Heavenly Demon of the Huashan Sect - Chapter 34

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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 34
“Now that’s more like it.”
Cheon Hui looked down at the Plum Blossom Sword Disciples sprawled across the ground in a spread-eagle position, the Sword Scabbard in his hand resting lightly against his shoulder.
The state of the Plum Blossom Sword Disciples was a wreck.
Their faces were swollen in places, their Training Robes caked with dust—enough to know that the bodies hidden beneath the fabric were in no better condition.
“There we go. Now they look like proper martial artists. That’s the kind of fire a real martial artist should have in their eyes.”
Cheon Hui was pleased not with the condition of their bodies, but with what had changed in their gaze.
Perhaps it was the result of repetitive sparring matches.
Twelve days had now passed, and in their eyes had begun to kindle a deadly light.
And that wasn’t all.
Not wanting to experience that pain again, they had grown skilled at evasion, and because they ended each sparring bout the moment they managed to land a strike, they swung their swords with deliberation.
The effect was remarkable.
Their vision, which had once been clouded by tension and poor focus, now tracked their opponent’s blade and martial skill with clarity, and their own swings had become sharper and more efficient than before.
But.
“…Stop.”
“Please.”
“Have mercy…”
Tears blurred the disciples’ eyes.
They knew better than anyone that they had achieved tremendous growth in a short span of time.
Yet what good was it?
The sword forms that had once seemed hazy now revealed themselves only as the afterimage of the Sword Scabbard slipping past their vision.
When they swung their own blades, all they felt was the sensation of cutting through empty air.
An immeasurable gap in martial skill.
With each sparring match, they could do nothing but feel how far they still were from Cheon Hui.
And.
Thwack! Thwack!
“Please, stop…”
In the end, all that returned was striking disguised as sparring practice, and pain.
When the Plum Blossom Sword Disciples finally collapsed in exhaustion—
“Well then, now that your eyes are open, shall we move to the next stage?”
At Cheon Hui’s words sinking into their ears, the haggard faces of the Plum Blossom Sword Disciples finally brightened.
“Finally…”
“…It’s over.”
“Is that really true, sir!”
“Does this mean we won’t get hit anymore…!”
“Oh! Infinite Buddha! Primordial Celestial Worthy!”
Like parched earth receiving rain after a drought, they cheered and wiped away their tears.
It wasn’t about moving to the next stage.
It was the prospect of escaping this beating that made them cry out in joy.
But did they know?
That the path ahead would be far more grueling than anything they had endured until now.
“Then get up for now.”
Cheon Hui called them to their feet.
“Ughh—”
The moment they moved, pain still fresh in their battered bodies, the Plum Blossom Sword Disciples staggered upright, faces contorted with agony.
Once they were all standing, Cheon Hui spoke.
“The most important thing—your eyes—are now open…”
The Plum Blossom Sword Disciples hung on his words, perking up their ears to catch every syllable.
“Now we move to the next stage.”
“You don’t mean…!”
“…That’s not it, is it?”
At the mention of the “next stage,” Jeok Geom and Seol Ran’s faces went pale as they pleaded with desperate eyes.
“Haven’t we already done that, sir?”
“Master, we’ve already done it.”
“But you said learning has no end, didn’t you?”
Yet Cheon Hui brushed aside their pleas coldly and continued.
“The next stage is stance training.”
“Master, please, anything but that…”
“Wouldn’t sparring be better than this?”
The moment the word “stance” left Cheon Hui’s lips, both of them broke into despair.
Yet Cheon Hui continued to ignore the two of them entirely, turning instead to the remaining three Plum Blossom Sword Disciples who stood frozen in confusion. “You three there. Do you know the Samjae Sword Technique?”
“You three there. Do you know the Samjae Sword Technique?”
“Ah…….”
In that instant, Jeok Geom and Seol Ran crumpled like marionettes with their strings cut, their legs giving way beneath them.
As the remaining Plum Blossom Sword Disciples stared at them with vacant expressions, Cheon Hui’s voice dropped lower still.
“Don’t know?”
Spurred by his tone, they scrambled to answer.
“Ah, yes, we do!”
“We know it!”
“Of course we know it!”
“Then starting today, you’ll perform the Samjae Sword Technique ten thousand times each day.”
The three disciples blinked rapidly, wondering if they’d misheard, their ears working furiously before they understood they’d caught his words correctly—and then they cried out in alarm.
“T-ten thousand times? That’s impossible!”
“How could anyone do ten thousand in a single day……!”
“It’s impossible!”
“Impossible, nothing. These two managed it three years ago.”
Jeok Geom and Seol Ran trembled visibly.
“Please, no more…….”
“My a-arms won’t lift. If you could just let us rest for one day…….”
As if summoning the memory of that time, they clawed at their own hair, muttering absently into the void.
“Or would you prefer a different method?”
The corners of Cheon Hui’s mouth twisted upward.
“I’ll wield my sword.”
