Heavenly Demon of the Huashan Sect - Chapter 97

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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 97
The sudden arrival of the Jeol Gal Family sent a tremor through the once-quiet Huashan Sect.
“The Jeol Gal Family has come to the mountain?”
“What could they possibly want?”
The Daoists of Huashan watched the Jeol Gal delegation with unconcealed suspicion and hostility.
The Eight Great Families and the Nine Sects and One Alliance.
They had crossed a river that could never be recrossed—enemies beyond reconciliation.
The sharp atmosphere persisted.
“Everyone, be silent.”
But a quiet word brought the commotion to an end.
The Sect Leader appeared among them and approached the Jeol Gal delegation, his eyes searching.
“What brings the Jeol Gal Family to our mountain?”
At his tone—devoid of any welcome—the delegation hesitated for a moment before Je Gal Seong Hyeon stepped forward.
“An obscure student of the martial world greets the Sect Leader of Huashan.”
Je Gal Seong Hyeon bowed respectfully, his hands clasped in the formal salute, then raised his head.
“I am Je Gal Seong Hyeon of the Jeol Gal Family. I’ve come to the mountain to accept a commission that your family requested of ours.”
“A commission?”
The Sect Leader’s eyes narrowed.
“What do you mean by a commission?”
“Did you not send a letter directly to our family head?”
In an instant, the Sect Leader’s gaze grew cold.
A letter to the Jeol Gal Family head?
No such thing had ever happened.
“I sent no letter.”
As the Sect Leader spoke with the confusion of genuine ignorance, Je Gal Seong Hyeon began to falter.
“However, Cheon Hui of Huashan…”
“I called them.”
Cheon Hui stepped forward from between the two.
The Jeol Gal delegation gasped at the astonishing swiftness of his movement.
But what truly shocked them was something else.
‘This is Cheon Hui?’
Je Gal Seong Hyeon’s mind reeled.
‘So young…’
The reality bore no resemblance to his imagination.
The blueprints drawn in the letter carried the weight of countless years—the unmistakable patina of age and experience.
And more than that:
The intricate mechanism arrays within them seemed designed by someone who had devoted a lifetime to studying array formations.
Yet he appeared to be the same age as Je Gal Seong Hyeon himself.
‘Who has taught him?’
Meanwhile, Cheon Hui studied Je Gal Seong Hyeon in return.
‘Younger than expected—and they’ve sent him as their representative.’
The thought mirrored Je Gal Seong Hyeon’s own assessment.
The trials outlined in the blueprints, based on the Tianma Ten Gates, were remarkably intricate.
‘I expected at least an elder to come.’
His gaze swept across the figures behind Je Gal Seong Hyeon, but among them he found not a single master of exceptional caliber.
Could they even construct it properly?
As doubt flickered across Cheon Hui’s face, the Sect Leader’s voice cut through.
“What is the meaning of this?”
His tone had shifted—no longer measured, but hard and brittle as flint.
It was the voice of one issuing a rebuke.
‘Perhaps I should have told the Sect Leader first.’
Cheon Hui understood the Sect Leader’s dismay.
The Jeol Gal Family and Huashan were enemies.
To summon them to the main compound without a word to the Sect Leader himself—worry was inevitable.
“I requested their help.”
“For what purpose?”
The Sect Leader’s brow furrowed deeper.
“I need them to design mechanism arrays for trials to help our disciples grow stronger.”
“This is the first I’m hearing of it.”
“I forgot to mention it.”
At Cheon Hui’s words, the Sect Leader steadied himself with one hand, his head throbbing as he spoke.
“The Jeol Gal Family is necessary for this?”
“For the Huashan Sect to grow stronger, even a day sooner.”
Hearing Cheon Hui’s composed voice, the Sect Leader’s heart lurched.
‘So it’s necessary for the Huashan Sect to become stronger,’ he thought.
It had stung a little that Cheon Hui had summoned the Jeol Gal Family without telling him first, but hearing the reason eased his heart.
