Chapter 399
Chapter 399
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 105
>Chapter Title: Grand Sorcerer Myeong-ryul (3)
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High in the sky, some two hundred張 above the inner fortress of the Heaven and Earth Society.
There, a small bird that wasn’t particularly large hovered silently in the air without even flapping its wings, gazing down at the ground below.
From a distance, it appeared to be an ordinary bird, but the moment one approached, its form was utterly unlike any bird commonly known.
It had ears, a mouth, and a nose shaped just like a human’s, and its body resembled that of an owl.
What was even more chilling about its appearance was that it had three legs and four eyes.
This bizarre owl-like creature was the monstrous beast known as Ong, a type of elusive demon beast.
To the east of Danhyeol Mountain, some 2,700 li away, lay Yeonggu Mountain, a place where much of the land was barren of grass and trees.
This monstrous beast Ong was an elusive demon beast that roamed only the withered parts of the mountain, and its appearance was said to foretell the ruin of that year’s crops, making it a symbol of ill omen.
-Ong! Ong! Ong!
Curiously, this Ong sought out only parched lands, so why was it here in the skies above the Heaven and Earth Society?
The pupils of the four eyes on the monstrous beast Ong bore a strange inscription.
Shi (示).
It meant “reveal.”
-Kiririk! Kirik!
The four eyeballs moved independently in eerie fashion, peering down below.
Their separate movements made it seem as though they were surveying all directions at once.
Yet those independently moving eyeballs—all but one, which remained fixed on the inner fortress headquarters—suddenly converged on a single spot.
That spot was none other than the manor of the eldest young master, Nayul-ryang.
-Sss!
As the monstrous beast Ong’s pupils narrowed, the battles unfolding in the manor came into view.
However, it soon lost interest in those fights, and the gaze of three of its eyeballs focused intently on just one person.
That person was Mok Kyung-un.
The three eyeballs fixed on Mok Kyung-un began scrutinizing every minute detail.
His appearance, his movements—everything.
But it was right then.
‘!?’
The area around the monstrous beast Ong, which had been focused on gazing down at the ground, suddenly darkened.
Realizing this too late, the monstrous beast Ong didn’t even bother checking the shadow enveloping it before launching its body to evade.
However,
-Kreuk!
The monstrous beast Ong was swallowed whole into something’s maw.
It was none other than Heumwon, an elusive demon beast with an upper body like a bird and a lower body like a thorned hornet.
The monstrous beast Ong, a full rank below, struggled desperately inside its mouth to escape,
but
-Krunch! Krunch!
it was simply crushed to death within the demon beast Heumwon’s jaws.
At the same moment,
in a dark space.
-Drip...
From the left eye of a being seated in a chair shrouded in shadow, a tear of blood trickled down.
The single eye on that being’s forehead snapped open, and mad laughter erupted from its mouth.
“Krahahahahahaha!”
As the laughter spread, the surroundings shook as if struck by an earthquake.
After laughing for a good while, the being in the shadows finally stopped and muttered in a voice that had regained its sanity.
“Interlopers always show up, it seems.”
* * *
-Shink!
‘!?’
A sharp sensation pierced its flesh, and the feeling that followed vanished.
Its right leg, blazing white-hot, was severed and collapsed limply to the ground.
With that, a scream of agony burst from the spirit beast Baekhwa Dokgok’s maw.
-Kraaaaaargh!
“Hmm.”
Mok Kyung-un glanced back briefly and smirked.
He’d aimed to decapitate it in one stroke, but the spirit beast Baekhwa Dokgok had thrust forward with its foreleg at the last instant to dodge, limiting the damage to that one leg.
It could be said to have saved its life.
-Swish!
Mok Kyung-un looked up.
There, a familiar the size of a fingernail, the demon beast Heumwon, was circling the sky with wingbeats.
‘Handled nicely.’
At last, that irritating gaze was gone.
He’d first sensed the unease upon arriving at the Heaven and Earth Society.
Someone—or something—was definitely watching him.
But a single gaze was hard to pinpoint.
However, after reaching the eldest young master Nayul-ryang’s manor, that faint irritation grew steadily stronger.
That allowed him to finally trace its source.
‘Above.’
It was positioned higher in the sky than expected.
Which meant it wasn’t human.
An elusive demon beast.
If he approached to catch it, the distance would let it flee for sure.
So he’d simply drawn its attention by holding back just enough without a proper fight, then dealt with it.
Besides, the demon beast Heumwon had been recovering from the injuries it sustained from the Shaolin monk’s staff.
Thanks to Heumwon, the irritating gaze was completely gone.
There was no longer any need to hold back.
“...What the hell are you?”
Grand Sorcerer Myeong-ryul couldn’t hide his bewilderment at Mok Kyung-un’s suddenly changed aura.
The spirit beast Baekhwa Dokgok had clearly been injured, though masked by its scream.
‘My senses keep getting disrupted by that sharp energy...’
Grand Sorcerer Myeong-ryul’s brow furrowed.
He lacked eyes, but his other senses were extraordinarily acute. Normally, he spread his qi in all directions to precisely grasp everything unseen.
Yet the razor-sharp sword intent emanating from Mok Kyung-un shook his senses, making it impossible to probe with qi.
‘I don’t know what trick he used, but if we don’t launch a joint attack soon, we’ll be the ones in trouble...’
-Shink!
It was right then.
Something grazed past him, and a voice came from behind.
“Let’s start with your right arm.”
-Thud! Spurt!
No sooner had the words ended than his arm detached from the shoulder on its own, blood spraying like a fountain from the clean cross-section.
-Kiiiiii!
