Appearance of the Heavenly Demon - Chapter 30

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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 30
“So then….”
Unhyeon pointed at the tiger sprawled behind Gu-yeong.
“What do you mean to do with it?”
Gu-yeong turned his head to look at the tiger.
Or rather, the massive Spirit Beast before him.
A Spirit Beast was a creature that had lived for countless years and, through some circumstance, come to harbor Spiritual Energy within itself.
Because it held Spiritual Energy, a crystallized form of that power — a Spirit Core — formed within its body.
The Inner Power contained in that Spirit Core varied wildly depending on how long the Spirit Beast had lived and the amount of Accumulated Power it had gathered.
This tiger Spirit Beast that Gu-yeong had just caught was a rather unremarkable one, possessing only modest Spiritual Energy.
“If you have no use for it, might you yield this one to the girl?”
Gu-yeong stared directly at Yeon-u.
Yeon-u, knowing nothing of what was happening, merely tilted her head with a confused expression.
Gu-yeong gave a short nod.
“Thank you.”
Before Unhyeon’s gratitude had fully left his lips, Gu-yeong vanished without a trace.
Having fulfilled his role, he had withdrawn once more into the shadows.
“An excellent material for perfecting the Heart Method.”
Unhyeon smiled lightly, opened the tiger’s chest, and retrieved the Spirit Core.
Yeon-u watched him intently as he did so.
“Grandfather.”
“Hmm?”
“….”
“What is it?”
Unhyeon pocketed the Spirit Core and turned to look at Yeon-u.
Yeon-u blinked, hesitating for a moment.
“Grandfather, can we go home?”
“Hmm?”
Unhyeon looked up at the sky.
The sun had not yet set, and the world remained bright.
It was still early to end their training.
“…Yes, that’s right. You’ve worked hard enough today — let’s head back. Once we’re home, I’ll help you with your Qi Circulation using this. It will be of great benefit to you.”
Unhyeon smiled warmly and shook the pouch containing the Spirit Core.
* * *
Shhhhhhh—
The blue aura that had enveloped the child gradually faded, and Unhyeon opened his eyes.
Unhyeon placed his hand on the child’s Dantian.
He felt the faint but unmistakable imprint of his own energy—a small and precious trace of Accumulated Power.
‘Is this truly the limit?’
The power Unhyeon had sought to transmit to Yeon-u was the Spirit Core from the Spirit Beast obtained earlier that day, and the Accumulated Power of the Bikyun Herb that Yeon-u had given him before.
In truth, on that previous occasion, Unhyeon had not consumed the Bikyun Herb.
Rather, it would be more accurate to say there had been no need to.
After the collision with the Dark Shadow Demon Army, thanks to the Spirit Medicine that the Dark Shadow Demon Army had forced upon him, the Bikyun Herb was no longer necessary.
While using the Bikyun Herb might have allowed for faster recovery, Unhyeon had set it aside for Yeon-u’s future.
And today, he had fed her both the Bikyun Herb and the Spirit Core, pressed the Pressure Points to lull her to sleep, and guided her Qi Circulation until her energy was completely stable.
‘With this, the time to form her Dantian will come all the sooner.’
That is, if he could water this small seedling before it withered and help it take root.
“Still, how admirable you are.”
Unhyeon gently stroked the sleeping Yeon-u’s hair, his expression tender.
His eyes were filled with a deep, affectionate warmth as he gazed upon her as though she were his own granddaughter.
“You, who once disliked learning Martial Prowess, are now giving it your all like this.”
Truthfully, it was astonishing—far more than he had expected.
Though she had said she would learn Martial Prowess on her own, he had thought that once the rigorous and exhausting training became too much, she would soon wish to give up.
He had even worried over how to coax her through those difficult moments with treats, but all such concerns had proven unfounded.
“Thank you, Yeon-u.”
For progressing so wonderfully.
For persevering so earnestly and living so diligently.
“Thank you.”
* * *
Tap.
When Unhyeon stepped outside, it was already the dead of night—the moon hung high and bright in the sky.
He did not return to his room.
Instead, he came down from the porch and put on his shoes.
He walked out into the courtyard and turned to look back at the house.
The room where Yeon-u slept, the room where he had stayed.
The back garden where they had prepared firewood together, the storage shed where they kept their things, the dead campfire, and the porch where he and Yeon-u had sat side by side in quiet conversation.
So many memories were buried in every corner of this small house that it was hard to tear his eyes away.
Yet Unhyeon turned from it.
And as he moved toward the gate with unhesitating steps—
“….”
He stopped.
Beneath the shadows of darkness beyond the gate, a figure stood.
Gu-yeong. The shadow that Dark Shadow Demon Army had left behind.
“Will you not detain me?”
Unhyeon gazed into the darkness of the forest as he asked quietly, his path forward blocked.
Gu-yeong simply leaned against the fence wall, as if it were not his concern, even as Unhyeon crossed the threshold.
“So you’re asking whether it’s all right for me to leave as I am.”
After studying Unhyeon in the darkness for a moment, Gu-yeong pushed himself upright against the wall.
His characteristic hollow, low, and thick voice cut through the dark.
“My duty is not to watch over you.”
