Hmm.’
Realizing that a strange power was spreading across the ground, he paused his movement technique for a moment and spread his Crystal Divine Energy into the floor.
Gurgle.
Then, along with a faint light, the suction force flowing from the ground slowly began to disappear.
‘This is… a bit disconcerting.’
Bu Eunseol was taken aback.
Even after expending that much Crystal Divine Energy, he had only been able to erase the strange energy within a radius of one and a half jang.
‘That means it is not an array.’
When he spread the Crystal Divine Energy more widely, the energy flowing from the ground seemed endless. It appeared that a strange pressure was emanating from the ground across the entire island.
‘Is the Wood Buddha wary of martial world practitioners?’
The Wood Buddha was said to be a prophet with mysterious powers.
Perhaps he had laid such a technique across the entire island as a precaution against the experts coming to capture him.
‘In the end, the only thing I can use here is the Three Divine Energies.’
Because of its gentle nature, Crystal Divine Energy was not well-suited for attack.
Thunder Spirit Energy was powerful but accompanied by loud explosions and flashes, making it unsuitable for use here.
The Power of the Wild could sufficiently compensate for a lack of internal energy, but the disadvantage was that the martial arts of the Wild Beast Palace would be immediately exposed.
‘At least that is fortunate.’
However, Wind-Cloud Divine Qi could substitute for anything that could be performed with internal energy. As long as it was not spread in the form of a true wave, the chance of its origin being discovered was almost nonexistent.
Tssst.
Bu Eunseol once again deployed the Swift Beyond Shadow using Wind-Cloud Divine Qi and tilted his head as he sensed something.
‘When internal energy is restricted, the power of the Three Divine Energies becomes stronger?’
Surprisingly, when his internal energy was restricted, the power of the Three Divine Energies grew even more powerful.
‘In that case.’
Whirring.
Bu Eunseol attempted the fusion of the Three Divine Energies—a feat he had only dared to try when risking his life.
Whirring, whirring.
A faint radiance rose from Bu Eunseol’s body, which was enveloped in Wind-Cloud Divine Qi.
Soon, along with the sensation of the Three Divine Energies merging into one, light filled both of his hands.
‘It works.’
Although it took some time and was not perfect, it did not run out of control and tear at his mind like before.
‘Now that I think about it, internal energy is surprisingly easy to restrict, almost to the point of being futile.’
Imperial Palace martial arts, the strange techniques of the Three Realms, the Hundred and Eight Stars, and so on…
The forces that did not rely on internal energy possessed special techniques to control their opponents’ internal energy and used them skillfully.
For Bu Eunseol, who pursued only pure martial arts, such internal energy restrictions were a significant obstacle.
‘Someday I will have to resolve this as well.’
Boom.
At that moment, a strange vibration echoed from somewhere.
Following the source of the vibration, he arrived at a rocky area littered with large boulders. There, two figures stood facing each other.
A gale seemed to spread mysterious power in all directions, sending dust flying everywhere.
On the left stood a masked man wearing red clothes and an iron mask engraved with the form of a scorpion.
On the right stood a masked figure dressed in black clothing with a strange glossy face veil.
‘The one on the right seems to be from the Three Realms.’
The face veil worn by the masked figure had a luster almost identical to those worn by the Emissaries of the Three Realms. The only difference was that, unlike the Emissaries of the Three Realms who had appeared so far, this one had gold embroidery on it.
‘His status is higher than that of an Emissary.’
The Emissaries of the Three Realms wore face veils, but the special envoys above them generally showed their bare faces.
Only then did Bu Eunseol realize something.
‘No one here can reveal their face.’
According to the Martial Venerable, supreme experts sent by various forces of the martial world had gathered here.
Their common goal was to obtain the Wood Buddha, who could read the heavenly secrets.
Only by hiding their identities would it be impossible to know which faction had taken him even after obtaining him.
If not?
A constant struggle over the Wood Buddha would continue endlessly.
‘But if they fight, their identities will eventually be exposed.’
The strong experts who ruled the martial world each possessed unique, signature martial arts and those arts had characteristics as distinct as their appearance, making them very difficult to hide.
Flash.
At that moment, the two facing each other simultaneously rose into the air.
At the same time, pure white lightning and pitch-black lightning descended from the sky, and white mist swirled around them.
A white dragon with gleaming pure white scales opened its mouth, pouring out millions of ice fragments.