The demonic beast Yu-al, which had become Grand Sorcerer Myeong-ryul’s armor through human-demon integration, also cried out in pain.
“Guhhh. Y-Yu-al!”
Grand Sorcerer Myeong-ryul wanted to scream in agony too.
But with extreme endurance, he held it back and called to Yu-al.
In response, the part of Yu-al’s body near the severed right arm writhed, pressing down and sealing the stump.
Thanks to that, the fountain of blood stopped abruptly.
“Quite the useful demonic beast.”
-Pak!
Unsure if it was mockery or genuine praise, Grand Sorcerer Myeong-ryul hurled himself away to create distance at Mok Kyung-un’s voice and shouted,
“Baekhwa Dokgok!”
At his cry, Baekhwa Dokgok, tormented by the loss of one foreleg, kicked off the ground with its hind legs and launched upward, then
-Shraaaaa!
curled its body and spun at tremendous speed.
Now fully transformed into white flames, Baekhwa Dokgok’s rotation made the surrounding air shimmer with heat.
-Fwoooosh!
-Pat!
Grand Sorcerer Myeong-ryul launched his form in response.
Though spreading qi around him was difficult, his other senses were fine, so he could at least approximate positions.
‘With things like this, we’ll use our joint secret technique to take him down...’
-Shink!
It was right then.
A black line shot diagonally from the ground,
and
-Shudder!
Baekhwa Dokgok’s spherical, rapidly spinning body began to slow.
But that wasn’t the end.
The white flames enveloping its entire body were gradually extinguishing.
And then,
-Thud!
The spirit beast Baekhwa Dokgok’s body fell limply to the ground.
“Baekhwa Dokgok!”
Grand Sorcerer Myeong-ryul shouted with a more twisted expression at the sight of Baekhwa Dokgok plummeting before it could even unleash its technique.
What the hell had just happened?
Sword intent sharp enough to cleave the air itself surged toward the sky.
From that moment, the spirit beast Baekhwa Dokgok’s demonic power rapidly dispersed amid the heat.
-Tak!
Mok Kyung-un smiled at Grand Sorcerer Myeong-ryul, who halted mid-leap.
“Want it?”
“What?”
“This.”
-Whish! Thud! Rumble!
Something heavy rolled across the ground and stopped at Grand Sorcerer Myeong-ryul’s feet.
Heat still radiated from it, as scorching as it had been moments ago.
‘...Baekhwa Dokgok.’
Yes.
It was none other than Baekhwa Dokgok’s severed head.
-Ugh!
A pang of pain struck his chest.
That confirmed it for Grand Sorcerer Myeong-ryul.
The instant the spirit beast Baekhwa Dokgok’s head separated from its body, it had died completely, severing the bond with its familiar as well.
The backlash had rushed back to him because of that.
‘Impossible.’
Grand Sorcerer Myeong-ryul was truly aghast.
It was a spirit beast, no less.
Though it fell short of the near-divine Six Demons, spirit beasts occupied the pinnacle among elusive demon beasts.
Even he, who had made it his familiar, had to battle nearly three days and nights nonstop to capture it—something countless sorcerers wouldn’t dare dream of.
Yet the very spirit beast Baekhwa Dokgok, which had cost him such agony to subdue, had lost its life in such an anticlimactic way.
-Grind!
Grand Sorcerer Myeong-ryul bit his lip hard before opening his mouth.
“You... exactly... what are you? How do you possess such power...”
“I said I was done holding back. Ah, more precisely, there’s no longer anyone watching, so no need.”
At those words, Grand Sorcerer Myeong-ryul unwittingly swallowed.
Though unseen, Mok Kyung-un’s words and the finger pointing skyward said it all.
[He will be watching.]
[Watching? You mean...?]
[Do what you must, Grand Sorcerer.]
Myeong-ryul suddenly recalled what that one had told him.
Did that mean this bastard had dealt with his eye?
As bewilderment gripped him, he sensed Mok Kyung-un approaching.
“Now then, shall we hear everything you know?”
-Flinch!
Grand Sorcerer Myeong-ryul involuntarily stepped back, overwhelmed by the mere approach.
What could he possibly do against a monster that had slain a spirit beast in an instant?
It was then.
-Rumble!
“It’s him!”
“Kill him!”
Dozens of warriors began pouring in through the northern gate of the rear garden annex.
They were the reinforcements for Grand Sorcerer Myeong-ryul, arriving belatedly.
‘Ah!’
Though fewer and somewhat inferior to those from the east and west flanks, some among them were hall leader-level experts, enough to buy some time.
He had to slip in among them and use them as shields...
“Such a hassle.”
Mok Kyung-un lightly lifted one foot, then
-Thud!
slammed it down onto the ground.
The earth cracked, and the surrounding air rippled outward like waves.
At the same time, the dozens of warriors charging toward them clutched their chests, spewing blood before collapsing on the spot.
“Guh!”
“Keuk!”
-Thud! Thud! Thud!
At the sound of them falling, Grand Sorcerer Myeong-ryul froze, trembling as if seized by convulsions.
‘One Step?’
His mind flashed with something like lightning as that single footfall felled so many experts.
It was the urgent report he’d received not long ago.
The bizarre rumor of a seventh heaven having appeared.
The one who had collapsed Shaolin’s 108 Arhat Formation in a single step and single-handedly forced the Sakcheon Tang Clan to seal its gates—that new storm.
He’d been more skeptical than believing of the unbelievable tale.
But this One Step—could it be...?
“Heaven...ly Demon?”
[Chapter 105: Grand Sorcerer Myeong-ryul (3)] End