Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 187 - Peak (1)

Chapter 187 – Peak (1)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“Heeheet.”

In the end, having gotten her way and possessed the body of Seo Hye-in, the woman who was the Fourth Sacred Mountain and the leader of the Choyeon Unit, Gyu So-ha grinned in satisfaction.

Watching Gyu So-ha, Blue Spirit clicked her tongue.

-Tsk tsk. She is that happy, so I cannot understand why she keeps insisting she is a man.

-That is true.

Mok Gyeong-un shrugged.

In truth, it did not matter whether Gyu So-ha was a woman or a man.

He merely needed pieces that could move as he wished.

-Putting that aside, what are you going to do? However the process turned out, in the end you have placed both the second disciple Jang Neung-ak and the youngest disciple Wi So-yeon’s faction in your grasp just as you intended.

-Not completely yet.

-Why do you think that?

-Only once I can make even their proper fighting strength move can it be called a success in combining the two groups.

At those words from Mok Gyeong-un, Blue Spirit spoke as if impressed.

-Oh? Is that so?

-Is that not simply the natural next step?

-Yes. That is right. The young-aide brats may obey the words of their masters, but the real ones are different.

By the real ones Blue Spirit referred to,

she did not mean the close aides of the two successors.

Most of the close aides were rising younger masters who would bear the next generation, but at present the true power lay with the executives behind them.

-If you try to combine the two forces too abruptly, you may provoke backlash from the executives behind them.

-That is true.

The close aides who followed Jang Neung-ak or Wi So-yeon were rising younger figures of similar age.

Unless something extraordinary happened, they could only move according to the wishes of their respective lords.

However, as Blue Spirit had said, the executives were different.

If a thing strayed from their own benefit, the probability was high that they would come out differently.

-Have you thought of a countermeasure for that?

-Well. What do you think would be best?

At that question from Mok Gyeong-un, Blue Spirit looked puzzled and asked,

-Are you asking me sincerely?

-Yes.

-…Are you really seeking advice from me?

-Yes. Is there a problem with that?

-Hah? The sun will rise in the west. You are the brat who never even listens when advice is given and always does what he wants.

-It seemed to me that you are more used to handling organizations than I am.

-…

-Am I wrong?

-…Hmph. You say strange things.

-If you have a good method, tell me. I need to make preparations before the Great Young Master Na Yul-ryang wakes up and comes for my neck.

At those words, Blue Spirit looked at him from inside the wooden puppet as though she found it unexpected.

Judging from his actions, she had thought he might carry things through to the end in whatever way he pleased.

Yet from some point onward, he had gradually begun to make use of her advice.

Especially in matters like handling an organization.

‘This bastard… He may even have the qualities of a leader.’

It was an unexpected side of him.

The Mok Gyeong-un she had watched until now had been close to an absolute loner who never trusted others.

But after he began dealing with enemies who possessed organizations, his judgment and insight were gradually rising to match that.

That was precisely the quality of a leader.

A leader did not drive an organization merely by intimidation or stubbornness, but had to be able to observe and understand the situation with a wide field of view and put people to use in the proper place at the proper time.

Though he did not realize it, Mok Gyeong-un was gradually beginning to do that by instinct.

‘So it is not only his martial arts that are growing?’

He truly was a strange fellow.

Usually if one thing was exceptional, another would be lacking, yet he was growing in many respects to the point that it felt bizarre.

While she was inwardly regarding this with some pride, Mok Gyeong-un said,

-If there is no special method…

-Move people.

-Move people?

-Yes.

-How, exactly?

-Even if you run around alone a hundred days, making even the executives behind them move as you wish will be difficult. But if you move people, it would become easier.

-…

-It seems it is not sinking in. There is a good example related to this.

-What example?

-When that old being, the Annihilation Poison King, said he would tidy up the surroundings, talk with the Shadow Sect Master about the current situation, and push an alliance, what did you do?

-…I said I would ask him to.

-Exactly. You entrusted that old being with it and went on to do your own part, did you not?

-That is true.

-That old being is not your shikigami, and you have not seized any weakness on his part, so why were you able to entrust him with it so casually?

-That is…

Mok Gyeong-un did not continue the rest.

