Chapter 1242

The Avici Demon Ancestor was entirely at ease.

Anyone who witnessed the scene would have mistaken it for a chance meeting between old friends greeting each other with delight.

"Since you found me so precisely, I suppose my junior sister exposed my location?"

"You knew?"

"She has wanted to kill me for a long time."

The Avici Demon Ancestor shrugged.

"It simply wasn't possible."

He appeared calm.

Yet emotions of many different hues flitted through his eyes.

There seemed to be some history between the two that no outsider knew.

Bu Eunseol had no interest in any of it.

He merely looked upon the horribly slain Jang Sam and his family, his eyes filled with rage and contempt.

"Is this amusing?"

"Amusing?"

The Avici Demon Ancestor gave a derisive chuckle.

"Do you find eating a meal amusing?"

"..."

"Just as one eats a meal, I was born able to see evil spirits, and I simply devour their souls."

He held up the blood-soaked bundle of flesh and continued.

"It is merely the nature and duty heaven bestowed upon me. There is nothing to enjoy or regret."

Shhing.

Bu Eunseol drew the Silent Tiger Soul Sword.

There was no longer any value in speaking with him.

Even without the Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal's request, the Avici Demon Ancestor was an existence that had to be killed and eradicated.

"Before that, allow me to ask you one thing."

As Bu Eunseol prepared to attack, the Avici Demon Ancestor spoke with an easy expression.

"That butcher was born with a vicious bloodlust he could never empty from himself. Even if I had not provoked him... in time, he would have massacred not only his family, but everyone in this village."

He pointed at Jang Sam's corpse and asked,

"By that reasoning, this body dealt with a murderer who intended to kill the villagers... and, as payment, ate one piece of flesh from an unforgivable villain."

Staring directly into Bu Eunseol's eyes, the Avici Demon Ancestor continued.

"Though I was not motivated by chivalry, the result was still a righteous deed that disposed of the wicked. So why are you trying to kill this Ancestor?"

"Because you must not interfere in human destiny."

"Interfere in destiny?"

The Avici Demon Ancestor smiled faintly.

"Do you wish to play god?"

His sharp gaze swept Bu Eunseol from head to toe.

"Heaven chose this body as a Demon Ancestor. It gave me this power from birth and made me follow the demonic, like an act of divine providence."

"..."

"Yet for no reason at all, you intend to annihilate this Ancestor, who is akin to a law of nature."

"Sophistry."

"Sophistry?"

A sneer appeared on the Avici Demon Ancestor's face.

"When a venomous snake devours a rabbit, it is the providence of nature. But when this Ancestor devours a villain, I must die?"

His words were not entirely without reason.

Demon Ancestors were born bearing the karma of evil, regardless of their own will.

From birth, they possessed wicked power and spirits that drove them to harm humans.

Asking such a being why he harmed people was no different from asking a venomous snake why it carried fangs.

It was a matter of birth, a matter of fate.

"Correct."

Bu Eunseol's gaze turned cold as he stared at the Avici Demon Ancestor.

"There is no sin in a venomous snake hunting a rabbit."

At the unexpected agreement, a smile crept across the Avici Demon Ancestor's lips.

"Then you admit it?"

"Not at all."

Bu Eunseol spoke in a low voice.

"But if a venomous snake slithers into a human village and bares its fangs, crushing its head is also providence."

"..."

"If you follow your instincts and attack and kill humans, then I may follow my own survival instinct and kill you."

All Seven Great Demon Ancestors brought harm to humanity.

In the end, killing a monster that harmed humans could also be called human instinct.

"You said that butcher was wicked? That he would have killed the villagers even if you had not provoked him? Is that not precisely what it means to play god?"

Amber killing intent spread from Bu Eunseol's eyes.

"Or do you speak of your right to be a predator without preparing yourself to become prey?"

After a moment of silence, the Avici Demon Ancestor snorted.

"In the end, you mean to suppress me with force."

"This is not suppression. It is choice."

Bu Eunseol raised the Silent Tiger Soul Sword before him in a middle guard.

"Whether you act upon your instincts or defy them is a choice, and that choice carries responsibility."

Then he spoke with stern authority.

"Do not call evil destiny to justify it. The moment you trample upon the lives of others, you cease to be part of nature... and become a calamity that human society must eliminate."

"Hahahaha!"

The Avici Demon Ancestor laughed heartily and nodded.

