Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 218 - Artisan (1)

Chapter 218 – Artisan (1)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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A single move made up of twenty-four sword forms.

Seeing that, Blue Spirit was left speechless.

She had told him not to be bound by fixed ideas, and he had created a move that went beyond common sense.

She had thought about the sword for such a long time, from her life into her death, yet had never once thought of increasing the forms in such a way.

To begin with, it was not the kind of thing that could be solved simply by increasing them.

-You… just what…

“Hoo. Hoo. It seems it will take a little time to grow accustomed to this.”

Seeing Mok Gyeong-un say that so casually, she was dumbfounded.

Every time one added one more sword form, the movements increased, so naturally the strain on the muscles would increase as well.

And if even one form was like that, then twenty-four forms went beyond merely overworking the body and was no different from driving it to the limit.

‘…….What a monstrous bastard.’

This was not the sort of sword one could wield in a short time.

It was a sword one might perhaps be able to wield only after training for at least several years, yet this sentient being brat had imagined it in his head and manifested it physically in a single attempt.

Calling it innate talent was not enough.

Blue Spirit, who had been marveling, barely calmed herself and asked,

-How did you think of something like this?

“Well. Looking at the sword that elder displayed, it seemed to contain complexity within simplicity. But it also seemed that, as I am now, I could not wield such a sword.”

The sword the old man had shown had grown simpler and simpler.

And yet Mok Gyeong-un had felt a complex profundity within that simplicity.

At that point, Mok Gyeong-un realized that this was not something that could be accomplished merely by imprinting it in his eyes and memorizing it.

“Then I thought, if one were to realize every most ideal trajectory for thoroughly killing the opponent, perhaps it would become a sword move close to perfection.”

-Ha!

At those words from Mok Gyeong-un, Blue Spirit clicked her tongue.

They had both watched the old man display the sword, so how could they arrive at such different results?

No, perhaps it was only possible because it was this brat.

Since he had not learned the sword for very long in the first place, his imagination had no limits.

‘I cannot help but acknowledge it.’

Mok Gyeong-un’s talent for the sword had already surpassed hers.

If it was this brat, he might even reach the extreme pinnacle of swordsmanship that every swordsman dreamed of.

* * *

Two days later.

The imperial capital, Kaifeng.

When Mok Gyeong-un and his party reached Kaifeng, they could not help but marvel sincerely.

They had known it would naturally be prosperous because it was called the center of the Central Plains and because the imperial capital stood there, but its level was so vast and flourishing that it could not even be compared to the outer city of the Heaven and Earth Society, which was said to be the greatest in scale among single forces.

The city outside the capital walls stretched so far that it was hard even to guess where it ended, and it seemed that even by carriage it would take more than half a shichen to reach the outer walls visible in the distance.

While everyone was admiring the city, there was one person alone whose complexion had darkened and who could not sit still.

That person was the vow-breaking monk Ja Geum-jeong.

Seop Chun asked in puzzlement,

“Are you feeling unwell somewhere? Your complexion has been bad since yesterday already… No, are your hands trembling?”

Ja Geum-jeong’s hands were in fact trembling violently.

Seeing that, Seop Chun grew worried.

Then Ja Geum-jeong shook his head and said,

“Quickly… we must quickly find it.”

“What are you talking about? Are you looking for a physician?”

“No. You find where the inn or tavern is too, you bastard.”

“……….”

Seop Chun stared blankly at Ja Geum-jeong’s face.

Come to think of it, this was the same man who had been grumbling irritably since yesterday afternoon that all the liquor he had been carrying had run out.

Was he saying that he was now having withdrawal symptoms because he could not drink liquor?

“……..You really are something.”

At this point it could almost be called addiction.

No matter how much of an internal martial arts master one was, could the liver really endure if one drank like this?

Shaking his head from side to side, Seop Chun looked toward Gan Yang, who as the leader of the advance party was guiding them.

After they entered the city, Yu Bong, the eunuch of the imperial palace, had separated from them midway.

That was because he said he would go ahead and prepare a meeting with Imperial Noble Consort Seo.

The place they were heading for now was Hongbong Meat, the biggest slaughterhouse in the capital city.

The reason they were heading for the biggest slaughterhouse in that way was simple.

[There is an artisan there whose skill is extremely good.]

* * *

“It is large.”

Mok Gyeong-un gave that evaluation after seeing the slaughterhouse.

