The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign – Chapter 931

“Heh heh heh heh.”

The masked man burst into wild laughter as he felt an overwhelming power surging through his body, so immense that he could not even control it.

“Hahaha!”

What began as a small chuckle grew into a thunderous roar that shook the entire hall with powerful waves.

“Hwahahaha!”

With every burst of his maniacal laughter, cracks spread across the floor of the grand hall, and stone dust poured from the splitting pillars.

“So this is his power!”

The masked man slowly closed his eyes, savoring the immense strength flowing through his body.

It was an enormous capacity, as if he had absorbed the power of dozens of transcendent beings all at once.

With this kind of power, it seemed he could freely manipulate even the laws of the world at will.

“What a futile ending.”

The masked man snorted as he looked down at Bu Eunseol, who lay unconscious on the ground.

“At least from your perspective.”

He had built up tremendous martial prowess at a young age and accomplished great feats, yet this was the conclusion he had reached… In the end, it had all been meaningless struggling.

After all, every ounce of power now belonged to him, and he would control every matter from now on.

“From now on, every event in the world will be manipulated by my hand!”

Rumble!

He had merely raised his voice, yet the massive grand hall vibrated as if struck by an earthquake.

It was an overwhelming presence, as if a god had donned a human shell.

Drip.

The moment the vibrations shaking the hall stopped, he stared down at Bu Eunseol intently.

“I don’t even need to lift a finger, do I?”

Then he slowly turned his body.

“It will make a fine grave.”

He froze.

As he walked toward the black door filled with darkness, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

He turned to look at Bu Eunseol and muttered in a low voice.

“Why would I leave another source of trouble behind?”

The masked man turned around once more and gazed at the unconscious Bu Eunseol, murmuring quietly.

“Go meet Bu Zhanyang in hell.”

Whoooong.

An intense power capable of destroying the entire world began to gather into a small orb in his left hand.

At that very moment—

“Indeed, you were someone who knew me well.”

A low sigh accompanied Bu Eunseol’s voice as he, who had been unconscious, spoke.

“And you were also someone who knew Grandfather well.”

Rustle.

Bu Eunseol slowly opened his eyes and rose to his feet.

“Hoo.”

The masked man did not seem particularly surprised to see Bu Eunseol regain consciousness and stand up.

“To be able to suppress your biological responses to that extent… So you have reached the Limitless Realm after all.”

Instead, he looked at Bu Eunseol with eyes full of pity and compassion.

“But there should be no strength left in your body.”

“That’s right.”

In truth, there was not a trace of power left in Bu Eunseol’s body.

The moment he placed the half-orb into the treasure on the altar, all the strength within his body had vanished in an instant.

“Pretending to faint would have been a painless death, wouldn’t it?”

“It could have been.”

Whoooong!

A faint light flowed from Bu Eunseol’s dantian, and gradually, waves of true qi began to radiate outward.

In fact, before touching the orb, he had instinctively sensed it was a trap and had concentrated all his internal energy into his inner core for storage.

As expected, the instant the orb emitted light, every bit of power in his body disappeared.

However, since his inner power had been stored in his inner core, it had not been destroyed.

Thanks to that, he was able to regain consciousness immediately and hear every word the masked man had spoken.

Even so, he had continued pretending to be unconscious.

And finally…

He had come face to face with the mastermind behind all of this—the high-ranking member of Majeon who had left a letter in his office, who knew about the Absolute Demonic Blade Project, and who possessed the early-stage manual of the Seven Blood Tear Forms…

“You prepared an inner core. Truly an impressive ability.”

The masked man immediately grasped Bu Eunseol’s physical condition and nodded.

“For someone of your young age to possess the ability to concentrate your yang power into an inner core… This must be the first time in the history of the martial world.”

Despite the masked man’s high praise, Bu Eunseol’s expression remained grim.

Because the light from the orb had drained all the power from his body, he lacked the strength to melt his inner core.

‘I need to buy time.’

Only by perfectly circulating the internal energy concentrated in his inner core back throughout his body would he be able to confront the masked man.

