Chapter 151
Chapter 151: Fight (2)
Hwangbo Geom was watching TV with an expression of utter disbelief.
"To think I'd live to see something like this."
Park Je-hwang had equipped the Golden Helm and conquered the 38th floor.
He emerged to thunderous applause and struck off the Bell Tower Sect Leader's stone statue.
Tick—.
He turned off the TV with the remote.
His head throbbed.
About 2 weeks ago.
A domestic magazine that covered gossip among Climbers.
Had surveyed and ranked the strongest among Climbers.
1st place was the Nameless Hero.
2nd place was Ghost.
At the Super Tower Climber K competition, the Nameless Hero had brought Park Je-hwang to his knees—that was what separated 1st from 2nd.
3rd and 4th were taken by Climbers from America and China, and 5th and 6th went to Japan's Musashi Brothers.
7th was Jang Ae-guk, 8th was Han Jang-mi.
Hwangbo Geom—once called the Sword Supreme Under Heaven—ranked a mere 9th.
Of course, it was a domestic survey, conducted on only 1,000 people.
Yet Hwangbo Geom could not bring himself to brush off the fact that he was 9th.
A fading reputation.
He forced himself to appear composed, but.
Griiind—.
A rage so intense his teeth ground on their own.
Hwangbo Geom had planned to conquer the 37th floor and push straight upward.
There were flies buzzing around with names like Ghost and Nameless Hero.
But Sword Supreme Under Heaven.
Once he made his return, the world would fall silent again.
So what on earth was this.
"To have the glory that should have been mine stolen by my own disciple."
Even when news came that Park Je-hwang had supposedly conquered the 37th floor as Ghost, Hwangbo Geom had been skeptical.
But now, the 38th floor.
"Is Park Je-hwang truly Ghost?"
Even his own heart wavered for a moment.
Hwangbo Geom forced his throbbing head to clear.
"There's no way. That fellow…… It contradicts what that person said."
On top of that, the infiltration of his home just a few days ago.
"Park Je-hwang is crossing the line."
Hwangbo Geom set the Myeongmun High School graduation album he had been holding on his knee down onto the table.
And walked toward his sword hanging on the wall.
"Je-hwang."
Clink—.
The sword was drawn slowly, revealing its cold blue edge.
"It seems you need to be caned again."
* * *
Louise Ferrand was watching the live TV broadcast with Ria Bright.
The 38th floor had changed into the Golden Tower.
And shortly after, the man who emerged from the Murim Tower and raised the Iron Instrument God's Sword.
He wore a Golden Helm that covered his face entirely.
But he was someone far too well-known.
Murim Alliance Leader, Park Je-hwang.
Louise curled her lips into a wide smile and turned to Ria Bright.
"I was right, wasn't I? Ghost is in Korea."
"……."
Lady Venom.
Ria Bright looked deep in thought, biting at her fingernails.
Jingle.
Louise held out a safe key toward her.
"Now open it."
The small safe Louise had given her some time ago.
It had been before Park Je-hwang had even conquered the 37th floor.
‘I've written Ghost's name and locked it in this safe, since the Lady doesn't trust me.’
‘You mean open it once Ghost's identity is revealed?’
‘Yes. I have the key.’
‘A safe like this, I could open anytime I wanted.’
‘You can open the safe, but you can't open my mouth.’
‘Your mouth is easier to open than any safe.’
‘I am someone who has survived in the presence of both Ghost and the Nameless Hero. Lady, if you're confident, go ahead and try.’
‘…….’
‘A gift is only truly joyful when received on your birthday. Be patient. If I'm wrong, I'll drink poisoned tea straight from the teapot.’
Louise's confident attitude back then.
Ria Bright had kept the small safe.
"Alright. Let's verify it."
Ria Bright opened the safe with the key.
Click—.
「Park Je-hwang」
"Hmm."
The evidence was so clear there was no rebuttal to be made.
Ria Bright felt a strange mix of bewilderment and amusement.
"Louise. I understand that you were right. But."
"……."
"Now that the card of Ghost's identity is gone, there's nothing left to gain from you."
"It seems you've forgotten, Lady."
Even against Ria Bright's chilling warning, Louise remained composed.
