The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign - Chapter 3

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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 3
Orthodox sects that systematically taught martial arts and cultivated disciples produced outstanding figures across generations.
But the demonic factions, driven by profit and hegemony, were perpetually fragmented and disorganized.
Though occasionally exceptional masters appeared who stood alone at the pinnacle, their individual power inevitably yielded to the organized might of the orthodox sects.
Thus, the Ten Demonic Gates—called the heavens of the demonic path—united their strength to forge a coalition of the demonic martial world.
Demon Hall.
Known as the Demonic Murim Alliance, it became the central pillar of all demonic factions under heaven, modeled after the orthodox Murim Alliance.
Around noon.
The entrance to Demon Hall was crowded with countless people forming long queues.
Since visitors had to sign the register upon entry, the lines showed no sign of diminishing.
“Ah, they’ve gathered like clouds.”
Mo Gwang, the gatekeeper of Demon Hall, muttered with a heavy sigh.
Then his colleague beside him, Jang Sam, shook his head.
“Of course. They say they’ll teach demonic martial arts regardless of faction if one has talent. Who would be fool enough to miss this opportunity?”
“Damn it. If I were just younger, I’d apply to become one of the Ten Demonic Successors.”
The Ten Demonic Successors plan.
Recently, as the demonic path flourished, the orthodox Murim Alliance had begun cultivating eighteen joint successors under the title of “Righteous Masters.”
Not to be outdone, Demon Hall announced the Ten Demonic Successors plan.
―Regardless of faction, we shall select ten talented individuals and transmit the martial arts of the Ten Demonic Gates!
Once the Ten Demonic Successors plan spread, the demonic martial world erupted in fervor.
―Let’s go, to Demon Hall!
The Ten Demonic Gates—called the ten pillars supporting the demonic path.
To freely master martial techniques that rend the heavens and shake the earth!
Even disciples of demonic factions and young nobles from great families who had previously disdained Demon Hall rushed there en masse.
As a result, the gatekeepers of Demon Hall were bound to their posts without relief until the shift change.
“Another day like this.”
As Mo Gwang muttered while gazing at the sun gradually setting, his colleague Jang Sam nodded in agreement.
“Tomorrow should be quieter.”
Yet in the distance, silhouetted against the setting sun, a small shadow trudged forward.
It was a gaunt boy carrying a bundle on his back.
“Huh?”
Mo Gwang, observing the boy, rubbed his eyes.
The boy’s hair was disheveled, and his clothes were torn like rags.
His shoes were nearly worn through, and blood caked the soles of his feet.
He wore the ritual robes that morticians donned during funeral rites, and a bamboo carrying case for funeral goods and a sword hung from his back.
“Who died?”
“Who died? Nobody died, man. The Ten Demonic Successors tournament hasn’t even started yet.”
Mo Gwang, who had made the quip, muttered to himself.
“And who would hire such a young mortician at a place like our Demon Hall?”
“Y-you’re right?”
Jang Sam, standing beside him, also opened his mouth in bewilderment.
“But what in the world is that appearance? He looks like a living corpse.”
His matted hair hung down, nearly obscuring his eyes, while his cracked lips bled continuously.
Walking without rest for three or four months would certainly result in such a ghastly state.
Thud, thud.
The boy, moving with slow, heavy steps, finally arrived at the main gate.
Whoosh.
Bu Eunseol, gazing up at the grand stone gate of the Demon Palace, clenched both fists tightly.
‘Grandfather.’
His once-hazy eyes now burned with a crimson, blood-red brilliance.
‘It begins now.’
* * *
After burying his grandfather in a sunlit place, Bu Eunseol organized the interior of the Pyeong-an Funeral House.
The household was so sparse that aside from ritual offerings, all that remained were Bu Chanyang’s ceremonial robes and sword.
And only a bamboo chest capable of holding various ritual implements.
“Hm?”
As Bu Eunseol gathered the chest containing his grandfather’s only keepsakes—the ceremonial robes and sword—
he blinked upon discovering a small box placed neatly beside it.