“It was such an obvious trap, so I had no choice.”

“You knew it was a trap, yet you still touched the orb?”

The masked man, seeing the look in Bu Eunseol’s eyes, guessed that he had understood the entire situation yet had still touched the orb.

“If I hadn’t fallen for the trap, you wouldn’t have revealed your identity.”

Bu Eunseol spoke calmly.

“That’s why you showed me the mural.”

Showing him the mural of the Absolute Demonic Blade Project, something no one else knew about.

It was no different from setting a perfect trap from which he could never escape.

Because Grandfather’s matter took absolute priority over anything else.

Because he could not miss even a single clue.

“You must have been one of the people who participated in the Absolute Demonic Blade Project together with Grandfather, right?”

“Why do you think so?”

“Because the look in your eyes when you gazed at the mural was different.”

What Bu Eunseol had been most curious about when he sent the letter was exactly this: ‘How do you know the early-stage total formula of the Seven Blood Tear Forms?’

But the moment the masked man appeared, that question was instantly resolved.

Because the deep sentiment contained in the masked man’s eyes as he glanced at the mural had revealed everything.

‘He is not a high-ranking figure who oversaw the Absolute Demonic Blade Project or a mere bridgehead… He showed such eyes because he personally experienced the events depicted in that mural.’

“Interesting. And?”

A transparent, sharp glint flashed in Bu Eunseol’s eyes.

“Judging by how well you seem to know this Martial Soul Command Lord, you must have seen me many times in person.”

He took a step forward, glaring fiercely at the masked man as he spoke coldly.

“And you must be someone from Majeon who had the opportunity to observe me directly.”

“Hoo.”

The masked man showed an expression of great interest at Bu Eunseol’s muttering.

“With just a few words, you’ve figured out my identity.”

“Does it not seem that way?”

“No, I believe you.”

The masked man chuckled.

“You are not only intelligent, but you have also accomplished things that were previously impossible.”

Then he extended his thumb.

“Truly a brain that even the Heavenly Mechanism Star would envy.”

A blade-like light flashed in Bu Eunseol’s eyes.

While speaking, when the masked man had extended his thumb, he had noticed the calluses engraved on the fingers.

‘These are the hands of someone who professionally plays a musical instrument.’

Judging from the shape of the calluses and the way the fingers were curved, they clearly belonged to someone who played an instrument like a flute.

That meant he was a master of sound arts.

‘And he clearly knows me well.’

The masked man’s tone and gaze subtly revealed that he knew Bu Eunseol far too well.

‘Yet I have never encountered him even once.’

No matter how skilled the disguise, it is difficult to completely hide one’s unique aura or gaze.

Bu Eunseol possessed a unique ability to distinguish people based solely on the shape of their body lines.

However, the masked man before him possessed body lines, gaze, voice, and biological responses that he had never encountered even once in his entire life.

“Now then, who am I?”

Bu Eunseol could not answer the masked man’s question.

In truth, from the very beginning, there had been one person he suspected.

But the moment he confirmed the calluses on the fingertips and the angle at which the fingers curved, all the deductions he had made until then collapsed.

Those were the fingers of a sound arts master who had played an instrument his entire life—something that could never have been artificially created.

“Oh dear, was it all bluff?”

Surprisingly, the masked man had also been reading Bu Eunseol’s biological responses with terrifying accuracy.

“What a disappointment. I really thought you would be able to uncover my true identity.”

At that moment, a cold smile formed on Bu Eunseol’s lips.

“Chief Instructor.”

And he spat out a short phrase.

“Dark King Yeop Hyocheon.”

The identity of the masked man that Bu Eunseol had been suspecting all along was none other than the Chief Instructor, the Dark King Yeop Hyocheon.

There were not many people in Majeon capable of leaving only a single letter without a trace while he briefly left his office. Among them, only two people knew about the Absolute Demonic Blade Project and clearly knew about both his grandfather and himself.

The Demon Emperor and the Chief Instructor.

