When Bu Eunseol first crossed paths with Gu Hong-cheong, the chasm between them was vast—an infant pitted against a titan. But time and relentless cultivation had honed the boy. If the Beggar King was a giant wielding bare-handed destruction, Bu Eunseol was now a youth gripping a razor’s edge.
That razor was the Eighth Form of the Supreme Heavenly Flow and the True Knot of Will Manifestation.
Gu Hong-cheong stood rooted like an ancient pine, his presence dominating the platform. “Show me your petty tricks.”
He carried no staff, the signature weapon of the Beggar Sect disciples. His Dragon Subduing Palm was the pinnacle of his sect, and he had always faced the world’s experts with nothing but his two bare hands.
Shing.
The Dark Sword slid from its sheath, a hiss of steel that seemed to drape the Ascension Platform in sudden twilight.
“Hmm.” Gu Hong-cheong’s eyes narrowed.
Unlike the brute force of the Transcendence Realm, the Supreme Heavenly Realm was a battle of information. Masters of this caliber did not decide victory solely through technique; they read the opponent’s stride, the length of their weapon, the distance, and even the angle of the sunlight. They acquired and dissected every variable to predict the future.
From the mere momentum of the draw, Gu Hong-cheong had already measured the boy’s astonishing internal energy.
“Were you relying on your internal energy?” Gu Hong-cheong scoffed. “Victory is not decided by mere depth!”
Rumble.
A massive palm manifested before Bu Eunseol’s face—Sudden Arrival, the fastest and most secretive of the Dragon Subduing Palm maneuvers.
Bang!
As Bu Eunseol vanished into the blur of Shadowless Supreme Speed, a bottomless pit was gouged into the earth where he had stood a heartbeat prior. It was a power that defied belief even when witnessed firsthand.
Shweek.
Gu Hong-cheong merely flicked his wrist.
Swirling palm power surged toward Bu Eunseol’s left flank like a flood dragon dancing in water. It was the exquisite move, Submerged Dragon Should not be Used.
Can he even omit the movements?
To unleash the fiercely strong Dragon Subduing Palm, intense postures were usually required. Yet Gu Hong-cheong poured out the technique with only the slightest gestures, proof that he could unleash any martial art he desired, regardless of his stance.
From this single move, it was undeniable: his prowess had reached the Supreme Heavenly Realm.
Kwarreung!
While Bu Eunseol analyzed the threat, massive palm power poured down in succession.
Good!
Bu Eunseol, watching the Dragon Subduing Palm descend, surged his internal energy.
Whoosh!
A faint luminescence lingered on his fist before igniting into a fierce, swirling light. He intended to counter with the Second Form of the Seven Forms of the Demonic Fist, the Thunderflash Disorientation Strike.
Koo-oong!
Fist met palm. The collision shook the very axis of the earth, sending fierce shockwaves rippling in all directions.
Rumble.
Dust billowed, obscuring the world until a sharp wind swept the platform clear. The Beggar King stood firm, immovable as a mountain, while Bu Eunseol had been forced back a step.
“Ho.”
Gu Hong-cheong pursed his lips. He had already surmised that the boy’s internal energy rivaled his own, but he was genuinely surprised that Bu Eunseol had neutralized the sharp qi imbued within the Dragon Subduing Palm.
“Even if pushed back, you blocked the power digging into your meridians… I see.” Gu Hong-cheong nodded. “Indeed, you have a trick up your sleeve. You were worthy of challenging this Elder alone!”
With a short shout, he conjured dozens of hand shadows that rained down upon Bu Eunseol. It was Shocking Hundred Li, the technique that created the greatest volume of attacks among the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms.
Flutter.
The shadows fanned out, forming a claustrophobic screen of light reminiscent of the Thousand Hands Tathagata Palm that Gwang Yeon had once displayed.
Pa-at!
Bu Eunseol did not try to oppose the deluge. Instead, he instantly unfolded his movement technique to escape the blast radius.
Shweek! Pa-pa-pa-pat!
Utilizing Shadowless Supreme Speed, Bu Eunseol’s body left only faint afterimages, as if time itself had accelerated tenfold.
Kwarreung!
