Heavenly Demon of the Huashan Sect - Chapter 48

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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 48
Screech!
“Cough, cough…….”
Ha Woojin sliced through the martial artist who’d charged at him, then steadied his grip on the sword, his brow creasing.
‘Still just this many?’
He must have cut down easily fifty of them by now.
Yet the number of martial artists in front of him showed no sign of diminishing, which left him feeling suffocated with frustration.
Then.
“This is absurd.”
A crisp voice rang out from above.
“I thought the Murim Alliance had launched an assault, given all this commotion—and yet here you are, being trampled by only three men.”
A stout, middle-aged figure stood before the gate, the moon at his back.
“B-brother, the Northern Lord!”
Ha Woojin’s eyes froze subtly.
‘The Northern Lord? Then this man is Pa Geomgwi!’
At someone’s cry of “Northern Lord,” Ha Woojin recognized the middle-aged man’s identity.
“Pathetic wretches.”
Pa Geomgwi spoke to the martial artists.
“You are not his match.”
The instant Pa Geomgwi’s foot tapped lightly against the ground.
“……!”
Ha Woojin’s pupils dilated sharply.
As if a shadow had stretched and lengthened, his form suddenly extended, and in a blink he had closed a distance of fifty paces in a single stride.
‘A strange and remarkable Body Movement Technique. Could it be the Form Step of the Bulli Sword School?’
Ha Woojin’s face hardened imperceptibly.
Pa Geomgwi now stood separated from him by exactly the distance where their blades might kiss, and one footstep more.
All accomplished in a single breath.
“That four divisions of Baekguiseong would be shattered by merely three men—is shameful. Even if I resolve this situation, such disgrace will linger on tongues for years to come.”
Pa Geomgwi’s eyes narrowed to slits.
“Since matters have come to this, I shall tear the limbs from your bodies right now and find some small consolation in it.”
Before his words had even finished.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Ten figures appeared around Ha Woojin, their blades sweeping horizontally.
Shriek!
Ha Woojin spun his body urgently, deflecting the sharp, gleaming swords coming from all eight directions while attempting a counter-strike.
Clang-clang-clang!
Sparks scattered around Ha Woojin.
Moments later, eight of the sword-wielders leaped backward and withdrew.
Surprise flashed across Pa Geomgwi’s face.
“Remarkable. Fewer than ten men have ever withstood the combined assault of the Guicham Unit.”
Ha Woojin bit his lip.
A thin line of blood trickled down.
One blade, impossible to evade, had drawn a streak of crimson across his cheek.
Drip, drip.
It was no accident that they called the Guicham Unit one of Baekguiseong’s three great divisions—all eight swordsmen wielded their blades with extraordinary skill.
‘To face both the Guicham Unit and Pa Geomgwi alone at once is beyond my strength…….’
“So you are Pa Geomgwi.”
A familiar voice came from beside him.
“Senior?”
Ha Woojin glanced at the profile of Hyundo, who had materialized at his side like a ghost.
It was an expression he had never seen before.
This was what a man seized by fury would look like.
“……A formidable aura indeed.”
Pa Geomgwi’s face stiffened for the first time.
The momentum radiating from Hyundo now bore comparison to the aura he had felt when facing the Lord of Baekguiseong himself.
“Guicham Unit.”
At the call, the Guicham Unit braced themselves, ready to unfold their formation at any moment.
“Attack.”
In an instant, they spread outward.
Whoosh— whoosh—
Ha Woojin’s eyes darted about urgently.
The rustling of their sleeves caught the wind so lightly that the sound reached him only long after they had moved—their Lightness Skill was swift and ethereal.
Hyundo watched them as well.
Everything lay bare before his eyes.
Not only how the Guicham Unit moved, but precisely how they would wield their blades.
Hyundo detonated his Internal Power.
Whoosh!
In the instant the Guicham Unit flinched at the storm of Qi bearing down upon them, Hyundo vanished without a trace.
“……!”
Just as the panicked soldiers of the Guicham Unit gathered their Qi to sense him again—
“Hup!”
The leftmost soldier jerked his body backward, hearing the sharp whistle of a blade cutting through air dangerously close to his ear.
Patter-patter.
Strands of severed hair fell to the ground.
The soldier watching his hair scatter felt a chill creep down his spine.
‘What—a blade of terrifying speed!’
In that flicker of an instant, the razor-sharp steel had been so fast it blurred.
But it did not end there.
Startled by a sharp ‘twang’ that rang out from behind him, he spun around.
The pristine blade filled his vision, and then his consciousness shattered into darkness.
Crack!
Hyundo, regarding the soldier whose skull had been split, swept his gaze across the remaining members of the Guicham Unit with eyes colder than the cruelest winter.
“Today, at last, I may avenge my youngest disciple.”
The words ground out like something being chewed, suffused with a killing intent that defied description.
The soldiers locked eyes with him and trembled, confronted by an aura of power too fierce to belong to a Daoist.
Whoosh.
This time, Hyundo moved first.
He appeared behind one of the soldiers and raised his blade to cut down through the neck when—
Clang!
