Appearance of the Heavenly Demon - Chapter 94

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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 94
Baek Yeol-han and Sama Hyeon stood rigid, watching Gwang-o stride toward them with heavy, deliberate steps.
An urgent Mental Voice Transmission from Baek Yeol-han arrived in Sama Hyeon’s mind.
– What, what what what, what is this? Don’t tell me that’s the one we were looking for? We actually found him? Us?
– Yes. For now, at least….
Well, that is….
Sama Hyeon swallowed hard, his throat dry.
The moment Gwang-o drew near, Sama Hyeon’s legs began to tremble uncontrollably.
“Are your ears plugged up?”
When the two men gave no answer, Gwang-o’s expression darkened instantly, his face twisting into something vicious.
“Where is he? That bastard!”
Gwang-o had been sent into the forest through the same escort as Baek Yeol-han—which meant he, too, could gauge their general movements.
So Sama Hyeon understood: they could trace his path the way they had traced Baek Yeol-han’s.
Sama Hyeon also understood that neither of them could stand against Wi Yu-hwa.
Which left only one strategy.
– Using Barbarians to Control Barbarians.
Suppressing an enemy with an enemy.
– But, sir….
– Using Barbarians to Control Barbarians—how could that pooooossibly work?! There’s no way—!!
– Why not?
– If it does, I’ll call you brother from now on!!
Where did you learn to live life so easily…?
“Who are you?”
Baek Yeol-han and Sama Hyeon’s eyes widened.
Both men turned sharply to the right in unison.
Wi Yu-hwa, who had been trailing the two of them all this while, stepped forward.
Baek Yeol-han and Sama Hyeon’s gazes followed her as she advanced toward Gwang-o, sliding away smoothly—
– Brother.
It’s working.
The two men wisely retreated, slipping backward without a sound.
Wi Yu-hwa’s eyes, half-lidded before, now curved upward in recognition.
“So you’re the one. The one who threw a fit at Yeon-woo and couldn’t even die properly.”
“…Who the hell are you?”
Gwang-o’s killing intent surged toward Wi Yu-hwa in an instant.
It was a killing intent so thick the very air prickled, yet Wi Yu-hwa neither flinched nor retreated.
Rather, she pressed closer, her mouth twisting into a smirk.
“You should be ashamed. How are you even showing your face?”
“Perfectly stiff and upright.”
“Is that what you want? For me to cut it off? I can do that for you, you know.”
“Try it, you bastard. Before that, I’ll make you forget how to breathe.”
A mad flower and a mad crow.
The moment they met, the fire leapt up as though oil had been poured upon the flames.
A killing intent so fierce it threatened to drain every spark of life from the forest itself.
Baek Yeol-han and Sama Hyeon, who had been staring blankly at the two of them, swallowed in unison.
– Brother, was this the right call?
– I have no idea, younger brother.
* * *
“Look how much you’ve grown since I last saw you. Have you been eating your fill?”
That longed-for, familiar voice asked the question, but Yeon-woo did not answer.
“….”
Yeon-woo walked with his eyes fixed on the ground, clutching only the knot of the bundle strapped to his back.
Even though he had found Un-hyeon, the child’s face held no brightness.
At the sight of Yeon-woo like this, Un-hyeon’s brow furrowed slightly.
“After all this time apart, won’t you even show me your face? I nearly forgot what you looked like.”
“….”
“I see. You must be disappointed in me. Show me your face when your heart is ready.”
After that, Un-hyeon spoke of this and that.
Mostly memories of the time he and Yeon-woo had spent together.
Yeon-woo walked beside Un-hyeon and listened to these stories in silence.
But no matter what Un-hyeon asked, Yeon-woo remained silent—he did not open his mouth even once.
They walked for some time like that.
Whoooooosh—
Yeon-woo stopped in her tracks and lifted her gaze.
Un-hyeon, too, came to a halt beside her.
“Isn’t it truly beautiful? This forest.”
The forest that spread out just a few steps ahead matched Un-hyeon’s softly spoken words perfectly—it was indeed a sight to behold.
Unlike the Ghost Forest they had traversed until now, suffused with ghost energy and consumed by shadow, the forest before them blazed with light.
The shrubs and leaves held a pale green luminescence as if cradling the early summer sun, and the light filtering through the grass cast an even glow across the vegetation and earth.
Beautiful.
The word alone was insufficient.
The heart of the forest, brimming with freshness and vitality, made her forget everything of the Ghost Forest that had come before.
“The place where we spent time together was lovely, but this forest is truly a scenic wonder.”
…
As Yeon-woo gazed at the forest, her eyes gradually lowered.
After a moment of silence, she turned to face Un-hyeon for the first time.
