Heavenly Demon of the Huashan Sect - Chapter 46

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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 46
The man laughed loudly.
“Ha ha ha. But since we’ve met like this, wouldn’t it be nice to exchange names?”
The man, disliking the awkward atmosphere, scanned the four of them and proposed an introduction.
Then, before the others could even respond, he revealed his own name.
“I am Gwok Ui.”
Hyeon Do’s brow creased.
“Gwok Ui……?”
As Hyeon Do unconsciously let the name trail off, Gwok Ui shrugged.
“Why is that?”
“It’s a name I’ve never heard before.”
“There are countless people in this world. How could you know all their names?”
“Yet I find it hard to believe that someone of your caliber would be unknown.”
“You’re too kind in your assessment.”
“I’ve made no kind assessment.”
Gwok Ui laughed at Hyeon Do’s blunt words.
“Ha ha ha, is that so?”
“Truth be told, I’ve only been walking the Jianghu for less than a year.”
Hyeon Do felt uneasy, but he accepted the explanation.
As the two spoke, Ha U Jin and Jin Gae’s expressions shifted with each passing moment.
Especially Ha U Jin’s face grew grave.
‘If Hyeon Do puts it that way, then at minimum…….’
Around the time Jin Gae began searing Gwok Ui’s face into memory, he fixed his stare intently on the man the moment he heard the name.
‘Gwok Ui? Where have I heard that name before?’
Jin Gae turned the name over in his mind, repeating it to himself.
‘Where did I hear it?’
He racked his brain, but could not place when or where he’d heard it.
Just as his thoughts deepened.
“Now it’s your turn, isn’t it?”
When Gwok Ui pressed the four silent men to introduce themselves, Hyeon Do spoke first.
“……I am called Hyeon Do.”
“I’m Ha U Jin.”
Gwok Ui’s eyes widened.
“The First Sword Technique of Huashan and the Jade-Edge Sword Master!”
His eyebrows curved like crescents, and he looked back and forth between Ha U Jin and Hyeon Do.
“Ha ha ha! How fortunate I am. I never expected to meet the Huashan master Hyeon Do and the future of Zhongnan Sect, the Jade-Edge Sword Master, in such a place.”
Gwok Ui grinned broadly.
Then his eyes met those of Jin Gae, who had been standing quietly in the background.
“I am Jin Gae.”
The moment their eyes met, Jin Gae, who had been staring intently, quickly introduced himself.
“Jin Gae……? Hmm, a fine name.”
Gwok Ui spoke as though he had no particular interest.
It was a lukewarm response, far different from his earlier enthusiasm, yet Jin Gae understood the man’s true feelings keenly.
‘Coming after the two masters…….’
The difference in fame was as vast as heaven and earth.
Whish—
Then Gwok Ui turned his head.
He fixed his gaze on Cheon Hui with the most intense light in his eyes yet.
“And you are…….”
“I’m Cheon Hui.”
“Cheon Hui, Cheon Hui, I see.”
Gwok Ui repeated the name over and over.
Then his expression suddenly shifted as he spoke.
“But it’s truly surprising. I’ve heard recently that relations between Huashan Sect and Zhongnan Sect have been strained—perhaps it was mere rumor…….”
Gwok Ui did not finish his sentence.
Hyeon Do and Ha U Jin had clamped their mouths shut with displeasure written on their faces.
“Hmm.”
From the two men’s reaction, Gwok Ui and Jin Gae could discern whether the rumor held truth.
“……So it was no mere rumor after all.”
‘Excellent!’
Unlike Gwok Ui, who spoke his thoughts aloud, Jin Gae exulted silently within himself.
‘Hehehehe, it’s been difficult to ask directly until now, but if I use this man, I can get what I want.’
He found himself warming to Gwok Ui, who scratched his curiosity so thoroughly on his behalf.
“Not exactly on good terms, I’d say.”
Hyeon Do admitted it frankly.
In fact, he had no intention of hiding it at all.
The poor relationship between the two sects was already common knowledge throughout the Jianghu.
“We’re not on the best terms, no.”
Ha U Jin also spoke with a bitter smile.
Originally, the Huashan Sect and Zhongnan Sect, both located in Shaanxi, had never engaged in much exchange, but as Daoist sects in the same region, they had maintained good relations for a long time.
But everything changed in an instant.
On the day the Huashan Sect suffered the catastrophe of losing the Plum Blossom Sword Association and its swordsmen, a Daoist priest from the Zhongnan Sect happened to reach the Heavenly Martial Realm.
The Zhongnan Sect exulted at the emergence of a master in the Heavenly Martial Realm after decades had passed.
Believing it a heaven-sent opportunity, the Zhongnan Sect hastily promoted his entry into the Jianghu, and the result was a resounding success.
