Appearance of the Heavenly Demon - Chapter 52

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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 52
* * *
Before Gwi-ya-gaek crossed the threshold of the Illusion Formation.
In the midst of the commotion, Gwi-ya-gaek, who had been surveying the trainees, suddenly raised one hand.
In an instant, twelve martial artists dressed identically surrounded the trainees and appeared.
They were the Gyodu in charge of Maryong Hall’s trainees.
“Whoa! You startled me!”
“What? When did—?!”
The trainees flinched at the Gyodu’s soundless arrival, huddling together toward the center of the courtyard.
Separate from the chaos, excitement flickered across their faces.
“I heard all these Gyodu are Demon General Rank.”
“And some of them say there’s even a warrior who served directly under the Gyojoo’s forces?”
“Hey, look over there. That one with the Black Mask covering his eyes—isn’t that Gu-yeong?”
…!
Hearing the trainees’ murmurs, Yeon-woo’s head snapped toward their line of sight.
‘Gu-yeong?’
Gu-yeong?
The Gu-yeong she knew?
Yeon-woo’s gaze swept quickly across the surrounding Gyodu.
Her eyes widened.
‘There.’
There he was. The one who had vanished five years ago without a word.
Yeon-woo’s lips curved into a broad smile of joy.
She couldn’t be sure if it was her imagination, but it seemed their eyes had met through the Black Mask.
About to wave and call out to him in her delight—
— Please refrain from acknowledging that you know me.
Yeon-woo froze mid-motion.
— Here, I am a Gyodu and you are a trainee. There would be no benefit in revealing that we know each other.
At Gu-yeong’s Telepathic Transmission, Yeon-woo lowered her hand with a slight grimace.
‘Is it for the same reason Am-yeong Majun told me not to acknowledge him?’
Probably.
Though she couldn’t understand why she mustn’t, if he said not to, then she wouldn’t.
Yet.
‘It’s been five years, though…’
The last time Yeon-woo had seen Gu-yeong, he was telling her to run, not to look back.
She wanted to ask what had happened that day, whether he’d been hurt, why he’d left without saying goodbye.
As she swallowed her regret and lowered her hand, Gu-yeong’s Telepathic Transmission reached her once more.
— I’m glad to see you’re well.
It was a greeting of affection.
Understanding the warmth of his greeting in those few words, Yeon-woo’s lips curved into a gentle smile.
At the same moment.
Creak—
A massive gate leading into Maryong Hall’s inner courtyard swung open.
Along with a rippling murmur, the trainees gazing toward the gate unconsciously swallowed hard.
Whoosh—
The space beyond the gate was filled with roiling fog.
As if stepping into it would bring disaster.
What illusions lay beyond the Formation Technique were utterly unknowable.
Gwi-ya-gaek, master of Maryong Hall, nodded to the Gyodu surrounding the trainees.
Then he lightly leaped down from the platform and walked first toward the Illusion Formation.
The trainees held their breath, watching him go.
Whoosh—
Gwi-ya-gaek stepped into the roiling fog.
The fog rippled and dispersed slightly around him as he entered, as if swallowing him whole, then condensed once more into thick clouds.
As the trainees watched, their faces grew heavy with tension.
“Go in order of the roster.”
The Gyodu guided the trainees toward the Illusion Formation.
The trainees standing closest to the Formation hesitated, but began following the Gyodu’s guidance, entering one by one.
After several had gone in.
“Oh, right! The ones who come out first pass, remember?”
“Me, I’ll go first…!”
“Me too…!”
The students began surging toward the Illusion Formation one after another, jostling for position.
It was utter chaos, and yet somehow no one fell, and the line remained oddly intact.
The instructors were guiding the students with remarkable finesse.
“You’re all fools,” a dark, diminutive boy muttered, adjusting the Small Crown on his head.
“If entry order truly affected passage, they would have arranged for everyone to enter the Illusion Formation simultaneously from the start. If not that, they’d have prepared to measure the time each student takes to pass through. But look—students pour in haphazardly with no obstacles whatsoever. Which means entry order has little bearing on success or failure in traversing the Illusion Formation. In other words, there’s no need to rush like this at all.”
The surrounding students who heard this thought to themselves:
‘But you’re pushing just as hard as anyone else!’
‘We can all see you squirming your way in!’
Still, the students wanted nothing more than to enter the Illusion Formation before anyone else, so none of them bothered to argue.
No, in fact, at this very moment, they were far more concerned with something else—
‘What is she, anyway?!’
“Dinner!! I’m eating first!! Don’t eat it all!! Save mine!! I want dinner toooooo!!”
That girl pushing her way through the crowd with incredible, almost unbelievable determination.
The serene expressions on the faces of the students being shoved forward against their will made it clear she possessed extraordinary strength.
Now that he thought about it, she was the student who’d lit up the moment dinner was mentioned—the only one among all the confusion to react at that particular word.
She’d been tilting her head in bewilderment at all the talk of tests and Illusion Formations, understanding none of it, until that one word: dinner.
“Dinnnnnnner!!”
Thanks to her brute strength, she bulldozed her way into the Illusion Formation, and the other students couldn’t help but think:
‘This cohort is full of lunatics.’
* * *
Sa-ma Hyeon.
He was the family head of the Sa-ma Clan, one of the Seven Families Three Palaces, and the third son of Sa-ma Demon Lord, one of the Twelve Demon Lords.
The rumors surrounding him were the shame of the Sa-ma house—a shadow, a stain the clan wished desperately to conceal.
It was only natural. His two older brothers bore the blood of the Sa-ma Clan, one of the Seven Families Three Palaces, and they excelled in martial prowess and intellect alike, blessed with striking features to boot.
But the third son, Sa-ma Hyeon, was different.
He rarely left his chambers, preferring darkness, avoiding all human contact with a gloomy disposition.
Small and stunted besides, so much so that whispers circulated claiming he might not even be true Sa-ma blood.
This same Sa-ma Hyeon had entered Maryong Hall.
Whoooosh—
‘Wind.’
Sa-ma Hyeon’s eyes fluttered open at the sensation of a breeze brushing past his cheek.
When he’d been pushed into the Illusion Formation, there was only dense fog all around.
As the mist gradually brightened, his eyes had closed against it. Now, with the cool wind on his face, his eyes opened to reveal:
Whoooosh—
“….”
A vast expanse of pure white clouds stretching overhead, and in the distance, a blue sky.
Lush green earth spreading beneath his feet.
Sa-ma Hyeon knelt down as if entranced, pressing his hand to the ground.
It was undoubtedly an Illusion Formation, and yet dirt came away on his fingers—real, not illusory.
‘So this is the Illusion Formation of the Illusionary Palace.’
Within the sect, when it came to Formation Technique, the Sa-ma Clan was known as masters of the art.
But not all Formation Techniques are equal.
When it comes to Illusion Formations enhanced with Illusion, the Illusionary Palace surpasses the Sa-ma Clan, which is why they were entrusted with administering the first trial.
“Truly remarkable.”
To manifest a reality of this caliber through Illusion alone.
Sa-ma Hyeon moved forward, gazing down at the vast forest spread out below the ridge.
No—the forest was far from all there was.
A deep ravine and river cutting through the path toward a distant peak from which smoke rose—apparently the destination.
And far beyond that, muddy roads, rocky mountains, thorny thickets, and more.
It was far too grand to be mere Illusion.
Impressive enough to make one wish to seriously study the Formation Technique of the Illusionary Palace.
But that was a matter for later.
“Three paths,” Sa-ma Hyeon observed, looking at the three flags—one blue, one yellow, one red—planted at the divergence of three roads before him.
It seemed the high vantage point at the start was a deliberate consideration, designed to help students understand the overall environment and routes of the Illusion Formation.
“Then it would be wise to thoroughly comprehend the information before me and begin from there.”
Though no one was listening, Sa-ma Hyeon continued speaking to himself as he habitually did.

