“What do you mean by saying I am of that person’s bloodline?”
The old man seemed not to hear Bu Eunseol’s words. He stared blankly into empty space, lost in deep thought for a moment.
“Manwol.”
Only now, as though something had finally dawned on him, he let out a sigh and muttered.
“So that’s why that child shattered a treasure as precious as her life, exposing her power….”
This time, even the name Manwol had come up.
But Bu Eunseol could not regain his composure because of the word “that person.”
“Answer me! Are you saying that refers to the True Demon?”
When Bu Eunseol urgently pressed him, the old man nodded.
“Yes. Young Master, you are of that person’s bloodline.”
In that instant, Bu Eunseol felt as though he had been struck hard on the back of the head.
‘I am a descendant of the True Demon?’
The old man, on the verge of death, had no reason to lie.
He was a descendant of the True Demon?
Wasn’t the True Demon described as a transcendent being who remembered every cycle of repeating reincarnation? How could someone said to have been sealed away by Baekri have left behind flesh and blood?
“This old servant should have absolutely prevented such a thing….” The old man looked at Bu Eunseol and continued, “But because he wished for it so desperately, I could not bring myself to stop it.”
The old man’s eyes had no focus.
Only then did Bu Eunseol realize that the old man’s mind was far from clear and that he was obsessively clinging to some memory due to a great shock.
‘If he can’t even follow the context of the conversation to this degree….’
Only now did Bu Eunseol notice a faint scar near the crown of the old man’s head, at the Baihui acupoint. That was a crucial acupoint, closely tied to consciousness, concentration, reasoning, and speech.
‘Someone deliberately damaged this old man’s Baihui acupoint, rendering his mind unsound.’
Bu Eunseol’s eyes narrowed.
To intentionally injure the Baihui acupoint of a terrifying master like this old man…
The culprit would have to be an overwhelmingly powerful expert capable of dominating the entire martial world.
“In the end, it resulted in betraying my lord… but it was never born of personal greed.”
The old man slowly rose with unfocused eyes and performed a respectful bow.
“For the unforgivable sin of failing to serve even the Young Master… I shall apologize in the afterlife.”
“Hey.”
Bu Eunseol called out urgently, but-
Thud.
With those final words, the old man suddenly stopped breathing.
He had performed sorcery at the cost of his life and had been struck by the Seven Blood Tear Forms.
The mere fact that he had been able to speak until now was already a miracle.
“Old man! Old man!”
Bu Eunseol hurriedly tried to pour inner energy and Three Divine Energies into him, but the old man had already cooled, his face frozen in an expression of regret.
A deathly silence filled the interior.
Bu Eunseol’s vision darkened; his stomach twisted, and nausea threatened to rise.
“I must pull myself together.”
He took several deep breaths.
Once he regained his composure, uncontrollable questions began flooding his mind.
“So does that mean there really is a True Demon clan, just like with Baekri?”
It was possible.
He too had been born in a human body and was repeating the cycle of reincarnation.
Naturally, he could form a clan and leave descendants.
No—he would have had to do so.
Blood kin were the strongest possible allies.
Especially since the Three Attendants, Four Divine Heavens, and Eight Human Heavens among his kin were all bound by restrictions imposed by Baekri.
He would certainly have ensured a bloodline remained.
“That’s why I didn’t want to fight him.”
Whether it was an old man or a child, Bu Eunseol welcomed challenges from outstanding experts and never avoided battle.
Yet even though this old man had attacked and tried to kill him without asking right from wrong, for some reason Bu Eunseol had not wanted to kill him.
“So I am of the True Demon’s bloodline, and that old man was a retainer of the True Demon clan.”
Muttering quietly to himself, Bu Eunseol finally recalled the old man’s monologue.
—So that’s why that child shattered a treasure as precious as her life, exposing her power….
Bu Eunseol had come here searching for an Absolute Boundary, but he had been able to enter this vault because of a mysterious light that suddenly shot into the sky.
But that light… had it ultimately been Manwol’s arrangement?
“It must have been.”
If the old man’s words were true, if his own guess was correct, then everything that had happened was her design.
And most likely… it was to indirectly inform him that he was of the True Demon’s bloodline.
“But.”
Why had she never told him directly?
Why did she always hide something and never give him a clear explanation?
