Heavenly Demon of the Huashan Sect - Chapter 207
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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 207
“Is it because of the drink?”
Dang Jeok spoke as though it were no great matter, glancing at the overturned bottle before continuing.
“If you’ll just share a table with me, I’ll buy as much as you like.”
Dang Jeok seized the moment to press for another round of shared dining, but—
“You’re really persistent, aren’t you? I’ve already said no to sharing a table. How many times do I have to repeat myself?”
It fell on deaf ears.
Instead, Cheon Hui regarded him with a piercing gaze and spoke in a voice of ice.
“Enough. Clean up the table, bring fresh liquor to replace what spilled—do that, and I’ll let this slide just this once.”
……
In that instant, Dang Jeok’s smile vanished.
Had this young master of the Sichuan Tangga ever suffered such disrespect, such condescension?
The fire kindling in Dang Jeok’s eyes turned cold and sharp as ice.
“I lowered my head, made the effort to speak cordially and reasonably…….”
Dang Jeok’s voice settled low across the Deungcheon Guest Inn, filling the entire space with menace.
“Are you looking down on me?”
A violet aura poured forth from his body, churning violently through the air.
At a glance, it was no ordinary inner power.
It was Poison Qi itself.
The unique characteristic of the Sichuan Tangga’s family Heart Technique—the Guiyuan Wandu Qi Gong, where Internal Force itself became poison—had manifested.
“This is disgusting. Throwing a tantrum, picking needless fights, and now spreading poison around. Really sets the appetite on edge.”
Cheon Hui muttered and rose from his seat.
As Dang Jeok’s gaze followed upward, the balance of power in their eyes reversed in an instant.
Watching Cheon Hui grow larger before him, Dang Jeok’s expression hardened.
He had merely stood—yet he loomed impossibly vast.
‘Such overwhelming presence……!’
Overwhelmed without warning, Dang Jeok drew up more of his Internal Force.
A thick poison mist emanated from his center.
The chair nearby began to corrode away in that noxious cloud when—
Click.
Cheon Hui flicked his hand lightly.
Cheon Hui, looking down at Dang Jeok with a tilted gaze, extended his open hand forward.
Crack!
He seized Dang Jeok’s throat roughly.
“Y-you, you bastard!”
“How dare you——!”
The martial artists of the Dang clan jerked to their feet.
Weapons drawn, they glared at Cheon Hui with murder in their eyes, ready to rush forward at any second.
“Am I looking down on you?”
Cheon Hui met Dang Jeok’s eyes squarely while the younger man clawed desperately at his wrist with both hands, trying to break free.
“Of course I am.”
Dang Jeok’s eyebrows twitched sharply.
“Ugh——!”
At that same moment, as he thrashed violently——
Whine!
A sharp metallic sound pierced the air.
Cheon Hui raised his finger immediately.
‘A Flying Knife?’
Catching sight of the Flying Knife lodged between his index and middle fingers, Cheon Hui turned his head.
There stood Eun Hyeong Bi Gaek, the master of the Dang clan whom Dang Jeok called uncle, now on his feet.
He walked toward them with hands clasped behind his back.
“Would you release him?”
He fixed Cheon Hui with an unwavering stare.
His eyes blazed with lethal intent—ready to strike if Cheon Hui didn’t release his grip at once.
“Otherwise, you won’t walk away unscathed, I assure you.”
“Now that sounds interesting.”
At the threat, Cheon Hui let out a soft chuckle.
‘Stop, stop this!’
Cheon Yi Gae’s panicked Sound Transmission reached him.
‘Think about it. You’ll see these people again at the Je Gal Clan later. If you cause trouble now, won’t it just become a headache afterwards?’
Cheon Hui stroked his chin.
If he killed this man, it was clear the Je Gal Clan would become a nuisance.
Tsk. There’s no help for it.
Cheon Hui grabbed Dang Jeok and hurled him toward where Eun Hyeong Bi Gaek stood.
“……!”
Startled by the sudden flight of Dang Jeok, Eun Hyeong Bi Gaek caught him urgently against his chest.
“Are you all right?”
“Cough, cough. Y-yes, I’m fine.”
As Dang Jeok gasped roughly for breath and touched his neck, he felt the sharp imprints of fingers.
