Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 124 - Demon Sword (3)
Chapter 124 – Demon Sword (3)
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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A white-haired man whose entire body was bound in chains.
Perhaps because he had been imprisoned for a long time, his long beard had not even been trimmed.
Judging by the face visible in the flickering torchlight, he looked to be no more than in his mid-thirties, yet his hair and beard had turned completely white.
Even though the chains forced him into an uncomfortable posture, there was not the slightest change in the white-haired man’s expression.
It would not be wrong to call him expressionless itself.
-Crack.
The man slowly raised his head and looked at the moonlight visible through the iron bars.
Tomorrow, his execution would be carried out.
When that time came, would he finally be able to understand the sensations called fear and dread?
Those who faced death all wore expressions full of suffering.
Would he become like that as well?
Even at this moment, with death before him, he felt nothing.
Why had he been born this way?
He did not know.
As he was thinking that, a fierce wind suddenly swept into the cell.
-Wheeeeeee.
Then the torch that had been lighting the cell suddenly went out.
[What the?]
He heard the jailer, who had been nodding off, rise with those words.
But then a sound followed, as though something had collapsed to the floor.
-Thud.
‘What is it?’
As he was wondering, he heard someone walking toward the cell now filled with darkness.
It was the sound of one person’s footsteps.
But when he looked ahead, he saw two figures in the darkness.
‘Two people?’
His dantian had been ruined, but they were right in front of him, so why could he not sense even the slightest presence from them?
They seemed to be formidable masters.
Then he heard a small voice.
[Seo Ga-ui of the Thousand Severed Heads… the fiend who cut down a thousand people and made a tower from their severed heads. He will suffice as material.]
[Good heavens…]
A sigh followed.
Looking ahead, he saw someone dressed like an occult practitioner, standing with his hands behind his back and pointing at the cell, and beside him an old man who was staring at him with a frown.
In the moonlight, all he could tell was that he was an old man, but this strangely familiar smell was…
‘The smell of scorching and iron…’
[A blacksmith?]
At the white-haired man’s words, a strange light appeared in the old man’s eyes.
The old man stared at him for a while, then opened his mouth.
[Young man. Why did you do such a thing?]
To the old man’s question, the white-haired man, no, Seo Ga-ui, answered with emotionless eyes.
[I do not know.]
[You do not know? Then are you saying you simply did it?]
[…I only wanted to know.]
[Wanted to know?]
[I wanted to know what emotion is.]
[Emotion?]
[Yes.]
He possessed none of the emotions of joy, anger, sorrow, or pleasure.
Because he had never been able to understand what that was since childhood, he had wanted to know those emotions.
That had been the thing he had wished for most in his life.
[I only wanted to know what that was.]
A strange desire unlike that of ordinary people.
Why had that desire brought about such a twisted end?
[If that was the reason, there must have been many other ways, so why those many people…]
The old man could not finish his sentence.
Every head severed by his hand wore an expression of despair and agony.
With them, he had built a tower as though it were a single work of art.
[…Because fear and terror were easier than joy or pleasure.]
[Easier?]
[Before death, everyone shows those feelings.]
[Heu…]
At those words, the old man clicked his tongue.
Then he said,
[Old me finds it difficult to understand you, young man. But if you possess desire and obsession twisted to that extent, then you have the qualification.]
[Qualification?]
[Before you die, do you not wish to leave something behind in this world?]
[What are you talking about?]
To the puzzled man, the old man twitched the corner of his mouth and said,
[How would you like to offer yourself up so that a sword intent the world has never seen before may be born?]
‘!?’
* * *
Mok Gyeong-un looked at the Evil-Answering Sword in his hand.
He could not understand what exactly had just happened.
He had tried to absorb the Evil-Answering Sword’s peculiar energy through the Form of Attachment, and the moment that energy was absorbed into his body, it instantly burrowed into his mind.
Then, before long, he had regained his senses.
‘Hmm. What was that?’
Before he knew it, various memories that were not his own were mixed together in his mind.
Whose memories were these?
The memories surfaced in fragments, all jumbled together.
The most vivid memory was,
[Aaaaaaagh!]
The horrifying memory of an entire body melting away while leaping into molten metal.
It seemed to have happened while still alive, and the strange thing about that scene was that even while suffering such pain, he had felt ecstasy.
Why had he felt joy while meeting such a horrible death?
It was a very peculiar memory.
‘Hm?’
No.
These fragmentary memories.
The only moment in which he showed emotion was that instant when he met death.
After that, strangely enough, they no longer looked like his own memories, but like the mingled memories of countless others.
Among them,
‘The Shadow Sect Master?’
He could even see the Shadow Sect Master.
It was only the briefest fragment, yet that memory was extremely interesting.
Then a resonant hum came from the sword in his hand.
-Wooooooong.
Mok Gyeong-un looked at the Evil-Answering Sword.
The Evil-Answering Sword trembled while giving off that resonant hum.
