The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign - Chapter 170
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 170.
Bu Eunseol could not immediately grasp the meaning behind Hyuk Gong Baek’s words.
After pondering deeply for a long moment, she carefully opened her mouth.
“How am I to awaken your grandson, sir?”
“Forgive me. In my haste, I jumped straight to the conclusion.”
Hyuk Gong Baek chuckled softly before continuing.
“I have but one grandson. My son and his wife departed this world long ago, leaving me with only that boy as my sole remaining blood relative.”
He released a deep sigh and pressed on.
“Yet that child shows no interest in anything. He merely squanders his days gambling and idling away, despite being the future lord destined to lead Jeol Cheon Myeol Ji.”
Bu Eunseol sensed something and inquired.
“Could this grandson be the young man dressed in azure robes with a languid expression?”
“Indeed. That boy is my grandson, Hyuk So Jin.”
The handsome man who bore an expression of utter indifference to all things.
He was none other than Hyuk Gong Baek’s grandson, Hyuk So Jin.
“The current lord cannot live forever, can he? I wish that boy would rediscover his passion for the martial world as soon as possible. Yet it proves difficult.”
“I find it difficult to comprehend, sir. As your grandson, he must have trained in martial arts with greater fervor than most.”
The Ten Demonic Gates, Jeol Cheon Myeol Ji.
This place was the sanctuary of the great demonic masters who once swept through the martial world, and it was also a treasury of all the demonic techniques they possessed.
Most of the secret manuals accumulated in the Manma Yujin Pavilion of the Demon Palace originated from Jeol Cheon Myeol Ji.
“Moreover, as the future lord, he must have held martial arts texts in his hands since childhood.”
“There are two reasons for this.”
Hyuk Gong Baek’s expression grew sorrowful.
“First, my son and his wife died young. Despite their extraordinary martial prowess, heaven’s jealousy struck them down with a mysterious illness, and they perished. After that, the boy became cynical about everything.”
No matter how formidable one’s martial arts, none can overcome birth, aging, sickness, and death.
Having witnessed his parents’ death at such a tender age, and constantly seeing the elderly demonic masters who dwell in Do Won Hyang, he had surely come to feel the impermanence of life.
‘Indeed, Do Won Hyang possesses only beautiful scenery. It is merely a place where the elderly remain, soon to depart on their final journey.’
Do Won Hyang, where the elderly stand at death’s threshold.
From the perspective of the young left behind, it is no different from a mortician preparing for the affairs of the deceased.
“The second reason is that the boy’s talent is extraordinarily genius.”
Hyuk Gong Baek took another sip of tea, and a proud smile graced his lips.
“By the age of ten, he had already mastered thirty percent of my supreme technique.”
“I see.”
“Not only that, but he has committed a considerable portion of the exceptional demonic arts within this sect to memory.”
To achieve thirty percent mastery of the Demon Immortal’s supreme technique—the art that overturns heaven itself—by the age of ten was extraordinary.
He was undoubtedly a prodigy of martial learning of the highest order.
“Geniuses of such exceptional caliber often experience loneliness and emptiness early on.”
As Bu Eunseol nodded, Hyuk Gong Baek continued.
“From age ten onward, that boy completely lost interest in martial arts. Since he grasped everything so easily, he believed no one surpassed him.”
“I understand.”
“I have tried many methods thus far, but to no avail. No one has been able to turn that wretch’s heart around.”
Bu Eunseol, lost in contemplation, suddenly brightened with realization.
“I believe there may be a way.”
“There is?”
“Yes, there is.”
Bu Eunseol spoke with measured calm.
“Does the method matter, regardless of what it is?”
“Of course not. If that boy can shake off his lethargy and stretch his wings as a true heir….”
Hyuk Gong Baek spoke with conviction.
“This old man will become your strength for all my remaining days.”
Bu Eunseol nodded decisively.
“Then please summon your grandson to the Training Grounds.”
Hyuk Gong Baek, deep in thought, let out a sigh.
“Surely you don’t intend to challenge him to a duel?”
He shook his head with a wry smile.
“Just recently, the heir of Hell Blood Castle came and requested a match with that boy.”
“Such a thing occurred?”
“Even that Hell Blood Castle heir could not subdue So Jin. Of course, that’s partly because he couldn’t employ his Poison Mastery technique…”
Bu Eunseol’s eyes gleamed with interest.
The legitimate heir of Hell Blood Castle could not overpower him, despite his idle, dissolute nature?
“The boy is stronger than anyone, even with merely superficial martial arts training.”
Hyuk So Jin was not one of the Ten Demon Experts, but a carefully groomed heir of the Ten Demonic Gates.
From childhood, he had studied and mastered every demonic scripture of Jeol Cheon Myeol Ji, and even inherited the supreme techniques of Phantom Demon transformation.
Had he not been the heir of Jeol Cheon Myeol Ji, he would have already become a powerful candidate for the Demon Palace’s succession.
“How intriguing.”
“Hmm?”
“Please summon him to the Training Grounds.”
