Chapter 416
Swish!
With a sound that seemed to tear the heavens and earth asunder, a storm-like blade aura surged through the darkness, lashing out toward the assassins.
The Martial Emperor's supreme ultimate technique—the Thirteenfold Qi Induction—had been unleashed.
Pshht!
Each time the razor-sharp blade aura split the air, blood sprayed upward, and the assassins began toppling like felled logs.
To Bu Eun-seol, against whom poison arts and hidden weapons were utterly ineffective, the assassins of the Blood Prison might as well have been wooden training dummies standing motionless.
Thud. Thud.
The time it took to bring down all fifty-some assassins didn't even amount to half a quarter-hour.
Drip... drip...
As the battle formation shattered, an ink-black liquid began to seep from the darkened sky, slowly restoring it to its original state.
Swish!
Even with the formation broken, Bu Eun-seol's assault did not cease.
Swiiish!
His body, now a streak of light, continuously unleashed razor-sharp brilliance.
Each time his hyper-speed form brushed past the assassins, their heads unfailingly parted from their bodies.
"F-Fall back!"
As the assassins tried to flee beyond the manor, a blade-like sharpness flowed from Bu Eun-seol's hands—
—then abruptly coalesced into a whirlwind at his fingertips.
He had altered the nature of the Thirteenfold Qi Induction, transforming its surging blade aura into a spiraling tempest.
Whooosh!
Every time Bu Eun-seol, moving like lightning, extended his hand, a blade aura sharp enough to pierce the heavens whirled forth, tearing through their bodies.
"Guhk—!"
"Kgh—!"
It was a one-sided slaughter.
In less than a single time it takes to eat a meal, every assassin in the manor had become a cold corpse.
The sole survivor was the master of the Blood Prison—Jo Baek-san.
"The Killing Sect was overestimated... because of its poison arts."
Bu Eun-seol, now fully revealed, looked at Jo Baek-san with a disappointed expression.
Truthfully, he had arrived here with some measure of anticipation.
If this was an assassination squad capable of directly striking the Tang Clan, they ought to possess considerable skill.
But when the lid was finally lifted, they turned out to be nothing more than a run-of-the-mill group of killers—far below his expectations.
Shudder... shudder...
Jo Baek-san was a veteran assassin who had roamed the murim for seventy years, weathering every storm imaginable.
Yet never in his life had he seen a master who wielded such terrifying techniques—flawlessly, without the slightest deviation in power.
Because a human's killing intent was not infinite.
Every enemy slain dulled that intent.
No matter how exceptional the master, unleashing that many killing moves should have diminished their killing intent and blunted their techniques.
But the young man—no, the monster before him...
Even after cutting down over three hundred assassins, his killing intent had not dulled. His techniques had not weakened.
Step. Step.
As the slaughter-demon of a youth walked toward him—
Drip...
Jo Baek-san, without realizing it, pissed himself.
"Who... are you?"
Bu Eun-seol did not answer. Instead, he gazed down at him with crimson-irised eyes.
At that moment, a single name surfaced in Jo Baek-san's mind.
The name of the Heir of the Demon Hall—the greatest young grandmaster of the Demonic Path.
"Don't tell me... Mu-hon—?"
Slash!
In that instant, a sharp wind howled—and Jo Baek-san's vision tilted diagonally.
The blade aura of the Thirteenfold Qi Induction had cleanly severed his neck along a death line.
Pshht! Thud... thud...
A crimson line slashed diagonally across Jo Baek-san's throat before his head rolled to the ground.
Thump.
As the head fell, the body collapsed in a heap.
Thus died Jo Baek-san, master of the Blood Prison, who had once plunged the murim into fear.
Whoooosh...!
Before anyone knew it, Bu Eun-seol's hair had turned white, and his irises were tinged blue.
He was converting all his Reverse Polarity True Qi into the Glacier Thousand Streams Art, intending to flash-freeze the corpses of Jo Baek-san and his assassins.
This way, no matter how skilled the examiner, no one would detect the martial traces left behind.
