Chapter 67
Chapter 67
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 19
>Chapter Title: Gu Poison (2)
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‘Is it a difference in class?’
Mok Kyung-un’s eyes gleamed as the pale hands plunged back into the water after just a single warning from her.
Indeed, once one reached the class of Blue Spirit, the sheer pressure alone overwhelmed even the more formidable wraiths.
“Impressive as always.”
In response to Mok Kyung-un’s praise, Blue Spirit, who had driven off the water wraiths, spoke in a voice laced with irritation.
-Do you think I warned you because of these low-class things?
“That’s not it.”
Mok Kyung-un shrugged.
Naturally, she wouldn’t have needed to warn him if they were Red Spirit or Vermilion Spirit class.
Her warning was about those things that were devouring each other, twisting into the worst kind of gu poison.
-Gooooooo!
About forty paces away, a thick fog blanketed the area.
It was so dark that the interior was completely invisible.
If it were just ordinary fog, that would be one thing, but this pitch-black mist swirled like a massive torrent, exuding an ominous aura just from looking at it.
-That’s not the only problem.
“......You mean those as well?”
Beyond the massive thing that had swallowed an entire space, there were smaller ones too.
They too formed small mists, tangled chaotically, and something felt off about them.
Blue Spirit gazed at them and said.
-Low-class wraiths feel fear toward me and scramble to flee like those just now. But those are different.
“Different how?”
-Wraiths that devour each other out of greed can’t see anything.
“What do you mean?”
-They devour each other to survive and grow stronger. Right now, those things see nothing. They’re driven solely by the urge to consume.
That was why Blue Spirit had advised against approaching them.
No matter how much lower their class and weaker they were, once they’d gone mad and become asuras, it would be hard to protect him if they all lunged at once with determination.
-Hey, mortal. You think you can break through those and absorb that thing?
“Only one way to find out.”
-Reckless fool.
That was far too dangerous.
It was a situation where he might end up being devoured instead, so she wanted to forcibly drag him up right now.
At that moment, Mok Kyung-un looked around.
The place was filled only with foreboding, with no trace of any human presence.
Mok Kyung-un muttered to himself.
“Looks like it’ll be fine here.”
-What are you talking about?
At Blue Spirit’s question, Mok Kyung-un suddenly groped around his lower back near his spine and pressed his palm against it.
Then, he firmly pressed a finger into one spot.
“Hoo.”
-.......What are you doing right now?
“I was debating whether to do this, so I guess you could say I was half in doubt.”
-What?
Before she could question further.
Mok Kyung-un’s back arched, and he slightly furrowed his brow between his eyes.
He was someone who wouldn’t even blink at ordinary pain—what kind of agony was this to make him react like that?
-What in the world.....!?
Blue Spirit’s eyes gleamed.
Dangling from Mok Kyung-un’s finger was a needle about the length of a finger joint.
-Ha!
The tip was hooked like a barb—this was none other than a Golden Gate Lock.
It was used to block the channels and seal internal energy.
Normally, a Golden Gate Lock required a special tool with strong magnetism to remove, yet Mok Kyung-un had extracted it using the Mounting Form.
‘Using the Mounting Form like this.’
The channel near the spine where the Golden Gate Lock was embedded was extremely dangerous.
It could be perilous, yet he had adjusted the Mounting Form without hesitation and pulled it out.
It was audacious.
-Mortal, you really......
“Hold on. I need to remove the other two first.”
-.........
Just as he had done before, Mok Kyung-un removed the remaining two Golden Gate Locks.
The Golden Gate Locks embedded in the spine’s acupoints were painful to insert, but even more agonizing to remove—yet there was no change in his expression even on the second one.
It was remarkable endurance.
-Pak!
The moment Mok Kyung-un extracted all the embedded Golden Gate Locks,
-Shwaaaaa!
The blocked channels opened, and the seal was released.
The death qi he had gathered until now circulated through his entire body, filling him with energy.
‘Well, now.’
Blue Spirit’s eyes narrowed.
With the channels sealed, no energy had leaked out, so she couldn’t gauge how much death qi he had amassed—but this exceeded expectations.
It had already surpassed twice his original death qi.
If he could fully assimilate it, he would reach the early pinnacle stage with internal energy alone.
‘It’s astonishing.’
Death qi followed a completely different trajectory from ordinary energy.
It was nearly the polar opposite, yet this human possessed such a vast amount of deathly energy. Mok Kyung-un was likely the only one.
No, was he really human?
It was bizarre enough that he remained unscathed with so much death qi in him.
-Twitch!
Blue Spirit looked around and chuckled softly.
The low-class wraiths nearby trembled in fear at the immense death qi emanating from Mok Kyung-un.
Stretching languidly, Mok Kyung-un said.
“Feels refreshing. I was getting stifled with those things stuck in me the whole time.”
-You held back on purpose?
“Yeah. Just in case.”
He had heard that masters with keen energy sense could detect lesser cultivators’ auras.
That was why, from the moment the Golden Gate Locks were first inserted, Mok Kyung-un had considered this but held off.
Blue Spirit clicked her tongue.
-So you didn’t come down here blindly.
At this level, aside from that massive one, there were only a handful of things here that could directly threaten Mok Kyung-un.
Of course, the ones devouring each other would target him indiscriminately.
“Risking your life is different from suicide.”
-You talk a good game. But it’s still dangerous. Even if incomplete, that thing could be more perilous than me in some ways.
Its goal wasn’t possession.
It was indiscriminate devouring to complete its transformation.
It would try to consume him one way or another.
-First, the ones around us?
Blue Spirit nodded toward the small whirlpools.
Mok Kyung-un shook his head.
Staring at the massive whirlpool, he said.
“For dark fish head, you start with the head.”
-Crazy bastard. You think that’s a fish?
