The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign - Chapter 739

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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 739.
Pop, pop, pop.
As dark projectiles rained down, Bu Eunseol immediately concealed herself behind a tree.
In a forest this dense, projectiles lost their effectiveness.
Moreover, with countless places to hide, the forest proved ideal for engaging large numbers of enemies.
Whoosh!
Yet the assassins of Dangsaeng Gate were no fools.
Upon learning that Bu Eunseol had moved into the mountains, they had prepared thoroughly to capture her.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, acrid smoke billowed up around where Bu Eunseol stood.
They had dispersed poison smoke, cutting off any opportunity for her to hide and counterattack within the forest.
Moreover, having installed a peculiar formation beforehand, the poison smoke did not spread in all directions but remained tightly concentrated within roughly fifty paces of the area.
Zing.
Hidden behind a tree, Bu Eunseol felt dizziness wash over her as she inhaled the poison smoke.
‘At least that’s fortunate.’
Yet she soon steadied herself.
The assassins of Dangsaeng Gate, believing Bu Eunseol to be a formidable master, had mixed the poison smoke primarily with Qi-Scattering Powder.
But Bu Eunseol’s cultivation was already sealed from the start, so even if she inhaled a full dose of Qi-Scattering Powder.
It would cause her no real harm.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Meanwhile, the dark projectiles continued their relentless barrage.
Despite being surrounded and bombarded with projectiles, Bu Eunseol remained unperturbed.
Instead, she moved toward the direction from which the projectiles were coming.
“Gahhh.”
“Kaaagh.”
Simultaneously, screams erupted from various points throughout the forest.
Bu Eunseol swept through the poison-filled forest, severing the throats of assassins one by one.
Assassins, whose profession was taking lives, necessarily cultivated secret techniques to amplify their senses.
Moreover, the assassins of Dangsaeng Gate had deployed an exquisite directional formation, allowing them to see clearly into the forest’s depths.
Yet they could not detect Bu Eunseol’s presence at all, and instead, the poison smoke obscuring their vision meant.
They were being hunted down one by one.
Thwip! Crunch!
No matter how they heightened their senses, they could not detect Bu Eunseol’s presence, only the chilling sound of blades cutting through flesh echoing from all directions.
“Gahhh!”
“Ugh.”
Conversely, Bu Eunseol moved freely within the poison smoke, severing the assassins’ throats.
She was among the greatest masters of Nangya Pavilion, one who had learned the Way of the Beast while blind.
She had risked her life countless times facing the blade of Sa Woo, the Master of Bi Jeon Dang.
Therefore, even in a place where not a single ray of light penetrated—let alone poison smoke—she would not be hindered in the slightest.
Whoosh!
As Muk Hon’s blade pierced through the solid rock, blood erupted outward.
The Dangsaeng Gate’s concealment technique was unique—they could transform their appearance using rocks or trees as camouflage.
Yet to Bu Eunseol, they remained merely targets wearing different forms.
“Clear away the poison mist!”
Only then did the Dangsaeng Gate assassins realize
that Bu Eunseol possessed superior concealment arts and extrasensory perception beyond their own.
They hastily ceased their frantic attempts to conjure the poisonous fog.
“Damn.”
As the poison mist dissipated, the Assassin Leader directing the operation bit his lip.
In that brief span, nearly forty assassins had already become guests of the underworld.
“Scatter and strike him down!”
At the Assassin Leader’s command, the assassins concealed themselves once more.
“Huff… huff…”
Bu Eunseol stood motionless within the forest, breathing heavily.
The poison mist had completely dissipated, yet the assassins had achieved perfect concealment,
and the murderous aura spreading through the forest grew even thicker.
Now the true battle was beginning.
Whoosh!
Accompanied by a bizarre sound of air being torn,
a round, razor-sharp projectile carved a wide arc and drove toward Bu Eunseol’s body.
Bu Eunseol swiftly evaded.
Clang!
The projectile struck a massive boulder near where he had been standing, sending sparks flying with a metallic screech.
