Heavenly Demon of the Huashan Sect - Chapter 77

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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 77
The vessel carrying Suryong Pavilion’s men arrived at a cave carved into a cliff face.
The moment the ship entered the cave, darkness began to creep across everything.
“The woman should be dead by now.”
Huk Ya No’s expression darkened as the shadows swallowed him deeper.
How many times had he repeated the cycle—ordered by the Pavilion Master to kill them, only to let them live instead?
In that time, both of them had grown stronger.
The woman’s progress in particular had been terrifyingly steep.
“When I first saw her, she couldn’t even last a second. Now she pushes past a hundred exchanges.”
Even witnessing it, he could scarcely believe it.
Once, she could barely defend against the Black Night Palm; now she parried with ease and struck back in the same breath.
‘I should crush the bud while I still can.’
He exhaled and shook his head.
He couldn’t afford to do that.
To disobey the Suryong Pavilion Master’s order to withdraw at an appropriate moment would be unthinkable.
“Why would the Pavilion Master issue such a needless command…?”
No matter how he turned it over in his mind, he found no answer.
And that wasn’t all.
This endless cycle of pointless skirmishes had bred discontent even within Suryong Pavilion itself.
‘Ah, I can’t fathom the Pavilion Master’s intentions.’
Just as Huk Ya No pressed a finger to his temple, feeling a headache bloom—
Thud.
The vessel came to a halt.
At that same moment, luminous lights kindled one by one from the ceiling and all around—
Night-Illuminating Pearls.
So many had been seized over time that there were more than just a handful.
“Lord, what a burden this is.”
“What choice do we have? It’s the Pavilion Master’s order. We just have to grit our teeth and do it.”
The men, muttering their complaints, began filing off the vessel.
“So… I’m meant to wait again.”
As Huk Ya No watched his subordinates disappear through the ship’s passage like an ant trail and moved to follow—
Creak.
The captain’s cabin door opened.
“You worked hard today—”
Huk Ya No turned his head, and his expression froze like stone.
Standing in the doorway was not one of his men, but a stranger—a young man.
“Who are you…?”
In that instant, their eyes met.
Deep black pupils slowly ensnared Huk Ya No’s gaze and dragged it into darkness.
Whip. Whip.
Huk Ya No shook his head violently.
Regaining his senses, he moved his arm and grasped a weapon, his mouth opening to speak.
“Impressive willpower,” the youth said.
A smile bloomed at the corner of his mouth.
Light as down—soft as gossamer.
Yet watching that smile, Huk Ya No felt his blood run cold.
“Who… who are you?”
Whoosh.
The young man’s form suddenly vanished.
At the same moment, Huk Ya No’s face drained of all color.
The youth was now inches from his face.
“When did—!”
“You don’t need to know who I am.”
As those words fell—
Flash.
Blade light consumed Huk Ya No’s vision.
‘How can such a master be here…!’
And that was the last thought Huk Ya No ever had.
Splurt.
Blood erupting from Huk Ya No’s throat drenched the wooden deck crimson in the blink of an eye.
“What kind of headquarters is set up in a place like this?”
Cheon Hui clicked his tongue.
The journey here alone had been labyrinthine.
A cave as their base of operations?
It was no wonder he’d had such difficulty finding it.
Who could have possibly imagined that the headquarters of the Suryong Pavilion—one of the most elite powers under the Janggang Water Route Pavilion—lay hidden in a cave atop a cliff?
“Still quite a few of them left inside.”
Cheon Hui muttered while brushing the blood from his blade, then turned away.
“My whole body is killing me, I tell you.”
“Why do we have to do this ridiculous work anyway?”
Just then, a handful of disciples emerged from outside, complaining—only to freeze at the sight of Cheon Hui.
“Huh? Who are you?”
“Was there someone like him here?”
“Gasp!”
In that same instant, they all caught their breath.
There was a corpse standing before the young man.
The corpse of Huk Ya No himself.
“Wh-what? Master?!”
“An enemy—ack!”
But even as they rushed to cry out,
a blade flashed.
Sharp light gleamed once more, and cold bodies began to pile up.
“Cleared the inside out.”
Cheon Hui proceeded forward at an unhurried pace.
“Now, shall we finish the job?”
* * *
“Aaaahhhhh!”
