Chapter 357
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 357
Chapter Title: It Seems My Master Was Wrong...
Kwaaaaang!
With a deafening roar.
The signboard of Heavenly Poison Valley split apart.
Kururung.
And the mountain gate collapsed.
The smiling Myo Gu-eung lightly stepped over the debris of the mountain gate.
"I'm back. Heavenly Poison Valley."
A true return.
It was the moment Myo Gu-eung first set foot in the territory of Heavenly Poison Valley.
And so.
Passing through the mountain gate, he advanced with a face full of eager anticipation.
Tension crept across the people's faces.
Because the figure slowly entering Heavenly Poison Valley through the mountain gate.
Was gradually unveiling the aura he had kept suppressed.
Jeobuk. Jeobuk.
It felt just like footsteps echoing in the air.
Yeo Hong-gi's face drained to a ghostly white, bit by bit.
Due to the colossal aura drawing nearer ever so slowly.
Soon enough.
"No one's here."
A middle-aged man revealed himself.
Myo Gu-eung.
He scanned his surroundings.
His eyes locked onto the grand hall at the heart of Heavenly Poison Valley.
"Except for a few rats, that is."
A calm mutter.
Kwaang!
With a casual flick of his hand, as if playing, an empty warehouse exploded into rubble.
The five emerged from the hall.
And confronted Myo Gu-eung.
"Hmm. As expected. All unfamiliar faces..."
Myo Gu-eung muttered with evident disinterest.
He had figured at least one or two familiar faces would still linger in Heavenly Poison Valley.
He had set the bait in the trap, yet not a single prey gathered—they had all scattered.
Whether they gathered, fled, or neither—he had no clue.
The second scenario out of three possibilities.
Well, it hardly mattered.
No matter where they fled across the world, death awaited them all the same.
Quick or slow, the end result never changed: death.
After dealing with Heavenly Poison Valley, he planned to methodically wipe out the Central Plains.
'In any case, I've spent the time needed to stabilize the Absolute Poison Scripture to some degree. About fifty percent now. Curious how long that pathetic life will cling on.'
The others had no inkling of Myo Gu-eung's private musings.
The poison qi of the Millennial Poison Essence was overwhelming.
He had absorbed it entirely, forging the Absolute Poison Body and gaining free command over it.
Yet he could sense instinctively that it was not yet fully his own.
At the outset, it might have even been the essence absorbing him, rather than the reverse.
But.
By gradually employing the poison qi in small measures over time, moving with deliberate slowness.
He had truly internalized it, claiming half—fifty percent—as his own.
The remaining half still eluded complete ownership.
Extinguishing countless Southern Barbarian villages with poison had served as the adaptation process for his Poison Body's toxic arts.
Not merely a warning to the Central Plains and Heavenly Poison Valley.
"Long time no see, Martial Uncle."
Yeo Hong-gi spoke first.
At the address of "Martial Uncle," Myo Gu-eung fixed Yeo Hong-gi with a steady gaze.
Only the disciples of his martial siblings merited calling him that.
He had taken no disciples himself back then, dissatisfied with the candidates.
Rifling through his memories yielded no recognition of the man.
The faces of those youngsters from ages past refused to align with this one's current visage.
"Who are you?"
So he inquired.
Direct confirmation would be swiftest.
In that instant.
Ssaek!
A razor-sharp whistle of displaced air, a frost-bladed momentum hurtling toward his throat.
Myo Gu-eung urgently twisted his neck aside.
Seogeuk.
Even so, one side of his nape parted.
Puaaa!
A geyser of blood erupted.
A young man entered Myo Gu-eung's sight.
Sword drawn, gazing at him with profound intensity.
Those around Ha Mu-baek recoiled in shock.
They had never anticipated him silently drawing steel for an abrupt, unprovoked strike.
Moreover.
He had neatly severed a major vessel in the neck.
That volume of blood loss spelled death in all but name.
All their prior tension from the pursuit rendered pointless.
It concluded with a single stroke from Ha Mu-baek.
"Ha, just like that..."
Tang Ja-cheong exhaled hollowly for a beat.
Tang Ji-yeon wore a bemused expression, questioning if this could truly be.
Yeo Hong-gi bore a mask of horror, insisting this impossible.
"Quick on the draw."
