Obtaining Heavenly Demon Martial Arts in the Magic Era - Chapter 51

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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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51
Beyond the glass wall of the Annex Building’s second floor.
Lee Ye-rim and Lee Dae-gwang realized a beat too late.
Cheon Do-hyeon, who had been standing beside them only moments before, had vanished as if it were all a lie.
“…Huh? What? Where’d he go?”
A furrow of confusion etched itself across Lee Ye-rim’s face. All that remained in the seat beside her was the faint residual warmth of where he’d been sitting.
Lee Dae-gwang rubbed the lenses of his glasses with the edge of his sleeve, then put them back on. His mouth fell open.
“…He’s over there, yeah?”
The direction Lee Dae-gwang pointed toward was the plaza in front of the Main Building.
Lee Ye-rim’s gaze followed.
It was Cheon Do-hyeon.
The man who had been beside them only moments ago was now standing brazenly in the middle of the Hwan-un Dang-ga procession, his grip crude and iron-hard around the wrist of Tan Cheon-woo, the Hwan-un Family’s third son.
“Is he insane?! What the hell is he doing?!”
Lee Ye-rim cried out before she could stop herself.
Behind Cheon Do-hyeon’s back, streaks of pitch-black Demonic Energy poured forth in torrents.
Even from a distance, the oppressive chill was suffocating. The fact that the Hwan-un Family’s guards stood frozen without drawing their weapons was itself proof of the weight of the Qi Pressure he’d unleashed.
“…If he lets loose that much, he won’t be able to hide his identity, yeah?”
Lee Dae-gwang adjusted his glasses and spoke in a low voice. His usual rural drawl had stripped away from his tone.
Lee Ye-rim grabbed Lee Dae-gwang’s arm fiercely.
“We have to go stop him right now!”
It was just as Lee Dae-gwang was opening the window to jump out.
Cheon Do-hyeon threw Tan Cheon-woo’s arm aside roughly, and in one fluid motion tucked Jegal Seo-rin under his ribs.
Then he bolted.
“…?!”
Both their eyes widened as if they might pop from their sockets.
“Goddamn it—!”
A curse burst from Lee Ye-rim’s mouth.
“…I’m losing my mind over this, yeah.”
Lee Dae-gwang clutched at his hair.
Cheon Do-hyeon’s figure was already vanishing from the edge of their vision. He trailed a long ribbon of black Demonic Energy behind him, like some dark beast of burden.
Tan Jin-myeong, the Family Head of the Hwan-un Dang-ga, slowly stepped out of his car at the sight.
A gaunt old man, he planted his cane firmly in the middle of the plaza. Then, slowly, he raised both his hands toward empty air.
The next moment—
To Lee Ye-rim and Lee Dae-gwang’s eyes, nothing appeared to happen at all.
Yet Jegal Gyeong and Jegal Yun both took a step backward, and the servants of the Jegal Family either collapsed where they stood or fell flat on their backs. Some trembled with their faces covered in both hands, while others choked back screams with their mouths clamped shut.
“…Why are those people acting like that?”
Lee Ye-rim muttered as if bewildered.
Lee Dae-gwang’s expression hardened.
“It’s the Illusion Mirror, yeah?”
“What?”
“It’s the secret technique of the Hwan-un Family, yeah. An incantation that shows illusions to anyone who enters its range. It’s natural that we can’t see anything.”
“But those people are seeing something?”
“It’s more than just seeing, yeah.”
Lee Dae-gwang slowly removed his glasses.
“They’re seeing their deepest fears.”
Tan Jin-myeong stood with both hands raised in the air, his gaze fixed quietly on the direction where Cheon Do-hyeon had disappeared.
In the end, Tan Jin-myeong too had failed to stop the fleeing Cheon Do-hyeon, and the situation seemed to be coming to a close.
The Hwan-un Family’s motorcade began slowly descending the mountain.
Until the very last moment of their departure, Tan Jin-myeong’s gaze remained fixed on the direction where Cheon Do-hyeon had vanished.
Beyond the horizon, the sun was sinking lower.
“…That bastard, where the hell did he go!”
Lee Ye-rim cursed once more and hurled herself out the window.
“He couldn’t have gone far, yeah?”
Lee Dae-gwang followed close behind.
#
Mountainside.
Cheon Do-hyeon, who had been sprinting down recklessly, came to an abrupt halt.
Without even catching his breath, he drew in all the Demonic Energy he had unleashed at once. The black aura that had flowed from his toes to the crown of his head vanished without a trace, like a candle snuffed out by a breath.
