Chapter 363
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 363
Chapter Title: Please Just Disappear!
There stood Myo Gu-eung, clutching his left shoulder with his right arm.
His left arm was gone below the elbow.
Black blood was bubbling out.
A moment earlier.
Recalling the motion of the Soul Chain, Ha Mu-baek gathered his energy once more.
Myo Gu-eung's face was filled with fear and dismay.
As he stumbled backward, his expression suddenly changed.
'It's worn off.'
The Radiant Scattering Poison.
Its duration had finally ended.
His dantian's energy had returned.
The instant he confirmed it, he didn't hesitate for a second.
"You monster bastard! Try blocking this too!"
The fresh surge of power combined with his restored dantian energy.
He hurled it all at Ha Mu-baek as he charged forward.
A jet-black sphere of poison qi the size of an adult appeared right before Ha Mu-baek's eyes.
And Myo Gu-eung.
He charged ahead without even glancing back.
He ran past Ha Mu-baek, who was swinging his sword at the full-force attack he'd thrown.
As if he didn't care about the outcome at all, he sprinted with everything he had.
Clutching his one remaining arm.
"Damn it..."
Despair and rage burned in his eyes.
But above all, the burning desire to survive dominated.
'I have to shake that bastard off somehow.'
That was his only thought.
And a place that might allow it came to mind.
"Where do you think..."
Ha Mu-baek tried to grab the fleeing Myo Gu-eung, but he couldn't.
The massive poison sphere looming before him.
He could feel its power and destructive force.
Ignoring it would be far too dangerous.
The energy and poison it contained.
Both were lethal.
The moment Ha Mu-baek tried to unleash the Soul Chain again.
He sensed a fierce surge of inner energy.
'It's back.'
Ha Mu-baek's inner energy, returning a beat later than Myo Gu-eung's.
In that instant, he executed the Soul Chain.
Pouring every ounce of his power into it.
Flame qi, frost qi, and the freshly restored inner energy.
The three energies swirled together and enveloped the poison sphere Myo Gu-eung had left behind.
And then.
KABOOM!
Another colossal explosion erupted.
This time, even though he'd anticipated and prepared for it.
With inner energy mixed in, the blast was even larger, shoving Ha Mu-baek back once more.
"Ngh."
A ridiculous situation where he groaned from the power he'd unleashed himself.
At the same time.
Ha Mu-baek scattered frost qi in all directions.
He hadn't fully annihilated the poison sphere.
The lingering poison qi was spreading everywhere.
To halt its diffusion, he froze it with frost qi first.
Then.
He summoned flame qi to ignite it all and burn it away completely.
"Hoo."
Letting out a small sigh, Ha Mu-baek turned and kicked off the ground.
He had to catch and kill that bastard no matter what.
Tracking Myo Gu-eung's escape route was easy.
The black poison qi trailed behind him as he fled at full speed.
Exactly opposite the direction he'd come from.
Thousand Poisons Valley.
That's where Myo Gu-eung was heading.
He ran driven solely by his will to survive.
Any thoughts of revenge by destroying Thousand Poisons Valley were gone from his mind.
First, he had to live.
He couldn't beat that monster.
Unless he shoved the poison straight down its throat, poisoning it seemed impossible.
Even though that wasn't true.
Due to his lack of experience.
He hadn't properly read the flow of the previous battle.
He just ran toward Thousand Poisons Valley to survive.
Hidden mechanisms known only to the valley lord existed there.
Prepared for emergencies.
On that day, Myo Gu-eung had been betrayed before he could use them and fled blindly.
Thus.
They should still be there, unused and unknown to anyone.
A one-time escape route.
When his master had ascended to heaven.
Only Myo Gu-eung knew of its existence.
Believing it was his only path to survival.
Myo Gu-eung sprinted at full speed.
Not knowing when that monster might catch up.
Perhaps because he'd fled without inner energy.
He hadn't gotten far.
Thousand Poisons Valley soon appeared before his eyes.
"V-V-Valley Lord..."
Yeo Hong-gi was startled to see Myo Gu-eung suddenly appear.
He was shocked again seeing the left arm dripping black blood.
And he was horrified upon sensing the poison qi emanating from him.
"R-Run!"
Yeo Hong-gi urgently shouted at Gong Dok-haeng and kicked off the ground at full speed.
Myo Gu-eung ignored Yeo Hong-gi entirely and plunged straight into the central hall of Thousand Poisons Valley.
BOOM!
The spot where Myo Gu-eung had just been erupted with a massive blast.
"Tch."
It was Ha Mu-baek.
Collecting the trail of poison qi Myo Gu-eung had left behind had delayed him slightly.