Ha Mu-baek muttered coolly, flicking his blade clean.
"I went for the neck. Nice dodge."
Spotting that split-second lapse.
He had aimed to finish it outright.
Lest it grow unduly troublesome.
From the beginning.
This was the monster who poisoned countless innocents in the Southern Barbarians to oblivion.
No grounds for whining about fairness.
Yet he evaded.
To Ha Mu-baek's regret.
His companions had foreseen the demise of Yeo Hong-gi's Martial Uncle, that Myo Gu-eung.
Ha Mu-baek saw otherwise.
Even amid that arterial spray.
The foe's inner energy remained utterly serene.
"Enough games?"
At Ha Mu-baek's remark.
Heh.
Myo Gu-eung curled a lip in grin.
Laughing through a spurting neck wound—his sight was grotesque incarnate.
"Ugh..."
Tang Ji-yeon unwittingly loosed a faint whimper.
A martial world's heroine, unmoved by mere visuals.
Myo Gu-eung's aura was that much more eldritch and dread-inducing.
"Not just braggarts remaining, then."
The instant Myo Gu-eung spoke with relish.
The neck's bloodflow tapered off.
And healed pristine, as if unscathed.
Onlookers gaped wide-eyed.
Even the mightiest human—capable of this?
"One more time. Who are you?"
"...Yeo Hong-gi. Martial Uncle."
Yeo Hong-gi replied to Myo Gu-eung's query, rousing from dismay.
Myo Gu-eung dipped his head.
"So you're Sa Geon-ja's prized pupil. Meaning you're Valley Lord now?"
"Yes."
Myo Gu-eung's gaze shifted to Gong Dok-haeng.
"D-disciple Gong Dok-haeng greets Great-Grandmaster."
Gong Dok-haeng stammered his name through quivering lips.
Myo Gu-eung's eyes slid to Tang Ja-cheong.
"Long time no see, Senior Myo. Tang Ja-cheong of the Tang Clan."
A glint sparked in Myo Gu-eung's eyes.
A whelp shy of ten now an elder dubbing him "senior."
Diverting.
The march of time.
Myo Gu-eung's gaze skimmed Tang Ji-yeon, landing on Ha Mu-baek.
The one who had dealt him a lethal blow.
Or nearly so, right upon his vengeful return to the sect.
Had the neck parted fully.
Curtains there.
"Ha Mu-baek. And you?"
Myo Gu-eung grinned anew at Ha Mu-baek's query.
"Disciple of Yagul Han. Myo Gu-eung—who ought to have claimed true Valley Lordship of Heavenly Poison Valley. That is I."
"Pathetic."
Ha Mu-baek's lip curled in disdain at the self-introduction.
"Far too lofty for a shrill failure who butchered the blameless out of spite for missing his throne."
Myo Gu-eung's brow twitched at Ha Mu-baek's retort.
"What would a whelp like you know, to prattle so?"
Killing intent weighted his tone.
Simultaneously, roiling energy seeped from his form.
That instant.
"Ugh."
Tang Ji-yeon groaned, staggering back.
No choice.
The venomous poison qi laced in the energy stealthily expanded its reach.
"Excuses aside, wasn't it your own shortfall?"
Ha Mu-baek's own energy began seeping forth in kind.
"Clueless brat... Heh. Then again, failing to curb your master's agitation—your failing too? Being born outside the Central Plains scarcely counts as 'skill'."
The ebon energy honed on one target alone.
Ha Mu-baek.
Provocation's toll.
No others registered in Myo Gu-eung's eyes now.
"Delirium."
With the word, Ha Mu-baek's sword clove the energy, thrusting for the heart.
Kwang!
Clotted energy-mass repelled the blade amid thunderous clamor.
The impact roiled Myo Gu-eung's energy concurrently.
The poison qi unfurled gradually.
Tang Ji-yeon fell further back.
Yeo Hong-gi, Tang Ja-cheong, Gong Dok-haeng flushed crimson.
"Impressive enough."
Myo Gu-eung regarded Ha Mu-baek.
"My line."
Ha Mu-baek met his stare.
"Senior Myo. What talk is this? 'Agitation'? 'Not Central Plains-born'?"
Tang Ja-cheong pressed urgently, baffled by the mutter.
Myo Gu-eung's eyes turned to him.