However, the Demon Emperor was in secluded training and had already mastered the peerless demonic arts of the world, so he had no reason whatsoever to do something like this. Therefore, the only person who could have orchestrated this was naturally the Chief Instructor, Yeop Hyocheon.

“Why don’t you try denying it?”

Bu Eunseol spoke with a relaxed expression.

Even if his deduction was wrong, there was nothing to lose.

On the contrary, he could turn his guess into certainty through biological responses.

“Chief Instructor? You mean the Dark King Yeop Hyocheon? Hahahaha.”

The masked man burst into a bright, amused laugh.

“Why do you think so?”

“You are of a similar generation to Grandfather, know me extremely well, and…”

A burst of light exploded from Bu Eunseol’s eyes.

“There is only one master in the entire martial world who has mastered the Perishing Light and Dark Extremity series of martial arts to the extreme.”

“Huhuhu. Impressive. So in the meantime, you even detected the origin of my martial arts.”

The masked man chuckled lowly, then suddenly pulled off his mask with a swift motion.

What was revealed was the face of a middle-aged man with an extremely sinister appearance.

“How is it? Does this body look like the Dark King?”

For a moment, disbelief rose in Bu Eunseol’s eyes.

“Black Shadow Dark Emperor?”

In the past, when he had served as a member of the Nine Deaths Squad, Bu Eunseol had memorized all the portrait albums containing the appearances of previous-generation masters.

And the person who had just appeared before him was none other than…

A powerful master who wielded the Perishing Light Sect’s series of martial arts containing the power of darkness and yin energy, and who used the sound art called Blood Sound Breaking Darkness with a flute.

The giant head of the evil faction who had suddenly vanished without a trace thirty years ago—the Black Shadow Dark Emperor, Hwa Mugi?

“No, did you disguise yourself as Hwa Mugi?”

At Bu Eunseol’s words, the masked man—Hwa Mugi—spoke.

“Huhuhu. In that case, if you think this old man is the Dark King, you can examine the disguise again.”

Disguise techniques performed by outstanding masters were difficult to discern.

However, if one suspected, ‘Who is this person’s true identity, and who have they disguised themselves as?’ and examined carefully, one could detect the strangeness.

Moreover, because Bu Eunseol had observed Yeop Hyocheon for a long time, he remembered everything—his gaze, tone, body lines, muscles, posture, aura…

If this Hwa Mugi was truly a disguise of Yeop Hyocheon, he would have felt at least some inexplicable sense of discomfort.

‘There is none.’

But there was nothing of the sort.

Hwa Mugi showed no traces of disguise, and nowhere could any part identical to Yeop Hyocheon be found.

“How disappointing.”

Swish.

Hwa Mugi put his mask back on.

Then he spoke in a low voice.

“Now that I’ve enjoyed myself enough, shall we end this?”

As he prepared to make his move, Bu Eunseol felt urgent inside.

His inner core had not yet melted.

He needed to buy time somehow and recover his internal energy.

“Looking at you, it seems you have more than enough power to kill me without needing to set up such a petty trap.”

Contrary to his inner thoughts, Bu Eunseol maintained a relaxed expression as he changed the subject.

“I don’t understand why you went through all this troublesome effort.”

There is no human who dislikes praise.

As Bu Eunseol subtly elevated Hwa Mugi’s martial prowess, Hwa Mugi shrugged his shoulders.

“You know well. If I had wanted to kill you, I could have cut your throat in a single breath long ago.”

‘Long ago?’

A strange light flashed in Bu Eunseol’s eyes.

That meant he had indeed been watching him from long ago, didn’t it?

At that moment, Hwa Mugi continued speaking with a confident gaze.

“But if I did that, I wouldn’t be able to obtain the treasure you possess, would I?”

“Treasure?”

“Beautiful flowers should be given to beauties, and excellent treasured swords should be given to outstanding generals.”

Hwa Mugi spoke with a nasal tone.

“But you are an immature brat who doesn’t even know whether what you hold in your hand is shit or soybean paste.”

From that answer, Bu Eunseol was able to grasp two pieces of information.