“I, I will too!”
Jeok Geom and Seol Ran drew their blades.
They began slashing before anyone could protest, and Cheon Hui nodded with satisfaction.
Then he turned to address the other Plum Blossom Sword Disciples.
“If you’d rather do this a different way, come over here.”
As the disciples shuffled forward hesitantly at his gesture, Jeok Geom and Seol Ran watched them with eyes full of pity.
The disciples caught that look and realized, with a spike of dread, that something had gone terribly wrong.
“I, I’ll wield my sword too.”
“Master, I’ll also…….”
“I as well…….”
But their words fell on deaf ears.
Cheon Hui had already made clear that he would not allow them to draw their blades.
“Too late.”
Faced with his unyielding tone, the three had no choice but to slump down onto the ground.
“What I’m about to demonstrate is called the Byeontae Gigong—a Confucian Energy Technique.”
As he spoke, his hands began to move.
Snap-snap-snap!
In an instant, afterimages wove through the air, and then he struck three acupuncture points in rapid succession.
“By pressing these acupuncture points, we can loosen and limber the rigid muscles locked throughout the body. It’s a Confucian Energy Technique with outstanding effect at precisely this—creating a martial artist’s physique.”
Contrary to what they’d feared, his explanation brought relief to the disciples’ faces.
But that relief was short-lived. Despite the acupuncture strikes, nothing seemed to change, and Jeok Un cautiously asked Cheon Hui a question.
“Is such a martial skill truly documented?”
“Why? Does it sound made up to you?”
“Then why has no one ever learned this technique?”
“Well, there’s a drawback to it.”
Cheon Hui paused.
At the word “drawback,” Jeok Un and the other disciples’ brows furrowed.
“What sort of drawback?”
“It hurts a bit.”
“It hurts?”
“That’s it? Just that?”
“How much pain could there be…….”
“Perhaps on the level of Breaking Bones and Separating Tendons?”
“B-Breaking Bones and Separating Tendons?!”
All three recoiled in horror at once.
What was Breaking Bones and Separating Tendons?
It was a torture technique so vicious and cruel that it was reserved for the very end of interrogations.
Yet the pain he’d inflicted was eerily similar.
“I, I will wield my sword!”
“And I shall!”
“I too shall……”
The three of them lurched to their feet.
“I told you already. It’s too late.”
Crack-crack-crack—
An ominous sound rippled through the air.
The three stared at their bodies as the noise echoed through them, then released screams loud enough to split the heavens.
“Gaaaaahhh!”
Their arms, their legs, their entire bodies—muscle and bone twisted grotesquely, as though insects were crawling beneath their skin.
Cheon Hui watched the Byeontae Gigong unfold across each of them in turn, a satisfied smile spreading across his face, and nodded.
“Perfect.”
The Byeontae Gigong was a Confucian Energy Technique from Potala Palace that Cheon Hui had discovered at the Tianma Library—a unique martial skill that maximized full-body flexibility far more than internal energy alone could achieve.
‘A fine external training method for strengthening the body.’
He gave a small nod.
Three years ago, when he’d tested it on Jeok Geom and Seol Ran, the results had been excellent.
Cheon Hui turned to observe the three, grinning.
“How is it? Wasn’t I right? Not too much, not too little—precisely Breaking Bones and Separating Tendons, yes?”
Their eyes rolled back at his cheerful words and their horrifying implications.
Gurgle—
He watched as the three writhed, foam flecking their lips, and frowned.
‘Already passed out?’
When they fell silent, lost to the agony, he extended a finger once more and pressed a vital point on each of their necks.
Flash!
Their eyes snapped open.
Forced back into consciousness, they convulsed again in torment.
“Don’t lose your senses. I’m about to explain the Byeontae Gigong, so listen well.”
He delivered his command, then began.
“By making all the muscles and bones in your bodies flexible, you’ll be able to wield your swords with far greater…….”
The explanation continued.
But was the pain too cruel for them to absorb instruction?
Cheon Hui’s words barely penetrated their minds at all.
And so time dragged on.
Thud—
When the Byeontae Gigong finally ended, the three convulsed once more before their faces collapsed into the dirt.
Cheon Hui wrapped up his explanation in time.
“……and that’s how you’ll find it easier to swing your blades. What? What are you doing? Wake up. I went to all this trouble with this shortcut because you lot didn’t want to train, and now you’re going to collapse on me?”
Cheon Hui jeered, but the three were already unconscious and heard nothing.
And that was exactly what he’d wanted.
“Can’t be helped then. Next time, if you haven’t memorized what I just taught you, I’ll give you twice the pain. So remember well.”
He spoke these words like a thunderbolt from a clear sky to the unconscious three, then turned away.
That was when he caught sight of Jeok Geom and Seol Ran in his peripheral vision—they’d stopped swinging their swords and were watching the three with pained expressions.
‘Oh, look at these two.’
He opened his mouth toward them at once.
