The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign - Chapter 478

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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 478.
Reducing my internal energy level through the Elixir Secret was an arduous and time-consuming endeavor.
Yet the cave offered clear underground spring water, and cold-essence herbs grew abundantly enough to chew on.
Bu Eunseol refined the secret without haste, and after nine days, I could consolidate more than nine levels of internal energy into a separate location rather than the dantian.
Which meant.
Even if I instinctively unleashed my power, I could only expend nine levels’ worth.
“You’ve come again.”
Upon completing the Elixir Secret, Bu Eunseol immediately sought out the prison where Gwae Noin was held.
As I entered, the old man wordlessly extended his index and middle fingers and began his assault.
But something was strange.
The old man no longer employed the Blood Dew Seven Techniques.
Could he have actually grasped my Demonic Path techniques through research?
Bu Eunseol was maddened with curiosity about the old man’s true power level.
Yet I quickly composed myself and attacked the old man with my sword technique, channeling no internal energy.
Clang, clang.
Despite lacking internal energy, the old man continuously formed sword qi with his middle and index fingers, attacking Bu Eunseol.
‘A direct hit would be fatal.’
With nine levels of internal energy suppressed, I could no longer employ techniques like the Great Frost Seal.
Bu Eunseol focused entirely, continuing the sword technique exchange with the old man.
Clang!
Then the old man unfolded a sword technique that seemed to strike downward at Bu Eunseol’s chest.
Finding no opening in that movement, Bu Eunseol extended the sword to pierce the old man’s throat.
At first glance it resembled a mutual destruction technique, but it contained the essence of Demonic Path swordsmanship.
‘If we pierce simultaneously, the one struck in the throat would suffer a fatal wound.’
The old man would almost certainly withdraw his technique and counterattack with ever-changing sword qi.
Bu Eunseol intended to seize that fleeting moment and suppress him in one breath.
Shatter!
But an unexpected situation unfolded.
The old man did not retreat; instead, he executed eight transformations mid-motion, rendering Bu Eunseol’s technique utterly useless.
‘Remarkable.’
The old man’s method was strikingly similar to Cheon Woon Gwang’s Nine Dragon Island Thunder.
Moreover, compared to Bu Eunseol, who could only execute four transformations.
The old man effortlessly executed eight transformations mid-motion.
‘The gap in Demonic Path technique is too vast.’
If this sword qi had been accompanied by internal energy?
Or if he had unleashed the Blood Dew Seven Techniques?
Sword qi would have poured forth even without power, and Bu Eunseol would have been torn to shreds before I could even evade.
But by great fortune, the old man’s internal energy was completely sealed and he did not employ the Blood Dew Seven Techniques.
Therefore, Bu Eunseol could counterattack once more.
Clang, clang!
As their fingers clashed repeatedly at close range, an ink-black radiance now flowed from Bu Eunseol’s fingertips.
It was a variation of the Blood Dew Seven Techniques that the Old Innkeeper favored, transformed anew through her own swordsmanship.
Crack!
Yet that sequence never reached completion.
The Old Innkeeper, having discovered a flaw in the variation Bu Eunseol had improvised, instantly carved a long wound across her neck.
“I have lost.”
If I continued to endure in this state, my neck would eventually be severed.
Bu Eunseol immediately conceded defeat and retreated.
“Until tomorrow, then.”
Emerging from the cave, Bu Eunseol was drenched in perspiration.
Due to suppressing my inner power, each exchange had teetered between life and death.
Fortunately, by perfectly restraining my inner power during the bout, I had achieved an extreme state of concentration, allowing me to instantly comprehend the martial logic underlying each of the Old Innkeeper’s techniques.
“You’ve arrived.”
Tak Il Hon stood before the cave where Bu Eunseol dwelled, arms crossed.
“What brings you here?”
“What exactly are you doing?”
Tak Il Hon spoke as though utterly bewildered.
“If your inner power were intact, you should not be engaging that old man in combat—you should be escaping this place with haste.”
His eyes burned with urgency.
Observing Tak Il Hon’s expression, Bu Eunseol came to an understanding.
‘He has not yet abandoned his attachments.’
