The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign - Chapter 546
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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 546.
Those who had conspired with Hyuk Ryeon Eung to frame Bu Eunseol.
The heads of Hyung Dang Ju Yang Gu Eung and several other Lords hung high at the main gate of the Demon Palace.
They were all those who had met directly with Hyuk Ryeon Eung to discuss Bu Eunseol’s downfall.
Those who had been indirectly involved managed to preserve their lives and positions, but from now on, they had no choice but to pledge absolute loyalty to Bu Eunseol.
For if they did not, their heads could be severed at any moment.
And through this incident, Hyuk Ryeon Eung lost all the forces he had cultivated.
Moreover, an atmosphere had been created where anyone who dared cooperate with him would face ruin and disgrace.
Hyuk Ryeon Eung now had no method left—no way whatsoever—to touch Bu Eunseol.
“How on earth…”
Hyuk Ryeon Eung, who had received reports of the entire situation at Hwan Woo Jeong, shook his head as if unable to comprehend.
He had already known that this could be a trap set by Bu Eunseol.
Therefore, he had verified the truth without revealing himself, and had secured evidence from which Bu Eunseol could never escape.
It was the trace of a martial technique that only the Murim Alliance Lord himself could use.
Yet it was the martial art of the Demon Immortal Ak Moo Ryung?
“It was an illusory phantom transformation?”
Hyuk Ryeon Eung clenched his teeth.
“So that is why my soul-stealing technique had no effect on him.”
This was something entirely unforeseen.
Ak Moo Ryung had clashed with Sin Do Mu Bi.
And through illusory phantom transformation, he had created a secret that could produce similar functions to techniques like the Heavenly Heart Sutra?
This was something no one—not even Hyuk Ryeon Eung—could have predicted.
“He deliberately laid a trap.”
Yet there remained parts that made no sense whatsoever.
To inherit Ak Moo Ryung’s martial art, one must necessarily enter the Supreme Demonic Path.
But Bu Eunseol’s spirit had remained in the middle stages all along.
Had he entered the Demonic Path in the meantime?
Moreover, how had he discovered the Lords who had been cooperating with him all this time?
Crash!
Hyuk Ryeon Eung shattered the wooden table before him.
In the end, Bu Eunseol was making possible what I had repeatedly sworn was impossible.
“No, if he has not entered the Supreme Demonic Path… if he still remains in the middle stages…”
Hyuk Ryeon Eung’s brow furrowed as something occurred to him.
And as if having resolved something, he picked up his brush and began writing a letter.
* * *
Bu Eunseol had convened a Grand Lords Conference, gathering all the Lords of the Sayoung Battle Division for the first time in a while.
In attendance were even Seo Jin Ha and So Yo, who rarely showed their faces.
And beside Seo Jin Ha stood an elderly man of advanced years.
The unforeseen variable that Hyuk Ryeon Eung had not calculated, and the factor of success.
The Demon Immortal, Tak Il Hon.
“You’ve worked hard.”
Bu Eunseol, a faint smile playing at her lips, commended Tak Il Hon’s contributions.
He had not only recovered his cultivation and body far more quickly than anticipated, but had also completed his training with remarkable speed.
In particular, Tak Il Hon had rendered invaluable service in this matter.
He had personally sought out the Lords of the Demon Palace one by one, coaxing and coercing them.
Through this, he had uncovered all individuals connected to Hyuk Ryeon Eung and all evidence pertaining to him.
The Lords of the Demon Palace were heroes who thought nothing of their own lives.
Yet to Tak Il Hon—a great swordmaster and slaughter demon who had once shaken Murim—they appeared as nothing more than unripe saplings.
Moreover, he had distinguished between those capable of loyalty to Bu Eunseol and those who were not, adjusting the severity of their punishments accordingly.
Through this careful calibration, he ensured that Bu Eunseol’s position would not be destabilized by the disciplinary measures.
“As Yu Woon Ryong has surely informed you, Dharma Protector Tak will educate the warriors of the Sayoung Battle Division and assist Sub-Commander So with important missions.”
