The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign - Chapter 2

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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 2
How much time had passed?
Bu Eunseol slowly opened the eyes she had kept shut.
Today, an odd energy emanated from within the iron coffin.
It was a cold so piercing that even Bu Eunseol, who had played dead countless times, found it nearly unbearable.
“I want the official robes and sword.”
Picturing the elegant official robes and sword in her mind, Bu Eunseol clenched her teeth once more.
Bu Chanyang had never broken a promise in all her years.
If she endured until sunrise, he would surely gift her the official robes and sword.
“Ugh.”
But as time wore on, the cold penetrated not just her skin but deep into her bones.
Chatter, chatter, chatter.
As her teeth began to shake involuntarily, Bu Eunseol clenched both fists tight.
‘I can’t give up!’
Unable to bear the mounting cold any longer, Bu Eunseol squeezed her eyes shut and pushed the iron coffin open.
In that same moment, a vision flashed before her—the lustrous official robes and sword soaring up into the sky.
‘Sigh.’
Bu Eunseol lowered her head and rose from the coffin.
―Yonseok. I knew you’d give up!
The end of the game always came with Grandfather’s booming laughter.
But Bu Chanyang’s voice came from nowhere.
‘Why is it so quiet?’
Sensing something amiss, Bu Eunseol cautiously ventured outside.
“Grandfather!”
She called out loudly, but no answer came.
As Bu Eunseol examined the Taepyeong Morgue where the bodies lay, her eyes widened.
“Did the Constabulary call again?”
The Constabulary summoned Bu Chanyang at all hours—night and dawn—whenever bodies of those who died away from home arrived.
Given that he was nowhere to be seen, it was likely he had gone to the Constabulary.
“How disappointing.”
Bu Eunseol’s face fell as she rubbed her eyes and turned to head back inside, when—
“…!”
Her body went rigid as she passed through the courtyard.
All the bone urns stacked in one corner of the courtyard lay shattered.
“Oh!”
Bu Eunseol jumped and rushed off with a broom in hand.
The area around the bone urns looked as though a tempest had swept through it.
Moreover, sharp, jagged marks were carved into the stone storage building in multiple places.
“What is this?”
As Bu Eunseol reached out to touch the marks carved into the stone,
Ching!
A sharp metallic ring pierced the dawn sky.
Had Bu Eunseol been a master of the martial arts, she would have recognized it as the clash of treasured blades meeting in combat.
But ignorant of such things, to her ears it was only an ominous, unsettling sound.
“Grandfather.”
Murmuring softly, I found myself drawn outside the gate as if possessed.
Following the direction of the sound, I glimpsed a towering ancient tree standing at the Village Entrance in the distance.
Above its branches, the full moon hung luminous and brilliant, casting its radiance across the dark path.
Ching.
This time, a shorter metallic note rang out.
Seized by an even more profound sense of dread, I broke into a desperate run.
Thud-thud-thud-thud.
After sprinting for what felt like an eternity, the hazy silhouette of the great tree came into sharp focus.
And before it, a familiar shadow crouched upon the ground.
“Grandfather!”
Upon spotting the shadow, I cried out with joy.
Beneath the tree shrouded in darkness sat none other than Bu Chanyang.
“Grand—”
I had been running toward him with a smile.
But the moment moonlight revealed Bu Chanyang’s face, I froze as if turned to ice.
Those long, gentle eyes that had always gazed upon me with kindness now held only hollow voids.
Those gaunt arms that had so often stroked my head tenderly were severed below the shoulders.
That lean, broad back that had carried me warmly through sleepless nights now lay exposed to the bone, bristling with dozens of hidden projectiles like a porcupine.
Patter-patter-patter.
Tears streamed down my cheeks and fell to the earth below.
In that moment,
“…Is that you, Seol?”
Though his eyes could no longer see, Bu Chanyang sensed my presence and spoke slowly.
“I knew it would be like this.”
Tears flowed.
My vision was consumed entirely by tears streaming from my eyes.
Though his own eyes had been robbed of sight, Bu Chanyang gazed upon me with perfect clarity, his expression tender and full of affection.
“This old fool has frightened you, hasn’t he?”
