159

Chapter 159 - Inevitability - 3

'There are no signs of the unique and bizarre symptoms typical of poison.'

Dang Geoho gazed at Dang Hwarin, who was looking at him confidently.

Even for a body that has been conditioned for over a decade to withstand the extreme poison, it's not easy to withstand the venom of a centennial scorpion.

Every test subject that reached Dang Hwarin's stage had suffered side effects. Yet this time, no matter how hard he looked, he could see no side effects.

'She has complete control over the poison.'

There's no sign of fever on her body. Her skin is not being corroded by the poison. It's evidence that she has created poison dans in her body and is perfectly controlling the poison.

'There's no way it could be a failure. A more perfect poison master has been created than I anticipated.'

Dang Geoho was enveloped in ecstasy.

She must have said it was a failure just to provoke me. Dang Hwarin holds animosity towards us, but we cannot let this escalate into a battle.

We need to take the perfect poison master away in perfect condition. Further damage is something neither Dang Geoho nor the group assisting him would wish for.

"Come with me."

Dang Geoho spoke to Dang Hwarin once more with a warm voice.

"Aren't you tired of repeating the same thing?"

Dang Hwarin replied to Dang Geoho with an annoyed voice.

"I traveled back and forth from Sacheon to Hubuk just to see you. How can repeating a few words be tiresome?"

"Brazen, aren't you. Alright, you used to come often since I was young. Then do you remember what you said to me back then?"

"I am not sure what you are referring to."

Was it an attempt to pull at childhood memories? Dang Geoho asked her with a face that seemed to be asking his beloved daughter.

"That one should neither associate nor trust a cultist."

Contrary to his expectations, pulling on heartstrings wasn't effective. Dang Hwarin looked at Dang Geoho with an expression as if she was disgusted.

"We're merely in a cooperative relationship."

"Bullshit. I seem to recall you said traitors are even worse in their sin."

"What matters is orthodoxy? The important thing is that on the day when the Sect appears in the world, the Sacheon Dang family will become the unrivaled leading family. And when that day comes, I will be the Patriarch of the number one family under the heavens."

Dang Geoho revealed his true colors as his acting did not hold up.

"What a load of nonsense. Dream on your own time."

"When that day comes, I will bestow upon you all the riches and glory. What do you desire? Money? Power? I will give you everything. You will stand beside me as the second-in-command of the greatest family under the heavens."

"I don't need it."

Without a moment's hesitation, Dang Hwarin refused, showing she had no interest in such things.

"Ha, indeed. Now that I think about it, you always wanted something different. Do you need friends? The children of our family will come to you of their own accord, trying to win your favor. Do you desire a man? At your beck and call, any man will enter your chambers."

"I said I don't need it."

"People inherently cannot be free from desire. Tell me what you want. I will give you anything!"

"You can't give me what I want."

Dang Hwarin scoffed at Dang Geoho, who was growing angry, and slowly shook her head.

"What?"

It didn't matter what he offered; it wouldn't appeal to her heart. Dang Hwarin wanted something Dang Geoho could never give.

Dang Hwarin felt a certain energy from the poison dan formed in her body and spoke to Dang Geoho.

"What I want can only be given by one person."

What she needed was only one person, after all.

**************

There was nothing further to say to the enemy.

Dang Hwarin began to utilize the internal power and poison within her body.

If she were Yoonho, she would have turned them into allies with mere words or at least drained their spirit with her charisma, but she knew no such thing.

Dang Hwarin glanced at a black-garbed figure who was off guard in the distance and kicked the ground lightly.

"What?"

Before the black-garbed figure could blink, Dang Hwarin had arrived before him.

Chasing Thunder Step.

Poison up close, hidden weapons from afar. The Chasing Thunder Step was created to back up the foremost principle of Sacheon Dang family's martial arts.

Like the saying 'chasing thunder,' the Sacheon Dang family's ascension technique, known for its extreme speed even amongst the martial world's fastest, unfolded from Dang Hwarin's feet.

"Kek!"

With a single scream, as Dang Hwarin grabbed the wrist of the black-garbed figure, allowing the poison to flow, the warrior met his demise.

"This wretch!"

Another black-clad figure rushed over swinging a sword, but the blade failed to cut the woman who moved like lightning.

"Why have you summoned me?"

"Keeugh!"

