Untamed(Taekook)
1
useless character
"Great news! Jeon Jungkook has died!"
Less than a day had passed since the siege on Mangja Gudeok, and the news spread through the gi cultivation world as if it sprouted wings, surpassing even the speed of warfare.
For a while, from the most prominent noble houses to wandering rogue cultivators, everyone was discussing the siege led by the Four Great Houses and followed by hundreds of smaller ones.
useless character
"The Mangja Patriarch has died? Who could have killed him?"
？？？
"Who other than his sworn brother, Min Yoongi, putting an end to his own relative for the greater good. Yoongi led the Four Houses of Jado, Geumhwa, Cheongwol, and Cheolsan to destroy his den, Mangja Gudeok."
useless character
"I must say, good riddance!"
？？？
"Good riddance indeed! We finally eliminated this scourge."
？？？
"If not for the Jado House adopting and teaching him, he would have only been a hobo living on the streets, let alone causing mayhem as bold as the ones these days. The lord of Jado House raised him as his own child, yet he defected from them and became the enemy of the gi world, bringing shame upon Jado House, even leading to its near-extermination. He is the prime example of biting the hand that feeds him!"
useless character
"Yoongi allowed this fellow to live for too long. If I were him, at the time of the defection, I wouldn't have just stabbed him. In fact, I would have thoroughly examined the disciples of the house again, so that he couldn't do those crazy things he did later on. Who cares about the so called considerations that he gave to his childhood friend."
？？？
"That's merely hearsay. Although Yoongi was one of the main forces, he did not give Jungkook the final blow. Since he cultivated the Wonhan Path, Jungkook's powers backfired and he was ripped to pieces."
useless character
"Hahahaha... That's karma! The ghost soldiers that he created are like unleashed dogs, biting everyone that they come across. It serves him right to be chewed to death!"
？？？
"But, if not for Yoongi making a plan that aimed at Jungkook's weaknesses, the siege might not have succeeded. Should I remind you folks of the item that Jungkook possessed? Did you forget about the day that three thousand skilled cultivators were completely annihilated?"
useless character
"I heard that it was more than three thousand, possibly five thousand."
？？？
"He was most certainly out of his mind."
useless character
"It's a good thing that he destroyed that evil weapon before he died. Otherwise, if it was left in this world to harm humankind, his sins would have been worse."
useless character
"Oh well... You know, back then, Jungkook was one of the most promising cultivators, coming from a highly distinguished house and finding success at a young age. How on Earth did he end up where he was?"
？？？
"This proves that one can only cultivate by following the right path. Using these dishonest practices only seems beneficial at first glance. Look what happened in the end. Not even a whole corpse was left of him."
useless character
"Not everything was because of his cultivation path. Jungkook's personality was quite immoral. One's deeds will be paid, one way or another — what goes around always comes around."
After Jungkook's death, the era was focused on the topic. The discussions of the people were mostly the same, with a few unconventional opinions being brought down immediately.
However, the elephant in the room stayed in the back of everyone's mind.
Nobody could summon Jungkook's soul, which meant that his soul had disappeared.
It might have been torn apart by the millions of ghosts that devoured him.
If it was the first, then all was well. Then again, nobody doubted the fact that the Mangja Patriarch had the power to move mountains and empty seas. If it was the last, his soul would eventually return to revive in his body. When the day came, the gi world, or even all of mortal land, would be faced with the most insane damnation and revenge, sinking into nothing but chaos and despair.
The various houses set one hundred and twenty stone beasts on top of Mangja Gudeok and initiated frequent soul-summoning rituals, followed by heightened vigilance and searches for strange occurrences from all over the kingdom.
In the first year, nothing happened.
In the second year, nothing happened.
In the third year, nothing happened.
In the thirteenth year, nothing happened either.
More and more people were starting to believe that, perhaps, the Mangja Patriarch had actually perished.
Even if he was capable of turning the world upside down, it was finally his turn to be toppled over.
Nobody would remain at the top for all of eternity — legends were only legends.
author
Original book: GRANDMASTER OF DEMONIC CULTIVATION
2
Jungkook received a kick just as he opened his eyes.
A voice thundered beside his ear, "Stop playing dead!"
