Heavenly Demon of the Huashan Sect - Chapter 205

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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 205
The time it took to go from wielding the Chamma Blade to kneeling was short.
As if it had always been his intention, the Chamma Blade lay gently on the ground, and Gwi Cham Geo Do knelt behind it, looking up at Dan Mok Lin.
It was a gesture so natural it seemed the work of long practice, not something done on a whim.
Silence fell at the unexpected sight.
But only for a moment.
“The—the Huashan Sect?!”
“Gasp!”
The subordinates who had been surrounding and hemming in Cheon Hui and Cheon Yi Gae suddenly snapped to attention.
Cold sweat beaded on their foreheads as they quietly withdrew their weapons from where they’d been leveled at the two, exchanging nervous glances.
As they began inching backward, Cheon Yi Gae clicked his tongue.
“I thought the bandits increasing along Shenxi’s borders lately meant the Nok Lim had established a hideout somewhere.”
Recalling information he’d picked up recently through the Gae Bang, he gazed at them with evident disdain, shaking his head slowly from side to side.
“So it wasn’t Nok Lim at all—just expelled Sapa dogs from Shenxi conducting banditry around here.”
Cheon Hui asked, as if confused.
“Wait? So these men were originally Sapa disciples in Shenxi?”
“Probably. You heard it at the inn yourself—the Shin Joo Sa Pae lost their Martial Match, so the Sapa sects in Shenxi have no place left to stand.”
Cheon Yi Gae furrowed his brow.
“Lately, some of the Sapa sects have even voluntarily sealed their gates. The ones who became useless would naturally have been cast out.”
“So that’s why they’re doing this banditry?”
“What else would they do? With whatever meager martial arts they possess, pillaging is the best they could manage.”
“If they joined another sect……”
Cheon Hui trailed off and shook his head.
“That wouldn’t be possible.”
The martial prowess and skill of these men, who had attempted something barely worthy of being called an ambush, fit perfectly the label of third-rate.
“But if they’re going to do banditry anyway, wouldn’t it be better to join Nok Lim?”
“Could they manage that? After all the contempt and mockery the Sapa has heaped on Nok Lim?”
With each exchange between the two, the bodies of those whose pride had been struck trembled noticeably.
Nok Lim and Sapa were absolute opposites.
The Sapa derided Nok Lim as uneducated brigands fit only for banditry.
While Nok Lim habitually demeaned Sapa as filthy practitioners of theft who stole from people through dishonorable means.
Cheon Yi Gae, finding it ridiculous no matter how he thought of it, let out a hollow laugh and spoke.
“From our perspective, they’re all the same type of scoundrel, but regardless, that’s how they see it.”
“So in the end, these bastards are doing exactly the banditry they despised so much.”
“Spitting in their own faces.”
“Hmm, then there must be quite a few of these types around here?”
“Probably. The ones expelled from Shenxi aren’t just a handful. There could be more than anyone knows.”
“Tch.”
Cheon Hui scratched his head.
An increase in bandits around Shenxi would bring no benefit to the Huashan Sect.
Merchants and escort agencies would begin avoiding the route through Shenxi, and reduced trade would impact the province’s economy.
“This has become quite troublesome.”
He’d thought winning the Martial Match would be the end of it, but it seemed to have triggered unexpectedly complex consequences.
What to do? Kill them all?
But that would take considerable time.
Was there no way to clean this up quickly… Ah!
In that moment, Cheon Hui remembered something, grinned, and whipped his head around.
He looked at Gwi Cham Geo Do and Dan Mok Lin.
“That would work.”
As Cheon Hui’s eyes curved with amusement.
‘Damn it! Why is the Huashan Sect here?’
Gwi Cham Geo Do’s insides were burning with urgency.
He had left Shenxi after the Shin Joo Sa Pae’s defeat cost the Sapa their foothold.
But lacking the skill to establish himself elsewhere, he had no choice but to resort to this banditry.
‘If they travel around, they should wear Sect Robes. Why aren’t they wearing them?!’
His heart bled with frustration.
‘Damn it! If only I’d been more cautious!’
Kneeling, he cried out.
