The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign - Chapter 688

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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 688.
“Seo Jin Ha.”
“I’m fine.”
Seo Jin Ha, bleeding from every part of his body, spoke calmly.
“I avoided the vital points and stabbed myself.”
“Why on earth would you do that?”
“I needed this level of pain to regain my senses.”
Seo Jin Ha smiled apologetically.
Even now, I had not yet reached the realm where I could manipulate my own spirit freely like Bu Eunseol could.
That’s why I forcibly inflicted pain upon myself to regain clarity and escape from the Sak Jeong Bi Gyeol.
“Take this.”
Seo Jin Ha pulled out a single Jap Ma Sin Dan from his robes and handed it to Myo Cheon Woo.
“If you don’t take it quickly, you might lose the use of your left arm.”
“What about you?”
“Wounds of this degree won’t kill me.”
Seo Jin Ha smiled.
“Besides, pain ensures I’ll negotiate properly.”
In truth, Seo Jin Ha had not completely shaken off the Sak Jeong Bi Gyeol.
That’s why he deliberately maintained the pain to recover his clarity of mind.
“But how did this happen?”
Seo Jin Ha spoke.
“I thought you had no intention of returning to the Demon Palace at all.”
Since Seo Jin Ha had also healed his dantian at Yun Hae Byeok Ryeong Gung.
I had suspected that Myo Cheon Woo had already recovered his cultivation long ago.
Yet seeing that he had not returned to Sayeong Hall, I thought either he had no intention of returning to the Demon Palace.
Or perhaps he had quietly left Murim.
“That’s right. The treatment was already finished. And for a while, I helped with the Muhon Society’s work.”
“The Muhon Society?”
“Yes. Bu Eunseol had been planning to build her own independent force for a long time. And I’ve been following her orders, traveling throughout Gangho.”
“I see. I did wonder how such a massive alliance could be formed so suddenly.”
The Muhon Society was not created overnight, but rather Bu Eunseol had devoted herself to it for a long time.
And she had Myo Cheon Woo prepare various matters.
It was he who conveyed Bu Eunseol’s intentions to Dae Gu Hwi and Bing Han Poong.
“Moreover, that woman ordered me from the moment she returned to the Demon Palace. She said I would likely receive a strange mission in the Demon Palace, so I should wait nearby.”
“She predicted you would receive a mission like this?”
“Yes. She returned to the Demon Palace with the intention of challenging Ma Cheon Je from the start.”
Myo Cheon Woo took a deep breath and spoke.
“And if that prediction proved accurate… then Ma Cheon Je is also likely to become our enemy in the future.”
Seo Jin Ha nodded.
The Chong Gyo Ryeong could not force such orders upon Bu Eunseol… which meant all of this was ultimately Ma Cheon Je’s command.
The problem is: what if Ma Cheon Je deliberately drew his blade against Bu Eunseol?
Sayoung Hall would have nowhere left to stand in the Demon Palace.
“But how did you manage to roast the Blood Cult Master? Because Ma Cheon Je prevents expansion into Zhong Yuan, anyone from the Demon Palace would be grinding their teeth over this.”
“Bu Eunseol had me bring medicinal herbs from Yun Hae Byeok Ryeong Gung to this place.”
Myo Cheon Woo spoke matter-of-factly.
“The Blood Cult uses blood to deploy various grand techniques, but it’s all because their dantians are hardening, or so I’ve heard.”
The Blood Cult employs numerous powerful martial arts and grand techniques utilizing blood.
The problem was that learning the Blood Cult’s grand techniques or martial arts carried a thirty percent chance of sealing one’s dantian permanently.
Knowing this, Bu Eunseol immediately sent Myo Cheon Woo to retrieve medicinal herbs that could shift the negotiation in their favor.
“I see.”
Seo Jin Ha spoke with a smile.
“Since Yun Hae Byeok Ryeong Gung can even restore damaged dantians, sealing caused by martial arts would be trivial for them.”
“Exactly.”