In response, the black dragon covered in dark black scales opened its mouth and spewed flames.
The powers of ice and fire seemed evenly matched and could not inflict damage on each other.
—Krrrng!
With a roar that tore through the heavens, the white dragon and black dragon charged at each other while roaring.
The white dragon raised a blizzard and tried to bite the black dragon’s neck.
The black dragon poured out flames and clawed at the white dragon.
As the two dragons intertwined and fought, the sky rang with a deafening roar as if it were cracking like glass, and the ground burned with destructive flames.
It truly looked like immortals battling with mystical arts.
‘To hide their identities, they are concealing the true nature of their martial arts and manifesting their principles in the form of dragons.’
Bu Eunseol, watching from afar, nodded.
These two experts were hiding their identities by completely excluding the characteristics of their martial arts and creating dragon-like forms.
‘In any case, sorcery or supernatural powers can be used without internal energy.’
As if to prove his prediction, the two were fiercely fighting using strange powers.
‘But eventually, they will resort to a physical battle.’
The strength of the masked figure and the masked man seemed nearly equal, as no victor had emerged despite the passage of time.
Whoosh!
Eventually, the forms floating in the sky disappeared, and the two closed the distance and began clashing directly.
Just as Bu Eunseol had predicted, they had dispelled the dragons in the air and started fighting with martial techniques using their bodies.
Bang! Papapak!
As if by agreement, the two created sword fingers with their index and middle fingers and continued close-quarters combat.
Each move was exquisite, befitting great masters of martial arts.
Their power surpassed the limits of sword fingers, slicing through the sky and shaking the ground.
‘This is…’
As the large rocks scattered everywhere turned to powder and flew about,
Bu Eunseol, who was completely enveloped in Wind-Cloud Divine Qi, could not hide his surprised expression.
Only now did he realize that around the area where they were fighting, not only himself but numerous other experts were perfectly concealed, watching the battle.
Although he could not see their forms, they had perfectly blended with the surrounding scenery, and their presence was almost undetectable.
‘I need to figure out their identities.’
Knowing both oneself and the enemy leads to victory in a hundred battles.
When the Ten Demon Warrior Plan had begun in the hellish landscape in the past, the first thing he had done was to observe the people around him.
Because the only information he could obtain immediately was what could be seen with the eyes.
But now, unlike then, he possessed excellent martial arts, didn’t he?
Bu Eunseol emptied his mind and spread his Wind-Cloud Divine Qi with full power.
The wind could measure everything and fathom all creation.
When he spread the Wind-Cloud Divine Qi subtly, he could sense extremely alien energies that made him feel nauseous. At times, he could even detect sorcery and supernatural powers.
‘The Three Realms, the Three Families… and most likely the subordinates of the True Demon as well.’
In short, the greatest forces of the martial world had all gathered on this island to compete for the Wood Buddha.
‘Then the Martial Venerable’s words about reading the heavenly secrets are at least not false.’
If experts of this caliber were gathering, then the claim of reading the heavenly secrets could not possibly be a lie.
If he could find the person called the Wood Buddha… he would be able to uncover the identity of the culprit who killed his grandfather.
Sssss.
However, from somewhere, an extremely stealthy movement was detected.
That person was not paying any attention to the fight taking place here and was quickly moving somewhere else.
Judging by the stealth and speed, he was in no way inferior to the experts present here.
‘Has he found the Wood Buddha’s trail?’
A battle between experts of this level was not something one could see often, and merely watching could yield enormous insights.
Yet he was passing by without even glancing at the fight?
Tssst.
Bu Eunseol deployed his Swift Beyond Shadow and began secretly pursuing the fast-moving figure.
After chasing for some time, the form of the shadow ahead began to appear faintly.
The figure wore white clothes and a face veil, and carried a sword of unique shape at his waist.
He was extremely tall and somewhat plump, making it look as though a large ball was running while executing movement techniques.
Flash.
The masked man who had been running for a while stopped in a dense forest.
It was an open clearing, so there was no place for anyone to hide.
‘Is the Wood Buddha hiding there?’
As Bu Eunseol, watching from afar, tilted his head in confusion,
‘That sword…’
Suddenly spotting the unique sword worn by the white-clothed masked man, flames sparked in Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
Wasn’t that the extremely thin, delicate sword that Baekri Mujo had hidden inside the greatsword in the past?
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