The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign - Chapter 759
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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 759.
“You possess admirable ambition.”
Baek Jeon Cheon regarded Bu Eunseol with eyes that seemed to yearn for something distant.
In truth, this very demeanor exemplified what it meant to be a true practitioner of the Demonic Path.
The tyranny of the Demonic Way.
Casting aside benevolence and righteousness as worthless trifles.
Moving solely by the logic of strength, one must crush those stronger and higher than oneself.
“Excellent.”
Baek Jeon Cheon nodded in approval.
“Rather than speak of joining hands, I shall, recognizing the Ryeong Ju’s formidable ambition, remove the obstacles that hinder you.”
Bu Eunseol’s eyes gleamed with intensity.
At last, his resolve had been stirred.
“Is such a thing truly possible?”
Yet the moment Baek Jeon Cheon granted his consent, doubt crept into Bu Eunseol’s mind.
When he spoke of obstacles, he truly meant Ma Cheon Je’s interference.
“Of course.”
The answer came swift and certain.
In other words, Baek Jeon Cheon was vowing to ensure that Ma Cheon Je could not interfere with Bu Eunseol.
He would diminish, or perhaps entirely strip away, that authority.
“Laws, after all, are crafted by mortals, and upon close examination, they contain numerous loopholes. Of course, remedying such deficiencies is also the duty of our Man Bak Dang.”
Baek Jeon Cheon spoke in a hushed voice.
“No matter how exalted the position of Palace Master may be, maintaining authority over a coalition of disparate factions requires reliance upon law rather than force alone—much like the Murim Alliance itself.”
“Yet does not Ma Cheon Je’s word supersede even those laws?”
However absolute the Demon Palace’s power derived from the unwavering support of the Ten Demonic Gates and the Demonic practitioners.
There existed a foundation that could never be shaken—the authority of Ma Cheon Je himself.
Ma Cheon Je possessed authority that transcended even his station as Palace Master.
As the supreme sovereign of the Demonic Path and the very sky above it, he wielded incomparably greater power.
Thus his every word stood above all laws of the Demon Palace.
“Precisely. This is why Yu Baek, who continued his assassin’s work in Haenam, could become a candidate for Blood Robed Commander.”
Baek Jeon Cheon’s eyes flashed with keen insight.
“On the surface, it appears the Chong Gyo Ryeong summoned him, but none in the Demon Palace are ignorant of the fact that Ma Cheon Je was the true caller.”
He continued his explanation.
“Yet ultimately, he lost his life to a senior member of the Murim Alliance and failed his mission. Had her identity been exposed?”
“….”
“The situation at Bon Jeon would have become untenable, and we would have faced demands for massive compensation to the Murim Alliance.”
Only then did Bu Eunseol grasp the full meaning of Baek Jeon Cheon’s words.
“I understand your meaning well enough.”
He shook his head slowly as he spoke.
“But who could possibly hold Ma Cheon Je accountable for such a mistake?”
“We do not hold him accountable. Rather, we merely request that our organization amend its laws to ensure such an incident never occurs again.”
Baek Jeon Cheon spoke again.
“In truth, this matter is precisely the sort of agenda the Ten Demonic Sect Lords would eagerly bring before the Majeong Council. It presents an ideal opportunity to curtail Ma Cheon Je’s unilateral authority.”
Bu Eunseol’s expression grew somewhat puzzled.
So they would use Ma Cheon Je’s misstep as a pretext.
To convene another Majeong Council that would further diminish his authority?
“Of course, the primary agenda of this Majeong Council will not center on such matters.”
Baek Jeon Cheon continued with an unhurried expression.
“Previously, the Elder Hall Master issued a resolution that all appointments of Ryeong Ju-level personnel must proceed exclusively through the Majeong Council, and it was passed. Do you recall?”
Bu Eunseol nodded.
That had been the result of a transaction with Jeok Bung, the Elder Hall Master, to prevent Ma Cheon Je from issuing arbitrary orders to his Sayoung Battle Division subordinates and causing harm.
It was a concession obtained through careful negotiation.
“According to the laws of Ben Jeon, the Moo Hon Ryeong Ju may, when necessary, refuse even the sect lord’s commands and conduct independent operations—such is the regulation.”
A profound light gleamed in Baek Jeon Cheon’s eyes.
“And the Elder Hall Master, with remarkable wisdom, passed this very regulation by arguing that such a clause, under the laws of the Demonic Path, could undermine the sect lord’s authority.”
Bu Eunseol, who had been listening in silence, stroked his chin and nodded.
“In other words, you are saying that you will block both direct and indirect orders coming to me, under the pretext of strengthening Ma Cheon Je’s authority.”
The moment Bu Eunseol grasped the essence, Baek Jeon Cheon smiled.
