Murim Troubleshooter Dan Mujin-Chapter 125 : Intersection of the Stars

Chapter 125: Intersection of the Stars
A wooden plaque that looked as if the stars of the night sky had been carved upon it. And over it, dark-red drops fell one by one.
The drops of blood soaked into the wood and a blurred crimson stain rose.
Among the spirits of the wooden plaque, a red dot flickered as if foretelling something, then faded.
“Someone who should have died…… is alive.”
The more he read the omens, the paler the aged astrologer’s face became. Terror crept in until his fingertips trembled in tiny spasms.
The Lord of the Southern Dipper, who governed the deaths of all things, surveyed with a solemn eye.
Some being was trying to defy a fate that had stretched across eons.
And on top of that—
“Why is the star energy gathering on this cliff?”
Ominous airs that were said to be nearly impossible to encounter in a lifetime were, for reasons unknown, converging on this cliff.
As if drawn together by the pull of destiny.
The astrologer, seeing three spots that glittered nastily through the blood, muttered in surprise.
“Three… three will come……”
“What is it that’s coming?”
A stranger in black cut in mid-question.
“Evil stars…… Who are you, you cur?”
At that question the man in black wildly swung the fang-toothed Nangabong.
Whack!
Blood and brain matter poured down onto the wooden plaque.
“Enemies of the Blood Cult.”
The man in black muttered that while staring at the corpse whose head had been split open.
Superlative pinnacle.
A state said to be reached when an absolute peak martial artist surpassed human limits and found another revelation.
It was the step just before Hwa-gyeong that every martial artist dreamed of; therefore those who had reached it were high-powered beings who could handle qi as if it were a part of their body and, for a moment, kindle sword-flux.
Bang!
A pale, blood-tinted mist. Jo Harang’s broadsword flashed with a bluish light and the Blood Cult expert’s blade streaked red as they met with a deafening crash.
With every clash of sword and broadsword, qi-waves burst like explosions. Dust swept away and grasses bowed. After several exchanges the clifftop was already a battlefield as if a storm had ripped through it.
Bang! Bang!
The ground shook as if from an earthquake.
Shocks from the collisions shivered up from the feet planted on the earth. Skin tingled; the air vibrated with the sway of masters locked in combat.
“You are formidable; that I, who reached Hwa-gyeong, can be your match even briefly.”
Gwang Hyeolso, whose eyes gleamed with a sanguine light, wore a chilling smile as if at some wondrous talent.
He then glanced over her body with a look that judged her useful, as if calculating a scheme.
“Come to think of it, I didn’t ask your name, wench. Where did you pop out from?”
He had expected to cut her down quickly, but since she had held out longer than expected, Gwang Hyeolso asked her name.
That fellow had earlier called himself something like Left Blood Method. From his bearing and mien he seemed to hold a high rank within the Blood Cult.
“So, why is your sister tangled up with such a vicious bastard and fighting here?”
But immersed in battle, Gwang Hyeolso had no intention of answering, and Murong Cheonghye had been knocked out and had no strength to reply.
“Sinpung-do Jo Harang.”
Jo Harang tightened her grip on the broadsword’s hilt and answered briefly.
Mentioning that her sobriquet was not from some petty school but a name earned from the Dragon-Phoenix Tournament made Gwang Hyeolso twitch his brows and reveal a thin anger.
“You claim that title was earned by killing our followers? How laughable.”
For her part, it had been a name she had had to take after she had been forced to cut them down when they rushed at her to kill — but Gwang Hyeolso, a terrorist who favored indiscriminate slaughter, paid no heed to such circumstances.
He revealed an even darker murderous intent and lifted his blood-red blade.
“From now on your alias shall be Deadly Blade Jo Harang. Wouldn’t that suit you better?”
She was clinging to the pretense of being a hero with a blade in hand, though her life was already as good as dead.
At the taunt, Jo Harang of the Purple Tenuity Star flashed a violet light in both eyes.
“Crushing Wind Tiger!”
Vwoh—
A fierce shout. Her heroic broadsword unleashed enormous wind-pressure. Her furious cuts came like a storm, flashing this way and that.
“Phenomenal.”
I watched Gwang Hyeolso and Jo Harang’s duel from the side and muttered in admiration.
No matter how skilled an opponent, if she judged them evil she never backed down and erupted with righteous fury.
“Salseong, what do you think? I favored her; isn’t she worth it?”
I asked that while swallowing the mysterious medicine that healed internal injuries.
Behold the dazzling talent of the brilliant Purple Tenuity Star, who awakened at a few words.
If I had not once guided her toward the superlative pinnacle, by now both of us might have had our throats cut by that master Gwang Hyeolso.
Thus I indicated the young high-schooler-level heroine who could hold her own even against someone above my tier, and sought Salseong’s agreement.
‘Kill (殺)!’
But whether it helped or not, Salseong instead suggested slyly that we take advantage of this moment to strike at the back of her head.
