The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign - Chapter 43

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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 43.
The masked assassins moved with renewed precision, shifting their formation.
‘This formation was devised by our headquarters—you could never comprehend it!’
The Masked Assassin Leader’s face, which had been wearing a confident smile, turned ashen in less than a heartbeat.
It was futile.
No matter what formation they employed, Bu Eunseol’s blade found the weak points instantly, slashing through them with devastating accuracy.
“Arghhhh!”
“Ahhh!”
With each swing of Bu Eunseol’s sword, the masked assassins fell like autumn leaves before the wind.
“That monster… a master of formations at such a young age!”
He was utterly mistaken.
Bu Eunseol had never studied formations at all—she didn’t even realize they were using one.
Rather, after mastering the Nangya Sect’s secret techniques, I had fused Beast Blade with my inner energy cultivation method, expanding my perception to supernatural levels.
Thus, regardless of what formation they deployed, I could preempt their positions and shatter their structure before it took hold.
“Kugh!”
Three masked assassins clutched their throats, spewing blood from a single stroke of Bu Eunseol’s blade.
She had merely torn through the exposed weak point—yet all the assassins positioned there collapsed in succession.
Watching this unfold, the leader cried out desperately.
“Scatter!”
The masked assassins hastily dissolved their formation.
But their comrades, once fifteen strong, had dwindled to ten.
“Is the dance finally over?”
At Bu Eunseol’s soft, mocking laugh,
Crunch.
A masked assassin clenched both fists, grinding his teeth.
‘How could this person be a master of formations?’
Formations grant power far greater than any individual’s martial prowess. Yet when a formation crumbles, the damage compounds like a rolling snowball.
They had deployed their formation in advance to kill the formidable Ten Demon Expert, only to suffer catastrophic counterattacks because of it.
‘If we had simply fought directly, we could have handled this easily!’
But it was already too late.
The leader swallowed his regret, grinding his teeth.
“Attack!”
Numbers were absolute. No matter how strong Bu Eunseol was, she couldn’t possibly withstand five elite operatives.
But this was the leader’s second miscalculation.
“Arghhhh!”
Screams erupted once more.
Without the formation, Bu Eunseol’s blade became even more exquisite, even more lethal.
In truth, the masked assassins’ swordplay was also remarkably refined, and their combat experience was extensive.
Each of them would have been a formidable presence in the Gangho, yet they could not display even a fraction of their skill against Bu Eunseol.
‘How is this even possible…’
The Masked Assassin Leader’s pupils trembled as he watched his subordinates fall so pathetically.
She wasn’t employing any remarkable sword technique, nor was she displaying any astonishing martial art.
Yet every time Bu Eunseol swung her blade, a mist of blood unfailingly bloomed in its wake.
Thud.
As another Masked Assassin collapsed, the fierce battle momentarily entered a lull.
‘Did the Demon Palace deliberately feed us false information?’
The Masked Assassin Leader cried out toward Bu Eunseol.
“You were supposed to have never learned the Void Sword Art!”
“It’s not martial arts.”
“What?”
“Merely the thrashing of one desperate to survive.”
Until now, I had always faced opponents stronger than myself.
Because of this, I never even calculated the probability of survival. I simply devoted all my strength to repelling the shadow of death that approached.
“Stop spouting nonsense! How can you fight without employing martial arts!”
“One can kill an enemy without martial arts.”
During the Ten Demon Experts tournament, I killed the strongest, Neung Woon Gang, without having learned any martial arts whatsoever.
“What determines life and death is not martial arts skill, but who inflicts a fatal wound upon their opponent.”
Bu Eunseol, who had been gazing at the distant sky for a moment, spoke toward the Masked Assassin Leader.
“You were defeated because you harbored absolute confidence in your superiority in a battle where lives hung in the balance.”
“What nonsense is this.”
“From the start, you were certain you could kill me.”
Around Bu Eunseol as she regarded the Masked Assassins, it seemed as though a bitter northern wind laden with snow was blowing.
“While believing you would never die.”
Flick.
Bu Eunseol shook the droplets of blood from her rusted iron sword and murmured softly.
“The moment I draw my blade against an enemy, I must first envision my own death.”
Bu Eunseol’s murmur resonated in their ears like the breath of death itself.
―To kill an enemy, one must first accept one’s own death.
This is what Bu Eunseol was saying.
