Chapter 34
Chapter 34
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Unknown Sword Breaker
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It hurts.
No joke, it hurts like hell.
The wound from Dang Yeon-myeong's poison was genuinely agonizing. Like pressing a red-hot iron to the gash.
There were a few reasons I had to endure this kind of pain.
First, Dang Yeon-myeong's skill level was higher than I'd thought. Since his showdown with the protagonist was years away, I'd assumed he was much weaker, but he was pretty much on par with what I'd seen in the novel.
Second, I think I let my guard down. It's impossible to fight a poison toad without getting bitten at least once.
I'd arrogantly believed I could pull off the impossible.
That said, I had no intention of losing to a punk like him. I had something to rely on.
It was just...
*'Do not use it out of season.'*
...I was quite reluctant to use it.
But wasn't now the perfect time?
A skunk was spraying toxic flatulence right in front of me, and I was poisoned anyway.
Master would understand, right?
...Yeah, he'd understand.
Believing that, I slowly closed my eyes. Then I began to slowly swing my saber.
"...I'll kill you."
Pababat-!
With my eyes shut, I could feel Dang Yeon-myeong spewing poison gas at me. Even so, I calmly swung my saber.
How many years had it been? I couldn't remember exactly, but it had been quite a while.
Even so..., my hand, already accustomed to it, naturally executed the form.
Thump-.
My body began to ripple with energy. Accepting it, I opened my eyes.
As I did, the poison gas was right in front of my nose.
I didn't panic. Instead, I...
*"...Divine Art, First Form: Unknown Sword Breaker."*
...slashed right through it.
**
The final realm of the Molten Flame Poison Scripture, Dark Poison Filling the Heavens.
To manifest and maintain it, most of the poisons deeply embedded in his core had to be drawn out.
The poison had become one with Dang Yeon-myeong's life force, so this meant depleting his vitality.
That's why he didn't want to use it.
Born as the second son of the previous clan leader, Dang Yeon-myeong had always craved a high position, but his elder brother stood in the way.
So he trained to become a poison master.
Once he did, no one would dare touch him, and he could rise even higher.
*What a waste.*
His current Dark Poison Filling the Heavens could land a hit even on the world's greatest martial artist.
It pained him to use this once-in-a-lifetime technique on some nameless young expert.
*'I'll crush him all the more thoroughly for the waste.'*
With that thought, Dang Yeon-myeong hurled a Fire Poison Bomb at the motionless fool. First, he'd melt his arms and legs with poison to seal his movements, then inflict the utmost agony.
But...
Pashak-!
"...Huh?"
The Fire Poison Bomb he'd thrown..., the kid slashed it apart.
If he'd just blocked the attack, Dang Yeon-myeong wouldn't have been so shocked. But the kid had literally sliced the poison itself.
*"...How?"*
Poison gas could be blocked. Clash it with stronger energy to disrupt it.
But slicing it? Impossible. And yet...
*"How-!"*
What was this scene before his eyes?
A sword slicing poison?
Swords could cleave rocks. Swords could cleave mountains.
But swords couldn't cleave the sky.
Swords couldn't cleave the intangible.
Yet this kid was slicing the poison as if it were arrows in flight.
Stunned by the unbelievable sight, Dang Yeon-myeong stared blankly. As a martial artist himself, he simply couldn't endure witnessing such implausible skill.
Chwak-!
He slashed.
Slowly slicing through the poison gas enveloping him.
His saber whipped up countless grains of gang energy, shredding the poison.
As the kid drew closer bit by bit until he was within arm's reach, Dang Yeon-myeong snapped out of it. He began his final resistance.
Pa-at!!
He spewed poison gas at the kid while hurling a concealed dagger from his sleeve, infused with powerful energy.
But...
Pashak!!
*"...How is this possible-!"*
Slashed again.
Slicing the poison gas was expected now, but he even sliced the energy-infused dagger.
Not the dagger itself—the energy.
Drained of power, the dagger clattered to the ground.
With his backup failing, a flustered Dang Yeon-myeong calmly assessed the kid.
Unless a Martial God had descended, even this absurd technique had to have a weakness.
And...
*"...Ah!"*
He spotted the anomaly right away.
Swish-.
Slow.
Moments ago, the kid had moved too fast for even Dang Yeon-myeong's eyes to track. Now he moved like an ordinary person ignorant of martial arts.
To maintain that ridiculous blade edge..., or perhaps the saber shattered the user's own energy—who knew the exact reason—but the kid swinging it couldn't move at his normal speed.
Dang Yeon-myeong's guess was spot on.
Unknown Sword Breaker.
It was an absurd technique that could slice an opponent's energy and aura, but it also restricted the user's own energy use.
