Chapter 196 – Brought from Sichuan

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Translated by Heavenly Cat
Edited by Celestial Knight

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Within Ju-seong’s dantian were five poisons, each representing one of the Five Phases.

If he could freely control all five like his own limbs, that would be ideal, but Ju-seong hadn’t yet fully conquered the Zhen poison.

True to its epithet of “King of Poisons,” the Zhen poison was like a stubborn beast… it didn’t readily obey Ju-seong’s control.

‘Perhaps that’s fortunate…’

Something he’d learned belatedly, but the Zhen poison’s virulence was second to none.

It held within it unprecedented power to unwittingly reduce all living things to a handful of toxic sludge.

Ju-seong’s dantian resembled the ancient Golden Elixir, so it could contain the Zhen poison… but his blood vessels were another story.

‘There wouldn’t be a major problem, but repeated use would leave my fine vessels tattered and frayed.’

Considering this, Mo Wol-hyang… who had endured the Zhen poison in her body for years… was no ordinary person either.

‘Probably the internal cultivation method of those Mysterious Women possessed exceptional capabilities. Senior Brother Seo-baek’s and Master’s treatments must have helped too.’

In any case, for such reasons Ju-seong couldn’t use the Zhen poison, but he could freely wield the other four powerful poisons.

First, Ju-seong had Yi Pyo-eum procure three jars.

Since there were fire-field farmers and native tribes near the Maling River, obtaining them wasn’t difficult.

Ju-seong sat before the three jars and said.

“Water generates Wood, so for poison to be dispersed in water, Wood Poison would be appropriate…”

Ju-seong slowly began to rouse the Heavenly Silkworm Moth’s poison. At the somewhat familiar energy, White Pig in his robe stirred.

“And Wood generates Fire, so if the Wood Poison gains energy, the Fire Poison will become lively.”

Ju-seong raised the Fire Poison obtained from the Yin-Yang Serpent as well.

Yi Pyo-eum, watching from beside him, asked.

“But Water conquers Fire, so wouldn’t dispersing Fire Poison in water be improper?”

Ju-seong nodded.

“That’s not wrong either. But that’s exactly what I intend to exploit.”

He had also reached the level of a master in the art of poison handling. This was partly thanks to his master’s teachings, but more importantly, the insights gained from studying the Soul-Severing Sand formula.

“Fire dislikes water, so it naturally tries to escape upward. Therefore, if I send Fire Poison downstream in the water, it will naturally rise and become a Poison Fog that blankets the gorge.”

“Ah…”

“Furthermore, Fire Poison has a light nature and might fly away beyond the gorge, so I need to press down on it with something heavy.”

Ju-seong began preparing the Metal Poison as well.

“I’ll need to be here for about three days, so could you procure some provisions, my lady?”

“Oh, of course.”

Pyo-eum was a woman who caught on quickly.

In her judgment, the quickest way to break through the current situation… though rather extreme… was Ju-seong’s method and nothing else.

Ju-seong hung his index finger over the jar and continuously released poison.

Emitting poison in the form of energy was easy enough, but…

-DRIP… DRIP.

Extracting poison in liquid form suitable for dispersal in water was grueling even for Ju-seong.

“…Feels like squeezing out reluctant piss.”

“What a filthy comparison.”

“Go catch another wild boar.”

“What are you, a tiger? Why do you eat so much meat?”

“Do you think this poison liquid comes out on its own? I take the flesh of living creatures and use it as raw material to brew the poison.”

Though five poison cores sat in Ju-seong’s dantian, they weren’t magical basins that endlessly produced poison.

He had to consume nutrients as a foundation and inhale the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to create poison.

As the saying goes, nothing in this world is free.

Yi Pyo-eum busily roamed the gorge’s perimeter, hunting wild animals and cooking them into meat stew.

Ju-seong could barely maintain his cultivation and poison emission while alternately drinking the gelatinous, overcooked meat stew.

-DRIP… DRIP…

The clear green Wood Poison was the first to fill a jar.

“Don’t even smell it. One whiff and you might fall asleep.”

Ju-seong warned, then began to extract the Fire Poison.

Because of its volatile nature, he had to cover the jar with a damp cloth and insert his hand underneath to collect the poison.

