The Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign - Chapter 88

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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 88.
After taking a deep breath, Seok Song gazed at the assembled members and spoke in a low voice.
“That man is The Demon.”
The Demon.
It was a term commonly used to describe certain types of people.
But the moment Seok Song uttered those words, the interior of the Stone Chamber seemed to darken, and thunder rumbled from somewhere above.
“He was originally a disciple of the First Seat. But his talents were so exceptional that eventually all the swordmasters—even Hoe Ju himself—took him as a student.”
He exhaled a turbid breath and continued.
“Our society had no doubt that he would become the greatest swordsman under heaven, watching as he rapidly absorbed every sword technique. But….”
Seok Song clenched his lips and spoke as if expelling something caught in his throat.
“That demon was a spy planted to infiltrate our society. And once he had learned all our sword techniques, he systematically slaughtered our masters one by one.”
The Cheon Geom Hoe had harbored such a secret!
They hadn’t deliberately operated in the shadows like dragons—rather, their internal masters had all been murdered, leaving them unable to operate at all.
“I have one question.”
After a moment of silence, the man wearing the Yellow Dragon-Masked Man’s mask spoke in a low voice.
“Did he truly assassinate the Cheon Geom Hoe’s leader and swordmasters single-handedly?”
“Indeed.”
At Seok Song’s words, the hall fell into a silence as profound as death itself.
From just the single sword technique Seok Song had demonstrated earlier, one could infer that his martial prowess had reached the pinnacle of Murim.
How could such a master exist in Murim—one capable of assassinating the Cheon Geom Hoe’s swordmasters and leader entirely alone?
“The numbers don’t add up.”
At that moment, the Ox-Masked Man shook his head.
“How could you possibly handle such a master alone?”
“That is precisely why our society transmits these sword techniques.”
Seok Song clenched his fists and ground his teeth as he spoke.
“To ensure we can defeat him without fail!”
Only then did Bu Eunseol grasp the full situation.
The Cheon Geom Hoe had created sword techniques to counter their enemy, but they themselves could not master them.
So they were transmitting these techniques to exceptional talents naturally brimming with killing intent, hoping to achieve vengeance through them.
“Even if one masters superior sword techniques, there’s no guarantee they could kill such a master.”
At the Ox-Masked Man’s question, Seok Song nodded.
“Of course. But his sword techniques have a fatal weakness.”
“A weakness?”
“Because he mastered techniques like the Flowing Bone Art, his joints and muscles have become far too soft and flexible. Of course, such a body allows him to master any ascending sword technique with ease, but….”
At that moment, Bu Eunseol’s eyes, hidden behind her rabbit mask, blazed red like burning coals.
“The Flowing Bone Art? Which Flowing Bone Art are you referring to?”
At the sudden question, Seok Song furrowed his brow.
“I cannot say with certainty. If not the Heavenly Axis Flowing Bone Art, then it must be the Neng Jiao Flowing Bone Art of Zhong Yuan.”
“His age? How old is this man?”
At Bu Eunseol’s frantic questions, Seok Song answered despite his bewilderment.
“He was a young man in his late twenties back then… so he must be around forty by now.”
“What about his swordsmanship? What kind of technique did he use?”
“He wielded the sword techniques our organization taught him. As if he were mocking us with our own methods.”
Just as Bu Eunseol was about to ask another question, Seok Song raised his hand.
“Let us end the questions here.”
He glanced around before speaking.
“Can you swear an oath?”
The Ox-Masked Man, who had been standing at the front lost in serious contemplation, answered first.
“I must decline.”
“I will not force you. Leave at once.”
“Very well.”
The Ox-Masked Man clasped his hands together and turned without hesitation, departing through the exit.
Seok Song watched his retreating figure, then drew a deep breath and spoke again.
“I ask the rest of you once more. Will you swear to kill one person in exchange for receiving these sword techniques?”
“I have a question as well.”
The Yellow Dragon-Masked Man stepped forward.
“Does this Demon belong to the Orthodox Sects?”
“That, I cannot say. All I can tell you is that he was a spy who infiltrated our organization to gather intelligence on our internal affairs.”
