Heavenly Demon of the Huashan Sect - Chapter 168
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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 168
“What the hell is this…!”
Cheon I Gae’s shock burst forth without restraint.
Everything around him was stained blood-red, and the stench of blood was suffocating.
Dizzying enough to make his head swim.
‘Could it be…?’
A blood-red landscape, the scent of blood vibrating through the air.
In that moment, a memory surfaced—of a certain sect that had thrown All Under Heaven into chaos in ages past, and the sinister Array Formation they had used to slaughter masters of the Zhongyuan gathered in one place.
‘No, it can’t be. The Blood Sect met Faction Destruction long ago, and their legacy has been severed for centuries! There’s no way they could have restored it….’
Cheon I Gae tried to summon his Internal Force in desperation.
“Damn it!”
No Internal Force answered his call—only curses spilled from his lips instead.
His expression darkened at once.
The fact that his Internal Force wouldn’t move confirmed the Array Formation he suspected was real.
‘…The Blood Eternal Confusion Formation of the Blood Sect has returned to the world!’
Fury surged all the way to the crown of his head.
“I’ve been completely played for a fool!”
Cheon I Gae gnashed his teeth, stamping his feet as he stared at the blood-red surroundings.
He’d thought he’d finally caught the tail of their organization.
That’s why he had deliberately kept it from Tae Geuk Gun Ja and Jongnam Geom Seong, acting alone to prevent the information from leaking.
Furthermore, he’d asked the Sect Master of the Huashan Sect to deliberately draw in Cheon Hui.
Not to catch their people—but to make it seem as though he was targeting the Blood Dragon Sect, which threatened Shenxi.
With the caliber of skill that Geom Seong himself had acknowledged in Cheon Hui, he’d believed he could handle any contingency….
But they had known everything all along.
‘There’s a traitor among us!’
More than that—their claws had extended to places he could never have imagined.
After all, Shin Pil Yu Sa belonged to their organization.
The more he thought about it, the more his rage boiled over.
He too had valued Shin Pil Yu Sa’s righteous spirit highly, acknowledging him as a Great Hero, and had exchanged views with him often.
About the future of the Orthodox Sect, about how to protect the current Kangho.
Yet it had all been a lie.
That alone was enough to burn with indignation, but to seal him inside the Blood Eternal Confusion Formation with the intent to kill him—how could he not be enraged!
“You son of a bitch! You bastard deserving to be fried in sewage! May your face crack against a plate and you drop dead!”
Toward Shin Pil Yu Sa, Cheon I Gae continued to pour forth every curse, real and imagined, that came to mind.
Still his anger did not subside.
The fury in his chest boiled ever hotter, and his head felt as though it would burst from the heat.
Just then, Cheon Hui, who had been surveying the surroundings, spoke.
“Who are those people?”
“…What?”
Cheon I Gae’s brow narrowed as he watched Cheon Hui remain so composed even in this situation.
“How can such a question come out at a time like this?”
Thinking that Cheon Hui hadn’t grasped the gravity of the situation, Cheon I Gae beat his chest.
“This suffocating stench of blood and the pressure bearing down from all sides—it’s the Blood Eternal Formation of the Blood Sect, the very one that once claimed the lives of the Sorim Abbot and the Mudang Sect Master of the past age….”
“The Blood Eternal Confusion Formation, you mean.”
Cheon I Gae’s mouth fell slowly open.
“…You know of it?”
“No—that’s why I’m asking.”
Cheon Hui’s eyes grew sharp and focused.
The Blood Sect was more secretive than anywhere else under All Under Heaven.
One might somehow grasp the Martial Arts of the Blood Sect, but the Blood Eternal Confusion Formation was the secret among secrets—was it not?
It could never have been deployed openly in Zhongyuan.
No, before that….
“I’m curious. Who are these people deploying this Sealed Formation if they’re not disciples of the Blood Sect?”
Cheon I Gae’s expression became grave.
“…Why do you think that way? They could be disciples of the Blood Sect.”
“The Blood Qi unique to the Blood Sect can’t be hidden—it always shows itself immediately.”
“You know that much and still remain so calm?”
“Well, should we both panic then? It won’t change anything anyway.”
Cheon I Gae let out a hollow laugh.
