Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 51 - Heaven and Earth Society (2)

Chapter 51 – Heaven and Earth Society (2)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“You bastard……you saw that?”

From the expression on Son Yun the Fate Blade King, Mok Gyeong-un felt puzzled.

He had come to understand to some degree the importance of secret manuals in the world of martial arts.

Yet looking at this man’s reaction now, it felt quite different from simple anger over someone seeing a manual that was no different from their treasure.

It looked more like a reaction of utter disbelief.

‘What is this?’

He was wondering that.

-Suk!

Before he knew it, the sharp edge of Son Yun’s huge tachi was touching his throat.

Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes narrowed.

He had clearly watched the entire movement with his eyes, yet had not noticed until the moment before it touched him, as though he had not even registered it.

‘……..So this is a true expert?’

Amazing.

Now he understood why Manor Lord Mok In-dan had been so tense and had bowed his head so much.

But that was all there was to his admiration.

If one let down one’s guard, even a five-year-old child could stab one to death in sleep.

It was only right to remain wary of everything.

Son Yun stared straight into Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes and opened his mouth.

“To have seen that and still survived……”

“Pardon?”

“Then there are only two possibilities.”

What in the world was he talking about?

As he stood puzzled, Son Yun continued in a cold voice.

“A lie, or heavenly fortune.”

“A lie or….. heavenly fortune?”

“Until now, almost no one who saw what was inside that remained breathing unharmed.”

“……..What do you mean by that?”

No one remained breathing?

Yet here he was.

Son Yun gave a cold laugh and lightly pressed the blade against his throat as he said,

“Exactly what it means. That is why I cannot believe you are standing here so perfectly alive.”

“As you can see, I am alive.”

Mok Gyeong-un shrugged.

At that attitude, Son Yun clicked his tongue.

There was a blade at his throat, yet not even the slightest change had appeared in his manner.

Had he lost all sense of fear?

Or was he simply bold?

“Looking at you, I cannot tell whether you are spewing lies out of swollen courage, or whether you are taking a gamble.”

“If lying would only get me killed, why would I gamble?”

“………”

Son Yun stared fixedly into Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes.

If he were nervous in the slightest, his eyes should have shaken at least a little, yet they did not.

[Recover it no matter what.]

He could not disobey that order.

Then there was only one method.

“Very well. Then either recite the mnemonic verses or show the forms and prove it. Then we will know for certain.”

At that proposal, Manor Lord Mok In-dan and everyone else from Yeon Mok Sword Manor looked on with tense eyes.

At first, when Mok Gyeong-un had revealed that he possessed it, they had felt fierce betrayal.

But now, in this situation, Mok Gyeong-un was the only person who could save them.

‘Please.’

Please let it not be a lie.

“There is nothing difficult about that.”

With those words, Mok Gyeong-un prepared to recite the mnemonic verses.

For a moment he considered deceiving them in part, just as he had tricked Mok Yu-cheon with imperfect verses.

But these people were the owners of that secret manual.

If he tried to deceive them carelessly, his head might fly off.

Just as he was about to open his mouth,

-Sentient being.

A familiar voice rang through his head.

It was Blue Spirit.

Mok Gyeong-un turned his eyes and looked around.

But he could not see her.

He had already found it strange that when he called her earlier, she had not appeared.

-Look at the roof opposite.

‘The roof?’

At those words, he looked toward the roof.

Blue Spirit was standing there.

Why had she not come closer?

Could it be that she was keeping her distance because of that monstrous man and that occult practitioner?

That seemed likely.

But then,

‘What is this?’

Blue Spirit’s atmosphere was somehow different from usual.

The crimson light reflected in her eyes as she stood upon the roof was so deep it was almost frightening.

No, it almost felt like flames blazing fiercely.

Because they were connected by their bond, he could tell.

‘Anger?’

What he felt from her was tremendous anger.

It was anger so intense that it felt as though it could drench this whole place in blood, and yet she was suppressing it with tremendous self-control.

Why was she like that?

As he stood puzzled, Blue Spirit said,

-The moment you recite those verses, you will die.

What?

Was she trying to stop him out of concern for that?

Of course, if he recited everything, they might strike him from behind.

Perhaps it would be better to recite only half and hand over the rest in another way…..

-Sentient being. Repeat the verses and posture I recite exactly as they are.

Mok Gyeong-un frowned slightly.

What did she mean, repeat her verses and posture?

