Chapter 353
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 353
Chapter Title: Still Lingering...
"Stop now... No matter how strong you are, it's impossible to burn away all the poison in this vast space with Samadhi True Fire. You'll exhaust your internal energy completely and risk internal injuries."
Dang Ja-cheong tried to dissuade Ha Mu-baek after seeing the small flame flickering in his palm.
Ha Mu-baek remained utterly calm.
He simply tossed the tiny flame—born from the fire he'd ignited—toward the heart of the poisoned ground before his eyes.
The flame fluttered through the air like the wings of a butterfly.
It settled onto what he presumed to be the center of the poisoned earth.
And in that instant.
Roarrrrrr!!!
It transformed into world-scorching karmic flames, spewing fierce and savage fire in all directions.
"Gasp!"
Dang Ji-yeon gasped in shock, swallowing hard.
"W-What is this...?"
Dang Ja-cheong stared in disbelief at the scene unfolding before him.
This was no mere Samadhi True Fire.
It wasn't fire conjured from internal energy.
Then what on earth was it?
How could a human summon flames like that—not born of internal energy?
Ha Mu-baek's expression remained utterly serene.
"What is it? That fire?"
"A minor power I gained from a small connection."
Dang Ja-cheong gazed at him with wide, stunned eyes.
It had been just the beginning of the year when they'd met in Wu Chang.
To deal with the vicious poison left by the Blood Cult remnants.
And yet, in less than half a year since then.
The man before him had changed beyond recognition.
He'd already been a monster.
But to grow even further like this.
It was a terrifying rate of progress.
The higher one's realm, the slower growth should become—that was the natural order.
Yet Ha Mu-baek shattered that logic and kept getting stronger.
The flames raged wildly, incinerating everything around.
As the blaze intensified, the poisonous aura they felt grew weaker.
Fire was the natural counter to poison.
An obvious truth, if there ever was one.
"As expected, fire is the best way to eradicate poison."
Ha Mu-baek said with a faint smile.
Dang Ja-cheong nodded with a complicated expression.
'The timing couldn't be better. Gaining fire energy in the North Sea, just as this poison disaster struck.'
If Han Seol-bing hadn't asked for his help, if he hadn't gone to the North Sea.
Even Ha Mu-baek would have been in quite a bind.
He alone could have crossed the poisoned ground without issue.
But with Dang Ja-cheong and Dang Ji-yeon in tow.
Shielding them from the poison slowed him down, preventing swift movement. Flying past at full lightness skill left them exposed to the toxins.
He might be impervious to all poisons, but this was earth infused with Poison Crystal essence.
It was dangerous.
In the end, the only way was to fully neutralize the poison, but in these southern barbarian wilds, it would have taken Dang Ja-cheong and Dang Ji-yeon an unknown amount of time.
Even setting a fire.
This deathly land had nothing left to burn.
So Dang Ja-cheong's plan had been.
'To fell trees from the surroundings and light them up...'
Fire was the quickest way to burn out poison, so that's what he'd thought.
But Ha Mu-baek had done it with a mere gesture.
And with far greater heat.
Enough to melt not just the poison, but the surrounding earth itself.
As Ha Mu-baek calmly watched the flame-filled space, he suddenly frowned.
At the same moment.
The scorching heat emanating from the fire grew even more intense.
Dang Ja-cheong involuntarily stepped back.
Dang Ji-yeon did the same.
Dang Ja-cheong looked at Ha Mu-baek with puzzled eyes.
His face had been so relaxed just moments ago—how had it changed so suddenly?
And now he was extending his hand forward again.
Flames burst from his palm once more.
"Urk."
Dang Ja-cheong hurriedly circulated his internal energy and retreated.
His protective aura enveloped not just himself, but his granddaughter Dang Ji-yeon as well.
She lacked the cultivation to withstand this sudden heat.
Only after retreating about ten paces could they barely endure the energy Ha Mu-baek was emitting.
"S-Stop! You'll melt not just the poison, but the ground around it!"
At Dang Ja-cheong's shout, Ha Mu-baek gradually reined in the flames.
Even so, the lingering heat on the ground stung their skin.
"What tremendous fire energy... It's questionable whether a human could even possess it... Why did it suddenly intensify?"
