WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Episode 10: Martial Talent (2)
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“A lowly mortal dares to use acupoint sealing to inspect another's body at will. You must be madly eager to die. What should I do? Shall I simply pull it out, unless you want your heart to burst?”
“Gasp... Gasp...”
Quartermaster Sang Ung-baek found even breathing difficult.
He could not relax while a hand held his heart.
Mok GyeongUn looked at Blue Spirit, who stood behind Sang Ung-baek with a mocking expression.
He was quite intrigued by her ability.
‘She really is on another level.’
The Demonic Monk, a Yellow Spirit, had found even an Advanced master troublesome. Yet Blue Spirit had subdued Sang Ung-baek with absurd ease.
Sang Ung-baek seemed stronger even than Guard Gam, but had been caught without sensing a thing.
It seemed she could kill Sang Ung-baek whenever she wished.
Now he understood why the Fundamental Text of the Yin-Yang School called spirits of Green Spirit rank and above disasters too difficult to endure.
Waiting while currying favor with her had been worth it.
She was not yet as completely under his control as the Demonic Monk, but with further taming, she seemed useful.
“Are you going to keep this up? I can't maintain partial materialization like this for long.”
‘Ah...’
Was that so?
That was good to know.
One had to understand an ability precisely to use it according to the situation.
Blue Spirit raised an eyebrow.
“Is your paralysis point sealed, so you can't move?”
“No.”
Swish!
Mok GyeongUn moved and removed Sang Ung-baek's hand from his wrist.
Sang Ung-baek's eyes wavered.
He had certainly sealed the acupoint properly.
Then how could Mok GyeongUn move?
‘Could it be?’
Sang Ung-baek thought he understood why.
Even the life energy forcibly injected into Mok GyeongUn's body had scattered.
That likely meant the life energy he had used to seal Mok GyeongUn's acupoint had scattered as well.
‘Ha!’
A body unaffected by acupoint sealing without an Acupoint-Shifting Grand Method or profound internal energy.
It was truly strange.
Mok GyeongUn spoke to the astonished Sang Ung-baek.
“Does it hurt?”
“Haah... Haah...”
“Does it hurt too much to speak?”
At that, Quartermaster Sang Ung-baek cautiously parted his lips.
“Wh-what did you do to me?”
Sang Ung-baek had no idea what this thing was that had pierced through his body and gripped his heart.
Mok GyeongUn gave a faint laugh.
“You probably don't want to know.”
“What?”
If Sang Ung-baek learned what stood behind him, he would be even more terrified.
“And I see no need to tell you.”
Sang Ung-baek frowned, at a loss for what to do.
Was this really the Mok GyeongUn he knew?
His air was far too different.
Mok GyeongUn asked, “But Quartermaster, why were you trying to examine my body?”
“That was...”
“I'd appreciate a proper answer.”
Gulp.
Meeting Mok GyeongUn's eyes, Sang Ung-baek unknowingly swallowed.
He had not noticed before, but Mok GyeongUn's eyes did not move in the slightest as they stared directly at him.
What was with that chilling gaze?
It was not a gaze a mere seventeen-year-old boy should possess.
“It seems you don't want to answer. Blue Spirit, you said you wanted to burst his heart...”
“I-I wanted to confirm something!”
At the threat that was not quite a threat, Sang Ung-baek hurriedly answered.
Mok GyeongUn tilted his head slightly.
“What?”
“...I found it difficult to understand why First Madam and the second young master would go so far as to target you.”
“You found it difficult to understand why they would target me?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm. Why?”
“What?”
“The succession struggle is well underway. It doesn't seem particularly strange.”
Sang Ung-baek hesitated briefly, then answered cautiously.
“If this is the true self you had hidden, young master, then I understand their feelings. But given the image you have shown thus far and your circumstances, it was not a situation where the others would actively target you so soon.”
“...”
“The Manor Lord has not even passed away, yet they were going to such lengths. It seemed strange. So I thought you might be hiding something.”