These people should know what was written inside, so if he recited other verses they would obviously know it was wrong.

But then,

-Do not rack your brain. For now, trust me.

‘Hmm.’

-Sentient being, if you die, I die as well.

At those words, countless thoughts flashed through Mok Gyeong-un’s mind.

The instant the verses were wrong, his head would fly off, so if he spoke the verses she taught him……

As he was thinking, Son Yun the Fate Blade King said,

“Why are you not doing it?”

“………”

After considering it, Mok Gyeong-un finally came to a conclusion.

Then he grasped the sword-form sheet.

And he copied Blue Spirit, who stood upon the roof with the moonlight at her back and assumed the opening stance.

From that distance, the two of them now stood in exactly the same posture.

Blue Spirit opened her mouth.

-Muyeonjihyeon pasunyuun yeonggyeolhaeji johasikyu jipagyeongsal.

At the same time, she slowly unfolded the first form, extending the sword-form sheet forward.

It looked as though a beauty were performing a sword dance.

It was enough to bring to mind the phrase “a beauty beneath the moon.”

Her fluttering red sleeves moved with the form like scattering flower petals.

‘………’

It was a movement that naturally made one lose one’s senses.

If the situation were not what it was, he would have wanted to watch it at leisure.

Then Mok Gyeong-un opened his mouth.

“Muyeonjihyeon pasunyuun yeonggyeolhaeji johasikyu jipagyeongsal!”

And he copied Blue Spirit’s movements.

Exactly as he received them.

He reproduced them without the slightest difference.

-Throb! Throb!

Some muscles cried out in pain because his body was not trained, but ignoring that, he focused down to the very tip of her fingers.

-Pat! Papapapat!

‘!!!!!!!’

At Mok Gyeong-un’s sword form, Son Yun the Fate Blade King’s eyes shook.

And it was not only him.

Manor Lord Mok In-dan too could not take his eyes off the first form Mok Gyeong-un was displaying.

‘How……. can this…….’

He could not help but be astonished.

It was truly a peerless sword form.

There was not a single wasted part in the form, and it was hard to find any flaw in it.

Since it was a secret manual the Heaven and Earth Society had guarded so closely, he had expected something to a degree, but it was truly extraordinary.

Yet what was even more surprising than that was,

‘This child……. how can he move like this?’

The movements Mok Gyeong-un was making now were not something a mere third-rate martial artist should have been able to produce.

No internal energy was infused, and though he was moving slowly, everything from the tip of his fingers looked as though a peerless swordsman who had reached a realm through the sword were displaying a form.

Anyone with any level of sword understanding could tell that clearly.

‘Ha.’

And if he saw it that way, why would Son Yun be any different?

Son Yun too could not help admiring the sight before him.

Recognizing the form itself was one thing, but this performance of it was movement that should never have been possible at that boy’s level.

‘Is it talent?’

It was an incomprehensible kind of talent.

By qi sense alone, Mok Gyeong-un was no more than a third-rate fighter barely scraping the second-rate threshold.

And yet he was unfolding the form as though some peerless swordsman were displaying it for another’s benefit?

Just as Son Yun was puzzling over that,

-Murmur, murmur.

There was a stir among the masked figures.

Son Yun knew why they were reacting that way.

“Cheonakyeongmyeong musoburhang jeoseongeoma……”

Mok Gyeong-un had begun reciting another verse and was about to unfold the second form.

‘Damn it!’

He had to stop him.

No one else could be allowed to hear the mnemonic verses of further forms.

So Son Yun hurriedly shouted,

“Stop!”

-Suk!

Mok Gyeong-un, who had been holding the sword-form sheet out diagonally, stopped his movement.

Then he checked Son Yun’s reaction.

He had not been able to do so before because he had been following Blue Spirit’s movements on the roof with extreme concentration.

‘Huh?’

Seeing Son Yun the Fate Blade King’s expression, Mok Gyeong-un felt inwardly puzzled.

This had truly been no different from a gamble.

Because those were not verses written in the secret manual.

And yet, looking at Son Yun’s face, it did not seem in the least that he thought it was wrong.

So Mok Gyeong-un asked,

“Has it been confirmed?”

“………”

At that question, Son Yun simply stared at him in silence.

In his mind, the image of another person unfolding the same form as Mok Gyeong-un arose as vividly as a painting.

It was overbearing to the utmost.

Yet the sword form Mok Gyeong-un had displayed was utterly different in quality from that.

