The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign - Chapter 671

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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 671.
Murim Alliance, Elite Division.
Bu Eunseol, who had been attending to various matters in her office, began preparing to depart for the Demon Hall.
Baek Mu Sung had changed completely.
No matter what she said, he would not listen, and it seemed he would not hesitate to kill her if it meant becoming the Danjoo.
‘Do I truly need to remain in the Murim Alliance?’
Unlike before, her yearning to become Danjoo was gradually fading away.
It was not solely because of Baek Mu Sung.
‘A place I must leave before long.’
The Murim Alliance was merely a temporary refuge, nothing more.
The Elite Division members could simply be transferred to the Muhon Society instead of remaining under the Murim Alliance.
One of the reasons I had created the Muhon Society was to provide these members with a place to belong.
‘The failure to uncover the connection between Mu Jon and Shin San Ja weighs heavily.’
Since entering the Murim Alliance.
I had not been able to confirm whether Shin San Ja was truly Mu Jon, let alone locate him.
Moreover, the circumstances remained murky—why I had been given the identity of Seon Woo Jin, and why I was being assigned such peculiar tasks.
Even if I were fortunate enough to become the Wu Tian Danjoo, Mu Jon possessed both the martial prowess and authority to eliminate me at any moment.
Mu Jon’s martial mastery was said to surpass even In Ma Ak Moo Ryung, the strongest among the Samma.
In the end, bearing all these countless dangers, there was no reason to endure the Murim Alliance.
‘Especially with the matter of the Heavenly Sword Society looming.’
Through the Heavenly Sword Society affair.
I had come to realize that my identity as the Foremost Sage of Murim and the treasure known as the Debt Repayment Pavilion
could become tools through which Shin San Ja could manipulate the people of Murim as he pleased.
Given such circumstances, even the claim that Hyung Su, one of the Seven Lords, was the one who killed my grandfather
had become a matter of questionable credibility.
‘Perhaps he senses it as well.’
I turned my gaze toward the window.
Mu Jon must also suspect it.
That I am growing weary of the Murim Alliance.
That I harbor doubts about whether I truly need to stake my life on the position of Danjoo.
Yet he shows no particular reaction.
Is it because he is confident I will not leave? Or because my departure would not concern him?
No matter how much I pondered it, I could not arrive at an answer.
‘Perhaps, even if it takes time, I could consolidate the Muhon Society’s intelligence organization by merging it with Sa Hon Dae, strengthening it further, and thereby obtaining intelligence capabilities as formidable as those of a Murim Alliance Danjoo.’
The Muhon Society firmly grasps the information flowing from the Wanderer Market.
Even if the Elite Division’s intelligence network were to vanish upon my departure from the Murim Alliance, I could likely fill that void sufficiently.
“I must decide.”
For me, the position of Danjoo is no longer essential, and I have an alternative—strengthening the Muhon Society’s intelligence organization.
There is no reason to endure the perilous Murim Alliance.
Moreover, this frame of mind was not new to me.
I had simply reaffirmed my resolve through an honest conversation with Gong Son Dan Gyeong, deciding to remain within the Murim Alliance.
But upon meeting Baek Mu Sung, that determination began to waver.
Even if my connection to Sam Gye becomes glaringly apparent and becomes a source of enmity in the future.
Right now, I simply wish to yield the position of Danjoo to Baek Mu Sung and depart quietly.
Baek Mu Sung. His heart is not inherently wicked, and I have faintly confirmed that he still harbors feelings of friendship toward me.
‘This is my last chance to leave the Murim Alliance.’
The time to make a choice has arrived.
Either continue remaining within the Murim Alliance.
Or covertly place the Elite Division members within the Muhon Society and depart from the Murim Alliance.
‘Is this an unavoidable choice?’
Bu Eunseol sighed deeply.
I realized that only the method I had always considered a last resort remained.
The place where Shin San Ja had summoned me and created countless traps and mechanisms.
Blood Shaolin.
I would go there and hear the truth about the person known as Shin San Ja.
* * *
Having slipped away from the Murim Alliance, Bu Eunseol immediately changed his identity to Seol So and headed toward Soshil Mountain.
With my current martial prowess, it would be impossible to secretly infiltrate Shaolin and move about freely.
But entering Blood Shaolin was possible.
Because within the Tower Forest, where pilgrims could enter, there existed a secret passage that led directly into Blood Shaolin.
Upon reaching Soshil Mountain, I mimicked a pilgrim just as before and entered the grounds of Shaolin Temple.
Fortunately, the timing coincided with Shaolin’s period of receiving pilgrims, allowing me to enter without arousing suspicion.
‘I must hurry.’
The number of pilgrims had decreased compared to before, yet the number of monks within seemed to have increased significantly.
Bu Eunseol moved with perfectly natural steps toward the Tower Forest near the Shaolin grounds.
