The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign - Chapter 718

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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 718.
“Ryeong Ju!”
Yeon So Ha, who had been watching, gasped and rushed forward, but Namgung Sae-ah stopped her.
“So Gung Ju, you cannot!”
“But he’s falling down there….”
“It will be fine.”
Namgung Sae-ah spoke calmly.
“It appears our founder arranged things so that when the Cho Yo Bun is activated, one can descend safely below.”
True to her words, Bu Eunseol’s body, enveloped in radiant light, was not plummeting downward.
Rather, she descended slowly into the darkness as if she were an immortal sage.
“Our founder desired him?”
Yeon Ja Mi’s eyes narrowed.
The founder of Shin Nyeo Gung was known to be Yo Hui, the daughter of Shen Nong, who had manifested in human form.
In other words, she possessed such mysterious abilities that legends spoke of a goddess borrowing a mortal’s body.
Perhaps she had foreseen the distant future and selected someone capable of inheriting her legacy.
“Indeed, if this were merely for our disciples, she would not have spoken of five hundred years of cultivation.”
Yeon Ja Mi sighed.
As the Palace Lord, I could never understand the existence of Seonhak Byeolbu.
No matter how diligently one cultivated the power of Shin Nyeo Gung,
it was fundamentally impossible to acquire such a terrifying five hundred years of inner strength.
I had believed the founder deliberately imposed such restrictions to prevent disciples from entering.
But it turned out the restriction was not meant for disciples of Shin Nyeo Gung,
but rather to guide the visit of an outsider with special conditions.
All of this must be fate.
Yeon Ja Mi.
Even the master of this mysterious sect had begun to believe in the existence of destiny.
* * *
‘Did she desire someone who possessed Sasin energy rather than inner power?’
Bu Eunseol, holding the Cho Yo Bun, felt perplexed.
The suction force flowing from the Cho Yo Bun was not seeking original true energy, but rather continuously yearning for Sasin energy, was it not?
‘Which means she desired Sasin energy from the beginning, not cultivation power.’
Then why would Yo Hui, the founder of Shin Nyeo Gung,
have left behind words that only those with five hundred years of cultivation could use this divine artifact?
Moreover, Sasin energy was the power of the Four Gods, completely unrelated to Shin Nyeo Gung.
Why would she create a divine artifact that demanded such cultivation?
Zing.
The light pouring from the Cho Yo Bun obscured Bu Eunseol’s vision, and the surrounding landscape gradually vanished.
Soon the entire world was filled with brilliant white light.
“….”
When Bu Eunseol opened her eyes again, she was momentarily bewildered.
I stood in an empty void where nothing existed.
“This is no illusion.”
I instinctively grasped that the landscape before me was not a soul-binding technique or a spiritual strike, but a genuine translocation to somewhere else.
“How extraordinary.”
There was nothing visible before me—only an endless expanse stretching infinitely outward.
As if everything had vanished.
As if I alone had become the sole existence in the universe.
A soft whisper.
With each step, there was no air current, no footfall sound—nothing.
This place was infinitely silent and desolate, as though it were a projection of my own Mental World.
Yet strange phenomena began to unfold in succession.
Thud, thud.
With each step forward, my body grew heavier.
It felt as though each stride carried me toward the terminus of life itself.
The further I walked, the more my body aged, and a peculiar melancholy stirred within my heart.
Yet I did not stop. I continued forward.
Because life had been granted to me.
Because humans are beings who must move forward, even as they experience joy and sorrow, birth and death.
A deep rumble.
At last, I reached the end of this path.
There stood two doors.
The left door was enveloped in radiant light.
As I drew near to the illuminated door, I glimpsed what appeared to be a world brimming with boundless dreams and hope.
If I were to enter there.
It seemed as though all the abundance and beauty a human could experience would unfold before me.
‘Hmm.’
I turned my gaze toward the right door.
It was steeped in absolute darkness.
It felt as though it were filled with trials, despair, and peril.
‘How extreme.’
Neither door represented a true human existence.
Human life is not filled solely with dreams and hope.
Nor does it contain only sorrow and despair.
Life is a mixture of all these elements intertwined together.
Depending on how one chooses to live,
one can live with hope even in despair, or fall into despair even in hopeful circumstances.
‘So this is asking me to choose the place I truly wish to observe.’
I grasped that these two doors were not mere passages, but some form of trial.
After a brief moment of deliberation, I walked toward the darkened right door.
What if both doors were filled with nothing but falsehood?
Perhaps that was precisely why a place filled with despair and sorrow felt more genuine to me.
With a soft whisper, I stepped through.
