Gu Hongcheong’s pupils dilated as he spotted the rain of radiant light points.
The shadows of his Nine Severing Flash Hand had vanished, and a fierce surge of energy from the sky pierced toward his throat.
‘What is this…?’ He couldn’t even discern how the technique had shifted.
Flash!
With a faint glow, the fierce energy grazed past Gu Hongcheong, disappearing without a trace.
“…” The two stood motionless, staring at each other as if nothing had happened.
A long silence followed.
“You were hiding your true skill.” Gu Hongcheong was the first to break the silence. “To prevent me from predicting your technique changes.”
Until now, Bu Eunseol had only unleashed the demonic arts of Annihilation, not Supreme Heavenly Flow, to keep Gu Hongcheong from anticipating his moves, waiting for the critical moment like a beast stalking prey.
Spurt!
Suddenly, blood sprayed from Gu Hongcheong’s shoulder. The thick, red blood fell to the ground, forming a crimson flower.
“But how unfortunate,” Gu Hongcheong said, baring sharp canines as he looked at the blood flowing from his shoulder. “Your critical strike missed.”
Bu Eunseol’s Lament of the River should have pierced his throat, but the sharp sword energy only grazed his shoulder. In that fleeting moment, he had moved with all his might to evade it.
“…” As if he hadn’t anticipated missing, Bu Eunseol stood like a statue.
Hum.
Gu Hongcheong extended his left hand, and a strange vibration echoed. His hand gradually turned silver, as if made of metal rather than flesh, a manifestation of his inner energy reaching the pinnacle of Nine Severing Flash Hand.
“Now die!” With a thunderous shout, hundreds of silver hand energies surged toward Bu Eunseol’s entire body.
Had he given up?
As the sharp hand shadows targeted his vital points, Bu Eunseol lowered his head and closed his eyes.
Tremble.
His black sword began to quiver like a freshly caught fish.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
White light radiated from Bu Eunseol’s body, precisely striking the incoming silver beams. The absolute defensive sword form, Radiant Sword Control, reacting to killing intent, was unleashed.
Clang! Clang!
The clash of sword and hand energies produced a deafening metallic ring.
“What?” Gu Hongcheong jumped in shock as his ultimate technique was blocked.
He hadn’t imagined Bu Eunseol could counter the intricate Nine Severing Flash Hand at such close range.
‘This is what I waited for.’ Bu Eunseol’s eyes opened, radiating brilliant light.
He had anticipated Lament of the River’s failure. A technique that failed against Kwang Yeon couldn’t possibly hit Gu Hongcheong, who was far stronger.
‘To perfectly execute Lament of the River, I need close range and an unexpected situation.’ Enlightened by Kwang Yeon’s words, Bu Eunseol had meditated to refine the technique’s flaws.
Extreme Heaven Realm.
It transcended physical limits and allowed control over fleeting moments and spatial domains through the spirit, perceiving an opponent’s martial arts, movements, and principles as if looking down from the heavens.
Without a moment of carelessness, Bu Eunseol couldn’t land a strike on Geul Wang. During meditation, he realized Gu Hongcheong was a master who used his hands as weapons.
If he could seize a moment of assured victory at close range, when Gu Hongcheong was overconfident, he could land Lament of the River.
A crack in the spirit.
Geul Wang was undeniably a superior master. To defeat him, more than superior techniques, Bu Eunseol needed to shatter his spirit, creating a fleeting gap. This realization was possible because he hadn’t mastered the Emotion-Severing Secret.
Flash!
Having deflected Nine Severing Flash Hand with Radiant Sword Control, Bu Eunseol’s black sword gleamed again.
It was an unavoidable timing and speed.
Thud!
With a dull sound, the sword’s tip pierced Gu Hongcheong’s chest.
Grip.
Gu Hongcheong clutched the sword, but it had already penetrated a foot deep.
Lament of the River had finally struck true.
“Ugh…” But then, something astonishing happened.
Despite being pierced through the Zhongfu acupoint, which should immobilize him, Gu Hongcheong struck Bu Eunseol’s chest with Dragon-Subduing Palm using his right hand. The sudden attack, with his sword caught in Gu Hongcheong’s left hand, prevented Radiant Sword Control from activating.
‘I can’t dodge!’
Buzz!
A faint golden light shimmered around Bu Eunseol. Facing an unavoidable attack, he forcibly unleashed Wishful True Binding again.
Boom!
