“The deeper the emotions, the stronger the martial arts become…?” Bu Eunseol muttered.
Direct Path Through Emotions.
The Demon Emperor had studied techniques unbound by worldly etiquette or forms, creating the Emotion-Severing Secret.
In contrast, the Martial Emperor’s ultimate insight was Tranquil Heart Through Deep Emotions. He had devised a method to calm the spirit by cultivating profound emotions and deep bonds.
“Hmm,” Bu Eunseol hummed.
The thin sheet contained about three thousand characters, written on both sides. Each phrase was imbued with profound principles, some too arcane to grasp at a glance.
“I don’t understand it,” he admitted.
Not only were the teachings complex, but he couldn’t comprehend the essence of the Martial Emperor’s Tranquil Awakening itself.
“Why would a martial artist, who lives with their life on the edge of a blade, need to cultivate deep emotions?” he wondered.
His gaze, fixed on the Martial Emperor’s Tranquil Awakening, grew hazy, as if entranced. Was it necessary to study a method so contrary to the Demon Emperor’s Emotion-Severing Secret?
“If I can’t understand it, I’ll just memorize it,” he decided.
There was no need to ignore the teachings of an unparalleled martial genius. Bu Eunseol began forcibly memorizing the Martial Emperor’s Tranquil Awakening.
Fortunately, the vault had flowing groundwater and well-sealed jars of honey.
If he wished, he could survive here for two months without issue.
***
Bu Eunseol lost track of time, engrossed in memorizing the teachings within the Martial Emperor’s Hidden Vault.
‘Strange.’ His memory was exceptional, rarely forgetting anything he heard or saw.
Yet, memorizing these teachings was difficult.
When he memorized the beginning, he forgot the end. When he thought he had it all, he forgot the middle. Moreover, each time he recited the teachings, memories of his childhood surfaced unbidden.
‘Is this teaching meant to stir distracting thoughts?’ Sensing something was amiss, Bu Eunseol stopped memorizing the Martial Emperor’s Tranquil Awakening.
‘Such a mental technique can’t be mastered by rote memorization.’
Mental techniques governed the mind. Success could elevate one’s martial realm instantly, but failure could lead to mental corruption.
It was the most perilous of martial secrets.
‘First, I need to understand what’s wrong.’ Taking a deep breath, Bu Eunseol sank into meditation.
How much time had passed?
‘Do I need to be bound by the concept of emotions?’ As he entered a state of deep meditation, a realization dawned.
‘Isn’t the mind a vessel for holding emotions?’
When the mind moves, energy follows, and the body naturally aligns with that energy.
‘He likely aimed to reach a new martial realm through deep and vast emotions.’ Bu Eunseol pieced it together.
The Martial Emperor had lived a life of profound emotions and rich feelings, integrating them into his martial arts.
As he grasped the essence of the Martial Emperor’s Tranquil Awakening, Bu Eunseol naturally moved his mind according to its teachings.
Faint memories surfaced—joyful, warm times from a distant past.
His spirit grew increasingly serene, as if he stood alone in a beautiful garden, petals drifting around him.
The world seemed radiant and dreamlike.
As his spirit filled with warmth, his body began to brim with vitality. His heart beat stronger, blood circulated faster, and his life force surged. The impurities in his body seemed to flow outward.
‘This is the Martial Emperor’s Tranquil Awakening.’
Realizing its truth, an overwhelming, passionate emotion surged within him. It was like the fierce struggle of a child in the womb, yearning to emerge into the world.
Flash.
Opening his eyes, Bu Eunseol, unable to contain his emotions, lightly thrust a fist forward.
Unconsciously, he executed the Seven Fist Demon forms. A breeze, like a gentle wind, blew toward the wall beside the bookshelf.
Rustle.
Dust rose from the solid wall where the breeze touched, and a circular hole suddenly appeared.
‘I barely infused any inner energy.’ Bu Eunseol couldn’t hide his astonishment.
Martial Emperor’s Tranquil Awakening.
This secret used the emotions shaping the spirit to drastically enhance martial prowess—an extraordinary technique beyond the heavens.
“This is troublesome,” Bu Eunseol said, frowning as he stood and gazed at the hole in the wall. “This can’t be considered demonic martial arts.”
The Seven Fist Demons unleashed sharp, axe-like force.
But the power he had just released was soft and resilient.
The fierce demonic fist technique had manifested like a Buddhist art, gentle and compassionate.
“Affection or detachment?” he mused.
The Demon Emperor’s Emotion-Severing Secret eradicated all worldly thoughts and emotions, freely wielding tangible energy.
