The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign - Chapter 156

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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 156.
Han Young Baek cried out at the top of his lungs, but no one stepped forward.
Bu Eunseol had fought a fair duel and merely repelled what amounted to a surprise joint attack.
“Master Han.”
Finally, unable to bear it any longer, Gu Cheong Gak, a master belonging to the Yang Gwang Murim Alliance among the guests, approached and spoke.
“The great masters have violated righteousness and launched a joint attack. Yet if we were to slaughter them all at once, how would that differ from the Demonic Path and their ilk?”
“What nonsense is this! My son is dead!”
“Master Han.”
As Gu Cheong Gak shook his head,
“Gu Dae Hyeop.”
Yang In Cheong, an elderly fist master of the Jeong Ju Quan Men who was close to Han Young Baek, supported him.
“Your words have merit, Gu Dae Hyeop. But didn’t they first infiltrate Janggeom Mountain Lodge in secret and launch an ambush? What code of honor can one discuss with assassins?”
Then Gu Cheong Gak shook his head.
“Wasn’t even the Golden Divide Waterfall Formation a trap for the Ten Demon Immortals? If we disregard all means and methods to capture them, how would we differ from the Demonic Path and their kind?”
“Gu Dae Hyeop.”
“And I am stopping this matter for the sake of Master Han.”
As Yang In Cheong tried to argue further, Gu Cheong Gak spoke.
“Han’s young lodge master and the female hero Cheong interrupted a fair duel and launched a joint attack. Yet if the Orthodox Sect guests were to draw their blades in revenge and slaughter them all, the reputation of Janggeom Mountain Lodge would be dragged through the mud.”
For a moment, Han Young Baek could say nothing.
Janggeom Mountain Lodge had long been established as a prestigious sword family of the Murim.
But if his son had died while executing a cowardly joint attack—not a righteous duel—and if he were to mobilize hundreds of guests to wage a massacre in revenge, what then?
Janggeom Mountain Lodge could no longer hold its head high in the Murim.
“This is…”
Han Young Baek breathed heavily.
No matter what, his son had committed an act unbecoming of a martial artist.
It would have been cleaner had the joint attack succeeded and killed them all, but they stood alive before him with eyes wide open.
In the end, there was nothing he could do.
But then,
“You did not face our sect’s disciple Pyeong Seo Woon in a fair duel—you ambushed him.”
Kang Jung Ryang, who led the Gongdong Sect’s masters, stepped forward and spoke solemnly.
“Do you admit it?”
“Yes. I ambushed him.”
As Seok Woo Haeng stepped forward to answer, Kang Jung Ryang bit his lip.
“By rights, I should eliminate all of you now, but I will not. We are disciples of the Gongdong Sect.”
“Playing righteous all of a sudden?”
Seok Woo Haeng laughed coldly and spoke.
“You came in a mob and launched a joint attack from the start. Now that the situation makes a joint attack awkward, you’re retreating under the guise of principle.”
The only remaining tactic was the wheel formation—using overwhelming numbers to crush the enemy.
But since the great masters had already died attempting a joint attack, the Gongdong Sect could not resort to such crude methods again.
“One such as you, an assassin, could never fathom the true heart of the Sect Leader.”
“Is that so.”
“Hmph, how could a sparrow comprehend the will of a phoenix?”
Kang Jung Ryang left those words behind, his gaze contemptuous, before turning away.
Then Du Ak of the Jongnam Sect fixed his stare upon Seok Woo Haeng and opened his mouth.
“Was it you who killed one of our sect’s disciples?”
“It was I.”
This time, Bu Eunseol stepped forward.
“I challenged him and fought a fair duel.”
“The elders of our sect did not believe this fact.”
Du Ak sighed deeply and shook his head.
“But seeing this today… I cannot deny it.”
From the scars on Yeo Hwan Jin’s body, the Jongnam Sect could discern that he had fought one-on-one against a Ten Demon Immortal.
Yet the majority of the elders insisted that a Ten Demon Immortal could not have killed Yeo Hwan Jin in single combat, and that it must have been a cowardly ambush.
For this reason, the Jongnam Sect had dispatched personnel into the Gangho to identify which of the Ten Demon Immortals had slain Yeo Hwan Jin.
“However, the fact that you killed one of our sect’s disciples remains unchanged.”
Du Ak, biting his lip, spoke again.
“For now, my abilities are insufficient to step forward, but I will challenge you whenever the opportunity arises.”
“Whenever you wish.”
As a composed reply came, Du Ak, biting his lip, turned away abruptly.
‘Merely saving face.’
Bu Eunseol understood.
