Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 279 - Sacred Fire Leader (1)
Chapter 279 – Sacred Fire Leader (1)
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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The old woman’s eyes inside the forbidden prison widened.
From the moment Mok Gyeong-un suddenly drew the mark and spoke of the First Realm, she had thought him one of their own.
But that had been her mistake.
-Chwak!
-Pak!
‘What?’
She could not hide her shock at the sight of him calmly severing the arms of Garrison Pacification Commissioner Mok Seom, who had clasped both hands together in a salute.
On the floor, the nerves in those severed hands were still alive, twitching.
At last, startled by his own severed arms, Garrison Pacification Commissioner Mok Seom tried to let out a scream.
“Kkeuaaa…”
-Puk!
-Udeuk!
Before the scream could fully burst out, Mok Gyeong-un kicked his jaw upward.
The kick, heavy with internal energy, slammed his jaw shut so hard that not only did his head jerk back, his upper body rose of its own accord, and his teeth shattered.
“Guh.”
-Puk!
Not stopping there, Mok Gyeong-un then struck his abdomen with a palm as he was being forced upright.
-Paaaang!
“Kuheok!”
Blasted in the abdomen, Garrison Pacification Commissioner Mok Seom’s body slammed straight into the cave wall.
-Kwaang!
Half his body embedded in the cave wall, Mok Seom vomited blood violently.
“Keueoeo. Euwek.”
The blow had landed where his dantian was, tangling his qi completely and leaving him in unbearable agony.
Mok Seom’s eyes shook wildly as he writhed in pain.
It seemed his dantian had been shattered.
Centered on his abdomen, his true qi was scattering at a terrifying pace.
-Swaaaaaaaa!
For a martial artist, true death could be said to be the destruction of the dantian.
That was because it threw away the martial arts and internal energy one had accumulated through an entire lifetime.
As his internal energy dispersed, the whites of Mok Seom’s eyes filled with blood vessels.
At the instant a flood of tangled emotions surged through him, going far beyond mere nausea, Mok Gyeong-un seized him by the neck and lifted him.
-Kkwak!
“Keueueueu.”
“Ah. The bleeding is rather severe. I should at least be considerate.”
-Tatatatatatak!
Mok Gyeong-un pressed the hemostatic points near the place where his arms had been cut off.
Then, smiling, he opened his mouth.
“I thought the only cadre of the Second Realm here in the imperial palace was that person named Gyeom-chang who stayed beside the Command Investigating Officer, but I suppose the imperial palace really is important, since there is one more of you.”
‘W-what in the world is this bastard?’
Garrison Pacification Commissioner Mok Seom stared at Mok Gyeong-un with trembling eyes.
He had considered himself clever enough to aspire toward the First Realm.
Yet he had been deceived so absurdly, so futilely easily.
No, he could not help but be deceived.
After all, the man had openly rattled off things that only those of the Second Realm and above in the organization should have known, so not being fooled would have been stranger.
“You… just what… are you? Truly… are you one of the Fire Worship Sect?”
Ordinarily, Mok Gyeong-un would have smirked and said, who knows.
But because the Sacred Fire Leader of the Fire Worship Sect was watching from inside the forbidden prison, Mok Gyeong-un merely smiled and answered lightly,
“Did you really think I was one of your people?”
“Keueueu.”
-Jureureuk!
Blood kept flowing from Mok Seom’s mouth as it surged up from inside him.
Paying that no mind at all, Mok Gyeong-un stared straight at him, then abruptly smeared one of his blood drops onto his own index finger with his other hand.
Mok Seom wondered what on earth he was doing, and then,
-Sseuk! Sseuk!
Mok Gyeong-un began drawing something on his forehead, near his Adam’s apple, and then,
-Jjaak!
he tore open his chest and inscribed something near his heart.
That character was defense.
It was forming a talisman with his own blood, infused with spell power.
After writing it out, Mok Gyeong-un formed a hand seal and muttered,
‘Divine Bull Borrowed Power Method. Secret Defense Art.’
“Bongcheong, Northern Dipper Great Strength God, heavenly ox, earthly ox, bull-lord, six ding, six jia, four spirit gods, assist my great strength, truly establish heaven and earth…”
At the sight of him chanting a spell of sorcery, Mok Seom felt dread and tried to shake off Mok Gyeong-un’s hand.
