Appearance of the Heavenly Demon - Chapter 88

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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 88
* * *
It didn’t take long to reach the boundary marked by yellow flags.
In the region between green and yellow, the only real threat was the jiangshi, so there was no significant danger by the time they arrived at the Yellow Boundary.
The three of them reached the Yellow Boundary before nightfall.
Since they didn’t know what lay beyond the boundary, they decided to spend the night nearby and cross over once dawn broke.
They found a small cave, built a fire, brought down some game, and roasted the meat.
In case any jiangshi wandered in, they drove knee-high stakes into the ground before the entrance and strung woven vine ropes across them.
The lowest-grade jiangshi lacked the wit to attempt a leap, so they wouldn’t be jumping over.
Whether they tripped on the rope or tore through the vines, the sound would alert them.
Once preparations were complete, the three of them sat in a circle around a small fire, ate their meal, and talked.
Eun-ryeong asked Yeon-woo something that had been on her mind.
It was a question about how he’d passed the first trial’s Illusory Trial so quickly.
“You… ignored it?”
Yeon-woo nodded while tearing into a bird’s leg.
“Yeah.”
“But that’s…”
…supposed to work?”
Eun-ryeong looked at Jin Geom-hwi with a bewildered expression as he flipped the meat.
Jin Geom-hwi had already heard about this fact on the day of the trial, so his reaction was unbothered.
“How did you manage it, Jin?”
“Me? I just cut straight across the red path. Wasn’t that what you did?”
“Yes, of course…”
The red path—only students capable of the Resonance Technique could confidently choose it.
But if there was a difference between Jin Geom-hwi, who passed second, and Eun-ryeong, who passed third, it came down to a single moment of choice.
Before the path through the thorn thicket, Jin Geom-hwi had plunged forward without hesitation, while Eun-ryeong had circled around it.
Though Eun-ryeong’s Resonance Technique was more refined, that split-second decision was why Jin Geom-hwi had passed the trial second.
“You’re quite remarkable yourself. Usually people try to avoid such obstacles.”
“Well, at that moment I couldn’t see anything anyway.”
Jin Geom-hwi turned his gaze away, embarrassed.
He was used to praise, but that came from people of lower standing offering empty flattery.
Hearing such words from Eun-ryeong, whose martial power was comparable to his own, caught him off guard.
Perhaps because of that, he quickly changed the subject.
“Your goal must be to become a Lesser Cult Leader candidate, right?”
Yeon-woo tilted his head.
“What’s that?”
“What?”
Jin Geom-hwi said, dumbfounded.
“You’re joking, right? It’s one step closer to qualifying to become the Heavenly Demon.”
“…?”
But Yeon-woo’s bewildered reaction—genuine incomprehension—left both Eun-ryeong and Jin Geom-hwi taken aback.
“You do know who the Heavenly Demon is, don’t you?”
“Yeah. The top dog of this place.”
“Yes. The head of the Faith, the unique and supreme one. Our Gyojoo as well.”
“Right.”
“The person who will inherit the current Heavenly Demon’s position is called a Lesser Cult Leader. Currently, the Faith has no Lesser Cult Leader, but…”
Jin Geom-hwi continued.
“There are Lesser Cult Leader candidates instead. Right now there are four: one from the Heavenly Sword Demon Family, one from the Blood Path Demon Family, one from the Defeat Heaven Palace, and one from the Seo Family.”
“There’s a rumor that they’ll select one more through Maryong Hall. Two of the current four candidates were chosen through Maryong Hall before.”
“A lot of people entered Maryong Hall hoping for that. I figured you would too.”
Of course, Jin Geom-hwi himself had entered Maryong Hall aiming for the Lesser Cult Leader position.
The fact that his own clan, the Heavenly Sword Demon Family, already had a Lesser Cult Leader candidate posed no problem.
Rather, if he became a Lesser Cult Leader candidate himself, his family’s prestige would only grow—there was no downside.
Jin Geom-hwi glanced at Yeon-woo.
Since Yeon-woo had passed the Illusory Trial right after him in the first trial, he was undoubtedly the person to watch most carefully.
But then—
“I’ve never really thought about that.”
Yeon-woo casually shook his head, stretching his arms and legs wide.
“I’m not interested in becoming the Heavenly Demon or anything.”
“Then why did you even enter Maryong Hall?”
“Sold.”
“What?”
“…?”
Yeon-woo pointed to the bird’s wing roasting in the flames and asked the two of them if it was all right to eat.
Both nodded and watched her in silence.
Yeon-woo blew on the meat, golden and cooked through, before continuing.
“An official from the magistrate’s office bought me. They were sending me to Maryong Hall instead of his own son. I was a beggar, originally.”
It was an answer she and the others had agreed on beforehand, in case anyone asked why she’d come to Maryong Hall.
She couldn’t speak of Un-hyeon, so this served in his place.
That she’d been sold would surface easily enough if anyone investigated the magistrate’s office or her background.
It was Am-yeong Majun’s thinking that revealing the truth in measured doses was better than constructing elaborate lies.
