The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign - Chapter 175

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 175.
Through the transparent water, I could clearly see magnificent palace halls as ornate as an imperial court.
Yet the moment the door opened, an entirely different landscape unfolded before us.
A narrow, dark corridor stretched out before the two of us.
Footsteps echoed—*thud, thud*.
Simultaneously, a slender silhouette approached from the opposite direction, accompanied by the sound of footfalls.
As the shadow drew near, bright light cascaded from the ceiling as if torches were being lit in sequence.
“Welcome to Mu Ha Soo Yu Jeong.”
In the illuminated corridor stood a beautiful woman dressed in a pale pink martial robe.
“I am Mi Ryeong, overseer of the Hye Bong Gak within Mu Ha Soo Yu Jeong.”
Her manner of speech and bearing were impeccably courteous, yet her pupils were dilated, and a subtle hostility emanated from her.
Bu Eunseol immediately discerned not only that she was deeply tense, but also that elaborate mechanical devices were installed beneath the floor.
‘Should we make any careless move or our intentions prove questionable, the mechanisms laid throughout this corridor would activate instantaneously.’
“I am….”
Just then, as Hyuk So Jin began to clasp his hands and speak,
“I already know.”
Mi Ryeong answered with a smile.
“You are Hyuk So Jin, successor of Jeol Cheon Myul Ji, and Bu Eunseol, a master of Nangya Sect.”
Even with her revelation of our identities, Bu Eunseol felt little surprise.
Just as the Righteous Path had Gae Bang, the Demonic Path had Mu Ha Soo Yu Jeong—the faction that controlled the flow of information throughout Tianxia.
“Do you wish to enter Mu Ha Soo Yu Jeong?”
At Mi Ryeong’s question, Bu Eunseol nodded.
“I do.”
“To enter Mu Ha Soo Yu Jeong, you must pass a trial. This applies without exception, even to successors of the Ten Demonic Gates.”
“I understand.”
In truth, a pendant given to me by Dan Seo Ok hung around my neck.
Should I produce it, I could enter Mu Ha Soo Yu Jeong immediately.
Yet I nodded without even considering retrieving the pendant.
“Then let us begin at once.”
“I would urge you to reconsider.”
Mi Ryeong, who had been staring intently at Bu Eunseol’s serene expression, spoke carefully.
“What we call a trial here is, in truth, a mechanism and means designed to completely repel any intruders.”
“So you would prefer we did not enter at all?”
At Hyuk So Jin’s words, Mi Ryeong nodded.
“That is correct.”
And she exhaled deeply before continuing.
“Mu Ha Soo Yu Jeong has endured endless invasions from external forces for centuries. Therefore, only a man possessing an immovable heart—one that cannot be shaken under any circumstance—is worthy of entering Mu Ha Soo Yu Jeong.”
“I understand your meaning.”
Bu Eunseol nodded.
Within Mu Ha Soo Yu Jeong lay incalculable wealth and beautiful women beyond measure.
If someone without an unwavering heart were to breach this place, they would harbor dark intentions and attempt to overthrow or dominate Mu Ha Soo Yu Jeong.
“So anyone who passes the trial can enter Mu Ha Soo Yu Jeong?”
Bu Eunseol unleashed another piercing question.
“Or does it only accept those of the Demonic Path?”
Mi Ryeong’s lips curved into an enigmatic smile.
“It matters not whether one follows the Righteous Path or the Evil Sect. If you simply pass the trial of this establishment, anyone may enter.”
‘So they’ve cultivated connections with the Righteous Path factions as well.’
Bu Eunseol nodded faintly, grasping the implication behind Mi Ryeong’s words.
In a way, it made sense.
Mu Ha Soo Yu Jeong had far too much to protect. If they could gain allies, it mattered little whether they came from the Demonic Path or the Righteous Path.
“Will you still take the trial?”
“I will.”
Bu Eunseol answered without hesitation, and Hyuk So Jin nodded with an arrogant expression.
“As for an unwavering heart, I’m quite confident in that regard. I have no interests beyond gambling, after all.”
“Understood.”
Mi Ryeong spoke calmly.
“Then I shall commence the trial now….”
A mechanical whirring sound.
At that moment, a stout middle-aged woman emerged from behind Mi Ryeong and walked toward them.
She was Du Yak Rang, the Master of Sa Mi Dong, who oversaw all the mechanical mechanisms of Mu Ha Soo Yu Jeong.
“Master Du.”
Mi Ryeong bowed respectfully upon spotting Du Yak Rang.
Du Yak Rang, who had been walking with a stern expression, regarded Bu Eunseol and Hyuk So Jin intently before speaking in a low voice.
“Mi Ryeong, you may withdraw.”
“Pardon?”
“I shall oversee the trial myself.”
Mi Ryeong’s face registered confusion.
Du Yak Rang’s duties as Master of Sa Mi Dong typically involved activating mechanisms to repel powerful external invaders.
“Master. These individuals….”
“I am aware. That they are also successors of the Ten Demonic Gates.”
“But….”
“It is a decision made by the Patriarch.”
