Heavenly Demon of the Huashan Sect - Chapter 63

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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 63
Cheon Yu glanced back at Cheon Hui following behind, then quietly asked Hyeon Jin.
“Would it be all right to bring the junior disciple along?”
“Cheon Hui is a Huashan Sect disciple now. It’s something he’ll experience someday anyway — wouldn’t it be better for him to familiarize himself with these missions sooner rather than later?”
“But the place we’re going to is…….”
“It’s fine.”
Hyeon Jin cut the matter short.
“We’ll be there, won’t we?”
Meanwhile, a figure in the Plum Blossom Sword rank approached Cheon Hui’s side.
The man had a warm, bear-like countenance, and despite joining the sect later than the others, he had earned the Plum Blossom Sword rank through his outstanding skill — Gu Gyeom Wi.
“Stay close to my side.”
The tenderness and concern in his voice as he looked at Cheon Hui were unmistakable.
‘His appearance has improved, at least.’
He glanced sideways at Cheon Hui.
The handsome young man before him bore little resemblance to the figure Gu Gyeom Wi remembered.
The Cheon Hui he knew was frozen in memory as a frail child, so painfully thin he looked ready to collapse at any moment.
That was why he could take joy in this change.
‘He’s finally recovered.’ So he thought.
But perhaps because of that very reason.
Gu Gyeom Wi was all the more reluctant about Cheon Hui coming along on this mission.
He had barely recovered his health and grown strong — Gu Gyeom Wi didn’t want to expose him to the risks of a mission like this.
Most of the Plum Blossom Sword disciples shared Gu Gyeom Wi’s sentiment.
To them, Cheon Hui was a sanctuary of the heart, the youngest junior disciple they had cherished and doted on from long ago.
“Does the junior disciple know what this mission is about?”
“He doesn’t.”
“……He doesn’t? And yet he agreed to come along?”
“Yes.”
“He, he came anyway?”
A bewildered Gu Gyeom Wi scratched his cheek.
Then his gaze shifted to the side.
The Plum Blossom Sword disciples who had been watching flinched at his look and let out a series of nervous coughs.
“Ahem. How about if the senior explained it?”
“I think it would be best if Senior Gu explained, since you always do it so perfectly.”
Embarrassed by their obvious eavesdropping, they turned their heads away.
“Sigh.”
Gu Gyeom Wi let out a deep breath.
“Junior disciple. Then listen carefully.”
Cheon Hui leaned in to listen.
What he had heard from Cheon Yu the night before was nothing but the most basic information.
That they would deal with a demon living in the mountains.
‘I left to prepare before hearing more details.’
Gu Gyeom Wi bent his knees slightly so he could meet Cheon Hui’s eyes, as the junior disciple was about a hand’s span shorter.
“The one we’ve been ordered to kill is a demon that the Gae Bang discovered after investigating rumors that common people have been going missing in the villages lately. It’s said he has mastered a vicious demonic art — killing the commoners and absorbing the Qi of the Dead…….”
Gu Gyeom Wi recited the information they had gathered.
The explanation continued this way, and after about an hour, Hyeon Jin came to a halt.
“We’ve arrived.”
The place they reached was Tongshan, situated not far from Hubei Province.
“……It must be inside there.”
As Hyeon Jin’s quiet words fell, a peculiar tension settled over them.
“Then everyone move into position.”
The Plum Blossom Sword disciples scattered in all directions.
“Cheon Hui, follow me.”
Hyeon Jin spoke to him.
He had already drawn his blade and stood vigilant, a subtle Internal Force radiating from him.
With that, Hyeon Jin moved forward.
‘Simple enough.’
Their strategy was transparent.
Encirclement, gradually tightening the noose.
It was straightforward, but efficient.
‘But is this truly the capability of the Plum Blossom Sword disciples?’
Cheon Hui recalled the movements of those departing figures.
Their escape technique had been swift enough, launching from the ground in a single bound—
‘So these are the Plum Blossom Sword Dancers.’
Compared to the Plum Blossom Sword Dancers of old, they were hopelessly weak.
‘Still, I suppose this is something to be grateful for.’
He shook his head.
The Huashan Sect of now was not the Huashan Sect of the past.
‘Each one of them surpasses Jeok Geom and Seol Ran by far.’
Crunch. Crunch.
He moved forward, treading through fallen leaves.
“……!”
Hyeon Jin came to an abrupt stop, his head turning.
‘We’ve found them.’
