Far More Terrifying Than Poison

Doksimma turned his head slowly—agonizingly slowly.

The air hung so oppressive that his neck felt as though it were creaking with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠rust. The man stood directly behind him. Though clad in ordinary martial robes, the aura radiating from his frame was utterly unhuman. A sickening vertigo seized Doksimma, as if he were teetering on the brink of a bottomless abyss.

"Wh-who are you...?"

Doksimma's lips trembled violently. Instincts honed through decades of clawing his way through the murim screamed a frantic warning: Do not fight this man. You cannot win. Not ever.

Dokgo Jin offered no answer. He merely looked down at him with frigid eyes. That cold gaze alone gripped Doksimma's heart in an agonizing vise.

"Khhk...!" Doksimma groaned, stumbling backward. The pressure was suffocating; Dokgo Jin dominated the entire space simply by standing there.

"Urgh...!"

One by one, the disciples of the Ghost Demon Sect dropped their weapons and collapsed to their knees. Terror spread among them like a contagion.

Where did such a monster come from...?!

Every fiber of Doksimma's being urged him to sink to the earth alongside his men, but he bit down savagely on his lip instead. The skin split, filling his mouth with the metallic tang of blood. That sharp sting was enough to anchor his crumbling resolve.

I am... Doksimma!

Thud!

Doksimma kicked off the ground, a scream tearing from his lungs like a war cry.

"Kraaah!"

His blade, laden with fierce saber qi, hurtled toward Dokgo Jin's throat. It was the Ghost Shadow Slash—his fatal signature strike, which had severed the heads of countless foes.

Yet Dokgo Jin did not budge. He merely raised the index finger of his left hand.

Ssshh!

Shrouded in Ink Flame Qi, his finger struck the flat of the incoming blade with pinpoint precision.

CLANG—!

An ear-splitting metallic shriek erupted—a sound so deafening it seemed impossible to have been born from flesh meeting steel.

The shockwave traveling down the blade slammed into Doksimma like the blow of a colossal warhammer.

"Gah!"

Pain lanced through his wrist as if the bone had snapped. The trajectory of his slash was violently twisted aside, sending the blade cutting through empty air without so much as grazing the hem of Dokgo Jin's robes.

"Is this the best you can do?" Dokgo Jin murmured, his gaze utterly devoid of warmth.

Doksimma's pupils trembled in disbelief.

Cold steel won't work on this monster!

Yet he still had his final trump card. Scrambling backward, Doksimma whipped his wide sleeves forward in desperation.

I will show you why they call ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me Doksimma!

His alias did not merely signify that he harbored a venomous heart—it proclaimed that his deadliest weapon was poison itself.

The moment his sleeves billowed, a thick emerald fog erupted from his palms like an explosion.

Whoosh!

It was the Green Soul Poison Mist.

A supreme poison he prided himself on above all else, it dissolved flesh upon the slightest contact and twisted internal organs into mush the instant it was inhaled.

Seeing the emerald plume, Wi Geum-seong cried out in alarm.

"Young Master, get back! That's—!"

A sinister grin spread across Doksimma's face.

At this distance, even the realm's greatest master couldn't evade it!

The Green Soul Poison was vile enough to corrode protective qi itself. Evasion was the only defense in the world. At least, that was what Doksimma believed.

Chssssss—!

The emerald mist swallowed Dokgo Jin whole. Surrounding grass scorched to black ash in an instant, and the stones beneath his feet began to hiss and liquefy—a horrific, ravenous venom.

"Hehehe! No matter how formidable you are, in there, even your bones won't—"

Doksimma's cackle cut short. His eyes stretched wide with disbelief.

Within the swirling fog, a dark silhouette stirred.

The moment the emerald poison touched Dokgo Jin, it vanished like an illusion. As though a colossal predator were gorging itself, the pitch-black darkness enveloping him drank in the venom.

Sluuurp.

With an eerie siphoning sound, the Green Soul Poison Mist spiraled inward, devoured directly into Dokgo Jin's dantian.

