The Heavenly Evil Phantom Demon Art not only allowed using the body as a weapon through evil arts but also included techniques that deluded the spirit and dulled the senses.
Seok Woohaeng had fused it with assassin martial arts, creating the perfect assassin secret technique.
Flash!
Sharp sword energy flew in from Bu Eunseol's blind spot once more.
Pop!
He swiftly deployed footwork to evade, but blood spurted from his shoulder. He couldn't precisely detect Seok Woohaeng's attacks.
'He's using the Heavenly Evil Phantom Demon Art to suppress the Beast Way, then layering and pouring out killing blows.' Bu Eunseol's eyes flashed as he twisted his grip on the Black Blade.
Whoosh!
In the meantime, Seok Woohaeng's attack poured forth again.
Sword strikes from the ground, hidden weapons launched from mid-air targeting Bu Eunseol's head. Just as he thought a sword technique was thrusting at vital points, a sharp blade suddenly protruded from behind.
'It's as if there are two Seok Woohaengs.' Bu Eunseol finally realized why Seok Woohaeng had sought and mastered the Heavenly Evil Phantom Demon Art. Only this method could instantly bridge the vast gap in their skills.
Thud thud thud thud.
Then, with vibrating sounds, the underground canal began to rumble, and
Rustle rustle rustle.
Soon, with the ground shaking, an enormous number of assassins began tightly surrounding Bu Eunseol and Seok Woohaeng.
They were the Extreme Slaughter Sect's assassins.
Splash.
The black mass of assassins parted, and a middle-aged man without a mask slowly walked out.
It was Gwak Seong, the Martial General Blood Lord leading the Extreme Slaughter Sect's Supreme Assault Unit.
“Seok Woohaeng!” His shout distorted his features with rage.
To annihilate the Twelve Earths entirely, he had brought every elite assassin of the Extreme Slaughter Sect. But the Twelve Earths were already scattered and disbanded.
Moreover, en route here, he had received shocking information.
The Twelve Earths' Chief who killed Yong Jeokbi was none other than Seok Woohaeng, one of the Extreme Slaughter Sect's Ten Demon Warriors. Furious, he had immediately stormed into this underground canal where Seok Woohaeng was hiding.
“You dare....” Mid-roar in fury, Gwak Seong finally spotted Bu Eunseol and blinked. “Who's that?” He furrowed his brow at Bu Eunseol, facing off against Seok Woohaeng.
They had clashed only three or four exchanges, but intense true energy flows emanated from their bodies. Even without asking, it was clear the two were locked in a fierce duel.
“Martial General Blood Lord. You've arrived sooner than expected.” Seeing Gwak Seong, Seok Woohaeng smiled and shook his head. “I thought it'd take at least another day.”
Then, Gwak Seong shouted in rage.
“Seok Woohaeng! Was it truly you who killed the Long Horn Blood Lord!”
The Long Horn Blood Lord commanded the assassination instructors who trained the Extreme Slaughter Sect's assassins.
And that position had been held by the successor, Yong Jeokbi.
“Indeed.”
“Why did you kill him?”
“I couldn't just die.”
“What?”
Seok Woohaeng said calmly. “If he tried to kill me, should I just offer my neck meekly?”
“Seok Woohaeng!” Gwak Seong bellowed. “You disobeyed the pavilion's recall order and hid in the Twelve Earths! That's crime enough, yet you dare kill the pavilion's successor, the Long Horn Blood Lord?”
“Blood Lord Gwak.” Seok Woohaeng said in an utterly icy voice. “The Extreme Slaughter Sect deliberately leaked information twice to pit me against the Great Righteous Master.”
With a look as if his indignation would erupt, he shouted coldly.
“When was I ever a disciple of the Extreme Slaughter Sect?” For a moment, Gwak Seong was speechless.
He and the pavilion's leadership knew.
That Seok Woohaeng not only possessed outstanding aptitude but surpassed even Yong Jeokbi in successor qualities. But they couldn't acknowledge the latecomer Seok Woohaeng as successor. It would fracture the pavilion's internal factions. When the order to face the Great Righteous Master came, the leadership had deliberately leaked his movements to have him killed.
“And now, you treat me like a pavilion disciple.”
“Blood Lord. Is there any need to waste words with this scum?” At that moment, Ha Hu-gang, Gwak Seong's confidant and deputy blood lord, stepped forward and said. “Without further talk, we should swiftly sever his head and present it to the Sect Leader.”
