Bu Eunseol was startled to see a sudden visitor arriving at the Suppressed Demon Pavilion.
Heaven-Collapsing Strike, So Okrim.
The woman who had recently shattered the Returning to One Realm’s sinister plot—where they had abducted children abandoned by the martial world and subjected them to cruel experiments—and then left with Yu Cheongrim to train in martial arts… had finally returned to the Suppressed Demon Pavilion.
And she had come back as an overwhelmingly powerful expert.
“Instructor So.”
Rising from his seat, Bu Eunseol greeted her warmly.
“It’s been a while.”
He let out an admiring exclamation, clearly astonished.
“Just what kind of training did you do to become this strong in such a short time?”
It was genuine praise.
Only a few months had passed since he parted ways with So Okrim. Yet she had made astonishing progress, as if she had trained for years.
“It’s nothing special.”
So Okrim responded with uncharacteristic modesty.
“At this level…”
Her expression darkened as she trailed off.
“Did something happen?” Sensing the extreme seriousness in her face, Bu Eunseol immediately suggested they move.
They entered a secret room within the office and sat down. Only then did So Okrim speak, her face deadly solemn.
“The truth is… I’m not a descendant of the Celestial Emperor.”
The statement was unexpected, but Bu Eunseol merely nodded calmly.
It wasn’t particularly shocking that she wasn’t truly of the Celestial Emperor’s bloodline.
“Is that so?”
“Yes. I was chosen as the successor to complete the restored martial arts of the Celestial Emperor, so whenever I went out into the martial world, I presented myself as his descendant.”
“I see.”
“I am the successor of the Bright Light Sect.”
Bu Eunseol tilted his head.
The name sounded like it belonged to a Buddhist sect or a Taoist school.
“It sounds like a Buddhist sect. Are you saying they transmitted the Celestial Emperor’s martial arts there?”
“It’s not a Buddhist sect…”
After taking a deep breath, So Okrim continued with an extremely grave expression.
“It is the True Three Realms—the place commonly called the Essence Three Realms.”
Thud.
At the shocking reply, Bu Eunseol’s face hardened.
Ever since she appeared in the martial world, So Okrim had consistently claimed she knew nothing about the Three Realms. When he had once told her about them, she had only then begun investigating the Three Realms, hadn’t she?
So… had it all been an act?
“To be precise, it’s a new Three Realms created by righteous people who were disillusioned with the corrupted Three Realms…”
“The Righteous Three Realms.”
Only then did Bu Eunseol recall what he had heard at the pond in the Baekri vault.
Originally, the Three Realms had been created to protect the martial world in place of the Baekri Family, but they had become corrupted.
In fact, they had even turned their blades against the Baekri Family.
However, righteous individuals could not tolerate it and created a new Three Realms, carrying on the Baekri Family’s will.
Afterward, the shocking confrontation between the Demon Emperor and the Sword Venerable had occurred, causing him to temporarily forget that day’s events.
And now So Okrim was saying she was the successor of that righteous Three Realms?
“So you deceived me all this time?”
“How could I? I only found out recently myself.”
So Okrim lowered her head with a melancholy expression.
“My youngest grandfather told me as he was dying—after everyone else had been massacred and only he survived.”
She briefly explained her circumstances.
After teaching martial arts to Yu Cheongrim, while she was training in a secret cave that Bright Light Sect had covertly established in the Central Plains, her youngest grandfather, Jeong Cheongja, had come to her on the verge of death.
He transmitted information he had never revealed before, but because he passed away so quickly, she had only received fragments, not the full knowledge.
Having finished her story, So Okrim wore an utterly forlorn expression.
“Until now, I simply thought… that the place I belonged to was a faction researching and restoring the martial arts of the Eight Emperors and Three Stars—including the Celestial Emperor—in order to protect the martial world.”
“I see.”
Only then did one of Bu Eunseol’s lingering questions resolve.
When So Okrim first met him, she had instantly recognized the martial arts of the Martial Emperor.
She had said it was because the Martial Emperor and Celestial Emperor had researched and shared each other’s secret arts but in truth, she was already well-versed in the martial arts of all Eight Emperors and Three Stars.
