Chapter 346
Chapter 346
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 91
>Chapter Title: Offering (6)
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It was a hideous and utterly wretched end.
The death of Clan Head Tang In-hae.
When the patriarch, the greatest elder and leader of the clan, met his demise, it was only natural for shock, grief, and rage to spread throughout the entire family.
Yet this death brought only a complicated mix of emotions.
Even though the clan's greatest enemy, the one threatening its very survival, had slain the clan head, not a single one of them could muster any anger.
‘…’
There were two reasons for this.
The first was that the root of it all stemmed from the hidden secret of Clan Head Tang In-hae himself.
Upon learning this truth, even in a martial clan centered around blood ties, opinions were sharply divided between the main house, branch houses, and collateral lines—they couldn’t hide their profound disappointment in the clan head.
And the second.
Not only had the clan head tried to abandon them and flee, but he had driven even more of the Tang clansmen to their deaths than the enemy had.
One need only look at the惨 spectacle in the rear garden to see that.
As a result, not a soul among the Tang clansmen stepped forward to avenge the clan head despite his death.
Of course, there was a third reason keeping them from acting.
-Gulp!
The Tang clansmen stared at Mok Kyung-un with tense faces.
Thanks to the clan head’s own confession, they knew why he had stormed the Tang Clan.
Thus, they understood the source of his vengeance and its immense depth.
‘Killing intent… He hasn’t let it go.’
‘Ominous.’
The aura around Mok Kyung-un, gazing at the sky with closed eyes, was far from ordinary.
Even after slaying the root of it all, Clan Head Tang In-hae, his killing intent still radiated ominously, so they couldn’t lower their guards.
-Swish!
At that moment, Mok Kyung-un lowered his head and opened his eyes.
At the sight, the Tang clansmen’s hands instinctively reached for their weapons and hidden darts.
Until now, all their fury had been directed at the clan head, but with him dead, no one could predict what he might do next.
The best outcome would be for him to end his vengeance here.
They waited in tense anticipation, harboring a sliver of hope.
“By any chance, is there anyone here who was with the clan head when he killed my grandfather, or who heard something about it?”
“…”
Everyone fell silent at Mok Kyung-un’s question.
And rightly so—this was something they had only just learned, that the clan head had secretly committed such a vile and audacious act behind the backs of the clan members.
Even if they had known, who would dare speak up?
It would only provoke the monster.
As silence hung over them, Mok Kyung-un smacked his lips in disappointment and spoke.
“I was planning to torment him a bit more and make him spill the details of what happened back then with his own mouth, but I never expected him to down that blood poison and croak so easily.”
That had been Mok Kyung-un’s original plan.
He intended to torture him physically and mentally until he begged for death.
But whether by design or to protect himself, thanks to Grandfather’s arrangement, he had swallowed the blood poison and breathed his last.
Of course, he had gone in extreme agony, but Mok Kyung-un inwardly felt it wasn’t enough.
“No one knows anything? Hmm. Well, even if you did, you wouldn’t open your mouths easily. I wouldn’t either.”
The air grew heavy.
He shrugged and spoke in a light tone, but the atmosphere was anything but.
It felt like it could erupt at any moment.
Then, as Mok Kyung-un gripped his sword manual, the two demon swords at his waist—Evil Instant and Fear Murder—slipped free on their own.
-Thud thud!
‘!!!!!’
At the sight of the two demon swords floating like swimming fish, the Tang clansmen’s faces drained of color.
It was Sword Control with Qi.
Mok Kyung-un looked at them and smiled faintly.
“Perfect. I was still itching to vent more anyway. Might as well offer a proper funeral dirge to Grandfather with your screams.”
-Chill!
His words sent shivers down their spines, every hair standing on end.
Was he truly intent on seeing the Tang Clan to the bitter end?
Just then.
-Thud!
Something heavy plummeted from the sky.
All eyes turned toward it instantly.
The figure, who had dropped suddenly and now rose from one knee, was none other than,
“Yu Clan!”
It was Yu Mu-jin.
At Yu Mu-jin’s appearance, those who knew him showed a flicker of relief.
They had wondered where he and his group had gone after vanishing mid-battle.
For him to appear now, in this dire moment, sparked a glimmer of hope.
Yet Yu Mu-jin’s expression, basking in their expectations, was grim.
‘Ah…’
And rightly so. The rear garden evoked a vision of hell, strewn with blood and mangled corpses.
