Chapter 493: The Subtlety of Isolated Poison
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It was truly a futile death.
Though the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Great Generals were the lowest ranked among Central Heaven Tower’s Great General-level, their individual martial prowess was at the supreme first-rate level.
Setting aside everything else, their internal power level alone was in a different class.
Yet they had perished to Eul Sa-jeok’s bizarre ability.
Moreover, without even being able to properly resist…
The person himself, Eul Sa-jeok, didn’t know.
Why?
Because he was still unconscious.
There was no sign of him waking up at all.
Even his breathing was so low and calm.
As if he had recovered from his internal injuries.
Such Eul Sa-jeok unconsciously gathered in the energy streams he had been radiating from his body.
The miniature garden where the two Great Generals had perished was quiet.
-Boom… Thud… Thump…!
Somewhere far away, noisy echoes still rang out.
Roaring sounds that proved Cheol Ryu-heun’s merciless techniques hadn’t stopped.
Just then.
Tremble, tremble…
The eyelids of Eul Sa-jeok, who still hadn’t awakened, quivered.
Was he dreaming something?
Yes.
Currently, Eul Sa-jeok was reacting to a scene in his dream.
In other words, memories of past days had turned into dreams.
It was a nightmare.
As always.
The ones who had given him such nightmares were Cheol Ryu-heun and the people of White Peak Sword Sect…
The scene that appeared in his dream was when he himself had been confined in the storage room.
-Clunk… Step step step…
-Who…?
-Who do you think?
At that voice, Eul Sa-jeok was frightened out of his wits.
It was a dream, but it felt like reality.
Though he couldn’t perceive it consciously, his body’s reaction manifested itself that way.
Namely, the eyelids that were trembling.
-Why, do I look like the grim reaper?
-S-Senior Brother… First, listen to what I have to say…
-Shut your mouth.
-…!
-It’s not yet time to flap your tongue.
-…
-If you live long enough that counting the years becomes meaningless, you develop an eye for discerning a person’s character. Someone like you, who is blinded by greed and plays cunning tricks, invariably becomes cowardly in the face of crisis.
As soon as those words ended, Cheol Ryu-heun forcefully stomped on the splints wrapped around Eul Sa-jeok’s lower legs.
-Crack… !
-Aaagh, aaaaaah! Aaaaaaah!
The pain of the shinbones he’d set being dislocated again.
That was conveyed perfectly through the dream once more.
Sure enough.
Tremble tremble, tremble tremble…
Eul Sa-jeok’s body shook violently with his eyes closed.
He’d called him the grim reaper?
No.
Though it was a dream, the feeling was more terrifying than that.
However.
As the pain and fear grew, so too did anger and murderous intent.
I will do anything to kill you!
Both the him in the dream and the him in reality had the same thought.
The memories of that day continued.
After writing the confession.
-Senior Brother, I swear I wrote everything honestly. Now that things have come to this, would I really hide the truth?
-I know.
-I’m sorry. Whether it’s expulsion or anything else, I’ll accept any punishment, so please just spare my life.
-Is your life precious and mine wasn’t?
-Th-that, I have no excuse for.
-If you want to live, just shut up and wait for your sentence. Hmm, you don’t need your hands anymore either.
-Pardon?
-Crack! Cra-crack… !
-Gyaaah, gyaaaah!
-It’s fine. Bones heal.
Just as the scene from that painful moment once again stimulated the rage and murderous intent in his chest.
Float.
Eul Sa-jeok’s body rose into the air.
Following that.
Pop, pop pop pop, pop, pop pop…
A sound like small bubbles bursting leaked out.
It was the opening of the fine meridians and hidden meridians.
Just then.
Swish swish swish, swish swish swish…
Pure white haze was quietly released from the pores all over his body.
It was a bizarre phenomenon that he himself was unaware of.
When that haze enveloped the series of areas that had been seriously injured before.
Flash, flash…!
Dark-feeling radiant light burst forth.
Then Eul Sa-jeok underwent rapid transformation.
The muscles and bones throughout his body suddenly grew massive and began to be strengthened by some kind of energy.
