Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 35 - Martial Talent (2)

Chapter 35 – Martial Talent (2)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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-A worthless sentient being dares to probe inside the body however he pleases after sealing acupoints. The brat is mad to die. What shall I do? If you do not want his heart burst, shall I simply pull out my hand?

“Huk….. huk…..”

It was hard for Outer Hall Lord Sang Ung-baek even to breathe.

Because of the hand gripping his heart, he could not relax.

Mok Gyeong-un, meanwhile, looked at the Blue Spirit behind him, who was wearing a mocking face.

Mok Gyeong-un was finding her ability quite interesting.

‘Her level really is different.’

The demon monk, who was Yellow Spirit class, had seemed burdened even by merely first-rate experts, but the Blue Spirit had subdued Sang Ung-baek with absurd ease.

The man looked even stronger than Guard Gam, yet he had been taken without sensing even a hint.

It seemed she could kill him at any time if she set her mind to it.

He could understand why the Foundational Text of the Yin-Yang School said that anything from Green Spirit class upward was a dire calamity difficult to handle.

As expected, it had been worth waiting on her temper and humoring her.

She still was not completely under control like the demon monk, but if he tamed her further, she looked useful.

-Are you going to keep this up? Partial materialization like this cannot be maintained long.

‘Ah……’

Is that so?

That was good to know.

One needed to know an ability exactly in order to use it according to the situation.

The Blue Spirit raised one eyebrow and said,

-Could it be that you cannot move because your numbing acupoint was sealed?

“No.”

-Ssk!

Mok Gyeong-un moved and removed Sang Ung-baek’s hand from his own wrist.

At that, the eyes of Sang Ung-baek, who had been completely unable to move, shook.

He had certainly sealed the acupoints properly.

Then how was he moving?

‘Could it be?’

Sang Ung-baek felt he understood the reason.

Even the true qi he had forced in had dispersed inside the body.

If so, there was a high chance that the true qi he had struck in for acupoint sealing had dispersed as well.

‘Ha!’

A body on which acupoint sealing did not work even without the Great Method of Shifting Acupoints or profound internal power.

It was truly strange.

To the astonished Sang Ung-baek, Mok Gyeong-un said,

“Does it hurt?”

“Haa….. haa…..”

“Is it to the point you cannot even speak?”

At those words, Outer Hall Lord Sang Ung-baek cautiously parted his lips.

“W-What in the world did you do to me?”

Sang Ung-baek could not know what this thing was that pierced through his body and gripped his heart.

At that question, Mok Gyeong-un gave a small laugh and said,

“You would rather not know.”

“Pardon?”

If he learned what was behind him, he would be even more afraid.

“And I do not particularly feel any need to tell you.”

At those words, Outer Hall Lord Sang Ung-baek frowned and did not know what to do.

Was this really the Mok Gyeong-un he had known?

The atmosphere was too different.

To him, Mok Gyeong-un asked,

“By the way, Outer Hall Lord. For what reason did you try to inspect my body?”

“That is……..”

“I would prefer that you answer properly.”

-Gulp!

As his eyes met Mok Gyeong-un’s, Sang Ung-baek swallowed dryly without realizing it.

He had not noticed before, but Mok Gyeong-un was staring straight at him without the slightest movement in his eyes.

What kind of gaze was this, to feel so chilling?

It was not the kind of gaze a mere seventeen-year-old boy should have.

“It seems you do not want to answer. Blue Spirit. You said you wanted to try bursting his heart…”

“I-I wanted to confirm something!”

Under what was not quite a threat yet was still a threat, Sang Ung-baek hurriedly answered.

At that, Mok Gyeong-un tilted his head slightly and asked,

“Confirm what?”

“……I found it hard to understand why the First Madam and the Second Young Master would go so far to target you, Young Master.”

“You found it hard to understand that they were targeting me?”

“That is correct.”

“Hmm. Why is that?”

“Pardon?”

“The succession struggle is in full swing, so it does not seem particularly strange.”

At those words, Sang Ung-baek hesitated briefly, then said carefully,

“If this is your true nature, deliberately hidden until now, then I can understand their feelings. But the face you had shown until now, and your circumstances, were not such that others would already move this actively against you.”

“………”

“The Manor Lord has not even died, yet the fact that they are moving so forcefully was strange. So I thought that perhaps you were hiding something.”