‘Have we been mistaken all along?’
They had all believed themselves to be hunters.
The enemy was always prey, and they had been confident that once they caught their target, they could certainly kill them.
“Again, we begin.”
Bu Eunseol, having surveyed the Masked Assassins, calmly raised her blade.
Among the Masked Assassins who gazed upon her coldly resolute eyes, several pupils shrank with fear.
Perhaps the terror that they themselves might become the hunted was now overwhelming them.
“M-Master.”
One of the Masked Assassins, seized by fear, approached the leader with cautious movements.
“We cannot win with our current strength. We must retreat.”
“Retreat?”
“That is correct. We should first retreat, then report to the Master and reinforce our forces before seeking another opportunity….”
Splurt!
A torrent of blood erupted from the Masked Assassin’s neck, spraying crimson across the ground.
The Masked Assassin Leader had severed his subordinate’s head without warning.
Thud.
The leader shook the blood from his blade, his eyes blazing with fury as he bellowed at his remaining men.
“There is no retreat in our order! Those who show their backs and are slain die in disgrace!”
“Is honor worth more than life?”
Bu Eunseol’s question drew a bitter laugh from the leader.
“You demon cultivators value life, perhaps. But we are different.”
“How so?”
“We do not draw our blades for personal glory.”
The leader’s eyes burned with blind devotion.
“Even in failure, we can die with honor.”
“How naive.”
Clang.
Blue light flashed in Bu Eunseol’s eyes as I twisted my iron blade.
“There is no honor in a coffin!”
Heavenly Thunder Unparalleled Form.
The killing technique of Cheon Woon Gwang, the prodigy of the Hwawoo Sword Sect, was about to unfold once more from my hands.
“Strike!”
The moment the leader sensed the danger and commanded his men,
Whoosh!
With a sound like air escaping, the Masked Assassins’ movements ceased.
“….”
As if bound by an unspoken pact, they clutched at their throats, staring at one another.
My iron blade, now cold and sharp as death’s own claws, had severed their carotid arteries like lightning.
Thump. Thump.
With the dull sound of blood dripping, three Masked Assassins collapsed to the ground like felled logs.
The leader stood before them, yet he had not even seen how the technique was executed.
“Bu Eunseol.”
The leader spoke in a low voice, his gaze fixed upon me.
“You have already become a Demon Sovereign.”
Splurt!
Blood erupted from the leader’s neck as well.
“Even as a ghost, I will curse you.”
With eyes full of resentment, he glared at me,
Thump.
then collapsed to the ground like a felled log.
Clang.
As the last Masked Assassin fell, I sheathed the corroded blade.
Corpses lay scattered everywhere.
My eyes, gazing upon the bodies strewn across the ground, darkened to a shade deeper than shadow itself.
It was a sight I had witnessed countless times on Hell Island. I had believed I would never see such a landscape again.
But only now did I understand the truth.
I already stood in the very heart of hell, where blood and flesh erupted without end, and I could never escape the shackles of debt.
Clop-clop.
Then, with the sound of hoofbeats, a carriage came rushing toward the Reed Field.
Whirrrr.
With the sound of the reins, the carriage came to an abrupt halt directly before me.
Click.
As the carriage door opened, the figure of a middle-aged man with an expression as rigid as stone came into view.
It was Baek Yeon, Master of the Fengyun Corps.
“Quite the spectacle you’ve created.”
Baek Yeon spoke matter-of-factly, sweeping his gaze across the scattered corpses.
“Well, it must have been good experience.”
“Master.”
I bowed lightly and asked.
“How did you know to come?”
“Tracking your movements is nothing difficult.”
He chuckled softly, looking down at my disheveled state.
“As expected, you were treated poorly on the way back? That’s what petty people always do.”
From his tone, it seemed he had anticipated both that I would not take the carriage and that I would be ambushed on the return journey.
“Who are these people?”
Baek Yeon did not answer, but descended from the carriage to examine the Masked Assassins carefully.
He scrutinized not only their faces but also the weapons they held, the fabric of their clothing, and even the belongings hidden within their garments.
‘So it was them after all.’
After examining all the Masked Assassins, Baek Yeon’s eyes gleamed.
‘This is troublesome.’
“Master.”
When I asked again, Baek Yeon waved his hand.
“We’ll discuss it once we return.”
