Chapter 1243

"An act?"

The Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal asked in bewilderment.

"What are you suddenly talking about?"

Bu Eunseol did not answer.

He merely stared intently at her face.

Then he recalled what had happened before.

―'Is there something on my face?'

When the Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal had spoken about the Avici Demon Ancestor, she had failed to notice that Bu Eunseol was lost in deep thought.

Thinking he was staring at her, she had asked him that question.

―'She is hiding something.'

The Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal possessed a transcendent power that allowed her to look briefly into the Spirit Platform of the dead.

However, perhaps because she had spent her life cultivating nothing but Taoist arts in secluded valleys, her heart remained relatively pure.

The instant her unease overcame her and forced those words from her lips, Bu Eunseol saw not only the unnatural movement of her facial muscles, but also the fact that she was deliberately hiding something.

―'Yearning.'

Upon closer inspection, her eyes held a fervent yet innocent yearning.

It was the yearning of a maiden in the flower of her eighteenth year.

And this was despite having asked him to kill her senior brother.

"Why... are you looking at me like that?"

The Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal's second question pulled Bu Eunseol from his recollection.

He saw the profound anxiety on her face.

'I cannot learn the truth from her mouth.'

Vwoom.

Without answering, Bu Eunseol turned around.

Then he once more examined every trace of energy within the rock face.

As he spread his energy with all his strength, a pure white radiance soon gathered in his eyes.

The power of the Ancient Sword Forest had activated.

At that moment, Bu Eunseol's vision penetrated the rock face.

He saw the immense figure of the Avici Demon Ancestor ensconced within it, pouring out pure and colossal demonic energy.

'As expected.'

Through the Demon Fetus, he had continuously absorbed the organs of the wicked and truly petrified himself.

'But what he desires is...'

Having grasped the truth through the eyes of the Ancient Sword Forest, Bu Eunseol swallowed dryly.

Shedding the shell.

The Avici Demon Ancestor was not on the verge of becoming an Immortal, but of being reborn as an immense demon god.

His body was surrounded by rock saturated with demonic energy, the toughest and hardest stone under heaven.

To break it, he needed a blow filled with immense life force.

'So he cannot break this hard shell by himself.'

A chill ran down Bu Eunseol's spine.

The Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal had been deceiving him to the very end.

'She pretended to stop me because she wanted me to unleash Silent Tiger Soul Eclipse upon the rock wall at once.'

Her intention was clear.

When he began examining the rock wall, she had feared he might discover its true nature.

If that happened, he might choose not to unleash Silent Tiger Soul Eclipse.

Therefore, she had acted as if the Avici Demon Ancestor would awaken at any moment unless Bu Eunseol struck immediately.

She had therefore created a desperate sense of urgency.

That would make him hastily launch his sword strike before the Demon Ancestor could awaken.

"You deceived me."

Having calmly grasped the entire situation, Bu Eunseol looked down at her with a grave gaze.

"Why would you do such a thing?"

"You misunderstand."

The Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal shook her head.

"Why would I lie?"

"..."

"Why will you not believe my senior brother? Why do you think he lied?"

The Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal shouted in fury.

"Because he is a Demon Ancestor? Does the very idea of him becoming an Immortal sound like a lie?"

Bu Eunseol watched her rage.

Then he realized one more truth.

'Her mind has already been corrupted.'

With a power like water seeping through cracks in stone, the Avici Demon Ancestor had manipulated the minds of the wicked.

Before anyone noticed, he had even seized control of the Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal's mind.

'No. She could not help but fall under his control.'

Bu Eunseol sighed inwardly.

'This too is a trial of affection.'

The Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal had loved the Avici Demon Ancestor in secret ever since their days as fellow disciples.

Then he had become a Demon Ancestor.

She must have suffered like a tragic heroine, believing destiny had torn her love away from her.

But when the Avici Demon Ancestor returned and told her he would defy destiny and become an Immortal, she must have been beside herself with joy.

Even when she belatedly realized that his actions were evil, she would have been unable to resist and ultimately become subservient to him.

'Opposing forces, yet drawn to one another...'

The Vajra Demon Ancestor and the Void Taoist had struggled to preserve each other's lives.

Unmong Sanin had loved the White Hand Demon Empress and remained by her side even while helping her commit evil.

