Heavenly Demon of the Huashan Sect - Chapter 278

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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 278
Heuk Ya Cha’s hand trembled ever so slightly.
Bewilderment had seized him.
Even when Mujeong Do Gaek, Seong Hui Na Chalsai, and Chwi Ryeon had fallen, even when Myeol Cheon Hwa had been cornered—it had never been like this.
And the tremor in his hand, pressed against Cheon Hui’s, was something Cheon Hui could feel perfectly well.
‘So it seems I was right.’
Cheon Hui’s eyes narrowed.
‘Yet that’s strange. They should have all been dead.’
In that instant, he recalled his past life.
The time when he had just become the Sect Master of the Tianma Divine Sect.
In those days, Cheon Hui had been a force that shook the entire Tianma Divine Sect.
‘To be precise, I had many enemies.’
Remembering that era, his brow furrowed of its own accord.
It was in his past life—as Dok Go Gu Yeon—that he had been named Vice Sect Master out of nowhere, and then ascended to the position of Sect Master in less than five years.
Perhaps it was because he had accomplished something unprecedented in the long history of the Tianma Divine Sect.
Within the Tianma Divine Sect, there were many who disapproved of his rise to Sect Master.
Among them, the one who led the charge in voicing discontent was none other than one of the Five Great Clans.
The Cheonbong Hang Clan.
They had made their displeasure abundantly clear regarding Dok Go Gu Yeon’s ascension to Sect Master.
And he, in those days, was not the forgiving sort.
He had gone directly to the Cheonbong Hang Clan.
And.
‘I utterly annihilated them.’
The Cheonbong Hang Clan vanished that day.
The people, the grounds, everything.
He had completely laid waste to them as both a warning and an example to those who would disapprove of his rise to Sect Master.
And that choice had proven to be excellent.
After that day, not a single soul in the Tianma Divine Sect dared express dissatisfaction with Dok Go Gu Yeon’s ascension.
How could they?
He was the one who had single-handedly destroyed the entire Cheonbong Hang Clan, one of the Five Great Clans.
Rather, from that day onward, he was revered and upheld within the Tianma Divine Sect as a new Heavenly Demon.
‘I crushed them so thoroughly that not a single blade of grass remained, yet a survivor exists.’
Cheon Hui regarded Heuk Ya Cha with cold, penetrating eyes.
Behind the mask, the bluish gleam in Heuk Ya Cha’s gaze wavered as if lost.
A tangled confusion of emotions was visible in that look.
Perhaps his mind was in turmoil.
Then.
Whoosh!
Heuk Ya Cha retreated.
And he fixed his gaze upon Cheon Hui.
『Who are you……?』
A transmission echoed, as though filtered through fog.
It came from Heuk Ya Cha.
『Me?』
Cheon Hui’s lips curved upward at the transmission filled with doubt.
『Cheon Hui.』
In that instant, Heuk Ya Cha’s Hyeolhyang swelled.
He had taken it as mockery.
Simultaneously, a murky force began to emanate in threads from around him.
Soon that terrible power coalesced once more around Heuk Ya Cha as its center, warping the air itself as it slowly wrapped around him.
A strange harmony that unfolded in an instant.
Presently, opaque energy layered itself atop his black Hyeolhyang, billowing forth.
It looked as though he had donned a long robe.
It was the Guihun Matugap.
Cheon Hui, who had been regarding that form with a fixed gaze, let a transmission slip forth.
『You’ve decided not to hide anymore? Or perhaps you still are hiding—after all, you haven’t stirred up Demonic Energy. You’re still trying to conceal yourself, aren’t you?』
No answer came in return.
Instead, the Guihun Matugap rippled.
At the same moment, a wave began to emanate from his feet, which looked as firm as roots.
The wave, spreading like ripples across a still pond, had begun radiating outward from him as its center, and by the time it swept across the entire Estate Grounds.
Boom!
Heuk Ya Cha stamped his right foot against the ground.
The gentle tremor suddenly erupted into a violent wave that crashed across the Estate Grounds.
And then.
Whoosh!
Heuk Ya Cha’s form shot forward.
His shadow stretched impossibly long, like a pillar driving straight ahead.
In the next breath, he swept both sleeves wide open.
The fabric fluttered as his hands—fashioned from pure black essence—burst forth like projectiles, radiating a chilling aura.
‘……I don’t know this technique.’
Cheon Hui’s eyes blazed with intensity.
His left hand moved in response.
The gesture was swift as lightning.
His left hand, moving as if the intermediate steps had vanished entirely, pierced through the Guihun Matugap surrounding Heuk Ya Cha and seized his wrist.
Faster than conscious thought could follow.
“So that’s what it was.”
Cheon Hui spoke in a whisper barely audible to Heuk Ya Cha alone, then yanked hard on the wrist he held.
“……!”
Heuk Ya Cha’s eyes widened in shock.
He desperately unfurled the Man Geun Chu, trying to resist being pulled forward.
“Pointless.”
