Chapter 89
Chapter 89
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 24
>Chapter Title: Prime Death Pavilion Lord (4)
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It was something no one could have anticipated.
The chains of the Binding Oath were forged by one's own vow, binding the will itself, so a bound spirit could no more defy an absolute command than a silkworm could reject its cocoon.
That was why neither Prime Death Pavilion Lord In Seo-ok nor Sorcerer Jo Ui-gong, who had received the Binding Oath, could have imagined such a thing happening.
“Guh!”
In Seo-ok’s eyes bulged as if they might tear apart.
Before he knew it, Mok Kyung-un’s hand had pierced straight through his chest.
‘!!!!!!’
In In Seo-ok’s widened pupils, Mok Kyung-un’s face wasn’t blank—it wore a sinister smirk, lips curled viciously.
‘H-how did this bastard...?’
No matter how he looked at it, that wasn’t the face of someone crushed by the chains of the Binding Oath.
At that moment, the flustered Sorcerer Jo Ui-gong hurriedly chanted the binding incantation.
-Pak! -Pak!
“Return illusions to stone, illusions return to mirror, no-mind child...”
With the iron chains bound, reciting the binding incantation would render him immobile.
“Cough...”
-Swish!
Enduring the agony of his chest being pierced, In Seo-ok tried to move his fingers into a hand seal.
Among the forbidden arts he knew, there was one that burned through his vital energy to dramatically boost recovery.
But,
“No, no, that won’t do.”
-Crunch!
“Arrrgh!”
A scream tore from In Seo-ok’s mouth.
He’d been trying to form the seal, but Mok Kyung-un had snapped all his fingers backward.
The hole in his chest kept him from even screaming properly.
The pain was one thing, but realizing he might actually die, he desperately tried to chant the incantation aloud.
“Forbidden meridian...”
“Mouth!”
-Pak!
“Gek!”
In that instant, Mok Kyung-un struck Prime Death Pavilion Lord In Seo-ok’s Adam’s apple with the knife-edge of his thumb and index finger.
Struck in the throat, In Seo-ok hacked up blood in torment.
He had to perform the incantation somehow, but Mok Kyung-un gave him no chance.
‘This, this bastard...’
Watching him writhe, Mok Kyung-un sneered.
“As expected, a sorcerer who can’t use spells is no better than a commoner.”
In Seo-ok’s ears, Mok Kyung-un’s mocking voice didn’t register.
His mind had already shattered completely.
The pain was so intense, he was one breath from death.
At the sight, Jo Ui-gong cried out with a twisted face.
“What’s going on? Why aren’t you bound?”
Mok Kyung-un gave a sly smile at the shout.
“Who knows? Why do you think that is?”
He had no reason to explain it step by step.
Of course, the reason it hadn’t worked was that Mok Kyung-un wasn’t his real name to begin with—the Binding Oath held no power at all.
Sorcerer Jo Ui-gong glared at Mok Kyung-un with a hardened face.
‘This scum!’
He didn’t know how, but the chains of the Binding Oath had no effect on Mok Kyung-un.
Naturally, there was no way he’d reveal the reason.
Jo Ui-gong quickly made a judgment.
-Pat!
He needed to put distance between himself and Mok Kyung-un.
The boy was from a martial clan—up close, he’d be the one in danger.
‘Forgive me.’
His master, Prime Death Pavilion Lord In Seo-ok, was as good as dead already.
The forbidden vital origin art hadn’t even been taught to his disciples, so there was no saving him.
As Jo Ui-gong widened the gap, he drew something from the pouch at his waist.
They were wooden dolls plastered with talismans.
[Wood-Seizing Curse]
He hurled the three dolls forward toward In Seo-ok.
Then, swiftly forming hand seals, he chanted the incantation.
“Willow spirits, willow spirits, born of yellow soil and crimson walls, five metals gather at the altar, face the feral winds of the four directions, eight extremities seal the space between, every day incense offerings renew the lights, radiant glory from the eastern dawn, divine talisman first, command the five peaks, Supreme Elder Lord, hasten and heed my decree!”
