Boom!
Bu Eunseol, who deployed his movement technique, moved while following the faintly spreading scent with his eyes closed.
Unlike other poison users, even though he had never learned poison arts, he had broken out of the limitations of the Poison Saint. Even the poison essence within his body had vanished, and he could freely create poison according to the surrounding environment.
The poison he secretly administered to Nariya this time was a scent poison that spreads a distinctive odor even from dozens of li away, and the Sleeping Soul Powder which causes one to lose consciousness before long.
Fortunately, because the Spirit Odor Grass, which possesses a distinctive odor, and the Sleeping Soul Root, which serves as a material for the Sleeping Soul Powder, were scattered all over the ground in this vicinity, there was no problem at all in creating such a poison.
Rumble.
Bu Eunseol, who had been running for a long time, stopped his qinggong when a reed field came into view.
The spreading scent had ended.
She was clearly here.
Swoosh.
A desolate wind blew.
The reed field was dyed in a gray color from which no vitality could be found, like the stiffened fur of a beast after it died.
"Hmm."
The smell of the air mixed with the scent poison was strangely disparate. Instead of the fishy smell of soil and the sweetness of grass, a fishy blood scent and the rusty smell of old metal were damply mixed together.
As he stepped into the reed forest with weight in his step, the cool sensation of mud was felt.
The moisture-laden mud was as if the cool clutches of countless resentful ghosts were dragging his feet downward.
'She did not lose consciousness.'
Nariya had not collapsed in the reed field after losing consciousness, but had unfolded a technique in a perfectly fine state.
'It means that even if she dies, she will absolutely not reveal the stronghold.'
Bu Eunseol could instinctively sense that Nariya was closely related to Chu So and knew his stronghold. That was why he had secretly administered the Sleeping Soul Scent, yet she did not lose consciousness.
Conversely, she had laid out a death trap while hiding in this reed field.
Suddenly, the earth began to vomit a low vibration.
At first, it was a minute trembling that was difficult to detect, but it spread into a heavy thumping like a beating heart.
Sssss.
Along with a chilling sound like crumbling grains of sand, the reed field was engulfed in the blackness of the abyss in an instant.
They were objects far too bizarre to be called insects.
As the insects rushed forward, not to mention the reeds, even the solid rocks in the surroundings were crumbling down like acid rain.
Bubbling.
Along with a sound as if pouring boiling water, a swarm of pitch-black insects rushed toward Bu Eunseol like a surging tide. Not only did they fly around, but they also dug under his feet and tried to cover his entire body.
Flash!
Bu Eunseol began to shake off the insects by unfolding a sword method but the numbers were too great. Furthermore, because their size was so small, they artfully dug into the minute gaps of the sword movements.
In the end, he raised his internal energy and created a circular true qi barrier.
Sizzle.
However, the deadly poison of the insects, which melts even rocks, was melting away even Bu Eunseol's steel-like protective true qi barrier.
If he had been an ordinary martial person, trapped in an insect army where neither sword methods nor protective true qi were of use, he would have lost his life in an instant.
But these creatures chose the wrong opponent.
Veeeing.
The true qi barrier created by Bu Eunseol gradually turned red.
Yeolha Great True Power.
The most intense extreme yang martial art under heaven was unfolded along with the protective true qi.
The pouncing insects began to melt away in an instant.
No matter how solid an insect is, it could not block the extreme yang true qi that can melt even solid iron.
The insects rushed forward endlessly, but Bu Eunseol's internal cultivation power was at a limitless level. Even if they pounced not for a brief moment but for the entire day, his internal cultivation power would not dry up.
Flash, boom!
In the end, the reed field became a heap of charcoal, and the insects that were pouring from all directions also disappeared.
"To think she can imbue a technique onto insects."
Bu Eunseol, who was looking at the insects visible among the heaps of charcoal, clicked his tongue. Amazingly, she had cast a technique using actually existing insects.
"If you do not come out, I shall go to you."
Screech, flash!
As he deployed a harmonization technique without delay, the surrounding landscape of one side of the reed field began to melt away like taffy.
"What is this."
Within the melting landscape, when the hand seals were formed, the appearance of a woman in black clothes who was pouring out black energy was visible.
It was Nariya.
She could not hide her bewildered expression.
This Transmitting Insect Boundary of the Golden Crow and Sun was a technique of the True Demon family that couldn’t be blocked by any martial arts, and even if an incredible expert appears, they should be able to endure for at least two hours.
Yet to tear it down in an instant in less than a brief moment?
"Were you waiting for reinforcements?"
Bu Eunseol, who was looking at Nariya's fierce face, let out a nasal sound.
"Well they’re not coming."
He looked down at her with a cold gaze.
