The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign - Chapter 620

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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 620.
Returning to the room, Bu Eunseol explained the situation to Beok Goong Ryung and Song Ak.
“There is someone within the Wudang Sect deliberately draining the vital essence from the elders.”
At this rather absurd conclusion, Beok Goong Ryung and Song Ak exchanged bewildered glances.
“An object that drains vital essence? What are you talking about?”
“Does such a thing even exist in this world?”
Bu Eunseol explained calmly.
“Though unknown to the Gangho, there exist objects called Heuk Shin Gi. These artifacts possess capabilities beyond imagination….”
After listening in silence for a long while, Beok Goong Ryung furrowed his brow.
“Then wouldn’t we simply need to find whoever possesses this Heuk Shin Gi?”
“That will be difficult. We don’t even know what it looks like, and whoever has it would certainly keep it hidden in a place where it could never be discovered.”
“I find this incomprehensible.”
Song Ak shook his head.
“Even if such an object exists, why would someone go to the trouble of infiltrating our sect to drain the elders’ vital essence?”
The Wudang Sect stands shoulder to shoulder with Shaolin.
There would be no reason to take such risks in a place where discovery was highly probable.
“It seems there are various conditions required to awaken a Heuk Shin Gi. I once encountered one that could activate its power by extracting the yin energy of women.”
“Then are you suggesting that a disciple of our sect obtained such a sinister object and sought to use its power?”
“It is likely not someone from Wudang.”
Bu Eunseol spoke with conviction.
“Someone is clearly impersonating a Wudang Sect disciple.”
Yet Song Ak responded with unexpected firmness.
“That cannot be.”
“How can you be so certain?”
At Beok Goong Ryung’s question, Song Ak answered honestly.
“In fact, our sect once reached the conclusion that a malevolent person had infiltrated us. So we summoned all disciples and interrogated each one individually.”
He continued speaking calmly.
“We questioned every disciple about things an outsider could never know. If someone had truly infiltrated, they would certainly have been exposed.”
“But if the interrogator himself were the culprit, wouldn’t he escape detection?”
It was a sharp observation.
Yet Song Ak remained resolute.
“That may be possible, but I do not believe the elders and senior leaders of our sect are the culprit.”
In other words, those who conducted the interrogation were the core figures of the Wudang Sect, and he was confident none of them were the criminal.
“Perhaps the interrogation itself could not uncover the truth.”
Bu Eunseol spoke.
“In Sam Gye, there exist secret techniques to steal others’ memories. It is even said there are techniques to peer into one’s essence, vital energy, and spirit.”
Song Ak, being well-versed in Sam Gye matters, nodded without great surprise.
“If such techniques exist….”
His expression grew grim.
“Then they would have examined all memories, and we would never find them.”
Looking back, the disciples of the Wudang Sect shared deep bonds, with those of the same generation practically inseparable.
If there had been a suspicious person among them, the disciples of the same generation would have surely sensed something amiss.
“Then it must be Sam Gye again.”
“I cannot say for certain. Only that the probability is high.”
In truth, the Black Spirit Technique was more likely to belong to forces opposing Sam Gye rather than Sam Gye itself.
But since nothing was certain, I offered only vague explanations.
Beok Goong Ryung nodded.
“Indeed, if it were not Sam Gye, who would dare infiltrate the Wudang Sect and commit such mischief?”
“We must investigate the Wudang Sect disciples once more.”
At Bu Eunseol’s words, Beok Goong Ryung and Song Ak nodded gravely.
It seemed the investigation would stretch on considerably longer.
Bu Eunseol and Beok Goong Ryung interrogated the Wudang Sect disciples once again, one by one.
Yet not a single suspicious person emerged.
‘Could it be a divided personality, like with Cheonghae Gye?’
Bu Eunseol stroked her chin thoughtfully.
‘No, that cannot be it.’
Successful brainwashing required an extremely long duration—at minimum a year, at maximum over a decade.
