The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign - Chapter 223

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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 223.
Gu Hong Cheong’s pupils dilated sharply as he detected the torrent of luminous points cascading down like rain.
The shadow of the Nine Flower Island Water technique he had unleashed vanished without a trace, and the fierce vital energy plummeting from the heavens pierced toward his throat.
‘This is….’
I couldn’t even discern how the technique had transformed.
Glimmer!
The fierce vital energy grazed past Gu Hong Cheong’s body alongside a faint luminescence, leaving no trace behind.
“….”
The two stood motionless, staring at each other as though nothing had transpired.
A prolonged silence stretched between them.
“You were sealing your true cultivation.”
It was Gu Hong Cheong who finally broke the silence.
“To prevent this elder from anticipating your technique’s variations.”
Until now, Bu Eunseol had unleashed only the demonic techniques of Jeol Cheon Myul Ji, not the Boundless Heavenly Current.
She had done so to keep Gu Hong Cheong from predicting her moves—like a beast that had caught the scent of prey, waiting for the decisive moment to strike.
Splurt!
Suddenly, blood erupted from Gu Hong Cheong’s shoulder.
The crimson, viscous blood dripped to the ground, forming a single flower of blood.
“But what a pity.”
Gu Hong Cheong gazed down at the blood flowing from his shoulder, baring his sharp fangs.
“That decisive strike missed.”
The technique Bu Eunseol had unleashed—the Heavenly Sigh—should have pierced through his larynx.
Yet the keen blade had only torn through his shoulder. In that brief instant, he had moved his body with all his strength, evading the Heavenly Sigh.
“….”
As though she had never anticipated this strike would miss, Bu Eunseol stood motionless like a statue.
Whooom.
Then Gu Hong Cheong extended his left hand, and a bizarre vibration resonated through the air.
Simultaneously, his hand began to shimmer with a silvery hue.
Not a hand of flesh and blood, but one that appeared forged from metal itself.
As he elevated the Nine Flower Island Water to its ultimate realm, his inner power crystallized and manifested visibly within both his hands.
“Now perish!”
With a thunderous roar, hundreds of silvery hand strikes tore through Bu Eunseol’s entire body.
Had she abandoned all resistance?
Though the keen hand shadows pierced toward all her vital points, Bu Eunseol kept her head bowed and her eyes closed.
Tremor.
At that moment, the dark sword began to quiver like a freshly caught fish thrashing about.
Pap pap pap pap!
Simultaneously, a pristine white radiance erupted from Bu Eunseol’s entire being, precisely intercepting and neutralizing the cascading silver luminescence.
The absolute defensive sword technique that responded to killing intent—the Diamond Fish Sword—had been unleashed.
Clang clang clang!
As the dark sword and water technique clashed in rapid succession, a piercing metallic screech tore through the air.
“What?”
Gu Hong Cheong was startled enough to jump when his absolute technique was blocked by Bu Eunseol.
He had never imagined that anyone could confidently defend against the intricate and subtle techniques of the Nine Flower Island Water Technique at such close range.
‘This is what I was waiting for.’
In that instant, brilliant light poured from Bu Eunseol’s eyes as they opened.
He had already anticipated the failure of Heavenly Sigh Slash.
If this technique had failed even against Gwang Yeon, there was no way it could land on Gu Hong Cheong, who was several times stronger.
―To perfectly succeed with Heavenly Sigh Slash, one needs close proximity and an unexpected situation.
Having gained enlightenment from Gwang Yeon’s words, Bu Eunseol subsequently attempted to supplement the flaws of Heavenly Sigh Slash through extreme meditation.
Extreme Heaven Realm.
It was not merely transcending the body’s limits, but a state of mastering the realm of fleeting time and space through the spirit.
In other words, just as heaven gazes down upon earth, one could comprehend the martial techniques, movements, and principles of martial arts of one’s opponent.
Therefore, without a moment’s carelessness, Bu Eunseol could not have embedded the sword into Geol Wang’s body in the first place.
While maintaining meditation, Bu Eunseol suddenly recalled that Gu Hong Cheong was a master who wielded both hands as weapons.
If such a person could be caught at close range in a moment of assured victory? And if he became arrogant about that victory…
He believed he could definitely embed Heavenly Sigh Slash into his body.
A gap in the spirit.
Geol Wang was undoubtedly a master who stood a step above him, no matter what anyone said.
To achieve victory against him, there was something more important than superiority in martial technique. One must absolutely create a fissure in the spirit to forge a gap in an instant.
And such enlightenment was only possible because he had mastered Ma Cheon Je’s secret technique.
Flash!
Bu Eunseol’s dark sword shone once more as he deflected all the Nine Flower Island Water Technique with the Rhombus Sword Form.
