The Heavenly Demon of the Blue Sky - Chapter 62

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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 Heavenly Demon — Episode 62
I led Dang So Yeon toward the workshop situated at one edge of the Namgung Clan’s main compound.
Clang! Inside the smithy, shimmering with heat, the Namgung craftsmen moved about with practiced urgency.
I summoned Yeon Hwa, who oversaw the workshop, and Han Seok San, the master blacksmith.
“Clan Head, you’ve arrived!”
“What brings you here at this hour?”
I gestured with my chin toward Dang So Yeon, who lingered uncertainly behind me, and laid out my request.
“I’m here to commission Hidden Weapon Gauntlets. Not like the pair I’ve been using—those are designed to suspend from empty air and bear body weight. These need to be lighter and far more precise, built for threading projectiles onto hidden weapons and recovering them after launch. I want them refined beyond my own.”
Yeon Hwa’s eyes gleamed with interest at the specific requirements.
“My! Something for the Sichuan Dang Clan’s sub-leader to wear? This is going to be quite the fascinating project!”
Yeon Hwa drew out brush and paper and began sketching the design with fluid confidence.
“How does this look?”
“It seems serviceable.”
I reviewed the sketch beside her and passed it to Han Seok San.
Han Seok San swept his thick beard aside and laughed heartily.
“Ha ha ha! I’ve already grown familiar with the Celestial Silk Thread’s nature and the component structure from crafting your gauntlets. And without needing to support body weight, the work becomes far simpler. No need to draw this out for days—I’ll begin at once!”
Truly, he deserved his reputation as Namgung’s finest craftsman.
In the meantime, I spent the hours touring the workshop’s various facilities with Dang So Yeon.
The blazing forges and intricate tools moved ceaselessly in orderly rhythm—a systematic vision of purpose.
“It’s remarkable. For a clan barely rebuilt, it’s hard to believe. Where did you find such talent?”
Dang So Yeon trailed behind me, speaking with genuine admiration.
“They came of their own accord. The Namgung martial artists staked their lives to open an escape route for their people, so they’ve returned to repay that debt.”
This too was perhaps the unique character of the Orthodox Sects—their puzzling devotion to righteousness and loyalty.
I watched the craftsmen laboring diligently at their stations before returning to the smithy.
By the time half the promised day had elapsed—
“Clan Head! It is complete!”
Han Seok San set two objects reverently upon a cloth.
“Ah…….”
They bore different craftsmanship than the pair I wore.
Fitted for a woman’s wrists, they curved with refined elegance—sleek and streamlined.
Forged from light yet durable Cold Iron in silver-white hue, they gleamed with subtle luster.
By appearance alone, they could have passed for exquisite jewelry.
“I’ve crafted two so they may be worn on both wrists. Inside, I’ve wound premium Celestial Silk Thread generously, and adjusted the spring tension very delicately.”
With proper handling, one could fire multiple hidden projectiles in unpredictable trajectories and retrieve them all in a single deployment.
I nodded with satisfaction and turned to Dang So Yeon.
“Put them on.”
Dang So Yeon approached with an eager expression.
She rolled up the sleeves of her wide robe, revealing her pale wrists, then carefully picked up the silver-white gauntlets.
Click, clatter.
But as it was an unfamiliar, oddly-shaped tool she’d never handled, she unknowingly flipped the gauntlets upside down and fumbled with the clasp.
“Oh no, Sub-leader! That’s not right. The firing mechanism must face outward!”
Han Seok San moved to correct it in alarm, but Dang So Yeon’s tense fingers still fumbled clumsily.
“Um, um? This way? No, why won’t it—”
“This is tedious. Here, give it to me.”
Unable to bear it further, I stepped forward with a furrowed brow.
I seized Dang So Yeon’s wrist and pulled her toward me.
“Ah……!”
As Dang So Yeon stiffened with a start, I deftly repositioned the gauntlets and fitted them perfectly into place. With a crisp click, the clasp locked firmly shut.
In the process, my fingertips brushed against her delicate skin.