Even amid wounds and suffering so terrible that I desperately wished for his release, Bu Chanyang’s only concern was that I had been startled.
“Grandfather…”
My voice breaking, I approached him step by careful step and gently caressed his cheeks.
“Grandfather… Grandfather.”
“It’s alright.”
Bu Chanyang smiled and shifted his shoulders slightly.
He was surely trying to gently stroke my head as I wept.
“Grandfather. Grandfather….”
“It’s alright. It’s alright.”
Despite lacking eyes, I gazed directly at my grandson and smiled softly.
“It seems this old man must depart soon.”
“Who?”
From Bu Eunseol’s eyes poured forth a crimson radiance deeper than blood itself.
A dense killing intent flowed from every fiber of his being—so overwhelming that one could never mistake him for a youth whose youthful impetuousness had yet to fade.
“Who is the one who did this to my grandfather!”
A desperate cry pierced the night sky.
“This old man desires only one thing.”
I spoke in a gentle voice, breaking my long silence.
“This old man needs no ritual washing—use Bone-Melting Powder instead. Let there be no trace that I ever existed in this world.”
Bu Eunseol shook his head.
Bone-Melting Powder was the most virulent toxin under heaven, capable of dissolving a corpse into mere liquid.
Yet its creation was so extraordinarily difficult that a single drop cost more than a diamond the size of a bean.
I had revealed to Bu Eunseol where I had hidden the Bone-Melting Powder, anticipating my eventual death.
“I refuse!”
“Will you not obey this old man’s words?”
“I will have my revenge! I will!”
“Seol. If you do that… this old man cannot close his eyes in peace.”
Bu Eunseol swallowed his tears and nodded.
“Then I will die too.”
Bu Eunseol spoke through thick, streaming tears.
“In the afterlife, who will attend to my grandfather? Who will cook noodles for you? Who will help with the ritual washing?”
“Seol.”
“You always said the afterlife is no different from this world, didn’t you? I want to go to the afterlife where you are.”
In that moment, my lips trembled violently.
The Black-Robed Man had wielded his cruelty with such precision that I experienced hellish agony until my final breath.
Yet I could maintain composure because of the profound affection I bore for Bu Eunseol.
“I always thought this old man could depart without attachment….”
Tears of blood flowed even from my hollow eye sockets.
I had believed my own life was worthless as a fallen leaf rolling along the roadside….
But leaving behind my beloved grandson—the pain was unbearable, impossible to accept with closed eyes.
“Seol. This is this old man’s final request.”
Though I no longer had arms, I gathered my remaining strength and pulled my grandson into a tight embrace.
“When I die, you must flee far away.”
I could speak no further.
Blood streamed not only from my hollow eye sockets, but from my mouth, ears, and nose as well.
The Bleeding of Seven Orifices.
All the life force within my body was exhausted, and the moment my breath would cease was drawing near.
“Eunseol.”
Bu Chanyang exhaled his final breath, leaving behind a single utterance.
“I was so very happy, being with you.”
Thud.
Bu Chanyang’s face, which had worn a tender smile at the corners of his lips, slowly tilted downward.
Bu Eunseol, watching this sight, quietly embraced her grandfather’s body with all her strength.
And she pressed her face endlessly against his chest, now growing cold.
* * *
A gaunt old man lay upon an embalming table made of chestnut wood.
It was the corpse of Bu Chanyang, who had breathed his last beneath the tree at the Village Entrance.
“Grandfather.”
Bu Eunseol gazed upon her grandfather’s body with a swollen, tear-stained face.
She had brought a cart and carefully transported his body to the embalming table at the Pyeong-an Funeral House.
“We will live happily together in the afterlife too.”
Bu Chanyang had wished for his beloved grandson to leave the village and live an ordinary life for all his days.
But Bu Eunseol could not do so.
Instead, she resolved to prepare her grandfather’s body for burial, and then follow him into death.
Splash.
Bu Eunseol lifted a clean cloth from the large water basin and began to carefully wash her grandfather’s body.
Her hands, which had been moving ceaselessly, suddenly froze.
