WeTried Translations
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Editor: Abstract
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Episode 47: Fragments of Truth (3)
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[This... body... won't be enough...]
Mumu tilted his head at those words.
‘“This body wouldn't be enough”? What did that mean?’
As Mumu wondered about it, the mysterious figure curled their lips into a grin and whispered.
[...So you are not Nothing after all.]
The mysterious figure's stammering voice suddenly grew weighty and clear.
Mumu stared directly at them.
[What did you mean by that just now?]
[We will meet again, my other self.]
With those final words, the mysterious figure's body exploded.
After hearing Mumu's recollection, Yang Mu-o stiffened and spoke in bewilderment.
“...That's impossible.”
It could not be true.
That person had been defeated at Mount Song and met his death.
That person's severed head had even been displayed near the imperial capital for over half a month.
Kang Mu-i reacted much the same, unable to believe it.
“That can't be! That bastard definitely died. If he were alive, he would not have hidden for over seventeen years in the first place...”
“Then who was that person?”
“That person was...”
Kang Mu-i could not finish his answer.
The words ‘my other self’ and ‘This body won't be enough’ troubled him too deeply.
Hadn't the mysterious figure spoken of a physical body as though it were nothing more than a vessel or an object?
Kang Mu-i, who had insisted it could not be true, looked at Yang Mu-o and asked,
“Could he have used the Crimson Profound Soul-Shifting Art while fighting the Four Immortal Masters?”
“No... Transferring a soul is practically the domain of the heavens. There is no way it could be done so simply in an instant.”
Yang Mu-o had personally witnessed the Crimson Profound Soul-Shifting Art being performed.
The process of ritualists using sorcery at an altar to transfer a soul had been extremely complicated.
Unless someone had found a way to skip that entire process, it would be impossible.
“Then what in the world did this brat encounter?”
“I don't know either! If that monster were alive, he would not have been hiding as you said, Kang Mu-i, only to appear suddenly like this...”
At that moment, they sensed someone outside the study.
Yang Mu-o fell silent, and someone outside cleared their throat before speaking.
“Ahem. The Chief Banner Officer of the Outer Palace Embroidered Uniform Guard requests an audience with Master Yu.”
The voice belonged to Yeong-jeon, heir of the Moak Estate, one of the factions within the House of the Eight Villains.
Yeong-jeon appeared to have encountered an Embroidered Uniform Guard official while waiting outside.
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“I'll go out.”
Mumu opened the study door a crack and slipped through it.
A young official in Embroidered Uniform Guard armor waited in the small courtyard before the study.
Mumu asked in confusion,
“What is it?”
The Chief Banner Officer frowned slightly at the voice that did not suit Mumu's fierce middle-aged face, then asked,
“Are you Master Yu?”
Noticing the reaction, Mumu deepened his voice and answered briefly.
“Yes.”
The Chief Banner Officer tilted their head slightly before speaking.
“The Southern Command Office sent me. I came concerning the pursuit of those who left the palace while King Jin, no, His Majesty the Emperor, was in the grand hall.”
Yeong-jeon, standing nearby, asked in Mumu's place.
“Did you lose their trail?”
“No, it's not that...”
“Then did you capture them?”
It seemed unlikely, but Yeong-jeon asked just in case.
The Chief Banner Officer shook their head.
“That is why I came to escort Master Yu to the scene.”
“The scene?”
“Yes. I believe you need to see it for yourself.”
What sort of incident had occurred for them to summon him to the scene?
* * *
A forested hill southwest of the imperial capital, roughly eight kilometers away.
Or rather, it would be more accurate to say it had been a hill.
“Hah!”
Kang Mu-i clicked his tongue in disbelief at the hill blown apart and the devastation spread in every direction.
Yang Mu-o reacted the same way.
The area looked as though dozens of artillery shells had fallen upon it.
Yet those were not shell impacts.
‘...The Tyrant Blood Demonic Art.’
Yang Mu-o recognized the traces of destruction at once.
Even a Master could not have caused such devastation. It was the result of overwhelming internal energy combined with the power of the Tyrant Blood Demonic Art.
“Mu Il.”
“What?”
“It looks like Mu Il fought here.”
Kang Mu-i frowned at Yang Mu-o's whispered words.
Mu Il had caused this destruction?
He had thought only the Four Immortal Masters, or the monster standing before him, Mumu, could cause destruction like this.
But if Mu Il had done it...
‘...Even with the Three Spirit Beasts' power, I could not defeat them.’
Kang Mu-i knew Mu Il possessed a constitution with inexhaustible internal energy, but it seemed Mu Il was a monster as well.
