Chronicles of the Mad Demon - Chapter 71

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 71. Secret Place , Secret (1)

“Uuugh.”

In the dark forest.

Moyong Bi, who had entered the cold pond, trembled.

Faint steam rose from his overheated body.

“Young Master, are you alright?”

“…Ngh.”

Normally he would have thrown out a joke or two, but the pain was too severe for him to be in that mood.

Still, it was better than right before their escape.

Dark Shadow, who had nothing particular to help with, stood quietly and only kept watch of the surroundings.

How much time had passed?

“Huu, huu.”

As he gradually regulated his breathing, he felt no pain except for the lingering stabbing sensation.

Dark Shadow spoke again.

“Are you feeling better now?”

“…I’m not fine.”

His hoarse voice was full of exhaustion.

“My qi sensitivity detects no human presence. It should be safe, so please wait here for a moment. I’ll return within half an hour.”

He didn’t say why he was leaving, and Moyong Bi didn’t ask either.

Once Dark Shadow left, Moyong Bi let out a deep sigh.

“Damn it, I really can’t use it recklessly.”

The internal injuries from extreme internal energy depletion weren’t a big problem. With the Honyuan Heart Method, they were light enough to heal within two days.

The real problem was the abnormalities in his muscles and nerves from misusing the Brain Gate Heart Technique.

When one’s internal energy realm deepens, the nervous system develops accordingly, but his nerves were currently not much different from an ordinary person’s.

In that state, he had forcibly used the Brain Gate Heart Technique to increase the speed of neural information transmission and opened the limits of his brain power.

Without doing so, he wouldn’t have been able to use either the Phantom Shadow Divine Method or the Golden Gate Five Wheel Palm.

As the price, he felt pain as if his entire body was being finely shredded. It was fortunate he had experienced this several times before, otherwise he might have fainted from just that.

In fact, during his days as Moyong Cheon, he had fainted several times.

‘Still, this much is fine.’

It was such a dangerous technique that if done wrong, all his muscles could rupture or his nerves could burn out.

Unless someone had deep understanding of the Brain Gate Heart Technique and was well-versed in internal power flow, they could really lose their life.

Fortunately, he had experience and enlightenment.

The fact that it ended at this level was also due to thorough calculation.

Rustle.

The sound of leaves brushing was unusually loud.

He could hear not only the gentle wind sounds but even insects crawling somewhere.

When he opened his eyes to look around, the world was bright and he could smell all the various scents of the forest.

His nerves had been activated, making his five senses hypersensitive.

Huuuung.

Taking a deep breath, he could feel abundant natural energy seeping into every part of his body.

‘Good.’

There’s a saying that you must empty to fill.

His dantian, which had been squeezed dry without leaving a drop of internal energy, swelled rapidly. It was struggling to obtain new true energy.

‘Still, there are benefits.’

The Phantom Shadow Divine Method, and the Golden Gate Five Wheel Palm.

These weren’t martial arts that someone without constantly opened fine meridians could use.

Yet he had used them. Moreover, it was in a situation where his senses were maximized through the Brain Gate Heart Technique.

Though he felt pain that seemed like his mind would snap, the sensation of true energy breaking through the fine meridians was just as vivid.

The more the human mind focuses on a particular area, the more the nerves in that area strengthen and develop.

With such clear sensations remaining, the opened fine meridians wouldn’t close easily, and it would be much easier when he tried to open them again in the future.

“Shit, but I can’t use it twice.”

Like a patient with back problems, he crawled out touching the ground and wrung out his water-soaked clothes.

He didn’t have enough strength to wring them properly, but he deliberately applied force. That way his strength would return.

A moment later.

“Are you alright now?”

“I told you I’m not fine.”

Still, seeing him grumbling while wringing his clothes, it seemed he could walk.

Dark Shadow held up a wooden staff.

“I brought this.”

“Oh, good work.”

At the end of the wooden staff hung two bundles packed full with jerky.

