Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 47 - Attack (2)
Chapter 47 – Attack (2)
===================
Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
===================
-Swaaaaaaaa!
It was an amount that could not even be compared to the aura produced by one person’s death.
The death aura born as several dozen people died was vast in quantity.
But its purity was even deeper.
That was because it held every yin and cold emotion from the very instant of death.
‘Good.’
As he circulated his qi with the reverse-flow breathing method,
it was far more abundant than when he had absorbed the aura of the ferocious beast Guyeo, one of the yao monsters.
This was beyond his expectations.
Risking himself in danger had been worth it.
At this rate, it seemed he would reach his target faster than he had originally expected.
‘Twice… no, maybe even three times.’
He meant increasing the diameter of his dantian further.
As he condensed the high-purity aura rushing in through circulation, it seemed possible to triple it if things went well.
Of course, he had no way of knowing what level of righteous-path inner power this corresponded to.
While Mok Gyeong-un was concentrating on circulation like this,
Gochan, who was in the position of having to protect him, was tense to the limit.
‘……Impossible.’
If even Ha Chae-rin’s body, which had reached the peak realm, was this wary, there was no chance of victory.
Where had such a monster come from?
At that moment, the scar-covered man turned his gaze this time toward Mok Gyeong-un, who was circulating qi beside him.
Then he opened his mouth with an interested expression.
“To sink into meditative qi circulation in the middle of blood flying everywhere after an unknown enemy appears. An amusing child.”
Then he began striding over.
He looked as though he was merely walking, but in only a few steps he closed the distance from the hall in an instant.
‘Hk!’
Flustered, Gochan decided this would not do and called to Mok Gyeong-un.
“Young Master?”
If it were up to him, he wanted to shake him and tell him to wake up.
But if he interfered badly in the middle of circulation, Mok Gyeong-un might suffer qi deviation.
“Young Master?”
Gochan called once more.
But there was no response.
Rather, like someone lost in total absorption, he drove his circulation even harder.
-Swaaaaaaaa!
All the surrounding death aura was being sucked in at a terrifying speed, so it was hard to interrupt it midway.
In the end, Gochan judged that buying time was the only answer.
Come to think of it, he was already dead.
He could not allow Mok Gyeong-un to be harmed just because he feared the possessed body would be injured.
-Pat!
Gochan sent qi to the yongcheon acupoint and kicked off the ground.
At that instant, Ha Chae-rin’s possessed body shot forward with tremendous speed.
It was swiftness beyond comparison with his original body.
-Tatatatatak!
In an instant, he circled the scarred man twice.
“Ho. You’re fairly fast.”
The scarred man muttered.
But it did not sound like praise at all, and he did not even take a defensive stance.
Gochan bit his lower lip hard.
‘So he’s looking down on me? Flying Kill Martial Arts, third form, Silent Imprint!’
The move rose in his mind on its own.
The third form of Flying Kill Martial Arts, Silent Imprint, the secret martial art of the Flying Kill Flame Guest, unfolded instinctively from his body.
-Papapapapat!
As he flipped through the air, Gochan unleashed a leg technique at the scarred man.
The six kicks that swept in like a pinwheel aimed precisely for the vital points along the center line.
He had thought the man would either dodge or block somehow, but
-Shiver!
Startled by a sharp blade aura in that instant, Gochan twisted his body sideways.
-Chwak!
Severed hair scattered in every direction.
‘When?’
If he had been any later, that huge tachi would have split his body in half.
The instant he twisted away, Gochan sent three Jade-Glow Flying Needles drawn from his wrist device straight at the scarred man’s face.
-Shushushuk!
-Chaechachaeng!
But the man lightly blocked them with the flat of his blade.
And as if that were not enough,
-Puk!
“Uk!”
He drove a left fist into Gochan’s abdomen from an unseen blind spot.
With a dying scream, Gochan was flung backward and rolled several times.
-Kudangtangtang!
“Kulk!”
Blood flowed from his mouth along with a cough.
They had exchanged only a single move, yet the difference in skill was starkly revealed.
And yet an unusual light came into Gochan’s eyes.
That was not because the scarred man was too strong, but because the blow filled with battle intent had not been painful.
‘What is this?’
Strangely, his stomach churned and he wanted to vomit.
But he still felt no actual pain.
Because of this, Gochan realized something.
He was inhabiting another person’s body.
‘This feels strange somehow.’
But this was not the time to dwell on that strange feeling.
Trembling, Gochan forced himself back to his feet.
Even if he felt no pain as such, the fact that the body had taken a shock had not changed.
That was why strength would not go properly into his legs.
“Girl. If you block me one more time, you die.”
The scarred man warned in a low voice.
Those words somehow rubbed Gochan the wrong way.
“Who are you calling a girl…..”
“Stop!”
-Papapapak!
At that moment, someone shouted and flew in.
Then he stood in front of Gochan and leveled his sword at the scarred man.
It was none other than Mok Yu-cheon.
“Young Master Mok?”