After filling the Fire Poison jar, he sealed it tightly, then moved on to…

“Metal Poison? What’s the Metal Poison for?”

“As I said earlier, its heavy nature will suppress the Fire Poison’s evaporation.”

Ju-seong filled the jar with hay and firewood, then began extracting Metal Poison onto it.

Since Metal conquers Wood, the grass and wood touched by Metal Poison began to decay.

The hay became gummy, and holes appeared throughout the firewood.

Then the Metal Poison and kindling merged into a strange grayish-black mass.

“…It looks like charcoal?”

Ju-seong nodded.

“It makes good kindling that burns for quite a while. The minor drawback is that it releases extreme poison.”

“I don’t think that’s a minor drawback…”

“Anyway, preparations are complete.”

Ju-seong looked at the three jars before speaking.

“Now let’s begin.”

Grayish-black firewood that looked like charcoal.

Ju-seong started burning it first.

“The wind happens to be blowing from the northwest.”

Ju-seong murmured quietly.

The foundation of poison arts was understanding the wind direction. After all, the easiest way to administer poison was simply to send it on the wind.

Of course, Ju-seong didn’t simply scatter powder on the wind.

Even if powder rode the wind, it couldn’t travel far distances unless the wind was exceptionally strong.

With wind that changed day and night, to poison over two hundred li of gorge by wind alone was a distant dream.

So he needed to process the poison into a state with better dispersal than powder.

“That’s why I’m making Poison Smoke.”

Ju-seong stacked the grayish-black firewood neatly and ignited it with his internal energy.

-HWA-REU-REUK!

The grayish-black firewood instantly glowed red and began spewing thick smoke.

Ju-seong snapped off a broad leaf to use as a fan, driving the smoke away.

“Ugh… Lady, please fan this for a bit. The smoke stings my eyes.”

“…If I get close, it seems dangerous for me.”

Yi Pyo-eum had already retreated to a distance of over ten zhang.

“Now that you mention it, that’s true.”

Near the ignition point, an ordinary martial artist who inhaled the poison smoke would immediately collapse… quite possibly.

“Then keep staying there. I’ll continue the work.”

Ju-seong grumbled as he moved the remaining two jars.

* * *

The exact center of the Maling River.

There, inexplicably, a stone wall had been erected.

It was none other than the boundary dividing Gongsun Su’s and the Silver Thread Lady’s territories.

Of course, the wall was barely five chi high… really just serving as a boundary line and nothing more.

Over the five-chi wall, the height left just heads visible, and the sentries from each camp were glaring at one another.

When ordinary people glared at each other, it made them sweat… how much more so when they were martial artists?

The ferocious standoff left both sides trembling in their legs after merely two shi-chen of guard duty.

‘Damn it… When will this end?’

Deung-ak, a sentry on Gongsun Su’s side… the southern side… grumbled inwardly.

He surreptitiously turned his eyes to gauge the sun. Judging by its position, not even one shi-chen had passed yet.

Just then, the comrade beside him began fidgeting.

‘What? Why is he twitching?’

No movement at all was permitted during guard duty. A foolish rule born from needing to display strict discipline and control to the opposing side.

Demanding military standards from martial artists was an excessive regulation.

Yet the fellow next to him was slowly backing away as if he’d forgotten all protocol.

Deung-ak couldn’t stand it anymore and grimaced as he spoke.

“Hey, Gu boy. Need to take a dump? Even if you have to do it standing, just hold it. If the higher-ups find out…”

Deung-ak unconsciously turned his head to follow the direction of the man’s gaze, and his own mouth fell open.

“What the…”

Red and black fog.

That was the only way to describe it.

The upper layer was covered in black smoke like a roof, and beneath it, everything was filled with red fog.

The red fog seemed to be constantly trying to rise upward, but it was blocked by the black smoke ceiling and kept returning to the ground.

The direction it was coming from was the north side… the Silver Thread Lady’s territory… yet no commotion arose from that side.

Deung-ak shouted urgently.

“The Silver Thread Lady’s side has released poison fog!”

In reality, it was different… the poison fog was moving southward at an extraordinary pace, which was the actual cause.

The sun hung at its zenith in the afternoon. Most martial artists would be focused on energy cultivation at this hour.

The truth was that the fog had swept over their entire camp before they could notice and raise an alarm.

