Chapter 128
Chapter 128
Heavenly Battle Festival (3)
When Chuk Yeo-un, the Beast Fighting God, conquered the martial world, one rumor persisted—that he had cowardly used the Mountain Hollow Poison.
Later, the absolute masters of that era who had dueled with him stepped forward to clarify the matter, putting it to rest.
But the source of those suspicions had been the power of the Color-Stealing Eye.
To think that merely by looking at someone mid-battle, the energy in a specific part of their body could vanish—what kind of destructive ability was that?
Surprisingly, the principle behind this power lay in the very nature of external martial arts itself.
Martial artists had always looked down on and disregarded external martial arts.
While it was true that external techniques had clear limitations compared to internal energy cultivation, the most glaring flaw was the fatal weakness inherent in all external martial arts.
The weak point.
The weak point—the area where the effects of external martial arts failed to manifest.
If one could locate this spot, even a third-rate martial artist could, by sheer luck, kill a master of external techniques. All it took was driving a blade into that vulnerable, unprotected area.
But most external martial arts inevitably carried this flaw.
Chuk Yeo-un, founder of the Beast Palace, focused intently on this weakness.
Why do external martial arts develop weak points?
No one had ever paid attention to this fundamental question.
He had no choice but to uncover the answer himself.
Through relentless training upon training, Chuk Yeo-un arrived at one realization:
External martial arts were disciplines that tempered not just the body but the soul through physical conditioning.
If so, then perhaps the weak point was where the martial artist's still-unperfected soul lay dormant?
From the moment he grasped this fragment of enlightenment, an unimaginable transformation took place.
What had once been a weak point the size of a fist shrank to the width of a finger, then to the prick of a needle, until finally, it vanished entirely.
At that moment, Chuk Yeo-un reached the pinnacle of external martial arts and realized he had gained an unknown power.
By imbuing his gaze with the soul-forged energy of his will—
The power to forcibly open an enemy's weak point!
That was the ability of the Color-Stealing Eye, newly acquired by Se-woon.
It hurt. It hurt so much.
His head spun. Horribly so.
These were the only thoughts dominating Meng Yong's mind right now.
......Wait, why am I in pain?
But gradually, he regained enough composure for other thoughts to surface.
"Guh—!"
The moment consciousness returned, Meng Yong vomited onto the arena floor.
Half blood, half bile.
Staggering, he forced his dust-covered body upright.
His brain still felt like it was rattling inside his skull.
"......!!"
Then, as he stared at the crimson puddle he had expelled, a memory overlapped with the sight.
—Admit your defeat, Meng Yong.
The day he had first challenged Umun Gol for the throne of the Beast Palace.
Meng Yong had been utterly crushed by the overwhelming power of a man who stood on a plane he could never reach.
And from that day onward, he had sworn bitter vengeance, joining hands with the forces of the demonic path.
He had betrayed his ancestors, abandoned his brethren, and forsaken his own pride—all so he would never suffer such humiliation again.
And yet...
"Ugh... Even my blood reeks of rot."
"!!"
A voice laced with merciless mockery stabbed through his lungs.
When he looked up with murderous eyes, the brat from the Ape Tribe was shaking his head at him in disappointment.
His head turned ice-cold.
Had he really been defeated by this bastard—not even Umun Gol?
His mind raced, piecing together the impossible outcome.
In exchange for his betrayal, he had obtained demonic arts capable of defeating even Umun Gol. No ordinary power could have bested him.
He recalled the moment he had been ambushed.
He had lunged forward to kill the brat—only for his energy to scatter abruptly, leaving him defenseless.
Wait, his energy had scattered?
A monstrous realization surfaced in his mind.
"Ah... So that's what it was."
No matter how he looked at it, the kid didn't radiate any special energy.
He wasn't hiding internal energy cultivation like Meng Yong was.
Which meant there was only one explanation for what had happened.
"He secretly poisoned me!"
Using poison in a sacred duel?! That coward!
The reason he hadn't noticed the poisoning was simple.
The bastard had deliberately provoked him by mocking his breath—all to cloud his judgment and keep him from realizing the truth.
"I'd love to expose him right now...!"
But he couldn't.
Doing so would reveal that he had been secretly using demonic energy.
After all, Mountain Hollow Poison was only lethal to those who practiced internal energy cultivation.
Against an external martial artist, it was useless.
Stealthily, he examined his body's condition.
Haaah...
Thankfully, his energy had stabilized.
"My demonic energy has recovered. Even if it wavered briefly, it overpowered the poison."
Now, the possibility of defeat was gone.
Crack!
Before he knew it, Meng Yong had regained his perfect form and resumed his battle stance.
Gone was the unrestrained frenzy from before.
Instead, he faced Se-woon with the solemn demeanor of a warrior facing a worthy opponent.
Se-woon smirked, taunting him lightly.
"Feeling better after your nap?"
"Don't get cocky. Your tricks won't work on me anymore."
