Heavenly Demon of the Huashan Sect - Chapter 244

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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 244
Moo Jeong Do’s expression hardened, ever so slightly.
A young Daoist who barely seemed to have crossed into manhood had sent Ki Ryeon No flying with a single kick.
Even if Ki Ryeon No’s realm was lower than his own, he was no one to be handled so easily.
He tensed, eyes fixed on Cheon Hui.
But then.
Fwip.
Cheon Hui’s form vanished abruptly.
The moment Moo Jeong Do’s eyes widened in alarm.
Crack!
A sickening sound tore through the air.
Moo Jeong Do whirled around in panic.
One of his subordinates’ head was already arcing through the air, spraying blood.
‘When—?!’
That was far from the end.
Cheon Hui had carved his way between the Nok Lim bandits and was now swinging his blade with cold precision.
Dreadfully fast. Brutally so.
Thwack!
Each arc of his sword sent the limbs of nearby bandits skyward, chests splitting open with a sickening crack.
Screams erupted in its wake.
“Gack!”
“Argh!”
In a heartbeat, chaos consumed the scene, and Moo Jeong Do’s pupils trembled.
‘Is this… a Daoist’s blade?’
It was a sword without mercy.
And Cheon Hui, the one who had wrought this carnage, showed no change in expression.
As though it were only natural.
A Killing Sword without a shred of compassion reaped his subordinates’ lives swiftly.
When their number exceeded ten.
“U-urgh!”
The Nok Lim bandits, seized by fear, began backing away.
Watching the spectacle, Moo Jeong Do’s face twisted into something grotesque.
‘At this rate, I’ll lose nothing but my men!’
Recognizing the gravity of the situation, Moo Jeong Do drove his feet into the earth.
He aimed at Cheon Hui’s back as the young man ravaged his subordinates, sweeping the Willow Leaf Blade in a wide arc.
A flawless ambush, exploiting an opening.
Yet.
Clang!
Moo Jeong Do let out a short gasp and staggered backward, all momentum lost.
Driven back roughly fifty paces, he planted his feet and worked his jaw.
“Ptui!”
He spat blood-tinged saliva onto the ground, his eyes turning cold as he fixed them on Cheon Hui, his lips moving.
“The enemy is but one. Do not retreat.”
The Nok Lim bandits, who had been instinctively giving ground before Cheon Hui, finally steadied themselves.
‘We have overwhelming numbers!’
‘He is only one…..’
They rekindled the fire in their eyes, shaking off the fear that had gripped them.
Now composed, they raised their blades and spears.
Centered on Moo Jeong Do, the bandits unleashed their killing intent upon Cheon Hui.
Yet Cheon Hui himself regarded that malevolent aura with indifference.
‘Merely ten?’
As he tallied the bandits he had cut down, Cheon Hui stepped forward with a light, graceful movement.
In a single motion, he unfurled the An Hyang Pyo, and the White Lotus Sword carved a sweeping arc from left to right.
Shhhhwing!
With the sound of air being rent asunder, a red-flashed Sword Strike descended with horrifying velocity.
Moo Jeong Do’s breath caught.
The power contained in that strike was so intense it seemed it might cleave the world itself in two.
He had to dodge immediately.
But even as he moved, the strike was already upon him with terrible speed.
‘Too late….!’
Moo Jeong Do hastily raised the Willow Leaf Blade to block the incoming Sword Strike.
‘Gack!’
Moo Jeong Do barely swallowed a cry that threatened to burst from his lips, then twisted his wrist holding the Willow Leaf Blade with all his strength.
Clang-clang-clang!
As the Willow Leaf Blade bent dangerously, emitting an ominous sound as if about to snap—
“Aaaagh!”
Moo Jeong Do gritted his teeth and roared, pouring all his Internal Force into the Willow Leaf Blade.
Then he thrust the Sword Strike upward.
Boom!
The deflected Sword Strike crashed into the cliff behind them, leaving a deep mark.
“……Gulp.”
The Nok Lim bandits stared blankly at the cliff.
“Huff, huff.”
Moo Jeong Do gasped for breath.
‘What kind of Sword Strike is that…….’
His hand gripping the Willow Leaf Blade still trembled uncontrollably, unable to steady itself.
Then a quiet voice was heard.
“Hmm, you managed to deflect it.”
Cheon Hui regarded Moo Jeong Do with an indifferent gaze, then raised his sword again.
“So one wasn’t enough. Tsk, can’t be helped.”
