Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 144 - Annihilation Poison King (4)

Chapter 144 – Annihilation Poison King (4)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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What? Sweet?

Baek So-gang, second son of Baek Sa-ha the Annihilation Poison King and the Outer General Chief, inwardly clicked his tongue in disbelief.

Unlike his appearance, the boy seemed full of bluster.

Even fairly capable internal martial artists who had trained inner force would find it hard to endure this extreme poison unless they deliberately circulated their qi and regulated their breathing from the start.

Much less could Mok Gyeong-un, who was only at the entrance to the peak realm, possibly endure it.

I should prepare.

Fortunately, this was the Baek Clan estate.

If the time came, they were ready to detoxify him.

At that moment, someone stepped forward.

“So all one has to do is drink it and endure for one gak?”

It was Jang Neung-ak, the Society Leader’s second disciple.

Because he had his pride, he had meant to be the first to take up the poisoned cup.

But because Mok Gyeong-un had stolen the initiative, his expression was not especially pleasant.

“My lord!”

At that, Seo Hye-in, leader of the Choyeon Unit and Fourth Peak of the Five Peaks Assembly, called out to him in concern.

No matter that this was to win support, it was still rather reckless.

To drink a poison that only four people could endure even in the Baek Clan, where experts in poison arts gathered, was highly dangerous.

-Sshk.

At that moment Ho Jong-hyeok, the Third Peak and grand unit leader of the Bu Myeol Unit, shook his head.

“Shouldn’t we stop him? No matter what, this is…”

“Do you intend to shame our lord?”

“Pardon?”

“If our lord retreats before the other successor is watching, what do you think will happen to his dignity?”

At those words from Ho Jong-hyeok, Seo Hye-in immediately fell silent.

What he said had reason to it.

Though the condition was rather absurd, if he withdrew at this spot, it would be no different from taking one step back in the competition for the position of successor.

At that moment Wi So-yeon too stepped forward and said,

“I will drink as well.”

She too had now made up her mind.

In truth, because Wi So-yeon possessed deeper internal power than anyone else there, she had a certain degree of confidence.

However, because she had never before directly swallowed poison and attempted anything like this, she had hesitated for a moment.

…I cannot yield.

From Wi So-yeon’s standpoint, she absolutely needed the support of Baek Sa-ha, the Annihilation Poison King.

So she could not retreat like this.

As she approached the table holding the teapot filled with poison, she glanced sideways at Mok Gyeong-un.

He is reckless.

It was something she had felt from the first time she saw him, but this man straddled the line between courage and recklessness.

She had personally confirmed the level of his internal power from the Corpse Blood Valley report.

If it were ordinary poison, then even with internal power at the entrance to the peak realm, he might be able to expel it outside the body through steady circulation of qi and regulated breathing.

But the poison before them now was of a wholly different class.

It was an extreme poison made by the Baek Clan, one of the top three in the Central Plains when it came to poison arts.

Unless one had internal power at the transcendent peak, it might well be hard to endure.

Why is he going this far?

She truly could not understand Mok Gyeong-un.

If he had obtained the head plaques from the gates of Corpse Blood Valley, then by rights he should have asked for instruction from the two among the Five Kings who bore the title of Eight Stars, the greatest masters of the Central Plains.

Yet of all people, why the Annihilation Poison King?

What in the world does he hope to learn?

The Annihilation Poison King’s principal martial art was poison arts.

Because that was a field entirely different in path from ordinary martial artists, even if one asked him for instruction, there should not be much to gain, so she could not understand why he was acting this way.

Is he some sort of eccentric?

In any case, it did not matter.

Now that it had come to this, it seemed she would be able to confirm Mok Gyeong-un’s true level of ability.

Since her elder martial brother himself had spoken of the transcendent realm, she would be able to tell whether he had truly progressed that far in so short a time.

-Gulp!

At that moment Jang Neung-ak swallowed the poison from the cup in a single draught.

Because Mok Gyeong-un had done so first, he had no way to show himself sipping it slowly.

Still, because it was an extreme poison, it was difficult to hide his expression completely.

Ugh.

Along with the pain of his lips seeming to burn away, nausea and a vile revulsion surged up.

He felt as though he wanted to vomit it back up at once.

Damn it.

Drink this and endure for one gak?

Forget one gak, he first had to detoxify the poison already inside his body.

