Heavenly Demon of the Huashan Sect - Chapter 219

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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 219
Boom! Boom!
With the continuous deafening explosions and tremors, Dan Mok Chan’s consciousness returned and his eyes snapped open.
“Ugh…… What in the world…… happened……?”
As he pushed himself up, a sharp pain lanced through his skull and he clutched at his head with both hands.
“……What?”
Touching his head with a confused expression, it all came flooding back to him at last.
“That… that bastard!”
Dan Mok Chan shot to his feet in fury.
“…….”
Then he beheld the sight before him and lost all words.
Cheon Hui stood in the open field.
Around him, plum blossoms drifted and collided with blue meteors, while brilliant sparks scattered in all directions.
“What is this…….”
Muttering in a daze, he drank in the sight before him—and his mouth fell open.
Two masters had ascended to the pinnacle of realms he so desperately longed for, and now they exchanged blows before his eyes. He could only stand in awe.
‘How can he… go against grandfather…….’
His mind went blank.
He could not believe what he saw.
Jong Hyeon was a master who had reached the Heavenly Martial Realm, counted among the top three in the Dan Mok Clan itself.
Yet a youth who appeared to have barely crossed into his twenties was facing him.
No—it was far more than merely facing him.
By any measure, Cheon Hui held the advantage.
‘Could he have reached the Heavenly Martial Realm at that age……?’
Dan Mok Chan’s entire body trembled.
It was almost unbelievable.
Yet his eyes were seeing it all clearly, and they demanded he accept the truth.
“Ha.”
A hollow laugh slipped between his parted lips.
Until now, he had been confident in his martial prowess.
And with reason—rather than attend pointless celebrations like the Yongbong Ji Hoe and such, he had devoted himself to gaining experience on the Kangho road.
Thanks to this, his strength had grown by leaps and bounds, and he had come to believe he now stood on par with Cheon Yong.
But what was this youth?
Never mind Cheon Yong—he had surpassed even the Late Stage Mastery and reached the pinnacle itself.
No anger stirred. No competitive fire burned.
The overwhelming gulf between them drained all feeling from his body, leaving only a hollow sense of defeat.
“Tch, having fun, are we? Having fun.”
Then an unfamiliar voice came from beside him.
He turned his head in bewilderment and found a filthy beggar in Straw Mat Clothing seated nearby.
As Dan Mok Chan studied this unknown figure, his eyes widened when he spotted a knot tied at the man’s waist.
‘Gae Bang?’
Cheon I Gae felt the gaze upon him and glared back at Dan Mok Chan, his brow furrowing.
“Huh? What, you’re awake? So what are you staring at?”
“Ah, it’s nothing.”
“Then stop gawking at me like that…….”
“Sir.”
Just as Cheon I Gae was about to say more, Dan Mok Lin interjected quietly.
“Ey, I hear you. I hear you.”
Cheon I Gae pouted and turned his head away with a grumble.
Dan Mok Lin watched him do so, then sighed and turned to Dan Mok Chan.
“Brother. Are you alright now?”
“Y-yes. I’m fine. But how long has that sparring match been going on?”
“About an hour now.”
“W-what? The field became like this in just an hour……?”
At her answer, Dan Mok Chan looked around in a panic—and went pale.
Layers upon layers of sword marks crisscrossed the field, deepening with each passing moment, and the wind itself grew stronger by the second.
Perhaps because of this.
The open field was becoming more and more desolate with each passing moment.
Gulp.
He swallowed hard, watching as the two of them created collisions of staggering magnitude.
‘I must have lost my mind completely. Yielding the initiative to someone like that—what was I thinking?’
His back was damp with cold sweat.
One misstep and he wouldn’t merely suffer an injury—his neck could be severed clean off.
Dan Mok Chan turned to Dan Mok Lin with a question.
“Has he reached the Heavenly Martial Realm?”
“I cannot say for certain.”
“You… you don’t know?”
Dan Mok Chan’s eyes widened in alarm, but Dan Mok Lin simply nodded silently in response.
She too could not pinpoint Cheon Hui’s exact realm with certainty.
She could only estimate that he had ascended to some transcendent pinnacle.
Because of this, she was just as astounded as Dan Mok Chan by the martial prowess Cheon Hui displayed against Jong Hyeon.
“Even with your sensory perception, you cannot discern it?”
“No. It vanishes completely from my perception.”
At that admission, Dan Mok Chan let out a hollow laugh.
He knew better than anyone how extraordinary Dan Mok Lin’s sensory perception was.
Even his father and grandfather had been caught by it before.
‘Wait… if that’s the case, could it possibly be…!’