First, whether or not this masked man was truly Hwa Mugi himself, he was definitely not the Chief Instructor Yeop Hyocheon.

No matter how much a person changes their voice, there is a unique tone, frequently used expressions, and aura that cannot be hidden.

This man could never be Yeop Hyocheon.

Second, what the masked man wanted was not his life… but something he possessed from the very beginning.

“So, exactly what are you planning to take from me?”

“What am I planning to take? Hahahaha.”

Hwa Mugi pointed at Bu Eunseol’s face with his index finger as if it were amusing.

“You thought the loss of strength in your body was only a temporary phenomenon?”

“You mean you stole all the power in my body.”

“That’s right.”

Hwa Mugi spoke firmly.

“All the power inherent in your body right now has been transferred to me.”

This was an unexpected statement.

All the powerful enemies Bu Eunseol had encountered so far had used methods to restrict internal energy or power. That was why he had not been particularly surprised even when the Three Divine Energies or his internal energy had disappeared.

But this time, the power had not merely been temporarily restricted—it had been taken by the masked man?

“There’s no need for more words now, is there?”

Crack.

As Hwa Mugi extended his hand, hundreds of rays of light began pouring down onto Bu Eunseol’s body.

Rumble.

At the same time, a massive hole appeared where he stood.

It was so deep that its bottom could not be seen, and white smoke rose from it.

It was a level of power that could hardly be believed to have been unleashed by a human.

“I deliberately missed.”

Hwa Mugi snorted as he looked at Bu Eunseol, who stood still without even attempting to dodge.

“Someone like you is nothing more than an insect that I can crush to death anytime.”

It was not an empty boast.

The moment he flashed his eyes,

Boom.

The entire grand hall began to shake violently, and suddenly, fresh blood flowed from the corner of Bu Eunseol’s mouth.

Hwa Mugi had unleashed an enormous, formless pressure that could neither be seen nor sensed, instantly inflicting internal injuries.

“Right now, this old man has not even used one percent of the power I possess.”

To think that such power was not even one percent…

Normally, Bu Eunseol would have been greatly shocked.

However, his expression was instead filled with puzzlement.

It was not because the masked man’s strength surpassed imagination, but because he realized that the power was not his own.

“Was the power you just released mine?”

Bu Eunseol spoke again to buy time.

“I don’t have such an ability.”

“No, you simply don’t know how to use it.”

Hwa Mugi smiled.

“Having this kind of power does not mean you can use it recklessly.”

“What exactly is this power that I cannot use?”

“You talk too much.”

Hwa Mugi clicked his tongue and shook his head.

“You keep trying to dig up information endlessly.”

Then he spoke with a regretful expression.

“But the questioning time has elapsed. You can ask King Yama the rest.”

Shing.

At that moment, the clear ring of a sword echoed lowly through the grand hall.

The Silent Tiger Soul Sword that had been in its sheath had flown into Bu Eunseol’s hand by itself.

“Then, shall we begin in earnest?”

Whoooosh.

At the same time, a golden light like sunlight spread from his body.

Thanks to the time he had bought until now, he had been able to fully activate all the gong power he had stored in his inner core.

Boom!

However, before they could even fight, an explosion rang out and Bu Eunseol’s body was sent flying all the way to the end of the grand hall, slamming into the wall.

Rumble.

The force had been so powerful that he was embedded deep into the wall of the grand hall.

If he had not recovered his internal energy, his body would have been pulverized into dust by that single strike.

“With only the power of internal energy, you have reached a physique comparable to the Dharma Heaven Golden Immortal. Your power is truly remarkable.”

Hwa Mugi nodded as if impressed.

“With this, it seems another interesting game has appeared?”

Then he flashed his eyes once more.

Saaaaak, crack.

At the same time, Bu Eunseol was instantly trapped inside a massive block of ice.

Hwa Mugi had imprisoned Bu Eunseol inside ice three jang thick in an instant… without even releasing the cold air.

Boom!

