Heavenly Demon of the Huashan Sect - Chapter 169

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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 169
Shin Pil Yusa, his lips pressed thin, drew the weapon sheathed at his side.
His blade was a Thin Blade, gossamer-light.
As his hand moved, it swayed with crystalline clarity, singing a pure note.
Cheon Hui’s eyes widened at the sight.
“Hm? I thought ‘Shin Pil’ meant brush technique, but it’s not.”
Cheon Hui shifted his grip and pointed at his opponent with the tip of his blade.
Tap!
Shin Pil Yusa rushed forward.
He closed the distance with explosive speed and swung the Thin Blade with all his strength.
The blade in his grip flexed dramatically, vibrating as though it might shatter.
Clang!
Sparks erupted as Shin Pil Yusa, still clutching the Thin Blade, was hurled backward.
Crunch-crunch-crunch—
He tried to plant his feet to stop the momentum, but the impact drove him sliding across the earth, his heels gouging the ground.
A deep crease formed between his brows.
He had drawn on the third tier of the Gilian Divine Art’s Inner Energy, unleashing the Sound Tragic Blade.
Yet it had crumbled so pathetically.
“…I must kill him before he grows any stronger.”
Shin Pil Yusa’s eyes turned cold.
He could not afford to let this opponent live.
It was plain as day that if growth continued at this rate, the man would become a catastrophic obstacle to his plans.
He drew upon his inner reserves.
Whoosh!
In an instant, he vanished.
Or rather—the illusion of vanishing, created by movement so impossibly swift it defied the eye.
Perhaps one of the most breathtaking speed techniques in all of Gangho itself.
‘Fast, I’ll grant him that.’
But Cheon Hui saw through it entirely.
He perceived the man’s every motion, every footfall, every trajectory.
Cheon Hui swept his blade to the left.
Ching!
Sharp sparks scattered.
Shin Pil Yusa reappeared, his empty left hand splayed open wide.
And he released his palm force.
Whoosh—
Yet Cheon Hui simply tilted his head aside, dodging the strike with ease, and let out a low chuckle.
His reaction speed was extraordinary.
‘He stopped it… just like that.’
Shin Pil Yusa’s brow twitched.
It had been a masterwork of timing, an attack aimed at exploiting the fraction of an opening—and his opponent had slipped it away effortlessly.
‘This is no easy kill.’
Shin Pil Yusa, now convinced that victory was not assured, infused his Thin Blade with his full Inner Energy.
He had no choice but to expose everything.
Martial arts he had never once deployed while wearing the mask of Shin Pil Yusa.
Tremor—
The Thin Blade shivered delicately.
Then, after a moment—
Whooooom!
A sound erupted as though to split the ears.
“Hm?”
Cheon Hui’s gaze snapped to the Thin Blade.
Shin Pil Yusa was using his Inner Energy to vibrate the blade, producing sound with meticulous precision.
Very meticulous indeed.
‘Sound Art?’
Shin Pil Yusa took a wide, deliberate step forward.
Crack!
Space fractured as the Thin Blade traced a path through the void.
It was a beautiful arc—one that justified the alias “Shin Pil,” the Divine Brush.
Boom!
The shockwave consumed the space around them.
Shin Pil Yusa’s eyebrows twitched.
He had launched his attack mixing Sound Art into it, yet his opponent appeared utterly unmoved.
‘Did he protect his eardrums with Internal Force?’
As he watched Cheon Hui calmly deflecting even his continued Sound Art attacks.
“Ugh!”
Instead, a cry of pain came from elsewhere.
Cheon Yi Gae, his ears covered, glared at Shin Pil Yusa with a grimace.
“You—you’re resorting to dirty tricks like that……”
“In a battle for life and death, there is no such thing as dirty play.”
Shin Pil Yusa spoke with calm certainty.
The dead are the defeated, and the survivors alone are the true victors, are they not?
Then Cheon Hui’s mouth opened wide.
“Right. Win and that’s all that matters. History doesn’t remember the defeated, even if you were cowardly and underhanded. But you know what?”
Cheon Hui’s teeth gleamed white.
“If you’ll stoop to any means to win, and then still lose? That’s even more pathetic.”
Before the words had even finished.
Whoosh!
Cheon Hui’s silhouette swelled rapidly in Shin Pil Yusa’s vision.
No—he was closing the distance.
“……!”
Shin Pil Yusa’s breath caught.
Screech!
The moment he folded space with that footwork, goosebumps erupted down his spine.
‘Is there such a Movement Technique in the Huashan Sect?’
Countless techniques from the Huashan Sect flashed through his mind, then vanished.
But none of them matched this.
That was because the Movement Technique Cheon Hui had deployed was the Bifallian Footwork.
“Hng!”
Shin Pil Yusa urgently drew forth his Internal Force from the Gilian Divine Art and poured it into his Thin Blade.