Her pale wrist, held gently in my grip, was remarkably slender.
“Tsk. Even compared to my frail frame, your bones are this thin? How could you be of any use in the field?”
I clicked my tongue and released her wrist.
“Don’t skip meals every day. Eat proper, filling meals when you travel.”
A gruff, coldly pragmatic reprimand.
Yet Dang So Yeon’s reaction was strange.
From her collarbones to her ear tips, her cheeks flushed deep crimson—the color of ripe persimmons.
“Don’t—don’t men and women have different builds?! Stop spouting nonsense!”
Dang So Yeon shrieked and hastily hid her wrist behind her back.
Her words were harsh and cutting, but her movements betrayed hesitation.
‘What’s wrong with her?’
I gripped the wrist she’d seized with my other hand, deliberately avoiding her gaze.
What of it. I stepped out into the broad courtyard beyond the workshop.
Wooden targets carved into shape stood arrayed on one side of the yard.
“Try using it properly now.”
It wouldn’t take long to grow accustomed to it, I imagined.
Dang So Yeon drew a deep breath, fighting to compose her flushed face.
As she channeled her energy through the Celestial Silk Thread extending from the Hidden Weapon Gauntlets, it grew viscous like a spider’s web, catching the flying daggers.
Whissssh—! Clang! Clang!
She danced her hands through the air, and the silver daggers pierced the dead center of the wooden targets with perfect precision.
“Ha!”
With a sharp cry, she snapped her wrist, and the daggers embedded in the targets curved gracefully through the air, returning flawlessly to her palm.
Her control over the energy distribution was still clumsy—the thread tangled slightly here and there, and the retrieval speed lagged—but such details were minor.
True to her nature as a prodigy of the Sichuan Dang Clan, she adapted swiftly to the new Hidden Projectile Technique.
Once she wielded it as naturally as her own limbs, she would become a master who could unleash a storm of hidden weapons in combat.
“Well? Is it serviceable? If there’s anything that needs reinforcement, tell me.”
I asked from behind, arms crossed, and Dang So Yeon whirled around as she sheathed the daggers.
The bright smile of a martial artist who’d found a new path.
“Perfect! It’s absolutely perfect!”
She caressed the gift tenderly, her voice trembling with emotion.
“Thank you. I’ve received something truly precious.”
Dang So Yeon pressed her palms together in gratitude toward Yeon Hwa and Han Seok San.
Then, her voice softening, she turned to me.
“Most of all, I was moved that the Clan Head understood my struggle.”
I shrugged and replied in my usual indifferent manner.
“I told you—helping you is the same as helping myself. Later, I’ll have you repay me tenfold what you’ve received. So work hard, hone your skills, and be of use.”
A calculated heart, giving one to reap ten.
But the reactions from Yeon Hwa and Han Seok San, standing nearby, were strange.
“My goodness, look at our youngest! Worried that the Sub-leader might burden herself with excessive debt, he deliberately acts selfish and covers it all with gruffness!”
“Khehehe! Such profound and tender-hearted compassion! No wonder everyone serves so loyally!”
Yeon Hwa and Han Seok San began spouting nonsense with expressions of admiration.
The delusion afflicting these Namgung fools had reached pathological levels.
What was worse was that this absurd misunderstanding was highly contagious.
“……Idiots.”
Dang So Yeon stroked the Hidden Weapon Gauntlets tenderly, her face flushed like a shy girl’s.
“I’m really going to work hard. Because it’s for you…… Don’t doubt me.”
Then she vanished into the hall where the Dang Clan’s talents gathered, her footsteps echoing behind her.
* * *
With Namgung’s full backing and a pleasant environment, the Poison Dissolution Research Group’s work progressed smoothly.
And finally, they achieved meaningful results.
“Clan Head. Look at this.”
At the wide slate table dominating the center of the workroom, Dang So Yeon called me over with a triumphant expression despite the deep fatigue shadowing her eyes.
What she pointed to with a silver needle was a sample of the poison extracted from Seomun Ho’s leg.
