Those who had colluded with the traitor Hyeok Ryeon-eung to frame Bu Eunseol—Punishment Hall Lord Yang Geung and several other Hall Lords—had their heads hung high above the main gate of Majeon.
They were the ones who had met Hyeok Ryeon-eung in person and plotted Bu Eunseol’s downfall.
Those who had been only indirectly involved kept their lives and positions, but from now on they would have to swear absolute loyalty to Bu Eunseol.
If they ever wavered, their heads could roll at any moment.
With this incident, Hyeok Ryeon-eung lost every faction he had painstakingly planted.
Worse, an atmosphere had formed where cooperating with him any further would mean utter ruin for one’s family and sect.
Hyeok Ryeon-eung no longer had any means—none at all—to touch Bu Eunseol.
“How in the world…”
Inside the Hwanu Pavilion, Hyeok Ryeon-eung shook his head in disbelief as he received the full report.
He had known from the start that this could be one of Bu Eunseol’s traps.
That was why he had stayed hidden and only verified the truth from afar. He had secured evidence that Bu Eunseol could never escape from: traces of martial arts that only the Alliance Master of the Martial Alliance himself could possibly use.
Yet that had turned out to be the martial arts of Human Demon Ak Muryeong?
“It was Illusion Upon Illusion?” Hyeok Ryeon-eung ground his teeth. “So that is why my Soul-Seizing Secret Art never worked on him.”
It was utterly unforeseeable.
That Ak Muryeong had clashed with the Heavenly Demon, and through Illusion Upon Illusion had created a secret technique capable of replicating the effects of the Heavenly Mirror Heart Sutra?
No one—not even Hyeok Ryeon-eung—could have predicted that.
“He deliberately laid a snare.”
Yet there were parts that still made no sense.
To inherit Ak Muryeong’s martial arts, one must enter the demonic path. But Bu Eunseol’s spirit had always remained in the Middle Way.
Had he stepped into the demonic path in the meantime?
And how on earth had he discovered every hall lord who had been cooperating with Hyeok Ryeon-eung?
BAM!
Hyeok Ryeon-eung smashed the rosewood table to splinters.
In the end, Bu Eunseol kept turning the impossible into reality—again and again.
“No… unless he never entered the demonic path at all. Is he still walking the Middle Way?”
A sudden thought struck Hyeok Ryeon-eung as his brows knit together.
As though reaching a decision, he picked up a brush and began writing a letter.
***
For the first time in a long while, Bu Eunseol convened a full assembly of the Death Shadow Corps Captains.
Even Seo Jinha and Soyo, who rarely showed themselves, were present.
Standing beside Seo Jinha was a stooped old man.
He was the variable Hyeok Ryeon-eung had never accounted for—and the key to this victory.
The Flying Demon, Tak Ilhon.
“You have done well.” Bu Eunseol smiled and praised Tak Ilhon’s merits.
The old man had recovered his inner energy and physique far faster than expected and completed his retraining in record time.
Above all, he had rendered enormous service this time: he had visited the hall lords of Majeon one by one, coaxing and threatening them until he uncovered every person connected to Hyeok Ryeon-eung and all related evidence.
The Hall Lords of Majeon were fearless warriors who treated their own lives lightly, yet to Tak Ilhon—the great thief and slaughterer who once terrorized the martial world—they were nothing more than half-grown brats.
He had also distinguished those who could be made loyal to Bu Eunseol from those who could not, adjusting the severity of punishment accordingly so that Bu Eunseol’s position would not be shaken by the purges.
“As you have heard from Unryong, Protector Tak will train the warriors of the Death Shadow Corps and assist Deputy Leader So with important missions.”
There was no official “Protector” position in the Death Shadow Corps, but Bu Eunseol had bestowed the title out of respect for the elderly Tak Ilhon.
“With a Protector joining us, the Death Shadow Corps truly feels like a miniature Majeon now!”
The captains accepted Tak Ilhon without the slightest discomfort.
To them, he was the greatest contributor who had cleared both Bu Eunseol’s name and their own.
Moreover, his bold, carefree personality matched theirs perfectly, so they naturally treated him as a respected elder.
“Now all that remains is to strike the sects Hyeok Ryeon-eung has poured massive funds into and his hidden strongholds.”
Once the meeting began, Tak Ilhon started reporting everything he had uncovered. He had tracked not only those who had cooperated with Hyeok Ryeon-eung, but every force connected to the man.
