Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 92 - Goal (2)

Chapter 92 – Goal (2)

===================

Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

===================

The realm of transformation.

That was the supreme martial state that could only be reached after crossing the wall and arriving at the states of Three Flowers Gathered at the Crown and Five Qi Returning to the Origin.

And yet he had not even gained realization of the peak realm, and was effectively proclaiming that he would reach that level in two years.

‘Is it difficult?’

As if she had read Mok Gyeong-un’s thoughts, Blue Spirit said,

-Try dying and waking up a hundred times. See if it is possible. No, if it truly becomes possible, then for the rest of my life I will call you Master and personally attend to you.

‘You’re coming on rather strong.’

The corner of Mok Gyeong-un’s mouth twitched upward.

The reason Blue Spirit came on this strongly while even clicking her tongue was simple.

To begin with, she herself had also been called a genius who might appear only once in several hundred years, yet it had taken her twenty years to reach the realm of transformation.

Of course, even that had caused everyone to be stunned, since she had accomplished it at the young age of twenty-eight.

‘And this isn’t even that vanished age.’

It was said that in the past, murim had once enjoyed a splendid golden age.

At that time there had even been an era when an unparalleled genius appeared, was called the Little Sword Immortal at barely twenty years of age, and led all under heaven in murim, but that was not the present age.

“Please make sure you keep that promise.”

“Pardon?”

At Mok Gyeong-un’s sudden words, Yi Ji-yeom, the Valley Master of Corpse Blood Valley, asked back, wondering what he meant.

At that, Mok Gyeong-un shook his head.

He had no intention of explaining further, as he was speaking for Blue Spirit’s ears alone.

-Wait and see after two years pass. Then you’ll know my greatness.

At Blue Spirit’s bragging, Mok Gyeong-un wore a faint smile.

Just from her reaction and Yi Ji-yeom’s, he had already realized that he had made an absurd proclamation, but there was always something his grandfather used to say.

[You never know anything until you try. That nature of yours, too…]

-Stab!

“Mm.”

“My lord?”

When Mok Gyeong-un brought a hand to his forehead and let out a groan, Yi Ji-yeom, the Valley Master of Corpse Blood Valley, asked in puzzlement.

At that question, Mok Gyeong-un furrowed his brow slightly.

What had that just been?

He was someone who never forgot anything once he remembered it.

He even remembered everything his grandfather had said to him since childhood, yet just now he could not remember what his grandfather had said after that line.

‘Why?’

When he tried to recall it, his head began to hurt as though it might split open.

He could endure most pain, but this pain felt as if his brain itself were being carved out, so his face naturally twisted.

‘Why is this happening?’

His grandfather had said something more to him after that, yet he could not remember it.

Whenever he tried to dig it up by force, he got a headache.

A memory veiled as though by fog.

In the end, Mok Gyeong-un stopped trying to force himself to remember it.

‘………Could it be?’

Had his grandfather done this?

A small doubt arose.

Yet his grandfather had never known anything like acupuncture, nor had he done anything special to him.

He found it strange, but he had no room to keep thinking about it right now.

Relaxing his expression, Mok Gyeong-un said,

“It’s nothing. More importantly, may I ask a few things?”

“Please ask whatever is comfortable for you.”

Yi Ji-yeom, who had been looking at him with a face asking if he was truly all right, answered.

At that, Mok Gyeong-un asked,

“Do you happen to know someone called Ghost Sword?”

At that question, Yi Ji-yeom, the Valley Master of Corpse Blood Valley, answered as if it were nothing unusual.

“Is there anyone who does not know Ghost Sword, one of the Eight Stars?”

Ghost Sword.

He was one of the eight masters said to have reached the highest realm beneath the Six Heavens, the pinnacle of the current murim.

“I don’t really know how the current murim works.”

“Ah…”

Yi Ji-yeom nodded as though that made sense.

The age in which his lord, now a resentful spirit, had been active was a full hundred years ago, so the masters famous then and the masters famous now could be said to be entirely different.

At that, Yi Ji-yeom said,

“Neither his school nor his identity is known. One day he suddenly appeared, and his infamy rose as he fought life-and-death duels against famous masters of both the orthodox and unorthodox paths.”

“Infamy?”

“Yes. It is hard to call it fame, because among those who fought him, none survived.”

“None survived?”

“Yes. Because of that, his evil reputation became quite high.”

‘Hm?’

At those words, Mok Gyeong-un tilted his head.

Mok In-dan, the lord of Yeon Mok Sword Manor, had said that he had fought Ghost Sword and suffered a wound.

Could it be that fact was hardly known at all?

As he stood there puzzled, Yi Ji-yeom suddenly said Ah! as if something had occurred to him.

“There is exactly one person who survived.”

