Chapter 84
Chapter 84
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 84
Chapter Title: Ancient Clan's Martial Prodigy
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“Kill me quickly. You surely didn’t expect an answer when you asked, did you?”
His voice was trembling. Yuk Jin-yang shook his head briefly.
“You want a painless death? Not happening.”
The monk glared at him with bulging eyes. He still hadn’t grasped his predicament.
Yuk Jin-yang twisted the Silver Dew Sword with all his might. The gruesome sensation of ripping through flesh crept into his palm.
“Gaaahk!”
A scream laced with agony soared into the air.
Yuk Jin-yang didn’t stop there.
He immediately struck an acupoint on the man with his free hand.
The internal energy gathered at his fingertips grazed the monk’s skin, stabbing and prodding. It was a technique that stimulated pain points to inflict unimaginable torment. It also had the effect of preventing suicide.
The monk twisted his entire body in convulsions.
The spell concealing his face under the hood unraveled, revealing his true appearance. His robes were blatantly suspicious from the start. Where a monastic seal should have been, a lotus tattoo was etched instead—the symbol of the White Lotus Cult.
Desperate cries for help followed.
But his comrades were having their throats slit by Yuk Jin-yang’s group as well. Even Yu-baek, who had been locked in a stalemate, finally succeeded in decapitating his opponent.
The light of hope gradually faded from the fake monk’s eyes.
The pain, combined with Yuk Jin-yang’s relentless prodding, shook his fragile resolve.
“Think it over carefully. If you’ve learned martial arts, you know it’s easy to artificially prolong a life and torture it.”
“Foul temptation.”
The fake monk’s expression twisted in a bizarre fashion. The mixture of agony and ecstasy was unnerving even to Yuk Jin-yang.
“The suffering of the mortal world is mere illusion, so the pain you inflict is nothing but a trial. With my flesh as fertilizer, my soul shall ascend to the Pure Land.”
Thwack! As he finished speaking, a trickle of blood flowed from the corner of his mouth. His lips had already turned a deep blue. Yuk Jin-yang was momentarily flustered. He had thought the man was far from death.
He hastily checked the pulse, but the man was already gone.
“Looks like he took his own life.”
Won-yeong, who had approached from behind at some point, spat out casually. Without hesitation, she thrust her fingers into the corpse’s mouth and rummaged around. Crushed fragments of teeth came out.
Won-yeong tilted her head and examined the fragments closely.
“They pulled out the molars and replaced them with fake ones filled with deadly poison? This is a technique the Hao Clan often uses to cut off loose ends.”
“His martial arts were unusual too. I saw Buddhist stances in his movements.”
“The ones you faced were like that? The guy I fought seemed to have military training. Have they been recruiting from all sorts of backgrounds?”
It was an ill omen.
Heterodox cults were a group despised without discrimination. The orthodox viewed them with loathing as deceivers of the masses, while the unorthodox scorned them as smooth-tongued hypocrites.
If they were employing techniques from other sects, it was a sign that their seductive nonsense was ensnaring people regardless of affiliation.
Yuk Jin-yang shook his head to clear his thoughts. Now was the time to focus on the mission.
“What do we do now? We finally got a lead, but all the ones we captured are dead.”
Won-yeong muttered. Her clear sky-blue eyes were filled with concern.
Yuk Jin-yang calmly surveyed the surroundings. He had only glanced briefly, but he had a rough idea.
“We dismantle the formation and investigate the area.”
“What do you mean?”
Yu-baek, who had been standing dumbfounded, asked. Won-yeong echoed her confusion.
“There’s another formation?”
“Yes, excuse me for a moment.”
Yuk Jin-yang slowly moved his feet. His eyes scanned the ruined temple they stood in.
His keen senses quickly discerned the principle of the formation. It was a technique that used sorcery to distort the senses and create illusions.
It was similar yet different from the Black Rock Embracing Heaven Formation he had witnessed in Shandong Province. One could say it was a degraded version. The White Lotus Cultists back then had been capable of erecting barriers that blotted out the sky.
By comparison, this layered illusion was mere sleight of hand. At best, it induced minor hallucinations.
It mimicked the principle of losing judgment when inhaling toxic fumes or becoming intoxicated.
Thanks to that, dispelling it wasn’t difficult. Destroying the medium infused with sorcery should negate its effect.
‘As expected.’
A peculiar energy was condensed on the base stone of a collapsed pillar. Yuk Jin-yang raised his foot.
Boom!
With a stamping kick, the base stone shattered into pieces. His clothes fluttered wildly in the erupting flow of energy.
The scenery shifted once more. The space before him wavered like a mirage and warped completely.
A narrow path appeared where only dense woods and underbrush had been. It was clearly a trail maintained periodically by someone.
Beyond the path loomed a fairly tall mountain—a sight invisible from outside.
The expressions on the two onlookers were quite the spectacle.
“What……”
Won-yeong muttered in bewilderment before whipping her head around.
“How did you know about this? Even I’d never seen a barrier structured like that.”
“When I examined the formation, the hall’s rafters were arranged according to the innate eight trigrams, while the interior furnishings followed the acquired eight trigrams. Far from harmonizing, their energies clashed in opposition.”
“So how did you know that?”
Yuk Jin-yang paused to choose his words.
