Heavenly Demon Divine Saint - Chapter 108

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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 108
Hyegong furrowed his brow, unable to conceal his alarm.
‘Breath Absorption… so that’s what this is.’
Sari’s spiritual power was seeping into Cheon So-hyun’s palms.
The technique of plundering another’s inner energy was classified in Jianghu as a heretical and forbidden art, despised by all righteous practitioners.
Rather than accumulating martial prowess through ascetic discipline, one sought to forcibly steal the cultivation of others—such a philosophy was a desecration of the martial way itself.
And yet.
‘It’s different.’
Cheon So-hyun’s Breath Absorption diverged fundamentally from those heretical techniques.
There was no greedy, ravenous devouring of energy. Instead, I sensed a resolute restraint—a commitment to refine every fragment to its absolute limit, to advance with perfect purity even if only a single grain remained.
To steal another’s vital force while pursuing restraint as one’s goal? Such a contradiction.
The moment Hyegong’s bewilderment surfaced at this paradoxical technique.
“Gaaahhhhh!”
Cheon So-hyun convulsed, his scream tearing through clenched teeth.
“W-wait, Cheon So-hyun!”
Hyegong rushed forward in alarm, catching his trembling body.
He attempted to sever Hye Gwang’s hand from Sari, but the palm remained fused as though cemented, utterly immobile.
“This won’t do. I’ll channel energy into you. Endure it as long as you can!”
Brilliant golden light blazed across Hyegong’s clasped hands. The moment he reached toward Cheon So-hyun’s back—
“Don’t lay a hand on me!”
Cheon So-hyun shrieked, his body convulsing.
“Cheon So-hyun, what are you saying? This is no time for stubbornness. At this rate, you’re in mortal danger!”
“If I say don’t, then don’t! *Cough!* This is… this is a trial I must overcome alone!”
“…A trial?”
Cheon So-hyun answered, cold sweat pouring down his face.
“My Master’s will is something only I can fully receive. There must be a reason this calamity has befallen me. I will find a way through this, so please step back.”
“But—”
“How could I ever accomplish anything if I escape suffering through another’s intervention? Step back. I will do this alone.”
A flicker of something profound crossed Hyegong’s eyes.
Cheon So-hyun’s capillaries had ruptured, his veins bulging grotesquely, blood trickling from the corners of his mouth.
His life hung as precariously as a candle before the wind—no, like a flame facing a tempest.
Yet his resolve remained unshaken. Even as he floundered in an ocean of agony, he persisted in manifesting his will, and this sight moved Hyegong profoundly.
As a Buddhist who understood intimately how difficult it was to cultivate while confronting pain directly, Hyegong could only marvel.
And yet, contrary to his admiration—
‘Damn it all, who did I anger to deserve this?’
Cheon So-hyun swallowed his curses while controlling his spiritual power.
Within him, pitch-black demonic energy and radiant golden light clashed and intertwined, devouring one another. His meridians burned, his bones seemed to melt, and the vivid agony accelerated his breathing to a frantic pace.
And now they wanted to pour more energy into him?
“It’s almost finished, so please move away!”
Cheon So-hyun wielded the Returning Breath Returning Truth technique with even greater precision.
‘I must accept it faster, faster still.’
The Exhaustive Absorption Returning to Dust.
A supreme technique embodying the martial principle of drawing external qi and converting it into one’s own essence. Since mastering the Exhaustive Absorption Returning to Dust, I had felt frustration with my speed, but never doubt in its efficacy.
Even if the process was slow—burning away external qi with the Wuling Divine Art’s fierce flames before accepting it into my dantian—there had never been any strain whatsoever.
But now.
BOOM!
The dharmic power that had reached the Diamond Indestructible Body transcended imagination in its density and purity.
Qi infused with the resolve to annihilate all singular things between heaven and earth. Divine Fist’s dharmic power trampled, crushed, and incinerated my Wuling Divine Art, surging forward relentlessly.
The terrible agony made Cheon So-hyun’s vision flash crimson.
‘At this rate, I’ll die. Then…!’
I had to draw it into my dantian. It was my only way out.
BOOM! BOOM!
I hammered my dantian with Divine Fist’s dharmic power.
Once, and then again.
I struck the empty void of my half-formed dantian repeatedly. It was utterly impossible to accept dharmic power where the Wuling Divine Art had already seeped in.
‘Break through!’
Even as I had chafed against the dantian’s limitations, I had never dared dream of such a method.
Piercing through the dantian’s walls with mere qi?
