Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 181 - Jang Neung-ak (4)
Chapter 181 – Jang Neung-ak (4)
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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It happened in an instant.
Mok Gyeong-un, who had been right in front of him, vanished from sight.
Having missed it, Ho Jong-hyeok, the Great Unit Leader of the Bu Myeol Unit and the True First Sacred Mountain, moved his head and searched for Mok Gyeong-un’s trace.
But then,
-Bang!
“Kgh!”
Before anyone knew it, Mok Gyeong-un was trampling on Jeo Mo-pal of the Five Sacred Mountains and the Giant Rock Fist.
The sight of him being overwhelmed without even being able to use his hands properly.
Even from that alone, it was clear that Mok Gyeong-un and his martial power stood at an overwhelming gap.
But this was not something he could simply watch in silence.
-Whooom!
Ho Jong-hyeok raised astral qi into his personal weapon, the Annihilating Axe, and swung it toward Mok Gyeong-un.
It would be nice if it could cut him, but there was no way this would cut him.
All he meant to do was force him to withdraw from Jeo Mo-pal.
And yet,
-Clang!
‘!?’
Ho Jong-hyeok’s two eyes shook.
‘The blade carrying astral qi?’
Something bewildering happened.
Mok Gyeong-un had caught with one hand the blade of the Annihilating Axe flying toward him.
Astral qi could be said to be true qi and blade energy united into one and condensed to extreme density.
No martial artist could do something like seize that barehanded without it being close to impossible.
If one tried to answer it, one likewise had to raise astral qi.
‘His hand?’
Ho Jong-hyeok’s eyes widened.
That was because he had discovered a black aura lingering around Mok Gyeong-un’s hand.
That aura wrapped around the hand was protecting it from being cut by the astral qi carried in the Annihilating Axe.
‘What in the world is that aura?’
It was denser and stronger than blade energy.
And oddly enough, it even carried a savage feeling.
But that was not the problem here.
If it was an aura that blocked astral qi barehanded, then naturally it could only be astral qi.
Yet even if one had reached the extreme of the transcendent peak, raising astral qi with the bare hand was nearly impossible to the point that…
-Fsssss!
At that moment there came a strange sensation flowing from Mok Gyeong-un’s hand.
This was toxic aura.
“This is?”
When the toxic aura and black energy interlocked with his astral qi,
-Crack crack crack!
‘What?’
His fingers bit into the axe blade, and it cracked just like that.
Startled, Ho Jong-hyeok hurriedly unfolded a kicking technique and tried to kick Mok Gyeong-un’s head.
But,
-Swoosh!
Mok Gyeong-un lightly dodged it just by tilting his head,
-Thud!
Then instead sent a single punch into Ho Jong-hyeok’s chest.
After taking that one punch, Ho Jong-hyeok’s body was driven backward as if it had bounced away.
-Rattle rattle! Tang!
Yet as that happened, one blade of the Annihilating Axe broke.
Ho Jong-hyeok’s face twisted.
The Annihilating Axe, the unique weapon he had received from his father, had been an axe cast by a famed smith of the age using fine iron.
When he witnessed one blade of the Annihilating Axe, which he had cherished like a treasure, shatter before his eyes, anger inevitably surged up in an instant.
-Gnash!
‘You bastard!’
But unlike that fury, his reason grew colder still.
The man before his eyes.
No matter how he looked at it, he was not merely at the extreme of the transcendent peak.
To possess martial power so far above his own, one had to cross the wall.
But in terms of common sense, this made no sense.
Only a short while ago, he had been almost evenly matched with Jeo Mo-pal of the Five Sacred Mountains and the Giant Rock Fist, and at a level where he had barely managed to receive a single sword strike from Wi Maeng-cheon of the Eyeless Sword.
‘This is not merely fast.’
The speed at which he was growing stronger defied imagination, enough that calling him almost a monster would not be an exaggeration.
This was not a matter of whether he had crossed the wall or not.
This bastard did not seem like someone anyone could keep under control.
[What? You say he has to be removed?]
[Yes.]
[The lord had already taken a liking to him, so why are you trying to remove him?]
[Because he is dangerous.]
