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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Captured by the Moyong Family
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-Rattle, rattle.
It felt like we'd been jolting along for ages.
A violent cough welled up from deep inside me.
"Just how many times is this guy gonna puke up blood?"
Someone's voice drifted in.
My whole body felt like it was shattering apart.
It hurt.
Felt like I was drowning.
I spat out the metallic-tasting fluid filling my mouth.
"Cough! Cough!"
I turned my head to the side and hacked up thick, blackish blood.
"Dude's a total human waterfall."
"You think he took some internal injury? He's been vomiting blood the whole trip."
I opened my eyes.
Vibrations ran up from beneath my feet.
I was in a wooden cage hitched to a horse-drawn cart.
That explained the rhythmic jolting over the uneven ground.
Yeah, a cage...
Locked up in a cage...
Wait, what?
"Why the hell am I...?"
"Finally awake, huh? Our damn young master."
I was flustered.
I looked around.
A group of martial artists was walking along, keeping watch over me.
Martial artists? Watching me?
As I examined them closely, a bolt of shock hit me.
'No way.'
The warriors wore blue uniforms striped with black patterns.
Even in my faint childhood memories, that was unmistakably the Moyong Family's uniform.
Something was terribly wrong.
I leaped up and clung to the bars.
"H-Hold on. There must be some mistake here!"
"You're lucid now. Well, then."
The burly leader with the black headband scratched his head.
"Young Master Moyong Bi?"
"I-I'm not Moyong Bi!"
The warriors chuckled in disbelief.
"You're treating us like total idiots. Then what's this?"
One warrior held out his palm.
It was a golden dragon emblem, split in half.
"Unless my eyes are playing tricks, that's the patriarch's sacred token. Funny how it was just rolling around in some backwater brothel."
My breath froze.
I patted down my clothes.
Nothing in my pockets.
"That's not all. We've already checked your movements and features through the Afternoon Gate. Even the three moles on your nape. We've got more than ten pieces of proof you're Moyong Bi."
I was speechless.
"Plus, before we arrived, assassins showed up. Those killers only strike once their target's confirmed beyond doubt."
A forgotten memory resurfaced.
A blade stabbing into my chest like a blue flash.
"Ah!"
I flinched and clutched my chest.
"...?"
It was fine.
I felt my arms and legs.
All intact.
No breaks, no cuts. My clothes were rags, but the skin beneath was flawless.
"Th-This can't be."
The leader misinterpreted my words.
"Looks like they were third-rate assassins with no real skill. They probably sensed us coming and bolted."
Third-rate assassins?
They fled in a hurry because Moyong Family warriors were approaching?
'No.'
Absolutely not.
They'd known the Moyong Family was coming ahead of time. Even while slitting throats, their breaths hadn't wavered.
I couldn't figure out what had happened.
"Where are you taking me?"
"We're under the Eighth Elder of the Moyong Family. He sent us, so naturally, we're heading to him."
My head throbbed like it might split.
"Why him? No reason to hunt me down."
"You gonna keep playing dumb?"
The leader gave me a pitiful look.
"You couldn't have missed the rumors flying all over the martial world. They're selecting a new patriarch soon."
My mind went blank.
"What? The Moyong Family patriarch vanished over ten years ago. They must've picked a new one back then. Another one already?"
"No new patriarch since then."
"What?!"
It was a world-shaking revelation.
"This guy's really clueless."
The leader sighed.
"The previous patriarch vanished so suddenly. They held off on a new one, thinking he'd return, and ran things temporarily with the elders. Recently, they finally decided to elect a new one."
"No way."
"In this powder keg of chaos, how could they ignore a stray spark wandering around?"
I heard the leader's words.
But I couldn't accept them.
It took a while before I peeled my parched lips apart.
"Me and my mother... all these years, for what?"
Over ten years of hiding in fear.
And now, it was all meaningless.
I slumped against the bars.
"You're lying."
The Moyong Family patriarch vanished one day.
His seat stayed empty, and everything began.
The previous patriarch had the skills for the role and a bold personality everyone loved, but he was also infamous as a free spirit.
His private life was a mess, known for his extreme wanderlust.
Three women claimed to be his concubines, each with a son to inherit.
Anyone could predict the bloody power struggle for the next patriarch.
My mother, a mere concubine, fled with me to avoid becoming a sacrificial pawn.
And over ten years passed.
My thinking had been too shallow.
I figured they'd quickly pick a new patriarch after he vanished and forget about a worthless bastard like me.
And it had all been for nothing.
The cart came to a stop.
The cage door opened.
The leader spoke to me, still sitting dazed.
"The elders will decide your fate tomorrow morning."
They dragged me out like a dog.
I didn't resist as they hauled me to a dimly lit basement cell and locked me in.
-Clank.
A massive padlock secured the thick wooden door.
Escape was impossible.
'Meeting the Eighth Elder tomorrow.'
My mouth went dry.
I tried thinking from his perspective.
What did he gain by sparing me?
Making enemies of those three concubines and their sons just to save me?
No chance.
'Can't just sit here. I'll die if I do.'
I slapped my chilled cheek.
In desperation, I stood on tiptoes and peered out the iron-barred window.
"Man, I'm beat. Dang Sowi, let's head in."
The Moyong Family warriors who'd escorted me stood chatting in the courtyard.
"You guys go ahead. I'll practice a bit more before coming."
