Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 36 - Martial Talent (3)
Chapter 36 – Martial Talent (3)
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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Early the next morning.
One of the young attendants of the medicine hall carefully set down a breakfast tray before Mok Gyeong-un.
“As you instructed, the meat… I brought it with the redness still showing.”
He had done it because it was an order, but the attendant frowned as if the bloody color bothered him.
At that, Mok Gyeong-un smiled faintly and said,
“Why? Do you dislike seeing the redness?”
“N-No, sir.”
The attendant waved his hands hurriedly.
As a mere attendant, if he unnecessarily upset a young master’s temper, he did not know what kind of trouble might follow.
But Mok Gyeong-un continued speaking with the same smiling face.
“If meat is cooked all the way through, the texture is not very good. Perhaps I should say it becomes tough? I like it best when it is soft and still red. Try eating it that way sometime.”
“……Y-yes, sir.”
He could not tell what was supposed to be so tasty about it.
There was a difference between something that was slightly undercooked and something this bloody.
Pork in particular seemed as though it would rather taste fishy, so it really felt like a strange palate.
After the attendant withdrew, Mok Gyeong-un savored his meal and ate with enjoyment.
The sight of it was extremely elegant.
-Chew chew!
He repeated the act of chewing exactly around thirty times before swallowing, and when he chewed something, he did not open his mouth even a little.
Even his handling of chopsticks was quite refined.
Watching that with narrowed eyes, Guard Gochan thought inwardly in puzzlement.
He had lived alone in the mountains with his grandfather, yet when one looked at his conduct, it felt as though he had properly learned etiquette.
Come to think of it, his manner of speaking was like that too.
For someone called a killing ghost, respectful speech toward others was always habitually mixed into him.
‘The more I learn, the less I understand.’
While that was happening, independently of his will, a sound came from Gochan’s stomach.
-Grrrrowl!
Seeing someone eat made it impossible not to grow hungry.
But as if he had heard that faint sound, Mok Gyeong-un was already looking at him.
‘Huh?’
“It seems you are hungry.”
At that, Gochan, who had been half-squinting, jolted and rose to his feet to bow.
“Y-Young Master. Did you sleep well?”
“No. I did not sleep as much as Guard Gochan did.”
“You did not sleep?”
“No.”
“Then after eating, perhaps you should sleep a little mo…”
“No. One can sleep as much and as deeply as one likes once dead.”
“………”
Even when he spoke, he always managed to make people feel chilled once.
Gochan swallowed dryly and said,
“Do you have some worry on your mind?”
“If I were to call it a worry, perhaps. It is nothing large. In fact, I was going to ask you once Guard Gochan woke.”
“Ask what?”
Worried for no reason, Gochan asked while his heart tightened.
Even after experiencing all those bizarre events last night, he had gone so far as to think he wished this day would at least stay quiet.
He had even dreamed of some female ghost with a pipe appearing and sticking her hand into his stomach.
That was how little in his right mind he seemed to be lately.
Lowering his voice, Mok Gyeong-un said,
“Do you know the basic art of Yeon Mok Sword Manor?”
“Pardon?”
At that question, Gochan looked at Mok Gyeong-un with eyes full of sudden puzzlement.
And why would he not? Why was he suddenly asking about the basic art?
Mok Gyeong-un asked once more.
“Do you know it?”
“A few times I happened to rea…”
‘Ah, damn!’
For an instant, he had almost said the real Mok Gyeong-un without thinking, but hurriedly detoured around it.
“In the past, I saw Young Master practicing it a few times.”
No matter how lazy he had been and no matter how poor his martial talent, the real Mok Gyeong-un too had been a person of a martial clan.
Naturally, he had practiced martial arts before.
Of course, it had been practice so half-done as to mean nothing, but still.
“That is good. Then could you perhaps teach me the basic art?”
“Pardon?”
“I am asking you to teach me the basic art.”
“H-How could I?”
At Mok Gyeong-un’s question, Gochan asked back as though he could not understand it.
At that, Mok Gyeong-un recalled the dawn of the previous day.
.
.
.