As Bu Eunseol examined the wounds upon Bu Chanyang’s shoulders, her eyes blazed crimson.
“Grandfather….”
The severed cross-section of the forearm was as clean as glass.
Even if one were the greatest master under heaven, it would be impossible to sever both arms of a resisting opponent simultaneously without the slightest deviation.
There was only one way to make such a thing possible—to make the victim willingly extend their own arms.
“You were protecting me, weren’t you?”
Bu Eunseol had uncovered the truth of Bu Chanyang’s death.
To protect something more precious than his own life, her grandfather had willingly offered up both his arms.
“The murderer severed both arms and… Grandfather’s eyes… and the tendons and muscles….”
Tears of blood streamed from Bu Eunseol’s eyes as she gripped the clean cloth.
The murderer had tormented Bu Chanyang with unspeakable cruelty, forcing him to die in agony.
Flash.
A crimson light ignited once more in Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
She could not possibly forgive this brutal murderer. She felt as though only by finding them and tearing them to shreds would her rage be satisfied.
“I must find them.”
Bu Eunseol began to carefully observe the scars left upon Bu Chanyang’s body.
The martial techniques wielded by masters of the martial world were as distinctive as their own faces.
Even if disciples trained under the same master employed identical techniques, their power and application varied vastly.
“I can find them.”
Bu Eunseol, who had spent years studying the wounds left upon corpses alongside Bu Chanyang without rest.
By examining the wounds left upon the body alone, I could discern at a glance the exact circumstances and posture the deceased had assumed, as well as identify the lethal technique of the assailant.
“From above to below….”
As I studied the cross-section left upon Bu Chanyang’s shoulder, the most grotesque sword technique in all the realm unfolded within my mind.
Remarkably, the murderer had launched their attack from below upward, severing both arms in a single motion.
Among the sword techniques scattered throughout the martial world, those that thrust upward from below are exceedingly rare. Not only that, but the technique that bisected both arms had been altered mid-strike to pierce both eyes.
This was unmistakably not orthodox swordsmanship, but rather a demonic school of blade arts.
“Yet such movements should be impossible….”
No matter how grotesque a sword technique might be, it is still wielded by a human body of flesh and blood.
Without the ability to extend and contract bones at will, executing a sword strike in such a manner would be utterly impossible.
“No, it is possible.”
In that instant, I recalled something Bu Chanyang had once told me.
―The martial world contains countless extraordinary disciplines. Among them are techniques like the Heavenly Axis Bone Art, which allow one to extend and contract bones and muscles freely.
“The Heavenly Axis Bone Art.”
The murderer was undoubtedly a master swordsman who had mastered the Heavenly Axis Bone Art.
I then examined Bu Chanyang’s back carefully. There, ninety-three distinct traces of projectile wounds remained.
“How could a single hand launch ninety-three projectiles? Could it be the Rain of Ten Thousand Blossoms….”
Recalling the supreme technique of the Sichuan Tang Clan, I shook my head.
Even the Sichuan Tang Clan’s Rain of Ten Thousand Blossoms, hailed as the finest technique under heaven, could only launch sixty-six projectiles.
“Could there have been an accomplice? No.”
Shaking my head, my eyes suddenly gleamed with realization.
“It was a projectile launcher from Saixiang.”
Saixiang.
Throughout the long history of the martial world, Saixiang had long held the position of the preeminent assassin’s guild.
That place, where countless master craftsmen of projectiles gathered, was said to be capable of creating devices that could unleash hundreds of projectiles in a single volley.
“And the signs of poisoning….”
Beneath Bu Chanyang’s tongue and within the fingernails of the reattached arm, a blackened discoloration had appeared.
Such a phenomenon occurs only when exposed to a virulent toxin of the Rotting Flesh Sepsis variety—a poison that takes effect upon mere contact with the skin.
I bit my lip.
“A person who has mastered the Heavenly Axis Bone Art of the foreign schools, possesses a projectile launcher from Saixiang known as the Rain of Ten Thousand Blossoms, and favors the use of Rotting Flesh Sepsis toxins.”
There could not be many such individuals in the martial world.
I spoke in a low, resolute voice.
“I will find them, no matter what.”

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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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