With an explosion, Bu Eunseol was thrown back ten paces.
Hiss.
Blood poured from his mouth as he slid back, still gripping the sword.
Thanks to partially activating Wishful True Binding, he avoided death, but that was all. His vision blurred, and each breath felt like his body was being torn apart.
Forcing Wishful True Binding repeatedly seemed to fill his mind with a sickening fog.
“Pfft.” As Bu Eunseol spat another clot of blood, Gu Hongcheong smiled with satisfaction.
“You didn’t know I mastered the Soft Hedgehog Secret.” His skin was pale, his eyes burning with blue flames. “I’ll take you to the underworld with me.”
He looked like a centuries-old demonic spirit possessing a human body.
‘Soft Hedgehog Secret…’ Bu Eunseol realized why Gu Hongcheong remained unscathed despite being pierced.
Soft Hedgehog Secret.
A lost ultimate technique of the Beggar Sect.
At the moment of a fatal wound, it severs the eight extraordinary meridians, turning the user into a half-corpse state, triggering a brief resurgence of life force—Return of Light.
This technique used that force for a mutual-destruction counterattack.
“I’ll kill you within a quarter of an hour!” Gu Hongcheong’s immense energy allowed him to sustain life beyond half a quarter using the Soft Hedgehog Secret.
Swish!
Nine Severing Flash Hand, infused with all his life force, turned the world into a field of hand shadows. If they struck, Bu Eunseol’s body would vanish without a trace.
‘Why didn’t you learn it?’ Time seemed to freeze as a strange resonance echoed in Bu Eunseol’s mind.
‘Why did you reject the Emotion Severing Secret? Mastering it would’ve ensured an easy victory.’ Wishful True Binding allowed free transformation of tangible energy, but required full mastery of the Emotion Severing Secret.
Bu Eunseol had rejected it, unable to erase the emotions tied to Bu Zhanyang’s legacy.
‘Emotions? What use are they?’ The voice in his mind was cold, devoid of feeling—likely his own voice, stripped of all emotion.
‘If you die here, they’re meaningless.’
True.
If he died here, at life’s final station, what use were emotions?
Boom!
Gu Hongcheong’s Nine Severing Flash Hand rained down on Bu Eunseol.
“What…?” Gu Hongcheong’s confident eyes widened in shock.
Nine Severing Star Annihilation Form.
This technique, containing all his energy, should have reduced Bu Eunseol to dust. Yet he stood calmly, as if bathed in a gentle breeze.
“What is that…?” A round aura enveloped Bu Eunseol’s body.
Crackle.
Black lightning sparked from it, instantly nullifying the Nine Severing Star Annihilation Form.
“Impossible!” Gu Hongcheong roared, unleashing Dragon-Subduing Palm at Bu Eunseol’s head.
Boom!
The strike sent Gu Hongcheong’s body reeling back instead.
“Urgh.” Spitting black blood, he stared at Bu Eunseol in disbelief.
“What was that?” He saw it now.
The moment his palm struck, a powerful black energy enveloped his arms, repelling him.
“What is it?!” Instead of answering, Bu Eunseol approached.
Step, step.
His slow approach felt like death incarnate, coming to consume Gu Hongcheong.
Swish.
Reaching him, Bu Eunseol extended his arm. Black energy pierced Gu Hongcheong’s meridians.
“Argh!” He screamed in agony, dignity forgotten, as an invisible hand seemed to grip his tattered meridians. “Ugh…” The pain was excruciating, yet he could breathe.
Bu Eunseol’s black energy forcibly sealed his torn meridians, prolonging his life.
“What are you doing?”
Bu Eunseol looked down coldly. “You need to stay alive to feel the pain.” His emotionless voice continued, “Death ends everything.”
He was extending Gu Hongcheong’s life to inflict suffering.
A death god.
To Gu Hongcheong, Bu Eunseol, cloaked in black radiance, seemed like a death god devoid of emotion.
“You’ve fallen to demonic obsession.” Gu Hongcheong instantly discerned his state. “Learning a strange demonic heart method drove you to obsession.”
Demonic obsession.
Two conflicting natures had always coexisted in Bu Eunseol’s heart: his innate coldness, like eternal ice, and the human warmth Bu Zhanyang instilled.
In the crisis, repeatedly using the Emotion Severing Secret shook his spirit’s foundation, plunging him into obsession.
“Shut up.”
Hiss!
