Possessing Nothing

TL: Yul

PR: Gort

–

CHARARAK!

From outside the gate, dozens of tentacles rushed in. The tentacles, wiggling around in the air and ground, swelled up and swept all over the place. 

The Wudang Sect’s practitioners, who were readying for an attack, responded to the tentacles. They drew and swung their swords simultaneously, slamming the tentacles down. 

However, the tentacles did not break even after several strikes from swords surrounded by sword aura.

The tentacles, spread out all over the place, suddenly retracted. 

Aine, her long black hair fluttering, jumped over the gate and landed in the middle of the martial artists. 

She did not speak a single word. She licked her lower lip, which was covered in blood, and shrugged her shoulders. 

With a gurgling sound, Aine’s tentacles shivered and wiggled. Then, the thick tentacles transformed into sharp blades. 

Aine smirked and laughed. 

Aine’s qi covered the newly transformed tentacles. Her qi flickered and blazed, sending sparks flying. Black flames twisted around the qi, emitting intense heat. 

“WOW!”

Prescan, who lightly jumped over the gate, looked at Aine and exclaimed.

Puhwak!

Aine’s tentacles moved. Every time the tentacles swept through the space, black flames spread.

The black flames, obtained when she ate the Spirit King of Flames, embroidered the air and moved according to Aine’s will. An unquenchable flame engulfed the Wudang Sect’s martial artists.

The flames struck against the barrier of internal energy, and the swords wielded by the martial artists broke without doing any damage when they struck the tentacles. 

Aine giggled as she gently walked across the battlefield. Her tentacles dug into the weak points of the sword formation set in the sect. They pierced the chests of the martial artists struggling with flames covering their entire bodies. 

As soon as the tentacle touched their heart, the tip of the tentacle turned into a horrifying mouth and swallowed the heart.

Chen and Kuhn followed Aine from behind silently, as they did not need to intervene. The Wudang Sect without the Sword Saint was just a playground for Aine. 

“Sect, sect leader!”

The Wudang Sect’s sect leader looked at Aine’s massacre with a distorted face. He struggled briefly before spitting out, “…Send someone to the Great Elder.”

“Yes…!”

Several martial artists who received the sect leader’s orders sprinted away. After checking that they were gone, the sect leader drew his sword. 

With his shout, the Taegeuk Sword Formation erupted and spread out. Along with the Shaolin’s Hundred and Eight Arhat Formation and the Beggar Sect’s Dog Beating Stick Formation, the Wudang Sect’s Taegeuk Sword Formation formed the top three formations in the Righteous Sects. 

Aine laughed as the wave of swords pounced on her. The tentacles, which grew on her back, instantly became sharp blades. 

She slowly raised her arms and opened her hands. Her arms were covered in thick, spiky armor, and her fingers became claws.

**

Lee Sungmin crossed the sky. He turned into a bolt of lightning, dashing and jumping over the rugged peaks of Wudang Mountain. 

[Isn’t it better to just run away?]

Heoju asked. contemporary romance

[It’s up to you to decide what you want to do here. However, what you’re attempting to do now interferes with Geniella’s goals.]

‘I know that.’

[I don’t know why Geniella is keeping you alive; it might just be that she thinks of you as entertainment. However, if you keep disrupting her, she will kill you.]

‘I also know that.’

He looked at the destroyed Haegeumji.

‘However, I still have to do what I must. Even though killing Geniella is impossible, I can still… do everything else. And the Sword Saint is stopping Geniella temporarily.’

Aine was isolated right now. Lee Sungmin didn’t know if there would be another opportunity like this in the future. 

And even Chen and Kuhn were separated from Geniella, which made right now a perfect time to kill them.

[You changed a lot.]

Heoju, reading Lee Sungmin’s thoughts, cackled. 

[Unlike before, you aren’t being swept away by your emotions. You aren’t that cute anymore.]

Lee Sungmin’s body fell.

The Taeguek Sword Formation was about to break. The martial artists, who kept up the formation throughout the repeated collisions, clenched their jaws, black-red blood flowing through the gaps in their teeth.