The Martial Emperor’s Tranquil Awakening used deep, boundless emotions to amplify martial power, releasing it softly and stably.
He stood at a crossroads, unsure which path to follow.
“I need to think carefully,” he said.
Despite acquiring the supreme mental techniques of both righteous and demonic paths, Bu Eunseol wasn’t particularly pleased.
The Martial Emperor’s Tranquil Awakening was ill-suited to his naturally cold disposition.
Unlike the Emotion-Severing Secret, which he could memorize and apply instantly, this required meditation to calm his mind.
“These are merely stepping stones for the path I must climb,” he told himself.
He was forging his own way.
Acquiring such secrets changed nothing.
“Hm,” he exhaled, taking a deep breath and stepping forward.
He was finally leaving the vault.
But something was odd.
Was it the influence of the Martial Emperor’s Tranquil Awakening? The manuals on the shelves suddenly caught his eye. Without realizing it, Bu Eunseol began examining the martial arts manuals again.
Flip, flip.
These manuals weren’t from the Nine Great Sects or Five Great Families, the mainstream righteous factions. Most were from sects that had briefly flourished or whose lineages had been severed.
“But Seop Muhun, who mastered them perfectly, earned the title Martial Emperor,” Bu Eunseol noted, his gaze growing heavy.
Should he learn them or not?
Given how deeply the Martial Emperor’s Tranquil Awakening was hidden, these righteous martial arts likely contained astonishing principles.
“There’s no time…” Taking a deep breath, Bu Eunseol quickly scanned the books on the shelves.
He forcibly committed the righteous martial arts manuals to memory.
Tap, tap, tap.
How much time had passed?
Bu Eunseol read and reread every manual in the library.
When hungry, he drank honey and water; when sleepy, he cultivated energy. Consuming the Jade Bee honey allowed him to stay alert and clear-headed without sleep.
As he placed the final manual back on the shelf—
Rumble…
With a low vibration, the bookshelf flipped, revealing four sharply carved characters.
Thirteen Guiding Energies.
“Thirteen Guiding Energies?” Bu Eunseol repeated, puzzled.
What could it mean to guide thirteen things?
He waited, but no further reaction or mechanism activated. He carefully inspected the surroundings, but nothing stood out.
“Why did the bookshelf flip?” he wondered.
All he had done was read and memorize every manual in the vault.
Rumble.
The bookshelf returned to its original position.
But something was strange.
Though he had placed the manuals in order, their arrangement had completely changed.
“The Mantis Step and Tiger-Capturing Eagle Claw were at opposite ends…” Bu Eunseol muttered.
Without thinking, he executed the Mantis Step with his left foot and unleashed the Tiger-Capturing Eagle Claw with his right hand in the air.
Whoosh!
Something bizarre happened.
Though he had merely performed the techniques separately, they flowed together as a single martial art.
Pop!
That wasn’t all.
As he executed both techniques simultaneously, a sharp force surged from his shoulder.
He hadn’t used any inner energy.
Slash.
The unexpected force left a sharp mark on the sandalwood bookshelf.
“…Thirteen Guiding Energies,” Bu Eunseol realized.
The righteous martial arts collected here were strikingly similar in their principles. If performed simultaneously, they merged into a new martial art.
One that unleashed unpredictable forces.
“Hm,” he mused.
In his mind, he envisioned thirteen streams of force erupting from different parts of the body at unforeseen angles—a terrifying martial art.
“So that’s why it was named this way,” he said.
Mastering it would allow one to unleash or retract thirteen streams of force, hence the name Thirteen Guiding Energies.
“Was this the Martial Emperor’s true martial art?” Bu Eunseol asked himself, taking a deep breath. “It’s so unique it doesn’t even feel like a righteous art.”
As the heir of the Nangyang Pavilion and a candidate for the Demon Emperor’s successor, Bu Eunseol couldn’t freely practice righteous martial arts.
But the Thirteen Guiding Energies was so distinctive it resembled a demonic technique.
If he mastered it fully…
A new Martial Emperor would be born in the martial world.
***
As Bu Eunseol emerged, an unfamiliar landscape greeted him.
Looking around, he was dozens of miles from the mountain where the Martial Emperor’s Hidden Vault was concealed.
Rumble.
As he stepped out, the iron door trembled and sank into the ground.
It seemed a mechanism was designed to bury the vault once someone who had learned the Martial Emperor’s Tranquil Awakening and Thirteen Guiding Energies left.
‘Only one fated person…’
Recalling the Martial Emperor’s legend, Bu Eunseol took a deep breath.
‘Though I entered by chance, I’ve inherited his true martial arts.’
