Chapter 343
Chapter 343
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 91
>Chapter Title: Offer (3)
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It was something no one could have anticipated.
The sight of Outer Hall Leader Dang Cheol-yong's head being torn off along with his spine left the hall plunged into silence for a moment.
Even in the martial world, where injuries and deaths were commonplace, there was a certain line that wasn't crossed.
Most people couldn't hide their shock at the brutality so horrific it was hard to watch with eyes open, and some among them even started vomiting, unable to bear it.
"Ah... ahhhh..."
"Ugh!"
"This... this cruelty!"
The silence born of shock shattered, but the room erupted in murmurs from all sides.
Mok Kyung-un grinned at their reactions, swinging the head—still attached to its spine—like a toy as he spoke.
"Your stomachs must be weak. Vomiting over something like this."
The Tang Clan warriors could only click their tongues at his nonchalant tone.
How could he wear such an iron mask and act this way?
Then, one Tang Clan warrior couldn't hold back and stepped forward, shouting.
"Stop this at once! I don't know what grudge you have against the main family, but how can a human being do such a thing...?"
-Swish!
'...Huh?'
At that instant, the Tang Clan warrior couldn't finish his words.
Mok Kyung-un, who had been right in front of him, had vanished, and he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Why stop mid-sentence? Go on."
They said extreme tension made even breathing difficult.
The warrior's breaths came in ragged gasps; he couldn't utter a word.
The hand on his shoulder teasingly moved toward his neck, and the image of Outer Hall Leader Dang Cheol-yong's head being ripped off replayed endlessly in his mind.
'I'm... I'm going to die.'
Seized by fear of death, his face drained of color.
"Hah... hah..."
"You're wasting your hard-earned courage."
Mok Kyung-un shrugged, then his hand slid to the man's neck.
-Pop!
In that moment, someone launched a sneak attack from behind Mok Kyung-un.
He was Dang Su-woo, one of the Tang Clan's executives and a supreme expert among the top five in the clan.
Knowing a frontal confrontation was impossible against this monster, he had waited patiently for an opening.
And now, by chance, Mok Kyung-un had approached within eight steps.
He couldn't miss this chance.
'Die!'
Dang Su-woo, suppressing his presence, unleashed his clan's pinnacle poison technique.
'Deadly Poison Eight Palms, Seventh Form: Rising Hegemon Poison Burst!'
The Sichuan Tang Clan possessed martial arts known as the Four Great Poison Techniques.
Deadly Poison Eight Palms was one of them, with its final three forms designed to instantly subdue and kill foes at a high level.
-Papapap!
Dang Su-woo's hands blurred into afterimages, targeting the vital acupoints on Mok Kyung-un's back with ferocious speed.
They were mere inches from contact, yet Mok Kyung-un showed no sign of noticing.
Could he really kill a grandmaster on par with the Six Heavenly Realms with his own hands?
-Pak!
"Kuh!"
Dang Su-woo's eyes shook.
Mok Kyung-un was now facing him, hand clenched around his throat.
'W-when?'
It was utterly bewildering.
To move so fast he couldn't even perceive it.
Was this the realm of super-speed movement only achievable by those who had reached the pinnacle of lightness skill?
'I have to shake him off first.'
He was mid-technique, so he could continue despite the chokehold.
-Kwak!
"Guhk."
But coinciding with the grip on his throat, the trauma of Outer Hall Leader Dang Cheol-yong's death—imprinted on everyone—left him desperately trying to break free.
"Let... let go!"
However,
"You're in the way."
"What...?"
-Slash!
"Urk!"
Mok Kyung-un severed his right arm, which was struggling to push him away, with a strike infused with sword energy.
His left arm followed suit.
-Slash!
Dang Su-woo, now bereft of both arms, screamed madly in unbearable agony.
"Kaaaaah!"
-Pak!
But the scream didn't last long.
Mok Kyung-un's tight grip on his throat silenced him.
"Kuhhh."
"No need to fuss; your turn's coming soon. Why throw your life away like this?"
-Rrip!
In that instant, Mok Kyung-un tore off Dang Su-woo's head, sending it rolling across the floor.
Blood spurted like a fountain from the headless body, drenching Mok Kyung-un's hair and face.
He swept back his blood-soaked hair and licked the corner of his mouth.
-Slurp!
Did the blood taste good?
The corners of Mok Kyung-un's mouth curled up.
The eerie sight left even those Tang Clan warriors who had mustered some courage pale and speechless.
The terror was so intense that some couldn't even regulate their breathing.
As he swept his gaze over them, they all averted their eyes, heads bowed.
His overwhelming presence had reached its peak.
"No one else feeling brave? If I do this one by one, we might be here all night, so maybe I should thin the herd a bit."
-Swish!
He gripped his sword manual and raised his arm high, leaving everyone puzzled.
Right then.
-Rooooar!
A ferocious energy erupted from the sword manual, forming black sword energy in the shape of a blade.
