Chapter 371
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 371
Chapter Title: Voice of Narak
Ha Mu-baek possessed three out of six Primordial Fragments.
That was fully half.
There was no reason he couldn't annihilate the Manhwang, which was merely one piece out of eight.
Ha Mu-baek's inner energy surged forth like a ferocious tsunami.
Like a typhoon, it swept away the Manhwang lodged in his meridians.
Thus, Go Hu-rak's energy began to dissipate bit by bit.
The moment Manhwang realized it could not hold out.
It began searching for a way to survive.
Even with Narak gone, Manhwang's energy seemed to retain its primal instincts.
It raced through Ha Mu-baek's meridians, desperately trying to flee the energy intent on erasing it.
But this was inside Ha Mu-baek's body.
There was no such escape.
At that moment.
What Manhwang discovered was the poison energy swirling at the center of the ice and fire vortex.
The very energy that had lured it into this body.
A fragment of Manhwang barely managed to take refuge within the poison energy.
However, it was only an infinitesimal portion of the invading force.
Ha Mu-baek's inner energy spared the poison energy, now fused into his inner core.
The scant remnant of Manhwang's energy, sharing roots with it, began to merge with the poison.
Taking the form of a tiny seed, it nestled quietly and minutely into Ha Mu-baek's inner core.
'Is this amount negligible?'
Ha Mu-baek had observed the entire process while gazing inward.
To eradicate every last bit, he would need to dismantle the inner core he had painstakingly forged.
No one could predict what backlash that might unleash.
In the end.
He decided to leave the Manhwang energy in its tiny seed form untouched.
It had been a grueling battle.
With everything complete, Ha Mu-baek.
"Huu."
Let out a deep sigh, opened his eyes, and rose to his feet.
In the end, he had gained nothing.
"No. Perhaps I learned a new truth..."
Infinite Sword Sect.
Ha Mu-baek's former sect.
He had known only the name of its founding patriarch, yet here he uncovered an unexpected secret from an unforeseen source.
And.
"Hmm."
Ha Mu-baek glanced toward his dantian.
The Manhwang seed lurking silently within his inner core.
If this counted as a gain, then it was one.
"Well, at least I've far surpassed the realm of immunity to myriad poisons now."
As Manhwang's energy intertwined with the poison, a subtle change rippled through Ha Mu-baek's body.
He did not miss it.
Perhaps owing to its poison foundation.
The realm of myriad poisons immunity had shattered its limits, ascending to lofty new heights.
Now.
Even Myo Gu-ung's poisons would have no effect on him.
It held meaning in its own right.
Ha Mu-baek stepped out through the open entrance.
No one was around.
Tang Ja-cheong and Tang Ji-yeon had apparently withdrawn to a distance to avoid disturbing him.
Emerging along the narrow path.
He reached the fork with ten branching trails.
There, Tang Ja-cheong and Tang Ji-yeon awaited Ha Mu-baek.
"How did it go?"
Her question brimmed with curiosity.
Tang Ji-yeon's eyes sparkled as she gazed at Ha Mu-baek.
Ha Mu-baek shrugged.
"Nothing at all."
The pair jolted in surprise at his reply.
How could that be?
Hadn't they read the tattoo's heartrending tale on Go Hu-rak's body?
"It was a meticulously crafted trap."
"A trap?"
Ha Mu-baek gave them a succinct account of events.
The two could only gape in further astonishment.
How was that possible?
To disseminate a martial art into the world, lure its learner here, and seize their body.
No—the very existence of such a technique.
It defied belief.
"The world... is full of monsters, it seems. My knowledge falls woefully short."
Tang Ja-cheong murmured in dismay.
"Primordial and Manhwang... myths turned into martial arts lore?"
Tang Ji-yeon asked blankly.
Her expression screamed disbelief at what she had heard.
Though Ha Mu-baek had summarized concisely, the facts were too stark to gloss over.
Go Hu-rak's tattoo had explicitly named Primordial and Manhwang.
"Martial arts born at the world's dawn—Primordial and Manhwang. Two absolute arts, eternally opposed..."
Tang Ja-cheong echoed Ha Mu-baek's summary softly.
"A soul enduring across three millennia... Only arts of that magnitude could make it possible."
He nodded, as if conceding the logic.
"So you truly gained nothing?"
"My realm of immunity to myriad poisons has advanced. Likely from the poison energy reacting amid the clash with Manhwang."
Tang Ja-cheong and Tang Ji-yeon widened their eyes anew.