“Young Lady, are you all right?”
‘What?’
At those words, Gochan’s expression froze blankly.
He felt goosebumps trying to rise all over his body.
Glancing at Gochan, Mok Yu-cheon put force into his voice and said,
“Ahem. Young Lady, it is dangerous, so step back. I shall handle this man.”
“………”
Because he was a man, Gochan could tell.
Mok Yu-cheon was putting on a great deal of swagger.
That was why Gochan could barely endure the cringe.
Regardless, perhaps because he wanted to look good, Mok Yu-cheon spoke to the scarred man with proper courtesy.
“I am Mok Yu-cheon, the fourth son of Yeon Mok Sword Manor. For what reason have you entered this estate and caused such trouble?”
At Mok Yu-cheon’s words, the scarred man snorted.
Then he looked him up and down and opened his mouth.
“Interesting. To see two fairly promising pups in a place like this.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Boy, you have no right to ask questions.”
With those words, the scarred man released an intense pressure.
He had merely revealed killing intent, yet Mok Yu-cheon’s heart pounded hard.
‘Strong.’
Mok Yu-cheon too was an expert at the threshold of the peak realm, so he could estimate how powerful the man before him was.
He might even be an expert comparable to his father before he lost his arm.
It had been a long time since he had felt this sort of tremor.
To him, the scarred man asked,
“Mok family boy. Where is your father?”
“Do not address my father carelessly.”
Angered by the scarred man’s words, Mok Yu-cheon raised his voice.
At that sight, the scarred man let out a mocking laugh and said,
“Do not shout. Trying to hide your fear only makes you look weaker.”
“What?”
Unable to endure it, Mok Yu-cheon launched himself and tried to unfold a sword form.
“You are young indeed.”
To fall for such a petty provocation.
-Seureuk.
In an instant, as though the ground itself had been dragged over, the scarred man’s body arrived right before Mok Yu-cheon.
‘What speed…..’
He had not even seen it.
Startled, Mok Yu-cheon twisted his body to the left and tried to change the path of his sword move.
At that instant, the man’s hand was already moving like a supple snake and reaching for his face.
“Huh?”
Mok Yu-cheon hurriedly raised his left arm.
The man’s palm lightly touched his wrist.
In that instant, a mighty force burrowed in, and Mok Yu-cheon’s body flew back as though he were a feather.
-Paaang!
“Keuk!”
The force was so violent that he flew more than five jang before finally stopping.
After rolling across the ground several times, Mok Yu-cheon vomited blood.
“Kueok.”
The moment it touched him, he had tried to redirect it by raising protective qi around his body, yet the internal force still burrowed into his five viscera and six bowels.
It was Penetrating Jin, a high realm of force release.
It displayed especially effective power against martial artists weaker than oneself, and to the scarred man, Mok Yu-cheon was exactly such an existence.
‘Not even treated as an opponent…..’
The tachi in the man’s right hand still rested on his shoulder.
The difference in level was too overwhelming.
Even so, he could not give up here.
This was not a spar or training.
‘A real battle.’
This man was an enemy who had invaded Yeon Mok Sword Manor.
If he yielded here, it was over.
Mok Yu-cheon steadied his breathing and rose to his feet.
Then Gochan came to his side, took a stance, and said,
“Young Master. We have to join forces.”
“Young Lady?”
‘This bastard!’
For a moment Gochan almost snapped and told him not to call him that, but held it in.
He was in a woman’s body, so it was only natural, and this was not the time to bicker over forms of address.
As the two prepared to attack together, the scarred man gave a thin smile.
“You fools.”
With that, he tried to step toward them.
Right at that moment,
“Haaap!”
With a thunderous shout, someone appeared and brought down a sword strike at the scarred man.
Up to the point when he had faced only those two, the scarred man had not drawn on his true power, but now he took hold of his tachi and slashed upward.
-Chaeaeaeang!
Sword and saber collided, and the ring of metal resounded in all directions.
The force of the two masters’ qi was so great that strong wind lashed outward.
But even between them there was superiority.
-Paaang!
The one who had brought down the sword was blown backward and pushed back about five steps.
“F, Father!”
That figure was none other than Mok In-dan, the Manor Lord of Yeon Mok Sword Manor.
-Jureureuk!
Dark blood ran from the corner of Mok In-dan’s mouth as he was forced back.
Not long after rising from his sickbed, he had already expended much true qi, and because he was still unaccustomed to using his left hand, he could not draw out even half the power of his prime.
“Father!”
When Mok Yu-cheon tried to approach, Mok In-dan stretched out a hand and shook his head.
“Fall back. He is not an opponent you can face.”
“But…..”
“Enough!”
As he said that, Mok In-dan’s eyes flicked toward Mok Gyeong-un, who was still sitting cross-legged and circulating qi.
Why in the world was that child acting like this?
Had he been injured?
Outwardly, he looked completely fine.
