The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign - Chapter 239
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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 239.
In that moment, a single realization flashed through Beok Goong Ryung’s mind.
‘Could it be that only one person can enter that place as well?’
From the beginning, this was a location only a chosen individual could enter alone.
But if two people were to enter that Secret Vault again?
The thought that the traps inside might trigger once more seized him with dread.
“Haaah!”
Beok Goong Ryung’s heart quickened with urgency.
Releasing a powerful shout, he launched himself forward at full speed.
Fortunately, Bu Eunseol had incinerated the poisonous fog blocking the path toward the entrance with his peculiar swordplay, leaving the way clear and unobstructed.
Ha!
At last, evading every obstacle, Beok Goong Ryung reached the entrance first and hurriedly pushed the door open, slipping inside.
“Come quickly!”
Beok Goong Ryung shouted, but Bu Eunseol, trapped once more in the poisonous fog after expending his final technique, gave no response.
“Is he dead?”
There was no movement discernible through the toxic haze.
It seemed Bu Eunseol had squeezed out his last reserves of strength the moment he became ensnared, pouring his blazing inner force into a sword strike.
“I should at least recover his body….”
Beok Goong Ryung’s body froze as he turned to rush back outside.
Sssssss.
A vicious torrent of poisonous fog came pouring through the open iron door.
The toxic haze that filled the Great Hall was being sucked in through the open door like water down a drain.
At this rate, the interior would soon be consumed by poison as well. Beok Goong Ryung had no choice but to shut the iron door.
Rumble.
“Huff, huff.”
Having closed the door, he drew ragged breaths.
And he surveyed his surroundings with a tense expression.
In truth, he held little interest in Mu Hwang’s secret techniques.
It was the traps installed in this place…
They were mechanisms that even Beok Goong Ryung, called the Sword King who had condemned the entire Murim, could not easily overcome.
Having spent an entire day without a single sip of water, navigating through the traps had left both body and spirit exhausted.
“They didn’t activate because I entered alone.”
Beok Goong Ryung released a sigh of relief, then found himself recalling Bu Eunseol’s face and sighed once more.
“Yes, dying by my hand would be far more agonizing…. This way is kinder.”
The moment he left this place, Beok Goong Ryung would have to kill Bu Eunseol.
It eased his conscience to leave him buried beneath this crumbling Great Hall instead.
“It is a pity, though.”
Not only blessed with exceptional appearance, but also possessing martial prowess, wisdom, composure, and keen perception….
Bu Eunseol was a perfect instrument lacking nothing.
“Had he not killed that old man through such cowardly means… I would have saved him even at the cost of my own life.”
He was unaware of Bu Eunseol’s terrifying inner force level and the Yeoyijin Gyeol.
Moreover, having not even heard the recent rumors circulating through Gangho, he still believed Bu Eunseol had killed Geol Wang through some sordid method.
“…!”
Yet something felt amiss.
With each step forward, it felt as though something were slipping away beneath him.
The moment he sensed the irregularity and attempted to unleash his lightness of movement, his two legs suddenly became rooted to the ground as if cemented in place.
“What is this?”
Whoooosh.
Upon closer inspection, the ground was composed of golden sand that flowed endlessly downward.
Quicksand. The once-solid floor had transformed into flowing sand without warning.
“Tch.”
Beok Goong Ryung attempted to launch himself upward in one explosive motion.
But the suction force of the quicksand pulling him down exceeded all imagination.
“How troublesome.”
Under normal circumstances, no matter how tremendous the pressure, he would have rocketed free in an instant.
But now his dantian was torn to shreds, his vital energy completely exhausted. No matter how hard he struggled, extracting himself proved impossible.
“At this current flow rate, it should pose no real danger.”
Beok Goong Ryung, having regained his composure, gazed down into the quicksand.
Fortunately, the sinking speed was not particularly rapid. If he circulated his qi gently through one cycle, he could escape without difficulty.
Screeeee!
Yet something astonishing occurred.
With a sharp piercing sound, steel wires erupted from within the quicksand, binding his two legs tightly.
“What?”
Beok Goong Ryung, startled, exerted his vital energy, but his legs ensnared by the steel wires would not budge.
“Hehehehe.”
He realized something and let out a bitter laugh.
“I have grown dull in my perception.”
He had always destroyed everything with a single finger.
Because of this, he need not be faster than others, nor move with particular agility, to maintain his advantage.
But the traps in this place tolerate not even a moment of carelessness.
That deeply rooted arrogance had ensnared him once more.
Clang!
At that moment, a dark blade suddenly shot forth from between the iron door’s cracks with a metallic ring.
Screeeech!
Simultaneously, sparks scattered as the iron door’s seams were carved open from top to bottom. The door swung wide, and a tall silhouette emerged from the darkness. It was Bu Eunseol.
“How is this possible?”
Beok Goong Ryung could not conceal his shock.
Bu Eunseol had surely been trapped in the poison fog, frozen in place.
How could he have entered this chamber unscathed?