The Sayoung Battle Division had no position that warranted the title of Dharma Protector.
Yet Bu Eunseol had graciously bestowed this rank upon the aging Tak Il Hon.
“With the Dharma Protector’s arrival, our Sa Young Jeon has become like a small Demon Palace!”
The Lords accepted Tak Il Hon without the slightest resistance.
From their perspective, Tak Il Hon was the foremost contributor who had cleared both Bu Eunseol and themselves of false accusations.
Moreover, his bold and uninhibited nature—caring not for others’ opinions—
aligned perfectly with the temperament of the Sayoung Battle Division’s Lords, earning him natural respect as an elder.
“Now all that remains is to strike at the sects where Hyuk Ryeon Eung has poured vast resources, and his hideouts.”
As the meeting commenced, Tak Il Hon began recounting his investigations thus far.
He had uncovered not only those who had allied with Hyuk Ryeon Eung, but also the forces connected to him.
“The Blood Sea Demon Well, where the Demonic Jade Immortals have gathered, and the Hwan Woo Jeong, which has already become ruins.”
Investigating Hyuk Ryeon Eung, now beyond the protection of Sam Gye, proved far from difficult.
Hyuk Ryeon Eung had, independent of Sam Gye’s power, personally cultivated and concealed the Demonic Jade Immortals.
That place was none other than the Blood Sea Demon Well—one of Murim’s Four Forbidden Grounds and a sect with which Bu Eunseol shared considerable enmity.
‘Enmity begets enmity, it seems.’
Bu Eunseol wore a bitter smile.
The Blood Sea Demon Well had suffered repeated defeats after daring to provoke Bu Eunseol in the past, and its sect’s influence had never recovered.
Now, having fallen under Hyuk Ryeon Eung’s command, they cultivated the Demonic Jade Immortals.
Thus, their fate was sealed—they would be annihilated by Bu Eunseol’s hand.
“However, contrary to what is known, the Blood Sea Demon Well possesses elite forces of considerable scale. It would be wise to dispatch not only the warriors of the Sayoung Battle Division, but also the various sects that support the Ryeong Ju.”
At Tak Il Hon’s suggestion, the Lords of the Sayoung Battle Division’s eyes gleamed.
“At last, we shall taste blood again.”
The Lords of the Sayoung Battle Division had endured rigorous training and led countless battles to victory—warriors of reversal.
They would never shy away from combat where blood and flesh flew.
Yet Bu Eunseol said something unexpected.
“If the scale is truly that large, there would be no need for us to intervene directly.”
“Hmm?”
As Tak Il Hon blinked, Bu Eunseol smiled faintly.
“Did not the White Horse Sect and Hell Blood Castle abstain from attending the disciplinary conference convened by our Ryeong Ju?”
He flashed his white teeth in a smile.
“If they want to avoid the false accusation of colluding with Hyuk Ryeon Eung, they’ll naturally have to lend a hand.”
“You’re sending the White Horse Sect and Hell Blood Sect?”
Yu Woon Ryong shook his head in surprise.
“Isn’t that impossible? They’ll stubbornly refuse to follow only your orders, even unto death.”
“They won’t follow my orders. But they will follow the Chong Gyo Ryeong’s orders.”
Bu Eunseol explained matter-of-factly.
“From now on, I will raise suspicions that the White Horse Sect and Hell Blood Sect appear to have close connections with Hyuk Ryeon Eung.”
“…”
“And through an investigation, I will request that the Chong Gyo Ryeong look into their connections with the Blood Sea Demon Well.”
Yu Woon Ryong, who had been listening blankly, burst into laughter.
“So you’re leading the White Horse Sect and Hell Blood Sect to strike the Blood Sea Demon Well.”
“Exactly. They must certainly have direct or indirect ties to Hyuk Ryeon Eung.”
Bu Eunseol let out a scoff.
“If that weren’t the case, they wouldn’t have come to watch this disciplinary conference with absolute certainty that I would be stripped of my position.”
“That’s true.”