‘In the end, I could never become the future Master, no matter what I did.’
That was not what mattered now.
“Wait. If Mu Il revealed this much power...”
“They would never have done so unless they encountered a supreme master nearly equal to or stronger than them.”
Yang Mu-o agreed with Kang Mu-i's guess.
No master would reveal such strength against someone weaker.
The problem was that, in the current martial world, only the Four Immortal Masters, the late guardian of the Imperial Palace, or the Chief Brigade Leader of the Flying Horse Brigade could possibly fight at such a level.
‘But none of them could be here right now...’
Then the Chief Banner Officer who had guided them gestured and called out.
“Over here.”
Mumu and the others went to the spot.
Eight corpses and dead horses lay there.
Yet...
‘!?’
Neither the corpses nor the horses bore any notable external injuries.
They had all died with faces twisted in pain. Several seemed to have died clutching their chests.
Yeong-jeon's eyes widened as he recognized several of the faces.
He whispered to Mumu,
“It's them.”
The dead were heirs of the House of the Eight Villains.
Yeong-jeon did not know all of them, but he recognized around three.
Mumu glanced meaningfully toward the Embroidered Uniform Guard warriors surrounding the area and spoke to the Chief Banner Officer.
“Could you give us some privacy for a moment?”
“Privacy?”
“Yes.”
“...Understood.”
At the Chief Banner Officer's gesture, the Embroidered Uniform Guard warriors moved farther away.
The Chief Banner Officer was about to withdraw as well, but then pointed beside one of the corpses.
“That looks like skin from a human face, no matter how I look at it. But none of the dead had their faces torn off.”
‘Ah...’
Something that truly looked like peeled facial skin lay where the Chief Banner Officer pointed.
Mumu's eyes lit up.
It was not facial skin. It was a Skin Mask.
After giving that last report, the Chief Banner Officer also moved away.
Yang Mu-o approached and picked up the Skin Mask.
Yang Mu-o frowned and said,
“...This is the Skin Mask I gave Mu Sa.”
“Mu Sa?”
“Yes. But...”
Heo Mu-sa's corpse was not among the bodies.
More importantly, Mu Il was nowhere to be found either.
What had happened here for these people to die like this, while only Mu Il and Mu Sa had vanished?
It was strange that only those two were missing.
Then Mumu seemed to notice something and headed toward it.
“What is it? What did you find?”
“...”
Kang Mu-i followed behind Mumu in confusion.
The others followed as well, wondering what Mumu had found.
Where Mumu stopped, there was a large crater amid the ruins. It was the only patch of ground stained red.
“Bloodstains?”
“It seems so. But the shape of the bloodstains is...”
“It looks like someone exploded.”
The blood had scattered in every direction as if something had burst.
Seeing it, Mumu remembered something.
“...It's the same as back then.”
“The same? Wait, don't tell me you...”
“That's right. That person suddenly exploded and died then too.”
Mumu remembered the mysterious figure who had come looking for him.
When the mysterious figure's body exploded, blood had sprayed in every direction. The red marks on the ground now looked nearly identical.
Kang Mu-i's face stiffened.
“You mean it happened to them too?”
“It looks like it already happened to them, and they vanished.”
The Embroidered Uniform Guard pursuit party had arrived before them and searched the surroundings.
But the fact that they had found no other corpses meant...
-Stagger!
Kang Mu-i stumbled as though struck by a blow.
He had kept telling himself it could not be true.
Even when Mumu told the story, Kang Mu-i had found it difficult to believe.
He had never imagined that something similar had happened to Mu Il and Mu Sa as well.
Kang Mu-i turned his somewhat pale face toward Yang Mu-o.
“Could... could that bastard really be alive?”
“...”
Yang Mu-o could not answer.
An overwhelming sense of dread made Yang Mu-o's hands and feet tremble.
Memories of that time, long forgotten, surfaced again. A chill rose from Yang Mu-o's spine and spread through his entire body.
‘How could this be happening...’
Yang Mu-o had believed that person was dead.
Yet that inhuman monster might still be alive.
A primal terror ingrained in Yang Mu-o since childhood made Yang Mu-o's breathing turn ragged.
Then Yeong-jeon asked,
“What are you talking about?”
Yeong-jeon could not understand what they were discussing.
Kang Mu-i said irritably,
“It has nothing to do with you, so don't interfere...”
“Were any of the dead heirs from Heavenly Kill Valley?”
Mumu cut Kang Mu-i off and asked.
Yeong-jeon nodded.