[Dangerous? What is dangerous about him? If it is because of his background…]
[That is not the problem. Even if I cannot see it, I know. Mok Gyeong-un is absolutely not the type of vessel that will swear loyalty to someone.]
The words of that dead bastard came back to him anew.
‘That blind bastard’s judgment was right.’
Just as Wi Maeng-cheon had said, this bastard could never be controlled by their lord.
The speed at which he grew stronger was one thing, but since no one could read what he was plotting, if he were kept close, no one could know what sort of disaster might break out and when.
-Clench!
‘This is troublesome.’
Still, at the moment this was the greater problem.
He wanted to subdue the bastard in accordance with his lord’s orders, but alone it was impossible.
If his guess was correct, then no one here would be able to defeat this bastard with martial arts on their own.
The only hope was for his lord to join in and attack together,
‘There is too much to lose.’
If that happened, the losses would be severe.
If, against someone they had intended to take in as a subordinate, a situation arose where they attacked together and still lost, then cleaning up afterward…
“Stop!”
At that moment Jang Neung-ak’s shout rang out.
At that shout, Ho Jong-hyeok, the Third Sacred Mountain, turned his head with a puzzled expression.
There, Jang Neung-ak stood holding an eyeball, his face completely hardened.
‘An eyeball?’
What in the world was that?
While Ho Jong-hyeok, the True First Sacred Mountain, was puzzled, Mok Gyeong-un said with a grin to Jang Neung-ak,
“It seems you finally feel like having a conversation now.”
“You bastard, this…”
Jang Neung-ak seemed about to say something, but soon shouted roughly at the martial artists in the lower seats.
“All of you withdraw for the time being.”
“But, my lord?”
“I said withdraw.”
“Yes!”
At that order, the martial artists in the lower seats all left the garden in perfect order.
Go Chan, who was possessing Ha Chae-rin, hesitated and was about to withdraw as well, but Seo Hye-in, the Fourth Sacred Mountain, shook her head, so he was able to remain.
Once all of them had gone and only the Five Peaks Assembly remained, Jang Neung-ak opened his mouth again.
“This… what is it?”
At that question, Mok Gyeong-un tilted his head and said,
“Surely you are not asking because you really do not know?”
“…Are you trying to mock me right now?”
“Of course not. I simply thought that if it were Young Master, you would naturally recognize what that was when you saw it, but since you asked what it was, I answered that way.”
“You!”
“Are you truly asking because you do not know?”
“…”
At Jang Neung-ak’s even more hardened expression, Ho Jong-hyeok looked at the eyeball in his hand with eyes that said he could not understand.
What was it about that thing that made his lord react like that?
But then unbelievable words came from Jang Neung-ak’s mouth.
“Did you fight eldest senior brother?”
‘Eldest senior brother?’
What was that supposed to mean?
Mok Gyeong-un had fought Na Yul-ryang, the eldest young master?
While he was puzzled, Mok Gyeong-un nodded and answered,
“I think that should have been enough of an answer.”
Mok Gyeong-un’s gaze was directed at the eyeball in Jang Neung-ak’s hand.
At that attitude, Jang Neung-ak stared at the eyeball in his hand with a rigid expression, then soon let out a hollow laugh as if dumbfounded.
“Ha!”
At that sight, all of his close aides could not hide their surprise.
Because thanks to Jang Neung-ak’s reaction, they too had realized who the owner of that eyeball was.
If that was the case,
‘What in the world?’
‘That bastard defeated the eldest young master?’
‘…That monster?’
Na Yul-ryang, the eldest young master.
Even within the Heaven and Earth Society, there were not many who could stand against him.
He was the disciple of the Society Leader, one of the Six Heavens, and a monster who had crossed the wall and reached the realm of transformation.
It was known that even among the Five Kings, the highest-ranking executives of the Heaven and Earth Society, only two kings who had received the title of the Eight Stars could deal with him.
And that bastard had fought him?
No, if it was not merely that he had fought him but had even brought back his eyeball, then was that not no different from winning?
What in the world had happened?
Just then,
“Hah… hahahahahahahahat!”
