WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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Episode 14: Heaven and Earth Society (2)
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“...You saw it?”
Mok GyeongUn found Son Yun, the Saber King's expression puzzling.
He understood how important martial arts books were in the martial world.
Yet judging by this person's reaction, it was quite unlike anger over someone seeing a martial arts book that was practically their treasure.
It was as though he could not believe it.
‘What is this?’
Just then,
Swish.
Before he knew it, the sharp edge of Son Yun's great saber was at his throat.
Mok GyeongUn narrowed his eyes.
He had clearly seen every movement, yet he had not noticed the blade until it touched him, as though he had failed to register it.
‘...Is this what a true master is?’
It was astonishing.
Now he understood why Mok InDan, the Manor Lord of Yeonmok Sword Manor, was so tense and deferential before Son Yun.
But that was the extent of his admiration.
In reality, even a five-year-old child could stab someone to death in their sleep if they let down their guard.
It was right to remain wary of everything.
Son Yun looked Mok GyeongUn straight in the eyes and spoke.
“You saw it and still lived...”
“What?”
“Then it must be one of two things.”
What was he talking about?
As Mok GyeongUn looked puzzled, Son Yun continued in a cold voice.
“Either you are lying, or you possess heavenly fortune.”
“Lying... or heavenly fortune?”
“Few who have seen what is inside have remained alive and breathing.”
“...What do you mean by that?”
No one remained alive and breathing?
Was he not standing right here?
Son Yun snorted and pressed the blade lightly against his throat.
“It means exactly what it says. That is why I cannot believe you are still alive and well.”
“As you can see, I am alive.”
Mok GyeongUn shrugged.
Son Yun clicked his tongue at that attitude.
A blade was at his throat, yet his demeanor had not changed in the slightest.
Had he lost the capacity for fear? Or was he simply bold?
“Looking at you, I cannot tell whether you are spouting lies because you have grown reckless, or whether you are taking a gamble.”
“If lying will only get me killed, is there any reason to gamble?”
“...”
Son Yun stared intently into Mok GyeongUn's eyes.
If he were even slightly tense, there should have been some flicker in his gaze. Yet there was none.
[You must retrieve it.]
Son Yun could not disobey that command.
Then there was only one way.
“Fine. Recite the verse formula or demonstrate the technique. Then we will know for certain.”
At his proposal, Mok InDan and everyone from Yeonmok Sword Manor watched with tense eyes.
When Mok GyeongUn first revealed that he had it, they had felt deeply betrayed.
But in this situation, Mok GyeongUn was the only one who could save them.
‘Please.’
They prayed that it was not a lie.
“It is not difficult.”
With that, Mok GyeongUn was about to recite the verse formula.
He considered deceiving them by falsifying part of the verse formula, as he had when deceiving Mok YuCheon, but these people were the owners of that martial arts book.
If he tried to deceive them, he might lose his head.
As he was about to open his mouth,
“Mortal.”
A familiar voice rang through his head.
It was Blue Spirit.
Mok GyeongUn shifted his gaze and looked around.
But she was nowhere to be seen.
He had already been puzzled because he had called for her earlier, yet she had not appeared.
“Look at the roof across from you.”
‘The roof?’
At those words, he looked toward it.
Blue Spirit stood there.
Why had she not come closer?
Was she keeping her distance because she was wary of that monstrous figure and the Taoist occultist?
That seemed likely.
But...
‘What is this?’
Blue Spirit's demeanor was different from usual.
The blood-red glow in the eyes of the figure standing on the roof was far too intense.
No, it was so vivid that it felt like blazing flames.
Because they were connected by a bond of fate, Mok GyeongUn could tell.
‘Anger?’
What he felt from her was immense fury.
It was rage intense enough to drench this entire place in blood, yet she was forcibly suppressing it with tremendous restraint.
Why was she acting like that?
As he wondered, Blue Spirit spoke.
“The moment you recite that verse formula, you will die.”
What?
Was that why she was stopping him?
Naturally, if he recited all of it, they might stab him in the back.
It would be better to recite only half and say he would hand over the rest some other way...
“Mortal. Repeat the verse formula and form that I recite and demonstrate exactly.”
Mok GyeongUn furrowed his brow slightly.
What did she mean, repeat the verse formula and form?
These people would know what was written in it. If he recited a different formula, they would certainly know it was wrong.