“Still… I don’t understand.”
Taking a deep breath, Bu Eunseol asked, “If you were truly restoring the authentic martial arts of the Eight Emperors and Three Stars, shouldn’t you have approached me as well?”
He was the sole inheritor of the Martial Emperor’s martial arts—an art no one else had obtained.
If she had known from their first meeting, she would naturally have sought to acquire that method.
“In truth, the martial arts of the Eight Emperors and Three Stars are not mere martial techniques. They are expressions in martial form of the mysterious powers passed down through the generations in the martial world.” So Okrim explained, “In other words, the true origin of the Eight Emperors and Three Stars martial arts lies elsewhere. What we are seeking is precisely that origin.”
—And once more, so that martial arts could flourish brilliantly again, we divided the Profound Divine Technique Qi—something ordinary martial artists could never wield—into eleven stems and taught them. Through this, the Three Realms nurtured the peerless grandmasters known as the Eight Emperors and Three Stars.
So Okrim’s explanation matched what had been conveyed at the Baekri vault.
“What exactly is that origin you speak of?”
“It is not martial arts at all. It is a type of supernatural power. It is said to be capable of destroying everything in the world, just like the Soul Qi of the True Demon.”
So Okrim continued, “And within the martial arts of the Eight Emperors and Three Stars lies the secret method to reclaim that power. My grandfathers were in the process of restoring those secrets.”
“The secret method.”
So Okrim nodded.
“Yes. You could call it a kind of mind technique.”
“Mind technique…”
Bu Eunseol murmured lowly.
The mind technique of the Martial Emperor’s arts, Martial Emperor Tranquil Awakening, could be summed up in one word: ‘joy.’
By recalling joyful memories from the past, one fills the heart with exhilaration and thereby amplifies the power of the martial arts.
“Then the true power of the Eight Emperors and Three Stars… could be the embodiment of different human emotions.”
So Okrim nodded with an admiring expression.
“That’s right. According to my youngest grandfather, that origin power transforms innate human emotions into strength.”
She added something unexpected.
“Perhaps that’s also why the power of the Thirteen Guiding Energies you displayed was weak. You hadn’t aligned the mind technique with the martial form.”
Bu Eunseol was taken aback.
He had perfectly mastered the Martial Emperor’s mind technique, Martial Emperor Tranquil Awakening. However, when he first met So Okrim, his proficiency with Thirteen Guiding Energies had been abysmal, so he hadn’t been able to display the same power he could now.
Yet So Okrim was judging that he had not properly learned the mind technique.
‘Or… am I still misunderstanding the Martial Emperor’s martial arts?’
No, that couldn’t be. He had even mastered the counter-technique of Thirteen Guiding Energies.
‘Moreover… why isn’t she questioning Seon Woojin’s identity at all?’
So Okrim was the only person who knew he had inherited the true lineage of the Martial Emperor.
In the current martial world, the Martial Emperor’s successor was officially listed as Seon Woojin. But since he trusted So Okrim, he hadn’t worried about that point.
Then she said something else unexpected.
“Even that Seon Woojin of the orthodox faction has learned the Martial Emperor’s martial arts… so it seems the roots spread quite widely.”
“What do you mean?”
“You didn’t know? That young man called the Sword King in the Martial Alliance also found a Martial Emperor’s secret vault and obtained the true transmission…”
Seeing Bu Eunseol’s dumbfounded expression mixed with bewilderment, So Okrim let out a startled sound.
“Wait… was that you?”
“You didn’t know?”
“Of course not! How could I have known?”
So Okrim opened her mouth in disbelief.
“But he’s a clearly verified orthodox faction figure?”
“We share the commonality of having learned the Martial Emperor’s martial arts, don’t we?”
Instead, So Okrim shook her head as if it were absurd.
“I thought you each found different Martial Emperor secret vaults.”
At those words, Bu Eunseol wore the expression of someone hit on the back of the head again.
“There are multiple Martial Emperor secret vaults?”
“You didn’t know?”
In response to Bu Eunseol’s question, So Okrim delivered an even more shocking statement.
