Heavenly Demon of the Huashan Sect - Chapter 154

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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 154
The situation was brought under control swiftly.
Most of those who survived the collapse of Heuk Ho Bang and Gwi Yu Moon either left Yanan or entered So Heung Bo’s service.
So Heung Bo had expanded his power in a single stroke.
By contrast, Ilwol Moon bore the heaviest blow and was left in a pitiful state.
Shattered gates and pavilions lay scattered about.
Disciples groaning with injuries, and even the sect leader himself bandaged heavily across the chest from serious wounds.
There could hardly be a worse disaster than this.
The one mercy was that no one had died.
Ju Go Ryul bowed deeply to Cheon Hui, Jeok Geom, and Seol Ran standing before him.
“Thank you for your help.”
In his present state, this was the only way he could express his gratitude adequately.
“We simply did what needed to be done.”
“Your brother is right.”
As Jeok Geom and Seol Ran waved their hands dismissively, embarrassed, Cheon Hui surveyed the surroundings.
‘Leaving right now won’t be easy.’
The interior of Ilwol Moon was devastated.
Part of it was due to the building’s age and decay, but the recent assault had been severe enough that the walls and pillars looked dangerously unstable.
And that wasn’t all.
The sect leader of Ilwol Moon lay in a room, with disciples attending him.
The only ones in decent condition were Ju Go Ryul and the two disciples guarding the pavilion.
“Are there no other disciples?”
At Cheon Hui’s question, Ju Go Ryul smiled bitterly and nodded.
“This is all that remains.”
Cheon Hui’s eyes narrowed.
Not only were there no uninjured people, but there were scarcely more than ten of them.
“Was the sect always this small?”
“……Once, we had nearly fifty disciples.”
Ju Go Ryul spoke, reflecting on the past.
Compared to Huashan Sect, it was modest, but it had still been among the larger disciple rosters for a mid-tier sect.
But now……
“Most of our disciples either succumbed to inducements or couldn’t withstand the pressure and left.”
“So these remaining people are the ones who stayed to the very end.”
“That’s correct.”
“Hmm.”
Cheon Hui fell into thought.
If he simply left Ilwol Moon as things stood, he’d be uneasy even with So Heung Bo present.
‘It’s uncertain.’
Then Ju Go Ryul suddenly stood up.
And he bowed deeply.
“Would you consent to remain while our sect regains its stability?”
“I was planning to do so anyway.”
“Thank you.”
His expression brightened as he offered his gratitude.
“And if it’s not too much trouble, would you not teach martial arts to me and my disciples during your stay?”
“Martial arts?”
Jeok Geom and Seol Ran looked at each other in bewilderment.
“I beg you.”
Ju Go Ryul was more earnest than ever.
‘I cannot rely on Father—I must be the one to sustain Ilwol Moon.’
His eyes burned with fierce determination.
It was born of the passion for martial arts he had forgotten for so long, and the sense of responsibility he was only now beginning to feel.
‘Hmm, martial arts? That would actually be better.’
Rather than half-heartedly calling back those who had scattered, teaching the Ilwol Moon disciples martial arts would be far superior.
If the results were good, word would spread, and they would attract new disciples seeking admission.
“Very well.”
“Truly?”
Ju Go Ryul’s face lit up.
“Thank you.”
Cheon Hui turned his head to the side.
“Then the two of you will teach them.”
“What? But, there’s already a master instructor present, so how could we possibly…….”
“Teaching martial arts alone won’t be enough.”
The two struggled to hide their bewilderment.
It was like trying to teach an adult how to walk.
“Don’t you want to break through the wall?”
In that instant, both their eyes went wide.
The “wall” Cheon Hui spoke of meant the barrier that stood before the Peak Realm.
They swallowed hard, their throats suddenly dry.
“You’re saying this makes it possible?”
At Jeok Geom’s question, Cheon Hui smiled knowingly.
“You learn while you teach. And right now, both of you need to try everything you can, don’t you?”
Seeing their hesitation, Cheon Hui drove the point home.
“Otherwise, you’ll fall behind.”
Both of them pressed their lips together tightly.
A few days had passed since they’d entered the Maehwa Chilgwan, and their mindset had transformed completely.
“At this rate, we can’t even think of matching Cheon Hyang’s prowess——”
“We’ll be left behind by Dan Mok Lin.”
Until recently, they had been overflowing with confidence.
Under Cheon Hui’s training, they had no rivals among his disciples, and their skill stood unmatched even within the Maehwa Sword School.
But the moment they witnessed Cheon Hyang’s true power and Dan Mok Lin’s prodigious talent.
