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Kidnapped as a child to be trained in the art of poison, Sohan Jin returns to his hometown in search of the New Moon Sword Dancers who raised him.
Upon his return, he discovers that the sword dancers have been defeated by a sinister sect that now controls the region, with some members having been abducted.
What was supposed to be a heartwarming reunion turns into a quest for vengeance. Sohan sets out to find the remaining sword dancers, ready to use his deadly skills on anyone who stands in his way.
Original Novel: Available in Chapters and Volumes
Original Webtoon: Found on Naver Webtoon and Naver Series
Official Translations: Offered in English, Simplified Chinese, and Japanese
too many scenes of drinking alcohol, making it boringly repetitive
TL;DR : Meandering, but not bad.
The first half is very serious and a quite bloody revenge story. The MC almost doesn't mess about. If he keeps someone alive, you expect it is just part of some ploy whose purpose is to kill more people.
Later on we learn the MC is not all that craven. He is ruthless towards martial artists and criminals, but kind to normal people and the background revenge story is sort of dropped ¯_(ツ)_/¯.
Starting with chapter 60+ we are basically in an action comedy, no idea where this is going, but it is... fun.
Consider the amazing martial arts manhwa Return of the Mad Demon. Apparently both the author of the original webnovel, and the writer responsible for the webtoon adaptation, teamed up to adapt another martial arts novel as a manhwa, namely this one.
You'd think that this team would be able to produce good stories, right? I mean, they've already demonstrated their ability to do so, right? Instead, we get... whatever this is. The dialogue and writing in this story are mind-numbingly tropey, featuring gems like (to paraphrase) "Captain, help! He's too strong for us, aaargh"; or multiple situations where the antagonists just happen to try poisoning the immune protagonist, before all reacting in the same way; or the protagonist repeatedly responding to pleas for mercy with such eloquent and original statements like "Are you done talking?"...
The art is fine, I guess? But not only is that the one part the writer duo aren't responsible for; but also, the character designs for the side characters are much more samey and forgettable than in Return of the Mad Demon.
The quality of this story makes me more stunned than upset. I just don't understand how the same process that resulted in Return of the Mad Demon also produced this utterly forgettable experience.