How to Live as a Mage in the Murim World

Chapter 33 – Episode 7: Demonic Cultivator (7)

“Huff, huff.”

Gal Sa-ryang staggered out of the poisonous mosquito cloud.

Even injured, he was still a master on the cusp of the Peak Realm. In that brief moment, he had curled his body to minimize exposure surface area, channeled energy into his robes to swat the insects, and then immediately used lightness skill to escape.

‘I need to flee.’

Despite his efforts, dozens of mosquitoes had already bitten him. Some had even burrowed beneath his clothes.

“Damn it!”

Gal Sa-ryang rolled his body on the ground.

This allowed him to kill the mosquitoes that had crawled under his clothes. But it was truly a humiliating moment.

“You fucking bastard, I’ll rip you apart!”

Demonic qi flared in Gal Sa-ryang’s eyes as he slashed wildly with his claws, shredding the air with razor-sharp claw qi.

“Show yourself, you bastard! I’ll tear you to shreds!”

“What kind of idiot would show himself after hearing that?”

“There you are!”

Having pinpointed the source of the voice, Gal Sa-ryang lunged forward without hesitation.

Sure enough, when he pushed through the bushes, he saw Zhuge Hyeonmong with a startled expression.

Eyes full of killing intent, Gal Sa-ryang slashed with his claw.

CRACK!

With that, several of his fingers broke.

“Argh!?”

Zhuge Hyeonmong’s illusion had vanished in an instant.

All he felt was the unyielding surface of the cliff.

Even with his claw qi, striking a cliff with a poorly aimed blow was bound to result in injury.

‘I definitely heard the voice, though?’

Gal Sa-ryang panted heavily. Then he realized.

His senses were becoming severely distorted.

The poison from the hidden weapon and the toxins he had laced the mosquitoes with—they were all boiling inside him now.

‘No, but even so…’

A second later, he noticed something else and flung away the poison pouch at his waist. A subtle trace of poison powder trailed into his breath, and it’s coming from his pocket.

‘I must escape.’

Why should he be cornered like this?

Rage burned at the unfairness, but instinct screamed at him—fighting Zhuge Hyeonmong in this terrain was suicide.

‘The exit must be close!’

With that thought, Gal Sa-ryang launched himself forward.

Then, a doubt flashed through his mind.

For an unknown reason, Zhuge Hyeonmong had perfectly mastered the Illusory Dream Formation. He could warp the Formation and show any illusions at will.

If that was the case.

‘Is the exit I see… really the exit?’

“Of course not.”

As if reading his mind, Zhuge Hyeonmong’s voice reached him, and Gal Sa-ryang skidded to a halt.

He was one step away from the exit.

But his senses told him the truth.

Had he taken one more step, he would not have escaped through the exit but would have slipped and tumbled into an abyss.

‘Fuck!’

Gal Sa-ryang gritted his teeth.

If he hadn’t suffered internal injuries.

If he’d realized sooner that Zhuge Hyeonmong could manipulate the Formation.

If that bastard hadn’t triggered the hidden weapon in his robes with some unknown sorcery.

Countless what-ifs flashed through his mind before cold realization settled in.

“You… planned all this.”

‘Of course not.’

Zhuge Hyeonmong exhaled quietly.

His Ring was already near its limit.

He was showing capabilities beyond his actual level by borrowing the natural energy and spells within the established Illusory Dream Formation, but that didn’t mean it placed no burden on Zhuge Hyeonmong.

If he had calculated all of this from the start, he wouldn’t have been kidnapped in the first place, nor would he have driven himself to this point.

He had simply done his best. It was sheer luck that things had unfolded so favorably.

So Zhuge Hyeonmong opened his mouth.

“Do you really think so?”

“…”

For the first time in his life, Gal Sa-ryang felt fear toward someone weaker than himself.

Not denying was as good as confirming.

Gal Sa-ryang took a deep breath.

Suppressing the poison in his body, he regained his composure.

“Let’s make a deal.”

“After breaking your word and trying to kill me?”

“You can’t hold me here forever. And no matter what sorcery you use, you can’t kill me.”

Hearing talk of sorcery coming from the mouth of a Demonic Cultivator, Zhuge Hyeonmong’s expression turned strange.

But regardless of his feelings, Gal Sa-ryang’s words weren’t wrong. In this situation, Zhuge Hyeonmong truly had no way to subdue Gal Sa-ryang.

‘If only I had one more Ring…’

He had that thought, but there was no point in wishing something impossible.

“Release the formation. I swear by the Demon God, I’ll forget all these grudges.”

“How can I believe that?”

“Believe it or not, I’ll kill you even if that’s the last thing I do!”

Gal Sa-ryang’s roar still had strength in it.

Zhuge Hyeonmong, feeling his limit approaching, nodded.

“Fine. Go ahead.”

Squeezing out his last bit of strength, Zhuge Hyeonmong released the illusion of the Illusory Dream Formation trapping Gal Sa-ryang.

Gal Sa-ryang didn’t doubt it.

Within the formation, he had constantly felt a sense of interference, a disconnect between his qi perception and his five senses.

But with Zhuge Hyeonmong’s small manipulation, that feeling vanished.

With no more energy interfering with his five senses, Gal Sa-ryang couldn’t help but be certain.

Unlike the fake entrance he had seen earlier, the real exit was now visible before his eyes.

“Good choice!”

With that shout, Gal Sa-ryang propelled his body forward before Zhuge Hyeonmong could change his mind.

Not that it mattered if he did change his mind.

Now that he had seen the way out, he could escape even with his senses blinded.

Limping away, humiliation burned in his chest.

He had been toyed with and nearly forced to beg for his life by someone far beneath him.

