Heavenly Demon of the Huashan Sect - Chapter 58

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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 58
“Come now, you there!”
Cheon Hui’s brow furrowed at Dan Mok Jin Gang’s voice, sharp as needles piercing his ears.
“Do you understand why Dan Mok Rin’s condition has become like this?”
“It’s the Yin Energy Constitution.”
“Y-yes, that. What exactly is it?”
“What? You don’t know either—ah!”
He caught himself mid-word.
‘Ah, it’s no wonder he doesn’t know. I myself would have dismissed it as some illness and moved on, had I not read the Greatest Scroll Under Heaven.’
It was only natural, after all.
One lives normally, and then one day, Internal Energy vanishes without warning?
Who would suspect the body itself was the source?
Most would assume, as these two did, that some mysterious illness had struck.
Even physicians would surely think the same.
Dan Mok Jin Gang, observing Cheon Hui’s sudden silence, pressed forward with urgency, as though grasping at straws before hearing a full answer.
“Can you explain what this Yin Energy Constitution is? It concerns Lin’s very life—”
Just as Dan Mok Jin Gang’s voice, normally so steadfast, began to rise higher and higher.
Tug—
Two skeletal fingers belonging to Dan Mok Rin seized his sleeve and pulled.
“Uncle, please calm yourself.”
Dan Mok Rin checked her agitated uncle. Then, tilting her chin slightly upward, she fixed her gaze directly on Cheon Hui.
“So then, you’re saying my body isn’t an illness, but a constitutional problem?”
Her voice trembled faintly—unable to contain her excitement.
“In a manner of speaking, yes.”
In an instant, thick dark silk strands swung close.
The fine, densely woven hair that had been at a distance now wavered directly before his face, warm breath seeping through the strands.
As Cheon Hui gazed past the silk—as though looking through a mirror into himself—her voice spilled out.
“Can you tell me in detail about the Yin Energy Constitution?”
Her voice, pleading so desperately, was cracked like parched earth.
“Is that what you meant to ask just now?”
“Not quite, but—”
“It’s fine.”
“Really?”
Cheon Hui nodded.
‘I still have a few more questions anyway.’
His gaze shifted toward the girl’s abdomen—her Lower Dantian.
“The Yin Energy Constitution is a physiology that gathers Yin Energy simply through breathing.”
“…!”
Dan Mok Rin’s eyes widened.
Just as he said—ever since childhood, Yin Energy had accumulated through nothing but her breath.
“Which means you possessed exceptional Energy Perception from an early age, and thanks to that, when you cultivated your Internal Energy Cultivation Method, you built your Internal Energy faster than others, didn’t you?”
“Y-yes, that’s right.”
At his words, spoken as though he had known her all along, she responded in a bewildered tone.
“But this very advantage creates a problem.”
“…A problem, you say?”
Watching her falter, Cheon Hui opened his mouth, his gaze fixed on her Lower Dantian.
“As you accumulate Internal Energy, the Yin Energy grows stronger in turn. And that Yin Energy slowly freezes your meridians and steals your life—a change you, above all others, would know best.”
Dan Mok Rin’s hair trembled violently.
‘So that’s what it was.’
Everything fell into place now.
Her exceptional Energy Perception. Her rapid progress—incomparable to the other disciples.
And the true nature of that cold Qi that physicians spoke of, the coldness that froze her body.
“Then, can you understand a cure for this constitutional affliction?”
Dan Mok Jin Gang, who had been watching, asked Cheon Hui as though grasping at a final straw.
“The correct method for the Yin Energy Constitution is to learn the Internal Energy Cultivation Method only after the bones and meridians have fully developed during growth—but looking at her, it’s already too late.”
“T-too late? You mean because of the Heart Technique?”
“Because Yin Energy has accumulated to a degree she cannot bear.”
“Ah…”
Dan Mok Jin Gang regarded Dan Mok Rin with an expression as though the heavens themselves had collapsed, then let his head drop weakly.