Nodding, Gwak Seong glared at Seok Woohaeng with eyes blazing in fury.
“Have you prepared to lose your head?”
“I won't die by your hands.”
“What?”
“Just watch from there.” Seok Woohaeng said confidently. “I'm dueling him.”
Seok Woohaeng had already resolved to die. No threats would avail anything.
“You...” Before Gwak Seong could retort, he turned to Bu Eunseol and shouted.
“Bu Eunseol. To surpass you, I sacrificed everything.” Then, gripping his assassin sword in reverse grip, he drew up his inner power. “Come at me!”
If Seok Woohaeng had sought to survive, he would have disbanded the Twelve Earths and vanished tracelessly. As one who inherited the Extreme Slaughter Sect's essence, he could have disappeared where no one would find him.
But he hadn't fled.
Solely to challenge Bu Eunseol. Time would only widen the gap further. Now was his last chance to duel him.
Click.
Bu Eunseol raised his Black Blade to the middle guard and drew up his inner power. For one staking his life on this duel, this was the only thing he could offer.
Flash!
Seok Woohaeng struck first.
He demonstratively layered various assassin secret arts onto the Heavenly Evil Phantom Demon Art for the Extreme Slaughter Sect assassins to see. Superior sword arts and flying blades, poisons and bizarre hidden weapon devices. He freely poured out all the myriad techniques he had mastered until now, pressuring Bu Eunseol.
—Ooh.
After over forty exchanges, the Extreme Slaughter Sect's elite assassins involuntarily exclaimed.
The techniques Seok Woohaeng unleashed were the essence of the pavilion's assassin martial arts. Assassin secret arts were the summation of techniques to kill foes. Seok Woohaeng poured and flowed attacks freely, unbound by forms or methods.
The Art of the Hanging River.
It was the realm of unleashing assassin secret arts like a river, unrestricted by formality.
What the Extreme Slaughter Sect's experts so desperately yearned for....
Splash!
As Bu Eunseol parried the ceaseless onslaught, his gaze changed. Seok Woohaeng was unleashing tremendous power with minimal inner energy.
A river cannot be severed no matter how one slashes.
His attacks, like a flowing river, couldn't be halted in any way.
Whish.
A strand of wind began to blow around Bu Eunseol's body. At the same time, a thread of blue light brushed past his form, and
Whoosh!
Bu Eunseol's entire body became a single gust of wind, beginning to devour Seok Woohaeng's attacks. He had once again deployed the Martial Emperor's unique absolute art, Thirteen Guiding Energies, dividing his body into parts to execute martial arts simultaneously.
'I....' Seeing Bu Eunseol nullify his full-power martial arts, despair clouded Seok Woohaeng's eyes. 'Am I to die....' As despair overwhelmed him, suddenly time seemed to freeze, and myriad thoughts flashed through Seok Woohaeng's mind.
'Without ever surpassing you....' No matter what anyone said, he was a martial genius.
But the Bu Eunseol he saw at the Janggeom Mountain Manor was an insurmountable wall. Immense inner power, brilliant mind, insight, improvisation.... and utterly devoid of fear or hesitation.
No matter the martial art, Bu Eunseol mastered it swiftly and unleashed greater destructive power than intended.
He couldn't defeat such a Bu Eunseol.
—If martial arts are lacking, just double the output, right?
Seok Woohaeng finally found a way.
Combining the Heavenly Evil Phantom Demon Art with the Extreme Slaughter Sect's assassin secret arts would at least double the power in a short time.
But from the moment he clashed with Bu Eunseol, he instinctively knew. Even doubling or more his martial power, he could never win.
Even in this life-or-death fierce battle, Bu Eunseol gained enlightenment and advanced his martial arts. In other words, unless he surpassed that terrifying rate of progress, he could never triumph over him.
'I made the same mistake as Yong Jeokbi.' Seok Woohaeng smiled bitterly. 'I only considered the abilities I grasped in the past.'
Whoosh!
In that instant, slowed time resumed, and Bu Eunseol's attack became visible.
'But you can't defeat me either.' Seok Woohaeng wore a triumphant smile.
Bu Eunseol could never win this fight. Because from the start, he had no intention of surviving.
Hum!
Drawing up his inner power, hundreds of sharp true energies flowed from Seok Woohaeng's entire body.
It was one of the Heavenly Evil Phantom Demon Art's final ultimate techniques, the Heavenly Evil Extreme Flame Killing.
“Bu Eunseol―!”
Seok Woohaeng charged at Bu Eunseol's body with full force.
