Bu Eunseol stared at Gu Hongcheong’s lifeless body, eyes wide.
Despite his martial talent, Gu Hongcheong devoted his life to seizing Beggar Sect leadership, not refining his skills. Had he focused on martial arts, Bu Eunseol would never have defeated him.
“Urgh.” Rising, Bu Eunseol spat blood.
His body and spirit hadn’t reached Geul Wang’s level. He won through meticulous planning, causing Gu Hongcheong’s despair, sudden insights, and Wishful True Binding’s aid.
Step, step.
Haepung approached, the Green Gourd at his waist, silhouetted against the sunset. Seeing Bu Eunseol standing and Gu Hongcheong dead against a rock, Haepung’s eyes widened in shock.
“Supreme Elder!” He hadn’t believed Bu Eunseol could defeat Gu Hongcheong, which allowed him to accept Bu Eunseol’s proposal.
How could Gu Hongcheong be dead?
“How did this happen?!” Bu Eunseol didn’t answer, turning to leave slowly. “No! How could this…?”
Haepung examined Gu Hongcheong’s body.
A fatal chest wound, no signs of interference. Ascension Platform was surrounded by a thousand Beggar Sect masters; no one could intervene without descending like an immortal.
Panicked, Haepung shouted at Bu Eunseol, “You killed our Supreme Elder!”
“…”
“The Beggar Sect will never forget this grudge!” Bu Eunseol stopped.
“Of course.” In a low, powerful voice, he said, “Don’t forget. Ever.”
Turning, he smiled coldly, as Gu Hongcheong had. “That was Geul Wang’s dying wish.”
“What do you mean?”
“He laughed, saying you’d never become leader.” His eyes brimmed with contempt.
Meeting that gaze, Haepung bit his lip, realizing a grim truth.
‘That’s how it was!’ The Beggar Sect was filled with righteous heroes. Though Haepung opposed Gu Hongcheong, he didn’t hate him enough to want him dead, only to curb his ambition and restore the sect.
‘The Supreme Elder won’t lose to him.’ He accepted Bu Eunseol’s offer, confident in Gu Hongcheong’s victory.
But the outcome defied expectations.
Through his deal with Bu Eunseol, the sect’s symbol, a Supreme Elder and one of the Four Gods and Seven Kings, died.
‘Was he so resentful and angry at losing leadership that he cursed me in death?’ Gu Hongcheong’s fury at his ruined dream exceeded Haepung’s imagination. Realizing he couldn’t become leader, Gu Hongcheong laughed in death.
‘Ugh…’ Haepung clutched his hair in anguish.
Bu Eunseol smiled coldly.
Gu Hongcheong couldn’t escape his ambition even in death. Haepung would likely be the same, regretting his deal with Bu Eunseol and his failure to become leader.
Like Geul Wang, Haepung might become a second Geul Wang.
As Bu Eunseol descended Ascension Platform, five hundred Beggar Sect disciples, eyes gleaming, stood in formation. Not the main sect, they were led by Mu Hong, loyal to Geul Wang alone, hoping he’d become leader. Now, with him dead, their plans were ruined.
‘Haepung may have promised not to kill him, but we didn’t!’ They waited below to avenge Geul Wang.
Step, step.
Despite five hundred masters approaching, Bu Eunseol remained unfazed.
He had anticipated this when he decided to confront Geul Wang. Geul Wang kept his followers separate, commanding them independently, leaving them unable to reintegrate with Haepung’s sect.
“You die here!” Mu Hong shouted, raising his hand.
Swish.
Dozens among the five hundred threw off their rags and turned.
Black Leopard and Shadow Corps members.
“You…!” Mu Hong’s eyes widened, realizing Bu Eunseol had predicted their attack.
“As you predicted, Young Master,” Black Leopard said, revealing his face. “They plan to die rather than join the sect.”
A former rogue, Black Leopard was a master of stealth and infiltration.
After retrieving the Green Gourd, he tracked Geul Wang’s forces on Bu Eunseol’s orders, infiltrating them on the day they headed to Ascension Platform, eliminating and hiding among them. A dangerous, covert plan, it succeeded only due to Black Leopard’s exceptional stealth, intelligence, and knowledge of the Beggar Sect.
This was why Bu Eunseol needed him to defeat Geul Wang.
“It’s the final act,” Bu Eunseol said, gazing at the sky.
Against five hundred disciples, victory would typically be impossible.
But the Shadow Corps trained relentlessly for this day, mastering new techniques: Group One with sword and saber skills, Group Two with inner energy and movement, Group Three with Black Poison Demon Art, making their bodies like steel.
They gained real combat experience sparring with Hyeok Sojin and Black Leopard.
“Bu Eunseol.” Two more figures discarded their rags—Miao Tianyu and Yu Yunlong.
Former Ten Demon Sect members, slightly less skilled than Bu Eunseol, but peak-level warriors. With Hyeok Sojin and Black Leopard, the five hundred disciples stood no chance.
Step, step.
The disciples advanced fearlessly, gripping staffs, showing no fear of death.
‘They have nowhere to return.’ Bu Eunseol understood why they approached, knowing defeat and death awaited.
They had no place to go.
“Haa!”
Mu Hong charged with a shout, followed by the five hundred disciples.
***
Clatter, clatter.
An old carriage rolled through a quiet forest path.
