Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 145 - Poison Person (1)
Chapter 145 – Poison Person (1)
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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“If one has even a little interest in medicinal herbs or poisonous herbs, it is something anyone could fully infer, so I do not know why you ask.”
‘!?’
Anyone could do it?
“………”
Was he trying to make a fool of her right now?
Or was he acting like this because he did not know how to be modest?
Madam Jang, who had been staring fixedly at Mok Gyeong-un with a rather dumbfounded expression, soon clicked her tongue and said,
“I had no idea the Shadow Sect Master’s disciple was this deeply versed in poison.”
“I was surprised as well.”
Baek So-gang, the second son of Baek Sa-ha, the Annihilation Poison King, likewise agreed with his mother’s words.
Unless they were the sort of martial artists who were cautious in all things, most considered the arts of poison cowardly or unworthy of a martial artist and did not even take interest in them.
Yet Mok Gyeong-un’s breadth of knowledge was at a level one could hardly know without properly studying poison or medicinal herbs.
‘Even more astonishing than that is that absurd level of discernment.’
The Annihilation Poison King always told his sons this.
For one who practiced poison arts, the one thing he must never neglect was training the senses of taste and smell that could distinguish poisons.
Smell aside, taste was not easy to train.
Poison was extremely dangerous to handle, and since a single mistake was tied directly to one’s life, one tasted only an extremely minute amount rather than a large quantity.
After that, one underwent training to gradually build resistance little by little.
Because it took such a long time to completely learn the taste of a single poison, it was unavoidable that training the sense of taste was slow.
‘…….Is it innate?’
From Baek So-gang’s perspective, that was the only explanation.
Mok Gyeong-un mainly had not even practiced poison arts, and yet at only seventeen years of age he possessed a tongue this sharp, which could only be explained as inborn talent.
‘Well now.’
Baek So-gang suddenly felt regret.
Come to think of it, he must have become the Shadow Sect Master’s disciple through the Corpse Blood Valley gate.
That meant that if his father had participated in the completion ceremony this time, he could have brought over this child with such great talent.
It was a talent his father would have coveted too.
‘If we had brought him in, the main house’s…..Ah!’
Baek So-gang’s eyes widened.
Thinking on it, he had wondered why this man had sought out his father with three head plaques, and only now did he understand.
“I see now why Young Master Mok wished to seek Father’s instruction.”
“Ahhh…..I see.”
Madam Jang also nodded at the words of her second son, Baek So-gang.
If one had this much interest in poison and such profound knowledge of it, then of course he would want to receive the Annihilation Poison King’s instruction.
Only now did his visit make sense.
‘I had thought it was a needless waste of time, but it was not. Even if he cannot become a formal disciple, if he receives my husband’s instruction, the Shadow Sect and our Baek Clan may form a good bond.’
The problem, however, was whether her husband would want to teach this child.
One could say it was something set by the Society’s rules, but her husband was a man with his own stubbornness.
Once he decided something, he never took it back.
It was then.
-Ssshhhhhh!
“Haa.”
It seemed Wi So-yeon, the Society Leader’s third disciple, had completely resolved the poison. No longer breathing out violet vapor but white steam instead, she soon steadied her posture.
Seeing this, Baek So-gang, the second son of the Baek family, could not hide his astonishment.
To dispel the poison in less than half a gak.
‘Her internal power truly is deep.’
It was just as the rumors said.
Before long, the Society Leader’s second disciple, Jang Neung-ak, also succeeded in completely dispelling the poison.
He was a hair later than Wi So-yeon, but still fast all the same.
Watching them, Madam Jang clasped her hands together and said,
“The two of you truly do not possess ordinary internal power. I did not know you would dispel the poison in such a short time.”
At her praise, Wi So-yeon waved her hands and modestly demurred.
“The Baek family’s poison truly is formidable. If my concentration had faltered even a little, it might have been difficult.”
“Surely not. You would have overcome it well enough.”
“………”
In contrast, Jang Neung-ak only glared at Wi So-yeon in silence.
His face had been thoroughly trampled.
He had intended to show himself dispelling the poison first, but he had been edged out by a hair because of Wi So-yeon’s monstrous internal power.
-Grit!
His pride could not help but be wounded.
To be surpassed in front of the retainers who watched him.
Jang Neung-ak, who had been glaring at her with displeased eyes, soon turned his gaze and looked at Mok Gyeong-un.
‘…….This fellow had this sort of talent too?’
He had vaguely heard the conversation being exchanged.
