Chapter 51
Chapter 51
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 51
Chapter Title: Heart Poison (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Unfortunately, Hwan-gyu's lie didn't work.
"Is that so? We'll find out once we investigate. Hey, you lot!!"
A booming voice echoed out.
At that signal, archers appeared atop the cliff.
It was a tactic commonly used by water bandits.
"How dare you commit robbery right in front of government troops!! I absolutely cannot forgive this!!!"
Seol Ryu-ah's shout made Gal Yeong laugh.
As if it were utterly ridiculous.
"Hahaha!! Well, no choice then!! We'll have to see some blood!! Fire!!"
The bandits on the cliff began loosing arrows.
This proved they weren't your average water bandits.
Each arrow was as sharp and precise as those of seasoned soldiers.
"Block them!!"
The shield bearers hurriedly raised their shields.
While blocking the shower of arrows, they counterattacked as well.
But the geographical advantage could not be ignored.
"I'll go first."
Dang Yu-wol immediately pulled out his poison.
"Hup!!"
Using the intricacies of the Soul-Chasing Phantom Dart, he hurled the poison pouch.
The pouch, tethered to the hidden weapon, soared into the air.
"Huh?"
"What's that?"
The water bandits looked puzzled.
Regardless, Dang Yu-wol threw another hidden weapon, striking the pouch that had flown up to the cliff.
"Kuaaak?!"
"Ugh!! M-my body... won't move...!!"
"P-poison!!"
The group of bandits on the cliff screamed in agony.
Startled by this, Gal Yeong glared murderously at Dang Yu-wol, who had thrown the pouch.
"You bastard!!"
"Protect the young hero!!"
Those on the boat fired arrows at Dang Yu-wol.
But at Seol Ryu-ah's command, the soldiers began shielding him with their bodies.
"Uwaaak!!"
"Kuaak!!"
Poison burst from yet another pouch that was shot.
The bandits on the cliff were gradually being neutralized.
-Shields are handy.
'I should use poison comfortably from time to time too.'
"Elder. Here's the antidote."
"Hahaha!! Good! I'll take these bastards down!!"
Gu Hwan-gae popped the antidote into his mouth and laughed heartily.
Capturing poisoned foes was something he could handle alone.
True to his moniker of Thousand-Li Flying Swallow, he scaled the cliff effortlessly with his swift lightness skill.
"Uwaaaak!!"
"Crazy old geezer!!"
"You arrogant pricks!! I'll kill you all!!"
Soon, screams echoed from one side of the cliff where the bandits had been.
"You dog bastard!! Using poison like a coward, you trash!! I'll kill you!!"
"Try it."
A threat laced with peak expert killing intent flew at him.
Yet Dang Yu-wol merely snorted derisively.
'This fool who can't even take a single proper punch dares to react like that!!'
How could a man of the Yangtze Waterway Stronghold endure such an insult?
Gal Yeong stomped down hard.
-Kuuung!!!
He leaped with enough force to shatter the bow of the boat.
It was an astonishing lightness skill befitting the mid-peak realm.
"Hraaap!!"
Sword energy rippled along his blade.
Dang Yu-wol hurled a hidden weapon at Gal Yeong mid-air.
-Chaeng!!
"Ha!! You thought this puny hidden weapon could harm me?!"
Had he wrapped his body in qi for protection?
The sharp projectile struck his skin but inflicted no significant damage.
But since he'd anticipated it, Dang Yu-wol didn't pay it much mind.
"You wench!!"
'Tyrant Fortress Sword Technique.'
Gal Yeong was also one who had swiftly pledged himself to the Blood Cult.
Thus, he had thoroughly mastered his martial art.
'This stance. Qi Reinforcement Fortification.'
A powerful strike capable of cleaving a man from head to groin in one go.
Dang Yu-wol dodged it simply by stepping two paces sideways with his movement technique.
'Qi Reinforcement Fortification transitions to the first stance, Crescent Slash.'
The downward strike surged upward, unleashing diagonal sword qi.
He lightly bent at the waist.
Dodging the sword qi by a hair's breadth, he extended his hand.
-Tudeung!!
As his palm struck the flat of the blade, the powerful momentum wavered.
"Ugh?!"
At that moment, white powder flew toward his face.
Poison.
Dangerous if inhaled.
Gal Yeong hastily retreated with his lightness skill.
"Haha."
"What's so funny, you despicable cur!!"
"Flour."
"What?!"
"The great Gal Yeong, retreating in fear of mere flour."
Gal Yeong's face flushed red with rage.
Perhaps from embarrassment.
"Wonder what people would say if they knew."
"Shut up!!"
"I'll make sure to carry flour whenever I'm wandering Anhui. Flour prices are gonna skyrocket."
"Kuhuk...!!"
Such humiliation.
Gal Yeong's face burned crimson.
Watching him, Dang Yu-wol pulled out a few more vials from his sleeve.
"Come on. Let me teach you a lesson."
"You blocked a few stances and now you're all high and mighty!!"
Azure energy erupted from Gal Yeong's furious body like flames.
He meant to get serious now.
Seeing this, Dang Yu-wol slowly shifted his gaze behind him.
"Immortal Hwan-gyu!! Lady Seol! Now!!"
"What?"
Oh right, he'd forgotten.
This boat had a peak realm expert aboard.
"Where?!"
He whipped his head around to look.
But no one was attacking him.
