Chapter 150
Chapter 150
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 43
>Chapter Title: Repayment (3)
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"From today onward, this child is my formal disciple and a new member of our Baek Clan. Treat him like a blood brother."
'!?'
No one could hide their bewilderment at Isle Poison King Baek Sa-ha's words.
"Formal disciple?"
Even his second son, Baek So-gang, could never have imagined such a statement from his father, Baek Sa-ha.
And for good reason—the Baek Clan had always prized its bloodline above all else, never accepting outsiders as disciples.
His father had upheld that tradition as well, so no one expected him to suddenly take an outsider under his wing.
"Just what the hell happened in there?"
He had already been wondering what could have occurred inside to make his father undergo such a complete change.
There had to be something for his father to show this level of favor to the boy.
Could it be that the kid had given him some key insight toward enlightenment?
At that moment, Baek Sa-ha spoke up.
"Why is there no reply?"
"Ah, understood. We'll do as you say."
In the Baek Clan, the clan head's command was absolute.
If Clan Head Baek Sa-ha had decided it, then it was decided.
But then Mok Kyung-un interjected.
"Disciple?"
"Keuk-keuk, why so surprised? Since you've received my teachings, you're my disciple now."
At those words, Mok Kyung-un spoke in a troubled tone.
"Receiving your teachings was just in exchange for those three antidote tablets..."
"Now what am I to do?"
"Pardon?"
"To teach someone with your level of profound knowledge in poisons, I'd at least have to pass on my Baek Clan's supreme poison art, the Wave Demon Poison Scripture. But that's something I can't share with an outsider."
"Wa... Wave Demon Poison Scripture? Father?"
His second son, Baek So-gang, asked in shock.
And rightly so—the Wave Demon Poison Scripture was no ordinary martial art or poison technique of the Baek Clan; it was their secret lore.
It was a transcendent poison art that only the blood heirs deemed worthy of becoming clan head could cultivate, so announcing its transmission was utterly bewildering.
"No matter the benefit of those antidote tablets, that's..."
"That's why I'm taking you on as a formal disciple. Are you questioning this clan head's command?"
"Ah, no, sir."
Baek So-gang flinched and waved his hands frantically.
Clan Head and father Isle Poison King Baek Sa-ha never went back on a decision once made.
Especially if someone dared challenge a command issued as clan head—he would enforce strict discipline and make them pay the price.
'Ah, damn it.'
Mok Kyung-un inwardly clicked his tongue at Baek Sa-ha's decision.
He had thought the repayment for the debt was already more generous than expected, but this was the scheme behind it.
Mok Kyung-un clasped his hands in a formal salute and said,
"Elder. I am grateful for your consideration, but I am already a disciple of the Dark Clan Lord. How could I..."
"Is there a rule saying you can't have two masters?"
"......"
There was no such rule.
But this wasn't about rules.
"Rules may allow it, but this would be a slight against the Dark Clan Lord..."
"I'll personally go to the Dark Clan Lord and obtain permission, so don't worry on that account."
"......"
No matter what he said, it seemed Baek Sa-ha was determined to make him a disciple.
Though inwardly annoyed, Mok Kyung-un had no valid grounds to refuse, so he held back any further objections.
At some point, however, the gaze of Alliance Lord's second disciple, Jang Neung-ak, and third disciple, Wi So-yeon, had shifted from Isle Poison King Baek Sa-ha to him.
At their oddly intense stares, Mok Kyung-un smacked his lips.
'......So that's it.'
He could guess why Baek Sa-ha had chosen to publicly declare him as a disciple in front of these people.
It was to divert the persistent attention they had been lavishing on him—demanding his support—from him to himself.
A clever ploy.
Thanks to Baek Sa-ha's announcement, Mok Kyung-un had unwittingly become the joint disciple of Isle Poison King—one of the Five Kings under the Alliance Lord—and the Dark Clan Lord.
This made him an even more tantalizing target for those vying for succession.
* * *
It took Mok Kyung-un nearly an hour of enduring it all before he could finally leave the Baek Clan's manor with his escort, Seok Jung.
Baek Sa-ha's stubbornness was one thing, but he also had an incredibly bothersome personality.
He dragged him to his grandson's one-month celebration, introducing him one by one to the Baek blood relatives to build familiarity.
