Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 113 - Final Gate (3)
Chapter 113 – Final Gate (3)
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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Once Yeom Ga of Crimson Kill Valley drew Five, Mok Gyeong-un naturally became Two.
Though he had drawn the most troublesome opponent, Mu Jang-yak, who was still confident of victory, held out his hand to Mok Gyeong-un and said,
“So we finally cross hands. Whoever wins, let us fight with all we have.”
At those words, Mok Gyeong-un shook his hand and said as though troubled,
“Ah. That will probably be difficult.”
“What?”
“If I fight with all I have, this contest will become far too boring, so I will take it easy on you. Therefore, you should do your best.”
‘!?’
Mu Jang-yak was always overflowing with composure, but only at this moment did one eyebrow twitch, exposing his emotions.
Was this fellow Mok Gyeong-un really provoking him right now?
Mu Jang-yak looked straight into Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes.
Unlike his own heightened state, there was no particular emotion in them.
At that sight, Mu Jang-yak calmed the emotions that had flared up for an instant and regained his cool.
‘…..Has it started already?’
It was certainly a clear provocation.
That fellow was every bit as clever and strategic as Mu Jang-yak himself.
He might be trying to shake him up before the match and secure the advantageous ground.
So Mu Jang-yak opened his mouth with a smile.
“You say you will take it easy on me, so that is something to be grateful for. I was already in the advantageous position, but if that happens, then I will have the overwhelming advantage. I take it you have no particular interest in first place in the Final Gate?”
Tit for tat, an eye for an eye.
Mu Jang-yak deliberately provoked Mok Gyeong-un as well.
But Mok Gyeong-un showed no particular response to Mu Jang-yak’s provocation.
Rather, he let out a short laugh and turned his head away.
‘……..’
At that sight, Mu Jang-yak inwardly clicked his tongue.
Ever since childhood, he had often been told that he was as cunning as he was gifted in martial arts.
So he had always been confident that in contests of wit or argument, he would lose to no one, and yet for some strange reason, whenever he talked with this fellow, he felt as though he was the one being led around.
‘There is no need to fall for the provocation.’
In any case, the match would decide it.
Thus he too tried to let it pass and ignore it.
However,
“…….Hey. Mok Gyeong-un.”
While still looking ahead, Mu Jang-yak called to Mok Gyeong-un.
Only after calling out did Mu Jang-yak inwardly regret and think, why did I do that? but since he had already called him, he thought it could not be helped.
“What is it?”
To Mok Gyeong-un’s question, Mu Jang-yak said,
“Since we are sparring anyway, shall we make a wager?”
“A wager?”
“Yes.”
“And why should I do that?”
Mok Gyeong-un spoke as if he did not understand.
At this, Mu Jang-yak gave a short laugh and replied,
“If you are not confident, you do not have to.”
“Not confident?”
“That is right. I just thought it might be more interesting if there were a wager instead of simply crossing hands, but if you are not confident, there is no need to do it.”
It was an obvious provocation.
Mu Jang-yak could have let it pass, but because he felt that something needed to be made clear in this match, he tried to draw Mok Gyeong-un into a wager.
“Hmm.”
Mok Gyeong-un, stroking his chin, gave a short laugh and said,
“What sort of wager do you want to make?”
Though he did not show it, Mu Jang-yak inwardly rejoiced, thinking Mok Gyeong-un had fallen for his provocation.
His opponent had taken the bait, and all that remained was to set the board.
Mu Jang-yak’s mind worked in an instant.
He had proposed a wager only to provoke him, but he did not want it to become something that would leave his opponent resentful or enraged even if he lost.
So the thing he came up with was this:
“How about the loser of the match serves the winner as elder brother?”
“Elder brother?”
“Yes. We make the hierarchy between us clear.”
“Hierarchy…”
“It is not a bad wager, is it? No matter how much this is competition, we are neither sworn enemies nor foes who must kill one another, so there is no need to raise the stake of the wager too high.”
A wager that would simply create enough pressure that he had to win, that would be sufficient.
At those words, Mok Gyeong-un let out a faint groan and said,
“Hmm. That is not a very interesting wager.”
“Not interesting?”
“Yes. Is there really any need to wager on something like that?”
He had thought Mok Gyeong-un had taken the bait, but perhaps not?
Puzzled, Mu Jang-yak asked,
“…….Then what sort of wager do you consider interesting?”
“Who knows. Rather, how about the loser of the match becomes the winner’s loyal dog?”
“What?”
