The Heavenly Demon of the Blue Sky - Chapter 39

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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 Sovereign, Episode 39
The Blood Cult had resurrected the Corpse Demon Technique, and once again a tide of blood was beginning to sweep across the land.
The question was how they had smuggled the creatures into the Jegal Family Estate’s Sacred Ancestral Ground.
Je Gal Un, the Small Family Master, continued in a bitter voice.
“Those statues here were sent by the Jinjueon Family. We have been close allies for generations, so why would they commit such a horrific act……?”
The Jinjueon Family was an ancient house of the Righteous Faction and had attended this gathering as well.
“The reason? It’s rattling around in those bastards’ skulls. That’s not what matters. What matters is that a suspect is still here among us. We need to move fast. There’s no time to waste.”
Slash—! I drew my blade and smashed the heads of the statues guarding the entrance.
Whereas ordinary Corpse Demons had Talismans affixed to their foreheads to animate them, these creatures bore small grooves in the back of the skull instead.
They had hidden the placement of the Talismans to evade the Jegal Family’s notice.
‘That’s why they could still move even after holes were pierced in their foreheads.’
Now that they had hardened once more, they were not difficult to deal with.
Crack! Splinter! As the brittle outer layer shattered, putrefied bone shards and pallid flesh cascaded from within.
“Ugh……!”
Dang So Yeon turned away, retching again, and Je Gal Un likewise covered his nose with his sleeve at the gruesome sight.
The rest of the company also turned their heads and knit their brows.
I gestured with my chin toward one of the remaining intact statues.
“Take that one as evidence—just in case. And have the Young Master of the Seomun Clan’s body collected as well.”
“It shall be done.”
Je Gal Un issued the order to the Jegal Family’s warriors who had hastily followed him up.
After collecting the bodies and the Corpse Demons, we rushed down the mountain toward the Guesthouse.
Bang—! I thrust open the tightly closed door with force.
The eyes of the weary Junior Family Heads waiting inside snapped toward us in unison.
“H-have you finally caught the culprit?”
At someone’s cry, Je Gal Un issued a command in a voice turned cold and hard.
“Seize the Young Master of the Jinjueon Family.”
“As you command!”
The elite warriors of the Jegal Family roughly seized the arms of a gaunt man who had been keeping watch in a corner of the Guesthouse.
It was Eon Tae Gyeong, the heir of the Jinjueon Family.
“W-what is the meaning of this! Why do you restrain me?”
The man thrashed, his knees forced to the ground.
The other Junior Family Heads began murmuring, baffled by the turn of events.
I walked slowly toward him and spoke in a low voice.
“The Jegal and Jinjueon families have been close allies for generations, I’m told. So you would have known in advance that this gathering’s final test of nerve would take place at the Rear Mountain Shrine.”
“W-what are you saying……!”
“That’s why you joined hands with the Blood Cult to create Corpse Demons, disguised them as statues, gifted them to the Jegal Family, and hid them in the shrine. Isn’t that right?”
The word Corpse Demon made the air in the hall freeze.
“Of course there were no signs of external intrusion. The instruments of murder were always coiled deep within the Jegal Family’s formation—the innermost sanctuary.”
I reconstructed what followed.
“And you awakened the Corpse Demons during the test of nerve. Even paired two-by-two, affixing and removing a Talisman is easily accomplished if the opportunity presents itself.”
The pitch darkness would have made it simple to seize the moment unnoticed.
“After that, the Corpse Demons targeted my sister and me for death first. Was there an order from the Blood Cult to eliminate us—we who announced the Namgoong Family’s return?”
Dang So Yeon and Hwang Bo Gang beside me had merely been caught in the crossfire.
“But when they failed, the Corpse Demons withdrew in perfect discipline and hastily murdered the Young Master of the Seomun Clan. Why?”
At my interrogation, Eon Tae Gyeong’s pupils trembled violently.
But soon he clenched his teeth hard and raged as though wronged.
“Corpse Demons? What sort of nonsense is that! I know nothing of it! You, Small Master of the Jegal Family, and the Young Master of Namgoong—you’ve gone mad and are seizing an innocent man!”
A shameless face, clinging to denial to the end.
I hadn’t expected him to confess willingly anyway.
“You know nothing, you say?”
I thrust my hand into his garments and searched. My fingers caught on something stiff and papery.
“Then what is this?”
What I withdrew was a Talisman inscribed with bizarre characters in crimson cinnabar.
“After murdering the Young Master of the Seomun Clan, you hastily retrieved this to destroy the evidence, didn’t you?”
But that was not all.
A faint smell of Lightning Bomb powder clung to his person.
Eon Tae Gyeong’s face drained of all color in an instant.
