The Strange Phenomenon (2)
Mok Kyung-un's pupils were motionless, like those of the dead.
Fangshi Myoshin couldn't take his eyes off them for a moment—he had never seen a living person with eyes like that.
'How can a human have such ghostly...'
But he snapped out of it at the sound of someone's voice.
"Huh? What on earth is this?"
It was Guard Gochan.
The guard who had led Mok Kyung-un in looked around the Lord's room, which was filled with red threads strung with silver coins, baffled by the strange scene.
He had already found it suspicious that no one was around the residence.
But who was this person, and what in the world was he doing here with all this bizarre setup?
"Hey. Who are you, and what are you doing here...?"
"You're clearly not a physician."
Mok Kyung-un looked around the room as he spoke.
In response, Fangshi Myoshin quickly waved his hands, urgency in his voice.
"I don't know who you are, but it seems you didn't receive the message from the Grand Madam. This is a critical moment, so please leave at once."
"The Grand Madam?"
"I told you—this is not a moment to be interrupted!"
And truly, it was a crucial moment.
While trying to control the strange energy burrowing into the Lord's heart, a reversal had occurred due to the killing aura.
When that happened, the killing force could strengthen the strange energy even more.
"Leave now!"
There was no time to spare.
As Myoshin frantically tried to drive them out, Guard Gochan frowned and muttered,
"Don't tell me... you're the Fangshi?"
"Hah... Yes. I am. So hurry—"
"What's going on with him?"
Mok Kyung-un pointed his chin toward the bed and asked.
Myoshin turned his head.
"Cough, cough!"
Someone was coughing violently, their back arched like a bow.
"My Lord?"
'The Lord?'
Mok Kyung-un's face showed his confusion.
It was his first time seeing the Lord's condition, and it was nothing short of grotesque.
His spine was bent, his chest thrust upward, and his throat was bulging and moving unnaturally—it looked painful.
"What's wrong with the Lord?"
"I said leave! Now!"
Myoshin shouted and tried to shove Mok Kyung-un and Gochan out the door.
Then it happened.
—Gulp!
A loud gulping sound came from the Lord that everyone could hear.
Looking back, his spine was still bent like a bow, but the bulging movement in his throat had suddenly stopped.
The pain seemed to vanish from the Lord's face.
But then, with his eyes still closed—
—the Lord suddenly snapped them open.
"Wh-What?! My Lord?!"
Could it be? Had he regained consciousness?
Just then, Myoshin muttered under his breath.
"Damn it!"
He hastily pulled out a talisman from the pouch at his waist—marked in red with the word "Suppress" (壓)—and rushed toward the seemingly-awakened Lord.
But the Lord's head suddenly twisted sharply to the side.
—Crack!
?!
Gochan's eyes went wide.
The Lord's eyes, bloodshot to the point that only his pupils remained untouched, looked utterly horrific.
And with his back still arched, the way his head twisted like that was downright chilling.
At that moment, Fangshi Myoshin formed a single-handed seal with his left hand and began to chant:
"Ilbong Tucheonjeong Ilseogwisinkyung Taesanghwasamcheong Geupgeup Yeoryungchik!"
(One Wind Brings Down Heaven's Purity, Exorcise All Spirits, The Highest Bloom of Three Purities—Urgently, by Command of Divine Law!)
—Snap!
The yellow talisman around Myoshin's right fingers straightened and stiffened.
With it prepared, he tried to affix the talisman to the Lord's twisted forehead.
But then—
"Kaaaaak!!"
The Lord let out an eerie, monstrous scream.
"Ugh!"
The shrill scream echoed like a thunderous wave, sending Myoshin stumbling backward.
And he wasn't the only one affected.
Gochan also clutched his ears from the sudden pain in his eardrums.
'It carried internal energy...!'
The Lord was a skilled internal martial artist, with deep reserves of inner energy.
Naturally, his shout was imbued with that inner energy, and the resulting shockwave brought pain to those who heard it.
Guard Gochan, still clutching his ears, looked over at Mok Kyung-un.
But—
'Wait, this guy hasn't trained in inner energy at all… so why isn't he affected?'
Mok Kyung-un only had a slight frown between his brows.
Did he just endure the pain?
As Gochan stood there puzzled, the Lord, who had just shouted, turned his head and began to straighten his back, trying to rise from the bed.
However—
—Snap!
The red threads wrapped around both of the Lord's wrists and ankles tightened, preventing him from standing up fully and leaving him stuck in an awkward posture.
—Ssshhhh!
A faint haze rose from where the red threads bound him, along with a sharp, acrid smell.
"KAAAAA!"
The Lord's bloodshot eyes flared, and he let out a bestial, inhuman howl.
Then, with all his strength, he yanked his right arm.
—THUD!
The door, already ajar, was ripped clean off its hinges, and one of the red threads snapped.
"Damn it!"
Fangshi Myoshin, still reeling from the earlier shout, couldn't hide his shock.
He had secured the red threads tightly, but the intrusion of these two men had disrupted everything.
—Bulge! Bulge!
Black veins pulsed grotesquely across the Lord's bloodshot forehead and face.
'He's been completely consumed by the entity.'
This was what people meant when they said someone was "possessed."
At this point, it was safe to say that the original objective—discovering the Lord's seal and secret scroll on behalf of Lady Seok—was a lost cause.
—Clatter! Shred!
As Myoshin hesitated in dismay, the Lord tried to tear through all the red threads strung with silver coins.
"Damn it!"