At Sang Ung-baek’s words, Mok Gyeong-un clicked his tongue inwardly.

To think he could leave room for suspicion even in this way.

‘The real one must have been rather pathetic.’

It was ridiculous to be suspected for a reason like this.

Of course, he could not say it was completely incomprehensible.

After all, that meant he had stood out too much over just a few days.

‘Hmm.’

Mok Gyeong-un stroked his chin.

If Outer Hall Lord Sang Ung-baek, who had met him only once, had become suspicious, then before long the other retainers might also start watching him for similar reasons.

Fortunately, it did not seem they suspected him of being a fake yet.

It seemed they merely thought he had been hiding his strength.

Mok Gyeong-un opened his mouth.

“Then did you achieve the purpose of your confirmation?”

At that question, Outer Hall Lord Sang Ung-baek parted his lips in a tense voice.

“…….Did you hide it on purpose?”

“Well now. I have no duty to tell that to the Outer Hall Lord. More importantly, I am wondering what to do about you.”

-It is hard to maintain this anyway. Just kill him, sentient being.

The Blue Spirit said that in a dry voice while puffing on her pipe.

At that, Mok Gyeong-un shook his head slightly.

“Not yet.”

If he killed the Outer Hall Lord, the matter would truly become large.

Then his plan to learn martial arts in Yeon Mok Sword Manor and leave would be ruined.

It was very troublesome.

-Then what do you intend to do?

“Well.”

-I am about at my limit now. Decide.

“Hmm.”

Outer Hall Lord Sang Ung-baek truly could not understand it.

Something was clearly gripping his heart, and yet from behind he felt no presence at all.

It was enough to make ghosts wail.

Even more bizarre was the fact that Mok Gyeong-un was conversing, despite hearing nothing.

How was he meant to understand this situation?

Yet that did not seem to be the problem now.

It felt as though he had learned something he was never meant to know.

Perhaps he might be silenced.

At that, he hurriedly said,

“Young Master…….please forgive this discourtesy.”

“No. To call it discourtesy when it has already happened?”

“It was discourtesy indeed. As a retainer of the Mok family, I should have approached with greater caution, but I moved too rashly. Please grant me forgiveness.”

“I said it was all right.”

“This subordinate truly had no other intention. I only wished to confirm whether you too possessed the qualifications of a successor, Young Master.”

That was the truth.

He had been disappointed in both the First Madam and Mok Eun-pyeong, the second son.

That was why he had wanted to confirm whether Mok Gyeong-un possessed something worth their vigilance.

For after the Manor Lord passed away, the moment of decision would come.

“Now that I have seen your true nature, Young Master, this subordinate will…”

“That is enough.”

“Pardon?”

“I have absolutely no interest in whether the people of this household fight over the successor’s position or not. But if even the Outer Hall Lord becomes entangled, things may grow a little tiresome.”

“Y-Young Master? What in the world do you mean by that…”

What kind of words were those?

If he had no interest in the succession struggle, then why had he hidden such a true nature?

Sang Ung-baek could not hide his bewilderment.

-Good. Then it is fine to kill him, right?

The Blue Spirit raised the corners of her mouth as though she had been waiting and said that.

“No.”

-No? Then what are you planning?

At that, Mok Gyeong-un looked at the demon monk beside him and said,

“Is what you tried to do to me before possible?”

-…….!?

At those words, a strange light flashed in the demon monk’s eyes.

The Blue Spirit looked at him as if asking what he meant, and Mok Gyeong-un pointed a finger at Outer Hall Lord Sang Ung-baek and said,

“Hmm. In the Foundational Text of the Yin-Yang School, I believe it said that when one is overtaken by a vengeful spirit it is called possession. Can that be done?”

-What?

At those words, the Blue Spirit’s eyes widened.

Was this brat openly giving an opportunity for possession?

And instead of offering that splendid chance to her first, he was giving it to this monk bastard…

-Hmm.

The Blue Spirit’s eyes narrowed.

Come to think of it, the fierce face of this sentient being called Sang Ung-baek truly did not please her.

Nor was it a body she particularly wanted to steal.

At that, the Blue Spirit spoke as though yielding the chance readily.

-Since the chance is being offered, why not try it once, monk?

-………

The demon monk glanced around, then looked at Sang Ung-baek with eyes like one staring at appetizing prey.

