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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: Ghost Sword Manor (3)
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The First Heavenly Demon Gunryong's fury was truly tremendous.
With just a single stance of Yama's Hook Prison Sword Technique unleashed mere moments ago, the Fine Sword Sect warriors—nearly sixty strong—had been halved in an instant.
"...!!"
All who witnessed the scene, friend and foe alike, were struck with awe and left speechless.
At the same time, they wondered if this could truly be a human martial art, or if perhaps everyone present was simultaneously suffering from mass illusions or hallucinations.
"Th-this can't be!"
Go Jin-taek, the supreme expert representing the Fine Sword Sect and the leader of today's vanguard, trembled uncontrollably as his facial muscles twitched at the surreal sight.
'Half our forces wiped out in the blink of an eye?'
Even more horrifying was the state of the fallen Fine Sword Sect warriors' bodies.
Those unlucky enough to take the full brunt of that single sword strike had their corpses evaporated entirely, leaving not even a trace.
No, those who died instantly were actually the fortunate ones.
"Aaaahhh!"
"My body, my body!!"
The truly wretched were those who had survived—barely.
The Fine Sword Sect warriors on the brink of death, their limbs nearly severed by the Yama's Hook Prison Sword Technique's devastating cutting power, crawled desperately across the ground.
"Are you the ones who dared to defile U-ryang's final will?"
The Heavenly Demon approached Go Jin-taek and the remaining Fine Sword Sect warriors, having single-handedly painted this hellish tableau with one sword.
"Hiiik!"
Go Jin-taek and the surviving unfortunates shrieked in terror, their limbs shaking violently as the Heavenly Demon drew near.
'This man is an immortal. A fallen immortal!'
Unable to even imagine that the figure was the Heavenly Demon, Go Jin-taek dismissed him as some legendary immortal from myths and tales, turning tail to flee.
"R-run, run away!"
Instinct is sometimes more honest than reason.
The moment Go Jin-taek locked eyes with the Heavenly Demon, he realized this was an overwhelmingly vast existence he could never handle.
Beyond a mere superior master—like the difference between a rabbit and a tiger—it was a predator at the top of the food chain, far beyond his level.
Paaat!
Just as Go Jin-taek abandoned even his subordinates and let his survival instinct take over, fleeing outright...
"Halt."
At that moment, something unbelievable happened once more.
At the Heavenly Demon's command to stop, the Flash Fine Sword Go Jin-taek inexplicably froze in place, as if possessed by a ghost.
'What in the world is wrong with my body?'
His instincts screamed to run, to bolt away, yet his body refused to obey.
The reason was simple.
The Heavenly Demon had suppressed him utterly with his profound inner energy and murderous intent.
Like a mouse before a serpent.
"Sp-spare..."
A cornered mouse fights back, but that didn't apply to Go Jin-taek.
Puk-puk-pung!
In the meantime, the remaining Fine Sword Sect forces met the same fate as the rear guard waiting at the inn below Dome Green Mountain—their heads exploding one by one.
This was, of course, the Heavenly Demon's baptism.
"You're the last one left."
The Demonic Cult Leader was no ordinary man.
He knew exactly how to etch terror most effectively into the mind.
And so, Go Jin-taek was left alone.
Drip...
The moment their eyes met, tears streamed uncontrollably from Go Jin-taek's eyes, and a lifeflash montage—something he'd only read about in novels—flickered through his mind.
Born and raised in Yeoyang, entering the Fine Sword Sect and rising to become a promising master... milestones from his many lives flashed by.
But no matter how he racked his brain, no path to survival in this situation came to mind.
'I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm going to die.'
The more he thought, the deeper the black void of death etched itself into his mind.
"Don't worry. I won't kill you."
The Heavenly Demon looked down at Go Jin-taek and spoke.
Despite the unexpected words, Go Jin-taek placed no trust in them.
If eyes alone could kill with their glare and killing intent, the Heavenly Demon's gaze would have already slaughtered him mercilessly.
"So return to your base alive and deliver this message clearly."
"Y-yes? Wh-what, what..."
Too terrified to speak properly, Go Jin-taek stammered.
At that moment, the Heavenly Demon lightly raised a finger.
He then pressed it to Go Jin-taek's forehead and face.
Sukeok!
With astonishing finger technique and inner energy, he incredulously began carving letters into Go Jin-taek's face.
"Gaaahhh!"
As the indelible words branded themselves onto his face, Go Jin-taek thrashed and screamed.
Yet his body wouldn't move as he wished. His face became paper, the Heavenly Demon's finger a brush, inscribing a message for the Fine Sword Sect.
The message was simple.
-Commit suicide.
Incredibly, the Heavenly Demon was using Go Jin-taek as a living letter.
To ensure the Fine Sword Sect and its lord received the message clearly.
That suicide would save time for both sides and be the more peaceful path.
"Hmph, get lost."
His business with Go Jin-taek done, the Heavenly Demon dismissed him without so much as a glance.
"Hiiik!"
Realizing he'd finally been released from the god of death, Go Jin-taek bolted forward at full speed.
Seized by terror, he didn't spare a glance around him, charging blindly ahead regardless of rocks or bushes in his path.
"...."
Even Yang Yeon-hwa, who had guided him here through her merciless handiwork and immense skill, fell silent in the face of the Heavenly Demon's brutality.
"Yang Dae-un, manor lord of Ghost Sword Manor and descendant of the founder and first lord, the Loyal Ghost Sword Yang U-ryang, offers his greetings to the First Heavenly Demon."
Unexpectedly, the Shadowless Sword Yang Dae-un stepped forward first, intuitively grasping the Heavenly Demon's identity without anyone telling him, and bowed deeply.
