The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign - Chapter 668

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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 668.
Cheon Woong gazed at So Ok Rim, now alone, and tilted his head curiously.
“Ahhhhh.”
As he uttered a low, groaning sound, the children within the coffin chambers emerged and walked out.
Step. Step.
The children’s eyes were devoid of focus.
And a crimson haze flowing from Cheon Woong’s body was being infused into them.
They had come so close to becoming the perfected Gyeol Ma Yeon Ok In that the Infinite Realm had long desired, yet they had become failed specimens incapable of moving independently.
In the end, after their research, the Gwi Il Gye had—
Through mysterious grand techniques, transformed Cheon Woong into a host capable of controlling the children, issuing commands through him.
Shhhhh.
The children, who had been walking slowly, soon glided smoothly and surrounded So Ok Rim.
Their movements were so agile and natural that one could scarcely believe they were Gyeol Ma Yeon Ok In.
Whoooosh!
As if bound by a pact, the children unleashed powerful force at the exact same instant.
That force was accompanied by an intense crimson radiance and moved with such blinding speed that evasion was impossible.
Boom!
In an instant, So Ok Rim’s vision was engulfed entirely in crimson light.
* * *
Bu Eunseol raced endlessly in the direction the figure of the young boy—a member of the Gwi Il Gye—had vanished.
As she sprinted through the long corridor, a wide-open door came into view in the distance.
It seemed the young boy had swiftly escaped through that door.
Whoosh!
Deploying her Extreme Speed Shadowless technique, Bu Eunseol immediately entered through the open door.
Upon entering, a vast Grand Hall unfolded before her, its ceiling towering what appeared to be dozens of zhang high.
“That is—”
Beneath a ceiling studded densely with night-luminous pearls stood a massive glass chamber, filled halfway with blood.
Above the blood-filled glass chamber, the figure of a massive man with ashen-gray skin was visible.
In that instant, one of Bu Eunseol’s eyebrows shot upward.
The man in the glass chamber.
Was he not Hyeol Hwang, whom she had encountered not long ago at Seo Ryeong San?
Flash!
As Bu Eunseol entered the Grand Hall, Hyeol Hwang’s eyes within the glass chamber snapped open.
Crack! Shatter.
In that moment, the glass chamber shattered,
Splash!
and blood gushed forth in all directions.
Step. Step.
Hyeol Hwang, having broken free from the glass chamber, strode toward Bu Eunseol.
Hisssss.
Hyeol Hwang, his eyes filled with nothing but whites, looked down at Bu Eunseol and lifted the corners of his mouth.
Whether he had fully recovered through the blood, the wound on his neck—half-severed by the Tal Yuseong Chuwol Technique—had healed completely.
“I was looking for you anyway. How convenient.”
A flash of light exploded from Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
Back then, she had been overwhelmed by the shock of the Eight Emperors and Three Stars’ resurrection, and her concern that Man Wol might be harmed.
She had not been able to display her full strength.
This time, even if all her blood evaporated and she faced death, she intended to engage Hyeol Hwang in a life-or-death duel.
Sling.
As Bu Eunseol drew Muk Hon’s blade, pitch-black sword energy spread in all directions.
There was no need for a probing exchange.
They already understood each other’s capabilities to some degree, so she intended to unleash her ultimate technique from the very start.
Crack! Crack-crack-crack!
Lightning-shaped black sword energy scattered in all directions before pouring down like rain.
From her previous battle with Hyeol Hwang, Bu Eunseol had
discovered that the Blood Dew Seven Techniques took some time to unfold, a weakness she exploited.
During that interval, she had ceaselessly refined only the Blood Dew Seven Techniques’ first form: the Life-Qi Returning Ghost Technique.
As a result, she could now vary not only the deployment speed of the Life-Qi Returning Ghost Technique but also its transformations freely.
This single move was a variant of the true Life-Qi Returning Ghost Technique, amplified with overwhelming power—a one-sided dominating transformation.
Whoooosh!