Huum!
A glacial blue light flashed in Bu Eun-seol's eyes as he hovered midair.
At the same time, his now-white hair billowed upward—
Crackle-crackle!
—and the corpses strewn across the manor instantly froze solid.
Whoosh.
As Bu Eun-seol descended and withdrew the Glacier Thousand Streams Art, his hair and eye color reverted to normal.
"As I thought... the Tang Clan wasn't the real target."
Bu Eun-seol's brow furrowed deeply as he gazed at the distant sky.
They had co-opted the Three Poison Sects, who were on bad terms with the Tang Clan, to expand their faction and prepare for full-scale war.
Moreover, to assassinate Tang Pae, they had erected a manor near the Tang Clan and secretly stationed assassins there.
Everything was perfectly prepared to coincide with Patriarch Tang Pae's illness.
They visited the Tang Clan, threatened them, and readied themselves for battle.
Yet this seemingly flawless plan had one fatal flaw.
Even if everything went according to plan, their forces were woefully insufficient to topple the Tang Clan.
"Even if the Three Poison Sects' forces increased tenfold, they would barely be enough to mutually annihilate with the Tang Clan—nothing more."
If they had truly wanted to gather enough strength to crush the Tang Clan, they shouldn't have recruited the Yunnan Three Poison Sects.
Instead, they should have secured the allegiance of sects like the Black Demon Sect—one that had fought and defeated numerous poison sects since its founding.
As for the Killing Sect, they should have chosen not the Blood Prison, which primarily used poison arts, but an organization like the Ghost Mask Society—filled with elite assassins skilled in infiltration and possessing exceptional martial prowess.
Yet the Three Realms deliberately chose the Three Poison Sects and Blood Prison—forces familiar to the Tang Clan but insufficient in strength—despite the enormous time and cost required.
'They'll find out soon enough.'
Bu Eun-seol's eyes gleamed with bloody light.
He had forced the Poison Demon Sect to retreat to Yunnan and completely cut off all intelligence around the Tang Clan's territory.
By now, the mastermind behind the Three Poison Sects must have arrived here, fully aware of everything.
'Once the duel is over, I'll see exactly who you are.'
The duel must have already begun by now—there was no stopping it.
Once this was all over, the figures pulling the strings would be revealed.
Whoosh!
Bu Eun-seol shot back into the air in an instant, heading straight for the Tang Clan.
Tremble, tremble.
Tang Gon's body shook like an aspen tree, unable to fully block the torrent of Jang Song's internal energy.
And because of the Heaven-Poison Blood Mist Art infused within him, his skin gradually darkened to black.
Unable to withstand Jang Song's energy, Tang Gon had already been poisoned by the venomous qi of the Heaven-Poison Blood Mist Art.
"It's over."
Seeing that Tang Gon could no longer even resist, Jang Song smirked.
"It was a fair duel—you can't blame anyone."
And just as he was about to unleash the full force of the Heaven-Poison Blood Mist Art—
'Wait, something's wrong.'
Only then did Jang Song realize something was off.
Come to think of it, Tang Gon's body should have melted away long ago.
Yet despite being exposed to the Heaven-Poison Blood Mist Art for so long, he was still holding his stance, enduring.
Hiss—
At that moment, the pale steam rising from Tang Gon's poisoned body thickened abruptly before a golden current suddenly erupted from his entire being.
Murmur, murmur.
As the unexpected turn of events unfolded, not only Jang Song but even the Tang Clan members watching the duel began to stir.
"He's using the Yellow Essence Poison Furnace Art?!"
A few of the Tang Clan elders observing the duel gaped in shock.
Tang Gon hadn't just been unleashing the Poison Spirit Extinguishing Art this whole time.
He had dispersed all his internal energy into his Eight Extraordinary Meridians while simultaneously storing external poison energy and incoming force directly into his dantian.
He had been executing the Yellow Essence Poison Furnace Art—the ultimate secret technique left behind by the Poison Saint, Tang Cheon-gun.
