Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 261 - Mark (7)
Chapter 261 – Mark (7)
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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It looked like writing, and yet it was not.
It was a mark in which a single vertical line pierced the middle of two horizontal strokes.
Since no such character existed in writing, it was closer to a symbolic mark than a written word.
Mok Gyeong-un had spent a very long time searching for this same mark, the same scar that had remained on his dead grandfather’s body.
And the first person he had ever found bearing the same mark was the scar on the flank of Mok In-dan, the Manor Lord of the Yeon Mok Sword Manor.
Manor Lord Mok In-dan had said that the one who left that wound on him was the Ghost Sword, one of the Eight Stars.
Because the fact that the Ghost Sword had left this mark on the Manor Lord meant that the same man, or someone connected to him, had likely killed his grandfather, Mok Gyeong-un had been searching for clues related to it.
And now at last another trace had appeared.
This was different from before.
That was because
‘This was not left as a scar. It was engraved directly.’
And that carried a different meaning.
The marks left on his grandfather and on Manor Lord Mok In-dan had been wounds forcibly carved into them by another person.
But the mark engraved on the tip of this saber was not the trace of something inflicted.
It was no different from a symbol deliberately made to be seen.
“Uuuugh.”
Mok Gyeong-un pulled the blood-soaked hair of Gyeom-chang, the Hundred-Household Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, farther back and said,
“You have no idea how long I have searched for this.”
“Wu… wha… are…”
With all his teeth broken, Gyeom-chang’s words came out slurred.
In truth, not only his teeth and face but his right wrist had been severed and his left arm cut off clear to the shoulder, leaving him in a state where it would not have been strange for his life to end at any moment.
-Tatatatak.
As if realizing this, Mok Gyeong-un pressed Gyeom-chang’s pressure points near the left shoulder.
The blood pouring out quickly stopped.
Even so, he had already lost far too much blood, and his complexion was pale to the point of being alarming.
“Uuuu…”
“I was a little rough without thinking. But it is all right. You are still breathing, are you not-”
-Tremble.
At those casually spoken words, delivered with a smiling face, Gyeom-chang convulsed.
Though his vision had been stained red by the splinters and fragments jammed into his eyes so that he could barely see, he could clearly feel the malicious intent in the voice.
Even through the agony, Gyeom-chang’s mind spun in confusion.
Who was this man-
He had clearly reacted the moment he saw the mark engraved on the saber.
At this point, it would not have been an exaggeration to say that almost no one alive could recognize that mark…
“S-stop.”
At that moment someone shouted toward Mok Gyeong-un.
It was none other than Superior Commander Sang Ik-seo.
His face was rigid with tension.
He had called out only after steeling himself.
Yet Mok Gyeong-un, as though uninterested, did not even bother turning his head.
‘Tch.’
Was he truly not even worth notice-
At that, Sang Ik-seo placed a palm over his own abdomen and said,
“If you mean to kill that man, then I too will destroy the commanding gu inside me.”
-Slide.
Only then did Mok Gyeong-un’s gaze turn toward him.
Seeing this, Sang Ik-seo prayed inwardly that his gamble would work.
Although Mok Gyeong-un had just acted as if he did not care and had attacked Gyeom-chang anyway, there was no way that could truly be the case.
One of the reasons he had come here was clearly because of the commanding gu inside Sang Ik-seo’s body.
If not, there would have been no reason for him to come in the first place.
“Destroy the commanding gu-”
“That is right. I do not know your true identity, nor exactly what you want, but you cannot deny that one of your purposes here has something to do with Thousand-Household Commander Mara.”
“And-”
“…I said to release that man at once. And leave.”
“And if I do not leave, you will destroy the commanding gu-”
“That is right.”
At those words, Mok Gyeong-un let out a faint laugh.
“Do as you please.”
‘!-‘
At that response, Sang Ik-seo frowned.
What kind of answer was that-
Do as he pleased-
“Are you saying it does not matter if Thousand-Household Commander Mara dies-”
“Yes. So do as you please. Since you have tried to threaten me, however, I will make sure to collect the price.”
-A chill.
At those words, goosebumps rose over Sang Ik-seo’s whole body.
No, it was when his eyes met Mok Gyeong-un’s expressionless gaze.
In that instant, Sang Ik-seo saw a hallucination of his whole body being carved up and shredded to pieces.
‘D-damn…’
In an instant, cold sweat soaked Sang Ik-seo’s brow.
He had only hoped to create a little room to negotiate, yet nothing worked at all.
As he wondered what he was supposed to do now,
-Srrr.
At that very moment, Mok Gyeong-un’s figure vanished from before his eyes.
‘Eh- Wait…’
Then,
-Tatatatak. Thud!
With a series of acupoint strikes from behind, Sang Ik-seo instantly lost consciousness.
After striking his acupoints and knocking him out, Mok Gyeong-un snorted and looked toward the area of the man’s abdomen.
“A promise is a promise, after all.”
Mok Gyeong-un had opened the demonic power of the Three Eyes in his right eye, and because of that he could see it.
Huddled motionless in one corner of Sang Ik-seo’s abdomen like something dead was the female gu, the commanding gu.
-Slide.
Mok Gyeong-un lightly cut the tip of his own index finger with a trace of sharp intent.
