Myst, Might, Mayhem

Chapter 449 – Arrangement (2)

The pattern engraved on the thin side of the bamboo slips.

It appeared to represent the Five Elements (五行): Fire (火), Water (水), Wood (木), Earth (土), and Metal (金).

Although it was unclear why this was engraved on the side, it seemed to be related to the somewhat regular arrangement of the formula for the Eight Thought-Shattering Techniques.

‘Regular arrangement and the Five Elements…’

This was clearly related.

The Eight Thought-Shattering Techniques condensed enlightenment that diverged from the norm into thirty characters, so one had to diversify their perspective to realize new formulas.

However, no matter how intently one stared at this, despite its seemingly regular arrangement, no clues about any formula could be found.

‘It doesn’t combine.’

From the start, this arrangement itself didn’t fit.

It was as if the formula was deliberately tangled to make one conscious of it and interfere.

‘Why?’

It’s strange to do it this way when the formula is tangled.

Intentionally made, but the arrangement doesn’t fit.

Why on earth was it made like this?

As he was pondering deeply, Jin Ye-rin called out to him.

“Young Master Mok?”

“…What is it?”

“Come to think of it, how do you know about this, Young Master Mok?”

“This?”

“The Eight Thought-Shattering Techniques, I mean.”

“Ah…”

“Even if Young Master Mok had heard rumors, you couldn’t know whether this is the Eight Thought-Shattering Techniques or not without directly seeing its contents.”

At these words, Cheol Su-ryeon also agreed and chimed in.

“That’s right. Where on earth did you see the Eight Thought-Shattering Techniques? To know the formula of just thirty characters, unless you’ve memorized it from the beginning…”

“What kind of answer do you want?”

“What?”

“It happened to fall into my hands while floating around here and there. But are you asking this because you want to dispute ownership now?”

At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, Cheol Su-ryeon clicked her tongue as if exasperated and raised her voice.

“Huh? Ownership? You’re quite a ridiculous fellow. I don’t know how you obtained it, but that formula you came to know is what he condensed His enlightenment into and left for His descendants. Do you know what that means? The true owner of the formula you’ve learned is naturally only Young Miss Jin Ye-rin, the last blood relative of the Jin family.”

“How absurd.”

“Absurd? You…”

“The very person you claim is the owner just found out about it, yet you’re interrogating me about how I know the formula…”

“Enough!”

At that moment, Jin Ye-rin intervened, cutting off Mok Gyeong-un’s words.

Then, letting out a deep sigh, she said.

“This isn’t an interrogation, and as Young Master said, I have no intention of disputing ownership over this now. I was just curious about how far what he left in Mushang Fortress’s hidden underground secret storage had flowed, so I asked.”

This was what she really wanted to ask.

As it was the supreme secret manual that condensed the enlightenment of her ancestor, not just anyone else, she thought there must be some background to how Mok Gyeong-un came to know this formula.

So she just wanted to know how it had come into Mok Gyeong-un’s hands.

“It’s from Mok Gan, also known as the Secret Society’s leader.”

‘!?’

At Mok Gyeong-un’s sudden words, her expression immediately hardened.

Having shared information between them, she knew that behind the day of the great calamity was an organization called the Secret Society and a leader known as Mok Gan.

“The, the Secret Society’s leader, what on earth…”

“You said you were curious about how far it had gone, so I told you. It’s a fact I learned from fighting with Mok Gan’s avatar recently, so it’s certain.”

“Mok Gan’s avatar? What does that mean?”

“He is…”

-Tuk tuk!

Mok Gyeong-un tapped his forehead with his finger as he continued speaking.

“A being with a third eye on his forehead… In other words, he’s become one with an Imaemangyang. It’s fair to say he is essentially the Imaemangyang itself.”

“Imaemangyang…”

“He can implant his mind and will into other bodies and use them as avatars. It’s good to know this. His avatars are not just one. There are at least several. And because each avatar shares his will, you can consider them to be almost equal to his main body.”

Mok Gyeong-un shared the information he knew, as he had intended to share it anyway.

At these words from Mok Gyeong-un, Jin Ye-rin clicked her tongue and asked.

“What did you do with that avatar? Did you let it escape?”

“I killed it.”

“Ah!”

Jin Ye-rin couldn’t hide her surprise at Mok Gyeong-un’s answer.

She had been tracing the remnants of the one who destroyed her clan and caused the day of the great calamity, and had just barely approached an important clue, but Mok Gyeong-un had already directly encountered him and even fought.

Surprised by this, she soon calmed herself and continued speaking.

“…You always surprise me.”

“It’s not that surprising since I didn’t kill the main body.”

“Still, even indirectly, the fact that you approached a being that shares consciousness is important.”

She, who had been clicking her tongue, soon returned to the main point.

“But when I asked how far the secret manual he left behind had been passed on, you mentioned that person, the leader of the Secret Society. Does that mean he possesses the Eight Thought-Shattering Techniques?”

“Yes.”

-Kkwak!

At Mok Gyeong-un’s answer, Jin Ye-rin bit her lip hard.