“A survivor?”

“Yes.”

‘The lord of Yeon Mok Sword Manor, no doubt.’

Mok Gyeong-un naturally felt certain of that, but without showing it he asked,

“Who was it?”

“I heard that Baek Sa-ha, the Annihilation Poison King, one of this Society’s Five Kings, exchanged dozens of moves with the one called Ghost Sword.”

‘!?’

What was this?

It was not Mok In-dan, the manor lord.

A completely unexpected person had been mentioned.

So Mok Gyeong-un asked back,

“He fought… Ghost Sword?”

“Yes. Within this Society it is quite a famous anecdote. If I remember correctly, the Annihilation Poison King happened to fight him a few months before Ghost Sword disappeared.”

At those words from Yi Ji-yeom, Mok Gyeong-un furrowed his brow.

At least two facts became clear from what Yi Ji-yeom had said.

The first was that Yi Ji-yeom did not know that Mok In-dan, the lord of Yeon Mok Sword Manor, had also fought Ghost Sword and survived.

And the second thing he learned was somewhat disappointing.

‘Hm.’

Mok Gyeong-un had come here because he suspected Ghost Sword might be an expert of the Heaven and Earth Society.

But if he had fought one of the high-ranking executives here, someone called the Annihilation Poison King, then perhaps they had not belonged to the same side but rather been enemies.

‘Did I choose the wrong place?’

If it was going to be like this, should he have gone to the imperial palace instead?

As he was thinking that, Yi Ji-yeom asked,

“Is there some problem?”

“Ah. I had heard that Ghost Sword was a hidden master of the Heaven and Earth Society. But hearing what you say, Valley Master, I am starting to think perhaps he wasn’t.”

It did not seem necessary to mention the former point if Yi Ji-yeom did not know it.

After all, Manor Lord Mok In-dan had not seemed to know Ghost Sword in any great detail either.

Then Yi Ji-yeom said,

“Ah! That rumor circulated quite a bit as well.”

“A rumor circulated quite a bit?”

“Yes. And no wonder, because every single master Ghost Sword targeted and killed was an expert of either the orthodox or the unorthodox path. The only exception was the Annihilation Poison King, an expert of our Society, and I heard that while they were crossing moves for a long time, Ghost Sword was the one who stopped the fight first and withdrew.”

‘…….He withdrew first?’

At those words, Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes narrowed.

That was because another possibility had emerged.

If, as the sole exception, he had clashed with an expert of the Heaven and Earth Society and then withdrawn first, then it was also possible that they were on the same side.

“Then could it mean he was an expert of the Heaven and Earth Society?”

“I do not know. Even the Annihilation Poison King let what happened then pass vaguely without making much of it… and there were also such rumors.”

“Such rumors as?”

“There was talk as well that Ghost Sword was the royal-body guard who acted under the Society Leader’s secret orders.”

“Royal-body guard?”

-So they still maintain that system, it seems.

Apparently Blue Spirit knew of it as well.

Yi Ji-yeom continued,

“The Society Leader has royal-body guards who protect him at all times. It is rumored that their martial power actually rivals that of the Five Kings.”

“If they rival the Five Kings… are they strong?”

“They are strong. Among the Five Kings, two have reached the realm of transformation as peerless masters, and the other three have reached the utmost peak of the transcendently high realm.”

-What?

At those words, Blue Spirit could not hide her surprise.

And no wonder, because in the age when she was active, almost none among the executive ranks had reached such realms.

Had things changed this much in a hundred years?

-Good grief.

Had the level of the Heaven and Earth Society risen to that extent?

Then again, in those days the Heaven and Earth Society had still been in its beginnings and was in the midst of building up its strength.

Taking that into account, now that it had grown into one of the giant powers dividing the current murim in three, perhaps it was only natural.

“Ah! Since you said you do not know the current situation well, I ought to mention this. The two Five Kings who reached the realm of transformation are called part of the Eight Stars in the present murim.”

“Ho.”

Then that did make some sense.

If the Society Leader’s royal-body guard was strong enough to rival the Five Kings, then it would be possible for people to raise the possibility that he might be the vanished Ghost Sword.

So Mok Gyeong-un asked,

“No one has yet discovered who Ghost Sword really is, correct?”

“Yes. That is correct. However… it may be that the Annihilation Poison King, who fought him before Ghost Sword disappeared, knows some clue.”

“So the Annihilation Poison King may know something.”

“Yes. Because he is the only one who fought him and survived. Of course, this is not certain. But why do you ask?”

“Ah. It is nothing important, so you do not need to worry about it.”

At those words, Yi Ji-yeom showed a puzzled look, but then, without pressing the matter further, nodded.

“Understood.”

Looking at him, Mok Gyeong-un thought that he was truly straightforward.

