The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign - Chapter 781

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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 781.
“Where am I?”
The space was shrouded in such profound darkness that even extending my hand before my eyes revealed nothing.
Gong Son Dan Gyeong, who had just regained consciousness, slowly rose to her feet while pressing her forehead.
“I lost consciousness.”
She had not cultivated exceptional martial prowess, but she possessed knowledge and mastery of the mysterious secret techniques preserved within Murim.
Among them, she had learned a technique that prevented loss of consciousness under any circumstance.
The Xuanxuan Suijing Jinling—a method said to be dozens of times superior to the Assassin Group’s Cold Heart Technique.
Yet she had lost consciousness in an instant merely by unfolding a single letter?
“What on earth happened?”
Having gathered her wits, she surveyed her surroundings.
Then something extraordinary occurred.
Though the space had been pitch black moments before, she now found herself standing in an open Pavilion with an unobstructed view in all directions.
“Was I dreaming?”
Gong Son Dan Gyeong rubbed her eyes.
This Pavilion was where she had been standing before losing consciousness.
“Are there survivors from the Joong Son Family besides myself and Hwa Soo?”
Gong Son Dan Gyeong furrowed her brow as memories surfaced.
A letter secretly delivered to her by the Murim Alliance.
It contained a single question: did she not wish to see those who had survived the Joong Son Family in the past?
―Who could it be?
When she had escaped the Joong Son Family back then, Gong Son Dan Gyeong had confirmed the cemetery where the children had been buried.
Even the benefactor who had risked his life to save her from the Joong Son Family’s kidnapping.
The most brilliant talent under heaven.
Cheon Ki Sung and Chu So had not escaped death.
But Hwa Soo, who had been kidnapped alongside her from the Joong Son Family, was now known to be active secretly within Murim.
She operated as Yang Seol Rin, a member of the Yang Seol Family.
Yet this letter did not appear to have come from her.
Because it contained these words:
―If you wish to know, come to Cheonshim Valley.
But if you reveal the letter’s contents to another or do not come alone, there will be nothing there.
Gong Son Dan Gyeong’s eyes narrowed as she read the letter.
The content alone suggested an extremely high probability of a trap.
Yet she could not refuse to go.
Only those from the Joong Son Family or the children kidnapped by them would know such details.
And the reason she continued her vendetta was to destroy the Joong Son Family.
They had kidnapped all the children suspected to be Cheon Ki Sung, including herself and Chu So, and murdered them with cruelty.
What if one of the children had survived? It could be Chu So.
No matter how many times she considered it, she could not possibly refuse to go.
In the end, she submitted a request for leave.
I arrived at Cheonshim Valley without a single escort.
Upon entering, a small Pavilion stood within Cheonshim Valley, and upon its surface lay another letter.
It was an envelope identical to the one that had been secretly delivered to me at the Murim Alliance.
Gong Son Dan Gyeong immediately unfolded the letter.
In that instant, the heavens and earth spun dizzily, and a searing heat surged from my chest.
And then I lost consciousness entirely.
“I must escape.”
Awakening from my reverie, Gong Son Dan Gyeong rose in panic and rushed from the Pavilion.
I had not ignored the letter’s warning, nor had I revealed its contents to anyone.
Yet I had discreetly stationed my Secret Intelligence Organization near this Cheonshim Valley.
Shrill.
I summoned my inner power and whistled sharply.
The sound should have carried for dozens of leagues, yet strangely it echoed only around me.
‘Something is wrong.’
I withdrew a small bamboo tube from my robes.
It was a signal flare to reveal my location.
Whoosh.
Yet the signal flare did not ascend into the sky.
As if striking a massive, invisible wall, it simply fell back down.
“A formation.”
Only then did I realize that around this Pavilion, beyond counting,
countless formations were layered and deployed.
“Hmph.”
A scoff escaped unbidden.
My father, Gong Sun Hwa Wook, had mastered the greatest formation knowledge in all Murim.
And I had perfectly inherited the formation purification that he had achieved throughout his lifetime.
I was essentially the greatest formation master in Murim, second only to Gong Sun Hwa Wook.
Yet someone dared to confine me with formations? It was like writing characters before Confucius himself.
Scratch scratch scratch.
Picking up a branch, I began to count each formation I detected one by one.
As I rapidly wrote down the numbers, my expression suddenly hardened.
Astonishingly, the formations installed here
were so intricate and difficult that even I could not dispel them in a single attempt.
“This cannot be.”
Sweat flowed unbidden.
To my knowledge, only one person in all Tianxia could deploy such formations.
My father, Gong Sun Hwa Wook, the greatest formation master under heaven, and myself.
Even then, it would require him to spend a full fortnight to create something of this caliber.
