The Introverted Heavenly Demon - Chapter 26

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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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The Introverted Heavenly Demon Episode 026
Watching Over
Baek So Cheong, the eldest daughter of the Sun and Moon Divine Sect Leader, harbored no particular affection for her half-brother Baek Yeon.
The violent and arrogant little tyrant Baek Yeon had inherited his father’s cruel disposition entirely—a child who embodied the very worst of the Sect Leader’s nature.
From childhood, he was the type of person who found joy in tormenting those weaker than himself, deliberately inflicting suffering upon them.
Listening to the Sect Leader and the Sun and Moon Divine Sect’s disciples praise such behavior in Baek Yeon as the “qualities of a Heavenly Demon,” she could not hide her bitterness.
The Cheon Ma—that essential characteristic required to master the Sect Leader’s family’s secret demonic cultivation technique.
Baek So Cheong had not been born with the Cheon Ma. People subtly looked down upon her for this lack.
It was partly due to the circumstances of her birth.
She was a bastard child, born before Baek Mu Myeong married Baek Yeon’s biological mother, his first wife—her own mother’s identity never revealed to anyone.
Since the Sect Leader refused to speak of Baek So Cheong’s mother’s identity, some even whispered doubts about whether she was truly Baek Mu Myeong’s daughter at all.
Though no one dared voice such words in the Sect Leader’s presence.
Yet Baek So Cheong paid no mind to such gazes, nor did they cause her suffering.
Rather, she felt grateful that she lacked the Cheon Ma, that she had not inherited her father’s cruelty.
“I have appointed Yeon as Minor Sect Leader.”
When she returned to Chong Dan after five years of cultivation, Baek Yeon had already become Minor Sect Leader.
She accepted it as a natural outcome.
There was no law preventing a woman from becoming the Sun and Moon Divine Sect’s leader, but she harbored no desire to assume such a position—nor any other important role within the sect.
It was only natural that Yeon, who possessed the Cheon Ma, would become Minor Sect Leader.
She only regretted that she had not been by his side when he grieved the loss of his mother.
‘Would Father truly have let Yeon die?’
It was when the Minor Sect Leader’s life was threatened at the Grand Sect Gathering. The moment So Cheong sensed the presence of an assassin, she rushed forward to save him. Yet the Sect Leader restrained her, leaving her powerless to act.
The Minor Sect Leader proved to be the prodigy the world proclaimed—at merely eleven years old, he personally eliminated the assassin who had struck him down.
Had the Sect Leader wished to observe the Minor Sect Leader’s reaction? Or did he hope that the young boy would awaken his Cheon Ma all the sooner?
Baek Yeon, who awakened the Cheon Ma at such a tender age, was consumed by an intense desire to shed blood, exactly as expected.
Word reached her multiple times that the Minor Sect Leader’s uncontrolled manifestations of the Cheon Ma had nearly cost the lives of maidservants and guards.
She heard rumors that in the New Demon Small Assembly, a man named Young Ho Bin who had once challenged her was spared death only to be enslaved and tormented worse than death itself.
Watching her brother become consumed by the lust for killing with each passing day after awakening the Cheon Ma, she resolved to find what she, as his elder sister, could do for him.
She spent her time in the sect’s library, studying ancient records and various martial arts texts, researching how the Cheon Ma might be controlled—all for her brother’s sake alone.
Then that incident occurred.
At a rare family dinner gathering, the Minor Sect Leader addressed Baek So Cheong as “Miss”—a formal address.
The child who had at least maintained courtesy until now seemed to be declaring that he would no longer acknowledge her as his sister.
Moreover, he spoke matter-of-factly about his hobby—breaking a small bird’s legs, healing it, then killing it again—as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
Was there truly no way to overcome the Cheon Ma?
Would her brother Baek Yeon inevitably become a demon corrupted to his very core?
And then came the day when the Namgung Family Head and his entourage visited.
Baek Yeon saved the Guqin Playing Girl, defied the Sect Leader’s command to kill Namgung Eon, and instead spared him, bringing him into the Sun and Moon Divine Sect as a disciple.