This was because executing Unknown Sword Breaker required extreme focus to divide and control gang energy into fine particles, along with massive internal energy consumption.
It sealed the opponent's energy while sealing the user's own.
What remained was a life-or-death clash between ordinary people relying solely on physical strength.
And in this clash between two "ordinary" folk...
*"Urghhh-!!"*
...it was a fresh-faced young man against an old timer weathered by time.
Dang Yeon-myeong, who had lived as a martial artist for decades, suddenly recalled his childhood before learning martial arts—a very long time ago.
The difference? Instead of his once light, youthful body, only this decrepit old husk remained.
*"...Uwaaaah-!!"*
Letting out a ki shout, Dang Yeon-myeong drew another dagger from his sleeve and threw it. But once more, its energy was sliced...
Chaeng chaeng-!
...and it was blocked, falling to the ground.
"Huff...."
Seeing this, Dang Yeon-myeong finally felt the terror of death. His prized Dark Poison Filling the Heavens had lost all meaning. The kid would just slice the poison anyway.
Nor did he have confidence to face the kid with pure physical strength sans internal energy. The kid was young and spry, while he was old.
On top of that...
Chaeng-!!
*'Damn...!'*
The opponent pressured him with a long saber, while his only weapon was a short dagger.
At a glance, dagger against saber was severely disadvantaged.
Feeling wronged, he cried out in indignation just as...
"I only have a few daggers left...! This isn't fair play...!"
"You should've picked your weapons better when you were born."
...the kid closed in right before him.
The kid smirked mockingly and continued Dang Yeon-myeong's own words from earlier.
"And... where's the foul play in a fight? Victory is all that matters."
"You...."
Dang Yeon-myeong tried to respond, but the kid didn't wait, swinging his saber.
Pashak-.
Thus, Dang Yeon-myeong's head was severed on the spot, along with all the poison he'd proudly amassed over his lifetime.
**
"Huff..., how...."
Hao Gate Leader Dang Wol-hwa couldn't tear her eyes from the scene, even amid her gu poison torment.
As one who possessed more information than almost anyone under heaven, she knew many truths too unbelievable to hear secondhand.
But none compared to this. Even seeing it with her own eyes, she could scarcely believe it.
One thing was certain, though.... Dang Yeon-myeong, who had oppressed her all her life, had fallen. Along with the poison that clung to his body.
Step-.
Dragging her unsteady body, she moved to witness his end.
"Y-Young sir...."
"Hm? What is it? Can you move? Ah, you want to see that bastard die?"
Mu-yeon pointed casually below and continued.
"It wasn't that deeply embedded, so he's not dead yet. He'll croak any second. Go on, say hi."
Glancing down at his words, Dang Wol-hwa saw Dang Yeon-myeong wriggling, indeed still alive.
Mu-yeon spoke to the dazed Hao Gate Leader staring at him.
"Or do you want to finish him off?"
*"...May I?"*
"Sure."
With Mu-yeon's permission, she stepped closer to Dang Yeon-myeong. But even as she approached, his eyes fixed solely on Mu-yeon.
His expression screamed he had much to say as he kept calling to Mu-yeon.
"W-What's your name...."
"......"
*"What was that martial art you just used....*
"......"
*"I-I suppose I died to the future greatest under heaven...? That's how history will record it...? Y-Yes, that's no shameful end...."*
Even in his dying moments, he obsessed over how he'd be remembered.
Yes, this man was always like this.
Family, wife, daughter.... All were mere tools to climb higher.
Nauseated, Dang Wol-hwa held back tears and told him flatly.
"That will never happen. No one will remember you."
"W-What...?"
Only then did Dang Yeon-myeong's gaze shift to her. Suppressing her rage, Dang Wol-hwa whispered in his ear.
"You'll be known as a fool who caroused in a brothel and met a pathetic end. I'll make sure of it."
"T-The clan won't stand for... "
"This is Hao Gate. We can make any killer a savior, any hero a street thug. I'll make you die a nobody's death."
Dang Wol-hwa looked up at Mu-yeon as she spoke. He nodded and chuckled.
"Do whatever. Oh, while we're at it, say he got drunk, fell in the outhouse, and died of shit poisoning. Sounds fun, right?"
"Shall we go with that, Father? Satisfied?"
"Ugh......"
Dang Yeon-myeong predictably grimaced in disgust.
Ah, so this man could make that face too.
Gritting her teeth against the futility of years endured under him, Dang Wol-hwa bid her final farewell to her father.
"No one will remember you. Not me, not Mother..., no one. So..."
Her parting words distilled all her pent-up emotions into one final drop.
"Become a lonely ghost and wander the nine heavens bitterly forever, you son of a bitch."
And that became the last thing Dang Yeon-myeong heard before death.