The Nine Nether Dark Sky Scripture.

The energy of the Nine Nethers, dredged from the deepest floor of hell, was the apex predator over all impure and sinister forces under heaven. Poison was merely another form of turbid qi—and before the Abyss, it was nothing more than a morsel of food.

"What in the world...?"

The poison mist vanished in the blink of an eye. Dokgo Jin stood completely unruffled, not a thread of his robes harmed. If anything, his pupils gleamed with an even darker, ink-black sheen after consuming the poison.

"Boring," Dokgo Jin murmured in a low voice. "Did you truly place your faith in such crude venom?"

"I-Immunity to all poisons...?! No, that's impossible! To take the Green Soul Poison Mist with your bare flesh and remain unscathed?!"

The man before him was a monster beyond all reason. Doksimma staggered backward in sheer horror.

Step.

Dokgo Jin advanced.

"S-Stay back!"

Doksimma screamed, trying to brandish his blade, but his limbs refused to obey. Before he could even register the motion, Dokgo Jin's hand clamped around his throat.

Crack.

A sickening crunch rang out as Dokgo Jin hoisted Doksimma into the air by his neck. As Doksimma thrashed helplessly, Dokgo Jin's icy glare pierced his eyes like a pair of daggers.

"Ke-krrk...!"

"I will teach you that there are things far more horrifying than poison."

A black haze wafted from Dokgo Jin's grip. Slithering down Doksimma's throat like a serpent, it burrowed deep into his meridians in a fraction of a heartbeat. It was the Ink Flame Qi, welling from the deepest fathom of the darkness—an abyssal power that made the Green Soul Poison look like child's play.

"Aaaaagh!"

A bloodcurdling shriek tore through the night.

Seeping into the marrow of his bones, the Ink Flame Qi voraciously devoured and incinerated Doksimma's internal energy without restraint.

"Khh-uuugh..."

Reduced in mere seconds to a husk dry as a withered leaf, Doksimma was casually tossed to the ground.

Thud.

With every shred of life drained from him, Doksimma could not withstand even the minor impact against the dirt. He died instantly.

Overwhelming subjugation. It transcended a mere disparity in martial skill; it was a fundamental chasm in existential rank.

"H-How can this be...?"

"The Vice Sect Leader... slain without being able to lift a finger..."

The remaining Ghost Demon Sect disciples shrank back in abject terror. The man before them was not human. He was darkness incarnate.

With impassive eyes, Dokgo Jin slowly swept his gaze across the trembling prey.

"Experience it yourselves."

The disciples gasped.

Dokgo Jin extended his blackened hands to either side. At his gesture, the coiled Abyss burst forth.

ROOOAR!

A tempest of dark-crimson Ink Flame Qi cascaded in every direction. There was nowhere to run. Frozen in terror, the Ghost Demon Sect disciples could not even muster a scream before the black tsunami crashed over them.

"Gah!"

Their bodies contorted grotesquely. The Ink Flame Qi did not merely batter their flesh; like a ravenous beast, it ferociously tore into and swallowed the wicked arts and turbid energy they had spent their entire lives cultivating.

"Aaaargh!"

"S-Spare me...!"

Convulsing in agony as though their bodies were being ripped apart at the seams, more than a dozen disciples collapsed across the dirt. In the span of a breath, the courtyard fell utterly silent.

Amidst the gruesome aftermath, only Dokgo Jin remained standing tall.

Beholding that majestic spectacle, Wi Geum-seong wept even as a smile broke across his face.

The Young Master... is this strong!

With his own experience, he could not even begin to fathom the height of the realm Dokgo Jin had reached. It mattered not that this was not the martial arts of the Dokgo Clan. With power like this, he was certain that no matter what kind of monster the culprit behind their clan's demise was, Dokgo Jin could conquer them.

