“Ughhh…”
Ban Nipa’s face, as he let out a groan, was rapidly turning into a skull.
The extreme high-heat internal energy thread that had already penetrated his body—the Supreme Fire Ring Art—was melting his meridians and turning even his internal organs into a sticky mess.
“Die!”
Ban Nipa gathered his remaining strength and tried to unleash a full-power palm strike.
But the moment he drew up his internal energy, the heat that had been boring into his body surged all the way to the top of his head.
“Gaaahhh…”
When the Yeolha Great True Energy pierced even his Baihui acupoint, he felt as if his brain was blazing with fire.
“Huuu… Save me…”
In the end, Ban Nipa wailed and clasped both hands together toward Bu Eunseol.
He was someone who could endure any torture technique with a smile. He had mastered the Cold Heart Art and the True Mind Clarity Scripture.
Yet he had never once imagined that such agonizing torture could exist.
“P-please…”
Even as Ban Nipa knelt and screamed, Bu Eunseol spoke in an ice-cold voice.
“In my entire life, I have never spared a lecher who tried to violate a woman.”
Whoosh!
At the same time, red flames erupted from all seven orifices of Ban Nipa’s head.
The Supreme Fire Ring Art from the Yeolha Great True Energy had completely melted his internal body.
Shooo…
White smoke poured from his eyes as Ban Nipa’s corpse, now reduced to a skeleton, collapsed on the spot.
“Young Master… How did you…?”
“Wait a moment.”
Bu Eunseol took off his outer robe and draped it over Ahwan.
“Let me deal with those scum first, then we’ll talk.”
Bang!
Bu Eunseol unfolded the Land-Flight Leap and soared into the air. A piercing blue killing intent surged from his eyes.
In the martial world, battles over treasures were commonplace. Therefore, he did not automatically view the Elephant Sect’s attempt to seize the sacred object of the Four Holy Clans as an unconditionally evil act. He could also somewhat understand, from a martial artist’s perspective, their decision to lead a great army and wipe out the roots in one go out of fear of retaliation—if the Four Holy Clans had regained all their power.
But now, the Four Holy Clans had only just recovered the sacred object. They were practically no different from powerless civilians.
Yet the Elephant King had led a great army to easily steal the sacred object and brutally massacred the powerless Four Holy Clans.
From Bu Eunseol’s perspective, such an act was utterly unforgivable.
“Elephant King… So we were never meant to coexist after all.”
Whoooosh.
A tri-colored radiance began to spread from his body.
Endless Heavenly Light Art.
He had activated the secret method that unified the Three Divine Energies.
Flash!
A streak of light seemed to slash across the ground, and then—
Shushushushu!
Bu Eunseol, transformed into white light, began weaving at high speed between the battlefield.
Papapapang!
At the same time, the heads of the Elephant Sect experts pushing into Samana Valley began flying into the sky.
When the Endless Heavenly Light Art was activated, it could increase the speed of his movement technique by more than three times the usual.
The Elephant Sect had mobilized around ten thousand troops. Because that enormous number was entangled with the warriors of the Four Holy Clans, creating a chaotic melee where it was difficult to distinguish friend from foe, he could not use any true energy martial arts that would instantly devastate dozens of zhang at once.
Bu Eunseol had no choice but to move at ultra-high speed and personally behead each enemy soldier one by one.
Bang! Papapang!
Every time a streak of white light flashed through the fiercely contested battlefield, the heads of Elephant Sect experts inevitably shot high into the sky.
‘I have to finish this quickly.’
Even if he eliminated the troops that had broken through the defensive line, additional forces were waiting in the rear. Above all, he had expended enormous energy traveling here in less than a day after the three-day journey, so his seemingly infinite Three Divine Energies were exhausted to the point of depletion.
He needed to end this as swiftly as possible.
Chiiiiik!
Having become an almost invisible beam of light, Bu Eunseol, in just fifteen minutes, beheaded more than half of the Elephant Sect forces pouring into Samana Valley.
—What in the world is happening?
The Elephant Sect experts, having lost more than half their troops in an instant, began to falter in panic.
Large-scale battles could also be described as contests of momentum. Since many people fought at once, the side with higher morale inevitably held a significant advantage.
—Form the battle formation!
And the Elephant Sect made another mistake.
In large-scale battles between forces that practiced martial arts, one must always deploy a formation in advance to control super-experts. Otherwise, a single powerful individual could annihilate an entire army.
But because they judged that the Four Holy Clans had no such experts, they had charged in without preparing any formation beforehand.
Bang! Bang bang bang bang!