“What is this?”
Opening the box, inside lay ceremonial robes and a pair of small swords that fit his frame perfectly.
“….”
Bu Chanyang had already purchased the robes and sword long ago. For Bu Eunseol’s coming birthday.
―Happy birthday.
Bu Eunseol stared at the box containing a brief note and wept once more.
“Grandfather.”
Clutching the box tightly, Bu Eunseol sobbed quietly.
The most tender grandfather in the world.
The grandfather who filled this cold world with warmth.
Bu Chanyang, the grandfather I loved most in this world, is gone.
“Revenge… I swear vengeance!”
Bu Eunseol’s eyes, as he cried out while embracing the box, burned crimson.
Bu Eunseol had once possessed a pure innocence, untainted as a child.
But when his grandfather was brutally murdered, that transparent purity transformed into vengeance and madness.
After completing all preparations, he donned the ceremonial robes his grandfather left behind and shouldered the bamboo chest.
“I must master martial arts.”
The beast who killed his grandfather was certainly a master of the demonic path.
Then I must go where the demonic practitioners gather. And I must learn martial arts capable of breaking through demonic techniques.
The answer was already clear.
“The Demon Palace.”
The Demon Palace—a repository of demonic martial arts and a gathering place of demonic masters.
Moreover, the Demon Hall is currently conducting the Ten Demonic Gates Tournament, gathering prodigies eighteen years old and under to transmit martial arts—was this not a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?
This was a chance that came once in a thousand years.
* * *
“What brings you here?”
Bu Eunseol awoke from her reverie at the low voice.
“I’ve come to participate in the Ten Demonic Gates Tournament.”
Mo Gwang, who had been looking down at Bu Eunseol in her ceremonial robes, sighed and pointed to the visitor’s register.
“Write your name in the register.”
When Bu Eunseol picked up the brush and wrote only her name, Mo Gwang spoke.
“Write your sect affiliation as well.”
‘Sect affiliation….’
She had never formally studied martial arts, let alone belonged to a sect.
After a moment of hesitation, Bu Eunseol picked up the brush again and wrote in one fluid stroke.
―Chanyang Sect, Bu Eunseol.
Mo Gwang and Jang Sam, looking down at the register, exchanged bitter smiles.
―Another disciple from a wandering sect.
After word of the Ten Demonic Gates Tournament spread, the Demon Hall was flooded not only with disciples from the major demonic sects, but also from third-rate sects in remote villages, all rushing to participate.
The reason the Demon Hall’s interior was not completely filled was precisely because of this.
“Then read this and affix your seal.”
Mo Gwang handed over a sheet of paper placed beside the register.
When Bu Eunseol took the paper, it read as follows:
―…[omitted]…To eliminate any grounds for dispute, the entire body of all those who apply to the Ten Demonic Gates shall belong to this Hall.
Therefore, even if one loses one’s life…[continued]
In short, once one applied to the Ten Demonic Gates, whether one died during training or was beaten to death by the instructors.
One could never lodge any objection—it was a kind of body waiver agreement.
‘There’s no way she’ll sign it.’
Mo Gwang, watching Bu Eunseol, held back a sneer.
Until now, countless wanderers had come to the Demon Hall, but upon seeing the contents of the agreement, all had turned back.
Unless one was mad or obsessed with martial arts, no one would sign an agreement surrendering their body.
But—
Bu Eunseol, however, without hesitation bit her finger, drew blood, and affixed her seal.
‘This… this madwoman.’
When Mo Gwang met Bu Eunseol’s cold, frozen gaze, he felt his hair stand on end.
“May I enter now?”
“Y-yes, please enter.”
Once inside, Bu Eunseol took a deep breath.
‘So this is the Demon Hall.’
She had imagined it would look like a demon’s lair, a place of chaos, given that it was where masters of the demonic path gathered.
But the interior was majestic and imposing, and at the same time, it carried the solemn atmosphere of a temple.
