The Heavenly Demon of the Blue Sky - Chapter 34

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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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Azure Sky Demon’s Eye: Episode 34
[What is the most fearsome hidden weapon in the world—that cannot be severed by sword, nor shattered by palm force, that rusts steel and erodes even majestic Mount Tai, and compels even the mightiest heroes of all lands to kneel? What is it?]
I turned over Jegal Yun’s riddle in my mind, then spoke the answer as if to prove something.
“Time. Or more precisely, the passage of years.”
At my offhand reply, Jegal Yun’s eyes—which had been narrow as threads—slowly widened.
Now, genuine astonishment gathered in his dark gaze.
“Before the flow of years, all things return to dust and fade into oblivion. What rusts steel and erodes mountains but the passage of countless epochs?”
Even I, once called supreme under heaven, was but dust before death.
Speaking of what I learned only after tasting death, the young contestants around me drew in their breath with visible awe.
“Indeed! They say time defeats all!”
“Extraordinary! I never imagined the riddle could be solved in such a way!”
“The young lord of the Namgung Clan has grasped a profound truth.”
“To find the answer alone among a gathering of geniuses!”
The eyes fixed upon me shifted—whether to admiration or suspicion, I could not say.
“I am deeply impressed.”
Jegal Yun stepped forward.
“Your answer is precisely correct. The true answer is time—the passage of years. What remarkable wisdom. I have never seen another solve this riddle on the first attempt.”
He then offered me a long wooden box.
“A prize we have prepared for you.”
Click.
As the box opened, a soft aroma of ink emerged, and a brush—carefully crafted from smooth purple bamboo—revealed itself in noble elegance.
“When writing, it clears the mind of distracting thoughts and opens the vital channels with clarity.”
“A brush…”
In my past life, I had held a sword and commanded all under heaven. A brush? Truly, an ill-fitting toy. Though, well, it is a gift after all.
“I accept it gratefully.”
As I took the wooden box with an indifferent hand, Jegal Yun’s expression grew meaningful, and he spoke quietly.
“I look forward to witnessing what bold and unhindered path you will trace forward.”
“Well, it’s best you don’t linger near my brushwork. Whether it’s ink or blood, it will scatter roughly.”
His constant attempts to gauge me left a bitter taste.
It was not that he thought ill of me, but rather this sense of me being placed upon his palm, to be tested.
At my curt reply, Jegal Yun burst into open laughter.
“Hahaha! What a refreshing answer, truly worthy of one called Azure Sky!”
Then he narrowed his eyes once more and began to pose another riddle.
“This is not yet finished. I wonder if you can solve this one as well.”
“Why do you keep making this tedious? I have no real interest.”
“Do the other participants also wish to stop?”
At Jegal Yun’s question, those around us urged him to pose the new riddle.
It seemed their disappointment at missing the last one ran deep.
They wished to demonstrate their wit and earn renown this time.
“So many desire to continue. Perhaps the lord of the Namgung Clan fears this riddle may prove too difficult? Have you taken fright?”
He was deliberately cultivating favorable momentum and needling my pride.
“Fright? What is this riddle of the Jegal Clan, that I should fear it?”
“Then take the challenge. This time, the prize is equally fine.”
And this time, he said, it would require not only wit but physical action.
‘Testing my capabilities, are we?’
The atmosphere in the hall grew charged once more at his words.
“Somewhere in this vast Inner Garden, I have hidden a Jade Pendant—one exchangeable for a treasure of the Jegal Clan. I shall now give you the clue to its location.”
He continued in a melodious voice, as if reciting a poem.
“A fragile mirror vast enough to embrace all the sky entire, yet trembling in terror at even a single small pebble. There I have hidden the Jade Pendant.”
……!
As the clue was given, the eyes of the contestants began to roll busily.
“A mirror broken by pebbles?”
“Does it refer to a bronze mirror within the pavilion?”
“No! If it embraces all the sky, then surely it means the roof peak or the highest branches of a tree!”
Each contestant trumpeted their own deductions.
Some impatient men were already rummaging through the mirrors in the Banquet Hall or leaping onto the tiled roofs.
Watching their frantic commotion, I let out a soft chuckle.
Just then, I felt a hand tugging insistently at my sleeve.
“Hyuk! Just now you were the best! I’m so proud of you!”
It was Yu Hwa, gazing at me with an animated face and eyes full of admiration.
“Did you figure out the answer this time? A mirror that holds the sky—where on earth could it be?”
Her eyes gleamed with anticipation. I answered leisurely, hands clasped behind my back.
“I haven’t the faintest idea. Why don’t you find it yourself?”
“Ugh, you won’t tell me? Fine, I’ll find it no matter what!”