Wicked Granny Cheol Su-ryeon’s expression also twisted terribly.

‘How did this happen…’

That was because for Cheol Su-ryeon, it was the pinnacle of learning left by Him, and for Jin Ye-rin, it was an arrangement left by her ancestor.

And now, this important thing had fallen into the hands of none other than the mastermind behind the day of the great calamity.

This fact was enough to enrage them.

“…Young Master Mok. Do you perhaps know how it came into the hands of the Secret Society’s leader?”

“I do know.”

Mok Gyeong-un had heard about the origins of the Eight Thought-Shattering Techniques through Cheong-ryeong, who knew the origins of the Heaven-Earth Moon Society.

He just didn’t know that the organization said to have been destroyed was Mushang Fortress.

It was truly coincidental beyond measure.

That’s how connections are linked in such ways.

Due to the secret manual of the destroyed Mushang Fortress, numerous conflicts arose in the martial arts world, and as a result, organizations like the Heaven-Earth Moon Society and then the Heaven and Earth Society were born.

And right before his eyes was the last legitimate descendant of that Mushang Fortress.

It felt like numerous branching paths were finally converging into one at the end.

“How… How did you come to possess that person’s enlightenment?”

Jin Ye-rin asked, struggling to suppress her anger.

This was very important to her.

In response, Mok Gyeong-un was about to answer, but then he turned his head towards Wicked Granny Cheol Su-ryeon instead of Jin Ye-rin and said.

“The forbidden technique comes first.”

“What!”

Cheol Su-ryeon was dumbfounded at Mok Gyeong-un’s words.

She had already agreed to teach it, so why was this guy so urgently insisting on this?

Even Jin Ye-rin, who was suppressing her anger, couldn’t help but express her irritation as Mok Gyeong-un prioritized his own goal in this situation.

“Young Master Mok. Cheol Su-ryeon already said she would teach it, so why are you…”

“There are enemies outside. And my subordinates are holding them back.”

“I know. I don’t intend to stay here for long…”

“Variables can occur at any time. So the forbidden technique comes first.”

Faced with Mok Gyeong-un’s continued firm attitude, Cheol Su-ryeon finally couldn’t contain her anger and shouted.

“You have no sense of moderation…”

“Cheol Su-ryeon.”

“Young miss. This won’t do. Whether this person is an outsider or received teachings from Moon Evil Sword isn’t important. Without mutual respect, prioritizing only oneself…”

“Cheol Su-ryeon… I’m asking you.”

“…Haa.”

Cheol Su-ryeon let out a sigh at Jin Ye-rin’s earnest request.

She felt that Jin Ye-rin had already given up.

Although angry, she understood Jin Ye-rin’s feelings, so Cheol Su-ryeon roughly flipped through an old book shelved in the thatched house’s study.

-Pak!

“If it weren’t for the young miss, I would never have passed this on to you.”

“…”

Mok Gyeong-un silently took the book and quickly flipped through it, skimming the contents.

Watching him, Jin Ye-rin inwardly clicked her tongue.

Since they had a common enemy, she ultimately yielded, realizing it was meaningless to quarrel and get red-faced over this, but on the other hand, she was puzzled.

While the Secret Society seemed to be after the forbidden technique to plot something behind the scenes, why was Mok Gyeong-un so intent on obtaining this forbidden technique?

-Suk!

As she was thinking this, Mok Gyeong-un tucked the book on the forbidden technique into his bosom and opened his mouth.

“I’ll explain briefly since we’re in a hurry. When Mushang Fortress was destroyed on the day of the great calamity, coincidentally, the keeper of the secret storage hidden underground survived.”

“The secret storage keeper?”

“Yes. His name was Yang Bi-ryu. They say he was lucky to survive because he was underground. Yang Bi-ryu, who survived like that, tried for a long time to find a descendant of Mushang Fortress to pass on the Eight Thought-Shattering Techniques. However, he eventually died without finding a descendant of Mushang Fortress.”

“Haa. So that’s how the secret manual of the Eight Thought-Shattering Techniques came out into the world?”

“That’s the result, yes. After Yang Bi-ryu died, his three adopted sons apparently fought over it for quite a long time. It even became a power struggle at some point.”

“Ah…”

That was the war that broke out over what the world called the supreme secret manual.

Mok Gyeong-un briefly explained how in this process, the three clans made a pact to stop the war, determine the owner of the secret manual, and create a new organization.

And in that story, he quickly revealed how the Heaven-Earth Moon Society was formed, and then due to the schemes and madness of the Secret Society’s leader, Mok Gan, who took over the body of the Heaven Vein clan’s leader, the Moon Vein clan was destroyed, and the current Heaven and Earth Society was formed.

Of course, he omitted the detailed anecdotes related to Cheong-ryeong.

Jin Ye-rin, who heard all of this, couldn’t help but feel troubled.

‘How did it come to this?’

The secret manual containing His enlightenment didn’t end up in the hands of her father Jin Yeong-in, the surviving clan’s descendant, but instead floated around in the war between the descendants of the surviving secret storage keeper Yang Bi-ryu, and finally ended up in the hands of Mok Gan, who destroyed Mushang Fortress.