“The Baekri Family stored the martial arts of the Eight Emperors and Three Stars in several locations. And only those selected among the One Hundred and Eight Stars were permitted to learn them.”
“Only the One Hundred and Eight Stars were allowed to learn them—what does that mean?”
“Isn’t it obvious? If ordinary people learned martial arts that include mind techniques capable of recklessly stirring human emotions, their humanity would be completely destroyed.”
Bu Eunseol’s eyes widened.
He was not any sort of One Hundred and Eight Star. There had been no reaction whatsoever even in Boundary Prosperity Jade.
Yet only the One Hundred and Eight Stars could learn the martial arts of the Eight Emperors and Three Stars?
“Fortunately, the Baekri Family took measures so that such a thing could never happen at all.”
She smirked.
“If one was not born with the One Hundred and Eight Stars, they couldn’t even enter the secret vault.”
Realization dawned on Bu Eunseol as he asked,
“What happens if someone forces their way into the vault?”
“It would seal shut. Instantly.”
At So Okrim’s words, Bu Eunseol wore a hollow expression.
Only now did he understand why the Martial Emperor secret vault he had entered with the Bullet King had been filled with such terrifying death traps and why the place had collapsed in an instant.
‘So from the beginning, that place could only be entered by someone born with the One Hundred and Eight Stars.’
In hindsight, for a process supposedly meant to select an outstanding martial successor, the internal traps had been far too extreme and lethal.
‘If someone had martial prowess high enough to break through that place, they wouldn’t need to cling to the Martial Emperor’s martial arts anyway.’
At that time, Bu Eunseol had entered the Supreme Heavenly Realm and could stably perform the Supreme Heavenly Flow. Thus, even if he obtained the Martial Emperor’s martial arts, it was merely an additional weapon.
He had never been obsessed with it.
But now he learned that the martial arts of the Eight Emperors and Three Stars could only be learned by those born with the One Hundred and Eight Stars, and that if someone without it entered the vault, the place would collapse.
Unaware of that fact, he and the Bullet King had forced their way in.
“I see.”
He had always found it strange.
Why had the Three Realms—which so desperately desired the martial arts of the Eight Emperors and Three Stars—never approached Seon Woojin?
From the beginning, the secret vaults of the Eight Emperors and Three Stars were scattered in various places and those places could only be entered by individuals born with specific One Hundred and Eight Stars.
‘Then perhaps… because I lack the One Hundred and Eight Stars, I cannot properly display the full power of Thirteen Guiding Energies…’
“It’s fine. I won’t tell anyone.”
So Okrim—mistaking his silence for worry that she might expose the Seon Woojin identity—thought he was concerned about that.
“I’m not worried about that. I trust you, Instructor So.”
Shaking his head, Bu Eunseol changed the subject.
“But who was it that destroyed your sect, Instructor So?”
“They didn’t tell me.”
So Okrim lowered her head.
“Probably because they feared I would seek revenge.”
“Then…”
“Yes. It must have been either an expert I cannot match with my current strength… or a force I cannot topple.”
Suppressing her grief, she calmly recounted the circumstances of her youngest grandfather Jeong Cheongja’s death.
“Then why hasn’t the Essence Three Realms built a massive force like the current Three Realms that dominate the martial world?”
Even if they were scattered, they were still a branch of the Three Realms.
Why hadn’t they gathered into one mighty power instead of deliberately remaining dispersed and inviting divide-and-conquer?
“What? How did you know there was more than one?”
Though she appeared rough and rugged on the outside, So Okrim possessed sharper intuition and superior intellect than anyone.
With that single remark, she had seen through that Bu Eunseol already knew the Essence Three Realms were not a single unified force.
“In truth, I already received such knowledge at a mysterious pond inside a Baekri vault.”
Bu Eunseol told her about the mysterious cave the Martial Soul Society had acquired at that time.
“The Baekri Family’s message?”
“Yes.”
Now it was Bu Eunseol’s turn to cross his arms and look at her suspiciously.
“If you belong to the Essence Three Realms, shouldn’t you already know that the Baekri Family left such a message?”