“You’re truly going through with this.”
“The outcome this time will be different.”
Bu Eunseol, her keen gaze flashing with sharp intent, approached Hyuk Gong Baek and spoke in a low voice.
“But I ask one promise of you in return.”
* * *
The Jeol Cheon Myeol Ji Training Grounds stood not in Do Won Hyang or Jeol Cheon Myeol Ji proper, but in an open field far removed from the main compound.
Jeol Cheon Myeol Ji, which meticulously preserved an incalculable wealth of demonic scriptures.
Because of this, the martial artists belonging to this place could easily access demonic techniques, and an atmosphere of fierce cultivation had naturally taken root.
―What good is mastering martial arts? Life is far more enjoyable simply drinking wine and gambling.
But as Hyuk So Jin, the next lord and heir, surrendered himself to gambling and wine, the young martial artists of Jeol Cheon Myeol Ji were naturally swept up in his example.
“Hmm.”
The Great Training Arena of Jeol Cheon Myeol Ji.
On one side stood Hyuk Gong Baek and Poong Yeo Ryang.
And in the center, a young scholar in pale robes rubbed his eyes and yawned.
It was none other than Hyuk Gong Baek’s grandson, Hyuk So Jin.
And standing before him was a martial artist with a sword strapped to her back, her long hair streaming in the wind. It was Bu Eunseol.
“You’re making quite the unnecessary fuss.”
Hyuk So Jin regarded Bu Eunseol with a bored gaze.
“I hear you entered as one of the Ten Demon Experts, then were fortunate enough to be recognized as a master of the Nangya Sect.”
His voice carried a subtle undertone of contempt.
Yet Bu Eunseol simply nodded with an impassive expression.
“That’s correct.”
“Then it seems you should live according to your station.”
“A fair point.”
Bu Eunseol smiled faintly, uncharacteristically.
“Which is precisely why I’ve come to teach you how to live within yours.”
A sharp crackling sound.
In that instant, a violet radiance flickered across Hyuk So Jin’s pupils.
‘He has indeed inherited the old master’s cultivation.’
The faint violet gleam that occasionally shimmered in Hyuk Gong Baek’s eyes was unmistakably present in Hyuk So Jin’s as well.
“I’m afraid I must decline.”
By then, Hyuk So Jin had regained his composure, and the blazing intensity in his gaze had cleared once more.
“I’m simply not the sort of person to exchange blows with others without reason.”
“Are you afraid of defeat?”
“Not at all. What does victory matter? What does defeat matter?”
His gaze, fixed upon the distant sky, was filled with profound melancholy.
“With the years remaining, neither living nor dying seems to matter anymore.”
One might expect such words from an elderly man weary of life itself.
But from the lips of a young man barely past his prime, such nihilism was profoundly unsettling.
An age when life should radiate with brilliance and vitality.
Yet Hyuk So Jin seemed to have cast aside all will to live, as though he were an old man standing at twilight’s threshold.
“Then let us make a wager.”
At Bu Eunseol’s proposal, a spark of life kindled in Hyuk So Jin’s eyes.
If nothing else, gambling was the sole pleasure he truly enjoyed.
“A wager? I’m intrigued. What are the terms?”
“Three seconds.”
Bu Eunseol spoke matter-of-factly.
“Withstand three seconds of my palm technique without dodging. If you can endure it, I lose.”
“Not even sword technique, but merely three seconds of palm strikes?”
Hyuk So Jin, regarding her with an expression of bewilderment, smiled faintly.
“And if I win? What do I gain?”
“Anything. I’ll do whatever I’m capable of.”
“How amusing. It seems you’ve never gambled before. One shouldn’t make such rash promises.”
“Will you accept?”
At Bu Eunseol’s words, Hyuk So Jin shrugged his shoulders.
“What if I lose?”
“Then you fight me with genuine intent, as I proposed.”
“Is there truly a need to go that far? Even if I lose, isn’t it enough to simply conduct one sparring match?”
At that, a crimson gleam flickered across Bu Eunseol’s pupils.
“Not a sparring match. I said we fight.”
Fight. Perhaps that meant a death match where one’s very life hung in the balance.
“Hehehehe. Hahahaha.”
After laughing for a long while, Hyuk So Jin’s expression turned cold.
“You’re quite the audacious one.”
Once more, a radiant light rippled like waves across his pupils.
“Do you even know who I am when you speak such words?”
“I know well enough.”
Bu Eunseol wore the faintest of smiles.
“A frog in a well.”
Crack.
As Hyuk So Jin exerted his power, the floor of the Martial Arts Arena beneath him caved inward.
“Hehehehe.”
Hyuk So Jin, who had always worn a bored expression, now displayed eyes alight with vitality for the first time.
“Very well. I accept.”
Simultaneously, a fierce aura erupted from his body.
A legitimate successor of the Ten Demonic Gates.
Born with supreme bone and sinew, their vital essence purified through elixirs and secret methods, their bodies restructured through the Marrow Cleansing technique to suit martial cultivation.
