Appearance of the Heavenly Demon - Chapter 87

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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 87
* * *
Aaaaaahhhhh-!
Ahhhhhhhhh-!
Frantic screams shattered the shadowed silence of the dark forest.
It was Sa Ma-hyeon and Baek Yeol-han, fleeing from a Jiangshi.
“You said if we crouched low it wouldn’t see us—ahhhhh-!!”
“You’re the one who’s too tall and gave us away?! Jiangshi can’t see below them because their joints are stiff!!”
The two had lucked out and discovered a Red Badge hidden beneath the undergrowth.
But there was a problem: a Jiangshi standing directly before it.
To retrieve the Red Badge, they would have to pass right in front of the creature.
It was then that Sa Ma-hyeon devised a plan.
Since Jiangshi were corpses with rigid joints, crawling would exploit the creature’s blind spots, allowing them to slip past undetected.
So far, so good.
When he actually went to fetch the Red Badge, he’d crossed directly in front of the Jiangshi and hadn’t been spotted.
But the problem came after.
Upon finding the Red Badge, Baek Yeol-han rose far too high in his excitement, standing nearly upright.
“Is being tall my crime?! You had it easy since you’re a runt from the start, but I was practically standing?!!”
“Did you just call me a runt?!”
“What do we do now?! It’s going to catch us!!”
“You escape while it’s grabbing me, that’s what! Since you’re the idiot who got us spotted, figure it out yourself—!”
In that instant.
“So that’s what you mean…?”
Baek Yeol-han twisted his lips into a smirk.
All he needed to do was be faster than you?
“?!”
Sa Ma-hyeon’s face drained of color the moment he grasped the implication.
But then.
The Jiangshi chasing them suddenly lurched to a halt.
And it did not move again.
Truly, all at once.
“Huh…?”
Baek Yeol-han was the first to notice.
“How could you even think such a thing? Are you even human? You shameless, unscrupulous, treacherous bast—!”
“Stop shouting and look. It stopped.”
“…!”
Sa Ma-hyeon caught up to what had happened.
Both their gazes snapped to the Jiangshi’s forehead.
Sure enough, a thin strip of flesh had been cleanly severed away and was nowhere to be seen.
Sa Ma-hyeon stared at it, then adjusted the Small Crown upon his head.
“Well, all that talk about shamelessness—I wasn’t sincere about it. More importantly, if you had such skill, wouldn’t it have been preferable to handle this creature before I went to fetch the Red Badge?”
“I didn’t do it.”
“Then who….”
Heh—
Sa Ma-hyeon, about to sneer that Baek Yeol-han was surely taking credit, stopped dead.
Laughter echoed from above their heads.
Baek Yeol-han’s eyes had already lifted toward something perched above the Jiangshi.
Sa Ma-hyeon gripped the Small Crown and followed his gaze, craning his neck to look up at the tall tree.
Pale ash-brown hair, eyes the same murky hue. A loose, languid smile played across her lips, and her expression gleamed with delight.
“You are….”
“You know her?”
Baek Yeol-han asked.
Sa Ma-hyeon kept his eyes fixed on her as he answered.
“Wi Yu-hwa, from Pa-cheon Palace.”
“Pa-cheon…!”
Baek Yeol-han turned to look at her again, his expression startled.
Pa-cheon Palace—one of the Three Palaces within the Seven Families Three Palaces, a faction dedicated to the Tyrannical Way by all accounts.
An organization that would stop at nothing, employ any method, so long as it meant growing stronger and dominating others.
In a sense, it could be called the most extreme embodiment of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult’s fundamental ideology.
‘I’ve heard that warriors from Pa-cheon Palace tend to be ruthlessly ambitious, befitting the nature of their sect.’
They flock to Pa-cheon Palace because it accepts anyone willing to grow stronger, and lavishes extraordinary support on those with the makings of a true master.
But word had it that because so many martial artists gathered there—or perhaps because so many had mastered the Tyrannical Demonic Art—most warriors bearing the Pa-cheon Palace name were far from sound of mind.
They were known for brutal methods and vicious temperament; merely hearing “Pa-cheon Palace” was enough to make people keep their distance.
A sharp, giggling sound tickled the air.
Baek Yeol-han’s expression as he looked up at her grew taut with tension.
“You know me?”
“I’ve already gathered information on all the key figures entering Maryong Hall.”
“That so? Then tell me. Who am I?”
“Wi Yu-hwa of Pa-cheon Palace. Famous for a brutality that earned you a nickname, and equally famous for never leaving your sparring partners alive.”
“Hmm?”
“I’ve heard you’re a promising junior—talented enough that people speak of you as a future candidate for Sub-Palace Master of Pa-cheon Palace.”
“Which means you’re from somewhere capable of gathering that kind of information?”
Sa Ma-hyeon’s face darkened as her finger—still giggling—pointed toward him.
And Baek Yeol-han, who had been wary of Wi Yu-hwa, found himself thinking.
‘That’s right?’
Come to think of it, she always seemed to know everything.
Just now, she’d recognized that female student at a glance—someone Baek Yeol-han had never seen or heard of before.
Where exactly was she from?
But the thought didn’t linger.
Thump!
Wi Yu-hwa had descended before the two of them.
“You two are Yeon-woo’s henchmen, aren’t you?”
Baek Yeol-han bristled.
