Chapter 18
Chapter 18
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 6
>Chapter Title: Evil Dwells (1)
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The Demon Monk bowed deeply with fear and reverence.
Seeing this unexpected display from a vengeful spirit like him, Mok Kyung-un looked at the book inside the wooden box with puzzled eyes.
A bizarre book made from human skin.
Why was the Demon Monk reacting this way to a book wrapped in these prayer beads?
Unconsciously, Mok Kyung-un reached out toward the book in the wooden box.
And the moment his fingertips touched it,
-Thump!
‘!?’
Mok Kyung-un's eyes narrowed.
‘........A pulse?’
In an instant.
In that fleeting moment, he felt a pulse.
It was as clear as a heartbeat.
Yet paradoxically, this pulse wasn't from something alive.
It felt closer to death.
-Thump! Thump!
The pulsing grew stronger.
‘..........’
Mok Kyung-un stared fixedly at the book before closing the lid of the wooden box.
An intense pull arose.
He wanted to remove the prayer beads and see what was inside, but it didn't seem possible right now.
The reason the Demon Monk had appeared was because someone had intruded into the medicine hall.
‘An interloper.’
Mok Kyung-un licked his upper lip regretfully.
Then he turned his gaze upward.
* * *
-Tap! Tap!
A black-masked man moved across the roof tiles of the building.
Spotting Go Chan, the escort guarding the only entrance to the medicine hall, the masked man suppressed his presence even more.
‘Hmm.’
A glint appeared in the masked man's eyes.
Mok Kyung-un normally had two escorts.
But one of them could no longer be considered his, leaving effectively just one.
‘Then why isn't he by his side?’
An escort usually stays right next to their charge.
Yet here he was, away from the medicine hall, guarding the path?
‘One of two things.’
First, the charge was too sensitive to have anyone nearby.
But that didn't fit.
Protecting a master with a pierced thigh from afar made no sense.
So it had to be the second option.
‘Is he standing watch?’
Ordered by his master to monitor for anyone approaching.
There was no other reason for him to be so far away.
The masked man stroked his chin.
‘Keeping watch in the dead of night without sleeping......’
This was getting more interesting than expected.
His name was Jo Il-sang.
He was one of the three escorts of the Second Young Master, Mok Eun-pyeong.
[Just in case, go check it out. See if it's a desperate ploy or not.]
The order he received from Mok Eun-pyeong was simple.
Confirm whether Mok Kyung-un had truly lost his martial arts or not.
If he hadn't, then Gam Escort's request to take him in was a lie, but if he truly couldn't use martial arts, then it was genuine.
[Just confirm?]
[That would be no fun. If he really lost his martial arts, give him a scare. Make sure he doesn't get cocky for no reason.]
[Hahaha. Understood.]
And so, among the three escorts, he had come alone.
Jo Il-sang's skill level was between a second-rate warrior and a first-rate expert.
A step above Go Chan, which was why he volunteered.
-Swish! Tap!
Jo Il-sang evaded Go Chan's gaze and leaped over the wall in another direction.
After scaling the wall, he climbed onto the medicine hall's roof and slipped through the gaps between the tiles.
‘What's he doing that an injured guy is standing watch?’
Was the injury fake?
Or was the info about lost martial arts false?
Either way, something was up.
‘Let's see what you're hiding.’
Jo Il-sang infiltrated the medicine hall through the tile gap.
Hanging silently from the ceiling, suppressing even his breathing as he peered below, one of his eyebrows shot up.
‘What?’
It wasn't what he expected.
Disappointment flickered in Jo Il-sang's eyes as he saw Mok Kyung-un, propped up on the bed with only his upper body raised, reading a book by the light of a single lantern.
‘Just reading a book?’
Jo Il-sang scanned the surroundings suspiciously.
But aside from Mok Kyung-un, there was no one else in the medicine hall.
‘Strange.’
He hadn't entered through the door, and Go Chan, his only escort, was outside on watch, so he couldn't have noticed.
Someone must have tipped him off? But that didn't seem right either.
Then.......