“So that’s why.”
―Even if negotiations fail, you will return unharmed.
Seo Jin Ha recalled Bu Eunseol’s words and took a deep breath.
She hadn’t sent him to certain death. Rather, she had sent Myo Cheon Woo ahead beforehand to ensure he could return safely even if negotiations collapsed.
That was her foresight.
“First, I’ve brought a thousand jin of medicinal herbs from Yun Hae Byeok Ryeong Gung as a gift. With this, we can save many masters of the Blood Cult suffering from hardening dantians. Pae Ryuk Gyeol will surely begin negotiations now.”
“Well done.”
Seo Jin Ha nodded and stepped outside.
“Are you leaving?”
“No.”
Seo Jin Ha smiled faintly.
“The negotiations haven’t even started yet.”
“Negotiations?”
“Since I’ve come this far, I should earn my keep.”
Seo Jin Ha chuckled.
“Now that the stage is set, I’ll settle this directly with the Blood Cult Master myself.”
* * *
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Surrounded in the courtyard of Eum Gyeol Ma Ji, Sayoung Hall’s warriors
deployed the formation array Bu Eunseol had devised, cutting down wave after wave of enemies.
Yet the battle seemed endless.
Eum Gyeol Ma Ji maintained relentless assaults, tormenting Sayoung Hall’s fighters day and night.
And that fearsome Iron Hammer Iron Mirror expert
remained positioned in the rear, not even revealing himself yet.
If they launched a full offensive, Sayoung Hall would fight back desperately to the bitter end.
Even in victory, Eum Gyeol Ma Ji’s forces would suffer significant casualties.
They intended to slowly bleed Sayoung Hall dry, minimizing their own losses.
―It won’t be easy.
However, Eum Gyeol Ma Ji’s plan was proving far from simple.
The warriors of Sayeong Hall were no ordinary fighters to be dismissed lightly.
Despite their numerical disadvantage, they advanced boldly and relentlessly, repelling every assault thrown against them.
The area surrounding the deployed formation had become a sea of blood.
The corpses of Eum Gyeol Ma Ji’s warriors piled up like mountains in that crimson tide.
―Chuhon Dae, use the Dye Mist Formation to alter your battle lines and shatter the enemy’s ranks!
With Yu Woon Ryong at the center, the remaining Lords commanded their respective divisions.
The battle raged on without pause.
By now, the fighting had stretched into its second day.
Yet the combat showed no signs of abating.
Eum Gyeol Ma Ji still maintained superior numbers and possessed the Iron Pursuit Immortals.
No matter how corpses accumulated like mountains or severed limbs scattered like stones across the ground.
Ultimately, they would achieve victory.
But Sayeong Hall refused to yield.
Whenever pressed, they counterattacked; whenever pushed back, they somehow regained ground—maintaining this endless cycle of resistance.
The one saving grace was that the battlefield sprawled across a vast forest.
Forests favored the defender while complicating the attacker’s movements.
―Waaaaah!
After endless fierce combat, Sayeong Hall repelled the surging forces of Eum Gyeol Ma Ji once more.
As the victorious warriors of Sayeong Hall roared their triumph, shaking heaven and earth,
“Idiots!”
From a distance, watching the battle unfold, Yong Moon Gyeok—the Blood Trace Soul Pursuer and foremost Wanderer Leader of Eum Gyeol Ma Ji—bellowed at his subordinates.
“You cannot even handle fewer than five hundred soldiers? How is this even possible?”
Then Gang Baek, the deputy leader, bowed his head and replied.
“Their martial prowess is truly formidable. Moreover, they constantly shift through mysterious formations….”
“Silence.”
Yong Moon Gyeok distributed batons to the Lords commanding each division.
These were the Flute of Slaughter—instruments capable of controlling the Iron Pursuit Immortals.
“Deploy fifty Iron Pursuit Immortals to the battlefield.”
“Lord Yong.”
At that moment, Du Hyo, who led the Second Division, spoke.