“Yes, there was. I never imagined even an heir of Heavenly Kill Valley, said to be the strongest in the House of the Eight Villains in terms of Martial Arts, would die so helplessly.”
Yeong-jeon clicked his tongue.
As Yeong-jeon said, Heavenly Kill Valley and the Paralysis Blade Estate were considered the two strongest factions within the House of the Eight Villains.
Yet even an heir of Heavenly Kill Valley had died clutching their heart.
Mumu sighed at the answer.
“This is troublesome.”
Mumu had wanted to find an heir of Heavenly Kill Valley.
He had heard that only the Chief of Heavenly Kill Valley knew where Grand Guardian Towering Giant Seo Yong-chu, who was said to be the sole survivor during the War Between Justice and Evil seventeen years ago, was.
That was why Mumu had intended to find Heavenly Kill Valley, but its heir had died.
It was the very reason he had come to the Imperial Palace, and now his original purpose had been lost.
Kang Mu-i said,
“The worst possible situation has happened to us, so why are you asking whether some Heavenly Kill Valley bastard is alive or dead?”
“I need to meet the Chief of Heavenly Kill Valley.”
“The Chief of Heavenly Kill Valley?”
“Yes. I have something to ask. But now that the heir of Heavenly Kill Valley is dead, it has become difficult.”
“Haah... The Chief of Heavenly Kill Valley isn't the problem right now...”
Yang Mu-o interrupted Kang Mu-i.
“What do you intend to ask the Chief of Heavenly Kill Valley?”
“I heard the Grand Guardian is alive, so I wanted to ask where he is.”
“The Grand Guardian? Towering Giant Seo Yong-chu?”
“That is right.”
Yang Mu-o stroked his beard at those words.
Yang Mu-o had heard that Grand Guardian Towering Giant Seo Yong-chu was alive as well.
Yang Mu-o simply did not know who knew Seo Yong-chu's location.
But if it was the Chief of Heavenly Kill Valley...
“I know where Heavenly Kill Valley is.”
Yang Mu-o knew its exact location.
“Really?”
Mumu's face brightened.
He had thought he was back at square one, but if Yang Mu-o knew the location, the situation was different.
“Then could you tell me where it is?”
Yang Mu-o replied with a serious expression.
“I can tell you. But if the person you seek is the Grand Guardian, take me with you.”
“What?”
“If it is the Grand Guardian, he may know something, perhaps even whether or not that bastard is truly alive.”
“What? Is that true?”
Kang Mu-i cut in with surprise.
Yang Mu-o nodded without a word.
Yang Mu-o was not certain, only guessing.
The Grand Guardian's role was, as the title suggested, to protect the Council Head of the Mighty Conqueror Council, the Overlord of Blood and Slaughter, at his side.
Someone in such a position might know something, perhaps even about this situation.
“Th-then take me along too!”
“You don't really need to come...”
“Even if all of us siblings joined forces right now, it might not be enough, and you're planning to leave only me behind? Have you forgotten that you received my help last time too?”
“...”
Mumu and Yang Mu-o stared at Kang Mu-i.
Since when had they developed such a sibling bond?
Yang Mu-o shook his head and said to Mumu,
“What will you do? If you take us along, I will tell you where Heavenly Kill Valley is. Heavenly Kill Valley is one of Guizhou's forbidden places, so without a guide...”
-Creeeak!
Mumu turned the adjustment screw of his Ki-Restraining Bracelets.
Yang Mu-o and Kang Mu-i looked at it in confusion.
-Creak! Crack!
In that instant, Mumu's muscles swelled all over his body and his skin darkened.
They should have been used to it by now, but the suddenly growing pressure made Yang Mu-o and Kang Mu-i swallow hard.
Then Mumu grabbed Yang Mu-o and Kang Mu-i around their waists.
-Grab!
“W-what are you doing?”
Mumu answered Yang Mu-o's flustered question.
“We're in a hurry, so let's go now.”
“Now? What are you talking about? It will take at least...”
Kang Mu-i muttered with a stiff expression.
“Damn it. He's going to fly.”
“Fly?”
“You'll experience it soon enough.”
“Experience it? What are you talking about...”
-Swish!
Mumu bent his knees slightly.
Then, in the next instant...
-Boom!
With Yang Mu-o and Kang Mu-i gripped at his sides, he shot into the sky.
“Guhh!”
A terrified cry burst from Yang Mu-o's mouth.
But it lasted only a moment.
Mumu soared high into the sky in an instant, pierced through a layer of air, and flew southwest.
“Ha...”
Yeong-jeon, left behind, could only stare up in stunned silence at the figure flying away at tremendous speed.
Footnotes:
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