There was no way such an undertaking could be attempted while absorbing the vital essence of the Wudang Sect elders through the Black Spirit Technique.
A murmur of voices filled the air.
When noon arrived, the disciples of the Wudang Sect began taking their meals at each temple.
Since the Wudang Sect had many members, they employed dedicated cooks to manage the kitchens.
Bu Eunseol observed the disciples eating with keen attention.
With all the disciples gathering at once for meals, it became far easier to observe them.
“Eat slowly.”
Among the Wudang Sect’s cooks, there was one particularly distinctive person.
An elderly grandmother of considerable age, she would instantly spot any shortage of side dishes or soup, quickly replenishing them with abundance.
‘Hmm.’
Bu Eunseol’s eyes gleamed as she watched the grandmother swiftly refilling dishes for the young cultivators.
‘There is a method in this.’
A brilliant idea struck Bu Eunseol, and she approached Song Ak with several questions.
“Is there perhaps a strict master within the Wudang Sect?”
“A strict master, you say.”
“The Wudang Sect has many disciples, does it not? Surely there must be someone who establishes hierarchy and teaches the disciples with rigorous discipline.”
“There is indeed.”
Song Ak opened his eyes wide and shook his head.
“It is none other than our sect’s Grand Master, Cheong Song Jin In. Though I would not say he is strict to that degree.”
His face appeared somewhat haggard as he continued.
“The benefactor is fortunate in this regard. Had he been present here, we could not have conducted this investigation so freely.”
“Where is he?”
“He entered the Small Garden behind Okhu Palace over a year ago. He will likely emerge around this time next year.”
“That’s fortunate.”
“What do you mean?”
“That you’re at Wudang Mountain.”
A white smile played across Bu Eunseol’s lips as she inhabited Seol So’s body.
“Now I’ll be able to find the culprit.”
* * *
All disciples of the Wudang Sect, from first-generation and above, had gathered before Okhu Palace.
This was because Cheong Song Jin In, who had been quietly secluded in the small Bamboo Forest behind Okhu Palace, had descended.
He was the highest elder of the Wudang Sect and its Grand Master, serving as the secret teacher of the sect leader Young Cheong Ja.
Despite being nearly a hundred years old, Cheong Song Jin In’s physique remained bear-like, and he was still vigorous enough to consume three bowls of rice in a single meal.
Moreover, until recently, he had complained that the Wudang disciples had become far too weak.
He was the very person who had personally conducted martial arts training for the elders and commanders, excluding the sect leaders, as well as the first-generation disciples.
Thump, thump.
From atop the Okhu Palace steps, Cheong Song Jin In’s eyes blazed with the fierce gaze of a tiger as he looked down upon the first-generation disciples, including the sect leader.
“There has been a crisis in this sect, yet why was I not informed?”
As his thunderous voice echoed, Young Heo Ja, who had been watching the mood, quickly stepped forward.
“The sect leader thought that informing the Grand Master might disturb your deep cultivation…”
“Nonsense!”
As Cheong Song Jin In’s eyes turned cold, Young Heo Ja dared not raise his head and retreated backward.
“The elders of this sect all fell into sleepwalking and tore apart wild beasts with their bare hands? Does that even make sense?”
Cheong Song Jin In descended the steps and began scrutinizing the faces of the elders one by one.
They did not dare meet his gaze and cast their eyes downward.
Especially those elders who had fallen into sleepwalking and consumed flying beasts trembled with their eyes shut tight.
“What have you all been doing!”
His fury now turned upon the commanders of each sect hall and the first-generation disciples.
“Is it not because you have failed in your duties that the elders’ bodies have withered away like this?”
Whenever Cheong Song Jin In passed nearby, the bodies of the commanders and disciples flinched.
Cheong Song Jin In’s temperament could be described as not merely quick-tempered but explosively volatile.
Therefore, when teaching martial arts,
he not only personally demonstrated techniques using his aged frame, employing his hands and feet, but also… if anyone failed to concentrate or made a mistake?