It seemed he had dispelled the poison by a method different from either himself or Wi So-yeon.
If Madam Jang’s words were to be believed, he seemed to know poison very well.
‘Then I want him even more.’
He had already lost Wi Maeng-cheon, the Second Sacred Mountain, who had been like his left arm among the Five Peaks Assembly’s trusted followers.
If this fellow was as multifaceted and talented as he seemed, he ought to be enough to fill the vacancy Wi Maeng-cheon had left.
The same was true for Wi So-yeon.
‘He was versed in poison too?’
She had tried to use this chance to find out Mok Gyeong-un’s true level of internal power, but it seemed he had neutralized the poison by some other method.
Perhaps because of that, she felt she had seen an unexpected side of him.
Perhaps Mok Gyeong-un’s true worth lay in these various talents.
‘…….I may truly have to make him my man.’
She had felt slightly uneasy because he came from an orthodox hostage background, but rather than let her second senior brother snatch him away, he seemed worth taking no matter what.
It was then.
“Then may we go inside, First Madam?”
Jang Neung-ak, the Society Leader’s second disciple, preemptively asked Madam Jang.
Though he had been a hair slower than Wi So-yeon in neutralizing the poison, that was not the important matter right now.
What mattered was who would have a private audience with the Annihilation Poison King first.
At his question, Madam Jang looked at Baek So-gang, her second son.
Then,
“For now, Manor Lord said that if you have dispelled the poison, you may all come in together.”
“Together?”
“Yes. My apologies, but that was Manor Lord’s will.”
At those words, Wi So-yeon inwardly let out a sigh of relief.
If the initiative were stolen from her in a situation where she needed to request support, she could be placed at a disadvantage.
Of course going in together was not exactly a good thing either, but at least it was better than letting the other side have a private audience first.
‘Tch.’
Jang Neung-ak clicked his tongue.
He had intended to gain a private audience first, so this made things rather troublesome.
Wi So-yeon would obviously try to interfere with him.
Still, if he wished to meet the Annihilation Poison King, he had no choice but to respect his will.
“…….Understood.”
“Thank you for your understanding.”
At this, Baek So-gang took the lead.
Standing at the entrance of the annex, he gave a warning in advance.
“As I told you earlier, this place is filled with poison aura. I ask that you control your breathing with a circulation method and block the poison aura from entering your bodies.”
“Understood.”
“Yes.”
“Young Master Mok, as for you…..”
“You need not worry about me.”
“……Very well. But unlike the cup you drank, poison aura fills the interior of the annex, so if it becomes difficult to endure, you absolutely must come out.”
“Yes.”
Jang Neung-ak curled up the corner of his mouth as he spoke to Mok Gyeong-un, who had answered.
“If it gets difficult, say so. I will carry you outside.”
He was acting favorably toward Mok Gyeong-un.
At this, Wi So-yeon also considered saying that she too would help him, but then closed her mouth.
She did not wish to squabble with her second senior brother over something like this.
“Then please follow me, all three of you.”
-Creak!
As the door opened, the three followed Baek So-gang, the second son of the Baek family, inside.
Upon entering the annex, there was another entrance within, and pale poison aura hung around the place like mist.
The walls on all sides were thickly hung with straw bundles filled with charcoal.
“Inside the straw are charcoal and various medicinal materials that have detoxifying effects. If we do not do this, the poison aura leaks outside.”
Baek So-gang kindly explained.
Then he pointed to the door leading inward and said,
“If you go down the corridor, Manor Lord is in the central inner chamber. The poison aura grows thicker the farther in you go, so please maintain your circulation.”
-Creak!
Baek So-gang opened the door.
At once a purple mist clouded the view ahead.
At this, light flashed in the eyes of Jang Neung-ak and Wi So-yeon.
‘Just what is he doing in there?’
‘What terrifying poison aura.’
They had known because they had been warned beforehand, but they had never expected him to be in a place so filled with poison aura.
At this rate, could they even hold a proper conversation?
Even if they protected their bodies inside and out with circulation, if they breathed wrong while speaking, they might have to busy themselves just dispelling the poison entering their lungs.
“Please follow me.”
Baek So-gang went in first.
Then Jang Neung-ak and Wi So-yeon also followed with somewhat tense expressions.
Mok Gyeong-un, by contrast, was utterly unbothered.
-Are you really all right? The poison aura seems too severe.
Blue Spirit was actually worried enough to ask.
At this, Mok Gyeong-un only shrugged as if it were nothing.