“The Blood Sea Demon Palace where the Flame Demon inmates are gathered, and the already-ruined Hwanu Pavilion.”
Investigating Hyeok Ryeon-eung after he had lost the protection of the Three Realms was not difficult.
Apart from the power of the Three Realms, Hyeok Ryeon-eung had personally trained and hidden the Flame Demon inmates. That place was none other than the Blood Sea Demon Palace—one of the Four Great Perilous Zones of the martial world, and a location with considerable bad blood between it and Bu Eunseol.
‘Bad blood is still bad blood.’
Bu Eunseol gave a wry smile.
In the past, the Blood Sea Demon Palace had repeatedly suffered humiliating defeats after provoking him, and its prestige had never recovered.
Now it had fallen under Hyeok Ryeon-eung’s banner to raise Flame Demon inmates.
In the end, they were fated to be exterminated by Bu Eunseol’s hand.
“However, contrary to common knowledge, the elite forces and scale of the Blood Sea Demon Palace are formidable. It would be wise to send not only the warriors of the Death Shadow Corps, but also several sects that support the Martial Soul Command Lord.”
At Tak Ilhon’s suggestion, the eyes of the captains gleamed.
“It’s been a while since we’ve tasted blood.”
The captains of the Death Shadow Corps had undergone brutal training and were veterans who had won countless battles.
They would never shy away from a fight where blood and flesh flew.
Yet Bu Eunseol said something unexpected.
“If it is that large, there may be no need for our Majeon to lift a finger.”
“Pardon?” When Tak Ilhon blinked, Bu Eunseol smiled faintly.
“Didn’t White Horse Temple and Hell’s Blood Fortress attend this Command Lord’s disciplinary hearing?” He flashed white teeth. “If they do not wish to be branded as Hyeok Ryeon-eung’s accomplices, they will naturally have to lend a hand.”
“You would send the White Horse Temple and Hell’s Blood Fortress?”
Yoo Unryong shook his head in astonishment.
“That is impossible. They would rather die than obey your orders.”
“They will never obey my orders. But they will obey the Chief Instructor’s orders.” Bu Eunseol explained calmly. “From now on, I will raise the suspicion that the White Horse Temple and Hell’s Blood Fortress appear to have close ties with Hyeok Ryeon-eung.”
“…”
“Then, through an official audit, I will request the Chief Instructor to investigate their connection to the Blood Sea Demon Palace.”
Yoo Unryong, who had been listening blankly, burst into loud laughter.
“So you will make the White Horse Temple and Hell’s Blood Fortress lead the attack on the Blood Sea Demon Palace themselves.”
“Exactly. They must have had direct or indirect ties to Hyeok Ryeon-eung.” Bu Eunseol snorted. “Otherwise, they would not have come to gloat, absolutely certain I would fall in that disciplinary hearing.”
“That is true.”
“They will have no grounds to refuse the audit, and in order to desperately deny any relation to Hyeok Ryeon-eung… they will have no choice but to wipe out the Blood Sea Demon Palace while crying bitter tears.”
“Heh heh heh.”
“Hahaha!”
All the captains roared with laughter.
“We can just sit back and watch the fire this time!”
“We’ll finally get to see how valiant the troops of White Horse Temple and Hell’s Blood Fortress really are!”
They clutched their stomachs and laughed for a long while.
Because of their connection to Hyeok Ryeon-eung, and because they had made an enemy of Bu Eunseol, the White Horse Temple and Hell’s Blood Fortress would now have to pay the corresponding price.
***
—The Blood Sea Demon Palace has been exterminated by the Martial Soul Command Lord.
Once again, the name Bu Eunseol shook the martial world.
It was said that Bu Eunseol, leading the elites of the White Horse Temple and Hell’s Blood Fortress, had annihilated the Blood Sea Demon Palace in a single strike.
—The Blood Sea Demon Palace was secretly manufacturing puppets. Upon discovering this, the Martial Soul Command Lord led the elites of the White Horse Temple and Hell’s Blood Fortress and wiped them out.
The White Horse Temple and Hell’s Blood Fortress were livid.
They had simply believed Hyeok Ryeon-eung’s intelligence and gone to watch that insolent Martial Soul Command Lord’s wings be cruelly broken. Instead, their ties to Hyeok Ryeon-eung had been exposed.
