Bu Eunseol’s eyes narrowed, the corners trembling faintly.
Bukgung Ryeong.
Was this not the old man who had transcended the boundaries of righteousness and evil, age and time itself, to become his sworn friend across generations?
‘Why is the name of a man still very much alive written here?’
Confusion clouded Bu Eunseol’s face as he once more fixed his gaze on the characters etched beneath the glass tube.
‘A namesake? No, impossible.’
In the entire history of the martial world, only one man had ever borne the title “Bullet King.”
The one and only Bukgung Ryeong, who had cultivated the Bullet Qi to its absolute pinnacle.
‘Old man…’
A faint tremor passed through Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
Had Bukgung Ryeong already died and been dissected?
Or had the great method already been performed on someone who shared his constitution?
‘No… he could still be alive.’
Unlike the other glass tubes, the one labeled “Bullet King” contained no liquid yet.
‘I must investigate this place at once.’
Originally, Bu Eunseol had intended to cremate the corpses remaining in the tubes, then completely destroy this underground citadel and leave immediately.
But if Bukgung Ryeong had fallen into the hands of the Three Realms?
He had to rescue him without delay.
Shhhhk.
Bu Eunseol slipped outside at once and scanned the surroundings.
Everyone inside was already dead so there was no one left to interrogate.
Moreover, this underground citadel was simply too vast. Rather than ordinary mechanical traps, it was saturated with great methods and sorcery-like arts, making many areas impossible even for the Beast Way to detect.
In a place like this, there would surely be devices prepared to destroy the entire facility in an emergency. If he recklessly searched everywhere, he might trigger the closure mechanism without even confirming whether the Bullet King still lived.
‘I need to find where they keep the records.’
The place that stored important documents would be at the very heart of the citadel—the area with the least human traffic.
Since the underground citadel was this enormous, the highest leaders would remain at the center managing everything.
Men of their rank would rarely meet others, leaving almost no traces of passage.
Bzzzz.
Bu Eunseol moved toward the cluster of buildings at the center, choosing the one with scarcely any signs of coming and going.
Inside was nothing but deathly silence.
Not a single ray of light entered.
A wide corridor—roughly twenty zhang across and ten zhang high—stretched before him, lined on both sides with numerous doors.
Creak.
Cautiously opening one, he found a darkened stone chamber containing only a single bed.
The opposite door revealed the same.
‘Breathing.’
Bu Eunseol opened the door at the very end of the corridor.
Inside lay a man wrapped head to toe in bandages.
The bandages were soaked crimson with blood, and he lay utterly motionless, as if already dead, breathing so faintly he seemed on the verge of death.
‘It’s him.’
Bu Eunseol knew at once.
This bandaged wretch was none other than the wild-haired man he had seen at the inn.
Even through the wrappings, that coarse, unkempt hair was unmistakable.
‘Did the great method fail?’
The man’s breathing was so weak it could stop at any moment, and his fingertips trembled almost imperceptibly.
Whatever the reason, he was clearly suffering unending agony.
“May you be reborn in your next life as an ordinary commoner.”
Bu Eunseol extended two fingers intending to press the death acupoint so the man’s pain could end quickly.
Clang.
At that moment, a low metallic sound rang out, followed by the presence of people.
Bu Eunseol instantly melted into the darkness of a corner, concealing his aura completely.
“Hmm.”
The ones who entered the chamber were an extremely young boy and a youthful man.
‘Was there a hidden mechanism leading here?’ Bu Eunseol’s brow furrowed.
He had definitely blocked the outward passage, hadn’t he?
‘Perhaps there is a separate direct route from the outside?’
Even if such a mechanism existed, they could not possibly be unaware that everyone inside had been slaughtered.
Yet why were they leisurely entering to examine the patient?
‘It doesn’t matter.’
In any case, he had secured someone to question about the Bullet King’s whereabouts. Hiding himself for now, Bu Eunseol carefully observed the pair’s appearance and bearing.
‘Even younger than Dae Bo…’
The boy who had suddenly appeared looked five or six years younger than Dae Bo. Yet contrary to his childish face, his eyes were gravely serene, like those of an eighty-year-old elder.
‘So that’s how it is. The younger they are here, the higher their rank.’
While Bu Eunseol was lost in thought,
“It’s a failure.”
The boy, having thoroughly examined the bandaged man on the bed, shook his head.
