## Chapter 2558 – 2558. Ascending To The Light

[You have absorbed poison. Vitality and mana are restored.]

However, since it’s poison, it can’t harm me. No matter what kind of poison it is, it benefits me.

Burning my protective aura? I can just generate another one as much as it burns.

“You ignorant fool! Your inner energy isn’t infinite. In the end, you’ll burn to death!”

Hwaryong Clan Leader Dang Oh shouts. Like a frightened dog barking, he’s clearly scared. Because I’m standing here in this fire, completely unfazed.

‘It’s a bit hard to breathe, but I could stay here forever if I wanted to. The more poison gas I inhale, the more my mana and inner energy recover.’

Even if my protective aura is burning, my inner energy is recovering, so I can just generate another one.

‘But if I stay here, the brothel will catch fire. That won’t do.’

I moved sideways instead of straight ahead. First, I’ll kill his underlings. I kicked off the ground and leaped towards them.

The surprised Hwaryong Clan warriors held swords in one hand and hidden weapons in the other. Flames erupted from their blades. The hidden weapons were coated in poison.

“Spread the poison and amplify the poison flames! Form a formation and fight him!”

Dang Oh shouted, veins bulging in his neck. His warriors moved in perfect unison.

‘What do they think they can do with these weaklings?’

The real threat is Dang Cheoyong, a warrior of the Three Realms. I kept an eye on Dang Cheoyong’s movements while using the Meteor Sword.

Dozens of swords appeared in the sky and fell towards the enemies. The enemies dodged the Meteor Swords. Since they were simply falling, it wasn’t hard to avoid them. The dozens of swords embedded themselves in the ground.

‘Explode.’

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The Meteor Swords embedded in the ground exploded and released an electric discharge. The Hwaryong Clan warriors, electrocuted by the blue lightning, froze. The formation they had painstakingly created fell apart. I swung the Hwaryeon Flying Daggers, killing the warriors.

More than half of them were already dead.

“Y-you bastard! How dare you harm the disciples of our clan!!”

Dang Oh charged at me. Flames erupted from his body. That wasn’t martial arts; his clothes were a magical artifact.

‘Is that a fire-attribute protective aura?’

Meteor Sword.

A Meteor Sword created in the air flew towards Dang Oh. Dang Oh dodged them all with his footwork and approached me.

‘He’s pretty good, considering he’s about to reach the Three Realms.’

Thunder Sky Style (雷天流) – Thunder Flash (雷光).

I swung the Hwaryeon Flying Daggers with all my might. Dang Oh couldn’t dodge or block it. The blade aimed for Dang Oh’s neck, but it was deflected by his protective aura. The protective aura protecting him disappeared.

‘One more time.’

Just as I was about to grip the hilt and swing again, I sensed a hidden weapon aiming for my back. I felt the power and will imbued in the hidden weapon. It was thrown by Dang Cheoyong. I couldn’t block it with my protective aura.

It didn’t seem necessary to use an instant.

I twisted my waist and deflected the incoming hidden weapon. It was a knife the size of a thumb. An unknown character was engraved on it like a picture.

‘It’s a magical artifact!’

The deflected hidden weapon multiplied into five and flew back towards me.

“Youuuu!!”

Just as I was about to deflect the hidden weapons, Dang Oh interfered from behind, swinging a fire sword.

It was a dilemma. Even if I used an instant, it was impossible to dodge.

‘It’s better to get hit by a poison needle than a sword from that bastard behind me.’

I turned my body and swung the Hwaryeon Flying Daggers at Dang Oh.

Thunder Sky Style (雷天流) – Thunder Flash (雷光).

At the same time as I cut Dang Oh’s body, the hidden weapons pierced my body, breaking through my protective aura. Two in my shoulders, two in my waist, and one in my thigh.

Dang Oh screamed, spraying blood.

“Kuhhh! Fire Dragon Roar (火龍咆)!!”

The flames that had spread everywhere gathered around me, hindering me. Ignoring the fire, I swung my sword. I bisected Dang Oh’s head.

Pop!!

Dang Oh’s corpse exploded unnaturally. His hot blood splattered on my body. It was also poison.

‘Even better.’

[You have absorbed poison. Vitality and mana are restored.]

My vitality was restored, but the wounds didn’t heal instantly without a trace. I pulled out the hidden weapons embedded in my body and turned around.

Dang Cheoyong was standing among the corpses, having removed the black cloth he had been wearing on his head.

His skin was dark green, and his eyes were bloodshot red. His lips were blue. His outward appearance was far from that of an ordinary human.

“Was he a monster, not a human?”

“Hehe. It’s undeniable that monster blood is mixed in. But you’re not in a position to say that, are you? The wounds from the hidden weapons are already healing. Isn’t that the recovery power of a monster?”

“…Monster blood? Is Dang Soso like that too?”

Dang Cheoyong answered my questions well, perhaps to buy time for the poison to spread.

“The main family’s wish is to become a perfect poison being. We have been researching it for thousands of years. Soso. That child is the main family’s masterpiece and a failure at the same time. She was born with the body of a poison being, but she couldn’t handle poison herself.”

“Is that why you chased Dang Soso away?”

“Chased away? There’s no way. Soso left the Dang family of her own will and joined the Mount Hua Sect. She’s now a disciple of the Sword Empress… The Dang family has never abandoned Soso. Never.”

