Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 207

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#207

“Of course I must have my revenge. But survival matters more than vengeance.”
“Why does it sound to me like you’re giving up on revenge?”
“From now on, I’ll handle the clan’s affairs as I see fit. You needn’t concern yourself. With Father and my elder brother gone, I am the next Lord of the Mo Yong Clan.”
Yes. No one would oppose Mo Yong Seong-baek becoming Lord of the clan.
This coward, content to settle for reality without the will to avenge, was becoming Lord of the Mo Yong Clan.
If Mo Yong Seong-baek became Lord, revenge would end as an impossible dream.
“I should rest my eyes first, then think about what comes next.”
Mo Yong Seol-yeong called out to Mo Yong Seong-baek as he tried to leave the room.
“Second brother.”
“What?”
“You have no right to become Lord of the Mo Yong Clan.”
“What are you talking about? With Father and my elder brother gone, I’m the only one with any claim!”
“Only one who seeks revenge for Father and your eldest brother—only one who can achieve it—has the right to be Lord of the Mo Yong Clan.”
“And who is that?”
“Certainly not you.”
With those words, her fist flew.
Mo Yong Seong-baek had never even dreamed of becoming Lord, not with Mo Yong Gang-seok alive before.
The martial arts he had neglected in consequence were far weaker than Mo Yong Seol-yeong’s.
All he managed was to flinch as her fist drove toward his chest.
“Gasp!”
As Mo Yong Seong-baek gasped for breath, her fist plunged into his chest again.
Two strikes were enough to stop his heart.
She regarded the corpse cooling beneath her feet, then left the room.

***

Mo Yong Seol-yeong went to Mo Yong Cheong-ak’s quarters.
By right, he should have become Lord of the Mo Yong Clan.
Mo Yong Cheong-ak, the eldest son and elder brother of Mo Yong Cheong-gwang who died by Geom U-bin’s hand, had renounced the position of heir of his own accord.
He believed Mo Yong Cheong-gwang was better suited to be Lord—in both martial talent and ambition.
“Uncle, were you coughing?”
Her voice came out hoarse from the sleepless night.
Mo Yong Cheong-ak, the most diligent in the Mo Yong Clan, was awake as expected.
“Come in.”
The room was suffused with the scent of tea and the subtle fragrance of ink.
It was Mo Yong Cheong-ak’s long habit to brush-write while drinking tea before taking his morning meal upon waking.
Mo Yong Cheong-ak set down his brush and looked at Mo Yong Seol-yeong, his face deeply grave.
“What troubles you?”
“Father and my eldest brother have passed away.”
Mo Yong Cheong-ak closed his eyes slowly.
His sleep had been fitful, and even after waking his mind found no peace—his brush kept straying from the page.
“How did such a thing come to pass?”
Mo Yong Seol-yeong’s voice remained composed throughout as she recounted the matter entangled with Geom U-bin.
“When your second brother heard the news, he too suffered a heart attack from the shock.”
“Seong-baek had a heart attack? At such a young age?”
“Yes.”
The deaths of Mo Yong Cheong-gwang and Mo Yong Gang-seok were one thing, but Mo Yong Seong-baek’s death made no sense.
A heart attack at merely twenty-four?
Watching Mo Yong Seol-yeong’s frighteningly composed demeanor, a suspicion stirred in him.
In a brief span, several possibilities flashed through his mind—perhaps Mo Yong Seol-yeong had killed Mo Yong Seong-baek herself.
‘Seong-baek must have urged them all to forget and settle into contentment. Seol-yeong couldn’t bear that.’
Mo Yong Cheong-ak lacked martial prowess, but he was sharper and more intuitive than anyone else.
“What are your intentions going forward?”
“Of those bearing the Mo Yong bloodline in this house, only you and I remain. If you would become Lord……”
Mo Yong Cheong-ak raised his hand to silence her.
“Thirty years ago you refused, and I have no intention of accepting that refusal now. You will naturally become the clan head. You have more than enough talent for it. I’ve told you several times—if you were a man, I would have recommended you for the position without hesitation.”
“I’ve heard it three times.”
“You will become the clan head. Any objections that arise simply because you are a woman, I will sweep them all aside. But there is one thing you must bear in mind: before you are a woman who has lost her family, you are the clan head of the Mo Yong house. No matter what happens, the clan must come first in your thoughts.”
“I will keep it in mind.”

