‘There is nothing.’
Bu Eunseol could not unleash his sword strike.
No matter how formidable the enemy or how terrifying the power, the Seven Blood Tear Forms could cut it down.
But he could not cut down an enemy whose presence he could not even detect.
Boom!
At the same time, his body, which had been slowly descending from the air, was sent flying more than ten zhang away.
The Dark God Heavenly Lord had once again unleashed an invisible force that struck Bu Eunseol’s body.
Crash!
The impact was so tremendous that Bu Eunseol’s body, which had been slammed into the ground, created a massive crater.
Whoosh.
When the dust blown by the wind cleared, Bu Eunseol, enveloped in a transparent sphere, rose back into the air.
Realizing he could not withstand that overwhelming power, he had instantly created a protective energy barrier. The fact that he could deploy a protective energy barrier while floating in mid-air was tantamount to proving that his inner energy surpassed five hundred years.
[Hmph.]
Yet even after learning this fact, the Dark God Heavenly Lord merely snorted as if it were insignificant.
Even if the opponent had received one of his moves.
From his perspective, it was merely upgrading from an insect he could crush instantly to a slightly quicker insect that had dodged his touch.
Boom! Boom!
The Dark God Heavenly Lord poured out invisible force without pause.
In response, Bu Eunseol unleashed Swift Beyond Shadow with all his might.
Having become a single streak of light, he began spinning rapidly in the air. He was trying to somehow locate the Dark God Heavenly Lord and deliver a decisive strike.
‘There is nothing.’
But no matter how much he spread his super senses, the enemy could not be detected anywhere.
This was the first time he had experienced such a thing since stepping into the martial world.
Boom!
In the meantime, Bu Eunseol was struck by another invisible attack in mid-air and fell to the ground.
Boom boom boom!
Immediately, an enormous force began pressing down on the spot where he had fallen, as if to crush him to death.
Bu Eunseol unfolded his movement technique and was already swiftly escaping the range of the explosion. However, the tremendous pressure exploding like bombs continued to roar and chased after his body as it moved at ultra-high speed.
‘If this continues, it will be difficult.’
A single direct hit would be fatal due to the overwhelming power. Moreover, he could not even detect where or how the Dark God Heavenly Lord was releasing his force.
If things continued this way, the only option left was to run until his feet were drenched in sweat.
‘If I cannot detect it, then I must force it to reveal itself!’
Suddenly, Bu Eunseol stopped his movement technique and stood still in the air.
Crash crash boom!
Explosions erupted in succession, shaking heaven and earth.
Yet he stood there indifferently.
Ziiiing.
Before long, a powerful protective energy barrier had enveloped his body.
He had raised all the inner energy within his body to create a thick protective barrier that could not be broken by any attack.
Boom boom boom!
The explosions continued without end, but Bu Eunseol did not budge an inch.
In truth, his inner energy was so vast that even calling it ten jia would be insufficient, and it overflowed to the point where he had even formed a neidan.
Because it had reached the limit his body could contain, he could not use it at full power.
However, when he began to confront the Dark God Heavenly Lord’s invisible attacks—which possessed destructive power that martial arts could not block—he was finally able to use that boundless inner energy at full strength.
Boom! Boom!
The pouring invisible force grew increasingly fierce, but Bu Eunseol’s inner energy opposing it began to amplify endlessly.
‘Let’s see if you still won’t reveal your presence even like this.’
Wuuuung. Wuuuung.
A faint glow rose from his entire body, and transparent light particles continuously spread outward.
As the inner energy he was exerting surpassed ten jia—over six hundred years—the waves of his true energy even began to take physical form.
“Hahaha, it’s nothing special.”
To provoke the Dark God Heavenly Lord, Bu Eunseol deliberately did not dodge the invisible attacks and endured them head-on.
“To think the skills of a Four Divine Heaven Lord amount to only this much.”
Had the provocation worked?
Finally, the attacks stopped, and from the sky came the Dark God Heavenly Lord’s exclamation.
