The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign - Chapter 601

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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 601.
Those of Pavilion Master rank and above possessed the authority to select exceptional subordinates from their ranks
and open one floor of the Yeongak Dojeon once per year.
Yet Bu Eunseol could say with certainty
that a miser like Yuk Jang Cheon would never grant such privileges easily.
“The first floor of the Yeongak Dojeon?”
Yuk Jang Cheon, seated in his office listening to Bu Eunseol’s request, tilted his head with a puzzled expression.
“With your martial prowess, even this floor would feel insufficient. Why would you need to enter the first floor?”
Seeming to find his own words strange, he asked again.
“Is it to instruct the Team Members?”
“No, sir.”
Bu Eunseol laid out her prepared explanation calmly.
“Traveling through Gangho recently, I’ve come to acutely realize that my foundational martial knowledge is lacking.”
“Foundational?”
“Yes. To advance further, I believe I need to research fundamental martial arts rather than advanced techniques.”
“Hmm.”
“Is that not possible?”
In truth, from Yuk Jang Cheon’s perspective, allowing one subordinate into the first floor of the Yeongak Dojeon was nothing.
And Seon Woo Jin was undoubtedly a core force even within the Deng Wu Dian. Granting such a request posed no difficulty.
Yet despite this, he offered no clear answer and deliberately prolonged the moment.
‘He wants me to plead more desperately.’
Bu Eunseol suppressed the revulsion rising within her.
Yuk Jang Cheon possessed the worst qualities of a superior.
First, he treated subordinates as expendable; second, he discarded them like worn-out rags if they failed to demonstrate absolute loyalty.
‘He’s telling me to make an earnest request.’
“I humbly ask you, Pavilion Master.”
Bu Eunseol assumed an expression of genuine desperation.
At this, Yuk Jang Cheon stroked his chin as if unable to refuse such an earnest plea.
“I wish I could grant it myself.”
He adopted a troubled expression.
“But there’s the matter of fairness, you see.”
If fairness were the measure, Bu Eunseol had certainly earned considerable merit.
She had every right to enter the Yeongak Dojeon, and the Pavilion Masters would offer no real objection.
Yet knowing this full well, Yuk Jang Cheon deliberately manufactured this needless excuse.
‘The second provocation.’
“It’s not merely to assess my martial abilities,” Bu Eunseol said quietly.
“When I entered the Yeongak Dojeon before, the Eun Rim Gak Master asked me something.”
“What was that?”
“What martial knowledge I had obtained.”
“It’s about what kind of ignorance he gained.”
“So you were trying to gauge the extent of my martial prowess.”
“Yes, that is correct.”
Bu Eunseol spoke in the softest of whispers.
“At the time, Gak Ju’s intentions seemed highly suspicious. It was strange that he would seek out someone as insignificant as a second-rate Lord like myself and probe into various matters.”
Everything I had said thus far was the truth.
However, from Yuk Jang Cheon’s perspective, he could not simply accept this at face value.
Mok Do In was a member of the Elder Council and maintained a close relationship with Yuk Cheong Ah.
“True, it is unusual for Gak Ju to seek out a second-rate Lord. But that is precisely because you have accomplished such significant deeds.”
“If Mok Gak Ju were to inquire once more about what I have learned… then surely his intentions would be different.”
“Hmm.”
Yuk Jang Cheon swallowed hard.
“Indeed. It is strange that someone like Mok Do In would be curious about what you have been learning.”
I must become the Mu Cheon Danjoo without fail. If there were any destabilizing elements, they had to be eliminated swiftly.
“Very well.”
In the end, Yuk Jang Cheon nodded readily.
“However, the authority of the Ben Jeon Master permits only one day.”
“One day is sufficient. Thank you.”
“No need for thanks.”
Yuk Jang Cheon wore a faint smile.
“The better you fare, the better the Ben Jeon fares.”
He spoke with a laugh, having made much of his generosity.
“I shall submit the request, so go at once.”
* * *
The first floor of Yeongak Dojeon.
