Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 39 - Dangerous Visit (1)
Chapter 39 – Dangerous Visit (1)
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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Four days later,
In a dense forest not far from the manor of Yeon Mok Sword Manor.
A man wearing a bamboo hat, carrying on his back a book chest loaded with worn books and tools, and dressed in a dark blue daoist robe marked with the yin-yang symbol, was walking somewhere with one hand forming a sword-finger seal and the other holding a talisman inscribed with the character for chase.
The man continuously recited a spell.
“Heavenly essence, earthly essence, essence of sun and moon, the qi of heaven and earth united in essence, the qi of sun and moon united in brightness, the qi of spirits and ghosts united in form, your heart joins my heart, my heart joins your heart, the heart of heaven, ten thousand hearts…..”
This was the Harmony and Union Spell.
He had been searching the surrounding area for two or three full days without rest while employing the Joyful Summoning Harmony Method, a kind of spell art used to meet someone whose whereabouts had been lost.
Under normal circumstances, this spell would quickly locate someone.
But,
‘It is being obscured.’
A very strong and baleful energy was veiling it.
This was neither a simple disappearance nor an ordinary death.
The power of a strange phenomenon or a spell art had intervened.
‘Who in the world did this?’
New Moon was a master of esoteric arts who could be called the third-ranking figure even within Ghost Shadow Pavilion.
Moreover, because she handled even the demon-spirit Gudiao as a shikigami, she had the ability to subdue even a Yellow Spirit class resentful soul by herself.
So he could not understand how she had ended up like this.
[What? That cannot be possible.]
[It is a letter sent by the First Madam of Yeon Mok Sword Manor. Read it.]
The letter contained a protest that was nearly a threat.
It said that unless they produced New Moon along with the three thousand silver taels in penalty money, Ghost Shadow Pavilion would be exterminated.
If things truly were as written in it, then it was not hard to understand why the First Madam would be furious, but there was no way New Moon would have done such a thing.
[There is certainly something else to this. Find her and learn what exactly happened.]
That was why he had been going about this day and night without rest.
He had to find her in haste before Yeon Mok Sword Manor made its move.
It was just as he was concentrating on his art once more.
-Flutterrrrr!
The talisman for chase in his left hand shook violently.
‘She is nearby.’
At that, the man clasped the chase talisman in both hands and recited a spell.
“……Spirits and ghosts joined in virtue, four spirits fill the heavens, step left, assist right, fortune is here, fortune turns, I receive the nine deaths, now block the connection of the four bonds, urgent, urgent, by decree!”
The moment the incantation ended,
The writing on the violently trembling talisman darkened, and it rose of its own accord into the air before flying somewhere.
-Flap flap!
The man followed the flying talisman.
Before long, the talisman bent downward at some spot and descended.
The place had been hidden by thick brush, but when he passed through it, a rather steep cliff appeared.
It was the kind of place where one could easily die from a misstep.
The man looked around, found a slope, and climbed down below.
There he discovered the talisman lying neatly on the ground.
But then,
‘!?’
Something other than the talisman caught his eye.
Around it, all that remained were dried bloodstains and fragments of flesh scattered here and there, something from which it was difficult to tell it had once been a human body.
The moment he saw it, the man could not help frowning.
‘How could this have happened…….’
He had never expected an outcome like this.
He had thought she might have been attacked, but this was far worse than he had imagined.
The man swallowed dryly.
This was absolutely not something that could have been done by a mere Yellow Spirit class entity.
‘What in the world happened here?’
This horrifying scene alone told him nothing.
If at least the corpse had remained intact, there would have been a way to learn the details to some degree through ghost arts, but in this state the chances were much lower.
Still, there was no helping it.
The man placed his hand on the ground at the center of the disaster and closed his eyes.
And then,
-Clap! Clap!
With his left hand, he formed hand seals.
‘Jie. Dou. Qian.’
Waiboyin, waishazaiyin, and then the following bupingyin.
They were the seals of the Nine-Character Reviving Method.
“Three-Person Life-Revealing Method. The Northern Emperor has granted me authority. Therefore reveal everything that was experienced. Urgent, urgent, by decree.”
-Brrrrrr!
The bloodstained things on the ground began to tremble faintly.
Cold sweat formed on the man’s brow.
When one was killed by a strange entity, not only the hun soul but even the remaining corporeal soul within the flesh was damaged, making it difficult to draw out those traces with sorcery.
“Reveal everything. Urgent, urgent, by dec…..ugh!”
The man’s head snapped backward.
Then memories, flashing by like scenes in a revolving lantern, slammed into his mind.
-Shwaaaaa!
[Myo-shin…….]
[Cough cough, I reflected back the reverse kill that was sent.]
[Are you an occult practitioner?]
[Hoo. It is quiet now.]
