Suppressed Demon Pavilion. The Grand Meeting Hall.
All the captains of Death Shadow Pavilion were gathered there, with Bu Eunseol seated at the center.
“What did you say?”
Upon hearing Yoo Unryong’s report as soon as he sat down, Bu Eunseol’s eyes widened in shock. It had been a while since he shed his identity as Seon Woojin and returned to Majeon.
No matter how perfectly Seo Jinha played the role of his shadow, Bu Eunseol had to periodically return to Majeon to maintain his duties.
But before he could even properly begin his work, Yoo Unryong delivered shocking news.
“The Elder is undertaking a Penance Journey?”
Blood Vajra was not only Bu Eunseol’s master, who had laid the foundation for his inner energy and martial arts, but also his benefactor.
The Ban-Geuk Method that Blood Vajra had taught him coursed through Bu Eunseol’s body for all twelve hours of the day, serving as both a shield to protect him and a weapon to confront powerful enemies.
Yet, to hear that Blood Vajra was suddenly risking his life to atone for his past grudges in the martial world through a Penance Journey?
“That’s right. Master Blood… Master Blood is walking bare-handed to Tianlong Temple in Dali, Yunnan, willingly accepting attacks from those who bear grudges against him,” Yoo Unryong said, biting his lip with a troubled expression.
“The fortunate thing is that this Penance Journey is so unprecedented, and he’s showing such sincere remorse, that most people settle their grudges by throwing a single strike or spitting at him.”
Bu Eunseol’s expression grew grave.
If it were something that could be resolved so easily, Yoo Unryong wouldn’t have reported it with such a serious demeanor.
Sure enough, Yoo Unryong continued with a heavy expression.
“But… as word of Master Blood’s Penance Journey spreads, wicked individuals are gathering in Yunnan. They aim to claim the fame of defeating Blood Vajra, who once slaughtered countless righteous martial artists.”
If someone with an irreconcilable grudge against Blood Vajra were to use poison against him, it would be something Blood Vajra willingly accepted.
After all, that was why he was undertaking this life-risking Penance Journey.
But to be killed by those falsely attacking him for fame?
Blood Vajra would be unable to rest in peace even in death.
“Elder…” Bu Eunseol muttered, clenching his fists tightly.
Considering Blood Vajra’s status and dignity, being spat on and humiliated was, in truth, more disgraceful than death itself.
Yet, he was willingly enduring this humiliation while heading to Yunnan.
And now, to hear that wicked individuals were gathering to kill him under false pretenses? That was something Bu Eunseol could not stand idly by and watch.
“Assign Captain Wi and the elite warriors to protect the Elder,” Bu Eunseol ordered.
“I’ve already done so. That’s how we found out,” Yoo Unryong replied, nodding toward Wi Cheongyeong.
Wi Cheongyeong spoke with a grave expression. “My skills were insufficient to deceive the Elder’s senses. And he said that if we attached guards to him one more time… he would take his own life.”
Bu Eunseol swallowed a groan.
Wi Cheongyeong had pleaded earnestly, but Blood Vajra’s unyielding nature could not be swayed. If they ignored his warning and assigned guards, he would truly end his life without hesitation.
“I’ll go myself,” Bu Eunseol said, standing up without hesitation. “I am his disciple. If a disciple wishes to escort his master on his final journey, even he would not stop me.”
“But… no, you can’t,” Yoo Unryong said, shaking his head. “If you go alone, you could fall into danger. It’s no different from stepping back into the martial world unprotected.”
But Bu Eunseol was resolute. “If I forsake my duty for fear of danger, how can I call myself your Martial Soul Command Lord?”
At those words, all the captains of Death Shadow Pavilion fell silent.
The reason Bu Eunseol commanded the unwavering support and loyalty of most demonic martial artists was not solely due to his martial prowess or strategic brilliance.
It was his sense of duty.
