The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign - Chapter 136

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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 136.
‘Something’s off.’
Sensing the anomaly, Yeo Hwan Jin ceased his assault and created distance between them.
Drip, drip.
In that moment, blood streamed from Bu Eunseol’s body where the Flowing Cloud Blade had carved across her entire frame.
Since deploying the Extreme Speed Shadowless technique, this was the first time I had failed to evade an attack perfectly. Yet my eyes burned like an active volcano.
“Quite composed, aren’t you?”
Upon witnessing the blazing determination in Bu Eunseol’s gaze, Yeo Hwan Jin’s lips curved into a smile.
“Perhaps because the wounds aren’t fatal.”
At that, Bu Eunseol—her eyes smoldering with intensity—let out a low chuckle.
“Then let’s begin.”
Those were the very words Yeo Hwan Jin had spoken before deploying the Flowing Cloud Blade.
Until now, Bu Eunseol had deliberately assumed a defensive posture while observing his swordplay.
“Hehehehe. So it was I who was being observed.”
Despite this realization, Yeo Hwan Jin maintained his smile.
“It’s futile. Even if you studied it a hundred times, the result would be the same.”
The Flowing Cloud Blade he wielded had no fixed sequence of moves—a technique drawn from the profound principle of formlessness transcending form.
Even if Bu Eunseol spent three days and nights scrutinizing his swordplay, she would gain nothing.
“The Flowing Cloud Blade is a sword like a single gust of wind.”
Whoosh!
Extending his blade once more, Yeo Hwan Jin thrust toward Bu Eunseol’s throat like lightning.
Clang!
Yet with a metallic ring, his long sword was intercepted by the ink-dark blade, scattering sparks.
‘What?’
For a moment, Yeo Hwan Jin could not hide his shock.
‘How did it collide?’
The essence of the Flowing Cloud Blade was like a single leaf swaying in the wind.
That is, when the enemy attacks, it yields and retreats, exploiting openings—a blade of the extreme realm that cannot be blocked.
No matter how many fierce assaults the enemy unleashes, it merely retreats; it can never make contact.
“Lucky strike!”
Yeo Hwan Jin deployed the mysterious Flowing Cloud Blade once more, employing the principle of floating shadow and yielding form.
Clang! Clang-clang!
Yet Bu Eunseol’s ink-dark blade moved like a bee seeking the scent of flowers, precisely striking away Yeo Hwan Jin’s long sword each time.
‘Am I fighting a ghost?’
Bewildered, Yeo Hwan Jin withdrew his blade and retreated.
Though I had seized a golden opportunity for victory, Bu Eunseol merely smiled faintly and did not pursue.
“What on earth is happening?”
Yeo Hwan Jin furrowed his brow, utterly perplexed.
“A Flowing Cloud Blade that yields even to the gentlest breeze….”
Then Bu Eunseol pointed toward the hand gripping Yeo Hwan Jin’s sword.
“A sword wielded for long years bears the imprint of its master’s habits.”
Bu Eunseol exhaled deeply before continuing.
“And I merely listened to what it told me.”
“Hahaha.”
Yeo Hwan Jin, whose expression had been vacant, burst into laughter as if finding the notion absurd.
“What preposterous nonsense. Habits imprinted on a blade? Does the sword have a mouth to speak with?”
Such a reaction was perhaps inevitable.
If one could discern a swordmaster’s habits merely by examining their blade, then no martial artist in all of Murim would entrust their weapons to another for repair.
“You don’t believe me.”
At Yeo Hwan Jin’s response, Bu Eunseol smiled as though it were only natural.
The infinitesimal traces left upon the long sword—invisible to the eye, imperceptible to touch.
Only Bu Eunseol, who had synchronized the extreme perception of the Beast Path with her spiritual consciousness, could perceive them.
“When you wielded the sword using Bu Young Soo’s exquisite technique, you would inject true energy by raising the thumbnails and index fingernails. To maintain a lighter grip on the blade, I presume.”
Bu Eunseol spoke with an unhurried demeanor.
“And whenever you transitioned between sword forms, you habitually wove the Sword Seal with your left hand. To guard against that brief moment of vulnerability, no doubt.”