Even while protecting his esophagus and stomach wall with inner force the instant it entered, he still felt a scorching sensation and even a headache.

It was certainly worthy of the Baek Clan’s extreme poison.

I cannot show it.

Jang Neung-ak controlled his expression as best he could.

His subordinates were watching, and that damned woman was here as well, so there was no way he could twist his face openly.

Huu.

Then Wi So-yeon too swallowed the poison from the cup.

Because she did not wish even to taste it, she wrapped inner force around even her mouth and tongue as she drank.

That let her manage her expression better than Jang Neung-ak.

Still, even if she protected her tongue, she could do nothing about the smell that ran down her throat and stabbed at her nose, so she had no choice but to furrow her brow.

“Cough.”

Wi So-yeon, who had unknowingly coughed lightly, immediately turned her reddening face aside.

What sort of disgrace was this.

To cough because of the nauseating smell.

She felt rather embarrassed, but in any case she had to endure for one gak or else rapidly neutralize this extreme poison.

-Sssssss.

Before much time had passed, a violet vapor began rising from Wi So-yeon’s shoulders.

She was not the only one.

Jang Neung-ak, the Society Leader’s second disciple, also began giving off violet vapor from his shoulders, though a little later than Wi So-yeon.

As expected!

Wi So-yeon’s confidants watched and wore triumphant expressions.

The depth of her internal power was already famous within the Heaven and Earth Society.

Damned woman.

Jang Neung-ak cursed inwardly as he looked at Wi So-yeon.

If not for that strange constitution of hers, that woman would never have caught Master’s eye.

At this rate that woman may detoxify the poison before me.

So Jang Neung-ak concentrated even harder, trying to force the poison out of his body.

-Shuuuuuu!

Perhaps because of that, the violet vapor rising from Jang Neung-ak’s shoulders grew denser still.

Watching this spectacle, Lady Jang, wife of Baek Sa-ha the Annihilation Poison King, and his second son Baek So-gang could not help but inwardly marvel.

That poison was an extreme poison approaching the same level as the poisonous aura filling the detached building.

For even martial artists of the Baek Clan who had trained poison arts to neutralize that poison so rashly would be difficult, yet these two were managing to expel it like this, which was truly impressive.

Their internal power is no ordinary thing.

They had heard that the Society Leader’s disciples all possessed deep internal power, and it seemed the reports had been true.

At this rate, it looked as though they could completely neutralize the extreme poison in not even half a gak, let alone a full gak.

Yet,

What is this?

Baek So-gang looked at Mok Gyeong-un with questioning eyes.

Unlike the two successors, Mok Gyeong-un was simply standing there motionless.

At first he wondered whether the boy was just barely enduring it because he lacked the inner power to raise and expel it, but Mok Gyeong-un showed no expression of pain or suffering at all.

If anything, he even looked relaxed.

…Is he really just enduring the poison?

No matter how he looked at it, that did not seem to be the case.

Since his internal power was not as deep as those two successors, enduring it should have been all he could do, so why was there not the slightest change in expression?

Was it truly not affecting him at all?

He was not the only one harboring such doubt.

What in the world is with this bastard?

At first Jang Neung-ak had not given it much thought, but now that he saw Mok Gyeong-un standing still without even trying to neutralize the poison, he could not hide his puzzlement.

Why was he just standing there?

This poison was so strong that if one did not quickly neutralize it, it could go beyond burdening the five viscera and six bowels and even affect the brain.

That is dangerous.

Wi So-yeon too looked at Mok Gyeong-un with worried eyes.

He was the one who had drunk the poisoned cup first.

Yet even now he still was not raising his inner force to neutralize it, which looked extremely dangerous.

So, deciding this would not do, Baek So-gang stepped closer and spoke in a low voice.

“Young Master Mok. If it is too hard to drive out the poisonous aura, then say that it is hard.”

If he stubbornly pretended to be fine and something happened, trouble could break out.

However,

“I am fine. But if there is no real problem after eating the poison, then may I simply go in?”

!

At those words from Mok Gyeong-un, Baek So-gang’s eyes narrowed.

If there was no problem after eating the poison, could he go in?

Was he seriously saying he was fine even though he had drunk that poison and had not even expelled it?

“Young Master Mok…are you truly all right?”

“Yes. I am all right.”

That cannot be.

Baek So-gang stared at Mok Gyeong-un’s face.

Then at once his expression became one of sheer incomprehension.

