Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 66 - Gu Poison (1)
Chapter 66 – Gu Poison (1)
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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Dozens, hundreds of venomous creatures are put into a single jar, and the lid is not opened until only one survives.
That single worst survivor is called gu poison.
Mok Gyeong-un looked down below the cliff like a bottomless pit and asked in a puzzled voice,
“Gu poison… you say?”
-Yes. Can you not hear them? These screams.
He could hear them.
With absolute clarity.
-Kyaaaaaaaaa!
-Kkeuaaaaak!
-Save meeeee!
-Please! Please!
The anguished screams of vengeful spirits were surging upward.
It was the first time he had seen so many vengeful spirits crying out.
If taken one by one, each was only at the level of a Red Spirit and nothing much, but with hundreds, no, thousands of vengeful spirits gathered in one place, it was truly a hellscape.
-Look more closely. With your eyes, you will be able to see it.
At Blue Spirit’s words, Mok Gyeong-un stared fixedly below.
There, the wailing vengeful spirits were stretching their hands upward as if yearning for freedom, but chains were bound around their ankles and wrists.
-Clank, clank!
“That is…”
-You have learned occult arts, so you should know well. You too have tried it once before, sentient being.
At her words, Gochan flashed through Mok Gyeong-un’s mind.
Originally, it had been a soul that should have naturally gone to the underworld, yet Mok Gyeong-un had turned it into a vengeful spirit with occult arts.
The method itself was not all that difficult.
One merely had to keep the departing soul in the mortal world somehow and stain it with the energy of death.
“Ha!”
The corner of Mok Gyeong-un’s mouth twitched.
What a spectacle.
That enormous number of dead had been confined beneath this narrow cliff and corrupted into vengeful spirits.
This had absolutely not happened by chance.
It had been done by force.
It was something truly horrifying.
Yet as he looked at it, rather than being shocked, Mok Gyeong-un was instead intrigued.
‘It’s really unusual.’
Watching this, Blue Spirit clicked her tongue.
No matter how she looked at it, this fellow’s thinking was far from that of normal humans.
Still, it did not matter.
Right now, whether it was an evil ghost or anything else, her only thought was that her deep resentment had to be resolved.
Blue Spirit said,
-You know at least that even vengeful spirits have ranks, do you not?
“…Of course.”
-How strong an obsession of resentment they had before death, how long they harbored that grudge, such things affect it.
“………”
-But rank is not decided only in that way.
“So it can be formed in another way as well?”
-Yes. Are you not looking at it right now?
Blue Spirit pointed to a certain place with her pipe.
It was the darkest spot below the bottomless cliff.
That one point alone was especially hard to see.
But when he looked closely, he saw a startling sight.
“…They are being dragged in, aren’t they?”
-Yes.
The vengeful spirits were screaming.
Those vengeful spirits were being forcibly dragged toward that one place as if being absorbed.
The spirits desperately resisted, but because of the chains binding them, they were pulled in one by one.
Whenever that happened, the black space kept growing larger.
“I understand what you mean now.”
Only now did Mok Gyeong-un understand the meaning of her words.
The meaning of the words gu poison.
-If vengeful spirits are in one place, there may be cases where they do not clash. But if you bind them in one place so they cannot even escape and drive them together…
“Then they are harming each other. No, I should say they are devouring each other.”
-Exactly.
Things that were no more than earthbound spirits were devouring one another and becoming corrupted into the worst form.
And the worst of that corruption was probably that black point.
It was a darkness that chilled one to the bone just by looking at it.
“Gu poison…”
It was a fitting word.
If only one vengeful spirit remained like that, into what terrible form had it been corrupted?
At the very least, it was certainly Yellow Spirit level, no, Green Spirit or above.
Mok Gyeong-un glanced sidelong at Blue Spirit.
‘Perhaps.’
It might be the process by which a vengeful spirit equal to her was being formed.
The thought suddenly made his mouth water.
Then Blue Spirit said,
-Now is the chance.
“If you say chance?”
-A complete gu poison has not yet been born. I do not know how terrible a thing they are trying to create, but if you can absorb even a little of that energy, you will gain more effect than by killing people one by one.
That was why Blue Spirit had brought Mok Gyeong-un here.
Absorbing death aura by killing boys was naturally also a path to strength, but below that cliff was a concentration of vengeful spirits gathered to make gu poison.
The energies formed during that process were of a concentration altogether different from ordinary death aura.
-It is already overflowing, so even if you unfold the Form of Attachment here, you will be able to take in enough energy.
