Chapter 338
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 338
Chapter Title: The Time Has Come
Yeon Ja-kyeong.
He closed his eyes and immersed himself in circulating his qi after Yeo Hong-gi departed.
It was an attempt to somehow neutralize the Scattering Qi Poison.
Though it was said to wear off after one hour.
He tried moving his inner energy beforehand anyway.
His dantian remained utterly unresponsive.
Yet Yeon Ja-kyeong did not give up.
'The Yeon Clan's martial arts are the best under heaven.'
That was the pride that drove him.
Flower Barrier Creation Heart Method.
Following the Yeon Clan's secret heart method, Yeon Ja-kyeong struck his dantian countless times.
It didn't matter if it remained unresponsive.
Keep striking, and it would open eventually.
Yeon Ja-kyeong's focus reached its peak, drawing him into a trance-like state.
And then.
Just a quarter-hour shy of one full hour.
'It's moving.'
A portion of his rock-hard dantian crumbled away.
In an instant, his inner energy flowed freely once more.
"Hoo..."
Yeon Ja-kyeong's body was drenched in sweat.
His eyes gleamed.
He had gained no small insights through this process.
Things he never would have obtained by simply waiting out the hour.
'This could prove quite useful.'
An accidental discovery.
He would need to seek out Yeo Hong-gi for more of the Scattering Qi Poison, it seemed.
With this, he might break through the wall that had stalled his progress for so long.
[Hmph. With my power, that much is...]
A voice echoed in Yeon Ja-kyeong's mind at that moment.
An eerie, bizarre sound formed by two voices overlapping.
'Begone. The Yeon Clan's martial arts are supreme under heaven. It's merely my own shortcomings.'
Yeon Ja-kyeong declared firmly.
[I am part of those martial arts as well. In the end, you will seek me out.]
'Nothing but a heart demon. Vanish.'
Yeon Ja--kyeong closed his eyes once more and sank back into operating the Flower Barrier Creation Heart Method.
To eradicate those accursed heart demons, he needed to deepen his mastery of the heart method.
Even though he had already reached its pinnacle.
Where was the end in the study of martial arts?
Press on in pursuit, and new realms would unfold before him.
Hadn't that just happened moments ago?
[......]
As Yeon Ja-kyeong delved deeply into the heart method once more, the eerie voice fell silent.
Myo Gu-eung.
Vast anticipation filled his distant, vacant eyes.
To the point of ecstatic rapture.
"Finally. Finally. The time has come."
The faint poison aura permeating the surroundings shifted.
It was poison of an entirely different nature from before.
The poison that could now emanate because it had finally reached completion.
Myo Gu-eung made his way into the dark cavern, descending deeper and deeper.
The passage was choked with poison mist.
One needed at least the Thousand Poisons Immunity Realm to even take a step inside.
At last, he reached the deepest chamber.
A profoundly deep cavernous space revealed itself.
Filled to the brim with pitch-black energy.
At the heart of that thick darkness loomed an even denser shadow.
A mass blacker than pitch floated in midair.
It lacked any fixed form, shifting freely like dough or mud.
About the size of a ten-year-old child.
For now, it took a spherical shape.
"Urk."
Myo Gu-eung let out a small groan upon reaching it.
An overwhelming poison aura, as expected.
He had surpassed Myriad Poisons Immunity, reaching a state where he himself was little different from poison.
In the Ultimate Shedding Myriad Poisons Divine Art, this was called...
Poison Body Poison Completion Realm.
Only at this level could one prepare to absorb its energy.
The investigators of Thousand Poisons Valley had scoffed at that notion.
How could such a thing even exist in the world?
The founding patriarch had left behind a truly pointless martial art.
Even reaching the Poison Body Poison Completion Realm beyond Myriad Poisons Immunity would make one a peerless master under heaven.
For that to be merely preparation? Absurd.
Myo Gu-eung had thought the same during his days as sub-valley lord.
Only after coming here did he revere the founding patriarch's profound arrangements.
Even fully prepared, the poison aura drew groans from him.
To groan under such virulent poison...
"Heh heh heh."
A laugh bubbled up unbidden upon contact with it.
"Ten Thousand Year Poison Essence. To think it truly exists. I believed it only a legend."
