Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 168 - Variable (3)
Chapter 168 – Variable (3)
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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There was one person standing atop the roof of a tall pagoda, focused with a hand seal formed in one hand.
That person was none other than Jo Tae-cheong, Square Sun.
At the powerful spiritual force he had once again felt, he spread a barrier in all directions and tried to determine its location.
‘A cunning one.’
Jo Tae-cheong clicked his tongue.
If a resentful spirit had risen to a level above Blue Spirit, it ordinarily had no need to hide itself.
That was because it had reached a stage where even masters of the murim or strange entities could not suppress it carelessly.
But this resentful spirit knew how to hide itself.
And the moment he noticed its presence in that brief instant, it changed locations.
‘Fast enough that even Earth Ram cannot catch it.’
Earth Ram.
It was a strange entity of demon-beast rank that Jo Tae-cheong used as a shikigami.
This Earth Ram, called the Red Falling Star of Mount Kunlun, was faster than even a Ferghana horse running at its top speed, yet it still could not catch this resentful spirit.
As he focused like that, Jo Tae-cheong’s facial muscles twitched and his expression changed again.
“Its route is thoroughly intentional.”
After speaking in a rasping voice, Jo Tae-cheong’s face returned to normal.
In his original expression, Jo Tae-cheong said as if speaking to someone,
“I know.”
He meant that this crafty thing was trying to lure away his pursuit.
Otherwise it would never deliberately reveal its force at regular intervals like this.
Because of that, Jo Tae-cheong was able to become certain.
“It is trying to hide something.”
If it was deliberately luring him away, then it was clearly to conceal something.
Whether that was a companion or anything else.
But there was one thing this resentful spirit did not know.
“Cleverness is fine, but is there really only one?”
* * *
Blue Spirit, with a smoking pipe in her mouth, moved quickly and kept changing her location.
She was deliberately revealing her force so that the occult practitioner bastard would be able to detect her.
Of course, that was to draw him farther away from Mok Gyeong-un.
-Swaaaaaaa!
Because she was a spirit body and could fly through the sky, unless one had reached the extreme of the transcendent peak realm or else the realm of transformation, it was difficult to keep up with her movements perfectly.
Yet something kept pursuing her.
‘Annoying.’
Blue Spirit clicked her tongue.
It was probably a shikigami of that occult practitioner bastard who had sensed her.
The demonic aura pouring from the shikigami was no ordinary thing.
If her own rank had not risen to Indigo Spirit, it was strong enough that it might have caught her.
If she had to guess,
‘A demon beast.’
It seemed to be one of the yimeiwangliang that had reached demon-beast rank.
It had nearly caught her once at a glance, and judging by its grotesque horns and ram-like shape, it seemed to be Earth Ram, the Red Falling Star of Mount Kunlun.
To command a strange entity of such high rank as a shikigami was no ordinary matter.
But now her own rank had risen to Indigo Spirit.
She should have been able to shake it off eas…
-Flinch!
In an instant, Blue Spirit’s eyes sharpened.
That was because she sensed a shadow falling over her from above.
That shadow was beating giant wings.
-Ha!
Blue Spirit looked back and let out a dumbfounded sound.
This was not the demon beast Earth Ram.
She knew this creature well, with the upper body of a giant bird and the lower body of a wasp.
‘Qinyuan…’
Qinyuan.
Like Earth Ram, it too was a demon beast dwelling in Mount Kunlun.
‘Two of them?’
This was completely outside her expectations.
She had already found it annoying enough that he could handle a strange entity of demon-beast rank, and yet he controlled not one but two demon beasts.
This already placed him among the monsters counted in the upper ranks even among occult practitioners.
‘This is beyond merely annoying…’
Just as she was thinking that, the giant bird with a wasp’s lower half shot sharp stingers at Blue Spirit.
-Pushushushushushushu!
‘Tch.’
-Swoosh!
Blue Spirit quickly dodged them and changed direction.
But at that moment, something was charging recklessly from the front.
It was the other demon beast, Earth Ram.
Earth Ram in front, Qinyuan behind.
‘This is truly troublesome.’
With demon-beast-class strange entities blocking her front and rear, she had truly been driven into a dilemma with no way forward or back.
* * *
“Hnghh.”
Wi So-yeon let out a cry of passion, panting as she wrapped both legs around Mok Gyeong-un’s waist.