“If we use the Iron Pursuit Immortals now, we’ll suffer a severe shortage of forces when Demon Palace launches its assault later.”
Even if they defeated Sayeong Hall’s forces, they ultimately had to continue fighting against Demon Palace.
If they squandered fifty Iron Pursuit Immortals—each costing over a hundred thousand silver to create—
When the true divisions arrived from Demon Palace, their available forces would be proportionally diminished.
“You need not worry about that. Demon Palace will send no further divisions.”
“What do you mean?”
“They were sent here on a suicide mission. To suppress this place and die in the process.”
Remarkably, Yong Moon Gyeok understood perfectly how Sayeong Hall had been assigned this doomed task.
This meant that information about the Demon Palace had ultimately fallen into their hands.
Yet the masters of Sayoung Hall remained completely unaware of this fact.
“Why do you stand there gawking? Begin at once!”
As his command fell, the leaders of each division began to sound their pipes.
With the piping, massive warriors clad in black garments slowly emerged from behind each division.
All of them possessed grotesque features, their skin darkened to an ashen hue.
Though they resembled corpses, they were unmistakably living beings.
Iron Hammer Iron Essence Warriors.
Their bodies were hard as steel, their blood a deadly poison, and fear and pain had been completely excised from their consciousness.
Instruments of slaughter that unleashed terrifying power in chaotic warfare—the greatest military force of Eum Gyeol Ma Ji had finally arrived.
“Attack!”
As the pipes shrieked once more, fifty Iron Hammer Iron Essence Warriors surged forward with blinding speed toward the masters of Sayoung Hall.
Boom, boom, boom, boom!
They paid no heed to the corpses of Eum Gyeol Ma Ji’s warriors scattered across the ground, trampling them savagely as they charged forward like madmen.
Crash! Bang, bang, bang, bang!
Countless projectiles and razor-sharp blade energies poured down like rain from Sayoung Hall’s masters.
Yet their advance showed no hesitation whatsoever.
Clang!
As weapons struck their bodies, the sound of metal rang out.
Charging like raging bulls, they had already shattered half of the formation Sayoung Hall had constructed.
Merely fifty Iron Hammer Iron Essence Warriors were effortlessly breaching the walls forged from pure qi.
At this rate, in less than an hour, Sayoung Hall’s formation would crumble entirely.
“They’ve finally come.”
Yu Woon Ryong, who commanded the formation, drew a sharp breath.
The Iron Hammer Iron Essence Warriors had been deployed.
He instinctively grasped that the final battle—one that would determine the life or death of Sayoung Hall’s warriors—had begun.
“Deploy the Explosive Breach Reversal Formation and open the central passage!”
At Yu Woon Ryong’s cry, the formation shifted once more.
The transparent barriers of pure qi that had sealed all sides vanished, and a clear path opened directly ahead.
Since they could not repel the endless tide of enemies, they would meet them head-on.
“Face that demon directly and eliminate it!”
―Roooaaahhh!
At Yu Woon Ryong’s cry, led by the Lords of each division, they launched a desperate assault.
“Haaah!”
Won Se Moon, the most valiant and battle-hardened among them, stepped forward at the vanguard with his Musang Dae.
Boom!
As Won Se Moon wielded his twin blades, a deafening explosion erupted and the Iron Hammer Iron Essence Warriors fell like autumn leaves.
In that instant, Wi Cheon Gyeong’s Chuhon Dae spread left and right, unleashing a barrage of projectiles that scattered their ranks.
Then, following behind, Jo Nam Cheon’s Manhyeong Dae surged forth in a torrent, pressing the enemy back with a poisonous qi technique.
Thunk! Thunk!
Between the chaos, a small shadow darted across the battlefield, unleashing an endless barrage of energy strikes.
With each blow, the Iron Hammer Iron Mirror warriors fell one by one, their brows pierced through.
It was So Yo.
A sharp cutting sound rang out!
Following her lead, warriors moved at equally high speeds, matching the pace of the Chuhon Dae fighters.
