The World’s Greatest Martial Arts Instructor - Chapter 180

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 180. Caught It

 

 

The special room on the top floor of the inn.

This was the room where Dang Ji-yeon would be staying for the time being.

Dang Ji-yeon sat cross-legged on the bed.

Ha Mu-baek had said he would gently stimulate that energy with his internal energy to promote the growth of the poison energy.

However, since that was impossible for her to do.

She was quietly observing the poison energy gathered on her tongue.

‘He said one to two days, right? At this rate, it should be about one day.’

When they arrived at the inn, she had eaten her fill.

She had also relieved herself.

This way, she could focus on the poison energy on her tongue for a full day without doing anything else.

This poison was a peculiar thing.

The Innate True Energy that circulates throughout the body to maintain human life.

It was absorbing that energy very minutely, bit by bit.

Based on the small amount of Innate True Energy it absorbed, the poison energy gradually grew.

Indeed, as Ha Mu-baek had said, it grew to the size of a millet grain, then gradually larger until it finally became the size of a rice grain.

At that moment.

A maddening impulse dominated her mind.

“Roasted duck…”

Dang Ji-yeon muttered without realizing it.

Her mind was filled entirely with thoughts of roasted duck. An extreme thirst to eat it right away.

‘So this is it.’

Dang Ji-yeon rose from the bed and slowly removed her clothes.

Rustle. Rustle.

Only the sound of fabric falling echoed.

It was mid-heaven time.

It seemed to be around lunchtime again.

So it had taken exactly one day.

However, the windows were tightly closed with almost no light coming in, so the room was dark.

The door was also firmly locked.

Dang Ji-yeon became completely naked, her body pure white.

In the dark room, only she alone glowed white.

After sitting cross-legged behind the bed.

She slowly began to operate the Purple Cloud Ten Thousand Transformations Poison Art.

Internal energy slowly flowed from her dantian and moved to her limbs and throughout her body.

The moment that moving internal energy reached her tongue and met the rice grain-sized poison energy.

It completely surrounded that poison energy.

‘Caught it.’

Now what remained was to extract this outside her body.

From here on, things didn’t go according to Dang Ji-yeon’s will.

The energy of the Purple Cloud Ten Thousand Transformations Poison Art slowly circulated through all the blood meridians in her body.

How many cycles did it make like that?

The internal energy wrapping the poison energy slowly moved to one side.

Since Dang Ji-yeon had experienced this several times before, she could easily deduce the destination of that internal energy.

‘The sole of the foot. Yongcheon Acupoint.’

When the slowly moving internal energy reached the Yongcheon Acupoint, it began to slowly flow out of her body.

She carefully lifted the energy that flowed out using the technique of Void Grasping.

Then she retrieved a small glass bottle she always carried from among her clothes.

She opened the stopper and put the poison energy floating in midair into the bottle.

The poison energy transformed into a single drop of liquid and fell into the bottle.

She closed the stopper and put her clothes back on.

After expelling the poison energy, her thoughts about roasted duck had disappeared as if they had never existed.

“It’s a fascinating poison, but… there’s too little of it.”

That was right.

Just one drop.

This amount would disappear after just a few experiments.

But collecting one drop per day would take too much time.

It would be better if she could bring food from that place, but they said that wasn’t allowed.

“I should examine what I’ve obtained first.”

Dang Ji-yeon unpacked her luggage placed in one corner of the guest room.

Various glass bottles and reagents came out from it.

Dang Ji-yeon began experimenting on the poison energy with a serious expression.

 

Late afternoon.

It was when she was starting to feel hungry.

Around that time, Dang Ji-yeon appeared at the training ground of the Maengryong Corps.

“How did it go?”

Dang Jin-san asked first.

“I extracted the poison energy. One drop. I ran several experiments, but…”

The gazes of Ha Mu-baek and the cadets turned to her mouth.

“I couldn’t figure out the most important thing. Why such impulses occur.”

“Is it different from something like opium?”

Ha Mu-baek asked, recalling Head Cook Jo’s story.

Dang Ji-yeon shook her head.

