Heavenly Demon of the Huashan Sect - Chapter 288

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

Episode 288
“The leader of the Gwi Yeong Division…”
“This… what on earth…”
The relentless tide of Sa Hyuk Ryeon forces that had been driving the Ami Sect nuns backward faltered all at once.
By a single man.
It was an entrance no less than shocking.
Where Gwi Yeong Dae Ju had collapsed lifeless, leaving only blood and the scent of iron, there stood a solitary young Daoist in perfectly composed stillness.
A boy in black and crimson Sect Robes.
His youthful countenance made it hard to believe he had severed Gwi Yeong Dae Ju’s life thread with a single stroke of his blade.
Yet his bearing, his presence, was unlike any other.
“This boy… the Maehwa Divine Cooperation…”
The old man, Hyeol Yeong Dae Ju, let slip a low murmur.
The new star of Huashan Sect—no, of all Kangho.
The figure who now commanded more attention than anyone else in the present Kangho had just made his appearance.
“…”
Hyeol Yeong Dae Ju felt his mouth go dry.
He had never put much stock in the rumors of Maehwa Divine Cooperation that ran rife through Kangho.
A youth who had barely crossed his twenties making Nok Lim Dae Je—reputedly in the Heavenly Martial Realm ten years past—retreat? Who would believe such a thing?
Not a soul in this world.
But now he stood changed.
Had he not witnessed it with his own eyes just moments ago?
Gwi Yeong Dae Ju falling dead to a single blade.
Cold sweat poured from his entire frame.
‘There exists such a monster in this world…’
Beads of perspiration formed along his white-whiskered chin and dripped downward.
An entirely unforeseen danger had descended upon them.
His eyes darted rapidly—up, down, left, right—taking in his subordinates and the Gwi Yeong Division.
Their state was far from reassuring.
Their pupils were dilated as though gripped by panic, their tension visible as clearly as writing on paper.
The Ami Sect, meanwhile, was transformed.
“Young Cooperator!”
“Amitabha Buddha. You’ve come to aid us.”
The disciples of the Ami Sect stood in a state where relief and joy mingled at Cheon Hui’s dramatic arrival.
The situation had been dire to begin with.
Nearly half their disciples bore injuries that prevented them from continuing the fight.
And their own master, So Hye Sa Tae, had lost an arm in the struggle.
They had been spiraling toward catastrophe.
Yet Cheon Hui appeared at that very moment.
To the Orthodox Sect warriors gathered at Bok Ho Sa, he was no less than a savior.
The tide of the battlefield, which had been tilting toward Sa Hyuk Ryeon, began slowly to shift.
Kangho is a world where the strong reign supreme.
The shocking entrance of such a master as Maehwa Divine Cooperation was more than sufficient to shatter the morale of Sa Hyuk Ryeon forces that had held the advantage.
“There are still so many insignificant insects.”
Cheon Hui swept his gaze across the battlefield and spoke as though to himself.
An arrogant remark that grated on a warrior’s pride.
Yet not a single one of Sa Hyuk Ryeon’s fighters, including Hyeol Yeong Dae Ju, dared open their mouth.
Step.
Cheon Hui’s leather sole pressed against the ground.
A soft sound, barely audible.
Yet that sound embedded itself with perfect clarity in the ears of everyone present.
Cheon Hui continued forward.
Toward the dense mass of Sa Hyuk Ryeon forces that filled his vision.
One against several hundred.
To one unaware of the circumstances, it resembled nothing so much as walking straight into the jaws of a tiger.
“The enemy is but one man.”
Hyeol Yeong Dae Ju bit his lip and forced out the words.
He had fallen into a desperate encirclement.
Flight? Impossible.
As lord of the Gwi Yeong Division, as one bound to Sa Hyuk Ryeon, to abandon his duty and flee was to court death.
Only one choice remained before him.
To kill that Maehwa Divine Cooperation.
“Kill him!”
With his convulsive cry, the Hyeol Yeong Division and Gwi Yeong Division scattered in all directions.
