The Great Heavenly Sword Emperor - Chapter 87

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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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#087. Lingering Echo (2)

Bukgung Danya, who had been standing in a daze watching Cheon Mujgyeol as he greeted him, suddenly brightened.
“You’ve awakened! I was so worried. Are you well?”
Bukgung Danya stepped forward quickly and asked.
Cheon Mujgyeol nodded in response.
“I’m fine. I apologize for causing you concern.”
“Not at all. I’m relieved you’ve woken. Ah, Gwangan left just a moment ago, but——”
“It’s all right.”
Just then.
A bang sounded, and the door swung open abruptly.
It was Gwangan, who had departed moments before.
“Young Master Cheon!”
“How did you know——”
“Eh? Ah, well.”
By the time Gwangan had finished his conversation with Bukgung Danya, Cheon Mujgyeol had already regained consciousness.
And not long after Gwangan left, Cheon Mujgyeol had sent him a Mental Transmission, and Gwangan had hurried back.
“You certainly have a knack for startling people, Young Master Cheon.”
At Bukgung Danya’s words, Cheon Mujgyeol offered a faint smile.
Bukgung Danya’s eyes widened slightly at the sight.
Cheon Mujgyeol, who rarely showed emotion, was not one to smile even faintly.
He had seen him unleash anger before, but never had he seen him look pleased or laugh — until today, seeing Cheon Mujgyeol smile for the first time.
“It seems there’s much I need to hear.”
“Indeed. Over a month and a half has passed.”
“I’ve been bedridden for quite a while then.”
“Yes. Please, sit for now. I’ll tell you everything that’s happened.”
The three men pulled up chairs and sat together.
Whether there had been progress or not, Gwangan recounted in detail everything that had transpired.
Cheon Mujgyeol listened quietly without interrupting, taking it all in to the end.
“It’s fortunate that Dongbang Sega has found stability.”
“Yes. The trouble is with Saringgyo. I’m sorry we’ve made no headway.”
“No, don’t be. It’s all right.”
Cheon Mujgyeol answered briefly, then looked at Bukgung Danya with a question.
“On the day I fought Hwanryeong. Could you tell me what happened in those final moments?”
“Do you remember nothing at all?”
At Bukgung Danya’s question, Cheon Mujgyeol shook his head.
“I don’t have a clear understanding of what occurred.”
Gwangan and Bukgung Danya exchanged surprised glances at his words.
Even accounting for what he’d endured, not to know what had happened was extraordinary.
It meant Hwanryeong was that powerful — something far more serious to be concerned about.
Bukgung Danya calmly recounted to Cheon Mujgyeol the final moments as he’d witnessed them.
“I see.”
“I didn’t realize Hwanryeong was that formidable. For you not to even understand how you were struck — from what I observed, Hwanryeong’s movements weren’t that swift.”
Cheon Mujgyeol nodded at Bukgung Danya’s words.
“It was Illusion Magic. At the time, my senses weren’t intact, and because of that, I couldn’t properly perceive Hwanryeong’s movements. All my senses — sight, touch, smell — were being disrupted.”
“Then it is as I thought. How are you now?”
“The sensory contamination has cleared. However.”
“However?”
“I haven’t completely escaped from the Illusion Magic Hwanryeong cast.”
“What? What do you mean——”
As he spoke, Cheon Mujgyeol swept his gaze across the room, then looked between the two men before continuing.
“I sense Hwanryeong’s presence in various places. Even from you, Bukgung, and from Gwangan.”
“What?!”
Bukgung Danya showed a startled reaction.
“Could it be — is Hwanryeong nearby now?”
“No. Hwanryeong is not here.”
“Sigh…….”
Bukgung Danya let out a breath of relief, then caught himself and closed his mouth.
“Due to Hwanryeong’s Illusion Magic, I’ll now mistake all the energy around me for his own.”
“Isn’t that a serious problem?”
“It’s manageable. At least I can still distinguish between the false and the real. However, as he said, should I encounter the energy of another of the Seven Spirits, I would perceive it as Hwanryeong’s.”
“So you can’t tell them apart.”
Cheon Mujgyeol nodded at Gwangan’s words.
“For now, there’s no way to distinguish them.”
“That’s troublesome.”
“No. Since I can at least tell the real from the false, whether it’s Hwanryeong or another of the Seven Spirits, if I sense their genuine energy, I can at least recognize that much.”
“Well, that’s something. We’ll have to make good use of that.”
Cheon Mujgyeol nodded in agreement with Gwangan’s assessment.
“Ah, and there was something Hwanryeong said before he vanished.”
Bukgung Danya relayed Hwanryeong’s final words to Cheon Mujgyeol.
Upon hearing this, Cheon Mujgyeol gazed quietly at the Cheonsingeom.
“It seems there’s something more to the Cheonsingeom that I don’t know about.”
“Have you heard nothing from it?”
“Nothing.”
“The Cheonsingeom is the sword that the Cheongeom Daeje used to defeat the Saringgyo long ago, so it must be a lethal weapon to them. Perhaps they mean to destroy it?”
Gwangan shook his head at Bukgung Danya’s words.
“Hwanryeong’s words seemed more like a request born of necessity—that they bring it. In other words, the Cheonsingeom is the final piece needed to successfully complete whatever they’re preparing.”
Cheon Mujgyeol nodded at Gwangan’s reasoning.
Cheon Mujgyeol recalled the words of the Mudang he’d met before encountering Hwanryeong.
Her words—that it could be both savior and destroyer—kept gnawing at him.
“In any case, what they’re planning will eventually come to light. To find out, I need to first go to my original destination.”
“The Saringgyo Headquarters from three hundred years ago, you mean?”
“Yes.”
“We’ve actually investigated that place ourselves.”
“You have?”
“Yes. But we couldn’t find a trace of it. The location is supposedly known, yet we found no remains whatsoever.”
“Not even the foundation?”
“Nothing. It’s hard to believe it was ever the right place.”
“Then what’s the point of going if there’s nothing to find?”
Cheon Mujgyeol shook his head at Bukgung Danya’s question.
“It couldn’t possibly be easy to find. When they resurged, they wouldn’t have left the place as it was.”
“But if there’s nothing there, isn’t that the same as not searching?”
“Consider this: objects and documents that were there can all be destroyed. But it’s impossible to erase the ground itself. Whether it’s a foundation stone or something else, the land must remain, shouldn’t it?”
“Y-yes, that’s true.”
“Yet if even that isn’t visible, then something is definitely there. So I must go see for myself.”
Cheon Mujgyeol possessed the Cheonlam Haejin, so if a Formation had been laid to seal the place, he would certainly be able to break through it.
This was Cheon Mujgyeol’s reasoning for deciding to go.
“What we cannot see, perhaps you can. I understand. I’ll have the necessary preparations made simply.”
“Thank you.”
Cheon Mujgyeol answered briefly to Gwangan’s words.

