Chapter 353
Chapter 353
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 353
Chapter Title: Patriarch of the Cheonbong Clan
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‘The reaction’s good, huh?’
Cheonhwi murmured inwardly while staring at the Evil-Black Alliance Leader.
The Alliance Leader’s steps, which had been moving to descend the Iryeong Mountains, had completely stopped at some point.
Right after the sound transmission he had sent.
And that behavior from the Alliance Leader instantly cooled the atmosphere that had slightly relaxed with the end of the agreement.
Since appearing here, the Alliance Leader had maintained an indifferent demeanor, quietly observing the situation and issuing only brief commands—a thoroughly detached attitude.
For such a man to suddenly halt in his tracks and exude a strange aura...
Naturally, tension rippled through the Murim Alliance side.
“Is there more to discuss, Alliance Leader?”
The Murim Alliance Leader asked in a low voice.
He responded calmly to the sudden halt, but the Alliance Leader’s escorts right beside him instantly surged their inner energy, ready to unleash their stances at any moment.
They were preparing for any possible contingency.
And one would expect the Evil-Black Alliance escorts to mirror that wariness and adopt combat readiness in response...
“……”
But they were simply staring at their Alliance Leader.
With slightly surprised expressions.
“What is it, Alliance Leader?”
“Alliance Leader?”
“……”
“What’s going on?”
Those who had been scrutinizing the Alliance Leader’s face as they spoke clamped their mouths shut.
It was an instinctive, enforced silence.
Through his windswept hair, the Alliance Leader’s eyes had sunk into a profound stillness.
Enough to make one feel suffocated just by looking...
Like the gaze of the underworld itself.
Suddenly.
Smoothly—
The Alliance Leader slowly tilted his head.
An exceedingly languid motion.
His head, moving slowly, came to a stop toward the Murim Alliance side, and he simply stared at them in silence.
How much time passed like that?
Probably not even a single breath.
Yet to everyone present, that silence felt like an eternity.
Then, at some point.
Smoothly—
The Alliance Leader took a step forward.
Not toward the direction descending the Iryeong Mountains, but toward the Murim Alliance.
Whoosh!
As the Alliance Leader drew near, the Murim Alliance escorts each surged their inner energy.
The peerless martial art of Heavenly Martial Duke, Heavenly Yang Conclusion.
The supreme art of the Beggars’ Sect, Hundred Ties Lotus Flower Divine Art.
Heavenly Dragon Guest’s Taibai One Heart Method.
And even Jongnam Sword Sage’s domineering protective divine art, Galaxy Heavenly Strong Divine Art.
The aura emanating from these four masters at the Heavenly Martial Realm—said to touch the heavens—grew increasingly intense, as if to block the approaching Alliance Leader.
For an instant, the air trembled.
The vast skies over the Iryeong Mountains filled with their radiating energy.
Woooong—
A sound like wailing ghosts echoed, resounding throughout the Iryeong Mountains.
As if the mountains themselves were screaming, unable to withstand their power.
Their momentum surged like waves to halt the Alliance Leader’s approach.
But.
Thud, thud.
The man himself showed no intention of stopping, advancing step by step with an utterly indifferent demeanor, not leaking even a trace of energy, let alone momentum.
Just as he was about to enter the Murim Alliance’s domain.
“Withdraw your energy.”
The Murim Alliance Leader spoke.
“Alliance Leader, the opponent is the Evil-Black Alliance Leader. We don’t know what he might—”
“We’ve already forged an agreement. Why be so guarded? Besides, if he intended mischief, he wouldn’t approach like this.”
The Murim Alliance Leader curtly cut off Heavenly Dragon Guest, who spoke with deep skepticism.
“And look over there. If we’re the only ones overreacting, what will they think?”
He gestured toward the Evil-Black Alliance side with his eyes.
As he said, the Evil-Black side was utterly still.
Despite their Alliance Leader stepping into the prickly domain of their opponents, they simply watched.
With faces showing no worry at all.
Utter trust.
“……”
Confirming this, the Murim Alliance escorts promptly retracted their momentum.
The trembling earth stilled in an instant, and the mournful echoes vanished.
And as if timing it perfectly.
Thud.
The Alliance Leader halted his steps.