The kick threw him backward, head first onto the ground. Fighting the urge to vomit, a thought formed in his head.
Jungkook(Past)
That's quite a lot of courage you have to kick me, the Patriarch.💭
It was his first time hearing a human voice in quite a few years, let alone such a loud, fierce shriek. His head swirled and ears buzzed with the echoes of the voice
"Whose land do you think you're living on? Whose rice are you eating? Whose money are you spending? What's wrong with taking a few of your belongings? Everything you own should be mine, anyways!"
Aside from this adolescent, duck-like voice, there were also the clunks of ransacking chests and smashing objects. His eyes gradually cleared up.
A dimly-lit ceiling appeared in his sight, followed by a slant-browed person with a sickly composition, drenching him with spittle
useless character
"How dare you tell Father and Mother? Did you really think that anybody in this house is going to listen to you? You actually thought I was scared of you!"
A few servant-like hunks shifted over
useless character
"Young Master, everything has been smashed!"
useless character
"How did you finish it so quickly?"
useless character
"There's nothing much inside this shack anyways."
useless character
*seemed to be quite pleased, poking Jungkook forcefully on the nose*
useless character
"You dared to tell on me, and look at you now, playing dead on the ground! For whom? As if anyone actually wants these piles of junk! Now that I've smashed everything, let's see how you're gonna tell on me in the future! Are you proud of yourself just because you've studied gi cultivation for a few years? Well, how does it feel when you've been kicked back home like a stray dog?"
Jungkook(Past)
I'm not pretending to be dead at all, since I've actually been dead for a couple of years.💭
Jungkook(Past)
Who is this?💭
Jungkook(Past)
Where am I?💭
Jungkook(Past)
When did I do something as immoral as stealing another's body?💭
useless character
*let out enough anger by kicking the person and wrecking the house, and strutted out with his two manservants, slamming the door with a "bang."*
useless character
"Watch carefully. Don't let him outside anytime this month, or he'll make a fool of himself again!"
As the group went away, silence fell upon the room. Jungkook thought about getting up.
Despite his effort, his limbs failed to uphold themselves, so he lay down again. He turned on his side, staring dizzily at the strange environment and the mess on the ground.
A bronze mirror rested on the side, probably thrown onto the ground. Jungkook grabbed it and looked into the mirror, only to see a ghastly pale face, with two asymmetrical piles of red on each side of his cheek. Add a blood-red tongue onto the features, and he would look like a hanged ghost. He tossed the mirror to the side and wiped his face, finding his hand covered in a white powder.
Fortunately, the body wasn't born this way — it was only one of the owner's penchants. He was no doubt a man, yet he was covered with makeup, and not to mention, badly applied makeup. How unbearable!
Taken back by the shock, some energy came back to him, and he finally sat up, noticing the circular array beneath him.
The array was scarlet in color and crooked in shape, appearing to have been drawn by hand, using blood as a medium, still damp and emitting a strong scent. The array was filled with warped scribbled incantations, which were somewhat smudged by his body, but came across as gruesome nonetheless.
After all, Jungkook was known as the Supreme Lord and the Grandmaster of Wonhan Cultivation, so he was most certainly accustomed to vile-looking arrays such as this one.
It turned out that, in fact, he did not seize the body of another — he was offered one.
It was an ancient, forbidden technique. Compared to an array, it resembled a curse more. The caster of the array would injure themselves by creating incisions on their body, then draw the array, writing incantations using their own blood and finishing by sitting in the center of the array
They could then summon an extremely villainous ghoul and ask for it to complete their wish. The price to pay was to offer their body to the evil spirit, with their own soul returning back to Earth.
This was the forbidden technique opposite to stealing another's body — offering one's body.
Due to the grave sacrifices, only a few people were brave enough to put it into effect. After all, there were hardly any wishes strong enough for a living person to willingly sacrifice everything that they owned
Over thousands of years, only three or four examples had been proven to be true and recorded by history. Without exception, the people's wishes were the same — to take revenge.
Jungkook refused to accept this.
Jungkook(Past)
Why would I be put into the category of "extremely villainous ghouls"?💭
Although his reputation wasn't great and he died in a horrifying way, he neither haunted the living nor sought vengeance. He could swear that one couldn't find another wandering ghost as harmless as him.