The projectile embedded in the rock resembled several circular saw blades joined together,
making it impossible to predict the direction from which it had been launched by the sound alone,
and it was a unique weapon designed to tear wounds wide open upon impact.
Clang! Clang!
Bu Eunseol deflected the saw-blade projectiles and moved down the mountainside.
Though lacking inner force, once combat commenced, the senses of the Beast Path grew even sharper.
Moreover, since he could not move with full agility now,
he calmly deflected the barrage of projectiles while advancing slowly.
“Attack!”
Finally, the Dangsaeng Gate assassins realized
that projectiles alone could not overcome Bu Eunseol, so they drew their blades and launched a direct assault.
Whoosh! Swish!
Like legendary Sal Mun assassins, they displayed swordsmanship that rivaled Murim masters even in vacuum techniques.
Clang clang clang!
Bu Eunseol was driven back by their overwhelming force and descended toward the base of the mountain.
The assassins wove a dense encirclement and pursued like vengeful spirits.
As the pre-positioned defensive formations merged with their swift footwork, nothing remained visible but flashing black blades.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Moreover, the assassins possessed an uncanny ability to seize opportunities the moment the distance widened, unleashing their projectiles anew. It was a relentless barrage of consecutive attacks that showed no sign of cessation.
‘Ugh.’
Bu Eunseol, leaning against a boulder while evading the flying blades, let out a groan.
The black blood seeping from the wounds made it abundantly clear that the blades and projectiles had been coated with a potent toxin.
Gulp.
Bu Eunseol retrieved a Zamashinddan from her robes and swallowed it.
This miraculous elixir not only possessed efficacy against external wounds but also boasted exceptional detoxification properties.
‘The assassination techniques of Dangsaeng Gate are truly distinctive.’
Bu Eunseol inwardly marveled at Dangsaeng Gate’s hundred-kill secret method.
‘Not only is their concealment art untraceable, but they’ve also woven the Confusion Array and the Soul-Binding Array across this entire mountain.’
No matter how far I moved, I couldn’t escape the forest.
The illusion of a massive wall enclosing me suggested they had layered these arrays upon one another with meticulous precision.
Furthermore, they attacked with perfect accuracy, as if observing me from above a game board.
And in certain locations, projectiles rained down even without assassins present.
They had undoubtedly pre-installed a Killing Array containing automated blade mechanisms within the Qi Array itself.
Flash!
In that instant, Bu Eunseol sensed something and sprang from the boulder as if launched.
Whoosh!
A sinister poison-coated blade erupted from the spot where she had been resting.
The assassins had closed in without warning.
Swish!
As she dodged, four sword shadows cascaded from above.
Bu Eunseol wielded the Muk Hon Sword with swift precision, deflecting the shadows while attempting to sever the wrist of her attacker.
‘Tch.’
Yet the wound near her shoulder hindered her movements, preventing them from flowing smoothly.
In the end, she managed to sever the wrist of only one assassin among the four.
Whoosh.
The assassins, recognizing the exceptional caliber of Bu Eunseol’s swordsmanship,
refused direct confrontation when their attacks missed, instead vanishing into concealment once more.
For the duration of two hours, the forest resounded with the clash of weapons and projectiles.
During this time, Bu Eunseol consumed two additional Zamashinddan to prevent poisoning.
The assassins of Dangsaeng Gate proved far more relentless than anticipated, displaying an unwavering determination to kill her even at the cost of their own lives.
‘Only one pill remains.’
Bu Eunseol clenched her fist tightly.
Internal injuries deepened with each passing moment, and only a single Zamashinddan remained.
The number of assassins remained unknown, and the longer the battle dragged on, the more the situation deteriorated in my favor.
Yet her eyes remained serene.
From the moment I stepped into the Murim, I had erased the boundary between life and death.
What was there to fear, and what was there to regret?
Whoosh!
Had the prepared poisoned needles run out?
The sudden barrage of poisoned needles had noticeably diminished.
Crack, crack, crack.
