Chapter 359
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 359
Chapter Title: Hand It Over
Suddenly, fine white powder flew before his eyes.
The moment he saw it, Ha Mu-baek held his breath.
This was a habit ingrained from rolling in the dirt on the battlefield, before he'd reached the realm of immunity to all poisons.
In contrast,
Myo Gu-eung merely shot a glance at Yeo Hong-gi, who had tossed the small glass vial, as if to say it was nothing.
His eyes were filled with mockery toward Yeo Hong-gi.
As if such a pathetic thing could do anything to him.
Ha Mu-baek's sword moved again.
The fierce winds of blazing sword energy from Shackling Souls trapped the white powder and incinerated it in one go.
Ha Mu-baek's sword didn't stop.
He too had sensed that split-second opening.
It was unexpected that Yeo Hong-gi had exploited it by hurling what he assumed was poison.
But the gap hadn't closed yet.
No, it had widened.
A gap born from Myo Gu-eung's dismissive glance at Yeo Hong-gi.
Ha Mu-baek thrust his sword into that opening once more.
When you spot a weakness, you hammer it relentlessly.
This was a truth he'd learned from long years on the battlefield.
Infinite Intentionless Eight Severing Sword Sea, Fifth Form.
Heaven Breaker.
A technique he'd used only on the Lord of the Palace after the Great Martial War ended.
Now, it unfolded toward Myo Gu-eung.
Ha Mu-baek was well aware.
In terms of pure martial prowess, the Lord of the Palace had been the greater foe.
His own realm fell far short.
However, having absorbed the Ten-Thousand-Year Poison Crystal, Myo Gu-eung's energy had surpassed the Lord of the Palace's realm in a bizarre way.
Tak Yo-beom, whom he'd faced in Ice Heaven Palace.
At least that one had been overwhelmed by the energy consuming him.
Myo Gu-eung had fully subjugated and absorbed it.
But.
He lacked experience.
The bastard knew how immense the energy he'd absorbed was,
but he was still clumsy at unleashing it fully.
Probably,
this was his first time fighting someone on Ha Mu-baek's level after gaining that power.
That was the gap to exploit.
Ha Mu-baek vividly remembered the colossal storm of energy Tak Yo-beom had unleashed in his rampage at Ice Heaven Palace.
An enormous blaze that Han Seol-bing had helped contain, barely.
The poison energy in that bastard now was surely even greater.
Therefore,
when the opening appeared,
he had to sever the neck in one blow.
That's why he'd first unleashed his sword.
And now again,
he drew Heaven Breaker.
A single stroke that destroyed everything in an instant.
A sword that shattered even the heavens.
Heaven Breaker.
The moment it flew toward Myo Gu-eung,
his head snapped around.
In that fleeting instant of realization,
an overwhelming force suddenly bore down on him.
He hastily summoned his energy.
When pitch-black darkness formed a wall blocking his view,
Ha Mu-baek's eyebrow twitched.
'My internal energy...'
...
The internal energy flow, vast as the sea,
...
vanished.
Perfectly, without leaving even a trace.
Gone.
...
Ha Mu-baek couldn't accept this reality and replayed the moment.
At first,
it felt like it stuttered, tap, tap.
Then,
it stopped.
And,
it froze.
Finally,
the current state.
Ha Mu-baek's sword halted in midair.
'What in the world...'
As his internal energy dissipated,
Myo Gu-eung stared blankly at the sword whose immense power had suddenly vanished.
"Huh? What? What's this? Heh heh heh."
A sudden situation even he couldn't comprehend.
In that moment,
both men thought of the white powder simultaneously.
The small glass vial Yeo Hong-gi had thrown.
'I definitely held my breath.'
He'd stopped breathing until all the white powder was incinerated.
Yet Ha Mu-baek hadn't considered it could penetrate through the skin.
Because he'd held his breath and burned every particle,
the poisoning had been delayed just enough to attempt Heaven Breaker.
Still, the Self-Light Scattering Energy Poison had seeped through his skin and scattered his internal energy.
'How...'
Ha Mu-baek possessed immunity to all poisons.
And not just any—unlike others, his even resisted aphrodisiacs, not just scattering poisons.
Some with immunity to scattering poisons still fell to aphrodisiacs since they weren't technically poison.
But Ha Mu-baek resisted everything perfectly.
In that regard, he prided himself above even Poison Emperor Dang Ja-cheong.
Yet his internal energy had scattered so futilely.
