The Wizard Who Endured the World of Murim - Chapter 39

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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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Surviving in the Martial Realm as a Mage: Episode 39
Whoosh—
A thin blade shot through the empty air.
Ilhyang caught it between his fingers with a grin.
“The bald one plays with dangerous toys? I almost let that slip past.”
“…!”
Gui Yun-gaek Ho Sam.
Just moments before.
He swallowed hard, watching the blade that had stopped mere inches from his heart.
‘I… I didn’t even see it!’
Hyeolrang Chaejoo Gok Su.
His epithet was the Luminous Swift Flying Horse.
In other words, a master of the lightcraft technique who wielded throwing blades as swift as light itself.
Gok Su’s pupils flashed in an instant.
‘He caught it? From this distance?’
The expressions on Seol Bun and Gok Su’s faces shifted in that exact moment.
The supreme confidence that had filled both their faces until then vanished in an instant.
In its place surged an unmistakable tension.
They recognized that the child before them was far more formidable than appearances suggested.
Then.
“I have a request for you two.”
Ilhyang tossed the blade playfully into the air and caught it as he spoke.
Seol Bun narrowed his eyes at that infuriating attitude and replied.
“Is it a request? Or is it a threat?”
“Think whatever you like.”
The pig. Yeom Wang-chae Seol Bun carefully adjusted the sword sheath at his waist and asked.
“What will you give us if we hear out your request?”
Ilhyang smiled as he regarded the tense bald man and the fat one.
“I’ll let you live. That’s special.”
“…Damn it all.”
As if on cue, the fat Yeom Wang-chae Seol Bun’s curse erupted from his lips.
As if that were a signal itself.
A streak of light shot from the sword sheath at his side like a serpent.
Yeom Wang-chae Seol Bun.
His blade technique that he boasted to the world.
The Moonlit Shadow Blade Method.
And alongside it.
The bald one.
Twelve streaks of light burst forth from Hyeolrang Chaejoo Gok Su’s sleeves.
His stellar-phase throwing blade technique.
The Twelve Soul Deaths.
The two supreme masters struck in perfect coordination, as though they had trained together for years, completely occupying Ilhyang’s left and right flanks.
‘Die!’
Both of them understood instinctively.
First, in this place.
They had to eliminate that Kid first.
And at this distance.
Even a master would struggle to defend against an ambush.
But the problem was.
Ilhyang was far from an ordinary master.
Clatter-clatter-clatter—!
First, twelve hidden blades struck Ilhyang’s shield and fell powerlessly to the ground.
A translucent barrier blocking the blades.
Seol Bun and Gok Su’s eyes widened in shock.
‘Protective Qi Barrier!’
A protective qi barrier was unmistakably the martial art of a supreme master.
Could he truly be a supreme master at that age?
Had he undergone the Banrowhwandong transformation?
Screeeech—!
But Seol Bun clenched his teeth.
Drawing upon his full power, the single blade.
The strike wreathed in crimson blade energy did not stop, cleaving through the half-shattered transparent shield and aiming for Ilhyang’s crown.
‘This is success!’
Seol Bun’s eyes gleamed with exhilaration.
To think he could capture a supreme master through ambush.
It was an absolute windfall.
But the astonishing scene unfolded in that very instant.
Clang—!
A man who appeared like a phantom from the ground’s shadow.
Hyeol Gang-si Ilho.
The man with a corpse-pale complexion.
Caught Seol Bun’s blazing crimson blade bare-handed.
“This is insane!”
An exclamation burst involuntarily from Seol Bun’s lips.
His Moon Shadow Blade Technique was a martial art that had built his reputation through overwhelming sharpness.
Yet he caught blade energy generated like that with his bare hand.
There was no way a human body, not being made of metal, could accomplish such a thing.
But reality had made the impossible possible.
That corpse-pale face….
“…A Jiangshi! That bastard is a Hyeol Gang-si!”
The bald Gok Su, who had scattered the poison powder, suddenly realized the identity of Ilho who had appeared out of nowhere and let out a scream as he staggered backward.
Shadows blocked his retreat from behind.
“Damn it, these bastards….”
They had been surrounded by Jiangshi without realizing it.
“Are you feeling like having a conversation now?”
“….”
