Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 118 - Disciple Recruitment Battle (4)
Chapter 118 – Disciple Recruitment Battle (4)
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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“How are you supposed to do anything to me at this rate? Why not try using that heart method instead?”
There was a sneering note in Mok Gyeong-un’s voice.
At those words, a furnace-like rage surged up from one corner of Mok Yu-cheon’s chest.
As recently as just a month ago, Mok Gyeong-un had been nothing more than trash to him, a coward with not the slightest trace of martial talent.
So how could this have happened?
How could things have turned upside down in the span of just one month, leaving him the inferior one?
-Gnash!
The Li Clan ground their teeth.
Had he not made efforts enough to draw blood, beyond even his talent, in order to overturn the label of lowly birth?
And now he was being pushed back by a devilish bastard like this?
He could no longer contain his anger.
-Thump! Thump!
His heart pounded violently, and the murderous impulse he had been suppressing began to rise again.
Seeing him like that, Mok Gyeong-un curled up the corner of his mouth and said as if this were exactly what he had hoped for.
“Good. That’s how it should be.”
‘!?’
The instant he heard that, Mok Yu-cheon suddenly realized his mistake.
For a moment, in his sense of humiliation, he had nearly failed to suppress the impulse he had only barely held down.
So Mok Yu-cheon bit his lip hard and pushed down his anger.
He absolutely could not act according to this bastard’s wishes.
‘No. I have to endure.’
If he gave in to that impulse, he could no longer control what he might do.
At this sight, Mok Gyeong-un gave a short laugh.
He thought this aspect of him was truly troublesome.
Should he say that he was stubborn to no purpose?
But brief though it had been, Mok Gyeong-un had experienced Mok Yu-cheon back at Yeon Mok Sword Manor, and he also possessed information about him.
Mok Yu-cheon’s reverse scale was simple.
“For a lowborn courtesan’s son, your patience is quite…”
He had not even finished those words.
-Paaaaang!
At that moment, a strong rebounding force surged up from Mok Yu-cheon’s neck, and Mok Gyeong-un’s body, together with the hand gripping that neck, was flung backward.
Mok Gyeong-un rose nearly three zhang into the air, turned a somersault, and landed on the ground.
-Chwarrrrrr!
Even so, he was pushed back nearly five more steps.
After sliding back and regaining his posture, Mok Gyeong-un raised his head.
‘So that was it.’
His power had surged in an instant.
It seemed to have nearly doubled, already surpassing the utmost limit of the peak realm.
Watching that, Mok Gyeong-un inwardly clicked his tongue.
‘So it turns out like this.’
This had arisen from the side effects of the flawed verses, but what were the odds of such an absurd situation occurring, where one’s power rose by nearly twice?
It was no different from finding a needle on a sandy beach, and yet that probability had come to pass.
-Creep, creep.
The sight of Mok Yu-cheon with red vapor drifting from his whole body was ominous in the extreme.
His brown skin and whitened eyes made the atmosphere around him seem even more dangerous.
Looking at him, a strange light appeared in Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes.
‘Ah. So that is how it works.’
Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes did not operate along the same lines as ordinary people’s.
After taking in the death aura and opening Ghost Eyes, he had become able to see the flow of energy.
Because of that, he could see from right in front of him how Mok Yu-cheon’s energy was explosively increasing.
The principle behind it was quite unique.
‘How profound.’
Just from changing a few places in the existing heart-method verses, a phenomenon like this had occurred.
No, there had been more than just a few places changed, but still, it was profound.
The depth of martial arts truly seemed boundless.
“I’ll kill you!”
It was right then.
-Pat!
Mok Yu-cheon shouted at Mok Gyeong-un and hurled himself forward.
Perhaps because his power had nearly doubled, his speed was far faster than it had been before.
He reached Mok Gyeong-un in an instant and threw a punch at his head, as though to smash in his skull.
-Tatatatatak!
Mok Gyeong-un used a lightness art and opened the distance just before the fist could touch his head.
He had barely avoided it.
Because he was limiting himself to the utmost limit of the peak realm, he was not drawing out more than twenty percent of his internal power, so evading was more efficient than blocking.
-Paak!
Yet he thought he had widened the distance, but Mok Yu-cheon had already caught up right in front of him again.
Then he used Yeon Mok Sword Manor’s basic art, the ninth form of the Nine Forms of Yeonmok, Yeon’a Muhang.
Mok Gyeong-un knew this form well, so he anticipated its trajectory and tried to evade it, but then,
-Pupup!
“Hup.”
