Chapter 178: Change (3)
Chapter 178: Change (3)
The face of the 2nd Guest who took off his sunglasses was completely exposed. He had kind and loving eyes in comparison to individuals who were generally thought to be tough, but even with those, he appeared strong.
Chun Yeowun, who looked at him, was a bit confused.
‘What is this?’
He was definitely seeing this man for the first time. He did, however, felt a sense of familiarity. He was certain he had seen him somewhere, but couldn’t remember.
‘It is weird.’
He couldn’t figure out why he couldn’t remember.
“Are you going to keep holding my neck? We don’t have much time.”
The 2nd Guest with red hair pointed to the hand of Chun Yeowun that was grabbing his neck.
Chun Yeowun asked.
“Can you really turn it back to normal?”
‘Despite his strength, he is extremely vigilant.’
The 2nd Guest thought to himself. People who are aware of their own strength and that their opponent is weak tend to be overconfident, but Chun Yeowun never once dropped his guard.
“Huh… I’m not good at making promises like this, but if things go wrong, cut off this man’s second arm as well.”
“Do you think it will end with one arm?”
Tak!
Chun Yeowun released the hand he was holding.
‘He isn’t the least bit aware.’
Some people have a hard time even speaking when their life is on the line, but this red-haired man didn’t seem to care about it.
“Can you really undo this?”
“The swapping of souls is an act of arbitrarily disregarding the laws of all things. It is difficult to change it, but reversing it is fine.”
The 2nd Guest turned his neck muscles to loosen them.
Shhh!
The bodies of Hu Bong and C, who had fainted, soon moved towards him.
Mun Ran-yeong asked with concern because of it,
“Lord Chun Ma, can we trust him?”
Because her husband’s well-being was at stake, she couldn’t believe him. A person who should have been an enemy now wanted to be their ally, so it was understandable why she couldn’t trust him.
“If there is any indication of anything else, I will deal with him.”
“… I understand.”
Because it was Chun Ma, she couldn’t say much.
The two were right in front of the 2nd Guest, and then with his finger, he would move things in the air as if practicing something, like sealing things.
Chachacha!
After numerous repetitions, the 2nd Guest placed his middle finger on their forehead. Then, to their surprise, something white, resembling a soul, sprang from their bodies.
It was similar to Ghost.
“Soul Crossing!”
Chak! Chak!
The 2nd Guest chanted something loud while the changing seals on the two souls that were floating in the air, and soon they went into the opposite bodies.
‘What is this man’s true identity?’
‘A shaman?’
Baekgi and Mun Ran-yeong couldn’t take their eyes off this strange phenomenon. When the soul enters the body stably and completely,
Tatak!
The 2nd Guest hurriedly touched the blood points of C. it was to seal her down.
It seemed like he was preventing her from waking up. In that state, when he made a motion, C’s mouth opened.
“Where is it? Here it is.”
The 2nd Guest put his finger in her mouth and carefully pulled something out. It was her molar with something like a chip attached to it.
Crach!
He smashed it right away.
“Uh.”
“What is that?”
At Chun Yeowun’s question, the 2nd Guest threw the broken chip and said,
“A device which binds this old one.”
‘Old one?’
He looked like he was in his 30s but the 2nd Guest called himself an old man. Of course, in this world, one couldn’t be judged by their appearance.
“Ugh!”
Hu Bong had come to his senses. When he awoke, the first thing he did was look at himself. Even after witnessing what had occurred earlier, Chun Yeowun was still vigilant and had prepared to take him down if the soul in him was still C’s.
Hu Bong woke up and the first thing he touched was his most precious place.
“Bong-bong!”
Mun Ran-yeong immediately yelled at him to reprimand him. However, Hu Bong’s face was filled with joy as he shouted.
“It is there! It is right here! I am back! Lord, I am back. Hehehe!”
Hu Bong spoke like himself.
‘He is back.’
Chun Yeowun smiled and lowered his hand. But Hu Bong cried out,
“L-Lord. Something is strange. My whole body feels heavy and painful as if it has been tortured.”
“…”
Chun Yeowun erased his smile and turned his gaze to the 2nd Guest. Hu Bong looked fine, but he did suffer a lot from Chun Yeowun’s hands.
Although he had the ability to regenerate, the pain would stay for a bit as it was done repeatedly.
“I kept my promise.”