"How did he—?!"
The Yellow Essence Poison Furnace Art was so dangerous to master that many died in the process.
It had remained purely theoretical, never included among the Tang Clan's Eight Great Secret Arts.
Yet Tang Gon had been training in it all along?
Hiiiiisss!
Amid the violent surge of energy, all the Heaven-Poison Blood Mist Art that had been absorbed into Tang Gon's body was now being expelled—straight back into Jang Song.
Because he was unleashing all the poison energy he had stored in an instant, the resulting poison mist was several times more potent than what Jang Song had originally released.
"Ugh—!"
In that moment, black veins bulged across Jang Song's entire body.
As Tang Gon's internal energy and the Heaven-Poison Blood Mist Art flooded into him from the outside, he felt an agony so intense it felt like his meridians were about to burst.
"N-not... possible."
But Jang Song's resilience was nothing to scoff at.
The moment his meridians were on the verge of rupturing, he activated his Primordial Essence True Qi to block Tang Gon's energy and the surging poison mist.
Smirk.
At that, a faint smile curled at Tang Gon's lips.
"I was wondering when you'd use your Primordial Essence True Qi."
Rumble—
As Jang Song's Primordial Essence True Qi surged forward, the golden radiance around Tang Gon's body intensified.
The final secret to mastering the Yellow Essence Poison Furnace Art was simple:
A master with at least three sixty-year cycles of cultivation had to pour their Primordial Essence True Qi into him, forcibly opening his bloodline pathways.
0001
Tang Gon gathered Jang Song's incoming energy back into his dantian.
The accumulated power then swirled violently like a typhoon before surging up through his Governing Vessel meridian along his spine.
Zzzzt—
A strange glow emanated from Tang Gon's body as his blocked meridians were forcibly cleared by Jang Song's energy.
After Bu Eun-seol had left, he had continuously ingested the Tang Clan's poisons, refining his Poison Art all this time.
He had even absorbed poison during his Qi Circulation, merging it with his own innate true qi.
Poison Saint Body.
A state where, despite not storing poison energy within the body, one could generate all manner of toxins from their very flesh—immune to any poison, the highest realm attainable by Poison People.
All for the sake of reaching the Poison Saint Body.
—This can't be...!
The Tang Clan members gasped as an eerie radiance began spreading across Tang Gon's skin.
The shimmer coursing through his body—it was the initial stage of the Poison Saint Body.
A sign that he had reached Poison Throughout the Body.
Crack.
Before anyone realized it, Jang Song's hair turned stark white, and his body began to crumple.
Having exhausted all his Primordial Essence True Qi, he could no longer withstand the torrent of poison energy and internal power Tang Gon was unleashing.
"Good! Now it's my turn!"
Seeing the situation turn dire, Hyeong Geuk suddenly leaped onto the arena, spreading his arms wide.
Whoosh—!
A hundred throwing darts shot into the sky at once before raining down upon Tang Gon.
It was as if ten thousand stars were plummeting from the heavens.
He had layered the Poison Phoenix Sect's signature hidden weapon technique—Six Directions Thousand Projectiles Art.
—Such a move!
The Tang Clan members were stunned.
Not only did the sheer number of projectiles defy imagination, but Tang Gon was still subduing Jang Song.
There was no way he could evade such a barrage in this state.
"Impressive technique."
Yet Tang Gon remained composed, watching the falling daggers even as he continued channeling his energy.
Then, after briefly closing his eyes, he suddenly thrust his right arm forward with full force.
Flash—!
At the same time, a meteor-like brilliance erupted from his sleeve.
The supreme hidden weapon technique of the Tang Clan's Eight Great Secret Arts—one guaranteed to pierce the enemy's throat in a single strike.
One Hand Seizing Life.
Thud.
Then, something astonishing happened.
Tang Gon had launched only a single dagger.
Yet, impossibly, that single dagger sent all hundred falling projectiles clattering to the ground.
One Blade Darkens the Sky.
The pinnacle of the Flying Dagger Art, said to darken the night sky with a single strike.