Ordinarily, a slaughterhouse was run by being divided into four places: cattle and pig pens, a meat storage warehouse, the place where the slaughter itself was carried out, and the sales stalls.

But here, the scale of all four places was far greater than that of an ordinary manor.

Pointing to it, Gan Yang of the advance party said,

“There are as many as a thousand cattle and pigs inside. Naturally it would be run on this scale.”

“I see.”

“I understand that this place even supplies meat to the imperial palace, so only goods of the very finest grade are handled. You will see once you go inside.”

So they entered through the main gate of the slaughterhouse.

As they stepped inside, the smell of cattle and pig dung and the stench of blood billowed out and stabbed at their noses.

It certainly did seem to be a slaughterhouse.

-Murmur murmur!

Once one went in through the gate, there were stalls lined up with cuts of meat arranged by part, and in front of them was a sea of people who had come to buy meat.

“There are certainly many bodhisattvas crazy for meat. Tsk tsk.”

Ja Geum-jeong said that with a click of his tongue.

Though he was a vow-breaking monk, unexpectedly, even after leaving Shaolin he did not eat meat.

So it seemed this slaughterhouse did not please him.

With a look that suggested he did not understand, Seop Chun said to Gan Yang,

“Is it really true that this ‘artisan’ is in a place like this?”

No matter how one looked at it, this place stood out too much.

Even if the darkest place was under the lamp, this was far too crowded.

Moreover, they said this place even supplied meat to the imperial palace, so officials must come and go here frequently. In that case, could such work truly be done here?

“That is correct. So please do not worry too much.”

“Hmm.”

Seop Chun still looked unconvinced.

At that moment, among the men near the stalls, one bearded fellow, unlike the other customers, spotted their party carrying weapons and approached them, saying,

“Sirs, what brings you here?”

At that question, Gan Yang pulled out a token he had prepared and handed it over.

Then he said as if it were nothing,

“I am looking to choose meat with good skin. May I have a look?”

At Gan Yang’s question, the man who took the token examined it carefully, then bared his yellow teeth and said,

“If it is skin you want, roasted pig skin is a fine choice.”

“Pig skin does not sound bad. Then would it be all right if I chose the meat to be slaughtered?”

“Why would it not be? I will guide you, so please follow me.”

Thus the bearded man led the way, gesturing toward one of the buildings so he could guide them.

But just as he was about to follow behind him, Mok Gyeong-un paused for a moment.

Seeing that, Mong Mu-yak, who was at his side, asked,

“My lord. Why is that?”

“……..”

Without answering that question, Mok Gyeong-un turned his head and looked toward the gate.

-Rattle rumble rumble!

The sound of wheels rolling came from there.

Then the entire main gate opened, and people who looked to be government slaves entered the courtyard pulling carts.

However, Mok Gyeong-un’s gaze was fixed not on them but on the person walking at the very rear of the procession of carts with his hands clasped behind his back.

It was someone wearing a blue Flying Fish Robe and a mask with a distinctive pattern.

Following behind him were four more men in indigo Flying Fish Robes, their faces veiled with gauze.

They looked like officials, and all of them,

“have learned martial arts.”

At those words from Mok Gyeong-un, Mong Mu-yak frowned and said,

“My lord. Please turn your head and let us go inside first.”

At Mong Mu-yak’s urging, Mok Gyeong-un turned his head and followed the party beyond the building.

And once they had moved farther away from the courtyard, Mong Mu-yak spoke in a low voice.

“How inconvenient.”

“Why is that?”

“The officials in Flying Fish Robes we just saw are warriors of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.”

“The Embroidered Uniform Guard?”

At those words, a strange light entered Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes.

He thought he understood why Mong Mu-yak had called it inconvenient.

The identity they intended to infiltrate as for this secret mission was precisely the Embroidered Uniform Guard, so who could have expected that they would happen to encounter them in a place like this?

Mong Mu-yak clicked his tongue and said,

“Yes. The Embroidered Uniform Guard.”

“…….Were the Embroidered Uniform Guard not the imperial palace’s close-guard warriors?”

“That is right. Something is strange. Not even warriors of the Imperial Guard Bureau, but Embroidered Uniform Guard men in a place like this…”

“What? Embroidered Uniform Guard?”

Seop Chun, who had been walking ahead, cut in with a frown.

