Myst, Might, Mahem

A connected red thread. It meant that their souls were connected. A summoned spirit.

 Cheongryeong, who had become an evil spirit under the control of her master, felt it was so unfair and absurd that she even pulled at her hair and screamed.

Unable to overcome her anger, she even tried to attack Mok Gyeongwoon.

*Chieeeeek*

'Pfft! Damn it!'

 The blue spirit was strangling Mok Gyeongwoon, but she suddenly became flustered and withdrew her hand.

Mok Gyeongwoon wondered why she reacted like this, but soon noticed a red handprint around the pure white neck of the blue spirit.

'No way?'

After seeing this, Mok Gyeongwoon realized one thing. He didn't know the exact reason, but the summoned spirit seemed to share damage when its owner was harmed.

'Is that why? I think I know why Demon Monk had black spots all over his body.'

This was because the damage suffered when the Blue Spirit attacked with drops of blood was also directed to the Demon Monk.

'I see. I think I understand why beings called summoned spirits follow their masters. As the soul continued to share the harm, it had no choice but to destroy all that threatened its owner.'

Looking at this, he was able to understand why the blue spirit reacted that way. How angry that arrogant evil spirit must be because she has become a summoned spirit that is no different from a slave. Even if you had only a soul left, you would be angry.

But that was it. It didn't matter to Mok Gyeongwoon whether she was upset or angry about Cheongryeong he condition. Rather, he was satisfied because he had achieved his goal.

'Blue spirit level.'

If you put it in terms of rank, it is a high-ranking vengeful spirit that ranks fifth among the seven levels and is close to Imaemangryang.

Unlike the yellow spirit level Demon Monk, the Blue Spirit level vengeful spirit that has existed with its grudge for over a hundred years was able to affect things other than living beings.

Mok Gyeongwoon wanted to check this. Mok Gyeongwoon spoke to the still angry Cheongryeong being, "Now that you have become a summoned spirit, what can I call you?"

'…'

"Isn't it a waste of time to keep doing that?"

'…'

'Hmm.'

Mok Gyeongwoon sighed. He shook my head at the sight of her huffing and refusing to make eye contact.

"Then it doesn't matter if I call you whatever I want."

'…'

"Idiot, do you mind this?"

'You dare!'

Cheongryeong, who was not even trying to make eye contact with Mok Gyeongwoon's words, suddenly turned her head.

Mok Gyeongwoon chuckled and said, "I guess you don't like that name."

At that sight, one of the Blue Spirit's eyebrows rose menacingly, 'Damn human, how dare you play with me?!'

"If you don't want me to make fun of you, tell me what to call you."

'There is no name to give to an insignificant human like you.'

After saying those words, the blue spirit turned its head again. Seeing this, Mok Gyeongwoon clicked his tongue inwardly. Fortunately, she didn't pose a threat to him, but he thought she might be quite difficult to control.

"I can't help it. Since you don't want to tell me, I'll call you whatever I want."

'…'

"I can't think of anything in particular, so I'll call you Cheongryeong."

It was Mok Gyeongwoon who adopted the name Cheongryeong, which is a rank indicating the status of a vengeful spirit. At this, the blue spirit slightly frowned. It seemed like something was bothering her. However, it seemed like she didn't want to reveal her true name or title.

'I guess I'll have to coax her slowly. It will be meaningless if I can't use her even though she has already achieved the Cheongryeong level.'

Without showing it, Mok Gyeongwoon approached somewhere. It was a book with its cover torn off, lying on the floor of the cavity.

Mok Gyeongwoon asked after picking up the book, "You probably know what's written inside."

'Who is the Blue Spirit… Phew.'

Looking down at her anger, she waved her hands as if she didn't want to be involved with it. Then she reached out her hand and picked up the smoking pipe that had fallen on the floor and smoked it. She seemed to be quite a heavy smoker.

Mok Gyeongwoon regained his appetite and flipped through the book.

'Huh?'

A strange look appeared in Mok Gyeongwoon's eyes. The writing inside the book seemed to have been written in blood.

'That's fun.'

The cover was made of human skin and the writing was written in blood. Many people would find this book too repulsive to even think about reading.

Of course, Mok Gyeongwoon doesn't care about that at all. But that wasn't the problem.

'What?'