What was interesting in this process was that the Heaven and Earth Society, in a sense, was no different from an organization made up of descendants of Mushang Fortress.

Cheol Su-ryeon seemed to have the same thought,

“I suppose it’s fair to say that this Heaven and Earth Society also ultimately derived from Mushang Fortress.”

“…That’s right. But it’s too humiliating that His enlightenment ended up in the hands of the mastermind who destroyed Mushang Fortress and drove our clan to death.”

-Kkwak! Pareureu!

Jin Ye-rin clenched her fist so tightly that her nails dug into her flesh.

She sincerely wanted to catch that mastermind, Mok Gan, tear his entire body apart, burn every piece of his flesh, and kill him.

To her in this state, Mok Gyeong-un suddenly asked.

“But I don’t understand why this was divided into two.”

“What?”

“Didn’t you say earlier? That ancestor you call ‘That person’ left the Eight Thought-Shattering Techniques in a hidden secret storage for his descendants. But if he guessed it might not end up in the hands of his descendants, there was no reason to leave the Eight Thought-Shattering Techniques there in the first place.”

“Ah…”

At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, Jin Ye-rin also became puzzled.

Thinking about it, if he was going to leave the Eight Thought-Shattering Techniques here, there was no reason to leave it in Mushang Fortress’s underground secret storage.

Also, conversely, why didn’t he put the secret manual of the Heavenly Concealed Luminous Star Sword Art there?

Cheol Su-ryeon said this secret manual was an important arrangement for the descendant who would find this place.

Then shouldn’t this have been put in the underground secret storage as well?

‘It’s strange.’

There were parts that didn’t quite add up.

He might have left only that in the underground secret storage out of concern for his descendants, just in case, but in the end, it fell into the hands of Mok Gan, the leader of the Secret Society who destroyed Mushang Fortress.

If he could even read the heavenly secrets, couldn’t he have predicted this as well?

To deliberately leave a secret manual that would fall into someone else’s hands…

‘Ah?’

As she was pondering, she suddenly stared intently at Mok Gyeong-un, who was holding the bamboo slips with the formula of the Eight Thought-Shattering Techniques written on them.

Come to think of it, Mok Gyeong-un also said he obtained the formula of the Eight Thought-Shattering Techniques by chance.

‘Wait… Could it be…’

-Kwaaaang!

At that moment, a tremendous roar came from outside, shaking the entire thatched house.

-Kururururu!

Perhaps due to the aftershock, not just a small part, but about one-third of the pillar at the center of the thatched house cracked and fissured.

Seeing this, they instinctively realized that something had gone wrong with the formation.

At this, Cheol Su-ryeon shouted at Mok Gyeong-un.

“Give those bamboo slips to the young miss.”

She thought Jin Ye-rin should take them as this was also His arrangement.

Mok Gyeong-un, who already knew the formula and had memorized the patterns engraved on the side and the regularity of the arrangement, was about to roll them up again and hand them over without particular greed.

But at the moment he was rolling up the bamboo slips.

-Chwareuk!

At that instant, as the bamboo slips were being rolled up, space distorted and Mok Gyeong-un’s body was sucked into it.

-Tak!

Along with that, the rolled-up bamboo slips fell to the floor.

‘!?’

Jin Ye-rin and Wicked Granny Cheol Su-ryeon couldn’t hide their bewilderment at the sudden turn of events.

What on earth had just happened?

Hurriedly, Jin Ye-rin tried to suck in the bamboo slips with her Void Grasping technique and unroll them again.

But right at that moment.

-Kwang!

The wall of the thatched house right in front of them was torn away.

Along with that, the outside was revealed, and,

‘!!!!!!’

There stood a middle-aged man with a third eye on his forehead, his hands behind his back.

***

Mok Gyeong-un looked around.

In the blink of an eye, Jin Ye-rin and Cheol Su-ryeon who had been nearby disappeared, and suddenly everything around him changed.

He had clearly been inside a thatched house, but looking around, this place seemed to be some mountain peak.

So Mok Gyeong-un approached the cliff at the edge of the mountain peak to figure out where this place was, but,

‘This… What on earth?’

Mok Gyeong-un doubted his eyes.

That was because while the sky was clearly clear and blue, the ground below the peak was not visible.

All that could be seen was a black floor, which looked like an endless abyss.

What on earth is this place?

Thinking it might be an illusion, he walked along the edge of the peak looking down, but even after a full circle, he couldn’t see the bottom.

He was just wondering about this when,

-Looking down won’t show you a way down.

Mok Gyeong-un frowned at the voice coming from behind.

He was clearly the only one on top of the mountain peak.

Moreover, he hadn’t sensed any presence from behind, so why did he hear a voice?

After a moment’s consideration, Mok Gyeong-un grasped his sword hilt and naturally turned his head.

‘!?’

There was a rock about waist-high, and sitting on top of it was someone of unknown identity wearing a demon mask.

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