Now he had witnessed the same relationship form between the Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal and the Avici Demon Ancestor.

Bu Eunseol sensed that Immortals and Demon Ancestors were not merely opposing existences.

'There must be a reason the Heavenly Demon Emperor tried to have me kill them first.'

The Heavenly Demon Emperor packed meticulous calculation into every word and made even the movement of a finger an extension of his plans.

There was no possibility he would try to annihilate them without reason.

―'Uuugh... Uuuugh.'

At that moment, a grotesque sound flowed from the rock face.

Unable to break the rock, the Avici Demon Ancestor had finally begun to groan.

"So the Demon Fetus was his breathing passage."

Bu Eunseol's eyes narrowed.

Until now, the Avici Demon Ancestor had continued to breathe through the false body called Master Seokgye.

But that connection had been severed.

Unable even to break free of his petrified state, he was slowly suffocating to death.

"Believe me! He cultivated until he became an Immortal."

The Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal shouted desperately.

"Please! Just once, believe me just this once!"

She sincerely believed the secret arts recorded in the Taoist Scripture of Returning to Truth were genuine.

She believed the Avici Demon Ancestor had truly changed his destiny and become an Immortal.

She believed he would break free of his petrified body.

Then he would emerge in a beautiful form and ask for her hand in marriage.

"Immortal."

Bu Eunseol regarded the Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal and spoke coldly.

"Do you truly believe someone who tore out and ate the livers of wicked men filled with resentment could become an Immortal?"

"Methods of accumulating merit by disposing of the wicked have existed since ancient times."

The Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal continued to plead without giving up.

"Please believe me. I can feel it. He truly has become an Immortal!"

Flop.

She fell to her knees.

"Please. Hurry and break open his petrified body."

She begged with such desperation that she might as well have rubbed her hands and feet together.

"If you do not break it open now, he will eventually wither to death inside."

"I cannot."

Bu Eunseol's voice was frigid.

"If a Demon Ancestor like him awakens, countless innocent people may die, not only you."

"Command Lord."

"I cannot gamble with human lives."

He turned away without mercy.

The Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal bit her lip and hesitated for a long while.

Then she suddenly pressed her index and middle fingers together, touched them to her brow, and thrust them toward the sky.

Slash, slash, slash!

The bamboo box strapped to her back opened, and hundreds of talismans began sticking to Bu Eunseol's body.

She had affixed every talisman she possessed to him.

Ziiiing.

Millions of motes of light bloomed from Bu Eunseol's body.

"What are you doing?"

"I am sorry."

Blood streamed ceaselessly from the Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal's lips.

She was sacrificing even her own life force.

Through it, she transmitted the energy within Bu Eunseol to the Avici Demon Ancestor inside the rock face.

"I did not want to use this method if I could avoid it. But..."

Before she could finish speaking, the talismans stuck to Bu Eunseol's body all fell to the ground.

Rustle.

He had deployed the Void Extreme Realm and blocked all her Taoist arts.

Even so, Bu Eunseol could not move his body.

The Taoist art transmitting his strength had been broken.

But the secret art binding his body like ropes drew upon her life force.

Even the power of the Void Extreme Realm could not easily break it.

Craaack.

At that moment, a massive fissure began spreading across the rock face.

The Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal had transmitted Bu Eunseol's immense life force for only a brief instant.

Even so, the Avici Demon Ancestor gained enough strength to break the stone surrounding his body.

Rrrrumble.

The cracked rock face finally collapsed, and pure white light spilled from within.

The light was so sacred that the Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal stared at it as if bewitched.

Step, step.

A shadow wrapped in mysterious splendor slowly emerged from beyond the broken wall.

He was a handsome man dressed in pure white, with a face as pale as white jade and long hair falling to his waist.

Something like white wings fluttered behind him.

He looked like a heavenly god manifested in a human body.

His long hair half-concealed his eyes.

They were so deep and mysterious that one wished to gaze into them forever.

"Senior brother!"

The Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal's face filled with emotion.

Her faith and assistance over so many long years had not been in vain.

He had returned to her as an Immortal bearing the aura of a heavenly god.

"Senior brother!"

Throwing aside her bamboo box, she ran toward the Avici Demon Ancestor.

Whump.

She flung her arms around him and held him tightly.