As he spoke, Cheon Hui’s sword swept through the air, and in the moment the Sword Strike flew forth again—
“……Damn it!”
Moo Jeong Do cursed without thinking.
Now it wasn’t just one Sword Strike coming at him—it was many, all at once.
“Everyone, run!”
Moo Jeong Do bellowed the command.
But the Sword Strikes that had already cut through the air engulfed him and the Nok Lim bandits in an instant.
* * *
Boom!
Nok Rim Daeje frowned at the violent explosion and turned his head.
Thick dust rose into the air.
And the force he sensed within it greatly stimulated his intuition.
“I thought removing the Huashan Divine Sword would be enough, but it seems there’s another master here.”
Nok Rim Daeje murmured, his gaze falling on Hyeon Sang, who stood with his sword raised, his Sect Robe and entire body stained with blood.
“Do you still have the strength to stand?”
Nok Rim Daeje sneered once, then propelled himself forward.
Moving without a sound, Nok Rim Daeje closed in on Hyeon Sang and drove his fist into the man’s abdomen.
Thud!
With a heavy sound, Hyeon Sang’s upper body lurched forward violently.
“Cough!”
Hyeon Sang spewed blood in a rush.
The force that had penetrated his body shook his dantian, and he felt severe internal injuries taking hold.
Nok Rim Daeje seized Hyeon Sang’s throat and lifted him up with a jerk.
“Gack!”
Hyeon Sang let out a stifled groan.
A crescent smile appeared at the corner of Nok Rim Daeje’s mouth as he watched.
“Let me show you something interesting before you die.”
Nok Rim Daeje raised Hyeon Sang in his grip and turned him to survey the surroundings.
‘……!’
Hyeon Sang’s pupils trembled.
The situation at Huashan was dire.
The Nok Lim bandits, led by their numbers, had surrounded the disciples of Huashan Sect.
Hyeon Ryeo and Hyeon Heo, along with the three masters of Huashan, were desperately defending the disciples, but they were overwhelmed by the increasingly emboldened Nok Lim forces.
Confirming the dire turn of battle, Hyeon Sang felt his blood surge backward through his body.
“Hehehehe, how does it feel?”
Nok Rim Daeje turned his gaze to Hyeon Sang, watching as the encirclement tightened.
“To be the last Sect Master of Huashan Sect.”
“This……!”
Rage surged through him, burst blood vessels in his eyes, and tears of blood streamed down.
Nok Rim Daeje gazed into Hyeon Sang’s eyes, which wept blood, and burst into wild laughter.
“Hahahaha!”
It felt as though he might take flight.
How long he had waited for this day.
“Excellent, excellent indeed. To have the Sect Master of the Nine Major Sects and Four Unorthodox Schools beneath my heel…….”
Exhilaration swept through his body like electricity.
Who would have imagined it?
That Nok Lim would destroy Huashan.
It was something he could never have dreamed of in the past.
And yet now he stood on the threshold of achieving that impossible feat.
Nok Rim Daeje, eyes gleaming with malice, held Hyeon Sang’s gaze directly as he spoke.
“Farewell.”
With the word, strength surged into his grip.
“Gag!”
Just as Hyeon Sang gasped for breath beneath the crushing vice of that grip——
Screeeech!
A sharp object shot through the air on the wind that tore the atmosphere asunder.
“An attack……?”
Nok Rim Daeje hurled Hyeon Sang away.
Tumbling——
Hyeon Sang skid across the ground for a dozen lengths or more, swallowing dust as he came to rest.
“How dare you……!”
Nok Rim Daeje spread his palm wide.
His scarred hand met the incoming sword strike head-on.
Crack!
Nok Rim Daeje caught the strike in his grasp and shattered it.
……
His brow furrowed.
Because a fine blade scar had been carved into the palm that had caught the strike.
‘A mark upon my hand, which is like the Indestructible Body itself…….’
His eyes turned cold and sharp.
His body, having cultivated the Golden Bell Technique to its extreme, had reached a level where no blade could leave so much as a scratch.
In the twenty years he had roamed Gangho, no master, no matter how skilled, had ever marked him with even a single wound.
‘This aura is the same as what I felt just before…….’
Nok Rim Daeje narrowed his eyes and looked toward the direction from which the strike had come.
Step— step—
A young Daoist priest walked slowly forward, dragging a corpse with a single hand.
The moment he came into view, Nok Rim Daeje’s eyes narrowed further still.
‘So he was this young?’
