Appearance of the Heavenly Demon - Chapter 72

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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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Chapter 72
* * *
While Yeon-woo and Baek Yeol-han crouched beneath the desk, in the Instructor’s Hall.
‘Troublesome. Troublesome. Troublesome. Troublesome.’
Sa Ma-hyeon found himself trapped in a predicament upon encountering Instructor Sa-ryeon.
Ever since he’d witnessed with his own eyes that Instructor Byeok Sa-an and Fire Master Jang were in league together, the Instructor he’d just run into—Sa-ryeon—struck him as a venomous serpent.
“Student?”
Speak. Go on, speak. If you let slip that you know something, I’ll end you on the spot.
That’s what his voice seemed to say.
And it didn’t help that the Instructor he’d happened to meet was Sa-ryeon.
He was impossible to read on the surface, which made whatever lay beneath feel all the darker.
“Are you alright? Does something hurt? Should we go to the Medical Hall?”
Unable to meet the gaze of Instructor Sa-ryeon asking if he was well, Sa Ma-hyeon cast his eyes downward, darting his gaze here and there for some time.
‘How… how can I manage this? If I don’t summon the Hall Master, my benefactor will be in danger.’
Perhaps—just perhaps—they’d restrain his arms and legs, bind him to a chair, and interrogate him on how he’d seen through their scheme.
Water torture, fire torture, fingernails pulled out one by one….
‘Gasp!’
My benefactor!
“Why are you breaking into such a cold sweat? There really is something wrong, isn’t there?”
In that moment, Sa Ma-hyeon remembered something.
At once, he drew forth the Judge’s Brush he carried with him.
“Wait…”
Instructor Sa-ryeon knew of the student’s martial prowess.
Because of that, he was confident he could withstand it even if the student tried to harm him.
Especially if his weapon was merely something as small as a Judge’s Brush.
So how could he have expected it?
That the student would suddenly strike his own hand with the Judge’s Brush.
“What are you doing!”
Sa-ryeon hastily snatched away the Judge’s Brush.
But blood was already trickling down from Sa Ma-hyeon’s hand.
“Ah… ahhhh….”
Sa Ma-hyeon trembled, clutching his bleeding hand as if in agony.
Sa-ryeon quickly pressed the blood points in his arm to reduce the bleeding, then gripped his wrist.
“Let’s get to the Medical Hall quickly….”
That was when.
“What’s this?”
A voice laden with displeasure flowed from deeper within the Instructor’s Hall.
Maryong Hall Master Gwi-ya-gaek emerged, radiating an air of irritation.
“Hall Master!”
Gwi-ya-gaek lowered his brows, looking down at Sa Ma-hyeon, who was groaning and writhing.
“What is it?”
“He struck himself with the Judge’s Brush.”
Sa-ryeon held out the Judge’s Brush.
Sa Ma-hyeon’s blood was smeared all over it.
“Himself?”
“Yes. I apologize.”
If I’d wanted to stop him, I could have.
“You’ve nothing to apologize for. Hey.”
“Agh… kgh….”
Gwi-ya-gaek, looking down at the anguished Sa Ma-hyeon, furrowed his brow slightly.
Then he lifted the hand Sa Ma-hyeon was clutching.
“Ah, ahhhh! Agh! It hurts, it hurts!”
Gwi-ya-gaek examined the wound, then released his hand and spoke flatly.
“You didn’t even strike that deep. Stop the dramatics. But what’s all this about?”
“Kgh… I… I was trying to… summon… you….”
Ugh….
Gwi-ya-gaek raised an eyebrow.
“Me?”
Sa Ma-hyeon nodded.
“I thought… if I gave off the scent of blood… you’d come.”
This happened before Yeon-woo joined Maryong Hall, back when she was still with her family.
Sa Ma-hyeon’s father didn’t involve himself deeply in family affairs.
Yet there were times when he moved faster than anyone else—whenever blood was spilled within the household.
He would be the first to catch the blood scent and come to assess the situation.
Of course, he rarely came in person; usually he sent subordinates instead.
So Sa Ma-hyeon had learned something.
‘Masters are sensitive to the scent of blood.’
“….”
A faint glimmer of interest stirred in Gwi-ya-gaek’s gaze as he looked down at Sa Ma-hyeon.
Gwi-ya-gaek had actually caught the scent of blood and come out.
In the middle of the night, spreading blood scent practically under the nose of the Instructor’s Hall—of course he’d come to investigate.
But that was a ploy to lure him out?
“This batch of students….”
Gwi-ya-gaek scratched the back of his head vigorously.
“There are a lot of crazy ones.”
“Ungh….”
Sa Ma-hyeon lifted his eyes, flushed with pain, and looked up at him.
Gwi-ya-gaek’s lips curved into a smirk.
“Well, it’s more fun when there are plenty of crazy ones anyway. So, what did you call me out here for?”
“The Kitchen House… Instructor Byeok… might kill my benefactor….”
“If you don’t speak plainly, I’ll tear your other palm myself.”
“Poison was found in the meal, and I was investigating the Kitchen House when Fire Master Jang and Instructor Byeok appeared—they seem to be behind this. Two students are still there. Before anything worse happens, would you please go? I’d be grateful.”
“….”
“Quickly.”
Gwi-ya-gaek stared at the audacious Sa Ma-hyeon with a hardened expression for a moment.
“Who….”
Who told a mere student to get directly involved in something like this?
