Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 149 - Repayment (2)

Chapter 149 – Repayment (2)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“But what exactly was the item Ghost Sword gave you, Elder?”

He had said that by giving him that item, Ghost Sword had told Baek Sa-ha, the Annihilation Poison King, that there was no reason for them to keep fighting.

What in the world had he given him?

At Mok Gyeong-un’s question, Baek Sa-ha let out a faint breath for a moment, then answered.

“Hoo. The Society Leader’s token.”

‘!?’

The Society Leader’s token?

At those words, Mok Gyeong-un frowned.

From Baek Sa-ha’s earlier words, he had thought that perhaps Ghost Sword might have no relation to the Heaven and Earth Society, but if that was the case, then the story changed again.

“……If he gave you the Society Leader’s token, does that mean Ghost Sword is related to the Society Leader?”

“Even I do not know exactly.”

“What do you mean, you do not know exactly?”

“I mean there is no way for me to know what connection he had to the Society Leader, or whether he had received some instruction from the Society Leader.”

It was a rather vague answer.

So Mok Gyeong-un asked,

“Then did you deliver the token to the Society Leader as Ghost Sword requested?”

“Yes. I delivered it.”

“May I ask what the Society Leader said?”

“He said nothing at all.”

“Pardon?”

He delivered it, and there was no reaction at all?

As Mok Gyeong-un was puzzling over this, Baek Sa-ha lightly placed a hand on his shoulder and said,

“The only thing the Society Leader said was this.”

“By this, you mean?”

“He ordered that I reveal nothing to anyone of all the things I learned while fighting Ghost Sword. Naturally, that includes the token as well.”

“……”

“Do you understand now why I told you not to let what you heard here leak outside?”

All of it had been by order of the Society Leader.

From the start, the duel with Ghost Sword had also been a humiliating incident for Baek Sa-ha, the Annihilation Poison King, so it seemed that their intentions aligned and it had remained well hidden as a secret until now.

‘The Society Leader……’

Mok Gyeong-un’s gaze grew somewhat heavy.

He had tried to learn Ghost Sword’s identity through Baek Sa-ha, but instead all he had learned was that Ghost Sword and the Society Leader of the Heaven and Earth Society had close ties.

Blue Spirit, who was listening to this as well, inwardly felt relieved.

‘It is unfortunate, but for me this is a good thing.’

She had already been worried that if the connection between Ghost Sword and the Heaven and Earth Society vanished, Mok Gyeong-un might leave this place.

But by sheer coincidence, because there was a tie to the Society Leader, the reason for him to remain here had become even more definite.

For Blue Spirit, it was something she could call fortunate.

-In the end, it can be said that your goal and mine coincide to some extent, sentient being.

-……It seems so.

Mok Gyeong-un’s gaze turned cold.

Things had become more complicated.

He had hoped for something more direct to reveal a clue about the culprit, but what he had learned instead was only that this matter might involve the one called the Society Leader as well.

‘The clue is the Society Leader.’

He was connected to Ghost Sword, who might have killed Grandfather.

Because it was something from seventeen years ago, he could not know whether there was a direct connection, but one thing was certain: the Society Leader knew about Ghost Sword.

That meant he needed a way to make contact with the Society Leader.

The problem, however, was that meeting the Society Leader was incomparably harder than meeting Baek Sa-ha, the Annihilation Poison King.

He was the head of the Heaven and Earth Society and one of the Six Heavens, called the summit of the current murim.

‘……I need a way to approach him.’

No method came to mind immediately.

At least with Baek Sa-ha, he had had the pretext of three head plaques, but the Society Leader was different.

He had no natural pretext to approach him closely.

‘Hmm.’

As his mind was filled with that, Baek Sa-ha said,

“Why are you not answering?”

“Pardon?”

“Did I not say that as a member of the Society, you too must not divulge this?”

“Ahhh. Of course that is how it should be.”

At Mok Gyeong-un’s answer, Baek Sa-ha looked at him with doubtful eyes.

It was true that he had revealed this despite the Society Leader’s order because of his promise, but judging by Mok Gyeong-un’s reaction, it seemed there was some kind of connection between him and Ghost Sword.

So Baek Sa-ha warned him,

“I told you only because of our promise, but for your own sake, it would be better not to dig too deeply into Ghost Sword any longer.”

“……”

“Besides, that man disappeared seventeen years ago. Whether it was a good bond or a bad one, it would be better to forget him now.”

Disappeared, he said.

That was not certain.

The mark left in the scar on his late grandfather was connected to Ghost Sword, after all.

In any case, at Baek Sa-ha’s advice, Mok Gyeong-un cupped his hands and answered politely.

“I will keep it in mind.”

“Even if it is only lip service, I hope it remains so.”

“How could I offer empty words to advice given by you, Elder?”