But with his dantian destroyed and his true qi rapidly failing, there was no way he could do that.
-Kkwak!
“Kek!”
Instead, Mok Gyeong-un simply tightened the hand clutching his neck, making it even harder for him to breathe.
Mok Gyeong-un, who had been chanting the spell with his hand seal formed, stopped.
Then, this time,
-Sseuk!
‘!?’
he suddenly brought his finger to Mok Seom’s mouth.
And then,
-Ppudeuk!
“Eup!”
he yanked out one of Mok Seom’s upper front teeth.
With one tooth torn out, Mok Seom could not understand in the slightest what this madman was doing.
Yet after pulling out that tooth, Mok Gyeong-un did not stop there.
-Ppudeuk!
He tore out another.
Not just one, but again and again, until in the end he had ripped out six.
As a result, with all his front teeth gone and blood gushing thickly through the empty gaps, Mok Seom’s face had become pitiable to behold.
-Seuseuseuk!
On those extracted teeth, Mok Gyeong-un carved writing.
They were the names of the Six Jia gods.
After carving the names of the Six Jia gods,
“Traveler, traveler, hidden gods of the Six Jia, protect the body and defend it, become a man through use, respectfully hear and obey, by the prohibition of the Three Purities and the order of the Jade Emperor, swiftly employ, swiftly command, absorb.”
After chanting the corpse-liberation spell around seven times, he inhaled seven times, then scattered it to the east.
Then he removed Mok Seom’s shoes and threw one three paces to the east and the other three paces to the west.
‘What in the world is he doing?’
Even the old woman inside the forbidden prison could not understand Mok Gyeong-un’s actions.
Then Mok Gyeong-un smiled as if everything was now ready and said to Mok Seom,
“Now preparations are complete.”
“What… exactly… are you… doing?”
“Ah. It is nothing much. There is a prohibition placed on you, so I am preparing against that.”
At those words, Mok Seom looked as though he understood nothing.
A prohibition? What was he talking about?
Prohibitions were things ordinarily placed only on those corresponding to the Third through Fifth Realms.
Though he was a middle-ranking cadre, those of the Second Realm who bore the title of cadre had never been made to receive such prohibitions, nor had they ever been told of such things.
But Mok Gyeong-un said,
“It seems you do not even know that you yourself have been prohibited.”
“What nonsense are you…”
“The moment Gyeom-chang mentioned the one he serves, right here…”
-Tok tok!
Mok Gyeong-un tapped his own head with a finger and said,
“his head burst open and he died.”
“…Do not speak nonsense. We have never been subjected to any such prohibition.”
“Then as a test, try speaking of the one you serve.”
“What?”
“You said you have never been prohibited. So try saying what it is that you call the one you serve.”
At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, Mok Seom shut his mouth.
That made sense. No one was permitted to speak of that person or of anything related to him.
That was an iron rule the organization had to keep no matter what.
But with Mok Gyeong-un talking of prohibitions and saying such ominous things, it had become all the harder to open his mouth.
“What you are saying…”
-Puk!
Before he could finish, Mok Gyeong-un’s finger stabbed up beneath his eyeball.
At once, Mok Seom went deathly pale and could not move.
‘This… this… lunatic…’
To him, Mok Gyeong-un said,
“There is no time, so if you do not answer, I will pluck out this eye first. You have never seen your own eyeball before, have you?”
As he said that, he smiled brightly.
-Ossak!
That sight sent a chill racing down Mok Seom’s spine.
By looking into a person’s eyes, one could tell whether that person would truly carry something out or not.
Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes held not the slightest hesitation. They were eyes that would truly do it.
So Mok Seom said in a trembling voice,
“If… if what you say is true, then the moment I speak I too will have my head burst by the prohibition. Do you think I can speak so easily?”
“Do not worry. That is why I have already placed a talisman on your body to block spell power, and why I used corpse-liberation to prepare a substitute corpse in your place.”
“A substitute corpse?”
“Yes. So you may speak at ease. Of course, if you do not want to speak, you may keep your mouth shut.”
“…”
“But after I count to three, I will gouge out this eye. Then after I count to three again, the other eye. Then I will twist off your nose… the rest is tedious to say, so imagine it for yourself.”
“…”
Garrison Pacification Commissioner Mok Seom’s face stiffened, and he could not say a word.
