Chapter 260
Chapter 260
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 71
>Chapter Title: Mark (6)
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Last night.
-Drip! Drip!
Watching flakes of skin peeling off Mok Kyung-un's body, Cheongryeong was utterly dumbfounded.
She had anticipated that absorbing some of the demonic power from the White-Faced King, the Golden-Furred Nine-Tailed Fox—one of the Six Demons said to be endlessly close to divine beasts—would allow his energy to advance a step further once integrated.
But this went beyond mere advancement.
Mok Kyung-un's body—his muscles and skeleton—were being reconstructed once more, undergoing evolution.
'Shedding mortality...'
This was what they called shedding mortality and rebirth.
To think she would witness him achieve this a second time right before her eyes.
This wasn't just expelling bodily waste.
His body was transforming into the optimal state to handle that energy.
-Roarrrrr!
The vast demonic qi emanating from Mok Kyung-un had already surpassed the peak of the Flower Realm—nay, transcended perfection.
She herself had broken through that wall before her death.
But she had never crossed the wall beyond the wall, nor seen it done.
Thus, it was hard to precisely gauge the level Mok Kyung-un's energy had reached.
'...In terms of sheer power alone, isn't he endlessly close to the Radiant Realm?'
The Radiant Realm.
It referred to the realm beyond the wall of walls.
A stage that transcended the Flower Realm, where manipulating true qi was as natural as breathing—the pinnacle any martial artist could attain.
What she couldn't comprehend was that Mok Kyung-un hadn't attained the enlightenment to surpass that wall of walls.
Shedding mortality without enlightenment?
That was practically impossible.
'So how is this possible?'
A second shedding of mortality.
Normally, energy beyond what one could handle would be expelled from the body.
Excess was worse than insufficiency, as the saying went.
Thus, the body would discharge energies that could become poison if retained, regulating itself.
Yet Mok Kyung-un had forcibly integrated it all.
Made it entirely his own.
'It's different from the concept of evolution. It's as if this guy's body is adapting to extreme conditions... Ah!'
Yes.
That was the fitting description.
His flesh was constantly adapting.
The level of that adaptability was so absurd it wasn't an exaggeration to say it transcended human limits.
Cheongryeong inwardly stuck out her tongue in amazement and became convinced.
'At this point, this kid could fully contend with the Eight Stars.'
The Six Heavenly Ones and Eight Stars, hailed as the pinnacle of the current martial world.
She was certain that while Mok Kyung-un's internal energy might not yet match the Six Heavenly Ones, he wouldn't yield an inch to the Eight Stars beneath them.
* * *
-Thud! Clang!
His right hand clutching the fallen blade on the floor.
Gyeom-chang of the Imperial Guard's White Tiger Division stared at it unconsciously, his pupils trembling.
He had unleashed a quick-draw technique worthy of being called extreme speed.
Yet how had this defenseless bastard...
"Ahh. I thought I'd slice you if I went too hard, so I unconsciously held back."
The voice came from behind.
The bastard was already there, behind him.
-Psh!
At that moment, blood spurted from his severed wrist.
The cut was so perfectly clean that the spray came belatedly.
Gyeom-chang hurriedly pressed the acupoint on his right arm to staunch the bleeding.
-Tatata!
The flowing blood soon stopped.
-Fwoosh!
Even with the bleeding halted, the agony of a severed wrist was beyond words, yet he didn't groan once as he moved to confront Mok Kyung-un.
Of course, his twisted face and pallor told a different story.
"Hoo. Seems you've got quite the endurance. It's fine to show the pain. No sound will leak out anyway."
'!?'
At those words, Gyeom-chang and Commanding Investigator Sang Ik-seo of the Imperial Guard glanced around the office.
They had blocked sound with true qi, but no special energy was felt.
Instead, the office felt eerily chilling in a strange way.
But that wasn't the point.
'Who the hell is this guy?'
Until moments ago, they had truly believed him to be Inner Palace Eunuch Ho Gong-gong.
However, having conversed with Ho Gong-gong several times, Sang Ik-seo remembered his voice precisely.
This man's voice lacked Ho Gong-gong's simpering tone or the weight of age.
It was, rather, exceedingly young.
'......A human skin mask.'
Sang Ik-seo was convinced that face was a human skin mask.
Had he not known about the mask, he might have been more confused, but since he already knew and planned to exploit it, it wasn't a huge shock.
What truly startled him were two other things.
'......What the hell is this monster?'
Events had unfolded so swiftly he was left dumbfounded.
Clearly, Gyeom-chang of the Imperial Guard's White Tiger Division had drawn first with his quick-draw.
Yet without so much as blinking, Gyeom-chang's wrist was severed.
'Didn't they say no Namjin martial artist could match him?'
How long ago had he said that, and now this?
It was absurd.
Of course, he didn't think Gyeom-chang had been bluffing.
Having witnessed his skills firsthand, Sang Ik-seo realized the opponent was an extraordinary monster.
'Just what is his true identity?'
Not just his martial prowess, but he knew of the Young-go's existence.
When the pair of Lonely Ones first arrived, Gyeom-chang of the Imperial Guard's White Tiger Division had said:
[While lodged in the body, it doesn't harm the host at all. It survives on waste and debris in the organs, actually benefiting the body.]
