MNFICD CH 14

Chapter 14

“Yes… yes, understood.”

“Now then, let us return.”

“You’re leaving already?”

“We’ve filled our stomachs tonight.
The ghost will appear again tomorrow.”

With that, Sa-yeol began walking back, and Wol naturally followed.

As they walked, Sa-yeol asked,

“Where did you come from?
I thought you might be from the Beggar Sect, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Do you know someone called Ma-Wolhu?”

Wol stopped dead in his tracks.

His brows twisted sharply, and hatred flashed in his blue eyes.

That was all Sa-yeol needed to know—
Wol was not one of Ma-Wolhu’s underlings.

“Enough. We each have our business. Let us separate after this.”

“…”

Sa-yeol returned to her quarters, where So-hwa and Hwa-yeong were waiting.

Wol did not go to the room prepared for him.
Instead, he sat cross-legged directly in front of Sa-yeol’s door, sword in hand, like a guard dog watching a house.

***

That night, after her maids fell asleep, Sa-yeol sat down and began circulating her qi.

The internal energy inside her body was unnatural—
It was exactly the same amount she possessed 100 years ago in her old body.

Somehow, across a century, the qi she once had had carried into her new vessel.
Not all of it, but a portion.

Strange indeed.

As though someone had transplanted it into her.

She slowly opened her eyes.
A chilling energy stirred around her.
Her breath came out like frost.

She stood and quietly slid open the paper door.

“Where are you going?”

Wol, still sitting in front of the room, reacted instantly.

Sa-yeol gave him a brief glance.

“Night stroll.”

“I’ll go.”

She didn’t say yes, but she didn’t say no—
So Wol simply put on his shoes and followed her.

No one noticed the two slipping out into the night.
Even the gate guards never sensed their presence as they passed like ghosts.

Wol didn’t ask questions.
Just like Sa-yeol never asked him any.

“That way,” she said.

She pointed toward the northern forest outside the estate.
Even in the darkness, an eerie, oppressive aura pulsed visibly.

Only first-rate martial artists or higher could sense it—
but it overflowed so strongly it was almost visible.

“It’s in there?” Wol asked.

“There will be an object that anchors the ghost’s true form.
Someone hid it.”

“Who hid it?”

“A being who has lived far, far too long.”

Wol fell silent.
He knew whom she meant.

Ma-Wolhu.

Sa-yeol studied his face.
Her memories from the past were blurry.
But blue-eyed men had only existed in the Ice Palace among the women there.
That was the only reason she’d accepted Wol so easily.

His eyes carried the same blue that stirred old nostalgia.

“Ghosts are different from human martial artists.
If you find it, call for me.”

“Fine.”

Their silhouettes disappeared into the northern woods.

***

Meanwhile—Back at the Village Head’s House

Late into the night, Geum Sang-ho couldn’t sleep.

A real ghost in a peaceful, tiny village like this…
He had hoped to handle it quietly.
but too many people had already seen the corpse.

“Can we truly rely on those two?” his wife asked.

“…They seemed familiar with ghosts,” he replied uncertainly.

“That man, maybe… but the young lady is too young.”

“Yes. Even if she’s from Namgung… She’s barely a teenager.
She couldn’t possibly have profound martial arts at that age.”

“Shouldn’t we ask Namgung Academy for help?”

Geum Sang-ho hesitated, then said:

“As a matter of fact… a letter arrived from the Academy today.”

“What?? From Namgung Academy?”

“They aren’t far from here.
It seems they sensed something and dispatched someone.
The letter arrived first—so they should reach us tomorrow.”

“Oh, thank heavens…”

His wife clutched her chest in relief.

But Geum Sang-ho couldn’t shake the feeling that tonight would be the worst night of all.

Beyond the open window, the full moon glowed through a thick veil of clouds, casting an ominous light.

***

In the Forest

Sa-yeol and Wol split paths, each searching the woods.

Finding one ghost among a huge forest would normally be impossible—
but that was only for ordinary fighters.

Sa-yeol was different.

That way.

She had once lived as a ghost herself—
so she could detect them better than anyone.

She walked deeper into the woods…

And there she found it:

A long pair of scissors, stuck in the ground, leaking a swirling purple aura.
Dozens of yellow talismans were plastered over it.

This was the “core object” she had been looking for.

“Come out.”

At her command, the purple energy scattered like smoke.

Then—

CLACK… CHLAK…!

The sound of metal opening and closing echoed through the woods.

Sa-yeol did not step back.
She simply watched.

A pale, twisted hand crawled out from beneath the scissors.

The wrist bent at impossible angles as it groped for the handle.
An arm emerged next—longer and longer and longer than humanly possible, with three joints.

A second arm pushed out of the earth.

—Who awakened me…

The voice was ragged and wet, like a throat full of blood.

A blackened face rose from the ground, hidden beneath tangled hair and a dangling red wedding veil.

Sa-yeol watched calmly.

“Who is your master?”

—Master? Master? Do I have a master?

Krrrk—

Kik—

Then the ghost burst into hysterical laughter.

Kakakakaka—
Kikikikikikikikikikiki—
(on and on, echoing through the forest)

The ghost approached, limbs bending backward, forward, and sideways—moving like a broken puppet.