“Th-this is……!”
He stumbled over his words in panic, then began to fabricate an excuse.
“It is merely a Protective Talisman I kept to heighten my fortune! I bought it at great expense from a Daoist said to be miraculous!”
“A Protective Talisman?”
I brought the yellowed charm close to my nose and inhaled. A sickening stench of blood wafted up.
“A talisman mixed with chicken blood and cinnabar. This isn’t meant to protect the living—it’s used to trap the dead in this world and control them.”
“……!”
“You’ve been carrying something this sinister just because of a little luck? Your fortune must be remarkably wretched.”
I smiled coldly, fixing Eon Tae Gyeong with a penetrating stare.
“Especially since it fell into my hands.”
I finished the interrogation and turned away without hesitation. Then I clapped my hands.
Boom! At the same moment, the door swung open and Hwang Bo Gang set down the statue he’d been carrying, exhaling hot breath.
It was so heavy that three grown men would struggle—yet he’d managed it alone.
While everyone’s attention was fixed on him, I walked slowly toward the statue.
“W-what are you doing……!”
“Testing your luck.”
Crack!
Before Eon Tae Gyeong could even cry out and stop me, I thrust the talisman into the groove at the back of the statue’s head.
That was the moment.
With a grotesque vibration, spiderweb-thin cracks began spreading across the surface of the earthen statue.
Soon the outer shell crumbled away, and from within emerged the true form of a Corpse Demon—hideously decomposed, reeking of putrid stench. Gee-gee-geek…….
“Grrrrr…….”
The Corpse Demon’s eyes snapped open with a grotesque grinding sound.
It caught the scent of the living and extended its hideous claws to full length.
“Aaaaaah! I-it’s a Corpse Demon! A real Corpse Demon appeared!”
The guesthouse erupted into screams and chaos.
In the midst of the pandemonium, I alone remained composed. I drew my blade.
‘The Corpse Demon’s only weakness is its head where the talisman is attached.’
Before, I’d lacked the information to dispatch it properly. Now things were different.
I rushed forward to meet the charging Corpse Demon, claws raised.
Asura Heaven Wind Sword—Ultimate Secret: Fang Burst.
Whoosh! Purple wind coalesced around my powerfully swung blade.
It took the shape of a fanged beast and swallowed the Corpse Demon’s head whole.
Crack! With the sound of shattering bone, the headless Corpse Demon collapsed to the floor, spraying putrid blood.
“U-ugh! I-insane……!”
The young ones stood frozen, mouths agape at what had just transpired.
The wind from my assault against the Corpse Demon swept across the floor, knocking several of them down.
“The Young Master of the Namgoong Family defeated a Corpse Demon in a single strike……?”
“E-extraordinary power…….”
I then kicked the remains of the Corpse Demon with my heel.
Turning my cold gaze toward Eon Tae Gyeong, who sat frozen in shock, I spoke.
“Now everyone here has witnessed this with their own eyes. Cheap lies won’t work anymore.”
Eon Tae Gyeong’s lips froze as if sealed.
Realizing there was no escape, his face twisted with bitter resentment.
“Why…… why would you do such a thing?”
Je Gal Un’s voice was laden with deep betrayal and confusion.
“Our two families have been close for generations! How could you brutally murder the Small Family Master of the Seomun Clan—who was meant to stand beside the Righteous Faction’s future—and invite such abominable dark arts!”
Eon Tae Gyeong’s shoulders trembled as his head bowed.
“Kh-hehe…… close? The Righteous Faction’s future?”
A low, bitter laugh burst forth. Then Eon Tae Gyeong’s eyes blazed red as he glared viciously at the Junior Family Heads of the Righteous Faction gathered around the guesthouse.
“Stop your nonsense! Every family gathered here has one special distinction or another, don’t you? Swordplay, throwing weapons, or cunning schemes like your Jegal Clan—you’ve all been treated with special favor within the Righteous Faction!”
A wail thick with resentment and inferiority rang out through the guesthouse.
“But when my father left and I took over the Jinjueon Family, everything changed! The Jinjueon Family fell into ruin, and because we had nothing extraordinary, we were always pushed to the lowest ranks, forced to endure scorn and contempt!”
The Junior Family Heads, who had always looked down on him, flinched and averted their eyes.
“Then came the Blood Cult’s proposal! They would teach us the secret arts of the Corpse Demon Technique. I finally had the chance to seize the Overwhelming Martial Power I craved, the opportunity to rise anew—and you ask why I would betray this rotting Righteous Faction? This was my chance to switch sides and crush you all beneath my heel!”
“A madman. Blinded by power, you’ve decided to become the Blood Cult’s lapdog?”
I spat the words out in disbelief.