“Then you’re saying it’s acceptable for me to depart from this place?”
“The one who will be troubled by your departure is not me.”
Unhyeon’s brow furrowed.
If someone were to be troubled…
‘Is he speaking of Dark Shadow Demon Army?’
He knew that Dark Shadow Demon Army would be inconvenienced, yet Gu-yeong did not stop him.
‘This man…’
Was he not a subordinate of Dark Shadow Demon Army?
In any case.
“It is fortunate, then.”
“…?”
“I had thought that in the worst case, we would come to blows.”
He was merely a tool—something Dark Shadow Demon Army kept alive to teach True Martial Arts to Yeon-u.
He could not imagine Dark Shadow Demon Army would allow such a tool to flee without fulfilling its purpose.
“It is rather anticlimactic, I confess.”
“I do not overestimate myself. I will not expend effort on what I cannot accomplish.”
“You are a pragmatic fellow.”
Truly, a rational and clear-eyed judgment.
Gu-yeong was strong, but he was no match for Unhyeon.
Even if he stood in the way, it would only waste time and strength—he would not stop Unhyeon.
That much—
‘Dark Shadow Demon Army would not fail to recognize.’
Dark Shadow Demon Army could not have failed to measure Unhyeon’s Martial Prowess against Gu-yeong’s own.
In other words, Dark Shadow Demon Army surely knew that Gu-yeong could not stop Unhyeon.
And yet, knowing this, Dark Shadow Demon Army had stationed such a man at his side.
That was why simply being released did not feel entirely light-hearted.
‘What if this releasing of me is a trap….’
“There is one thing I wish to confirm.”
Unhyeon looked at Gu-yeong.
“What is it?”
“The matter from this afternoon—was that indeed….”
Gu-yeong stepped closer, moving forward into Unhyeon’s space.
Perhaps it was because it was night.
The black cloth that covered his eyes now completely veiled the faint gleam of his gaze that had dimly shown before.
“A test?”
Allowing the tiger to lunge at the child before intervening.
Thus causing Unhyeon himself to protect the child.
Sssshhh….
Around Gu-yeong, a thick shadow-like aura spread faintly outward.
It was an aura that carried the true, profound essence of darkness itself.
“….”
Unhyeon closed his eyes slowly, deliberately.
He had no intention of making excuses.
“I simply needed to confirm it for myself, that’s all.”
The Dark Shadow Demon Army had vanished, and if he left now, only Gu-yeong would remain at Yeon-u’s side.
Yet he couldn’t very well postpone his meeting with a son he’d only just managed to reach.
Fortunately, the warrior the Dark Shadow Demon Army had left behind was remarkably skilled, and what remained was merely certainty.
Certainty about whether this man was truly one worthy of protecting Yeon-u.
“If I’ve offended you in any way, I apologize.”
“….”
“I offer my sincere apologies.”
Unhyeon raised his fist in respect toward Gu-yeong.
It was a gesture expressing genuine remorse.
Whooosh….
Gu-yeong’s aura gradually subsided.
The eyes veiled by black cloth and the lips set in an unmoved line revealed nothing of what he was thinking.
Gu-yeong stepped back in silence.
Unhyeon turned to go.
But he halted again almost immediately.
“Tell me….”
“…?”
“If I were to return to the Central Plains, gather forces, and come back to strike at the Demon Sect again—what would you do?”
“If you were to speak such words, I have been instructed to say this: you would not.”
Unhyeon turned his head to face Gu-yeong.
At the words that followed, his expression turned cold and distant.
* * *
Tap-tap-tap! Thud!
A shadow in black raced through the darkened forest.
His destination was Haneum Valley.
It was Unhyeon who had left the place where he’d been staying for the first time since what had transpired on Seolhon Mountain, determined to keep his promise with his son.
‘The Dark Shadow Demon Army.’
When Unhyeon’s thoughts turned to him, his gaze grew dim.
In that brief time, he had encountered a man frighteningly skilled at reading the tides of circumstance.
Like one wielding Mind Reading, he penetrated the thoughts and feelings of his opponent, saw through the situation entire, and controlled its flow.
This too was no exception.
“You won’t do it anyway, will you?”
The words the Dark Shadow Demon Army had left through Gu-yeong were nothing but certainty and composure itself.
The certainty that even if Unhyeon departed, he would never return to assault the Demon Sect with armies at his back.
The composure that came from knowing this certainty was not in error.
And what made this possible was….
‘Overwhelming Martial Prowess.’
Unhyeon swallowed dryly.
The Dark Shadow Demon Army’s Martial Prowess was likely superior to his own.
That was even compared to himself in his prime, before the poison had taken hold.
‘Why has the Demon Sect not opened its gates until now?’
With such overwhelmingly superior Martial Prowess at their command.
Now that he had witnessed that prowess, he could not afford to make blind enemies of the Demon Sect.
Against the Dark Shadow Demon Army alone, any conflict would end only in certain defeat.
‘He already knows that I hold his Martial Prowess in high regard—which is precisely why he left such a message.’
Truly, he was being made to dance in the palm of the Dark Shadow Demon Army’s hand.
Unhyeon’s lips tightened into a thin line.
‘A frightening man indeed.’
Cool air brushed past his rigid face.

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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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