Heavenly Demon of the Huashan Sect - Chapter 36

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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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Episode 36
Whiiiii—
A chill wind swept across the Wild Mountain.
In the quiet forest thick with brush and trees, a handsome young man stood with a sword in his grip.
Each time the wind blew, the strange black-and-crimson robe he wore rippled, and the red plum blossom pattern mingled with the blue moonlight, casting an ethereal hue.
Whoosh—
Cheon Hui, the young man, held the Baekryeon Sword lightly, drawing it for the first time since his emergence into Kangho.
In that instant, the air around him trembled.
No—it was the emotions of the Salhon-dae members concealed in darkness and surrounding him that rippled through the air.
Sharp, honed vigilance.
A thick, confident Killing Intent.
And beneath it all, an anxiety born of not knowing what would unfold next.
Their complex hearts and tangled feelings—both positive and negative—flowed through the air until they reached him.
‘Yes. This is it.’
The corners of Cheon Hui’s eyes curved upward as he gripped the sword.
He loved this feeling.
The cool, crisp touch against his palm as he held the blade.
And the thick Killing Intent directed at him now, the taut tension of the moment—it quickened him, stirring awake what had grown dull from too long a peace.
But soon his smile faded.
He swept his gaze quickly across the forest.
‘Fifty-seven in total.’
After identifying every trace of the hidden Salhon-dae members, he drew up his Internal Energy.
The Internal Energy of the Plum Blossom Divine Art, tightly coiled in his Lower Dantian, manifested, and a transparent current of Qi was born, enveloping him.
The materialized power transferred into his hands, and soon met the blade of the sword.
Into the beautiful sword, which reflected the moonlight—an Internal Energy that no one but himself could see—began to seep.
Siiiii—
The force spread slowly like smoke.
“……!”
The bodies of the Salhon-dae members, holding their breath and waiting for an opening, went rigid.
Eun Su Chamsal was no exception.
His face subtly hardened as he watched Cheon Hui’s series of movements.
He did not know why.
Simply from observing, he felt a pressure bearing down.
As though it were an order written into the very fabric of fate, it pressed upon their bodies.
While they could not move so much as a finger.
Whoosh—
Cheon Hui shifted his gaze, looking into empty space.
Toward the one hidden in the pitch-black darkness.
‘Surely not… seeing through me now?’
In that moment, Eun Su Chamsal’s eyes wavered.
The Ghost Breath Manifestation he now employed was what had raised him from a mere assassin to a master of Kangho, carrying him to where he stood today.
Yet now his Ghost Breath Manifestation had been pierced.
And by nothing more than a young disciple.
‘A dangerous one!’
He quickly sent a transmission through sound to the Salhon-dae.
‘Kill him.’
The moment his command reached them through the transmission, the atmosphere of the Salhon-dae shifted entirely.
The members, scattered about, now emanated sharp killing intent—as though they had finished all their preparations to strike.
It was then.
Whoosh—
Cheon Hui raised his sword, pointing it upward.
But he did not swing it.
He merely stood silent, pointing the blade toward the sky swallowed by darkness, toward the moon hanging luminous above.
Yet with that gesture alone, the atmosphere changed.
A flash ignited in Cheon Hui’s eyes.
His black pupils, sunk into an abyss like a bottomless chasm, seemed ready to devour the darkness itself.
Whoosh—
The sword was swung.
Roooaaarrr!
A tremendous force of power surged skyward.
In that instant, as the torrential surge of power buffeted them, the members of Salhon-dae scrunched their faces.
“……?!”
They froze in shock.
Above them, countless sword manifestations hung suspended in the air.
Radiating a crimson light like blood.
The red radiance spreading from the swords created the illusion of plum blossoms blooming in empty space.
Perhaps because of the eerie wrongness—something that should never exist in this world—the red sword manifestations were beautiful yet horrifying, bathed in moonlight.
“Well? Quite beautiful, isn’t it?”
Cheon Hui’s voice drifted down at that moment.
The members of Salhon-dae, so entranced they forgot even to press their attack, stared blankly up at the sword manifestations suspended above their heads.
