In the clear sky of the underground holy city.
The momentum surging from Bu Eunseol and the woman floating in mid-air collided, producing thunderous booms without lightning. The ground trembled endlessly, as if writhing in anticipation of the clash between two colossal forces.
The air had evaporated. Only the violent pressure storm centered around the two of them swirled fiercely, threatening to devour everything in its path.
It felt as though the apocalyptic moment when all things would be destroyed had arrived.
‘I’ll see just how strong she is.’
The moment their full-powered strikes were about to collide—
Clack.
Suddenly, the woman extended her left arm.
Shuuuuuu.
A bizarre suction force began to spread from both her arms.
‘Ugh.’
The vast inner energy flowing through his body started being drawn toward the woman’s hand.
Bu Eunseol tried to resist the suction by deploying the Absorption Technique, but the counterforce left him completely unable to exert any strength in his body.
The woman remained utterly motionless, binding Bu Eunseol’s terrifying inner energy with only the power of her left hand so that he could not use it.
‘Even the Demon Emperor would find such a technique impossible.’
The suction was so powerful that even with Bu Eunseol’s inner energy, all he could do was resist the absorption. His muscles were completely paralyzed; he could not move even a single finger.
“Hahaha.”
The girl burst into laughter.
The angelic voice of a young girl and the sensual yet eerie voice of a woman overlapped and mixed together as they emerged.
‘Good.’
Bu Eunseol drew up the Three Divine Energies within his body.
Thud.
The woman then extended her right hand.
An overwhelming suction force erupted from her outstretched hand. This time, it began vigorously absorbing even the Three Divine Energies inside him.
Moreover, unlike his inner energy, the Three Divine Energies could not properly resist the woman’s suction at all. They were helplessly drawn into her body through her right arm.
Gulp.
Each time she absorbed the power of the Three Divine Energies, the woman’s appearance began to mature further. Her eyes, once like cracked obsidian—cold and sharp—grew even more so. Her previously dry lips were now dyed a seductive pale pink, like roses soaked in blood.
The more splendidly her appearance transformed, the more it radiated a sinister yet spine-chilling beauty.
Shuuuuuu.
Meanwhile, more than half of the Three Divine Energies circulating inside Bu Eunseol had already disappeared.
“Hehehe.”
At that moment, the woman licked her dark red lips with her tongue.
Shuuuuuu.
Now she was even drawing out the energy sealed in Bu Eunseol’s palm as well as the power of the Poisonous Extreme Essence stored within his body.
‘Is this too part of fate’s arrangement?’
Even as his inner power was being drained entirely, Bu Eunseol did not lose his composed demeanor.
That was only natural.
He had already experienced something similar once through the mysterious power of the Illusion Pond. Moreover, he had completely purified and regenerated the Three Divine Energies and had even created the Endless Heavenly Light Art to perfectly harmonize them.
Thanks to that, even if all the Three Divine Energies in his body were exhausted, he could refill them infinitely at any time.
‘It’s as if I was prepared in advance to resist her power.’
Vrrrr.
Even while the woman was vigorously absorbing the Three Divine Energies, he could continuously generate new ones.
‘In times like this, having various energies is truly useful.’
From the perspective of martial arts that pursue perfection and flawlessness, having multiple mixed energies within the body could be a fatal flaw.
However, precisely because so many different energies were blended together inside his body, a method that absorbed power sequentially rather than stealing everything in a single instant was completely useless.
‘Shall I start refilling it now?’
Ziiing.
The moment he activated the Endless Heavenly Light Art, new Three Divine Energies manifested even while they were being absorbed by the woman.
Uuuung.
Instantly, the inner energy that had been suppressed by her suction force began to exert itself again.
‘It has merged.’
Then, something fortunate happened.
In the process of refilling the Three Divine Energies, the power of the Endless Heavenly Light Art merged with his inner energy.
‘Excellent.’
Shing.
When he combined the Endless Heavenly Light Art with his inner energy and unleashed Radiant Sword Control—
BOOM!
The Silent Tiger Soul Sword instantly soared into the sky.
Finally stopping hundreds of zhang above, the Silent Tiger Soul Sword aimed precisely at the crown of the woman’s head. If he poured all his power into it from this height, carrying the Endless Heavenly Light Art and his inner energy…. even if she had achieved the legendary Heavenly Steel Body, it would pierce straight through her from head to toe in one strike.
Rumble!
With a terrifying tearing sound that seemed to rip space apart, the Silent Tiger Soul Sword plummeted vertically.