Inside the book, the letters were jumbled and mixed up without any order. It was difficult to interpret because it was so haphazardly listed. Mok Gyeongwoon frowned as he looked at those letters.

'Why is it ordered so randomly?'

The letters were only words that were used in a much more abstract manner than ordinary words. He recently saw an article like this.

That was the method of softening the heart. Although it was written about breathing and fortune-telling methods, the parts related to decision-making were made up of fairly abstract words, like poetry.

'It's similar. But it's more complicated.'

A total of thirty letters were listed in random order. He tried combining them, but no matter how he connect them, a meaningless sentence was created.

*Pisik*

Then he heard a laugh. When he looked over, he saw Cheongryeong clenching her head and shaking it.

Mok Gyeongwoon paid no attention to this and stared at the letters.

"Hmm…"

Mok Gyeongwoon watched for a while. Soon Mok Gyeongwoon opened his mouth.

"I'm so hopeless…Miss Lee Hyeong-wishim…"

'!?'

When the two sentences came out, Cheongryeong's expression, who had been laughing, hardened.

Through this reaction, Mok Gyeongwoon was able to infer that the two sentences combined were correct.

"Muojeon Geosang…Musanghyeongwijeon…"

When he said this, Cheongryeong stiffened and frowned. Apparently, the last sentence was also correct. He was connecting based on what he felt would be the best fit, and it fit.

The remaining six words are:

"Magaryanghaegeo… Yeokhaemugeukhyeol."

"Ugh…"

The words were almost gone.

The moment he finished the sentence, he felt a tightness in the centre of his stomach, and the book he was holding in his hand distorted strangely.

'What is this?'

Mok Gyeongwoon could not understand the sentence. If you looked at the distorted shape of the book, you could see that the paper was bunched up in the direction of the hand that was holding it.

It looked like it was about to be absorbed into the palm of my hand. At that time, he heard Cheongryeong's voice in his ear.

"How do you do it?"

"Yes?"

When Mok Gyeongwoon looked at her questioningly, Cheongryeong looked surprised and turned her head away. She seemed determined not to want to explain anything.

Looking at her like this, Mok Gyeongwoon asked in puzzlement.

"What is chak (着)? Does the book have anything to do with what happened?"

"…"

"When the book was crumpled, I felt a slight tightness below my belly button. Is this related?"

Cheongryeong was dumbfounded by Mok Gyeongwoon's words. He was a young man, and she knew right away that Mok Gyeongwoon had not learned martial arts at all. So, she was sure he would never understand this.

No, it was inevitable that it would be difficult to even understand the text unless one reached a certain level or attained enlightenment. But surprisingly, Mok Gyeongwoon combined these 30 letters to create the first phrase.

"…"

Qing Ling glanced at Mok Gyeongwoon.

She didn't want to say anything because she had just been turned into a summoned spirit, but her curiosity grew.

'Did he really understand that correctly?'

Soon, the Blue spirit who was worried opened his mouth.

"Hey human."

"Jeong…no, Mok Gyeongwoon."

"What?"

"Call me Mok Gyeongwoon."

At those words, Cheongryeong snorted, "Human…"

'Even if he told me his name, I don't have any intention of calling him that.'

Mok Gyeongwoon shrugged his shoulders because he didn't particularly attach any meaning to it. Whatever she called him, all she had to do was communicate with him.

Cheongryeong held her pipe and exhaled a large amount of smoke as he spoke.

"Human. Do you remember that feeling just now?

"Feeling?"

"Yes."

"I don't know what you mean."

Hearing Mok Gyeongwoon's words, Cheongryeong stared at him and shook her head.

'In fact, it doesn't make sense that an insignificant human can learn the form of meditation so easily…'

"Ugh!"

That was before the words were even finished. The book Mok Gyeongwoon was holding became even more distorted and stuck to his palm.

Mok Gyeongwoon looked at this with a strange look in his eyes.

'Ah?'

As Cheongryeong said, he remembered that feeling and this time he concentrated on memorizing the phrase in his head. Then the paper crumpled again and stuck to him palm.

It was such an amazing thing. However, when he did this, the area below his belly button became slightly tight again. As if that wasn't enough, he felt like the blood vessels in my arms, especially in my palms, were tightening like his belly button.

Mok Gyeongwoon looked at Cheongryeong and asked, "What is this?"