“Heh heh. You do talk well.”

“My curiosity has been resolved thanks to you, and you too have obtained what you wanted, so I will return to the Shadow Sect now.”

Mok Gyeong-un had no further business with Baek Sa-ha, the Annihilation Poison King.

‘What?’

At those words, a strange light appeared in Baek Sa-ha’s eyes.

Though he had revealed this in violation of the Society Leader’s order not to divulge it, this could hardly be called repayment.

And yet the boy was saying he would simply return here?

“You truly are a peculiar fellow.”

“Pardon?”

“Did you come here merely to satisfy that curiosity of yours?”

“Ah. Well, that….”

“So you did not come to seek instruction from this old man.”

“……”

“Kuhahahahaha! What a fellow. To use the privilege of the head plaques merely as a pretext to meet this old man.”

Baek Sa-ha, the Annihilation Poison King, clutched his belly and burst into loud laughter.

Mok Gyeong-un, who had brought the head plaques of Corpse Blood Valley, possessed the privilege of receiving instruction from him.

And yet he was saying he would leave without even receiving that benefit. How brazen that was.

It meant he had had no intention of learning from him in the first place.

‘So he figured it out.’

Mok Gyeong-un scratched his head, wondering what to do about it.

As that happened, Baek Sa-ha, who had been laughing for quite some time, stopped and said,

“It has been a long time since this old man laughed.”

“My apologies.”

“What is there for you to apologize for? Still, since you came to me with three head plaques from Corpse Blood Valley, I cannot simply send you away.”

“What do you mean, you cannot simply send me away?”

“Naturally, I will pass martial arts on to you.”

“Martial arts?”

“Heh heh. Yes.”

“……Then may I ask what exactly you intend to teach me?”

At Mok Gyeong-un’s question, Baek Sa-ha stroked his beard and replied.

“I will teach you poison arts.”

“Poison arts?”

“Judging by what I saw, though you have become a Poison Person, it seems you do not know poison arts at all. Who was it that taught you about poison?”

“……I merely learned by overhearing physicians and apothecaries.”

At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, Baek Sa-ha, the Annihilation Poison King, snorted.

Just what did this fellow take him for?

Even if one trained poison arts for an entire lifetime, one might or might not reach the realm of a Poison Person, yet he was saying he had reached that realm with shallow knowledge picked up from physicians and apothecaries?

“Hmph! Learned by overhearing? Speak sense.”

“Believe it or not, it is the truth.”

“Do you think that if this old man were to know who taught you poison, I would devour that person or something?”

“Well, no, that is not it.”

“Then why do you not say it? Is there some reason it must be hidden?”

‘Hoo.’

At that question, Mok Gyeong-un found it bothersome inwardly.

If he did not give an appropriate answer, it seemed the man would keep pressing him.

So,

“Understood. There is no reason to hide this in particular, so I will tell you. The benefactor who taught me about medicinal herbs and poisonous herbs has already passed away.”

“What?”

“He passed away.”

“……Has he died?”

“Yes.”

“Huh.”

Baek Sa-ha let out a small sigh.

He had truly been curious who it was that had made Mok Gyeong-un into a Poison Person.

But judging from Mok Gyeong-un’s tone now and the faint sense of loss in his eyes, it did not seem to be a lie.

‘……So it is true.’

“Ahem. I do not know what sort of person he was, but if he was skilled enough in poison to make you a Poison Person without even passing on poison arts, then he could not have been ordinary. Not even the Tang Clan of Sichuan or the Guyang family would…..”

At that moment, a certain epithet flashed through Baek Sa-ha’s mind.

‘Camp-Dissolving Medicine Immortal?’

Until now he had thought that throughout the Central Plains, only his own Baek family, the Tang Clan of Sichuan, and the Guyang family stood at the peak of poison arts.

And yet the one who had gravely wounded Ghost Sword with a poison palm seventeen years ago.

Ghost Sword had said that person was the Camp-Dissolving Medicine Immortal.

If one reached the highest realm while being thoroughly versed in any one field, one naturally became broadly knowledgeable even in its opposite tendency.

Was Baek Sa-ha himself not also a master of pharmacology?

For the Camp-Dissolving Medicine Immortal, poison arts might have been just such a thing.

‘Hmm.’

Baek Sa-ha stared fixedly at Mok Gyeong-un’s face.

Then he shook his head.

‘No. That cannot be.’

No matter how he thought about it, this fellow and the Camp-Dissolving Medicine Immortal had far too little connection.

Then who in the world was that person?

But for now, it did not seem this stubborn fellow would tell him.

‘I will find that out little by little later.’

Hiding his true thoughts, Baek Sa-ha said,

“Heh heh, in any case, if you learn poison arts from this old man, you will be able to make full use of that poison within you.”