Its speed had already surpassed what the eye could follow. A burning jet-black radiance trailed long behind the path of the sword.
BOOM!
With a deafening explosion, the Silent Tiger Soul Sword struck exactly at the crown of the woman’s head.
A dazzling light that seemed to swallow all the colors of the world exploded, dyeing the surroundings pure white.
BOOM!
The woman floating in mid-air crashed straight down to the ground in an instant.
Rumble…
Finally, the storm of light subsided.
When the dust settled, Bu Eunseol narrowed his eyes at the revealed scene.
In that spot, there should have been only a miserably pierced corpse—or rather, nothing but dust with no form left at all. The surrounding ground had been utterly devastated, yet the woman stood tall and unmoving like a great mountain in the middle of a storm.
The Silent Tiger Soul Sword, glowing red from the heat, was stopped in mid-air right above her crown, as if blocked by an invisible, unbreakable wall.
The intense heat rising from the sword’s tip only singed a few strands of the woman’s hair and created faint wisps of smoke.
It had not inflicted even a single scratch.
“You only have brute strength and know nothing of martial arts.”
At that moment, Bu Eunseol smiled.
“Did you really think I would use a single-use ultimate move?”
Chalalalak.
Suddenly, the Silent Tiger Soul Sword floating in the air multiplied into dozens of blades and began to surround the woman.
Supreme Heavenly Flow, seventh form—Ashes of Body and Mind.
It was an absolute sword art that generated countless variations of sword techniques from the myriad streams under heaven, piercing through the enemy’s defenses.
Shushushushu!
In that instant, dozens of Silent Tiger Soul Swords simultaneously pierced into her body.
The afterimages of the Silent Tiger Soul Sword created by the Ban-Geuk Method possessed the exact same power as the real one…
Even if she had an Indestructible Diamond Body, all her vital points would be pierced, and she would have no choice but to draw her last breath.
Clang.
However, the sword energy could not penetrate her body.
Chiiiiii.
From the skin where the sword energy touched, three-colored smoke began to spread.
She had used the power of the Three Divine Energies she had absorbed from Bu Eunseol moments ago to completely block the sword energy of Ashes of Body and Mind.
Paah!
When she once again unleashed the Three Divine Energies harmonized through the Endless Heavenly Light Art, the sword energy of Ashes of Body and Mind vanished instantly.
But the Silent Tiger Soul Sword had already returned to Bu Eunseol’s hand. Matching her defensive movement, it swung again toward her neck.
He had seized the opening and was executing the Meteor Chasing the Moon Form.
Goooo.
Time seemed to stop. The surroundings fell silent, and the Silent Tiger Soul Sword in Bu Eunseol’s grip emitted a red glow.
He had captured the fleeting instant of vulnerability from which absolute death could not be avoided.
[Save…]
But at that moment, the woman’s lips moved slightly.
[…me.]
Her fragile appearance looked as if it would crumble like dry flower petals at the slightest breath.
Yet what captured Bu Eunseol’s gaze as he executed his sword technique was her eyes—deep and hollow, as though she alone carried all the sorrow of the world.
Her faint, dim gaze seemed so delicate that it would scatter like smoke if he reached out.
Strangely, that precarious and sorrowful look felt familiar.
It was as if he had encountered it in a dream from a very long time ago, on the far side of distant memories…
BOOM!
With an explosion, Bu Eunseol brushed past her body, and the opposite wall collapsed.
He had stopped the Meteor Chasing the Moon Form midway and redirected the recoil into the stone wall on the opposite side.
Thud.
At that moment, the woman collapsed as if her strings had been cut.
Clack.
Bu Eunseol sheathed the heated Silent Tiger Soul Sword and immediately approached the fallen woman.
“The True Demon was…”
It seemed filled with endlessly wicked and insidious light, yet just moments ago, deep within her eyes, there had clearly been purity and cleanliness.
“…not you, was it?”
Bu Eunseol examined the condition of the fallen woman.
“A body capable of accepting the Three Divine Energies all at once.”
Because multiple energies were mixed within his own body, he could possess the Three Divine Energies simultaneously without his body exploding.
Yet a woman with no power at all could naturally accept the Three Divine Energies?
‘Moreover, she knows nothing of martial arts.’
The first Radiant Sword Control he had deployed combined his inner energy with the power of the Endless Heavenly Light Art.