[So you weren’t just an insect after all.]
Only then did the Dark God Heavenly Lord realize that the strange fellow before him had accumulated an unfathomable level of inner energy.
“What insect?” Bu Eunseol spoke as if he had been waiting for this. “If I cannot defeat someone who hides and only sends out his voice for fear of being counterattacked, then I might as well bite my sword and die.”
[Hahaha!]
Instead of being angered by the provocation, the Dark God Heavenly Lord burst into cheerful laughter.
[In nearly two hundred years, I’ve finally seen a properly insane fellow.]
‘Two hundred years.’
A chill ran down Bu Eunseol’s spine.
That meant the Dark God Heavenly Lord was of the same generation as the long-lived Buddha Venerable, who lived like an immortal.
Moreover, considering his position as a Four Divine Heaven Lord, it was obvious that he had reached a level of martial prowess incomparable to the Buddha Venerable.
“If you lack the courage to show yourself, then be on your way.”
[Hahaha!]
The Dark God Heavenly Lord once again let out thunderous laughter,
[Did you really think I was hiding my appearance because I feared a mere worm like you?]
At those words, Bu Eunseol realized something.
It seemed the Dark God Heavenly Lord was also bound by some kind of restriction, preventing him from revealing his form.
‘Found it.’
However, the reason Bu Eunseol had provoked him was to momentarily stop the Dark God Heavenly Lord’s madly pouring attacks and use the Wind-Cloud Divine Qi to locate his position.
‘So it was the crows.’
Sound creates minute vibrations through the air.
The Wind-Cloud Divine Qi could not only read the traces and direction of passing sound… but could also detect the boundary lines of sound waves where sounds collided with each other.
Finally, he was able to pinpoint the location from which the Dark God Heavenly Lord’s voice was emanating.
‘The crows are forming a formation.’
The hundreds of crows were not clustered randomly in a circle; they were maintaining a specific formation.
It seemed like a formation that emitted particular waves and power, acting as a curtain that perfectly concealed the Dark God Heavenly Lord’s presence.
‘That means he is channeling not only his voice but also his power through the crows as a medium.’
Moreover, the crows were not simply standing still.
From time to time, each of them flapped their wings in various ways from their positions.
In other words, when the Dark God Heavenly Lord sent out his invisible attacks, he was clearly using the crows’ movements to release compressed power in specific directions.
‘Does that mean he is not even here?’
If he could send both voice and power through the crows, then a figure like the Dark God Heavenly Lord had no need to appear here in person.
[You…]
Just as the Dark God Heavenly Lord opened his mouth again,
Flash!
Brilliant light burst forth in all directions from the Silent Tiger Soul Sword.
He had unleashed Thunder Spirit Energy, sweeping away hundreds of crows in a single strike.
Papapapapa!
The sword energy containing Thunder Spirit Energy created purple currents that instantly annihilated the crows as if evaporating them.
Perhaps because he was now in the completely different, virtual body of Seolso instead of his original one, even when accompanied by Thunder Spirit Energy, neither the purple Thunder Spirit Energy nor the rumbling sound of thunder spread out.
[Hahaha.]
Even after all the crows had disappeared, the Dark God Heavenly Lord’s wild laughter erupted once more from the sky.
[You’re quite perceptive in your own way. To aim for this Heavenly Lord’s Black God.]
Black God.
It did not mean a black deity… but was a term referring to the crows.
[It was a good attempt, but unfortunately futile.]
His voice rang out,
Cawwww.
Once again, the cries of a flock of crows echoed from the sky.
Flap flap.
And soon after, hundreds of crows of the exact same number appeared once more.
[The Black God is immortal. It is not an existence that can be eliminated.]
There is no such thing as an immortal being.
Bu Eunseol knew this clearly, but he did not refute it.
Because he had not yet found a way to deal with that flock of crows.
[I shall show you a small glimpse of this Heavenly One’s power.]
Wuuuung.
