The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign - Chapter 683
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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 683.
If he were father’s sworn brother.
If they had been so close that he cared for me in childhood?
He would have been moved to tears seeing Bu Eunseol grown, and would never have shown such composed indifference.
‘Perhaps Yi Hyung as well….’
The formation that had changed upon entering Jeol Gok was not altered because the terrain itself had changed.
Someone may have destroyed that place and reconstructed the formation anew.
‘He knows everything about my origins and even my name. And that father’s sworn brother is the Old Monk?’
If that person were a false Old Monk.
How could he possibly know all of this?
‘I will verify this!’
Whoosh!
Bu Eunseol spun around in an instant and rushed back toward Musim Gok.
* * *
Gleam!
Above the deep Jeol Gok of Sera Uzi Mountain.
A tremendous light descended from the distant sky toward the earth.
The light was so vast and warm that it resembled the Buddha’s radiance illuminating the entire world with compassion.
Whoosh.
The light descended to the earth and soon became a shadow.
An Old Monk of considerable stature with eyes as long as a phoenix’s appeared.
He was the one Bu Eunseol had just encountered.
Did he not possess the identical face and physique as Tak Ma, the sect master of Wu Zong embedded in the rock?
The newly appeared Tak Ma’s eyes were sharp and piercing.
“You are late.”
Rumble.
As the new Tak Ma appeared, the colossal rock that had held the false Tak Ma shattered with tremendous sound, and the false one emerged once more.
The true Tak Ma sighed deeply at the figure bound to the great rock, the one who had been using his appearance as a perfect counterfeit.
“Sa Do Moo Myung.”
Tak Ma spoke with an expression of profound melancholy.
“Have you now learned to divine the heavenly secrets?”
“There is no need to read the heavenly secrets.”
The Tak Ma embedded in the rock spoke with utter composure.
“Everything already rests in my hands.”
Swish.
Not only the iron chains but the colossal rock itself dissolved like mist, and the false Tak Ma’s form instantly transformed into an ordinary old man.
His appearance was utterly unremarkable, his gaze equally serene.
Yet to Tak Ma’s eyes, this was a being who should never appear in this world.
An unknown demon had revealed itself.
This ordinary old man was the foremost of the Demonic Path and the master of the Demon Palace.
This was Ma Cheon Je’s true form, revealed at last.
“It has been a while, Tak Ma.”
Ma Cheon Je shook his head as he regarded Tak Ma.
“You escaped my grasp and endured well, cultivating the Hwashin Ilgi technique, I see.”
His voice was utterly serene.
Yet with each word that emanated from him, Tak Ma felt as though an invisible hammer struck his skull.
“Had you trained for merely another hundred days, you would have completed the Eighth Heaven.”
Moreover, he had completely discerned Tak Ma’s level of inner strength.
“Why have you come here to die?”
“Why ask when you already know?”
Tak Ma’s willow-branch-like eyebrows trembled as he met Ma Cheon Je’s composed gaze.
“Bin Seung completing the Hwashin Ilgi is a trivial matter. Finding that child and healing him perfectly—that is what preserves the safety of Tianxia.”
“Unfortunately, no such thing exists.”
“Surely not, Master. Have you already encountered that child?”
“Perhaps.”
Ma Cheon Je narrowed his eyes as he looked upon Tak Ma.
“You managed to escape then, but it will not be so easy now.”
“Sa Do Moo Myung, why do you obsess so over Bin Seung?”
Tak Ma spoke in a voice trembling with incomprehension.
“If you desired it, you could accomplish anything. Why are you so desperate to kill Bin Seung?”
Ma Cheon Je waved his hand lightly.
“That is a question for Yom Wang.”
Boom.
In that instant, all light vanished from Tak Ma’s pupils.
Simultaneously, a profoundly damp and dark energy invaded his serene spirit.
These energies were endlessly negative and torturous.
—Life is meaningless and filled with suffering. Why must one be born only to endure all this agony?
—Why must humans experience birth, aging, sickness, and death? It would have been better never to be born.
—To be born as a Buddhist and sever the chains of transmigration would be ideal. Would it not be better to end life swiftly and merge with nature?
Drip, drip, drip.
Blood flowed from Tak Ma’s lips.
He had perfectly mastered the Hongmong Yo Gyeol, called the most perfect inner family secret technique in martial history.
Wu Zong’s supreme divine technique.
He, who stood on the threshold of completing the Hwashin Ilgi, suffered internal injuries in a single moment.