It was a timing and speed that Gu Hong Cheong could not possibly evade.
Thud!
With a dull sound, the tip of the dark sword gently pierced into Gu Hong Cheong’s chest.
Tap, tap, tap.
Gu Hong Cheong grasped the dark sword, but the blade had already penetrated about a foot into his body.
At last, Heavenly Sigh Slash had struck true.
“Hgh, hgh….”
But then, something astonishing occurred.
Despite having his Central Treasury Acupoint pierced—a vital point that should have paralyzed his body—he deployed Soaring Dragon Palm with his right hand and struck Bu Eunseol’s chest.
This was far too sudden, and because the dark sword was held in his left hand, the Rhombus Sword Form could not be unleashed.
‘I cannot evade this!’
Zing!
In that moment, a faint golden light flickered across Bu Eunseol’s body.
Faced with an attack that could not be blocked, he forcibly deployed the Jade Finger Seal once more.
Boom!
With a thunderous explosion, Bu Eunseol was sent flying back more than ten zhang.
Screeeech.
Blood dark as crimson flowed from Bu Eunseol’s lips as she was driven backward, sword still clutched in hand.
Fortunately, the Yeui Jin Gyeol activated just enough to spare her from instant death.
But that was all it could do.
Her vision blurred, and with each breath, agony lanced through her body as if it were being torn into a thousand, ten thousand pieces.
Moreover, from forcibly deploying the Yeui Jin Gyeol repeatedly, an unpleasant fog seemed to be creeping relentlessly into her mind.
“Ptui.”
As Bu Eunseol spat out another thick clot of blood, Gu Hong Cheong’s face twisted into a satisfied smile.
“So you’ve mastered the Yeon Wi Bi Gyeol. I hadn’t realized.”
His skin had turned deathly pale, and his eyes burned with an eerie blue flame.
“I’ll make you my companion on the road to the afterlife.”
He looked as though the soul of a demon who had lived for centuries had possessed a human body.
‘The Yeon Wi Bi Gyeol….’
Only then did Bu Eunseol understand how Gu Hong Cheong could remain unscathed despite being pierced by her blade.
The Yeon Wi Bi Gyeol—the Secret Art of the Soft Hedgehog.
It was a forbidden technique long since abandoned by Gae Bang.
In the moment of receiving a fatal wound and having one’s breath cut short, one severs the Eight Extraordinary Meridians of one’s own volition, transforming into a half-corpse state.
In doing so, a phenomenon called Hoe Gwang Ban Jo appears—a brief resurgence of life force, as if light returning to dying eyes…
It was a mutual destruction technique that weaponized that power for a final counterattack.
“I’ll kill you within half a quarter hour!”
Gu Hong Cheong’s power was so formidable that he could maintain his life for more than half a quarter hour even while using the Yeon Wi Bi Gyeol.
Whoooosh!
The Nine Flower Shadow Hand, infused with every ounce of his remaining life force, transformed the entire world into a tapestry of palm shadows.
If all those shadows rained down, Bu Eunseol’s body would vanish without a trace.
―Why didn’t you master it?
In that instant, time seemed to freeze, and a strange resonance echoed within Bu Eunseol’s mind.
―Why did you turn away from the Sak Jeong Bi Gyeol? If you had mastered that, victory would have been easy.
The Yeui Jin Gyeol—a technique to freely transform materialized true energy into any form.
To wield this method freely, one had to first completely master the Sak Jeong Bi Gyeol.
But I had refused it. I could not bear to erase again the emotions that were like a legacy Bu Chanyang had left behind.
―Emotion? What good is that?
The voice echoing in my mind was barren, devoid of all feeling.
It was perhaps my own voice—the Bu Eunseol from whom all emotion had been extinguished.
―If I die here, what use is any of it?
A valid point.
If I die here, if this moment becomes the final terminus of my life…what use is emotion?
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
In that instant, Gu Hong Cheong’s Nine Flower Shadow Hand, which had embroidered the entire world, crashed down upon Bu Eunseol’s body.
“No….”
Gu Hong Cheong’s eyes, which had been laughing with confidence, snapped wide open.
The Nine撶 Extinguishing Star Creation Form.
The moment his full strength was channeled into this technique and wrapped around her, Bu Eunseol’s body should have scattered like dust.
Yet there she stood, unshaken, as if she had merely caught a favorable breeze.
“That is….”
Looking more carefully, a circular radiance enveloped Bu Eunseol’s form.
Crackle, crackle, crackle.
Lightning-like sparks erupted from that black luminescence.
Now he understood—that black radiance surrounding her body had obliterated the Nine Flames Extinguishing Star Harmony Technique in a single breath.
“Impossible!”