The priest traversed the Jianghu with unbridled freedom.
He claimed the heads of notorious Demon Bandits and came to the aid of suffering common folk, earning himself a new epithet in the process: the Zhongnan Sword Saint.
The fall of the Huashan Sect and the rise of the Zhongnan Sect.
The reversal of fortune between the two sects happened in the blink of an eye.
And the more it happened, the more the Huashan Sect gnashed its teeth.
They had maintained silence to apply silent pressure on the Martial Alliance’s decision, but in that very gap, the Zhongnan Sect was raising its standing.
Fortunately, circumstances prevented it from escalating into outright war, but the once-good relationship between them had grown bitterly cold.
“Then why do you travel together?”
Gwok Ui asked with a curious expression, then added with a laugh, “Pardon me.”
“Was that an impertinent question?”
“No, it’s fine.”
Hyeon Do smiled wryly and replied.
“Our purposes are the same, so we travel together.”
“Ah, is that so?”
Gwok Ui, reading the room, asked no further and stepped back a pace.
A moment of silence settled over them.
“Where did you learn your martial arts?”
Then Hyeon Do turned the question around.
“I studied the Family Martial Arts of my clan.”
“Family Martial Arts? Are you from the Bifeng Commercial Group?”
“Hahaha, it’s a very small family. Even if I spoke of it, no one would know.”
Gwok Ui said so with a wry smile.
“That’s strange, though.”
Someone reacted to those words.
It was Cheon Hui.
“For Family Martial Arts, your Internal Cultivation Technique is quite unusual.”
In that instant, Gwok Ui’s eyes twitched.
“What—what do you mean by that?”
“It’s an Internal Cultivation Technique rarely seen in the Central Plains.”
At Cheon Hui’s words, spoken with the faintest smile, Gwok Ui’s pupils darted about.
Then Hyeon Do interjected.
“What sort of Internal Cultivation Technique is it?”
“That inner power is…….”
“The young knight here has quite discerning eyes. Long ago, some of the foundational texts of my Internal Cultivation Technique were lost, so my power remains somewhat unstable even now.”
As Cheon Hui was about to answer Hyeon Do’s question, Gwok Ui, taken by surprise, quickly deflected.
“Is that so?”
Cheon Hui turned his head as if to say it was.
Gwok Ui regarded Cheon Hui with an inscrutable gaze, then hastily changed the subject.
“Rather, I’ve heard that the Plum Blossom Sword Technique of the Huashan Sect has been completely lost…….”
* * *
The next day, Gwok Ui addressed the four as they busily prepared to depart.
“Had we been heading in the same direction, I would have traveled with you. Truly, what a shame.”
It seemed Gwok Ui had taken pleasure in the night’s conversation; he gazed at the four and spoke.
“Might I call upon you at some future date?”
Hyeon Do and Ha U Jin smiled.
“Come whenever you wish.”
“There’s no need to ask permission to visit. Come whenever you wish.”
“Well, opening it up like that is a bit…….”
“Ha ha ha!”
When Jin Gae spoke awkwardly at the end, Gwok Ui laughed and clapped him on the shoulder.
“Then, whenever I think of something, do contact me first, won’t you?”
“Ahem, ahem. Very well.”
“And…….”
Gwok Ui turned his gaze toward Cheon Hui.
He looked at Cheon Hui with complex eyes, then let his final words drift out softly.
“I truly hope our paths cross again.”
“If it’s meant to be, we’ll meet someday.”
Gwok Ui’s eyes widened in surprise, then he threw his head back and laughed heartily.
“Ha ha ha!”
After laughing for a long while, Gwok Ui wiped the tears from his eyes and spoke.
“You’re right—if we’re fated to meet, we’ll see each other again.”
Gwok Ui turned smoothly on his heel.
Then he sent a Sound Transmission toward Cheon Hui.
‘I’ll be sure to visit you later.’
After that, without waiting for a reply, Gwok Ui parted ways, looking forward to their next meeting.
* * *
Nak Cheon County in Shaanxi.
Perhaps because it served as a bridge connecting Gansu to the west and Shanxi to the east.
Most who visited Nak Cheon County were merchants or travelers.
Because of this, the streets had developed in a direction unlike ordinary counties.
Toward a night district designed to keep visitors lingering as long as possible.
As dusk gave way to evening.
The sun, casting its glow across the sky, gradually slipped behind the mountains, and darkness was about to settle over Nak Cheon County.
Whoosh!
The streets, as if refusing that darkness, lit their wall-mounted lanterns and drove the shadows away.
Now began Nak Cheon County’s true time of day.
From the inns, a different scent—tangy with desire—began to spread.
The streets that had been quiet and peaceful throughout the day transformed rapidly when night fell.