Those equipped with razor-sharp blades at their elbows and feet sliced through their enemies.
The Sa Hon Dae and the Bi Ma Dae under its command used swift movement techniques to brush past the enemies’ bodies, toppling the Iron Hammer Iron Mirror warriors.
“Hold the line!”
Under Yu Woon Ryong’s command, the Sanghak Dae and the remaining Sayoung Battle Division warriors deployed an explosive formation.
They held back the Eum Gyeol Ma Ji demons pouring in from all directions, forcing the battle to occur only along the front.
‘The end is near now.’
Yu Woon Ryong’s expression darkened as he surveyed the battlefield.
The Sayoung Battle Division warriors fought with singular purpose and determination, desperately repelling the enemies while holding their defensive line.
But… defeat was inevitable.
The fallen Iron Hammer Iron Mirror warriors began rising again like tumbling dolls.
Their lives were not easily extinguished.
And behind them, the Eum Gyeol Ma Ji demons advanced and retreated in waves, launching relentless assaults.
‘If I kill those commanding the Iron Hammer Iron Mirror warriors, we can hold out a little longer.’
Two days. Perhaps if we endure just one more day, Bu Eunseol might return from the Blood Cult.
For now, we must somehow withstand their onslaught.
A sharp grip.
He clenched the Ten-Fold Staff at his waist tightly, biting his lip.
‘This is the only way.’
The best method available now was to leap over the Iron Hammer Iron Mirror warriors fighting at the front.
And strike down the commanders controlling them.
‘Without Bu Eunseol, I must do this.’
The Ten-Fold Staff embedded with ten harmonies, capable of reducing twenty or more formations to ash if I so desired.
If I kill the commanders with this, I can halt the Iron Hammer Iron Mirror warriors’ assault for some time.
‘Even so, defeat remains certain.’
Even if I cut down all those rushing before me.
Eum Gyeol Ma Ji still possesses thousands of combat troops and four hundred fifty Iron Hammer Iron Mirror warriors.
Moreover, as one of the Four Great Ominous Lands of Murim, the demons of lord rank and above possess exceptional martial prowess and vicious techniques.
No matter how fiercely we fight.
Without a master like Bu Eunseol or large-scale reinforcements from the Demon Palace.
There is no way for the Sayoung Battle Division to survive.
“Mu Gwang! Take command of the formation for now!”
Yu Woon Ryong shouted to Mu Gwang, the vice-commander of the Sanghak Dae and his trusted subordinate, then leaped into the air in one motion.
A sharp whistling sound.
Having leaped over the Iron Hammer Iron Mirror warrior’s head in one bound, Yu Woon Ryong now stood before the commanders playing their flutes.
“Hah!”
With a sharp battle cry, Yu Woon Ryong’s Ten-Section Staff began to slash through the air like a ferocious evil dragon.
“Stop him!”
The commanders who spotted Yu Woon Ryong began pushing their forces forward.
Yet the moment they advanced within five zhang of him, screams erupted as the limbs of Eum Gyeol Ma Ji’s demons began flying through the air.
The transparent Ten-Section Staff moved with the agility of a living serpent, not merely responding to threats.
Instead, it unleashed unpredictable attacks against every enemy within five zhang.
Ultimately, the soldiers who had charged forward so boldly dared not approach Yu Woon Ryong, resorting only to hurling projectiles from a distance.
Each time he advanced, they retreated as if swept away by a tidal wave.
“This one cannot be allowed to live.”
At that moment, a low voice accompanied a barrage of razor-sharp claw strikes aimed at Yu Woon Ryong’s neck.
Sensing the danger instinctively, Yu Woon Ryong twisted his body diagonally in mid-air using the Blood Dragon Reversal technique.
A sharp something grazed past his neck.
Turning to look, he saw a middle-aged man with long, razor-sharp fingernails glaring with fierce eyes.
It was Du Hyo, the Second Wanderer Leader.
