Everything was a first.
The birth of the Poison User, witnessing the Poison User’s abilities, even facing the Poison User—it was all a first for the Black-clad Men, so they had no choice but to be cautious.
As long as they didn’t get caught, they would be fine. Just a transient martial artist using a dangerous poison technique. If they proceeded carefully like herding a wild beast, they could hunt without suffering great losses.
When the Black-clad Men finally felt confident about how to face Lady Tang, the wings unfurled from the Poison User.
“Wings?”
Poison dust erupted from Lady Tang’s body, but the strongest force among it burst forth from her back.
Humans were creatures that could never have wings, yet Lady Tang looked as if a butterfly were slowly unfolding its wings after breaking out of its chrysalis.
Poison Dust spread from Lady Tang, filling the battlefield.
At first glance, the poison dust didn’t look threatening. It resembled light snowflakes in early winter, or perhaps morning fog, even like a rainbow shimmering in the dawn light.
The Black-clad Men quickly stepped back, gazing in awe and fear at the sight, momentarily entranced.
That is, until Lady Tang revealed the name of her martial arts technique.
“Poison Kill Space?”
“What do you mean, Poison Kill Space?”
“Does the Sichuan Tang Family have a martial art called Poison Kill Space?”
It is true that the characters for kill (殺) or death (死) often appear in martial arts or techniques. However, those phrases are mainly favored by factions or demonic cults.
In the righteous sects, metaphorical names are preferred; Poison Kill Space, however, was something else entirely.
As soon as Lady Tang boldly declared the name of her martial art, the Black-clad Men exchanged looks, questioning if anyone knew it, but they only appeared bewildered.
“Uhhhhh! For real!”
Seeing their expressions, Lady Tang pointed towards the air with a strangely nostalgic face.
“Kwaaaak!”
“Ugh!”
“Blood from the seven orifices?”
With a single gesture from Lady Tang, the Poison Dust surged past the ankles of the Black-clad Men, claiming the ground.
“Wait, the poison has reached our ankles? Everyone step back!”
“Adjust your masks and fall back!”
Fortunately, the poisonous dust wielded by the Poison User was not as deadly as the burning poison from earlier.
The dust’s nature was likely such that inhaling it would lead to poisoning. Although the Black-clad Men did not possess poison-resistant masks sufficient for the worst poisons, they at least had special masks that filtered lesser toxins.
The Black-clad Men pressed their hands against their masks to ensure they fit tightly over their mouths and noses. However, if that were sufficient, Lady Tang wouldn’t have even named the technique.
“Do you really think that would work?”
Lady Tang mocked the Black-clad Men and gestured once more.
“Hold, your breath!”
“Kuugh!”
With a single sip, those who blindly trusted their masks inhaled the poison dust rushing toward their faces and fainted one by one.
Lady Tang watched the fallen bodies with an indifferent expression.
—————–
“To die so suddenly.”
The Black-clad Man gazed at the others who had collapsed, unable to escape the Poison User’s domain. The power was tremendous. Truly a force worthy of the sect to take risks and sacrifices to support.
If one Poison User has this level of power, what if such Poison Users could be produced?
It was evident that the sect would greatly benefit from this situation.
“Let’s rush in simultaneously and subdue them!”
They had to overpower and capture the Poison User. The Black-clad Man looked at her with rage and greed glistening in his eyes.
“Hold your breath! Even just grazing each other with a blade is enough to subdue her!”
“Charge!”
The weakness of the Poison User’s martial arts had been identified. If breath was the problem, then they simply would not breathe. They would rush in, swing their blades, and get out.
The Black-clad Men reorganized their formation and simultaneously charged at the Poison User.
With two-thirds of their numbers remaining, they should be able to overpower her. Even with casualties, the Poison User could not kill them all.
As they approached, all holding the same thought, the lead Black-clad Man noticed something strange.
‘Is she… smiling?’
Something felt off. She wasn’t avoiding them. She wasn’t moving. The Poison User stood calmly as they all rushed in.
Like a fisherman.
Not reacting to the gentle nibbling of fish on the bait. Like a seasoned angler waiting for the fish to swallow the hook thoroughly.
“Run, run away!”
When the Black-clad Man realized something was wrong and quickly turned around, the fisherman said,
“Did you really think that was enough?”
He lifted his fishing rod.
“Kwaaaak! It burns!”
“It’s hot! It’s cold!”
Half of those who charged in suddenly darkened, burning away.
“Blood? Wh-why?”
Half of those who charged in collapsed, bleeding from their every orifice.
Those still standing looked at Lady Tang in unison. Why were we dying? What did we do wrong?
To ensure they did not feel wronged in the afterlife, Lady Tang opened her mouth to provide an answer.
“The breathing holes are not the only holes.”
The fisherman smiled at the Black-clad Men, just like having caught a big fish.
Holes? What holes? The wrists of the Black-clad Man, who had been perfectly fine till now, twinged in pain. Was it the wound from the fight with the guard unit?
Wound?
“Wounds! The poison enters through the wounds! It’s a trap! Fall back!”
It was far too late for that realization.
Believing that they could only be poisoned by breathing in the Kill Space was precisely Lady Tang’s trap.
What they had done was akin to someone saturated in extreme poison plunging into the depths. The moment the Black-clad Men re-entered Lady Tang’s space, their fate had already been decided.
“Ugh!”
Those who realized it and those who didn’t all perished equally in this space.
They had jumped into a sea of poison.
Entranced by a tempting bait, the fish caught in the trap had no way to escape.