Yu Hwa, brimming with determination, grabbed her hem and began searching every corner of the Inner Garden.
I watched her bustling silhouette with idle amusement—peering into crevices between rocks, rummaging through flower beds.
Observing the righteous sect’s bungling efforts made for rather pleasant entertainment.
Before long, Yu Hwa trudged back with a dejected expression.
“Sigh, I can’t figure it out…….”
Her delicate hands were caked with dirt.
I laughed at the sight of her slumped shoulders.
“You’ve worked hard. Scurrying about like that—did you search everywhere?”
“Ugh! And you—did you find the answer?”
“Of course. It came to me the moment I heard it.”
“What? How infuriating! Why didn’t you tell me from the start instead of letting me suffer?”
“Because it was fun.”
“Argh! You’re truly wicked!”
Yu Hwa was brushing the dirt from her hands and pouting when a voice cut through—sharp and bitter.
“My, getting rather full of yourself over solving one riddle. Your head’s practically touching the clouds.”
The voice came from somewhere nearby, cold and cutting.
I turned to see Dang So Yeon standing with arms crossed, her gaze fixed on me like a blade.
“If you’d truly known from the start, you’d have found the Jade Pendant already. Anyone can spout pretty words—even a dog passing by could do as much.”
This sharp-tongued girl was spoiling for a fight again.
I drew near enough that Yu Hwa wouldn’t hear and whispered.
“Do you like me?”
“W-what!?”
“Why do you keep provoking me?”
“M-madness!”
“For your information, you’re not my type.”
I let my gaze drift slowly downward.
“I prefer women with larger breasts.”
I smirked and walked toward the center of the Inner Garden.
“You!!!!”
Dang So Yeon’s face flushed crimson as she shrieked, but I let her words pass in one ear and out the other.
Turning my attention toward the Pond, I spotted two massive men digging furiously at the ground.
“Brother, the soil here is oddly damp—the Jade Pendant must be buried beneath!”
“Quite right! Let’s dig deeper!”
How absurd.
I’d heard they were the heirs of the Hwangbo Clan and the Sandong Ak Clan.
A moment ago they were staring at me intently, yet now they were absorbed in their own business.
“You two there.”
“Huh? You’re from the Namgung? We claimed this spot first…….”
“I’m just borrowing your shoulders.”
Bang! Before they could finish protesting, I used their shoulders as stepping stones and launched myself upward with clean precision.
“Oof!”
I then discharged the Hidden Projectile Technique, driving the barbed tip into the branch of a willow tree.
Whoosh! Using the Heavenly Silk Thread’s tension, I propelled myself higher still.
At the apex, I arched my body as though falling backward, rotating gracefully in a full turn.
I then descended lightly onto the small wooden boat floating alone in the center of the Pond.
Splash-!
Only a gentle ripple disturbed the surface—a flawless landing without a tremor.
Few would possess the skill to even approach such a location.
Yet I landed as deliberately as if I’d known the answer all along.
“Wow, what incredible Lightness Skill! I’ve never seen the like!”
“Why would the Namgung clan’s lord ascend to such a small boat?”
“Could it be… that the answer lies there?”
As every eye—including Jegal Yun’s—focused upon me,
I lifted the blue Jade Pendant resting alone at the bottom of the boat.
“A mirror so vast it embraces the entire sky, yet trembling with fear at a single pebble’s touch—fragile and full of dread.”
Then I held it high for all to see clearly.
“It is the Pond.”
Standing with the crimson sunset at his back, holding aloft a jade pendant that gleamed green.
In that same moment, a wave of awed gasps erupted from the participants.
“Ah…… so the mirror was meant to represent the water’s surface!”
“Truly, holding the heavens in one’s heart while trembling before a single pebble!”
“Good heavens, the Namgung Clan’s lord has solved it correctly once more…….”
Disappointment and jealousy, or perhaps admiration.
The participants fixed their complex gazes upon me.
“But did you see that Lightness Skill just now?”
“The way he flew upward, cutting through that crimson sunset—it was no ordinary display.”
“Indeed, he landed upon the water and scarcely a ripple formed.”
“Yet I heard the Namgung fell to ruin, and most of their secret techniques were lost…….”
Those who had trained in martial arts carried genuine admiration in their tones.
They were clearly astonished that someone as outwardly sickly as myself possessed such skill.
‘These orthodox school fledglings—what do they understand? The path I’ve walked is different from theirs.’
Curling one corner of my mouth into a slight smile, I called out to the two men standing by the riverbank.
“You there—catch me, will you?”
I launched myself into the air again, lighter than before.
This time I had no place to set down the Heavenly Silk Thread, making it precarious.
“Oof!”
Two burly men instinctively threw out their arms and caught me.