“That seems right.”
-Then do it.
At those words, Mok Gyeong-un shook his head.
-What? Surely you have not lost your nerve?
“No.”
-Then why are you saying you will not do it?
“It’s not that I won’t. Rather, instead of doing it here, that is more tempting.”
‘!?’
The place Mok Gyeong-un pointed to was none other than the black point.
At that, Blue Spirit frowned.
Then she spoke as though it were ridiculous.
-Are you so eager to die?
“Pardon?”
-That place itself is a torrent in which vengeful spirits are devouring and corrupting one another. And you, a living being, say you will go there?
“Is it impossible?”
-Hey, sentient being.
“Yes.”
-There are still hundreds of vengeful spirits that have not yet been eaten. And if you enter that whirlpool, you may instead be devoured yourself. Throw away that useless competitive spirit.
It was a sincere warning.
They were still vengeful spirits, even if bound.
If those things surged all at once like a wave, there was no knowing what might happen.
-You will trust in the shabby occult arts you have barely learned, act rashly, and die. Be satisfied with the overflowing energies here, as I said.
At Blue Spirit’s words, Mok Gyeong-un smiled faintly.
Then he walked toward the lower edge of the cliff.
-Hey!
Blue Spirit called sharply to the approaching Mok Gyeong-un.
To her, Mok Gyeong-un stared at the black point and said,
“If I can absorb that concentrated energy, then even if I take the risk, won’t I become far stronger than I am now?”
-…You crazy sentient being. You may die before becoming stronger. If it were something so easy, do you think I would be trying to stop you from going?
These were vengeful spirits that were already confined and, on top of that, had become sharpened by devouring one another and being devoured.
That alone was dangerous enough, yet he meant to bear it?
This fellow truly had lost too much fear.
He had been like that from the first time she faced him, but when needed, he risked his life too easily.
-You and I are as good as one body. I do not want to see us commit reckless double suicide.
“As if I would want Blue Spirit to die.”
-Then step back.
“Didn’t Blue Spirit say it?”
-What?
“That with my current strength, I can’t accomplish anything inside the Heaven and Earth Society.”
-………
“If there is an opportunity, then even if the risk is great, wouldn’t it be better to seize it somehow? Enduring hardship and waiting quietly for revenge does not suit my temperament.”
-Pat!
The instant he finished speaking, Mok Gyeong-un leaped down toward the cliff face where the slope was at least somewhat gentle.
-You!
Blue Spirit swept her hand as if to pull Mok Gyeong-un back up.
But she was blocked by the energy of the vengeful spirits rising from the cliff.
Instead, one stray vengeful spirit was pulled up,
-Aaaaaaaaah!
-Paseuseuseuk!
and struck the barrier sealed above the cliff, scattering away.
At that, Blue Spirit burst into anger.
-You damned sentient being!
He had truly gone down there.
Even though she had warned him not to, he ignored it.
If they were not bound by the tie of shikigami, she would have wanted to leave him to die just as he was.
But she could not simply leave him like that.
-You really do make things troublesome for me.
-Whish!
Blue Spirit threw herself downward after Mok Gyeong-un.
The force of the talismans wrapped around the surroundings, so even most strange entities avoided passing through it, but she forcibly tore it open.
-Pachichichik!
* * *
-It has a body!
-It’s a corporeal soul!
-It’s alive!
As he descended along the gentle slope, it was total chaos.
The voices of vengeful spirits rang at his ears.
‘This really is beyond comparison.’
The upper part of the cliff had been plastered with talismans to suppress the energies.
But when he actually came down below, it was incredible.
It felt as though he had entered a raging current.
The vengeful spirits noticed his presence and rushed quickly toward him, and every one of them coveted his living body.
Sliding down toward the base of the cliff, Mok Gyeong-un joined both hands and formed hand seals.
-Pak! Pak! Pak! Pak!
Confront. Soldiers. Combat. Practitioner. All. Arrange. Rank. Present. Before.
They were the hand seals of the Nine Word Living Method.
All nine seals were performed in sequence, and the spell changed depending on the final seal.
If one spread the Palms-Joined Seal with both palms together here,
-Paaaaang!
Countless threads extended around Mok Gyeong-un and formed a sphere.
This was a barrier that repelled strange entities.
One needed a medium aided by talismans or incantations in order to properly deploy the nine-word seals of the Nine Word Living Method, and there was a ring on Mok Gyeong-un’s left index finger.
It had been given to him by Occult Practitioner Jo Ui-gong.