At Seok Song’s response, the Yellow Dragon-Masked Man nodded.
“Then I cannot accept.”
The Yellow Dragon-Masked Man spoke with a bitter smile.
“You two call him a Demon, but none of us know what circumstances lie within him.”
He turned without hesitation.
“Even if your words were absolute truth without a shred of falsehood, I cannot kill one who belongs to the Orthodox Sects.”
“I understand your meaning.”
“Then I shall take my leave.”
Bu Eunseol’s eyes gleamed as she watched the imposing Yellow Dragon-Masked Man depart.
‘He is likely a master of the Hua Shan Sect.’
The Yellow Dragon-Masked Man’s bearing was as majestic as viewing a mountain range, enough to draw admiration even from Bu Eunseol.
Moreover, the kick technique he had displayed in the Second Hall bore striking resemblance to the Tai Yue Three Pure Leg Technique of the Thirty-Six Paths.
“If you cannot tell us whether this Demon belongs to the Orthodox Sects or the Demonic Path… so be it.”
After the Yellow Dragon-Masked Man departed, the Tiger-Masked Man spoke next.
“Then where is he? Can we kill him right now?”
Seok Song shook his head.
“Our organization is doing everything in our power to find his whereabouts, but we have not yet succeeded. Even now, we continue to track him with all our intelligence resources.”
At that moment, the Tiger-Masked Man also sighed.
“Then that will not do.”
The Tiger-Masked Man shook his head.
“I have many matters to attend to ahead. If he suddenly appears and asks me to kill someone while I am handling important affairs… that would be troublesome.”
From his manner of speech, the Tiger-Masked Man appeared to be middle-aged and held a position of considerable authority.
“That could very well be.”
As Seok Song nodded, the Tiger-Masked Man turned to Bu Eunseol and Dang Gon.
“I saw earlier that you two are truly formidable. If we meet again in the Gangho, let’s remove our masks and cross blades properly.”
The Tiger-Masked Man possessed a remarkably combative and forthright nature.
“Then it’s been a pleasure.”
The Tiger-Masked Man clasped his hands respectfully to Seok Song and Woo Hak before finally departing.
Now only Dang Gon and Bu Eunseol remained.
“I must also decline.”
The Fox-Masked Man, Dang Gon, shook his head.
“I still have unresolved matters. It would be unwise to become entangled with benefactors from other sects simply to learn swordplay.”
At Dang Gon’s response, the expressions of Seok Song and Woo Hak darkened.
“I understand.”
“Then.”
Dang Gon clasped his hands and gave Bu Eunseol a light nod.
Then, without hesitation, he turned and departed.
“Will you do the same?”
At Seok Song’s question, Bu Eunseol answered calmly.
“I will.”
“You will? You mean to swear an oath?”
“Yes.”
As the answer came so readily, Seok Song and Woo Hak exchanged suspicious glances.
“Think carefully once more before you answer.”
This time Woo Hak stepped forward and spoke gravely.
“If you receive our swordplay and fail to honor your promise, we will mobilize all the forces of this organization to deal with you first.”
He seemed to believe that Bu Eunseol was swearing the oath too easily, merely to learn the swordplay.
“Though our key figures have fallen, the power of this organization remains intact. Even if you are the leader of the Nine Sects One Alliance, you cannot escape our assassination attempts….”
“I understand.”
Bu Eunseol cut him off, and Woo Hak raised his eyebrows.
“What do you understand?”
“The fact that you can construct facilities and buildings of this scale on Geum Jeong Mountain means that your financial power alone rivals that of the Nine Sects One Alliance or the Eight Great Families. Is that not so?”
Woo Hak nodded slightly, as if impressed by Bu Eunseol’s deduction.
“Precisely. So decide carefully. Your life depends on this oath.”
“I swear.”
Bu Eunseol answered without hesitation.
“I will kill that beast who slaughtered the Cheon Geom Hoe’s swordsmen with my own hands. But… not for the sake of learning swordplay.”
Bu Eunseol, who had just awakened to a truth long forgotten, gazed at Seok Song and Woo Hak as she spoke.
“Perhaps… that beast might be the very person I have been searching for.”
Within the Rabbit-Masked woman’s eyes, a crimson gleam flickered.