“P-please, spare me!”
Those stationed outside suddenly heard screams erupting from within the vessel and seized their weapons in alarm.
“Wh-what’s happening?!”
“Screams are coming from the ship that Master Huk Ya No is aboard!”
“Fr-from the ship? Could it be enemies?”
“I don’t know, sir.”
They tensed, swallowing hard, and turned their eyes toward the vessel.
“……It’s gone quiet.”
The screaming had stopped dead.
And right then,
creak—creak—
the sound of footsteps on wooden boards echoed out.
Soon the sealed cabin door swung open, and a young man emerged.
A fair-faced youth dressed entirely in black martial garb.
His sharp features were marked by a thin line of blood trickling down his cheek.
The young man lifted his gaze.
“Let’s see. I’d wager over a hundred, easy.”
A low whisper drifted out.
And with it,
his ruddy lips split sideways, revealing pristine white teeth.
“This is going to take a moment.”
Cheon Hui kicked off the ground.
Unfolding the Dark Fragrance Step, he crossed from the vessel to the cave floor in a single breath, and cut down one who hadn’t yet realized he’d moved.
A wet slash.
The figure beside him tried to turn his head,
but a blade found him first.
The sword reached him faster still.
He fell so swiftly that he never even screamed—he simply ceased to be.
“Enemy!”
“An enemy has appeared!”
Only then did the disciples cry out in horror.
“What? Enemy? How many?”
“Where?!”
Enemies appeared from all sides.
Cheon Hui stroked his chin as he watched the densely emerging figures.
“Revolting.”
He muttered, watching them pour forth endlessly like cockroaches, as if from nowhere—where on earth had all these people been hiding?
“There are so many of them.”
The enemies that emerged outside began looking around for their target, and then they spotted Cheon Hui.
“Just one man?”
The enemies stared at the one who had called for help, their expressions deflating.
“Wait, don’t underestimate him! Look at all those corpses!”
Following the pointing finger, the enemies saw the sea of bodies hidden behind Cheon Hui, and their faces went rigid in an instant.
And at the same time, they gripped their weapons.
Meanwhile, Cheon Hui gazed at the enemies that had materialized before him. Or rather, he was studying the peculiar weapons they carried.
‘Interesting weapons indeed.’
Some bore curved sabers with curved edges, while others wielded whips adorned with sharp thorns.
Each and every one was a vicious weapon that made no attempt to conceal its lethal intent.
Stamp!
At that moment, the man wielding the whip kicked off the ground. Then, with a crude gesture, he swung the whip.
Tearing through the air, the whip lashed toward Cheon Hui’s flank.
Snap.
Cheon Hui lightly evaded the incoming attack and seized the thorned whip.
“Quite a fascinating weapon.”
“I’ll make it even more interesting for you.”
The man smirked and pulled the whip.
But then.
“Huff!”
The whip didn’t budge at all.
Whoosh!
In that moment, his body was dragged forward.
“When are you going to make it more interesting?”
“Agh!”
The instant his startled grip loosened on the whip.
“Why don’t I show you instead? Go ahead, look.”
Cheon Hui, who had by then properly seized the whip, swung it with tremendous force.
Crack!
A satisfying sound tore through the air.
The man’s garments were shredded by the thorns, and blood sprayed in all directions.
“Ahhhhhhh!”
A scream erupted from the depths of his body.
But the assault did not cease.
Crack! Crack!
After lashing with the whip several times, Cheon Hui wound him up and tore him apart in one motion.
“Next.”
Cheon Hui swept his gaze across the frozen figures.
Their eyes were soaked with terror, but Cheon Hui paid them no mind.
“If you won’t come forward—”
In an instant, Cheon Hui took a step forward.
“I’ll come to you.”
A few of them dropped their weapons and tried to flee, but before they could, a flash of the blade cut through the air.
“Don’t bother hoping to live. This time, unlike before, I’ll uproot you completely.”
Cheon Hui’s voice was hollow and devoid of emotion.
From the moment he received his assignment, there had been but one thought in his mind.
The annihilation of Suryong Pavilion.
Without a single survivor.
* * *
In the chamber where the Suryong Pavilion Master stayed.
The room was filled with rare and precious objects of every kind.