“This lowly one’s meager skill prevented me from recognizing you sooner, honored one!”
It was a shout that conveyed a fierce determination to survive at any cost.
But.
“What are you doing?”
The reply that came back was a frigid coldness.
Dan Mok Lin’s eyes turned to ice whether he begged or remained silent, her lips moving with precision.
“Take up the Chamma Blade again.”
As she cut through his pleading with that glacial command, Gwi Cham Geo’s body began to tremble.
“Wait. Stop for a moment.”
A calm voice cut in.
In that instant, Dan Mok Lin withdrew her blade and reined in the wild surge of her inner power.
“Yes, Senior Sister!”
The woman who had radiated such bone-chilling cold just moments before now smiled brilliantly as she stepped back, leaving Gwi Cham Geo momentarily stunned before he scrambled to knock his head against the ground.
“Please, I beg you, spare my life!”
As the young man passed the woman and approached him, Gwi Cham Geo was now certain this was the leader of the group, and he made his appeal with desperate fervor.
“I have a clever wife and a gentle child at home. If I die, who will feed my family? Please, if you could show mercy just this once…….”
“Where is your home?”
“……What?”
Gwi Cham Geo raised his head at the question, his face blank with confusion.
“My home, you mean?”
“Yes.”
“It’s over there…….”
His trembling finger pointed vaguely toward somewhere in the mountains, wavering back and forth.
“That way, right?”
“……Y-yes, that’s right.”
Cheon Hui watched the pupils of this man who had lost his bearings, and the corner of his mouth twisted upward.
“Well, well. You can lie without even wetting your lips — and with such nerve too.”
Gwi Cham Geo’s face went ashen.
He hurriedly pressed his forehead to the ground again.
“My apologies! I have committed a crime worthy of death!”
“Is that so? Then you’ll have to die.”
Cheon Hui made as if to draw his sword.
“Gasp!”
Gwi Cham Geo’s head snapped up, and he quickly raised his thick hands, shaking them left and right.
“No, no — now that I think about it more carefully, it doesn’t seem like a capital crime!”
Cheon Hui watched this man retract his confession faster than a breath could escape, and let out a soft laugh before speaking.
“There won’t be a third time.”
“Understood!”
Gwi Cham Geo cried out with sharp conviction, and Cheon Hui spoke in a low voice.
“I have just one question.”
“Ask me anything!”
“You know a lot of Sapa members doing banditry in this region, don’t you?”
“What?”
Gwi Cham Geo’s mind raced quickly.
‘What’s his intention?’
But.
Thwack!
“Hack!”
There was no time to think — the scabbard struck the back of his head.
“I can hear you thinking.”
Gwi Cham Geo clutched the back of his head, tears welling in his eyes as his mouth moved without sound.
“In this region at least, yes, I do know them!”
“To what extent?”
“Perhaps a hundred li in the surrounding area…….”
“That’s not many at all. Well, but I suppose that will do.”
Cheon Hui paused briefly in thought before continuing.
“Are you going to keep doing banditry here?”
“No!”
Gwi Cham Geo answered loudly and clearly.
“Then what will you do?”
Gwi Cham Geo, who had naturally never given thought to what came after, broke into a cold sweat.
“Perhaps as a vagrant martial artist, or taking escort work…….”
He fumbled through the sorts of things a martial artist might reasonably undertake, but Cheon Hui cut him short midway.
“Is there anywhere that would actually take you in?”
“That is… well…”
Gwi Cham Geo Do stammered.
Why else would he have turned to banditry?
Vagrant martial artists and escort work weren’t easy prospects—not enough to support him and his men—and he knew it well.
Cheon Hui drove his scabbard into the ground.
He looked directly at Gwi Cham Geo Do and asked, “What if you joined a sect instead?”
“What?”
Gwi Cham Geo Do’s eyes went wide.
“You don’t mean… the Huashan Sect…?”
Cheon Hui lifted the scabbard again and brought it down hard against the back of his head.
“Are you out of your mind?”
Gwi Cham Geo Do nursed the swelling bump, his face creasing with distress. “Then… which sect do you mean?”
