The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign - Chapter 533
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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 533.
Bu Eunseol’s eyes narrowed to slits.
‘To escape, there’s no choice but to destroy all the silver tokens—it’s said to be the ultimate formation technique.’
Once the Silver Token Formation unfolds,
escape becomes absolutely impossible, and the only known method to break it is to shatter every token.
The problem was that the tokens were forged from a mixture of black iron and five metals, making them harder than any weapon,
and the formation’s internal mechanisms caused any martial technique or weapon wielded within to lose tremendous power.
This meant that even the most formidable masters, once trapped within the Silver Token Formation, would be subdued after exhausting all their strength.
A sharp sound.
As the Silver Token Formation activated, not only the surroundings but even the blue sky began to transform into a silvery white light.
‘This is Wu Tian Duan’s supreme formation technique.’
Originally, I had intended to use overwhelming force to shatter the formation before it fully manifested.
But facing such an exquisite formation directly, my competitive spirit and warrior’s soul ignited with fierce intensity.
‘I’ll break it.’
A soft whistle.
I swung my blade lightly, but no sound emerged.
It seemed the Silver Token Formation possessed a function that even blocked sound itself.
‘It’s like being trapped in a viscous liquid. So that’s why martial power diminishes.’
A thick, adhesive force flowed throughout the formation’s interior, drastically reducing the potency of movement and martial techniques.
Suddenly.
A pale blue blade abruptly pierced through toward the back of my neck.
Since both sound and sensation were completely blocked, my Beast Eye technique never activated.
But with a body approaching the pinnacle of physical mastery, and having engaged in countless life-and-death battles,
I instinctively dodged the blade.
A rapid succession of strikes.
Then six blades suddenly erupted from both my left and right flanks.
A metallic clash.
I immediately swung my sword to deflect the attacks and tried to cut down my enemies.
But my blade only carved through empty white light, and the Wu Tian Duan members were nowhere to be seen.
‘I have no choice but to destroy the tokens.’
I clicked my tongue in frustration.
The Silver Token Formation, Wu Tian Duan’s supreme technique among the Seven Great Units, perfectly suppressed even my Beast Eye,
completely concealing the positions and auras of the members crouching within the formation.
Once I ascended to Wu Tian Duan, these silver tokens would be inherited by new soldiers.
But if I destroyed them?
The tokens were created by Gye Muk, who was called the Divine Craftsman. But he no longer existed in Murim, so the Silver Token Formation could never be deployed again.
Wu Tian Duan’s martial prestige would plummet instantly.
‘I could replace the people, but I didn’t want to destroy the tokens.’
A sharp whistle.
Then I felt a blade’s movement piercing sharply toward the back of my head.
Flash!
At the same moment, his blade erupted with pristine white radiance,
Thud.
A wrist still gripping a sword fell to the ground, blood trailing behind it.
Matching the movement of the commander extending his blade from within the silver shield formation, I severed his wrist using the Nong Jo Yeon Woon technique.
Flash!
Once more, brilliant luminescence bloomed from my blade.
With a sharp crack, the body of a commander hiding behind the shield split cleanly in half.
Detecting the presence again, I surged my inner power violently, cleaving through both the silver shield and the commander’s body in one motion.
Sizzle!
As the shield was cut, pale smoke rose from my blade and its steel glowed crimson with heat.
The silver shields of Wu Tian Duan possessed a nature approaching the extreme polarity of divine weapon techniques.
Forcing them apart like this inflicted considerable strain upon the weapon itself.
‘So this is what the Seven Great Units truly are.’
I felt anew the formidable power of the Seven Great Units’ lords.
Jo Cheon Wang possessed swordsmanship one level above my own at that time.
But Jo Cheon Wang actually possessed exceptional mastery in formation techniques rather than swordsmanship.
And it was precisely for this reason that he could ascend to become a lord of Wu Tian Duan.
Boom! Boom!
I infused tremendous inner power into my blade and severed three silver shields.
Screech!
The blade, glowing crimson and radiating heat as if melting, cut down three commanders at once.
Yet the silver shield formation remained unbroken.
Patter patter!
The commanders were not passively enduring either.
They ceaselessly unleashed sword techniques using the power of formation methods, creating countless small wounds across my body.
This was not because their martial prowess was exceptionally high, but because they had undergone countless repetitive training in exploiting gaps and launching attacks, combined with the functions of formation techniques.
‘Unless I destroy all the shields, no matter how sublime one’s martial arts may be, there is no way to withstand this.’
Having reached this conclusion,
Click.
I paused briefly to regulate my breathing and drew up my inner power.