Cheon Hui watched the figures spreading out around him with quiet focus.
They moved with the organized precision of the Sa Hyuk Ryeon’s elite forces—sharp, coordinated, relentless.
Throwing blades, blade techniques, auxiliary methods, sword arts—
A cascade of disparate martial styles unfolded.
An unharmonized display of martial prowess.
Yet despite their varied approaches, their movements felt unified, driven by a single current.
To kill Cheon Hui.
That alone—one singular purpose animating their every motion.
The murderous intent and killing force that accompanied their techniques bore down on him relentlessly.
As enemies converged from all sides, Cheon Hui opened his lips and spoke.
“So eager to meet your fate.”
His voice carried an undertone of laughter.
Whoooosh!
A surge of power erupted from Cheon Hui’s body.
Colorless energy rose like heat shimmer, reflecting the sunlight hanging overhead.
The divine bearing of a master who had reached the Transcendent Realm.
They said a master of such height could match an entire legion single-handedly.
The aura he radiated yielded nothing to the overwhelming force of the assembled army.
If anything, it surpassed them.
Swish—
Cheon Hui grasped the Hwa Weol, which he had been letting hang loose.
The subtle crimson blade, gleaming in the sunlight, pointed toward the rushing enemies.
Then Cheon Hui raised his gaze.
The sun that had hung in the sky was now hidden by the weapons of the enemies rushing at close range, obscured entirely from view.
Absolute darkness descended.
A darkness filled only with killing intent and murderous force.
Within that void, Cheon Hui’s eyes blazed with light.
His Baihui Acupoint opened wide.
In that instant, his Three Dantians unified, and the flow of time around him slowed dramatically.
His thoughts accelerated beyond measure, expanding consciousness within the stretched moments.
Watching the enemies move as if frozen, Cheon Hui lowered his gaze.
‘Xiang Man Tian Di Wu.’
Simultaneously, a technique crystallized in his mind.
The second form of the Seven Severed Plum Blossom Sword.
Of all the martial arts he had mastered, this was ideal for unleashing across a wide field.
Soon, trajectories bloomed in the darkness.
The sword path of the Xiang Man Tian Di Wu.
Swish—
The Hwa Weol moved in succession.
Following his intent, Internal Force erupted, and the Hwa Weol vanished in an instant.
Beyond mere speed—a velocity like flickering lightning.
The single arc traced by the Hwa Weol multiplied into dozens, then hundreds.
Then, at last—
Flash!
The strike of the Hwa Weol transformed into radiant light.
Screech! Crash!
The light engulfed them as the cold crimson Sword Qi slashed through the heterodox martial artists with brutal precision.
“Aaaahhhhh!”
“Gugh!”
Those who had rushed forward shrieked.
Searing agony swept through them.
The entire body lacerated in an instant of unimaginable pain.
The Xiang Man Tian Di Wu tore through their garments, their weapons, their very flesh.
Blood sprayed from every direction.
Dozens of heterodox martial artists lay strewn across the ground, their lives already stolen.
A catastrophe that unfolded in the span of a heartbeat.
Blood pooled slowly across the earth.
The corpses were turning crimson in the pool of blood that had accumulated.
A heavy silence fell over the scene.
It was as though someone had thrown cold water over everything.
The disciples of the Ami Sect found themselves equally unable to speak.
Then it came.
Thud.
A soft footstep sounded among the scattered bodies strewn across the ground.
All eyes converged.
Cheon Hui was moving.
Not a single drop of blood stained him.
“…….”
Cheon Hui swept his indifferent gaze across the Sapa warriors trembling like aspen leaves.
His eyes held no emotion whatsoever—only a look of faint annoyance.
At that gaze, Hyeol Yeong Dae Ju’s body went rigid.
‘I… I cannot win.’
His thoughts stopped.
It was the same sensation he’d felt when facing the Lord of Sa Hyuk Ryeon.
As he stood there, breath caught in his throat, remembering that moment—
Step.
He took a stride forward.
