Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 151 - Talent (1)

Chapter 151 – Talent (1)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The manor located southwest of the main hall in the inner castle of the Heaven and Earth Society was the base of Origin Kill Pavilion, which handled consultations related to occult arts.

Occult practitioner Jo Ui-gong was dragging his staff as he hurried toward the manor’s main hall.

He tried not to show it as much as possible, but he could not help being tense.

‘……Senior Brother.’

He had just heard that his senior brother, Jo Tae-cheong, a Square Sun, was now in the main hall.

Jo Ui-gong had heard he had gone somewhere on the Society Leader’s secret order, so for him to return and come visit without even sending word first was strange.

It made him uneasy for no reason.

‘The preparations are solid.’

While his senior brother had been absent, he had quickly received the Society Leader’s official approval through the Vice Society Leader.

In Seo-ok, the Lord of Origin Kill Pavilion who had become a living corpse demon through Mok Gyeong-un’s Six-Person Spirit Descent Art, had handed the position over to him.

Junior Brother Yun in Corpse Blood Valley had also witnessed it and agreed.

In that process some of the elder occult practitioners who supported his senior brother had protested, but what could they do?

It was the Pavilion Lord’s command.

Thus, Jo Ui-gong was in truth and in name the new Pavilion Lord of Origin Kill Pavilion.

‘He must have come as soon as he heard the news.’

That was what he assumed.

Unless it was for an extraordinary reason, his senior brother almost never left the main hall where the Society Leader stayed.

So for him to come here like this meant he must have heard the news that Jo Ui-gong had become Pavilion Lord.

At least one fortunate thing was that he had moved the former Lord of Origin Kill Pavilion, In Seo-ok, away beforehand.

He had sent him more than fifty ri away and erased the traces with occult arts, making it useless even if someone tried to track him.

‘As long as I prevent him from seeing him directly, there will be no problem.’

His senior brother’s skill in occult arts was so great that it would not be an exaggeration to say it rivaled their master’s.

Deceiving a senior brother like that would never be easy.

That was why, even though he had made all possible preparations, he could not help being tense.

“Attention!”

The guards standing watch before the main hall bowed when they saw Jo Ui-gong.

Jo Ui-gong asked them,

“Where is Senior Brother?”

“He said he is waiting inside.”

“I see. Very well.”

As Jo Ui-gong was about to go in, one of the guards said,

“By the way, Square Sun Jo Tae-cheong came in carrying a large wooden box that looked like a coffin.”

“A wooden box?”

What was that?

Was it perhaps related to the Society Leader’s secret order?

Puzzled, Jo Ui-gong soon entered the main hall and headed for the Pavilion Lord’s office.

When he went down the corridor and opened the door,

-Creeeak!

‘!?’

He saw someone sleeping with his head tipped back and both feet propped up on the Pavilion Lord’s desk chair.

Just from the gray martial robes bearing a yin-yang design, Jo Ui-gong could tell who it was.

It was his senior brother, Jo Tae-cheong, a Square Sun.

‘……’

Jo Ui-gong’s eyes narrowed.

There was a separate place for guests, yet he was sitting in the Pavilion Lord’s own chair and sleeping there like that.

It was obvious he was trying to provoke him.

Thanks to that, Jo Ui-gong could guess his senior brother’s current mood.

‘……I must not get excited.’

No matter the reason, he had taken his senior brother’s place.

His anger was justified, and one way or another it was bound to erupt.

“Ahem.”

Jo Ui-gong deliberately coughed and came inside.

Then,

“So, you came?”

Jo Tae-cheong, who had been sleeping with his head tilted back, opened his eyes and spoke.

Jo Ui-gong clasped both hands around his staff and cautiously greeted him.

“Senior Brother, you have come?”

“Yes. I came.”

“I heard you were away on the Society Leader’s orders.”

“Judging by the fact that you’ve heard even that much, I suppose you really have finished taking over the post.”

“……”

At that oddly sharp voice, tension subtly crept into the eyes of the occult practitioner Jo Ui-gong.

Since his senior brother had been all but the obvious successor, he had expected backlash over this.

Jo Ui-gong answered calmly.

“Yes. I still lack much, but I intend to adapt little by little.”

“Adapt little by little……”

“……”

“Did you want that seat so badly?”

-Gulp!

At Jo Tae-cheong’s direct question, Jo Ui-gong involuntarily swallowed.

