Heavenly Demon of the Huashan Sect - Chapter 99

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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 99
Winter had slipped away, and spring had come.
New life that had hidden in the frozen earth, waiting for its moment, pushed tender green shoots through the soil the instant sunlight fell upon it, as though it had been holding its breath all along.
And with it.
Croak—croak—
Cheon Hui glanced at a frog stirring from hibernation, then turned his gaze forward.
Three months since Je Gal Seong Hyeon and his company had arrived.
While the season turned, Geon Won Cave had changed. No—Plum Blossom Seven Pavilion had changed as well.
“At last it has something like the proper form.”
Cheon Hui’s eyes fixed on the Plum Blossom Seven Pavilion.
A small door hung at the entrance, and on the wall beside it lay an inscription that caught the eye in a strangely compelling way.
Plum Blossom Seven Pavilion
He had carved it there with his sword on the first day.
‘How strange. I didn’t infuse it with any inner force.’
Had his energy seeped into the blade of its own accord when he swung it so casually?
Or had the Plum Blossom Divine Art now become so familiar to his hands and feet that it flowed naturally?
The inscription carried a peculiar power that captivated anyone who looked upon it.
‘Does the Plum Blossom Divine Art have this quality too?’
As he stroked his chin and studied the characters.
“Little brother!”
Je Gal Seong Hyeon emerged from the entrance with a bright smile spread across his face.
“When I moved as you suggested just now, the formation activated!”
Deep trust gleamed in Je Gal Seong Hyeon’s eyes as he looked upon Cheon Hui.
There was good reason for it.
The formation had refused to activate for days, troubling them all, yet his single word had solved it.
“So it’s finished then?”
“The First Stage is complete.”
At that moment, the entrance grew noisy.
“Goodness.”
“Finally it’s done.”
Members of the Je Gal Clan came streaming out, shaking dust from their clothes.
Ah yes, they are Je Gal Clan indeed.
He had thought it would take at least half a year to complete even the First Stage.
There were so many mechanisms to install, and the formation itself was far from simple.
Yet it had been completed faster than expected.
‘Now I see why he was so confident on the first day.’
“So we’ll need someone to test whether the First Stage activates properly now.”
“Ha. Testing it would be fine, but—”
Je Gal Seong Hyeon half-closed his eyes.
“Not just anyone can test it.”
Confident, wasn’t he.
“What standard would suffice then?”
“At minimum, they’d need to be a Peak Master.”
Je Gal Seong Hyeon spoke with absolute certainty.
‘Hm, even the Huashan Sect’s masters won’t find it easy to pass through this Trial Gateway.’
“A Peak Master at minimum, then?”
The moment those words left his mouth, the faces of the two men and women who served him flashed rapidly through Cheon Hui’s mind.
“Very well. I’ll have them brought here.”
About an hour later.
“You called for us?”
“Did you summon us?”
Cheon Hui looked at Jeok Geom and Seol Ran, whom he had called, then narrowed his eyes as he saw the group trailing behind them.
Sin Ui and So Hui and her retinue.
“Why did those people come?”
At Cheon Hui’s tone—as though addressing uninvited guests—Jeok Geom laughed awkwardly.
“Ha, well, that would be…”
As Jeok Geom glanced toward Sin Ui.
“I forced my way along,” Sin Ui said, stepping forward.
“I’ve been curious what’s kept you so busy lately.”

Arms folded, chin lifted, he alternated his gaze between Cheon Hui and Geon Won Cave, his weathered face twisting with irritation as he stroked his beard.
‘Hmph. So that’s what he’s been scheming. Wouldn’t show his face for weeks just to construct this absurdity.’
Ever since Sin Ui had created the Elixir of Hidden Fragrance, he’d taken it upon himself to tend the junior disciples alongside Ui Yak Dang Ju, drawing steadily closer to Cheon Hui.
Then, quite suddenly, Cheon Hui had stopped appearing at Taorin Field altogether.
“What in the world is this?”
Cheon Hui, though his face betrayed his full measure of complaint, answered him without ceremony.
“It’s a Trial Gateway.”
“A Trial Gateway……?”
Watching Sin Ui’s bewildered expression, Cheon Hui nodded approvingly.
“It works out well, really. We might have casualties, after all.”
His gaze drifted toward Jeok Geom and Seol Ran, and when they met his eyes, both of them shuddered as if seized by an inexplicable cold.
‘Elder brother?’
‘Elder sister?’
By the time the two had begun exchanging glances laden with nameless dread, Je Gal Seong Hyeon’s expression, fixed upon the arriving group, had grown altogether complicated.
‘No matter how many times I see it, it never ceases to astonish.’
The old man before him, his face heavy with discontent, was Seong Soo Sin Ui—the Supreme Master of All Under Heaven, who roamed freely through the Kangho without regard for anyone’s opinion.