He had no choice but to be dragged helplessly into Cheon Hui’s grip.
It was a force beyond resistance.
Cheon Hui then hoisted his right leg up and drove it straight into Heuk Ya Cha’s body.
Crack!
The sound rang out like a drum bursting.
In that instant, Heuk Ya Cha’s body rocketed backward like an arrow, tearing through the ruined walls.
As if a flaming projectile had been hurled through the air.
Then, belatedly.
Crash!
The sound of splintering wood rang out, and smoke billowed into view.
At a glance, the distance was roughly fifty paces.
Those around the grounds gasped in shock as they realized Heuk Ya Cha had been sent flying that far with a single kick.
In that moment.
“Soju!”
“Soju!”
Chwi Ryeon, cradling her shoulder, and Yeo Un Yak, bearing an internal injury, rushed forward desperately.
Myeol Jeol Dae flinched at their movement.
For an instant, he couldn’t decide whether to pursue.
“I’ll go after him, so Myeol Jeol Dae—handle the aftermath.”
Just then, Cheon Hui’s voice rang out.
Without sparing Myeol Jeol Dae a glance, Cheon Hui gazed intently at the murky dust rising in the distance, then pushed off lightly with his feet.
In that instant.
Whoosh!
His form vanished.
As if he were nothing but a phantom.
“…….”
A silence deeper than before descended upon the Estate Grounds.
Even though Cheon Hui and Heuk Ya Cha’s group had disappeared, those who remained stood as if still caught in a dream, unable to fully awaken.
Myeol Jeol Dae. The warriors of the Hyeol Woo Geom Clan.
They couldn’t regain their senses, having just witnessed a battle between masters they’d only heard of in rumor.
“What in the world just happened?”
Someone’s small whisper echoed through the garden, speaking for them all.
Tap!
Meanwhile, as Cheon Hui deployed his An Hyang Pyo, he caught Yeo Un Yak, who had been running ahead, by the nape of her neck and hurled her down.
“You……!”
Yeo Un Yak’s face twisted in fury.
Despite her internal injuries, she had desperately pushed herself to gather her Internal Force.
“You’re not needed.”
Cheon Hui, now standing above her, brought his foot down hard.
“Ugh!”
Yeo Un Yak’s body plummeted straight down and struck the earth.
Crash!
Centered on where her falling form hit, fissures spider-webbed across the ground, and a shockwave tore through the air.
‘A creature like that……’
Sweat traced down Chwi Ryeon’s forehead.
Even as she pushed the Sasa Yeong Gyeol to its limit and rushed toward Heuk Ya Cha, her eyes remained fixed on the scene behind her.
Terror rippled through her gaze.
She had faced countless deaths and skilled masters in her time, yet Cheon Hui was something beyond classification.
Then.
“You’re not going alone.”
Chwi Ryeon’s head snapped sideways at the voice that brushed against her ear.
There stood Cheon Hui.
‘When—!’
She moved her single arm urgently.
Her sleeve fluttered in response.
Ping!
A sharp projectile whistled through the air.
Cheon Hui watched the Amgi streak directly toward his eyes and raised his left hand.
Snap.
Caught between two fingers, the projectile hung motionless.
“……!”
As Chwi Ryeon’s shock fully crystallized at the effortless interception,
“If you’re going to throw a projectile, you should throw it like this.”
Cheon Hui channeled Internal Force into the Amgi pinched between his fingers and released it in a single fluid motion.
Flying Thunder Blade.
The projectile, infused with colliding Internal Force, tore through the air like lightning itself, finding her pressure point.
In that same instant, consciousness fled Chwi Ryeon’s body. She tumbled forward mid-stride and rolled into the dirt.
Looking down at her for a moment,
“Then.”
Cheon Hui turned his head toward somewhere and immediately deployed the An Hyang Pyo at its extreme.
* * *
“Kgh……”
Heuk Ya Cha, slammed against a massive boulder, barely managed to push himself upright.
‘What in the name of—?’
His mind was reeling.
He had known that Maehwa Divine Cooperator possessed great skill, but the realm he faced directly diverged sharply from what he had anticipated.
That alone was not all.
He had recognized the Guihun Majing.
That absolute Demonic Realm that, save for himself and his master—no.
Save for his grandfather, no one in All Under Heaven was supposed to know.
‘I was told Maehwa Divine Cooperator was a Daoist of the Huashan Sect, but how……’
Heuk Ya Cha bit his lower lip.
He bit hard enough that the taste of blood filled his mouth.
Then.
“You coming to your senses?”
A soft voice reached his ears.
“Kgh.”
Heuk Ya Cha started and tried to rise, only to be arrested by a wave of pain.
“So Maggyo has returned, after all.”
He spoke quietly, his tone laced with self-mockery.
“What……?”
Cheon Hui’s eyes widened.
‘Wait? He called the Tianma Divine Sect Maggyo?’
Maggyo was the derisive term used in Zhongyuan to refer to the Tianma Divine Sect.