But then,
“Do not rack your brain. Trust This Venerable One for now.”
‘Hmm.’
“If you die, This Venerable One dies as well.”
At those words, countless thoughts passed through Mok GyeongUn's mind in an instant.
The moment the verse formula proved wrong, he would lose his head. Yet if he recited the formula she taught him...
As he hesitated, Son Yun said,
“Why are you not doing it?”
“...”
After considering it, Mok GyeongUn came to a decision.
He formed a sword-finger seal.
Then he copied Blue Spirit as she took an opening stance on the roof, her back to the moonlight.
Though separated by distance, their forms became exactly the same.
Blue Spirit opened her mouth.
“Muwon Jihyeon, Pasun Yuun, Yeonggyeol Haeji, Johasikyu, Jipagyeongsal.”
At the same time, she extended her sword-finger seal and slowly performed the first technique.
She looked like a beauty performing a sword dance.
The words beauty beneath the moon came to mind.
The flowing hem of her red robe fluttered with the technique like scattering flower petals.
‘...’
It was a movement that naturally stole one's soul away.
If not for the circumstances, he would have wanted to watch at leisure.
Then Mok GyeongUn opened his mouth.
“Muwon Jihyeon, Pasun Yuun, Yeonggyeol Haeji, Johasikyu, Jipagyeongsal!”
He followed Blue Spirit's movements.
Exactly as he had received them.
He recreated them without the slightest difference.
Throb! Throb!
Some untrained muscles cried out in pain, but he paid them no heed and focused even on the smallest movement of her fingers.
Fwoosh! Fwoosh-fwoosh-fwoosh!
Son Yun's eyes trembled at Mok GyeongUn's sword technique.
He was not the only one.
Mok InDan, the Manor Lord of Yeonmok Sword Manor, could not take his eyes off the first technique Mok GyeongUn performed.
‘How... can this be...’
He could not help but be shocked.
It was truly a peerless sword technique.
There was not a single wasted movement, and it was difficult to find any flaw in it.
He had expected something remarkable because it was a martial arts book guarded by the Heaven and Earth Society, but it was truly extraordinary.
Yet what was even more astonishing was...
‘How can this child move like this?’
Mok GyeongUn's movements were not something a martial artist at the Third-rate level could produce.
There was no internal energy behind them, and he moved slowly, but from the tips of his fingers onward, it was as though a peerless swordsman who had reached the pinnacle of the sword was demonstrating a sword technique.
A swordsman of his level would recognize it at once.
‘Ha.’
If Mok InDan was this astonished, how could Son Yun be any different?
Son Yun, too, could not hide his admiration at what Mok GyeongUn showed.
Recognizing the technique was one thing, but this demonstration was not something that child could possibly perform at his level.
‘Is it talent?’
It was an incomprehensible talent.
By his Ki sense, Mok GyeongUn was only at the boundary between Third-rate and Second-rate.
Yet he was demonstrating the technique as though a peerless swordsman were showing it to someone?
Just then,
Murmur, murmur.
A stir rose among the masked warriors.
Son Yun knew why they were reacting that way.
“Cheonak Yeongmyeong, Musobulhang, Jeoseongeoma...”
Mok GyeongUn recited another verse formula and was about to perform the second technique.
‘Damn it!’
He had to stop him.
The others could not be allowed to hear any more of the technique's verse formulas.
Son Yun hurriedly shouted,
“Stop!”
Swish.
Mok GyeongUn halted, his sword-finger seal extended diagonally.
Then he checked Son Yun's reaction.
He had been following Blue Spirit's movements on the roof with extreme concentration, so he had not been able to observe Son Yun.
‘Hm?’
Mok GyeongUn was inwardly puzzled when he saw the Saber King's expression.
This was truly no different from a gamble.
After all, this verse formula had not been written in the martial arts book.
Yet judging by Son Yun's expression, it did not seem as though he thought Mok GyeongUn was wrong.
Mok GyeongUn asked,
“Have you confirmed it?”
“...”
Son Yun remained silent and stared at Mok GyeongUn.
In Son Yun's mind, an image arose of someone else performing the same technique as Mok GyeongUn.
It was utterly tyrannical.
Yet Mok GyeongUn's sword technique was completely different in nature.
Which meant...
‘There is no doubt.’
