The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign - Chapter 18

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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 18
In the depths of a forest on the outskirts of Hell Island.
Clang! Crash!
Each time the weapons clashed through the air, a piercing metallic shriek tore through the eardrums in rapid succession.
―Ugh, ahhhhh!
Followed by agonized screams that ripped through the chest, shaking the entire forest.
The lives of the most talented and promising youths were falling like flower petals scattered on the wind.
Hell Island.
Merely a day after the Third Trial began, this Isolated Island had become, quite literally, hell itself.
“Damn it!”
Ga Woon Sung, a youth sprawled in the midst of a blood sea formation, clawed at the earth.
“Ugh….”
Though lacking talent and remaining in the Intermediate Hall of the Blood Flame Sect and White Horse Sect, he had comrades and friends who shared his aspirations.
“We swore we’d survive together… and become Ten Demon Experts….”
Rather than engage in the bloody slaughter, Ga Woon Sung and his companions had hidden in the outer forest.
But his companions were all slaughtered by the shadows lurking within the woods.
They were trainees of Geuk Sal Mil Gak.
Geuk Sal Mil Gak, also called Sal Gak, is the Grand Sect of Sal Mun among the Ten Demonic Gates.
Moreover, the killing arts of Sal Gak were so brutal and grotesque that even a child who learned them could easily slay martial artists.
“You slaughter those who don’t even resist? Are you even human?!”
Despite Ga Woon Sung’s anguished cry, the forest remained silent.
They were likely hidden in the darkness, watching him die like one observes a dying insect.
Such was the nature of assassins.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry….”
Tears streamed from his eyes as he gazed upon his companions, now cold corpses in a pitiful state.
“You died protecting me….”
Even in the brutal Ten Demon Experts tournament, there was loyalty and friendship.
His companions had perished trying to protect Ga Woon Sung, the weakest among them.
He wiped away his tears and slowly rose to his feet. The moment he reached for his sword,
Whoosh. Thud.
A sharp object pierced deep into his left thigh with a whistling sound.
“Ahhh!”
With an agonized scream, Ga Woon Sung collapsed to the ground.
“Ugh….”
Looking at his thigh, a sharp wooden stake carved from a tree was embedded deep within.
The moment he drew his sword, an assassin watching from the darkness had hurled a projectile at him.
“Ugh….”
Ga Woon Sung clenched his teeth and looked up into the darkness-shrouded forest, crying out.
“I will kill you all!”
Thud.
And he pressed down forcefully on the stake embedded in his thigh.
Rather than letting blood pour out from a poorly driven stake, he had driven it deep to stanch the bleeding entirely.
“I swear it!”
His eyes, sweeping across the surroundings, burned with fury and resentment.
“Even if I must sell my soul! Even if I become a vengeful spirit! I will have my revenge upon you all!”
Swish.
With a soft sound, dark shadows materialized one by one before Ga Woon Sung.
Their movements were silent and secretive, as if they had always been there—like death-dealing reapers incarnate—yet
“Come!”
Ga Woon Sung gripped his blade with eager delight, twisting it in his hands.
* * *
Whiiiing.
A desolate wind swept gently across the outer reaches of Hell Island.
In the black night, a shadow walked with the moon’s faint glow at its back. It was Bu Eunseol.
Step, step.
Walking through Hell Island where death descended with each passing moment, my expression remained utterly serene.
Drip, drip, drip.
Blood dripped from the iron blade I held.
Over four days, I had cut down countless souls across Hell Island with this iron blade.
“I’m tired.”
I murmured flatly, gazing toward the distant sky.
One would never imagine I had just engaged in such a desperate blood battle.
As the cruel slaughter continued relentlessly, many trainees were losing their minds, yet I maintained perfect clarity.
I had lived my life viewing corpses daily as my profession.
Since my grandfather Bu Chanyang’s death, even the boundary between life and death had blurred.
I felt no sensation of being alive, nor did I draw closer to death.
I existed solely to capture the beast that harmed my grandfather—breathing, moving my body, living day by day.
“Still…”
I gazed down at my right hand, stained with blood even beneath my fingernails.
“I’ve grown stronger.”
Since leaving the Martial Hall of the Hwawoo Sword Sect, I had never faltered in direct confrontation with anyone.
I could freely manipulate the Hwawoo Thirteen Forms and Hwawoo Lightning Blade—techniques deemed unusable in actual combat.
