Heavenly Demon of Mount Hua

Chapter 34

—–CROW—– 

“Now that’s better.”

Cheon-hwi lightly rested his sheath on his shoulder, looking down at the Plum Blossom Swordsmen sprawled on the ground.

They were in a sorry state.

Their faces were swollen, and their robes were covered in dirt. He knew their bodies hidden beneath the robes were also in a mess.

“Yes, now you look like martial artists. That’s the look a martial artist should have.”

Cheon-hwi was pleased, not with their physical state, but with the change in their eyes.

Perhaps it was thanks to the repeated beatings.

After twelve days, a vicious glint had appeared in their eyes.

Not only that, but they had also become adept at dodging, not wanting to experience the pain again, and they wielded their swords more cautiously, knowing he would end the sparring if they landed even a single blow.

The effect was tremendous.

Their vision, once clouded by nervousness, now grasped his sword movements and techniques, and their swordsmanship had become sharper and more efficient.

However…

“…Stop.”

“Please.”

“Spare me…”

Tears welled up in the Plum Blossom Swordsmen’s eyes.

They knew better than anyone how much they had improved in such a short time.

But what good was it?

Cheon-hwi’s sword movements, once a blur, were now only perceived as afterimages of his sheath.

Whenever they swung their swords, they felt like they were cutting through empty air.

The vast difference in skill.

The more they sparred, the more they realized the gap between them and Cheon-hwi.

And…

Thwack! Thwack!

“S-Stop…”

In the end, all that awaited them was a beating disguised as training, and pain.

As the Plum Blossom Swordsmen were on the verge of collapsing.

“Now that your eyes have been opened, shall we move on to the next stage?”

The haggard faces of the Plum Blossom Swordsmen finally brightened at Cheon-hwi’s words.

“Finally…”

“…It’s over.”

“R-Really?!”

“So we don’t have to get beaten anymore…!”

“Oh! Amitabha! Heavenly Lord Yuan Shi!”

They cheered and wiped away their tears, as if they had found a drop of rain in a drought.

It wasn’t because they were moving on to the next stage.

It was the prospect of escaping the beatings that made them rejoice.

But did they know?

That an even more arduous path awaited them.

“Then get up.”

Cheon-hwi called them to their feet.

“Groan—”

The Plum Blossom Swordsmen winced in pain as they moved, their bodies still sore, and staggered to their feet.

Once they were all up, Cheon-hwi spoke,

“You’ve opened your most important eyes…”

The Plum Blossom Swordsmen focused their attention and pricked up their ears at his words.

“Now let’s move on to the next stage.”

“D-Don’t tell me…!”

“…N-No, right?”

Jeok-geom and Seol-ran’s faces turned pale as they seemed to recall something at the mention of the “next stage.” They pleaded with desperate eyes,

“Didn’t we already do that?”

“Senior Disciple, we already did it.”

“I told you, learning never ends.”

But Cheon-hwi coldly dismissed their pleas and continued,

“The next stage is posture.”

“Senior Disciple, please, not that…”

“Can’t we just spar instead?”

Jeok-geom and Seol-ran shuddered as soon as Cheon-hwi mentioned “posture.”

But Cheon-hwi ignored them and turned to the other three, who were looking bewildered.

“You three. You know the Three Talents Sword Formation, right?”

“Uh…”

Jeok-geom and Seol-ran collapsed limply, as if their souls had left their bodies.

As the other Plum Blossom Swordsmen stared at them blankly, Cheon-hwi lowered his voice,

“You don’t?”

They hurriedly replied,

“Y-Yes, we do!”

“We know it!”

“Of course we do!”

“Then from now on, execute the Three Talents Sword Formation ten thousand times every day.”

The Plum Blossom Swordsmen cleaned their ears, wondering if they had heard correctly, then realized they had and shouted in shock,

“T-Ten thousand times? Impossible!”

“How can we do it ten thousand times a day?!”

“Impossible!”

“Impossible? What are you talking about? These two already did it two years ago.”

Jeok-geom and Seol-ran shuddered.

“Please stop…”

“M-My arms won’t move. Please, just let us rest for today…”

They muttered blankly, clutching their hair, as if recalling that time.

“Then do you want to do it another way?”

Cheon-hwi’s lips curled into a smirk.

“I’ll swing my sword.”

“M-Me too!”

Jeok-geom and Seol-ran drew their swords.

They began swinging their swords before anyone could say anything, and Cheon-hwi nodded with a satisfied expression.

