The woman in white was using her mysterious power to destroy the artificial waterfall made of crystal that had been created near the entrance. Every time she fired her power, the lights that had permeated every corner of the canyon gradually disappeared.
It seemed that the waterfall contained a mysterious power, and using it as a source, the main headquarters of the Ancient Sword Forest had been able to maintain its form for a very long time.
‘It was because of her.’
The destruction of the structure containing the message from the Lord of the Ancient Sword Forest, which Bu Eunseol had entered, was caused by the woman in white recklessly destroying everything inside.
“You…”
The woman in white, who had been busy destroying the waterfall, spotted Bu Eunseol appearing from deeper inside and stopped her movements with a greatly startled expression.
Hummm!
Then she spread one arm and released pure white light.
At that moment, black mist rose from the faint pattern on his palm that had almost disappeared earlier.
Whoooosh!
It soared upward like a black dragon ascending to heaven, as if splitting the sky and earth.
Slash!
At the same time, as the black dragon spread its wings, the clear sky instantly turned pitch black.
“True Demon?”
Bu Eunseol widened his eyes upon realizing that her gaze was fixed on his palm.
Could it be that the power injected into his shoulder inside the round mechanical device earlier was the power of the True Demon?
‘No, this is a Sealed Demon Fragment.’
What had risen as a black dragon was the Sealed Demon Fragments that he had absorbed before, though he had not even been aware that remnants still remained inside his body.
Yet when the woman in white spread her white light, those fragments reacted to her power, gathered together, and instantly exited his body through the pattern.
“This is a misunderstanding.”
Bu Eunseol spoke honestly.
“This is a Sealed Demon Fragment. I did not absorb it intentionally.”
Since he was currently disguised as Seolso, he had no worry about revealing his identity. Moreover, believing the woman in white was connected to the Baekri Family, he spoke frankly to avoid any misunderstanding.
“……”
She did not answer.
Instead, she slowly scanned his body, which was in the form of Seolso, from top to bottom for a long time.
It was only a very brief moment, but to Bu Eunseol it felt as long as an eternity.
Whoosh.
At that instant, pure white flames spread across the body of the woman in white.
At the same time, the flames transformed into hundreds of swords.
Boom!
With a vibration that shook heaven and earth, they were suddenly hurled toward Bu Eunseol.
Bang!
Without even thinking, Bu Eunseol unleashed the Sky-Flight Leap and leaped high into the air.
Whoooosh!
The spot where he had been standing instantly turned into a massive crater.
Judging from how deep and pitch-black it was, with no bottom visible, it was clear that the power unleashed by the woman in white possessed destructive force that transcended ordinary martial principles.
Tap.
Bu Eunseol landed back on the ground and shouted, “What are you doing?!”
“You talk too much for a subordinate of the True Demon.”
“I told you. I only accidentally absorbed a Sealed Demon Fragment.”
At those words, the woman in white lifted the corners of her mouth with cold eyes.
“A young fellow dressed like a mercenary knows about the True Demon and the Sealed Demon Fragments… huh.”
“No, that is…”
The moment Bu Eunseol tried to speak, she fired another pure white flash.
The sword-shaped flash was not mere light but an unprecedented colossal force containing transcendental power.
‘There’s no choice.’
Since he was currently disguised as Seolso, he had no choice but to use the Inner Bullet Qi instead of his true martial arts.
Boom!
A massive sphere with a diameter of at least one zhang collided with the flash fired by the woman in white.
His internal energy was so deep that the range of the Inner Bullet Qi had expanded to its limit.
Pssht.
However, the Bullet King’s Inner Bullet Qi, which could destroy everything in the world, faded away helplessly without being able to pierce the white light enveloping her body.
‘She nullified it?’
Swallowing his surprise, Bu Eunseol changed the nature of the Inner Bullet Qi, reducing its explosive power but greatly expanding its range.
He did this to understand the nature of the energy surrounding her body.
Pssht! Pssht!
Every time the Inner Bullet Qi touched the light, the white flames flowing across her body rippled like waves and nullified the shockwave of the Inner Bullet Qi with absurd ease.