Du Ak was acutely aware of the disparity in strength and would never challenge her.
Had he truly intended to hone his martial arts and challenge her later, he would have at least demanded that she remove her mask.
“Then.”
As Bu Eunseol turned to leave calmly, suddenly Han Young Baek and over a hundred guests surrounded her.
“This is intolerable! I cannot let you leave—not you of all people!”
Han Young Baek’s eyes burned with bitter anguish as he stared at Bu Eunseol.
“How could I simply let go of the one who killed my son? Even if I must seal the gates of Janggeom Mountain Lodge from this day forward, I will surely kill you!”
With that cry, Han Young Baek and over a hundred masters in accord with him drew their weapons.
“Seok Woo Haeng. It seems we cannot avoid a chaotic melee.”
Myo Cheon Woo turned his head to speak to Seok Woo Haeng, but his mouth fell open.
Seok Woo Haeng, who had been standing beside him, had vanished without a trace.
“That bastard!”
Seok Woo Haeng had seized the chaos as an opportunity to slip away from Janggeom Mountain Lodge in secret.
“Damn it, I’ll help you, Bu Eunseol.”
Myo Cheon Woo was a man of loyalty.
When Bu Eunseol prepared to face over a hundred martial artists alone, he stepped forward without hesitation.
“We’ll likely die anyway. But still, we…”
Myo Cheon Woo’s expression, which had been smiling wryly as he looked at Bu Eunseol, hardened once more.
A sharp whistling sound cut through the air.
A fierce gust of inner energy erupted from my body, and crimson light began to coalesce in both my palms.
“What are you trying to do right now….”
“Fist Demon Seventh Form….”
As I traced a semicircle with both hands, a scarlet mist swirled from my eyes.
Boom!
Simultaneously, a terrifying aura surged up my spine and exploded into the heavens.
I had already reached the threshold of the fifth level of the Half-Extreme Heart Method.
As I drew upon my full power to elevate my inner strength, what had been secretly concealed within the realm of Half-Breaking Returning Truth…
That tremendous inner power manifested in tangible form, visible to the naked eye.
“Strike him down!”
Han Young Baek cried out, sensing the ominous shift in my momentum.
But at that very moment, my dual palms extended forward in a sweeping arc.
“Heaven―Hand―Sky―Break――――!”
Whoooosh!
A colossal tempest of inner energy swept past the sides of over a hundred armed martial artists.
Crack, crack, crack.
Simultaneously, fissures began spreading across the stone walls and palace halls beside them,
Boom!
With a deafening roar, they shattered and collapsed into rubble.
Rumble, boom, boom.
The palace halls and walls crumbled like biscuits, one after another.
Han Young Baek and the other martial artists, witnessing this incomprehensible spectacle, stood frozen with wide eyes and gaping mouths.
“Is this truly the power a human can unleash through martial technique….”
My extended dual palms had been deliberately angled slightly to the left, away from them.
Had I unleashed this technique directly upon them?
At minimum, dozens would have suffered grievous wounds or death.
‘Hmm.’
I swallowed the blood rising in my throat.
‘It was too much after all.’
The Heaven-Hand-Sky-Break technique was a supreme fist form that poured all of one’s inner power into a single strike—a technique of unprecedented magnitude.
By executing this technique without perfect mastery, I had sustained considerable internal injuries.
Yet, betraying nothing, I steadied my breathing and spoke calmly to Myo Cheon Woo.
“Let’s go.”
Without looking back, I walked impassively toward the collapsed wall.
Myo Cheon Woo, frozen in shock, finally regained his senses and followed me beyond the wall.
Though countless martial artists stood in that place, none dared obstruct my passage.
* * *
“What exactly was that technique? It resembled our Palace’s supreme technique, the Annihilation-Seal-Breaking-Seclusion….”
“….”
“And that sword technique used to dispatch Han Sung and Cheong Cho Hyeon? Is that the supreme secret art of Nangya Sect?”
Myo Cheon Woo, following behind Bu Eunseol, unleashed an endless barrage of questions.
Yet Bu Eunseol moved forward in silence, as though deaf to every word.
“Seok Woo Haeng. That treacherous dog had no sense of loyalty whatsoever.”
Myo Cheon Woo gnashed his teeth at the thought of Seok Woo Haeng’s face.
“He could have escaped long ago, but he stayed to witness your battle against the Grand Master. Then when things grew dire, he slipped away like a coward.”
Bu Eunseol continued forward in silence, her lips sealed.
“What is this? You’re injured!”
Only now did Myo Cheon Woo notice that Bu Eunseol’s gait was slightly unsteady, and a thread-thin line of blood traced her lips.
“Take my hand.”