About three zhang from the Murim Alliance side.
“Is there more to say?”
The Murim Alliance Leader asked.
A faint smile playing on his lips.
“There is.”
The Alliance Leader answered the question in a low voice, then suddenly turned his head.
At the end of his gaze was one person.
“……!”
Everyone, from both Murim Alliance and Evil-Black Alliance, widened their eyes upon identifying the object of his attention.
And at that moment.
Whoosh!
Heavenly Martial Duke and Jongnam Sword Sage kicked off the ground.
Unfurling their ultimate protective stances, the two positioned themselves before the Alliance Leader, glaring fiercely.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“……”
The pair reacted sharply.
Because the one he had fixed his gaze upon was none other than Cheonhwi.
As the two stood blocking the way to protect Cheonhwi.
“Looks like he has something to say to me?”
A voice came from midair.
At the same time, a faint afterimage flickered in the air, and Cheonhwi appeared.
“Step back.”
“It’s dangerous.”
Heavenly Martial Duke and Jongnam Sword Sage urgently tried to push away the suddenly appearing Cheonhwi.
But.
“The dangerous ones are you two, not me.”
Cheonhwi casually chided them instead, maintaining his composed demeanor.
The Alliance Leader silently watched Cheonhwi boldly address him in front of Heavenly Martial Duke and Jongnam Sword Sage, then let out a low voice.
“So you’re the Plum Blossom Divine Hero.”
“That’s right.”
Cheonhwi twisted one corner of his mouth into a smirk, replying with a voice laced with amusement.
“I’ve heard enough about you to make my ears ring. They say you took down the Factional Scum and the Immortal Heaven Cult Leader?”
The moment his voice reached Cheonhwi’s ears, another sound burrowed into his mind simultaneously.
『The brat’s words were true, after all.』
Oh ho?
Cheonhwi’s eyes narrowed slightly.
The Alliance Leader had unleashed sound transmission toward him the instant he spoke.
‘Well, well. Transmitting while talking?’
Cheonhwi’s eyes gleamed as he read the man’s lips.
Sound transmission was a martial art that conveyed one’s voice secretly by channeling qi.
Thus, lip movements were inevitable, yet this man had transmitted his voice even as he spoke aloud.
In other words, he could convey pure intent via qi waves, without words...
It meant he wielded Heart Speech—the superior form of sound transmission—at will.
“That’s right.”
With his reply, Cheonhwi immediately channeled his own inner energy, transmitting his intent in kind.
『An answer?』
The Alliance Leader’s pupils contracted.
Reacting to Cheonhwi’s Heart Speech.
“Impressive skill for one so young.”
『Midnight hour.』
With those words as his response, the Alliance Leader tore his gaze from Cheonhwi and turned away.
He soon rejoined the Evil-Black Alliance side, and Heavenly Martial Duke and Jongnam Sword Sage, who had been tense during the exchange, exhaled in relief.
“Hmph.”
Meanwhile, Cheonhwi touched his chin, his expression slightly more serious than before.
‘Midnight, huh...’
It was late at night, when all would be asleep.
And he had deliberately specified that late hour for their meeting.
‘Just the two of us, then.’
It was an understandable choice.
Though the Alliance Leader had concealed his demonic qi, his core art was ultimately the peerless demonic technique of the Cheonbong Clan: the Soul Spirit Demonic Scripture.
If his true nature were exposed, it would not bode well for him as the Evil-Black Alliance Leader.
As Cheonhwi pondered, he glanced toward the Alliance Leader, who was now descending the mountain.
“That sneaky bastard! I nearly had a heart attack.”
Dragon Head Beggar approached, clicking his tongue.
He had quietly circulated his inner energy ever since the Alliance Leader stood before Cheonhwi, and now he was catching his ragged breath.
Then the Murim Alliance Leader approached.
“Haha, everyone’s worked hard.”
Smiling warmly, he looked around, nodded, and said,
“Then let’s head back.”
Shortly after those words.
A line of carriages kicked up clouds of dust as they departed the Iryeong Mountains.
* * *
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Night had deepened.
In the inn filled only with the occasional snores and breaths as everyone succumbed to sleep.
