Heavenly Demon of the Huashan Sect - Chapter 247
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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 247
Upon reaching the Battlefield, Cheon Hui gently set down the Sect Master, whom he had been carrying.
Then he calmly surveyed the situation.
On all sides, disciples of the Huashan Sect clashed with Nok Lim fighters in desperate combat.
“Let me see how their training has progressed, shall I.”
Cheon Hui, observing the battlefield, turned his gaze toward the Bi Geom Dan, who were deploying the Bi Geom Formation.
Thump!
Jeok Geom’s sword pierced through the shoulder of a Nok Lim fighter who had been stalking him from behind, scattering blood.
“Gasp! How did you sense the ambush…?”
“Because I felt the discordance in the air.”
To the startled Nok Lim fighter’s involuntary question, Jeok Geom replied with measured composure.
“…Discordance?”
Seeing the man furrow his brow in confusion, Jeok Geom smiled faintly.
Slash—
In the same breath, he cleanly severed the chest of the man attempting to retreat, and withdrew.
The same spot as before.
And that spot was none other than the heart of the Bi Geom Formation now unfolding.
‘It feels as though my senses have spread across everything around me.’
Jeok Geom felt as if he were floating.
He sensed all that surrounded him.
Emotion, momentum, even the five senses.
And he was not alone in experiencing this.
On the lips of every member of the Bi Geom Dan appeared the same smile as Jeok Geom’s own.
“Excellent—you’ve trained quite diligently. At this level, there’s nothing more to refine about the Bi Geom Formation.”
Having offered his praise, Cheon Hui naturally shifted his attention toward the Hwa Ryeong Dan.
Clash! Clash!
The Hwa Ryeong Dan, too, were holding their own against the Nok Lim fighters without yielding.
“…Please move the wounded to the rear.”
Seol Ran’s eyes grew infinitely deeper.
The metallic stench of blood continued to tickle her nose, and cries of pain pierced her ears without respite.
Some had surely sustained mortal wounds.
“Everyone must survive.”
At Seol Ran’s words, the Mu Hwa Dan members nodded and embraced the wounded.
Soon Seol Ran stepped into the root of Yin and Yang, while the remaining members marked the Four Directions and the Eight Trigrams.
The Mu Hwa Sword Formation.
Through the combined formation wrought of absolute defensive patterns, the entire area transformed in an instant into a wall of iron.
“We prioritize rescue.”
At Seol Ran’s words, the Mu Hwa Dan members gripped their swords and answered in loud voices.
“Understood!”
A bit regrettable, but this would suffice.
Cheon Hui nodded.
Though a few aspects still left something to be desired, it was acceptable all the same.
‘We can refine it further through training later.’
He shifted his gaze to the side.
While the Mu Hwa Dan prioritized protecting the wounded, the Hwa Ryeong Dan right beside them were raging against the Nok Lim fighters.
“Drive them back!”
Led by Cheon Hyang, the Hwa Ryeong Dan pushed relentlessly forward against the Nok Lim fighters.
‘Compared to the Black Shadow Guard, this is nothing!’
‘After what we endured then, this is trivial!’
Perhaps it was because they had fought a desperate battle against the Black Shadow Guard, the elite of Sa Hyuk Ryeon, facing death itself.
They had gained the upper hand against the Nok Lim fighters.
Assassins, ambushes—none of it fazed them.
Slash!
Cheon Hyang’s sword, wielding the Jade Ring Wonderful Step, cleanly severed the chest of the charging Nok Lim fighter.
Brilliant and fierce—her blade.
Witnessing her Maehwa Sword Technique, which displayed the very swordsmanship of Huashan as known throughout the world, the Nok Lim fighters instinctively recoiled.
“Damn it!”
“How can they be this strong?!”
Faced with the sudden turn of events, the Nok Lim fighters visibly panicked.
Their expressions, confident mere moments before, had shifted anxiously.
The Huashan Sect disciples were being overwhelmed, emboldened by the entry of Hyeon Yang and Hyeon Heo alongside the prowess of the Mu Hwa Dan, who had begun to seize the momentum.
