The God of Death and the God of War - Chapter 46
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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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Evil Hegemon Martial God
Chapter 46
Living life, one experiences all sorts of strange things.
Jeok-un thought so.
‘Good grief, the back of my head is tingling to death.’
My word, the feeling of walking with an assassin behind one’s back was truly peculiar.
Moreover, that assassin was once someone who was considered the world’s greatest assassin.
It was a feeling of unease behind one’s back and an itchy, tickling sensation at the neck.
But that was only momentary.
Jeok-un soon turned off his nerves.
‘He’s someone who devoted his entire life to revenge. He’s not such a petty old man.’
Well, even if he did charge at him, he could easily subdue him anyway.
Step.
“Here, we’ve arrived. This is it.”
Soon after, the place where Jeok-un stopped was another abandoned mine not far from where they first met.
Hwang-no couldn’t help but know this, so he looked around and frowned.
“…Daeju, are you making fun of me right now?”
“Hehe, as if I would do such a thing.”
Of course, he didn’t come here because of waste stone.
Hwang-no wouldn’t need salt or anything like that, nor was there anything to boast about having many waste stone mines.
“Hwang-no, it’s been over twenty years since you settled in Changsha, right?”
“You already know that.”
“Then have you perhaps heard that rumor?”
“…?”
“The rumor that fifteen years ago, a mine near Changsha closed because it was completely possessed by ghosts.”
“…!”
And the mine they had arrived at was precisely that ghost-possessed abandoned mine.
The abandoned mine before their eyes had closed fifteen years ago.
Unlike the existing mines Jeok-un had bought, it wasn’t because the ore vein had dried up, but because all sorts of bizarre and terrible things happened as if it were truly possessed by ghosts.
‘It was understandable that they would look for ghosts.’
Not only did dangerous toxic smoke burst out from inside the mine shafts that made it impossible to breathe properly, but miners working there began dying endlessly from mysterious accidents and illnesses.
Naturally, as accidents continued, successive owners tried to step forward and find the cause somehow, but surprisingly, even the owners began dying.
Eventually, the mine before their eyes was said to be cursed and became a place no one would visit.
“And I bought it.”
“?!”
Jeok-un said with a grin.
Hwang-no harbored doubts as he listened to Jeok-un’s explanation.
He had heard of the mine that was said to be possessed by ghosts.
But what was the reason for bringing him to this place?
Could it be to kill him in a place with no people around?
Or was there another reason?
Various thoughts floated around in his head, but Jeok-un said calmly.
“Well then, let’s go kill our enemy.”
Whether Jeok-un knew Hwang-no’s feelings or not, he gestured with a bright face for him to follow.
* * *
As he entered the pitch-black mine shaft that looked like a giant’s throat, Jeok-un fell into contemplation.
-Wow, boss! I went to get waste stone and found a spirit herb! No, to be precise, the roots of a spirit herb.
He seemed to hear Yeo Da-il’s voice.
The fellow who was called Heuk-cheon Sa-ju along with Hyeol-hu and Hae-yeon and assisted him.
Before his regression, that fellow had suddenly dug up and brought several spirit herb roots from this abandoned mine.
From the current point in time, it would be about ten years later.
‘The rare flowers and herbs were here.’
The elixirs circulating in Gangho are one of two types.
One is rare flowers and herbs, that is, spirit herbs that are distributed in their original state.
The other is elixirs created by processing spirit herbs.
What’s here are naturally occurring spirit herbs, which were tremendously effective items.
However, the disappointing point was.
-Ah, but only the roots remain. Boss, if we had gone just ten years earlier, wouldn’t there have been the main body and fruits too, not just a few root strands?
That only the roots remained.
If they had come earlier, couldn’t they have obtained the fruits which had the best effects?
The moment Jeok-un recalled the abandoned mine, he reached this conclusion.
So strictly speaking, the first purpose of coming here was to obtain the fruits.
‘In my current state, it would be an incomparably precious tonic.’
In fact, Jeok-un was currently in a situation where his internal energy was very lacking compared to his achievements and enlightenment.
Originally, internal energy was like that.
Accumulated years become strength.
It’s not that there’s no way to shorten that time.
However, it’s just limited to a few methods.
