The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign - Chapter 301

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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 301.
Dark, billowing clouds churned across the sky, and it felt as though the mournful wails of ghosts echoed from every direction.
“How could the Patriarch of Saixiang have mastered the Prajna Grand Ability?”
Shaolin’s temple arts had never once leaked to the outside world.
Moreover, the Prajna Grand Ability was a martial art that even ordinary disciples could not master.
This meant that Mun Dae Seongsaeng must have held a considerably high position among Shaolin’s disciples, and perhaps even Shaolin itself knew of this fact.
“Are you saying Saixiang’s backing is Shaolin?”
Bu Eunseol shook her head.
There was virtually no chance that the shadowy force behind the Sal Soo sect, passed down through generations, was Shaolin.
If it were, Buddha Sage Hong Hyeon would never have spoken of protecting Murim in such terms.
―Even the old master had abandoned his identity and returned to the secular world….
Yet Mun Dae Seongsaeng had referred to Shaolin as his “main temple” and called himself a Shaolin disciple.
If this was not mere falsehood, then he had deliberately cast aside his identity and devoted himself to Saixiang.
‘Could Mun Dae Seongsaeng have been a lay disciple?’
Shaolin accepted more lay disciples than any of the Nine Sects One Alliance, and depending on circumstances, they freely transmitted their temple arts to these lay disciples.
‘Or perhaps he belonged to Blood Shaolin.’
When crisis befalls Murim, there exists another Shaolin—one that overcomes such calamities.
This organization is called Blood Shaolin.
The Buddhist monks of Blood Shaolin conceal their identities, and with the abbot’s permission, they secretly cultivate temple arts that destructively transform the Seventy-Two Perfections, it is said.
However, few know of Blood Shaolin’s existence, and Bu Eunseol herself had only heard of it by chance, like a legend, during her time as a Guusal Unit operative.
She had merely overheard tales of Blood Shaolin as if they were folklore.
‘But I cannot simply sweep away Shaolin as I did with Ohdok School or Sahwa Alliance.’
If my spirit had remained in the demonic state as before?
I would have recklessly concentrated all forces and intelligence networks on Shaolin immediately.
But now, having reclaimed my originally serene spirit, I was analyzing the situation coldly and devising countermeasures.
‘Investigating Shaolin is something I must never rush into.’
Shaolin is a great pillar supporting the Orthodox Sects, and many eminent monks with superior martial prowess and mysterious abilities dwell there.
It is far more perilous than investigating within the Murim Alliance itself, and demands that much greater caution.
‘In any case, it is merely a matter of order.’
Originally, I had intended to thoroughly investigate not only the Murim Alliance but all Orthodox Sects, including the Nine Sects One Alliance.
Because all evidence thus far suggested that Hyung Su was actually closer to being a figure of the Orthodox Sects.
Yet Shaolin was a place I could not carelessly touch…
For now, investigation was impossible, and it would require the most extensive preparation and meticulous planning.
“Let us return for now.”
Bu Eunseol turned her body wearily.
For now, I had no choice but to be satisfied with having dealt with Saixiang.
Just as I was about to draw upon my inner force to deploy my movement technique,
“…!”
My eyes wavered like ripples on water.
As I summoned my inner force, the aura of the Prajna Grand Ability dispersed through my meridians caused a subtle collision with the true qi in my dantian.
The root of Bu Eunseol’s power lay in the Demonic Path’s Half-Extreme Heart Method.
Yet since childhood, I had accumulated true energy through the Reverse Muscle Scripture’s life-nurturing secrets, and now my meridians had even absorbed the Prajnaparamita’s vast power.
In the end, not just my spirit but even what was inscribed upon my flesh had become suspended between the Demonic Path and the Righteous Path.
“Sigh.”
A deep exhalation escaped Bu Eunseol’s lips as I grasped the full scope of the situation.
If this state persisted…
Whether I desired it or not, I would have no choice but to continue deeply comprehending and advancing the martial arts of Jeongsayang-do.
Zing.