When she deployed a flawless sword technique with no openings whatsoever,
Hyeol Hwang could not completely evade, and several strands of sword energy struck his body.
Sizzle.
In that instant, white smoke rose from Hyeol Hwang’s body.
As the aura of the Blood Dew Seven Techniques—which dealt death impartially to all living things—burrowed into his flesh,
Hyeol Hwang’s blood, the very source of his life force, was being consumed.
“How does it feel?”
Bu Eunseol spoke coldly.
“After a lifetime of draining others’ blood, what is it like to have your own blood drained?”
“Heh.”
Hyeol Hwang’s white eyes gleamed.
It seemed he was both quite astonished and enraged by Bu Eunseol’s technique.
“Hehehehe.”
Hyeol Hwang suddenly burst into low laughter, then thrust both palms outward.
Immediately, a crimson mist engulfed the surroundings in a circular formation.
At the same time, a palm force like lightning surged before Bu Eunseol.
Infused with Hyeol Hwang’s Qi—which evaporated blood the instant it made contact—he unleashed a devastating palm force.
Flash!
But Bu Eunseol chose an unexpected tactic.
Rather than evade the Hyeol Hwang Qi pouring down like mist, she confronted the palm force head-on.
Then something miraculous happened.
The power of the Hyeol Hwang’s blood technique, which could neither be blocked nor intercepted, was failing to evaporate his blood at all?
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Muk Hon’s blade flashed ceaselessly through the void, yet not even the faintest sword energy or qi ripple emerged from it.
Now I realized Bu Eunseol was wielding her blade using only her body’s strength, without channeling any inner force.
Crash, crash, crash, crash!
As Muk Hon’s blade tore through the air at blinding speed, dark afterimages completely obscured Bu Eunseol’s form.
A fierce whirlwind filled the entire Great Hall.
Whoooosh.
At last, the blood technique Hyeol Hwang had unleashed dispersed like mist.
Yet Bu Eunseol’s body had expended almost no blood.
“As expected.”
Bu Eunseol clicked her tongue, gazing at the crimson haze lingering throughout the space.
“It makes no sense that an unblockable technique exists in this world.”
After the previous battle, when no method could stop the blood technique,
I had endlessly researched the reason.
―If it truly could not be blocked by any means, Hyeol Hwang would have been invincible across all Tianxia.
Yet he was not the strongest then, and was instead ranked among the lowest of the Eight Emperors and Three Stars.
Then Hyeol Hwang’s martial arts must be
capable of standing alongside the greatest masters of that era, but not an absolute technique beyond all defense.
As I endlessly searched for answers, a subtle thought suddenly crossed my mind.
―What if the blood technique is not unblockable, but reacts violently precisely because it is being blocked?
The supreme martial principle contained within Geom Joon’s Ten Thousand Forms Eclipse.
Half-above, half-below—the Dual Heaven Reversal Force can solidify and block any power.
If the Orthodox Sects’ greatest swordmaster’s technique cannot block the blood technique at all?
There is only one reason.
The very method of defense itself might be flawed.
―By the principles of martial arts, exposure to formless power cannot evaporate blood.
After endless deliberation seeking the reason, I finally reached one conclusion.
The blood technique reacts violently with the defender’s qi,
and perhaps this very reaction creates the conditions for blood to be evaporated?
In other words, Hyeol Hwang’s martial arts
shared the same principle as the inner force suppression methods used by the Abyss Forces and the Gwi Il Gye.
And my prediction struck true.
When I unleashed my swordplay without drawing upon inner force, I could repel the blood technique with surprising ease.
“Huh.”
Even though Bu Eunseol had seen through the method to block his blood technique, Hyeol Hwang merely raised the corners of his mouth.
Then, with a battle cry, he extended both palms again,
Roooar!
In an instant, my vision was engulfed in crimson mist.
Boom!
Piercing through that crimson mist, Hyeol Hwang’s intense force erupted toward me.
Zing!
I twisted my body swiftly to evade, but the fabric near my chest was torn sharply.
Sensing the advantage, Hyeol Hwang pressed forward.
