My Younger Siblings Are the Greatest Masters in the World - Chapter 148

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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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148.

The four people did a final check.

“You remember the plan we made, right?”

Jegal Jaeryeong answered Seol Mujin’s question.

“When we meet Gungju, we ambush him according to your orders and immediately escape from Podallap Palace, right?”

Since they knew neither Gungju’s martial arts nor Podallap Palace’s full strength, it was truly a simple plan.

Namiran said.

“It’s a very good plan.”

She would call it a good plan even if Seol Mujin carried kindling and jumped into fire.

When they heard sounds of women coming out from other rooms, they also went out to the corridor.

The women lined up in a row along the long corridor numbered exactly one hundred.

This was also the number of women who had stayed in this building for three days.

Like this, one hundred at a time for ten rounds, that’s how they would fill a thousand.

One group of a hundred had already passed through, and they were the second group of a hundred.

“Follow me.”

Following the young monk, they left the building and arrived at the Hall of the Sun located in the center of Podallap Palace.

The Hall of the Sun, twenty zhang high, was the largest and most splendid in Podallap Palace.

If they collected all the gold leaf applied to the building’s exterior and interior, it seemed like they could live without worrying about money for a lifetime.

The hundred women (precisely ninety-nine women and one man) guarded by ten monks entered the Hall of the Sun.

Even without separate painting, both the outer and inner walls were a dazzling white that hurt the eyes.

In the center of the great hall, which seemed to be about two hundred pyeong, there were stairs leading upward.

The young monk silently guided the women to the stairs.

Despite being twenty zhang high, there were only three floors.

When they reached the third floor, a door came into view at the front.

The heavy red iron door was circular, as if symbolizing the sun.

As the women approached, the door opened inward.

Light rushed out from inside the door.

He had thought it was a rooftop without a ceiling, but glass stretched long across the middle of the roof, making it so bright.

The sunlight carrying a chill looked particularly white.

The women lined up in a long row under that light.

At the front was a reclining Buddha reaching five zhang in height, and behind it, Four Heavenly Kings ten cheok in size sat with their characteristically fierce expressions.

In the stone chamber that appeared to be about a hundred pyeong, twelve bronze incense burners were placed along the walls.

When all the women had entered, two monks closed the heavy iron door.

There were eighteen monks guarding the women.

Three monks stood in front of the women.

There was an elderly monk and two young monks.

The elderly monk standing in the center spoke.

“Sit in lotus position.”

The women in white clothes sat cross-legged on the spot.

It wasn’t exactly lotus position, but ordinary women couldn’t be expected to have learned proper lotus position.

The elderly monk didn’t mind the women’s posture either.

“With reverent hearts, put your palms together.”

While the women sat and put their palms together, the incense stuck in the twelve bronze incense burners was lit.

The moment the faint scent of incense reached his nose, Seol Mujin stopped breathing.

From his sidelong glance, Jegal Jaeryeong, Dang Choein, and Namiran also seemed to have noticed the identity of the incense.

It was Mihon incense.

Incense that made one half-unconscious and placed them on the boundary between dreams and reality.

“Today you will receive the grace of the Living Buddha who has descended to this world.”

Seol Mujin’s suspicion of ‘Could that elderly monk be Gungju?’ disappeared with those words.

When the elderly monk moved to a position behind the women, chanting began to resonate.

It wasn’t the usual chanting like ‘Namu Amitabul Gwanseum Bosal,’ but a language he had never heard before in his life.

As the incense grew thicker, the women’s minds became confused.

The monks seemed unaffected, apparently having taken an antidote beforehand.

‘Gungju needs to come quickly.’

Seol Mujin could hold his breath for about half a shijin.

When martial arts reached a high level, breathing occurred not only through the nose and mouth but also through the pores.

But the other three people couldn’t hold their breath as long as Seol Mujin.

At most about one gak.

It had already been nearly half a gak, so if Gungju didn’t come soon, this plan would fail.