"Looks like it was some pathetic scattering energy poison. Funny how a guy who resisted my poisons somewhat got done in by that kid Yeo Hong-gi's. Heh heh heh."
With mocking laughter, he reformed a poison steel spear in his hand, aiming to pierce Ha Mu-baek's throat in one thrust.
The spear shot out like a beam of light toward Ha Mu-baek's neck.
But with its target within reach,
it scattered into the air in an instant.
"Huh?"
Myo Gu-eung stared at his empty hand.
"Wh-what the hell..."
Myo Gu-eung panicked.
His own internal energy had scattered away too.
How could this be?
Absolute Poison Scripture, Poison God Incarnate.
His body was poison itself, transcending the realm to become the god of poison.
For him to be poisoned by scattering energy poison?
Absurd.
Myo Gu-eung trembled as he glared at Yeo Hong-gi.
Yeo Hong-gi, assessing both their states,
a faint smile crept across his lips.
He'd been anxious if it would work.
It did.
Ecstasy made his body shiver.
The scattering energy poison he'd created
had stripped the internal energy from a monster that absorbed the Ten-Thousand-Year Poison Crystal's power.
How could a poison researcher not revel in this?
The Ten-Thousand-Year Poison Crystal,
thought to exist only in legends.
He'd created a poison that shattered its essence.
Ha Mu-baek chuckled.
"You bastard. Looks like you got hit by your own pathetic scattering energy poison too?"
The black energy that had dominated the area vanished in a flash.
It happened the instant Myo Gu-eung lost his internal energy.
Thanks to that,
Dang Ja-cheong, Yeo Hong-gi, Gong Dok-haeng, Dang Ji-yeon.
All fully expelled the poison energy and regained their normal complexions.
A small glass vial.
That was the variable it created.
Myo Gu-eung looked at the four.
The one before him was poisoned by scattering energy poison just like him.
But not those others.
A complete disadvantage for him.
"Th-this, this..."
A groan of fury escaped him.
Decades ago, that day.
The miserable, despairing flight.
The thought that he might have to do it again.
"Abandon any thoughts of running."
Ha Mu-baek said in a voice laced with killing intent.
If both had lost their internal energy to the scattering energy poison,
it overwhelmingly favored Ha Mu-baek.
His martial arts didn't rely solely on internal energy.
He who always emphasized external training to his disciples.
He hadn't neglected his own physical cultivation either.
His sturdy muscles flexed,
and his sword moved.
A sword technique executed purely with raw physical strength, without a shred of internal energy.
It was the Three Talents Sword Method,
the basics he always stressed.
Ha Mu-baek wielded it in real combat, attacking Myo Gu-eung.
"Ah, argh."
Myo Gu-eung threw his body desperately to dodge the sword.
With no internal energy, but thanks to his superhuman physique transcending mortal limits from the Poison God Incarnate,
he barely evaded Ha Mu-baek's sword.
But there were limits.
He couldn't dodge forever.
Moreover,
Yeo Hong-gi.
That bastard was creeping closer.
'Damn it...'
Unarmed, bare-handed.
'If only I could use poison...'
A desperate, fervent wish.
As if responding to that earnestness,
the poison energy dormant in Myo Gu-eung's energy channels began to stir faintly.
However,
it didn't obey him.
Of course not.
He had no internal energy left to control them.
Thus, the poison energy awakened in his channels and rampaged wildly through his body.
For an ordinary person,
they'd have been poisoned in that instant.
But Myo Gu-eung was different.
Having entered the Poison God Poison Body realm and absorbed the Ten-Thousand-Year Poison Crystal,
he reached Absolute Poison Scripture, Poison God Incarnate.
Thus, he wasn't poisoned.
But he couldn't control it either.
The poison energy ravaged his body at will.
Then,
a portion.
A tiny fraction
flowed out through Myo Gu-eung's nose.
Ha Mu-baek's sword continued its fierce, swift assault.
Whoosh.
Whish.
The sound of cutting wind rang out,
and the colorless, odorless, tasteless poison that leaked from Myo Gu-eung's body
rode Ha Mu-baek's sword wind straight into his nostrils.
Drip.
Blood trickled from his nose.
"This?"
Ha Mu-baek's movements stopped.
Blood flowed from his mouth too.
His face turned pitch black.
Unmistakable symptoms of perfect poisoning.
He'd lost his internal energy, but
his Immunity to All Poisons Divine Realm remained.
Even without internal energy, he should have resisted poison.