At that instant, the trajectory of Yeon’a Muhang’s fist form changed, striking him in succession on the left shoulder and collarbone.
Hit by it, Mok Gyeong-un’s body was pushed back once again.
-Chwarrrrrrrrr!
At the sight of Mok Gyeong-un being driven back, Yi Ji-yeom’s expression hardened.
And that was natural, for Yi Ji-yeom had seen the corpse of Yeom Ga of Crimson Kill Valley and personally checked the cause of death.
The cause had been that all of the blood vessels centered around the struck area had burst apart.
This was completely different from an ordinary internal injury.
So before the martial contest, he had wanted to inform his lord, Mok Gyeong-un, of this fact, but there had been too many eyes watching and he had been unable to do so.
‘This is bad. Why did my lord provoke that child?’
Mok Yu-cheon himself had seemed to be restraining that impulse.
But after Mok Gyeong-un said something to him, he failed to hold back his anger and manifested that deviant technique again.
It was possible that the blood vessels in the area struck by that attack had already ruptured.
‘Ah…’
Had his guess been right?
Mok Gyeong-un was clutching his shoulder, staggering slightly.
Had that last blow indeed ruptured his blood vessels?
Just then, Mok Yu-cheon too saw Mok Gyeong-un clutching his shoulder and hesitated for a moment.
‘Surely not?’
Mok Yu-cheon looked at his own palm.
When he had just struck Mok Gyeong-un’s shoulder and collarbone, the sensation had been very similar to when he killed Yeom Ga of Crimson Kill Valley.
It had felt as though the impulse of murderous intent was mixed into his own qi.
‘What in the world is this?’
If he became a little more accustomed to this strange sensation, it seemed he might be able to use it at will.
But now did not seem to be the time for that.
Though he had been seized by murderous impulse because of Mok Gyeong-un’s taunt, he had not truly wanted to kill the bastard.
He had only wanted to teach that devil a lesson.
Just then,
“Hoo.”
At that moment, Mok Gyeong-un, who had been clutching his shoulder, lowered his hand and straightened his back.
Seeing that, Mok Yu-cheon furrowed his brow.
The Yeom Ga of Crimson Kill Valley he had faced earlier had coughed blood from this same blow, writhed in agony, and then met death.
Yet Mok Gyeong-un’s complexion showed no sign of anything being wrong.
Was he really unharmed?
“You…”
“Is that all you’ve got?”
There was a mocking tone in Mok Gyeong-un’s voice.
Hearing that, Mok Yu-cheon’s eyes sharpened fiercely.
He had been a fool to pity the bastard for even a moment, thinking he might die.
“It wasn’t as much as I expected. Is this the limit of lowly birth after all?”
-Gnash!
The red vapor rose even more strongly from Mok Yu-cheon’s whole body.
Then the veins throughout his body bulged out.
The more agitated his emotions became, the more it seemed to affect his circulation.
‘Bastard.’
Mok Yu-cheon clenched his fist hard.
This was almost better.
Unlike Yeom Ga, it seemed that if one hit the shoulders and such areas, fatal damage could be avoided, so he would make it so that bastard Mok Gyeong-un could not use his limbs for some time.
Only then would the bastard come to his senses.
-Pat!
Seized by the impulse to kill, Mok Yu-cheon once again launched himself at Mok Gyeong-un.
Then Mok Gyeong-un moved in response.
This time, instead of retreating, he drove himself straight at the charging Mok Yu-cheon.
Each was rushing at the other.
-Pat!
Mok Yu-cheon’s movements were faster still.
In an instant, his fist flew toward Mok Gyeong-un’s face with enough force to pierce through it.
Mok Gyeong-un moved his head to avoid it, then kicked toward Mok Yu-cheon’s abdomen.
-Thud!
Struck in the abdomen, Mok Yu-cheon snorted.
As if it did not hurt him at all, he tried to smash down Mok Gyeong-un’s leg in that very state and break it.
However,
-Papak!
Mok Gyeong-un spun his body and kicked up toward Mok Yu-cheon’s face with his other leg.
Mok Yu-cheon avoided it with half a step and succeeded in landing a blow on Mok Gyeong-un’s thigh.
-Thud!
From that single blow, Mok Gyeong-un’s body was pushed back slightly.
-Chwarrr!
Unlike before, he was pushed back about three steps.
As he slid back, energy flowed out from the soles of Mok Gyeong-un’s feet, and then,
-Pasuseuk!
Cracks spread across the floor of the training ground.