Not only martial texts but foundational works across all disciplines were housed here, and countless volumes lined the shelves beyond measure.
Moreover, without stringent restrictions.
As befitted a floor where the leaders of each organization could send their subordinates to enhance their martial skills, numerous martial artists were diligently reading.
Bu Eunseol, newly granted access, moved freely across the first floor.
‘Fortunately, it seems Mok Do In is upstairs.’
Mok Do In, who managed Yeongak Dojeon, primarily oversaw the third floor.
Unless there was something urgent, he rarely descended to the lower levels.
‘If there were a passage leading underground, it would not have been installed so openly… surely a secret mechanism must be hidden somewhere.’
If the words of Yong Ban Jeon Ju Yong Myeong were true, there would certainly be a hidden passage descending beneath Yeongak Dojeon.
‘Then it is most likely a Cultivation Chamber or a Tea Room.’
Since the first floor of Yeongak Dojeon could accommodate many martial artists at once, it provided two convenience facilities.
First, a Cultivation Chamber that could be used when one wished to engage in meditation or quietly refine their inner energy.
And a Tea Room where one could consume Bigu Pills and pure water, or drink tea.
If there were a secret mechanism allowing descent to lower levels? Naturally, it would be separated from the book section—most likely a Cultivation Chamber or Tea Room.
‘The Cultivation Chamber, perhaps.’
Passing the bookshelves, Bu Eunseol turned the corner at the innermost end of Yeongak Dojeon.
A broad, lengthy corridor came into view, with several rooms branching off to both sides. It was the Cultivation Chamber.
‘Thank goodness.’
All ten Cultivation Chambers, sealed shut, were completely empty.
After raising the Hollow Void Qi, Bu Eunseol meticulously examined each of the ten Cultivation Chambers one by one.
Yet nowhere could she find any trace of a mechanism.
‘Then.’
Emerging back outside, Bu Eunseol headed toward the tea rooms at the far opposite end.
There were five tea rooms in total.
Despite her thorough search, she still could not find any trace of a mechanism.
Could it be that Yong Ban Jeon had been spouting nonsense in an unsound state of mind?
‘No, that cannot be.’
Even if Yong Ban Jeon’s mind was unclear, he could not have fabricated words about the Sword Scripture of the Profound Void.
He had definitely been in Yeongak Dojeon, and had experienced something of significance.
‘Wait, the Sword Scripture of the Profound Void. If it is the Sword Scripture of the Profound Void…’
As Bu Eunseol recalled the interior of Yeongak Dojeon, a peculiar thought occurred to her.
The Sword Scripture of the Profound Void.
Even if one obtained its complete transmission.
This sword technique, which produces three hundred ninety-five variations in a single stance, is practically impossible to execute in a single stance.
What if someone were to execute such a sword technique in a single stance?
Even an arm forged with Diamond Indestructibility would shatter or twist instantly.
‘If someone had secretly infiltrated Yeongak Dojeon to steal the secret scripture…’
Bu Eunseol closed her eyes for a moment, lost in thought.
No matter how formidable a master might be.
It stood beside the Gunkon Pavilion, which maintained the most stringent security in the Murim Alliance.
And Yeongak Dojeon, where the mysterious master Mok Do In constantly resided.
How could anyone have possibly infiltrated it in secret?
‘Then, rather than attempting to steal the secret scripture, could they have come to hide it instead?’
Bu Eunseol’s mind began to race.
The Sword Scripture of the Profound Void was a technique as remarkable as the Blood Dew Seven Techniques.
There was no way such a secret scripture would have been stored merely on this floor’s shelves of Yeongak Dojeon.
Even if it had been on the third floor, it was a terrifying sword art that could not be touched without entering the Extreme Heaven Realm.
Then from the beginning, the Sword Scripture of the Profound Void was not stored in Yeongak Dojeon…
Rather, could it have been that someone was attempting to secretly preserve it within Yeongak Dojeon? This thought struck her.
‘If that were the case, the culprit would have entered Yeongak Dojeon openly and confidently.’