“If you were cast out by the Demon Palace, you should have simply bowed your head. Why do you rampage about like a wild boar caught in a forest fire?”
“How fortunate.”
In response to Du Hyo’s sneer, Yu Woon Ryong offered a cold smile instead.
“If I can claim your head, I can endure another half day.”
“Nonsense.”
Du Hyo let out a scoff.
Even if Sayoung Hall had earned its reputation, it was only because of the existence of Muk Hon Ryeong Ju.
For a mere second-rank lord from the Demon Palace to declare he would behead the leader of the Wanderers—the audacity was laughable.
“Die!”
As Du Hyo extended his claws, invisible claw strikes shot forth.
They coiled around his body like a whirlwind, pierced toward his brow, then suddenly thrust at his lower abdomen.
The power emanating from his claws was truly unpredictable and elusive.
There was no way to discern where or how the attacks would come.
Crash!
Yu Woon Ryong immediately swung his Ten-Section Staff, dispersing sharp winds in all directions.
Then the trajectories of the sharp claw strikes he had failed to sense became distinctly perceptible.
‘I must kill him in one breath without prolonging this.’
Having sensed how all the claw strikes transformed, Yu Woon Ryong closed his eyes and ceased his movements.
Fortunately, Du Hyo was underestimating him.
He would exploit this to sever the man’s neck in a single instant and break the enemy’s momentum.
Whoosh!
In that moment, Du Hyo’s claw strikes pierced toward his brow and lower abdomen.
Remaining motionless, Yu Woon Ryong quietly observed the trajectory of those claw strikes.
Crack!
The instant they reached mere inches from his face, he hardened his Ten-Section Staff and struck the claw force with all his might.
In that same moment, Yu Woon Ryong vanished from Du Hyo’s sight in an instant.
“What?”
The moment Du Hyo lost his target and his eyes widened,
Crack!
A transparent Ten-Section Staff materialized from thin air, rotating like a rigid serpent as it aimed at his head.
“Impossible…!”
Du Hyo’s motion to deploy the Life-Saving Absolute Technique froze once more.
Only the Ten-Section Staff moved; Yu Woon Ryong’s form remained invisible.
“There!”
Du Hyo sensed Yu Woon Ryong standing behind him and immediately unleashed the opening moves of Rotating Venom Spiral.
Yet something felt wrong.
Yu Woon Ryong stood with his arms crossed, watching calmly without moving.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, from near his left leg, the Ten-Section Staff rose like a serpent, pierced through his jaw, and shattered his skull in one devastating strike.
“There were two Ten-Section Staffs.”
Only then did Du Hyo realize another Ten-Section Staff had been coiled around Yu Woon Ryong’s body.
Yu Woon Ryong had recently perfected this technique.
By throwing one Ten-Section Staff overhead to draw all attention upward in a single moment,
he used the Returning Dragon’s Homecoming—a hidden second Ten-Section Staff concealed within his robes to pierce through the enemy’s body.
He had severed Du Hyo’s life in one stroke.
“A mere second-rank Lord of the Demon Palace.”
Those were his final words in this world.
Thud.
Du Hyo’s eyes closed, his skull pierced by the Ten-Section Staff.
Whoosh!
Yu Woon Ryong retrieved both blood-stained Ten-Section Staffs with both hands, shook off the blood, and wrapped them around his arms once more.
In that moment, silence fell across the battlefield, and the demons of Eum Gyeol Ma Ji wore blank expressions.
How could a second-rank Lord of the Demon Palace kill the Wanderer Leader of Eum Gyeol Ma Ji?
Whistle!
Then, a flute’s cry echoed from somewhere, and black energy began surging around Yu Woon Ryong from behind.
Judging his martial prowess to be formidable, they deployed the Iron Hammer Iron Corpses once more to encircle him.
“Excellent!”
Whoosh! Whoosh!
As he infused power into both Ten-Section Staffs, they began emitting sharp, piercing sounds like living serpents.
Boom!
