Chapter 34
It hurts.
No joke, it hurts so much.
The wound from Dang Yeonmyeong's poison truly hurt. It felt like a branding iron searing an open wound.
There were a few reasons why I had to endure such pain.
First, Dang Yeonmyeong's prowess was higher than I expected. Since his decisive battle with the protagonist was years later, I thought his skill would be considerably lower, but at this rate, it's not much different from what I saw in the novel.
Second, I think I was also careless. Fighting a Poison Frog without getting bitten even once was an impossible feat.
I was too arrogant to believe I could achieve that impossible feat.
Still, I had no intention of losing to a man like him. I had a trump card.
However...
“Do not use it when the time is not right.”
...I was just very reluctant to use it.
But isn't now the right time to use it?
In front of me, a skunk is spraying its poisonous gas and approaching me, and no matter what, I'm poisoned.
Master will understand, right?
...Yes, he will understand.
Believing that, I slowly closed my eyes. Then, I slowly began to swing my Saber.
“I’ll kill you.”
Whoosh-!
As I closed my eyes, I felt Dang Yeonmyeong unleash his Poisonous Qi at me. Yet, I calmly swung my Saber.
How many years has it been? I don't remember exactly, but it's been a very long time since I last used it.
Nevertheless... my hands, already accustomed to it, naturally performed the Stance.
Thump-.
My body began to surge with energy. I accepted it and opened my eyes.
When I opened my eyes, Dang Yeonmyeong's Poisonous Qi had arrived right before my nose.
Without panicking, I...
“...<F1>Divine Art First Stance, Miji Pageom (Unknown Sword-Breaking)</F1>.”
...simply cut it down.
<F1>Dark Poison Fills the Sky</F1>, the ultimate realm of the <F1>Yongyeon Poison Scripture</F1>.
To manifest this and maintain its state, most of the poisons deeply embedded in his core had to be drawn out.
Since poison had already become one with Dang Yeonmyeong's life, this meant a direct reduction in his life force.
That's why he didn't want to use it.
Born as the second child of the Former Family Head, Dang Yeonmyeong always desired a high position, but he couldn't achieve it because of his elder brother.
So, he cultivated his power to become a Poison Master.
If he became a Poison Master, someone no one dared to touch, he could reach even higher places.
*“What a waste.”*
The current <F1>Dark Poison Fills the Sky</F1> is a technique capable of striking even the Strongest Under Heaven.
It was a waste for Dang Yeonmyeong to use this once-in-a-lifetime technique on a Young Master whose name he didn't even know.
‘I'll crush him thoroughly, to make up for this waste.’
Thinking so, Dang Yeonmyeong launched a <F1>Hwadoktan (Fire Poison Bomb)</F1> at the figure standing still. First, he planned to melt the opponent's arms and legs with poison to seal their movements, then inflict the greatest pain.
But then...
Snap-!
“...Huh?”
The fellow simply cut down the <F1>Hwadoktan (Fire Poison Bomb)</F1> he launched.
If he had merely blocked the attack, he wouldn't have been so surprised. But the fellow literally cut the poison.
“...How?”
Poisonous Qi can be blocked. One can collide with it using a stronger energy and disperse it.
But it cannot be cut. Yet...
“How-!”
What was this sight before his eyes?
A sword cutting poison!
A sword can cut rock. A sword can cut mountains.
But a sword cannot cut the sky.
A sword cannot cut the intangible.
Yet, the fellow before him was cutting the poison as if it were a flying arrow.
At this unbelievable sight, Dang Yeonmyeong stared blankly. As a Martial Artist himself, he couldn't help but gaze at such incredible martial prowess.
Swish-!
He cuts.
He slowly cuts the Poisonous Qi that enveloped him.
His Saber, scattering countless particles of Gang, cut through the Poisonous Qi.
From the moment the fellow slowly approached and was suddenly close, Dang Yeonmyeong regained his senses. He then began his final resistance.
Whoosh-!!
He unleashed Poisonous Qi towards the fellow, and he threw a dagger hidden in his sleeve, imbued with powerful Internal Cultivation, from his other side.
However...
Snap-!!
“...How is that even possible!”
He cuts again.
Cutting Poisonous Qi was now a given, but this time, he also cut the dagger imbued with Internal Cultivation.
He didn't cut the dagger. He cut the Internal Cultivation.
The dagger, having lost its power, fell to the ground.
With even his contingency plan failing, Dang Yeonmyeong, momentarily flustered, calmly observed the fellow.
Unless a Martial God had been reincarnated, even such absurd Martial Arts must have a weakness.
And then...
“...Ah!”
He quickly found something strange.
Swoosh-.
Slow.
The one who had previously moved with a speed that Dang Yeonmyeong's eyes couldn't easily follow was now slow, like an ordinary person who hadn't learned Martial Arts.
He didn't know the exact reason, whether it was to maintain that absurd Saber Art... or if that Saber also shattered the wielder's Internal Cultivation, but whatever the case, the fellow wielding the Saber couldn't move as he normally would.
Dang Yeonmyeong's conjecture was precisely correct.
<F1>Miji Pageom (Unknown Sword-Breaking)</F1>.
It was an absurd technique that could cut down an opponent's Internal Cultivation and energy, but at the same time, it also limited the user's own Internal Cultivation.
This was because using <F1>Miji Pageom (Unknown Sword-Breaking)</F1> required intense concentration to finely divide and control Gang into minute particles, leading to extreme consumption of Internal Energy.
