Chapter 51: Divine Immortal Collapse
Chapter 51
Divine Immortal Collapse
As Jang Yi charged toward the enemy, fragments of his recent memories flashed through his mind.
The voice of the female immortal, who had frantically explained Se-woon's plan, echoed vividly in his ears.
"Operation name—Peach Garden Oath!"
"...Peach Garden Oath?"
"Yes! From this moment, the three of you shall become sworn brothers under the peach tree!!"
"Huh?!"
But the beginning of this operation was far from a peaceful oath-swearing beneath a peach tree.
Chik!
Twang!
Dae-woong nocked a bundle of arrows onto his bowstring.
Jang Il raised his shield from his position.
The warriors of the Tang Elite Unit had no idea what these three were planning—but they were about to find out.
Just as they prepared to intercept Jang Yi, who was charging at them like a madman—
"Everyone, counterattack—?!"
"Huh? Wha—?"
Screech!
Suddenly, Jang Yi pivoted mid-run, reversing his direction—
"Big bro—!"
"Hyaaah!"
—and dashed straight toward his own brother instead.
Unbeknownst to them, Jang Il had already tilted his shield diagonally against the ground.
Thud!
Whoosh!
"—!!"
To their shock, Jang Yi kicked off the shield and launched himself high into the air.
"First! The youngest, Zhang Fei, propels his sworn brother upward with his shield!"
Jang Il's mind echoed with the female immortal's voice.
Using the shield as a springboard, Jang Yi soared to an impossible height—
Swish!Swish!
"Second! The second brother, Guan Yu, hurls the 'prepared items' above the enemies' heads!"
Instead of twin javelins, something else was flung over the heads of the Black Arrow Formation's warriors.
Jang Yi's bulging arm muscles, swollen to the point of bursting, lashed out like a whip—
Whoosh!
Five small leather pouches shot through the air like arrows, raining down upon the enemy.
"—!!"
'N-No way!'
A chill ran down the spines of Ha Hu-yeong and the eight elite warriors.
A single phrase Se-woon had spread ten days ago suddenly resurfaced in their minds.
"From this day forth, the Tang Family's martial arts shall return to their roots—the art of poison."
Poison!
Se-woon had already declared war on them.
In truth, they had prepared countermeasures against poison techniques during their training—just in case.
But since the three had not used a single poison technique during their previous matches, relying solely on their martial prowess to overwhelm them...
They had let their guard down, thinking, 'How could they possibly master poison techniques in just ten days?'
'But it's not too late!'
'We have to stop it—!!'
Swish!
Clang!
The elite warriors, caught off guard, hastily fired hidden weapons to intercept the pouches—even at the cost of breaking formation.
Whizz!
Whizz!
"?!"
"!!"
But two beats ahead of them—
Dae-woong had already moved.
Swish!
Five streaks of light carved through the air.
"Third! The eldest brother, Liu Bei, strikes every target painted across the heavens!!"
A sharp, tearing sound split the wind as—
Bang!
Boom!
Five arrows, infused with energy, struck the leather pouches dead center.
The moment the arrowheads made contact, the swollen pouches burst open—
Shhh!
Whoosh!
—and instead of the scorching summer heat, 'snowflakes' unfitting for the season scattered like cherry blossoms in all directions.
But these snowflakes were different.
Their shimmering reflections under the light were not pure white—but a vivid, poisonous green.
'Ah...'
'...How beautiful.'
The spectators were momentarily entranced by the breathtaking spectacle before them.
But the moment they saw those dazzling green snowflakes—
'...What kind of poison is that?!'
For some reason, the family head, Tang Mu-yeol, shot up from his seat with a horrified expression.
His face was etched with unmistakable shock.
The very poison that had once made him curse the heavens for its unfair loss in battle—
One of the Sichuan Tang Family's most closely guarded secrets—was now in Se-woon's hands.
"Ghk!"
"Ugh!"
Meanwhile, groans began to fill the training grounds.
Clang.
Clatter.
Unable to retrieve their hidden weapons, the elite warriors collapsed one by one, powerless.
Drenched in the green snowflakes, they had already succumbed to an irreversible state of poisoning.
An utterly unexpected turn of events.
As everyone stood frozen in shock—
"Honorable family heads."
"Y-Yes?"
Se-woon slowly rose from his seat and addressed Son Geon.
Under the weight of everyone's gaze, he spoke softly.
"It seems the match has concluded. May I request your verdict?"
"—!!"
Son Geon jolted in surprise before hastily scanning the training grounds.
'How did this...?'
Though there had been no direct clash between the two sides, the outcome was undeniable to anyone watching.
"Ugh..."
"M-My body won't move..."
The once-impenetrable Black Arrow Formation had completely crumbled, and its warriors were unmistakably incapacitated.
Meanwhile, Se-woon's trio stood unharmed, unaffected by the poison.
"T-The victor of the final match is—"
"—Se-woon."
The one who interrupted Son Geon was none other than Tang Mu-yeol himself.
His face was flushed with emotion.
The outcome of the match against the elite unit no longer mattered to him.
What was infinitely more important was the green snowflake Se-woon had just unveiled to the world.
"Yes, Father."
"How... how do you possess that poison?"
The cursed poison that had vanished with the death of Tang Mu-yeol's father, the Poison Lord Tang Ui-tae.
The supreme venom that had once made martial artists hail the Sichuan Tang Family as the "First Family of Sichuan" without hesitation.
"...How in the world do you possess your grandfather's Divine Immortal Collapse?"
