Chapter 506
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 506
Chapter Title: You Got Lucky
Jegal Namcheon moved stealthily and swiftly, but it wasn't difficult for Ha Mu-baek to follow his trail.
He spread his senses widely around him, probing as he shadowed Jegal Namcheon.
In the deep folds of another mountain ridge, quite a distance from the Jegal Clan.
'This must be it.'
He could sense the presences of people.
If he'd searched Mount Yongjung alone, it would've taken a day or two to pinpoint this location.
But tailing Jegal Namcheon had made it a breeze.
Jegal Namcheon didn't head straight there.
He veered toward a spot a little further off.
Which left Ha Mu-baek cocking his head in confusion.
There wasn't a single human presence in the direction Jegal Namcheon was going.
'What's this?'
Jegal Namcheon, heading in an unexpected direction.
Ha Mu-baek extended his senses ahead, but found nothing.
Instead, an odd presence flickered from the area where the others were gathered.
Ha Mu-baek glanced back briefly.
But right now, sticking to Jegal Namcheon's trail took priority.
As the destination drew near, Jegal Namcheon's pace began to slow.
It was an unremarkable valley deep in the mountains.
Ha Mu-baek scanned the surroundings, but nothing seemed particularly threatening.
Jegal Namcheon was the only person there.
No trace of the Jegal Clan's formation energy either.
'Hmm.'
Ha Mu-baek watched Jegal Namcheon with a baffled look.
Jegal Namcheon reached the heart of the valley.
The instant he bowed his head and peered down.
A change rippled through the ordinary pebble lying on the ground.
A familiar energy wafted up from it.
'That...?!?'
A fragment of the Primordial.
The energy from that shard emanated from the roadside stone.
He jolted in shock.
Every fragment Ha Mu-baek had uncovered so far had been a martial arts manual.
Yet here was that same energy pulsing from a plain old pebble?
'No, it's different. That's stronger.'
The energy radiating from the pebble was actually greater.
As if it were a massive shard rather than a tiny splinter.
[You've brought a tail along.]
The awakened Chaos addressed Jegal Namcheon first.
"Huh?"
He startled, but his reflexes kicked in faster.
If someone had shadowed him all the way here without detection, it meant an expert far beyond his level.
No room for hesitation.
Jegal Namcheon instantly smashed a nearby small boulder—set a short distance from Chaos's pebble—with a fist charged with inner energy.
Ha Mu-baek, struck by a sudden ominous vibe at Jegal Namcheon shattering the rock, lunged toward him in a flash but couldn't close the gap.
The surrounding energy shifted the moment the boulder crumbled.
Wuuuuuuuung.
A deep, resonant hum seemed to echo.
The world turned upside down.
The Ninefold Overlapping Formation had activated.
"Urk."
Ha Mu-baek let out an involuntary groan.
A crushing wave of heavy energy had whipped toward him without warning.
The sheer volume caught even him off guard, drawing the reflex.
Circulating his inner energy to push back the onslaught, Ha Mu-baek searched for Jegal Namcheon—but he was gone.
Only the storm raging in every direction filled his view.
"A formation, huh."
Already exposed, he saw no point in hiding.
The formation had warped the terrain; nowhere to conceal himself anyway.
Ha Mu-baek shook his head and scanned around.
No clue.
He could only feel the colossal, churning energy—no sense of his location or next move.
"Beats me."
He muttered, face twisted in frustration.
Formations were beyond him, naturally.
He'd brute-force them: sense the energy, overwhelm it till it shattered.
Finding and severing the formation's vital lines? Not his skillset.
Han Seolbing might've managed it.
He suddenly regretted her absence.
From the overlapping formation's core, Jegal Namcheon had a full view.
He confirmed Ha Mu-baek's emergence.
"Ha Mu-baek..."
Jegal Namcheon whispered shakily, relief washing through him inwardly.
Triggering the formation on the spot had been a stroke of genius.
He'd never anticipated activating it quite like this, but he'd successfully lured and trapped his target.
"Ah... Could the intruder in Sorin's room be...?"
If pursued from the Jegal Clan, that's where it started.
Recalling his reason for coming here led straight to the break-in at Jegal Sorin's quarters.
And the prime suspect stood right there.
An expert slipping through the clan's eyes at will.
Ha Mu-baek himself.
"Heh, hehehe."
A dry chuckle escaped.
Ha Mu-baek had shown up at the Jegal Clan far quicker than calculated.
'You got lucky.'
He truly had.
