Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 109 - Fortuitous Encounter (1)

Chapter 109 – Fortuitous Encounter (1)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Mok Gyeong-un’s fallen body was breaking apart like tree bark.

And from within that breaking shell,

-Smeeeer!

new skin full of vitality was rising.

Watching this, Blue Spirit muttered, unable to contain her agitation.

-……Transforming the Bones and Replacing the Marrow.

Transforming the Bones and Replacing the Marrow.

It meant, literally, changing the bones and shedding the mortal frame.

It was a phenomenon in which, upon gaining enlightenment, the body underwent drastic corresponding changes, and something truly strange had occurred.

‘For something possible only upon reaching the realm of transformation to happen…’

Originally, Transforming the Bones and Replacing the Marrow was possible only after gaining enlightenment at the wall called the end of the supreme-absolute realm and achieving Three Flowers Gathered at the Crown and Five Qi Returning to the Origin.

Once, through those two enlightenments, one opened the Ren and Du meridians, one became able to handle qi utterly incomparable to that of the supreme-absolute stage, and in order to endure that, the flesh underwent rapid reconstruction.

‘Ha……’

But Mok Gyeong-un had not crossed the wall.

He had merely absorbed the demonic aura of the raccoon-dog spirit beast that had called itself the Master of Corpse Cadavers.

And yet, for his body to undergo Transforming the Bones and Replacing the Marrow in order to endure that aura.

‘Strange. Truly strange.’

How could such a body exist?

He had not even crossed the wall, and yet his flesh was reconstructed just to endure that demonic aura.

It was enough to make one click one’s tongue in wonder.

‘……Different.’

The order of this fellow’s growth process differed entirely from that of ordinary martial artists.

Well, from the very beginning he had stored in his dantian not internal power but death aura, and had even controlled that with a reverse-flow circulation method.

Perhaps it was only natural that he would follow a different course.

‘I may be watching the birth of a master utterly unlike anything the martial world has seen before.’

That thought made a small laugh escape her lips without her realizing it.

She even found herself wondering what it would have been like if she had taken him as a disciple while alive rather than after death.

Though if she had lived until now, she would have been a bent old grandmother.

-Paseuseuseu!

All the dead skin peeled away, and Mok Gyeong-un rose to his feet.

Skin flakes fell away in a rustling shower.

“Ah……”

His entire body felt light.

He could sense that the energy in his body was not merely full but had crossed its former limit.

Just a moment ago, it had felt as though his insides were being roasted by a deathless fire, and yet now there was no pain at all.

Even the broken bones seemed to have fully rejoined, as there was nothing wrong with his movements.

‘Was I lucky?’

This time, he had truly prepared himself for the possibility that he might die.

Yet fortunately, contrary to that resolve, a fortuitous encounter had come to him, and he had instead become even stronger.

‘Become stronger…’

How strange.

A spirit beast that had supposedly weakened from being sealed for thousands of years.

And yet by merely absorbing that spirit beast’s power, his own aura had grown this explosively.

At this level, even a master who had reached the peak of the absolute stage no longer seemed like much of a problem.

Mok Gyeong-un suddenly recalled something the occult practitioner Jo Ui-gong had once said.

[You heard there was no one?]

[Yes.]

[I do not know who told you, but it is not necessarily impossible.]

[Not impossible?]

[That is right. I too found it unbelievable at first. But it does exist. Among the occult practitioners who were granted the title of god, there are two who subdued spirit beasts and made them into shikigami.]

[Two?]

[Yes. There are two. Remarkable, is it not? Ah, and let me say this just in case, do not even think about it. They are beings beyond heaven. One of them was originally human and mountain demon… no. In any case, spirit beasts are beyond the realm that humans can handle. They are calamity itself.]

Jo Ui-gong had said it.

That among the Six Fang Gods, the pinnacle of occult practitioners, there were two who kept spirit beasts as shikigami.

Recalling that made him think he still had a long way to go.

Even he had been unable to handle even a spirit beast that had long since weakened after being sealed.

Had the power of the seal not still remained, he would have lost his life here.

‘That too, but what in the world did it mean by those words?’

He remembered the words spoken by the monstrous raccoon-dog spirit beast after it came out of his body.

[What in the world is that inside you?]

What did it mean by saying there was something inside him?