‘If Cheon Hui says it must be done……’
Everything Cheon Hui had undertaken thus far had benefited the sect.
The Sect Leader recalled all that he had accomplished.
Numerous mission completions and the elimination of Baek Gwi Seong.
The creation of growth elixirs for the Plum Blossom Sword disciples.
Each and every one had been a major undertaking, and all of it had been to the sect’s benefit.
He nodded slightly.
His conclusion was simple: anything Cheon Hui did could be trusted implicitly.
“I shall hear the details of this matter properly at a later time.”
The Sect Leader turned his head at once.
With a light bow of courtesy, he addressed the Jeol Gal Family party and opened his mouth.
“Infinite compassion. We welcome your visit.”
“Ah, no, that’s not necessary.”
Just as Je Gal Seong Hyeon was taken aback by the Sect Leader’s sudden shift in demeanor—
“But is this the entire contingent?”
Cheon Hui spoke, looking at the party.
“It is, but……”
Cheon Hui’s expression darkened.
Twenty people seemed far too few to complete the gates he had already designed in the time he had anticipated.
“I want to finish as quickly as possible. Can you meet the deadline with this many people?”
“What are you saying—!”
“Do you know who we are!”
The Jeol Gal Family party bristled with indignation.
“Compose yourselves.”
Je Gal Seong Hyeon calmed them with an even tone, then met Cheon Hui’s gaze.
“The people I’ve brought here are among the finest our family has to offer. We can complete any commission swiftly.”
“Even the commission I sent you?”
“Indeed.”
Interesting.
Cheon Hui regarded him with surprise.
His cultivation was mediocre at best.
Barely second-rate.
Yet he carried himself without hesitation, independent of martial prowess.
‘Confidence is admirable. But if he fails to meet the deadline……’
The corner of Cheon Hui’s mouth twisted slightly.
“I’ll trust you for now, then.”
* * *
Je Gal Seong Hyeon, seated across from Cheon Hui, unfolded the blueprint he had brought carefully from within his robes.
The letter, stiff from being unfolded and handled countless times on the journey, was now creased and darkened with the grime of his hands.
“I have reviewed the blueprint.”
Je Gal Seong Hyeon’s face hardened.
“Can the Mechanism Array function according to the design?”
Cheon Hui, watching Je Gal Seong Hyeon speak in his clipped, businesslike manner, nodded.
“Yes.”
“That is all?”
“You can verify everything once it’s complete.”
Je Gal Seong Hyeon clicked his tongue.
“Very well. Then let us begin discussing this gate.”
His expression transformed entirely.
The face that had been rigid moments before now wore a broad smile.
It was like the guileless face of a child who had discovered something fascinating.
“I grasped the general concept from the blueprints. But I have several questions. Starting here……”
Je Gal Seong Hyeon pointed to the seven unfolded blueprints and continued speaking.
Watching him, Cheon Hui’s eyes narrowed.
‘So it is the Jeol Gal Family after all.’
Not only had he grasped the blueprint at a glance, something most would struggle to decipher, but he’d pierced straight to its essence in his questioning.
Meanwhile, Je Gal Seong Hyeon, who had followed the entire exchange, found himself clicking his tongue without thinking.
‘There is always a sky above the sky.’
Throughout his life, the Jeol Gal Family had upheld him as a prodigy, and he had believed it himself.
But he was wrong.
Today, for the first time, he had met a true genius.
“But will it truly work as designed?”
Je Gal Seong Hyeon asked carefully, his face drawn with tension.
“If we build it exactly as shown, there’s a risk of serious injury to those who attempt it.”
During the journey to Huashan, he had studied the blueprint repeatedly, marveling at its ingenious mechanism arrays and formation methods.
But as time passed, his amazement had turned to horror.
‘For a Daoist trial, it is merciless.’
The gates fashioned through mechanism arrays and formation methods seemed less like trials of the Daoist path and more like the brutal ordeals favored by martial sects obsessed with combat prowess.
‘Yes, like the Demon Cult’s…….’
Je Gal Seong Hyeon shook his head sharply.
