The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign - Chapter 612

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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 612.
Whoosh!
He immediately made his way back to the village through the Secret Passage.
The tolling of the bell seemed to have driven away all the key figures of the Cheonghae Realm.
Those remaining in the village
were only those whose bodies remained bound, their brainwashing still incomplete.
‘Either the brainwashing failed, or they deemed them not worth taking.’
Crack!
Bu Eunseol unleashed the Yeomsa technique.
She forcibly separated the people who appeared tightly bound together, creating a vast space between them.
Though there was no physical restraint binding their bodies, they clung to one another like magnets.
This was undoubtedly psychological bondage wrought through brainwashing.
By forcibly expanding the space between them, the invisible chains loosened, and the brainwashing that had dominated them began to unravel bit by bit.
“….”
As their bodies were forcibly separated, they wore expressions of sudden blankness.
At least a year had passed in this state—for some, more than five years.
Yet as the restraints binding their bodies and spirits were released all at once, the time they had endured flashed before their minds like a lantern show of the dying.
“Go.”
Bu Eunseol opened her mouth, regarding those freed from brainwashing.
“But those of you who have committed evil deeds, or harbor the intention to do so, must reconsider carefully.”
Bu Eunseol’s gaze grew stern and unyielding.
“Should you reveal the nature of a villain, you will be abducted once more by the Cheonghae Realm.”
Half of these people possessed the hearts of ruthless villains.
Among them were those who had already committed crimes, and those who had not yet done so.
Should they commit evil deeds again? She made clear that such circumstances could repeat themselves.
Rumble.
The villains, trembling with fear, hastily turned and fled the village.
Conversely, those of virtuous nature either expressed their gratitude to Bu Eunseol individually or bowed their heads and departed slowly.
Suddenly, Bu Eunseol found herself wondering.
Had this incident reformed the villains?
Or would they fail to suppress their murderous impulses and commit evil deeds once more?
Unless one were divine, no one could know the probability.
Yet no one should ever manipulate or enslave another’s life.
But the Cheonghae Realm would not cease such acts… making them a force with which coexistence was impossible.
“I must save her.”
Bu Eunseol turned urgently.
The Cheonghae Realm was among the Three Realms, one that revealed itself least of all.
No matter how many intelligence networks she mobilized, finding her whereabouts would prove difficult.
Even if she scoured all one hundred eighty thousand li of Zhong Yuan, the probability of finding her was extremely low.
“Wait.”
Bu Eunseol’s mind suddenly grasped at a fleeting thought.
Si Gyeong Rim had also undergone brainwashing to enhance his martial prowess, becoming one of the Cheonghae Realm’s Special Divine Guard.
And the young boy who had successfully undergone brainwashing before bore not his own visage,
but had transformed his appearance into that of the one he had slain.
‘Perhaps…’
A sharp sound pierced the air.
Bu Eunseol returned to the secret passage and examined the face of the lifeless Si Gyeong Rim.
Though he had drawn his final breath, his facial features remained unchanged.
Yet Bu Eunseol had spent half her lifetime as a practitioner of the Yeomsa arts.
Observing that his facial skin showed no transformation despite death, she grasped something profound.
A soft scraping sound.
She drew her blade and lightly cut along his jawline.
With a tearing sound, a new face beneath became visible.
It turned out he had been wearing an exquisitely crafted human-skin mask.
“This makes no sense whatsoever.”
During combat, Si Gyeong Rim had altered his face once more. How could such a thing have occurred while wearing a mask?
Another tearing sound.
Once the human-skin mask was completely removed, the utterly ordinary face of a middle-aged man was revealed.
“Sama Gwang?”
Bu Eunseol recognized him instantly.
The middle-aged man was one of Gangnam’s most prominent philanthropists, known for his generous donations to those in need.
He was Sama Gwang, the master of Soyun Manor.
“Then…”
Armed with this clue, Bu Eunseol swiftly departed the village.
A sharp whistle cut through the air.
Upon her immediate return to Seong Do, she issued a covert command through the Sa Hon Dae’s intelligence network.
―Bring her a complete list of all the places where Sama Gwang, the wealthy philanthropist of Gangnam, had made donations.
After issuing the command, Bu Eunseol took brief rest at an inn.
Less than a day after the order was given, a covert agent of the Sa Hon Dae discreetly delivered a single volume to where Bu Eunseol was staying.