Inside, a man gazed out the window expressionlessly. Long hair framed a sharp nose, his eyes gleaming like reflected sunlight, contrasted by dark eyebrows and sealed lips.
His eyes held an air of authority, exuding a mystical, androgynous aura.
It was Bu Eunseol.
Clatter, clatter.
He stared out with a blank face.
After defeating Geul Wang, he chose a carriage over qinggong to return to Majeon, to heal his injuries and digest the insights gained.
“Young Master,” the old coachman said, glancing at the setting sun. “We’ll need to camp nearby tonight.”
“Do so.” The coachman stopped the carriage near a flat path, preparing to avoid the night dew.
Crackle.
A campfire burned in a quiet clearing.
The coachman slept under a thick cloth, while Bu Eunseol sat by the fire, lost in thought.
‘I hope the Corps returned safely.’ The Death Shadow Corps overwhelmingly defeated Geul Wang’s five hundred disciples, though over half sustained severe injuries, some life-threatening.
After the battle, Bu Eunseol sent them back to Majeon with Hyeok Sojin.
‘Young Master, I want to live as a mercenary a bit longer.’ Black Leopard made an unexpected proposal. With the Beggar Sect matter resolved, he wished to return to his mercenary life.
‘My current skill isn’t enough to stay by your side.’ Bu Eunseol had entered the threshold of the Extreme Heaven Realm, among the top new-generation masters.
Black Leopard, not yet at peak level, felt useless by his side.
‘I’ll return as someone worthy of aiding you.’ He bowed confidently.
The mission gave him vast experience, learning demonic arts and combat tactics from Hyeok Sojin, and fighting large forces.
‘If I get the chance, I’ll gather like-minded mercenaries and form a band.’ He learned Bu Eunseol’s strategy of using a small force against a larger one, requiring not just martial arts but tactics and unity.
‘We’re leaving too.’ After everything, Miao Tianyu and Yu Yunlong planned to leave freely.
But Bu Eunseol stopped them.
‘This is just the beginning.’ Having killed a Four Gods and Seven Kings member, stronger trials and enemies awaited.
He needed their strength.
‘Stay with Majeon for now, until I secure the successor position.’ They knew he wasn’t keeping them out of need. Though they abandoned their Ten Demon Sect status, unresolved issues remained.
Roaming the martial world could make them targets. Bu Eunseol wanted to give them strength through Majeon’s backing.
‘Guess we’ll stay a bit longer,’ Miao Tianyu said reluctantly.
‘Fine, but don’t stop me when I want to leave,’ Yu Yunlong said coldly.
They returned to Majeon with the Death Shadow Corps.
Bu Eunseol deliberately took the slow carriage to digest the insights from the battle with Geul Wang. Returning to Majeon, where the successor race was fierce with four candidates, and with Do Cheonlin and Weiji Hyesang’s missions unknown, he needed time to prepare.
‘I need time.’ He replayed the battle with Geul Wang, unable to fully grasp the intricacy of Nine Severing Flash Hand or the perilous Soft Hedgehog Secret. Gu Hongcheong’s unyielding ambition, anger, and desire lingered in his mind.
‘Had I fought him purely on martial arts, I wouldn’t be here.’ To defeat the superior Geul Wang, he had to break his spirit, creating a crack by handing the Green Gourd to Haepung in his presence.
Without that strategy, even a perfect Lament of the River wouldn’t have felled him.
‘Must I master the Emotion-Severing Secret?’ Recalling Wishful True Binding’s power during demonic obsession, his eyes narrowed.
If he could wield it freely, he could match Geul Wang without retreat.
‘The Emotion-Severing Secret only severs emotions, not causes obsession.’ It was a heart method, but Bu Eunseol’s subconscious desire to protect emotions clashed with it, leading to obsession.
‘If I can’t improve Wishful True Binding, I must master the Emotion Severing Secret.’
Stronger enemies awaited.
Clinging to an imperfect Wishful True Binding risked obsession or irreparable defeat. Haepung’s face, bound by their promise, came to mind.
‘The Beggar Sect will likely use its intelligence network to scheme.’ Killing Geul Wang was irreversible.
To silence their deal for the Green Gourd and restore their tarnished reputation, they’d deploy their intelligence network for slander and schemes.
The Four Gods and Seven Kings wasn’t just a martial ranking but a symbolic status, attainable only by influential Extreme Heaven Realm masters.
A young Bu Eunseol taking such a seat would be fiercely opposed.
‘Since no one witnessed the duel, their schemes will work for now.’ He likely wouldn’t be recognized as a Four Gods and Seven Kings member yet.
But he didn’t care about their plots, fame, or power.
He only completed the Demon Emperor’s mission and avenged the Peongan Corps.
Chirp, chirp.
Dawn broke during his musings.
The carriage resumed, reaching Hunan. In Chengdu, a bustling market day filled the streets with merchants. The coachman stopped at an inn to rest and feed the horses.
As Bu Eunseol stepped out, a lean man approached.
“Don’t go to Majeon. The Leader orders you to return to the Pavilion immediately.” The man, a Peongan Corps member, sent via voice transmission. “I’ll pay the coachman to send him back.”
As he passed, he slipped a letter into Bu Eunseol’s sleeve like lightning.
“Details are in the letter.” He walked away, blending into the market.
In a secluded alley, Bu Eunseol opened the letter.
“…” His eyes widened.
“The Pavilion Leader has ended seclusion. Return immediately.”
