I Decided to Give the Contract to the Male Vassal - Chapter 84

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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 84

“Old man. It didn’t hurt.”

“Because I promised you I would do that.”

Though I couldn’t save him, I was able to let him pass peacefully. Yujumyeong seemed to instinctively understand this fact as well.

As I pondered what words of comfort to offer him, Yujumyeong clasped his fists together and formally bowed to me.

“…Thank you.”

I stared at him for a long time, stunned by his unexpected words.

“Our old man. For making it so it didn’t hurt. Such a peaceful expression. I haven’t seen that in a long time.”

To Yujumyeong, Amhamason must have been both teacher and father.

“Chung-rin.”

Yujumyeong repeated my name as if rolling it around in his mouth.

“If it’s you, it’s okay.”

Yujumyeong looked at me and nodded as if making some kind of resolution.

Then he grasped my hand. I felt unexpected warmth from his touch.

Yeo Gyeong-o quietly stood up and spoke.

“Let’s go to the next gimun.”

Then he paused for a moment and gazed silently at Amhamason’s corpse. He seemed to be thinking about what should be done.

Then Yujumyeong asked me.

“Old man. Can I take him?”

Without waiting for an answer, Yujumyeong lifted Amhamason onto his back.

“Old man said long ago that he wanted to go outside and drink.”

Having spent 11 years in darkness, there would have been no opportunity to drink.

“I’ll pour liquor for him.”

He meant he would make a grave for Amhamason.

I think I would have wanted to do the same.

“Yes, I’ll help you too.”

When I said that and looked back at Yeo Gyeong-o, he also nodded silently.

From now on, we would head deeper into Mujingyeop. It was time to proceed to the third gimun.

There would be a sahek that would teach us the fact that the Ma Ryeonghwa Family was connected to the Bloodsky Sect.

❖ ❖ ❖

The wind in Mujingyeop was damp.

Yujumyeong, carrying Amhamason’s corpse on his back, walked ahead, while Yeo Gyeong-o and I quietly followed behind.

The third gimun was hidden in the rocks halfway up the ravine wall.

From a distance it looked like an ordinary stone wall, but as we approached, we could see the prohibition lines unique to gimun faintly trembling.

“Here it is.”

When Yujumyeong lightly tapped the stone wall, darkness scattered like ripples.

The gimun itself was designed to react sensitively to darkness.

“It’s the same as the illusion Amhamason showed us.”

Back then, a Bloodsky Sect disciple had activated the gimun formation to drive Amhamason in.

And there had been a mark of the Ma Ryeonghwa Family there.

I could see the energy flowing between the rock crevices. That ominous, sticky red energy was identical to the energy that had flowed from the sahek that Amhamason had cut down 11 years ago.

“Let’s open it.”

Yeo Gyeong-o read the flow of the gimun and touched it with his sword tip.

“The structure of the gimun is complex. If we touch the wrong pattern, the formation inside might activate and shake the entire ravine.”

That meant we needed to be extremely careful.

I stepped back while Yeo Gyeong-o concentrated on the gimun.

Then Yujumyeong spoke in a low voice.

“Over there, there’s a bad smell.”

I immediately scanned the surroundings. The rocks attached to the ravine wall were repeatedly swelling and shrinking as if breathing.

It was those undead that had attacked Amhamason.

If those corpses awakened before we opened the gimun, it would be troublesome.

I stopped Yeo Gyeong-o as he was about to draw his sword.

“Wait, stay as you are.”

I recalled the patterns I had seen in Amhamason’s illusion.

I clearly remembered how the Bloodsky Sect disciples in the illusion had arranged those patterns.

“Yujumyeong, could you press that rock crevice with your hand?”

When I pointed to the exact location with my finger, Yujumyeong, still carrying Amhamason on his back, moved to that spot without hesitation by stepping on shadows.

The moment Yujumyeong’s fingertip tapped the rock, the prohibition lines trembled slightly then quietly disappeared.

This time I looked at Yeo Gyeong-o and made a request.

“Please draw a horizontal line below that gimun.”

Yeo Gyeong-o also silently followed my instructions.

The prohibition lines of the gimun became clearly visible.

This time I stood at a spot slightly away from where Yujumyeong was.

When I raised my sword and traced one side of the gimun, the prohibition lines shook as if they would tear.

“It’s open!”

Yeo Gyeong-o shouted briefly.

As the gimun opened, wind swept into the valley.

The dark, spacious area behind the stone wall revealed itself before us.

However, almost nothing remained of the carnage from 11 years ago.

The blood sect disciples had hidden themselves, and traces of the Ma Ryeonghwa Family were likewise gone.

Only the undead that Amhamason had cut down at the time remained as white bones scattered on the floor.

“Is there no evidence….”

Yeo Gyeong-o bit his lip as if feeling deflated.

“Wait a moment.”

After signaling him to stay still, I turned my body to examine the surroundings.

It was too early to give up yet.

The illusion that Amhamason had shown me.

According to that, the sahek had fallen away from the corpse and rolled away.

Recalling the position I had seen then, I put my hand into a crack in the floor.

Something cold caught at my fingertips.

Though its light had already gone out, it was definitely a sahek.

“It seems the sahek fell into the crack and they couldn’t retrieve it. Thanks to that, we found the evidence.”

I handed the sahek I had picked up to Yeo Gyeong-o.

“Do you know what this pattern is?”

A pattern resembling ”.

The moment he saw it, Yeo Gyeong-o exhaled heavily.

“I know it well. I saw it on those who killed my family.”

The evidence he had been pursuing all this time was right before his eyes.