At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, Mu Jang-yak’s expression hardened.
He had proposed a wager that, even in the worst case, would not leave either side feeling too badly, but this fellow had gone a step further.
To become a loyal dog was, in the end, no different from telling the loser to crawl beneath the other.
‘He is not merely skilled at provocation, he is excessive.’
Mu Jang-yak was the sort who usually laughed things off, but even he found it difficult to laugh this time.
It had been he himself who first proposed the wager.
And yet if he shrank away now that the stakes had risen, he would only make a fool of himself.
Mu Jang-yak turned his head slightly and looked at Mok Gyeong-un.
‘Is he that confident? Or does he simply mean to provoke me to the very end?’
Whichever it was, it no longer mattered.
The latter, at least, had clearly worked.
Ever since he suggested a wager to decide who would be elder brother and who younger, it was Mu Jang-yak himself who had been drawn into the other’s provocation.
As if having decided, Mu Jang-yak clenched his fist and said,
“Are you confident you will not regret it?”
“That is what I should be asking you.”
“…….Truly remarkable. I have never been led around in an argument, or anything like this, by anyone. Fine. Let us do it. The wager where the loser becomes the other’s loyal dog.”
All he had to do was win.
Mok Gyeong-un might possess some kind of special power, but this was, in the end, a martial contest conducted through martial skill.
And if it was to be martial skill alone, Mu Jang-yak was convinced no one could stand against him.
Because he had ‘that.’
* * *
Thus the two trainees in the first pairing of the Final Gate martial contests walked out to the center of the square, stood facing one another, and loosened up their bodies.
They were Mok Gyeong-un and Mu Jang-yak.
Those seated beside the platform as observers each wore different expressions.
Among them, Son Yun, the King of the Fate Blade, who had come to confirm Mok Gyeong-un’s martial skill, found himself astonished by something unexpected.
With a gesture, Son Yun called over one of the red-belted martial warriors and asked,
“What did you say that boy’s name was?”
“Mu Jang-yak.”
“Mu Jang-yak? Do you know which Mu clan he comes from?”
“He seems to be from one of this Society’s lesser affiliated sects, but other than that we do not know.”
At the martial warrior’s words, Son Yun’s eyes narrowed.
A child like that came from some nameless minor sect?
Then Won Byeong-hak, the Thunderbolt Fist King, seated right beside Son Yun, spoke in a tone of no small surprise.
“This is astonishing. Was there such a child?”
“You noticed it too?”
The aura flowing from Mu Jang-yak as he loosened his body.
These men had sensed it with qi perception.
‘That child….. has reached the very peak of the absolute realm.’
To think that a trainee barely seventeen or eighteen had reached the very peak of the absolute realm.
If their qi perception was not wrong, it would not be an exaggeration to say he was the most outstanding among these six.
It was truly unexpected.
That from among the lesser affiliated sects there would emerge a trainee of such tremendous martial talent.
‘The opponent is unfortunate.’
Watching Mu Jang-yak, Son Yun, the King of the Fate Blade, turned his gaze toward Mok Gyeong-un and clicked his tongue inwardly.
He had come to confirm what level Mok Gyeong-un, who had defeated his disciple Yeop Wi-seon, had reached, but the opponent he had drawn was simply too bad.
Of all people, he had to be matched against a monster like that.
‘If he has prepared nothing, this may end far too simply.’
It was difficult to judge everything by qi-sense alone, but the difference in the aura they gave off was too great.
No matter how much Mok Gyeong-un had concealed his qi, it seemed difficult for him to be a true match.
By contrast, Won Byeong-hak, the Thunderbolt Fist King, who had not held special interest in Mok Gyeong-un from the start, smacked his lips as he watched Mu Jang-yak.
‘…….Was I too hasty?’
He had come here with the sole purpose of taking the child from Mirrored Scenery Gate.
For that reason, he had already reached prior agreements with several of the observers.
Yet to think there had been a talent like this.
Though he tried not to show it, regret welled up in him.
‘This is troublesome. I cannot take it back now.’
Won Byeong-hak cast sidelong glances at the other executives.
Some distance to their left sat the Shadow Sect Master and Hang Yeo-ryang, the Sound-Summoning Valley Master, side by side.
The two of them also seemed to be conversing while watching Mu Jang-yak.
Hang Yeo-ryang said to the Shadow Sect Master in an interested tone,
“I came to take that girl, and yet among the boys too there is a child who is not bad.”
