Chapter 261
Chapter 261
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 71
>Chapter Title: Mark (7)
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It looked like writing, yet it wasn't.
It was a mark where a vertical line pierced straight through the center of the number two.
Since it wasn't actual writing, it was closer to a kind of symbol.
Mok Kyung-un had spent a long time searching for this mark identical to the scar left on his dead grandfather's body.
And the first person he found bearing the same mark was Clan Head Mok In-dan of Timber Sword Manor, on the wound at his side.
Clan Head Mok In-dan had said the one who left him that scar was Ghost Sword, one of the Eight Stars.
Convinced that the Ghost Sword who left that mark on the clan head was either the same person who killed his grandfather or at least connected to them, Mok Kyung-un had been chasing down leads on the man.
But now, at last, another trace had turned up.
This one was different from the others so far.
And for good reason.
‘This isn't a scar—it's carved right in.’
That made a world of difference.
The marks left on his grandfather and Timber Sword Manor's clan head Mok In-dan were scars forcibly carved into them after they'd been overpowered by someone.
But the mark etched into the tip of this man's blade showed no signs of being inflicted against his will.
It was a mark meant to be seen.
“Grrgh.”
Yanking back harder on the hair of the Royal Guard's White Tiger spearman, whose face had been completely flayed and was writhing in agony, Mok Kyung-un said,
“You have no idea how long I've been searching for this.”
“Ugh... stop... grrgh.”
His teeth were all shattered, causing his speech to leak out garbled.
In truth, it wasn't just his teeth or face—his right wrist had been severed, and his left arm chopped off at the shoulder. He was in such a state that it wouldn't be strange if his last breath gave out at any moment.
-Tatataatak!
As if aware of his condition, Mok Kyung-un pressed an acupoint near the man's left shoulder.
The blood that had been gushing out quickly stanched.
Even so, he'd already lost so much blood that his face wasn't just pale—it was deathly ashen.
“Urghhh.”
“Looks like I got a bit rough without realizing it. But you're fine. You're still breathing, aren't you?”
-Parararara!
The spearman convulsed at Mok Kyung-un's chilling words, spoken casually with a smiling face.
Wooden splinters and shards embedded in his eyes had turned his vision blood-red, nearly blind, but the malice dripping from that voice was unmistakable.
Amid the torment, the spearman's mind fell into chaos.
Who the hell is this guy?
He'd clearly reacted to the mark engraved on his own blade.
No one alive should even recognize this mark anymore...
“St-stop right there.”
At that moment, someone shouted at Mok Kyung-un.
It was none other than Sang Ik-seo, the Royal Guard's Command Deputy Commissioner.
His face tense with resolve, he'd called out to Mok Kyung-un after steeling himself.
But Mok Kyung-un didn't even turn his head, as if he couldn't care less.
‘Tch.’
Am I not even worth his attention?
Gritting his teeth, Sang Ik-seo pressed a palm to his own abdomen and declared,
“If you kill that man, I'll destroy the Sovereign Gu inside me as well.”
-Swoosh!
Only then did Mok Kyung-un's gaze shift to him.
Sang Ik-seo prayed his gamble would pay off.
No way the man didn't care—he'd attacked so indifferently, but it couldn't possibly be irrelevant.
The reason he'd come here was undoubtedly the Sovereign Gu inside him.
There was no other reason to show up.
“You'll destroy the Sovereign Gu?”
“That's right. I don't know your true identity or what you really want, but you can't deny that one of your reasons for coming here is connected to Mara Hyeon's Heavenly Tiger, can you?”
“So?”
“......I said let that man go. Now. And leave.”
“Or you'll destroy the Sovereign Gu if I don't?”
“Exactly.”
Mok Kyung-un smirked at his words.
“Do whatever you want.”
‘!?’
Sang Ik-seo furrowed his brow.
What kind of response is that?
Do whatever?
“You don't care what happens to Mara Hyeon's Heavenly Tiger?”
“Yeah. So go ahead. But since you've threatened me, I'll make sure to collect on that debt.”
-Ohssook!
Chills ran down Sang Ik-seo's spine at those words.
No—his eyes met Mok Kyung-un's impassive face, and in that instant, he hallucinated his body being hacked apart, torn to shreds.
‘D-damn...’
Cold sweat instantly beaded on Sang Ik-seo's forehead.
He'd at least hoped to open room for negotiation, but nothing worked.
What now?
-Sruk!
In that moment, Mok Kyung-un's figure vanished right before his eyes.
‘Huh? No way?’
But then—
-Tatatatatak! Thud!
A pressure point strike from behind, and Sang Ik-seo blacked out.
Mok Kyung-un, who had struck his acupoint to knock him out, snorted derisively and glanced down at the man's abdomen as he lay there.
“A promise is a promise, after all.”
With his Three Eyes' demonic power unlocked, Mok Kyung-un's right eye could see it.
There, huddled in a corner of Sang Ik-seo's abdomen, motionless like it was dead: the female Sovereign Gu.
-Swish!
Mok Kyung-un lightly nicked his index finger with his ceremonial blade.