Poison meant nothing to him.
After all, the very blood flowing through him was itself a deadly poison.
-Step, step!
When they went down the long corridor, what was called the central inner chamber soon came into view.
But that place was sealed not with wood planks, but with stone that seemed to be made of some special material.
Seeing this, Jang Neung-ak looked at Baek So-gang with puzzled eyes.
Then Baek So-gang answered.
“This is a special training chamber made to endure the poison arts of our main house.”
“A training chamber?”
“Yes. Once one reaches the sixth layer or higher of our main house’s true supreme art, the Wave Demon Poison Scripture, one can melt even the things around oneself with poison aura, so to withstand it, one needs stone made of the same material as the Poison-Resistant Stone here.”
In other words, did that not mean that ordinary materials like normal stone or wood would be lightly melted by the poison?
Indeed, the poison arts of the Baek family had gone beyond the ordinary track.
‘Incredible.’
Mok Gyeong-un felt anew why his master, the Society Leader of the Heaven and Earth Society, had said that in one sense Baek Sa-ha, the Annihilation Poison King, was even more dangerous than the two Five Kings who had received the title of Eight Stars.
The poison of Baek Sa-ha, the Annihilation Poison King, possessed the power to slaughter hundreds of martial artists in a short time.
No, it could perhaps do even more than that.
At that moment Baek So-gang knocked on the wall that served as the door and said,
“Father, no, Manor Lord. I have brought Young Master Jang Neung-ak, Miss Wi So-yeon, and the disciple of the Shadow Sect Master.”
At his words, Jang Neung-ak and Wi So-yeon stared hard at the door.
Here they had to persuade him and make him support them somehow.
That was their common thought.
Then a voice came from inside.
“All three of them came in?”
It was rough, but the force felt from the voice was tremendous.
As expected of one of the Five Kings, said to be among the highest masters of the Heaven and Earth Society.
At that moment Jang Neung-ak adjusted his breathing with circulation and opened his mouth.
“Elder Annihilation Poison King. I am Jang Neung-ak, the Society Leader’s second disciple. I came to offer greetings while congratulating your grandchild’s first-birthday feast…..”
“Heh heh, was it not the rice in the ashes that interested you more than your greetings?”
“Pardon?”
“Is it not because you need this old man’s support in the struggle over the successor position?”
‘!?’
At the voice that abruptly hit the mark, Jang Neung-ak was struck speechless for a moment.
Unlike the other Five Kings, he had never spoken with him before, but he had not expected him to possess such a blunt manner of speech.
But Jang Neung-ak was not one to be greatly flustered by that.
“Hahaha. As expected of you, Elder. What use is there in coating my words with false flattery? You are right.”
“Good. I like honesty.”
At the voice coming from within, Wi So-yeon hurriedly opened her mouth as well.
“Elder Baek Sa-ha. It is I, Wi So-yeon. Do you remember me?”
“How could I not remember?”
“I truly wished to see you, Elder.”
“Heh heh, you too came for the same reason, so of course you did.”
“I will not deny it.”
She answered honestly as well.
Judging by the way Baek Sa-ha was speaking, trying to butter him up would likely only earn his dislike.
“Elder…….”
Wi So-yeon was about to say something.
But Jang Neung-ak cut her off first and said,
“Elder. I will speak plainly. Please help me.”
‘Just as I expected, he is coming out like this.’
Wi So-yeon bit her lower lip hard and then raised her voice, trying to cut in.
“Elder!”
“Enough!”
A short shout burst out from inside the door.
At the sound ringing by their ears, the two immediately fell silent.
Soon Baek Sa-ha’s voice was heard again.
“Those who say they wish to become the successor let their mouths run ahead of their actions.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Do you want this old man’s support?”
Was that not obvious?
That was why they had come here under the pretext of the birthday celebration.
The two nodded and answered.
“We need your support, Elder.”
“That is correct.”
“Heh heh, if you desire this old man’s recognition so much, then show me actions before words.”
“……..What exactly do you mean?”
“No matter how much you prattle your story to me, it is meaningless. If you are martial artists, prove yourselves with strength. If you wish to become Society Leader, come inside and make this old man rise from his seat.”
At Baek Sa-ha’s words, the expressions of Jang Neung-ak and Wi So-yeon hardened.
Having already fulfilled the condition for entering, they had thought that from this point on they only had to persuade him through conversation.
Yet they had not expected another trial to be waiting.
They had known Baek Sa-ha was a man of eccentric and stubborn temperament, but even so, this was unexpected.