The landscape that greeted me was one of a world slowly approaching its final extinction.
The sun that once illuminated the earth no longer wore its golden raiment.
Darkness had consumed all existence.
With each gust of wind, everything that had once existed in this world crumbled to dust and scattered.
All traces of humanity’s prosperous lives had vanished completely, leaving only endless ruins stretched out like a heavy silence.
‘Is this the end of the world?’
As I walked slowly forward, I observed the scene of a world brought to extinction with calm detachment.
A ruined world was not as desperate and tragic as one might imagine.
From my perspective, it was merely somewhat desolate and lonely.
“Does everything simply return to nothingness?”
As I continued walking and observing these remnants with equanimity, a door came into view.
Upon opening it and stepping through, I found a small village nestled within majestic mountains.
Flowers bloomed abundantly among lush trees, and a small waterfall with crystalline waters flowed gently.
It was a landscape reminiscent of Doyuon Gyeong, the paradise where immortals dwell.
I entered the village as if entranced.
When I reached the waterfall, a small cave came into view.
Upon entering the cave, a soft luminescence illuminated the interior.
Before me sat a beautiful woman in lotus position, her expression solemn, yet upon closer inspection, she was an exquisitely crafted stone statue.
It appeared to be a statue carved in the likeness of Yo Hui, the ancestral founder of Shin Nyeo Gung.
Yet her expression and form were so vivid that she seemed alive.
“I have entered the Secret Refuge of Shin Nyeo Gung without permission.”
I bowed respectfully before the statue.
Despite my efforts to help using Cho Yo Beom.
I had become the first to enter Shin Nyeo Gung’s Secret Refuge, which had remained sealed until now.
Standing before the statue of the ancestral founder felt somewhat disrespectful.
A low rumble emanated from within.
As I offered my respects, a low vibration flowed from the statue, and one section of the wall transformed smoothly.
Simultaneously, with a rustling sound, characters carved into the stone wall were revealed.
―Cheon Gang Sung, you who possess the power of the Four Guardians and the Great Celestial Connection, destined to protect the world from the True Demon and serve as the Seeker of Murim.
I have waited for you for a long time.
My eyes widened as I read the inscription.
Remarkably, this place had been created by Yo Hui, the ancestral founder of Shin Nyeo Gung.
It was a Secret Cave prepared for the Cheon Gang Sung who would appear in the future.
Character by character, the inscription continued.
The stone wall slowly carved out new characters.
In case someone other than Cheon Gang Sung—perhaps a descendant of Shin Nyeo Gung—were to open this Seonhak Byeolbu.
A restriction of five hundred years of cultivation had been imposed.
The inscription revealed that it could only truly be opened by one who possessed both the Four Guardians’ power and the Great Celestial Connection.
“Is such a thing even possible?”
Bu Eunseol’s mouth fell open.
Spanning centuries of time.
Predicting when someone capable of opening the Seonhak Byeolbu would appear, and to what level their cultivation would reach.
And to prepare such a Facility and Secret Cave for that purpose?
Moreover, all she possessed was the Demonic Heart Technique alone. She didn’t even have the Great Flame Technique.
Then how could the Facility have responded?
‘Could it be because of the mixed power?’
Bu Eunseol’s body contained inner energy exceeding five hundred years, and not only the Demonic Heart Technique but also the power of the Righteous Demonic Immortal flowed through her.
Perhaps by chance, it had reacted due to that complex and intermingled power.
“She truly might have been a demigod.”
Born in Wushan and settling there, she
was said to have created mysterious medicines under the name of the Divine Maiden of Wushan and healed the common people.
And she not only predicted the future centuries ahead and created the Seonhak Byeolbu,
but when the Destined One appeared, she left words carved upon the stone wall?
She was not merely someone who shared the same name.
Could she truly be the incarnation of Yo Hui, daughter of Shen Nong?
―By the time you read these words, calamity shall have arrived, and annihilation shall have begun.

Scratch, scratch.
Incredible and astonishing words continued to be carved endlessly upon the stone wall.
A being of pure evil and demonic nature who had founded the Demonic Path.
That immaculate evil
was written to have been reborn endlessly even after death, appearing ceaselessly throughout Murim.
‘Was “True Demon” merely a symbolic term?’
Apart from the first line written there, the words carved on the stone wall referred to that existence as demon and evil.
Bu Eunseol let out a voice as she read through the stone wall’s inscription.
“What?”

Moreover, wasn’t it said that this being possessed all memories from past lives while repeating the cycle of reincarnation?
“Endless reincarnation while retaining all memories from past lives?”
