The Heavenly Demon of the Blue Sky - Chapter 51

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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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Cangthian Heavenly Demon 051
Fifty mounted warriors poured down the ridge, splitting left and right in a perfect pincer.
They enveloped the Blood Cult’s pursuit force that had been hounding the Seomun Clan so relentlessly.
Clang-clang-clang-!
At the forefront rode Hwangbo Moo Gwang, Clan Head of the Hwangbo Clan.
“Drive them back!”
With a thunderous roar, the cavalry locked their formation tight in a horizontal line.
The Mountain Breaking Formation—halberds swung wide with the weight of the horses’ momentum.
It was a crushing advance, as if Mount Tai itself were bearing down on them.
Dozens of halberds scraped the earth, churning up a brutal windstorm of dust that blocked and trampled the enemy’s path.
Hyah-!
On the opposite flank, the warriors of the Sandong Ak Clan launched their own fierce assault.
“Break through!”
With Ak Cheol San at the apex, the cavalry arranged themselves in a wedge formation and leveled their spears in unison.
The Fighting Horn Formation—dozens of sharp spearheads, woven around the clan head, pierced straight through the enemy line.
Taking the shape of horns on a charging ox, they tore open the opposing front in a single breath.
“Ahhhhh! Enemy! Enemies have appeared!”
“Where did these wretches crawl out from?”
The bandits of Mansoo Makok, driven back helplessly, shrieked in rage.
“Go! Tear them apart!”
Wielding sickle-curved halberds, they savagely yanked the reins of their wolves and charged forward.
They thrust toward the flanks and rear guard—the blind spots—of the Hwangbo and Sandong cavalry.
They lunged to bite the horses’ haunches and drag the riders from their saddles.
“You dare!”
Hwangbo Gang and Ak Jin, who had been waiting in reserve at a distance from the main force, burst forth leading their reinforcements like a thunderbolt.
Rip-! Thud-!
Hwangbo Gang’s halberd traced an earthy arc as it tore a wolf’s eye open; Ak Jin’s keen spearhead punched through a rider’s chest.
The soldiers who followed pressed hard, driving the enemies inward.
“Heh, the Clan Head Namgung foresaw their movements perfectly!”
“Since we seized the terrain first, there’s no way they’ll be caught!”
The two sub-clan heads murmured their admiration from their respective positions.
Meanwhile, the main force succeeded in surrounding the enemy.
“Reserve units, fall back!”
At Hwangbo Moo Gwang’s command, Ak Jin and Hwangbo Gang quickly turned their horses and withdrew beyond the circle.
“Now! Release the torches!”
Whoooosh-!
At Ak Cheol San’s order, red torches flew through the air in unison, raining down onto the dry reeds within the circle.
Whoosh-! The moment the sparks touched the reeds, acrid smoke billowed up.
But as expected.
‘……The smoke is far too thin.’
Without wind to carry it, even parched reeds could not spread the flames inward.
The rising smoke alone was nowhere near enough to smother the potent toxin of the Illusory Spirit Grass that had already trapped the wolves in hallucination.
Grrrrr-!!
Through the smoke, a dozen or more blood-starved massive wolves charged forth at their riders’ command.
Their target: Hwangbo Moo Gwang and Ak Cheol San, who held the center of the formation.
“Do not retreat!”
“Fall back even one step and the line collapses! Hold!”
Even as the wolves’ rotting jaws loomed before them and the vicious killers’ bloodlust pressed close, both clan heads stood firm, weapons angled to parry.
“We have completed our task, Clan Head Namgung!”
A mighty voice pierced through the wolves’ roar, ringing across the battlefield.
“Now it is your turn! Bring forth the wind of Cangthian!!”

* * *
The two clan heads’ cry reached me where I waited on the ridge.
They were calling on Namgung’s wind.
From where I surveyed the battle, I felt the moment had come and gathered the reins.
“Let’s go, Jeol Yeong.”
With a light heel to its flank, my snow-white steed—understanding its master’s will—exhaled sharply and bolted down the steep slope like a gale.
Clang-clang-clang-!
The hoofbeats of the armored warhorse thundered across the earth as it poured onto the battlefield. Yeu Hwa and Namgung Gyeong rode close at either side.
Upon reaching the designated point, I raised my right hand and gave the signal.
“Now. Open the path.”
Yeu Hwa, commanding the left flank, clamped her thighs firmly around the horse’s barrel and straightened her torso.
The two blades gripped in her hands crossed brilliantly along the wind’s current.
Heaven Wind Sword Technique in its extreme form—White Flower Phantom Dance.
Like white petals dancing on the breeze, a beautiful and deadly vortex erupted from the tips of Yeu Hwa’s dual blades, beginning to cleave the empty air.
“Ahhhhh! I, I am also Namgung!”
From the right, the scout captain Namgung Gyeong snarled with neck veins straining.
Though his skill was unremarkable, he wrung out every last shred of inner force and momentum he possessed, adding his strength to the assault.
Wheeeee—!
The wind from the two of them became a violent whirlwind that swept into the battlefield.