And so the sentries on the northern side… the Silver Thread Lady’s side… also turned around and were thrown into chaos.

“Wh-what?”

“What kind of fog is so ominously red?!”

While they were in confusion, the red and black fog had already crossed the paltry stone wall and was covering Gongsun Su’s territory.

Visibility instantly shrank to less than ten zhang. Beyond that, only shadows could be distinguished… who was who couldn’t be told at all in the darkness.

“Hoo-soo, whew…”

Deung-ak unconsciously took one deep breath and was startled.

He felt his internal energy scatter in a massive clump.

Energy cultivation was based on breathing. One breathed in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, took only what was needed for activity, and returned the rest to nature.

In this process, all living things underwent a form of energy circulation, but naturally couldn’t directly sense that spiritual energy.

However, martial artists used breathing techniques to clearly perceive spiritual energy, seizing even the energy not immediately needed and storing it in their dantians.

In a sense, the martial artist’s energy cultivation was unnatural… even ingrateful toward nature.

‘With every breath, my internal energy is being washed away!’

Now, as if nature were taking revenge, during exhalation, minute amounts of internal energy were being extracted.

It felt as though the internal energy they had forcibly held onto was being returned to nature.

Of course, the speed wasn’t fast… enough to last four or five shi-chen.

But the fact that internal energy was scattering was the problem itself.

Chaos quickly spread over both camps.

“Damn, I can’t see!”

“Keep low! The red fog keeps trying to rise!”

There were those who bent down trying to avoid as much toxin as possible, but…

“What the hell… hey! Wake up!”

Those who walked on all fours or lowered their stance suddenly fell asleep, snoring.

“There’s a poison that causes sleep spread on the ground!”

Now that they looked, a faint greenish hue was rippling near their feet.

Originally the ground was covered in grass, so they hadn’t noticed.

In any case, during emergencies, each camp gathered toward the front line to monitor the other side.

The Blood Flower Crone’s foster sons and daughters, along with those who followed them, quickly assembled.

Being higher-level martial artists, they weren’t greatly affected by the poison fog.

They could last a full day without their internal energy completely depleting.

“Silver Thread, is this your doing?!”

Gongsun Su raised his voice from behind his subordinates to ask.

From beyond the fog, all that came was the Silver Thread Lady’s cold snort.

Gongsun Su was followed by a shorter, sturdily built younger brother, who gave a dismissive snort.

His appearance matched his build, earning him the name Fierce Mantis.

Mantis Blocking the Chariot… the name came from this phrase, comparing his small frame to a praying mantis.

Fierce Mantis called out mockingly.

“My, what an expensive lady. How much does it cost to hear your voice once?”

Words that obliquely mocked the Silver Thread Lady as if she were a prostitute.

At his words, a woman on the other side flared up in response.

“Shut your trap! Living on the ground, I see your manners are crawling vermin level!”

“What was that?”

Both sides’ martial artists quickly became boisterous, hurling insults at each other.

“Ha…”

Gongsun Su, in the midst of the chaos, rubbed his temples as if tired.

When he looked up, his eyes were bloodshot. Since breaking through his realm, his self-control had been severely weakened.

Just as he was about to burst one fellow’s head to establish discipline…

-HWI-IT.

Someone’s whistling cut through all the noise and soared high.

The tune was cheerfully self-indulgent, and the skill was actually quite good… mesmerized, both camps stopped their bickering.

“…Whoever it is, fitting for the moment. Good skill.”

Fierce Mantis muttered.

But who would be whistling in this atmosphere?

Meanwhile, along with the whistling, someone’s light footsteps were cutting across between the two camps.

-CHEO-BEOK, CHEO-BEOK.

Those footsteps were walking along the wall set between the two camps.

Due to the red fog, only a silhouette was visible.

The footsteps of the silhouette were light.

Light, floating steps. Sleeves fluttering gently. As if a performer were walking a tightrope.

Finally, the silhouette stopped at the center of the wall and spoke quietly.

The low voice spread among the martial artists. The entrance was impressive, but the words that came out were endlessly cheap.

“Panic-stricken, chaotic, frenzied, crashing left and right… have you done it all? You pathetic bastards?”

These were the first words of the man who had brought a poison wind from Sichuan.

It was the moment he would gain his second alias, Western Poison, alongside Mad Dragon.