Heavenly Demon of the Huashan Sect - Chapter 304

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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 304
Silence descended upon the Main Headquarters.
A quiet devoid of sound settled over the space with a presence wholly different from before.
It was cold and bitter.
All those nearby who had witnessed the clash between two Absolute Masters found themselves unable to speak.
They could only stare at the spectacle before them with eyes wide in shock.
The absolute ruler who had reigned as a god in Guizhou—the Immortal Heavenly Cult Master—had fallen to the blade of a young Daoist from Huashan.
Gush—
Blood spilled forth in torrents.
A wave of silent impact surged through the crowd.
The word “shock” scarcely captured it.
Even as the spectacle unfolded before their eyes, they doubted the very sight itself.
Some wondered if this was an illusion or a dream.
Yet no matter how many times they closed their eyes and opened them again, no matter how much time passed, the scene remained unchanged.
Unlike their thoughts, this was no dream—it was reality.
“…….”
And so.
As they gradually came to realize this was truly happening, the churning shock rippled outward like waves upon water, swift and sudden, until the quiet shattered.
Commotion erupted.
It was the followers of the Immortal Heaven Sect who reacted first.
“This is impossible…….”
“The Master cannot have fallen.”
“……Master!”
Faced with the result of a battle that had shaken heaven and earth, they descended into chaos.
They seemed not to know what to do.
To them, the Immortal Heavenly Cult Master was an omniscient god.
It was something they had never even dreamed would happen—his defeat.
Yet now that very thing unfolded before their eyes.
Profound confusion was the only natural response.
Meanwhile, Yuk Won, who had watched the battle from a distance, swallowed hard.
He too found it difficult to accept.
The martial prowess he had witnessed directly from the Immortal Heavenly Cult Master, his divine status, operated on an entirely different plane.
A god-like presence that twisted the very world itself.
It was not without reason that he held dominion like a deity over Guizhou and was regarded with caution by the Murim Alliance.
And yet he had fallen.
To the blade of a single swordsman.
“I never thought he could actually be defeated…….”
His gaze turned toward Cheon Hui.
The sight of the sword, stained with a subtle crimson, hanging limply at the young man’s side seemed almost otherworldly.
“More than that, the wound…….”
As Yuk Won moved to respond, seeing the gaping wound that had split open Cheon Hui’s chest—
“Not fatal, though.”
Cheon Hui suddenly spoke, his voice emotionless.
His transparent eyes, devoid of warmth, shifted downward, fixing upon a single point.
Upon the Immortal Heavenly Cult Master.
His form, marked by a long streak of blood across his waist, was a pitiful sight.
Blood pooled around where he lay.
All of it his own—enough to be instantly fatal.
Yet still he had not died.
From the lips stained with blood, the faintest breath could be felt.
The higher a master rose in realm, the more developed the upper dantian became, and with it, the stronger the inborn life force grew.
Especially for the Immortal Heavenly Cult Master, who had reached the highest realm—his extraordinarily developed inborn life force made his grip on life tenacious indeed.
“Quite resilient, I see.”
Cheon Hui’s hand moved, stripping away the tattered remains of his upper garment and casting it aside.
Then, to stanch the bleeding that poured from his chest, he bound it hastily with cloth.
Thump.
He stepped forward.
Behind each of Cheon Hui’s steps, drops of blood fell in succession, marking his path.
Soon he stood before the fallen Immortal Heavenly Cult Master.
Cheon Hui’s gaze lowered to look down at him.
The Immortal Heavenly Cult Master’s gaze stirred as he lay there in his ruined state, and their eyes met.
Unexpectedly, his eyes were empty of all feeling.
For a man standing at death’s threshold, there was no emotion to be found.
He seemed almost perfectly serene.
‘Has he accepted death?’
Then the Immortal Heavenly Cult Master’s lips moved.
“A re…… markable martial prowess…… indeed.”
A trembling voice reached him.
With the demonic resonance stripped from his voice, his words sounded surprisingly ordinary.
“What…… is the name…… of that technique.”
“Yeong Gyeok Cheonha Manri Hyang.”
“Yeong Gyeok Cheonha Manri Hyang……”
The Immortal Heavenly Cult Master savored the name, speaking it softly.
For a moment he fell silent.
“A fitting blade to grace this seat’s final moment.”
His voice suddenly grew clearer.
Was it a dying light returning, perhaps.
A sickly verdant radiance began to dance in eyes that had been losing their lustre.
It was a light that seemed both ethereal and utterly unsettling.
As the Yeol Cheon Sin Ma Gi scattered before death, his Three Dantians opened instead.
