Heavenly Demon Divine Saint - Chapter 26

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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 26
‘Yang Bong was defeated?’
Heuk Si was equally taken aback by the scene unfolding before his eyes.
The shock was all the greater because he had witnessed them fighting until just moments before the smoke cleared—one side utterly dominating the other.
‘Who in the world is this man…?’
The man who had brought down the Sect Leader was approaching slowly.
A youth who had barely crossed into adulthood, with striking features and refined bearing. Martial prowess sufficient to kill a sect leader single-handedly. An otherworldly, ethereal aura that seemed beyond the mortal realm.
Heuk Si’s body trembled as he pieced together these fragmentary clues.
‘Could it be…!’
That was when it happened.
“I told you the Sect Leader would come back either crippled or a corpse. Why are you so shocked? Did you think I was joking?”
Kang Hyun, who had drawn near in an instant, unleashed a pair of saber strikes like lightning.
Clang! Clang!
“Did you drag the heir of the Demonic Sect into this?”
Kang Hyun answered not with words but by targeting vital points. From his silence, Heuk Si found his answer, and his lips stretched wide in a grotesque grin.
“Kekeke. You’ve stirred up quite the interesting mess. Well, this could prove useful in its own way.”
His voice was like a serpent slithering across skin—chilling and sinister. Heuk Si parried the saber strike forcefully, then snapped open his fan wide.
‘Though losses have occurred, the gains will ultimately be greater.’
The fact that the heir of the Cheon Family had become entangled with lowborn blood—that alone held tremendous value. As time passed and his reputation grew, that value would multiply exponentially. For now, retreat was the wisest course.
As he gathered all his inner force into his body and swung the fan,
Whoooosh!
A massive blade wind began to sweep across the entire estate.
A dragon-form wind pressure, emanating a sinister and terrifying aura, engulfed all directions, dyeing heaven and earth a sickly yellow.
“Aaaahhh!”
The blade wind howled ferociously, driving Heuk Si’s form backward, and surged forward as if to consume not only the sect disciples but Kang Hyun as well.
Boom!
In that instant, Cheon So-hyun plunged into the heart of the dragon-form wind.
He seized Kang Hyun by the nape of the neck and hurled him aside, then squeezed his dantian to its limit and unleashed a torrent of force.
Crash! Crash!
As the force collided repeatedly and violently with the dragon-form wind, its momentum faltered, and it finally dissipated like melting snow.
Kang Hyun barely regained his balance and looked around.
‘This… this can’t be…!’
Heuk Si was nowhere to be seen in the now-silent estate. He had already fled. Then Kang Hyun’s gaze fell upon Cheon So-hyun, who sat crumpled on the ground.
“Huh?!”
From a distance, he hadn’t noticed, but now the condition was quite severe.
Small wounds visible through the tears in his garments, a long sword scar crossing his right arm, blood caked at the corner of his mouth, and ragged breathing.
‘…The Jagwi Sect Leader was that formidable?’
Kang Hyun rushed forward urgently.
“Y-Young Master, are you alright?!”
“Minor wounds.”
Even as he surveyed his surroundings, the question had been asked carelessly. His vision was not properly secured.
The internal injuries sustained from the fierce battle were equally severe.
“There’s nothing more. That bastard Heuk Si seems to have escaped as well. Should I go inside and look for some internal injury medicine or something….”
Cheon So-hyun sat in a cross-legged position and closed his eyes.
“Stand guard.”
“…Yes.”
* * *
How much time had passed like that.
Kang Hyun’s face had flushed a deep crimson.
‘Pathetic bastard.’
He felt ashamed that he had let Heuk Si escape, and here he stood unscathed while the one who had asked for help was injured.
Most of all, what made his face burn with shame was the internal conflict—shouldn’t he be pursuing Heuk Si right now?
‘Can you even call yourself human?’
Crack!
Disgusted with himself, Kang Hyun slapped his own cheek hard.
That was when it happened.
“Ugh—ahhh!”
Cheon So-hyun let out a strange cry and bolted upright from his seated position. Kang Hyun jumped in alarm and stared at him.
“M-my lord. Are you alright? What’s wrong?”
“What? Why were all these bald monks appearing in my dream, preaching at me….”
“Pardon? What do you mean… Your complexion changed several times. Are you feeling unwell?”
“Wait a moment.”
Cheon So-hyun shook his head vigorously and examined his body.
The nonsense spouted by his junior disciples had irritated him, and he had hastily concluded his cultivation in agitation.
Because the process had been conducted almost unconsciously, he had worried whether any problems might have arisen, but as he circulated his energy, the anxiety gradually faded.
