The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign - Chapter 238

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

Chapter 238.
“Where are we?”
As the mechanisms continued to defy all logic, Beok Goong Ryung found himself compelled to ask once more.
“What manner of place is this, to contain such contraptions?”
“Wu Huang’s Secret Vault.”
“What did you say?”
“It was inscribed upon the iron gate at the entrance.”
“Wu Huang? You mean… that Wu Huang from four centuries past?”
Beok Goong Ryung’s heart thundered against his ribs.
Though his final years had ended poorly, Wu Huang had been among the greatest masters of the Orthodox Sects of his era.
That this place, shrouded in such bizarre traps, housed the secret vault where Wu Huang’s profound insights and supreme techniques lay hidden?
“Which path shall we take?”
Bu Eunseol then spoke to Beok Goong Ryung, who stood motionless.
“If you will not choose, I shall decide for us both.”
“Do as you wish.”
“Very well.”
Bu Eunseol proceeded without hesitation down the left corridor.
After a moment’s deliberation, Beok Goong Ryung followed in his wake.
“Why do you follow me?”
As Bu Eunseol’s brow furrowed, Beok Goong Ryung spoke with confidence.
“We know not what traps await. Two are better than one.”
“I refuse.”
“Refuse?”
“Would you travel alongside one who hungers for your death at every moment?”
“You?”
Sparks ignited in Beok Goong Ryung’s eyes.
An ordinary martial artist would have been rendered breathless by such presence, but unfortunately, his opponent was Bu Eunseol.
“The mechanisms here were triggered only because you forced your way through the gate.”
“Nonsense. Then you claim the mechanisms did not activate when you entered alone?”
“Precisely.”
Left without words, Beok Goong Ryung raised his finger with a murderous gaze.
“I could sever your life force this instant.”
“Are you afraid?”
“What?”
“Afraid to proceed alone.”
“Hmph. You think I fear such traps?”
“So you do not.”
“Of course not.”
Bu Eunseol regarded him with a cold gaze.
“Then break through alone. Do not follow me further.”
Without hesitation, I passed by Beok Goong Ryung and entered the right passage once more.
“I shall proceed this way. Do not follow me.”
And without wavering, I stepped inside.
“Fine. I shall dismantle every trap in this place myself!”
Beok Goong Ryung, his pride deeply wounded, shouted loudly at my retreating back.
“And after that, I will strike you down immediately!”
Bu Eunseol offered no response, slowly vanishing into the corridor.
“Hmph.”
Beok Goong Ryung snorted derisively and slowly turned his steps toward the left passage.
Yet despite his confident gait, his expression betrayed considerable tension.
This was Wu Huang’s Secret Vault, constructed four hundred years ago by one who had reached the pinnacle of the Orthodox Sects.
The traps installed here were far from ordinary, and a single misstep could transform him into a skeleton guarding this place for eternity.
‘This is absurd. Must I truly concern myself with mechanical devices?’
For Beok Goong Ryung, whose inner strength could shatter iron gates, traps and mechanisms should have been meaningless.
Yet the mechanisms and traps within Wu Huang’s Secret Vault were truly without parallel in Murim history. Even he, called the Explosive King, could not guarantee passage through them.
“I shall simply destroy the mechanisms beforehand, as I did before.”
Taking a deep breath, he proceeded without hesitation toward the left passage.
* * *
“Huff, huff.”
Beok Goong Ryung barely managed to steady his ragged breathing.
Until now, he had roamed Murim alone, navigating countless crises and defeating formidable opponents. Never once had he gasped for breath in such a manner.
Yet now, to evade the countless traps scattered throughout the Secret Vault, he was expending every ounce of his strength until his tongue nearly touched his chin.
“This is beyond words.”
Within the seemingly endless corridor, every conceivable formation and mechanism scattered throughout Murim had been installed.
And these were not obstacles that could be overcome by martial prowess alone.
One required wisdom and composure, broad vision and insight, the ability to perceive and analyze situations.
“Moreover… it is impossible to break through alone.”
Beok Goong Ryung bit his lip.
Even possessing all the aforementioned abilities, the traps in this corridor could not be overcome.
Because from the outset, they were designed for two or more people, not one.
“I cannot comprehend this. Why…”
A thought suddenly flashed through Beok Goong Ryung’s mind.
―The mechanisms here were only activated in the first place because you forcibly destroyed the door and entered.
According to Bu Eunseol’s words, when he had entered alone previously, no mechanisms had been triggered.
Did that not suggest that if one of us perished, the mechanisms might cease functioning?
