The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign – Chapter 727

Bu Eunseol looked down at the leader of the assassins.

“The promise to spare his life was just said in jest, wasn’t it?”

Then, curling his lip, he continued.

“Because only then can you savor the thrill of watching someone die with resentment and injustice burning in their eyes.”

In an instant, the leader’s expression froze.

To know they were Ghost Sect assassins and yet remain so utterly relaxed, so composed?

Could it be that this man was actually a supreme martial master pretending to be a frail scholar?

‘No, impossible.’

The leader was himself a top-tier assassin who had mastered internal cultivation methods.

If the man before him had truly trained in proper martial arts, even the slightest ripple of internal energy should have leaked out.

Yet from the man standing there, not even the tiniest fluctuation could be sensed.

“I see. So you’ve trained in external arts.”

A vicious glint rose in the leader’s eyes.

He concluded that Bu Eunseol’s leisurely demeanor stemmed from having mastered something like Chainmail—an external defensive art with no internal energy signature.

“You should have known that external arts are only useful in one-on-one duels.”

He raised his hand at once.

Dozens of waiting assassins drew their blades and advanced.

The dull, acrid smell wafting from the edges proved the weapons had been coated with deadly poison. Several others reached into pouches and grabbed handfuls of hidden projectiles.

Believing Bu Eunseol relied on external strength, they intended to overwhelm him all at once.

Crack.

Bu Eunseol casually plucked a single branch from the tree beside him.

Then he spoke to the boy.

“From now on, watch carefully.”

“Huh?”

Before the boy could even respond—

“Attack!”

At the leader’s command, the assassins unleashed a storm of projectiles.

Shhhk! Shhhk! Shhhk!

They were clearly accustomed to fighting multiple foes: one group rained down hidden weapons while another maintained tight formation, pouring out ruthless poison-blade techniques.

Whirr.

In that instant, the branch in Bu Eunseol’s hand began spinning at blinding speed around his fingertips, tracing perfect circles.

Shwaaaak!

Each time the whirling branch danced,

Pssshht!

Blood fountains erupted from the throats of the charging assassins.

Shwaaak! Pssht! Pssht!

It was not mere swordsmanship but closer to an art form.

With every flick of his fingers, light flashed through the air and blood blossoms bloomed at the assassins’ necks.

At times it flowed like a gentle breeze and at others it roared like a violent gale.

Whenever the technique unfolded, leaves scattered like rain.

Yet the boy stood as though at the calm eye of a typhoon, quietly observing every movement.

That was because, even while executing his swordplay, Bu Eunseol had enveloped the boy in a protective sphere of circular qi.

Pssht!

Each sweep of the branch sent a jet of blood a full foot high from an assassin’s severed neck.

Thud. Thud.

The assassins fell like logs, unable even to scream.

Less than half an incense stick of time had passed before silence blanketed the forest.

In the clearing now stood only Bu Eunseol, the boy, Shim Heung, and the assassins’ leader.

“How…?”

The leader turned, his eyes completely unfocused.

In less than half an incense stick, fifty of his men had become cold corpses.

Assassins who carved people like meat were usually numb to both others’ deaths and their own. They knew they would die on a mission someday.

No assassin ever won forever.

Living every day with death on their back—that was what it meant to be an assassin.

Still—

Tremble tremble.

The leader’s body shook uncontrollably.

What he felt was not fear of death.

An unimaginable, unknown existence had appeared before him, displaying power beyond comprehension.

It was the authority of a transcendent being—one no ordinary mortal could ever hope to reach, no matter how hard they trained.

Tremble tremble.

The shaking grew worse and tears welled in the leader’s eyes.

That slender, graceful branch held in those long, beautiful fingers did not represent some mere crossroads of life and death…

It embodied a realm no one had ever reached before.

A transcendence meant to shatter everything ever created.

Thump.

The leader dropped to his knees.

He wanted to speak, but no sound came out.

It felt as though an invisible demonic hand had clamped his throat shut.

His soul seemed to be sucked into an endless cosmos, sinking into an abyss from which even ten thousand kalpas could not free him.

Tremble tremble.

