[The Demon Emperor has broken out of seclusion and returned to Majeon.]
While returning to Majeon, Bu Eunseol received unexpected news from Soyo.
The news was that the Demon Emperor had suddenly ended his seclusion and returned to the Sacred Demon Hall.
‘Does that mean he can even read my thoughts?’
This time, no matter what happened, Bu Eunseol was determined to locate the Demon Emperor and request a private audience. But as if he had predicted exactly that, the Demon Emperor had returned to the Sacred Demon Hall ahead of time.
‘Come to think of it, it wasn’t just the Demon Emperor.’
Except for Nangyang Pavilion, every supreme master Bu Eunseol had met in the martial world—those who stood at the pinnacle of the age—had all tried to manipulate the people around them according to their own tastes.
There was nothing surprising about the Demon Emperor behaving the same way.
‘The only thing I don’t know is what his true purpose is… and what exactly he wants from me.’
The Demon Emperor was the very symbol of chaos.
The reason he was trying to control Bu Eunseol could not possibly be something as trivial as the prosperity of Majeon or personal ambition.
‘I’ll return to Majeon as slowly as possible.’
Upon hearing that the Demon Emperor had ended seclusion and returned, Bu Eunseol deliberately slowed his pace of return.
In order to have a private confrontation with the Demon Emperor… and to prepare himself to survive it.
“I have come to see the Demon Emperor.”
Upon arriving at Majeon, Bu Eunseol headed straight for the Sacred Demon Hall.
“The Lord is waiting for you.”
The moment Bu Eunseol arrived, the guard at the Sacred Demon Hall politely clasped his hands together.
Crunch.
Bu Eunseol felt a surge of anger at the guard’s perfectly natural attitude.
It was always like this.
The Demon Emperor treated him as if he already held him completely in his grasp, as if he had strings attached to his back.
He always predicted Bu Eunseol’s range of actions and prepared countermeasures in advance.
‘But this time will be different.’
A cold, bitter smile appeared deep within Bu Eunseol’s heart.
No matter how much of a monster the Demon Emperor was, he would never be able to predict what Bu Eunseol was about to do.
Thud. Thud.
Guided by the guard, Bu Eunseol emerged from the western gate of the Sacred Demon Hall and saw the Demon Emperor watering the crops planted in the small garden.
“The Martial Soul Command Lord, Bu Eunseol, greets the Demon Emperor.”
The Demon Emperor didn’t even glance at Bu Eunseol, calmly continuing to water the plants.
Without hesitation, Bu Eunseol spoke.
“And since you have taken the trouble to end your seclusion after such a long time… I would like to humbly request a single bout of guidance.”
Flinch.
In that instant, the motion of the Demon Emperor tilting the water jar paused for the briefest moment.
It must have been an unexpected reaction.
Because he had likely assumed Bu Eunseol would ask him various questions.
He had always thought rationally and logically.
A challenge directed at the Demon Emperor.
That was not something one could say in jest.
“Are you serious?”
The previously calm pupils of the Demon Emperor began to emit a mysterious, profound radiance.
Excluding the Three Demons and Three Venerables, every single person who had ever challenged the Demon Emperor had died.
Without even possessing the qualifications to stand on the same level as the Three Demons and Three Venerables, challenging the supreme master of the demonic path was tantamount to denying his authority as the sky of the demonic way.
And that principle…
Applied even to the successor of Majeon.
There were no exceptions.
“Hm.”
Still holding the water jar, the Demon Emperor stared straight at Bu Eunseol.
His gaze was so deep that it felt like falling endlessly into an infinitely deep well.
Since reaching the Spirit Regulation Harmony, no one had ever broken through Bu Eunseol’s mental defenses.
There had been one brief instance with Ak Muryeong, but that was only because he had completely let down his guard in front of an elder from the same sect.
Bloop… bloop…
But the Demon Emperor was different.
Incredibly, in a single instant, the barrier of his mind was pierced, and his consciousness began sinking endlessly into deep water.
‘Still not enough, am I?’
Even as his consciousness grew fainter, Bu Eunseol desperately tried to hold onto his senses.
If he had been at a level capable of blocking the Demon Emperor’s martial power, he would have done what Takma did—converting a mental attack into a physical one.
But right now, it was impossible.
He didn’t even have the leeway to perform such a feat.
‘But… it doesn’t matter!’
In truth, even before requesting a single bout, Bu Eunseol had already predicted this exact situation.
That he wouldn’t be able to touch the Demon Emperor even once, and that the other would shatter his mind and drive him to despair.
‘He may be able to dominate my spirit.’
Bu Eunseol closed his eyes.
‘But he will never dominate the will engraved into my body.’