‘It’s an innate ability.’
Bu Eunseol had fought countless powerful enemies so far, and the majority of them possessed innate abilities—that is, powers they were born with or whose origin could not be explained.
And such innate abilities could never be blocked unless one understood their source or true nature.
‘How tiresome.’
Normally, Bu Eunseol would have tried to clear up the misunderstanding, or at the very least, calmly exchanged blows while figuring out whether the power she possessed was in the same realm as the Hundred and Eight Stars or a technique based on life force.
But the woman before him had arbitrarily destroyed the interior, preventing him from obtaining the knowledge and information conveyed by the founder of the Ancient Sword Forest.
On top of that, seeing her pour out killing moves without a single word of dialogue caused an unprecedented irritation to surge within him.
‘Fine.’
Bu Eunseol stopped attacking with Seolso’s martial arts and immediately drew the Silent Tiger Soul Sword, unleashing his true martial skills.
Flash!
Massive, round sword energies poured out in succession, blocking the area around the woman in white and even her escape routes.
Using his overwhelming internal energy, he repeatedly deployed the most powerful and wide-ranging form among the Supreme Heavenly Flow forms—Waning Moon, Dawn Star.
‘It’s changing.’
Thanks to the mysterious power absorbed into his body, which he used for transformation, he had altered not only his appearance but even his fine hairs, muscle structure, and blood flow.
Because of this, even when he used the Supreme Heavenly Flow, the sword techniques took on a completely different form—somewhat ambiguous between orthodox and unorthodox.
“Hmph.”
Even though Bu Eunseol displayed swordsmanship of astonishing power, the woman in white snorted and extended her hand instead.
Shooo.
Pure white flames spread out, and even the massive sword energies of the Residual Moon Dawn Star Style were helplessly extinguished.
However, the reason he had used the Residual Moon Dawn Star Style was precisely to land the subsequent Heon Won Bright Sword.
Paaaa!
Over a hundred and eighty sword energies, each capable of shattering a body into pieces with even a single hit, poured down on her all at once.
Originally, the sharp sword energies should have rained down like a storm, but because he was using Seolso’s body, the layered sword energies transformed into a form that spread wide like enormous silver wings, instantly enveloping the area around the woman’s body.
Ssssss.
But the result was the same.
The explosive sword energies of the Heon Won Bright Sword also failed to pierce the white flames surrounding her body and scattered in all directions.
Swish!
In the meantime, Bu Eunseol appeared through the pouring sword energies, holding the Silent Tiger Soul Sword.
“Huh?”
To fire sword energies and charge forward at the same speed required movement skills that truly transcended imagination. It seemed the woman in white had never even dreamed that Bu Eunseol’s footwork would be this advanced.
Her face filled with shock and she began waving both hands frantically.
Paa! Paaaaa!
Along with the sound of waves, hundreds of blue palm shadows spun and spread out, covering Bu Eunseol’s body.
This time she was using martial arts instead of her innate ability.
Saaaaak!
The palm shadows she unleashed not only continuously pushed back the charging Bu Eunseol but also left lingering afterimages in the air.
The palm force did not dissipate after being unleashed once; instead, it lingered briefly in the air, blocking Bu Eunseol’s subsequent attacks.
Slash! Slash slash slash!
But in the meantime, Bu Eunseol deployed the Fourth Style of the Infinite Heavenly Flow—Caged Bird Yearning for Clouds.
The sword energies moved freely like living creatures, and dozens of them instantly pierced through the encirclement of palm shadows and sharply dug into her body.
Whirl!
The woman in white spun her body and deflected the sword energies in one go.
However, the pouring sword energies only increased, and the space to evade gradually disappeared.
Grin.
Even while continuously retreating, the woman in white instead wore a cold smile.
At that moment,
“……!”
The movements of Bu Eunseol, who had been relentlessly pouring sword energies to pressure her, strangely slowed down.
Every time he neutralized or clashed with the palm technique she unleashed, he felt something sticky clinging to the blade of the Silent Tiger Soul Sword, and his right arm grew increasingly heavier.