“Are there no bugs in there?”

“There weren’t any.”

“That’s fortunate.”

“I brought it just in case, but should I just throw it away?”

“Why would you throw away something so precious? It’s so delicious.”

“But isn’t it from the enemy?”

“When we’re already stealing money, houses, and lives from enemies, why be squeamish about throwing away such precious jerky?”

“That’s true, but…”

“If you’re worried about poison, you try it first. You must have chewed on quite a few toxic substances during assassination training to build resistance, right?”

Dark Shadow’s face slightly grimaced.

Of course he had received such training. He had even chewed live poisonous insects with multiple legs raw.

It wasn’t a memory he wanted to recall.

“Phew, now I feel a bit more energetic.”

Moyong Bi, who had gotten up while tapping his legs, said with a slight smile.

“Still, you’re quite loyal, aren’t you?”

“Pardon?”

“You managed not to kill me?”

“Wh-what do you mean?”

“We made a slave contract, didn’t we? If it were me, I think I’d rather cut off my master’s head and gain freedom.”

“Though I may be from an assassin background, I’m someone who always keeps the words that come out of my mouth.”

“Oh ho, is that so?”

“…I try to keep them.”

“Yes, trying is enough.”

Moyong Bi rubbed his neck and turned around.

“Let’s go back. Ugh, what a damn tiring night.”

The two walked along the small path.

While walking for some time, Dark Shadow asked.

“Young Master, excuse me, but may I ask you something?”

“If it’s rude, shouldn’t you not ask?”

“…”

“What is it?”

“That martial art, what kind of martial art is it exactly?”

“Why? Does it seem like a demonic art?”

“H-how could that be?”

Honestly, it was so incredible that he thought he might learn it even if it were a demonic art, given the opportunity.

Not only the movement technique that disappeared from sight in the blink of an eye, but the palm technique that blew away Hong Jun Ak’s upper body in one strike was truly unbelievable even after seeing it.

Of course, it was said that the supreme masters of Jianghu could blow away rocks with a single energy manipulation technique and crush steel gates.

‘But Young Master’s martial arts were somehow different.’

Martial arts level? It was impossible to gauge. In any case, it was clearly a supreme technique worthy of being called the absolute best under heaven.

But what was truly surprising was the elegance that the martial art itself exuded.

Despite unleashing such tremendous and fierce power, it somehow had a strange charm to it.

It was truly a martial art overflowing with dignified and stylish temperament, something that only the master of the world could learn.

“It’s a martial art I still can’t use properly.”

“It seemed that way.”

“Why? Should I teach you?”

The answer “Yes!” almost burst out without him realizing it.

Dark Shadow shook his head.

“Even if you taught me, I don’t think I could learn it.”

“Why do you think that?”

“If you really said you’d teach me, it would be hard to resist that temptation… but somehow I felt it wouldn’t suit me.”

“Our slave gentleman’s shoulders are as high as an eighteen-story stone pagoda, aren’t they? Already being picky about martial arts?”

“Th-that’s not what I meant.”

Moyong Bi burst into laughter.

“I know what you mean. Right, it’s not a martial art that suits you.”

He certainly had good instincts. Different from Su Jeong’s natural talent.

‘If Su Jeong’s instincts are truly innate genius, this guy’s instincts should be seen as sensitivity naturally acquired through life-and-death experiences.’

Of course, not everyone who has such experiences gains this level of sensitivity.

In any case, it meant Dark Shadow also had outstanding talent.

“Dark Shadow.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

“Do you really want to learn martial arts from me?”

“I’m trying to earn your favor, Young Master.”

“You’re still far too lacking for me to want to teach you anything.”

“I will work hard.”

Even though he said such things directly to his face, Dark Shadow didn’t seem offended.

“Yes, work hard. Still, today’s events at least laid the foundation for a stone tower.”

The name of that stone tower was trust.

Dark Shadow knew how difficult it was to build a tower called trust.

You had to delicately stack stones that were carved, carved, and carved again.