The moment he turned his head sharply.
Crack!
Suddenly, multiple footprints carved themselves in the space around Cheon Hui. In the same instant, Jong Hyeon materialized by splitting through space and scattered a tempest of Sword Qi toward Cheon Hui.
Blurred blue trajectories trailed in their wake.
The speed was such that even Dan Mok Chan, who had reached the Limitless Realm, could not discern the exact number of arcs.
‘Six? No, eight?’
As his eyes swept across the trajectories to gauge their count, a transformation unfolded. The overlapping arcs suddenly extended and linked into a ring, forming a complete wheel.
Dan Mok Chan’s eyes flew open at the sight.
‘The Falling Star Wheel Ring? And immediately following—the Falling Star Single Thought and the Falling Star Beginning Return?!’
Realizing it was not a single form, confusion flooded his gaze.
In that brief moment, Jong Hyeon had deployed multiple forms of the Falling Star Sword technique and wove them together with flawless continuity.
‘But at this rate, the Internal Energy consumption…’
Each form of the Falling Star Sword demanded considerable Internal Energy.
Ordinarily, significant preparation was needed just to execute a single form.
Yet Jong Hyeon, wielding overwhelming Internal Energy and speed, forced the connections into being.
And the devastation was absolutely overwhelming.
It demonstrated both destructive power and seamless linkage flawlessly!
And though such sword forms rained down upon Cheon Hui without pause.
Ting! Ting!
Cheon Hui parried them with ease.
The Plum Blossom not only defended against the falling meteors, but occasionally launched counterattacks as well.
Sparks continued to bloom in the void.
Blurred, layered trajectories wove across the space like a net, and their shockwaves converged into a tempest.
Soon the shockwave swept in all directions.
Boom! Boom!
Each time the shockwave erupted, the Martial Robes and hair of Dan Mok Chan and Dan Mok Lin were sent violently upward, then fell back down repeatedly.
‘Is this… is this a sparring match between masters who have touched the heavens with their martial prowess?’
Since when he had clenched both fists tightly, his palms grew slick with perspiration.
Yet he made no move to wipe it away, his eyes locked upon the duel.
Instead, he watched with intense focus, his eyes never blinking.
Refusing to miss even an instant!
‘This… this is a chance meeting with destiny!’
In his eyes, which had been filled with despair, a brilliant gleam suddenly ignited.
Rip!
At that moment, Jong Hyeon’s Martial Robe tore slightly.
Yet Jong Hyeon did not pause.
Rather than retreating, he pressed forward, surging toward Cheon Hui.
Like an arrow already loosed from the bowstring!
‘It has been a long time since I’ve wielded this.’
Jong Hyeon’s Internal Energy roiled with vitality.
At the same time, vigor flooded through his body.
His feet had never felt lighter, and the edge of the sword in his grip blurred.
‘Let us see if you can parry this as well.’
His eyes grew dark and sharp.
The Falling Star Sword technique had dealt Cheon Hui no harm whatsoever.
Not the slightest wound, and certainly no internal injury.
Yet a smile played at the corners of his mouth.
Faint and subtle—barely there at all.
At the same moment, his eyes grew dark, and Inner Power enveloped the blade.
A strange, luminous gleam—darkness bearing light.
The blade infused with light became one with him.
Shweeee!
His forward momentum accelerated further still.
Heaven-Severing Flying Sword!
The technique beyond Heaven, a sword form and sword method forged to cleave the very sky.
The blade becomes me, and I become the blade.
The ultimate expression of Separation of Tool and Technique, transcending Divine Sword Unity, revealed itself to the world.
“Hn!”
In that instant, Dan Mok Chan’s complexion went ashen.
Though distant, the killing intent and force radiating from Jong Hyeon were impossibly fierce.
Her breath caught in her throat.
‘Grandfather… I never knew he’d mastered such a technique!’
Overwhelmed, she found herself stepping back without thinking.
Shock and awe mingled in her wide eyes as she watched the sparring match.
The raw killing intent emanating from the usually gentle Jong Hyeon was startling, yet the breathtaking mastery of his sword form drew gasps of admiration.
‘If I were to face that blade…’
The moment the thought crossed her mind, her teeth began to chatter.
In a flash, the word “death” burned itself into her mind with crystalline clarity.
The force behind it was that overwhelming.
Yet Cheon Hui, who faced such an onslaught, merely deepened his smile.
“Ah. So in a single strike, you sought to transcend the Separation of Tool and Technique and capture the subtlety of the Heart Blade itself… quite intriguing indeed.”
Speaking softly as he watched Jong Hyeon—now one with his blade—Cheon Hui extended his sword forward.