“No hope remains. Dispose of him at once. And…” Turning away, the boy continued indifferently, “The same goes for this place.”
“Understo—”
The young man standing behind him had barely bowed to reply when—
Thud.
He collapsed without finishing his sentence.
At the same moment, a shadow flashing blood-red light slowly emerged from the darkness.
It was Bu Eunseol, having used Meteor Chasing the Moon form.
The instant it seemed the pair would leave, he had severed the youth’s throat in a single stroke and revealed himself.
“Ho, you managed to deceive even my senses.” The boy showed not the slightest surprise at Bu Eunseol’s appearance. “Another moth drawn to spy on our sect, it seems.”
Strange.
It had only been a few years since the Returning to One created the Demonic Sword challenges, yet the boy spoke as if many had come before to spy on Cold Moon Island.
“So this is not the first time.” Bu Eunseol’s eyes glinted. “You people have been conducting experiments here for a very long time.”
“Heh heh heh. For generations, there have always been flies buzzing around trying to peek into our sect.” The boy smiled brightly. “And every time, our sect quietly crushed them to death.”
With an innocent face and a voice brimming with youthful arrogance, he uttered words of chilling cruelty—making the sight all the more grotesque.
“You seem to have questions.”
“You read me well.”
The boy’s eyes sparkled mysteriously.
“It is not that I guessed.” Shifting his gaze toward the bandaged man on the bed, the boy gave a faint smile. “I detect and interpret everything your body reveals—your eyes, your expression, your temperature… everything.”
In that instant, Bu Eunseol’s gaze sharpened.
‘Is he the one Hyeok Ryeon-eung spoke of? The one who can peer into the Three Treasures?’
When Hyeok Ryeon-eung had tried to recruit him into the Infinite Realm, he had said that to enter the Three Realms, one’s Three Treasures—Essence, Energy, and Spirit—must be completely exposed, and that a great method existed capable of seeing them.
Perhaps this boy had mastered that very method and could read a person’s inner thoughts simply by meeting their eyes.
“What is the purpose of all this?”
“Purpose, you say.”
The boy smirked, then looked at the bandaged man and opened his mouth.
“When a person dies, is that truly the end?”
“…”
“Or does everything remain unchanged, this vast boundless universe continuing eternally?”
As he spoke, the boy reached out toward the man on the bed.
Flash!
A streak of cold starlight streaked through the air, and the boy’s left hand fell cleanly to the floor.
Bu Eunseol had drawn the Moon Shadow Demonic Sword like lightning and severed the wrist.
“No tricks.”
“An impressive swift sword. Truly impressive.”
Was it because he could perform the great method that swaps entire human bodies?
Not a drop of blood flowed from the severed wrist, and the boy continued speaking as calmly as if he had merely dropped something trivial.
“The answer is the latter.”
He spoke leisurely.
“People seem to be born anew, but in truth they are born again and again, infinitely repeating.”
“…”
“In the past, there must have been someone who looked and felt remarkably like you. And in the future, another human remarkably like you will be born again.”
Crack, crack.
At that moment, the sound of bones grinding came from the bandaged man on the bed.
“Huff… huff…”
The dying man’s breathing suddenly turned bestial and violent, thick veins bulging beneath his skin.
It was as if he had received the great method that forcibly awakens latent potential.
Bu Eunseol gathered his energy, wondering what was happening, but no further movement came.
“When one reaches the Limitless Realm, one can not only slow time but eventually control its flow.”
The boy abruptly changed the subject.
“At that point, a warrior no longer obsesses over martial arts. Instead, he contemplates life and death, truth and falsehood, and all the merits he has accumulated until then.”
Bu Eunseol narrowed his eyes.
Could this boy truly have reached the Limitless Realm?
“Are you the leader of this whole operation?”
“Heh heh heh. Of course not.” The boy shrugged. “It’s just that it has been a long time since I met someone who perfectly controls his soul and spirit, so I ended up rambling.”
From his speech and demeanor, it was clear this boy held an extraordinarily high position—not only on Cold Moon Island but within the entire Realm of Returning to One.
Shiiing.
The demonic sword in Bu Eunseol’s hand blazed with brilliant silver light. Fearing the boy’s martial prowess might surpass his own, he struck first.
Shhk.
At the same moment, the frost-cold tip of the sword halted a single hair’s breadth from the boy’s carotid artery.
“Where is the Bullet King, Bukgung Ryeong?”