This was Huashan. How could he even think of the Demon Cult?
“Wouldn’t it be better to adjust it somewhat for safety?”
“No.”
Cheon Hui cut off his words flatly.
“As long as they don’t die, it doesn’t matter.”
“As, as long as they don’t die, you say?”
“Yes.”
Je Gal Seong Hyeon was taken aback at those words.
What kind of Daoist would speak like that?
And what kind of eyes would shine with such intensity?
Gazing into those eyes—cold and sharp as ice itself—Je Gal Seong Hyeon swallowed hard.
“Ahem. Understood. Then I shall begin construction tomorrow. For several of these mechanism arrays, I’ll need to work through the details myself—would it be acceptable to ask you to oversee those portions?”
Je Gal Seong Hyeon continued briskly.
“I was planning on it.”
Cheon Hui replied flatly, and Je Gal Seong Hyeon tucked the blueprint back into his robes.
“Then I shall take my leave.”
He stood to depart, then paused.
“By the way, have you decided on a name for these gates?”
Cheon Hui smiled faintly and answered.
“The Plum Blossom Seven Gates.”
* * *
The Sect Leader stared at several sheets of paper filled densely with diagrams and text.
“This is what you call the Plum Blossom Seven Gates?”
“Yes.”
“Let me examine it.”
The Sect Leader immediately unfolded the papers.
“What? This is……!”
His eyes widened.
He began alternating between studying the diagrams and reading the text, and soon his hands were moving faster and faster across the page.
‘Extraordinary! To cultivate martial arts through this method? But surely the body wouldn’t survive more than a single stage……But if it’s done this way…….’
As he read on, his mind reeled.
Seven gates in total—each one so intricate that passage through it would be nearly impossible, and yet the results promised were devastating in their extremity.
‘Ascetic training indeed.’
Calling it ascetic training barely seemed adequate.
It was as though everything else had been stripped away in pursuit of martial strength alone.
The paper trembled in his grip.
“……Did you truly conceive of this yourself?”
“Yes.”
“Do you believe these results are achievable?”
“Entirely possible.”
At Cheon Hui’s answer, the Sect Leader exhaled slowly.
Though the gates were undeniably brutal, their promised results were staggering enough to justify everything.
‘I thought there was nothing left about Cheon Hui that could surprise me.’
His mind spun.
Talent in martial arts, followed by talent in medicine.
Now talent in architecture as well.
It was enough to make him laugh at himself.
“What do you think? Not bad, is it?”
At Cheon Hui’s question, the Sect Leader fell into thought.
He could certainly say that if he constructed this gate exactly as written and used it to train his disciples, they would show rapid progress.
But.
“Each gate is certainly well-designed, but they’re far too focused on martial prowess.”
“These gates are meant for achieving martial prowess, after all.”
“There’s something you’re overlooking.”
The Sect Leader fixed Cheon Hui with a steady gaze.
“This sect is Daoist.”
“And a Jianghu sect as well.”
At the rebuttal, the Sect Leader’s eyes narrowed slightly.
For a moment he regarded Cheon Hui with a sharp gleam, and then the corners of his eyes crinkled.
“You’re right.”
Cheon Hui’s face showed surprise.
‘I didn’t expect him to concede so readily.’
Cheon Hui lifted his shoulders with a slight shrug.
“So you’ll permit it?”
“Ha! Did you think I would refuse?”
“Well, as you said, we are Daoist after all.”
“Ha! In the old days, perhaps I would have refused, but not now.”
The Sect Leader’s voice grew deeper.
“To cultivate the Way and to practice righteousness both require strength. How could one without power speak of righteousness and the Way in the Jianghu?”
There was weight behind the Sect Leader’s words.
No matter how much one preached righteousness and the Way, without strength one would eventually fall.
‘Now he’s starting to sound like the Sect Leader of this sect again.’
As Cheon Hui watched the Sect Leader with an expression of approval,
“But Cheon Hui,”
the Sect Leader spoke up.