In his previous life as Jang Un, he had made contact with heterodox groups multiple times on Yuk Ju-jin’s orders, obsessed as he was with immortality.
Thanks to that, Yuk Jin-yang knew their habits—extreme caution above all.
Even decades later, the empire’s suppression of cults was ruthless.
To evade the blade of harsh penal codes, they desperately concealed their lairs. Techniques like formations and trap arrays had no choice but to evolve.
A double-layered illusion like this was child’s play by future standards.
Unable to explain such circumstances, Yuk Jin-yang offered a suitable excuse.
“It resembled the barrier structure I saw in Shandong last time, so it was easy to break.”
“Ah.”
Won-yeong let out a short exclamation and smiled faintly.
“Still impressive. I once went on a mission with those Muryeongwon kids, and they were total duds.”
Far from suspicion, she responded with genuine admiration. Her attitude suggested renewed awe at his talents. Instead of pressing further, Won-yeong surveyed the terrain.
“This place was like a gateway, wasn’t it? If they went to such lengths to disguise it, it’s reasonable to assume something bigger is hidden beyond.”
“Meaning they filtered outsiders here first?”
Yu-baek asked, his face paling.
“Exactly. It’s my first time seeing a branch hidden like this. They must have really wanted to keep it under wraps.”
“The abducted warriors are probably there too.”
“I hope so.”
Won-yeong whispered gravely.
Yuk Jin-yang asked about their next move.
“Do we go in alone? As the division leader said, we could request aid from the Nangong family.”
“Eh, why bother?”
Won-yeong showed skepticism.
“Now that we’ve smashed the gateway, they’d have to be idiots not to clean up and flee the scene.”
“True enough.”
The group slowly ascended the narrow path.
Towering trees lined the way. Their densely intertwined branches formed a canopy blotting out the sky. Not a single ray of sunlight pierced the forest floor, where an eerie wind rustled through.
The darkness grew thicker the further they went.
An unsettling anxiety crept over them, as if sinking into a swamp.
Beast cries mingled with the chill wind. The tension crawling up their spines like damp humidity sharpened their senses.
It was after they had walked for what felt like an eternity, losing all sense of distance.
Yuk Jin-yang peered into the darkness ahead. His senses warned of danger. In the shadows too thick even for a trained warrior’s eyes, something sinister flickered.
Whoosh!
Human shapes suddenly burst from the pitch-black space. An ambush.
A staff thrust straight at Yuk Jin-yang’s face. Instead of a spear tip, it was capped with thick iron. Imbued with internal energy, its momentum was ferocious.
Boom!
Yuk Jin-yang swiftly swung his arm, deflecting it with the back of his hand. The staff recoiled but writhed in midair without losing power, slithering left and right like a serpent hunting prey.
The staff plunged toward Yuk Jin-yang’s crown. True to its weapon nature, it rent the air with a thunderous roar.
Yuk Jin-yang didn’t block but spun in place to evade. Mud splattered everywhere from the futile strike embedding in the ground. From his sidestepped position, he raised his leg.
Crunch!
His heel smashed vertically down, pulverizing the staff.
Suddenly, the enemy’s presence retreated. The others did the same.
Yuk Jin-yang’s eyes, accustomed to the dark, scanned ahead. Buried in shadow but faintly outlined, their numbers were considerable.
“You’re better than the previous ones. To think you passed the gateway.”
A cloying voice echoed. Won-yeong suddenly sneered.
“I really can’t stand cults.”
“What?”
“If guests are coming, shouldn’t you at least light some torches? Makes swinging weapons more fun.”
“What nonsense…… Have you lost your mind?”
“No.”
Won-yeong cut the exchange short. Veins bulged on the back of her hand gripping the iron halberd. Suddenly, she twisted her body dramatically. Arching her back, she swung the halberd with full force.
The halberd’s hook bit deep into the bark of a massive ancient tree. It didn’t stop there—the gash widened.
Crack.
The tree exposed its innards and tilted precariously. Unable to maintain balance any longer, it finally crashed down, shoving aside other trees.
The figures scattered in panic.
Boom!
A deafening roar erupted as dirt flew everywhere. Dust billowed thickly. The surroundings were a mess, but Won-yeong paid it no mind.
“One more.”
Boom!
Repeating the process, the sky hidden by the ancient tree finally revealed its clear blue hue.
“Now I can see those ugly mugs.”
With sunlight pouring in, the enemies’ forms were laid bare.
A slender nun glared at them. She wasn’t alone.
Like flower buds blooming, countless eyes lifted their lids from the darkness. A grotesque sight. Yet the ferocity in those gazes burned like a beast’s, chilling to the bone.
The nun took a new staff from a subordinate standing rigidly behind her. She seemed to be the leader here.
“Monstrous brute……! Oh, I know who you are. The warrior known as the Halberd Woodcutter!”
“Dunno any Halberd Woodcutter. I know Little Halberd, though.”
“Hmph, you blasphemers who defy heaven. In place of the Eternal Mother, I shall deliver divine punishment upon you!”
“Divine punishment?”
Yuk Jin-yang snorted and kicked off the ground.
Sword light flashed from the Silver Dew Sword drawn from its sheath. The charging strike coiled the darkness and transformed into a streak of brilliance.