Realizing that the subtlety of martial arts alone could never shatter the formation, I resolved to use raw power to break through it.
Hum. Hum.
But then a low vibration resonated from my waist.
The hilt of my sword grew scorching hot, and was it not emitting a strange sword cry?
‘Thunder Divine Qi?’
It was extraordinary.
The sword cry flowing from the Salma Blade seemed to be stimulating my Thunder Divine Qi, as if beckoning me to unleash its power.
‘I see. With Thunder Divine Qi, I could subjugate the shields without having to destroy them.’
Yet in that instant, an ominous thought crossed my mind.
The Slaughter Demon Blade had only revealed its true nature and demanded my Thunder Spirit Qi when facing demon cultivators or formidable enemies.
Beyond that, it had never resonated nor shown any will of its own.
Yet now, in such circumstances, it was resonating and demanding me to pour forth my Thunder Spirit Qi?
‘Does this Slaughter Demon Blade possess consciousness?’
Demon blades and divine blades possessed spirituality.
But I had never heard of them selecting and demanding specific qi from their wielders as if they were sentient beings capable of thought.
‘I can ponder this later.’
Bu Eunseol infused the Slaughter Demon Blade with my Thunder Spirit Qi without hesitation.
Crackle.
Violet radiance erupted from the blade’s body,
and an incomprehensible current began to swirl around it like a whirlwind.
The Slaughter Demon Blade, now saturated with Thunder Spirit Qi, resembled a lightning bolt forged from violet light itself.
Slash! Crack-crack-slash!
As I began striking the silver shields with the Slaughter Demon Blade infused with Thunder Spirit Qi,
“Ugh.”
“Argh!”
The martial artists maintaining the silver shield formation began to scream.
As the Thunder Spirit Qi pierced through the shields, accompanied by pain as if molten metal were searing through their meridians,
their nerves became paralyzed and their muscles began to convulse.
Clang. Clang.
Eventually, agonized groans echoed continuously as the members dropped the silver shields they were holding.
The silver shield formation began to crumble, and the landscape that had been drained of color gradually returned to its natural hues.
“Uhhhhh.”
Around the broken formation, the Wu Tian Duan martial artists who had dropped their shields bore expressions of excruciating pain.
―What in the world is this….
Gwa Geuk Cheon’s eyes had lost all focus as he watched the members collapse in an instant.
Within the silver shield formation, one could perfectly conceal one’s presence.
Moreover, the shields were crafted from a special alloy, so even if one employed the Cross Mountain Strike technique, it could withstand such external force.
What martial technique had been used to fell the members wielding shields that even treasured blades could not break?
“Since we share no grievances with one another,”
Click.
Bu Eunseol lowered the Slaughter Demon Blade to the ground and spoke to the fallen martial artists.
“Let us end this here.”
Tremble.
The Wu Tian Duan martial artists all trembled.
They had been warriors who knew no fear from the start.
But when their meridians nearly burned away from the terrifying Thunder Spirit Qi that seemed beyond human capability,
they hung their heads, their will to fight completely shattered.
“What are you doing right now!”
Boom!
At that moment, Gwa Geuk Cheon, who was commanding the formation, struck the ground with his sword.
“If you turn your back on the leader of the Demonic Path and flee, how can you call yourself a warrior of this unit?”
The warriors flinched at Gwa Geuk Cheon’s cry.
Becoming a warrior of the Murim Alliance did not bring great wealth or vast power.
They possessed only the pride and honor of protecting the Orthodox Sects of Murim.
If that disappeared, they could no longer be called warriors of the Murim Alliance—no, of the Wu Tian Duan.
A resolute breath.
As if steeling their resolve, the warriors lifted their silver badges once more, their eyes blazing with renewed determination.
“Is honor and pride more important than life?”
Bu Eunseol spoke with contempt etched across her face.
“Or is it the duty of a commander to send subordinates to their deaths?”
When one encounters an enemy that cannot possibly be defeated.
Fleeing and finding any means of survival is the natural choice.
Yet the warriors of the Orthodox Sects saw that natural instinct as nothing but shame.
“Silence your foolish words!”
Gwa Geuk Cheon approached Bu Eunseol, his eyes bloodshot with rage.
“You may kill us, but you cannot break the pride of being a warrior of the Wu Tian Duan.”
“Pride, is it.”
A desolate emptiness swirled within Bu Eunseol’s gaze.
“You would willingly sacrifice your subordinates’ lives to preserve a useless emotion?”
“What would a demonic spawn like you know of a warrior’s honor?”
Gwa Geuk Cheon gnashed his teeth as he shouted.