Won Byeong-hak, the Thunderbolt Fist King, one of the executives watching this, let out an exclamation and muttered,
“He diverted it.”
It was the phenomenon of sending the force carried in the opponent’s fist out through the Yongquan acupoint.
It could be called a type of substitution technique.
If he could use that method more smoothly, then he could use the opponent’s force to add even greater power and return it.
But even just that much showed outstanding control over qi.
‘Ah, ah, ah. It really is that child.’
Seeing that only intensified his greed for Mok Gyeong-un.
That brat was a talent who would not only complete the secret art of True-Origin Thunderbolt Fist, but would undoubtedly develop it even further.
At that moment, Mok Gyeong-un once more sneered at Mok Yu-cheon.
“How boring.”
“You!”
Enraged, Mok Yu-cheon hurled himself at Mok Gyeong-un yet again.
-Pat!
‘Why? Why is it like this?’
Consumed by the impulse to kill, Mok Yu-cheon grew more and more impatient as his anger swelled.
His power had surged, making him superior to Mok Gyeong-un in every respect, so why could he not bring the bastard down?
Did he need even greater power?
Mok Yu-cheon ran the flawed Wood-Transforming Heart Cultivation Method and tried to draw out even more energy.
That was the very moment.
-Tap!
Something inside snapped, and Mok Yu-cheon’s eyes turned completely brown.
Then he let out a howl like a wild beast.
“Kraaaaaaah!”
At that shout, loaded with power and reminiscent of a lion’s roar, the warriors around them all clapped their hands over their ears at once.
-Crack! Riiip!
Mok Yu-cheon’s skin was no longer merely brown but now turning black, while his veins bulged out, his muscles swelled, and his upper garment tore apart.
-Goooooooo!
At the surging energy pouring from Mok Yu-cheon, the executives all rose from their chairs at once.
His power had not merely doubled, but had risen to nearly three times its former level.
It was reaching almost into the opening domain of the transcendent peak.
‘What kind of deviant technique is that?’
‘How did his energy explode to such a degree?’
Even Son Yun, the King of the Fate Blade, and Won Byeong-hak, the Thunderbolt Fist King, could not hide their shock at the sight of Mok Yu-cheon.
This was too bizarre a phenomenon to be explained merely as a deviant technique.
The Heaven and Earth Society was not the righteous path, so deviant techniques themselves were not forbidden, but this went beyond such a concept. It was ominousness and danger itself.
‘This has gone beyond what that child can handle.’
Power exerted beyond one’s own limits ultimately led only to destruction.
That was a temporary surge caused by berserk overload.
But it was not a level that Mok Gyeong-un could deal with.
“Valley Master. The martial contest…”
Though Son Yun did not finish the rest, Yi Ji-yeom was thinking the same thing.
He had to stop the martial contest at once.
“Understo…”
It was right then.
-Bang!
Fragments of the training ground floor burst upward as the berserk Mok Yu-cheon charged at Mok Gyeong-un.
That speed was on a completely different level from before.
He reached Mok Gyeong-un in the blink of an eye, and then,
-Thud!
He threw a tyrannical punch at Mok Gyeong-un.
With it, Mok Gyeong-un’s body did not merely fly away, but skipped across the training ground floor like a stone on water three times before tumbling over the ground.
-Boom! Bang! Bang! Kwadadadadang!
Even the shattered stone floor of the training ground made it easy to imagine how powerful the blow had been.
At that level, it was possible that all the bones in his body had been crushed.
Yet the berserk Mok Yu-cheon did not stop there.
“Kwaaaaah!”
He let out another beastlike cry and tried to charge again at Mok Gyeong-un, who had been sent flying and had fallen.
At that very instant,
-Pak! Bang!
Mok Yu-cheon, who had been charging forward, pitched face-first onto the ground.
Someone enormous was gripping the back of his neck, and it was none other than Son Yun, the King of the Fate Blade.
Yet Son Yun was not the only one restraining him.
Already standing directly in front of Mok Yu-cheon was Won Byeong-hak, the Thunderbolt Fist King, with his fist drawn back, in a posture that seemed ready to release explosive force at any moment.
-Pakpak!
“Kraaaaaaah!”
Pressed down in the grasp of Son Yun, the King of the Fate Blade, Mok Yu-cheon tried to resist.
Thanks to his surging power, his entire body convulsed.
But no matter how much stronger he had become, there was no possibility at all that he could surpass the power of Son Yun, the King of the Fate Blade, who had reached the utmost limit of the transcendent peak.
“Stay still.”
-Bang!