As a demonic martial artist, as a warrior of the martial world, as the heir of Majeon and a disciple of Nangyang Pavilion…
He had never once failed to do what was right, fulfilling his responsibilities without faltering.
If he ignored the danger facing Blood Vajra, he could no longer call himself the Martial Soul Command Lord.
“Don’t worry,” Bu Eunseol said, nodding reassuringly at the commanders. “I’ll escort the Elder and return quickly.”
“Then… take care,” the commanders began to say, rising to clasp their hands in respect.
But before they could finish, Bu Eunseol swiftly left the meeting hall.
He had to reach Blood Vajra as quickly as possible to prevent him from falling into danger.
“Hmm.” The captains of Death Shadow Pavilion, watching him leave, sighed and shook their heads.
Bu Eunseol was the heir of Majeon, leading Death Shadow Pavilion, and one of the key figures influencing the martial world. Yet, despite the mysterious force known as the Three Realms constantly targeting him, he ventured into the martial world alone without hesitation.
“Don’t worry too much!” Won Semun said with a laugh. “What kind of person is our Martial Soul Command Lord? The days of fretting over him like a child left by the riverside are long gone, aren’t they?”
At his words, the other commanders nodded and chimed in.
“That’s right. There’s no need to worry about our Soul Command Lord.”
“It’s not just his martial arts that are strong.”
“And even if he’s far away, Deputy Captain Soyo is there too.”
As the captains laughed and chatted, Yoo Unryong spoke up. “The meeting is adjourned.”
With that, the captains left the hall, continuing their banter as if relieved. Yoo Unryong, still standing, watched the departing commanders with a deepening gaze.
‘Myo Cheonwoo…’
He clenched his teeth as he looked at Myo Cheonwoo leaving the meeting hall.
‘I hope this time, you won’t do anything foolish again!’
***
Grudges in the martial world are hard to resolve.
No, for those who live by the sword, resolving grudges is an impossible task.
Of course, there is the grand retirement ceremony known as the Golden Basin Hand-Washing Ceremony.
But that is reserved for righteous martial artists who have lived a life of virtue, maintained close ties with various factions, or wielded formidable power even after retirement.
This is because grudges, once formed in the heart, never fade or resolve, no matter how many decades pass.
In fact, the longer they fester, the more vivid they become. As a result, many martial artists prefer an honorable death over retirement.
And sometimes… there are those who undertake a Penance Journey, seeking to atone for past wrongs and shed their grudges.
At the end of their lives, regrets linger in their hearts. When departing this world, they wish to leave behind not a single burdensome sandal, not a speck of dust in their pockets, not even the slightest trace of attachment.
This is human nature.
And Blood Vajra was one such person.
Trudge, trudge.
Clad in blood-soaked monk robes, his body covered in wounds, he walked through a forest path.
Having begun his Penance Journey in Sichuan, he had now reached Dali in Yunnan. His body was in such a state that not a single part remained unscathed.
Yet, like a man forged of steel, he walked unwaveringly, step after step.
‘I’ve come such a long way,’ he thought.
Even though he was nearing his destination, Tianlong Temple, his expression was not bright.
He had not yet fully atoned.
During his Penance Journey, he could not shake off his past.
Instead, the closer he got to Tianlong Temple, the more vividly his past resurfaced.
‘Such a long way…’
***
Blood Vajra.
Originally a martial monk from Tianlong Temple in Dali, Yunnan, his Dharma name was Hongdeok.
His nickname, earned through his exploits in the martial world, was Iron Vajra.
It was a name given because his inner energy was so robust and formidable that even weapons could not pierce his body.
But he faced a great trial.
Due to his exceptional talent and uncompromising, upright character, he was constantly envied and resented by his fellow disciples. When he mastered the temple’s highest inner energy technique and was chosen as the next abbot, his peers, blinded by jealousy, made a choice they should never have made.
Through his frequent ventures into the martial world, where he gained fame, they falsely accused him of breaking the precept against killing and colluding with demonic villains to commit debauchery.