“Much obliged. What are your names?”
“Hwangbo Gang and Ak Jin, sir.”
“I’m Namgung Hyuk. Did you take offense at my landing on you?”
“Well, it was a bit of a surprise, certainly. But we got a fine show out of it, so all’s well.”
The two men wore hearty expressions as they brushed dirt from their shoulders.
There was something manly about them that pleased me somewhat.
As I let a small smile play at my lips and looked around, I found that participants had already begun gathering near us.
“Um, we…… we’d like to greet you as well…….”
Having witnessed something extraordinary, they now wished to approach and speak with me.

* * *
At that very moment.
Jegal Yun’s eyes, which had been observing the commotion in the garden, widened.
The feathers of the White Feather Fan he held in his slender fingers trembled slightly.
‘When we first met, I never imagined he would reach this point.’
Had he not been a delicate youth, so sickly that a mere breeze might carry him away?
How had such a frail form managed to raise the fallen Namgung Clan and cut down the elders of the Blood Cult?
His achievements were remarkable, yet his fragile beauty stirred a protective instinct that weighed upon my mind.
It seemed as though he might shatter at any moment if not carefully tended.
But the instant our eyes met directly, my breath caught.
There dwelt in those eyes a dense, profound arrogance—as though he regarded all of mankind as nothing beneath his gaze.
A depth of experience that common mortals could scarcely fathom.
It was no mere pretense, but rather a strength and composure that transcended all others.
‘In all my years, I have not encountered one of his kind. Truly remarkable.’
Jegal Yun was renowned for his discerning eye when judging people.
Though he had encountered talents from countless sects, not a single one had ever satisfied his standards.
Yet this young lord of the Namgung Clan alone held his gaze captive.
What made him exceptional extended far beyond mere appearance and presence.
‘This…… completely surpassed my expectations.’
Even I, called a genius, required time for contemplation to solve these riddles.
Yet the Namgung Clan’s lord, Namgung Hyuk, pierced through the first riddle—the principle of Time itself—in a single breath, as though he were an ancient sage who had weathered every storm of the world and glimpsed the impermanence of life and death.
‘It is not merely wisdom.’
The second answer I had hidden in the heart of the Pond, difficult to reach.
Even if one somehow divined the answer, there was no avoiding getting wet.
Yet the Namgung Clan’s lord displayed his ingenuity, soaring through the air itself.
He landed upon a small wooden boat without disturbing the water’s surface, then grasped the jade pendant. And more than that—
“Did you take offense at my landing on you?”
“Well, it was a bit of a surprise, certainly. But we got a fine show out of it, so all’s well.”
He greeted them with that characteristic bluntness, yet without a trace of pretense.
In his wake, the arrogant post-candidates instinctively gathered to exchange greetings.
‘No pretense, no embellishment—just pure, honest authenticity drawing people in.’
A different breed entirely from those blowhard martial artists who thrived on bombast.
A thrilling chill raced down Jegal Yun’s spine.
‘Countless masters prowl the martial world, content to bask in their own brilliance—but precious few possess the gift of drawing hearts to them, of making people gather at their side unbidden. This tells me the Namgung patriarch possesses the makings of a true lord.’
Thump-thump. Thump-thump—! His heart began to race as though possessed.
Never in his life had a peer of his own generation stirred him this profoundly.
‘And yet…… wisdom and martial prowess and personal magnetism alone do not guarantee the pinnacle of the realm.’
Jegal Yun settled the White Feather Fan across the bridge of his nose, his gaze sharpening to a dangerous edge.
‘A true talent destined for greatness must possess courage vast enough that even the collapse of heaven would give him no pause.’
Above the fan, his eyes glittered with the keen, relentless intensity of a lynx judging its prey.
‘Which is why one final trial yet awaits you, Namgung patriarch.’
To all outward appearance, the Jegal Clan’s young master was the very embodiment of rationality and cold precision.
Yet buried deep within his bones lived an ardent admiration for the legendary Zhuge Kongming of ages past.
One day, to meet a sovereign as noble as that one—to pour all his strategy into their service and command the realm together—this was the dream that sustained his whole life.
Until now, not a single talent had ever impressed him.
They were all either dull-witted or swollen with false pride, each one a disappointment.
But at last, he had found it: a flawless gem glittering before his very eyes.
‘If this final trial proves worthy of me……’
Was this the very heart Zhuge Kongming had carried when he emerged to serve his lord so long ago?
‘Should you pass, I would be honored—truly honored—to grant you this singular privilege: that I, Jegal Yun, should visit your humble dwelling three times over to seek your service.’
Jegal Yun’s gaze fastened itself to the Namgung patriarch’s back like a leech.

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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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