“The restriction.”
All of the True Demon’s kin were bound by restrictions.
Since all Eight Human Heavens were restricted, the Four Divine Heavens and Three Attendants were surely the same. There was a high chance that Manwol too was one of the True Demon’s kin and bound by some restriction.
“Even she was only a shadow.”
According to the memories of the treasure, Manwol was not the real one—only a shadow—and there existed someone named the real one.
That meant she too could one day have everything taken from her and be killed.
“So it was a message Manwol Lady wanted to convey to me.”
To inform him of his own origins—something no one else could confirm—she had used this old retainer of the True Demon clan to pass on the information.
“But.”
He still could not fully grasp Manwol’s intentions.
All he knew was that she was someone from the True Demon clan, that she had inherited mysterious power, and that she was helping him.
“Perhaps she is also telling me that I too am a shadow.”
If a secret art existed in the world that could contain a person’s ability in two parts, if it were possible to divide someone’s power into two, then the same could have happened to the True Demon.
“In that case, am I the True Demon’s shadow?”
In the past, that would have shocked him.
But now, whether he was of Baekri’s line or the True Demon’s made no difference.
He had already decided to stop caring about his roots.
Ever since he heard from Ak Muryeong that he was a shadow created to protect Baekri’s descendant, ever since he learned that he himself had been the cause of shattering his grandfather’s peace, he had completely discarded any curiosity or affection toward bloodlines.
“I am simply… my grandfather’s grandson.”
Crack.
At that moment, a strange sound echoed from all directions.
While he had been lost in thought, the interior of the vault had begun melting like taffy and collapsing.
Bu Eunseol glanced briefly at the fallen old man and spoke in a low voice.
“This place seems like it will make an excellent grave, so I’ll just leave.”
Rumble rumble.
As he exited, the cave that had been hidden in an Absolute Boundary began to collapse.
Probably because the old man had died, the power sustaining the place had vanished completely.
Once outside, the Absolute Boundary that had surrounded the area shattered, revealing a clear lake.
“Heavy Water.”
It was exactly the pond of Heavy Water that the Death Spirit Corps had reported.
[Soyo. Contact the corps members and have the Affectionate Blossom Sect retrieve the Heavy Water.]
[Understood.]
When he sent the thousand-li transmission, he heard Soyo’s low voice followed by a soft pop.
She had stepped away momentarily to contact the Death Spirit Corps.
He gazed quietly at the distant sky.
“It’s already been a full fortnight.”
A long time if long, a short time if short.
Of the two months Manwol had predicted, roughly forty days remained.
If he failed to quickly resolve the matter of the executioner within that time?
Then he would be unable to join both Majeon and the Azure Sky Alliance.
“I can delay no longer.”
He recalled the illustrated book he had seen in the Myriad Demon Scripture Vault.
It contained the long-standing tale of the executioner passed down through the martial world, along with the location where the present sages were hiding.
—The sage resides amid mountains reflected in a lake… surrounded layer upon layer by silk.
He had once thought it a mere legend but through Manwol’s arrangements, he had become certain.
She clearly knew he would come here, and she had arranged for him to experience all of this.
Even deliberately telling him to compose himself and finish what he must do—it was all part of her plan for him.
Whoosh!
Bu Eunseol unfolded the Void-Piercing Leap and shot into the sky in a single bound.
At last, he was heading toward Diecai Mountain in Guilin—the legendary place where the sages were said to live in seclusion.
***
Diecai Mountain.
This beautiful famous peak had a unique appearance, as though layers of colored silk had been stacked upon one another.
Having arrived here in a single stretch, Bu Eunseol immediately began searching the interior.
Since those outstanding sages were deliberately hiding, finding them would not be easy.
But thanks to having searched out and discovered so many concealed vaults and Absolute Boundaries in the past, almost absurdly easily, he located the area where the sages were hiding.
“So even the sages use Absolute Boundaries.”
The place presumed to be where the sages resided employed a formation remarkably similar to the Absolute Boundaries used by the Three Families.
Bu Eunseol reluctantly prepared to use the Three Divine Energies.
But something strange happened.
Unlike ordinary Absolute Boundaries, as he drew closer, the structure of the formation began to become visible.
Astonishingly, passages from a book started to appear on the ground.
