The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign - Chapter 11

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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 11.
“Hmm.”
The prolonged silence was broken by Cheon Woon Gwang’s stifled groan, as though his throat had constricted.
Cheon Woon Gwang—a man of cruel temperament who had engaged in countless battles throughout his life.
Even he had not anticipated that Bu Eunseol would unleash a lightning-swift killing technique to end Byeok Han Sung’s life.
“You’ve mastered Beast Path.”
The wooden sword wielded by Byeok Han Sung carried enough force to shatter stone.
Yet Bu Eunseol bore not even a light bruise despite being struck repeatedly by the Sura Sword Sect’s absolute techniques.
“Yes.”
At Bu Eunseol’s response, Cheon Woon Gwang’s caterpillar-like eyebrows twitched.
“Were you originally a disciple of Nangya Sect?”
“No.”
“Then you’ve perfectly mastered Beast Path in just two weeks?”
“I’ve only grasped the fundamentals.”
Cheon Woon Gwang was laboring under a misconception.
He believed that Bu Eunseol’s Beast Path had reached the highest realm, allowing her to neutralize all force before it could strike.
“Fundamentals?”
At Bu Eunseol’s answer, Cheon Woon Gwang let out a derisive snort.
“So Nangya Sect teaches lies these days, it seems.”
“I am—”
“No need to make excuses. Whatever your foundation is, it matters not to me.”
Cheon Woon Gwang cut off Bu Eunseol’s words and pointed to Byeok Han Sung’s cold corpse.
“Remove this wretch at once.”
Though they had once shared the bond of master and disciple, learning and teaching martial arts together.
Cheon Woon Gwang’s demeanor was as though he were ordering someone to dispose of spoiled fish left on a display shelf.
“Sect Leader.”
Then, a long-haired girl among the trainees stepped forward before Cheon Woon Gwang.
“I have something to report.”
“Speak.”
“This person committed murder during an ordinary sparring match.”
“Murder?”
As Cheon Woon Gwang raised his eyebrows, the girl pointed confidently at Bu Eunseol standing composed.
“Yes. We must hold her strictly accountable so that such an incident never occurs again.”
Cheon Woon Gwang, who had been staring intently at the girl, let out a low scoff.
“It was not murder, but an accident that occurred during sparring.”
“Pardon?”
“That one first used a killing technique to crush your skull. This one simply counterattacked in response.”
“But—”
“Just because we call this place the Martial Hall, do you truly believe it is a place where such rules apply?”
Cheon Woon Gwang looked down at the girl with contempt, his eyes blazing with intensity as he spoke.
“This is Hell Island.”
Those were the words Jin Gak, an instructor at the Basic Hall, had spoken when we first disembarked from the ship.
But when Cheon Woon Gwang uttered them with a murderous gleam in his eyes, the meaning seemed to transform entirely.
This place is hell.
The blazing intensity in Cheon Woon Gwang’s gaze seemed to declare nothing less.
As the trainees stood bewildered, swaying in confusion, Cheon Woon Gwang spoke in a low voice.
“Let the test resume.”
* * *
The sparring was fierce.
Regardless of victory or defeat, the trainees wielded their blades with lethal intent, rendering meaningless the stated purpose of observing swordsmanship technique.
Naturally, this stemmed from the consequences of the duel Bu Eunseol had demonstrated.
―One could die in sparring.
In the test conducted under such tension, no further lives were lost.
Yet as brutal clashes unfolded in rapid succession, the number of wounded steadily increased.
“You, to the left. You, to the right.”
After each match, Cheon Woon Gwang divided the trainees into left and right groups.
Sometimes he sent both to the same side.
Though he offered no explicit explanation, the trainees could infer this was the process of determining pass and failure.
“It is finished.”
Cheon Woon Gwang nodded lightly, surveying the trainees arrayed on both sides.
Most bore wounds both large and small, and some still gasped for breath.
“Fifteen of you.”
Cheon Woon Gwang stroked his chin as he regarded those standing on the left.
“You may proceed directly to the Advanced Hall.”