‘Is there a secret in that book?’
He couldn't rule that out.
He had to make contact anyway to check for martial arts.
Jo Il-sang carefully moved across the ceiling toward the bed, suppressing his presence.
And then,
-Thud!
He dropped down.
In the same instant, Jo Il-sang snatched the book Mok Kyung-un was reading like a bolt of lightning.
-Pat!
Having snatched the book, Jo Il-sang expected Mok Kyung-un to be startled or counterattack.
But contrary to his expectation, there was no counter, no surprise.
Instead, Mok Kyung-un looked at him impassively.
“Who.....”
-Swish!
As Mok Kyung-un tried to speak, Jo Il-sang pressed a dagger to his throat and whispered.
“Stay quiet if you don't want to die.”
“........”
Mok Kyung-un shut his mouth.
Things were going smoothly, but Jo Il-sang didn't feel good.
‘This guy......’
A masked stranger suddenly appears, snatches his book, holds a dagger to his throat, and threatens him.
Normally, anyone would be flustered.
At least show some fear or tension.
Yet Mok Kyung-un stared at him with an expressionless face, no emotional change, as if it were routine.
‘From his reaction......’
He looks like someone who knew I was coming.
But that couldn't be.
To stay this calm, he'd need exceptional skill to protect himself.
‘!?’
Jo Il-sang's eyes narrowed.
Thinking about it, regardless of martial arts presence, anyone startled would reflexively move somehow.
But Mok Kyung-un hadn't moved at all.
‘Is the info that he lost his martial arts false?’
-Glance!
Jo Il-sang glanced at the snatched book.
But upon seeing the title, his eyes shook wildly.
‘!!!!!!!’
It was none other than,
[Timber Forming Sword Art]
No one in Timber Sword Manor wouldn't know this sword art's name.
It was the sword art symbolizing Timber Sword Manor.
The reason was that it contained profound secrets only the Clan Head could cultivate.
‘Ha......’
In his shock, Jo Il-sang's next action was unplanned even by him.
Using the Capturing Hand technique, he seized Mok Kyung-un's shoulder, pressed down, and pulled him in.
At the same time, with the hand holding the dagger, he struck the acupoint on the back of the head.
-Puk!
Mok Kyung-un's head lolled forward.
Jo Il-sang exhaled roughly, his heart pounding.
“Haa.......”
In his shock at the Timber Forming Sword Art manual, he had knocked the guy out by striking his nape acupoint.
‘Is this why he had watch?’
Jo Il-sang reached for the acupoint of the unconscious Mok Kyung-un.
He had almost forgotten, but he needed to check if he had martial arts.
-Swish!
Placing his hand on the acupoint, Jo Il-sang sent true energy into the body.
‘Ah!’
No need for a long check.
Even a little internal energy would cause rebound or rejection upon foreign true energy entry.
But Mok Kyung-un showed none.
-Press! Press!
Jo Il-sang pressed Mok Kyung-un's abdomen near the dantian.
‘Gone.’
The dantian was truly destroyed.
Jo Il-sang's lip curled up.
After confirming no martial arts, Mok Eun-pyeong's instruction to just scare him was already forgotten.
Jo Il-sang opened the Timber Forming Sword Art manual and flipped through.
“Keuk!”
After a few pages, his lips twitched.
He almost laughed unwittingly.
Worried it might be fake, but these were definitely the genuine sword forms of the Timber Forming Sword Art.
Even from the start, the forms were no joke.
‘Calm down.’
He never dreamed Mok Kyung-un would have this.
With the Clan Head on the brink of death, the vital Clan Head position and the exclusive Clan Head martial art manual missing had the retainers deeply concerned.
And now it was in his hands.
‘Jackpot.’
Obtaining the Timber Forming Sword Art was pure luck.
If his lord Mok Eun-pyeong mastered the Clan Head's exclusive art, even if the Clan Head died now, the next Clan Head position was his.
‘We've got the high ground.’
No matter how much the Clan Head favored the youngest, Mok Yu-cheon, or with the eldest son Mok Young-ho, as a martial clan, the retainers would have no choice but to back his lord.
