The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign - Chapter 71
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 71.
―A terrifying prodigy has emerged!
When she defeated Young Ji Wi, a master swordsman who participated in the Martial Arts Tournament, rumors spread in this manner.
But the moment she cleaved Yeop Hwa, known as the Wanderer’s Blade, into two pieces in a single breath, the rumors transformed.
―A legendary executioner has appeared!
Who was Yeop Hwa, the Wanderer’s Blade?
Though he was a vagrant swordsman who sold his skills for coin, he was also a philanthropist who aided unfortunate children.
To brutally slaughter him at the Martial Arts Tournament without reason—him who performed good deeds rivaling the righteous heroes of the Orthodox Sects?
―Who is this executioner?
A young executioner completely unknown to the martial world until now. Why did he suddenly enter the Martial Arts Tournament? Why did he kill Yeop Hwa, the Wanderer’s Blade?
Rumors about his identity spread endlessly, each tale spawning another.
At last, the name revealed was Bu Eunseol.
* * *
“Thank you.”
At Ga Yang Ru, a prestigious establishment not far from where the Martial Arts Tournament was held.
There, Bu Eunseol and Heuk Pyo sat facing each other. Upon hearing news that she had slain Yeop Hwa at the tournament, Heuk Pyo had sought her out.
“You believed my words.”
“I didn’t believe your words.”
Bu Eunseol set down her wine cup slowly, speaking with composure.
“I merely trusted my own eyes.”
Sanggongbun and Galmidok were extreme poisons that even assassins known as human butchers feared to use.
If one wielded such toxins without hesitation, calling them the dregs of humanity would be no exaggeration.
“Yet I am troubled. I never anticipated such repercussions from this matter….”
Heuk Pyo glanced around the inn with an embarrassed expression.
The surroundings were filled with martial artists who appeared to be from the Orthodox Sects, and they occasionally cast fearful glances toward Bu Eunseol.
“Had I only found evidence beforehand, this would not have occurred.”
“Do not concern yourself.”
Bu Eunseol tilted her wine cup with indifference.
“If one commits such wickedness for so long, it will eventually be revealed.”
“I can only hope for such a day.”
Heuk Pyo sighed and extended the pouch of silver once more.
“This is the compensation I promised. Please accept it.”
“I am no vagrant swordsman, as I have said.”
Bu Eunseol spoke with a stern expression.
“I did not eliminate him at your behest.”
“Yet… I would find peace of mind only if you would accept this.”
Heuk Pyo understood.
That Bu Eunseol had been able to kill Yeop Hwa so brutally was because she had believed the words that he had committed depravity.
“Please, I implore you to accept it.”
As Heuk Pyo extended the pouch again, Bu Eunseol spoke.
“If you believe you owe me a debt, there are ways to repay it.”
“What would that be? Please, just tell me.”
“Remain at my side for three years and become my eyes and ears. Once you do that, I’ll consider the debt settled.”
“Three years as your eyes and ears… is that what you’re asking?”
“That’s right.”
Gongssi Ssangma no longer existed in this world, but the Guusal Unit’s Ak Yang Branch still stood firm.
Bu Eunseol knew all the secret codes and intelligence-gathering methods used by the Guusal Unit.
If I wished, I could have gathered information flowing into every branch of the Guusal Unit.
“I have quite a few reliable sources of information. If you follow me around and handle various tasks, it would prove rather useful.”
Heuk Pyo, who had been pondering carefully, accepted the contract.
“Three thousand gold taels over three years… the compensation is rather meager, isn’t it?”
Heuk Pyo was young, but he was a skilled operative recognized within Donghyo Seorang.
It was simply that his specialty lay in infiltration and stealth techniques, so he had primarily handled treasure thefts and intelligence acquisition rather than direct combat.
“May I ask you something?”
Heuk Pyo took a deep breath and spoke to Bu Eunseol in a low voice.
“I wish to know the sect your master hails from.”
“Why do you ask that?”
“If I’m to follow your master… it seems I’ll need to stake my life on it.”
Bu Eunseol let out a soft laugh and transmitted her voice matter-of-factly.
