The Great Heavenly Sword Emperor - Chapter 85

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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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#085. Bloodstained Traces (3)

“What? Run that by me again.”
Jin Ryeong, who had been in his quarters, spoke with a grave expression.
“Cheon Mujgyeol sensed my aura.”
Si Ryeong, the ashen-skinned one with an boyish voice, answered.
At Si Ryeong’s words, Jin Ryeong’s brow furrowed.
“First Hwan Ryeong, and now you too.”
“It appears Cheon Mujgyeol has the ability to sense and distinguish our auras. That much is possible, given that he inherited the legacy of the Heavenly Sword Grandmaster.”
“The ability to sense our auras isn’t the problem—that was already a given. The variable is that he recognized us far too quickly.”
Jin Ryeong spoke with visible unease.
“This was supposed to happen eventually, but much sooner than planned. This complicates things. Damn it. All of this…….”
“You’re saying it’s my fault?”
At Hwan Ryeong’s voice from the entrance, both Jin Ryeong and Si Ryeong turned their gaze toward the doorway.
Hwan Ryeong stood leaning sideways against the frame, regarding the two of them.
“Why the look? Weren’t you about to say it’s because I showed myself in front of Cheon Mujgyeol?”
“Yes. That’s right. This is all your doing.”
Jin Ryeong shot him a glare as he spoke.
At that, Hwan Ryeong let out a low chuckle and straightened himself, then moved toward the two of them.
More precisely, toward Jin Ryeong.
“Don’t look at me like that. I’ve been hearing so much from you that I’m actually reflecting a little.”
“Reflection won’t change what’s already in motion. If Cheon Mujgyeol knows and can sense our auras, our room to maneuver will only shrink. And that means the Cult Leader’s revival…….”
“Ah, enough. I know all that already.”
Hwan Ryeong cut off Jin Ryeong’s words.
Then he looked at him with a smile and spoke.
“What if I go ahead and block Cheon Mujgyeol’s path for you?”
At Hwan Ryeong’s suggestion, Jin Ryeong stared at him for a long moment before opening his mouth.
“What’s your angle.”
“Angle? How hurtful. There’s nothing like that. Just thought if I beat him down and put him on his back for a few months, it might improve your mood a little.”
Even at Hwan Ryeong’s words, Jin Ryeong’s eyes remained sharp with suspicion.
“The one who caused the problem should take responsibility. Shouldn’t they?”
Jin Ryeong scrutinized him at length.
“Don’t do anything strange. If you pull any stunts, I won’t let it slide.”
“I’m not sure what ‘not let it slide’ means, but it won’t come to that. I’m simply trying to make sure Cheon Mujgyeol doesn’t interfere with our work. I’m one of the Chilryeong too.”
With that, Hwan Ryeong turned away but glanced back at Si Ryeong.
“I’ll buy us time, so get Honhun completed as soon as possible. Your only role is that, so do it right. Won’t you?”
At Hwan Ryeong’s words, Si Ryeong’s expression didn’t shift as he regarded him.
“Then I’m off to clean up the mess I made.”
With that said, Hwan Ryeong vanished.

