The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign - Chapter 61

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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 61.
The so-called “Dan Seo Ok Assassination Incident” sent shockwaves through the Gangho.
The Ho Nam region was a place where masters of both the Demonic Path and Orthodox Sects mingled, their factions locked in constant struggle for dominance.
The beloved daughter of Ji Ma Bu Ju herself had been targeted by an assassin? This sparked considerable upheaval throughout the martial world.
―Seize them!
Ji Ma Bu Ju burned with fury.
He commanded not only that those responsible be rooted out entirely, but that every sect with a foothold in Ayang be annihilated.
―The culprit was the Black Dragon Faction Leader!
The Black Dragon Faction Leader, who had lost his arm to Ji Ma Bu Ju years before, harbored deep resentment and unleashed assassins from the Blood Killing Gate, or so the story went.
Of course, Ji Ma Bu Ju did not believe it.
No matter how much gold was offered, Sal Mun would never accept a contract that would make the entire Jipma Clan their enemy.
Yet when irrefutable evidence emerged, Ji Ma Bu Ju issued a terse command.
―Annihilation.
The Black Dragon Faction and Blood Killing Gate vanished from the Gangho. Even speaking their names became forbidden.
The very fact of their existence was erased entirely.
* * *
I continued my duties with the Guusal Unit as before.
I always selected the most perilous and demanding missions—those requiring me to stake my life—and completed each without a single failure.
And I ceaselessly wove the insights gained from real combat into my swordplay. Before long, I had become proficient with sword extremity techniques, distraction exploitation methods, and even the heavy sword.
Thus another six months passed.
As the crimson sunset gradually faded into dusk, I arrived at the Hoehyeon Old Book Store.
Creak.
As I, dressed in scholar’s robes, opened the bookstore door, Sang Ryang and Ma Woon inside came rushing forward with their eyebrows raised in excitement.
“Master, you’ve arrived!”
“We’re honored by your presence.”
After that day, much had changed.
First, Sang Ryang and Ma Woon treated me with the utmost respect befitting an imperial envoy.
I had earned the trust of my superiors by protecting Dan Seo Ok flawlessly from mysterious assassins.
Over the remaining six months, I had handled every mission deemed nearly impossible.
As a result, Sang Ryang and Ma Woon, who managed the branch, received recognition for their contributions, and ten days hence, they received orders to return to the Demon Palace.
“Master, what say you? Shall we have a drink this evening as well?”
Second, my relationship with Sang Ryang and Ma Woon had transformed.
Sang Ryang and Ma Woon knew well a tavern that served fine wine, and they occasionally brought drinks to me.
What began as a chance encounter had blossomed into a habit of sharing drinks together.
“More drinking, you say?”
At my words, Sang Ryang rubbed his hands together and replied.
“Master, you’ll be leaving this place in ten days, will you not? Time is precious, so we must seize every opportunity for a cup.”
Then Ma Woon, standing beside him, hurried forward.
“I’ll have the chef at Hong Ru Gak prepare dishes at once.”
But I shook my head.
“We’ll drink another time.”
“Why?”
“As you say, only ten days remain. I must begin tidying up my hideout.”
After a year spent in Ayang, my hideout had accumulated quite a bit of belongings.
There were disguises for concealment, various weapons and tools—all of which needed to be disposed of promptly.
“Isn’t that precisely my specialty?”
Yet Ma Woon took hold of my sleeve.
“I’ll handle all of that myself. You need only rest comfortably during these ten days.”
Ma Woon spoke with a slight smile.
“While you were away, my brother procured three large vessels of Fenzhou wine—the finest vintage from the master brewers of Jang An.”
“I…”
“I’ve tasted it myself before, and it clings to your palate most delightfully. I’m certain you’ll have no regrets once you try it.”
“Hmm.”
I let out a low murmur.
Somewhere during my time in Ayang, I had become a man who knew how to appreciate wine.
Especially when troubled thoughts arose, I would ascend to Gyeong Ha Ru and savor yellow wine.
When the potent liquor poured into my belly, the flames of countless tangled thoughts in my mind would subside.
“Come now, let’s not delay.”
As Sang Ryang extended his hand, I released the resistance in my sleeve with a gesture of resignation.
The night descended with brilliant moonlight.
Three shadows sat atop the roof of the Old Bookstore.
They were myself and Gongssi Ssangma.
“Really now, abandoning a fine room to sit on a roof and wallow in melancholy…”
Sang Ryang muttered in a low voice.
