Chapter 96: The Abyss of Resentment

– Make Sure to Remember in Your Next Life

Baekmokgui thought.

Something was terribly, terribly wrong.

[Even the Five Great Generals of the 2nd Generation Yokai King weren’t this strong. I’ve never even heard of a yokai like you.]

[Why did you appear before me? Why did you have to interfere at this exact moment? If it wasn’t me, if it wasn’t right now, it would have been fine!]

Baekmokgui was interrupted just before her Ascension.

She glared at the Boogie Man with hatred,

unleashing the power of her countless eyes,

but none of them

inflicted any meaningful damage on the Boogie Man.

“Daring to confront me with borrowed power that isn’t even yours.”

Darkness that burned like fire, rippling around him,

imparting a sense of ominousness by its very existence.

Before the Boogie Man’s might, cloaked in such darkness,

Baekmokgui’s ocular arts were utterly powerless.

[Endlessly multiplying arms.]

[A sturdiness unaffected by any kind of ocular art.]

[I understand now.]

Caught in the barrage of countless arms,

Baekmokgui braced herself, enduring with a purely defensive stance.

Her eyes took on an eerie glow.

[You. You’re a spirit-type yokai, aren’t you?]

[Evil doesn’t work on corrupted souls.]

[If your essence originates from matter, then there’s no room for a mind that can be swayed by ocular arts.]

Baekmokgui had accumulated knowledge and insight

through countless yokaiic journeys,

collecting a hundred legends within her own being.

Her insight, with a hundred eyes,

allowed her to deduce the Boogie Man’s identity even after a short exchange.

[Are you amused?]

[By imitating emotions you don’t even understand?]

[Do you find it pathetic?]

[The inefficient actions of living beings?]

Sharp words that pierced emotions.

Fundamental illusions that stirred the deepest wounds.

Even though Hae Eung Eung had relinquished control of her body,

Baekmokgui’s powerful mental contamination targeted the Boogie Man,

taking root in that sturdy body in an instant.

“Even a rotten crucian carp is still a crucian carp. That troublesome tongue of yours is worthy of the Demon Queen’s right-hand.”

The Boogie Man was genuinely impressed.

Even he, who shouldn’t have been affected by mental attacks,

felt himself waver, if only for a moment, a tiny bit,

by Baekmokgui’s power.

This was not just pinpointing a weakness,

but creating one from scratch with her silver tongue.

More threatening than her hundred eyes

was the single mouth that Baekmokgui possessed.

‘To recover your mind in that brief moment… you’re frighteningly flawless.’

She hated to admit it, but she had to accept it.

The Boogie Man was stronger than Baekmokgui.

Before the Boogie Man’s body could destroy hers, her silver tongue had attempted to break down the Boogie Man’s mind first.

But that attempt had already ended in vain.

‘Now, I have no choice but to break through, even if I have to force it.’

Baekmokgui’s eyes, entangled in the Boogie Man’s arms,

covered in countless hands,

revealed the strongest swordsman in the human realm,

save for his face.

She turned towards the Silent Swordsman.

‘If I can just take that human’s body, Ascension is as good as guaranteed.’

She couldn’t guarantee victory with her current body anyway.

A vessel with such innate talent

would be hard to come by even after another hundred years.

Therefore, this was the watershed moment.

Whether to run away like a coward and wait for the next hundred years,

or to slowly tame him and, instead of devouring him,

transfer her entire consciousness to dominate the swordsman’s mind and body by force.

‘Isn’t it obvious which one I’ll choose from the start?’

Baekmokgui’s hundred eyes opened simultaneously,

and crimson light burst forth from her entire body.

“Daring to play such a pathetic trick.”

[I acknowledge the greatness of your dark yokaiic power. But it’s not enough. Not enough to stop my all-out effort, even if it means abandoning my vessel.]

Baekmokgui’s body

couldn’t withstand the power of Baekmok-Jungcheop,

where all her eyes opened and unleashed their abilities simultaneously,

and exploded with a pop,

her entire body shattering.

