Ranker Who Shatters Myths - Chapter 226
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Broken Ranker
Devours Myths
Chapter 226
Heavenly Dokkaebi (1)
The words he casually threw out about using himself as collateral, followed by what he added at the end.
Bull Demon King’s eyes widened, then he covered his face with his hands and burst into loud laughter.
“Pahaha!”
His laughter echoed thunderously.
“Hahahaha!!!”
When was the last time he laughed out loud like this?
It seemed like the first time since losing his family.
Because he felt he shouldn’t be happy.
Because being joyful felt like harming his family.
He had deliberately avoided all such situations…
This cunning fellow had finally made him burst into laughter.
What a truly cunning fellow.
“What’s so funny? I’m being completely serious here.”
Lee Hyeon, who had actually said those words, grumbled with a rather displeased tone.
Bull Demon King snorted with an expression that was either laughter or mockery.
“How absolutely ridiculous! Pretending to sacrifice yourself while actually picking only the profitable parts, what wicked intentions!”
“Profitable? That’s hurtful to say. I’m sacrificing myself entirely for everyone’s sake.”
Lee Hyeon continued while feigning innocence.
“Isn’t it risking my life by bowing my head to an enemy who hates my master?”
It wasn’t exactly wrong either.
A master-disciple contract meant becoming more intimate than an apostle contract.
Since they would become spiritually closer, if a being like Bull Demon King caused harm, the person on the other side would be helplessly vulnerable.
“Of course, in exchange for taking such risks, I’m only claiming very minor benefits.”
“Taking the sacred relics and divine authority of Bull Demon King, and you call that minor benefits?”
“Even then, I can only receive what Bull Demon King graciously bestows upon me, can’t I? I don’t have great expectations either. Well, maybe something like Honyaosan?”
Bull Demon King snorted as if finding it absurd.
“What a daylight robber.”
“Maybe because I only got half of it, but its function really can’t keep up with the Golden Eyes of Truth. It needs emergency maintenance.”
“Are you trying to provoke me by comparing it to the youngest’s sacred relic?”
“Why would you take it that way? I was just thinking you might prove you have a bigger heart than someone who was once the youngest… Oops! I made a mistake. I accidentally spoke my inner thoughts.”
Bull Demon King clicked his tongue looking at Lee Hyeon’s grinning face.
“You brat, were you always this sly?”
“I don’t think I was completely stubborn.”
Lee Hyeon grinned.
Seeing that expression,
“…”
Bull Demon King’s face returned to expressionless for a moment.
Because someone else kept overlapping with Lee Hyeon’s face.
* * *
The youngest.
Great Sage Equal to Heaven Son Wukong.
How could he be so similar to that immature stone monkey from back then…
-Big brother!
-Big brother?
-Ah, come on! What are you trying to do by pulling cards from the bottom there!
-How have you been living with these disobedient bunch all this time?
-Huh? I’m the most disobedient among them? What kind of nonsense is that…!
-No, eldest brother! If you do that there!!
Laughing together, crying together, chattering together.
And finally even grieving together.
In his youth, he thought this was the closest and most compatible among his brothers,
But after having a family, they inevitably grew apart.
Bull Demon King often sat in his retreat, the Flaming Mountains, gazing at the star-studded night sky.
Unlike himself who had completely found a home on the surface, his youngest brother had gone to such heights, sitting on Buddha’s throne with a demon’s body.
Surely their starting lines were similar. No, he himself had been much higher.
Why were their positions completely different after hundreds of years had passed?
He didn’t regret staying on this land for his family.
His wife’s laughter and his son’s antics were happiness that couldn’t be traded for the entire world.
But.
Sometimes he would think such thoughts.
If he too had wandered around like the youngest, saying the world was too small.
If he had freely burned the ambition remaining in one corner of his heart.
Would he have been different from now?
And,
What would that appearance have looked like?
But now it was all just pointless delusion.
Bull Demon King would crumple up all such lingering attachments, send them flowing into the night sky, and return to reality.
But…
‘A human who keeps making me recall those youthful days.’
Bull Demon King had to admit inwardly.
This cunning human with his wicked tongue,
Had somehow bewitched him.
‘At this rate… I can’t tell who’s the demon and who’s the human.’
