Myst, Might, Mayhem

Chapter 440 – Ghost Blade (4)

-Crack!

“Urgh.”

As the formless sword twisting into his collarbone was twisted, a groan burst from the Ghost Blade’s mouth.

He thought he was accustomed to and could endure considerable pain, but this, true to the essence of a sword, inflicted indescribable agony.

To him in this state, Mok Gyeong-un spoke with a voice filled with killing intent.

“I know at least that the prophecy, the Incarnation, all of that is being guarded against by the head of the Secret Society, a man called Mok Gan. That’s why you targeted my grandfather, who supposedly spirited away the Incarnation, right?”

To these words, the Ghost Blade furrowed his brow and replied.

“Haa… Haa… You’ve found out quite a bit, even though you haven’t realized or awakened as the Incarnation.”

“You keep talking about realization and awakening. Are you referring to the thing inside me?”

“If you’re aware of yourself to that extent, why haven’t you awakened yet?”

The Ghost Blade asked in return.

To this, Mok Gyeong-un snorted and said.

“I don’t know what’s inside me, but it and I are separate entities.”

“Separate entities?”

“That’s right.”

At Mok Gyeong-un’s answer, the Ghost Blade also snorted.

“If it were a completely unrelated entity, do you think your grandfather, no, Jang Munno, would have staked everything to protect you until now?”

“……”

At those words, as cutting as a sword, Mok Gyeong-un closed his mouth with a cold gaze.

As he got closer to the truth, that was one of the questions he had.

Was it because of that prophecy from the Fire Faith Order’s sacred fire that his grandfather raised him?

If not for that, would his grandfather have died so miserably?

Did all of that originate from him?

Was that why?

“…What exactly am I?”

“Haa… Haa… A meaningless question. If you had realized and awakened yourself as the Incarnation, wouldn’t you naturally know the truth?”

-Grip!

“I… I am just myself.”

Mok Gyeong-un strongly denied the existence within himself.

At Mok Gyeong-un’s reaction, the Ghost Blade clicked his tongue and muttered.

“He really kept his word to the end. Jang Munno.”

“What did you just mutter?”

Mok Gyeong-un drove the formless sword deeper and twisted the blade.

-Crack!

“Urgh. Take it… easy… Even without… this… I… was planning… to continue our conversation.”

“Oh? Then speak. What did he keep?”

“Don’t you… already… know?”

“You’re saying the same thing again. I am just myself, and the Incarnation…”

“No. You are the Incarnation. But Jang Munno tried to make you a complete human.”

“What?”

Mok Gyeong-un couldn’t hide his bewilderment.

What does this mean?

Tried to raise him as a complete human?

“The truth… If you’ve gotten quite close to the truth, you probably know that he was a master of exceptional martial arts, right?”

“…Yes.”

Jang Munno.

Though not well-known to those in the Central Plains, he was a supreme master who had received teachings from Tang Yeon-jong, the previous generation clan leader of the Sichuan Tang family branch known as the Thousand Poison Hands.

Even Mok Gyeong-un didn’t know this truth until after he died.

He was able to get closer to the truth about his grandfather through the Heaven and Earth Society, the Imperial Palace, and the Sichuan Tang family.

However, despite knowing so much, there were still gaps in the truth about his grandfather, the Incarnation, and himself.

“What does hiding his martial arts have to do with that?”

“You don’t think there’s a connection? In the Fire Faith Order, they revere you, the Incarnation, as a divine being, exalting you as both Spenta (good god) and Ahriman, that is, Angra (evil god) because you possess both sides of the coin, but your essence is Ma (demon).”

“Ma (demon)?”

“Yes. Ma (demon). A being that everyone should fear and revere… That’s what you are.”

At these words from the Ghost Blade, Mok Gyeong-un’s expression became strange.

[Cough, cough… Promise me.]

[What do you mean?]

[That you will never… reveal… your true nature…]

True nature.

Grandfather said there was a dark side within me.

He said that while all humans have such a side, because I hadn’t interacted with people, I would be even less able to control it.