“This… this….”
Dang Jeok’s face darkened with rage.
Whoosh—
The curtain swayed violently as a beggar abruptly entered the Deungcheon Guest Inn.
“Innkeeper, I’m hungry and wondering if you might spare a meal.”
In an instant, everyone’s attention snapped toward him.
There was good reason for it.
In Gae Bong, there was only one type of beggar that mattered.
“……Gae Bang?”
Eun Hyeong Bi Gaek’s nose bridge creased.
The beggar, who appeared to be past forty, scratched his disheveled head and surveyed his surroundings, his expression shifting to one of surprise.
“My goodness! I never expected to meet members of the Sichuan Tangga in this place.”
Eun Hyeong Bi Gaek’s expression turned cold.
In All Under Heaven, there was no sect that rivaled Gae Bang in gathering information.
Especially in Gae Bong, where Jongtar was located—they could not have failed to know of his arrival.
“But then…….”
The beggar, observing Eun Hyeong Bi Gaek and the warriors in their combat stance, asked calmly.
“Surely the noble members of the Sichuan Tangga aren’t about to fight in the Deungcheon Guest Inn?”
“…….”
At his question, Eun Hyeong Bi Gaek’s eyes grew colder, and he raised his left hand, then lowered it.
At once, the warriors of the Sichuan Tangga, who had been emanating sharp killing intent, retreated.
Then he turned his gaze upon the beggar.
More precisely, upon the five knots tied at the beggar’s flank, which drew his attention.
“Are you one of the Gae Bang leaders?”
“Ha, ha! Indeed, you are the great Master Eun Hyeong Bi Gaek. You have a keen eye.”
“……You recognize me immediately.”
“How could I not know the Master?”
Eun Hyeong Bi Gaek regarded the beggar in silence for a moment.
“Jeok.”
He called out softly to Dang Jeok.
Dang Jeok’s brow furrowed at this.
“You’re simply asking us to leave?”
“This is sufficient.”
“But Uncle, this man struck against our clan. Yet if we simply leave now, the reputation of our family…….”
“This is Gae Bong, not Sichuan.”
Eun Hyeong Bi Gaek cut him off.
After that, as if unwilling to lower his guard, he swept his cold gaze across their surroundings and added quietly.
“Keep your eyes open and observe carefully.”
Startled by those words and that look, Dang Jeok belatedly surveyed the area, and his face grew grave as his mouth fell silent.
Numerous beggars were pressed against the open windows of the Deungcheon Guest Inn, peering inside.
‘Since when?’
As Dang Jeok struggled to conceal his bewilderment.
“We’ll lodge elsewhere tonight.”
Eun Hyeong Bi Gaek turned sharply away.
In truth, he too was seething inside.
The behavior and words of that youth had been a clear insult to the Sichuan Tangga.
He longed to cut the man’s throat with a Flying Knife and end his life at once.
Yet he could not.
As an elder of the clan, he had to weigh profit against loss, and that calculation led to one conclusion: in this situation where Gae Bang had appeared, retreat was the wisest course.
For to make an enemy of Gae Bang in Gae Bong would be far too dangerous a gamble.
Thump-thump— thump-thump—
Eun Hyeong Bi Gaek collected his thoughts and walked toward the door.
The Sichuan Tangga’s martial artists were displeased with the situation, but they moved to follow him as he departed.
Then, in that instant.
“Wait a moment.”
Cheon Hui called them to a halt.
The beggar watching from the sidelines startled at his summons.
‘I barely managed to mediate……!’
He had intervened specifically to prevent violence from erupting, had barely succeeded in mediating, and just when he thought it was over, the young man himself—the very person at the center of it all—was stirring up trouble again.
Cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
Even two empty hands, if they collide, will make a sound.
If the young man provoked them again, there would be no further excuse to hold them back.
‘What on earth is he trying to say?’
He fretted over what words might come next.
But the words that followed left him not worried, but utterly baffled.
“You’re just going to leave like this?”
Eun Hyeong Bi Gaek, who had been staring at the table Cheon Hui pointed to with his index finger, narrowed his brows.
Without a word, he drew four silver coins from his sleeve.
Then he flicked them toward the manager, who had been hiding behind the counter.
Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting!