The flexing Thin Blade straightened with sharp tension, extending Blade Force in thick waves.
The Thin Blade swung broadly.
It was the Divine Blade Rising.
Clang-clang-clang!
The sharp Blade Force tore through the air, and not content with that, it carved the earth itself.
It was a Blade technique of immense power.
It was the technique that had allowed him to defeat countless masters across the provinces.
But his opponent happened to be Cheon Hui.
Cheon Hui smiled as he watched the Sword Qi flying toward him as if to cut him down.
Then he met the Sword Qi head-on.
Clang!
Against the Heavy Sword Cheon Hui had swung, the Sword Qi shattered pitifully and crumbled away slowly.
“……!”
Shin Pil Yusa’s eyes widened as if they would tear.
‘Where……’
Cheon Hui, who had been swinging his sword just moments before, had vanished from his field of vision.
“Look this way.”
At the sound coming from his side, he tried to turn his head in panic.
Thud!
“Cough!”
His body bent sharply to the side.
Cheon Hui had kicked him in the ribs with the Small Leaf Leg Technique—a solid strike that cracked bone.
“Ugh!”
A excruciating pain spreading like a web made Shin Pil Yusa cry out.
Bones shattered, and his organs twisted violently in shock, screaming internally.
Yet he could not steady himself.
“Hah!”
Shin Pil Yusa swung his Thin Blade upward instinctively from below.
Clang-clang-clang!
Sword and Thin Blade collided.
“Keugh!”
Shin Pil Yusa stumbled backward, yielding ground.
He’d managed to deflect the blow, but his insides were in worse condition than ever.
‘What kind of monster is this…….’
As he tried to steady himself.
“There’s nothing more to see.”
Cheon Hui infused Inner Energy into his blade.
In an instant, thread-thin strands of Qi extended from the sword’s edge, multiplying and transforming into plum blossoms that bloomed in radiant profusion.
“Sword Flower……!”
Shock flashed across Shin Pil Yusa’s face.
He’d seen the Huashan Sect’s Sword Flower technique a few times in the past.
But this was different.
It was unmistakably the same Sword Flower, and yet it was impossible to call them the same.
‘Such vivid, crimson blossoms.’
His gaze fixed on the beautiful plum blossoms drifting around Cheon Hui.
Dozens of blossoms radiated life force as though they were genuine flowers, scattering petals in the air.
It was breathtaking to behold.
As his eyes grew captivated.
Whoosh—
Cheon Hui raised his sword high.
The moment the sword’s tip pointed skyward, a gentle breeze stirred, tickling the bridge of his nose.
As the wind rippled forth and the blossoms blooming from his blade began to dance.
Shriek!
The sword descended in a downward slash.
The first form of the Seven Petal Plum Blossom Sword.
Wind Heaven Plum Blossom Dance.
Plum blossoms consumed the sky.
‘No, this can’t happen!’
Shin Pil Yusa urgently raised his Thin Blade.
Internal injuries, searing pain—none of it mattered in his mind now.
Only one thought surfaced.
He had to stop those blossoms!
Even as his Internal Energy depleted further, he drew upon every last reserve and wielded his Thin Blade with furious sweeps, left and right, upward and downward.
A violent tempest erupted.
The storm the Thin Blade generated seemed to swallow and scatter the blossoms.
But…….
No matter how fierce the gale, it could not eliminate every blossom—a single petal drifted slowly downward.
And the moment that solitary blossom collided with the Thin Blade that had spawned the storm.
Burst!
The blossom vanished in an instant.
At the same time, the raging tempest subsided, and the wind itself ceased.
“This can’t be…….”
Shin Pil Yusa stood frozen, his Thin Blade hanging slack at his side.
It felt like a dream.
‘No, maybe it really is a dream……. For someone of that age to unfold such a sword technique…….’
He rejected reality.
But that denial was short-lived.
The harsh, cold truth he’d sought to escape found him.
Crack—
His robe split cleanly down the middle.
His garments were slashed, shallow blood marks appearing across his entire body.
Spray—
A torrent of blood erupted in all directions.
Shin Pil Yusa looked down at himself.
Blood cascaded from his forearms, chest, shoulders—his entire body was pouring like a waterfall.
His vision turned crimson.
“Ah…….”
The blood-stained sky filled his eyes.
Thud!
His body crumpled backward, a tragic sight.
His whole body was slashed to ribbons by the Sword Flowers blooming from the Wind Heaven Plum Blossom Dance, drenched in blood.
He wasn’t dead yet, but the flame of life was already nearly extinguished.
“Shin Pil Yusa fell so easily…….”
Cheon Yi Gae stared at Shin Pil Yusa in disbelief, then shifted his gaze to Cheon Hui, who stood motionless.