It looked as though it were trembling in fear and submitting.
At the sight, one corner of Mok Gyeong-un’s mouth rose.
* * *
‘What in the world is this?’
The Shadow Sect Master looked around in shock.
For an instant, he had seen thousands, tens of thousands of swords sweeping over everything, while everyone here died riddled through with sword intent.
As he stared at those dying and reeled in confusion, black flames suddenly engulfed the corpses, and everything was reduced to ashes.
Startled, he came to his senses, only to find that all of it had been nothing more than an illusion.
As though he had seen a hallucination.
-Trickle.
The scene had been so vivid that even the human-skin mask felt damp with sweat.
It felt like irresistible destruction and chaos.
Could something like a mere illusion really make the heart pound with such fear?
“Huu… huu…”
A strange light appeared in the Shadow Sect Master’s eyes.
Not only him, but every executive around him wore a shocked expression, as if they had all been bewitched by something.
Even the two Great Unit Leaders, and Bo Hyeok-so in particular, were clutching their throats and breathing harshly.
Had he seen an illusion of his throat being cut?
‘What happened?’
The Shadow Sect Master felt baffled by this strange situation.
Was it possible that not just one or two people, but everyone nearby, had seen such illusions?
The Shadow Sect Master looked at Mok Gyeong-un.
‘!?’
His eyes trembled.
Something was strange.
He was certain that just moments ago he had seen Mok Gyeong-un’s pupils turn as smooth and black as black jade.
But now they looked perfectly normal.
Could even that have been an illusion?
‘What in the world is this?’
The one holding the demon sword, the Evil-Answering Sword, was Mok Gyeong-un.
Then why had they been the ones to see such illusions?
He had only let the boy hold the sword to find out what his desire truly was, so he could not understand why something like this had happened.
‘Could it be?’
Just then, Mok Gyeong-un lightly swung the sword through the air with a whoosh.
At the light air-rending sound that cut through the empty space, the Shadow Sect Master’s eyes widened.
The same was true for Son Yun, the King of the Fate Blade.
“You?”
He did not know what that terrible illusion they had just seen had been, but looking at Mok Gyeong-un now, he did not seem affected by the demon sword at all.
Moreover, the ominous aura the sword had been giving off could no longer be felt.
At this, Son Yun asked,
“…Are you all right?”
“Yes. I feel perfectly fine.”
‘All right?’
At Mok Gyeong-un’s answer, Son Yun furrowed his brow.
Was he really unharmed?
Looking at the executives around him, every one of them bore the face of someone who had seen an illusion in that brief instant, just as he had.
There was no way this had happened by chance.
“…Could you hand the sword to this king for a moment?”
“The sword?”
“Yes.”
The reason Son Yun asked that was simple.
He knew many tales concerning demon swords, and he knew that those enthralled by them became obsessed with them.
Therefore, if Mok Gyeong-un had truly been chosen as its master by the demon sword and was really fine, he should be able to hand it over without issue.
It was then.
“Here it is.”
Mok Gyeong-un readily placed his palm upon the blade and respectfully presented the Evil-Answering Sword with both hands.
Seeing that, Son Yun’s eyes narrowed.
Had this child truly been chosen by the Evil-Answering Sword?
‘…I will know if I hold it myself.’
Son Yun stretched out his hand toward the hilt of the Evil-Answering Sword in Mok Gyeong-un’s hands.
At that, the Shadow Sect Master hurriedly tried to stop him.
“King of the Fate Blade!”
“It is fine. I merely wish to confirm something for a moment.”
At those words, the Shadow Sect Master looked on with worried eyes.
Naturally, he understood why Son Yun wanted to try holding the sword, but even he himself, though he had already reached the fully mature peak-transcendent stage, had lost his reason to the sword for an instant.
Even if Son Yun, the King of the Fate Blade, was a master who had reached the very limit before the wall, it was still no less dangerous.
Yet,
-Tap.
Son Yun grasped the hilt and lifted it, and nothing at all happened.
The sword that had looked so ominous only moments ago now merely shone with the luster of an ordinary famed sword and quietly displayed its form.
‘What?’
Where had that ominous aura gone?
The resonant hum could no longer be heard either.
As Son Yun held the sword and lightly swung it, he looked at the Shadow Sect Master with puzzled eyes.
The Shadow Sect Master, too, looked at the Evil-Answering Sword with eyes that said he could make no sense of it either.
How could the sword that had tormented him so much after coming into his hands become so docile like that?
He truly could not understand it.
‘Has that child really been chosen by the Evil-Answering Sword?’
Seeing that nothing happened no matter how long Son Yun held it, it seemed that the Evil-Answering Sword, now having chosen its master, had changed from a demon sword into a famed sword.
It was truly astonishing.
The Shadow Sect Master let out an exclamation and said,
“King of the Fate Blade. It would seem the true master of the Evil-Answering Sword has indeed been decided.”
* * *
Thus Mok Gyeong-un obtained the legendary demon sword, the Evil-Answering Sword, forged by the great master craftsman Ou Yezi.