But he couldn't let that poison spread unchecked.
If it kept expanding and engulfed a village.
This was poison on a whole different level from the earlier intangible poison.
So he'd frozen and burned it as he pursued.
Ha Mu-baek yanked his sword from the ground and leaped into the hall where Myo Gu-eung had vanished.
He was gone.
No trace of Myo Gu-eung's energy anywhere.
Ha Mu-baek extended his senses.
Having fully deployed flame and frost qi to contain the poison essence, he'd briefly retracted his senses.
As soon as Ha Mu-baek spread them wide, he detected Myo Gu-eung's movement.
"That way?"
East.
The direction Myo Gu-eung was fleeing.
And.
The direction Dang Ja-cheong and Dang Ji-yeon were sprinting toward at full speed.
Ha Mu-baek glanced down at the floor beneath his feet.
An underground passage for emergency escape, it seemed.
Activated by mechanisms.
Crash!
He stomped with inner energy-infused force.
The floor shattered, and he dropped down.
Ha Mu-baek landed on the level below, in the underground chamber.
Looking around, no visible entrances.
He bent his knees and channeled inner energy into the floor.
His eyes activated the Infinite Bright Wheel Eye.
He could see the inner energy flowing through the web of mechanisms.
Just like in the Pang Clan's secret archive.
However.
Ha Mu-baek soon grimaced.
He wasn't an expert in mechanisms.
But the path the inner energy was flowing through now.
'It's one-use.'
That explained why he couldn't see the entrance.
It was already sealed.
He could force his way through.
But that would cause the tunnel to collapse.
He didn't have time to waste.
Thud.
Ha Mu-baek shot upward and punched through a wall, racing along.
Chasing underground to the depths would be slower than pursuing from above.
Instead of delving deep underground, wait for the bastard to surface eventually.
That would be faster.
If he didn't know where it led, it'd be trouble.
But Ha Mu-baek could pinpoint its location with his senses.
Myo Gu-eung was moving quite fast.
Fast enough that Ha Mu-baek had to use lightness skill to keep up.
Unsure of the tunnel's path, Ha Mu-baek pursued with a bit of leeway.
"Hm?"
Up ahead, as Ha Mu-baek raced on, two familiar presences appeared.
Dang Ja-cheong and Dang Ji-yeon.
Just as he'd trusted, they'd handled it well.
The two weren't poisoned.
He was about to breathe a sigh of relief.
When Myo Gu-eung's movement drew closer to the surface.
Ha Mu-baek scanned the surroundings.
A spot that might connect to the underground.
"Change direction!!"
Ha Mu-baek bellowed with inner energy so Dang Ja-cheong could hear.
Then unleashed his lightness skill at full power.
One side of the ravine the two were just passing.
A small cave was there, and Myo Gu-eung was emerging from it.
"Hm?"
Dang Ja-cheong paused and turned at the sudden voice of Ha Mu-baek.
The moment Ha Mu-baek gritted his teeth and pushed Eagle's Vision to its limit, arriving nearby.
Whoosh!
Myo Gu-eung burst from the cave.
Fleeing at full speed, the poison qi he emitted poured out behind him.
"Eek."
Startled by his sudden appearance, Dang Ja-cheong hesitated.
"Ugh."
Dang Ji-yeon groaned.
She'd been caught in the trailing poison qi.
Her face turned pitch black.
The Blood Poison Pearl in her bosom glowed, expelling the poison.
It was a first.
Even when Ha Mu-baek had briefly held it to purge Myo Gu-eung's poison.
It had shimmered beautifully, but not to this glowing extent.
"Ji-yeon!"
Shocked, Dang Ja-cheong rushed toward Dang Ji-yeon.
But Ha Mu-baek urgently grabbed his collar and yanked him back.
"No!"
This poison would infect Dang Ja-cheong too.
That had to be prevented.
"Ngh."
Dang Ja-cheong ground his teeth.
But soon shouted at Dang Ji-yeon.
"Ji-yeon! Circulate your inner energy! Don't just stand there!"
He urgently explained what she needed to do.
The Mantra Return to Origin Poison Art.
Detailing the incantation step by step.
Praying she'd follow his instructions, he shouted desperately.
Right now.
As the Blood Poison Pearl glowed, exerting its utmost to block the poison qi.
Dang Ji-yeon had to respond by circulating her inner energy.
Dang Ja-cheong knew about this phenomenon with the Blood Poison Pearl.
Though he'd never seen it in person.
When it encountered poison too much for it to handle, it pushed to its limits.
That persistent glow was a bad sign.
Exhausting itself to the brink meant only one thing.
