The Black Deep Abyss
Inside the vast cavern stood children of ages similar to Tang Cheonwi’s—or younger still.
“You’re late. This uncle of yours has been waiting for quite some time.”
The middle-aged man before them was his father’s younger brother, and therefore his uncle: Tang Ho.
“I apologize, Uncle.”
“You were delayed helping your younger brother train, weren’t you? Well done. As an older brother, that was exactly the right thing to do.”
“It was nothing.”
Uncle Tang Ho managed the Poison Blood Pond. He was the man who had always shielded him—the family’s black sheep. Someone for whom Tang Cheonwi felt genuine gratitude.
“This uncle has high hopes for you.”
“You know full well I have no talent for martial arts.”
“If you take after your mother, your martial talent should be exceptional.”
“Not after Father?”
Uncle Tang Ho spoke with careful honesty.
“This uncle has always believed your mother possessed greater martial talent than your father.”
“Father would be furious if he heard that.”
“Ahem. Even so, I can’t very well lie, can I?”
“Pfft.”
For the first time in a long while, genuine laughter escaped him. Conversations with Uncle Tang Ho always went this way.
“Uncle.”
“Speak.”
“If this Poison Blood Pond were to disappear, what would become of you?”
“Me? I’d just lounge around as a freeloader, wouldn’t I?”
“Is that a good thing?”
“Of course it is. I wish this blasted examination would end already.”
For all his words, the man was full of affection for the Poison Blood Pond. It was the very heart of the Tang Clan. Would he truly want such a place to vanish? He was only joking because it could never disappear.
“Even if I drain this entire Poison Blood Pond dry, don’t be surprised.”
“My nephew’s ambition is no small thing. This uncle welcomes it, so absorb as much as you like.”
The idle talk ended. Uncle Tang Ho raised his voice for all to hear.
“Each of you, stand before the pool you wish to enter!”
The children moved to the poison pools they believed they could endure. Tang Cheonwi, too, walked toward one of the pools.
Whispers erupted at once.
“Has he lost his mind?”
“That’s the Black Deep Abyss—the largest of all the poison pools!”
“Is he that eager to die?”
“Just touching that stuff will melt your entire body.”
“Even recklessness has its limits. Tsk tsk.”
The children each offered their own scornful remarks. Uncle Tang Ho voiced his concern as well.
“Cheonwi, do you truly intend to enter the Black Deep Abyss?”
“Yes.”
“No thought of changing your mind?”
“Please trust me.”
A brief silence. Then Tang Ho spoke as if he had made his decision.
“Very well. If that is truly your will, this uncle will trust you.”
“Thank you.”
Anxiety still lingered in Uncle Tang Ho’s eyes. Even as a wastrel, Tang Cheonwi was of the Tang Clan’s direct bloodline. In a clan that valued blood ties so highly, the weight of the eldest son was immense. Of course the man would worry when that eldest son prepared to do something so reckless.
This place is more like a field of spirit medicines for me. Don’t worry.
Tang Cheonwi offered his uncle a faint smile, then stepped into the Black Deep Abyss.
Tang Cheonwi immediately drew up his internal energy. It was the Returning Origin Heart Method, taught only to the direct bloodline.
Seeing this, Hwancheonjihwan burst into laughter.
Pfft! You think you can endure the Black Deep Abyss’s poison qi with that crude heart method? Was all that confidence you showed me just empty bluster?
The mockery was plain. Tang Cheonwi paid it no mind and continued circulating the Returning Origin Heart Method.
You’re no different from the rest of them—utterly unremarkable.
Interest fading, Hwancheonjihwan was about to look away.
Then—
Huh?
Hwancheonjihwan tilted its head. Without warning, Tang Cheonwi had stopped the Returning Origin Heart Method.
Now you’re just itching to die. Without internal energy protecting your body, the poison will soak you to the marrow.
The ring was right. A groan slipped through Tang Cheonwi’s clenched teeth.
“Kh…!”
There are plenty of ways to die. Don’t tell me you actually enjoy pain, you little pervert?