No sooner had the chant ended.
-Rrrumble!
The wooden dolls shook violently, then soil from the ground clung to them.
The gathered earth soon morphed into hulking figures twice the height of an average adult man.
‘Ho.’
The transformed dolls took stances, swords and blades in hand.
Interest flickered in Mok Kyung-un’s eyes at the sight.
This was a spell Jo Ui-gong had never taught him.
“What spell is this?”
“You think I’d tell you?”
Jo Ui-gong bellowed.
He had no intention of revealing it.
It was a spell he hadn’t even shared with his master, Prime Death Pavilion Lord In Seo-ok.
Willow Spirit Generals, carved from willows over a century old, enshrined and infused with focused intent for years—to counter martial artists.
Each one took immense effort, a decade to craft just three.
To Sorcerer Jo Ui-gong, they were his trump card.
“Release your master at once, you rebel!”
-Clasp!
Jo Ui-gong formed the sword-mudra seal and pointed at Mok Kyung-un.
-Papapapak!
The Willow Spirit Generals surged forward with startling speed, encircling Mok Kyung-un.
Each one rivaled a ferocious beast in prowess, if not quite a monster.
Even so, three Willow Spirit Generals stronger than beasts could overwhelm even peak-level martial artists, or so he believed.
‘The kid lacks experience.’
In contrast, he had sparred dozens of times with martial artists, thanks to his ties with the Sword King.
His master In Seo-ok had said to hone core spells instead, but Jo Ui-gong believed they needed some preparation for fights with martial artists.
The result was these Willow Spirit Generals.
‘......A mistake.’
Jo Ui-gong clicked his tongue inwardly.
Blinded by the boy’s prodigious talent, he’d taken him in—only for him to be an uncontrollable rebel.
Mok Kyung-un grinned at him.
“You still have much to teach me, Master.”
“Shut your mouth! Who’s your master?”
“Isn’t a master eternal once taken?”
-Grind!
Sorcerer Jo Ui-gong gnashed his teeth, dumbfounded by what he saw as mockery.
A disciple killing his grandmaster—such a thing was unheard of.
“I was the fool to think I could control you.”
-Pak! Pak!
Jo Ui-gong formed seals, pointed at Mok Kyung-un, and shouted.
“Kill the bast...”
“Ah, you really shouldn’t. Keep that up, and your grandmaster here might kick the bucket any second. That okay with you?”
Jo Ui-gong was floored.
With his hand through the chest, he was already done for.
The fact he was still breathing was the weird part—how could he possibly save him?
“You’re just stalling, but it’s useless...”
“Master, you’re throwing away the chance I’m offering too lightly.”
“What?”
What nonsense was this brat spouting?
As he wondered, Mok Kyung-un spoke in a meaningful tone.
“You want to be the next Prime Death Pavilion Lord, don’t you?”
‘!?’
Jo Ui-gong froze mid-command to kill.
What was he saying?
His voice chilled as he replied.
“Have you lost your mind?”
“What do you mean?”
“Are you saying since your master’s dying, I get a shot at Prime Death Pavilion Lord?”
It was so absurd, he coughed in disbelief.
Did killing the guy above make the seat yours just because you coveted it?
And Prime Death Pavilion Lord In Seo-ok had three disciples.
The closest to successor was naturally the eldest, Sorcerer Won Jo Tae-cheong.
With the master dead, his chances grew even slimmer.
“You don’t seem attached to the position.”
“Kill him!”
He couldn’t listen anymore.
The boy was trying to beguile him with words, but now he was certain.
This one had to die.
He wasn’t someone he could control.
-Papapapapak!
At the command, the three encircling Willow Spirit Generals charged Mok Kyung-un simultaneously.
It was right then.
-Chains rattle!
Iron chains erupted from the ground, binding the Willow Spirit Generals’ bodies all at once.
-Krrrrk!
“What?”
It was none other than the Verdant Spirit Turtle Shell.
-Damn sorcerer scum. You think I’d let you touch my lord?
‘What?’
Sorcerer Jo Ui-gong frowned.