"They said your wisdom surpassed even your martial skill... To think you broke this Ancestor's Fair Words Soul Seizure with the power of your tongue."

He had not merely been trying to confuse Bu Eunseol with cutting words.

Within his cunning rhetoric, he had deployed a demonic secret art capable of seizing an enemy's soul.

"I admit it. I tried to kill you far too easily."

Sizzle.

The Avici Demon Ancestor reached out, and Bu Eunseol's shoes suddenly began to melt.

"Instead, I will make your death as painful as possible."

Fortunately, his outer garment was a treasure-robe, but everything else began to run like candle wax.

The Avici Demon Ancestor was a disciple of the Poison Spirit Demonic Lord.

When the demonic art of Fair Words Soul Seizure failed, he immediately unleashed the poison arts of the True Demon Palace.

"I know you can block supernatural power."

The Avici Demon Ancestor wore a sinister smile.

"At such a realm, poison must be the most fearsome power of all."

As he too had ties to the True Demon Palace, had he obtained the information previously delivered by the Empress Dowager's subordinate?

Or, like the power of the Ancient Sword Forest, did he possess supernatural power that allowed him to grasp an enemy's capabilities at a glance?

Within the Realm of Destruction and Extinction of the Void Extreme Realm, which returned everything to its natural state, poison was the greatest danger.

The Avici Demon Ancestor had already seen through that truth.

"Die in agony."

Sizzle.

The smoke rising from Bu Eunseol's body thickened.

Most of his power as the Poison Saint had now vanished, and only the poison-resistant body's immunity to poison remained.

If he exerted the power of the Void Extreme Realm, poison would become an even deadlier attack than it was now.

Glint.

Then something strange occurred.

Faint cracks appeared across the Avici Demon Ancestor's skin as he poured poison arts upon Bu Eunseol.

Paaat!

Hundreds of rays of light spread from within his body.

It was an explosion of life force.

The power opposing the demonic energy within him flooded his poison-filled body with more vitality than it could bear.

Cruuunch.

The Avici Demon Ancestor's entire body began to twist grotesquely.

Flashes of light climbed along his bones like fire trapped inside cracked porcelain, covering his entire body in hundreds of streaks.

Flop.

The Avici Demon Ancestor fell to his knees and stared openmouthed at the hundreds of cracks across his body.

"How?"

He had not been cut by a blade or struck by inner energy.

The demonic energy composing his physical body was slowly disappearing.

Creak.

It sounded as though a thick, solid rope had snapped.

Fresh blood and murky gray motes of light poured from the gaps in his cracked skin.

Each mote turned to dust.

Like an ancient tree that had endured thousands of years rotting away in an instant, his body gradually scattered and vanished.

The bonds between his karma and concentrated demonic energy were coming undone, dismantling even his essence as a Demon Ancestor.

Ziiiiiing.

Light flowed from mysterious patterns engraved across the Silent Tiger Soul Sword.

At Bu Eunseol's feet, a mystical green radiance rose like a heat haze.

Silent Tiger Soul Eclipse.

The sword form of life said to sever all karma had already pierced the Avici Demon Ancestor's body.

"When... did you unleash the sword form?"

The Avici Demon Ancestor shook his head in disbelief.

"There was no sign of it."

Bu Eunseol replied calmly.

"I began the moment I arrived, little by little."

By now, he had encountered and personally fought the Ten Great Immortals and Seven Great Demon Ancestors several times.

In the process, he had realized that every one of them was born with demonic power capable of overturning the martial world and even defying the laws of nature.

He had also grasped that the powers of the Immortals and Demon Ancestors suppressed and canceled one another.

The Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal possessed the power to read the memories of the dead for a short time.

Therefore, the Avici Demon Ancestor likely possessed the power to read or destroy the minds of the living.

Moreover, he was the disciple of the Poison Spirit Demonic Lord.

If he committed himself fully to using poison, Bu Eunseol predicted that even the power of the Void Extreme Realm would find him extremely difficult to face.

―'Does Silent Tiger Soul Eclipse truly have to be performed as a sword form?'

Before setting out to find the Avici Demon Ancestor, Bu Eunseol had begun devising a way to ensure that Silent Tiger Soul Eclipse struck its target.

Though Silent Tiger Soul Eclipse was called a sword art, it was in truth closer to a technique for releasing power that had reached the Path of Nature.

What if he knew in advance where he would meet the Avici Demon Ancestor?