Yet he was poisoned.
By the one without internal energy, Myo Gu-eung.
"How?"
As Ha Mu-baek muttered in disbelief,
"Huh? Ah? Aha ha ha."
Myo Gu-eung burst into laughter.
He understood what had just happened.
He couldn't control it at will, but
this poison energy churning inside had found its way out while rampaging.
Myo Gu-eung glanced at Yeo Hong-gi, who had crept close.
"Huuuuuuh."
He blew a forceful puff of breath from his mouth.
Riding that breath,
colorless, odorless, tasteless.
The poison known as Formless Poison flew toward Yeo Hong-gi.
"Ugh."
Instantly poisoned, he summoned his internal energy to resist.
Yet his face turned pitch black.
He was poisoned.
"Next time, I won't fall for such a petty trick."
Saying that while glaring at Yeo Hong-gi, Myo Gu-eung turned and fled.
At full speed.
Fearing Dang Ja-cheong or Gong Dok-haeng might pursue.
Decades ago,
trembling in fear as he fled.
That miserable, despairing escape.
To repeat it now.
'Wait, you bastards. Once I recover from this scattering energy poisoning, I'll melt you all into puddles of blood in one go.'
Myo Gu-eung berated himself.
Arrogant and foolish.
The Fully Realized Supreme Escape White Famous Poison Art, completed by absorbing the Ten-Thousand-Year Poison Crystal.
Intoxicated by its power, he'd been complacent.
He'd vowed to avenge decades-old humiliation but thought too lightly of it.
Carelessness.
They'd exploited that gap.
He never imagined a scattering energy poison that could pierce Absolute Poison Scripture, Poison God Incarnate.
"M-Master!"
After Myo Gu-eung fled,
none dared pursue.
Gong Dok-haeng rushed to Yeo Hong-gi.
"Quiet."
In lotus position, Yeo Hong-gi circulated the energy of Soul-Extracting Bone-White Famous Poison Art to battle the poison.
Soon enough,
Yeo Hong-gi expelled all the poison and stood.
The small amount that penetrated made it possible.
"Damn it. To think he had a poison he could use without internal energy."
Not administered deliberately.
Just leaking from his body.
That was the most vicious.
Even more than the madly surging black poison energy.
"Are you alright?"
Dang Ja-cheong removed his hand from Ha Mu-baek's vital acupoint.
He couldn't pursue Myo Gu-eung because he had to treat the poisoned Ha Mu-baek.
Ha Mu-baek nodded and rose.
"Thank you, Elder, Lady Dang."
Ha Mu-baek handed back the Blood Poison Bead Dang Ji-yeon had given him.
"It's Formless Poison."
Dang Ja-cheong had identified it while expelling the poison that infiltrated Ha Mu-baek.
A vicious poison that could barely be suppressed while holding the Blood Poison Bead and circulating internal energy.
If Ha Mu-baek weren't Immunity to All Poisons Divine,
impossible.
"Poison crystal's poison energy, right?"
Ha Mu-baek asked, and Dang Ja-cheong nodded.
"A human from whom such poison naturally leaks..."
They'd all seen him blow it out, poisoning Yeo Hong-gi.
No one could recklessly pursue.
Only after Ha Mu-baek gripped the Blood Poison Bead with his Immunity to All Poisons Divine and Dang Ja-cheong drove out the poison with internal energy did he recover.
And quickly at that.
If even half a quarter of an hour had passed in that poisoned state, Ha Mu-baek might have dissolved in poison.
To kill Myo Gu-eung in his current state,
only Ha Mu-baek with restored internal energy could do it.
Ha Mu-baek eyed Yeo Hong-gi with a chilling gaze.
Damn bastard meddling.
Thud. Thud.
Ha Mu-baek strode straight toward Yeo Hong-gi.
"Hand it over."
Short words.
But their meaning was clear.
"Hand over what?"
"The antidote to the scattering energy poison that bastard kid of yours scattered."
Those who make poisons always prepare antidotes too.
For when they themselves get poisoned.
So this one must have it.
"I don't have any."
Yeo Hong-gi replied brazenly.
Ha Mu-baek's eyebrow twitched.
His sword drew and aimed for Yeo Hong-gi's shoulder in a flash,
but
Clang.
Gong Dok-haeng blocked it with his sword.
Ha Mu-baek's sword, without internal energy,
no matter how much external training,
wasn't an absolute blade that couldn't be stopped.
Ha Mu-baek glared ferociously at the two.