After realizing that a dantian had formed, Mok Gyeong-un tried to learn the Wood-Into-Sword Binding Formula in the hidden training room of the medicine hall, using what he had memorized.
But there an unexpected problem arose.
[Hmm…..the movements do not connect. That is strange.]
He moved his body according to the memorized secret manual, but the motions did not link at all.
Why was that?
At that, the Blue Spirit looked at Mok Gyeong-un, gave a small laugh, and said,
-It is a superior martial art.
[Pardon?]
-Sentient being. You really know absolutely nothing about martial arts.
[What is a superior martial art?]
-To explain simply, it means exactly what it says, a high-level martial art. With ordinary martial arts, no matter how much you practice, it is difficult to reach a superior realm, but superior martial arts are different. You can regard them as having the concentrated insight needed to reach a more profound realm.
[Then is that not even better?]
-Idiot. What do you mean, better?
[Pardon?]
-Without basic training, one cannot understand the forms of a superior martial art. To remove needless postures and forms, the basic art must be there as the foundation to begin with.
[……..]
-Are you even understanding this?
[Roughly.]
-Tsk tsk. In any case, if you do not train the basic art, you will not learn even a quarter of a quarter of the forms in that sword formula.
.
.
.
That was how things had turned out.
That was why Mok Gyeong-un had asked Gochan whether he knew the basic art of Yeon Mok Sword Manor.
“It seems one cannot learn the Wood-Into-Sword Binding Formula without the basic art.”
Mok Gyeong-un honestly told Gochan.
At that, Gochan asked with startled eyes,
“You are trying to learn the Manor Lord’s exclusive secret manual?”
“Yes. Is there some problem?”
“T-That is not it exactly, but no, Young Master, are you perhaps aiming for the successor’s seat?”
The reason Gochan was shocked was simple.
He knew well that Mok Gyeong-un wanted to learn martial arts.
But if those martial arts were the Manor Lord’s exclusive art, the Wood-Into-Sword Binding Formula, then the story changed a little.
That secret manual had not been called the Manor Lord’s exclusive art for no reason.
“No. Of course not.”
“Then why?”
“If it is the Manor Lord’s exclusive martial art, then that much more should it not be useful?”
Was this really something to evaluate with no more than “useful”?
Among the past successive Manor Lords of Yeon Mok Sword Manor, there had once been one who used the Wood-Into-Sword Binding Formula to rise as the hegemon of Anhui Province.
That was how well established in the martial world the Wood-Into-Sword Binding Formula was as a superior martial art.
“It is not merely useful, it is a tremendous sword art. But Young Master, if you learn that, it may later become a problem…”
“As long as I am not found out, it will be fine.”
“Not found…”
That was not the sort of issue one could solve by simply not being found out.
The moment he learned it, it would be no different from entering the war for succession to the Manor Lord’s seat.
Excluding the Manor Lord, who was on his deathbed, no one had been able to learn the secret manual, and yet if Mok Gyeong-un alone learned it?
An uproar would certainly break out.
But Gochan could not bring himself to continue that thought aloud.
In any case, Mok Gyeong-un was not the sort to stop simply because he was told not to.
“Hoo. But Young Master, this subordinate cannot teach you the basic art.”
“Why?”
“Even if I saw it several times, I do not remember it exactly, and I do not know the qi-circulation incantations of the basic art either.”
“Ah…….”
Right. In the secret manual there had been qi-circulation incantations attached to each form.
When one unfolded a form, the operation of inner energy differed with each posture, and if that was wrong, the form would not display its proper power and one could even suffer internal injury.
At that, Mok Gyeong-un asked,
“Then who knows the basic art?”
“Naturally, the young masters, and the Manor Lord lying sick in bed.”
The basic art of Yeon Mok Sword Manor.
The Nine Forms of Yeon Mok and the Yeon Mok Introductory Sword Method.
Though these were called the basic art, they were martial arts only those bearing the blood of the Mok family could learn.
“Only them?”
“…….Yes. That is correct.”
“Hmm.”
Mok Gyeong-un placed his chopsticks atop the rice bowl and stroked his chin.
