Heavenly Demon Divine Saint - Chapter 48
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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 48
“Ooooooooo!”
“What, what just happened?!”
“Gu Man-do is down! He was sent flying in a single blow!!”
The spectators erupted in cheers, their excitement palpable. The warrior now embedded in the wall was none other than Gu Man-do of the Paihuang Sect.
From the moment his participation was announced, he had been marked as a favorite to win. The prevailing assumption was that even if he lost, his opponent would be a senior disciple from one of the other Three Demon Sects.
Yet he crumbled at the very start. In a single strike.
Those who had grown weary of the Three Demon Sects’ excessive arrogance and misconduct raised their voices in satisfaction.
“Hahahaha! So much for his insufferable attitude—serves him right!!”
“He acted so high and mighty, and this is what we get?! Give me my money back! I bet on him!”
“So then… who is this fellow? Does anyone know him?”
“Does it matter who he is? What matters is he knocked him down in one blow!”
Chang Sun, who was overseeing the tournament, had called the fighters by number rather than name. Thus, unless one was widely renowned, identifying them at a glance proved difficult. The roster posted for those placing wagers contained no personal details either.
“True enough. Look at those broad shoulders and that balanced stance. He’s clearly a seasoned fighter—someone who’s seen real combat. Nothing like those refined disciples clustered together in their training halls. The caliber is simply incomparable.”
Concern crept into the voices of those listening to the barbs.
“Now, now. Isn’t that a bit harsh? There are many eyes watching….”
“Harsh? Then win and prove me wrong!”
“Waaaaaa! He’s handsome!”
While the crowd churned with noise, the atmosphere on the VIP Platform remained eerily silent.
Do Je observed the arena with his chin resting on his hand, while Yi Ma-je quietly studied Cheon So-hyun.
Only the sect masters of the Three Demon Sects stirred with unease.
‘Hmm….’
‘What in the world just happened?’
The man bearing the Paihuang Sect’s name had fallen so pathetically?
What if it had been a true disciple of the sect standing there instead of Gu Man-do?
As an unsettling tension settled over them, the Red Cloud Sect Master glanced sideways at Moon Yeo-il. His complexion had turned ashen.
Crack.
Veins bulged across the knuckles gripping the armrest. He seemed to be suppressing his emotions by sheer force, yet the shock was evident. It was understandable—he had always praised Gu Man-do as the finest and had subtly boasted of him.
“…Who is he?”
His voice emerged heavy and measured.
Do Je continued to watch the arena with an unmoved gaze. Moon Yeo-il, unable to bear that indifferent expression, called out to him.
“Do Je.”
“Haven’t you already discerned his identity?”
Moon Yeo-il’s words caught in his throat. Do Je was right. His mind had already grasped who the man was.
His pride simply refused to acknowledge it.
He would have preferred to hear it from someone else’s lips.
“If you truly wish to know, simply keep watching. You’ll understand who he is soon enough.”
Meanwhile, the fighters in the arena held their breath, exchanging glances with one another.
They had sensed it instinctively—who was the most dangerous presence on this stage, and whom they must eliminate first.
“Shall we join forces for now?”
“Combine our efforts?”
“That’s right.”
A powerfully built warrior gestured toward the wall.
“Look over there—Gu Man-do, the Overlord’s champion, is rolling around in such a pathetic state on the ground. Yet that bastard hasn’t even revealed half of his true martial prowess.”
“How can you be certain it’s only half?”
“This isn’t the time to nitpick over details. Does it matter if it’s half or not? Is there anyone else here who can guarantee such a decisive victory against Gu Man-do?”
“….”
“We need to set aside our pride and combine our strength. What matters for me and all of you is advancing upward, not seeking recognition, isn’t that so? We can settle our scores later.”
“True. As long as we make it into the top ten, that’s all that matters.”
The preliminary rounds were designed to narrow down the top ten from each match. Since substantial prizes were awarded to those who merely passed the preliminaries, most warriors had set that as their goal.
