Chapter 31
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: The Anti-Cheon Fiends (1)
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A smile hiding a dagger.
The two men, each with different thoughts, faced one another.
‘After the Anti-Cheon Fiends, you're next.’
He hid his killing intent for the Black Merchant Lord behind a smile.
“So, what will you do?”
“Well, I’m not so sure. I still don't have faith in the Great Young Lord.”
“And so?”
“Neutrality.”
Cheon Muryang nodded. He hadn't needed the Black Merchant Lord's support in the first place.
“Let's do that.”
“Thank you for understanding.”
“By the way, who else knows you came here?”
“I came in secret. Who would know?”
“I see. Be careful on your way out.”
“Let's meet again.”
“If we can.”
His words were laden with meaning.
Pretending not to notice, Cheon Muryang rose from his seat and headed outside.
There, he saw the man who had guided him here.
“Please follow me.”
“Mm.”
He followed the man, who moved along the formation's Gate of Life as if it were familiar.
But, at a certain moment.
*Halt!*
Cheon Muryang stopped in his tracks.
“Wh-Why have you stopped?”
“This path… is it really the Gate of Life?”
“Pardon?”
Cheon Muryang said with a smile.
“Because I see another scheme at play.”
“Wh-What do you mean…? This is the Gate of Life.”
The arm of the man who had spoken so confidently was severed in an instant.
*Thud!*
His arm fell to the ground.
His eyes widened as he stared at it in disbelief.
“Ah?”
*Slice.*
In that moment, his head was cut off.
He died without even a chance to close his eyes.
Seeing the man, who hadn't even registered his own death despite being decapitated, Cheon Muryang clicked his tongue.
“Tsk.”
Cheon Muryang clicked his tongue again, looking at the formation that now openly radiated killing intent.
“So you're showing your hand this early?”
The path leading back to the Black Merchant Lord had long since been blocked.
The exit was gone.
“Since it's come to this, I won't be satisfied until I see what shameful secrets you're hiding.”
He intended to see.
And so, Cheon Muryang took the most dangerous path.
He walked toward the Gate of Death.
*Fwoooosh!*
The formation changed from moment to moment.
At times, a storm raged, obscuring even an inch ahead, and at others, a bone-chilling blizzard howled.
‘What are you hiding?’
The reason for deploying such a deadly formation.
It must be to conceal something.
‘Show yourself.’
Within the disorienting formation where he couldn't even get his bearings, Cheon Muryang pushed forward relentlessly.
*Whoosh!*
Using the cry of his sword as a guide, Cheon Muryang was never deceived by the formation.
It was the power of the Heavenly Light Sword.
The illusions could not confuse Cheon Muryang.
‘The Anti-Cheon Fiends... they might have joined hands with the Demonic Cult.’
They only began to act openly ten years from now.
‘This is the only chance.’
He thought that if it was now, he might be able to save them, even if they had joined with the Demonic Cult.
*Halt.*
At the point where the blizzard ended.
Cheon Muryang stood still.
With eyes that pierced the true nature of the formation, he surveyed his surroundings.
‘It's vicious, but in the end, a formation is just a formation. Its limits are clear.’
A formation was ultimately a matter of mixing the artificial with the natural.
Therefore, there was bound to be a point where its flow was broken.
And Cheon Muryang could see that point.
*Fwoosh!*
He raised the Heavenly Light Sword.
‘If I cut here like this…’
He cut along that very line.
With that, the formation's restraints vanished, and Cheon Muryang found himself back on a street.
“Is that it?”
And before Cheon Muryang's eyes stood a gloomy building.
It was an abandoned building in a secluded corner of Hangzhou's back alleys, a place no one ever visited.
‘Blood…’
He could smell the thick scent of blood.
This sinister energy, felt even from outside the building, was undoubtedly demonic energy.
‘How can such a place exist in Hangzhou!’
Cheon Muryang was furious.
But he swallowed his anger and slowly opened the door.
*Creeeak.*
An endless abyss was revealed.