Truly a creative fellow. He wanted to stab the only rope out of this situation.
If Jo Harang died, my head would likely be next. I doubted he had considered the ensuing consequences.
Salseong seemed drawn more by a grievance born of fate than by reason.
“If you want to live now, there’s only one answer.”
The joint offensive of the two evil stars.
So I grabbed the Dog-Beating Staff and threw myself again into the fierce fight.
‘Evil Dog Blocks the Road!’
I pushed off the ground with the tip of my foot. A sudden collapse of stance disturbed the view, the Falling Step Roll.
If a savage dog — a fierce hound I had never seen before — blocked the way, what would you do?
‘Staff-Head Strike……!’
I merely struck him a blow across the head to scold him.
The staff’s tip wrapped in snowy Staff Qi swung toward the enemy’s skull.
It was faster than ever, but the Hwa-gyeong master seemed to have eyes at the back of his head; he tilted his head and that attack missed by a hair.
“What the—!”
Ssshk!
And a counter like a venomous snake’s tongue slashed out.
I twisted my whole body in haste. But his blade’s angle bent in a weird way, sliced my thigh, and cleanly cut away the tip of the Dog-Beating Staff wrapped in Staff Qi.
Shreek!
“Ugh, damn it!”
My Dog-Beating Staff, which had endured every weapon I had ever faced, proved utterly helpless before the existence of sword-flux.
So this truly was a Hwa-gyeong master. In his huge internal power and with the abilities of the Heaven-Slaying Star, a wall of difficulty that was hard to overcome showed itself.
“If only I, too, had become a superlative pinnacle master…!”
They said the Heaven-Slaying Star’s knack for killing was unrivaled by any evil star.
Why did Purple Tenuity Star surge forward at a few words while I stood rooted here?
Was I perhaps a half-blooded Heaven-Slaying Star who was reluctant to kill?
‘Eradicate (沒殺)!’
At that moment Salseong urged slaughter.
Whenever I started to drift into some strange mind, that odd fellow would, with a chilling demand, inadvertently snap me back to awareness.
“Shut up!”
Whatever he said, I only needed to do the opposite.
I shook off the thoughts that had risen in my head, gripped the blunted Dog-Beating Staff, and rushed at him again.
This time I altered my tactic.
Instead of engaging directly, I slipped in and pricked at him whenever there was an opening between their duels, trying to irritate his nerves as much as possible.
“You damned gnat—!”
The effect was perfect.
Gwang Hyeolso, who should have been all focus on the Purple Tenuity Star swinging her blade, ground his teeth and slashed at me.
Caught between the two evil stars, Gwang Hyeolso was slightly shaken by the combined pressure of a front defense and rear stabs.
“Is your Blood-Heaven God ordering you? Go slaughter some innocent women!”
“Shut your mouth!”
When I mentioned the Blood-Heaven God, Gwang Hyeolso snapped and reacted instantly.
Sshhk!
A swift thrust like a beam of light. Against a Hwa-gyeong master, the option to ‘poke’ was not a light choice.
As more attacks were directed at me, my wounds swelled and the Dog-Beating Staff’s tip kept getting shaved away.
A gift from Hwang Geolgae, the symbol of my erstwhile comrade, was being sliced shorter little by little.
“Blood-Heaven God must be embarrassed! He only dared raise his head after decades to seek revenge! He failed completely and became nothing but the town gossip!”
“Gah, that’s all because of your interference─!”
People were most emotionally stirred when the needle hit home.
Already irritated by the way he poked at the fight, Gwang Hyeolso grew thoroughly enraged when the mouthful of taunts scraped him.
“I’ll tear you to pieces……!”
The red flash that clung to his blade extended long and slashed the air.
Shraaak!
Beyond merely infusing the blade, he had reached a level that hurled a sharp cutting force far out.
Everything along its trajectory was severed in two. Even the wind that had been blowing.
Jo Harang and I flinched and flung our bodies away in alarm.
“I had been restraining myself because you were an unusually precious master’s body, but I’ve changed my mind! I’ll just tear everything apart!”
From that moment Gwang Hyeolso’s manic rampage began.
Blood-tinged sword-flux stalks began sweeping the cliff like a storm.
Shraaak! Shraaak—!
Without caring for the cost to his internal power, Left-Blood-Method Gwang Hyeolso sprayed red sword-flux relentlessly in every direction.
“Ugh! Ugh! Harang! Try using that technique of yours too!”
“It’s impossible! Even forming it on the blade is at the limit!”
Apparently the sword-flux displayed by a superlative-pinnacle had many restrictions. It seemed a skill only those who had truly entered Hwa-gyeong could perform.
Screech!
A blind line of sword-flux cut across my shoulder and the Dog-Beating Staff.
The staff split cleanly in two and rolled uselessly on the ground.
“No! My Hellish Revenge Staff─!”
I unleashed a furious howl at the loss of that long-time cherished weapon.