[How can you grab a demon-spirit with your bare hands?]
[You said you could grant me anything, right?]
[…….I retreat like this for now, but before long….]
-Shiver!
At that moment, together with a gruesome aura that made his spine turn cold, the man’s mind returned.
With trembling eyes, he muttered,
“W-what was that?”
The memory cut off along with the immense terror New Moon had felt at the end.
It did not look as though something had simply sliced away that last portion.
If the terror and dread had been this great, there should have been at least some glimpse of the final fragment, but there was not even that.
‘Strange.’
Every being falls into fear before death.
Yet the fear he saw before that memory snapped was not fear felt at the moment of death, but the emotion felt when confronting something overwhelmingly terrifying.
‘What in the world happened?’
He became even more doubtful.
The memories that remained were too brief and fragmentary to tell what exactly had happened.
There was only one thing he had learned through the fleeting fragments.
‘Mok Gyeong-un……’
That person was at the center of New Moon’s death and this entire incident.
They were no more than fragments, but one memory especially remained with him.
‘……..To grab a demon-spirit with bare hands?’
It was something difficult even for occult practitioners unless special conditions were met.
From that, one could infer one of two things.
Either this young master called Mok Gyeong-un had indeed been possessed by a Yellow Spirit, as they had guessed beforehand, making something like this possible.
Or he might have been born with spiritual talent.
If it was the latter, then it was an extraordinary talent.
‘……..He may be an innate occult practitioner.’
This sort of talent was not easily found.
People said that even if one could sense spiritual traces even a little through one of the five senses, that alone meant talent.
But touching a demon-spirit, a lump of demonic aura itself, without any special conditions belonged to a wholly different realm.
The man shook his head from side to side.
‘This is not what matters.’
For now, he had to make contact with this boy named Mok Gyeong-un if he wished to learn what had happened.
The man glanced into the air and muttered,
“Gudiao. Somehow, it feels as if I must not let my guard down.”
With those words, he gestured for it to follow.
Then the shadow on the ground in the shape of an eagle flapped its wings in response.
What was strange was that the eagle inside the shadow had a peculiar set of horns on its head.
* * *
Yeongnan Pavilion, located in an alley at the southern end of the marketplace.
Yeongnan Pavilion was a place overflowing with low-quality wastrels.
“Kuhahaha!”
“Drink. I’ll pay for everything today.”
“Let’s drink ourselves to death today!”
Because of such people, other customers did not even dare enter.
‘Hoo.’
Watching them, Guard Gochan, who stood at the entrance, let out a sigh.
‘At least this is the only information organization nearby.’
It was a fairly low-grade place.
If divided into upper, middle, and lower, it barely qualified as lower.
Just looking at the people gathered there, one could tell their level was poor.
Still, because he had received an order from Mok Gyeong-un, he had come here thinking he should at least place the request somewhere close by.
[Please ask whether they know this mark.]
[Pardon? How did you obtain this?]
[You do not need to know the details. Guard Gochan, you only need to place a request with that information organization or whatever it is.]
[Understood.]
‘What could this be?’
The mark Mok Gyeong-un had shown him was rather simple.
But he had never seen it before.
It might be because he had been retired for quite a long time, but if even he, a former assassin, did not know it, it could also be something insignificant.
‘Where is he, anyway?’
The head of this place should be around.
Since it was such a low-grade place, there were no special rules, and they simply brought you information in exchange for money.
‘Ah, there he is.’
After settling here, he had exchanged greetings with him a few times.
Gochan let out a sigh once and called out to someone.
“Pavilion Master Gwak.”
At the call, a drunken man sitting in the middle of the tavern did not even stand, merely turning his head slowly.
Then he blinked a few times, and when he seemed to recognize Gochan, he brightened and got up.
“Well now. Isn’t this Guard Gochan of Yeon Mok Sword Manor?”
Though it had been a long time, he was still a man drowned in wine and women.
Even now, he had a woman who seemed to be a courtesan tucked against his side, and Gochan hated the sight of it.
Shaking his head, Gochan said,
“I have something to commission.”
“A commission?”
“I will pay properly.”
“Very well. Come up to the second-floor office.”
He did not like it, but despite appearances, he had once belonged to a branch of the Hao Gate.
So his information-gathering ability was not all that poor.
Not long after Gochan entered the room first, heavy thudding sounds came from the corridor on the second floor.
Because the man was big, he always made noise like that.
‘Unfit to be an assassin.’
The basics of an assassin were stealth and secrecy.
Of course, people with such aptitude were rare.
Just then, the guest room door opened and Pavilion Master Gwak entered.
“…….What are you doing?”
Gochan raised his brows and asked.
Pavilion Master Gwak had come in with a woman tucked against his side.
Judging from her hair piled up high, the thick makeup, and the flowing clothes that revealed her cleavage, she seemed to be a courtesan.
