Chapter 44
Chapter 44
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: We Can Win (2)
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Dang Yu-wol quickly pulled out paralysis poison and hurled it at the Blood Cultists.
“Puhat?! What’s this…?! Poison!!”
The poison pouches he had thrown burst open in midair, spreading their contents.
The first one to be hit by the paralysis poison cried out.
It was a poison one could resist.
But getting struck by it mid-battle was a headache.
“Oh ho. So even the Central Plains folk know how to use poison? I’ll take that one!!”
At his shout, a strange light flickered in the expression of the Blood Cult Protector.
“Young Master Dang!!”
“Ugh! Be careful!!”
With fierce shouts, the Protector charged forward swiftly.
Hwan-gyu and Seol Ryua tried to block him.
But the underlings’ interference was fierce.
In the end, the Protector arrived leisurely before Dang Yu-wol.
“Heh heh. For a brat, you seem to use some pretty good poison.”
“Thanks for the compliment.”
“If it’s poison enough to make those guys react, it’s no ordinary stuff.”
“But who might you be?”
“Insolent brat. They call me the Grim Reaper… Ack!?”
As he began to speak, Dang Yu-wol swiftly threw a flying dagger at him.
He hurriedly deflected it with his gloved hand.
Damn it. That startled me…
Gnashing his teeth, he drew the sword from his waist.
-Wuuuung…!!!
Along with a low vibrational hum, a blood-red aura rippled from the sword.
This aura, unlike ordinary sword energy, looked sticky and viscous.
-Blood King Poison Sword, eh. Not bad.
A poison art that converts internal energy back into poison and coats it onto sword energy.
One of the Blood Cult’s secret martial arts that scatters poison with every clash, poisoning the opponent.
“You damn brat… I’ll kill you.”
The Protector spoke coldly and lunged forward.
His sword danced swiftly, targeting his entire body.
Dang Yu-wol bared his teeth and shifted his steps.
Blood Heaven Aura Sword Technique. Second stance. Blood Human Aura.
-You know it well. No need for me to explain.
The sword aiming for the head dropped toward the dantian, then targeted arms and legs before going for the throat.
Its brilliance was near illusory swordplay.
Yet it boasted the speed of a swift sword.
Dang Yu-wol calmly moved his feet.
“What?!”
He evaded the first stance.
He dodged the second as well.
For the third, he outright threw a hidden weapon to block its activation.
“Tch! You bastard!!”
He lightly parried the fourth.
For the fifth, he casually threw poison and hidden weapons mid-strike, creating an opening to slip away.
“……”
If anyone had seen it, their jaw would drop in astonishment.
But Dang Yu-wol executed it as if it were the most natural thing.
“…What are you?”
It was an assault so ferocious that most wouldn’t last.
Yet he hadn’t even grazed his clothes, let alone landed a hit.
Surpassing shock, the Protector asked calmly.
“Your stances are so sloppy, it’s easy to deal with them.”
“Ha! Insolent brat…!! Fine. Playtime’s over anyway. Let me show you something good, kid.”
The sword slowly raised, with sword energy clinging even more stickily.
The condensing, further condensing sword energy darkened in hue.
-Be careful.
Dang Yu-wol knew what that power was, like starlight gathering into one.
Sword energy solidification.
A martial feat only those at the transcendent realm could manifest.
“Haaap!!”
He charged swiftly, swinging his sword aura-infused blade at Dang Yu-wol’s neck.
Not just any strike—it covered all directions.
The final stance of the Blood Heaven Aura Sword Technique: Ghost Soul Flash.
-Kwaaaaang!!
Auras flew toward Dang Yu-wol, destroying the surroundings.
Dang Yu-wol swung his Black Abyss Sword at the incoming sword aura.
“…What?”
Green sword energy extended toward the aura’s surface, naturally deflecting it.
“This… what….”
Before the Protector, mouth agape at the absurd result, could react.
The flying dagger in Dang Yu-wol’s other hand shot out.
In that ridiculous moment where the aura was blocked by sword energy, the attack flew at light speed.
-Puk!!
“Ugh?!”
The dagger embedded deeply in his shoulder.
But shock overshadowed pain on his face.
“…You. How did you do that?”
It defied martial world common sense.
How could sword energy overpower sword aura?
“Huu….”
Dang Yu-wol nonchalantly swallowed an internal injury recovery pill.
The Protector’s eyes sharpened further.
“…Impressive. Want to join the Cult?”
“What kind of horrific suggestion is that?”
“We can chop off your limbs and drag you in.”