Yet in that moment, Bu Eunseol’s heightened senses detected a faint vibration.
It seemed to originate from deep beneath the earth, traveling through my feet and creating a subtle tremor.
‘The children?’
Only then did Bu Eunseol recall that the abducted children had always been connected to Saixiang.
Which meant the kidnapped children were certainly imprisoned somewhere within Saixiang.
After a moment of deep contemplation, Bu Eunseol drew my Beast Path senses to their maximum.
Simultaneously, I stamped my foot forcefully against the ground.
Boom.
As the earth trembled, the vibrations rippled outward, and the Void Wave Heart Eye manifested.
At the same time, my heightened senses’ range began expanding to the earth beneath roughly a hundred paces.
‘Underground again, then.’
Bu Eunseol’s eyes gleamed as I analyzed the sensations spreading in all directions from the Void Wave Heart Eye.
I had discovered a vast space beneath where this Saixiang had been built.
‘I must find the way down.’
As Bu Eunseol surveyed the village, my gaze suddenly caught upon a well standing prominently in the center.
The well was dry, but inside it hung a large wooden bucket connected by rope—large enough for a person to ride.
“…”
The well’s depths were so profound that even Bu Eunseol’s sight, which pierced through darkness, could not discern the bottom.
Tap.
Without hesitation, Bu Eunseol descended into the well aboard the large bucket.
Beneath the surface lay a vast cavern formed by nature, with traces of countless people having passed through.
Torches lined the walls in places, but they were unlit, leaving only thick darkness and humid air mingling within.
“Hmm.”
Bu Eunseol furrowed my brow.
Faint hostility emanated from all directions.
It resembled a beast in darkness stalking its prey.
Screech!
With a sharp sound of tearing air, something razor-edged flew toward Bu Eunseol’s temple.
Tilting my head lightly to evade it, a shadow wielding sharp metal descended from the ceiling.
“Hmm.”
Bu Eunseol did not retreat, instead observing the shadow that gripped the metal.
But it was a trap.
While my attention was fixed on the shadow appearing before me,
another shadow crouching low crept in from the side and viciously slashed both of my ankles with sharp metal.
A sickening sound of tearing flesh.
Simultaneously, sharp metal pierced into my ribs, back, and chest.
A dull thud.
In the end, four pieces of sharp metal were embedded deep within my body.
“An ordinary martial artist would have died here.”
Despite having metal lodged throughout my entire body, I stood calmly and smiled faintly.
A crackling sound.
As I channeled my inner force, the sharp metal fragments crumbled to dust and scattered in all directions.
A sharp whistle.
When I unleashed a gust of wind infused with scorching heat, the torches mounted on the walls ignited.
At the same moment, the shadows crouching in the darkness revealed themselves.
“They were doing the same things they did on Hell Island.”
I clicked my tongue.
The shadows revealed beneath the torchlight were young boys who hadn’t yet reached adolescence.
There were thirty of them.
Their bodies were gaunt and skeletal, as if they hadn’t been properly washed or fed, and filth clung to their entire frames.
Yet the pupils reflected in the torchlight blazed with a blade-like killing intent, and not a trace of fear was visible.
“Have they been fed Inhwa again?”
I furrowed my brow.
All of these boys had been forcibly marinated in their bodies with vicious toxins like Inhwa.
As a result, though they possessed no inner force, their bodies were as agile as those of martial masters, and their temperaments had transformed into something as savage and ferocious as beasts.
‘Fortunately, they haven’t yet learned inner cultivation.’
The boys showed no signs of having formally studied martial arts or cultivated inner force.
“Then there is a way.”
A sharp whistle.
As I extended my hand, the boy in the front row lifted into the air and adhered to my palm.
Had any martial artist witnessed this, they would have been struck speechless.
Drawing teacups or weapons through the air with one’s force is not particularly difficult.
But drawing the body of a boy standing several paces away through the air—that was a technique that could truly be called divine.
“Ugh…”
Overwhelmed by my absolute martial prowess, the boy trembled without even the thought of resistance.
