Chapter 141
Chapter 141
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 41
>Chapter Title: Annihilation Poison King (1)
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The Dark Clan Leader gently placed his hand on Mok Kyung-un's shoulder and spoke with a benevolent smile.
“Now we’re in the same boat.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. I’ll lend my strength for the revival of the Church.”
The Dark Clan Leader nodded in satisfaction, then crossed his hands over both shoulders, slightly bowed his head, and said in a reverent tone.
“May the Holy Fire’s blessings be upon you.”
Mok Kyung-un followed suit.
“May the Holy Fire’s blessings be upon you.”
“Ohoho. Then get some good rest.”
“Yes.”
With that, the Dark Clan Leader left the annex.
Just moments ago, his demeanor had been murderous, but now it had shifted to one of considerable goodwill.
That was because he was convinced that Mok Kyung-un, who could write and read the original scriptures in the language of Parsa, was a believer of the Fire Worship Church that revered fire.
Once the Dark Clan Leader’s presence had completely vanished, Qing Ling’s voice rang in Mok Kyung-un’s ear.
—You really know how to use that head of yours.
Mok Kyung-un had steered the situation exactly as intended with a single lie.
By acting like an ally, he had piqued the Dark Clan Leader’s interest in the Ghost Sword, the very person he was seeking.
Mok Kyung-un chuckled softly in response.
“The more hands helping out, the better.”
Helping hands?
She figured he meant the more pawns he could exploit, the better.
Qing Ling clicked her tongue.
—That’s true, but you’d better be careful.
“Careful... with the Dark Clan Leader?”
—Yes. Those who worship fire weren’t persecuted as heretics for nothing.
“Interesting.”
—What is?
“You hate black-and-white thinking, yet you’re getting all worked up over a single religion that came from the Western Regions.”
—......
Qing Ling was at a loss for words at Mok Kyung-un’s remark.
It was hard to argue against a point that struck so sharply at the core.
She had professed to despise the black-and-white logic between the orthodox and unorthodox sects, yet here she was prejudging the Fire Worship Church believers, who had been labeled heretics and oppressed.
In a slightly subdued voice, she said.
—......You’re right. This is just another prejudice on my part.
Mok Kyung-un smiled faintly at her frank admission.
He liked that about her.
Of course, she wasn’t finished.
—But I lived through those times. Those people treat anyone outside their own church as heretics. You’d do well to keep that in mind.
“I will.”
—In any case, even if you’ve got the Dark Clan Leader moving, you’ll still have to rely on your own legs.
“That’s true.”
Mok Kyung-un had laid the groundwork by implying that the clues about the incarnation of Ahri might be connected to the Ghost Sword—one of the Eight Stars and possibly the enemy who killed his grandfather.
So he had hoped the Dark Clan Leader might share some knowledge about the Ghost Sword, but surprisingly, even he knew nothing.
[......The Ghost Sword might be a lead? What a headache.]
[Do you know something?]
[About the Ghost Sword?]
[Yes.]
The Dark Clan Leader shook his head at Mok Kyung-un’s question.
As the head of the Dark Clan, which handled intelligence for the Heaven-Earth Society, he had thought there might be something.
But the unexpected response left him deflated.
[......I’ve heard rumors that the Ghost Sword might be one of the Heaven-Earth Society’s masters.]
[The rumor that the Chairman’s personal guard is the Ghost Sword?]
[Yes.]
[You’ve only just joined the Society and you’re already hearing all sorts of gossip. Yes, there was such a rumor once.]
[Is it just a rumor?]
[I don’t know.]
[What do you mean you don’t know?]
[Rumors can take many forms—some are pure fabrications, others float around because they’re close to the truth.]
[......What do you think, Master?]
[I can’t say for sure.]
[Why not?]
[Only the Chairman himself knows the identity of the personal guard. Even the Vice Chairman, called the Chairman’s right hand, claims ignorance.]
To Mok Kyung-un, the Dark Clan Leader’s words smelled suspicious.
Rumors didn’t arise from nothing.
However, even with suspicions, directly contacting the Ghost Sword was difficult for now.
He considered using Qing Ling and the other food spirits, but the senses of absolute peak masters far surpassed those below them, making it risky to move carelessly.
Moreover, he had heard that the main hall, where the Chairman resided, was guarded by Jo Tae-cheong of the Defense Formation—someone whose formations might even surpass Inspector Ok’s.
In every way, he still lacked the power.
Unwilling to simply build strength and wait, Mok Kyung-un cautiously suggested to the Dark Clan Leader.
[I’ve heard that Annihilation Poison King Baek Sa-ha clashed with the Ghost Sword. He’s the only one known to have survived a fight with him. Might he know something?]
[......Probably.]