Tricked, their faces said.
He had claimed nothing gained after all that peril.
"Th-that's what you call nothing?"
Tang Ji-yeon demanded, incredulous.
"To what degree? Can you withstand the Poison Lord's venom?"
Tang Ja-cheong pressed eagerly.
Ha Mu-baek nodded.
"I believe I can block the Poison Lord's poison."
He replied evenly.
Tang Ji-yeon's jaw dropped.
"Wh-what... That's complete immunity to all poisons. That's... insane."
Her eyes burned with envy.
"Does this qualify as complete immunity to all poisons?"
Ha Mu-baek asked Tang Ja-cheong.
"I told the family head as much. To endure the Poison Lord's toxin, one must reach that unprecedented realm."
"All poisons?"
"The Poison Lord's is the quintessence of all toxins. Block it, and no poison can touch you."
"You've obtained something extraordinary."
Tang Ji-yeon sighed hollowly.
She had pitied him earlier—surviving such danger for naught.
Complete immunity to all poisons.
The dream of every poison cultivator, yearned for even in slumber.
Nay—a realm imagined in fantasy alone.
To attain it and dismiss it as nothing.
Pure provocation.
Thus.
Tang Ji-yeon glared at Ha Mu-baek sullenly, irked for no good reason.
But.
Ha Mu-baek sank into contemplation.
Of the realm he had achieved.
"What of the airborne poison Valley Lord Ye unleashed? Myo Gu-ung fell victim too."
Tang Ja-cheong pondered Ha Mu-baek's query in silence.
"Unclear. Airborne poison is poison yet not—akin to an aphrodisiac. Only direct trial reveals its truth."
He couldn't very well demand Ye Hong-gi demonstrate.
It would linger as a question.
'Yeon Ja-kyeong. He claimed to possess the same airborne poison...'
Ha Mu-baek harbored near-certainty it was tailored for him.
"Let's return now. Time has passed considerably."
"Ah, how long?"
"Two days."
Tang Ji-yeon supplied the answer.
Ha Mu-baek blinked in shock.
It had felt mere moments, yet two full days.
Immersed in soul combat, his time sense had warped.
"You could have ascended first..."
Ha Mu-baek said apologetically.
A barren cave.
Meaning they had starved here two days straight.
"Couldn't bring myself to without you."
Tang Ja-cheong replied awkwardly.
Alone, perhaps—but with Tang Ji-yeon, impossible.
He had considered climbing ahead for rope, yet fretted leaving his granddaughter solitary.
"My apologies."
Ha Mu-baek said, contrite.
"No need. Our choice. Onward."
Ha Mu-baek drew a dagger from his robe and plunged it into the wall.
As when descending, it carved stairs via Willful Sword Control's profundity, ascending autonomously.
Ha Mu-baek followed, treading air leisurely with Void Step.
Thus, atop the cliff once more.
Ruins unchanged.
Yet altered.
Ha Mu-baek's senses detected it.
"Many have returned to Thousand Poisons Valley."
"Likely didn't stray far. That place is their root, their home."
Tang Ja-cheong gazed toward Thousand Poisons Valley.
"What say you?"
He asked Ha Mu-baek.
"To what?"
"Valley Lord Ye. It targeted Senior Myo Gu-ung, aye—but you as well, in my eyes."
Ha Mu-baek was aware.
What to do.
By his code, execution.
He who struck at him.
Failure demands accountability.
Yet.
What gnawed at him.
Facing death, evacuating all of Thousand Poisons Valley, confronting Myo Gu-ung.
With sole disciple at his side.
That merited respect.
Though Thousand Poisons Valley's history remained obscure.
Even so.
"He must answer for his deeds."
Ha Mu-baek stated calmly.
"But I'll probe the full context. The airborne poison too."
No execution.
His demeanor in discourse would decide fate.
A warning for Yeon Ja-kyeong as well.
Provoke not the man seeking quiet repose.
With that, the trio resumed toward Thousand Poisons Valley.
Fierce rapids.
Swept into them, consciousness fled.
All energy expended, his hollow shell battered against rocks and trunks.
Water flooding nose and throat choked his breath.
Even hale, one dared not swim free of such torrent.
Yet Myo Gu-ung lacked both arms, one leg.
Tossed by currents, slamming boulders and great trees, he sank steadily downward.
Myo Gu-ung had long lost awareness.
Flung by Ha Mu-baek's final blow.
Death had filled his thoughts.
But.
His chest burned for air.