Dang Sowi replied. He had long hair and clear skin.
"Mission's over—shouldn't you rest first?"
"Nah."
The escorts clicked their tongues in admiration.
"Huashan Sect folks really are something else."
I couldn't believe my ears.
'Huashan Sect.'
Now in decline, but once considered the pinnacle of the Nine Great Sects and One Gang.
A disciple from that legendary sect stood before me.
He looked younger than me.
While I couldn't even join a minor sect, someone else was already living that dream world at a tender age.
"We'll be careful not to peek on your practice, but still, no stealing glances at others' arts. Let's go, guys. Wrap it up soon."
"Thanks for the consideration."
"Come on, let's move."
Everyone left Dang Sowi behind.
Silence returned.
Alone now, Dang Sowi muttered as he pulled something from his robes.
"Sigh... Master's spanking if I neglect even branch arts..."
It was a single dagger.
Under the blue moonlight, Dang Sowi assumed a stance with the dagger.
Not a mainline sword art, but still from the mighty Huashan Sect.
A hot surge rose in my chest.
Half awe, half envious deprivation.
'Me...'
Dang Sowi's ritual began under the moonlight.
'Ah.'
I wanted to see Huashan Sect martial arts.
A desire that drowned my heart.
Memories flashed like a lantern show: countless efforts to join sects after Mother's death, begging to learn martial arts.
Trampled like a beggar.
Beaten by servants and chased away.
This was the chance I'd craved but never grasped.
And not some minor sect—this was Huashan, one of the Nine Great Sects and One Gang.
A faint shred of conscience pricked me: Can't steal someone's martial arts.
But desire overwhelmed it.
A world above the heavens, one I'd yearned for but could never reach.
At some point, I stared entranced at his art.
"..."
Forgot my plight.
Forgot tomorrow's fate.
I held my breath, stood on tiptoes, and clung to the cobwebbed basement window.
-Swish.
Dang Sowi's arm moved.
His toes skimmed the ground side to side.
Unique grip: palm enveloping the dagger's center like cradling a thrown knife.
He paused his breath, then hurled it like lightning.
And that was it.
"...Huh?"
That all?
Huashan Sect's art amounted to just grabbing and throwing?
The toe-drag was quirky, but still simple.
As disappointment set in at the basic motion—
-Thwack!
A wrist-thick dagger split a man-sized tree in half.
"Insane."
I realized.
What I'd dismissed as simple wasn't.
My observation level was too low.
Like an ant's eye view: no matter the giant sight, it sees only ant-scale.
A tangible gap in realms.
Despair closed in.
'That's a true martial artist.'
My body went limp.
'What have I been doing all this time?'
Dang Sowi tilted his head, unsatisfied despite the devastation.
He repeated the stance with empty hand.
I was too dull to grasp even the meaning of the motions.
Like a blind man staring blankly at a poem waved before him.
Frustration boiled; I glared wide-eyed.
A desperate outburst.
What profound technique hid in that simplicity?
The breathing?
Footwork?
Balance?
Eyes unblinking.
Bloodshot, tears streaming to jaw and dripping—still no blink.
Doesn't make sense.
No. Watch more.
Still doesn't.
'Am I really hopeless?'
If only one lesson from this wretched life.
I'd trade for it gladly—even death.
Even worse.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [...That wish, I permit...]
"...!"
The sudden voice made me jump.
"Who's there?"
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [So unjust. So unjust. So unjust...] [Still a chance. Eyes and senses devoured... but opportunity remains. Chance to kill... wait for the moment. Wait...] [We are one body. Host.]
A chill crawled up my spine.
It echoed in my mind's corner: damp, cold, slithering closer.
Endless murmurs.
Not quite human speech—like a ghost from the netherworlds stringing meaningless words.
Whoosh.
Pain seared my pupils like flames scorching them.
Fire danced in my irises.
Color shifted.
Hot.
Black pupils ignited into crimson irises.
-Flash.
Red glow etched into my eyes.
Veins burst red, eyes blazing scarlet.
Simultaneously, a massive, gloomy voice from forgotten darkness tolled like a bell in my head.
⚔ STATUS ⚔ Possession Experience Synchronization
"Aaaah! Graaaah!"
My vision puppeted; limbs twisted wildly toward Dang Sowi.
Couldn't look away.
-Ssssh. Ssssh!
Pupils whirred at inconceivable speeds.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Extraction Regime Display CompleteHeavenly Demon Great Archive: Target Form Martial Art Analysis Complete
Grade 5: Huashan Sect Plum Blossom Spinning Dagger
My pupils madly tracked Dang Sowi's every motion.
-Kakakaka.
Couldn't even scream.
Couldn't stop.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ All Martial Arts Rubbing Complete
Like millions of needles embroidering his actions into my pupils with thread.
⚔ STATUS ⚔ Absorption Full Process CompleteGrade 5: Huashan Sect Plum Blossom Spinning DaggerImmediate Activation Possible
My crimson pupils cooled like heated tongs, slowly reverting to black.
My body soaked in cold sweat.
Sparks raced across my skin.
I couldn't comprehend what happened.
Trembling hands wiped my face.
Then my mind flooded with a seamless vision, like flowing water.
"N-No way."
Every trajectory of the forms floated vividly before my eyes.
Even closed, every motion clear, flow pierced.
The meaning was obvious.
"Did I just memorize the forms?"