“In the end, they have no excuse to refuse the investigation, and they must desperately deny any connection with Hyuk Ryeon Eung… so they’ll have no choice but to reluctantly sweep away the Blood Sea Demon Well.”
“Hehehehe.”
“Hahahaha!”
All the Lords burst into laughter as well.
“This time we should just sit back and watch the show!”
“We’ll finally get to see just how formidable the forces of the White Horse Sect and Hell Blood Sect truly are!”
They laughed, clutching their bellies for a long while.
The White Horse Sect and Hell Blood Sect would pay the price for their connections with Hyuk Ryeon Eung and for opposing Bu Eunseol.
In the end, they would face the consequences they deserved.
* * *
―The Blood Sea Demon Well was annihilated by the Moo Hon Ryeong Ju.
Bu Eunseol’s name shook the Murim once more.
Bu Eunseol, leading the elite forces of the White Horse Sect and Hell Blood Sect, had destroyed the Blood Sea Demon Well in a single stroke.
―The Blood Sea Demon Well had been secretly creating Shil Hoon In. Upon learning this fact, the Moo Hon Ryeong Ju led the elite forces of the White Horse Sect and Hell Blood Sect to annihilate them.
The White Horse Sect and Hell Blood Sect were furious.
They had simply trusted Hyuk Ryeon Eung’s information.
They had come to watch that detestable Moo Hon Ryeong Ju’s wings being cruelly broken.
Instead, their connection with Hyuk Ryeon Eung was exposed in the process.
Moreover, to prove they were not allies with that traitor who manufactured the Soul-Binding Immortal Pill,
To gain recognition that they had no connection with him whatsoever…
They had no choice but to strike the Blood Sea Demon Well alongside Bu Eunseol.
―We did all the hard work, but that bastard takes all the credit!
The reason their fury burned even hotter.
It was they who destroyed the Blood Sea Demon Well, and it was they who suffered casualties among their forces.
Bu Eunseol had claimed all the credit and glory, leaving them treated as mere subordinates.
This was far more humiliating than anything they had ever endured at Bu Eunseol’s hands.
―It seems Moo Hon Ryeong Ju has no intention of walking the path of tyranny.
And because of this course of action, the reactions among the Demonic Path practitioners split into two camps.
―The Demonic Path under his leadership will remain unscathed. Completely untouched.
In truth, those of the Demonic Path
whether creating Shil Hoon In from the Evil Sect or the Dark Path, or refining corpse demons,
they simply tolerated such things as long as they posed no threat to themselves.
Only the Orthodox Sects opposed such practices.
Because of the cruelty of human experimentation and the danger of indiscriminate attacks on the masses,
they had consistently opposed such research.
But Bu Eunseol, contrary to the nature of a Demonic Path practitioner, immediately imposed severe punishment whenever discovering places where Shil Hoon In were being created.
This meant there would be almost no conflict with the Orthodox Sects, and the Demonic Path would maintain a state of peace.
―Was he not the material to establish Demonic Path supremacy?
From another quarter, voices of regret began to emerge.
The foundation of the Demonic Path was tyranny itself.
The foremost master of the Demonic Path had always regarded the establishment of Demonic Path supremacy as their inescapable destiny.
Yet Bu Eunseol consistently acted righteously.
His actions clearly demonstrated he had no intention of overwhelming the Orthodox Sects or establishing Demonic Path supremacy.
Worse still, he had been relentlessly weakening only the Demonic Path’s forces…
And so, those harboring resistance against him began to multiply.
In the Great Conference Hall of Jam Ma Gak and Sayoung Battle Division.
When Bu Eunseol returned after completely annihilating the Blood Sea Demon Well, discussion of the future began anew.
“Hyuk Ryeon Eung. That moldy-smelling old man must now be in a position where he can neither advance nor retreat.”
Yu Woon Ryong spoke while surveying the assembled Lords.
“He has likely burrowed into some hole like a rat again. For some time, we will be unable to track his movements.”
At those words, Yu Woon Ryong and all the other Lords nodded in agreement.
