Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 209 - Karma (5)

Chapter 209 – Karma (5)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Indigo Spirit.

The Classic of Mountains and Seas says that the root of its grudge is close to unforgotten wailing, and that it is an ancient resentful spirit that has existed for more than three hundred years.

Once a spirit reaches the level of Indigo Spirit, it is said to go beyond the merely spiritual and become so dangerous that its grade can be compared even to high-ranking demon beasts and devil beasts.

Because it is itself a moving minor calamity, it is said to be nearly impossible to exorcise.

-Swaaaaaa!

The pouring rain was dyed entirely in blood, filling the world with crimson.

Together with the foul stench of blood, the surging bloodwater brought a chilling terror to everyone there.

That was equally true even for Seop Chun and Mong Mu-yak, men who could be called experts.

They were left speechless by the reality unfolding before their eyes.

Was this illusion? Was it real?

To call it an illusion, all five senses insisted it was real.

“Haaahk.”

-Splash.

“M-Miss!”

If even they were this shocked, there was no way the manor owner’s daughter, Wu Hyang, an ordinary human, could endure looking at it.

Even the stout man hurriedly supporting her after she collapsed wore a terror-stricken expression.

He did not even dare raise his eyes, not knowing where to look.

‘What in the world is this?’

Ja Geum-jeong, the vow-breaking monk, had opened spiritual sight and could directly see the dead and uncanny phenomena with his own eyes.

Yet even for him, this was the first time seeing such a scene.

The whole area being stained with blood did not seem a mere illusion, but rather as if that resentful spirit’s spiritual power had seized the entire space itself.

‘To dismiss this as a mere resentful spirit would be…’

Even from the power covering the entire space, it had gone beyond merely dangerous.

For the first time since his expulsion, the words Amitabha almost escaped him without his realizing it.

-Hoo.

Blue Spirit, now fully manifested from the blood pooled on the ground, removed the pipe from her lips and exhaled a thick cloud of smoke.

Then she curled the corner of her mouth in a bloody smile and said,

-Refreshing.

It had been a long time since she had revealed herself after releasing all of her spiritual power.

Inside the Heaven and Earth Society she had suppressed her spiritual power as much as possible and hidden herself, but here there was no reason to do so.

Because of that, it felt as though she had been released from every shackle.

To her, Mok Gyeong-un smiled faintly and said,

“It should be all right to leave it to Blue Spirit, yes?”

-Is that not why you summoned this Exalted One? Heh heh heh.

Blue Spirit laughed leisurely and looked at the resentful spirit lodged within the manor owner, who now stood before the main hall where the fire had already been put out by the blood-rain.

When the resentful spirit met her eyes, it flinched without realizing it.

The difference in rank between the two resentful spirits was that obvious.

One was an Indigo Spirit-grade being with a grudge spanning more than three hundred years, while the other was a Blue Spirit-grade resentful spirit whose grudge had endured for over a hundred years.

‘How can such a being be here?’

The Blue Spirit-grade resentful spirit inside the manor owner inwardly found this absurd.

It had not sensed at all that such a being had entered its territory.

It was a truly bewildering situation.

The Blue Spirit-grade resentful spirit opened its mouth with difficulty.

-How has a being like you descended to a place like this together with mere humans?

-That is none of your concern.

-……..

At Blue Spirit’s reply, the Blue Spirit-grade resentful spirit could not easily show its emotions.

That was because it knew that if it dealt rashly with someone whose rank was clearly above its own, disaster could follow.

-Splash!

At that moment, the resentful spirit possessing the occult practitioner Yi Mun-hae dropped to its knees in the blood pooled on the ground and said,

“O high-ranked resentful spirit. Even though we remain in this world through resentment, we do not trespass upon one another’s domains and grudges.”

-Trespass?

“This place has been Lord Ha Yun’s domain for more than a hundred years. Please respect this one’s grudge and…”

-The adults are speaking, and a child interrupts.

-Swoosh!

With those words, Blue Spirit lightly waved her hand.

In that instant, hands formed of blood emerged, writhing up from the blood pooled on the ground.

-Papapapapap!

Then those blood-drenched hands seized the arms and legs of the spirit possessing the occult practitioner Yi Mun-hae.

“H-how!”

-Children should step aside.

As Blue Spirit made a squeezing motion with her hand,

-Shwaaaaaaaa!

“N-nooooooo!”

The resentful spirit inside Yi Mun-hae, seized by the blood-colored hands, was dragged bodily down into the blood pooled on the ground.

It was as if the blood were a deep sea whose depth could not be measured, for even the sound vanished.

‘!?’

At the sight of a Crimson Spirit-grade being dealt with in an instant, the expression of the spirit called Ha Yun inhabiting the manor owner’s body stiffened.

Among resentful spirits too, the older the being, the more something like mutual respect arose between them.

That was only natural, because as rank rose, they went beyond being ruled by grudge and instinct alone, and reason and ego became clear.

That was all the more true of high-grade resentful spirits that had reached the domain of demons and monsters.

Yet the Indigo Spirit-grade being before its eyes was not like that.

Rather, she had entered its territory and was openly showing hostility.

-O high-ranked resentful spirit. You and I have never borne enmity, so why have you entered my domain and shown such hostility?

-Hostility? Does this look like hostility to you?

-If it is not hostility, why do you interfere in this matter? This happened because of the karma committed by the Wu clan.

-I am sure it did. There is no way a being like you would move for no reason.

Ha Yun was an old resentful spirit of high rank, one that had reached the level of Blue Spirit.

For such a being to try to destroy a single household through curses when there was no direct enmity involved would never happen unless there were extraordinary reasons.

However, if one considered all of that one by one, then they would have to withdraw.