After they became a Demon Ancestor and an Immortal, the two had been unable to continue their bond.

But for her sake, her senior brother had ultimately found the Taoist Scripture of Returning to Truth.

He had cultivated its grand method for years and severed his karma.

There was no longer any obstacle between them.

"Thank you, senior brother."

Ssk.

The Avici Demon Ancestor looked at her and reached out.

He gently caressed both her cheeks.

"Senior brother."

The man, his eyes warm and radiant, softly stroked the Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal's neck.

Crunch.

Then he twisted and broke it in a single motion.

Thump.

The Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal collapsed with her neck twisted and murmured blankly.

"Why...?"

"Because you failed to do your part, I could not completely shed my petrified body."

The white wings spread behind him were not proof that he had become an Immortal.

They were remnants of the petrified body he had failed to break away from completely.

"Did you... deceive me?"

"What man would love an ugly woman who goes around in filthy Taoist robes?"

He spoke in a low voice.

"When we trained at the Supreme Unity Sect, I endured my disgust and befriended you only because the martial arts principles you interpreted were rather useful."

But the Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal could no longer answer.

Her life had already ended.

Such was the horrific end of the foolish Immortal who had loved a Demon Ancestor.

"Well, I suppose half-completed shedding is enough."

He looked at Bu Eunseol and grinned.

"I need only take the rest of your life force."

Step, step.

The Avici Demon Ancestor approached Bu Eunseol with an unhurried expression.

Though the Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal was dead, the binding formed from her life force had not disappeared.

"This truly is an extraordinary power."

The Avici Demon Ancestor stopped briefly and savored the power the Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal had transmitted from Bu Eunseol through her Taoist art.

Then he looked greedily upon Bu Eunseol, whose body had stiffened like a wooden totem.

"I knew from the moment you severed the karma of the White Hand Demon Empress and Unmong Sanin with a single sword form."

As he slowly approached the immobilized Bu Eunseol, the Avici Demon Ancestor ran his tongue across his lips.

"You alone, who severed the Demon Fetus, can complete this Ancestor's true body."

The karma of the Seven Great Demon Ancestors seemed to be woven together like a single net.

Before killing the White Hand Demon Empress and Unmong Sanin, Bu Eunseol had severed their karma with Silent Tiger Soul Eclipse.

That rupture destroyed the balance of karma, and the change had been transmitted to the other Demon Ancestors.

"Thanks to that, the Fire Soul Land slowly began to revive."

Bu Eunseol's gaze trembled.

At last, he understood why the Heavenly Demon Emperor had ordered him to eliminate the Seven Great Demon Ancestors.

"Are you saying... the Seven Great Demon Ancestors were tools sealing the spirit veins?"

"One kind of tool among many."

The Avici Demon Ancestor chuckled.

"The forces of the Poison Spirit Hall must already have seized the Fire Soul Land."

Flap, flap, flap.

At that moment, a low sound reached Bu Eunseol's ears.

It was almost identical to the beating of the bats' wings controlled by the man from the True Demon Palace whom he had encountered in his father's secret vault.

'Did even the Seven Great Demon Ancestors submit to the True Demon Palace?'

After Bu Eunseol encountered the True Demon Palace expert in his father's vault, some information about the Void Extreme Realm had been delivered to experts under the Empress Dowager.

"You are transmitting something."

Bu Eunseol looked toward the sound of beating wings and murmured softly.

"Information about me, or something you learned from me..."

"What are you talking about?"

"I heard this sound once before."

Bu Eunseol's eyes narrowed as he continued.

"After that, people who knew about my martial realm began appearing one after another."

"To deduce so much from the sound of wings..."

The Avici Demon Ancestor bared his white teeth in a smile.

"I cannot tell whether you are clever or merely imaginative."

Wearing an ominous smile, he reached out with his enormous hand and seized Bu Eunseol's head.

Clamp.

"It is time for you to become this Ancestor's strength."

Then he tried to wrench off Bu Eunseol's head as if uncorking a wine bottle.

Crrrk.

But something strange occurred.

He lifted with enough force to uproot Mount Tai itself.

Yet Bu Eunseol's head did not come free.

Instead, the strength within the Avici Demon Ancestor's body was draining away.

"How?"

