The light of astonishment spread through Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
The Heavenly Emperor.
He was known as the Grandmaster of the Righteous Path, a noble figure who lowered himself to help those in need and willingly sacrificed himself for others. Yet now, he had become a mysterious existence, a madman who had lost his reason and wandered the vast wilderness.
But for him to be the culprit who dared to demand the blueprints of Saha Manor?
“Brother Baekri had many secrets back then. He was, quite literally, the most mysterious figure in the martial world,” Sama Gwang continued, trembling violently. “But the Heavenly Emperor... for decades, he had performed righteous deeds and protected the Righteous Path. He was a man whose identity and integrity were certain.”
“So, you listened to him because of that?”
Sama Gwang nodded. “It was not because of the threats against my son and his wife that this old man gave in to the Heavenly Emperor...” He wore an expression of intense grievance. “It was because I trusted the name of the Heavenly Emperor—the Absolute Hero of the Righteous Path who had spent decades doing what was right.”
In a way, his words were understandable.
He had no choice but to trust the name of the Heavenly Emperor, the ‘Sky of the Righteous Path,’ more than Baekri Muha, whom he had known for only a short time. No matter how much they treated each other like brothers, he could never be certain of Baekri Muha’s background, his martial arts, or anything else.
“The Heavenly Emperor...”
Bu Eunseol could not clear his mind.
From what he knew until now, the Heavenly Emperor was a victim of goodwill whose internal power had been greatly diminished by the Martial Venerable, and who now wandered in a state of mental loss. To think that such a man was actually a treacherous villain who threatened Sama Gwang with the lives of his family to obtain the mechanical blueprints of Saha Manor?
‘If that is the case.’
Bu Eunseol clenched his fists.
It was said that Saha Manor was attacked by martial artists. Furthermore, the Demon Emperor had unhesitatingly told him the location of the fake Saha Manor.
This meant there was a high probability that the enemy who killed his parents was the Heavenly Emperor.
“Are you saying the person who attacked my parents and Saha Manor... was the Heavenly Emperor?”
Sama Gwang shook his head. “I do not know that. As soon as I handed over the blueprints, a Piercing Blood Dagger was thrust into my back.”
The moment Sama Gwang left the blueprints at the designated location and turned to leave, the dagger struck him. To keep his evil deeds a secret, the Heavenly Emperor had ordered his subordinates to attempt to silence him without hesitation.
—How can anyone be this treacherous!
Sama Gwang had wailed.
But he didn’t even have time to curse the Heavenly Emperor. He knew that silencing the witness would not stop with him. With the Piercing Blood Dagger—which turned a person into a pool of blood upon impact—still lodged in his back, he raced toward his son’s estate in Guilin.
What greeted his eyes upon arrival was the estate engulfed in flames and the cold corpses of his son and daughter-in-law.
—My son! How could this happen to you!
Embracing his son’s body, Sama Gwang wept tears of blood and regretted everything. He should have discussed everything with Baekri Muha. He should never have fallen for the devilish deception of the Heavenly Emperor, who claimed it was all for the sake of the martial world.
—Father was right.
Suddenly, he noticed strange characters written on his son’s palm. That I was right? As Sama Gwang thought deeply, his mind suddenly cleared.
‘The mechanisms!’
The estate where his son lived was also designed by him, and he had installed secret mechanical devices there as well.
—I am not even a martial artist, so why would I need such a secret room?
His son had grumbled at the time, but Sama Gwang had insisted on creating the hidden chamber just in case.
‘He sent me a message so subtle that others wouldn't notice.’
The characters on his son’s palm were carved by the man himself. He had pointed toward the location of his granddaughter in vague terms so that other killers wouldn't understand the meaning.
He rushed toward the pavilion with the Piercing Blood Dagger still in his back. After activating the hidden mechanism there, a passage leading underground appeared.
Rumble.
As the door to the secret room opened, a newborn baby was wrapped in swaddling clothes, sleeping soundly and unaware of the world. Just as he let out a sigh of relief and moved to pick up the baby—
“...!”
Plop.
A letter fell, as if foretelling an ill omen. Unfolding it, he saw a short message written in a sweeping hand.
—Forget everything that has happened and leave the martial world. Should you not at least save your granddaughter?
Sama Gwang trembled violently.
