Defying the Heavens Scholar - Chapter 33

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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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Unorthodox Student 33

Episode 33. The End of the Boundary.

At the heart of the Ten Thousand Great Mountains stood the Heavenly Demon Hall.
In its depths, where light scarcely penetrated, a single Red Lantern swayed slowly, and beneath its faint glow, a man sat in perfect stillness.

The Heavenly Demon, Dok Go Jin.

His eyes were closed. No breath could be heard, and though he occupied that space, he seemed to be nothing at all.

Before him knelt another man.
Wrapped in a Black Long Robe with half his face concealed, his head bowed low.
It was Gwak Yeom, master of the Am Yeong Gak. He remained motionless without the slightest disturbance, then slowly opened his mouth.

“I bring a report.”

His words were brief and measured. Yet the moment they left his lips, Gwak Yeom felt his own body grow unbearably heavy.

“Following entry into the northwestern mountain pass, the third disciple, Yeon Hwa Rin, has made contact with the outsider Hwang Myo Jin and the Top 10 Martial Artist Tae Jun Mu, and is currently advancing toward the Ten Thousand Great Mountains.”

The Heavenly Demon showed no reaction. His eyes remained closed, and Gwak Yeom, without hesitation, continued.

“All of the Wu Hun Force deployed by the second disciple’s command have been destroyed. During the engagement, Hwang Myo Jin appears to have analyzed the Wu Hun Force’s movements and discerned the intention behind repeated attrition warfare.”

A brief silence fell. Gwak Yeom accepted it without breaking it, pausing momentarily before resuming.

“Subsequently, the first disciple, Seol Woo Hyeon, made direct contact… and in that exchange, Hwang Myo Jin comprehended the Shadowless Empty Immortal Sword.”

The moment those words were spoken, the air within the hall trembled ever so faintly.
Gwak Yeom bowed his head lower.

“Moreover, he directly named the technique itself.”

This time the silence lengthened. It was so complete that not even the sound of the lantern swaying could be heard. From within that stillness, the Heavenly Demon’s eyes slowly opened.
It was the faintest movement, yet that change alone pressed the entire hall downward with crushing weight.

“…The Shadowless Empty Immortal Sword.”

His voice emerged low. The Heavenly Demon’s gaze cut through the darkness.

“That should be a sword technique whose very name has been forgotten even within the Demonic Cult. For an outsider to know of it…”

His tone was neither a judgment nor a question—merely a statement of fact. Yet the silence that followed carried far greater weight than the words themselves.

Gwak Yeom offered no answer. There was no place for one.
The Heavenly Demon’s gaze paused for the briefest moment, directed toward something unseen, then returned.
He closed his eyes once more, saying nothing further.

‘Man Tong would not know of the Shadowless Empty Immortal Sword, no matter how keen he is. If so, then he must have witnessed the Demonic Cult’s techniques directly somewhere.’

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Lost in thought, the Heavenly Demon’s fingertips tapped slowly against the armrest of his jade throne.

‘Even if he witnessed it directly, breaking through the Shadowless Empty Immortal Sword would not be easy. If that young fool dismantled it on his own… then he possesses a talent monstrous beyond measure. Man Tong, you still hold something I do not.’

* * *

The ridge leading toward the Ten Thousand Great Mountains grew more treacherous with each step.
When we’d first entered the mountains, it had merely been narrow with fierce winds, but after climbing for another hour or so, the path had thinned into something like a vessel carrying the mountain’s lifeblood through its very bone.
On one side rose a sheer cliff face; on the other, a slope densely packed with dark conifers.
A single misstep would send you tumbling into the void below.
Yet the three of us moved without hesitation. Yeon Hwa Rin’s pace ahead remained steady, and though Tae Jun Mu’s strides appeared rough, they carried a steadiness that was almost unnatural.

‘This silence can’t be right.’

Even as I climbed with them, I kept scanning our surroundings.
I could forgive Seol Woo Hyeon for his absence, but Dok Go Hwan—the man who had created the Wu Hun Force—would never simply let them go. There had to be another move.

Crack!

And right on cue.
A sharp, piercing crack split the air from the cliff face above.
I twisted my body in almost the same instant. A white flash scraped past the edge of my vision and gouged a clean line through the rock behind me.
Again came the sharp screech, and stone fragments showered down like rain. Through that debris, three black shadows descended simultaneously.
They were unmistakably the Wu Hun Force we’d clashed with before.
Tae Jun Mu broke into laughter.

“Of course. There’s no way Dok Go Hwan sits still for this.”

With that, his body rocketed forward.
He launched himself off the stone and drove his fist toward the frontmost warrior.
It was no ordinary punch. The air itself compressed before contact, and the warrior who took the impact head-on saw his chest cave inward before he was hurled backward.
Yeon Hwa Rin’s blade flashed like a crescent moon beside him. The second warrior’s neck severed cleanly.

