Chapter 455
Chapter 455
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 117
>Chapter Title: Peerless (1)
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-Rattle rattle rattle!
The bamboo slip tucked in Jin Ye-rin's bosom began to tremble violently.
What is this?
Why is the bamboo slip shaking on its own?
Puzzled, she pulled it out, half expecting something.
The tightly rolled bamboo slip was shaking fiercely, as if trying to unroll by itself.
It was right then.
-Pop!
"Ah!"
In that instant, the bamboo slip in her hand flew off, propelled by some invisible force.
It was the seizing form.
The one who snatched it was none other than Mokgan's clone, with its ferocious expression.
"No!"
Panicked because Mok Kyung-un had been sucked into that bamboo slip, Jin Ye-rin shot forward to reclaim it, but a hand held her back, making her miss the chance.
The one grabbing her was Ghost Sword.
Ghost Sword shook his head.
If she had lunged for the bamboo slip, she would have taken a fatal blow from Mokgan's clone.
-Rattle rattle rattle!
Clutching the trembling bamboo slip, Mokgan spoke.
"What is this?"
"......"
Jin Ye-rin clamped her mouth shut at his question.
She couldn't very well say Mok Kyung-un was inside it.
But then,
-Crack crack crunch!
'!!!!!!!'
In that moment, Mokgan's clone gripped the bamboo slip, which was trying to unroll on its own, and crushed it to pieces.
Jin Ye-rin's pupils shook violently as she stared at the shattered bamboo slip in his clenched fist.
It had been trembling so fiercely, but it stopped the instant it broke.
'Ah......'
She had thought it was a sign of Mok Kyung-un's return.
No, the chances were high.
But before that could happen, her hope was shattered.
Noticing her reaction, Mokgan's clone smirked slyly and said,
"Must be disappointing to have your trick blocked before you could even try it."
"......"
"Judging by the energy from the bamboo slip, this must be from that bitch who pulled you out from inside."
"......"
"Quite the trump card, it seems. Heh heh heh."
"......"
Overwhelmed by despair, Jin Ye-rin made no reply.
-Step step!
Seeing her like this, Mokgan's clone approached slowly, his face showing boredom.
He could end it right then, but Mokgan was cautious.
Because the woman before him carried the bloodline of the Jin Clan.
Back in the days of the Nine Sects Era, he had killed them all—the descendants of the one called the World's Greatest Swordsman, who had even slain the fallen Dragon Demon.
Or so he thought.
Yet here, after obtaining the Golden Ritual and on his way to kill the Heavenly Demon, he found a surviving bloodline.
"This time, I'll make sure to sever that bloodline for good."
"Haa...... haa......"
-Chomp!
Jin Ye-rin bit the back of her hand gripping the sword.
Her strength had failed her, so she inflicted pain to revive her senses.
Mokgan's clone scoffed at the sight.
"Is this all it takes to break you?"
"......Shut up."
"It seems this lord overreacted. I thought since you'd hidden so well and finally shown yourself, you might have some prepared countermeasure, but it was just coincidence."
His taunt truly enraged Jin Ye-rin.
But losing her cool in this situation, where they were already pushed back even fighting together, would play right into his hands.
So Jin Ye-rin responded calmly.
"So that's what you really think."
"What?"
"They say a child startled by a scarecrow jumps at a pot lid. How terrifying our Jin Clan must have been for you to be this guarded."
Mokgan gave a nonchalant reaction to her retort.
He felt irritation but was trying not to show it.
Catching on, Jin Ye-rin pressed further.
"Then again, in the era when that man called the World's Greatest lived, there'd have been no place for a sinister parasite like you, who hijacks others' bodies to rampage."
"Parasite?"
"You think I don't know you're nothing more than an eyeball without someone else's flesh?"
-Crack!
No sooner had she spoken than veins bulged around the third eye on Mokgan's forehead.
Her provocation had hit home.
"To dare, you insignificant worm worse than an insect......"
It was right then.
Ghost Sword, who had been waiting for an opening, launched himself forward.
Having once shared the third eye and body with this entity, he knew its weakness precisely.
Naturally, it was that eye on the forehead.
Despite his leg injury, he closed in on Mokgan's blind spot in a flash with lightning-quick lightness skill and thrust his sword gang at the eye.
However,
-Pop!
Before the sword gang could reach, Mokgan's clone lightly turned his head to dodge, then kicked Ghost Sword in the abdomen.
-Thud!
The moment the kick landed, Ghost Sword wrapped his leg around and clung on.
-Pop!
'!?'
The real target wasn't him.
Jin Ye-rin had appeared behind Mokgan's clone like a gust of wind and aimed to sever its neck in one stroke.
'Got you!'
-Slash!
-Clang!