He rushed to close quarters and began wielding a claw technique that seemed to shred both body and flesh.
Slash! Whoosh!
Hyeol Hwang’s nails were as sharp as fine blades, and each strike carried a vicious concentration of his blood energy.
If I were to draw upon even a fraction of my inner power to respond?
The blood energy would react, causing my blood to evaporate instantly.
No matter the approach, the situation favored him.
Whoooosh!
As Hyeol Hwang unleashed a frenzied barrage from close range, his attacks dispersed like a single mass of mist.
They began to envelop my body.
Slash! Zing zing zing!
Yet I refrained from using inner power, instead moving with composed swiftness, parrying each strike one by one with my blade.
But fighting a master of Hyeol Hwang’s caliber without inner power was—
Like a child throwing punches at an adult and hoping to knock them down.
Zing. Zing.
With each exchange, my body was pushed backward incrementally, and sharp force began to penetrate my meridians.
Boom!
In an instant, spotting an opening in my defense, Hyeol Hwang unleashed his blood energy across a radius of ten paces.
Simultaneously, as if unfurling a blood barrier, a crimson wall materialized within thirty paces around me.
It seemed his intent was to confine my movements within thirty paces, seal my escape, and decide the battle.
Zing.
Driven back by Hyeol Hwang’s relentless assault, I was pushed beyond ten paces.
Boom!
Then the Blood Emperor descended with three strikes like lightning.
The technique left no opening and struck precisely at my vital points.
Thud!
I blocked all the attacks with Muk Hon’s blade, but was driven back another five paces.
A sharp, tearing pain shot through the meridians where the force made contact.
Fortunately, though I could not unleash my inner power, a powerful protective true energy enveloped my body, allowing me to avoid fatal injury.
‘This method has its limits too.’
This strategy had clear constraints.
By avoiding inner power, I could prevent my blood from evaporating and dying from his blood energy.
But conversely, I risked having my meridians severed or being struck fatally by those overwhelming attacks.
“Heh.”
Hyeol Hwang bared his yellowed teeth in a smile.
It seemed like mockery—as if asking, ‘How long can you endure?’
“So suppressing your true energy brings you joy, does it?”
Even though Hyeol Hwang was said to be from four hundred years ago, I expected him to demonstrate some absolute mastery of extraordinary martial prowess.
Yet upon analyzing the substance, he employs nothing but extremely crude and limited martial techniques?
“Now I understand why Hyeol Hwang was placed at the lowest rank.”
“Kaaah!”
Hyeol Hwang pressed his assault without missing the opportunity.
If this barrage continued, even I would not be able to endure for long.
Yet standing at the crossroads of life and death.
My mind grew sharper, and time seemed to slow.
And one question bloomed in my thoughts.
‘Then has the secret to suppressing true qi martial arts been in use since the era of the Eight Emperors and Three Stars?’
In the end, Hyeol Hwang’s martial techniques were the same as those.
The secrets that the Three Realms and Three Houses have used to diminish the power of Murim martial arts and suppress true qi.
Then a peculiar thought occurred to me.
‘Is that why Mu Gyeol, the disciple of Shin San Ja, employed such techniques?’
Mu Gyeol, disciple of Shin San Ja.
He utilized the Heaven’s Heart Sutra, the secret technique of Jeong Cheon Je, to render an enemy’s formidable inner power utterly useless.
At the time, I could not comprehend it.
As a disciple of Jeong Cheon Je, having studied diverse Orthodox Sect martial arts, why would he master such techniques?
Why would he employ Jeong Cheon Je’s secret heart sutra in such a manner? The question had troubled me.
Then there were two possibilities.
Either Jeong Cheon Je belonged to the same organization as them.
Or he transmitted to Mu Gyeol the methods to counter their techniques, naturally leading to the use of such methods.
To break an enemy’s martial arts, one must understand the enemy’s martial arts.
‘Yes. That could be the key.’
In that moment of enlightenment, my vision seemed to brighten.
I had grasped one subtle application of the Heaven’s Heart Sutra.
Whoosh! Swish!