Seeing the demonic energy lurking within, Cheon Muryang gritted his teeth.
*Grind.*
Vile demonic energy.
It might already be too late.
‘Was I wrong?’
Just as he was about to step inside.
He heard voices from outside.
So, Cheon Muryang climbed a nearby tree and held his breath.
“Phew. This place gives me the creeps every time I come here.”
“Quiet. Let's just hurry up, do our job, and get out of here.”
The two were clearly the gatekeepers who had blocked Cheon Muryang in Hangzhou's back alleys.
They were carrying several children who seemed to be unconscious.
They seemed to be heading for this building.
Suddenly, the two men were flustered.
“W-Wait, why is the door open?”
“Y-Yeah.”
They were visibly tense.
A look of terror.
Normally, they would just dump the unconscious people in front of the building and leave.
“Sh-Shouldn't we close the door?”
Why was that?
An urge to close the door washed over them.
“B-Be careful! Let's just go!”
“B-But we have to close the door.”
The two men approached the building.
The moment they grabbed the doorknob.
A hand shot out from inside the door.
“Gasp!”
It grabbed the man closest by the top of his head and dragged him in.
The man nearby reached out in a panic.
“H-Hey!”
“Aaaaaaaargh!”
But his form was swallowed by the darkness as he was dragged inside.
It all happened in an instant.
*SLAM!*
The open door slammed shut, and a terrible scream echoed from the gap.
“H-Hieeek!”
The survivor was left with only one thought: escape.
But his frozen legs wouldn't move.
*Creek.*
The screaming stopped.
*Creeeak.*
The door that had slammed shut slowly opened.
“It-It wasn't me! I swear it wasn't me!”
He shouted frantically, but…
There was no way human words would reach a fiend already steeped in darkness.
“Aaaaaaaargh!”
He couldn't escape.
He too was dragged beyond that door.
*SLAM!*
Once again, the door slammed shut.
Not a sound could be heard.
“Truly a threshold between life and death.”
Life and death were decided by that door, was it not the threshold between them?
Cheon Muryang clicked his tongue, then came down from the tree and checked on the children the two men had brought.
“These children…”
Suddenly, he recalled what the Black Merchant Lord had said inside the formation.
“He said they were ingredients for cultivating a special martial art.”
And that special martial art was likely what those crazed Anti-Cheon Fiends were practicing.
“No matter how much this is for revenge…”
The revenge of the Anti-Cheon Fiends was just.
Cheon Muryang certainly thought so.
If he were in the same position, he would surely have done the same.
“But this method is not right.”
However, he did not believe that revenge taken through inhuman means was just.
Who would take responsibility for these deaths?
*Grind.*
Cheon Muryang infused his energy into the unconscious children.
The meridians connecting to the crown of their heads were all blocked, leaving them conscious but no different from imbeciles.
‘Vicious bastards.’
Cheon Muryang unblocked their meridians.
The children regained their senses.
Their eyes were still dazed, but Cheon Muryang could only hope they understood his words.
“If you go straight down this road, there's a place called the Wandering Inn. Run there.”
“Ah…”
A few children nodded.
But they couldn't speak; it seemed they had only gathered children who were mute.
His anger mounted, layer by layer.
Now was not the time to unleash his suppressed rage.
“Go on. I'll be there soon.”
“Ah, ahh.”
The children bowed their heads.
Instead of words, they expressed their gratitude.
Watching the backs of the running children, Cheon Muryang gripped the Heavenly Light Sword tightly.
“This shouldn't be happening.”
What crime did those children commit?
“Revenge should only be directed at its target.”
If more blood is shed for the sake of revenge, it is no longer just.
“Isn't that right?”
Cheon Muryang swung the Heavenly Light Sword.
The door that separated life and death shattered like an old shoe.
*Step, step.*
Entering without hesitation, Cheon Muryang felt gazes upon him.
*Ssssssssss.*
They were furtive gazes, like a predator stalking its prey.
But Cheon Muryang gave a scornful smile.