Along with a vibration that shook the entire world, the hundreds of crows gradually began transforming into human shapes.
Soon, each of them took the form of heavily armored infantry wearing black armor.
It was such an absurd situation that one could only laugh in disbelief, yet it was not surprising.
The beings he had encountered so far who surpassed human limits—the elders of the Sacred Domain or the Martial God Heavenly Lord—had displayed superhuman powers that could not be explained in words.
Therefore, it was not something to be shocked about that a figure like the Dark God Heavenly Lord had transformed crows into a great army.
Thud.
The hundreds of Black Gods in thick armor had their pair of eyes hidden inside their helmets dyed red.
Thud. Rumble.
The hundreds of Black Gods assumed attacking stances, and began charging toward Bu Eunseol like a swarm of bees.
Flash!
Bu Eunseol, who had drawn the Silent Tiger Soul Sword, immediately began cutting down the Black Gods.
Clang!
They were so hard that even the Silent Tiger Soul Sword infused with four jia-level inner energy could not cut them down in a single strike.
Clang clang clang! Boom! Slice! Whoosh!
Bu Eunseol became a streak of lightning and swiftly cut down the swarming Black Gods.
But although they fell, they did not die.
‘They are empty.’
Inside the armor, it was completely hollow, as if a ghost were inhabiting it.
Boom! Whoosh!
Yet their movements and inner force were as powerful and disciplined as those of the martial world’s supreme experts.
They could not possibly be considered mere illusions with empty interiors.
Slice! Slice! Slice!
No matter how many he cut down, the Black Gods fell in heaps only to reform their shapes and charge endlessly.
Boom!
Even when he delivered a powerful punch that shattered a Black God’s armor, or used the Heavenly Glacial Secret and the Yeolha Great True Energy to freeze or melt them…
Crack! Fwoooosh!
Rumble.
They would return to their original forms and continue attacking without end.
‘He really has no interest at all.’
In the martial world, Bu Eunseol was practically the only one who could simultaneously wield polar yin and polar yang martial arts such as the Heavenly Glacial Secret and the Yeolha Great True Energy.
Yet no matter what martial art the Dark God Heavenly Lord saw, he showed no reaction and did not even seem curious.
‘That makes sense, I suppose.’
Currently, the Black Gods were displaying the might of an invincible army that could not be killed no matter how many times they were destroyed or cut down.
If he could freely command such Black Gods, he could annihilate countless sects in an instant and become the supreme ruler of the martial world. No matter how great a martial artist’s skills, they would seem like nothing more than flies in his eyes.
‘What is certain is that there is a main body.’
There is no immortal and invincible existence in the world.
In the past, the Enemy Destroyers commanded by the Dead Man Heaven had also boasted of absolute immortality, yet in the end, they were merely puppets connected to the Dead Man Heaven’s Lord’s life force.
Most likely, the Black Gods commanded by the Dark God Heavenly Lord were the same.
He would have to kill the main body or destroy whatever was giving them power.
Boom boom boom boom! Crash!
Bu Eunseol, who had been endlessly unleashing fist techniques and sword arts, gritted his teeth.
Unfortunately, he could not even find the main body right now; simply dealing with the attacking Black Gods was already more than he could handle.
Rumble. Swish!
The Black Gods in their giant armored forms did not rest for even a moment, and the attacks and power they unleashed were so overwhelming that even Bu Eunseol could not easily deflect them.
In the current situation where he could not find any weakness, they were truly an invincible legion in themselves.
‘Let’s change it to a fist technique form.’
Crash!
Concentrating his inner energy, he altered the Seven Fist Demon Forms, switching from cutting the Black Gods to exploding them.
Crack! Shatter!
When he unleashed the Extreme War Roar to explode them, the Black Gods began turning into powder and scattering in the air.
Gurgle. Thud.
But it was the same.
Whether shattered or turned to powder, the Black Gods instantly restored their forms and charged again.
[You have learned all sorts of martial arts.]