“Precisely. The sect lord can no longer issue direct commands to the Ryeong Ju due to the previous regulation. So this time, he issued indirect commands through Chong Gyo Ryeong.”
He continued.
“To pass an agenda that blocks the sect lord’s circumventive commands, paradoxically, we must employ a method that strengthens the sect lord’s authority.”
“By strengthening Ma Cheon Je’s authority, you render his commands incapable of being delegated.”
“Exactly. Chong Gyo Ryeong’s appointment of the Blood Robed Commander was, in fact, beyond his authority. Henceforth, no one—not even Chong Gyo Ryeong—shall dare to exercise the sect lord’s exclusive prerogatives.”
Baek Jeon Cheon smiled broadly.
“At that time, I will secure ratification of the Moo Hon Ryeong Ju’s original authority—namely, that he receives commands from none save the sect lord.”
He paused briefly before speaking in a low but forceful tone.
“Since the regulation and the Majeong Council’s decision are in conflict, the sect lord has no choice but to intervene. Moreover, it was the sect lord himself who directly appointed the Ryeong Ju.”
“Then the sect lord cannot help but acknowledge the Moo Hon Ryeong’s authority by law.”
“Precisely so.”
Baek Jeon Cheon spoke with a faint smile.
“Should the sect lord deny the Moo Hon Ryeong’s authority, his own authority as sect lord would inevitably be undermined as well.”
Ma Cheon Je, as the sect lord of the Demon Palace, wielded absolute authority over all personnel appointments concerning the Ryeong Ju, who enjoyed special power and status.
And in accordance with this,
he had demanded reconfirmation of the regulation regarding the Moo Hon Ryeong Ju’s independence. But should he deny it?
Naturally, his own authority as the sect lord of the Demon Palace would be negated.
“Once that occurs, the sect lord will no longer be able to manipulate the Ryeong Ju through Chong Gyo Ryeong. He would not debase himself by issuing direct commands merely to humiliate a single Ryeong Ju.”
‘Indeed.’
Bu Eunseol could not suppress his admiration.
Baek Jeon Cheon. He was the lord of Man Bak Dang and worthy of being called the very brain of the Demon Palace.
Was it any wonder he earned the praise: “If he does not know it, heaven itself knows it not”?
He perceived the loopholes in the Demon Palace’s laws and regulations.
And by turning Ma Cheon Je’s obsession with authority and prestige to his advantage.
He sought to ensnare Ma Cheon Je, who constantly schemed to manipulate and control the situation.
“Thank you.”
Bu Eunseol pressed his palms together.
“Then I shall entrust that matter to you.”
Now that I had boarded the same vessel as Baek Jeon Cheon, that talented strategist, I could rest assured within the Demon Palace for the time being.
No matter what snares Ma Cheon Je laid, I would ensure he could escape them safely.
* * *
Across the desolate Reed Field, only a bleak wind swept endlessly.
This was once the place where a young prodigy of the Murim Alliance and an exceptional assassin had fought to the death.
Rumble.
Thunder suddenly erupted across the barren sky.
Rumble. Crash!
The distant thunder grew louder, tearing at the ears, until brilliant white lightning began to strike, connecting heaven and earth.
Flash!
The lightning, as if splitting the entire world in two, began to coalesce into a single sphere of light upon the ground.
Crackle.
And amid cyan flames, a massive shadow began to take form.
Whoosh.
At last, the shadow transformed into the figure of a man seven feet tall and began surveying the Reed Field.
Then, spotting a particular location, he extended his hand.
Rumble.
The earth began to cave inward. The shadow continued moving his hands ceaselessly across the Reed Field.
* * *
Muhon Society, Muhon Pavilion Great Conference Hall.
Within the empty conference hall, Bu Eunseol and Neung Bi Hon sat facing each other.
“What became of her?”
At Bu Eunseol’s question, Neung Bi Hon shook his head, arms crossed.
“Just as you said, the Soul-Sealing Demonic Array was deployed. Had I carelessly unleashed the Life-Seeking Method without knowing….”
His eyes narrowed as he continued.
“Without question, your secret identity would have been completely exposed.”
Neung Bi Hon shrugged and shook his head.
“Coming from that vicious Mujeong Blood, after all.”
Bu Eunseol smiled faintly.
In truth, I had not killed Yu Baek.
Rather, I had never intended to kill her from the start.
For her death would cause a subtle fracture in my spiritual core.
But deceiving Ma Cheon Je, or the Demon Palace and forces connected to him, was never a simple matter.
―My grandfather could have easily deceived him.
My grandfather Bu Chanyang was the greatest swordsman under heaven and the greatest assassin under heaven.
