Crunch! Thud!
“!!!!!!”
At the sight of So-hwa dying with her neck snapped, the group members were struck speechless for a moment. Since they had all gathered around her as their center, this death was bound to leave them even more shaken.
One of the boys among them could not hold back and shouted, “Y, you crazy bastard, what the hell did you just do?!” Not a single one of them had expected this situation. They had trusted her and only thought about using him somehow and throwing him away afterward.
They still had strength left, and they had been watching with their own eyes wide open, yet something like this had happened right in front of them. The corner of Mok Gyeong-un’s mouth twitched as he said, “Should I call this a delightful mealtime?”
“What kind of bullshit is that?!”
Another boy seemed to come to his senses and snapped back at Mok Gyeong-un. Then he shot a glance at the other boys.
Rush!
The six of them moved at once and surrounded Mok Gyeong-un in a circle. Seeing this, Mok Gyeong-un tilted his head slightly and spoke.
“That’s unexpected.”
“What?”
“I thought you’d all panic and buzz around like a swarm of bees following their queen bee.”
“!?”
At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, the boys’ expressions twisted fiercely. He had just painted them as idiots hopelessly infatuated with So-hwa, the only girl among them. There was no fool there who would fail to understand that.
“You son of a bitch, I’ll kill you...”
“Don’t get worked up!”
One of the boys shouted. Then he took the ready stance of fist and kick arts toward Mok Gyeong-un and said, “Don’t get excited and fall for his tricks. Even if So-hwa is dead, we’re still the ones with the advantage.”
“You’re right. I nearly got carried away by him.”
If they rushed him one by one in anger, they might end up getting picked off separately instead. Their internal energy was sealed under the same conditions, but if he dared do something like this, then he must have some confidence in handling them.
“We suppress him together. Then we make him die painfully for killing So-hwa.”
“Fine!”
Mok Gyeong-un let out a snort of laughter.
“What a touching show of friendship.”
Pak!
The moment he finished speaking, Mok Gyeong-un kicked off the ground. Dirt shot up to knee height, and in an instant his body reached right in front of the boy standing before him.
“W, what?”
Startled, the boy tried to keep Mok Gyeong-un in check with a pushing kick. But then, Clench!
Crack!
Catching the boy’s ankle with one hand, Mok Gyeong-un yanked it hard. In that instant, the boy’s balance collapsed, and his body bent backward.
“Hrk!”
They already knew he was strong, but this was far beyond what they had imagined. After pulling the boy’s ankle, Mok Gyeong-un swung his entire body toward another boy standing right next to him.
Whoosh!
“Damn it!”
The startled boy hurriedly ducked to avoid it. But that was not the end. Using centrifugal force, Mok Gyeong-un spun him around once, and this time brought him around low.
Thud!
“Urk!”
Without giving him room to dodge, he smashed the head of the crouching boy with the head of the boy whose ankle he was holding. The two heads collided so hard that something could be heard breaking. It looked like both their skulls had shattered.
‘What the hell is this bastard?’
In an instant, two of them had gone down. They could not use internal energy, so where was this monstrous strength coming from?
“A, attack him together!”
At one boy’s shout, two boys charged at Mok Gyeong-un. One kicked at his face, while the other slid across the ground from the opposite side and aimed for Mok Gyeong-un’s ankle. If it came to this, his balance would inevitably be broken.
At least, that was what they thought.
Pak! Whirr!
In that split second, Mok Gyeong-un kicked off the ground and spun through the air like a top to dodge.
Whip! Thud!
“Ughk!”
Then he brought the top of his foot down onto the crown of the sliding boy’s head.
Thud!
The boy’s chin slammed into the ground, his eyes rolled back, and he lost consciousness.
“You bastard!”
For a moment he was startled, but not wanting to miss the opening, the boy who had aimed at Mok Gyeong-un’s face kicked at his left leg, the one supporting his body, trying to knock him down. But then, Thud!
“Aagh!”
The boy staggered while clutching his ankle. He had clearly been the one to kick, yet his ankle hurt as though it were about to break instead.
‘W, what in the world is this?’
“What are you doing?!”
One of the boys, dumbfounded at the staggering figure, ran at Mok Gyeong-un and tried to smash his head with a sharp stone. But before he could even do that, Mok Gyeong-un kicked his ankle.
Thud!
“Agh!”
The boy’s leg flew upward from the kick, and his body tilted the opposite way and toppled over.
Thud!
In that instant, Mok Gyeong-un stepped on the boy’s neck.
Crunch!
The boy’s neck snapped, and he died on the spot. The staggering boy and the only boy who had not managed to attack yet could not hide their shock at this sight. In an instant, four had been taken down.
Even if their internal energy had been sealed, they had learned martial arts and held the advantage in numbers, so they had believed they could somehow subdue him. But that expectation had missed the mark completely.
‘This insane...’
This guy, on pure strength alone, was comparable to the second-rate realm. Only now did regret begin to fill them. When So-hwa had said they should draw him in, they should have stopped her no matter what.
They had touched something they never should have.
“Aaaaaah!”
At that moment, the one boy who had not attacked chose to run. He had absolutely no confidence in handling that monster. Even five of them rushing together had not worked, so how could he possibly deal with him alone?
‘You filthy...’
The boy with the twisted ankle cursed inwardly at the sight of the fleeing boy. He cursed him, but he understood him too. Right now, running away was the right choi...
Slide!
At that moment, the eyes of the boy with the twisted ankle widened.
“Huhk!”
Thud!