The Ultimate Shedding Myriad Poisons Divine Art began reacting to the poison filling the surroundings.
Myo Gu-eung's entire body started glowing black.
"As expected..."
He grinned.
The first time he discovered this.
The divine art hadn't reacted.
Or rather, its reaction had been ambiguous.
The valley lord's divine art, said to respond only to the Ten Thousand Year Poison Essence.
Since no such essence existed in the world, some dismissed it as mere show.
Now.
The Ten Thousand Year Poison Essence lay before Myo Gu-eung's eyes.
After sixty years of waiting, it had finally matured into the true essence.
As if now revealing its authentic form, the divine art reacted fiercely.
He soothed the raging divine art in his dantian, like an excited bull.
The first time he found this poison essence.
By its reaction, he estimated roughly sixty years.
It had matched perfectly.
Perhaps because the art was designed for this essence.
Unerringly precise.
"Heh heh heh heh. Heh heh heh heh."
A laugh laden with complex emotions spilled from Myo Gu-eung's lips.
In truth, he too was intensely excited.
He couldn't suppress the thrill.
Myo Gu-eung thrust his hand straight into the poison essence.
Squish.
His hand sank in as if into mud.
In an instant, the essence's poison surged through his body, filling him completely.
Myo Gu-eung's entire form turned pitch black.
"Urk. Good... so good."
Even as he said it.
He was enduring excruciating pain.
He could feel the skin of his arm inserted into the essence slowly melting away from its poison.
Yet.
He endured.
Even Myriad Poisons Immunity would succumb to poisoning on mere contact.
Anyone else thrusting their arm in like Myo Gu-eung would have dissolved instantly.
Myo Gu-eung bore it.
He had reached the realm beyond.
This process was essential.
To absorb the essence's poison via the Ultimate Shedding Myriad Poisons Divine Art.
A part of his body needed to penetrate the essence.
Myo Gu-eung closed his eyes.
He released the restraints on the divine art bound in his dantian.
And began operating it according to its formulas.
The poison filling the cavern churned violently, soon whipping into a storm.
From the crown of his head to the tips of his toes.
Not a single spot spared, Myo Gu-eung was dyed utterly black.
The whites of his eyes, even his teeth—all blackened.
All the same hue.
Deeper black than pitch.
As if he himself had become the poison essence.
At this moment, Myo Gu-eung felt nothing.
Utterly focused on the divine art mastered to its extreme, he entered a trance.
The ferocious poison storm not only filled the cavern but surged through the tunnels upward, upward.
Even reaching the cavern entrance.
The surroundings transformed into a land of death in moments.
All encroached by poison melted away in an instant.
The ground itself blackened.
Yet.
No one in the world knew of this event unfolding here.
Im Jang-mu removed the broken stone and placed a new one in its stead.
The ambient energy shifted.
Yet only Han Seol-bing, beside him, sensed it.
The Ice Heaven Palace folk seemed oblivious.
Not Im Jang-mu.
He could see the chaotic energies in his vision settle into order.
"That was the last one."
Han Seol-bing nodded with a smile at Im Jang-mu's bright words.
"You're right. The Ice Heaven Myriad Forms Locking Formation of the palace lord's chamber has returned to its original state. No more incidents like before. We'll need steady maintenance, of course."
"Yes!"
Im Jang-mu replied vigorously to Han Seol-bing's words.
Though only a few days, she had taught him much while keeping him close.
Im Jang-mu absorbed the explanations of his instinctive senses like a sponge soaking water.
Han Seol-bing delighted in his talent.
'This must be the joy of teaching a disciple.'
She had already resolved in her heart.
At least in the field of formations, she would take this child as her disciple.
Of course, martial arts too.
She just wasn't sure if she could take him as a personal disciple without enrolling him in the Dragon Training Pavilion.
"Seol-bing."
At that moment.
Bing Chwi-seol appeared.
"Yes, Palace Lord."
"It seems we must head to Muchang soon."
The formation reinforcement had just finished.
So suddenly?
"Last night, the heavens stirred."
"Pardon?"
Heaven's will from Bing Chwi-seol's lips.
Her realm hadn't reached that yet—it was mere intuition, she had said.
"Through this incident, I gained an opportunity. My divination arts advanced, allowing me to glimpse the heavens, however faintly."
