Heavenly Demon Divine Saint - Chapter 76

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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 76
The Demon Master’s voice fell heavily.
“You, the pampered child of the Baek Family.”
“…Yes.”
“What reckless folly you’ve committed. Do you even comprehend what it means to imitate another’s martial techniques?”
“Yes, I do understand. It is theft—stealing the most precious thing a warrior possesses.”
“Theft? You labor under a delusion that doesn’t even hold water.”
The Demon Master’s eyes burned with palpable killing intent.
“Copying and executing martial techniques through mere observation is no trivial matter to dismiss so carelessly. Whether individual or sect, to mock the martial knowledge painstakingly accumulated over countless years, and call it merely theft? How absurd.”
The consequences would inevitably return as calamity.
“If that calamity fell only upon you, it would be of no concern. But it won’t, will it? How long do you intend to shackle your master and the Third Prince with your recklessness?”
Kang Hyun’s expression grew increasingly rigid.
“I am aware of it. I designed this training myself, and I hide away in this secluded place to hone my skills precisely because…”
“Either you lack comprehension, or you feign it.”
“…!”
Shock flashed across Kang Hyun’s eyes.
The Demon Master’s form rippled for an instant, then materialized at his flank.
It was a movement he had rehearsed countless times, burned into memory—yet facing it in reality proved overwhelmingly superior.
“Is that all you have to say?”
Kang Hyun launched himself forward with full force, dual blades sweeping in a desperate arc. His body moved instinctively, responding to the killing intent that washed over his skin.
A brilliant decision. Yet the Demon Master’s hand, infused with demonic power, had already pressed against his abdomen.
Boom!
Struck by a force like a colossal hammer, Kang Hyun’s body was hurled through the air.
As he flew like a projectile across the void, a chill raced through his entire being.
‘I’m… dying…!’
The Demon Master closed the distance in a heartbeat, his hand blade descending.
A merciless strike aimed at the vital points, executed with such precision it was clear he intended to kill.
‘If I’m going to die anyway…!’
A resonant hum erupted.
White light blazed from Kang Hyun’s eyes.
And then.
“Cough, hack!”
Kang Hyun, having tumbled across the ground multiple times, spat blood. His chest was stained crimson.
The Demon Master’s strike had burrowed deep into his torso. Had it penetrated even slightly deeper, his bones would have shattered entirely.
“…”
The Demon Master’s expression remained impassive as he regarded him. Yet a peculiar light glimmered in his eyes.
‘It didn’t connect.’
He had believed a single technique sufficient to neutralize him. Even if it were merely a fragment of power, it was far beyond what a mere youth could withstand.
Yet both the palm strike and the hand blade had failed to land properly.
Instead, a faint vibration resonated through his fingertips, accompanied by an unpleasant sting.
Even as my balance shattered, I forced the energy to flow through me and launched a counterattack.
Regardless of one’s martial rank, such a response would have been impossible without innate talent and keen instincts for the martial arts.
‘What a waste.’
As Do Je stepped forward again, the ground beneath him caved inward.
“It seems you’ll wither before you ever fully bloom.”
Boom! Crash!
Do Je’s assault descended with explosive ferocity.
He slashed with his palm, probed for openings with footwork, and relentlessly pressed Kang Hyun while dragging the rattling chains.
‘Ugh.’
Kang Hyun bit his lip to endure the mounting agony.
Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. His energy surged backward, and his entire body felt as though it were being torn to shreds.
‘Why. Why in the world….’
Frustration gnawed at me.
I understood well that recklessly imitating martial techniques was a crime worthy of universal condemnation—I’d heard it drilled into my ears since childhood.
That’s why I’d always been cautious, and I’d never overestimated my own abilities until now.
What I couldn’t comprehend was Do Je’s reaction.
Kang Hyun swallowed the blood surging up his throat and spoke through gritted teeth.
“What have I…!”
“What?”
“What have I done so wrong!”
Kang Hyun screamed and wielded his twin blades like a madman.
White blade energy bloomed all around him, shattering the earth as it rushed toward Do Je. It was the Flowing Blossom Sword Form.
“What could a half-baked fool possibly accomplish.”
Boom!
As the blade energy scattered helplessly into pale smoke, Kang Hyun burst through the haze and unleashed his dual palms.
