40
Chapter 40: Four Bone Scripts, Four Blood Scripts
As the epithet Silver Naked Lecher in his name suggested, he enjoyed embracing women, but there was something he liked even more.
Blood.
The reason Paga Blood had waited for 'his' orders for over ten years was because of the anticipation that once the orders came down, he would be able to taste blood to his heart's content.
Now, in a few days when the First Stratagem officially commenced, the Namgung Family would disappear. In that process, a terrible bloodbath would naturally unfold.
Imagining the Namgung Family dyed red, Paga Blood's body transformed into an even more intense silver glow. Along with it, the movements of his lower body also became more violent.
"Heuk heuk!"
"Kyaa, kyaak!"
The poor sacrificial lamb, not knowing she would die, writhed in ecstasy with her eyes rolled back, overwhelmed by pleasure.
She was a martial artist his subordinates had captured yesterday. Since she had been on her way from Bongyang to the Namgung Family, she must have been going to congratulate Transformed Shadow and Namgung Hye on their wedding.
Though the sacrificial lamb was completely unaware, her family or sect of origin would probably disappear from the Martial World soon as well.
'Perhaps they've already been eliminated.'
Gwang-un was by no means a merciful person. Since he had gone to spread the groundwork for the 'Second Stratagem,' the Anhui Province martial world would be completely devastated.
Probably, multiple 'clouds' had been mobilized for the Second Stratagem. Only the order was different. No sect in Anhui Province could escape Gwang-un's hands.
On the other hand, a total of seven shadows had been mobilized for the First Stratagem.
'Myself and Transformed Shadow, the four who infiltrated the Namgung Family. And.'
The other one was in charge of the Lake area.
If the Heavenly Demon Castle Anhui branch he was leading, the Namgung Family, and that force commanded by another shadow all clashed in Anhui, the result was self-evident without even watching.
Since Mubon's First and Second Stratagems had begun, there was no possibility that the Anhui Province martial world would remain intact…….
None.
"Aaaahaak!"
Oblivious to this, the woman was wandering in paradise even as her yin energy was completely being extinguished.
Paga Blood, knowing that the time to finish was approaching, absorbed the woman's last remaining vital essence to his heart's content.
But at the very moment he was about to reach climax!
Flash-! Flash-! Flash-!
Three brief but very intense beams of light were caught by his eyes. The direction was toward the Namgung Family.
'What is that!?'
Just because the Namgung Family could be faintly seen from here didn't mean the distance was close at all.
Unless it was a considerably intense light, it could never reach from the Namgung Family to the top of Seungryong Mountain, especially on this night. Such intensely bright light would have to be at least an explosion of a Thunder Bolt Bomb, if not sunlight.
That was definitely not a signal sent by Transformed Shadow. Not only had Transformed Shadow not mastered the Solar Divine Art, he also didn't possess any Thunder Bolt Bombs.
Above all, how could such comfortable and mysteriously warm energy be carried in the heat emitted by the Solar Divine Art or the destructive explosive light released when a Thunder Bolt Bomb detonates?
That's why Paga Blood felt even more uneasy. Something unknown had clearly occurred at the Namgung Family. This was definitely not part of the plan.
"Aaaaak!"
Finally, Paga Blood and the woman reached climax.
Plop.
His member was pulled out from the woman's body, and the woman met her end. His body had already returned from silver to its original color, and his member also hung down limply.
"Immediately seal all routes leading to Hefei right now."
Who was he speaking to? He certainly wasn't speaking to the dead woman.
"Your command."
As if to prove it, a response came from somewhere below the rock.
Simultaneously with the sound, the shadows cast below the rock began to stretch in all directions, then soon separated into multiple strands.
Shadows quickly disappearing below Seungryong Mountain.
Multiple people had been secretly hiding beneath the rock where Paga Blood had been performing his lecherous arts.
Once the shadows disappeared, Paga Blood also vanished from that spot as if extinguished.
Whoosh—
The cold wind blew again over the summit of Seungryong Mountain, but now there was no one to receive it. There was one, but only an already dead corpse.
Though it meant nothing now, the corpse's name was Danri Hui.
***
At the same time, at the Namgung Family.
Two people stood on the sailing ship, facing the cold wind blowing from Lake Chao. Though Dong Bong-su had already left, the terrible scene he had left behind still remained, weighing heavily on their hearts.
One was Heavenly Thunder Squad Leader Namgung Hu, and the other was Heavenly Wind Group Leader Namgung Il, who bore responsibility for those who died here.
"What do you think?"
Namgung Il spoke first.