Their confidence crumbled in an instant.
‘Was he holding back all this time?’
‘……We were so foolish.’
Watching Cheon Hyang evade and deflect the Iron Sphere, they smiled bitterly.
Cheon Hyang had not been demonstrating her true strength at all.
Not just her Internal Force, but her Sword Technique as well.
Everything about her was incomparable to them.
And what of Dan Mok Lin?
She had abandoned her original Heart Technique and was learning the Maehwa Internal Energy Cultivation anew, so they had thought they needed to protect her.
‘But that was arrogance.’
‘We had no right to worry about others.’
Recalling that moment, both smiled ruefully.
It wasn’t just the two of them who thought that way—even Cheon Hyang had offered to help.
‘This is a trial. I’ll do it myself.’
She had refused everyone’s aid.
And what she showed astonished not only the two of them, but Cheon Hyang and the Master of Wulian Pavilion as well.
Though her Internal Force had been lost, the experience Dan Mok Lin had accumulated over a lifetime remained intact.
But what captivated everyone’s eyes more than that was her tenacity.
No—it was something beyond mere tenacity, a kind of fierce determination.
No matter how many times the Iron Sphere struck her, no matter what other trials came, she did not whimper or hesitate to push forward.
Even when Cheon Hyang herself faltered!
Jeok Geom and Seol Ran, watching from beside them, felt a creeping doubt.
Doubt in themselves, in their present contentment.
“We understand.”
“Very well.”
At their affirmative answer, Ju Go Ryul swallowed his disappointment and bowed his head.
“We’re grateful for your guidance.”
* * *
Three days had passed since they arrived at Ilwol Moon.
In that time, Jeok Geom and Seol Ran had devoted themselves entirely to teaching Ju Go Ryul and the disciples of Ilwol Moon——
Yet their methods were quite unconventional.
“Huff, huff. Please, could we rest just a little?”
Ju Go Ryul, who had been continuously running around the Estate Grounds at their command, spoke desperately.
In three days, they had learned no martial arts from the two whatsoever.
Running, Horse Stance, running, Horse Stance…….
They kept racing around the Estate Grounds, insisting that physical endurance was crucial before learning martial arts.
And that was not all.
The relatively inexperienced Ilwol Moon disciples were also standing in the blazing sun, holding the Horse Stance, their faces deathly pale.
Yet even at their pitiful state——
“Why are you thinking about resting already?”
“You’ve still got a long way to go.”
Jeok Geom and Seol Ran, arms folded, watched without blinking.
If anything, they intensified the training.
“Tsk! If you can’t manage this much, how do you expect to learn martial arts at all?”
“Before learning martial arts, you must condition your body first. If you can’t endure even this…. Sigh.”
Seol Ran shook her head slowly.
What they were doing now was training, yes—but it barely amounted to half of what Cheon Hui had put her through, child’s play really.
And yet he was already struggling with this.
In her eyes, it was pathetic.
“Don’t you want to become stronger?”
“W-well, that’s true, but….”
Ju Go Ryul stammered.
“Rather than running around like this all the time….”
‘It would be more effective to learn martial arts.’
He swallowed the rest of the thought before it could escape.
“You think learning martial arts is better?”
But Seol Ran had already grasped what he couldn’t bring himself to say.
How could it be otherwise?
When she trained under Cheon Hui in the past, she thought the very same thing every single day.
But.
“If you can’t even endure this trivial training, how do you expect to master martial arts?”
She spoke with cutting precision.
“Learning martial arts demands enormous physical exertion. Yet you want to study martial arts without even building that stamina first.”
“That’s….”
Ju Go Ryul broke into a cold sweat.
“Are you asking a child who can’t even stand to run?”
“….”
Seol Ran’s icy words left Ju Go Ryul speechless.
“Instead of talking, keep your mouth shut and continue.”
Ju Go Ryul, head bowed low, gritted his teeth and resumed his laps around the grounds.
“Sister, aren’t you being a bit harsh?”
Jeok Geom asked with an awkward smile.
“Me? This much?”
Seol Ran’s eyes widened.
“He needs to be jolted awake like this. What’s the point of teaching him half-heartedly?”
“I suppose that’s true….”
“And what’s harsh about this? I’d call it kind.”
She spoke with evident satisfaction.
She genuinely seemed to believe she was teaching with kindness.
‘…She’s been infected by our Master’s ways.’
Watching the oblivious Seol Ran, Jeok Geom sighed and shook his head.
‘Can’t be helped.’
He turned to Seol Ran.
“You take Ju Go Ryul. I’ll handle the others.”
“Understood.”
With her answer, he stepped back.