“This is the end!”
The woman shouted with confident laughter.
But the moment she opened her mouth,
‘She’s not skilled in combat.’
Opening one’s mouth to speak when delivering a decisive strike was the same as giving the enemy time to evade.
Moreover, for a supreme expert like Bu Eunseol, it was enough time to spot openings.
Slash!
He swung the Silent Tiger Soul Sword and fired a streak of sword energy at a speed impossible to dodge and into a blind spot she could not detect.
However, the sword energy absurdly missed its mark.
The sticky energy clinging to the Silent Tiger Soul Sword had altered the trajectory of the sword energy.
‘So she had something to rely on.’
Clack clack clack!
The woman in white did not miss the brief hesitation from Bu Eunseol and once again poured out dozens of palm shadows.
Each time, he felt something continuously sticking to the blade of the Silent Tiger Soul Sword, and before long the sword had become so heavy that executing sword techniques grew uncomfortable.
“Thunder Meteor Palm?”
Bu Eunseol finally saw through the palm technique she was using.
Thunder Meteor Palm.
It was the exclusive palm technique of Dam Ik, the greatest eccentric under heaven and the Chaos Dancer from two hundred years ago.
It was a heavenly palm art that maximized the principle of heavy pressure, not only disrupting the opponent’s internal energy flow with palm waves but also possessing the ability to make the opponent’s body or weapon heavier.
“I see.” Bu Eunseol let out an exclamation of admiration.
Clack.
He suddenly rotated his arm and gripped the Silent Tiger Soul Sword in a reverse hold.
“Pointless tricks.”
The woman snorted and unleashed the Thunder Meteor Palm once more.
Paaaa!
As the transparent palm shadows surged forward like a tidal wave to engulf Bu Eunseol,
Flash!
Bu Eunseol lowered his body and poured out massive cross-shaped sword energies in succession.
“Do you think I’ll fall for the same technique again?”
The moment the woman sneered,
Whirr. Whirr.
Surprisingly, the Residual Moon Dawn Star Style he deployed this time easily pierced through the heavy pressure waves created by the Thunder Meteor Palm and instantly broke through her defense.
“This…”
With a short gasp, she forcefully leaped backward to evade.
Bang! Bang!
Every time the massive sword energies grazed her, her body shook violently and her clothes tore.
“Haap!”
She unleashed the Thunder Meteor Palm once more, but the sword techniques Bu Eunseol poured out were no longer affected by the principle of heavy pressure.
“That is…”
At that moment, the woman widened her eyes upon seeing Bu Eunseol’s posture as he swung the Silent Tiger Soul Sword, dancing gracefully amid the massive waves of light.
In truth, the reason the Thunder Meteor Palm could seal the opponent’s attacks and make the body heavier was not only due to the principle of heavy pressure but also because the palm force itself contained a reverse-flow energy, allowing it to instantly halt incoming attacks.
―Strange techniques are countered with even stranger techniques.
Bu Eunseol had instantly seen through the foundation of the Thunder Meteor Palm and, true to his training in the Nangyang Pavilion, deployed the sword techniques in reverse order, rendering the reverse-flow principle completely useless.
“You can reverse the order of sword techniques in an instant?”
It was not impossible to perform martial arts in reverse order.
However, doing so in actual combat—and especially improvising it on the spot—was nearly impossible.
To master a sword technique, one had to repeat the movements thousands of times.
Suddenly performing the technique in reverse would not only produce awkward movements but would also require completely reversing the mental formulas and principles inherent in the technique, making such a feat practically impossible to execute on the spot.
“You trained to perform sword techniques in reverse?!”
The woman could not even imagine that Bu Eunseol, with his genius intellect and superhuman senses, was instantly reversing the sword techniques he normally performed.
She simply assumed he had trained his energy to execute the techniques in reverse order.
Swish! Swish!
In the end, blood began to burst from her body.
‘This man…!’
The woman in white bit her lip.
Until now, no matter how strong an enemy appeared, she could nullify all external forces with the power of her technique, and she could block any martial art with a single use of the Thunder Meteor Palm.