‘Not in bad shape at all.’
The condition of his organs and dantian were better than expected.
In fact, the inner energy contained within his dantian had increased compared to before.
The spiritual essence from the Demonic Pill that he had absorbed through grueling effort, those energies that had clung to his meridians, had finally seeped into his dantian.
Because he had forcibly crammed in energies that should have been accepted while elevating his body’s vessel, excruciating pain had followed—enough to cause him to lose consciousness—but the result was good.
‘From now on, I must focus on external cultivation.’
The sensation was like water in a vessel about to overflow at any moment, so he needed to raise his body’s capacity as soon as possible.
“It’s better than expected. The wounds should be fine with some medicine applied roughly.”
“That’s a relief.”
Kang Hyun spoke bitterly, gazing at Moon Ju and the sect disciples who had become cold corpses.
“While standing guard, I kept imagining myself charging into Ja Gwi Moon alone. No matter how I struggled, I thought I would surely die. Thank you for helping me.”
“So your revenge is finished now?”
“…You knew?”
“It would be strange not to know. You wear everything on your face. Like, ‘I’m in the middle of revenge right now,’ so obvious. How could I not notice, you fool.”
“Ah, was that so?”
“So, how do you feel? The Ja Gwi Moon is destroyed, just as you wished.”
“I’m not entirely sure. I thought I’d be overjoyed, but instead I feel hollow, frustrated that I couldn’t finish them myself, yet relieved knowing those wretches from the Ja Gwi Moon are gone… It’s all quite complicated.”
Kang Hyun offered a dry laugh.
“I think I need to focus on my training for a while.”
Sensing his reluctance to elaborate, Cheon So-hyun nodded readily.
“That’s right. Rather than dwelling on the past and regretting what’s done, pouring yourself into cultivation is the proper path. That’s how a warrior should live.”
“Ha, indeed. So you’ll head to Unam Peak right away?”
“We should. Let’s cremate the bodies and depart.”
* * *
Cheon So-hyun followed Kang Hyun, deploying his lightness technique across the terrain.
‘Even with a map, this would have been difficult to find.’
Yi Ma-je’s Dwelling lay so deep within the mountains that despite traversing winding paths for what felt like an eternity, it remained nowhere in sight.
“But why does your master seclude himself in such a place?”
“I couldn’t say. He rarely speaks of such matters, so I don’t know much about it.”
“You don’t know?”
Kang Hyun coughed awkwardly.
“Still, I’ve learned a few things from observing him over time.”
“What things?”
“For one, when he’s training, he pays no attention to his surroundings whatsoever. And he tends to obsess over physical conditioning. You’ll likely be quite surprised when we reach his Dwelling.”
“Surprised?”
“Equipment, I suppose you’d call it? In any case, there are many unusual contraptions about.”
Kang Hyun raised his hand and pointed ahead.
“Oh, there! That’s it!”
“Let’s go.”
* * *
Beyond the Main Gate lay a spacious courtyard with an understated elegance that belied its humble exterior. There, Cheon So-hyun spotted a towering giant with his upper garment unfastened, displaying magnificent musculature.
‘So that’s Yi Ma-je.’
He was wielding a wooden sword in practice, and appeared to be in his early forties.
“Master, I’ve returned.”
No response came. Kang Hyun shrugged with practiced familiarity and turned to Cheon So-hyun.
“It seems this will take some time. I’ll go prepare a meal.”
“Hmm? A meal?”
“We haven’t eaten.”
“So you cook as well?”
“Who else would?”
Cheon So-hyun regarded him skeptically, prompting Kang Hyun to add:
“I’ve picked up a thing or two here and there, so don’t worry about the taste. I’ll serve you dishes so questionable that even if one of us dropped dead, the other might not notice.”
“Very well.”
Kang Hyun departed, and Cheon So-hyun washed himself, tended to his wounds, then returned to the Training Ground.
With nothing particular to do, he surveyed the surroundings, his gaze eventually settling on the equipment scattered throughout the Training Ground.
‘What in the world are those?’
Staffs topped with stone weights filled the surrounding space.
A heavy staff rested upon what resembled a wooden rack, and beneath it sat a long, backless bench.
It looked like a lying press exercise, so I positioned myself and attempted it, but the unfamiliar muscles weren’t responding well to the strain.
That was when.
“…!”
My eyes widened sharply. Yi Ma-je had suddenly entered my field of vision.
‘Damn, he startled me.’
I’d been so absorbed that I hadn’t noticed him approach. As I set down the staff to greet him, he raised his hand to stop me.
“Keep lifting.”
“Pardon?”
“Finish what you were doing.”