At the same time, watching Cheon Hui speak so calmly, he felt foolish for his own excitement.
“You’re right. What good would it do to fret over dying needlessly and thrash about? Nothing would change.”
Cheon I Gae collapsed onto the floor.
Panicking accomplished nothing.
Perhaps it was better to simply let go, as he did, and accept what came.
“It’s not the Blood Sect, as you say.”
Cheon I Gae spoke quietly, like a man who had already surrendered to death.
“If the Blood Sect had revealed itself, Dae Roe Eum Sa would have stepped in. I’ve never heard word of them moving.”
Cheon Hui looked at him with sudden interest.
‘So it’s Gae Bang, then.’
He’d never held the Grand Elder in particularly high regard before.
His martial skill aside, the man had shown precious little of value.
But now—now he looked like a proper Grand Elder of Gae Bang. The fact that when the Blood Sect moves, Dae Roe Eum Sa moves in response—that was intelligence only those from Sae Oe knew—yet he’d stated it as calmly as though he’d known all along.
‘His network of information is beyond question.’
Cheon Hui settled into a seat and asked, “Then who are they?”
“I don’t know.”
Cheon I Gae shook his head slowly.
“Whether they’re a sect, individuals, or a coalition of powers—I know only that they exist.”
Cheon I Gae offered a bitter smile.
“The only thing I know about them is their aim.”
“Which is?”
“Conquest of the Kangho.”
Cheon I Gae’s eyes gleamed.
“They mean to collapse the Guzhou Three Dominant Powers and bring the entire Kangho to heel.”
‘Ambitious. I respect that.’
Cheon Hui found the prospect oddly appealing.
Wasn’t such naked ambition far preferable to half-measures?
“Ah, so that’s why the Wi Yu Sim Gong worked like that.”
“…What does Wi Yu Sim Gong have to do with it?”
“It’s a technique that consumes innate Qi and converts it into Internal Force. And it seems to be controlled by Yin Energy. For someone pulling strings from the shadows, there’s nothing better than that.”
“You figured that out in such a short time?”
Cheon I Gae let out a hollow laugh.
How many years had he toiled to understand Wi Yu Sim Gong?
‘Even Tae Geuk Gun Ja and Jongnam Geom Seong required time to fully grasp this technique…’
A bitter smile formed unbidden.
‘I was so blinded by immediate greed that I failed to see the larger threat. This boy—he’s not meant to die here.’
Now he understood why Shin Pil Yu Sa had smiled.
With his own hands, he’d just helped cut down a seedling that might one day become a formidable enemy to those forces.
It was a grievous miscalculation.
As his eyes squeezed shut—
Drip.
Blood fell between them.
‘Time’s up.’
Cheon Hui lifted his head.
The crimson ceiling suddenly stretched and warped, then beads of blood began to weep down in steady drops.
Cheon I Gae stared at Cheon Hui, who sat with the serene detachment of one already beyond fear.
“You’re not afraid?”
“Afraid of what?”
“Soon that blood will swallow us and kill us. You don’t fear death?”
As he spoke, Cheon I Gae lifted his head.
The vast pool of blood had grown enormous, closing in to engulf them both.
“Ridiculous.”
Cheon Hui rose to his feet.
“If you’re truly that frightened, we’ll just leave.”
Cheon I Gae’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“Leave? How in the…?”
“How? Simple.”
Cheon Hui smiled faintly.
“We smash our way out.”
Cheon I Gae was left speechless.
Break the Blood Eternal Confusion Formation?
That was barely credible.
And yet somehow, he believed it.
‘If it’s him, maybe it’s possible…….’
Cheon I Gae rose from his seat, seized by hope.
“You really think you can do it?”
“Why would I lie?”
Cheon Hui smiled faintly as he spoke, scanning the area briefly before his eyes suddenly widened.
“There—I see it.”
Cheon Hui’s lips curved upward.
A hairline fracture was visible.
‘This is easy enough.’
The reason he remained composed even while trapped within the Blood Eternal Confusion Formation was simple.
He understood it better than anyone under Heaven.
He had already experienced it at the hands of the Blood Sect, and he’d dissected the Eternal Immortal Reign Supreme Law in meticulous detail.
‘And on top of that, it’s incomplete.’
