Heavenly Demon of the Huashan Sect - Chapter 123

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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 123
Despite his dramatic entrance, the Handsome Youth’s first words were utterly ridiculous.
“What did you just say?”
“Do you have anything to eat?”
“I didn’t mishear that, did I?”
Everyone stared at Cheon Hui with blank, bewildered expressions.
“Amitabha Buddha.”
Yeoraesin Gwon murmured a soft prayer and passed through the wary monks, approaching the stranger.
“Master.”
“Perhaps it would be wise to first ascertain who this young man is—”
Several monks tried to block his path toward the unknown youth, but—
“How can one who has taken monastic vows refuse aid to those who seek it?”
With a single statement, Yeoraesin Gwon dismissed the monks’ objections and produced a Byeokgok Dan from his robes, offering it forward.
“Will this suffice?”
“Don’t you have anything else?”
Cheon Hui’s brow furrowed.
He was not pleased.
Of all the foods in the world, it had to be the Byeokgok Dan—the very thing he’d grown tired of eating!
“This is all I have, I’m afraid.”
“Tsk. I wish it were meat.”
Cheon Hui grumbled softly but swallowed the Byeokgok Dan readily enough.
Perhaps it was the hunger.
Though it had no taste to speak of, the sudden fullness that bloomed in his belly lifted his spirits considerably.
“Thank you for the meal.”
Cheon Hui smiled with satisfaction as he spoke.
“Heh. I’m relieved it pleased you.”
Yeoraesin Gwon smiled warmly.
But something was odd.
Now that his hunger had been sated, Cheon Hui finally looked around slowly at his surroundings.
Why had so many people gathered here?
Bidong was supposed to be empty.
Even a rough count suggested about a hundred?
Perhaps more than that.
It was truly remarkable.
The Chief Manager of the Celestial Merchant Alliance had said he didn’t even know of this place’s existence until the imperial court gave him the Jangdo.
And the evidence had been clear.
Though Bidong had been ransacked, it was certainly a place that hadn’t been discovered for at least several decades when he had entered it.
‘So the location became known shortly after I arrived?’
It was an astonishing coincidence.
The moment he entered, Bidong of Wuying Sintu—undiscovered for decades—became known throughout All Under Heaven.
Or perhaps—
‘It wasn’t coincidence at all.’
As Cheon Hui sank into thought—
“So it was you!”
Someone bellowed suddenly.
It was Myeongwol Do.
A murderous aura radiated from him as he glared at Cheon Hui with sharp, vicious eyes.
“You stole the treasures of Wuying Sintu from this place and hid them!”
His pupils dilated wildly.
He had barely made it here, sacrificing several members of Hwangil Dan in the process to cross the traps.
But when he arrived, what did he find?
Only scattered, empty wooden boxes, shattered statues, and stones—nothing more.
The entire place had been completely stripped bare.
Then, just as the wall of Bidong crumbled away, this unknown youth appeared.
Naturally, suspicion was unavoidable.
And it was—
“The brat must have stolen them.”
“Hid them inside the wall, didn’t he?”
Like a plague, the suspicion spread rapidly, igniting fierce accusations among the nearby martial artists.
Cheon Hui felt utterly dumbfounded as he sensed their harsh, piercing stares.
‘Me? A thief?’
If something had been brought from inside, that would be one thing—but something already here?
“If it was here, wouldn’t it have been taken already?”
It had nothing to do with him.
But no one believed that.
“Nonsense! Who would believe your words!”
“Then why did it come from inside?”
As their shouts continued.
“Then don’t believe me.”
Cheon Hui spoke with indifference.
He simply found it tedious to bicker over something like this.
Yet that very action amplified their suspicion into absolute certainty.
“I knew it was him.”
“He’s the one who stole it!”
The fury of those warriors and drifters who had endured hardship in the trap reached a fever pitch.
Then.
“Amitabha Buddha.”
A soft Buddhist invocation sounded.
Yeoraesin Gwon stepped before Cheon Hui and met Myeongwol Do’s gaze directly.
“Isn’t it too hasty to reach a conclusion?”