***

“If we don’t wipe out the Mo Yong Clan entirely, then we should kill everyone who bears the Mo Yong name.”
Seo Seok-san spoke with such fervor that rice grains flew from his mouth, and for the first time in a while, Yeon Geum-hong found herself in agreement.
“That’s right. There’s no point leaving behind future trouble.”
From a Murim martial artist’s perspective, their reasoning was entirely sound. Moreover, since the Mo Yong Clan was the one who provoked them first, they had more than sufficient justification.
Murder had been the subject of conversation all morning, and without appetite, he set down his chopsticks early—when a familiar figure entered the dining hall.
It was Mo Yong Seol-yeong, and despite the light makeup she had applied, she could not hide her haggard face.
At her arrival, both Yeon Geum-hong and Seo Seok-san stopped eating. Mo Yong Seol-yeong approached the table and offered a respectful greeting.
“Forgive me for interrupting your meal. May I sit for a moment?”
“Of course.”
Geom U-bin gestured to the empty chair on his left.
“I won’t take up much of your time.”
Mo Yong Seol-yeong withdrew an envelope from her sleeve.
“This contains six hundred thousand silver taels—the two hundred thousand that Oseong Jang-won sent, combined with the four hundred thousand that the Mo Yong Clan promised. I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience our error has caused you lords.”
Geom U-bin, who had been watching Mo Yong Seol-yeong with her eyes slightly lowered, spoke.
“Thank you for honoring the promise even now.”
“Then there are no hard feelings between Oseong Jang-won and the Mo Yong Clan?”
“If the Mo Yong Clan forgets it, then we at Oseong Jang-won will forget it too.”
“I’m relieved to hear that. Then I’ll take my leave.”
She truly concluded her business swiftly and departed. As Yeon Geum-hong watched her receding figure, she spoke.
“That’s no ordinary wager. To come before the people who killed her father and brother, bow her head, and hand over money.”
The fact that Mo Yong Gang-seok had visited last night meant that Mo Yong Seol-yeong also knew Geom U-bin was the one who killed Mo Yong Cheong-gwang.
And she surely had some sense of what had become of Mo Yong Gang-seok, who had not returned.
Seo Seok-san spoke up.
“Give me just half a watch of time, and I’ll clean up the matter and be back.”
As Seo Seok-san shifted as though ready to rise at any moment, Geom U-bin replied.
“No, the matter with the Mo Yong Clan is finished.”
“What? Brother, surely you don’t believe Mo Yong Seol-yeong’s words?”
“She’ll probably seek revenge, just as the disciples predicted.”
“And knowing that, you’re letting the Mo Yong Clan go?”
“Revenge is the right of those who have lost their blood kin. And besides……”
Geom U-bin continued with a faint smile.
“Should Oseong Jang-won fear the Mo Yong Clan’s revenge?”
Seo Seok-san and Yeon Geum-hong exchanged looks, then broke into smiles much like Geom U-bin’s.
“True enough. A millionaire worrying about the next meal. They say the older you get, the more you fret.”
After finishing his meal, Seo Seok-san procured a large sack and placed Samgongja inside it.
Their solution for forcing Samgongja to open his mouth was Jang Man-dok.
Preventing self-destruction while making him spill what he knew was Jang Man-dok’s specialty.
After finishing his meal, Geom U-bin rose and spoke.
“Then shall we head off to that place where the balls are frozen solid and rattle about?”
“Brother! Such crude language!”