After shaking endlessly,

Pssshhhht.

The leader finally drew his own long sword across his throat.

Unable to endure the overwhelming awe and crushing pressure filling his mind, he chose suicide.

Thud.

As the last remaining assassin leader’s corpse rolled across the clearing,

Zzzzt—Whoosh!

Suddenly every assassin’s body began to glow like heated charcoal before bursting into roaring flames.

To erase all traces of the Hyungsan Sect swordsmanship, Bu Eunseol had poured out his Yeolha Great True Energy, incinerating every corpse without remainder.

Drip… drip…

Having witnessed it all, Shim Heung wet himself while tears streamed down his face.

Blinded by greed, he had failed to recognize the god of death.

All that remained for him now was to burn alive in the fires of hell.

Tremble.

When his eyes met Bu Eunseol’s, Shim Heung’s face turned the color of rotten pig liver.

He couldn’t even beg for his life.

He could only pray that his death would at least be painless.

“Sir.”

At that moment, the trembling boy carefully knelt before Bu Eunseol.

“Please… spare my master.”

Kneeling, the boy slammed his forehead against the ground again and again, as though trying to swallow his terror.

“I beg you.”

“Why?”

The boy couldn’t meet Bu Eunseol’s blazing red eyes and bowed his head lower.

“Th-Though he wasn’t a good master… he still took in a starving wretch like me and taught me how to handle puppets.”

With his head lowered, the boy spoke desperately.

“All his life he lived by puppetry. Seeing so much money for the first time, he simply made the wrong choice. P-Please forgive him just once.”

Having finally forced the words out, the boy himself trembled like an aspen leaf in terror.

Then, the crimson fire that had been burning in Bu Eunseol’s eyes slowly began to fade back to normal.

He himself would have frozen to death if Grandfather hadn’t saved him.

Though this boy hadn’t met as fine an adult as he had, and hadn’t lived happily… the boy still felt boundless gratitude simply for being fed.

“Even the grace of a single piece of rotten dumpling must be repaid over a lifetime…”

Looking at the boy, Bu Eunseol wore a faint smile.

This child possessed not only outstanding talent in martial arts, but also the full qualifications to become one of the world’s greatest chivalrous heroes.

Swish.

Bu Eunseol looked down at Shim Heung, who was still soaked in his own urine.

Tremble tremble.

When Shim Heung met those red eyes, he hurriedly averted his gaze.

Even so, it felt as though his entire body were burning.

“Raise your head.”

At Bu Eunseol’s command, Shim Heung snapped his head up.

There he saw eyes like blazing suns.

Within them lay an intent more stern and solemn than a thousand words.

—I will spare your worthless, dog-like life.

Understanding the meaning, Shim Heung burst into tears again.

Not from relief at surviving.

‘I lived wrongly.’

Though he had taken in the boy only to make him perform puppetry, the lonely days had become lively because of him.

Even when beaten and scolded harshly, the boy followed loyally like a puppy.

And he—the man who had drowned himself in drink—had once again become absorbed in puppetry and, as a result, escaped a life of ruin.

—Because of that boy.

In the end, the boy had saved his life from the hands of the god of death.

Bringing the boy in had been the single best thing he had ever done in his entire life.

Swish.

When Bu Eunseol turned away, Shim Heung began to retch.

It was both the joy of a body that had narrowly escaped the god of death’s grasp, and revulsion at his own rotten self.

“Thank you for everything, Master.”

The boy bowed once more before Shim Heung.

Then he turned and followed Bu Eunseol.

“I was wrong!”

Shim Heung fell to his knees.

With all his strength, he shouted, “I’m truly sorry!”

Drip… drip…

Hearing those words, tears streamed from the walking boy’s eyes.

‘I’m glad.’

That the days spent together hadn’t been painful for his master.

That those times hadn’t been in vain…

Thud, thud.

After walking the mountain path behind Bu Eunseol for a long while, the boy’s eyes widened.

Strangely, even though they were climbing a steep slope, he wasn’t out of breath at all.

‘That’s odd.’

Suddenly the boy noticed a faint heat haze rising from Bu Eunseol’s body ahead.

