Heavenly Demon of the Huashan Sect - Chapter 188

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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 188
Jeok Geom’s brow darkened.
In the very moment when the ferocious storm of killing intent had left his mind reeling, seven Sil Hwan In drew closer—
And his Internal Energy began to surge wildly of its own accord.
‘……Dangerous ones.’
Even as his Internal Energy blazed like wildfire, his reason remained ice-cold.
“Prepare the Bi Geom Jin.”
The brows of the Bi Geom Dan members twitched.
Tension began to settle over them slowly, inexorably.
These were no easy opponents.
The Internal Energy he had poured into facing even a single Sil Hwan In moments ago, and the fatigue that followed, were difficult to put into words.
That was when.
“The left flank—we’ll take that.”
A bright, lively voice cut through the air.
When he turned, Cheon Hyang stood gazing at the seven rushing figures, her face broken into a radiant smile.
Unlike the Bi Geom Dan and the Hwa Ryeong Dan under her command, she appeared to be enjoying herself.
She looked happy.
“We wanted to fight too.”
Cheon Hyang stepped forward.
Toward the Sil Hwan In surging toward them.
To any observer, it would have looked like madness—
“Fighting only the Bi Geom Dan wouldn’t be fair, would it?”
A faint smile played at the corners of Cheon Hyang’s mouth as she spoke, her voice low and murmuring.
And then.
Crash!
Harsh sparks scattered in all directions.
Cheon Hyang’s eyes narrowed.
Her blade struck the forearm of the charging Sil Hwan In with perfect precision—yet the edge left not even the smallest mark upon the skin.
“Tougher than I expected.”
Her expression hardened slightly.
Her sword, capable of cleaving through stone, had failed to so much as graze the skin of a forearm.
‘……External power?’
Her gaze fixed upon the Sil Hwan In.
Saryul Gok was only now beginning to earn its reputation, a Sapa sect so obscure until recently that its name was barely known at all.
And what of herself?
First-generation Disciple of the Huashan Sect. A Master of the Maehwa Swordplay.
True, Cheon Hui now surpassed her, but even still, just a few years past she had been counted among the foremost of her generation’s Direct Disciples—one whose reputation rang throughout the realm.
And yet here she stood, her blade unable to so much as wound the arm of a mere disciple, never mind the master of Saryul Gok.
‘……How foolish I’ve been. A frog in a well.’
The corners of her eyes curved sharply upward.
The Gangho was vast. All Under Heaven was vast.
Her eyes gleamed with cold light.
In that same moment, she channeled her Maehwa Internal Energy outward, dispersing it gradually among the members of the Hwa Ryeong Dan around her.
“The right flank is yours. Chief Commander of the Bi Geom Dan.”
As she spoke these words to Jeok Geom—addressing him not by his personal name but by his title—her cold gaze swept across the Sil Hwan In facing them.
“Deploy the Hwa Ryeong Geom Jin.”
She spoke the command, her voice hushed.
Boom!
The Hwa Ryeong Dan stamped the formation stance in perfect unison.
The combined formation that Cheon Hui had taught them.
The genesis of the Hwa Ryeong Geom Jin.
In that instant, beautiful and luminous plum blossoms began to bloom around them.
The tip of Cheon Hyang’s blade trembled.
Sword flowers. Plum blossoms.
They responded to her will.
No—not hers alone.
The wills of the Hwa Ryeong Dan members supporting her from behind were merging into one.
“……?!”
The expressions of the Sil Hwan In shifted abruptly.
Sensing the change, they spread their killing intent further and, abandoning the Bi Geom Dan, began to press relentlessly upon the Hwa Ryeong Dan instead.
Screech!
The swords in the hands of Sil Hwan In’s fighters flashed like sheets of light.
In response, the plum blossoms deflected their blades.
A storm of strikes clashed against the graceful movements that rode the wind, each side locked in pursuit of the other.
An unyielding, razor-thin stalemate.
The swords of Sil Hwan In’s fighters extended again.
Clang!
Cheon Hyang’s brows drew together.
It was a simple sword path.
Yet the speed and force behind it made that simplicity appear devastating.
‘Strong.’
Cheon Hyang’s eyes sparkled like stars.
She had lost ground, but her opponent was formidable.
Both in Internal Force and martial skill.
‘To become supreme under heaven, I have to win.’
Fire kindled in her gaze.