Seated in chairs facing one another were a lean, solidly built middle-aged man and an older man wearing a bamboo hat.
The older man in the bamboo hat twitched his lips at the commotion erupting outside.
“It’s noisy out there.”
“There’s no need to worry.”
Unlike him, the Suryong Pavilion Master remained composed.
It was the bearing of someone confident that, while Suryong Pavilion had been ambushed a handful of times in the past, it had never fallen.
“Has the Grand Pavilion Master made his move?”
The middle-aged man’s eyes turned cold.
“He’s already moving?”
“Heh. So you were underestimating the Grand Pavilion Master.”
The Suryong Pavilion Master laughed at him mockingly.
The Grand Pavilion Master of Janggang Water Route Pavilion.
In the Jianghu, he was known as an ignorant brute who understood nothing but force, but the Suryong Pavilion Master knew better.
He understood that the man was like a serpent.
“He is far more capable than you all realize.”
“It seems you trust him quite a bit.”
“It’s not trust—it’s fact.”
The middle-aged man, adjusting his Bamboo Hat slightly, saw the unwavering light in the Pavilion Master’s eyes and fell silent.
“And don’t think of betraying him.”
“What? Betrayal?”
Suddenly the Suryong Pavilion Master convulsed.
No—it wasn’t convulsion. It was rage.
“Using me as a tool while spouting honeyed words—how contemptible.”
“Ha ha. ‘Using’ is such an unfortunate choice of words. Isn’t this a fair exchange?”
Seeing the middle-aged man speak with such glib charm, the Suryong Pavilion Master could no longer restrain himself; he raised his fist and slammed it down on the table with a sharp crack.
“Wet your lips before you speak.”
Each word spilled from his mouth like something chewed to pieces, heavy with force, and his gaze bore into the Bamboo Hat the middle-aged man wore pulled low over his brow.
“You, who hold my weakness in your grip and toy with it.”
“Yet in the end, it was you who followed, wasn’t it?”
At these words that struck the core, the Suryong Pavilion Master lost speech and clenched his teeth.
For a long moment they stared at each other.
…….
The Suryong Pavilion Master finally sank back into his seat, and with an expression of resignation, he asked:
“What is it that Sib Night Gate is after, that you’d pit Janggang Water Route Pavilion against the Murim Alliance?”
The middle-aged man’s true identity was startling.
Sib Night Gate—the mysterious sect that commanded the night.
One of the pillars of the Five Emperor Sects, and a sect known throughout the realm as the most enigmatic and secretive of all.
“My lips are not loose.”
The Sib Night Gate member smiled with a thin hiss.
Understanding the meaning woven into that smile, the Suryong Pavilion Master’s brow furrowed.
“Then why have you come today?”
“Why else? To deliver the next order.”
“……How much longer must I continue this?”
“Well……”
The Sib Night Gate member tilted his Bamboo Hat slightly.
In his pitch-black pupils, the Suryong Pavilion Master could see his own reflection.
That image seemed as though he were trapped in an inescapable prison.
“For the rest of your life, wouldn’t you say?”
The Suryong Pavilion Master squeezed his eyes shut.
A weakness he had hidden for his entire life. Of all things, it had been exposed to these merciless men.
‘I should have fought back then.’
It was regret come too late.
Already his foot had sunk deep into the treacherous swamp these men had created for him.
With a look of resignation, his shoulders sagged as he muttered with a sigh:
“So what is the command this time? Are you ordering me to slaughter every member of the Cooperative Guard Force you sent?”
It was just a weary utterance, thrown out at random.
To strike at the Cooperative Guard Force was to strike at the Murim Alliance itself.
One careless misstep could ignite the Righteous-Evil Conflict itself.
And yet……
“You understand the situation remarkably well.”
……!
The Suryong Pavilion Master’s pupils trembled.
“You don’t…… you’re not thinking of starting a war?”
Instead of answering, he smiled faintly.
And that frigid smile, sharp as a thorn, pierced straight through the Suryong Pavilion Master’s heart, stealing his breath.
“He’s lost it. Completely lost his mind.”
The Suryong Pavilion Master couldn’t suppress his horror.
Bang!
The door shattered, dust billowing into the air.
At the same moment, Cheon Hui emerged through the swirling haze.
“Are we finished talking?”

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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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