“Now they’re finally making good use of the Combined Formation’s advantages. Their movements are considerably lighter than before—the training is bearing fruit.”
Cheon Hui rested his chin on his hand, murmuring to himself.
“Though their individual strength still needs work.”
Cheon Hui, who had been observing the field, quietly palmed a stone projectile and flicked it with his index finger.
Crack!
In an instant, the stone shot through the air and struck the Blade Body of a Nok Lim assassin who had been targeting a Mu Hwa Dan disciple from behind.
“What in—!”
The Nok Lim assassin’s body trembled from the sudden, vicious impact on his Blade Body.
A single heartbeat’s opening.
The Mu Hwa Dan disciple nearby seized the moment without hesitation, cutting down the Nok Lim assassin.
‘Why suddenly…?’
The Mu Hwa Dan disciple was momentarily confused by the Nok Lim assassin’s abrupt loss of momentum, but he quickly pushed the thought aside.
Now was not the time for such distractions.
As the Mu Hwa Dan disciple refocused his assault on the Nok Lim assassin.
Whoosh—
Cheon Hui scooped up a handful of stone projectiles. With narrowed eyes surveying the battlefield, he continued to release them in rapid succession.
“No matter how much this is a real battle, we cannot afford to lose even one.”
* * *
“…Has the outcome been decided?”
Hyeon Yang glanced cautiously behind him.
The place where, mere moments ago, the world seemed to be tearing itself asunder with deafening booms and shockwaves was now eerily quiet.
The meaning was singular.
Someone had fallen.
He looked toward that place, but could discern no way to tell who had collapsed.
The distance was too great, and silence was all that remained.
Several others nearby glanced back as well, but they too had no means of knowing the outcome.
‘Who has fallen?’
Anxiety and hope took root simultaneously.
The two contradictory emotions tangled together, igniting a fire within his chest.
Would it be Nok Lim Dae Je, or Cheon Hui?
Or perhaps both?
The victor of that duel would determine the outcome of the entire war.
Then it came.
Screee!
The sound of wind being torn asunder.
Hyeon Yang spun around urgently and caught sight of something slicing through the air toward him.
‘A Chained Sword?!’
Startled, Hyeon Yang whirled his blade, narrowly batting away the Chained Sword.
Clang!
The Chained Sword, rippling through the void along with its chain, was suddenly pulled back, returning swiftly to Hyeongmun Salgyui’s grip.
“A pity. That would have been the perfect moment to sever your neck.”
Hyeongmun Salgyui caught the Chained Sword lightly, his eyes gleaming with killing intent.
Unlike the others, he was not watching where the intense battle raged.
Indeed, he seemed to have no interest in looking at all.
For he possessed absolute faith in Nok Lim Dae Je—unwavering trust.
‘The Supreme Master cannot lose.’
Nok Lim Dae Je was his god, his absolute authority.
Defeat could not exist.
Hyeongmun Salgyui spun the Chained Sword in circles.
‘To doubt Cheon Hui, of all people.’
Watching Hyeongmun Salgyui’s eyes, which held not a trace of wavering, Hyeon Yang cursed inwardly and gripped his Left-Handed Sword more firmly.
That man held such unshakeable faith in Nok Lim Dae Je, yet here he was, unable to muster the same confidence in Cheon Hui.
Hyeon Yang steadied his resolve and drew forth his Internal Force. The Maehwa Internal Cultivation, which had been with him continuously since joining Huashan, responded as though it had been waiting for this very moment.
“Come.”
With those words, he raised his Left-Handed Sword.
The blade, held perfectly straight, pointed directly at Hyeongmun Salgyui, who continued to spin the Chained Sword.
“You must have a death wish.”
Hyeongmun Salgyui, muttering darkly, released the Chained Sword he had been spinning in circles.
Whoooosh—
The Chained Sword shot forth like an arrow.
Hyeon Yang swept his blade upward, meeting the incoming Chained Sword amid a cloud of dust.
A line of light—perfectly straight.
But unlike an ordinary sword strike, the Left-Handed Sword’s nature meant it carved from right to left.
Hyeongmun Salgyui’s eyebrows twitched as he felt Hyeon Yang’s blade meet his own.
