Ascension of the Heavenly Demon - Chapter 151

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 151

 

He said he would examine it more closely and check related records if I left it there for a while, but I couldn’t do that.

 

This was cloud iron!

 

…or so it might be.

 

In the meantime, his eyes looked quite greedy.

 

That’s definitely how it seemed.

 

How could I trust the Tang Family?

 

The more precious an item is, the safer it is in my own hands.

 

Since I had already identified the material, I had gained quite a lot.

 

It was highly rare and its value was incomparable to crude ores like ten-thousand-year cold iron, so there wouldn’t be many craftsmen who could handle it.

 

To process such an item, one would need to be among the most renowned figures.

 

Also, it would be best to leave finding the creator to the Sichuan Tang Family.

 

At least in this martial world, there was no place that treated craftsmen as well as the Sichuan Tang Family, and they were the ones desperately trying to recruit any famous craftsman under heaven.

 

They would surely be able to find records of someone with the skill to create similar items.

 

“I’ll be taking my leave now.”

 

“Mm, do so. I’ll send word to the Guest Reception Hall if I learn anything.”

 

“Yes.”

 

As I finished my greeting and stood up.

 

“You’re just leaving?”

 

“Well, shouldn’t I just leave?”

 

“No, since you’re already here, how about taking a look at the Iron Wood Courtyard….”

 

At Tang Yeon’s words, filled with regret, Zhuge Munhyeon’s eyes narrowed.

 

Why was he so desperate to make introductions?

 

Was he a matchmaker rather than a Young Family Head?

 

“Mm, since the Young Family Head suggests it, let’s pay a visit.”

 

“….”

 

“It wouldn’t be proper to keep refusing.”

 

Mujin also stepped forward to take his side, and even Zhuge Mungi, who had been silent the whole time, nodded.

 

These guys, really!

 

Why were their expressions so serious?

 

It’s not me who’s curious, it’s you, right?

 

I wanted to smack them on the head, but there were people watching… and compared to the precious Silver Cold Staff, their heads were too cheap.

 

If I’m going to hit something, it should be worth the effort.

 

Wooong.

 

The Silver Cold Staff was also trembling slightly, as if thanking me for understanding its feelings. I wasn’t sure if that was really the case, but that’s how it felt.

 

“Stop it, you’re being rude to the Craft Bang Leader. Is it proper to introduce your granddaughter to a man you’ve never met before? Isn’t that right, Bang Leader?”

 

“….”

 

At Zhuge Munhyeon’s words, Tang Muncheong said nothing.

 

See that.

 

How displeased he must be to not even answer.

 

“Then I’ll wait at the Guest Reception Hall.”

 

Zhuge Munhyeon bowed once more and immediately left the Silver Flower Mountain.

 

He held the Silver Cold Staff preciously in both hands rather than carrying it on his back, constantly wiping its surface with his collar.

 

Perhaps worried that Tang Munqing’s touch had been unpleasant for it.

 

Oh my dear, precious child.

 

From now on, I’ll change your bedding and care for you properly.

 

And then.

 

“Have the guests left?”

 

“…Yes.”

 

Behind Tang Munqing approached a woman with lustrous brown skin.

 

Though she appeared modest without adornment, she had a solid, well-built body and was tall enough to be a head taller than Tang Munqing.

 

The flower of the workshop, Iron Tree Peony Tang Ihwa.

 

Despite her young age, she was born with the talent of a master craftsman and had inherited everything from him.

 

With just a little more training, she would be talented enough to inherit the Tang Family workshop.

 

How else could Tang Munqing, who wouldn’t even teach his own son due to lack of skill, have taken his granddaughter as his disciple?

 

While others regretted that with such a build she should have been born a man, in her grandfather’s eyes, his granddaughter was prettier than anyone else.

 

Clang, clang, clang.

 

As she began working with a thick iron hammer in hand, sweat soon beaded on her forehead.

 

It was always like this.

 

Rather than adorning herself as a woman, she preferred sweating in the workshop.

 

If only she would dress up, she would be more beautiful than any woman in the Tang Family… Tang Munqing was confident of this.

 

She was just a little big in stature.

 

Her muscles had just developed a bit more than others due to her blacksmith work.

 

To him, wasn’t she just a granddaughter so precious it wouldn’t hurt to put her in his eyes? That was healthy beauty.

 

At first, he had misunderstood that the family intended to present her to the Zhuge Family and ordered her not to come out.

 

‘Hmm…’

 

The worry reflected in Tang Munqing’s eyes deepened.

