The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign - Chapter 848

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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 848.
Yuan Xing Yong’s carriage kicked up billowing clouds of dust as it raced swiftly down Gwan Do.
Bu Eunseol gazed out the window with an emotionless expression.
‘Am I chasing after a single moment of brilliance?’
I recalled the face of Sin Do Woon Hui, who had died without regret before my eyes.
He desired a life that shone brilliantly for even a single day, rather than a long and peaceful existence.
‘I was never a martial artist.’
I had never wanted such a dazzling, brilliant life.
My only goal was to come and go quietly, like a nameless wildflower.
But somewhere along the way… I began to understand the lives of martial artists.
And gradually, I came to comprehend their hearts.
Every day, standing at the crossroads of life and death.
They survive and live amid endless schemes, betrayals, and duels.
Because they cannot guarantee their survival until tomorrow.
Even if they live for just one day, they wish to live brilliantly, without regret.
‘The Destruction Spear Sect showed no reaction.’
Despite Sin Do Woon Hui’s tragic death.
The Destruction Spear Sect displayed no particular response.
They likely abandoned him the moment he fell under Cheon Ki Sung’s influence and chose the Water Divine Immortal.
―He revealed to my half-brother an extraordinary secret that would allow him to stand shoulder to shoulder with the supreme masters of this era.
Within the next few years, our sect will surely produce a supreme master who surpasses you.
This meant the Destruction Spear Sect had already selected a successor and accepted Cheon Ki Sung’s proposal.
Soon, the Destruction Spear Sect would produce a formidable powerhouse.
‘Cheon Ki Sung.’
I bit my lip.
I knew he was using people’s intense desires to manipulate them like chess pieces.
After all, he had been controlling Gong Son Dan Gyeong for a long time.
And through this incident, I finally grasped how he manipulates people and what his true intentions are.
‘Playing the guide of fate.’
He offers help to those in crisis, indirectly controlling their actions.
He gives counsel to those at crossroads, making them trust and follow him.
He infiltrates even massive forces like the Destruction Spear Sect, sowing discord between Sayoung Hall and others, making them fight while he observes.
Through long-term brainwashing and careful planning, he cultivates subordinates or spies within hostile organizations.
It was no different from the path Sam Gye once took. No—it was far more meticulous and sinister.
Beneath the mask of Cheon Ki Sung.
Everything was built on thoroughly calculated psychological domination and long-term strategy.
Moreover, this incident with Sin Do Woon Hui.
Was Cheon Ki Sung’s way of confirming what kind of person I truly am.
‘And whether I’m someone who can be positioned as a chess piece.’
Cheon Ki Sung’s true objective this time was…
Just as with Gong Son Dan Gyeong in the past, this was a process of ascertaining what use I might have and what manner of person I truly was.
In other words, the Grand Patriarch of the Demonic Path, Muk Hon Ryeong Ju—he intended to employ this figure in his schemes someday.
‘I will certainly deal with him.’
Now I understood the existence called Cheon Ki Sung with absolute clarity.
Cheon Ki Sung possessed intelligence that transcended imagination, and could foresee and perceive the future…
He had revealed himself in this age.
He was nothing more than a malevolent being who sowed chaos to satisfy his own selfish desires.
Clatter, clatter.
Meanwhile, the carriage was racing swiftly beyond Seong Do.
‘Come to think of it, how did I end up boarding this carriage.’
Among martial artists, there had always existed one unspoken rule.
No matter what conflict arose.
No matter what unavoidable battle one might face.
Ordinary commoners—the carriage driver and Jeomsoi.
And the women of the pleasure quarters and others who were not martial artists must never be harmed.
Yet somewhere along the way, such an unspoken rule had begun to vanish from the Murim.
No—it could not help but vanish.
The martial techniques of the Murim had developed far too powerfully, and the might and range of martial arts had become far too vast.
Even without intention, those within the radius of martial arts could no longer guarantee their lives.
Ever since learning this truth.
Bu Eunseol had refrained from traveling by carriage whenever possible.
Especially when facing those like the Three Realms and Three Houses.
When confronting practitioners of such cruel yet mysterious martial arts, I had no choice but to employ techniques at the extreme pinnacle of martial mastery.
Yet now I was traveling by carriage.
First, because my mind had been unsettled by Sin Do Woon Hui’s death.
Second, because the carriage driver, upon discovering Bu Eunseol walking alone, had pleaded with me to ride in the empty carriage.
Bu Eunseol had hesitated briefly.