Mok Gyeong-un wondered.

Come to think of it, most of the vengeful spirits that had tried to possess him had also seemed to discover something and react with shock.

What in the world was there that even such a spirit beast had spoken that way?

It made him curious.

It was then.

-Mortal……

Mok Gyeong-un looked at Blue Spirit.

“Ah?”

At the sight of her faded figure, Mok Gyeong-un frowned.

She was even more transparent than when she had grabbed his wrist and pulled him, and she was gradually becoming fainter still.

“Blue Spirit?”

-Transforming…… the bones…… and replacing the marrow…… truly amusing.

“Pardon?”

-A fellow…… who has practiced martial arts…… for only such a short…… time…… enters the supreme-absolute realm…… and even reconstructs his flesh through Transforming the Bones and Replacing the Marrow……

“……”

-At this rate…… perhaps…… just as I boldly…… declared…… in less than two years…… you really may reach…… the realm of transformation……

“Blue Spirit… your spirit power has weakened badly.”

-Trying…… to save…… you…… left me…… in this state.

“……”

-I was not…… trying…… to hear…… words of thanks…… so there is no need…… for your pity.

Speaking with great difficulty, she was murmuring as though she were leaving her last words.

Mok Gyeong-un could see it clearly as well.

Her spirit power, like a blazing flame, was shrinking little by little like a candle going out.

To her, Mok Gyeong-un asked in a tone that said he could not understand,

“I told you not to come in. Why did you?”

-……If…… you die…… then in the end…… we all die, so what was I supposed…… to do?

Blue Spirit answered after a moment’s hesitation.

At that sight, Mok Gyeong-un stared straight at her face.

Blue Spirit, under that stare, said in an uncomfortable tone,

-Why…… are you staring…… so hard? Surely you are not sad…… that I am about to be extinguished?

“Extinguished…… you say?”

-……Yes. I have no hope any longer.

Blue Spirit was aware of it to a certain extent.

Her spirit power had already waned to the point that she could no longer maintain her own spirit body.

It had been a vast amount of spirit power, enough for her to endure a hundred years as a vengeful spirit, so how could she remain after losing most of it?

-Mortal…… with your personality…… you are not the sort…… to grieve…… just because…… one shikigami dies…… so please grant me…… just one request.

“……”

-I desire…… nothing else…… only the Heaven and Earth Society……

-Tak!

It was before Blue Spirit could finish speaking.

Mok Gyeong-un grasped her hand.

And said,

“Talk about things like that after you recover first.”

-What?

-Suuuuuuuu!

No sooner had her question left her lips than a massive aura surged in from Mok Gyeong-un’s hand.

It was an aura quite different from her own spirit power.

‘Demonic aura?’

That was right.

It was the demonic aura Mok Gyeong-un had stolen from the raccoon-dog spirit beast.

Mok Gyeong-un had absorbed more demonic aura than needed to reconstruct his body and refine it within his dantian’s death aura.

As the demonic aura poured in, her eyes shook.

‘What in the world?’

Something strange happened.

Unlike strange entities, which could swallow and devour even vengeful spirits, vengeful spirits could not ordinarily accept or absorb the demonic aura of higher beings.

And yet demonic aura was pouring in through Mok Gyeong-un’s palm.

And it was filling her entire being.

‘Ahhh!’

Her spirit body, which had been turning transparent, grew thicker and denser.

Then, with astonishing speed, she returned to her usual state.

No, it did not end there.

-Gooooooo!

-Mortal…… wait…… you……

“Concentrate.”

The amount of demonic aura pouring in surpassed the level of spirit power she had originally possessed.

‘This fellow……’

At this, although she was a spirit body, she sat down in lotus position.

And as she had done while alive, she focused on making the incoming energies her own, as though circulating them.

-Impossible…

Watching this from beyond the red line, Gyu So-ha, the Green Spirit, widened her eyes.

To Gyu So-ha’s Ghost Eyes, it was plainly visible.

Blue Spirit’s spirit power was rapidly increasing, beyond her original limit, and even her rank itself was about to rise.

And before long, that truly came to pass.

-Shwaaaaaaa!

A cold aura surged out around Blue Spirit in rolling waves.

-Kurrrrrrrrr!

Because of that, the bookshelves around the cave chamber shook violently.