The sword aura shot up nearly four zhang in an instant, making the Tang Clan warriors' eyes tremble wildly.
'No way!'
'What kind of energy is that?'
As martial artists, they possessed qi sense.
They were aghast because the aura emanating from that black sword energy was on a world-shaking level.
How many here could block or withstand it?
A single swing would claim countless Tang Clan lives.
"Then, starting from the east side..."
"Stooooop!!!!!!"
As Mok Kyung-un moved to swing, Clan Head Dang In-hae screamed at the top of his lungs.
All eyes turned to him in that instant.
Mok Kyung-un included.
"...Did you say stop?"
"Please... please stop."
Dang In-hae pleaded with Mok Kyung-un.
Mok Kyung-un sneered in response.
"You know begging won't work much. If you want me to stop, make me."
With that, he feigned another swing toward the east side with his black sword aura.
"Run! Evacuate!"
"Uwahhh!"
The Tang Clan warriors in the east sector panicked, flying off in all directions to escape the radius.
At the sight, Clan Head Dang In-hae shouted again.
"These people... they're truly innocent. If you're a true warrior, show them mercy with your magnanimity. This was all my doing alone. End it with me."
Was it the clan head's sight—dragging himself across the floor on his severed legs—that spurred them?
Some of the terrified Tang Clan warriors cried out.
"Clan Head!"
"How can you bow to the enemy?"
"No matter what, we believe in you!"
"Tang Clan warriors! Fear not, steel yourselves for death..."
That was when it happened.
-Boom!
Mok Kyung-un abruptly stomped.
Vibrations rippled out from the point of impact.
-Rumble rumble rumble!
What had he done? In that split second,
The Tang Clan warriors trying to rally morale for their clan head suddenly screamed in terror.
"Kaaaaah!"
"Stop it! Please! Stop!"
"Aaah!!!!"
'What? What's going on?'
'Why are they suddenly like this?'
Those nearby tried to restrain the inexplicably afflicted ones,
But then,
"Uwaaaah!"
-Slash!
One of them drew his weapon and slit his own throat.
"Th-this can't be!"
Tang Clan warriors who had tried to stop him were dumbfounded.
But it wasn't just him.
-Pierce!
One screaming man gouged out his own eye with his finger.
Another, eyes rolled back like a madman, began smashing his head against the floor.
"Hahaha!"
-Thud! Thud! Thud!
Even with several holding him back, it was futile.
He smashed so hard his skull cracked, brains spilling out.
"Eek!"
-Smack smack!
Some even clawed at their own flesh, tearing off skin.
"Stop! Stop it! Please, pull them off me!"
They writhed as if something clung to their entire bodies.
Only about ten showed these symptoms, but the sight of them self-mutilating and committing suicide like lunatics threw the Tang Clan warriors into chaos.
It wasn't poison. What kind of bizarre phenomenon was this?
Clan Head Dang In-hae cried out with trembling eyes.
"W-what did you do?"
"Who knows. Looks like self-harm and suicide to me."
"You... you!"
Did that even make sense?
Clearly, after he stomped, these people had gone insane.
What had he done?
Then, a voice transmission rang in his ear.
-Ah, how fun would it be to make the Tang Clan slaughter each other right now? Blood kin ripping each other apart—quite the spectacle.
'!?'
Looking at the bastard's smiling face, he was genuinely enjoying this.
Was this demon really from hell?
How could he orchestrate something like this?
They had only killed that damned old coot who raised him, yet he was set to massacre the entire main family miserably.
Mok Kyung-un smiled at him, subtly lifting his foot, and sent another transmission.
-Want to see that too...?
Before the transmission finished,
"Yes! I killed that old bastard Jang Moon-no who raised you!"
'!!!!!!'
Clan Head Dang In-hae's shout echoed everywhere, silencing the entire Tang Clan.
The warriors stared at him in shock.
Everyone knew Jang Moon-no hailed from a Tang Clan branch.
He killed him? What did that mean?
As they puzzled, Dang In-hae continued in a trembling voice.
"The girl with special powers, Ye Song-a... to obtain her... I leaked the hidden location of the Sacred Flame Commander's grandmother from the Ye Clan—no, the Flame Witch—to the imperial palace, killed Jang Moon-no with Formless Poison, and tried to kill you the same way."
-Murmurs!
The once-silent hall began to buzz.
"Clan Head!"
"Why say this?"
"You're lying to save us..."
Some loyal executives and warriors denied it,
"...No. It's all true. When he appeared and clashed with the Yu Clan experts guarding the main family, I was so terrified he might die that I planned to abandon all the retainers here and flee to the Justice Alliance with only Ye Song-a. The carriage outside is proof."
No sooner had he finished,
The trusting eyes of the Tang Clan members grew icy.
How could such words come from their clan head?
-Clench!
Under their changing gazes, Clan Head Dang In-hae gritted his teeth and balled his fists.
Isn't this what you wanted?
To force me to reveal my ugly secret and walk into the abyss myself.
< 91화 바치다 (3) > End