Do Je’s voice grated out like metal scraping against stone.
“You whelp… unaware that the River of Three Paths lies before your eyes.”
His displeasure was unmistakable. It wasn’t the blade energy obscuring his vision or the palm technique boring through it.
Kang Hyun had deployed the Bloodless Corpse Technique once more—Do Je’s exclusive secret art.
Boom!
As the snow-white dual palms collided with Do Je’s hands, a surge of frigid energy erupted from Kang Hyun’s entire body.
It was his full strength. Kang Hyun summoned far more power than he’d ever unleashed in his life and deployed the White Snow Transformation.
“What have I… what have I done so wrong.”
“Do you lack even shame along with perception. Can’t you understand….”
“It’s not about martial techniques, is it!”
Had Do Je been truly enraged, Kang Hyun would never have exchanged even a single move and would have lost his life long ago.
“From the moment we first met until now… what have I done so wrong that you look at me with such eyes.”
Kang Hyun had always found Do Je unsettling.
After joining forces with the Third Prince and building their faction, they’d crossed paths frequently, yet they’d never exchanged a single word.
Not because there was nothing to discuss, but because the way Do Je looked at him was deeply uncomfortable.
The common gazes that those who have heard tales of the Kang Family inevitably display.
Though they occasionally pierced my innermost being and caused suffering, they no longer shook my spirit. I had grown accustomed to them by now. Calluses had formed so thickly that the pain was no longer as sharp as it once was.
But Do Je was different.
Eyes blazing fiercely like embers that would devour Mount Tai itself. It was a reaction that only one harboring profound enmity could display.
“Could it be… that you hold a grudge against my family?”
Do Je laughed softly.
“Are there not fewer who do not?”
“…!”
Crash!
As Do Je unleashed his demonic energy and shook apart their joined hands, the distance between them widened considerably.
“I said you had restrained yourself somewhat, yet you possess keen discernment after all. Your progress in ice techniques is quite respectable. You would be justified in displaying some pride.”
Do Je withdrew a scroll from his robes and tossed it to him.
Kang Hyun caught it bewilderedly and unrolled it to find a map with four locations marked upon it.
“What is this…?”
“It would be laughable to call such clumsy movements the Bloodless Assassination Technique, yet the insult remains the same. Prove that your audacity is not mere recklessness. If you bring me their heads, I shall grant you a path to survival.”
* * *
“You have labored well.”
“Labor is nothing.”
Do Je clicked his tongue and brushed the dust from his outer robe.
“I handled him rather harshly. Will he be alright?”
“It was fitting. Kang Hyun needed precisely that degree of stimulation at this moment.”
Of late, Kang Hyun had been laboring under the weight of his family’s burden, pushing himself relentlessly.
Repeatedly sparring against rivals conjured by imagination placed immense strain upon his upper dantian, an act equivalent to shortening his own lifespan, yet he attempted it daily.
“As you have aged, even you have become sentimental, Senior. And you were once so sharp and decisive.”
“Are you not the same?”
“Perhaps. But with this, I have repaid my debt.”
Yi Ma-je’s lips curved upward slightly.
“I have said it repeatedly—I have never regarded it as a debt. It was merely a matter of my own shortcomings, not any fault of yours.”
Do Je laughed softly.
“So it would seem.”
“And so, how was he?”
“Worthy of consideration. He would make a sufficiently useful piece on the board.”
To strengthen Ma Gun’s forces, even a single hand was precious. Though still young, Kang Hyun had inherited the talents of the Previous Left Envoy in their entirety, making him a talent worth observing directly and cultivating properly.
“Is that why you entrusted him with the Wuzhong Sect matter? I thought you would stir things up for quite some time under the pretext of seeking disciples.”
The scroll given to Kang Hyun contained the whereabouts of Wuzhong Sect disciples whose fates had become uncertain after the Tuyong Tournament.
“The situation has changed, so our response must change as well. Though it pains me, it is clear they would become unnecessary kindling, so it is best to dispose of them beforehand.”
Yi Ma-je nodded in agreement.
With the Third Prince’s journey to the Central Plains now decided, no one could predict what variables might emerge. How well they controlled and managed these uncertainties would greatly influence their future course.
