Chapter 135
Chapter 135
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 135
Chapter Title: The God-Slaying Martial Art
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‘Got him.’
The North Sea Sect Master stood motionless, gazing at the frozen Dark Venerable, utterly convinced of his victory.
The Heart-Freezing Poison he had unleashed was on another level entirely compared to those used by other ice path experts.
It was a cursed venom crafted by pouring shamanic spells and his own obsessions into the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Crystal, a treasure handed down exclusively to North Sea Sect Masters through the generations.
No matter how much the Dark Venerable had reached the realm of being impervious to all poisons, that applied only to toxins his body had some resistance to.
This poison transcended such categories entirely, so the Dark Venerable could never evade it.
Of course, the North Sea Sect Master had paid a heavy price as well—losing one leg and suffering severe damage to his internals—but injuries like these were fully treatable.
Ascending to the Star Realm meant one could draw in the pure energies of the stars.
No matter how grave the wounds, he could revive himself countless times using stellar essence.
‘Though I wasted one of my cherished Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Crystals, capturing the Dark Venerable makes it a profit—’
But the North Sea Sect Master’s thoughts didn’t last long.
The Dark Venerable’s lips, which should have been immobile, began to twitch ever so slightly.
“Ma for numb, ra for spicy—Sichuan folk have long enjoyed a vast array of fiery flavors.”
The corner of the Dark Venerable’s mouth twisted.
He was smiling. A mischievous, impish grin.
Yet for some reason, that smile struck the North Sea Sect Master with fear for the first time.
Just like when he had first encountered the shamans!
“I’ve always loved spicy flavors myself. Why else would I, as a child, taste all sorts of poisons under the pretext of training in poison arts, experiencing an eerie variety of sensations?”
Fwaaaaa!
The North Sea Sect Master hurriedly circulated his inner energy.
The absolute zero chill grew even colder.
The cold wind sharpened into a blade gale.
The frost forming in the air clumped together into a massive sword that plummeted toward the Dark Venerable’s head.
It resembled a giant guillotine.
Snowy Ice White Art
Winter General
“So this was supposed to be a new flavor? What a letdown. My wicked little brother’s poisons are better than this.”
The Dark Venerable brought his hand to his left chest.
The frost that had locked his joints shattered and scattered like dust.
Thud…!!
His palm pressed against his chest. Then the formless venom surged through his veins, fiercely stimulating his heart.
The frozen heart began to beat again.
The sound was so thunderous it hammered the North Sea Sect Master’s eardrums.
At the same time, the tri-colored radiance blazed even more brilliantly.
The petals drifting in the air shot straight up en masse, shattering the ice blade to pieces.
Kaboom!!
“How in the world…!”
The North Sea Sect Master’s teeth chattered as he watched the Dark Venerable casually straighten his back once more.
He couldn’t believe it.
He had clearly frozen the heart. The blood vessels were all blocked, cutting off oxygen to the brain.
So consciousness should have faded, leading inevitably to death.
How had he moved his body?
It wasn’t the heart reviving that restored consciousness—no, he had first regained consciousness and then awakened the heart.
It defied all common sense.
Sizzle!
But the miracle didn’t end there.
The wounds scattered across the Dark Venerable’s body began healing at a rapid pace.
The hole in his left shoulder, the gash in his abdomen, the scrape on his side—all were enveloped in tri-colored light and vanished cleanly.
Now, the Dark Venerable looked no different from when he had first stood before the North Sea Sect Master.
It was absurd vitality.
“Once you ascend to the Star Realm, you see, the upper dantian develops abnormally, and the nourished spirit begins to take solid form. It’s the process of the soul gradually shedding its mortal shell to become a true god.”
As if reading the North Sea Sect Master’s doubts, the Dark Venerable tapped his temple with his index finger.
“That’s why the body isn’t all that important to us. It’s merely a frame to protect the nourished spirit—damage it, and we just repair it.”
The North Sea Sect Master’s face hardened.
He understood exactly what that meant.
“…You can evade death?”
“Indeed. For us, physical life and death no longer apply. If we wish, we can reclaim our youth and live for centuries.”
“!”
“The nourished spirit just needs to remain intact. The nourished spirit just needs to remain intact. Even with a frozen heart, I can force my hand to move via void grasp and awaken it.”
The corner of the Dark Venerable’s mouth twisted wide.
“But you seem utterly clueless about this? Even though you’ve ascended to the Star Realm yourself.”
“…This seat—”
“It’s because yours is only half-baked.”
“!!”
“Truth be told, I’ve been curious ever since we met. Your aura clearly marks you as Star Realm, yet your overall prowess falls just short. Like having a fine tool but no idea how to use it properly?”
“…….”
“And now I’m certain. Your realm wasn’t achieved through your own efforts. Only relentless personal training brings true understanding—but you just took what was handed to you, so of course you don’t know how to wield it.”
In that moment, the North Sea Sect Master felt utterly exposed before the Dark Venerable.
Deep shame washed over him.
He too had gritted his teeth and strived because his realm wasn’t truly his own.
To fully make it his.
But had that not been enough?
“Eek, tsk tsk. What a pity. Blessed with fortune overflowing your vessel, only to lose it all in vain.”