No matter how fully he had prepared, he knew his senior brother’s skill in occult arts better than anyone, so he could not help but be tense.

In any case, it was something he would have had to face once.

Jo Ui-gong put strength into his voice and said,

“How can you say something so hurtful? I merely followed Master’s command.”

“Master’s command?”

“Yes. I too refused at first, saying that with you here, Senior Brother, how could I dare inherit the Pavilion Lord’s seat?”

“Refused….”

“Yes. But Master said that because you must remain by the Society Leader’s side, he could not entrust the Pavilion Lord’s seat to you.”

“……Did he truly say that?”

“How could I speak falsely to you, Senior Brother? If you truly find it difficult to believe, I can summon Junior Brother Yun as well….”

“Are you asking him to play along with your lies?”

“……It is not a lie. Are you the one denying Master’s decision, Senior Brother?”

“Denying? Ha!”

-Creaaak!

Jo Tae-cheong rose from the office chair.

At his attitude, Jo Ui-gong gripped his staff and prepared to respond.

Because he had already set various occult defenses throughout the office for precisely this moment, he could activate the Four Suppressions barrier at any time.

Then Jo Tae-cheong bent his index and middle fingers together and formed a hand seal.

Then,

-Pakak!

In that instant, the lid of the coffin-like wooden box in one corner of the office sprang open on its own.

Then something inside the box rose stiffly to its feet.

At the sight, Jo Ui-gong’s eyes widened until they seemed about to split.

It was none other than,

‘M-Master?’

It was In Seo-ok, the former Lord of Origin Kill Pavilion who had become a living corpse demon.

A talisman bearing the character for seal was attached to the forehead of In Seo-ok’s white face.

At this sight, Jo Ui-gong could not hide his bewilderment.

He had taken measures so that In Seo-ok could not come out by attaching a heavy weight to him and sinking him deep in a lake more than twenty ri from here.

So how had he found him?

‘Damn it.’

He had no idea how, but his senior brother had found the Master who had become a living corpse demon.

That meant he had come here to pull Jo Ui-gong down from this seat.

So Jo Ui-gong hurriedly formed a quick hand seal with his left hand.

-Snap! Snap!

Kai! Qian! Lie! Zhe!

This was the hand seal of the Nine Word Living Method for activating the Four Suppressions barrier.

Because it was an art he had already prepared in advance, he naturally expected it to activate at once, but

‘No?’

The barrier did not activate.

At the instant he failed to understand why, Jo Tae-cheong clicked his tongue and said,

“You prepared quite a lot. But did you really think I would simply leave all that alone?”

-Clench!

At those words, Jo Ui-gong bit down hard on his lower lip.

Had Jo Tae-cheong really broken all those arts while Jo Ui-gong was away only briefly?

He had concealed them as thoroughly as possible, but his senior brother was his senior brother after all.

So Jo Ui-gong hurriedly tried to unfold the occult spell carved into his staff.

But before he could even finish reciting it,

-Thud!

“Hrk!”

Something kicked Jo Ui-gong in the back and sent him pitching forward.

-Thunk!

Then something stepped on the back of the fallen Jo Ui-gong.

It was so heavy that the flesh around the place being pressed sank inward, causing unbearable pain.

“Grrrgh.”

In the midst of the intense pain, Jo Ui-gong instinctively turned his head, and

-Shiver!

There he saw some huge four-legged thing with a bizarre appearance and tall red horns, pressing him down with a forepaw.

The moment he saw it, Jo Ui-gong instinctively realized what it was.

‘Earth Ram!’

The name of this strange thing was Earth Ram.

It was a strange entity that lived in Mount Kunlun, said to be a separate realm of the Heavenly Emperor.

Despite its goat-like appearance, it was extremely ferocious, a demon-beast-class uncanny creature that devoured humans who entered the mist valleys of Mount Kunlun.

Also called a Red Falling Star, it was the shikigami his senior brother boasted of.

-Step, step!

Square Sun Jo Tae-cheong walked over slowly and said,

“Who was it?”

“W-what do you mean?”

“With your level of skill, there is no way you could make Master, who held the title of Square Sun, end up like that no matter how many times you died and came back. Who helped you?”

‘Damn it.’

Jo Ui-gong’s expression rapidly darkened as he was driven into a corner.

He had thought he had made complete preparations, but in the end they had been nowhere near enough.

No, before that, how had his senior brother found Master in the first place?