Tang Cheonwi could not hear Hwancheonjihwan’s voice. Every shred of his focus was concentrated on a single point.
He’s gone. Completely gone.
Hwancheonjihwan shook its head. Every one of Tang Cheonwi’s blood vessels had been steeped in poison qi. No one had ever survived in that state.
Kids these days are so fragile. I don’t get it.
Just as Hwancheonjihwan was about to write him off completely—
Wh—what the hell is this brat doing?!
Hwancheonjihwan jolted in shock. Tiny ripples rose around Tang Cheonwi. The once-still Black Deep Abyss began to heave.
C-could it be…!
In that instant Tang Cheonwi’s eyes flooded with green—the Spirit Eye.
He truly knew the secret formulas of the Tyrant Blood Poison Qi?!
The only power capable of stimulating the Black Deep Abyss was the Tyrant Blood Poison Qi. Nothing else. From the very beginning, this Black Deep Abyss had been created as a poison pool for training that very art. Only the Tyrant Blood Poison Qi could absorb the entire Black Deep Abyss.
Just who the hell are you?!
Hwancheonjihwan could not hide its astonishment.
This changes everything.
The conditions for the Tyrant Blood Poison Qi were simple: turn every blood vessel in the body into a conduit for poison. In other words, transform the blood itself into poison. Simple to say—yet hundreds of poison masters had died attempting it. The very reason the Tang Clan had come to prize bloodline so highly was this art. Training in the Tyrant Blood Poison Qi had nearly extinguished the clan’s lineage. And so the art had been abandoned, until now it was an internal method no one remembered.
The Black Deep Abyss is a place for training the Tyrant Blood Poison Qi—not for mastering it.
It was no different from gambling with one’s own life. Nine chances out of ten meant death. He had staked his fate on that remaining one-tenth.
This brat is absolutely insane.
Flustered, Hwancheonjihwan poured out every word that came to mind—curses, shrieks, everything. It was thoroughly worked up.
Ohh! There’s a method this fresh?!
Tang Cheonwi’s insides were saturated with poison. Blood and bone had already been steeped in it. Yet his five viscera and six bowels remained unharmed—all thanks to the protection of the Tyrant Blood Poison Qi.
He’s already reached the final stage?
The Black Deep Abyss’s poison qi pressed past the entire body and toward the brain. This was where so many had failed—reduced to a handful of poison water, becoming one with the abyss itself.
“Keugh!”
The rare few who did not die became poison masters of great strength who had lost their sense of self. Even those usually retained only murderous intent, going on killing sprees until they met wretched ends.
Which kind are you?
Even knowing the formulas of the Tyrant Blood Poison Qi, most still died learning it. There was a reason the Sichuan Tang Clan had nearly been wiped out by this martial art. The ultimate condition for the Tyrant Blood Poison Qi was singular: only the vessel of a Ten Thousand Poison Ghost—the legendary poison master—could master it. The Tang Clan’s founding ancestor, who had created the art, had himself been a Ten Thousand Poison Ghost. Without that condition, the Tyrant Blood Poison Qi could not be learned at all. Absorbing the Black Deep Abyss was likewise impossible.
Are you a genius of poison arts destined to become a Ten Thousand Poison Ghost… or a gambling maniac who lives for the throw of the dice?
Either possibility was extraordinary. It had been a long time since any blood of the Sichuan Tang Clan had acted with such boldness.
Meanwhile, the gaze of Tang Ho—who oversaw this Poison Blood Rite—remained fixed on Tang Cheonwi.
Cheonwi is enduring the Black Deep Abyss’s poison qi!
What sort of poison pool was the Black Deep Abyss? It was the most potent pool in the entire Poison Blood Pond. To immerse oneself there and still hold on meant an extraordinary resistance to poison.
The Tang Clan’s bloodline is born with strong poison resistance… but the Black Deep Abyss is an exception.
Combined with the clan’s heart method, that resistance should double. And yet—the Black Deep Abyss casually ignored even that level of resistance. Even the clan head or Tang Ho himself would not last a single double-hour inside it.
