Chapter 396
Chapter 396
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 104
>Chapter Title: Crossroads (3)
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“Now the situation has reversed. With that clever head of yours, why don’t you guess what I’m about to say…”
“Just kill him.”
“...!?”
The expression of Yul Myeong, the messenger from the Elder Hall, hardened.
What had he just heard?
Kill him?
“Mok Kyung-un... This little brother of yours is…”
“I said kill him.”
“...”
The words were so resolute that not only Yul Myeong but even the white-haired elder who had captured Mok Yu-cheon couldn’t hide his embarrassment.
He had clearly understood these two to be brothers taken hostage together.
That was why he thought Mok Kyung-un would make for a fine bargaining chip to restrain him.
But what was this guy?
“Bluffing? But even then…”
There wasn’t the slightest hesitation.
Not even a tremor in his voice.
His reaction was as if the other were a complete stranger, utterly absurd.
“No. Even if they don’t get along, no one wishes for the death of their own blood kin. He must be suppressing his emotions to an extreme degree.”
As Great Young Master Na Yul-ryang had said, if he had truly surpassed the wall of walls to reach the Transcendent Realm with such profound enlightenment, controlling his own feelings would be child’s play.
Then there was only one way to test it.
-Whoosh!
Yul Myeong raised his hand and gave a hand signal.
At that, the white-haired elder sighed and pressed down on Mok Yu-cheon’s left shoulder.
-Crush!
“Urk.”
“You’re suffering needless harm because of your brother’s stubbornness.”
“Brother... what... brother. I clearly... urk! ...told you... that bastard... wouldn’t even... blink an eye.”
Mok Yu-cheon had already heard, while being captured, that he would be used as a hostage to threaten Mok Kyung-un.
Snorting in response, he had insisted it would never work.
The guy was a real demon.
If he truly saw him as a brother, he never would have done those things back at Blood River Valley.
-Crush!
“Guh!”
The pain felt like his shoulder was about to be torn off, and a groan escaped Mok Yu-cheon’s lips, growing louder.
Yul Myeong then spoke to Mok Kyung-un.
“Even if your brother’s shoulder is torn off, will you still say to kill him…?”
-Swish!
Before his words could finish.
Mok Kyung-un’s form appeared before him in an instant.
The hand of the suddenly appearing Mok Kyung-un reached out to seize Yul Myeong’s throat in one motion.
-Pat!
At that moment, Yul Myeong hurriedly leaped back, and something invisible and unknown created a repulsive force in front of the pursuing Mok Kyung-un.
-Bam!
“What’s this?”
The incredibly heavy impact pushed Mok Kyung-un’s form back about five paces for a moment.
Raising his voice at him, Yul Myeong said,
“As expected, it was all a bluff. You think taking me hostage will let you safely retrieve your brother?”
“I told you I don’t care whether he lives or dies.”
“You expect me to believe that? Elder Kang. Just rip off his left shoulder.”
“Understood.”
-Crack!
The white-haired elder called Elder Kang immediately thrust his fingers into Mok Yu-cheon’s shoulder.
However, he didn’t do it in one go.
Since the goal was to threaten the hostage and control the opponent’s actions, he deliberately pushed his fingers in slowly.
But right then.
“As expected, you’d do exactly that.”
-Crack! Crunch!
Mok Yu-cheon’s shoulder muscles bulged, veins popping grotesquely across his face skin as his body began to swell.
Startled by the sudden change, Elder Kang tried to tear off Mok Yu-cheon’s shoulder.
But in that instant,
-Smack!
Mok Yu-cheon seized his wrist and snapped it clean.
-Snap!
“Urk! You bastard!”
With his wrist broken, Elder Kang gathered energy in his other hand to pierce Mok Yu-cheon’s throat in one strike.
But before he could, Mok Yu-cheon shot his form forward, evading it.
Having dodged, Mok Yu-cheon turned his head to glare at Elder Kang as if to keep him in check.
-Flinch!