Eon Tae Gyeong shot back at me with vicious fervor.
“Yes! But then the Small Family Master of the Seomun Clan—inconveniently close by—began investigating the Corpse Demon, sticking his nose where it didn’t belong. It was only a matter of time before he discovered everything.”
A sinister, contemptible smile spread across Eon Tae Gyeong’s face.
“So I made this gathering my hunting ground. What would happen if that thorn in the Seomun Clan’s side died here? The Jegal Clan that hosted the gathering would face fierce condemnation!”
“……!”
“I hoped to spark an irreversible, devastating war within the Righteous Faction! I dreamed of the day I would watch you all destroy each other while the Jinjueon Family rose as the new hegemon……!”
Eon Tae Gyeong shot me a look of bitter resentment.
“All because of you, some Young Master of the Namgoong Family! My perfect plan has been completely destroyed!!”
Everyone inside the guesthouse froze in shock.
A chilling conspiracy born of inferiority alone—one that would have drowned the entire Righteous Faction in blood.
I looked down at the resentful creature before me and let out a cold, mocking laugh.
“A perfect plan? You’re nothing but a half-wit playing with your own inferiority.”
My mockery sent Eon Tae Gyeong trembling as he lifted his head.
“Of course, I despise them as well. Those repugnant creatures—spouting righteousness and honor on the surface while dividing rank and hierarchy by bloodline and sect affiliation behind closed doors.”
“……!”
His unchecked tirade sent several Junior Family Heads’ faces burning red with rage and shame.
Yet others bit their lower lips and seemed to listen intently.
“And so, this is the path you chose? To borrow another’s strength, to seize power begged from demonic sorcery? Do you truly think that’s honorable?”
“Hck, k-ugh……!”
“If you truly wished to rule, you should have carved bone from flesh and seized power through your own effort. Instead you grasped a rotting rope thrown by those demonic wretches, willingly became their dog wearing their collar—and now you dare speak of becoming the supreme master of all under heaven?”
Crack.
The aura flowing from my body pressed down heavily upon the air of the guesthouse.
It was far more than mere killing intent that cut flesh.
A dense, fathomless force had become an invisible hand of terrifying magnitude.
It seemed to grip the breath from every throat inside that room.
This was no power a mere Young Master of a Major Family could emit.
It was the overwhelming presence of the Heaven-Breaking Demon Sovereign, who had once bent hundreds of thousands of demonic disciples beneath his feet and made all under heaven tremble in terror through sheer martial dominance.
“A worm who cannot even fully possess its own meager poison is nothing but a disposable pawn to be used and discarded.”
“Ah, a-ah…….”
Eon Tae Gyeong’s eyes lost focus and began to crumble.
He had bitterly realized that what he believed to be a grand scheme for himself and his clan was nothing more than a pathetic puppet show playing out in someone’s palm.
“…….”
In that moment, silence so complete that not even breath could be heard enveloped the guesthouse.
Everyone had frozen beneath the overwhelming presence I radiated.
In that silence, only I remained free.
I drew a cigarette from my robe and placed it between my lips. I lit it from the brazier hanging on the wall and drew deeply.
“Exhale.”
Only then did my weary body and mind find ease after the long night.
Exhaling wisps of purple smoke between my lips, I spoke softly to Je Gal Un, who stared at me blankly.
“The culprit’s caught and confession’s been heard. Shall we end this grand assembly here?”

* * *
Not long after, the assembly’s end was as hollow and frantic as it was hasty.
The Junior Family Heads of the Major Families who had gathered with such fanfare to discuss the future of the Righteous Faction hurried to pack their belongings as if they’d agreed beforehand.
A massacre had unfolded in the very heart of the Jegal Family Estate, which everyone had believed to be safe—no one could feel secure any longer.
They all rushed to leave the city, surrounded in layers by bodyguards brought from their main houses.
“Family Master, the carriage is fully prepared.”
Namgoong too had finished preparations for the journey home.
In front of the carriage, Nam Goong Gyeong and the scouts stood with their faces taut and ready, their vigilance raised to the highest degree.
A murder had occurred in a place where Namgoong blood stayed—their alertness and discipline had become sharper than ever before.
Yu Hwa boarded the carriage first, and I was about to follow when—
“Family Master Namgoong!”
A familiar voice called from behind. I turned to see Ak Jin and Hwang Bo Gang.
They appeared to have come to bid farewell before departing.
Their voices carried deep relief and gratitude.
“Had you not stepped forward, Family Master, none of us would have been safe. We are truly grateful!”
“Though it ended in such a terrible way, meeting a Young Master of such exceptional talent as yourself has been most meaningful! We hope to meet again soon and exchange greetings!”