‘What are you doing? Come to your senses!’
Eun Su Chamsal, the first to snap back to awareness, urgently transmitted his voice to the members of Salhon-dae.
『These wretches……!』
But his transmission never reached those who had already lost their minds.
Grind.
Grinding his teeth, Eun Su Chamsal finally could bear it no longer and roared out in a voice layered with power.
“Sorcery. Snap out of it!”
Life returned to the eyes of Salhon-dae’s members as if awakened by the force-laden words.
The moment Eun Su Chamsal perceived that subtle shift, he sent an even fiercer transmission.
『Do not act rashly!』
Salhon-dae’s members, who had stiffened, nodded their heads.
Eun Su Chamsal, watching them return to their original composure, once again erased all trace of his presence.
『Attack the moment you spot an opening.』
Eun Su Chamsal transmitted urgently to each member of Salhon-dae in turn.
Just as he was about to lead them in an assault on Cheon Hui’s openings and make his move—
“Sorcery? Think what you like.”
Cheon Hui spoke with casual indifference.
He actually found it amusing.
The Baekgwi Clan were an Evil Sect, and the fact that they called it sorcery only made the situation more entertaining.
“So then, what sorcery exactly are these sword manifestations? A dream? An illusion? Or perhaps something else entirely?”
Salhon-dae reacted to his mocking tone.
“Then I’ll make it easy for you to find out.”
As he said this, he added further words.
“Look carefully.”
With those words, he brought his sword down.
The fifth form of the Chiljeol Plum Blossom Sword.
Falling Plum Blossom Heavenly Rain Flower.
Whoosh!
The sword manifestations suspended in the sky descended.
It was a mesmerizing spectacle—as if flowers were raining down from the night sky itself.
A captivating sight that seized the gaze.
Yet the result was horrific.
In the blink of an eye, the first descending sword manifestation struck the head of one of the members.
Splat!
Blood and brains sprayed forth.
“……!”
The nearby members of Salhon-dae, drenched in the viscous brain matter and blood, widened their eyes.
And in that same moment, they looked up.
The sword manifestations were descending toward their own heads, where they had concealed their presence.
Only then did they realize the number of sword manifestations matched their own numbers exactly.
‘My, my position is exposed!’
In that instant, they sensed death.
Seized by terror, they threw strength into their legs without even a moment’s hesitation.
It was a primal instinct they had forgotten during their years as members of Salhon-dae.
The instinct to survive.
But the sword manifestations that had already begun their descent were already upon their crowns.
Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat!
The crisp sound of melons bursting erupted simultaneously.
Yet there were no screams—not a single one.
They had all met instant death, one and all.
Cheon Hui watched as the bodies hidden in the darkness were revealed one by one.
“I’d say that’s rather effective.”
He appraised the utility of the Falling Plum Blossom Heavenly Rain Flower.
The Falling Plum Blossom Heavenly Rain Flower, the pinnacle of Illusory Sword technique, had channeled his Internal Energy to manifest a Sword Manifestation and cut down his opponents without mercy.
‘So they say true power only reveals itself when you deploy martial arts for the purpose of killing.’
Cheon Hui smiled with satisfaction.
This was the first time he’d deployed the Falling Plum Blossom Heavenly Rain Flower—or rather, the Chiljeol Plum Blossom Sword itself—for the purpose of killing.
And the result pleased him.
“You see it too, don’t you?”
Cheon Hui’s gaze shifted to the side.
The pitch-black darkness seemed to ripple for a moment, then split cleanly in two.
“Hack—”
Eun Su Chamsal emerged from the darkness, his entire body drenched in blood. He gasped for breath, clutching his chest with both hands as he collapsed onto his knees.
Cheon Hui was about to speak when—
A convulsion—
Eun Su Chamsal’s back heaved violently.
“Retch—”
Blood spilled from his lips, and he gripped his chest with a gaunt, ravaged expression.
‘What… what in the name of—’
His mind reeled.
Perhaps it was because he had glimpsed fragments of a sword technique that lay far beyond comprehension.