“These villains were terribly cunning. It wasn’t simply two or three deadly toxins mixed together. To hide the poison’s nature, they cleverly ground in herbs with contrary properties, and most ingeniously, they mixed in a special wax component.”
“Wax?”
“Yes, layered it in several coats as a kind of security measure.”
Truly worthy of the Sichuan Dang Clan. She’d seen through the enemy’s deception perfectly.
“So I’ve completed two forms of antidote. This one is taken orally, and this one is applied directly to the wound.”
She immediately began a demonstration before me.
She dripped the topical medicine onto the hardened clot of blood.
Hisssss—!
Then something astonishing happened.
The blood clot that wouldn’t flake off even when scratched with a metal rake began to fizz with black foam the instant the medicine touched it, thinned to a murky slurry, and soon flowed away as clear and harmless as water.
“With these antidotes alone, even if infection by Corpse Poison takes hold, I can treat it immediately and prevent spread. Even if they produce a higher-grade variant, they’ll survive without dying until we develop a new Antidote Method.”
The solution to our greatest problem—the Corpse Poison—now lay in Namgung’s hands.
Satisfied, I nodded and summoned Namgung Gyeong and Dang Suk standing nearby.
“The Dang Clan has developed the antidote as requested. In return, fill the ship with Namgung’s specialty goods. And escort the Dang Clan’s talented people safely back to Sichuan.”
Both men cupped their fists and accepted my command.
“……What?”
But Dang So Yeon’s eyes widened as she pressed the issue.
“Fill wagons and escort them to Sichuan…… Me? You mean me?”
“Right. Pack your things. The mission is complete, so there’s no reason to linger.”
At my announcement, Dang So Yeon’s face went slack as though she’d been struck by a hammer.
“You’re just… sending me away like this? So callously?”
“What are you talking about? Callous? I’m compensating you generously and sending you home safely—what’s the problem?”
I spoke on, my voice deliberately cool and measured.
“The Clan Head of Sichuan Dang surely has only one daughter, and he’s pacing anxiously day and night. Moreover, the Namgung Clan now faces imminent threat from the Blood Cult. If I keep you here in the midst of this dangerous conflict, and your only sub-leader gets wounded—or worse—what then?”
I clicked my tongue and shook my head.
“The Namgung Clan would incur the bitter hatred of the Sichuan Dang Clan, rivals every bit as troublesome as the Blood Cult itself, leaving us encircled on all sides. Knowing this risk clearly, how could I keep you here? The business is finished—return to your family.”
It was an eminently rational calculation.
The Research Group members standing behind Dang So Yeon exchanged glances and began to step forward cautiously.
“The Clan Head has spoken wisely. Sub-leader, our mission is complete. Let us return at once.”
But those words ignited something in Dang So Yeon.
“…Don’t be absurd.”
Dang So Yeon’s cheeks flushed crimson, trembling.
“Everyone else gets to stay, so why—why can’t I?”
Her voice cracked with a sound of protest, her face a raw mixture of injustice and hurt.
“Am I the only sub-leader gathered here at Namgung? Jegal Un, Hwangbo Gang, those from Shandong, Shaolin, the Beggar Clan—they’re all staying! From the moment I left my clan’s gates, I didn’t come just to dissolve Corpse Poison and flee. I came ready to stake my life against the Blood Cult! That’s why I gave everything to my training and research all this time—!”
Her fists clenched, eyes glistening with tears as she glared at me.
“To push me away now, claiming you’re looking out for me… it’s the same as treating me like dead weight, like I’m worthless! It hurts so much!”
Her voice carried an absolute, immovable stubbornness.
“If my poison research until now was my duty as Sichuan Dang’s sub-leader to serve my clan, then staying here at Namgung to fight alongside you is… my own will, as Dang So Yeon—the person you saved from near death at the last Yongbong Gathering!”
Then she turned to the accomplished martial artists of her clan standing behind her and gave a firm order.
“I won’t take a single step backward, so all of you return to the Dang Clan now. That’s a sub-leader’s command!”
A stubborn declaration from an obstinate sub-leader.
The response from the Dang Clan’s elite was unexpected.