When exactly had they been surrounded?
From the beginning?
Or somewhere in the middle?
‘No, that’s not what matters right now.’
What did it matter when the encirclement had been set?
What mattered was whether we could escape from here.
But judging by Gok Su, a master of the lightness technique,
there seemed to be no way out.
‘Seol Bun, can we break through this?’
‘…It will be difficult.’
At Gok Su’s telepathic transmission, Seol Bun’s eyes rolled about before he answered weakly.
They had been surrounded without even sensing the presence of others.
Honestly, even one or two Jiangshi would be a tight match to handle.
‘Ten Jiangshi?’
If we charged in to fight them, that would be suicide.
The light drained from Gok Su and Seol Bun’s eyes.
“Ha… Was this from Mansizong? What exactly are you trying to gain?”
I felt wronged.
So this kid was actually a Jiangshi sorcerer from Mansizong.
Had I known from the start, I would have been more obedient during the negotiation.
Or I would have fled.
A brief wave of regret swept through my mind.
Then.
“Mansizong? I received these as a gift.”
“….”
Jiangshi given as a gift?
By Mansizong?
Anyone would call it nonsense, but Gok Su didn’t particularly refute it.
Whatever the case, provoking this kid in the current situation was unwise.
In the Kangho, only the strong ruled.
“What’s your request?”
“It’s not a request anymore—it’s an order.”
“So? Is that more important than your life?”
Ilhyang regarded Gok Su with cold eyes as he rebuked Seol Bun.
Under that gaze, Gok Su swallowed hard and forced himself to respond with an air of composure.
“Hmm, well, the circumstances have certainly changed quite a bit.”
Until just moments ago, there was no Blood Corpse in the negotiations.
Now there was a Blood Corpse.
Naturally, the negotiation terms and consequences would differ.
Seol Bun and Gok Su nodded obediently without any change in expression.
“What is it that you desire, Young Master?”
Their manner of speech naturally became more respectful.
Noticing their swift change in attitude, Ilhyang gestured toward Sungwha Island with a tilt of his chin and spoke.
“From now on, I’m thinking of constructing a building here.”
“…?”
Why would he do that?
The subject had suddenly taken a strange turn.
“I’ll need you two to help me with that.”
“What do you mean….”
They were being asked to help build a mere structure.
It was like using a blade meant for slaughtering cattle to kill a chicken.
Naturally, it made no sense.
“The building will be quite large, so I’ll need considerable labor.”
“Ah?”
Only then did Seol Bun and Gok Su begin to grasp the situation somewhat.
And simultaneously, their faces twisted into expressions of bitter resignation.
‘We’re finished.’
The other party wasn’t simply in need of financial resources.
Purely and simply, labor.
He was demanding the labor of the entire Water Sect, including their most accomplished masters.
The problem was that they had neither the justification nor the power to refuse.
And moreover.
“And I’d also like to use the funds you have at your base. Your entire sect’s lives should be worth that much, wouldn’t you say?”
“….”
In broad daylight, they had encountered a bandit.
This kid was demanding their life’s worth as naturally as breathing.
And so absurdly at that.
The Jiao Long Faction, Blood Wolf Faction, and Yan Wang Faction—organizations that carried considerable weight along the Yangtze River Waterway.
Tremendous upheaval was beginning to unfold in those places, entirely unexpected and uninvited.
* * *
Thump— tooong—
Sam-mi-ho.
The three-tailed fox was dreaming at this very moment.
The world within the dream was filled with mystical rainbows.
Beyond the clouds beneath my feet lay a rainbow, and seated there was a seductive-faced fox immortal.
“Welcome.”
“This humble Hori from the Lower Realm greets Senior Cheonho from the Upper Realm.”
“Hehe, I’ve told you there’s no need to be so formal every time.”
“How could a junior dare to address the great Senior so casually? Please, I must insist on maintaining proper respect.”
“Very well. You remain as courteous as ever. But why have you been so distant these past few days? I’ve missed you terribly.”
Sam-mi-ho.
Still without a name of her own.
The fox, called merely “Hori,” held her breath low as she gazed upon the demon immortal before her.
The Nine-tailed Fox, matriarch of all fox demons.
She was a great demon who had written mythic history across more than a thousand years.