He had not expected that only they would know the basic art.
He had thought there would at least be some martial men within Yeon Mok Sword Manor who knew it, but his expectation was wrong.
In that case, with the Manor Lord bedridden, the only ones who knew the basic art were the three young masters besides himself.
‘Impossible.’
Gochan shook his head slightly.
There was absolutely no way the other young masters would teach the basic art to Mok Gyeong-un.
If anything, merely saying he did not know it and asking to be taught would invite unnecessary suspicion, so in every respect there seemed no method.
But then, suddenly, Gochan grew puzzled.
‘Wait, but he has not even formed a dantian yet, so what does he think he is going to learn?’
As far as he knew, Mok Gyeong-un had not yet even formed a dantian.
Then whether it was the basic art or anything else, trying to learn forms already was far too hasty.
At that moment, Mok Gyeong-un slowly rose from the bed.
“Young Master?”
“There is no helping it.”
“Pardon?”
“Let us go.”
“G-Go where?”
“If the only people who can teach it are them, then I have to somehow learn it from them.”
“No, Young Master……there is no way the other young masters will teach you the basic art. And if you ask to be taught, you may be suspected for no reason.”
“Then I will have to try with some suitable excuse, or persuasion.”
“Pardon? By what means?”
“I will manage that myself. So for now, let us go.”
Gently, Gochan tried to dissuade the urging Mok Gyeong-un.
“Young Master…..would it not be better to rest for several days first, since you are injured anyway? In any case, the outer-court guards are protecting this place, so if you wander around while injured…”
“You do not need to concern yourself with the outer-court guards.”
“Pardon?”
Not concern himself with the outer-court guards? What did that mean now?
* * *
The path leading toward the First Training Ground reserved for the young masters.
Guard Gochan, still unable to understand, glanced back toward the direction of the medicine hall and tilted his head.
‘Good grief.’
Something was strange.
Just yesterday, the outer-court guards had been treating him as though watching him.
Yet suddenly their attitudes had changed.
As soon as they saw Mok Gyeong-un, they offered respectful martial greetings.
And when he said he was going to the training ground, rather than stop him, they tried to follow along saying they would escort him.
[We will accompany you, Young Master.]
[No. It is all right.]
Of course, Mok Gyeong-un refused that.
‘What is this?’
He could not understand why they were acting like that at all.
And it was equally strange that this suspicious little devil was treating it as though it were perfectly natural.
Had something happened again while he was asleep?
He could not understand it at all.
But that was not what mattered now.
“Young Master……are you truly going there?”
“Yes. I said I was going.”
At Mok Gyeong-un’s unwavering answer, Gochan grew troubled.
And no wonder, because the person Mok Gyeong-un was going to see was none other than the youngest young master, Mok Yu-cheon.
‘This is driving me mad.’
His relations with the other young masters were of course not good either.
But with Mok Yu-cheon, it was worse.
No, there was a reason the real Mok Gyeong-un had avoided meeting him.
Carefully, Gochan warned him.
“Young Master……something truly serious may happen. Even now, it would be better to turn back…”
“It seems he dislikes me that much, then?”
“Did I not tell you before?”
“Ah, you mean when you said the dead real Mok Gyeong-un once disparaged Mok Yu-cheon’s mother as a vulgar courtesan, and got beaten half to death?”
“…….If you remember that, why are you going?”
Gochan still remembered it.
[Stop! Stop! I was wrong! Gwaaak!]
He remembered the real Mok Gyeong-un crawling on the floor with his leg bone and ribs shattered.
He had made a terrible fuss begging to be spared.
Because something like that had happened, Mok Yu-cheon truly hated Mok Gyeong-un.
If he went to such a person and asked about the basic art, would he teach him?
“The other two are not in a situation where I can make a deal with them right now.”
“Even so……”
“If I pick and choose over everything, I will accomplish nothing. So let us go for now.”
‘Ah…….’
As expected, he never listened.
He seemed to have no sense of danger, and it felt as though it should be said clearly.
