Chapter 26

When one reaches the age of knowing one's destiny (知天命), everyone tends to regard their own life as tragic.

It was a common saying that elderly people with considerable age could write several volumes of novels about their lives. However, this black-robed old man, Tang Renshang, truly had a tragic life.

Those who use poison and hidden weapons in the martial world are classified as extremely difficult and dangerous to deal with.

However, their limitation was clear: the amount of poison and hidden weapons they could carry was limited.

In a one-on-one life-or-death battle, there would be no problem.

But in a chaotic group battle, if one could no longer throw hidden weapons or poison, what then?

One could only die miserably or run away.

The Tang family had long pondered how to solve this issue.

Ultimately, they found a method to transform the blood within the body into poison, turning one into a Poison Person (毒人).

However, this method was not at all simple.

Enduring the ingestion of extremely potent poisons over a long period of time was not something a human could bear.

The immense fever that occurred every day.

The pain as if all the organs in the body were rotting.

Enduring this for over ten years required superhuman physical strength and extreme mental fortitude.

Another problem was money (金).

The materials used to manufacture poisons were incredibly rare.

Naturally, the Tang family, which had to supply such poisons daily, had to apply strict criteria in selecting and cultivating candidates for Poison People.

Therefore, the Tang family limited the number of Poison People candidates to no more than two per generation.

Unfortunately, Tang Renshang did not make the cut.

The two candidates selected were none other than his half-brothers, Tang Tianshang and Tang Zhishang.

Despite receiving praise and expectations as the greatest talent in Tang family history, he was excluded from the Poison People candidates for some political reasons.

However, as they say, fortune favors the brave.

The main ingredient of the Tang family's most potent poison, Litanhong (麗唐紅), is the Duzhizhu (毒芝株).

In the past, Tang Renshang had set out for the Southern Man's Gaiyan Cave to obtain such a Duzhizhu.

However, what awaited him was not the Duzhizhu but the Renmianzhizhu (人面蜘蛛).

When a Duzhizhu matures over thousands of years, it develops a personality and a spiritual nature, with a face resembling a human, hence the name Renmianzhizhu.

A fierce battle that lasted for over three days.

When all the high-level experts who had set out with him were dead, and Tang Renshang himself was mortally wounded, the Renmianzhizhu finally fell.

In a moment of instinct, Tang Renshang bit the neck of the dying Renmianzhizhu.

The inner core and poison of the thousands-of-years-old Renmianzhizhu poured directly into Tang Renshang's body.

A fusion that lasted for three months.

During this time, he had already broken through to the realm just before Absolute Poison, known as Du Bi (毒壁).

However, at that moment, the Tang family's high-level experts arrived at the Gaiyan Cave to check on the fate of the vanguard.

What they first saw were the bodies of the Tang family's high-level experts, corroded beyond recognition by the Renmianzhizhu's poison, and Tang Renshang sitting cross-legged at the center of the cave.

This misunderstanding.

Tang Renshang's half-brothers blamed him for all the crimes.

Thus, Tang Renshang became the one who did not return the Renmianzhizhu to the family and instead consumed it alone, and the degenerate who silenced the family's bloodline by killing them all to cover up his despicable act.

Tang Renshang repeatedly appealed, stating that everything was a matter of fate and that he had reached the realm of Du Bi, but his appeals were thoroughly ignored.

In the end, the Tang family sentenced their greatest talent to the ultimate punishment of excommunication.

A man blinded by desire, who killed his bloodline and consumed the family's wealth alone.

How could any member of the Tang family recognize him as an Absolute Poison Person?

Tang Tianshang, his half-brother, personally made the Absolute Poison Dragon Robe, the symbol of an Absolute Poison Person, and put it on Tang Renshang, who was crawling away with his limbs severed, while sneering.

"Is Rencheng really... a human being?"

Zha Hui was fuming as if the events were happening to him.

He was almost sober.

No, even if he was blinded by jealousy, how could they not only fail to congratulate a family's top expert for reaching the realm of Du Bi but also tear off his limbs and drive him away!

However, Tang Renshang's face was infinitely calm.

The hatred that had seeped into his bones was faint and powerless in the face of the long years.

Zha Hui looked at his withered wrists and could not offer any words of comfort.

How could any words console the loss of everything just before becoming an Absolute Poison Person?

"Then, why do you keep wearing that robe?"

The Absolute Poison Dragon Robe (絶大毒龍袍).

A black robe symbolizing the Absolute Poison Person, adorned with dozens of snakes and dragons.

However, to Tang Renshang, it was merely a symbol of conspiracy, ridicule, treachery, and betrayal.