Around him, enveloped in the Heavenly Evil Extreme Flame Killing, mighty true energy hot enough to melt iron flowed.
Seok Woohaeng showed a triumphant smile. He was attempting mutual destruction while drawing up an art that melted flesh and blood. No one could stand against such a martial art.
'Retreat, and you die.' Moreover, all this was a feint.
The true trump card was the Heavenly Evil Blood Flow Technique he had set behind Bu Eunseol.
'You have no choice but to retreat, Bu Eunseol!'
Seok Woohaeng had performed countless assassinations.
And in killing many experts, he had realized one truth-like fact.
—Those who possess much never take risks.
Having much in hand means much to protect.
Bu Eunseol was the legitimate successor of Nangyang Pavilion and a leading successor candidate of Majeon. Moreover, as a Corps Leader of Majeon, he commanded direct subordinates and had the support of the Heaven and Earth Severing Sect and the Affectionate Blossom Sect.
No one in the martial world possessed as much as he.
'Wise men never gamble at the crossroads of life and death!' The Bu Eunseol he saw on Hell Island was the same. He calculated much and prepared in advance.
He also showed the will to surely survive.
'Those who cling to life can never evade this technique!' Finally reaching Bu Eunseol's nose tip, he poured the Heavenly Evil Extreme Flame Killing onto his retreat path.
'No?' Seok Woohaeng's eyes widened.
He was certain Bu Eunseol wouldn't risk it and would retreat to regroup. But Bu Eunseol charged straight into the Heavenly Evil Extreme Flame Killing's flow without hesitation.
Sizzle sizzle.
Each time the Heavenly Evil Extreme Flame Killing brushed his body, Bu Eunseol's clothes melted, and his skin burned and liquefied. But he unhesitatingly pierced the flow and thrust his sword.
Flash!
A chilling gleam burst from the Black Blade.
And it pierced the wall of Extreme Flame Killing Seok Woohaeng had created, plunging straight for his throat.
Crack!
But the Black Blade failed to pierce his neck, emitting a dull thud instead.
In the moment of life-or-death crisis, Seok Woohaeng had deployed the Heavenly Evil Phantom Demon Qi to rigidly protect his entire body.
Tap tap.
Landing on the ground, cracks spread across Seok Woohaeng's face, and the keratinous scales covering his skin began crumbling in chunks.
Plop plop.
Though he avoided decapitation, he couldn't withstand the Black Blade's inner power, shattering the Heavenly Evil Phantom Demon Qi.
Gush.
As the sharp Ban-geuk Energy invaded like melting his meridians, fresh blood flowed from Seok Woohaeng's mouth.
“I wanted to defeat you just once.” With a regretful expression, he gazed at the void. “The heavens didn't choose me.”
Until now, staking his life to master the Heavenly Evil Phantom Demon Art had been solely to triumph over Bu Eunseol.
—Just once, I want to defeat him!
It wasn't jealousy or inferiority.
It was the aspiration of a transcendent martial genius with a blazing warrior's soul.
To defeat, even once, a rival who seemed utterly unattainable....
But even sacrificing his life as bait had ended in utter defeat.
Moreover, it wasn't merely a gap in martial arts. Bu Eunseol didn't fear death. Nor did he cling to protecting what he had.
He was a man who solely shattered pouring trials and advanced forward.
In the end, Seok Woohaeng couldn't surpass the wall named Bu Eunseol, neither in martial arts nor in resolve.
“It's over now.” As the victor and loser were decided, Martial General Blood Lord Gwak Seong walked forward with a laugh.
“Indeed, as Majeon's successor, your martial arts lack nothing. Thanks to you, I've gained insight.” Without stopping his steps, he approached Seok Woohaeng.
Bu Eunseol scowled and blocked his path.
“What do you think you're doing.”
“Seok Woohaeng killed our pavilion's successor, a traitor. Hand him over.” Gwak Seong smiled. “No need to antagonize our pavilion, is there? You're to become Majeon's successor, after all.”
His smile held confidence.
To become Majeon's successor, one needed the support of over half the Ten Great Demonic Sects.
But the Death Spirit Sect, Extreme Slaughter Sect, and Hell's Blood Fortress were hostile to him, and he wasn't on good terms with the rest. From that alone, he was certain Bu Eunseol couldn't refuse the offer.
“If you hand him over, our pavilion will never forget this favor.” The smile at Gwak Seong's lips deepened.
But an utterly unexpected reply returned.
“I refuse.”
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