As Bu Eunseol intensified the black energy, Gu Hongcheong’s body began to wither like a skeleton.
Using Wishful True Binding, he forcibly expelled Gu Hongcheong’s inner energy, causing pain far worse than losing his dantian.
“Argh!” Writhing in agony, Gu Hongcheong saw Bu Eunseol smile.
His eyes were pitch-black, and a world-shattering aura swirled around him. Demonic obsession had erased his cold nature, turning him into a cruel demon.
“Ugh…” Tearing his clothes, Gu Hongcheong’s once-muscular body was now emaciated from energy loss.
“Ugh.” Curling up, his bony spine protruded.
‘Seol-ah, can’t sleep?’
Thud.
Seeing the skeletal back, Bu Eunseol’s eyes trembled. As a child, knee pain kept him awake at dawn, and he’d see that broad, dry back.
‘Let Grandpa carry you. That’ll help you sleep.’ On that back, Bu Zhanyang’s kind smile appeared.
Tremble.
Clutching his forehead, Bu Eunseol shook in pain. Recalling Bu Zhanyang’s warmth briefly restored his clarity.
“Ugh.” Thick veins bulged on his face.
No matter how he tried, a black fog clouded his vision, like being trapped in a swamp. Yet, Bu Zhanyang’s gentle smile and warm, sour scent lingered.
‘Become a blade.’ The kind grandfather’s voice turned solemn, becoming Yeop Hyocheon’s, the Demon Emperor’s.
‘To lead this sect, erase concepts like camaraderie or bonds.’ It shifted to the colorless, mystical voice of the Demon Emperor.
‘They’ll only burden your path.’
‘Was it planned?’ A flash crossed his mind.
Was acquiring the Emotion-Severing Secret not chance, but an arrangement by the Demon Emperor or Yeop Hyocheon to forge him into a sharp blade?
‘Thought you could control me?’
Crack.
Clenching his fists, red bloodlight replaced the black energy in his eyes.
‘No more…’ Bu Eunseol fought the Emotion-Severing Secret gripping his spirit.
‘I won’t be manipulated!’
Boom! Boom!
Shockwaves of energy erupted from his body as his spirit battled the secret, affecting his physical form.
Spurt.
Black blood dripped from his mouth.
His eyes cleared, and the black energy around him faded. He had escaped demonic obsession on his own.
“Escaping demonic obsession…” Gu Hongcheong, leaning against a rock, gasped in disbelief.
Even martial arts masters fell irreparably to demonic obsession, yet Bu Eunseol not only sensed it but escaped unaided?
“Truly…” Panting, Gu Hongcheong sighed. “A lucky bastard.”
Bu Eunseol shook his head. “Not luck.” Standing tall, he declared, “The supreme martial arts I’ve trained, the trials I’ve endured, the insights gained through battles with death—all reside in my body and spirit.”
In crisis, they became a guiding light.
“Urgh.” Gu Hongcheong vomited black blood.
Using the Soft Hedgehog Secret, his body was already a corpse. Bu Eunseol’s black energy had sustained him, but its absence meant death.
“Dying by a brat like you is regrettable…” As death approached, his eyes dimmed, yet a smile curled his lips.
“But this means Haepung won’t become leader either. Heh heh.” Chuckling hoarsely, he said, “He’ll face blame for dealing with a demonic sect member and betraying me.”
His lifelong dream was to lead the Beggar Sect.
Haepung’s betrayal crushed it.
He hated Haepung more than Bu Eunseol.
“Don’t get cocky,” he said lowly. “Your skill just touched the Extreme Heaven Realm. Killing me will make you a target for those seeking the Four Gods and Seven Kings’ title. You’ll die. Haha!” Cursing, he laughed heartily. “I die, Haepung loses leadership, and you’ll never claim the Four Gods and Seven Kings’ seat…”
With that, his pupils stilled.
Thud.
Geul Wang, Gu Hongcheong, who terrorized the martial world, fell dead.
“…” Even in death, he glared at Bu Eunseol with a cold smile.
‘You’ll die soon, chased by those seeking the Four Gods and Seven Kings!’ His words echoed in Bu Eunseol’s ears.
“That won’t happen,” he said coldly, staring at the corpse. “I desire nothing.”
Unlike Gu Hongcheong, Bu Eunseol sought neither fame nor power, pursuing martial arts with serene dedication.
The confident smile on Gu Hongcheong’s lips vanished, as if his soul heard Bu Eunseol’s words before departing.
