Chapter 40
Chapter 40
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: Monster Uproar (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Originally, there wouldn't have been any opening for an outer disciple like Yuk-gyeong to step forward.
Sure enough, an inner disciple accompanying Elder Geum stepped ahead and barked at Yuk-gyeong.
"Where does a mere outer disciple like you get off!"
At that moment, Elder Geum raised a hand to silence the inner disciple and turned to Yuk-gyeong.
"Enough. Disciple Yi Yuk-gyeong. What do you have to say?"
That's right!
Elder Geum had seemed favorably inclined toward Yuk-gyeong ever since he first entered the sect.
Yuk-gyeong was betting everything on that faint goodwill.
And the gamble paid off.
Elder Geum looked at Yuk-gyeong and asked what was going on.
Yuk-gyeong bowed his head politely before beginning his revenge, step by step.
"As far as I know, there have already been frequent disappearances in the Miscellaneous Labor Quarter. Among the workers there. Even if they aren't disciples of the Radiant Moon Sect, they still serve the sect. Moreover, they fall under the responsibility of Steward Yeong Sun-il."
"...Steward Yeong Sun-il, is what he says true?"
"...Yes. It is."
"Why did you hide this fact, Steward Yeong Sun-il?"
Elder Geum asked Steward Yeong with his characteristic blank expression. It was impossible to read what he was thinking from his face.
Steward Yeong broke into a cold sweat at the elder's impassivity and offered excuses.
"It wasn't hiding it—I simply didn't realize I needed to report their disappearances."
"Do you accept responsibility, Steward Yeong Sun-il?"
Yeong Sun-il's eyes darted slyly.
Blindly denying responsibility here would be the act of an amateur.
"Yes, I accept. But! This disciple Yi Yuk-gyeong has a personal grudge against me! He's clearly trying to frame me!"
Nothing deflects blame quite like muddying the issue.
Steward Yeong Sun-il skillfully dragged up his grudge with Yuk-gyeong, trying to shift the focus from responsibility to personal animosity.
Couldn't let that stand.
"Disciple Yi Yuk-gyeong, it's true there was some friction with Steward Yeong Sun-il of the Miscellaneous Labor Quarter. But does that have any bearing on calling him out for failing his duties?"
"If you're upset about the heavy assignments I gave you before, then I apologize. Allow me to atone for it right here."
Cunning little rat.
Trying to frame me as petty for sulking over a few extra tasks? Not on my watch.
"For a farmer's son like me, what could possibly be so burdensome about cleaning up shit? No, the issue is the circumstantial evidence that Steward Yeong Sun-il of the Miscellaneous Labor Quarter has been embezzling merit points and covering up these disappearances. I simply wanted to ask him if that's truly no problem."
The reason Yuk-gyeong had left Yeong Sun-il alone until now was nothing special.
He wanted to send him off for good.
Yuk-gyeong had always kept a close eye on the Miscellaneous Labor Quarter, and even amid his cultivation, he hadn't slacked on gathering evidence of Yeong Sun-il's crimes.
Yeong Sun-il's merit point embezzlement went way back.
Skimming a portion of merit points from novice disciples who worked briefly in the Quarter before leaving was his way of lining his pockets, since he handled some of the merit documents.
What did novice disciples know about merit points anyway? Once they entered the main sect, they quickly forgot all about whether they'd received points matching their labor.
He was thoroughly practiced at pocketing those disciple merit points. He might not have even seen it as wrongdoing.
And,
Yeong Sun-il viewed the disappearances in the Quarter as nothing but a nuisance. A tiresome hassle that could hurt his performance evaluation.
So he'd tried to sweep them under the rug as if they never happened—which in turn made the initial response to the monster's appearance all the more difficult.
Yuk-gyeong had the documents proving it.
He handed them over to Elder Geum, who examined them carefully.
Once he'd reviewed everything, Elder Geum turned to Steward Yeong.
"Yeong Sun-il, what is all this?"
"Th-this is slander! Yi Yuk-gyeong is defaming this steward out of personal resentment! None of it is true!"
"You're saying these documents aren't authentic? Mind if I verify?"
"V-verify..."
Yeong Sun-il stuttered.
Of course he couldn't agree to verification. All his misdeeds would come spilling out.
That's why he couldn't spit out a clean agreement and just stammered in panic instead.
"Yeong Sun-il."
"Y-yes."
"Are all the things in these documents true?"
"True, it's true..."
If he denied it now, he'd face not just the original charges but contempt of the sect when it was proven later. Admit it, and he'd fall right then and there.
Yeong Sun-il's thoughts grew as muddled as his words.
He'd thought it was forgotten... thought his minor bullying had been forgotten... thought it was nothing more than disappointment over failing a Jang family mission...
That a pathetic novice disciple he'd tormented was now tightening the noose around his neck.
"Yeong Sun-il!"
"It's true! I'm sorry! But the merit points were just a customary cut as a steward, and the disappearances..."
Sun-il confessed to his crimes. The evidence was ironclad anyway. With his mission failure on top, even a fool wouldn't expect the Jang family to back him up.
Yeong Sun-il was terrified. He was a timid man at heart. The realization that he had no patrons left him trembling.