Within its pages was a comprehensive list of all the locations where Sama Gwang had made his donations.
‘Hmm.’
Bu Eunseol’s gaze fixed upon characters written in the middle section of the document.
Jingang Prefecture, Mugok Temple.
A small temple located in Sichuan, far removed from the Gangnam region.
Sama Gwang had been making donations to this rather unexpected temple, and the sums were substantial enough to support five or six ordinary temples.
‘This is it.’
Bu Eunseol could sense it with certainty.
The Cheonghae Realm’s facilities were secretly concealed within Mugok Temple.
‘Most likely underground.’
All the Sam Gye’s facilities thus far had been constructed that way.
Rather than constructing the facility in a hidden location, they had designed it so that anyone discovering it would perceive nothing amiss.
Beneath what was always known as an ordinary place, they had created a secret chamber.
Upon leaving the Inn, Bu Eunseol had ridden relentlessly for four days and nights, arriving swiftly near Mugok Temple.
Though she had not drunk a single drop of water during that time, her eyes remained crystalline, and a subtle radiance flowed through her entire being.
As her inner cultivation deepened, she could traverse four days and nights without experiencing the slightest fatigue.
Tap.
Having finally reached Mugok Temple, Bu Eunseol infiltrated discreetly and surveyed the interior.
The temple grounds possessed a serene atmosphere, with scarcely any monks moving about.
Despite receiving substantial donations from Sama Gwang annually, the temple’s interior appeared shabby, and no worshippers were visible.
‘Are they gathered inside?’
Though she examined various corners of the Meditation Hall, she sensed no presence of monks.
‘There must be a secret passage somewhere.’
Yet despite her meticulous inspection of the surroundings, no traces of mechanisms appeared.
Moreover, the temple grounds were so expansive that there were far too many spaces to search.
‘No, they would not have constructed mechanisms within the temple itself.’
Unlike the Infinite Realm and Gwi Il Gye, the Cheonghae Gye would have no need for some massive laboratory.
Then rather than creating intricate mechanisms within the complex temple structure,
they would have simply concealed a passage in some secluded place where people did not frequent.
Crunch.
Bu Eunseol made her way toward the pagoda situated at the innermost depths of the temple.
It was the Sari Pagoda, which preserved the relics of successive monks—a forbidden place that outsiders could not enter.
‘How strange.’
Even circling the Sari Pagoda, she heard no mechanical sounds.
Furthermore, this pagoda was smaller than the height of an adult, making it impossible to construct any passage within it.
Yet suddenly, a curious thought occurred to her.
‘Shaolin.’
Shaolin too had constructed secret mechanisms within the Tower Forest.
And what controlled them was something utterly ordinary—a stone lying on the ground.
Tap.
As Bu Eunseol touched the stones one by one, she discovered a single stone that seemed hollow inside.
After examining it for some time, she pressed it firmly using her Thousand-Pound Pressure technique.
Rumble.
Then a faint mechanical sound emanated from an unexpected location.
A door had appeared on the side of the building opposite the Sari Pagoda.
‘Ingenious.’
Bu Eunseol approached the newly revealed door discreetly.
However, the door was extraordinarily solid and heavy.
Like the secret mechanisms within the Murim Alliance, it could not be opened by ordinary strength.
Bu Eunseol channeled her inner power as she gazed upon the door.
Energy currents rippled outward in all directions, and the tightly sealed iron gate began to tremble gradually.
Whirrrr.
With a mechanical sound, the massive iron gate finally swung open.
Upon entering, an endless corridor shrouded in darkness stretched before me.
I paid no heed to whether traps lay ahead, simply unleashing my divine technique and sprinting forward for a considerable distance.
Even after running for more than half a quarter hour, the passage showed no end.
Based on the distance, this secret mechanism appeared to be installed tens of miles or more away from Mugok Temple.
Finally reaching the corridor’s terminus, another colossal iron gate came into view.
As I cautiously opened it, an unexpected sight greeted me.
“This place…”
The landscape before my eyes was from the era when I served among the Ten Demon Immortals.
Was this not the forest scenery I had passed through when heading to the Demon Palace to be recognized as a successor candidate by Ma Cheon Je?
Beyond the forest, a palace hall remarkably similar to the Jamma Pavilion where I currently resided appeared.
‘This is no illusion.’
I was immune to any illusory technique or bewitchment.
Therefore, someone had deliberately constructed all of this.
Past the palace hall, a path ascending the mountain came into view.