There was no time to worry about the commission anymore.
Myoshin rushed once more toward the Lord, trying to slap the talisman onto his forehead.
But—
—Wham!
"Argh!"
With a careless swing of his arm, the Lord sent Myoshin tumbling across the floor.
'W-What kind of strength is this…'
Myoshin was utterly stunned.
People possessed by such entities were known to become stronger than ordinary humans, but this… this was on a completely different level.
He no longer had the strength to restrain the Lord.
—Twang!
The red thread binding the Lord's left wrist was on the verge of snapping.
Myoshin turned to Mok Kyung-un and Gochan and shouted,
"Y-You two, help me! Hold him down—don't let him break the threads!"
"Hold him down?!"
Gochan had no idea what was going on, but it was clear the situation was dire.
There was no time to hesitate or overthink.
He bolted toward the Lord.
Mok Kyung-un followed as well.
"Do we just hold him down?"
"Yes! But don't look him in the eyes, no matter what! And if your hands start to feel cold or your spine tingles—let go immediately!"
It was vague and hard to interpret, but one thing was certain—if they didn't restrain the Lord now, something terrible would happen.
Without another word, Gochan grabbed the Lord's now-freed right arm.
—Grab!
He wanted to go for the still-bound left wrist instead, but couldn't bring himself to tell Mok Kyung-un to do it.
But then a problem arose.
Even though the Lord was weakened, he was still a high-level martial artist—someone even stronger than Guard Gam, the executioner.
The Lord's strength was overwhelming, even for Gochan.
—Snap!
With surprising ease, the Lord shook off Gochan's grip and instead seized his wrist in a firm grasp.
"Wha—?!"
—CRACK!
The grip was so powerful, Gochan thought his wrist might snap at any moment.
Panicked, he instinctively attempted a wrist-breaking technique from the Golden Grip martial style.
—Smack!
At that moment, the pressure on his wrist loosened.
"Huh?"
What happened?
He saw that Myoshin had managed to slap the talisman onto the Lord's forehead.
Then, forming a seal, Myoshin recited a powerful incantation:
"North Sovereign, grant me land to strike down evil. With the Talisman of Fire, I cast out demons. Let the sacred texts spread far and wide, and those who disobey shall be bound in Fengdosung. By divine decree—obey at once!"
—Buzz...!
As the talisman stuck, the Lord's body began to tremble violently.
Taking the chance, Gochan tried to pry the Lord's hand off his wrist.
But as he did—
—CRACK!
The Lord's grip suddenly tightened again with terrifying force.
Gochan's wrist was completely snapped.
The bone pierced through the flesh and jutted out.
"GAAAAAH!"
A scream burst from Gochan's mouth.
Not only had his bone broken—it had gone so far as to tear through his skin. The fact that he was still conscious was a miracle in itself.
But then, as the blood from his torn flesh touched the Lord's hand—
—Crackle, crackle!
The dark, monstrous energy that had been erupting from the Lord's chest began to slither rapidly toward his right arm, like a tidal wave.
"Heek!"
As it surged down his arm and neared his wrist with terrifying speed, Gochan panicked.
Just then, Myoshin chanted the incantation again with even more force:
"North Sovereign, grant me land to strike down evil. With the Talisman of Fire, I cast out demons. Let the sacred texts spread far and wide, and those who disobey shall be bound in Fengdosung. By divine decree—obey at once!"
The evil energy convulsed violently, surging back and forth between the Lord's wrist and elbow.
Gochan desperately tried to shake off the Lord's grip.
"P-Please, do something! Anything!"
"The Sha (殺) energy got mixed in. The corruption has become too strong. Just endure a bit longer. If the entity transfers into you, you'll be in danger too."
"Why didn't you say that earlier—!"
—Ssss...!
At that moment, the entity began crawling back toward his wrist again.
"Ugh!"
Panicked, Gochan tried to twist the Lord's wrist using a Golden Grip technique to break free, but—
—Slice! Slash!
Something entirely unexpected happened.
The Lord's wrist—the one grabbing Gochan—was severed clean off.
!?
The one who had cut it off was none other than Mok Kyung-un.
In his hand was a sharp blade, one of the weapons that had been hanging on the wall.
Gochan was dumbfounded.
Yes, the situation had been dire, but he had never expected anyone to actually cut off the Lord's wrist.
Even Myoshin was stunned.
'He cut off the Lord's wrist? Who is this guy…?'
If this man was truly the head of the Yeonmok Sword Estate, then Mok Kyung-un had just mutilated the estate's leader—without even a second of hesitation.
—Slither, slither...!
As the severed wrist fell, the dark energy that had been crawling upward now reversed course, trying to retreat back into the Lord's body.
'There it is!'
Another chance had presented itself.
If the entity returned to the chest, Myoshin could use his talisman magic to suppress the chaotic energy, which now carried both malevolence and rage.
But—
—Slash!
Just as the entity began moving from the elbow toward the shoulder—
Mok Kyung-un, without warning, brought down the sword again and severed the arm entirely, just below the shoulder.
Now even Myoshin couldn't hide his shock. He shouted in disbelief.
"Y-You! You—!"
He wanted to say more, but was too stunned to get the words out.
Mok Kyung-un responded calmly, as if what he'd done was perfectly reasonable:
"Isn't this better than letting it return to the body?"
—Splatter! Splatter!
From the severed arm on the ground, black veins burst forth and thrashed violently, flailing like a fish out of water.
Meanwhile, color was slowly returning to the Lord's once-pale face.