Son Yun pressed down on Mok Yu-cheon’s neck even harder.
“Thunderbolt Fist King.”
Keeping Mok Yu-cheon pinned, Son Yun called out to Won Byeong-hak, the Thunderbolt Fist King.
It meant that he should quickly subdue his acupoints.
Won Byeong-hak nodded, released his stance, and approached Mok Yu-cheon to attempt point-sealing.
-Tatatatatatatak!
However,
“This brat?”
“Why? What is it?”
“The positions of all his acupoints have changed.”
“His acupoints?”
“Exactly. His acupoints are all jumbled up, and like this…”
It looked as though it would be difficult to knock him out through point-sealing.
Just then,
“Then I shall do it.”
At the sound of that voice, Won Byeong-hak turned his head.
Standing there was Hang Yeo-ryang, the Sound-Summoning Valley Master, and as she drew near, she placed both hands beside the ears of Mok Yu-cheon, who was still struggling while held down.
And then,
-Pak! Paang!
She clenched and opened both hands.
At that instant, a powerful wave arose, and Mok Yu-cheon’s eyes rolled back as he tried to resist.
Then his movements soon quieted down.
Won Byeong-hak furrowed his brow and asked,
“What did you do?”
Hang Yeo-ryang, the Sound-Summoning Valley Master, smiled and tapped the side of her own head with a finger as she said,
“Should I say that I made this part ring a little?”
With a sound art, she had produced waves that entered through Mok Yu-cheon’s eardrums and shook his brain.
Was this the sort of thing one referred to as making his head ring?
However powerful he was, Mok Yu-cheon had been unable to endure the waves coming from both sides and lost consciousness.
-Dudududeuk!
At that moment, Mok Yu-cheon’s swollen muscles began to subside.
And it did not stop there. The skin that had blackened also gradually returned to its original color.
Seeing that, Son Yun, finding it strange, touched Mok Yu-cheon’s acupoints.
‘The surging energy is calming down. But…’
As expected, it was just as he had thought.
Some of the blood vessels throughout the body had been swollen by the surging power, some had even burst, and even the dantian had become highly unstable.
‘Strange. Truly strange.’
At this point, it would not have been strange at all if all the blood vessels had ruptured.
That it had stopped at only some was almost fortunate.
Had it not, Mok Yu-cheon would not only have lost his martial arts but would have become crippled all over, or even a complete invalid.
One could say it was fortunate they had stepped in so quickly.
‘And that child?’
Removing his hand from Mok Yu-cheon’s acupoints, Son Yun looked toward the place where Mok Gyeong-un had been sent flying.
Yi Ji-yeom, the Corpse Blood Valley Master, was there.
Seeing that, Son Yun clicked his tongue.
‘For things to turn out like this when we were deciding the final first place.’
It was truly an ironic affair.
Mok Yu-cheon’s condition was not good either, but with a blow like the one from before, Mok Gyeong-un’s body should also have been nearly wrecked.
That was what he was thinking when it happened.
He then saw Mok Gyeong-un stagger to his feet.
‘!?’
At that sight, a strange light appeared in the eyes of Son Yun and the other executives.
He had endured even such an enormous blow?
At that moment, Yi Ji-yeom, at his side, whispered to Mok Gyeong-un with startled eyes.
“My lord, are you all right?”
He had thought Mok Gyeong-un had suffered severe injuries, since that was a blow from a surge that nearly reached the opening of the transcendent peak.
Yet Mok Gyeong-un smiled as if nothing were wrong and said,
“I’m fine.”
“But just now, that level of attack…”
“Ah, ah, ah. At this level, it was the right picture that I could not avoid it.”
“Pardon?”
What in the world did that mean?
What did he mean, that at this level it was the right picture that he could not evade it?
As Yi Ji-yeom wondered, Mok Gyeong-un lightly rolled his neck and loosened it.
-Crack! Crack!
“Even deliberately taking a blow and pretending it hurts is work.”
“Ha…”
At those words, Yi Ji-yeom was momentarily left speechless.
Then was he saying he had deliberately taken that tremendous strike?
Yet even more astonishing than that was the sight of Mok Gyeong-un looking truly uninjured.
But the surprising thing did not end there.
“Even so, because I saw it up close, I learned something useful.”
“Pardon?”
What did that mean?
Just as Yi Ji-yeom was feeling puzzled,
-Crack! Crack!
At that moment, the veins on Mok Gyeong-un’s left hand bulged, and then the muscles up to his wrist swelled and his skin blackened.
‘!!!!!!’