“I don’t know either.”
So Okrim swept her hair back with both hands as if clutching it.
“My grandfathers never once spoke of such things. If my youngest grandfather hadn’t transmitted that knowledge before dying, I still wouldn’t know.”
Trailing off, she shook her head.
“My grandfathers only ever researched martial arts and taught me. They never even mentioned the Three Realms.”
Her eyes were deeply sunken, suppressing pain.
The sect she had thought was merely an ordinary Taoist school had actually originated from a corrupted branch of the Three Realms that committed all manner of atrocities, and had been suddenly annihilated by an unknown culprit for reasons she still didn’t understand.
“Anyway, based on the knowledge Grandfather left me, I trained in hidden locations and searched for the Baekri Family’s secret vaults.”
“So did you find one?”
“Not yet, but I will soon. I’ve found some clues on my own.”
“Then the reason you came to ask me…”
“Yes. I think you might be… one of the people Grandfather mentioned—the ones related to the Baekri Family.”
So Okrim stared straight into Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
“Aren’t you?”
Bu Eunseol couldn’t answer immediately.
In the past, he had believed himself to be the Baekri Family’s descendant, of Baekri Muha’s bloodline.
But Ak Muryeong had asserted firmly that he was not the Baekri Family’s descendant.
And contrary to the words of Baekri Muha embedded in his mind, even after reaching high martial realms, no memories had returned.
Of course, if one argued that Baekri Muha’s martial arts had reached the Heaven’s Will Realm and that his current level was still insignificant by comparison, there would be no rebuttal.
“I am not.”
“You’re not?”
“Yes.”
Bu Eunseol spoke honestly.
“I once had that delusion as well. But it wasn’t true.”
He briefly recounted his past memories.
So Okrim, who had listened quietly, actually brightened.
“That’s great!”
“What is?”
“The important thing is that—whether you’re a shadow or not—you definitely have some connection to Baekri Muha, who was the Baekri Family’s descendant, right?”
“If you insist on phrasing it that strongly… I suppose it could be.”
“Then I’ll find it quickly, so let’s go together.”
So Okrim flashed her large teeth in a wide grin.
“Who knows? Maybe when we get there, you’ll turn out to be the Baekri Family’s descendant after all.”
Bu Eunseol gave a faint smile.
So Okrim could be somewhat intense, but she was always positive and never lost hope.
That bright personality of hers acted like a refreshing tonic for the somewhat dark Bu Eunseol.
“What do you say?”
She grinned.
“Even if you’re not, it’s fine. I just want to confirm the possibility.”
Seeing So Okrim beaming so cheerfully, Bu Eunseol unconsciously let a soft smile form.
“Very well.”
If they went to the vault, he would learn whether or not he carried the Baekri Family’s bloodline.
There was no reason to refuse going to a place that could provide that answer.
“But I have a request as well.”
“A request?”
“Yes.”
Recalling Yeop Hyocheon’s scheme this time, Bu Eunseol’s eyes gleamed.
So Okrim was already thoroughly versed in the martial arts of the Eight Emperors and Three Stars, and thanks to entering the Essence Three Realms’ vault, her martial prowess had surged dramatically.
If it was her, she could perfectly impersonate Seon Woojin and fool Yeop Hyocheon’s eyes.
***
Finishing his recollection, Bu Eunseol unfolded Swift Beyond Shadow to evade the pouring Thirteen Guiding Energies.
What the Chief Instructor truly valued was not victory or defeat in the fight, but the truth of whether these two people were the real Bu Eunseol and Seon Woojin.
Thus, as long as he displayed pure emptiness to prove his identity, that would suffice.
Shwaek!
So Okrim did not stop unleashing Thirteen Guiding Energies; she pressed Bu Eunseol with full power.
‘Tch.’
Thirteen Guiding Energies pierced through minute openings from unexpected angles with razor sharpness.
Unable to meet it head-on, Bu Eunseol twisted his body diagonally and barely evaded.
Slight smile.
Seeing this, Seon Woojin—no, So Okrim—gave a faint smile.