Frowning at the sight, Yu Mu-jin’s gaze naturally shifted to Mok Kyung-un.
His smile amid this bloody inferno was eerie in itself.
-Clench!
Seeing it, Yu Mu-jin bit his lip hard.
After learning the circumstances, he had viewed it as an internal Tang Clan matter and decided not to interfere.
With a clear culprit and some connection to himself, he had trusted the man to end his revenge appropriately.
But that judgment had led to the worst outcome.
Yu Mu-jin regretted his own decision and choice.
“My judgment was wrong.”
-Creeeak!
Yu Mu-jin turned the dial on his power gear.
As it reached the fourth stage, his muscles swelled and flushed red, white steam rising from his skin.
-Hiss!
Yu Mu-jin tried to keep turning it.
But,
-Rrrumble!
The dial wouldn’t budge.
It seemed his heart injury hadn’t fully healed.
‘…No choice, then.’
He knew fourth-stage release wouldn’t suffice against Mok Kyung-un, but it was his only option now.
Mok Kyung-un spoke to him.
“I remember you saying you wouldn’t interfere.”
“That would’ve held if you’d stopped at an appropriate line. But from what I see, you won’t stop until you’ve killed every last Tang clansman.”
“Whether it’s all of them or not remains to be seen.”
“…I was a fool to trust you even a little. Related to the Tang Clan or not, I should’ve settled things with you one way or another back then.”
“If you had, you wouldn’t be breathing now.”
“…”
Yu Mu-jin fell silent at Mok Kyung-un’s words.
Indeed, if not for the Three-Eyed Leopard matter, he might have lost his life then.
He had no retort.
Yet as long as he drew breath, he couldn’t stand by and let the Tang clansmen be slaughtered.
-Crack! Crack!
Yu Mu-jin’s right biceps and forearm bulged massively.
In his current state, he couldn’t properly block if Mok Kyung-un concentrated his power as before, so he had no choice but to go all-out for a quick decisive strike.
-Groooowl!
As power gathered in his right arm, Mok Kyung-un spoke in a dry voice.
“If you go all-out without holding back like that, you’ll make the same mistake as the clan head.”
“The same mistake?”
“You’re seeing it.”
Mok Kyung-un swept his gaze around with both eyes.
At the sight, Yu Mu-jin’s pupils trembled.
“…What are you saying right now?”
“I’m just getting started, and I haven’t even done much yet. Almost all the blood staining this place is the clan head’s handiwork.”
‘!!!!!’
Yu Mu-jin’s face twisted in disbelief.
Why would the clan head do such a thing?
Yu Mu-jin denied it.
“Lies! Even so, why would the clan head slaughter his own clansmen…?”
“After abandoning them all to flee, would he really fuss over a few deaths?”
At Mok Kyung-un’s words, Yu Mu-jin looked at the Tang clansmen.
He hoped at least one would refute it, but they remained silent.
Thus, Yu Mu-jin realized it was the truth.
‘Ha…’
What an incredible man.
To pull something like this right up to the end.
He had even rendered the clan precept to protect them hollow.
Had he lost the will to fight?
Just then,
“Well, it doesn’t really matter who did the killing, does it? Since you’re here to stop me anyway, no need to drag this out.”
-Roooar!
Yu Mu-jin’s eyes shifted.
He sensed qi gathering on Mok Kyung-un’s two demon swords hovering via Sword Control with Qi.
He was openly amassing power with Sword Control.
It was a blatant threat.
But what shocked Yu Mu-jin more was,
‘…He’s already recovered this much qi?’
He clicked his tongue inwardly.
Unlike himself, Mok Kyung-un hadn’t rested at all, as far as he knew.
Yet he had regained nearly half the qi from their full-power clash.
If they fought now, he wouldn’t last long and would surely lose.
Yet he had no choice.
If he left, they would all die.
Right then.
“Please stop.”
A middle-aged man from the Tang Clan stepped forward.
Without taking his eyes off Yu Mu-jin, Mok Kyung-un asked,
“Who are you?”
“I am Tang In-hu, captain of the clan head’s escort unit.”
“The clan head’s escort captain? Ah, then you must have been quite close to him.”
“…You could say that.”
“Then you must have always been by his side.”
“Not always. That’s why I only learned of everything he did just now.”
“The clan head’s escort only learned of his deeds now?”
“…Hard to believe, but the clan head trusted no one when conducting secret affairs. Even I, the escort captain, was kept in the dark about much.”
Mok Kyung-un snorted.
