The Introverted Heavenly Demon - Chapter 108

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

The Introverted Heavenly Demon Episode 108
Black Path 4
“Yes, you said you wanted to see me.”
I had merely uttered a single sentence.
Yet that one utterance from the Minor Sect Leader froze the bodies of four Black Path Masters who had been worn smooth by decades of rolling through the underworld of the Black Path.
It was utterly unlike the Minor Sect Leader’s usual demeanor.
It differed somewhat from the overwhelming pressure or murderous intent that masters of the Murim exuded.
No, the Minor Sect Leader before my eyes seemed entirely divorced from the very concept of humanity itself.
A demon capable of striking terror into even the leaders of the Black Path.
The moment Wi Seung Gak heard these words, he lost all will to fight.
“Forgive me.”
Even so, it was not easy to comprehend.
The mere appearance of the Minor Sect Leader and utterance of a single phrase made him feel no fear or regret in abandoning everything he had built thus far.
No, rather than fear, it felt like the natural thing to do.
Wi Seung Gak dropped to both knees before the Minor Sect Leader and bowed his head.
He knew this was an instinct for survival.
And he was not alone in responding this way.
“I have committed a sin worthy of death.”
“Please forgive me just this once.”
No Geon Pyeong, the Blood Path Master, and Shim Yeo Soo, the Naksan Master, knelt in succession following Wi Seung Gak.
In an instant, three of the four Masters had bowed their heads to the Minor Sect Leader.
Leaders of the Black Path Faction in their fifties, each commanding dozens of subordinates, before a mere fifteen-year-old Minor Sect Leader!
Only one person remained—Ha Mun Sung, the master of the Pal Cheon Am Bang—standing motionless with a blank mind.
Yet the Minor Sect Leader did not even spare him a glance.
As if the man called Ha Mun Sung did not exist in that place at all.
“Where is my sister?”
Wi Seung Gak dared not lift his head, yet he understood the question was directed at him.
“In the adjacent room… Please do not worry. My subordinates did not lay a finger on Baek Young Lady, and furthermore…”
“Answer only what I ask.”
“My apologies.”
“Bring her here.”
“Yes!”
Wi Seung Gak sprang to his feet and left the chamber carefully, his head still bowed toward the Minor Sect Leader.
Then he dashed like an arrow toward where Baek So Cheong was being kept.
He knew that the only way he could survive was to show the Minor Sect Leader that his sister was unharmed as quickly as possible.
And only then did the Minor Sect Leader’s gaze slowly shift toward one person.
Toward Ha Mun Sung, who still held his head stiffly aloft with a troubled expression.
“Ha Bangjoo.”
“…”
“Ha Bangjoo!!”
The Minor Sect Leader’s roar, like thunder and lightning itself, made Ha Mun Sung’s body tremble.
“Yes.”
“I made my intentions perfectly clear to you.”
“….”
Ha Mun Sung felt a suffocating pressure, as though he might collapse at any moment.
He had prepared words in advance for precisely this moment with the Minor Sect Leader.
But they were all meaningless now.
In that instant, only one thought filled Ha Mun Sung’s mind.
As the master of the Black Path faction representing Chengdu, I had enjoyed much in life.
To achieve that, I had stolen from countless others.
How many innocent lives had fallen by my hand over the years?
“I cannot accept those terms.”
“Cannot accept them?”
Dozens… no, perhaps a hundred or more.
As the master of the Pal Cheon Am Bang, I had established authority by killing those who need not have died, even those I had no reason to kill myself.
The countless weak of Chengdu had lost their heads to my断筋刀—my Severing Tendon Blade.
It was a weapon with teeth as jagged and irregular as a saw, a torture instrument that could kill far more cruelly and painfully than ordinary arms.
“As master of the Pal Cheon Am Bang, I cannot bow my head to you.”
“You would throw away your life for merely that?”
“Is fighting for survival not the same for both you and me?”
Ha Mun Sung slowly raised his signature weapon, the Severing Tendon Blade.
“I ask only one thing.”
“Speak.”
This was never part of my plan.
I had orchestrated the kidnapping of the Minor Sect Leader’s sister to create negotiations, seeking a path to survival for my people.
Yet the moment I faced the Minor Sect Leader, I understood.
There had ever been only one way for the Black Path to survive in this land.
“If I fall… please convey my final moments truthfully to my subordinates.”
How many more subordinates would make the same miscalculation as I have?
How much blood would be spilled by the Black Path under the name of the Sun and Moon Divine Sect each time?
If the Pal Cheon Am Bang could not defeat the Sun and Moon Divine Sect….
Then my death must serve as a lesson to countless Black Path warriors.
“So it shall be.”
I harbored no regrets.
A strong man who preyed upon the weak, consumed by one even stronger.
That was the very essence of the Black Path I had always followed.
“Haaaagh!”
Ha Mun Sung drew forth every ounce of inner power cultivated over fifty-five years.
Veins bulged along his forearm gripping the Severing Tendon Blade and at his solar plexus.
The Minor Sect Leader watched in silence, waiting.
So that Ha Mun Sung could execute his final technique without regret.
“Watch closely.”
And so that the two remaining here—Naksan Master and Blood Path Master—could witness the final moments of Pal Cheon Am Bang’s leader.
Shwaaak!
The sound of Ha Mun Sung’s Single Root Blade cutting through the air echoed ominously.
A flash.
The Minor Sect Leader’s blade, which he had drawn belatedly—an unusual sword that emitted a subtle black radiance—made no sound, leaving only a single straight line etched in the void by its blade aura.
Only the clean sound of the Single Root Blade being severed could be heard faintly.