He was reveling in this when,
-Flinch!
A chill strong enough to raise goosebumps swept his body.
Something pressed down on his shoulder.
‘What the?’
Startled, Jo Il-sang hurriedly tried to circulate his internal energy.
Right then,
-Puk!
“ Gasp!”
Someone punched his dantian area.
It was Mok Kyung-un, whom he thought knocked out.
‘W-what power?’
From a guy without internal energy?
At least second-rate level.
-Tremble!
Caught off-guard before circulating energy, Jo Il-sang's body stiffened briefly from the dantian hit.
That brief gap worked against him badly.
“Gurk!”
-Thud! Thud!
Veins bulged.
A bizarre sensation burrowed in through his crushed shoulder.
This sensation tormented him excruciatingly, sending shivers.
Jo Il-sang gritted his teeth, trying to push it out with true energy.
But,
-Puk!
Seizing the moment, Mok Kyung-un swung a fist at his jaw while repeatedly punching the abdomen.
-Papapapuk!
Normally, this wouldn't work on Jo Il-sang, on the cusp of first-rate.
But a sliver of carelessness from obtaining the manual.
And with the chilling sensation pressing his shoulder, relentlessly targeting the dantian, he couldn't endure.
“Grrrr! Y-you bastard......”
“Sturdy, huh. Good.”
-Pak!
Mok Kyung-un grabbed his nape with both hands, yanked him down, and kneed his face.
-Kwachuk!
“Keuk!”
Nose bones and teeth cracked.
Yet Mok Kyung-un kept punching the staggering Jo Il-sang's face.
-Puk puk!
Blood soaked his fists, but he didn't stop.
‘R-ruthless......’
Jo Il-sang lost consciousness rapidly.
* * *
How much time passed?
Regaining consciousness, Jo Il-sang struggled to open his eyes.
As he did, his head felt like it would burst.
‘What.... happened?’
Freshly awake, he couldn't recall properly.
Then it hit him.
Mok Kyung-un's impassive face savagely smashing his own.
‘Damn it.......’
He had let his guard down completely.
Or was it guard down?
The first hit stemmed from confirming no dantian, but after that, no.
‘That sensation?’
He couldn't forget the spine-chilling feeling.
It stiffened his body; he tried resisting with energy, but Mok Kyung-un hammered his dantian and vital points, making him black out.
He could've died.
‘........What the hell?’
Jo Il-sang was baffled.
He confirmed no internal energy in Mok Kyung-un.
Yet those blows matched his own power nearly.
‘Damn.’
“Haa..... haa....”
But that wasn't important now.
Jo Il-sang forced open his crusted eyes and looked around.
‘!?’
Surveying, he furrowed his brow.
This wasn't the medicine hall.
Come to think of it, it felt oddly chilly and damp, like a cave.
-Drip! Drip!
‘Huh?’
He noticed sweat or blood droplets from his body floating upward.
What phenomenon was this?
‘Don't tell me...... am I hanging upside down?’
Now he understood why his face felt bursting.
Not just from the beating, but blood rushing from hanging inverted.
“Haa.... haa.....”
Jo Il-sang's breathing grew ragged.
He didn't know where this was, but it felt ominous.
He had to escape fast.
“Whew.”
Focusing his breath, he tried drawing energy from his dantian.
But,
‘W-what?’
No strength entered his body.
He wanted to concentrate, but sensation was gone from everywhere except his face.
“W-what's wrong with this?”
Panic made words spill from his mouth.
-Swish!
Then he heard footsteps.
“Looks like you're awake.”
Looking toward the voice, he saw Mok Kyung-un walking on the ceiling.
Of course, due to his inverted view.
Panicking from the numbness, Jo Il-sang shouted.
“Y-you, what did you do?”
At his question, Mok Kyung-un's lips curled nearly to his ears.
“Who knows. What could it be?”
-Chill!
Unlike the smile, his eyes brimmed with pure malice.
For the first time, Jo Il-sang felt genuine dread.
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