As if unable to even comprehend why he had lost, Baek Museong stared wide-eyed.
“The Seven Blood Tear Forms transmitted by the Three Realms… turns out that’s as far as it goes.”
The Buddha Venerable clicked his tongue.
Then he spoke to Baek Museong, who knelt on one knee with a vacant gaze and bowed head.
“I told you, didn’t I? From the beginning, the Seven Blood Tear Forms is a sword art of death that only Bu Zhanyang can wield. Stealing his sword manual and forms alone won’t make it possible.”
He then delivered the most humiliating words possible.
“If you want to survive in the martial world from now on, you’d best beg the Clear River Realm to teach you some other martial art.”
Baek Museong, still bracing himself with his greatsword planted in the ground, merely lowered his head without a word.
“I raised you personally from childhood, so I know you better than anyone. That’s why I’ll say this in advance…”
Sighing, the Buddha Venerable continued.
“Never stand in this poor monk’s way again.”
“Hahaha!”
Baek Museong, who had been biting his lip, burst into loud laughter and said, “This poor monk? How dare a wicked, insidious person like you claim to be a figure of Buddhism!”
“If this poor monk does not go to hell, then who will?” The Buddha Venerable spoke with a solemn expression. “Once I learned the truth of the martial world, I abandoned the precepts long ago. If there is a goal, I will achieve it without fail.”
“…”
“If saving a crumbling world means saving countless lives… then I can break the Buddhist precepts hundreds of times over.”
The Buddha Venerable was making his own kind of sacrifice.
For a righteous faction member, for a person of Buddhism, to do what must never be done, what cannot be done.
Because it was something that even dedicating one lifetime would not suffice for.
Clinging to his long, extended lifespan again and again, he pressed onward resolutely.
“And it would be best for you to leave that place as soon as possible.”
Sighing once more, the Buddha Venerable said, “In the end, you’ll only be used and then discarded.”
Having watched and taught Baek Museong since childhood, the Buddha Venerable could see straight through his thoughts.
Beneath Baek Museong’s gentle face lay a rebellious spirit filled to the brim; he would never submit to power or authority.
The Three Realms would never tolerate such a person… so in the Buddha Venerable’s eyes, Baek Museong’s eventual fate was obvious.
“Isn’t it the same for you?”
Suppressing his revulsion, Baek Museong said, “A person who claims to be a high monk of Buddhism has used this body his entire life, and anyone who refuses to obey is discarded without hesitation.”
“If that’s how you see it, then perhaps you’re right.”
The Buddha Venerable replied calmly, his expression unchanging.
“Still, I gave you this advice because we were once disciple and master—think it over carefully.”
Baek Museong’s expression was complicated.
Was the Buddha Venerable an old monster steeped in evil?
Or had he willingly taken on the role of villain to save the world…?
He simply could not tell.
Shuk.
At that moment, with a whoosh of air, the Buddha Venerable and the two masked figures vanished in an instant.
In the empty mountain temple, only he remained in his wretched state.
“Kh kh kh… heh heh heh heh.”
Then Baek Museong lowered his head and began to chuckle lowly.
“Hahahahaha!”
Bursting into mad laughter, he straightened his body.
Crack crack.
His pallid complexion returned to normal, and the blood flowing across his body instantly clotted.
“So senile desire had blinded him to the point he couldn’t even sense his disciple’s true ability?”
He had known from the start that the Seven Blood Tear Forms he had learned was merely a shell.
Yet in this fight he had deliberately refrained from using his original power at all.
To shatter everything at the decisive moment, to bring down this old monster swallowed by desire…
He had endured this very humiliation for that purpose.
“The time always comes.”
Snap.
Ceasing his laughter, Baek Museong’s skin turned pale white once more, and his gaze cleared.
He had already begun merging with a new personality, and thanks to that, his martial arts and wisdom had multiplied several times over.
Merely to obtain what he desired.
To leap even higher, he crouched low, enduring and enduring again.
***
Operating a coalition requires enormous expense.
Not only must the warriors formally affiliated with the coalition be fed and equipped, but they must also receive salaries. Additionally, there are costs to maintain internal facilities, procure supplies and take care of the education of warriors, along with the endless funds each organization requires.
The Azure Sky Alliance had secured funds without strain thanks to the help of the Sunflower Merchant Group.
But they could not rely solely on the merchant group’s support.
To expand their influence and carry out various activities, they had to secure funds independently.
—Let’s establish something like the Myriad Goods Store in Sichuan as well. In an even more advanced form.
Gongsun Dankyung, together with the true successor of the Sunflower Merchant Group—who had now become the General Manager of the Azure Sky Alliance, currently using the name Dok-go Jin—headed toward Chengdu in Sichuan.
