Heavenly Demon of the Huashan Sect - Chapter 56

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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 56
Cheon Hui, dressed in a simple gray martial robe that the merchant had procured instead of a Huashan Sect robe, gazed up at the three-story building before him.
‘Is this the place?’
He studied the signboard that read “Eun Yong Jin Mi,” then shifted his gaze away.
‘That’s it.’
The building was wrapped in ornate lanterns, and a delicate fragrance drifted from the wide-open doors.
‘Yes, this is it.’
Drawn by the scent, Cheon Hui took a step toward the doorway, where light spilled forth in abundance.
“Welcome to Eun Yong Jin Mi.”
Jeum So Yi, who stood at the door, bowed respectfully with a courteous greeting.
“What sort of seating would you prefer?”
In response to Jeum So Yi’s question, Cheon Hui recalled the merchant’s words before answering.
“The top floor.”
Cheon Hui immediately produced silver coins.
‘Gasp! How many are there?!’
Jeum So Yi’s eyes widened as he counted the coins in his hands.
There were far more silver coins than the price of a top-floor seat.
‘So what’s left for me here is…….’
Jeum So Yi swallowed hard.
He’d assumed from the plain clothing that this was just an ordinary customer, but this was no ordinary guest at all.
His eyes gleamed with the reflection of silver.
‘I’ve struck gold!’
Jeum So Yi bowed with utmost deference and guided Cheon Hui forward.
“Please come this way. We haven’t had many guests on the top floor today, so you’ll be able to enjoy yourself in peace.”
Shortly after, Cheon Hui arrived at the third floor—the top level of Eun Yong Jin Mi.
Seated by the window, Cheon Hui surveyed his surroundings.
‘Quiet. I like it.’
Just as Jeum So Yi had said, the third floor was nearly deserted.
Only a man and woman across the way occupied the space.
‘An unusual pair.’
Cheon Hui found his gaze drawn to them in an instant.
Though he was indifferent to nearly everything save the martial arts, the incongruity of their companionship caught his eye.
The man was the first to arrest his attention.
The man appeared to be past forty, yet his brilliant crimson eyes burned like flames in the firelight.
‘The effect of his Internal Energy, I’d wager.’
After a brief assessment of the man, Cheon Hui’s gaze naturally drifted toward the woman across from him.
‘A young lady? Or a girl?’
Despite being seated, the girl was so diminutive that she was a full head and a half shorter than the middle-aged man.
Yet what caught his eye most of all was her appearance.
‘Dining like that.’
The girl wore a wide-brimmed hat pulled down low over her head.
But was it an ordinary hat?
It was not.
From the brim hung densely woven black cloth that completely obscured the girl’s face.
Her bizarre habit of lifting the cloth ever so slightly when eating was almost absurd.
‘How does food even go down like that?’
Just then, Jeum So Yi approached.
“Is there anything in particular you’d like to eat?”
“Your finest dishes and your best liquor.”
With those words, Cheon Hui handed over silver coins.
Jeum So Yi examined the coins and nodded vigorously with a bright smile.
“Ah, what a generous patron!”
Jeum So Yi began to grovel.
“Then might I suggest the Qingzheng Wuchangyu? It’s the most special among the dishes our chef prides himself on. And for spirits, we have the Gujing Gongjiu—word is it’s truly exceptional…….”
“Just bring it.”
“Understood! I’ll relay your order to the chef and have it prepared as quickly as possible!”
Jeum So Yi answered Cheon Hui’s straightforward request and vanished.
Meanwhile, the girl across from Cheon Hui swallowed her food and whispered.
“……Mysterious, aren’t you.”
A voice like the grinding of metal.
It was a hoarse, low voice that seemed impossible to believe came from a young girl.
Yet it was unmistakably her voice.
“You mean that young man?”
“Yes.”
The middle-aged man appeared startled by her words and set down his chopsticks with deliberate care.
Then he examined the young man who had come up the stairs.
As the middle-aged man’s gaze swept over the youth—who sat with an expressionless face, chin propped on his hand, gazing down through the window—he stroked his beard thoughtfully.
“Hmm.”
The man’s eyes grew deeper.
The girl spoke truly—this was indeed a mysterious one.