The 2nd Guest said.
Chun Yeowun nodded and asked.
“What was that weird thing you did and who are you?”
He was curious about this person’s identity.
This person managed to return the souls back to their original bodies with some different kind of ability.
The technique was weird, but it was clear that there was energy used in it, and Chun Yeowun was sure he had felt this kind of energy once before.
“Right. Songi. Songi.1”
At Chun Yeowun’s words, the 2nd Guest’s eyes fluttered. Even those who had good martial arts couldn’t recognize this man.
At first, it is difficult to tell the difference.
“You are surprising this old man again. You are definitely no ordinary person. You must have come here going against the law of causality.”
“Causality?”
“This isn’t the place where you belong, right? Descendant of Chun Ma.”
Pak!
‘This man!’
Chun Yeowun reached out like lightning to bound the body of the 2nd Guest.
When the space itself was entirely distorted to prevent Chun Yeowun from doing anything, the sight from all directions was messed up.
“Lord?”
“The front seems to be buzzing.”
Even Chun Yeowun’s subordinates were flustered.
Not caring about it, he asked,
“Who are you?”
Of course, all members of the Sky Demon Order are the descendants of the 1st Chun Ma. However, rather than saying that, this person spoke as if he was meaning to say that Chun Yeowun had completely inherited the vision of Chun Ma.
“You have a completely different disposition from him. It is similar to when the hand went out first.”
As soon as the words were done, a change occurred on the 2nd Guest’s face. His facial muscles twisted and it was clearly changing shape.
Tuk!
His face, which had been looking young till then, had changed and aged. Now, he looked like an old man.
Chun Yeowun couldn’t help but be amazed at the appearance of this 2nd Guest who had clear eyes.
“Elder Jeokmi!2”
2nd Guest was surprised. The sage who was an acquaintance of the man in Kunlun Mountain, whom he saw in the images when he absorbed the yokai energy of the Golden Gumiho.
He remembered it because his appearance was unique. And he did think he felt familiar but didn’t imagine this to happen.
“Huh. You know me?”
Elder Jeokmi was surprised that Chun Yeowun knew him. He revealed his identity to show that he was a sage and not a bad man, but he didn’t expect the man to know him.
“Good Law technique.”
The power which Elder Jeokmi had shown so far was that.
Chun Yeowun asked in a puzzled voice.
“How did you know?”
“About what? About you breaking the rules and being in the world you are in now?”
“… I guess you knew.”
Surprisingly, Jeokmi knew that Chun Yeowun wasn’t of this time.
The old man smiled and said,
“Huhuhu. I have entered the realm of all existence, how can I not know it? All humans are born with their causes and your cause is different from that here.”
“You can see that?”
“I see it very well. If the entire world was white, then you alone are grey.”
The old man said it in an easy to understand way. It was different from the leader in the Kunlun Mountains now, who wasn’t efficient in his techniques.
‘A real sage?’
It made things even more mysterious.
Chun Yeowun, who’s now suspicious, asked.
“What is a man who is a sage and uses good energy in the world hiding in a dark place and working on such plots?”
When it came to the sages Chun Yeowun knew of, they were adamant on honing their way and entering the realm of truth and goodness. They would never be directly involved in the world. However, it was strange that a sage was a guest of MS Group.
“I can understand you being skeptical, but I had no choice. In a way, it was the path I chose until I got that.”
“That?”
Jeokmi shook his head and said to puzzled Chun Yeowun.
“I am sorry, but there are things that this old man can’t just say. You did cross the border you shouldn’t have, but this is a thing you shouldn’t know of, yet.”
Chun Yeowun didn’t quite understand what he was talking about.
“However, I want you to know that I, too, gave up a lot of things and bit into bitter meat in this place before embarking on a drastic plan.”
Bitter meat. It refers to a plan to get out of a difficult state even if it meant injuring the self. And the old man meant that he was sacrificing himself.
“What are you talking about?”
“First… Can you do something about this demonic energy?”
He pointed to his severed arm. The black haze was still rising over there. Normally, he would have been able to drive out any energy. However, since it was Sky Demon Energy, he couldn’t do much.
“Hmm.”
Chun Yeowun placed his hand on the severed arm then the Sky Demon Energy trying to penetrate the body of Jeokmi had disappeared, more like scattered.
Shhh!
“Phew. Now, I might live.”