The silver coins traced wide arcs through the air and came to rest on the counter, stacking neatly atop one another.
“Have them bring fresh food and wine for those fellows.”
After instructing the manager, Eun Hyeong Bi Gaek turned sharply and fixed Cheon Hui with a direct stare.
“Is that sufficient?”
“Well, I’ll overlook it this once.”
“This wretch!”
“How dare he!”
At his words—as though he were magnanimously granting them mercy—the Sichuan Tangga’s martial artists bristled.
Eun Hyeong Bi Gaek’s eyes flashed with cold killing intent for a moment, but it vanished just as quickly.
“I’ll be sure to remember your face.”
“As you wish.”
Cheon Hui waved his hand dismissively, as though unbothered, and didn’t even glance at him.
At being so thoroughly disregarded, Eun Hyeong Bi Gaek gritted his teeth and left the guest inn.
‘Someday I’ll kill you with my own hands.’
Cheon Hui merely smiled faintly at Dang Jeok’s savage sound transmission echoing in his ear, not even bothering to look his way as he turned his head.
“This wretched—”
Dang Jeok, who had been glaring at Cheon Hui at his complete disregard, ground his teeth.
Crack—
For a moment Dang Jeok stood glowering at Cheon Hui with a savage aura, then he ripped open the bead curtain at the door and strode out.
Once they had all departed.
“Phew. That was tense. Very tense indeed.”
The beggar wiped his chest in relief.
‘It was the right call bringing everyone from the Kwae Hyeop Dang.’
His name was Sa U Sang, and he was the leader of the Kwae Hyeop Dang, one of the Eight Gangs of Gae Bang. Recently he had been staying in Jongtar, devoting his efforts to raising the white-robed beggars of Gae Bang alongside his subordinates.
But when word reached him that the Sichuan Tangga had come to Gae Bong, he dropped everything and hurried here with his men.
As he continued to monitor the Sichuan Tangga, a bloody clash seemed about to erupt at the Deungcheon Guest Inn, so he had rushed in to intervene—
‘—only to end up looking like I inserted myself unnecessarily.’
He scratched his head and looked ahead.
The young man who had just been fighting the Sichuan Tangga had already moved to another table, and the old man and woman who had been watching now sat with him at that same spot.
As though nothing had happened at all.
‘They’re so unruffled despite making enemies of the Sichuan Tangga…….’
He became curious about their identities.
The Sichuan Tangga was no ordinary Major Clan.
Those who made enemies of a Major Clan would be pursued to their deaths, with no end to the vendetta in sight.
That was why anyone with a foothold in Kangho tried their utmost to avoid entanglement with them.
Yet these people—or rather, that young man—had faced off against the Sichuan Tangga without hesitation.
He studied the group closely to discern their identities, but learned nothing.
‘Their clothes are ordinary enough to see anywhere, and I can’t sense any Internal Force from them.’
As he examined the group, his gaze lingered on the old man, and he tilted his head.
‘Somehow his face seems familiar…….’
As he continued to stare, the old man—who was eating the food he’d had specially prepared—seemed to feel that gaze, turned his head, and when his eyes met Sa U Sang’s, he hastily looked away.
‘Why is he staring like that? Could he be someone from this branch that I’ve crossed swords with before?’
As the question deepened in his mind,
‘Well, if I don’t know, I might as well find out directly.’
Having settled the matter, he rose and strode toward their table, seating himself without ceremony.
Cheon Hui’s brow furrowed as he watched the man approach.
“What are you doing?”
“Ahem, well, since I did lend you a hand not long ago, might I impose upon you for a meal?”
Cheon Hui looked at him with an expression of utter bewilderment.
“Help me with what?”
Sa U Sang hadn’t expected such a blunt denial, and found himself momentarily flustered.
“Didn’t I spare you a confrontation with the Sa Cheon Tang Family and convince them to withdraw?”
Cheon Hui’s voice was sharp and dismissive.
“I didn’t mind fighting them.”
Sa U Sang’s jaw fell slack.
For anyone in Gae Bang, even approaching the Sa Cheon Tang Family required caution, yet the youth before him spoke with such unshakeable confidence.
“A-aren’t you afraid of the Sa Cheon Tang Family?”
“Not particularly. What’s there to fear?”