* * *

The two who had encountered Si Ryeong’s traces in the Village continued westward.
Not knowing that the aura they’d sensed belonged to Si Ryeong, the two showed no sign of impatience.
Feeling Si Ryeong’s aura this time had been mere chance.
There was no method to track traces met by accident.
Yet they trusted that if they moved according to their aim, they would eventually encounter other traces as well.
By chance, yes—but Cheon Mujgyeol did not regard it as mere chance.
Bound to the Saryeong Church by necessity, he believed he would surely cross paths with them again, no matter what form it took.
And before long, his belief became reality.
“Sigh…… Another night under the stars. I really should have rested at the previous Village.”
As evening fell and Bukgung Danya prepared a suitable place to rest near a Small Hill, he spoke with a note of regret in his voice.
“No. This is better, actually.”
“Better? How so?”
“It would be troublesome if there were other people here tonight besides us.”
As Cheon Mujgyeol spoke words whose meaning Bukgung Danya could not grasp, the latter tilted his head in confusion.
“This, this. Looks like I’ve been caught.”
At the unfamiliar voice, Bukgung Danya started with a jolt, spinning around.
“Y-you are!”
Hwan Ryeong stood there.
“So you really can sense our aura and tell us apart. Interesting.”
Hwan Ryeong spoke while looking at Cheon Mujgyeol.
Cheon Mujgyeol met his gaze without a word.
“You handled the Dongbang Clan matter quite neatly.”
“So it was you!”
“You stay quiet and still. This isn’t a place for you to speak.”
A strangled gasp escaped Bukgung Danya’s throat.
Bukgung Danya’s breath caught short.
Mere eye contact with Hwan Ryeong froze his body, left him incapable of a single coherent thought.
Though his face wore a smile, the chill inscribed in those eyes defied description.
His frame had gone rigid, breath shallow and labored.
Then a warm aura enveloped Bukgung Danya’s body.
It was Cheon Mujgyeol’s aura.
“Gasp!”
Only then did Bukgung Danya exhale roughly.
A low metallic ring.
Cheon Mujgyeol drew the Cheonsingeom without a sound.
Hwan Ryeong’s eyes gleamed as he fixed his gaze upon it.
“The Cheonsingeom. At last I lay eyes upon it.”
“That aura I felt in the Village before—it wasn’t yours. Yet what happened there bore a striking resemblance to the work of Dongbang Gyuheon. What are you scheming?”
Cheon Mujgyeol, who addressed nearly everyone with formal speech, dropped to informal language with Hwan Ryeong.
It was a verdict: a certain enemy, unworthy of respect.
“You’ve unraveled even that much? More capable than I gave you credit for.”
Hwan Ryeong betrayed no loss of composure.
He held a fan in each hand, and now he snapped one of them fully open.
Whoosh!
The fan opened before his face was no ordinary fan.
Its ribs were forged from metal, and its edges were honed sharp as a blade.
Across its face, blooming lavishly upon an ancient, gnarled tree, were painted several flowers in brilliant hues.
Lovely to behold though it was, the sinister aura flowing from the fan overwhelmed its beauty and amplified an aura of dread.
“I understand his concern well enough. It’s justified. Which is why I can’t simply leave things as they are.”
The amusement drained from Hwan Ryeong’s eyes.
That cold gaze seemed to pierce deep into Cheon Mujgyeol’s core.
“For now your role is still needed, so I won’t kill you. But I must ensure you become no further obstacle to our designs.”
Before those words had even finished, it was not Hwan Ryeong but Cheon Mujgyeol who moved.
Without waiting to hear more, he closed the distance swiftly and swung the Cheonsingeom.
“A fine technique. Your body has recovered completely, I see.”
Hwan Ryeong sidestepped Cheon Mujgyeol’s assault with ease.
Then he swept his fan lightly.
It seemed a meaningless gesture.
The distance between them was too great for the fan to reach.
“I thought you’d press in immediately. Perhaps I overestimated you after all?”
‘Did he swing the fan expecting Cheon to rush straight in? What on earth is this…?’
At Hwan Ryeong’s words, Bukgung Danya’s brow furrowed.
In combat, prediction is vital.
Yet when a prediction goes awry, it can just as easily trap one in crisis.
No crisis had befallen them, but such a wildly off prediction was itself dangerously reckless.
‘A man like that wouldn’t be ignorant of such things.’
But what followed painted a similar picture.
Cheon Mujgyeol drove the tempo of the exchange, attacking relentlessly.
Hwan Ryeong evaded his strikes, occasionally blocking with the fan to mount a defense.
Even those initial, seemingly purposeless fan sweeps continued much the same.
Though the form was identical, he alternated now between the fan he’d opened first and another bearing painted withered blossoms.
‘Those fans. There’s something to them. Does Cheon know?’
He thought the man directly engaged could hardly be ignorant of it.
‘No. He may know something resides in those fans, but perhaps not precisely what.’
Bukgung Danya clenched his teeth.
All he could do now was watch.