‘When the hell is that bastard Gungju coming?’

Even if Seol Mujin dealt with Gungju alone, carrying three people while escaping would be impossible.

But he couldn’t leave those three behind and escape alone.

They might not know they were allies right now, but since they had shared a room, they would naturally be suspected.

If things went wrong, he might have to fight the entire Podallap Palace alone.

It was better not to expect support from the Sichuan Dang Clan.

Not only were their numbers small, but their role was to assist in escape, not to engage in full-scale war with Podallap Palace.

If Gungju didn’t come within the next half gak, this plan would have to be abandoned.

Seol Mujin glanced sideways at the red door.

While he was spending this anxious time, two monks approached the door.

The two monks grabbed the iron door handles and pulled.

Creak―!

The door opened and someone entered.

He had heard that Podallap Palace’s Gungju was definitely over eighty years old, but the person who appeared looked only about fifty.

He had smooth skin without even a beard and, despite being a monk, had grown his black hair long.

When the black-haired middle-aged man wearing unusually black robes entered, the monks’ chanting grew even louder.

The two monks who had opened the door respectfully followed behind the middle-aged man in black robes.

From the atmosphere, that person was definitely Gungju.

It wasn’t strange that his appearance wasn’t monk-like.

After all, if he were a devout monk, he wouldn’t be doing such outrageous acts either.

Seol Mujin followed Gungju only with his eyes.

Gungju passed in front of the women with slow steps.

Seol Mujin, positioned roughly in the middle of the women, deliberately made his gaze hazy when Gungju passed by.

Unfortunately, Gungju stopped right in front of Seol Mujin.

Gungju’s gaze swept over Seol Mujin, Jegal Jaeryeong, Dang Choein, and Namiran.

“What a pity. If I had known there was such beauty…”

The tongue licking his lips and the sticky gaze were pure greed.

‘Damn bastard!’

Curses naturally burst out from within.

After looking at the four people for a moment, Gungju moved his steps again.

Gungju’s steps stopped at the very end of the hundred women.

Seol Mujin moved his eyes to the right to examine the faces of the three people.

Their increasingly reddening complexions told him the limit was approaching.

Seol Mujin regretted, ‘I should have attacked when Gungju was right in front just now.’

Standing in front of the woman at the very edge, Gungju recited something like an incantation.

“Sabang sabang cheolliyosin, baekmanseolhyang hwaindogyo…”

Though he couldn’t understand the meaning, the voice was full of evil energy.

Gungju chanted the incantation while placing his hand on the woman’s crown.

After a moment, the woman trembled violently and then collapsed sideways.

Seol Mujin’s body flinched.

That’s an evil art that drains life force.

It’s definitely an evil art like the absorption technique that absorbs an opponent’s internal energy.

It’s probably an evil art that absorbs the life force of young women to maintain one’s own youth.

The woman whose life force was stolen continued breathing shallowly until it suddenly stopped.

Seol Mujin, who had heightened his hearing, could no longer hear the woman’s breathing.

Gungju had killed the woman so simply.

How many years of life had Gungju preserved by taking one person’s life?

At most one year? Or perhaps three years?

To gain those years, Gungju had killed one person.

But even so, one couldn’t extend life indefinitely in such a manner.

Those who are born must eventually perish – that’s the truth of nature.

Gungju let out a long sigh and chanted an incantation while placing his hand on the next woman’s crown.

Another person’s life would soon disappear.

Seol Mujin had to make a decision.

The best opportunity to kill Gungju would be when he placed his hand on Seol Mujin’s head.

At such close range while off guard, even the greatest master under heaven couldn’t avoid Seol Mujin’s attack.

But fifty women would die before it was Seol Mujin’s turn.

Moreover, Jegal Jaeryeong and the other two were poisoned by the Mihon incense and couldn’t move.

Would he wait for fifty people to die to seize the most certain opportunity to kill Gungju, or would he choose the path to save the women even if the chances were lower?