Gu Hong Cheong unleashed a desperate cry and this time deployed the Subduing Dragon Palm, striking down at Bu Eunseol’s head.
Boom!
The moment his strike connected, a deafening explosion erupted—and Gu Hong Cheong’s body was hurled backward instead.
“Gack.”
Spitting black blood, Gu Hong Cheong stared at Bu Eunseol in disbelief.
“What is that.”
Now he saw it clearly.
The instant his Subduing Dragon Palm struck Bu Eunseol’s head, a dark and overwhelming vital force had suddenly coiled around both his arms and repelled him in return.
“What in the heavens is that!”
Bu Eunseol approached him without answering.
Step by step.
Her slow advance was as if death itself had taken form…
and was drawing near to devour the existence known as Gu Hong Cheong.
Whoosh.
As Bu Eunseol reached him, she suddenly extended her arm.
Black-tinted vital force burrowed into his meridians.
“Ahhhhh!”
Gu Hong Cheong shrieked in agony, all dignity abandoned.
He felt as though an invisible hand was gripping each of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, which were already tattered and on the verge of rupture.
“Uuuugh.”
The pain was excruciating, yet paradoxically his breath remained open.
Bu Eunseol’s black vital force was forcibly sealing the torn meridians of Gu Hong Cheong.
“What are you doing.”
When Gu Hong Cheong asked, Bu Eunseol looked down at him coldly.
“If your breath remains, you will continue to feel pain, will you not.”
And she answered in a voice utterly devoid of emotion.
“Death ends everything.”
Bu Eunseol was forcibly prolonging his fading life to inflict suffering upon him.
Death itself.
Before Gu Hong Cheong’s eyes stood what appeared to be a reaper draped in black radiance, all humanity erased from her being.
“She has fallen into demonic delusion.”
Gu Hong Cheong grasped her state in an instant.
“A strange Demonic Path heart technique manual… I’ve fallen into a Heart Demon.”
Heart Demon.
Within Bu Eunseol’s mind, two contradictory natures had always coexisted.
Her original nature, frozen as cold as ten-thousand-year-old ice.
And the human nature that Bu Chanyang had instilled within her.
But when she continuously wielded the techniques of the Sak Jeong Secret Manual in that critical moment, the conflicting emotions shook the very foundation of her spirit, and she fell into the Heart Demon.
“How irritating.”
Screech!
As Bu Eunseol amplified the black qi she had driven into her body, Gu Hong Cheong’s form began to wither like a skeleton.
Using the Women’s Seal Technique, she was forcibly expelling the qi contained within Gu Hong Cheong’s body to the outside.
“Aaahhh!”
Gu Hong Cheong let out a agonized scream.
Forcibly expelling qi from the body inflicted suffering dozens of times more excruciating than the destruction of the dantian and the scattering of one’s cultivation.
“Uuuugh!”
Watching Gu Hong Cheong writhe in agony, Bu Eunseol instead wore a smile.
Her eyes had turned pitch black, and a force capable of tearing heaven and earth swirled across her entire body.
Fallen into the Heart Demon, even her original cold nature had been obliterated, replaced by a cruel demonic will.
“Uuuuh…”
Then Gu Hong Cheong, writhing in pain, tore at his own clothes.
His once muscular body had become gaunt and withered as his cultivation drained away.
“Ughh.”
As Gu Hong Cheong curled his body in agony, his skeletal spine became visible.
―Seol Ah, can’t you sleep?
Thump.
At the sight of that emaciated back, Bu Eunseol’s eyes trembled violently.
In her childhood, the knee pain that came every dawn.
When sleep wouldn’t come because of that pain and she would bolt upright, she always saw that broad, weathered back.
―Let this old man carry you. Then you’ll sleep well.
Above that weathered back appeared the warm, smiling face of Bu Chanyang.
Shudder.
Bu Eunseol trembled in pain, clutching her forehead.
Recalling the warm face of Bu Chanyang from the past, she regained a moment of clarity.
“Uuugh.”
Thick veins bulged across Bu Eunseol’s face as she groaned.
Still, a dark and viscous fog seemed to obscure her vision.
No matter how hard she tried to regain her senses, it felt as though she had sunk into a swamp from which there was no escape.
Yet in her mind lingered a tender, warm smile, and in her nostrils she seemed to feel that comforting, slightly sour scent.
―Become a blade.
The kind grandfather’s voice suddenly transformed into the solemn, low voice of the Sect Leader Yeop Hyo Cheon,
―If you wish to become the successor who leads this sect, it would be wise to erase any concept of comrades or affection.
Once again, the voice shifted to Ma Cheon Je’s—eerily devoid of color and emotion.
―Such things will soon become cumbersome shackles blocking your path forward…
‘Was this intentional?’