A sword met his own.
Pa Geomgwi fixed Hyundo with a sharp gaze, then drew his blade in one swift motion.
“……You face me.”
A clear ring accompanied the unsheathing, and the steel flared with dangerous light in Pa Geomgwi’s hand.
“They say the Plum Blossom Sword Technique of Huashan carries the fragrance of plum blossoms and blooms like the flower itself?”
Pa Geomgwi stirred his shoulders.
“I’ve been wanting to see it for some time. How fortunate.”
In an instant, Sword Qi burst from the blade in a crescent shape, streaking toward Hyundo.
Whoooosh!
It was the Sword Breaking Record—a forbidden technique that the Bulli Sword School had deemed too perilous, sealed for generations by every school master.
Boom!
Shockwaves erupted in all directions.
A storm of dust swept across Baekguiseong, engulfing even Ha Woojin at a distance.
“Ugh!”
Caught head-on by the violent gale crackling with raw Qi, Ha Woojin staggered backward, his eyes narrowing.
‘That is no place for me to intervene.’
Watching Hyundo pour his vengeance upon Pa Geomgwi, Ha Woojin turned away.
‘What I must do is…….’
Ha Woojin channeled the Xuantian Healthy Qi through his blade, directing it toward the Guicham Unit.
‘Bring down these men!’
His eyes hardened with resolve.
Then his sword began to move, and the Heaven and Earth Thirty-Six Swords took shape.
Third Form: Scattered Stars of the Celestial River.
Like a meteor shower, the graceful sword descended upon the soldiers of the Guicham Unit.
Whoosh!
Yet they were no mere soldiers—veterans of the Guicham Unit, they planted their footwork and scattered in all directions, evading the influence of the Heaven and Earth Thirty-Six Swords.
Then Ha Woojin’s blade shifted.
Whir!
Having calculated even their escape, he twisted his descending strike into a reverse motion.
Fourth Form: Inverted Cascade of the Celestial River!
One of the soldiers fleeing met the strike rising from below and felt his chest split open in an instant.
“Chilho!”
The Guicham Unit soldiers cried out in alarm.
The bones in the chest of the already-dead Guicham member were exposed, his organs spilling forth.
“How dare you strike down Chilho……!”
As their comrade fell, the eyes of the surviving Guicham members blazed with killing intent.
Sword Qi dense with murderous force bloomed from their blades, and they unfurled a cutting technique.
Whoosh— whoosh—
True to their status as an elite contingent, their sword forms all reached a formidable level.
But their opponent was Ha Woojin, the Jade Kite Swordsman, whom the Jongnan Sect believed without question would become their next premier blade.
‘I must settle this in a single exchange.’
Ha Woojin gripped his blade firmly, then unleashed three sword forms in rapid succession.
Celestial River Surge, Celestial River Flying Script, and finally Celestial River Starlight.
Three fierce sword cuts as swift as lightning unfolded in succession, cleaving through them.
As Ha Woojin completed his sword dance.
Screech!
“Gasp!”
Pa Geomgwi staggered backward amid blood scattering skyward.
His appearance as he retreated was far from good.
His robes were shredded to tatters, and between the torn fabric, deep sword wounds were plainly visible.
“Is this the martial art of the Bulli Sword School—the one you sought to obtain even at the cost of invoking heavenly punishment?”
Pa Geomgwi’s brow furrowed.
‘This man is my equal in skill?’
Sweat beaded on Pa Geomgwi’s forehead as he recalled what the strategist had told him.
His palms, gripping the blade, were slick with perspiration.
The composure he’d carried upon his entrance had vanished entirely; he bit down on his lip.
‘What nonsense was that!’
The opponent was unmistakably superior.
Not by one or two moves, but by several.
Dash!
Just then Hyundo charged forward again.
“Pay the price for your heavenly transgression.”
“Grit!”
Pa Geomgwi clenched his teeth, poured his internal power into his strike, and a crescent-shaped azure Sword Qi—the Moonlight Wave—shot forth.
‘That strange sword technique again…….’
Hyundo, who had been charging, faltered.
That sword technique had been troubling him all along.
Each time he drew near, a unique sword defense unfolded, blocking his approach.
Crash!
Hyundo knocked the Moonlight Wave to the side, and it left a long scar across the ground with a thunderous boom.
“……Damn it!”
Pa Geomgwi’s expression became desperate.
Since the engagement began, he’d lost count of how many times he’d brushed with death.
Fortunately, thanks to the Sword Breaking Record—a supreme absolute technique—he’d managed to preserve his life, barely.
But even that was reaching its limits.
‘My internal power is half-exhausted.’
The great weakness of the Moonlight Wave.
It was a remarkable sword technique capable of launching Sword Qi with minimal martial power, but its consumption of internal force was incomparable to other sword arts.
‘There’s no choice. I’d kept this hidden for facing the Hundred Ghosts God, but…….’
In the end, Pa Geomgwi prepared his final, ultimate technique—one he’d concealed until this very moment.
Internal power surged and enveloped him.
Following that, heat shimmer rose from his blade, and intense color melted into it.