With that overwhelming presence gone, the mountain became nothing but a mountain again.
Only then did Cheon Do-hyeon slowly set down the person he’d been carrying tucked against his side.
Jegal Seo-rin.
Dust clung to the hem of her white hanbok-style dress. Her neatly arranged hair had come loose, spilling over her shoulders. Yet her gaze remained steady—not a flicker of doubt in it.
Cheon Do-hyeon scratched his head.
“I think that should be enough, don’t you?”
Jegal Seo-rin said nothing, only regarded him quietly.
Cheon Do-hyeon shifted under that stare, unable to meet her eyes.
“I’m sorry. I overstepped, acted without permission… I think I’ve made a mess of things. What do we do now?”
Jegal Seo-rin opened her mouth, then closed it again.
Silence settled between them.
She broke it first.
“…Actually, I was grateful.”
Her voice was low and clear.
The Jegal Family had always taught her to govern emotion with reason. But in that moment, Jegal Seo-rin decided to be honest with her own heart.
“While my father and brother stood frozen, unable to do anything, I kept asking myself: should I endure it for the family’s sake? But how long should I endure? Is it right to endure until the very end?”
She paused.
The memory of Tan Cheon-woo’s clammy grip sent a tremor through her delicate shoulders.
“…I was terrified. Truly. And then Do-hyeon came.”
Cheon Do-hyeon said nothing.
Slowly, Jegal Seo-rin lifted her gaze to meet his.
Behind her usual composure, something stirred in her eyes for the first time.
Cheon Do-hyeon found that gaze difficult to bear and looked away again, scratching his head.
“…Thank you for saying that.”
“But why did you help me? You didn’t have to risk yourself like that.”
“It seemed like I was the only one who could help you in that moment.”
“….”
“And it happened that I had the ability to do it. When you think about it, the timing just worked out for both of us.”
At those words, Jegal Seo-rin let out a soft laugh.
“…Yes. The timing worked out. It did.”
A breeze drifted across the quiet mountainside.
Her loose hair swayed gently in the wind.
The depth in her eyes as she looked at Cheon Do-hyeon seemed to deepen.
That was when—
“Hey— Cheon Do-hyeon—!”
A shout infused with inner force echoed through the valley. It was Lee Ye-rim’s voice.
“…Looks like she came looking for us.”
“…You’re right. She got here quickly.”
Jegal Seo-rin’s words trailed off as she turned her head sharply. Her expression held a hint of displeasure—though she seemed to be hiding it.
Cheon Do-hyeon, unaware of that look, waved toward Lee Ye-rim.
#
Cheon Do-hyeon returned to the Jegal Family Main House after enduring a sharp scolding from both Lee Ye-rim and Lee Dae-gwang.
Lee Ye-rim delivered a final blow to his back as she delivered her parting warning.
“If you disappear one more time, you’re really dead.”
“…Yes.”
Cheon Do-hyeon shrank his shoulders.
Jegal Yun was waiting at the front gate of the Main House.
His expression seemed lonely as he looked between Jegal Seo-rin and Cheon Do-hyeon in turn. The dust on his sister’s dress, the subtle shift in her usual demeanor—a brother’s perception, as if he’d grasped something without quite daring to speak of it.
“The Family Head wishes to see you.”
With only those words, he led Cheon Do-hyeon’s group to the Family Head’s Chamber.
The chamber door opened.
Beyond the rosewood desk, Jegal Gyeong sat with his head bowed. His shoulders bore a weight heavier than the dawn. Only an empty teacup rested on the desk.
The atmosphere was cold and heavy as a winter’s air.
Cheon Do-hyeon was not invited to sit, but stood before the desk.
At last, Jegal Gyeong slowly raised his head. The gaze behind his glasses was starkly different from what it had been at dawn.
“You said that from now on, the Jegal Family would be a Public Enemy of the Martial World. Which means we are now enemies. By your own words.”
“Family Head, that was only to escape that moment—”
“I know. I understand. But Do-hyeon, you acted recklessly.”
Cheon Do-hyeon’s shoulders stiffened.
“Do you truly believe the Hwan-un Dang-ga will take your words at face value?”
“…I apologize.”
Jegal Gyeong let out a deep sigh and slowly removed the glasses he was wearing.
The old man’s bare face emerged from behind his glasses.
It was not the cold countenance of the Family Head he had met at dawn. It was the face of a father—etched with deep wrinkles, exhaustion, and emotions held back for far too long.
“…Take Jegal Seo-rin and leave at once.”
“…I beg your pardon?”
“What you told the Hwan-un Dang-ga must become reality. That is the only way you survive. You, and we.”