A brief flash of clarity cut through my mind.
Obtaining the Sak Jeong Bi Gyeol was no accident—it was orchestrated by someone who wanted to forge me into a razor-sharp blade…
Was this the arrangement of Ma Cheon Je or Yeop Hyo Cheon?
‘Did they think they could manipulate me at will?’
Crack.
From Bu Eunseol’s eyes, as both fists clenched tight, there bloomed not black vital energy but a crimson blood-light.
‘No more…’
Bu Eunseol began to resist the Sak Jeong Bi Gyeol with all her strength, fighting to reclaim dominion over her own spirit.
‘I will not be toyed with by anyone!’
Boom! Boom!
Simultaneously, tremendous vibrations erupted from Bu Eunseol’s body, and waves of vital energy rippled outward.
As the Sak Jeong Bi Gyeol that had seized her spirit clashed with her consciousness, the collision reverberated through her flesh itself.
Drip, drip, drip.
Black blood began to seep from the corners of Bu Eunseol’s mouth.
At the same time, her eyes grew progressively clearer, and the black vital energy enveloping her body began to fade gradually.
At last, I had escaped the heart demon on my own.
“To escape the heart demon by one’s own will…”
Gu Hong Cheong’s mouth fell open in disbelief as he witnessed this.
Even the masters of supreme martial arts who once dominated Tianxia would fall into irreversible depths if ensnared by demonic nature…
Not only to sense that one had fallen into a heart demon, but to escape without anyone’s aid?
“Truly…”
Gu Hong Cheong, leaning against the rock and gasping for breath, let out a sigh.
“You’re a fortunate one.”
In that moment, Bu Eunseol, now clear-minded, shook her head.
“It is not fortune.”
And she straightened her posture with confidence.
All the supreme martial arts I had cultivated until now.
And the trials I had endured—the insights and enlightenment gained from battles that danced with death itself.
All of it dwelt within Bu Eunseol’s body and spirit.
And when crisis descended, all of it became a single thread of light, guiding me toward the righteous path.
“Cough.”
Then Gu Hong Cheong suddenly coughed up black blood.
His body, having used the Yeon Wi Bi Gyeol, was already no different from a corpse.
Moments ago, Bu Eunseol had forcibly sealed his meridians with black vital energy to maintain his life.
But now that it had faded, he was slowly dying.
“It is regrettable to die by the hand of a mere whelp like you…”
As death approached, Gu Hong Cheong’s gaze grew dim.
Yet for some inexplicable reason, a faint smile traced across his lips.
“If things have come to this, then Hae Poong won’t be able to become the Patriarch either. Hehehehe.”
He spoke in a low chuckle, his voice rattling like phlegm in his throat.
“You’ll face endless accusations of having made some sort of deal with the leaders of the Ten Demonic Gates and sold out the Grand Elder.”
His lifelong aspiration had been to become the Patriarch of Gae Bang.
Yet Hae Poong had betrayed him and reduced that lifelong dream to nothing but bubbles.
He harbored even greater hatred for Hae Poong than he did for Bu Eunseol.
“You have no reason to be pleased either.”
Gu Hong Cheong spoke in a low voice.
“Your true strength is merely at the level of having just stepped into the Extreme Heaven Realm. With such power, you killed this old man….”
He gasped for breath before continuing.
“From now on, you’ll be hunted by powerful experts coveting the fame of the Four Gods Seven Kings, and eventually you’ll meet your death. Hahahaha!”
Having spewed forth his curse, Gu Hong Cheong laughed with grim satisfaction.
“I may die… but Hae Poong lost his position as Patriarch, and you will never be able to claim a seat among the Four Gods Seven Kings….”
With those words, Gu Hong Cheong’s pupils became fixed and still.
Thud.
And Gu Hong Cheong’s corpse collapsed to the ground.
Thus ended the life of Geol Wang, Gu Hong Cheong—once called one of the Four Gods Seven Kings, who had dominated the Murim.
“….”
Even in death, he stared at Bu Eunseol with a cold smile etched upon his face.
―You too will soon die. Hunted by the powerful who covet the fame of the Four Gods Seven Kings!
It seemed as though Gu Hong Cheong’s cry still echoed in her ears.
“That will not come to pass.”
Bu Eunseol gazed upon Gu Hong Cheong’s corpse and spoke coldly.
“I desire nothing.”
Gu Hong Cheong and Bu Eunseol were different.
She sought no fame, no power—she clung to nothing and desired nothing.
Like an ascetic who had begun her spiritual journey, she pursued the Way with only quiet solemnity.
In that instant, the confident smile that had lingered at the corners of Gu Hong Cheong’s mouth vanished.
As if his soul, departing from his flesh, had heard Bu Eunseol’s unwavering words.

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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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