As the palm power poured down continuously, Bu Eunseol’s speed increased to match it. He unleashed his technique without suppressing the sound of tearing air; thunderous cracks rang out every time he cut through the void. Because the Ascension Platform was vast, he could deploy Shadowless Supreme Speed to its limit.
“Like a rat. I will block all your retreat paths!”
As Bu Eunseol darted this way and that, Gu Hong-cheong shifted tactics.
Swa-aaaaa!
Countless hand shadows converged from all directions, erasing the spaces where Bu Eunseol could evade, one by one.
Outwardly, the palm power seemed light, but in reality, it possessed the force to topple a pavilion in an instant. The range was so oppressive that even a near-miss grazed Bu Eunseol with sharp internal energy, shaking his meridians. If this continued, his body would be torn apart from the inside.
Shing!
Halting his movement technique, Bu Eunseol finally drew the Dark Sword.
Swaaak!
Against the pouring palm power, he wove a dizzying net of steel—the Soul Extinguishing Sword Art, an advanced technique of the Heaven-Severing, Earth-Destroying arts.
“A messy sword art.”
When Bu Eunseol countered with his blade, Gu Hong-cheong smiled and closed the distance.
Clang-clang-clang!
Sword and hands clashed, tangling in a chaotic dance. Gu Hong-cheong multiplied the Dragon Subduing Palm into dozens of complex variations, yet his internal energy remained focused and unscattered, unimaginably deep and thick.
“Kuh.”
As Gu Hong-cheong breached his guard to deliver a point-blank strike, Bu Eunseol shifted. While his sword parried, his left hand unleashed a sharp blast of finger wind—the Dark Profound Demon Finger favored by Hyeok So-jin.
“So your martial arts were only at this level!”
Gu Hong-cheong laughed heartily, batting the attack aside with leisure.
Only his internal energy is strong, nothing special.
Since the boy had demanded a duel, the Elder had fought cautiously, expecting some hidden profundity. But exchanging blows revealed no significant difference between this boy and any other rising star of the Ten Demonic Sects.
“I should end this soon.”
As Gu Hong-cheong accelerated his hand shadows, Bu Eunseol’s coordination faltered, revealing an immediate opening. Masters of the Supreme Heavenly Realm could predict the moves of those in lower realms with terrifying accuracy.
Hweek!
Gu Hong-cheong seized the opening, narrowing the distance.
In that fraction of a second, Bu Eunseol switched martial arts mid-flow. The Dark Profound Demon Finger on his left hand morphed into the Great Vehicle Bright Jade Fist. The Soul Extinguishing Sword Art shifted seamlessly into the Ten Thousand Thunder Blood Sword.
Pa-pa-pa-pa!
Years of training with Hyeok So-jin allowed him to unleash the moves with the stability of a veteran who had practiced the Demonic Arts of Heaven-Severing, Earth-Destroying for decades. He mixed in the supreme techniques directly taught by the hermits of the Peach Blossom Spring.
Knowing I predict the moves, he uses various martial arts.
Like a predator spotting prey, a glint appeared in Gu Hong-cheong’s eyes.
Changing martial arts midway was a monumental feat. Moreover, Bu Eunseol was utilizing the principle of Using the Compensating Weakness with Strength to cover the flaws of the Demonic Arts, pouring them out in an alternating torrent. It was a unique, continuous combat method that even Gu Hong-cheong, who had roamed the Gangho for decades, had rarely witnessed.
“Interesting. The profundity of martial arts must be countered with the profundity of martial arts.”
As Bu Eunseol stalled for time with his barrage, Gu Hong-cheong’s excitement only grew.
“Open your eyes wide and watch. The martial arts of this Elder!”
Shooot.
With the sound of escaping wind, Gu Hong-cheong instantly withdrew the palm power capable of pushing mountains—
Chwararak!
—and then unleashed it again as a spider web of force, ensnaring Bu Eunseol.
Bang! Bang!
Every time Gu Hong-cheong’s hands fluttered like butterflies, large pits exploded around Bu Eunseol. The boy tried to counterattack by mixing Demonic Arts, but he failed to complete even a single technique.
Gu Hong-cheong was withdrawing his palm power the instant Bu Eunseol raised his internal energy, cutting the flow before it could begin.
He even grasps the flow of true energy in my body.
To unfold sword arts, one must surge internal energy to drive power through the limbs. Gu Hong-cheong was severing that connection at the source, stifling the techniques in their cradle.
