Ascension of the Heavenly Demon - Chapter 182
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 182
Dan Yeonhwa was blind.
She didn’t know since when.
Whether she had been so from birth, or if it had happened as she grew up.
The only certainty was that as far as she could remember, she had never seen anything.
Not the face of the mother who bore her, nor the face of the father who had joyfully held her.
Living in a world of complete darkness, she understood everything through sound and drew it all in her mind.
But one day, she saw something.
A flickering candlelight beside her father.
It was Baek-a.
Something like a faint flame dwelled within it.
But others seemed unable to see it.
When she first learned to speak and asked about it, no one could answer her.
But as she grew, the things visible to her eyes began to become clearer, and they vividly expressed the shapes of objects as if flowing through blood vessels.
The appearance of Baek-a staying beside her father, the appearance of unknown grass she discovered in the mountains one day.
That’s when people were amazed.
Eyes that could read spirit energy.
Dan Yeonhwa saw things that ordinary people could not see.
And now, for the first time in her life, a person appeared who clearly showed her a human form before her eyes.
When she first saw him, it felt like small flames were floating around.
The man who drank the God-Destroying Poison to challenge the Cheongcheon Resolution.
Though his internal energy was clearly lost, flames that only she could see were burning within his body.
He was a person who possessed spirit energy.
She told her father, and her father made a sound as if greatly surprised.
But at some moment, the flames dwelling within the man’s body began to melt and flow, spreading throughout his entire body.
What had been gathered split and divided, so each part was weak but vibrant.
Then gradually it was revealed before her eyes.
His body, face, arms and legs.
Eventually she became able to clearly recognize his appearance.
Though it would be different from seeing with eyes, it was a great shock to her in many ways.
However, it wasn’t the first time.
Long ago, following her father on a journey, she had seen it once somewhere in Yunnan.
Though it had disappeared in an instant.
But now she was facing it right before her eyes.
Her heart raced.
She wanted to ask.
To the man called Zhuge Munhyeon who had properly shown her human form.
“How did you accumulate spirit energy within your body?”
“…What?”
The spirit energy fluctuated.
Realizing that he was greatly surprised, Dan Yeonhwa worried if she had committed some rudeness.
Was it too hasty since it was an emotion she felt for the first time in her life?
When she unconsciously pressed her lips tightly together, her father Dan Chuyeong filled the gap in conversation.
“Haha! So that’s it. You said you had some other power, and I was curious what it was, but you were accumulating spirit energy?”
“Ah, that, that is…”
After a brief exchange, Dan Chuyeong said.
“The treasure that Chiljangjja tried to steal was precisely that child.”
At those words, Zhuge Munhyeon whipped his head around to stare at Chiljangjja.
He tried to steal the Heavenly Demon’s daughter…?
That crazy bastard!
I thought it was just thievery, but this is far too vicious.
Are you really a Taoist?
Are you really a disciple of the Gongdong sect?
No, how could you attempt kidnapping!
A powerless young woman!
And she’s even bli…
Gasp, that damn bastard has no compassion!
When Zhuge Munhyeon’s gaze turned contemptuous, Chiljangjja’s eyes widened.
His head also twitched slightly, so it seemed he had something to argue, but with his pressure points and demon pressure points suppressed, he couldn’t move or speak, so he looked frustrated.
But!
The person who would have convulsions even in sleep over kidnapping was precisely himself.
Because he had experienced it.
Because he had once been captured like that and lived a lifetime of deadly suffering in the demonic path.
“You did something that should absolutely never be done.”
“Right.”
“Why didn’t you just cut off his head instead?”
“Huh?”
“Cut off his limbs and throw them to passing wild beasts, and display his head as an example. Shall I do it for you?”
“…”
Dan Chuyeong couldn’t help but be flustered by Zhuge Munhyeon’s appearance as he ground his teeth and poured out cruel words.
“Are you angry? The color of your spirit energy has changed to a deep red.”
Dan Yeonhwa said.
Though anger could be felt in his voice, she would have noticed the changes in the energy flowing within his body, and that was much more accurate for understanding emotional changes.
She often noticed changes in beasts as well.
So this means he’s sincere…
But why?