It was undoubtedly the secret manual.
There was no room for doubt.
Son Yun tried hard not to show it, but Son Yun's heart pounded.
Son Yun had never expected this, but to see the sword formula of the Moon Vein, said to have been lost approximately a hundred years ago, like this...
It was difficult to calm his excitement.
But Son Yun soon suppressed those emotions.
[You must retrieve it.]
Recovering the original secret manual was the best outcome.
But if this brat was telling the truth, the original had already vanished from the world.
This brat's head was now the only secret manual.
“Saber King.”
At that moment, the voice of Jo, a middle-aged Taoist occultist wearing an eyepatch, sounded.
Jo said nothing else, but Son Yun understood from Jo's slight shake of the head.
Jo probably meant that Mok GyeongUn was not to be killed.
‘It seems Jo wants him.’
Son Yun, too, found it intriguing.
This child had accomplished something that no one in the Society had managed.
Most had lost their lives.
That meant the cursed secret manual might have chosen the child, or the child might possess something special.
‘But no one except those permitted should learn that secret manual.’
Therefore, the proper course was to extract what was in Mok GyeongUn's mind, then kill him.
Yet it felt like a waste.
Mok GyeongUn narrowed his eyes at Son Yun's hesitating appearance.
‘There is something here.’
They did not know the true contents of the secret manual.
But judging by their reactions, they seemed certain that the verse formula of the technique Blue Spirit had taught him was written inside.
Otherwise, Son Yun would have already cut off his head.
Yet that hesitating look as Son Yun watched him...
‘Is he weighing his options?’
There was only one thing Mok GyeongUn could infer.
If it was a secret manual precious enough for them to call it their treasure, perhaps outsiders were forbidden from learning it.
Then, now that they had confirmed it was genuine, did they intend to extract it from his mind and kill him?
Mok GyeongUn glanced at Taoist occultist Jo.
Judging by Jo's reaction, Jo had considerable interest in him.
Then...
“Since you came all the way here looking for the secret manual, it must be valuable, correct?”
“What?”
Whoosh.
Mok GyeongUn darted toward one of Yeonmok Sword Manor's warriors nearby.
He practically snatched away the warrior's sword.
“I'll borrow this for a moment.”
“W-what?”
Mok GyeongUn held the stolen sword to his own throat.
“If I die, all your efforts to find it will come to nothing.”
One of Son Yun's eyebrows rose at those words.
Was this brat trying to bargain with his life?
Son Yun scoffed.
“Do you have the courage to take your own life?”
Mok GyeongUn smiled faintly at the question.
“It isn't particularly difficult.”
Stab.
The blade bit into Mok GyeongUn's throat.
‘!?’
For a moment, Son Yun was dumbfounded.
Son Yun had naturally thought the brat was trying to bargain for his life.
Yet this bastard was trying to cut his own throat without hesitation.
“Hah!”
Son Yun unleashed a roar fortified with internal energy.
“Urgh!”
“Ugh!”
At the resounding Lion's Roar, everyone instantly covered their ears.
Mok GyeongUn also frowned and staggered, but he did not release the sword biting into his throat.
The sound infused with internal energy must have brought pain and dizziness, yet he endured it.
‘This brat?’
Son Yun immediately shouted,
“Stop!”
Swish.
At those words, Mok GyeongUn relaxed his strength and stopped pushing the sword deeper into his throat.
Blood ran down his neck and soaked his collar red.
Son Yun spoke in disbelief.
“You are insane.”
Under ordinary circumstances, Son Yun would have laughed at some brat's absurd stunt.
But this one was different.
His eyes were like those of someone with no attachment to life, utterly without hesitation.
“It is a difficult world to live in without going mad.”
“You speak as though you've lived a whole lifetime, child. What do you want?”
Tap, tap.
Mok GyeongUn tapped his forehead with a finger and smiled.
“Now that I know how valuable what is in my head is, I don't intend to speak easily. So don't keep weighing this and that. Take your secret manual away peacefully.”
“What?”
“Does not that Taoist occultist over there want the same?”
Son Yun's expression turned strange.
‘Take it peacefully?’
This brat was not asking to be spared if he revealed the secret manual. Was he saying he would follow the Society of his own accord?
As Son Yun stared in disbelief, interest flickered in Son Yun's eyes.
‘Ha. Look at this brat.’
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