Mok GyeongUn clicked his tongue inwardly at Quartermaster Sang Ung-baek's words.
There was room for suspicion in this way too.
‘The real one must have been remarkably incompetent.’
It was laughable that he was suspected for such a reason.
Of course, it was not entirely incomprehensible.
He had stood out far too much over the past few days.
‘Hmm.’
Mok GyeongUn stroked his chin.
If Quartermaster Sang Ung-baek, whom he had met only once, suspected him, other retainers might soon begin watching him closely for similar reasons.
At least they did not seem to suspect he was a fake yet.
They merely appeared to think he had been hiding his strength.
Mok GyeongUn spoke.
“So, did you achieve your purpose in confirming it?”
Quartermaster Sang Ung-baek answered in a tense voice.
“...Did you hide it deliberately?”
“Who knows? I have no obligation to tell you that, Quartermaster. More importantly, I am wondering what I should do with you.”
“It's difficult even to keep this up. I'll just kill him, mortal.”
Blue Spirit spoke flatly as she puffed on her pipe.
Mok GyeongUn lightly shook his head.
“Not yet.”
If he killed the Quartermaster, matters would truly grow serious.
Then his plan to learn Martial Arts at Yeonmok Sword Manor before leaving would be disrupted.
This was troublesome.
“Then what are you going to do?”
“I don't know.”
“I am reaching my limit. Decide.”
“Hmm.”
Quartermaster Sang Ung-baek could not understand it at all.
Someone was clearly gripping his heart, but he could sense no presence behind him.
It was enough to make a ghost weep.
Even stranger, Mok GyeongUn was conversing even though Sang Ung-baek could hear nothing.
How was he supposed to accept this situation?
But that did not seem to be the problem now.
It seemed he had learned something he should not know.
Perhaps he would be killed to silence him.
He hurriedly said, “Young master... Please forgive my discourtesy.”
“No. How can you call it discourtesy when it has already happened?”
“It was discourtesy. As a retainer of the Mok Family, I should have approached you more carefully, but I acted too rashly. Please forgive me.”
“I said it's fine.”
“I truly had no other intention. I only wished to confirm whether you also possessed the qualifications to become the successor.”
That was the truth.
He had been disappointed by First Madam and Mok EunPyeong, the second young master.
That was why he wanted to determine whether Mok GyeongUn possessed something that would make them wary.
When the Manor Lord eventually passed away, the moment of decision would come.
“Having seen your true self, young master, I...”
“Enough.”
“What?”
“I have no interest whatsoever in whether the people of this household fight over succession or not. But if even the Quartermaster becomes entangled in this, it may grow tiresome.”
“Y-young master? What do you mean...?”
What was that supposed to mean?
If he had no interest in the succession struggle, why had he hidden his true nature?
Sang Ung-baek could not conceal his bewilderment.
“Good. So I can kill him, right?”
Blue Spirit spoke with the corner of her lips lifting, as though she had been waiting.
“No.”
“No? Then what are you going to do?”
Mok GyeongUn looked at the Demonic Monk beside him.
“Can you do what you tried to do to me before?”
“...!?”
The Demonic Monk's eyes lit up at those words.
Blue Spirit looked at Mok GyeongUn as though asking what he meant. Mok GyeongUn pointed at Quartermaster Sang Ung-baek.
“I saw in the Fundamental Text of the Yin-Yang School that when a vengeful spirit enters someone, it is called possession. Can you do it?”
“What?”
Blue Spirit's eyes widened.
Was this bastard openly giving that bald monk a chance to possess someone?
And instead of giving such a fine chance to her first, he was giving it to that bald monk...
“Hmm.”
Blue Spirit narrowed her eyes.
Come to think of it, she did not like the vicious-looking face of this mortal called Sang Ung-baek.
Nor was it a body she particularly wished to take.
Blue Spirit spoke in a tone of easy concession.
“You have been given a chance. Why not try it, bald monk?”
“...”
The Demonic Monk glanced around before looking at Sang Ung-baek with the gaze of someone eyeing a delectable meal.
