The Heavenly Demon of the Blue Sky - Chapter 36

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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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Changcheon Cheondae Demon, Episode 36
Deep darkness settled over the Rear Mountain of the Jegal Clan.
A man and woman walked the eerie mountain path together.
Leading the way was Yu Hwa, whose beauty was beyond question.
Following behind was Hwangbo Gang, a towering figure who could intimidate even a bear.
At first glance, he appeared to be a reliable warrior escorting a lady, but Hwangbo Gang was tenser than ever, his lips pressed thin with anxiety.
The words spoken by the Namgung clan master still echoed in his mind.
[My sister may look delicate enough on the surface, but inside she possesses terrifying strength. She is a ruthless woman without mercy in her hands—so be mindful not to fall into her disfavor, I warn you.]
He took the warning as absolute truth, never suspecting it was meant as a jest.
Then it happened.
“Oh my!”
Yu Hwa stumbled badly, her foot catching on a stone in the path ahead.
“Careful! Are you hurt?”
Hwangbo Gang instinctively reached out to steady her.
Losing her balance, Yu Hwa grabbed a thick wooden trunk beside her to catch herself. Crack-crack!!
The rotted old tree crumbled into pieces the instant her hand touched it, collapsing with a terrible sound.
“Phew, that was close.”
Still managing to regain her footing, she brushed the wood chips from her hands with a carefree laugh.
“Were you trying to help me just now, Hwangbo? Thank you.”
It was a gesture of pure gratitude.
But Hwangbo Gang felt a chill run down his spine.
‘In—insane…! She broke that massive trunk in half with just a light touch?’
Without even channeling her Internal Force!?
She had snapped the great tree like a matchstick using nothing but sheer Grip Strength.
If he had carelessly extended his arm to support her just now—
‘My arm would have been crushed just as horribly as that branch……!’
He hastily withdrew both arms and pressed them against his sides.
‘I must never act carelessly around this woman……!’
He misinterpreted the situation entirely and answered with the sharp formality of a soldier snapping to attention.
“No, no! I was presumptuous even to attempt it, my lady!”
“What? Oh, I see…”
“Going forward, there will be no need for my meager assistance whatsoever—I shall merely follow at three paces’ distance, like your shadow! If even my breathing should offend you, please do not hesitate to say so!”
“No, not your breathing too… Just be at ease.”
Yu Hwa scratched her cheek in confusion. Had she done something wrong?
It troubled her to see such a towering man sweating profusely and being so formal with her.
‘Still…’
Despite his oddness, he didn’t seem to be a bad sort.
Large as he was, with a face like stone, he inspired a certain confidence.
“Shall we continue?”
She smiled, showing her white teeth, and in that moment the eerie mountain path seemed to brighten, as if the thick darkness itself retreated.
Thump-thump!
At the same time, Hwangbo Gang’s heart began to race as though something had broken inside it.
What did it matter that she possessed such monstrous strength?
When she smiled with such genuine innocence—
‘If heavenly immortals exist, surely they must wear a face just like hers……!’
In that instant, the first tender shoots of unexpected emotion began to unfold in the simple, bear-like man’s heart.

* * *
Meanwhile, another pair climbed the mountain path, the air between them tense and hostile.
“How on earth did I end up paired with you!?”
Dang So-yeon’s complaint flew forth, accompanied by the sharp sound of her kicking at the dirt.
Je-gal Woon, beyond exasperation, replied curtly without even turning around.
“Did I alone draw lots? If you’re unhappy, curse your own fingers instead.”
“You—you wretched, unlucky bastard!”
“Keep up then. Let’s finish this quickly.”
He let her grumbling pass through one ear and deliberately quickened his pace.
The Rear Mountain, known as Bokryong Mountain, belonged to the Jegal Clan and was unusually dense with trees.
Especially on a night like this, shrouded in dark clouds, one could scarcely see even a hand’s breadth ahead.
The cold mountain wind cut through the air, lending the path a properly eerie atmosphere.
After walking some distance, that moment arrived.
Whump-whump! Hoot, hoot!
A massive bird suddenly swooped down through the branches overhead. An owl.
“Yelp!!”
Dang So-yeon, who had been coiled tight as a spring, startled violently and her shoulders jerked.
She stumbled hard with a thunderous step.
“Come, come with me……!”
The sharp, argumentative edge that had been in her voice moments before vanished entirely.
On the verge of tears, she could only reach for me in desperation.
