Heavenly Demon of the Huashan Sect - Chapter 255

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 255
All eyes converged on the Open Ground.
More precisely, on Cheon Hui and Jong Hyeon, who stood facing each other in the center of it.
The Alliance members especially could not tear their gaze from Cheon Hui, who held his scabbard.
None other than the Plum Blossom Divine Art master.
An unparalleled talent born of Huashan.
The great hero who had saved Shenxi from the claws of the sects and defeated Nok Lim Dae Je himself.
His renown had by now transcended the bounds of the Later Generation Master designation, placing him shoulder to shoulder with masters whose names were known throughout All Under Heaven.
“To witness the martial prowess of the Plum Blossom Divine Art master with our own eyes.”
“At that age—could he truly possess such martial power?”
“We’ll know once we see it.”
Now that they stood on the verge of witnessing Cheon Hui’s martial prowess firsthand, the Alliance members felt their hearts quicken with anticipation.
As expectation kindled a gleam in their eyes brighter than ever before—
Whoosh.
Jong Hyeon drew his blade with crisp precision, settling into the upper stance.
His small frame matched his modest sword, slightly shorter than a standard blade.
By appearance alone, one might have called him diminutive, yet his bearing was anything but ordinary.
Hyeon Do, who had been observing, let out an exclamation.
“To think he already commands the Hyeon Cheon Geon Gang Gi at such a tender age.”
The Hyeon Cheon Geon Gang Gi was widely known to be a difficult technique to master properly—indeed, Ha U Jin himself had not been able to command the energy correctly until he came of age.
Yet here was Jong Hyeon, at so young an age, manipulating the power with ease.
It was truly remarkable talent.
Hyeon Do, unable to contain his admiration, turned to Ha U Jin, who watched Jong Hyeon with tension etched across his features.
“Your disciple possesses exceptional aptitude.”
“Haha, that’s not so, senior.”
Yet Ha U Jin’s face broke into an undisguised grin, belying his words.
How could praise for one’s student not bring joy?
At that moment, Cheon Hui’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“His bearing has certainly changed.”
The aura and presence were entirely different from when he once flailed about recklessly.
Composed now, and weighty.
Like an ancient tree with roots driven deep into the earth.
‘His lower body has grown considerably stronger.’
Cheon Hui grasped at a glance what Jong Hyeon had focused his training upon, and with a flick of his index finger, he spoke.
“Come at me.”
Those unfamiliar with Cheon Hui gasped in surprise at what could have been taken for rudeness.
None had expected the one called the great hero, the Plum Blossom Divine Art master, to gesture in such a manner.
Jong Hyeon, by contrast, felt not offense but a stirring of recognition.
It was the same gesture from their first meeting, was it not?
‘He wants to see how I’ve changed.’
Jong Hyeon’s gaze deepened immeasurably.
The same action as their first sparring match.
It could mean nothing other than a desire to witness how much he had grown.
Exhale.
Jong Hyeon held Cheon Hui’s gaze and slowly expelled the breath he had drawn deep into his lungs.
Then the Hyeon Cheon Geon Gang Gi began to circulate.
The flow of inner force, beginning in the Lower Dantian, passed through his lungs and chest, swept across his shoulders, and surged through his entire frame before settling into his feet.
‘Heavy, fierce. And—’
With all preparations complete, Jong Hyeon channeled the inner power of the Hyeon Cheon Geon Gang Gi into the tips of his toes.
The earth beneath his feet began to compress and shift.
Gradually, ever so gradually, his leather shoes seemed to sink beneath the ground—
‘Swift!’
Burst!
Jong Hyeon’s body was launched forward.
Keeping his upper body low as he advanced, his blade descended so perilously close to the ground it seemed to scrape the very earth—
Swoosh!
Then cut upward in a single fluid motion.
A deployment of the Dae Cheon Gang Geom Beop, leveraging the recoil of the Buk Dou Cheon Gang Bo.
The Dae Cheon Gang Geom Beop of weight and ferocity.
The Buk Dou Cheon Gang Bo of speed.
The result of two martial arts combined manifested in Jong Hyeon’s hands.
‘Ah.’
Cheon Hui watched the sword light surge upward through the dust of the ground, a faint smile playing at his lips.
‘His Speed Technique has improved somewhat.’
Jong Hyeon had two problems.
Speed Technique and swordsmanship.
Of the two, his Speed Technique seemed to have at last climbed to a passable level.
‘As for his swordwork, I’m still uncertain.’
Even as Cheon Hui reflected, the sword light continued to press forward relentlessly. He watched only for a moment.
Whoosh—
Cheon Hui turned his body to the side and slipped past the blade.
A heavy gust followed belatedly, sending his Sect Robe fluttering upward.