Though Mok Kyung-un found it exceedingly irritating, he kept a straight face and played along.
The reason was that Baek Sa-ha held the position of one of the Five Kings, high-ranking executives under the Alliance Lord.
'For now, the Isle Poison King is the better path.'
Given Baek Sa-ha's rank, he offered the highest chance of contact with the Alliance Lord.
That was why, despite the annoyance, he had reluctantly accepted being taken as a disciple.
How it would play out remained to be seen, but connecting with the Alliance Lord was currently Mok Kyung-un's top priority.
As he put distance between himself and the Baek Clan's manor, Cheong-ryeong's voice rang in his ear.
-In the end, your judgment seems to have been right.
-Judgment?
-Yes. The Isle Poison King makes for the perfect ally.
-We'll see. He just seems like a troublesome old man.
-Thanks to helping that troublesome old man, didn't you get the chance to learn the Wave Demon Poison Scripture, hailed as the supreme poison art?
-Well, that's true.
In front of the Baek blood relatives, Isle Poison King Baek Sa-ha had publicly taken Mok Kyung-un as his formal disciple, then led him straight to the clan head's quarters and shown him the Wave Demon Poison Scripture's incantations.
It was to demonstrate to the impassive Mok Kyung-un just how extraordinary the Baek Clan's supreme poison art was, even after accepting him as a disciple.
Thanks to that, Mok Kyung-un had memorized the entire scripture after just a single glance.
Of course, Isle Poison King Baek Sa-ha was unaware of this.
-No martial art is as unpredictable as a poison technique. And when facing groups, it's unrivaled.
-Groups... yeah, I suppose so.
-In any case, it's not a bad... What's wrong?
Cheong-ryeong trailed off as she asked Mok Kyung-un.
The reason was that Mok Kyung-un, who had been walking, suddenly stopped and stared off somewhere.
His escort, Seok Jung, looked puzzled as well.
"Young Master. Is something the matter?"
"There's a guest waiting for us."
"Pardon?"
As he responded, someone emerged from the right corner.
The moment Seok Jung saw him, his eyes went wide.
'U, U Ho-rang, Great Leader?
It was none other than Bright Sword King Son Yun's great disciple and the Rebellion Corps' Great Leader, U Ho-rang.
He was the right-hand man of Alliance Lord's third disciple Wi So-yeon and one of the Five Tigers, hailed as the top later-generation talent in the Heaven-Earth Society.
U Ho-rang looked at Mok Kyung-un with impassive eyes and spoke.
"Your senses are sharper than your appearance suggests."
"You weren't hiding your presence at all."
"Hmph."
U Ho-rang snorted derisively.
As Mok Kyung-un said, he hadn't bothered concealing his aura from the start.
Unless in special circumstances, he viewed hiding oneself as something spies or rats did.
U Ho-rang gave Mok Kyung-un a quick once-over from head to toe.
'A strange one. How did he do it?'
The energy emanating from Mok Kyung-un was merely at the early Pinnacle Realm at best.
No way could someone at that level have bested his junior brother, Yeop Wi-seon.
Yet he had won.
And according to his liege Wi So-yeon, this kid's true power might even reach the Transcendent Realm.
If that were true, it meant he had mastered some bizarre technique to nearly perfectly conceal his cultivation.
'A troublesome technique.'
But it was irrelevant to him.
No matter what technique he had learned, he would simply cut him down.
U Ho-rang said to Mok Kyung-un,
"Do you know why I'm waiting for you?"
"No idea."
"They said you were clever. Can't you guess?"
"I wouldn't know if it's personal business or an order from the one you serve."
"What?"
"You're looking at me with such displeasure that it doesn't seem like just following your master's orders."
At Mok Kyung-un's words, U Ho-rang scoffed.
Indeed, he had a cunning side, just as his liege had said.
Which only made him like him less.
"You're right. I don't like you one bit. Starting with your origins as a hostage from the orthodox sects, among other things."
"Other things?"
"Yes. Other things."
"Hmm. Sounds like you just plain don't like me."
"I won't deny it."
"I see. Well, I can't do much about your feelings, so may I ask what your business is?"
"The young lady ordered me to bring you."
"Me?"
"Yes. You know you have no right to refuse an order from the young lady?"
At U Ho-rang's words, Mok Kyung-un chuckled inwardly.