Yet my father is at the Gong Sun Estate—he could not have come here to install such formations.
Then who on earth could possibly install such complex formations?
‘Surely not.’
A single fact crystallized in her mind.
Not only possessing intelligence beyond imagination,
but a divine being capable of perfectly comprehending and analyzing all knowledge and information under heaven, even predicting the future…
If it were Cheon Ki Sung and Chu So, then deploying such a formation might indeed be possible.
* * *
Having unleashed the Extreme Shadow Technique to its fullest, Bu Eunseol arrived at Cheonshim Valley, which Woon Hak Bi had mentioned.
Yet she could not enter immediately.
The entrance to Jeol Gok was layered with formations so bewilderingly complex that imagination itself struggled to grasp them.
“This is…”
Bu Eunseol bit her lip.
Even with her wisdom, these were not formations she could unravel in a short span of time.
‘Is this even possible?’
Formations, by their nature, follow certain principles, and given time to contemplate, one can discern their logic.
But the formations layered at the entrance to Cheonshim Valley
possessed no order or principle whatsoever—as if crafted by a madman.
Yet despite this chaos, these countless formations maintained harmony and continued to function…
Either they were formations created by one-in-ten-million chance occurrence,
or a genius of incomprehensible intellect had mobilized knowledge from every conceivable field
to perfectly harmonize all these formations.
‘Hmm.’
Bu Eunseol’s eyes narrowed as she studied the formations.
Even calculating at maximum speed, it would take four days—perhaps longer.
For an ordinary person, it was a formation that could not be solved even in a lifetime.
After contemplating the formations for some time, Bu Eunseol’s eyes suddenly gleamed.
At last, she grasped the intention of whoever had laid these out.
‘They mean to test my martial prowess.’
The formations here could never be solved through logical progression.
Yet they were not meant to bar entry entirely—
for despite their incomprehensible complexity, they were not so sturdy as to withstand the overwhelming power of martial arts unleashed by a master of the highest order.
They were, in fact, quite fragile.
When tangled threads cannot be untied, one simply cuts them with a blade.
The intention was clear: obliterate the formations by unleashing overwhelming martial power.
“But there is no time.”
At minimum, a hundred formations were layered here. Even destroying them by force would consume an entire day.
While dismantling them one by one, Gong Son Dan Gyeong could fall into danger.
A low rumble echoed.
Bu Eunseol channeled all the power within her body with violent intensity.
As the force of Jeong Sa Ma Bul and Yi Shin Ki converged at once, her skin began to crack like parched earth.
Her body was collapsing under the strain of such overwhelming power mixing together instantaneously.
A sharp hum resonated through the air.
As the unbearable pressure reached its limit, a faint golden light flickered within my body.
The Prajna Great Ability unfolded, perfectly aligning all the conflicting forces swirling within me.
A deep rumbling echoed.
In that instant, the entire entrance of Cheonshim Valley trembled violently.
Just as I was about to unleash the harmony,
A sharp resonance pierced the air.
Something extraordinary occurred.
Suddenly, light poured forth from near the entrance.
With a series of crackling sounds,
The formation dissolved in an instant.
A narrow passage began to form, allowing me passage through.
As if it had responded to the power of harmony itself.
“How frightening.”
Bu Eunseol withdrew her power and shook her head slowly.
Only now did she grasp the true purpose behind this formation’s construction.
“It was meant to verify whether one could use the Mujik Gyeong.”
In the past, Bu Eunseol had discovered that the mysterious gateway of the Three Supremes created within the Murim Alliance was a mechanism for detecting the Mujik Gyeong.
She had even confirmed that the power of harmony shared a similar resonance with the Mujik Gyeong.
And this formation as well—
Like a mechanism responsive to the Mujik Gyeong, it dissolved instantly when harmony was deployed.
Which meant that ultimately, this formation was
A device designed to verify whether the one entering possessed power comparable to the Mujik Gyeong.
‘This is dangerous.’
Only now did I realize that the dangers lurking within Cheonshim Valley transcended imagination.
Yet I could not turn back.
Gong Son Dan Gyeong would be waiting within.
With measured steps,
Bu Eunseol entered the space where the narrow passage was forming, her eyes gleaming with sudden realization.
“That was a close call.”
Bu Eunseol had discovered yet another hidden function of this formation.
“If I had used harmony, the Chief would have been in grave danger.”
Now she could see that the formation was not merely stationed at the entrance.
It spread like a spider’s web, enveloping the entire Jeol Gok.
What if she had used harmony to obliterate the formation all at once?
The entire valley could have collapsed in ruin.
“I could even reconfigure the formation from here.”