Seizing the opportunity, Bu Eunseol spun her body and moved with swift grace.
But something was strange.
Rather than breaking through the encirclement, she had instead driven straight into the heart of the forest where the assassins lay hidden.
―Had she lost her mind?
As Bu Eunseol ventured into the forest’s depths, the Dangsaeng Gate assassins who had been spread throughout the area gradually tightened their noose.
Crunch.
Bu Eunseol thrust her blade at a tree to her side.
An assassin hidden there collapsed, his brow pierced clean through.
Swish!
But in that same instant, dozens of blades erupted from beneath the earth.
Whoosh.
Without inner energy to propel herself skyward, Bu Eunseol instead rolled across the ground using the Nayeo Ta Gon technique.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The assassins seized the moment and unleashed another rain of poisoned needles from above.
Tap, tap, tap.
Even as she rolled, Bu Eunseol wielded the Muk Hon Sword, batting away the cascading needles.
―Relentless creature…
The assassins muttered with exasperation.
No such technique existed in the current Murim.
Bu Eunseol was not employing formal martial arts, but rather adapting the practical combat techniques of Nangya Pavilion.
She was fighting desperately for survival.
Thud.
Rising to her feet again, Bu Eunseol swung her blade with renewed speed.
But the assassins made no move to close in, instead scattering the remaining poisoned needles sporadically.
Soon enough, Bu Eunseol would either succumb to the poison or collapse from exhaustion.
They maintained their distance, dragging out time, slowly bleeding her to death.
Drip, drip, drip.
Black blood seeped from the wounds where the poisoned needles had grazed her, and Bu Eunseol’s movements were gradually slowing.
Unable to move with her former agility, she could only roll frantically across the ground amid the falling needles.
[Time to finish this.]
The hidden assassins sent a message through the Six Harmonies Transmission technique, toying with Bu Eunseol.
Bu Eunseol’s injuries and poisoning were no mere pretense.
At this rate, within a double hour—
No, within a quarter hour, she would surely collapse and perish of her own accord.
Crackle, crackle!
Yet suddenly, something extraordinary occurred.
As Bu Eunseol slashed her blade through empty air,
a sharp spray erupted—
blood fountained forth, and suddenly one of the assassins crumpled to the ground.
“What—?”
As the assassins reeled in confusion,
more sprays of blood—
the hidden assassins fell one by one, pierced by Bu Eunseol’s blade without understanding what was happening.
“Scatter!”
The assassins moved swiftly, trying to evade Bu Eunseol’s pursuing blade.
But something was wrong.
No matter how they moved, it was as if invisible walls had materialized throughout the forest—they could not escape in any direction.
“No!”
Only then did the assassins realize—
the formation arrays they had laid to trap Bu Eunseol had been completely reversed.
“Surely not…”
The assassins’ eyes trembled.
Now they recalled how Bu Eunseol had rolled frantically across the ground, wildly swinging her blade.
They had assumed she was merely thrashing about to evade their projectiles.
But now it became clear—she had been subtly manipulating the formation arrays installed throughout the forest.
―Was such a thing even possible?
The hidden assassins could scarcely believe it.
In such circumstances, breaking through the encirclement would be the best strategy.
Yet Bu Eunseol, even with her life hanging by a thread, had identified every formation array in the forest,
and while wielding her blade like a madwoman, had subtly altered the existing arrays.
A figure emerged—
The Assassin Leader finally revealed himself before Bu Eunseol.
“Who exactly are you?”
The assassin’s voice trembled.
In the extreme combat where lives hung in the balance,
the existence of a martial genius capable of identifying installed formation arrays and subtly altering them
was something he had never even heard whispered as legend.
“It matters not.”
In Bu Eunseol’s voice, tinged with mild annoyance, the assassins felt both fear and rage simultaneously.
This person was surely a master of tremendous cultivation.
If they failed to kill her today, the Dangsaeng Gate itself could face annihilation.
Shadows dispersed—
Finally, all the assassins dropped their concealment and revealed themselves.
There were eleven of them in total.