“Make full use of the poison……”

“Yes. Will you learn properly?”

At that question, Mok Gyeong-un cupped his hands and said,

“How could I refuse your consideration, Elder? If you give me your instruction, I will learn with all my effort.”

There was no reason to refuse.

There was nothing bad about learning poison arts.

As that happened, Baek Sa-ha suddenly asked Mok Gyeong-un one thing.

“By the way, what was that thing you fed this old man earlier? Was it not perhaps a spiritual medicine?”

“You mean the Heaven and Earth Pill.”

“Ahh. So it was after all.”

Baek Sa-ha clicked his tongue as he looked at Mok Gyeong-un.

No matter if it had been to save him, to a martial artist a spiritual medicine was no different from a treasure.

And yet he had used it without the slightest hesitation on him, someone who might have died.

Had he truly died, it could have all been for nothing.

It was hard to tell what sort of person this fellow really was.

“I truly owe you a great many debts.”

“You need not think of it as a debt.”

“No. It is a debt.”

“……Well, if you insist on thinking of it that way, there is nothing I can do. Then will you repay it?”

“Repay it? Of course. This old man has a temperament that absolutely cannot let a debt pass unpaid.”

“Is that so? Then with what do you intend to repay it?”

“Since it is an equivalent exchange, I will give you a special spiritual medicine made by my clan.”

“A spiritual medicine?”

Repaying one spiritual medicine with another.

There was some logic to it.

“If you give it, I will gratefully accept it.”

“There is a condition, however.”

“……You truly do attach a great many conditions.”

“It is not a bad condition at all. If you agree not to reveal this spiritual medicine to others, I will give you two.”

“Two?”

“Yes. Not bad, is it?”

At those words, Mok Gyeong-un could not hide his puzzlement.

He had used only a single spiritual medicine, and yet in exchange for not revealing this, the man was saying he would give him two. Was there any reason to refuse?

“It is nothing bad for me, but are you truly all right with that?”

“Heh heh. If I were not, would you refuse to take it?”

“Of course not.”

“Naturally not. The spiritual medicine I will give you is called the Dragon Ascending Pill, made by Elder Baek Yu, my father and the founder of this main house. In one sense, it is far better than the Heaven and Earth Pill.”

“Far better?”

“Yes. If the Heaven and Earth Pill grants ten years to at most fifteen years of internal power, then with good absorption, our clan’s Dragon Ascending Pill grants as much as twenty years of internal power.”

‘!?’

At those words, a strange light appeared in Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes.

If what Baek Sa-ha said was true, then it was indeed a spiritual medicine far superior to the Heaven and Earth Pill.

“……I can certainly understand now why you say it must not be revealed.”

“Yes. But it is not wholly better in every respect.”

“Why not?”

“The Dragon Ascending Pill creates far stronger resistance than the Heaven and Earth Pill, so once you take one, the effect of the second drops greatly.”

“Ah……”

“Heh heh, do not be disappointed. Even so, if this old man helps by forcing qi through your meridians and acupoints, you can still gain nearly ten years of internal power from the second pill.”

‘Ten years.’

If his words were true, then even with an internal master helping the pill’s absorption, the effect seemed to drop by nearly half.

If so, then if one absorbed the pill alone, its efficiency would fall even further, and Mok Gyeong-un understood why Baek Sa-ha had said it was not simply better in every respect.

Still,

‘It will be of no use to me.’

To Mok Gyeong-un, who used death aura, spiritual medicines had no meaning and no effect.

Only if a situation like this arose again would they prove useful, as they had this time.

* * *

‘Damn it.’

Jang Neung-ak, the Society Leader’s second disciple, who had barely managed to dispel the poison aura, could not hide his anger.

What kind of disgrace was this supposed to be?

He had never imagined he would fail to endure even a moment of the Annihilation Poison King’s poison aura and be forced to one knee.

The one saving grace was that, besides himself, Wi So-yeon, the third disciple, had also apparently been circulating qi because of the poison aura.

What irritated him, though, was that she seemed to have dispelled the poison aura before him yet again.

At least in terms of internal power, she far surpassed him.

‘That damned woman.’

How was it that the gap only kept widening more and more?

He was even beginning to fear that before long she would reach a level that would make her impossible to deal with.

He might have to make a move before that happened.

But something else came first.

“Is Elder Annihilation Poison King still inside?”

Jang Neung-ak asked Baek So-gang, Baek Sa-ha’s second son.

At that, Baek So-gang nodded and answered,

“He is.”

“……I need to speak with him again.”

“You must wait for now.”

“Wait? What do you mean by that?”

“Father is speaking right now with the Shadow Sect Master’s disciple.”

“What?”

Jang Neung-ak frowned and looked at the entrance made of the stone wall.