Elder Kang momentarily froze, feeling an eerie chill at the sight: veins bulging across his entire face, eyes blood-red, skin turned black and hideous.
At that moment, Yul Myeong, the messenger from the Elder Hall, shouted.
“What happened? Did he slip away?”
“This bastard was hiding some bizarre qi circulation method.”
Having gripped the shoulder with his hand, Elder Kang had felt the qi reverse in an instant.
Such reversal was an extremely dangerous qi method that could lead to qi deviation.
Just looking at his current state proved it.
‘His internal energy has exploded.’
In that instant, it surpassed his own.
In terms of raw power, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say it had reached the pinnacle of the Absolute Realm.
But this was surely temporary, induced by that perilous qi method—it couldn’t be sustained long-term.
-Shing!
He had to subdue him first.
Elder Kang drew his sword and launched his form toward Mok Yu-cheon.
But then,
-Pat!
Rather than blocking his sword, Mok Yu-cheon shot toward an unexpected figure.
It was Mok Kyung-un.
The momentum of his launch made it look like an attack.
Just as he suspected,
-Bam! Bam!
Mok Yu-cheon gathered sword energy in his hand, channeling immense power into the third form of the Bright Sun Sword Technique, the Signature Blade Return, unleashing it toward Mok Kyung-un.
The form’s momentum was utterly tyrannical, as if truly intent on killing.
‘I was a fool to hold even the slightest hope.’
In truth, Mok Yu-cheon could have avoided capture using his reverse blood qi circulation method.
But he had wanted to test, one last time, whether Mok Kyung-un truly saw him as blood kin.
If he had shown even a flicker of hesitation, even a demon like him would ultimately prove human.
But now, not a shred of hope or lingering attachment remained.
‘Since you tried to abandon me too, I’ll crush you here and sever all blood ties and bonds.’
Thus, Mok Yu-cheon’s blade strike, at its peak via the reverse blood qi method, ruthlessly surged toward Mok Kyung-un.
But then,
-Clang!
“!?”
Mok Kyung-un casually caught the risen sword energy with his bare hand.
The tyrannical momentum and power in the blade strike weren’t exaggerated as reaching the pinnacle of the Absolute Realm.
Yet what was this?
Dumbfounded, Mok Yu-cheon heard Mok Kyung-un say,
“Why attack me?”
“You... how?”
Back when they clashed, thanks to the reverse blood method, it had been nearly even.
But what was this now?
-Tremble!
-Snap! Snap!
Even with his reverse blood power raised to ten stars, his hand wouldn’t budge.
The guy hadn’t even gathered special sword energy in his hand—how was he enduring qi energy near sword aura with bare fists?
As he wondered, Mok Kyung-un said,
“Judging by your eyes, your mind hasn’t been consumed. Your skill’s improved decently too.”
“Skill? What the hell are...”
“If you’re pissed because I said to kill you and came charging, I’ll let it slide once.”
“What?”
“Stop being a nuisance and get lost.”
-Thud!
“Gahk!”
The words ended as Mok Kyung-un’s fist lightly tapped Mok Yu-cheon’s abdomen.
It wasn’t even swung hard—just a casual poke—yet Mok Yu-cheon’s back arched like a shrimp, his form flying backward.
-Kaboom! Kaboom! Kaboom!
He even smashed through a wall dozens of feet away.
Crashing through the wall and tumbling several rolls, Mok Yu-cheon finally came to a stop.
“Ugh... ugh...”
Lying spread-eagled, he was utterly flabbergasted for real.
He had thrown himself into mad martial arts training, obsessed with repaying that debt from back then.
But what was this?
Far from being his match, a single light punch had shaken his five viscera and six bowels.
Blood welled in his throat, and unable to maintain the reverse blood method, his body was reverting to normal.
‘Damn it.’
-Bam!
Pounding the ground with his fist, tears welled in Mok Yu-cheon’s eyes.
After all that suffering, the bastard had grown so strong that he felt not like a novice, but less than a bug on the floor.
It was too unfair.