‘Something feels… strange.’
It was nothing but a reversal of left and right.
Yet with every footfall, every breath, every motion mirrored in that left-right inversion, an uncanny dissonance seized his eye.
Then, in that instant—
Whoosh—
the straight line wavered ever so slightly, and Maehwa blossoms began to bloom.
As if the blade itself had become a sapling, the flowers unfurled in its wake.
A truly beautiful sight.
Beautiful enough to steal anyone’s breath.
Hyeongmun Salgyui drew upon his Inner Force.
Watching the Maehwa blossoms multiply, he poured his Internal Energy into the chain.
Crash!
The chain, which had been writhing like a serpent, snapped taut, and from the Chained Sword rose a sharp Blade Aura.
A fierce, matchless force.
The sickle-curved Chained Sword traced a great arc, like the fangs of a tiger that had scented prey, lunging for Hyeon Yang’s throat.
Ho A Sal Do.
Hyeongmun Salgyui unleashed the Blade Technique that had made him master of Hyeongmun Peak—with all his might.
Then the Sword Flower and Chained Sword collided.
Crash-crash-crash-crash!
A violent explosion rocked the air.
The Ho A Sal Do could not pierce through the trajectory of Hyeon Yang’s extended blade; it simply froze in place.
Through the chain, Hyeongmun Salgyui felt a powerful True Energy, and his eyes sharpened.
“…You’re better than I thought.”
With those words, he twisted his wrist.
The taut chain suddenly writhed, coiling and undulating like waves.
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh—
In a heartbeat, the Chained Sword’s trajectory fractured into chaos, then split into dozens of trajectories.
Hyeon Yang’s eyes deepened.
Dozens of Chained Swords, wreathed in Blade Aura, crashed down like a tempest.
At last, wounds began to appear on Hyeon Yang’s body.
His Sect Robe was shredded to tatters, and blood seeped through the exposed patches of skin.
Yet his eyes did not waver in the slightest.
Steady. Grave.
‘One strike.’
As the Chained Swords rained down upon him, Hyeon Yang stared into their storm and lifted the Left-Handed Sword higher.
‘Complete that one strike.’
A cold radiance kindled in his pupils.
At the same moment, his blade caught the wind, and crimson Maehwa blossoms enveloped the Chained Sword.
Screech! Screech!
Maehwa petals were sliced away, vanished, and returned again and again.
Yet the blade never ceased blooming anew, meeting the Chained Sword stroke for stroke.
‘What… is this?’
Hyeongmun Salgyui felt a jolt of alarm.
The Hwan Swae Sip Pal Sal, which followed the Ho A Sal Do, was a killing art beyond compare.
All save Nok Lim Dae Je had fallen to the Hwan Swae Sip Pal Sal.
‘How is he enduring it?’
Even as wounds multiplied across Hyeon Yang’s entire body, he still withstood the Hwan Swae Sip Pal Sal.
It was beyond belief.
If one asked whether he possessed exceptional Martial Prowess, the answer was plainly no.
He seemed, if anything, clumsy, untrained.
‘He should be dead already!’
It was then that Hyeongmun Salgyui’s bewilderment erupted into something else.
Crack—
Weight bore down upon Hyeon Yang’s extended right foot, and the earth beneath it split open with a sharp sound.
And then—
A piercing shriek!
Blossoms bloomed in empty air along the blade’s arc, mingling with the gentle wind before drifting away.
Nan Hwa Poongyoo Geom.
The swift strike and circling blade unfurled with the left hand, manifesting as swirling flowers and flowing grace.
‘……!’
Hyeongmun Salgyui’s eyes snapped wide.
The iron chain had slipped beyond his control in the rushing wind, thrashing wildly now.
‘Dare you defy my command……!’
Hyeongmun Salgyui ground his teeth and swung his right forearm in rough, powerful arcs to wrap the chain around himself.
Crack-crack!
Muscle and bone screamed under the crushing pressure of the tightening chain, yet Hyeongmun Salgyui did not yield.
Instead, he poured his inner power into a massive swing toward the wind that pressed against him.
The air exploded with a deafening boom!
The very air tore open.