As her rank rose further, the spirit power flowing from her spirit body was greatly affecting even the material world.

Blue Spirit opened the eyes she had closed.

-Srrk!

A more intense crimson glow that pressed down on those who saw it.

-Ah……

Perhaps because she herself could feel that her rank had risen above what it had been before, an exclamation escaped her.

At this, Mok Gyeong-un let go of the hand he had been holding and said,

“It looks like I am not the only one who had good luck.”

-……What exactly did you do? It could have been dangerous.

“It turned out well, did it not? At least better than being extinguished.”

-You truly are……

She could not continue the rest of her words.

She had prepared herself for extinction, and yet her rank as a vengeful spirit had risen instead.

It truly could not help but be ironic.

To that Blue Spirit, Mok Gyeong-un said,

“If my eyes are not mistaken, it seems your rank has risen further. Should I call you Indigo Spirit now?”

Indigo Spirit.

The foundational text of the Yin-Yang School records it thus.

A vengeful spirit that has existed for over three hundred years.

Beyond causing auditory and visual hallucinations, it approaches the level where its spirit power becomes tangible, and it is a calamity-like existence comparable to high-ranking strange beings such as devil beasts.

To exorcise one requires at minimum about a hundred occult practitioners, and even then the possibility of success remains unknown.

‘Should this too be called a fortuitous encounter?’

Mok Gyeong-un was still connected to Blue Spirit by the bond of the shikigami.

Yet for her rank to have risen enough to approach Indigo Spirit meant that Mok Gyeong-un’s own fighting strength had also grown yet another step.

Then Blue Spirit opened her mouth.

-……No. Just call me Blue Spirit.

“Pardon?”

-If it changes now and then, it will only get confusing, so call me Blue Spirit.

Watching her turn her head away for no reason and speak brusquely, Mok Gyeong-un’s lips twitched as he said,

“Could it be that you simply like being called Blue Spirit?”

-What nonsense are you spouting?

Blue Spirit snorted and glared at Mok Gyeong-un.

At that, Mok Gyeong-un shrugged as though to say, if not, then never mind.

As that was happening, a voice was heard.

-Master……

There stood Gyu So-ha, the Green Spirit, her two arms gone, half-transparent, and with tears glistening in her eyes.

Seeing this Gyu So-ha, Blue Spirit narrowed her eyes and then sighed as she said,

-……Do you happen to have any demonic aura left over?

* * *

“I will be waiting, so please make sure to come back for me.”

At the entrance, Vault Keeper Yang Mu-won spoke as though earnestly urging Mok Gyeong-un, who was about to pass through the formation.

As could be seen from the changed way of speaking, Gyu So-ha was possessing that body.

Because Vault Keeper Yang Mu-won had witnessed what had happened, they could not simply leave him as he was, so they had taken this measure.

Yet though she was saying, do please come back for me, Gyu So-ha’s expression was positively beaming.

-She is overjoyed. Truly overjoyed.

“Well, I suppose that could happen.”

That was only natural, because after absorbing the remaining demonic aura Mok Gyeong-un possessed, Gyu So-ha had astonishingly risen in rank from Green Spirit to Blue Spirit.

She had originally already been close to the rank of Blue Spirit, but the highly pure demonic aura had properly caused an upward surge.

In any case, after leaving this place in Gyu So-ha’s care, Mok Gyeong-un passed out through the formation spread across the cave entrance and descended below the cliff.

There, leaning against the cliff, senior martial warrior Gwak Mun-gi was waiting with a bored expression on his face.

Then,

-Tap, tap!

When someone touched his back, he jumped in shock and was about to leap back and take a stance,

“Eh? You?”

“Have you been waiting long?”

Mok Gyeong-un asked with a bright smile.

At the sight of him, Gwak Mun-gi’s expression stiffened.

‘What in the world is this……’

Though Mok Gyeong-un had qualified as a provisional unit leader, the aura he had sensed through qi perception had been no more than first-rate, so Gwak Mun-gi had regarded him as one level beneath himself.

But what was this?

‘……I cannot feel it.’

He could hardly feel Mok Gyeong-un’s aura at all.

His presence and qi-sense were both dim.

He was standing right in front of him, so what in the world was going on?

Could it be that he had gained some kind of enlightenment in the treasure vault?