A murderous intent fierce enough to tear the heavens asunder.
It was a quality that Seok Song and Woo Hak had dreamed of even in their deepest slumber.
* * *
Woo Hak led Bu Eunseol to the vast Open Ground where the First Hall had been held.
“Are you prepared to learn swordplay?”
At Seok Song’s question, Bu Eunseol nodded.
Seok Song and Woo Hak exchanged a glance, then simultaneously stomped their feet at that spot.
Rumble.
With the sound of internal mechanisms stirring to life, a wall rose from the center of the Open Ground.
Bu Eunseol’s eyes widened slightly as she watched the sight unfold.
The wall rising now was roughly five times larger than the one that had emerged from the Open Ground before.
With a height approaching three zhang, it seemed less like a wall and more like a colossal cliff face ascending before her.
‘So this was the original painting.’
Only then could Bu Eunseol understand what had felt so discordant at first.
The swordplay the Tiger-Masked Man had displayed on Snow Mountain was merely a fragment of the painting carved into this great wall.
“Precisely. The painting that rose earlier was merely the edge of this wall cut away.”
Woo Hak smiled enigmatically, as though reading the depths of Bu Eunseol’s mind.
“And this is the complete original.”
Woo Hak gazed intently at Bu Eunseol’s face, his smile austere.
“This painting was created by Hoe Ju.”
“Hoe Ju…”
“Indeed. A painting completed fifteen years ago.”
Bu Eunseol, her expression puzzled, looked up at the wall.
The width of the wall bearing the painting was roughly six zhang, and its height nearly two zhang—in essence, the size of the side face of a Palace Hall built to this scale.
“Hmm.”
The painting carved into the wall was divided into four sections, each uniformly depicting combat between humans and beasts.
Beside the image of the woman and tiger I had seen in the First Hall was a boy hurling stones at a flying hawk.
Next to that was an elderly man wielding a staff, surrounded by wolves. The final painting depicted a swordsman facing off against a grotesquely blackened beast.
‘This is…’
The longer I gazed upon the painting, the more my soul felt drawn into the wall itself.
Hidden throughout the four divided paintings were mysterious geometric shapes and lines.
‘A sword technique.’
Bu Eunseol intuited that following those shapes and lines through swordplay would form a single sword form.
As the sword form hidden within the painting took shape in my mind, cold sweat trickled down my back.
‘A flawless…sword form.’
The sword form within the painting contained every variation and swift movement a long sword could execute.
Thus it could neither be blocked nor evaded—one could only meet it head-on and respond.
“You’ve already discovered the sword form, it seems.”
Woo Hak, observing Bu Eunseol’s profile, nodded calmly.
“This sword form is the one Hoe Ju transmitted to The Demon.”
“You mean to say he only passed down a single technique?”
“How could that be?”
At Bu Eunseol’s question, Woo Hak’s expression twisted with anguish.
“Not just the Hoe Ju, but from the First Left to the Tenth Left… I transmitted sword techniques containing all their refined methods to that bastard, one by one.”
In other words, the vile disciple had received transmission of eleven sword techniques, including those from the Hoe Ju.
“The sword technique depicted in this painting contains the Heavenly Garment Without Seams—one of those eleven techniques passed down by the Hoe Ju.”
Heavenly Garment Without Seams.
It meant absolute perfection. The sword technique carved into the stone wall was so flawless that such a technique name felt utterly fitting.
“And the sword method we will teach you is one capable of countering such exquisite sword techniques that cannot be broken through in a short time.”
Bu Eunseol’s expression grew puzzled.
A sword method was a sword method—but what did he mean by a sword method capable of countering exquisite techniques?
Woo Hak spoke calmly, as if to resolve her confusion.
“For example, if I had demonstrated the Heavenly Garment Without Seams technique to you before showing this painting, you would not have been able to defend against it perfectly.”
Bu Eunseol nodded.
The technique of Heavenly Garment Without Seams was so exquisite that it was difficult to shatter in a single breath.
Then a piercing cold gleam erupted from Woo Hak’s eyes.
“But what if there existed a secret method to defend against it without breaking the sword technique itself?”

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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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