Even during this time, explosions rang out as the heads of Elephant Sect experts continued flying into the sky.
In the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Bu Eunseol had wiped out half of the large force. The survivors were thrown into complete chaos and began retreating in disarray.
Boom.
Suddenly, a massive vibration that shook the earth spread in all directions.
The sky abruptly darkened and with a world-shaking explosion, dust exploded outward.
Bang!
Thick clouds of dust rose, and all eyes on the battlefield turned toward that spot at once.
What emerged from the hazy dust was a colossal armored giant, tall enough to cover the sky, extending a palm toward Bu Eunseol.
Bu Eunseol’s fist was also precisely meeting the giant’s massive palm.
“Your movement technique is quite fast.”
A man eight cheok tall, wearing an elephant-like helmet and black armor—he was the commander leading the Elephant Sect’s great army and the son of the Elephant King, Sangdo Gangcheon: Sangdo Yumong.
Having witnessed Bu Eunseol not only burn White Elephant Pavilion Master Ban Nipa to a handful of ashes but also instantly slaughter half the troops he had brought, Sangdo Yumong had flown here like a black cloud using his movement technique and accurately launched a palm strike at the rapidly moving Bu Eunseol.
In response, Bu Eunseol had stopped moving and countered Sangdo Yumong’s palm strike head-on with a fist technique.
Rumble rumble rumble.
The moment fist and palm collided, a world-shaking shockwave spread outward in concentric circles. Those nearby were swept up by the fierce waves and sent tumbling across the ground.
“Who are you?”
When Bu Eunseol lightly blocked his strike, Sangdo Yumong’s eyes flashed behind his mask.
“You don’t need to know.”
With that short reply, Bu Eunseol lightly shook his left fist. At that instant, a gale capable of destroying the world erupted, and sharp fist power dug toward Sangdo Yumong’s face.
It was the third form of the Seven Fist Demon Forms—the Self-Oblivion Shatter.
Thud.
Sangdo Yumong quickly twisted his neck to dodge, but the sharp fist power still grazed his helmet.
Clack.
The moment the elephant-shaped helmet was knocked off, Sangdo Yumong’s face was revealed—a man who appeared to be in his thirties, with bulging eyes and a hooked nose.
“How dare you…”
Sangdo Yumong bared his fangs and clenched his fist.
He had excellently inherited the Elephant King’s teachings and had reached a martial realm comparable to his father in his younger days. Yet some nameless nobody had not only massacred half of the Elephant Sect’s ten thousand elite troops but had even laid a hand on his face?
“Lead your troops back and tell your father, Sangdo Gangcheon.”
Bu Eunseol said coldly.
“Tell him that I will soon come to demand retribution for the crime of brutally slaughtering civilians to seize a treasure.”
“Hahaha!”
Sangdo Yumong burst into incredulous laughter.
“A rat who can’t even reveal his identity dares to speak of demanding retribution from whom?!”
Bu Eunseol’s eyes narrowed.
If he revealed his identity, his movements until now might become known throughout the Central Plains martial world. He was currently defying the Demon Emperor’s order to reveal the identity of the Saint within a month and return. He absolutely could not expose his tracks.
He could not reveal his identity as the Martial Soul Command Lord, nor could he use the identity of Seon Woojin, who had previously been suspected of being the same person…
‘It’s time to use this identity.’
He had been waiting for the right moment to reveal a new identity to the world—a figure who possessed great power and influence in the Central Plains martial world, yet whose true identity remained largely unknown.
The identity of Martial Soul Society Lord, Seolso.
“I am the Martial Soul Society Lord.”
“Martial Soul Society Lord?”
Sangdo Yumong, who had been thinking hard, furrowed his brow.
“You mean that alliance from the Central Plains?”
“Correct.”
Bu Eunseol said with a solemn expression.
“If you understand, then get lost now. This is the final mercy I bestow upon you.”
“What a ridiculous bastard!”
Boom!
Sangdo Yumong exploded with power throughout his body. The armor he wore shattered, revealing an enormously muscular physique. Because he had trained the Eight Iron Arts up to the fifth level, his skin glowed with a strange light, and the shape of an elephant seemed to appear behind him.
“What does the Martial Soul Society Lord matter?!”
“This is your final warning.”
Bu Eunseol said coldly.
“I’m not sparing you because I like you. I’m sending you away because I don’t want to hear that an adult is bullying a child.”
“Wh-what?”
“If you want to repay today’s humiliation, bring your father. The Martial Soul Society Lord does not exchange hands with a mere youngster like you.”
