Appearance of the Heavenly Demon - Chapter 93

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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 93
Chapter 10. The Strange Bird
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Gasp—wheeze—gasp—
Five people’s breathing spread softly through the quiet forest.
Clack-clack-clack-clack-clack—
When the enormous wolf’s head repeatedly gnashed its teeth.
Whoosh—
A thin blade sliced through the wolf’s skull.
Eun-ryeong wiped away the sweat mixed with blood trickling down her chin with the back of her hand, breathing heavily.
That merely fighting a wolf pack would be this exhausting.
Combat against an enemy that knew neither pain nor death proved far more draining than she’d imagined.
Eun-ryeong glanced back at her companions with weary eyes.
Jin Geom-hwi, too, seemed spent—he sat propped against a rock, using his sword to steady himself as he caught his breath. The other three were huddled together.
The young master of Yueum Maga appeared to have been injured while fighting the wolves.
‘Yeon-woo saved him.’
When everyone else had belatedly sensed the danger, Yeon-woo was already at his side.
He’d hooked the iron chain attached to his axe into the wolf’s mouth and thrust forward, blocking the charging beast.
Then he’d seized that wolf and brought his axe down on another’s head.
In the meantime, the young master of Yueum Maga had drawn his sword and severed the leg of the wolf that had tried to kill him, and after that, everything went smoothly.
Fortunately, they subdued all the creatures without further crisis.
“Ow—ah, it hurts, gently, gently.”
“You have to endure it. If you wrap it gently, the bleeding won’t stop. I’ve told you countless times to practice your sword technique seriously.”
“You think I’m playing around blowing that flute all day?”
“I know you’re not.”
Do Gyeom, who had been binding his forearm to stanch the bleeding, sighed and examined Heon Sa-ryul’s wounds.
His expression darkened.
It was the guilt of having failed to protect his lord.
“Thank you.”
Do Gyeom bowed formally to Yeon-woo.
“Without you, it would’ve been truly terrible. I’m grateful with all sincerity.”
“Sure. I’ll collect later.”
“Yes. I won’t forget this debt. And….”
“…?”
“Since I’m already obliged to you… do you happen to have any extra medicine?”
Do Gyeom’s eyes shifted to Yeon-woo’s left arm.
It was a wound from the clash with the hawk.
“Oh, this isn’t medicine but a medicinal herb called Baek-geup. It’s used as a material for Geum-chang Medicine.”
“Baek-geup?”
“Yes. Found it in the forest.”
‘But….’
Yeon-woo looked down at his own arm.
Now that he thought about it, there was barely any pain.
Not only that, but even while moving vigorously against the wolves, no blood had seeped through.
The wound hadn’t reopened.
‘That’s strange.’
It hadn’t been that long since the injury.
Yeon-woo gently lifted the cloth to check the condition.
‘Huh?’
Yeon-woo’s eyes went wide.
Where he’d been worried he might need stitches from the hawk’s talons, more than half the wound had already healed.
‘For Baek-geup to be this effective…?’
That couldn’t be right.
He’d used it before, and even when he’d applied Geum-chang Medicine made with Baek-geup, it had never been this potent.
‘Is it because of the ghostly energy?’
The creatures of Gwi-rim had been twisted by accepting ghostly energy, or so he’d heard.
The massive hawk, the monkeys that set traps, the vines that wouldn’t break—all the same.
If that was true, then the remarkable efficacy of this Baek-geup could only be explained by ghostly energy.
With that conclusion, a faint smile curved Yeon-woo’s lips.
‘I’ll harvest more before we leave.’
They say the beasts of Gwi-rim cannot survive beyond the forest, but since I’m going to be processing these anyway, it hardly matters.
I’ll take them back to the lodge, dry them, and turn them into medicine.
‘If I make it properly, it should be even more effective, shouldn’t it?’
Once Yeon-woo had finished thinking, she spoke to the two of them.
“I’ll go find some.”
“Huh?”
Heon Sa-ryul and Do Gyeom exchanged startled glances.
She had just saved their lives, and now she meant to gather medicinal herbs for them too.
“Are you sure you’ll be alright?”
“Yes. Just move to a different spot and wait for me. I’ll bring them back. There should be plenty where I found them before.”
The thought of gathering herbs lifted her spirits, and Yeon-woo promptly excused herself.
Eun-ryeong, insisting it was too dangerous to go alone, set off after her.
The two retraced the path Yeon-woo had taken.
Since their route overlapped considerably with the gorge where Heon Sa-ryul’s party had fought the hawk, the distance wasn’t far.
When they reached the place where Yeon-woo had first found the Baek-geup, there were indeed medicinal herbs remaining, just as she’d expected.
Yeon-woo dug up one Baek-geup and showed it to Eun-ryeong.
“Just dig up any that look like this. I’ll be using the rhizomes. Gather as many as you can.”
“Yes.”
Leaving the Baek-geup to Eun-ryeong, Yeon-woo wandered the nearby area to check if there were other medicinal herbs.
She was thinking that if the Baek-geup infused with Ghostly Energy had such potent effects, perhaps the other herbs would be similarly remarkable.
‘I should take this.’
‘This one too.’