“You two seem to have some leisure time?”
“No, no sir!”
They both started, then immediately increased the speed of their sword work.
“That’s better.”
Whoosh—whoosh—
Cheon Hui, listening to the heavier sound that now replaced the earlier rhythm, turned his attention elsewhere.
‘Still more?’
He fixed a cold gaze on those who, since he’d killed the last one four days ago, no longer approached but merely watched from afar.
“Today I’ll catch and eliminate every last one of them.”
* * *
A band of shadows entered Hamyang County.
Whoosh—whoosh—
Eun Su Cham Sal, who stood at the head of the group and had just returned from reporting the situation to Baekguiseong, was in a foul mood.
‘So in the end, I’m the one saddled with everything.’
He recalled his meeting with Baek Gwi Seong Ju.
The man, dressed entirely in white from head to toe, had released an icy aura the moment he heard the report, and delivered his command with chilling precision.
‘Erase the Bifeng Merchant Group from the world in the Pawang Gate’s stead.’
Originally, his task and that of Salhon-dae was to ambush and kill the Plum Blossom Sword Disciples who had come seeking revenge, along with the core members of the Huashan Sect.
But now the plan had unraveled.
The Pawang Gate’s surprise attack, which everyone had assumed would succeed without question, not only failed but ended with the death of Neongmyeon Do-gwi, and the Pawang Gate itself was annihilated by some fierce creature that appeared from nowhere.
Since everything had gone wrong from the start, the subsequent tasks couldn’t be carried out.
In the end, he had to handle it himself from the beginning.
And so, to execute the mission, he had led Salhon-dae out of Baekguiseong for the first time in nearly twenty years.
‘The grudge from thirteen years ago runs deep.’
Eun Su Cham Sal let out a faint chuckle.
The reason he had raised the Pawang Gate and gathered skilled fighters from across Shaanxi was singular.
To annihilate the Huashan Sect.
To end the enmity between the Execution Master and Salhon-dae, and to seize the perfect opportunity for Baekguiseong—whose reputation had been tarnished and power diminished—to rise again.
That was the plan itself.
The Huashan Elimination Plan.
‘For now, I need to meet with the subordinates I left behind to keep watch, and erase the Bifeng Merchant Group without a trace before the night is through…….’
When he spotted his subordinates and withdrew the Gyeongsin Art, the fifty Salhon-dae members following behind him came to a halt as well.
“Master.”
Eun Su Cham Sal looked at the Salhon-dae members—only about half the number from when the mission was assigned—and lifted his eyes sharply.
“Sam Hon. Where are the rest of them?”
Eun Su Cham Sal’s eyes turned glacial.
Sam Hon, meeting that frigid gaze, began to tremble and answered.
“C-communication has been cut off, sir.”
“Cut off?”
Sam Hon gave a slight nod.
“We sent them one by one to watch the Plum Blossom Sword Disciples at the Bifeng Merchant Group, but they’ve all gone silent.”
“Weren’t they said to be inexperienced?”
“The Plum Blossom Sword Disciples are. Their skills have only just surpassed the first rank—they haven’t reached their peak yet.”
As Sam Hon spoke, Eun Su Cham Sal’s mind raced, beginning to piece things together.
“There must be a master-level expert among them.”
“I cannot say with certainty, but it is quite possible.”
“So there is one, after all.”
As if he had already anticipated this, Eun Su Cham Sal spoke with a furrowed brow.
Before the mission had even begun, unexpected losses had already mounted.
Eun Su Cham Sal pulled a mask from his sleeve, placed it over his face, and opened his mouth to speak.
“The master has issued new orders.”
The moment Sam Hon and the other Salhon-dae members heard those words, they bowed their heads deeply.
“Tonight, the Bifeng Merchant Group will be erased from the world.”
“Your will!”
The eyes of the Salhon-dae members gleamed.
Despite having just heard from Sam Hon that there was an expert among them, Eun Su Cham Sal and every single member of Salhon-dae brimmed with unshakeable confidence that they would succeed.
It was only natural.
Their opponents were merely five Plum Blossom Sword Disciples and one suspected elder.
By contrast, Salhon-dae was a force capable of wiping out an entire sect in a single night.
Failure would have been difficult.
‘It’s been a long time since all of us moved together.’
Eun Su Cham Sal smiled coldly.
Salhon-dae was the most secretive of the three military units within Baekguiseong—a weapon kept hidden away.
So while there were times individual assignments were given, there were rare occasions when the entire force undertook a mission.
‘Is this the first time since we annihilated the Guixue Gang ten years ago?’
He recalled that night when Salhon-dae had brought down the Guixue Gang, which had once ruled Yurim County.
A night when blood ran thick and beautiful screams echoed from everywhere.
‘I’ve missed the sight of blood.’
His excitement shining through as he twisted his smile and traced his tongue across his lips—in that very instant.
Whoosh—
A shadow abruptly leapt into view before him.
“What are you doing here?”

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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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