Most of the elderly who remained in Chamhoe Cave had relinquished their pride and the splendor of their former lives.
Even if they had not, nothing would change.
Though Bu Eunseol possessed considerable martial prowess, there was no method to restore a dantian destroyed decades ago.
Knowing this well, the demonic cultivators neither sought her aid nor pleaded with her to extract them from Chamhoe Cave.
But Tak Il Hon was different.
He had lost his inner power only some fifteen years prior. If opportunity presented itself, he yearned to escape Chamhoe Cave and venture into the world beyond.
“What is there to rush about?”
Bu Eunseol spoke with an unhurried expression.
“Whether I depart today or tomorrow makes no difference.”
Tak Il Hon bit his lip.
If he did not speak plainly—
This bald-headed creature would likely settle down and practice martial arts with that demonic old man for a year, two years, or however long it took.
“I have no intention of rotting away in this place.”
Tak Il Hon spoke with grave sincerity.
“If you will take me out of here, I shall transmit to you the Gui Yeong Wol Ha Haeng and the Hyeon Bing Jji.”
“That is not a favorable bargain.”
“Not a favorable bargain? I have not yet inscribed my martial knowledge upon the Stone Wall.”
“That is not what I meant.”
Bu Eunseol spoke matter-of-factly.
“Your divine technique is impressive, Old Master, but if one were to simultaneously master the Dream-Veiled Fragrance of the Shadowless Heavenly Demon and the Thunderbolt Torrential Flow of the Resentful Heavenly Sword Demon inscribed over there… it would be no less than the Lunar Descent Technique.”
Then I raised a single finger.
Crack.
White energy swirled around my fingertip as a crystalline fragment materialized in the void.
“And regarding the Extreme Yin Doctrine, there’s no need to study it further. The same applies to divine techniques, truthfully.”
Tak Il Hon’s mouth fell open.
He had known this young man possessed formidable martial prowess.
But to possess such overwhelming strength that far surpassed his own—he had not anticipated this.
In the end, Tak Il Hon began to plead.
“Then what should this old man do?”
“Honestly, I’m not certain.”
Bu Eunseol shook her head.
“No matter how much all you elders claim to have reformed, once you leave this place, there’s no telling what you might do.”
“But you yourself are a figure of the Demonic Path, are you not? Why do you concern yourself with such matters?”
“Don’t you understand well enough, Old Master?”
“Understand what?”
“That I care not whether I am of the Demonic Path or the Righteous Path. Such distinctions are beneath my notice.”
As Bu Eunseol released her aura, it was as though a cloudless azure sky stretched infinitely before them.
It was the majesty of a supreme grandmaster who transcended the boundaries of Demonic and Righteous alike.
Tak Il Hon finally understood.
The young person before him was no ordinary being, but a divine immortal bestowed by Heaven itself.
‘There is nothing this old man can do.’
“I understand.”
With shoulders sagging, Tak Il Hon nodded and turned away.
“This old man shall ponder this matter further.”
“As you wish.”
In truth, my own heart was equally impatient.
Martial cultivation was well and good, but I could not remain within this Chamhoe Cave indefinitely.
If I delayed any longer, the Sayoung Battle Division would descend into chaos once more.
‘There is no choice.’
Drawing a deep breath, I gazed into the suffocating darkness.
The old man no longer displayed the Blood Dew Seven Techniques, and his mental state grew increasingly clouded.
Moreover, with so little life remaining, his vitality faded with each passing day.
‘Originally, I had intended to master the Blood Dew Seven Techniques perfectly.’
But there was no point in prolonging this further—only risk remained as my path forward.
Having resolved myself, I returned to the cave where I had been staying.
Settling into a lotus position, I immediately began circulating my energy.
Whooom. Kawooooo!
The sealed power within my dantian surged through the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, lifting my body a foot above the ground.
As my formidable cultivation recovered, the Floating Void Samadhi awakened.
Whoosh.
At that very moment, different lights bloomed above Bu Eunseol’s head, each radiating a magnificent glow.
It was the power of the Four Celestial Buddhas dormant within my body.
