Chapter 113
Chapter 113
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 113
Chapter Title: The Extending Demonic Claw
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“The Extending Demonic Claw”
“What’s that supposed to mean…?”
I had to take a moment to gather my thoughts and choose my words carefully as I looked at Hwa-ryeon’s puzzled face.
It was just my intuition for now, so I felt a bit at a loss on how to convince her.
In truth, ever since hearing about sorcery from my master, a persistent thought had been nagging at the corner of my mind.
What if that lecherous demon was hiding nearby, watching us?
He was the type who used illusions to conceal not just his body, but even his presence.
With no countermeasures in place, there was no way for us to detect him even if he was right beside us.
And in the midst of all that, the Jade-Faced Seductive Demon had his ritual interrupted by my interference and lost Gong Ak-sa at the very last moment.
Considering the brutality he showed in turning the two squads of the Ho-cheon Corps against each other just to flush him out, it wasn’t out of the question that he’d come after me seeking revenge.
And right by my side was Hwa-ryeon, a peerless beauty who’d make that demon drool.
Was it too much of a stretch to think he might target her as payback against me?
When I explained my line of thinking, Hwa-ryeon tilted her head.
“Isn’t that a bit overreactive? No way that’d happen….”
“I don’t think we should take it so lightly. To be honest, he could be watching us from over there right now.”
I gestured roughly toward the branch entrance to persuade her, but Hwa-ryeon remained skeptical.
“I don’t know much about sorcery, but can he really use it that casually? Even Aunt Yeo said the Jade-Faced Seductive Demon wasn’t all that skilled as a sorcerer.”
With my reasoning based solely on intuition and nothing solid, I had nothing more to say.
In the end, having failed to convince her, I could only meekly let go of Hwa-ryeon’s hand.
“…Still, just in case, let’s ask Master about it.”
“Yeah, I think that’s for the best.”
And so, we headed together to find my master and entered the building.
*
“That doesn’t sound like something to take lightly. To be frank, he could be watching us from right over there.”
‘What the hell…!?’
The peerless handsome man hiding his form with an illusion, the Jade-Faced Seductive Demon, freaked out at Ja-seong’s words that suddenly pointed right at him with a finger.
Not just the words themselves, but the finger pointing straight at him—it made him wonder if Ja-seong had pierced through his illusion.
‘No way, that can’t be. If he had, he wouldn’t have let me slip away like that. It’s just a coincidence, a coincidence.’
He steadied his nerves by recalling how flustered Ja-seong had been last night when he’d escaped.
With a small deep breath to calm his racing heart, he watched the backs of Ja-seong and Hwa-ryeon as they entered the building.
His facial muscles quickly relaxed, slipping from his control.
“Kuhuhu…. What a fantastic rear view…!
Leering with a wicked grin as he watched her until she disappeared from sight, he soon snapped back to attention and closely examined the Celestial Merchant Guild’s Muhan Branch.
His eyes narrowed at the unusually heavy security for a mere merchant guild.
‘…What’s this? Isn’t this a merchant guild?’
For a merchant guild, the level of security was on par with—or better than—a major sect, if you only considered strictness.
‘Could this be a hidden base for some shadowy faction?’
Snorting at the ridiculous notion, the Jade-Faced Seductive Demon wandered around, surveying the interior.
After scrutinizing the guards and building layout in detail, he concluded that kidnapping Hwa-ryeon would be difficult at present.
To be precise, he lacked the necessary tools.
‘Damn it…! That bastard took every last one of my items…!’
The many items Ja-seong had grabbed from the Jade-Faced Seductive Demon’s hideout, just in case.
Those were tools he used to enhance his illusions.
Due to his master’s ‘seal,’ he could only manage mediocre illusions without them—items that were absolutely essential to him, now all snatched by Ja-seong.
‘If I’d had those, I could’ve taken that woman tonight!’
Trembling with regret and rage toward Ja-seong, the Jade-Faced Seductive Demon soon let out a small sigh and left the guild.
Re-entering the Zhuge Clan to retrieve his items was too risky.
In the end, he’d have to procure new talismans and tools….
‘Even rushing it, it’ll take at least five days.’
For him, brimming with the desire to mount Hwa-ryeon right now, even thinking about five days was torture.
But what could he do? The items weren’t going to magically appear.
‘…Hoo. Be patient, I have to be patient.’
Endure, endure.
At the end of it, he’d have the ultimate beauty in his grasp.