The trainees waiting on the left beamed with joy and hastily fled the Martial Hall.
Cheon Woon Gwang then turned his gaze to those arrayed on the right.
They were those who had yet to achieve unity of blade and hand.
“You shall leave this place at once and seek another Martial Hall.”
At this unexpected pronouncement, the trainees on the right were greatly taken aback.
“But we’ve only failed the test once!”
One youth protested with an aggrieved expression, and another beside him spoke loudly.
“We will train diligently and surely pass into the Advanced Hall!”
Cheon Woon Gwang shook his head with resolute conviction.
“It is impossible.”
“Sir?”
“That the blade has not adhered to your hands despite mastering the Blazing Storm Sword technique until now means you lack the fundamental aptitude for the technique from the start.”
“But….”
“You possess decent bone structure, so you could have easily passed the Basic Hall.”
Divine light blazed in Cheon Woon Gwang’s eyes as he continued in a low voice.
“Yet to master the Blazing Storm Sword requires not merely good bone structure, but exceptional talent.”
Cheon Woon Gwang’s low voice carried an irresistible force.
“The quality of an unparalleled martial genius—one capable of transcending their limits through bone-grinding effort.”
The trainees could not utter a word.
Among those standing to the right, not a single one had made bone-grinding efforts to master the Blazing Wheel Thunder Sword.
“Those with complacent and indolent natures can never master the Blazing Wheel Sword.”
At Cheon Woon Gwang’s words, the trainees left the Martial Hall in silence without any retort.
“….”
Once all the trainees had departed, silence descended once more.
Within the empty Martial Hall, only Bu Eunseol remained.
Cheon Woon Gwang gazed at Bu Eunseol and spoke in an icy voice.
“Why do you stand there gawking instead of leaving?”
“Must I leave as well?”
“If you possess the skill to neutralize the Sura Sword Sect’s difficult sword technique at close range, you must have mastered considerable swordsmanship.”
Cheon Woon Gwang, who had been looking down at Bu Eunseol’s coldly fixed eyes, let out a derisive snort.
“Did you ascend to the Intermediate Hall belatedly, hoping to make a striking impression in the sparring match?”
With the corners of his mouth raised, he looked down at Bu Eunseol, whose lips remained sealed.
“Had you relied solely on cunning, I would have crushed your skull. But… since you appear to possess such skill, I shall acknowledge it.”
Cheon Woon Gwang pointed to the door open on the left.
“You shall ascend to the Advanced Hall as well.”
To skip the Intermediate Hall curriculum and proceed directly to the Advanced Hall? It was an extraordinary privilege.
Yet unexpected words flowed from Bu Eunseol’s lips.
“I have not yet learned martial arts in the Intermediate Hall.”
“What?”
“I will learn swordsmanship in the Intermediate Hall.”
Cheon Woon Gwang, whose gaze fixed upon Bu Eunseol’s face, wore the expression of one observing something bizarre.
“Why would you linger in the Intermediate Hall?”
“The only sword technique I have learned is the Blazing Wheel Thirteen Forms.”
“You still speak nonsense.”
“If it is a lie, you may sever both my hands.”
From Bu Eunseol’s ice-cold eyes flowed a light as brilliant and scorching as the sun itself.
“Very well. I shall teach you. However,”
Cheon Woon Gwang looked down at Bu Eunseol with eyes flickering with murderous intent.
“Should I discover any traces of learning sword techniques beyond the Blazing Wheel Thirteen Forms, I will sever your neck immediately.”
* * *
Four days later.
Whoosh!
The swift sword form, infused with explosive qi from within my body, split into three paths midway and transformed into the Linked Chain Sword Form, rotating continuously.
‘Tch.’
As I abruptly altered the sword light mid-trajectory, a wrenching pain shot through my wrists and elbows.
Yet Bu Eunseol showed no sign of discomfort, continuously rotating her shoulders, wrists, and body to unfold the Linked Chain Sword.
Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang! Whoosh!
With the sound of air being torn asunder, the sword forms that had been unfolding endlessly transformed once more into swift, lightning-fast strikes.
