Chapter 170
Chapter 170
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 170
Chapter Title: A Respite for the Wicked Spirit
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Mu-heun quickly approached the staggering remnants of the Un Clan and placed needles in them.
*Flick! Flick! Flick!*
He had noticed the same reverse flow of qi in them that he'd seen in the one who appeared to be the leader of the Skin Demons just before it exploded.
“I've placed needles to prevent them from self-destructing.”
Du Baek, once again astonished by Mu-heun's handling of the situation, asked.
“Are you saying you can see such things?”
“Yes...”
Jin Hong nodded as if he was no longer surprised by anything.
Mu-heun sensed that their attitude toward him was gradually changing.
He then approached the Alliance Leader and made a request.
“Alliance Leader, I have a request.”
“A request...? What is it?”
“Yes. Before I make my request, allow me to explain about these beings. They are evil spirits called Skin Demons. They've merely killed the Un Clan's warriors and are wearing their skin.”
Mu-heun calmly explained about the Skin Demons, Hye-nang, and the other Ghost Spirits currently in Wuhan.
“Is... Is that truly real?”
“I would not lie about this.”
“...”
Du Baek and Jin Hong were deeply shocked by Mu-heun's words. But for that very reason, they had no choice but to listen.
“Then, what is the request you wish to make?”
“Please give the Soul-Stealing Immortal and me some time alone with them. After we remove their skins, we will extract information.”
“Hah...”
Du Baek and Jin Hong realized it would be difficult to uncover the truth of this matter on their own. In the end, they both nodded, and Mu-heun took the remnants of the Un Clan away with only the Soul-Stealing Immortal.
As Mu-heun was about to extract information from the surviving Skin Demons, the Soul-Stealing Immortal said he had something to report.
“Sir Mu-heun.”
“Yes. Please speak.”
“Regarding the matter of casting the Soul-Stealing Arts on the subordinates of the Seven Asura Valleys and having them wander through Wuhan city.”
“Yes. Did they... encounter Hye-nang by any chance?”
“Yes. They did.”
“Where did they take them?”
“They headed in the direction of Guiwon Temple, just as you predicted, Sir Mu-heun. However... they vanished in an instant.”
“Vanished?”
Mu-heun re-examined the tracking technique of the Thousand-Li Subtle Fragrance.
'It's true. I applied the fragrance to the vanished warriors, so they should be connected to me... yet the link was expertly severed near Guiwon Temple, making it impossible to pinpoint their location.'
The Soul-Stealing Immortal said with a grim expression.
“It may be more difficult to find them than we thought.”
“That was the case... but not anymore.”
“Yes...?”
“Haven't their comrades fallen right into our hands?”
“You mean these ones.”
“Yes. We need to make them spill everything they know.”
“Leave it to me.”
“I will help as well.”
Mu-heun and the Soul-Stealing Immortal joined forces to give the Skin Demons, wearing the hides of the Un Clan warriors, a taste of hell.
* * *
A night where clouds filled the sky. Starlight and moonlight were blocked by the clouds, failing to illuminate the ground. The city of Wuhan was shrouded in pitch-black darkness.
A night far too dark to enjoy the scenery. A man walked alone through the grounds of the Martial Alliance.
The Plum Blossom Sword Venerable, Jin Hong. He strolled through the grounds on this lightless night, retracing his memories.
‘...Shocking.’
The Mu-heun that Jin Hong had seen was, in a word, the very definition of shock. He had felt it when Mu-heun first walked up for the sparring match with the younger generation. An aura that didn't match his age.
The composure to speak without flinching in the slightest at the piercing gazes of the martial world's powerhouses. Concise and powerful words and actions.
There was no excess in his actions. He even possessed the insight to predict events several moves ahead.
“And to think he is still of the younger generation's age...”
It was utterly unbelievable. Jin Hong recalled his own youth. No matter how he thought about it, he was no comparison to Baek Mu-heun.
‘How on earth can he be like that?’
When the Soul-Stealing Immortal first said that he would be the central figure in the great war to come, Jin Hong had objected.
However.
Now, he wholeheartedly agreed with the Soul-Stealing Immortal's words.
Baek Mu-heun. He was on a different level. Among the warriors of elder rank and above who had observed the sparring match, how many could have truly understood his actions?
Every single action he took after stepping onto the sparring stage had meaning. When he introduced himself as the Dragon Demon Pavilion Lord and first unleashed his ominous aura. And when he finished his first opponent, O-gyeol of the Beggars' Sect, in a single blow.
That was a calculated move to leave a strong impression on the old guards of the Orthodox Sects. One could tell from how the subsequent matches proceeded in a manner of teaching the younger generation.
It meant that what he intended to show was not just overwhelming martial power.
Furthermore, his judgment when he called forth Un Hwa-taek and after being trapped in the barrier was truly uncanny.
I don't know how he knew, but he was aware that the arts used by the evil spirits were dangerous.
Thus, he entrusted that bead to the Heavenly Fragrance Owl, which could be called a spirit beast.
'The Butterfly Dream, was it...'
It was surely a divine object, beyond a mere artifact. I don't know when he prepared it, but he had detached it in advance and entrusted it to the white owl.
Moreover, when the evil spirit's power proved stronger than expected, he called only Du Baek and me inside to prevent other warriors from getting hurt.
The situation that followed was the same.
An explosion powerful enough to obliterate the entire Martial Alliance. That explosion occurred within the barrier. The smaller the area, the more powerful the force. It would even continuously swirl within the barrier, meaning the explosion would also rage on ceaselessly.
