The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign - Chapter 680

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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 680.
“It may have seemed easy to deceive the head of this house….”
Gong Sun Hwa Wook’s eyes narrowed with piercing sharpness.
“As one grows older, experience accumulates. And with it comes wisdom.”
The area around the Pavilion fell into a vacuum, and an atmosphere suffocating in its intensity descended.
Bu Eunseol, who had maintained her silence, responded with perfect composure and courtesy.
“Of course, sir.”
“What do you mean, ‘of course’?”
“Because superior intellect and knowledge do not necessarily equate to wisdom.”
Bu Eunseol spoke with measured calm.
“Living long means experiencing and feeling countless things. As people age, they become wiser, more rational, and pursue more reasonable approaches.”
A long life bestows wisdom upon humanity. And this is an immutable truth.
“Then we can speak frankly with each other.”
Gong Sun Hwa Wook, having withdrawn his murderous aura, nodded.
“Tell me. You don’t care for Gyeong Yi, do you?”
“That is correct.”
Bu Eunseol spoke honestly.
“I harbor no affection for the Chief.”
Gong Sun Hwa Wook’s expression hardened.
He had anticipated it, but receiving such a direct answer struck him like a blow.
“Honest, at least.”
Gong Sun Hwa Wook asked with a measured tone.
“Then why did you come here? Simply because you were asked? Or because she is your direct superior?”
“Those factors are certainly included, but they were not the decisive reason.”
Bu Eunseol spoke with utmost gravity.
“The Chief is colder and more rational than anyone. Yet she shows weakness exclusively toward her family. And that brilliant intellect of hers simply does not function when it comes to them.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“The Chief was confident she could deceive the head of the house. I knew that was impossible, yet she did not.”
Gong Sun Hwa Wook’s eyes grew cold.
He was well aware that his daughter, who pursued perfection, was uniquely vulnerable to her parents and younger sibling.
But for a complete stranger to see through such things?
“You accompanied someone you don’t even like to their home for such a trivial reason?”
“Because the Chief holds her family so dear, I wished to help. I owe her much debt from before.”
“Debt?”
“Yes.”
“So you came to repay a debt.”
Gong Sun Hwa Wook’s eyes turned cold.
As a parent with a daughter, such an answer felt like profound insult.
“But the greatest reason was the Chief’s vulnerability.”
“Vulnerability?”
“That’s right. There isn’t a man in Murim who wouldn’t help after seeing the Chief in such a state.”
Gong Sun Hwa Wook’s expression grew peculiar.
Gong Son Dan Gyeong pursued perfection as rigorously as her cold demeanor suggested.
Yet Gong Sun Hwa Wook and his wife understood something profound.
Beneath that frigid exterior, Gong Son Dan Gyeong concealed clumsy, tender emotions.
Until now, only they as a couple had ever discerned this truth.
And yet this ordinary-looking young man had grasped it in a single breath?
“So it’s not mere sympathy.”
“Precisely. To be exact, I’d say it’s romantic interest as a man.”
“Then what do you intend to do?”
“The same as with the family head. I’ll do my utmost to be considerate so the Chief’s heart isn’t wounded. I’ll pretend to be her lover and work to make a good impression on you both.”
Bu Eunseol spoke with earnest eyes.
“I hope this interest might bear good fruit.”
‘A capable fellow. Surprisingly capable indeed.’
Until now, no one had discovered that Gong Son Dan Gyeong was clumsy, careless, and possessed tender emotions.
Which meant this man understood his daughter’s heart as well as he did himself.
Moreover, his somewhat languid and indifferent demeanor had begun to appeal to him more and more.
‘If he can perceive Gyeong Yi’s tender heart like this…’
He exhaled sharply through his nose.
‘I should put him through Cheon Sung Byeol Bu once.’
Cheon Sung Byeol Bu was where he had consolidated the culmination of his martial studies, and it was also the place where he would eventually pass down his true martial techniques to Dan Gyeong and Dan Ah.
And within that place existed one special facility.