Yet this man continuously layered his martial techniques to pierce through the power of her technique, and countered the Thunder Meteor Palm by performing his sword techniques in reverse.
Swish!
She eventually stopped using the palm technique and switched to defense.
But Bu Eunseol’s swordsmanship was so high and profound that she could not block it with her skill level.
Clack.
Finally, the Silent Tiger Soul Sword that had pierced through all her defenses was pointed at her throat.
“Will you admit defeat?”
“Fine.”
The woman in white looked down at the sharp Silent Tiger Soul Sword pointed at her throat and instead gave a cold smile.
“I acknowledge that you are strong.”
Crack crack crack.
Suddenly, the woman in white’s hair turned pure white, and even her skin became as pale as snowflakes.
She transformed into a figure whose hair and face had turned completely white, just like Yuk Jangcheon had done in the past.
‘Then did she also gain her power with outside help?’
As Bu Eunseol was inwardly surprised,
Float.
The body of the woman in white naturally rose three zhang into the air.
Saaaa.
When she extended her hand, dazzling radiance began to spread.
The light contained an absolute power capable of destroying everything in the world.
Paaaa!
Every time the pure white radiance pouring from her body touched the ground, stones and plants instantly melted, releasing white smoke.
Rumble!
To block the power she was unleashing, Bu Eunseol repeatedly deployed the Supreme Heavenly Flow and created a round sword barrier.
But he could not stop the radiance she emitted; everything it touched evaporated into white vapor.
Sssss.
In the end, the pure white radiance was closing in right beneath Bu Eunseol’s feet.
If he were struck by that power, Bu Eunseol would disappear without a trace.
‘There is no choice.’
Rumble rumble rumble.
Golden radiance swirled violently across Bu Eunseol’s body as he bit his lip.
After three breaths,
Whirr.
Brilliant light rose from the Silent Tiger Soul Sword.
He was preparing to unleash Harmony, concentrating all his power into a single sword strike.
‘I’m betting everything on this one move!’
Tap!
The moment Bu Eunseol finally leaped into the air and was about to pour Harmony directly into the white light she was unleashing,
Cawwww!
From somewhere, the sharp cries of a flock of birds rang out.
Flutter flutter.
Suddenly, hundreds of crows appeared, turning the sky pitch black.
Whirr.
The moment the crows appeared, the white light emanating from the woman’s body vanished instantly.
Bu Eunseol, who had been about to unleash Harmony, widened his eyes.
Right now, he could annihilate the woman in a single strike.
‘But that would be a cowardly victory.’
Clack.
In the end, Bu Eunseol did not unleash Harmony and landed back on the ground.
He had instinctively sensed that the woman’s power had been blocked by that bizarre flock of crows.
Flap flap.
Meanwhile, the crows began to descend to the ground, forming a circular encirclement around Bu Eunseol and the woman in white.
[If it is to the point of being extinguished by the Dark God… then it was a fake.]
A voice like thunder came from the sky, and soon an ominous energy began to surge in all directions.
Yet no human form was visible anywhere; only the crows looked down at her with solemn expressions.
“Dark God…”
The woman in white spoke in a trembling voice.
“Dark God Heavenly Lord?”
The one who had appeared together with the crows was none other than the Dark God Heavenly Lord of the Four Divine Heavens.
[I thought I had caught a big fish because I sensed the manifestation technique…]
The Dark God Heavenly Lord, who had not revealed his form or appearance, let out a sigh while looking down at the woman in white.
[It was merely a variant created by that rat-like fellow.]
Variant.
At those words, the woman in white trembled violently.
Whirr. Whirr.
At the same time, she once again spread pure white flames across her entire body.
“Dark God Heavenly Lord!”
The woman shouted loudly toward the sky.
“Do you have the courage to fight me face to face?!”
The radiance spreading from her body grew so intense that it was blinding.
[What a big dream. With a single yawn from this Heavenly Lord, you would lose your breath.]
“Stop talking nonsense!”
Paaaaaaa.