They were uniformly dressed as herb gatherers, each wielding a sickle.
Yet those sickles were honed sharp as weapons rather than farming tools.
They used sickles, exploiting the guise of herbalists.
Endlessly repeating their work of murder.
“Deploy the Killing Formation.”
At the Assassin Leader’s command.
The remaining assassins began circling around Bu Eunseol.
Whoosh, crack.
As the Killing Formation completed, the assassins’ bodies dispersed like mist, then reformed, repeating the cycle.
The Dangsaeng Gate’s Killing Formation was a directional array with a most peculiar function.
Even if all those who deployed the formation perished, it would inevitably unleash a fatal strike upon the enemy.
A Certain Death Formation.
Clang.
Bu Eunseol planted the Muk Hon Blade vertically before me.
My eyes betrayed no tremor, as though indifferent to life and death itself.
I stood ready to seize any opening my enemies might offer.
Shiver.
Seeing Bu Eunseol become one with the blade, the assassins’ eyes quivered.
They too were elite assassins who courted death.
Yet meeting my transparent gaze, an uncanny sensation swept through them.
As if Death itself had latched onto their backs—a chilling premonition.
“He’ll soon succumb to the poison and perish!”
The Leader spoke coldly.
“Drag out the time and surround him so he cannot escape!”
As his words ended, tremendous killing intent surged from the assassins’ bodies.
And just as they were about to strike,
“The path of life is fraught with hardship…”
Bu Eunseol gazed toward the Distant Sky with infinitely melancholic eyes.
“The difficulties of the journey cannot be spoken of again and again.”
In that instant, the assassins’ eyes wavered greatly.
Moments before, they had concentrated all their power,
Identifying my openings and launching their attack.
How I gripped the blade.
The type of technique and its timing varied depending on my stance,
So all their senses had been fixed upon my next movement.
Yet in this hair-trigger moment,
When I suddenly recited poetry with melancholic eyes, the taut string snapped.
Whoosh.
Not missing that fleeting gap, the Muk Hon Blade slashed through empty space.
In their moment of distraction, the blade reflected in moonlight pierced the assassins’ vital points.
“Evade!”
The assassins regained their senses and attempted to block Bu Eunseol’s blade.
Yet the blade that had been probing forward with the gentleness of a viper’s tongue suddenly vanished without a trace.
Slash.
In that same instant, a deep wound appeared on one assassin’s thigh.
Bu Eunseol had altered her swordplay and abruptly struck at the leg, making it appear to their eyes as though the blade had simply disappeared.
“Ugh.”
The assassin struck in the leg groaned and staggered.
To the naked eye, it seemed as though the thigh had been slashed, but in truth, the femoral artery had been pierced deeply.
Whoosh.
A thigh wound might seem survivable, but a severed artery tells a different story.
As blood gushed forth, the assassin quickly pressed the Blood Sealing Point on his leg to stop the hemorrhage.
“Nngh.”
Yet even after sealing the point, the blood refused to stop—strangely, inexplicably.
Bu Eunseol was an expert in human anatomy.
She had not merely severed the artery; she had shredded the surrounding blood vessels and muscle tissue as well.
Making their pressure point techniques utterly useless.
Thud.
In the end, the assassin struck in the thigh breathed his last.
“I wondered why these assassins were dropping like flies from such seemingly effortless strikes.”
The Assassin Leader drew a deep breath upon seeing his subordinate’s wound.
“A master swordsman versed in human anatomy.”
Those casual strikes had proven devastatingly lethal,
and her sword technique contained profound and mysterious power.
“But your body is not in normal condition.”
The Assassin Leader’s eyes flashed as he regarded Bu Eunseol.
“And poisoned besides… In the end, you too shall perish!”
Clash, clash, clash, clash!
Once more, a desperate close-quarters battle erupted.
Before long, deep wounds appeared on Bu Eunseol’s body as well.
No matter how exquisite one’s swordplay,
standing rooted in place to execute it meant she could not perfectly defend against the assassins’ onslaught.