Thereupon, the elite members of the Supreme Corps, considered the Azure Sky Alliance’s foremost guard unit, stepped forward to escort her.
Not only were their skills top-tier, but above all, the Supreme Corps was linked to the Death Spirit Corps, which possessed a vast information network.
Thus, they could detect danger faster than any other intelligence organization.
Gongsun Dankyung, together with Dok-go Jin, wandered through Chengdu analyzing the commercial districts. They collected as much detailed data as possible on goods, services, and resources needed to operate the Azure Sky Alliance.
“You worked hard.”
After spending nearly a full day walking around, she smiled at Dok-go Jin.
Dok-go Jin—Seon Woojin in disguise—had altered his appearance to be even more ordinary and refined than his original features, taking on the typical look of a brilliant young talent from the merchant world.
“No need for such words.”
Dok-go Jin shook his head.
“The Chief Inspector has worked far harder.”
“Since it’s been a while, shall we stop for some tea before we go?”
Both Gongsun Dankyung and Dok-go Jin came from prestigious families; while they could skip meals, they frequently enjoyed tea.
“Sounds good.”
When Dok-go Jin nodded, Gongsun Dankyung pointed to an alley ahead.
“I think I saw a teahouse over there earlier.”
She took the lead and began walking into the alley.
Dok-go Jin followed behind her with a smile.
Saaa.
But something was strange.
The deeper they went into the alley, the more blurred their vision became, and mist began rising in all directions.
“Manager Dok-go.”
Flustered, Gongsun Dankyung turned her head—but Dok-go Jin’s figure was already gone.
‘A formation?’
She was greatly shocked.
What had been deployed here was an extremely sophisticated formation.
Even if she tried to set one herself, it would take three or four days at least—so high was its level.
‘No… this isn’t a formation… it’s an Absolute Boundary.’
What had been laid here was far more profound than dozens or hundreds of ancient formations layered together.
An unbreakable technique unless one knew the method to dispel it—the Three Families’ method.
It was an Absolute Boundary.
‘An Absolute Boundary cannot be deployed in a short time.’
On this itinerary, Gongsun Dankyung had no plan whatsoever to enter this alley; she had chosen the teahouse on a whim.
So who could have predicted her movements and set up a formation here?
Could it be that she had accidentally stumbled into a formation prepared in advance to catch someone else?
‘No… it was him after all.’
There are no coincidences in this world.
Only inevitabilities disguised as coincidences exist.
She had deliberately gone out alone with Manager Dok-go…
Deliberately chosen this secluded alley…
Thud thud.
Then, from the opposite side of the mist, a shadow slowly walked forward. Gongsun Dankyung watched the approaching figure with a tense expression.
The virtuous do not come, and those who come are not virtuous.
This is an eternal truth.
With a tense face, Gongsun Dankyung drew the dagger from her bosom and raised her internal energy.
It was her treasured sword, Snow Shadow, which when infused with internal energy, emitted a white radiance containing an anti-evil aura.
Thus, it could neutralize not only malevolent energies but also—to some extent—the effects of formations.
Twinkle twinkle!
The moment the light pouring from the dagger slowly pushed back the mist,
Thud.
The sound of footsteps halted.
Finally, piercing through the mist, a tall and upright shadow revealed itself.
His face was like fine jade; at the corners of his mouth played a pleasant smile like a spring breeze.
His eyes were profoundly deep, impossible to fathom, filled with the light of wisdom that seemed to pierce through all things in the world.
Gongsun Dankyung’s body trembled faintly.
She knew at a glance.
The beautiful young man before her.
He was the one she had parted from at age seven in the Jungson Family.
The one who had risked his life to save her.
The one said to hold all the wisdom and knowledge of the world in his hands, even able to prophesy the future.
The Heavenly Mechanism Star, Chu So.
“It’s been a while.”
Chu So’s voice was gentle, his expression still childlike.
“Have you been well?”
He behaved as casually as if meeting an old friend.
“You really haven’t changed at all. Those big, round eyes from childhood are still the same.”
Gongsun Dankyung, now in her thirties, maintained a youthful appearance that made her age impossible to guess but Chu So seemed barely to age at all, retaining the look of a teenage boy.
“And your mind is still sharp.”
Chu So grinned, showing white teeth.
“You deliberately came out alone like this, didn’t you? You knew I would come looking.”
Chu So had already known that Gongsun Dankyung had intentionally undertaken this outing.
“Why on earth.”
Suppressing the emotions surging within her, Gongsun Dankyung said, “Why did you deceive me?”
“Because this is fate.”
Chu So smiled faintly.
“As the Chief Inspector of the Martial Soul Society, you should have continued pursuing the Jongsun family. That way the balance would be maintained.”
“Balance?”
Murderous intent rose in Gongsun Dankyung’s eyes. She had guessed that he harbored tremendous ambition.