And beside him stood a proud beauty, a girl, and a young man—all of imperial blood.
Moreover, the beauty was the daughter of Cheong Hae Seong Ju and bore the blood of the Emperor herself: So Hui, Military Commander of the realm.
‘All of them figures distant from the Kangho, and yet they gather within the Huashan Sect.’
However one looked at it, this strange assembly—wholly incongruous—was now dwelling in the Huashan Sect.
And at the center of it all stood Cheon Hui.
No—more than center.
‘The great master who knows no fear in All Under Heaven, and the imperial family itself, are watching the young Cheon Hui’s mood……. Though who am I to speak?’
A hollow laugh escaped him as the thought took shape.
When all was considered, wasn’t he himself the one who fit least of all?
Had his mind gone slack?
Meanwhile, Cheon Hui, who had grown serious for a moment before noticing Je Gal Seong Hyeon’s hollow, weary laughter, spoke.
“Now let’s test it.”
“Y-yes, of course!”
Je Gal Seong Hyeon, suddenly snapping back to attention, looked at the group and asked carefully.
“But among them, who will face the Trial Gateway……?”
“Jeok Geom. Seol Ran.”
Before his words had even finished, Cheon Hui flicked his fingers at the pair.
Both rushed over at once.
“Do you want to grow stronger?”
The question came without warning.
“Yes.”
“We do wish to, though——”
“If you want to grow stronger, enter.”
“If we enter, will we become stronger?”
“Have I ever lied to you?”
Jeok Geom and Seol Ran exchanged glances.
Then, with eyes blazing with resolve, they took their steps toward the entrance in unison.
Thud—thud—
The moment the darkness of the descending cave swallowed their forms and they vanished from sight.
Groan——
Geon Won Cave began to tremble as though a faint earthquake had seized it, and from within, a profound, ethereal energy poured forth.
“Ah, how remarkable.”
“Wooooow!”
“So this is a Formation Breaking……”
Sin Ui and So Hui’s entourage, watching from a distance, each reacted in their own way.
Good. It was working properly.
Quite satisfactory, in fact.
‘The Ten Thousand Kalpas Samsara Path I’ve woven at the entrance shows no flaws.’
The Ten Thousand Kalpas Samsara Path was a Formation Breaking of no return—one could enter but never leave—and it had been something he’d deemed crucial from the moment he first planned to construct the Plum Blossom Seven Pavilion.
“How many days will it remain active?”
“If they fail to pass through the Trial Gateway, they’ll be trapped without motion for a minimum of ten days.”
For now, that seemed sufficient.
That would do.

There were several reasons for creating the Plum Blossom Seven Pavilion, but one of the primary purposes was to serve as a substitute for actual combat experience.
Yet they could simply slip out whenever they wished?
There was no greater nonsense than that.
If that were allowed, no matter how lifelike the trial gateway felt, one’s mental discipline would inevitably slacken—wouldn’t it?
That’s why, to maintain genuine tension, he’d made it so that once someone entered the First Stage of Plum Blossom, they couldn’t escape for a maximum of ten days until they passed through.
“Though I must confess, I’m somewhat troubled by this.”
Je Gal Seong Hyeon scratched the back of his head.
“I worry that those undergoing the trial’s ordeal in a cave where day and night cannot be distinguished might suffer mental deterioration…….”
When he’d first completed it, he’d felt only joy, but now that he stopped to think about it, concern had taken the upper hand.
“Moreover, as one reaches the deeper levels of the trial, new mechanism formations will activate and compound the confusion further.”
The Plum Blossom Seven Pavilion was a hell of the mortal realm.
With seven separate mechanism formations deployed rather than just one, most warriors would likely lose their minds.
“That’s a problem only if they fail to pass through.”
Cheon Hui, who had designed this trial and understood its dangers intimately, remained unmoved.
If anything, he felt a touch of disappointment.
‘I wish I could have made it like the Heavenly Demon Ten Pavilions instead—where they’d be trapped for ten days rather than just this.’
The original Heavenly Demon Ten Pavilions was nothing like this.
Either one passed through, or one remained trapped and died.
Compared to that binary choice—succeed or perish—the Plum Blossom Seven Pavilion was a diluted version, almost merciful, with an escape route left open.
But there was no help for it.
Jang Mun In would never permit such a thing, and doing so immediately would cripple what was already a small sect’s fighting strength.
‘It won’t have the raw intensity the Heavenly Demon Ten Pavilions displayed, but they should still grow stronger.’
Though their lives wouldn’t be in immediate danger, undergoing ten consecutive days of trials would naturally lead to growth.
‘Besides, there’s another advantage to this.’
The original Heavenly Demon Ten Pavilions demanded one stake their life to enter, so few ever attempted it more than once.
But what of the Plum Blossom Seven Pavilion now?
There was no threat to life.
That meant if one had the will, one could enter again and again.