Within the hazy landscape, his sword moved.
Crash-boom!
The Moonlight Waves poured down in torrents, seemingly about to shred Hyundo to pieces.
“I acknowledge your skill.”
As Pa Geomgwi watched dozens of Moonlight Waves descend and saw Hyundo frozen as if in shock, he smiled with conviction, sensing victory within reach.
‘That scent…… plum blossoms?’
Pa Geomgwi’s brow twitched.
A sharp, intense fragrance of plum blossoms tickled the tip of his nose, then swallowed his awareness.
“Your parlor tricks are finished.”
A dry voice struck his ears, and the Moonlight Wave shattered into fragments.
“Moonlight Break Heaven…….”
Pa Geomgwi’s brows trembled.
Dozens of plum blossoms bloomed in response, covering him completely.
“No, that’s impossible…….”
His expression shifted to utter disbelief as dozens of crimson bloodstains spread across his robes.
Thud―
Pa Geomgwi collapsed to his knees.
Hyundo, looking down at the falling Pa Geomgwi, flexed his grip on his sword.
“Was the Bulli Sword School’s swordplay truly so lacking?”
Hyundo shook his head.
“No. It is I, and Huashan, that are simply stronger.”
His gaze sharpened with intensity.
The Bulli Sword School’s techniques were exceptional.
But his own strength far surpassed theirs, and the Plum Blossom Sword Technique yielded nothing to the Bulli Sword School’s mastery.
The precious victory he had claimed against Pa Geomgwi kindled confidence within him.
“The White Sage…….”
His gaze turned toward Baekguiseong.
In the next instant, the Dark Fragrance Mark unfurled. The landscape warped for but a moment before he arrived at the entrance.
“Senior Hyundo?”
Ha Woojin had already arrived at the entrance ahead of him.
His robes bore the marks of a fierce battle, torn in places, and the blood trickling from his cheek had been masked by fresher wounds.
“Can you manage in that condition? If your wounds are severe, there’s no need to follow.”
At Hyundo’s words, Ha Woojin shook his head and spoke firmly.
“I’m fine. I did not come this far with a light heart.”
Hyundo said nothing more.
He knew better than anyone that turning back the heart of one who had already resolved themselves was a difficult thing.
Instead, he stood beside Ha Woojin, and together they took a step toward Baekguiseong.
* * *
Cheonhwi, the first to enter Baekguiseong, walked through a corridor without light.
“Planning to keep hiding?”
He spoke without warning.
Then he tilted his chin upward and gazed at the ceiling, issuing a quiet warning.
“This will be your last chance.”
In that instant, those who had been holding their breath on the roof came pouring down.
Crash!
As they rained down like a downpour toward Cheonhwi with blades drawn, his hand moved first.
His fingers traced the empty air, and five blade streaks appeared, severing them in a single motion.
Slic―!
A ghastly sound accompanied dozens of severed limbs and blood scattering in all directions.
“How bothersome they are.”
A path opened before Cheonhwi.
A path marked by blood and corpses on either side.
Five fingers that he had swept had split them in half, carving the way.
It was the result of a Finger Technique that bordered on the miraculous.
“Let’s see. Is it over there?”
He resumed his steps once more.
Step― step―
After walking along the corridor for roughly an hour, he came to a stop.
Thud.
At the corridor’s end, a dead stop, stood an ornate gate.
And on either side of the gate, two elderly men who resembled twins stood motionless, guarding it.
“Well, well.”
Cheonhwi’s eyes curved upward in amusement.
He then approached the gate.
Whoosh―
The gaze of the two, who had been staring straight ahead, dropped downward.
Without the slightest change in expression, they merely turned their heads, taking in Cheonhwi with their eyes before slowly parting their lips.
“You cannot pass this way.”
“You cannot pass this way.”
Their voices resonated together, echoing through the air.
At the teasing, ticklish quality of their dual voices, Cheonhwi’s mouth twisted into a smile.
“Is that so? Well, that works out perfectly.”
In an instant, Cheonhwi’s presence shifted.
The air around them grew heavier, and the weight of his existence changed entirely.
“……!”
“……!”
The two men, who had been standing motionless like statues, flinched at this transformation and quickly seized the sword and saber at their sides.
“Since I was going to kill you anyway.”
At Cheonhwi’s words, the eyes of both men gleamed with ferocity. In the same breath, they swung their sword and saber in wide, lateral arcs.
Whoooosh!
The sword and saber that crossed in the air were charged with tremendous Internal Power.
And then they came down toward Cheonhwi’s crown.
Crash!
The entire hall shook violently.
The sword and saber remained embedded in the ground, carving out a massive fissure. Seeing the deep crack split open, both men’s eyes widened sharply.
Cheonhwi, whom they had thought would be crushed beneath their combined assault, stood exactly as before—calm and unhurried.
“Who are you?”
“Who are you?”
The question overlapped, laced with fury.
“Me?”
Cheonhwi, who had evaded their attack with nothing but a slight twist of his body, let out a soft laugh.
“The man who will kill you both.”

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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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