But her sword didn't reach Mokgan's clone's neck.
Mokgan had twisted his waist sideways and caught the incoming blade with his left hand.
Though the sword gang, fueled by innate true energy, was far stronger than ordinary qi and could suppress the demonic power of such parasites,
-Crash crash crash clang!
Mokgan's clone was a monster.
Even as a clone, with demonic power surpassing innate true energy, it snapped her sword clean in two.
-Clang!
Then, with the broken blade,
-Pop! Stab!
He hurled it at Jin Ye-rin, piercing her left shoulder.
If she hadn't twisted away instinctively, it would have gone through her heart and killed her outright.
But with her shoulder pierced, her balance crumbled.
-Squeeze!
Mokgan's clone seized her by the throat.
To save her, Ghost Sword—who had one arm wrapped around Mokgan's clone's leg—channeled all his remaining true energy to snap the leg, but,
-Thud!
Mokgan's clone sneered and kicked him in the face with his other foot.
Bones in his face crunching like they were pulverized, Ghost Sword let out a dying scream and flew back.
-Boom! Crash crash crash boom!
The flung Ghost Sword crashed through bamboo stalks and slammed into the ground.
With his face caved in and hideous, he strained to rise, but it was futile.
"Groooan."
His body had reached its limit and wouldn't move anymore.
Mokgan's clone glanced indifferently at Ghost Sword, then lifted Jin Ye-rin by the throat and said,
"Now your struggles end. Last blood of the Jin Clan."
"Gack gack!"
-Pop! Pop!
Jin Ye-rin flailed to pry off Mokgan's clone's hand, but having exhausted most of her innate true energy, she lacked the strength to escape.
Her desperate choking figure was utterly pitiful.
Mokgan's clone grinned ear to ear, savoring it.
'It's over.'
Though he'd lost two precious clones—few remained—the Golden Ritual for merging souls was secured, and he'd eliminated the Jin Clan's last bloodline. No loss.
"Huuu......"
Jin Ye-rin's strength gradually ebbed from her body.
Her face pale white, limbs dangling limply, Mokgan prepared to twist her neck for the finish.
But it was right then.
-Krrrrrrack!
A tearing sound came from somewhere.
What was that?
Perplexed, Mokgan's clone turned toward the source.
'!?'
It was none other than where the bamboo slip he'd crushed had fallen.
Mokgan's clone furrowed his brow.
Through the third eye on his forehead, he saw space tearing around the spot where the shattered bamboo slip lay.
'What?'
It was at that moment.
-Flinch!
A black line streaked through the air.
'This?'
Recognizing it as a strike gathering full power, Mokgan's clone hurriedly tried to release Jin Ye-rin's throat,
-Slash!
'!?'
Too late—his wrist was severed.
And Jin Ye-rin, who had been right in front of him, was gone.
The eye on his forehead darted around.
It locked onto someone thirty paces away.
There stood a handsome youth with disheveled black hair, holding Jin Ye-rin.
It was Mok Kyung-un.
"Cough cough!"
As Mok Kyung-un removed the severed hand from her throat, Jin Ye-rin coughed violently, her breathing restored.
Amid the coughing, she couldn't hide her shock.
She had thought with the bamboo slip destroyed, there was no way for Mok Kyung-un to return.
What had happened?
Puzzled, she heard him set her down and say,
"Stay here."
"Cough cough...... Mo, Mok Young Master......"
"I'll handle it quickly."
With that, Mok Kyung-un turned and walked toward Mokgan's clone.
Seeing this, Mokgan's clone scoffed in disbelief.
"You'll handle it quickly?"
-Slither slither!
He raised his rapidly regenerating left hand and said,
"You think the same luck will strike twice? Last time, the new body couldn't fully digest even half this lord's power, but now it's different."
-Slither!
No sooner had he spoken than Mokgan's clone's form blurred and vanished.
In an instant, he closed in on Mok Kyung-un and thrust his sword art finger at his brow with blinding speed, but,
-Slash!
A sharp sensation grazed his wrist first.
Through his eye, he saw a red line form on the arm holding the sword art, splitting it apart.
'!?'
-Pop!
Mokgan's clone hastily widened the distance from Mok Kyung-un.
Bewilderment clouded eyes that had been smug moments ago.
'......What in the world?'
What just happened?
He hadn't even seen the enemy swing his sword.
Despite vigilantly tracking every move with the third eye to avoid carelessness.
'Something...... changed.'
It was different from their clash at the Heaven-Earth Society.
Wary and hesitant to act rashly, he heard Mok Kyung-un approach and say,
"Are you scared? Why keep your distance?"
At the question, Mokgan's clone's face twisted ferociously for a moment.
[Chapter 117: Peerless (1)] End