If he had been poisoned, the first thing that should have changed would be the color of his lips and face, yet Mok Gyeong-un showed not the slightest sign of such a change.

…Ha.

What in the world was this?

He had not trained poison arts, so how could he drink an extreme poison and remain perfectly fine like this?

Completely unable to understand it, Mok Gyeong-un said,

“May I go in?”

“Young Master Mok…perhaps…”

He wanted to ask whether he might inspect his body.

But that was something completely outside martial etiquette, even between members of the same Heaven and Earth Society.

So he could not bring himself to say it.

Thus,

“Young Master Mok. May I verify something for a moment?”

“Verify?”

“Yes.”

There was a method other than examining the body with inner force.

If one dropped Mok Gyeong-un’s saliva into a liquid with neutralizing properties, one could tell whether he had been poisoned or not.

Those who trained poison arts always carried such a thing.

Baek So-gang, the second son, took from his belt a small bottle no larger than two fingers pressed together and moistened a white cloth with the liquid.

Then he said to Mok Gyeong-un,

“Please put a bit of saliva on this.”

“It is not difficult, but is there really any need to verify it?”

“What?”

“It seems to be compounded from vitriol, oleander, boiled lacquer, blue softshell turtle innard poison, Korean angelica, manticore poison, white jimsonweed, pokeweed, yeo-a grass, red-striped scorpion venom, yeohwa ant venom, poison-dart frog venom, hornet venom, sakmun poison, guihyang fish toxin, and yellow aconite seeds. Am I right?”

!!!!!!!!

At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, the eyes of Baek So-gang bulged as if they might pop out.

For an instant he doubted his own ears.

Wh-what in the world…

He was so astonished that he lost the ability to speak.

That was because the exact extreme poison in question had been made by combining and condensing all the ingredients Mok Gyeong-un had just listed.

The only ones who knew the principal ingredients that entered this poison were Baek Sa-ha, the Annihilation Poison King, and his sons.

The mixture was made only of materials so hard to obtain that even experts in poison arts would find it difficult to identify after long study once it had been condensed to this degree.

…Impossible.

It was so absurd that he wanted to deny it outright.

Then Mok Gyeong-un said to him,

“Did I leave any out?”

At that question, the confidants of the Society Leader’s second disciple and third disciple looked on with eyes full of disbelief.

This was not like guessing ingredients in food.

Was it really possible to swallow poison and then identify the ingredients inside it?

No matter what, this was impossible.

So they thought, and then,

“…You got every one of them right.”

From Baek So-gang’s mouth came that shocking answer.

He got them right?

Did he just say he got them right?

What in the world is this?

The confidants of the two successors all stirred at once.

He was neither an expert in poison arts nor an apothecary, so how could there possibly be such a thing as swallowing poison and then identifying all the ingredients inside it in one stroke?

Every one of them wore expressions of disbelief.

While that was happening, even Lady Jang asked in astonishment at her son Baek So-gang’s words,

“Young Master Mok…have you perhaps learned poison arts before?”

“How could that be?”

“Then how were you able to identify the ingredients of the poison?”

“Ah. Since childhood I have been interested in medicinal herbs and poisonous herbs, so I studied them.”

“Studied them? On your own, you mean?”

At that question Mok Gyeong-un thought of his grandfather, but there was no reason to tell these people about that.

And after coming out into the world and experiencing it, it seemed that a certain degree of modesty was also necessary.

So,

“No matter what, how could I possibly have learned entirely on my own? I received help from physicians and apothecaries around me.”

“Ha…”

At that answer, Lady Jang was left astonished.

It was hard to believe every bit of the answer, but if it were really true that Mok Gyeong-un’s interest in medicinal herbs and poisonous herbs had led him to master them to this level, then it would not be an exaggeration to call him a genius.

Even with medicinal herbs that were far less harmful to the body, distinguishing their tastes was no easy task.

How much more so with poison, which was closer to pain than to flavor?

What in the world is this child?

If his level of identifying poison was this high, then it would not have been an exaggeration to say he was close to the young head of the Baek Clan, or no, even to Baek Sa-ha, the Annihilation Poison King.

While they were marveling at him, Mok Gyeong-un said as if it were nothing special,

“If one has interest in medicinal herbs and poisonous herbs, or has studied them, this is something anyone could sufficiently infer, so I do not know why you are making so much of it.”