* * *

Hwanryeong lay in his quarters with his eyes closed, resting at an odd angle.
Then, suddenly, he stirred.
“Hmm?”
With that sound, his eyes slowly opened.
And a moment later.
Creak!
Hwanryeong’s face broke into a deep smile.
“Quite the impressive one. I thought he’d be bedridden for at least another month.”
“You mean Cheon Mujgyeol?”
Dongbang Yeonhwi, who had been focused on his work, asked Hwanryeong.
“Yes. Less than two months have passed, and he’s already awake.”
“The fact that you could sense that is remarkable in itself.”
Hwanryeong let out a short laugh at Dongbang Yeonhwi’s words.
“No matter how far away the target of my Illusion Magic may be, I can sense their every state.”
“Impressive. Then, could it be that Cheon Mujgyeol has broken free from the Illusion Magic?”
“No.”
Hwanryeong answered with absolute certainty.
“If he’d broken free, I would have felt him wake. The Illusion Magic I’ve woven still holds.”
“I see.”
As he spoke, Dongbang Yeonhwi scribbled something rapidly on the paper before him.
Hwanryeong paid no attention to Dongbang Yeonhwi and continued.
“He lay unconscious for a month and a half before waking. Now, where will he go?”
“Back to his original path.”
“To the old Saringgyo Headquarters?”
“Yes.”
At Dongbang Yeonhwi’s certainty, Hwanryeong asked as if surprised.
“What makes you so sure?”
“Because we’ve learned nothing about Saringgyo yet.”
Dongbang Yeonhwi set down his brush and looked at Hwanryeong.
“Cheon Mujgyeol knows almost nothing about Saringgyo now. He only understands that we’re preparing for something. But he doesn’t know what we’re preparing, how much time it requires, or what we need for it. Nothing.”
“Indeed.”
“So to learn what that is, we’ll head to the old Saringgyo Headquarters. We’ll find nothing there, perhaps, but we’ll go nonetheless.”
“That’s right.”
At Dongbang Yeonhwi’s words, Hwanryeong smiled faintly and sank into thought.
“Then I should prepare a gift of some kind.”
“Shall I help prepare it?”
At Dongbang Yeonhwi’s offer, Hwanryeong shook his head.
“No. Not that sort of gift. I need to prepare something grand. For that, I must act myself.”
“So you’ll use Illusion Magic again?”
“Illusion Magic is my specialty, but not this time.”
At the mention that it wasn’t Illusion Magic, Dongbang Yeonhwi’s brow furrowed.
“When someone can no longer trust anything they see, hear, or feel—what then? How will they endure it?”
As he spoke, Hwanryeong’s expression showed genuine excitement at the thought.
“Normally, a person would simply go mad. But Cheon Mujgyeol—what of him? As the descendant of Cheongeom Daeje, he should be able to withstand at least that much, shouldn’t he?”
Dongbang Yeonhwi could not fathom what Hwanryeong was preparing.
“I’ll leave the Dongbang Sega matter to you again. Your work last time was very successful.”
“Thank you.”
“Dongbang Sega isn’t a serious concern, but they could become a nuisance if they attach themselves to Cheon Mujgyeol. So they must be kept down.”
“Understood. I’ll leave them with just enough hope to try rising again, then keep them falling and rising repeatedly, their spirits crushed.”
“Excellent. It would be good to drain their very souls as well. But Dongbang Gyuheon must not be harmed.”
“I’ll remember.”
“Yes. He’s my trump card.”
“You seem quite confident it will succeed.”
At Dongbang Yeonhwi’s question, Hwanryeong glanced at him and spoke.
“True Spirits and Formed Spirits misunderstand. If you deliberately wound the soul, it only breaks. But if you take time and let it happen naturally, I believe it will work.”
At Hwanryeong’s words, Dongbang Yeonhwi smiled softly.
“Then Soul Corruption will be completed soon. I should adjust my plans accordingly.”
Hwanryeong nodded at Dongbang Yeonhwi’s words.
“Soul Corruption will require at least another month or two to complete. Until then, attention must be drawn away from Dongbang Gyuheon.”
Dongbang Yeonhwi smiled at Hwanryeong’s words.
“Then I should awaken the second seed I’ve planted.”
“Good. If their attention is drawn outward, their interest in Dongbang Gyuheon will wane. Nothing has happened so far, after all.”
“It will be as you say.”
At Dongbang Yeonhwi’s response, Hwanryeong’s expression showed anticipation.

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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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