In the past, she would have thought there existed a master capable of secretly infiltrating Yeongak Dojeon.
But from Baek Ri Mu Jo, she had learned that Mok Do In was a mysterious master who taught Demonic Path sword techniques to great masters.
Which meant Mok Do In himself was an extraordinarily formidable master comparable to the Lords.
Few individuals could deceive his attention and enter this place…
Surely the one who brought the Sword Scripture of the Profound Void had entered Yeongak Dojeon openly and confidently.
‘Then.’
Then the one who engaged Yong Ban Jeon in a battle over secret techniques
must be someone who either stored the Geom So Heon Won Style in Yeongak Dojeon and earned tremendous merit with the Murim Alliance, gaining qualification to enter the third floor of Yeongak Dojeon,
or a figure of considerable rank with regular authority to access the third floor.
‘There is a possibility.’
Bu Eunseol smoothed her brow and took a deep breath.
My head throbbed from thinking through so many possibilities.
As my thoughts grew tangled, I lifted my gaze toward the ceiling, which appeared to be roughly thirty feet high.
“….”
Then a peculiar thought struck me.
Ordinarily, the Library Pavilion’s ceiling would have no need to be constructed so high.
Of course, such height did create an open, unconfined atmosphere.
But there was no reason to make the floor-to-ceiling height so grand in a structure with three stories, not just one.
‘Moreover, since the passage to this floor is separate, one cannot even look down upon the first floor’s layout from here, can they?’
Bu Eunseol suddenly felt the urge to observe this vast first floor from below.
But if I deployed lightness technique and leaped upward here, I would immediately draw attention.
‘Hmm.’
Bu Eunseol’s eyes gleamed as I pondered briefly.
There was a way to discern the internal structure without needing to leap at all.
Walking toward the bookshelves positioned at the center of Yeongak Dojeon,
I pulled a book and deliberately dropped a secret manual from a corner shelf to the floor.
Whoosh! Thud.
Then, with nimble movements, I pretended to catch it quickly while letting my body roll slightly across the ground.
Hum.
Small vibrations emanated from the floor, spreading outward in concentric circles.
Simultaneously, the layout of the Library Pavilion’s first floor began to form in Bu Eunseol’s mind.
I had deployed the Gongpa Heart Eye technique.
‘This cannot be.’
Bu Eunseol’s eyes widened.
The Geom So Heon Won Style was a sword technique that produced three hundred ninety-five variations.
And the number of bookshelves inside this space was precisely three hundred ninety-five, was it not?
‘This is no coincidence.’
With my eyes closed, I examined the structure revealed by the Gongpa Heart Eye with meticulous care.
The first floor of Yeongak Dojeon was a roughly square space filled with bookshelves at regular intervals, interspersed with various furnishings and large pillars.
‘If one were to view it from above.’
I traced the bookshelves, interior furnishings, and pillars as a single line.
And what emerged was a pattern that resembled the Geom So Heon Won Style expressed as lines.
‘Someone deliberately arranged everything to match the variations of the Geom So Heon Won Style.’
Having gained this insight, Bu Eunseol moved swiftly, examining the bookshelves.
‘If I follow the path of this Geom So Heon Won Style’s variations….’
“If we follow the changes of this frugal circular method…”
Though I didn’t know the complete formation structure, memorizing the changes in the Geomsa Hexagon Formation had allowed me to pinpoint the suspected final destination of the initial phase.
Bu Eunseol had managed to locate the place that was predicted to be the final endpoint of the initial phase.
‘A formation array?’
It was a bookshelf where no martial artists ever ventured—one that housed secret manuals on formation arrays.
‘So that’s how it was.’
Martial artists within the Murim Alliance fundamentally mastered the formation arrays deployed by their respective halls.
Thus, even those who entered the Yeongak Dojeon had no reason to study formation array secrets.
Moreover, the bookshelf containing formation array secrets was—
Unlike other bookshelves holding martial arts manuals, this one was extraordinarily large and remarkably wide on its sides.
