The Heavenly Demon of the Blue Sky - Chapter 13

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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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Cang Tian Ma Qi, Episode 13
At that same moment, in the back alley opposite the Giru that formed Bul Ya Seong.
“M-master. The enemies have blockaded the entrance in layers……!”
Dang Suk crouched low in the darkness, his trembling hand pointing toward the Giru’s main gate.
Hired bodyguards, purchased by the newly rich, lay thick as a blanket across the entrance.
‘Their skill doesn’t look impressive. But their numbers are considerable.’
This body still hadn’t accumulated its Inner Energy fully. And there was the Crippled Meridian to contend with.
Going alone seemed impossible. Not that I was about to let this rest.
“You said you went around seeking help before? Which sects did you visit?”
“Yes? Ah, I visited the influential families governing the Hangzhou region and the sects beginning to earn renown, but…….”
From what Dang Suk described, they were all the same—too busy guarding their own territory or too blinded by profit to think of anything but expanding their power.
I might as well have deliberately sought out the ones without a shred of righteousness.
“Your discernment…….”
I gave him a withering look, and Dang Suk’s face twisted in misery.
“I lacked the means to venture into Zhongyuan on such short notice……. I never imagined that those I’d cultivated connections with through such expense would turn their backs so coldly…….”
People are always kind to strangers in ways they never are to family. Dang Suk was proving that now.
“Sniff, sniff…….”
Only today did he realize it had all been futile, and he wept bitterly.
Then, catching my gaze, he bit his lip and choked back his sobs.
“Tsk, tsk.”
His pathetic display wasn’t even worth my anger.
Then I turned my mind to the Righteous Faction—those I might ask for aid.
From the perspective of ordinary sects and families, the situation would normally make seeking help difficult. But.
‘These foolish, rigid things with their inflexible righteousness—they infest this world, don’t they.’
Back when I stood at the peak of the Ten Thousand Great Mountains as the Heavenly Demon Lord.
Whenever I sought to place the world beneath my feet, they’d rise like rabid dogs, clinging to me more stubbornly than any other obstacle in my path—that nauseating Righteous Faction.
Their inflexible justice and spirit of sacrifice were a disgusting hindrance to me then, a Heavenly Demon.
‘But now, by contrast, I can make use of them most conveniently.’
With circumstances reversed, their irksome rigidity suddenly seemed useful.
“You’re no help standing here now. Run to the place I’m about to tell you and request their support.”
“Yes? Yes!? But where exactly is that……?”
I pulled his thick earlobe close and whispered directions into it.
Dang Suk’s eyes nearly bulged from their sockets—he hadn’t expected that.
“Th-that place? B-but if you’re alone, what do you intend to……?”
“If those upstarts formally fall under the Blood Sect’s thumb and start acting as their hands and feet, things will get complicated. I need to slip inside first and control the variables before they can escape.”
“B-but you alone are far too exposed to danger! No matter how skilled you are, if something goes wrong……!”
“Since when have you been so tenderly concerned for your uncle?”
“Ugh……!”
A blunt answer that struck home.
“Stop wasting time and run. That’s what will save me. Tell them the Namgung Clan’s lord is in mortal danger.”
“…… Y-yes, I understand!”
Dang Suk’s bulky frame stumbled into motion, vanishing down the back alley.
Left alone, I moved silently toward the Giru’s outer wall.
The front entrance and first floor were so tightly watched an ant couldn’t slip through, but this side had lax surveillance.
I rested a hand on my hip and gazed up at the Giru soaring distantly overhead.
‘There’s a reason they haven’t stationed sentries here.’
Befitting a premium pleasure house, the structure rose an impossible height, and its outer wall was smooth and steep as a sheer cliff face.
Without the Light Body Technique of a master, scaling to the top in one breath was virtually impossible.
‘I’m in no better position right now.’
My body still hadn’t accumulated its Inner Energy fully.
If I forced the Cang Tian Ma Qi and tried to scale the wall, my meridians would tangle midway and I’d plummet.
As I stood with folded arms thinking, a good idea surfaced.
Before I became the Heavenly Demon, I hadn’t possessed supreme martial skill from the start.
In those pitiful early days.
Hadn’t I learned every kind of trick just to survive in the sewers?
‘If strength falls short, use tools.’
I surveyed the surroundings and spotted a ramshackle storage shed behind the Giru.
Through its half-open door lay discarded cart parts, broken wooden poles, rusted metal scraps, and thick rope scattered about.
“This should suffice.”
I rolled up my sleeves and set to work at once.
I snapped a piece of resilient wood to fashion a shaft, then twisted the iron fittings from the cart and honed them into sharp hooks.
After binding it all with tough rope and engaging the teeth mechanism, a compact Steel Crossbow—small enough to wear on the wrist and fire—was complete.
Click. I fastened the Steel Crossbow to my wrist and pulled the cord taut.
Despite its crude appearance, the solid tension that traveled through my fingertips was impressive.
“Good.”
I slipped out of the storage room and looked up at Giru once more.
I aimed the Steel Crossbow, then—whoosh!—pulled the trigger. The iron hook attached to the rope cut through the darkness and caught firmly on the railing.
A faint metallic scrape confirmed the hook was secure. I gripped the rope tightly.
I drew the Cang Tian Ma Qi coiled in my Dantian upward and sent it coursing through my legs.
Clenching my teeth, I scaled the steep wall.
Beyond the window frame, the affected laughter of courtesans and the bright plucking of zithers drifted out.
The hot breath of Bul Ya Seong steeped in hedonism. In contrast, the pale moonlight seeped into me.
At last, as I reached toward the top railing—
“Phew, the wind’s quite sharp up here. Standing at heights really does wear you out.”
“Damn these nouveau riche bastards—they’re down there feasting and drinking while we freeze.”