“Impressive. Wu Zong remains Wu Zong, indeed.”
Ma Cheon Je clicked his tongue.
“That child’s abnormally high inner strength must come from being taught the Hongmong Mi Gi.”
Within Murim, there existed countless inner strength secrets beyond measure.
Yet there existed one secret through which inner strength could be accumulated fastest and most stably in all of Tianxia.
It was none other than Wu Zong’s Hongmong secret technique.
Bu Eunseol’s ability to accumulate such terrifying internal power in an instant was possible because of this.
Bu Chanyang, a master of Tianxia, served as her guide for internal cultivation, combined with Yeok Geun Gyeong, an ancient secret technique.
And when Tak Ma injected the Hong Mong Bi Gyeol into his body, the perfect convergence of three elements allowed him to achieve internal power up to the limits of human capability.
He had obtained a celestial opportunity that comes once in an age.
“Geom Ha, you saw that child.”
Tak Ma murmured with a trembling voice.
“So that’s why you were obsessed with Bin Seung.”
Ma Cheon Je opened his mouth with an expressionless face.
“I told you. Everything is already in my hands.”
In that instant, Tak Ma’s eyes blazed with intense light.
Then, even if it meant death, he had to eliminate this terrifying existence first.
Kwang!
Magnificent golden light erupted across his entire body, and the dark, oppressive energy that had shrouded his spirit vanished in an instant.
“Be careful!”
Whoosh.
As Tak Ma extended both palms left and right, a colossal hand descended from the sky.
“You’ve converted the martial arts of the mind into physical attacks.”
Ma Cheon Je casually brushed his sleeve.
The enormous hand falling from the sky descended toward Tak Ma.
Boom.
But as if he had anticipated it.
Golden palms, each the size of three zhang across and lengthwise, began to manifest above Tak Ma’s head.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Those colossal palms bloomed like flower buds across his body, resembling the thousand-armed Avalokiteshvara.
Then they began to pour down one after another toward Ma Cheon Je.
This was an attack only Tak Ma could execute—having mastered the Hong Mong Bi Gyeol to the Twelve Star realm, allowing him to expend internal power infinitely.
“You’ve circulated your power endlessly, again and again, until even that boundary crumbled.”
Ma Cheon Je, who burst forth with an excited exclamation, began rotating his hands in circles as well.
Then the hundreds of descending palms vanished like melting snow.
Ma Cheon Je’s martial prowess was such that he could kill him without moving a single finger.
But when Tak Ma converted Cho Soo Gong Bang into physical attacks, Ma Cheon Je nodded as if interest had been kindled.
“Sometimes moving the body has its appeal.”
Kuuuung.
Black energy surged from Ma Cheon Je’s body, and dozens of massive blade forms began to take shape.
It was as if ancient relics sleeping beneath the earth had transformed into the blades of giants, bursting forth.
These were materialized true qi created by the Sak Jeong Bi Gyeol, the same technique he had transmitted to Bu Eunseol.
Kuu. Kuu. Kuu.
As dozens of colossal black blades moved like waves.
It appeared as though a black god of destruction, leading the world to annihilation, hovered in the heavens.
Tak Ma bit his lip.
No matter how limitless human capability may be.
How could a body of flesh and blood possibly wield such martial arts?
“Let me test this as well.”
A deep resonance echoed.
A colossal blade cleaved through Tak Ma’s body alongside the low vibration.
A sharp whistle cut through the air.
Tak Ma swiftly evaded, unleashing torrents of golden palm strikes.
A thunderous roar erupted.
With each cascade of hundreds of golden palms, massive blades shattered into fragments.
Boom. Boom.
Yet the colossal black blades materialized endlessly from the void.
Hundreds of golden palms and black blades tangled in a ferocious dance.
Heaven and earth crumbled as peaks of Sera Uzi Mountain began to collapse.
A deafening crash resounded.
Unable to eliminate the blades, Tak Ma’s body gradually gave ground.
A sharp hum. A sharp hum.
Each time the colossal blade grazed his body, a magnificent golden radiance bloomed from Tak Ma’s form.
It was Wu Zong’s Solitary Cultivation Divine Body Art, comparable to Shaolin’s Indestructible Diamond Body Technique.
A brilliant flash erupted.
Cloaked in golden radiance, Tak Ma unleashed torrents of luminous force toward Ma Cheon Je.
It was the Buddhist Order martial art passed down through Wu Zong for centuries, each technique possessing enough power to shatter mountains.