"This robe is the only Tang family (唐家) I am allowed. What meaning would life have if I were to take it off?"

Tang Renshang, smiling wistfully.

His serious face, his desperate struggle in life, made Zha Hui's heart truly ache.

Reflecting on someone's life and feeling such heartache was a first for Zha Hui.

"Let's go. To the Tang family."

"Huh...?"

Zha Hui sprang to his feet, but Tang Renshang only chuckled.

"It's useless, isn't it?"

"What do you mean? What's useless?"

Tang Renshang shook his head slightly.

"You might expect something from me, but I'm just an excommunicated disciple. I can't help you at all."

Zha Hui smiled.

"To protect the family's honor, one who doesn't hesitate to use cruel poison, I don't particularly like it, but it's enough to be the famous 'Tang family' I've heard about."

"..."

"You still consider yourself the Tang family."

At that moment, Tang Renshang's face turned red, and he shed hot tears.

He didn't usually crave recognition from others.

But the person in front of him was a martial artist of the realm of enlightenment.

Being recognized by such a noble martial artist was a different kind of emotion and excitement.

"Are you trying to make me even more pitiful?"

Zha Hui, frustrated, thumped his chest.

"Just show it to them."

"What do you mean?"

A white light flashed in Zha Hui's eyes.

"Show them that the soul and pride of a martial artist cannot be destroyed even by excommunication."

Tang Renshang, standing there like a statue, was frozen.

Zha Hui's words.

With those words, the hellish years of his past crumbled, and a new world opened up.

It was a deep resonance that went beyond mere consolation in his tragic life.

* * *

Tang Family Tower (唐家陀).

Zha Hui was looking at the countless pavilions rising like a spire with a strange gaze.

"Wow, so intense."

Standing on a hill, the Tang Family Tower looked like a fortress.

A huge wall, like a city wall, surrounded the entire Tang Family Tower.

Sharp-eyed martial artists were monitoring the surroundings in a seamless system.

This level of ferocity was incomparable to the "Iron Fist Manor" or the "Southern Palace of the Imperial Family."

"So what?"

Zha Hui chuckled and sat cross-legged.

Suddenly, Zha Hui began to practice his martial arts, which left Tang Renshang's face full of confusion.

"Surely, you're not planning to fight the Tang family alone?"

Zha Hui's smile deepened.

"This is a method whose effectiveness has already been proven. You'll see."

Zha Hui half-opened his eyes.

As the white aura around his body began to ripple, Tang Renshang was shocked.

"True Martial Flower (真武花)!"

A mysterious white mist.

The wondrous aura that rose and scattered was a kind of emotion for Tang Renshang.

This young man had truly reached the realm of enlightenment.

The realm where all the meridians in the body are condensed into a dantian.

A realm of enlightenment that cannot be achieved by mere effort.

How could he reach such a realm at such a young age?

What kind of talent must he possess?

However, his surprise was only just beginning.

"Where would the head of the Tang family be most upset if it were destroyed?"

Zha Hui, who had completed his circulation, was looking down at the hill.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Among all these pavilions, isn't there a warehouse full of poison and hidden weapons or a place where the family's treasures are stored?"

Tang Renshang, with a puzzled look, answered.

"If you're talking about the innermost part of the Tang family, the Duolong Hall (毒龙庄) is the best."

"Duolong Hall (毒龙庄)?"

"The place where all the Tang family's poisons and hidden weapons are manufactured."

Zha Hui immediately focused his inner strength to carefully examine the Tang Family Tower.

"Ah! There it is!"

The dragons perched on the four corners of the tower.

Looking at the huge and dull pavilion in the distance, Zha Hui immediately recognized it as the Duolong Hall.

"Right. But?"

At that moment,

Rumble.

The ground shook violently.

A massive aura began to flow from Zha Hui's body.

"Ah!"

Tang Renshang's eyes widened in disbelief at the powerful shockwave.

A tremendous aura that swept over the entire hill like a natural disaster!

This presence was something Tang Renshang had never experienced in his long life.

How could the aura emanating from a human body be so vast and boundless?

'Could it be?'

Is this the absolute martial soul (武魂) he had only heard about?

It didn't take long for him to confirm his guess with his own eyes.

At that moment, Zha Hui's half-opened eyes suddenly widened.

A piercingly transparent, bone-chilling white eye.

"Ah!"

The martial soul of a human being, etched in the eyes.

In the face of this clear and absolute evidence, Tang Renshang could only marvel and marvel again.

The realm of the absolute poison person, which he had longed for even in his dreams!

Could this young man have reached an equal realm?

Suddenly, a dazzling light shone, and the Z