“Exactly.”
The man who had been inciting the warriors smiled faintly. His gaze turned toward Cheon So-hyun. The warriors who caught the signal began slowly encircling Cheon So-hyun.
‘Foolish bastard. His skills are decent enough, but he’ll pay dearly for his reckless display.’
In a melee like this, the strongest warrior doesn’t necessarily emerge victorious. No matter how formidable, one cannot handle ten opponents with a single hand.
His judgment was that in a chaotic battlefield of dozens, lowering one’s profile and waiting for the right moment increased the odds of victory.
It was a reasonably sound assessment, but he didn’t know who his opponent truly was.
Boom! Crash!
“What, what is this?!”
The man’s eyes widened in shock.
Surrounded by warriors, Cheon So-hyun kicked off the ground and charged forward, driving his fists repeatedly into the faces of those blocking his path.
Boom! Crash!
“Get out of the way, move aside.”
“What, why are you all standing there dawdling! Now’s the time! Strike! Hit him quickly….”
Boom!
Cheon So-hyun’s leg technique exploded against the man’s chest. His body flew across the center of the arena, and the warriors lined up behind him were caught in the impact, completely shattering their formation.
“Did you come here to fight with your mouth? Your constant yapping is disgusting.”
Yet even excluding him, nearly fifty warriors still remained.
“Kill him!”
“Tear his limbs apart!”
Swords, sabers, whips, axes, and throwing weapons whistled through the air as they rained down indiscriminately.
A fierce light flashed in Cheon So-hyun’s eyes.
“Right, let’s finish this quickly.”
Cheon So-hyun stomped his foot firmly into the ground.
Boom! Crash!
He deflected the barrage of weapons and drove his fists through the gaps, occasionally releasing bursts of force to subdue his enemies with minimal movement. The situation demanded careful energy management—prolonging the fight risked depleting his inner strength.
If the battle dragged on, the possibility of exhausting his qi would only increase.
Sensing a cold presence from behind, Cheon So-hyun suddenly launched himself into the air.
Clang! Splash! Thud! Thud!
“Cough, hack!”
“What, what are you all doing!”
The hidden projectiles that had been rushing toward my back poured down upon the warriors instead.
“Don’t use throwing blades—you’ll only play into their numbers!”
“Throw them upward instead! First, we drain their stamina…!”
Suspended in mid-air, I spun my body and wrapped the Shadowless Blade around both wrists.
‘Amitabha Buddha!’
Crack!
As I gathered my energy and brought my palms together, a wave of force rippled outward in a perfect circle.
A wave of force—the undulation of one’s inner energy itself.
At a higher realm, merely releasing such power could shake away enemies on all sides, but I had not yet reached such heights. Still, it was more than sufficient to disrupt the trajectory of their projectiles.
The moment my feet touched ground, I surged forward again.
“Gather around, gather. Stop your foolish scattering—come at me all at once.”
Boom! Crash!
I advanced with sweeping strikes, striking with devastating force as I moved. Threading through the gaps between warriors with precision, I drove my blade into vital points whenever they presented themselves.
“K-kill him!”
I seized one who stumbled backward by the collar and drove him downward, then swept his solar plexus with my foot and sent him flying.
Screams, the sound of breaking bones, and shattering weapons tangled together in chaos.
My eyes blazed with fierce intensity.
Everywhere I looked, demons blinded by petty desire, their malice laid bare.
They rushed at me with killing intent, their desperation resembling the thrashing of those clawing to escape death itself. I decided to grant their wish, drawing upon the Shadowless Blade with even greater ferocity.
Boom! Crash!
“Aaaaaaahhhhh!”
Each time I stamped the ground in succession, shaking the earth beneath us, the warriors’ balance shattered, and in those moments I unleashed my fists. When the sound of wind-cutting came from the corners, I lowered my body and scattered my energy in all directions.
‘Amitabha Buddha!’
Whether in my past life or now, my purpose remained fundamentally unchanged.