After a brief moment of puzzlement, Manor Lord Mok In-dan turned his gaze back to the approaching scarred man and said,
“Who are you, to barge into this estate?”
“Barge in? Hahahahat!”
At that question, the scarred man burst into laughter, then took something out from his breast.
The moment he saw it, Mok In-dan’s expression stiffened.
It was a seal.
‘A seal?’
Mok Yu-cheon’s eyes narrowed.
No matter how he looked at it, it was a seal, so why was Father so startled?
As they were wondering that, the scarred man tossed the seal upward and caught it again and again as he said,
“You know very well what this is, Manor Lord Mok.”
“…….How do you have that?”
“How? Hahahahahat! Manor Lord Mok, you play the innocent well. To say such a thing after stealing something that is no different from this society’s treasure.”
‘Stealing?’
Mok Yu-cheon looked toward Mok In-dan in confusion.
Then a shocking statement came from Mok In-dan’s mouth.
“……..Did you come from the Heaven and Earth Society?”
At that question, the scarred man gave a broad smile.
It was answer enough.
‘!!!!!!’
At that, Mok Yu-cheon and even Gochan both stared wide-eyed.
The reason they were shocked was simple.
The Heaven and Earth Society.
It was one of the enormous powers currently dividing the martial world of the Central Plains into three.
Worshipping only the survival of the strong, they had once plunged the martial world into chaos under the banner of unifying it all.
Back then, countless wandering heroes and martial artists had lost their lives.
That was why, even now, the martial world could not help but fear the name Heaven and Earth Society.
‘T, the Heaven and Earth Society?’
Gochan could only stare in disbelief.
No wonder there were not many forces that would dare commit such madness against Yeon Mok Sword Manor, a famous martial family of Anhui.
But if it truly was the Heaven and Earth Society, then this was disastrous.
No matter how renowned Yeon Mok Sword Manor was, if they truly set their minds to it, they were the sort of opponent that could exterminate the whole clan.
“Aaah.”
A sigh escaped from Manor Lord Mok In-dan.
To think it was the Heaven and Earth Society.
Mok In-dan’s gaze moved to his youngest son Mok Yu-cheon, to Mok Gyeong-un still circulating qi, and to the warriors of Yeon Mok Sword Manor still fighting around them.
‘Is this the karma I earned?’
Why had he been greedy back then?
If only he had not brought that thing back, this would never have happened.
Mok In-dan forced out the words.
“…….If I hand that over, will you withdraw from this estate?”
‘Father?’
At those words, Mok Yu-cheon looked at Manor Lord Mok In-dan in shock.
What his father had just said was to save everyone, but it was almost no different from surrender.
The weak side of his father that he had never seen before made his chest ache.
“I shouldn’t have revealed our society’s identity. I had hoped you’d resist a little more.”
The scarred man muttered regretfully.
At that sight, Mok Yu-cheon inwardly burned with anger.
There was no way he could show such an attitude unless he utterly looked down on them.
Mok In-dan sent him a look and shook his head.
It meant, Do not act rashly.
‘The opponent is the Heaven and Earth Society. No matter how angry you are, endure it, my son.’
The moment a monster of this level had appeared, the situation had already become overwhelmingly unfavorable.
Putting aside how weakened he was, even if his body had been whole, Manor Lord Mok In-dan had no confidence in facing that scarred man.
Resting his tachi on his shoulder, the scarred man asked,
“Where is it? That thing.”
“First, swear as one man to another.”
“Manor Lord Mok, you are not lacking in breadth as a leader. Good. I, Son Yun, the Fate Blade King, one of the Five Kings of the great Heaven and Earth Society, give you my pledge. If you hand that over, I will withdraw without causing further harm to Yeon Mok Sword Manor.”
‘…….One of the Five Kings?’
Mok In-dan was inwardly shaken.
To think Fate Blade King Son Yun, one of the eight executives who led the Heaven and Earth Society, had moved personally.
That meant they had clearly come prepared to wipe out this estate if necessary.
Cold sweat ran down Mok In-dan’s body.
To him, the scarred man, no, Son Yun the Fate Blade King, one of the Five Kings of the Heaven and Earth Society, asked,
“Where is that thing?”
At the question, Mok In-dan pointed somewhere and said,
“Over there is this manor’s medicine hall. If you open the drawer marked Oyang among the medicine cabinets, the underground entrance will open.”
“Hooh.”
“There is a stone door marked Jeong there. A mechanism formation has been laid in the passage, so you must either cross twenty steps at once with lightness skill or brace yourself against the ceiling and go through.”
“You hid it well.”
“There will be a wooden box there covered in talismans.”
“You heard that?”
At Fate Blade King Son Yun’s question, one of the masked figures beside him answered,
“Yes.”
“Bring it.”
“Understood!”
The masked figure immediately vanished toward the medicine hall.
‘…….A hidden space inside the medicine hall?’
With a bewildered expression, Gochan slowly turned his eyes toward Mok Gyeong-un, who was still absorbing death aura.
It felt as though things were getting properly tangled.