“Young Master. Mok Yu-cheon is a monster who reached the threshold of the peak realm at only sixteen. An expert at the peak realm is several times stronger even than a first-rate master. If you provoke him wrongly, something serious may happen.”
“Yes, yes. I understand.”
‘Agh!’
Gochan pounded his own chest.
Now there was no helping it.
He would have to meet him directly and experience for himself what sort of relationship the real Mok Gyeong-un and Mok Yu-cheon had had.
Before long, the First Training Ground came into view.
There, stripped to the waist and training in horse stance as before, stood Mok Yu-cheon.
He was someone who never neglected his training even for a single day.
-Ho. He is quite a decent sentient being.
The Blue Spirit’s voice sounded by Mok Gyeong-un’s ear.
Although they were under sunlight, perhaps because her rank was high, unlike the demon monk she still maintained her true appearance.
After drawing deeply on her pipe once and exhaling, she said,
-He has martial talent.
“You can see that?”
-Do you think there are many who possess that much life-nurturing energy at the age of sixteen?
In the Blue Spirit’s ghost eyes, the energy rippling over Mok Yu-cheon’s shoulder could be seen clearly.
If this were her life days, he possessed outstanding martial talent worthy of taking as a disciple.
She warned Mok Gyeong-un,
-He is the sort who may commonly be called a genius. You would do well to be careful. Under sunlight, even I find it difficult to draw out my full strength.
Sunlight was itself life-nurturing yang energy.
That was why even maintaining her form was difficult.
At the Blue Spirit’s warning, Mok Gyeong-un gave a slight nod and entered the training ground.
Then the gaze of Mok Yu-cheon, who had been in horse stance, naturally turned toward him.
The face of Mok Yu-cheon, upon discovering Mok Gyeong-un, hardened frighteningly.
Anyone could see that it was a face full of anger.
‘Damn it.’
As expected, it was as expected.
Thinking that if Mok Yu-cheon lashed out in a fit of temper, things could become dangerous, Gochan quietly tried to dissuade Mok Gyeong-un in a whisper.
“Young Master…..I think it would be best to turn back. Young Master!”
Despite that attempt to stop him, Mok Gyeong-un strode straight toward Mok Yu-cheon.
‘Damn it all.’
There was no helping it now.
At that moment, Mok Yu-cheon opened his mouth while maintaining horse stance.
“Get out of the training ground.”
As expected, no pleasant words came out.
He very much wanted to recommend that they leave the training ground while the chance was still being given.
But Mok Gyeong-un had no such intention whatsoever.
Looking at Mok Yu-cheon, who was radiating hostility, he smiled faintly and said,
“Hello.”
‘He is smiling? At me?’
At Mok Gyeong-un’s attitude, Mok Yu-cheon raised one eyebrow.
Ever since that incident, this fellow had only ever feared him and hurriedly avoided him, yet now he was showing a trace of a smile in front of him.
Did he have something to rely on?
Mok Yu-cheon looked around him.
Yet the only person guarding Mok Gyeong-un was Guard Gochan.
‘A mere second-rate.’
He was not a guard of a martial level capable of protecting Mok Gyeong-un from him.
Mok Yu-cheon sneered inwardly.
To him, Mok Gyeong-un said with a smiling face,
“Do you also want to become the Manor Lord, perhaps?”
“What?”
At those utterly unexpected words, Mok Yu-cheon turned his head with a frown.
Then he said as though dumbfounded,
“What are you talking about right now?”
“Exactly what you heard. I asked whether you also want to become the Manor Lord.”
At that, Mok Yu-cheon raised his voice and said,
“I do not know what trick you came before me to play, but stop babbling nonsense and get out. Unless you want to crawl away like last time…”
“Well, I think this is something you would want.”
-Ssk!
With those words, Mok Gyeong-un took something from his bosom.
It was the secret manual inscribed Wood-Transforming Heart Cultivation Method.
On seeing it, Mok Yu-cheon’s eyes widened.
“You!……How did you get that?”
“Do you want it?”
As if tempting him, Mok Gyeong-un shook the secret manual and asked Mok Yu-cheon.
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