Chapter 196
Chapter 196
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 196
Chapter Title: Jade Eternal Divine Demon Hand
-----------------------------------------------------------------
‘How... how does he know the Jade Eternal Divine Demon Hand...?’
Choryun plunged into deep confusion.
The Jade Eternal Divine Demon Hand was a technique that had never once been unleashed in the Central Plains, and it was the primary reason she had been entrusted with this covert operation.
Yet what was this young Daoist in front of her?
Just uttering the name of the Jade Eternal Divine Demon Hand was shocking enough, but what she had witnessed moments ago...
‘He surpassed me.’
Her throat went dry involuntarily.
A profound thirst arose as she faced this incomprehensible situation.
‘Did our cult plant a spy in the Mount Hua Sect? No, if so, they would have informed us. And if someone capable of executing the Jade Eternal Divine Demon Hand to that degree existed, I would surely know of them...’
Unable to grasp what was happening, her eyes darted about erratically, on the verge of being swallowed by chaos.
Crack...
Cheonhwi ignored her confusion completely and rolled his left shoulder.
It had been a while since he last used it.
The last time he had deployed the Jade Eternal Divine Demon Hand was when he taught it to the Raksha Ice Witch, wasn't it?
As he briefly reminisced about the past, Cheonhwi smirked at the thought of her stoic expression.
‘Who would've thought that taciturn woman would take on a disciple.’
He was recalling the Raksha Ice Witch, who had kept her distance from everyone except him.
“...Who are you?”
After staring at Cheonhwi for a long while, Choryun finally pried her lips apart with effort.
It was a question born from prolonged deliberation.
A question laden with layers of meaning.
How did he know and perform the Jade Eternal Divine Demon Hand?
Did he have ties to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult?
But his response was...
“I told you earlier. I'm Cheonhwi.”
A simple reply brimming with amusement.
“...”
Choryun bit her lower lip hard and glared at Cheonhwi with icy coldness.
She realized from his answer that further conversation was pointless. Her gaze turned as frigid as a block of ice.
‘At least I've learned one thing.’
She slowly began to circulate her inner energy.
Transparent true qi flowed from her body, meticulously enveloping both hands.
It was the activation of her cultivation method, the Jade Eternal Divine Demon Qi Art.
‘He's not affiliated with our cult.’
Her eyes flashed coldly.
If he had any connection to the Divine Cult, he would have let something slip somehow.
But he hadn't.
‘I can't comprehend how he performed the Jade Eternal Divine Demon Hand, but that's a matter for later.’
She regulated her breathing steadily.
She had many questions about him, but the duel took precedence right now.
Swooo...
As her aura subtly spread, quietly asserting her presence.
Screeech!
Suddenly, the sound of air being rent apart rang out.
Cheonhwi's sword was already swinging down toward Choryun's crown as if to split her skull.
It was a sword strike of astonishing speed.
So fast that its trajectory was barely visible, but her body reacted first, pursuing the sword swiftly.
Whoosh...
The superior energy sliced through the air like a whip, targeting the blade. She aimed to lash the descending sword face and deflect it.
But.
Whoosh...
The superior energy sliced futilely through empty air.
Because Cheonhwi, mid-swing, had vanished like a flickering shadow.
“...!”
Choryun lost track of him for an instant and gasped, heightening her senses.
‘Left...!’
She quickly detected his presence and turned her head, only to flinch.
Cheonhwi had closed in, swinging his sword.
Boom!
Reflexively, she planted her stance.
Twisting her waist with utmost ferocity, she thrust her palm forward.
The transparent Jade Eternal Divine Demon Hand, reflecting the sunlight, shot toward Cheonhwi's face.
An instantaneous counterattack.
However.
Clang!
Regrettably, the launched Jade Eternal Divine Demon Hand was blocked by Cheonhwi's sword.
‘This easily?’
Choryun's mouth fell slightly open.
Disbelief surged within her.
It wasn't full power, but she had infused it with seventy percent of her energy.
Yet he blocked it effortlessly.
‘At this rate, it'll be tough.’
As Choryun steeled herself with a resolute expression, her eyes gleaming.
“Not coming at me harder? Then should I come to you?”
Cheonhwi stepped toward the rigid Choryun, closing the distance one step at a time.
Slow, leisurely steps.
Utterly defenseless steps. Choryun's eyebrow twitched faintly.
‘He underestimates me?’
Her eyes sharpened at his pride-stinging actions.
In that moment.
Rooooar...
Her robes billowed violently.
Gale-force winds whipped around, and an intense chill radiated from her center.
A bone-white frost descended upon the dueling ground, as if midwinter had arrived.
Crack...
Soon, all the frost gathered in her hand, forming a translucent palm.
Cheonhwi's eyes widened slightly at the sight.
“What? You completed that?”
A smile crept onto his lips.
The qi manifestation she displayed was identical to the technique the Raksha Ice Witch had devised in her determination to surpass him.
“Pure Hand Demonic Art, was it? I recall it had a similar name...”
As Cheonhwi pondered the technique's name from his past life.
Split!
Choryun's frost-gathered palm thrust forward, unleashing a torrent of fierce energy.
It engulfed Cheonhwi's entire body in an instant, like a tidal wave crashing down.
‘I must kill him.’
With murderous intent firm, a venomous killing aura exploded from her entire being.
The plan to spare him and win public favor had long vanished.
He could not be left alive.
He had to die, no matter what.
For the sake of the future.
‘Before he grows even stronger!’
The moment the ferocious Pure Hand Demonic Art, laden with brutal frost, fully swept over Cheonhwi.
“...!”
Her eyes widened in shock.
An unbelievable sight unfolded.
The formidable energy of the Pure Hand Demonic Art began to crack apart, and from the fissures, something red seeped out.