“There is no need to fear.”
Speaking calmly, I began infusing my inner force into the Daechu acupoint.
A piercing cry.
White vapor rose from the boy’s entire body, and his darkened skin and yellowed eyes gradually returned to their natural color.
I had injected a powerful antitoxin force to expel all the toxins absorbed in his body to the outside.
‘His bone structure is excellent.’
Had the boy’s bone structure been poor and his meridians not sturdy, he would not have been able to properly receive my force.
Yet the boy had properly absorbed the Anti-Extreme True Qi within the time it took fire and incense to burn halfway, piercing through every meridian in his entire body.
“How do you feel?”
At Bu Eunseol’s words, the boy nodded with eyes that had grown clear.
“The dizziness and confusion that clouded my mind has lifted. Everything is sharp now.”
“Good. The rest of you, come forward one by one before the Lord.”
Bu Eunseol injected the Anti-Extreme True Qi into each of the thirty boys in turn, burning away the toxins within their bodies.
Though all of them possessed excellent bone structure and physique, the first boy to whom Bu Eunseol had given her qi was the most exceptional among them.
“Are you the leader of this group?”
At Bu Eunseol’s question, the boy standing at the front nodded.
“Yes, I am.”
“Your name?”
“Agui… that is my name.”
The boy had become an orphan so early in life that he had never even been given a proper name.
Much like Bu Eunseol herself, long ago.
“Do you have a place to return to?”
“What do you mean…?”
“All those who abducted you are dead. I have come to rescue you.”
At this, roughly half of the boys behind Agui brightened, while the other half darkened.
“Among us, half are orphans. Like me, with no proper names.”
Half of the abducted boys were orphans.
They had been taken merely for their good physiques. No one cared for them or even knew of their existence.
“Take this.”
Bu Eunseol withdrew a black stone engraved with a wolf’s image from her robes, along with a money pouch, and handed it to Agui.
“Take those with no place to return to and go to Seong Do. Leave this stone in front of the inn nearest to the station. Then those who will come for you will appear.”
“Where will they take us?”
“Geommi Mountain, Nangya Sect.”
Bu Eunseol spoke matter-of-factly.
“When you arrive there, you will be able to meet Cheol Sa Bu. Tell him everything that has happened, and say that I sent you.”
“What is the name of this great hero?”
As Agui asked with bright, eager eyes, Bu Eunseol replied calmly.
“Bu Eunseol. That is all you need to tell him.”
“Bu Eunseol…”
Agui murmured the name softly.
Until this moment, the boys did not know.
That the one standing before them would become the Supreme Grandmaster who would reach the pinnacle of the Righteous Path.
And that they themselves would one day become the ten Saviors who would rescue Nangya Sect from crisis.
All the boys departed in buckets lowered by rope from Sa Hyang. This place was, after all, a secret location far removed from Hoe Dang Mountain through hidden passages.
They would be able to go quietly to Seong Do without any connection to Yurim.
“Now I truly must return.”
Bu Eunseol, gazing at the empty cave, walked back toward where the rope bucket awaited.
“….”
Bu Eunseol suddenly scrutinized the bucket intently. Though it appeared wooden on the surface, it was actually crafted from solid metal.
Moreover, the chain connected to the bucket was metallic, yet possessed the suppleness of rope and the elasticity of rubber.
‘Secret weapons….’
This place was Saixiang, known as the grand repository of secret weapons.
Then somewhere here must exist a hidden vault meticulously constructed to store secret weapons.
There would surely be the secret weapon used to kill grandfather.
‘Let me search.’
Bu Eunseol drew upon her inner force in one breath.
She intended to examine every corner from the depths below to the surface above.
“It was here.”
As she unleashed her power, white light flowed from the distant darkness.
After walking for some time, a wall surface appeared, faintly leaking light.
It resembled solid stone, but was actually forged from metal—a secret door concealing hidden mechanisms.
Click.
The moment her hand touched the wall, the mechanism sounded, and the iron gate slowly revealed itself from its concealment.