Sa U Sang studied Cheon Hui’s face intently,
then slowly shook his head.
‘That gaze is genuine.’
The youth’s eyes held no hesitation whatsoever—they gleamed with the quiet certainty of absolute truth.
“If you understand, shouldn’t you be on your way?”
“Ahem, ahem. Surely you won’t deny me just a small bite? I’ve grown a bit tense, and my stomach is practically glued to my spine.”
Cheon Hui’s eyes narrowed as he spoke.
“Remarkable. You certainly have a thick face.”
“Ha ha ha, I’m grateful for the compliment.”
The man accepted the sarcasm with such cheerfulness that Cheon Hui found himself at a loss for words.
Yet that feeling passed swiftly—glancing to the side, he caught Cheon Yi Gae wolfing down the remaining food, and somehow it all made sense.
“It seems you need a thick face to enter Gae Bang.”
“Ha, well, a thick face is certainly necessary for begging, though…”
Sa U Sang’s eyes suddenly gleamed with interest.
“You speak as if you know the ways of Gae Bang quite well. Do you know any of its members?”
“A few, yes.”
“Who do you know?”
Cheon Hui was about to answer, turning toward Cheon Yi Gae,
when an urgent voice transmission cut through: ‘Wait—don’t say anything! Keep my identity hidden!’
It was Cheon Yi Gae’s desperate plea through Sound Transmission.
‘Why?’
‘Do you want me to reveal myself in this pitiful state? Please, I’m begging you—just let this pass without a word this time, won’t you?’
It was a deeply earnest request.
But—
“A man named Cheon Yi Gae.”
Cheon Hui ignored him entirely.
‘This wretched boy!’
Cheon Yi Gae was about to explode in anger when—
“Ah! The Elder Supreme!”
Sa U Sang’s entire manner shifted in an instant, his words tumbling forth.
“Good heavens! So you know that accursed old man—you must have had quite the ordeal.”
Before Cheon Yi Gae could even react, Sa U Sang was already grumbling, and Cheon Hui found it amusing enough to smile.
“You seem to know him well.”
“Of course I do. That old codger has caused me no end of trouble…”
The memory of Cheon Yi Gae seemed to strike something in Sa U Sang, and he clicked his tongue reproachfully.
“Even now it makes my teeth chatter—my very teeth chatter! One time he sneaked into the Imperial Palace just to see it and nearly got caught by the guards. Another time he went to lay eyes on the Sa Hyuk Ryeon leader and… ugh.”
Sa U Sang released a long, heavy sigh.
“Lately he’s been hounding me for information about Kangho itself—it’s infuriating! The mere thought of it sets my blood boiling, absolutely boiling…”
Just as he was venting his frustrations by striking his chest with the heel of his hand,
‘This is rather amusing.’
Cheon Hui turned his gaze away.
“I-I…”
Across from Sa U Sang, Cheon Yi Gae sat with his cheeks trembling, his face flushed a deep crimson.
Yet whether Sa U Sang knew this or cared not, he only grew sharper in his mockery of Cheon Yi Gae.
“Most of this place can barely wait for that old fool to die. And yet he’s still going strong……? Hmm?”
“You wretch!”
Unable to bear Sa U Sang’s endless jeers any longer, Cheon Yi Gae finally hefted the chair high and brought it down across his head.
Crack!
“Ow! What in the heavens are you doing?!”
Sa U Sang clutched the back of his head between both hands, his temper flaring. And no wonder—this strange old man had just struck him without warning.
A single tear pricked at the corner of his eye as he glared at Cheon Yi Gae.
“Can barely wait for me to die, did you say?”
Cheon Yi Gae’s voice trembled with rage as he roared.
“I, that is…….”
At this sudden outburst, Sa U Sang’s face drained of all color.
“Y-you’re not……the Grand Elder, are you?”
“Grand Elder? I’m the old fool you hate so much, that’s who!”
“No! That is—I didn’t mean——!”
Sa U Sang waved his hands in desperate protest.
“So you wish for my death, then?”
Cheon Yi Gae’s eyes had gone completely wild. He raised the chair once more, gripping it high.
And with it, he swung down at Sa U Sang’s head with all his strength, shrieking like a madman.
“Today you die, and I die too!”
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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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