Cheon Hui turned as well.
He could feel the collision of Qi radiating from the direction Hyeon Jin was looking.
“Do you remember the way we came?”
Hyeon Jin spoke with urgency.
“Yes.”
“Then go back first.”
With those words, Hyeon Jin moved.
Thud!
In an instant, his feet struck the ground and the scattered leaves erupted skyward, and through that cloud he disappeared from sight.
“He’ll handle it on his own at that level.”
Cheon Hui lost interest and turned back.
The Qi of this so-called Demon was weaker than he’d expected.
‘Yet it’s not Demonic Energy either…… where have I sensed this before?’
Around the time Cheon Hui was retracing his steps, the Plum Blossom Sword Dancers had surrounded an elderly man and stood on guard.
“What business brings the Huashan Sect’s cultivators so deep into these mountains?”
The white-haired, white-bearded elder, who bore the simple appearance of a recluse, laughed carelessly and stroked his whiskers.
“Surely you know well enough, don’t you?”
Though his bearing seemed that of one who had renounced the world, the Plum Blossom Sword Dancers saw through it.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Did you think the slaughter of common people would pass unnoticed?”
The elder’s eyebrows twitched with barely contained emotion.
Then his face twisted into a grotesque mask as a damp, murderous intent rose from him.
“How did you learn of this?”
The Plum Blossom Sword Dancers made no answer.
Or could not.
The elder’s killing intent pressed down upon them with overwhelming force.
Then.
Flash!
A streak of light cleaved through his murderous aura.
“……!”
The elder’s head snapped around. There stood Hyeon Jin, sword drawn.
“Drop the pretense and accept the punishment your crimes deserve.”
“Punishment?”
The elder smiled with contempt.
“This seat has committed no crime worthy of punishment.”
“Even after slaughtering common people?”
“Ha! Those wretches merely became sustenance for this seat’s Blood Qi Art—shouldn’t they be grateful instead?”
“Blood Qi Art!”
Hyeon Jin’s eyes trembled for an instant.
“……Heuk Hyo Sal Ma.”
The elder’s lips twisted in a grotesque grin.
“Kek kek. So you know this seat’s name.”
Hyeon Jin, startled, glanced back and spoke.
“Everyone—fall back.”
The Plum Blossom Sword Dancers flinched.
When Hyeon Jin spoke such words, it meant the opponent was no trivial foe.
“Ha! As if that will save your lives.”
Heuk Hyo Sal Ma, who had been scoffing moments before, now revealed his true nature.
A chilling killing intent poured from his entire body, seeping into the surroundings and draining them of their senses.
“……!”
The plum blossom swordsmen stumbled back in shock.
Heuk Hyo Sal Ma seized that fleeting moment and moved.
Closing the distance in a single breath, he swept his hand toward the abdomen of Cheon Yu, who stood at the far left.
Thud!
A dull sound echoed through the air, and Cheon Yu’s knees buckled beneath him.
But it did not end there—Heuk Hyo Sal Ma’s hand rose again.
Flash!
In that instant, sword light surged from below.
“You bastard!”
Heuk Hyo Sal Ma, who had sidestepped the strike, cursed aloud.
“……Ugh.”
Cheon Yu, clutching his belly with one hand, now held a blade in his right hand that pointed toward the sky.
Heuk Hyo Sal Ma met Cheon Yu’s gaze—those eyes bloodshot and fierce—and felt a chill run through him. He drew upon his Internal Force.
“This one cannot be allowed to live!”
Vivid crimson qi began to gather at his right forearm.
It was the distinctive hand energy of the Blood Qi Hand technique he had mastered.
“Die!”
The enraged Heuk Hyo Sal Ma’s Blood Qi Hand tore through the air like a storm, shredding the very space around him.
Streaks of crimson energy lashed outward in all directions, as though they would rend Cheon Yu to pieces on the spot.
But there was one thing he had overlooked.
He was not fighting alone.
Clang!
A sharp, clear sound rang out.
Heuk Hyo Sal Ma’s eyes widened as Hyeon Jin suddenly appeared and swept his blade forward.
The next instant, a deafening blast erupted.
Boom!
Both Heuk Hyo Sal Ma and Hyeon Jin were sent flying backward.
Screee—
Bouncing apart from the impact, both men unfolded their lightness technique to steady themselves in mid-air.
In that moment, the plum blossom swordsmen moved as well.
