Chapter 313
Chapter 313
-----------------------------------------------------------------
>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 85
>Chapter Title: Reunion (5)
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
Among those who had crossed the Wall to reach the Profound Realm, and even touched its outermost edges, some gained such profound insight into qi that they could wield weapons with true qi alone.
This was known as Sword Control Technique, or more precisely, Qi Sword Control Technique.
Since it didn't require physically grasping the sword, the technique allowed for freer movements, enabling more effective swordplay and attacks over a wider range.
Yet there existed a realm that maximized this Sword Control Technique: Qi Sword Gang.
Masters who had surpassed the Wall's edge to enter the Profound Realm possessed true qi at its peak, flowing smoothly, allowing them to elevate Sword Control to the point of manifesting gang qi.
'No... this can't be.'
Gu Yang-so, the head of the Gu Clan and the Eight Venom Snake Lord, couldn't hide his shock.
*Shuu shuu shuu shuu shuu! Puk! Puk!*
"Gah!"
"Argh!"
Two swords flew through the air like fish, indiscriminately attacking the masked figures, both enveloped in pitch-black energy.
He couldn't fathom why they appeared so dark, but that intensity was unmistakably gang qi.
Gu Yang-so looked at Mok Kyung-un with trembling eyes.
'How is this possible...'
Only an empty scabbard remained at the man's waist.
Even as he clashed with Gu Yang-so, he had unleashed Qi Sword Gang to strike down his subordinates—without Gu Yang-so noticing.
*Pa pa pa pa pak!*
'A monster... How could such a monstrous bastard exist?'
And yet, while wielding Qi Sword Gang like this, he hadn't taken a single step. With one hand, he fended off Gu Yang-so himself—no, now even Yi Gwang, who had launched a surprise sword strike.
It was as if this one man was handling four tasks simultaneously. This wasn't just someone who had barely crossed the Wall's edge; it was mastery beyond doubt.
At that,
*Pa pak!*
Gu Yang-so halted his attack and leaped back about six paces.
Then, he shouted toward Mok Kyung-un.
"Reveal your identity! Are you one of the Six Heavens?"
The Six Heavens.
They were the pinnacle of the current martial world, grandmasters of unparalleled prowess.
Having crossed the Wall into the Profound Realm, it was said that not even those just below them, the Eight Stars, nor any other Six Heavens member could face them one-on-one.
Gu Yang-so was convinced Mok Kyung-un was one of the Six Heavens, masked in human skin.
Nothing short of that could explain such near-divine martial prowess.
"The Six Heavens?"
Mok Kyung-un smirked.
A transcendent expert beyond the Wall mistaking him for the absolute peak of the martial world?
He grasped the implication.
It meant his own attainment had finally reached a level that inspired caution and fear in others.
It was at that moment.
*Kkug!*
The scarred middle-aged man, Yi Gwang, surged his internal energy, trying to wrench free the black sword blade caught between Mok Kyung-un's index and middle fingers.
But,
*Parururu!*
The blade only trembled violently, refusing to budge.
'What kind of internal energy is this?'
Judging he couldn't retrieve the sword, Yi Gwang released it and formed a sword gang directly with his sword fingers.
*Pat!*
The manifested sword gang thrust toward Mok Kyung-un's face,
But before it could,
*Puk!*
"Urk!"
Mok Kyung-un's kick slammed into Yi Gwang's abdomen, sending his body flying back over ten paces.
*Chwa rurururu!*
As the invading true qi ravaged his organs, Yi Gwang channeled it out through his soles.
*Pasususu!*
Mok Kyung-un's true qi—death qi—hissed into steam upon touching the rainwater, oxidizing away.
Yi Gwang's expression twisted.
It had been brief, but that bizarre true qi had nearly scattered his own.
He decided to avoid direct clashes as much as possible.
Then Gu Yang-so spoke to him.
"Yi Gwang, hold for a moment. That one is undoubtedly a grandmaster of the Six Heavens."
"The Six Heavens?"
Yi Gwang furrowed his brow.
It was true—if someone could wield Qi Sword Gang while briefly handling both of them simultaneously, only a grandmaster bearing the title of the Six Heavens could manage it.
Thus, Yi Gwang also cupped his hands in a fist salute toward Mok Kyung-un and said,
"Are you truly a senior of the Six Heavens?"