[Quite unusual for something called a Lonely One.]
[That's its advantage. If it stays long enough without harm, the organs no longer recognize it as foreign.]
[How is that?]
[Even if it's inside, not being seen as foreign means no physician or anyone can detect the Lonely One in the gut.]
[Oho!]
Gyeom-chang claimed neither the Lonely One nor the Young-go could be detected by anyone.
He had declared it so confidently.
So how had this man discovered it?
As the bemused Gyeom-chang—his right hand severed—extended his left,
-Woong!
Gang qi gathered on his left hand, forming the shape of a blade.
As a Flower Realm master, manipulating true qi freely was no great feat.
Only,
"Hoo..... Hoo....."
Knowing the opponent was no ordinary master, he couldn't move rashly.
For the foe to sever his wrist despite his extreme-speed quick-draw meant he was clearly a cut above.
Then, Commanding Investigator Sang Ik-seo cautiously spoke.
"Who are you?"
To that question, the unknown figure wearing Inner Palace Eunuch Ho Gong-gong's face smiled faintly and replied.
"As you see, Eunuch Ho."
"........."
Did he really expect them to buy that now?
Yet the unknown man wearing Ho Gong-gong's human skin mask looked at Gyeom-chang—who had formed a blade of qi, ready to respond—and said:
"You must realize the gap by now."
"Hoo.... Hoo....."
"If you value your remaining arm, just step aside."
Gyeom-chang ground his teeth at the utterly arrogant attitude.
Infuriating as it was, a man of such skill had every right to say it.
However, there were times to yield when outmatched and times not to—and this was clearly the latter.
Glancing sidelong at the Commanding Investigator, Gyeom-chang spoke.
"Hoo... Hoo.... I don't know your identity, but mentioning the Young-go means you're naturally connected to the Heavenly Fox Mara Illusion, right?"
"Who knows."
Neither affirmation nor denial.
But that ambiguous response alone convinced Gyeom-chang of the connection.
"Is that so? Then you know that if the Young-go's bearer is endangered or killed, it spells trouble for both sides later?"
"Both sides?"
"If the host dies, the Young-go dies too. Then the parasitic male Young-go will harm the host and perish. You get what that means?"
It meant the parasitic Heavenly Fox Mara Illusion in the host would also die.
"........."
Mok Kyung-un showed no particular reaction.
But with no retort or smile, he had clearly heard.
Here, Gyeom-chang pressed to seize the initiative.
"Better not move. Not just from threats— we can kill the Young-go outright too. Then the Mara Illusion dies as well."
Believing he had gained the upper hand, Gyeom-chang issued his warning.
Did the threat work?
The expression of the unknown figure wearing Ho Gong-gong's human skin mask had stiffened considerably.
His gaze had dropped downward.
'Down?'
What was he looking at?
Until moments ago, his eyes had been on Commanding Investigator Sang Ik-seo, but now they were fixed below.
On the severed right hand on the floor.
Why stare at that?
Puzzled, suddenly the man with Ho Gong-gong's face—no, Mok Kyung-un—extended his hand toward it.
In that instant,
-Whish!
The fallen right hand—no, the unique weapon it clutched, the Razor-Fang Blade—floated up and flew into Mok Kyung-un's grasp.
Why take my blade?
As he wondered,
-Thwack!
Mok Kyung-un dropped the right hand gripping the blade and peered piercingly at the weapon's end.
Seeing this, Gyeom-chang's eyes widened.
'No way?'
Right then.
-Swish!
Mok Kyung-un's form vanished, reappearing behind Gyeom-chang in an instant.
-Flinch!
'Fast.'
Though tense and focused, Gyeom-chang panicked at the blinding speed and urgently propelled himself forward to create distance.
But the moment he kicked off the floor,
-Slash!
Something sharp grazed his left shoulder where the qi blade had formed.
It was none other than his unique weapon, the Razor-Fang Blade.
Soon, his severed left arm hit the floor, and as balance faltered, Mok Kyung-un seized his head and smashed his face into the ground.
-Boom!
"Ghuk."
It didn't end there.
Grabbing his head, Mok Kyung-un dragged his face across the floor.
-Kugugugugugu!
The force was so brutal that Gyeom-chang's face was ground away entirely, a grotesque scream erupting from his mouth.
"Ugegeggek."
-Crack! Crunch! Snap!
Teeth shattered completely, wooden splinters and stone shards embedding in his eyeballs.
The pain was so excruciating it threatened to drive him mad.
As he writhed, his hair was yanked back, tilting his face upward.
'Hiiiik!'
His face, beyond bloodied—utterly horrific—left Commanding Investigator Sang Ik-seo speechless.
Ignoring the warning and doing this—did he care nothing for the Heavenly Fox Mara Illusion's life?
Then, Mok Kyung-un's lips curled into a chilling smile stretching ear to ear as he spoke.
"Finally found it."
At the tip of the blade in Mok Kyung-un's gleeful left hand gleamed a strange emblem.
It was the same mark as the scar left by his late grandfather.
[Chapter 71: Mark (6)] End