Originally, he had planned to lure this fellow with various things and take him to Gehenna.
But when he came to his senses, hadn’t he ended up on the other side instead?
But it didn’t feel bad.
No, it actually felt good.
Was that why?
Throb.
Bull Demon King felt his left chest tighten.
It was guilt.
‘I am a sinner.’
So he had to put away this feeling he had for just a brief moment.
‘A sinner who has no right to be happy…’
His dead wife and son were still shedding tears of blood in the middle of hot hellfire, waiting for him to come.
So,
For the day he would go to meet them again.
To bring the Jade Emperor’s head as a gift in his hands, his mind must not waver.
Flash!!
Dark blue flames erupted again from Bull Demon King’s deeply sunken eyes.
“Good. If you’re volunteering to offer your neck yourself, there’s no reason for me to refuse.”
In an instant, the Bull Demon King brought his hand to his right eye.
Squelch!
And then came the horrifying sound that followed.
Crunch—
“Here, this is the other half of Honyaosan that you wanted.”
“…I didn’t ask you to go this far.”
In the Bull Demon King’s outstretched right hand was his eyeball.
It wriggled like a living creature, looking this way and that before spotting Lee Hyeon and fixing its gaze on him.
Truly bizarre movements, like those of a demon’s body.
Lee Hyeon looked at the Bull Demon King with a disgusted expression.
His face was covered in blood and deeply frowning.
“Are you planning to continue abusing yourself so cruelly?”
“Are you saying you won’t take it?”
“…”
“Why? Does seeing this disgust you? Or despite your words, are you scared now that it’s time to put on the leash?”
The Bull Demon King twisted one corner of his mouth in a bitter smile.
“If it’s the former, don’t worry—my eye will regenerate anyway. But if it’s the latter… that would be disappointing. I hate braggarts more than anything in the world.”
Lee Hyeon looked at the Bull Demon King with a hardened expression, then let out a deep sigh and took his eye.
He couldn’t understand what the Bull Demon King was thinking, tearing out his own eye with his own hands.
It seemed there were still many hurdles to overcome to get deep into his heart.
‘But this will help me leap over all those hurdles.’
The moment he grasped the Bull Demon King’s right eye with that thought,
Whoosh!!
His left eye heated up as if it had been heated by flames.
[‘Sacred Relic: Noeancheongjeong’ has discovered the other half of Honyaosan and is beginning to show a strong reaction!]
[A sudden event has occurred!]
[Oma King wishes to make you his confidant.]
[The confidant contract begins now.]
[The Bull Demon King has requested completing Honyaosan as a condition for the contract.]
[From now on, successfully absorb the remaining Honyaosan to complete the incomplete Noeancheongjeong.]
At the same time, messages filled his retina.
Ding!
Ding!
Among them were warning messages, not just notification messages.
[Warning! The Great Sage Who Pacifies Heaven, Bull Demon King, is currently in a hostile relationship with your predecessor ■■Great■ ■ukong. Please be cautious.]
[Warning! Unknown secret arts are inscribed in Honyaosan. Upon acquisition, the secret arts may endanger you.]
[Warning! The Bull Demon King intends to place restrictions on you. The Golden Headband may not be able to prevent this.]
[Warning! Demon Slayer is reacting with Honyaosan…]
…
[Activating Golden Eyes of Truth to analyze the identity of the secret arts hidden in Honyaosan.]
[The Golden Headband assists in the analysis.]
[Analyzing.]
…
[Failed.]
[The secret arts grade of Honyaosan is too high. Proficiency is insufficient.]
[Retrying.]
…
Even using the Golden Eyes of Truth, Lee Hyeon couldn’t see through Honyaosan.
This meant that the Honyaosan in his hand was that remarkable.
‘It’s not simply a replica stolen from a clone, but the real Honyaosan… So it’s natural, I suppose.’
With restrictions added to control Lee Hyeon, it would be much heavier too.
However,
Lee Hyeon saw this as an opportunity.
‘Not only can I complete the half-finished Noeancheongjeong, but I can raise its grade by several levels. And… if I can glimpse the Bull Demon King’s secret arts system, the range of Curse Incantations will expand accordingly.’