The Blood Eternal Confusion Formation was a Sealed Formation that required Blood Qi, not blood itself, to complete.
That small difference produced a vast consequence.
So vast that the fracture was immediately visible.
Whoosh—
Cheon Hui raised his blade upward.
Even as he did, the pool of blood descending from above made a sloshing sound before finally touching the crown of his and Cheon I Gae’s heads.
“Ugh! Of course it does!”
Cheon I Gae flinched at the cool sensation touching his scalp, turning to look at Cheon Hui.
Deceived by that confident bearing, he had clung to a slender hope.
But hope shattered so quickly, and despair flooded through him all the more fiercely.
“Don’t raise my hopes just to dash them like this!”
As he let out that sharp cry—
Flash!
A brilliant sword light blazed forth.
In the same instant, the crimson world split open, and a new landscape appeared in the gap.
* * *
Emerging from the shattered Blood Eternal Confusion Formation, Cheon Hui rolled his shoulders lightly and opened his mouth.
“That was sloppy, wasn’t it?”
The fracture within the flow of the Blood Eternal Confusion Formation.
Cheon Hui had thrust precisely at that point and split it open, dismantling the Array Formation.
On the surface, it sounded simple, but it was an extraordinarily intricate and complex feat.
One had to understand the Blood Eternal Confusion Formation thoroughly and read its currents, and possessed the skill to wield a blade without the slightest wavering.
……
Beside him, Cheon I Gae stood with his mouth agape, dazed.
‘What was that blade? I thought it was going to cut, and then the whole world split apart.’
He had witnessed a sight that defied all his understanding.
Then—
“Hack!”
“Cough!”
The sound of spitting blood rang out.
Looking up, those who had been maintaining the Blood Eternal Confusion Formation on the wall were convulsing as they fell one by one.
They had received the enormous shockwave directly from the Array Formation’s destruction.
“Ah!”
Only then did Cheon I Gae snap back to his senses.
“You actually…… destroyed the Blood Eternal Confusion Formation.”
As he stared at Cheon Hui with bewildered eyes, Shin Pil Yu Sa emerged into view.
“Impossible.”
His face contorted for the first time.
“Breaking the Blood Eternal Confusion Formation. Did Gae Bang possess the method to dismantle it?”
He fixed his gaze on Cheon I Gae, his caution evident, deliberately refusing to look at Cheon Hui.
Those who understood the Blood Eternal Confusion Formation were rare—not just in Zhongyuan, but even in Sae Oe.
Unless it was a force with intelligence networks as vast as Gae Bang’s, knowing it would be impossible.
So it was Cheon I Gae whom he suspected.
“Your vision has been badly clouded.”
Cheon I Gae laughed aloud.
Until a moment ago, he had been toyed with by Shin Pil Yu Sa, but not anymore.
The Blood Eternal Confusion Formation had been shattered, and beside him stood the one who destroyed it——!
Even Jongnam Geom Seong had said he could not guarantee victory, yet here was Cheon Hui.
His pride swelled of its own accord.
“I didn’t break the formation—it was this child…….”
The moment he spoke with such confidence.
Shin Pil Yu Sa’s sleeve billowed wide, and something sharp came streaking through the air.
Whish!
“Dodge!”
Cheon I Gae shouted, eyes fixed on Cheon Hui.
Whoosh—
Cheon Hui turned his head slightly to evade, then caught it between two fingers.
It was a small Flying Blade.
“How dishonorable—aiming for the back of the head.”
Cheon Hui flicked the Flying Blade caught between his fingers, shaking it free with a casual motion.
In that instant.
Whish!
At a speed incomparably faster than before, the Flying Blade shot back toward Shin Pil Yu Sa.
A sharp intake of breath.
Shin Pil Yu Sa leaned back in alarm.
The blade grazed his cheek as it passed, leaving a thin line of blood in its wake.
“Such… such a lethal Flying Blade Technique…….”
As he swallowed his shock.
“Let’s see. Any others left to deal with…….”
Cheon Hui slung his sword across his shoulder.
He then swept his gaze across the surroundings, but all he saw in the aftermath of the Blood Eternal Confusion Formation’s collapse were corpses drenched in blood.
“Just you, then?”
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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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