With a blade in hand, I felt I could even sever the neck of death itself.
―I will kill them without fail!
Then a desperate cry echoed from within the forest.
A wail like that of a wounded beast.
My eyes dimmed as I reached toward the hilt of my blade.
I was not so starved for blood as to cut down one trembling in pain, consumed by vengeance and sorrow.
“Hmm.”
As I turned my body as if hearing nothing, another desperate cry reached my ears.
―I shall have my revenge, even if I must sell my soul, even if I must become a vengeful ghost!
She froze.
At that anguished, heart-wrenching cry, Bu Eunseol’s legs came to an abrupt halt.
Revenge. The word, steeped in bitter resentment and blood, pierced through her chest.
After gazing up at the deep night sky for a moment, she turned her steps toward the source of the sound, deeper into the forest.
Thump, thump.
Bu Eunseol, who had been walking with measured steps, suddenly stopped.
“….”
Her vacant gaze fixed upon the night sky,
Boom!
she suddenly struck the massive tree beside her with her fist.
Shhhhh.
The tree trembled, and the sound of leaves brushing against one another filled the air.
Simultaneously, subtle vibrations rippled outward in concentric circles. Bu Eunseol’s pupils blazed with an otherworldly light and dilated dramatically.
Using the technique drawn from the earth, she had vibrated the tree to expand her Beast Path senses.
Whoosh!
A piercing gleam erupted from the darkness.
But Bu Eunseol’s body had already retreated three paces beyond its reach.
Crack, crack, crack, crack!
In that same instant, dozens of wooden stakes carved from the tree struck the ground where she had been standing.
“What?”
As Bu Eunseol effortlessly evaded the ambush, a gasp of shock erupted from the brush some ten paces away.
Realizing her mistake, the assassin attempted to flee hastily.
Swish.
But Bu Eunseol had already drawn her iron sword from her waist, cutting off the escape route.
Zing, zing.
Swift sword strikes tore through the air, cascading into the undergrowth.
“Ugh.”
With a dull groan, a dark silhouette emerged from the brush.
The figure, masked and clad in assassin’s garb, trembled violently as they muttered.
“To evade the hidden projectile technique launched with the Ten Thousand Kalpas of Light and Shadow method so effortlessly….”
But the words trailed off.
Drip, drip.
Bu Eunseol’s sword had already carved faint lines of blood from shoulder to waist across the assassin’s body.
Thud.
The assassin in the garb breathed their last.
“Your concealment technique was flawed.”
Bu Eunseol murmured softly, then suddenly spun her sword and drove it into the ground beneath her feet like lightning.
Squelch.
With a dull sound, blood fountained from the earth.
The assassin lurking beneath Bu Eunseol’s feet never even had time to scream before her strike pierced through his skull, ending his life.
“You!”
Then, from the tree branches overhead, a shout erupted followed by a barrage of throwing blades.
But Bu Eunseol’s Beast Path had already sensed both the position and stance of the ambusher launching the projectiles.
Whoosh.
Effortlessly evading the throwing blades, Bu Eunseol leaped into the air and swung her sword at the tree.
With a sharp whistle, the Masked Assassin in assassin’s garb tumbled down to the ground with a dull thud.
“So you’re an assassin too!”
“An assassin?”
“If you can see through the Silver Form Concealment, you must be quite skilled—trained by Sal Mun, I’d wager.”
The Masked Assassin tilted his head, studying Bu Eunseol.
“Why didn’t you join Geuk Sal Mil Gak?”
‘This one was trained at Geuk Sal Mil Gak.’
Realizing the Masked Assassin was a disciple of Geuk Sal Mil Gak, Bu Eunseol’s eyes narrowed.
Assassins with weak true energy were inevitably vulnerable in direct confrontation.
But the assassination techniques of Geuk Sal Mil Gak encompassed not only stealth methods but also orthodox swordplay and throwing blade arts, making them formidable in face-to-face combat.
“I know nothing of assassin techniques.”
When Bu Eunseol shook her head, the Masked Assassin chuckled.
“Don’t lie. You saw through the Forbidden Ultimate Invisibility Art of our sect at a glance—something even the masters of the martial world struggle to perceive?”
A hypersensitive Beast Path capable of detecting even the flow of air itself.
For assassins who hid in shadows to strike or launched lightning-fast ambushes, such martial arts were their natural nemesis.