“Hmm. That doesn’t seem to be the real question.” The boy murmured leisurely. “From your expression… it looks like there’s something else you truly want to know.”
When the boy sneered, Bu Eunseol pressed the demon sword harder against his throat.
The keen blade should have sliced skin and pierced the artery, spraying blood.
Yet though the skin split deeply, no blood flowed.
“What a pity. Your martial arts are quite exceptional.”
Now Bu Eunseol understood: the boy’s body was like a puppet made of human skin, hollow inside.
But he was not particularly shocked.
Nothing the Realm of Returning to One did had been ordinary so far. He would not have been surprised if the boy’s body scattered like smoke and flew into the sky.
“I asked where the Bullet King is.”
“Think carefully before you ask.”
The boy revealed a sinister smile.
“Are you really curious about whether the Bullet King lives or dies, or is there something else you want to know?”
Then, spinning his words with a grin, he added, “Because from my lips, you will hear only one answer.”
For a moment, Bu Eunseol’s eyes wavered.
It was as if the boy had seen straight into his heart.
The resting place of his grandfather Bu Zhanyang’s remains.
And the fate of the Bullet King, Bukgung Ryeong.
These two pieces of information were absolutely vital.
Yet the boy was saying he would answer only one question.
‘Then this boy…’
Countless thoughts flashed through Bu Eunseol’s mind.
“You force me to repeat the same question.”
Finding his grandfather’s remains was important, but the life of a living man took priority.
Moreover, having seen through the boy’s insidious scheme, Bu Eunseol had deliberately asked about the Bullet King’s fate without hesitation.
‘Because from my lips, you will hear only one answer.’
Had he changed his question after hearing that?
The boy would immediately know why Bu Eunseol had truly come here and what he truly desired.
“So you really did come to save the Bullet King.”
The boy’s eyes sparkled as he smirked.
“Unfortunately, the Bullet King has already been captured and dissected. No matter how you search, you will never find him.”
A despairing answer.
Yet Bu Eunseol instead bared his white teeth.
“Ah, so that’s how it is.”
“…”
“You should have said you killed him because you couldn’t take him alive.” Bu Eunseol gave a cold laugh. “I might have believed that, at least a little.”
The boy’s thin eyebrows twitched.
He was curious how Bu Eunseol had seen through his lie.
“How did you know?”
“Can’t you even interpret what I just said?”
Bu Eunseol smiled icily.
“Or was everything you said earlier a lie?”
“I detect and interpret everything your body reveals—your eyes, your expression, your temperature… everything.”
The boy had boasted he could read a great deal simply by looking. Yet now he could not even tell whether Bu Eunseol’s words were true or false.
“With just that single sentence, you found my weakness?”
“If you could truly read everything, you wouldn’t have needed to throw out bait-like questions to probe my intentions.” Bu Eunseol spoke calmly. “It seems you can only read physical reactions. In reality, you deduce information from the opponent’s responses.”
Even masters of the Soul-Seizing Spirit Words like Hyeok Ryeon-eung, who could easily peer into an enemy’s heart, constantly lied to confuse Bu Eunseol and required extensive preparation to unleash their divine great method.
If this boy from the Returning to One Realm truly possessed such a mystical great method—if he could truly extract information from bodily reactions as he claimed—he would never have needed to ask a question that could reveal his purpose in one stroke.
“Heh heh heh. Clever.”
The boy shrugged and readily admitted his lie.
“True, we have not yet captured Bukgung Ryeong alive. But news will come soon.”
Bu Eunseol inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.
If Returning to One had not yet caught him, there was still ample chance to save the Bullet King.
“No more questions are needed…”
Blood light flashed in Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
He could not capture the boy anyway, and even if he asked about his grandfather’s remains, the boy would never tell.
Now only one thing remained.
Shaaaa…
In that instant, black mist rose around the boy, and rings of endlessly dark sword light bloomed.
Seven Blood Tear Forms.
He intended to unleash the absolute sword art that brought death to all life, granting fair death both to this shell and to whoever controlled it.
Groooar!
Yet at that moment, something unexpected happened.
The bandaged man on the bed let out a beastly roar, sprang up like a coiled spring, and charged—not at the boy, but straight at Bu Eunseol.
It seemed the boy had planted some trick when the man’s bones had cracked earlier.
“Good luck.”
Seizing the opening, the boy vanished like a ghost.
Boom!