Bu Eunseol had completely shattered Hyuk Ryeon Eung’s connections and power base.
There was no longer even a pawn left to use against Bu Eunseol. For a while, he would focus on recovering those losses.
“We have endured much hardship thus far, and Tak Il Hon has now formally registered with Bon Jeon.”
At that moment, Won Se Moon spoke, pouting his lips slightly.
“What do you say we all go to Jinwhanhru tonight as a gesture of welcome?”
At those words, all the Lords nodded in agreement.
Yu Woon Ryong looked at Bu Eunseol and shrugged his shoulders.
Bu Eunseol likewise nodded, as if resigned to the inevitable.
That night.
The members of Sayoung Battle Division drank themselves senseless alongside Tak Il Hon.
For an ordinary Demonic Path practitioner, sharing drinks with Tak Il Hon, who would have been called a demon, would have been deeply uncomfortable.
He was a great villain and a slaughter demon who had dyed the Murim in terror through his superior divine techniques and martial prowess.
But the members of Sayoung Battle Division were reckless madmen who feared neither heaven nor earth.
Regardless of what Tak Il Hon had been in the past, I now regarded him as Bu Eunseol’s subordinate and comrade sharing the same table.
I treated him with ease, as one might regard an elderly neighbor in the village.
Tak Il Hon, in turn, found the unrestrained attitudes and personalities of the Sayoung Battle Division lords to his liking.
He spent hours conversing animatedly with the younger lords while drinking.
Bu Eunseol simply drank steadily, watching them chatter and carouse with quiet composure.
The drinking continued through the night.
Eventually, as dawn broke, they stumbled back to the Sayoung Battle Division with splitting headaches.
Afterward, Seo Jin Ha secretly returned to the Murim Alliance and resumed his role as Seon Woo Jin.
And Bu Eunseol remained settled in the Demon Palace, handling various administrative duties.
Click.
That day was no different from any other.
After concluding a meeting with the Sayoung Battle Division lords, Bu Eunseol returned to his office.
But an unfamiliar letter lay upon the desk.
A faint glimmer flickered in his eyes as he gazed upon it.
‘Has he finally made his decision?’
Bu Eunseol could discern the sender without even opening the letter.
‘Hyuk Ryeon Eung.’
From the beginning, I had suspected that Hyuk Ryeon Eung had fallen from power in the Infinite Realm.
To restore his position, he had no choice but to kill me.
But with his plans failing repeatedly, he would have neither followers nor remaining forces left.
Then the only final card he could play was singular in nature.
A duel.
To face me in single combat, a decisive clash of fate, and seize victory.
That was his only path to return to the Infinite Realm.
Tear.
As Bu Eunseol opened the envelope, sharp calligraphy came into view—as keen as a blade.
―In half a month, when the moon rises, on Hell Island.
As expected, the letter was a challenge from Hyuk Ryeon Eung to Bu Eunseol.
After staring at the letter for a long moment, I exhaled through my nose.
There was no need to accept such an invitation.
Moreover, Hyuk Ryeon Eung was cornered, so he would not hesitate to employ any method whatsoever.
There was absolutely no reason to dance to the tune of a desperate rat’s scheme.
“Hehehehe.”
A low, hollow laugh escaped Bu Eunseol’s lips as he read through the letter.
“Yes, if he didn’t come at me this way, he wouldn’t be Hyuk Ryeon Eung.”
―Even if you avoid the duel, it matters not. I shall simply disappear as is. But in exchange, you will never learn the truth of your own origins.
The end of the letter contained words meant to provoke Bu Eunseol.
“My origins, is it.”
If he were trying to deceive me with falsehoods, there would be countless lies he could fabricate.
He would not have invoked the word “origins” unless he possessed something genuine.
“That means the Infinite Realm knows a secret about my past that I’m unaware of.”
Bu Eunseol’s eyes narrowed as she stroked her chin.
“Hell Island must certainly be layered with tremendous traps.”
