Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 138 - Shadow Sect Master (1)
Chapter 138 – Shadow Sect Master (1)
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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The confidant of Jang Neung-ak, the Society Leader’s second disciple, the Five Peaks Assembly.
Among them, the severed head of the blind Wi Maeng-cheon, the Second Peak in rank, fell powerlessly to the ground while blood spurted like a fountain from the cross-section of his neck.
-Pshhk!
Wi Maeng-cheon had always worn a calm face, yet the expression he wore at his end was close to a scream.
-Crack! Crack!
Mok Gyeong-un’s right hand, which had blackened and grotesquely swelled, slowly returned to its original state.
This was the principle of Acupoint-Switching Deviant Skill.
It was a technique with such severe side effects that it was difficult to maintain for long, but for a short time it allowed one’s inner force to surge to nearly two or three times its normal level.
Mok Gyeong-un had held it back as much as possible, then used it at the proper moment to cut off Wi Maeng-cheon’s neck.
-Swoosh!
Blue Spirit came lightly down before Mok Gyeong-un.
-Not bad, but you are still far off.
“That is true.”
Mok Gyeong-un accepted that readily.
No matter that his other senses were abnormally sharp, the opponent had been a blind man who could not see in the first place.
And even against such a man, he had struggled quite a bit in a pure duel.
Originally he had intended to settle it only with the death aura of the lower dantian and a pure contest of forms, but as that drew out, he had ended up using the Form of Push and Acupoint-Switching Deviant Skill in the end.
That was why, even though he had removed the target, he did not feel especially satisfied.
On the other hand,
‘…He is fast.’
Though she said he was still far off, inwardly Blue Spirit clicked her tongue at the speed of Mok Gyeong-un’s growth.
Strictly speaking, the blind Wi Maeng-cheon had been a master one level above Mok Gyeong-un.
In both inner force and experience, he stood far above him.
In fact, in a manner befitting that experience, he had even shown himself pressuring Mok Gyeong-un by using changed moves at every appropriate moment.
Yet Mok Gyeong-un had been learning from it even as they fought.
It was something that drew admiration even as she watched it happen.
‘I had thought he would struggle much more.’
It was different from her expectations.
It had only been because time was short, but she even thought that if he had continued clashing with only the lower dantian, it was not impossible that he might still have had a chance of victory.
Even from the position of one watching him most closely, his speed of growth was impossible to explain.
While that was happening, Mok Gyeong-un looked at Wi Maeng-cheon’s corpse and opened his mouth.
“Hoh.”
-Why are you…hm?
A strange light appeared even in Blue Spirit’s eyes.
That was because the death aura of the dead Wi Maeng-cheon was gathering into concentration.
“What sort of thing is this?”
Mok Gyeong-un had intended to absorb Wi Maeng-cheon’s death aura before it scattered.
But unlike before, the death aura was not scattering but gathering together.
Blue Spirit let out a small laugh and said,
-It must be your first time seeing it properly.
“Seeing what?”
-The proper birth of a vengeful spirit.
“Ah…is this it?”
-Yes.
Mok Gyeong-un was someone who, having mastered various occult techniques including the Six-Person Spirit Descent Art, could artificially create vengeful spirits from death aura.
But this was his first time seeing one come into being naturally like this.
That meant,
-It seems he felt very wronged.
An ordinary obsession was not enough to become a vengeful spirit.
If the death aura was gathering to this degree, it meant the resentment had reached an extreme.
Soon enough, the gathered death aura began to take on human shape.
The grade of a vengeful spirit is decided by how powerful the obsession and resentment are while the person was alive.
-Tremble!
At the same time that it was taking shape, the handle of the broken Jukmyeong Sword began to tremble.
When a spirit loses its body, it clings to a single medium so as not to be drawn out of this world.
That hilt would likely be the medium.
-It seems his resentment was considerable.
Blue Spirit found it interesting.
Even though it was still in the midst of fully taking shape, judging from the spirit power it was already giving off, it looked to be at least of the Crimson Spirit class.
Thus the vengeful spirit fully took form.
-Grind!
With white ghost-light flickering in his eyes, Wi Maeng-cheon glared at Mok Gyeong-un.
-How bitter. How bitter. I had wished to follow that person, accomplish the great cause, and open my eyes, but to die like this and become a wandering spirit…
A voice full of resentment.
Wi Maeng-cheon did not take his eyes off Mok Gyeong-un.
-To think that even in death I can see the face of my enemy like this. I curse you. I will follow you to the very end and torment you until you di…
As he was speaking, Wi Maeng-cheon stopped midway.
Something felt strange.
Because he had become a vengeful spirit in accordance with the natural order, he was aware that he had died.