“The next time you’re planning something like this, tell me first.”
“Yes, I’ll do that from now on.”
Hearing Cheon Hui’s firm assent, the Sect Leader smiled gently and stroked his beard.
“I noticed there are quite a few things needed to construct these gates.”
“That’s why I was planning to go find them.”
Cheon Hui’s gaze fixed on one particular place.
That place was the Jae Ryeong Pavilion, which managed the Huashan Sect’s finances.
Meanwhile, at the Jae Ryeong Pavilion, Hyeon Ryeo stared at documents piled like mountains on her desk, and pressed her forefinger firmly against her forehead as a frown creased her brow.
“Sigh.”
A deep breath escaped from within her lungs.
“At least this is good news.”
She gripped the letter before her.
The letter, made clearly of fine golden thread, bore the official seal of the Lord of Qinghai City pressed prominently upon it.
“A hundred Gold Coins.”
In that moment, laughter escaped Hyeon Ryeo.
She had been tightening her belt and saving money for some time to open the gates of the Huashan Sect.
So to have such an unexpected windfall arrive was reason enough to laugh.
Knock, knock.
“What is it?”
“There’s something I’d like to discuss with you.”
At a voice that was not the thick, weighty tone she had expected, Hyeon Ryeo hastily rose from her seat and opened the door.
Standing before the door was Cheon Hui, the owner of that voice.
Hyeon Ryeo immediately embraced him.
“Hui!”
“It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other.”
Cheon Hui answered matter-of-factly.
He was already accustomed to being embraced by her, as it was far from the first time.
Hyeon Ryeo released him and lifted her head.
“When did you return?”
“About four days now.”
“Four days?”
Hyeon Ryeo’s eyes narrowed sharply.
Soon she glared at something in the distance, ground her teeth, and shook her head.
‘No, I shouldn’t concern myself with this.’
Of late, she had been deliberately putting small distances between herself and Cheon Hui.
It was partly at the request of Sect Leader and Hyeon Do.
But it was also because watching Cheon Hui grow by the day stirred something within her.
He was far too vast a presence to remain forever in her embrace.
That was why she wanted to let him go.
“So. You said you had something to discuss?”
“Yes.”
“We shouldn’t talk out here. Come inside.”
Hyeon Ryeo led him into the room at once.
‘It’s like stepping into the Demon Brain’s chamber.’
Cheon Hui surveyed the space around him.
Signed documents everywhere, and above them, papers stacked thick as snow.
Just by looking at them, he could sense how much she had shouldered alone.
‘This is certainly tedious work.’
The memory of the Demon Brain, who had once handled most of the sect leader’s duties, coaxed a smile from him unbidden.
In his past life, when everyone had been an enemy, the Demon Brain was the one person he could trust.
As nostalgia began to drift over him—
“…Hey, Hui!”
Hyeon Ryeo’s call pulled him back to the present.
Cheon Hui came to his senses, settled into a chair that looked quite old, and spoke his purpose plainly.
“I need to procure some items.”
“Items? What kind of items?”
“Things needed to construct the Plum Blossom Seven Gates.”
“The Plum Blossom Seven Gates?”
“It’s the gate trial I’m creating this time. I’ve already received permission from Sect Leader.”
“…I see.”
Hyeon Ryeo hid her bewilderment, took up a brush, and prepared to write down the list.
Cheon Hui opened his mouth as she did.
“First, I’ll need two hundred arrows without arrowheads…”
“Two… two hundred arrows?”
Hyeon Ryeo faltered mid-stroke, visibly startled.
“Do you really need that many arrows?”
“There’s a reason for it. If you’re really curious, you could ask Sect Leader about it.”
Cheon Hui mentioned the Sect Leader and resumed where he had paused.
“After the arrows, five hundred Bigu Pills, and five torches…”
With each item, Hyeon Ryeo found it harder to conceal her shock.
When Cheon Hui spoke his final request, her brush hand came to a halt.
Her mouth fell open.
“And lastly, two Night-Illuminating Pearls as well.”

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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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