It was the first time Dokgo Jin had unleashed so much energy since emerging from the Death Forest. Even when confronting the Dragon Tiger Pavilion Master or the Corpse Blood Demon, he had kept shackles upon himself. The time had not yet come to reveal his true power to the world.

Not until I seize the tail of the culprit.

Their enemies were meticulous, wicked, and relentless. Revealing his hand before discerning the true identity of the mastermind was nothing short of suicide. Yet tonight was an exception.

Ever since the annihilation of the Dokgo Clan, Dokgo Jin ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had resolved never to lose anything again. And yet these scoundrels had dared lay their hands upon Wi Geum-seong. Had he arrived even a moment later, he would have lost him forever. That fury had shattered the restraint he imposed upon his own power.

Besides...

Dead men tell no tales.

Dokgo Jin's eyes cooled to a chilling stillness.

Rumble.

The Ink Flame Qi coiling around him roared like a prowling beast. Despite expending such vast energy, he felt a strange sense of liberation wash over him.

It feels as though... I can finally breathe properly for once.

Perhaps he had indulged too much. The long-suppressed Nine Nether Dark Sky Scripture began to stir wildly. The ruinous euphoria coursing through his blood vessels and the sweet venom of the Abyss whispered to him, beckoning him into deeper shadows: Come deeper.

Yet Dokgo Jin merely sneered.

Not a chance.

For a man who waged desperate battles against hellish nightmares every single night, such temptation was nothing more than childish prattle.

Dokgo Jin walked slowly toward Wi Geum-seong.

"Elder Wi, are you unharmed?"

Wi Geum-seong straightened his robes with trembling hands and pushed himself up from the ground. He dabbed at the corners of his eyes with a dust-stained sleeve.

"...I am fine, Young Master. But what of the Northern Heavenly Alliance? How have you come all this way?"

Instead of answering, Dokgo Jin fixed him with a quiet gaze and countered, "Why did you not inform me sooner?"

"Forgive me. At first, this humble servant believed he could handle it... and afterward, I did not wish to burden you while you were fighting tooth and nail within the Northern Heavenly Alliance."

Dokgo Jin's brow furrowed.

"Do you think a matter of this scale would burden me?"

Wi Geum-seong shook his head with a bitter, self-deprecating smile. Considering the overwhelming might Dokgo Jin had just demonstrated, his worry had indeed been foolish.

"No. This servant underestimated the Young Master. Please forgive me."

"Never let this happen again."

"Yes, Young Master."

Only then did Dokgo Jin's hardened expression soften slightly.

"Elder Wi, you are the only family I have left in this world. Even if the entire Golden Frog Money House were to vanish into thin air, your life comes above all else."

At Dokgo Jin's heartfelt words, Wi Geum-seong bit his lip, his face flooded with overwhelming emotion.

"...I will keep it etched in my heart."

Dokgo Jin turned his head toward the wall steeped in heavy shadow.

"Nam Ho, show yourself."

At the low summons, a young man of ordinary features stepped out from the gloom. Perhaps because he had witnessed Dokgo Jin's terrifying martial prowess from beginning to end, his frame trembled faintly.

"Did you summon me, Young Master?"

"From this day forward, my orders take precedence over Money House Master Wi's."

"That is..."

Nam Ho glanced hesitantly at Wi Geum-seong, who gave a silent, firm nod.

"Do as the Young Master commands."

With his master's consent granted, Nam Ho bowed deeply toward Dokgo Jin.

"I shall obey."

"There is only one command that supersedes Master Wi: should any anomaly befall him or any threat be detected against his person, notify me without delay. I care not what method you employ."

"By your command!"

"First... tend to the wound on Elder Wi's neck."

"Yes, Young Master."

Having issued his orders, Dokgo Jin turned away without lingering.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Are you returning, Young Master?"

At Wi Geum-seong's question, Dokgo Jin shook his head.

"No. I am going to finish this matter."

Wi Geum-seong's eyes widened.

Swish!

Dokgo Jin's silhouette soared into the air, vanishing into the pitch-black night sky as an even deeper darkness.