That was why he also naturally understood the principles of the boundary between worlds.
Yet what was this feeling that Mok Gyeong-un was meeting the eyes of his dead self?
Then,
“It seems you have a great deal to say. For someone who just became a vengeful spirit, you are rather talkative.”
-You? …Do not tell me you can see me?
“I am answering you like this because I can see you, would that not be obvious?”
-You bastard! You are the one who made me like this!
Once he confirmed that Mok Gyeong-un could see him, the now even more furious Wi Maeng-cheon threw himself toward him as if to kill.
At that instant,
-Pak!
-Ghk!
Wi Maeng-cheon’s white pupils shook.
That was because Mok Gyeong-un had suddenly gripped his neck.
-Th-this?
He was a dead spirit.
How could Mok Gyeong-un possibly grip the neck of his dead self?
-What in the world are you? How…
As he stood unable to make sense of it, the voice heard behind him made Wi Maeng-cheon shudder violently.
-Hey, brat. You are overflowing with vigor for someone whose corpse has barely gone cold.
‘!?’
Vengeful spirits can instinctively distinguish grades.
Faced with the huge spiritual pressure he felt behind him, Wi Maeng-cheon felt as though his mind would go blank.
‘Wh-what sort of energy is this…’
This was no mere level of a vengeful spirit but something approaching a disaster.
His spirit body trembled so much that his lips would not part.
To the terrified Wi Maeng-cheon, Mok Gyeong-un said,
“It seems this is the first time I have seen a case where someone became a vengeful spirit like this. What should I do with you?”
-What do you mean what should you do? Just absorb the death aura or exorcise me.
“Ah, I suppose that would indeed be better.”
-Crush!
At that, Mok Gyeong-un drew up death aura and tried to tighten his grip further around Wi Maeng-cheon’s neck.
At first, Wi Maeng-cheon had not known what exorcise meant.
-Ssssss!
But then, together with a strange pain washing over him, he felt the threat that his spirit body was slowly disappearing.
It gave him a terror even stronger than the one he had felt when he first met death.
At that, Wi Maeng-cheon hurriedly shouted,
-S-spare me!
“You are already dead.”
-Please…please give me a chance.
“Would a chance have any great meaning for you?”
-I ask for nothing else. Let me see my wife and child’s faces just once, and then I will endure exorcism or whatever else you wish.
“Your wife and child?”
Mok Gyeong-un tilted his head slightly, as though puzzled.
Then Wi Maeng-cheon pleaded in a desperate voice.
-Long ago, after I was blinded by Serpent Glory Poison, I had only one wish. It was to see the faces of my wife and child.
This was the truth.
Wi Maeng-cheon had one desperate desire.
It was, by whatever means, to heal his ruined eyes and see the faces of his family.
Jang Neung-ak, the Society Leader’s second disciple, had promised that if they accomplished the great cause, then whether it proved possible or not, he would seek out the Camp-Dissolving Medicine Immortal and help Wi Maeng-cheon, whose eyes had gone blind from poison, regain his sight.
But who could have known that he would come to see again only after death?
-I beg you. I cannot leave the world like this. If you grant me only this, then kill me or do what you like.
He had little attachment to anything else.
Wi Maeng-cheon merely wanted to see.
The faces of the wife and child he had never seen while alive.
As he laid out his desire like this, one corner of Mok Gyeong-un’s mouth lifted.
“Ah. I thought you had become a vengeful spirit solely out of resentment, but it seems you also had precious beings who left attachment to life behind.”
-Flinch!
At those words, Wi Maeng-cheon suddenly realized his mistake.
He had spoken because he wished to resolve at least his one remaining attachment out of fear of being erased, but when he thought of it, this was not the one to whom he should have been begging.
Was this very man not the one who had killed him?
As he regretted his mistake, Mok Gyeong-un leaned in close and whispered in his ear just as he had before killing him.
“That is good. Then it seems you will work more willingly than the other shikigami.”
‘!?’
What in the world was he saying?
As he stood there in confusion, he saw Blue Spirit looking at him with a gaze tinged with pity.
* * *
Mok Gyeong-un returned after finishing what he had to do outside.
Just as he was about to pass beyond the gate pavilion where the detached residence stood, his eyes narrowed.
‘Hmm.’
After lightly sweeping his gaze around, he immediately noticed that the guard warriors who should have been there had disappeared.
The people who ought to be present were gone.
Letting out a small laugh, Mok Gyeong-un then, apparently unconcerned, entered the detached residence building.
He walked along the corridor and opened the door.
“You are late.”
The familiar voice heard from inside as the door opened.
It was none other than the Shadow Sect Master.
A strange light entered Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes.