“It’s not that I didn’t suspect it, but it’s different from such drugs. If it had been opium, even if they had made it tasteless and flavorless, I would have recognized that energy the moment I ate it.”

It was an explanation they had to accept.

Until they felt that speck of energy, they couldn’t detect any changes whatsoever.

“It seems like a combination of a specific poison and a specific poison art. But… I’ve never heard of poison arts with such characteristics…”

“You’ll need more poison then.”

Dang Ji-yeon nodded at Ha Mu-baek’s words.

The one drop had already disappeared.

“And there’s something I’d like to ask of you.”

At Dang Ji-yeon’s words, Ha Mu-baek’s gaze turned to her.

“What you said about stimulating the poison energy with internal energy to make it grow faster. Would that be possible with other people too?”

Operating internal energy within one’s own body and operating it within another person’s body were on completely different levels.

The difficulty increased several times over.

Dang Ji-yeon was asking about that.

“It seems possible, but why do you ask?”

“It takes too much time for the poison energy to grow large enough to extract. I waited a full day just for the energy to grow.”

He understood what she meant.

“I think I can do it.”

“Then I’d like to ask you for that favor.”

And so that evening was decided as well.

The three people headed to Wolryong Inn again.

After each of them ate their food and returned, Ha Mu-baek placed his hand on Dang Ji-yeon’s back and circulated his internal energy.

After growing the poison qi to the size of a grain of rice, Ha Mu-baek returned to his own dormitory.

Dang Ji-yeon overcame her food cravings, entered her guest room, and extracted the poison qi.

“With this, I should be able to collect about three drops per day?”

Morning, lunch, dinner.

They had all three meals of the day at Wolryong Pavilion.

Their peculiar behavior inevitably drew attention.

Danan Trading Company was also watching the three of them, and the Beggar Sect’s gaze followed them as well.

 

***

 

“Hmm. The beggars’ surveillance has become somewhat lax. Should I be grateful for this?”

Hyeong Ui-cheon muttered while looking out the window.

His poison eye gleamed.

Since he had learned enough to recognize what needed to be recognized, it was time to make his move.

Though it bothered him that Byeokryeokgae was in Muchang.

It didn’t matter.

Since he wouldn’t be moving directly himself.

The trading company’s subordinates wouldn’t move either.

‘The cult will make their move.’

It was a deal with the cult from the beginning.

The family’s martial arts that he couldn’t learn.

To get his hands on them.

The cult was also reluctant about having to move in Muchang where Ha Mu-baek was present.

But what could be done?

They hadn’t been able to obtain it for nearly ten years.

Moreover, wasn’t he the one handling the development of the cult’s Soul Sleep Poison?

 

Void Vast Heart Formula.

Eighty-One Style Milky Way Phantom Sword Technique.

These were the most secret martial arts among Dan Mok Family’s secrets.

Even in the family’s history, those who achieved mastery could be counted on one hand.

And those who achieved mastery were called the greatest under heaven.

Martial arts that could make one the greatest person under heaven if mastered.

The reason he married Dan Mok Family Head’s niece in the first place was to obtain those martial arts.

He knew there would be no opportunity for him as an outsider and branch member.

But he was confident that with his talent, he could create that opportunity.

Dan Mok Cheon-seung, who was the Dan Mok Family Head at the time.

He was delighted with his talent and cherished him.

He generously taught Dan Mok Family’s ultimate techniques to him, an outsider and branch member.

Except for those two.

Even after mastering the Milky Way Meteor Sword and learning the One Origin Vast Heart Technique to ultimate achievement, Dan Mok Cheon-seung said it wasn’t time yet.

He said his character needed more refinement.

 

So he chose the quick path.

He joined hands with the Blood Cult.

He knew where the secret manual was.

The Dan Mok Family’s secret vault, whose location was unknown.

“If only Byeokryeokgae hadn’t been there…”

Knowing this would happen, he had lured him to another place.

But because of Byeokryeokgae who appeared at the final moment, he couldn’t learn the location of the secret vault from Dan Mok Cheon-seung.

Instead, he had to flee.

An enraged Byeokryeokgae was terrifying.

 

So he gouged out one of his own eyes.

And he wounded his throat as well. To change his voice.