Then Hwang Bo Gang scratched the back of his head and offered a greeting to Yu Hwa as well.
“That is… please return safely, Young Lady of Namgoong. I’ll… miss…”
“Hmm?”
When I raised an eyebrow, he frantically waved his pot-lid-sized hand.
“Ah, e-eh, yes?”
His true feelings had spilled out before he could stop them.
Yu Hwa, boarding the carriage, poked her head out with a bright smile.
“Ah, yes! Great Hero Hwang Bo, please return safely as well. It was an honor to spend even this brief time together.”
At the sight of her, Hwang Bo Gang’s expression became enraptured, and he waved his hand while murmuring to himself.
“A heavenly maiden… she’s descended from the heavens to greet me…….”
Had we grown so close already? Well, we’d survived death together, after all.
These forthright, open-hearted ones were far preferable to those who dealt in calculations and reservations.
In my days as the Heaven-Breaking Demon Sovereign, everyone had feared me—there wasn’t a soul I could call a true friend.
And I’d accepted that as natural.
But perhaps this life might be different.
“That’s enough for now. We’ll meet again another time.”
I turned to leave after the brief farewell, but a hesitant figure loitering in the distance caught my eye.
It was Dang So Yeon of the Sacheon Dang Family.
“Something on your mind?”
At my blunt question, she flinched, then settled into that characteristic pout of hers.
“Hmph! It’s not like I came here because I had anything to say. You just happened to be on my way.”
“Is that so? Then go on your way.”
“Ugh, you’re absolutely impossible!”
Dang So Yeon’s brows furrowed deeply as she huffed with frustration. Then her gaze slipped downward.
“……Just… be careful on your journey.”
With that, her ears flushed crimson, and she vanished with her entourage.
I stared after her, bemused, before climbing into the carriage.
“Let’s move out.”
“Yes, Family Master.”
With Nam Goong Gyeong’s spirited reply, the carriage rolled through the city gates.
We’d been traveling for some time when it happened.
“Young Master Nam Goong! Please stop the carriage for a moment!”
A group of riders who’d been waiting outside the walls blocked our path.
Leaning from the window, I saw Je Gal Un mounted on horseback, flanked by an elite guard of warriors.
“Since our benefactor departs, I could not in good conscience let you leave without an escort. The Namgoong carriage will receive our special protection to the outer borders.”
Suspicion of me had already begun with this incident, after all.
The death of Elder Sado Moo seemed to have sent considerable ripples through the Blood Cult.
There was no telling what dangers might be lurking ahead.
“Very well.”
I accepted Je Gal Un’s escort.
Thanks to his protection, we reached the provincial boundary without incident.
When it came time to part, Je Gal Un approached the carriage.
“Thanks to your keen insight, the Jegal Clan was able to escape this crisis. On behalf of my house, I offer our deepest gratitude once more. And.”
Je Gal Un glanced around, then lowered his voice significantly.
“I wish to offer a reward in the family’s name. Please tell me what you desire. I will do everything within our power to see it done.”
“Anything at all?”
“Yes. Should you need treasures, I can inquire through the trading networks. Should you require rare medicines, I will open the family archives. Beyond that, if there is anything else you desire…….”
“Hmm.”
Treasures and rare medicines—they held some appeal, certainly. But they weren’t urgently needed.
“The Namgoong already possess such things.”
What truly captured my interest lay elsewhere.
Leaning against the window frame, I gestured for him to come closer.
“Closer.”
“Sir?”
Je Gal Un approached with puzzlement, tilting his ear toward me. I whispered softly, for his ears alone.
“……Do that for me.”
At the request that slipped from my lips, Je Gal Un’s body went rigid.
“Is it beyond the power of the Jegal Clan?”
“It’s not so much beyond our power as it is beyond imagination…….”
He opened his fan and held it beneath his nose, deliberating for a long moment.
Then he lowered his fan and stepped back, assuming a formal bow.
“……Since it is the wish of our benefactor, there is nothing to reconsider. I understand. I will return to the clan and consult deeply with the elders, and we will endeavor to the fullest of our abilities.”
“Good. Go.”
Je Gal Un withdrew, and the carriage began to rumble forward once more.
After closing the window and settling back into my seat, Yu Hwa, who had been watching me from across, spoke.
“Hyuk, what were you discussing? The Young Master Je Gal looked drained white. Surely you didn’t make any unreasonable demands……?”
I gazed quietly out at the deep night sky draped beyond the window, and the milky river of stars stretching endlessly across it.
Like the ceaseless flow of those countless stars stretching on without pause.
I simply don’t wish to lose my center in this endless chain of entangling events.
Without lifting his gaze, he answered in a low voice.
“We’ll have to wait and see.”

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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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