Specifically, a trial gate designed to test any man who would become the son-in-law of Gong Son Dan Gyeong and Gong Son Dan Ah.
“Do you know how to play Go?”
When Gong Sun Hwa Wook asked, Bu Eunseol shook her head.
“I’m afraid I’ve never learned.”
“Never learned? All the better then. The family head shall teach you a game or two.”
Gong Sun Hwa Wook rose from his seat and spoke.
“There’s a study chamber that the family head uses over there. How about a game of Go in that place?”
“I’d be delighted.”
As Bu Eunseol consented, a faint smile graced Gong Sun Hwa Wook’s lips.
He led Bu Eunseol toward a small cave near the Back Mountain of the Manor.
At the cave entrance, the characters “Cheon Sung Byeol Bu” were inscribed in a script as if dragons and phoenixes were taking flight.
“Ah, I forgot the wine.”
Gong Sun Hwa Wook exclaimed.
“I have some plum wine I brewed myself. Playing Go while sipping a cup or two would taste quite exquisite.”
“I shall fetch it.”
“You don’t know where the Main House’s Wine Cellar is. I’ll return shortly—go ahead and wait inside.”
Click.
As Gong Sun Hwa Wook touched the mechanism, the stone gate that had been firmly sealed opened of its own accord.
“There are two branching passages ahead. The facility is on the left. Wait there.”
Bu Eunseol understood what Gong Sun Hwa Wook was scheming.
But thinking there was no harm in it, she nodded.
“Understood.”
Tap, tap.
As she entered, bright light poured down from above.
Gong Sun Hwa Wook was a master of arrays.
Though there were no night-luminous pearls or lanterns on the ceiling, mysteriously the interior was as bright as midday.
“Oh my.”
After walking through the corridor for some time, Bu Eunseol let out a sigh.
I had suspected as much.
I sensed that intricate, layered arrays were embedded throughout the interior.
‘Parents with daughters are all the same.’
The Palace Lord Yeon Ja Mi had installed absurdly terrifying trials to select a suitable son-in-law.
And Gong Sun Hwa Wook as well.
He had set up a facility to gauge various abilities, intending to test the prospective son-in-law.
‘I should play along.’
A faint smile.
The moment I stepped toward the left corridor, the surrounding scenery shifted, and a towering wall came into view.
It completely blocked the path forward, impossible to pass without breaking through.
“Without a sword, he’s telling me to break it with martial prowess. This trial is meant to gauge my combat ability.”
Bu Eunseol flicked a finger wind lightly.
But it only made a faint sound—the wall didn’t even scratch.
“Hmm.”
Though it was an ordinary finger wind, Bu Eunseol had infused it with the inner force of one of the Six Heavenly Stems.
A finger wind that could pierce solid steel in an instant, yet not even a mark appeared?
“Shin Geum Cheol Byeok.”
Bu Eunseol let out a hollow laugh.
Only then did I realize that the wall blocking the corridor
was the Shin Geum Cheol Byeok—something that couldn’t even be touched without the inner force of the Six Heavenly Stems.
“If the first trial is this difficult, there will be more tests ahead.”
Gong Sun Hwa Wook was truly the greatest array master in Zhong Yuan.
For such a man to desire a son-in-law, the standard would be extraordinarily high.
He would lay down incomprehensibly intricate arrays… testing martial prowess, wisdom, and perhaps even character and temperament.
He would want the prospective son-in-law to lack nothing.
“This is troubling.”
Bu Eunseol hesitated.
My martial prowess had transcended the Extreme Heaven Realm, and I didn’t know where it had arrived.
I was rowing toward a destination whose location I didn’t even know.
If I unleashed my full martial power here,
What would unfold, even she could not predict.
‘I should just go.’
Bu Eunseol, who had reached the realm of Choguk Dowon, possessed knowledge of the formation arrays used by Sam Gye and the Imperial Palace’s martial techniques.
Without the sorcery of the Abyss Forces, she remained virtually unaffected by ordinary formation techniques and mystical arts.
If she wished, she could turn around now and leave the Cave.
Click.
But then a low sound came from behind.