Originally, Sang Ryang had reserved a private chamber on the third floor of Hong Ru Gak. But I had suddenly arrived with roasted chicken and proposed we ascend to the roof instead.
“Brother.”
Then Ma Woon nudged his ribs sharply.
“The Master prefers it this way. The Master does.”
Observing Sang Ryang with his lips protruding, I spoke calmly.
“Try a cup here. If you find it displeasing by the time we finish one vessel, we’ll go to Hong Ru Gak.”
“Ugh.”
With no choice in the matter, Sang Ryang also settled onto the roof.
“Let’s begin.”
Ma Woon seized a perfectly roasted chicken leg before anyone could claim it and devoured it ravenously.
“Smack, smack, smack.”
After licking even the bone clean, he drained a full cup of Fenzhou wine in one draught.
“Ahhhh.”
As the potent spirit washed away the grease, my body trembled involuntarily.
Exhaling the fragrant breath of wine toward the heavens, the distant sky poured down its subtle moonlight.
In the quiet night, the moonlight descending like a whisper drew the observer into a peculiar reverie.
“This atmosphere… what is this?”
Ma Woon nodded as if he had grasped something.
“It truly makes the wine taste better!”
“Huh? What do you mean by that?”
As Sang Ryang blinked, Ma Woon extended a chicken leg and a wine cup toward him.
“Elder brother, please have a drink first. You’ll understand once you do.”
Sang Ryang had no choice but to accept the chicken leg and took a long sip of wine.
“Ahhh.”
For over forty years, Sang Ryang had consistently enjoyed wine.
Yet he was discovering for the first time that wine tasted so sweet and exquisite when drunk atop a rooftop.
“Indeed!”
Gazing at the moon hanging brightly in the sky, Sang Ryang suddenly slapped his knee as if struck by profound realization.
“So the young master always savors such special atmospheres. To awaken to the art of drinking wine upon a rooftop—hahahaha.”
Bu Eunseol answered flatly as she watched Sang Ryang burst into hearty laughter, as if embarrassed.
“I simply disliked the commotion.”
In that brief response lay a profound loneliness that words could not fully express.
As Bu Eunseol gazed upward at the sky with vacant eyes, Sang Ryang and Ma Woon exchanged glances and inwardly sighed.
―What story could a youth barely past his twenties possibly carry?
In their eyes, Bu Eunseol was far from an ordinary person.
He had willingly entered the Guusal Unit, which others shunned. Moreover, he pursued martial arts by choosing life-or-death missions that he need not undertake.
Furthermore, his heart was frozen with such severity that he cast his gaze upon nothing.
“Young master.”
Sang Ryang sighed as he gazed into Bu Eunseol’s coldly fixed eyes.
“By nature, this world is nothing but commotion.”
He drained another cup of wine before continuing.
“In this turbulent world, there exists no place untouched by wind and dust.”
As if recalling the past, Sang Ryang regarded Bu Eunseol with deepened eyes.
“Should the young master come to understand such truths in time, this world may come to feel somewhat more amusing.”
In Sang Ryang’s voice lay an unspoken story of some kind.
“….”
As Bu Eunseol regarded him with a peculiar gaze, Sang Ryang scratched his head with an awkward expression.
“I’ve dampened the mood with needless words. Come now, let us drink.”
Sang Ryang smiled and extended his wine cup.
“If the young master does not become intoxicated tonight, I, Gong Sang Ryang, shall drain the entire wine cellar of Hong Ru Gak to ensure that I do!”
At that, Ma Woon burst into laughter.
“Excellent! Let us drink deeply and heartily! Hahahaha!”
The night deepened toward dawn.
Upon the rooftop, the voices of Sang Ryang and Ma Woon filled the night sky.
Bu Eunseol listened quietly to their chatter throughout, sipping wine in silence.
Though he did not consciously notice, a faint smile had been playing at the corners of his lips the entire time.
* * *
“Hah.”
I stumbled out of the Old Bookstore, my gait deliberately unsteady.
My hideout lay a considerable distance from the village, and my cover identity here was that of a dissolute scholar.
So whenever I returned after a drink, I made certain to reek of alcohol and walk as though thoroughly intoxicated.
‘Foolish gentlemen.’
The faces of Gongssi Ssangma surfaced unbidden in my mind, and I exhaled a low breath through my nose.
Sang Ryang—the branch leader, sensitive to profit and skilled at flattery, yet leisurely and optimistic in temperament.
Ma Woon—the informant, hot-blooded and arrogant, yet surprisingly guileless and peculiar in unexpected ways.