Hyuk Ryeon Eung’s specialty was the terrifying art of soul manipulation—a technique that even masters of the Extreme Heaven Realm couldn’t defend against.
Yet despite knowing this wouldn’t work against Bu Eunseol, he had still sent this challenge…
He must have prepared countermeasures to match.
“I have no choice but to go.”
Bu Eunseol made her decision to journey to Hell Island.
To learn the truth of her past, and uncertain how much longer she would need to wait.
Beyond that, she owed So Ja Myeong her vengeance.
So Ja Myeong, the Lord of the Guusal Unit, who had stepped from shadow into light for her sake.
He had devoted his life to her service all along.
Though there was no obligation for him to do so.
As Bu Eunseol recalled So Ja Myeong’s final moments, her eyes reddened.
For So Ja Myeong’s vengeance.
No matter what dangers lurked on Hell Island, she would find Hyuk Ryeon Eung and sever his life with her own hands.
“Without anyone knowing.”
All the Lords of the Sayoung Battle Division would oppose a direct confrontation with Hyuk Ryeon Eung.
She intended to visit Hell Island quietly, telling no one.
Bu Eunseol used the affairs of Sa Ha Manor as a pretext, leaving So Yo temporarily at the Demon Palace, and ventured into Gangho.
She immediately hired a boat and set sail for Hell Island.
Standing on the deck, buffeted by sea winds, her emotions were indescribably complex.
It felt like only yesterday she had come to Hell Island in a Yeomsa robe.
Now, as the successor to the Demon Palace, she had returned here to capture Hyuk Ryeon Eung, who orchestrated the Ten Demon Immortals plan.
Thud.
The boat soon reached Hell Island’s shore.
Disembarking, Bu Eunseol took a deep breath and surveyed her surroundings.
When the Ten Demon Immortals plan was executed, Hell Island had been filled with countless buildings and martial halls, gathering the resources of the Demonic Path.
But now it had transformed into a desolate, uninhabited island, with no traces of human presence anywhere.
“…”
Bu Eunseol’s gaze deepened as she observed the barren landscape.
Hell Island, rough and melancholic.
This was a place she would never forget until the day she died.
Here she had met Sa Woo and learned the fundamentals of martial arts and the Beast Path; here she had met Jin Gak, an instructor of the Hwawoo Sword Sect, and grasped the framework of swordsmanship.
Here she had met Cheon Woon Gwang and received the transmission of the Thunder-Lightning Unmatched Technique, and from Dan Cheon Yang she had learned the theory of Ascending Sword Arts.
It was also where she first met the trusted friends she could rely on for life.
And…
―Stop!
As Bu Eunseol reminisced, a sharp command echoed in her ears like the roar of a lion.
At the climax of the Ten Demon Immortals Conference back then, Bu Eunseol had fallen into an inescapable crisis.
At that time, Hyuk Ryeon Eung had broken the rules of the conference and cast aside his position to save me.
Of course, he must bitterly regret that decision now… but for Bu Eunseol, it was a memory that could never be forgotten.
Thud, thud.
Bu Eunseol moved slowly into Hell Island.
There was no need to spread her heightened senses widely.
She could instinctively sense where Hyuk Ryeon Eung was waiting.
The very place where he had saved her.
At the Ten Demon Immortals Conference, he would be waiting at the site of that final bloody battle.
Finally arriving at the vast open ground beneath Stone Mountain, a towering elderly man with hair like a lion’s mane stood waiting.
He was the Dharma Protector of the Demon Palace and the Royal Preceptor of the Wei Wang Residence.
In truth, Hyuk Ryeon Eung held the position of a core figure of the Three Realms and a Law Demon Sage.
“You’ve come.”
Hyuk Ryeon Eung’s eyes had lost much of their former confidence, and his frame seemed somehow diminished.
He had attempted to turn Bu Eunseol into a puppet using his exceptional soul-binding techniques.
When that failed, he tried to destroy the intelligence organization and remove her from her position as successor.
But all of those attempts had ended in failure.
As a result, he had become someone with no power to wield in the Three Realms.