Crash! Crash!
Tak Ma possessed inner energy that had reached the limits of human potential through the Hongmong Secret.
As materialized techniques relentlessly burrowed into his body,
“Excellent.”
Ma Cheon Je, equally delighted, moved with ease and deployed his techniques.
His movements flowed as slowly as Tai Chi, yet each second produced dozens of afterimages.
Blocking all of Tak Ma’s techniques.
Crash crash!
Finally, the dual palms of Ma Cheon Je and Tak Ma collided.
The shockwave of inner force erupted skyward, while invisible energy rippled outward in concentric circles in all directions.
In the clash of materialized martial techniques, Ma Cheon Je and Tak Ma were evenly matched.
“Hmm.”
Ma Cheon Je retreated slightly, a faint smile gracing his lips.
“Indeed, it was wise to preserve Wu Zong’s roots.”
He spoke calmly, his expression radiant with joy.
“In such a brief span, you have independently conceived ingenious methods and bloomed new martial arts.”
A gentle breath escaped.
At Ma Cheon Je’s low murmur, Tak Ma retreated momentarily.
Though his martial art had also transcended the Heavenly Human Realm and reached the Limitless Scripture, Ma Cheon Je’s martial prowess remained utterly unfathomable.
‘Could it be that Ma Cheon Je has reached the Heavenly Will Realm?’
Tak Ma shook his head.
‘No, that cannot be.’
If Ma Cheon Je had truly reached the Heavenly Will Realm?
No matter how hard I struggled, I would have been unable to convert a spiritual attack into physical offense and defense.
I would have been killed instantly before even activating the Limitless Force.
“Amitabha Buddha.”
Tak Ma pressed his palms together.
Then a magnificent golden radiance began to bloom from his body once more.
And that radiance was swiftly transforming into the flames of karmic fire that consumed his entire form.
“Have you abandoned the hope of meeting that child?”
Ma Cheon Je spoke with perfect composure.
“If you use the Immolation of Returning to the Buddha, you will walk a path from which you cannot return for ten thousand kalpas.”
“If I cannot even eliminate the demon before my eyes, how could I possibly save that child?”
The flames flowing from Tak Ma’s body grew ever more intense.
They were flames created by the power of the Limitless Force, wielded only by masters who could ascend to the Limitless Realm.
Ma Cheon Je, unable to observe it easily, immediately waved his hand.
Whoosh.
Yet even with his power, the flames of Immolation could not be extinguished.
“Amitabha Buddha!”
With a cry of Buddhist fury, hundreds of fire dragons erupted from the ground around Ma Cheon Je’s body, rising to the very end of the sky.
And they began to incinerate his form in an instant.
Crackle, crackle, crackle.
The fire dragons, filling dozens of zhang of this area with flames, moved between heaven and earth, ceaselessly spreading their inferno.
Rumble.
The sky darkened and the earth trembled as if struck by an earthquake.
All vegetation in the vicinity melted like candle wax, and even the ground itself began to soften.
Roar.
Yet through the chaos, a grey shadow emerged.
It was Ma Cheon Je.
Whoosh.
As he extended his arm, all the flames spreading across dozens of zhang were sucked into his palm.
“So it was not the Immolation of Returning to the Buddha, but the Trifire Radiant Blaze.”
Ma Cheon Je gazed at the scorch marks formed in his hand.
“For such an audacious monk to elude my grasp for so long, this technique makes sense.”
Tak Ma had not used the Immolation of Returning to the Buddha, but rather the power of the similar Trifire Radiant Blaze to create an opening.
And in that gap, he had fled with all his strength.
“Hmm.”
Ma Cheon Je, who had been gazing at the distant sky,
suddenly noticed the footprints carved into the spot where Tak Ma had stood and opened his mouth calmly.
“Then it must be so.”
Tak Ma’s footprints were clear on the right, but slightly blurred on the left.
Masters who had reached the Wuji Realm possessed superhuman sense of balance and could control their bodies with absolute precision.
That such a master had unleashed his movement technique without maintaining a level stance meant only one thing.
It was evidence that he had suffered irreparable, fatal internal injuries.
“It has been quite some time, after all.”
Ma Cheon Je had found Tak Ma long ago and inflicted mortal wounds upon him.
When he appeared in seemingly perfect condition, I thought perhaps he had completely healed his internal injuries… but
He was still slowly withering away, unable to treat those internal wounds.
