Heavenly Demon Divine Saint - Chapter 17

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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 17
Cheon Mu-tan drew his right shoulder back before unleashing a strike as swift as lightning.
A sharp crack split the air!
Yet he found himself blocked once more by a palm technique sweeping in from the side.
As his offensives were repeatedly thwarted, confusion flickered across Cheon Mu-tan’s eyes.
‘Why?’
What was the reason?
This man had only just crawled out of his sickbed.
His breathing was labored and ragged, his thighs trembling visibly—a clear testament to how difficult it was for him to maintain his balance.
Yet why did it feel as though he were facing an impenetrable wall?
Cheon Mu-tan gathered his demonic energy and twisted his entire body with renewed force.
“You insignificant wretch!”
Cheon So-hyun calmly received the tempestuous assault that crashed down upon him like a storm.
Sa Ma-ryang watched this exchange with admiration.
‘Extraordinary martial skill indeed.’
Though the palm technique was unfamiliar, he could discern at a glance that it possessed profound subtlety.
He defended with precision while adhering to minimal movement. His motions contained no excess, and his energy circulation was utterly efficient—a display of remarkable economy of force.
If this exchange of offense and defense continued, who would exhaust themselves first?
It was a question requiring no deliberation. Sa Ma-ryang clenched his fist and fixed his gaze upon the Third Prince.
Cheon So-hyun maintained a composed expression throughout, blocking not only Cheon Mu-tan’s fist techniques and kicks, but also his cunning footwork.
He appeared as solid as an impregnable fortress.
‘Amitabha Buddha! Amitabha Buddha!!’
Yet his mind was in considerable turmoil.
‘Amitabha Buddha!!’
Blocking the attacks of this crude demon was hardly difficult.
He easily discerned the feints woven between strikes, the openings created when fists were withdrawn, and the deceptions executed while rolling his eyes.
But that was all he could manage.
‘What a damnable situation.’
He was so preoccupied with defense that he could not attempt a single counterattack. At his current level, merely maintaining defense was all he could achieve.
A tremendous boom echoed!
“Khehe.”
Cheon Mu-tan let out a mocking laugh, as if he had perceived this.
“You’ve mastered martial arts befitting your station. Cowering away and wasting time suits you perfectly. Now that I see it, calling you an isolated lizard was wrong—a turtle would be more apt.”
His crimson eyes blazed as he relentlessly drove his fists forward.
“Tuck your head in and struggle all you like. Pathetic creature!”
Boom! Crash!
Cheon So-hyun gritted his teeth against the successive impacts. The force of the fist energy he received grew increasingly difficult to bear, leaving him no room for distraction.
As Cheon Mu-tan formed a sword finger technique with his index and middle fingers to channel his energy, the air shrieked and wounds began to accumulate.
“Now you’re starting to feel it? Soon you won’t even dare meet my gaze….”
The moment Cheon Mu-tan opened his mouth, Cheon So-hyun swiftly withdrew.
Boom!
As Cheon Mu-tan immediately pursued and pressed forward, I crossed my arms and scattered black energy in all directions.
“…!”
Judging that a spear thrust was coming, Cheon Mu-tan hastily threw a punch.
Crash!
And Cheon So-hyun did not miss the opening.
Driving my fist into the exposed solar plexus, I felt as though I’d struck solid rock. Seeing the involuntary flinch, it seemed the blow had landed properly after all.
“Ugh!”
I deflected the razor-sharp assault five times with Prajna Palm strikes to regain my center, then drove a punch into the left side of his abdomen.
Thud!
Cheon Mu-tan showed no outward reaction, but since that was where the organs clustered, the impact had to be considerable.
“You bastard…!”
As if resolved to end this, Cheon Mu-tan drew up his demonic energy to its fullest.
“You brought this entirely upon yourself!”
Cheon Mu-tan unleashed a punch force of an entirely different magnitude than before.
At its power, a sharp glint flickered across Cheon So-hyun’s eyes.