‘So the dissolution of the formation is related to the passages.’
In the phrase “surrounded layer upon layer with silk,” “layer upon layer” implied a repeating structure, and “surrounded” meant encirclement.
In other words, the formation itself was built in overlapping layers.
‘Then let’s try erasing one of the strokes that means “stacked.”’
Bu Eunseol erased one of the “layer” characters in “layer upon layer.”
Immediately, the sensation of the overlapping absolute boundary grew fainter.
As expected, the way to dissolve the formation was through the passages.
‘Analyzing the character for “sage”, it consists of “shell” and “minister/subject”. The minister looks downward, implying direction of the formation. The shell means money, so it likely refers to the core element composing the formation.’
Bu Eunseol began breaking down the components of the characters, rearranging their order or reassembling them.
‘“Lake reflecting mountains” suggests a symmetrical structure where mountains are mirrored in a lake… indicating the formation is built on symmetry.’
Bu Eunseol flipped the characters symmetrically, as though reflected in a mirror.
Hidden characters then began to emerge, and beneath them appeared an empty space that seemed to invite something to be filled.
‘It’s telling me to combine the stroke counts of these characters into numbers.’
Bu Eunseol endlessly calculated the structure, arrangement, symmetry, and stroke counts of the appearing characters.
Ziiing.
Finally, when all the formations were released, brilliant light poured in from every direction, revealing an astonishing scene.
The Sage Forest was, true to its name, a forest where a river flowed like blue silk and verdant greenery grew thickly.
Following a small path inward, he came upon a quiet village filled with the fragrance of flowers.
There, lush greenery filtered the sunlight softly, and the air was filled with birdsong.
It was truly a paradise in every sense.
“Hoo.”
But at that moment, accompanied by a sigh, a middle-aged man with eyes flashing with intelligence suddenly appeared before Bu Eunseol.
He wore daoist robes like a true immortal.
His gaze was sharp, and an inexplicable mysterious aura enveloped his entire body.
One look was enough to see he possessed extraordinary wisdom.
“I am-”
“Seeing how easily you dissolved the formation and entered, you must have seen the Various Laws Scripture.”
‘Various Laws Scripture?’
Bu Eunseol thought for a moment before answering calmly.
“I saw an illustrated book with pictures drawn in it.”
“That is the Various Laws Scripture.”
But most of the illustrated book had been damaged, so there were no instructions on dissolving formations. If the middle-aged man realized that Bu Eunseol had solved it purely through his own intellect, he would probably have leaped in shock.
At that moment, the middle-aged man let out a deep sigh.
“So that means the end has finally come to this forest.”
Bu Eunseol tilted his head.
“This forest, you say?”
“You entered this place without knowing anything at all?”
The middle-aged daoist spoke calmly.
“This is precisely the Sage Forest.”
The Sage Forest.
A mysterious sect passed down through generations in the martial world, where sages gathered.
However, they had never revealed themselves to the world, and for the past thirty years they had seemed to vanish entirely.
And yet this place was the Sage Forest?
“Who are you?”
“I am….”
Bu Eunseol hesitated for a moment.
He could not decide whether he should reveal his identity as it was.
“I am Seok Gyeong-ja, the one in charge of guarding the gate of this forest.”
The middle-aged man—Seok Gyeong-ja—calmly revealed his identity first.
“And this forest does not permit entry unless one states their identity clearly.”
He looked at Bu Eunseol with sharp eyes and said, “Do you understand what I mean?”
The Various Laws Scripture had been kept in the Myriad Demon Scripture Vault but judging by Seok Gyeong-ja’s attitude, gaze, and demeanor, the Sage Forest was a sect that walked the path of the righteous.
‘They may harbor great enmity toward the demonic path.’
“I am-”
“If you intend to lie, go ahead and try.”
Seok Gyeong-ja spoke indifferently.
“It will all be exposed anyway.”
The opponent was the gatekeeper of the Sage Forest. As he said, lying was possible, but it would not work.
‘As long as I don’t lie, isn’t that enough?’
Thinking about it, titles like Martial Soul Command Lord or supreme great lord were not his true identity.
He was simply his grandfather’s grandson.
“Seven-Finger Demon Blade Bu Zhanyang is my grandfather.”