A short distance away, Hwan-gyu and Seol Ryu-ah were fighting the bandits.
He'd been tricked.
"Kuhuk!!"
Before he could even realize it, burning pain flared in his shoulder.
"Idiot?"
Dang Yu-wol smirked, holding a hidden weapon.
"You damned brat!!!"
The rage from falling for the ruse was beyond imagination.
As he channeled his internal energy in fury, Dang Yu-wol grinned.
"Is it okay to circulate your energy like that?"
"Ha!! Scared now, are you?!"
"No. Even after seeing me use poison earlier."
At those words, Gal Yeong flinched.
Some poisons reacted slowly, then spread fiercely when internal energy was circulated.
'Did this punk already poison me?!'
He'd seen the kid use poison earlier.
Just a few uses, and an entire cliffside's worth of his men were neutralized.
'That punk's poisons aren't ordinary... So this one too...?'
Gal Yeong glanced at his shoulder.
A sharp dart was embedded there.
'Poisons activate by ingestion, drinking, or absorption via wounds from weapons...'
"Tch!!"
Gritting his teeth, he yanked out the dart and crushed it.
Watching this, Dang Yu-wol smiled faintly.
'Simpleton. That's convenient.'
Of course, that dart had been coated with the premium poison, Gentleman's Scatter.
The poison was undoubtedly spreading through his body.
-That one's a peak realm expert. He can resist, so be careful.
'Don't worry. The human heart can be poison too.'
The Sacheon Tang Clan called one of their ultimate poisons Heart Poison.
'Depending on how you manipulate the mind, it becomes poison itself.'
As Dang Yu-wol bared his teeth in a sneer, Gal Yeong bared his.
He seemed thoroughly pissed.
"What poison did you use?"
"Doesn't your stomach hurt a bit right now?"
The Yellow Dragon Stronghold, with bases in Anhui, had come all the way to Zhongqing.
Dang Yu-wol knew that even leaving one's village could cause stomach issues from bad water.
"What...?!"
Come to think of it, his lower abdomen was throbbing faintly.
'Not just bad water...?'
Once he focused on it, the discomfort was impossible to ignore.
Gal Yeong glared murderously at him, then sent internal energy to his abdomen.
'Damn it...!!'
He didn't know which poison it was.
So he couldn't unleash his full power recklessly.
And now he had to protect his abdomen too.
'Falling for that bastard's tricks...!!'
He ground his teeth.
"Think a bit of poison can shake the great Gal Yeong!!"
-Experienced ones are such a pain.
"I'll kill you!!"
His wildly charging blade swung.
But compared to before, the movement was sluggish.
-Slower than earlier. You can dodge it.
'This much.'
He had multiple things to worry about.
On top of that, his energy flow was unnatural.
So he couldn't focus on his stances.
And that was just the start.
Dang Yu-wol knew all his martial arts.
'But no need to get complacent.'
After all, Dang Yu-wol was currently at the pinnacle realm.
Gal Yeong was mid-peak.
And carelessness was a word that didn't suit Dang Yu-wol.
"Hup!!"
Dodging the Tyrant Fortress Sword Technique stance, Dang Yu-wol's hand moved.
The instant the lightning-fast hidden weapon grazed his cheek.
"Ugh?!"
Blood trickled from the corner of his eye.
A symptom of poisoning: bleeding.
"You venomous bastard!!"
"Block this too."
Several pouches emerged from Dang Yu-wol's sleeve.
The moment he swung his sword to knock them away.
-Puk!!
Another hidden weapon embedded in his side.
This time, no particular sensation.
But by then, Dang Yu-wol had burst one pouch.
"Ugh!!"
White powder spread before his eyes.
Flour again? Or poison?
The moment he held his breath to protect himself.
'Paralysis?!'
Numbness began in his fingertips.
Another poisoning symptom.
Gal Yeong ground his teeth.
'I knew poison arts were a headache to face. But not like this.'
Unexpected events kept happening.
All his plans were crumbling.
All because of one.
A young man who looked barely twenty.
'If this continues, I'll die to that punk.'
His reputation, martial arts, life built up till now.
All crumbling meaninglessly.
"That can't happen! I didn't live this long just to die in a dump like this!!"
Flames sparked in Gal Yeong's eyes.
"Haaaap!!"
He drew up his hoarded internal energy.
'I don't know what poison it is, but I need to kill him and escape first.'
Mission be damned; nothing was more important than life.
As he gathered energy to unleash a stance.
Dang Yu-wol's Black Viper Sword plunged into his thigh.
-Puk!!
Powerful stances create that many openings.
The gap from gathering energy and lax defense.
And he precisely targeted the stance's flaw.
"Kuaaaak!!"
You couldn't pull this off without knowing how the opponent's stance unfolded.
The mid-stance attack jolted his body.
No, not just that.
"You dog... bastaaard!!"
Horrific pain surged from his thigh.
As if seared by fire, his mind reeled.
But he didn't stop.
"Even you can't block this!!"
With superhuman willpower, he completed the stance.
The erupting sword energy arced like a crescent toward Dang Yu-wol.
"I'll take you with me!! Let's go together!! To hell!!"
Gal Yeong's triumphant smile collapsed in an instant.
A qi-wrapped shortsword had casually deflected the crescent energy.
"...What?"
"Bad road. Go alone."
As his cold words ended, dozens of hidden weapons flew from Dang Yu-wol's hand.