Could he not deploy it by some method other than a sword art?

―'Sword-body unity, and the Sacred Fire Secret Transmission.'

He used the technique of sword-body unity, which treated the body like a sword.

He combined it with the method of the Sacred Fire Secret Transmission, which could be called the most profound method under heaven for releasing power.

In this way, he devised a means to fire Silent Tiger Soul Eclipse from his own body.

―'Tremble.'

When he first encountered the Avici Demon Ancestor, Bu Eunseol's fingertips had trembled and flashes of light had spread through his eyes.

It was not merely because the tragedy that had befallen Jang Sam's family enraged him.

Without allowing the Avici Demon Ancestor to notice, he had been deploying Silent Tiger Soul Eclipse through the profound principles of sword-body unity.

He had released its life energy in an exceedingly fine, steady stream... pouring it out slowly.

Crumble.

The Avici Demon Ancestor turned to powder and vanished in an instant.

The Demon Ancestor who had toyed with human bloodlust disappeared into nothingness.

"..."

Even after eliminating him, Bu Eunseol looked around with a grave expression.

After gazing at the distant sky for a moment, he moved.

Thump.

He unleashed the Land Flight Technique and leaped dozens of jang into the air in a single bound.

As he stared down for a long while, a sharp light flashed ceaselessly through his eyes.

"One of the Seven Great Demon Ancestors could not possibly die so easily."

Though clues lay scattered throughout the martial world, even the Death Spirit Corps' information network had found it difficult to trace the Seven Great Demon Ancestors.

Yet the infamously wicked Avici Demon Ancestor had made no attempt to hide his identity.

He had openly lived here under the name Master Seokgye?

It made no sense from the beginning.

"Seokgye."

Seok, or stone, represented a hard, wall-like obstacle.

Gye, or stream, represented a thin and elusive path.

Together, the two signified a hidden space invisible from the outside, open only through a gap as narrow as a crack.

"Everyone reveals their defining traits unconsciously."

He carefully examined the landscape spread below his feet, one section at a time.

"Avici, Seokgye, a Demon Ancestor who devours slaughter demons, fresh corpses..."

Bu Eunseol's eyes flashed as he repeated the clues he had gathered.

"Stone..."

Murmuring softly, he finally understood everything.

Boom!

With a thunderous roar, Bu Eunseol's figure streaked across the air.

Before long, he arrived at a mountain not far from the village.

He spent roughly the span of a single meal searching every corner of it.

Flash!

Then light burst from Bu Eunseol's eyes. He had discovered a massive rock face nestled deep within a valley.

"So it is here."

At first glance, it looked like an ordinary rock face one might see anywhere.

Yet weathering had carved a faint shape into it over the years.

It was a vague image of a Buddha, somewhat too deliberate to have been created by nature.

Ssk.

Bu Eunseol slowly circled the rock face, then ran a hand across its surface.

Strangely, he felt faint warmth within its coldness.

It was like a living creature drawing breath.

"You will emerge soon."

Muttering softly, he drew the Silent Tiger Soul Sword.

Whoomph!

Instead of killing intent, a fresh wave of life swept across the earth, and light began spreading through the ground stained gray.

Pale green shoots sprouted from the branches of withered trees dry enough to crumble, while brilliant colors burst from flowers in full bloom like fireworks.

Silent Tiger Soul Eclipse.

As he once more deployed the sword form of life, clear colors returned to the desolate mountains and vegetation.

Vwoom.

At the instant he gathered all his power and prepared to cut through the rock face, something stopped him.

Clack.

Bu Eunseol abruptly froze like a stone statue.

He stood there motionless for a long while.

A martial artist's instincts and the experience he had gained resolving countless bizarre incidents were sounding a fierce warning.

'Something is wrong.'

He sheathed the Silent Tiger Soul Sword completely, placed his hand against the rock face once more, and slowly closed his eyes.

Then, at that moment, someone arrived.

Whirl, thump.

A figure in Taoist robes slowly descended from the distant sky and landed before him.

It was a female Taoist in worn robes, her long hair tied firmly behind her. She was the Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal.

"No!"

She hurried toward Bu Eunseol as he examined the rock face.

Her usual composure and easy humor were nowhere to be seen.

Only desperation filled her eyes.

"You must not destroy that."

She spread both hands to block Bu Eunseol's sword, her fingertips trembling faintly.