At once a droplet of blood welled up there.
Seeing this, Mok Gyeong-un placed that blood-beaded finger against the spot where the female commanding gu lay.
Then
-Thrust.
he pierced Sang Ik-seo’s abdomen and pushed his finger inside.
Though unconscious, Sang Ik-seo’s body jerked as if instinctively sensing that something had entered inside him.
Mok Gyeong-un ignored it and gently moved the fingertip he had inserted.
Then,
-Pak!
He felt something grotesque latch onto the wound on his finger.
At that, Mok Gyeong-un withdrew the finger he had thrust inside.
There, writhing grotesquely on the cut of his fingertip, was the bizarre insect.
‘Simple enough.’
Watching it, Mok Gyeong-un let out a faint laugh.
Those who knew little of gu poison would think long and hard over how to remove it, reaching for medicines or trying to devise some way to eliminate it inside the body.
Yet if one made use of the nature of gu poison, it was surprisingly easy to draw it out.
For gu poison was naturally attracted to stronger poison.
Born from the gathering and competition of venomous insects, toxic herbs, and all manner of poisonous things, gu poison reacted with sharp sensitivity to new poison.
-Suck suck.
Mok Gyeong-un’s blood was no different from extreme poison.
So the gu had naturally been drawn to it, and even now was frantic because it could not get enough.
‘What in the world is that…’
With the dim vision he had left, Gyeom-chang stared at this in shock.
The commanding gu was supposed to burst and die the moment one tried to remove it carelessly.
Yet now it clung to that man’s finger and would not let go.
How could this be-
As he stared in confusion, Mok Gyeong-un opened his mouth and shook the clinging gu into it.
‘What-‘
Then Mok Gyeong-un chewed the female commanding gu.
-Crunch.
-Kiiigrgrgrgr!
Even though his mouth was closed while he chewed, the shriek of the gu could be heard from inside.
‘!!!!!!’
Gyeom-chang could only stare in disbelief.
The commanding gu was itself nothing less than extreme poison, every bit as much as the parasitic one, even though they had been born as a matched pair.
And now this man was chewing up that living lump of extreme poison-
Quite apart from the disgustingness of it, it was sheer madness.
‘Is he trying to kill himself-‘
But then, after chewing for a while, Mok Gyeong-un swallowed it whole.
Having eaten the female commanding gu, Mok Gyeong-un pressed the blood-stemming points around the hole in Sang Ik-seo’s abdomen and then walked back toward Gyeom-chang.
At this, Gyeom-chang simply could not understand.
‘Why is he completely fine-‘
The poison of gu was so deadly that his throat and esophagus should have melted.
Yet Mok Gyeong-un remained perfectly unharmed.
As Gyeom-chang stared in stupefaction, Mok Gyeong-un smiled casually and said,
“You seem to be wondering why I am perfectly fine.”
“Y-you… what are…”
“I suppose it is because the poison inside my own body is stronger than the poison of the gu.”
‘The poison in his body- Could he be… a poison-man-‘
At that, Gyeom-chang was inwardly appalled.
As far as he knew, across both the Central Plains and the outer lands, there were only two people who had reached the level of a true poison-afflicted person.
One was Guryang So of the Guyang Family, and the other was Tang In-hae, the Thousand Poison Hands of the Sichuan Tang Family.
Then if this man was also a poison-man…
‘Is he one of those two-‘
That was the most likely conclusion.
But he could not possibly be Guryang So.
To begin with, that man could never be here, and he had no reason to interfere in their affairs.
Which meant
‘The Thousand Poison Hands-‘
If he were not the Thousand Poison Hands, then there was no way he could have endured the gu.
Gyeom-chang, now convinced that Mok Gyeong-un had to be Tang In-hae, said in a slurred voice,
“Ee-even if you can endure poison… why would you eat it- If the commanding gu dies… the paired gu as well…”
“It seems you know less about gu poison than I thought.”
“What-”
“Gu poison is not merely made by gathering poisonous insects and selecting the most venomous among them. The reason a matched pair can influence each other is because a kind of occult force is involved as well.”
“Oc-cult force-”
“If the one that survived all poisons and became the commander loses to another poison and is eaten, then what do you think happens to the hierarchy between them-”
‘!-‘
At those words, Gyeom-chang’s bloodshot eyes shook.
That was because he understood at once what Mok Gyeong-un meant.
‘Is that really possible-‘
In theory, he understood the logic, but had always doubted it could truly happen.
If the commanding gu were devoured by an even stronger poisonous creature, then that creature could in theory become the new commanding gu.
But whether that would also work when the stronger poison belonged not to an insect but to a poison-afflicted human was another question entirely.
As he stood in bewilderment, Mok Gyeong-un came up and seized him by the hair again, then said,
-Clench.
“Well… if Thousand-Household Commander Mara stays alive, then I have become the commanding gu. If not, then I suppose it simply was not my day.”
At that, Gyeom-chang inwardly clicked his tongue.
That meant this man had gambled on something he could not even be certain of himself.
As Gyeom-chang stared in disbelief,
-Boom!
“Guh!”
Mok Gyeong-un slammed his face down into the floor again and said,
“But rather than worrying about that, should you not focus more on your own situation- I intend to count how many times you beg me to kill you from this moment on.”