And that haze was connected to him.

‘He’s using martial arts to make my body lighter.’

Only then did the boy truly realize.

Even though that man carried the cold gaze of a reaper, deep inside he was endlessly warm.

“Can you imitate the swordsmanship you saw earlier?”

At Bu Eunseol’s question, the boy quickly answered.

“I-I’m sorry. I haven’t learned any martial arts, so…”

“With the puppet.”

For a moment the boy looked startled—then realization dawned.

Imagining it in his mind…

Performing those movements through the puppet felt entirely possible.

“I think I could manage about half.”

Bu Eunseol burst into laughter.

To see half of the Hyungsan Sect’s secret swordsmanship after watching it only once was truly a genius-level talent.

“I’m sorry.”

Misinterpreting the laughter, the boy hurriedly bowed his head.

“I-It’s lacking, but I’ll work hard.”

“Myeong Un.”

“Huh?”

Bu Eunseol gazed at the distant sky.

There, he seemed to see the face of the Myeong Un who had died thinking of the Hyungsan Sect.

“Your name is Myeong Un.”

“Myeong Un…”

The boy stared blankly for a moment, then broke into a wide smile.

“Yes.”

This boy was none other than the one who would later revive the Hyungsan Sect—the thirty-second head of the sect, and the swordsman who would one day become the greatest blade of the orthodox path: Myeong Un.

 

***

Deep into the night.

In an office lit only by swaying lanterns, a shadow seated at the desk read a report in a low voice.

“Seon Woojin.”

Placing the report back on the table, the shadow shook his head.

“Not only is he one of the One Hundred and Eight Stars, but he’s also tracking this Commander’s movements…”

Rising from his seat, a refined middle-aged man’s features gradually emerged from the shadowed darkness.

Sacred Sword, Baekri Mujo.

The Commander of the Sacred Guard Division, which was the strongest elite force among the Seven Great Divisions, and a grandmaster of swordsmanship widely regarded as the next likely Alliance Leader.

He had just finished reading a report containing excessively dangerous information about Seon Woojin.

“This is troubling.”

Seon Woojin.

Having risen from candidate for Martial Heaven Division Commander to Intelligence and Secret Affairs Division Lord, he had simultaneously obtained the Clear Heart Token—a direct surveillance authority from the Alliance Leader himself.

A rising star representing the next generation of the Martial Alliance, newly ascended as one of the Four Gods and Seven Kings.

For such a man to deliberately dig into his trail…

“Is it the Three Realms?”

Baekri Mujo’s long, narrow eyes narrowed.

“And it’s also bothersome that he supposedly possesses the martial arts of the Eight Emperors and Three Stars.”

Four hundred years ago, before the Martial Emperor was framed with false accusations, he had reigned as the foremost master of the orthodox path, his prowess considered unfathomable.

 

If the Intelligence and Secret Affairs Division Lord—known for his exceptional intellect—were truly a spy for the Three Realms, and if he even mastered the Martial Emperor’s arts?

He could grow into a figure capable of shaking the entire power structure of the Martial Alliance, and all the plans Baekri Mujo had carefully built might collapse.

[We will handle it.]

A voice emerged from the darkness opposite the office. Baekri Mujo waved his hand.

“No. His swordsmanship is so profound that he can stand equal with the Sword Demon.” 

Crushing the report into powder, he spoke calmly. 

“The Alliance Leader trusts him, and he holds the high position of Intelligence and Secret Affairs Division Lord. If we act rashly, we’ll face backlash we cannot withstand.”

Baekri Mujo stood.

“There is only one way to confirm whether he belongs to the Three Realms or not…”

[You mean force him to reveal his true martial arts.]

“Exactly.”

The Infinite Realm, the Clear River Realm, and the Returning to One Realm each pursued their own unique power, and their characteristics were distinctly visible.

If pushed to the brink of death, he would reveal his true martial arts.

That would make it clear which side he belonged to.

[But his martial arts are extraordinary. If the Commander takes action personally, your identity might be exposed…]

“Didn’t we recently acquire an excellent cover identity?”

At Baekri Mujo’s words, the voice from the darkness let out an “Ah” of realization.