In the meantime, Hyeol Hwang’s palm force unleashed a fierce wind that crashed down upon me.
With each surge of palm force, thunderous explosions echoed, and each time my body was driven backward, sharp pain tore through my meridians.
Screech! Crash!
I wielded my sword technique without hesitation. Yet with each movement, blood sprayed from my body.
Even as I fought desperately.
I did not retreat a single step.
Zing.
And from a certain moment onward.
A faint mist-like energy flowed from my body.
Without expending inner power, I withstood Hyeol Hwang’s terrifying assault, and the distance I was pushed back grew incrementally shorter.
The Heaven’s Heart Sutra.
Using this secret technique of Jeong Cheon Je, I measured and synchronized with the flow of true qi that Hyeol Hwang unleashed.
Thus diminishing the power of his martial techniques.
‘He has dispersed his inner energy throughout the Eight Extraordinary Meridians rather than concentrating it in the dantian.’
Hyeol Hwang did not gather his inner energy in the dantian to deploy it as needed, but instead kept it dispersed throughout all eight meridians.
Yet the sheer volume of pure inner energy contained within his body was so tremendous that each time he unleashed his power, it displayed devastating force.
However, when Bu Eunseol used the Heaven’s Heart Sutra to align the source of that inner energy similarly…
she could avoid sustaining injuries from the energy he released.
This was a technique derived from the method Mu Gyeol had once employed in his inner energy confrontation with Bu Eunseol.
“Huff!”
Unable to inflict damage on Bu Eunseol despite his relentless assault, Hyeol Hwang’s face began to contort progressively.
His mental state was finally revealing itself upon his visage.
‘It cannot be called a true completion after all.’
Had the Grand Master Hyeol Hwang truly reincarnated and returned to life in perfect form?
No matter how dire the circumstances, he would never have displayed such emotions as joy or anger.
He would have immediately conceived and deployed new techniques in response to Bu Eunseol’s combat methods.
The pinnacle of martial arts mastery is…
to consider the enemy, the surrounding environment, and the compatibility between martial techniques, then deploy the appropriate martial arts at precisely the right moment.
But this person before me had only perfectly inherited Hyeol Hwang’s martial techniques.
He had not inherited the profound enlightenment they had achieved, nor the ability to adapt and improvise.
Flash!
A crimson blood-light blazed from Hyeol Hwang’s eyes.
When Bu Eunseol aligned the source of inner energy to reduce damage, his frustration intensified sharply.
Zing. Zing.
The enraged Hyeol Hwang seemed to be drawing upon his inner energy with full force.
His entire body began to flash with a crimson radiance, pulsing repeatedly.
It was as though he were issuing a warning beforehand—that he would unleash a technique of extraordinary power beyond the heavens.
‘That technique from back then.’
Bu Eunseol could sense it intuitively.
Hyeol Hwang’s supreme ultimate technique—one that could be solidified like hard matter, or if desired, unleashed like a razor-sharp hidden projectile.
The Blood Emperor’s Secret Fusion Qi was about to unfold.
When Hyeol Hwang first appeared, he had unleashed murderous rays of light in all directions.
And any living creature exposed to them would be cleaved in two in an instant.
‘I have been waiting for this!’
In that moment, a brilliant flash erupted from Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
She had been waiting all this time for that technique to emerge.
That powerful supreme ultimate technique, for all its devastating might, did not include the blood-evaporating qi of Hyeol Hwang.
Whoooosh!
The sound of cascading water echoed forth as a crimson radiance surged from Hyeol Hwang’s body, reaching toward the ends of the sky.
At last, the Blood Emperor’s Secret Fusion Qi had completed its preparation.
But at that very moment, a strange luminescence was flowing from Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
Zing.
A yellowish-white brilliance was now flickering within her pupils.
Nangya’s Mystic Eye.
A technique capable of instantly deciphering an enemy’s martial arts or grasping the profound mysteries of their methods.
The pinnacle technique of Nangya Sect’s martial arts unfolded from my body.
‘So this was it.’