That was why

-But we have our own reason on this side as well.

-A reason?

-Yes. For the sake of your face as the master of this area, I will advise you. End it here. Leave that man’s body at once.

At Blue Spirit’s tone as if bestowing mercy, the eyes of the resentful spirit Ha Yun turned cold.

That was only natural, because this was its territory.

The many resentful spirits of this area were enraged by what the Wu clan had done, and the sum of those angers had become itself.

So when someone tried to interfere recklessly in that grudge, it could only grow furious.

-O high-ranked resentful spirit.

-……..

-Could you cast away your grudge merely because someone stronger pressed you down?

Han.

That was the reason resentful spirits existed.

Telling a resentful spirit bent on resolving its han to abandon it was little different from telling it to erase the reason for its own existence.

At those words from Ha Yun, Blue Spirit let out a shallow breath.

Low-ranked resentful spirits might fold their will when crushed by power, but a spirit with a deep grudge enough to reach the level of Blue Spirit was different.

No matter how clearly it knew the difference in power, it did not bend easily.

All the more so because it was an earthbound spirit rooted to this place and possessed its own domain.

-There is no helping it, then. It seems I will have to force you into submission.

At that, the resentful spirit Ha Yun glared and said,

-I admit that your rank is higher and your power greater than mine. But this entire area is my domain and the domain of us all. No matter how mighty you are, do you think the domain you made from spiritual power can affect me here?

No sooner had the words ended than

-Kwarururung!

the rain intensified together with the thunder.

Lightning flashed from all around the blood-dyed surroundings.

Then the space wavered and shook as though cracks were opening in it.

“What is this?”

To Mok Gyeong-un’s question, Blue Spirit answered casually,

-A domain incursion.

“A domain incursion?”

-Resentful spirits of Green Spirit rank or above can create their own domains through spiritual power even outside the area where their han took root.

“Ah… the Domain of Ghost Intent.”

He knew this much.

The thing created through the intense thought of a high-ranked resentful spirit was the Domain of Ghost Intent.

-This place is the domain of the one whose han is rooted here. That is now clashing with and encroaching upon this Exalted One’s Domain of Ghost Intent.

If Blue Spirit had created her Domain of Ghost Intent with her own spiritual power, Ha Yun, the resentful spirit, was different: the whole area soaked with her han was her innate domain.

Because an innate domain was the very place imbued with that resentful spirit’s han, its spiritual power was maximized there.

That was why Ha Yun had called the whole area around here its domain.

-Huuuuuuu!

-Uuuuuuuuuu!

From every direction came the cries of countless resentful spirits.

Looking around, one could see that a number too large to count of resentful spirits had already gathered around the whole area.

Though each was low-ranked, this number was even greater than the cliff at Corpse Blood Valley.

Just how many people had died here?

‘Damn it. There are too many of them.’

Ja Geum-jeong, the vow-breaking monk who could directly see resentful spirits, clicked his tongue.

Everywhere was so full of resentful spirits that he could no longer tell whether this was a place for humans or hell itself.

The situation had grown even more serious.

Could that bastard really resolve this?

It was then.

-O high-ranked resentful spirit. I return to you the words you spoke earlier. If you leave this area at once, nothing will happen.

-You have become rather smug?

-I am advising you out of respect for your face. Withdraw now. The Wu clan must pay for the karma they committed.

-Kwarururung!

Thunder and lightning struck from every side, and the blood-stained surroundings heaved.

With the surroundings filled by resentful spirits, it looked as if the domain would come crashing in at any moment.

At that moment, Blue Spirit lifted one corner of her mouth.

Then, letting out a sneer, she said,

-Do you think this Exalted One’s domain ends here?

-This entire area is my domain. No matter how much more spiritual power you raise, in the end…

Before the sentence could finish,

the black clouds darkening the sky were dyed blood-red.

Then the blood-rain, which had stopped around the main hall building, spread in an instant across the entire village, and the nearby two hundred jang were entirely washed in red.

‘W-what in the world…’

The resentful spirit Ha Yun could not hide its bewilderment.

This whole area was a place filled with the han of itself and countless resentful spirits.

Yet Blue Spirit had completely ignored that innate domain and covered the entire area with her own Domain of Ghost Intent.

And it did not end there.

Blue Spirit raised the pipe she was holding.

Then,

-Thump thump!

the pounding blood rain suddenly stopped.

This sight, with dense crimson drops hanging motionless in the air, was utterly uncanny.

At that moment, Blue Spirit laughed and swept her pipe.

And in that instant,

-Shwaaaaaaaa!

the stopped drops of blood surged upward instead.

The blood-red raindrops that surged upward then shot like a barrage toward the resentful spirits surrounding the entire manor.

-Papapapapapapapapang!

Their spirit bodies were torn apart by those blood droplets.

They could not withstand the overwhelming spiritual power.

Unable to endure the blood droplets spreading in all directions, the resentful spirits scattered in total disarray.

-!!!!!!

At that sight, the face of the resentful spirit Ha Yun twisted pitifully.

‘……..A level that can ignore even an innate domain?’

This was a rank too overwhelmingly high.

No matter that it had reached Blue Spirit rank, this exceeded imagination by too much.

Blue Spirit sneered at the bewildered Ha Yun and said,

-What shall we do? Now this whole area has become this Exalted One’s domain.

-………

To her mocking words, the resentful spirit Ha Yun could say nothing at all.

The gap between them was simply too vast.

At that moment, Mok Gyeong-un said,

“There is no time, so let us finish this now.”

-That is what I intend.

The resentful spirit Ha Yun turned its trembling eyes toward Mok Gyeong-un.

What in the world was the identity of that human?

How could a resentful spirit of this rank obey the command of a mere human?

It was impossible to understand.