“Don’t be like that.”
Chu So spread both hands.
“It was for your sake too.”
His expression and tone were utterly innocent.
To suppress the rising emotions, Gongsun Dankyung had to bite her lip and clench her fists several times.
“For my sake?”
“Yes. You must not have manifested the power of the Hundred and Eight Stars.”
Chu So uttered an unexpected, shocking statement.
“Because if you had manifested that power, you were fated to die.”
When Gongsun Dankyung could not continue, Chu So spoke in a kind voice.
“I wanted you to live as long as possible.”
Gongsun Dankyung said coldly, “Yet you sent the Fist Man to kill me? For my sake? Because you wanted me to live?”
“I wasn’t trying to kill you.”
Chu So shook his head.
“I was trying to kill him… in case you revived as one of the Hundred and Eight Stars now and got involved in something foolish.”
For a moment, Gongsun Dankyung was speechless.
“Then it wasn’t me you tried to kill…”
“That’s right.”
Chu So said firmly.
“It was Seon Woojin I tried to kill.”
A chill ran down her spine.
Chu So had used her as bait to kill Seon Woojin—no, Bu Eunseol.
“Why?”
“Because you love him.”
Chu So clicked his tongue.
“Because after meeting him, you changed.”
Surprisingly, he knew that Gongsun Dankyung had feelings for Seon Woojin and that it had caused a shift in her heart.
“You’ve been watching me?”
“One only needs to look at the heavens to know.”
Chu So pointed at the sky and smiled playfully.
“You too are someone who firmly occupies one axis of the world.”
Gongsun Dankyung could not be sure whether Chu So was telling the truth or lying.
“…It wasn’t because of the pain I suffered.”
Lowering her head, Gongsun Dankyung spoke in a low voice.
“It was for the children captured by the Jungson Family.” Lifting her head, she cried out wretchedly. “It was to avenge you—who sacrificed yourself for me!”
That anguished voice echoed in the air for a long time.
“I know.”
After a long silence, Chu So wore an apologetic expression.
“That’s why I came like this.”
He extended one hand and smiled brightly.
“Now come with me.”
“What?”
“There’s no longer any need to seek revenge against the likes of the Jongsun family.”
“The likes of the Jongsun family?”
At those words, Gongsun Dankyung’s eyes widened as if she had realized something.
“Surely not.”
“That’s right.”
Chu So said calmly.
“I have already taken control of the Jungson Family. Even if you attack them now, it’s only an empty shell.”
Then he sighed.
“I deliberately allowed myself to be captured by the Jungson Family. To catch a tiger, one must enter the tiger’s den.”
Chu So wore an utterly detached expression, as if speaking of someone else.
“Of course, there was one more reason.”
“…”
“The Heavenly Mechanism Star has always been treated as the possession of those in power. When the time comes for its energy to fully manifest, one’s movements are tracked like prey being hunted.”
Chu So grinned, showing white teeth.
“But back then, the Jungson Family had gathered all the Heavenly Mechanism Star candidates, right? Being surrounded by those children was the only way to prevent my aura from leaking out.”
He deliberately let his shoulders slump.
“At that time I was young and powerless. I needed a safe place to hide my body and build power.”
It was a terrifying statement.
At merely six or seven years old, Chu So—to hide himself from enemies targeting him and to prevent the Heavenly Mechanism Star from being detected—had deliberately allowed himself to be captured by the Jungson Family.
And like a parasite, he had burrowed into the Jungson Family from within, devouring them one by one.
“Can’t you understand me?”
Chu So made a pitiful face, as if seeking sympathy.
“Those born as the Heavenly Mechanism Star are inherently frail. Congenital blockages akin to heavenly punishment are standard, and most have short lifespans.”
He added, “Moreover, to protect myself from the tyranny of the powerful, I had to prepare and prepare again from childhood.”
His voice carried a compelling power that drew at the soul.
“In that process I dragged you in, but I had no ill intent. It’s the truth.”
“…”
“Come with me.”
Chu So extended his hand once more.
“Then there will be no more hardship, no more pain.”
If this had been before she met Bu Eunseol, before she had gone through so many things with him…
Perhaps she would have believed Chu So’s words.
Perhaps she would have taken his hand and sought a carefree paradise.
But now she knew.
There is no such place in the world.
In the end, everyone merely moves others for the sake of their own goals.
Chu So was no longer a sincere person.
“No ill intent?”
Gongsun Dankyung wore a sad smile.
“Even at this very moment, while speaking to me with a voice imbued with the Soul-Seizing Spirit Words?”
In an instant, Chu So’s smile vanished.
“You knew?”
He scratched his forehead sheepishly with his index finger.
“A great method that vanished five hundred years ago… and yet you noticed. As expected, is there any secret manual the Martial Alliance doesn’t have?”