Baek So Cheong resolved that she could not yet abandon her brother entirely.
From that moment forward, she treated Baek Yeon once more as a warm and caring sister.
Her heart held the hope that her brother would not be consumed by the demon of the Cheon Ma, and that he might at least survive as a human being.
Every time Baek Yeon revealed his violent and cruel nature, I couldn’t help but doubt whether such a thing was truly possible.
And today.
The Minor Sect Leader crossed over the Divine Sect’s fence under the cover of night when everyone slept.
Baek So Cheong discovered the Minor Sect Leader’s departure purely by chance, but it would never have happened if she hadn’t been carefully observing Baek Yeon’s actions all this time.
As Baek So Cheong watched Baek Yeon skillfully scale the Divine Sect’s wall, her anxiety reached an unprecedented height.
‘On nights when the full moon rises, the Minor Sect Leader, afflicted by Cheon Ma’s madness, wanders the night streets thirsting for blood.’
That rumor, which she had dismissed as absurd until now, came flooding back to her mind.
Baek Yeon walked without hesitation toward the Abandoned Old Temple near Chong Dan and concealed himself there.
Divine Sect disciples were gathered there, and when she realized they were attempting to kidnap a village woman and commit unspeakable acts, her heart seemed to sink.
What could Baek Yeon possibly be visiting this place for?
That question was soon answered. Baek Yeon, without anyone’s aid, eliminated the wicked disciples and saved the lives of the village woman and child.
Baek So Cheong watched from her hiding place in the grass field.
She had been prepared to help if Baek Yeon found himself in danger, but fortunately, there was no need.
And now.
The Minor Sect Leader, who had been sitting in meditation for some time, opened his eyes.
“Are you awake, little one?”
At those words, Baek So Cheong froze in place.
It was an ordinary statement, but… she had never heard the Minor Sect Leader speak in such a tone, with such a manner.
“Where is my mother?”
“Your mother is resting. She’s in the inner chamber, so go see her.”
“Okay….”
Watching Baek Yeon’s warm words and actions, Baek So Cheong recalled something he had said in the past.
How he fixed a bird with a broken wing, and said his hobby was ‘killing when hope to live is born.’
Baek So Cheong’s heart burned as she gripped the handle of the three swords at her waist.
If Baek Yeon intended to harm the child and woman as he had said before, she could not simply stand by and watch.
“Mother is sleeping.”
“She must be tired. Don’t worry too much—it’s alright.”
The child approached the Minor Sect Leader, who remained seated in meditation, and asked a question.
There was not a trace of respect toward the Minor Sect Leader of the Sun and Moon Divine Sect, but the Minor Sect Leader seemed not to mind at all.
“What are you doing, brother?”
“Me? I’m watching over you and your mother until you wake up. Making sure bad people don’t come.”
“Bad people…. Oh, where did those men from before go?”
“I drove them away.”
“You did? How?”
“Well…. I’m quite strong, you see. What do you think? Don’t I look scary?”
“You look scary.”
“Ha ha.”
“But you’re not.”
“…?”
“You look scary, brother, but you’re not a bad person.”
“…Ha ha.”
Beneath the moonlight, Baek Yeon’s smile etched itself deeply into Baek So Cheong’s mind.
“My sister said the same thing. Even among people who look frightening, there are good ones.”
“Your sister?”
“Yes. My sister plays the guqin, and a frightening person destroyed it. But an even more frightening-looking person saved my sister and bought her a new guqin. That day, he also brought meat for our family to eat.”
“Ah….”
So the Guqin Playing Girl was the child’s sister.
Baek Yeon looked just as startled as Baek So Cheong.
“But it’s strange. He’s a good person, so why does he look so frightening?”
The child’s words hung in silence for a long moment before Baek Yeon spoke again.
“Strange, you say?”
“Yes. It’s strange. Why is that? My mother is a good person, but she doesn’t look frightening at all.”