The difficult part was that, as soon as the evil spirit had taken over the body of the caster, the contract was sealed by default. The evil spirit must grant their wish, or else the curse would cause a backlash. The spirit in possession of the body would be completely annihilated, never to be born again!
Jeon Jungkook
*raised his hands to find that, unsurprisingly, both of his wrists were crisscrossed with multiple cuts*
Under the black clothes, his chest and stomach areas were also covered with what seemed to be lacerations from a sharp tool. Although the bleeding had stopped, Jungkook knew that these weren't normal wounds.
If he didn't fulfil the wish of the body's owner, the wounds would not be able to heal. It would worsen as time went on, and if the time limit ended, both his soul and this body would be ripped apart.
Jeon Jungkook
*confirmed his situation several times, repeating*
Jeon Jungkook
"How can this happen to me?"💭
Jeon Jungkook
*could finally stand upright, leaning against the wall.*
Even though the house was large in size, it was empty and shabby, with sheets and blankets looking like they hadn't been changed in a long while. There was a bamboo basket in the corner. It was supposed to be for storing trash, but, having been kicked over earlier, the scraps all tumbled out onto the ground.
Jungkook scanned around the room and picked up a crumpled piece of paper. He unfolded it and was surprised to see it crammed with words. He hurriedly gathered all of the paper.
The words on the papers must have been written by the owner of this body to vent when he felt stressed. Some sentences were incoherent and disordered, and anxiety leapt off of the page through the distorted handwriting. Jungkook read through every single piece of paper, and began to notice that something was wrong.
Jeon Jungkook
Took a few guesses and roughly understood the state of things💭
Jeon Jungkook
It turned out that the owner of this 💭body was named Kim Sunwoo. His location was called Mo Village.
Kim Sunwoo's grandfather was from a rich family of the area. His family was few in number, and, although he tried for a son, he only had two daughters.
Their names were not mentioned, but the elder one was the daughter of his principal wife, looking for a husband to marry into the family, while the younger one was the daughter of a servant.
The Mo family originally wanted to hastily give her to someone, but an adventure awaited her. When she was sixteen, the lord of a well-known gi cultivation house passed by the area and fell in love with her at first sight.
Everyone admired gi cultivators. Cultivation houses, in the eyes of common folk, were like people favored by the heavens, mysterious yet noble. In the beginning, the people of Mo Village regarded the topic with contempt, but because the House Lord often helped out, the Mo family received plenty of advantages
And so, the direction of the discussions changed, and the Mo family took pride in the matter, while everyone else also envied the opportunity. The second lady of Mo bore one son for the lord — Kim Sunwoo.
But not for long, since the House Lord was only involved with her to experiment with something new, he grew tired of it in a few years. After Sunwoo turned four, his father never came back again.
Gradually, the opinions of Mo Village's people changed again. The original contempt and scorn returned, alongside disdainful pity.
The second lady of Mo did not want to accept this. She firmly believed that the House Lord would not turn a deaf ear to his own son. Sure enough, when Sunwoo turned fourteen, the House Lord took him back.
The second lady stuck her nose up in the air again, and told everyone that her son would most certainly become a great cultivator as fast as he could, bringing glory to his ancestors.
However, before Sunwoo achieved success in cultivation and inherited his father's position, he was driven back.
On top of that, he was driven back shamefully.
Kim Sunwoo was a man who loved men, and had enough nerve to make his feelings known toward the other disciples. The scandal was revealed to the public and, as he had few achievements in terms of cultivation, there were no reasons for him to stay in the house.
Like adding frost to snow, aside from the event itself, when Sunwoo returned, he often behaved in a crazy manner, almost as if his life was scared out of him.
The story was almost too complex to be put into words. Jungkook's eyebrows twitched.
Jeon Jungkook
Not only a lunatic, a lunatic who loved men as well.💭
That explained why there were enough rouge and powder on his face to make him look like a hanged ghost, and also why nobody was surprised at the large, bloody array on the ground.