Just as expected.
Even though he hadn't achieved his goal at the Baek Clan's manor, she had withdrawn without fuss but shot him that look, likely biding her time for this moment.
"......Of course. So I just follow you?"
"Yes. But first..."
"Yes."
"Shouldn't we settle who binds must unbind?"
"Settle who binds must unbind?"
-Goooong!
No sooner had the words left his mouth than U Ho-rang unleashed a ferocious aura.
It was so savage that even escort Seok Jung unwittingly staggered back.
Mok Kyung-un narrowed his eyes and spoke.
"Doesn't this go against your master's wishes? Are you sure about this?"
"This is purely between you and me."
"Between me and you?"
"Didn't you shake off my junior brother in a contest of power?"
"Ahhh. So that's what this is about?"
"Thanks to you, my junior brother is locked in the detention cell right now. Sure, it was partly his own mistake, but how could I let the one who nearly got him executed slide?"
At his words, Mok Kyung-un inwardly sneered.
Really just for his junior brother?
No matter how he looked at it, that didn't seem to be the whole story.
It felt more like deeply personal emotions at play.
The junior brother was just a pretext.
So Mok Kyung-un smiled faintly and spoke in a troubled tone.
"Ahh, I see. But you know why Lady Wi So-yeon summoned me, right?"
"I do."
How could he not?
As her confidant, he knew her intentions better than anyone.
Normally, he would suppress his own feelings and do his utmost as her subordinate to fulfill her desires.
But for some inexplicable reason, the thought of letting this kid near the young lady dominated his mind.
Even if it meant ruining things out of emotion.
-Shing!
U Ho-rang drew his signature weapon, the Nine Harmonies Blade, and said,
"You received a token from the young lady, right?"
"Yes. But..."
"I have a token too."
"Oh? Do you?"
"Let's settle it with our tokens. If you win, I'll give you the one I received from our liege. If you lose, you'll hand yours over."
This was U Ho-rang's true aim.
To reclaim Wi So-yeon's token from Mok Kyung-un.
At his words, Mok Kyung-un suddenly burst out snickering.
"Pft."
"You little... Did you just laugh?"
"Yes. I did."
-Goooong!
In that instant, intense killing intent surged from U Ho-rang.
How dare this punk mock him?
As he seethed, Mok Kyung-un waved it off lightly and said,
"Ahh, sorry if I offended you. I couldn't help laughing because I saw right through you, Great Hero U."
"Through me?"
"Yes."
"What nonsense are you spouting? How could you possibly know my—"
"You're not trying to fulfill your master's wishes; you're desperate to make her your own, aren't you?"
'!?'
U Ho-rang froze for a moment.
Seeing his reaction, the corner of Mok Kyung-un's mouth curled up.
Just as he had guessed.
-Slash!
In that moment, U Ho-rang's blade flashed like lightning toward Mok Kyung-un's throat, stopping with its edge against his skin.
The sharp energy sliced the flesh, drawing blood.
"Are you toying with me?"
At U Ho-rang's low, murderous tone, Mok Kyung-un shrugged.
"Why would I?"
"But..."
"I'm just stating facts, and your overreaction only confirms it for me."
"You!"
-Pak!
In that instant, Mok Kyung-un grabbed the flat of U Ho-rang's Nine Harmonies Blade.
U Ho-rang tried to shake him off.
But astonishingly, even as he channeled nearly six stars of inner energy, the blade didn't budge an inch.
'This kid's inner energy?'
It far exceeded his expectations.
It seemed his liege Wi So-yeon's words about him possibly reaching the Transcendent Realm were true.
As he reeled in shock, Mok Kyung-un smiled and said,
"Well, I get it. Even if you wish the best for the one you admire, if she truly becomes successor, your relationship would solidify and grow distant. So no clinging to her becoming successor. That's why you're using your junior brother as an excuse to take her token from me."
'!!!!!!'
At Mok Kyung-un's words, U Ho-rang's expression completely hardened.
They hadn't spoken long, yet he had pierced straight to his core.
What kind of monster was this?
As he thought that,
"But tell me... can you actually take it?"
-Kriiiik!
The flat of the Nine Harmonies Blade, gripped in Mok Kyung-un's hand, began to bend little by little.
End of Chapter 43: Repayment (3)