It was proof that the Ma Ryeonghwa Family had used people to create sahek, and that Yeo Gyeong-o’s family had also been sacrificed for this.

“My family were all Heavenly Sect disciples.”

Yeo Gyeong-o spoke as if grinding his teeth.

“I suppose the Heavenly Sect’s doctrines meant nothing to them.”

What the Ma Ryeonghwa Family pursued was the strong power that could be extracted from human bodies.

Even fellow sect members must have looked like nothing more than test subjects to them.

“If the Ma Ryeonghwa Family was involved in Bloodsky Sect affairs, what about the Second Prince?”

Second Prince Hwa Yumyeong was a direct descendant of the Ma Ryeonghwa Family and was aiming for the position of deputy sect leader.

If he was involved with the Bloodsky Sect like the Ma Ryeonghwa Family, then he had no qualification to become deputy sect leader. The Bloodsky Sect was heresy that the Heavenly Sect could not accept.

“We’ll need to investigate more deeply.”

At my words, Yeo Gyeong-o shook his head.

“It won’t be easy. Even spies can’t infiltrate the Ma Ryeonghwa Family.”

“There might be a way.”

Recently, the Second Prince and Hwaumgungju have been making efforts to draw me to their side.

This meant an opportunity would arise to observe the Second Prince from close quarters.

‘Hwaumgung’s banquet.’

If I attend the banquet, I can watch him closely.

“The Death Core… it would be better if you kept it.”

At my words, Yeo Gyeong-o nodded and put the Death Core in his robes.

With Yeo Gyeong-o, he would be able to investigate more about Maryeonghwaga through that.

“Chung-rin.”

It was Yujumyeong’s warning voice.

The rock that had been stirring earlier was rising up. This time too, it was assembled corpses.

In the darkness, Yujumyeong had noticed it before anyone else.

Just as Yeo Gyeong-o was about to step forward with his iron wires spread, Yujumyeong suddenly reached his hand out in front of me.

Before I knew it, Amhamason’s body was laid beside the rock.

“Chung-rin helped our master not to be in pain.”

Yujumyeong picked up the two weapons that Amhamason had left behind.

“I’ll protect you.”

It meant he would protect me just as he had protected his master all this time.

At that moment, sword energy sliced through the rock and surged forward.

It was a brief moment.

The corpses’ bodies scattered, leaving only the stench of blood.

The Dark Assassination Sword that could cut down anyone in the darkness.

Those two swords felt like a cold shield to me.

The events that followed were resolved swiftly.

Only after Yeo Gyeong-o had dismantled all the mechanisms and reached the formation that the former Chomundan Leader had set up could we finally come outside.

Just before coming out, I wrapped Yujumyeong’s eyes with several layers of cloth and tied them.

“Keep your eyes closed. You’re not used to light yet, so you need to get accustomed gradually.”

“Okay.”

Fortunately, Yujumyeong followed my words well.

Perhaps even more so because I offered to help create a grave for his master, Amhamason.

“Something is following you.”

Yujumyeong, wearing the blindfold, sensed killing intent. I had an idea what he was reacting to.

“It’s a wolf called Sorang. It was waiting for me here.”

Sorang had followed behind me all the way to Mujingyeop, and seemed to have kept watch until I came out of Mujingyeop.

“Sorang.”

When I called, Sorang perked up its ears.

I hastily wrote a letter and put it in the message tube attached to Sorang’s collar.

“Will you deliver this to the Third Prince?”

The clever wolf stared at me intently for a moment, then left to complete its mission.

Sorang would go straight to find Wicheonso.

When I return to Cheongwolgung, I planned to send a letter to Hwaumgungju accepting her invitation.

❖ ❖ ❖

The western outskirts of Taehaengsan in Shanxi Province.

Here existed small villages that had been abandoned long ago.

After the villagers left due to plunder and famine, Sehyeolbang made these abandoned villages their base.

During the time when Sadopae was collapsing, Sehyeolbang preserved their lives by submitting to the Heavenly Sect. Even now, they were conducting business under the Heavenly Sect’s influence.

Song-jung, the leader of Sehyeolbang, had recently been absorbed in the work of turning people into gold.

They would kidnap people and sell them to appropriate families, and those with no connections were sent as test subjects to families that dealt with poison.

Especially this abandoned village in the deep valley of Taehaengsan was the optimal place for both capturing people and making poison.

Thanks to this, Song-jung could live a prosperous life even in such a mountain stronghold.

“Leader, we have locked up all the beggars with no connections.”

“Hmm. It’s fortunate that even these wretches have their uses. Take them alive to Dokgok and bring back a hefty sum.”

Leader Song-jung sat on his chair, eating greasy food and patting his belly.

A woman with a veil over her face massaged his legs, while another woman fed fragrant fruit to his mouth.

This place, which would be hell for someone else, was paradise for him.

However, the sound that followed shattered his peace.

“Who goes there?!”

“Kuk!”

The corner of the pavilion where he was sitting was sliced horizontally like cutting tofu.

Crash!

As the pavilion collapsed with dust and debris, something was thrown down.

Looking closely, it was the heads of the guards who had been watching the perimeter.

“Who are you!”

Song-jung jumped up in shock. The veiled women also screamed and retreated.

The next moment, a slender figure walked in from beyond the thick dust.

A red aura was cast like an old shadow beneath that person’s robes.

Splendid clothing embroidered with red patterns.

The red earrings hanging from his ears were like a scene fluttering in the wind.

“You, you are…”

The moment he saw those red eyes, Song-jung felt a chill down his spine.

The Third Prince of the Heavenly Sect, Wicheonso.

He had appeared in this place.

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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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