[Then how about reaching out to Baek Sa-ha?]
[That won’t be easy.]
[Pardon?]
Why would it be difficult?
As Mok Kyung-un puzzled over it, the Dark Clan Leader clicked his tongue.
[The Annihilation Poison King lost his mother last year and is in the midst of a three-year mourning period. He’s secluded and won’t see anyone unless it’s exceptional circumstances.]
[Ah......]
The three-year mourning involved devoting three years to repaying parents’ grace and fulfilling filial piety after their passing.
After the funeral, one enshrines the parents’ spirit tablets in the mourning hall and resides in a reed hut, offering meals morning and evening.
During the three-year mourning—except the initial phase—hosts rarely received guests outside blood relatives.
The Baek family, kin to the Annihilation Poison King, was doing just that.
‘This is unexpected.’
He had thought leveraging the Dark Clan Leader would make gathering information easier.
But now that seemed unlikely.
With no other choice, Mok Kyung-un said.
[......Then how about I go?]
[You?]
[Yes. I have three Senior Plaques, so I can request instruction from the elders.]
[You’d use them here?]
[Yes.]
The Dark Clan Leader couldn’t hide his bewilderment at Mok Kyung-un’s words.
Among the Five Kings, two held the title of Eight Stars—the pinnacle masters of the era.
The chance to receive guidance from them, only to forgo it for the Annihilation Poison King, a poison arts expert whose skills diverged from conventional martial arts?
[Wouldn’t that be too wasteful?]
[It might be, but I want to contribute to the Church too. Let me lend a hand.]
[Aaah......]
The Dark Clan Leader couldn’t conceal his satisfaction at Mok Kyung-un’s words.
What believer wouldn’t be pleased with a Fire Worship Church devotee eager to fulfill their duty?
[If you’re willing, that’s perfect for me. In for a penny, in for a pound—tomorrow might work well.]
[Tomorrow?]
[Yes. I hear Baek Sa-ha’s grandson turns one tomorrow.]
[His first birthday?]
[Even in mourning, they won’t skip the heir’s first birthday. They’ll at least have a simple celebration with relatives.]
His mood should be better than usual for his grandson’s dol.
That was the Dark Clan Leader’s aim.
[I was planning to send a gift to the Annihilation Poison King anyway. You can deliver it and tactfully request the benefits of your three Senior Plaques.]
* * *
Early dawn, before the sun had risen.
-Crack!
Chairman’s second disciple Jang Neung-ak had rushed to the residence of his trusted subordinate Wi Maeng-cheon upon receiving an urgent message.
Upon arriving, Jang Neung-ak ground his teeth, unable to contain his rage.
Wi Maeng-cheon’s head, severed and lifeless.
What manner of thunderbolt was this?
-Thud!
Jang Neung-ak grabbed the collar of Jong-im, Wi Maeng-cheon’s trusted servant, and berated him.
“What the hell did you do to let this disaster happen?”
“......My deepest apologies.”
Jong-im could only utter apologies, nothing more.
At that response, Jang Neung-ak flung him to the floor.
-Bang!
“Urk.”
Jang Neung-ak glared sharply at the guard warriors prostrated in atonement.
Then he spoke.
“What good are guards who can’t even protect their master? Behead them all.”
“Yes.”
-Swish!
At Jang Neung-ak’s command, Ho Jong-hyeok—leader of the Annihilation Squad and one of the Three Peaks of the Five Peaks Society—hoisted the massive axe slung over his shoulder.
The four panicked guards shed tears and begged.
“P-Please spare us!”
“We were caught off guard too!”
Jang Neung-ak snorted at their pleas.
All claiming they were asleep and oblivious at the moment, now begging for their lives?
“Kill them.”
-Splatter!
“Gahk!”
Despite their desperate pleas, the axe claimed all their heads.
His anger still unquenched, Jang Neung-ak—the Chairman’s second disciple—even considered executing Jong-im, called Wi Maeng-cheon’s right hand.
But his other subordinates dissuaded him.
“Hold back, young master. If you kill him, there’ll be no one to lead Maeng-cheon’s men.”
“......”
Wi Maeng-cheon had personally trained over fifty elite warriors.
Killing Jong-im, their deputy leader and manager, would demoralize them and complicate command.
Knowing this, Jang Neung-ak barely restrained himself.
But this couldn’t be overlooked.
‘To dare kill my subordinate.’
The culprit was utterly insolent.
To commit such audacity inside the Heaven-Earth Society’s inner fortress, no less.
Touching a key figure like him—a potential next Chairman—was tantamount to declaring war.
-Swish!
Then someone touched the cross-section of Wi Maeng-cheon’s severed neck and spoke.
“This was no ordinary foe.”
“What?”
“A single sword stroke severed both Maeng-cheon’s sword and his neck.”