Not a deliberate lure into the formation, but a fluke capture.
[Someone you know?]
"One of our targets."
[I see. There was a Ha Mu-baek among them.]
Chaos recalled the name Jegal Namcheon had muttered moments ago.
This overlapping formation's quarry: the Demonic Cult and Ha Mu-baek.
He'd snagged one.
By sheer accident.
[So why'd he come sniffing around me?]
Jegal Namcheon drew a book from his robe at Chaos's query.
"A tome titled Primordial turned up in the clan library. Contents completely wiped."
A soft glow enveloped Chaos's stone.
[Fascinating. Human-written, yet steeped in Primordial essence.]
"Primordial energy? What happened to it?"
[Content's gone. Energy too. Beyond even my ken.]
Jegal Namcheon's gaze snapped back to Ha Mu-baek at Chaos's reply.
Jegal Sorin had read it, left it, returned to find it altered.
Intruder stole it, erased everything, returned it.
But the erasure looked no hasty human job, so he'd consulted Chaos—who drew a blank too.
Jegal Namcheon eyed Ha Mu-baek: suspected intruder. No—the intruder.
'What'd you do to that book, Ha Mu-baek?'
His eyes blazed fierce.
[Guessed it from your description, but yep—he's got it.]
"The Primordial power?"
Jegal Namcheon shot back at Chaos's words.
When briefing on Ha Mu-baek, Chaos had pegged him with at least one Primordial fragment's power—or a shard thereof.
Essential to topple the Demonic Cult Leader.
[Exactly. More than anticipated. Amusing. Wonder if he'll crack this formation. Heh heh.]
First time.
Since acquiring Chaos, Jegal Namcheon had never heard that laugh.
Much about Chaos remained a mystery to him.
Like how, inspecting the Primordial tome moments ago, Chaos had pieced it all together—but kept mum.
Naturally.
Chaos hadn't spilled.
Chaos.
Chaos incarnate, true to name.
"Huu."
Jegal Sorin sighed after combing every inch of her annex.
No traces. No clues.
Well, signs of a visitor, yes.
A tiny nook under the eaves, atop a pillar.
One spot: dust faintly compressed. Barely there.
Single mark.
Inner energy focused in her eyes, she'd barely spotted it.
First pass, she'd dismissed it doubtfully. Second look confirmed the press.
Strike the intruder's likely stance: perfect view of her back reading the book.
Contents too, maybe.
Nowhere else. Zero traces.
Could mean a quick in-out. Or not.
If even dust-caked eaves bore such faint marks, dustless quarters? Pristine passage.
Jegal Sorin prayed inwardly: brief pillar perch, then gone.
Snooping her whole place? Mortifying to imagine.
No rifled belongings.
'Who?'
Wonder gnawed.
Expert leaving that faint a trail. Zero presence.
One misread by Jegal Sorin.
Ha Mu-baek normally? Spotless.
But Primordial text startled him mid-read. Unwitting slip.
Her trace-imagined intruder? Leagues below true Ha Mu-baek.
Still, to her: unfathomable realm.
No clan warrior capable.
Proof positive: outsider.
One snag: why her quarters, for such a master?
Lustful eye on her? Fits, but actions didn't match—deepening the puzzle.
She quit pondering.
Annex exit. Feet turned library-ward.
Why? No idea.
Steps drew her there unbidden.
In the stacks, strolling—abrupt halt.
Something tugged her here.
Gaze snagged bottom-shelf book.
Faint glow.
"What in the world...?"
Glowing book.
And she saw it.
Today's parade of inexplicables.
High-traffic spot.
Bottom shelf or not, that glow? Spotted ages ago.
Today alone: three, four passersby.
Invisible to them. Her alone?
'What's going on?'
Visible only to her, perhaps.
Invisible yesterday. Today? Yes.
Her body changed today. No inkling how.
Intruder aside: utterly normal day.
Hesitation stalled her reach.
Inexplicables afoot.
Dry swallow. Glow-stare.
Hesitation dragged—body moved.
Hand withdrew book sans her will.
"Eh, ehh."
Incomprehensible motion: soft peep.
Arm. Mouth. Independent.
The heartscape world of the Infinite Sovereign, abandoned by Ha Mu-baek.
Eons upon eons flowed, yet Mu-geuk and Radiance idled leisurely, oblivious to time's creep.
Each in place, letting moments drift.
"Hm? The successor?"
Then, a flicker.
Radiance's eyes twitched faintly. Bare whisper.
Mu-geuk none the wiser. Fleeting instant.