The Heavenly Emperor not only knew that Sama Gwang hadn't died despite being struck by the Piercing Blood Dagger, but he had also anticipated that he would find his hidden granddaughter here and left this note. It was to ensure he could never reveal the Heavenly Emperor’s evil deeds to the martial world—to ensure he would never even dream of revenge.
—Revenge is meaningless anyway.
The Heavenly Emperor was the Sky of the Righteous Path and the leader of the Martial Alliance, the most powerful force in the Righteous Path. Even if he revealed the truth, no one would believe him.
Even if he wanted to reveal it, no evidence remained.
—I must protect my granddaughter, if no one else.
Sama Gwang wept tears of blood as he embraced his granddaughter. Suwol was the only blood relative his son and daughter-in-law had left behind. He could not avenge them, but he had to raise this child safely.
Having finished his explanation, Sama Gwang spoke. “But because I was exposed to the Piercing Blood Dagger for too long, I lost my power and my liver was destroyed. I became a man who cannot live a single day without medicine.”
Discharge was seeping from his eyes.
“That is why I raised Suwol as an ordinary person. So that she would never become entangled in the martial world.”
Reflecting on his life of regret, his face was stained with pain and remorse.
In the end, he had been deceived by a man wearing the mask of a devil named the Heavenly Emperor and had harmed his brother Baekri Muha, a righteous man who could have been a pillar of the Righteous Path.
Later, when he heard the news that Saha Manor had burned down and the entire family had become cold corpses, Sama Gwang fell into a terrible guilt. If it hadn't been for his granddaughter, Suwol, he would have taken his own life long ago.
“But now, I can no longer protect my granddaughter; instead, I have become a burden.”
Bu Eunseol let out a deep sigh.
It was true that Sama Gwang had committed a mistake.
However, all he had done was provide the blueprints for Saha Manor. It was not a sin so great that he deserved to live a life of agonizing pain, losing his family and becoming a crippled man.
‘I resent that he betrayed my father, but...’
Sama Gwang was undergoing a punishment far too heavy compared to the sin he had committed.
“Soon, I will also go to the underworld, where I will apologize to my brother.”
“That will not happen.”
“What do you mean?”
Bu Eunseol slowly reached out and grasped Sama Gwang’s pulse point. “I have thought it was strange for a while now.”
“What was?”
“It is neither a disease nor old age, so I wondered why your life force was being carved away in a situation where recovery was impossible.”
“That is because of the poison...”
“Correct.”
Swoosh.
At that moment, Bu Eunseol’s eyes turned pitch black, and a mysterious mist began to rise from his entire body.
The Poison Sovereign State.
The highest realm of a poison user, where one can create any poison and detoxify any toxin, was activated.
Shuuuuu.
The extreme poison of the Piercing Blood Dagger, which had been absorbed into Sama Gwang’s body and was eating away at his life force, began to be sucked into Bu Eunseol’s body in an instant. The Piercing Blood Dagger was a weapon soaked in an extreme poison created in ancient times; in truth, it could not be easily detoxified even by one who had reached the Poison Sovereign State.
However, Bu Eunseol’s method of detoxification always involved moving the poison into his own body to purify it. Because he chose this method, he was stronger than any other poison user and could create even more powerful toxins.
Vrum vrum.
A faint light emanated from Bu Eunseol’s body. As he absorbed the extreme poison, his realm of the Poison Sovereign State deepened once again.
Shu. Shuuuuu.
As the poison of the Piercing Blood Dagger, which had eaten away at his body for decades, slowly disappeared, Sama Gwang’s complexion brightened dramatically.
“Why?” Sama Gwang lowered his head. “Why are you showing me such grace?” He spoke, his body shaking with guilt. “Because of me, Saha Manor was destroyed, and your parents lost their lives in a sudden tragedy.”
He had always suffered. It was clear that the death of his sworn brother Baekri Muha and his wife Saya was because he had leaked the mechanical blueprints of the Saha Manor.
“No,” Bu Eunseol shook his head. “You only leaked the blueprints for the manor’s mechanisms, did you not? You do not need to think of it that way.”
“Even so, I betrayed your father. Why on earth...”
“My father would have done the same,” Bu Eunseol said calmly. “He would have forgiven you.”
His eyes were filled with a righteousness and conviction that would not waver even if the sky fell.
In truth, Bu Eunseol didn't think Sama Gwang had done well. Even if the Heavenly Emperor had threatened the lives of his family, in the end, he had failed to trust his father, and that may have led to the bloodbath at Saha Manor.