For two people who seemed too innocent to truly belong to the Gangho, I harbored a subtle affection.
“Ugh, the drunkenness settles in.”
Upon entering my hideout, I reached out to open the door.
Creak.
As the decrepit door groaned, minute vibrations rippled outward in all directions.
‘An intruder.’
For the briefest instant, my pupils gleamed in the darkness.
Ordinary spies and assassins typically scattered fine hairs or glass powder across doorways.
But I had mastered the Beast Path—I needed no such crude detection devices. The art’s function allowed me to sense an enemy’s presence through the mere vibrations of air itself.
“Hmm.”
I staggered forward as though oblivious, then collapsed onto the bed.
For a time, I lay beneath the blankets with my eyes closed, feigning sleep.
How much time passed?
In the pitch darkness, a human silhouette began to materialize slowly.
“….”
The shadow, reflected in the moonlight, belonged to the Masked Assassin clad in black assassin’s garb.
He quietly drew the sword strapped to his back, then pressed it firmly against my throat where it emerged from beneath the blankets.
“How disappointing.”
The Masked Assassin clicked his tongue.
“To think the legendary Guusal Unit member of the Ak Yang Branch could be so careless….”
The Masked Assassin’s words ceased abruptly.
Clang.
Hundreds of concealed projectile mechanisms suddenly erupted from the smooth wall behind him.
“So you feigned sleep while luring me toward the location where you’d hidden these devices?”
The Masked Assassin turned his head slightly to regard the mechanisms, then nodded as though genuinely satisfied.
“Had I thrust my blade in without thinking, I would already be a corpse riddled with holes.”
“Reveal your identity.”
As I cast aside the blankets, a cold gleam poured from my eyes.
Sensing that I would not hesitate to strike if he made even the slightest wrong move, the Masked Assassin answered swiftly.
“I come from the Demon Palace.”
“The Demon Palace?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
The Masked Assassin stepped back, sheathed his blade, and took a seat at the table across from the bed.
“May I light the lamp?”
When Bu Eunseol nodded, the Masked Assassin brought his fingers to the oil lamp atop the table.
With a soft scraping sound, the darkened room brightened slightly, and the Masked Assassin’s eyes became distinctly visible.
‘A young man, then.’
From the pupils reflected in the lamplight, I could see he was unmistakably a very young man.
Moreover, his sharply curved eyes emanated an inexplicably cold aura.
“What is your business?”
“I have long wished to meet you—the legendary Guusal Unit operative, Number Eighteen of Ayang.”
“Speak one more word of such nonsense, and I will shoot a hidden projectile through your skull.”
“Is that so? I had hoped we might have a conversation.”
The Masked Assassin withdrew a yellowed envelope from his robes.
“This was sent to you from the Demon Palace.”
Whoosh!
With a sharp whistling sound, the yellowed envelope vanished from the Masked Assassin’s hand.
In the same instant, something razor-sharp pierced the space between my brows. The light, thin paper envelope had been launched like a hidden projectile with the force of a thunderbolt.
Thunk.
In that moment, the yellowed envelope was lodged between my index and middle fingers.
“Impressive.”
The Masked Assassin’s eyes narrowed as he let out an exclamation.
“Truly remarkable. To catch something launched with the Ilsu Amyeong technique so effortlessly.”
Bu Eunseol did not respond and opened the envelope.
On the yellowed paper envelope’s surface were inscribed the characters “First Class” alongside a crimson spider emblem symbolizing the Guusal Unit.
“First Class?”
As Bu Eunseol murmured the words, the Masked Assassin’s eyes narrowed.
“Indeed. A First Class mission—transmitted only to the highest operatives of the Guusal Unit.”
A First Class mission.
Assignments dispatched to designated Guusal Unit operatives scattered secretly across various regions. Because these orders come directly from the Demon Palace, they are essentially absolute commands.
“Throughout history, the Demon Palace has issued First Class missions only twelve times. And those who received such missions were all masters whose names are etched into the annals of Guusal Unit history.”
The Masked Assassin’s eyes narrowed into crescents once more.
“Yet never before has an operative so young received a First Class mission. I cannot help but feel envious!”
He laughed with a peculiar, spinning delight.
Bu Eunseol sensed something ominous in that eye-smile and opened the envelope.
As I read through the letter, I realized that ominous feeling had become reality.
―First Class Mission. To Number Eighteen of the Ayang Branch.
Eliminate the spy Gongssi Ssangma, affiliated with the Murim Alliance.
Deadline: four days hence, upon the completion of the Ayang Branch transfer.

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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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