Gwi-rim was never meant to be a place for gathering medicinal herbs.
It was primarily used as a domain for mysterious omens and a training ground for Ghost Soul Maga and martial artists.
That was why people had never discovered what properties the herbs of Gwi-rim possessed.
Since no one came to harvest them, medicinal plants lay scattered everywhere.
‘This one too! Oh! This as well!’
It was nothing short of Yeon-woo’s paradise.
She wandered from place to place, digging up medicinal herbs.
After she’d been happily roaming about for some time—
“…?”
At some point, Yeon-woo’s eyes suddenly lifted.
Shhhhh…
Her gaze, grown cool and sharp, fixed on one spot in the forest.
She stared, not blinking, for a long while.
How much time passed like that?
Yeon-woo gathered the herbs she’d dug up and rose to her feet.
Then she headed straight for Eun-ryeong.
Eun-ryeong had been digging up all the nearby Baek-geup just as Yeon-woo had instructed.
She worked quickly, and a considerable pile had accumulated.
Yeon-woo took them, crushed one with a stone, wrapped it in clean cloth, and handed it back to Eun-ryeong.
“Take this and apply it to the flute’s wound.”
Eun-ryeong looked puzzled and asked in return.
“Aren’t you returning to the lodge?”
“I have something I need to check.”
“But if you go alone—”
“It’s fine.”
Yeon-woo removed her outer robe, spread it on the ground, and carefully arranged the medicinal herbs she’d gathered before rolling it up tightly.
She secured it firmly to her back, tying the knots with extra force, then glanced back at Eun-ryeong.
“Don’t follow me.”
Eun-ryeong’s lips parted slightly.
She wanted to say something, but couldn’t bring herself to speak.
It was the fleeting gleam in Yeon-woo’s eyes—a subtle but unmistakable pressure—that stopped her.
“…I understand.”
Eun-ryeong finally relented.
After a brief glance at her, Yeon-woo turned and entered the forest where she’d been gathering herbs.
Crunch, crunch.
There was no trace of a smile on Yeon-woo’s face as she moved into the forest.
Yet she did not slow her pace.
Deeper into the forest, onward.
How far into the forest had they gone?
Yeon-woo came to a halt.
“You’ve come.”
In the heart of the forest stood the one who had been waiting for him.
“I’ve been waiting.”
The figure who greeted Yeon-woo with a gentle smile was the one he had longed to see.
“Yeon-woo.”
It was Un-hyeon.
* * *
Crunch, crunch—
Step, step—
Tap, tap-tap, tap—
Light, bounding footsteps trailed behind the two men’s path.
Hum, hm-hm, hum—
A faint, lilting hum drifted into their ears.
Baek Yeol-han and Sama Hyeon exchanged glances as if by silent agreement.
– Do you really know where Yeon-woo is?
– Of course I don’t.
Baek Yeol-han whirled around, taken aback.
– You—you don’t know?!
– How could I know everything? I told you before—if I knew where my benefactor was, I wouldn’t have come to you in the first place.
– Then why did you say you did?! That woman keeps following us!
Baek Yeol-han glanced back over his shoulder.
The one pursuing them was Wi Yu-hwa.
The mad flower of Pae Cheon Gung.
– Didn’t you hear earlier? Why I’m searching for my benefactor.
– …I heard.
When you asked where Yeon-woo was, I asked in return.
Why you sought him.
And the answer that came back was astonishing.
“I want to kill him.”
– How could I send that person to my benefactor after hearing such a thing? She’s So-san-hwa. If she said she’d kill him, she really will.
– But…! What are we supposed to do about it?!
She was the one who had neutralized the jiangshi in an instant.
And he hadn’t even seen her cut through the creature’s talisman.
Which meant Wi Yu-hwa’s martial prowess far exceeded their own.
– Don’t worry. We’ll arrive soon.
– Arrive? Where?
It was then.
Crack—Crash—
From some distance away came the sound of someone forcefully pushing through the brush.
‘A jiangshi…?!’
At the unobstructed presence, Baek Yeol-han’s hand reflexively found his sword hilt.
Dense trees obscured the view, but he readied himself to respond the moment the figure emerged.
Every nerve focused on the approaching presence, tense and alert—
“Stop thrashing about, you bastard!”
“?!”
A rough, familiar voice erupted from beyond the thick trees.
Baek Yeol-han had exchanged words with that voice exactly once before, and he recognized it at once.
‘Gwang…-o…?’
The Sal Gung examinee who had torn away his number marker and faced Yeon-woo in a duel, losing decisively.
And in the moment he realized it—
“Huh?”
Gwang-o emerged from beyond the trees, clearly in a foul mood.
“Who the hell are you people?”
As though offended by the mere sight of examinees, his expression darkened instantly before—
“Wait….”
A sinister smile crept across his lips.
“Where have I seen that face before?”
The scars crisscrossing his face twitched.
Meanwhile, Baek Yeol-han and Sama Hyeon felt their bodies stiffen without warning—confronted with that eerie smile and the killing intent that seeped from Gwang-o like a slow miasma.
“Hey.”
Gwang-o strode toward the two of them with heavy, deliberate steps.
He bared his teeth in a grimace and spoke.
“Where is that bastard?”

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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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