It was impossible. Like the foolish notion of boring through a fortress wall with a stream of water.
But now, the circumstances were different.
The Great Ocean.
Not merely a stream. It was as though the sea surrounding the continent itself had risen in a tidal wave that seemed to touch the heavens, crashing down upon me.
BOOM! CRASH!
‘AAAAHHHHH!’
Rather than piercing a hole, my dantian would shatter entirely. Cheon So-hyun clenched his teeth, barely clinging to consciousness.
At that moment, Hyegong struck away the cascade of falling rocks with a palm strike. The intensifying impact and windstorm made the chamber tremble as though it might collapse.
“Cheon, patron! This is too dangerous! The cave won’t hold much longer! If you cannot extract it, wouldn’t it be better to leave with Sari?”
“Cough! That’s impossible. Do you not understand what it means to leave now…?”
We had sealed the entrance and arranged the 108 Arhat Formation with meticulous care.
The moment Hye Gwang’s Sari deviates from its designated position, all the effort and time my senior brothers poured into this becomes worthless.
“It doesn’t matter!”
Yet Hyegong’s resolve remained firm.
“Don’t concern yourself with that. No matter how precious the Sari, it cannot be worth more than a living person’s life. Your master would wish the same!”
At his earnest sincerity, Cheon So-hyun clenched his teeth even harder.
‘Yes, this is the kind of person he is.’
This was precisely why I trusted and followed him so completely. The senior brothers outside the cave were no different. I could not afford to let any of them come to harm.
Cheon So-hyun’s eyes flashed with dark brilliance.
“Almost, almost there. Just wait quietly. Your chatter is distracting me—please stop!”
Hyegong stared at him intently.
Such stubborn resolve. Seeing his determination and manner of speech so perfectly mirror his master’s own, Hyegong found himself unable to press further.
“Very well. Then let us see this through to the end. I shall stand guard beside you.”
Hyegong pressed his palms together and released his spiritual energy outward, carefully monitoring the surroundings to respond before the cave collapsed.
Moments later.
“Abbot Senior Brother! The mountain is trembling!”
Shaolin monks rushed into the cave, their minds reeling from the force that shook the entire Songshan Mountain as they pressed inward.
“You must evacuate! The cave will collapse soon!”
Hyegong’s gaze alternated between Cheon So-hyun, who continued to draw in breath, and the Shaolin disciples who had rushed to him.
“That is impossible.”
“…Pardon?”
“You must leave. I alone am sufficient to hold this place. It will not take long.”
“But…!”
Crash! Crash!
A massive boulder falling above Cheon So-hyun’s head crumbled to dust beneath Hyegong’s fist force.
“Obey my command!”
In that precarious moment, they exchanged glances with one another. Soon they nodded briefly, yet instead turned their steps deeper into the cave.
Hyegong’s eyes flashed with anger as he looked upon them.
“These fools… do you dare defy the Abbot’s orders?”
Hyemyung, the Master of the Arhat Hall, approached his side with a subtle smile.
“Since when have you become so authoritarian? It does not suit you—stop glaring and come with us.”
“He is right, Abbot.”
Losing the Abbot would render any escape meaningless.
Having once lost the pillar they believed would steadfastly guard that place, they could not abandon him now.
Hyegong looked around at them all, then sighed softly. They were as stubborn as his senior brother—every last one of them.
“Obstinate fools. We shall see about this later.”
“Yes, as many times as you wish. We shall accept any punishment gladly.”
“Then what must we do?”
“We must protect Benefactor Cheon. Hye Gwang’s spiritual power is raging—form a formation and suppress it!”
“Yes!”
Hye’s generation. Hye Gwang’s senior and junior brothers formed a circle, each taking a cardinal direction. None of them questioned what had transpired.
What mattered now was obeying the Abbot’s command and suppressing the spiritual force.
A resolve began to shine brilliantly through the cave—a determination to endure even if it meant bearing the cave’s weight upon their heads.
“…”
Cheon So-hyun gazed upon them with trembling eyes. Hyemyung and Hye Jin, Hye Gak, and the other stalwart senior brothers stood beside him.
Familiar faces. The spiritual power they emanated seeped into Cheon So-hyun’s meridians like a gentle comfort.
“Cough!”
Yet the power of the 108 Arhat Formation was no different from deadly poison to him, who harbored demonic energy.
Thud! Thud thud!
The warm yet longing energy became blades that tore through his insides. His vision flooded with crimson, and his focus blurred.
‘It is fine. Even so… it is fine.’