He deliberately gained weight so his appearance wouldn’t be recognized.

He changed his name too.

That’s how he evaded the eyes of those Beggar Sect bastards.

And he entered the Blood Cult, which he had intended to work with only once before ending the relationship.

He had to survive while avoiding the Beggar Sect’s eyes, and he needed to obtain the location of the secret vault.

But he didn’t learn blood arts.

Because then he wouldn’t be able to learn the Void Vast Heart Formula.

Instead, he placed restrictions on his own internal energy.

In case someone might recognize Dan Mok Family’s internal energy.

Living like this was too stifling and agonizing.

He who once dominated the world with supreme martial arts had now become a fat pig who couldn’t even climb stairs freely.

Of course, he could release the restrictions on his internal energy.

But he couldn’t do that.

The eyes of those Beggar Sect bastards were sharp.

 

***

 

“Hmm. Muchang, is it. I don’t like this.”

The old man frowned and muttered.

He had no choice.

He was walking into a place where that monster Ha Mu-baek had made his lair.

But it was that bastard’s demand.

Soul Sleep Poison, the item that would become the first key to the Blood Cult’s revival.

A secret among secrets, with only parts remaining in the Blood Cult’s archives and most of the manufacturing method lost.

Hyeong Ui-cheon was the one tasked with recreating it, and he was achieving some success.

In fact, there remained a contract made with that bastard during the height of war with the orthodox factions.

Thanks to that bastard, they had annihilated Dan Mok Family, which was one pillar of the orthodox factions.

But they still hadn’t given him the promised compensation.

This current demand of his was also related to that compensation.

He couldn’t refuse indefinitely using Ha Mu-baek as an excuse.

“But that bastard Ha Mu-baek has an uncanny ability to detect blood arts and demonic arts.”

The old man’s expression was full of worry.

He had no choice.

The Ten Elders who were at Haomun had eventually been caught by that monster and lost contact.

He was certainly dead.

If he rashly entered Muchang, he too might meet the same fate.

“Tsk. Should I use those bastards?”

Martial arts that were blood arts yet not blood arts.

These were martial arts created in secret while hiding and grinding teeth after the defeat in the last war.

To live as Blood Cult members in a world where the Blood Cult had disappeared, these martial arts were absolutely necessary.

Come to think of it, Hyeong Ui-cheon’s help was significant in creating these martial arts too.

His talent for martial arts was frighteningly outstanding.

In the end, the old man had no choice but to send twenty people who had learned the new blood arts he named True Blood Art into Muchang.

Just before Muchang Castle’s gates closed.

Those who had formed groups of three to five entered through the city gate.

They scattered along different paths.

Having agreed to meet at the promised time and climb over the wall at the promised place.

 

***

 

As darkness began to fall.

Ha Seol-ran’s ki sense training began.

It was because identifying each ki sense one by one was less confusing during the quiet night rather than the bustling day with much movement.

Once she became accustomed to nighttime ki senses, she planned to advance to daytime ki sense training.

Ha Seol-ran’s ki sense spread throughout all of Muchang.

Muchang under the cover of darkness was quiet as always.

Around Wolryong Inn and Wolryong Pavilion, people still bustled about.

Having heard stories about poison being used, she observed that area more carefully, but could not sense any poisonous energy.

Though there was less movement than during the day, people who moved busily still existed even at night.

‘There seem to be quite a few more today.’

The numbers had increased slightly compared to the previous day.

The numbers had increased once after Danan Trading Company entered Muchang.

But today they had increased again.

In fact, at night, only those who always moved would move.

Excluding drunkards and travelers, they were usually people who moved because of their profession.

It wasn’t difficult to identify the twenty newly appeared presences.

However, their movements were strange.

Though they seemed to move about here and there in disorder.

The twenty presences moving in groups of three to five seemed to be mysteriously heading toward one place.

Ha Seol-ran opened both eyes and bolted upright from the bed.

“What’s wrong? Seol-ran.”

Yeon Ha-min, who had been cultivating internal energy in a cross-legged position, asked about Ha Seol-ran’s sudden behavior.

“I need to go see Elder Brother.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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