Ria Bright looked at her with an incredulous expression.
"How could I. You said if Ghost was caught, the Nameless Hero would come along with him. That's why Ghost's identity held value."
"There's something else before that."
"Pardon?"
Louise crossed her legs lightly and said.
"I said I also knew Ghost's identity."
"……!"
Ria Bright's brow twitched.
"Don't tell me you—"
"Yes. I also know who the Nameless Hero is."
"Ha!"
"The safe with that name written inside."
Tap tap.
Louise tapped the side of her own head.
"Is in here."
"……."
It was a bluff.
But Ria Bright had no choice but to believe it.
She stared at Louise for a long moment.
Click—. Splash.
She picked up the teapot on the table and poured it onto the floor.
She had made her decision.
"Speak, Louise. What do you want me to do now?"
Louise smiled wickedly.
"We get revenge."
Thud—.
She tossed the slip of paper that read 'Park Je-hwang'—still in Ria Bright's hand—onto the spilled tea, and continued.
"There are many ways to kill a person. Car accidents, poisoning, staged accidents…… and so forth."
Ria Bright looked at her and smiled faintly.
"Louise. I'm not like Killian Ferrand. I want to make Ghost and the Nameless Hero my people—not kill them."
"I'll leave Park Je-hwang's life or death to the Lady. However, these people are expendable, aren't they."
"……?"
Louise pulled 2 photographs from inside her clothes and dropped them onto the spilled tea.
"Allow me to inform you. If the Lady deals with these 2 first."
Ria's gaze shifted to the photographs.
They were photos of Pyeon Jae-yeong and Pyeon Geom-sa.
Louise smiled like a flower just coming into bloom.
"Shall we start with a car accident?"
Ria Bright had weathered every storm life could throw at her.
And yet, for some reason, the moment she saw that smile, a chill ran down her spine.
* * *
Near Park Je-hwang's house, I watched.
As President Park Jae-yeol left with a satisfied expression.
‘Seems like Park Je-hwang talked him around nicely.’
I could guess what had been said.
Park Jae-yeol must be under the impression that Ghost would take him on as a disciple.
"What a dreamer."
[Kim Tae-yang says 'Not a disciple—a subordinate!' +100,000 Happiness]
Kim Tae-yang seemed pleased too.
‘Are you enjoying this?’
‘Seeing what it's like to live as Park Je-hwang.’
Everyone was fighting and trying to kill each other, each for the dream they carried.
I slipped into a secluded spot and made my way back to the Poison Herb Field.
"No problems?"
"No, Boss."
Omar, as dependable as ever.
The wind that carried the sun breathed life into the soil.
And the soil pushed green things upward toward the light.
Like a blade of grass, Omar was growing too.
His brown skin now gleamed with a luster that came alongside solid, firm muscle.
"I have high expectations."
"I'll work hard!"
The Artificial Energy Center I had chosen for Omar was one I had personally selected.
The one marked 'Hwangbo' that Jo Je-bin had once tried to smuggle out long ago, only to be caught.
Back then I didn't know. But now I do.
Hwangbo Geom……
It was his.
Did he know?
That the Artificial Energy Center of the one once called Sword Supreme Under Heaven would now end up in the hands of Omar, a refugee without even a country to call his own.
"Manage it well."
"Yes."
I gave Omar a few instructions and stepped away.
I issued a strict order for no one to approach, and separately drew a Gold-Thread Seal around the perimeter.
Having resolved to begin training in earnest.
To become the Poison Man.
The Eight Great Extreme Poison, Divine Immortal Waste, had been completed, and the Bangu Blood Plasma had been secured.
Before conquering the 39th floor, I had to advance one step further.
"My current realm is the Extreme of Transcendent Peak."
In my past life, when I encountered the Poison Demon, I had been at the Transcendent Peak realm.
Walking the Path of Poison Man, I had become the Progenitor of Poison and wiped out Poison Valley and the Poison Demon.
I could say with confidence that I was far stronger than that now, but I couldn't afford to be complacent.
Because beyond the 39th floor lay the destination—the 40th floor.
I had to prepare for this.
The Murim Tower, in units of every 10 floors, had shown me entirely new things I had never experienced before.