“Shut your mouth!!”
The North Sea Sect Master roared furiously and formed hand seals.
Dozens of ice spikes materialized behind him, and the ground turned into an even thicker sheet of ice.
Kwarung!
The ice spikes rained down on the Dark Venerable’s head.
Ice thorns burst through the ice sheet, targeting his nape.
The Dark Venerable lightly swung his right arm to the side.
The hidden weapons spiraled massively, pulverizing the spikes and thorns, then whipped up a blizzard that barreled straight at the North Sea Sect Master.
The projectiles were small, but their power was brutally violent.
Like boulders from a siege catapult.
The North Sea Sect Master hastily erected multiple layers of ice walls.
But the hidden weapons smashed through them mercilessly.
They closed in on his brow in an instant.
“!!”
He twisted the North Sea Saber’s trajectory at the last second, barely slicing it apart.
Wooong!
Boom—
The North Sea Saber trembled violently as if in agony, and an explosion rocked the spot where the bisected projectile had embedded.
Dust clouds billowed outward.
Mixed in were shards and powder from the shattered ice sheet.
But the North Sea Sect Master had no time to care.
The hidden weapons kept coming relentlessly.
A barrage.
Pew pew pew pew pew!
Dozens hammered the North Sea Saber.
Each time, his qi cleaved them, but the accumulating shockwaves rattled the blade.
The North Sea Sect Master couldn’t fully withstand the impacts and was pushed back steadily.
Already down to one leg, maintaining balance was hard enough—now the full-body tremors made his bones ache.
Bang!
Finally, the North Sea Saber could endure no more and snapped, flying into the air.
From the North Sea Ice Palace to the Doma North Sea Sect, the divine relic symbolizing the Sect Master’s authority for so long had been broken by mere hidden weapons from some Namgung Clan forge.
It felt like a proclamation of the North Sea Sect Master’s doom.
‘This can’t—’
His thoughts didn’t last.
The pursuing hidden weapons riddled his body.
Pew pew pew pew thwack!
His shoulder exploded. His remaining organs were utterly pulverized. His last knee shattered, and half his face was blown away.
Six projectiles pierced his heart, obliterating it.
With his half-ruined jaw, the North Sea Sect Master screamed.
The mental agony outweighed the physical pain, driving him to despair.
—Overwhelming dominance.
Such a skill gap was incomprehensible.
Even if his realm was dismissed as unearned, this disparity made no sense.
Step, step…!
The Dark Venerable slowly approached.
“Twenty-odd years ago, when I met the shedder who descended from the tower, I was forced to feel utter powerlessness.”
He was smiling. But not his eyes.
A gaze filled with bitter resentment.
“I had to watch helplessly as the children who were like my own were lost right before my eyes. I couldn’t do a thing there. The shedder, the half-immortals—they seemed utterly beyond humanity. And I was already counted among the Ten Great Masters of the world back then.”
The North Sea Sect Master realized the incident the Dark Venerable spoke of was the annihilation of the old Gale Force.
The Gale Force had been marching on the Heavenly Mountains when they were slaughtered by a single person.
As mere ‘pastime’ for the shedder.
“So imagine the despair I felt. But I was different from you. You fled and allied with them, but I did not.”
Thud!
The Dark Venerable was already before the North Sea Sect Master.
“I had to exact vengeance, no matter what.”
“!”
Now the North Sea Sect Master could read the fury in the Dark Venerable’s eyes. Deep beneath the unsmiling pupils, one emotion churned like a massive torrent.
So primal it instinctively evoked terror in him.
He, the North Sea Sect Master, had always brought fear to the martial world—but the Dark Venerable was instilling fear in him.
“How could I share the heavens with my enemies? How could I go on living without tearing apart those half-baked self-proclaimed gods?”
Now the North Sea Sect Master was being swept into that emotional maelstrom, slowly drowning.
“That’s why I created this Companion Triple Yang Return to Origin Art.”
The Dark Venerable’s words from when he had revealed his companion incarnations came back.
‘Why assume I’ve never encountered them until now?’
‘!?’
‘I’ll show you now. What I’ve prepared over these twenty-odd years to devour those half-baked immortals.’
Now he understood.
The Companion Triple Yang Return to Origin Art the Dark Venerable had created was made from the start to target the shamans and the tower.
‘A martial art of god-slaying, born solely from the obsession to kill gods…!!’
How audacious.
To kill gods.
The problem was, the Dark Venerable before him seemed fully capable of it.
“You said your demonic cult became the shedders’ vanguard, devouring my clan and advancing on the Central Plains? No. Wrong.”
The Dark Venerable brought his hand over the North Sea Sect Master’s face.
“My clan will first devour your demonic cult, then press on to swallow the tower whole. This is the campaign I began for that purpose—so it should be entertaining to watch from the heavens above.”
“!!!”
Only then did the North Sea Sect Master grasp the Dark Venerable’s true aim.
Not mere conquest of the Central Plains, but ascending the tower…!
Sizzle!
His thoughts ended there.
The formless venom had already melted his entire body into a puddle of essence.
“…….”
The Dark Venerable turned away, hands clasped behind his back.
And so the war ended.
Cheers echoed from somewhere.