"Ah!"
Ha Mu-baek had truly done much for Ice Heaven Palace before departing.
"Unfortunately, the first glimpse of heaven's will was far from good."
Han Seol-bing's face darkened at Bing Chwi-seol's continued words.
"From the south. A colossal calamity approaches from the south. Return to Muchang now and inform Ha Daehyeop of this."
"Yes, Palace Lord."
As Han Seol-bing nodded.
Someone tugged at her hem.
Im Jang-mu.
"A-Are you leaving?"
A voice thick with tears.
Han Seol-bing smiled softly and stroked his head.
Her resolve was firm.
Bing Chwi-seol knew it too, which was why she spoke even with Im Jang-mu present.
"Come with me."
"Pardon?"
"Jang-mu. Become my disciple and come along."
Im Jang-mu looked up at Han Seol-bing in disbelief.
He had no choice.
Wasn't he a wandering orphan?
For such a one to become disciple to Han Seol-bing, high in status even in Ice Heaven Palace.
Unbelievable.
A wandering orphan could at best become a palace laborer.
The common wisdom among North Sea folk lately.
His brother had left for the Central Plains that way too.
As little more than a servant laborer.
"I'll see to your sister personally, so no need to worry."
Bing Chwi-seol interjected.
She judged his daze stemmed from disbelief and concern for his sister.
"Ice Heaven Palace will change now. You wouldn't know, but it wasn't like this before. We'll return to those days."
"Uh, uh, uhhh..."
How to accept this reality.
Bing Chwi-seol gave Im Jang-mu's back a gentle push.
"What are you doing? Hurry and pay respects to your master."
Soft words.
Snapping to, Im Jang-mu bowed deeply to Han Seol-bing.
Exactly nine prostrations.
"D-Disciple Im Jang-mu pays respects to Master."
Words forced out in a trembling voice.
He even knew of the ninefold bow.
"Good. Let's get along well from now on. I'm sorry our journey starts with hardship."
Im Jang-mu shook his head vigorously at Han Seol-bing's words.
This moment felt like a dream, nothing more.
Im Jang-mu's status at the Dragon Training Pavilion would need sorting in Muchang.
The palace lord urged haste to Muchang due to uneasy heaven's will.
"We depart at dawn tomorrow, so spend the time with your sister now."
Han Seol-bing said warmly, stroking his head.
"Y-Yes!"
Im Jang-mu bowed to Han Seol-bing and Bing Chwi-seol, then dashed off in excitement.
"Sigh. Where's my talented disciple hiding...?"
Bing Chwi-seol muttered enviously.
"Seo-yul will be jealous."
Bing Chwi-seol smiled at Han Seol-bing's words.
Bing Seo-yul.
Bing Chwi-seol's sole disciple.
Currently in secluded training somewhere to become sub-palace lord.
Thus unaware of the recent turmoil at Ice Heaven Palace.
"We need a child to properly master divination arts. After this incident. I'm not exceptional at it myself."
Unlike formations, blessed with a genius like Han Seol-bing, Ice Heaven Palace's divination arts were barely hanging on.
A shame before the Ice Jade Spirit Investigator, said to possess the world's finest.
Gazing at Im Jang-mu's nearly vanished figure, Bing Chwi-seol said,
"Fortunately, formations might advance further thanks to that child."
"There'll be a Yeon Clan talent out there somewhere."
Bing Chwi-seol nodded at Han Seol-bing's words.
"Is this the end?"
Ha Mu-baek rose, unfolding from his cross-legged position.
He seemed to have reached the limit of what meditation and training could achieve.
Ha Mu-baek quietly looked down at his body.
His master's words about the "blood scent."
Now he understood what it meant.
And.
"Some things just won't budge."
Even after acquiring the peerless divine art called Radiant Glory.
The deeply rooted blood scent remained.
Probably not a simple scent.
"The root of vengeance... something like that."
He had annihilated the Blood Cult and Demonic Cult.
Yet remnants lingered, biding their time.
Once they were fully eradicated, would this blood scent etched deep in his chest fade?
Or intensify?
Impossible to say.
Ha Mu-baek headed to the grand training grounds.
It was time for him to resume instruction.
One week until the second semester began.
The holiday was nearing its end.