In terms of raw power alone, it possessed the heaven-shattering might comparable to the Seven Blood Tear Forms, yet it had been executed in a simple downward strike. Therefore, any martial artist with even the slightest understanding of martial principles would have anticipated a follow-up attack and escaped the range of the sword stance.
However, she had deliberately taken it head-on and ended up completely exposed to the Ashes of Body and Mind technique.
“Just what is her true identity?”
Bu Eunseol stared intently at the woman.
Unlike her initially pure face, her changed eyes and entire body now carried a faintly sinister aura.
“So she is strange, but not vicious.”
If she had been filled with malice and truly intended to kill him and steal all his energy,
Above all, she should have absorbed his true energy first.
Yet what she had drawn in was merely the power flowing through his body.
Like the Three Divine Energies, the poison inside his body had also reached the initial stage of the Poisonous Extreme Essence, so he could generate it infinitely if he wished. The power sealed in his palm was not something stored, but energy emerging from the depths of his soul; it was not something that could be depleted.
‘But the fact that she used an evil power does not change.’
The suction force she displayed was undoubtedly evil.
She might be connected to the True Demon.
Even if he did not kill her, he had to cripple her martial arts so she could never harm others again.
‘It wasn’t inner energy.’
He had tried to seal her inner energy, but he felt no cultivated power in her dantian.
What she used was not inner energy, but a supernatural ability. In that case, the only way to stop her rampage was to sever the meridians in her limbs.
Thud.
Bu Eunseol sharply struck her acupoints, sealing her demon blood points.
Since her true skill was far below his and he now knew her power was a supernatural ability, suppressing her again would not be difficult. He decided to first uncover her identity.
“Ah.”
But at that moment, the woman made an extremely pained expression and began letting out agonized groans.
As if trying to strangle herself, she gripped her own neck tightly with both hands.
“Aaaah…”
The desperate groans carried a strange mixture of the clear voice of a young girl and the husky voice of a woman.
Her eyes shook violently with uncontrollable confusion.
‘What is this?’
Bu Eunseol deployed the Heavenly Mirror Heart Sutra to help her, but he could sense nothing.
Her body was completely empty yet at the same time, it was endlessly vast and profound, as if it could embrace all things.
‘I have never seen a body like this before.’
Just what kind of identity does she possess that she could perfect such a physique?
“Uuuu…”
At that moment, the veins in her body bulged as if they would burst. At this rate, she would not last long before drawing her final breath.
—Blood will be the key. He worships blood.
Suddenly, the Elephant King’s last words came to mind.
‘Blood.’
Come to think of it, her transformation had begun when their hands touched.
When the blood flowing from his finger had touched her hand, she had looked at it with eyes as if beholding a new treasure she had never seen before.
‘She drank my blood.’
Without even thinking, Bu Eunseol drew blood once more from the injured finger and placed it into her mouth.
Ziiing.
Then, something astonishing happened.
The woman, who had been wearing the appearance of a sinister lady, was returning to the pure form of a young girl.
Vrrrrrr.
Her appearance gradually grew younger, and the sinister energy that had tainted her slowly began to disappear.
Float.
Before long, she floated about one zhang in the air with her eyes closed, radiating a mysterious light from her entire body.
Flash.
When she opened her eyes again, she approached Bu Eunseol as if swimming through the air, face forward.
Bu Eunseol stared blankly at the sight. Without realizing it, he reached out his hand.
Whoosh!
A mysterious light shot up from her body all the way to the ends of the sky.
The woman who had just been radiating a seductive, sharp, and evil aura had once again returned to being a beautiful girl with large, round eyes.
“Ah?”
When her eyes met Bu Eunseol’s, she widened her clear, lake-like eyes.
“Ahh.”
Then she smiled again, her eyes curving like crescent moons.
Just like a pure child who knew nothing of the world.
“Just what…”
Bu Eunseol clutched his hair.
He possessed an outstanding mind, yet he could not even begin to guess why this situation was occurring.
Uuuung.
But then, a low vibration echoed from the distant temple.
It seemed another hidden mechanism existed that even Bu Eunseol had not detected.
Buzzing.
An unexpected situation unfolded.
The sound of many people chattering began to come from the temple.
Judging by the confused and sharp voices overlapping all at once, they appeared to have discovered that the glass tube in which the girl had been sleeping was open and were panicking.
—Ding ding ding ding!
Suddenly, loud bell sounds rang out noisily around the temple.
They had discovered the state of the glass tube and were sounding the alarm.
Rumble…
Before long, dozens of martial artists poured into the temple along the path Bu Eunseol had taken.