If he really was, even mutual destruction held little chance of victory.
Their attitudes could only grow cautious.
Moreover, if he truly was one of the Six Heavens, the organization would want to recruit him, making persuasion preferable to combat.
*Pu pu pu puk!*
"Gah!"
"Dodge! Dodge!"
Yet the two Qi Sword Gangs showed no sign of stopping, slaughtering the masked figures.
Even Mok Kyung-un's subordinates—Seop Chun, Mong Mu-yak, the masked Mara Hyun, and the Defiant Monk Ja Geum-jeong—guarded the inn room housing the Holy Fire Commander's group, cutting down masked assailants as their numbers dwindled rapidly.
At this, the scarred middle-aged Yi Gwang urgently shouted,
"Senior, please halt for a moment. We'll stop our attacks too. So..."
"Why should I?"
"Let's just talk briefly."
Mok Kyung-un smirked at his words.
And then,
*Seuk!*
With a light gesture of his sword fingers, Yi Gwang's pitch-black, charred sword lifted from the ground and flew straight for his heart.
'Damn it!'
Yi Gwang hastily employed footwork to evade, then seized the incoming sword hilt.
*Pak! Kkug!*
'What?'
*Chwa rurururu!*
The true qi riding the Sword Control was so overwhelming that even gripping the hilt dragged him forward nearly five paces.
Finally securing the sword, Yi Gwang calmly addressed Mok Kyung-un.
"We understand your anger toward us, Senior. But this is all a misunderstanding. If you'd hear our proposal..."
"First, tell me if you're Ghost Sword or not."
"......"
Yi Gwang's expression darkened at Mok Kyung-un's question.
He'd been speculating Yi Gwang was the Ghost Sword since earlier—was it due to those rumors spreading through the martial world?
'How much does he know about the organization?'
Their group had existed for ages, structured as a strict pyramid, responding to any who learned of them in one of two ways.
One was recruitment; the other, murder and silence.
Dead men tell no tales, after all.
*Pu pu pu puk!*
"Yi Gwang!"
Gu Yang-so shouted to him.
If they delayed, all the masked figures would be dead.
Yi Gwang hurriedly replied,
"I don't know what you think you know, Senior, but I am not the Ghost Sword."
"The Ghost Sword... you're saying no?"
"Yes. If there's a misunderstanding, please stop for a moment. At least while I explain, spare this pointless slaughter..."
*Seuk!*
At that instant, Mok Kyung-un moved his sword fingers.
One of the two swords unleashing Qi Sword Gang on the masked figures flew back—it was the Evil Instant Sword.
Yi Gwang hurriedly raised his black sword, now surging with gang qi, to block the incoming Evil Instant Sword.
*Chae chae chae chae chang!*
In an instant, they clashed five times.
Yi Gwang's expression grew strange as he parried.
The sword was shrouded in ferocious black energy, hard to discern, but it felt oddly familiar.
'A sword I've seen before.'
Then,
*Chae ang!*
As Yi Gwang deflected it, the Qi Sword Gang sword that had been engaging him was sucked back into Mok Kyung-un's hand.
*Chak!*
The black gang qi faded from the returning sword, revealing its blade clearly.
Seeing it, Yi Gwang's eyes narrowed.
'!?'
He recognized it instantly from the unique engraving on the blade.
"Evil... Instant?"
It was unmistakably the Evil Instant Sword, one of Old Man Gu Ya's demon swords.
He couldn't forget—he'd seen it in the Heaven-Earth Society's main hall training ground.
Its owner should have been,
'Dead?'
Something was off.
He'd heard that sword's owner died during the Imperial Guard selection process.
That intel came from the organization's network in the palace; it couldn't be wrong.
Moreover, the man was estimated at the Absolute Realm.
No matter how talented, martial growth had limits.
Yi Gwang reached a new conclusion.
'Could he be... the North Faction Blade King?'
The Six Heavens' North Faction Blade King, Gu Sung-baek.
Come to think of it, he'd received one puzzling report.
During the extraction of the Holy Fire Commander from the palace's underground Golden Prison, things escalated, with even North Faction Blade King Gu Sung-baek intervening.