A low murmur of voices filled the space.
After walking for some time, I heard the sound of many people chattering from somewhere ahead.
Following the noise, I came upon a vast Training Grounds.
Countless people stood arrayed there like clouds, and at the far end of the arena, a high platform had been erected.
“….”
Upon the platform stood a muscular old man with hair cascading like a lion’s mane, and behind him, a middle-aged man with a refined bearing rose prominently.
Zing.
At that moment, a low tone resonated from the gong installed on the arena.
As the clamorous noise that had filled the arena subsided, the muscular old man standing on the platform spoke with composure.
“I am the Grand Instructor, Hyuk Ryeon Eung.”
In that instant, the Training Grounds stirred with tension.
Golden Arms and Crimson Eyes—Hyuk Ryeon Eung.
As the Dharma Protector Lord of Demon Hall, he had lowered his station to become Grand Instructor for the successful operation of the Ten Demonic Gates.
This alone revealed how seriously Demon Hall regarded the Ten Demonic Gates initiative.
“This gathering exists to select the foremost prodigy of the demonic path.”
Though Hyuk Ryeon Eung’s voice was not loud, it carried the weight of profound inner strength, allowing all participants to hear it clearly.
“In other words, only those who pass all the trials created by our hall can officially become candidates for the Ten Demonic Gates.”
He swept his gaze across the participants packed densely on the arena, then spoke again.
“From this moment, the masters of Medicine King Hall will examine the bone structure and physique of each of you.”
Before his words even finished, dozens of Haeng Rim emerged from behind the platform.
“Only those selected by them shall become candidates for the Ten Demonic Gates.”
At those words, the Training Grounds stirred once more.
Especially the young scions of prominent demonic families began openly voicing their objections.
―Examining bone structure as a trial? How is that even reasonable?
―Why not hold a martial tournament instead!
Regardless of how the murmurs grew louder, the masters of Medicine King Hall continued selecting children with superior bone structure.
Soon, a lean Haeng Rim approached me.
“…!”
The Haeng Rim was startled upon seeing me in my monastic robes.
“A disciple of the Chanyang Sect?”
The Haeng Rim frowned, then scrutinized my body with sharp eyes, briefly touching my shoulders, back, and legs.
“No, that’s not it.”
The Haeng Rim murmured softly and passed by me without hesitation.
‘As expected.’
I narrowed my eyes slightly.
All I had learned thus far was the work of preparing corpses. It would have been strange if I were deemed to possess bone structure suitable for martial arts.
‘But this won’t be the end.’
I could say with certainty.
That the examination of bone structure by the Haeng Rim was not the final step in the selection process.
Otherwise, there would be no reason to collect registration forms and oaths, nor to gather all these participants here.
“The first examination is complete!”
As all those chosen by Haeng Rim’s disciples departed, a silence as profound as death descended upon the Training Grounds.
From the thousand-pyeong training platform, fewer than two hundred children had been selected.
“Where in the world is such a rule?”
At that moment, a boy standing at the front of the Training Grounds cried out as if deeply wronged.
“If you’re selecting ten Demon Hall disciples merely by examining bone structure and physique, why not simply dispatch Haeng Rim’s disciples from the Medicine King Hall to each sect? Why hold a tournament at all?”
The boy’s words held undeniable logic.
“There are two reasons.”
Hyuk Ryeon Eung, looking down at the boy, spoke calmly.
“Above all, bone structure and physique are the most crucial foundation for learning martial arts. We held this tournament not only to find disciples and experts from the major sects, but to discover talented individuals unaffiliated with any faction.”
“But….”
“The second reason is to select transcendent talents who, despite inferior bone structure, possess the capacity to master martial arts exceptionally well.”
In that instant, the expressions of the boys and girls on the training platform brightened.
So there truly was a second chance?
“Now we shall begin the second evaluation.”
Hyuk Ryeon Eung gazed down at the participants below the Training Grounds and smiled wickedly.
“From this moment forward, you shall fight. And you shall survive.”

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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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