Cheon Hui glimpsed the sword light that had grazed before his eyes, then lowered his gaze.
Toward Jong Hyeon, who stared stupidly at the sword cutting through empty air, Cheon Hui let out a knowing laugh.
“You can’t space out like that.”
With the words, Cheon Hui flicked his middle finger against Jong Hyeon’s forehead—the boy who had lost all focus.
Snap!
“Ow!”
Jong Hyeon cradled his forehead in pain.
“You’re not done already, are you?”
At Cheon Hui’s words, Jong Hyeon stopped rubbing his forehead and, his face trembling, raised the sword he had let droop.
“No, not yet!”
Jong Hyeon gripped the sword tightly and shouted.
At the same time, he drew upon his Hyeon Cheon Geon Gang Gi.
Swoosh—
White smoke bloomed from the blade.
“Sword Qi?!”
“At such a young age!”
Gasps rippled through the crowd.
It was so faint that one could not see it without focusing intently, but it was unmistakably Sword Qi.
“He’s reached the First-Class Realm before even turning ten?”
“When did he acquire such cultivation…”
The Alliance Guard members clicked their tongues in astonishment.
During the sparring match, only Cheon Hui had paid attention; who would have noticed the young Jong Hyeon?
They had merely assumed that as the student of the Plum Blossom Swordsman Ha U Jin, he possessed some degree of talent.
Yet his present skill was far too exceptional to dismiss as merely that of a promising younger generation.
For now his brilliance paled beside Cheon Hui before him, but in time he would make a great name for himself in the Gangho.
Then Jong Hyeon rushed forward again.
“Haah!”
With a forceful shout, Jong Hyeon unleashed a barrage of martial arts against Cheon Hui.
Beginning with the Great Heaven River Sword Technique, followed by the Cheon Ha Sam Sip Yuk Geom, the Cheon Seong Geom, and various other sword arts, not to mention techniques like the Hoe Sim Toe and countless other disciplines.
Jong Hyeon displayed every martial art he had learned from Ha U Jin without exception.
Whoosh—
Yet Cheon Hui merely danced his feet and evaded them all.
And whenever Jong Hyeon showed an opening, he flicked him on the forehead.
“Ow!”
Jong Hyeon’s forehead grew redder and redder.
The pain had long since passed throbbing and approached something that might split his skin, yet Jong Hyeon only faltered before swinging his sword again.
‘…So the rumors weren’t exaggerated after all.’
Chu Gye Gwang murmured inwardly, his eyes fixed on Cheon Hui’s feet.
Since the sparring began, his left foot had not moved a single step, rooted like the gnarled roots of an ancient tree.
It meant he was evading all those attacks with only his right foot and upper body in motion.
Chu Gye Gwang’s gaze grew darker.
‘Could I ever manage such a thing?’
An answer to the question did not come readily.
Subduing or even felling Jong Hyeon would be possible at any moment.
But evading like this while merely flicking him on the forehead was an entirely different matter.
It required not only reading the opponent’s movements but also superior Speed Technique and exquisite control of Internal Force.
‘I wish to exchange blades with him once.’
The thought arose unbidden.
It was the blood of a martial artist coursing through his veins at the sight of such a formidable opponent.
But.
‘What a shame that it cannot be.’
He swallowed hard, suppressing the urge.
Cheon Hui was now an honored guest invited by the commander.
How could he make such a request?
Meanwhile, the escort members were in turmoil.
Jong Hyeon’s martial arts display was remarkable enough, but it was Cheon Hui’s movements—far more astounding still—that captured their eyes without conscious thought.
“Not only does he evade that sword strike, but he seizes the initiative afterward?!”
“Is such a thing even possible?”
They were escort members for good reason.
Each of them had reached the First-Class Realm and was a skilled master, so they could grasp, at least dimly, how impossible what was happening before them truly was.
“……Can he really deflect it like that?”
“So this is the Plum Blossom Divine Art.”
The escort members watching Cheon Hui spar gazed at him with admiration in their eyes.
In truth, it was not only now.
From the moment they first saw Cheon Hui, admiration had been etched in their eyes.
For a long time, the Kangho had been controlled by the hands of older masters.
This was hardly surprising—the long era of peace built by the Guzhou Three Powerhouses had left young martial artists with scarcely any opportunity to distinguish themselves.
Yet with Cheon Hui’s appearance, the very landscape of the Kangho had been overturned.
A Later Generation Master not yet thirty had driven out the Sapa in Shenxi and brought down the Nok Lim Dae Je—had he not?
In such circumstances, any young martial artist could do nothing but shower Cheon Hui with acclaim.
For he was the figure who could transform this stagnant, frozen era of peace.
