Chapter 69: Thunder Dragon Descent
Tian Ailang's body brimmed with lightning qi, crackling bolts flashing around him.
Watching him prepare, Dang Jeong-ah immediately slipped a hand into her bosom.
Full Sky Flower Rain.
It was the pinnacle of the Dang family's hidden weapons techniques—a storm of needles raining down like a downpour, filling the heavens. The technique's power lay in sheer numbers, so they favored needles for their ease of carry. Naturally, it demanded a skill to launch hundreds almost simultaneously, along with immense inner power to guide them precisely—and flawless control over that power.
As Dang Jeong-ah channeled her qi, her blood-red robes fluttered wildly. In the same instant, needles shot from her hand too fast to see.
Arcing in broad parabolas at blinding speed, they hurtled toward Palgaksa's head at her gesture, like guided arrows.
Pipipipipipipipit!
Hundreds of slender poison needles struck Palgaksa's head, most ricocheting off—but a dozen or so buried deep. Its impenetrable hide, which had shrugged off every prior attack, yielded to those thin needles thanks to the Dang family's metallurgical mastery.
The poison experts of Dangga had perfected the art of forging hidden weapons, and Dang Jeong-ah's needles were forged from ultra-hard, rare black iron and celestial iron, tempered to perfection. Celestial iron, extracted from meteorites, had an impossibly high melting point that made processing a nightmare—but when refined successfully, it boasted unmatched strength and inner power conductivity above all ores.
In short, her inner power-infused celestial iron needles had pierced true.
The tips bore Seven Treasures Soul-Chasing Poison, deadlier than the Five-Step Intestine-Rending Poison Tian Ailang had trained against.
Kieeeek—!
Palgaksa, focusing its energy on its horn, shrieked in agony as the venom invaded.
"Now!"
At Dang Jeong-ah's shout, Tian Ailang's form flashed like lightning, diving straight into Palgaksa's gaping maw.
He shot down its throat and into the esophagus. Pajijik! Lightning qi lanced outward in all directions, filling the air with the stench of burning flesh in an instant.
Palgaksa's innards were already ravaged by firebombs—charred and wounded everywhere. Vile-smelling, toxic mucus oozed from the injuries like stomach acid.
Chiiik—!
Just then, a droplet of acid that could melt anything splattered down onto Tian Ailang from above. It collided with his protective aura, hissing into vapor like fire on water.
Vicious.
Even his meticulously reinforced protective aura, a marvel of inner power control, had been gouged fist-sized by that single drop. Tian Ailang's qi rushed to fill the breach instantly.
The longer I linger, the more my aura crumbles and my power depletes.
He scattered lightning and fire qi indiscriminately, targeting wounds from the firebombs above all.
Palgaksa's kieeek wails echoed distantly, like cries from a deep cavern's end.
Burrowing deeper into the esophagus, Tian Ailang sprayed energy as before, widening the wounds.
Not here either.
Inside Palgaksa, he was dealing maximum damage while hunting the Fire Dragon Pill's location. The more havoc he wreaked, the safer his comrades outside—so he held nothing back, extending his senses to detect it.
Probably where the fire qi is strongest.
Pajijik! Hwaruruk!
Palgaksa's guts lay in ruins, but the pill eluded him. Yet as the saying went, sincerity moved heaven and earth. After racing onward, Tian Ailang spotted a sizable pouch.
Could it be?
No fire qi emanated from it outwardly, but it stood out against the smooth stomach lining. Approaching warily, he probed with his hand aura.
With hand qi, he carefully sliced the pouch open. Inside lay a green orb the size of two fists—its flaws visible even to the naked eye. Poison smoke he'd seen countless times during Dangga training seeped from the split.
Tian Ailang hesitated for a split second. Since entering Palgaksa, he'd burned through an insane amount of inner power. Normally, nature's qi would refill him swiftly—but in this toxic hell, recovery crawled at a snail's pace. Maintaining his aura was growing grueling.
Now, the first anomaly he'd encountered... ignoring it felt wrong.
Decide fast, act faster.
Sealing his breath to block the smoke, he wrapped his hands in aura and yanked out the green orb.
Chiiik—!
The poison smoke met his hand aura and screeched away in flames.
Following his instincts, Tian Ailang endured to peel back the orb's surface.
Urk!