I stopped in my tracks and let out a quiet laugh, turning to look back.
The sight of her terrified was rather amusing.
“The poison expert of Sacheon Dang—renowned for commanding lethal toxins and hidden weapons as if they were her own limbs—frightened out of her wits by a single owl’s cry? You’re quite the coward.”
I narrowed my eyes, taunting her.
Dang So-yeon’s face flushed a vivid crimson.
“No, that’s not—! Who’s a coward?! I just tripped over a rock, that’s all!”
“Is that so?”
I let my gaze drift downward.
“If you weren’t afraid, why are you gripping my robe like that?”
“……Huh?”
Despite her protests, her slender hands had unknowingly wound themselves around the hem of my coat as though it were a lifeline.
“This is……!”
Even in the darkness, her ears burned crimson, bright enough to see clearly.
Dang So-yeon yanked her hands away from my collar.
“This is—well, it’s because you stopped so suddenly without warning, and I was just reflexively grabbing so I wouldn’t crash into you!”
“Ah, is that right? Yet your knuckles went white from gripping so hard.”
“Sh, shut up! Don’t get the wrong idea! If you’re going to lead, then just walk!”
We bickered like that as we climbed the dark mountain path.
Before long, we reached a desolate temple at the summit.
The entrance was lined with statues carved to look like human figures,
and on the altar inside sat the rabbit-shaped statue Je-gal Woon had mentioned.
“Here it is.”
I strode over and peeled away the talisman affixed to the statue’s forehead.
“Misfortune Transforms to Fortune,” it read.
Characters carved deep with the meaning that calamity becomes blessing instead.
In many ways, fitting words for where I find myself today. I tucked the talisman into my robe.
“Task complete. We descend.”
“Hmph! The Jegal Clan’s courage trial isn’t much to speak of. Rather childish, wouldn’t you say?”
Only now, reassured, did Dang So-yeon find her voice and speak boldly.
But that was precisely when it happened.
Screeeeech!
Ghosts in white robes abruptly emerged from the brush below us.
Upon closer inspection, they had merely hung white skirt fabric on the trees to create the illusion.
Yet after the owl’s cry had startled her so badly, rational judgment was the last thing Dang So-yeon was capable of.
“Kyaaaaaaah!!”
She’d let her guard down, thinking the ordeal was finished, and received the full shock of this second fright.
She shrieked as though the heavens themselves were splitting, turned ashen-faced, and leaped straight up.
Then, driven by pure survival instinct, she threw herself at the nearest living thing—me.
Thud.
Caught off guard, I spread my arms and caught her like a princess.
She was so light it felt like embracing feathers.
“……?”
That was when, from her violent upward lurch, the knot of the pure white face cloth covering half her face came undone with a soft whisper, fluttering to the ground.
Her bare face, with only those keen, piercing eyes, was laid bare beneath the thin moonlight that broke momentarily through the clouds.
Rather than the daughter of a dark, poison-wielding household, she possessed an extraordinarily refined, elegant beauty—delicate features with clean, graceful lines.
“What is this. You look like this?”
I gazed down at Dang So-yeon’s face intently.
“Your face is quite decent, actually.”
“……!!!”
As our eyes met at such close distance, her pale cheeks flushed a deep crimson in an instant.
“Th, this—let go! What are you doing holding me like this, you lunatic……!”
“You grabbed me first, remember? Don’t blame me.”
“I wasn’t being held—I just slipped because I was startled, that’s all!”
She protested vehemently, her face flushing so red it looked ready to burst.
Feeling playful, I didn’t set her down and teased her instead.
“Don’t tell me you’ve never been held by a man before.”
“Wh-what?! Sh-shut your mouth!”
The arrow had found its mark; her eyes darted wildly, unable to focus.
“Why does it have to be you of all people?!”
Her words were harsh, but she couldn’t bring herself to meet my gaze.
“Come on, put me down already!”
“Should I? The ghost still has hold of your ankle.”
“Kyaaah! Don’t—don’t let go!”
I kept at it for a good while longer.
Finally, shame overwhelmed Dang So-yeon; tears pricked her eyes as she pummeled my chest with her fists.
“You rotten bastard! If you breathe a word of this to anyone, I swear I’ll poison you and watch you die!”
She scrambled to retrieve the face cloth from the ground and hurried down the mountain path ahead of me.
I followed behind her with a quiet laugh. Then, all at once—
‘…!’