[With that identity… it could achieve two goals at once.]

Baekri Mujo gave a faint smile.

“I’ll handle this matter personally. Remain on standby in the meantime.”

Click.

Without hesitation, he stepped out of the office.

Thud, thud.

Once Baekri Mujo departed, another large shadow emerged from the darkness and approached the desk.

A middle-aged man dressed in snow-white robes, with lofty, noble eyes and features.

It was none other than Baekri Mujo himself—the same man who had just left the hall moments earlier.

***

Bu Eunseol stayed near Mount Heng for some time, teaching the boy, Myeong Un, the Hyungsan Sect’s sword techniques.

He also spent a great deal of money hiring laborers to begin reconstructing the sect’s buildings.

Rebuilding a sect meant far more than simply recovering lost martial arts.

It required restoring a main headquarters befitting the sect’s scale and reestablishing a sphere of influence worthy of its prestige.

The Hyungsan Sect’s structures on South Marchmount Heng had long since fallen into ruin, and its former sphere of influence had already been swallowed by the Hyunhan Sect.

Bu Eunseol provided Myeong Un only with enough funds to restore the sect buildings and sustain himself as a proper sect—nothing more.

From now on, everything depended on Myeong Un’s own effort.

In the future he could master the Hyungsan martial arts and venture into the martial world, or accept disciples and gradually expand his influence.

That too would be Myeong Un’s choice—and his fate.

There was nothing more Bu Eunseol could do to help.

“Train diligently.”

With those final words, Bu Eunseol gazed at the sleeping Myeong Un, then quietly departed.

Rustle.

As soon as Bu Eunseol left, Myeong Un rose from his bed and prostrated himself in the direction his benefactor had gone.

Having finished everything, Bu Eunseol descended Mount Heng with a lightened heart.

‘Myeong Un, sleeping in the nine heavens, should be satisfied with this much.’

To switch identities with Seo Jinha, Bu Eunseol headed toward Xi’an Prefecture.

Now that he held the position of Intelligence and Secret Affairs Division Lord, he could investigate the Seven Commanders without hindrance.

In a way, the position of Intelligence and Secret Affairs Division Lord was far more valuable than even the heir of Majeon.

As a high-ranking member of the Martial Alliance, almost no information was restricted from him, and he could even gain insight into the Alliance’s hidden secret organizations.

Following Bu Eunseol’s orders, the Supreme Corps members were fearlessly investigating the movements of the Seven Commanders.

Xi’an Prefecture, Majeon Secret Safehouse.

“Now we really have to be careful.”

The first words Seo Jinha spoke upon meeting him in the safehouse were blunt.

“Not knowing something might actually be the safest thing.”

“What do you mean all of a sudden?”

“I just had the thought… maybe when the Demon Emperor cut off your wings, he was protecting you in his own way.”

Bu Eunseol’s eyes narrowed.

In truth, he himself had entertained similar thoughts long ago.

—Could it be that, even while seating me as successor, he restricted my access to the Shadow Pavilion information precisely to protect me?

Not knowing could, conversely, mean being that much safer.

If one learned hidden secrets, they would become enemies of those guarding them and face countless dangers.

“The Seven Commanders are the pillars of the Martial Alliance. If it becomes known that you’re investigating them… you won’t survive.”

Ever since Bu Eunseol became Intelligence and Secret Affairs Division Lord, Seo Jinha had grown anxious about him thoroughly investigating the Seven Commanders—especially Baekri Mujo, whose power and influence were terrifying.

“I understand. I won’t.”

Bu Eunseol gave a reassuring smile.

“I’ll never put myself in truly dangerous situations.”

“Good.”

Turning away, Seo Jinha grinned.

“Then I’ll go ahead.”

Bu Eunseol watched Seo Jinha hurry off, then took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry.”

In the lowest possible voice, he continued, “I already leaked the information. To provoke Baekri Mujo.”

Those who harbored ugly secrets would never leave anyone digging into their past alone.

Especially someone involved in a secret society like the Three Realms—there was nothing more to say.

Among the Seven Commanders, Baekri Mujo held the most overwhelming power.