Overwhelming agony erupted as though death would claim him at any moment, yet his breath remained open.
The core of the 108 Arhat Formation was to amplify the monks’ qi while simultaneously suppressing the opponent’s vital energy. Thanks to the formation weakening Sari’s power, my burden had lessened considerably.
‘This is my chance!’
Boom! Boom!
A tremendous cascade of spiritual force crashed down upon me. The sensation was like dozens of awls piercing beneath my fingernails—my muscles and bones screamed in agony.
‘Ugh!’
I had already far surpassed the limits of my mortal flesh.
Recalling The Demon Master, who had repeatedly shattered his boundaries while bearing impossible weight, I ignited the Gwangak Gyeol.
‘I must endure!’
Then, compressing my spiritual force through the Red Palace Unobstructed Technique, I drove it even more sharply into my Dantian.
Whoosh!
The Wuling Divine Art governed the entire process.
Extreme yang fire forged from the Demonic Sect’s supreme art. Amplifying and re-amplifying the Wuling qi based on the insights I had gleaned from Namgung Seon-wi, I stoked the flames of my power against the torrent of spiritual force like striking flint against steel.
I was pouring forth every technique I had ever mastered.
And finally.
Crack.
A fissure appeared in the solid barrier.
A hairline fracture, no wider than a millet seed, etched itself across my Dantian’s surface.
It was but a gossamer-thin gap, yet it sufficed. Like light seeping into darkness, spiritual force began to pour through the breach.
Crackle!
In that instant, a black radiance erupted from my entire body.
A luminescence that wavered like roaring flames. The golden light and tempestuous winds Sari unleashed made it difficult to discern with the naked eye, yet its presence was unmistakable.
That light collided and intermingled with the golden radiance, gradually shifting in hue.
“What… what is that?”
“Abbot, what is happening?”
Hyegong’s eyes widened.
It was not the strange luminescence enveloping Cheon So-hyun that had startled him.
Crack! Pop!
His body convulsed and twisted. His bones shattered and swelled, then realigned and contracted in an endless cycle.
It was a sight both grotesque and supremely rare—a miraculous phenomenon that a warrior would scarcely experience once in a lifetime.
“… Bone Replacement and Fetal Transformation?”
His flesh was being reconstructed to accommodate the incoming spiritual force!
The aura suffusing his entire body took on a verdant green hue, like the hushed forest of early dawn.
Joy suddenly flooded across his anguished expression.
‘The Third Realm!’
At last, I had reached the third stage of the Wuling Divine Art.
Whether I had ascended to the third realm by accepting the spiritual force, or whether reaching the third realm had enabled me to accept it, I could not discern.
But this was no time for celebration.
“Watch out! Danger!”
Rumble! Rumble!!
Sari’s spiritual force had not yet subsided.
‘Damn it all—is this still not enough?’
Hye Gwang’s entire being erupted into a tempestuous gale.
It was only natural. An absolute master who had once debated the fate of the Realm had achieved the Diamond Indestructible Body at the twilight of his existence, transcending the boundaries of past and present.
No matter how precipitously one’s power had grown, the vessel could never be vast enough to contain it all.
Cheon So-hyun’s face drained of color as he glanced toward his senior brothers.
This was perilous. They needed a different approach.
‘There is no other choice.’
He made his decision and began to radiate the spiritual essence he had been restraining. In an instant, a wave of qi that purified both body and mind flooded the chamber.
This was possible because the dharmic power dwelling in his Dantian resonated with his will.
“This… this is…!”
The Martial Monks of Shaolin gasped in awe. It was the Prajna Great Power—the unique aura born from Shaolin’s supreme meditation technique, Hye Gwang’s signature manifestation.
And then.
[Listen well, you bald-headed senior brothers.]
A voice resonated.
“…!”
The voice pierced not through the ears, but through the heart itself, ringing with crystalline clarity even amidst the deafening roar and tremors. A voice so achingly familiar.
“Senior… Senior Brother?!”
Hyegong’s eyes widened as if they might tear. Hyemyung, the master of the Arhat Hall, reacted no differently. Indeed, every Martial Monk of Shaolin felt the same.
[You foolish-faced lot.]
They recognized the voice’s source at once.
This was no mere sound transmission.
It was the Six Harmonies Transmitted Voice, the Heart Speech of Hye Gwang—a technique only those who had awakened the Other-Mind Perception among Buddhism’s Six Divine Penetrations could achieve.
“Is it truly you, Senior Brother?!”

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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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