“But what exactly do you know?”
At the question, Escort Captain Tang In-hu hesitated before cautiously speaking.
“I heard from Elder Jang Moon-no that the clan head used Formless Poison.”
“…And?”
“The clan head had many secrets, but when cultivating martial arts, he needed protectors, so I had to guard him.”
“…”
“That’s why I know that after using Formless Poison, red spots appear on his neck due to the aftereffects.”
‘!?’
-Swish!
Before the words finished, Mok Kyung-un’s form was already before him.
Startled by the sudden appearance, Escort Captain Tang In-hu flinched under the pressure but held his gaze steady.
“Continue.”
“First… make a promise.”
“A promise?”
“Yes. What the clan head did was truly unknown to all of us Tang clansmen.”
“So you bear no responsibility?”
“If being blood kin is a crime, then perhaps, but we were practically abandoned by him. How do you think we feel? Yet if a peerless master like you insists on killing us, we have no choice but to fight for our lives. But honestly, we don’t want the entire clan sacrificed for the clan head’s sins.”
Mok Kyung-un’s eyes gleamed at Tang In-hu’s frank and sincere words.
“Hmm.”
He stared intently at him, then glanced at the tense Tang clansmen.
They truly feared him.
He had considered slaughtering the rest as a funeral dirge for Grandfather, but his interest waned.
-Swish!
He withdrew the qi gathered on the two demon swords.
Yu Mu-jin, noticing first, let out a sigh of relief.
If Mok Kyung-un had pressed on, the Tang Clan would have suffered a massacre beyond recovery.
‘Lucky, I guess.’
It felt odd that he was included in that luck.
Then Mok Kyung-un spoke.
“Fine. Tell me what you know, and we’ll end it here. But…”
“But?”
“I don’t like leaving loose ends.”
“Loose ends? What could we possibly…”
“There’s a saying: a gentleman’s revenge is never too late, even after ten years. That’s how I got here.”
Just half a year ago, Mok Kyung-un hadn’t even learned martial arts.
Yet now he wielded power that decided the fate of the entire Tang Clan.
With his own example foremost, he had no intention of overlooking it.
“What exactly do you want?”
“I learned something somewhere. Seems like a decent method.”
“…What is it?”
“Seal your gates. For about sixty years.”
‘!!!!!!!!’
The Tang clansmen erupted in murmurs at his words.
They hadn’t expected him to demand they seal their gates.
Sealing the gates meant a sect or clan admitting defeat and cutting off all external activity.
Sixty years was a full cycle, nearly two generations.
It was tantamount to severing all potential future threats.
‘H-How could he demand…’
Escort Captain Tang In-hu was at a loss.
He had focused solely on saving everyone’s lives from a lone Six Heavens-level peerless master, but who could have imagined such a demand, as if they’d lost to an entire organization?
Even Yu Mu-jin was stunned by Mok Kyung-un’s outrageous demand and nearly spoke up, but…
‘…Hah.’
He closed his mouth.
There was no way to stop him if he decided to kill them all now.
It might wound their pride, but pride didn’t substitute for life.
The decision rested with them.
-Swish!
Escort Captain Tang In-hu, troubled by Mok Kyung-un’s words, looked pleadingly at the Tang Clan elders.
Their faces twisted in humiliation and pain.
But refusing here meant certain doom.
The elders nodded.
“Aaah!”
Sighs echoed everywhere.
How could the Sacheon Tang Clan—one pillar of the Orthodox Alliance, one of the Seven Great Clans, hegemons of Sichuan—endure such humiliation?
Leaving the anguished elders behind, Escort Captain Tang In-hu forced himself to speak.
It was hard to continue, but as the negotiator, he had to conclude.
“We… accept… your… conditions.”
“Then declare your defeat first.”
-Clench!
Tang In-hu bit his lip and spoke again.
“We still… don’t know… who you are. What should we call you?”
Mok Kyung-un paused at the question.
This was the moment to settle his grudge with Grandfather—should he use his true name?
Or the one from the Heaven-Earth Society, Mok Kyung-un?
But once they declared defeat, the name would spread, so neither fit perfectly.
Thus,
“Heavenly Demon.”
Like in Shaolin, he said Heavenly Demon.
Tang In-hu steadied his pained expression, gathered his qi, and shouted loudly.
“The Sacheon Tang Clan admits defeat to the Heavenly Demon and, as recompense, hereby declares a sixty-year gate-sealing!”
End of Chapter 91: Offering (6)