Even if Sunwoo painted the whole room red with blood, from the tiles on the ground to the walls to the ceiling, the others wouldn't be overly surprised. After all, everyone knew that his head had a screw loose.
After he went back home dejectedly, he was bombarded with ridicule. The situation seemed like it was beyond redemption, and the second lady of Mo, unable to withstand the blow, shortly choked to death due to the trauma.
At this time, Sunwoo's grandfather had already passed away. The first lady of Mo was in charge of the family, but ever since a young age, she had been unable to stand her younger sister, including her sister's son. She had only one child — Mo Jiwon — who happened to be the person who ransacked the place earlier.
When Sunwoo was taken away by his father, the first lady was jealous, and wanted to have even the slightest relationship with a cultivation house. She hoped that the cultivator who came would take Mo Jiwon to cultivate as well.
Of course, she was refused, or rather, ignored.
This was most certainly not a case of selling cabbage. One simply couldn't bargain, much less buy one and get another for free.
Strangely confident, this family all held the thought that Mo Jiwon had a lot of potential and talent. They believed that if, back then, he was sent instead, he would have won recognition from the house, unlike his disappointing cousin.
Although, when Sunwoo left, Mo Jiwon was still young, he was repeatedly instilled with nonsense such as this, and believed in it wholeheartedly. Every two or three days, he would find Sunwoo and humiliate him, cursing him for snatching his road to cultivation. At the same time, he found great interest in the bujok talismans, elixirs, and spiritual tools, regarding all of them as his possessions and doing whatever he wanted with them.
Although Sunwoo often switched in and out of being a maniac, he did understand that he was degraded by others. He tolerated it, but Mo Jiwon further intensified his behavior, almost emptying Sunwoo's whole room. His patience had finally drained out and he complained to his aunt and uncle, causing Mo Jiwon's commotion from this morning.
The words on the paper were small and compact, hurting Jungkook's eyes. He thought to himself
Jeon Jungkook
How fucked up is this person's life?💭
No wonder Kim Sunwoo would rather use the forbidden technique to sacrifice his body and ask villainous ghouls to take revenge.
The pain from his eyes transferred to his head. Supposedly, to use the forbidden technique, the caster would chant their wish silently. As the evil spirit being summoned, Jungkook should have been able to hear his specific requirements.
However, it was likely that Sunwoo had secretly copied fragmented excerpts of the technique, resulting in him skipping this step. Jungkook guessed that he wanted to take revenge on the Mo family, but how should he do it? To what extent? To retrieve the items that were taken from him? Or to beat up everyone of the Mo surname?
Jeon Jungkook
Or... to wipe out the entire family?💭
In all likelihood, it was probably to wipe out the entire family. After all, anyone who had touched upon the gi cultivation world would know what phrases were used most often to describe him — ungrateful, eccentric, indifferent to his own relatives, intolerable by the rule of Heaven, and other spectacular terms.
Jeon Jungkook
Was there anyone else more villainous than him? If Sunwoo had dared to summon him specifically, the wish was most likely not an easily fulfilled one.💭
Jeon Jungkook
*couldn't help but sigh*
Jeon Jungkook
"You've got the wrong person..."
Array — A magical formation drawn on the ground to cast spells and summon spirits.
House Lord / Ga-ju (가주) — The lord and leader of a noble gi cultivation house.
Wonhan Cultivation — The forbidden path of harnessing resentful energy from the dead.
Bujok (부적) — A spiritual talisman inscribed with incantations, used by gi cultivators.
3
Jungkook wanted to wash his face so that he could gaze upon the face of his body's owner, but there wasn't any water in the room, not even for drinking or washing. The only basin-like container was probably, he suspected, for lavatory purposes instead of cleansing.
He pushed the door, but it was fastened with a latch, most likely to prevent him from wandering outside. None of these things made him feel the joy of reincarnation at all.
He figured that he might as well sit in the lotus position and get used to his new home. Time flew by, and the day had passed. When he opened his eyes, sunlight seeped inside from the gaps of the door and windows. Although he could stand up and walk around, he still felt lightheaded.