‘Finally!’
After the tedious back-and-forth, he had at last abandoned restraint.
Cheon So-hyun pushed hard against the ground with the Bright King’s Step, closing the distance for the first time.
At that lightning-swift advance, Cheon Mu-tan’s punch force grazed my shoulder and shattered the grapple.
Whoooosh!!
Burrowing into Cheon Mu-tan’s embrace, I squeezed my dantian and drew up every last ounce of energy.
“You’re finished.”
“…!”
The moment Cheon Mu-tan’s eyes went wide as saucers.
Boom!
His body, struck directly on the jaw, shattered through the chamber door and flew far away.
* * *
Lower Floor of Tower.
Crash!
Jin Gyu, who had been controlling Jeom So-i and the others, suddenly snapped his head toward the unexpected explosion.
“…!”
At the same moment.
Something fell through the shattered railing to the lower floor. Tables and chairs were obliterated, and dust billowed up thickly.
Jin Gyu’s eyes widened in shock.
“T-Third Prince!!”
What on earth had happened? Bewildered, he looked up, and Cheon So-hyun appeared in view.
“That bastard really flew far.”
Cheon So-hyun gauged the height between floors and leaped down directly.
Thud!
Jin Gyu asked with sharp, piercing eyes.
“What in the world is happening here?”
“We clashed on the upper floor. The result speaks for itself.”
“How exactly did….”
I gathered my inner force into my fingertips and pressed against Cheon Mu-tan’s vital points. I couldn’t afford for him to suddenly convulse or seize.
“T-Third Prince! What are you doing….”
“This is a matter between successors. Maintain your composure and show proper decorum.”
When Sa Ma-ryang cut him off, Jin Gyu glared at him with bloodshot eyes.
“…What?”
The collision of their qi waves in mid-air created a pressure that felt like it was flaying the skin.
‘This bastard….’
Just as Jin Gyu was swallowing his inner panic at the unexpectedly weighty aura——
“Get up, you fool.”
Regardless, I grabbed Cheon Mu-tan’s shoulder and shook him.
Perhaps because I knew the circumstances of the original body’s owner, I found Cheon Mu-tan’s constant mockery and ridicule utterly distasteful.
Calling it heavenly fortune for someone who had ended their own life in despair?
Absurd. This bastard needed to understand the situation properly.
“What in the world are you doing….”
“Silence.”
Jin Gyu’s words never finished. I stomped on his approaching foot.
Crack!
As I crushed his instep with full force, Jin Gyu’s eyes widened as if they might split.
Just as a roar was about to burst from him, I pressed his vital points with the Shaolin finger technique. It was the Congealing Blood Finger, a technique focused on suppression. With the swift and precise execution, Jin Gyu’s body collapsed.
Thud!
At that moment, Cheon Mu-tan’s eyes trembled slightly.
“…Do you truly wish to die?”
“Huh?”
The moment consciousness returned, the threat that erupted made me laugh in bewilderment.
“Did your head fall off? You can’t seem to grasp the situation at all.”
Cheon Mu-tan smiled bitterly.
“The one who can’t grasp the situation is you. Do you think I came to the Main Hall alone? Soon, the Iron Blood Demon Family’s people will come flooding in. Then someone like you, a half-wit….”
“Ah, is that so? How pathetically enviable.”
“…What?”
I crouched down and met his gaze.
“It’s truly enviable that there’s a family that can complain about being beaten by a half-wit who’s been a corpse for half a year.”
“…!”
I seized Cheon Mu-tan by the collar, and his jaw trembled.
“So when are they coming? Before I destroy your dantian? I’m about to destroy it right now—will they appear immediately? Are they waiting behind that door with their swords drawn?”
“Y-You’ve lost your mind? Then you….”
I clicked my tongue and spoke.
“Cheon Mu-tan, you pathetic fool. Speak properly. I can see calluses on your hands—you’ve learned some swordplay, haven’t you? Yet you sold your blade and resort to bare-fisted combat? Are you trying to lose your mind entirely, you worthless….”