After careful consideration, he spoke the truth.
Above all, his grandfather—contrary to what was known in the martial world—had constantly done good deeds in secret. If he had to reveal his identity without falsehood, claiming to be the grandson of Seven-Finger Demon Blade seemed the best option.
“What did you say?”
But contrary to expectation, Seok Gyeong-ja suddenly trembled, convulsions flickering at the corners of his eyes.
“You’re that demon’s grandson?”
In that instant, Bu Eunseol realized he had made a mistake.
It was true that his grandfather had secretly traveled the martial world performing many good deeds but to the majority, his image was nothing more nor less than the great butcher who had slaughtered countless people.
“What wrongdoing did my grandfather commit?”
“What wrongdoing, you ask?”
Rage blazed in Seok Gyeong-ja’s eyes.
“Did that demon never tell you why this forest was forced to seclude itself in such a remote place?!”
He cried out with a grief-stricken expression.
“Seven-Finger Demon Blade—that bastard not only slaughtered every sage across the martial world, he even….”
“….”
“He wiped out all the spirit beasts, spirit herbs, and even the spirit lands!”
Bu Eunseol’s eyes widened in shock.
Why on earth would his grandfather have eradicated the sages, spirit herbs, and spirit beasts?
‘Was that because of Grandfather?’
For decades the martial world had seen spirit beasts grow scarce, as though their lineage had been severed.
Not only legendary creatures like the Ten-Thousand-Year Xuanwu or the Crowned Divine Crane, but even thousand-year fire foxes, single-horned flame toads, three-wood golden cicadas—spirit beasts once occasionally found in the martial world—had vanished in the blink of an eye.
And his grandfather had caused it?
“You must be mistaken. My grandfather….”
Instead of answering, Seok Gyeong-ja parted his clothing to reveal his chest.
There, a dark reddish scar remained.
It was unmistakably the mark of the Seven Blood Tear Forms.
“He hunted spirit beasts across the martial world, taking only their inner cores, and even then it wasn’t enough—he relentlessly massacred the sages of this forest.”
He wore a devastated expression.
“At that time, I was managing the library pavilion in the Sage Forest and was present at the scene of slaughter. If I had not mastered the Great Heaven-Reversing Seeking Art… I would already be wandering the nine heavens.”
Bu Eunseol could say nothing.
When his grandfather had been active in the martial world, he had two faces.
One was the demonic great butcher who mercilessly massacred righteous and demonic masters alike.
The other was the righteous famous hero who secretly roamed the martial world performing good deeds.
Yet of all places, it turned out he had shown the most brutal butcher’s face to the people of the Sage Forest.
“And now that butcher’s grandson has come to the Sage Forest. This is an opportunity granted by heaven.”
Stretch.
As Seok Gyeong-ja extended his hand, faint light flowed around where Bu Eunseol stood.
At the same time, an overwhelming pressure made breathing difficult, and massive walls began rising in all directions.
It was a mysterious formation befitting the name Sage Forest.
“Hmm.”
Seok Gyeong-ja vanished, and Bu Eunseol, trapped in a vast space with no exit, let out a low groan.
‘But if one understands the subtleties of righteous martial arts, dissolving it is not impossible.’
Unfortunately, the formations laid here were designed solely to block demonic masters, filled only with energy that suppressed demonic martial arts.
And Bu Eunseol was versed not only in demonic martial arts but also in righteous martial arts.
Moreover, with his outstanding intellect and sharpness, he could easily dissolve the Sage Forest’s formations.
‘For now, let’s go inside and try talking again.’
As Bu Eunseol raised his energy,
Shhk shhk!
Sharp energy surged, and with the sound of wind rustling through leaves, the layered formations were instantly released in one go.
He had used the Thirteen Guiding Energies to dissolve the formation at once.
Whoosh.
Once the formation was undone, Seok Gyeong-ja’s figure reappeared before him.
“As expected of that demon’s grandson!”
The startled Seok Gyeong-ja drew a flag from his robes and swung it wildly with whipping sounds.
Thereupon, bizarrely shaped shadow figures began stepping forward.
‘This is….’
Bu Eunseol was somewhat surprised.
Wasn’t this the same as the grotesque puppets, the Yin-Soul Killing Men, that Chu So had used when capturing Gongsun Dankyung?