The fate of the one who wasted his opportunity was the same as the man before.

'I can do this.'

Although she knew the technique well, she was unable to use Chasing Thunder Step before due to the immense consumption of internal energy. Now, as she absorbed strength while swallowing the poison dan, she could wield it effortlessly.

No need for grand martial arts if she can just poison them. Approach and retreat. If she can continue to do just that, she can take on all of them.

"Run for it!"

"Aaaahh!"

"Escape!"

Dang Hwarin, with her Chasing Thunder Step, easily dealt with each of the dark lightning figures one after the other.

-------------------

"This bitch!"

Chasing Thunder Step for a Chasing Thunder Step. When casualties increased, Dang Geoho lunged toward Dang Hwarin himself, unleashing the Nine Turns Immortal Jade Water Technique.

Dang Hwarin grabbed Dang Geoho's wrist, trying to infuse him with poison, but it had no effect on him.

As expected. The Nine Turns Immortal Jade Water Technique is a martial art performed with a hand steeped in numerous venoms. A mere touch from it can turn anything into a puddle of poison.

Even if he could not poison her, with his martial art, he believed he could overpower the poison master.

Dang Geoho miscalculated.

"What the—?"

Dang Hwarin once again grabbed Dang Geoho's wrist and this time, she controlled the poison in his hand, directing it toward his heart.

"You wretch! To manipulate another's poison at will!"

To control the poison within one's own body at will, it's as miraculous as reversing the flight of an arrow with one's mind. Who knew a poison master could do such a thing?

Dang Geoho, taken aback, tried to create distance.

"Where do you think you are going!"

Dang Hwarin reached out to grab the escaping Dang Geoho, releasing a strange energy from her hand.

"An energy blast?"

One cannot escape; however, it's not powerful. It's an energy that can be sliced through. In a moment of crisis, Dang Geoho hurriedly swung his other hand.

"Idiot. It's not just a mere energy blast, it's a *poisonous energy blast*."

"Kuaaack!"

The arm Dang Geoho used to slice through the poisonous energy withers away. Dang Hwarin didn't miss the opportunity and pressed on towards Dang Geoho.

But a black-clad figure, wielding a sword filled with fierce energy, blocked Dang Hwarin's path.

"Step back! You still have tasks to complete for the Cult!"

"Ah, alright."

Clicking her tongue in frustration, Dang Hwarin had no choice but to watch as Dang Geoho hurried away with his smoldering arm.

---------------------

In a game of hide and seek, the seeker is the first to become exhausted. Even more so when lives are at stake.

"You vicious woman!"

"That's right. My poison is indeed vicious."

Dang Hwarin took labored breaths as she looked at the encircling black-clad figures closing in on her.

'I'm starting to adapt.'

Utilizing the Chasing Thunder Step to close in, and the Golden Flower Hand technique to grab them, she infused them with poison. If that failed, she would shoot them with the poisonous energy. While a mere graze would be lethal, there were too many here confident they wouldn't be grazed.

Initially, many fell for her tactics, but they quickly found a way to counter them, rendering her attacks ineffective.

"Surround her slowly. If one attacks, another will strike from behind!"

The black-clad figures began to close their net upon realizing Dang Hwarin was fatigued.

'I need time to catch my breath.'

Dang Hwarin glanced over to where Kang Yoonho lay in the distance.

Was he waiting for his chance? Perhaps he had passed out from severe blood loss? Or was there an injury she had failed to notice?

Whatever his condition might be, if she were to fall here, she wouldn't be able to protect him.

Dang Hwarin turned her gaze back to the closing ranks of the black-garbed men. If things continued this way, she'd be defeated, yet no clear solution came to mind.

If Yoonho were her, if Yoonho were the poison master, what would he do?

If it were Yoonho...

"You want to close the distance to me? Good. Come on then! I shall show you the true terror of the poison master."

Dang Hwarin relaxed her guarded stance and gestured at them with an ease that resembled a black-haired beauty confidently speaking on stage.

The moment the black-clad figures' eyes settled on Dang Hwarin's hand, she overlaid it with poison, showing that she could kill anyone with it.

The black-clad figures halted their advance at the sight. The existence of a poison master was new to them. With one secret move left, perhaps. Her composed demeanor instilled a momentary fear in them.