Mong Mu-yak then said,

“Shh. Quiet. At the market square of the slaughterhouse just now, there were Embroidered Uniform Guard…”

Before he could finish, Gan Yang whispered,

“You need not concern yourselves too much. Because the meat entering the inner palace is also used for the meals of the imperial family, Embroidered Uniform Guard men come directly to inspect it.”

“Ah……”

Foodstuffs could seem like something minor, but that was not the case.

Foodstuffs and medicinal ingredients alike entered not only the mouths of palace servants and officials, but of imperial relatives and even the Emperor, so the imperial palace paid the greatest attention to their inspection.

That was especially so because assassination attempts by means of foodstuffs or medicinal ingredients had existed since ancient times.

“I see. But do most Embroidered Uniform Guard warriors learn martial arts?”

“Yes. The Embroidered Uniform Guard are directly under the Emperor, so I understand that each one of their martial levels is at least first-rate. Among those of higher rank, there are quite a few who would be called masters even in the murim.”

“What rank does the one in the blue official robe with the golden belt and the strange mask hold?”

At that question, Gan Yang asked back with a rather surprised expression.

“You said a blue official robe and a golden belt?”

“Yes.”

“If it is a blue official robe and a golden belt, then that would be a Thousand-Household Commander, a fifth-rank Embroidered Uniform Guard officer. At that level he would have been a considerable expert even within the Embroidered Uniform Guard.”

The practical rank structure of the Embroidered Uniform Guard was as follows.

There were the Xiaoqi of subordinate seventh rank, the Zongqi of proper seventh rank, the Shibaihu of subordinate sixth rank, the Hundred-Household Commander of proper sixth rank, the Fuqianhu of subordinate fifth rank, the Thousand-Household Commander of proper fifth rank, the Deputy Thousand-Household Commander of subordinate fourth rank, and the Zhenwushi of proper fourth rank.

“And by ‘considerable expert,’ about what level do you mean?”

To Seop Chun’s question, Gan Yang stroked his beard and answered,

“If he is a Thousand-Household Commander of proper fifth rank in the Embroidered Uniform Guard, then at the very least he would be a master who has reached the mature extreme of Peak Realm.”

“If even the level of a Thousand-Household Commander is like that, then the imperial palace’s Embroidered Uniform Guard are nothing ordinary.”

“Yes. Because they exchange with the righteous-path murim and invite many masters, their level has grown far higher than it was before.”

At Gan Yang’s words, Seop Chun grinned and said,

“Hahahat. Even so, if the level of a Thousand-Household Commander is about that much, then if this friend or I entered the Embroidered Uniform Guard, we would receive no lower a rank than Deputy Thousand-Household Commander.”

Seop Chun and Mong Mu-yak were masters bearing the title of the Five Tigers, the greatest younger talents of the Heaven and Earth Society.

Since their martial prowess approached that of executives, they were confident that in the Embroidered Uniform Guard they would receive high rank.

At that confidence of his, Mok Gyeong-un tilted his head and said,

“I do not know.”

“Yes? Why do you say that?”

“That masked Embroidered Uniform Guard Thousand-Household Commander from earlier…”

“What about the Embroidered Uniform Guard?”

Mok Gyeong-un, who had seemed about to say something, shook his head and said,

“It is nothing.”

Because he abruptly stopped speaking like that, Seop Chun could not help feeling strangely uncomfortable.

“Let us go for now.”

“………”

He wanted to ask what he had been trying to say, but knowing Mok Gyeong-un’s personality, it did not seem likely he would answer.

Then Blue Spirit, who had instead grown curious, asked,

-What were you trying to tell him?

-That masked Thousand-Household Commander from earlier… he had sealed part of his qi gates.

-Sealed his qi gates?

-Yes.

Even without opening the demonic power of Three Eyes in his right eye, Mok Gyeong-un was already able to see the flow of ordinary energies with the naked eye.

To such eyes, it had been visible that the masked Embroidered Uniform Guard Thousand-Household Commander had sealed three major qi gates.

So although the energy he gave off at first glance felt to be at the level of Peak Realm,

-if he released them, Seop Chun would not be able to deal with him.

-Was he that much?

-Yes.

For some reason, that man was hiding his strength by sealing his own qi gates.

That was why Mok Gyeong-un had considered mentioning it but then refrained, because the discussion would only become long.

-But there was one more strange thing.

-What was that?

-The eyes visible through the gaps in his mask were blue.

‘!?’