The young man wore a plain Sect Robe such as one might see anywhere, yet his cold and cynical face radiated a distinctive atmosphere.
“How curious. You, who never spared a glance for the Jade Qilin, now show interest in someone…”
Though his tone suggested bewilderment, a faint smile played at the corners of his mouth.
Perhaps it pleased him to see the girl showing interest in a peer for the first time.
Even so, he studied the young man carefully.
‘Well, his appearance is acceptable. But…’
The middle-aged man’s eyes moved as he tried to discern both the youth’s outward form and his inner depth.
‘Has he not cultivated martial arts?’
He frowned and shook his head.
He could sense no Internal Energy from the young man whatsoever.
‘What a shame. Had he cultivated martial arts, I would have arranged a meeting regardless.’
It was at the moment when regret kept the middle-aged man’s eyes fixed on the youth.
‘What are you staring at?’
Cheon Hui met his gaze.
The middle-aged man clearly hadn’t expected their eyes to meet; he started slightly, then turned away with an awkward smile.
“Your meal, sir.”
At that very moment, the dishes and wine arrived.
As Cheon Hui caught the aroma rising from the plates, he immediately picked up his chopsticks and took a bite.
It was no empty boast of the cook’s—the Qingzheng Wuchangyu had a rich, complex flavor.
He then sipped from the Gujing Gongjiu.
“Ah. Now that’s what I’m talking about.”
Perhaps because it had been so long since he’d drunk.
Or perhaps because it was a renowned vintage.
The wine tasted exquisite as well.
‘That’s right—meat and wine go together.’
With a satisfied expression, as Cheon Hui continued emptying his cup one after another, his eyes suddenly narrowed.
The instant he snatched up the dishes and wine bottle on the table before him.
Crash!
The tavern shook with the sound of impact.
“Did you really think you could escape so easily?”
Cheon Hui caught the dishes and wine bottle that had nearly overturned and smiled as he turned his head.
‘Well, this is convenient entertainment.’
The table where a man and woman had been dining across the room was now split in half.
“…What is the meaning of this?”
The middle-aged man set down his chopsticks and looked up at the ones who had caused this commotion.
There were four men in total.
All of them bore vicious expressions and eyes that gleamed with murderous intent as they glared at the man and woman.
The largest of them, an enormous brute, hoisted a great axe onto his shoulder and let out a scornful laugh.
“Ha! What’s the meaning, you ask? That bitch killed our youngest brother!”
Infused with Internal Energy, the man’s rough shout reverberated loudly through the tavern.
Yet the man and woman did not flinch.
“…So you are the remaining members of the Xi’an Five Villains.”
A hoarse, ragged voice emerged.
The Young Girl lifted her head calmly, her gaze moving from the shattered table before her.
‘The Xi’an Five Villains? The more pathetic they are, the grander their names.’
Cheon Hui let out a quiet laugh.
Yet had anyone dining on the floor below or this floor heard that name, they would not have laughed—they would have fled in terror.
The Xi’an Five Villains were notorious for brutal methods and were vicious criminals from whom even the authorities had given up.
The middle-aged man rose from his seat.
“How audacious of you.”
“Hmph. So it’s you lot who have no respect for anyone.”
At the man’s snort, the Young Girl’s composure wavered, her head tilting slightly.
“You’re beyond redemption, just like that Lecherous Demon.”
“What? Redemption?”
The man let out a bitter laugh.
“I’ll give you redemption, wench.”
“Sa Je. No need for words.”
A lean, short old man spoke then, his voice surprisingly deep.
“Kill that old fool. And as for her……”
The old man’s skeletal finger pointed at the Young Girl as his tongue flicked across his lips.
“Handle her carefully. Not a scratch.”
“Is Elder Il planning to take her again? Isn’t that unfair?”
The man called Sa Je grumbled, though he made no move to defy the old man—his hand wrapped around an axe.
“Tch. Second place again.”
The middle-aged man watched the two banter, his voice cutting cold.
“Foolish delusions.”
A sword had appeared in his hand without warning.
“All of you will die by my blade.”
His voice grew heavier, deeper, matching the weight of the thickening air. Yet the Xi’an Five Villains remained unmoved.
“Listen to him boast.”
