Heavenly Demon of the Huashan Sect - Chapter 146

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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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Episode 146
Cheon Hui stood before the Maehwa Third Gate.
The moment he stepped inside, he sensed the energy flowing through the space and spotted a single Path of Life with his eyes.
Without hesitation, Cheon Hui moved a few paces in each direction—north, south, east, west—until he had located the Path of Life embedded in this gate’s formation.
But he deliberately veered toward the Path of Death instead.
In an instant.
Crack—
A vicious pressure crushed down on his body.
At the same time, his meridians and Internal Force surged wildly, and his entire frame cried out in agony.
“Yes, now this is what I wanted.”
Cheon Hui’s mouth split into a grin.
This was exactly what he’d been hoping for.
What good was mere safety?
Without such danger, how would one ever truly grasp the weight of a gate’s purpose?
Crackle-crack—
The pressure intensified.
Yet Cheon Hui remained composed.
After tasting enough of the Path of Death’s oppression, he drew forth the Plum Blossom Divine Art and crushed the entire formation beneath his power.
Screech-crack—
Strange sounds erupted, and fissures began splitting through the space.
Shatter—
The formation shattered.
“This place is excellent.”
Cheon Hui nodded in approval.
The Salma Gate and the Gwima Gate.
This was where the third and fourth gates of the Heavenly Demon’s Ten Gates had been merged together.
The Salma Gate was infamous—a gateway where one must sustain themselves for a full fifteen days on a single day’s worth of provisions, forcing candidates to kill or be killed in order to survive.
What else could that mean?
It was a gate where staying alive demanded that one slay, and be slain in turn.
And the Gwima Gate?
It was a gate created in cooperation with the Yaomazone, one of the eight branches of the Tianma Divine Sect—a gateway that toyed with the human spirit itself.
The agony of flesh and the torment of mind.
That searing cruelty had been perfectly woven into Orthodox Sect principles here.
A flawless formation to subject both body and spirit to suffering.
“Fail to find the Path of Life and you’ll fall into illusion, starving endlessly. Make one wrong step into the Path of Death and you’ll writhe in this agony.”
Cheon Hui gazed at the Maehwa Third Gate with an expression of pure satisfaction—and the gate swung open.
* * *
Whoosh—
The third lantern ignited.
Je Gal Seong Hyeon’s face went pale.
A single period? No, a single period is nothing—
Before he’d even finished brewing tea, Cheon Hui had already cleared through the third of the Maehwa Seven Crown gates.
“……This, this is impossible even for him. No, not just him…….”
He swallowed the words before they could leave his lips.
A thought had surfaced in his mind, but it was one that must never be spoken aloud.
“No, wait. The Maehwa Fourth Gate is still entirely different from any gate that came before.”
His hands trembled slightly.
At the same time, he watched the lantern that would ignite once Cheon Hui passed through the next Maehwa Fourth Gate.
“Even so, this is a matter of time.”
The previous gates were one thing.
Those earlier gates could be overcome by superior foundational skill alone, but from the Maehwa Fourth Gate onward, one required true martial prowess to back it up…….
Then.
Whoosh—
The fourth lantern lit.
“…….”
Je Gal Seong Hyeon was at a loss for words.
* * *
As Cheon Hui walked toward the gate leading to the Maehwa Fifth Gate, he glanced behind him.
“No need to adjust anything here either.”
Having worked on the Maehwa Fourth Gate directly, there was nothing that needed correction.
Footwork, sword technique, hand technique, palm technique, and so forth.
Cheon Hui had installed mechanism arrays so that the disciples could master the martial arts of Huashan Sect.
For footwork, they had to leave footprints to cross; for sword technique or hand technique, they had to move exactly as the traces they left behind dictated, and so on.
The intent was simple.
Just learn your martial arts properly.
“If you can’t pass this gate either, you’ll be so embarrassed you’ll be desperate to master martial arts.”
To pass every other gate but fail at the one testing Huashan Sect’s martial arts—that made no sense.
“So now it’s the Maehwa Fifth Gate.”
Cheon Hui’s eyes, murmuring to himself, suddenly changed.
From the fifth gate onward, the nature of the trials was completely different.
Until now, it had been about physical strengthening and foundational martial arts; now it was not.
Then.
“This scent…?”
A familiar plum blossom fragrance teased his nostrils, and
—Whoooosh—
countless phantom plum blossoms swirled before his eyes, and the surrounding landscape transformed completely.
The pupil had vanished.
In its place, only clouds and peaks existed.
Standing on a peak, Cheon Hui watched plum blossom petals dance, gradually obscuring his vision.
The petals, overwhelming even the clouds, were weaving a beautiful path.
“Is this the Gui Ren Wan Array, or something like that? That must be it. Very nice.”
Cheon Hui, observing it, grinned widely.
The landscape he saw now, the path of plum blossoms.
It matched exactly with the vision Je Gal Seong Hyeon had described to him before.
“There’s no way I could miss this.”
Cheon Hui drew his sword.