Bu Eunseol twisted aside, and the charging man smashed through the wall and burst outside.
Rather than engage the man, Bu Eunseol unfolded his movement art to chase the fleeing boy.
Kaboom!
An invisible palm force slammed into Bu Eunseol’s back.
The man had somehow already unleashed a tremendous blast of finger wind.
‘No need to fight him.’
Papapak!
Lightly evading the finger wind, Bu Eunseol ignored the man and leapt outside to pursue the boy.
KABOOM!
Yet the energy from the man’s hand curved once more, blocking Bu Eunseol’s escape path.
Whirr!
Bu Eunseol spun his body again to dodge.
By then, all trace of the boy had completely vanished.
‘I lost him.’
Thud. Thud.
Meanwhile, the bandaged man, still dripping blood, slowly approached Bu Eunseol.
Madness filled his eyes, and tyrannical energy that seemed capable of tearing the heavens apart surged from his entire body.
His pupils burned with the ecstatic killing intent of a beast that had found prey.
“Must it come to this?”
Bu Eunseol sighed.
This man, too, had been born with a Void Spirit Physique and possessed extraordinary talent for martial arts.
Yet the great method had failed, reducing him to little more than another puppet created by the Infinite Realm.
“Why do the people of the martial world covet what they can never possess?”
“Urrrgh…”
Facing Bu Eunseol’s pity-filled gaze, the man clutched his hair and let out an anguished, furious groan.
“KRAAAA!”
With a roar, he thrust all ten fingers forward with terrifying force.
KWAAAAA!
Crimson lines slashed through the air as razor-sharp finger force poured forth.
It was the Scarlet Blood Demon Finger of a caliber utterly incomparable to before.
Clang-clang-clang!
Bu Eunseol swung his sword to deflect the finger strikes; the blade rang like metal and vibrated endlessly.
‘To imbue finger wind with such power…’
The Moon Shadow Demonic Sword’s abilities were unknown, but its hardness and sharpness were on par with any divine treasured blade.
Yet the man’s finger force shook the sword body relentlessly, as though hundreds of masters had overlapped their strikes.
If this continued, even the Moon Shadow Demonic Sword would eventually shatter.
Tap.
Bu Eunseol instantly used his movement art to escape the range of the finger force.
“KRAAA!”
Yet each time, the man flicked his fingers again and again, unleashing finger winds of varying direction and speed.
From afar, it looked as though he were continuously drawing crimson blood lines through the air.
Clang-clang-clang-clang! Thuk.
As Bu Eunseol blocked the relentless barrage, cracks finally began to appear in the demon sword’s blade, just as he had feared.
“Hmph.” Bu Eunseol shot high into the air to break the onslaught.
Flash!
Leaping toward the ceiling, he unleashed a continuous storm of massive sword energy from the Waning Moon, Dawn Star.
Dazzling cross-shaped sword flashes poured down without cease, like dozens of divine rays of light descending from heaven.
“Huff!”
Yet though the man’s mind was broken, he had perfectly inherited the martial arts of the Scarlet Blood Demon Emperor.
Swish! Swaaash!
As he waved all ten fingers, the crimson blood lines weaving through the air formed an enormous net.
Swish! Swish!
The rain of Waning Moon, Dawn Star sword energy vanished, extinguished by layers upon layers of overlapping finger force.
KWAAAAA!
Without pausing, the man fired hundreds more blood lines toward Bu Eunseol as he landed.
‘It’s difficult to face him head-on.’
The Scarlet Blood Demon Finger had long surpassed ordinary finger techniques. It left lingering trails of energy in the air for a long time, gradually filling the vast corridor with crimson blood lines.
Whirr!
Bu Eunseol immediately used footwork to evade while the grazing Scarlet Blood Demon Finger carved deep scars into the steel floor.
The Scarlet Blood Demon Finger—it was no mere finger technique, but a heavenly demonic art capable of creating new weapons in dozens of forms. This astonishing finger art could be fired in single bursts or extended like long whips.
“Impressive.”
A chill ran down Bu Eunseol’s spine.
Seeing this man, he finally understood why the Returning to One Realm sought to inherit the power of former supreme masters.
If even a madman who had failed the great method and become a mere vessel of the Scarlet Blood Demon Emperor was this strong, what if they could perfectly inherit or wield the abilities of the true supreme masters of the past?
If they could control such beings at will?
Then Returning to One…
No force in the world would be able to stop them.
