It Was a Demonic Art
4
***
Eat Bugodan, and every bone in your body would melt away into dust.
Eat Blood-Seeing Grass, and your blood would boil unnaturally until you died, spewing it from all nine openings.
And if you swallowed the venom sac of the Blue Flame Centipede, your nerves would go numb while your organs stiffened as though frozen solid.
“If an ordinary person ate them, their five viscera and six bowels would melt and kill them in less than a day.”
The Tang Clan member who had led Soyeong and Ga-ryeong into a private room said that as he took out the three poisonous herbs.
At his words, Soyeong gave a faint smile and replied, “But not for me. Right?”
“...... That is correct.”
Poison-immune.
The Tang Clan member standing before Soyeong already knew that she had become immune to a hundred poisons.
One touch to her pulse had been enough to tell him.
How could he not know?
Poison immunity was, by definition, the stuff of legend.
It was a sublime realm the Tang Clan had long searched for.
Even an ordinary Poison Hall attendant knew of it.
“Bugodan will set your broken bones, Blood-Seeing Grass will fill in the blood and hold them in place. And the venom of the Blue Flame Centipede will seal the wound shut,” he explained.
Poison, when used correctly, became medicine. As long as it wasn’t excessive, every poison was a medicine.
So what about someone immune to every poison?
For her, every poison was medicine by default.
That meant even obvious poisons could be used as remedies.
At least, that was true only for Soyeong.
“How long will treatment take?”
“I’m not certain, but... by my limited judgment, about a week.”
Soyeong nodded.
That was exactly the period she had expected as well.
After all, she had once survived this very method even after every bone in her body had been shattered.
Of course, that had been in her previous life.
But it was still too long.
A full week to heal nothing more than her knee and shin bones was a waste of time.
“Can it be shortened a little more?”
“With my limited judgment, no. Your Highness’s body is far too delicate.”
The man was right.
No matter how fine the medicine, healing was still something the body had to do on its own.
It was only natural that a robust person recovered faster than someone who had always been frail.
By contrast, Tang Soyeong’s body was a total wreck.
She had survived, yes, but only after eating the Ten Thousand Poisons and dying, then coming back to life.
There was no way her recovery could be quick.
“That doesn’t mean there’s no way.”
“I’d be interested to hear your judgment.”
“What if you filled your dantian with internal energy?”
Internal energy. The miraculous force that let martial artists rule the jianghu.
It was a mysterious power accumulated when a physically healthy person trained body and mind with a calm, disciplined heart.
The reason martial artists could step on leaves and leap, or walk across water, was because they possessed internal energy.
“If you had internal energy, recovery would certainly be faster.”
“And what’s your judgment?”
“By my judgment... three days should be enough.”
Three days.
Now that was a period she could be satisfied with.
Soyeong smiled faintly.
The conversation had been short, but she liked this man.
His judgment was excellent, and he knew where to stop.
A talented one indeed.
“One more question. Do you know of a poison like this?”
“What kind of poison?”
“A poison that accumulates for more than ten years without color, scent, or taste, then erupts all at once with a single cup of tea and tears the body apart from within. A poison so virulent it could even kill someone immune to a hundred poisons.”
“.......”
The Tang Clan member fell silent, thinking it over.
His hesitation did not last long.
“I don’t know of one right now.”
“You don’t know right now?”
“Yes. I’m not aware of any poison like that at the moment. By my limited judgment, it doesn’t sound like poison.”
“Not poison, you say...”
At his words, Soyeong herself sank into thought.
In her previous life, she had survived after eating the Heavenly Poison and become immune to a hundred poisons.
Back then, lacking any real understanding of poison, she had thought the thing that killed her must have been poison.
Then how had Yeon So-ha killed her?
She couldn’t know.
And just like him, Soyeong had no choice but to give herself the answer, I don’t know right now.
“Then I’ll give you homework. Find out what that method was.”
“Homework, all of a sudden...? What do you mean?”
“You’re making such a tired face... Isn’t there usually a reward for homework?”
“And if there is a reward?”
“You seem interested in my body.”
Soyeong extended her right hand, revealing her slender wrist.
The Tang Clan member’s gaze drifted there as well.
He wore an annoyed expression, but he couldn’t hide the desire in his eyes.
Those were the eyes of a scholar.
The eyes of a scholar who wanted to verify the realm of poison immunity for himself.
“If you solve the homework, I’ll permit you to touch my body.”
“...... Hiiik!”
Ga-ryeong, who had been listening from the side, let out a bizarre little sound.
Soyeong and the Tang Clan member both turned to look at her.
Ga-ryeong’s face went bright red as she waved both hands and said, “A-ah, d-don’t mind me and keep talking!”
“...... Fine.”
The man paid her no attention at all and went on.
“When do you want me to finish this homework?”
“Can I really call the speed of your solution homework too?”
At that, the Tang Clan member smiled for the first time.
“Very well. I’ll do my best to solve it as quickly as possible.”
“That confidence looks good on you. You know who I am, don’t you? Come find me on your own.”
“You won’t even ask my name?”
“I only ask the names of people worth knowing.”
At Soyeong’s words, the man nodded.
No further conversation was needed.
The man would do his work, and Soyeong would do hers.
If he failed to come, then that was all there was to it. But Soyeong had a feeling he would solve the homework and come before her.
It was the eye for talent she had carried over from her previous life.