Tianlong Temple’s rules were strict, and breaking the precept against killing or violating a woman was an unforgivable sin for a Buddhist monk.
Iron Vajra protested his innocence, but the evidence and circumstances were meticulously fabricated against him.
In the end, unable to clear his name, his inner energy was sealed, his limbs’ meridians were severed, and he was expelled from Tianlong Temple.
“What have I done wrong?!” Iron Vajra cried, shedding tears of blood in his injustice.
Chosen as the next abbot, he had mastered the temple’s supreme inner energy technique and was on the verge of creating the martial world’s greatest inner energy method by compiling the temple’s various secret techniques.
Yet, to be framed for crimes he didn’t commit, reduced to a cripple, and expelled?
All his lifelong efforts had turned to dust, and he burned with bitter rage.
“I will never forgive them! Never!” he vowed.
As Iron Vajra despaired as a cripple, a great demonic figure approached him.
“I will restore your inner energy,” the figure said.
It was none other than the Human Demon, Ak Muryeong, whose name shook the world.
“Get lost,” Iron Vajra spat, cursing.
Ak Muryeong, far from being offended, laughed heartily. “Are you going to abandon an inner energy method that could be remembered for ages?”
Iron Vajra was stunned, nearly jumping in shock.
Tianlong Temple’s scripture hall contained not only Buddhist inner energy techniques but also various secret methods from beyond the Central Plains. He had studied them for years, combining them with Tianlong Temple’s techniques to create the martial world’s greatest inner energy method.
The fact that he could not complete it was more agonizing than becoming a cripple.
How could this great demon know such a thing?
“There are countless living inner energy methods in our pavilion,” Ak Muryeong continued. “With them, you could complete your method without needing Tianlong Temple’s secrets.”
Iron Vajra was shocked again.
One reason his method’s completion had been delayed was that the inner energy techniques of various factions were all recorded in text.
To create the ultimate inner energy method, he needed to study the energy flows of various masters. But since everything was documented only in words, he had faced difficulties.
How could Ak Muryeong know even this?
“Did you orchestrate my downfall?” Iron Vajra asked, gritting his teeth as realization dawned.
Everything Ak Muryeong had said was something only someone closely watching him could know.
“Hahaha!” Ak Muryeong burst into wild laughter. “Why ask me? Shouldn’t you direct such questions to your fellow disciples?”
His voice carried a mysterious power, capable of seizing a person’s spirit in an instant. As Iron Vajra heard Ak Muryeong’s voice, an unfamiliar rage surged within him for the first time.
‘Illusion Upon Illusion. I see!’ he realized.
At last, Iron Vajra understood the full situation.
No matter how intense their envy and jealousy, for his fellow Buddhist disciples to frame him with such absurd accusations of killing and debauchery, and to fabricate such meticulous evidence?
It was an act too extreme, too nonsensical.
‘My fellow disciples were manipulated by him as well.’
The reason they committed such audacious evil was clear: they had fallen under the power of Ak Muryeong’s Illusion Upon Illusion, which brought the darkness in their hearts to the surface.
“Argh!” Iron Vajra roared, lunging at Ak Muryeong.
But with his meridians severed and his inner energy completely sealed, his movements were nothing more than the pitiful, slow writhing of a worm.
Thud.
In the end, Iron Vajra collapsed at Ak Muryeong’s feet, unable to even approach him.
“I thought you were worth something, but you’re just a whining child,” Ak Muryeong sneered.
“You turned me into a cripple, expelled from my sect, and you dare say such things?!” Iron Vajra protested, tears of blood streaming down his face.
Ak Muryeong looked down at him and scoffed. “To forge steel, it must be hammered. To achieve great deeds, trials are necessary. Your false accusations were merely part of that process.”
Without hesitation, he turned away, spitting out contemptuous words. “To blame this pavilion master for the darkness that consumed your fellow disciples’ spirits… You’re nothing but worthless scrap.”
In that moment, Iron Vajra bit his lip until it bled.