Can I not reach him yet? Bu Eunseol bit his lip.
Even martial brothers of the same sect found it difficult to read each other’s qi flow. Yet Gu Hong-cheong was predicting Bu Eunseol’s circulation and blood flow simply by observing his movement.
Supreme Heavenly Realm.
This realm, where human martial arts touched the sky, enhanced the mind as much as the body. He was employing a tactic ordinary artists could not even conceive.
Pa-at!
Eventually, the Dragon Subduing Palm found its mark, digging into the vital point of Bu Eunseol’s chest.
I can’t dodge.
The timing and angle made evasion impossible. Bu Eunseol frantically unfolded the Dark Heavens Demonic Dragon Palm to intercept.
Bang!
With a sickening explosion, Bu Eunseol was hurled back three steps.
“Ptooh.”
A clot of blood the size of a pebble hit the dust. A single blow, and he had suffered significant internal injuries.
“Hehehe. I see your death.”
Despite the declaration, Bu Eunseol’s eyes did not waver.
I knew it wouldn’t be easy. But…
To compete with a master of the Supreme Heavenly Realm on equal footing would require at least five years of cultivation. But he had no intention of training slowly while his enemies lived. The moment he met the Divine Demonic Emperor, he had decided not to climb stairs built by others.
I must take revenge for the Wind and Cloud Squad members who died in my place.
Five years was enough time for the bodies of the Wind and Cloud Squad to decay into dust. Bu Eunseol had resolved to execute the Beggar King before their corpses lost their flesh.
“Amazing fellow. To endure this far.”
As Bu Eunseol swayed but rose again like a roly-poly toy, a flicker of admiration lit Gu Hong-cheong’s eyes.
“In all my life, I have never seen a reckless fellow like you.” He paused his attack, genuinely puzzled. “With that level of skill and talent, you would have reached the mature stage of the Supreme Heavenly Realm within five years. Why did you do such an unreasonable thing?”
Wipe.
Bu Eunseol cleared the blood from his lips and gripped the Dark Sword. “Who knows when an old man over a hundred might croak?”
“What?”
“Hearing you were one of the Four Gods and Seven Kings, I thought you possessed some amazing martial arts…” Bu Eunseol straightened his spine, grinning through the pain. “Turns out your skill was only enough to make me spit some blood.”
“Hehehe… Hahahaha!”
Gu Hong-cheong burst into wild laughter. “Good, very good! To challenge this Elder alone, you must have at least that much guts!”
He barred yellowed teeth and clicked his tongue. “From now on, I will unfold the Killing Art containing the insights of my lifetime.”
The art that had elevated Gu Hong-cheong to the pantheon of the Four Gods and Seven Kings was not the Dragon Subduing Palm.
It was the Nine Flowers Flash Hand—twenty-four moves created to sever the enemy’s lifeline in a single breath. It was a technique that supplemented the Beggar Sect’s reliance on brute force with lethal precision, unsparingly revealing the immense killing intent within him.
He had gained the reputation of Number One of the Beggar Sect with this art… and because of its bloodthirsty nature, he had been excluded from the line of succession for Sect Leader.
Crack.
Bones popped within Gu Hong-cheong’s body, and a brilliant light burst from his eyes.
“Take this!”
With a spirited yell like the roar of a beast, sharp hand energy fractured into millions of points of light.
Pa-aa-at!
The Nine Flowers Flash Hand poured down, hundreds of shadows blocking every avenue of movement. It was an assault impossible to block with the Demonic Arts of Heaven-Severing, Earth-Destroying.
Now!
Woong!
Faint golden light soared from Bu Eunseol’s body, wrapping around the hundreds of pouring hand shadows. He had finally unfolded the True Knot of Will Manifestation.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
In that split second, the Nine Flowers Flash Hand crashed down like a tsunami, engulfing the boy.
Flash!
But from within the crushing pressure, a sharp light pierced the sky for an instant. That light exploded like a firework, becoming millions of distinct points that rained down beneath Gu Hong-cheong’s guard.
Supreme Heavenly Flow, Eighth Form.
An Extreme Counterattack Form that fathoms all changes poured out by the enemy and presents a retort that can never be avoided.
Lamentation by the River had finally been unfolded.