Heavenly Demon Divine Saint - Chapter 66

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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 66
The Cult Leader’s gaze swept slowly across Cheon So-hyun’s entire frame.
The illness had faded, leaving behind a physique grown more imposing; the breath of divine art flowed with unhurried grace; a subtle warmth radiated from his skin.
His overall mastery as a Warrior had ascended to new heights.
“It seems the gift was not wasted after all.”
Cheon So-hyun realized the Cult Leader was referring to the Demon Ring Altar and nodded in acknowledgment.
“Indeed. Thanks to your generous gift, I have improved far beyond my previous state. Perhaps because I inherited a naturally robust constitution, the elixir’s effects were remarkably potent.”
“Have you ascended to the realm of the Second Black? And that heterogeneous energy—is it the fruit of Yi Ma-je’s supreme technique?”
Cheon So-hyun’s brow furrowed subtly.
‘This man reads like a ghost.’
Indeed, the Demon’s insight was extraordinary. The certainty in his words revealed that the Cult Leader possessed deep knowledge of the Wuling Divine Art.
‘Then was it the Cult Leader who sent the Wuling Divine Art as well?’
According to what I had confirmed in the Archive, this body’s original owner had once faced the Cult Leader to resolve a flaw in the dantian. Though no answer was obtained that day, the secret manual that arrived at my quarters afterward was precisely the Wuling Divine Art.
‘A solution to the constitutional defect?’
Then why had it not been delivered sooner?
Cheon So-hyun, brimming with curiosity, nodded swiftly.
“That is correct. Through fortuitous circumstance, I received transmission of the martial art. By fortunate achievement, I ascended to the realm of the Second Black.”
“Faster than anticipated. I had thought it would require several years.”
The Cult Leader spoke as if murmuring, then abruptly shifted his momentum. A wave of energy that shook the soul reverberated through the Cult Leader’s Hall.
“…!”
“Yet it remains incomplete.”
The Cult Leader thrust his palm forward like a thunderbolt. It was a simple, straight palm technique—no flourish, no complexity.
Cheon So-hyun immediately countered with his left palm. From his hand to his elbow to his shoulder, he felt as though sharp blades were tearing through his flesh.
‘What is this sudden assault?’
The two palms remained locked in midair, suspended. Cheon So-hyun fixed him with a sharp, piercing gaze.
“What do you mean by incomplete?”
“There is nothing more hollow than achievement that is mere shell.”
The Cult Leader added softly.
“Your energy perception is cluttered. I shall grant you a moment to overcome it.”
As the Cult Leader poured more power forward, Cheon So-hyun’s entire body convulsed. The dense demonic energy boring through his palm felt as though his hand would be torn asunder.
Crack.
Heat flared silently at the Cult Leader’s arrogant manner, but this was no time for indulgence—this was the moment to pour forth every ounce of strength.
Whoooosh!
He unleashed an aura solid as an impenetrable fortress, blocking the Cult Leader’s advance, then layered the Gwangak Gyeol upon the surging Wuling energy. He accelerated the circulation of his power further still, then erupted it outward through his palms like a detonation.
Yet.
“…?”
Nothing changed. The Cult Leader had swallowed his entire force whole and annihilated it.
‘This is absurd. Such a thing is possible?’
Even my former self would have struggled to succeed against such a method.
Rather than crushing through with overwhelming force, he had gauged his opponent’s strength and released an identical force to neutralize it completely.
Every time I faced the Cult Leader, I wondered why my breath caught and my chest tightened so. Now I understood the reason with perfect clarity.
Was he not a man who embodied the vast Demonic Martial World within himself? Any master of considerable skill would feel their very lifespan being carved away in real time merely by standing before him.
‘Of course, that’s not me.’
Crack!
I thrust my opposite hand forward like a thunderbolt. The instant a gap appeared in his aura, I drove my fist straight toward the Cult Leader’s face.
Apparently unprepared for an attack from me, the Cult Leader’s brow narrowed. He extended his hand to deflect my fist, then rotated smoothly to seize it.
“Hng!”
I stamped down with Jin Gak and drew my energy upward. Then, using the technique of superior strength overcoming force, I rotated my wrist to slip free from the Cult Leader’s grasp.
It was a flowing, natural palm technique—like water finding its course. The instant something flickered in the Cult Leader’s eyes, my palm erupted with palm force.
Boom!
The Cult Leader’s gaze flashed brilliantly through the dark palm force. Three-colored energy gathered in his grip, and he shattered my palm force completely once more.
“I will draw upon greater power. Can you match it?”
