Chapter 362
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 362
Chapter Title: It Worked
'What in the world is the source of these flames?'
Myo Gu-eung scowled as he stared at the blaze rising from Ha Mu-baek.
It was incinerating the poison qi originating from the Ten-Thousand-Year Poison Crystal with absurd ease.
Even if fire was the natural counter to poison,
this went far beyond that.
The poison qi Myo Gu-eung was emitting grew ever stronger.
Yet within the flames' reach, it burned away helplessly.
He spread his poison qi even wider than the flames, targeting those behind Ha Mu-baek as well.
But the bastard had seemed frantic for a moment before quickly steadying himself.
And then the flames intensified further.
'Still... I'm too green.'
Myo Gu-eung berated himself as he watched Ha Mu-baek.
He truly was inexperienced.
It had only been moments ago that he'd decided to go all out from the start.
But was he giving his all now?
No.
The sheer volume of poison qi he was unleashing was immense.
However,
it wasn't the poison qi itself.
Poison Within Poison.
Absolute Poison.
Ten-Thousand-Year Poison Crystal.
That pure venom still coiled dormant within him.
He should have used it from the beginning.
He had still been overconfident.
Myo Gu-eung's eyes turned pitch black.
His whites vanished completely.
From his body, pitch-black energy billowed upward in thick waves.
The coiled poison crystal stirred, stretching lazily.
Sizzle...
Ha Mu-baek's flames still burned away Myo Gu-eung's poison qi.
But the toxicity laced into the acrid smoke was different now.
Ha Mu-baek twitched in reaction.
He sensed the smoke's poison seeping into him through his breath—it was unlike before.
He immediately held his breath and summoned every ounce of inner fire to ignite the flames anew.
Flame Wall.
A towering, thick barrier of ferocious flames formed before Ha Mu-baek, radiating an aura that could scorch the world.
Kuuaaaang!!!
The poison qi that had flowed past Ha Mu-baek converged into a single point.
From Myo Gu-eung's body oozed thick, viscous black venom.
The pure Poison Within Poison of the Ten-Thousand-Year Poison Crystal.
It surged forth as inky energy, homing in on Ha Mu-baek.
The coiling mass took the shape of a massive spear.
And it shot straight toward the Flame Wall Ha Mu-baek had conjured.
Kukukuku... Kuwaaakwang!
The fierce clash of poison and fire
shook the air and earth alike.
Myo Gu-eung ground his teeth, glaring at Ha Mu-baek.
This was truly his full-powered strike.
A do-or-die gamble focused solely on Ha Mu-baek.
Siiiiizzle...
Bluish-black smoke billowed relentlessly from the Flame Wall.
Poison smoke.
Even after being burned, its vicious toxicity lingered intact.
Before, only the poison outside the flames' range had carried such potency.
Now, the smoke itself was Absolute Poison.
The poison smoke rose in all directions.
The cave where the Southern Barbarian's Poison Crystal had resided...
The poison lingering around it had been just like this.
It hadn't burned away in a single blaze, so he hadn't unleashed an overwhelming inferno.
Yet some remnants had persisted.
And now, the poison qi Myo Gu-eung was madly unleashing was even more toxic than that.
Ha Mu-baek clenched his teeth, breath held.
The poison seeping slowly through his skin
was incinerated by the flames rising within.
Even so, the sticky venom clung on, trying to poison him.
With the Myriad Poisons Immunity Divine Body,
he could block such remnants handily.
He was holding out for now.
But he had to ignite flames both externally and internally.
Bit by bit, he was being pushed back.
The Flame Wall grew thicker by the moment.
But the area it covered shrank accordingly.
In the end,
it shrank to the size of a mere shield capable of blocking the Poison Within Poison spear.
Yet it thickened immensely, as if vowing never to be breached.
Even so,
Kikikikikikiik.
With a noise like it was gnawing at the flames,
the Poison Within Poison spear slowly burrowed into the Flame Shield.
The corner of Myo Gu-eung's mouth twitched upward.
It was only natural.
If those flames were all the bastard had,
victory was his.
Even if their power matched, he had far more energy reserves.
The source of Ha Mu-baek's fire qi was the Dragon Training qi.
And even that, he hadn't fully absorbed—excess had scattered into the air.
Thanks to which many in the Ice Heaven Palace had gained fortunate encounters.