Hori lacked the courage to lie in her presence.
“The truth is, until recently I was captured by humans and could only wait for the day of my death. But by some fortune, I managed to break through the seal they had created and escape.”
“What? How on earth did you end up in such danger? I’ve warned you repeatedly to be wary of those human creatures.”
Cheonho.
The Nine-tailed Fox withdrew the carefree smile she had worn moments before, her face now genuinely angry as she fixed her gaze upon the small fox before her.
The small fox trembled violently from head to tail, gasping for breath beneath the spiritual pressure the Nine-tailed Fox emanated.
“Oh! My goodness. I’m sorry—I went too far, didn’t I?”
The Nine-tailed Fox instantly withdrew her power.
She spoke to the small fox, who was still shaking as she steadied her ragged breathing.
“You must always be cautious of humans. Individually, they’re nothing special. But when they gather, they become quite formidable. You understand what I mean, don’t you?”
“Yes. I will be more vigilant and careful from now on, Senior.”
“Good. At any rate, it seems you managed to escape well enough. Humans are as careless as they come, after all.”
Sam-mi-ho.
Hori hesitated for a moment before bowing her head low, nearly touching the ground, as she answered.
“I didn’t escape by my own strength alone, Senior. Without outside help, I would never have been able to return to Mongyeondo.”
“Outside help? Could there be another of our kind besides you? So our Blood Clan still has members in the Lower Realm! Is that it?”
As Cheonho’s eyes gleamed and her voice grew slightly excited, Hori quickly responded.
“No, no, Senior. There was a strange human. With that human’s help, I was able to break through my weakened seal and escape.”
“A human? Why would a human help you? For what reason?”
“Not exactly helping me, but… the result was the same. The reason was likely, as always, a matter of money between them.”
“Hmm… I see.”
“Yes. But… that human was strange in some way.”
“In what way?”
Hori gazed upon the matriarch of the Blood Clan.
The great demon immortal Nine-tailed Fox, and spoke carefully.
“By all accounts of their lifespan, that human should have been dead. Yet somehow, they were still alive and moving about.”
“Oho?”
An existence that exceeded their predetermined lifespan.
“That is certainly an interesting human. Did they employ the Immortal Reversal Method? So there are still humans in the Lower Realm with enough magical power to use that technique.”
“Based on his actions and demeanor, he seems quite suitable for Senior’s plans. I thought I’d put to use what you taught me last time.”
“What I taught you? The Demon Immortal Heart Technique and what else was there?”
Cheonho tilted his head in confusion.
Hori smiled softly and spoke.
“You taught me the Hundred Joys Enchantment. You said it was a sorcery that absolutely works on human men.”
The Nine-tailed Fox clapped her palms together and exclaimed.
“Ah! That’s right! Yes, that’s it! What an excellent idea! It’s a bewitching technique that absolutely works on males.”
“Truth be told, I’m reaching my limits holding out alone. I thought I’d turn that human into a puppet and hide for a while.”
“Excellent! As expected, all the children of our Blood Clan are clever. What a brilliant one you are.”
The Nine-tailed Fox—a mythical being.
At Cheonho’s overt praise, Hori seemed pleased, her three tails swaying gently.
“Then I’ll see you next time. For now, as I mentioned before, continue enduring in the Lower Realm and watch for your chance at ascension. You have talent, so you’ll seize that opportunity soon. I’ll help you prepare for your next awakening from here, so don’t worry too much.”
“Thank you always, Senior.”
“Then go on. This place, Mongyeondo, seems unstable lately, trembling.”
Indeed, the beautiful cloud garden before her eyes was vibrating slightly.
“Yes, then I’ll be going, Senior!”
Hori offered a respectful farewell to the Nine-tailed Fox and awakened from the dream.
Opening her eyes in reality, her surroundings were a damp cave.
Inside the cave, Hori lifted her nose slightly higher and inhaled the surrounding scents very deeply.
And then.
“He didn’t get far.”
She could precisely track the whereabouts of the human she had marked.
Toward that small human.
Thinking of casting the bewitching technique she had learned from the great Cheonho.
Hori took a light step forward with her front paw.
Then her three swaying tails stretched out long like afterimages.
Moments later.
Only a faint trace of body heat remained on the cave floor.

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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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