Dan Chuyeong found Zhuge Munhyeon’s anger puzzling, but it wasn’t a bad feeling.
There’s no father who would dislike someone sincerely getting angry for his daughter’s sake.
“Chop up the intestines finely to make pickled fish…”
His words were getting increasingly severe.
His anger was also intensifying.
If not stopped, it felt like he would really do it himself.
“Ahem!”
Dan Chuyeong cleared the atmosphere with a fake cough and stopped Zhuge Munhyeon.
“Calm down, calm down.”
“How can I calm down? He tried to kidnap your daughter!”
“Well, that’s true, but…”
Dan Chuyeong, who had been laughing awkwardly, suddenly witnessed a strange sight.
Wooooong.
A subtle trembling and humming sound.
‘What’s that?’
It was Zhuge Munhyeon’s waist.
The decent-looking iron club was emitting a light that hadn’t been there before.
“Oh? It’s containing spirit energy?”
Dan Yeonhwa also said with a surprised expression.
The weapon had absorbed the spirit energy that seeped out when Zhuge Munhyeon became angry and was showing a reaction.
What a curious thing.
Though he couldn’t say he had seen every weapon in the world, a weapon that absorbed spirit energy…
And the one showing the most surprised expression was Chiljangjja.
His eyes are going to pop out at this rate.
Unable to move due to being suppressed by the demon pressure point technique, the veins on his face bulged out from his frantic efforts to struggle.
Well, it’s understandable to be shocked.
For a blacksmith, such an object would be something he’d never see in his entire lifetime.
“There it goes again. Can’t you stay quiet!”
Zhuge Munhyeon scolded the Silver Cold Staff.
As if addressing something alive.
“I say.”
“…Yes?”
“What exactly is that thing?”
“Ah, this?”
At Dan Chuyeong’s question, Zhuge Munhyeon briefly showed the Silver Cold Staff and said.
There was no need to hide it anyway.
Especially when it had already been revealed that he had accumulated spirit energy in his body.
“It’s a weapon bestowed by the Main House. It’s called the Silver Cold Staff.”
“Silver Cold Staff? Well, that’s quite a fine name. The Silver River, you say.”
Thanks to this, the flow of conversation changed again.
Zhuge Munhyeon, who had been glaring at Chiljangjja, turned around and sat down.
“But to think your daughter possesses the Spirit Eye, that’s truly remarkable.”
“Spirit Eye?”
“Yes.”
“…What do you mean by that?”
“Pardon?”
At the counter-question, Zhuge Munhyeon tilted his head in confusion.
Ah, he knows about the ability… but not the name?
Well, that could be possible.
The Spirit Eye is something obtained after going through the process of energy purification that purifies the energy within the body.
The eye that sees the hidden side of the world.
To be born with something that should be acquired through long cultivation.
“You’re quite different from what I expected.”
“In what way?”
“Both in containing spirit energy within your body, and in explaining the ability my daughter possesses.”
Those words filled with curiosity carried a hint of suspicion.
But Zhuge Munhyeon calmly deflected it with a faint smile.
“There are many things in this world we don’t know. Especially since this is Yunnan, isn’t it?”
“Hmm…”
At those words, Dan Chuyeong slowly nodded his head.
Yunnan.
A closed-off place.
A place that, while maintaining exchanges, lived a life separate from the Central Plains.
It wasn’t incomprehensible.
But then it happened.
Thud!
“…?”
“…”
At the sound that shook the floorboards, everyone’s gaze turned to one place.
It was Chiljangjja.
He had collapsed forward.
It was so absurd it was almost laughable.
He was clearly in a state where his demon pressure points were suppressed, yet he was moving.
But his condition wasn’t good.
Not because he had fallen forward and buried his face in the floor.
Having tried to move forcibly while his demon pressure points were suppressed, his energy and blood circulation would naturally be disrupted.
He probably couldn’t even breathe properly.
“…You should release him for now, shouldn’t you? He looks like he might die if left like that.”
“Release him? Who was it that talked about stirring up my innards to make pickled fish?”
“That’s something that can be done anytime later. Well, I’d like to hear his defense at least. Why a Taoist of his status targeted your daughter.”