The desire to seize a living body, a corporeal soul, was the instinct of all vengeful spirits.
Becoming a spirit familiar did not change that.
“You can hold him, right?”
“That much is hardly difficult.”
“...”
The Demonic Monk approached Sang Ung-baek.
Shiver!
As the Demonic Monk drew close enough to nearly touch him, Sang Ung-baek detected the cold sensation with his Ki sense and cried out in alarm.
“Y-young master, what in the world are you trying to do?”
“You heard me.”
“What?”
“Possession.”
As soon as the words ended...
Slither...
The Demonic Monk seeped into Sang Ung-baek's body.
“Guh!”
Feeling it, Sang Ung-baek hurriedly drew up the energy in his dantian, trying to expel the unpleasant thing from his body.
But Blue Spirit struck Sang Ung-baek's dantian and brain at the same time.
“Urk!”
The energy that had been about to spread from his dantian through his entire body was temporarily blocked.
As if that were not enough, when she affected his brain, Sang Ung-baek's eyes became blank like those of someone who had lost their mind.
The Demonic Monk did not miss that moment and attempted to possess Sang Ung-baek's body.
Crack! Crack!
Sang Ung-baek's waist bent like a bow.
Then a grotesque sound flowed from his mouth.
“Guh-gegegege!”
Pop! Pop! Pop!
Black veins bulged all over his body, making him resemble the Manor Lord's former appearance.
It was the process of occupying the body through malign force.
Having understood this, Mok GyeongUn watched Sang Ung-baek with intrigued eyes.
His body twisted wildly, and he looked truly miserable.
Puff.
Blue Spirit exhaled a thick cloud of smoke from her pipe.
Like Mok GyeongUn, she watched with eyes full of anticipation.
‘Break. Please, break.’
Sak had been a Taoist occultist, so Blue Spirit had failed to possess her.
But this Sang Ung-baek was different.
She hoped the Demonic Monk would successfully take control of the body, severing the spirit-familiar bond.
Then she could simply target a corporeal soul that looked easy enough and sever her own spirit-familiar bond whenever she wished.
Slither...
Just as she watched expectantly, the black veins that had bulged beneath Sang Ung-baek's skin gradually subsided, as though his body had been controlled to some degree.
The agonized expression on his face also vanished.
It became utterly blank.
Crack!
Sang Ung-baek straightened his waist and opened his closed eyes.
His pale face and strange gleam, unlike that of an ordinary person, gave him an atmosphere entirely different from before.
Then Sang Ung-baek slightly tilted his head and trembled.
“Why is he like this? Is the possession not finished yet?”
Blue Spirit answered.
“He is probably confining the self. It is the natural order to seize the body first, then dominate the mind.”
“Oh. Is that so?”
“Once the mind is controlled, everything is taken. Even the memories of the possessed body.”
“Memories? Ah!”
Come to think of it, when the Demonic Monk had been an aberration, a Taoist occultist's spellcraft had once made him reveal aloud the location of the martial arts book in the Manor Lord's mind.
If it could read memories, it could practically become that person.
The corner of Mok GyeongUn's lips rose slightly.
‘Not bad.’
There would be no need to undergo the troublesome process of turning someone into a useful tool.
A spirit familiar belonged completely to him.
Unlike a human, there was no need to worry that it might change its mind someday.
Just then, Sang Ung-baek's head stopped trembling.
A faint ghostly aura remained in his eyes, but the pallor had faded enough that one could not distinguish it at a glance.
“Is it over?”
Sang Ung-baek nodded at the question.
Then, as if satisfied, his lips twitched.
“Master. This body is mine now.”
The possession had succeeded.
Mok GyeongUn smiled, apparently satisfied that the body had been completely taken.
‘The Quartermaster's body...’
His freedom of movement might become much more convenient from now on.
Blue Spirit's expression, on the other hand, was not good.
That was because she could see the red thread protruding from Sang Ung-baek's chest, still connected to Mok GyeongUn.
Click.
It was impossible to sever a spirit-familiar bond through possession.
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