That was because he had understood what Blue Spirit meant by saying all this.

When she said to move people, she had not said so with a simple intention.

The true meaning of what she was saying was,

‘…Is she telling me to trust them?’

Mok Gyeong-un never trusted others.

That was why, until he became a death-row prisoner, he had not trusted anyone at all and had always moved alone.

Yet at a certain point the situation had changed.

That was because he had run into the limit that his strength alone was not enough.

If the one he considered his enemy had not been a martial artist, or had not been someone tied to a giant organization like the Heaven and Earth Society, then he would still have tried to handle everything alone.

But not now.

He had realized that in order to oppose a giant organization, he needed many different pieces.

‘Trust, huh…’

Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes narrowed.

Since he understood that many pieces were needed, he had been gradually increasing the number of his shikigami.

Yet there was one fact he had realized this time while turning new vengeful souls into shikigami.

That was that shikigami could not be increased without limit.

[Oh? There was one more.]

He had thought only one vengeful soul would be born among the martial artists from the lower seats, but at that time two entities had tried to form.

So Mok Gyeong-un had tried to make that additional vengeful soul into a shikigami as well.

But he could not.

Because no karmic tie was formed.

[-As expected.]

[-What do you mean, as expected?]

[-A karmic tie is, as the words imply, no different from forcibly linking destiny. Destiny is necessary and no different from the framework of law, so it would be stranger if one could expand that without limit from the start.]

[-So there is a limit?]

[-If karmic ties extended infinitely, that itself would instead violate necessity.]

Since Mok Gyeong-un had not died, it was hard for him to understand the realizations of the dead.

However, one thing was certain: the very act of increasing shikigami was close to violating necessity and law, so there was no way it could exist without restrictions.

In conclusion, there was a limit to the number of shikigami one could maintain.

Therefore, there was a limit to the method of increasing the number of usable pieces by simply increasing the number of shikigami.

‘So there is no helping it?’

Just as Blue Spirit had said, in order to increase his pieces, it might be that he truly needed some amount of that thing called trust.

As he thought that, Mok Gyeong-un gave a faint laugh.

The fact that he, someone who could never trust anyone, was considering trust in others in order to increase the pieces he could use.

Blue Spirit said to him,

-You are a truly peculiar being. You are the one who must move people, and yet you yourself cannot trust people.

-Is that a contradiction?

-Contradiction… Yes, that is a word that suits you exactly. But suddenly I am curious.

-About what?

-Why is it that you cannot trust people?

-Well. Is there some need to trust them?

At Mok Gyeong-un’s dry question in return, Blue Spirit clicked her tongue inwardly.

‘A strange fellow.’

If he had been betrayed by someone he trusted, as she had been, that would be one thing.

But why was it that this bastard, who had not even lived through twenty years, could not trust others to this extent?

Was it simply because he possessed a way of thinking entirely different from ordinary people?

That was possible.

Considering the way he had acted until now, he had been full of irregularity and unexpectedness.

Yet for some reason it felt like that was not all.

‘…I will find out if I keep watching.’

What he ultimately meant to carry out was revenge.

If she observed the process of that revenge, she would likely understand why Mok Gyeong-un could not trust people to this extent.

Until then,

-Whether you trust someone or not is your freedom. But if you are to move an organization organically, you must possess some degree of trust.

-Now that you put it that way, I will keep it in mind. Then what would be the best way to proceed?

-What do you think is the most important piece on the side of the second disciple Jang Neung-ak?

-It should be Ho Jong-hyeok’s master.

Ho Jong-hyeok, the Great Unit Leader of the Bu Myeol Unit, had as his father Ho Tae-gang, the Axe-Breaking King, one of the Five Kings and one of the Eight Stars, who were considered the greatest masters of the current Central Plains martial world.

-Exactly. That man will be the axis of the forces supporting Jang Neung-ak.

-If we move him, then the others too will naturally have no choice but to follow the trend.

-Correct. So move the Axe-Breaking King through Ho Jong-hyeok.

-That makes sense.

Wi Maeng-cheon was possessing Ho Jong-hyeok.

