The Unsurpassed Maiden - Chapter 168

“So? What do you want to know about the Killing Technique?” Hae Choon asks Mi Young. “I’m warning you, based on my memories right now I only know the basic parts of it so don’t expect too much okay?”

Mi Young nodded her head at him. “Okay.”

The other party gives Mi Young another look before sighing and finally sharing his knowledge about this Killing Technique. “Based on what I have remembered, the Killing Technique was made by the first head of the Han clan.”

“The Han clan? They’re one of the five lost clans, right?” Mi Young asks. She remembered her lesson with her teacher Ning Gwang as they talked about the true history of their kingdom.

However, upon hearing Mi Young’s words, Hae Choon got suddenly confused. “Five lost clans?”

“Oh, right. I forgot that your memories right now aren’t that defined. Anyway, the Han clan is one of the five lost clans that were wiped out from all the history books right after the Dark War ended. Remember that war I told you about?”

“The one that ended up with millions of thousands of people dying?” Hae Choon asks.

The black haired girl nodded her head at him. “Yes, that one. Anyway, after the Dark War the surviving people split up. Some wanted to have a one true leader that they can follow and the other doesn’t. The ones opposed to that notion were the five clans, the Han’s, Zhong, Hwangm and the first and the second Do’s.”

“What happened to the people who were with the five clans?” Hae Choon asks curiously. Although he can’t remember a thing about those things happening, he somehow knew how it ended.

“They were assassinated by the reigning King at that time. Every single one of them.” Mi Young explained. “However, they didn’t know that there were survivors, like you, and the rest of the people that were abducted and experimented inside those laboratories.”

Hae Choon was staring blankly at the floor as he sank in everything Mi Young had said. He might not have any memories of what the other party was talking about but he knows the black haired girl isn’t lying.

“Anyway, the Han’s were the ones among them so what do they have to do with the Killing Technique?” Mi Young asks, trying to change the topic so the other party wouldn’t deal with it that much.

“Oh, right. The Killing Technique.” Hae Choon says while finally snapping from his thoughts. He cleared his throat again before saying, “Anyway, the first ever head of the Han clan was the one who invented the Killing Technique. This technique was passed on from generation to generation, and was intended only for the sworn enemies of the Dendro clan.”

“Which was?”

“The savage beasts. The Dendro clans are the ones who are always exploring outside the borders of our kingdom. Their duty is to protect the nature around us, that’s why they always set out to find more unique and unexplored things outside our kingdom.” Hae Choon started. “And since journeying outside our kingdom means getting out of our safe zone and away from the walls, this also means being able to meet and fight against different savage beasts outside.”

“So their head made the Killing Technique to help those Dendro members fight those savage beasts?” Mi Young asks.

Hae Choon nodded his head in confirmation. “Uhn. That’s why he made everyone from his clan promise to only use this technique when fighting savage beasts. And because of that, if you try to use the Killing Technique against another Mage, the attack will bounce back to you.”

“By bounce back you mean to say…”

“Yes.” Hae Choon says without making the young girl finish her sentence. “It means that instead of killing the other Mage, you will end up killing yourself.”

“But based on what I have read, in order for one to use the Killing Technique, he or she must sacrifice a life first.” Mi Young protests. “What do they mean by that?”

“That’s also true. But it doesn’t need to mean that you need to die in order to use the Killing Technique. Sometimes, you can sacrifice a precious belonging that means so much to you. It’s an eye for an eye, you know.”

Mi Young started thinking about that. After a while, she came up with another question, “Wait, I never really asked you this before but from what clan are you from again?”

“I don’t belong to any because I am a reflection of almost everything.”

Mi Young’s eyebrows furrowed after hearing this. “What do you mean?”

“What I mean is, I have every drop of blood of all the nine clans.” Hae Choon says with a calm expression.

Hearing this for the first time, Mi Young’s eyes widened in surprise. “W-What? How can that be!?”

Hae Choon chuckled at the black haired girl’s reaction. He was so used to seeing those kinds of reactions every time he told them about his true nature. “When I was a newborn, someone from the Kwon clan found me crying in the middle of a forest. Thinking that my parents abandoned me there for good, they took me in and adopted me. However, after the third day of having me inside their home I feel sick. Like really sick to the point that they thought I was going to dies sooner or later.”

“Then? What happened?”

“Then, someone showed up to them and told them to bring me to the office of the heads of the nine clans.” Hae Choon said. Mi Young scooted closer so she could hear every word coming out from the other party’s mouth. She doesn’t want to miss out on any of it. “So they took me there and there they made a curse inside of me.”

“A curse?”

Hae Choon slowly nodded his head. “Not all curses are meant to harm anyone. Anyway, this curse was to keep me alive. And by doing that each of them dropped a small droplet of their blood in me.”

Mi Young’s mouth hangs open upon hearing Hae Choon’s words. The other party might have noticed her shell shocked expression because he was chuckling while trying to tell her the rest of the story. “So, basically I’m a mixture of every bit of the nine clans. And I don’t particularly belong to anyone.”

“Is that also why you can control almost all elements?” Mi Young asks, because so far, she had seen the other party controlled more than two elements all throughout their journey together.

“Maybe. Maybe not. I haven’t really tried.” Hae Choon says. Then he remembered something, “Or maybe I did but I can’t just remember it yet.”

After that, the two of them remained silent once more, each one of them had their own questions running inside their minds.

“The Killing Technique…” Mi Young suddenly says, making the other party slightly surprised with her question. “Why do the other Mages from other clans know it? I thought it was from the Dendro clan.”

“Oh? It’s because other clans stole it from them.”

“Stole? You can steal a technique?”

“Yes. You can steal it and make changes on it so it wouldn’t burn your mana and your body. It may need a lot of sacrifice and pain but once you have completely modified a technique according to your own element, such technique can also become a true power.” Hae Choon says in a grave voice. “I remembered that the head of the Dendro clan died while trying to protect this technique of theirs.”

“Who stole their technique anyway?” Mi Young asks while looking at the other party curiously.

For some reason, Hae Choon didn’t manage to tell her the answer right away. He just stared at Mi Young for a couple of seconds before sighing and finally opening his mouth. “The Jeon’s.”

Upon hearing the name of the clan, Mi Young’s eyes widened even more. “Really? But why would the Jeon’s do that?”

Hae Choon cocks his head to the side, as if he was really and genuinely surprised and confused why Mi Young sounded so surprised. “I don’t know what happened after this Dark Way you were talking about or how the things have changed after it but the Jeon’s are one of the nastiest clans ever. They’re even meaner than the Second Do’s.”

This indeed shocked the black haired girl even more. All the history books they had in school talked about the Jeon’s as if they were born leaders, as if they were the rightful clan that should be reigning and controlling the whole Mage Kingdom. She never knew that the ancient people think of the Jeon’s the exact opposite according to their time.

“You looked shocked. I’m guessing that your history books never mentioned that.” Hae Choon says calmly.

Slowly, Mi Young nodded her head. “The books from school talked about the Jeon’s being the most courageous clans of all. They were even praised by the many and wanted them to reign over the kingdom.”

Hae Choon shrugged after that, “I guess things have really changed after so many years.”