Which meant,

‘There is no mistake.’

It was certainly the secret manual.

There was no room for doubt.

Though he tried not to show it, Son Yun’s heart pounded.

He had never imagined it would happen like this, but to see the sword formula of the Moon Meridian, said to have been cut off more than a hundred years ago, with his own eyes……

It was hard to suppress his excitement.

But Son Yun soon calmed that emotion.

[Recover it no matter what.]

Recovering the original secret manual was the best course.

But if what this brat had said was true, then the original had already vanished from the world.

This brat’s head was the only remaining manual.

“Fate Blade King.”

At that moment, the voice of the eyepatched Occult Practitioner Jo was heard.

He said nothing else, but seeing him shake his head slightly, Son Yun understood enough.

He was telling him not to kill the brat.

‘So he wants him too.’

He was certainly interesting.

This brat had done what no one in their society had been able to do.

And most of them had lost their lives in the process.

That meant either the cursed manual had chosen that child, or else there was something special about him.

‘But if one is not permitted, no one may cultivate that secret manual.’

Therefore, the proper course was to extract what was in his head and then kill him.

And yet, somehow, it felt wasteful.

Seeing the way Son Yun seemed to be thinking, Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes narrowed.

‘There is something going on.’

These people did not know the true contents of the secret manual.

And yet, judging by their reaction, they seemed convinced that the verses of the form Blue Spirit had taught him were truly inside it.

If that had not been the case, they would have cut off his head already.

So seeing him looking at him like that,

‘Is he weighing options?’

There was only one plausible guess.

If it was truly a secret manual precious enough for them to come all the way here seeking it, then perhaps it was something outsiders were not permitted to learn.

In that case, now that they had confirmed he was genuine, they intended to extract it from his head and kill him afterward.

Mok Gyeong-un glanced at Occult Practitioner Jo.

Judging from that man’s reaction, he held considerable interest in him.

In that case,

“If you came all the way here looking for the secret manual, it must be something precious, right?”

“What?”

-Pat!

Mok Gyeong-un threw himself toward one of Yeon Mok Sword Manor’s warriors standing nearby.

Then he all but snatched away the sword the man carried.

“Let me borrow this for a moment.”

“W, what?”

Placing the stolen sword against his own throat, Mok Gyeong-un said,

“If I die, then all the effort you spent coming here will come to nothing.”

At those words, one of Son Yun the Fate Blade King’s eyebrows rose.

Was this brat trying to bargain with his own life right now?

Son Yun sneered and said,

“Do you say that because you truly have the courage to cut your own throat?”

At that question, Mok Gyeong-un smiled faintly.

“There is nothing difficult about it.”

-Stab.

The blade bit into Mok Gyeong-un’s neck.

‘!?’

For an instant, Son Yun was speechless.

Naturally, he had thought the brat was trying to make some bargain to preserve his life.

Yet this brat had just moved to cut his own throat without hesitation.

“Enough!”

Son Yun shouted a sharp cry filled with inner power.

“Kuk!”

“Uuk!”

At the lion’s roar booming out, everyone instantly clapped their hands over their ears.

Mok Gyeong-un too grimaced and staggered, but he did not release the sword that had bitten into his throat.

The sound carried inner power, so the pain and dizziness must have been severe, yet he endured it.

‘This brat?’

Son Yun shouted again.

“Stop!”

-Suk.

At that word, Mok Gyeong-un relaxed the force with which he had been pushing the blade into his neck.

Blood ran down his throat and soaked the collar of his clothes red.

Son Yun said in an incredulous tone,

“You are mad, you brat.”

Ordinarily he would have laughed at some brat trying such a petty trick.

But this brat was different somehow.

His eyes were the same, and he truly looked like someone with absolutely no attachment to his own life.

“One cannot live in this world without being mad.”

“Such a young brat talks as though he has already lived out the whole world. What is it that you want?”

-Tap, tap.

Tapping his own forehead with a finger, Mok Gyeong-un smiled and said,

“Now that I know how precious what is in my head is, I have no intention of opening my mouth so easily. So instead of weighing this and that pointlessly, take the manual politely.”

“What?”

“Is not that occult practitioner over there hoping for the same thing?”

Son Yun’s expression turned strange.

‘Take it politely?’

Was this brat not saying, If I tell you the manual, spare my life, but instead that he would walk into their society on his own?

Even as Son Yun found it absurd, interest entered his eyes.

‘Ha. Look at this brat.’