One of the Eight Great Extreme Poisons of the past—a toxin so lethal it could steal the breath of even an immortal.
Tang Mu-yeol's voice trembled as he uttered its name.
"A-All Medical Hall physicians, mobilize immediately—!"
At the mention of Divine Immortal Collapse, Tang Jun, head of the Medical Hall, paled and scrambled to summon every physician.
But—
Swish.
Se-woon raised a hand, stopping him.
"There's no need, Medical Hall Master. You need not trouble yourself."
"B-But the toxicity of Divine Immortal Collapse...!"
"I adjusted its composition beforehand. Aside from energy dispersion, it carries no other toxic effects. The symptoms will also vanish completely within half an hour."
"Y-You're certain?"
"Yes. Why would I lie?"
Only then did Tang Jun exhale in relief.
Divine Immortal Collapse was an extreme poison primarily composed of two effects—paralysis and energy dispersion.
The paralysis could escalate to lethal levels, but since that component had been removed, the elite warriors' lives were not in danger.
"What is this? Divine Immortal Collapse?"
"N-No way. That was the Poison Lord Tang Ui-tae's lost poison!"
"...Young Master Se-woon possesses the pinnacle of energy-dispersing toxins?"
However, the reason Divine Immortal Collapse had once ranked among the Eight Great Extreme Poisons was due to the latter effect.
Energy-dispersing poison.
A venom so lethal to martial artists that it could temporarily strip them of their cultivated energy.
Its infamy was such that any user would immediately be declared an enemy of the martial world by both the Orthodox and Unorthodox factions.
But the reason both factions so harshly regulated such poisons lay elsewhere.
'Because nearly all energy-dispersing poisons leave horrific aftereffects beyond mere energy loss.'
Ironically, most energy-dispersing poisons were deadlier to civilians than to martial artists.
The lower-grade variants released toxic fumes during the energy-dispersal process, wreaking havoc on non-martial artists.
In the past, rampant abuse of such poisons had caused widespread civilian casualties—
—prompting the imperial court to break its usual non-interference policy and intervene directly.
Faced with unprecedented backlash, the two major factions—Orthodox and Unorthodox—swiftly negotiated with the court, reaching a dramatic compromise.
Thus, the Ironclad Rule on Energy-Dispersing Poisons was born:
The latter clause had been a hard-won concession after lengthy negotiations between the factions and the court.
Neither side wanted to appear as though they had caved to imperial pressure, hence the carefully worded exception.
The court, in turn, had relented—believing no such poison could possibly exist.
But...
'The only poison that ever met that impossible condition was the Sichuan Tang Family's Divine Immortal Collapse.'
As Se-woon had explained earlier, the paralytic component of Divine Immortal Collapse had no effect on non-martial artists—it simply evaporated harmlessly.
Thus, the Tang Family's secret technique stood as the martial world's only permitted energy-dispersing poison.
If Ten Thousand Flowers in the Rain was the pinnacle of the Tang Family's hidden weapon arts—
Then Divine Immortal Collapse was the essence of their poison mastery.
Unsurprisingly, the entire martial world—Orthodox and Unorthodox alike—had come to fear it.
Energy dispersion alone was enough to undo a lifetime of cultivation.
'...But Grandfather passed away before he could pass down its formula and application.'
On that fateful day, the central plains were freed from the threat of the one and only energy-dispersing poison.
And the Tang Family began its descent into ruin.
Silence gradually settled over the training grounds.
The once-noisy crowd had fallen quiet, all eyes fixed on Se-woon.
Then—
Tap.
Se-woon bowed deeply to Tang Mu-yeol before speaking.
"My apologies for the delayed answer, Family Head. I deemed it necessary to first dispel the clan's fears, even at the cost of rudeness."
"It's fine. But explain—quickly."
"Understood."
Se-woon took a deep breath—
—then began with a gleam in his eyes.
"First, I had no choice but to conceal the process until full restoration was achieved."
"—!!"
Tang Mu-yeol's eyes trembled as if struck by an earthquake.
Se-woon's words all but confirmed his suspicions—the poison used was indeed Divine Immortal Collapse.
"Then it's truly...!"
"Yes. The poison I used was indeed Divine Immortal Collapse."
"—!!"
Gasps rippled through the crowd.
Every clansman listening felt as though lightning had struck them—a thrilling jolt of realization.
"...Did you obtain the formula from Dokma?"
Tang Mu-yeol's question was cautious.
With no other possible link to the poison's recipe, his assumption was natural.
In truth, Tang Mu-yeol was half-right and half-wrong.
The reason Se-woon knew the formula was simple—
In his past life, after Dokma had plundered and compiled every secret manual of the poison sects—including the Sichuan Tang Family's—
'Because I created it anew.'
That's right. The current Divine Immortal Collapse was a new original—crafted by Se-woon alone.
In his past life, he had never found the original formula.
Once he concluded it was lost forever, he resolved to recreate it—
"You damned disciple!!"
"Gahhh! How did you even make Divine Immortal Collapse?!"
As mentioned earlier, he had achieved this without Dokma's help.
But—
He couldn't reveal this shocking truth to his father.
"Given the symbolic weight of Divine Immortal Collapse to our family..."
"...!"
"And the risk of other factions exploiting this knowledge... I kept it hidden even from Abbess Abbess Geumhwa. But yes—Dokma was attempting to recreate Divine Immortal Collapse."
"!!"
Se-woon decided to pin everything on Dokma.
The "Sichuan Overlord" had just reclaimed his throne.