Bu Eunseol shattered the ice through the airy hollows in a single breath and shot toward Hwa Mugi like a streak of red light.

Seeing him standing with an opening, he immediately unleashed the Meteor Chasing the Moon Form.

Thud! Boom!

However, Bu Eunseol could not even get close and was once again sent flying all the way to the wall at the end of the grand hall.

“Truly an infinite power.”

Hwa Mugi looked down at both of his hands as if intoxicated by the power he was emitting, his voice filled with ecstasy.

“It feels as if I possess every force that exists in the world.”

Swish.

In the meantime, Bu Eunseol attacked Hwa Mugi at twice the speed as before.

But just as he said, Hwa Mugi seemed to possess every force in the world.

He poured out lightning in an instant, spewed out a poisonous fog that melted everything, and when Bu Eunseol moved at high speed to attack, he split his body into hundreds like the legendary clone technique.

He compressed air into finger winds and shot them like hidden weapons, and with a mere snap of his fingers, he generated thunder-like shockwaves.

When an attack luckily landed, he turned his skin into metal, and sometimes caused earthquakes that collapsed the ground beneath Bu Eunseol’s feet.

Truly like an omniscient and omnipotent god… he continuously manifested countless abilities in endlessly diverse ways.

And it was a power of nature itself that could never be blocked by mere martial arts.

“Ugh.”

With a groan, Bu Eunseol was once again sent flying to the end of the grand hall.

Fortunately, thanks to his immense internal energy, he somehow managed to dodge or deflect the power Hwa Mugi displayed, but he no longer had any strength left to block it.

“It’s starting to get boring.”

Hwa Mugi looked at the heavily wounded Bu Eunseol and extended his left hand.

“Now turn to dust.”

Ziiiing.

At that moment, a transparent, spherical energy spread out around Bu Eunseol.

Because of that power, he could not move even a single finger, and his body slowly began to float into the air.

It was as if an invisible hand had grabbed both of his arms and lifted him up.

‘I’m going to die.’

Bu Eunseol felt as if the scythe of the death god had been raised beneath his chin.

If he could not avoid this attack, he would be torn in two by Hwa Mugi’s hands and die.

Boom!

Golden light accompanied by the sound of thunder enveloped Bu Eunseol’s entire body.

As he exerted his internal energy with all his might, the faint Thunder Spirit Energy remaining in his body spread out and began to resist the formless power Hwa Mugi was pouring out.

Ziiiing. Ziiiing.

At that moment, Bu Eunseol’s body flickered like stars in the night sky, and he gradually began to shake off Hwa Mugi’s power.

“Hoo. You’re blocking it.”

Hwa Mugi let out an interested exclamation and doubled his power once more.

‘Now!’

Ziiiing.

At that moment, white light flowed from Bu Eunseol’s body.

The Heavenly Mirror Heart Sutra.

It was the exclusive supreme art of the Heavenly Emperor, intended to analyze the origin of the power Hwa Mugi was using.

‘If it is power that left my body, there is no way I wouldn’t know it.’

With even his pupils turning transparent, Bu Eunseol began to rapidly analyze the power Hwa Mugi was emitting.

And at that moment, a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Hwa Mugi, noticing it, tilted his head in complete puzzlement.

“You can laugh in this situation?”

“It was nothing special after all.”

Bu Eunseol suddenly unfolded his movement technique and retreated backward.

Shuuk.

With a light backward movement, he escaped from the power domain that threatened to tear his body apart and destroy the entire world.

“Hmm.”

Hwa Mugi showed a slightly surprised expression as Bu Eunseol evaded the power with ridiculous ease.

“Did you still have hidden strength left?”

Then he exerted his power once more.

But strangely, the power did not even reach Bu Eunseol’s body.

Moreover, the power to shoot lightning or wind, or to shake the earth, also failed to manifest the same way.

“Huh.”

The masked man looked on with eyes full of incomprehension.

This overflowing power was enough to instantly destroy not only Bu Eunseol but the entire area.

So how was it not reaching Bu Eunseol? Why could the power he had used once not be released again?