Was he angry because I’d touched his equipment without permission?
Yi Ma-je, whose expression was already severe, glared at me with piercing eyes. To open the conversation, I grasped the staff again.
“Ahem, yes. I’ll give it another try.”
As I lifted the heavy staff, Yi Ma-je adjusted the angle of my elbows and repositioned my form.
“Lift slowly. Exhale your breath as briefly as possible. Don’t expel it all—keep a reserve in your abdomen. Don’t channel your inner energy into it.”
“Nngh… yes.”
“That was too fast just now. Slower.”
“Nnngh.”
“Now, set it down and rest.”
I lowered the staff and collapsed onto the bench, breathing heavily. Not just my arms but my chest was trembling.
“But who are you?”
I stared blankly at him.
I barely suppressed the comment that his question had come far too late.
“I am the Third Prince of the Cheon Family, Cheon So-hyun.”
Yi Ma-je’s thick brows twitched.
“The third son of the Cheon Family came all the way here?”
“I came seeking answers to some questions. Perhaps….”
“Wait.”
Yi Ma-je raised his calloused hand.
“Rest time is over. Lie back down.”
“…Yes?”
“Rest is finished. Don’t waste any more time—grab it quickly.”
What kind of demon is this man?
“Begin!”
He looked ready to engage in a life-or-death duel if I refused, so I reluctantly lifted the heavy staff again.
“Nnngh.”
“You don’t appear to have trained external martial arts, yet you lift quite well. Stop for a moment.”
“Nngh, is it over?”
“It seems you’ve grasped the technique. Time to increase the weight.”
Yi Ma-je uttered those cryptic words before retrieving a massive staff with a stone block the size of a human head attached to its end.
“Go on, lift it.”
My breath caught in my throat for a moment, but simultaneously, my competitive spirit ignited.
Cheon So-hyun steadied my stance with fierce determination.
“Fine, let’s give it a try!”
Yi Ma-je instructed me to repeat the exercise twelve times and rest, but as I continued, the heat drove me to lift it two additional times beyond that.
‘I am the Martial Monk who once carried a boulder the size of a house up and down Songshan. This demon is nothing!’
I soon realized that judgment was foolishly naive.
“Hmm.”
Yi Ma-je’s smile had deepened in a way that was deeply unsettling.
“Maintaining your form even as your arms tremble—remarkable perseverance. I’ll increase the weight further.”
“Wait, please. I apologize, but I didn’t come here to train….”
“If you’ve come to my dwelling, you must offer proper respect. There are no exceptions. Now, lift it.”
“…?”
“Lift it now!”
His tone was utterly unyielding.
“Hnnngh!”
I had no choice but to lift the staff. Only after hoisting various other implements could I finally escape that torment.
I lay sprawled like a corpse, and Yi Ma-je proceeded to examine my arms, chest, both legs, and shoulders.
“Just as I thought—a member of the Cheon Family. Your muscle density is remarkable.”
At that moment, Kang Hyun’s voice called from inside.
“Master! The meal is ready. Shall we eat now that training is finished?”
“Let’s go eat.”
“I feel like I’m about to vomit. I can’t eat right now.”
“A brief rest will settle your stomach. Besides, eating is part of the training itself. Don’t delay—move along.”
What exactly was he so insistent about not delaying? I’d heard that phrase repeatedly throughout the entire staff-lifting ordeal.
With no energy left to respond, Cheon So-hyun simply nodded weakly.
Click.
I examined the modest furnishings before pulling out a chair at the table and sitting down.
Soon after, Kang Hyun appeared, carrying an enormous tray in both hands.
Since I was visiting as a guest, I attempted to take the tray from him, but my hands froze in mid-air.
“W-what is all this?”
Kang Hyun answered as he set down the food.
“These are the dishes Master enjoys. If they don’t suit your taste, shall I prepare something else?”
“No, no. There’s no need. This is perfect right now.”
Dish after dish was placed, gradually filling the expansive table.
Plates continued to be set down as if determined to leave no empty space, and every single one was heaped with meat—nothing but meat.
Cheon So-hyun stared at the sight in stunned silence.
Sliced pork belly that had been boiled until tender, braised pork belly glistening with an appetizing brown sauce, and an abundance of chicken dishes—some appearing to be traditional Demonic Sect cuisine that I’d never encountered before—were all laid out.
I heard he had learned cooking, and it seemed he had truly mastered it well. An endless stream of dishes—the kind one would encounter at an inn—continued to pour forth.
Faced with this sumptuous feast composed entirely of meat, words tumbled out unbidden.
“But… is it really alright to eat so openly like this?”

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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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