In that same instant, Hyeon Yang flew backward without his blade, rolling across the ground.
“Master!”
Hyeon Heo, who had been cutting through Nok Lim fighters, urgently kicked off the earth and rushed over to steady him.
“Cough.”
Hyeon Yang spat blood.
Fortunately, it seemed no severe internal injury—only clean blood darkening his sect robe.
Meanwhile, Hyeongmun Salgyui’s condition was far from good.
His right arm, wound round and round with the iron chain, hung limp at his side.
Drip. Drip.
Blood dripped through the links of the chain.
Hyeongmun Salgyui moved his left hand, grasped the Chained Sword, and unwound the chain.
His right arm was ruined.
Blood streamed freely, and in several places the bones had snapped clean, leaving limbs twisted at unnatural angles.
“This cursed…….”
His brow darkened.
Nok Lim was on the brink of emergency now.
And yet such a crippling blow.
‘Dare you……!’
As he unleashed a wave of killing intent and switched the Chained Sword to his left hand, moving to advance on Hyeon Yang and Hyeon Heo.
“That’s enough.”
An unfamiliar voice cut through the chaos.
A young Daoist was walking slowly toward them.
“Cheon Hui!”
“Master!”
“Teacher!”
The moment the Daoist priests of Huashan unveiled themselves to greet Cheon Hui’s arrival.
‘Could it be the Supreme Master? That can’t be…….’
Hyeongmun Salgyui and the Nok Lim fighters were seized with shock.
“W-where is the Supreme Master?”
Cheon Hui gently set down the Sect Master he had been carrying beside him and opened his mouth.
“He ran away.”
“That’s absurd!”
Hyeongmun Salgyui cried out sharply.
The Nok Lim Dae Je he knew would sooner die in battle than flee.
“Believe it or not, I don’t care.”
Cheon Hui spoke with casual indifference as he reached for his blade, then paused.
“Ah, it’s broken.”
Cheon Hui lifted his hand—which had suddenly lost its purpose—and scratched his head sheepishly.
He couldn’t draw the Demon Sword here.
Well, no help for it.
After a moment’s thought, Cheon Hui took a step forward.
Whoosh!
Hyeongmun Salgyui’s pupils trembled.
The young Daoist, who had stood ten or more paces away, was now directly before him.
“Then, farewell.”
The instant he glimpsed that snow-white smile at the corner of the man’s mouth, his consciousness simply snapped away.
Cheon Hui knocked Hyeongmun Salgyui unconscious with a single stroke, then brushed off his hands.
He approached the bewildered Hyeon Heo and asked,
“May I examine the Sect Master’s condition?”
“……Very well.”
Hyeon Heo carefully handed over Hyeon Yang, whom he’d been cradling, to Cheon Hui.
Cheon Hui immediately felt for his pulse.
Reading the unstable flow of inner power coursing through the body, Cheon Hui nodded.
“It’s not as severe an internal injury as it could have been.”
“……Thank heavens.”
Hyeon Heo exhaled with relief.
He could trust Cheon Hui’s words.
Throughout Huashan, it was widely known that Cheon Hui possessed such exceptional talent in the healing arts that Shin Ui himself wished to teach him.
Cheon Hui soon rose to his feet.
Surveying the Nok Lim disciples, who had remained frozen like statues since his arrival, he loosened his hands with a light motion.
Crack-crack-crack—
“Well then, shall we finish this?”
“Gasp!”
“Gulp!”
The Nok Lim disciples sucked in their breath.
In the same instant, their eyes darted urgently from one to another, and they scattered in all directions at once.
They were fleeing.
“Hmm?”
Cheon Hui watched them flee, then channeled Internal Force into his feet and stomped down with precision.
The earth cracked with a sharp report, and in that moment, stones that had been lying on the ground lifted into the air.
His hand moved with blinding speed, and dozens of stone projectiles shot forth.
Crack! Thud! Crack!
“Ugh!”
“Argh!”
The Nok Lim disciples tumbled to the ground mid-stride.
Cheon Hui, smirking at the fallen Nok Lim disciples sprawled about him, chuckled softly.
“You think you can run like that wretch did?”
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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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