“It has been a long time.”
Bu Eunseol greeted Hyuk Ryeon Eung with composure.
At that, Hyuk Ryeon Eung’s expression became peculiar.
Bu Eunseol’s eyes and voice.
Contrary to his expectations, they contained neither anger nor hostility.
It was exactly as it had been when they first met at the Wei Wang Residence.
“Do you not hate me?”
“I do hate you. But that is not a personal grudge of mine.”
“That cannot be. I tried to kill you many times.”
Bu Eunseol spoke calmly.
“Is that not an everyday occurrence for those in the Murim?”
An everyday occurrence.
As common as mixing rice with tea water—something that simply happens.
“If you had not killed Lord So Ja Myeong… I would never have intended to take your life.”
“What?”
Hyuk Ryeon Eung’s expression showed incomprehension.
“So you came to this place simply for revenge against So Ja Myeong?”
“That is correct.”
“…I see.”
Only then could Hyuk Ryeon Eung truly understand.
Bu Eunseol cared nothing for honor, status, or power.
She desired nothing beyond her chosen objective, pursuing only what she had resolved to achieve.
“So you charge forward, caring for nothing except your set goal…”
Hyuk Ryeon Eung exhaled a turbid sigh and shook his head.
“Had I known you were such a person… I would never have rescued you from Hell Island.”
“Do you regret it?”
Hyuk Ryeon Eung drew a deep breath and spoke his honest feelings.
“Strangely enough… I find I do not regret it.”
It was a peculiar matter.
Despite being an enemy who should be killed without fail.
Even though from the Infinite Realm’s perspective she was an absolute adversary who could never be spared, Hyuk Ryeon Eung did not despise Bu Eunseol.
After all, she was a master of the Demonic Path who had dominated Murim for an entire era.
I had no desire to kill Bu Eunseol, whose exceptional talents were so remarkable that one could not find her equal even after wandering a lifetime in iron shoes.
“Bu Eunseol.”
After a deep sigh, Hyuk Ryeon Eung opened his mouth with sincere conviction.
“Come to Ben Gye.”
“….”
“With your abilities, you could surpass the Supreme Celestial and the Heavenly Sage within ten years—no, five years.”
“Surpass them, you say.”
“In truth, it would be fair to call you the Realm Lord. You could command everything in the Infinite Realm.”
Bu Eunseol’s eyes narrowed slightly.
His words ultimately suggested that above the Supreme Celestial and the Heavenly Sage,
there existed someone of a different station, did they not?
“How amusing. Are you telling me to enter the Three Realms like you and slaughter innocent people?”
“That is your misunderstanding.”
Hyuk Ryeon Eung shook his head with resolute expression.
“Ben Gye, the Infinite Realm… is doing what is right.”
“Extracting people’s vital essence to cultivate Inhwa, creating Shil Hoon In, and placing moles within each sect—when did such things become righteous?”
“To achieve a righteous purpose, one cannot always employ only righteous means.”
Hyuk Ryeon Eung spoke with unwavering conviction.
“Such ideals are merely illusions.”
And with eyes of utmost sincerity, he spoke as if persuading her.
“If one must sacrifice one hundred innocent commoners to prevent a butcher who would massacre tens of thousands—can that truly be called evil?”
Bu Eunseol had no interest in Hyuk Ryeon Eung’s philosophy.
But the true purpose of the Infinite Realm absolutely had to be confirmed.
“So you’re saying that cultivating Inhwa and creating Shil Hoon In is to save more people?”
“Yes.”
“For what purpose?”
“Ben Gye merely seeks to preserve Murim. That is why we do such things.”
‘Preserve.’
Bu Eunseol suddenly felt a peculiar thought arise.
The Absolute Demon Blade.
It had come to pass because the Dharma Seeker Mo Ryun had prophesied the annihilation of Murim.
But they deceived innocent children and abducted them under the guise of protecting Murim.
Surely the Infinite Realm isn’t pursuing the same plan as the Absolute Demon Path under the pretense of safeguarding Murim, are they?
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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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