Yeo Hwan Jin’s gaze upon Bu Eunseol resembled that of one witnessing a ghost.
‘Could this Demonic Path disciple truly possess the ability to commune with swords?’
“How did you… discover those habits?”
“I told you. The sword revealed them to me.”
He felt as though he were being toyed with.
After a moment of deep contemplation, Yeo Hwan Jin laughed with a dry chuckle, as if enlightened.
“How foolish.”
“…”
“Even if your words held truth, you’ve carelessly divulged every weakness you discovered right before the person in question.”
Bu Eunseol, whom Yeo Hwan Jin was observing, smirked slightly.
“One of my caliber can alter such habits in an instant. In other words, you’ve discarded your only trump card.”
Masters who had reached the Transcendent Realm like Yeo Hwan Jin maintained their bodies under the dominion of their spiritual will. Thus, trivial habits could be corrected in moments.
“Hehehehe.”
Bu Eunseol laughed softly instead.
“Hahahaha!”
“What amuses you so?”
“Do you believe what I just mentioned comprises the entirety of your habits?”
“What?”
“Surely you don’t think the few habits you’ve remained unconscious of for twenty years are all I’ve identified.”
In that instant, the smile playing at Yeo Hwan Jin’s lips froze cold.
‘Is that what this was?’
A meticulous master like Bu Eunseol would never reveal all of his weaknesses.
Countless habits still lay hidden—ones he remained unaware of.
And any of them could become a noose tightening around his neck at any moment.
‘This is unbearable!’
Yeo Hwan Jin gripped his sword and drew it once more, unleashing the Flowing Cloud Sword technique in a torrent of strikes.
Clang! Clang!
Yet each time he unfolded the Flowing Cloud Sword, the Silent Sword intercepted and severed his momentum. Bu Eunseol had anticipated his habits and seized control of the sword path beforehand.
As every careless deployment of the Flowing Cloud Sword was blocked, Yeo Hwan Jin felt a chill run down his spine.
‘This woman truly knows habits of mine that I myself am unaware of.’
With his patterns laid bare, the very specialty he had honed over twenty years now lay sealed.
Clang! Bang!
The Silent Sword and the long blade collided repeatedly in the void, and with each impact, the edge of Yeo Hwan Jin’s blade chipped away.
Had he not infused his entire sword with formidable inner force, the keen Silent Sword would have already shattered it to pieces.
Clang!
As the Silent Sword and long blade clashed once more with tremendous force, both fighters retreated simultaneously.
The perpetual, leisurely smile that had graced Yeo Hwan Jin’s face had vanished, replaced by unmistakable gravity.
He had finally acknowledged that Bu Eunseol was a worthy opponent—one capable of threatening his very life.
‘So the gap of one year has been narrowed to this degree.’
By discerning the traces and habits embedded within his swordwork, Bu Eunseol had managed to seal the Flowing Cloud Sword and fight on equal footing.
Now the true battle was only beginning.
Metallic resonance.
Sharp brilliance poured from Yeo Hwan Jin’s eyes as he raised his long blade upright.
“One of the Ten Demon Experts. A demonic fiend who can never be left alive.”
From his raised form, a formidable aura erupted—one never before displayed.
As the aura surged, his very stature seemed to expand, transforming him into a towering giant that appeared to touch the heavens themselves.
‘This is his true power.’
Merely standing before him, Bu Eunseol felt her body crushed beneath an overwhelming pressure.
The torrential aura had utterly transformed Yeo Hwan Jin into someone entirely different.
“Amusing. A successor of the Demonic Path’s swordsmanship now radiates killing intent.”
At Bu Eunseol’s murmur, Yeo Hwan Jin’s eyes blazed.
“By slaying one great evil, ten thousand innocent lives may be saved.”
A subtle luminescence emerged from the long blade he wielded.
“Die!”
In an instant, Yeo Hwan Jin closed the distance and launched himself skyward, his blade descending to cleave Bu Eunseol’s head in two.
Zing!
Time seemed to freeze, and the airborne form of Yeo Hwan Jin multiplied into dozens of images.
