The Heavenly Demon of the Blue Sky - Chapter 37
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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 Heaven Demon Swallow Sword, Episode 37
‘Insane, insane, insane……!’
Dang Soyeon squeezed her eyes shut, her lower lip bitten white with tension.
The crimson-marked daughter of Sacheon Dang—a woman who had never permitted another’s touch in all her years.
Yet here she clung, shamelessly draped across a stranger’s chest in the most undignified pose imaginable.
She wanted to bite through her own tongue from the sheer mortification of it.
‘But…….’
Clang!
The Namgung patriarch, Namgung Hyeok, fighting desperately to shield her with his life on the line.
The man who had seemed nothing but fragile was risking everything, and something in her chest tightened at the sight.
‘For me. He’s doing all this for me.’
She couldn’t allow an innocent to die for her sake.
Pushing aside the tangle of her feelings, she opened her eyes wide.
“Right side! Two of them!”
She spotted enemies closing in over his shoulder and called out their position.
At the same moment, she tightened her grip—the arms around her neck, the legs locked around her waist.
What shame had loosened, determination now bound close and seamless.
“You can free your supporting hand if you need to! I’ll hold tight enough—I won’t slip!”
In the same breath, she drew sharp projectiles of varying sizes from within his embrace.
‘I represent a great house too. I can’t simply accept protection without giving my own.’
The Secret Projectile Technique, Mother and Child Intertwined Projectiles.
Dang Soyeon’s wrist traced a graceful arc as she released the projectiles.
The moment the larger projectile carved through air and clashed against the enemy’s weapon with a sharp ring, deflecting away,
a smaller projectile, concealed in shadow, struck true—driving deep into the attacker’s thigh.
The child following the mother’s shadow, seizing opportunity in darkness.
A shrieking cry tore the air.
The projectile bore Sacheon Dang’s deadliest venom—Blood-Transforming Poison.
The flesh around the embedded dart swelled grotesquely in an instant, then burst with a sickening wet sound.
Thud-crash! Unable to pursue further, the enemy crumpled to the ground.
“Ho. Impressive.”
At Namgung Hyeok’s soft praise whispered near her ear, Dang Soyeon’s heart thundered in her chest.
“How’s that! I hate being dead weight as much as anyone else.”
“Good. Hold tight. An opening is forming.”
Namgung Hyeok raised his newly freed left hand high.
A sharp hiss—then a whipper-crack!
The Silver Heavenly Silkworm Thread shot from his gauntlet and caught firmly on a sturdy branch above.
“Hah!”
With a sharp pull, both their bodies rocketed skyward.
Soaring through the air like swimmers in an invisible tide, darting between trees, the Azure Sea High Moon in his right hand danced as it unleashed the techniques of the Azure Heaven Demon Swallow Sword.
Azure Heaven Demon Swallow Sword, Second Form: Demon Swallow Spiral Dance.
Purple wind erupted from the blade’s edge, spinning with vicious intensity.
Metallic shrieks—then a thunderous crash of impact!
Enemies scattered in all directions. In the next breath, he carved open a path through the gaps.
Azure Heaven Demon Swallow Sword, Third Form: Hidden Swallow Seizes Life.
Like a hidden swallow snatching prey in darkness—so swift, so subtle that eyes could scarcely follow—a thrust cut through the void with killing precision.
A dull puncture sound as the cyan blade pierced straight through an enemy’s forehead, leaving a clean hole.
Without pause, he fired the silkworm thread again, launching them deeper into the air.
‘What in the world…….’
As the landscape spun past and her body remained suspended in the void, Dang Soyeon, held close within his arms, felt as though she were dreaming.
Sword techniques unfolded while moving along threads through the air. She had never witnessed such a thing.
The billowing azure robe seemed like dragon’s wings—breathtakingly beautiful.
But that was only the beginning.
The way he read the enemies’ attack patterns before they landed and countered along the optimal trajectory.
Only someone seasoned by countless real battles could move with such sublime precision.
‘So this is the new Namgung patriarch…….’