Since they had not yet fully merged, each was emitting its own distinct radiance.
Whoosh.
As I gradually recovered my inner strength, my body rose three feet into the air.
While I circulated my energy in a state of transcendent focus,
‘That… that bastard…’
Tak Il Hon, watching from a distance, widened his eyes.
‘What on earth is his true identity…’
He had shaken the Gangho with his extraordinary movement technique, Ghost Shadow Moonlit Journey, and was a man of broad knowledge and extensive experience.
But he had never heard of anyone living while harboring four different forces within their body.
Moreover, even when the Heavenly Convergence Samadhi awakened, normally only a recoil of about an inch would lift one’s body.
Rising three feet into the air?
What kind of cultivation would one need to achieve such a level of inner power?
‘Is this also fate?’
Tak Il Hon narrowed his eyes.
In the past, he had desired to become the greatest master of the Demonic Path, but he realized he lacked the talent to cultivate superior martial arts.
However, his talent for movement techniques approached the pinnacle of the Demonic Path, allowing him to master any movement art in a short time.
―Then I will become the greatest in movement techniques alone!
From that day forward, he began learning movement arts scattered throughout the Murim rather than martial techniques, and searched for the forbidden secrets of the Mirror Heart Technique said to have been lost.
After five years had passed, he finally obtained the Blood Garuda’s Asura Blood Dragon Flight from the master of the Mirror Heart Technique three hundred years prior,
and by developing it into his own movement technique, he created Ghost Shadow Moonlit Journey.
He had become the creator of a movement art ranked among the top eight in the Murim, yet… in the end, that was all.
A movement technique remained a movement technique.
Mastering the greatest movement technique of the Demonic Path did not make one the greatest master of the Demonic Path.
Rather, whenever facing powerful enemies, the outcome was always escape using his movement technique…
He felt only humiliation and self-loathing.
―Then from now on, I will steal the greatest martial art under heaven.
Realizing through Ghost Shadow Moonlit Journey that he could infiltrate anywhere and never be caught, Tak Il Hon
became a great thief to obtain the strongest martial arts, systematically plundering the libraries of various sects.
As time passed, his thievery became known throughout the Murim, and he clashed with countless righteous and demonic masters.
Having stolen and mastered various martial arts over the years, Tak Il Hon had become a formidable master.
He killed all the martial artists who pursued him.
As time went on, Tak Il Hon became the Murim Gongjuk, marked for death by all the Murim.
Yet he did not give up.
He wandered the Murim endlessly to obtain even more powerful martial arts.
Then, quite by chance, he obtained remarkable information.
―Shaolin has another secret library, and within it lie supreme demonic arts that could make one the greatest of the Demonic Path.
Surprisingly, he heard that forbidden demonic texts lost to the Murim were hidden in a secret place within Shaolin.
—let me try.
He had infiltrated Shaolin in secret and finally breached the Jang Gyeong Gak.
But in the end, he could not find the Jang Gyeong Gak where the Demonic Scripture resided, and ultimately was captured by Shaolin’s masters, his inner force completely sealed, and cast into Chamhoe Cave.
“Now I must make a choice.”
Tak Il Hon, who had been watching Bu Eunseol circulate her energy, drew a sharp breath.
There was only one method to escape this place.
And he had come to understand what that method was—a way to fulfill his dreams anew.
The next day.
With her inner force fully recovered, Bu Eunseol shaped a large boulder into two small stone blades.
Today would be the final confrontation.
Even if she could not restore the old man’s inner force, she wanted to give him a sharp weapon so he could fight without regret.
‘I will suppress him by force if necessary, then infuse him with my energy, allowing him to regain clarity of mind, even if only for a moment.’
There was now only one method remaining.
After using all her martial prowess to subdue the old man,
she would infuse him with her reverse-polarity true energy, hoping that his memories would return, at least temporarily.
Of course, the probability that memories would return simply by infusing inner force was extremely slim.
‘But there is no other choice.’
What if the old man had displayed the martial techniques of the Blood Dew Seven Techniques without reservation?
Bu Eunseol would have remained here for a year, or two years.