Thump thump.
Bu Eunseol walked slowly forward, his gaze cold as he looked down at Beok Goong Ryung, whose feet were bound to the rope in the quicksand.
“Your legs are trapped below.”
Holding the ink-black sword, Bu Eunseol pierced through the quicksand with his perception, immediately grasping Beok Goong Ryung’s predicament.
“Wait!”
Beok Goong Ryung let out a cry of alarm.
If Bu Eunseol unleashed his technique right now?
He would become a ghost without even a chance to resist, cut down in an instant.
“Are you going to kill me?”
“….”
Bu Eunseol offered no reply. After staring blankly at Beok Goong Ryung for a moment,
he swept forward with a whistle. A sharp sound.
He unfolded his lightness of movement and leaped over the quicksand in one breath.
Then he walked forward as though nothing had happened.
“Why won’t you attack?”
Beok Goong Ryung could not fathom Bu Eunseol’s actions.
“You could easily take my head in this state, couldn’t you?”
If he unleashed his technique now, not only would his life no longer be threatened, but he would gain the tremendous honor of having slain two of the Four Gods Seven Kings.
Why would he so casually discard such immense renown—a dream every martial master yearned for?
Thud, thud.
Bu Eunseol simply walked deeper inward without answering.
“Do you think this will stop me from killing you?”
Beok Goong Ryung spoke loudly.
“Do you think I will forgive you?”
“Who forgives whom?”
“You struck down Gu Hong Cheong, that old man, through foul means.”
Bu Eunseol’s expression turned contemptuous.
“I am well aware that the Orthodox Sects’ people generally fail to live up to their years. So hold your tongue.”
“What did you say? You truly are….”
“Blind in eyes and deaf in ears—have you not even met a person?”
It was an utterly insulting remark, yet Beok Goong Ryung’s expression turned puzzled instead.
―Now that I think of it, he is both blind and deaf.
Those were words Bu Eunseol spoke when he was misunderstood to be a villain.
But now he says he hasn’t even met a person? Could it be that he himself is misunderstanding again?
‘This fellow.’
Reflecting on it, from the first meeting, despite knowing his identity, he gave sharp rebukes without hesitation.
‘He is absolutely not the type to employ foul schemes.’
Throughout their time breaking through the trap together, I had come to feel it.
Though blunt and lacking in human warmth, Bu Eunseol was not the kind of person to assassinate Geol Wang through dirty methods.
“Fine. Why won’t you kill me!”
As Beok Goong Ryung cried out in desperation, Bu Eunseol exhaled softly and spoke in a low voice.
“You thought I was trapped in the Poison Fog, so you came back out to save me.”
“What?”
“Blind in eyes and ears, with a twisted temperament—but at least you know how to act like a human being. That’s the only reason I haven’t killed you.”
Beok Goong Ryung’s eyes widened.
So this young wretch had not only maintained his composure while trapped in the Poison Fog, but had been watching his every move all along?
“Then why won’t you help me?”
“My goodwill ends with sparing your life. Don’t expect any sense of obligation from me.”
With that, he turned away without hesitation.
Beok Goong Ryung, who had been buried in a daze within the fog, suddenly burst into laughter.
“Hahahaha!”
Whoooosh! Snap!
As his laughter erupted, the sound of chains snapping rang out, and he tore free from the fog in a single breath.
“You truly are an eccentric!”
Beok Goong Ryung, now standing beside Bu Eunseol, gazed at Jeong Gwang with eyes blazing like embers.
“You’re certainly not the type to resort to vicious schemes and murder.”
In truth, he had recovered a considerable amount of his inner energy while conversing with Bu Eunseol.
And had Bu Eunseol shown even the slightest inclination to strike while I was in crisis?
I would have immediately unleashed my Inner Explosion Technique to shatter his skull.
But Bu Eunseol was absolutely not a base or petty person.
Rather, in eighty years of life, he was the most manly and stubborn individual I had ever encountered.
Such a man would never set an ambush with treacherous intent.
“Now I truly understand your essence.”
Beok Goong Ryung exclaimed in admiration.
The spirit of a martial artist.
This young successor of the Demonic Path was arrogant, perhaps, but he was truly the embodiment of what it meant to possess the spirit of a martial artist.
“I have one question.”
Beok Goong Ryung finally laid bare the doubt that had been gnawing at him.
“I know you’re not the type to engage in filthy deeds. But… no matter how I look at it, you don’t have the strength to kill that old man.”
He understood that Bu Eunseol had only just stepped into the threshold of the Extreme Heaven Realm.
But at that level, there was no way to defeat Gu Hong Cheong.
“How exactly did you defeat him?”
When Beok Goong Ryung laid bare his honest doubt, Bu Eunseol sighed and spoke.
“His ambition was far too great.”
It was a brief answer.
But from those few words, Beok Goong Ryung understood how Bu Eunseol had faced Gu Hong Cheong.
“Ah, so that was it.”