"An individual of Chu So's caliber lays out plans with an emphasis on strategy; if he intended to send reinforcements, he would have appeared from the very beginning."
Nariya also knew that fact.
It was merely that since the Twelve Guests were something Chu So completed by putting in effort for twenty years, she thought he would not just watch them be ruined idly.
"It seems you already know."
Bu Eunseol spoke calmly, as if sensing the anxiety inside Nariya's mind.
"That he sent you while knowing you would fail."
Nariya bit her lips firmly.
She too had been continuously thinking, 'Could it be that Chu So sent me to a place of death?'
But she believed.
No, she wanted to believe.
That it would definitely not be such an intention.
"It does not matter whether you know or not."
Nariya spoke coldly.
"Because you will die here."
"I originally did not kill women."
Bu Eunseol spoke solemnly.
"But if they touch my people, there is no exception."
"What do you want me to do."
"Tell me the place where Chu So is."
In fact, he had endured a lot during this time.
Chu So tried to harm Gongsun Dankyung, and tried to assassinate her.
What was unforgivable above all else was that he stretched his hand out to the Hwa Wu Sword Sect and turned Master Jingak into a monster.
He had wanted to find him and deliver a well-deserved punishment since a long time ago, but because even Han Sangja had not found his tracks until now.
But this woman was a shrine maiden of the True Demon family and knew Chu So's whereabouts… so he could absolutely never miss this opportunity.
"Do you think I will tell you?"
"Before long, you will cry out and beg."
A bloodstain harbored within Bu Eunseol's pupils.
"Begging me to please let you tell his tracks."
"Why are you trying to kill him?"
"Because he cannot be forgiven."
And he unleashed a finger strike to fix her thirty-six major acupoints.
"Even if I have to mobilize everything I can, I will beat that person to death."
If Nariya had tried to kill him, Bu Eunseol would absolutely not have tortured her.
But Nariya tried to kill Seo Jinha and the Supreme Corps, and, in fact, had almost succeeded.
If so, it meant there was a possibility she would kill his people in the future as well.
Using whatever method, he intended to certainly find out the whereabouts of Chu So, who could be called the culprit of this matter.
Crackle.
Faint cracks appeared on Nariya's body.
Bu Eunseol had created and injected the Smiling Underworld Dragon Muscle, which was dozens of times more toxic than the true words used in Buddhism to make one speak the truth, called the executioner's hand, the most terrible torture art under heaven.
But Nariya glared at Bu Eunseol without even blinking an eye.
'Even though she did not learn martial arts, she perfectly controls her physical body.'
As Nariya glared at him with a clear mind, a cold radiance exploded from Bu Eunseol's pupils.
"You cast a technique to control your senses. I shall tear that down first."
Veeeing.
A bright yellow radiance spread within his pupils.
Illusion Upon Illusion.
Using the core of the most powerful mind-binding martial art under heaven, he intended to crush her mind and obtain the information.
As her gaze met Bu Eunseol's, Nariya's gaze turned transparent.
Humans read the opponent's expression and grasp their emotional state through the eyes. In other words, merely meeting the gaze automatically causes a reaction in the brain and emits unique brain waves.
Illusion Upon Illusion was a secret art that synchronized the brain waves of the opponent whose gaze was met with that of the caster, placing their execution under perfect control.
Before anyone knew it, Bu Eunseol entered Nariya's mind.
In the surroundings, distorted and deformed structures rose up in a disorderly fashion.
Iron towers that seemed as if made of bones rose as if to pierce the sky, yet at some moment a flash gleamed, and they soon crumbled into fine dust. Below the ground, irregular vibrations echoed, frozen water droplets drifted in the empty air, and within the cracked earth, flames that seemed ready to melt the entire world were formed.
'Sadness and anger.'
Bu Eunseol instinctively sensed that the water droplets and flames were the sadness and anger that filled her mind.
'How can a person's emotions consist of only sadness and anger?'
Something was strange.
No matter how much he searched, in this desolate place, there was no information to be found.
'Does that mean she’s been protecting her senses for a long time?'
Like a martial person who trained their mind for a long time, even though she was exposed to Illusion Upon Illusion, she was perfectly controlling her own mind.
Step, step.
Looking down at the bright red flames formed inside the ground, he calmly walked forward.
With every step he moved, it felt as if a black hand was created in the darkness and stretched toward his ears. As he used the power of Illusion Upon Illusion, the surrounding landscape was conversely twisting in a bizarre fashion.
This kind of landscape could not be a normal execution state.
She had already foreseen that Bu Eunseol would use a mind-binding secret art, and carving a technique into her own mind, she had prepared a meticulous trap and had been waiting for that moment.
Crash.