The most senior member stepped forward quietly.
“…In truth, we ourselves received two orders from the Clan Head.”
At the elder’s grave voice, Dang So Yeon gasped and spun around.
“First, to help the Namgung Clan and fully neutralize the Corpse Poison. And second…”
With a subtle gesture, thirty members of the Research Group moved as one.
“No matter what occurs, to obey the sub-leader’s commands and stand at her side.”
Snap! It was a stunning sight.
Their martial robes, which had borne white serpents on green silk, suddenly reversed in an instant, becoming the dread garb of assassins—black silk embroidered with crimson serpents.
As the benign bearing of scholars transformed in a heartbeat into chilling killing intent, the people nearby let out sharp gasps and broke into cold sweat.
“The Clan Head knows our sub-leader’s temperament better than anyone, so he foresaw this and sent us with this in mind.”
The elder bowed deeply toward Dang So Yeon as he spoke.
“He said if she proved stubborn, to bring her back by force—but then she would resent her father all her life. Better to let her stay and protect her however we must.”
Dang So Yeon stared at the members for a moment, then lifted her gaze to me, her eyes still red but now luminous with clan pride.
“You heard? Since matters have come to this, full responsibility for any harm that befalls me lies entirely with the Sichuan Dang Clan. You needn’t worry.”
Then she stepped closer and declared with quiet confidence.
“And my clan is not so weak as to be treated as a burden. Let me stay and fight as long as I wish… permit me to remain at your side.”
In the eyes that met mine, I saw a resolute determination.
‘She passes.’
To be honest, I harbored no desire whatsoever to send home, safely and intact, those who had perfected their defenses against Corpse Demon poison and wielded lethal hidden projectiles and toxins.
But there is a world of difference between me, reluctantly begging them to stay, and them choosing of their own will to remain, staking their lives.
I needed one final test—to see whether they possessed the resolve to truly place their backs in my hands and shed blood together in the coming war.
And just now, the Sichuan Dang Clan had proven that resolve completely.
“Did everyone hear?”
Not just to me, but to all who had gathered at news of this exchange.
Jegal Un, Hwangbo Gang, Ak Jin, Hye Gwang, Jang Ho, and Seomun Ho.
There had been reasons at the last meeting for all of them to regard the Sichuan Dang Clan with wariness.
They had belonged to the Orthodox Sects at times and to the Unorthodox Faction at others, always choosing based on their clan’s interest alone.
For those of us who had upheld one pillar of the Orthodox Sects for long years, such anxiety was perhaps natural.
Yet I did not believe it was inherently wrong.
If they can face themselves with integrity, why should regret haunt the path they chose to walk?
What matters is only whose side they choose to stand with now.
And that is the Namgung Clan’s.
I wanted to show them they were no different from those gathered here.
“We heard clearly, Clan Head.”
“The Dang Clan shows such genuine resolve—how could we raise objections?”
“If they were enemies, they’d be fearsome indeed, but as allies? There’s no one more dependable. It sets the mind at ease!”
The company clasped their hands together in genuine welcome of the Dang Clan’s full alliance.
“All martial artists of the Orthodox Sects swear to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Dang Clan.”
Dang So Yeon clasped her hands in return, accepting their respect.
“The Dang Clan promises not to fall short either. We look forward to this partnership.”
Namgung Gyeong and his forces stood as one.
I gazed upward with satisfaction at the blue sky spreading across Cheonju Mountain.
In my past life—in my time as Pa Cheon Ma Jon—when I stood alone without trusting my back to anyone, ruling the world beneath my feet, I had never known such a moment.
Unlike those days, painted only in crimson solitude, now figures of such varied hues had walked into my orbit of their own accord, binding themselves to me willingly.
It was strange, alien even, yet I could not deny the warmth that bloomed from deep within my chest—a peculiar fervor that spread through me like welcoming fire.
One corner of my mouth lifted unbidden, and soon I wore a faint, wry smile.
These many colors woven into one, and I was already eager to see how thoroughly we would tear the Blood Cult apart.

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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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