Chapter 35
Chapter 35
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 10
>Chapter Title: Martial Talent (2)
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-How dare this pathetic mortal try to probe my body with acupoint strikes as he pleases. He must be mad with a death wish. What should I do? If he doesn't want his heart burst, should I just rip it out?
"Huff..... huff....."
Outer Hall Leader Sang Ung-baek could barely even breathe.
He couldn't relax with that hand gripping his heart.
Mok Kyung-un gazed at Qingling, who was smirking behind the man who wasn't himself right now.
Mok Kyung-un was quite intrigued by her abilities.
'She's definitely on another level.'
Even a first-rate expert would struggle against the Yellow Spirit-rank Demon Monk, but Qingling had subdued Sang Ung-baek with such ease.
He seemed stronger than Gam Escort, yet he hadn't sensed a thing.
It felt like she could kill him whenever she wanted.
He could see why the Yin-Yang Family Secret Records called anything Green Spirit-rank or higher an uncontrollable evil.
It was worth buttering her up and waiting.
She wasn't fully controlled like the Demon Monk yet, but with more taming, she'd be useful.
-Are you going to keep this up? I can't maintain partial materialization like this for long.
'Ah......'
Is that so?
Good to know.
You had to understand abilities precisely to use them effectively.
Qingling raised one eyebrow and said,
-Is it that your pulse points are sealed, so you can't move?
"No."
-Swish!
Mok Kyung-un moved, prying off Sang Ung-baek's hand that gripped his own wrist.
Sang Ung-baek's eyes shook violently as he remained frozen.
He had definitely sealed the acupoints properly.
How could he move?
'No way?'
Sang Ung-baek thought he knew the reason.
Even the forceful true energy he'd injected had dispersed inside the body.
That meant the true energy used for the pressure point strike had likely scattered too.
'Ha!'
A body immune to acupoint strikes without the Blood Control Technique or profound inner arts.
It was truly bizarre.
Mok Kyung-un said to the astonished man,
"Does it hurt?"
"Haa..... haa....."
"Can't even speak?"
At Mok Kyung-un's words, Outer Hall Leader Sang Ung-baek cautiously parted his lips.
"Wh-what exactly did you do to me?"
Sang Ung-baek couldn't tell what this thing was that pierced his body and clutched his heart.
Mok Kyung-un smirked at the question and replied,
"You probably don't want to know."
"Pardon?"
If he learned what was behind him, he'd only fear more.
"And I don't feel the need to tell you."
Outer Hall Leader Sang Ung-baek scowled, at a loss for what to do.
Was this really the Mok Kyung-un he knew?
The atmosphere was too different.
Mok Kyung-un asked him,
"But Outer Hall Leader, why did you try to examine my body?"
"That's........"
"I'd appreciate the full story."
-Gulp!
Sang Ung-baek swallowed dryly without realizing it as his eyes met Mok Kyung-un's.
He hadn't noticed before, but those eyes stared straight at him without a flicker.
What kind of gaze sent chills like this?
It wasn't the eyes of a mere 17-year-old boy.
"He doesn't want to answer, huh. Qingling, he said he wanted to see his heart burst....."
"I-I wanted to confirm!"
Sang Ung-baek hurriedly answered the veiled threat.
Mok Kyung-un tilted his head slightly and asked,
"Confirm what?"
"......The Great Madam and Second Young Master going this far to target you was hard to understand."
"They targeted me, and you couldn't understand that?"
"Yes."
"Hmm. Why not?"
"Pardon?"
"With the succession struggle in full swing, it doesn't seem that strange."
Sang Ung-baek hesitated before cautiously saying,
"If this is the true face you've been hiding, Young Master, I can understand their feelings. But your past behavior and circumstances didn't warrant such aggressive targeting from the start."
"........."
"The Clan Head hasn't passed away yet, so it seemed odd they'd push so hard. I thought you might be hiding something."
Mok Kyung-un clicked his tongue inwardly at Outer Hall Leader Sang Ung-baek's words.
To leave room for suspicion like this.
'The real guy must have been pretty pathetic.'
It was laughable to be suspected for something so trivial.
Of course, it wasn't entirely incomprehensible.
He'd stood out too much in just a few days.
'Hmm.'
Mok Kyung-un stroked his chin.
If even Outer Hall Leader Sang Ung-baek, whom he'd met only once, suspected him, other retainers might soon eye him for similar reasons.
At least they didn't suspect he was a fake yet.
They just thought he was hiding his strength.
Mok Kyung-un spoke.
"So, did you achieve your goal of confirming?"
Outer Hall Leader Sang Ung-baek replied in a tense voice,
"......Were you hiding it on purpose?"
"Who knows. I have no obligation to tell you, Outer Hall Leader. More importantly, I'm wondering what to do with you."
-It's hard to maintain. Just kill him. Mortal.
Qingling said dryly, puffing heavily on her pipe.
Mok Kyung-un shook his head slightly.
"Not yet."
Killing the Outer Hall Leader would cause real trouble.
It would derail his plan to learn martial arts at Timber Sword Manor and leave.
What a dilemma.
-Then what?
"Who knows."
-It's reaching the limit. Decide.
"Hmm."
Outer Hall Leader Sang Ung-baek couldn't comprehend it.
Something gripped his heart, yet there was no presence behind him.
It was enough to make ghosts weep.
Even stranger, Mok Kyung-un was conversing with something he couldn't hear.
How should he take this situation?
But that wasn't the issue now.
He felt like he'd learned something he shouldn't have.