At those words, Mi Ryeong uttered a sound of realization, bowed her head, and hastily withdrew.
“Then I shall take my leave.”
Bu Eunseol and Hyuk So Jin, observing this exchange, simultaneously narrowed their eyes.
―I am aware. That ‘they are also’ successors of the Ten Demonic Gates.
From that single remark, they could deduce the entire situation.
―Another successor of the Ten Demonic Gates has already visited this place.
Moreover, the fact that Du Yak Rang said “a decision made by the Patriarch” made it abundantly clear that another successor of the Ten Demonic Gates had already come to Mu Ha Soo Yu Jeong and proposed something, and the Patriarch had accepted it.
“So you are Du Yak Rang, Master of Sa Mi Dong.”
Du Yak Rang gazed at Bu Eunseol and Hyuk So Jin with a frigid expression.
“The trial to enter Mu Ha Soo Yu Jeong demands you stake your very life. I advise you to leave immediately.”
Du Yak Rang narrowed her eyes as she spoke.
“I have no wish to hear that Mu Ha Soo Yu Jeong slew the successor of the Ten Demonic Gates.”
Her intent was unmistakable.
She simply did not want us inside and was telling us to depart.
“It matters not.”
“Most speak such words before death. Yet when their final moments arrive, they wail in despair and rue their choices.”
“Indeed. I merely hope you do not share their fate, Master.”
As Bu Eunseol parried with composure, the arrogant smile vanished from Du Yak Rang’s face entirely.
“Then we shall begin.”
She then gently lifted her foot and stepped upon the silver-jade stone beneath her.
With a thunderous boom, the ceiling split open and began pouring transparent liquid into the corridor.
Rumble, rumble, rumble.
Yet something extraordinary occurred.
The transparent liquid cascading from above filled only half the corridor’s width.
Upon closer inspection, transparent stones gleamed densely between the corridor walls—the very stones that had pushed the water back before our entry.
These mystical stones contained the pouring liquid precisely at the corridor’s midpoint.
“Wait. Could it be…?”
Hyuk So Jin pointed at the transparent liquid filling the space, his finger trembling.
Unlike ordinary water, its viscosity was visibly thick as honey.
“Could this be Infinite Celestial King Water?”
Infinite Celestial King Water.
This mystical liquid, commonly called heavy water, possessed the property that a single drop weighed as much as hundreds of pounds of steel.
Thus a single bucket of this water outweighed a boulder the size of a house.
“To have gathered such a quantity of this precious Infinite Celestial King Water…”
The liquid was as rare and costly as its properties were unique. To fill an entire corridor with such an expensive substance?
“Truly, the financial power of Mu Ha Soo Yu Jeong lives up to its reputation.”
As Hyuk So Jin exclaimed in admiration, Du Yak Rang spoke.
“This gate is called the Infinite Celestial Water Barrier. You need only traverse the corridor filled with that Infinite Celestial King Water.”
“You mean we must enter that?”
Hyuk So Jin’s mouth fell open in disbelief.
With such a quantity of Infinite Celestial King Water, even if one had mastered horizontal cultivation techniques like Steel Body Technique or Arhat Qi Method that hardened the body to steel…
One’s body would be crushed or burst the moment of entry.
“This is no trial—it is a declaration that all outsiders entering shall surely perish.”
At Hyuk So Jin’s words, Du Yak Rang laughed coldly.
“If you wish to withdraw, do so. I will not force you.”
Yet Bu Eunseol, who had stood silent, spoke.
“If I pass this trial alone, may I then enter Mu Ha Soo Yu Jeong?”
Du Yak Rang’s thin lips moved as she regarded Bu Eunseol’s unwavering gaze.
“Of course not.”
“So there are more trials.”
Bu Eunseol nodded and spoke.
“Then must both of us pass the trials? Or is it enough if only one person succeeds?”
“Hehehehe. Why would both of them need to pass?”
Du Yak Rang wore a cold smile.
“I’ll consider it a success if just one person passes.”
On the surface, it seemed like a concession, but in reality, it meant she didn’t want to kill both successors of the Ten Demonic Gates.
“However, whether one person passes the trial or fails, neither of you may help each other. If either of you receives or gives assistance, the trial is forfeit and you must leave immediately.”
Bu Eunseol nodded lightly and spoke.
“Then I shall attempt this trial.”
“Do as you wish.”
The moment Bu Eunseol moved to enter the place where the Boundless Heavenly King’s Water was gathered, Hyuk So Jin blocked the path.
“Wait.”
Hyuk So Jin spoke with a serious expression.
“No matter how high your internal energy is, this seems reckless.”
Bu Eunseol spoke with cold eyes.
“I never permitted you to use such a form of address.”
“Is that what matters now?”
Hyuk So Jin’s eyes, usually filled with arrogance, were now heavy and grave.
“That quantity of Boundless Heavenly King’s Water cannot possibly be withstood by two decades of internal cultivation.”
In truth, my internal energy cultivation exceeded three decades.
However, because I had always suppressed my cultivation level when facing others, Hyuk So Jin had miscalculated my true strength.