The man with a square jaw and fierce face pointed to Wi Maeng-cheon’s broken sword on the floor.
The crafty bastard had erased all footprints, so the exact fight was unclear, but the broken sword and neck cut told one thing.
Jang Neung-ak’s eyes sharpened.
‘One stroke to sever both sword and neck?’
That required at least supreme mastery of the sword, at a fully ripened absolute peak realm.
A woman in flashy clothes with thick lips approached and said.
“Then the suspects narrow considerably.”
Wi Maeng-cheon was the trusted subordinate of the Chairman’s second disciple, Jang Neung-ak.
Only someone utterly fearless—or desperate to undermine him—would assassinate him in the dead of night.
‘Na Yuk-ryang...... Wi So-yeon......’
The first names in his mind were naturally his rival siblings vying for next Chairman: the senior and junior disciples.
They were sword masters capable of this.
And with their ongoing power struggle, they had ample motive.
But they wouldn’t dirty their hands personally for a mere subordinate.
That reduced the suspects sharply.
Only Na Yuk-ryang’s two bitches or Wi So-yeon’s right-hand man could decapitate Wi Maeng-cheon—sword and all—in one stroke.
-Grind!
“Find them. By any means.”
“Yes, sir!”
At his words, the remaining Four Guards of the Five Peaks Society bowed and shouted obedience.
Amid this, one man watched with frustrated eyes.
It was none other than Jong-im, Wi Maeng-cheon’s subordinate.
‘Damn it...... Not even on the suspect list.’
Jong-im knew the true culprit.
Of course he did.
He had acted alongside them on Wi Maeng-cheon’s orders.
Yet he couldn’t reveal it.
Because he was no longer Jong-im—he was Wi Maeng-cheon, soul-bound as a food spirit possessing his subordinate’s body.
‘My lord...... Forgive me.’
He could no longer serve Jang Neung-ak.
As a food spirit, he couldn’t defy Mok Kyung-un, or his wife and child would die.
Then Jang Neung-ak, grinding his teeth, glared somewhere and muttered.
“No. This works out perfectly. I can deal with those Yeon bastards there.”
‘There?’
Where was “there” that Jang Neung-ak meant?
* * *
Around noon.
Mok Kyung-un headed somewhere, accompanied by his guard warrior Seok Jung.
The destination was the estate of Annihilation Poison King Baek Sa-ha, one of the Heaven-Earth Society’s Five Kings.
‘Damn it.’
Seok Jung, assigned as Mok Kyung-un’s guard, found the situation deeply uncomfortable.
He had tried everything to avoid facing him, but with orders to carry the Dark Clan Leader’s gift, he had no choice.
All he could do was play nice.
Mok Kyung-un smiled at the rigidly tense man.
“How’s your lover doing?”
-Flinch!
The “greeting” about his lover sent chills down Seok Jung’s spine.
It felt less like concern and more like a warning after a long absence.
In a trembling voice, Seok Jung replied.
“I-I swear I won’t do anything to trouble you, young master.”
“Did I say anything?”
“......”
Damn brat.
Why ask about his lover instead of just “how’ve you been”?
Seok Jung swallowed his irritation, keeping it hidden.
Mok Kyung-un was too frightening.
“Is that large box on your back the gift from Master?”
“Yes.”
“Hope it suits his taste.”
“I’m sure he put much thought into it.”
“Good then.”
Truthfully, the gift was secondary.
He needed to coax information about the Ghost Sword—one of the Eight Stars—from Annihilation Poison King Baek Sa-ha.
But the timing was abysmal.
Mourning for three years, of all things.
‘Coax him, huh.’
He had gotten details on Baek Sa-ha and his family from the Dark Clan Leader.
Baek Sa-ha seemed to have a notoriously prickly personality.
Winning him over wouldn’t be easy.
Then Seok Jung, leading the way, nodded toward a place.
“There it is.”
A grand estate came into view.
Smaller than the Dark Clan’s intelligence hub by scale, but befitting one of the upper echelon Five Kings, it was impressively large.
“Shall we?”
Mok Kyung-un approached the entrance with him.
Two warriors in mourning garb guarded the gate.
But before they arrived,
‘Hm?’
Turning his head, Mok Kyung-un spotted a group approaching.
At the forefront was a woman in a veiled hat.
None other than,
‘Wi So-yeon?’
The Chairman’s third disciple, Wi So-yeon.
Why was she here?
As he wondered, another group appeared from a different path.
It was none other than,
‘Ahh...... This is something.’
The Chairman’s second disciple Jang Neung-ak, along with the Five Peaks Society—or rather, now the Four Evils Society—and his subordinates, heading here as well.
[Chapter 41: Annihilation Poison King (1)] End