He might face extermination.
He hurriedly said,
"Young Master....... please forgive my rudeness."
"No. How is it rudeness when it's already happened."
"It is rudeness. As a retainer of the Mok Clan, I should have approached more cautiously, but I was too hasty. Please forgive me."
"I said it's fine."
"I truly had no other intentions. I just wanted to confirm if you had what it takes for succession."
That much was true.
He was disappointed in the Great Madam and Second Young Master Mok Eun-pyeong.
So he wanted to check if Mok Kyung-un possessed something worth their suppression.
The moment of decision would come after the Clan Head passed.
"Having seen your true face, Young Master, I......"
"Enough."
"Pardon?"
"I'm not interested at all in the succession fight among this family's people. But if even you get involved, Outer Hall Leader, it might get a bit tiring."
"Y-Young Master? What do you......"
What was that supposed to mean?
If he had no interest in succession, why hide this true nature?
Sang Ung-baek couldn't hide his bewilderment.
-Good. Then I can kill him now?
Qingling lifted the corner of her mouth as if she'd been waiting.
"No."
-No? Then what?
Mok Kyung-un glanced at the Demon Monk nearby and said,
"Can you do what you tried on me before?"
-.......!?
The Demon Monk's eyes lit up.
Qingling shot him a look asking what he meant, but Mok Kyung-un pointed at Outer Hall Leader Sang Ung-baek and said,
"The Yin-Yang Family Secret Records called it possession when a wandering soul attaches. Can you do it?"
-What?
Qingling's eyes widened.
Was this brat openly offering a possession chance?
And not to her first, but to this bald monk......
-Hmm.
Qingling's eyes narrowed.
On second thought, this mortal Sang Ung-baek's ugly mug was utterly distasteful.
Not a body worth taking.
So Qingling said generously, as if yielding,
-He's offering. Why not give it a try, monk.
-..........
The Demon Monk glanced slyly before eyeing Sang Ung-baek with the gaze of a predator on juicy prey.
Taking a living body—its po soul—was the instinct of all wandering souls.
Even as a familiar, it was the same.
"You can hold him, right?"
-That's no big deal.
-..........
At that, the Demon Monk approached Sang Ung-baek.
-Chill!
As it came nearly nose-to-nose, Sang Ung-baek sensed the eerie sensation with his qi sense and shouted at Mok Kyung-un in alarm.
"Y-Young Master, what are you trying to do?"
"You heard."
"Pardon?"
"Possession."
No sooner had the word left his mouth.
The Demon Monk seeped into Sang Ung-baek's body.
-Slither!
"Hngh!"
Feeling it, Sang Ung-baek desperately drew qi from his dantian to expel the foul intruder.
But then Qingling struck both his dantian and brain simultaneously.
"Gah!"
The qi spreading from his dantian through his body halted temporarily.
Not content, she tampered with his cerebrum, leaving Sang Ung-baek's eyes glazed like a mindless fool.
The Demon Monk seized the moment to attempt possession.
-Crack! Crack!
Sang Ung-baek's back arched like a bow.
A grotesque sound leaked from his mouth.
"Kekekegege!"
-Pop! Pop!
Black veins bulged all over, his form eerily resembling the Clan Head's final state.
It was the process of seizing the body through slaughter qi.
Understanding this, Mok Kyung-un watched Sang Ung-baek with keen interest.
His body thrashed wildly; he looked in agony.
-Whew.
Qingling exhaled thick pipe smoke.
Her eyes brimmed with anticipation, matching Mok Kyung-un's.
'Break it. Please break it.'
That wench Sak had failed because she was a poisoner.
But this Sang Ung-baek was different.
She hoped the Demon Monk succeeded in dominating the body and severed the familiar bond.
Then she could target some easy po soul to break her own bond anytime.
-Slither!
Just as she watched expectantly.
With the body somewhat dominated, the bulging black veins on his skin subsided.
Sang Ung-baek's agonized expression vanished too.
It turned utterly blank.
-Crack!
Sang Ung-baek straightened his back and opened his eyes.
His pale face now held an eerie glint unlike ordinary people; his aura had changed drastically.
Then Sang Ung-baek tilted his head slightly, trembling.
"Why is this happening? Is the possession not complete yet?"
Qingling answered the question.
-He's probably caging the ego. Dominating the mind after the body is the proper order.
"Oh ho. I see."
-Once the mind is dominated, he takes everything. Even the memories of the possessed body.
"Memories? Ah!"
Come to think of it, the bizarre Demon Monk had once used Sorcerer Bangsa's spell to make the Clan Head spit out the location of the secret manual in his head.
If memories could be read, it was almost like becoming that person.
The corner of Mok Kyung-un's mouth curved up.
'Not bad.'
No need for the tedious process of making him useful the hard way.
Familiars were perfectly his.
No worry of betrayal like with humans.
Right then.
The trembling in Sang Ung-baek's head stopped.
A subtle ghostly aura lingered in his eyes, but the pallor had faded enough that it was hard to distinguish at a glance.
"Is it done?"
Sang Ung-baek nodded at the question.
Then, satisfied, he twitched his lips and said,
"Master. This body is now mine."
The possession had succeeded.
Mok Kyung-un smiled, pleased at fully claiming the body.
'The Outer Hall Leader's body, huh.'
It might make his movements much freer going forward.
Qingling's expression, however, soured.
A red thread still protruded from Sang Ung-baek's chest, connected to Mok Kyung-un.
-Tch!
Severing the familiar bond through possession was impossible.
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