His expression turned strange.

"Once my junior sister's Thread-Binding Seizure Curse is deployed, it can never be undone."

"Correct."

Bu Eunseol wore a somber expression.

"But at the moment of her death, she realized that her choice had been wrong."

The dead Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal's arm remained outstretched toward Bu Eunseol.

When she saw the look in the Avici Demon Ancestor's eyes as he caressed her cheeks, she realized something was wrong.

Just before drawing her final breath, she reached out and released the Thread-Binding Seizure Curse.

"Then why did you pretend you could not move?"

"Because Demon Ancestors like you only start talking once you feel certain that you have subdued your enemy."

Bu Eunseol calmly walked forward.

He had already exerted the power of the Void Extreme Realm.

The supernatural power wielded by the Avici Demon Ancestor could no longer affect him at all.

"I will give you a chance."

Bu Eunseol spoke evenly.

"Where is the True Demon Palace? Where is the Poison Spirit Demonic Lord?"

"...Are you offering this Ancestor the grace of a painless death?"

The Avici Demon Ancestor shouted as though he had read Bu Eunseol's mind.

"Indeed. Villains like you never reveal what you know."

Drawing the Silent Tiger Soul Sword, Bu Eunseol spoke in an icy voice.

"Use whatever martial arts or powers you possess. Make sure you die without regret."

The Avici Demon Ancestor tried to draw up his demonic energy.

But only the internal energy he had accumulated before becoming a Demon Ancestor and a portion of his dharma power remained in his body.

"Wait."

Only then did the Avici Demon Ancestor realize that he could never defeat Bu Eunseol and might truly die.

Trembling with fear, he spoke.

"I truly tried to become an Immortal."

"..."

"The Taoist Scripture of Returning to Truth is genuine. I merely lacked the dharma power to control my demonic energy."

Despite his title as a Demon Ancestor, he was pathetically begging for his life.

"I studied scholarship and martial arts at the Supreme Unity Sect, but I never distinguished myself and possessed no talent. It was the same even when my power as one of the Seven Great Demon Ancestors manifested."

He clasped his hands together.

"In the end, Master told me I could use poison properly only after obtaining a complete true body as the Avici Demon Ancestor. I had no choice."

A sigh escaped Bu Eunseol.

During his travels through the martial world, he had encountered countless powerful figures.

He had defeated them all.

Whether pathetic, narrow-minded, or possessed of bizarre convictions, they had all maintained the bearing and pride of the strong.

But those born with power they had never labored to earn, like the Avici Demon Ancestor, were different.

Once their lives were threatened, they had no pride to uphold and no conviction worth defending.

In the end, they revealed the weakness of their true nature.

Halt.

Bu Eunseol suddenly stopped walking.

Then he slowly turned away.

"N-no!"

The Avici Demon Ancestor reached out.

Paaat!

A fountain of blood erupted from his neck.

For the most terrible Demon Ancestor, one said capable of plunging the world into terror, it was an absurdly hollow end.

Thump.

His headless body fell across the remains of the Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal.

They had never become one in life, but they became one in death. Perhaps this eased some small part of her resentment.

Fwoosh.

Their bodies burst into flame.

Bu Eunseol used Yeolha Great True Energy to cremate them together.

Fweeeee!

At that moment, a hawk's cry rang out from the distant sky.

It was a messenger hawk raised by the Death Spirit Corps.

Flap, flap.

When Bu Eunseol extended his arm, a large hawk spread its enormous wings and landed upon it.

"So I was right."

His eyes narrowed as he untied and read the letter bound to its leg.

―'As instructed, we investigated the Fire Soul Land with the help of Han Sangja, Manor Lord Han of West Lake. We discovered that unknown forces have planted spies to monitor every sect the Poison Spirit Demonic Lord once interfered with.'

The moment Bu Eunseol had learned that the Avici Demon Ancestor was a disciple of the Poison Spirit Demonic Lord, he had sensed that the Poison Spirit Demonic Lord might be behind everything.

That intuition had grown stronger when the Farseeing Mind-Mirror Immortal spoke about the Avici Demon Ancestor with fervent 'yearning.'

He had summoned a messenger hawk and ordered the Death Spirit Corps to conduct several investigations.