To prove they were not on the same side as the traitor who manufactured Flame Demon inmates—to be recognized as having no relation whatsoever…
They had been forced to attack the Blood Sea Demon Palace alongside Bu Eunseol.
—We did all the hard work, yet that bastard takes all the credit!
What enraged them even more was that they had done the destroying and suffered the casualties, yet all the merit and fame went to Bu Eunseol while they were treated like mere subordinates.
This was more humiliating than anything Bu Eunseol had ever done to them before.
—The Martial Soul Command Lord does not seem intent on walking the path of hegemony.
The reaction within the demonic faction split into two camps.
—Under his leadership, the demonic path will remain peaceful. Nothing will happen.
In truth, most demonic practitioners did not particularly care if the unorthodox sects or black path created puppets or refined corpses, as long as it did not threaten them directly.
Only the righteous faction had always opposed such things—because of the cruelty of human experimentation and the danger of indiscriminate attacks.
Yet Bu Eunseol, uncharacteristically for a demonic practitioner, immediately punished any place discovered manufacturing puppets. That meant almost no clashes with the righteous sects, and the demonic path would continue in relative peace.
—Then he is not the timber to unite the martial world under demonic rule?
On the other side, voices of regret rose.
The root of the demonic path was hegemony.
Every supreme master of the demonic faction had always regarded the unification of the martial world under demonic rule as his destiny. Yet Bu Eunseol only ever did what was right.
He showed no sign of wanting to overwhelm the righteous sects or achieve demonic dominion.
In fact, he kept weakening only demonic forces, so gradually some began to resent him.
Suppressed Demon Pavilion, grand meeting chamber of the Death Shadow Corps.
After returning from utterly exterminating the Blood Sea Demon Palace, they once again began discussing the future.
“Hyeok Ryeon-eung—that moldy old bastard—is now completely cornered.” Yoo Unryong swept his gaze across the room and spoke. “He has probably burrowed into some rat hole again. We won’t be able to find him for a while.”
All the captains, including Yoo Unryong, nodded.
Bu Eunseol had shattered every connection and faction Hyeok Ryeon-eung possessed. The man no longer had even a pawn he could use against Bu Eunseol. He would focus on recovery for the time being.
“We have all endured much hardship, and Protector Tak has now been officially registered with Majeon.”
At that moment, Won Semun pouted and suggested, “To celebrate his welcome, how about we all go to Jinhwan Tower tonight and drink until our noses crook?”
The captains instantly agreed.
Yoo Unryong shrugged at Bu Eunseol.
Bu Eunseol could only nod in resignation.
That night, the men of the Death Shadow Corps drank with Tak Ilhon until they were dead drunk.
If they were ordinary demonic practitioners, drinking with the man once called the Flying Demon would have been extremely uncomfortable.
After all, he was the great thief and slaughterer who had dyed the martial world in terror with his peerless movement and martial arts.
But the men of the Death Shadow Corps were fearless madmen who feared neither heaven nor earth. No matter what Tak Ilhon had been in the past, to them he was now Bu Eunseol’s subordinate and a comrade who shared their rice.
They treated him as casually as the old man next door.
Tak Ilhon, too, liked the unrestrained attitude and temperament of the captains. He drank and talked endlessly with the much younger men.
Bu Eunseol merely watched the noisy, boisterous scene in silence, steadily emptying his cup.
The drinking continued until dawn.
In the end, they crawled back to the Death Shadow Corps with splitting headaches only when the sun was high.
Afterward, Seo Jinha secretly returned to the Martial Alliance to resume his role as Seon Woojin.
Bu Eunseol remained in Majeon, handling various duties.
Drrrk.
It was another ordinary day. Having finished a meeting with the captains, Bu Eunseol returned to his office.
On the desk lay an unfamiliar letter.
A faint light flashed in his eyes as he looked at it.
‘So he has finally made up his mind.’
Even without opening it, Bu Eunseol knew who had sent it.
‘Hyeok Ryeon-eung.’
From the beginning, Bu Eunseol had suspected that Hyeok Ryeon-eung had fallen from grace within the Infinite Realm. To regain his position, the man had no choice but to kill him.
But with plan after plan failing, he had lost all followers and remaining forces.
In that case, the only card left to play was one.
A solitary duel.
He would challenge Bu Eunseol to a life-or-death battle, win, and then return to the Infinite Realm.