Only then did the Dark God Heavenly Lord laugh softly, as if Bu Eunseol’s martial arts had finally piqued his interest.
[But it is useless. Even if you unleash the Infinite Reversal Power, you cannot stop the Black Gods.]
At those words, Bu Eunseol’s body twitched for a moment.
Even the Infinite Reversal Power could not neutralize these Black Gods?
Then did that mean the Dark God Heavenly Lord had reached the Heaven’s Will Realm, and one would need to reach a similar level to kill him?
Rumble.
It was only a brief moment of hesitation, but to the eyes of an expert like the Dark God Heavenly Lord, it was an endlessly long time.
Having spotted Bu Eunseol’s opening, the Dark God Heavenly Lord lifted the Black Gods into the air and attacked by covering his body with them.
Rumble!
They became like a pitch-black tidal wave and engulfed Bu Eunseol’s body.
Flash! Crash!
He immediately unleashed all his martial arts to shatter them, but some remnants gathered at his feet.
Creak. Rumble.
Soon the Black Gods regenerated from beneath his feet and attacked again.
In the end, Bu Eunseol’s body was surrounded by the pitch-black Black Gods, becoming almost invisible.
Boom!
Bu Eunseol erupted with inner energy and the Three Divine Energies to shatter the Black Gods covering his body.
Shatter. Scatter.
But even when turned to powder, they clung to his body, and before long they began piling up like a mountain.
Rumble!
Bu Eunseol’s body began moving at high speed with the sound of thunder.
Since shattering them only allowed them to cling more, he unfolded his movement technique at ultra-high speed to shake them off.
‘Ugh.’
But it was useless.
The remnants of the Black Gods clinging to his body possessed a strange suction force that endlessly weakened his movement technique and inner force.
Rumble.
Meanwhile, the shattered Black Gods reformed their bodies and, leaping into the air, began covering Bu Eunseol once more.
The Black Gods that clung to him one by one soon formed a massive sphere,
Boom!
and unable to withstand the weight, Bu Eunseol fell to the ground in the form of a giant sphere.
[Good, you’ve been caught by the Origin Soul Technique.]
The Dark God Heavenly Lord chuckled and said.
[Now you will become nourishment for the Black Gods.]
Gulp. Gulp.
The black sphere that had swallowed Bu Eunseol began to gradually shrink.
The Origin Soul Technique.
It was an absorption method that strengthened its power by absorbing the opponent’s vital energy and essence blood while they were trapped within the Black Gods.
Squeeze. Squeeze.
Before long, the sphere that had been the size of a house had shrunk to the size of a single person.
Hundreds of Black Gods were clinging to his body like liquid, endlessly draining his essence.
[Impressive. To still maintain your form.]
The Dark God Heavenly Lord spoke in a surprised tone.
[I wonder whose disciple this fellow is.]
Even the Shaolin abbot, who possessed the highest inner energy level in the righteous path, could not endure for more than five minutes when trapped in the Origin Soul Technique.
Yet this young fellow whose origin was unknown had endured for nearly a full fifteen minutes.
Since mastering the Origin Soul Technique, he had never seen anyone last this long.
[His martial arts level also seems to have reached a unique realm that defies description... If he had endured for ten more years, he would have become a great rival comparable to this Heavenly One.]
Though he spoke thus, there was no regret in the Dark God Heavenly Lord’s voice.
Because the end was always the same.
Anyone who opposed him was destined to have their essence blood sucked dry by the Black Gods and die.
[Shall we be on our way soon.]
Float.
At the same time, the body of the white-clad woman who had been lying on the ground rose into the air once more.
The Dark God Heavenly Lord intended to deliver this fake Baekri woman to Inbiin as a test subject.
***
‘Am I dead?’
Bu Eunseol’s consciousness, surrounded by the Black Gods, was growing distant.
The Black Gods were not simply covering his body; each one was closer to a living being possessing a strange power and suction force.
They were like unknown entities that could neither be shaken off nor destroyed.