Ha Mu-baek summoned frost qi to freeze all the surrounding poison qi.
Then gathered it.
Soon, a head-sized block of ice formed.
He kicked off the ground with it in hand.
Dang Ji-yeon's condition was critical.
But catching Myo Gu-eung came first.
With Eagle's Vision at maximum, Ha Mu-baek soon spotted Myo Gu-eung's back.
Myo Gu-eung glanced back briefly.
Spotting Ha Mu-baek, his face drained of color.
His Absolute Poison Ring, combining inner energy and poison essence, hadn't inflicted any damage.
Terror gripped Myo Gu-eung.
Reason fled; instinct took over.
The drive to survive.
It compelled him to pour out everything once more.
Even if it meant permanently losing part of his power.
Just to stay alive somehow.
Like a dragon spitting its inner core as a last resort.
Myo Gu-eung gathered his inner energy and formed gang qi.
Poison Gang.
Not ordinary gang qi.
Within it.
Poison essence.
Half the energy of the Millennial Poison Essence infused into it.
The fusion of gang qi and poison essence.
Poison Gang Essence.
"You endless demon bastard! Please just disappear!!!"
With a scream of rage.
Myo Gu-eung unleashed the Poison Gang Essence.
Toward the monster.
Facing it head-on, Ha Mu-baek saw at a glance it wasn't normal gang qi.
His senses screamed constant danger.
Ha Mu-baek felt he had to properly harmonize the three energies this time.
The hasty combination from moments ago wouldn't suffice.
'If only I had another sword...'
He sheathed his sword.
With only one sword now.
Bare hands might be better.
Flames erupted in Ha Mu-baek's right hand, forming a sword shape.
Frost coated his left, manifesting an ice sword.
His dantian swirled all his inner energy through his body.
Flame sword in the right.
Ice sword in the left.
Both infused with every bit of his power.
Finally, his dantian inner energy.
Ha Mu-baek swung both hands.
Unleashing a single sword stance.
Infinite Willful Eight Severing Sword Wave, Fifth Stance.
Heaven Splitter.
Simply shattering it wouldn't do.
The ensuing poison qi had to be utterly annihilated too.
As the swords from his right and left merged into a massive blade form.
His dantian inner energy transformed into gang qi, surging atop the sword.
The fusion of three energies!
Thus unleashed, the Heaven Splitter clashed head-on with the oncoming Poison Gang Essence.
KUAAAAAANG!!!!!!!!!
With a deafening roar.
A fierce storm raged outward.
The ground shook like an earthquake.
However.
Ha Mu-baek's Heaven Splitter wasn't over yet.
A strike pouring in every bit of inner energy, even he didn't know its full extent.
The Heaven Splitter devoured even the storm from the collision's aftermath.
And once more.
KABOOM!!
Sweeping away all remaining energy with another thunderous boom.
"U-U-U-Uwaaaah, aaaah!"
Caught in the three-wave onslaught.
Myo Gu-eung was swept away.
His scream was buried in the Heaven Splitter's energy.
His right arm was torn off.
His left leg severed below the knee.
At that moment.
Ha Mu-baek's Heaven Splitter reached its end.
Myo Gu-eung, flung endlessly.
Fell over the cliff at its terminus.
Splash!
Into the river flowing below the cliff.
"Hah. Hah. Hah."
Ha Mu-baek panted heavily.
Not just shattering the Poison Gang Essence.
But overlaying the Heaven Splitter to annihilate the following poison qi entirely.
A first-time attempt.
Possible only by expending every shred of his body's energy—the overlay succeeded.
However.
Recalling Myo Gu-eung's final glimpse.
"He didn't die..."
Even after losing both arms and one leg.
The bastard had survived.
Ha Mu-baek stirred a sliver of inner energy, circulating it briefly for recovery.
With the hastily regained energy, he unleashed lightness skill.
Thus.
Arriving at the cliff where Myo Gu-eung had fallen.
As he'd faintly heard amid the chaos, a river flowed below.
A violently swirling torrent.
Even falling in perfect condition would likely mean death.
But who could say for sure.
Ha Mu-baek extended his senses over the riverbanks.
The rapids had already swept him away, or perhaps he was dead.
No trace of Myo Gu-eung anywhere.
If alive, it meant he'd already passed beyond Ha Mu-baek's sensing range.
Ha Mu-baek's face hardened.
'He might come back as a future threat...'
Gazing briefly at the river below the cliff, Ha Mu-baek turned away.
It wasn't over yet.
He had to check on Dang Ji-yeon.
With lingering unease, Ha Mu-baek kicked off and soared with lightness skill.