Moorim Pochang - Chapter 102

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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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Chapter 102. Successive Victories.

Ugh…
His eyes flew open with a stifled cry.
He’d been caught in a nightmare, it seemed.
Kang Jo rose and dressed himself.
But Yang Jung, who ordinarily would have stirred at the same moment, lay still in deep sleep.
Mmgh… huu…
And he was letting out strange, troubled sounds.
“Wake up.”
Kang Jo spoke to rouse him, but the other man wouldn’t open his eyes.
“Hey!”
At last Kang Jo raised his voice and shook Yang Jung by the shoulders.
Gasp!
Only then did Yang Jung’s eyes snap open, and he lurched upright.
Yet even awake, his gaze was half-distant, lost.
“Another nightmare?”
It was asked in jest, but Yang Jung’s response was anything but casual.
“A… a nightmare? I… we should leave. Right away.”
Kang Jo narrowed his eyes, studying him carefully.
Whenever the fool stammered like that, something was afoot.
“Don’t tell me you were… doing something with a woman in that dream?”
“I… absolutely not… it wasn’t like that.”
Yang Jung denied it frantically, waving his hands, but Kang Jo was already certain.
“That peculiar moaning I heard tells a different story. You can’t hide it.”
Yang Jung’s face flushed crimson, and he hung his head.
“I’m sorry.”
“There’s nothing to apologize for. Who was she?”
“It was Gu Ya.”
Sigh.
Kang Jo exhaled deeply.
That woman had appeared in his own dreams as well.
But in his dream, she was anything but beautiful.
The woman who had smiled so brightly suddenly drew a blade and drove it through his throat.
In the dream, he hadn’t even noticed when she’d drawn the sword.
It seemed his unease had manifested itself in sleep.
Yang Jung’s wet dream itself was blameless enough.
But for someone cultivating the Shattered Heart Technique to lose control of his mind was a grave failing.
“So how do you plan to master Sal Gong?”
As Kang Jo’s voice softened, Yang Jung grinned sheepishly.
“Haven’t you heard of the Yin-Yang Heart Technique? One becomes a master only when yin and yang are properly intermixed.”
Kang Jo, already at the door, caught his words on the way out.
“Your tongue flows like water, but something about this woman troubles me. So be especially careful. Show no signs of it in front of Baek Won-yeong.”
“… Yes.”
Yang Jung wasn’t entirely free of misgivings either.
But the heart cannot be commanded where it wishes to go.