‘It was a power I could not overcome.’
Bu Eunseol had no choice but to admit it.
The Dark God Heavenly Lord’s power was far too strong for him to face.
If he had been given time to calmly contemplate the principles of the Black Gods?
Perhaps the outcome would have been different... but in the end, “if” was only “if.”
‘In the end, I could not keep my promise to the Chief.’
―Please promise me. If you feel danger, you will never clash head-on and will withdraw from the place.
Bu Eunseol had promised Gongsun Dankyung that he would do so... but ultimately could not keep it.
‘Why did I do that?’
Until now, Bu Eunseol had perfectly analyzed his enemies and seized victory through that analysis.
But the Dark God Heavenly Lord’s power could not be analyzed in a short time, and he could not even guess its source.
And the result was death.
‘Have I grown arrogant because, until now, no opponent had ever driven me to the brink of crisis...?’
That was not it.
Because he had already faced the Martial God Heavenly Lord, he could gauge just how powerful the Dark God Heavenly Lord would be at full strength.
Yet for some reason, he had not fled. No, the thought of fleeing had not even occurred to him.
It was as if, just like the enemies he had faced until now, he felt he could understand the nature of the Black Gods’ power and easily rescue the white-clad woman.
―If you feel danger, you will never clash head-on and will withdraw from the place.
When Gongsun Dankyung’s voice rang in his mind once more, Bu Eunseol finally realized it.
‘I did not feel any danger.’
For some reason, even upon encountering the Heavenly Lord of the Death God Society, he had not felt the tension that made his hairs stand on end or his blood vessels burn.
Even if the opponent was a level above him, if he gave it his all, he could surely bring them down.
He had simply felt like just another supreme expert of the martial world he had always faced.
Gurgle.
Meanwhile, the power of the Black Gods clinging to his entire body continued to make Bu Eunseol shrink endlessly.
If he continued shrinking like this, he would eventually turn into a speck of dust and vanish.
‘No, that’s not it.’
These things could not threaten his life.
If they could, his cells would have sounded the alarm, and he would have chosen to flee even if it meant planning for the future.
‘Come to think of it, there are still many martial arts I can use.’
He had not poured out everything he possessed.
He had not even used the most powerful Seven Blood Tear Forms or Harmony.
‘Why does time feel so long?’
No matter how much his thinking had accelerated or his martial prowess had increased, the process of reaching death was far too long and tedious.
His breath was not being choked; on the contrary, his mind seemed to grow clearer.
And then, at that moment,
Sizzle.
His right palm grew hot, and a strange dharma phrase began entering his mind.
―One must abandon thought to realize the truth, and even forget the mind to attain principle.
It was a rather abrupt heart method phrase.
Moreover, it had nothing to do with the urgent situation at hand.
‘What exactly am I supposed to abandon?’
Bu Eunseol swallowed a bitter smile.
‘I have already forgotten even my own circumstances.’
As an endlessly lonely feeling rose within him, all thoughts were washed away.
It was not intentional, but among the dharma phrases pouring into his mind, the phrase “Forgetting thought leads to awakening”—that is, “If one forgets all thoughts, one can obtain enlightenment”—resonated with his soul.
Ziiiing.
Suddenly, Bu Eunseol felt a cold yet strange sensation from his palm.
Without realizing it, he covered his right eye with his palm.
Sizzle.
At the same time, his eye instantly grew hot, and unknown powers began gathering.
The gathered power expanded his blood vessels, heated his entire body, and then slowly began to cool.
Flash!
When he opened his eyes again, an endlessly blue energy was flowing from his right eye.
‘What is this now?’
His eye was burning hot.
If left like this, it seemed it would become flames that would burn his entire body.
Yet something was strange.
Unlike before, the forms of the Black Gods clinging to him now appeared overlapped.
With his left eye, he saw the forms of the Black Gods he had seen until now.
With his right eye, which seemed to be burning, he saw a sticky something that had been invisible until now.
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