I knew that the Dang family hadn’t abandoned Dang Soso. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have left Dang Soso, who had left the family, alone.

Having heard what I needed to hear, I was about to take a stance to swing my sword, but I stopped.

My senses were dull.

“Hehe. It seems the poison is finally taking effect.”

“…Poison? What kind of poison did you use?”

“It’s a special poison made by mixing my body fluids and poison techniques with my mind. The main family calls it Mind Poison (心毒).”

“…Is it mixed with the power of the mind?”

“Hehe. Using the power of the mind fully is only possible when you reach the Harmonious Realm. But there are shortcuts.”

“Shortcuts?”

“It’s about holding onto a mindset for a long time, regardless of your level. In my case, I only thought about poison and aimed only for poison, even before I learned martial arts.”

“You set the end of your mindset from the beginning and trained?”

“Hehe. There’s only one thing a poison being of the Dang family should hold onto. Poison. Only that.”

Mind Poison.

It’s poison, but it’s not poison.

I briefly observed my body.

‘I roughly understand. A poison with will is eating away at my body.’

Because it’s poison but not poison, my poison resistance didn’t react.

‘Or maybe my poison resistance level is too low.’

Stagger.

I had a problem with my sense of balance.

Dang Cheoyong frowned as he looked at me.

“Normally, you’d be crawling on the ground and feeling excruciating pain by now… You’re holding up well without going crazy.”

“Is there no antidote for this poison?”

“Are you in pain? I’ll make it comfortable for you now.”

Dang Cheoyong took out a hidden weapon from his sleeve and held it in his hand. Of course, it was a hidden weapon coated in poison. He threw the hidden weapon at me.

I stepped on the True Awakening.

Demonic God Art (天魔神功) – Demonic God’s Descent Step (天魔君臨步).

The flying hidden weapon crashed into the ground. At the same time, the Mind Poison that was eating away at my body weakened. The will that arose from using the Demonic God’s Descent Step weakened the Mind Poison.

‘So, you suppress the mind with the mind?’

I felt like I could get rid of the Mind Poison if I did it a few more times. But there was no time for that.

[Activating Heavenly Heart (天心). Lasts for 1 minute.]

The Mind Poison disappeared, and my condition recovered, even improving.

Demonic God Art (天魔神功) – Demonic God’s Descent Step (天魔君臨步).

Thud!

Dang Cheoyong flinched and staggered back.

“…Is that the famous Demonic God’s Descent Step? It feels like it’s shaking even my mind. A peerless divine art is indeed a peerless divine art…! I’ll show you the main family’s ultimate technique! Rain of Flowers (滿天花雨)!!”

Dang Cheoyong leaped into the sky. He spun in the air, releasing poison smoke and throwing countless hidden weapons. The hidden weapons flew towards me in parabolas!

‘He’s using a spatial pouch to take out and throw the hidden weapons.’

It was impossible to dodge. They were flying from all directions, leaving no space to avoid them.

I applied the Thunder Sky Style to create lightning. My plan was to control the hidden weapons with magnetism and send them back.

The Demonic God Art and the Thunder Sky Style, the demonic energy and the lightning energy, collided within me.

“Cough!”

The aftermath of the collision directly caused internal injuries. I coughed up blood and panicked.

‘Demonic energy remained inside me, but it had never collided before?’

Papatpapatpapat!

In that short gap, countless hidden weapons flew and pierced my body. Due to the collision of inner energy, I couldn’t even use my protective aura.

‘Shit.’

I received the hidden weapons with my bare body. I must have looked like a hedgehog with hidden weapons stuck all over me. They were also coated in poison, but since Heavenly Heart was activated, the poison wasn’t a problem.

‘Because Heavenly Heart completely nullifies the poison, my poison resistance can’t absorb it.’

I couldn’t see because hidden weapons were also stuck in my eyes.

Step, step.

Dang Cheoyong’s presence approached me.

“Hehe. Each of those hidden weapons is coated in deadly poison… And you’re still alive. Your resistance to poison is amazing. It doesn’t seem like a magical artifact or a spell… Is it the power of the Demonic God Art? Or is it your constitution? I’ll have to take your corpse back to the main family and study it!”

Thud.

A long sword pierced my heart.

[Death Resistance has been activated. You will not die for the next 15 seconds.]

Thunder Sky Style (雷天流) – Thunder Art (雷術) – Blood Thunder (血雷).

I squeezed out all the remaining lightning energy and detonated it.

Kwaaaang!

The power was weakened due to the backlash of demonic energy, but it was enough to kill Dang Cheoyong, who was nearby.

[Using Full Recovery.]

I revived.

The hidden weapons that had been stuck all over my body fell to the ground.

Dang Cheoyong was torn to pieces and killed by the effects of Blood Thunder.

[Trial – Martial Arts Duel.
1/3 completed.]

Part of the trial was also successful. Now, I just need to kill two more absolute masters.

I spread my palm and created lightning. Lightning gathered in my palm, and sparks flew. There was no collision of inner energy like before.

‘Was it because I used the Demonic God Art and then immediately used the Thunder Sky Style in succession?’

I decided to think about that later. Right now, it was more important to deal with the remaining stragglers nearby.