*

Gu Ya rounded the hall and entered the Training Ground.
Moyong Se, who had been cultivating his martial arts, stilled his blade and stared at her face intently.
Then he quickly shifted his body technique to block her path.
“Who are you?”
Since the incident with the Sado, his tone had grown respectful.
She offered no answer, only studied him.
At that, Moyong Se’s face flushed.
She was breathtakingly beautiful.
She was so breathtakingly beautiful that after becoming the greatest master under heaven, he found himself wishing to take her as his wife.
“I’m Gu Ya. I’ve come to see the Blood Lord.”
When she smiled, Moyong Se hastily bowed his waist.
This woman was the one his master had been waiting for.
“Moyong Se pays respects to Miss Gu.”
“The Blood Lord has found himself an outstanding disciple.”
Before her words had even finished, the Blood Lord’s laughter rang out.
Kee-kee-kee………….
“You came?”
Gu Ya turned and approached him.
“Why did you have to call me too? I was enjoying myself out in Sae-oe.”
“Enjoying yourself, you say… are you going to rebuild the Baro-gyo?”
The brilliance drained from her smile in an instant, and a thin sheet of frost seemed to settle over everything.
Snap!
Her waist belt came undone of its own accord, and a long steel whip unfurled before her in one swift motion.
The whip bisected the Blood Lord’s head and body, then continued on to split the pillar of the hall he’d been leaning against clean in two.
Crack-crack-crack………..!
As the pillar fractured, the great beam it had been supporting came crashing down with it.
Boom-boom-boom….Crash……..!
Yet the whip showed no sign of stopping.
Bang-bang-bang….! Bang……..!
Wherever the Blood Lord appeared, the whip came sweeping down.
The ground split open and halls crumbled to ruin.
Moyong Se watched with wide eyes, unblinking.
He’d thought her beauty was all that was unmatched in the world, but her martial prowess was equally extraordinary—worthy of contending for supremacy itself.
“Didn’t I tell you never to speak of Baro-gyo? You wretched bastard..!”
At last, the Blood Lord drew his blade.
“Enough…..!”
Boom-bang……..Bang………..!
Sword and whip clashed, their energies colliding with fierce force.
The violent wave of power tore through and shattered the hall.
Boom-boom-bang……..! Bang-bang-bang……..!
Only after completely destroying one entire hall did Gu Ya finally retract her whip.
“So you’ve finally come to your senses.”
As she withdrew the whip, the Blood Lord sheathed his blade as well.
Snap…
The steel whip coiled twice around her waist, then hung limp below.
From the brief but violent clash, one entire hall lay completely destroyed, and another had half its roof torn away, exposing the skeletal frame within.
The Blood Lord gazed at the ruined hall, his thick brows twitching slightly.
It had been his quarters.
‘If it weren’t for that Guest Inn keeper, I’d never have to look at her face again.’
Gu Ya muttered as though the destruction had nothing whatsoever to do with her.
“Such a shame. That was the grandest and most magnificent hall in this entire compound.”
Hmph…
The Blood Lord forced down the fury rising in his chest.
She was mad as they came, yet he couldn’t help but acknowledge her abilities.
As the most exquisite beauty under heaven, she drew followers simply by walking past, and her cunning nature meant she would never meet a hollow death like Gwang Ak had.
“I’ve found an interesting fellow. You could enjoy him thoroughly as well.”
The moment he spoke, Gu Ya broke into a bright smile.
That smile made Moyong Se feel his heart beating roughly in his chest.
“I’ve already seen the one from the Guest Inn. But why don’t you enjoy him yourself? Surely the great Blood Lord of the world hasn’t taken fright of him…”
At Gu Ya’s words, the Blood Lord’s chest stung.
He could kill anyone else, but whenever he stood before that man, his body moved of its own will, refusing to obey him.
“He’s my disciple’s enemy.”
Ah…
Upon hearing this, Gu Ya turned her gaze to Moyong Se.
“So you’re deliberately leaving him alive for your disciple’s sake? That’s not like the Blood Lord of old—the one who would sever his own son’s limbs right before his father’s eyes.”
She turned her attention back to the Blood Lord.
“What would you like me to do? Capture him and enjoy myself thoroughly, then hand him over to your disciple?”
“Do as you please. Before that, gather up some capable men for me.”
The Blood Lord offered no definitive answer.
The reason was simple: he knew Gu Ya’s nature well enough that she would kill the man without needing his explicit command.
Cackle, cackle, cackle…………….
She threw back her head, baring white teeth in a laugh.
“Of course I will. I’ll slaughter every last one of those pups from the Murim Alliance too.”
Hee-hee-hee……..
The Blood Lord laughed as well.
‘So this woman once sacrificed her life for the weak and the ill… The world truly is amusing.’
She had sheltered not only the powerless and the sick, but thieves as well.
The woman once called the Saint Mother of Sae-oe was nowhere to be found now.