Cheongryeong looked at Mok Gyeongwoon and muttered, sticking out her tongue as if he was appalled, "I can't believe I saw something in death that I couldn't even see in life…"

"Yes?"

"It's not."

"What do you mean it's not?"

"Don't worry. Human."

"Now that we have become a connected, how about emptying your mind a little?"

"Empty my mind? Preposterous! I may have become a summoned spirit for insignificant human like you, but I will not entertain you!"

"Sigh!"

Before she could finish speaking, Mok Gyeongwoon grabbed her hand. Before she knew it, the veins on her wrists, including the back of her hands, were standing on end as if they were about to burst.

*Purrrrr*

"Tch," the back of Cheongryeong's hands were shaking. This was because the souls were connected and the pain of Mok Gyeongwoon was transmitted.

At this, the blue spirit shouted.

"Hey! Human. Stop breathing and clear your mind."

"Surprise!"

"I told you to stop breathing!"

Hearing her cry, Mok Gyeongwoon forced himself to hold his breath. And he kept thinking about other things to erase the phrases he had memorized in his head without realizing it.

Seeing Mok Gyeongwoon like this, Cheongryeong's eyes narrowed. It was incredible concentration.

Just now, it was a phenomenon that occurred due to an inability to control the internal energy within oneself. Normally, you will fall into a trap and find it difficult to get out of that state without someone's help.

However, Mok Gyeongwoon was able to overcome this problem on his own with only a single piece of advice.

'I would be lying if I said I wasn't surprised…'

"Ha."

Eventually, steady breathing was heard from Mok Gyeongwoon's mouth. Seeing this, Cheongryeong stuck out her tongue.

Mok Gyeongwoon asked her, "What was that just now?"

"…It's because you can't control the ritual of attachment properly."

He thought she wouldn't give him an answer this time, but surprisingly, she answered kindly.

Mok Gyeongwoon chuckled and said, "Are you going to tell me properly now?"

"I'm just trying to prevent you from doing something useless and causing harm to me."

Mok Gyeongwoon narrowed his eyes and looked at Cheongryeong's blunt tone. Then he shrugged his shoulders.

It didn't matter why she did it.

That is, if you can resolve your curiosity.

"What is the ritual of attachment?"

"That's literally it. It's about pulling it in and making it stick."

"If you want to stick it, do you mean like just now?"

"Yes"

"But why does my stomach hurt and why are my blood vessels swollen?"

"You are pulling it in, but there is nothing to pull."

"What does that mean?"

Cheongryeong, who was looking at Mok Gyeongwoon in confusion, pointed somewhere with her stick. It was Jo Ilsang, hanging dead.

They hung him upside down and cut his throat, and he was extremely pale, probably because all the blood had been lost.

"Try it over there."

"Do you mean him?"

Mok Gyeongwoon approached the dead Jo Ilsang and tapped him.

At this, Cheongryeong nodded, "…"

He don't know why she chose the dead Jo Ilsang to use the ritual of attachment, but Mok Gyeongwoon put his palm to it without saying anything.

Then the blue spirit urged.

"No, not there."

"Yes?"

"The energy may have dissipated after death, but do it on the Danjeon side."

"When you say dan tian, do you mean the area below the belly button?"

"Do I really need to tell you all that?"

"…Because I don't know much."

At those words, Cheongryeong snorted and exhaled smoke while sucking on the pipe. Mok Gyeongwoon took a deep breath and placed his palm on Jo Ilsang's Danjeon.

Then, he memorized the verses of the ceremony in his head.

'Without hopelessness, Lee Hyeong-wisimyang, Muojeon Geosang, Musanghyeongwijeon, Magalyanghaegeo, Haemugeukhyeol.'

At the same time, he remembered that feeling,

*Park*

Then, the skin of the dead Danjeon of Jo Ilsang stuck to Mok Gyeongwoon's palm. The feel of the book was different from when it was crushed, but there was nothing special.

He was about to say that. At that moment, something dug into my palm. It was a warm feeling.

'This?'

He could clearly feel the energy entering his palm and flowing through his veins. Eventually, something warm flowing through his veins even warmed his swollen abdomen. He felt excited by the warm energy.

While doing so, the blue spirit spoke in a triumphant voice, "Can you feel it? That is the trick of the ritual of attachment. You can absorb anything by pulling it. Even if it is energy, it is no exception!"