That’s why he always taught me to suppress that true nature.

While his grandfather was alive, he tried to keep this promise, but after his death, he realized that his true nature was definitely not purely good.

Mok Gyeong-un thought of this as simply suppressing himself from committing evil acts even if he couldn’t do good.

But now he’s saying that wasn’t the reason?

To the silent Mok Gyeong-un, the Ghost Blade steadied his breathing and said.

“In your hiding place, there were only books about herbal medicine, propriety, righteousness, and correct thinking. Jang Munno made you stay away from everything so that you could never awaken as the Incarnation.”

“……”

“At first, I thought it was just to protect you secretly. I thought it was to keep you hidden until conditions were right for you to regain your power.”

“Regain power?”

“Yes… According to the sacred fire’s prophecy, you, the Incarnation, lost all your previous power. So I thought Jang Munno’s judgment was because of that. But that wasn’t it. he really intended to raise you as a human.”

“Then shouldn’t I be grateful?”

“Grateful?”

“Yes. Didn’t the Secret Society change even that prophecy because they feared the Incarnation? Then wouldn’t that have eased their worries?”

“Worries… That would ease their worries. What I need is your existence as an awakened Incarnation.”

“An awakened me?”

“Didn’t you say it yourself? That they fear the Incarnation. Mok Gan fears your very existence.”

“So are you saying that because of my grandfather, things didn’t go according to your plan?”

“I don’t know.”

“What?”

“Whether trying to raise you as a human until the end was entirely Jang Munno’s will, or if your will was imbued in it, is unknowable.”

“…What do you mean by that?”

To Mok Gyeong-un’s incomprehensive reaction, the Ghost Blade sighed deeply and answered.

“Although Jang Munno possessed exceptional medical skills, he didn’t have the power to implant your existence into a human or create such an existence.”

“……”

“Whether it was to protect yourself from mortal enemies or due to some other will, I don’t know, but the choice to degenerate yourself and become human was entirely your decision. Incarnation.”

‘!?’

I chose this?

No, doesn’t this mean that the being inside me chose to become myself?

Mok Gyeong-un denied this, as if unable to believe it.

“How can you be so sure that this Incarnation being became human, that is, me?”

To this question, the Ghost Blade answered with a meaningful voice.

“Your appearance is the proof.”

“This appearance?”

“Yes. You may not have met him yet, but there is someone who has exactly the same face as you. If it’s hard to believe, go to a place called Yeon Mok Sword Manor. There you can see that being you took as a model for being human…”

-Grip!

Before he could finish speaking, Mok Gyeong-un, with eyes wide open, firmly pressed down on his collar.

Someone at the Yeon Mok Sword Manor with the same face?

Mok Gyeong-un couldn’t help but show an emotional reaction for the first time.

He had thought it was just a coincidence, a convergence of chances.

He thought that because there are so many people in the world, by some extraordinary coincidence, someone had an almost identical face.

But with the Ghost Blade’s words, his mind became complicated.

This wasn’t a coincidence?

Mok Gyeong-un, while pressing down on his collar, asked.

“Seventeen years ago… No, eighteen years ago, how do you know about that?”

“…Because I saw it with these two eyes.”

‘!?’

***

Longmen, Guangdong Province.

[Gah!]

Having subdued Mok In-dan, the leader of the Yeon Mok Sword Manor who stood in his way, with just one move, the Ghost Blade looked down coldly at him as he clutched his trouser leg and pleaded.

[Still… Still just a baby. Please… Please… spare us.]

-Thud!

After knocking him unconscious, the Ghost Blade approached the wrecked carriage.

This was definitely the place.

He had followed the Incarnation’s traces, and that being was here.

-Tremble!

The Ghost Blade touched the eyelid covering his forehead with a trembling hand.

That thing was still asleep, and he had control.

He needed to hurry before that.

-Waa! Waa!

But why were only crying sounds coming from inside?

With this, the Ghost Blade opened the door of the wrecked carriage with a doubtful look.

But there,

‘What on earth?’

