Chapter 418: Erasing the Stars.

I can see cold sweat trickling down. Trembling pupils and hands clutching at his lower abdomen.

His appearance, as if his large body was slowly collapsing to no avail, showed that my plan had worked properly.

‘It actually works.’

I was worried about what would happen if it didn’t work. It feels like demonic energy is more versatile than I thought.

I examined the fallen Dangdeok, recalling the reason why that guy had become like that.

Dangdeok’s subordinate, whose name I don’t even remember anymore. Was it Julbok or Jungbok?

Simultaneously corrupting that guy’s subordinate into a demon, I set one goal.

In the case that guy returned and died by Dangdeok’s hand.

So that the demonic energy he possessed would spread to the surroundings.

It was an application of how the demonic energy possessed by a demon spreads to the surroundings when it dies.

I slowly approached him, checking my body’s condition. Unlike the plan that had worked properly, there was one problem.

‘It’s a bit tough.’

It was quite strenuous to use the demonic energy I had put into Dangdeok.

As I felt with the Black Dragon Sword too, it seemed that placing restrictions using demonic energy caused some strain, given how high the opponent’s level was.

Of course, it would be much better than the pressure Dangdeok must be feeling right now.

Forcing a nonchalant expression, I approached him.

“Nice to meet you.”

“…”

Dangdeok looks at me with trembling eyes.

The demonic energy gradually tightening its grip on his body seemed to be quite bewildering.

“…What did you do to me…?”

“Do you like the gift?”

“This bastard…!”

Dangdeok shouts at me, his face greatly contorted.

“Did you put poison in me?!”

It seemed that guy mistook it for me poisoning him.

Well, if it’s poison, it is poison.

‘He’s really angry.’

Feeling Dangdeok’s anger, I let out a snicker.

For that guy, poison is like a hidden dagger.

The fact that his body couldn’t build any resistance to poison.

And the inferiority complex stemming from the surname he possessed.

Seeing such a guy, I said with a full smile.

“Then what will you do?”

“You punk!”

Ku-ung-! Fighting spirit erupts from Dangdeok’s body.

Even though his body was bound by demonic energy, it was still an immense energy.

If we’re just talking about momentum, it’s probably slightly less than the Black Dragon Sword.

Seeing this, I could infer that he too was a martial artist who had reached the Hwagyeong realm.

Around the time I was gradually confirming information about him with my eyes.

Dangdeok growled and asked me a question.

“Did you join forces with the Poison King…!”

His remark was rather out of the blue, so I had to tilt my head.

“Why do you think so?”

At my question back, Dangdeok curled his lips and said to me.

“Only that fucking family can use this kind of poison.”

“That’s harsh. Calling it a fucking family. Aren’t you also born from that family?”

“This bastard…! How dare you associate me with such a place…!”

“Well… I suppose that makes sense. They abandoned you long ago, so they must have forgotten.”

“…!”

At my words, Dangdeok grits his teeth.

“Just how much do you know…?”

“I don’t really know that well…”

If I had to say how much I know.

“The Heavenly Martial Body Creation Plan.”

“…!”

“About that much.”

Upon hearing my answer, Dangdeok’s eyes widened and began to tremble violently.

It seemed he hadn’t thought I would know this much.

‘I didn’t exactly want to know this either.’

The Heavenly Martial Body Creation Plan.

If you only looked at the name, you’d wonder what it was. But if you dug into the reality, it was an affair filled with quite dirty and ugly details.

This was the title of an experiment planned by a master of the previous generation, known as the Poison King (Dokgun), the head of the Tang Clan.

Dokgun Tang Biseong was someone who loved the Tang Clan more than anyone.

He viewed the Tang Clan’s status highly, and wished for it to rise higher than any other.

“What was the fastest way to achieve that?” Tang Biseong always pondered this.

The answer was truly simple.

In a way, it’s a simple principle.

The fastest way for the Tang Clan to reach the highest place was to first possess the strongest martial artist in the Central Plains.

Although their status and fame were sufficient, the reason none of the four great clans, the Sadaesega, could be called the foremost clan was precisely that.

The absence of an absolute ruler.

Currently, with the appearance of the Three Venerables, it was the beginning of the orthodox sects’ golden age. But it was also an era where the figure who existed in every era had disappeared.

The greatest martial artist in the world.

The Sword Venerable, the Hegemon Venerable, and the Heaven Venerable.

Talk about who among these three was the strongest continued endlessly.

No one could provide a definitive answer as to who was truly the greatest martial artist in the world.

They were masters active in their respective domains, and there was no particular trend to settle it.

They were simply called the era of the Three Venerables, and peace was achieved.