Sa-ma Hyeon first confirmed the blue-flagged path that extended to the left of the hill.
The blue flags traced the most level path on the left.
“The flags follow a flat, already-worn path. The cliffs and riverbanks likely follow the same pattern. In other words, the blue path seems to be the safest route. However.”
Sa-ma Hyeon furrowed his brow.
“Inefficient. Deeply inefficient. Worn paths are well and good, but they tend to wind about. This hill alone proves it—there’s no reason to spiral down along the path when we could simply jump. Why take the detour at all?”
It wasn’t just the hill.
The stone path below was difficult to walk, but required no detour; the dense forest could be crossed by cutting between the trees—yet the flags led you around anyway.
For no reason whatsoever.
Sa-ma Hyeon rubbed his jaw and nodded as if a realization had struck him.
“Quite right. The easiest path is not always the fastest.”
Then he stepped past the blue path and stood before the trail marked by yellow flags.
“Ah. The yellow path takes a somewhat more efficient approach. It cuts across where detours are unnecessary and climbs hills where ascent is manageable—a more direct method altogether.”
It crossed both stone paths and mountain trails.
In essence, it was the blue path’s opposite—direct and efficient, shedding its circuitous weakness.
Yet watching it pass straight through thornbush fields and cross precarious single-log bridges suggested a willingness to embrace considerable risk.
“Choose hastily and the yellow path might cost more time than the blue. Injuries slow you down, and falling while crossing the river could be disastrous. As for the final red path….”
Sa-ma Hyeon’s eyebrows twitched slightly as he examined the trail marked by red flags.
“…This one….”

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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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