Tap.
I attempted to activate the mechanism installed at the base of the tower to enter the secret passage.
‘It has changed.’
But whether I stepped on or moved the stone fixed beside the tower, the passage would not open.
‘Of course it has.’
Regardless of my lack of hostile intent.
The secret passage connecting Jang Gyeong Gak and Blood Shaolin had been exposed to a figure of the Demonic Path.
Dam Jeung, the abbot of Blood Shaolin, would naturally have sealed the mechanism or altered its configuration after meeting me.
‘There is no choice.’
At this point, I could not seek out a separate secret passage.
Moreover, with fewer pilgrims than before, I could no longer move about the interior discreetly.
If I lingered clumsily, the monks might sense something amiss and swarm around me.
‘Wait.’
As I turned to leave, I sensed something and my eyes gleamed.
‘Perhaps they only sealed the interior entrance.’
The secret passage installed throughout the Tower Forest extended from beneath Shaolin all the way beyond Soshil Mountain, its scale extraordinarily vast.
Such an expansive facility could not be sealed shut in a single stroke. More likely, they had merely secured this entrance alone.
‘Then.’
Zing.
Bu Eunseol immediately drew forth the Ruyi Zhen Jue, which contained crystalline divine essence.
She twisted it into an impossibly fine thread and began inserting it through the gaps of the mechanism installed in the tower.
Click. Creak.
The sealed mechanism’s door began to open slowly.
Just as Bu Eunseol had anticipated, they had not completely sealed the mechanism itself, but rather removed only the device that opened the door.
‘They could never have imagined someone forcing it open.’
No matter how formidable a master might be.
No madman would infiltrate Shaolin’s grounds and brazenly tear open a secret mechanism with martial prowess.
Breaking the door would bring monks rushing forth immediately.
Shaolin had considered this and sealed only the door itself.
‘The Ruyi Zhen Jue is indeed a technique of mechanism mastery.’
Had Shaolin known that Bu Eunseol’s Sak Jeong Bi Gyeol could twist vital essence so infinitely fine and materialize it?
They would never have sealed the mechanism so clumsily.
Shaolin would have done far better.
Whoosh.
Bu Eunseol forced open the door connected to the tower and slipped inside discreetly.
‘Everything has changed.’
Upon entering, the corridor was completely empty.
The Jang Gyeong Gak, where the scriptures had been stacked, was the same.
Even the mechanism that measured weight had vanished entirely—inside, not a single bookshelf remained, not even a speck of dust.
‘Then.’
Bu Eunseol passed through the Jang Gyeong Gak and descended into the underground passage connecting to Blood Shaolin.
But that place too was completely empty.
The Jang Gyeong Gak of Blood Shaolin, where demonic cultivation scriptures had been piled high, had vanished entirely.
It seemed that once the main base had been exposed to Bu Eunseol, they had moved everything to a completely different location.
‘Then what of Chamhoe Cave?’
Shaolin operated Chamhoe Cave secretly within Blood Shaolin—a prison where great demons were confined, either for their rehabilitation or to prevent the leakage of Shaolin’s secret techniques.
Fortunately, Shaolin’s plan to rehabilitate the great demons had succeeded.
Most of the demons, save for the Demonic Immortal Tak Il Hon, had been completely reformed and lived without any lingering desires.
Yet Bu Eunseol needed to verify this herself.
‘I’ll go see.’
Bu Eunseol found the deep shaft leading to Chamhoe Cave and immediately leaped down.
Whoooosh.
The height exceeded dozens of zhang, and the fall alone took considerable time.
As the ground came into view, Bu Eunseol immediately used her martial power to lighten her body, performed a somersault in mid-air, and landed gently on the earth.
“….”
Unlike the past, Chamhoe Cave was now filled only with a desolate chill.
‘This place too.’
It seemed they had completely relocated, likely concluding that Chamhoe Cave had been exposed.
“There’s no helping it.”
My plan to infiltrate Blood Shaolin and extract information from Shin San Ja had completely fallen apart.
“Not that I held great expectations to begin with.”
From the moment Shin San Ja laid a trap here, Blood Shaolin was already as good as exposed to the outside world.
Moreover, having tested Bu Eunseol, the successor to the Demon Hall, in this place—closing these locations was the natural course of action.
‘I’ll need to find another way.’
Bu Eunseol immediately turned to leave Chamhoe Cave.
Zing.
But a peculiar sensation washed over me.
It was something akin to intuition.
Whoosh.
Rather than heading out, Bu Eunseol slowly moved deeper into Chamhoe Cave.
The countless martial technique scriptures inscribed on the cave walls had all been cleanly erased.
And the prison where the Unnamed Elder, who had once met death by Chil Ji Ma Do while protecting my grandfather, had been confined—
had vanished without a trace.