In a way, it could be called the most balanced era.

The Poison King did not like this.

At that time, the Poison King must have thought.

“Someone from the Tang Clan should seize the top spot during the gap of such an opportunity.”

It was impossible for himself.

The Poison King clearly understood his own limits and decided to aim for the future accordingly.

That was the starting point of the Heavenly Martial Body Creation Plan.

Speaking of the Heavenly Martial Body, it means a person possessing a body and talent bestowed by heaven.

Possessing the most perfect body for learning martial arts.

Along with the most suitable brain for understanding martial arts and a vast danjeon perfect for accumulating internal energy.

The most outstanding existence to become a martial artist.

That is the Heavenly Martial Body.

The Poison King wished for such a Heavenly Martial Body to be raised within the Tang Clan.

Thereby making them the greatest martial artist in the world in the future and having the Tang Clan called the foremost clan.

That was Tang Biseong’s ambition.

This plan proceeded in a somewhat cruel form, much like a grand ambition.

A Heavenly Martial Body cannot be obtained just by wishing for it.

It’s not for nothing that they say it’s a talent born perhaps once in a thousand years.

Tang Biseong, rather than relying on that slim chance, sought to artificially create a Heavenly Martial Body.

An artificial Heavenly Martial Body.

What a contradictory statement this is.

I thought so at first.

And as if my thought wasn’t wrong, the experimental method was enough to make even me vomit in shock.

First, Tang Biseong brought nameless orphans from all over the Central Plains, locked them underground, and then gave them the surname Dang.

After that.

‘He injected them with the blood of monsters.’

He forcibly injected the children with the blood of monsters.

It makes you wonder what kind of bizarre thing this is, but the records actually stated so.

Demons with tough and strong muscles, incomparable to ordinary humans.

Among them, he injected the blood of primate monsters, the closest to humans.

What was the result?

What else? They all died.

It was a natural result. Monsters are entirely different beings from humans, and at the same time.

Even their blood color is different.

If one forcibly received a large amount of this.

Humans cannot withstand the monster’s blood, causing seizures and leading to death.

I could confirm this information in a very deep place when I discovered the underground of the Sichuan Tang Clan in my previous life.

Thousands of journals containing such information were found.

If you include the lost journals, it might be twice as many or more.

Then, how many people died, caught up in Tang Biseong’s ambition? How many could there possibly be?

Even the youngest child recorded was five years old, at most ten.

Did those children truly die for Tang Biseong’s ambition?

It was something I couldn’t know.

Dangdeok, standing before me, was a victim of such experiments.

Furthermore, I recalled those thousands of journals.

The part written at the end.

In a situation where everyone was expected to die, there was exactly one individual who succeeded in mixing with the monster’s blood.

It’s something that makes no sense by my common sense.

How could a human survive even after being injected with monster blood?

It’s hard to believe, but the records clearly stated so.

Blood Fusion Success.

Increased skin toughness and a significant rise in muscle strength… That’s roughly what was written.

I don’t know what method he used, but Tang Biseong’s experiment was successful.

If it was as written in the records, he must have obtained a body close to the Heavenly Martial Body he desired. But at the end, it was written that this test subject was a failure.

Even after thousands of experiments, why would he write ‘failure’ in such a situation?

The reason is none other than.

‘The absence of poison resistance.’

Was the meaning of this experiment.

Tang Biseong wished for the greatest martial artist in the world to exist under the Tang Clan’s name.

What he valued more than anything else was not just the body, but whether one could learn poison arts.

In that regard, this test subject was indeed a failure.

Since the conclusion was that poison resistance could not be developed.

It makes you wonder how such a result came about despite having such a superior body.

That was reality, and Tang Biseong apparently recorded it as a failure for that reason.

Of course, since the body itself was excellent, he repeated numerous experiments afterwards to try and build poison resistance. But all results were failures.

Tang Biseong’s records stated that this test subject was eventually eliminated. But I was certain.

The protagonist of the experiments I’ve mentioned so far is precisely Dangdeok, standing before me.

‘Because the name written in the records was Dangdeok.’

Dangdeok isn’t a rare name, and while I haven’t examined all the records, based on the characteristics alone, it’s something I can figure out, isn’t it?

The name is Dangdeok.

Unbelievable brute strength and the owner of a body closest to an indestructible diamond.

A body that cannot develop poison resistance.

Anger towards the Tang Clan.

Just looking at this, isn’t it something I can figure out?

“A failed product who couldn’t become a Heavenly Martial Body. That’s you, right?”

“…You bastard… What exactly is your identity?”

“Identity?”

