Volume 1 Chapter 10 – Previous Generation

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Translated by Rain

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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What was left after the whistling sound stopped was a bottomless quietness.

The man called Brother clenched his teeth.

When the whistling sound was heard, he wished that sound would stop even a little bit faster, but once that sound actually stopped, did not a giant anxiety sweep in along with the quietness?

If it went on like this, someone might fitfully cause trouble.

Already the brothers next to him were rolling their eyeballs back and forth, holding their weapons with trembling hands.

Once again he put strength in his lower belly, and raised his voice.

“Do you have business with us……”

Clatter, a blade dropped by one of the brothers rolled on the ground.

Turning back in a hurry, he let out a brief sigh of relief.

The fellow who dropped the weapon was merely surprised by his voice.

‘Damn it.’ He quickly wiped the cold sweat flowing along his forehead.

Their crowd was rich in experience to the extent that there was no place they did not join, whether it was kidnapping, human trafficking, or contract killing, and they had accumulated recognition as much.

And the biggest reason they were able to take a place in this field in their own way was because they had tried absolutely never to form ties with martial artists until now.

In the first place, they did not even show their faces in matters where a martial artist was involved even a little bit.

That was their, his secret of survival.

After confirming that the brother fellow stumblingly picked up his weapon again, he continued speaking.

“If you have business with us, how about showing yourself, please?”

He felt his two clasped hands, trying to look as polite as possible, trembling and shaking.

Although they had never faced one, they had seen martial artists several times until now.

How chilled their hearts were when they saw the black path martial artists who walked around releasing killing intent and exerting an overbearing presence even in the organizations they belonged to.

But there was no time they felt a terrible tension like now.

Was the feeling of facing a martial artist directly like this? Or,

If not, were they facing ‘something’ fundamentally different now?

“……!”

His thoughts were cut off.

A human figure showed itself from the other side of the back alley.

That slouching stride looked strangely full of leisure.

Though it seemed to be a scholar’s attire, because the darkness was deep, they could not confirm the detailed features.

But there was no one who cared about the features.

“G-Ghost?!”

There is a term called ghost fire.

Originally, it referred to a lump of fire in the air mostly mentioned in goblin plays, but it also meant a gaze full of resentment.

And they had frequently faced such gazes.

When snatching a child from a mother, when murdering a lover in front of one’s eyes, when ‘disposing of’ a strong-willed woman.

But the ghost fire at those times was at any rate a figurative word.

Absolutely.

‘It means it was not talking about a flame actually burning in the eye sockets!’

The brothers let out screams and slumped down.

He tried to endure somehow.

But when ‘it’ approached slouchingly and looked at them while revealing sharp teeth, smiling widely,

He ended up pissing while standing.

“Hahaha. Indeed, it was here.”

In that mouth, the sharp teeth of a beast like a saw blade were full.

“A delicious smell is coming out.”

* * *

“Hmm?”

Yeon So-hyeon opened his eyes and tilted his head.

He remembered up to leaving the inn, but after that he smelled a delicious fragrance and……

He raised his body and looked around.

“……Is it an underground tomb?”

The space, illuminated only by a few rays of light faintly coming down from the ceiling of an unknown height, was full of stone coffins.

And in each of those stone coffins that had no lid, a corpse was entered, and the degree of decay of each corpse was all different.

And……

“Ughhh……”

“Arghhh……!”

Those corpses were writhing and howling.

Yeon So-hyeon walked around slouchingly among the stone coffins, showing interest while touching the corpses.

“Hmm……”

What complacency.

“As expected, you are indeed the chosen one of the Scripture of Controlling Darkness and Shaking the Heavens. Kehe.”

Even at the voice suddenly heard from behind, Yeon So-hyeon was not particularly surprised.

That was already a level that could not be called grit.

To express it with dare, would it be madness?

“Your voice is like mold has grown on your throat, Elder.”

Turning around, what was visible was an old man.

He was an old man wearing rags that were so worn out that it was hard to recognize what clothing it originally was.

At Yeon So-hyeon’s words, he bent his back and burst into wild laughter.

“Accurate indeed!”

The inside of the mouth of the old man who was laughing like a madman was twisted and decayed, and indeed, the throat was full of mold of unknown identity.

But even at such a bizarre sight, Yeon So-hyeon only clicked his tongue slightly.

“Since you do not pay attention to oral hygiene like that, is it not that not even a single tooth remains?”

At his reaction, the old man knelt down, struck the floor, and burst into another round of laughter.

“The more I look at you, the more I like you!”

He nodded.

“This time, the Scripture of Controlling Darkness and Shaking the Heavens has found a proper object!”

At that, Yeon So-hyeon said.

“Is it not that the true master has found the magical beast?”

At those words, the old man held his belly again and poured out a round of wild laughter.

Whether it was eyes, nose, or mouth, a decayed fluid mixed with pus flowed out, but at least in this place, there was no one who cared about such things.

The old man even clapped his hands and laughed for a long time, and eventually, whether he was out of breath, he panted and took a deep breath.

“……Aigoo, though I have seen all kinds of seeds for such a long time, a fellow like you is a first.”

At that time, the old man’s eyes narrowed.

“But you see……”

The temperature dropped abruptly.

The corpses that had been shouting all kinds of incomprehensible strange cries also stopped their movements.

Even the rays of light faintly leaking from the ceiling seemed to narrow.