“Grandfather.”
Un-hyeon smiled gently and looked down at her.
“Yes, Yeon-woo.”
“My real grandfather wouldn’t say such things.”
“Hmm?”
“He’d tell me that no place could compare to where we lived together—it was always the best.”
Because Yeon-woo was there.
There could be no place more precious than where they could be together.
“I know you’re not real.”
“What are you saying? Not real? Yet here I stand before your very eyes, do I not?”
“My real grandfather…”
The real Un-hyeon.
He smelled of the sky.
Clear, blue, crisp.
Whether such a scent truly existed, she could not say, but this was how Yeon-woo perceived Un-hyeon.
He was utterly, transcendently like the sky itself.
“But I came because I wanted to see you anyway. I wanted to hear your voice.”
Because what she could see and hear was so vivid, so real.
Even if it were all a lie, she wanted to lean on that lie, just a little.
Yet knowing it to be false, she kept her distance.
She suppressed the urge to take his hand, to speak with him—she forced it down.
Otherwise, she feared she would be drawn into the illusion and wish to remain here forever.
Her instinct conquered the impulse.
“Do I go in there?”
Yeon-woo pointed toward the brilliant forest.
A beautiful space that would unfold in just a few more steps.
Un-hyeon’s gaze turned toward that forest, then back down to Yeon-woo.
His lips curved into a gentle arc.
“Yes.”
“What’s in there?”
“What you seek will be there.”
“How would you know what I’m looking for.”
Yeon-woo twisted her lips in annoyance.
It irritated her that this counterfeit spoke in Un-hyeon’s manner of speech.
“You can’t go in, can you?”
Un-hyeon gazed down at her for a moment without moving.
“No. Go, and return.”
He answered, smiling as if it were of no consequence.
Yeon-woo gave a small huff and turned her head away.
“Next time I won’t listen to you.”
Then she moved forward.
Tap—tap—
After a few steps, she stood at the boundary.
Before her lay the brilliant forest.
At its edge, Yeon-woo raised her hand and felt at the empty air.
‘Something’s there.’
Not graspable to the touch, not tangible, yet sensible all the same.
It was like a Qi Barrier, or perhaps beyond the threshold of what they called an Illusion Formation.
Before it, Yeon-woo lowered his gaze.
Behind him, he could feel Un-hyeon still watching.
But he didn’t turn around.
Tap.
He took a step forward.
Whirrrrr—
Yeon-woo, entering the formation.
The Monster Bird’s Nest.
* * *
Hisssssss…
The child’s figure vanished into the nest, and moments later.
From the shadow of a tree behind where Un-hyeon stood, a figure emerged from the darkness.
Hwan-yeong Majun.
The one who had lured the child in with an illusion of his heart’s deepest desire.
“Impudent little brat…”
Thunk.
Despite having placed the child in the nest according to plan, Hwan-yeong Majun’s expression beneath his dark robes remained troubled.
“The old man can’t go in, is that it?”
“Next time, I won’t let him.”
The meaning was unmistakable.
‘He understood the boundary of the Illusion Formation with precision.’
Though he had followed, the brat clearly knew what he was chasing was mere illusion.
And more than that—he had discerned the very fact that the one standing at the edge of the Illusion Formation could go no further.
‘How could it be…’
How could that brat possibly know?
This Illusion Formation was a high-level Array Technique that had deceived not only the Twelve Patriarchs but even the Master of Maryong Hall himself.
‘How in the world—’
How could a mere whelp, blood still wet on his lips, see through it all?
‘He must die.’
The brat must be killed here, without fail.
Though the impulse might have sprung from simple fury, Hwan-yeong Majun felt it instinctively.
If he let the brat leave this place alive, it would inevitably return as a grave threat to both himself and the Illusion Palace.
‘Either way, he won’t survive the nest now.’
Besides.
‘The one he called grandfather is surely…’
Could it be Jewang-geom?
The Sword Emperor of the Namgung Clan, called the hegemon of the Central Plains’ martial world.
The one nominated as the next leader of the Murim Alliance, hailed as the exemplary figure to guide the martial world forward.
And yet.
‘That man supposedly died five years ago.’
He died near the Ten Thousand Great Mountains while assembling a purge army to strike at the Demonic Sect.
There’s talk circulating in the Central Plains that he fell by our sect’s hand.
But our sect had nothing to do with it.
According to available information, he died in a fight with his own allies, didn’t he?
After that, members of the Murim Alliance kept searching for his corpse, though that effort has since gone quiet.
‘And that child calls such a man grandfather?’
And behind that child stands Am-yeong Majun?
Hwan-yeong Majun’s lips twisted into a cruel smile.
“This… things are turning out to be interesting.”

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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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