In a single breath, it thrust aside both the acrid smoke rising in a choking cloud and the red flames, carving a clear passage straight through the center of the battlefield where the wolf pack surged, opening wide the path I needed to advance.
“With the new Cangthian descending, so too shall the Namgung wind sweep across the field!”
As if answering my cry, Jeol Yeong soared skyward.
I drove off from that broad back and launched myself upward with even greater force.
My azure robe and unbound hair trailed beautifully in the rush.
‘This is not the moment for a keen blade. This is the moment to drive down a tempest.’
Instead of drawing the Azure Sea Mirror Moon Blade, I drew simultaneously from the depths of my heart the roiling Ten Thousand Blood Great Circle Technique and from my lower dantian the Cangthian Demonic Energy that had slumbered there.
At once, I condensed it through my tightly clenched fist until it threatened to burst.
Azure Flame Dragon Fist, Fourth Form—Azure Dragon Falling Star.
Azure flames took the shape of a dragon and plummeted toward the earth like a thunderbolt.
Crash—!!!
Landing on one knee while driving my right fist forward in the same breath.
The ground shattered into thousands of branching cracks with a tremendous impact.
Boom—!!
Simultaneously, a wave of fire exploded outward.
In the immense heat and wind, the wolves tumbled across the ground.
“Yelp-yelp-yelp!”
“Arrrgh!”
The riders of Mansoo Makok perched upon the wolves’ backs were hurled to the ground, where they writhed pitifully through the acrid smoke and searing dust.
“Wahhhhh!”
A groan tore from the mouths of Taesan’s warriors watching from beyond the perimeter.
“The Namgung Clan Head has overturned the battlefield!”
Yet the enemies, notorious villains to a man, clung stubbornly to life and staggered upright.
“Tch! This paltry flame? A mere frown and it’s gone!”
“Get moving, you dogs! Tear those bastards to pieces!”
Toward the whimpering wolves, they snapped leather whips about irritably.
But there was something the enemies did not know.
The wind of Cangthian is by nature clear and noble, possessing the sublime quality of expelling all the murky energy in the world.
The Cangthian Demonic Energy would thus serve as a momentary antidote to the beasts poisoned by the toxic smoke of Illusory Spirit Grass.
Whoooosh—!
Blue smoke burrowed deep into the beasts’ nostrils, sweeping away every trace of the poison’s toxin that had constricted their lungs.
“Huh……?”
At the same moment, the wolves that had been straining to rise under the lash’s blow suddenly went still.
Their dull eyes, blood-red and unfocused, suddenly cleared to their natural muddy brown.
“Get up! Now! Tear that bastard’s throat out!”
The riders of Mansoo Makok, oblivious to what had occurred, struck the wolves roughly and pressed the attack.
Rising from where I stood as I watched this, I swung myself onto Jeol Yeong’s back.
And gazing coldly down at the villains who still had no idea what was happening, urging on the wolves, I clicked my tongue.
“Those who have lorded over beasts their whole lives, yet cannot even read the state of the beasts beneath their own feet.”
“What…what?”
Toward the bewildered enemies, I spoke with a voice cold and low.
“Had you treated them well, they would have followed you still even after their minds cleared. But looking at the resentment burning in their eyes, that seems far from the case. Now, who will you blame?”
Without hesitation, I turned the horse’s head.
“What is given is repaid—that is the unchanging law of nature. Bear now the karma you have sown.”
With that cool pronouncement, I gathered the reins with ease and departed.
“Ah……?”
Only then did the enemies realize that the flame of Illusory Spirit Grass they had held had been completely extinguished by the Namgung wind.
In its place, only a clear blue smoke wrapped gently around the wolves.
“What…what……?”
A chill ran down the spine, raising goosebumps across the skin.
The riders’ gaze descended slowly.
And they beheld it.
The cold, piercing eyes of starving wolves, their nature now fully restored.
“Ah, no! No! Aaaaahhhhh!!”
Crack! Snap!
A horrific massacre erupted in the center of the reed field, accompanied by agonized screams.
The massive wolves, awakened from their delusion, seized those who had tormented them and tore them apart without mercy.
“Save me! My legs! My legs!”
They were shredded to death by the very beasts they had once controlled.
Perfect Self-Inflicted Chaos and the Law of Karma — requiring no blade at all.
In that chaos, we slipped through toward where Taesan’s iron cavalry waited.
“Excellent! The enemies are caught in our trap exactly as our Clan Head intended!”
“We cannot linger. The wolves will turn on us next.”
“Then, regrettable as it is, perhaps we should eliminate them here and now.”
“There’s no need. They’ve been poisoned by the Illusory Spirit Grass’s venom for far too long. Even if the antidote were administered this moment, they’d struggle to reach their natural span. In the end, they’ll finish their vengeance against their tormentors in those flames and breathe their last.”
I gazed sadly at the wolves, their throats tearing through their enemies’ necks as they roared.
“In this final moment, they’ve reclaimed their freedom as beasts. I can only offer them peaceful rest.”
I turned my horse away, my expression bitter.
