Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 264 - Clue (3)

Chapter 264 – Clue (3)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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‘A prohibition placed by sorcery…’

Looking at Gyeom-chang’s dead corpse, Mok Gyeong-un was certain.

An unpleasant and ominous spell power like residue was leaking out of the body.

Of course, there were few who could see this.

That is, unless they had opened Ghost Eyes as Mok Gyeong-un had.

‘…This is the first time I have seen spell power of this level.’

It was true that Gyeom-chang had grown weakened and worn down due to his torture, but to engrave a curse into the head of a master who had broken through a wall and place such a prohibition meant a level of spell power beyond imagination.

Sorcerers were divided into six ranks under the Divine Sun-Moon Mysterious Skill Transmission.

Mok Gyeong-un had personally encountered both In Seo-ok, the Origin Kill Pavilion Lord, who had received the title of Square Sun, one of the highest ranks among them, and Jo Tae-cheong of Three Eyes.

‘Twice… no, three times.’

Those two as well had possessed astonishing spell power.

Yet from the lingering trace alone, he could estimate that the one who had placed this cursed prohibition possessed several times their spell power.

‘A Directional God-‘

A Directional God.

That was a title granted to only six among sorcerers.

They were called the Gods of the Six Directions.

Those who received the title of Directional God had reached the peak of sorcery, and there were even stories that their spell power and arts had gone so far as to touch the realm of a half-immortal.

It was possible that the one who had placed this curse prohibition on the now dead Gyeom-chang was one of the Gods of the Six Directions.

‘A Directional God…’

If someone who had truly reached the level of a Directional God was involved with this organization, taking revenge might become even more difficult.

Mok Gyeong-un looked at the corpse with annoyed eyes.

The closer he drew to the truth in order to avenge his grandfather, the more unexpected obstacles continued to arise.

Still, compared with before, he had obtained a great deal of information.

What had not changed was that Ghost Sword was still the key.

Even if some third party had actually killed his grandfather, according to Gyeom-chang, Ghost Sword was a higher-ranking officer of the First Realm within the organization of the mark.

Only by making contact with him could he draw closer to the real truth behind his grandfather’s death.

Then Mok Gyeong-un rose to his feet and approached someone.

It was Sang Ik-seo, the Superior Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, who had fainted with his acupoints sealed.

Approaching Sang Ik-seo,

Mok Gyeong-un unsealed the acupoints he had pressed.

Not long after that, Sang Ik-seo immediately regained consciousness.

The moment he came to and saw Gyeom-chang, the Hundred-Household Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, lying there with his head burst open, Sang Ik-seo nearly jumped out of his skin in horror.

‘Hik!’

From his perspective, having only just regained consciousness, there was no way to think of it as anything other than Mok Gyeong-un having done it.

Sensing that his life was in danger, Sang Ik-seo threw himself flat before Mok Gyeong-un.

“P… please spare- ugh.”

But the moment he prostrated himself, a terrible pain flared from his abdomen.

Confused, he instinctively looked at the place that hurt.

At some point, there was now a wound there.

‘What in the world is this-‘

If what he knew was correct, at that exact spot in his abdomen was the female commanding gu.

Then why was there now a wound in that place-

And the wounded spot hurt terribly.

It felt as though something were burning his organs from inside, a scorching pain so severe that he could hardly endure it.

Then Mok Gyeong-un grabbed him by the hair and yanked him upright.

“Huh-”

Seeing Mok Gyeong-un’s face, or more accurately the face of Chief Eunuch Ho of the Western Depot, looking as though he had washed himself in blood, Sang Ik-seo could not even meet his eyes from sheer confusion.

Ignoring that, Mok Gyeong-un smiled and said,

“I removed the commanding gu from your abdomen and gave you another little gift in its place. I wonder whether it suits your taste.”

“A… another gift-”

“I gave you a poison fit to replace it.”

“Poison-”

At those words, Sang Ik-seo’s expression stiffened.

“The poison entered your organs while I was removing the commanding gu, so by now it should have spread through all five viscera and six bowels.”

“…….”

Then Mok Gyeong-un jeered beside his ear.

“How is it- Does it feel as though your belly is burning away-”

“Hnghh…”

He could not deny it, because the burning pain in his abdomen was growing stronger and stronger.

‘I have to force the poison out quickly.’

Panicking, Sang Ik-seo tried to raise his true qi and push the poison out of his body.

But he could not do so.

Because he had been unconscious with his acupoints sealed, as Mok Gyeong-un had said, the poison had already spread through all five viscera and six bowels.

Because of that, it was difficult even to raise his true qi.

Rather, the moment he tried to circulate his qi,

“Aaagh!”

the pain intensified severalfold, enough to bring tears to his eyes.