But Illusion Upon Illusion was not called the number one mind secret art under heaven for no reason.
As Bu Eunseol perceived that a technique akin to a trap was laid out inside Nariya's execution, a black door was created far away.
As if it were an entrance to hell, a shape like a demon opening its mouth along with fragments of light was carved.
That place was precisely the door capable of entering the real Nariya's execution.
Staring fixedly at the entrance, Bu Eunseol flashed his eyes.
If it were an ordinary martial person, no matter how much confidence they had in mind secret arts, they would not have entered inside there.
Because if a mind-binding secret art fails, its backlash returns.
'If one does not risk danger, there is nothing that can be obtained.'
He entered inside without hesitation.
As he went inside, an boundlessly black space unfolded.
"It is too deep."
Bu Eunseol deployed his movement technique and ran forward.
How long did he walk?
Faint stars were unfolded on the ceiling, so it was a feeling as if standing firmly inside a massive universe.
Clack, clack.
Suddenly, along with a sound like walking on marble with wooden shoes, a black shadow was visible far away.
It was Nariya.
"You are truly strong."
The appearance of Bu Eunseol viewed from within the mind was a shape where golden radiance whipped around.
He was not engulfed at all by the sadness or anger that she caught. Furthermore, seeing his martial arts that shatter the Twelve Guests… if ten years passed, there would be no person under heaven to face him.
"This is your last opportunity. Report in detail where Chu So is and what he is doing."
And he added.
"If you do so, I will not kill you."
Those words were sincere.
Anyway, the culprit is not Nariya but Chu So. Rather than disposing of a single subordinate underneath, he had to unroot the definitive root.
"Martial Soul Command Lord."
Nariya spoke in a low voice.
"If an individual like you is alive, it will become an obstacle to my Brother achieving the great cause."
"Brother?"
Around the time Bu Eunseol widened his eyes.
Billow, billow.
From Nariya's eyes, a resentment darker and deeper than darkness burned up.
'Ah.'
Bu Eunseol, who finally grasped the entire situation, widened his eyes.
He thought Nariya was merely a close associate or minion of Chu So, yet she harbored romantic feelings toward Chu So and truly loved him. But reaching a situation where there was no longer any hope, she intended to throw her own life to drag him down with her.
"We are leaving together."
Simultaneously with a sharp cry, rumble.
The universe-like landscapes began to crumble while slowly breaking into pieces.
The light disappeared and the ground was melting like water.
'She committed suicide.'
Bu Eunseol instinctively knew that the Nariya of reality had severed her heart pulse and committed suicide.
Due to that, her mind was vanishing in an instant.
'It is dangerous.'
What if he could not escape this place? Bu Eunseol's consciousness would also vanish into the eternal darkness along with her mind.
'I must stop it.'
Veeeing.
From the palm of Bu Eunseol who stretched out his hand, a pure white light flowed out.
The landscape of the crumbling and melting mind stopped for a moment.
He had stopped the vanishing of the mind for a moment with the ability to reconstruct the imagery world. Nevertheless, that power was not perfect, so the ground was melting away little by little.
'There is no time.'
Bu Eunseol ran rapidly toward the exit again.
But this place was not the imagery world but Nariya's mind. The speed of crumbling was much faster than Bu Eunseol reconstructing the mind.
Rumble.
In the end, the ground was turning off boundlessly, creating a bottomless pit.
Flash!
Deploying the land-flying technique, he ran rapidly toward the entrance he came through.
But the surroundings of his body were already filling up with a black liquid before he knew it.
The ceiling and the ground disappeared, and the whole world was filling up with a black liquid.
No matter how rapidly he flew, the liquid began to cover his body in an instant.
Trickle, trickle.
Before he knew it, the liquid began to rise up to below Bu Eunseol's neck.
Bu Eunseol raised his strength with his full power.
Bubbling.
But his body became completely submerged in the black liquid.
* * *
A quiet night where even a single star killed the deep evening.
Within that deep silence, a drizzling rain was quietly falling on a quiet pavilion.
The sound of rain falling as it brushed past the bamboo leaves was like the whisper of a fairy, and the forest where the faint moonlight settled down was dyed in a mysterious silver color.
At the pavilion, two men and women were standing side by side with shoulders aligned.
Even within the thick darkness, the man was showing a detached and noble appearance as if transcending all the vexations of the world. Even though merely a shadow was visible, a magical power that subjugates all tens of thousands of people under heaven spreads out.
Contrarily, the shadow of the woman standing beside him was emitting a mysterious light like the curtain of night. Her appearance could not be seen, but the eyes where rich eyelashes cast shadows and the facial contour consisting of soft curves are visible.