His hands throbbed fiercely despite the aura as the venom intensified. The surface tougher than expected, he clawed at it like ripping bark.
Kwaduduk!
A woody snap—and a fountain of poison erupted. It slammed his aura without warning, breaching gaps and invading relentlessly through pores despite his sealed breath.
"Kuhuk!"
Eyes bulging in excruciating pain, Tian Ailang gripped the nearby stomach wall to steady himself. But he felt no texture. Sounds faded, the poison's stench blurred, vision clouded white. He'd just touched the wall, yet the world spun, disorienting his spatial sense.
Suddenly, skeletons burst from the ground. They shambled toward him, some clattering jaws to speak.
[The Bloodfiend Group kidnaps Damga's heirs.]
One shyly clasped its arms.
[Call me miss.]
Another's jaw rattled in laughter.
[Is Tian young hero's dumplings that delicious? Haha!]
A dozen bony arms waved skeletal limbs.
[Run!]
[Protect Lady Yohyang!]
One straightened, raising a hand.
[What a beautiful being.]
Dozens knelt in prayer pose.
[The Righteous Bone Garden pledges loyalty to Lord Tian.]
One creaked.
[Nice to meet you. Name's Chanhyo.]
Another creaked closer.
[Song Sogeol here.]
Creak.
[Me too! I wanna join the Peach Blossom Oath!]
Creak.
[Living with my brothers is the best.]
Creak.
[Aigoo~ Brother Chanhyo's always picking on me.]
Creak.
[I'm truly sorry. To you... to Sogeol too...]
Creak.
[Brother Ailang... please don't hate Brother Chanhyo too much.]
"...I can't do that. Sogeol. I'll heal you and get revenge."
Kwaduk!
Tian Ailang bit his lip hard, forcing himself from the hallucination. Blood trickled down his chin.
"Hup!"
Breaking free, his vision clouded again with skeletons reappearing. The chattering horde crumbled to dust, pooling into one form: Song Sogeol, nude and vibrant—not the pale corpse from memory. Joy flickered briefly.
"Gal!"
Tian Ailang roared, hacking up a black clot. Vision cleared as spring poison nearly spread—he'd taken inner damage to snap awake forcibly.
"...Damn it."
He felt filthy. Fakes born of poison, yet the emotional torrent lingered, pounding his heart. With senses shattered, the first-time hallucination hit hard—several times stronger than Dangga's training poisons.
Senses returned gradually. Then he saw it.
"Fire Dragon Pill."
No more smoke or green orb in his hands—just a dark crimson pearl pulsing like a heart. Its eerie hue mesmerized.
Chiiik!
Sensation returning, scorching fire qi seared his palms. Burning-flesh stench—he wrapped them in aura hastily. Only then could he hold it; soon, the pill's outer heat cooled, crusting gray like hardened lava. The inner power felt intact, so he ignored the surface change for now.
Tian Ailang laughed. Wounds everywhere, blood from his mouth, palms charred beyond near-term healing—yet laughter bubbled up.
"Hahahahaha!"
He bellowed madly, then focused sharply. Mission accomplished; now escape Palgaksa with his scant remaining power.
Clutching the pill, he hurried onward. Unlike before, when lightning and fire lit the way, darkness engulfed him now. He dodged falling acid on senses alone, treating it as Palgaksa poison training despite impaired sight—keeping his mind steady. Panic or haste would cripple him further.
Time lost meaning when he hit a wall of massive, twitching wrinkles.
Target found. Conserving till now, he unleashed foot strikes with his dregs of power.
Kuwoong!
The folds quivered.
Kuwoong!
They writhed more.
"Huu...."
Gathering every last scrap for the final blow.
Kuuwwoong!
A heavy rebound—and the thrashing folds parted a hole of light. Tian Ailang hurled himself through with all his might.
Kudangtang!
He tumbled hard from height, rolling across the ground.
"Puha!"
Great gulps of fresh air—not Palgaksa's fetor—electrified his body. Unbidden, nature's qi surged in like a tide.
"Huu...."
Power returning, his vision sharpened from its haze.
First in his sights: Palgaksa, collapsed motionless—dead?
He scanned around. Success beyond plan—pill secured, escape made, beast slain. Allies like the beastkin, Maeng Geon, and Dang Jeong-ah should be near.
They were. But locked in fierce combat with unknown foes.
"What the hell is this?"