Two babies who looked like twins were lying next to their unconscious, bleeding mother.

The Ghost Blade couldn’t hide his bewilderment.

Clearly, the chaotic energy he had felt from the Incarnation was emanating from inside.

But why was there no Incarnation, only a mother and twin babies…

‘!?’

Then the Ghost Blade looked at the twins and examined the floor where they were lying.

On the floor were sticky, black fragments.

The residual energy was felt from these.

‘Could it be?’

The Ghost Blade stared intently at the two babies.

Then he placed a finger on the chest of one of the crying babies.

[The Incarnation has something called a core. It’s like a heart for humans and can be said to be the source of power.]

He had clearly said that.

If his guess was correct, one of these might be the Incarnation.

Being extremely weakened, it might have transformed to hide its existence.

-Thump! Thump!

The faint beating of a heart.

It wasn’t this child.

Then this child next to it must be the Incarnation.

The Ghost Blade placed his palm on its chest, trying to sense its energy.

But,

‘This can’t be?’

This baby too only had a faintly beating heart, without the core that could be called the Incarnation’s source.

What on earth was going on?

Clearly, it was hidden here, but he couldn’t understand what was happening.

Neither had a core, and both were ordinary humans.

‘Damn it.’

It was incredibly perplexing.

Although he still had control, it wouldn’t be long before that thing woke up again.

He needed to figure out which was real before then, but how?

‘……’

Would it be better to take them both and examine them?

But if he took them recklessly, he didn’t know where to hide these babies.

Time was running out, but how could he figure it out?

After pondering for a moment, the Ghost Blade took something out from his bosom.

It was a wooden box covered with talismans.

[Take this with you.]

It was what the current Heaven and Earth Society Leader Bi Jung-seon had given him.

[What’s this?]

[It’s the secret manual of the Moon Vein.]

[The Moon Vein’s secret manual? Then that…]

[That’s right.]

[But how did you get this?]

[If what we know is certain, we might be able to persuade the Incarnation with this.]

Inside this wooden box was the secret manual of the Moon Vein.

If kept close, the Incarnation might reveal its true form on its own.

But,

-Throb!

A headache came along with pain in his forehead.

It was a sign that thing was about to wake up.

Why did it have to wake up now of all times?

The Ghost Blade, looking at the two babies who looked like twins, then clutched his forehead and painfully went out of the carriage.

There, he saw the leader of the Yeon Mok Sword Manor, Mok In-dan, staggering to his feet.

He hadn’t hit him too hard, but it seems his internal energy cultivation was quite thick.

[Haa… Haa… The… The baby and she… What… What have you done to them?]

Staring at him, the Ghost Blade asked.

[Is there one baby? Or two?]

[Wh-What are you saying? Two babies?]

At these words, the Ghost Blade closed his mouth.

Indeed, his judgment was correct.

The real Incarnation’s existence was among those babies.

But now that thing was about to wake up, he had no time.

So,

-Thud!

The Ghost Blade threw the talisman-covered wooden box at him.

Mok In-dan, who caught it reflexively, wore an expression of incomprehension.

To him, the Ghost Blade said.

[There was someone I was chasing, but it seems I made a mistake. I’ll give you that instead.]

[This is?]

[One of the secret books of the Heaven and Earth Society.]

[What? A secret book of the Heaven and Earth Society? How did you…]

-Swoosh!

As Mok In-dan was bewildered by the mention of a secret book from the Heaven and Earth Society, one of the three great organizations dividing the martial arts world, the Ghost Blade appeared behind him and swept his ankle.

-Thud!

[Ugh!]

Looking at him fallen to the side, the Ghost Blade then drew his sword and,

-Shing!

-Slash slash slash!

He made a wound on the side of the fallen man with his sword.

But the wound mark looked like a symbol.

After leaving this, the Ghost Blade warned Mok In-dan, the leader of the Yeon Mok Sword Manor.

[Remember the symbol of this wound.]

[Symbol?]

[If someone who knows about this symbol or who made it approaches you in the near future, you must say you know nothing.]

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