And that was not all.
Drip...
Tears poured endlessly from Yang Dae-un's eyes.
'My wait, and the wait carried on by generations of Ghost Sword Manor, was never in vain.'
Those weren't just Yang Dae-un's tears.
They were the tears of Yang U-ryang and the entire Yang Clan, who had awaited that one man—First Heavenly Demon Gunryong—through their bloodline.
"Father."
Yang Yeon-hwa, watching from the side, shed tears as well.
She knew better than anyone how faithfully her father had upheld the family precept and waited.
And it wasn't just them.
"Kuhuhuuk!"
The entire Yang Clan of Ghost Sword Manor—those who had never wavered or deserted even through the manor's repeated declines, or when the pillar and last hope, Ghost Shadow Sword Yang Hui-gun, went missing—wept openly.
The long-awaited First Heavenly Demon had finally awakened.
Could there be greater joy or emotion than this?
"I'm... sorry."
The lord above all men, who had made ten thousand demons bow and never uttered 'sorry' even to the Martial Alliance Leader or the emperor, spoke those words for the first time.
In his active days, he had never once said them.
Smooth!
He even bowed his head and cupped his fists in salute.
No one in history had ever received the First Heavenly Demon's salute.
The Heavenly Demon waited patiently until the Yang Clan's tears subsided, then promised in a low voice.
"You won't shed tears again. I swear it on the name of the Heavenly Demon."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The aftermath of the Fine Sword Sect's raid passed, and Ghost Sword Manor erupted in festival.
Not only had they utterly annihilated the sect come to exterminate them, but Yang Yeon-hwa—who had left for the outside—and their long-dreamed-of First Heavenly Demon had descended. It was only natural.
Ghost Sword Manor's lord, Yang Dae-un, calmed his boiling heart and greeted the First Heavenly Demon and Sogang before guiding them through the manor.
"This is the tomb of the First Lord."
Having achieved his dream reunion with the First Heavenly Demon, Yang Dae-un revealed the manor's most sacred place—the reason he had stubbornly guarded it through thick and thin, never abandoning it.
It was the tomb of Ghost Sword Manor's founder and first lord, Loyal Ghost Sword Yang U-ryang.
Once the Heavenly Demon's most trusted confidant, Yang U-ryang had crushed many righteous faction masters, earning him many enemies.
Even after his death, some sought to desecrate his grave by exhuming and mutilating his corpse, so the Yang Clan had guarded it with their lives.
"This is where U-ryang rests..."
Truly reuniting with Yang U-ryang moved the Heavenly Demon deeply.
He had sworn to himself after joining the Demonic Cult, shedding all his tears beforehand, never to cry again—yet he nearly broke that vow for the first time.
And rightly so. Yang U-ryang's tomb lay to the north.
The direction of North Sea Star City's Eternal Ice, where White Dragon Sword God Baek Un-hwi had sealed Heavenly Demon Gunryong.
Even in death, his resolute will to await the Heavenly Demon was vividly felt.
"I never saw it myself, but they say the First Lord would head to North Sea Star City whenever he could, traversing the icy valleys until both arms, legs—all four limbs—succumbed to frostbite. In his final years, bedridden and frail... he sat right here, waiting day after day, endlessly."
"You fool! You utter fool!"
Thud!
The Heavenly Demon could hold back no longer and sank before Yang U-ryang's tomb.
He had never faltered through a poverty-stricken childhood of near-death brushes or the cutthroat Demonic Cult entry trials—but this time was different.
He couldn't lift his head, overwhelmed with guilt toward Yang U-ryang, who had waited his entire life for a master who never returned.
'I'm sorry. I was too late.'
The deeper his regret, the greater his resentment toward White Dragon Sword God Baek Un-hwi who had sealed him grew.
Without that seal, he could have conquered the Central Plains with Yang U-ryang and slaughtered the filthy hypocrites who forced him into the Demonic Cult. Only regret lingered.
"Did he leave any final words?"
Swallowing his sorrow and guilt, the Heavenly Demon asked Yang Dae-un.
Smooth!
Yang Dae-un pointed to the back of the tombstone.
Unexpectedly, hidden words were engraved there.
"Hahahaha!"
Confirming the words, the Heavenly Demon burst into hearty laughter, as if his grief had never been.
Yang U-ryang had departed in the most artistic way, even in death.
-Heavenly Demon Returns, Central Plains Subdued!
On the day the Heavenly Demon returned, the Central Plains would be pacified.
Thus, Yang U-ryang had absolute faith in his revival.
"Just like you."
After laughing heartily...
Smooth!
Stroking each character of Yang U-ryang's final words with his own hand, the Heavenly Demon vowed.
"U-ryang. These eight characters... I will fulfill them without fail."
For Yang U-ryang's sake, he resolved to achieve his long-unfulfilled ambition: subduing and conquering the Central Plains.
That alone would be proper respect to the Loyal Ghost Sword Yang U-ryang, watching from the heavens.
Having paid his deep respects to Yang U-ryang in his heart, communing in his own way and mourning...
"Dae-un."
"Yes, Heavenly Demon... no, Gunryong-nim!"
To outward eyes, the youthful Heavenly Demon addressing the middle-aged Yang Dae-un by name casually seemed odd.
But considering the Heavenly Demon was the elder, there was no issue.
"Any wishes or desires?"
He wanted to grant what he couldn't to Yang U-ryang, at least to his descendants.
"Pardon? Why..."
"Doesn't matter how absurd. Speak freely."
Urged by the Heavenly Demon, Yang Dae-un answered without hesitation.
"I have a son who's gone missing. Please find him."