Cheon Mujgyeol first sensed something amiss during Hwan Ryeong’s second fan stroke.
What his eyes perceived of Hwan Ryeong’s movements and what his senses registered of his position seemed subtly at odds.
Was he simply too fast?
No. Hwan Ryeong’s bursts of speed were sharp, but not beyond what Cheon Mujgyeol could track.
Rather, his various senses of Hwan Ryeong’s location had begun to clash with one another.
“Unsettling, isn’t it?”
In that instant, Hwan Ryeong’s voice reached his ear.
Shriek!
Cheon Mujgyeol slashed with his blade, but Hwan Ryeong was not there.
Instead, he stood at an entirely different position.
“Cheon?”
Bukgung Danya called out in alarm.
Just moments before, Cheon Mujgyeol had swung his sword at a completely wrong location.
Cheon Mujgyeol’s gaze fixed on Hwan Ryeong.
Though the figure stood directly before his eyes, it felt as though he were present in all directions at once.
“Hmm. Seems you’re properly contaminated now.”
“Contaminated?”
“That’s right. You’ve already fallen into my Illusion Art.”
“What?!”
Bukgung Danya cried out in shock at Hwan Ryeong’s words.
“Curious when it happened, aren’t you?”
“During the fan strokes?”
At Cheon Mujgyeol’s words, Hwan Ryeong smiled faintly and shook his head.
“As expected, you didn’t notice.”
With that, Hwan Ryeong unfolded the fan he had been holding closed.
Whoosh!
In that moment, Cheon Mujgyeol’s brow twitched.
“Did you grasp it? From the moment I first opened this fan. You fell into my Illusion Art right then.”
If Hwan Ryeong’s words were true, he had been deceived before his own eyes.
“Contaminating meant corrupting your senses. Those misaligned perceptions you experience now will soon return to normal. They serve only as a means to create an opening for me in this moment. The real thing is this.”
“Hello?”
In that instant, Hwan Ryeong’s voice sounded near Cheon Mujgyeol’s ear.
He spun toward the sound, but again, Hwan Ryeong was not there.
“From now on, no matter where you go, you will sense my aura.”
Cheon Mujgyeol’s eyes narrowed as he stared at him.
“Even when I’m absent, even in places I’ve never been—you will feel my aura.”
“You mean to prevent me from sensing the other Chilryeong.”
“Exactly! Sharp fellow. Dead right. You see, you keep appearing and getting in the way of what we’re trying to accomplish. As for me, I’ve willingly stepped before you, so it doesn’t matter—but the others aren’t like that.”
Cheon Mujgyeol’s gaze hardened as he stared at Hwan Ryeong.
“Even if I cannot sense the others’ auras, it makes no difference. We are bound to meet regardless.”
“True. We’ll meet again. What matters is when. Now is simply too soon.”
“Whatever you’re planning, your preparations are incomplete. Time is what you need.”
At Cheon Mujgyeol’s words, Hwan Ryeong let out a soft laugh.
“Save your deductions for after I’ve gone. Before I leave, though, I have one more thing to finish.”
Whisk!
Hwan Ryeong unfurled his second fan as well.
The air around Hwan Ryeong, now holding both fans with their contrasting designs, grew razor-sharp.
“I made a promise to those others. So you’ll need to rest for a while.”
Flash!
Cheon Mujgyeol’s eyes flew wide.
Hwan Ryeong vanished, and a searing pain bloomed across his chest.
His body moved against his own will—a sensation that followed in its wake.
In that instant, he could not fully comprehend what had transpired.
“Cheon!”
At Bukgung Danya’s urgent cry, Cheon Mujgyeol’s vision faded to black.

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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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