From the moment they could walk, the greatest masters of the Demonic Path devoted their full strength to transmitting their martial arts.
Thus, the legitimate successors of the Ten Demonic Gates who grew up this way invariably reached formidable realms.
‘Always the same tedious display.’
Contempt flickered in Hyuk So Jin’s eyes as he regarded Bu Eunseol.
In truth, he also knew what his grandfather Hyuk Gong Baek had asked of the successor of Hell Blood Castle.
‘To be stimulated by witnessing his superior martial prowess.’
The successor of Hell Blood Castle had likewise requested a sparring match. And he had displayed brilliant techniques to provoke Hyuk So Jin.
But that was all.
When Hyuk So Jin refused to be provoked and responded with pure defense, the successor of Hell Blood Castle had no choice but to concede.
For none within Jeol Cheon Myeol Ji dared to move against a legitimate successor.
Yet now that Bu Eunseol repeated such futile attempts, it was nothing short of laughable.
“Begin whenever you wish.”
Hyuk So Jin spoke with a sneer.
“Stray dog of Nangya Sect.”
Despite the insulting words, Bu Eunseol’s pupils remained perfectly composed.
“First move.”
With those brief words, Bu Eunseol immediately unleashed a devastating punch.
It was the Fist Demon Initial Form unleashed through the combined power of three stars.
Just as the silent, soundless force of the Fist Demon Initial Form burrowed toward Hyuk So Jin’s chest,
Kwah!
Suddenly, a fierce wind-splitting sound erupted, and the force split into two currents.
Then it drove sharply into both sides of Hyuk So Jin’s ribs.
A technique of borrowing force through qi—possible only within the Seven Forms of the Fist Demon.
“Heh heh.”
Yet Hyuk So Jin showed little surprise, merely shaking his shoulders lightly.
Whirrrr.
A strange power surged from his entire body, then slanted outward, deflecting the Fist Demon Initial Form’s force that had been boring into his ribs.
“Impressive technique.”
As Hyuk So Jin smiled, Bu Eunseol nodded.
“Second Form.”
Kwah-rung! Kwah-rur-rung!
This time, accompanied by a thunderous roar, five sharp currents of force wrapped around Hyuk So Jin’s body from inescapable angles.
The Second Form of the Seven Forms of the Fist Demon—the technique of Extreme Heaven and Chaotic Filial Piety.
“Hut.”
As the sharp, lightning-fast force burrowed in, Hyuk So Jin’s expression shifted to mild surprise, and he swiftly whipped both arms.
Then a faint violet radiance poured from his hands, the five currents of force converging into one,
Whirrrr.
The force passed over his head.
It resembled the way Tai Chi’s transformation force dissolves incoming energy.
“Divine Rift Demon Qi?”
At Bu Eunseol’s question, Hyuk So Jin nodded.
Divine Rift Demon Qi.
This was less a martial technique and more an esoteric art, akin to Shaolin’s Prajna Great Ability or the Ming Sect’s Heaven and Earth Great Displacement.
A demon art of redirecting the flow of external force pouring from an opponent by wielding the overwhelming Divine Rift Demon Qi throughout one’s entire body.
It is said that upon reaching the highest realm, one can return any martial technique or force back to the opponent unchanged.
And Hyuk So Jin was employing a method of lightly deflecting incoming attacks while wreathed entirely in Divine Rift Demon Qi.
“Abandon such futile dreams.”
Having discerned Bu Eunseol’s intent, Hyuk So Jin spoke with confidence.
“No matter what you do, you cannot shatter the Divine Rift Demon Qi enveloping my body.”
No matter how formidable the Divine Rift Demon Qi of three stars, it clings like glue and proves as tenacious as ox sinew.
Without employing true void techniques, it can never be broken.
“We shall see.”
The moment her words ended, a crimson radiance erupted from Bu Eunseol’s body.
Pah-ang!
As another thunderous explosion tore forth, those luminous points became brilliant scarlet beams of light, soaring skyward.
Witnessing that terrifying spectacle, Hyuk So Jin instead wore a faint smirk.
‘Hmph, she means to intimidate through sheer power. Surely she doesn’t truly intend to kill me….’
Crack.
As bone-shattering sounds erupted from my body, the crimson light points that had soared skyward were absorbed into my right hand.
A deep, resonant hum echoed forth.
Within my eyes, which traced circles through empty space, the Half-Extreme Blood Light surged upward in torrents.
Fist Demon Seven Forms, Fourth Strike, Heavenly Hand Void Break.
The legendary technique that destroys all obstacles in its path had been unleashed.
“Wait… surely not…!”
Before Hyuk So Jin could even finish his cry,
A deafening roar tore through heaven and earth!
Crimson radiance poured forth from my left fist, accompanied by a cataclysmic explosion.
It was the very essence of Heaven-Shattering Devastation—a force that obliterated everything between sky and ground.
In Hyuk So Jin’s eyes, gazing upon the cascading Heavenly Hand Void Break, a colossal sun seemed to shine.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————