Bu Eunseol turned and walked toward the sound,
Rumble.
Along with the sound of machinery, the Shin Geum Cheol Byeok that had stood before her sank back into the earth.
‘He’s given me the choice.’
This gateway had been designed so that simply turning back would allow her to escape this place.
In other words, Gong Sun Hwa Wook had presented Bu Eunseol with a choice.
To refuse the test was to refuse Gong Son Dan Gyeong.
After all, there would be no need to undergo a trial as a prospective son-in-law.
‘How frightening. Both mother and daughter.’
A tiger father does not beget a dog son.
She had wondered why Gong Son Dan Gyeong possessed such keen intellect and understanding of others’ hearts.
It seemed she had inherited it all from Gong Sun Hwa Wook.
“But if he’s given me a choice… there’s no need to break through the mechanism.”
Gong Sun Hwa Wook must have invested considerable effort in creating this mechanism to test the prospective son-in-law who would one day arrive.
To forcefully display my abilities and pass through would be the same as disrespecting and deceiving Gong Sun Hwa Wook.
“I’ll turn back.”
Bu Eunseol took a deep breath.
Though she had made a promise with Gong Son Dan Gyeong, she did not wish to deceive the virtuous Gong Sun Hwa Wook in order to pass through the trial gate.
After all, Gong Sun Hwa Wook already half-knew this was a false visit.
―Wouldn’t a sweet lie be better?
As Bu Eunseol was about to turn around, Gong Son Dan Gyeong’s words came back to her.
―A life like a fleeting dream. Then wouldn’t it be better to dream as pleasantly and happily as possible?
“So that’s what it was.”
Only then did Bu Eunseol understand.
Gong Son Dan Gyeong, she too.
She knew full well that she could not deceive Gong Sun Hwa Wook and his wife.
That is why she had spoken such words to Bu Eunseol.
Even if it were a lie…
She was asking her to accept Gong Sun Hwa Wook’s test. To tell a sweet lie.
‘A lie…’
The word “lie” was utterly foreign to Bu Eunseol.
Her grandfather Bu Chanyang always kept his word, and never told lies at all.
But Bu Chanyang had played the roles of both father and mother together.
It couldn’t have been any other way.
If Bu Eunseol had parents, wouldn’t they have occasionally told her sweet lies as well?
“A life like a fleeting dream.”
Bu Eunseol sighed deeply.
The meaning behind Gong Son Dan Gyeong’s words had pierced her heart.
If one knew that everything was false, yet could still find joy in it…
Then staging an elaborate performance wouldn’t be so bad after all.
“This household is not without its difficulties.”
It would have been better if they were somewhat more ordinary.
Possessed of such brilliant intellect and penetrating insight, the members of this household were reading each other’s intentions—things they should never have perceived.
Whiiiing.
From Bu Eunseol’s fist, as she drew upon her inner strength, crimson energy began to swirl violently.
Whoooosh!
As she extended her hand, a colossal tempest of true energy swept through the Shin Geum Cheol Byeok.
The movement was impossibly light, yet it was a martial technique surpassing even the Nine Wall Divine Fist—the heaviest and most devastating palm art in all of Tianxia.
It was one technique from the Choguk Kwon Ma Chil Sik, the Thousand Hands Gongpa Form.
‘Oh no!’
Having unleashed such power, Bu Eunseol inwardly gasped.
She had forgotten that her inner strength had grown exponentially compared to the past.
Roooaaarrr!
The crimson energy became a massive fire dragon, obliterating not only the Shin Geum Cheol Byeok but the Corridor and the Branching Passages themselves completely.
Rumble. Whoooosh.
As dust scattered, a vast passage—easily a dozen zhang wide—opened before Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
Not only had she shattered the Shin Geum Cheol Byeok with a single strike, something that could never be broken by a mere flesh palm.
She had instantaneously reduced the Branching Passages themselves into powder.
‘I’ve surpassed five hundred years of cultivation.’
The limit of inner strength a human body can contain is known to be ten heavenly stems.