At that moment Jang Neung-ak, the Society Leader’s second disciple, who had been laughing hollowly, burst into mad laughter.
At his sudden attitude, everyone looked at him in puzzlement.
Was it because the shock had been too great?
They wondered why he was doing this, but after laughing for a long while Jang Neung-ak dropped heavily into his seat and gestured as he said,
“To think that someone has plucked out the eyeball of that thing that could barely be called human. Living long enough, I even get to see a day like this. Hahahahaha. Come here and let us talk.”
“My lord!”
Seo Hye-in, the unit leader of the Cho Yeon Unit and the Fourth Sacred Mountain, tried to stop him.
Then Jang Neung-ak waved his hand and said,
“Enough. He is the one who plucked out that monster’s eyeball. Who here could stop him?”
“But, my lord, it is too dangerous…”
“Enough. If he had intended to do me harm, he would have done it long ago. Is that not so?”
At those words, Mok Gyeong-un answered with a grin,
“Exactly.”
“…”
At that answer, Seo Hye-in, the Fourth Sacred Mountain, and Jeo Mo-pal, one of the Five Sacred Mountains, whose face was swollen all over, could not hide their worry.
No matter how strong that bastard was, they were still close aides.
They had a duty to protect his safety.
But Ho Jong-hyeok shook his head as if telling them not to.
‘It is impossible. Leave it.’
In any case, if he really was a master in the realm of transformation, then even this righteous-path distance was already within his radius.
It meant that if he set his mind to it, he could act however he wished.
‘Rather, it is better to narrow the distance.’
That would instead make it easier to protect his lord Jang Neung-ak from the bastard.
Because sometimes the best defense was offense.
-Step, step. Tap!
In the end, Mok Gyeong-un came up into the pavilion and sat in the seat opposite Jang Neung-ak.
The treatment had changed completely.
Being seated to one’s side signified trust, but being seated directly across signified recognition of the other party.
Once Mok Gyeong-un sat down, Jang Neung-ak picked up the wine bottle and said,
“Will you have a drink?”
“There is no reason to refuse a cup offered to me.”
“Good. Have a drink.”
Jang Neung-ak poured wine into Mok Gyeong-un’s cup.
Though the distance was great because he sat opposite him,
-Trickle trickle!
When Jang Neung-ak applied internal power, the wine inside the bottle stretched out and flowed into the distant cup.
Once the cup was full, the stream of wine was cut off.
‘As expected, the young master’s true qi is no ordinary thing.’
Even if Jang Neung-ak possessed the least true qi among the Society Leader’s three disciples, it was still a vast quantity that would make even experts of internal schools nothing to him.
Since from childhood he had undergone marrow-and-bone cleansing and had regularly taken spiritual medicines, that might only have been natural.
Jang Neung-ak set down the bottle.
Then he looked at Mok Gyeong-un and said,
“Will you pour for me?”
There was some distance to the wine bottle.
He would have to stand and go fetch the bottle if he wanted to pour a cup.
At a glance it might even have looked as though he intended to make Mok Gyeong-un stand up.
‘Could it be he is trying to tame him?’
Seo Hye-in, the Fourth Sacred Mountain, watched this in nervous suspense.
Yet,
“It is not difficult.”
Mok Gyeong-un gave a faint laugh, then lightly gestured toward the wine bottle.
Then a stream of wine stretched out on its own from the bottle’s mouth and flowed into Jang Neung-ak’s cup.
-Trickle!
‘!!!!!!’
Seeing this, Jang Neung-ak’s close aides let out gasps without meaning to.
This was the method of grasping objects through the void.
If one reached the extreme of the transcendent peak, then drawing or pushing objects with true qi to some degree was possible.
But to handle something like droplets with such delicacy using true qi, one had to reach a realm above even that.
“Have you confirmed it now?”
At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, Jang Neung-ak looked at the cup now filled with wine, then lifted his head.
“So you truly crossed the wall.”
‘Ah…’
Only then did Seo Hye-in, the Fourth Sacred Mountain, understand Jang Neung-ak’s intention.
Her lord had been trying to confirm one last time whether Mok Gyeong-un had truly crossed the wall and reached the realm of transformation.
