The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign - Chapter 23

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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 23.
Whisper, whisper.
Bu Eunseol’s body swayed like a solitary leaf caught in a tempest.
Yet the black sword in her grip thrashed like a salmon swimming upstream, probing relentlessly for gaps in the broad blade’s defense.
“Tch.”
When the black sword, which Peng Ak expected to strike his blade, suddenly erupted from his ribs instead, he ground his teeth.
“How long do you think such petty tricks will work?”
Slash, slash, slash, slash!
Tilting his body slightly, he unleashed three consecutive sword techniques in rapid succession.
This time, he had not drawn upon the absorption seal.
‘I was waiting for this!’
As Peng Ak swung his blade like an enraged bull, Bu Eunseol charged forward to meet him.
Whoosh!
The moment close combat began, Peng Ak’s broad blade erupted like bursting fireworks, scattering sword techniques in all directions.
‘It comes!’
A rippling shimmer.
From the black sword in Bu Eunseol’s grip, a crimson haze seemed to rise.
Simultaneously, the blade’s tip began to tremble minutely, and an illusion spread across the entire edge as though engulfed in flame.
“Take this!”
With a thunderous battle cry, Peng Ak’s broad blade cleaved through the wind.
It was the quintessence of the Five Tigers Blade Technique—a single, killing strike: Five Tigers Severing Heaven.
A brilliant flash. A resounding boom!
Sword shadow and blade light. The shadow of the black sword and the radiance of the broad blade filled every space between heaven and earth.
A thunderous crash echoed.
As the shadows of sword and blade vanished like washed away mist, Bu Eunseol dropped to one knee and spat out a mouthful of blood.
“Cough.”
Bu Eunseol’s complexion had turned ashen as if dusted with powder, and her entire body bore cuts both large and small.
In contrast, Peng Ak stood without a single wound, his posture as composed as a lion’s, his blade held steadily in hand.
“What manner of swordplay is this?”
To Peng Ak’s question, Bu Eunseol wiped away the blood and spoke quietly.
“First technique of the Crimson Tiger Sword: Thousand Threads Beneath the Sky.”
“Thousand Threads Beneath the Sky… I understood that to be purely defensive technique.”
“I merely extended one blade from among the hundreds that envelop my body outward.”
“Do you not fear death?”
Altering the sequence of sword techniques passed down through generations was no simple task, even for a grandmaster of martial arts.
To block Peng Ak’s Five Tigers Severing Heaven and mount a counterattack, Bu Eunseol had inevitably unleashed the rain of blades from Thousand Threads Beneath the Sky upon herself as well.
“Had I feared death, I would never have taken up the sword.”
At Bu Eunseol’s resolute words, Peng Ak gazed upward at the heavens with frustration.
“O Heaven! Why would you grant such talent to one of the Demonic Path…”
The murmur, as though coughing blood, gradually subsided.
Thud.
At last, Peng Ak collapsed face-first into the earth, motionless.
Peng Ak, who had mastered the Five Orifice Single Vein Technique.
He had sought to “hunt” talented cultivators, while Bu Eunseol fought to sever her enemy’s life.
In the end, that difference alone determined which of them would live and which would die.
Ptui.
Bu Eunseol spat out another mouthful of blood, then used her black blade as a staff to push herself upright.
Huff. Huff.
With internal injuries ravaging her body, Bu Eunseol’s qi pathways twisted painfully, making each breath a torment.
—Grandfather! I can’t take this anymore!
During idle moments, Bu Eunseol would play a game with Bu Chanyang called the corpse game.
The corpse game required one to endure lying motionless inside an empty coffin for extended periods, but Bu Eunseol couldn’t manage even half an hour in the suffocating, air-starved box.
—It’s so stifling I feel like I’m dying!
When Bu Eunseol burst from the coffin, Bu Chanyang laughed heartily and pinched her cheek.
—Yeonseok! Do you think just anyone can play the corpse game? You must master the breathing technique first.
—A breathing technique?
—That’s right. Once you master this technique, you can breathe for long periods with minimal air, and your body will grow stronger too!
Bu Chanyang taught Bu Eunseol a breathing technique that would allow her to endure longer inside the coffin.
This technique not only enabled her to remain in the coffin for extended periods, but sitting for just half an hour left her feeling as refreshed as if she’d slept a full day.
—You must practice this breathing technique your grandfather taught you for at least one hour every single day. Do you understand?
—Yes!