“From the moment you forced Jo Dan Ju into retirement, this unit could no longer share the same sky with you!”
“I see.”
The grievances of Murim could only be settled through death.
Recalling the merciless laws of Gangho, Bu Eunseol gripped her Life-Killing Blade and nodded.
“Come.”
“Attack!”
A sharp crack.
At Gwa Geuk Cheon’s command, the Wu Tian Duan warriors leaped into the air as one, unleashing a torrent of sword energy.
It was a mutual destruction technique—a killing move that disregarded their own lives to ensure the enemy’s death.
A roaring cascade.
The sword energy pouring down like rain was inescapable and unstoppable, a downpour of lethal force.
Originally, Bu Eunseol had intended to unfold the Blood Dew Seven Techniques and grant them a painless death all at once.
But as she witnessed the sword energy cascading like rain, memories of the sword technique transformations she had witnessed at Yeongak Dojeon suddenly flooded her mind.
In that instant, time froze.
Thoughts faster than light streaked through Bu Eunseol’s consciousness.
Could she create over three hundred variations in a single move?
If she could consolidate those terrifying killing technique variations into one… could that cruel swordsmanship instead be condensed like millions of beautiful starlight,
like dewdrops glistening in the morning sun, radiating a singular, beautiful brilliance?
Or perhaps like a rainbow painted across a clear sky… could I not unleash a spectrum of radiant colors?
‘No, it’s impossible.’
The secret manual of Geom So Heon Won lacked a final synthesis technique.
Even if such a synthesis existed, without halting time itself, I could never manifest such transformations within a single strike.
That was a sword technique only immortals like Gwang Seong Ja could unfold.
‘Then perhaps I should simply employ the transformations I know, and execute human swordsmanship instead?’
As clarity returned, time accelerated once more, and hundreds of sword auras crashed down toward me.
In that instant, a faint luminescence kindled within the Sal Ma Sword gripped in my hand.
That light converged at the blade’s tip, condensing into a transparent sword aura, then spread throughout the entire blade.
Among all the sword techniques I had witnessed, Dan Cheong’s swordsmanship—which produced one hundred and eight transformations in a single strike—was the most versatile.
And I would apply Dan Cheong’s technique.
The vast transformations of Geom So Heon Won that dwelled in my mind became one hundred and eight geometric patterns, beginning to embellish the void.
Crack!
Those patterns obliterated the sword auras unleashed by Wu Tian Duan in an instant, then soared upward into the sky…
Illuminating the entire world like a magnificent fireworks display.
Crack!
And that light transformed into millions of starlight cascading back toward the earth.
That moment seemed eternal, and the entire world appeared dyed in pure white radiance.
Silence.
The light faded, and I lowered my sword to the ground.
Thud, thud, thud.
A deathly stillness descended upon Yeon Wol Valley.
And the blood flowing from the bodies of Wu Tian Duan’s members had become a stream.
I had merely applied the transformations of Geom So Heon Won using Dan Cheong’s swordsmanship.
Yet in a single strike, I had severed every member of Wu Tian Duan.
Trickle, trickle.
The blood, stained an eerie crimson, flowed down to my feet.
In that moment, my eyes grew profoundly dark.
That blood could be called the honor contained within the lives of warriors who had sacrificed themselves to preserve their pride.
Yet in my eyes, it appeared as the tears of blood shed by fools who had foolishly extinguished the candle flame of life.
Whoosh.
As I raised my head, I saw Gwa Geuk Cheon trembling, drenched in blood.
“Are you satisfied?”
I gazed down at Gwa Geuk Cheon with eyes darkened to black.
“Did death preserve your honor?”
“….”
“Are you proud of driving your precious subordinates to death for the sake of petty pride?”
Gwa Geuk Cheon had originally intended to shout defiantly.
―It was you who killed my subordinates!
―All of this is your fault!
Yet when he met Bu Eunseol’s cold, frozen gaze, his body trembled like an aspen leaf in the wind.
In truth, he had already known this outcome would unfold.
Since Bu Eunseol was a master capable of defeating Jo Cheon Wang, he should have fled without hesitation.
Had he truly wished to avenge himself, he should have faced her alone, without sacrificing innocent subordinates.
“You… are a demon.”
When he met Bu Eunseol’s eyes—clear as a lake yet sinking into darkness…
Gwa Geuk Cheon could no longer bear the guilt that threatened to consume him.
“Even in death, I will curse you.”
Reversing his grip on the blade, he drove it with all his strength toward his own abdomen.
Clang!
But his sword was deflected skyward.