Rip.
When Bu Eunseol tore open the envelope, sharp calligraphy like a sword’s edge appeared.
—Fifteen days from now, when the moon rises, on Hell Island.
As expected, it was a direct challenge from Hyeok Ryeon-eung.
Bu Eunseol stared at the letter for a long while, then gave a contemptuous snort.
There was no need to accept such an invitation.
Hyeok Ryeon-eung was cornered; he would use any means without hesitation. There was no reason to dance to the desperate schemes of a trapped rat.
“Heh heh heh.” Yet as he read on, a low, hollow laugh escaped Bu Eunseol’s lips.
“Yes, if he did not come out like this, he would not be Hyeok Ryeon-eung.”
—If you avoid the duel, that is fine as well. This old man will simply vanish forever.
In return, you will never learn the truth about your origins.
At the end of the letter was clear provocation.
“My origins.”
If he were merely trying to lure him with lies, there were countless falsehoods he could invent. He would not have specifically used the word “origins.”
‘That means the Infinite Realm knows something about my birth that even I do not.’
Bu Eunseol stroked his chin, eyes narrowing.
‘Hell Island will undoubtedly be riddled with deadly traps.’
Hyeok Ryeon-eung’s specialty was the terrifying Soul-Seizing Secret Art that even apex masters could not guard against. Yet knowing it was ineffective against Bu Eunseol, he had still sent this challenge—he must have prepared countermeasures.
‘I have no choice but to go.’
Bu Eunseol decided to go to Hell Island. To learn the truth of his birth, who knew how many more years he would have to wait otherwise?
Moreover, he had to avenge So Jamyeong.
So Jamyeong, former leader of the Nine Deaths Squad, who had stepped from the shadows into the light for his sake.
He had devoted his life to Bu Eunseol out of pure loyalty, even when there was no need.
Remembering So Jamyeong’s final moments, Bu Eunseol’s eyes reddened.
For vengeance, no matter what dangers lurked on Hell Island, he would find Hyeok Ryeon-eung and personally sever his throat.
“No one must know…”
The captains of the Death Shadow Corps would surely oppose a solitary duel with Hyeok Ryeon-eung.
He would go quietly, telling no one.
Using business at the Lower Four Ports as an excuse, he even had Soyo remain in Majeon, then set out into the martial world alone.
He immediately hired a boat and headed for Hell Island.
Standing tall on the deck, facing the sea wind, his emotions were indescribably complex.
It felt like only yesterday that he had come to Hell Island wearing the Flame Snake Robe. Yet now he returned as Majeon’s designated successor, to hunt the very man who had once overseen the Ten Demon Warriors Plan—Hyeok Ryeon-eung.
Tak.
The boat soon reached the shores of Hell Island.
Stepping onto the land, Bu Eunseol took a deep breath and surveyed the surroundings.
When the Ten Demon Warriors Plan had been in progress, Hell Island had been filled with buildings and countless martial artists—a gathering place of the demonic path’s most brilliant talents.
Now it was nothing but a desolate, uninhabited wasteland; not a single trace of former human presence remained.
“…” Gazing at the bleak landscape, Bu Eunseol’s eyes deepened.
Hell Island, harsh and lonely.
This was a place he would never forget until the day he died.
Here he had met Sa Woo and learned the foundations of martial arts and the Beast Way.
Here he had met Instructor Jingak of the Hwa Wu Sword Sect and grasped the framework of
swordsmanship.
Here Cheon Ungwang had transmitted the Unmatched Thunderbolt Form to him, and Dan Cheonyang had taught him the theory of Ascending Swordsmanship.
And here he had first met the lifelong friends he could always rely on.
And…
—Halt!
As he recalled the past, the roar of a lion seemed to echo in Bu Eunseol’s ears.
At the very end of the Ten Demon Warriors Plan, he had fallen into an inescapable mortal crisis. In that moment, Hyeok Ryeon-eung had broken the assembly’s rules and thrown away his own position to save him.
Of course, now he must regret that decision to the marrow of his bones… but to Bu Eunseol, it was an eternally unforgettable memory.
Step, step.
Bu Eunseol slowly walked deeper into Hell Island.
There was no need to extend his super-senses wide.
He instinctively knew where Hyeok Ryeon-eung waited.
The very place where he had been saved.