As he stood there without understanding, Square Sun Jo Tae-cheong approached, pressed down on Jo Ui-gong’s right wrist, and spoke.

“The Chain of Commanding Words……so it was that after all.”

“Th-this is….”

-Ssk!

With a light wave of Jo Tae-cheong’s hand, the demon beast Earth Ram pressed down even harder on Jo Ui-gong’s back.

-Crush!

“Gaaaah!”

Looking down coldly at Jo Ui-gong writhing in pain, Jo Tae-cheong clicked his tongue and said,

“Tsk tsk. To be dragged around by something like this. Pathetic.”

“Grrrgh. Stop….”

“If you want it to stop, you had better talk at once. Tell me who put the Chain of Commanding Words on you.”

Under the pressure from his senior brother Jo Tae-cheong, the light in Jo Ui-gong’s eyes grew weaker and weaker.

* * *

-Kkikikikik!

The blade of the Nine Harmony Blade caught in Mok Gyeong-un’s hand was bending little by little.

At the sight, the eyes of Wu Ho-rang, a trusted subordinate of the Society Leader’s second disciple Wi So-yeon, widened.

The Nine Harmony Blade was a treasured blade made by a master smith friendly with his own master, Son Yun, the Fate Blade King, so its hardness was on a wholly different level from an ordinary saber.

And when his internal power was added to it, the blade became even harder.

So if the saber was bending like this, it meant Mok Gyeong-un’s power was not merely at the threshold of the transcendent level, but had truly reached the proper transcendent realm.

‘This is not someone I can keep holding back against.’

Only now did Wu Ho-rang become wary.

If he did not treat this fellow properly, he would never be able to subdue him.

So Wu Ho-rang drew up more power.

-Gooooooo!

When he raised it in an instant from six stars to eight stars, recoil force sprang from the blade that had been trying to bend.

-Tang!

At the same time, Mok Gyeong-un’s hand gripping the blade was flung away.

Taking advantage of that, Wu Ho-rang tried to widen the distance by leaping back, but

-Pang!

At that very moment, Mok Gyeong-un’s palm slammed into Wu Ho-rang’s chest.

Because Wu Ho-rang had already raised his power to eight stars, he endured it with his protective qi, but at the same time he too landed a kick to Mok Gyeong-un’s abdomen.

-Thump!

The two struck each other at the same time and were pushed backward.

As he staggered back, Wu Ho-rang instinctively checked the distance he had been pushed and the distance Mok Gyeong-un had been pushed.

‘Four steps.’

He had been pushed four steps, and Mok Gyeong-un five.

If so, then in terms of pure power he could say he held a slight advantage.

At this level, if he raised his power to its utmost peak, he ought to be able to subdue the fellow without difficulty.

Convinced of victory, Wu Ho-rang said to Mok Gyeong-un,

“You will regret having moved that mouth of yours wr…. Cough!”

At that moment, a hot pain that rose from inside him made him cough.

Wu Ho-rang hurriedly wiped his lips with his sleeve, and

‘!?’

Black blood stained the sleeve.

Seeing it, Wu Ho-rang frowned and stared at Mok Gyeong-un.

What in the world had just happened?

He had taken that palm strike, but he had endured it with his protective qi.

Then what was this vile pain?

-Pahk!

Wu Ho-rang roughly tore open the front of his robe.

Then on his chest there was a palm-shaped mark, and the veins around it were bulging up black-red.

‘No way….’

Wu Ho-rang muttered with widened eyes.

“Poison?”

Did this fellow just now use a poison palm?

Wu Ho-rang’s eyes trembled.

From what he had heard from his mistress Wi So-yeon, Mok Gyeong-un had only been taken in as a disciple by the Annihilation Poison King about one shichen earlier.

‘There is no way….’

There was no way he could have learned poison arts and be using them freely in barely one shichen.

No matter how heaven-gifted his martial talent was, that would be impossible.

And in the first place, poison arts were on a completely different track from ordinary martial arts, were they not?

As he stood bewildered, Mok Gyeong-un smiled faintly and said,

“This is nice. I had just learned it, so I wanted to test it out.”

-Gooooooo!

A black-red poison aura gathered in both of Mok Gyeong-un’s hands and rose like heat haze.

‘!!!!!’

At the sight, Wu Ho-rang was unable to conceal his shock.

It was none other than the Toad Venom Devil Palm, a unique supreme art of Baek Sa-ha, the Annihilation Poison King, from the Wave Demon Poison Scripture.