But of late, sudden ambushes from the Abyss Forces, including the Three Realms, had become almost nonexistent.
And to the station was only some forty li away.
Moreover, I had grown confident that I could certainly protect anyone within a radius of ten zhang, so I broke my principle and boarded the carriage once more.
Thud.
Yet suddenly, with a dull sound, the carriage driver abruptly tumbled from the driver’s seat.
Immediately sensing the situation, Bu Eunseol used inner force to forcibly halt the carriage.
Then I approached the fallen driver.
‘Did he have a chronic ailment?’
My heightened senses had detected nothing beforehand, and the fallen driver’s body bore no signs of having been struck.
Just as Bu Eunseol lowered herself to examine the driver’s condition and was about to take his pulse,
Suddenly.
The fallen driver’s eyes snapped open.
“My apologies.”
Ma Bu rose to his feet, scratching his head.
“I suddenly felt dizzy and seemed to collapse for a moment.”
Despite having fallen from a rapidly moving carriage.
Ma Bu was not injured in the slightest, and wasn’t he even wearing a faint smile?
“Thank goodness.”
Bu Eunseol, sensing something amiss, reached out her hand.
“Still, let me check if you’re injured anywhere.”
Flash!
But suddenly, a sword aura swept past her ear.
It was a sword aura so sharp and powerful it could cleave metal and stone like tofu, yet she couldn’t even detect where it originated.
Whoosh!
Bu Eunseol twisted her body diagonally like lightning, evading the sword aura.
Yet even so, she couldn’t completely avoid it, and several strands of her hair were severed.
Thud.
As Bu Eunseol landed, her expression had turned utterly rigid.
A terrifying sword aura was coalescing between Ma Bu’s index and middle fingers, wasn’t it?
‘He was a martial artist?’
My senses were as keen as any master under heaven, and my instincts surpassed all others.
Ma Bu was certainly someone who had never cultivated martial arts.
Yet like myself, he had transcended even the realm of Dam Yeon Jeok Jeong.
Reaching a level where it was absolutely impossible to discern until he actually displayed his martial prowess.
“Hm.”
But something was strange.
Ma Bu’s eyes, who had unleashed the sword aura, were burning red, and saliva dripped from the corners of his mouth.
He looked exactly like Sal Gwi suffering from murderous mania.
[You have reached your limit, so you must die.]
Then Ma Bu spoke in a bizarre manner.
[No more beings like you must ever emerge.]
That voice carried an eerie resonance.
As if someone were speaking through Ma Bu’s mouth.
“Reveal your identity.”
Ma Bu spoke in that strange voice.
[We are beings who have guarded truth and upheld law and order since the beginning of time.]
The words were so grandiose they seemed absurd.
Yet Bu Eunseol’s expression grew serious.
The word “law”—wasn’t that what Cheon Ki Sung had obsessed over so relentlessly when speaking to Gong Son Dan Gyeong?
“Guarding truth and upholding law and order, you say.”
Bu Eunseol’s eyes flashed.
“Cheon Ki Sung, are you manipulating people again?”
But Ma Bu gave an unexpected answer.
[No more powerhouses who reject the Covenant must emerge.]
“The Covenant?”
[Beings like you have destroyed the Murim’s order and sown chaos for generations.]
It was an unexpected accusation.
Then the one controlling Ma Bu was not Cheon Ki Sung, but the Blue-Robed Elder who had proposed the Covenant before?
[Since this is your first offense, I shall show mercy.]
“….”
[Dismantle your cultivation at once. Then it will be over.]
Asking a martial artist to dismantle their cultivation was more agonizing than death itself.
“It is not a difficult matter.”
Yet Bu Eunseol nodded calmly.
“Once all my duties are complete, I will dismantle it myself.”
[So you refuse.]
Bu Eunseol narrowed her eyes as if she could not comprehend.
“Did you not just say you protect law and order?”
[That is correct.]
“Then how can you demand I dismantle my power simply because I have become strong? What kind of law and order is that?”
[Those without the Covenant who possess great power destroy order and bring chaos.]
“If you wish to say such things, provide evidence. Show me what I have destroyed and what chaos I have caused.”
[You refuse, then.]
Ma Bu spoke with finality.
[This warning ends here. From now on, even if you live, you will not truly live.]
“What did you—”
[You will weep tears of blood and know regret.]
With those words, a crackling sound erupted from Ma Bu’s body,
Boom!
His form exploded in an instant with a deafening blast.
Whoooosh!