Self-consoling like that, the Jade-Faced Seductive Demon slipped out of the Celestial Merchant Guild unnoticed.
Hurrying his steps to finish preparations even a little sooner.
Because of that, he missed the conversation between Ja-seong and Hwa-ryeon, who had just emerged from Dae-un’s room at that very moment.
“Why a day? Will we have a way to counter the illusions after just one day?”
“It’s like, maybe we will, maybe we won’t.”
“…What does that mean?”
Ja-seong scratched his cheek and gave an awkward smile as he looked at Hwa-ryeon’s bewildered face.
*
Hwa-ryeon and I went together to my master’s room.
“Did things go well on your outing?”
“Well…”
As I recounted what happened at the Zhuge Clan and the new information we’d learned, my master’s expression naturally grew grave.
“Huh, he can use illusions to that degree?”
“I’m pretty sure of it.”
After pondering my words for a moment, my master soon revised part of his earlier judgment.
“I might’ve been mistaken. I figured a lecherous demon like that couldn’t have a high mastery of sorcery, but he might actually be quite capable.”
“Mastery and character are different things. Even that top expert from the Zhuge Clan had rotten character.”
When I spoke lightly, my master shook his head.
“Sorcery’s different from martial arts. Unlike arts that gather qi in the lower dantian, it opens the upper dantian to draw in and wield nature’s energy, so composure and detachment are crucial above all. Mess it up, and your upper dantian gets damaged—you end up a vegetable.”
“…I see.”
With no real knowledge of sorcery myself, I could only nod along.
In the meantime, Hwa-ryeon got to the point.
“Isn’t there any way to block or prevent sorcery?”
A hopeful question, banking on my master’s deep knowledge of sorcery to have a solution.
But the response wasn’t very hopeful.
“Not that I know of. Only another sorcerer can counter sorcery.”
“There’s no way at all?”
When asked again, my master rubbed his nape awkwardly and said,
“There are talismans that block illusions, but only sorcerers can make them. And even then, they only prevent the bearer from falling under illusions. They can’t stop a sorcerer from hiding themselves with one.”
“…I see.”
In the end, we left my master’s room with nothing to show for it.
“Young Master Goon.”
Right after leaving the room, Hwa-ryeon called out to me.
“Yeah? What is it?”
“I have one question.”
“What?”
“Why did you say to stay together for just one day? Why a day? Will we have a way to counter the illusions after that?”
At her sharp question, I hesitated slightly before answering.
“It’s like, maybe we will, maybe we won’t.”
“…What does that mean?”
Hwa-ryeon tilted her head in confusion.
I scratched my cheek and smiled awkwardly.
“Nothing definite to tell you yet. I’ll let you know once it’s clear.”
“…Okay.”
After escorting Hwa-ryeon back to her room and earnestly instructing her not to go out anywhere today, I returned to my own.
Fortunately, my room was directly across from hers, so I could sense her energy even from inside.
Not with my own eyes, but at least I’d know right away if something happened to her.
“Alright, time to get started?”
I sat cross-legged on the floor and focused my mind.
What I needed now was a new sense to detect those who fooled my perceptions: Ye So-ha, the Seven Branches, and the Jade-Faced Seductive Demon.
I’d recognized the need long ago.
But up until this morning, I’d been at a total loss on where or how to even start.
Then, some mangy mutt appeared as a ray of light.
That mutt—through the spar with Zhuge Cheon-sang—his protective art had given me inspiration.
Zhuge Cheon-sang’s protective art was intriguing in many ways.
That it activated constantly without the user needing to consciously trigger it.
That it blocked the first strike well but faltered against follow-up attacks.
Compared to the Nangong Clan’s Heavenly Thunder Divine Body Art, it had very distinct characteristics.
After various tests, I figured out how the Zhuge Clan’s protective art worked.
First characteristic.
How was constant activation possible?
The answer was simpler than I thought.
“It’s just that the internal energy used for the protective art is minimal.”
Using such a tiny amount meant little burden on his qi even when active at all times.
But that raised a question.
How could a protective art using such negligible qi produce any effect?
The second characteristic provided the answer: vulnerability to follow-up strikes.
The moment an external impact hit, the faint internal energy flowing through the body would converge on the struck area.
That was why it was weak to follow-ups that came almost simultaneously with the first strike, infused with exquisite sword principles.
“Normally dispersed, but converges when needed….”
With a clear grasp of what to do, I closed my eyes and entered meditation.