Without hesitation, he charged at the Iron Hammer Iron Corpses, unleashing two brilliant rays of light.
Thud. Thud.
The Iron Hammer Iron Corpses struck by the Ten-Section Staffs collapsed to the ground like logs.
Yet their bodies were so impossibly hard and their vitality so tenacious that even with their heads caved in, they moved without any change in capability.
Yu Woon Ryong’s martial prowess was extraordinary, but he had not yet reached the level of Choguk Dowon.
Exerting all his strength to topple ten Iron Hammer Iron Corpses, his energy gradually depleted and his power began to scatter.
Huff… huff…
Yu Woon Ryong began to breathe heavily.
The Ten Severing Staff was powerful, but it consumed his inner energy rapidly.
Moreover, since it relied primarily on impact techniques rather than cutting force,
he couldn’t easily sever the life force of the Iron Hammer Iron Essence Beings with their steel-like bodies.
A rumbling sound echoed.
The Iron Hammer Iron Essence Beings had already surrounded Yu Woon Ryong so completely that visibility was obscured in all directions.
Though most of them had their heads caved in or bodies crushed by the Ten Severing Staff, they refused to die and moved with agile precision.
—Hiyah!
Yu Woon Ryong suddenly heard a rough battle cry echoing from behind and turned to look.
There he saw the warriors of Sayeong Hall facing a critical situation with the emergence of the Iron Hammer Iron Essence Beings.
With inferior numbers and the appearance of these formidable Iron Hammer Iron Essence Beings in succession,
the tide of battle had become irreversibly unfavorable.
‘This is the end.’
Yu Woon Ryong gripped the Ten Severing Staff tightly.
But his inner energy was depleted, and his legs wouldn’t move easily.
The Lords of Sayeong Hall—Won Se Moon, Wi Cheon Gyeong, Jo Nam Cheon—and their warriors too.
Muk Hon, the Master of Sa Hon Dae, and So Yo Do.
And Tak Il Hon and Bi Ma Dae as well.
All were fighting while bleeding.
But the situation had already collapsed beyond recovery.
There was no way to hold on any longer.
‘I’m sorry, Bu Eunseol. It seems this is the end.’
Sensing death approaching, Yu Woon Ryong gazed toward the Distant Sky.
Yet he harbored no regrets.
I fought without reservation and displayed all the skills I possessed. The rest is the will of Heaven.
—Kaaah!
Then the Iron Hammer Iron Essence Being approached with both arms spread wide.
Yu Woon Ryong swung the Ten Severing Staff with all his remaining strength.
But without inner energy infused, it merely struck them ordinarily like a whip.
Yet something was strange.
Crack. Crack.
The Iron Hammer Iron Essence Beings were collapsing from his light swing of the Ten Severing Staff?
‘Huh?’
Sensing the oddity, Yu Woon Ryong swung the Ten Severing Staff again.
Thud.
Without any inner energy infused and despite the light swing, the Iron Hammer Iron Essence Beings were falling one after another?
“What is this?”
Looking closely, he noticed sharp marks on their arms and legs.
Someone had completely severed the meridians of the Iron Hammer Iron Essence Beings’ limbs, which were supposedly as hard as Diamond Essence Beings.
‘Who on earth is using such a technique?’
Yu Woon Ryong surveyed his surroundings.
Even the Lords locked in combat far in the distance wore expressions of utter bewilderment.
Just like Yu Woon Ryong himself.
The Iron Hammer Iron Experts who had charged forward with such ferocity suddenly collapsed without strength.
Thud. Thud-thud.
As the encirclement of Iron Hammer Iron Experts surrounding Sayoung Hall crumbled, a bizarre scene unfolded before their eyes.
A Team Member clad in Sanghak Dae garments was tearing through the Iron Hammer Iron Experts’ siege and wreaking havoc within their ranks?
‘Geon Cheong Woo?’
He was none other than.
Geon Cheong Woo, a Team Member whose martial prowess ranked among the most ordinary in the Sanghak Dae.

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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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