"If you do, my senior brother cannot become an Immortal."

"What do you mean all of a sudden?"

Bu Eunseol furrowed his brow and tilted his head.

"How can a Demon Ancestor become an Immortal?"

"I am sorry."

The Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal lowered her head.

"I deceived you."

"..."

"The truth is, my senior brother has spent years cultivating and releasing his demonic energy so that he can cast off the shell of a Demon Ancestor and become an Immortal."

"Did you not ask me to kill him, Immortal?"

"I did. I meant the false body connected to the Demon Fetus... the one called Master Seokgye that imitates my senior brother."

She spoke quickly.

"But I never imagined that you would even find my senior brother's true body."

"I do not understand a word of this."

The Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal steadied her voice and began to explain calmly.

"As I told you, we were not born a Demon Ancestor and an Immortal. We studied together at the Supreme Unity Sect when we were young."

Her eyes deepened as though she were recalling the distant past.

"But in the year we turned sixteen, everything suddenly changed. Black demonic energy began erupting from my senior brother's body, while immortal energy bloomed from mine. We became a Demon Ancestor and an Immortal overnight."

The wind stirred the hem of her worn Taoist robes.

"We had no choice but to leave the Supreme Unity Sect. My senior brother later became a disciple of the Poison Spirit Demonic Lord, while I entered the Jade Pool Immortal's service and began my training."

* * *

After becoming the Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal, she continued her cultivation as a Taoist.

The Jade Pool Immortal said she had been born with a destiny that prevented her from formally joining a Taoist order, and therefore did not accept her as a disciple.

She merely taught her the Taoist Auxiliary Arts.

In that way, as one of the Ten Great Immortals, she could wield her power righteously.

After completing ten years of training, she wandered the martial world in silence as one of the Ten Great Immortals.

Then, one day, the Avici Demon Ancestor quietly came to find her.

In his hands was an old, faded book.

It was an ancient secret text called the Taoist Scripture of Returning to Truth.

"Junior sister."

The Avici Demon Ancestor's voice rang low and heavy.

Dressed in black, he had become an imposing figure.

Yet his eyes remained those of the purehearted senior brother who had studied both martial arts and scholarship beside her at the Supreme Unity Sect.

"After all these years, I have finally discovered a way to sever the karma of a Demon Ancestor."

He opened the Taoist Scripture of Returning to Truth and explained.

"According to this secret text, if I create a false body, absorb the livers containing the life force of the wicked, and petrify my body... my original body will become a living stone, and even the most wicked person under heaven can transform into an Immortal."

The Avici Demon Ancestor spoke.

"Once I cast off the destiny of a Demon Ancestor, let us meet again."

The Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal was overjoyed.

In truth, during the years when they had studied together, she had harbored affection for her senior brother and yearned desperately for the two of them to be joined.

If he could become an Immortal, they could break through the great wall that had made their union impossible and finally see their feelings bear fruit.

"But I need your help."

The Avici Demon Ancestor continued carefully.

"To cultivate this secret method, I must identify those who possess the bloodlust to slaughter others horribly."

He pointed to the method recorded in the Taoist Scripture of Returning to Truth.

"I must eat the livers of true villains whose hands are already stained with innocent blood. Only then can I accumulate merit, transform back into an Immortal, and sever this ill-fated bond."

Fortunately, the Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal could see people's sins and evil karma through her immortal power.

As the Avici Demon Ancestor wished, she found wicked people who met his conditions.

Murderers who had already killed dozens, those who abused their families until they died, and those who delighted in torturing the innocent.

With her help, the Avici Demon Ancestor cultivated the Taoist Scripture of Returning to Truth.

But something unexpected occurred.

At the final stage of the sorcery, his original body became petrified.

The Demon Fetus connected it to Master Seokgye, the false body.

It was an umbilical cord joining the shell to the original body, and they had no way to sever it.

"There is no way."

The Avici Demon Ancestor spoke in despair.

"Neither martial arts nor the power of any supernatural ability can sever this Demon Fetus connected to my original body."

The Avici Demon Ancestor spoke from within the rock face.

His body had already become completely petrified, and he needed to sever the Demon Fetus to complete his transformation into a true Immortal.

But because the Demon Fetus could not be severed, he had no choice but to die within his petrified body.

"After going to such lengths to cultivate a sorcery that would sever my demonic karma, I cannot even cut the Demon Fetus itself."