“Whose hen—”
“That’s right?”
Wi Yu-hwa’s mouth curved into a deep smile.
“Where is he now? Yeon-woo.”
* * *
Twenty-nine Jiangshi were dealt with in an instant.
Eun-ryeong and Jin Geom-hui, who had regained their senses and rushed in, faced eight of them, while in that span Yeon-woo dispatched the cores of the remaining Jiangshi.
“Phew—”
Despite the remarkable feat she’d just accomplished, Yeon-woo herself wiped her brow with a refreshed expression, as though it were nothing.
Eun-ryeong and Jin Geom-hui, who had helped her, found themselves watching her carefully instead.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
Eun-ryeong approached Yeon-woo and asked.
Yeon-woo turned to her and smiled broadly.
“No. Thank you for helping.”
“It was only natural. I’m glad you’re safe.”
Yeon-woo’s eyes gleamed as she watched Eun-ryeong smile gently.
Even her heart is as beautiful as a flower.
The fragrance, the soft voice, the face—all beautiful. And her heart too.
“…?”
“What’s your real name, flower?”
“So that was what you were calling me. Please, just call me Eun-ryeong.”
“Eun-ryeong Flower….”
“….”
Eun-ryeong meant to correct her, but found herself unable to speak.
Yeon-woo’s gaze was so bright that she didn’t think he would listen even if she did.
“I exist too, you know.”
Just then, Jin Geom-hui suddenly approached.
“We’ve met before, right?”
“When did we meet?”
At Yeon-woo’s puzzled response, Jin Geom-hui let out an incredulous laugh.
“I sat next to you the entire entrance banquet. You passed the Trial first, and I passed second.”
“Oh!”
That strange fellow who wouldn’t even touch the delicious food right in front of him!
“I’m Jin Geom-hui.”
“I’m Yeon-woo.”
“Yeon-woo—that’s a lovely name.”
Eun-ryeong smiled gently.
Yeon-woo’s eyes lit up again as he faced her.
Eun-ryeong asked.
“Did you find the Red Badges?”
“Yeah.”
Yeon-woo pulled a handful of Red Badges from his pocket. At a glance, there appeared to be at least a dozen of them.
“So many….”
“I spotted them while running and picked them up. There’s something odd about these—a strange energy I can feel.”
“A strange energy?”
Eun-ryeong and Jin Geom-hui exchanged glances.
They looked like nothing more than ordinary wooden badges.
“When you say you were running, do you mean when you were being chased by the Jiangshi?”
“Yeah.”
Eun-ryeong and Jin Geom-hui’s mouths fell open slightly.
He’d been running for his life, and yet he’d managed to gather so many….
Jin Geom-hui shook his head as if he’d grown tired of it and spoke.
“You don’t need that many. You only need to find one Red Badge. No matter how many you carry, only one will be counted.”
“Right. That’s why I thought I’d give some to the people I meet.”
“You’re going to hand out Red Badges?! Why would you do that? You should bury them somewhere instead!”
If the number of Red Badges decreased, some disciples might not be able to find one.
Then they wouldn’t receive a Demon Spirit Pill.
Which meant fewer competitors in the end.
“Good things are better the more they’re shared.”
“What the—!”
“That’s an interesting sentiment.”
Jin Geom-hui let out a breath as if bewildered, while Eun-ryeong gave a small laugh.
Either way, these Red Badges were what Yeon-woo had found.
It wasn’t their place to interfere.
“So what will you do now? Are you going to search for the Monster Bird Egg?”
“Yeah! That’s right! I need to hurry! Time’s running out!”
“Would you mind moving forward with us? We were planning to search for the Monster Bird Egg as well.”
For a moment, wariness flickered across Yeon-woo’s face.
Yeon-woo deliberately stepped back and asked.
“Are you asking me to fight you to the death?”
“…?”
Eun-ryeong, who had been momentarily confused, soon realized what he meant and laughed.
“Of course not. The Monster Bird Eggs are meant to be given out one to each person. The next zone might be more dangerous than expected, so we’re just suggesting we move together for safety.”
“Ah, I see?”
One to each person?
“Of course, you’re free to refuse. Among us, your martial skills are the most impressive.”
“Hmm.”
Yeon-woo paused for a moment, thinking.
‘There are twelve eggs, right?’
More than enough for each of the three of them to get one.
‘Whether I go together with them or alone, I’ll still be able to get one entirely for myself.’
But going alone would be lonely and boring!
Going together would be more fun!
‘And eating the egg with them might taste even better!’
Having finished his calculations, Yeon-woo’s eyes widened and he nodded.
“Alright! Let’s go together!”
At his cheerful agreement, Eun-ryeong and Jin Geom-hui exchanged bright glances.
They’d seen his martial prowess firsthand, so they felt all the more assured.
“Let’s go.”
The three headed straight for the next zone marked by the yellow boundary.
Their steps were light.
“By the way, do you know what those things are?”
“You mean the Jiangshi?”
“Are they dead or alive? I asked, but they won’t answer.”
“They’re dead. Jiangshi are made from the dead, after all. I’ve heard some say they’re created by binding the souls of the living, but I’m not certain.”
“Really?”
From some distance behind, Yeon-woo glanced back at the Jiangshi horde that had already fallen far away.
Hmm.
Then, turning away, she ambled forward with idle chatter, as though nothing had happened.

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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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