“I should offer my praise.”
I had never failed to kill those I set out to kill.
But Tak Ma was the exception, for not only had he reached the Wuji Realm,
But unlike a master of the Buddhist Order should be, he possessed an audacity that hesitated at no method.
As martial artists’ cultivation and status rose, so too did their pride and arrogance.
Yet despite possessing martial arts that dominated the Tianxia,
Tak Ma unhesitatingly employed not only strategies befitting the lowest of the low, but also showed no hesitation in fleeing.
Gooooo.
Then, hearing the intense sound of air being torn from far away, Ma Cheon Je shook his head.
“Quite swift indeed.”
Ma Cheon Je’s eyes narrowed as he gazed toward the Distant Sky.
“If I read the heavenly signs well, I can ensure we do not cross paths.”
Muttering softly, his eyes gleamed with radiance as he surveyed his surroundings.
In that instant, all traces of martial techniques that had existed here were completely erased, and the ruined land became as clean as Gwan Do.
“But…”
Ma Cheon Je muttered in a voice so low it could barely be heard,
Whoosh!
He vanished into millions of points of light.
As if he had never been here at all.
Boom!
Not long after, a shadow wreathed in violet lightning descended from the sky to the earth.
It was Bu Eunseol.
“What?”
She furrowed her brow as she surveyed the surroundings.
This deep Jeol Gok had become flat ground in an instant? How was such a thing even possible?
“I must find clues.”
Zing.
Bu Eunseol’s eyes turned white.
She was drawing upon her Gong Sim Tong Ryung to meticulously search through the traces remaining in this place.
“Who on earth…”
Her eyes trembled as she examined the devastated surroundings.
“To manifest phenomena to this extent.”
The layering of Limitless power.
Two masters who had ascended to the Limitless Realm clashed in this place, and ultimately one was defeated and fled.
‘If the martial prowess is of this caliber.’
I had encountered all three of the Samma Sam Jon, including Mu Jon, and received instruction from Ak Moo Ryung several times.
Because of this, I could taste the realm of the Limitless Realm to a certain degree.
But the traces left in this place.
Were from masters at least comparable to Ak Moo Ryung’s level of martial arts…
The transcendent power that I had designated as ‘phenomena’.
It was a trace that could only be created by continuously pouring out Limitless power over and over again.
‘It is not Samma.’
Ak Moo Ryung and Wi Ji Moo Ah are in closed cultivation, and there is no way they would come to this remote place in Sae Oe.
Furthermore, Jeok Bung has temporarily stepped down from his position as head of the Elder Council and is in seclusion…
Then does that mean Geom Joon and Bul Jon among the Three Supremes clashed?
‘Could it be Bul Jon? No, that cannot be.’
Among the traces left in this place, there remained the distinctive sticky energy unique to Buddhist martial arts.
But this place is Seo Jang.
Rather, it was more likely that Buddhist martial arts were used by Tak Ma or the false Tak Ma.
“Who on earth could it be.”
I surveyed my surroundings with hollow eyes.
What was certain was that the Tak Ma who had been here was a fake, and someone had definitely clashed with him.
“Someone who knows my circumstances….”
My lips moved as I gazed toward the distant sky.
“One who perfectly detects where I go and lays traps….”
Currently in Murim, there is only one person with the ability to orchestrate such a thing.
“Ma Cheon Je.”
I bit my lip.
No intelligence organization could perfectly grasp my movements.
The false Tak Ma had predicted both my destination and my range of activity, and had set traps in advance.
And in this world, only Ma Cheon Je is capable of such a thing.
“It is possible.”
The Crimson Dream Seal sleeps within my body.
No matter how hard I tried, I could not intentionally control it.
But if the false Tak Ma sensed the Crimson Dream Seal, then with that alone, he knows my complete circumstances and origins.
As far as I knew.
Only Shin San Ja and Ma Cheon Je knew my circumstances and origins.
Moreover, if he even knew that my original name was Baek Ri Geom Ha.
Then he might be involved in my father’s death, or perhaps be a related party.
“Even if I were to seek him out, he would not give me any answers.”
Ma Cheon Je always said that important truths must be found by oneself, not from the mouths of others.
And that statement was entirely convincing.
Moreover, even if Ma Cheon Je were to speak the truth now, I could not bring myself to believe him.
“This time, I will not seek answers through conversation.”
Nevertheless.
Bu Eunseol was determined to seek out Ma Cheon Je at once and confront him in private.
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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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