Calling that a dark fish head.
It meant the head of the fish was the best part.
If this was his way of saying to tackle the strongest first, it was utterly like him.
-Greed turns to gluttony. But if you can make that yours as you say, it’ll shave ten years off your path.
“Can you help?”
-As your food spirit first and foremost, you think I’d let my disciple die?
At those words, Mok Kyung-un smiled faintly.
“If that disciple dies, his master Blue Spirit dies too.”
-........Cut the unlucky talk.
“Yes, yes.”
-Hoo.
Blue Spirit took a long drag from her pipe, exhaled smoke, and pointed at the massive misty whirlpool.
-I’ll draw their attention here. Charge straight ahead.
“I’m counting on you.”
-Make the most of it.
No sooner had she spoken than Blue Spirit slammed her pipe toward the ground.
Her bloodshot eyes flashed as she opened her mouth.
-Blood Realm.
-Gooooooo!
At that instant, blood began pooling on the ground centered around her palm.
-Drip, drip!
Blood droplets rose upward as if falling in reverse.
The droplets shot into the sky, dyeing everything red.
Watching this, Mok Kyung-un thought to himself.
‘Ghost Intent Domain.’
A barrier formed by the strong obsession of a high-class wraith.
That was what a Ghost Intent Domain was.
Unlike the barriers sorcerers deployed, a Ghost Intent Domain was constructed from a wraith’s grudges and madness filling the space.
‘Is it this extensive?’
Nearly dozens of paces around them were bathed in blood-red.
The low-class wraiths nearby shuddered violently in their ethereal forms at her obsession spreading through the Ghost Intent Domain.
Some even dispersed, unable to endure it.
-Psssh!
-Pak! Pak!
At that moment, the small whirlpools that had been busy devouring nearby wraiths suddenly stirred.
-Uuuuuu!
Their target was Blue Spirit.
By deliberately expanding her domain and revealing her power, the mutated wraiths focused on consumption had suddenly taken notice.
-Go.
-Pat!
At Blue Spirit’s word, Mok Kyung-un veered to the side.
Even if the mutated wraiths’ attention was fixed on Blue Spirit, passing right in front of them might make them switch targets.
He had no choice but to circle around.
-Tatata tatat!
Unleashing his lightness skill, his speed was tremendous.
The surroundings blurred past, and soon he reached the front of the massive whirlpool.
The blood-red domain extended right up to this point with exquisite precision.
If it had overlapped, this thing would have turned toward Blue Spirit too.
‘Impressive.’
-Shwaaaaa!
Mok Kyung-un inwardly exclaimed at the sight of the black mist swirling like raging rapids.
Being swept into it felt like it would mean no return, evoking sheer terror.
Most people—no, even seasoned sorcerers—wouldn’t dare enter.
But Mok Kyung-un had one thing others didn’t.
He felt no fear.
-Pat!
Mok Kyung-un stepped into the raging torrent of wraiths.
The moment he entered, ear-splitting shrieks assaulted him.
-Kyaaaaaaa!
A putrid stench of rotting corpses vibrated from all sides, numbing his nose.
His skin burned as if aflame, every movement bringing agony.
“Hoo.”
So this was why Blue Spirit had warned him.
The vicious, malevolent energy far exceeded expectations, threatening to sweep him away.
Yet Mok Kyung-un circulated his death qi in reverse through his body to resist.
It was right then.
-Chang!
Suddenly, iron chains shot out from somewhere and coiled around his waist.
Mok Kyung-un concentrated death qi into his hand and struck down.
-Changkang!
The chain snapped.
‘Hm?’
But that wasn’t the end.
-Shwaaaaa!
Countless chains flew in, instantly binding his limbs.
It happened so fast there was no time to dodge or counter.
-Tight!
‘This......strength......’
Chains wrapped his entire body except his head.
Their binding force was so immense that no matter how much strength or death qi he summoned, they wouldn’t budge.
-Chrrrrr!
The chains that had bound Mok Kyung-un began dragging him toward the center of the black misty whirlpool.
It wasn’t something he could resist with brute force.
As he was pulled, more shrieks echoed from somewhere.
-Aaaaaak!
-Save me!
-Please! Please!
Shrieks bordering on pleas.
As the voices grew closer, vague shapes emerged in his blurring vision.
-Crunch! Crunch!
Sounds of something being eaten came from there.
What could it be devouring?
‘!?’
He saw the lower half of a humanoid wraith thrashing upside down.
Its upper body was vanishing into the massively gaping maw of a grotesque entity covered in chains.
It was a chilling sight just to behold.
-Gulp! Gulp!
The wraith’s cries echoed from within its mouth, but they didn’t last long.
In an instant, even the lower half was sucked in.
“Devouring” wasn’t a euphemism.
It was literal.
-Raaaaar!
The grotesque chain-covered entity that had devoured the wraith raw let out a roar.
The surroundings shook as if an earthquake had struck.
-Save me!
-Please!
The wraiths caught in the chains wailed and pleaded even more desperately.
They were terrified out of their minds.
That was when it happened.
-Tremble!
Mok Kyung-un’s body shuddered.
Was this the first time he felt fear in his life?
The grotesque chain-covered entity, mid-roar, slowly turned its gaze.
-Uuuuung!
Two glowing eyes peered through the gaps in the chains.
-I eat. You.
A chilling voice reverberated everywhere.
Then, Mok Kyung-un, whose body had been trembling, raised his head.
But his face wasn’t one gripped by fear.
His lips twitched as if thrilled by it all, then the corners of his mouth stretched up to his ears.
-!?
The pale glowing eyes widened.
Mok Kyung-un looked straight at the grotesque chain-covered entity and said.
“We’re in agreement then.”
[Chapter 19: Gu Poison (2)] End