Moreover, each time she unleashed a killing blow, Bu Eunseol herself took a strike in return.
Then she would advance another step to strike the assassins’ vital points… an endless cycle of trading flesh for bone.
Drip, drip.
Bu Eunseol had become a blood-soaked figure.
Only three remained now—including the Assassin Leader.
Yet Bu Eunseol seemed to lack the strength to move, her head hanging low as blood dripped steadily from her wounds.
“I shall end you with a killing technique from which there is no escape.”
The Assassin Leader’s eyes flashed as he regarded the exhausted Bu Eunseol.
Dangsaeng Gate had never once failed until now.
Because they accepted only a single contract at a time.
They lived ordinary lives for anywhere from a decade to several decades.
But suddenly, out of nowhere, the nameless Bu Eunseol had watched her comrades—those she’d fought alongside for over a decade—be slaughtered to the last.
Their fury was beyond words.
“Do assassins even know what emotion is?”
At Bu Eunseol’s words,
A low growl rumbled forth.
The three assassins answered not with words, but by channeling black energy in ragged, deliberate waves.
Even if they fell to Bu Eunseol’s blade, they could achieve mutual destruction—a vicious killing technique of the highest caliber.
They were deploying the Blood Heaven Toad Technique, a refined evolution of the legendary martial art known as the Harmony Demon Method.
A deep, croaking sound echoed.
All three assassins crouched low like toads, their eyes fixed upon Bu Eunseol.
But then, at that very moment.
“She’s over there!”
A sharp, crystalline voice rang out,
And with a thunderous roar,
Dozens of armed mercenaries came rushing into the forest where Bu Eunseol stood.
Leading them was a beautiful woman in white armor—none other than Ye Eoryeong, daughter of the Yonghua Merchant Guild.
She had come to understand something only recently.
The reason Bu Eunseol had taken her cloak.
It was to allow her to escape safely, to draw the pursuit away from her.
After much deliberation, instead of heading to the Geum Do Gate, she had spent an enormous sum to hire elite mercenaries,
And set out to find Bu Eunseol once more.
But as Bu Eunseol moved only through the deepest mountain paths, she could not easily track her.
Then, through the continuous battles with assassins that raged day and night, she finally managed to locate her whereabouts.
“Save her!”
At Ye Eoryeong’s command, the mercenaries rushed into the forest.
A sharp crack split the air.
But the formation array set within the forest prevented them from advancing.
“It’s a formation. Find the nodes.”
True to their status as elite mercenaries, they immediately began circling the forest’s perimeter, searching for the objects that activated the formation.
“Hurry!”
As black energy began flowing from the bodies of the assassins crouched in a triangular formation,
Ye Eoryeong realized the situation was becoming dire.
“Damn it! It won’t break easily!”
“Looks like an ancient formation array! At this rate, we’d need hundreds of pounds of explosives!”
The formations laid across the forest were terrifyingly resilient. The mercenaries fumbled helplessly, unable to break through.
Tap, tap, tap.
Then, as a drop of blood fell from Bu Eunseol’s brow and streaked past her eye,
A deafening explosion erupted!
The three assassins were hurled outward like bullets from a cannon.
Crash!
Bu Eunseol spun the Muk Hon Sword in circles, employing the subtle mysteries of the Blossoming Butterfly Jade technique.
Whoosh.
The three assassins narrowly brushed past Bu Eunseol’s body.
Clang! Clang!
But exploiting the formation’s constraint that sealed off all directions,
they instantly rebounded and unleashed the Blood Heaven Demon Union technique toward Bu Eunseol once more.
The terrifying aspect of the Demon Union technique was this:
the more the enemy evaded the attack,
the more their bodies accelerated, launching forth with devastating force.
“Hurry, hurry!”
When the wanderers failed to break the formation, Ye Eoryeong cried out urgently.
“She’s going to die!”
In such a confined space, the Blood Heaven Demon Union technique wielded absolute power.
In the worst case, it could rupture the body and use the fragments shot at ultra-high speed as projectiles.