If there was a way, it would be to offset the explosion with another force. However, canceling out an explosion of qi rushing in from all directions with a similar force was an absurd notion.
Being able to do that was in the realm of gods, like perceiving a piece of clothing as its individual threads and unraveling it.
But Baek Mu-heun did it.
That meant, in the realm of sensing and manipulating qi, he was overwhelmingly superior to me.
'This isn't the level of the Strongest Under Heaven.'
If he continues on this path, Baek Mu-heun will soon rise to the position of the Strongest Under Heaven. But that will only be for a moment.
He would surely ascend to the position of the Strongest of All Time. That's why...
“I need assurance that he is not an evil man.”
The best way to determine if someone is evil or not is to understand their standards of good and evil.
"Confucius said, 'Only the benevolent can love others and hate others.'"
It means that only a virtuous person can truly love people and hate people.
Because of a past transgression, Jin Hong had long contemplated righteousness, chivalry, good, and evil. And it was only recently that he had concluded those contemplations.
Therefore, Jin Hong resolved that he must understand what deliberations led Mu-heun to establish his standards of good and evil. That would clearly reveal whether he was a man of good or evil.
* * *
Kuaaaaaaaargh!
A scream that sounded like it was tearing the vocal cords echoed within the room. Because the sound couldn't escape, the scream traveled along the floor, ceiling, and walls. It circled around and around before settling back into the eardrums of the one who had uttered it.
*Plink.*
A drop of water fell from the water clock placed there to measure time. Inside a windowless prison cell. The only light came from an oil lamp.
Mu-heun and the Soul-Stealing Immortal tortured the Skin Demon and learned several facts.
First, that there was someone who controlled the Ghost Spirits known as Skin Demons. Whether it was an Evil God or another evil spirit was unknown, but it was clear that the Skin Demons feared this being greatly.
Fundamentally, they longed for death. Having failed their given mission, they preferred death over returning.
They screamed as if their souls were caught in some kind of 'bondage,' unable to die or escape as they pleased.
Was that why?
Torturing the Skin Demons, who had already resolved to die, to extract information was no easy task.
Mu-heun and the Soul-Stealing Immortal devoted all their efforts. They injected drugs, activated formations, and used the Soul-Stealing Arts to slow the creature's perception of time.
They made one second feel like one hour and deliberately placed the water clock there to let it gauge the time.
*Plink.*
Making the torture of shattering bones and tearing muscles feel excruciatingly slow, letting the sound of dripping water eat away at its mind.
* * *
The Skin Demon thought, if this wasn't hell, what was? The pain of its bones shattering and meridians tearing clouded its mind, and the relentless Soul-Stealing Arts felt like its very soul was being destroyed.
However.
The Skin Demon did not speak.
No, it *couldn't* speak.
They were the lowest class of spirits. Ever since their souls were bound long ago by the Rakshasa Mahoraga. They worked following only his commands. It was tedious, but wandering the Nine Heavens was a fear greater than death...
Every time the sound of a water drop fell, it wanted to say it would talk, but the bondage on its soul would not allow it.
Just then, the black-haired young man who came into the Skin Demon's view spoke.
“Sir Jang Ryang. It seems there is some kind of bondage placed on them.”
“I think so too. I don't believe they remain silent out of loyalty or lingering attachment. I felt it when I interfered with their souls using the Soul-Stealing Arts. There is something placed on their souls.”
“In that case... how about we try to break the bondage using the Butterfly Dream?”
“Can that divine object break the bondage of evil spirits as well?”
“No... I do not know. However, we have confirmed that it is effective against ghostly arts, so I believe it is worth a try.”
“Then, I will prepare an art using the divine object at once.”
The Skin Demon's ears perked up at their words.
'A divine object? They confirmed it's effective against ghostly arts? It can break the bondage? Is that true? Then... can I finally die completely?'
How much time had passed since they left? It was tired of screaming from the death-like pain and the sound of dripping water that gnawed at its mind.
Just when it felt its mind was collapsing and it could endure no more, the young man and the one called the Soul-Stealing Immortal, wearing a traditional hat, returned.
They removed all the beads from a rosary and began to create some kind of mysterious formation.
'What are you scheming, humans...'
Soon, its mind would collapse, and it would be in a state of being alive but not living. Its physical body would run out of life force and die. Then, it would be caught by the Rakshasa again, resurrected, and used once more.
The black-haired young man began to emit a fragrance from his body. He used the fragrance to draw a formation in the air.
'He's performing something close to a divine technique.'
But no matter what these humans did, they wouldn't be able to do anything about the bondage engraved upon its soul. It was thinking this when...
*Snap.*
The Skin Demon felt something break.
The cord of bondage engraved on its soul. The line that constricted its very existence... was breaking, one by one.
'What in the world...'
The Rakshasa was not a mere lesser spirit like itself. The art he had cast was absolute. That was why it was a soul bondage that no ghostly art had ever been able to interfere with until now.
*Snap. Snap.*
'Ahhh...'
The bondage was breaking.
Just then, the young man's voice was heard.
“Sir Jang Ryang, if you use the Soul-Stealing Arts now, I think we can extract the information in this one's head.”
“Yes. I will try.”
The Skin Demon felt the old man in the traditional hat approaching.
*Snap, snap.*
It also felt the bondage being completely released.
The old man grabbed its head, forced it to make eye contact, and said in a low tone.
“Do not resist.”
'Resist? As if I would.'
“Khahahahahahaha! Thank you! Take it all!”
The Skin Demon felt its consciousness fading away.
'Ah, what tranquility, after so long.'