With the formation dissolved, Bu Eunseol could now perceive the method to unlock the formation that blanketed all of Cheonshim Valley.
“Human capability knows no bounds.”
Bu Eunseol gazed at the formation installed at the narrow passage and let out a breath of admiration.
Though he lacked profound expertise in formation arrays, thanks to Gong Son Dan Gyeong, he had grasped the essential principles of such formations.
The arrays laid from the entrance extended perfectly into the depths of Cheonshim Valley.
If one desired, it was constructed so that one could manipulate the formation from this corridor.
“A mind that transcends imagination.”
Ultimately, these formations were not deployed to block entry, but rather to distinguish those who had reached the realm of Mujik Gyeong.
And this corridor at the entrance of Cheonshim Valley was.
A control center capable of transforming or manipulating the formations installed throughout Cheonshim Valley.
To his knowledge, only Gong Sun Hwa Wook and Gong Son Dan Gyeong in Murim possessed the ability to install such formations.
Yet it was inconceivable that those two would have installed such bizarre formations in Cheonshim Valley.
“Contemplation comes later.”
Exiting the corridor and stepping into Jeol Gok.
A landscape shrouded in an otherworldly silence, as though severed from the world, came into view.
The rocks had not been carved by the passage of time, but rather shaped with deliberate artifice.
Bu Eunseol passed through without hesitation where thin mist lay.
Then a dense forest reminiscent of primordial wilderness appeared.
Venturing deep into the forest.
A temple that seemed crafted in ancient times came into view, and beside it stood a somewhat incongruous pavilion.
And beside that pavilion stood a pale pink silhouette.
It was Gong Son Dan Gyeong.
“Chief.”
Bu Eunseol rushed toward her immediately.
“Seon Woo Branch Master.”
She too gazed at Bu Eunseol in surprise.
“How on earth did you find this place?”
“While traveling through Gangho, an assassin presumed to be from the Joong Son Family suddenly attacked the temple.”
Bu Eunseol offered a plausible explanation.
“After dealing with him, I was able to discover that the Chief had been abducted here. So….”
“I see.”
Gong Son Dan Gyeong nodded, yet could not hide her astonishment.
“But there seemed to be tremendous formations laid throughout this place. How did you manage to enter?”
“Those formations were not meant to block entry, but rather served as a gateway to test the strength of those who entered.”
“Strength?”
“Indeed.”
Bu Eunseol explained the mechanism at the entrance.
Only, rather than it being a test to identify those with power comparable to Mujik Gyeong.
She claimed it was a gateway to assess martial prowess.
“Testing Seon Woo Branch Master’s martial arts means….”
Gong Son Dan Gyeong’s eyes widened.
“Then this place is also a trap.”
Only now did Gong Son Dan Gyeong.
I realized that Cheonshim Valley was meticulously designed as a trap of death.
“We should escape this place first.”
At Bu Eunseol’s words, Gong Son Dan Gyeong shook her head weakly.
“We cannot.”
“What do you mean?”
“If this place is a trap he created… we can never escape it.”
“What are you—”
Boom.
Then a tremor shook the entire world.
The sky suddenly turned a dark crimson, and an ominous aura pressed in relentlessly.
Bu Eunseol turned her head toward the exit.
Then the trembling earth ceased.
An enormous shadow slowly emerged alongside black mist.
It was an Old Man of massive build with eyes blazing like blood-red flames.
Boom. Boom.
With each step he took, the earth crumbled and thunder crashed from the heavens.
‘This cannot be.’
Sensing the Old Man’s aura, Bu Eunseol could not hide her shock.
A supreme master.
That Old Man emanated the aura of a supreme master who dominated Murim.
Just like Jeong Ma Ssang Cheon Je and Sam Ma Sam Jon.
“Hmph.”
The blazing eyes of the massive Old Man
were fixed not on Bu Eunseol, but on Gong Son Dan Gyeong.
“Not Cheon Ki Sung, but another Baek Pal Sung.”
The Old Man’s voice was ordinary.
“Moreover, you’re blocking your aura with a strange grand technique so it cannot be precisely discerned.”
Yet the voice did not come from his mouth.
It was as if something beneath the earth spread that sound in all directions.
“The fact that you’re deliberately hiding your aura suggests you’re from the Thirty-Six Heavenly Strongmen faction?”
Crunch.
Bu Eunseol clenched her fists tightly.
Cold sweat ran down her back.
Though the Old Man had reached an immeasurable realm of martial arts, his aura was extremely ordinary.
If that were the case, then like Ma Cheon Je,
he was likely a great demon who deliberately displayed an ordinary appearance and aura while manipulating humans like chess pieces.
“Are you with In Bi In?”
Then Bu Eunseol stepped forward.