In a single step, the distance of ten zhang closed, and Cheon Hui’s figure suddenly loomed vast.
It was an astounding Speed Technique, as if he had used Step Condensation itself.
“……please… spare me…….”
As Hyeol Yeong Dae Ju, seized by terror, dropped his sword and tried to bring his palms together—
Whoosh—
A crimson arc appeared in his vision.
Beautiful, almost enchanting like the glow of dusk; he stared at that trajectory, and then his sight began to fade to darkness.
Soon after, his consciousness vanished.
Splash!
Blood fountained from all directions.
The sword strike had cut through Hyeol Yeong Dae Ju and the Sapa warriors lined up behind him.
In but two moves.
In those two moves alone, roughly a hundred warriors from the Hyeol Yeong Division and the Gwi Yeong Division surrounding Bok Ho Sa fell dead.
The Orthodox Sect warriors drew in their breath.
It should have been cause for joy, yet they could not compose themselves in the face of Cheon Hui’s hand.
At that moment, someone approached Cheon Hui.
“Amitabha Buddha.”
So Hye Sa Tae, who had chanted the Buddha Call, stepped before Cheon Hui and brought one hand together in salute.
“I am grateful for your aid.”
She, whose severed part had already been bound with cloth, bowed her head to Cheon Hui.
Cheon Hui gazed at her and spoke.
“You’ve lost a hand.”
“Ha, what is that but a trifle? To have preserved my life in this manner—that alone is fortune enough…….”
So Hye Sa Tae laughed.
A smile blooming amid her ashen complexion.
It seemed weak at first glance, yet somehow all the more tender for it.
“Hmm, there is truth in that as well.”
Cheon Hui, who had been observing her, turned his head away.
This place had been merely a stop along his journey.
His true destination lay elsewhere.
His gaze settled on the Mountain Gate.
Golden radiance and a murky spiritual energy writhed together in the barrier, trembling in empty space.
Crack-crack-crack!
Fissures were forming.
And the earth around it was shaking violently, as though seized by an earthquake.
The collision of two absolute masters.
Its shockwave had reached even here.
Cheon Hui’s mouth moved slightly.
“You can handle the cleanup yourselves, yes?”
Even as he posed the question, his gaze remained fixed upon the Mountain Gate, unmoving.
So Hye Sa Tae regarded Cheon Hui intently for a moment, then answered in a soft voice.
“Don’t worry. Go now.”
The instant her words reached him.
Whoosh!
Cheon Hui’s form vanished like a lantern flame snuffed out.
It was instantaneous.
* * *
Beneath the blazing midday sun.
Two women faced each other across the space between them.
Nong Jil and So Un Sa Tae.
Both transcendent masters drew upon their Internal Force, wary of one another.
Swish—
Nong Jil’s sleeve suddenly swept through the air.
Perhaps it was from the single exchange they’d shared moments before.
Most of her sleeve was already torn to tatters, fluttering loosely.
And between those torn pieces.
Shhhhh—
The Gom Bang Dae released a torrent of Sword Qi in all directions, energy that could no longer be contained.
“In the past ten years, you’re the only one who has struck me with such intensity. They say the Dharma Power of your Great Zen Divine Art rivals even Sorim, but I never imagined it to be true.”
She laughed, seemingly delighted.
Her brows, curved in an elegant arc, traced trajectories as beautiful as a crescent moon.
So Un Sa Tae, by contrast, remained expressionless.
Yet the Dharma Power radiating from her entire being burned with even greater intensity than before.
So Un Sa Tae raised the Yun Hoe Yuk Hwan Jang instead of answering.
Jing-jing—
The bells chimed, and a fierce wave of Dharma Power rippled outward from her entire body.
A massive undulation of energy.
“Splendid momentum.”
Nong Jil, responding to that surge, drew up her own Internal Force.
The Evil Heaven Severed Arts.
The forbidden techniques of the Four Sovereigns that she had once learned with the resolve to stake her very life appeared.
A ghostly aura rose into the air.