“The enemy’s main force may yet press forward. We must escort the Seomun Clan and evacuate this place before the flames die.”
Before my words had fully landed, a weighty response shook the battlefield.
“Obey Command!”
Without hesitation, the warriors of the Hwangbo Clan and the Sandong Ak Clan raised their weapons in unison, their discipline suddenly taut as iron, their voices joining in chorus.
They were the most notoriously aggressive talents of the Orthodox Sects.
That such warriors would be so deeply moved by my victory — to neutralize a formidable foe without a single casualty among my own — spoke volumes.
“Strange.”
It felt unfamiliar to receive such reverence from the Orthodox Sects, yet truth be told, it was not unwelcome.
To be recognized as a martial artist in one’s own right, beyond clan and age.
Thump-thump-thump-thump!
We reformed our column with perfect coordination and withdrew from the burning reed field.
The Seomun Clan spotted us and raised their half-burnt banner in signal.
We reached their procession, where they huddled behind the rocks, their weary faces exhaling sighs of relief.
I climbed atop the tallest boulder and gazed down impassively at the middle-aged man across from us, breathing heavily.
“Are you the Seomun Clan Head?”
“That I am. And you are……?”
The man looked up at me, tension etched in his face.
I smiled coldly and answered, my voice low.
“Namgung Hyeok, Clan Head of the Cangthian Namgung Clan. I’ve come to rescue you as promised.”

* * *
Until moments ago, Clan Head Seomun Ho had stood at the precipice of destruction.
With starving wolves at the villains’ command pressing down upon them, with his people’s very lives hanging by a thread, despair had finally overwhelmed him, and he had surrendered to defeat.
But in that moment of hopelessness, an unknown iron cavalry emerged across the plains, forming a shield and savagely driving back the enemy — a miracle.
In that narrow window, Seomun Ho led his people into hiding behind the rocks.
He held his breath, peering out just far enough to observe the battle’s progress.
He couldn’t help but admire the meticulous tactics that wove a ring of fire to contain the enemy.
‘But the wind — it won’t blow this way! If this continues, even our rescuers will fall to these villains!’
Though his body was drenched in blood, he couldn’t simply watch. He gripped his sword anew.
He was about to step forward, teeth clenched, when the ridge flashed bright once more.
A figure in a flowing blue robe appeared, spurred his horse into the air, and summoned a massive storm that tore across the battlefield.
“Woooah……!”
The wind was so violent that not only Seomun Ho but even the clanspeople trembling in the stone crevices had their hair whipped about wildly.
Whoooosh! And it was no ordinary wind, either.
The wolves awakened from their delusion and began tearing the enemies apart mercilessly.
“Truly… remarkable!”
In the chaos, the reinforcements escaped the reed field safely.
“Raise the clan banner high! We must signal our presence!”
The iron cavalry spotted the fluttering banner and began advancing toward them.
As Seomun Ho leaned against the rock and breathed a sigh of relief, he remained tensely alert, wondering who this mysterious figure was who had annihilated their relentless enemy in a single stroke.
Clop-clop-clop!
The one leading the group was, surprisingly, a young boy. And a remarkably spirited one at that.
With sharp, keen eyes, he stood atop the highest rock, gazing down at those below.
The moon hung overhead, bestowing its light upon the boy alone as if showing him particular favor.
Seomun Ho found his eyes suddenly drawn to this mysterious figure, his eyelids growing hot and flushed.
Was it simply because he was exhausted? Or had longing overtaken him?
For across the face of this intelligent, youthful boy looking down upon him, there overlaid itself the tender face of his own son—the boy who had lost his life so recently and so bitterly.
In the moment before tears could spill unbidden, the boy atop the rock spoke in a voice stripped of all emotion.
“Are you the Clan Head of Seomun?”
“I am. And you, great hero, are…?”
The boy’s lips curved upward in a thin smile, cold as steel.
“Namgung Hyeok, Clan Head of the Cangthian Namgung Clan. I’ve come to rescue you, as you requested.”
His voice carried a casual arrogance, yet in that same instant, Seomun Ho’s heart hammered against his ribs.
He had sent word to the Namgung Clan, but truthfully, he harbored little hope.
How could a clan scarcely rebuilt from ruin concern itself with the troubles of outsiders?
Moreover, the last time he had seen the young master of Namgung, the boy had been confined to a sickbed, his body wracked with illness.
Though word had come that he had recovered his health and defeated even the elders of the Blood Cult, earning renown at the Yongbong Gathering, Seomun Ho had never imagined him capable of risking himself in such perilous combat.
He had merely sent word of his plight as one grasps at straws.
Yet not only had that young master of Namgung stepped forward—he had brought with him Hwangbo and Ak, the preeminent masters of Shandong, men who would never bend knee to another, and together they had journeyed all the way to Shanxi to shield him and his from harm.
Overwhelmed by a tide of gratitude, Seomun Ho pressed his palms together in formal respect.
He lifted his blood-stained face, and his voice, thick with emotion, trembled as he spoke.
“I am Seomun Ho. I offer you my deepest, most sincere thanks…!”

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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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