But the enemy’s momentum was so fierce that charging in out of anger would have been reckless.
Then, from behind Gwang Hyeolso, a black shadow flickered.
Thud!
A sudden strike. A suspicious man clad in black had sprung forward. He had wrapped his whole body in darkness and launched an attack imbued with strong qi at the Blood Cult master.
“Ugh, who the hell—!”
He had erased his presence so well that even the Hwa-gyeong master took a hit.
Gwang Hyeolso let out a short groan and retreated.
He twisted his body to fire off a counterattack, but the man in black moved like the wind and elegantly evaded the blow.
It was a scene that showed he could handle blood techniques quite competently.
“What are you, you bastard!”
Gwang Hyeolso exploded in rage at that.
“Mujin, a strange person popped out.”
On the cliff where Cheonsalseong had vanished, two evil-stars had gathered and suddenly a ninja-like person had appeared.
“Has this cliff truly been possessed by some curse?”
It was only a place where Murong Cheongjin had once been stabbed to death, where my consciousness had lodged in that gap, and where Cheonsalseong’s blood that would dye the ground had lost its dominance……
Hmm, come to think of it, quite a lot of things had happened.
Whatever.
“This is an opportunity; if three of us press together we might win.”
Whoever he was, he seemed hostile to the Blood Cult and appeared to be a master of a rank comparable to Jo Harang.
Thus there were two superlative-pinnacle masters and one pinnacle martial artist; among them two were talents harboring evil-star qualities.
“This should be doable.”
As if by telepathy, Jo Harang swung her broadsword and began coordinating a pincer with the man in black.
I cautiously began to predict victory in this battle.
So formidable that one might say a ninja had suddenly appeared and slaughtered them all — the black-clad man who had intervened was extremely powerful.
He swung a staff studded with sharp teeth without mercy and, alongside us, pushed Gwang Hyeolso back.
The three of us filled each other’s gaps like comrades who had trained together for years.
Thud! Thud!
Pressed helplessly by that exquisite three-way assault, Gwang Hyeolso staggered.
On the steep cliff the three warriors’ attacks poured in turn. Jo Harang’s heavy broadsword cut the air; I slipped in to distract and split his focus, and the man in black’s flashing strike launched an ambush from behind the broadsword.
“You filthy rats……!”
We had been about to seize the Blood Cult’s prize — Murong Cheonghye’s abduction had seemed imminent — but everything had fallen apart.
When the situation turned sour, the enraged Gwang Hyeolso swung his blade wildly and shouted curses of fury.
Vwoom!
When Jo Harang’s broadsword slashed past his forearm, he ground his teeth. Even a Hwa-gyeong master could not afford luxury under such combined blows.
The three of us displayed the prowess of Hwa-gyeong-level warriors. He ground his teeth at our strange synergy.
Dodge one lethal move and the next attack came as if waiting. And even the lethal move that followed arrived as if he had known the next step.
Baffled by the torrent of attacks that seemed to read his moves in advance, he wore a face of indignation and confusion.
“A trap? You laid a trap—!”
Thinking we had prepared an ambush, Gwang Hyeolso angrily suspected that we had set a trap for him.
“Black-clad one! Keep it up like this!”
“…….”
An angle to finish him had appeared. But whatever I said, the man in black kept silent.
The more I looked, the more he indeed felt like a ninja.
And that long, tooth-studded staff he wielded — I was sure I had heard of it somewhere, but from where?
“Gah!”
At that moment the black-clad man’s staff scraped across Gwang Hyeolso’s back.
Gwang Hyeolso spat a gush of blood as the sharp teeth tore his flesh.
“Gwang Hyeolso, it seems the Blood-Heaven God has marked this as your grave.”
Sensing the tide turning, I provoked him to the utmost.
“You miserable piece of—!”
But he seemed to have no time to respond even to my taunts.
A look of being trapped crossed his face. With the black-clad man’s sudden arrival making victory uncertain, he glanced at the fallen Murong Cheonghye with regret and began to back away little by little.
He glanced between the two of us and spat out a bloodless curse.
“By the Blood-Heaven God I swear, the three of you will surely be killed someday.”
A typical “we’ll see about that later” declaration.
He checked his retreat and then hurriedly turned and fled.
“Huff, huff.”
Jo Harang, who had been facing that Hwa-gyeong demonic practitioner all along, sat down at the cliff’s edge gasping as if about to collapse from exhaustion.
And the man in black immediately gave chase as if determined to follow and kill.
“Hey, man in black! You’re that Nangabong freak who suddenly popped out and shattered only the trophies, right?!”
Shasha-shak! Light-footed movement technique.
Only then did the memory surge up and I shouted loudly.
“…….”
He glanced back once, then, without answering, melted into the forest like a shadow again — the Nangabong freak.
“Strange fellow.”
At that time I had thought what a weird freak he was.
Losing him then ironically saved my life in that moment.