And that was precisely what the Huashan Sect needed right now, desperate as they were to grow stronger.
‘If they have the desire to become stronger and the spirit of competition, they’ll grow more than enough.’
This would suffice as it was.
Then.
“Hmm?”
Je Gal Seong Hyeon suddenly squinted his eyes.
“What’s this? That mechanism formation shouldn’t activate yet…….”
Something was clearly wrong, and he hesitated, his expression clouded with confusion.
“Why is this……?”
“Y-young master!”
Suddenly someone shouted urgently.
Cheon Hui and Je Gal Seong Hyeon turned their heads at the sudden cry.
One of the Je Gal Clan members came running toward them, his face drained of all color.
Watching the man charge forward as though on all fours, Je Gal Seong Hyeon felt a surge of dread.
“W-what problem has arisen?”
“R-right now!”
The man nodded frantically as though possessed.
“The mechanism formation is running wild!”
“What do you mean?!”
Je Gal Seong Hyeon broke into a desperate run at once.
Reaching the mechanism formation installed in Geon Won Cave, his expression grew grave.
……!
His eyes widened as he watched the formation gyrate erratically.
“Damn it!”
Je Gal Seong Hyeon clenched his fist.
The mechanism formation should have proceeded in sequence as designed.
But now.
“It’s activating all at once! This—this puts the two inside in mortal danger!”
Je Gal Seong Hyeon cried out urgently, gnawing at his thumbnail in anxious desperation.
“What are you all doing?! Stop it by any means necessary!”
“T-that is…….”
The man who’d reported the situation ground his teeth and trailed off.
Je Gal Seong Hyeon’s face drained of color as he watched the reaction.
“No, surely not…….”
“It… won’t stop.”
“……Damn it.”
Je Gal Seong Hyeon’s shoulders sagged.
He couldn’t even manage a proper curse.
‘If they die in there…….’
His vision swam in darkness.
One wrong move and the two inside could succumb to starvation or be killed by the runaway Mechanism Formation.
‘If those two perish, we cross a river from which there’s no return.’
As he imagined the catastrophe that would unfold, vertigo seized him.
‘If responsibility falls on me for this…….’
Just as he was conjuring the worst of scenarios.
“What is it?”
A voice came from behind.
He turned to see Cheon Hui standing there—though when he’d arrived, Je Gal Seong Hyeon couldn’t say.
“It’s…….”
For a moment Je Gal Seong Hyeon fumbled for words, his mind a tangle, before finally swallowing hard and laying bare the situation.
“……The formation we set up the second time has gone haywire, and the Mechanism Formation that should have activated in sequence is firing all at once.”
What?
It was far more serious than he’d thought.
Under normal circumstances, Seol Ran and Jeok Geom could have easily navigated the Mechanism Formation of the First Stage of the Plum Blossom Divine Art, but now the rules had changed entirely.
“Didn’t you say it was completed properly just before?”
“……My apologies.”
Je Gal Seong Hyeon squeezed his eyes shut and bowed his head. In this situation, there was nothing but an apology to offer.
“It’s all my fault.”
Well, it wasn’t entirely his fault.
Cheon Hui glanced at the back of Je Gal Seong Hyeon’s head with a sharp look, then abruptly turned on his heel.
“All right, we’ll settle this later. We can discuss it properly once this is over.”
“Seol Ran?”
As Je Gal Seong Hyeon stood bewildered, watching Cheon Hui depart without further interrogation.
Thud—thud—
Cheon Hui walked toward the entrance.
“Wait, where are you going?”
“We need to get them out first.”
“Sir?”
“You can’t go in alone!”
Je Gal Seong Hyeon cried out in alarm.
The Ten Thousand Kalpas Samsara Path was a formation from which, once activated and entered, there was absolutely no escape until it was broken.
But this situation was worse still.
The Ten Thousand Kalpas Samsara Path had tangled so severely that even breaking it was now impossible.
‘I can’t let Seol Ran die too!’
Just as Je Gal Seong Hyeon rushed forward to stop him.
Crack!
His body froze at the sight that followed.
The First Stage of the Plum Blossom Divine Art was the fruit of long labor, combining the Je Gal Clan’s secret arts with the newly acquired Mechanism Formation and its sealing technique.
Then Cheon Hui extended his hand.
As if plucking an insect from the air, he clenched his fist.
Shatter!
The sound of breaking glass rang out, and the interior of the cave, veiled in darkness, was suddenly laid bare.
“……!”
Je Gal Seong Hyeon’s mouth fell open.
And that wasn’t all.
The Je Gal Clan’s party and Sin Ui alike.
Even So Hui and her entourage, who had been watching with indifference, were seized by shock.
Thud—
Cheon Hui stepped inside.
“Aaaaagh!”
“Senior! Get out of the way!”
So that’s the way.
Hearing the echoes of their cries, Cheon Hui rolled his feet lightly forward.

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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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