“That girl? Have you perhaps marked the child from Mo Hwa House?”
“Hehehe. I heard she was fine material.”
“Hmmm. That is troublesome. I too came to Corpse Blood Valley for the first time in a long while because I desired the child from Mo Hwa House.”
“My, is that so? Then our interests overlap.”
“Ohoho. So they do, against my original intention.”
The Shadow Sect Master covered his mouth and laughed like a woman.
The Sound-Summoning Valley Master Hang Yeo-ryang followed suit with a tinkling laugh.
And yet, though both were laughing, why did it sound as though they were testing each other?
Then Hang Yeo-ryang pointed toward Mu Jang-yak and said,
“Then, Sect Master, how about taking that child instead? Among this batch, he looks to have the greatest martial talent.”
“Who knows.”
The Shadow Sect Master stroked his chin and looked as though he were thinking.
At this, Hang Yeo-ryang, the Sound-Summoning Valley Master, said in a tone of incomprehension,
“What is there to think about? Or is it because you are afraid the Thunderbolt Fist King or the King of the Fate Blade will snatch him away?”
“Ohoho. That is part of the reason, but there is another child who has caught my eye.”
“That child?”
At the Shadow Sect Master’s words, Hang Yeo-ryang, the Sound-Summoning Valley Master, looked at Mok Gyeong-un, who was loosening up lightly opposite Mu Jang-yak.
Though he was standing far away, she had to admit that his beautiful face was quite striking.
But that was all.
By qi-sense he felt no more than first-rate, an ordinary mediocrity.
Being first-rate at that age was not weak, but it was absolutely not a level that would make one covet him as a disciple.
So she said,
“The face is fairly to my liking, but that is all. Surely you do not mean because of that face?”
“Ohohoho. If the face is handsome as well, then that is merely adding flowers to brocade.”
“If that is all, then it means nothing.”
“If he has come this far, perhaps he has at least one hidden card?”
“Well, that may be true.”
In martial lineages, secret transmissions and hidden cards naturally existed.
But the opponent was simply too strong.
Even through qi-sense alone, that child Mu Jang-yak looked like one who, if enlightenment only supported him, could rise to the supreme-absolute realm at any time.
She had originally marked Mo Ha-rang, but now he was tempting enough to covet.
Then, as though proposing a bit of amusement, Hang Yeo-ryang said,
“Then, Shadow Sect Master, shall we make a light wager?”
“A wager?”
“Yes. From what I hear, it seems you regard that child as having potential, but I will wager that the result is decided within three exchanges. And of course, the winner will be that child Mu Jang-yak.”
“Hmmm. And what are the conditions of the wager?”
“How about we wager ownership of that girl?”
“So that was your true purpose.”
“Hehehe. You saw through me.”
Hang Yeo-ryang wanted girls rather than boys.
Since what the two of them wanted was the same, she proposed a wager in order to resolve matters smoothly.
At this, the Shadow Sect Master smiled and said,
“Not bad. Yet if we wager on victory and defeat, then anyone can see the gap between those two children is clear, so let us make it this way instead.”
“This way?”
“I will wager that the match will not be decided within three exchanges.”
At these words from the Shadow Sect Master, Hang Yeo-ryang, the Sound-Summoning Valley Master, twitched her lips and then nodded.
“You will not go back on those words?”
“Ohoho. A man’s word is worth a thousand gold.”
“………”
It sounded like a phrase that did not suit him at all, but that hardly mattered.
Hang Yeo-ryang was convinced that this contest might end not in three exchanges, but if things went well, in a single exchange.
The gap between one at the peak of the absolute realm and a first-rate master was too great.
Not merely one exchange, if things were handled well enough, the result might be decided in a single form.
* * *
Yi Ji-yeom, the Master of Corpse Blood Valley, raised his hand high and called out,
“Then greet one another.”
At that, Mok Gyeong-un and Mu Jang-yak, who had been loosening up, looked at each other and saluted with clasped fists.
Because this was a martial contest, they were being told to greet one another as a sign of mutual respect.
As he offered his salute, Mu Jang-yak cast a sidelong glance at someone beside the platform.
‘The Thunderbolt Fist King.’
Among those sitting there, that was the man he wished to serve as master.
In barehanded combat, the Thunderbolt Fist King was counted among the top three within the Heaven and Earth Society.
Mu Jang-yak’s family line excelled in palm and fist arts, so he wished to become that man’s disciple and rise to a still higher realm.
In order for things to go as he wished, he had to take first place in the Final Gate.