At Dangdeok’s question, I pondered for a moment.

My identity…

What should I say? Why am I pondering this?

Then, I muttered a word that surfaced unconsciously.

“Heavenly Demon (Cheonma).”

“…What?”

“Ah, just disregard this. It’s just a word that suddenly came to mind.”

Why did the thought of the Heavenly Demon suddenly cross my mind? I don’t know.

Even though it was a word I uttered unconsciously, Dangdeok, for some reason, slightly nods his head.

“A demon bestowed by heaven… That’s a truly fitting phrase.”

“This bastard…?”

I don’t know when he saw me to be talking to me like that.

Suddenly, irritation surged, but I had to suppress my emotions for now.

Kkeudeudeuk.

Because Dangdeok was getting up, clutching his spear.

“Furthermore… I realized you were connected to the Poison King.”

“…”

It’s not exactly like that, but I didn’t bother denying it.

Denying it here didn’t seem like it would work on him anyway.

And.

‘It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t work.’

What’s important here isn’t that.

Dangdeok got up, pointed the tip of his spear at me, and said.

“You die by my hand here.”

Even while struggling with demonic energy, his spirit did not die.

He had that same feeling even when his own eyeballs were gouged out by my hand in my previous life.

“The descendant of that damn old man, the Poison King, also dies by my hand.”

His anger towards the Tang Clan is deep.

Well, it’s only natural. If I had suffered that fate, I might have lived for revenge too.

Not to mention the bandits who gathered under him.

‘Were they all people with anger towards the Tang Clan?’

Though they wear the guise of bandits, their essence is vengeful spirits gathered for revenge.

Whether they were also victims of the experiments, I don’t know.

I wasn’t interested in that.

I don’t think the Tang Clan did anything right.

It was a wicked deed, and perhaps deserved condemnation and revenge.

‘I don’t care.’

Unfortunately, I wasn’t very interested in that matter. Dangdeok’s expressed anger too.

I understand the desire for revenge, but.

‘It’s not important to me.’

Meaninglessly, I had something more important than that.

Even if this seems cruel, or selfish and ugly.

It doesn’t matter.

I only needed to protect what I had to protect.

Dangdeok is just a pawn for that.

Just as I was thinking that, Dangdeok continued speaking.

“And, the Poison King. Isn’t his daughter also there?”

At the mention of Tang Soyeol, which came out of Dangdeok’s mouth, I frowned.

“That bitch too, by my hand…”

“Hey.”

When I called out to Dangdeok, he looked at me with a strange look for a moment.

“Stop there.”

“What?”

“I need to keep you alive to use you…”

I forcibly suppressed the emotions boiling up inside me.

I felt like approaching and snapping his neck right away, but I had to endure.

“If you say any more than that, I’ll have to kill you. Shut up and do what you’re supposed to do. Are you going to attack or not?”

“…”

Ha…

At my words, Dangdeok let out a short sigh and gradually spread his fighting spirit, clutching his spear tightly.

Even though I had infused him with demonic energy, this much fighting spirit…

Why is that? It felt like the demonic energy I put into him wasn’t manifesting properly.

Could this be…

‘The monster blood within him is the problem?’

Maybe so. Demonic energy, before being the energy possessed by the Heavenly Demon.

Is also the energy found in a demon’s magic stone, so perhaps that blood might have resistance to demonic energy.

Then, would fighting Dangdeok, who isn’t properly consumed by demonic energy, be somewhat difficult?

I watched him quietly and reached a conclusion internally.

‘I’ll know if I try.’

If I don’t try, I won’t know.

That’s my conclusion.

In this life, I haven’t had many fights against martial artists who reached Hwagyeong.

At most, the Black Dragon Sword, the White Heaven Sword Master, or Father.

That’s about it.

Compared to that, the fight with him felt somewhat comfortable.

Coincidentally, I also wanted to properly fight right after reaching Hwagyeong.

‘It doesn’t matter if I kill him.’

Just this thought alone was a great help.

Of course, I won’t kill him since I need to use him, but there’s no pressure, that’s what I mean.

“This time, I won’t touch your eyes.”

“…?”

At my words, Dangdeok makes a questioning expression.

“Just because your eyes looked somewhat appealing.”

“…This bastard, really.”

Dangdeok, thinking it was provocation, immediately lunged his heavy body at me. Seeing that, I lifted the corners of my mouth and simultaneously raised my demonic energy to the fullest.

Instantly, demonic energy filled one side of my heart.

Dududuk-!

Feeling strength surge through my entire body, I release energy from it.

I first.

‘Black Heaven (Heukcheon).’

Erased the stars above the sky.