Tears finally spilled from Gongsun Dankyung’s eyes at Chu So’s wicked appearance.
Not because he had deceived her, but because the years she had lived for him felt so empty.
“Because of me alone, countless people died.”
Gongsun Dankyung looked at Chu So with hollow eyes.
“A thousand warriors who were willing to fight gladly for my revenge… died.”
“That was because of information that entered the Jungson Family—not because of me.”
Chu So said as if aggrieved.
“I even persuaded them several times that the Blood Heaven and Fate Corps you trained wasn’t a big deal. But the Jungson Family must have been afraid. Afraid of a force that could threaten them.”
He did not look sorry at all. Rather, he was saying he had done all he could.
“Forget about the Jungson Family now.”
Then he added a cryptic remark.
“They are merely fallen wraiths.”
“Is that all you wanted to say?”
Realizing there was no wavering in Gongsun Dankyung’s eyes, Chu So let out a deep sigh.
“You only appear fragile on the outside. Your will is stronger than anyone’s.”
“What exactly are you trying to do? What do you want?”
Having collected herself, Gongsun Dankyung asked calmly.
She had to uncover why Chu So had done all this.
“Ah, I almost forgot.”
Chu So shrugged and declared boldly.
“I will become the master of the laws.”
“Laws?”
“Everyone thinks they live according to their own will, thinks freely… but in reality, aren’t the people of the world trapped by certain laws?”
“…”
“Ah, too abstract?”
Chu So laughed playfully.
“To put it simply, I’ll say it’s about eliminating unreasonable existences like the Baekri Family and the True Demon.”
Gongsun Dankyung’s eyes widened.
She knew the True Demon was evil but why did he call even the Baekri Family—who opposes him—an unreasonable existence?
“I’ve told you everything I can for now.”
Chu So asked once more with a regretful look.
“I’ll make one final offer. Take my hand.”
“No.”
“Fine. I understand.”
Chu So clapped his hands as if dusting them off and said with apparent disappointment.
“Then you are now my enemy.”
Kuoong.
At the same time, thirteen shadows appeared around them.
Shrouded in gray mist, their features could not be seen, yet they exuded the aura of supreme experts capable of tearing apart heaven and earth.
“I’ll warn you in advance—even if you gathered every martial artist in this entire Chengdu… you still couldn’t face the man who controls the Yin-Soul Killing Men.”
Chu So said playfully.
“It would have been better if you had come together from the start.”
“Kill me and end it here.”
At that moment, Gongsun Dankyung spoke. “Do not touch anyone around me anymore.”
“…”
“Promise me. Now.”
Chu So let out a hollow laugh. Only now did he realize her true purpose in coming here.
“Seon Woojin. Is he that precious to you?”
“Answer me.”
“I’m sorry, but I cannot make such a promise.”
“Then you won’t be leaving here either.”
Gongsun Dankyung drew a red stick from her bosom. It was none other than the Enchanting Shadow Demon Vine.
“You and I will die here together.”
“How foolish.”
Chu So sighed deeply and shook his head.
“Did you truly believe that a book containing ancient secret arts like the Tao Manifestation was hidden in the Martial Alliance?”
“What?”
It was far too shocking a fact.
Then even obtaining that ancient secret manual had been part of Chu So’s arrangement?
“Still… the fact that you’ve become vicious enough to attempt mutual destruction with me… I rather like that.”
Gazing at Gongsun Dankyung with a subtle look, Chu So turned away.
“Then, farewell.”
Without hesitation, he spun around and vanished into the mist.
Gongsun Dankyung stood holding the Enchanting Shadow Demon Vine with a vacant expression.
For decades she had lived with revenge in her heart and that revenge had been for her benefactor—the one who had saved her and been dragged away smiling.
For Chu So’s revenge.
Not a single day had passed without her thinking of Chu So, who she believed had died miserably.
Yet it had all been a lie.
Until now, she had merely been a puppet dancing on Chu So’s strings.
‘What have I been living for all this time…’
While she stood dazed, with heavy thuds, a massive shadow reappeared from within the mist.
Chu So had shown her no mercy.
To kill her, he had sent the Yin-Soul Killing Man—a demonic being that only transcendents could create.
Thud thud.
The Yin-Soul Killing Man stood over seven feet tall; his eyes were frozen like ice, radiating cold.
His gaze held no emotion, like that of a corpse, and his movements were grave and weighty.
Even more terrifying, though he had the form of a human, what composed him was wood, stone, animal corpses, entrails, and other things that could never belong in a human body.
Swish.
With mechanical movements, he began to scrutinize Gongsun Dankyung’s body and surroundings in detail.
It was as if he were analyzing her thoroughly to deliver a single, certain killing strike.
Kuoong.
The Yin-Soul Killing Man slowly began to advance.