His martial techniques would pour forth directly upon their faces along with his furious shout.
Since he showed no mercy in his hands, it was frequent for those who sought to learn martial arts from Cheong Song Jin In to end up bedridden for days instead.
“If word of this spreads beyond these walls, the heroes of Gangho will mock this sect as a gathering of charlatan Daoists!”
Cheong Song Jin In spoke in a solemn voice.
“Starting tomorrow, I shall personally resume martial arts instruction. Gather before Sam Cheong Jeon by dawn.”
At those words, groans of anguish burst from every disciple’s lips.
Unable to bear it any longer, the sect leader Young Cheong Ja cautiously stepped forward and spoke.
“Grand Master, the elders have now reached an age where their joints are stiffening… can they endure such harsh training?”
“Sect Leader. The martial arts of this sect are all founded upon inner energy. That they fell into sleepwalking is because they neglected their cultivation, allowing illness to invade them.”
Cheong Song Jin In turned his head and spoke to his disciples.
“Young Heo Ja and Young Jin Ja will be exhausted from all manner of arduous training, so exclude those two and gather the rest.”
At those words, Young Heo Ja and Young Jin Ja gazed at each other with expressions of deep gratification, their palms pressed together.
They were savoring the fruits of their labor in serving Cheong Song Jin In all this time.
“Steel yourselves starting tomorrow!”
Cheong Song Jin In’s thunderous cry echoed as he turned without a backward glance, ascending past Okhu Palace into the Bamboo Forest.
“….”
For a long moment, heavy silence hung before Okhu Palace.
In that instant, every Daoist standing before Okhu Palace fixed a chilling gaze upon one figure.
The object of their stares was none other than Song Ak.
―All because that wretch stirred up this needless trouble…!
It was he who had summoned Cheong Song Jin In from his closed-door meditation.
He had trusted Bu Eunseol’s words and persuaded the elders to grant Cheong Song Jin In an audience.
The reason was simple—Bu Eunseol had spoken thus.
―If you summon Cheong Song Jin In, the culprit can be found at once. Trust me.
Yet instead of finding the culprit, he had merely provoked Cheong Song Jin In’s wrath and departed with nothing but threats of renewed martial training. Had he not?
Moreover, Bu Eunseol had vanished without a trace in the meantime.
‘I burned down an entire house trying to catch a single flea.’
Song Ak’s eyes had lost all focus, and cold sweat streamed down his forehead.
It would have been better had the elders contracted sleepwalking and ceased reproduction.
For the first-generation disciples and beyond to endure such grueling training morning and night was an agony beyond measure.
“Song Ak, because of you….”
Young Cheon Ja, the most hot-tempered among the elders, rolled up his sleeves and approached.
Thud, thud.
Then two shadows appeared atop the steps of Okhu Palace.
It was Beok Goong Ryung and Bu Eunseol.
“Master.”
At Song Ak’s cry, Beok Goong Ryung nodded and spoke.
“I shall reveal all the truth. Listen well.”
He surveyed the disciples with solemn gravity.
“Song Ok. Step forward.”
A first-generation disciple with the thinnest frame and most frail appearance tilted his head in confusion.
“You mean me?”
“Yes.”
As Song Ok stepped forward, Beok Goong Ryung spoke in a low voice.
“Who are you?”
Song Ok replied with a bewildered expression.
“I am the disciple Song Ok.”
“Hehehehe.”
A low chuckle escaped Beok Goong Ryung’s lips as a small stone suddenly materialized at his fingertip, suspended in the void.
Whoosh!
Song Ak drew his sword with lightning speed and took a defensive stance.
It was a movement befitting the First Disciple of Wudang.
Crash!
But as my inner energy poured forth, even though Song Ak managed to block it, he was sent flying back more than a dozen paces and slammed into a massive tree.
Cough.
Though he quickly rose to his feet, blood trickled from Song Ok’s lips.
He had suffered severe internal injuries in just a single exchange.