"Oh? You sure about that?"
"......."
Meng Yong bit back his words, feeling blood rush to his head.
This brat was infuriating. Suppressing his boiling rage, he forced himself to stay calm.
"I'll use the Nine Heavens Armored Qi at full power!"
Originally, he had planned to conserve his strength for his duel with Umun Gol in the throne tournament.
But he changed his mind.
After all, he could always threaten Umun Gol later by torturing his little brother, Umun Tak.
Sure, the Blood Cult envoy might throw a fit, but so what?
"How long are you going to keep staring?! Can't you see how pathetic you look in front of the Beast Palace's warriors?!"
He couldn't let this brat keep humiliating him in front of everyone.
So—
"Die!"
Thud!
Meng Yong charged forward, his stomp cracking the arena floor.
Whoosh!
With the Nine Heavens Armored Qi unleashed at its peak, his movements were incomparably faster than before.
"I won't give him a chance to poison me!"
Meng Yong weaved unpredictably, making it impossible to anticipate his next strike.
The moment confusion flickered in his opponent's eyes—
Now!
Crack!
Meng Yong's right fist twisted at an unnatural angle, hurtling toward the Dangmun pressure point near Se-woon's heart.
A strike as swift as lightning!
Meng Yong was certain—not even Umun Gol could block this in time.
"You're dead!!"
His roar tore through the air.
Just as his fist was about to blast a hole through Se-woon's chest—
CRACK!
SNAP!
A sickening sound of shattering bone echoed.
The spectators thought it was Se-woon's ribs breaking—
"Guh—AAAGH!!"
But the agonized scream came not from Se-woon, but from Meng Yong himself.
Clutching his wrist with his other hand, he writhed in pain.
The state of his fist was horrific.
Every joint of his fingers had been twisted and snapped in directions they were never meant to bend.
Se-woon smirked.
"This is what true Indestructible Diamond Body looks like, you pig."
There was no way the attack could have worked.
Having achieved the Indestructible Diamond Body through the Ink Blood, Se-woon's physique was an absolute shield in itself.
And now—
Having defended, it was time to destroy.
Swish!
Se-woon lifted his leg nearly perpendicular to his body.
Then, like a woodsman splitting logs, he brought it down.
CRUNCH!
"?!?!"
The axe-like stomp shattered every bone in Meng Yong's foot.
But this was only the beginning.
Whoosh!
Keeping his foot planted to immobilize the man, Se-woon reached for Meng Yong's arm.
"You won't need those fingers for the rest of your life anyway. Let them go."
CRACK!
Spinning like a top, Se-woon yanked with all his might.
RIP!
Squelch!
"G-G-GAAAHK!!"
A sound no human should have been capable of tore from Meng Yong's throat.
And for good reason.
Se-woon had just ripped his arm clean off, like uprooting a tree.
Splurt!
A fountain of blood gushed from the torn stump.
In an instant, two of Meng Yong's limbs had been rendered useless for life.
Whoosh!
Without pause, Se-woon lunged at him again—like a true beast.
CRACK!
The air itself seemed to tear as a sonic boom erupted.
For a moment, it looked as though flames had flashed.
THUD!
CRASH!
"!!"
Se-woon's fist buried itself in Meng Yong's abdomen.
His massive body bent like a bow.
The strongest shield was also the strongest weapon.
Se-woon's Indestructible Diamond Body was, in itself, a brutal blunt force.
CRUNCH!
A right kick shattered his shin.
A left fist pulverized his shoulder.
An elbow caved in one eye.
A knee strike crushed every rib.
Meng Yong's colossal frame was drenched in blood.
"M-My body... won't... move...!"
Meng Yong was losing his mind.
He couldn't even assume a defensive stance.
Whoosh...
Whoosh...
"WHY?!"
Every time that monster's gaze landed on him, his energy scattered like dust.
CRACK!
FWOOM!
"?!?!"
Instead, a searing pain—as if his entire body were burning—flared through his meridians.
The Nine Heavens Armored Qi, sensing its master's impending death, was now cheering as it devoured his innate energy.
BOOM!
In the end, without ever mounting a proper counterattack, Meng Yong collapsed to his knees on the cold arena floor.
"Cough!"
He had lost so much blood that only frothy crimson bubbled from his lips.
His vision blurred.
"S-Save... me... P-Please...!!"
Desperate, he looked toward the warriors watching from below the arena.
Among them—one figure.
No, Qilian Demon, hiding his presence, was watching him.
......But unfortunately, the elder's gaze held not a shred of concern.
"Why... WHY?!"
Instead, Qilian Demon was staring at something behind him.
"What exquisite material..."
The elder's eyes, fixed on Se-woon, burned with greed.
"Ah—!"
CRACK!
As the sound of tearing air reached Meng Yong's ears—
SNAP!
Se-woon's spinning kick shattered his neck.
Darkness swallowed his vision.
A death too wretched, too pitiful, for one of the Beast Palace's five chieftains.