And he pointed to the carriage he was riding in.
* * *
Cheong Pung Jae.
The residence of Vice Master Dan Cheong.
Having arrived at Nangya Pavilion with Baek Yeon, I sat at a table installed in the guest hall of Cheong Pung Jae, side by side with him.
“Listen.”
Dan Cheong, seated across from us, extended his hand.
Click.
As I lifted the teacup lid, white steam rose forth, and a crystalline fragrance spread through the air like a cleansing mist washing over my lungs.
Bu Eunseol, gazing at the tea steeped in deep amber, asked a question.
“Is this Five Dragon Tea?”
“Have you tasted it before?”
Dan Cheong’s expression shifted to surprise, and Bu Eunseol shook her head.
“I’ve only heard stories about it.”
“Stories, you say?”
Bu Eunseol recounted in detail the circumstances of her meeting with Jeok Bung, the Elder Council Leader.
“I never thought that old man who captures people would still be thriving.”
After hearing the entire account, Dan Cheong released a long sigh.
“I wondered why the Hwawoo Sword Sect and White Horse Sect, who had been gnashing their teeth in opposition, suddenly acquiesced so readily… so this was the reason behind it.”
“Since he has ascended to the position of Third Demon Expert… he must be quite a formidable figure, yes?”
At Bu Eunseol’s words, Dan Cheong’s eyes opened slightly with a faint gleam.
“Of course. Why else would he bear the epithet ‘Blood Demon’? In his past, he was a Demon Lord who found infinite pleasure in crushing the skulls of those who displeased him.”
At those words, Baek Yeon furrowed his brow slightly and spoke.
“Seeing how that old man has taken an interest in this child, it appears he harbors some hidden agenda after all.”
Upon hearing this, Bu Eunseol could not restrain her curiosity and asked.
“Can the position of Elder Council Leader defy the Demon Hall Master?”
Dan Cheong wore a bitter smile.
Bu Eunseol possessed superior talent in martial arts above all others. Yet she remained entirely ignorant of the political landscape of the martial world and the factions within it.
“In an alliance of Demon Hall’s scale, position is not as important as one might think.”
Dan Cheong began to explain in detail to Bu Eunseol.
“The Demon Hall divides power among three forces: the Demon Hall Master’s faction, the Elder Council’s faction, and the Ten Demonic Gates’ faction. Particularly, the Elder Council, which gathers the masters of previous generations, wields considerable influence.”
He paused briefly before continuing.
“Especially Elder Council Leader Jeok Bung is quietly building his own independent power base. Like he’s secretly reaching into another pocket while evading the Demon Hall Master’s gaze.”
“The Demon Hall seems like a complicated place.”
At Bu Eunseol’s response, Dan Cheong smiled faintly.
“It’s an endemic flaw of organizations that function as alliances rather than sects with clear lineage. Since power is scattered in fragments… everyone engages in endless schemes and covert struggles to seize even a fraction more authority.”
Bu Eunseol nodded in understanding.
“It seems governing a place where martial artists from countless sects gather would be an arduous task.”
“In truth, if you view it purely through the lens of power, even sects that follow a lineage face the same challenge. One needs sufficient strength to command those below.”
Dan Cheong said.
“That’s why the highest martial techniques are reserved only for the sect leader, and martial arts are distributed in tiers among first disciples, second disciples, and so forth. Those below will only follow if you hold power.”
“Is it the same for the Root Sect?”
At Bu Eunseol’s bold question, Dan Cheong laughed heartily.
“Haha. Of course we’re different. As long as you properly master martial arts, that’s all that matters. Our discipline is the most lenient under heaven.”
Dan Cheong, still chuckling, asked Bu Eunseol.
“So. What happened after you entered the Demon Hall?”
Bu Eunseol explained how she met the Man Bak Dang Master and went to the Manma Yujin Pavilion.
She detailed how she met Neung Gak and Go Gun Pyeong and how she underwent the test of five techniques.
However, I omitted details about Hyuk Ryeon Eung and the words Baek Jeon Cheon had spoken to me.
As I reached the part about being ambushed by masked assassins on my way back, sparks flickered in Dan Cheong’s eyes.
“Ambushed?”
A chilling coldness emanated from Dan Cheong’s voice, which had remained expressionless until now.
“How dare they launch an ambush against a disciple of the Root Sect.”

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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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