If the Jang family had been shielding him, Sun-il wouldn't have confessed even on pain of death.
Elder Geum waved a hand in evident annoyance and instructed his disciples.
"Escort the criminal to the Enforcement Hall. They will hand down appropriate punishment."
"Elder! Elder! I'm innocent! Elder!"
What exactly was innocent about it? As Steward Yeong Sun-il was dragged away, he kept shouting his innocence.
Elder Geum didn't spare a single glance in the direction they took him. Instead, he turned to Yuk-gyeong.
"Disciple Yi Yuk-gyeong, it's gone as you wished. No need to worry about Steward Yeong Sun-il anymore. With the responsible party punished, surely you have the wisdom to resolve the situation?"
Yuk-gyeong nodded confidently.
Who was the fiend behind the disappearances in the Radiant Moon Sect?
If they knew, they'd have caught them already.
Of course, it was time to deduce now.
There were no traces of unusual spiritual energy flows where the monster had come and gone, nor any lingering waves of sorcery.
If it were traces of sorcery techniques, the Core Formation elders would have spotted them far better.
Yuk-gyeong focused his attention elsewhere.
Namely, that no crime is ever perfect!
The culprit must have left traces.
Yuk-gyeong had gathered several physical clues that cultivators tended to overlook. Cracked sections of walls, surviving footprints, scrape marks on surfaces, and the like.
'Height about waist-level. Not human. From the footprints... six legs? Definitely something like a yokai or spirit beast.'
Cultivators weren't idiots; they surely noticed these physical traces too.
They just hit a wall when it came to piecing them together and extracting useful information.
And above all,
Yuk-gyeong turned his attention to the non-cultivators as potential witnesses.
Cultivators were indifferent to mortals. They probably hadn't even bothered questioning them.
Why did cultivators disdain mortals?
Fundamentally, mortals exuded turbid qi, carried odors hard for spiritual practitioners to tolerate, and above all, didn't cultivate—so they were seen as utterly separate beings.
Yuk-gyeong first approached the mortal workers in the Quarter and asked around.
"Yes, master. That's right. People were still vanishing as recently as yesterday. We can't fly through the skies like you masters, so we figured we'd been hit by another calamity."
"I saw it clear as day when that person disappeared. Some black shadow went whoosh! and snatched them away."
"Some folks have already quit out of fear for their lives. There's no doubt some vile thing is prowling around the Quarter."
It turned out the disappearances in the Quarter had continued right up to recently.
That would only lengthen Steward Yeong Sun-il's list of charges.
Yuk-gyeong headed to the site of the most recent disappearance and inspected for traces.
Sure enough, in a shadowy spot near the Quarter, he found clear signs of the fiend he was hunting.
And following those traces...
'Here! I can sense a strange spatial distortion!'
Something pinged on Yuk-gyeong's intuition.
It was hidden with extreme subtlety.
This wasn't something detectable just by keen senses or high cultivation—otherwise, the Core Formation elders would have found it.
It required a profound grasp of formations to even notice.
Yuk-gyeong could detect it only because he'd mastered Pure Land Mantra sorcery; otherwise, even he would have overlooked the anomaly.
"It's here."
"Hm? What do you mean, it's here?"
"A formation. [Reveal yourself.]"
A translucent hemispherical barrier materialized at Yuk-gyeong's incantation.
The disciples trailing behind gasped in admiration. They'd thought Yi Yuk-gyeong was just pointing at random, but something real had appeared.
Elder Geum asked,
"What is this?"
"The culprit's hiding spot."
"Culprit?"
"Yes. The reason it hasn't been caught until now. A stealth formation. [Shatter!]"
Kwajik!
Cracks spiderwebbed across the barrier, but it didn't fully break.
A glimpse through the fractured surface revealed a shadow sitting cross-legged inside—not quite humanoid in build.
Ooom---!
A bell-like incantation rang out from within the barrier. Prolonged exposure seemed liable to dull the mind and make one forget the barrier was even there.
But Elder Geum wasn't about to stand idly by.
With a flick of his sleeve, the incantation's influence vanished like mist, and fresh cracks erupted across the half-shattered barrier.
Kwajijik!
Shatter!
"Kyaaaak!"
A black shadow burst out from inside!
It lunged at Yuk-gyeong with speed too fast for the eye to follow.
Yuk-gyeong quickly shifted into footwork to counter, but Elder Geum was faster this time.
"Where do you think you're going!"
Pubang!
At the elder's gesture, the shadow flew backward even faster than it had charged.
Kiiik!
The true nature of the sprawled shadow was shocking.
It was a beast with six legs. It vaguely resembled a dog, but not quite. Its muzzle stretched long like a dog's, and its gaping maw revealed layers of jagged teeth in gruesome array.
The beast's glossy black hide gleamed unnaturally, its form unlike anything Yuk-gyeong had ever seen.
A Gathering Qi realm pressure emanated from the bizarre creature. Of course, it was thoroughly suppressed by Elder Geum, a Core Formation expert, posing no threat whatsoever.
Unfamiliar to Yuk-gyeong, but Elder Geum frowned the instant he laid eyes on it.
"Isn't that a defiled spirit beast? That Long-lived Ghost?"