They all wore black clothes embroidered with poisonous insects. Their insidious eyes made it clear—they were undoubtedly subordinates of the Poison King guarding this realm.
“Tatta atti!”
When they came back outside the temple, they spotted the girl standing on the hill and quickly ran toward her.
As soon as they reached within three zhang, they finally noticed Bu Eunseol standing blankly beside the girl and shouted loudly.
“Teubam kahashi!”
They scanned Bu Eunseol’s appearance and attire, then shouted again in incomprehensible words.
“Tam geurihna!”
Ziiing.
When they extended their hands, black mist began to rise around Bu Eunseol.
At the same time, an indescribably foul and fishy stench entered his nose, and bizarre patterns began to be engraved across his entire skin.
“Haha.”
The martial artists who saw this folded their arms with triumphant smiles.
They seemed certain that Bu Eunseol had already been poisoned.
“What a fascinating poison art.”
Bu Eunseol looked at the mottled patterns engraved on his arm and let out a sigh of admiration.
The poison arts of Cheonchuk followed a completely different path from those of the Central Plains, containing shamanistic power.
Slither, slither.
From the grotesque patterns on his skin, snakes and insects began to emerge… bizarre symptoms of poisoning were manifesting.
“Hehe.”
Believing Bu Eunseol could no longer move due to the poison, they walked toward him nonchalantly.
They had no doubt he would soon become a handful of bloody water.
Chiiiiii.
However, white smoke began to spread from Bu Eunseol’s body, and all the patterns engraved on his skin were cleanly erased.
Once the poison entered his body, his physique—which had reached the Poison Body realm—automatically detoxified it and stored the toxins back in the form of true energy.
‘A new Cheonchuk poison has entered. My poison arts have improved even further.’
Bu Eunseol shook his head and said, “I do not know what kind of place this is or what evil deeds you have committed, so I will not kill you.”
Then, looking at the poison users, he extended his finger.
Papapak.
With a sharp gust of wind, the bodies of the poison users stiffened rigidly.
He had unleashed finger wind and instantly sealed their demon blood points.
Thud, thud.
Watching the poison users collapse like wooden logs, Bu Eunseol folded his arms.
“Is there no one here who can speak Han language?”
At Bu Eunseol’s words, the poison users widened their eyes and shouted even louder.
They truly did not seem to understand him at all.
‘They are not deliberately pretending not to understand.’
From their biological reactions, it appeared they genuinely could not comprehend the Han language.
“Hmm.”
He swallowed a sigh.
Originally, he would have interrogated them to find out what this place was and who the girl was.
But since they could not communicate at all… there was nothing he could do.
Swish!
But then something astonishing happened.
The ones whose blood points had been sealed suddenly turned into black light and charged at Bu Eunseol.
‘Their acupoints were not sealed.’
The poison users could freely manipulate poison and generally possessed bodies impervious to blades. The Cheonchuk poison users had apparently reached such a level that their acupoints could not be sealed.
Swish!
Their technique was quite unique. They left a thin scratch on Bu Eunseol’s forearm—not by attacking with a weapon, but by bursting his skin through their bizarre poison art.
However, Bu Eunseol’s body was like steel; only a single drop of blood fell lightly.
‘It cannot be helped.’
These Cheonchuk poison users knew no fear and possessed poisonous hearts. No matter what method he used, they would not submit to him.
Uuuung.
Bu Eunseol raised his inner energy to deploy the Inner Bullet Qi.
Although they had launched a surprise attack, their movements looked endlessly slow in his eyes.
Thud.
But before they could even pour out their attacks, their bodies suddenly fluttered like sheets of paper and then collapsed as if crumbling.
When he turned his head, the girl—who had previously returned to a pure appearance—was once again wearing the sensual eyes of a mature woman.
“Ah.”
When her eyes met Bu Eunseol’s, she revealed her white teeth and smiled brightly.
It was as if she was asking for praise for having just saved him.
‘Blood.’
Astonishingly, she had once again picked up and swallowed the very small amount of blood Bu Eunseol had shed.
Fortunately, the amount was less than a single drop, so her entire body did not transform this time.
“You must not do that.”
Without realizing it, Bu Eunseol spoke to her in a stern voice.
“You must not carelessly get blood on your hands.”
Even though she was a girl he knew nothing about, he instinctively sensed that she must not stain her hands with blood.
“Will you live your entire life as a martial artist wielding a blade?”
Bu Eunseol’s solemn voice echoed inside the girl’s head like the Heavenly Command Mind Technique.