Bu Eunseol had released a gust of wind to knock the blade away.
“Live.”
Bu Eunseol spoke to Gwa Geuk Cheon in a frigid voice.
“Remember the faces of your subordinates who died by your choice. Remember the blood they shed.”
Thud.
Gwa Geuk Cheon collapsed to his knees, his eyes devoid of focus.
His hair had turned white, and his face had aged as if decades had passed in an instant.
Only now did he understand he did not deserve death.
He would spend his entire life regretting this choice, living in torment.
Stumbling, unsteady.
Gwa Geuk Cheon departed from Yeon Wol Valley.
Spit.
As he left, Bu Eunseol finally expelled the blood she had been holding back.
Clots of blood, hardened like pebbles, scattered from her mouth.
Geom So Heon Won.
As she unfolded her sword technique while recalling the variations of that incomplete swordsmanship, her vital energy had been completely inverted.
A backlash powerful enough to inflict internal injuries upon Bu Eunseol, who had reached the sixth stage of the Inverse Extreme Heart Method…
The true power of a complete Geom So Heon Won was beyond all estimation.
“Were you not an emissary of Sam Gye?”
At that moment, Ma Geom Ja approached Bu Eunseol, who stood resolute.
“What do you mean?”
“I thought you were a figure of Sam Gye.”
At Ma Geom Ja’s words, Bu Eunseol furrowed her brow while wiping blood from her sleeve.
“Can someone with the status of Muk Hon Ryeong Ju become an emissary of Sam Gye?”
“Of course.”
Ma Geom Ja spoke with eyes full of despair.
“To those of Sam Gye, status and position mean nothing. No matter how exalted one’s station, they can abandon it without hesitation and reclaim it anew.”
Bu Eunseol nodded faintly.
Hyuk Ryeon Eung, once the Dharma Protector of Demon Hall, had been the Royal Preceptor of Wei Wang Palace.
And the moment his identity was exposed, he discarded those positions without hesitation.
Which meant.
He possessed the confidence to create such identities anew whenever he wished.
“But why did you suddenly conclude he wasn’t a member of Sam Gye?”
“The sword.”
Ma Geom Ja exhaled a turbid breath before speaking.
“He carries a Demonic Blade, yet he doesn’t harbor its aura within his body.”
‘If such a person claims with certainty that the Salmablade is a Demonic Blade… then there’s something I don’t know.’
“Are you saying this resembles a Demonic Blade?”
“Hmph, I may be deceived by ghosts, but not by these old eyes.”
Ma Geom Ja smiled faintly and pointed to the Salmablade.
“I’ve spent my entire life handling sacred blades and demonic weapons. Do you think I wouldn’t recognize that dull luster and faint demonic essence?”
‘So that was it.’
Having spent a lifetime touching weapons and being an exceptional craftsman.
He had detected an infinitesimal trace of demonic essence that even Bu Eunseol couldn’t perceive.
‘Well, if it’s a Demonic Blade, then it could be called one.’
From the perspective that it demanded something, the Salmablade could indeed be called a Demonic Blade.
‘In the end, under Seon Woo Jin’s identity, I cannot wield this blade.’
It had gone undetected until now.
But I could never know when and where someone as perceptive as Ma Geom Ja might sense that faint demonic essence.
In the end, I cannot wear this Salmablade under the identity of a Murim Alliance Lord.
“Then members of Sam Gye cannot possess Demonic Blades?”
“All members of Sam Gye are greedy. When such people possess a Demonic Blade, they naturally accept its aura into their bodies.”
Ma Geom Ja spoke with absolute conviction.
“But you wear a Demonic Blade yet remain completely unaffected by its influence… which means you lack greed and desire. At minimum, you’re not a member of Sam Gye.”
“There’s no one without desire.”
“Perhaps, but it would be minimal—small enough to resist the Demonic Blade’s temptation.”
“Well, setting that aside.”
Bu Eunseol, having dimly grasped Ma Geom Ja’s circumstances, asked.
“Seeing that you know of Sam Gye, it was indeed because of them—your reason for leaving Demon Palace for the Murim Alliance.”
“That’s correct.”
Ma Geom Ja’s expression twisted with pain.
“They demanded of me things that were utterly impossible.”
“What did they demand?”
“They ordered me to forge weapons used by the Forgotten Ones.”
“The Forgotten Ones? You mean the masters who faded into obscurity long ago?”
“Something like that.”
In that moment, Bu Eunseol felt a sinister premonition.
To demand that Ma Geom Ja, who specialized in crafting Demonic Weapons, forge the very blades wielded by masters of ages past?
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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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