The mountain was so towering that its peak remained invisible, obscured by clouds.
Without hesitation, I unleashed my divine technique and ascended the mountain in a single breath.
Upon reaching the summit, a panoramic vista of the entire world spread before me.
And at the cliff’s edge stood a woman in white, gazing upon that landscape.
From her silhouette alone, I could discern her identity.
She was Ah Yeon.
“Ah Yeon.”
I called out her name carefully.
Then Ah Yeon, who had been standing vacantly gazing at the sky, slowly turned around.
Though slightly more gaunt than before, her beautiful countenance remained unchanged.
Yet her eyes had grown profound, as if perceiving something far distant rather than the present reality.
“You’ve come.”
Upon seeing me, Ah Yeon offered a serene yet radiant smile.
“It’s remarkable. To think I would meet you here of all places.”
“Did you know I would come?”
“Yes.”
I felt something peculiar, but asked again.
“What are you doing here?”
“I was watching that.”
Ah Yeon pointed to a faint rainbow visible in the distance.
“The rainbow that always appears there has always seemed beautiful to me. So I made up my mind and went down there to see it.”
She spoke with a smile.
“But when I got there, I could see the rainbow clearly, yet the beautiful landscape visible from here disappeared.”
I found her words strange, but answered calmly.
“Isn’t it natural that the scenery appears different depending on where one stands?”
“I wished to see a vivid rainbow within this beautiful landscape.”
“That is a desire as illusory as a phantom. When one draws near to one place, must they not inevitably distance themselves from another?”
“Hehe.”
Ah Yeon displayed a playful smile, uncharacteristic of her usual demeanor.
“Talking with you is always entertaining.”
“….”
“Though your appearance suggests you’ve only recently shed your boyish youth, your words and actions carry the insight and profound wisdom of one who has lived eighty years.”
“My lady.”
Bu Eunseol’s expression grew troubled.
“Are you well?”
“What do you mean?”
“To be honest, I have been worried that you were abducted by the Three Realms.”
“Abducted? No, that’s not it.”
Ah Yeon shook her head.
“I simply had no choice. It was like fate itself.”
Her voice was measured, yet her gaze seemed distant and hazy,
as though she were lost in deep contemplation after drinking wine.
“Then you threw yourself into the Three Realms of your own volition?”
“I wanted to become stronger.”
Ah Yeon turned her gaze toward the mist-shrouded cliff below.
“I couldn’t forget. I thought that if I grew stronger, perhaps I could forget—that if my martial prowess increased, perhaps you would be erased from my mind….”
“What are you saying?”
“You.”
Turning her head back, Ah Yeon offered a melancholic smile.
“Your image, etched so deeply in my mind.”
“My lady.”
“But it didn’t work. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t forget you, and I couldn’t return as the Geomgak Successor either.”
Ah Yeon was a woman of Hyun Moon.
Yet she could not forget Bu Eunseol, nor could she be bound to her.
In the end, the only path remaining for her was the same as her master, Ok Yu Ha—
to spend a lifetime tormented and yearning for one she could never be with,
until she withered away into a hollow shell.
Ah Yeon wore a self-deprecating smile.
“Unable to return to Geomgak, I wandered aimlessly through the Gangho. But my anguish and suffering only grew deeper….”
She paused, her gaze turning toward the distant sky.
“In the end, believing that only death could sever my afflictions, I climbed this cliff to end my own life.”
Ah Yeon had chosen to take her own life rather than spend eternity tormented by longing.
‘She cared for me so deeply?’
Bu Eunseol drew a deep breath.
Love is sometimes akin to hatred.
When harbored alone for too long, it brings nothing but suffering, and ultimately destroys oneself.
“At that moment, a Masked Assassin called out to me. He was none other than a member of Sam Gye’s Special Divine Guard who had been watching me for a long time.”
I didn’t need to hear the rest of the story to understand it.
Sam Gye had always exploited people’s intense desires and aspirations to recruit and manipulate them.
“I see.”
Bu Eunseol, having grasped the entire situation, lowered her head.
“I apologize.”
“You have no reason to apologize.”
Ah Yeon spoke in a matter-of-fact tone.
“Each person values different things as supreme. Some desire success, others crave power, just as others seek different things….”
And she smiled faintly.
“I simply regarded love as the highest value.”
She was the Geomgak Successor.