-Ssk!
Mu Jang-yak shifted his gaze and looked toward Mok Gyeong-un.
Outwardly he appeared no more than first-rate, but from repeated observation, Mu Jang-yak judged that Mok Gyeong-un was around the absolute realm.
He did not know by what means Mok Gyeong-un concealed his martial level, but first-rate he absolutely was not.
Mu Jang-yak looked at Mok Gyeong-un and steeled his fighting spirit.
‘I will establish the superiority clearly.’
Because of the wager as well, he absolutely could not lose.
Mu Jang-yak quickly began circulating the internal power in his dantian through his entire body.
He intended to decide the match at the outset the instant Yi Ji-yeom gave the signal.
‘I will not let my guard down in the slightest.’
The moment it begins, I will strike with full power, break that fellow’s fighting spirit, and claim victory.
As he was thinking that, Yi Ji-yeom, the Master of Corpse Blood Valley, lowered the hand he had raised and shouted in a loud voice,
“Begin!”
No sooner had Yi Ji-yeom’s signal fallen than
-Pat!
Mu Jang-yak, who had already been preparing by circulating energy through his whole body, kicked off the ground and launched himself toward Mok Gyeong-un.
‘Fast.’
Watching this, Mok Yu-cheon let out an exclamation.
He had guessed that Mu Jang-yak would be strong, but this movement surpassed expectation.
As expected, he seemed to have reached the very peak of the absolute realm.
‘Flowing Water Sowing Chaos!’
-Papapapapap!
In an instant Mu Jang-yak had surged right in front of Mok Gyeong-un and unleashed a palm-art form.
Like gentle ripples, graceful palm strikes embroidered the air in dazzling patterns and came aiming for the acupoints of Mok Gyeong-un’s upper body.
‘How will you respond?’
Mu Jang-yak glared at Mok Gyeong-un and thought.
Even if both had reached the absolute realm, one who had reached its very peak was utterly different in strength and speed.
-Tak!
Then Mok Gyeong-un moved backward by about half a step.
And then,
-Whik! Whik! Whik! Whik!
‘!?’
Mu Jang-yak’s eyes narrowed.
Securing that half-step of distance, Mok Gyeong-un flexibly moved his upper body and evaded every one of the palm strikes.
To avoid Flowing Water Sowing Chaos, where true and false moves were hard to distinguish, this easily?
It was a response outside Mu Jang-yak’s expectations.
“Huh.”
Won Byeong-hak, the Thunderbolt Fist King, who was watching the duel from beside the platform, could not hide his astonishment.
Mok Gyeong-un’s movements were nothing like those of a first-rate fighter.
To evade forms like that in such a way, one had to be at a roughly equal realm.
‘Did he conceal his martial level?’
He had expected this fight to end simply.
But after the movement Mok Gyeong-un had just shown, it became difficult to judge victory and defeat.
‘……Just as I thought.’
Son Yun, the King of the Fate Blade, likewise had not taken his eyes off Mok Gyeong-un’s movements.
He had thought there would be at least one hidden card there, and indeed the boy was showing movements beyond first-rate.
At that level, it would not be an exaggeration to say he had reached the mature stage of the absolute realm, or nearly its peak.
‘Can he conceal qi?’
He, who had reached the very peak of the supreme-absolute realm, had not been able to accurately gauge Mok Gyeong-un’s martial level.
That meant one of two things.
Either Mok Gyeong-un was a peerless master far above him, or he possessed some special method for hiding qi.
The former was impossible by common sense, so the latter was much more likely.
‘No wonder that child lost to him.’
The movement Mok Gyeong-un was showing now was one step above Yeop Wi-seon’s.
Seeing only how he evaded the forms was enough to know.
With things like this, it became difficult to guess who would win between these two.
-Papapapak!
“An opening.”
After evading the entire palm sequence, Mok Gyeong-un stepped with his footwork and threw a punch aimed at Mu Jang-yak’s face.
Mu Jang-yak then leapt backward to avoid the punch and, at the same time, kicked off the ground and snapped a kick up toward Mok Gyeong-un’s jaw.
-Pak!
Mok Gyeong-un blocked the top of that foot and at the same time tried to seize it.
At once,
-Whirik!
Mu Jang-yak twisted his body and rotated, kicking Mok Gyeong-un’s shoulder with his foot.
-Puk!
-Chwarrrrrr!
Mok Gyeong-un’s body slid back about five steps.