The Martial Emperor, a grandmaster who protected the martial world’s spirit but met a lonely end due to slander from both righteous and demonic factions.
‘Though I’m from the demonic path… I hope you’ll accept me as your successor.’
Looking at the disappearing vault, Bu Eunseol bowed respectfully.
***
Leaving the Martial Emperor’s Hidden Vault, Bu Eunseol arrived at a small village near Yunhwa.
As soon as he reached the marketplace, he habitually entered a bustling inn.
“Welcome!” the waiter said, wiping the table where Bu Eunseol sat. “Looks like you’ve come from a long journey.”
Having spent nearly a month in the vault mastering the Martial Emperor’s Tranquil Awakening, Bu Eunseol’s face was pale from lack of sunlight, and his appearance was disheveled.
Without the sword at his back, the waiter might have mistaken him for a Beggars’ Sect master.
“Not far, but a perilous place,” Bu Eunseol replied.
The Martial Emperor’s Hidden Vault, with its myriad mechanisms, was described simply as “perilous.”
“What would you like to eat?” the waiter asked.
“Got any good liquor?” Bu Eunseol asked.
After so long in a dark, dim place, he craved strong, fragrant liquor over tasty food.
“We have Seolhyang liquor from the Gyeyang distillery. It’s very strong and has an excellent aroma,” the waiter said.
“Five bottles of Seolhyang. Bring whatever snacks you think fit,” Bu Eunseol ordered.
“Got it!” Noticing Bu Eunseol’s cracked lips, the waiter hurriedly brought the liquor first.
As the bottles were placed on the table, Bu Eunseol drank straight from one, like a drunkard.
Gulp, gulp.
The strong, fragrant liquor burned down his throat, sharpening his senses and warming his stomach.
‘Liquor’s better than tea.’ The martial world’s supreme masters always favored tea.
But Bu Eunseol preferred strong liquor over fragrant tea.
“Have you heard? There’s been a commotion at Majeon,” a voice said.
Amid the noisy inn, a peculiar conversation caught Bu Eunseol’s ear.
‘Majeon?’ Turning his head, he saw two middle-aged martial artists whispering near the window.
“Oh, you mean the rumor that Majeon’s promising successor candidate died?” one said.
Bu Eunseol’s eyes flashed.
A promising successor candidate of Majeon dead?
Could it be Do Cheonlin or Weiji Hyesang had suddenly died?
“Right, the heir of the Nangyang Pavilion,” the other confirmed.
Bu Eunseol’s eyes widened as he turned to stare at the two men.
To say he, very much alive, was dead? What nonsense was this?
“After disappearing from the Heaven and Earth Severing Sect, the sect sent an investigation team and found traces in a remote valley,” one explained.
“Then he could still be alive, no?” the other asked.
“No way,” the man with a goatee shook his head. “They found traces of a fight with the Bullet King there.”
“The Bullet King?”
The other man nodded in understanding. “Well, against the Bullet King, survival’s unlikely. He despises demonic figures…”
The conversation continued.
Apparently, the heir of the Nangyang Pavilion had crossed paths with the Bullet King, a fearsome member of the Seven Kings of Death who hated demonic figures.
It was an encounter with no hope of survival, and he was presumed dead.
“But the Bullet King’s got some guts, killing a Majeon successor candidate…” the other man said, clicking his tongue.
To provoke Majeon by targeting their successor candidate? Even one of the Three Sovereigns wouldn’t escape unscathed.
“That’s not quite right,” the goateed man said, downing his drink. “No body was found.”
“No body?” the other asked.
“Probably the Bullet King disposed of it quietly to avoid conflict with Majeon. No evidence, easy to deny,” the goateed man explained.
“Come on, the Bullet King’s a renowned master who’s roamed the martial world alone for decades. Would he do something so petty?” the other protested.
“Who knows? You only get one life,” the goateed man replied.
“Hmm. What’s certain is he clashed with the Bullet King and fought fiercely,” the other said, shaking his head. “If so, it’s only a matter of time before a storm brews. Without a body, Majeon will go after the Bullet King.”
“Exactly,” the goateed man agreed.
Listening, Bu Eunseol realized the gravity of the situation.
By rights, he would have faced the Bullet King in a life-or-death duel.
But by chance, after sparring with him, they entered the Martial Emperor’s Hidden Vault together and never fought.
Yet, unaware of this, Majeon’s pursuers assumed Bu Eunseol was dead.
‘The sect might not act, but…’
Clack.
Placing payment on the table, Bu Eunseol leaped out the window.
‘The main division’s members might cause trouble!’
Whoosh!
He unleashed his qinggong, racing toward Majeon.