「It is the Nangya Sect.」
“Nan….”
Heuk Pyo sprang to his feet and instinctively covered his mouth.
‘The Ten Demonic Gates… Nangya Sect!’
No matter how one spoke of declining power or fallen sects, that was only because they were compared among the Ten Demonic Gates, which were called the pillars of the Demonic Path.
The Nangya Sect—where masters who pursued the martial way alone like wolves, each worth a hundred or even a thousand ordinary warriors, abounded.
The young scholar before me had emerged from such a place as an expert!
‘It is worth staking my life for.’
Heuk Pyo took a deep breath and withdrew a sheet of paper from his robes.
“Then please sign this.”
“What is it?”
“A contract.”
Heuk Pyo chuckled and scratched his head.
“To leave Donghyo Seorang, I need an official contract bearing the contractor’s seal.”
Heuk Pyo borrowed brush, ink, and paper from a servant and swiftly wrote out the contract in one fluid motion.
Then he produced a red seal and spoke to Bu Eunseol.
“All you need do is press your seal here.”
As Bu Eunseol pressed her seal, Heuk Pyo broke into a bright smile.
“As of today, the contract is established. I look forward to serving you.”
“Take this.”
Bu Eunseol withdrew a small booklet from her robes.
“What is this?”
“A divine technique to compensate for your clumsy movements.”
“A divine technique?”
“To handle my affairs going forward, you must be faster and more discreet than anyone else.”
Upon opening the booklet, I found it contained the principles of the Lightness Technique and the Footwork Method inscribed within.
The ink was still wet—clearly written last night.
“So you were already planning to employ me, Master?”
As Heuk Pyo chuckled, Bu Eunseol spoke matter-of-factly.
“Merely a precaution.”
“Hehe. Then I gratefully accept.”
Heuk Pyo eagerly tucked the booklet into his robes and spoke.
“But Master, it seems you shouldn’t leave the Inn until the tournament concludes.”
The gazes of the martial artists that had troubled me since earlier had now become brazenly overt.
“This doesn’t seem like it will resolve pleasantly.”
As the situation grew tense, Heuk Pyo’s eyes flashed with intensity.
“I’ll handle this place, so please depart first.”
“You needn’t concern yourself.”
“This is Donghyo Seorang. I am also a wanderer here.”
Bu Eunseol rose from her seat without hesitation.
Several martial artists then stood, following Bu Eunseol’s lead.
Among them, a middle-aged man whose cheeks gleamed like apricots and whose chin bore a luxuriant beard pointed at Bu Eunseol and spoke.
“Bu Eunseol.”
“Who are you?”
“I am the Iron-Faced Guest, Go Il Ryong.”
The Iron-Faced Guest, Go Il Ryong.
An avenger of the Orthodox Sects who would not tolerate injustice, he was a man of such fiery temperament that he would strike down villains with his own hands whenever he encountered them.
Yet Bu Eunseol remained unmoved, as though watching an elderly man hawking wares from a mat.
“However—”
“However? How could you slay the innocent Yeop Hwa so cruelly!”
“When has the martial world ever been a place where people are killed based on guilt or innocence?”
“Is that what you call an answer?”
Bu Eunseol smiled coldly, uncharacteristically.
“If you wish to discuss guilt, then so be it. That man was guilty.”
“Guilty? Of what crime?”
Bu Eunseol regarded the middle-aged man with an icy gaze.
“He roamed the martial world committing obscene acts in secret. And he assassinated his opponents using vicious poisons.”
“Absurd!”
Go Il Ryong cried out sharply.
“The dead cannot defend themselves! Are you now attempting to tarnish even the honor of one already deceased!”
“The dead can defend themselves.”
“What?”
Bu Eunseol spoke coldly.
“Sometimes, certain people only receive proper evaluation after death. Some leave a fragrant legacy beyond the grave, while others continue to reek of corruption even in death.”
Those who seized power and authority while alive could only be truly judged after they perished.
During my years as a mortician, I encountered this truth countless times.
“Wait and see.”
Bu Eunseol spoke with solemn dignity.
“If Yeop Hwa truly lived a clean and righteous life, then his posthumous evaluation shall reflect that.”