And Bu Eunseol’s inner strength had already far exceeded eight heavenly stems, approaching the ninth.
In the entire history of Murim, there had never been a single person of Bu Eunseol’s age who possessed such power.
‘Somehow the passages have become one.’
The force of her strike had been so tremendous that the Branching Passages themselves had vanished.
“Well, any direction should work.”
After briefly surveying her surroundings, Bu Eunseol walked forward once more.
Then, suddenly, a vast Great Hall came into view.
Night-luminous pearls shone from the ceiling, driving back the darkness, yet the interior was so expansive that it emanated a desolate atmosphere.
Clank.
As Bu Eunseol stepped into the center of the Open Ground, mirrors suddenly began to form around her.
Clank, clank.
As mirrors continued to materialize endlessly, it was as though Bu Eunseol’s reflection had multiplied infinitely in all directions.
Her image was being reflected everywhere.
A sharp ringing sound.
But something strange was happening.
The countless reflections of myself within the mirror suddenly began to darken and blacken.
Eyes as crimson as blood, fangs as long and pointed as a demon’s, skin pitch black.
A slithering sound.
The Evil Spirits extended their feet from within the mirror and emerged into the outside world.
‘Is this an illusion?’
Not only had my reflection in the mirror suddenly transformed into Evil Spirits, but they were breaking through the mirror and emerging outside?
A terrible shriek!
Accompanied by grotesque cries, the Evil Spirits began their assault on me.
A tremendous crash!
I immediately unleashed the Kwon Ma Chil Sik in rapid succession.
The enhanced Kwon Ma Chil Sik, now fused with the Sang Cheon Chil Sik, possessed more than twice the destructive power it once had.
Explosive bursts! Explosive bursts!
Every Evil Spirit touched by my palm strikes crumbled to dust and vanished.
‘A remarkable array.’
I surveyed the mirrors spread across all directions around me.
Astonishingly, the mirrors remained unbroken even under the force of my Kwon Ma Chil Sik.
Rather, it seemed that even more mirrors had been created where my power made contact.
A rustling sound.
Once again, my reflection within the mirrors transformed into the appearance of Evil Spirits.
A terrible shriek!
And once more they began emerging from the mirrors to attack me.
A tremendous crash!
I unleashed the Kwon Ma Chil Sik again, attempting to destroy both the Evil Spirits and the mirrors in one blow.
But something peculiar occurred.
Now the Evil Spirits merely collapsed when struck by my power, rather than crumbling to dust and vanishing as before.
‘Hmm.’
I gazed down at my own hands.
The power I had just unleashed was of a caliber that could shatter an iron fortress in a single instant.
Yet these phantom-like Evil Spirits emerging from the mirror were withstanding my power?
‘Is this the nature of the array itself?’
This is certainly no mere illusion.
Which means this is the function of the array laid beneath this place.
‘Gong Sun Hwa Wook is the greatest array master in all of Tianxia.’
Given that he had deliberately and painstakingly crafted this array, finding a way to break it would not be simple.
‘I cannot destroy it through force alone.’
I paused to consider.
No matter how formidable an array might be, if I could achieve harmony, I could pierce through it in an instant.
But what Gong Sun Hwa Wook sought from this array was not a test of martial prowess.
By now, Mu Wi had sufficiently proven himself through Shin Geum Cheol Byeok.
‘What was the purpose of creating such a facility?’
The Evil Spirits had emerged from the mirrors.
Yet like living creatures of flesh and blood, they could leap forth from within the mirrors and attack Bu Eunseol directly.
Moreover, no matter how much martial energy I poured out to strike them down or make them vanish, they would soon reveal themselves once more.
Bul Sa.
The Evil Spirits that emerged from the mirrors possessed the attribute of Bul Sa—an immortality that could not be erased.
‘Things that should not exist are existing, and things that should not be able to attack are attacking…’
In this fleeting moment, my mind spun with the speed of light.
I was searching for a way to eliminate these immortal entities that poured endlessly from the mirrors.
And studying how to shatter the array itself.
‘Could they be illusions?’