This special attack, at the cost of her physical demise,

pushed back even the Boogie Man, her inverse counterpart,

gaining her a moment of advantage.

[Kuhu. Kuhuhuhuhuhu!]

[I’m back. Now, no one can stop me!]

Baekmokgui, a field boss-level yokai.

Her consciousness succeeded in infiltrating Hae Eung Eung’s mind once again.

There was no turning back now.

[For a possessing spirit, it’s a do-or-die situation.]

Failure would mean the inevitable annihilation of her soul,

but the gamble she took, risking so much,

had certainly paid off.

The Boogie Man’s hundred arms were helplessly pushed back,

and through the gap that opened, she saw the Silent Swordsman’s head.

Through his quiet and desolate eyes,

possessing a purple hue rarely found in nature,

deep and profound like the night,

Baekmokgui succeeded in infiltrating the Silent Swordsman’s mind.

[If the opponent is a weak human who can’t even control his own mind, it’s practically a guaranteed victory. Kuhu, kuhuhuhuhuhu!]

The Silent Swordsman was different from the Boogie Man.

A vast spirit core and a wide spiritual path,

a talent akin to a gift from the heavens for a yokai.

A spiritual elixir that, in the hands of someone who knew how to wield it,

would guarantee Ascension.

She couldn’t just leave such a tempting being alone.

She had to make sin bloom from head to toe,

sucking him dry until the last drop.

[Poor human. As a final act of mercy, I promise you a painless end.]

Confident in her absolute victory,

Baekmokgui observed the inside of the Silent Swordsman’s body.

[Huh?]

She was flustered.

The traces of yokaiic power she had injected earlier,

used to tame him to match the yokai’s spirit core she had created,

should have been present in his cells, muscles, and organs,

where the yokaiization should have taken place.

But not a single trace could be found.

[No way. This can’t be happening. I must be mistaken.]

Forcing herself to calm her agitated mind,

Baekmokgui spread her consciousness throughout his body.

[Uh…oh?]

Baekmokgui was seized by a fear that surpassed agitation.

It wasn’t just that the power had disappeared.

A pressure that had been unfelt until now,

a suffocating weight on her soul,

a presence that made her feel as if an immense monster was watching her every move,

a presence that made her mind reel, was felt.

-You’ve returned.

The moment she recognized the monster’s existence,

the monster looked down at her as well.

-I was indebted to you in many ways earlier. First, I’d like to express my gratitude.

The immense monster said.

-Even I didn’t think a yokai could create a spirit core like a spiritual being to gain power. Thanks to you, it was very informative.

The immense monster calmly expressed its gratitude.

No, the Silent Swordsman.

The power felt from her

was so vast that it made everything she had shown so far seem ridiculous,

and it inspired a sense of overwhelming dread,

that if she lost her way, she would be trapped in this body forever,

slowly losing her mind

and all her yokai and spiritual power.

[Are you… really human?]

The Silent Swordsman’s mind seemed puzzled,

then spoke to her as if to reason with her.

-That’s not what you should be saying, is it?

-You should be saying, “Please spare me,” at times like these.

Just a little.

The mind was transformed by the mere hint of her murderous intent.

A storm raged in the mind, which had been like a vast ocean,

the waves grew violent,

and a gigantic tsunami rose from beyond the horizon,

threatening to engulf the world.

[Oh my god.]

A human’s mind could never be this intense.

Wasn’t it true that humans were easily broken and bent

even when faced with minor obstacles in their daily lives?

Such small and weak minds

should only endlessly recall unfulfilled desires,

envy, resent, and fall into despair.

They should be a pit of despair,

unable to achieve anything

and tormenting themselves.

They shouldn’t possess a mental strength like a disaster,

capable of creating a gigantic tsunami that threatened the end of the world

and devastating all desires.

[He’s not human.]