Bu Eunseol had deliberately leaked information that he was investigating Baekri Mujo’s past movements.

Sacred Sword Baekri Mujo.

He was the most suspicious.

Though he appeared mild-mannered, his true nature was unfathomable.

He was a grandmaster who had re-created the supreme principle of harmony in his own unique way.

“I can’t imagine anyone else as Grandfather’s killer.”

Contrary to public knowledge, Baekri Mujo was a transcendent powerhouse who had mastered unfathomable martial prowess and terrifying swordsmanship.

Among the Seven Commanders, only he could possibly have raised a sword against an absolute master like Grandfather.

Though Bu Eunseol hadn’t fought them all, he didn’t believe the others had reached the same realm as Baekri Mujo.

[Soyo.]

Bu Eunseol sent a thousand-li transmission to Soyo.

[You’ve probably heard through the Death Spirit Corps, but until I give further orders, do not approach me.]

Soyo responded with a slightly dissatisfied yet deeply worried tone.

[What exactly are you planning?]

The fact that he had intentionally leaked information so Baekri Mujo would notice—he had told no one, not even his subordinates.

It was far too dangerous a plan.

Thus even Soyo—who stayed by his side almost every hour of the day—had no idea what Bu Eunseol was scheming.

[I have a plan.]

Bu Eunseol spoke with absolute resolve.

[Leave my vicinity immediately.]

[…Understood.]

Though reluctant, Soyo obeyed without protest.

As long as he operated under the identity of Seon Woojin—a core executive of the Martial Alliance—he would be constantly protected by the Alliance’s tight security.

“I’m sorry.”

Once Soyo departed, Bu Eunseol looked to the distant sky.

“For deceiving even you.”

In truth, he had already expressed his refusal to accept the constant protection of the Sacred Guard Division, which was a protection naturally afforded to high-ranking Martial Alliance members.

If guards followed him everywhere, other intelligence organizations could easily track his movements.

In fact, this was nothing unusual.

Most heads of the Martial Alliance’s information-handling organizations refused Sacred Guard protection for the same reason.

‘All the conditions are perfect.’

He had leaked word that he was investigating Baekri Mujo, and he had created the perfect opportunity for an ambush.

If Baekri Mujo was smart, he would never let this chance slip by.

‘From now on, I’ll root out the culprit among the Seven Commanders one by one.’

Starting with Baekri Mujo.

He would investigate and deal with each of the Seven Commanders in turn.

Clack, clack.

Bu Eunseol rode a carriage toward Henan.

Currently operating as Seon Woojin, he naturally used one of the Martial Alliance branch carriages stationed throughout Chengdu.

The authority of the Intelligence and Secret Affairs Division Lord surpassed even that of the Seven Commanders in the martial world.

If he wished, he could mobilize every Martial Alliance branch under his command.

Within the Alliance itself, however, he held little direct power—which was precisely why Bu Eunseol had negotiated with the Martial Sovereign to obtain the Clear Heart Token.

Pat!

But as he rode in the carriage, an odd sensation prickled Bu Eunseol’s mind.

It was the same unpleasant feeling he had experienced whenever supremely powerful masters appeared—those who could truly threaten his life.

“Stop the carriage.”

Bu Eunseol immediately stepped down and sent the driver back.

Regardless of righteousness or evil, life was precious.

Goooooo.

From somewhere came the sound of air being compressed.

‘He took the bait.’

A smile curved Bu Eunseol’s lips.

To arrive so precisely in this empty plain meant the enemy had perfectly tracked his movements and chosen the ideal moment for an ambush.

‘He chose a region with no nearby Martial Alliance branches.’

Bu Eunseol carried signal flares that could summon every nearby branch’s forces at will.

Yet the attacker had accurately accounted for that and chosen a location hundreds of li from any branch.

Goooooo.

With an ear-splitting roar, a white figure appeared before Bu Eunseol.

‘That person is…’

The sheer unexpectedness of the arrival made Bu Eunseol feel momentarily dizzy.

‘The Supreme Emperor?’

Incredibly, the figure who now stood before him was none other than the Supreme Emperor of the Infinite Realm.