Since Wi Maeng-cheon was a shikigami and had no choice but to move according to Mok Gyeong-un’s orders, he would be useful in persuading Ho Tae-gang, the Axe-Breaking King, who was the father of that body’s original owner.

-The problem is not Jang Neung-ak’s faction, but Wi So-yeon’s faction.

-…That is true.

-The largest supporter and central pillar of Wi So-yeon’s faction is one who cannot possibly come to like you, no matter how he tries.

The greatest supporter of Wi So-yeon’s faction.

That man was Son Yun, the King of the Fate Blade, one of the Five Kings.

Just as Blue Spirit had said, among all the tangled relationships he had formed since entering the Heaven and Earth Society, the most tangled was the one with the King of the Fate Blade.

He had refused Son Yun’s offer to take him as a disciple, and his relationships with Son Yun’s disciples, Wu Ho-rang and Yeop Wi-seon, were close to bad fate.

Even Mok Yu-cheon, the new disciple whom the King of the Fate Blade had taken in, was the same.

Mok Gyeong-un shrugged and said,

-Not everything can go smoothly.

-And yet, even now you do not think of it as a pit dug by your own hands.

-Is there any meaning in arguing over what has already happened?

-Tsk tsk. Honestly.

Blue Spirit clicked her tongue.

Then she said,

-In any case, if you yourself move on that side, the relationship will only worsen, so move someone else.

-As for the disciples’ side, I think that is already ruined.

Neither Wu Ho-rang nor Yeop Wi-seon would ever move for Mok Gyeong-un.

Moreover, now that he had made Wi So-yeon his woman, if they learned that fact, their resentment would only deepen.

-Rather than that, it would be better to persuade him through either the Shadow Sect Master or the Annihilation Poison King.

-Through the Shadow Sect Master or the Annihilation Poison King?

-Yes. It will be easier to persuade him if an executive moves. But rather than the Shadow Sect Master, the Annihilation Poison King would be better. You know very well why that is, do you not?

At those words from Blue Spirit, Mok Gyeong-un gave a faint laugh.

That was because he understood what she meant.

The Shadow Sect Master too had once stood in opposition to the King of the Fate Blade, Son Yun, during the Corpse Blood Valley completion ceremony in order to obtain Mok Gyeong-un.

If such a man stepped forward and asked for help in making the two factions join forces, would it really have any effect at all?

-Then we will have to move quickly.

The night was not very long.

An alliance had to be put in place quickly before the Great Young Master Na Yul-ryang regained consciousness.

* * *

After coming out from Jang Neung-ak’s residence, Mok Gyeong-un tried to hurry toward the estate of Baek Sa-ha, the Annihilation Poison King.

Yet on the way there, he ran into a Shadow Sect martial artist who came hurrying toward him in a fluster.

“Young Master! So you were here.”

Mok Gyeong-un asked in puzzlement,

“What is the matter?”

“The Shadow Sect Master is urgently looking for you.”

“Master?”

“Yes. It is a very urgent matter, and I was told to bring you at once.”

‘An urgent matter?’

What in the world could it be?

Could it be because Baek Sa-ha, the Annihilation Poison King, had spoken of the incident with Great Young Master Na Yul-ryang and proposed forming an alliance?

Yet right now he had to go and find Baek Sa-ha first and speak about the King of the Fate Blade, Son Yun.

So Mok Gyeong-un said,

“All right. First, just for a moment…”

“You must go right now.”

“It will not take long. First…”

Before Mok Gyeong-un could even finish speaking, the Shadow Sect martial artist spoke in agitation,

“No. You must go right now.”

“Ah, this is rather troublesome. I will return to the Shadow Sect in just…”

“It is not the Shadow Sect.”

“Pardon?”

“The Shadow Sect Master is at this moment attending upon the Society Leader in the main hall of the inner castle.”

‘!?’

At those words, Mok Gyeong-un’s expression changed.

The Shadow Sect Master was attending upon the Society Leader and had urgently called for him?

That meant, in the end…

‘Can I meet that person?’

Mok Gyeong-un had meant to enter under the successors in order to create an opportunity to make contact with the Society Leader.

Yet now, unexpectedly, the chance for such a meeting had come.