"Ah yes, the Tang Clan kept mum back then too. Surely you knew—your clan even sent funeral guests."
Myo Gu-eung's words.
Yagul Han, Heavenly Poison Valley Lord, deceased.
The Tang Clan dispatched condolences as custom. Tang Ja-cheong had not joined.
But relevance?
"Looks like Tang Clan first, then. Was headed for Dragon Training Pavilion otherwise."
Myo Gu-eung mused, eyeing Tang Ja-cheong.
"What?"
Response from unanticipated quarter.
Ha Mu-baek.
Thick killing intent oozed from him.
"You filth, spewing hazard like that—where to, exactly?"
Myo Gu-eung's focus reverted to Ha Mu-baek.
Decent lad, he'd reckoned—but the momentum shifted.
'Might prove vexing.'
Evaluation escalated: decent to irksome.
"Senior. After Valley Lord Yagul passed—what transpired?"
Heavenly Poison Valley.
Yagul Han's rites proceeded orthodoxly.
The aftermath strayed from norm.
Myo Gu-eung, destined Valley Lord, vanished; Wang Sa-geon ascended instead.
"Truly ignorant? Father must've held his tongue. Ask that one, then. Hiding his sect's disgrace, no doubt. Heh."
Ebon energy surged anew from Myo Gu-eung.
Vector: Yeo Hong-gi's position.
"Bastard. I'm asking."
Toward Myo Gu-eung hurtled Ha Mu-baek's titanic killing intent.
The energy bound for Yeo Hong-gi recoiled.
To counter the onslaught from Ha Mu-baek.
"What are you?"
Shock etched Myo Gu-eung's features for the first time.
Ha Mu-baek's killing intent packed such punch.
Even Myo Gu-eung, Millennial Poison Essence absorber, reeled.
His energy transmuted.
A worthy adversary encountered.
All suppressed Poison Essence qi unleashed.
"Ugh."
All save Ha Mu-baek groaned, retreating.
The poison qi loomed monstrous.
No instant poisoning, perhaps—but vulnerability's peril unknown.
They withdrew, rallying inner power.
Ha Mu-baek held position.
Internally, turmoil reigned.
Infinite Carefree Heart Method repelled the encroaching poison qi.
Myo Gu-eung lunged at such Ha Mu-baek.
His hand birthed poison qi—no, Poison True Qi spear.
Poison Crystal Spear.
Chiiik.
Air scorched in the spear's wake from sheer venom.
Kwang!
Blade met spear in cataclysmic detonation.
Ha Mu-baek grimaced.
Spear parried.
Yet collision ushered a poison qi flood.
Blood traced Ha Mu-baek's lips.
"Ptoo."
Reeling a step, Ha Mu-baek spat pooled crimson.
Its blackened hue betrayed poisoning.
Myo Gu-eung drove the spear relentlessly.
Chaeng! Chaechaeng!
Interminable exchanges.
Fresh blood lined Ha Mu-baek's mouth.
Deep incursion thwarted, superficial taint inevitable.
Ten Thousand Poisons Immunity availed naught.
"Ha... How. Immunity to All Poisons, so utterly futile."
Expected, yes.
Witnessed firsthand diverged.
Tang Ja-cheong muttered vacantly.
"I-it... was true after all..."
Yeo Hong-gi droned, soul adrift.
His master deemed it ancestral Valley Lords' hollow phantasm.
Divine Poison Technique.
Unrealized post-Myo Gu-eung, unseen by Yeo himself.
Its futility, gleaned from master.
Yeo Hong-gi verified during valley's void, awaiting Martial Uncle.
Current Valley Lord's trove: forebears' annals.
Sporadic allusions therein.
A martial art tantamount to delusion, dreamstuff.
To sum.
Some scorned it viciously, practitioners notwithstanding.
Absolute Extreme Poison Immortal Body.
Absurd, childish reverie.
Yet now.
That reverie incarnated before them.
Mere traded blows.
And an Immunity to All Poisons master bled from poisoned lips.
Not mere Immunity.
His current foe.
Hubei Yeon Clan's patriarch, Yeon Ja-kyeong—top dog by lone faction metric.
Ha Mu-baek, world number one in consensus.
He.
"Master... It seems my master was wrong..."
Yeo Hong-gi murmured, face ashen void.