In the process, the nearby executives had all seen strange illusions, but although they found it baffling, every one of them kept silent as if by prior agreement.
In truth, it was not something they could easily bring up in this place, to say that they had all suddenly seen an illusion of universal ruin, and their pride was also wounded by the thought of admitting that they had been briefly seized by the demonic aura of a mere demon sword.
But because of this, they realized one thing.
If they ever came into conflict with that child named Mok Gyeong-un, they would absolutely have to make him let go of the Evil-Answering Sword.
Nothing had happened right away, but they could not shake the strange feeling that it was dangerous.
‘That is unfortunate.’
Son Yun, the King of the Fate Blade, could not hide his regret, both over that and over having lost Mok Gyeong-un.
Not the Thunderbolt Fist King Won Byeong-hak, but that Shadow Sect Master?
He had never expected such a result to come about because of a single demon sword.
Regrettable though it was, there was nothing to be done.
‘I will have to content myself with this child.’
The trainee Son Yun, the King of the Fate Blade, obtained at the final selection ceremony was none other than Mok Yu-cheon.
The other child from Yeon Mok Sword Manor who had been taken hostage.
Of course, this had not been Son Yun’s choice.
It had been entirely Mok Yu-cheon’s choice.
[…I want to become stronger. Stronger than that bastard.]
That was what Mok Yu-cheon had said in front of the executives.
That bastard was none other than Mok Gyeong-un.
At those words, most of the executives turned away.
That was because they regarded Mok Yu-cheon as a bomb that could go off at any time, having learned a strange deviant art.
However, Son Yun, the King of the Fate Blade, was the only one who did not turn away.
Instead, he said to Mok Yu-cheon,
[Do you want to become stronger?]
[…Yes.]
[If you follow this king’s teachings well, I may be able to make you so.]
At those words, Mok Yu-cheon chose him without hesitation.
In truth, there had been a hidden motive behind it.
Son Yun, the King of the Fate Blade, also found it distasteful that Mok Yu-cheon had learned such a strange deviant art, but he had taken him as a disciple with his relationship to Mok Gyeong-un in mind.
Since other than Mok Gyeong-un there had been no one else he particularly had in mind as a disciple, this could be called a contingency piece prepared for what might come.
‘He has enough value as a piece that can restrain that bastard.’
Unaware of that, Mok Yu-cheon simply wanted to become strong.
And he still had not forgotten that request made by Ma Sang of the dark heavens of the Alliance of Justice.
His goal was to rise as high as possible here and restore the honor of an orthodox-path person.
‘This child too has talent not inferior to his, so I should place my hopes on him.’
Won Byeong-hak, the Thunderbolt Fist King, took Mu Jang-yak as his disciple.
Originally he had had Yeon Mu-ung of Mirrored Scenery Gate marked out, but in terms of talent Yeon Mu-ung did not even reach half of Mu Jang-yak’s level.
‘Hmm. Well, it should be fine.’
As planned from the beginning, Hang Yeo-ryang, the Sound-Summoning Valley Master, took Mo Ha-rang of Mo Hwa House as his disciple.
Inwardly, he had been somewhat tempted by Mok Yu-cheon, just as Son Yun, the King of the Fate Blade, had been, but to him, orthodox-path people remained utterly detestable whether they defected or not.
So he chose to remain faithful to his original purpose.
Because Yeom Ga of Crimson Kill Valley had unfortunately lost his life, the remaining trainee, Yeon Mu-ung of Mirrored Scenery Gate, failed to achieve his aim and instead was chosen as the disciple of Dae So-man, Great Unit Leader of Red Blood Unit.
Only Bo Hyeok-so, Great Unit Leader of Yama Unit, returned empty-handed without any results.
* * *
Thus the trials of this Corpse Blood Valley came safely to an end.
The trainees chosen by the executives who had come as observers to the final selection ceremony departed with them for their respective residences.
Mok Gyeong-un as well followed the Shadow Sect Master, whom he had chosen of his own will.
As they left Corpse Blood Valley, the Shadow Sect Master said,
“Ohoho. How very curious. I did not know I would take in a disciple who walks a path completely different from mine.”
The Shadow Sect Master’s personal martial art was a blade art.
By contrast, the personal martial art Mok Gyeong-un had mainly practiced could be called swordsmanship.
That was why he found this part regrettable.
At that, Mok Gyeong-un smiled faintly and said,
“I do not particularly distinguish between sword and blade, so if you teach me, I can learn either one.”
At those words, the Shadow Sect Master’s face brightened as he said,
“Oh? Really?”
“Yes.”
“It requires a slight price. Is that all right?”
A slight price?
What was he talking about?
To the puzzled Mok Gyeong-un, the Shadow Sect Master covered his mouth with a hand and said in a coquettish tone,
“Because my personal martial art has very strong yin energy, in order to learn it, you have to be castrated.”
‘!?’