Until now I had managed to overcome them.
But instinctively, I felt something was coming.
If I were to encounter an absolute master?
"I need to be strong enough to either win in a direct clash, or at the very least survive and make it back."
The great number of Happiness Points I had accumulated recently added to the pace, and progress was swift.
On top of that, the vast quantities of poison I had gained from breaking through Poison Valley.
Now I needed to reach the latter half of the Extreme of Transcendent Peak.
And ultimately, I had to ascend to the Life-Death Realm at the very least.
"Though I do have one concern."
I sat cross-legged and gazed at the Divine Immortal Waste and Bangu Blood Plasma placed before my right knee.
"My body now is different from my past life."
In my past life I had circulated the Heavenly Poison Blood Divine Art and walked the Path of Poison Man, reaching its final state—the Poison Man.
Ascending to the absolute master realm of Hyeongyeong.
However, the Poison Man was achieved by pouring one's very life into it, an extreme and perilous path like running to the edge of a cliff.
Unlike then, now there was considerable balance.
Thanks to the Heavenly Poison Blood Divine Art.
The Ten Thousand Streams Return to Origin Divine Art.
And the Two Principles Limitless Divine Art that regulated the balance between them.
"But the problem is that balance itself."
The Poison Man begins by breaking that balance.
"Right now, it doesn't feel like the Poison Man."
The Reversal Secret Art that transforms poison into medicine.
The Heavenly Poison Blood Divine Art was elevating the poison energy realm, but simply raising the level of the Heavenly Poison Blood Divine Art and becoming the Poison Man were different things.
The extreme poisons accumulating in the Energy Center and blood vessels—that was the core of becoming the Poison Man.
Yet if the Eight Great Extreme Poisons couldn't exert their proper effect and only internal energy kept growing endlessly.
The Path of Poison Man would collapse before it even properly began.
I had continued to harbor doubts even while consuming the poisons created in the Poison Herb Field.
Was I……
‘Am I truly walking the Path of Poison Man?’
The extreme poison transforming into medicine.
What if I'm simply failing to become the Poison Man?
Conversely, should I perhaps be consuming grand elixir-grade spirit medicines instead?
I was uneasy, and afraid.
"What if the balance breaks in some vague, half-formed way and my body gets destroyed."
And yet I couldn't stop.
So I had prepared one more thing. The Inner Cores obtained from the Black Bear Demon Cave on the 29th floor.
The Inner Cores obtained back then were 3 in total.
Red, white.
And black—the Black Bear Demon Beast's.
The red one from the ‘Chung’ lineage I had eaten before.
2 remained.
White, black.
The white Inner Core would go to White Night.
At first I thought White Night growing stronger would make him harder to control, but now I could trust the creature completely.
Above all.
Back in the Paris Black Market, White Night had rendered great service, and I had promised to reward him.
It had been so long that White Night……
‘He must be furious by now.’
I took the black Inner Core placed before my left knee into my hand.
A black Inner Core with a soft greenish vein running through its center.
It pulsed as though it were a living creature.
"I only need to break the balance once."
Beyond trust, it was certainty. All of this that the Murim Tower had bestowed upon me.
Every last bit of it surely had meaning.
"Shall I begin."
I lit the candle I had placed half a meter in front of me.
Fwoom—.
It was a candle that, once lit, would burn for 3 days.
First I consumed the Black Bear Demon Beast's Inner Core and circulated the Heavenly Poison Blood Divine Art.
The enlightenment of the Two Principles Limitless Divine Art drew the Ten Thousand Streams Return to Origin Divine Art upward in unison.
A reaction came immediately.
[Through Reversal, the high-grade Inner Core transforms into extreme poison.]
[Extreme poison has been consumed.]
Sweat broke and the Energy Center grew warm.
[Ten Thousand Poisons Immunity resists the poison.]
[The Great Law of Reversal is applied. Poison becomes medicine, medicine becomes poison.]
"This is different."
It was unmistakably different from the sensation in my past life.
The excruciating pain of being slashed by countless blades across the entire body was absent.
The Poison Man is achieved as the Eight Great Extreme Poisons consumed tear the body apart piece by piece, and the Heavenly Poison Blood Divine Art reknits the shredded body back together.