I glimpsed the murmuring escort warriors.
I scaled the railing without a sound, treading the newly mastered Shura Tian Feng Bu in absolute silence.
In the same breath, I drew the True Sword from my waist.
Shura Tian Feng Jian, Second Form: Feng Yan Guo He.
Screech!
A clear, serene blade-path cut through the darkness—as delicate as a swallow skimming water.
Then it twisted into a fierce, crimson whirlwind that swept across both their throats in one fluid motion.
“Gagh…!”
They tried to cry out, but their lips only trembled as if they’d gulped a fistful of dry sand.
Their windpipes had already been severed—no sound could escape.
Thud! I caught them as they toppled and laid them down without a sound.
Bright light leaked through cracks connecting to the inner room.
Men’s voices came through clearly—the clink and clatter of wine cups raised in celebration.
“At last, we become the true masters of a prestigious house!”
“Ha ha ha! Indeed! Who will dare insult us then? The victors write history, after all!”
Listening to the conversation that followed, their collusion with the Blood Sect and their betrayal of the Namgung Clan stood proven.
After confirming the room held only them, I stepped inside.
“The victors write history, you say… Can’t argue with that.”
The festive air of Giru froze instantly.
The laughter of three men cut short. Eyes wide, they spun about in panic.
Slowly—so slowly—I emerged from the deep shadow at the edge of the banquet table, where even moonlight could not reach.
“W-who are you? How dare you—do you know where you are!?”
A cold autumn wind swept across Giru’s rooftop, scattering my jet-black hair like scattered reeds.
My pale face. Above it, my eyes gleamed with a demonic brilliance so uncanny that no living creature could possess—a terror that poured forth like starlight from the abyss.
Slowly, I drew a Cigarette from my sleeve and brought it to my lips.
Snap! I took the Candle Stand from the table, lit it, and drew in—my hollow cheeks caved deep with the drag.
Purple smoke poured from my mouth, and a faint, blood-tinged smile curved my lips.
“In that history, there is no place for wretches like you.”
The Heavenly Demon, bearing the Cang Tian Ma Qi, had descended upon the beautiful night.
“Who? The very head of the Namgung Clan you sold to the Blood Sect.”
A murderous Killing Intent flooded the room. At those words, terror crystallized in their eyes.
“I-impossible! The head of Namgung is already dead!”
“Where did this scrawny brat crawl out of—how dare he claim to be the head of Namgung!”
One of them shook his finger in denial, then suddenly seemed to remember someone. His hand began to quiver.
“N-no… it can’t be… that sickly young master who wasn’t expected to live long…?”
“How could that invalid possibly have made it here?”
He went white as chalk and turned toward the door, his voice rising urgently.
“Someone out there—!”
“Hush.”
Whoosh. Purple wind coiled around my feet in an instant.
I closed the distance and sealed his lips with my hand.
With the other, my blade—sharp as frost—pierced his heart.
Thrup! A strike with no mercy, no hesitation. The nouveau riche’s eyes rolled back, and he crumpled.
Crash. Drip, drip.
Blood dripped from the blade I held at an angle. Quietly, I spoke to the two remaining wretches.
“Anyone else want to flap their mouth?”
“Hiii—!”
The suffocating Killing Intent that strangled the air, the gruesome carnage unfolding before their eyes.
The remaining lackeys’ legs buckled beneath them, and they collapsed hard onto their backsides.
“Spare us, please……!”
Their faces drained of all color, they prostrated themselves and begged for their lives.
“If you cooperate willingly, I’ll consider letting you live.”
“Anything, anything at all! We’ll tell you everything……!”
“I already know you bastards sold out the Namgung survivors. Where are the Blood Sect remnants hiding? Where’s their main base?”
At my interrogation, they exchanged nervous glances, their eyes darting frantically.
Then the wretched-looking one trembled and worked his lips.
“W-we did have contact with the Blood Sect, that much is true, but we only relayed messages in the middle—we don’t know their exact location……. I swear!”
“Is that so?”
I tilted my head slightly, looking down at him. His eyes wouldn’t stay still, darting away from mine.
“Then you’re useless to me.”
“Wh—? Gack!”
A flash of violet sword-light, and the neck of the protesting wretch was severed clean.
Splurt—! A torrent of hot blood erupted, drenching the last lackey’s face.
“Ah, aaagh!”
“Shut it.”
The shrieking man collapsed, and I pressed the sharp blade’s point to the nape of his neck.
“You going to say you don’t know either?”
“N-no! We facilitated their operations smoothly in Gangnam!”
“Where? Where are the captured Xingxiu and the Namgung bloodline?”
“O-outside Hangzhou! Deep in the Chilhuk Forest, there’s an abandoned old temple! That’s their stronghold, and all the captured Namgung people are locked in the underground dungeons there! I heard they’re keeping them alive because they need them as Sacrificial Offerings!”
Unprompted, he began spitting out words, desperate in his confession.
“We also know their next target! They said they’d capture the young master and his sisters too, once they return to the main residence on Cheonju Mountain…….”
I’d expected as much. Blood Sect—these bastards.
“I-I’ve confessed everything, told you where the captives are, so as you promised, release me now. I’ll never cross the Namgung again. Sob…….”
He prostrated himself abjectly, playing the role of the broken man begging for mercy, but my eyes—seasoned through countless trials—couldn’t be fooled.
The vile murderous intent to strike from behind once the immediate danger passed was transparent as glass.
“Fine, I won’t kill you.”
I seized the nape of his neck roughly and hauled him to his feet. Relief flickered across the lackey’s face.
I smiled coldly and wrapped my arm around his neck from behind. Then, in a low, chilled voice, I breathed hot breath against his ear.
“But I never promised to let you go unscathed, did I?”

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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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