“I am curious as to what you know about the Scripture of Controlling Darkness and Shaking the Heavens to chatter like that.”

Yeon So-hyeon closed his mouth.

A magical beast of a thousand eons.

An object possessing a power strong enough to twist time and return him to the past.

The absence of causality.

Irrationality.

A scripture of defying heaven woven by three immortals with their own skin, blood, and tendons.

Did he know about that magical beast?

Yeon So-hyeon looked straight into the old man’s eyes.

Eyes like glass.

Unlike his bizarre and ugly appearance, those eyes were extremely calm and clear.

The eyes of a sage where not a speck of madness could be found.

Looking into those eyes, Yeon So-hyeon clasped his hands politely.

“Please grant me your teaching.”

“……Ho.”

At Yeon So-hyeon’s behavior, the old man let out a small exclamation.

“Usually, those who become the chosen ones of the Scripture of Controlling Darkness and Shaking the Heavens show two appearances in this place.”

The first category is the arrogant ones who think that the only thing lacking to them was ‘power.’

And the second category is those who are blinded by madness and with whom it is hard to have a proper conversation.

“You are different from them.”

The appellation changed from ‘fellow’ to ‘you.’

“Is saying that I do not know what I do not know properly, and seeking teaching, such a special thing?”

At Yeon So-hyeon’s humility, the old man snorted and sat cross-legged in the air.

“This old man must also say those words. The Scripture of Controlling Darkness and Shaking the Heavens……”

He raised his eyes and looked into the empty space.

“This old man also does not know properly about the Scripture of Controlling Darkness and Shaking the Heavens at all.”

Though it was not words to be said by one who made a big fuss while not knowing well about the Scripture of Controlling Darkness and Shaking the Heavens, Yeon So-hyeon nodded.

“That is the core.”

The old man nodded.

“Indeed, accurate.”

The old man slowly gestured in the empty space and continued speaking.

“This magical beast has just existed from some time, and in fact, even its origin is unclear.”

At those words, Yeon So-hyeon’s eyebrows twitched.

“It itself chatters like this. That there were immortals in ancient times, they were angry, they went mad, and they skinned their bodies to make it, or whatever.”

The old man pouted.

“But even that cannot be confirmed.”

“Why is that?”

From the old man’s two eyes, a strange light shot up in streams.

The immense pressure applied momentarily was to the extent that even Yeon So-hyeon had no choice but to step back.

“Because this old man is also an immortal.”

“……!”

The old man let out a self-mocking laugh.

“To be accurate, I was an immortal.”

His momentum subsided like a lie.

“……Though I have fallen like this now, and become something worse than dust.”

Although his momentum subsided, the aftermath was to the extent of vibrating the air.

“Since being trapped in this magical beast called the Scripture of Controlling Darkness and Shaking the Heavens, how long a time has passed, during that eternal time, I have pondered and searched about this magical beast.”

He saw his hand trembling and shaking.

“If I found out one, it became two, and if I realized two, it became three……”

His eyes wandered in the empty space.

“Still, I did not stop, I could not stop.”

His glass-like eyes bore a deep light of emptiness.

“……But I still do not know.”

Yeon So-hyeon swallowed dry saliva.

In the first place, from the event where the Scripture of Controlling Darkness and Shaking the Heavens turned back his time, he had been feeling it faintly.

But for it to trap a being who was once an immortal in its belly, and make only an answer-like non-answer of not knowing even after studying for eternity come out……

“…….”

As if peering into the abyss,

It was to the extent of feeling dizzy at that remoteness.

“A magical beast found its master, you say……”

The old man muttered the words Yeon So-hyeon had said again, and let out a low sigh.

“From the past, countless chosen ones tried to hold the reins of this magical beast and become its master, but they failed…….”

His voice was pitched low.

“Every single one of those chosen ones was a figure shining like the stars in the night sky.”

The breath flowing out of Yeon So-hyeon’s mouth scattered in the empty space as if crumbling.

“And among them, there were many figures more grand than me.”

A being more grand than one who acquired the rank of an immortal.

“And there were many whose talent was more outstanding than me.”

A being with talent more outstanding than one who became an immortal.

From the old man’s mouth, an extremely heavy sigh flowed out.

“Every one of them failed. They were eaten.”

He raised his head and looked at Yeon So-hyeon.

“But I saw a speck of hope in you.”

Yeon So-hyeon’s mouth opened heavily.

“……Why is that?”

The old man drew a mysterious smile.

“You are merely one who has just finished the ‘initiation ritual’ now. You have just departed from the starting point of this long journey.”

At those words, Yeon So-hyeon did not ask more.

In the first place, his ego was not weak enough to have to find his hope from another person.

Instead, he asked another thing.

“If so, what is the initiation ritual?”

At that question, the old man raised his long eyebrows as if it was unexpected.

“Do you not know?”

At his words, Yeon So-hyeon fell into thought for a moment.

Before coming ‘here,’ he had visited an inn in Luoyang, and walked the back alley……,

A delicious smell.

And…….

Yeon So-hyeon’s eyes opened wide.

At that appearance, the old man burst into a giggle and laughed.

Even in the midst of that, his gaze clung to Yeon So-hyeon and did not think of leaving at all.

Yeon So-hyeon saw madness rising in his glass-like pupils.

Pointing a finger at Yeon So-hyeon, he asked with conviction.

“You.

Did you not eat them up?”