At the same moment, her blade swept out.
Slash!
As her willful sword cut through the air, it tore open Sil Hwan In’s collar.
And through that gap—
Drip-drip—
Vivid blood spilled forth.
The first wound to mark Sil Hwan In.
The instant that blood appeared, a deep smile bloomed at Cheon Hyang’s lips.
Then her blade moved with brilliant complexity, weaving plum blossoms into being.
The Twenty-Four Maehwa Sword Technique.
Since becoming a Master of Maehwa Sword, she had wielded this art without missing a single day, and now it repaid her discipline with beautiful, perfect forms.
And it was not only she whose spirit soared—the fighters of Hwa Ryeong Dan felt their resolve kindle as well.
“Forward!”
“Support the Chief Commander!”
* * *
Boom!
Dust bloomed thick across Saryul Gok.
And watching from a distance, Cheon Hui’s eyes deepened like a bottomless abyss.
“Perfect practice ground.”
Quite the spectacle.
Especially the Hwa Ryeong Geom Jin—whether because this was real combat, or because Cheon Hyang’s focus and momentum had peaked—
It was leagues beyond what he’d seen before.
“This is why one must test steel against steel.”
Cheon Hui’s lips slowly twisted into a smile.
He was a true believer in real combat.
Because training was only training.
In the end, all discipline existed for the moment when steel would truly clash.
‘Look at Jeok Geom alone.’
His gaze shifted to Jeok Geom.
The blade that had unleashed sword flowers was striking hard against the bodies of charging Sil Hwan In fighters.
Jeok Geom’s martial form, now wielded with full intention, had transcended what it had been before.
Fast and sharp.
And the footwork and stance that drove it were now perfectly harmonized.
Somewhere along the way, Bi Geom Dan and Hwa Ryeong Dan had begun to dominate their enemies.
‘But there’s something missing.’
Cheon Hui’s eyes narrowed to slits.
Their martial skill and combined formations were adequate.
But they were far too gentle.
These were enemies—they should cut with the single purpose of taking lives, yet their killing intent remained thin, their sharpness dulled to crudeness.
‘Perhaps the Daoists cannot help it.’
Then Cheon Hui’s gaze turned.
It fixed upon the location where the warriors of Saryul Gok were positioned.
‘Look at those dogs.’
Cheon Hui’s eyes narrowed.
They edged backward in small, deliberate increments, testing the air, watching for their moment.
Ready to bolt at any second.
Cheon Hui’s form vanished.
“……Reinforcements aren’t coming.”
“Could they all be down?”
“That’s right.”
Their whispered exchange was cut short by a sudden voice that made them flinch and jerk their heads toward the sound.
“You. What are you——”
Their eyes went wide.
“Planning to run?”
Cheon Hui smiled coldly and asked the question.
That smile made their hearts plummet, but someone shouted in panic anyway.
“Everyone flee——!”
Crack!
“Hack!”
A martial artist’s body lifted into the air.
Cheon Hui held the man’s throat in a vice grip while his lips moved.
“Where exactly were you planning to go?”
Cheon Hui regarded him with a cold, measured gaze.
A terrible killing intent poured from his eyes.
‘……When did——?’
Terror bloomed in the martial artist’s gaze.
Then another man nearby screamed.
“Il Geom! Kill this bastard!”
And then.
Whoosh—!
A man rushed forward.
Like a starving beast, saliva dripped from his mouth as his entire body bristled, his fist driving out with desperate force.
“How pathetic.”
Cheon Hui swung the man he was holding.
Thud!
“Hack!”
The charging man’s face collided with the suspended warrior’s skull, a sickening crunch echoing out. But Cheon Hui didn’t stop.
Smash!
He wielded the man like a weapon itself, pulping the attacker’s entire frame.
For a moment he continued.
Crunch!
Cheon Hui’s heel swept upward into the man’s abdomen.
The man’s body flew backward.
Whoosh—
And Cheon Hui’s silhouette vanished after him.
He caught the airborne man instantly and raised his foot high.
Crack!
His heel came down like an axe.
“Hack!”
The ground split with a fracture, and the man was driven into the earth. As Cheon Hui watched the trembling wreck before him, he glanced at the warrior still in his grip.
“This alone won’t put him under.”
Cheon Hui hurled the man away.
Tossed without resistance, the warrior bounced twice off the ground before crumpling motionless.
“Gasp!”