Ak Muryeong’s words weren’t entirely wrong.
If his fellow disciples’ spirits hadn’t been shrouded in darkness, they would never have fallen to the power of Illusion Upon Illusion.
‘I cannot die a cripple like this!’ he resolved.
Even if he were to die, he had to complete his great work.
And he had to strike back at this inhuman monster.
“I’ll do it,” Iron Vajra said, forcing himself to stand.
His meridians were torn, making it impossible to stand, yet he trembled and glared at Ak Muryeong.
“It’s not for free. Name your conditions.”
Ak Muryeong’s eyes gleamed with a sharp light, and he bared his fangs in a smile. “Come to our pavilion. I’ll give you everything you need to complete your method.”
“That’s all?”
“Once the method is complete, teach it to just one of our pavilion’s disciples. After that, you’re free, Iron Vajra.”
Rip!
Despite his torn meridians, Iron Vajra tore the sleeve of his monk robes with all his strength.
“I am no longer Iron Vajra,” he declared, blood dripping from his mouth as he spoke coldly. “From now on, I am the Demonic Monk, Blood Vajra!”
From that day forward, Blood Vajra joined Nangyang Pavilion.
With the mysterious demonic techniques of Ak Muryeong and the miraculous power of the Ten-Thousand-Year Earth Extreme Blood Treasure, he fully restored his body. Once recovered, he secluded himself at Iron Staff peak in Iron Staff Mountain, receiving all the resources needed to create his inner energy method.
Nangyang Pavilion was not a typical sect; each disciple practiced different martial arts and inner energy methods. This allowed Blood Vajra to meticulously study countless demonic inner energy methods and the energy flows of masters with exceptional inner energy.
His sole goal was to complete the method.
Only by completing it could he prove his efforts were not in vain and strike a blow against the demonic Ak Muryeong.
“The most critical aspect of an inner energy method is the tempering of the spirit,” he declared.
While Tianlong Temple had created an inner energy method comparable to the Muscle-Changing Sutra, it unfortunately neglected the tempering of the spirit. As a result, his fellow disciples, despite being Buddhist monks, could not resist Ak Muryeong’s Illusion Upon Illusion.
“I must reach a realm no one else can achieve,” Blood Vajra vowed.
He researched tirelessly, barely sleeping an hour a day.
“It’s done!” he exclaimed at last.
But upon completing the method, he faced yet another setback.
In his obsession with tempering the spirit and aiming for an unprecedented level in martial history…
He had created a method that required exceptional talent, keen intellect, camel-like endurance, and meridians as pure as those of a newborn child.
“I’ll master it myself first,” he resolved.
But even that was no easy task.
“Argh, arghhh!” he screamed.
Each time he practiced the divine technique, he felt as if he were burning in the fires of hell. Even he, renowned for having unmatched talent in inner energy, found the method difficult and agonizing to practice.
“If I can’t master it, who will I teach it to?!” he roared.
Crunch!
In the end, Blood Vajra began chewing off his own fingers while practicing the method.
By the time he had consumed all five fingers, he had finally mastered the greatest method in the demonic path—no, in the entire martial world.
Ban Geuk. This Ban-Geuk Method, combining the principles of righteous and demonic inner energy methods…
Transcended the logic of existing inner energy methods, allowing the wielder to harness the energy of nature itself. It enabled perfect control of yin and yang energies, and even reaching the second level caused one’s power to surge uncontrollably.
Despite his inner energy having been sealed, Blood Vajra reached the fifth level, gaining over three hundred years’ worth of inner energy.
“It’s complete. Now teach it,” Ak Muryeong said, as if he had sensed the method’s completion, sending disciples to Blood Vajra.
But here, Blood Vajra faced another setback.
‘Is it impossible?’ he wondered.
The talented disciples of Nangyang Pavilion, brilliant and spirited young martial artists, could not even grasp the basics of the Ban-Geuk Method, either dying or becoming crippled.