"Is there no way?"

"There is one."

After much thought, the Avici Demon Ancestor spoke.

"The Martial Soul Command Lord. I heard that he can perform a sword form that controls life. I believe that sword form could sever the Demon Fetus."

He continued cautiously.

"But I hear that he abhors evil and never allows a Demon Ancestor to live... In truth, then, there is no way to sever my Demon Fetus."

"If he hates evil, is that not all the better?"

The Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal's eyes shone at those words.

"We can simply tell him that the false body connected to the Demon Fetus is the real one. No one could ever realize the truth."

Afterward, she used her ability to investigate Bu Eunseol and the movements of his subordinates.

At last, she found him investigating the dumpling shop and approached him naturally.

When they dealt with the old man of the Splendid Cloud Merchant House, she witnessed it with her own eyes.

He wielded a sword form that released life force comparable to the realm of Harmony with Nature.

―'That will sever my senior brother's Demon Fetus, cut away his karma as a Demon Ancestor, and allow him to be born as an Immortal.'

Just as she expected, Bu Eunseol eliminated the false body in a single stroke.

But, astonishingly, he even found the rock face where the true body was hidden and prepared to investigate it.

That was why she had appeared in such haste.

* * *

"I am sorry I did not tell you the truth."

Having explained everything, the Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal looked tenderly at the rock face and spoke in a quiet voice.

"But my senior brother said you would never help him if I revealed the truth to you."

"He judged me correctly."

"No."

Desperation shone in her eyes.

"My senior brother's cultivation has reached its final stage, and his body has hardened completely into stone. He is a chrysalis on the verge of being reborn as a perfect Immortal."

"..."

"Now that you have severed the Demon Fetus, my senior brother will soon break free of that stone."

After a long silence, Bu Eunseol spoke.

"I cannot allow that."

He stared at the rock face and shook his head.

His gaze held sympathy and sorrow.

Even so, it was resolute.

"The Avici Demon Ancestor must die."

"But he has become an Immortal!"

The Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal cried out as though screaming and pointed at the image of the Buddha on the stone.

"Look! Could a Demon Ancestor have created an image like that?"

"Immortal."

Bu Eunseol's gaze was solemn.

"Does that truly look like a Buddha to you?"

"What?"

"Look at it upside down."

The Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal looked puzzled.

Even so, she slowly tilted her head and examined the rock face from another angle.

At that moment, her face turned pale.

The compassionate image of a Buddha changed when viewed from the other angle.

It now resembled a demon baring its teeth and glaring as it crawled from hell into the human world.

"It is a coincidence."

As though denying reality, she shook her head so violently that her hair whipped through the air.

"It could simply look different depending on the angle."

Her voice trembled.

"If he intended to deceive me, why would he cultivate a sorcery as difficult as the Taoist Scripture of Returning to Truth? Why would he endure that agony for so many years?"

"You know the answer better than anyone."

Bu Eunseol spoke quietly, but with certainty.

"The Avici Demon Ancestor is known to require the completion of his true body, yet no one knows how he accomplishes it."

He lifted his sword and pointed it at the rock face.

"But from what you have told me, it seems he can unleash his true power only after absorbing both good and evil karma."

"Good and evil? He only absorbed the karma of wicked people."

"If he were an existence that absorbed only the life force of the wicked, why would he be a Demon Ancestor?"

Contempt appeared in Bu Eunseol's eyes.

"At the end, he will absorb even your immortal energy and complete his true body. Then he will begin committing evil in earnest."

The Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal shook her head.

Yet her gaze wavered.

She instinctively sensed the reason in Bu Eunseol's words.

"It does not matter if you refuse to believe me. Nothing will change."

Bu Eunseol said no more.

Shhing.

He raised the Silent Tiger Soul Sword again, and its blade cast a cold gleam beneath the sunlight.

"No!"

"Move aside. This must be done."

Rrrrumble.

A faint tremor began within the rock face.

It was as though something imprisoned inside was awakening.

Ziiiing.

Bu Eunseol prepared to deploy Silent Tiger Soul Eclipse once more.

"Please, I beg you!"

Ignoring her, Bu Eunseol began to unleash the sword form with all his strength.

Clamp.

Then he abruptly lowered the Silent Tiger Soul Sword.

"...So that was it."

"What do you mean?"

"It seems this is as far as you can go, Immortal."

Bu Eunseol spoke coldly.

"With your acting."