From that point forward, Bu Eunseol diligently refined the breathing technique, especially because she wanted to outlast her grandfather in the corpse game.
But as days passed, corpses of the suddenly deceased poured in endlessly, and the wet burial shrouds never had time to dry. Despite her continued efforts to practice the technique, she had grown negligent about it recently.
Ugh.
Yet as her organs twisted and her breath came in gasps, she instinctively recalled the breathing technique Bu Chanyang had taught her.
Huff, huff.
The technique was remarkably versatile—it could be performed while seated properly, but also while lying down or standing.
Staggering as she surveyed her surroundings, Bu Eunseol spotted a mountain path overgrown with vines and brush.
She concealed herself there, closed her eyes, and gripped her blade while maintaining vigilance in all directions as she continued the breathing technique.
Chirp, chirp, chirp.
The sound of birds pulled Bu Eunseol from her meditative state, snapping her back to awareness.
—What?
She had fought Peng Ak at dusk, yet when she opened her eyes, dawn was breaking.
She had been standing in place, blade in hand, for approximately four hours.
—I’m completely healed.
The labored breathing, the searing pain as if her blood vessels and intestines were boiling—all of it had vanished.
Even her exhaustion had lifted as though she’d slept deeply for an entire day, and her mind felt crystalline.
—I never felt this before.
Back then, living a peaceful life, I hadn’t truly understood the technique’s efficacy.
But now, battered by extreme fatigue and tension, with internal injuries ravaging me, I could feel the breathing technique’s power with perfect clarity.
“Just a little longer now…”
Bu Eunseol, gazing up at the cloudless sky, could sense it.
The Third Trial was nearly over. And from this point forward, far more formidable adversaries would emerge.
* * *
Ten days had passed since the Third Trial finally began.
By this point, most of those lacking skill had been slain, and the participants had gradually divided into hunters and hunted.
Among the exceptionally skilled, those who refused to form groups had become prey for those who had.
“Ugh.”
A young man with a poisoned dart embedded in the back of his hand let out a pained groan.
Splat.
He quickly yanked out the hidden weapon, but the venom coating it caused his fingers and hand to swell rapidly.
His name was Seo Jin Ha.
A prodigy swordsman from Geumgok Hyeolmun, a prestigious school of the Demonic Path, he had possessed exceptional bladework since childhood.
By ten years old, he had already achieved unity of sword and body, and by fifteen, none among his peers could match him.
With his keen observation and penetrating insight, he had discovered the orthodox sect’s spies the moment he arrived on Hell Island and eliminated them.
Yet even Seo Jin Ha could not evade the relentless coordinated assault of an organized group.
“You’re unlucky.”
One of the five youths surrounding Seo Jin Ha smiled wickedly.
“Now that you’ve been struck by our sect’s special poison dart, without an antidote, you’ll be dead soon.”
They were all disciples of the Hell Blood Sect, employing remarkable hidden weapon techniques and poison mastery.
“Hmph.”
Seo Jin Ha snorted coldly and shifted his sword from his right hand to his left.
“So you can use left-handed swordplay.”
One of the youths sneered.
“No matter how brilliant your martial talent, you can’t suddenly master left-handed swordplay when you’ve trained with your right hand!”
His shout served as a signal, and the five youths surrounding Seo Jin Ha began circling.
It was the Hell Blood Sect’s Blood Web Formation—a deadly array from which escape was impossible unless every formation user was slain.
Clang clang clang.
Metallic sounds rang out from their hands as dozens of poisoned darts rained down like a downpour.
Clang clang clang!
He swung his iron sword repeatedly to deflect the darts, but his unnatural left hand had limits in executing his swordforms.
As they spun dizzily, unleashing a torrent of darts, Seo Jin Ha’s sword technique began to falter.
Smack.
Another dart struck his right hand, and his fingers swelled as if about to burst, nausea rising in his throat.
“This is the end!”
The five youths cried out in triumph, about to unleash a final barrage of darts when—
“Aaaahhh!”
A harrowing scream pierced through the forest.
One of the youths maintaining the formation suddenly collapsed. Someone from outside was breaking the formation.
“You…!”
Seo Jin Ha couldn’t help but gasp in astonishment.
The one dismantling the formation from outside and eliminating the Hell Blood Sect disciples was none other than Bu Eunseol.
“Aaah!”
Though the Hell Blood Sect’s formation was formidable, it possessed a critical weakness against external assault.
Bu Eunseol sliced through five youths in an instant, then sheathed her black blade across her back.
“Hmm.”