“Patriarch.”
Young Heo Ja, flustered, stepped in front of Beok Goong Ryung and cried out.
“What are you doing?”
“This man is no disciple of Wudang Sect.”
Beok Goong Ryung spoke matter-of-factly.
“If we capture and interrogate him, everything will come to light. Seize him.”
“Patriarch. We have already investigated all the First Disciples.”
Young Heo Ja spoke with a sorrowful tone.
“We have confirmed that Song Ok is not a spy sent from outside.”
“Of course not. He would have the exact same memories as Song Ok.”
―The same memories?
All the Wudang cultivators present widened their eyes.
Beok Goong Ryung’s words sounded far too strange to them.
“I am Song Ok.”
Then Song Ok spoke as if wronged.
“All the elders of our sect have acknowledged this fact. Why do you, an outsider, deny it?”
And he raised his voice once more.
“Could it be that you, Patriarch, are being manipulated by outsiders to further throw our sect into chaos?”
The elders and disciples unconsciously nodded their heads.
Even if Beok Goong Ryung was a renowned hero representing the Orthodox Sects and elevated to the Hall of Heroes,
from Wudang Sect’s perspective, he remained an outsider.
For such a person to interrogate the First Disciples—the pillars of Wudang’s future—without a shred of evidence?
It was utterly unthinkable.
“How confident.”
Beok Goong Ryung smiled faintly.
“You are certain there is absolutely no way to prove it.”
“There is no way to prove it because there is no evidence in the first place.”
Song Ak spoke in a clear, ringing voice.
“Because I did not do it.”
“Very well.”
Beok Goong Ryung nodded toward Bu Eunseol.
Then Bu Eunseol spoke in a loud voice.
“Master! I ask once more!”
As that voice resonated through Wudang Mountain, another bear-like shadow descended leisurely from behind Okhu Palace.
It was Cheong Song Jin In, who had ascended to the Bamboo Forest moments earlier.
“You’ve become quite the nuisance, haven’t you?”
Cheong Song Jin In glared at Bu Eunseol and Beok Goong Ryung before speaking with irritation.
“If you’ve captured them, dispose of them quickly—why are you searching for the Old Daoist?”
“It appears the disciples of Wudang failed to notice, so I inquired.”
At Bu Eunseol’s response, a piercing blue light flashed in Cheong Song Jin In’s eyes.
“Incompetent fools.”
Cheong Song Jin In, who had been glaring fiercely at all disciples except Young Cheong Ja, the sect leader, unleashed a thunderous rebuke.
“Something even outsiders can distinguish at a glance, yet the disciples of our own sect cannot?”
Approaching with heavy breathing, Cheong Song Jin In pointed accusingly at Young Heo Ja’s face.
“You, who should be properly instructing the disciples, instead gallivant about Gangho accomplishing nothing—is it any wonder they’ve become blind as moles?”
Young Heo Ja flinched with each movement of Cheong Song Jin In’s finger.
The memory surfaced of his weak lower body.
He recalled being forced to maintain the Golden Rooster Stance throughout an entire day until his waist nearly broke.
“You are no better.”
Cheong Song Jin In now approached Song Ak, who stood foremost among the first-generation disciples.
“Did you not carelessly summon outsiders and magnify our sect’s affairs?”
As Cheong Song Jin In raised his foot as if to strike, the disciples nearby flinched in unison as if by agreement.
The memory of being kicked by the Mysterious Eighteen Kicks while being told he would be properly taught the leg techniques came flooding back.
―Ah?
The elders and commanders of Wudang who observed this scene could sense it.
All the Wudang Sect cultivators here had been tormented so severely by Cheong Song Jin In that
even meeting his gaze caused their legs to tremble, and his mere approach set their hearts pounding as if they would burst.
Yet only Song Ok.
Though he feigned fear, his physiological response remained as calm as ever.
Why?
For the false Song Ok, Cheong Song Jin In was merely a frightening figure in memory alone.