In this situation, unless one had truly resolved to die, anyone would have had no choice but to speak.
That was how terrifying each word and each action from Mok Gyeong-un was.
Under that pressure, Mok Seom finally opened his mouth.
“If… if all I have to say is what we call that person…”
“If you answer a few other things as well, I will at least guarantee your life.”
“…”
Mok Seom fell into brief contemplation.
Still, however worthless this life might be, the world of the living had to be better than the world of the dead, so was saving his life at least the answer?
-Sseuk!
Then his eyes fell on his severed arms and ruined dantian.
Even if he survived, he was as good as dead.
‘Ha.’
And besides, having lost his worth as a martial artist, the organization would surely kill him anyway to silence him.
At last, Mok Seom resolved that he would rather uphold his loyalty to the organization.
“I would rather die…”
“I can restore your severed arms and your dantian as well.”
“What? How could…”
“If you do not believe me, then there is nothing I can do, but know that it is possible. The longer you delay, however, the less possible recovery becomes, so it would be best to hurry.”
“…”
At those words, Mok Seom abandoned his resolve to remain loyal.
“I will speak.”
“A wise choice.”
Seeing him look at his own arm and the determined light in his eyes, Mok Gyeong-un had read at once what was in his heart.
“Now then, speak.”
“…Very well. We call that person the third…”
-Kwajik!
At that exact moment, the shoe lying three steps to the east burst apart with a pop.
“Th-this?”
Mok Seom could not hide his shock.
On the other hand, watching this, the corner of Mok Gyeong-un’s mouth slowly rose.
As expected, his prediction had been correct.
In the arts of sorcery, a curse could only be lifted if the target paid its due price.
So through corpse-liberation he had created with sorcery a fake corpse of Mok Seom to deceive the curse.
Of course, to the eye it was only a simple shoe, but in terms of spellcraft, it was his corpse.
And it was not as though simply being a corpse would allow one to evade a curse.
-Sseuk!
Mok Gyeong-un stretched out his hand toward Mok Seom as if telling him to keep speaking.
So, flinching at the exploded shoe, Mok Seom swallowed dryly and continued,
“He is called Wooden Slip.”
-Kwajik!
The moment those words ended, the shoe lying three steps to the west exploded as well.
Seeing that, Mok Seom let out a trembling sigh of relief.
“Haa…”
So there really had been some sort of prohibition?
Or perhaps it was some trick of this man’s, but the moment he spoke that person’s name, it had felt as if the blood in his head surged backward and his whole body trembled, so surely it had been dangerous…
-Kwajik!
At that moment, Mok Seom’s head burst apart.
Still gripping the remains of his exploded head, Mok Gyeong-un wiped the bloody flesh from his sleeve and muttered,
“…It failed.”
He had thought he had succeeded in deceiving the curse’s spell power and diverting it away.
But the curse had been so strong that in the end this man’s head had been unable to endure it and burst apart.
He had thought it rather a clever expedient, yet the one who had placed the prohibition possessed spell power far beyond his own.
Even corpse-liberation, which deceived death itself, had failed to evade the curse, which meant that person’s sorcery had truly reached an extraordinary height.
‘Troublesome.’
Mok Gyeong-un clicked his tongue inwardly.
He had hoped that if he could overcome the curse, he would be able to extract more information, so this was regrettable.
Still, even so, he had learned one thing for certain.
That the head of those people was called the Third Wooden Slip.
‘The Third Wooden Slip…’
Why were they called that?
Taken literally, it meant something like ‘third gaze set against.’
It was difficult to know what that meant.
But now was not the time to sit here pondering that meaning.
-Jeobeok jeobeok!
Turning his steps, Mok Gyeong-un walked back toward the forbidden prison and said,
“You have waited a long time.”
“…”
“I had wanted to learn a little more, but as you can see, these people are in no condition to answer any longer. So I would like the Sacred Fire Leader to tell me instead. Why such people are after you and after that treasure bead.”
At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, the old woman, no, the Sacred Fire Leader, opened her mouth.
“You… I cannot tell whether you are truly one of our cult.”
“Why do you say that?”
“The doctrine of our cult reveres the sacred fire, practices good, and removes evil.”
“And?”
At that response, the Sacred Fire Leader pointed a finger at Mok Gyeong-un and said in a cold voice,
“Yet no matter how I look at it, you are evil itself.”