With a sharp cry, I deliberately did not evade the Evil Spirits’ assault this time.
The moment their claws made contact, pale smoke rose as my flesh was torn away.
Szzzt.
Each time their razor-sharp nails touched my body, wisps of pale vapor accompanied the rending of my flesh.
‘So they are not phantoms after all.’
The Evil Spirits existed in reality, wielding a power unlike anything I had ever witnessed before.
A unique force entirely foreign to my experience.
‘Since they emerged from the mirrors…logically, the Evil Spirits should be illusions that don’t truly exist.’
Yet they attacked me as if imaginary things had been given physical form.
‘Could it be a matter of time?’
If an unbreakable array had been set in place here?
Perhaps this array possessed the attribute of dissipating on its own if one simply endured long enough.
Szzzt! Szzzt!
No matter what martial techniques I unleashed, the Evil Spirits would resurrect and rush at me relentlessly, and my body accumulated more and more wounds.
The number of Evil Spirits seemed to be increasing. The more I eliminated, the more appeared in their place.
‘Is the Master trying to kill me?’
Yet even after a quarter hour had passed, the Evil Spirits’ numbers only continued to grow.
I had thought that if I simply endured long enough, the array would end and Gong Sun Hwa Wook would appear.
Instead, the Evil Spirits’ numbers only multiplied with each passing moment.
Szzzt! Whoosh!
Each time their sharp claws grazed past, my flesh fell away and internal injuries accumulated as if—
A strange phenomenon of weakening repeated itself.
‘This is not a normal situation.’
If I continued to fail in blocking the Evil Spirits’ attacks?
Eventually, I would suffer irreparable internal injuries.
‘The mirrors.’
Then, a peculiar thought suddenly struck me.
The mirrors before my eyes were nothing less than gateways through which the Evil Spirits emerged.
However, a mirror is fundamentally an object that reflects what stands before it.
In other words, if one gazes into a mirror, it should be Bu Eunseol’s reflection that appears.
Yet what materialized were those Evil Spirits.
“I see now.”
In that instant, a flash of brilliance ignited in Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
“No matter how many things manifest, ultimately only a single entity truly exists.”
Having grasped this truth, Bu Eunseol launched himself skyward in one fluid motion.
After that, his form vanished entirely. He had deployed the Wall-Clinging Technique, pressing his body flush against the ceiling.
The Evil Spirits, following Bu Eunseol’s lead, leaped toward the ceiling as well.
They slashed their razor-sharp claws, attempting to tear at his face and body.
Shwik!
Dozens of claws ultimately raked across Bu Eunseol’s form.
Yet Bu Eunseol neither dodged nor flinched, remaining steadfastly pressed against the ceiling.
Crack.
Then the Evil Spirits’ bodies began to fracture,
Shriek!
Suddenly, from the widening fissures erupted a radiance as brilliant as the sun itself, and the ascending Evil Spirits began to dissolve into nothingness.
Bu Eunseol’s reflection within the mirror had vanished completely—and so too had the Evil Spirits.
“They sought wisdom, not martial prowess.”
Any Murim warrior would have exhausted themselves battling the Evil Spirits recklessly, only to perish.
Yet Bu Eunseol, blessed with exceptional perception, had ultimately discerned the Mirror Array’s weakness and shattered it completely.
“How absurd.”
If Gong Sun Hwa Wook had constructed these gates—the Shin Geum Cheol Byeok and the Mirror Array—
as a test of both martial skill and wisdom to find one worthy of Gong Son Dan Gyeong,
then most would have either turned back, unable to breach the array from the start,
or perished within the Mirror Array, their inner energy depleted by endless combat with the Evil Spirits.
“What manner of son-in-law could he possibly have sought?”
The arrays here demanded one reach the level of a Grand Master to escape with life intact.
What standard of suitor could Gong Sun Hwa Wook have desired, to erect such formidable barriers?
Until this very moment, Bu Eunseol remained unaware.
That through these gates,
he would encounter Seo Jang Seung within those long-lost memories he had yearned to recover—and that this meeting would set in motion events from which there could be no turning back.

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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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