Eun-ryeong and Jin Geom-hwi’s faces paled with shock at hearing her circumstances.
Both of them had often heard that families of means sometimes took in adopted sons to send to Maryong Hall in place of their own children.
But confronting the consequences of that practice face-to-face was something else entirely.
And for this to be the situation of the student who had passed the first trial first among all of them.
Jin Geom-hwi’s expression twisted.
Eun-ryeong, catching sight of what he was thinking, rushed to ask before he could speak.
“Then, how long have you been training in martial arts?”
“Five years.”
“Five…!”
This time both Jin Geom-hwi and Eun-ryeong could only stare in disbelief.
Five years? To achieve this level of martial power in merely five years?
“You really were a beggar? You don’t have some hidden secret about your birth or anything?”
“Did you remember being born?”
Jin Geom-hwi fell silent.
It seemed like talking past the point, yet it was a perfect answer.
Even if there were secrets about her birth, there was no chance she would know of them.
If she did, she would never have been sold and sent to Maryong Hall in the first place.
“So why are you pushing so hard? First the trial, and now this. If you were sold here, you don’t need to go this far, do you?”
“Jin—!”
“Am I wrong? Frankly, it’s rude to people who actually have goals and are working to get ahead by any means. If you were just incompetent, that’d be one thing. But why block someone else’s path when you have no purpose?”
If her skills were lacking, he might understand.
But why try to obstruct someone else’s way forward when you yourself have no aim?
His words carried resentment and hostility.
Yeon-woo, perceptive as she was, felt it immediately.
And from childhood, she had never endured hostility—she had always met it head-on.
A venomous glint flashed instantly in Yeon-woo’s eyes as she fixed her gaze on Jin Geom-hwi.
“I have a goal.”
She would grow strong enough to become the best in Maryong Hall and follow Un-hyeon to the Central Plains.
He had said she needed to be at least the best so as not to hold him back.
So Yeon-woo had to become the best—she had no choice.
“You have one?”
Jin Geom-hwi let out a sharp laugh.
“What is it? Tell me.”
His sneering expression betrayed his true feelings, barely concealed.
What goal could a beggar possibly have.
“Jin—!”
Just as Eun-ryeong moved to stop Jin Geom-hwi, reading his intent.
“Beating you.”
Yeon-woo spoke, her gaze fixed on Jin Geom-hwi with venomous intensity.
“I’ve decided as of now.”
“You—!”
“Enough!”
A sharp cry echoed through the cave.
The sound might draw the jiangshi from all around, but stopping these two was more urgent than that.
“Wasn’t it the alliance we agreed to form? I understand both your feelings, but I think it’s best we leave it at this.”
If the rift between them grew any deeper, the alliance would be worthless.
How could they trust each other with their backs if they couldn’t trust each other at all?
“Let’s rest for tonight. We’ll move early tomorrow. I’ll keep watch.”
With Eun-ryeong’s settling of matters, the tension broke.
Yeon-woo and Jin Geom-hwi fell asleep at opposite ends of the cave, their backs turned to one another.
Both knew how childish they were being.
Yet at an age when even petty quarrels could wound the heart, their night deepened in an awkward silence that neither dared to break.
* * *
In the early dawn, the three of them left the cave and crossed beyond the Yellow Boundary.
There had been no jiangshi visiting in the night.
It was because the ghost qi grew thick near the Yellow Boundary, though the three hadn’t reasoned that far.
But as they wandered only a short distance into the forest beyond the Yellow Boundary, they understood.
“…It’s not even easy to breathe.”
“The ghost qi is definitely dense. Now I see why no jiangshi appeared.”
“Feels awful….”
Ghost Forest was saturated with ghost qi throughout, owing to the Ghost Soul Demon House’s Illusory Trial and the presence of the strange creatures.
It grew even more pronounced as one drew closer to the forest’s heart.
Eun-ryeong turned to look at Yeon-woo.
“Are you all right? You look strained.”
Ghost qi was especially burdensome for Yeon-woo, whose senses were unusually sharp.
It was all the more so because it carried the stench of death itself.
“I’m fine. It just feels unpleasant, that’s all.”
In truth, she had felt it from the moment she’d seen the jiangshi at the previous boundary.
Having brushed against death before, Yeon-woo found the Ghost Soul Demon House’s Secret Technique—which toyed with the boundary between life and death—utterly repugnant.
“If it becomes a nuisance, we discard it and move on.”
Yeon-woo shot a glare at Jin Geom-hwi.
“The weakest one, at that.”
Eun-ryeong smoothly soothed the bristling Jin Geom-hwi.
Though his pride was wounded, he had provoked the insult first, so he had no choice but to swallow his anger and step back.
It was just as Yeon-woo was sticking her tongue out at him in mockery.
Kiii-ii-ii-ii-!
All three heads snapped skyward at once.
Far above, a large bird circled widely through the air, as if hunting for prey.
“A hawk.”
“Yes.”
“Indeed.”
It had the form of a hawk, but it was no ordinary bird.
Such was the nature of Ghost Forest.
“Let’s follow it.”
Eun-ryeong spoke.
The other two nodded without hesitation.

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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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