‘There’s no presence. But.’
I searched through every corner of Chamhoe Cave but found no sign of any person anywhere.
Zing.
Yet Bu Eunseol did not give up, drawing upon the Crystal Divine Technique once more.
And I spread it endlessly outward.
Whoooosh.
As the transparent and luminous energy spread in all directions, what had remained hidden until now—
another concealed branching passage in the cave became visible.
‘Being Blood Shaolin, such things would be possible.’
Among Shaolin’s Seventy-Two Techniques, there is no sorcery, and naturally, techniques from heterodox paths or demonic sects are not employed.
But Blood Shaolin, if it grows stronger, unhesitatingly remodels the body and learns demonic techniques—
so there would be nothing strange about using mystical concealment arts.
Crunch, crunch.
Upon entering the hidden cave, a long corridor that had been invisible before came into view.
And upon venturing further down the passage, an iron gate of tremendous thickness appeared.
Creak.
Opening the iron gate and stepping inside, a vast stone chamber came into view, and on one side lay an elderly figure bound tightly by thick chains pierced through his shoulders.
It was Dam Jeung, the abbot of Blood Shaolin.
“Abbot.”
Bu Eunseol, greatly alarmed, rushed forward and tore away the thick chains binding his body.
Having been confined for so long, Dam Jeung’s complexion was extremely pallid, and his pulse was faint as if about to fade.
His life force was waning; he was dying.
A low hum resonated through the chamber.
Bu Eunseol immediately infused her counter-extreme true energy into the Ming Men acupoint.
With a soft whoosh, Dam Jeung’s eyes slowly opened.
“So you’ve come.”
Dam Jeung showed little surprise upon seeing Bu Eunseol.
And despite being on the brink of death, a serene smile graced his lips.
“What in the world has happened?”
“What happened? I simply received the punishment I deserved.”
“Punishment? What crime have I committed?”
“Did you not give me a scripture that our sect had been safeguarding?”
Dam Jeung offered a faint smile.
“Not even a speck of dust from Hyul Shaolin must ever leak to the outside world.”
Dam Jeung had kept a scripture that Grandfather Bu Chanyang had once read, and later passed it on to Bu Eunseol.
From Bu Eunseol’s perspective, she had merely received a memento from her grandfather.
But from Dam Jeung’s perspective, he had committed a grave sin—leaking a Shaolin scripture to the outside.
“You severed the four limbs and starved him to death over a single book?”
Bu Eunseol could not contain her fury.
“Is this the true face of Shaolin, which claims to be founded on compassion?”
“Did I not tell you? Hyul Shaolin is separate from Shaolin, and unless Shaolin itself faces danger, we cannot intervene.”
Dam Jeung offered a faint smile, as though it were nothing.
“I was not unaware of the punishment I would receive.”
In that moment, a strange thought occurred to Bu Eunseol.
“Could it be that you imposed this punishment upon yourself, rather than having it inflicted by another?”
“It was something I resolved to do from the beginning.”
Dam Jeung spoke matter-of-factly.
“No matter how wicked one may be, Bin Seung set up the Facility and allowed those people to die merely to test you.”
Dam Jeung spoke with calm resignation.
“Though Hyul Shaolin may be capable of anything, when a transgression is committed, should not someone bear responsibility for it?”
Dam Jeung had caused those wicked ones to die in order to test Bu Eunseol—and thus he bore that responsibility.
“Moreover, it was Bin Seung who authorized the installation of the Facility.”
A glimmer of understanding flickered in Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
Then the countless traps that Shin San Ja had once created throughout Hyul Shaolin—
Were those not installed with the Abbot’s permission, but rather by Dam Jeung’s unilateral judgment?
“Did Hyul Shaolin not enhance martial prowess by modifying the bodies of wicked men? How can such a Hyul Shaolin receive punishment for killing those same wicked men?”
“The modification of wicked men was for the advancement of Shaolin’s martial arts. But testing you was not for Shaolin’s sake, was it?”
If it were to protect Shaolin, if it were to strengthen Shaolin, then Hyul Shaolin could do anything.
But testing Bu Eunseol had nothing whatsoever to do with Hyul Shaolin’s duty to safeguard Shaolin.
Thus it seemed Dam Jeung had no choice but to accept this punishment.
Yet Bu Eunseol shook her head.
For reasons she could not articulate, she sensed instinctively that Dam Jeung’s words were not the truth.
“Surely you don’t mean the Great Master took the blame for Shaolin’s crimes?”
“Amitabha Buddha.”
Dam Jeung exhaled a Buddhist invocation and shook his head.
“I have committed no wrongdoing. Whatever mistakes were made, they were all perpetrated by Bin Seung.”
From those words, Bu Eunseol could confirm it—something grave had transpired within Shaolin.