Upon entering, I found over thirty unique secret weapon devices preserved on metal boxes.
“It’s not here.”
The secret weapon devices hidden here were extraordinarily intricate, yet remarkably small in size and form.
“Thirty pieces… so that’s it.”
Upon closer inspection, these thirty devices appeared to be secret weapons meant to be implanted in the boys raised here.
“Hmm.”
Bu Eunseol lifted a wrist guard-shaped secret weapon device, then shook her head and set it back down,
Click.
Suddenly, a faint mechanical sound emanated from the metal box.
It was so subtle that she felt she had heard it almost by accident.
Bu Eunseol examined the metal box carefully, then abruptly drew upon her inner force.
Whoosh!
Simultaneously, she pulled all the secret weapons contained in the thirty metal boxes into the air at once,
Whirrrr.
A low mechanical sound rose from the floor as a massive metal box began ascending to Bu Eunseol’s waist height.
Click.
Upon opening the box, there lay a single peculiar glove.
It was meticulously shaped in the form of human fingers.
So perfectly detailed—from the wrinkles to the hair of the pores—that it appeared less like a glove and more as though human finger skin had been flayed whole.
Whoosh.
Bu Eunseol, as if entranced, slipped the glove onto her right hand.
Then her middle finger, ring finger, and pinky of her right hand were pressed into the glove,
Vanishing as though they had never existed.
Seven Fingers.
When Bu Eunseol put on the gloves, her hand suddenly appeared to have only seven fingers.
“…!”
Shock flooded Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
While the Murim possessed countless martial techniques, none existed that could make a perfectly intact hand appear to have only seven fingers.
And there was only one famous martial artist in the Murim who had seven fingers.
“Chil Ji Ma Do….”
These gloves surely belonged to Chil Ji Ma Do Bu Chanyang.
He had not severed his fingers to cultivate his blade technique—he had worn these gloves and merely pretended to have seven fingers.
But why?
Bu Eunseol could not comprehend it.
Why would he deliberately feign having seven fingers? And why were his gloves stored in Saixiang’s secret vault?
“Was Chil Ji Ma Do Bu Chanyang an assassin of Saixiang?”
It made no sense.
Before his disappearance, he had been the Vice Lord of the Demon Hall.
He held the second most exalted position in the Demonic Path—there was no reason he would serve as an assassin.
Had he wished to create a dual identity, countless other methods would have been available.
“But….”
Bu Eunseol shook her head.
One of the finest methods to conceal one’s identity was to completely hide immutable physical characteristics.
‘He exploited that very principle.’
Chil Ji Ma Do Bu Chanyang had turned his greatest weakness—an unchangeable physical trait—into an advantage.
He had deliberately announced to the world that he possessed seven fingers.
And when using his false identity, he would have displayed all ten fingers. With that alone, no one would ever suspect he was Chil Ji Ma Do Bu Chanyang.
Bu Eunseol’s gaze grew distant.
A thought flickered through her mind—could Chil Ji Ma Do Bu Chanyang have been her grandfather’s true identity?
Drip.
At that moment, a droplet of blood from Bu Eunseol’s body touched the gloves.
Where the blood made contact, faint characters became visible.
But Bu Eunseol, her gaze fixed on empty space, did not see them.
As Bu Eunseol placed the gloves into her bosom, a fierce, burning light ignited in her eyes.
“I must find him.”
Finding Saixiang’s corpse had become secondary.
Chil Ji Ma Do Bu Chanyang.
The blade master with the finest sword technique in the Murim of that era, an assassin, and a master who had served as Vice Lord of the Demon Hall.
Yet he had vanished so completely that even his traces could no longer be found.
Bu Chanyang of the Hwang Ju Bu Constabulary.
For thirty years, he had lived quietly and peacefully, performing funeral rites for the nameless dead who had perished without connections.
A wise man of gentle temperament and deep compassion, who had taught the beauty of nature and the principles of life.
Only by comparing the deeds of these two men could she approach the truth.

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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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