The blade point, thrust straight ahead, traced a line of aim perfectly aligned with the incoming Jong Hyeon, streaking like an arrow.
It appeared a simple strike.
Merely a thrust.
Yet Jong Hyeon, confronted with it, could not help but doubt his own senses.
At the tip of the blade.
A crimson plum blossom bloomed.
Only a single blossom.
The exquisitely blossoming plum forced Jong Hyeon’s hearing and sight, binding them utterly.
And in the next moment, the blossom exploded.
Petals scattered in all directions, softly enveloping the charging Jong Hyeon.
It was a phantasmagoric, enchanting sight.
And through the petals, a single trajectory—a beautiful descending cut—traced itself across the air.
‘Is this… the Plum Blossom Sword Technique?’
Horror bloomed across Jong Hyeon’s face.
But before that shock could fully spread, the slash had already reached him.
Thud.
The belated sound echoed out.
At the same moment, the air around them churned and scattered in the wake of Cheon Hui’s descending blade.
The phantom blossoms vanished in an instant, replaced by a ferocious gale.
Whoooosh—
The violent wind that erupted from the center where Cheon Hui and Jong Hyeon stood swept clean everything within a radius of thirty paces.
“……!”
“Hn!”
“There he goes again!”
Dan Mok Lin, Dan Mok Chan, and Cheon I Gae threw their hands up to brace against the backlash.
When the gale passed and cleared from the Open Field, Jong Hyeon parted his lips.
“What is the name of that form?”
“Plum Blossom Far Fragrance.”
At the answer, Jong Hyeon’s eyes slowly closed.
The fragrance of plum blossoms tickled his nose.
It was rich, yet delightfully fresh.
Not easily forgotten…….
He smiled and sheathed his sword.
“I concede defeat.”
His gaze had already left Cheon Hui, settling instead on the dozens of sword marks etched into the ground around him.
Dozens of technique variations contained within a single strike.
The sword form that had been unleashed upon him—the Maehwa Sword Technique—far exceeded his expectations.
‘Is this the true Maehwa Sword Technique?’
Then Cheon Hui lifted his sword again.
His eyes, fixed on Jong Hyeon, gleamed with the hunger of a starving beast.
“Already? Shall we continue a bit longer?”
“I cannot go further. The drain on my Internal Energy is severe. The match is decided—there’s no need to press on.”
Jong Hyeon displayed a gentle smile.
It was the complete opposite of the murderous intent he had shown mere moments before.
The benevolent grandfather had returned, brushing dust from his torn Martial Robe as he spoke.
“And that sword technique represents everything I have left.”
Seeing Jong Hyeon stripped of all aggression and bloodlust, Cheon Hui clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction and sheathed his blade.
“Tch. Then I have no choice.”
“I appreciate your understanding.”
“But that sword form—or rather, what is the name of that sword technique?”
“Heaven-Severing Flying Sword.”
“Heaven-Severing Flying Sword…….”
As Cheon Hui murmured to himself.
“Grandfather!”
“Senior Brother! Grandfather!”
Dan Mok Chan and Dan Mok Lin came running.
Upon seeing them, Jong Hyeon turned back to Cheon Hui, and a pleased smile bloomed across his face.
It was an unplanned, unexpected meeting.
He had once wished to see this youth directly, but he never imagined it would happen so soon.
Who could have foreseen it?
That a Daoist of the Huashan Sect would appear at the Je Gal Clan’s 60th Anniversary Banquet.
‘If this is fate, then perhaps it is.’
He had been studying Cheon Hui intently when memories of the past suddenly surfaced.
When Dan Mok Lin had returned from searching for Shin Ui, the entire Dan Mok Clan had been in an uproar.
She had returned fully recovered, having regained what she had lost in her Internal Energy.
Everyone had rejoiced that day.
Since they had regarded it as an incurable affliction, all members of the clan unanimously praised Shin Ui, saying “Shin Ui is truly Shin Ui.”
Of course, losing all her Internal Force was regrettable, but it was nothing compared to losing her life.
Moreover, Dan Mok Lin’s talent was overwhelming, so there was confidence that she would recover her Martial Arts at any time.
But that joy did not last long.
For that very day, Dan Mok Lin announced she would seek Sect Recruitment at the Huashan Sect.
Everyone objected vehemently, but upon hearing the truth, they were shocked.
It was not Shin Ui who had saved Dan Mok Lin, but a Daoist of the Huashan Sect, and she was entering the sect to repay this debt of gratitude.
That moment remained vivid in Jong Hyeon’s mind even now.
Of course it did.
The clan head and most of the clan members had been occupied in dissuading Dan Mok Lin.