He must have exploited Gu Hong Cheong’s ambition, provoked him, and shattered that rigid spirit.
Moreover, with great courage and superior wisdom, he surely had prepared the means to break through Geol Wang’s Nine Transformation Water Shield.
“At this age, most would cast aside such worldly desires.”
Beok Goong Ryung sighed and murmured to himself.
“Gu Hong Cheong—that old man never abandoned his ambition to become the Patriarch, not for a single moment.”
I knew him better than anyone else, and precisely because of that, I could not suppress a pang of regret.
“Yet his desire stemmed not from personal glory, but from a longing for Gae Bang’s revival.”
“That too is merely ambition.”
“What did you say?”
Having spoken those words, Bu Eunseol advanced deeper into the passage.
Thump, thump.
Perceiving that no further traps lay ahead, my stride became unobstructed.
“That too is merely ambition…”
Beok Goong Ryung, repeating Bu Eunseol’s words, wore a bitter smile.
He had come to understand that these words were not spoken in mockery of Gu Hong Cheong, but rather emerged from manifold experience and profound insight.
“Truly, an old soul in a young frame.”
Chuckling softly, he quickened his pace and drew level with Bu Eunseol’s shoulder.
In doing so, he signaled that he had relinquished the hostility he had harbored toward Bu Eunseol.
“Is this Wu Huang’s Secret Vault?”
Upon passing through the door at the corridor’s end, a vast chamber revealed itself.
It resembled the Library Pavilion, with numerous bookshelves densely arranged throughout.
On one side flowed clear underground spring water beside a stone basin, and a storage chamber held stacked grain pills.
Bu Eunseol and Beok Goong Ryung drank the cool, crystalline water without restraint.
However, most of the grain pills had decayed, leaving scarcely anything edible.
Beok Goong Ryung, rummaging through one corner of the storage chamber, discovered glass jars containing honey.
“This should be consumable?”
Honey, unlike other foods, remains edible for centuries if properly preserved.
The two men selected jars of honey in good condition and consumed them slowly.
As water and honey entered their bodies, their minds grew sharper and vigor surged through their flesh.
Moreover, the wounds scattered across their bodies healed in an instant, and a thread of warmth kindled within their dantian.
“This… is no ordinary honey.”
Beok Goong Ryung examined the jar of clear honey carefully as he spoke.
“It must surely be the honey of the Jade Bee, spoken of only in legend.”
“Jade Bee honey, you say…”
I had once read a manuscript detailing the efficacies of spiritual creatures in the Guusal Unit’s library.
Recalling the properties of Jade Bee honey, Bu Eunseol, seized by sudden inspiration, placed one jar of honey in good condition into his robe.
“Yet the secret texts here are disappointingly mundane.”
Beok Goong Ryung, having searched through the shelves, shook his head with a dissatisfied expression.
While the shelves held secret manuals of the Orthodox Sects’ advanced martial arts, they held nothing of particular merit to one of his caliber.
“Hmm.”
Bu Eunseol, examining the shelves, also released a low murmur.
Though I had entered the threshold of the Extreme Heaven Realm, I had transcended technique and form.
I harbored scarcely any interest in the Orthodox Sects’ martial arts whatsoever.
“So that rumor was true, then.”
Beok Goong Ryung murmured as if recalling something.
“Mu Hwang said that even ordinary martial techniques could unleash tremendous power if mastered perfectly.”
Mu Hwang had always faced formidable opponents using ordinary martial techniques, and he would say the secret lay in ‘mastering martial techniques perfectly.’
Mu Hwang Seop Mu Hun.
He was a prodigy of martial arts who could master any technique in a single breath.
Because even the most difficult martial techniques came so easily to him, he could speak of ‘perfect mastery.’
In fact, Seop Mu Hun could instantly transcribe any martial technique he witnessed into secret records.
There was even an occasion when Go Tae Woon, the sect leader of Hae Nam Pai at that time, demonstrated the Hae Nam Sword Technique and provoked him by asking if he could create secret records of it.
Seop Mu Hun immediately transcribed the Hae Nam Sword Breaking technique in a single breath.
Greatly astonished, Go Tae Woon apologized for his rudeness and burned the secret records—a legendary anecdote that has been passed down.
“How absurd. So you’re saying he should master these secret records as perfectly as he did and become Mu Hwang himself….”
Beok Goong Ryung shook his head with an exasperated expression.
“It seems his genius was so extraordinary that he never learned how to teach others.”
At that moment, Bu Eunseol withdrew a large tome from the end of the bookshelf.
Wu Huang’s Secret Record.
The exterior was in pristine condition, appearing as if no hand had ever touched this secret record.
―How unjust and bitter this is!
The opening of Wu Huang’s Secret Record was filled with passages brimming with grievance and indignation.
―I strove to uproot the forces that threw the Murim into chaos, yet no matter how much I pulled, they would not be eradicated… I was falsely accused and forced to flee.
The tome contained accounts of the forces that had infested the Murim four hundred years prior.
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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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