Once more, the Eight Great Secret Arts of the Tang Family had unfolded in Tang Gon's hands.
Silence fell over the arena.
Hyeong Geuk stood frozen, unable to move, his arms still raised mid-attack.
Jang Song, severely injured by Tang Gon's poison and internal energy, was on the verge of death, his breath ragged.
Thud.
Finally, Tang Gon pushed Jang Song aside and stood tall, locking eyes with Hyeong Geuk.
"Will you continue?"
Right now, Tang Gon could have killed both Jang Song and Hyeong Geuk in an instant.
But he didn't.
Because he had already perfected martial arts that could crush the Three Poison Sects at any time.
Hyeong Geuk's face stiffened, unable to utter a word, while Jang Song could only gasp for air.
His face alternating between red and purple, Hyeong Geuk supported Jang Song's body and bowed his head.
"We admit defeat."
Then, as if fleeing, they hastily retreated from the arena.
—WAAAAH!
The Tang Clan erupted in cheers.
Tang Gon—who had never stood out and was thought to lack any particular talent—had displayed such overwhelming martial prowess?
'My brother has finally accomplished something great.'
From afar, Tang Cheong watched with a faint smile.
In truth, she was the only one in the Tang Clan who knew the extent of Tang Gon's relentless efforts.
After sending Bu Eun-seol away, Tang Gon had not spent a single day without risking his life in training.
Part of it was to cultivate his abilities as the next Family Head of the Tang Clan—
But more than that, it was driven by his burning desire to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with his friend once more.
And through this duel, Tang Gon had finally come closer to that goal.
From being an unremarkable Rising Talent of the Younger Generation—
To now possessing martial prowess worthy of standing alongside the Family Heads of the Eight Great Families.
'As expected...'
Having secretly dealt with Blood Prison and returned to the Tang Clan, Bu Eun-seol watched the cheering crowd surrounding Tang Gon and nodded slightly.
From the start, he had known that Jang Song and Hyeong Geuk were disguised as formidable masters.
Yet he had been able to calmly leave the Tang Clan—
Because he had already sensed Tang Gon's immense growth and foreseen that this duel would become his Breakthrough.
'He's finally achieved it.'
Through relentless, grueling training, Tang Gon had already pushed his body to its limits.
And now, with this duel serving as the catalyst for his Breakthrough, he had leaped straight to the heights he desired.
'But.'
Bu Eun-seol shook his head.
While Tang Gon's martial growth was cause for celebration...
He couldn't shake the certainty that all of this had been part of a meticulously crafted script.
—Waaaah!
Amidst the cheers erupting from within the Tang Clan, Bu Eun-seol felt a wave of confusion.
The Three Realms had given the Tang Clan—and Tang Gon—a trial they could endure.
They had ignited Tang Gon's latent talent in an instant, awakening his martial prowess and guiding him to a higher realm.
'Why...?'
This was entirely different from all the conspiracies he'd encountered before. Just what did this signify?
Why had they awakened Tang Gon?
Why had they subjected the Tang Clan to a trial, only to use it to unite them?
What in the world did the Three Realms truly want?
At that moment, Bu Eun-seol's gaze met Tang Gon's across the martial platform.
Collecting his thoughts, he stepped onto the platform and clasped his hands together in salute.
"Congratulations, Young Clan Head."
Bu Eun-seol approached Tang Gon, hands still respectfully folded.
"Since matters have been resolved smoothly, we shall take our leave now."
"You're leaving immediately?"
"Yes."
Tang Gon's expression flickered with regret.
"You've worked hard."
Then, with solemnity, he returned the salute.
"And... thank you."
Just then, Tang Seong, who had rushed to Tang Gon's side, snorted derisively.
"Thank him? What exactly did he do? He didn't even watch the duel—"
"He was guarding the Inner Courtyard, just in case."
Tang Cheong cut in, her eyes sparkling as she interjected.
"And the Grand Leader patrolled the Tang Clan's perimeter in case of unforeseen incidents. Isn't that right?"