Now it was certain.
That bastard was unquestionably a master of the realm of transformation.
He was no longer a rising junior expert, but already a peerless master counted among the foremost even within the Heaven and Earth Society.
Leaving aside the fact that he was the disciple of the Shadow Sect Master and the Annihilation Poison King, by himself alone he had already become a force that could be called a power in its own right.
Now she understood why her lord had seated Mok Gyeong-un directly in front of him.
At that moment Jang Neung-ak opened his mouth.
“A strong man deserves treatment worthy of that strength.”
-Swoosh!
Jang Neung-ak brought his two hands together and gave Mok Gyeong-un a cupped-fist salute as he said,
“Jang Neung-ak, second disciple of the Society Leader, shall treat Young Master Mok with due courtesy.”
‘Ah!’
At that attitude, the close aides of the Five Peaks Assembly all clicked their tongues inwardly.
This too was the first time they had seen their lord Jang Neung-ak treat someone of the younger generation who was not an executive with such courtesy.
But he certainly possessed the qualifications for it.
After all, he was a master who had reached the realm of transformation.
-Swoosh!
Mok Gyeong-un also returned the cupped-fist salute and answered,
“There is no need for you to go that far, but since you are treating me with courtesy, I am only grateful.”
The atmosphere was not bad, as both sides treated each other courteously.
Jang Neung-ak must have thought so as well, for he spoke in a voice that had brightened.
“Young Master Mok. Then may I ask the reason you came to find me carrying that thing?”
-Swoosh!
What Jang Neung-ak pointed to was none other than the eyeball of the eldest young master, Na Yul-ryang.
As he looked at the eyeball, Jang Neung-ak’s mood was running high.
At first he had thought that Mok Gyeong-un had joined hands with eldest senior brother Na Yul-ryang and was toying with him.
But that had been his misjudgment.
Mok Gyeong-un had defeated Wu Ho-rang, the right arm of his youngest junior sister Wi So-yeon, and not only that, he had fought Na Yul-ryang, his eldest senior brother, and plucked out his eyeball.
What else could that signify?
‘He wishes to stand together with me.’
He was convinced.
He believed Mok Gyeong-un had chosen him.
But contrary to that expectation, utterly unanticipated words came from Mok Gyeong-un’s mouth.
“Please join forces with Lady Wi So-yeon’s side.”
‘!?’
In an instant Jang Neung-ak’s expression stiffened.
After making him expect so much, what nonsense was this bastard spouting now?
So Jang Neung-ak said, managing his expression as best he could,
“Young Master Mok, what exactly are you talking about? Join forces with my youngest junior sister? How could that…”
“Just what I said. If your two sides do not combine forces, it seems it will be hard to contend with eldest young master Na Yul-ryang’s side.”
“…”
At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, Jang Neung-ak felt dumbfounded for a moment, then let out a laugh.
It left him empty because it differed from what he had expected, but did this person really think that was possible?
So Jang Neung-ak spoke his thoughts plainly.
“Tell me, Young Master Mok. Do you think that is possible?”
“Possible?”
“That is right. Both I and my youngest junior sister are each running toward the same seat. So if you tell us now to combine our forces, do you truly think that is possible?”
Jang Neung-ak shook his head from side to side.
Then he gave a faint laugh and said,
“Well, if my youngest junior sister were to swear loyalty to me and say she would come under my command, then perhaps it might be possible. Other than that, Young Master Mok, your suggestion is in truth impossible.”
“I see.”
It was a foolish suggestion.
Neither he nor his youngest junior sister could accept such a proposal.
If they had been going to do that, then long ago they would already have joined forces or moved in the direction of pushing one of the two forward.
Since that could not happen, was that not why each side was struggling like this to secure supporting forces?
“In any case, I appreciate the proposal, but…”
“Ah. Did it perhaps sound like a proposal to you?”
“What?”
At once Jang Neung-ak furrowed his brow.
Had he heard wrong just now?
But then,
-Flinch!
Unlike before, the bastard smiled with a grin full of malicious intent and said,
“This is not a proposal. I am ordering you to do it.”