‘These are made based on real human beings.’
Originally, the Yin-Soul Killing Men were artificially created combat dolls made from the bones of resentful spirits, animal blood, and other materials combined with mysterious daoist arts.
But that secret art had long been lost.
In the end, the Sage Forest had created a new version of the Yin-Soul Killing Men based on living humans, granting them immense power.
‘Chu So… that one surpassed even the sages.’
Chu So had created the Yin-Soul Killing Men from inanimate objects.
That meant his wisdom far exceeded even that of the Sage Forest.
Shrrrrk.
Meanwhile, the Yin-Soul Killing Men moved at such high speed their bodies blurred, lunging to tear Bu Eunseol apart.
“Hmm.”
But Bu Eunseol let out a troubled groan.
The martial arts and movement techniques of the Yin-Soul Killing Men were formidable—enough that even top martial experts would struggle to block them.
Yet these too… were techniques specialized solely for countering demonic martial arts.
From Bu Eunseol’s perspective, they were launching attacks so predictable he could yawn.
‘Their grudge against demonic cultivators reaches the heavens.’
It seemed the Sage Forest had defined righteous cultivators solely as enemies of demonic cultivators, designing all their martial arts and formations exclusively at the extreme polarity to counter demonic martial arts.
‘No helping it.’
Boom.
Raising his inner force, Bu Eunseol fixed his gaze on the Yin-Soul Killing Men.
Flash!
From his fingers poured blinding white light without cease.
The Yin-Soul Killing Men possessed bodies harder than iron and moved with lightning speed.
No matter how powerful a martial art, bringing them down would be difficult.
But these Yin-Soul Killing Men, specialized only in countering demonic martial arts at their extreme, appeared to Bu Eunseol like children rushing forward with arms spread wide.
Flash!
Extending his index and middle fingers repeatedly to unleash finger swords,
Thud thud thud.
One by one, the Yin-Soul Killing Men began collapsing to the ground.
He had used finger swords to execute ultra-fast sword forms combined with warrior principles, targeting only their joints.
Boom! Thud thud!
Each time he extended his hand, the Yin-Soul Killing Men fell like straw, yet because Bu Eunseol had shown mercy and refrained from destroying their joints, their lives were not endangered—they were merely wounded enough to be temporarily immobilized.
“The Yin-Soul Killing Men defeated so futilely….”
Seok Gyeong-ja’s eyes bulged.
If Bu Eunseol had been an aged, imposing great demonic master of the demonic path, he might not have been so shocked at seeing the Yin-Soul Killing Men dispatched easily.
But a man not even thirty years old was casually swatting away the Yin-Soul Killing Men—who possessed bodies as tough as adamant—like annoying flies?
“You claim to be Bu Zhanyang’s grandson—how are you using righteous martial arts?!”
Seok Gyeong-ja soon realized that the reason Bu Eunseol had so easily broken the formation and defeated the Yin-Soul Killing Men was because he was using righteous martial arts, not demonic ones.
“My grandfather….”
Bu Eunseol opened his mouth to speak but found he had nothing to say.
To the outside world, Seven-Finger Demon Blade Bu Zhanyang was undeniably a demonic swordsman infamous for slaughtering righteous and demonic masters alike without reason.
The only reason he had never become a public enemy of the martial world was because so many demonic cultivators followed him that no one dared touch him.
In that situation, for his grandfather to have annihilated the Sage Forest—how could their hatred and desire for revenge not pierce the heavens?
Thud thud.
But at that moment, from behind Seok Gyeong-ja, an old man approached leading dozens of men.
His eyebrows hung long like willow branches, his hair white as radish roots; the old man walked slowly.
Though his skin was wrinkled like old tree bark, his eyes were deep and as clear as a child’s.
“Forest Lord.”
Seok Gyeong-ja hurriedly paid his respects.
This white-haired old man was none other than Gwijin-ja, the Forest Lord of the Sage Forest.
“That person is….”
When Seok Gyeong-ja pointed at Bu Eunseol and began to speak, Gwijin-ja raised a hand.
“I heard. He says he is Bu Zhanyang’s grandson.”
“Yes, that is correct.”
Gwijin-ja took a deep breath and nodded.
“Let him enter.”