It wasn’t a matter that required long deliberation.

The reason they had infiltrated Podallap Palace to kill Gungju was clear.

It was to save innocent people, so he just needed to act faithfully to that purpose.

So Seol Mujin moved.

The distance to Gungju was roughly fifteen zhang.

It was a distance he could reach before taking a single breath.

He stood up, took one step forward, then shot toward Gungju.

The monks chanting sutras could only show a startled reaction.

Gungju’s surprised face turning toward him rapidly grew closer.

Seol Mujin extended his fist toward Gungju’s face.

It was Old River Splitting Mountain, the most powerful and fastest technique among the Old Dragon Ascending Heaven Fist that Seol Mujin had learned.

Whooom—!

The power created by his fist made Gungju’s black hair flutter wildly.

Seol Mujin was confident this strike would succeed.

But Seol Mujin’s confidence was premature.

Gungju retreated like a phantom while blocking Seol Mujin’s attack with his palm.

Paang—!

For a moment, Gungju’s palm seemed to grow as large as his face.

He thought it was an illusion, but it really was so.

Gungju’s hand, pushed backward, had indeed grown that large.

“You are…!”

Seol Mujin didn’t give Gungju a chance to speak.

As Seol Mujin’s attacks continued, Gungju kept retreating.

Though he was retreating from the sudden ambush, Seol Mujin realized that Gungju’s martial arts were not inferior to his own.

If only he had the Bright White Pure Sword, he could have killed him with the first surprise attack, but now he had to somehow kill Gungju with bare hands.

As Seol Mujin moved, the three people who had followed him attacked Gungju.

Jegal Jaeryeong’s sword tore Gungju’s clothes, and Namiran scratched his forearm.

The hidden weapons Dang Choein scattered were dispersed in all directions by Gungju’s hand gestures.

The combined attack of the four could only last for a single exchange.

The monks who had been chanting sutras rushed over eagerly and unleashed attacks toward them.

“You three handle the monks!”

“We’ll finish quickly and help you!”

Though Jegal Jaeryeong made such a promise to Seol Mujin, the martial arts of the eighteen monks surpassed first-rate Murim masters.

Rather than killing the enemies, they had to focus on protecting their own lives from those enemies.

Kwaang!

Seol Mujin and Gungju, who had exchanged a full-power strike, both retreated from each other.

Seol Mujin felt numbness in both hands.

The secret technique of Podallap Palace, Daerasu-in, being called unrivaled in Murim wasn’t just an empty reputation.

“You’re not a woman.”

Gungju, who spoke in a woman-like thin voice, wore a sinister smile.

“You should have waited for a certain opportunity to kill me.”

“Now is that certain opportunity!”

Gungju extended both arms toward Seol Mujin who was closing the distance.

Wooowooom—!

Along with the sound of air being split, tremendous palm force struck down on Seol Mujin.

Seol Mujin had never experienced such fierce and powerful palm force before.

He hastily raised his protective energy and protected his body with both arms.

With a “Peng!” sound, tremendous shock was transmitted.

“Kkeup!”

Two steel fan palms fell toward Seol Mujin as he was pushed back.

The three women couldn’t completely hold back the eighteen monks.

Seol Mujin rolled his body backward and barely avoided the steel fan palms.

Kwaang!

The fan palms that missed Seol Mujin shattered the stone floor into pieces.

Seol Mujin, crouched low, kicked off the ground and extended his fists toward the two monks.

The Twin Heaven Gale Wind technique was blocked by the two monks’ steel fan palms.

Since it was such a fierce and powerful fist technique, the two monks were pushed back a full zhang with stifled groans.

‘If only I had the Bright White Pure Sword!’

No, if he had at least held a sword, it would have been a much easier fight.

He thought that when he got out of here, he should invest time in fist techniques.

Of course, that was assuming he killed Gungju and escaped from Podallap Palace.

Gungju’s palm force struck down on Seol Mujin once again.

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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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