And was he not a complete master who had inherited all of his grandfather’s profound medical insights?
He realigned shattered bones that had pierced through flesh.
He reset dislocated joints back into their proper positions.
He had repeated countless times the work of making torn skin vibrant and alive, as if it belonged to a living person.
With nothing but the sensitivity of his fingertips.
By merely tracing the grain of a wound, he could discern a martial artist’s level and technique.
By observing developed musculature and calluses alone, he could penetrate the secrets of which martial disciplines had been cultivated.
By finding the scars etched upon the body itself… he could reconstruct a person’s entire life and the traces of their journey.
―Then I can do this as well.
With his confidence restored, Bu Eunseol began to devise a scheme, marshaling every resource and wisdom at his disposal.
First, he obtained a corpse with a physique perfectly identical to hers, then altered its appearance beyond recognition.
He created marks that matched exactly the thirteen wounds he would inflict upon Yu Baek.
And he secretly buried it in the Reed Field where the decisive battle would take place.
But the truly crucial part came next.
While engaging in fierce combat across the vast Reed Field.
At precisely the location he had designated.
He had to crush Yu Baek’s body with the thirteen wounds, matching without a hair’s breadth the technique he had left upon the corpse.
The wounds had to appear deep, infused subtly with the essence of Bing Jeong Seol Hwa Ki.
Yet to accomplish such a feat while fighting Yu Baek with full force—one who had mastered Sak Jeong Bi Gyeol—was.
Virtually impossible in reality.
But Bu Eunseol did not surrender.
He trained relentlessly, distributing his power to release it stably and without the slightest deviation from the technique he had left upon the corpse.
And at last, displaying superhuman prowess, he succeeded in carving the thirteen wounds—identical to those he had left upon the corpse—upon Yu Baek’s body during the fierce battle.
Yu Baek’s body bore the mark.
And the greatest reason this entire plan succeeded was.
In the final moment, Yu Baek had surrendered her own life for Bu Eunseol’s sake.
Thanks to that, the battle could end cleanly with the carving of the thirteen wounds.
And he could fell Yu Baek at the exact location where the corpse had been buried.
This required absolute precision without the slightest error.
Surely Mujeong Blood or the Demon Palace’s secret operatives would be watching the battle, and they would certainly attempt to verify her death.
The ten members of the Elite Division rushing into the Reed Field, and his command to bury Yu Baek.
All of it was to secretly exchange her with the corpse he had prepared in advance.
“Come to think of it, that’s rather curious.”
Neung Bi Hon asked, crossing his arms.
“No matter how well you controlled your power… how could you leave her so intact after taking a direct hit from the Martial Emperor’s supreme technique at close range?”
Bu Eunseol answered Neung Bi Hon’s question.
“Because I deliberately infused the thirteen wounds with Bing Jeong Seol Hwa Ki, the bones and flesh appeared severely damaged, but in reality, only the skin was torn and split.”
And he continued.
“But the fake corpse I had prepared beforehand was grotesquely mangled. Even if the Gwi Il Gae’s emissary examined it, they could never discern the truth.”
“I see.”
Neung Bi Hon’s expression betrayed his confusion.
“But how did you know the Je Ryeong Shim In Dae Beop was deployed? After all, the Mujeong Blood assassins are also direct subordinates of the Demon Palace.”
Bu Eunseol’s request for Neung Bi Hon to unfold the Hwal In Gu Beop was deliberate.
He had clearly sensed that Yu Baek’s body harbored a cruel seal as vicious as the Je Ryeong Shim In Dae Beop.
Bu Eunseol possessed the Neung Jeong Shim Ki as well, but due to the mingling of conflicting energies within his body,
he emanated a violet Neung Jeong Shim Ki rather than pure energy.
And though its potency surpassed Neung Bi Hon’s Neung Jeong Shim Ki, its impurity meant
it could not shatter such an abominable secret technique as the Je Ryeong Shim In Dae Beop.
Thus, Bu Eunseol had requested in advance that Neung Bi Hon unfold the Hwal In Gu Beop.
“Ma Cheon Je is likely connected with hidden forces not yet revealed to the Murim. As the foremost figure of the Demonic Path dividing Tianxia in half… it may well be inevitable.”
A flash of light streaked across Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
“In the past, Hyuk Ryeon Eung was a Special Divine Guard of the Three Realms, and he was such a master of the Seop Shim Bi Hak that he could freely deploy the Je Ryeong Shim In Dae Beop.”
He drew a deep breath.
“And Ma Cheon Je possesses an exceptional talent for manipulating and controlling the human spirit—incomparably greater than Hyuk Ryeon Eung. He could not possibly be ignorant of such secret arts.”