“Rush him together.”
At the old man’s command, both men seized their grotesque blade and axe in unison.
“Die!”
With murderous eyes they swung their axes in a wide arc, the two moving as one.
Even the Young Girl flinched at the vicious momentum.
Crack!
The wooden floor split apart, and screams echoed from below.
“Aaaagh!”
“W-what’s happening!”
The inn fell into chaos.
“That looks like a technique from the Taiyang Palace…or is it slightly different? Was the Taiyang Palace one more sinister than that?”
Cheon Hui sipped his wine, enjoying the spectacle unfolding before him.
“Poor bastard.”
A shadow fell across his table.
He looked up to find a bald man of impressive stature standing over him, a Large Sword slung across his shoulder, his gaze lowered.
“Curse the fortune that brought you here to eat at this very moment.”
In an instant, Cheon Hui’s finger shot up to block his nose.
“Ugh!”
The reek pouring from the bald man’s mouth was absolutely revolting.
“How dare you ignore what an elder is saying……”
“Your breath stinks. Shut up.”
The bald man’s face turned crimson.
“You insolent brat!”
His head flushed as red as his face, the man raised his Large Sword—iron rings jangling along its flat—and brought it down in a thunderous arc.
Thud!
A dull sound erupted as red blood fountained from the bald man’s forehead.
“I-Yi Je!”
“Brother!”
The cries of the Xi’an Five Villains, locked in combat with the middle-aged man, came too late as the bald man toppled slowly forward.
Confusion was etched across his face, yet his life had already fled.
Thump!
The massive corpse hit the ground with a heavy crash.
“B-Brother!”
“What is this?”
“How did…?”
Three members now remained of the Xi’an Five Villains—now the Xi’an Three Villains—frozen in place, their eyes fixed on Cheon Hui.
“You’re distracted at a time like this.”
At those words, the Xi’an Three Villains hesitated.
Whoosh!
A gust of wind tore through as a streak of green light split the Xi’an Three Villains in half.
“Gagh!”
With a single cry, three of them collapsed.
The four men known as the Xi’an Five Villains had lost their lives in an instant.
“You are…….”
Dan Mok Jin Gang, who had cut them down, started to speak but hesitated.
“……!”
The young man who had been tilting his wine cup mere moments ago had vanished without a trace.
As if it had all been an illusion.
It was then that Dan Mok Jin Gang’s bewilderment peaked.
“He left long ago.”
The Young Girl spoke quietly.
“Did you already know he was a Master?”
“No.”
At the Young Girl’s firm answer, Dan Mok Jin Gang stared at her in surprise.
She had possessed exceptional Ki Sense since birth. Before her, anyone at all could be perceived and understood.
Even the patriarch of one of the Eight Great Families.
“Truly?”
“Yes. I felt nothing even as he moved.”
The Young Girl continued to stare at the empty table.
For her, too, it was difficult to believe.
She had thought that nothing under heaven could escape her Ki Sense.
Yet that young man just now…….
‘He was like he existed and didn’t exist at once.’
His presence had been extraordinarily faint.
So much so that she could momentarily forget he occupied this space at all.
For her, who perceived and observed the aura around her every day, it was a truly mystifying sensation.
‘But when he revealed his techniques…….’
As the memory returned, her skin prickled and her heart quickened.
She had seen it.
A tremendous presence that swallowed the Xi’an Five Villains whole. No——
‘His existence devoured all of heaven and earth.’
The Young Girl’s face trembled slightly beneath her veil.
Within the veil, her hidden eyes pulled away from the table and turned toward the outside.
Above the moonlit sky, the young man who had swallowed all of heaven and earth flickered like a star, then vanished.
“Who exactly was he…….”
Meanwhile, Cheon Hui, who had returned to the inn, expelled all traces of Alcohol Intoxication from his body in a single breath.
‘I wasted the taste of good drink.’
Thinking of the food and wine he’d left uneaten, he lay down on his bed.
‘But something’s odd.’
With the intoxication gone, stray thoughts had begun to surface.
He recalled the strange, dark aura that had leaked from the Young Girl as she watched him during his slaying of the Xi’an Five Villains, and tilted his head in puzzlement.
“How is she still alive in that condition?”

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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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