The identity of Martial Soul Society Lord was that of the leader of an alliance, with status and seniority comparable to the Elephant King. For now, he intended to make Sangdo Yumong retreat obediently and avoid unnecessary bloodshed.
“Just because you built a small force in the Central Plains, you think nothing can touch you?”
Sangdo Yumong shouted with a cold expression.
“Even if you were the supreme martial artist of the world, this is Napsageukseong. Do you really think you can escape?”
“Words are useless.”
“Same here. I’ll rip off your head and burn every last one of those Four Holy Clans to death!”
Further conversation was meaningless.
Bu Eunseol let out a low sigh and began raising his internal energy.
If he were a righteous faction figure, he might have shown courtesy by yielding three moves out of respect for seniority.
But Bu Eunseol was a disciple of the Nangyang Pavilion.
Moreover, he had never truly considered himself a martial artist of the Central Plains in the first place.
Boom!
Without hesitation, he unleashed the fourth form of the Seven Fist Demon Forms—the Heavenly Hand Void Wave, an ultimate fist technique whose single-strike power was unmatched.
Even when he had been one of the Ten Demon Warriors, this technique could instantly collapse an entire pavilion. His current martial prowess and internal energy were on an entirely different level from back then.
Hooooooo.
A blood-dragon-shaped qi, as if it would dye the entire world red, roared as it shot forward.
The lightning-like fist gang instantly passed through Sangdo Yumong’s body like an illusion.
“Heh heh heh.”
Sangdo Yumong, who had tensed for a moment, looked down at his uninjured body and burst into loud laughter.
“You talked so big, yet all you can produce is phantom-like fist power.”
The Eight Iron Arts, known to rival the Jade Blood Steel of the Central Plains’ greatest external arts. Even after pouring out a full-power strike, Bu Eunseol had failed to destroy Sangdo Yumong’s body.
“Yes, I couldn’t break it.”
Bu Eunseol calmly turned his body.
“But that doesn’t hinder me from taking your life.”
“What do you—”
Chiiiiii.
White smoke began rising from Sangdo Yumong’s body as he stood motionless. There was not a single wound on his body.
However, what Bu Eunseol had infused into the Heavenly Hand Void Wave was an extreme yin secret art that rivaled the extreme heat of the Yeolha Great True Energy—the Heavenly Glacial Secret, leveled and unleashed.
Crack…
Sangdo Yumong’s mouth, which had frozen solid in an instant, emitted white vapor. His internal organs had already frozen instantly, and only the form of his body was barely maintained thanks to the Eight Iron Arts.
“With just one move, this body…”
Crack!
When he desperately raised his energy, the thin level of ice shattered, allowing him to move again.
Sangdo Yumong looked down at his own body with an expression of disbelief.
“How is this possible…”
“It wasn’t the fifth level, but only the fourth.”
Bu Eunseol clicked his tongue.
“You haven’t properly trained your martial arts.”
Sangdo Yumong bit his lip.
Within Napsageukseong, he had been treated like a prince. No one could touch him, and no one dared defy his will. As a result, he had inevitably grown lazy in training. He had only reached the fourth level of the Eight Iron Arts—the so-called indestructible realm—just one level higher than the White Elephant Pavilion Master Ban Nipa, whom Bu Eunseol had killed earlier.
“How… did you know?”
“If you had reached at least the fifth level, the attack and counterforce would have returned during our first clash.”
The Eight Iron Arts was the greatest external art of Cheonchuk. It was said to turn the body into something like diamond indestructible and perfectly reflect the opponent’s attacks.
When Bu Eunseol had clashed fists with Sangdo Yumong earlier, he had already realized that the man had not reached the fifth level, which was why he had advised him to retreat. From the perspective of Bu Eunseol, a great master of the Central Plains, it truly felt like an adult bullying a child.
“The Elephant King would never fail to recognize his own son’s realm.”
Bu Eunseol clicked his tongue again.
“Your father has taught you poorly.”
Sangdo Yumong gritted his teeth.
“In any case, you will never escape Napsageukseong.”
Clack. Clack.
White ice fragments were falling from the corners of his eyes. He could no longer suppress the cold energy spreading from within, and his body began freezing again.
He glared alternately at Bu Eunseol and Ahwan beside him and said,
“The Sect Leader will surely take revenge for me.”
Those were Sangdo Yumong’s final words.
With a face full of rage, he instantly turned into a massive block of ice.
Unable to expel the cold energy of the Heavenly Glacial Secret that had penetrated his body, he froze to death on the spot.