It contained an incantation that allowed him to use the full formula of the Nine Word Living Method.
‘So this is a barrier? Useful enough.’
A barrier meant binding a fixed space according to its purpose.
-Papapapapak!
-We can’t approach.
-What is this?
-It’s blocked.
The vengeful spirits at the level of earthbound spirits that had approached nearby were flung away.
The hand seals of the Nine Word Living Method were enough to handle and repel things at the level of a Red Spirit.
Keeping the Palms-Joined Seal, Mok Gyeong-un slid steadily farther down, and at one point he felt the once-gentle slope grow steep.
‘I think I need to grab something.’
It seemed he would have to hold onto the cliff as he descended.
But looking below, he saw pooled water.
It had not been visible from above, but at about that depth, it looked like he could jump down without issue.
-Pak!
Mok Gyeong-un pushed off with both feet.
Then he leaped toward the water.
-Splash!
‘Just as expected.’
The water was not extremely deep.
Perhaps about twice a man’s height.
As he tried to swim upward,
-Aheuueu!
-Eueoeoeo!
the screams of vengeful spirits rang in his ears.
They were coming from the bottom of the water, and before he knew it, something white had appeared around him.
‘Hands?’
They were hands.
Pale white hands without a trace of blood, as if swollen from soaking in water.
They were hideous enough just to look at.
Those hands wriggled up and tried to seize Mok Gyeong-un’s ankles.
-Papapapapak!
But because he had not yet released the Palms-Joined Seal, they were blocked by the barrier of the Nine Word Living Method.
‘Good thing I didn’t release it.’
That was what he thought, but something felt different.
The Red Spirits at the level of earthbound spirits had been easily repelled by the barrier.
But these hands had been bounced away by the barrier and still did not give up, continuing to try to grab him.
Then,
-Tatatatatatak!
the palms adhered to the barrier like the suckers of an octopus.
‘!?’
They were enduring the barrier.
Suddenly he remembered something he had read in the foundational text of the Yin-Yang School.
[Entities in water are more dangerous than ordinary entities.]
‘So that was why it said that?’
At this level, these were not Red Spirits but Crimson Spirit class.
Judging it dangerous, Mok Gyeong-un kicked his legs while maintaining the Palms-Joined Seal.
He had to get to the surface somehow.
-Papapapapapapapak!
But while he did so, countless hands were already surging up from the bottom.
Then they seized the spherical barrier surrounding Mok Gyeong-un and tried to drag it downward.
-Paaaaak!
‘This… is troublesome.’
At this rate, he would not be able to get above the water.
He could hold his breath better than ordinary people, but if this dragged on, it would be dangerous.
-Jjeojeojeok!
At that moment, cracks appeared in the barrier to which the countless palms were clinging.
It looked as though it might shatter at any moment.
Mok Gyeong-un frowned.
‘If that’s the case.’
-Pak!
Mok Gyeong-un changed the hand seal from the Palms-Joined Seal to the Vajra Finger, raising only the middle finger.
At that instant,
-Paaaaang!
the spherical barrier burst apart and a strong force pushed all the palms away at once.
Not missing that gap, Mok Gyeong-un kicked strongly with his legs and came up out of the water.
As he swam for land, he felt the hands that had been thrown back below all rise at once to seize him.
-Shwaaaaaaa!
It was precisely then.
-Woooong!
Mok Gyeong-un’s body suddenly rose with a whoosh by some force.
Then he was flung toward land.
-Papak!
Sent flying roughly, Mok Gyeong-un rolled twice on the ground and got to his feet.
Beside him, someone drifted gently down.
It was Blue Spirit.
-You damned sentient being. In the end, you truly would not listen to me.
To the irritated Blue Spirit, Mok Gyeong-un smiled faintly and said,
“Hoo. You came at just the right time.”
-What? At just the right time?
“Because if it was Blue Spirit, I naturally thought you would help me.”
-You…!
At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, Blue Spirit nearly brought her pipe down hard on his head, but held herself back.
This insolent sentient being was impatient because he could not order her around enough.
In the end, it seemed entangling herself with this fellow was simply her karma.
It was then.
-Creep, creep!
White hands rose from the water and approached the place where Mok Gyeong-un stood.
At that, Blue Spirit turned her head and glared at the hands with blood-red eyes.
Then she said in a low voice,
-He is this one’s. Little ones, begone.
The moment those words ended,
the countless hands aiming for Mok Gyeong-un trembled as if seized by fear, and then sank back into the water.