One of them concerned detailed information about the sects the Poison Spirit Demonic Lord had interfered with in the past.

―'We believe the organization led by the Heavenly Mechanism Star is coordinating those spies.'

An unexpected truth had come to light.

The Heavenly Mechanism Star, Chu So.

Evidence had been found that he helped the Poison Spirit Demonic Lord sever the flow of the spirit veins.

'Gongsun Dankyung said that although the Heavenly Mechanism Star appears young, he is actually quite old.'

Bu Eunseol's eyes narrowed as he recalled what Gongsun Dankyung had told him.

Could Chu So truly have helped the Poison Spirit Demonic Lord sever the flow of the spirit veins back then?

―'According to Manor Lord Han, the Fire Soul Land's spirit veins spread like a spiderweb, and each one connects to a different sect.'

It had now become clear that the Poison Spirit Demonic Lord's actions were not unrelated to Chu So's plans.

'If that is the case...'

Light blazed in Bu Eunseol's eyes.

'The Fire Soul Land is in danger.'

There was no possibility that someone of the Poison Spirit Demonic Lord's caliber remained ignorant of his disciple's schemes.

But now his disciple was dead, and the events of the past had been uncovered because of it.

The Poison Spirit Demonic Lord would certainly order Chu So to deal with everything.

'Chu So will erase every trace.'

The Heavenly Mechanism Star had a habit.

Whenever one of his secret plans went awry, he abandoned everything without hesitation, cleaned it all away, and erased every trace.

Now that the Death Spirit Corps had investigated the Fire Soul Land and every sect connected to it, Chu So would eliminate all those traces without hesitation.

"There is no time."

Boom!

Taking a deep breath, Bu Eunseol soared into the air.

―'The forces of the Poison Spirit Hall must already have seized the Fire Soul Land.'

According to the Avici Demon Ancestor, the Seven Great Demon Ancestors and Ten Great Immortals were among the tools sealing the spirit veins of the Central Plains.

He had claimed that when Bu Eunseol severed the karma of the White Hand Demon Empress and Unmong Sanin, the seal on the Fire Soul Land had been released.

It was impossible to know whether this was true.

'But spies have been planted in the Fire Soul Land.'

Bu Eunseol had failed to consider it.

His grandfather had valued that place above all others.

There was no possibility someone like the Heavenly Mechanism Star had failed to plant spies in the Fire Soul Land, the center of the Central Plains' spirit veins.

Bu Eunseol had focused so intently on his relationships with the One-Eyed Immortal and Gongsun Dana that he had overlooked it.

'Heavenly Demon Emperor.'

The Heavenly Demon Emperor had insisted that Bu Eunseol kill the Seven Great Demon Ancestors.

At the time, the order had been utterly incomprehensible.

With the Heavenly Demon Emperor's ability, he could crush the Seven Great Demon Ancestors with the flick of a finger.

'Does he know I mastered Silent Tiger Soul Eclipse?'

Even if he did, why?

Why was the Heavenly Demon Emperor trying to revive the spirit veins of the Central Plains?

'And the Poison Spirit Demonic Lord...'

Paaat!

Light soared from Bu Eunseol's eyes as he deployed his movement technique.

Why was the Poison Spirit Demonic Lord so obsessed with spirit veins and spiritual lands? Why was he targeting the Fire Soul Land, the center of those spirit veins?

'They said the Returning to One Realm Lord is dying and survives only through the Poison Spirit Demonic Lord's power.'

What relationship did the two share?

What story lay behind the Returning to One Realm Lord?

Had he truly been poisoned in a secret attack by one of the Eighteen Souls of Light?

Why had only the leader of the Returning to One Realm, among the leaders of the Three Realms, been replaced a decade ago?

'I do not know.'

No matter how deeply he considered it, he could not find the answer now.

He knew only that the Fire Soul Land was the center of the Central Plains' spirit veins.

His grandfather was said to have severed its spirit veins.

In truth, he had merely given their flow a brief respite so they could fully revive.

The Poison Spirit Demonic Lord had clearly been waiting for the Fire Soul Land's revival as well.

'I will not forgive anyone who lays a hand on the Fire Soul Land.'

Flash! Rrrrumble.

Transforming into a streak of lightning, Bu Eunseol vanished across the distant sky in an instant.