Screech-screech! Every hair on my body stood on end.
It wasn’t the whisper of wind, nor the drone of insects, nor the cry of a beast.
A grotesque sound, like fingernails scraping across metal.
Boom!!
Before the thought could finish forming, the brush on all sides exploded outward.
A flood of dark-clad figures poured down like a swarm consuming the sky.
‘…!’
Their claws sharpened and raised, they aimed straight for Dang So-yeon’s throat.
“Move!”
Thwap! I pushed off the ground and lunged forward, shoving her shoulder roughly out of the way.
“Kyaaah!”
Dang So-yeon screamed and tumbled across the dirt.
In the same instant, I drew the Cheonghai Gowol from my back.
Ching-ching-clang!!
Second form of the Heavenly Asura Wind Sword—the Pung Yeon Gwa Ha.
I spun, targeting the necks of the attackers swarming in from all sides. But then—
Clang-clang-crash! Impossibly, they stopped every stroke of my blade with their bare hands.
“Who are you?!”
I increased the distance between us, studying them carefully.
The dozen or so dark-clad figures were eerily silent.
Not even their breathing could be heard; they gave off no human presence whatsoever.
More than that, their faces were stained dark as if they’d swallowed the surrounding shadows.
Eyes, nose, mouth—all indistinguishable save for the crimson glow of their pupils.
Most troubling of all, they showed no signs of fatigue, radiating formidable Internal Force.
‘At my current level, this won’t work.’
Quick assessment was always better.
The pride I’d carried as a Cheondae Demon in the past? I’d long since discarded such petty arrogance and died with those fools who clung to it.
How many had I seen lose their heads before the strong, foolishly standing on principle when they had no ground to stand on?
I, by contrast, had crawled through mud and filth however necessary to survive, and I’d clawed my way to rule the peak of the Ten Thousand Great Mountains.
Survival alone was the true victory.
“We’re leaving this place. Come on.”
I shouted to Dang So-yeon, my blade held at an angle.
But the face I saw was colored with despair.
She’d mistepped; she clutched her ankle and whimpered in pain.
“I don’t need your help! Just go and leave me behind!”
“What?”
“Leave! If you get dragged down because of me, I’ll curse you even in death! Why would I want that? I’d rather fight here to the end, on my own terms, and die!”
Dang So-yeon’s trembling hands drew a Bidao from her sleeve.
“Fine, do as you wish. If you want to die as a meat shield, be my guest.”
I clicked my tongue and was about to turn away when it struck me.
Dang So-yeon was hurt because of me.
I’d shoved her too roughly trying to get her out of the way of the ambush.
If I left now and lived, nothing about it would sit right with me.
Even something hateful can become an attachment, and being left alone like this seemed pitiful somehow.
“Tsk!”
He exhaled a deep, irritated sigh and stamped the ground beneath his feet.
In that moment, the figures in black raised their nails, reaching for Dang So-yeon’s throat.
One Bidao wasn’t enough to block them all. And her twisted ankle made evasion impossible.
A critical moment. Whistle—!
With a sharp cutting sound, silver Cheonchams Thread wrapped around the legs of the black-clad figures.
Using the pull and rebound simultaneously, he drove forward with fierce speed.
Shwoosh—!
He unleashed the Changcheon Ma Yeon Sword, tearing violently through the enemies’ formation.
“Why did you come back…….”
Dang So-yeon’s trembling voice reached him, and he replied without hesitation.
“If you died like this, you’d surely resent me. Why would I allow that?”
He turned her own words back on her as he slipped his arm under her armpit.
Then he had her settle into his embrace, wrapping both her arms around his neck.
Carrying her on his back would expose her to direct attack, so he held her facing forward instead.
Their chests pressed together, and her legs wrapped around his waist.
“What—what are you doing!”
“The enemies are coming again. Would you prefer I carry you like some princess?”
With his other arm, he cradled the gap between her hips and the back of her thighs.
In an instant, they were locked together like lovers intertwined as one.
“Ah! No, no—you’re insane! Let go!”
Dang So-yeon gasped despite herself, her back going rigid.
But he had only one thought: breaking through this chaos and pressing forward.
With one arm he held her tight, securing her body firmly, while his free hand raised the Cheonghai Gowol at a slant.
And close to her flushed ear, he spoke quietly but clearly:
“Stay quiet like the dead weight you are. You’re only getting in the way. Understood?”

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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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