The color of the sea gradually deepened and turned red,

[Humans can’t possess such a mind.]

Numerous corpses floated among the raging waves,

[You can’t call this thing a human!!]

The countless dead stared at Baekmokgui with resentful eyes,

who was standing in the middle of a sea of blood.

[Don’t look, don’t look at me with those eyes!!!]

Even Baekmokgui, the evil yokai who had accumulated a hundred eyes and a hundred legends, was terrified

by the feast of the dead, whose numbers were beyond counting.

From the midst of that resentment and obsession,

countless messengers of death rushed towards Baekmokgui,

stretching out their arms, dragging their legs, and shouting with blood oozing from their mouths.

“I don’t want to die.”

“Jahwayonyeo. A monster without blood or tears.”

“You killed them. You killed them all!”

“If it weren’t for you, the Samun wouldn’t have disappeared.”

“It’s all your fault.”

“Die.”

“I can’t stand seeing you alive.”

“What are you smiling so happily about?”

“A peaceful tomorrow? Do you think you deserve something like that?”

“No matter how great your achievements, you can’t be happy. You shouldn’t be.”

“Die.”

“Die.”

“Die!”

“If you can’t die, we’ll kill you!!”

“A body that doesn’t need to sleep?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Those lies don’t work.”

“You’re just afraid.”

“Afraid to see the past tragedies, the irreversible mistakes again.”

“The 23 members of the Hangwon Sword Sect hate you.”

“The 85 members of the Namgung Clan hate you.”

“The 388 people of Yangcheon, Shanxi, hate you.”

“The 1124 dead of the Sacheon Great Battle hate you.”

“All those who died because of you hate you!”

The cries were different in density

from the fear and despair that Baekmokgui had injected, caused by others.

Baekmokgui realized what the sea she was immersed in originated from.

[Sea of Corpses]

The unique mental world possessed only by the most dangerous yokais,

whose infamy was so notorious that it remained in history,

the main players in the yokai wars who caused countless massacres.

What was rushing in wasn’t a wave.

It was a massive collective curse, a towering pile of countless curses that she couldn’t handle,

that she shouldn’t handle.

[Tidal Wave of Resentment]

If swept away, Baekmokgui’s will, a sandcastle built with only a hundred grudges, would be washed away in an instant, permeating the Sea of Corpses, never to regain its ego again.

Only then did Baekmokgui, terrified, plead.

[Please forgive me. I was foolish.]

[I won’t ask for the yokai power I left behind.]

[I apologize for trying to take you as my own without permission!]

[Don’t you want to know the location of the strange object I was siphoning power from?]

[If you spare me, I can guide you to where the strange object is.]

[So please.]

[Let me out of here!!]

[Please!!!]

[Just give me one chance!!!!]

Listening to Baekmokgui’s desperate plea for her life,

starting with an apology, followed by a plea, and finally ending in a scream, Hae Eung Eung slowly projected her will.

-Actually, don’t you know it too?

-That it’s impossible.

Baekmokgui had recited dozens of elaborate curses to dominate Hae Eung Eung’s mind, straining herself to break down a mind that wasn’t even in control,

but it didn’t take many words for Hae Eung Eung to break down Baekmokgui.

In fact, she didn’t even need words. Because she had already noticed that something was wrong even before she spoke.

Because she had realized that she had made an irreversible mistake. So this was too much to even be called a plea.

Meaningless ravings, devoid of any meaning or hope,

just spewed out randomly in fear.

-Please remember this in your next life.

-That other people’s minds are like entering as you please, but not leaving as you please.

Hae Eung Eung always endured the hellish horrors within her mind as if it were nothing.

Baekmokgui, who had been swallowed by the hands of countless dead and could only be seen as a huge mass, her form unrecognizable.

Her mind was swallowed by the Tidal Wave of Resentment and sank into the Sea of Corpses, stained with blood,

along with countless dead.

It was the end of a foolish yokai who had recklessly coveted the mind of a martial artist.