“No, that cannot be.”
Beok Goong Ryung shook his head.
Wu Huang was, in any case, a celebrated hero of the Orthodox Sects. Such a person could not have created traps so brutal and vicious.
“Perhaps it was to prevent two people from entering and fighting to the death over the treasure…”
Perhaps Wu Huang had designed the mechanisms so that if two people entered, they would cooperate rather than kill each other, allowing both to escape.
“I cannot say. Perhaps his nature changed after such a miserable end in his final years.”
I could not fathom what Mu Hwang had been thinking when constructing such a trap.
What was certain was that the mechanisms in this corridor could never be breached unless two people joined their strength.
Grrrr.
Beok Goong Ryung clenched his teeth tightly.
In the end, he would have to combine his power with that ice-cold brat.
Thud thud.
After hesitating several times, he had no choice but to retrace his steps.
Upon returning to the fork in the path, Beok Goong Ryung’s eyes widened.
Bu Eunseol, who had ventured down the right corridor, had also returned.
He too appeared to have endured tremendous hardship—his entire body was drenched in sweat, and his clothes were covered in dust.
“….”
The two men stared at each other as if bound by an unspoken pact.
Though neither spoke, their eyes exchanged silent words.
―Until we escape this place, let us not fight but join our strength.
The two men, gazing at each other as if in agreement, narrowed their eyes and nodded in unison.
Boom! Crash!
Beok Goong Ryung’s Inner Qi Blast was truly unparalleled under heaven. Unlike ordinary qi projectile techniques, its power did not diminish even at great distance.
Swish!
Bu Eunseol’s ink-black sword appeared dull, yet it was a rare divine blade in Murim.
It could unleash sword qi effortlessly without infusing inner power, and its edge remained undamaged even after hundreds of impacts.
Beok Goong Ryung destroyed the distant mechanisms, while Bu Eunseol severed the near traps and formations.
Thus the two advanced step by step through their cooperation.
When they finally breached all the traps and arrived at the corridor’s end, Beok Goong Ryung exhaled a long breath.
“The old man has destroyed it.”
Mechanisms, by nature, do not activate all at once—they have a prescribed sequence.
Yet the mechanisms installed in this corridor activated nearly simultaneously, and the formations were also in complete disarray.
The mechanisms and formations within Wu Huang’s Secret Vault had become utterly chaotic, activating all at once.
It seemed that when Beok Goong Ryung had shattered the iron door, he had damaged the mechanical devices installed within.
“Originally, this mechanism was designed to allow only one person to enter.”
“There is no need for self-reproach.”
Bu Eunseol passed Beok Goong Ryung and walked toward the solid iron door.
“When you think about it, this mechanism has existed for four hundred years. It would be strange if it still functioned with such precision.”
“Hmph, are you consoling me?”
“Not consolation—merely stating fact.”
Beok Goong Ryung wore a bitter smile.
In truth, most of the mechanisms had been breached through Bu Eunseol’s efforts.
By employing his Hollow Heart Perception, he had been able to detect the subtle traces of mechanisms that even Beok Goong Ryung could not find.
Moreover, he could predict the mechanisms’ operation and prepare for the cascading traps.
If Bu Eunseol’s aid had not been present?
Even if Beok Goong Ryung’s inner energy had been several times more powerful than it was now, he could never have passed through this place.
“There are no traces of mechanisms installed on the door.”
Bu Eunseol nodded after examining the iron gate installed at the end of the corridor,
“Now Wu Huang’s Secret Vault truly begins to reveal itself.”
Beok Goong Ryung extended his hand and forcefully pushed open the iron gate before him.
Creeeeak.
Beyond the wide-open door stretched an expansive Great Hall.
Beneath a ceiling that soared over thirty lengths high, colossal statues and architectural structures stood scattered throughout.
The interior was so vast and everything constructed so abnormally large that it resembled a recreation of the world of giants from primordial ages.
“How strange.”
Beok Goong Ryung furrowed his brow as he surveyed the surroundings.
“Why go through the trouble of creating all manner of traps, only to construct such a vast Great Hall again?”
Bu Eunseol examined the surroundings carefully without speaking.
Despite the scale of the Great Hall, the number of luminous pearls embedded in the walls and ceiling was remarkably sparse.
As a result, the interior light was barely sufficient to distinguish objects.
“There should be an exit at the far end, I suspect.”
Bu Eunseol pointed toward the opposite end, which was so distant that its boundary vanished from sight.
“And this must be the final trap.”
“A trap?”
“Indeed.”