The boy who had been running to escape suddenly had his ankle lifted backward and crashed to the ground. What was that? As he stared in confusion, he saw Mok Gyeong-un stretching out his hand toward the fallen boy and making a pulling motion.
Then, Rrip!
In that instant, the boy’s leg, no, his whole body, was dragged backward.
‘!!!!!!’
It was an unbelievable sight.
‘T, telekinetic grasp?’
Telekinetic grasp.
A method used by an internal energy master with deep cultivation to draw objects or whatever he desired with true energy. Seeing something that only a master at the very edge of the Supreme Realm could possibly perform unfolding before his eyes, the boy could do nothing but stare in horror.
‘No way.’
What in the world was going on? Putting aside how he could even do that, his internal energy should clearly be sealed. It was while he was frozen in shock.
“N, nooooooo!”
Scrrrrape!
The fallen boy clutched at the ground, trying somehow to resist, but he was dragged along anyway, leaving long claw marks behind. Then his ankle was seized by the hand Mok Gyeong-un had stretched out.
Pak! Crunch!
“Kyaaaaaagh!”
The moment he grabbed the ankle, Mok Gyeong-un twisted it. The boy’s ankle bent the wrong way, and he screamed, but Mok Gyeong-un simply stomped on the back of his neck.
Crunch!
The screaming boy’s life was cut off just like that.
‘Ah...’
Watching this, the face of the boy with the twisted ankle turned deathly pale. They had truly laid hands on something they never should have touched. Calling this thing a monster was not enough.
The word that suited him better was evil spirit. How could someone like this even exist? Even if the seal on internal energy were lifted, would they really be able to handle this evil spirit who could use telekinetic grasp?
Tremble!
His body shook violently. He wanted to steady himself, but the strength drained from his legs, and he collapsed.
Thud!
Mok Gyeong-un turned his head toward him, then came walking over with a smile. It was the first time in his life that a smiling face had felt so terrifying. At that moment, the boy’s mind chose the best possible option left to him.
Tap tap!
The boy dropped to his knees and pressed his forehead to the ground. Then he shouted toward Mok Gyeong-un, “I surrender!
I surrender!
I’ll do anything you tell me. If you want me to be your slave, I will. So please, just spare my life!”
To him, the only answer was to beg to be spared. If he could survive, then this sort of humiliation meant nothing.
“Please, spare me...”
“Shh.”
“Huh?”
“Be quiet.”
At those words, the boy anxiously shut his mouth and lifted his head. Then he saw Mok Gyeong-un looking in a certain direction in the forest. Soon, Mok Gyeong-un let out a small snort of laughter and said, “So there was one more rat.”
“!?”
The moment he heard that, the boy thought of another boy who had originally been in their group. The one who had tried to kill Mok Gyeong-un and join them around dawn. They had told him to follow from a distance.
Had he been discovered? Now that he thought about it, it did seem like he could hear the sound of someone running farther away from the direction Mok Gyeong-un was looking.
‘... Yeah. Run. Escape and tell someone, anyone, that he’s dangerous.’
This bastard was completely different from the others. He had gone beyond competition and was carrying out slaughter. Then Mok Gyeong-un pulled out something like a wooden doll from inside his clothes, formed a strange hand seal, and muttered, “Power of karmic ties, return to the source.
Release.”
Then he tucked it back into his clothes. What in the world had he just done? The boy was wondering that when Mok Gyeong-un turned his head and came toward him again.
Then he bent his knees, lowered himself, and said, “Ah. What was it you just said?”
“S, spare...”
Tak!
At that moment, Mok Gyeong-un grabbed the boy’s head. The boy was horrified and tried to shake off his hand, but, Crunch! Mok Gyeong-un snapped his neck just like that.
Then, looking into the eyes of the boy who had died with his head twisted aside, he sneered, “Nice, isn’t it? I didn’t drag out your hope for no reason.” With those words, while holding the dead boy’s head, Mok Gyeong-un recited in his mind the incantation of the Binding technique.
It was a delightful mealtime. He had to absorb it while the loss of death energy was still at a minimum.
Tapatatatak!
‘He’s completely insane.’
The boy was running. The scene he had just witnessed made his flesh crawl. He had kept his distance, but when he heard screams, he had been startled and crept closer.
Then he saw it and nearly died of fright. He had not even managed to go near the flag, yet So-hwa and the rest of the group had been butchered without discrimination. No, it was practically slaughter.
‘An evil spirit. He’s an evil spirit.’
And was his internal energy really sealed? It did not seem that way at all. That last thing he did, no matter how he looked at it, seemed like telekinetic grasp, pulling someone in with true energy.
‘How is that possible?’
Something only an internal energy master with deep cultivation should be able to do, and that brat who was only seventeen years old had done it? He was utterly confused. But no matter how tangled his thoughts were, one thing was certain.
‘I have to tell them.’
Whether it was the other boys or the people of Corpse Blood Valley running this gate, he had to tell someone. He was already dangerous enough, but if he alone was not sealed from using internal energy, then this was no different from cheati...
Pak!
At that moment, the boy’s body was flung backward as though he had slammed into something. By reflex he used a breakfall technique, turned, and took a stance, then stared ahead with startled eyes. But there was nothing there.
What was that?
‘What did I run into?’
Puzzled, he got back to his feet and unconsciously turned his head. Then, in that instant, “Hrk!” The boy nearly fainted in terror and fell backward.
‘Th, this...’
He doubted his own eyes. In front of him was the faint outline of something. It was a huge monk with Skull Prayer Beads hanging around his neck.
The monk looked down at him with pure white eyes, and it felt as though his heart would stop.