Myo Gu-eung, however, had absorbed every drop of the Ten-Thousand-Year Poison Crystal's energy intact.
Dragon Training versus Ten-Thousand-Year Poison Crystal.
Their accumulated ages differed, and one was partially absorbed while the other was fully taken.
Though Myo Gu-eung had only fully melted half,
the energy he wielded now was the remaining unmelted half.
In sheer quantity, Myo Gu-eung held the advantage.
Moreover,
operating the crystal's pure, vicious poison qi in full,
even Ha Mu-baek was affected, unable to focus solely outward.
The acrid poison smoke billowed thicker still,
now blanketing the area like fog.
'This won't do.'
Ha Mu-baek sensed it himself.
That he was at a disadvantage in raw energy volume.
And on top of that,
the energy he was wielding now was unfamiliar.
He had only begun handling it moments ago—barely the span of a single incense stick.
The initial disconnect had faded somewhat,
but it was still no easy task.
'If I could move the ice qi too...'
I could draw out even greater power.
But right now, managing even this fire qi was his limit.
In truth, it was only natural.
Though fire and ice qi chased each other's tails in his dantian,
the two were polar opposites.
Using them simultaneously was absurd.
He had tried moving both just in case, but only the fire qi responded to his will.
Even though the Radiant Heaven Subduing Force originated from the Ice Crystal Radiant Heaven Subduing Force,
a technique meant for ice qi.
'So, simultaneously igniting opposing energies truly is impossible?'
Even so, he had to make it move.
He who had always found breakthroughs in worse situations.
While blocking the poison burrowing into the Flame Shield,
and sorting the chaos within from the poison smoke's invasion,
he also had to rouse the opposing ice qi.
Right now.
'If only I could freeze this poison smoke...'
It wouldn't scatter everywhere.
Nor invade his body.
Ha Mu-baek worried for those at his back,
but far more urgent was somehow mobilizing the ice qi to halt this foe.
Ha Mu-baek's resolute will stirred.
The radiance responded to his will.
Radiant Heaven Subduing Force.
Just as Bing Chwi-seol had infused Han Seol-bing with ice crystal qi via the Ice Crystal Radiant Heaven Subduing Force,
the ice qi from his dantian flowed into Ha Mu-baek's body.
'Freeze.'
The cry, laden with his will, erupted from within.
"Yeon-a. Fall back. As far as you can."
Dang Ja-cheong spoke urgently, retreating while shielding his granddaughter.
He pushed his inner power to its limits.
He had been the first to detect the formless poison's approach.
Soon, Yeo Hong-gi's face filled with dismay.
'What in the world is happening...'
Myo Gu-eung's body had leaked formless poison even as his inner power scattered, but not to this extent—covering such a wide area.
The poison qi had lingered only around Myo Gu-eung.
Yet now,
how potent must this energy be
to slither all the way to the Thousand Poison Valley?
The surrounding trees' leaves had already yellowed.
'Could Sa-baek have unleashed the Mountain Light Scattering Poison too?'
Absurd.
The Scattering Poison had only debuted in the world today.
For both initial victims to shake it off already?
A fair amount of time had passed, nearly a full day,
but it should still be active.
Dang Ja-cheong gazed gravely into the distance.
Mountain
and forest
were dying yellow along the formless poison's path.
Death's aura blanketed the Radiant Prosperity Mountains.
"Yeon-a. You okay?"
Dang Ja-cheong asked worriedly as they retreated nonstop.
"Y-yes."
A strained reply.
Dang Ja-cheong's expression darkened.
At the same time, he shot Yeo Hong-gi a reproachful look.
Why hadn't he prepared an antidote?
When Myo Gu-eung was poisoned by the Scattering Poison,
that had been the perfect chance.
Yeo Hong-gi, face flushed, could only backpedal frantically.
Dang Ja-cheong glanced worriedly toward Ha Mu-baek's position once more.
He hadn't succumbed to the formless poison right in Myo Gu-eung's face.
Then.
Centered on some point,
the yellowing trees turned pitch black and withered.
Dang Ja-cheong's eyes widened at the sight.
Toxicity incomparable to the formless poison.
Only one thing came to mind.
"Yeon-a. We need to get as far away as possible!"
Dang Ja-cheong shouted urgently, grabbing his granddaughter's hand and fleeing.