"Who wishes to come first? You? Or you? Whoever comes first, I will ensure their swift demise."

No one in their ranks wanted to rashly step forward and be the first to die. Among the black-clad figures, there were cultists, but none were willing to endure a dog's death just for being summoned as mercenaries.

Her act brought about a bizarre standoff.

'The act worked.'

Despite the crisis, Dang Hwarin smiled inwardly. Indeed, the answer was Yoonho. The acting he taught her had worked.

Dang Hwarin sighed with relief, but she hadn't resolved her greatest problem.

'I have no more martial arts techniques left in me.'

She knew how to become a poison master, but not what a poison master could do.

At best, she could only naturally utilize the poisonous energy blasts she had come to understand and the Chasing Thunder Step she knew but wasn't proficient in. Even the poison blast consumed too much energy.

She may have obtained the body of a tiger, but all she could do was swing her claws instinctively. Like an inexperienced tiger, she was on the cusp of being the victim of a hunt.

Pretensions are soon laid bare, and a sense of despair started creeping into a corner of her heart.

'No. If I give up, Yoonho will die.'

How many times had Yoonho stood up for her? Now that it was her turn, the mere thought that she might be unable to protect him was unacceptable. Absolutely not.

Dang Hwarin banished the creeping despair from her mind with thoughts of one man.

Like Yoonho always did, she had to find a way out.

But as far as she could think of the martial arts she had learned, no clear solution emerged to overcome this situation.

'What if it were Yoonho?'

He always found a way out of the most perilous situations. If it were Yoonho, would he find a new breakthrough even now?

Dang Hwarin inwardly scoffed at herself.

Yoonho wasn't a Dang family member; how could he possibly have a way out? It's a bad habit to be so reliant on him. He couldn't possibly know the martial arts of the Dang family, could he?

'Yoonho teaching me Dang family's martial arts?'

Suddenly, a conversation one day in the attic came to mind.

"Why can you represent Sacheon Dang family's martial arts so well despite not being one of them?"

"I've observed the Dang family's martial arts for a long time. I understand the essence of the Dang martial arts. With that understanding, you can use the Dang family's martial arts."

"What are you talking about?"

"Think about typical martial arts. The simplest killing move one learns is stabbing. You're learning the point of martial arts."

"The point?"

"Yes. Point, line, plane—starting with the point. As your skill grows, you become capable of slashing, mastering the line."

"When you become proficient with the sword, the act of swinging the sword itself becomes yours. You learn to dominate the plane. Like that, from point to gradual development—that's typical martial arts. But the Sacheon Dang family is different."

"Different?"

"Starting with poison techniques all the way to Mancheon Hwawoo. Sacheon Dang family's martial arts aim to dominate the space itself from the beginning. The entire trajectory is different."

"Now that I hear it, it makes sense."

"If you understand only the essence of Sacheon Dang family's martial arts, you can use the Dang family's techniques anytime, anywhere."

The essence of the Sacheon Dang family's martial arts relayed by a man coursed through Dang Hwarin's spine and into her mind.

Indeed, the answer lay with Yoonho.

There's no need to learn new martial arts to suppress them. With the quintessence of the Sacheon Dang family within her, why look elsewhere for martial arts?

As Dang Hwarin closed her eyes, a strange powder began to emit from her body.

"What is this?"

"Poison, it's poison! Poisonous powder! If you breathe it in, you'll be poisoned! Stay away!"

A pitiful caterpillar.

Powerless, tormented, and loved by no one.

Perhaps it was destined to be squashed and perish all along.

Yet, one man reached out to the unloved caterpillar.

With his words, his writing, and his attention, the man nurtured the small insect that could have been overlooked.

Thanks to the attention of that man, the caterpillar endured a painful period and finally underwent metamorphosis.

"Use sword winds to disperse the poison powder!"

Despite the efforts of the black-clad figures, the poison powder, as if possessing a will of its own, coalesced once more around her.

"Back off! You woman! What have you done?"

A butterfly finally spread its beautiful wings.

She opened her eyes, which had been shut, and gazed upon the wings she had unfolded.

They were not wings created by her strength alone.

They were the martial arts crafted by both him and herself.

A name that was a little embarrassing yet filled with pride.

Poison Butterfly Dang Hwarin introduced the name of that martial art in front of them all.

"Welcome. To my poisonous killing space."