Chapter 59
Chapter 59
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 16
>Chapter Title: Corpse Blood Valley (4)
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Mok Kyung-un extended his arm slightly toward the empty air in the direction the death qi was flowing, just in case, and recited the formula in his mind.
It was the Adhesion Technique.
[Can you feel it? That's the妙理 of the Adhesion Technique. It can pull and attach anything. Even qi is no exception.]
Cheongnyeong had definitely said that.
Though the distance was far, so many boys had died that death qi filled the air everywhere.
At this level, it just might work.
‘Mu-jeol-sang-ryeo-i-hyeong-wi-sim-yang mu-o-jeon-geo-sang mu-sang-hyeong-wi-jeon ma-ga-ryang-hae-geo yeok-hae-mu-geuk-hyeol.’
Even though his meridians were sealed by the Golden Gate Lock, the Adhesion Technique wasn't something deployed with internal energy.
This was a special power derived solely from the formula itself.
A hand extended toward empty air.
The corner of Mok Kyung-un's mouth twitched as he concentrated.
-Shoooooo!
It had started as a casual check—if it didn't work, oh well.
But luckily, it succeeded.
The death qi swirling everywhere began to be sucked into Mok Kyung-un's hand.
It was an enormous amount of death qi.
‘It's adhering.’
He had thought only the death qi nearby would be pulled in.
But something巧妙 happened.
As the death qi around Mok Kyung-un was drawn in, it created a unique flow that pulled in even more from all directions.
He might end up gathering more death qi than even at Timber Sword Manor.
Watching the boys still locked in a bloody struggle, Mok Kyung-un thought to himself.
‘Kill more. Kill each other.’
The more they killed one another, the better for him.
Amid all this, one pair of eyes regarded Mok Kyung-un with puzzlement.
It was the Evil Ghost Mask.
‘...What’s he doing?’
Most gazes were fixed on the valley where the struggle was unfolding.
But the Evil Ghost Mask had inadvertently glanced toward the front of the incense burner and spotted Mok Kyung-un, who was alone, extending his hand slightly toward the valley.
‘Hm.’
No idea what he was up to.
Curious, he heightened his qi sense and looked at Mok Kyung-un.
But he felt nothing.
‘Overreacting?’
With the Golden Gate Lock sealing his meridians, there was no way he could do anything.
Not even qi circulation was possible.
Still, the behavior nagged at him.
Just then, a warrior beside him spoke up.
“The incense stick is almost burned out.”
Time was nearly up.
In that interval, the number of boys who had entered was just over four hundred.
Even excluding those killed fighting among themselves—nearly two hundred—the remaining two hundred were still in a fierce bloodbath.
-Chiii!
The incense stick was burning perilously close to the bottom line.
The Evil Ghost Mask raised his hand.
At that signal, the red-belted warriors surrounding the valley's edge drew their weapons from their waists in unison.
-Sring! Sring!
At the sight, the boys fighting over the iron orbs grew even more frantic.
If they didn’t hurry, they’d die.
It awakened the primal ferocity and desperate will to survive deep within them.
“Die! Die!”
-Kwak! Kwak!
“Get out of the way!”
-Grip!
“Argh! Y-you bastard, biting me?”
They smashed heads with rocks, and if that failed, they bit and clung like beasts.
It was utterly ruthless.
Even the onlookers, who had fought their own desperate battles to sit before the incense burner, couldn’t watch it as if it were someone else’s affair.
This was only the beginning, after all.
But among them, one boy stood out.
“Uwaaaaaah!”
-Krunch!
“Gahk!”
As if awakened, he had been unremarkable until now but suddenly began slaughtering the boys around him indiscriminately.
It was Mok Yu-cheon.
Unable to fathom killing others with no grudge between them, Mok Yu-cheon had focused solely on finding an iron orb and reaching the incense burner.
But the situation had driven even him to the brink.
“Haa... haa...”
From the moment he found the iron orb, boys had tried to kill him to steal it, and with the incense stick nearly burned out...
This had turned even Mok Yu-cheon into one of them.
‘Damn it! Damn it!’
He didn’t know how many he’d killed, but in the end, Mok Yu-cheon repelled all the boys after his iron orb and reached the incense burner.
Arriving there, he raised the blood-smeared orb high.
“Passed!”
The moment his shout was heard, all tension drained from him, and he collapsed to the ground.
His first thought as he sat there was this.
‘I survived... I made it.’
A bone-deep relief.
He had clawed his way out of hell.
The fear of death had forged in him a vicious tenacity to live.
But soon, staring at his blood-soaked palms, self-loathing washed over him.
‘...What... what have I... done?’
He’d done it to survive, but what was this?
He felt not human, but a beast for that one moment.
Then the Evil Ghost Mask’s shout rang out.
“The incense is fully burned. Kill them.”
“Yes, sir!!!!”