Ziiing.
When he opened his eyes again, a pale yellow light flowed from his pupils.
Bu Eunseol knew of one person who had repeatedly clashed with the Demon Emperor and still survived completely intact.
The Human Demon, Ak Muryeong.
Not only had he fought the Demon Emperor multiple times, but far from losing his life, he had used those life-or-death battles to explosively develop his martial arts.
And the sole reason that was possible was one thing: Having reached the supreme realm of Nangyang’s martial arts, he could analyze any martial technique, and instantly comprehend the profound principles of any martial art.
But Bu Eunseol had only just passed the initial stage of the Nangyang Heart Eye. At his current level, he could not yet decipher the profound mysteries of the Demon Emperor’s martial arts.
So he thought differently.
Instead of trying to unravel the opponent’s martial mysteries, he would manifest a slightly modified version of the Nangyang Heart Eye—one that would allow him to unconditionally unleash his own martial mysteries in any situation.
And to perfect it, Bu Eunseol had deliberately returned to Majeon very slowly.
Ziiing.
Not only his pupils, but his entire body began emitting a yellow radiance.
At the same time, regardless of his blurred mental state, his body instinctively began pouring out martial techniques nonstop.
From his left hand came the Seven Fist Demon Forms.
From his right hand came the Azure Heaven Seven Forms.
Pa-at! Swish!
Though his consciousness had sunk and his eyes had lost focus, though he continued to sink endlessly into the water, though he had no consciousness at all—
Bu Eunseol’s body began relentlessly unleashing attacks toward the Demon Emperor.
“Hoo…”
The Demon Emperor let out a soft exclamation and lightly moved the hand holding the water jar.
With just the casual flick of his fingers, as if keeping rhythm, Bu Eunseol’s techniques were neutralized one by one.
Even while standing calmly holding the water jar, he completely blocked all of Bu Eunseol’s attacks.
“You managed to come up with your own method.” A strange light flickered in the Demon Emperor’s eyes. “You must have calculated that I would not kill you.”
He stared straight at Bu Eunseol, whose eyes had lost focus yet continued to unfold martial arts endlessly.
“You must have guessed that you are still a necessary blade in this seat’s hand.”
If he had truly intended to kill Bu Eunseol, he would have become a wandering soul in the nine heavens long ago, without ever becoming the Martial Soul Command Lord.
The sole reason he was still alive was one thing: there existed a reason and sufficient utility value to keep Bu Eunseol alive.
Knowing this, Bu Eunseol had boldly issued the challenge.
Considering the time and effort already invested, the Demon Emperor could not easily discard him.
“Hahaha…”
The Demon Emperor laughed and slightly lifted the pinky finger holding the water jar.
“But that calculation was wrong.”
Whoooosh.
With the sound of all the air in the world rushing toward his little finger, a terrifying force surged forth.
“You are still too early to try to predict this seat.”
The Demon Emperor was the Demon Emperor.
He symbolized chaos—an existence that could never be predicted.
And if anyone ever thought they had predicted his actions… he was the type of person who would mercilessly shatter that prediction.
BOOM!
In that moment, a thunderous sound as if the entire world were collapsing rang out.
At the same time, blood gushed from Bu Eunseol’s chest.
With the lightest movement of his little finger, a horrifying force had pierced straight through Bu Eunseol’s protective true qi and penetrated his heart.
Ziiing.
But the heart was not pierced.
Sssss.
At some point, black true qi had materialized and gathered around Bu Eunseol’s heart area.
He had unfolded the Wishful True Binding to block that power.
“You were instinctively manifesting the optimal martial technique through the Nangyang Heart Eye.”
Seeing Bu Eunseol unfold his own Ignorance True Binding—and seeing how deeply he had cultivated it—the Demon Emperor gave a faint smile.
The deeper one cultivated the Ignorance True Binding, the closer one came to producing the exact result he desired.
“Just as you have struggled to fathom this seat, this seat has also spent a very long time fathoming you.”
The Demon Emperor slowly extended his index finger toward Bu Eunseol.
Immediately, another strange energy began to gather.
It was not a simple force like finger wind.
It was a new martial principle, instantaneously created by the Demon Emperor himself—one capable of instantly destroying the utility of Bu Eunseol’s Nangyang Heart Eye, which instinctively unfolded the optimal martial technique from the unconscious.
Just like Ak Muryeong, he had analyzed the profound principle of the enemy’s martial art in the midst of battle and used a technique that exploited it.
Saaaa.
As the Demon Emperor extended his finger, a mist-like energy rose around Bu Eunseol’s body.
The martial principle the Demon Emperor had poured out to kill him was his official first attack.