The desire to seize a living body, that is, a corporeal soul, was the instinct of all vengeful spirits.

Even becoming a shikigami changed nothing about that.

“You can keep him restrained, right?”

-That much is not difficult at all.

-………

At those words, the demon monk approached Sang Ung-baek.

-Shiver!

As he came almost right up before his nose, Sang Ung-baek sensed that cold sensation through energy sense, started violently, and shouted to Mok Gyeong-un,

“Y-Young Master, what in the world are you trying to do now?”

“You heard it.”

“Pardon?”

“Possession.”

No sooner had those words ended.

The demon monk seeped into Sang Ung-baek’s body.

-Srrr…

“Huhk!”

Feeling it directly, Sang Ung-baek urgently tried to draw up the energy of his dantian and expel this nauseating thing from inside his body.

But at the same time, the Blue Spirit touched both Sang Ung-baek’s dantian and brain.

“Kuh!”

Though only for a moment, the energy that was about to spread from his dantian throughout his whole body was cut off.

And that was not all. As she touched his cerebrum, Sang Ung-baek’s eyes went blank like those of a deranged man.

The demon monk did not miss that instant and attempted to possess Sang Ung-baek’s body.

-Crack! Crack!

Sang Ung-baek’s waist bent back like a bow.

Then a grotesque sound spilled from his mouth.

“Kkeogeogeogeok!”

-Tuk tuk tuk!

Black veins bulged up here and there, and that appearance resembled the former state of the Manor Lord.

It was the process of taking over the body through kill.

Having understood that, Mok Gyeong-un looked at Sang Ung-baek with interested eyes.

As he twisted his body wildly, he truly looked to be in agony.

-Hoo.

The Blue Spirit blew out a thick cloud of smoke from her pipe.

She too was watching it with eyes full of expectation, no less than Mok Gyeong-un.

‘Break. Please break.’

That wench named New Moon had failed because she was an occult practitioner.

But this man, Sang Ung-baek, was different.

She was hoping that the demon monk would succeed in taking control of the body and that the bond of shikigami would sever.

If that happened, then whenever the chance came, she too could simply target some easy-looking corporeal soul and sever the shikigami bond.

-Srrr!

It was while she watched with that expectation.

Once the body had been dominated to some extent, the black veins that had been bulging out from the skin began to sink back down.

And the expression of agony on Sang Ung-baek’s face vanished as well.

It changed into utter blankness.

-Dududuk!

Straightening his bent waist, Sang Ung-baek opened the eyes he had closed.

With his face looking pale and a strange gleam in his eyes unlike that of ordinary people, Sang Ung-baek’s atmosphere had changed considerably from before.

Just then, Sang Ung-baek tilted his head slightly and trembled.

“Why is it like this? Has the possession not finished yet?”

At that question, the Blue Spirit answered,

-He must be confining the ego. After taking the body, the proper order is to dominate the mind.

“Ho. Is that so.”

-Once the mind is dominated, everything is taken. Even the memory of the body possessed.

“The memory as well? Ah!”

Come to think of it, when the demon monk had still been a strange phenomenon, through an occult practitioner’s spell he had once made the Manor Lord speak aloud the location of the secret manual from inside his head.

If one could read the memory, then it meant one could almost be treated as that person.

The corner of Mok Gyeong-un’s mouth slowly rose.

‘That is not bad.’

Then there would be no need to go through the whole troublesome process of making something into something useful.

The shikigami was completely his.

There was no need to worry, as with humans, about when its mind might change.

It was right then.

The trembling of Sang Ung-baek’s head stopped.

Though a subtle ghostly aura could be seen in his gaze, the paleness had faded to the point one could not distinguish it at a glance.

“Is it done?”

At that question, Sang Ung-baek nodded.

And perhaps because he was satisfied, he twitched his lips and said,

“Master. This body is mine now.”

The possession had been successfully accomplished.

Mok Gyeong-un too smiled, seeming satisfied that the body had been completely taken.

‘The body of the Outer Hall Lord, hm.’

Going forward, his freedom of movement might become much easier.

In contrast, the Blue Spirit’s expression was not good at all.

The reason was that she could still see the red thread protruding from Sang Ung-baek’s chest and remaining connected to Mok Gyeong-un.

-Tch!

It was impossible to sever the bond of shikigami through possession.

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