Jeon Jungkook
*was puzzled*
Jeon Jungkook
Sunwoo's amount of gi is so insignificant that it could be ignored, so there shouldn't be a reason as to why I can't control this body properly. Why doesn't it work?💭
Then, a noise came from his stomach, and he realized that this wasn't related to his gi at all. In fact, it was because this body had not practiced inedia and felt hunger. If he didn't scavenge for food, he might become the first villainous ghoul who starved to death upon arrival.
Jungkook lifted his foot and was about to kick the door open, when, suddenly, the sound of footsteps approached. Someone stomped on the door and grunted, "It's mealtime!"
Nonetheless, there was no indication of the door being opened. Jungkook lowered his head and saw a miniature door with a small bowl set in front of it on the bottom of this one opening.
useless character
"Chop-chop! What are you waiting for? Take the bowl out after you finish!"
The door was slightly smaller than the kind for dogs to crawl through. It didn't allow the passage of humans, but bowls could be easily pushed inside. There were two dishes and one serving of rice, which looked quite unpleasant.
Jeon Jungkook
*played with the pair of chopsticks that were stuck into the rice, feeling quite bitter*
The Mangja Patriarch had just returned to the mortal world, but the first things he came upon were a kick and a scolding, not to mention the leftovers that served as his welcoming meal.
Where were the blood and gore? The ruthless slaughter? The absolute destruction? Who would have believed him? He was like the tiger in a flatland, the dragon in shallow water, the phoenix without feathers, losing his advantage and belittled by those weaker than him.
useless character
"A-Ding! Come here!"
useless character
*Then, the servant outside spoke again, but with laughter this time*
useless character
*The sweet voice of a girl answered from a distance,*
useless character
"A-Tong, are you delivering the meal to the one in there again?"
useless character
*A-Tong clicked his tongue* "Why else would I come to this ominous courtyard?"
useless character
"You just deliver one meal a day, and nobody cares if you're lazy. This is such an idle task, yet you think it's ominous. Look at me. I'm so busy, to the point that I can't even go outside to play."
useless character
"Delivering his meal is not the only work I do! How can you dare to go outside these days? With so many walking corpses out there, everyone's locking themselves in their houses."
Jeon Jungkook
*squatted by the door and listened as he ate.*
It appeared to be that, ever since a while ago, Mo Village hadn't been peaceful. Walking corpses, like their name, were dead people who could move, a type of low-level altered corpse. Unless the deceased person held strong resentment, they were usually dull-eyed and sluggish. They weren't overly dangerous, but they were enough to alarm the average person, especially with their vomit-inducing stench.
However, to Jungkook, they were the most obeying puppets. When he heard them being mentioned, he even felt a sense of familiarity.
useless character
"If you want to go outside, you'll have to take me so that I can protect you..."
useless character
"You? Protect me? Stop bragging. Are you sure you can defeat those things?"
useless character
"If I can't defeat them, other people can't either."
useless character
"How do you know that other people can't defeat them? Let me tell you — today, some cultivators came to Mo Village. I heard that they were from a very prominent house! The madame is talking to them in the main hall, and everyone in town is watching. Can't you hear the noise? I don't have time to play around with you; they might give me more work afterwards."
Jeon Jungkook
*listened attentively*
Sure enough, the faint bustling sounds of people came from the east. He pondered for a moment, stood up, and kicked on the door. It cracked with a clank.
At that moment, the two servants, A-Ding and A-Tong, were flirting with each other, and they screamed as the door suddenly flung open. Jungkook threw away his bowl and walked outside, flinching from the glare of the sunlight.
He brought his hand to the tip of his brow and closed his eyes for a moment. Just then, A-Tong screamed even louder than A-Ding, but as he took a closer look and realized that it was Sunwoo, the person whom everyone could humiliate, his courage came back to him
useless character
*figured that he probably lost face in front of A-Ding, and wanted to make up for it, so he jumped over and waved his hands like he was reproaching a dog,*
useless character
"Shoo! Shoo! Go away! Why did you come out?"
A-Tong treated him even worse than treating a beggar or a fly. Most of the time, all of the Mo family's servants treated Sunwoo like this because he never resisted.
Jeon Jungkook
*gave A-Tong a light kick, knocking him over, and laughed*
Jeon Jungkook
"How daring of a mere errand-running child to humiliate others like this."
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