Then the plum blossom petals that had engulfed the sky fluttered gently, rotating slowly.
The first form of the Twenty-Four Maehwa Sword Technique.
A manifestation of the Maehwa Path Side.
—Swish—
The plum blossom petals vanished.
In their place, an old man in a sect robe appeared and danced above the clouds.
Movements like a butterfly.
Cheon Hui, watching the elderly figure’s dance—as though he would flutter away if even the gentlest breeze brushed against him—lowered his sword.
The meaning of that dance was unmistakable.
Adapt.
To the flow, to the momentum, to your own blade.
Cheon Hui’s sword swung forth.
Or rather, his hand adapted to the sword.
The boundary between hand and blade dissolved.
A manifestation of Mind-Sword Unity.
* * *
—Crackle—
Je Gal Seong Hyeon stared intently at the lantern.
“…Ha.”
He couldn’t even manage a hollow laugh anymore.
Passing the Maehwa Fifth Gate in a single moment?
This was nothing like before.
Having already experienced all seven Maehwa gates, he knew intimately how difficult it was to pass each one in succession.
Just because you passed the first gate—does the second become easy?
It did not.
The second gate could be harder, or the fourth might be easier instead.
But one thing was certain.
From the fifth gate onward, the difficulty doubled unmistakably.
Yet he had just passed the fifth gate.
And at an impossible pace, at that.
“…Beyond calculation.”
Je Gal Seong Hyeon shook his head.
By his own understanding, this was an existence he could not judge.
And he was not alone in that.
The world itself would be unable to judge him.
Cheon Hui sheathed his sword after displaying all the techniques of the Maehwa Sword Technique, following the phantoms woven through its meaning.
“You’ve crafted it well, just as I instructed.”
His smile brimmed with satisfaction.
There was a vast difference between learning and executing martial arts by rote from the secret manuals and executing them after grasping their underlying meaning.
Anyone could mimic the form, but embedding true intent within that form was extraordinarily difficult, beyond imagination.
Yet the Maehwa Fifth Gate made it possible to imbue a technique with that deeper meaning.
By showing the intent contained within each movement through phantom illusions.
‘This way, they’ll contemplate each movement, wonder why it takes this particular form…….’
Cheon Hui nodded to himself.
Reflection was the foundation of martial study, the enlightenment that led to the next level.
“Better than I expected.”
It likely wasn’t intentional.
The Je Gal Sega didn’t know anything about the Maehwa Sword Technique, after all.
It was a product of coincidence piled upon coincidence.
“There’s no need to examine this place further.”
Let’s move on to the next open gate.
Bang!
The door shut behind them.
At the same moment, Night-Illuminating Pearls flared to life all around.
“Same as the Honma Gate.”
Cheon Hui surveyed his surroundings.
On the left sat Grain-Avoidance Pills; on the right, a water jar filled to the brim.
It was clearly not a gate designed for merely a day or two.
“It should start any moment now.”
Right on cue, dense Spiritual Energy poured forth.
It was so heavy and overwhelming that his body felt as though he were drowning in water.
“More Spiritual Energy has accumulated on Huashan than I’d anticipated.”
If encountering it for the first time, one would rejoice at such density—but that would be a miscalculation.
As the saying goes: excess is as bad as deficiency.
Even Spiritual Energy, if one cannot handle its intensity, will crush you.
“If this Formation Technique had unfolded in the Honma Gate, most would have died.”
Originally, the Honma Gate was a trial that administered the Demonic Soul Pill, a spiritual elixir saturated with Demonic Energy, to guide practitioners toward Demonic Breakthrough.
Absorb it correctly, and one reaches the state of Demonic Breakthrough.
Fail to absorb it, and one falls into Demonic Obsession, becoming a madman—such was the gate’s design.
Cheon Hui had twisted it slightly.
Instead of the Demonic Soul Pill, he gathered the Spiritual Energy present on Huashan using a Formation Technique.
Which is why its concentration was so extraordinarily dense.
It didn’t affect the mind the way Demonic Energy would, but it was dangerous nonetheless.
All but a handful of the Huashan Sect’s Taoists would collapse the moment they stepped inside.
“But if one can endure it…….”
The corners of Cheon Hui’s eyes curved upward.
Why would one simply gain power for nothing?
Equivalent exchange.
If there is something to gain, there must be something to lose.
Time passed in silence.
Whoooosh—
The dense Spiritual Energy gradually dispersed.
“Hmm, is this the limit?”
He recalled what Je Gal Seong Hyeon had said when planning this Maehwa Sixth Gate.
No matter how much a sacred mountain Huashan was, one couldn’t constantly draw forth Spiritual Energy.
Only twice a day was possible—at the Mao Hour when the sun rises and at the You Hour when it sets, the two times when the greatest concentration of energy gathered.
Only one double-hour interval per session.
And this couldn’t be done every day.
Otherwise, the mountain’s balance would collapse, no matter how abundant its Spiritual Energy.
‘About four times a year, then.’
Cheon Hui stroked his chin thoughtfully.
