Chapter 163
Chapter 163
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 163
Chapter Title: Remnant of the Heavenly Family
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Cheonhwi watched the ink flame rapidly spreading, even devouring the old man's white hair and eyebrows down to the roots, and muttered with a puzzled expression.
"I never thought I'd see that flame again in the Central Plains."
"……?"
The old man's eyebrows twitched.
'He’s seen this before?'
It was an absurd claim.
This ink flame—no, the Demonic Fire—was the product of an unparalleled divine art that had appeared in the Central Plains only a handful of times.
And among the people of the current era who had witnessed this Demonic Fire, there were at most a dozen.
All of them figures from long ago.
'No way a young punk like that would know...'
Just as he dismissed it as nonsense,
"Why has the Heavenly Family emerged into the Central Plains? They never leave the Divine Cult unless it's something major."
"……!"
The old man’s eyes widened in shock.
"How do you know of the Heavenly Family...?"
"Who else but the Heavenly Family could cultivate the Nine Seclusions Demon Fire Art?"
The old man's pupils trembled like aspen leaves at Cheonhwi's calm words.
The successive revelations shook his composure more than any recent events.
Perhaps he could have recognized it as Demonic Fire.
But this was different.
In the entire world, only one place knew that this Nine Seclusions Demon Fire Art was tied to the Heavenly Family!
'...Has the Divine Cult tracked me down!'
The old man bit his lip.
He had thought the intruder was just some nobody, but clearly not.
'Did they even destroy the Black Oil Sect just to lure me out?'
The old man's eyebrows twitched again.
Destroying a sect and slaughtering everyone just to draw him out?
Any other group might hesitate, but the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was more than capable of it.
Gulp—
He swallowed dryly.
The reason the once-infamous Mad Blood Demon had lurked in the shadows, aiding black path scum, was singular.
To evade the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
'After all this time, they’re still after me!'
Fear flickered in his eyes.
The old man hurriedly extended his senses.
The Demonic Fire blazing around him thinned into fine threads, spreading outward.
Fortunately, no one surrounded him yet—they weren't certain of his presence here.
Which meant...
'Just kill this guy!'
The old man's eyes gleamed with murderous intent.
Now that the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult knew his location, he had to flee immediately.
And to do that, he needed to eliminate the man before him and erase all traces.
As the old man withdrew the ink flame,
Whoosh!
It erupted wildly, true to the name Nine Seclusions Demon Fire—like flames roaring from the depths of hell.
Flash!
The old man's eyes sharpened.
Simultaneously, the flames extinguished with a whoosh, and he vanished.
Unleashing the Heaven-Slaying Supreme Spirit Step, he shrank the distance to Cheonhwi in an instant, thrusting out his palm strike.
Nine Seclusions Heaven-Binding Seal!
One of the demonic path's supreme hand techniques enveloped Cheonhwi.
"...Have you lost your mind?"
Cheonhwi half-closed his eyes.
In his previous life, he was the Absolute Heavenly Demon, the demonic overlord who had subjugated not just the Heavenly Family but all Five Great Families to claim the Cult Leader's throne.
He knew every demonic ultimate art they cultivated, including their counters.
And this fool tried the Nine Seclusions Heaven-Binding Seal?
Not even a scoff escaped him.
Cheonhwi twisted his body left, executing Ethereal Heaven Steps, and lightly kicked off the ground.
Boom!
The spot where Cheonhwi had stood exploded, unleashing a storm of force.
The shockwave lifted his hair and billowed his robes.
In that moment,
Whoosh!
A palm pierced through the storm.
"Predictable."
Cheonhwi tilted his head aside, and the palm sliced empty air.
Bang! A delayed sonic boom ruptured the air, blanketing the area in searing heat.
Followed by a wave of foul demonic energy.
"Next one's here, huh."
Turning, Cheonhwi swung his hand.
His sword, now drawn, slashed toward his empty left side.
Thud!
A dull impact rang out, and the old man materialized in midair, eyes wide in horror.
"How did you counter it all...!"
It was his full-power Nine Seclusions Seal.
Yet the opponent dodged everything with mere body twists, as if he knew it inside out.
'No way... from the Heavenly Family...'
The old man's face twisted grotesquely.
He unleashed his killing intent explosively.
Streams of it intertwined with the Demonic Fire, warping space itself.
Hm?
Cheonhwi regarded him with interest.
'This level... practically an elder.'
The old man's demonic energy was vast enough for an elder of the Five Great Families, dense and potent.
Then the old man raised his palms.
The accompanying ink flame twisted bizarrely, forming a ring.
"Kill him."
The old man murmured lowly.
The ink flame ring surged toward Cheonhwi.
And that wasn't all.
Whoosh!
The old man launched himself too.
Coordinating with the flying ring, he pounced at Cheonhwi.
'...A new demonic ultimate art?'
A smile curled Cheonhwi's lips.
The novel technique was enough to excite him.
Cheonhwi pointed his sword tip at him.
Plum Blossom Divine Art's internal energy infused it with visible sword force.
Then his sword moved.
Screeech—
Clashing with the ink flame ring produced a grating sound that made one's eyes water.
But Cheonhwi ignored it, twisting his swung sword to deflect.
Clang!
Sparks flew.
The repelled ring vanished swiftly, but in its wake, the old man—having closed in unnoticed—spread his palms wide and thrust forward.