The wide clearing beneath the rocky mountain where the final bloody battle of the Ten Demons Transformation assembly had taken place.
There, atop that clearing, stood a giant old man with hair flowing like a lion’s mane.
Former Hyeok Lord of Majeon, Royal Tutor of the Wei King’s Mansion.
In truth, a core figure of the Three Realms and the Dharma Demon Reverend.
Hyeok Ryeon-eung.
“You came.”
His eyes had lost much of their former confidence, and his frame seemed somehow diminished.
He had once tried to turn Bu Eunseol into a puppet using his supreme Soul-Seizing Secret Art.
When that failed, he had attempted to destroy his intelligence network and strip him of successor status.
Every attempt had ended in failure.
As a result, he was now a man powerless within the Three Realms.
“It has been a long time.” Bu Eunseol greeted him calmly.
Hyeok Ryeon-eung wore a strange expression.
Bu Eunseol’s eyes and voice contained no anger, no hostility—just as they had been when they first met in the Wei King’s Mansion.
“Do you not hate me?”
“I do. But that hatred is not personal.”
“That cannot be. This old man has tried to kill you many times.”
Bu Eunseol replied evenly. “Such things are merely the everyday tea and rice of the martial world.”
Everyday tea and rice—something as common as mixing rice into tea.
“If you had not killed Lord So Jamyeong… I would never have intended to take your life.”
“What?”
Hyeok Ryeon-eung looked baffled.
“So you came here solely to avenge So Jamyeong?”
“Exactly.”
“…I see.”
Only then did Hyeok Ryeon-eung truly feel it.
Bu Eunseol cared nothing for fame, status, or power.
He desired only his chosen goal—nothing else.
“He charges forward, seeing nothing but the goal he has set…” Hyeok Ryeon-eung heaved a turbid sigh and shook his head.
“Had I known you were such a man… I would never have saved you on Hell Island.”
“Do you regret it?”
Hyeok Ryeon-eung drew a deep breath and spoke his true feelings.
“Strangely… I do not.”
It was odd.
He should be an enemy who must be killed at all costs. From the standpoint of the Infinite Realm, Bu Eunseol was an irreconcilable great foe.
Yet Hyeok Ryeon-eung did not hate him.
After all, he himself was a supreme master of the demonic path who had dominated an era. He did not wish to kill a genius like Bu Eunseol—one so rare that even walking the martial world in iron shoes for a lifetime would not yield another.
“Bu Eunseol.”
After a deep sigh, Hyeok Ryeon-eung spoke with sincere emotion.
“Come to our Realm.”
“…”
“With your talent, in ten years—no, five—you could surpass the Heavenly Emperor and even the Heavenly Deity.”
“Surpass them?”
“In practice, you would be the Realm Master. You would control everything in the Infinite Realm.”
Bu Eunseol narrowed his eyes.
In the end, that meant there existed someone above even the Heavenly Emperor and the Heavenly Deity—someone with a different identity.
“Interesting. You would have me join the Three Realms and slaughter innocent people?”
“That is your misconception.” Hyeok Ryeon-eung shook his head firmly.
“Our Realm—the Infinite Realm—is doing what is right.”
“Since when is cultivating Human Flowers by draining people’s essence blood, creating puppets, and planting spies in every sect considered ‘right’?”
“To achieve a righteous purpose, one cannot always use only righteous means.” Hyeok Ryeon-eung declared with a resolute face. “Such talk is nothing but idealism.”
Then, with utmost seriousness, he continued as if persuading,
“If sacrificing a hundred innocent commoners is necessary to stop a massacre that would kill tens of thousands, can you call that evil?”
Bu Eunseol had no interest in Hyeok Ryeon-eung’s thoughts.
But the true purpose of the Infinite Realm—he absolutely had to confirm it.
“So cultivating Human Flowers and creating puppets is to save even more people?”
“Precisely.”
“What is your goal?”
“Our Realm merely wishes to preserve the martial world. That is why we do such things.”
‘Preserve.’
A strange thought suddenly struck Bu Eunseol.
The Absolute Demonic Blade Project.
It had all begun because the old monk Moryun had prophesied the extinction of the martial world.
Yet under the pretext of protecting the martial world, they had deceived and kidnapped innocent children.
Could the Infinite Realm also be carrying out a plan similar to the Absolute Demonic Blade Project, all in the name of saving the martial world?