Faced with such a sudden and devastating assault, the Beast Path activated of its own accord.
In that moment, her blood circulated at multiplied speed, and her dynamic vision and neural response expanded a hundredfold.
This was an extreme perception she had never before achieved.
‘Is this too the result of the Beast Path and the Reverse Extreme Heart Method’s spiritual connection…?’
Pushing aside her astonishment, Bu Eunseol studied Yeo Hwan Jin’s blade within the frozen moment.
Each of his dozens of forms executed a different movement.
This resembled not Orthodox Sect swordsmanship, but rather the grotesque and sinister techniques of the Demonic Path.
‘Even if I deploy the Extreme Speed Shadowless technique, I cannot evade it completely.’
Whoooosh!
In that moment, time resumed its flow, and dozens of sword qi in different stances from Yeo Hwan Jin engulfed my body.
“It’s over.”
Just as Yeo Hwan Jin smiled after unleashing his decisive strike,
Clang clang clang clang clang!
A circular radiance poured forth from my body, swallowed by the sword qi, accompanied by the endless metallic clashing.
“No!”
Yeo Hwan Jin’s eyes widened.
Crouched low, I was deflecting every single one of the hundreds of sword qi that cascaded down upon me.
‘This is impossible.’
The number of sword techniques unleashed simultaneously in different motions was beyond counting or comprehension in such a brief span.
Yet I was parrying hundreds of sword strikes as if I had perceived them long ago with perfect precision.
The Absolute Defense Form of Cheon Geom Hoe—capable of defending against every sword technique that responds to killing intent.
The Responsive Sword had been activated.
Clang clang clang clang clang.
At last, escaping from the tempest of sword qi, I surged toward Yeo Hwan Jin like a loosed arrow.
Yeo Hwan Jin, who had been certain of absolute victory,
had never anticipated a counterattack and stood in complete defenselessness.
“Ugh!”
Yeo Hwan Jin hastily swung his long sword to assume a defensive posture.
Flash!
But the lightning-like radiance extending from my dark sword was faster. Thunderbolt Unparalleled had been deployed.
To seize this fleeting opportunity, Thunderbolt Unparalleled—the most extreme killing sword technique—was far more suitable than Unmatched Heavenly Flow.
Rip!
With the sound of flesh tearing, my dark sword—like a demon’s tongue—pierced straight through the center of Yeo Hwan Jin’s chest.
Click.
As I withdrew my dark sword,
Gush.
A thin line of blood trickled from the corner of Yeo Hwan Jin’s mouth.
“Ugh…”
Lacking the strength to remain standing, the swaying Yeo Hwan Jin slumped down against a tree stump beside him.
“Huff… huff…”
With each breath, blood flowed from his lips, leaving his complexion deathly pale.
“A single stroke… a lightning-like sword technique indeed.”
Even as Yeo Hwan Jin sensed death approaching, he did not lose his smile.
“But what astounds me more is the sword technique that blocked my Hundred Severing Cyclic Form. Is it from Nangya Pavilion?”
Looking into Yeo Hwan Jin’s eyes, which were growing dim, I spoke quietly.
“The Responsive Sword.”
“The Responsive Sword? I’ve never heard that name before.”
“It is a defensive sword technique created by Cheon Geom Hoe. It responds to killing intent and deflects sword strikes.”
“A reaction to killing intent… Ah, I see.”
Yeo Hwan Jin shook his head with lingering regret.
“In that final moment, my mistake was abandoning my sect’s swordsmanship and using the Hundred Severed Cyclic Form that he taught me.”
“The Hundred Severed Cyclic Form?”
An unfamiliar sword technique’s name.
Bu Eunseol swept her piercing gaze across Yeo Hwan Jin.
“Is that the sword technique you just displayed?”
“It is.”
Yeo Hwan Jin continued speaking, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth as he gasped for breath.
“All the Masters of Great Righteousness were taught a single sword technique capable of destroying Demonic Path martial arts. What I was taught was….”
Yeo Hwan Jin’s words did not continue.
Having lost so much blood, he expired with his eyes wide open.

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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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