It was not a mere explosion—blood and flesh fragments erupted like shrapnel, as if unleashing the technique of the Mighty Dragon Devouring Spirit.
It was an explosion Bu Eunseol could not have anticipated.
The fragments were powerful enough to pierce protective qi barriers, and the killing radius spanned dozens of zhang.
Bu Eunseol could not evade and was caught in the blast in an instant.
Whoooosh.
As the dust slowly dispersed on the wind,
Zzzzzing.
Bu Eunseol’s figure appeared, surrounded by black demonic qi at the front.
Unable to evade the explosion, I immediately deployed the Yeoui Formation, creating a wall of qi.
Drip, drip.
Red blood flowed from Bu Eunseol’s body and cheeks.
Even deploying the Yeoui Formation at full power, the fragments pierced through the qi barrier and grazed my body.
“A master of this caliber detonated their own body…”
It was obvious, but self-detonation techniques like the Heavenly Dragon Shattering Soul Method grew more devastating the higher one’s cultivation.
If Ma Bu could rupture a barrier forged by the Female Celestial Seal Formation, his internal energy must have accumulated for over three hundred years.
Moreover, given that his blood had been transformed into an extreme poison, he was clearly a master who had cultivated considerable poison techniques as well.
Yet this master chose to self-destruct merely to issue me a warning? Did he truly hold his own life in such little regard?
If Bu Eunseol had been an ordinary martial artist,
I would have been consumed by utter confusion and despair at this situation.
But even now, I maintained a terrifyingly cold clarity as I began analyzing what had transpired.
“He was definitely an ordinary stable hand.”
If Ma Bu had truly accumulated such tremendous power and mastered both poison and martial techniques,
there was no way I could have failed to recognize it.
I bent down and began examining the scattered remains scattered in all directions.
Though the fragments had been reduced to hundreds of pieces beyond recognition,
some remnants of sturdy femurs, vertebrae, and muscle tissue remained.
“He was not trained in martial arts.”
Based on the size and density of the remaining muscle tissue, Ma Bu was clearly an ordinary commoner, not a martial artist who had cultivated the Way.
Yet somehow he suddenly wielded the Heavenly Dragon Shattering Soul Method with such overwhelming power?
“Was it a grand technique or sorcery?”
If it had been either a grand technique or sorcery, there would necessarily be traces left behind.
I drew upon my Hollow Heart Spiritual Eye and examined the remaining debris once more.
If any force had been applied to an ordinary commoner’s body, there would surely be evidence of it.
But there was nothing.
This Ma Bu had possessed a perfectly ordinary commoner’s body with no traces of any grand technique whatsoever.
As if he had simply fallen from the sky, he had been transformed into someone with a powerful physique and strength.
“Using commoners again.”
Thud, thud, thud.
A sickly yellow light flickered across my eyes alongside bloodshot veins.
They had targeted me while spouting rhetoric about laws and order, yet they used innocent commoners and drove them to their deaths.
This meant I had found a target that needed to be destroyed as swiftly as the Infinite Realm itself.
―You have reached your limit, so you must die.
Ma Bu’s grandiose words suddenly echoed in my mind.
“I must investigate this as the highest priority.”
Deploying my lightness technique, I returned to Demon Hall.
I needed to quickly discover what force could transform an ordinary human into a master in an instant, and by what method such a thing was possible.
And who was orchestrating it all.
* * *
Upon arriving at Demon Hall, I activated all intelligence networks to investigate those who had approached Ma Bu.
But despite Sa Hon Dae’s investigation—an organization with the finest intelligence network in Murim—
no anomalies were found in Ma Bu’s movements, nor any traces of approach by any faction or mysterious figure.
―We are beings who have existed since the beginning, protecting the truth and safeguarding laws and order.
‘From the very beginning.’
Ma Bu had clearly stated that they existed from the very beginning.
What if that wasn’t mere boasting?
What if they truly existed since ancient times and had been engaged in preserving the truths and principles they believed in?
If such transcendent beings truly existed within Murim….
‘Surely someone must have recorded it?’
Records.
Humanity had advanced and transmitted knowledge to future generations through the act of recording.
What if there truly existed special beings within Murim?
If they had maintained their lineage?
Wouldn’t there be a sage who recorded it for the descendants who would live on?
‘The Chief said he had seen books about the Baek Ri Family and Jin Ma in the Jung Son Family’s Secret Library.’
Gong Son Dan Gyeong had obtained information about the Baek Ri Family and Jin Ma as well.
From books that were kept in the Jung Son Family’s secret repository, had she not?