“If we capture the vicious beast targeting the Third Prince’s head, the Baeksi Maga Clan’s disgrace would also be diminished. It would not be entirely without gain.”
Do Je let out a hollow laugh.
“Will that erase the stigma, though?”
“It’ll be better than before.”
“It depends on how the Young Master of the Cheon Family conducts himself. There may be differences.”
At that moment, both Demon Masters’ gazes turned beyond the mountain ridge.
A rapidly swelling presence made itself known. Their footsteps grew lighter as they sensed the fierce aura rushing toward them like roaring flames.
“He’ll never become a gentleman.”
“Indeed.”
* * *
Whoooosh!
Upon returning to my quarters, I threw myself immediately into cultivation.
If something were to happen to me, an expelled disciple, what calamity might unfold?
If a holy war truly erupted as the Chief Military Commander suggested, the Cult Leader could not have overlooked it.
Then why had he granted permission to venture into the Central Plains so easily?
Countless questions swirled in my mind, yet brooding would change nothing.
Regardless, my objective remained unchanged.
I would go to the Central Plains, meet those bald-headed senior brothers, and by whatever means necessary—whether cracking skulls or kicking backsides—I would unseal Shaolin’s gates.
The detailed strategy remained to be devised, but one truth was immutable: I had to eliminate the very cause that necessitated venturing into the Central Plains.
To accomplish this, my foremost priority was to elevate the Red Palace Unobstructed Technique to the Bright Moon stage, as the Cult Leader had stipulated.
‘Truly fascinating.’
Whoooosh!
The essence of the Dawning Moon lay in harmonizing the absorbed external qi with my existing inner force.
And the deeper I delved, the more I felt the quality of my inner force transforming.
Moreover, as I compressed the unified inner power, my dantian naturally contracted in size.
It was a positive change—it meant the density of my qi had risen considerably.
Increased density equated to stabilized qi and maximized efficiency.
Had the Cult Leader perceived this and bestowed the Red Palace Unobstructed Technique for that reason?
It truly was the optimal martial art for someone like me, cursed with a half-formed dantian.
Whoooosh!
The fire qi scattered throughout my meridians began converging toward my dantian.
‘Excellent!’
One must empty to fill again. I replenished the emptied meridians with the fire qi of the Wuling Divine Art, then fortified my bones and muscles with the Gwangak Gyeol.
Cultivating the Red Palace Unobstructed Technique was akin to achieving continuous positive cycles that elevated my overall martial prowess.
Naturally, my mastery of the Gwangak Gyeol transcended the second stage and reached the third.
What began as cultivation driven by the singular will to achieve the Bright Moon had seamlessly transformed into pure martial advancement.
One day, two days, then four.
Lost in the transformations occurring within my body, I forgot how time flowed, neglecting even the surrounding landscape.
It was a sensation both promising and perilous.
As my deepening immersion expanded my understanding of martial arts, I also sensed an intuitive warning: if I became too absorbed in this state, madness would be inevitable.
‘Amitabha Buddha.’
Yet I was not one to be seduced by the snares of demonic cultivation. I maintained unwavering equanimity and vigilantly guarded myself from crossing that line.
And when I finished circulating the Red Palace Unobstructed Technique while absorbing all the remaining spiritual essence of the Tuyong Pills,
Boom!
Like a dam bursting, a tingling sensation surged near my temples as though a barrier had shattered.
* * *
In the twilight hour of dawn,
Yi Ma-je, who had been cultivating external martial arts as usual, set down his staff and headed toward the Estate entrance.
“You looked like you were on the brink, yet you’ve returned so quickly. Is it finished?”
Cheon So-hyun was walking through the entrance.
“Yes. I stopped just before losing consciousness. There’s a principle that one must never become obsessed with anything—I’ve returned from the Cliff Edge, so to speak. How much time has passed?”
“Just over a fortnight.”
His gaze swept across Cheon So-hyun’s entire form.
Even scrutinizing him at close range, there was no aura to sense. His presence was so faint, as though examining a rock or vegetation—he simply existed in that space.
“I thought it would take at least three months… Remarkable. Are you leaving immediately?”
“There’s no reason to linger. I’ll finish this quickly and return.”
Yi Ma-je let out a soft chuckle.
“Very well, go safely.”
With that, Cheon So-hyun headed toward the Cult Leader’s Hall.

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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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