WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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Episode 13: Ambush (2)
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Whoooosh!
It was an amount that could not be compared to the energy produced by a single death.
The deathly aura created by the deaths of dozens of people was immense, and its purity was profound.
It contained every cold emotion felt at the very moment of death.
‘Good.’
As he circulated his ki with the Reverse Circulation Breathing Technique, Mok GyeongUn absorbed far more energy than he had from Guyeo, the ferocious beast among spirits and goblins.
This was unexpected.
His recklessness amid danger had paid off.
At this rate, he would reach his goal faster than expected.
‘Twice... no, perhaps even three times.’
He meant expanding the diameter of his dantian.
As he concentrated the incoming pure energy through ki circulation, he thought he might be able to expand it threefold.
Of course, he had no way of knowing how much internal energy that would amount to.
While Mok GyeongUn focused on his ki circulation, Go Chan, who had to protect him, was tense.
‘...This is impossible.’
If even Ha Chae-rin's Expert-level body was on such high alert, they stood no chance.
Where had such a monster come from?
At that moment, the scarred man shifted his gaze from Go Chan to Mok GyeongUn, who was circulating his ki.
With an interested expression, he spoke.
“Amid the bloodshed caused by an unknown enemy, he is immersed in ki circulation. What an interesting child.”
Then he began walking over.
It looked as though he were merely walking, yet in just a few steps, he closed the distance from the hall in an instant.
‘Gasp!’
Alarmed, Go Chan called out to Mok GyeongUn.
“Young master?”
Go Chan wanted to shake him awake, but interrupting someone in the midst of ki circulation could cause Ki Rampage.
“Young master?”
Go Chan called again.
But there was no response.
Instead, as though lost in a trance, Mok GyeongUn pushed his ki circulation even harder.
Whoooosh!
All the deathly aura around him was being sucked in at a tremendous speed. It was difficult to stop him midway through it.
In the end, Go Chan decided that buying time was the only option.
Come to think of it, Go Chan was already dead.
Go Chan could not let Mok GyeongUn come to harm merely because the possessed body might be injured.
Whoosh!
Sending energy into the Yongquan points, Go Chan kicked off the ground.
At that moment, Ha Chae-rin's possessed body shot forward at tremendous speed.
It was incomparably faster than Go Chan's original body.
Tap-tap-tap-tap!
In an instant, Go Chan circled the scarred man twice.
“Ho. You are quite fast.”
The scarred man muttered.
But it did not sound like praise, and he did not even assume a defensive stance.
Go Chan bit down hard on the lower lip.
‘He is looking down on me? Flying Kill Martial Art, Third Technique, Silent Carving Dance!’
The technique naturally came to mind.
The Flying Kill Flame Guest's unique martial art, Flying Kill Martial Art's Third Technique, Silent Carving Dance, unfolded instinctively from Ha Chae-rin's body.
Whish! Whish! Whish!
Go Chan performed a somersault and unleashed a Kicking Technique at the scarred man.
Six kicks swept in like a pinwheel, accurately targeting the vital acupoints along his centerline.
Go Chan expected the man to evade or block them somehow.
Shiver!
Sensing a sharp ki weapon, Go Chan hastily twisted aside.
Slice!
Severed hair scattered in every direction.
‘When did he...?’
Had Go Chan been even slightly slower, that huge great saber would have split the body in two.
As Go Chan twisted aside, three Jade-Flame Flying Needles were drawn from the wrist ring and fired at the scarred man's face.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Clang! Clang!
But the man easily deflected them with the blade of his saber.
And that was not all.
Thud!
“Urgh!”
His left fist struck Go Chan's abdomen precisely from an unseen angle.
With a strangled cry, Go Chan was hurled backward and rolled several times.
Crash! Bang!
“Cough!”
Blood spilled from Go Chan's mouth.
They had exchanged only a single technique, yet the gap in their ability was unmistakable.
But a strange light appeared in Go Chan's eyes.
It was not because the scarred man was too strong.
It was because that strike had not hurt.
‘What is this?’
Go Chan's stomach churned, and a retch rose up.
Yet there was still no sensation of pain at all.
That was how Go Chan realized it.
Go Chan was possessing someone else's body.
‘This feels strange.’
But this was not the time to dwell on that strange feeling.
Go Chan shakily rose.
The lack of pain did not change the fact that the body had taken a heavy blow.
There was no strength in its legs.
“Girl. Stop me once more, and you die.”
The scarred man warned in a low voice.
Go Chan felt annoyed by that.
“Who are you calling a girl...”
“Stop!”
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Someone shouted and rushed over.
They immediately stepped in front of Go Chan and pointed a sword at the scarred man.
It was none other than Mok YuCheon.