“It doesn’t concern me.”
Bu Eunseol placed her hand on the hilt of her sword with indifference.
She intended to gauge her strength through direct combat with an assassin trained at Geuk Sal Mil Gak.
“Wait!”
The Masked Assassin, who had been staring into Bu Eunseol’s cold, unwavering eyes, suddenly crossed both hands before him.
“There’s no need to settle this immediately. Let’s postpone our fight for now.”
Bu Eunseol’s gaze remained completely steady.
As if she might strike like lightning at any moment, the Masked Assassin’s eyes grew urgent.
“Hell Island still has many others. We, who have cultivated assassination techniques, have been silently eliminating those who’ve come to this forest so far.”
The eyes behind the mask narrowed shrewdly as they fixed upon Bu Eunseol.
“If we eliminate the others, your competitors disappear anyway… isn’t that beneficial for you too?”
Yet the hand gripping Bu Eunseol’s sword hilt remained perfectly still.
It was as clear as a declaration of intent to kill.
Recognizing this, the Masked Assassin spoke with vicious eyes.
“My comrades are hidden throughout this forest. Do you really intend to face me….”
But the words never finished.
Bu Eunseol’s iron blade shot forward like lightning, piercing toward the Masked Assassin’s throat.
“You!”
Unprepared for such a sudden assault, the Masked Assassin gasped in shock and swiftly deployed his footwork to evade.
Pap pap pap pap!
Despite shifting his stance forty-three times, leaving only faint afterimages in his wake, he could not evade the blade.
“What manner of swordsmanship is this?”
Bu Eunseol answered not with words, but by transitioning from the eighth stance of the Hwawoo Thirteen Forms, Winds Across Ten Thousand Miles, to the twelfth stance of the Hwawoo Lightning Sword, Unbridled Will Before Me.
She wielded the Hwawoo Thirteen Forms and Hwawoo Lightning Sword—techniques deemed impossible to employ in actual combat—with absolute mastery.
“Tch.”
Finding no escape, the Masked Assassin drew his black blade once more.
Clang!
As the iron sword and black blade collided, sparks erupted, and Bu Eunseol’s body swayed slightly.
“Die!”
Seizing the opening, the Masked Assassin lunged with triumphant fervor, thrusting toward the throat and lower abdomen.
Shiver.
In that instant, Bu Eunseol’s iron sword trembled subtly, spawning dozens of blade shadows.
As a succession of sword techniques unfolded like blossoms scattering in full bloom, blood erupted from the Masked Assassin’s body.
“Gah!”
Barely evading a fatal wound, the Masked Assassin stumbled backward in haste.
“A formidable opponent. You deliberately exposed that weakness.”
Revealing an opening while locked in blade-to-blade combat was something only amateurs could afford to do.
The Masked Assassin retreated, convinced he could never defeat Bu Eunseol through direct confrontation.
Shrill whistle.
He placed his fingers to his lips and released a sharp, piercing whistle, and a rustling sound echoed from the distance.
It was a summons to his concealed comrades.
“Hehehehe. Since you refuse the cup of favor and drink the cup of punishment instead, so be it.”
The retreating Masked Assassin spoke with arrogant confidence.
“My comrades hidden throughout the forest will soon converge upon this place.”
Hearing the rustling grow steadily closer, the Masked Assassin cried out with supreme certainty.
“Escape is futile!”
Yet Bu Eunseol remained composed, standing motionless with an impassive expression.
The Masked Assassin, who had anticipated a desperate flight, widened his eyes at this unexpected turn.
“Why… do you not flee?”
“Flee?”
Bu Eunseol responded with the same calm demeanor.
“Do you truly believe one who flees can become a Ten Demon Expert?”
In that moment, the Masked Assassin’s mind was pierced as though by brilliant white light.
Becoming a Ten Demon Expert was an opportunity to ascend as the right hand of the Demonic Path’s supreme master.
Would a prodigy of unparalleled martial genius, gazing toward the pinnacle of the Demonic Path, ever resort to flight in such circumstances?
“I see… one who flees in the face of crisis cannot become a Ten Demon Expert.”
The Masked Assassin finally understood.
The gaunt youth standing before him possessed more than sufficient qualification to ascend as the right hand of a Ten Demon Expert.
And he and his comrades concealed in the forest could never survive this battle.

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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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