Appearance of the Heavenly Demon - Chapter 23

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 23
* * *
“What…did you just say?”
What am I supposed to do?
“The Chugunggwahyeol technique. You’ll help activate Yeon Woo’s Blood Meridians.”
“You know I just got here seven days ago, right?”
No word from you in ages, and the moment I arrive, you’re making demands like this?
“That’s precisely why I’m asking now. Once you disappear again, who knows when you’ll return.”
Mm.
Am Yeong Ma Gun straightened his posture.
He pointed at Un Hyeon while still holding a bundle in his hands.
“Why can’t you do it yourself?”
“As you know, my body still hasn’t fully recovered. If we wait for me to heal completely, it’ll be too late.”
Though his body, ravaged before, had recovered swiftly with the nourishing elixirs and medicinal materials Am Yeong Ma Gun had provided—along with the medicinal herbs Yeon Woo had gathered—complete restoration would still require time.
Days, perhaps months, or—who knew—maybe even years.
The toxin from the Blood Crimson Flower was that potent.
“But—that’s incredibly difficult, isn’t it—? It must consume an enormous amount of Inner Energy—?”
“That’s exactly why I’m asking you.”
…….
…….
An incomprehensible, delicate silence hung between them.
Behind the white half-mask, Am Yeong Ma Gun’s brows lifted slightly.
“Tell me—do you trust me an awful lot?”
“I trust Yeon Woo.”
That child the Demonic Sect, his enemy general, was willing to save. The value that child possessed.
……!
Am Yeong Ma Gun let out a chuckle, soft and warm.
‘That’s not what he meant at all.’
The question was whether he believed Am Yeong Ma Gun could actually perform the Chugunggwahyeol.
Because the Chugunggwahyeol was impossible for anyone who wasn’t an extraordinary master.
In activating the Blood Meridians, the amount of energy deployed had to be neither excessive nor insufficient, and since the body was refined over a long stretch of time, it couldn’t be accomplished in a single day.
That it took time meant it required that much more Inner Energy.
In short, one needed abundant Inner Energy and mastery-level control over one’s Qi.
Therefore, without being an extraordinary master, even attempting it was impossible.
‘But I can do it.’
This body is supreme.
Am Yeong Ma Gun’s chin lifted with pride.
“So then, where is this wretched sentient being fortunate enough to receive this body’s Chugunggwahyeol?”
“Anyone listening would think you’ve cultivated for a hundred years as a venerable master.”
“Well, more or less. So where is the kid?”
“I rang the bell before you arrived, so he should be here any moment now.”
And scarcely had Un Hyeon finished speaking when the sound of small feet pattered closer—thud-thud-thud—a child approaching.
Am Yeong Ma Gun and Un Hyeon both broke into a smile.
“Oh, by the way? I brought something. Beef.”
Am Yeong Ma Gun rattled the bundle lightly.
Un Hyeon chuckled and gladly played along.
“A proper feast after all this time.”
* * *
Am Yeong Ma Gun sat in a cross-legged position, looking down at the child lying quietly before him.
Yeon Woo had her hands folded neatly over her belly, her eyes squeezed shut.
Am Yeong Ma Gun tilted his head with a crooked smile and gently poked the child’s round cheeks—poke, poke.
“You really understood what I said, right? This is going to hurt, you know?”
“Yes. I understand.”
Activating the Blood Meridians, breaking through blocked channels, refining the muscle passages.
In other words, forcibly restructuring the flesh itself—a process that inevitably brought suffering.
“But they said once you do this, my Five Senses Training will get better faster.”
“That’s certainly true.”
And more than just the five senses—Qi perception, physical stamina, bone and muscle, even the formation of the Dantian itself would be affected.
The Chugunggwahyeol was nothing less than work to forge a body fit for a martial artist.
‘Of course, this one was born with such a disposition to begin with.’
Am Yeong Ma Gun’s fingers, which had been poking Yeon Woo’s cheeks, quickened their pace.
Finding it bothersome, Yeon Woo frowned.
Then, at some moment, Am Yeong Ma Gun’s hand stopped abruptly.
‘Wait.’
So this one was born with it?
Then it wouldn’t hurt?
Am Yeong Ma Gun’s curiosity stirred anew.
Am Yeong Ma Gun brought his left hand subtly toward Yeon Woo’s Dantian.
“Shall I try?”
Begin already?
Yeon Woo’s eyes flew open, and he fixed Am Yeong Ma Gun with a sharp stare.
Am Yeong Ma Gun gently covered the child’s eyes with his remaining right hand and chuckled softly.
“Trust me, young friend.”
* * *
“That! Didn’t! Work! Right?!”
A whoosh, then a crack—and then a cascading rush!
“It’s done, isn’t it?! Really??”