Looking into his solemn and deep eyes, the girl nodded.
“Ah!”
Suddenly, she widened her eyes, jumped up, and let out a scream.
It was as if she had remembered something she had forgotten.
Pat pat pat.
The girl quickly ran back toward the temple.
Bu Eunseol hurriedly deployed his movement technique and chased after her.
“Where are you going?”
Even at his question, the girl entered the temple without answering.
She then began earnestly searching around the crystal tube where she had been sleeping.
“Ah, ah.”
Unable to find what she was looking for, a light of anger appeared in the girl’s eyes.
Perhaps because her body had not fully returned to normal yet?
When she clenched both fists tightly at the same time—
Rumble…
The entire temple began to shake, and the surrounding walls collapsed instantly.
‘Hundreds of zhang? No, it must be dozens of li.’
The wave of power the girl was exerting was spreading not only through the temple but throughout the entire underground holy city.
‘Is this the power of a human?’
In the past, Yangseol Rin’s Heavenly Blessing Body had caused a small earthquake on a deserted island. But this underground holy city was vast enough for tens of thousands of people to live in.
With a mere exertion of power, she was shaking the entire place?
Every time the ground shook, a mysterious light rose from the floor and coiled around her body.
‘So that’s how it is.’
The energy flowing through this land was connected to the power the girl possessed.
‘A person is still a person, after all.’
If merely spreading her power could cause an earthquake across a radius of dozens of li, then it would not be an exaggeration to say she possessed the abilities of a god rather than a human.
Rumble…
At that moment, as the ground shook, one of the walls on the opposite side of where the glass tube had stood slowly descended, creating a large passage.
Judging by the unique patterns and mysterious shapes engraved around the wall, it was not a simple mechanism but a place where sorcery or shamanistic power was simultaneously activated.
Uuuung.
Then her eyes sharpened again before returning to the pure appearance of a young girl.
Finally, the effect of the demon blood had completely disappeared.
Rumble.
At that moment, a vibration echoed from the large passage.
The girl hurriedly entered it.
Bu Eunseol followed behind her, and soon a long, damp passage appeared.
It was full of moisture and sticky water, clearly not a place suitable for humans to live.
At the very end stood a large iron door.
Grrrrng.
When the door opened, an unbelievable sight unfolded.
Water Prison.
It was none other than a prison filled with filthy, stagnant water.
Splash.
Without hesitation, the girl stepped into the water prison.
At the far end, there was a shadow bound with iron chains piercing through both collarbones.
The figure kept its head lowered, continuously reciting something like a mantra in a low voice.
Bu Eunseol also entered the water prison.
The murky, thick filthy water that reached up to his shins emitted a fishy and nauseating stench that stung the nose.
But when he tried to take another step following the girl—
Uuuung.
A vibration as if something was awakening rang out inside the water prison.
A terrifying energy wriggled beneath the water’s surface. A transparent wave of power stretching out from the air blocked his path.
Bu Eunseol tried to shatter the force by raising his inner energy, but his power scattered futilely as if sinking into sticky swamp.
He unfolded the various energies within his body to twist space, but it did not budge, as if invisible wedges had been driven in.
‘It’s exactly like the Illusion Pond.’
At this point, it was almost ridiculous.
The power flowing from inside the water prison was almost identical to the wave-like force he had experienced in the Illusion Pond.
‘Then… did the Divine Priestess create this place…?’
Bu Eunseol took a deep breath.
‘The one who created this place has the same nature of power.’
After staring down at the filthy water for a moment, he took another deep breath.
It was as if beneath the surface, the shape of a monster with its mouth open, craving something, could be seen.
‘Again, it’s blood.’
Having realized something, Bu Eunseol once again dropped a droplet of blood onto the water’s surface.
Hiss.
The blood burned, and the violently wriggling wave-like force slowly began to subside.
Just like a key fitting into a lock, the water prison was reacting to his blood.
Finally, when he entered, he could see the face of the shadow whose collarbones were pierced by iron chains.
It was a woman with disheveled gray hair, deeply sunken eyes, and a straight nose.
“Ahh.”
When the girl entered and made a sound, the woman who had been murmuring lowly lifted her head and widened her eyes.
“Seong-ah?”
The woman looked at the girl in disbelief and spoke in the Han language.
“How are you here?”
“Ahh.”
The girl smiled brightly and tightly embraced the woman’s body.
‘Mother.’
Bu Eunseol immediately understood the situation.
The woman bound by those iron chains was the girl’s mother.