As he coldly smirked and tried to form aura on his sword again.
“…Why…?”
His internal energy flow felt off.
Only then did he realize the dagger in his shoulder.
While executing a stance?!
At the transcendent level, one could block poison with internal energy.
“Heh heh.”
But that required free control of internal energy.
Dang Yu-wol had timed the dagger for the moment he raised all his energy for the stance.
Dangerous guy.
He seemed only at the peak realm.
But he could predict it.
This one would be the Blood Cult’s greatest enemy.
“You…!! You’re no ordinary fool!!”
“My god. Did you think I was ordinary?”
His hand was already flying toward him.
As if he feared not a poisoned foe at all.
“Kuhuk…!!”
Was it the poison?
His hand didn’t move properly.
“Keok!!”
Finally, struck in a vital point, he fainted.
By then, Hwan-gyu and Seol Ryua, having defeated the other enemies, approached.
“Little brother! You alright?!”
The surroundings bore clear marks of sword aura slashes.
Very stable ones, too.
“Yes. No injuries.”
Thanks to Ye-ui’s internal injury recovery pill, there were none.
So truly, no injuries.
“My god. Wasn’t this guy transcendent realm? Young Master Dang, didn’t you say peak level?”
“He cultivated poison arts. That’s how I could use it against him.”
Dang Yu-wol replied shamelessly without batting an eye.
“Still… this is too much….”
Confused by the impossible feat, she probed further.
But Hwan-gyu was different.
Martial artists always have their hidden aces.
He’d heard from Gu Hwan-gae that Dang Yu-wol had already taken down two transcendent experts.
There must be something hidden.
True to a martial artist, he laughed and changed the subject.
“Haha! As expected of little brother! Anyway, General Seol. Come here. Do you know anything about this guy?”
“Pardon? Ah… well, not really.”
“Then we should tie him up and investigate.”
“Yes. Understood.”
They hastily sealed his acupoints, then bound the Protector with rope.
Not enough—they added manacles and shackles to arms and legs before Seol Ryua looked around.
“What poison did you use to catch him so easily?”
“A Tang Clan secret.”
Couldn’t say Ye-ui made it.
So Dang Yu-wol brushed it off casually.
Seol Ryua accepted it as natural.
“I see!! Amazing! But… Young Master Dang. Any interest in the military?”
She was quite excited.
“I hear the martial world doesn’t favor poison much. Especially the orthodox factions.”
Dang Yu-wol glanced at Hwan-gyu.
He looked uneasy but nodded slightly.
-Well, orthodox factions flaunt righteousness and legitimacy on the surface.
Not that there aren’t those who think hidden weapons and poison are cowardly.
“But the military’s different. We use whatever’s necessary.”
Dang Yu-wol would surely be valued in the army.
She proposed with expectation.
“Haha. I want to stay in the martial world for now.”
“I see… If you ever change your mind, please apply for enlistment anytime.”
“Thank you.”
“Anyway, what now? Figuring out who these guys are is important, but…”
“Yes. Investigating what they did here seems crucial too.”
Hwan-gyu and Seol Ryua said while scanning the area.
Enemies captured, but next steps unclear.
For them, Dang Yu-wol spoke.
“Let’s check over there.”
He pointed to where the Protector had been.
While Hwan-gyu guarded the fainted Protector, the two headed there.
“What’s this…?”
There was an incense burner.
Faint smoke wafting from it.
“A device to vaporize and spread poison around. They must’ve used this to poison the village.”
Dang Yu-wol reached into the burner.
Inside was a nearly burned-out candle.
-Better extinguish it. The poison’s still spreading.
As Ye-ui said, he put out the flame to stop the smoke, then brought his hand to the candle.
The Three Yang Return to Origin Art reacted to the poison aura.
“Just in case, let’s search the village more. There might be residual poison.”
They swiftly searched and found five more identical burners.
But those had no poison left.
Proof it had all dispersed.
“To think they were hidden like this….”
“How did you know they were here, Young Master Dang?”
“Judging by the village layout, that’s where I’d place them.”
“I see… But Young Master Dang, can this place be purified?”
The village was thoroughly soaked in poison.
Even removing bodies, abandoning such a sizable village was a waste.
Especially with its intact farmlands.
“Left alone, it’ll purify in a year.”
“Can’t we speed it up?”
“There’s a poison neutralization method.”
“I see. But I recall a similar incident.”
“Heard it was in northern Hebei…”
“Yes. But no reports of finding things like this.”
“Is that so?”
With Blood Cult spies in the military and palace, it’s only natural.