Myo Cheon Woo extended his hand urgently.
“We must deploy our movement technique immediately and escape Janggeom Mountain Lodge’s sphere of influence. If they discover your wounds, they’ll pursue us at once—”
Myo Cheon Woo moved to support Bu Eunseol and hastily prepared to activate his movement technique.
But what was this faint smoke rising from Bu Eunseol’s body as she walked?
Now he understood—Bu Eunseol was circulating her inner energy while moving.
“You’re circulating your inner energy… while walking?”
Myo Cheon Woo’s expression was as though he’d seen a ghost.
He too was one of the Ten Demon Immortals, inheritor of the Ten Demonic Gates’ supreme techniques.
Yet Bu Eunseol’s martial prowess was something he had never witnessed before, and her level had already transcended the very limits of the Ten Demon Immortals.
‘So that’s what it was?’
Only now could Myo Cheon Woo begin to comprehend Seok Woo Haeng’s heart.
Bu Eunseol was a wall that grew ever higher.
He had once believed he could eventually scale it, but somewhere along the way, that wall had risen so high that even lifting one’s gaze could not reveal its summit.
For Seok Woo Haeng, such an insurmountable barrier could only breed resentment.
“Go ahead.”
Bu Eunseol opened her mouth, as though pausing her inner energy circulation.
“Quickly leave this area and have your arm treated. Otherwise, that left arm of yours may become useless.”
“Get out of this area and get your arm treated. Otherwise, you might not be able to use that left arm anymore.”
Beneath her indifferent tone lay genuine concern.
Watching Bu Eunseol stand there unmoved by her own injuries, Myo Cheon Woo’s eyes grew clouded.
“Bu Eunseol.”
Myo Cheon Woo spoke as though unable to comprehend.
“What is all this?”
“What do you mean?”
“You weren’t like this originally. You weren’t.”
The Bu Eunseol of Hell Island had been the most indifferent and cold of all.
She had belonged to no one and cared for no one.
She had always lived alone in darkness, determined to survive alone until the very end.
“Neither Seok Woo Haeng nor I had any real connection with you. So why did you save us?”
“I didn’t save you.”
“Don’t lie. If you had no intention of helping us from the start, there would be no reason to wear a mask, would there?”
Myo Cheon Woo’s expression grew puzzled.
“Rumors are spreading that Ma Cheon Je has completed his seclusion and will return soon. Had you not aided us this time, you could have easily become a successor candidate to the Demon Hall.”
As Bu Eunseol remained silent, Myo Cheon Woo asked again.
“Even on Hell Island, we joined forces to kill you and Seo Jin Ha. Does that not bother you?”
“Everyone was simply fulfilling their role.”
Bu Eunseol spoke with an indifferent expression.
“I was merely trying to survive.”
I harbored no emotions toward the other Ten Demon Immortals.
Neither hatred nor jealousy nor envy. No desire to surpass them all.
Only the will to survive and grow stronger.
“Truly… you feel nothing for us?”
As Myo Cheon Woo furrowed his brow, Bu Eunseol fell silent for a moment.
Then, after deep contemplation, I spoke slowly.
“Not entirely.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“We shared the same hell, and we survived it together.”
It was an honest sentiment.
In the past, I could feel no emotions toward others.
But after venturing into Gangho, experiencing countless trials, and befriending kindred spirits, something shifted. I had developed a sliver of feeling.
It was a sense of kinship I felt toward the Ten Demon Immortals who shared my fate.
“So that’s what it was.”
Myo Cheon Woo finally understood my heart.
In the barren and merciless tempests of Gangho, there existed kindred souls bound by the same destiny.
It stirred an ineffable emotion that words could not capture.
“Truth be told… I aided Seok Woo Haeng for the same reason as you.”
Myo Cheon Woo spoke with candor.
“I knew it was a scheme to exploit me… but I didn’t despise it.”
“”
“Honestly, I’ve always wanted to befriend you. You’re somewhat gloomy and peculiar, yet there’s an inexplicable loneliness about you.”
As Bu Eunseol stared intently, Myo Cheon Woo scratched his nose awkwardly.
“That’s all I’m saying.”
“I see.”
Bu Eunseol nodded and, having recovered enough to deploy her divine technique, spoke briefly before launching herself into the air.
“Then I shall depart.”
With a sharp whistle, I soared above the artificial cave in one fluid motion.
“I will not forget the debt I owe you today!”
Watching Bu Eunseol’s receding figure, Myo Cheon Woo nodded as if he had made a decision.
“Bu Eunseol.”
Gazing blankly in the direction where she had vanished, he murmured softly.
“We will meet again soon.”

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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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