Shhhhh—
A faint luminescence flowed from his body, wrapping around him like mist.
The Seon Cheon Ji Gi emanating from an Absolute Master who had reached the highest realm called forth mystery itself.
The Immortal Heavenly Cult Master looked straight at Cheon Hui.
Next, his blood-stained lips parted.
“Though you may have felled this seat, the Immortal Heaven Sect shall never vanish. So long as our doctrine endures, another will rise to take this seat’s place and govern the sect.”
“Well, that’s probably true.”
Cheon Hui agreed quietly.
“If a sect could be destroyed by the death of its leader, it wouldn’t be much of a sect.”
“You speak as though you understand the nature of sects quite well.”
“I know something about it, at least.”
Cheon Hui’s eyes turned cold and distant.
Just as the Immortal Heavenly Cult Master’s eyes began to widen at that sight, Cheon Hui spoke.
“Anything else?”
“……Nothing. What more could a defeated man have to say.”
The Immortal Heavenly Cult Master closed his eyes slowly.
Immediately after, he added one final word.
“Let it be as the victor wills.”
His voice, speaking death’s acceptance with composure, sent out a ripple.
He released the Yeol Cheon Sin Ma Gi and Seon Cheon Ji Gi that had accumulated in his Three Dantians, letting them flow naturally away rather than clinging to them.
Watching this, Cheon Hui let out a short laugh.
He’d thought the man might try some last trick now that his Seon Cheon Ji Gi had risen, but his attitude was quite composed.
“Good. Then let’s end this.”
Cheon Hui raised Hwawol high.
Colorless fierce energy twisted together like thread, reflecting a subtle crimson light.
“That was quite entertaining.”
With that parting comment on their duel, Cheon Hui’s hand moved.
Flare!
Hwawol became a beam of scarlet light.
The slash drawn from left to right severed the Immortal Heavenly Cult Master’s life in an instant.
His head rolled away.
With his death, the war between the Immortal Heaven Sect and the Murim Alliance came to an end.
* * *
After the Immortal Heavenly Cult Master’s death brought the battle to a close, some time passed.
Murim Alliance warriors now occupied the devastated Main Headquarters of the Immortal Heaven Sect.
“……This is appalling.”
Hyeop Wi Dae Ju muttered as he surveyed his surroundings.
From a distance, even the mere aftermath of the battle had seemed overwhelming, but the interior he now witnessed firsthand was far worse than he’d imagined.
No—”worse” didn’t even begin to describe it.
Not a single pavilion remained intact, and barren stretches of churned earth stretched in every direction.
“Hard to believe, even seeing it with my own eyes.”
He clicked his tongue, surveying the devastation.
It felt like standing in the aftermath of a war between gods themselves, torn from some ancient myth.
Then his gaze shifted.
To where it fell.
A young man with bandages wound around his torso was performing Breathing Cultivation.
It was Cheon Hui.
At a measured distance around him, members of the Myeoljjeol Corps stood guard like sentinels.
Their eyes blazed fierce and unwavering.
They watched everyone approaching Cheon Hui with sharp, predatory focus, alert to any threat.
It was only natural.
All eyes were fixed on him now.
Had they not all witnessed it?
The heavens rent asunder, the earth split and heaved, the raw divine power that erupted forth.
And the one who had wrought this impossible feat was none other than Cheon Hui himself—how could anyone not be captivated?
“Is this truly the martial prowess of the Young Master…….”
“It’s real.”
An answer came from behind him, spoken almost to himself.
Hyeop Wi Dae Ju turned his head at the rapid approach.
It was Yuk Won.
Fresh from treatment and wrapped in bandages from head to toe, he gazed not at Hyeop Wi Dae Ju but at Cheon Hui, his eyes brimming with pure awe.
“The Young Master brought down the Immortal Heavenly Cult Master alone.”
Yuk Won let out a wry laugh and continued.
“We were nothing but obstacles.”
Hyeop Wi Dae Ju exhaled, a sound of resignation.
Yuk Won, Eun Seol Seol, and Gi Jung Hak—they were masters whose skill rivaled his own.
Yet they called themselves mere hindrances.
“I never could have imagined the Young Master possessed such ability.”
Hyeop Wi Dae Ju shook his head in disbelief.
At the same time, curiosity kindled within him.
Genuine curiosity about whether Cheon Hui truly possessed such martial prowess.
But he quickly dismissed the thought.
This was not the moment for such speculation.
Cleaning up after the war was the priority now.