“Soxingbao. You heard of it?”
“I have. Isn’t that the sect in Yanan?”
Gwi Cham Geo Do nodded.
Soxingbao was the place that heterodox sects throughout Shenxi looked up to these days.
And for good reason—despite having Ilwol Moon, an affiliated branch of Huashan, so close by, Soxingbao maintained its influence with restraint, preserving its power and position with skill.
“So what? Want to join Soxingbao?”
Gwi Cham Geo Do’s eyes brightened.
In all of present-day Shenxi, it was almost the only heterodox sect of note left standing. If he could join, his life would be far better than what came before.
“Is that possible?”
“Yes.”
Cheon Hui’s lips twisted into a broad smile.
“Go to Soxingbao and tell them the Huashan Sect sent you. They’ll initiate you without question.”
“I… see.”
He said it, but his expression betrayed doubt.
It made sense that he would.
Soxingbao was a heterodox sect.
How could the Huashan Sect just send someone and have them accepted? It didn’t add up.
But he held his tongue.
He didn’t believe it, but he also knew that if he spoke his doubts aloud, another bump would bloom on the back of his skull.
“And while you’re at it, gather up every heterodox sect bandit operating in Shenxi and bring them all to Soxingbao with you.”
“All… all of the bandits in Shenxi, sir?”
“Yes.”
“But there are so many of them…”
“That’s your problem to solve.”
……
At Cheon Hui’s firm words, Gwi Cham Geo Do’s head drooped.
“I… understand.”
“Good. You’re a quick learner.”
Cheon Hui smiled with satisfaction.
“Oh, and speaking of banditry—you must have taken some money. Where is it?”
“V-very little, sir.”
“Seems like there’s some after all.”
Cheon Hui extended his hand with a casual gesture.
Under the unspoken demand to hand it over, Gwi Cham Geo Do rifled through his clothes.
He placed silver coins onto his palm.
But Cheon Hui’s hand didn’t withdraw.
Instead, his lips curled. “I said there wouldn’t be a second time.”
“Pardon?”
“Will you fetch the rest yourself? Or should I come with you?”
Gwi Cham Geo Do’s face twisted miserably.
“I’ll… I’ll bring it all.”
Shortly after, Gwi Cham Geo Do and his men returned from the small inn, bearing the rest of their plunder, which they deposited in one corner of the wagon.
“Less than I expected.”

At Cheon Hui’s parting words, Gwi Cham Geo Do laughed awkwardly.
“Since I haven’t been doing banditry for very long, there isn’t much I’ve managed to gather.”
“Is that so?”
Cheon Hui glanced down at him briefly, then nodded and climbed into the carriage.
“Then keep to what I told you.”
“Don’t worry, sir!”
Gwi Cham Geo Do straightened his spine stiffly.
The carriage began to move.
“G-Great Hero! Safe travels!”
“Good fortune to you!”
Gwi Cham Geo Do and his men waved their arms broadly side to side, grinning brightly as they watched Cheon Hui’s party disappear down the road in the carriage.
Once the carriage was out of sight,
“Those damned dogs! Not finding anything to rob elsewhere, they steal from us!”
“Cough—ptooey! Blast it, I hope they crash and flip that carriage!”
Curses erupted from all around.
But contrary to this, Gwi Cham Geo Do quietly picked up his Chamma Blade and sighed.
“Ah.”
“What is it, Boss?”
“Nothing.”
“Then what do we do now?”
“What is there to do? We gather the other Sapa men and head to So Heung Bo.”
“B-But can that really happen? And besides, how are we supposed to get all these bandits to go with us?”
“So you want to run?”
“Right now, that’s the only way, isn’t it?”
“Do you know who that old man was—the one who was with us just now?”
“What?”
“Gae Bang. He’s from Gae Bang. Can you escape Gae Bang’s eyes?”
Gwi Cham Geo Do’s shoulders sagged.
“And you know what that old man said? If we run, he’ll chase us to the ends of the earth and report us to him. Heh heh.”
Gwi Cham Geo Do let out a laugh.
It was a laugh so sorrowful and forlorn it was without equal.
“We’re completely finished.”

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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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