‘He intends to test our martial power?’
But he seemed to be underestimating them more than they had expected.
Though the poison arts of Baek Sa-ha, the Annihilation Poison King, differed from all others, they were disciples of the Society Leader, the sovereign figure of the Heaven and Earth Society.
They prided themselves that even the executives could not dismiss their martial strength.
‘If it is only a matter of making him stand.’
It was not a particularly difficult matter.
At this, Jang Neung-ak stepped forward first and said,
“Then I will try first, Elder.”
“It matters not who goes first. If one can come in here and make this old man rise, I will support that one as much as he pleases.”
At the words that he did not care, Jang Neung-ak curled up the corner of his mouth sharply.
For now, this place was filled with poison aura, so the longer one stayed, the greater the consumption of internal power.
Thus, if one meant to step forward, doing so first was advantageous.
‘…….That is what she is thinking, I suppose?’
Wi So-yeon laughed inwardly.
Her thoughts differed.
She was confident in her internal power anyway, so she was sure she could endure in here longer than Jang Neung-ak, and if she stepped up later, she could grasp how the Annihilation Poison King would respond, so she thought that was rather more advantageous.
“Then I will go in, Elder.”
“Heh heh. Go on, then.”
Jang Neung-ak placed his palm against the stone door and pushed.
The door was thicker than expected and required force.
-Rrrumble!
As the door opened, the interior slowly began to be revealed.
At that very moment.
-Whoooosh!
The instant the door was opened halfway,
-Thud!
“Hup.”
Jang Neung-ak, who had been pushing the door, dropped to one knee on the floor and grabbed his chest.
‘What is this?’
His insides churned and he could feel blood in his mouth.
The poison aura that had already filled the annex had been formidable enough, but this was so virulent that it was hard to breathe, to a degree that could not even be compared.
“Cough.”
Black blood dripped from Jang Neung-ak’s mouth.
But he was not the only one exposed to this poison aura.
-Pah!
Wi So-yeon too, faced with the virulent poison aura suddenly surging outward, sat in meditation and immediately began circulating her qi.
This was far beyond the poison aura that had filled the annex corridor.
The poison was so strong that her hands and feet trembled.
‘Ahhh. In the end……’
Baek So-gang, who had been watching this, clicked his tongue inwardly.
His father had never intended to support either of them from the start.
That was why he had set them a task they could never overcome.
‘The seventh layer of the Wave Demon Poison Scripture.’
The poison aura pouring out from inside right now was the mist of Wave Poison, something that could only be emitted after reaching the seventh layer of the Wave Demon Poison Scripture.
This was not poison aura that even a transcendent master could withstand.
If there was any way to guard against it, it would be only by practicing the same Wave Demon Poison Scripture as he did and adapting oneself to the poison aura.
But then,
“Interesting. Releasing poison from the body in the form of mist. Is this what poison arts are?”
‘!?’
At the voice he heard, Baek So-gang’s eyes went wide.
There was one person he had entirely forgotten while watching those two.
It was none other than Mok Gyeong-un, the Shadow Sect Master’s disciple.
‘No, how?’
For a moment, Baek So-gang doubted his own eyes.
No matter how profound his poison knowledge might be, he had thought that this time he would be unable to endure it.
But Mok Gyeong-un stood there entirely fine.
“Young Master Mok? How…..”
At that moment, Baek Sa-ha’s voice came from within the room full of dense purple mist.
“…….What in the world are you?”
“What do you mean?”
“How is it that you can endure this poison aura?”
-Ssssss!
At last the mist clouding the view scattered, revealing an old man with a violet face seated in meditation on the floor and extending sharp nails.
That man was Baek Sa-ha, the Annihilation Poison King.
Baek Sa-ha wore a look that said he could not understand this at all.
To remain so unharmed within poison aura that even the Society Leader’s two disciples could not endure was something he had not expected in the least.
And moreover,
‘That child…..is he not even circulating qi right now?’
If he had been operating qi, Baek Sa-ha would have sensed it from the start.
Yet in a place filled with poison aura like this, he was enduring it without even protecting his body with qi?
That meant he possessed resistance to poison……
“……..Could it be that you practice poison arts?”
At his question, Mok Gyeong-un shook his head and answered.
“Ah, no. It is not that.”
“Not that? Then how can you withstand this virulent poison aura?”
At this question from Baek Sa-ha, Mok Gyeong-un tilted his head with an expression that said he did not understand.
Then,
“Virulent? This?”
‘!?’