Then he approached the Ilwol Moon disciples doing the Horse Stance and spoke with a smile.
“That was difficult, wasn’t it? Let’s take a brief rest.”
The disciples’ faces brightened.
Just as they were about to collapse onto the ground—
“But don’t sit down.”
Jeok Geom’s voice turned glacial.
“You could at least sit for a moment….”
“Just a moment….”
“Then stop training altogether.”
Jeok Geom spoke with absolute coldness.
“If you can’t even endure this, how do you expect to learn the martial arts of the Huashan Sect?”
“….”
Shadows fell across the disciples’ faces.
“In Kangho, you never know when or where you’ll be struck. So how can you afford to lower your guard? Are you eager to throw your life away?”
Jeok Geom spoke like clear water flowing downstream.
‘Good thing I remembered that.’
He repeated Cheon Hui’s words exactly, his expression taking on an air of benevolence.
“Still, I’ll give you a fifteen-minute rest. Everyone go drink some water.”
He said it with considerable resolve.
When training with Cheon Hui, he never granted rest periods—not even time to drink water—only assigning more drills or chores instead.
But a fifteen-minute rest?
‘It’s like paradise itself!’
Jeok Geom’s expression grew satisfied.
“Just… just fifteen minutes?”
Yet contrary to his thoughts, the Ilwol Moon disciples shrank back in horror.
‘Only fifteen minutes?’
‘Has he gone mad trying to kill us?’
What sect makes disciples hold the Horse Stance for two hours and calls fifteen minutes a break?
It was torture, not training.
‘He’s happy because there’s more rest time.’
But Jeok Geom, misreading the disciples’ horror, spoke with satisfaction.
“Then let’s begin. Fifteen minutes starting now.”
Jeok Geom didn’t realize it.
That Cheon Hui had not merely influenced Seol Ran—he had influenced Jeok Geom himself as well.
“Uuugh!”
“Hah, hah… save… save me….”
While the estate grounds filled with the ragged breathing and cries of Ju Go Ryul and the Ilwol Moon disciples,
“Yawn.”
Cheon Hui, the source of all this torment, lay on his bedchamber cot yawning.
‘Hmm. I should let them reach a certain level before I leave, but it’ll take a few more days.’
The situation at Ilwol Moon was not ideal.
The sect leader Ju Song was still receiving treatment for his wounds, and the number of disciples was far too small.
They needed to reach at least a certain standard, and it seemed it would take time.
“Well, if it looks like they won’t make it, I can always leave them some secret technique and go.”
Cheon Hui spoke without concern.
He was helping them, true enough, but it wasn’t as if he absolutely had to.
Having already thought of ways to depart midway, Cheon Hui scratched the back of his head and rose.
‘They’ve arrived.’
Looking out the window, Cheon Hui gathered the two swords he’d set beside him and stepped outside.
“Maehwa Sword Masters, then….”
The eyes of the young man watching from a distance away at Ilwol Moon, his presence stifled, turned sharp.
‘So Huashan Sect has joined hands with So Heung Bo and brought down both Gwi Yu Moon and Heuk Ho Bang.’
He, a disciple of Sib Ya Moon, found the current situation unbelievable.
Gwi Yu Moon had been expanding its power at a remarkable pace with support from Sib Ya Moon.
And what of Heuk Ho Bang?
Not only had Nok Rim provided funding, but he’d even sent skilled masters—or so he’d believed.
That’s why he’d thought Yanan would be consumed by conflict between Gwi Yu Moon and Heuk Ho Bang….
‘Both of them falling.’
It was an outcome he’d never anticipated.
“The entire plan has fallen apart. I was supposed to take Yanan through Gwi Yu Moon and then expand our influence….”
“And then what?”
“Of course, Shenxi would be next—huh!”
The Sib Ya Moon disciple, who’d been answering without thinking, startled and leaped backward.
In the spot where he’d stood, a young Taoist stood with his hands clasped behind his back.
“Who… who are you?”
The young Taoist, Cheon Hui, smirked.
“What good would it do you to know?”
“We belong to—”
Just as the Sib Ya Moon disciple began to threaten,
Thud!
A sickening sound rang out.
Startled by the noise, the Sib Ya Moon disciple lowered his head and saw a sword embedded in his chest.
“…wh… when…. *Cough!*”
His body, coughing blood, gradually lost its strength and toppled toward Cheon Hui.
“What a nuisance.”
Cheon Hui caught the falling corpse and, with a dismissive flick, hurled it into the river beside them.
Splash—
Watching the body drift away on the flowing current, Cheon Hui pivoted sharply around.
“I expected more of them to come at once.”

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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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