But his father was a man more righteous and kind than anyone else. Even if he had known everything, he never would have resented Sama Gwang, and he would not have turned away from a dying sworn brother.
“You...”
Sama Gwang’s tears flowed freely.
Bu Eunseol’s righteous gaze and aura were as if his sworn brother Baekri Muha had come back to life.
“Brother... even though this pathetic sworn brother betrayed you, who saved my life...” Sama Gwang could not overcome his grief and wailed, pouring out tears. “Now even my brother’s son is saving my life!”
Bu Eunseol waited for his heart to calm before pulling up his power again. “I will now begin to restore your body in earnest, so sit in a cross-legged position and prepare to circulate your energy.”
“Circulate energy?”
“Should you not restore your power so you can protect your granddaughter?”
“That is an impossible task,” Sama Gwang shook his head, wiping his tears. “My body has been broken and my meridians have hardened for a long time. To pierce through these acupoints, one would need ten jia of internal power, which is the realm of a god...”
Vruuuuum!
Before he could finish his sentence, Sama Gwang’s blocked acupoints began to be pierced through at rapid speed. Bu Eunseol had begun to exert his internal energy in earnest.
“Ugh.”
His eyes widened.
How could someone not even thirty years old have accumulated such power?
‘I haven't even had energy injected yet, but my body is being pushed back?’
As Bu Eunseol exerted his internal energy, Sama Gwang’s body was pushed back an inch while he was still in a cross-legged state.
‘It is... more than ten cycles.’
Calculating the reaction force, was the level of power surging in not transcending even the ten cycles known as the limit of the human body?
“G-Gently, please.” As the massive internal power pierced his acupoints, he felt a tearing pain. “It feels as if my body will explode.”
“You must endure it,” Bu Eunseol said, his gaze intense. “This is your last chance. If we do not pierce through all at once, your body will never recover.”
Grit.
Sama Gwang clenched his teeth and nodded.
Vruuuuum.
As Bu Eunseol injected his Ban-Geuk True Energy once more—
Crack.
The sound of bones echoed from Sama Gwang’s body, and his veins bulged outward. His physical form was failing to withstand Bu Eunseol’s internal energy and was breaking down.
‘If I double my internal power here, his body might explode.’
Only the Baekhoe acupoint remained. But if he stopped here, Sama Gwang would never recover his martial arts.
“Endure it,” Bu Eunseol said. “If only for the sake of your granddaughter.”
In an instant, Sama Gwang’s body shook violently. Then, a hot heat began to flow from his eyes.
Sensing that the man had resolved himself for death, Bu Eunseol doubled his internal power.
Boom!
At that moment, a great vibration occurred at the Baekhoe acupoint, and steam began to rise from the top of his head.
Finally, the Baekhoe acupoint was cleared, and he became able to circulate his energy.
Vrum vrum.
Sama Gwang immediately began to burn away the impurities in his body.
Float.
The body of Sama Gwang, who had been sitting in meditation, rose nearly an inch into the air.
Levitating Samadhi.
Thanks to Bu Eunseol piercing all his acupoints, he had regained all his past power.
Vrum, vruuuuum.
Watching Sama Gwang, who had fallen into the Circulation Samadhi, Bu Eunseol quietly stepped outside so the man could focus further. As he did, Suwol, who had been waiting outside the door, ran toward him in shock.
“Exactly what has happened?”
Bu Eunseol said calmly, “I have removed all the poison that was eating away at the old gentleman’s life force. In about an hour, he will regain his martial arts and return to a state of perfect health.”
“Martial arts? Are you saying my grandfather was a martial artist?”
“Indeed. He was one of the most prominent masters in the Gangnam region.”
“Grandfather was...” Suwol wore a blank expression.
Her grandfather had looked after her with a sick body until now, but he was slowly dying of an unknown illness. She had wanted to ask for help in any way she could, but her grandfather had even refused to see a physician. To think he had been cured so instantly?
She couldn't help but be overjoyed.
“Thank you!”
Bu Eunseol swallowed a somewhat dry laugh. If he had also had such a benefactor—a benefactor who could have protected his grandfather from the killers—his life might have been very different.
“In that case, from now on...”
Just as Suwol was about to speak again—
Twitch.
A very faint sound echoed in Bu Eunseol’s ears. It was not actually a sound, but more like an intuition that his extrasensory perception could feel. Sensing an ill omen, he turned to Suwol.