He then asked the other Plum Blossom Swordsmen,

“If you want to do it another way, come here.”

As the Plum Blossom Swordsmen hesitantly approached at his beckoning, Jeok-geom and Seol-ran looked at them with pity.

The Plum Blossom Swordsmen, realizing that something was terribly wrong, spoke hurriedly,

“I-I’ll swing my sword too.”

“Senior Disciple, I’ll also swing my sword…”

“Me too…”

But their words were meaningless.

Cheon-hwi had already made it clear that he wouldn’t allow them to simply swing their swords.

“Too late.”

At his forceful words, the three hesitated, then slumped to the ground.

“What I’m about to demonstrate is a Confucian Qi cultivation technique called Body Transformation Qi Art.”

He moved his hands as he spoke.

Flash!

Afterimages filled the air, and he swiftly struck their pressure points.

“This Confucian Qi cultivation technique is excellent for loosening and increasing the flexibility of the body’s stiff muscles, making it ideal for training a martial artist’s body.”

The three felt a sense of relief at his explanation, which was different from what they had expected.

But their relief was short-lived.  Nothing happened even after he struck their pressure points, and Jeok-un cautiously asked Cheon-hwi,

“Does such a technique even exist?”

“Why? Do you think it doesn’t?”

“Then why hasn’t anyone learned it?”

“Because there’s a problem with it.”

Cheon-hwi paused.

The Plum Blossom Swordsmen, including Jeok-un, frowned at the word “problem.”

“What’s the problem?”

“It hurts a bit.”

“It hurts?”

“Huh? Is that all?”

“How much does it hurt…?”

“Probably like having your muscles and bones separated and rearranged.”

“S-Separated and rearranged?!”

The three gasped simultaneously.

What was separating and rearranging muscles and bones?

It was a wicked and cruel technique used only as a last resort in torture.

And he was saying it was similar to that pain?

“I-I’ll swing my sword!”

“Me too!”

“Me three…”

Just as the three were about to jump up.

“I told you, it’s too late.”

Crack—

An ominous sound echoed.

The three looked at their bodies anxiously as the sound reverberated, then screamed at the top of their lungs.

“Aaagh!”

Their arms, legs, no, their entire bodies’ muscles and bones were twisting grotesquely, as if insects were crawling inside them.

Cheon-hwi, scanning each of them as the Body Transformation Qi Art took effect, nodded with a satisfied smile.

“Perfect.”

The Body Transformation Qi Art was a Confucian Qi cultivation technique from the Podallap Palace that he had found in the Heavenly Demon’s library. It was a unique martial art that maximized the body’s flexibility rather than internal energy.

‘It’s a good external skill for physical training.’

He nodded slightly.

It had been a very successful technique when he tested it on Jeok-geom and Seol-ran three years ago.

Cheon-hwi smiled at the three.

“See? I told you. It’s exactly like having your muscles and bones separated and rearranged, right?”

The three’s eyes rolled back at his horrifying words, which contrasted sharply with his bright smile.

Gurgle—

He frowned, watching the three foaming at the mouth in pain.

‘They’re already passing out?’

He saw that they had fainted from the pain, their screams silenced, and reached out to press the pressure point on their necks.

Flash!

Their eyes snapped open.

Forced awake, they writhed in pain again.

“Why are you losing consciousness?  I’m about to explain the Body Transformation Qi Art, so listen carefully.”

He spoke unilaterally and began his explanation.

“By making your muscles and bones flexible, when you swing your sword…”

The explanation continued.

But was the pain too much to bear?

Cheon-hwi’s explanation didn’t register in their minds.

After a while.

Collapse—

The three, finally freed from the Body Transformation Qi Art, twitched and buried their faces in the ground.

Cheon-hwi finished his explanation.

“…It’ll make it easier to swing your sword.  Huh? What are you doing? Wake up. I went through all this trouble because you didn’t want to train, and now you’re collapsing?”

Cheon-hwi sneered, but his words didn’t reach the three, who had already fainted.

And that was exactly what Cheon-hwi intended.

“Oh well. If you can’t recite my explanation next time, I’ll double the pain, so memorize it well.”

He said those devastating words to the unconscious trio and turned around.

He saw Jeok-geom and Seol-ran, who had stopped swinging their swords, looking at the three with pity.

‘Oh ho, look at these two.’

He immediately spoke to them,

“You seem to have some energy left.”

“N-No, we don’t.”

The two flinched and increased the speed of their sword swings.

“Yes, that’s right.”