“Can the severed arm be attached with your techniques?”
Chun Yeowun pointed to the severed arm and asked.
To that, Elder Jeokmi shook his head and answered.
“If you could help. I can do it now that the energy is gone, but I think I should leave it alone.”
“Why would you?”
“To avoid being doubted.”
“… are you going to go to them?”
The ‘them’ being mentioned by Chun Yeowun was the MS Group. Elder Jeokmi nodded his head.
“I still have work to do there. To be honest, I am saying this to you, but I can do nothing until that thing is in their hands.”
“Can’t you just steal it back?”
“I would very much like to, but even I don’t know where it is. I don’t know what power they used, but it seems like the head, the commander they call it, hid it.”
Jeokmi is a sage. If a sage, who was strong according to Chun Yeowun was being careful enough to avoid the eyes of this commander, who was he?
Chun Yeowun asked, wondering.
“Do you know the identity of the head of MS Group? Or where is he?”
“I don’t know. It seems like even C or B who are known to be his longest men don’t know his identity. They, too, only receive and send the orders.”
Unfortunately, the whereabouts of the MS Group’s commander was unknown.
Chun Yeowun looked at C who was down. At first, he wanted to search through her memory by turning her into a Ghost.
Shh!
Chun Yeowun, aiming the sword at the woman, asked,
“Are you sure about their relationship?”
At that question, Elder Jeokmi answered.
“I am an old man who follows the path of truth and goodness.”
“I need a clear answer. I don’t care whether the person in front is a man of truth or a demon. If one gets in my way, everyone’s the same.”
At those resolute words, Jeokmi laughed.
‘It doesn’t seem like it, but they are so alike.’
He thought of it but didn’t say it out loud.
He lifted his left arm, which made the loose sleeve slide down.
“That is?”
Chun Yeowun’s eyes lit up. There was something very familiar on the wrist of the left arm of the old man.
Something made of black iron.
Chachachak!
And when he injected good energy into it, the black iron which was like a band, turned into a weapon.
“Blade!”
It was a blade.
With black brilliance around it.
Chun Yeowun wasn’t wary of what the intentions were, but before he could think of anything, Elder Jeokmi turned the blade around and gave the grip to Chun Yeowun.
“What?”
“I am giving this blade to you.”
“To me… Why?”
Come to think of it, this man said that he followed the path of truth and goodness, but he was giving it to Chun Yeowun of the Sky Demon Order?
“Why?”
“It seems like this blade is written in your fate.”
“… what do you mean by fate?”
He smiled at Chun Yeowun who was puzzled.
“You will find out later. Don’t rush so much.”
“You keep avoiding my questions. That said, I can force you to speak.”
If not, a way to read the memories too. Even if they were sages, they were still humans.
“Huhuhu, that is so scary. But now, the time has come. Huh. I look forward to meeting you again.”
Jjkk!
The space distorted again. However, Chun Yeowun didn’t do it. It was the old man who was changing the previous distorted space to normal.
“You think I will leave you alone?”
Chun Yeowun brought out a ferocious energy.
“Eik!”
The form of Elder Jeokmi had already gone into the floor, passing through it very much like Shakena passing through things.
Chun Yeowun drew his sword.
Slash!
At that point, a black line appeared at the bottom, splitting the area. Chun Yeowun walked on it with force, causing the floor to break and a hole to appear.
Bang!
When he moved down to see if the man had fallen on the ground, nothing could be found. No presence could be felt, most likely due to the good energy those sages utilize.
‘Lower?’
Chun Yeowun once again did the same. And as he descended through the opening, a dark warehouse-like place with numerous boxes had appeared.
As he was checking the surroundings, a voice echoed in his head.
-If you are here looking for something, then there is a high chance it is hidden down here. Well, let’s meet again!
It was Elder Jeokmi!
Then he felt the space being used again. Chun Yeowun reached out his hand and moved to it, but it was too late.
In the end, he missed the old man.
“Phew.”
It has been a long time since he missed someone this close. Irritation shot into his mind. That old man was very much a sage. He’s a being completely different from ordinary humans.
‘Elder Jeokmi…’
There were still so many things he wanted to ask. He wanted to know what kind of relationship the old man had with his ancestor, Chun Ma.
- Songi means ‘good energy’.↩
- The author changed Cheokmi to Jeokmi. Also previously translated as Cheok Mino.↩