Shin Pil Yusa was counted among the finest in Yunnan, a master of the Mueuk Jigyeong realm.
Yet he had been defeated.
Without a single wound.
‘No matter how they compare him to the Jongnam Sword Saint, I thought it was flattery mixed with praise…… but was I wrong?’
It was astounding.
Had there ever been anyone in all of history with such martial prowess at that age?
‘Even those men couldn’t do it. Could he be a disciple they secretly raised……?’
At that moment, a question came from below—one born of thoughts similar to Cheon Yi Gae’s.
“……Are you a disciple of the Eight Martial Deities?”
Shin Pil Yusa, collapsed on the ground, turned his head slightly to look at Cheon Hui.
“The Eight Martial Deities?”
Cheon Hui tilted his head at the alias he seemed to have heard somewhere before, and answered.
“No.”
“Then if you’re not their disciple, how can you be this strong…….”
“Well.”
Shin Pil Yusa’s eyes trembled. Then, bearing a meaningful gaze, his lips stained with blood moved slowly.
“……What do you think of this Kangho?”
His voice carried a subtle undercurrent of inner power.
‘What’s he plotting now?’
Cheon Hui watched Shin Pil Yusa intently.
“Don’t listen to him!”
Cheon Yi Gae cut in urgently.
But Cheon Hui ignored him and crouched down.
“Kangho is Kangho. What else is there to it?”
“No. The current Kangho is not Kangho at all.”
Shin Pil Yusa spoke decisively.
“Kangho is where individuals fiercely battle and test their martial arts against one another. But with the Nine Provinces Three Hegemons holding sway and peace perpetuating itself, how can it be called Kangho?”
“Oh, you speak well. I think the same way.”
Cheon Hui nodded in agreement with his rueful words.
“They should just fight. Why maintain some balance, or whatever. Tsk, always watching each other’s faces. There’s no romance in it, I tell you.”
Shin Pil Yusa’s eyes gleamed.
“You understand well. That’s why I—no, we seek to end the era of the Nine Provinces Three Hegemons and restore Kangho. A Kangho without great powers…….”
Then he made a proposal to Cheon Hui.
“You seem quite dissatisfied with the current Kangho as well. Won’t you join hands with us?”
“Me, with you?”
Cheon Hui pointed with his index finger at himself and Shin Pil Yusa, and asked.
“Yes.”
Shin Pil Yusa nodded slightly.
‘If he’s someone who agrees this readily…….’
Gu Jung Cheon was a place where those fed up with the current Kangho gathered, or those burning with a thirst for revenge against the Eight Martial Deities.
If this young man joined them, Gu Jung Cheon’s plans could be accelerated further.
As he waited expectantly for an answer—
“I don’t want to.”
“But aren’t you dissatisfied?”
“Being dissatisfied doesn’t mean I have to join hands with you.”
……
“And if I’m going to do something like that, I’ll do it alone. Why waste time building some organization?”
“……That’s impossible. How could you alone fight against those massive powers…….”
Cheon Hui smirked.
“Isn’t that what makes it Kangho, isn’t that what makes it romantic? If you grow your power that way, what’s the difference between you and the Nine Provinces Three Hegemons?”
……
Cheon Hui, having delivered his words sharply, looked down at Shin Pil Yusa, who had fallen silent.
“Got nothing more to ask now, do you?”
Cheon Hui’s eyes gleamed with an eerie light.
“Since I was kind enough to answer everything you said, now let me ask. That Sound Art…….”
It was at that moment.
Shin Pil Yusa’s body began to tremble violently, blood pooling in the whites of his eyes.
His chest heaved upward sharply, and he vomited a gush of blood into his mouth.
“Well, well? Look at this one. Trying to die without answering my questions.”
Cheon Hui’s hands moved with swift precision.
He struck his pressure points at a speed the eye could barely follow, but……
It was useless.
Blood tears streamed from his eyes, and his face rapidly drained of vitality.
“This bastard’s thorough, I’ll give him that.”
Watching him convulse violently with foam flecking his lips, Cheon Hui clicked his tongue.
“He severed his own blood meridians completely — so that sealing pressure points would mean nothing.”
A hollow laugh escaped him at such ruthlessness.
Severing one’s blood meridians was a suffering beyond all comparison for a martial artist.
‘I’ve heard it said to be more terrible than burning to death, yet he went through with it.’
As Cheon Hui continued watching the man tremble, still clinging to life,
“G-Grand Elder!”
A great shout rang out as someone came rushing into the Hyeol Ryong Moon, breathless and urgent.
It was a familiar face.
‘Jin Gae?’
Jin Gae stepped into the Hyeol Ryong Moon, caught sight of the corpses scattered about, and went pale.
“What—what are all these bodies……?”
But that shock was brief; spotting Cheon Yi Gae, he regained his composure and cried out loudly.
“The joint operation has failed!”

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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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