Since almost no one sought formation array secrets, it appeared the intention was to install an oversized bookshelf to accommodate everything at once.
Yet to Bu Eunseol’s eyes, it looked like an intentional arrangement designed to conceal a hidden passage.
A soft metallic hum.
Bu Eunseol unfolded the Gongshim Tongyeong and carefully examined the side of the bookshelf.
‘There it is, as expected.’
Bu Eunseol discovered a protruding bulge at the very bottom of the bookshelf.
It appeared as though slightly warped wood had been used in constructing the shelf, but in reality, it was a button that activated the mechanism.
A soft click. A smooth sliding sound.
Upon pressing it, a space large enough for a single person opened along the bookshelf’s side.
The mechanism was so exquisitely crafted that despite the large opening revealed on the side, it produced neither sound nor vibration.
A gentle whoosh.
The open door closed of its own accord as time passed.
‘I cannot simply rush in now.’
Bu Eunseol had already wandered throughout the Yeongak Dojeon, and my face had become familiar to those within.
If I were to remain hidden for an extended period, someone among them might sense something amiss.
‘One hour.’
This was the timeframe I had calculated after observing the changes in people’s attention while moving through the Yeongak Dojeon.
The time it would take for people to realize I had completely vanished and for them to sense something wrong was roughly one hour.
If I exceeded that duration?
A martial artist might notice my disappearance and report it to the Yeongak Dojeon’s administrator.
A soft click.
Bu Eunseol pressed the secret mechanism button once more.
‘Wait.’
A thought occurring to me, I quickly retrieved a thick formation array manual from the bookshelf and concealed it within my robes.
It was the Chilseong Dohae—the thickest among all the formation array manuals stored here.
A smooth sliding sound.
After entering the space along the bookshelf’s side and the door closing behind me, I felt a sudden dizziness.
The narrow space I stood in was descending at a rapid speed.
A low hum.
Along with a faint vibration, the space along the bookshelf’s side opened once more.
Upon stepping outside, a narrow corridor came into view before me, and at its end stood a sturdy iron gate.
As I cautiously made my way toward the corridor with the door,
Clang. A deep hum resonated.
Suddenly, a tremendous pressure cascaded from the ceiling accompanied by transparent light.
It was a trap fitted with hundreds of pressure stones.
‘This is far more powerful than what was installed in Martial Emperor’s Secret Archive.’
The number of pressure stones installed here exceeded five hundred.
At this level, anyone whose internal energy hadn’t reached three centuries of cultivation would be instantly crushed.
‘So Pyra is being told not to even enter.’
A deep hum echoed.
Bu Eunseol, looking up at the pressure stones, drew upon her internal energy to resist the crushing force.
Her internal energy cultivation exceeded five centuries. She moved forward without difficulty against the pressure unleashed by hundreds of pressure stones.
‘A key as well?’
Upon reaching the iron gate at the end of the corridor, I discovered an extraordinarily unique keyhole shaped like a star.
‘This is simple enough.’
Bu Eunseol pressed her finger against the keyhole.
Drawing upon the Glacial Heavenly Stream Seal accompanied by crystalline divine energy, a solid ice-formed key materialized instantly within the lock.
Click.
As the door opened, a square stone chamber appeared before me, its width and length each spanning more than five zhang.
Seven-colored eternal luminous pearls were embedded in the ceiling above, casting light downward, yet strangely the interior temperature was even colder than the depths of winter’s harshest freeze.
“That is…”
Bu Eunseol discovered a transparent coffin positioned in the center of the stone chamber.
“The Ten-Thousand-Year Glacial Jade Coffin?”
It was indeed the Ten-Thousand-Year Glacial Jade Coffin—a treasure of the Funeral Gate and a priceless relic.
The extreme cold of the stone chamber was caused by the tremendous frigid energy radiating from this jade coffin.
“Why would such a coffin be here?”
The Ten-Thousand-Year Glacial Jade Coffin had only one purpose.
It preserved corpses from decay by utilizing the extreme yin energy generated within.