“Zhuge Hyeonmong, was it? I will have my revenge.”

Gal Sa-ryang muttered quietly as he moved forward, then suddenly stopped in his tracks.

“Well, hello there.”

“…”

“Hmm, what should I call you? Demonic scum? Parentless bastard?”

A burly middle-aged man wrapped in tiger skin, looking every bit like a mountain bandit, was staring at him with a fierce gaze.

“Tyrannical Strength Great Axe Ma Jin-gwang!?”

Why was this Peak Realm expert standing here?

“When our clever little strategist told me to wait on the other side of the valley just in case, I had my doubts, but it seems I never lose by listening to him. As expected of our Zhang Fei.”

“It’s Zhuge Liang…”

Gal Sa-ryang jerked his head around.

Zhuge Hyeonmong limped into view while leaning on his cane. His face was gaunt from the ordeal he had endured.

He looked like he might collapse any second.

The muscle pain from traveling for three days, the physical suffering from being pressured by Gal Sa-ryang in various ways and the splitting headache from interfering with and controlling the techniques of the Illusory Dream Formation had taken its toll on his body.

Even though he was ready to collapse at any moment, Zhuge Hyeonmong opened his mouth.

“That man is the Valley Master who created the Ghost Well Valley!”

Hearing this absurd accusation out of nowhere, Gal Sa-ryang gasped involuntarily.

“What kind of bullshit—”

“I knew it!”

He couldn’t finish his sentence.

Ma Jin-gwang hefted his great axe and swung it toward Gal Sa-ryang.

Faced with a strike from a Peak Realm master, Gal Sa-ryang hastily raised both hands, but—

“Die, you parentless scum!”

His hands split like well-dried firewood, and Gal Sa-ryang’s head flew into the air.

Seeing this, Zhuge Hyeonmong let out a sigh of relief.

‘I-It’s over.’

How unlucky he had been.

As he collapsed to the ground, Zhuge Hyeonmong realized something.

This was the kind of absurdity that should only happen once in a lifetime.

Yet somehow, he had the sinking feeling it wouldn’t be the last. There was no particular basis for this thought, but Zhuge Hyeonmong was sure of it.

‘Ring, I need to make form more Ring… or at least find a way to protect myself.’

“Hey, kid! Are you alright?”

Hearing Ma Jin-gwang’s voice, Zhuge Hyeonmong lost consciousness.

***

Zhuge Hyeonmong woke up three days later.

Even then, his physical condition was far from normal. The fatigue, mental strain, and severe mana depletion left him bedridden.

As a result, he had to decline all visitors and was carried back to Chengdu like luggage.

Even after that, he had to roll around in pain for a while, and only when it marked the fifteenth day since the incident could he get up from bed.

‘Not bad.’

Zhuge Hyeonmong thought while lying on his side.

He had been disappointed that his vacation was over, but getting to another one with a legitimate(?) excuse wasn’t so bad.

Especially since it gave him time to organize his insights.

The unexpected brush with death and the desperate struggle for survival had inadvertently led to a profound enlightenment.

Moreover, it seemed the ordeal had expanded his mana capacity as well.

Above all, the types of spells he could wield had also increased.

Zhuge Hyeonmong flicked his magic wand, which Im Jin-gyu had found and returned to him.

As mana constructed the spell according to the formula, it projected an image of the outside world within his room.

‘This much, huh?’

His near-death experience manipulating the Illusionary Dream Formation had revealed the core principle behind it. This Formation wasn’t about showing non-existent illusions.

Instead, it reflected what already existed, like a mirror.

It wasn’t a true illusion magic, but… it was quite useful nonetheless.

For instance, he could observe the outside world from the comfort of his home, like now.

Of course, there were distance limitations, and the mana consumption wasn’t small.

The reason Zhuge Hyeonmong could freely display illusions within the Illusionary Dream Formation was solely because he had interfered with its pre-existing spell structure.

Even that alone was difficult enough to put strain on his Ring, so creating a complete illusion with his power alone was quite difficult.

‘One way or another, I need more Ring and mana.’

Then, he saw them.

Sima Lin, Zhuge Jun, and other members of the Murim’s rising generation are approaching his place.

‘What’s going on?’

Honestly, this was annoying.

These youngsters hadn’t done anything to offend him deeply, but interactions with martial artists always seemed to lead to trouble.

‘Let’s pretend I’m not home…’

“If you don’t come out, I’ll smash this door to pieces.”

“Coming!”

Zhuge Hyeonmong jumped up at Tang Hwa-ryeong’s words.

He dispelled the spell and opened the door to find—just as he had seen in the illusion—two men and three women standing there.

“It’s been a while. Have you been well?”

“No. But you seem to have been doing well.”

“After being kidnapped by a Demonic Cultivator, suffering physical and mental wounds, how could I be well? I’ve been desperate to recover.”

Sima Lin forced a smile at Zhuge Hyeonmong’s smooth-talking.

‘I really want to rip out that tongue of his.’

Perhaps Zhuge Hyeonmong’s true talent lay not in magic, but in his ability to infuriate people?

Shelving that thought, Sima Lin continued.

“Anyway, we came here today to help you.”

“Help… me?”

“Yes. We waited, thinking you’d eventually show yourself, but you were stubbornly holed up inside. Do you always enjoy staying home this much?”

Zhuge Hyeonmong decided that blaming the Demonic Cultivator might get him punched, so he changed the subject.

“What kind of help? I don’t really need—”

“You need to write a report for the Murim Alliance.”

“Ah.”

Zhuge Hyeonmong finally realized why they had come.

It had slipped his mind because it was low on his priority list, but it was indeed important.