His very breath caught in his throat.
‘Is there such a broad-ranging martial art? One that pinpoints the exact location of every member of Salhon-dae with their killing intent suppressed, and strikes each down with perfect precision—’
He turned the matter over in his mind again and again.
But it was futile.
Two aspects of the sword technique he’d just witnessed lay firmly in the realm of the incomprehensible.
There was only one way to understand it.
He lifted his head sharply, fixed Cheon Hui with a glare, and worked his jaw.
“Who… who are you?”
Cheon Hui looked down at him with his pallid face and smirked.
“Who? Just moments ago you were calling me a Hwasan School disciple.”
“No… that can’t be. You’re not a Hwasan School disciple.”
Eun Su Chamsal shook his head immediately.
How could a Hwasan disciple display such ruthless swordsmanship and stand amid corpses with such a smile?
“No one from Hwasan could possess such brutality—”
“Believe what you will.”
Cheon Hui spoke without concern.
Whether Eun Su Chamsal believed him or not held no interest.
After a brief nod, he smiled, his gaze fixing on Eun Su Chamsal’s sleeve.
“Why do you hesitate?”
“…!”
Eun Su Chamsal’s eyes widened.
Something in Cheon Hui’s expression and tone—as if he knew exactly what Eun Su Chamsal would do—made him bite down hard on his lip.
Whoosh!
His sleeve billowed.
In the next instant, he poured every last ounce of remaining Internal Energy into his attack, driving the Flying Blade forward from both sides.
Crackle—
The moment thunder-force enveloped the Flying Blade—
Whip!
The Flying Blade shot forth like lightning.
Eun Su Chamsal’s eyes gleamed.
What he had just deployed was the Flying Thunder Blade, an Absolute Martial Art that had earned him the title of the Baekgwi Clan’s Western Guardian.
‘No matter how supreme a master you are, you cannot avoid serious injury!’
As Eun Su Chamsal made this bold proclamation—
‘Interesting, a novel circulation of Internal Energy.’
Cheon Hui watched the Flying Blade approach inches from his face, his attention caught by the method of Internal Energy circulation Eun Su Chamsal had just displayed.
‘He’s split his Internal Energy into two streams?’
It was a rather intriguing technique.
A smile spread across his lips.
‘If even this man displays martial arts I’ve never seen, just how many unknown arts exist in the current martial world?’
Excitement bubbling through his veins, he plucked the incoming Flying Blade from the air with ease.
Thump!
Eun Su Chamsal landed hard on his backside.
“……How—how did you master the Flying Thunder Blade!”
“A martial art called Flying Thunder Blade?”
Cheon Hui stared down at him with gaping mouth and spittle dripping from his lips, then opened his palm wide to examine the Flying Blade he’d caught.
The blade glowed red-hot, as though it had been heated in flames countless times.
“Ah, so you collide Internal Energies and shoot the blade through the gap between them.”
Having grasped the mechanics of the Flying Thunder Blade, Cheon Hui channeled his own Internal Energy at once.
Crack-snap!
Lightning burst forth from the blade.
“……!”
Eun Su Chamsal’s eyes bulged so wide they nearly burst from their sockets.
This lightning—he had labored for ten years in fevered devotion just to conjure it.
Yet this man, who didn’t even know the Flying Thunder Blade, who had only glimpsed it once, had summoned that same lightning in a single attempt.
“You, you are…….”
“Like this?”
Cheon Hui hurled the blade as he spoke.
Flash!
The Flying Blade streaked through the air like a bolt of light, pierced Eun Su Chamsal’s skull, and buried itself in the earth beyond.
“Is this… is this the Flying Thunder Blade……?”
Eun Su Chamsal murmured at the overwhelming force of the technique—a power far beyond anything he had ever wielded—as the world around him grew darker and darker.
Soon his spirit departed from his flesh.
Thud.
The empty husk collapsed to the ground.
Cheon Hui gazed down at Eun Su Chamsal’s corpse with an intrigued gleam in his eye, a smile curling across his face.
“I really do need to venture out into Kangho, after all.”

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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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