A chill ran down Bu Eun-seol's spine.
Tang Cheong had been quietly tracking his movements. Had she recognized him again?
'No. Absolutely impossible.'
He had meticulously erased all traces.
She must have simply had her subordinates monitor his actions.
The incident at Blue River Manor had been handled discreetly, and within a hundred paces, there had been no detectable presence whatsoever.
"I merely surveyed the surroundings as a precaution."
Bu Eun-seol calmly clasped his hands toward Tang Gon and Tang Cheong.
"Then we shall depart."
As he turned, Tae Mu-ryong and the unit members who had returned from the Inner Courtyard fell into step behind him.
"Quite the enigmatic figure, isn't he?"
Tang Cheong's eyes gleamed as she watched Bu Eun-seol leave.
Tang Gon's expression turned peculiar, but soon, a faint smile touched his lips as he nodded.
"Indeed."
Noticing Tang Cheong gazing wistfully at the departing Iron Sword Thirteen Forms leader, Tang Gon smiled faintly.
'Cheong-i seems to have noticed too. This could be troublesome.'
Tang Cheong possessed abilities even Tang Gon couldn't fully comprehend—mysterious and varied.
Moreover, she was stubborn and tenacious to a fault, never once letting go of something she desired.
'I hope he slips away cleanly before she gets her hooks in him.'
As he watched Bu Eun-seol's retreating figure, he murmured inwardly:
'Just wait a little longer. Soon, I'll be able to stand by your side.'
During his internal energy clash with Jang Song—
Tang Gon had suddenly realized.
That Seon-u Jin was none other than Bu Eun-seol.
—He used Yin-Yang Dual Qi...
When Jang Song's razor-sharp internal energy pierced his meridians, Tang Gon recalled the time he and Bu Eun-seol had raided Blood Poison Valley together.
Back then, Bu Eun-seol had annihilated the Poison People—armed with their unique shields—with a single devastating sword technique imbued with overwhelming internal energy.
At the time, Bu Eun-seol's true qi had contained vast reserves of Yin-Yang Dual Qi.
And the true qi Seon-u Jin had channeled into him in the Training Room... also carried traces of Yin-Yang True Qi.
Tang Gon had realized—the shockwave was nearly identical to the one Bu Eun-seol had unleashed in Blood Poison Valley.
—It was you.
No matter how vast the martial world was, how could there possibly be another person so young—
Who wielded a shockwave so similar to Bu Eun-seol's?
Who had mastered an internal cultivation method capable of freely manipulating such formidable Yin-Yang Dual Qi?
Seon-u Jin was the very friend he had longed to see, even in his dreams... and he had only recognized him belatedly.
'Just wait a little longer. The main house has finally stretched its limbs.'
Tang Gon had only just achieved the Grand Duke realm. He hadn't yet fully consolidated control over the Tang Clan.
Nor had he established an elite force under his direct command.
But now that the entire clan had witnessed and acknowledged his abilities—
From this moment on, the Tang Clan would rally tightly around him and grow even stronger.
And once that happened?
He could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Bu Eun-seol... and when the time came, he would absolutely be his strength.
'I don't know why you became the Grand Leader of the Martial Alliance, but...'
Had Tang Gon been an ordinary man—
The fact that the Heir of the Demon Hall had assumed the identity of the Martial Alliance's Grand Leader would have aroused deep suspicion. He would have dug for answers.
But to Tang Gon, such details were irrelevant.
Bu Eun-seol remained a friend he would trade his life for without hesitation.
The reason he had yearned to grow stronger so desperately was precisely because he had worried about Bu Eun-seol's path—clashing repeatedly with the leaders of the Demonic Path Ten Gates.
And as if understanding that sentiment... when crisis struck the Tang Clan, Bu Eun-seol had hidden his identity and done everything in his power to help.
Before the blazing friendship between the two of them—
The supposedly irreconcilable divide between the Demonic Path and the Righteous Path...
Was no obstacle at all.