Meanwhile, Jong Hyeon gasped for breath.
“Huff, huff.”
Perhaps it was the tension.
Though they had only exchanged blows dozens of times in mere seconds, exhaustion crashed down upon him quickly.
Seeing Jong Hyeon thus, Cheon Hui let out a quiet laugh.
“You’re worn out, I see. Then……”
Murmuring as he watched the sword blade slash past his face, Cheon Hui raised his index finger and gently flicked the incoming blade.
Ding!
Though the movement was light, the sword reverberated violently, and Jong Hyeon, receiving the full brunt of the impact, inhaled sharply.
“Ugh!”
Just as Jong Hyeon’s face contorted.
“Rest.”
Cheon Hui’s calm voice pierced Jong Hyeon’s ear like a thorn.
Startled, Jong Hyeon looked up.
In that instant, Cheon Hui’s impassive gaze seized his vision.
For a moment.
Smack!
A sharp pain exploded across Jong Hyeon’s forehead, and his consciousness simply cut out.
Ha U Jin appeared at once.
“He’ll have quite the bruise.”
Ha U Jin, supporting Jong Hyeon as he collapsed, laughed at the sight of his forehead flushed red. Once he had properly secured Jong Hyeon in his arms, Ha U Jin turned to Cheon Hui.
“How was he?”
“Better than before.”
“That’s a relief.”
It was a simple answer, but Ha U Jin smiled.
That reply alone was sufficient.
“Hmm?”
Just then, Cheon Hui turned his head.
Feeling the weight of gazes upon him, Cheon Hui scratched his head and quickly shifted his position.
They’re staring holes through me.
Even as he made his way toward the sleeping quarters, he felt their eyes following, and upon arriving at his spot, Cheon Hui dropped heavily to the ground.
“Are you going to rest now?”
At Hyeon Do’s question, which came unbidden, Cheon Hui nodded.
“Yes, I should sleep now.”
The night passed in this way, and the next morning arrived.
“Here it is! Great Master!”
Cheon Hui replied with unusual volume to a simple request, eyeing the escort member quizzically as he handed over the bowl.
But that was far from all.
Every Alliance member nearby was watching him with eyes bright as stars.
Their gaze was unfamiliar, almost foreign.
“What’s wrong with them?”
Cheon Hui asked Hyeon Do.
“Ha, take it as a show of goodwill.”
Hyeon Do chuckled in response.
“……Hmm, doesn’t feel particularly good.”
As Cheon Hui frowned, he noticed something else.
“Ow.”
Jong Hyeon let out a soft whimper, tears brimming at his eyes, as he applied Wound Healing Medicine to his forehead.
“Ha, bear with it.”
At Ha U Jin’s curt words, laced with amusement, Jong Hyeon thrust out his lower lip.
In this way, a brief moment passed in preparation.
“Then we shall depart.”
With those words from Chu Gye Gwang, who seized the horse’s bridle, their journey resumed once more.
* * *
“A Murim Great Conference……”
Seol Geom, Vice Commander of the Murim Alliance, stared at the countless papers stacked high upon his desk, his brow furrowing sharply.
“What’s the angle?”
The strategist who had remained motionless in the shadows for so long had suddenly stirred, and it left his mind in turmoil.
“It’s too much for mere revenge against the Huashan Sect. And it’s clear he doesn’t want war with Sa Hyuk Ryeon either.”
This was a man who, no matter what came to pass, had always prioritized the safety and balance of the Murim Alliance.
Yet now, for something this trivial, he would risk the very existence of the Alliance itself? It made no sense.
“Could it be that he’s… realized something?”
Seol Geom’s brow deepened as the thought took shape.
“Tsk tsk, and what troubles weigh so heavily on our Vice Commander?”
A voice laden with mockery drifted down from above.
“When did you arrive? Heuk O.”
“Just now.”
“Lying without even the courtesy of spittle.”
Seol Geom’s voice turned glacial. He seized the fan weapon resting on his desk and hurled it upward in one smooth motion.
Crack!
The fan weapon pierced the roof.
“Temperamental as ever.”
With a soft voice, the fan weapon sank back into the roof from the inside. Through the small hole it had made, a pair of serpentine, unsettling eyes appeared.
Seol Geom, fixing those eyes with his gaze, let out a cold snort and opened his mouth.
“Do I look calm to you now?”
“Mm, fair point.”
The eyes in the hole disappeared, and now the voice came from the side.
“But this is an opportunity, is it not?”
With Heuk O’s words—sharp now, the mockery gone—Seol Geom’s eyes darkened.
“I know without you telling me.”
The corner of Seol Geom’s mouth curved upward.
“And if we play this opportunity right, who knows? We might even manage to drive those two eyesores out of the Alliance.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————