‘If such books existed.’
If there was a sage who created such books.
They would never carelessly store them where the hands of the common could reach them.
They would surely hope that only those capable of understanding such things would read them.
‘The Demon Hall has such a place as well.’
The Manma Yujin Pavilion.
If it were the Library Pavilion of the Demon Hall, which had gathered all the secret martial arts scattered throughout the Demonic Path?
It might very well preserve records or materials about those who had existed in Murim since the very beginning.
“This way.”
Bu Eunseol ascended to the third floor of the Manma Yujin Pavilion following Wi Sa’s guidance.
Since obtaining the status of successor to the Demon Hall, Bu Eunseol could ascend to the third floor of the Manma Yujin Pavilion whenever she wished.
But she had deliberately refrained from doing so.
All the martial arts she had learned thus far, including the martial arts of Nangya Sect which formed the foundation of martial knowledge, were all.
Peak-level martial arts that had reached the pinnacle in each field of Jeong Sa Yang Do.
In a situation where she had already mastered diverse techniques, if she were to view numerous secret martial arts of the Demonic Path once more?
It would only create confusion instead.
Swoosh.
Upon reaching the third floor, Bu Eunseol’s eyes gleamed as she surveyed the interior.
‘There are so many.’
On the bookshelves of the third floor of the Manma Yujin Pavilion.
Secret manuals inscribed with supreme martial arts capable of ascending to rule all of Tianxia were densely arranged.
Though not quite as extensive as the Yeongak Dojeon of the Murim Alliance, there were far more books accumulated than Bu Eunseol had anticipated.
‘All of them are from the past.’
As she glanced through a secret manual, a soft breath escaped her nostrils.
The Murim Alliance had outstanding talents who.
Continuously refined and innovated upon existing secret manuals, creating new ones anew.
However, Demon Hall was making no such effort whatsoever.
In the past, I had thought this was the difference between the Demonic Path and the Orthodox Sects—that they simply didn’t bother cultivating the martial prowess of lower-ranked warriors.
But now I understood.
The Demonic Path had never cared about lower-ranked martial artists in the first place.
‘Martial arts are power itself.’
In the Demonic Path, one’s position and treatment shifted dramatically according to strength.
Especially in the current era of Murim, martial arts had developed brilliantly to the point where a single supreme master could topple the entire military strength of a sect.
Therefore, from the Demonic Path’s perspective.
There was no need to painstakingly cultivate lower-ranked warriors who wouldn’t provide much practical power anyway.
‘So there are more secret manuals on the third floor.’
The secret manuals stored on the third floor of Manma Yujin Pavilion were all rare ascending techniques—
The very sources of the Demonic Path’s martial arts in this era.
And the reason these secret manuals were stored so generously was…
They could replace tens of thousands of lower-ranked warriors.
It reflected the Demonic Path’s values, which prioritized ascending materials that could elevate one into the ranks of supreme masters.
‘Nothing but martial arts manuals.’
I searched the shelves diligently, but found nothing but martial arts secret manuals.
Only after thoroughly combing through the entire repository
Did I finally find, in the most remote corner,
A section containing books about Murim’s history and various other information.
But the collection was pitifully small, and even those books were interspersed with secret manuals of the Demonic Path’s original martial arts.
‘In the end, it’s a library for merit-based rewards.’
Manma Yujin Pavilion
Was merely a library that stored only martial arts manuals, reflecting the Demonic Path’s emphasis on rewarding merit and punishing failure.
Giving out secret martial manuals in the Demonic Path was equivalent to granting power and authority.
‘So of course the Demonic Path wouldn’t keep records of the past here.’
Still, having come this far, I needed to verify what was actually here.
Whoosh.
Accustomed to reading secret manuals, I began rapidly scanning through the books on the shelves.
‘Nothing.’
As expected, there were no books written about those who supposedly existed to maintain the laws and order of Murim.
In fact, most of the documents weren’t even recent—
They contained less useful information than the books kept in the repository of the Gu Sal Dae Branch from the past.
‘A complete waste of time.’
As I turned to leave, a strange thought suddenly occurred to me.
No matter how little the Demonic Path valued the distant past,
Would they really leave behind only such a pitiful collection of shelves?
‘No matter how important martial arts are, this doesn’t make sense.’
Then perhaps they deliberately stored records elsewhere, or…
‘Or perhaps Ma Cheon Je keeps them under his direct control.’
It was likely the latter.
Ma Cheon Je had ensured that even his successor, himself, could not obtain information about the Biryeong Sect.