She enjoyed—more than Bu Eunseol—battles where blood and flesh burned; no, she craved the thrill of combat. She possessed the instincts of a warrior who danced on the battlefield—a battle maniac.
She intended to turn this into not a mere formal spar, but a proper duel with Bu Eunseol.
Oooong.
In that instant, ink-black fog rose in Bu Eunseol’s vision.
To block the formidable Thirteen Guiding Energies So Okrim was unleashing, he intended to fully deploy the Wishful True Binding.
Pa-at!
The black true energy Bu Eunseol poured out shattered into fragments and rained toward So Okrim.
Although he had not fully entered the demonic path—preventing him from manifesting it in the form of wall-shattering crescent blades like Yu Baek (or rather, Yu Seol)—he applied the mystery of Yeolha Great True Energy and unleashed hundreds of strands of true-energy fragments like hidden weapons.
Shwaaaaak!
A tearing sound that seemed to rip the eardrums rang out as a storm-like force whirled from So Okrim’s body and spread.
She too met Bu Eunseol’s attack head-on instead of dodging.
Kwa-rung!
With a thunderclap, the swarm of Wishful True Binding fragments that had been pouring like angry bees was swept into the storm and blasted skyward.
Ziiing.
While So Okrim swept away the Wishful True Binding hidden weapons in one go, Bu Eunseol gathered darkness in both hands once more, creating another storm of true energy.
Kwaaaaa!
When he thrust his hands forward again, this time pitch-black true energy burst forth in the form of writhing, living plants.
He had transformed Wishful True Binding once more.
Crash!
With the sound of shattering glass, the sharp Thirteen Guiding Energies So Okrim unleashed instantly crushed the black storm and true-energy blades Bu Eunseol had poured out.
Pa-pat.
Closing the distance again, pure-white force extended from her body like whips.
She had altered Thirteen Guiding Energies’ force into pure-white blade-like forms and targeted Bu Eunseol’s vital points.
Chwaak!
As close combat began, spiderweb-like forms spread from behind Bu Eunseol’s back.
He had waited for her approach and then unleashed the ultimate form of Wishful True Binding—releasing countless blades in a net-like pattern.
“Haaap!”
With a roar that shook the heavens, thousands of black and white gales collided between the two, beginning to form tangible true waves. The spreading light caused the sky to flicker between day and night; the ground trembled and seemed to split.
Crack. Craaack.
Finally, cracks began appearing in the strong energy barrier Yeop Hyocheon had placed around the training ground.
“Stop!”
At that moment Yeop Hyocheon let out a thunderous shout.
The cry spread in all directions with tremendous explosive pressure and resonance, like a lion’s roar.
Chok.
At the same time, the storm of true waves halted, and the two people who had been clashing right in front of each other froze.
If the spar had continued like this, both would have been gravely injured. Yeop Hyocheon had stopped the fight at the perfect moment.
“Let’s end it there.”
As Yeop Hyocheon stepped forward, Bu Eunseol and Seon Woojin glared at each other for a moment before slowly retreating.
Then, simultaneously, they cupped their hands.
“I learned a lot.”
“As did I.”
True to their status as the new generation representing both righteous and demonic paths, they exchanged polite salutes as if they had not just fought with murderous intent moments earlier.
“Will this satisfy you?”
So Okrim—playing the role of Seon Woojin—turned her head and asked Yeop Hyocheon.
“I am asking whether it meets the conditions the Chief Instructor specified.”
Yeop Hyocheon was speechless.
The battle between the two had been like another Demon Emperor facing a reborn Martial Emperor.
Every clash dimmed the heavens and crumbled the earth.
It was a flawless display perfectly befitting their known martial prowess and identities.
Grip.
Yeop Hyocheon clenched his fist so hard his face turned red and blue.
‘This was pointless…’
This information had come directly from powerful factions lurking within the Martial Alliance.
Unlike the Demon Emperor, who no longer paid attention to Bu Eunseol’s movements, Yeop Hyocheon had wanted—even a little—to keep Bu Eunseol’s range of actions within his grasp.
But this perfect battle had completely fallen outside his predictions.
At this rate… all the plans he had prepared would be thrown into disarray.