Most of all—from that slender frame emanated such commanding presence.
She had known he was no ordinary man, but she had underestimated the extent of his power.
“Ha—hah…….”
And now their bodies pressed close as lovers might be. Her breath grew ragged without warning.
The scent of fresh leaves clung to her—clean, and utterly inescapable.
“We’re almost there. Hold tight.”
The dense undergrowth began to thin, and a flat stretch of land at the mountain’s foothill came into view.
“Master Namgung! Miss Dang!!”
At the same moment, torchlight flickered to life below the mountain foothill.
Jegal Un had sensed something amiss and brought the Jegal family’s elite warriors with him.
* * *
“Reinforcements. Good timing.”
I caught my breath and planted my feet on solid ground.
I set Dang Soyeon down behind a nearby boulder and prepared to counterattack.
The enemy numbered over a dozen, and now with the Jegal family’s elite on our side, victory seemed assured. But then—
Whoosh.
The men in black who had relentlessly pursued us moments before suddenly froze.
Without a word or signal—as if by prior agreement—they sheathed their blades in unison and fled without hesitation.
“What—”
My eyes widened as I watched them vanish.
‘!?’
The enemy whose brow I’d pierced with the Azure Heaven Demon Swallow Sword—
Another whose thigh had been torn open by Dang Soyeon’s attack—
Their wounds, which should have been fatal, were teeming with maggots, and yet they regenerated seamlessly before escaping.
‘Surely not.’
A chill ran through me as a memory from my past life surfaced. That was when—
“Master Namgung! Are you unharmed?”
Jegal Un came running up, breathless.
“We were ambushed by unknowns. See those fleeing? Over there?”
“This… this cannot be… This place—no one should be able to enter here…”
His protest wasn’t without merit. This was the Jegal family’s ancestral mountain, after all.
The entire peak was protected by a Formation Array, making it structurally impossible for unauthorized outsiders to penetrate.
“How many Successor Disciples remain in the mountain?”
“All except two, sir.”
Jegal Un’s face went white as parchment in an instant.
The Jegal family itself had organized this grand gathering called the Yongjong Gathering for the Orthodox Sects.
Yet the family’s most precious Successor Disciples now faced annihilation at the hands of unknown assailants.
The weight of responsibility could be crushing, and his usual composure crumbled.
“What… what am I to do… Such a calamity in our own family…”
His hand trembled visibly as he gripped his fan.
Grab.
I seized his shoulder and spoke quietly but firmly.
“Get your head straight. Self-reproach comes after the crisis is over.”
“Gasp…!”
“Right now, focus only on what you can do. Inform the elders at once and mobilize every available force. Now!”
My sharp command brought focus back to Jegal Un’s wavering eyes.
He drew a ragged breath, then bit his lip and nodded firmly.
“…Yes, I shall!”
He immediately turned to the men at his side and issued orders.
I tightened my grip on the Azure Sea High Moon and looked up toward the mountain.
‘Yuhwa is still somewhere in these peaks.’
There was no time to waste.
I was about to leap back up the mountain path when—
“Let us escort you to the physicians, Miss.”
“Drop it. I’m coming too.”
Dang Soyeon waved off their assistance and limped toward me.
She had torn a strip of cloth from her sleeve and bound her swollen ankle with it.
“On that foot? Where do you think you’re going?”
I frowned, but Dang Soyeon replied with defiance.
“Kindness repaid twofold, vengeance tenfold. That is the way of the Sacheon Dang family.”
She drew a fresh Secret Blade from her garments, her voice sharp with venom.
“I owe a debt of grudge to those enemies, and I owe you a debt of gratitude. I’ll settle both accounts before I’m done. If I’m in your way, leave me behind—I’ll catch up regardless.”
She had no intention of yielding.
“Hmm…”
I pictured the figures in black I’d seen moments before.
If she was the worthy daughter of the Sacheon Dang family, masters of poison, she might help me understand exactly who those strange creatures were.
“Tch. Do as you like. But I won’t stand for you creeping up behind me like a snail.”
I clicked my tongue in irritation and stepped toward Dang Soyeon.