One of them was precisely the roots or fruits of rare flowers and herbs.
And it was time for Jeok-un to gradually accelerate his achievements.
‘Once the confinement ends, I’ll be immediately assigned to black missions. Then at that time…’
He could succeed in the mission even now.
But to finish as quickly as possible and shorten the time.
To obtain new divine techniques afterward, he needed to supplement his internal energy with spirit herbs and enter the beginning stages of Hwagyeong.
Once he crossed the wall of Hwagyeong.
‘It’s a chance to awaken the third star, Nokjon.’
With that, he would ascend to Hwagyeong.
As Jeok-un’s eyes gleamed with different colors while strengthening his resolve, Hwang-no’s telepathic message reached him.
[…Can I really trust this, Daeju?]
Before entering the mine shaft, Jeok-un had given advance warning.
Since enemies were coiled up inside, they needed to reduce their footstep sounds and communicate through telepathy.
[Good grief, for someone who was the world’s greatest assassin, you sure have an impatient personality. Just wait a little.]
Since they had to reduce both footstep sounds and conversation sounds, naturally they didn’t light torches either.
Due to the lack of light source, it was so dark that one couldn’t see even an inch ahead.
Jeok-un walked through the abandoned mine’s tunnels as if it were his own bedroom.
Because he had enhanced his night vision with internal energy, everything was clearly visible.
In fact, even in the previous abandoned mine, the torch was lit for Hae-yeon’s sake, not because Jeok-un needed it.
‘He’s definitely not ordinary.’
Hwang-no was also surprised by Jeok-un’s movements.
Even if one enhances their night vision, it’s not omnipotent.
To distinguish and avoid dimly visible objects requires proficiency, but Jeok-un naturally avoided obstacles and dodged pits as if breathing.
‘For me, this is natural since I was an assassin, but how does Daeju…?’
Night movement is a field that cannot be achieved without training.
Unless one was born blind and then gained sight, it would be absolutely impossible.
Even while Hwang-no harbored doubts about Jeok-un’s identity.
Tap!
Jeok-un’s speed did not slow down.
Though it was a path twisted like a maze, it couldn’t stop them.
Hiss!
Every time they breathed in, toxic smoke rushed in as if to burn their lungs.
It was quite toxic, as if it truly wasn’t an empty boast that countless miners had been turned into wandering spirits, but it wasn’t enough to stop the two men.
After advancing forward for about half an hour.
At that moment, Jeok-un suddenly raised one hand.
It was a signal for Hwang-no to stop.
…Grrrrr!
As if responding to him, the sound of a beast’s roar could be heard.
Just hearing it sent chills down one’s spine and made the body shudder.
[…Is it a spirit beast?]
Hwang-no asked.
Originally, spirit beasts exist to guard spirit herbs.
Spirit herbs grow in places where natural energy gathers, and spirit beasts also seek out such places.
Looking at folktales and legends, spirit herbs and spirit beasts don’t always appear together.
However.
[That can’t be right.]
Jeok-un answered.
What was guarding this place wasn’t a spirit beast.
Grrrrr!!
The roaring sound came again.
This time it was a bit louder and clearer.
It was probably because they had gotten closer to the source of the noise.
When they had walked about a hundred steps.
“…!”
Hwang-no’s eyes shook as if an earthquake had struck.
It was because he had confirmed ‘something’ visible in the distance.
In Jeok-un’s mind, who had confirmed the same thing, a phrase from Tosal Yeo Da-il flashed by once again.
-Ah, but hyung-nim. It seems like it was those ‘Magyo’ bastards who took the spirit herb’s fruit. Ha, it looks like they’ve been putting effort into it for at least several years? Haah, just thinking that the fruit went down that Cheonma bastard’s throat makes me furious!
That was right. What was guarding the miraculous herb wasn’t a spirit beast, but none other than Magyo.
‘Well then, shall we eat the spirit herb and snap the necks of those Magyo bastards too.’
Jeok-un grinned wickedly.
* * *
‘Hehe, good! Finally, I can harvest fifteen years of results!’
Yasu Poison Demon Yarugi, the first seat under Magyo’s Fifth Elder, was filled with joy as he looked at the miraculous object before his eyes.
At the end of the mine shaft, at the very tip of the mine face, a single spirit herb bloomed from the ground.