It was the effect of the gu poison replacing his dantian harmoniously combining the enormous internal power absorbed from the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Great Generals.
More precisely, the transformation had appeared while absorbing the power of the two other gu poisons.
The essence of powerful suction energy.
That was the core subtlety of the gu poison nestled within Eul Sa-jeok’s body.
In other words, the gu poison itself replaced the dantian… The source of martial training… While also executing the cursed Star-Absorbing Great Art…
But that was different from the Great Generals, who were among the highest-ranking executives within the Central Heaven Tower.
What Eul Sa-jeok had consumed was an improved variant of gu poison.
In other words, it was one of the results of additional research on the gu poison that the Great General-ranks had consumed.
Also.
That meant it was not a safely completed product.
It was a prototype-level gu poison accompanied by uncertainty of final achievement, risk of sudden side effects, and such.
Yet remarkably, those elements seemed to match perfectly with Eul Sa-jeok’s constitution.
Wasn’t the strange phenomenon appearing now proof of that?
Since his internal injuries had healed and even his body was being strengthened.
Meanwhile, the nightmare that induced rage and murderous intent continued.
This time it was the memory with Hyeop Mu-geuk, the White Flash Sword Tiger and Inspector General of White Peak Sword Sect.
Eul Sa-jeok had attempted to win him over.
With the mindset of one pushed to the brink.
He said that even if Cheol Ryu-heun became Sect Master, maintaining the status quo would be difficult, and told him to cooperate with the Heavenly Agent Bureau, but his attitude was firm.
-Tsk, how pathetic.
-What…?
-Handing over the White Peak Sword Art… The great legacy of the First Sect Master and the foundation of this sect… As the price for making a name for yourself, how long do you think that would last? Every martial artist experiences setbacks and ordeals. No, originally, life itself could be called a continuous conflict between hope and reality.
-So?
-I am resolved to face any difficulty head-on. That is the duty of a subordinate who inherited the spirit of the previous patriarchs and the late Sect Master.
‘Ha! Idiot! The end of that path will be the sect’s closure nine times out of ten!’
The sneer in his dream was expressed just the same on Eul Sa-jeok’s face.
Twitch.
The corner of his mouth was pulled up.
-He wasn’t anything special to begin with, so I don’t understand why you’re devoting your whole loyalty expecting something from him.
At Eul Sa-jeok’s mockery, Hyeop Mu-geuk retorted.
-Because I’m different from the likes of you from the start. Do you know what that decisive difference is?
-Why don’t you tell me?
-In the face of a desperate situation, you chose escape and complacency, but the Young Master chose challenge and adventure. Just like the Sect Master in life.
-What a joke. The decisive difference between me and him is brilliance versus stupidity!
-Brilliant? Then how did you end up in that state?
-…
-Know shame.
Through the dream, the shame of that time was revived.
Because of that, rage and murderous intent reached their peak.
Fury exploding from his chest.
The gu poison responded to that heart.
Hwaaak… !
Tremendous energy explosively coursed through the energy meridians and pressure points throughout his body.
“Guhaaak… Guhaaaak…!”
Having let out an agonized cry, Eul Sa-jeok finally opened his eyes.
From all over his body, crimson blood sprayed out.
Because all his skin had been torn to shreds.
At the same time, his entire skeletal frame played energy sounds.
Crack, crack, crack… Crunch, crackle, crunch…!
Suddenly, a forced bone-washing and marrow transformation had begun.
While the sounds of bones dislocating and breaking rang out without pause.
“Hoo… Hoho…”
Before he knew it, Eul Sa-jeok had forgotten the pain.
Only the joy of achieving a new level of martial arts swirled in his chest.
That made him forget even the pain.
A kind of trance-like state.
It was the first time Eul Sa-jeok had experienced such a thing.
Shortly after, the painful bone-washing and marrow transformation ended.
Swoosh…
His body that had been floating in the air finally gently descended to the ground.
Standing on both feet, Eul Sa-jeok caught his breath and clenched his fists tightly.
Then he tried operating his internal power.
Thereupon, a vast tidal wave shook inside his body.
An enormous quantity of internal power had stirred.
He soon discovered the corpses of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Great Generals nearby and understood what had happened.