He understood far too well how much power information possessed.
The monopoly of information.
Perhaps by monopolizing all information within the Demon Hall, Ma Cheon Je had
naturally created a situation where all demonic practitioners would offer him absolute obedience.
‘Then it wouldn’t be here.’
Ma Cheon Je would never have left anything containing crucial information in the Manma Yujin Pavilion.
‘Perhaps it lies in the Holy Demon Pavilion where he always resides.’
If that were the case, there was no need to waste time searching here.
Just as I was about to turn and leave,
Click.
An extremely faint sound emanated from the floor beneath my feet.
It was quieter than the sound of an ant crawling, so subtle that even Bu Eunseol, with her keen senses,
perceived it more as an intuitive ‘feeling’ than an actual sound.
‘A mechanism?’
Given that secret manuals on ascending martial arts were displayed here, it wasn’t particularly strange for the Manma Yujin Pavilion to contain mechanical devices.
However, Bu Eunseol had spent considerable time in this repository searching for recorded texts.
So why had the mechanism suddenly activated without any apparent reason?
‘I see.’
After thinking for a long while, I finally understood.
‘Time.’
In the Manma Yujin Pavilion, all books that were not martial arts secrets were gathered in this section.
In other words, this mechanism was
a device designed to detect anyone standing and searching through books in this section for an extended period.
‘It was meant to identify individuals seeking non-martial-secret texts within the Manma Yujin Pavilion.’
Lowering my head, I drew upon my Gongshintong Ryeong and began carefully examining my surroundings.
Yet no matter how thoroughly I searched, I found no traces of the mechanism’s installation.
This meant the mechanism was either installed with such precision and secrecy as to deceive my eyes,
or I had failed to meet certain conditions, making it impossible to detect the mechanism.
‘Information.’
I narrowed my eyes.
Most who entered the Manma Yujin Pavilion did so to read martial arts secrets.
Among them, perhaps not a single person came here seeking information about Murim.
Then why create such a device?
Paradoxically, I found myself thinking of one person’s name again.
‘Ma Cheon Je.’
He was a man who understood the importance of information better than anyone, and one who sought to monopolize it.
Naturally, he had taken measures to prevent just anyone from accessing the information stored in the Manma Yujin Pavilion.
Only those he permitted, those who aligned with his will, could enter.
A sharp, piercing sound tore through the air.
Bu Eunseol drew upon her inner power and unfolded the Yeouui Jin Gyeol technique.
A low rumble echoed.
As the true qi wave from her body spread through the book repository, a small door materialized in the wall opposite her, accompanied by a resonant vibration.
Just as I suspected—Ma Cheon Je had deliberately hidden information within the Manma Yujin Pavilion.
Books containing knowledge of the Murim were concealed behind a mechanism that only those he had personally selected could access.
Footsteps echoed softly.
Upon entering through the door, I discovered a small chamber.
Within lay a secret library that reeked of mustiness, its shelves lined entirely with deteriorated and damaged volumes.
“How unfortunate.”
I let out a quiet exclamation.
All the original texts had been relocated elsewhere; only the damaged remnants remained.
Even those were so decayed that they would crumble at the slightest touch.
“There is one.”
After searching through the repository diligently, I discovered a single book that was still relatively intact.
It was an illustrated volume filled with various drawings, yet its contents were profoundly disturbing.
“…!”
My hand froze as I turned the pages.
The illustrations depicted ghostlike entities wandering throughout the Murim, transforming humans into monsters.
On the next page, the monsters created by these spirits ultimately met their end with their bodies completely rupturing.
‘It is similar.’
Ma Bu had once been an ordinary commoner, yet someone had transformed him into a monster, and his body had burst asunder.
If that were the case… then the Murim had harbored entities capable of transforming humans into monsters for generations untold.
‘Everything is connected.’
These entities did not appear suddenly. They had taken root within the Murim across countless generations, concealing themselves in shadow.
If so, then all of this follows a natural course.
I had already eliminated three Incheon, and now I stood in opposition to Chu So, who possessed transcendent wisdom.
In other words, the emergence of these entities was inevitable, intimately linked to every adversary I had faced thus far.
‘I will surely uncover them all.’
The Infinite Realm that had lurked for generations, the Abyss Forces, Jin Ma’s subordinates—all were being defeated one by one.
Confronting me only hastened their downfall.
My strength grew with each passing day, while the number of my enemies dwindled.
Now, only time remained.
I would find them all and bring them to ruin.

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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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