“Hmm…”
Dan Chuyeong glanced at Chiljangjja with an indifferent expression and lightly flicked his finger.
With a snap!
“Puh-huhuh.”
Chiljangjja made a sound like air escaping from a punctured ball.
His blocked breathing had returned.
But before he could even finish catching his breath, Chiljangjja sprang up and rushed over with frightening momentum.
“Huh? What what?”
While stopping him would have been entirely possible, anyone would be flustered in the face of an unexpected situation.
Zhuge Munhyeon only tried to step back and respond after Chiljangjja had approached right up to his nose.
But then.
“Ei, Eight Trigrams Heaven Wheel?”
“…!”
At those words uttered while his gaze was fixed on the Silver Cold Staff, Zhuge Munhyeon stopped moving.
“The Zhuge Family gave this to you? Don’t tell me you don’t even know how to use it?”
“…”
Chiljangjja poured out questions relentlessly.
Zhuge Munhyeon’s pupils trembled finely as he stood there dazed, unable to give any answer.
What did he just say?
Eight Trigrams Heaven Wheel?
That was the same thing the Ascetic he met at Dongho Lake had said when looking at the Silver Cold Staff.
Eight Trigrams Heaven Wheel, Evil-Breaking Demon-Destroying.
It meant using the heaven’s wheel made of Eight Trigrams to break evil and destroy demons.
But how did this man know?
“Could you show me?”
He asked as if pleading, and seeming extremely tense.
It was unexpected.
If his demon pressure points and pressure points were released, he should normally start with a defense of his crimes.
Also, restraint would be appropriate.
The Heavenly Demon was staring at him with blazing eyes.
Yet he couldn’t cut off his curiosity.
As if nothing around him mattered, he was focusing solely on the Silver Cold Staff.
Was it curiosity as a blacksmith?
Or did he really know something?
It was probably the latter.
Because he knew the name.
Zhuge Munhyeon quietly looked at Chiljangjja, then drew out the Silver Cold Staff and held it out.
There was no possibility of him running away with it anyway.
Dan Chuyeong and Dan Yeonhwa also had tact, so they remained silent and just watched the two.
Chiljangjja’s complexion changed several times as he held the Silver Cold Staff in both hands and examined it carefully.
Sometimes he exclaimed in amazement, and sometimes he wore a serious expression.
“That’s right! It is the Eight Trigrams Heaven Wheel! It looks exactly like the stories that have been passed down. Yes, of course. If it weren’t the Eight Trigrams Heaven Wheel, how could it react to spirit energy and cry out?”
Continuously pouring out exclamations, he looked at the Silver Cold Staff with dreamy eyes.
I shouldn’t wait any longer.
I didn’t know how long that moment of admiration would last.
Besides, there was someone else waiting for an answer.
“Hey.”
“…Hm? Ah! Here it is. Sorry about that. Thank you for letting me examine it.”
“Ah….”
He seemed quite excited.
Chiljangjja, who had blurted out what he needed to say in a jumbled mess, returned the Silver Cold Staff.
Now what?
Until just moments ago, I didn’t care what happened to him.
I thought it would be enough to ask the Heavenly Demon for a chance to talk, then just hear what I wanted to know and be done with it.
But my mind had changed.
He seemed to know a lot about the Silver Cold Staff.
Zhuge Munhyeon glanced at Dan Chuyeong and spoke in a calm voice.
“Chiljangjja.”
“Please speak.”
“First, please sit down.”
“Ah….”
“And have a drink to calm your mind. You’re too excited.”
“Hmm….”
Only then did Chiljangjja gauge Dan Chuyeong’s reaction.
Thankfully, Dan Chuyeong merely gestured toward the wine bottle without a word.
His expression seemed to say, ‘I’ll leave it to your judgment.’
Of course, it was Zhuge Munhyeon, not Dan Yeonhwa, who filled the wine cup.
Up until now, Chiljangjja was still the shameless man who had tried to kidnap Dan Yeonhwa.
“Well then, shall we start by hearing why you tried to kidnap Miss Dan?”
That came first.
The questions about the Silver Cold Staff were put aside for the moment.
And Chiljangjja frowned and slowly shook his head.
“No, I wasn’t trying to kidnap Miss Dan.”
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————