Her face was so beautiful that the eye was drawn to it, but this was not that kind of meeting.
“She is a new girl who just came in. Not bad, is she?”
“Did you not say we were here for a commission?”
“She’s one of ours, so it doesn’t matter if she hears. If you have something to say, say it quickly. I need to go back down soon.”
‘……What a pathetic bastard.’
Inside, murderous intent rose in Gochan.
However low-grade this place might be, this was truly beneath the line.
If he kept acting like this, there would be no need to commission them at all.
“Send her out.”
“Ah, come now. Guard Go. A man ought to enjoy a bit of refinement…..”
“If you continue like this, I will simply leave.”
“…….”
That had an effect.
Silenced, Pavilion Master Gwak spoke irritably to the courtesan.
“Go downstairs and quietly wait for this husband of yours. If you’re in another bastard’s arms when I get there, you’ll regret it.”
And just as he was about to slap her on the backside,
-Tap!
The courtesan seized Pavilion Master Gwak’s hand.
“Huh?”
“Hoo. I can’t put up with this.”
The courtesan muttered as if annoyed.
“You bitch!”
Stunned by her attitude, Pavilion Master Gwak moved to strike her across the face.
That was when it happened.
-Thrust!
The courtesan’s hand suddenly touched Pavilion Master Gwak’s ear.
At once, Pavilion Master Gwak staggered like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
“You!”
Seeing this, Gochan was startled and hurried to draw his dagger, but something flew from the courtesan’s hand and pierced into one of his acupoints.
-Pupupupuk!
It was an extremely thin flying needle.
As the flying needle burrowed in, Gochan could neither open his mouth nor move.
It was no different from having had his acupoints sealed.
-Scrape.
The courtesan pulled out a chair from the table and pushed it behind the staggering Pavilion Master Gwak.
As a result, Pavilion Master Gwak naturally ended up sitting in the chair.
Of course, from the front, his eyes were rolled back so far that only the whites showed, which made his condition look far from good.
‘Th…..this is…..’
Gochan looked at the flying needle stuck in his chest and could not hide his bewilderment.
As someone from the Flying Assassin Sect, there was no way he would not recognize it.
‘Jade-Glow Flying Needle?’
It was the unique concealed weapon of Flying Assassin Yeom-gaek, the sect leader of the Flying Assassin Sect and one of the Four Great Assassins of the Central Plains.
* * *
It was impossible that a mere courtesan could use the Jade-Glow Flying Needle, the very symbol of the sect leader of the Flying Assassin Sect.
The current sect leader, Flying Assassin Yeom-gaek, was a man who had reached the age of sixty.
Though older than those still active, his skill was unmatched by any other, which was why he had firmly held the position of one of the Four Great Assassins for twenty years.
And yet, for such a man’s unique concealed weapon to be in the hand of this courtesan meant……
‘!!!’
Gochan could not contain his shock.
Only now did he think he knew this courtesan’s identity.
‘C-could it be?’
Flying Assassin Yeom-gaek had one granddaughter.
Her name was Ha Chae-rin.
She was his only surviving blood relative after the rest of the family had all been lost in an unexpected attack.
Flying Assassin Yeom-gaek poured everything into that remaining blood relative.
That much was fine.
Everyone could understand that well enough.
The problem lay elsewhere.
‘……Sect Leader, are you in your right mind?’
All of the assassins in the Flying Assassin Sect had believed that Flying Assassin Yeom-gaek would never pass on his sect leader position to that sole granddaughter.
Because she was utterly unsuited to being an assassin.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the basis of an assassin lay in cold reason.
But that granddaughter was far from anything like that.
She was a complete wreck of a personality.
Her endless vulgar curses that did not suit her pretty and young age, her extreme fastidiousness that loathed anything dirty, her anger-control issues…….
Not one of those traits suited an assassin.
‘And yet everyone opposed it.’
The last time he had seen her was four years ago.
It was before he retired, and when the executives and all the assassins of the Flying Assassin Sect protested, Flying Assassin Yeom-gaek had said he would straighten her out and forcibly shut her away in the Flying Assassin Cave.
‘Impossible.’
Everyone had been certain she could never be corrected.
How could one possibly rein in such a fiery temper and make her acquire an assassin’s coldness?
And so he had lived on while forgetting about her.
Since four years had passed since his retirement, she would now be nineteen and fully grown into a proper woman.
‘Fully grown……’
One only had to look at the excellent breasts enough to form a deep cleavage.
She had truly grown well.
With such a captivating face, almost anyone would be easily swept away.
At that moment, she stretched out a hand toward the wall of the room.
-Shoook!
The flying needle embedded in the wall was pulled out and attached itself to the wrist ring on her wrist.