The question was how much this would hurt…
Lee Hyeon looked at Kim Min-jeong, who was still completing her mutation in pain, and nodded.
He couldn’t show his junior a pathetic side.
Whoo—
After taking a long breath, Lee Hyeon brought Honyaosan to his right eye.
Flash!!
At that moment, sparks flew before his eyes.
After that, his memory was blank for a very brief moment.
Instead, Honyaosan was pushing into Lee Hyeon’s eye, into the place where the Golden Eyes of Truth resided.
Crunch!
“…!!!”
Lee Hyeon bit down hard on his teeth from the indescribable, terrible pain.
The pain was incomparably more terrible than when he had obtained only half of Honyaosan.
The eye is the organ with the most concentrated nervous system in the human body, and it’s also directly connected to the brain.
Naturally, the moment of replacement would be terribly painful.
However,
‘I’ll completely merge it with the Golden Eyes of Truth!!’
Lee Hyeon tried to make this his own by any means.
Whirrrr!!
Above his head.
The Golden Headband spun fiercely, creating white heat.
[Thinking speed increases.]
[Sensory reception becomes more sensitive.]
Lee Hyeon completely disassembled the two sacred relics of different origins and reassembled them into one.
It was a series of terrible pains where his consciousness flew away several times and he wanted to tear apart and throw away his body,
but fortunately, since he already had the completed result called Noeancheongjeong, he could accelerate the work speed…
Flash! Flash!!
Dark blue lightning repeatedly sparked and died around Lee Hyeon’s right eye.
[Honyaosan has been completely dismantled and combined with the Golden Eyes of Truth.]
[Congratulations! Noeancheongjeong has been completed.]
[Grade is being readjusted.]
…
[This is an ‘original’ sacred relic, not a replica.]
[A large amount of 【Journey to the West】 mythology has been acquired.]
[You have acquired the ■■ Great ■’s karma.]
[By acquiring a large amount of ■■ Great ■’s karma, your understanding of the existing 4 Great Sacred Relics greatly increases.]
…
[You have received recognition from Oma King.]
[You have successfully completed the confidant contract!]
[You have obtained Bull Demon’s Great Killing Intent as a reward. Your magic power coefficient increases dramatically.]
[The density of your magic power becomes thicker.]
[The purity of your magic power becomes clearer.]
…
[You have completely mastered the concept of demonic energy.]
…
[You have achieved a great Achievement. All stats increase by 10.]
[You have successfully discovered the secret arts engraved in Honyaosan. Your understanding is still insufficient, so interpretation has failed.]
[Currently analyzing the system by comparing it with Curse Incantations.]
…
Amidst the endlessly pouring messages,
Lee Hyeon felt an intense sensation as if lightning had passed through the crown of his head.
Kwarrrung!!
“…!!!”
It was like an enlightenment that came suddenly.
And he knew intuitively.
Just now, by completing Noeancheongjeong, he had now set one foot into the realm of demons.
Inhuman.
Or he had gained part of the mysterious.
And,
Usually in Korean Peninsula folk beliefs, such people were called by this name.
‘…Dokkaebi.’
Both of Lee Hyeon’s eyes were completely dyed deep blue, and lightning sparks flew roughly around his eyes.
[The legacy ‘Goblin Dance Formation’ has acquired a new form of calamity!]
[The legacy attempts to transform into a new form.]
[It begins to take on some attributes of myth or legend.]
…
[No similar legacy has been found.]
[To transform into a new form of narrative, it begins to newly edit previously recorded Achievements and narratives.]
[Current narrative grade: 【Folk Tale】]
…
[Your Achievements recorded in the 【Heavenly Tablet】 now begin to take the form of a proper narrative.]
[【Beginning】 is being narrated!]
Pushing aside the various messages,
the largest message appeared in the center.
[Narrative: Heavenly Dokkaebi.]
[The legacy ‘Good Day for Dokkaebi to Play’ has been born!]
Kurrrrung-
Blue-white lightning burst out like tangled threads centered around Lee Hyeon,
eventually becoming a Lightning Storm that filled the Dark Sanctuary of the Demon King with bright light and filled it with loud noise.
The sound seemed
like a dokkaebi in the sky bursting with angry roars.
Kwarrrrrrung!!
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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