No sooner had the order fallen than screams erupted endlessly from the valley stream.
With their dantians sealed, the boys couldn’t even resist.
* * *
The warriors counted the number of boys sitting in a huddle before the incense burner, sobbing.
The tally came to a total of 468 survivors.
Nearly four in ten had died.
‘Six in ten... not bad.’
But the Evil Ghost Mask had little interest in the dead.
Surviving at a six-in-ten rate for the first gate was decent for an initial cull, in his view.
With the count done, the Evil Ghost Mask addressed the boys before the burner.
“Those who passed the First Gate, I sincerely congratulate you.”
“......”
The boys listened in silence.
It had only been two hours, but after doing everything to survive, they were exhausted.
Gazing at them, the Evil Ghost Mask continued.
“You’ve obtained the iron orbs, so you must have noticed. The numbers engraved on them are all different. Memorize yours well. That will be your designation here.”
“......”
“Now, we’ll proceed immediately to the Second Gate.”
-Murmur murmur!
His words stirred the boys, who had been catching their breath.
They had thought they might finally rest.
But the Second Gate right after the First?
Especially those who passed late, as the incense nearly burned out, were understandably miserable.
‘Damn it.’
Mok Yu-cheon felt the same.
Self-loathing aside, he hadn’t recovered his stamina yet—how long could he last doing this again?
Ignoring their reactions, the Evil Ghost Mask pointed toward the mountain beyond the valley.
“For the Second Gate, endure on that mountain until dawn breaks.”
‘Until dawn?’
It was late night now.
They had set out as the sun set.
After marching nonstop for about three hours, they’d done the First Gate over two hours.
Factoring that in, roughly three hours remained until dawn.
‘This time, just hold out?’
That would be easier than hunting iron orbs.
Even with crazy competitors, finding a spot to hide would let him conserve energy and rest.
With the Golden Gate Locks still in place, no one could use qi sense, so it was feasible.
Most seemed to think similarly, showing relieved expressions.
But it couldn’t be that simple.
The Evil Ghost Mask spoke.
“Here are the conditions.”
‘Conditions?’
What now?
“There are forty flags planted on the mountain. Each flag can hold exactly eight people. Precisely eight must remain at each flag site until dawn.”
-Murmur murmur!
Everyone stirred again.
As expected.
No easy path.
“More than eight or fewer means death.”
“......”
Silence fell.
Hearing the conditions, everyone pondered the gate’s crux.
Mok Yu-cheon was no different.
‘There’s nearly five hundred of us here. Forty flags mean only 320 can survive.’
It foreshadowed another bloody competition.
But there was a difference.
Once a flag was found, eight people had to band together to defend it for three hours.
‘Team cooperation!’
Everyone grasped the essence.
Variables abounded, but cooperation determined if they could endure efficiently.
-Swish!
Naturally, gazes shifted from the Evil Ghost Mask to one another.
No need to hunt flags and form groups there.
Better to team up now with the strongest, most reliable members here to breeze through the gate.
‘Then...’
Eyes turned to those at the front of the incense burner.
They passed first, brimming with stamina.
Joining their wing or recruiting them secured the high ground.
‘Hm.’
This wasn’t just the latecomers scheming.
The early passers were calculating too.
The boy from Slaughter Valley, who passed second, scanned his surroundings thoughtfully.
‘Passed the First Gate early and conserved energy, but the Second follows immediately. With these conditions, no relaxing even for a moment.’
Might mean no sleep all night.
Few flags and maintaining numbers would bring endless hassles.
‘An all-nighter.’
But if the Third Gate followed right after, stamina preservation was key.
Without qi circulation or meditation, it was huge.
If internal energy weren’t sealed, they could rotate rests to recover, but now it was near the limit.
‘...Might need to avoid needless fights.’
To fully conserve energy.
In that sense, allying with the most useful guys was best.
The Slaughter Valley boy glanced at those on either side.
Mok Kyung-un on the left, the muscular unmarked boy on the right.
‘Hm.’
Along with himself, the earliest First Gate passers.
Better to stick with the most energized ones nearby for efficiency than seek farther.
‘Thought I’d take them out in the Second Gate, but...’
This time, joining hands seemed wiser.
The Slaughter Valley boy subtly eyed Mok Kyung-un to his left.
He’d extend a hand first to build an alliance.
But,
‘!?’
He saw Mok Kyung-un’s lips twitch.
That intrigued glint in his eyes, like he was enjoying this—it was unsettling.
‘...No good.’
He just couldn’t bring himself to ally with this guy.
His instincts screamed no.
Among everyone here, this was the one to eliminate first.
Then Mok Kyung-un whispered first.
“Wanna team up with me?”
What?
Did this guy judge allying with him beneficial too?
But after that face earlier, any desire to partner vanished.
“...No.”
Mok Kyung-un shrugged and smacked his lips.
‘Too bad.’
He’d wanted to kill him first.
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