“Ugh.”
“Hmm?”
Cheon Mu-tan’s face flushed crimson before he suddenly spewed a mouthful of blood.
“Cough!”
His eyes rolled back as he threw his head backward.
Had shame finally caught up with him?
No—a man who understood shame would never live like this.
“This wretch is feigning unconsciousness. Wake up; I haven’t finished speaking.”
As Cheon So-hyun shook him roughly, Sa Ma-ryang rushed over.
“Young master!”
“What is it?”
“May I examine him for a moment?”
“Go ahead.”
Sa Ma-ryang exhaled in relief after completing his pulse diagnosis.
“It appears he lost consciousness due to a sudden spike in blood pressure. There should be no serious threat to his life.”
“So he couldn’t contain his rage and coughed up blood? All that posturing about the Cheon Family and such, yet his cultivation is this shallow? Is that it?”
“…Yes, something like that.”
Sa Ma-ryang cleared his throat and offered careful counsel.
“Young master, perhaps it would be wise to stop here?”
“Fair enough. I was merely trying to teach him some perspective, but he went and fainted instead. Couldn’t even finish a meal. Tsk.”
Cheon So-hyun surveyed the Main Hall, now in complete disarray, then called toward the kitchen.
“Proprietor! Your establishment has become quite the wreck. My apologies.”
A thunderous clatter erupted before Jo Maeng-gil burst from the kitchen.
“Not at all, young master! Brawls in the Main Hall are commonplace, aren’t they? Keeping spare furnishings and utensils is standard practice. Please, think nothing of it!”
“I cannot accept that. I’m not one to leave debts unpaid. I’ll settle generously for the damages.”
“No, your words alone are sufficient….”
“Take it.”
Cheon So-hyun withdrew a coin purse from his robes and handed it over.
Jo Maeng-gil accepted it with trembling hands.
As he’d said, warriors clashing in the Main Hall was indeed common. What was unusual was someone apologizing and offering compensation—and his hands trembled all the more knowing this was the heir to the Divine Sect.
“Th-thank you!”
Sa Ma-ryang offered a faint smile and spoke to Cheon So-hyun.
“Young master, shall we depart then? I’ll remain to provide basic treatment before leaving.”
“You’re staying alone?”
“Yes, his injuries don’t appear severe, so it won’t take long. And neither you nor I should face any complications from this incident, so there’s no need to worry.”
Cheon So-hyun chuckled softly and turned to leave.
“Worry over a little scuffle? Then I’ll be on my way.”
* * *
Sa Ma-ryang tended to Cheon Mu-tan’s wounds with meticulous care, gradually calming his own racing heart.
Had I not witnessed it with my own eyes, I would have found it difficult to believe.
‘…To have defeated the Third Prince.’
Though the Third Prince himself seemed largely unbothered, this was undoubtedly no trivial matter.
Even I, who had observed his growth from beside him, had deemed the situation hopeless—how could anyone else easily accept such an outcome?
This was certain to ripple outward as a tremendous upheaval. Even the senior figures who had written off the Third Prince as completely removed from the succession would be forced to reconsider.
After all, he had just proven that the rumors of his being born with the Divine Sect’s finest Five Elements were no mere fabrication.
This incident might well draw together forces that shared his vision, but….
Sa Ma-ryang shook his head slightly.
‘The Iron Blood Family Head is said to be a man of profound cunning. He will surely attempt to suppress the information.’
If so, there was a considerable chance he would bury this incident entirely. It was, after all, an event that would become a major obstacle to Cheon Mu-tan’s future path.
Yet there had been gains.
I had confirmed that the Third Prince possessed both the martial talent and aptitude to reach enlightenment without accumulating countless experiences. Recalling the wisdom he had displayed in persuading my uncle left no room for further doubt.
‘It was indeed the right choice.’
As Sa Ma-ryang stepped out from the Main Building, a distinct smile graced his lips.

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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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