"My apologies."
Only after withdrawing the flames did Ha Mu-baek notice Dang Ja-cheong and Dang Ji-yeon's plight.
He'd been too focused.
"My competitive spirit got the better of me."
Ha Mu-baek said, still gazing at the bubbling, overheated earth.
"Competitive spirit?"
It was just burning poison on barren ground.
What was there to compete over?
Dang Ja-cheong's gaze shifted to the poisoned earth.
A moment later, he nodded faintly.
"Still lingering..."
He sensed a faint remnant of poisonous energy.
Ha Mu-baek's flames had incinerated most of it.
But one subtle, barely perceptible strand of poison aura remained.
The culprit that had drawn them here.
The Poison Crystal.
That presumed Poison Crystal aura had withstood Ha Mu-baek's fire.
Time, the natural flow, would have dispersed it naturally.
But it resisted this artificial force of flames.
"I burned away about half... But pushing further would have made the ground collapse."
It was the moment Dang Ja-cheong had shouted at Ha Mu-baek.
Come to think of it, even the Poison Crystal's aura had weakened.
"How long until the ground cools?"
"If we let it cool naturally, it'll take at least a day."
Dang Ja-cheong nodded at Ha Mu-baek's reply, then paused.
Naturally cooling would take a day.
But those words implied it could be cooled artificially.
"You can cool it?"
Ha Mu-baek nodded.
"But it's not a method I'd recommend."
Ha Mu-baek recalled his own experiments.
When he'd exposed a rock scorched by extreme heat to extreme ice energy next.
Subjected to opposing forces in succession, it had shattered.
Spraying ice energy here to cool it might cause the entire canyon to crumble.
Better to let it cool gradually for safety.
"If you say so, then it must be. We'll wait, then."
That was still.
An enormous shortcut.
If Ha Mu-baek hadn't let his competitive spirit flare midway, they could have passed even sooner.
With the Poison Crystal's aura already weakened, the three of them could cross without issue.
"...What on earth happened? If it truly was man-made, who could it be?"
All the venomous creatures on this vast land dead and gone.
Impossible without the Poison Crystal.
Yet the Poison Crystal merely refined itself in place.
It wouldn't spread its aura this widely.
Which meant human intervention...
It was terrifying.
Someone who could wield the Poison Crystal's poison.
Yeo Hong-gi headed to Yeon Ja-kyeong.
In his bosom was the completed Illuminating Mountain Void Poison.
Originally, he'd planned to hand it over after a few months of testing.
But variables had arisen, so he was delivering it now.
With his sect in peril, he couldn't remain as Valley Lord entrenched in the Righteous Heaven Alliance.
To leave the Righteous Heaven Alliance, he needed to deliver results to Yeon Ja-kyeong.
Otherwise, he could never depart.
"You've come."
Yeon Ja-kyeong greeted Yeo Hong-gi with an awkward air.
It was unavoidable.
Their last meeting had been nothing but rebukes.
Rebuke after rebuke.
"Alliance Leader. It's complete."
Yeo Hong-gi cut straight to the point.
Yeon Ja-kyeong's eyes widened at his words.
There was only one thing he could mean by "complete."
"The Illuminating Mountain Void Poison?"
His voice trembled slightly as Yeo Hong-gi nodded.
"Yes. Here it is."
Yeo Hong-gi pulled a glass vial from his bosom and held it out.
A vial filled with white powder.
"This amount would deplete even Ha Mu-baek's internal energy for a full day."
Yeon Ja-kyeong's eyes gleamed.
He'd obtained the absolute trump card he'd longed for.
Now.
Ha Mu-baek.
No more agonizing over how that bastard might move.
"Kuhuh. Kuhuhahaha."
Perhaps because of that.
Even with Yeo Hong-gi right there.
Yeon Ja-kyeong couldn't suppress the laughter spilling from his lips.
His lifelong obsession, born from learning of Ha Mu-baek, was finally resolved.
"And."
At Yeo Hong-gi's follow-up, Yeon Ja-kyeong stopped laughing and looked at him.
"I've uncovered the identity of the fiend who caused the incident in the southern wilds."