“Go inside quickly.”
“Pardon?”
“Someone is coming here.”
Bu Eunseol’s eyes flashed.
The virtuous do not come, and those who come are not virtuous.
As Bu Eunseol, who had spread his extrasensory perception three hundred yards using the Endless Heavenly Light Art, stood with his hands behind his back—
Slide.
Into the breathless silence where not a breath of wind blew, six shadows seeped in front of the villa.
They were one with nature, existing yet appearing not to exist. But to Bu Eunseol’s extrasensory perception, the figures of six warriors were clearly visible, blending into the transparent air where the hems of yellow robes flowed as if they were part of the earth.
Even though the sunlight was shining, they were transparent, and their yellow robes did not sway even as the wind brushed past.
‘Those people.’
A flash spread through Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
Six yellow-robed men who had assimilated with nature, breaking the boundary between man and nature. Were they not among the hidden masters who had swarmed the island where the Wood Buddha was hidden in the past?
‘This is not good.’
They were those who possessed the aura of ‘nothingness’ while having reached the limit of martial arts.
[Hmph.]
Realizing that Bu Eunseol had sensed them, the yellow-robed men let out a groan simultaneously.
Thump.
At the same time, they slowly revealed themselves from their transparent forms.
Every one of them was well over seven feet tall and wore a mask; they had bulging eyes and thick bridges to their noses. They were giants with shoulders that looked like three men joined together and forearms reminiscent of ancient trees. As the six of them stood tall and surrounded him as if to besiege him, the pressure was like facing a great mountain.
[Martial Soul Command Lord.]
The six yellow-robed men recognized Bu Eunseol’s face and spoke simultaneously.
[We have no business with you.]
When they shouted the same thing all at once, it sounded like a bizarre creature was speaking.
“Likewise,” Bu Eunseol said calmly. “This is a place where this Command Lord is staying. Outsiders cannot remain, so leave immediately.”
[You are a person of the Demonic Path.]
A light of interest appeared in the yellow-robed man’s bulging eyes.
[Why are you interfering in this matter?]
‘This matter?’
Their tone was quite sharp and menacing, enough that he could intuit they held ill feelings. Bu Eunseol could sense some kind of grudge between them and Sama Gwang. ‘Is it the revenge of a descendant who lost to the Number One Sword of Gangnam in the past?’
Thinking deeply, Bu Eunseol spoke. “What matter are you talking about?”
[There is no need for you to know. We have business with the one inside.]
“I told you to leave immediately.”
When Bu Eunseol spoke firmly, the yellow-robed men realized that further conversation was useless and shook their heads.
[Tsk.]
The yellow-robed men, clicking their tongues simultaneously, made their bodies transparent again.
[This is the final warning. Move aside.]
“I shall return those words to you.”
[Majeon will have to select a successor again.]
‘To guarantee an easy victory even while knowing who I am... I see.’
A flash crossed Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
When he went to save the Wood Buddha, he had also witnessed the skill of the yellow-robed men. They could all perfectly hide their presence, like a master who had refined the Path of Nature as he had, and the six of them moved in perfect harmony as if they were a single person.
‘Furthermore, this is far too coincidental.’
Bu Eunseol always perfectly erased his tracks, and he had been here for less than four hours. Even Sama Gwang had been living quietly in seclusion here for over twenty years without being tracked by anyone.
Yet the yellow-robed men had suddenly stormed this place?
Boom!
The yellow-robed men standing side by side simultaneously unleashed a punch.
Rumble!
The six fist-powers gathered like a round sun and then echoed through the air. It was a technique that didn't push force into the target like the Shaolin’s Heart-Striking Bell, but rather vibrated the air to shake the internal organs using that vibration wave.
Vrum vrum vrum vrum!
The fist-power they unleashed was spreading a vibration wave so powerful that the whole world appeared blurry.
However, Bu Eunseol stood calmly with his hands behind his back as if a neighbor's dog were barking. He had already unleashed his Protective True Qi, easily blocking the waves they had created.
[His internal power is...]
A Protective True Qi usually appears in a circular form and only serves to create a faint wave of true qi to greatly reduce the power of the martial arts unleashed by an enemy.
However, the Protective True Qi created by Bu Eunseol was incredibly solid, as if made of diamond, and possessed a physical form.
Furthermore, was it not easily blocking even the waves that could collapse mountains?
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