Chapter 69
Chapter 69
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 19
>Chapter Title: Gu Poison (4)
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Mok Kyung-un emerged from the iron chains.
-Grooooar!
His appearance was far from ordinary.
Had he been consumed by the completed gu poison after all?
With a hint of anger in her voice, Cheongnyeong addressed the bear-like man.
"You fool. So you ended up getting eaten after all?"
At her question, Mok Kyung-un twitched his lips before turning to look at her and speaking.
"I didn't get eaten—I ate it."
-!?
Cheongnyeong's expression went blank for a moment.
Just from his distinctive way of speaking, it was clear as day that his body hadn't been taken over—this was Mok Kyung-un himself.
"What's with that look?"
-.......Did you really devour that thing?
Shrugging at her question, Mok Kyung-un replied.
"As you can see."
-Ha!
It was utterly absurd.
Even if he had multiple lives, the odds of failure were far higher.
Yet this ignorant mortal had actually pulled it off.
"Though I feel like my stomach's about to burst from overeating."
-Your stomach's about to burst?
"Yeah. I think I ate a bit too much."
He had succeeded in absorbing the energy after a fierce tug-of-war with it.
But that was where the problem arose.
He had absorbed the energy, sure—but the resentment and deathly qi it carried were on a level incomparable to anything he'd taken in before.
Frowning at Mok Kyung-un's words, she thought to herself.
'Now that I think about it, this guy's human.'
Cheongnyeong realized her mistake.
Having existed as a vengeful spirit for over a century, her thinking had grown rigid, forgetting the limitations of a human body.
A human body was essentially a vessel.
And every vessel had its capacity limit.
'The real key, beyond merely accepting internal energy, is expanding that vessel's size through enlightenment.'
But Mok Kyung-un had scant enlightenment.
He hadn't grasped the qi manipulation techniques of a first-rate master, and even after learning the Moon Sword Style—the secret of the Superhuman Martial Arts—his understanding of the sword remained shallow.
If he'd gained enlightenment step by step through normal means, his capacity for internal energy would have naturally expanded.
But Mok Kyung-un was the opposite.
In a somewhat grave tone, Cheongnyeong said.
-Expel the energies you can't handle right now.
"Pardon?"
-As the saying goes, excess is as bad as deficiency. Taking in more qi than your body can bear will only poison you.
"Oh. Is that so?"
-Yes.
"Then I suppose it's best to offload whatever excess I have."
-What?
As she puzzled over it, Mok Kyung-un bent down to search the floor for something.
Wondering what he was after, she watched as he let out an "Oh!" and lifted it up.
It was none other than a shattered skull, its face and forehead region smashed to pieces.
Strangely, an old talisman labeled "Chain" was stuck to the top of the skull—a remarkably preserved relic despite its age.
'Must be because of the resentment.'
That was her guess.
And she was right.
Mok Kyung-un peeled off the worn talisman reading "Chain" from the skull he held.
And then.
-Wooooong!
-What are you doing right now?
Not just expelling it—he was infusing the energy into that thing?
In her ghost eye, she could see the entity cowering inside the skull.
A vengeful spirit, huddled in terror.
-Why are you giving energy to that thing...
Before Cheongnyeong could finish, the resentment poured into the skull, and the spirit inside reacted.
-Grooooarrr!
Like dried seafood revived by water, the cowering spirit absorbed the resentment and revealed itself.
It was none other than...
-Splash splash!
A cold-faced girl draped in thin iron chains like clothing.
Judging by her youthful features, she appeared no older than fifteen.
What stood out was that half her hair had turned completely white—she was truly half-gray.
Frowning at the sight, Cheongnyeong said.
-What is it? A girl?
Biting her lip at those words, the girl suddenly yelled.
-Who're you calling a girl? This young master is a man!
-........What?
Raising one eyebrow at the girl's outburst, Cheongnyeong muttered in disbelief.
-You're joking, right?
No matter how she looked, it was a girl.
Yet...
-This young master is a man!
Staring at the girl insisting she was male, Cheongnyeong extended her hand.
The girl's body was forcibly drawn to Cheongnyeong's grasp.
-Whoosh!
-Huh?
-Thwack!
Grabbing the girl by the throat, Cheongnyeong spoke in an icy tone.
-You insolent brat, raising your voice at an elder. Are you begging to die?
-!!!!!!!
Overwhelmed by Cheongnyeong's immense pressure, the girl was momentarily speechless.
Vengeful spirits could sense each other's power levels, and she could gauge Cheongnyeong's from the aura alone.
But she wasn't one to submit easily.
-E-Even if I look like this, I've been dead about fifteen years, so by ghost reckoning, I'm thirty-thre—Guh.
Cheongnyeong tightened her grip.
Pulling the girl closer, she said.
-If you hate being called a brat, come back after another century.
The girl's face hardened at Cheongnyeong's words.
From them alone, she could infer how many years Cheongnyeong had lived and her power level.
Turning to Mok Kyung-un, Cheongnyeong said.
-Why bother reviving this one by giving it energy? Just kill it.
"She looks useful."
-Useful?
The girl scowled at Mok Kyung-un's words.
Then she snapped at him.
-Who're you calling useful, you human scum...
-Squeeze!
-Guh!
-Who told you to open your mouth?
Though not truly suffocating, the girl couldn't speak, pinned by Cheongnyeong's grip.
Mok Kyung-un took the skull in both hands.
Holding it toward the girl, he said.
"This is your head, right?"
The girl glanced nervously at Cheongnyeong.