Then that meant Mok Gyeong-un had endured that tremendous poison aura and gone inside.

What in the world?

No matter how deeply versed in poison the fellow might be, by what means could he endure the poison of a poison-art master at the level of Baek Sa-ha, the Annihilation Poison King?

He was not the only one puzzled by this.

‘Mok Gyeong-un.’

Wi So-yeon too, who had dispelled the poison before him, had been unable to hide her astonishment when she heard that Mok Gyeong-un was inside the training chamber.

His internal power and martial attainment should both have been several moves below theirs, so how was this possible?

It was then.

-Krrrrrr!

At that moment the tightly shut stone door opened, and someone emerged.

The instant she saw who it was coming out from the entrance, Wi So-yeon was flustered and hurriedly turned her head aside.

‘Wh-why?’

That was because Baek Sa-ha, the Annihilation Poison King, had almost all his clothes melted away and was close to naked.

“Father!”

At Baek Sa-ha’s appearance, his second son Baek So-gang’s eyes went wide as he approached and asked in a trembling voice,

“Y-your legs……are they all right?”

“Heh heh, can you not tell by looking?”

Baek So-gang could not contain his emotion at the sight of his father, Baek Sa-ha, standing perfectly well on two legs.

Had his lower half not been paralyzed and unable to walk as a side effect of failing to achieve the eighth layer of the Wave Demon Poison Scripture?

Then he suddenly noticed something changed in his father’s appearance.

“Huh? F-father……surely……did you……undergo Transforming the Bones and Replacing the Marrow?”

“Transforming the Bones and Replacing the Marrow!?”

At those words, Jang Neung-ak also stared at Baek Sa-ha with widened eyes.

His face, which looked as though it had become younger by nearly thirty years, was completely different from how it had been just moments before.

His melted clothes as well, all of it made it seem that he truly had undergone Transforming the Bones and Replacing the Marrow.

Which meant,

‘He crossed the wall?’

It meant that a new master in the realm of transformation had been born within the Heaven and Earth Society.

At that moment, Wi So-yeon, who had been glancing sideways at Baek Sa-ha because he was nearly naked, hurriedly clasped her hands and said,

“Congratulations on achieving your great attainment!”

“C-congratulations on achieving your great attainment, Elder.”

Jang Neung-ak, who had been too stunned to speak, also followed suit and congratulated Baek Sa-ha, the Annihilation Poison King.

His thoughts grew exceedingly complicated.

If this was how things stood, he could not lose Baek Sa-ha’s support under any circumstances.

He was already a master of poison arts, and now he had even reached the realm of transformation, so Jang Neung-ak had to bring him onto his side somehow.

Then,

“Heh heh heh, I have only achieved what I set out to do, yet you all congratulate me so warmly. I cannot say how grateful I am.”

“How could that be merely what you set out to do? Father, I sincerely congratulate you on achieving a great attainment!”

“Thank you. But with my clothes in this state, it truly does nothing for my dignity.”

“Ah!”

At those words, Baek So-gang hurriedly took off his outer garment and handed it to his father.

Taking the garment, Baek Sa-ha hastily tied the sleeves around his waist and covered the important parts.

Watching him, Jang Neung-ak thought this was his chance and opened his mouth.

“Elder. On a day like this, how can we simply let it pass? Rather than that, why not go outside and celebrate your great attainment….”

“That will not be necessary.”

“Pardon? But….”

“I am grateful that you congratulate this old man’s attainment so warmly, but was our business with one another not already concluded earlier today?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Did we not agree earlier? That if you could make this old man stand, I would support you.”

“……”

At Baek Sa-ha’s words, the Society Leader’s second disciple, Jang Neung-ak, was struck speechless.

He had thought that since the man had just achieved a great attainment and must be in high spirits, he should not let this chance slip away.

Yet he had not expected him to draw the line using that earlier matter.

“Elder….”

“A true man does not go back on his word. This old man does not speak twice with one mouth.”

‘Damn this stubborn old man….’

Jang Neung-ak was angry, but he could not show it.

That was because the force of Baek Sa-ha, already formidable to begin with, was now elevated beyond comparison with what it had been a little while ago.

Now he could not even estimate how large the gap between them had become.

‘……What am I supposed to do now?’

Jang Neung-ak was not the only one placed in an awkward position by Baek Sa-ha’s firm way of drawing the line.

Wi So-yeon, the third disciple, was also plunged into thought.

If she let today pass, the chance to persuade him would become remote.

-Pat pat!

As this was happening, Baek Sa-ha, the Annihilation Poison King, patted the shoulder of his second son Baek So-gang, then jerked his chin toward Mok Gyeong-un standing behind him and said,

“From today onward, this child is this old man’s formal disciple and a new member of the main house. Treat him as you would a blood younger brother.”

‘!?’