As Cheon Do-hyeon opened his mouth to speak, a sharp voice burst forth from behind him first.
“Father!”
It was Jegal Seo-rin.
Jegal Gyeong looked directly at his daughter. And in a firm yet quiet voice, he spoke.
“Go with them. And on behalf of the Jegal Family…”
He paused to draw breath.
“…No—on behalf of me, fulfill the Covenant, Seo-rin.”
The air in the room stopped.
The eyes of both Jegal Yun and Jegal Seo-rin widened simultaneously like lantern flames.
It was because the word “Covenant”—which seemed sealed away forever—had spilled from Jegal Gyeong’s own lips for the first time.
A faint but unmistakable smile rose to the corner of Jegal Gyeong’s mouth.
“I have known of the copy in the Underground Library all along.”
“…!”
Jegal Seo-rin bit her lip.
“What my children keep, who in my house wields a sword at dawn—if all these years as Family Head have not been wasted, I ought to know such things.”
Jegal Gyeong’s voice did not waver.
“But I chose to look the other way. So long as I sat in the seat of Family Head, that was the only way to protect the clan.”
He turned to regard Cheon Do-hyeon and his companions.
“…Yet today. A man named Tan Cheon-woo struck my kin across the face and took liberties with my daughter.”
Anger flickered briefly between the deep lines of his face and faded.
“And I did nothing. The thought came to me first: if I intervened, might my relations with the Hwan-un Dang-ga be strained? How despicable. I have lived with the single resolve to protect my family, and yet when it mattered most, I was powerless.”
Jegal Gyeong opened the desk drawer and withdrew a small card—black, the color of rosewood, bearing neither characters nor any pattern whatsoever.
“This is an Access Card for an account opened under a false name. Your password is known to Seo-rin. The funds inside are untraceable in the family accounts. Use them as you wish.”
“Father! That money is—!”
Jegal Yun rushed forward in shock. But Jegal Gyeong gently patted his shoulder.
“I thought someday a day like this might come.”
“…So you knew from the beginning…”
Jegal Yun’s eyes reddened.
Jegal Gyeong extended the card toward Cheon Do-hyeon.
“The Jegal Family has become your enemy. But as an individual, I will help you. Official support is impossible. Yet through Seo-rin, these funds will become your hands and feet.”
Cheon Do-hyeon bowed deeply.
“…Thank you, Family Head.”
Lee Dae-gwang and Lee Ye-rim also bowed in turn.
The direct joining of the Jegal Family had not come to pass. Yet they had gained the heart of one man, Jegal Gyeong—the capital he had amassed over a lifetime, and his most capable daughter.
Half of what they sought in China had been secured.
#
“Are you thinking of crossing back to Korea soon?”
Jegal Gyeong asked about their next moves.
Cheon Do-hyeon nodded.
“Yes. Our allies in Korea are not in a position of comfort.”
“…That is a pity.”
Jegal Gyeong regarded Cheon Do-hyeon’s face quietly for a moment, as if weighing something. Then he spoke slowly.
“If a descendant of the Heavenly Demon comes to China, there is a place he must visit.”
“…Where is that?”
Jegal Gyeong’s voice grew heavier still.
“Shiwan-daisan. The ancestral headquarters of the Heavenly Demon Cult.”
Cheon Do-hyeon’s breath caught.
No martial artist in the Murim was ignorant of that name. The mountain where the progenitor of the Heavenly Demon was said to have descended. The stronghold of the greatest power the Murim had ever known, in the age when it commanded all under heaven.
“The Heavenly Demon Cult crumbled first during the Great Purge. Yet Shiwan-daisan itself did not fall. There are rumors that the Sacred Artifacts of the Heavenly Demon Cult sleep within that place.”
“…Sacred Artifacts of the Heavenly Demon Cult…”
The tips of Cheon Do-hyeon’s fingers trembled faintly.
Jegal Gyeong regarded him with a penetrating gaze.
“I do not know what lies there, nor who waits. But one thing is certain: only by going to that place can you truly stand as the true heir of the Heavenly Demon.”
“…”
“Before you return to Korea, visit that place at least once. As one who carries the Bloodline of the Heavenly Demon, you have a duty to do so.”
“…I understand.”
Cheon Do-hyeon’s voice was low and steady.
Beyond the glass wall of the Family Head’s Chamber, the setting sun stained the ridge of Yung-jung Mountain crimson. It was the end of one day, and the beginning of a new path.
But somewhere beyond that twilight.
Shiwan-daisan was calling to Cheon Do-hyeon.

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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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