From the start, Mok Gyeong-un was not a man who possessed desire for such relations themselves.
Yet the relationship he had begun with purpose in order to make her his own was bringing him a certain kind of interest.
‘So this is what pleasure is?’
It was a strange sensation he had felt for the first time, but it was not bad.
Until now he had thought of it only as an act undertaken by any species for the sake of propagation, but the sight of Wi So-yeon drenched in sweat, clinging to him and crying out, stirred his interest.
When they first began this act, she had been so embarrassed she had not known what to do.
Yet at some point, she too had stopped hiding her excitement and was yearning for him.
-Pak!
“Haak!”
Every time Mok Gyeong-un moved his waist, Wi So-yeon cried out.
Those sounds were strangely stimulating.
He had intended to subdue her appropriately and then stop, but under this stimulation he had already taken Wi So-yeon five times without rest.
-Thud!
Pressing Wi So-yeon against the wall, Mok Gyeong-un caught hold of her thigh, lifted it, and hiked it upward.
“Haa… haa…”
Wi So-yeon, now wholly a woman, looked at Mok Gyeong-un with ragged breathing and a gaze that was indescribably suggestive.
Looking at her face like that, Mok Gyeong-un felt a strange mood.
‘…’
That was because Wi So-yeon kept overlapping with Blue Spirit in his eyes.
He had clearly recognized the two as completely different beings, neither more nor less, but once he had learned the sensation called pleasure through this act and become stimulated by it, Blue Spirit kept surfacing over her from time to time.
‘Strange.’
He did not know why this was happening.
Yet why was it that thinking of Blue Spirit through Wi So-yeon only stimulated him more?
Because of that, Mok Gyeong-un drove her even harder.
“Haak!”
Wi So-yeon’s slender waist rocked fiercely.
Panting with cries of passion, Wi So-yeon embraced Mok Gyeong-un and whispered in a sweetly suggestive voice,
“More… more!”
She wanted to keep becoming one with Mok Gyeong-un.
This pleasure was both stimulating and far too addictive.
* * *
“Haa… haa…”
Sweat-soaked, Wi So-yeon lay in Mok Gyeong-un’s arms breathing hard.
Now that she had known a man for the first time, she felt she understood why Gi Ok-ryeon and those around her had always made such a fuss.
It was pleasure so deep that it was hard to escape.
Wi So-yeon stole a glance at the face of Mok Gyeong-un, who lay there.
His face was flushed, yet unlike herself he showed not the slightest sign of fatigue.
‘A beast…’
He truly was like a beast.
He had been so fierce that at first she had found him difficult to bear.
She had heard that no matter how much a martial artist trained and cultivated, after a few times he would become exhausted and need time to recover, but this man was nothing like that.
[You can still go more, right?]
He had said that so many times she had lost count.
After staring at Mok Gyeong-un, Wi So-yeon asked shyly,
“You… this really is your first time?”
“I told you it was.”
“Then why are you so…”
She could not bring herself to say the rest, her lips trembling as she buried her head deeper into Mok Gyeong-un’s arms.
In truth, asking such a question was meaningless.
That was because while he had been rough at first, she had felt him growing more and more careful, and so she was certain she was his first woman.
‘…A woman.’
It was truly a strange feeling.
After becoming one with this man, her heart strangely went toward him more and more.
It would be right to say she had grown more eager to rely on him.
Was this herself as a woman?
‘How strange. Truly…’
Back when she had thought the curse of Celestial Yin Severed Meridian might kill her at any time, she had never once felt such emotions or such moods.
Nor had she had anyone she could rely on before death.
Yet now she found herself thinking that whether it was life or death, it might not be bad if she were with this man.
Could emotion really shake reason this much?
Then Mok Gyeong-un suddenly raised his upper body and said,
“I should be going for now.”
“Going?”
“Yes.”
“Stay a little lo…”
“Pardon?”
“Nothing.”
Wi So-yeon, who had been about to try to hold Mok Gyeong-un back, stopped herself.
She was growing to like this man more and more, yet if she showed such feelings here, she felt she would seem too easy.
[If men become sure that they have entered their own net, their attitude changes at once. So if you ever meet a man you like, miss, be sure to remember at least this.]
[This?]
[Push and pull.]