Even after building it up like that, trust would crumble if you made a mistake in the middle. It could even collapse from the wind blowing, even when it wasn’t your fault.

At least Dark Shadow understood that principle well.

‘…Martial arts.’

Dark Shadow’s eyes, fixed on Moyong Bi’s back, were filled with confusion.

‘What kind of person is Young Master really?’

Martial arts aside, the decisiveness and drive Young Master showed today was absolutely not something a young man of that age should be able to display.

‘Because of what Young Master handled, turmoil has already begun in Wuhan.’

The leadership of both Ten Swords Gate and Hong Clan Sword Family had crumbled at the hands of one person.

A great battle might break out in the future. Perhaps the streets of Wuhan might become a sea of blood.

Even knowing this, he felt strangely calm.

Because it wasn’t his fight? That wasn’t it.

‘What meaning did they hold for Young Master?’

A master who literally toyed with the powerful figures who dominated Wuhan.

Right or wrong aside, he had clearly done something big, yet Young Master didn’t rejoice or get excited more than necessary. Perhaps it was just satisfaction from completing the day’s work well?

If anything, Young Master seemed to pay no attention to Ten Swords Gate and Hong Clan Sword Family at all.

He seemed to be declaring that no matter what they did, they couldn’t escape from his grasp.

‘A storm will come.’

The wind blowing from Wuhan seemed likely to shake Hubei Province soon.

That wind might even extend beyond Hubei Province to the entire world.

“Why are your steps so slow? Did you get cut somewhere without me knowing?”

“N-no.”

“Let’s hurry. We need to go quickly and eat.”

As soon as they arrived home, Moyong Bi nearly went deaf.

“Hey!!”

Even if a tiger or lion roared right in front of him, it would probably be less noisy than this.

“You crazy bastard! Where did you wander off to in the middle that made you this late! Are you insane? Do you want to die?!”

“My eardrums are going to burst. What on earth do you eat to have such a loud voice?”

“You crazy bastard, do you think this is a joke right now! I’ll kill…!”

“Here, take this.”

“What’s this!”

“Jerky.”

“Ah, you want me to make jerky out of you? That’s good too. Where’s the salt?”

“Calm down a bit. Did I go somewhere to play?”

“That’s exactly like going to play! Why would the Sword Family Head keep you until this late hour?!”

Our Su Hyang has quite the intuition.

“When adults talk about this and that, time passes quickly.”

“Bullshit.”

“Anyway, is there no food? I’m hungry.”

“There isn’t! Just starve!”

“Then give me some jerky.”

“I won’t!”

Holding two bundles to her chest and glaring at her elder brother as if she would never let them be taken, there was determination in her appearance.

“Isn’t it too much when I didn’t even pick up anything to eat at home?”

“The table would have been loaded with food, so what do you mean you didn’t eat, you glutton.”

“I told you I didn’t eat. I didn’t even touch the jerky I brought for you and Elder Sister.”

“Ahem.”

The vivid anger on her face subsided considerably.

“By the way, didn’t those people say anything? Why did they even send someone to invite you?”

“They probably wanted to see my handsome face.”

“Why would those people want to see a face like a withered old tree root?”

“Somehow they seemed disappointed when they saw me in person.”

Moyong Su Hyang burst into giggles.

Then, Guo Lao walked over from far away.

“I thought you might be hungry so I prepared some food, and you arrived at just the right time.”

“I was wondering where you went, you were in the kitchen. There was no sign of you so I just climbed over the wall.”

“Hehe, you did well.”

Moyong Bi, who had been quietly watching Guo Lao, smiled.

“Should Guo Lao eat with us too?”

“I’m fine. Please eat plenty, Young Master. Ah, but even if you’re hungry, you should stop by the Family Head’s Office first.”

“I should.”

Moyong Bi turned his head toward the Family Head’s Office.

Beyond the still unextinguished light, a shadow was visible.

‘…A home to return to.’

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