* * *
In Sungdo Street Plaza, Black Robed men bearing scars and blade marks across their faces and bodies had gathered.
Their number reached approximately fifty.
Villagers passing through the street clicked their tongues upon seeing them assembled.
Some even muttered harsh curses under their breath.
Their hearts were filled with worry about what these Black Robed men were plotting this time.
Yet the villagers kept their distance, stopping at a safe remove while carefully observing the Black Robed men’s movements.
They had never witnessed anything good whenever such gatherings occurred.
Particularly today, the appearance and atmosphere of the Black Sword Bandits seemed far more grave and heavy than usual.
The villagers could not shake the premonition that the Black Robed men were plotting something sinister.
“Hear me, people of Sungdo!”
A one-eyed, fierce-looking middle-aged man climbed onto the Training Platform overlooking the crowd and shouted loudly.
At that moment, patrol officers could be seen moving through the streets of Sungdo.
Yet even the patrol officers merely frowned at the sight, showing no inclination to intervene actively.
Without even invoking the unspoken rule of Kangho that officials must not interfere, there was not a single patrol officer brave enough to step forward against such a massive gathering of Black Robed men.
“First, observe this carefully!”
The one-eyed man, Wi Seung Gak, Master of the Sword Gate Gang, received something wrapped in cloth from one of his subordinates.
What emerged from the cloth was the severed head of another man—a sight gruesome to behold.
“Ugh!”
The villagers in the front rows gasped as they met the vacant, lifeless gaze of the corpse head directly.
Those in the back rushed forward to see it more closely, while women shrieked in terror and fled, and in moments the crowd descended into chaos.
Wi Seung Gak wrapped Ha Mun Sung’s head back in the cloth and handed it to his subordinate.
Then, with a resonant voice infused with inner energy, he shouted toward the villagers.
“As you can see, Ha Mun Sung Bangjoo, who was the leader of Sungdo’s Black Path, has had his head severed! And many of those who followed him have all been punished and have left Sungdo!”
The gathered people, realizing that the corpse they had just witnessed was indeed Ha Mun Sung Bangjoo, the leader of Pal Cheon Am Bang, were seized with even greater shock.
He was the one who had dominated Sungdo’s back alleys and filled innocent villagers with dread.
What on earth had transpired among the Black Path factions?
If Ha Mun Sung was dead, another would surely take his place—but who could be so formidable as to sever Ha Mun Sung’s head?
The patrol officers watching this scene also tightened their grip on the spears and clubs in their hands, their tension evident.
“Now I shall introduce the new leader whom Pal Cheon Am Bang shall follow!”
The one-eyed Black Robed man Wi Seung Gak descended from the Training Platform and walked toward where dozens of Black Robed men had gathered.
And standing before the other Black Path members, I gazed with them toward a single point in unison.
When had that person arrived?
A man began to emerge, parting through the crowd.
Or rather, it was someone closer to a boy with a still youthful face than a man.
A young man with long jet-black hair tied back, his complexion so pale it seemed almost ethereal.
The pristine white robe the boy wore bore elaborate crimson patterns embroidered across its surface.
Someone who recognized the hidden forms of the sun and moon concealed within those patterns cried out with a voice that shattered the air.
“The Sun and Moon Divine Sect!”
Among the villagers gathered here, there were indeed several disciples of the Sun and Moon Divine Sect who operated in the shadows.
Yet none of them had ever seen anyone openly walking about wearing a robe bearing the sect’s emblem—something they had only heard whispered about.
Who was this boy to appear in such a manner?
Moreover, this was immediately after the One-Eyed Black Robed Man had announced he would introduce the new leader of Pal Cheon Am Bang….
“Hmm.”
The boy ascended the training platform, drawing every eye upon him.
The crowd that had been murmuring with curiosity about the boy’s identity fell silent, their gazes fixed upon him.
Now I could see it clearly—those eyes were extraordinarily sharp.
Standing motionless and wordless, the oppressive aura radiating from his gaze and entire being seized control of the assembly.
The sound of someone swallowing dryly rippled through the tense air.
At last, the boy’s lips began to part slowly.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————