[Push and pull?]
[You must not seem too easy to a man.]
These were the words Gi Ok-ryeon had always said to her.
That with an appropriate amount of pushing and pulling, the man would have no choice but to grow restless.
And yet Gi Ok-ryeon herself, whenever she stood before Great Unit Leader Wu Ho-rang of Jue Que, could never follow the very advice she herself gave.
“Is there any clothing I can wear?”
At that moment, Mok Gyeong-un asked her.
She answered with a shake of her head,
“There isn’t any here. If you want even women’s clothes, I’ll lend you mine.”
“…Are you perhaps joking?”
“…”
At Mok Gyeong-un’s question, Wi So-yeon turned her head away sharply.
She ought to remain faithful to push and pull, but with this man it was becoming harder and harder to do so.
Instead, she wanted to tease him.
Once a woman gave her body, did her heart naturally follow as well?
“Ahem. If you need men’s clothing you can wear, there are some in the guest quarters of the neighboring building.”
“Thank you.”
“The way you speak… when it is just the two of us, you may speak comfortably.”
Wi So-yeon said this while twisting her hair around her fingers, perhaps from embarrassment.
With this man, she felt it would be all right if he called her by name.
At that, Mok Gyeong-un smiled faintly and said,
“That seems difficult.”
“What?”
“For now, this way of speaking is more comfortable for me.”
“That is more comfortable?”
“Yes. If a time comes later when it would be all right to speak more casually, I shall do so then.”
At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, Wi So-yeon could not hide her puzzlement.
If it was just the two of them, it would be fine for him to speak comfortably, so why was he acting like that?
Could it be that he was drawing a line?
She was beginning to feel a little disappointed, when Mok Gyeong-un wrapped an arm around her, pulled her against himself, let her lean against his shoulder, and said,
“Now that you have become my woman, I may expect a great deal of help from you from now on, correct?”
At Mok Gyeong-un’s whispered words, Wi So-yeon’s face flushed red.
This man was playing with her heart.
She knew that, and yet why did it still lift her spirits?
‘No. I have to push and pull.’
Wi So-yeon shook her head from side to side, then lightly pushed Mok Gyeong-un away and said in a prim tone,
“Thanks to you my life was saved, so of course I will help. But whether I help actively or not will be decided by how you conduct yourself.”
At her words, Mok Gyeong-un let out a soft laugh.
Then he gently told her what he was thinking.
After hearing it, one of Wi So-yeon’s eyebrows rose.
“You… are you truly telling me to do that?”
“Yes. I would like you to.”
“…”
At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, Wi So-yeon made a displeased expression.
It was not difficult to comply, but she could not judge whether it was truly the right thing.
So Wi So-yeon asked,
“…Leaving my own subordinates aside, would second senior brother really accept it?”
“You need not worry about that.”
“Need not worry?”
“Yes. That is a problem I am going to resolve myself right now.”
‘!?’
At those words from Mok Gyeong-un, Wi So-yeon frowned.
His drive truly was fast, but could this really be done?
* * *
Night fell, and outside had turned dark.
Coming out from the manor that served as Wi So-yeon’s residence, Mok Gyeong-un opened the pouch at his waist and checked inside.
The eyeball of Great Young Master Na Yul-ryang within it was unharmed.
On the way, he had thrown it far away, together with the spare wooden doll, in case the rampaging true yin qi of Celestial Yin Severed Meridian might freeze not only his clothes but those as well, but it seemed more intact than expected.
‘Then shall I go?’
Using his lightness art, Mok Gyeong-un sent his figure flying forward.
As he moved along the main road for around fifty zhang, Mok Gyeong-un discovered what looked like a gloomy shrine building in the eastern corner of the inner castle.
It was a rather large building, and he could feel the aura of Blue Spirit there, the aura that had vanished.
When he stepped inside, there was an altar, and on the wall he saw one hanging scroll torn to shreds and another portrait beside it that appeared intact.
‘This is?’
Astonishingly, the figure painted in that portrait was,
‘Blue Spirit?’
It was a portrait of Blue Spirit.
Yet the clothing she wore in the portrait was different from what he usually saw.
She wore red ceremonial robes such as a bride might wear, and she was even made up.
At this, Mok Gyeong-un was puzzled.
Why would such a portrait be hanging on the altar of such a shrine?