“Wheeze!”
Nearby martial artists trembled with fear, both hands pressed over their mouths.
A monster had appeared from nowhere and felled Il Geom—the very first of the Four Soul Ten Swords—in a single blow.
And now that monster was looking at them.
With eyes so cold and empty, like a bottomless abyss no light could ever reach, they felt their minds turning white with dread.
All of them, reading the situation, took the same action.
Clatter. Clatter.
Weapons clattered to the ground one by one.
Most of the Four Soul Twelve Tribulations were already down, and with no reinforcements arriving, their morale shattered like glass.
In the end, it was the limit of the Unorthodox Sects.
For them, what mattered was not their sect’s honor or reputation, but their own lives.
“Master.”
“Disciple.”
Jeok Geom and Cheon Hyang approached.
Both their sect robes were soaked with sweat, evidence of how grueling their fight with Sil Hwan In’s forces had been.
“It’s all finished.”
A moment later, Cheon I Gae arrived.
He surveyed the bound warriors of Saryul Gok kneeling on the ground and Sil Hwan In, his eyes narrowing briefly before he released a deep sigh.
“You’ve already taken care of everything?”
He muttered this as he approached.
Setting down Man Byeong Goe, whom he’d been carrying, he dropped heavily onto the ground beside the seated Cheon Hui.
That was when it happened.
“……Hack!”
The sound of blood being coughed up echoed.
Man Byeong Goe’s chest heaved as his face twisted and his eyes fluttered open.
“You’ve come to?”
Cheon I Gae shifted his gaze.
He fixed the struggling Man Byeong Goe with a cold, piercing stare.
“Lucky timing. I had some questions for you anyway.”
At Cheon I Gae’s words, Man Byeong Goe found himself swallowing involuntarily.
“……There is nothing you will gain from me.”
“We’ll see about that.”
Cheon Hui cut in.
“Hah!”
The moment Man Byeong Goe saw him, he convulsed.
The impassive eyes and blade of the man who had driven him to the brink of death flashed through his mind.
Cheon Hui smiled faintly.
‘He’s drowning in fear.’
It was a state quite pleasing to observe.
Once a man was seized by terror, he would do anything to escape it.
Man Byeong Goe asked with trembling eyes.
“Will you… will you kill me?”
It was a question layered with desperation to live.
“That depends on how you cooperate.”
Cheon I Gae answered instead.
“You understand your condition, don’t you?”
……
“If you answer my questions truthfully, I’ll help you recover.”
Man Byeong Goe’s pupils dilated sharply.
Help me recover? Me, a Murim criminal?
His brows furrowed.
The man before him was Cheon I Gae, known throughout the Gae Bang as eccentric yet honorable.
And the one who had driven him to death’s door was a Daoist of the Huashan Sect.
The rigid Nine Factions and One Gang would never let him live—it made no sense.
‘But wait……’
Man Byeong Goe’s eyes creased.
“There was no promise to let me live……”
“You won’t die.”
Cheon I Gae’s expression turned cold and hard.
“But you’ll spend the rest of your life rotting in Thunder Prison.”
Man Byeong Goe’s face contorted.
Yet even in that moment, his mind raced.
‘As long as I live, that’s enough.’
Survival was the most important thing for now.
Thunder Prison and all the rest were concerns for later, after life continued.
“Agreed. But after you heal me, allow me some rest, I beg you.”
Just as Cheon I Gae was about to flare up,
“Well, bold of you.”
Cheon Hui spoke with something like disbelief.
Then, looking at Cheon I Gae, he said,
“Just kill him?”
At the cold words, Man Byeong Goe flinched.
And the moment he met Cheon Hui’s gaze, he found it nearly impossible to hide his alarm.
Eyes devoid of emotion.
They held not the slightest hesitation about taking a life.
“I’ll answer your questions! Please, just treat me!”
“Look at this bastard. Still bold?”
Cheon Hui seized him by the throat.
Then Cheon I Gae reached out a hand.
“Wait. Ease off.”
“Hack, hack!”
Man Byeong Goe clutched at his neck.
‘I thought I was dead.’
His eyes were wide with terror.
“We’ll treat you, as promised.”
Cheon I Gae spoke softly.
“So answer the question.”
Man Byeong Goe nodded so vigorously his head nearly snapped off, desperate to survive.
“Who hid you away?”
“……I-It was Sip Ya Moon!”

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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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