Baek Yeon smiled with a gentleness I had never seen before.
There was something melancholic about his expression.
“Sometimes, in order for a good person to remain good, they must become frightening.”
“Why?”
“Because that is the destiny they were born with.”
“What is destiny?”
“It is something you cannot help but accept, no matter how much you dislike it.”
Baek So Cheong felt as though struck by lightning in that moment.
As his only elder sister, she had always believed she understood Yeon, the Minor Sect Leader, well.
But now… how was she to comprehend what she was witnessing?
“Ah! So brother doesn’t want to be frightening, but he has no choice but to become frightening?”
“Yes. Just like that person who bought your sister the guqin.”
“He’s a pitiful person.”
“You think so?”
“Yes. Because his siblings might think he’s a bad person, even though he’s actually good, right?”
“Hmm… that’s not always the case.”
“Why?”
Baek So Cheong suddenly found herself thinking.
Perhaps she, who should have known him best as his sister,
had been harboring a terrible misunderstanding all this time.
“That person may not want to appear frightening. And yet….”
Because of the destiny called Cheon Ma, her brother suffered under heaven’s cruel punishment, innocent and alone.
Had she not hastily judged him as merely violent and cruel?
Had she not turned away, pretending not to see him struggling against his fate in solitude?
“By becoming frightening himself, he can protect many people around him.”
“People around him?”
“Yes. As you said, that frightening person might also have a sister or brother like you….”
Baek So Cheong recalled the baby bird with the broken wing from the back garden a year ago.
Baek So Cheong could not bring herself to believe Baek Yeon’s words, and so she had been visiting the back garden to observe ever since that day.
Until the young bird’s legs healed completely, and it could leave its mother’s embrace to find its own territory and fly away on its own.
During all that time, Baek Yeon would occasionally visit to confirm the bird was safe, then depart without lingering.
For a while, he wore nothing but an enigmatic smile.
“Oh? It seems Mother has awakened!”
“Little One, might I ask you for a favor?”
“What is it?”
“I must continue to appear as a frightening person, you see?”
“Ah, I understand! You have an older sister too, don’t you? It’s for her sake, isn’t it?”
“Yes, that’s right. So, would you tell others that I am a frightening person? Even to your mother?”
“Yes, I will!”
“Thank you. Now go quickly to your mother.”
“Yes!”
The Minor Sect Leader of the Sun and Moon Divine Sect.
In that place which the world condemns as the Demonic Cult, the highest position of dominion.
The Minor Sect Leader, now merely twelve years old, has nowhere to hide from the relentless tempest of blood.
There, Yeon wages a bitter struggle against his own fate.
The child’s mother, after confirming her child was unharmed, collapsed and wept for a long time.
The Minor Sect Leader merely watched from a distance.
Shortly after, the child’s mother approached Baek Yeon, knelt, and offered a deep bow.
“I do not know how to express my gratitude for your kindness.”
“There is no need for thanks. Please, rise. I shall escort you to the village entrance.”
“Though our circumstances are humble, I shall gather whatever silver we have in the house….”
“I said there is no need. I can see your poverty clearly enough. Go now and tend to your health. Do not venture out late at night henceforth.”
“Yes, my lord. Thank you most humbly.”
“Mother! This older brother frightens me! Let us go home quickly!”
“Goodness! Child, do not speak such things….”
Baek So Cheong rose from the grass field and departed, keeping herself hidden.
As she walked toward the Sun and Moon Divine Sect fence, she reflected.
The Minor Sect Leader would surely continue his performance as a cruel Minor Sect Leader.
He would continue to show her the face of a wicked younger brother.
Even as the entire world feared him, avoided him, and pointed fingers at him, he would wish to remain a frightening figure.
But.
If the Minor Sect Leader had accepted his fate and intended to continue his lonely struggle against his destiny….
Then it would not be such a grave matter if one person in this world knew his true nature.
If only one person knew his real self and supported the way he faced the world.
If only she alone stood by his side, it would cause no great harm….

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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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