A drop of blood welled up on his fingertip.
He then pressed that bloodied finger to the spot where the female Sovereign Gu lurked inside Sang Ik-seo.
And then—
-Pfuk!
He thrust it straight through Sang Ik-seo's abdomen, shoving his finger inside.
Even unconscious, his body instinctively sensed the intrusion and twitched.
Ignoring it, Mok Kyung-un wiggled the tip of his inserted finger gently.
And then—
-Pak!
Something latched onto the wound on his finger.
With that, Mok Kyung-un pulled his pierced finger back out.
Clinging to the cut on his finger, wriggling grotesquely, was a bizarre insect.
‘Simple enough.’
Mok Kyung-un smirked as he watched.
Those ignorant of gu poisons puzzle over how to extract them, resorting to drugs or other methods to purge them from the body.
But surprisingly, you could draw one out easily by exploiting its nature.
Gu poisons were drawn to stronger poisons.
Born from the convergence of countless venomous insects, plants, and toxins, they reacted keenly to new poisons.
-Squish squish!
Mok Kyung-un's blood was as potent as any deadly venom.
Naturally, the gu poison was drawn to it, frantic to devour it even now.
‘What the hell is...’
The spearman, watching dimly through his fading vision, froze in horror.
The Sovereign Gu was supposed to burst and kill its host if forcibly removed.
Yet here it was, stuck fast to this man's finger, refusing to let go.
How was this possible?
He was still wondering when—
Mok Kyung-un opened his mouth and dumped the gu poison clinging to his finger inside.
‘Huh?’
And with that, he chewed on the female Sovereign Gu.
-Crunch!
-Kkiggggggrrr!
Even with his mouth closed and chewing away, the Sovereign Gu's death screech echoed from within.
‘!!!!!!’
The spearman was dumbfounded.
Born in pairs, the Sovereign Gu was pure venom incarnate, as deadly as any parasitic form.
And this guy was just chewing and eating a lump of ultimate poison?
Forget the stomach-turning sight—it was utter madness.
‘Is he trying to kill himself?’
But soon, after chewing thoroughly, Mok Kyung-un swallowed it down with a gulp.
Having devoured the female Sovereign Gu whole, he pressed an acupoint on the Royal Guard Command Deputy Commissioner's punctured abdomen to staunch the bleeding, then walked back toward the spearman.
The spearman couldn't comprehend it.
‘Why is he perfectly fine?’
The gu poison's venom was so lethal it should've melted his esophagus.
Yet Mok Kyung-un looked utterly unharmed.
Staring in blank confusion, Mok Kyung-un grinned casually and said,
“Wondering why I'm fine?”
“Youuugh...... what the......”
“Because the poison in my body is stronger than the gu poison's venom, obviously?”
‘The poison in his body? Don't tell me...... a Poison Person?’
The spearman was inwardly aghast.
As far as he knew, across the Central Plains and beyond, only two people had reached the realm of Poison Person.
Gu Yang-so, patriarch of the Gu family at the western border pass with his Eight Venom Serpent Staff, and Tang In-hae, patriarch of the Sacheon Tang family—one of the Seven Great Families—with his Thousand Poison Hand.
So if this guy was a Poison Person...
‘Is he one of them?’
It was highly likely.
But not Gu Yang-so with the Eight Venom Serpent Staff.
He couldn't be here in the first place, nor would he interfere with their operations.
Which meant...
‘The Thousand Poison Hand?’
No one short of a Poison Person could withstand a Sovereign Gu.
Convinced Mok Kyung-un was Tang In-hae, the Sacheon Tang family patriarch, the spearman said in disbelief,
“Resisting...... the poison...... fine...... but why...... eat it? If the...... Sovereign Gu...... dies...... the other...... mate......”
“You don't know much about gu poisons, do you?”
“Huh?”
“Gu poisons aren't just the most venomous insects gathered together. From the start, the pair are designed to influence each other, infused with a kind of shamanistic power.”
“Shamanism?”
“If the being that overcame all poisons to become Sovereign submits to an even greater poison and gets devoured, what happens to their hierarchy?”
‘!?’
The spearman's bloodied, scarred eyes trembled.
He understood what Mok Kyung-un meant.
‘Is that really possible?’
He grasped it in theory, but he'd always wondered if it could actually happen.
If a Sovereign Gu were devoured by a more venomous insect, that insect could become the new Sovereign—it was feasible.
But whether that applied to a Poison Person instead of an insect? Who knew.
As he puzzled over it, Mok Kyung-un approached, grabbed his hair, and said,
-Grip!
“What...... if Mara Hyeon's Heavenly Tiger lives, I'll be the new Sovereign Gu. If not, tough luck for me.”
The spearman inwardly stuck out his tongue in admiration.
That meant he'd gambled on something even he himself couldn't be sure of?
Absurd as it was—
-Bam!
“Guhk!”
Mok Kyung-un slammed his face into the ground and said,
“But more importantly, shouldn't you worry about yourself? I'm planning to count how many times you beg me to kill you from here on out.”
[Chapter 71 Mark (7)] End