Obtaining Heavenly Demon Martial Arts in the Magic Era - Chapter 33

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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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33
Pitch-black darkness had descended on the abandoned industrial complex at the city’s edge.
Blue police lights and red emergency sirens crisscrossed frantically above the acrid haze of cement dust that hung in the air.
Had it not been for an anonymous tip, the sudden structural collapse would have gone unnoticed, and
the situation had been perilously close to sending secondary damage cascading into the residential neighborhoods nearby.
“Expand the police line! Full cordon on civilian access. Secure the fire department entrance—no exceptions!”
The responding detectives’ first priority was cordoning off the perimeter of the scene, now transformed into bedlam.
In the process, they discovered a cluster of men sheltering outside the collapsed building’s debris.
Suited men covered in dust, groaning in pain—every last one of them carried a murderous air that set off the officers’ alarm bells.
“You lot—what’s this about? IDs out, all of you.”
During the identification check, jackknives and samishichals tumbled from their pockets in a cascade of weapons.
The detectives immediately surrounded them and ran their information. The result came back unanimous: they all belonged to the same organization—a massive criminal syndicate that had been rapidly consolidating control of the alleyways in this district. The Golden Wheel.
“You bastards—what the hell were you doing here? Carrying weapons and holed up in a condemned building—what’s the game?”
The detectives pressed hard during the interrogation of those arrested at the scene, but the suspects clammed up entirely, as if they’d been briefed together. They exercised their right to silence completely—both regarding the cause of the building’s collapse and as to whom they’d come into contact with at the site.
“Damnable fools…”
Frustrated, the detectives sighed and rubbed their faces.
At the same moment, inside the police line, rescue teams from the Special Search and Rescue Division were conducting their search for survivors.
“Over here! We have a person beneath the debris!”
The urgent cry of a rescuer wielding an excavator and search dogs to comb through the collapsed concrete shattered through the radio. They quickly lifted the rubble, but the medics who rushed forward with the stretcher wore expressions of grim resignation.
The unidentified male found had already expired.
The condition of the body was appalling.
Crushed directly beneath dozens of tons of building debris, the skeleton throughout the entire body—especially the facial structure—had been pulped into a state where identification was impossible.
By any measure, this was a fatality entangled with the Golden Wheel organization.
The Scientific Investigation Unit was deployed immediately.
The agents photographed the corpse’s state of decomposition and surrounding effects under flashlight, and the body was rapidly transported in a sterile bag to the National Forensic Service autopsy suite.
Days later, in the Major Crimes squad room of the precinct.
A thick autopsy report and site investigation file from the National Forensic Service sat on the table.
Cause of death: immediate fatal injuries from multiple organ rupture and skull fracture. Based on bone development and bone density, the estimated biological age of the deceased was determined to be a male in his late teens, approximately eighteen years old.
As the investigating detective read through the case file, his brow furrowed almost of its own accord.
“The identity’s already been confirmed?”
By proper protocol, remains with severe damage should undergo fingerprint reconstruction, cross-referencing with dental records and direct family DNA comparison to thoroughly verify identity.
But the processing speed in this case had been abnormally fast.
From long experience, the detective sensed an invisible hand intervening in the investigation.
‘Upper management wants to bury this case quickly.’
The police brass had stitched together the distinctive features of the clothing the corpse wore, the initial reporter’s audio statement that the youth had been present before the collapse, and fragmented admissions from certain Golden Wheel members mentioning friction with “some high school student”—then declared the victim’s identity as established fact.
Once hair samples taken from a residence came back as a “match” on a cursory DNA comparison, the case swiftly reached its conclusion.
**[EXCLUSIVE] Abandoned Building Collapse at City Edge… Tragic Death of Cheon Do-hyeon, 18, amid Tensions with Golden Wheel Organization…**
Already, sensationalist headlines dominated the press coverage.
A tragic accident involving an unfortunate boy caught in a turf war between criminal organizations. Public outrage turned toward the Golden Wheel, and the investigators scrambled to wrap the case up hastily.
“Deceased: Cheon Do-hyeon. Age eighteen.”
The Major Crimes team lead delivered the final briefing in a flat voice.
“Victim identification and legal confirmation of death have been established. All related documentation will be transferred to the prosecution, and the structural collapse incident and murder investigation hereby conclude.”
Bang—
A red file stamped “CASE CLOSED” was shut heavily in the detective’s hands.
#
“Yes, so that’s how the scene concluded. Understood.”
Having received the full briefing, Kim set down the phone and stood before the Patriarch’s Study door with a tense expression. The man at Jang Gi-han’s side was here precisely to observe, absorb, and organize everything before reporting back to his master.