Landing on the ground, Mu Jang-yak saw this and the corners of his mouth rose faintly.
With this, he was certain.
Mok Gyeong-un’s internal power was weaker than his.
If so,
‘I decide it now.’
-Pat!
Mu Jang-yak kicked off the ground and, toward the pushed-back Mok Gyeong-un, unfolded a fist form with his right hand.
‘Accumulated Strikes Forming a Dance!’
Layered fists flew in, wavering like moths along with numerous feints.
Seeing this, Mok Gyeong-un unfolded his footwork and tried to widen the distance.
But Mu Jang-yak’s fist form, as if carrying qi like the Hundred-Step Divine Fist of Shaolin, pierced the air across the distance he had opened and came surging in.
‘I have no choice but to block.’
There was no helping it now. He had to use his hand.
Mok Gyeong-un raised his aura and thrust out his palm to stop the fist form.
But at that very instant,
-Puk!
From an angle he had not imagined at all, Mu Jang-yak’s palm struck into the right side of Mok Gyeong-un’s ribs.
‘Huh?’
Mok Gyeong-un’s body bent sideways to the right.
At the same time, the fist form of Accumulated Strikes Forming a Dance hammered his chest.
-Peopeopeopuk!
Blows landed in rapid succession, and Mok Gyeong-un’s body was driven back more than ten steps.
-Chwarrrrrrrrr!
“Ha!”
Exclamations burst out here and there among the spectators.
That was only natural, because the method Mu Jang-yak had just shown was something no one had expected.
Even Son Yun, the King of the Fate Blade, muttered as though in astonishment,
“…….Right Fist, Left Palm.”
With the right hand he had unfolded a fist-art form, and with the left hand a palm-art form.
It was hard to believe.
He had not unfolded the same form with both hands, but entirely different forms with each.
“Hah…..”
Won Byeong-hak, the Thunderbolt Fist King, likewise could not conceal his amazement at this strange method of Mu Jang-yak’s.
At a glance this looked like a simple principle, but those who had trained martial arts knew that this was a thing close to impossible.
To unfold different forms with each hand meant having to think two different thoughts at the same time, and if done carelessly, the whole circulation system could become tangled.
‘To have learned such a bizarre method.’
He was a truly astonishing child.
With one body, he wielded two different forms.
That was hardly different from facing two masters who had reached the very peak of the absolute realm.
‘The match has tilted.’
He did not know how it had been done, but if it came to this, it would not be an exaggeration to say the situation had already tilted toward Mu Jang-yak.
Even before that, Mok Gyeong-un’s internal power had seemed to be one level below Mu Jang-yak’s, so how could he beat a monster like that?
‘…….This will be difficult.’
Son Yun, the King of the Fate Blade, was of the same opinion.
It was astonishing that Mok Gyeong-un had hidden his skill, but the opponent was simply too bad.
And yet,
‘What is this?’
Mu Jang-yak, the one who had just landed two forms as good as fatal strikes on Mok Gyeong-un, did not look pleased at all.
Using his hidden trump card, Right Fist, Left Palm, he had precisely landed both forms.
Ribs and the very center of the chest.
It was no exaggeration to call them fatal blows.
Yet at the very instant the forms landed, he felt a strange sensation as though some of his power had suddenly scattered.
‘……Was that my imagination?’
At that moment Mok Gyeong-un, who had been driven back roughly ten steps, straightened his body and rolled his neck loose.
-Crack! Crack!
Then he muttered as if to himself,
“Ahhh. I had planned to end this while only half-heartedly dealing with you, but this was unexpected.”
‘What?’
Mu Jang-yak frowned.
Even after being consecutively struck by an unforeseen killing move, he was still putting on that bluffing act. He was truly something else.
It seemed there was no choice but to finish him for certain.
‘I will end that bravado.’
-Pat!
Mu Jang-yak launched his body toward Mok Gyeong-un.
He had revealed his hidden card, so now he meant to unfold it openly.
‘Right Fist, Left Palm. Fists Surging Like the World. Flowing Water and Drifting Clouds!’
Fist forms and palm forms unfolded simultaneously.
It created a scene as if two masters were launching a joint attack at once.
‘It is over!’
He was convinced of it just then.
“Roughly like this?”
-Papapapapap!
In that instant, Mu Jang-yak could not contain his shock.
Mok Gyeong-un, who had been staring right at him as he charged in, gave a nod and then, like Mu Jang-yak himself, unfolded different forms with each of his two hands.
‘!!!!!!!!!’