“What nonsensical sophistry is this?”
Go Il Ryong glared at Bu Eunseol with an expression of disbelief.
“By your logic, everyone must die before receiving proper judgment.”
“I said sometimes, not always.”
“You speak well, but you overlook one crucial fact.”
Go Il Ryong let out a low chuckle.
“In the martial world, a sharp blade holds far more persuasive power than a smooth tongue.”
“A blade more persuasive than a tongue… I find myself in complete agreement.”
A brilliant gleam erupted from Bu Eunseol’s eyes as the corners of her mouth lifted.
“Then allow me to begin the persuasion.”
Crash!
The entire wall of the second floor of the Ga Yang Ru Inn exploded outward.
Moments later, a middle-aged man in white robes and his associates tumbled ungracefully from above the second floor.
They were none other than the Iron-Faced Guest Go Il Ryong and his companions.
‘She’s twice as powerful as I imagined.’
Heuk Pyo, standing behind Bu Eunseol, found himself speechless at her martial prowess that transcended imagination.
Go Il Ryong was a master who had dominated the martial world for decades. Yet she had reduced them to pulp in a single breath.
“Ugh…”
Go Il Ryong, who had fallen below the Inn, bore a face drenched in blood—a cruel irony to his epithet of the Iron-Faced Guest.
Moreover, the weapons of his nearby companions lay shattered into fragments.
“Do you require further persuasion?”
Bu Eunseol descended from the Inn, her eyes gleaming with an icy electric light.
The Iron-Faced Guest, witnessing this sight, bit down on his lips.
“You…”
“It seems further persuasion is necessary.”
As Bu Eunseol clenched her fist, Go Il Ryong’s complexion shifted.
“Wait!”
His pride deeply wounded by his own panicked reaction, he lowered his head.
“That’s enough…”
After staring down at Go Il Ryong for a long moment, Bu Eunseol turned away and spoke in a low voice.
“Fortunate.”
Crack!
Bu Eunseol thrust a stack of banknotes into the Inn’s door frame and spoke to the manager of Ga Yang Ru, who came tumbling down in haste.
“Use it for repairs.”
“…Isn’t that excessive?”
Heuk Pyo, who had exited the Inn alongside Bu Eunseol, spoke with a worried expression.
“Iron Face is a figure with extensive connections among the Orthodox Sects’ masters. To reduce such a person to pulp without mercy… the future consequences will be boundless.”
“It’s the opposite.”
“Pardon?”
“Those who meddle in others’ affairs must never be dealt with half-heartedly.”
Bu Eunseol spoke with an expressionless face.
“You must crush them so thoroughly they cannot dare to meddle again. That is the nature of the Gangho.”
“If you crush them, they cannot meddle?”
“Handle them moderately, and the meddling never ceases. The elderly masters of the Orthodox Sects who wish to impart lessons to newly emerged talents have connections throughout the Gangho.”
In that moment, Heuk Pyo envisioned the Orthodox Sect elders huddled together, their fingers itching to lecture him.
“Pfft.”
Heuk Pyo nearly burst into laughter.
But Bu Eunseol’s profile was so cold that he could not bring himself to laugh.
“However, through this incident, they will learn. That to challenge me is to stake one’s honor and life.”
“…I see.”
Heuk Pyo too had lived as a wanderer since childhood, but his values regarding the Gangho remained unformed.
Yet Bu Eunseol already possessed her own philosophy and convictions, as though she had spent decades in the Gangho.
“But won’t proceeding that way simply accumulate enemies on all sides?”
“All the better.”
“Pardon?”
“Many enemies mean many opportunities to advance my martial arts.”
At those words, Heuk Pyo suddenly grasped a singular truth.
‘She intends to overturn the entire Gangho.’
He did not know the reason.
But when Heuk Pyo gazed upon Bu Eunseol’s profile, his heart quickened.
‘If I remain by her side, there will be many interesting things to come.’
Most of the jobs that came to Donghyo Seorang were repetitive exercises in danger.
But if he traveled the Gangho with Bu Eunseol, Heuk Pyo sensed he would witness a far broader world than ever before.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————