Bu Eunseol gestured toward the statues and structures filling every direction.
“Everything filling this space is constructed architecture. In other words, since they were built by stacking, they can collapse at any moment.”
“They would collapse?”
“Likely. Down to the ceiling.”
“A simple trap. Nothing particularly impressive, is it?”
Then Bu Eunseol pointed beneath the floor.
“Among the formation arrays of Murim, there are those that exert strange suction forces from the ground or bind one’s feet in place.”
As if to prove those words, the floor was laid with silver-shadow stone, the material used when installing formation arrays.
Beok Goong Ryung fell silent.
The traps destroyed thus far had been so bizarre and terrifying that they would be remembered throughout the annals of Murim.
But now, on top of that, this entire massive Great Hall itself was a collapsing trap?
Rummmble.
As if announcing the beginning, a low vibration began to resound from within the floor.
This entire expansive Great Hall was the final gateway of Wu Huang’s Secret Vault and a trap of death itself.
“Are you prepared?”
At Bu Eunseol’s words, Beok Goong Ryung let out a scoff and spoke.
“Foolish child. Who are you speaking to in such a manner?”
Intense whirlwinds surged around his body.
“I am the Blade King.”
Those words carried infinite confidence.
Tan Wang. The sole member of the Four Gods Seven Kings who maintained no faction, wandering the Gangho alone, and guarding the spirit of Murim.
“Had I knelt before such a trap, my name would have vanished from Murim long ago.”
Boom!
At that moment, the head of the distant bronze statue began to crumble.
Simultaneously, the massive ceiling of the Great Hall shattered like brittle candy.
“Run!”
At Bu Eunseol’s cry, Tan Wang conjured a whirlwind and shot forward like an arrow.
Zing!
Then light erupted from the silver-jade stone beneath, instantly throttling his movement technique’s velocity.
Crash!
Yet Tan Wang surged forward like a bullet fired through the air, his speed utterly tremendous.
Boom! Boom!
Transformed into a streak of lightning, Tan Wang deftly dodged the falling debris, sometimes using it as a foothold to propel himself onward.
“Ugh.”
But his speed gradually diminished, and Tan Wang’s face twisted in strain.
Despite expending every ounce of strength and deploying his lightness technique at full power, a tremendous suction force gripped his ankles.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
In contrast, Bu Eunseol advanced with a serene expression, shifting the directional flow of his extreme shadowless movement.
He did not rush forward at breakneck speed.
After all, the Great Hall was vast, and collapsing structures had their limits.
He conserved his inner energy, calmly evading rocks and architectural fragments.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Yet even this method reached its limit.
Now a sickly cyan poison mist began rising from the silver-jade stone.
“They’re even spreading poison!”
Beok Goong Ryung roared in exasperation.
Despite drawing upon all his inner energy and deploying his movement technique—they dared release poison mist as well?
“Gah!”
Ordinary toxins posed no threat to him,
yet the poison rising from the ground was so potent that nausea welled up even without breathing.
But burning away the cascading poison mist with inner energy was not feasible in this situation.
“Excellent!”
Beok Goong Ryung drew iron rings from his pouch and fitted them onto his five fingers.
“Ha!”
With a shout, he unleashed the rings, which spun wildly through the air, generating an enormous vortex.
It was the Five Fingers Radiant Line technique, one of Beok Goong Ryung’s three supreme methods.
Whoooosh!
The colossal vortex instantly dispersed the poison mist and carved a path through.
Only then did he realize that Bu Eunseol had vanished, trapped within the poison mist.
‘There’s no helping it.’
Even if he were to survive, he was someone with whom coexistence was impossible.
Beok Goong Ryung, inwardly clicking his tongue in disapproval, was about to step forward once more,
when a brilliant flash erupted—
A single beam of light surged upward over the toxic fog,
and a tremendous roar tore through the air!
A colossal sphere woven from layers of sword energy materialized, obliterating the toxic fog in its wake.
The Seventh Form of the Infinite Celestial Stream.
The technique unfolded—a sword art infused with formidable Yang-attributed true qi that incinerated the toxic fog, the Return and Annihilation technique blazing forth.
With a sharp crack,
Bu Eunseol propelled the colossal sphere of Yang-attributed true qi forward, not around her body, but directly ahead.
The toxic fog crackled and dissipated.
The sphere that had consumed the toxic fog extended further, and finally, some fifty paces ahead, a small doorway came into view.
Wu Huang’s Secret Vault.
And upon its entrance was inscribed the same calligraphy as that which had been carved at the outer gate.

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