‘Right, the Star-Absorbing Great Art activated on its own…!’
He had discerned that this was the greedy subtlety of the isolated poison.
He could already feel it in his body.
How the isolated poison worked.
That’s right.
Because his thirst for absorbing other martial artists’ internal power had rapidly intensified.
“Kukuk! An opportunity. This thirst… I don’t dislike it.”
While he had been unconscious, the isolated poison had brought him much.
Internal power amplification, muscle enhancement.
And.
Even a change in appearance…
Currently, Eul Sa-jeok’s face had transformed to look like a merciless evil god or a ferocious monster.
Because the muscles on his face had twisted in a bizarre way.
Just then.
The sword that had fallen on the ground gently floated up.
It was the energy of object manipulation that Eul Sa-jeok had released.
Having gripped the sword hilt, he soon turned his head and cast his gaze.
The echo of roaring sounds transmitted from a great distance.
-Kwakwang… Rumble… Popong… Thud…!
Over there.
Grayish dust clouds could be seen surging up.
The place where Cheol Ryu-heun was.
Eul Sa-jeok, having grinned, emitted a sinister gaze.
‘Hoho. Cheol Ryu-heun, now I will… Absorb you. No, I will drain the power of everyone here.’
When he operated his internal power to the maximum, the atmosphere and ground trembled.
Rumble rumble, rumble rumble…
As he felt that astonishing power, Eul Sa-jeok’s smile deepened further.
“Good… Very good. Kuhuhu. I shall now advance on the path of a transcendent absolute being.”
He then launched his body toward that place.
Pa pa pa pa pa pa…
* * *
Swaaaaaaa, swaaaaaaa, swaaaaaaa… !
An untimely heavy rain poured onto the devastated space.
It was one of the powerful techniques within the Blood Stream Divine Demon Art symbolizing Blood God Mu-wol, the strongest of two hundred years ago.
Blood Demon Heaven-Falling Tears.
A technique that compressed a massive amount of energy into sword energy, exploded it in mid-air, and annihilated enemies over a wide area.
Dozens of minor-ranks and Deaf-Mutes lost their lives to the blood-colored downpour pouring thus.
Cheol Ryu-heun, standing alone in the silence, quietly turned his head.
Then his surroundings, transformed into a mountain of corpses and sea of blood, filled his vision.
Total annihilation.
With this, all the mid to lower-tier forces of the Central Heaven Tower were dead.
In an instant.
Pa pa pa pa pa, pa pa pa pa pa…
Along with wind sounds, figures appeared some distance behind him.
It was the Great General-level personnel led by Central Heaven Tower Grand General Pa Ga-wi.
The formless presence each one radiated was truly suffocating.
No, it was a feeling that would make any ordinary martial artist faint just from watching.
To that degree, an oppressive spirit was pressing down on the area.
Like combining the sect leaders of the Nine Great Sects and the family heads of the Seven Great Clans…
It must be thanks to their martial prowess improving to a wondrous level by sacrificing the middle-rank personnel through the Star-Absorbing Great Art.
Suddenly.
Rurrrrrrrrrrumble… !
When the sixteen people all operated ascending internal power simultaneously, a terrifying roar burst into mid-air.
It was the effect of their formless energies mixing together.
Under that tremendous power, even the sky seemed about to collapse.
Just then.
Cheol Ryu-heun, having turned around, spoke with an indifferent expression.
“Why didn’t you stay hidden longer?”
Thereupon, Pa Ga-wi showed a sneer.
“Ha. The time has come.”
“Time for you to die?”
“No, time for you to croak.”
But at that moment, the Sixteenth Great Generals dropped to his knees on the ground.
Thud, thud… !
“Urk!”
It was from the pressure of the formless energy that Cheol Ryu-heun had released.
Seeing that, Pa Ga-wi erased his smile.
‘Indeed…’
It was something he had realized again.
That there was no way without a combined attack.
No matter how much they supplemented their martial prowess with the Star-Absorbing Great Art.
But suddenly, a Thousand-Li Telepathic Voice rang out.
-You can’t have fun without me!
The owner of the majestic voice was Eul Sa-jeok.