The pleasure houses and inns, as if they’d been waiting, kindled their seductive lanterns and made ready.
Soon their business commenced.
And as if waiting for that very signal, people poured from the inns.
Pleasure houses and inns lined every street, luring them in, and all manner of figures gathered as if bewitched.
The burning vitality and lust of the crowd.
Clatter—clatter—
Just then, a carriage arrived.
The carriage, which had reached Nak Cheon County only after four days of travel, now passed along the main road between pleasure houses and pavilions.
“So a place like this exists.”
“……Infinite Buddha.”
Hyeon Do and Ha U Jin frowned.
For those who had lived their entire lives as Daoists, the streets of Nak Cheon County felt repugnant.
Unlike the two who hastily averted their eyes, Cheon Hui surveyed the street with indifference.
People wandering the lanes and, whenever they turned their heads, the reddish glow of the lanterns and the vulgar temptations beneath them.
“Come inside, young master.”
A woman in the thinnest of silks sat perched on a window ledge of a pleasure house on the second floor, where cheap ornaments fluttered, sending a bewitching gaze toward the carriage.
‘Nothing special.’
Having grown weary of far greater temptations, he felt no stirring at all.
Only Jin Gae reacted.
“Heh heh, that’s nice.”
Jin Gae, who was driving the carriage, grinned widely at the sights around him, his face stretching with delight.
As the carriage continued in that state.
“We’re almost…….”
“Baek Gwi Fortress.”
The expressions of Hyeon Do and Ha U Jin changed.
Realizing they were drawing closer to Baek Gwi Fortress, the two breathed slowly and deliberately.
Then the carriage lurched and came to a stop.
Jin Gae, turning only his head slightly from the driver’s seat, whispered very carefully.
“This is Baek Gwi Fortress.”
The three of them turned their gaze toward the window.
Before them stood a massive wall towering well over eight feet high, and beyond it rose a stark white roof that came suddenly into view.
Cheon Hui stretched and spoke.
“Ahh, we’ve finally arrived.”
At that moment, Hyeon Do glanced at Jin Gae and said,
“You’ve worked hard all this while.”
Jin Gae swallowed at those words.
Over the course of their journey, he had managed to discern what the three of them were after.
“You’re going in just the three of you?”
Hyeon Do nodded.
Then, fixing Jin Gae with a steady gaze, he spoke in a clipped tone.
“There’s something I need to ask of you before we go.”
“A request, sir?”
Jin Gae’s expression grew serious.
“It’s nothing grave.”
Hyeon Do reassured him and continued,
“All you need do is spread a rumor through Nak Cheon County.”
“What sort of rumor, if I may ask…….”
“That Baek Gwi Fortress sent the Silver Wolf Brigade and the White Ghost Brigade to annihilate the Bifeng Commercial Group.”
Jin Gae’s pupils trembled.
“Is… is that the truth, sir?”
“Evidence should still remain.”
Jin Gae closed and opened his eyes slowly.
“So that’s why you brought me along.”
“Wasn’t it a fair bargain in the end?”
Realizing he had been manipulated by Hyeon Do in his attempt to extract information, Jin Gae scratched his greasy hair roughly.
“Sigh… is there nothing else you need? If I were to report to the Alliance right now that Baek Gwi Fortress launched the ambush first and request reinforcements…….”
“That will do. This is our debt.”
Hyeon Do cut the matter short.
His trust in the Alliance had already vanished.
“All we need is for you to make it known that we have just cause to strike Baek Gwi Fortress.”
“Understood.”
As Jin Gae was giving his answer and swallowing hard,
“How dare you lay hands on the Lord!”
a sharp voice rang out from outside.
Startled, Hyeon Do turned his head to look where Cheon Hui had been, but the seat was empty.
“Surely not……!”
As he hurried out of the carriage, Hyeon Do’s eyes fell upon Cheon Hui standing before the gate guards of Baek Gwi Fortress.
“He was already inside.”
Cheon Hui shot a contemptuous glance at the gate guards who glared at him, then raised his left hand and opened his palm.
In that instant.
Boom!
The gate guard flew backward like an arrow, smashing through the fortress’s sturdy main gate.
“……!”
Jin Gae’s mouth fell open.
He had thought them no ordinary men, but the martial skill Cheon Hui had just displayed—no, the sheer power of it—far exceeded anything he could have imagined.
‘There’s someone of that caliber in the Huashan Sect…….’
As Jin Gae stood rooted to the spot, forgetting even to take his leave,
Thud-thud-thud—
Cheon Hui strode toward the shattered gate, his chin thrust upward.
Beyond a spacious courtyard loomed the fortress proper.
A fortress befitting its name, Baek Gwi—utterly white, yet within it lay a dampness and darkness that spoke of spirits dwelling there.
“There it is.”

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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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