“What couldn’t I do? I was just about to commit disrespect, as it happens.”
“Disrespect, you say? Will you speak further here?”
Boom!
I drew in a sharp breath and endured the Cult Leader’s assault.
In that moment, I realized there was no greater wretch in all the realm—a son unleashing palm force before his own father?
Like a deeply cultivated Buddhist, instinctive resistance washed over me. Yet how could I retreat because of it?
To hold back against the Cult Leader would be the height of arrogance. I unleashed fists and palms, shifting my center of gravity and moving swiftly in multiple directions.
I occasionally wove in footwork to create variables, but the Cult Leader’s slightest gesture scattered them all to nothing.
‘I’m going mad.’
As the Cult Leader’s palm force grew increasingly difficult to withstand, I made my decision. I gathered the Wuling Divine Art and ignited the Samadhi Flame Transformation.
Whoosh!
As black flames spread across the Cult Leader’s palm, the pressure eased somewhat.
“I come again!”
My hand flashed forward once more.
‘Amitabha Buddha!!’
It felt as though I faced Mount Tai itself, yet I had no thought of retreat. I pushed through his arm like an iron wall using the flowing palm technique, then drove my fist toward his temple again.
Boom! Boom!
Fearing the Cult Leader’s insight, I did not unleash Shaolin’s secret techniques. I simply pressed forward with relentless, brutally honed fundamentals.
The Cult Leader’s gaze rippled with black light.
“You’ve honed yourself quite sharply. Quite an amusing spectacle—yet still tedious.”
Boom!
As the Cult Leader pressed down with greater force, my knees trembled and buckled.
‘…Damn, it’s heavy.’
I poured out the Wuling Divine Art ceaselessly, resisting the Cult Leader’s aura. I concentrated every nerve on the movement of my energy, knowing that even a moment’s interruption would mean death.
Then, suddenly, my shoulders twitched.
‘What is this?’
A strange sensation arose. It did not come from the Cult Leader’s pressure or the successive blocked attacks.
From something more fundamental—a discord within the Wuling Divine Art itself.
‘Why is this happening?’
The energy spreading through my meridians felt fundamentally wrong—like wearing clothes that didn’t fit, an indescribable suffocation rising within me.
‘Why? The power has clearly grown stronger, but what exactly is….’
“Your contemplation grows lengthy.”
The Cult Leader drew upon his inner power with even greater weight.
“All martial arts in the Realm, regardless of their nature, converge at their essence. The Wuling Divine Art especially so. Cast aside idle thoughts and unify them into one.”
Boom!
My entire body trembled under the impact, as if my bones were being crushed.
Unify them into one? What did he mean by that?
It was puzzling why the Cult Leader would deliberately modulate his power while speaking such words. I began to turn his words over in my mind.
‘A hollow achievement….’
He was pointing out that I wasn’t properly wielding the Wuling Divine Art.
If I was heading in the wrong direction, I needed to examine myself immediately. I closed my eyes and turned all my awareness inward.
‘Amitabha Buddha.’
Feeling as though I stood at a crossroads, I slowly recited the incantations of the Wuling Divine Art.
Heaven’s mandate defies order. Burn the old and establish the new heaven.
To defy heaven’s mandate and incinerate the ancient, establishing a new firmament.
Sever the shackles and walk the path. Shatter the current and become the sea.
To break free from bondage, advance along the way, and transform the flow into an ocean.
Every principle of the Wuling Divine Art carried the same truth—never stagnate, always forge new paths.
‘And there was the ultimate flame without end.’
The very essence of the Wuling Divine Art. A divine art of the Demonic Sect symbolizing infinite potential—a flame that burns all things yet never extinguishes.
‘…!’
In that moment, lightning struck repeatedly through my consciousness.
Energy ultimately moves through intention. After consuming the Demon Pill, my bones transformed and the nature of my energy changed.
Yet I myself—the very center of all those changes—had not truly transformed. I had instinctively resisted change, wary that my incomplete dantian might cause trouble.
‘It was merely a shell. I need only surrender myself to the current.’
The moment I recognized this truth, my entire body convulsed violently.
Whoooosh!
Vitality surging from the hundred acupoints roiled through my meridians. The martial principles I had only grasped intellectually now melded into my meridians, catalyzing transformation.
My senses sharpened to a keen edge, the quality of my inner power ascended, and my force extended far more formidably.
‘This was it!’
Just as I had shed my shell after consuming the Demon Pill, I felt myself grow once more.
At last, I had reached the realm of complete Second Darkness.
The Cult Leader observed me intently.