Most practitioners of the Demonic Arts would have a fit upon hearing the word, yet this man had called them that himself.
‘So he has no connection to the Shin Gyo.’
Cheon Hui studied him quietly, then answered.
“That’s not it.”
“……Your life’s already forfeit. Why bother lying at the end.”
“Nonsense.”
Cheon Hui cut him off short.
“You know me well enough, don’t you? Why would I care about such things?”
Just as Cheon Hui said, Heuk Ya Cha had already gathered and absorbed information about the Maehwa Divine Cooperator in more than sufficient quantity.
Seeing Heuk Ya Cha fall silent, Cheon Hui smiled broadly and spoke again.
“See? I knew you understood.”
……
“Rather than that, I’d like to hear your answer to the question I asked earlier.”
Cheon Hui slowly opened his eyes to slits.
Soft Internal Force gathered in his pitch-black pupils, drawing Heuk Ya Cha into their depths.
A bottomless prison.
As Heuk Ya Cha met those eyes, he felt as though trapped in an endless hell, and his breath caught short.
Then Cheon Hui’s lips moved again.
“You’re a member of the Cheonbong Hang Clan, aren’t you?”
……!
The pupils behind the mask trembled.
It was as though the earth itself had shaken.
Witnessing this reaction, Cheon Hui spoke with certainty.
“So there was a survivor even amid all that chaos.”
Heuk Ya Cha couldn’t utter a word.
It was as if Cheon Hui knew the very past that Heuk Ya Cha himself carried.
“But it troubles me, you see. From what I know, there should be no way to master the Guihun Majing without Demonic Energy…….”
Cheon Hui stroked his chin, studying Heuk Ya Cha intently.
The Guihun Majing was a reverse-order martial art that defied the laws of nature itself.
Only Demonic Energy could sustain such a cultivation.
But the man before him was different.
He concealed his Demonic Energy thoroughly and instead exhaled something else—Sagi, the aura of the righteous.
“Did you transform the Guihun Majing?”
At those words, Heuk Ya Cha’s eyes wavered.
The faintest of tremors.
But Cheon Hui saw it all.
“Remarkable. Who did this? Judging by how you’ve covered yourself entirely, you couldn’t have devised the method yourself.”
Cheon Hui examined Heuk Ya Cha with meticulous care.
From his fully concealed appearance, one could gauge the extent of his realm.
‘He hasn’t mastered it properly yet, so he’s forced to hide like this.’
Those who had learned the Guihun Majing without reaching the Geuk Ma realm before achieving mastery all bore unmistakable marks.
Swollen meridians and pressure points.
A reverse-order martial art that defied natural law twisted the body that existed under nature’s order, revealing its deformity.
Because of this, there was once a time when those in Zhongyuan who mastered the Guihun Majing were called the Hyeolmyeon Gwi—Bloodface Demons—and were feared.
“What was the Sa Hyuk Ryeon leader trying to accomplish? Or perhaps over long years of iteration…….”
As Cheon Hui murmured his various conjectures, a flicker of anticipation crossed his eyes.
‘Perhaps the current Sa Hyuk Ryeon leader didn’t do this……’
The Guihun Majing was a supreme Demonic Art.
But transforming it meant reaching the realm of Martial Prowess as Grand Master.
In other words, it signified an absolute expert.
“Well, I’ll think about the details later. For now…….”
Cheon Hui drew out his words slowly.
“What should I do with you?”
His gaze pierced through Heuk Ya Cha entirely.
Heuk Ya Cha’s eyes darkened.
Standing before him was the ferryman of the dead.
One who held his life in the palm of his hand.
‘Is this the end?’
Just as he was about to accept the inevitable death before him, Cheon Hui was, in fact, troubled in thought.
Normally, it would have been wise to kill him to prevent future troubles.
‘I feel a bit regretful, to be honest.’
Memories of his past life surfaced.
Though there was necessity in being decisive and thorough as a deterrent, now in retrospect, there had been moments of excess.
‘Tch, the Faction Destruction was rather severe.’
Cheon Hui scratched his head.
No matter how much the Cheonbong Hang Clan showed their displeasure at his ascension to sect master, when he thought about it plainly, he could understand their position.
The Cheonbong Hang Clan was an old house that had long revered the Heavenly Demon, and their history was anything but short.
For someone who had appeared out of nowhere not long ago to be appointed sect master—naturally, they would have been dissatisfied.
‘Should I let them live?’
Cheon Hui withdrew his gaze from Heuk Ya Cha.
‘It’s curious how the Cheonbong Hang Clan has maintained their lineage as a rogue faction in Zhongyuan.’
Cheon Hui found himself intrigued by this situation.
The Cheonbong Hang Clan was known to have suffered Faction Destruction.
Yet they had preserved their bloodline—how could he not feel curiosity stirring?
He sheathed his sword and turned on his heel.
“Go back and tell them.”
Cheon Hui spoke as though delivering an edict.
“I’ll come looking for them myself, later.”

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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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