If someone possessed such an aura in all of Tianxia yet remained unknown until now,
it was certain he must be connected to In Bi In.
“In Bi In?”
The old man furrowed his brow for a moment, then tilted his head in confusion.
“Don’t tell me you’ve come from Gokgeomrim.”
It was a somewhat unexpected response.
Yet Bu Eunseol harbored a glimmer of hope.
‘This person can communicate reasonably.’
As the old man answered without hesitation, Bu Eunseol opened her mouth.
“The Murim Alliance.”
“The Murim Alliance?”
The old man exclaimed in surprise.
“Hehehehe. Then you must be connected to Sam Gye.”
‘It’s not unreasonable for him to think that.’
Ordinary martial artists don’t even know the term In Bi In.
But since I uttered it without hesitation, it’s understandable that he would mistake me for someone from Sam Gye.
“I have no connection to Sam Gye whatsoever.”
“You’re not from Sam Gye?”
“That’s correct.”
The old man stroked his chin as if unable to comprehend.
“From the look in your eyes, you seem to know of Gokgeomrim as well, yet you claim no affiliation with Sam Gye?”
The old man gazed into Bu Eunseol’s unwavering eyes, then nodded slowly.
“Well, that’s not really the important part.”
He then turned his gaze toward Gong Son Dan Gyeong and licked his lips.
“You’re not Cheon Ki Sung, but since things have come to this, you’ll have to die here.”
Gong Son Dan Gyeong’s heart raced.
Not because the old man had declared her death.
But because he had said “you’re not Cheon Ki Sung.”
Which meant.
This old man had come to capture Cheon Ki Sung from the start.
In other words, Chu So likely remained alive.
‘Did he truly set a trap for me?’
Gong Son Dan Gyeong felt the world spin.
Was Chu So still alive?
Then why hadn’t he come looking for her?
Why had he ensnared her in such a trap?
‘My vengeance was meant to be for you.’
Gong Son Dan Gyeong could never forget the gratitude she owed Chu So, who had died a meaningless death in her stead.
That was why she had clung so desperately to vengeance, why she had sought to find and destroy the Joong Son Family by any means necessary…
Yet all of this might be a plan orchestrated by Chu So himself.
What did he want? What was his true purpose?
“Go well.”
As the old man began to raise his hand,
a sharp whistle cut through the air.
Bu Eunseol moved like lightning, instantly positioning herself between the old man and Gong Son Dan Gyeong.
The old man’s martial prowess transcended imagination—a single gesture from his hand could
sever Gong Son Dan Gyeong’s neck in an instant. I understood this much.
“What do you think you can accomplish by stepping forward, you insignificant wretch?”
A tremendous boom echoed out.
Bu Eunseol was sent sliding backward nearly a full zhang from where I stood.
Considering my level of inner power, this was utterly impossible.
‘Is that all?’
My eyes widened in shock.
The old man had pushed me back ten paces without even flicking a finger.
It was not accomplished through inner power,
but rather because the old man’s martial prowess naturally wielded a force that transcended the principles of martial technique itself, as effortlessly as breathing.
‘An opponent I cannot contend with.’
Without any movement or energy display,
simply witnessing this single technique of naturally manifesting transcendent power…
the old man’s martial prowess might even rival the Sammasamjon themselves.
‘How has such a master remained unknown to the world?’
“Heh, pushed back with an intact body?”
The old man gazed at Bu Eunseol, tilting his head with an expression of incomprehension.
“You possess martial prowess of this caliber without being Baek Pal Sung… Could it be an old soul wearing the skin of a young man?”
As if unable to comprehend,
the old man tilted his head for a long moment before nodding with newfound interest.
“Then let me see your true form.”
A tremendous crash erupted.
In that instant, a vast mountain range of killing intent crashed down upon my vision.
The old man’s martial prowess had reached a realm where he could unleash techniques without even displaying any movements.
‘I’m going to die.’
I had no time to draw my sword,
so I immediately launched a fist strike toward the cascading killing intent.
However, since I now bore Seon Woo Jin’s identity,
I deployed an orthodox fist technique modified from Seok Chi Haeng’s Seven Forms of Piercing Heaven, not the Seven Forms of Demon Fist.
A deafening crash!
As heaven and earth trembled,
Bu Eunseol was sent sliding backward once more.
‘This is…’
My being pushed back again was not due to a difference in martial technique level or inner power accumulation.
The old man’s fist technique had instantly absorbed and encompassed my Seven Forms of Piercing Heaven.
“Hehehehe!”
The Old Man suddenly pointed at Bu Eunseol and burst into wild laughter.
“So the authority of Ben Cheon has extended into Gangho after all!”

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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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