“You must realize it too—another successor came to Mu Ha Soo Yu Jeong just like us and left.”
“So?”
“So? Seeing how they changed the trial after initially speaking of an unshakeable heart, it’s clear they’ve decided to eliminate us from the start.”
Bu Eunseol spoke calmly.
“How else could one gain the support of the Ten Demonic Gates without risking one’s life?”
“Bu—”
“If I intended to stop here, I would never have left the Demon Palace in the first place.”
Having finished speaking, Bu Eunseol walked into the transparent barrier where the Boundless Heavenly King’s Water gathered.
Such is the nature of Gangho.
Whether it be fame or power… one must stake one’s life to obtain what one desires.
If such things could be replaced with anything else, the Murim would never have been called Gangho.
Step by step.
Walking slowly, Bu Eunseol suddenly strode into the place where the Boundless Heavenly King’s Water was gathered.
Whirr.
The moment Du Yak Rang adjusted the mechanism, the transparent stones began rotating in a circle, and the Boundless Heavenly King’s Water that filled the empty space began to surge through the middle of the passage.
Boom.
In that instant, with a low vibration, my waist contracted as I was engulfed by the Boundless Heavenly King’s Water.
At the same time, the ink sword strapped to my back began to bend like a bow.
Shudder.
It was an immense pressure.
As if the heavens and earth had flipped entirely, and the entire world pressed down upon my head.
Whoooosh.
Bu Eunseol immediately drew upon the Inverse Extreme Heart Method.
With a low vibration, a faint light surged around my body.
“That is….”
Du Yak Rang, who had been observing this sight, widened her eyes greatly.
A faint radiance began to shimmer from Bu Eunseol’s body, and it was now pushing back the transparent Infinite Heavenly King Water.
Boom.
As Bu Eunseol straightened my body and took a step forward, the entire cave trembled.
And the faint radiance flowing from my body gradually took shape, beginning to form a perfect circle.
“Could it be that this person’s inner power exceeds thirty years of cultivation?”
Du Yak Rang wore an expression as if seeing a ghost.
The circular radiance enveloping Bu Eunseol’s body—it was a manifestation of formidable vital energy.
To manifest inner power throughout one’s entire body requires barely enough inner strength of thirty years’ worth to unfold it.
“This is absurd….”
Du Yak Rang opened her mouth.
The sight of the transparent Infinite Heavenly King Water manifesting vital energy at full power was a display that could never appear at the threshold of the Transcendent Realm.
‘At that age, has their inner power surpassed the Transcendent Realm stage?’
Boom. Boom.
In the meantime, Bu Eunseol was slowly taking one step after another.
“More than thirty years, not ten years?”
Hyuk So Jin, who had been observing this sight, also felt his eyes bulge wide.
“Then you’ve been going easy on me this whole time in our inner power contests.”
The power Bu Eunseol had unleashed in the inner power contest, when calculated as recoil force, was clearly around one hundred and twenty years….
In reality, he possessed inner power exceeding one hundred and eighty years.
“No matter how I think about it, accumulating such inner power at that age is impossible. Then could it be… Reversal of Age and Return to Youth?”
Hyuk So Jin, who had opened his mouth, shook his head.
“No. That can’t be. Brother Bu is not one of the Ten Demon Immortals.”
If he had undergone Reversal of Age and Return to Youth, the great demon experts crouching in the Demon Palace would have surely noticed it.
“But to possess such inner power, three conditions must align perfectly.”
To possess shocking inner power around the age of adulthood, first,
one must receive the Eight Extraordinary Meridians Transmission before the Conception and Governing Vessels become blocked.
Second, one must master a pure and superior inner power technique most suited to the transmitter’s body, maintaining the state of vital energy as if in the womb.
Third, once a certain amount of vital energy accumulates, a supreme master with inner power exceeding forty years must open the Heaven and Earth Two Passages for them.
Hyuk So Jin, as the successor of Jeol Cheon Myul Ji, had received all three of these. Yet the reason he could not possess formidable inner power was only one.
His age was still too young.
Inner power does not increase infinitely no matter how much one cultivates it all day long.
Only through prolonged cultivation of true yin and true yang in harmonious balance could one’s inner power level increase.
When all three conditions were met—exceptional talent, superior bone structure, and outstanding internal cultivation techniques—reaching the level of three sixty-year cycles typically took around thirty years.
Yet Bu Eunseol, despite being barely past her twenties, already possessed inner power at the level of three sixty-year cycles.
Boom. Boom.
In the meantime, I was progressing about a third of the way through the corridor filled with Infinite Heavenly King Water.
Unlike before, my steps were no longer heavy, and they gradually became lighter, as if I were taking a leisurely stroll.
‘This is strange.’
I too sensed the strangeness of it all.
At first, even exerting my full inner power allowed me to advance only a single step.
Yet something remarkable was happening.
Whoooosh.
Red points of light began to emerge across my skin, gradually taking on a faint golden hue.
Simultaneously, the pressure crushing my entire body was gradually fading away, was it not?
Crack.
In that instant, my skin split like brittle candy, revealing transparent skin beneath.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————