The mist was so sticky and tenacious it blocked Bu Eunseol’s breathing.
Moreover, it completely sealed all the powerful internal energy circulating within his body, freezing his joints and muscles so that he could no longer perform any martial art.
With a single motion, the Demon Emperor had created threads that completely sealed off every struggle Bu Eunseol could possibly make.
Crack.
Though Bu Eunseol’s body had produced the optimal martial technique through the Nangyang Heart Eye, this time it was useless.
The power the Demon Emperor unleashed was extremely tenacious and soft by nature and it had rendered Bu Eunseol incapable of moving from the very beginning.
In the end, not only his spirit, but even his body was completely sinking into darkness.
‘Was my prediction wrong after all?’
Eventually, Bu Eunseol’s consciousness awakened from the unconscious state.
Even his newly modified Nangyang Heart Eye had been completely sealed by the Demon Emperor’s technique.
‘He intends to kill me without hesitation.’
Considering how much effort he had already invested, Bu Eunseol had thought he wouldn’t be killed in a single strike.
No—at the very least, he thought some kind of emotion would be shown.
But contrary to expectation, the Demon Emperor had decided to eliminate him without hesitation.
‘No… that can’t be.’
Bu Eunseol was certain.
The Demon Emperor did not merely symbolize chaos—he was chaos itself.
And the word “chaos” contained terrifyingly sharp calculation.
There was no way the Demon Emperor would so casually discard a piece he had nurtured for so long.
‘After sealing the body, he will try to completely dominate the spirit as well.’
Bu Eunseol bit his lip.
What the Demon Emperor wanted from him was absolute submission.
Most likely, he would wait until Bu Eunseol was on the verge of death, then seize both body and spirit.
But Bu Eunseol had no intention of allowing that.
He would rather die than survive in a wretched state and kneel before the Demon Emperor.
—Take my hand.
Finally, when Bu Eunseol sank into an abyss from which he could sink no further, another version of himself appeared as if waiting.
—If you join with me, we can defeat him.
The figure dyed in darkness was even blacker than the abyss itself.
Yet the form—a black shadow with only a white mouth moving—was no different from the powerful foes who had toyed with him until now.
—Get lost.
Bu Eunseol said coldly.
—I’d rather die fighting alone than defeat the Demon Emperor through joint attack.
—That’s fine too.
The shadow smiled brightly.
—Because that madness of yours is the very reason I exist.
Surprisingly, after leaving those words, the shadow quietly vanished.
Meanwhile, Bu Eunseol’s pupils grew transparent, and his breathing faded.
Strangely, he felt peaceful.
Death had always been by his side.
Even before he lost his memories and wandered through the snow, death had constantly lurked behind him.
But ever since his Grandfather Bu Zhanyang reached out to him when he was freezing to death, the meaning of death had changed a little.
It became something quiet and peaceful.
And dying meant being able to meet Grandfather again in the afterlife.
That had become something peaceful—even happy.
Ziiing.
In that moment, Bu Eunseol’s spirit recalled something he had forgotten.
The Martial Emperor’s Tranquil Awakening.
The supreme orthodox mental art that could amplify the power of martial techniques simply by holding beautiful and joyful thoughts.
Until now, his spirit had been steadily assimilating toward the Ignorance True Binding—closer to the Demon Emperor.
Because his original nature was cold and desolate.
But deep in Bu Eunseol’s consciousness lay abundant warmth, and a longing for the peace represented by the Martial Emperor’s Tranquil Awakening.
‘Even beautiful and happy memories can become power.’
Come to think of it, the martial art that the Infinite Realm had considered most fundamental was none other than the ultimate techniques of the Eight Emperors and Three Stars.
While the Returning to One Realm created previous-generation masters, and the Clear River Realm implanted dual personalities to forge powerhouses, and the Infinite Realm clung only to artificial inner cores and Demonic Swords…
It was all in order to complete the ultimate techniques of the Eight Emperors and Three Stars.
Because they judged that those brilliant martial arts from four hundred years ago could subdue even the strongest experts of the current martial world.
And Bu Eunseol had mastered the supreme ultimate technique of the Martial Emperor—one of the highest among the Eight Emperors and Three Stars’ arts: the Thirteen Guiding Energies.
Yet he had rarely used it, and had never developed it through enlightenment.
Because his foundation was Nangyang.
Because demonic mental arts were more familiar to him.
While he used the Wishful True Binding so frequently, he had unconsciously rejected the Thirteen Guiding Energies.
‘I am not a demonic cultivator.’
From the moment he decided to reach an independent martial realm instead of following Ak Muryeong’s teachings, the distinction between orthodox and demonic had vanished from Bu Eunseol’s heart, and he no longer considered himself a demonic practitioner.