That Verdant Spirit had depleted its spirit power and shouldn’t have such strength.
Yet somehow, it had nearly regained its original form.
‘What trick did he use?’
It wasn’t night, and there was no yin energy around to recover.
Bewildered, Mok Kyung-un seized the head of the dying Prime Death Pavilion Lord In Seo-ok.
Then,
-Pak!
‘!!!!!!!!!’
He ripped the heart straight out of his chest.
It was shocking beyond words.
He’d seen all manner of horrors and countless corpses since becoming a sorcerer, but watching the heart torn from his living master who’d taught him the arts—his feelings defied description.
‘This bastard is truly...’
As he stared in dazed horror, Mok Kyung-un twitched his lips.
“I’ll give you one last chance.”
“What?”
“Grab the hand I’m offering now, and your master won’t suffer any loss.”
“......No matter what you say to tempt me, I won’t...”
-Crack!
In that moment, Mok Kyung-un crushed the heart in his hand.
He then shoved the mangled organ into the mouth of Prime Death Pavilion Lord In Seo-ok, whose breath had just stopped.
Jo Ui-gong’s eyes shook at the sight.
He knew exactly what Mok Kyung-un was attempting.
‘Six Men Spirit Descent Art?’
The Six Men Spirit Descent Art.
A forbidden rite to create a living corpse ghost.
Feed the freshly dead their own heart’s blood—their vital essence—gather yin energy from the recently deceased, and perform the rite.
It becomes a living corpse ghost.
A being that fits the name perfectly.
But living corpse ghosts are far trickier to make than regular corpse ghosts or jiangshi.
‘Utterly impractical.’
To create one required killing nearly thirty people to pool their yin energy, and they had too many weaknesses.
Without periodically killing people to replenish that yin energy with the dead’s essence, the body rotted—making them highly inefficient.
Requiring endless sacrifices for a mindless breathing corpse, it was banned by the Thirty-Six Sorcerer Pavilions.
Of course, for sorcerers of Prime Death Pavilion who practiced forbidden arts anyway, it wasn’t an issue, but
“Ha!”
Sorcerer Jo Ui-gong clicked his tongue.
How could he turn the pavilion lord into one now?
Killing everyone downed here barely gave ten bodies—not thirty to fill the shell in place of a heart.
-Pak! Pak! Pak!
Instead of talismans, Mok Kyung-un formed the Binding Oath seals with his hands.
And began chanting.
“Sever illusions, five metals heed the call, dissolve to primordial essence, one stand becomes ten thousand...”
‘Foolish. Without burying the freshly dead nearby to gather their yin energy, you can never create a living corpse gh...’
-Twitch!
It happened then.
The body of Prime Death Pavilion Lord In Seo-ok, head gripped in Mok Kyung-un’s hand, stirred.
Sorcerer Jo Ui-gong’s eyes went wide.
What in the world?
“Urrrgh...”
Then it even made sounds from its mouth.
The blinking white inverted eyes were the telltale sign of becoming a living corpse ghost.
Jo Ui-gong was speechless at the scene.
‘Impossible.’
Without sufficient yin energy from the dead, how?
And then, suddenly, pupils reformed in Prime Death Pavilion Lord In Seo-ok’s eyes.
Mok Kyung-un released the head.
-Thud!
In Seo-ok staggered but soon stood straight on his own power.
“M-Master!”
Sorcerer Jo Ui-gong called to Prime Death Pavilion Lord In Seo-ok.
In Seo-ok turned his head slightly at the call, then blankly shifted his gaze to Mok Kyung-un.
He staggered forward and dropped to both knees.
‘!!!!!’
Sorcerer Jo Ui-gong was utterly aghast.
Without the yin energy condition fulfilled, he’d truly succeeded in the Six Men Spirit Descent Art.
‘This guy is...’
Dumbfounded, Mok Kyung-un turned, smiled at Sorcerer Jo Ui-gong, and said,
“Still don’t want the chance?”
Hearing it sent chills down his spine.
[Chapter 24: Prime Death Pavilion Lord (4)] End