Setting aside his curiosity, Hyeop Wi Dae Ju surveyed the surroundings and turned to Yuk Won with a question.
“What shall we do now?”
“What else is there to do?”
Yuk Won smiled and replied.
“The mission is complete. Once we’ve tidied up, we should return to the Murim Alliance, shouldn’t we?”
“What of those followers?”
Yuk Won glanced back slightly as he posed the question.
Hundreds of Immortal Heaven Sect disciples stood there, vacant and motionless.
All because they gazed upon the severed head of their Cult Master.
“The Cult Master…….”
“……is dead.”
Though Murim Alliance warriors had them surrounded, the disciples paid them no mind, kneeling and murmuring their lament.
The despair and emptiness radiating from them was palpable enough to reach those standing nearby.
“What can they possibly do?”
Yuk Won observed them and spoke.
They had already lost their will to fight.
Though they’d had the chance to flee, they had come here instead, and now they knelt in silence before their master’s head—had they not already surrendered?
There was no need to stir up unnecessary trouble.
“Then those who escaped…….”
Hyeop Wi Dae Ju spoke carefully.
Not all the Immortal Heaven Sect followers had surrendered their spirit.
Nearly half had fled.
And at the head of them stood Gwang Myeong Saja.
Hyeop Wi Dae Ju recalled the words Gwang Myeong Saja had spoken before his escape, rallying the disciples around him.
‘This is merely a shell! Our Master shall shed his mortal form and be reborn anew in a body of light. Hide yourselves and prepare to serve him again!’
“If we let them go, there will be blood spilled later.”
Hyeop Wi Dae Ju spoke with deliberate weight.
Leading the charge on the front lines, he had felt it himself.
The power of the Immortal Heaven Sect was no ordinary thing.
Gwang Myeong Saja had held his own against the combined might of himself and Pa Ma Dae Ju without yielding.
And there were twelve more like him.
Especially the first Lion—it was said his martial prowess surpassed even that of the other twelve Lions, which left an uncomfortable unease about simply letting them live.
But.
“Leave them be.”
Yuk Won objected.
“It’s already done. Now that they’ve lost the Immortal Heavenly Cult Master as their linchpin, it will take time for them to muster their strength again.”
“Still…….”
“We have too many wounded.”
Yuk Won glanced around as he spoke.
Though they had claimed victory by killing the Immortal Heavenly Cult Master, the cost had been steep.
The war had claimed over a hundred lives, and nearly half of the survivors bore grave wounds.
Pursuing the remnants was beyond their current capacity.
“And do you truly believe we could hunt them down? The Immortal Heaven Sect has branch temples scattered across every corner of Tianxia—over forty of them alone that we know of. To capture them all right now would demand far more time and manpower than we possess, as you well know.”
Hyeop Wi Dae Ju closed his mouth at Yuk Won’s words.
He was right.
The known branches of the Immortal Heaven Sect spread across Tianxia numbered forty or more.
To exterminate them all as they were scattered was, as Yuk Won said, nearly impossible.
Yuk Won, seeing Hyeop Wi Dae Ju fall silent, added to his point.
“Remember why we came here. Our aim was to destroy the Immortal Heavenly Cult Master and the Main Headquarters—not to annihilate them entirely.”
“I suppose that’s true, but… sigh.”
Hyeop Wi Dae Ju exhaled heavily.
A lingering disappointment settled over him.
Having killed the Immortal Heavenly Cult Master and seized the Main Headquarters, he’d wanted nothing more than to erase them completely.
“Still, I wonder if young Hui will be all right.”
Yuk Won’s eyes drifted back to Cheon Hui as he spoke quietly.
His full attention had been on Cheon Hui all this time, above everything else.
He wasn’t alone in that.
Most of the Murim Alliance warriors gathered nearby were watching Cheon Hui.
The Absolute Master who had slain the Immortal Heavenly Cult Master.
And that he had scarcely passed twenty winters of age.
Any warrior, regardless of age or gender, could not help but fix their attention upon him.
Then.
Softly—
Cheon Hui’s closed eyes opened.
In that instant, everyone held their breath.
The brilliant radiance lingering in his narrowly-opened pupils seized their gaze.
It shone with an almost ethereal clarity.
The inner power of the Plum Blossom Divine Art, accumulated through Breathing Cultivation, flowed forth in the luminescence of his eyes.
As everyone watched in hushed silence.
“Hm?”
Now fully awake, Cheon Hui noticed the countless gazes fixed upon him and tilted his head in confusion.
Then he turned toward them and spoke.
“Is this your first time seeing Breathing Cultivation?”

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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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