“Forgive me. It’s all my fault. Had I not pressed her to learn martial arts from ever earlier ages—”
Dan Mok Jin Gang fell into deep thought.
‘I made a mistake.’
It was he who had recognized Dan Mok Rin’s exceptional talent and urged the clan head to let her train in martial arts from childhood.
“No, Uncle. Don’t say that.”
Dan Mok Rin took hold of Dan Mok Jin Gang’s hand.
“I chose to learn martial arts myself.”
She tried to comfort him.
Soon after, she turned to Cheon Hui and asked, “Is there truly no other way?”
“……I’m not certain, but if we could purge every trace of Yin Energy from your body, it might be manageable.”
Cheon Hui spoke without absolute conviction.
He knew of the Yin Energy Constitution, but not how to treat it.
‘The Life and Death Manual wasn’t written for the purpose of healing, after all.’
He thought to himself.
“Only the Yin Energy, you say?”
“……That would be impossible.”
Both of them showed skeptical expressions.
Touching only the Yin Energy that had penetrated her body was absurd — virtually impossible without the mastery of Internal Energy at a divine level.
It bordered on the impossible without such otherworldly skill.
Yet neither of them knew.
That such a person stood right before them.
Crackle, crackle.
The sound of burning wood spread through the air.
As daylight faded and night descended, the party made camp on a desolate stretch of the Plains.
Five bedrolls lay scattered across the empty ground.
One of them remained unoccupied.
As the others drifted toward sleep, Cheon Hui walked out to find a quiet spot nearby.
Step—step—
He walked to the accompaniment of insects singing all around him.
Beneath the moonlit sky, the world stretched out with a strange vitality wholly different from the day — alive, shimmering with an energy all its own.
“This should do.”
Finding a patch of sparse grass, Cheon Hui dropped to the ground.
“Hah.”
He steadied his breathing gradually.
Drawing the night air deep into his lungs in the quiet field, the cold swept through his chest like a cleansing wind.
‘Perfect.’
His eyes closed softly.
The vitality that filled the space around him began to flow, and slowly it enveloped him entirely.
As Cheon Hui entered Energy Breathing Meditation,
—swish—
Dan Mok Rin’s eyes opened.
What woke her from her restless sleep was the soft caress of moonlight on her cheeks.
‘……Yin Energy Constitution.’
Gazing up at the moon in the sky, she rose from her bedroll as if entranced.
The moonlight bathed her where she stood.
Her unique black and white hair, mingled in equal parts, shimmered beneath the descending light, casting an air of mystery about her.
‘So it wasn’t some unknown affliction — my meridians were frozen by Yin Energy all along…….’
Learning that what she’d thought was an illness stemmed from her body’s inherent nature left her heart in turmoil.
Just as her hand clenched against her chest,
—whoosh—
her head snapped suddenly toward the source.
“That is…….”
From far away, a powerful presence made itself felt.
An overwhelming force like a vast ocean — so immense that if she didn’t focus, it would swallow her whole.
‘This is from back then…….’
She quickly pulled the hat she’d cast aside back onto her head.
The brilliant black and white hair vanished beneath the brim and its cloth lining, and her face was hidden in shadow.
With her hat pulled low, she turned toward that presence and walked forward quietly.
Step—step—
As the presence grew stronger, her pace quickened of its own accord.
A moment later, she came to a halt.
‘This place…….’
Cheon Hui stood in the empty clearing.
And nearby, a sight almost as fantastic as a dream greeted her.
‘Plum blossoms?’
Her breath caught short, a tremor running through her.
Where nothing had existed before, there now stood not plum blossoms, but Huashan itself—the legendary mountain she’d only heard whispered about.
As though the world had been divided by his presence, she gazed upon it as if enchanted.
“Ahhh—”
A heavy breath escaped her lips.