Contrary to what Nok Rim Daeje had expected, it was a boy—a young Daoist priest who had appeared, and he was just frowning when a voice came from beside him.
“Ch—Cheon Hui…….”
Hyeon Sang, sprawled on the ground, gazed at Cheon Hui as he approached, and smiled gently.
For one who had stood upon the very threshold of death mere moments ago, the smile was luminous with hope and warmth.
‘Is this boy the finest master of Huashan Sect, then……? What was his name—Cheon Hui?’
Nok Rim Daeje’s eyes widened.
‘Ah, so that’s who he is. The Plum Blossom Divine Cooperator.’
Now he could understand both the fierce aura he had sensed moments before and the sword strike that followed.
‘I thought the rumors that floated about were exaggerated.’
Nok Rim Daeje’s brow creased with displeasure.
The Plum Blossom Divine Cooperator—he knew this name well, for before the invasion of Huashan, Sa Hyuk Ryeon and his subordinates had spoken of it endlessly, until his ears rang with the words.
A rising star in Gangho.
One whose martial prowess surpassed even the Crimson Sword Lord, and who had single-handedly defeated the Black Shadow Unit, Sa Hyuk Ryeon’s elite force.
‘The aura he carries now exceeds even the rumors.’
As Cheon Hui walked slowly forward, Nok Rim Daeje rolled his neck lightly.
‘He must be killed.’
He had seen only a single strike.
Yet Nok Rim Daeje felt it with absolute certainty.
There was no way this man could be allowed to live.
‘Even if Huashan Sect falls, so long as this one survives, the lineage of Huashan will endure.’
That was when it happened.
Tap.
Cheon Hui came to a halt five paces before Nok Rim Daeje and hurled the corpse down.
Thud.
Nok Rim Daeje’s brow twitched as he saw the body fall at his feet.
The corpse bore brutal sword marks across every inch of its frame save the face—wounds so savage that merely glimpsing them made one’s eyes narrow in instinctive revulsion.
‘Just as Sa Hyuk Ryeon described—no mercy in his blade work, utterly merciless…….’
As Nok Rim Daeje traced the wounds, he froze.
“……Moo Jeong Do?”
Only then, as Nok Rim Daeje examined the corpse’s face more carefully, did surprise flood his eyes.
“So unlike that one—he went down easily.”
A low voice carried through the air.
Cheon Hui stared directly at the startled Nok Rim Daeje, his lips twisting.
Clear mockery.
Seeing it, Nok Rim Daeje stepped forward, closing the distance between them.
One step. Another step.
The five paces that had separated them dwindled away, until at last they stood barely an arm’s length apart.
A distance where a single hasty move from either would mean a fatal blow.
Yet neither was rash.
So they stood, regarding each other in silence.
“Ha ha ha ha! So that’s what it was!”
Nok Rim Daeje burst into a roaring laugh.
“I said it was strange. Even if the Huashan Divine Swordsman has reached the Heavenly Martial Realm, he shouldn’t have been able to fell Baek Sa Sin alone. But this—this changes everything.”
Nok Rim Daeje released a wave of fighting spirit.
His gray robe billowed and surged violently as his jade-green eyes flashed.
“It was you.”
His green eyes burned with fighting spirit.
A fighting spirit dense and viscous, clinging like tar.
“You’re the one who brought down Baek Sa Sin.”
Cheon Hui slowly raised his gaze, meeting the eyes of Nok Rim Daeje looking down upon him.
“That’s right. I felled him.”
“Gak-gak-gak-gak!”
Nok Rim Daeje laughed like a madman.
In concert with his laughter, his fighting spirit thrashed violently, and the very space around him began to warp.
A sight both wondrous and strange.
Yet neither Nok Rim Daeje, who conjured it, nor Cheon Hui, watching from mere paces away, showed the slightest reaction.
But as Nok Rim Daeje’s laughter persisted for a time and then abruptly ceased—
Crack!
Both planted the True Stance simultaneously.
Nok Rim Daeje’s fist tore through the air, descending toward Cheon Hui’s face.
Cheon Hui twisted his body and drew his sword upward in a rising arc.
It all happened in an instant.
Fist and blade collided.
Boom!
The very earth trembled.
A tremendous shockwave erupted from their point of contact, rippling outward in all directions like a wave.
“What the—!”
“Ugh!”
“What is—!”
Hyeon Sang was swept away by the wave of force, tumbling through the air, while Nok Rim and his disciples who had been fighting at a distance staggered backward.

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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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