She didn’t know about his character, but his ability and potential were certainly worth acknowledging.
“A-ah... young lady...”
On the way back from Poison Hall to the detached residence with the poisonous herbs in hand, Ga-ryeong, who was carrying Soyeong on her back, called to her in a trembling voice.
“What is it?”
Soyeong answered. She had been waiting for this, because Ga-ryeong kept looking like she wanted to say something but wouldn’t. She had already learned, in less than a day, that Ga-ryeong was not the sort to hold her tongue for long.
Ga-ryeong hesitated for a moment, then said in a worried voice, “Y-you shouldn’t use your body so carelessly now that you’re a woman.”
“...... What are you talking about?”
Soyeong didn’t understand her at all.
Using her body carelessly?
Was she talking about crushing Tang So-seol’s nose bridge and breaking her own leg in the process?
Or did she mean letting an attendant from Poison Hall study her poison-immune body?
When Soyeong replied in confusion, Ga-ryeong continued, “A-ah... even if you’ve lost your memory, how can you forget something like that!?”
“I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“T-then... ah...! If he isn’t your betrothed, you have to protect your chastity!”
“................................................................. What?”
For the first time since her rebirth, Soyeong felt true bewilderment.
Why on earth had chastity come up all of a sudden?
“You... don’t know?”
“No. I don’t know how you managed to come to that conclusion.”
“That’s the problem—you don’t know!”
“You’re awfully irritating. Say it properly.”
“Hiiik...! I’m sorry!”
Soyeong thought Ga-ryeong sounded like a woman scolding her lover.
“Th-that thing you said to the Poison Hall attendant... about ‘allowing him to touch my body.’ I think that could be seriously misunderstood.”
“What’s there to misunderstand?”
Allowing someone to touch her body meant exactly that—he could touch her body.
In other words, he was permitted to examine her physically.
“The young lady may not realize it, but people hear that kind of thing and get the wrong idea...!”
“....... Really?”
“Yes! So please be careful with your words from now on!”
“...... Understood.”
“Promise me!”
At Ga-ryeong’s strange, forceful energy, Soyeong found herself agreeing before she knew it.
It’s not really that hard to keep.
Ignoring the first subordinate’s earnest advice would have been poor form for a master.
“I’ll try.”
So Soyeong decided to humor the somewhat cheeky Ga-ryeong.
***
By the time they reached the detached residence, the sun had already set.
With the dusk behind them, Soyeong and Ga-ryeong sat in the room and took out the three poisonous herbs.
Ga-ryeong, unable to tolerate the poison qi, pressed a cloth soaked in antidote against her mouth.
“Young lady, wouldn’t it be better to eat something before taking the medicine?”
“It’s not medicine. It’s poison. Eating first would only get in the way.”
“I see...”
That was the end of the conversation.
Even if her master was about to eat poison, she didn’t need to question it.
That was the proper attitude of a subordinate.
She was a quick learner, having picked it up in less than a day.
Soyeong felt pleased.
The good fortune that had followed her from her previous life still seemed to be holding.
“Then I’m going to eat the herbs. Make sure no one comes in.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Ga-ryeong shut the door and left, and Soyeong immediately stuffed the three poisonous herbs into her mouth.
Crack, crack, crack.
It felt as though her bones were twisting and her blood were boiling.
But there was no pain.
All of it was nothing more than sensation, incapable of harming Soyeong’s body.
The herbs that melted bone, boiled blood, and hardened organs began healing her broken leg with startling speed.
For anyone else, the agony of poisonous herbs would leave them unable to do anything at all. Soyeong was different.
Since I’ve got nothing else to do, maybe I should form a dantian.
For poison-immune Soyeong, none of this could cause her any real damage.
So she forced herself into a cross-legged seat and began drawing in energy.
Hyeoncheon Jinwon Shingong, the peerless divine art she had created and mastered in her previous life.
It was a profound internal art that could stand beside Shaolin’s Muscle-Turning Classic and Wudang’s Taiji Divine Art without falling short.
Her inner power and muscles were gone, but experience remained.
How hard could it be to walk a road she had already traveled once before?
The surrounding energy entered Soyeong’s body through her breath.
That alone was not enough, so she drew in the energy already within her body as well.
She even pulled in the qi contained within the poisonous herbs she had just eaten.
Gathering all of it together, she forcibly packed it beneath her navel, into the dantian.
That was the end of it.
“Done.”
The dantian had been formed.
For someone who could already feel and control qi, creating a dantian was not difficult.
It was just that far more people in the world could never accomplish even that, no matter how hard they tried.
Now that I’ve formed a dantian, I’m no longer a third-class fighter.
A third-class martial artist was still third-class even if all they had was a blade in their hand.
Once a dantian was formed and internal energy began to gather, that was the realm of a second-class martial artist.
She still had a long way to go.
“Young lady, may I come in for a moment?”
Just then, Ga-ryeong’s voice came from outside the door.
“What is it?”
“That Poison Hall attendant from earlier has come looking for you. He says he solved his homework.”
“Quick, aren’t you?”
Soyeong’s lips curved into a smile.
She had been right to trust her eye for people.
“Pardon the interruption.”
“Well? Did you solve the homework?”
“I did.”
“Good. So tell me—what do you think the answer to the homework I gave you is?”
At Soyeong’s question, the man answered with confidence.
“To put it plainly, it is a demonic art.”
“...... What?”
The situation entered a completely new phase.