 

It was a worry any grandfather with a granddaughter of marriageable age would have.

 

For now she was absorbed in creating new items, but someday she would need to find a partner.

 

In that case…

 

The stuffy, scholarly atmosphere of the Zhuge family didn’t seem like it would suit her free-spirited nature, but… if it were someone like Zhuge Munhyeon… The only flaw was that he was a bit shorter than his granddaughter…

“Ahem! I need to observe more. How can I tell from just one meeting?”

“Ahem! I need to observe a bit more. How can I tell from just seeing it once?”

Somehow feeling like he was the one getting more attached, irritation welled up.

He felt irritated by the sense that somehow he had become the one clinging more desperately.

“That cunning fellow. Would it kill him to say something like ‘I’ve heard rumors of Iron Tree Peony, I’d like to see her face at least’? To just examine the material of his item and leave.”

“Arrogant bastard. I’ve heard plenty about the Iron Wood Guild. Would it kill him to say something like ‘I’d like to see your face at least once’? Instead he just examines the quality of my goods and leaves.”

Feeling unnecessarily annoyed, he randomly stuffed the ores spread on the desk into boxes without organizing them.

Feeling irritated for no reason, he haphazardly threw the ores spread out on the table into a box without even having Geumseok do it.

Except for the Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron and Cloud Iron…

 

 

 

“Did they say something that made you angry?”

“No. Rather, I’m angry because you’re not saying anything at all.”

 

“Pardon?”

 

“Hah, don’t mind it and heat the iron more. The iron isn’t hot enough. It won’t hammer properly like that.”

 

“…Yes.”

 

“Run the workshop with Geumseok for a while.”

 

“What about you, Grandfather?”

 

“It seems I’ll have to dig through some records for once.”

 

Tang Munqing disappeared, stomping his feet as if he was angry about something.

 

* * *

 

When Zhuge Munhyeon returned to the Guest Reception Hall and showed no intention of going out again, the Young Family Head went back to handle postponed matters, leaving only Mujin and Zhuge Mungi.

 

Having completed their mission of delivering the Four Pillars, the delegation had returned first.

 

-Please find a good match.

 

That damned delegation leader.

 

Whatever hint he had received, he said that with a sinister smile.

 

It would have been normal to smack him upside the head, but I let it slide.

 

It must have been Mother’s doing….

 

The Family Head probably knew the inside story too.

 

But I know Mother’s personality.

 

She would have quietly accepted the proposal to include her son in the Sichuan delegation while setting conditions.

 

‘Really, Mother has no interest in marriage either. How can she not understand her son’s heart?’

 

Zhuge Munhyeon smiled bitterly as he gazed intently at the Silver Cold Staff resting on his seated knees.

 

Your form is better than any woman of heavenly beauty.

 

I hadn’t noticed before, but looking now, if this fellow were a woman, it would truly possess beauty that could topple nations.

 

Its subtle radiance naturally draws the eye, and its elegant form overwhelms everything. Its octagonal shape appears noble, and its smooth surface evokes the beauty of flawless bare skin.

 

Is that all?

 

Those delicate patterns that add mystery suit it like gorgeous embroidered clothing.

 

Despite being cold metal… no, cloud iron, its majesty and beauty could truly be compared to the dignity of a noble woman.

 

‘Looking this way~ and that way~ hmm, mysterious Silver Cold Staff, Silver Cold Staff. You came down from heaven~ and met me.’

 

A humming tune comes naturally.

 

If I could, I’d like to capture that praise and make it into a Seven-String Guqin melody.

 

Then I suddenly felt very sorry for ‘Jeol-yeong’ that I carried in my previous life.

 

But that one really didn’t suit my personality.

 

The Heavenly Demon with a divine weapon?

 

What nonsense.

 

Weapons should naturally resemble their owner’s disposition.

 

Sinister, violent, cruel….

 

If that were the case, Jeolyeong wouldn’t have been treated as a weapon that would cause trouble if drawn.

 

But!

 

Now it’s different.

 

For the current me who has learned the martial arts of the Zhuge Family, a divine weapon is fitting.

 

Above all, this fellow is a formation device that can’t even be compared to Jeolyeong.

 

An octagonal iron rod made of meteoric iron that was undoubtedly refined by a master craftsman.

 

“Hmm, come to think of it, is fate really fate?”

 

As Tang Munqing said, it wouldn’t be just because of the length and weight.

 

Myself, who was reincarnated into the Zhuge Family.