"Divine Immortal Waste first."
I swallowed the Divine Immortal Waste.
In an instant, my Energy Center blazed like a raging fire.
[The Eight Great Extreme Poison Divine Immortal Waste clashes with the high-grade Inner Core.]
[Ten Thousand Poisons Immunity resists the poison.]
"Damn it, more!"
I immediately consumed the Bangu Blood Plasma.
Red sweat seeped from my skin, and my blood vessels twisted wildly, releasing groans.
[Ten Thousand Poisons Immunity resists the poison.]
"Is this still not enough!"
I tipped massive quantities of the prepared poison herbs and poison elixirs into my mouth all at once.
[Ten Thousand Poisons Immunity resists the poison.]
……
[Ten Thousand Poisons Immunity has been exceeded beyond its resistible range.]
"……!"
A pain as though my Energy Center was being gouged erupted.
This time the Ten Thousand Streams Return to Origin Divine Art reacted, and the Heavenly Poison Blood Divine Art raced through the blood vessels as if in resonance.
[The internal energy of the Energy Center awakens the poison within the body.]
"Kugh—!"
I spat blood.
‘This feeling—this is it!’
The agonizing torment of thousands of needles racing rampantly through every blood vessel in my body!
My insides turned over, my organs thrashing wildly of their own accord.
My hands and feet trembled, my muscles wrung themselves out involuntarily, and blood poured freely from all 7 openings.
Clinging by sheer force of will to the fraying edge of consciousness threatening to slip away.
What surfaced unbidden was.
My mother's touch.
Ding!
[The Two Principles Limitless Divine Art corrects the scales of harmonious balance.]
[You step onto the Path of Poison Man.]
—Path of Poison Man, Stage 1 of 8…… advancing to Stage 2.
How much time passed after that.
I opened my eyes.
How many days had gone by? By feel, it didn't seem like even a full day had passed.
Fsss—.
The candle I had lit beforehand flickered out in a pale haze of smoke.
"3 days have passed."
I clenched and opened my fist.
Strength overflowed throughout my entire body.
I had secretly hoped for the realm of an absolute master.
But no trace of body transformation or Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown could be felt.
The realm of the latter half of the Extreme of Transcendent Peak.
There was no disappointment.
The complete, stable flow of energy and blood eased my mind above all else.
"It was worth waiting until I had secured not just the Divine Immortal Waste but the Bangu Blood Plasma as well."
The Black Bear Demon Beast's Inner Core, the Divine Immortal Waste, the Bangu Blood Plasma.
Had any one of the 3 been absent, this would not have been achieved.
Whoosh.
I spread out my energy sense.
From where I sat all the way to the far end of the Poison Herb Field, every single blade of grass came to me with sharp clarity, as though touching the tips of my fingers.
I closed my eyes for a moment, then slowly raised both hands and gripped the air.
Like drawing a sword, I slowly moved my hands apart.
Crackle!
A deep red-green sword took shape in my hands.
The poison energy that had been like drifting smoke.
Had taken the form of a sword.
What would be called Sword Energy Solidification—Sword Energy.
No—in my case, it would be Poison Energy Solidification.
It was no ordinary Sword Energy.
Poison Energy that had been compressed and compressed again, maximizing its destructive force.
"In my past life, this was only possible after becoming an absolute master."
I gazed quietly at the Poison Energy Solidification.
And plunged it into the ground.
The soil of the Poison Herb Field rippled like a shockwave, cracking all the way to dozens of meters out, and the surrounding area instantly turned black, crackling and charring.
Still at the Extreme of Transcendent Peak.
"Comparable to the absolute master realm of my past life."
Feeling satisfied, I used the Reversal Secret Art to draw the poison back in.
"Boss……"
Omar approached, trembling, holding neatly folded clothes.
He kept his head bowed low, not looking at me.
As I had ascended to a higher realm, all my clothes had dissolved and burned away.
His attitude of not daring to witness my state of undress to avoid committing any disrespect was beautiful.
"Thank you."
I put on the clothes and rose to my feet.
The human cattle were all prostrated flat on the ground in the distance.
Like.
Worshippers revering a god.