She methodically searched the fallen bodies until she retrieved a leather pouch from one youth’s garments.
“Is this an antidote?”
Except for masters who wielded poison with absolute mastery, all practitioners carried antidotes to the toxins they employed.
Bu Eunseol understood this, which was why she searched each body thoroughly.
“You’re not giving me any?”
As Bu Eunseol turned away with the antidote secured in her robes, Seo Jin Ha’s expression twisted in bewilderment.
“Can’t you see my hands?”
“Do you require the antidote?”
Bu Eunseol’s eyes remained cold and unwavering.
Seo Jin Ha, who had been frowning, quickly adjusted his expression. He instinctively sensed that if he cried out “Never mind!”, Bu Eunseol would simply turn and leave.
“I do.”
Speaking with desperate urgency, Bu Eunseol nodded.
“I see.”
She then pointed toward the opposite path and spoke.
“Earlier, near the Southern Coast, I spotted someone who appeared to be a Hell Blood Sect disciple. Find that person.”
“What?”
Seo Jin Ha exclaimed in disbelief.
“This poison will render my hands useless in less than half an hour. And you’re telling me to go to the Southern Coast to obtain an antidote?”
“That is correct.”
“You’ll simply watch me die?”
“You seem to be laboring under a misapprehension.”
Bu Eunseol regarded Seo Jin Ha with a chilling gaze.
“I came here to kill everyone, including you.”
“What, what?”
“However, I have no interest in killing those already dying. So I am simply departing.”
Only then did Seo Jin Ha comprehend the truth.
Bu Eunseol possessed a terrifyingly cold rationality. Yet she was not cruel by nature, which was why she left him alive.
“I was mistaken.”
Seo Jin Ha had no choice but to acknowledge this.
The mere fact that Bu Eunseol didn’t kill him immediately constituted considerable mercy on her part.
“Good, then.”
“Wait.”
At that moment, Seo Jin Ha, emerging from deep contemplation, spoke urgently.
“Including you and me, there are twenty of us remaining.”
“What did you say?”
“Among them, only you and I stand alone. In other words, we are their primary prey.”
As Bu Eunseol turned her gaze away, Seo Jin Ha spoke slowly.
“Since it’s come to this, we must band together as well.”
“We?”
“Yes.”
“Why should I form a group with you?”
To Bu Eunseol’s question, Seo Jin Ha looked down at his paralyzed right hand.
“There are three reasons. First, before the trials began, I investigated the martial techniques and characteristics that the trainees had mastered.”
He continued speaking.
“Second, my swordsmanship is strong enough to rank within the top ten in this place.”
Seo Jin Ha spoke with a sharp gleam radiating from his eyes.
“Most importantly, I am not the type to stab someone in the back.”
This last condition was the most crucial for forming a group, more so than the other two.
At minimum, one needed enough trust to entrust their back to an ally.
‘That’s no lie.’
Those with strong pride do not lie, at the very least.
Bu Eunseol instinctively sensed that Seo Jin Ha was not the type to betray someone from behind.
“What are your terms?”
Seo Jin Ha answered immediately to Bu Eunseol’s question.
“Until you and I are the last ones remaining. We face our enemies with combined strength and do not attack each other.”
“Agreed.”
Bu Eunseol, answering readily, tossed an antidote from her possession.
Seo Jin Ha hurriedly opened the leather pouch to find a bottle containing powder and another containing salve. One was clearly meant to be ingested, the other to be applied.
“Ah.”
The antidote’s efficacy was remarkable.
After taking and applying the medicine, the swollen fingers subsided instantly, and the dizziness vanished.
“Then follow me.”
With the poison completely neutralized, Seo Jin Ha regained his arrogant expression.
“First, I’ll teach you how to defeat the remaining ones from a safe location.”
But Bu Eunseol shook her head firmly.
“That won’t be necessary, it seems.”
“What? Have you already changed your mind?”
“That’s not what I mean.”
Bu Eunseol pointed to the distant sky with a bitter expression.
“They’ve all already arrived in this vicinity.”
Hiiiiiii!
As Bu Eunseol finished speaking, an eerie sound echoed from afar.
It was the sound of the Killing Ghosts marking off the region.
“Already?”
Just as Seo Jin Ha’s bewilderment took hold,
A sharp whistle cut through the air. A dull thud.
Four groups came rushing from all directions—north, south, east, and west—their figures cleaving through the wind with piercing sounds.
They were the organizations that had survived on Hell Island until now.

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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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