 

This fellow, who had been sleeping like an unsolved mystery in the family’s Heroic Martial Armory for a long time, happened to fall into the hands of me who dreams of Ascension to Immortality.

 

It doesn’t react to internal energy, but it cried and trembled like a starving beast to spirit energy.

 

Also, without this fellow, I wouldn’t have been able to find that guy called the Ascetic, and defeating him would have been nearly impossible.

 

In other words!

 

A weapon solely for me!

 

“Kyaa! It’s like a legendary tale. Meeting fortune upon fortune… as if it were all predetermined.”

 

In the Buddhist sect, they call this by the fancy term ‘temporal causation.’

 

Once when I went to challenge someone to a martial duel, the head monk who dismissed the arhat monk blocking my way said this.

 

That my visit was already predetermined fate.

 

Since I had come due to this fate, he told me not to resist and not to seek revenge.

 

When it came to fighting, he spouted Buddhist doctrine…

 

But thanks to that, the head monk saved his life after the martial duel, and no one came chasing after me seeking revenge.

 

Now I understand those words.

 

This too must be fate.

 

So let us grow old together for a hundred years and stay together until I achieve Ascension to Immortality, no, even after ascension.

 

It was when I was looking at the Silver Cold Staff with an expression of satisfaction upon satisfaction.

 

“Are you that pleased?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“You look like you’re dying of happiness.”

 

“Of course I’m pleased, would I be displeased? For me, there’s no other beauty like this.”

 

“Hmm, that’s a problem.”

 

“What?”

 

“At your age, Young Master, you should be interested in women. How can you compare a weapon to a woman and personify it? That’s a mental illness. You’ll become impotent at this rate.”

 

“…”

 

“Isn’t that right, Young Master Mungi?”

 

When Mujin asked, Zhuge Mungi habitually nodded then startled in surprise.

 

“Ah, it’s not necessarily like that…”

 

He probably remembered who he was receiving teachings from.

 

This time he was quicker to read the situation than Mujin.

 

Because he seemed to have seen my already thoroughly distorted expression.

 

“What do you mean it’s not like that? In my view, if Young Master Munhyeon had joined a Taoist sect or Buddhist sect, he would have achieved great enlightenment.”

 

“….”

 

Mujin, whose usually sharp intuition wasn’t working properly just for today.

 

Come to think of it, he had heard such words before.

 

Whether he might be practicing (virgin cultivation techniques).

 

So the temptations from wicked women and witches who wanted to break the Heavenly Demon’s virgin cultivation to gain fame had become even more severe.

 

Foolish things….

 

He just wasn’t interested.

 

Because he was more absorbed in martial arts than anything else.

 

Who do they take for a eunuch?

 

“Ahem, Mujin.”

 

“Yes.”

 

He spoke to Mujin, who seemed to find teasing amusing and was answering with great enthusiasm.

 

“Isn’t formation cultivation too boring these days?”

 

“…Yes?”

 

“Well, fighting illusions isn’t exactly enjoyable.”

 

“Ah, not necessarily….”

 

“Come to think of it, I’ve been too indifferent. I should check on you occasionally.”

 

“….”

 

Mujin’s intuition finally returned, albeit belatedly.

 

He could see him blinking his wide eyes, trying to analyze the situation he found himself in.

 

But it was too late….

 

You tiger-nosed Taoist disciple!

 

“Let’s loosen up after a long time. Give it your best.”

 

“Y-Young Master. There’s no need….”

 

“Don’t refuse. Sometimes this is necessary for improvement.”

 

Zhuge Munhyeon smiled brightly and spoke to Zhuge Mungi, who was looking at Mujin with pity.

 

“You join in too.”

 

“What? Why me?”

 

“Why indeed….”

 

You nodded earlier.

 

It’s collective responsibility.

 

“W-wait!”

 

Crack!

 

Along with the desperate cry, a wooden sword shattered.

 

It was one of the many wooden swords the Tang Family had prepared for guests’ training.

 

Though he had the Silver Cold Staff, these guys didn’t need such mercy.

 

“Damn it!”

 

“Infinite Buddha!”

 

As he gave his teaching with all his might, profanities flew everywhere.

 

Crack! Craaack!

 

As the broken wooden swords with only handles remaining piled up, Mujin and Zhuge Mungi became covered in dirt.

 

Who are you calling a eunuch?

 

Damn bastards!

 

When about ten wooden sword handles had piled up like that, the atmosphere among the guards protecting the Guest Reception Hall became unusual.

 

For some reason, they seemed tense and busy.

 

Making it hard to concentrate on cultivation.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————