Meanwhile, seeing Mok Yu-cheon charge at Mok Kyung-un only to be sent flying with a single blow, Yul Myeong from the Elder Hall inwardly clicked his tongue.
He had wondered if blood ties could be used as a control piece, but they were apparently worse than enemies.
‘Utterly useless leverage.’
No choice then.
With the hostage ploy failed, only two options remained.
Surrounding them now were the secret elite group nurtured by the Elder Hall, plus the captains and leaders persuaded by Great Young Master Na Yul-ryang, along with their subordinates.
Ten Absolute Realm masters, nearly fifty at Peak Realm or above, and around four hundred first-rate elites scraped together besides.
With more time, they could have gathered more, but half a gak was the limit.
Of course, this was already formidable, but if the opponent was truly a grandmaster at the Six Heavens grade beyond the wall of walls, it fell short.
Thus, their ace was himself.
-Whoosh!
Yul Myeong formed a hand seal with one hand and spoke.
“The hostage play’s meaningless now. We’re forced to see blood after all. I truly hoped a young talent like you would join us.”
“That won’t happen. And…”
Mok Kyung-un’s gaze turned toward something in front of Yul Myeong—precisely, a transparent entity faintly emanating spiritual power.
Seeing this gaze, Yul Myeong clicked his tongue.
“Truly remarkable talent. Had we met sooner, I’d have taken you as a disciple under my sorcerer name.”
He meant it sincerely.
The faint spiritual entity guarding him possessed exceptional concealment abilities—even Fangwol-grade main forces of Imaymangryang couldn’t detect it.
At least Fangil-grade or above was needed, yet this youth under thirty had the aptitude.
“I’ve heard that a lot. The sorcerers of the Phantom Killer Pavilion all said the same before they died.”
“Before they died? Wait... surely you don’t mean...”
“You did well to kill my familiars and even try tracking me.”
“!?”
Yul Myeong’s ears perked up at those words.
He had assumed the one controlling Pavilion Leader In Seo-ok of the Phantom Killer Pavilion as a living corpse was a sorcerer from Harmonious Immortal Pavilion, with Red Devil Old Immortal—one of the Six Directional Gods—behind it.
No one else could deflect his tracking arts, he had thought.
But,
‘This kid... deflected my tracking arts?’
Yul Myeong was genuinely stunned.
A mere youth not even titled a Directional God had repelled his tracking.
What kind of freak was he?
His martial arts rivaled the pinnacle of the current murim at Six Heavens grade, and as a sorcerer, his main force reached Directional God level too?
To the astonished man, Mok Kyung-un gripped the hilt of his demonic sword Ak-chuk and said,
“That’s why I planned to kill you if I ever saw you. Lucky for me—you walked right into my path.”
“Kill me? Ha!”
Absurd, Mok Kyung-un smiled faintly and said,
“You shouldn’t over-rely on that invisible familiar.”
“Pfft.”
Yul Myeong snorted in derision.
Unfazed by the reaction, Mok Kyung-un half-drew Ak-chuk.
-Shing!
Yul Myeong’s scoff cut off as he said,
“Never has my reputation been so tarnished since earning the Directional God title. Very well.”
“Directional God?”
Had he just called himself that?
Puzzled, Yul Myeong formed a hand seal with one hand.
-Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!
Lin! Bing! Jie! Zhen!
-Roarrrrr!
In that instant, spheres of flame began raining down from the air like hail.
-Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Even Elder Kang, his ally, gaped at the bizarre sight.
What in the world was this phenomenon?
Yul Myeong then spoke in a meaningful tone.
“I am Myeong Yul, Grand Sorcerer of Golden Origin Pavilion. One of the Six Directional Gods, the first to contract the supreme spirit beast of Imaymangryang as my familiar.”
-Rooooaaarrrrr!
Scarce had the words ended when a massive, snow-white entity that had been invisible revealed itself before them, unleashing a deafening roar that shook all directions.
[Chapter 104: Crossroads (3)] End