Even if another disappearance incident occurred and Sayoung Hall was thrown into chaos, even if Demon Hall was overturned—
if she could obtain the perfect practical methods of the Blood Dew Seven Techniques, it would be worth such a price.
But even in his state of fractured mind, the old man no longer displayed the secrets of the Blood Dew Seven Techniques.
‘Which means…’
Perhaps in the past there had been such an attempt, and the old man, unconsciously remembering it,
was deliberately refraining from demonstrating the Blood Dew Seven Techniques.
*Scrape.*
Grasping the stone blade she had crafted, Bu Eunseol strode purposefully into the cave.
Knowing this would be the final battle, even the demonic cultivators resting within the cave emerged one by one to watch her advancing figure.
*Creak.*
Bu Eunseol opened the Iron Gate and entered the Stone Chamber.
Then she approached the old man bound in chains with long, deliberate strides.
[Kaaah!]
The old man glared at Bu Eunseol with wild eyes and roared.
“Please remain still.”
Bu Eunseol infused her inner force into the stone blade.
*Hum.*
A sharp blade aura, dark yet streaked with white light, surged forth nearly three feet high.
*Clang!*
In one fluid motion, Bu Eunseol swung the stone blade and severed the iron chains binding the old man’s feet.
*Clatter.*
The iron chain, which was difficult to cut even with a precious sword, snapped cleanly into two pieces and fell to the ground.
Whoosh.
Bu Eunseol tossed the stone blade to the Old Innkeeper.
Clack.
As the Old Innkeeper grasped the stone blade,
“There are no other options left. From this moment forward, I shall employ my inner power. Therefore….”
Bu Eunseol spoke with a solemn yet frigid tone.
“Let us fight without regret.”
Until now, I had attempted conversation countless times.
I had even tried to provoke him with the martial principles of the Chilji Demonic Sect, and spoken of my grandfather Bu Chanyang.
I had shared tales of Gwan Hae Geum, the Southern Heaven Great Swordmaster, and of Sam Gye.
Yet the Old Innkeeper sought only my death, incapable of any discourse.
“….”
For the first time, the Old Innkeeper did not rage wildly.
He gazed silently at the stone blade held in his hand.
Though it was merely a large stone crudely shaped into form, his body trembled as though overcome by fresh emotion.
Thump.
The Old Innkeeper lowered his stance, gripping the stone blade.
Then, an aura both sharp and terrifying—one he had never emanated before—began to spread in all directions.
He had been given nothing but a single blade carved from stone…
Yet the Old Innkeeper had transformed into a sword wanderer who traversed Tianxia.
“Excellent.”
Whooom.
As Bu Eunseol drew forth her inner power, waves of force rippled outward from her body in all directions.
She was exerting her full strength to suppress the Old Innkeeper.
Screech!
At that moment, the Old Innkeeper unleashed his blade technique.
The Old Innkeeper’s inner power was completely sealed.
Therefore, to suppress Bu Eunseol, who possessed formidable inner power, he had to take the offensive.
He instinctively understood that he could never retreat.
Screech!
With a single slash that drove Bu Eunseol backward, the Old Innkeeper unleashed five consecutive techniques in rapid succession.
Though it was merely a small stone blade, each technique he displayed struck like thunderbolts descending from the heavens.
His moves were wondrous and ever-changing, revealing no openings from beginning to end.
‘Remarkable.’
Bu Eunseol exclaimed in admiration.
Moreover, despite the Old Innkeeper wielding his blade technique like a madman, he never once allowed his weapon to collide with the stone blade I held.
Knowing the opponent’s inner force was formidable, he made the sword path unpredictable.
Deliberately suppressing weapon contact.
The foremost sword wanderer of the Demonic Path.
Perhaps this old man wasn’t merely Shadow of the Chilji Demonic Sect, but rather the true Chil Ji Ma Do Bu Chanyang himself.
Whoosh! Whirrrrr!
Before long, Bu Eunseol and the old man had clashed for roughly forty seconds.
Bu Eunseol unleashed blade techniques infused with inner energy, yet the old man instantly detected and countered every opening in each move.
Consequently, Bu Eunseol found herself unable to fully deploy her techniques, forced to retreat continuously to defend her body.