“What a load of bullshit.”
Cheon Muryang had no intention of a prolonged confrontation.
*Fwoooosh!*
A blue light enveloped the Heavenly Light Sword.
It drove back the darkness, shining brilliantly.
“Kieeeeeek!”
At that, something hidden in the darkness let out a monstrous shriek and rushed at Cheon Muryang.
*Clang!*
Their fingernails were like swords.
The one he now faced.
It was a memorable face.
“You are…”
How could he forget?
On the day the Cheon Family fell.
This was the one who had personally destroyed its main gate.
[To think the Cheon Family has fallen so far. I don't even need to step in myself. Die like the insects you are.]
It happened to be a time when Cheon Seonhak was absent.
So, looking somewhat disappointed, he had only shattered the Cheon Family's main gate.
He hadn't intervened directly, merely watching the Cheon Family's downfall.
‘Is this before his demonic arts were perfected?’
His appearance then was so different from now.
This form, which seemed to have completely lost its reason, was no different from a beast.
“In that case…”
Revenge through inhuman means had already lost its purity and become corrupted.
“I will cut you down.”
“Kraaaaaaaah!”
“Come. The scion of the Cheon Family you hate so much is right here.”
As a desperate measure to draw out all those in hiding, Cheon Muryang cut his own arm with his sword.
*Drip.*
*Drip, drip.*
*Drip, drip, drip.*
Cheon Muryang's blood fell.
To those who cried out only for revenge against the Cheon Family, this was an unbearable stimulus.
“Kraaaaaaaaaah!”
That monster was only the beginning.
Several other monsters also revealed themselves.
All of them had lost their reason, becoming monsters that spewed only blind rage toward the Cheon Family.
“Come.”
There was no persuading them.
He decided to face their anger head-on.
“But I have no intention of dying for you.”
Cheon Muryang did not like the demonic energy that had settled over this area.
“The dark night is also the domain of the heavens.”
*Whoosh!*
The heavens were not always bright.
Even the dark sky was still the sky.
The Heavenly Light Sword cut through a sky filled with darkness.
*Fsssh!*
It sundered the dark heavens.
And so, he faced the reality hidden beneath that deep darkness.
“…”
It was a tragedy too gruesome to behold.
Countless corpses.
Who would console these poor souls, sacrificed solely for the perfection of demonic arts?
“You are wrong.”
“Kraaaah!”
“How could a mere mortal act in heaven's stead, but…”
For this moment, I will.
I will cut them down in heaven's place.
That will imbued the Heavenly Light Sword.
Streams of blue sword energy bloomed, stretching toward the sky.
“This time, I will act in its place.”
The moon was hidden by clouds.
But the Heavenly Light Sword took its place.
The Heavenly Light Sword moved, drawing a circle.
As the sensation of becoming one with his sword arose, the Heavenly Light Sword completed its path.
*KRA-BOOOOOM!*
The old building itself collapsed.
Sword energy flew to every place the light of the Heavenly Light Sword touched.
“Kiyaaaaaaak!”
A horrendous scream.
But Cheon Muryang did not stop.
The sword path he thought had ended once again produced a sublime flow.
‘Ah…’
To avoid losing that sword path, which flowed subtly like the moon, Cheon Muryang instead closed his eyes.
*KRA-BOOM!*
With a roar that seemed to split heaven and earth.
Everything before Cheon Muryang's eyes had been annihilated.
*Thud!*
The monster's form collapsed.
Their blood itself was stained black; they could no longer be called human.
“The cursed blood of the Cheon Family!”
“Kill! Kill!”
“…”
Cheon Muryang slowly approached the struggling fiends.
“I gave you enough chances.”
“Ah…!”
*Stab!*
The Heavenly Light Sword cut off their heads.
*Thud.*
A head fell anticlimactically.
Even in death, they could not close their rage-filled eyes.
“Find peace.”
Not just for them.
It was a consolation for all the lives lost because of them.
That was the only way to honor the dead.