“Are you shielding that man right now?”
“Shouldn’t we verify the facts before making blind accusations?”
“Verify the facts?”
Myeongwol Do twisted his lips.
“You speak of verification after witnessing all this?!”
At his cry, infused with Internal Power.
“Exactly!”
“It’s obvious that bastard is the culprit, isn’t it?”
Everyone save Shaolin agreed.
“Everyone, please calm yourselves. This man hasn’t claimed with his own mouth that he took anything, has he?”
Yeoraesin Gwon spoke calmly in an attempt to soothe them.
“How can we calm down!”
“My disciples died in that trap! And you ask me to hold back when the thief stands before me?”
It had no effect whatsoever.
If anything, it only inflamed their rage further.
Especially those warriors who had lost junior sect brothers in the trap—their eyes blazed with murderous intent.
“The one who needs to calm down most right now is none other than yourself.”
Myeongwol Do spoke with confidence, the crowd at his back.
Then his eyes sharpened.
“Or is it that you know him and are shielding him?”
“I do not know him.”
“That’s quite strange, isn’t it?”
Myeongwol Do stroked his chin thoughtfully.
“No matter how I look at it, I cannot understand why you would shield an obvious criminal…”
In that instant, murmurs rippled through Bidong.
“Could it be Shaolin?”
“But even so, it’s Shaolin…”
“They’ve come all this way.”
Yeoraesin Gwon’s expression hardened as he heard the whispered voices of the warriors.
Meanwhile, Myeongwol Do’s lips curved upward.
The mood of the entire assembly had already been completely swayed by Myeongwol Do’s words.
‘He would have been fine staying silent, but now he’s doing unnecessary things and helping me out.’
As he watched Yeoraesin Gwon, he let out a silent sneer.
Snap.
The Arhat Monks moved to stand beside Yeoraesin Gwon.
The situation had turned precarious.
The forces had split into two factions.
Cheon Hui with Yeoraesin Gwon and the Arhat Monks.
And Myeongwol Do along with the members of Hwangil Dan and the warriors who sided with him.
Numerically, the difference was overwhelming.
“Ah, Amitabha Buddha.”
Yet Yeoraesin Gwon forced a smile as he looked at Myeongwol Do and the others.
‘This was my mistake.’
It hadn’t been what he intended.
What he’d wanted was simply to confirm the current situation with the young man.
‘I never thought he’d misinterpret it like this.’
By the time they had reached their standoff.
‘Forget all that. Let’s just go outside and get some wine and meat.’
Cheon Hui moved toward the door.
For a moment, those in the standoff watched him walk away as if utterly unconcerned with the situation, their faces blank with shock.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Myeongwol Do stepped in front of Cheon Hui.
“Where did you hide the object?”
“I told you, there was nothing to begin with.”
“Still playing innocent, are you?”
Cheon Hui let out a hollow laugh.
Innocent. As if.
The more he thought about it, the more absurd the whole thing became.
“Fine, say I did take it.”
“So it was you after all——”
“The one who finds it first becomes its owner. What does it matter if I hide it?”
“It matters if there’s a rightful owner.”
Myeongwol Do’s eyes narrowed to slits.
“That place contains items stolen from our sect centuries ago by the Wuying Sintu.”
Cheon Hui regarded him steadily.
“How do you know that object belongs to you?”
“If you show it to me——”
“And who’s to say it’s the real thing once you see it?”
……
Myeongwol Do’s mouth closed shut.
As it happened, the Wuying Sintu had stolen those items some two hundred and fifty years ago.
Now, there was no one left in All Under Heaven who could testify they belonged to the Ilwol Mun.
“So you’re deliberately making an enemy of our sect, then.”
“If that’s how you see it.”
Cheon Hui spoke as though the whole matter bored him.
“This madman——”
“Where does this recklessness come from?”
All those watching Myeongwol Do bear down on Cheon Hui gasped in disbelief.
Only Yeoraesin Gwon snapped back to attention, speaking urgently.
“That’s Myeongwol Do. It would be wise not to provoke him further.”