Now he understood why Blue Spirit had cherished the people of the Li Clan.

In any case, that left him with two clues.

‘The Annihilation Poison King… and the Society Leader’s royal-body guard.’

The Annihilation Poison King was someone who might possess a clue about Ghost Sword, and the Society Leader’s royal-body guard was a possible candidate who might in fact be Ghost Sword.

That mark left on his dead grandfather.

And Manor Lord Mok In-dan of Yeon Mok Sword Manor, who carried a similar wound.

‘It won’t be long now.’

His journey of revenge, which had begun with only the clue of that wound and those traces, was finally beginning to take shape.

If it truly turned out that the one called Ghost Sword had killed his grandfather, then he was unquestionably the object of revenge that had to die.

The corners of Mok Gyeong-un’s lips twitched.

A strange light appeared in the eyes of Yi Ji-yeom, the Valley Master of Corpse Blood Valley, as he watched that.

‘Killing intent…’

Even though Mok Gyeong-un was controlling it as much as possible, the faint killing intent that seeped out was no ordinary thing.

It was extremely dense.

Yi Ji-yeom had tried not to let himself wonder, but it now seemed certain that his lord bore no pleasant feelings at all toward the one called Ghost Sword.

Then Mok Gyeong-un said,

“Ah, right. What exactly is Corpse Blood Valley trying to do?”

“Pardon?”

“I’ve been going along with the flow to infiltrate this place, but when I was around, I don’t remember anything like this existing.”

“Ah. You can think of it as a process of selecting rough gems.”

“Rough gems?”

“Yes. As I said when you passed the second gate as well, the gates are a process for assigning manpower to proper places and selecting the right people. Once one passes the final gate here, a great opportunity is given.”

“What is that?”

“One is given the opportunity to enter under a high-ranking executive or become that person’s disciple.”

“A disciple?”

“Yes. By the time one passes all the gates, one can be called a supreme talent.”

The gates of Corpse Blood Valley were difficult even for those who had trained tirelessly in martial arts since childhood and were called men of martial talent.

If one passed all those gates, then one truly deserved to be called a supreme talent.

Such supreme talents were given a chance to be chosen by the executives who attended the Final Gate.

“By high-ranking executives, do you mean the Five Kings?”

“It could be the Five Kings, and also the Three Sect Masters, and even the Four Valley Masters, myself included.”

The Five Kings, the Three Sect Masters, and the Four Valley Masters.

They were the executives who led the Heaven and Earth Society and its very foundation.

‘So that was it.’

Only now did Mok Gyeong-un understand why the boys risked their lives for Corpse Blood Valley.

If they were chosen by the executives and became their disciples, they would gain immense authority within the Heaven and Earth Society and be able to learn supreme martial arts. How could they possibly let an opportunity like that go?

The whole reason they fought for it with their lives lay in that.

Yi Ji-yeom, the Valley Master of Corpse Blood Valley, said cautiously to Mok Gyeong-un,

“Please forgive the disrespect I have shown you until now, my lord.”

“No. You only acted that way because you didn’t know, so it’s fine.”

“Now that things have become clear like this, this subordinate will act and get you out.”

“Get me out?”

“That is correct. An order did come down from the Society Leader to have you participate in the gates of Corpse Blood Valley, but there was no command that you absolutely had to be kept alive, so you can easily be treated as dead.”

If that happened, he would be able to remove his lord from the Society Leader’s sight and give him time to quietly recover his martial power here in Corpse Blood Valley.

That was what Yi Ji-yeom was thinking, when Mok Gyeong-un shook his head.

“No. It doesn’t seem necessary.”

“Pardon? How could that…”

There was no need for his lord to willingly put himself through such hardship.

If his lord had once stood in the supreme realm, then if he simply went into seclusion on his own, should he not be able to climb back to his former state?

But then Mok Gyeong-un said,

“We should make full use of the present situation.”

“What do you mean, make use of the present situation?”

“You said that if I pass the gates, I can become the disciple of one of the executives, right?”

“That is true, but there is no need to…”

“Which wounds do you think hurt more?”

“Pardon?”

What was that supposed to mean?

To the puzzled Yi Ji-yeom, Mok Gyeong-un smiled and said,

“Wounds on the outside are one thing, but wounds that fester from within and burst open are what really hurt.”

‘!!!!!!’

At those words from Mok Gyeong-un, a strange light appeared in Yi Ji-yeom’s eyes.

That was because he understood what Mok Gyeong-un meant.

Mok Gyeong-un, believing he had been understood sufficiently, said,

“Then shall we hear your recommendation?”

“By recommendation, you mean?”

“In your opinion, among those so-called executives, whose eye would it be most profitable to catch?”