Why was it that the man who, a short while ago, had dismissed everyone without saying much was now waiting for him alone?
Within a radius of more than twenty zhang, there was no other presence to be felt.
He found it strange, and was about to bring his two hands together and offer a cupped-fist salute, when the Shadow Sect Master cut him off and said,
“Where have you been wandering?”
“I was trai…”
“There is no need to tell such clumsy lies as that you were out at the market.”
“……..”
Unlike usual, the Shadow Sect Master’s voice was quite heavy and cold.
It seemed to be a continuation of what had happened earlier.
Then the Shadow Sect Master tapped the table with a finger and continued,
“How far did you go carrying the intruder’s head?”
At that question, Mok Gyeong-un feigned ignorance and replied as if nothing were amiss.
“I am afraid I do not understand at all what you are referr…”
“Its head was the only part missing at the cremation ground.”
“……..”
At that, Mok Gyeong-un smacked his lips and fell silent.
It seemed that, after he had gone there, the Shadow Sect Master had personally gone to confirm it himself.
Mok Gyeong-un shrugged and said,
“I beg your pardon, but I do not understand why you are looking for that on your disciple’s person. Though I left the detached residence briefly, if you ask the guard warriors…”
“Even after thinking it over, I still do not understand.”
“Pardon?”
“Just what sort of method did you use?”
“What sort of method? I do not understand what you mean.”
At Mok Gyeong-un’s return question, the Shadow Sect Master let out a sigh and shook his head.
Then he rose from his seat and opened his mouth.
“There is such a thing as a sense of alienness, or incongruity.”
“……..”
“When it was small, it was hard to notice. But at some point, the surroundings centered on you became encroached upon by incongruity.”
This was what the Shadow Sect Master found so baffling.
Those in the Shadow Sect all underwent thorough mental training, since they operated as spies and handled secrets.
That was why there had been a belief that they would never betray the Sect.
Then how could something like this have been possible?
It had been only seven days.
How in such a short span could they all be won over by Mok Gyeong-un, who could be called nothing more than an orthodox hostage?
“I do not know what strange method you used, but even if you are now a formal disciple, it seems you have crossed the line that can simply be overlooked.”
-Shing!
The sound of something being drawn was heard.
It was the saber at the Shadow Sect Master’s waist being drawn from its sheath.
Yet along with that sound, the sharp blade was already resting beneath Mok Gyeong-un’s chin.
-Swoosh!
Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes narrowed.
He had guessed there would be some gap, but the Shadow Sect Master’s martial prowess was beyond comparison even to Wi Maeng-cheon, the confidant of Jang Neung-ak, the Society Leader’s second disciple.
‘…He is strong.’
With only the martial prowess of his pure lower dantian, it was a level with which he could do nothing.
At that moment the Shadow Sect Master said in a voice colder still,
“Depending on how you answer, I may have no choice but to cut off that neck of yours. Therefore, from now on, I would like you to answer clearly what I ask…”
The Shadow Sect Master had not even finished speaking before he frowned.
That was because Mok Gyeong-un had smiled.
‘!?’
Seeing that smile, the Shadow Sect Master remembered the malicious grin Mok Gyeong-un had shown when he cut off the intruder’s head in order to suppress the chaos.
That had been the first time in his life that merely seeing someone’s smile had made his spine turn cold and made him feel danger.
Recalling that, strength entered the Shadow Sect Master’s hand.
“That smile just now…”
“Your instincts are quite sharp. To reach such a conclusion from only a sense of incongruity, after all.”
“You…”
“So then, are you going to cut off my head?”
“……..”
At that question, the Shadow Sect Master’s eyes sharpened.
Mok Gyeong-un’s answer now was no different from affirming that his own guess was correct.
Though he had not revealed how he did it.
One thing, however, was certain: this child was truly dangerous.
Not simply because he was an orthodox hostage, nor because his martial talent was extraordinary, but because the person himself was moving on an axis wholly different from ordinary people.
“It seems it would indeed be beneficial for this Society if I were to cut off your head right now.”
“That may well be so.”
At Mok Gyeong-un’s calm response, the Shadow Sect Master clicked his tongue inwardly.
To show such ease even in a situation where his life was being threatened…that nerve at least was worthy of recognition.
But public matters were public and private matters were private.
If this child was left as he was, the whole of the Shadow Sect would become encroached upon by that sense of incongruity.
-Clench!
The Shadow Sect Master gripped the saber hilt and was about to put strength into it.
It was at that very moment.
“By the way, if you cut off my head, I wonder whether it will really be all right once everyone learns that you are one who worships fire.”
‘!!!!!!’
In that instant, the Shadow Sect Master’s expression turned rigid.
‘This bastard…how does he know that?’