Un Hyeon regarded the excited, shouting Am Yeong Ma Gun with an unmoved gaze.
“I confess I don’t follow a word of what you’re saying.”
“Ah, this is maddening!”
Am Yeong Ma Gun struck his chest repeatedly.
“That boy—he was a body that couldn’t perform Chugunggwahyeol! Nearly—!”
Am Yeong Ma Gun looked down at his own hands.
He’d nearly had his Demonic Energy drained away entirely.
What kind of body was this—one that hadn’t the faintest notion of what Inner Energy was, yet the moment he poured it in, it eagerly absorbed his cultivation as if it had been waiting all along.
Not Inner Energy he’d cultivated himself, but merely the strength to tap and withdraw from the Blood Meridians—and yet the boy attempted to make it his own.
As if he’d been waiting for Demonic Energy all this time, devouring it greedily.
“I nearly fell into Demonic Possession. Both of us.”
“So you hastened to put him to sleep.”
It was strange, certainly.
A vast force had begun to move—he’d thought Chugunggwahyeol was commencing—but then all that energy vanished.
After which Am Yeong Ma Gun had rushed from the room, and Yeon Woo fell asleep.
“Then it was a failure.”
“A failure? It was not!”
Un Hyeon’s brows lifted sharply.
“Did you not say he absorbed the Demonic Energy? As you well know, if Yeon Woo’s constitution accepts Demonic Energy without first learning Orthodox Martial Arts, then—”
“He could be consumed by it all the faster.”
Like how a blank white canvas takes in ink most readily of all.
“But!”
Am Yeong Ma Gun pointed to himself and grinned widely.
“This man does not buckle at such obstacles!”
“And yet you put the child to sleep?”
Where did such confidence come from?
“Well, I was taken aback for a moment. But in any case. When he wakes, I’ll try again, so mind you remember that.”
First he’d claimed the boy was a body that couldn’t do it. Now he was already shifting his stance, saying he’d attempt it again.
Un Hyeon shook his head with a rueful smile.
* * *
From that day onward, Yeon Woo received Chugunggwahyeol from Am Yeong Ma Gun every night alongside Five Senses Training.
What was truly fortunate was that Chugunggwahyeol proved far less agonizing than expected.
Yeon Woo had been born with a body naturally suited to martial cultivation.
As a result, Un Hyeon raised the intensity of training as he wished, and every night Am Yeong Ma Gun perfectly restored Yeon Woo’s exhausted body.
“Take this.”
Yeon Woo accepted what Un Hyeon offered and blinked his round eyes.
“I know this. It’s a Wooden Sword.”
What Un Hyeon had given him was a Wooden Sword.
It was what Yeon Woo had first held when he sparred with Gwan Hyuk at the Gwan House.
“Yes. From today onward, you will learn the Sword Technique.”
“The Sword Technique?”
“Yes. All things have their proper order.”
In truth, Un Hyeon would have liked to teach him Namgung Martial Arts at once, but the boy was not yet ready.
You’ll stumble if you try to run before you can walk.
“Before I teach you Sword Technique, I’ll first show you the fundamentals of the blade itself. We begin with how to grip it. Watch carefully, then try to mirror what I do.”
Un Hyeon lifted the Wooden Sword lightly into his palm.
He rotated his hand this way and that so Yeon Woo could see clearly, and Yeon Woo mimicked him, grasping the Wooden Sword.
It was neither as clenched as a fist nor as rigid as a formal handshake—something in between.
“If you grip too tightly, your wrist stiffens and your swing actually slows. But loosen your grip too much, and you’ll lose the blade altogether.”
“Mm…”
Yeon Woo’s brow furrowed in concentration.
He gripped and released the sword hilt again and again, searching for the balance.
“What matters is not force, but control. Remember that. Let the rear three fingers support the blade, and guide its direction with your thumb and forefinger.”
“This is… hard.”
“Of course it is difficult.”
Un Hyeon walked to a spot nearby.
There, two wooden logs had been bound together tautly with a single thread strung between them.
“Once you master this, even a blade as dull as this wood will cut stone.”
Whisper—
Un Hyeon flicked the Wooden Sword lightly.
No force, no cutting edge pressed hard—merely a gentle touch.
Yet the thread snapped cleanly, as if it had met a razor-sharp blade, the cut point falling away without resistance.
“Oh.”
Yeon Woo’s eyes gleamed.
Un Hyeon turned to face him.
“Today, practice striking until you’ve severed this thread. It’s ordinary thread, so it shouldn’t take you long.”
Looking at it now, Yeon Woo saw another thread tied below the one Un Hyeon had cut.
It was set at a height suited to his reach.
Yeon Woo gripped the Wooden Sword and took his stance before the thread.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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