Even though they knew who would win… the Wudang’s sect members could not back down.

Aine didn’t hate fights that she won overwhelmingly. 

She enjoyed putting in actual effort while fighting, but she thought of fighting as hunting. Rather than sweating and using her strength, she liked hunting easily and eating happily. 

It was the same this time. There was so much to eat. The Taeguek Sword Formation couldn’t stop Aine, and the hunt was easy.

PAAZZZZZT!

Her body bounced backward. Aine flipped around mid-air, repositioning herself.

Her eyes widened. It wasn’t that her senses were dulled when Lee Sungmin attacked.

Simply, Lee Sungmin was too fast. Before she felt his presence, he had already fallen from the sky. 

The Wudang Sect’s martial artists stood confusedly, unable to understand what happened. Aine noticed too late that Lee Sungmin had attacked, and Chen and Kuhn noticed even after that.

Aine looked at Lee Sungmin, who raised his body, covered in crackling purple lightning. Aine’s golden eyes widened more. 

She looked at him, who had the same eyes as her. At that moment, she felt something she never felt before: great delight.

She never thought he would see him again here. Even though 10 years had passed, their appearances had barely changed. 

No, even if they changed, Aine would have instantly recognized Lee Sungmin.

Her heart beat so fast that she felt it would burst out.

Aine’s feet kicked the ground. Maybe it was because her heart was too excited, but her feet got tangled, and she fell forward 

She laughed crazedly and stopped her fall with both hands, scratching the dirt.

She shot forward, pulling herself with her arms. Looking at Aine, who acted like a beast, Lee Sungmin felt unpleasant and a feeling of rejection, not happiness or delight.

Their heartbeats were identical. The yokai’s resonance that they felt in the City of Endless Night and in Travia shook their hearts. 

PUHWAK! 

Aine pulled out the maximum amount of tentacles she could control and shot it toward Lee Sungmin. From the sky, hundreds of tentacles dropped like raindrops.

Lee Sungmin raised his spear, resting in his left hand, up. In one move, he rotated the spear and grabbed it with both hands.

PAAT.

Light exploded, and the purple lightning ran rampant. 

KWANNGG!

The night sky instantly brightened like daytime. Aine’s tentacles were miserably destroyed as they hit Lee Sungmin’s lightning.

However, Aine did not feel pain. Even if the tentacles were a part of her body, there was no major damage done to her.

The scattered pieces of flesh clung to Aine again and became new tentacles. It didn’t matter, even if they were completely destroyed.

Aine’s body, which worked around the Black Heart as the center, could infinitely regrow body parts as long as she still had the strength to move.

“HEART THIEF!”

Prescan, who stood far away in fear of being wrapped up in the fight, yelled.

He stood in the darkness, his eyes glowing, and shook his robe. 

How could he ever forget? To Prescan, Lee Sungmin was the origin of all his misfortunes

Before they had met, Prescan was living happily in his underground dungeon.

He could experiment all he wanted, didn’t need to care about the opinions of others, and didn’t have any problems in life…death.

Even when he was attacked by the mercenaries, there was nothing to worry about. He could clean them up anytime he wanted.

But… because of Lee Sungmin, everything was messed up. Because his mental magic was reflected by Lee Sungmin, Prescan suffered a fatal blow. As a result, even after he joined forces with Aine, he was unable to kill Lloyd. 

If Prescan didn’t meet Lee Sungmin, he would have easily slaughtered the mercenaries and could even have killed Lloyd, who had ambushed him. 

After that, Prescan would have moved to a different location and created another dungeon, living happily and lazily. 

His plan was ruined.

Because Lloyd survived, Prescan was persecuted by the Magician Guild, constantly having to hide.

That thief had stolen one of two hearts that Prescan sacrificed his entire life to make. 

After avoiding the Magician Guild, he traveled north and was captured by the Vampire Queen.

He was forced to become a member of the Predators and was placed under Arbeth. He was constantly subjected to insults and contempt and almost even lost Aine…

It was a depressing period. The origin of all of that…

It was that heart thief… the one standing right before him.