‘Even with inner energy infused, technique-based combat alone cannot overcome this opponent.’
Having made her decision, Bu Eunseol immediately drew upon her inner power.
Whiiiing.
Intense wave energy then dispersed like mist in all directions, and from the stone blade Bu Eunseol wielded, sharp blade aura suddenly erupted.
Flash!
Bu Eunseol’s stone blade, infused with tremendous power, created a massive cross-shaped blade aura.
The Formless Heaven Stream’s Fourth Form—the Crescent Moon Radiance unfolded as a blade technique.
Screech!
Unable to dare meet it head-on, the old man immediately rolled his body across the ground to evade the cross-shaped aura.
But already, the Meteor Chasing Moon was descending toward the rolling old man’s vital points.
Thud thud thud!
The sharp blade aura carved through the ground like tofu, yet the old man was already rising and counterattacking.
But that was all.
Woooong!
Web-like true energy spread in all directions, beginning to ensnare the old man’s escape routes.
The Maiden’s Formation had been deployed.
Screech!
The old man attempted to sever the true energy of the Maiden’s Formation spread like a spider’s web with his stone blade.
But that was his mistake.
Ting!
As he struck a strand of the Maiden’s Formation, a metallic ring sounded, and the old man’s stone blade bounced back instead.
Crack!
Bu Eunseol seized the opportunity without hesitation, immediately aiming her stone blade at the old man’s throat.
“That will be enough.”
There was no need to ask whether he would acknowledge defeat.
It was purely a matter of overwhelming through sheer power.
“As long as inner energy cannot be used, even if this old man possessed the greatest blade technique under heaven, he cannot defeat me.”
The old man’s inner energy had been completely sealed, and having consumed only water and cold spirit herbs for a long time, his physical strength had also become extremely weakened.
Yet Bu Eunseol’s martial prowess had reached the Extreme Heaven Realm, and her inner force accumulated over five hundred years.
This difference in power exceeded that between a newborn child and an adult.
Therefore, no matter how mysterious the old man’s blade techniques were, he could not bridge this gap.
When the old man fell silent,
Pap pap pap.
Bu Eunseol immediately unleashed finger strikes in succession, suppressing the old man’s Blood Sealing Points.
Then beads of sweat began to form on his forehead.
Given the old man’s severely damaged body, Bu Eunseol had concentrated her mind and released her finger wind with extreme delicacy to avoid causing further harm.
“Are you Chil Ji Ma Do himself? Or were you merely his shadow?”
The old man said nothing.
Bu Eunseol had no choice but to inject her Anti-Extreme True Qi into his Life Gate acupoint.
“…!”
In that instant, Bu Eunseol’s eyes widened dramatically.
If the dantian had been destroyed, there should naturally remain traces of that devastation.
Yet the old man’s dantian was intact, and all eight meridians remained unbroken.
Which meant…
The old man had not been sealed by external force, but had instead voluntarily expelled his inner qi from his body.
“Why would he do such a thing….”
The most excruciating pain a martial artist could endure was the voluntary expulsion of inner qi from the body.
To a warrior, inner qi was like the skeleton supporting the entire body.
If one were to extract it voluntarily from without?
Not only would the five organs and six viscera be damaged, but the body would become far weaker than those who had never cultivated martial arts.
“What in the world compelled you to do this?”
[A deep rumble.]
At that moment, a violent tremor erupted from the old man’s body.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
As Bu Eunseol’s pure Anti-Extreme True Qi flowed into him, he absorbed it completely.
He dispersed part of it through the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, and with the remaining force, he unlocked the sealed Blood Sealing Points.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Using the injected inner qi to unlock the Blood Sealing Points in one breath, the old man swung his stone blade, forcing Bu Eunseol to retreat.
A deep hum resonated.
The old man poured all the Anti-Extreme True Qi coursing through his body into the stone blade.
Then, accompanied by a faint luminescence, a mist of death bloomed in all directions.
―Even unto death, the eyes remain open…
It was the Blood Dew Seven Techniques’ Jeo Oh Cho.
Death’s Unflinching Gaze.

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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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