With a sharp cry, the woman extended her hand.
A pure white light formed a round barrier and spread dozens of zhang outward.
Caw! Caw!
At that moment, the crows suddenly let out cries like screams.
Shooo.
The brilliant light the woman had unleashed vanished instantly.
The woman in white trembled with a look of utter despair.
The power of her technique, capable of melting the entire world, had faded away without being able to overcome the mere cries of a flock of crows.
‘So this is one of the Four Divine Heavens.’
Watching the scene, Bu Eunseol narrowed his eyes.
He had previously fought a decisive battle against the Martial God Heavenly Lord on Ghost Island.
Fortunately or unfortunately, the personality claiming to be Baekri Geomha had emerged and allowed him to escape the crisis with his power.
Therefore, he was not particularly surprised by the majesty of the Dark God Heavenly Lord, who suppressed the woman in white with a single flock of crows.
[In any case, the one who created such cheap power…]
The Dark God Heavenly Lord snorted without revealing his form.
[...was probably trying to control the martial world people.]
Upon hearing those words, Bu Eunseol’s brows furrowed deeply.
So the mysterious power used by the woman in white was ultimately a fake force imitating the manifestation technique of the Baekri Family?
“Don’t make me laugh!”
The woman’s hair turned white once more, and even her pupils were dyed pure white.
Shoook.
The moment she rose more than ten zhang into the air and was about to spread light capable of overturning the entire world,
Bang!
With an explosion, she fell miserably to the ground like a bird with broken wings.
An invisible, formless force had instantly knocked her down from the air.
Drip drip.
Blood poured from the mouth of the woman who had collapsed on the ground, and her body convulsed.
The power of the Dark God Heavenly Lord was truly like the force of nature—impossible to sense in advance or block. Anyone who opposed him could only cough up blood and die without even understanding why.
[That person who isn’t even human will be pleased.]
The Dark God Heavenly Lord spoke cryptically.
[He said the variants make good materials.]
For a moment, a strange thought occurred to Bu Eunseol.
He instinctively realized that the phrase “that person who isn’t even human” referred to the Inbiin.
‘The Inbiin are still conducting experiments, and even the Four Divine Heavens are helping him?’
Float.
Meanwhile, the body of the woman in white rose into the air.
Flutter flutter.
The crows on the ground turned into a pitch-black bed and began to support her.
They were trying to take her somewhere using the crows.
Flash!
At that moment, with a brilliant flash,
Flutter flutter!
The crows scattered in all directions once more, and the woman in white, who had been floating in the air, fell back to the ground.
Tap.
Bu Eunseol caught the falling woman in white and let out a deep sigh.
No matter how recklessly she had attacked him, he could not simply stand by and watch a subordinate of the True Demon drag her away to use as an experimental subject right before his eyes.
‘There is far too much I need to find out.’
He also needed to uncover why she was called a variant, who was behind her, and what connection she had with the subordinates of the True Demon or the Inbiin.
If he let her go like this, he might never be able to unravel those secrets.
‘Dark God Heavenly Lord.’
The only problem was that the opponent was one of the Four Divine Heavenly Lords.
[There was one bug-like fellow.]
The Dark God Heavenly Lord made a nasal sound as if he had just noticed Bu Eunseol.
From his perspective, Bu Eunseol was no different from an ordinary civilian who posed no threat whatsoever.
As if to prove it, he did not even ask who he was.
He simply poured out absolute, transcendental power in an instant—power that could not be avoided.
Paa!
The spot where Bu Eunseol had been standing instantly collapsed, revealing red liquid.
Swish.
But he had already leaped into the air using the Sky-Flight Leap, drawing the Silent Tiger Soul Sword.
He had sensed the Dark God Heavenly Lord’s attack in advance with the senses of the Beast Blade Path.
Hummm.
At that moment, the Silent Tiger Soul Sword trembled lowly and released pitch-black mist.
His opponent was the Dark God Heavenly Lord; petty tricks would not work.
From the very beginning, he intended to go all out and deploy the Seven Blood Tear Forms to cut him down.
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