Silence fell over the battlefield.
The Elephant Sect martial artists who had been retreating stopped in their tracks. Half their forces had been annihilated, and not only Vice Commander Ban Nipa but even their commander Sangdo Yumong had died. There was no one left to order a retreat.
Clang.
In the end, they threw down their weapons and knelt.
With such a terrifying expert present, no matter how much they tried to run, they would only end up like mice before a cat.
“Young Master. Please return to the Central Plains quickly.”
At that moment, Ahwan approached Bu Eunseol and said,
“Since you killed his son, the Elephant King will chase you to the ends of the earth.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Pardon?”
“Because I will go find him instead.”
A solemn light blazed in Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
“If I don’t eliminate him, the Four Holy Clans will have no place left to stand in Cheonchuk.”
That was an all-too-obvious truth. The Elephant King would never forgive the Four Holy Clans who had allied with the one who killed his son.
“You would take such a risk for our sake?”
“Didn’t I touch the Elephant King’s forces because I listened to you?”
In truth, that was only an excuse. The Elephant King had been targeting the sacred object of the Four Holy Clans from the beginning. Even without Bu Eunseol, he would have attacked them anyway.
“I have never once forgiven those who harm civilians.”
“Civilians…”
Ahwan could not understand at all.
In Cheonchuk, there were almost no super-experts who protected the weak or civilians. They believed that being born weak was the result of accumulating bad karma in a previous life.
“The strong have no need to show consideration for the weak, and it is only natural for the weak to serve the strong.”
“Do all members of the Four Holy Clans think this way?”
At Bu Eunseol’s question, Ahwan shook her head.
“Not all of us. After the Cheonchuk Eight Tyrants, such thinking spread to everyone.”
In the land of Cheonchuk, which had suffered endless invasions from foreign powers, the law of the jungle and the extinction of the powerless had taken root like a law of nature.
And when the era of the Cheonchuk Eight Tyrants began, this cruel way of thinking spread uncontrollably, even eroding the consciousness of the common people. Instead of the virtue of the strong protecting the weak, oppressing and exploiting the weak came to be seen as a natural “order.”
“People in the Central Plains are not like that.”
Bu Eunseol said calmly.
“And that is also my conviction.”
At that moment, the tribal leaders of the Four Holy Clans came running frantically toward them.
“Wind Cloud Young Master!”
Having witnessed Bu Eunseol return once more to save them, they could not contain their overwhelming gratitude and astonishment and prostrated themselves deeply.
“How did you manage to return?”
“I was on my way to Nagara City when I happened to hear that the Elephant Sect was attacking the Four Holy Clans.”
However, the Bayura tribe chief Anan Geuk, who arrived a little later, looked at the frozen corpse of Sangdo Yumong and let out a deep sigh.
“Our destruction has only been delayed.”
He spoke with a despairing expression.
“Since you killed the Elephant King’s son, our tribe will ultimately be destroyed.”
Then Ahwan spoke.
“The Young Master said he will soon defeat the Elephant King to save us.”
Anan Geuk’s eyes widened.
“What?”
“It is a grudge that must be resolved anyway.”
Bu Eunseol said calmly.
“A person like him will come looking for me whether I am in Cheonchuk or the Central Plains.”
Anan Geuk and the senior members of the tribe wore expressions of disbelief. They still did not know who Bu Eunseol truly was.
“With today’s events, the Elephant King will have realized that I have reached the Supreme Heavenly Realm.”
Bu Eunseol spoke in a low, composed voice to the murmuring tribespeople.
“Since he now knows that even tens of thousands of soldiers cannot stop me, the Elephant King will surely come for me personally. But innocent people or the Four Holy Clans could get caught up in the process… so I will go find him first.”
Anan Geuk asked back, “But if you leave, wouldn’t the Elephant King take the opportunity to attack this place again?”
“That will not happen.”
Bu Eunseol shook his head firmly.
“Those who possess much do not move recklessly. They will not act rashly until they clearly identify who their opponent is.”
He added,
“It will all be resolved within a few days. There is no need to worry.”
“Within a few days? What exactly do you…”
At that moment, a bloodlust capable of overwhelming the world blazed in Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
“When I said I would go find him soon… I did not mean in the near future. I meant I will go right now, along this path, to cut off Sangdo Yumong’s head.”
The Elephant King’s rage at losing his son would be directed not only at the entire Four Holy Clans but at him as well.
To prevent the cycle of vengeance, where blood called for more blood, from repeating any further, he had decided to head to the Elephant Sect immediately and behead Sangdo Yumong.