Seeing that, he could be certain it was indeed the Jade-Glow Flying Needle, the unique concealed weapon of Flying Assassin Yeom-gaek.
The fact that she used it meant she had inherited the sect leader’s position.
‘……Then does that mean she succeeded in the Hundred Days, Hundred Kills?’
To become the sect leader of the assassin sect Flying Assassin Sect, one had to pass that rite of passage.
It was the test called Hundred Days, Hundred Kills.
The task of Hundred Days, Hundred Kills was to complete one hundred designated assassination requests within one hundred days, and if one accomplished this, one would be called one of the Four Great Assassins.
‘Impossible.’
Given her disposition, it was enough to make one doubt that she had achieved it.
Or had the sect leader truly succeeded in raising her into a proper assassin?
That was perhaps possible.
Thinking about it, it was also strange that someone with as severe a cleanliness obsession as hers could endure serving drinks among wastrels like these.
‘Was there really room for reform?’
If that were the case, he might even come to revere the former sect leader.
After all, he had truly managed to raise that personality-ruined girl into one of the Four Great Assassins.
Then a small voice entered his ear.
“Oh my. Fuck.”
‘…….!?’
He saw Ha Chae-rin, disguised as a courtesan, wiping away a tiny bloodstain from her cheek.
Her eyes were cold with displeasure.
Seeing that, he was reminded of the way she used to curse in childhood.
‘…….Was she really corrected?’
As doubt began to rise, she approached him.
When she came close, she pulled out one of the flying needles stuck in his chest.
Then a cough burst from Gochan’s mouth.
“Cough, cough.”
Since his voice came out, it seemed she had removed the needle that had sealed his mute acupoint.
Ha Chae-rin perched her hips on the table, crossed her smooth exposed legs, and said,
“I never expected to see someone retired like this, Uncle Gochan. Or should I call you Lower-Rank Assassin Number Eighty-Three?”
‘Damn it.’
As expected, it really was Ha Chae-rin.
He had thought she would have forgotten him after four years, but she remembered him from only a few encounters.
With a tense voice, Gochan parted his lips.
“……It has been a long time, Miss.”
“Sect Leader.”
“Pardon?”
“It is Sect Leader now.”
Though he had only half believed it, his guess had been right.
She had become the current sect leader of the Flying Assassin Sect.
Once that truth was revealed, a sense of unease rushed over Gochan.
The reason was simple.
When a retired assassin encountered an assassin from his former organization, it almost always meant nothing but death.
While he was feeling anxious, Ha Chae-rin said,
“Maybe because you’ve retired, the sect leader doesn’t look like the sect leader to you.”
“T-that cannot be. Congratulations on becoming the new Sect Leader.”
“Fuck. That’s like making me bow and then pretending to honor me.”
‘………’
At the thick profanity that came out of her mouth, Gochan was left speechless.
No matter how he looked at it, she was exactly the same as he had known her before.
It had been that way even then, but hearing such curses come out of such a pretty face truly did not suit her.
Ha Chae-rin covered her lips with her hand and said,
“Oh my, look at me. I must have gotten too comfortable seeing someone I know after so long. I ought to put on some airs, but a curse just slipped out without me noticing.”
“P-please act however is comfortable for you.”
“How could I do that? A lady should have refinement.”
‘…….’
What refinement was she talking about now?
That was what he thought inwardly, but Gochan kept his mouth shut.
Of course, he had no courage to say it aloud.
Instead, he only grew more nervous.
Because he had no idea what words might come out of her mouth next.
Then Ha Chae-rin parted her red lips.
“Anyone would think I came here to eat you alive. Didn’t Grandfather care enough about you two to allow you and Uncle Gam to retire together? So relax.”
“……..Is that truly the case?”
Gochan asked with round eyes.
Inwardly, he had worried that she had come after his life.
But hearing her speak like this, it did not seem as though there would be any major issue.
‘Haah……’
He thought it was fortunate.
But then it also struck him as strange.
If she had not come after him, why had the new sect leader personally come all the way here and used the Jade-Glow Flying Needle on him?
As he wondered, Ha Chae-rin smiled and said,
“That works out well.”
“Pardon?”
What did she mean, that it worked out well?
“I heard the eldest young master of the Mok family likes wine and women, so I was planning to enter and leave Yeon Mok Sword Manor through him, but now I can simply go in together with Guard Gochan.”
‘!?’
For a moment, Gochan frowned, wondering what she meant.
Why would she want to go into Yeon Mok Sword Manor together with him?
“W-what do you mean by that? Why would you go to Yeon Mok Sword Manor with me?”
At that question, Ha Chae-rin lightly lifted Gochan’s chin with her fingertips and said in a voice laced with killing intent,
“I’m thinking of taking the head of the third young master of Yeon Mok Sword Manor.”
‘!!!!!!’
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