Bang!
Air burst instantly, sending Cheonhwi flying.
'Not bad.'
Cheonhwi neutralized the force with a back leap, his smile deepening.
Then he executed Thousand Catties Drop.
His soles hit the ground,
Tap—
and immediately followed with Divine Movement Hundred Transformations.
Closing the gap in a breath, Cheonhwi slashed upward from below.
"You bastard!"
The old man slammed his palms down.
Boom!
Another explosion rocked the area.
From there, the old man unleashed his full internal energy, deploying every demonic ultimate art he knew.
Cheonhwi countered the onslaught, sword dancing.
Clang! Clang!
His sword-gripping hands numbed, but his smile endured.
'A demonic art after so long.'
Appreciating the techniques while dodging or blocking,
'I figured they wouldn't send an ordinary fool, but this is impressive...!'
Impatience gripped the old man.
His attacks were being neutralized.
'Kill him quick! Or the Nine Seclusions Demon Fire Art will consume me...'
Then, something snapped in his mind.
Whoosh!
His internal energy boiled over.
Veins burst; his eyes turned bloodshot, madness consuming him.
"Kuh, kuheheh!"
The old man burst into mad laughter.
The Nine Seclusions Demon Fire Art rampaged, dripping demonic energy.
"Hm?"
Cheonhwi frowned.
The old man, drawing on innate qi in a frenzy, matched scenes Cheonhwi had witnessed many times before.
"Qi Deviation? That's odd. The Nine Seclusions Demon Fire Art doesn't lead to rampage."
Thud!
The old man stamped the ground.
The three-chi radius cracked, unleashing a fierce shockwave.
Now before Cheonhwi, he crossed his palms and thrust.
Whooosh—
Ink flame-wreathed palms, radiating intense heat, pierced Cheonhwi's abdomen.
Crack!
Space between them fractured like a spiderweb.
Cheonhwi gripped the embedded palms indifferently and murmured.
"No wonder the attacks felt simplistic compared to your internal energy and skill."
His gaze pierced the old man.
Precisely, at the qi and blood disruption in his head.
"You're only half-baked."
Cheonhwi activated Absolute Dominion Art.
Irresistible absolute aura flowed from him.
"Ugh, uuuugh!"
The old man clutched his head.
"Let's get your mind straight first."
With that, Cheonhwi raised his index finger.
A flash streaked.
Soul Annihilation Finger!
The absolute finger art that subjugated the Divine Cult's masters with one digit pierced the old man's tangled qi and blood.
Shhh—
The rampaging old man halted, eyes glazing over blankly.
As if his soul had fled.
His body felt endlessly light, senses fading one by one.
Cheonhwi sheathed his sword, eyeing the dazed old man staring skyward.
"Time to snap out of it."
No sooner had he spoken,
Shhh—
Vitality returned to the clouded eyes.
Regaining his senses, he spotted Cheonhwi and gasped.
"Hup!"
Though Qi Deviation had briefly stolen his reason, Cheonhwi's image was seared deeper than anything into his mind.
'The Divine Cult is dead set on killing me.'
Biting his lip, he stared straight at Cheonhwi and spoke.
"...Kill me."
Cheonhwi tilted his head.
"Hm? Want to die? I spared you on purpose, didn't expect you'd want death."
The old man's eyes bulged.
"You're not here to kill me...?"
"What are you talking about? You were the one trying to kill me."
"......"
Stuck at the core truth, the old man fell silent.
"Anyway, let's talk."
"Talk...?"
"Why would I spare you without reason? I want something."
"If we talk, you'll let me live?"
"Depends on what you say."
As the old man's face twisted at Cheonhwi's casual tone—tossing life and death like swatting a bug—
"You never learned the latter half of the Nine Seclusions Demon Fire Art, right?"
The old man's eyes nearly popped at the immediate first question.
"H-How...?"
"Obvious from watching. If you'd mastered it properly, you wouldn't have ended up like that."
The old man's lips pursed at Cheonhwi's sharp words.
"Just as you said, I only learned the first half."
He didn't elaborate why.
And Cheonhwi didn't ask.
It was enough.
'Definitely from the Heavenly Family.'
The arts he'd shown confirmed it.
He just hadn't mastered the crucial latter half.
And that implication was huge.
The Heavenly Family wouldn't leave a half-trained Nine Seclusions Demon Fire Art practitioner be.
Yet here he was, so...
'Must've defected from the Divine Cult long ago.'
As Cheonhwi inferred from the exchange,
'Tch, making me recall that day.'
His name was Cheonyanggong, one of the Heavenly Family's rare direct bloodlines.
A prized prodigy nurtured with utmost care, but around age thirty,
he committed an irredeemable blunder and fled to the Central Plains to avoid death.
He planned to live in hiding.
But he lasted mere years.
Young and vigorous, with exceptional martial arts—how could he resist?
Eventually, he ventured into the jianghu, rampaging with his half-learned Nine Seclusions Demon Fire Art.
Quickly earning infamy as the Mad Blood Demon...
But a long tail gets caught, as they say.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult pursued him relentlessly, forcing him back into hiding.
For over fifty years.
As his thoughts deepened,
'Hm, his skill is impressive. Aside from the Qi Deviation...'
Cheonhwi murmured lowly, gazing at Cheonyanggong.
"Want me to teach you the latter half formula?"