‘And I am not orthodox either.’
The endlessly sinking darkness was like death—nothing could be seen.
Due to the nature of martial arts, when one sank into such an infinitely deep abyss, darkness would cover the mind.
But for Bu Eunseol, it was the complete opposite.
The darker, lonelier, and more endlessly silent it became… the more comfortable he felt.
Because the years spent with Grandfather Bu Zhanyang had always been that way.
They had always lived in dark places.
When Grandfather went to the mortuary, Bu Eunseol had sometimes prepared corpses alone.
And those times had been joyful and happy.
Because at the end of this death-like silence, Grandfather would return with a tired face, meet his eyes, and gently stroke his head.
The endless darkness like death, the loneliness, the silence… had always been on his side.
Ziiing.
Feeling infinite comfort, a faint light began to flow from Bu Eunseol’s body.
The principle of the Martial Emperor’s Tranquil Awakening—growing stronger the happier one felt—did not match Bu Eunseol’s personality.
But when the Demon Emperor forcibly pushed his consciousness into an abyss like death, he paradoxically reached the supreme principle of the Martial Emperor’s Tranquil Awakening:
‘So deep it becomes the origin of all things’—the profound mystery of “Abyssal, as if the progenitor of ten thousand things.”
Flash!
Light returned to Bu Eunseol’s unfocused pupils, and at the same time,
Shiiik! Shiiik!
Nine razor-sharp energy strands began to swirl violently around his body.
The Thirteen Guiding Energies, which even five hundred years of internal energy could only manifest in four strands, had instantly increased to nine.
Swish! Swish!
And those razor-sharp energy strands began slicing apart the sticky, tenacious power that had been coiling around Bu Eunseol’s body, stopping the martial principle the Demon Emperor had unleashed.
‘The Martial Emperor’s martial art is the martial art of harmony.’
Just as he was about to fully unfold the Thirteen Guiding Energies, a realization flashed through Bu Eunseol.
The Martial Emperor’s art belonged to Seon Woojin.
If he did not modify the form of the Thirteen Guiding Energies, the Demon Emperor would immediately realize that Seon Woojin was himself.
Kuuung! Kuuung!
Bu Eunseol forcibly began infusing demonic martial principles into the Thirteen Guiding Energies.
Nevertheless, the power was so overwhelming that
Swish!
he was able to completely shatter the tenacious martial principle.
Whoooosh.
A brilliant radiance bloomed from Bu Eunseol’s pupils.
‘Now it’s my turn.’
If he had been satisfied with merely escaping, he wouldn’t have even made a move.
He wouldn’t have even dared to challenge in the first place.
Whiiiing.
The nine strands of energy coiling around Bu Eunseol’s body turned into a tornado that soared to the ends of the sky.
It looked extremely similar to the dozens-of-jang-tall giant blade the Demon Emperor had once created with the Wishful True Binding.
Crack crack.
As the overwhelming energy raged, blood vessels stood out across Bu Eunseol’s body, and his eyes turned pure white.
It felt as if his body would explode.
‘Unity.’
Only then did Bu Eunseol realize.
The true ultimate of the Martial Emperor’s Tranquil Awakening, the Thirteen Guiding Energies,
required aligning and uniting the orthodox martial arts of all schools under heaven and pouring them out with the power of “harmony.”
Crack.
But because he had not fully integrated the orthodox martial arts, the nine strands of energy,
like ferocious evil dragons, were tearing at Bu Eunseol’s own body as they raged around him.
‘It doesn’t matter.’
Even if his entire body were torn apart.
Even if his whole being turned to dust.
He had to drive this raging power straight into the Demon Emperor’s body.
“Ugh… Haaaa!”
Pulling his right hand back, Bu Eunseol began slowly extending his arm forward, as if gathering a storm of true qi that could swallow the entire world into a single point.
But the ferocious energy that seemed ready to shatter his will escaped his hand and spread wide once again.
“Quite flashy.”
The Demon Emperor flicked his finger as if bored.
That strike—several times faster than the Meteor Chasing the Moon Form—pierced straight toward Bu Eunseol’s throat.
Thud.
In that instant, the entire world seemed to freeze, and a tremendous vibration rang inside his head.
The moment the Demon Emperor fired the line of death, the chaotic, swirling power of the Thirteen Guiding Energies suddenly aligned perfectly.
“Haaap!”
Bu Eunseol thrust both hands toward the line approaching his throat.
Shuuuk.
The power the Demon Emperor had fired vanished in an instant.
At the same time, from Bu Eunseol’s outstretched hands, an energy capable of annihilating the world poured straight toward the Demon Emperor.
This forced mystery is dragging too much