Prescan felt a thrill travel all throughout his body. Now… it was now. He had to get back what he had lost all that time ago…

“AINE!”

My daughter! Prescan shouted.

“RIP OUT HIS HEART AND EAT IT!”

However, he did not need to say that. Aine was already going to do that in the first place.

SHIRIRIK!

The tentacles wriggling from Aine’s body retreated back into her. Just using the tentacles wasn’t enough.

Aine’s body twitched. Her outward appearance didn’t change, but her body contained immense power. 

“It’s been a while,” Aine whispered. She seemed to be quite happy, but Lee Sungmin wasn’t.

Killing intent surged from his body. 

Shik.

Aine moved. Lee Sungmin widened his eyes, staring at Aine’s figure, wasting no movements as she entered his blind spot.

Aine was incredibly fast. Her fist, shooting forward, contained the essence of all types of fist techniques combined.

‘Indeed…’

Just looking was enough. He could tell how many existences Aine had eaten as she grew up.

Unlike Lee Sungmin, Aine had actively predated. Of course, even if Lee Sungmin had eaten as much as Aine had, he wouldn’t have reached the strength that Aine had. 

The two differed in their basic physical composition. That was why Lee Sungmin couldn’t perfectly absorb the Dragon Heart or Yang Il-Chun and the Blood Demon’s strength. 

[However,]

Heoju cackled.

[You are much faster.]

That was simply the truth. The attack came in an instant.

Aine’s eyes opened wider. 

She looked at her fist, which had exploded. Lee Sungmin’s spear was extended in front of him. The spear tip shook slightly. 

PAZZZT!

Electricity flowed. Aine’s body exploded without a sound. Her body flew away as it twisted. She caught her head, which was tilting down, stabilizing her sight.

Half of her head disappeared, and there were gaping holes everywhere on her body.

However, Aine did not die. Instead, she twisted her lips and smiled. In an instant, her body regenerated fully.

Her regenerative ability was incomparable to Lee Sungmin’s. Black flames covered Aine’s body.

The once-tattered body was reborn under the flames. Lee Sungmin looked at  Aine’s body, surprised. 

‘Magic?’

No, it felt a bit different from when one used mana. Then, what was it?

Ah… that’s right.

[That power feels similar to that bastard… the Spirit King of the Wind’s powers.]

PUHWAK!

The black flames covered Aine’s entire body. Lee Sungmin took a few steps back and examined Aine.

Lee Sungmin now knew what had truly happened on the Permud Volcano. The Spirit King of Flames wasn’t reverse-summoned but rather destroyed.

Aine had eaten the Spirit King of Flames.

[What a ridiculous bitch!]

Heoju cackled as he laughed. 

No one had thought that eating a Spirit King was even possible. 

Rather, Lee Sungmin thought that it was a good thing. The rest of the Spirit Kings were already reverse-summoned, which would mean that Aine wouldn’t be able to absorb their powers.

Another reason why he needed to kill Aine had appeared.

***

[[Queen.]]

At the voice transmission that appeared inside her head, Geniella’s eyes widened.

Puhwak!

The invisible sword sliced through the blood-red curtain and headed toward Geniella, who didn’t even dodge the attack. 

Her head, cut cleanly off by the sword, flew into the air. 

[[Why?]]

[[The Ghost Spear is here.]]

Chen reported in an emotionless voice. 

Geniella’s head, high in the air, disintegrated and transformed into smoke.

On her neck, a new head appeared. She rubbed the part of her neck where the sword cut through and laughed.

[[So mischievous.]]

Geniella glanced at Gemini, who was watching the fight from afar and muttered. However, she did not have the heart to blame her.

After all, no matter what happened, they were real siblings who spent hundreds of years together. She could overlook Gemini’s pranks with a laugh.

[[Don’t let Aine die.]]

Geniella commanded and turned back toward the Sword Saint.

“Are you going to keep going?”

Geniella laughed.

–

Hey guys, it’s Yul here. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Seems like the next few chapters are going to be packed with action. Hopefully, I can capture those moments well in English. Thanks for reading!

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