I faced the last one directly. His sword was fast and economical—no wasted motion. Yet there was no emotion in it either.
No killing intent, no hesitation, no urgency. Just a clean line aimed at my vital point.
I sidestepped and slipped in beside him.
Short distance, short arc. Where the blade had passed, a thin line of blood opened, and his body collapsed.

It ended quickly, but there was no time to catch our breath.
Another presence surged from the lower slope to the left, and almost simultaneously, two sets of footsteps closed in from the path behind.
I stepped back and turned my gaze. Front blocked, rear closing, sides being flanked.
It wasn’t simply a matter of throwing numbers at us. These men were systematically eliminating every direction we could move.
Tae Jun Mu kicked at a Black Long Robe that lay nearby and asked.

“Now they’re openly blocking the way. You see it?”
“Yes. It seems they have no intention of letting us through from here.”
“Actually, it’s the opposite.”

Yeon Hwa Rin deflected one man’s blade as she spoke.
Her sword completed its arc and severed the warrior’s wrist.

“They’re preventing us from entering the Main Sect.”
“…They mean to pin us down on the outer perimeter?”

At my words, Yeon Hwa Rin nodded.

“Miss Yeon.”
“Yes?”
“Why would they specifically want to trap us on the outer perimeter?”

Rather than answer, Yeon Hwa Rin drew her blade in a wide arc. The warrior charging from the front split open at the shoulder, blood spraying outward. Without even glancing at the blood, she answered coolly.

“The Demonic Cult’s Main Sect operates differently than the outer regions. In the perimeter, force decides everything. Whoever kills whom, whoever survives—that is justice.”

Tae Jun Mu raised an eyebrow with interest.
Yeon Hwa Rin’s voice continued.

“But once you enter the Main Sect, everything changes. Inside, you cannot act carelessly. Any unauthorized conflict becomes not a personal dispute, but an immediate violation of the sect’s law. The moment anyone crosses that line, they will be held accountable.”

I drew her meaning in my mind as our blades clashed, and the reason behind it became clear almost at once.

“Then Dok Go Hwan will keep trying to detain us here.”
“Most likely, yes…….”

As Yeon Hwa Rin exhaled a long sigh, Tae Jun Mu let out a hollow laugh.

“So, Hwang Myo Jin—do you have a plan?”
“You speak as though you’ve entrusted me with something of great value, sir.”
“Of course you’ve thought of something—someone like you always does!”

At Tae Jun Mu’s hearty laughter, a smile escaped me unbidden.
I parried a blade descending from above and spoke.

“We have to enter the Main Sect.”

Tae Jun Mu laughed again.

“I already knew that much. The question is how.”
“Is there a way for us to enter with legitimate standing?”

Yeon Hwa Rin’s eyes wavered for just a moment. She offered no evasion.

“My bringing you is itself justification and reason. A disciple’s guest is no mere outsider, after all.”

I nodded briefly.

“That will suffice.”

Tae Jun Mu wrenched the neck of a Black-robed warrior and hurled him aside before asking.

“That will suffice?”
“Because what we’re about to do is a direct breakthrough.”
“So that’s why you asked?”
“Precisely. I wanted to avoid complications from within the sect itself.”

I steadied my breath and called out.

“Lady Yeon, you open the way at the front. Elder Tae, expand it wide. I’ll seal any gaps.”

Tae Jun Mu answered with laughter. Yeon Hwa Rin responded with a nod.
The three of us moved as one.

Yeon Hwa Rin’s crimson energy spread low and thin, overwhelming the two warriors blocking the path with unified pressure.
Tae Jun Mu drove in beside her, widening the path like stone breaking under force. His fists and feet were no mere strikes—wherever they landed, space trembled. The warriors were pushed back, and the ridge formations crumbled.

I carved through the gaps with precision. I severed the wrist of one trying to close the opening Yeon Hwa Rin had made, deflected a blade-tip aimed at Tae Jun Mu’s flank, and took a throat in its place. Though we seemed to fight separately, we moved as a single organism.

The path opened inch by inch.
Yet it did not end there.
From the ridge ahead and above, a flood of presences poured down. This time, nearly ten of them. The problem was not their number, but the rhythm—each time we pushed through, the next wave descended to fill the gap.
Tae Jun Mu bared his teeth.

“This truly never ends.”

Rather than answer his complaint, I read their movements with finer precision.

He blocks.
He presses in.
He closes the gap.

It was like a ship forced through a narrow channel, pressed from both sides, pinned to its place by invisible hands. And that structure meant one thing: someone was conducting this orchestra from above.

Then it had to be Dok Go Hwan himself, manipulating them directly.
I couldn’t grasp the method by which he wielded them so perfectly in unison, but this went beyond suspicion. It was certainty.

“I’ll watch the front. Abandon the flanks and rear.”
“Agreed.”
“A relief to hear you say it.”

Yeon Hwa Rin and Tae Jun Mu answered my command without hesitation.