Materialized Sagi flickered like flames, enveloping her entire form.
And then.
Grinding-grinding-grinding—crack!
It collided with the wave of energy So Un Sa Tae had released, sending vibrations through the atmosphere.
Those who possessed martial prowess touching the heavens themselves…….
The air trembled as if in fear at the clash of energy released by these two masters of the Heavenly Martial Realm.
Simultaneously, space fractured into countless fissures.
Despite the absence of any formal techniques, merely the collision of their Internal Force, the space itself began to warp.
When a deafening surge of energy descended in response.
Boom!
A violent explosion suddenly erupted.
Nong Jil deployed a ghostly Speed Technique, collapsing the distance in a single instant.
She extended her left palm, sweeping it forward.
The flutter of her sleeve was now etched vividly into So Un Sa Tae’s eyes.
So Un Sa Tae extended her left palm in response.
A form of the Subduing Tiger Palm Method.
The two palms collided in the void.
That was merely the beginning.
In rapid succession, they unleashed their martial arts against one another, each movement aimed at the other’s destruction.
Clash! Boom! Crash!
The collision of these two masters who had reached the Heavenly Martial Realm thundered across Ami Mountain, birthing a tornado of fierce wind.
Boom! Bang! Crash!
Secondary explosions followed in their wake.
A violent shockwave swept past the Mountain Gate of Bok Ho Sa, reverberating across all of Ami Mountain.
The space between them trembled.
Each blow, each strike from these two transcendent masters collided faster and more violently than anywhere else in the battlefield.
Dozens of exchanges unfolded in mere moments.
The form of the Buddha Light Assistance, infused with Great Zen Divine Power.
Heterodox martial arts infused with the Evil Heaven Severed Arts.
In the moment when the opposing golden radiance and the pallid Sagi tore at each other,
A piercing shriek split the air!
Suddenly, Nong Jil’s momentum shifted.
From the Gom Bang Dae gripped in her right hand, fierce energy wound outward like thread upon thread.
Solid, sharp Sagi.
A vicious Sagi that felt as though it had no place in the mortal realm condensed into a single force.
“Such wickedness……!”
Even So Un Sa Tae, who had maintained her composure throughout their exchange, gasped at the energy that entwined with the Gom Bang Dae.
“She’s mad! Attempting to harbor such power within a human body!”
At So Un Sa Tae’s impassioned cry, Nong Jil burst into wild laughter.
“Hahahaha! That’s right! I’m mad! Completely mad! But do you know what?”
Nong Jil’s eyes gleamed with ferocity.
Then, spreading a thick miasma of killing intent, she let her voice spill forth softly, tinged with madness.
“You can only grow strong if you go mad.”
The moment her words ended,
A terrible roar erupted!
Dreadful Sagi radiated from her entire being, corroding everything around her.
Soon, her Gom Bang Dae moved,
“Amitabha Buddha!”
So Un Sa Tae invoked the Buddha Call.
At the same moment, she channeled the Great Zen Divine Power that bloomed throughout her body entirely into the Yun Hoe Yuk Hwan Jang.
An intensity of golden light unlike anything before.
It was a Dharma Power as strong as if the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra herself had descended. So Un Sa Tae, drawing forth all her Dharma Power, extended the Yun Hoe Yuk Hwan Jang.
Nirvana Tranquility, Perfect Concentration.
The Ami Sect’s transcendent divine art manifested.
In the moment the golden-tinted Yun Hoe Yuk Hwan Jang pierced through, connecting heaven and her,
“Hahahaha! Splendid!”
Nong Jil, her maniacal laughter shaking the mountain itself, blazed her eyes with brilliant light.
Grasping the Gom Bang Dae, which had become like a single blade, she moved.
A long, piercing wail tore through the air—
In an instant, the air itself cried out.
A tremendous, crushing pressure bore down.
And then, at last, the two collided.
A deafening explosion!
Violent percussion and shockwave rippled outward from the Mountain Gate of Bok Ho Sa across the entire mountain.

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