Even as he spoke, his gaze remained fixed on the ship's deck throughout. There, writing in magnificent calligraphy like an ascending dragon was inscribed. However, the scent rising from it wasn't ink but blood, making his brow furrow.
"……"
As the Heavenly Thunder Squad Leader, Namgung Hu had arrived here faster than Namgung Il.
When the three flashes originated from this place, the guard shift warriors closest by were the Heavenly Thunder Squad members on guard duty at the Western Heavenly Guest Hall. Namgung Hu had received the Heavenly Thunder Squad's report and reached this ship first, and afterward Namgung Il received a report from the fourth squad that came to relieve today's deceased Heavenly Wind Group third squad and rushed here.
Without giving an answer either way, Namgung Hu pointed his hand toward the lower cabin below the cabin.
"We can't fully understand the intent of whoever created this carnage just by looking at this. Follow me."
Namgung Hu took Namgung Il down to the ship's lower cabin. Thinking there must be some reason, Namgung Il followed Namgung Hu down to the lower cabin without saying much.
Since it was still deep in the night, the interior of the lower cabin was dark.
Thud!
Namgung Hu executed a palm technique on the side of the lower cabin, making a hole. Soon, the dim light emitted by the moon entered and illuminated the lower cabin. Thanks to that, the lower cabin scenery that hadn't been clearly visible came fully into view before them.
"This is!"
On the floor of the lower cabin, pieces that appeared to be human bones were very precisely embedded, forming a four-character sentence like the blood script on the deck. That terrible form was far more cruel than what was on the deck, but the neatness of the writing was as masterful as the writing on the deck—a calligraphy master under heaven.
"The Heavenly Thunder Squad members on guard duty at the Western Heavenly Guest Hall at dawn came here first. According to their investigation after arriving here, this bone script seems to have been written before the blood script on the deck. In other words, the intruder stripped the flesh and bones from the Heavenly Wind Group members here to do this, then went up to the deck and wrote the blood script."
Namgung Hu added an explanation to the surprised Namgung Il. Hearing those words, Namgung Il prayed briefly for his subordinates' souls and continued speaking.
"But why did the intruder go through such difficulty infiltrating only to write such words…… no, to do such a thing? He should have been busy hiding."
"Well. I don't know either. Why write something like this after infiltrating the Namgung Family with such difficulty."
Combining the bone script in the lower cabin and the blood script on the deck in order yields the following eight characters.
Moon Full Emperor Falls, Slowly Going I Become King.
When the moon is full, the emperor falls, and I who go slowly becomes king.
After Namgung Hu and Namgung Il discussed those eight characters at length, as the day gradually brightened they moved their steps toward the Emperor King Hall. It seemed this matter couldn't be resolved at their level.
***
(Revised) New Murim Online 5th Law: When you level up, white light bursts from your body in all directions, and all wounds on your body are healed. Simultaneously, all stats increase slightly. In other words, strength increases, the body becomes agile, and intelligence rises.
Addition: What's healed at this time includes not only wounds but also all lost body parts.
※Still, all these laws are not fixed or certain.
***
"Hey, did you hear about what happened last night?"
"What?"
"Ah, you haven't heard yet? Well, it's about……"
The Namgung Family was very noisy this morning.
The cause was the three bright lights that had covered the Namgung Family last night.
Since ancient times, people had considered the number three sacred.
They had contrasted one (一) with yang and two (二) with yin, and since three was a number formed by the sum of one and two, they considered it a perfect number with harmonized yin and yang. Moreover, the light that had covered the entire Namgung Family yesterday was extremely bright and gentle by itself, as if purifying the entire world.
All the warriors on guard duty at that time and the small number of people who weren't sleeping unanimously said the matter was extraordinary.
Three Holy Lights.
Passing through many mouths, those three lights came to have the grandiose and plausible name of Three Holy Lights.
"The Three Holy Lights, you see……"
Despite many people not yet being awake since it was still early morning, rumors about the Three Holy Lights were spreading far and wide.
[This is heaven blessing the upcoming wedding of Namgung Hye and Do Heo-ok!]
Though it was unknown who said it first, by breakfast time, there was no one in the family estate who didn't know about this matter.
Even the core personnel and elders of the Namgung Family had all been summoned to the Emperor King Hall from morning regarding this matter of the Three Holy Lights.
However, the content of their meeting wasn't as hopeful as what the ordinary family members and congratulatory guests were thinking.
The reason was that what the Three Holy Lights had brought wasn't heaven's blessing, but was actually a harbinger of calamity called the Four Bone Scripts, Four Blood Scripts.