He’s already long past a double-hour.
It was a record. No blood of the Tang Clan had ever achieved this—until Tang Cheonwi.
Could he be going beyond the Latent Poison Body… all the way to Poison Blood God?
Tang Ho’s excitement rose. Poison masters, too, had stages. First was the Latent Poison Body: the constitution itself steeped in poison. One became immune to a thousand toxins and could freely command poison qi. Tang Yuhyeon had attained that first stage—and even that alone was enough to claim the title of first under heaven. That was why the Tang Clan strove so hard to create poison masters.
Next came the Poison Blood God: a body in which poison had entered the blood itself. Poison fused with internal energy and the blood vessels, turning the practitioner into living poison. In all of Tang Clan history, only five had ever reached that stage.
The family’s black sheep might obtain the body of a Poison Blood God… The Tang Clan is going to become interesting.
People saw Tang Cheonwi as nothing but a worthless wastrel. Tang Ho did not. The boy was simply freer than most. The Tang Clan was a house of strict discipline; in the eyes of the elders, that made him a black sheep. Of course, what truly displeased them most was that the martial skill of a direct-line heir remained stuck at third-class.
The Black Deep Abyss heaved.
It’s circling around Cheonwi.
More than that—the veins bulging through his skin had turned black. His blood itself had already become poison. Yet even now Cheonwi only let out the smallest of groans. There were no signs of collapse.
How far will he absorb the Black Deep Abyss…?
Only the brain remained. This was always the critical threshold.
Please hold on.
If he endured this stretch, an unprecedented poison master would be born—rising from black sheep to the talent who would lead the clan forward. And he was the eldest son. If he gained true strength as well, the Tang Clan’s discipline would be set right. No greater fortune could befall the house.
Wha—?!
In an instant the Black Deep Abyss spun into a whirlpool. Fierce winds tore through the cavern. Poison from the abyss sprayed outward.
Sizzle—
Even the tiniest droplets melted the cave walls and the ground.
“Damn it! Everyone stop the Poison Blood Rite and get outside—now!”
At Tang Ho’s shout the children still undergoing the rite scrambled into motion. Poison from the Black Deep Abyss sprayed again.
“Look out!”
Tang Ho raised protective true qi and blocked the poison. But one child slipped past his protection.
“Aaaaagh!”
The skin the poison touched necrotized in an instant.
“Take Tang Gyu to the clan head immediately!”
“Y-yes! Right away, Uncle!”
The other children supported Tang Gyu and fled outside. Alone now, Tang Ho stared at Tang Cheonwi with trembling eyes.
“What in the world is happening?”
A whirlpool in the Black Deep Abyss? Even Tang Ho, who managed the Poison Blood Pond, had never witnessed such a thing. The Black Deep Abyss was as heavy as the waters of the Thousandfold Depths. Merely dipping a foot would drag a body under the poison qi. And yet that same abyss was not merely rippling—it was spinning into a vortex.
While Tang Ho watched Tang Cheonwi—
“No… that can’t be!”
Centered on the Black Deep Abyss, the poison from every other pool began to be sucked in. The gathered poison waters formed a poison storm swirling around the abyss.
“Ugh!”
Even Tang Ho’s protective true qi could not withstand the storm’s force. He was driven far back. In that moment a bizarre phenomenon unfolded before his eyes.
Sizzle—
Thick mist filled the air. The poison storm had become a cloud of poison fog.
Tang Ho tried to breathe—
“Puh—!”
Even that scant amount of poison qi left him with internal injuries. Wiping the blood from his hand, he muttered,
“What terrifying poison qi…”
His pupils shook violently. Would Tang Cheonwi, standing in the midst of that, be unharmed? With poison qi of this magnitude, the boy might vanish without a trace.
Yet contrary to his fears—
“Hssss…”
From beyond the poison fog came the sound of someone drawing a deep breath.
“He’s alive!”
Tang Ho’s joyful cry rang out. In that same moment the poison fog vanished as if it had never been.
In the space where the Black Deep Abyss had been, Tang Cheonwi stood with his green eyes blazing.