Cheon-hwi turned his gaze, listening to the heavy sounds, different from before.

‘They’re still here?’

He glared coldly at those who were only watching from afar, not approaching after he had killed one of them three days ago.

“I’ll catch them all tonight.”

***

A group of shadows entered Xianyang County.

Whoosh— Whoosh—

The man at the front of the group, the Reclusive Slayer, who had returned after reporting the situation to the Hundred Ghosts Castle, was in a foul mood.

‘So I ended up taking over everything.’

He recalled his meeting with the Castle Lord.

Dressed entirely in white, the Castle Lord had exuded an icy aura upon hearing his report and coldly ordered,

‘Erase the Swift Wind Trading Company from existence, taking over the Hegemon Clan’s role.’

His and the Soul Slaughter Squad’s original mission was to ambush and kill the Plum Blossom Swordsmen and the key figures of Mount Hua Sect who had come to seek revenge for the Swift Wind Trading Company.

But now, the plan had gone awry.

The Hegemon Clan’s attack, which they had been certain would succeed, had not only failed but also ended with the Cold-Faced Blade Demon’s death, and the Hegemon Clan had been annihilated by an unknown perpetrator.

With things going wrong from the start, they couldn’t proceed with the subsequent missions.

In the end, he had to start from scratch.

So, he had left the Hundred Ghosts Castle with the Soul Slaughter Squad for the first time in nearly twenty years to carry out the mission.

‘The grudge from thirteen years ago runs deep.’

The Reclusive Slayer chuckled dryly.

There was only one reason why they had nurtured the Hegemon Clan and gathered experts in Shaanxi Province.

To annihilate Mount Hua Sect.

It was the perfect opportunity to avenge the deaths of the Annihilation Unit Leader and the Annihilation Unit, and for the Hundred Ghosts Castle, whose reputation and influence had plummeted, to rise again.

That was their plan.

The Mount Hua Annihilation Plan.

‘I need to meet with the men I left behind for surveillance and then erase the Swift Wind Trading Company without a trace tonight…’

He spotted his men and stopped using his movement technique. The fifty Soul Slaughter Squad members following him also stopped.

“Leader.”

The Reclusive Slayer looked at the Soul Slaughter Squad members, whose numbers had been reduced by half since he assigned them the mission, and raised an eyebrow.

“Sam-hon. Where are the rest?”

The Reclusive Slayer’s gaze turned icy.

Sam-hon trembled under his cold stare and replied,

“W-We lost contact with them.”

“Lost contact?”

Sam-hon nodded slightly.

“We sent them one by one to surveil the Plum Blossom Swordsmen at the Swift Wind Trading Company, but we lost contact with all of them.”

“Weren’t they all novices?”

“The Plum Blossom Swordsmen are. Their skills are just barely above first-rate, not yet reaching the peak.”

The Reclusive Slayer’s mind raced as he began to deduce,

“There must be an elder-level expert.”

“I can’t be certain, but it’s highly likely.”

“So there was one after all.”

The Reclusive Slayer frowned, as if he had already anticipated this.

Unexpected casualties had occurred before the mission even began.

The Reclusive Slayer pulled out a mask from his pocket and put it on, then spoke,

“The Castle Lord has given a new order.”

Sam-hon and the Soul Slaughter Squad members bowed deeply at his words.

“Tonight, the Swift Wind Trading Company will be erased from existence.”

“Yes, sir!”

The Soul Slaughter Squad members’ eyes gleamed.

Despite hearing Sam-hon’s words about an elder-level expert, they were all confident of success, including the Reclusive Slayer.

It was only natural.

Their opponents were just five Plum Blossom Swordsmen from Mount Hua Sect and one person presumed to be an elder.

On the other hand, the Soul Slaughter Squad had the power to annihilate an entire clan overnight.

Failure was unlikely.

‘It’s been a while since we all moved together.’

The Reclusive Slayer smiled grimly.

The Soul Slaughter Squad was the most secretive unit among the three combat units of the Hundred Ghosts Castle, a hidden weapon.

So, while they were sometimes assigned individual missions, it was rare for all of them to carry out a mission together.

‘Was it ten years ago when we annihilated the Ghost Blood Gang?’

He recalled the night they destroyed the Ghost Blood Gang, which had once ruled Yurim County.

The night of bloodshed and screams.

‘It’s been a while since I’ve seen some blood.’

Just as he licked his lips with a twisted smile, excited.

Sweep—

A shadow suddenly appeared in front of him.

“What are you doing here?”

—–CROW—– 

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