Yeoraesin Gwon had hastily revealed Myeongwol Do’s epithet in an attempt to warn Cheon Hui.
“Myeongwol Do? Who’s that?”
Cheon Hui tilted his head.
It was an epithet he’d never heard before.
“You don’t know who Myeongwol Do is?”
“First time I’m hearing it.”
“A puppy who doesn’t know tigers are fearsome——that’s exactly you.”
Myeongwol Do laughed, a chilling sound.
Anyone with a place in the Kangho would never be ignorant of his epithet.
‘I thought his boldness meant he had real skill. Turns out he’s just a loudmouth.’
He glanced at Cheon Hui’s flank.
Two swords of different lengths were fastened there—a sight almost laughable.
‘I’ve never met a single competent swordsman who carried two blades.’
Meanwhile, still ignorant of Myeongwol Do’s identity, Cheon Hui asked Yeoraesin Gwon.
“Is that man really so famous? Which sect does he belong to?”
“He’s an elder of the Ilwol Mun.”
“Ah, the Ilwol Mun!”
Cheon Hui nodded, understanding at last.
“You could have just said that from the start.”
Myeongwol Do smirked at Cheon Hui’s reaction, and a murderous aura began to shimmer around him.
“It doesn’t matter that you’ve figured out who I am now.”
“Then I’ll just have to make an enemy of the Ilwol Mun, won’t I?”
In that instant, Bidong fell into a stunned silence.
Yeoraesin Gwon and the Arhat Monks, along with every martial artist present, gaped.
“Y-you’re not afraid of the Ilwol Mun?”
“Why would I be?”
“Absolutely mad. The man’s completely mad.”
Myeongwol Do’s eyes turned deadly.
He could not abide this attitude—one that dismissed not only himself but the entire Ilwol Mun.
“Pal Ho. Gu Ho.”
As he issued the command in a chilling voice, two members of the Hwangil Dan stepped forward.
“Take him alive.”
Every instinct screamed at him to tear the man limb from limb right then, to watch him die screaming—but this was not the moment.
‘First I’ll make him tell me where he hid Bidong’s property. Then I’ll kill him. Very, very slowly.’
As Myeongwol Do’s eyes burned with a murderous aura so intense it seemed to scorch the air,
‘What to do.’
Cheon Hui casually loosened his bonds.
‘My identity can’t be exposed yet, so I can’t use Huashan Sect’s martial arts.’
Yeoraesin Gwon and the Arhat Monks watched him intently.
‘That leaves only one option. I’ll have to unleash the techniques sealed inside the Cheonma Yunhoe.’
He finished loosening his hands and made his decision.
Thump-thump-thump!
The two Hwangil Dan members rushed forward.
Flanking Cheon Hui on both sides, they raised their five-foot jangdos high overhead.
The massive blades climbed toward the ceiling of Bidong as if they might pierce through it, and a desolate, bone-chilling aura enveloped the sabers.
“That’s—!”
“That stance……”
Yeoraesin Gwon and several others who recognized the Hwangil Dan’s technique form held their breath.
Blades raised high toward the heavens.
And the vicious aura radiating outward in all directions from the sabers—this was the blade technique’s signature stance, known only from rumor until now.
“The Guiwol In……!”
Before someone’s cry had even finished,
Whoosh!
Both jangdos came down in one explosive motion.
The signature blade art of the Ilwol Mun descended with a trail of light, aimed to cleave through Cheon Hui’s head,
When—
Cheon Hui lifted his gaze.
The two Hwangil Dan members suddenly flinched as they saw him raise his head.
A smile, as terrible and pure white as bone, had bloomed across his face.
‘If the Evil Path were my opponent, this would be perfect.’
Cheon Hui slowly raised his right hand.
At the same time, he drew up his Internal Force and spread his fingers wide like an eagle’s talons.
One of the Evil Path’s three supreme techniques—the Saero Samdae Subeop!
A secret art and supreme skill of Sa Hyeol Hwang, the greatest master of the Evil Path centuries past.
The Janbeak Janbyeol Jjo had pierced through nearly a hundred years of silence and now revealed itself.

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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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