Even using lightness skill.
They had to escape farther before that poison reached them.
That was
undoubtedly the Ten-Thousand-Year Poison Crystal's qi.
Even he, let alone the Poison Lord, couldn't withstand it.
He ran at full speed, glancing back.
'Please be safe. I beg you.'
Ha Mu-baek.
There was nothing else to do but trust him.
Truly,
he wanted to shed the title of Poison Emperor.
Chachachang! Chachang! Changchang!
In an instant,
a five-zhang radius around Ha Mu-baek
was blanketed in white frost.
The dark-red poison smoke fog
froze solid and crumbled to the ground like powdery snow.
"What?"
Myo Gu-eung was stunned.
This guy spewing world-scorching flames
had frozen his surroundings?
What impossible harmony was this?
Fire countered poison, sure.
But fire also countered water and ice.
While countering poison with fire, he was simultaneously scattering its counter, ice, around him.
Was it even possible for a human to wield two opposing energies at once?
'It worked.'
Ha Mu-baek's eyes gleamed.
The frost encasing the poison qi melted quickly as it fell to the ground.
The earth around Ha Mu-baek blackened.
Transforming into poisoned land.
Ha Mu-baek glanced around briefly.
Trees had already blackened, withered, and died.
The space had become a realm of death alone.
"Vicious bastard."
Ha Mu-baek muttered lowly.
"You're the vicious one."
Myo Gu-eung scowled, having caught the faint mutter.
Woooong.
With those words, the poison spear stirred once more.
It wasn't just thrusting in.
It began to spiral slowly.
A helix.
He regretted not thinking of this sooner,
but it had come to him amid the crisis.
The spiraling poison spear drilled into Ha Mu-baek's fire shield at blinding speed.
Far faster than a mere stab.
"Freeze."
Ha Mu-baek murmured again, willing it so.
Ice crystal qi erupted from his body, freezing the poison spear.
Its rotation slowed... then halted.
"How dare you!"
With that cry,
the poison spear split into five.
The ice shattered.
The spears veered around the shield, aiming for Ha Mu-baek.
Ching! Jjaejaejang!
An ice shield materialized in the air, blocking them.
Sharruruk.
The ice shield crumbled to powder, but it halted the spears' advance.
In that instant,
Ha Mu-baek drew his sword.
Hwaruruk.
Flames roared along its blade.
He swung it straight at Myo Gu-eung.
A single slash.
It cleaved time and space in a flash, hurtling toward Myo Gu-eung.
Kwang!
Pitch-black, sticky poison qi enveloped Myo Gu-eung entirely.
Like armor.
Their exchange grew fiercer by the moment.
Myo Gu-eung's poison qi flowed everywhere,
but Ha Mu-baek's ice qi froze it, scattering it harmlessly to the ground without spread.
Fierce attacks and defenses repeated.
Thrust, dodge, block, counter.
The two unleashed killing blows one after another,
yet neither landed.
'He's getting more refined.'
Amid it all, Ha Mu-baek sensed Myo Gu-eung growing.
A man with immense power but no real combat experience
was rapidly gaining it against a powerhouse like Ha Mu-baek.
'Must kill him.'
Ha Mu-baek steeled his resolve once more.
'What kind of monster is this?'
Myo Gu-eung, meanwhile, was tiring bit by bit.
Unaware of his own growth,
he was simply growing exasperated with the damned bastard who blocked everything no matter what.
Ha Mu-baek read it in Myo Gu-eung's eyes.
The enemy's will to fight waning.
He couldn't miss this chance.
'Here I go.'
A move conceived amid the frenzy, inspired by the fire and ice qi chasing tails.
Ha Mu-baek swung his sword.
He whirled fire and ice qi massively, loading the turbulent rotation onto the blade.
Thus unfolded Chain Soul.
Utterly different from before.
The moment the red-and-white mingled Chain Soul devoured Myo Gu-eung's poison qi,
the energies fused.
Kuakukukukukwang!!!!
A colossal explosion of raw force erupted.
"Kuhk."
Even Ha Mu-baek, who had unleashed it, staggered back from the energy storm.
The clash of two—no, three opposing energies was tremendous.
At its center lay a massive crater and ruins.
Before he could marvel at the spectacle, Ha Mu-baek's eyes locked onto one spot.