And he himself had not been absent from those efforts.
‘Lin’s talent was overwhelming.’
Her exceptional Sensory Perception, Martial Talent, and Five-Star aptitude.
All of it was a genius without parallel throughout the entire history of the Dan Mok Clan.
And she had overcome even a heavenly affliction?
She absolutely had to be retained by the clan.
But at that time, Dan Mok Lin had already made her decision.
‘I never imagined Lin would take such a drastic course of action.’
That very evening, after her announcement, Dan Mok Lin carried out a Midnight Escape with Dan Mok Jin Gang, the only one who had taken her side, and slipped away from the clan.
Leaving behind only a single letter in her room, severing ties with the family.
‘Hmm, it was the first time I ever saw the clan head fly into such a rage.’
He likely never imagined such a thing.
For Dan Mok Lin had always been so obedient until then.
‘But now, seeing her act on her own will rather than simply following orders—it suits her far better.’
A faint smile played at the corners of his mouth.
Dan Mok Lin had once been a confident child.
But after the pain began, she’d grown timid, her spirit dimmed.
Negativity and cold mockery had settled over her.
As if she’d surrendered to the world itself.
Then something shifted.
No—she found herself again.
His gaze turned to Dan Mok Lin, watching her steal glances at Cheon Hui with barely concealed joy.
‘Perhaps it would be better to let her stay with him rather than take her back to the clan.’
And perhaps he didn’t realize something.
Dan Mok Lin hadn’t yet received her sect token, and Cheon Hui couldn’t simply leave secular life either.
‘Still, the Huashan Sect is more lenient about leaving for the secular world than Kunlun or Mudag—they could even arrange a betrothal.’
A smile played across his lips.
It was speculation, but he felt certain.
Dan Mok Lin’s talent and beauty were among the rarest in the clan’s history.
What man wouldn’t be captivated.
Having finished his thoughts, he spoke.
“I should convey this well to the clan head.”
* * *
“I’m entrusting Lin to you.”
Jong Hyeon, seated atop his horse, spoke while glancing between Dan Mok Lin and Cheon Hui, and Dan Mok Lin looked flustered.
“G-Grandfather!”
Meanwhile, Cheon Hui replied flatly.
“How old is she? She ought to be able to manage her own affairs. Right?”
“That’s right!”
Dan Mok Lin answered with a startled nod.
At that, Dan Mok Chan’s brow darkened.
“I understand the young master is impressive, but even so, our Lin isn’t something to be treated carelessly….”
“Brother!”
As Dan Mok Lin called out urgently, Dan Mok Chan, who had paused mid-sentence, stiffened his expression and opened his mouth again.
“Lin, think carefully. The young master is impressive, but you’re not light—”
But Dan Mok Chan suddenly felt a chill and fell silent.
Dan Mok Lin was glaring at him with a sharpness he’d never seen before.
“Ahem, ah. I understand. For now, I’ll tell Father that you’re doing well.”
“Sigh….”
Dan Mok Lin exhaled a long breath.
Then, with a somewhat hesitant expression, she approached Dan Mok Chan and spoke quietly.
“Um… is Father all right?”
“How could he be all right? You vanished like that overnight. After you left without a word, Father has been…, ugh. No, let’s not speak of it further.”
Dan Mok Chan started to elaborate at length, but shaking his head as if struck by a headache, he stopped himself.
“Send him a letter later. He seems wounded enough as it is.”
“…Yes.”
As Dan Mok Lin answered with a dampened spirit.
“Mount the horse quickly.”
Jong Hyeon urged Dan Mok Chan onward.
Time was pressing if he was to return to the clan.
“Ah, understood.”
The moment the words left his mouth, Jong Hyeon watched Dan Mok Chan scramble onto his horse and wore a small smile.
Perhaps it was because he’d witnessed Jong Hyeon’s true martial prowess for the first time.
Dan Mok Chan moved with noticeably greater energy than before.
“I’ll be on my way then.”
“Until next time.”
“I look forward to that day as well.”
After bowing to Cheon Hui, Jong Hyeon reached for the horse’s bridle, then turned to Cheon I Gae standing beside him.
“Fare well, Master.”
“Hmph, why the concern for me.”
Dan Mok Chan, now mounted, made a fist salute in return.
“Master, I entrust Lin to your care.”
“No need for thanks.”
As Dan Mok Lin shook her head at the string of courtesies, the two exchanged their farewells.
“Until we meet again.”
“I’ll come find you later.”
Neigh!
As the two of them seized the reins and departed, Dan Mok Lin waved her hand and called out.
“Safe travels!”

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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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