Yet, unexpectedly, as they escaped in an unforeseen manner, Gu Sung-baek had abruptly abandoned the pursuit and returned to the Emperor.
Yi Gwang had found it odd at the time.
A grandmaster like North Faction Blade King Gu Sung-baek could have easily captured the Heaven-Earth Society's juniors, no matter how skilled they were.
Why abandon it so suddenly?
Now the answer emerged.
'North Faction Blade King Gu Sung-baek is an Imperial Guard southern advance warrior. If a candidate died in the selection, he likely obtained that demon sword via report channels.'
Was this a trap orchestrated by the palace Imperial Guards?
Even with infiltrators in the organization, the palace's power wasn't to be underestimated.
Two Er-gye level executives had already died mysteriously, and they'd been investigating who was responsible—could it all be the Imperial Guards?
*Kkug!*
Gripping the sword hilt tightly, Yi Gwang looked at Mok Kyung-un and said with conviction,
"Are you Senior North Faction Blade King Gu Sung-baek?"
"Why do you think that?"
"That sword's owner died in Ya Dang during an unfortunate incident in the Imperial Guard selection."
"Hoh. I thought I'd killed them all, but some organization remnants lingered in the palace, huh?"
Yi Gwang let out a shallow breath at Mok Kyung-un's words.
His guess had been spot on.
Er-gye level executives dying out of nowhere? Only a handful in the palace could manage that, yet it had seemed strange.
"So it was the Imperial Guards after all."
Mok Kyung-un smirked at his words.
'!?'
What was that reaction?
It bordered on mockery.
His reasoning wasn't wrong—why respond like that?
As Yi Gwang puzzled, Mok Kyung-un said,
"Disappointing. Even you don't know everything."
*Jeobuk jeobuk!*
With that, Mok Kyung-un strode toward him.
Yi Gwang shouted,
"Thirty-Two Stratagems!"
*Ta ta ta ta tak!*
No sooner had the cry ended than the surrounding masked figures suddenly struck their own pressure points.
Their auras surged violently.
Yi Gwang signaled Gu Yang-so with his eyes.
'We must go.'
The Thirty-Two Stratagems was the protocol for San-gye and below organization members: detonate their core true qi for a suicidal joint assault.
If he was North Faction Blade King, recruitment was impossible; they needed to buy time this way and escape.
But right then—
*Kwam!*
Mok Kyung-un stomped the ground fiercely.
The earth quaked, rainwater splashing outward as a wave-like shock rippled over ten jang.
The masked figures, detonating their core true qi, convulsed and collapsed.
*Chem-bung! Chem-bung! Chem-bung!*
'No?'
'What is this?'
They couldn't conceal their bewilderment at the sudden phenomenon.
They'd meant to sacrifice them for escape—what was happening?
*Seu ruk!*
In that instant, Mok Kyung-un's figure vanished.
It seemed like ultra-high-speed movement, too fast to track his trajectory.
Yi Gwang heightened his qi sense and darted his eyes.
Right then—
*Seu ruk!*
A hazy shadow materialized before him, aiming between his brows.
He jerked his head back to block,
But—
*Sa sak!*
It was a feint.
The real strike—
*Paa ang!*
"Guh!"
—was a palm to the abdomen.
Yi Gwang's body flew back, tumbling through muddy rainwater several times.
"Urk!"
After rolling to a stop, he scrambled to right himself.
But,
"Keurk!"
The qi infiltrating his organs disrupted him, forcing up vomit he couldn't hold back.
Having emptied his guts, Yi Gwang staggered up, finally raising his head to search for Mok Kyung-un's footsteps.
There he stood, hands behind his back, right in front.
Yi Gwang ground his teeth at the arrogant gaze looking down and opened his mouth.
"Haa... haa... North Faction B..."
"I recognized you at a glance, but you didn't recognize me at all."
'!?'
Yi Gwang's eyes shook.
Ignoring it, Mok Kyung-un continued.
"I paid back that debt from back then with Three Stars Internal Energy, fair and square."
With that, he gripped his chin and peeled off the human skin mask.
*Jii iiiik!*
'!!!!!!!!!'
As the mask came off, revealing his true face, Yi Gwang's slightly trembling eyes widened as if to pop out.
To him, Mok Kyung-un grinned chillingly and said,
"Long time no see, huh?"