Stepping into the landscape he had created, she felt as though she had escaped the Heavenly Punishment that had bound her, and found freedom at last.
‘She’s not coming any closer.’
Cheon Hui, who had been performing Energy Breathing Meditation, opened his eyes as he sensed Dan Mok Rin approaching closer and closer.
Slowly—
He unfolded his crossed-legged position and rose to his feet.
In that instant.
“Ah.”
Dan Mok Rin let out a regretful sigh.
The sweetness that had felt like a dream melted away like snow.
Coming to her senses, she blinked her eyes open and shut.
Then, feeling his gaze upon her, she flushed deeply and bowed her head low in apology.
“I’m terribly sorry.”
“It’s all right.”
Cheon Hui dismissed the apology readily.
It was nothing—so long as she didn’t touch him during Energy Breathing Meditation.
Just as he turned to find sleep—
“Wait!”
At the call, Cheon Hui turned his head.
She, whose frame was smaller than his shoulders, lifted her head and looked up at him.
“Please, help me.”
The moment Dan Mok Rin’s eyes met his, the words tumbled out.
That overwhelming force she had felt just now.
If he could command such power, surely he could dispel the Yin Energy within her body.
As she waited for his answer, she found only silence, and her head rose slightly.
‘Ah…….’
Watching his unmoved expression remain unchanged as time passed, she found herself gripping her sleeve tightly without knowing why.
It was a desperate, instinctive gesture—one who stood at death’s door clinging desperately to one who might save her life.
“……Please, I beg you, help me.”
Dan Mok Rin made her request once more.
Though her voice was so hoarse that anyone else would have frowned, Cheon Hui heard in it a sorrow both genuine and profound.
‘Help her?’
But that was all.
Cheon Hui felt not a shred of compassion for her.
What concern was it of his whether she lived or died?
“Why should I?”
“Ahhh—”
At his cold reply, Dan Mok Rin’s frail frame swayed sharply.
Cheon Hui, watching her look as though she might collapse, fell into thought.
In truth, the treatment itself wasn’t difficult.
But to perform it would require drawing forth his Internal Energy and applying it with precision—considerably troublesome, which was why he had refused.
‘The daughter of the Dan Mok Clan, was it.’
After a moment’s consideration, he spoke.
“Well, all right. I’ll help you.”
In that instant, Dan Mok Rin’s head snapped up.
“Truly?”
“But it’s not free.”
Cheon Hui cut short her question.
“If I treat you, what will you give me in return?”
At his words, the brightness that had returned to Dan Mok Rin’s face—which had wavered on the edge of despair—suddenly gave way to contemplation.
‘What could I possibly offer…….’
Her eyes trembled as she considered.
The first thing that came to mind was the Dan Mok Clan’s backing and her own worth.
But what good was any of that?
She’d forgotten it for a moment, but her opponent was a Huashan Sect master.
One of the Nine Factions who had made enemies of the Dan Mok Clan, which belonged to the Bi Cheon Society.
Even the Dan Mok name she could invoke would hardly be something her opponent coveted.
‘I can’t simply pay money for this. If I did, it would have to be at least a Thousand Year Fire Ginseng or a Thousand Year Snow Ginseng…….’
She bit her lip hard.
The Dan Mok Clan’s finances were in poor condition to procure either a Thousand Year Fire Ginseng or a Thousand Year Snow Ginseng.
And she couldn’t settle it with money.
To resolve the price of a life with mere wealth would diminish her own value.
‘……If only I hadn’t bought so many Spirit Medicines.’
Belated regret washed over her.
She had consumed countless Spirit Medicines and Internal Elixir Pills, but nothing remained now.
But what could be done?
It was already in the past.
In the end, all she had to offer were her family’s name and herself.
“The price is…….”
She hesitated as the words formed on her tongue.
But she quickly shook her head and spoke with resolute determination.
“I will give you everything I have.”

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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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