***

Jang Man-dok withdrew his palm from Eun Yi-seol’s back and exhaled a long breath. Do Pyeong-su, who had been watching with tense expression throughout, asked.
“What’s the situation?”
Instead of answering with words, Jang Man-dok raised his hand to show. His hand was stained black.
“I think that needs to be cut off. What? You’re going to cut my throat? I’m joking, joking.”
Jang Man-dok drew up his internal force and burned away the poison energy gathered in his hand, scattering it into empty air.
Eun Bi-yeon asked Eun Yi-seol, whose eyes had finally opened.
“How are you feeling?”
“My body feels incredibly light.”
“Like a ten-year constipation has finally been relieved?”
“Even when you use metaphors, it feels like all the bad residue inside my body has completely disappeared.”
Do Pyeong-su tapped Jang Man-dok on the shoulder.
“That’s Man-dok for you. Usually useless, but once in a while he actually shows some skill.”
Eun Yi-seol bowed deeply to Jang Man-dok.
“Thank you.”
“I thought, ‘She’s going to be my disciple’s wife, so I should do at least this much.'”
Eun Yi-seol, who had expected to jump at the mention of a fake marriage, said nothing, and Gal Ma-pyeong merely tapped the floor with the tip of his toe.
“Ah! You two…”
Eun Bi-yeon quickly cut off Do Pyeong-su’s words.
“The poison energy has been completely purged, so let’s see how strong your actual martial arts really are.”
As everyone stepped back, Gal Ma-pyeong and Eun Yi-seol stood in the center. Eun Bi-yeon spoke to Eun Yi-seol.
“Use your internal force to the fullest. Don’t worry about your betrothed getting hurt.”
“You’re saying it’s fine if my disciple gets hurt?”
“If he gets hurt at Yi-seol’s hands, I’ll take him back to the estate and train him myself.”
“What?”
Goosebumps prickled across Gal Ma-pyeong’s entire body.
He had always believed no training was as brutal as that of the Bloodwind Four Lions, but training under Eun Bi-yeon somehow seemed even more terrifying.
‘I can’t let even a single fingertip get injured!’
He had no choice but to give it his absolute best.
“Be careful.”
“Don’t worry. Come at me.”
Watching the two of them exchange words, Do Pyeong-su spoke.
“How warm and amiable—it’s pleasant to watch.”
But once the sparring actually began, it was anything but warm.
Eun Yi-seol faithfully followed Eun Bi-yeon’s instruction to use her internal force to the maximum.
Bang!
When the two waves of force collided, the robes of those nearby fluttered violently.
“This is no joke.”
Now that the channels blocked by poison had opened, Eun Yi-seol’s martial arts transformed entirely.
Techniques she had never dared attempt before for lack of internal power now unfolded in brilliant display, and the force woven through them was so immense it could shatter even a thousand-pound stone boulder in a single breath.
Startled by the newfound power, speed, and refinement of her techniques, Gal Ma-pyeong sharpened his focus. If his nose so much as bled, he would have to become Eun Bi-yeon’s disciple as well.
Some things you know without ever having experienced them.
‘Disciple of Eun Bi-yeon’—that was a title he absolutely could not afford.
So Gal Ma-pyeong did his best. Of course, he did not expend all his internal force.
Though Eun Yi-seol’s martial arts had advanced dramatically now that all poison was gone, she still fell far short compared to Gal Ma-pyeong.
Fist strikes thundered against the ground and palm cuts rent the air, each raising fierce winds.
Eun Bi-yeon, watching their sparring, murmured to herself.
“Yi-seol still has a long way to go.”
Hearing that, Cheong-yeong and Hong-yeong were taken aback.
“Still lacking? We can’t even see the movements clearly!”
“Slow as a snail and you still don’t see it? You two should become my disciples too.”
“We’ll pass, thank you. We’d rather just grow old and die as we are. We’re not going to practice Reverse Flow Circulation like she does.”
After fifty exchanges, Gal Ma-pyeong struck Eun Yi-seol’s shoulder once, and the sparring ended.
The blow was not weak—under normal circumstances her shoulder would have swelled—but Eun Yi-seol bore it with only mild discomfort.
“At this level, I should be able to beat Baek Gang easily.”
Gal Ma-pyeong was satisfied, but Eun Bi-yeon was far from it.
“Nowhere near. How can the Master of the Northern Ice Palace be so weak and still claim to be the supreme power of the North? You should beat her easily, Ma-pyeong.”
“Even after a hundred years of training, you couldn’t defeat my disciple so easily.”
“If I make up my mind, a year of rigorous training would suffice.”
“And what will Ma-pyeong be doing during that time?”
“How much stronger can a middle-aged Ma-pyeong really become?”
“Your niece herself is no spring chicken either.”
“Are you calling my niece a spinster right now?”
“Not calling names—just stating fact. And you’re the one saying my disciple is a dunce.”
“If she’s not a dunce, then either the master taught poorly or something else is wrong.”
“What? Now you’re picking a fight with me too? Want to test it?”
“If you want to, I won’t back down.”
Roooooarrr!
The momentum that rose was nothing compared to what Gal Ma-pyeong and Eun Yi-seol had generated. Merely by raising her aura, the people nearby were shoved back and stumbled away.
If they actually clashed, the Yongbong Hall could come crashing down.
“Master! Master’s Wife! Please stop!”
Gal Ma-pyeong’s pleas fell on deaf ears. Both of them were beyond persuasion. He had no choice but to resort to his final gambit.
“Baek Gang has arrived!”
It was a lie, born of necessity—a desperate bid to break the spell. And indeed, there was no sedative quite as potent as the mere mention of Baek Gang.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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