Yet she remained an outsider.
Dam Jeung would never divulge Shaolin’s secrets to her.
“Then why conduct such a trial at all? Was it coercion from Shin San Ja?”
Bu Eunseol spoke with a tone of regret.
“Surely you knew it would come to this, Great Master. Was there truly such a necessity?”
“Cheon Am Seong.”
Dam Jeung spoke in an extraordinarily low yet distinctly clear voice.
“He said the probability that you are Cheon Am Seong is extremely high.”
Bu Eunseol’s expression went blank.
She had merely thought Shin San Ja possessed a meticulous understanding of her temperament and nature.
Yet it turned out he had known all along that she might be Cheon Am Seong.
And all the trials of Blood Shaolin were conducted to verify whether she truly was Cheon Am Seong.
“And he persuaded Bin Seung that the truth absolutely had to be confirmed.”
‘The Chief’s words were true after all.’
Then Mu Jon was—
Just as Gong Son Dan Gyeong had said, he certainly possessed the ability to perceive the Heavenly Secrets.
“Who exactly is Shin San Ja?”
Bu Eunseol suspected that Mu Jon and Shin San Ja were the same person, yet she posed the question once more.
“What manner of person is Shin San Ja that he could compel the Great Master to such acts?”
“Don’t you already know?”
From that answer, Bu Eunseol received the solution to the question that had so consumed her.
Shin San Ja.
He was none other than Mu Jon, and the title of Murim’s Greatest Sage was merely another identity of his.
“He told me as much.”
Dam Jeung’s eyes gradually dimmed, as though his life force was slowly extinguishing.
“You were never truly of the Demonic Path. Rather, you are a great benefactor to Blood Shaolin, including myself as its abbot….”
And he continued with words of incomparable shock.
“…The son of Baek Ri Mu Ha, who was falsely accused as Cheon Am Seong and died in grievous injustice.”
Thud.
Bu Eunseol was struck with such overwhelming shock that her vision darkened.
“What do you mean? Baek Ri Mu Ha was falsely accused as Cheon Am Seong?”
From her faint memories, she had only ever heard his face and voice.
Yet knowing that Baek Ri Mu Ha was certainly her father, and learning the truth of his death—
She burned with far greater fury and lost all reason, more so than when she witnessed her grandfather’s demise.
“Baek Ri Mu Ha… my father… was falsely branded as Cheon Am Seong, the one capable of bringing about the annihilation of all Murim?”
“That is correct.”
“Then who in the world killed him?”
Dam Jeung gazed at Bu Eunseol with dimming eyes.
Summoning what little strength remained, he spoke once more.
“Even Bin Seung does not know. But if you wish to uncover the truth behind his death….”
Feeling his life ebbing away, Dam Jeung opened his mouth one final time with all his remaining power.
“Seek out Jeong Cheon Je.”
“He is dead.”
Bu Eunseol spoke urgently.
“He passed away long ago and was enshrined in the Eternal Ice Pavilion beneath the Murim Alliance headquarters. Is that not why Mu Jon serves as the Alliance Master in his stead?”
“Dead, you say?”
Dam Jeung’s expression twisted strangely as he forced his closing eyes open.
“Jeong Cheon Je… he is very much alive, is he not?”
“How could that be? It has been a full decade since Jeong Cheon Je drew his last breath.”
“A decade?”
Dam Jeung blinked faintly, then spread his fingers as if counting.
“Two years ago, Bin Seung met with him….”
But Dam Jeung’s words never reached their conclusion.
His life finally exhausted, his eyes widened in their final moment as his body went still.
Thud.
At last, his hand fell limply to the ground.
Beginning as a martial master of Blood Shaolin.
He had witnessed the Absolute Demon Path Plan with his own eyes.
When his martial brothers were slain by an unknown force, he became the abbot of Blood Shaolin and pursued those responsible. Dam Jeung had fallen prey to Shin San Ja’s deception, committing grave sins, and had struggled through countless hardships seeking redemption…
Yet in the end, death had come for him.
It was inevitable.
Thump.
Bu Eunseol collapsed to her knees.
Every instinct screamed at her to resurrect Dam Jeung by any means necessary and extract every detail of his knowledge.
“Jeong Cheon Je is alive… and he holds the truth about Father’s death.”
Her eyes had lost all focus.
Could it be that Jeong Cheon Je had killed her father and suffered a mortal wound in the process?
Was that why he had gone into seclusion, only to be ambushed by someone from Sam Gye?
“No, Jeong Cheon Je is not the culprit.”
If her father had been murdered by Jeong Cheon Je?
Dam Jeung would have simply stated it plainly: “The culprit is Jeong Cheon Je.”
There would have been no need for such elaborate phrasing as “the truth behind his death.”
And most importantly… Jeong Cheon Je was not dead. He was very much alive.

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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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