“Then it follows that the secret assassin organization operated by the foremost figure of the Demonic Path likely employs techniques reaching the pinnacle of Seop Shim Bi Hak, such as the Je Ryeong Shim In Dae Beop.”
“Precisely.”
“Somewhat unexpected. That Ma Cheon Je maintains connections with other forces…”
Neung Bi Hon swallowed hard.
“So even Ma Cheon Je, the foremost of the Demonic Path, cannot stand alone and supreme under heaven.”
“It may simply reflect how turbulent the current state of the Murim has become.”
After a brief pause, Neung Bi Hon spoke with evident regret.
“In any case, because of me, that beautiful woman has lost all her memories. I am deeply ashamed.”
“Not at all. It is perhaps for the best.”
Unlike himself, who was raised by his grandfather, Yu Baek, who lived as an assassin, likely harbored few pleasant memories from childhood.
It was better that the bitter memories of a tragic past simply ceased to exist.
“What of her vocal cords?”
“They have recovered to some degree. However, the wound is so ancient that complete restoration seems unlikely.”
“Can she speak?”
“Of course. She merely struggles to project her voice loudly.”
Bu Eunseol smiled and nodded.
“The ability to speak at all is sufficient. At that level, no one would recognize her true identity.”
In the current Murim, there was only one person who possessed the honey of the Jade Phoenix—one capable of restoring vocal cords.
Only Bu Eunseol, who had opened the Martial Emperor’s Secret Archive.
If Yu Baek, whose vocal cords were damaged and rendered her unable to speak, were now seen speaking normally,
no one would ever easily discern her true identity.
“I have caused you considerable trouble.”
“Trouble, you say?”
Bu Eunseol laughed, and Neung Bi Hon chuckled along.
“Well, gaining an excellent servant at Jeok Cheon Mak Ji is a fine thing indeed.”
Muhon Society, Su Gyeong Jeon.
That place was where wanderers directly received work and compensation.
It was also a location perpetually crowded with wanderers.
Because of this, Su Gyeong Jeon was not only vast in size, but six service windows had been established to handle the influx of wanderers.
A low murmur filled the air.
Today as well, Su Gyeong Jeon’s interior was so packed with wanderers that there was barely room to stand.
Yet something was peculiar.
Why was a long queue forming at only one window?
The other windows stood completely empty.
All the wanderers had lined up exclusively at the window in the far right corner.
Click. Clack.
At that window, a lovely young woman with a somewhat clumsy but genuinely innocent appearance was diligently working an abacus.
She was a newly hired servant of Su Gyeong Jeon.
However, her voice was soft and she was quite unskilled at counting money.
―Ah.
Yet the wanderers watched her count the money with such earnest effort, their faces suffused with contentment.
Complete purity.
Her cheeks were full like a child’s, and she radiated an innocence that seemed untouched by the dust and grime of the mundane world.
―Doesn’t it feel as though one’s heart is being purified?
―I feel as refreshed as if I’d bathed for an entire hour.
―My eyesight seems to have improved.
The wanderers lined up to see her.
They deliberately ignored the empty windows and queued at that particular one instead.
“What on earth is this?”
Dam Yoo Yeon’s eyes widened as she entered Su Gyeong Jeon.
Despite numerous empty windows, the wanderers had inexplicably formed a long line at the far end?
Bewildered, she called out to the wanderers.
“This window here is empty! Please come over here.”
A wanderer who met Dam Yoo Yeon’s gaze lowered his head and muttered.
“No, I’m not in a hurry.”
She looked at the wanderer beside him.
As their eyes met, that wanderer cleared his throat and spoke.
“Ahem. Why isn’t the red meat I ate at lunch digesting properly? Standing and waiting a while would be good for me.”
Dam Yoo Yeon stared at the wanderers spouting nonsense, her mouth agape.
Yet despite her obvious disapproval, the wanderers stubbornly remained in line.
No matter what anyone said.
They wanted the money counted by Yu Seol.
No—the new servant of Su Gyeong Jeon, Yu Seol. They wanted to receive the money she had painstakingly counted with such effort.
‘This works out well.’
Bu Eunseol, observing from a distance, allowed a faint smile to grace his lips.
Originally, he should have fallen into despondency from Yu Baek’s death, or undergone a spiritual transformation.
Yet having anticipated Ma Cheon Je’s intentions beforehand, by saving Yu Baek’s life,
by rescuing her from the depths of despair, I could preserve my spirit and maintain an even more perfect equilibrium.
And somehow, inexplicably,
it felt as though I had drawn one step closer to my grandfather Bu Chanyang.
My grandfather too must have saved countless lives during his wanderings through the Gangho.
‘Please,’
Bu Eunseol whispered softly to herself.
hoping that she would forget her painful past.
‘May you find happiness.’
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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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