With Nangya’s Mystic Eye fully activated,
as I beheld the Hyeol Hwang’s Sealed Fusion Qi soaring to the heavens’ edge, I felt both exultation and dread simultaneously.
The joy stemmed from the fact that as Nangya’s Mystic Eye unfolded,
what kind of radiance Hyeol Hwang was unleashing, what manner of martial technique it was, and how it could be countered or shattered—
all these secrets flooded into my body and mind in an instant.
Conversely, the fear arose because…
through Nangya’s Mystic Eye, I sensed a bizarre feeling as though I might lose myself completely.
If I were consumed by the power of Nangya’s Mystic Eye and lost my sense of self?
Utterly consumed by martial arts,
I could become a Demonic Fiend incapable of maintaining sanity, craving only slaughter.
Kwaaah! Kwaaah!
The Hyeol Hwang’s Sealed Fusion Qi that had soared to the heavens’ edge finally poured down in a straight line toward my brow.
Tsssk!
I swiftly evaded the flash of the Hyeol Hwang’s Sealed Fusion Qi, yet that murderous beam pursued me relentlessly.
Shwack! Shwack!
The murderous beam poured down in a single line, transforming into hundreds of crimson threads,
and at times attempted to engulf my body like a massive net.
Yet within this battle domain where I dominated all time and space,
I could predict the trajectory of the Hyeol Hwang’s Sealed Fusion Qi, and the weaknesses of the martial technique were crystal clear.
A method to counter and shatter the formidable absolute technique of Pa Cheon Hwang that severed all things—
‘It merely appears as a beam of light. In reality, it combines the inner qi and Hyeol Hwang’s essence within the body, manifesting as solidified true qi in the form of a Yeouui Seal, then releases it.’
In that instant, a brilliant method occurred to me, and a smile played across my lips.
If I could forcibly halt the martial technique being unleashed with full power mid-way?
The qi and blood would reverse in a flash, and the backlash would inflict fatal internal injuries.
Sling.
Having grasped the counter-method, I drew Muk Hon’s Sword once more.
Then black sword energy spread in all directions, transforming into hundreds and thousands of qi currents that began clinging to the Hyeol Hwang’s Sealed Fusion Qi.
It was a variation of the Blood Dew Seven Techniques’ Second Form—the Four-Fold Bow Technique—which received the enemy’s lethal attack and counterattacked.
Rather than severing the enemy, it instantaneously halted the flow of qi that Hyeol Hwang was attempting to unleash.
Whoong.
The moment the Hyeol Hwang’s Sealed Fusion Qi ceased, Hyeol Hwang’s expression twisted in pain as though his meridians had become obstructed.
I seized that opportunity without hesitation and unleashed my sword techniques.
They were neither Musang Cheon Ryu nor Blood Dew Seven Techniques.
They were instinctive yet efficient killing strokes poured out in response to the enemy’s vulnerabilities, revealed by Nangya’s Mystic Eye.
Ching! Ching!
Hyeol Hwang flailed both hands frantically to block my sword strikes.
Each time the sword and palm adorned the empty air, keen sword energy and currents like fierce gales scattered in all directions.
Kwaaaaa!
Concentric shockwaves rippled outward, and both figures were engulfed in dust.
Whiiiing.
As the wind cleared, the two figures gradually became visible once more.
Bu Eunseol stood firm and unwavering.
Hyeol Hwang had been driven back two steps, pale energy flowing from his entire body.
He had sustained grievous internal injuries from this collision.
“Hrrgh.”
Fury poured from Hyeol Hwang’s eyes.
The Blood Emperor’s technique, which no one had ever matched, had become useless.
This was proof that Bu Eunseol surpassed him in wielding the subtleties of martial arts.
“Hehehehe. Aaaah.”
Hyeol Hwang, who had been groaning, unleashed a thunderous roar.
“Hraaaaah!”
For him, such a situation was unbearable humiliation.
He poured forth all his power, and Hyeol Hwang himself wielded the subtleties of martial arts, seeking to kill Bu Eunseol in a single breath.

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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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