Moving in unison with the Drifting Step, they surrounded the still-unbalanced Heuk Hyo Sal Ma and brought their blades down upon him.
“A coordinated assault?”
Heuk Hyo Sal Ma cried out in alarm.
But the plum blossom swordsmen paid his words no mind—their swords continued to fall.
Crack!
Heuk Hyo Sal Ma swept both hands outward.
Though his movements seemed careless and wild, they scattered sharp crimson energy in all directions.
Cling! Cling!
The swordsmen altered the trajectory of their blades to block the incoming energy.
And Heuk Hyo Sal Ma did not miss that opening.
Crack!
A sickening sound split the air, followed by the belated scream of one of the plum blossom swordsmen—Un Hyeon.
“Aaaaaah!”
Heuk Hyo Sal Ma seized Un Hyeon, whose forearm had been shattered, and hurled him toward the other swordsmen.
“Master!”
“Brother!”
As they rushed to catch Un Hyeon—
Whoosh!
Heuk Hyo Sal Ma fled.
“Everyone, stop! Hold your positions!”
Hyeon Jin called out, clutching his chest.
A thin line of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth—shaken by the collision, his Internal Force wavered—but he forced it to surge back into control.
“Gu Gyeom Wi, stay behind and tend to the wounded.”
“Let me go with you, I……”
“No. Remain here. He may return and take hostages. With your movement technique, you can flee from one bearing internal injuries—I trust you with this.”
“Ah!”
Gu Gyeom Wi burst into exclamation.
Hyeon Jin was speaking while considering the worst-case scenario that might unfold against all odds.
“Understood.”
Hyeon Jin bit his lip hard.
“The rest of you, follow me.”
As Hyeon Jin composed himself and the pursuit resumed in earnest—
“Damn it……!”
Heuk Hyo Sal Ma, cradling his shoulder as he fled in desperation, gnashed his teeth.
“Just a few more years and I would have reached Grand Completion!”
Rage welled up inside him.
His goal had been to achieve Grand Completion in the Blood Qi Art.
That greed—wiping out an entire village—had proven to be his undoing.
“Damn it, I’ve lost all the Internal Force I’d accumulated.”
His voice was drenched in fury.
How many people had he risked everything to kidnap and kill in order to build up this power?
Then his Qi sense flared.
“That one…….”
Heuk Hyo Sal Ma’s eyes sharpened.
On the descending mountain path stood a young Huashan Sect disciple in Sect Robes.
“Tch. Left a disciple behind, did they?”
His gaze glinted with malice.
Just as he bore ill will toward the Huashan Sect, perfect prey had walked right into his path.
Beyond that, though weaker than he’d expected, the disciple possessed far more nutritional value than common people.
He surged forward at once.
“Be good and become my meal……!”
The moment he spread both hands wide to tear the disciple to shreds with the Blood Qi Hand—
Whoosh—
The disciple turned, and their eyes met.
“……!”
In that instant, Heuk Hyo Sal Ma’s body froze.
Cold, impassive eyes.
The moment he saw them, an emotion he had long forgotten stirred within him.
Fear itself.
And in that very moment—
Splurt!
His head burst apart.
“So that’s what felt familiar—it was Blood Qi.”
Cheon Hui gazed down at Heuk Hyo Sal Ma, now headless and collapsed on the ground.
What he had sensed just moments before was the aura of the Blood Cult—the same faction he had crushed when they’d caused an uproar creating corpse demons in the past.
‘But are there still remnants of the Blood Cult out there?’
Cheon Hui looked down at the body.
“The way he moved about so openly suggests the Blood Cult hasn’t resurged. He probably just stumbled upon this technique by chance.”
He dismissed the corpse from his mind.
The Blood Cult had already been annihilated.
There was no need to concern himself with it.
“Lingering here would only be troublesome.”
Cheon Hui, watching Hyeon Jin approach from afar, left the spot. A moment later—
“……!”
Hyeon Jin and the Plum Blossom Sword Masters arrived only to gasp at the sight of the corpse.
“Who killed Heuk Hyo Sal Ma?”
Hyeon Jin’s shock was particularly acute.
Who was Heuk Hyo Sal Ma?
A demon whom even the Namgung clan—once a major power in Anhui Province—had failed to capture.
Yet here he lay, lifeless and cold.
His head crushed beyond recognition.
Hyeon Jin surveyed the surroundings.
Yet there was not a trace to be found.
As if someone had killed Heuk Hyo Sal Ma unilaterally.
“Who on earth…….”

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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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