The poison had already spread, not only through his organs, but even through his blood vessels.

Unable to endure the pain, Sang Ik-seo, Superior Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, spoke to Mok Gyeong-un as though begging for his life.

“P… please spare me. Please…”

“Spare you- That will depend on how you choose to answer.”

“What do you mean by how I answer-”

“How did you come to know that man over there-”

With a tilt of his head, Mok Gyeong-un indicated the corpse of Gyeom-chang lying there with his head burst open.

At that question, Sang Ik-seo, whose desire to live was strong, answered in a hurry.

“Th… that man approached our side first and proposed that he would help us.”

“Help you with what-”

“Th… that is…”

“You do not seem to have much desire to live. Then I will just leave it as it is…”

“No. He said he would help our faction.”

“What faction would that be-”

“…It is the faction led by Grand Preceptor Hang Yun-pa.”

“Hang Yun-pa- Ah.”

Within the imperial palace there were four powers who practically controlled the nation.

There was Prince Gyeong, the younger brother of His Majesty the Emperor, and the Palm King, the Emperor’s Second Prince, who had once been the most likely candidate for the throne, and Imperial Noble Consort Seo, the mother of the current Crown Prince, and finally Hang Yun-pa, who held the office of Grand Preceptor among the Three Excellencies while also serving as Supreme Commander of the Central Military Commission.

Sang Ik-seo, Superior Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, belonged to Hang Yun-pa’s faction.

“How amusing.”

“What do you mean by that-”

“Everywhere one looks, it is full of men from one of four factions, all tangled together and desperate to devour one another. Yet not a single one is loyal to His Majesty the Emperor, the one who is supposed to rule the state.”

“……..”

At those words, Sang Ik-seo’s expression twisted slightly.

Was it because he felt a trace of shame-

Of course not.

If words like these alone could make him ashamed, he would never have entered Hang Yun-pa’s faction in the first place.

‘What do you expect me to do- If I do not belong to one of the four factions, I cannot survive in the palace, not with that damned emperor old, sick, and obsessed only with women.’

That was Sang Ik-seo’s true inner thought.

But in a situation where he might die from poison, he could not reveal what he truly thought.

Sang Ik-seo, who evidently cared nothing for humiliation, pressed his forehead to the ground and begged Mok Gyeong-un.

“Please spare me. I will do anything.”

He believed that even a dung heap in this world was still better than death.

That was why pride meant nothing to him.

Watching him, Mok Gyeong-un gave a snort and said,

“He cannot have approached you promising to help for nothing. What condition did he put on that help-”

“That was…”

“It will not do you any good to delay like this. If the poison spreads further, it will not matter whether you wish to live or not.”

“He… he asked that we find and seize the remnants of the Fire Worship Sect and grant him authority over how they would be dealt with!”

At those urgent words, a strange light flashed in Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes.

Authority over dealing with members of the Fire Worship Sect-

Because he had focused only on matters related to his grandfather, he had not cared what this organization was doing.

But hearing now that they had demanded authority over Fire Worship Sect members made a question arise.

‘Why the Fire Worship Sect-‘

Had this organization somehow become enemies with the Fire Worship Sect-

Otherwise there was no reason to move the military power of the imperial palace, which commanded the whole Central Plains, just to seize Fire Worship Sect believers.

No, from the beginning, the Fire Worship Sect had not only been rejected by the imperial palace, but also by both Daoists and Buddhists, and even martial artists had shunned them and helped suppress them.

At that, Mok Gyeong-un changed the direction of his reasoning.

‘Authority over them does not necessarily mean they intend to dispose of them.’

It could just as easily mean they had some close connection to them, or wanted something from them.

So Mok Gyeong-un asked him,

“If you were given authority over them, what did you do with them- Did you kill them-”

“…We took them out of the prison by various methods and brought them away.”

“Brought them away-”

“That is correct.”

His revised guess had been right.

Since they had not killed them but taken them away, it was now certain that the organization of the mark either had some connection with the Fire Worship Sect or wanted something from them.

Hm-

But if they had taken the Fire Worship Sect members away by various methods, did that mean there was a natural way to take someone out of the underground prison-

That was good.

“Then that means your side can take someone out of the prison whenever it wants, does it not-”

“It is not that one can take someone out so freely. Some groundwork has to be laid in advance, and while it may be possible with the ordinary prison, once someone is confined in the underground prison, they cannot be taken out.”

“……..”

At those words, Mok Gyeong-un smacked his lips in disappointment.

If it had been possible, he had planned to use this man to have the Sacred Fire Leader brought out without going in himself, but that would apparently not work.