The Maehwa Seventh Gate couldn’t be kept open at all times anyway. There was much to prepare, and many consumables to manage.
‘Once per season should suffice…….’
Click.
Suddenly, a small opening appeared in the floor, and a wooden pillar rose up with a soft creak.
“Quite the intricate mechanism array.”
Cheon Hui gazed at the wooden case resting atop the pillar, then reached out and opened it.
Click—
Inside lay martial arts secret manuals.
The secret manual for the Seven-Cut Maehwa Sword, prepared specifically for this gate.
In fact, the Maehwa Fifth Gate and Maehwa Sixth Gate had been designed to connect seamlessly.
Learn the Twenty-Four Maehwa Sword Technique, notice the gaps, then turn to the Seven-Cut Maehwa Sword?
Most cultivators followed a predictable path.
“So they’d naturally immerse themselves in the Seven-Cut Maehwa Sword.”
The moment Cheon Hui returned the manual to the wooden case and shut it.
Thud—
The case sank smoothly back into the floor.
Shortly after, the opening sealed itself without a trace, neat and seamless.
“No wonder the Je Gal Sega is renowned for mechanism arrays.”
While he gazed down in fascination.
Groan—
At last, the next wall slid open.
“So where is the Maehwa Seventh Gate…….”
With keen anticipation, Cheon Hui stepped toward the wide-open entrance to the Maehwa Seventh Gate.
Tap—tap—
He walked into the darkness ahead.
When would he emerge?
Eager for the next gate, he wondered how much farther it would be.
Groan—
The wall opened, and light spilled through.
“What?”
Cheon Hui stepped toward the opening with a puzzled expression, his brow furrowing.
“It’s outside?”
His frown deepened as he beheld the magnificent scenery of Huashan sprawling around him.
“Don’t tell me that’s the end? Where’s the Maehwa Seventh Gate?”
As Cheon Hui stood bewildered.
“He’s already cleared the Seventh Gate…….”
Je Gal Seong Hyeon was left speechless.
The Maehwa Seventh Gate was an incomparably elaborate gate compared to the others.
It employed numerous Formation Techniques from the Je Gal Sega to create the Phantom Transformation Formation.
‘The Maehwa Seventh Gate is meant to pit a cultivator against the strongest opponent they can conceive of. And he’s already……?’
As he stood there in a daze.
“Did the final gate malfunction?”
A voice came from behind him.
“Ah, h-how did you arrive here?”
Je Gal Seong Hyeon, startled, jumped back, then caught sight of Cheon Hui and exhaled.
“How? I sensed your presence and came.”
“……You sensed my presence?”
Je Gal Seong Hyeon was left dumbfounded.
He’d followed him by sensing his presence alone?
That made no sense whatsoever…….
‘If it were Xiao Xie, perhaps it would be possible.’
He accepted it readily.
To pass through the Maehwa Seventh Gate so swiftly—sensing one’s presence was trivial by comparison.
“More importantly, did you install the Maehwa Seventh Gate properly? The formation didn’t activate.”
“What? You say the formation didn’t activate?”
“Nothing emerged.”
“That shouldn’t be possible…….”
Je Gal Seong Hyeon tilted his head in confusion.
How much effort had gone into the Maehwa Seventh Gate?
Yet a part of him wondered if this was actually correct.
For him to clear the Maehwa Seventh Gate so quickly was, no matter how he thought about it, utterly absurd.
“I’ll check it myself.”
Cheon Hui tilted his head.
“When are you planning to go in?”
“Right now, if you wish.”
Je Gal Seong Hyeon, still speaking, turned the lamp on the far right in the opposite direction.
Click—
The wall where the lamp hung suddenly split down the middle with a sharp crack, revealing a passage.
“So that’s how the passage works.”
“Ah—you knew of it, sir?”
Je Gal Seong Hyeon went pale.
To have noticed the passage’s existence.
He’d thought he’d exhausted all capacity for shock, yet astonishment kept rupturing through him.
But Cheon Hui, the one in question, spoke as if it were nothing to wonder at.
“How could you not know that?”
“Well… that is…”
Je Gal Seong Hyeon, who had meant to offer some rebuttal, gave a hollow laugh and shook his head.
“I’ll go confirm the situation and return at once.”
“Fine.”
Cheon Hui answered indifferently.
Footstep, footstep—
Je Gal Seong Hyeon disappeared into the darkness.
‘It didn’t activate?’
As he walked the passage, he grew puzzled.
The Maehwa Seventh Gate was the chamber he’d poured the most painstaking care into creating.
He’d even suffered through those sleepless nights building it.
Upon reaching the passage’s end, he grasped a rod protruding from the left side of the wall blocking his way, then slowly pulled it downward.
Click-click-click—
The wall swung open and light poured in.
And in that moment.
“It didn’t activate, my foot…!”
He cried out in exasperation.
Standing directly before him was the one person he feared most in All Under Heaven.
The master of the Je Gal Sega, and his father.
Je Gal Shin.
“Cursed fool!”

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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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