———-
“Is this the Poison User’s martial arts?”
The last Black-clad Man, the one who had killed the most members of the guard unit, glared at Lady Tang from outside her domain.
“This isn’t the Poison User’s martial arts; this is my poison martial arts.”
Lady Tang proudly gestured to her chest, filled with confidence.
“You called it Poison Kill Space? Indeed, it seems a fitting name.”
Lady Tang’s face transformed strangely at the Black-clad Man’s recognition. Her brows furrowed, yet the corners of her lips trembled oddly.
Was it a good feeling? A bad one?
If Kang Yoon-ho had seen her, he might have thought she wore an expression of complicated emotions at the comments marveling at her past blunders, but the Black-clad Man was puzzled by her inscrutable expression.
“Does she have some weakness?”
Even after praising her tremendous martial arts, her reaction being odd suggested that there might be a weakness.
Was she running out of stamina? Or was it a technique that consumed a lot of internal energy? Perhaps she had consumed too much poisonous energy from her body.
“I can’t see a weakness.”
Those were mere speculations. The Black-clad Man felt frustration at being unable to surpass the Poison User’s martial arts.
Even if they breathe, they die.
Even if they have wounds, they die.
Even if they attack and get captured, they die.
If they were trapped by the Zhuge Family’s formation, there might have been a life gate, but stepping into that realm only led to all death gates.
Should he run and report this to the church? The Black-clad Man contemplated for a moment.
“If that girl escapes, the church’s greater plan could crumble.”
She was an extraordinarily threatening entity. If released, a chance to kill her might never come again. No, she could grow stronger and obstruct the church’s path.
“I will endanger myself.”
He might have just made their greatest enemy within the sect. If that happened, how would they be remembered in the history of the church?
Could they remain as fools who ruined the future of the church?
“I’ll admit that you are stronger than any martial artist I’ve faced.”
The Black-clad Man concentrated his blood energy and declared to Lady Tang.
“What nonsense.”
“But! You are not the only strong opponent I’ve faced!”
The Black-clad Man’s demonic energy ignited. Burning through his internal energy, consuming his life force, igniting everything and turning into a fleeting flame.
“W-what?”
“If I can’t take you alive, then I’ll take your blood essence!”
He couldn’t hold out against the Poison User’s space for much longer. However, if he had been reduced to merely being helpless in front of her after dominating the space, the Black-clad Man wouldn’t have survived this long.
Breaking through others’ domains to carve out a singular path was something he had always done.
‘I will aim for the shortest distance.’
With a life-or-death desperation that disregards defense, the Black-clad Man lunged toward Lady Tang in a split second, aiming for a piercing strike.
“Chit!”
Too late to avoid it. The Black-clad Man saw Lady Tang throw a hidden knife with her utmost power.
‘If it grazes me, I die.’
As expected from the Tang Family’s stealth techniques, the hidden knife was imbued with formidable energy. A wound from it would mean instant death.
Demonic energy rampaged, simultaneously consuming the poisonous energy that invaded his body and his life force.
If he dodged, the attack would fail. With the demonic energy unleashed, there was no time left. He would die before he could launch a follow-up attack.
‘I’ll counter it!’
The Black-clad Man swung his knife to deflect the hidden knife. Just attempting to deflect it sent a sharp pain through his wrist.
There was only the Poison User’s neck left. In an instant, the Black-clad Man shifted his focus from the hidden knife back onto Lady Tang.
No, that was what he intended to do.
“What?”
What blocked his sight was the palm of the Poison User.
“It’s over.”
Lady Tang slammed the Black-clad Man’s head into the ground, declaring calmly.
—————–
The poison mist began to dissipate.
All the poison that had spread everywhere was absorbed by one woman, instantaneously.
“Ku, cough!”
The Black-clad Man was still alive, watching the scene. The demonic energy within him was resisting the poison. However, even if the poison overcame the demonic energy, or vice versa, the Black-clad Man was fated to die soon.
“There’s some usefulness to you…”
Lady Tang seemed to acknowledge the Black-clad Man’s impending end, casually picking up the hidden knife that had fallen to the ground while speaking in a somewhat bittersweet and discontented manner.
“W-what was the name of that martial art earlier?”
The Black-clad Man queried about the name of the martial art that sent him to the afterlife. The Poison Kill Space she had wielded. However, the last move she used against him was undoubtedly a different martial art.
“Extreme… No. It was merely acrobatics.”
“Cough cough. Just acrobatics? Do I look like the kind of person who would fall for that?”
“I-I don’t have names for such things.”
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t what he had said, but rather a different martial art altogether. Lady Tang tried to rationalize herself, but her expression betrayed a feeling of unease.
“Then let me name the martial art that killed me. Pitch-black darkness. The arrival of death. Let’s call it that. Extreme Night… Cough!”
“Caw! Just die!”
Lady Tang couldn’t suppress her embarrassment.
———————
The battlefield became quiet.
“Why do men like such names? Seriously…”
Amidst the corpses of countless Black-clad Men, the expression of the woman who had orchestrated it all was tinged with a hint of embarrassment.
A man observed her carefully, trying to sneak away while clutching at his charred arm.
But she was not the type to allow such things to go unnoticed.
“Cough!”
The hidden knife she threw struck deep into the burned arm.
—————–
The final act of everything.
“Tang Geoh, we… we need to resolve this debt, right?”
With sorrow and anger imbued in her steps, Lady Tang slowly walked toward the final fate of the man who had wrecked her life.