Swallowing those words with effort, Gwi-ya-gaek ruffled his hair in irritation.
“Take back what I said about it being fun.”
These crazy bastards.
“Sa-ryeon.”
“Yes, Hall Master.”
Gwi-ya-gaek nodded slightly.
In the same instant, Sa-ryeon’s form vanished in a blur.
Sa Ma-hyeon watched the man disappear before his eyes, his mouth falling open.
His ears caught Gwi-ya-gaek’s voice as it reached him.
“Go to the Medical Hall and get yourself treated.”
The next moment, Gwi-ya-gaek too slipped from sight.
Sa Ma-hyeon made his way to the Medical Hall with his fist clenched, received treatment, and slept deeply.
* * *
“You’re really clever!”
On the way back to the dormitory.
Yeon-woo’s eyes sparkled as she listened to Sa Ma-hyeon recount what had led to his injured hand.
“I never would’ve thought of luring someone out by scent.”
“Hehe, people often tell me I’m resourceful. But if we’d been even a little later, my benefactor might have suffered greatly.”
“Oh, Gu-yeong saved me. The Hall Master came later.”
“Gu-yeong? You don’t mean Instructor Gu-yeong, do you?”
“Yeah. You know him?”
“Of course! Isn’t he the vice commander of the martial force that serves closest to Gyojoo? There was such a stir in the central authority when news came that he’d be coming as an Instructor to Maryong Hall!”
“Really? I didn’t know.”
“Did you perhaps live deep in the mountains somewhere?”
“Yes.”
“….”
“….”
“The air must have been very clean.”
“The water was clear too, and there were many clouds.”
The two spoke of mountains and nature as they made their way back to the dormitory.
They soon reached the point where their paths diverged, since their quarters lay in different directions.
“Rest well, my benefactor.”
“You too. Sleep well.”
“To be honest, I don’t want to go. The bed in the Medical Hall was comfortable and nice. When something like this happens, you ought to at least eat well, but even that…”
Sa Ma-hyeon heaved a long sigh.
“If you’d like, come to my quarters and I’ll have you—no, wait. Once I’ve confirmed the poison hasn’t spread, I’ll send for you.”
The meal they’d planned to share together had been poisoned; he couldn’t very well invite him again.
“Your kindness alone is thanks enough. Then.”
Sa Ma-hyeon grasped the Small Crown and nodded stiffly, then shuffled back to his quarters with weary steps.
Yeon-woo watched him go for a moment, then turned away as well.
‘Now that I think about it…’
He hadn’t eaten. He was hungry.
* * *
In the hidden Underground Passage beneath the Instructor’s Hall.
Through the passage that led to the Underground Prison in the depths of Maryong Hall, where a chill hung in the air, came the slow, deliberate footfalls—step, step—of someone approaching.
Byeok Sa-an, bound and waiting silently for his sentence, lifted his eyes.
“Hee, hee-eek…!”
Jang Hwa-ju, who had been huddled against the wall, startled at the sound and scrambled to his feet.
“We’re going to die. We’re, we’re going to die….”
Byeok Sa-an regarded him with irritation.
“Pathetic. We haven’t even determined what kind of poison it is. Do you really think they’d kill us so easily?”
“No, no—that’s not—it’s not just anyone! It’s Gwi-ya-gaek! The Heavenly Sword Demon!”
Gwi-ya-gaek’s moniker did not come merely from his ghostlike movements.
To those who stood against him, he wielded his blade without blood or tears, like a vengeful spirit—and so the name had been born.
“He, he’ll definitely kill us. Cut us down in a single stroke! Why, why did I ever let myself get dragged into this mess…!”
Byeok Sa-an let out a short laugh.
“You walked in of your own feet, and now you act the victim. It’s hardly amusing.”
This was the man who had been seduced by the promise of becoming Fire Master of Maryong Hall.
As if he had any right to play the martyr now.
“I, I’m going to die. We’re going to die….”
As Jang Hwa-ju’s trembling voice continued, a dark shadow fell across the entrance to the Underground Prison.
Byeok Sa-an’s eyes lifted to regard the figure.
Gwi-ya-gaek.
His gaze was indifferent, almost bored.
Yet those black pupils, honed sharp as blades, constricted one’s breath merely by meeting them.
Beneath that terrible pressure, Byeok Sa-an forced the corners of his mouth upward.
“Have you confirmed everything?”
An unreadable, placid gaze looked down upon Byeok Sa-an.
“They’ve all been poisoned, I’m told.”
Gwi-ya-gaek had just returned from confirming that poison had been introduced into the evening meal of every student.
Instructor Gu-yeong had secured the meal, and Instructor Man-cho had verified the toxin.
“Kuk-kuk-kuk-kuk-kuk….”
A rueful laugh escaped Byeok Sa-an’s lips.
It was then.
“My lord, my lord! I did not do this of my own will! My family’s lives are held hostage. I had no choice but…!”
Thwack—
“…!”
Byeok Sa-an’s pupils contracted sharply.
He turned his head to look at Jang Hwa-ju.
“Kkkeuk….”
That was Jang Hwa-ju’s final breath.
He crumpled, a thin blade buried deep in his forehead—no wider than a middle finger.
“Noisy.”
Byeok Sa-an’s head trembled faintly as he turned back to Gwi-ya-gaek.
His expression remained utterly unchanged from before.
“Continue your account.”
Yet within Byeok Sa-an’s pupils dwelt only profound darkness now.

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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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