“Young Master Mok?”
“Miss, are you all right?”
‘What?’
Go Chan's expression went blank.
Goosebumps were about to rise all over Go Chan's body.
Glancing at Go Chan, Mok YuCheon spoke in a forceful voice.
“Ahem. Miss, it is dangerous, so step back. I will handle this man.”
“...”
As a man, Go Chan could tell.
Mok YuCheon was putting on quite a show.
Go Chan could not bear the secondhand embarrassment.
Regardless, perhaps wanting to make a good impression, Mok YuCheon addressed the scarred man politely.
“I am Mok YuCheon, the fourth son of Yeonmok Sword Manor. What brings you into our manor to cause such trouble?”
The scarred man snickered at those words.
He looked Mok YuCheon up and down before speaking.
“Interesting. To think I would find two youths with such promise in a place like this.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Brat, you have no right to ask questions.”
With those words, the scarred man released a powerful pressure.
He had merely revealed his killing intent, yet Mok YuCheon's heart pounded heavily.
‘He is strong.’
Mok YuCheon had reached the beginning stage of Expert, so he could estimate the scarred man's strength.
Perhaps this man was comparable to Mok YuCheon's father before he lost his arm.
It had been a long time since Mok YuCheon had felt such fear.
The scarred man asked him.
“You are from the Mok Family. Where is your father?”
“Do not speak of my father so carelessly.”
Apparently angered by the man's words, Mok YuCheon raised his voice.
The scarred man sneered.
“Do not shout. Trying to hide your fear only makes you look weaker.”
“What did you say?”
Unable to endure it, Mok YuCheon rushed forward to unleash a sword technique.
“You are young indeed.”
To fall for such a trivial provocation.
Swish.
As though the ground had been pulled beneath him, the scarred man reached Mok YuCheon in an instant.
‘What speed...’
Mok YuCheon had not even seen him move.
Startled, Mok YuCheon twisted left to change the path of his sword technique.
At that moment, the man's hand moved as flexibly as a snake and stretched toward his face.
“Huh?”
Mok YuCheon hurriedly raised his left arm.
The man's palm lightly touched his wrist.
At that instant, an immense force entered his body, and Mok YuCheon was flung away as though he were a feather.
Bang!
“Urgh!”
The force sent him flying more than five jang before he came to a stop.
Mok YuCheon rolled across the ground several times and vomited blood.
“Ugh.”
Though he had raised Defensive Ki to redirect the force at the moment of contact, the ki had penetrated his Five Viscera and Six Bowels.
It was Penetrating Strike, a technique that could be considered a higher level of internal force strike.
It was especially effective against martial artists weaker than oneself, and that was exactly what Mok YuCheon was to the scarred man.
‘He does not even consider me an opponent...’
The great saber in the man's right hand remained resting on his shoulder.
The difference between them was overwhelming.
But Mok YuCheon could not give up here.
This was not a martial match or training.
‘A real battle.’
This man was an enemy who had invaded Yeonmok Sword Manor.
If Mok YuCheon yielded here, it would be over.
Mok YuCheon steadied his breathing and rose.
Go Chan approached and assumed an opening stance.
“Young master. We must use a combined attack.”
“Miss?”
‘This bastard!’
Go Chan nearly snapped at him not to call Go Chan that, but stopped.
The body was female, so it was only natural. Besides, this was not the time to argue over forms of address.
As the two prepared to launch a combined attack, the scarred man gave a cold smile.
“What foolish things you are doing.”
He moved to step toward them.
At that very moment...
“Haap!”
With a resounding battle cry, someone appeared and brought a sword down upon the scarred man.
Though the scarred man had not displayed his full strength against the two of them, he now gripped his great saber and slashed upward.
Clang!
Sword and saber collided, and the metallic ring echoed in every direction.
The ki of the two masters was so powerful that fierce winds swept through the area.
But even between them, there was a clear superior.
Bang!
The person who had delivered the sword strike was flung backward and pushed back about five steps.
“F-Father!”
It was Mok InDan, the Manor Lord of Yeonmok Sword Manor.
Trickle.
Black blood ran from Mok InDan's lips.
He had only recently risen from his sickbed and had already spent much life energy. Furthermore, his unfamiliar left hand could not draw out even half his strength at his peak.
“Father!”
Mok InDan raised a hand and shook his head at Mok YuCheon, who tried to approach.
“Step back. He is not an opponent you can handle.”
“But...”
“Enough!”
With that, Mok InDan's eyes briefly shifted toward Mok GyeongUn, who sat cross-legged while circulating his ki.
Why was that child doing that?
Was he injured?
There appeared to be nothing wrong with him.