*

The sentries on watch lifted their eyes to the brilliantly luminous full moon.
“One month left. It’ll feel like ten years.”
“Tell me about it. I wish the month would pass faster.”
In one month’s time, they would receive the Heavenly Blessing and be able to inscribe their entire bodies with tattoos.
Once they received the divine gift, they would become far stronger martial artists than they were now.
For twenty years, they had wandered through the Gangho.
They had entered the Gangho with grand dreams, yet had accomplished nothing.
They had only ever served as another’s hands and feet, earning wages.
Even if they became far stronger martial artists, it would not free them from that servitude—but they could at least command subordinates of their own.
The sentries exchanged a few words, then turned and walked in opposite directions.
Crunch… crunch….
The heads of the walking sentries rolled to the ground simultaneously.
Whoosh……..whoosh………
At the same moment, the skilled personnel scaled the estate’s walls in silence.
By day the estate had been crowded with streaming patients, chaotic and loud.
But at night it lay so quiet that not even a bird’s cry could be heard.
Once the skilled personnel cleared the wall, Baek Won-yeong, Dok-go Il, Dok-go Eun, and Yeon Ja-seol exchanged a sharp glance.
Each moved swiftly with their Body Technique toward separate halls.
The moment Baek Won-yeong carefully opened a door and stepped inside, someone sleeping within stirred awake.
Crunch…
Thud… thump..
The sound of a head and body rolling off a bed roused the sleeping martial artists.
“Enemy………!”
Crunch….crunch…..
Baek Won-yeong swiftly severed the throats of his attackers.
Crash……..!
The surviving martial artists burst through the doors and fled outside.
But waiting for them were the Jamryong-hoe and the Ma-gyo.
Crunch…..slash….!
Paeng Mu-ho and Bang Cho’s Great Swords carved through the enemy bodies, and the skilled personnel cut down those fleeing outside.
“Hold back the enemies…..!”
“Kill them…..!”
The estate roiled with the killing intent radiating from the skilled personnel and the cult members.

*

As dawn broke, the scattered skilled personnel regrouped.
Baek Won-yeong and Dok-go Il quickly counted the survivors.
“Are there any wounded?”
Cho Yak asked, surveying the skilled personnel.
“Some flesh was torn, but we can still move.”
“I hurt my arm a bit, but it’s fine.”
Half a dozen of the skilled personnel replied.
She nodded and spoke again.
“If we move quickly, we’ll reach another branch before dawn fully breaks. Rest can wait until we’ve secured that location.”
Cho Yak moved her Body Technique first, leaping over the wall.
As she cleared it, the waiting attendants bowed deeply.
“We’ll guide you to the next branch and then return to the village to rest.”
Once Geol-gae finished speaking, his men deployed their Body Technique first.
Whoosh……..
They were among the fastest of an already swift faction.
As Geol-gae’s group moved ahead, both Jamryong-hoe and Ma-gyo launched themselves in pursuit.

*

Shin Pung-gae walked toward the Murim Alliance with his shoulders slumped.
‘Infuriating bastards…’
He was making his way back to the Murim Alliance after dealing with the Moyong Se Clan and the language sect.
The sealed Moyong Se Clan and language sect had only worthless remnants left behind.
All the skilled swordsmen had vanished without a trace, leaving no one to hold accountable.
Moreover, watching those who remained weeping and wailing so loudly only stirred pity in him toward them.
But Shin Pung-gae was not one to be swayed by tears.
He knew their weeping was nothing but performance.
If the traitors Moyong Se and Eon So-ryong succeeded in their designs, those remaining would show their true faces just as readily.
Fifty years of sealing.
Shin Pung-gae had ordered the fifty-year sealing on behalf of the Alliance Leader and departed from the clan.
Sigh…..
He gazed out across the broad plains, trying to ease his frustration with a deep breath.
The grasses that had grown to shoulder height were already dead, their verdant color long faded, and delicate white frost clung to the withered stalks.
The lecherous beasts that once darted across the plains seeking only to mate had vanished without a trace.
Hmm?
Shin Pung-gae paused mid-step and fixed his gaze intently on the plains.
Dark shapes were moving in the distance—they looked for all the world like a herd of wild boar.
It seemed they had come down this far in winter searching for food.
‘I should take some wild boar meat and share a drink with the Alliance Leader today.’
After swallowing his saliva, he crossed the plains at a leisurely pace.
Most wild beasts were skittish—they would bolt the moment they sensed a human presence.
But wild boar were different.
Being foul-tempered creatures by nature, they typically charged at people instead.
Especially ones that had tasted human flesh—they came down from the mountains relentlessly, preying on people.
As the distance closed, the boar that had been rooting in the earth lifted its head.
Its bulk was so immense it looked like a dark boulder come to life.
The beast fixed its eyes upon Shin Pung-gae, fire blazing in them.
Yet he found the sight exhilarating rather than daunting.
‘There’ll be plenty of meat to be had.’
Shin Pung-gae began to gather his Body Technique.
But then the boar that had been glaring so fiercely suddenly collapsed sideways.

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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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