Then I irritably yanked open the loosely wrapped bandage.
“Ow! What—what are you doing?!”
Without hesitation, I lifted her pale, slender foot onto my thigh.
“Are you insane?! What are you—don’t touch me like that!”
Dang Soyeon gasped and tried to pull her foot away, but my grip was far stronger.
“Keep quiet if you want to follow along.”
During my days in the Broken Heaven Demon Sect, hadn’t I learned the Medical Arts for the sake of survival?
I drew out three thin Long Acupuncture Needles I’d kept in reserve.
“It’ll sting. Don’t whine about it.”
Before she could respond, I found the Kunlun Acupoint on the outer side of her swollen ankle and the Jiexi Acupoint on the top of her foot, then drove the needles in with absolute precision.
“Ow!”
Dang Soyeon let out a short cry, but my hands did not stop.
I plunged the final needle deep into the Qiuxu Acupoint below her ankle bone, then rolled the needle tip lightly between my thumb and forefinger.
A low hum emanated from the needles.
Simultaneously, I pushed a stream of pure, refined Qi drawn up from my Dantian through the needle tips.
The process forcibly opened the pathways of Qi Blood that had been completely blocked by the impact of the sprain, and in an instant dissolved and dispersed the thick Stagnant Blood that had accumulated around her ankle.
“Huh…?”
Dang Soyeon’s pupils widened in shock.
As the warm, gentle energy transmitted through the needles enveloped her ankle, the swelling that had looked ready to burst began to deflate like magic, subsiding before her eyes.
The pallid, lifeless skin regained its color as Qi Blood circulated through it once more.
“How is it? Can you walk?”
I withdrew the needles and asked flatly. Dang Soyeon carefully rotated her ankle.
“It really… doesn’t hurt. It feels so much lighter than before….”
Her eyes were wide with astonishment. Then, as if the sensation of my touch still lingered on her foot, she flushed crimson again.
“I’m not going to thank you! After all, you’re the one who pushed me and got me hurt in the first place!”
She tried to grumble as before, but embarrassment seemed to have won out.
“What exactly can’t you do….”
“What?”
“Nothing!”
She hunched her head down and mumbled something I couldn’t hear properly.
“Hmm….”
Jegal Un, watching from the side, couldn’t hide his surprise either.
His eyes, visible beyond the fan, gleamed with a peculiar excitement that slowly unfurled.
“Such cool-headed judgment in finding an immediate solution, and Medical Arts born of concern for one’s comrades to boot…. Truly versatile!”
He swallowed audibly, then hastily covered his glistening lips.
“Why are you all staring?”
When I turned my gaze away, I caught sight of Dang Soyeon with her eyes fixed on her toes and face burning crimson, while Jegal Un regarded me with a sticky stare from behind his fan.
“Come on, you two. If you’re fine now, let’s move. We’re wasting time.”
This was no time for this. I quickened my pace into the forest once more, along with Dang Soyeon, Jegal Un, and the Jegal family warriors.
* * *
At that same moment, on a narrow path halfway up the mountain.
Hwangbo Gang walked at Yuhwa’s side as her escort, his heart brimming with anticipation.
Then it happened.
Whoosh!
The black-clad figures, radiating an eerie killing intent from the darkness, suddenly burst forth.
‘Enemies!’
My senses, honed sharp through years of training, reacted at once.
My body moved first, blocking the attackers’ assault with the Halberd Moon Blade and striking back.
Clang! Crash-bang!
The black-clad figures were grotesquely tenacious and powerful.
“What in the—!”
Even as their flesh was cut, they showed no regard and surged forward like beasts.
“Are you ghosts? Demons?!”
I shouted, but they revealed nothing—they came at me like emotionless puppets.
Despite fighting desperately, the overwhelming numbers began to turn the tide against me.
“Gahhh……!”
Hwangbo Gang’s massive frame began to give ground, step by step. He spun around and cried out desperately.
“Young lady! Flee at once! I’ll hold them off!”