Continuous circular motions born from rotational force, combined with speed. Wielding two contradictory sword techniques simultaneously—something that should never blend together.
That was the Flame and Thunder Sword.
“Hah!”
With a sharp cry, the iron sword in Bu Eunseol’s grip spun ferociously, unleashing a radiance as brilliant as fireworks.
The final form of the Flame and Thunder Sword—one that could never be executed without perfect mastery of the blade—unfolded: Myriad Illumination Under Heaven.
“Ugh.”
A low groan escaped from my lips as I continued the sword forms.
Having spun my body rapidly throughout the technique, the iron sword had slipped beyond my control, grazing my shoulder, neck, and face.
Regardless of talent or determination, I had only spent four days learning the Flame and Thunder Sword.
I could not yet control the blade with the precision and perfection of my own hand.
“So it was true.”
Cheon Woon Gwang, observing my practice, wore an expression of utter bewilderment.
“You learned only the first thirteen forms of the Flame and Thunder Sword at the Basic Hall.”
Cheon Woon Gwang was a master swordsman who had refined his craft throughout his entire life.
On the day he first taught me the Flame and Thunder Sword, he had immediately discerned from my movements that I had never properly learned sword techniques before.
“A novice who only just began learning the sword executes the Flame and Thunder Sword in four days?”
He was on the verge of laughing in disbelief.
Though I had not yet achieved perfect unity of sword and spirit, my learning speed transcended imagination.
“Then you truly mastered the Beast Path in merely two weeks?”
A chill seemed to brush past my ears, and goosebumps rose across my skin.
How many martial geniuses had died attempting to master the Beast Path in the past?
A superhuman sense perception that even the masters of the Ten Demonic Gates envied.
How could one master such an otherworldly technique in two weeks without innate talent—a skill one should not dare attempt without heavenly blessing?
“Ugh.”
Another groan burst from my lips.
Unable to control the rotational momentum of the Flame and Thunder Sword, I had begun cutting into my own arms and legs.
“But there is still much ground to cover.”
Cheon Woon Gwang clicked his tongue as he watched.
The Flame and Thunder Sword, without precise control like that of one’s own hand, would ultimately wound the wielder’s own body.
Even if blessed with heaven-sent martial talent, it was not a technique one could master in a single breath.
“No matter how I look at it, you lack the strength to defeat that one from the Sura Sword Sect.”
Cheon Woon Gwang could not comprehend it.
Despite your rapid learning, you are still a novice who has only just begun studying the sword.
How did you defeat Byeok Han Sung, who had perfected the Flame and Thunder Sword and wielded the difficult techniques of the Sura Sword Sect with consummate skill?
Clang, clang, clang, clang!
Meanwhile, the rotational force of the Flame and Thunder Sword grew stronger, and the iron sword I wielded began cutting deeper into my own skin and muscle.
But I did not stop moving.
“Stop. If you continue swinging the sword, your body will ultimately be destroyed.”
At Cheon Woon Gwang’s words, Bu Eunseol clenched her teeth and cried out.
“I’m fine.”
“What?”
“Just a little more… I think I can do it.”
Despite becoming a bloody mess from deploying the Myriad Tides Heaven technique, Bu Eunseol began unfolding the Blazing Thunderbolt Sword technique from the beginning once more.
“Good heavens.”
In the meantime, the rotational force grew even more formidable, and from the sword’s tip came only a sharp, crackling sound.
Crimson blood sprayed from Bu Eunseol’s body as she spun in circles, executing her sword forms.
Though her black martial robes were drenched in blood, Bu Eunseol did not cease her movements.
“Ah, so that’s it.”
Only now could Cheon Woon Gwang truly comprehend it.
How Bu Eunseol had managed to master the Beast Path in merely a fortnight.
Indomitable perseverance and unwavering resolve.
She trained with all her might in martial arts as if death itself awaited her should she fail to master them.
Moreover, the fear and pain that any youth on the cusp of adulthood should naturally possess were nowhere to be seen.
Only an unshakeable determination to grow stronger enveloped that gaunt frame.

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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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