Among the countless miraculous herbs of Gangho, it was considered a supreme treasure – the Gold Pavilion.
The Gold Pavilion, true to its name, was a golden fruit that faintly emitted red aura, and due to the Gold Pavilion’s own power, the aura flowed around it like clothing.
“Grr, grrrrr.”
At that magnificent sight, Yarugi unconsciously let out beast-like sounds.
It was a side effect of the Yasu Heart Technique, the profound martial art that had brought Yarugi to this position.
Yasu Palace was a branch of Magyo, and Yarugi had learned the Yasu Heart Technique to rise to the position of First Seat under the Fifth Elder.
Yasu Palace, which originated in the southern barbarian lands, was very skilled in poison arts due to its origins, and this was true for Yarugi as well.
Yarugi occasionally went out to find ingredients for elixirs, and during one such trip, he accidentally discovered the Gold Pavilion here.
The problem was that this place was a mine in full operation at the time.
But that wasn’t a problem for Yarugi.
The poisonous smoke accumulated throughout the mine shafts and the resulting miasma were all the work of Yasu Poison Demon Yarugi.
After killing miners again and again to forcibly shut down the mine.
Yarugi had been secretly nurturing the Gold Pavilion with utmost care until now.
‘With this, the position of Fifth Elder is certain.’
While Yarugi coldly assessed the situation, he couldn’t stop the desire boiling in his eyes.
It couldn’t be helped.
‘If I consume this, my martial prowess will reach the Extreme Demon level.’
Currently, Yarugi’s martial prowess was at Hwagyeong, the mastery of Entering Demon.
However, for too long he hadn’t been able to surpass even the wall of mastery, let alone reach the next level of Extreme Demon, and hadn’t even reached the peak of Entering Demon.
So there was much talk within Magyo.
At this rate, he might have to give up his position to rising stars coming up from below.
The only reason he had maintained his position so far wasn’t due to martial arts but because of his achievements in poison arts.
Within Magyo, Yarugi’s poison arts were overwhelmingly superior, beyond anyone’s reach.
But even that had limits, and he was desperately holding on.
‘Now, once I obtain this, all that contempt will end!’
So he had endured fifteen years while keeping the existence of the Gold Pavilion thoroughly secret.
No one knew that Yarugi had come to this place.
He had hidden it even from other Magyo members to avoid having this spirit herb stolen.
‘How could I give away a spirit herb I’ve cultivated like this for free?’
If the existence of the Gold Pavilion were revealed, Yarugi would have to present it to Cheonma without being able to keep even a single root hair.
Swoooosh!
At that moment, light bloomed from the Gold Pavilion.
It was the moment when the Gold Pavilion, which had nurtured spiritual energy for a long time, finally produced its fruit – the Gold Spirit.
“Ohhh…!”
Thump thump!
His heart beat loudly.
A sigh mixed with admiration unconsciously escaped his mouth.
Fifteen years.
The fruit of a full fifteen years was right before his eyes.
Now he just needed to take it.
Just as Yarugi was about to reach out his hand with that thought.
Shriik!
He felt an unusual sound and movement from his sleeve.
It was a Chiljeom-sa he personally raised, extremely sensitive to noise and vibration, making it very useful as an alarm.
The fact that this creature cried out meant.
‘Intruders!’
At that moment, Yarugi’s eyes changed.
The person who had been admiring the Gold Pavilion was nowhere to be found, and only the Yasu Poison Demon remained.
“There you are!”
Yarugi explosively released killing intent and demonic energy toward the direction where the intruders were.
Swoosh!
At the same time, a black shadow shot out from his sleeve like a crossbow bolt.
What Yarugi had shot was the Chiljeom-sa from his sleeve.
The Chiljeom-sa flew like an arrow, trying to bite and tear the intruder’s throat, but.
Slash-!
Making its intention meaningless, it was cut down in a single stroke and rolled on the ground.
“Who are you! Reveal your identity!”
At Yarugi’s shout, Jeok-un revealed himself from the shadows.
The gentle aura of the Gold Pavilion illuminated his form.
“Who am I, you ask.”
Jeok-un spoke with a bright smile, as if satisfied with his opponent’s identity.
“I’m the Grim Reaper.”
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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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