If he could pass it on to even one person, he could fulfill his promise to Ak Muryeong and leave.
Yet, even the most gifted disciples, capable of mastering any martial art, crumbled before reaching the first level.
As countless Nangyang Pavilion disciples died or were crippled, Blood Vajra secluded himself at Iron Staff peak, refusing to emerge.
That is, until he met Bu Eunseol.
‘How can this be…?’
This young man, Bu Eunseol, broke through the first level in a single attempt—a feat no other disciple had achieved—and reached the second level in just a few months. This was not only due to his exceptional talent and intellect but also because he had mastered Shaolin’s supreme secret technique, the Muscle-Changing Sutra.
Moreover, it was as if he were born to learn the Ban-Geuk Method. His body was almost entirely free of impurities, as if he had been honing himself since childhood to master the world’s greatest inner energy.
Blood Vajra was overjoyed.
He had finally found the prodigy who could complete the Ban-Geuk Method.
‘He carries a deep grudge,’ Blood Vajra realized while teaching him.
Bu Eunseol, this young man, harbored the same bitter resentment and purpose as he did.
‘So that’s how it is.’
Only then did Blood Vajra understand that the method he had created was infused with bitterness and regret. Watching Bu Eunseol grow day by day, steadfastly progressing without wavering, Blood Vajra’s heart began to change.
‘I’ve been so foolish all this time,’ he thought.
Having studied countless righteous and demonic inner energy methods for years, his spirit had naturally pursued the deep enlightenment and spiritual path of a high Buddhist monk.
Seeing Bu Eunseol, a prodigy of the ages who resembled him so closely, he realized how foolish his path had been.
‘It was but a fleeting moment.’
Looking back, it was something he could have prevented.
If he had been a bit more open-hearted, a bit more composed…
He could have embraced his despairing fellow disciples, who lacked his talent, and grown together with them.
But back then, he only looked forward, ignoring the gazes upon him.
As a result, his fellow disciples were consumed by despair and darkness, unable to even sense the influence of Illusion Upon Illusion, their spirits shrouded in deep, dark demonic energy.
‘It’s not even the pavilion master’s fault,’ Blood Vajra realized.
He understood that Ak Muryeong, too, was merely a martial artist living for a single goal, just like himself. No matter how great a demon of the Three Demons or a master of peerless martial arts he was, Ak Muryeong was but a pawn unable to escape the grand game of fate.
‘Is this realization too late?’ he wondered.
By now, even his resentment toward Ak Muryeong had faded. Perhaps that, too, was another reflection of himself, someone who had sacrificed everything to achieve a great deed.
‘It’s time to leave.’ Seeing that Bu Eunseol had stably mastered the method, Blood Vajra left Nangyang Pavilion quietly, feeling unburdened.
Thereafter, he wandered the martial world, resuming his ascetic practices.
And he came to one realization.
His heart still lingered as Hongdeok, a disciple of Tianlong Temple.
The creation of the Ban-Geuk Method had begun solely to gain his master’s recognition.
‘Now I can finally let everything go,’ Blood Vajra thought, laughing heartily.
He publicly revealed himself, heading toward Tianlong Temple while beginning his Penance Journey.
“This humble monk is heading to Tianlong Temple. Those who bear grudges, come! I will not resist!” he declared.
Blood Vajra knew that if he could not repay his blood debts, even if he reached Tianlong Temple, he would not be worthy to enter.
‘I must completely atone for all the evil deeds I’ve accumulated,’ he resolved.
He had not stayed at Nangyang Pavilion solely to complete the Ban-Geuk Method.
As Blood Vajra, he had reemerged in the martial world, killing the disciples who had destroyed his meridians and framed him. He had also slain countless righteous martial artists who attacked him, either to reform him or for fame.
‘If I die by their hands, that is my fate. But if I survive after paying for my sins…’
Blood Vajra gazed at the distant sky.
If that were possible…
He would earn the right to step back into Tianlong Temple, piercing through this long darkness.