Knock-knock-knock.
After a brief silence, the door opened. As the study door swung inward, a rich scent of solid wood—particularly hinoki cypress—filled the air. Kim delivered the grim findings he had just been hearing in real time.
“Young Master Jang Gi-han has… fallen, sir.”
Kim reported even the handling of the matter the patriarch had instructed.
“As you directed, we’ve tidily arranged it so Cheon Do-hyeon appears to be the one who died.”
The patriarch took in the entire account with eyes gently closed.
“So. He chose the path of breaking apart of his own will. To the end, he was a true descendant of the Iron Blood Family.”
Kim could not suppress a silent tongue-click at the patriarch’s dispassionate assessment, even as his own son lay dead. Yet there was something Kim did not know: Jang Jae-young, the seemingly merciless pillar of the current Iron Blood Family, was not unmoved by his son’s death.
“So those cockroach-like beings I thought I had exterminated have resurrected after all.”
His mind was occupied not with his son’s death itself, but with the vast conspiracy looming beyond it.
“A mage at the Abyss Stage, equipped with Unique Equipment, defeated single-handedly by one person. At merely seventeen years of age. So that was this ‘Transcendent Realm’ they speak of.”
Detailed information about the Martial World flowed freely from Jang Jae-young’s lips.
“To think they lived concealing their identity in such a manner. I was careless. Son of Cheon Song-gyeong, was he? Had I known, I would have sought them out long ago and severed their thread.”
Kim listened in silence to words he couldn’t comprehend.
In that instant, a terrible surge of Magical Power erupted from the Patriarch Jang Jae-young’s body. Kim’s Mobile Phone, nestled in his breast pocket, began vibrating violently.
Rattle-rattle-rattle-
“Kim, you’ve broken protocol.”
The power to command all iron in the vicinity. Because no one could predict what catastrophe might unfold when emotions spiraled beyond control, every room where the Patriarch resided was obsessively constructed from materials containing zero iron content. And the explicit directive for all secretarial staff meeting with the Patriarch was absolute: bring nothing made of iron, nothing electronic—nothing that could conduct or contain such elements.
Kim’s decision to carry the phone was no careless mistake. He had wagered his own life against the rules, desperate to report even a single second earlier on the field conditions that shifted by the moment—above all, news of whether Jang Gi-han, the Patriarch’s bloodline, yet lived or had fallen.
“Ah, my apologies, Patriarch. I’ll remove it at once—!”
Kim’s face had gone pale, his hands fumbling to extract the phone from his pocket, when—
“Kim.”
He lifted his head at the soft summons.
His eyes met those of Patriarch Jang Jae-young.
“I find myself thinking that if you’d only reported a touch earlier about whoever this entity is that clashes with my Gi-han, perhaps none of this would have come to pass.”
Though Jang Jae-young’s gaze held no emotion, Kim felt his very bones turn to ice. Loyalty and devotion, purchased with his life’s blood, meant nothing to this tyrant—no defense, no excuse.
“Each time I lay eyes on you, I’ll carry this wretched feeling. Must I endure such discomfort for a mere servant?”
Kim perceived the killing intent woven through those words and threw himself prostrate upon the floor.
“Spare me, Patriarch, I beg you!”
Jang Jae-young looked down at him coldly. Then, for the first time, a thin smile crossed his lips as he spoke in that measured tone.
“That plea is denied—”
A shattering sound tore through the air. “Crack!”
The Mobile Phone in Kim’s pocket detonated under the Patriarch’s Magical Power, its iron components fragmenting into shards that shredded cloth and flesh alike.
But the end had not come. The true horror of Iron Blood reached far deeper—into the blood itself. The trace iron content dissolved in Kim’s veins began to surge under the Patriarch’s power, and the droplets transformed into razor-sharp metal fragments that tore through vessels and vital organs from within, erupting outward. In mere seconds, shattered iron and blood spray—wounds too severe to survive—rose and settled gently upon the Patriarch’s desk as though their work were done.
It was over in moments. The mangled corpse lay prone on the floor, its destruction complete.
“Ugh… aahhh…”
Kim expired with a final, hollow groan, face-down on the stone. Jang Jae-young gazed upon the hideous remains, then raised his voice to command the silence.
“Come.”
Three men entered without sound, as though they had anticipated such necessity, and with seamless efficiency removed all trace of the body. The Patriarch’s Study returned to its usual serene atmosphere, perfumed with the scent of ancient ink.
“Convene the Demonic Path Noble Clan leadership council.”
In Jang Jae-young’s eyes, fixed upon empty air, a dense killing intent flashed.
“The agenda: the source of this new Martial World faction.”

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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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