And why had the other hanging scroll that seemed like another portrait been torn to shreds so that its form was impossible to make out?
Then a voice spoke.
-Why are you staring so hard, sentient being?
“Blue Spirit?”
Blue Spirit was visible, sitting leaned against one side of the altar.
With her smoking pipe in her mouth and exhaling smoke, her face looked haggard for some reason.
Though she had gathered in her spiritual power so that her aura did not show, she looked quite exhausted.
So Mok Gyeong-un asked,
“What happened?”
-Something more troublesome than expected arose.
“Something troublesome?”
-Yes.
“…Is it related to how you vanished midway without possessing her?”
At Mok Gyeong-un’s question, Blue Spirit sighed and said,
-It happened because of that, so it is not unrelated. But it seems there is an occult practitioner inside the inner castle who is at least of pavilion-lord rank.
“If it is an occult practitioner, naturally there would…”
-There would be. But this is no ordinary fellow.
At her warning, Mok Gyeong-un stroked his chin and said,
“If Blue Spirit is speaking to this extent, then he truly must be strong.”
-He handles two shikigami of demon-beast rank.
“What?”
At those words, Mok Gyeong-un could not hide his puzzlement.
Something of demon-beast rank would be a very high-class yimeiwangliang, enough to correspond to the third grade.
Yet he had heard that even occult practitioners found it difficult to control yimeiwangliang above the rank of strange beast, so if this one controlled two of them as shikigami, then his spell power was truly no ordinary level.
“Did you fight?”
-If I had fought, do you think it would have ended with merely this?
“True enough.”
If there were two demon beasts, then even Blue Spirit would find it difficult to face them without properly unleashing her spiritual power.
She had used only the minimum force and fled desperately.
Only after playing hide-and-seek for nearly an hour and a half had she finally managed to shake them off.
Blue Spirit clicked her tongue and said,
-By the way, sentient being, why were you so late? You were not even long in embodying death aura, so what was so difficult that…
“Possession did not work, so I had to find another way.”
-What? Ah… right. That was so.
Having been distracted by shaking off the occult practitioner and the two strange entities, she suddenly remembered the cause of her failed possession.
She had no idea what that strange phenomenon was.
The body of that wench of a sentient being that had tried to suck her in was far too strange.
“Why did you not possess her? Or was it that you could not?”
At Mok Gyeong-un’s question, Blue Spirit answered awkwardly,
-I do not know. Not even I do.
“You don’t know?”
-If I possessed the body of that wench of a sentient being who looked exactly like me, it felt like something would happen.
“What do you mean, something would happen?”
-It is difficult to explain to you. That wench’s body strongly pulled at my spirit body. Even for me, it was the first time I had ever experienced such a phenomenon.
“…A physical body pulled at a spirit body?”
-Yes.
“Hmm.”
At her words, Mok Gyeong-un frowned.
Though he too had come to possess a certain amount of knowledge as an occult practitioner, the phenomenon Blue Spirit spoke of was something he had never heard of either.
It seemed he would need to look through Jo Ui-gong or the various books on occult arts and techniques he possessed.
At that moment, Blue Spirit said,
-This has become troublesome. Since possession failed.
“No. It hasn’t.”
-Hasn’t? But in order to control that wench of a sentient being and proceed according to the plan…
“I think I can control her.”
-Hm? What do you mean by that?
Even if it was in return for saving her life from the rampage of Celestial Yin Severed Meridian, she was still the Society Leader’s disciple and a successor candidate, so it might have been difficult to control her.
To the puzzled Blue Spirit, Mok Gyeong-un said as if it were nothing,
“I couldn’t make her my subordinate, so I made her my woman.”
-What? Your woman?
What in the world was that supposed to mean?
Just how had he made her his woman… wait…
-Don’t tell me?
“Yes. I slept with her.”
‘!!!!!!!!!’
At that blunt expression from Mok Gyeong-un, Blue Spirit’s face immediately went stiff.
She had thought this brat was a block of wood who had no interest at all in relations between men and women, yet she had not expected words like that to come out of his mouth.
Even though she had died and become a resentful spirit, somehow it still felt embarrassing.
But then, having imagined it without realizing it, Blue Spirit’s face reddened, and her expression twisted.
‘…Wait a moment. That wench of a sentient being looks like me.’