The genuine Wudang disciples experienced immediate physical reactions from direct experience.
But he showed no particular change despite his fearful expression.
“Seize that villain at once!”
At Young Cheong Ja’s cry, the first-generation disciples immediately drew their swords and formed a circle around Song Ok.
“A method of exploiting the void.”
Song Ok, having grasped everything, surveyed the surrounding gazes and spoke coldly.
“Finding the flaw that the body’s reactions cannot be controlled and thereby discerning truth from falsehood—I must truly applaud you.”
“Who are you?”
Young Cheong Ja stepped forward, his expression grave as he demanded.
“Why have you committed such vicious acts of absorbing the vital essence of our sect’s elders?”
“It was unavoidable.”
Song Ok withdrew a transparent ring from his robes.
“To activate this Mu Gyeol Ten Finger Ring, I needed the vital essence of someone who had mastered Daoist inner energy.”
“Mu Gyeol Ten Finger Ring?”
Even the Wudang Sect elders, experienced in the ways of Gangho, had never heard of such a name.
What exactly was that transparent ring that could drain the vital essence of the elders?
“Unfortunately, I’ll have to visit again another time.”
Song Ok, slowly donning the ring, spoke with an unhurried expression.
“I wonder what form I’ll take when I return next time.”
Crack.
As he slipped on the ring, a sudden transparent rift materialized between Song Ok and the Wudang Sect cultivators.
As if the world itself had split into two pieces, torn like a ripped painting.
The Mu Gyeol Ring.
That mysterious dark divine technique was beginning to exert its power.
“Seize him!”
At Cheong Song Jin In’s cry, all the disciples of Wudang Sect drew their swords and launched their assault toward Song Ok.
Yet no matter how fiercely they attacked, they could not penetrate the space that had developed a faint boundary.
As if through that narrow rift,
the world where Song Ok existed and all other worlds had been divided by a boundary.
“Did I come to Wudang unprepared?”
Song Ok smiled faintly and waved his hand.
“Then I’ll see you next time.”
And he leisurely turned his body.
Everyone present, flustered, poured forth their martial power, yet none could breach that split chasm.
“Hehehehe.”
As Song Ok laughed and slowly turned his body,
Whoosh.
Black mist billowed outward, and his form vanished in an instant.
At the same moment, the rift that Song Ok had created began to fade away gradually.
But in that instant,
Boom! Boom boom boom boom!
With tremendous explosions, golden rings flickering with violet lightning began pouring endlessly through the splitting rift.
Beok Goong Ryung, his fingers extended rigidly.
He was flicking his Dok Moon weapon, the Rotating Golden Rings, one by one at maximum force.
Boom! Boom!
Finally, as he expelled all eighteen golden rings he possessed,
Zing!
The gap in the rift widened slightly, and a faint light spilled through.
“Now!”
The moment Beok Goong Ryung cried out loudly,
Kwaaaah!
A shadow wielding an iron sword infused with violet lightning, extending a massive divine form, instantly wedged itself through the rift.
Bu Eunseol unfurled Sword and Body as One, wedging herself through the opening.
Bu Eunseol and Beok Goong Ryung.
These two Grand Masters who transcended generations knew each other’s martial techniques and capabilities far too intimately.
Without a moment’s discussion, they deployed this coordinated technique on the spot, neutralizing the power of the Black Divine Qi.
Crash!
With a sound like crystalline glass shattering into countless shards.
Bu Eunseol pierced through the wall of space created by the Black Divine Qi and reached the place where Song Ok stood.
“Master.”
Young Heo Ja asked Beok Goong Ryung in astonishment.
“Is it truly wise to send your disciple in without going yourself?”
From just a single exchange, one could discern how formidable the false Song Ok’s martial prowess truly was.
Yet you send your disciple inside without hesitation?
“Have no fear.”
Beok Goong Ryung’s smile brimmed with absolute certainty.
“Even if we cannot capture him alive, I will certainly claim his head.”

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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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