While one limits the opponent's Internal Cultivation, one's own Internal Cultivation is also restricted.
In such a situation, all that remained was a life-or-death struggle between ordinary people, relying solely on External Cultivation.
And this time, the fight between those two “ordinary people” was...
“Ughhhhh-!!”
...a fight between one strikingly young man and one old man, whose years had clearly passed.
Dang Yeonmyeong, who had lived as a Martial Artist for decades, was reminded, for the first time in a very long time, of his childhood before he learned Martial Arts.
The only difference was that instead of his light and nimble young body, he now had only an old, decrepit one.
“...Uwaaaah-!!”
Dang Yeonmyeong let out a battle cry and pulled a dagger from his sleeve, throwing it at the fellow. But once again, his dagger's Internal Cultivation was cut, ...
Clang-clang-!
It was blocked and fell to the ground.
“Haaah...”
Seeing this, Dang Yeonmyeong finally began to feel the fear of death. His boasted <F1>Dark Poison Fills the Sky</F1> had already lost its meaning.
After all, the fellow would just cut the Poisonous Qi again.
Nor did he have the confidence to face the fellow with only External Cultivation and no Internal Energy. He was old, while his opponent was strikingly young.
Moreover...
Clang-!!
*“Damn it...!”*
The opponent was pressing Dang Yeonmyeong with a long saber, while he only had short daggers as weapons.
At a glance, facing a Saber with daggers was a significant disadvantage.
When he, feeling wronged by that fact, cried out indignantly...
“I only have a few daggers now...! This isn't fair!”
“Well, you should've chosen your weapon better when you were first born.”
...the fellow was already right in front of him.
The fellow chuckled as if finding it ridiculous, and continued with words Dang Yeonmyeong had spoken earlier.
“And... what's cowardly in a fight? Winning is all that matters.”
“You...”
Dang Yeonmyeong tried to say something more, but the fellow didn't wait and swung his saber.
Snap-.
Thus, Dang Yeonmyeong was beheaded on the spot, along with the poisons he had proudly accumulated throughout his life.
**
“Haaah... how...”
Even while suffering from Gu Poison, Haomun Leader Dang Wolhwa couldn't take her eyes off the scene before her.
As one of the people with the most information Under Heaven, she knew many truths that were unbelievable to even hear.
But none of them could compare to what she was witnessing now. Even though she saw everything with her own eyes, she simply couldn't believe it.
What she did see clearly, however, was... that Dang Yeonmyeong, who had oppressed her entire life, had fallen, along with the Poisonous Qi that had accompanied his body.
Thud-.
She dragged her dizzy body and moved to witness his final moments.
“Sir, Esteemed Young Master...”
“Hmm? What is it? You can move? Ah, you want to see that man die?”
Muyeon pointed downwards with an indifferent expression and continued.
“It wasn't deeply embedded, so he didn't die instantly. He'll die soon, though. Go on, say something to him.”
When the Haomun Leader looked down at his words, Dang Yeonmyeong was indeed still alive, his body twitching.
Muyeon spoke to the Haomun Leader, who was staring blankly at Dang Yeonmyeong.
“Or do you want to finish him off?”
“May I?”
“Doesn't matter.”
After Muyeon's permission was given, she moved closer to Dang Yeonmyeong. However, even as she approached, Dang Yeonmyeong's eyes were fixed solely on Muyeon.
He kept calling Muyeon, his expression showing he had a lot he wanted to say.
“Your, your name, what is it...?”
“...”
“What is the true nature of the Martial Arts you just used...?”
“...”
“I, I must have been killed by someone who will become the Strongest Under Heaven in the future...? I'll be remembered in history like that...? Yes, yes, that's not a meaningless death...”
Even at the moment of his death, he was concerned about how he would be recorded.
Yes, this was the kind of person he truly was.
His Family, his wife, his daughter... nothing was more than a tool for him to climb higher.
Disgusted by this, Dang Wolhwa held back her tears and calmly told him.
“That will absolutely not happen. You will not be remembered by future generations.”
“Wh-what...?”
Only then did Dang Yeonmyeong's gaze turn to Dang Wolhwa. Dang Wolhwa suppressed her rage and spoke into his ear.
“You will merely be an idiot who indulges himself at a Courtesan House, enjoying himself lavishly before meeting a meaningless death. I will make sure of it.”
“The Family the Family won't just stand by...”
“This is Haomun. It's a place where we can make it seem like anyone killed anyone, or anyone saved anyone, and turn any hero into a mere street ruffian. I will make you someone who met a pathetic death.”
Dang Wolhwa said so and looked up at Muyeon. He nodded and, instead, chuckled.
“Do as you please. Ah, if you're going to do it, why not say he got drunk, fell into an outhouse, and died of *shit poisoning*? That would be amusing, wouldn't it?”
“Father, do you like that idea?”
“Ugh...”
Dang Yeonmyeong, naturally displeased, grimaced.
Ah, so this person was capable of making such an expression.
Gritting her teeth, Dang Wolhwa pushed past the futility of the years she had suffered under Dang Yeonmyeong and bid her father her final farewell.
“No one will remember you. Not I, not Mother... no one. So.”
Her final words were the last drop, condensing all the emotions she had harbored.
“Become a lonely spirit and wander the Netherworld bitterly for all eternity, you *son of a bitch*.”
And those were the last words Dang Yeonmyeong heard before he died.