Bu Eunseol’s mouth fell open.
If one were born repeatedly while carrying every memory from past lives…
How vast would the accumulated knowledge spanning generations become, and what depths of enlightenment and wisdom could one possibly attain?
―But where there is darkness, light must exist.
At the moment when that Demon regained strength and memories from Cheon Am Sung, a Divine Being arose to oppose him—
And that is you, Cheon Gang Sung.
Bu Eunseol’s eyes widened as she read the characters carved into the stone wall, nearly bursting from their sockets.
If everything inscribed on this stone wall were true…
Then Cheon Am Sung was merely another expression of that pure Demon, and she herself was born as Cheon Gang Sung to oppose him—wasn’t that what it meant?
“Did Cheon Joon truly misread my destiny?”
Cheon Joon had told her that she was born under the fate of Cheon Am Sung.
But the presumed impostor, Seo Jang Seung Tak Ma, had called her Cheon Gang Sung.
If the stone wall’s words were true, then she was certainly not Cheon Am Sung.
Because that pure Demon who founded Ma Gyo was connected to Cheon Am Sung, and
The inscription stated that he endlessly repeated the cycle of reincarnation, accumulating strength and wisdom.
“What a relief.”
Bu Eunseol exhaled a breath mingled with relief and hollowness.
Cheon Joon’s words had been wrong.
She was not Cheon Am Sung after all.
―The Demon sought out the wise ones who knew this truth, and finding his rival—the aura of Cheon Gang Sung who could threaten him—he drove that person to become Cheon Am Sung and destroyed them, ravaging Murim.
In that instant, Bu Eunseol’s eyes snapped wide open.
Then my father, Baek Ri Mu Ha, was born as Cheon Gang Sung.
And that demonic being drove him to become Cheon Am Sung and destroyed him—wasn’t that what happened?
That means Gu Beop Ja Mo Ryun.
That previous oracle was also manipulated by that Demon, wasn’t he?
―This daughter realized that Seonhak Byeolbu is Murim’s final hope.
However, awakening the power of Cheon Gang Sung is an extraordinarily difficult task.
Therefore, I created the Path of Encompassing Light here, which can immediately awaken the power of Cheon Gang Sung.
But fearing that those who are not Cheon Gang Sung might breach this place, I also created the Path of Dark Shadows beside it.
Those who are not Cheon Gang Sung will inevitably choose the Path of Dark Shadows…
‘What did it say?’
Unbelievable words continued to be carved into the stone wall.
This Seonhak Byeolbu was arranged to immediately awaken the power of one born as Cheon Gang Sung.
And in preparation for when someone other than Cheon Gang Sung
were to enter Seonhak Byeolbu, the Path of Dark Shadows was created.
Those who are not Cheon Gang Sung cannot help but choose the Path of Dark Shadows.
The moment they enter that place, their spirit is destroyed,
and they fall into an inescapable prison within the Mental World, trapped forever.
“What in the world does this mean?”
Bu Eunseol felt a wave of vertigo wash over her.
According to Yo Hui’s prophecy, Cheon Gang Sung would have no choice but to select the Path of Radiant Light.
Everyone else would be forced to enter the Shadowed Abyss—a nested Mental World that shattered the spirit, a prison unto itself.
Yet Bu Eunseol had chosen to enter the Shadowed Abyss instead of the Path of Radiant Light.
“But then.”
Despite having entered the Shadowed Abyss, her spirit suffered no trauma whatsoever.
She had passed through it as leisurely as one observing someone else’s dream.
“None of it affected me.”
Contrary to what the inscriptions on the stone wall proclaimed,
what she had witnessed in the Shadowed Abyss was merely a serene and desolate landscape of endings.
There had been no spiritual assault at all.
“What is this?”
Bu Eunseol’s mind reeled.
One thing was certain: according to the Seonhak Byeolbu’s arrangement, she was neither Cheon Gang Sung nor Cheon Am Sung.
Scratch, scratch.
Unbelievable inscriptions began to etch themselves into the stone.
—You who walked the Path of Radiant Light have already awakened to your destiny, and all dormant power within your body has been stirred to life.
You are the final hope of this world, so please….
As Bu Eunseol read further, her expression filled with emptiness and confusion.
“It’s wrong.”
Then it should have been Cheon Gang Sung who entered here, and her power should have awakened through the Path of Radiant Light.
Yo Hui’s prophecy was entirely false.
Instead, she herself had shattered the Seonhak Byeolbu’s arrangement.
“This Mental World was meant to awaken the dormant power of Cheon Gang Sung, her own design—yet all the prophecies have proven wrong.”