The quality of my energy was transforming rapidly, ascending continuously. The result aligned with his intended direction, yet the process itself deviated from expectation.
The movement of Wuling energy circulating like a ring, maintaining balance with the Gwangak Gyeol and achieving harmony.
A method unseen in any martial art of the Divine Sect—a distinct light kindled in the Cult Leader’s eyes.
“You harbor conflicting forces yet speak of harmony. Is this the path you have chosen?”
“Yes. It is a method I conceived to overcome the tribulations in my own way. The Wuling energy can be operated in this manner as well.”
“The Wuling Divine Art achieves ten thousand transformations based on temperament and inclination, so it’s not impossible. However, can you truly guarantee that such a path leads upward?”
Cheon So-hyun’s eyes gleamed. Not from the intensified pressure of the Cult Leader’s aura, but because he had grasped a crucial thread regarding the Wuling Divine Art from the Cult Leader’s words.
‘Ten thousand transformations?’
It was a simple meaning of endless change, yet for martial masters who had reached enlightenment, it carried a profoundly different significance.
Ten thousand transformations typically referred to the ultimate principle of perfect adaptability without obstruction.
‘Then….’
Was it thanks to this that I could utilize Shaolin’s martial techniques, and adopt the operational methods of the Prajna Great Ability?
In other words, the Wuling Divine Art was an absolute technique that, like streams flowing from a vast ocean, harbored the possibility of ten thousand transformations.
“I’m not certain, but if it’s better than before, that’s sufficient. If I continue improving bit by bit like this, won’t I eventually reach any destination?”
“Perhaps.”
Boom!
The Cult Leader released a wave of force that drove Cheon So-hyun backward. As he exhaled the breath caught in his throat, the Cult Leader spoke.
“They call you the Heavenly Physician these days, I hear.”
It was an epithet gained after the Turyong Tournament. It meant a heaven capable of accomplishing anything, though it was an undeserved title.
“Ha, has such news reached the Cult Leader’s Palace? How embarrassing. It seems that idle gossips who love to chatter have attached such an epithet to me.”
“It’s not an undeserved epithet. I have confirmed it myself.”
“….”
“Though it may be exaggerated, there is no falsehood in its meaning. A rather promising direction.”
Cheon So-hyun met his gaze steadily. Beyond emotional reluctance, it was recognition from an absolute master nearing perfection. An involuntary smile escaped him.
“Ha, is that so? Then my efforts have borne fruit. Thank you.”
Cheon So-hyun seized the slightly relaxed atmosphere and asked.
“I’ve been curious for some time—may I ask about the origins of the Wuling Divine Art?”
“Do not seek answers from without. It is a technique you have learned yourself, so it is proper that you ponder it on your own. Or do you intend to look upward and walk again?”
“No, that’s not it.”
The Cult Leader sat upon the Throne Dais. As he casually waved his hand, a jade cup that appeared from empty space was drawn into his grasp.
“Good. You are the sole inheritor of the Wuling legacy. Natural enlightenment is all there can be, so do not seek answers from without.”
“Pardon? Father, did you not learn the Wuling Divine Art yourself?”
Regardless of the Wuling Divine Art’s origins, it was undeniably a supreme technique so extraordinary that it could devour most martial disciplines.
Had it not long ago restored my body, which had been ravaged by demonic possession, to its normal state?
The Cult Leader observed him quietly, chin resting on his hand.
The Cult Leader’s reactions were generally difficult to discern, but this time it was quite clear. His eyes held a look as if asking, ‘Why do you ask such a thing?’
To avoid any misunderstanding, Cheon So-hyun laughed and rambled on.
“Ha, is there some special circumstance? I feel as though I’ve heard something about it… My mind has been rather scattered lately. Please tell me plainly.”
The Cult Leader poured wine and asked.
“Has discord come to the Upper Dantian?”
“Yes, while running about to tend to my damaged body, it’s inevitable that… Yes. Still, it’s improving gradually. The price paid for healing my body was quite reasonable.”
“Demonic Possession?”
“Not yet.”
The Cult Leader drained his cup and poured again.
At this sight, Cheon So-hyun was quite taken aback.
‘Huh?’
It wasn’t because of the unfamiliar liquor he drank alone with such enthusiasm, never once offering it to the person across from him.
Of course, that was surprising enough, but the real shock was that the Cult Leader had actually laughed—a small, almost derisive chuckle.
So the man could smile after all?
The Cult Leader spoke once more.
“I have not taken him as a disciple. The Wuling Divine Art is a supreme technique worthy of its name, but to most martial artists in Jianghu, it is merely third-rate martial arts.”

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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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