Cheonhwi, who had been lying cozily on his bed, suddenly opened his closed eyes.
‘Tch, they’ve come quite far already.’
Was it to swiftly announce the successful agreement and the ceasefire?
The Murim Alliance group had raced without rest, moving even faster than on the outbound journey.
Normally, he would have been satisfied with such speed, but in his current situation, it was far from ideal.
‘Going back to the Iryeong Mountains will take some time now.’
Propping himself up, Cheonhwi lightly stretched his neck, rose from the bed, and strapped the two swords hanging on the wall to his waist.
He slightly opened the closed window.
The pale blue light of the present moon, veiled by clouds, faintly illuminated the slumbering world below.
The moment Cheonhwi placed his foot on the windowsill, his figure vanished in an instant.
Soaring Heaven Steps.
Whoooosh—
The wind brushed his ears and skin.
Unfurling Soaring Heaven Steps to its limit, Cheonhwi raced like a beam of light, not even leaving a faint afterimage.
Half a shichen later.
Cheonhwi arrived at the Iryeong Mountains.
The range, once bustling with energies and presences during the agreement, now lay under a thick blanket of silence.
“It’s quiet.”
Cheonhwi murmured softly.
His eyes swept over the mountains.
His expanded senses seized the range in a breath, but the presences felt earlier were gone.
With the agreement concluded, everyone had departed.
As he scanned for a long while.
“Oh ho.”
Admiration slipped from Cheonhwi’s lips.
For within his senses, spread like thick darkness, an indescribable presence stirred.
Enough to pierce through the gloom.
Cheonhwi immediately kicked off the ground again.
Crossing space in an instant, he arrived at a familiar place.
The site of the agreement: Impressions Valley.
Heavenly Dragon Guest’s chairs and table remained, but the atmosphere was entirely different.
Day and night.
Bustle and silence.
This stark contrast made the familiar spot feel somehow alien.
“You’ve come.”
An indifferent voice shattered the quiet.
Cheonhwi turned his head sideways.
Before the valley known as Impressions Valley, a figure stood with hands behind his back, silently gazing at the sword scars etched into the cliff.
Cheonhwi opened his mouth toward him.
“You’re early.”
With those words, Cheonhwi stepped forward.
His naturally unfurled Soaring Heaven Steps closed the distance in a breath, bringing him right before the man.
“Anyway, let’s skip the pointless talk.”
Cheonhwi met his gaze.
And cut straight to the point.
Twisting his lips into a grin.
“You’re the patriarch of the Cheonbong Clan, aren’t you?”
The Evil-Black Alliance Leader stared intently at Cheonhwi, then slowly parted his firmly closed lips.
“Indeed.”
With his answer, his aura shifted.
His violet robe billowed, and opaque energies extended in streams.
At the same time, his eyes flashed.
“This seat is the current patriarch of the Cheonbong Clan.”
‘Just as I thought.’
Cheonhwi nodded.
He had anticipated as much, given how the aura differed from that of his disciple, Black Night Chariot.
Meanwhile, having revealed his identity, the Alliance Leader scattered his momentum and spoke once more.
“Yet it’s surprising.”
His voice flowed out heavily.
Like the weight of draped darkness.
His eyes, gleaming in the shadows, scattered a violet hue.
“The only ones in the world who would recognize my clan’s Soul Spirit Demonic Scripture are those of the Demonic Cult...”
In that instant, all the world’s light was swallowed by the violet he emanated.
One of the pinnacle demonic arts.
The Soul Spirit Demonic Scripture, counted among the Ten Strongest Demonic Arts, dwelled in his eyes.
Soul Spirit Eyes.
The supreme ocular art said to command even the souls of the dead fixed upon Cheonhwi.
Soon, his lips parted, and a profound voice chillingly emerged.
“How did you know?”
Feeling the chilling energy of the Soul Spirit Demonic Scripture rising from the ground with his voice, Cheonhwi lightly stomped his foot.
Whoosh!
The breeze rising from his leather boots instantly dispersed the creeping energy.
Now that his identity was exposed, he was unleashing it openly.
Having shattered the covert Soul Subjugation Spirit Control Art in a breath, Cheonhwi smirked at the Alliance Leader, whose brow twitched slightly.
“Well.”