To cultivate and refine body and spirit through practice, to discern the wicked, and ultimately to eliminate them.
Though my methods differed from the teachings of Buddhism, and my path diverged from the wishes of my senior brothers, causing many to suffer both inwardly and outwardly, I had never believed myself wrong.
Even the streams that form the great ocean number in the tens of thousands—why should the Buddhist path be any different?
In Buddhism itself, there exist numerous divine protectors like the Five Great Wisdom Kings, who safeguard the Dharma and guide the wicked toward enlightenment.
The Buddhist path was boundless and infinite, and the road I walked was equally a path of Buddhism.
It was then.
“Move aside!”
“You’ll die if you don’t!!”
Those who had withdrawn to a distance, gathering their energy, suddenly roared and unleashed their sword qi in unison.
Whiiiiiish!
They had drawn out the energy they’d accumulated to its absolute limit all at once. Sharp sword qi layered upon itself repeatedly, swelling in magnitude, and rushed forward while tearing the ground asunder.
Boom!
Yet I did not diminish my momentum.
Instead, I unleashed my lightness technique and leaped directly into their attack. It appeared as though I were offering my neck to the Dosan Sword Forest, and the warriors cried out in triumph.
“We have him!”
“Foolish wretch—such reckless arrogance!”
CRASH!
Before the barrage of sword qi in all its varied forms, I unleashed a palm strike. It was the Arhat Fist—the essence of Shaolin, wielded thousands, nay, hundreds of thousands of times.
The palm force spiraled outward like a whirlwind, amplified by the momentum of my lightness technique. Violent waves of energy erupted in succession, colliding with the incoming blades of qi.
“Insolent wretches—you still haven’t come to your senses.”
The tide of sword qi that had been pressing forward suddenly scattered, and through the gap, I drew upon the Samadhi True Flame, scattering white flames as I pressed my assault forward.
“Ahhhhh! What is this fire!”
“It’s, it’s the Samadhi True Flame!!”
“A, a demonic technique…!”
BOOM!
The warriors began to panic, stumbling backward in retreat.
Wrapped in flames and charging forward like a specter, I sent the surrounding warriors tumbling like autumn leaves before the wind.
The remaining warriors could not help but be overwhelmed. It was not merely the raw power, but something else that struck the deepest fear into their hearts—the uncanny precision of my movements, as though guided by some higher principle.
CRASH! BOOM!
“Cough!”
The way I drew a clear line, defeating them right up to the brink of death. Those left scattered in my wake bore such ghastly wounds that death itself might have been a mercy.
“Ugh….”
And as agonized cries erupted from all directions, the warriors’ morale plummeted to its nadir.
“Wait, I concede!”
“Me too, me too!”
Intimidated by such ruthless and merciless technique, they began dropping their weapons one by one.
CRASH!
“Concede? Nonsense. Did you all come here for a pleasure outing?”
Of course, I had no intention of stopping. I swept them aside with leg techniques, grabbed fleeing warriors by the hair and hurled them away, unleashing my martial prowess without restraint.
At some point, only heavy silence hung over the spectator seating.
There were no cheers, no roars of excitement.
Yet neither were the spectators distracted or indifferent.
Their eyes remained fixed upon the arena stage.
As though they could not afford to miss a single moment, as though they dared not miss it, everyone stared with wide eyes.
‘What is this?’
‘Who is this man?’
It was an instinctive reaction, preceding any conscious thought. Without grasping the clear reason, the crowd gazed in a daze at the figure before them.
Then it came.
Clap, clap.
Do Je, who had risen from his seat at some point, slowly began to applaud. Simultaneously, Chang Sun’s voice rang out across the arena.
“Please welcome the victor of the first match with your cheers and applause! The winner is Cheon So-hyun, the Third Prince of the Cheonma Divine Cult!”
After a moment of silence, a thunderous ovation erupted. Excitement and exhilaration washed over the spectators’ faces.
“Then, that person is…!”
“The Cult Leader’s own son! The heir to the Cult!”
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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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