With a displeased nod, Cheongnyeong assented.
The girl replied.
-........Yeah. So just leave it be.
"Why?"
-Touching a dead person's bones—what good could come of it?
"Good? Plenty."
-What?
-Crack!
A fracture appeared in the girl's skull.
Panicking, she reached out and shouted.
-W-Wait!
"Why?"
-No, why are you trying to break it?
Unlike the desperately pleading girl, Cheongnyeong smirked in amusement.
So that's why this mortal revived the girl—to torment her again like this.
That skull was the girl's core.
Destroying it would bring unimaginable agony.
'He's ruthless, as expected.'
As she watched, the girl tried to wrench free from Cheongnyeong and lunge at Mok Kyung-un.
But outmatched in power, she couldn't break loose.
Instead, Mok Kyung-un's hands crushed the skull.
-CRUNCH!
-Aaaaaaaaaaaah!
The girl let out a bloodcurdling scream.
The pain of her living body's destruction was indescribable.
But amid the torment, she witnessed something even more shocking.
-Shatter!
After crumbling her skull to powder in his hands, Mok Kyung-un dumped the dust into his mouth?
Even Cheongnyeong hadn't anticipated this—her eyes went wide.
Who could've guessed he'd eat bone dust?
-Yooooou!
The girl screamed.
Ignoring her, Mok Kyung-un rubbed the fragments between his palms, pulverizing them finer, and swallowed every last bit.
-You bastard... Aaaaaaaaaah!
Then something bizarre happened.
The girl's ethereal body convulsed wildly, as if in seizure.
Soon, red threads emerged from her body, connecting to Mok Kyung-un.
-!?
Cheongnyeong was dumbfounded.
'This guy...'
He'd devoured the vengeful spirit's core and forcibly turned it into his familiar.
A simple act, yet the result was anything but.
How was this possible?
She could scarcely believe her eyes.
Meanwhile, Mok Kyung-un's experimental hunch had paid off—his lips curled slyly.
'It worked.'
He'd wanted to test it if the chance arose.
To confirm his theory.
And it had.
-Th-This...
Staring at the red threads in bewilderment, the girl couldn't hide her shock.
Having existed as a vengeful spirit for ages, she knew these things instinctively, without instruction.
Thus, she instantly recognized them as the bonds of a familiar, forging a master-servant link.
-H-How...
Her face twisting in fury, the girl tried to grab the red threads.
But they slipped through her fingers like smoke.
-Swish swish!
-How could this young master become the familiar of a lowly human like you?!
Mok Kyung-un asked the wildly flailing girl.
"What's your name?"
-Shut up! Who are you to ask this young ma...
"What's your name?"
Her rage faltering at his repetition, the girl's expression suddenly softened.
Lips trembling, she turned to Mok Kyung-un with a gentler face.
"I am Gyo So-ha, Master."
'This kid?'
Cheongnyeong was stunned inwardly.
Even as familiars, vengeful spirits rarely revealed their true names.
Names held power.
Upon becoming ethereal, they neared the divine realm, bound by their true names.
Hence, vengeful spirits concealed theirs.
Yet this one had submitted utterly, face and all, revealing her true name.
Looking at her, Mok Kyung-un said.
"Nice name."
-Thank you, Master.
"So-ha, can you be my loyal dog?"
-Ah! It is my greatest wish.
Cheongnyeong clicked her tongue at the girl's ecstatic expression.
This was worse than the Demon Monk.
The near-Azure Spirit—nearly Cheongnyeong's equal—had bent so completely.
It was submission down to the soul's roots.
'.......Must be the intensified resentment.'
-Grooooarrr!
Her ghost eye saw it clearly.
Mok Kyung-un's resentment had swelled beyond compare.
Yet even after pouring enough to fully restore this Gyo So-ha, it overflowed?
Moreover, she'd noticed earlier—his energy layers were subtly overlapping.
Curious, she asked.
-You... your energy feels off. Why does it look layered?
"Oh. You can see it, Cheongnyeong?"
-See what?
"I just recalled a new formula."
-A new formula?
"The Eight Forms of Shattering Thoughts."
-What?
She couldn't hide her shock.
He'd comprehended a new formula amid all this?
Cheongnyeong pressed.
-What formula did you recall?
Nodding toward So-ha, Mok Kyung-un recited.
"Jeongeo-seoyang-hyeong blood-mu-i-mu-geuk ma-ryang-hyeong-jeon-sim hwaye-jeon-mu-ga yeok-geuk-mu-mang-ryeo ogeo-jeon-jeol-mu."
-'!?
Cheongnyeong's pupils shook.
'This guy... He grasped a formula I don't even know.'
That was why she was shocked.
What Mok Kyung-un recited was a formula utterly unknown to her.
Even she—a prodigy—had only mastered four of the Eight Forms of Shattering Thoughts.
Yet this was new to her.
Suppressing her excitement, she asked.
-Ahem... This is a form I never learned. What's its principle?
"I can now split my dantian into two."
-What?
"I can disperse my qi to the area near the crown point on my head and the central region near my heart."
-'!!!!!!'
Cheongnyeong gaped in disbelief at his words.
He had no idea what he was saying.
'Ha.'
Until breaking through the wall, all martial artists were bound by the lower dantian.
But upon enlightenment and shattering that wall, the middle dantian opened.
Those who opened the middle dantian were exceedingly rare in the martial world.
Yet this mortal, without enlightenment, had opened his middle dantian via the Eight Forms' profundity.
[End of Chapter 19 Gu Poison (4)]