It was true that he’d come bristling with caution—a woman warrior whose strength could pulverize stone, after all.
But upon closer examination, he’d discovered his mistake.
‘Whether she possesses such strength or not, it no longer matters to me.’
All he wished was to protect that warm smile she’d offered him.
“Come then! Your opponent is me!”
A faint smile bloomed at Hwangbo Gang’s lips, resigned to death.
That he could stand willing to give his life for a woman he’d fallen for at first sight—
Not a bad final act for a man, was it?
Screee-! The assassins’ icy fingernails finally seized the Halberd Moon Blade.
In the next instant, they plunged deep toward his exposed chest.
Hwangbo Gang squeezed his eyes shut, thinking this was the end. But then—
Flash! Yuhwa, whom he’d thought was fleeing, suddenly stepped before him and crossed two blades.
Azure Sky Flying Swallow Sword, Fourth Form: Flying Swallows in Tandem.
Clang!
Her slender frame barely turned aside the enemy’s crushing blow, and she was driven backward, crashing into Hwangbo Gang’s broad chest with a thud.
“Young lady! Why didn’t you run!”
At his shocked cry, Yuhwa tilted her head slightly to meet his gaze.
“Now I understand why you treated me so carefully before.”
“That is…….”
“Forgive me. I don’t possess the raw strength you imagined. But—”
She turned her blade firmly toward the assassins ahead and spoke quietly.
“My resolve to protect my companions stands unyielding.”
Before the assassins radiating killing intent darker than the murky night sky, Yuhwa’s clear eyes held not a shred of fear.
“So even a small spark, if it is hope, I will fight alongside it.”
Thump, thump, thump—!
At those steely words, Hwangbo Gang’s heart began to thunder wildly.
Because of his towering frame, he’d walked alone at the vanguard his whole life. He’d always pretended it didn’t matter, yet fear had often gripped him.
But Yuhwa understood that heart. A loyalty born of willingness to die together.
‘Ah…….’
In that moment, Yuhwa’s thin, delicate silhouette loomed before Hwangbo Gang’s eyes like Mount Taishan itself, towering and immense.
‘Namgung Hyeok was right! This too is a strength!’
Not merely the brute force visible to the eye, but an indomitable, unyielding strength of spirit that no trial could break.
How could there exist a woman who shone with such brilliance!
“Roooaarrr—!”
Consumed by passionate affection, Hwangbo Gang struck his chest thunderously.
Like a great mountain tiger who had fallen in love with a tender maiden.
He’d released the Halberd Moon Blade, but now he clenched both fists and unleashed his formidable power.
The Hwangbo family had been a renowned martial lineage that produced celebrated generals for generations.
To slay enemies from horseback and dominate the battlefield, they’d magnificently developed the great Halberd Moon Blade and martial prowess to match.
Yet the true wellspring of Hwangbo martial art lay not in polished weaponry.
In the midst of past chaos and war, shielding the oppressed masses behind his back, it was his two fists extended bare and rough, with nothing else.
The towering essence of the family’s martial legacy dwelt within those two fists, clenched firm in the desire to protect the weak.
That hidden strength awakened anew for the sake of the woman he cherished.
“You have taught me, young lady! That true strength dwells in the heart!”
Crack, crunch!
As Hwangbo Gang seized both fists with crushing force, his muscles exploded outward, pressing the surrounding air down with terrible weight.
“I, Hwangbo Gang, swear I shall protect you!”
Thoooom—!
His massive body drove hard against the earth and launched forward.
Simultaneously, a colossal mountain’s form overlaid his clenched fists, releasing a terrifying wind pressure.
Hwangbo family Secret Transmission: Taishan Giant Fist.
Kuuuwaaam—!!
His tremendous fists tore through the air and crashed down mercilessly upon the assassins.
Dust erupted from all sides like a tidal wave, and the black-clad figures, swept up in the bone-crushing fist wind, scattered like autumn leaves in every direction.
There was no cutting edge to pierce through defenses.
But in that moment, a single Taishan—vaster and more steadfast than any legendary blade—stood revealed in perfect majesty.
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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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