Truly, an inescapable mutual destruction strike had been unleashed.
In the end, Bu Eunseol had only death awaiting her in this prison.
Boom! Whoosh! Whirrrrr!
As Bu Eunseol deflected several attacks,
the assassins transformed into black streaks of light, beginning to carve through the entire forest.
Rip! Rip!
Through the Blood Heaven Demon Union technique’s power,
even the slightest brush against the assassins’ bodies moving at ultra-high speed tore open Bu Eunseol’s skin.
Shred shred shred shred!
Soon, nothing but black streaks remained visible, and even the perception of the Night Beast Path could no longer track their trajectories.
Splurt!
Each time the black streaks passed, flesh split and burst, until Bu Eunseol became drenched in crimson blood, her eyes growing increasingly dim.
Having lost so much blood, she could no longer endure.
Thud!
At that moment, two assassins seized the opportunity and drove in from both sides.
Whirrr.
In that instant, Bu Eunseol spun the Muk Hon Sword like a windmill, creating a barrier.
Though her hand movements were not swift, the subtle energy woven within produced a circular current of qi.
Tai Chi Wisdom Sword.
Bu Eunseol mimicked the form of Accumulated Virtue Remaining Blessing, one of the techniques Song Ak had once displayed with the Tai Chi Wisdom Sword.
Whoosh whoosh.
Though she could not infuse inner energy to create dozens of circular sword flowers,
the mysteries of the Tai Chi Wisdom Sword—Continuous as if Present, Used Without Flowing—unfolded with perfect precision.
Crash!
Two black streaks collided, scattering fragments in all directions.
Bu Eunseol threw herself out of the way just in time.
But countless shards of flesh had already grazed past her back and shoulders.
“Damn it!”
Yet in that same instant, the Assassin Leader.
Seized an opening that was impossible to evade, and launched himself toward Bu Eunseol.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a sharp blade aura erupted from the Muk Hon Sword,
Flash!
A brilliant rainbow bloomed forth.
Over four days, Bu Eunseol had slowly recovered her vitality, and now possessed the internal energy of someone at a ten-year cultivation level.
And when she infused her inner force and unleashed the blade with all her strength… it was no longer mere swordsmanship, but became a sword intent itself.
The will to live.
And the agony of being unable to even take her own life.
Her own existence held no value whatsoever.
Death could bring peace to everything.
Yet she could not do so for the sake of revenge.
And now she had to uncover the truth about her parents’ deaths as well.
How could she possibly die?
Roar!
The energy pouring from the Muk Hon Sword was like light descending from the heavens.
It could not be evaded, could not be felt, and simply existed as naturally as the world itself.
Slice.
That light passed through the body of the Assassin Leader as he tried to collide with Bu Eunseol,
Crash!
The Assassin Leader’s body was sent flying backward.
Protected by his armor and with his combined demonic technique deployed, his body did not split in two.
Yet from Bu Eunseol’s single strike, a deep crimson line was etched across his body from head to torso.
“Who… are you?”
The Assassin Leader rose to his feet and asked.
It was already a fatal wound.
But for him, who had lived by the pride of Dangsaeng Gate alone,
To fall to an unknown figure was utterly unbearable shame.
“Answer… me!”
Thus his spirit clung to his body, teeth gritted, unable to depart.
‘Is this too the sorrow of those in Gangho?’
Compassion flowed from Bu Eunseol’s eyes as she gazed upon the Assassin Leader.
She could not fathom the twisted values of Murim warriors.
Yet on the other hand, that they could endure so much through pride alone filled her with awe.
“Bu Eunseol.”
“Bu Eunseol… Muk Hon Ryeong Ju?”
Nod.
Bu Eunseol nodded in agreement.
Finally hearing the answer to what had troubled her,
“So that’s how it was.”
The Assassin Leader’s eyes behind the mask grew infinitely brighter.
“I was never weak.”
At last, with every secret revealed, his body had completed its purpose.
Crack!
The form that had been forcibly held together split into two pieces.

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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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