Naturally, the ultimate goal of her life was to become the Lord of Geomgak and achieve the Way of the Sword.
But her meeting with Bu Eunseol had transformed her entire existence.
She had only wished for love to be realized with her.
The Way of the Sword, the position of Lord of Geomgak—such things had become utterly worthless to her.
“So you devoted yourself to the Cheonghae Realm?”
“I simply wanted the power to erase my suffering. That was all.”
Ah Yeon’s voice sounded like a mournful melody.
But Bu Eunseol had to maintain her composure.
If Si Gyeong Rim’s words were true, she would have already become a member of the Cheonghae Realm’s Special Divine Guard.
“Then there is another personality hidden within your mind?”
“That’s right. You already knew everything when you came here.”
“Young lady. Sam Gye has manipulated the Murim as they pleased all this time.”
Bu Eunseol spoke earnestly.
“To devote yourself to them is to condone their wickedness.”
“You seem to have misunderstood something.”
Ah Yeon shook her head.
“They are doing good work. They seek out villains in Tianxia, reform them, and then place them into the bodies of righteous people to neutralize their evil nature.”
“No one has the right to arbitrarily brainwash and kill villains who have not yet committed crimes.”
“How idealistic.”
Ah Yeon gazed at Bu Eunseol with distant eyes.
“You have always been that way. Despite being of the Demonic Path, you chose the righteous way. You never tolerated injustice.”
Deep affection welled up in her eyes.
“Perhaps that is why I came to love you.”
Bu Eunseol changed the subject.
“So, have you now completely merged with the personality of the villain?”
“Merged is not quite the right word. She is also a part of me, after all.”
“So what do you intend to do now?”
“I thought I’d confess to you.”
Ah Yeon spoke with bold candor that she could never have mustered in the past.
“Let’s leave the Murim and live happily together.”
She offered a tender smile.
“Then I won’t kill you.”
She meant it sincerely.
When someone like Si Gyeong Rim received the Grand Dharma, he became a master capable of matching Bu Eunseol in swordsmanship.
Had someone like Ah Yeon succeeded in the Grand Dharma, she would have displayed martial prowess beyond imagination.
“You know better than anyone that it cannot be.”
“Why not?”
“I have much work yet to accomplish.”
“Then once all your work is finished?”
Ah Yeon spoke with eyes burning with intensity.
“If you complete everything you must do, will you marry me and spend your entire life with me?”
Bu Eunseol’s expression turned momentarily blank.
Could I truly finish everything?
Would I even survive until then?
If I did survive… could I truly spend a lifetime with Ah Yeon?
I myself could not know the answer.
But there was one thing I knew for certain.
Love could never be forged through coercion.
“That would be impossible.”
“Why? You became betrothed simultaneously to Yeon So Ha and Dan Ryeong Ju.”
Ah Yeon asked with a somewhat heated voice.
“Why am I alone forbidden?”
“My lady, those were not true betrothals.”
“Men are always like this. Can promises between man and woman be broken at any time?”
“I did not make those promises myself.”
The betrothals with Yeon So Ha and Dan So Ok.
They were merely solutions to ward off the mounting calamities brought by women, and methods that those two had proposed to me.
“If you doubt me, speak with them and you will understand.”
“Fine.”
Unexpectedly, Ah Yeon’s expression softened once more.
“Your opinion no longer matters anyway.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ll subdue you and keep you by my side for all eternity.”
“You’re confident you can break me?”
“Of course.”
Ah Yeon smiled with a knowing smirk.
“At this point, I could even defeat the left-hand commander of the Four Gods Seven Kings.”
Bu Eunseol exhaled deeply.
Ah Yeon was not the type to make such bold declarations or rash promises.
The malevolent personality that the Cheonghae Realm had implanted was already taking root in her mind.
“Lady Ah Yeon.”
Bu Eunseol made her request once more, with earnest sincerity.
“Please reconsider and return with me to Geom Gak. If we take our time and study this carefully, we can find a way to break the brainwashing.”
“Why should I return to that tedious place and live confined?”
Ah Yeon spoke in a low voice.
“I am no longer a disciple of Hyun Moon.”
“Lady.”
“Choose.”
She drew upon her inner strength, and a faint mist rose from her entire body.
“Will you willingly spend your life with me? Or will you be forcibly subdued and become my puppet?”
Ah Yeon’s expression remained as pure and serene as before.
Yet within her mind, a sinister personality was subtly manipulating her every move.

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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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