Yo Hui was not a god after all.
She was merely a prophetess who had misread the heavenly mandate.
Whisper, whisper.
On the stone wall, one final plea was inscribed for Cheon Gang Sung—Yeon Ja Mi.
To slay the immortal Demon who exists across generations, bearing the memories of countless rebirths,
and to save the world.
Whoooosh.
At last, as Bu Eunseol finished reading every word,
the inscriptions on the stone wall began to glow like stars scattered across the sky.
Brilliance!
In an instant, they transformed into radiant light that ascended into the void and vanished into the Distant Sky.
When she lowered her gaze, the stone wall had become smooth once more.
Rumble.
At that same moment, two doors materialized before her.
One resembled a Book Repository brimming with martial arts manuals, while the other was an exit.
It seemed Cheon Gang Sung’s power had awakened, and now I was being told to leave this place.
“Have I ruined everything?”
Yo Hui’s prophecy had gone awry.
Without realizing it, I had become the one who destroyed her carefully laid plans.
After a moment of contemplation, I bowed respectfully before Yo Hui’s stone statue and spoke.
“I sincerely apologize for inadvertently disrupting your arrangements. I will ensure this information is conveyed to the Shin Nyeo Gung and all factions of the Murim.”
Yo Hui’s stone statue looked different now—her expression appeared solemn, as if she harbored some displeasure.
It seemed she was telling me not to reveal this matter to the outside world.
Gulp.
I swallowed hard and clasped my hands together again.
“Then only the Shin Nyeo Gung and I shall know of this.”
At that, her gaze softened somewhat.
Yet she still seemed unsatisfied, her brow furrowed as if in thought.
As if to say, “Is there not something more you should say?”
“If I survive after completing all my vengeance…”
I found myself speaking these words.
“I will surely endeavor to stop that existence.”
Only then did Yo Hui’s stone statue relax its stern expression, a faint smile gracing her lips.
As if she had been waiting for those very words.
Rumble, rumble, rumble.
At that moment, the mechanism activated and Yo Hui’s stone statue slowly descended beneath the earth.
I watched the statue disappear, then entered the exit that had opened on the opposite side.
Given its steep incline, it appeared to be a passage leading back upward.
“They created such a hidden realm beneath this place.”
As I ascended through the passage,
I finally realized that Seonhak Byeolbu had been constructed roughly ten stories underground.
At the end of the passage, another door came into view.
Rumble.
As I opened the door and stepped outside, I saw the bridge meant for inserting the Choyobeom.
It turned out that the place I had entered was actually inside the massive door that had been sealed beyond the bridge.
When I opened the door, Yeon Ja Mi was nowhere to be seen, but Yeon So Ha and Namgung Sae-ah stood across the bridge.
“Ryeong Ju!”
The moment Yeon So Ha saw me, she burst into tears and rushed toward me.
With a face full of worry, tears streaming down her cheeks, she cried out.
“Are you alright? What on earth happened?”
I looked at her with confusion.
I had only been down there for less than half an hour at most.
So why was Yeon So Ha so worried?
Why did her face look so haggard?
“There is a space below this place similar to the Doyuon Gyeong. That is the true body of Seonhak Byeolbu, and this door appears to be merely a passage.”
“So you were trapped in that place?”
“Trapped, you say.”
Bu Eunseol blinked her eyes.
“It was only about half a double hour—hardly enough to call it being trapped, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Half a double hour?”
Yeon So Ha spoke in a trembling voice.
“Ryeong Ju disappeared into the lower Facility two days ago.”
“Two days have passed?”
Bu Eunseol blinked.
Then, suddenly, she recalled the time she had spent in the Shadowed Passage.
If that were true, then the gate she thought she had walked through in mere moments had actually consumed an enormous span of time.
‘I see now.’
To Bu Eunseol, it had been a brief journey lasting less than a quarter hour.
Yet in reality, two days had passed there—two days of relentless spiritual intrusions and assaults.
Yo Hui’s claim that she had constructed a prison within the Mental World to guard against the intrusions of others
was no fabrication whatsoever.
‘What is the meaning of this?’
Bu Eunseol was bewildered.
What had the ancestral founder of Shin Nyeo Gung, Yo Hui, foreseen? Why had she opened the separate branch to her and not to Cheon Gang Sung?
‘Could it be…?’
In that instant, Bu Eunseol recalled the words inscribed upon the stone wall.
—When that Demon regains strength and memory from Cheon Am Sung,
my own memories shall be sealed away.
Then could that Demon possibly be referring to… herself?

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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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