But why was such a coffin installed in this underground secret facility of Yeongak Dojeon?
“Surely not…”
Seized by an ominous premonition, Bu Eunseol examined the interior of the transparent jade coffin carefully.
Thud.
In that instant, my vision went dark, and I felt as though struck on the back of the head.
“This cannot be.”
The corpse enshrined within the Ten-Thousand-Year Glacial Jade Coffin.
It was someone who had attended the hero monument ceremony for Tan Wang Buk Gung-ryeong not long ago…
The foremost master of the Orthodox Sects—Jeong Cheon Je, Sin Do Mu Bi, was it not?
Bu Eunseol doubted her own eyes.
“How is this even possible?”
The shock was so profound that the corners of my eyes trembled uncontrollably.
I immediately suppressed the trembling of my body using internal energy, then steadied my mind through the meditation method of the Reverse Extreme Heart Seal.
“Sigh.”
Bu Eunseol steadied her mind and examined the corpse’s face within the ice jade coffin with meticulous attention.
No matter how many times I verified it, that face belonged to none other than the Murim Alliance Master, Sin Do Mu Bi.
“Then… is the current Murim Alliance Master a fake?”
Bu Eunseol stared into empty space with a hollow gaze.
If the corpse enshrined here was truly Sin Do Mu Bi, then who was the Murim Alliance Master who had appeared before?
Could it be that Shin San Ja’s true identity was not the Murim Alliance Master?
“His martial prowess had genuinely reached the Limitless Realm.”
Shin San Ja, whom I had encountered in Shaolin’s secret passage.
He had merely suppressed his martial power intentionally, yet he had undoubtedly attained the Limitless Realm.
Moreover, the Murim Alliance Master who appeared at Beok Goong Ryung’s Hero Monument ceremony displayed tremendous martial prowess and aura.
Where in this world could there exist another who could perfectly mimic the Murim Alliance Master’s aura?
“Then… the one Gak Ju fought was not Sin Do Mu Bi?”
If that were true, then despite not being Sin Do Mu Bi,
there existed someone with power equal to—no, surpassing—Sin Do Mu Bi, and he had clashed with Ak Moo Ryung?
‘No, the timing could differ.’
Sin Do Mu Bi is called Sin Do Mu Bi because he is worthy of being called the sky of the Orthodox Sects.
His martial power is unparalleled and transcendent, beyond compare.
Surely such a figure could not exist twice in this world.
Even if the corpse in this ice jade coffin is the Murim Alliance Master, the time of death remains unknown… so at the time of his confrontation with Nangya Pavilion Master Ak Moo Ryung, he could have been genuine.
“Could this be an elaborate false corpse?”
Bu Eunseol approached the ice jade coffin again and examined the corpse carefully.
It bore the appearance of Sin Do Mu Bi from the Hero Monument ceremony, and it was no counterfeit.
“I will open it and verify.”
Opening the lid would not cause the corpse to decay immediately.
Bu Eunseol intended to open the lid of the eternal ice jade coffin and examine Sin Do Mu Bi’s cause of death.
“There is no opening.”
Yet nowhere could I find a mechanism to open the lid.
The ice jade coffin itself appeared as transparent ice, revealing no seams whatsoever.
But since the corpse had been placed inside,
there must certainly be an opening mechanism installed somewhere.
“…Nothing.”
Yet no matter how thoroughly I searched, I could find no trace of any mechanism.
Sensing something amiss, Bu Eunseol began running her hand across the ice jade coffin.
Then, on the side, she felt an extremely subtle indentation.
“Eternal First…”
It was minute characters engraved so finely they were invisible to the eye, thin as a hair.
As I unconsciously traced the character ‘永’ carved into the ice jade coffin,
Rumble.
With a low mechanical sound, a small door appeared in the wall on the left side.
“A secret stone chamber?”
Bu Eunseol stepped into the chamber with a puzzled expression.
The space was used for storing various furnishings, and it was stocked with an array of different garments.
Even robes that diviners would wear.

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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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