Yeon Ja-kyeong's eyes widened again.
Last time, he'd piled on rebukes for failing to investigate the poison behind the southern incident.
Yet now, not only had he completed the Illuminating Mountain Void Poison, but identified the fiend too.
'Was my judgment wrong? He's far more capable than I thought.'
For a fleeting moment, Yeon Ja-kyeong felt threatened by Yeo Hong-gi.
"Impressive. In just a few days."
Yeon Ja-kyeong masked it, feigning admiration.
"It was coincidence. The fiend seems to hail from our valley... so I looked into it."
Yeo Hong-gi kept dropping bombshells.
"What...?"
"An exile from our valley. A traitor who survived and gained power."
No need to explain every detail or reason.
Exiled traitor.
That said it all.
In truth, Heavenly Poison Valley had been the betrayers.
But that was a blemish to hide.
"I never knew Heavenly Poison Valley's poison arts were so exquisite."
It had pierced body impervious to all poisons.
Thus spoke Yeon Ja-kyeong.
Yeo Hong-gi shook his head.
"There was some of our valley's poison aura... but after fleeing to the southern wilds, it seems he encountered some fortune there."
He couldn't identify the exact fortune.
But he had suspicions.
The legendary poison art his master had mentioned.
Recalling the Ten Thousand Desolations White Myriad Poison Art.
Though it seemed too fantastical to believe.
Even Yeo Hong-gi himself doubted it.
"Hah..."
Yeon Ja-kyeong let out a frustrated sigh.
"The fiend's target is likely our Heavenly Poison Valley. I should return there."
This was Yeo Hong-gi's true purpose.
"..."
Yeon Ja-kyeong said nothing.
He stared at the vial, then at Yeo Hong-gi, then at the ceiling.
A complex expression.
"If your sect is on the brink of destruction, of course you must go. But this isn't just Heavenly Poison Valley's crisis. That fiend won't stop there..."
Meaning the central plains could be next.
For an instant, Yeo Hong-gi's face stiffened.
It was worry premised on his sect's fall.
How could he keep composed hearing his own sect—as its lord—might collapse?
"Ah, my apologies. A slip of the tongue."
Yeon Ja-kyeong quickly backpedaled.
He eyed Yeo Hong-gi steadily.
"I understand why Valley Lord Yeo must hurry back. But aren't you missing one more thing?"
Yeon Ja-kyeong said, eyes sharpening on Yeo Hong-gi.
'As expected of Alliance Leader Yeon. I hoped otherwise, but he won't let it slide easily.'
Yeo Hong-gi swallowed his inner regret.
It didn't matter.
He had not just the Illuminating Mountain Void Poison, but Divine Annihilation Poison too.
"Ah, with the joy of completing the Illuminating Mountain Void Poison and worry for my sect... my mind was preoccupied, and I forgot."
So saying, he reached into his bosom again.
And produced another small vial.
This one filled with black liquid.
"The antidote for Illuminating Mountain Void Poison. Enough for a hundred people."
Yeon Ja-kyeong nodded and took both vials.
'Sly fox.'
A new poison was complete only with its antidote.
Without one, even the user risked poisoning.
Yeo Hong-gi had said it was complete.
Meaning antidote included.
Yet he hadn't offered it first.
Meaning, despite acting as a loyal subordinate, he didn't fully trust him.
The feeling was mutual.
"Once you return to Heavenly Poison Valley, how do you plan to deal with the fiend?"
"I'll take some Illuminating Mountain Void Poison. It can poison not just the poison-proof, but poison art masters too. Without internal energy, even their fearsome poison arts will be useless."
A faint smile curved Yeon Ja-kyeong's lips at Yeo Hong-gi's answer.
Not just Ha Mu-baek.
He'd secured a counter to a potential central plains disaster too.
"Then, we should test if this is truly complete."
Yeon Ja-kyeong held his breath and carefully uncorked the vial of white powder, spilling a tiny amount onto a small dish on the table.
If Illuminating Mountain Void Poison was complete, it absorbed through skin contact, not just breathing.
Recalling the prior explanation, Yeon Ja-kyeong proceeded with extreme caution, sliding the dish toward Yeo Hong-gi.
And watched him calmly.