Like a sprout emerging from split earth, it peeked out tiny, then blossomed into a full plum flower.
‘A plum blossom...?’
As she stared dazedly at the plum blossom, the Pure Hand Demonic Art tore in half.
Riiip!
Cheonhwi, who had shredded the Pure Hand Demonic Art blanketing the dueling ground, tilted his head.
“Disappointing. I heard the Pure Hand Demonic Art could freeze the world when fully unleashed, but this wouldn't even freeze water.”
His indifferent voice struck Choryun's ears. But she had no time to heed his words properly.
‘H-how can this be...’
Something unimaginable had occurred.
The Pure Hand Demonic Art was one of the absolute techniques counted on one hand within the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. Even if her proficiency was still lacking and incomplete.
The power it contained was undeniable!
Yet it had been dismantled, crumbling before her eyes.
Not just crumbling—it had been brutally crushed and shattered.
‘How could this happen?’
Cold sweat beaded on her forehead, trickling down to her chin.
Drip.
A drop fell onto the dueling ground.
“Show me your full power. Or should I force it out of you?”
A chilling voice rang out, and Cheonhwi kicked off the ground briefly, moving in.
Choryun instinctively leaped sideways, gnawing her lower lip.
Her beautiful face twisted into a demonic snarl.
At the same time, her eyes darkened.
Into an unfathomable abyss.
As a disciple of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, failure was not an option.
Soon, she unleashed all her inner energy.
Craaaack!
The deployed Pure Hand Demonic Art froze the air, whipping up a fierce wind around her.
It was a chill that stole the breath.
So intense that even the sunlight seemed it might freeze solid near her.
“Huu.”
She exhaled deeply.
White breath flowed from her lips. After gazing at Cheonhwi with her transparently sunken eyes for a moment, she slowly planted her stance.
Thud.
A dull thud.
Her body lurched forward.
Her palm, brimming with chill intense enough to freeze and shatter anything it touched, hurtled toward Cheonhwi.
But.
Tap...
Cheonhwi's sword blade struck her hand.
The Pure Hand Demonic Art lost direction in an instant, veering away from Cheonhwi.
Booom!
It upended the dueling ground's floor.
Dust billowed up, obscuring their vision.
But this time, Choryun didn't panic. Having acknowledged his extraordinary skill through several clashes, she maintained her tension even after the failed attack.
She immediately tensed her toes.
Whoosh!
Bursting forward at terrifying speed through the dust, her left hand unleashed sharp, domineering power.
A technique that seemed merely a straight thrust.
But it was one of the Pure Hand Demonic Art's ultimate moves: Pure Hand Heaven-Exterminating.
A white hand that destroyed the heavens.
True to its name, the white hand expanded in an instant, splitting the sky in two.
Boooom!
The sturdy stone dueling ground shattered into pieces, debris exploding outward.
Gasp!
The crowd's faces paled.
Chunks of the broken dueling ground rained toward them.
“Aaaah!”
“D-dodge!”
As the crowd scrambled in panic like a bolt from the blue.
“Everyone, help!”
“What are you waiting for? Move!”
Daoists from Jongnam and Mount Hua sprang up hurriedly, rushing into action.
The crowd clasped their hands in gratitude at the Daoists' appearance.
“P-please save us!”
“We beg you!”
The Daoists raised their swords skyward, ignoring the tearful pleas from behind.
“Block them all!”
With Ha Woojin's booming shout, their swords sliced through the falling rocks like a storm, kicking debris aside.
Not just one or two—a few pierced through and plummeted toward them.
“Get out of the way!”
“Stay behind me.”
Martial artists among the crowd stepped forward, deflecting or kicking away the remnants.
Moments later, the commotion subsided.
Whoosh...
The wind blew, revealing the dueling ground.
One half of the once-sturdy, if makeshift, platform was utterly demolished.
“My god...”
“Unbelievable...”
The crowd was speechless.
Especially those versed in martial arts were stunned beyond measure.
‘Does such a technique exist?’
‘Is this human power?’
Even the Daoists of Mount Hua and Jongnam were momentarily dumbfounded by the destructive scene.
Then Ha Woojin turned his gaze.
“Where's Cheonhwi...”
Scanning the dueling ground swiftly, his eyes spotted Choryun before Cheonhwi.
Seeing her, he smiled.
Despite unleashing such a ferocious technique, her lips trembled.
What else could that mean?
The moment his gaze followed her shaking eyes.
“That was refreshing.”
An amused voice rang out.
Cheonhwi slowly emerged from the debris of the shattered platform.
Brushing back his disheveled hair, he paused to dust off his shoulders.
“Makes me want to learn it myself for hot days.”
Choryun stared in blank despair at him approaching unscathed.
It was none other than Pure Hand Heaven-Exterminating.
An ultimate technique few in the Divine Cult could properly withstand, save a handful.
Yet the young Daoist before her had taken it.
Not only taken it—he stood there nonchalantly, as if nothing had happened.
Then Cheonhwi stepped forward again.
Step... step...
As he trod over the wreckage, Choryun's heart pounded.
She flinched and backpedaled.
Seeing her retreat with each of his steps, Cheonhwi grinned and halted his advance.
“Since I enjoyed the show, allow me to return the favor...”
He raised his sword, manifesting the Plum Blossom Divine Art.
An even more transparent and refined energy enveloped the blade than Choryun's.
Then color infused the energy.
A vivid crimson, like blood.
A vibrant, lively red.
“Behold the sword of Mount Hua.”
Cheonhwi dropped his sword downward.
As the blade traced a gentle arc, the red energy writhed.
Whoosh...
Plum blossoms bloomed everywhere.
So breathtaking that even the onlookers—and Choryun herself—were momentarily entranced.