Still, since this man was a Superior Commander, might he not have the necessary authority-

He had to succeed in stealing the Sacred Fire Leader as ordered in the secret mission given by the Society Leader, and only then would he be able to make contact and obtain clues about Ghost Sword.

“Even so, the underground prison is administered by the Embroidered Uniform Guard. If you sought a method, would it not still be possible-”

“The prisoners confined in the underground prison are specially managed criminals guilty of treason-level crimes. Unless approval is granted by all of His Majesty the Emperor, the Three Excellencies, and the Minister of Punishments, release or pardon is impossible.”

“……..”

What were the odds that the Emperor, the Three Excellencies, and the Minister of Punishments, who administered punishment and law, would all agree with one another-

In effect, once someone was confined in the underground prison, it was no exaggeration to say he would remain there until his term was served or until he died.

As expected of the imperial palace, the procedures were not merely strict but overly complicated.

‘There is no helping it.’

In the end, if he wanted to steal the Sacred Fire Leader of the Fire Worship Sect, he would have no choice but to enter the underground prison himself.

That would be true even for the organization of the mark.

Then Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes narrowed.

‘Ah!’

Come to think of it, it was the Society Leader of the Heaven and Earth Society who had ordered him to steal the Sacred Fire Leader of the Fire Worship Sect from the underground imperial prison.

Yet Ghost Sword clearly had some connection with that Society Leader.

Recalling that, one possibility suddenly occurred to Mok Gyeong-un.

‘…Could it be that the Society Leader of the Heaven and Earth Society is also closely connected with this organization, or perhaps even belongs to it-‘

Otherwise the coincidence was too precise.

Even a Superior Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard could not find a way to bring someone out of the underground prison because of the complexity of the procedures.

Yet their side had been dispatched, at great risk, to steal the Sacred Fire Leader from exactly that place.

The way things fit together was almost too perfect.

Mok Gyeong-un stared straight at Sang Ik-seo, who was lying prostrate and watching him nervously.

There was a way to test how far his guess might be right.

So Mok Gyeong-un asked him,

“Then did that organization give up on taking out the Fire Worship Sect member imprisoned in the underground prison-”

At that question, Sang Ik-seo frowned.

“How did you know there was a Fire Worship Sect member in the underground prison…”

“Just answer what I ask.”

“…I do not know whether they gave up entirely.”

“That is a vague answer.”

“I… I am not trying to deceive you. It seems that man entered personally and made several attempts, but because the prisoner was in the Avici Prison, I think he gave up on taking him out.”

“The Avici Prison- What is that-”

Since it was the first time he had heard the term, he asked.

“The Avici Prison is the prison chamber on the lowest level of the underground prison.”

“The lowest level-”

“Yes. It is where those designated as the very worst among all prisoners are confined.”

“Designated the very worst… If they call it Avici, then I assume the security must be so tight that escape is absolutely impossible.”

“…Since the underground prison was first built, there has been exactly one person who escaped from there. I heard that the Avici Prison was created afterward to correct that weakness. Since it was built, no one who has been imprisoned there has ever escaped.”

‘If the security is so tight that even a master who has broken through a wall cannot easily bring someone out, just how severe is it-‘

Entering the prison itself seemed like it would be even harder than he had expected.

Clicking his tongue inwardly, Mok Gyeong-un changed the question.

“If they gave up taking him out, then they must simply have left that Fire Worship Sect member there until they came up with another method.”

“That was not the case. Rather than taking him out, for some reason that man Gyeom-chang seemed to be trying to learn something from the Fire Worship Sect member through interrogation.”

“Trying to learn something-”

“Yes.”

“What was it-”

Strictly speaking, Sang Ik-seo should not have been able to answer that.

Though they had joined hands out of mutual need, he too had never fully trusted Gyeom-chang and had watched him in great secrecy.

But because Gyeom-chang was such an exceptional master, he had not managed to learn much, and the only thing he had found out was the name of what Gyeom-chang was trying to learn from the Fire Worship Sect prisoner in the underground prison.

“I do not know exactly what it is used for, but it seemed he was trying to learn where something called a treasure bead was.”

“A treasure bead- You do not know what that is-”

“I do not know exactly. But there is one thing I suspect.”

“A suspicion-”

“Yes… I suspect it may have something to do with the serious reason why that Fire Worship Sect prisoner alone, unlike the others, was confined in the Avici Prison.”

‘A serious reason-‘

Was it not simply because the Sacred Fire Leader held a high position and was therefore important within the Fire Worship Sect-

Or was there another reason-

“What is it-”

As Mok Gyeong-un looked puzzled, Sang Ik-seo spoke in a meaningful voice.

“I heard that this Fire Worship Sect member had received some revelation from the Sacred Flame or whatever it is and could foresee the future.”