After a moment of confusion, Manor Lord Mok InDan turned to the approaching scarred man.
“Who are you to invade my manor?”
“Invade? Hahahaha!”
The scarred man burst into laughter before pulling something from his robes.
Mok InDan's expression stiffened at once when he saw it.
It was a seal.
‘A seal?’
Mok YuCheon's eyes narrowed.
It looked like a seal, but why was Father so alarmed?
As he wondered, the scarred man repeatedly tossed the seal into the air and caught it.
“You know very well what this is, Manor Lord Mok.”
“...How did you obtain that?”
“How? Hahahahaha! Manor Lord Mok, you are quite good at playing innocent. You stole something that is practically a treasure of our Society, yet you dare say that?”
‘Stole?’
Mok YuCheon looked at Mok InDan with a baffled expression.
Then shocking words came from Mok InDan.
“...Are you from the Heaven and Earth Society?”
The scarred man grinned.
It was an affirmation.
‘!!!!!!’
Mok YuCheon's and Go Chan's eyes both widened.
The reason for their shock was simple.
The Heaven and Earth Society.
It was one of the three great forces dividing the martial world of the Central Plains.
Worshipping the survival of the strong alone, it had once thrown the martial world into chaos in an attempt to unify it.
Countless chivalrous martial artists had lost their lives then.
That was why the martial world still could not help but fear the name Heaven and Earth Society.
‘T-The Heaven and Earth Society?’
Go Chan was dumbfounded.
There were not many factions that would dare commit such madness against Yeonmok Sword Manor, a renowned martial family of Anhui.
But if it truly was the Heaven and Earth Society, this was a disaster.
No matter how famous Yeonmok Sword Manor was as a martial family, if they decided to attack in earnest, it was an enemy that could destroy the entire manor.
“Ah...”
A sigh escaped Manor Lord Mok InDan.
To think it was the Heaven and Earth Society.
Mok InDan's gaze moved to his youngest son, Mok YuCheon, Mok GyeongUn, who was circulating his ki, and the warriors of Yeonmok Sword Manor fighting nearby.
‘Is this my karma?’
Why had he yielded to greed back then?
Had he not brought that thing here, this would not have happened.
Mok InDan spoke with difficulty.
“...If I give that to you, will you withdraw from this manor?”
‘Father?’
Mok YuCheon looked at Manor Lord Mok InDan with astonishment.
Though his father's words were meant to save everyone, they were almost the same as surrender.
His father's weakness, which Mok YuCheon had never seen before, made his heart ache.
“I should not have revealed our Society's identity. I had hoped you would resist a little longer.”
The scarred man muttered regretfully.
Mok YuCheon could not suppress his anger at that attitude.
The man would not act this way unless he completely looked down on them.
Mok InDan sent Mok YuCheon a look and shook his head.
It meant not to act rashly.
‘They are the Heaven and Earth Society. No matter how angry you are, endure it, my son.’
Once such a monster had arrived, the situation was already overwhelmingly unfavorable.
Even aside from his weakened condition, Mok InDan was not confident he could handle the scarred man even at full health.
Resting the great saber on his shoulder, the scarred man asked.
“Where is it?”
“First, give me your word as one man to another.”
“Manor Lord Mok, you are not lacking in caliber as a leader. Fine. I, Son Yun, the Saber King, one of the Five Kings of the great Heaven and Earth Society, give you my word. If you hand it over, I will withdraw without causing further harm to Yeonmok Sword Manor.”
‘...One of the Five Kings.’
Mok InDan was inwardly shocked.
To think that Son Yun, the Saber King, one of the eight executives leading the Heaven and Earth Society, had personally come.
That meant they had certainly come prepared to destroy the entire manor if necessary.
Cold sweat ran down Mok InDan's face.
The scarred man, no, Son Yun, the Saber King and one of the Five Kings of the Heaven and Earth Society, asked him again.
“Where is it?”
Mok InDan pointed somewhere.
“Our Manor's Medicine house is over there. Open the drawer marked Oyang among the medicine cabinets, and an entrance to the underground will open.”
“Ho.”
“There is a stone door marked Fourth inside. There is a mechanism formation in the passage, so cross twenty steps at once with movement skill, or proceed while bracing yourself against the ceiling.”
“You hid it well.”
“There will be a wooden box with a talisman attached to it.”
“Did you hear that?”
At Son Yun's question, one of the masked warriors beside him replied.
“Yes.”
“Bring it.”
“Yes, sir!”
The masked warrior immediately vanished toward the Medicine house.
‘...It was hidden in the secret space inside the Medicine house?’
Go Chan frowned in confusion and glanced at Mok GyeongUn, who was still absorbing deathly aura.
It felt as though things were becoming seriously tangled.
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