The woman's hair, which reached down to her waist, was as rich as clouds, and a bright energy like looking at the dawn dew spread across her entire body.
"It is something to congratulate."
Staring at the distant sky, the man's mouth opened.
"To think that the future sight awakened through the power of the Star God."
In the meantime, a shooting star was disappearing after scratching the heavens while scattering a dazzling radiance.
"Can you not stop it now?"
At the end of a long silence, the woman turned her head and spoke with an earnest voice.
"During that time, the world suffered incessantly from the chaos you created."
Countless instances of chaos, wars, and blood baths created in the world. All of that was committed by the man who possessed the knowledge and secret arts passed down through generations.
The world called it absolute evil, but that was strictly from their perspective.
In fact, to him, a distinction between good and evil did not exist.
Because if he wished, he could possess everything, and he could manipulate anyone.
It is equivalent to the world rotating within his grasp.
However, if there was a single thing that did not go according to his will, it was only the woman before his eyes.
"Suffering, is it."
The man spoke calmly.
"Those people were born to experience hardships in the first place."
"Then it would suffice to continue placing it within your grasp and rule the world like now."
The woman spoke in a low voice.
"Why do you obsess over someone as insignificant as me?"
"Obsession, is it."
The man made a lonely expression.
His existence began together with her.
Within the chaos of primeval antiquity, she was the only order, and she was the first mirror that allowed him to perceive himself. Losing her was beyond simply losing a lover, it was equivalent to losing the foundation of his existence itself, namely the memory and meaning of who he is.
"Even if I repeat samsara and continue numerous lives, the memory of you was not erased."
The man said.
"Because only that memory is originally mine."
The man transcended the flow of time.
He watched the birth and extinction of numerous civilizations, and witnessed the rise and fall of mankind.
And within that, he experienced endless loneliness.
In such infinite time, only she was the unique existence capable of imbuing meaning to his soul and calming his loneliness.
"You were the unique warmth I could grasp upon my eternal life, and the hope that allowed me to endure eternity."
"The grand method I executed upon you was not simply trying to bring back memories, but it was an attempt to forcibly restore the absolute connection that existed between you and me, that pure state."
The man searched for her while repeating samsara for a long time.
This was like an act of losing a part of himself and desperately trying to regain it.
Through her, he was reconfirming his past self, his self of the absolute beginning.
"You missed one reason."
At the woman's words, the man made an intrigued expression.
"Does it mean there is another reason that I do not know?"
"Of course."
The woman said.
"You are denying the instinct of oblivion that humans possess."
"Denial of oblivion?"
"Humans all live by forgetting. But you are uniquely escaped from oblivion."
The woman looked up at the distant sky with pupils like starlight.
"Nevertheless, you are forcing memories upon me."
The woman continued her words in a low voice.
"Because your eternal life is accompanied by numerous losses, you are afraid."
"Afraid? Me?"
The woman stared intently at the man and said, "Even if it is me, will my memories vanish like those people and will I completely forget my existence at some point? It is a fundamental fear."
The truth the man had hidden.
It was precisely that if he were forgotten even by the unique existence he loved, he could not endure the fear that he himself would eventually be forgotten, so he had tried to grasp her in the form of 'love'.
"An interesting interpretation."
The man, who was silent for a long time, burst into a low laugh. He continued his words in a low voice.
"Nothing and no one in this world can draw my interest."
The man burst into a deep sigh.
"Why do you always shake my heart with a few words?"
"It is merely a distorted form of salvation."
"It does not matter."
The man spoke calmly.
"Even if that does not lead to an eternal union or complete understanding."
He knew the fact that he made her suffer.
"From my standpoint, you losing your memories and living an ordinary life is a loss."
The man looked straight at the woman and said, "I think the act of bringing back memories is a salvation that restores you and me to our original state."
The woman did not say anything.
That man merely makes a choice.
He does not engage in reflection or regret like humans.
He had lived far too long a life for that.
Furthermore, even the meaning of affection had become a kind of distorted salvation that mortals could not understand.
"If you truly love me, can you not stop even for a moment?"
The woman spoke earnestly for the first time.
"So that the world can escape from your grasp even for a brief moment and develop dazzlingly."
To prevent foolish humans from developing, the man was passing down his outstanding knowledge and martial secrets only to his retainers. Furthermore, if by some chance an outstanding person appeared or created some secret key, his retainers immediately beat that person to death to prevent them from developing.
The life of a human is finite, but the potential is infinite.
What if humans develop from generation to generation? In the end, they might even create a power capable of becoming a threat to them.
"That is not my will. It is merely the fear of my retainers."
To him, any kind of fear or vexation did not exist.
Because a long time ago, the man had risen to the Heaven’s Will Realm.
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