The three of us drove deeper.
Yeon Hwa Rin’s blade cleaved the path forward; Tae Jun Mu’s strength widened the opening; I flowed through and dismantled those who came too close. One strike wasn’t enough, so we made it two. Two became three. Pressing relentlessly forward, the current along the ridge began to shift. The line of defense buckled backward. The boundary between outer and inner drew within sight.
The barrier that held us back was being pushed further away. The frontier itself came rushing toward us.
And a single ancient stele, rising high above the ridge, stood as a monument to where that boundary ended.

Demon Heaven Gate.

Yeon Hwa Rin spoke quietly.

“Just a little further!”

Tae Jun Mu’s smile had already faded. This was no longer combat. This was a breakthrough.
A head-on collision over a single path, and if we stopped here, we’d fall back and begin again from the start.
I hurled myself toward the front. Blades sang past. An enemy’s arm fell. Blood scattered into the wind.
Yet my center held firm. Winning wasn’t what mattered now. Breaking through was.
And then, when the boundary drew so close I could almost touch it, the Qi surrounding us shifted.
The invisible veil that had blanketed this entire section shuddered as if torn in two, and from within it, a single figure emerged at a leisurely pace.

A black long robe. Sleeves flowing to their full length. Hair arranged with measured precision.
And a face that neither smiled nor frowned.
Yet the moment that face came into view, the air itself transformed.

Yeon Hwa Rin’s footsteps halted. Tae Jun Mu’s eyes hardened to stone.
I, too, raised the point of my blade without thinking.

Dok Go Hwan.

He came to rest at the boundary as naturally as if he had stood there since ages past.
The black-clad warriors around us held their breath in unison, and the pressure that had gripped this entire ridge suddenly found its center, crystallizing into a single, terrible clarity.

Dok Go Hwan’s gaze swept across us, one by one. It lingered first on Tae Jun Mu.

“How extraordinary that one of the Top 10 Martial Artists should grace our humble mountain paths in person. The Ten Thousand Great Mountains must be quite the talk of the realm.”

His voice was soft. Too soft. It turned the stomach.
Tae Jun Mu let out a sharp, bitter laugh.

“To hear courteous words from your lips—I must have lived far longer than I thought. When I saw you last, you were a snot-nosed child.”
“Ah. That would be fifteen years past, then. At Shin Gang, when you laid eyes upon my master and didn’t so much as blink.”
“Cursed worm……”

The humiliation of that day flashed across his mind, and Tae Jun Mu’s face flushed crimson.
As his anger burned, Dok Go Hwan’s gaze shifted to Yeon Hwa Rin.

“You too, Yeon Hwa Rin—you’ve gone to some trouble escorting our guests this far. Rest now. Go inside.”

Yeon Hwa Rin’s eyes turned cold as ice.

“If you refuse.”

The corner of Dok Go Hwan’s mouth lifted, barely perceptible.

“Then perhaps you’ll simply suffer a bit more here.”

Now his gaze fell on me—eyes that concealed a chilling killing intent beneath their surface.
Where Seol Woo Hyeon was a man who stripped away appearances to read what lay beneath, Dok Go Hwan emanated a cruder hunger: the desire to destroy a person utterly, to wring out their inner depths regardless of the cost.
He spoke quietly.

“Prince Hwang. I confess I’ve been curious about your worth.”

I stepped forward.

“And what has my value been to you thus far?”

Dok Go Hwan did not smile. Instead, he spoke with deliberate slowness.

“Not without merit.”

Those words were no compliment. They meant only that I had become worth keeping alive.
Tae Jun Mu leaned forward slightly.

“Then why not simply step aside?”

Dok Go Hwan shook his head.

“Ha! Master Tae, you’ve grown witty in our time apart. Surely you don’t expect me to do that?”

At those words, Yeon Hwa Rin raised her blade.

“Then let us settle this here and now.”
“Ah… Hwa Rin, you’ve never been one for patience.”

Dok Go Hwan’s eyes deepened. He raised one hand with deliberate slowness.
At that same moment, three figures emerged from behind him, walking toward us.
Yeon Hwa Rin’s eyes flared with sudden force as she beheld them.

“The Am Yeong Gak….”

A question seized me. Those who belonged to the Am Yeong Gak—were they not servants only the Heavenly Demon could command? Yet on what authority could Dok Go Hwan move them?
Seeing the doubt written across Yeon Hwa Rin’s face, Dok Go Hwan smiled thinly and nodded.

“Fear not. These ones exhausted their usefulness long ago. I conducted experiments on them only after obtaining my Master’s permission.”
“How could the Master possibly….”
“Did the Master not command you? To restore the Demonic Cult’s martial arts by any means necessary?”

As those drained figures stepped forward, the very air grew heavy.
And with them, Dok Go Hwan’s voice thundered across the mountain.

“Show me your worth if you wish to enter the Main Sect!”

I adjusted my grip on my blade, silent and steady.

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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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