Laying a Trap with Aphrodisiacs (2)
[That moment, somewhere within the Moyong Sega estate.]
An open space stretched out around them, with an artificial pond at its center. The Sword Saint stood in the pavilion on the bridge spanning the pond.
"Aphrodisiacs."
The Sword Saint gripped a paper packet containing white powder.
These aphrodisiacs had begun turning up around the Moyong Sega estate—items that had no business being here in the first place. Yet the Sword Saint placed the packet on the pavilion table as he held it.
"What do you make of it, Geomhu?"
"......"
The girl called Geomhu—a seventeen-year-old—fell silent for a moment. Fortunately, no one else was around, so she sat across from the Sword Saint and reached out toward the aphrodisiac.
Crunch.
"...Aphrodisiac, confirmed."
Geomhu licked it directly with her tongue.
"It's a stimulant type. The kind that turns even pain into pleasure."
If asked how she could tell just by tasting it, the answer was simple: after swords, Geomhu's greatest expertise was aphrodisiacs.
"Fortunately, it's not mixed with san-gong-dok."
"Did that happen during your active days?"
"Plenty of lechers tried mixing san-gong-dok into aphrodisiacs to scatter my inner energy and overpower me."
San-gong-dok! To martial artists, it was the deadliest poison—disrupting inner energy flow or preventing qi from condensing properly. Depending on the dosage, even a peak expert channeling energy into their sword to form sword qi would see it dissipate like heat haze.
"Geomhu, you nearly fell victim to san-gong-dok yourself, didn't you?"
"I did."
"How did you handle it?"
"Endure until the poison cleared, or refine my qi so thoroughly that the toxin couldn't disrupt it."
"Exactly. San-gong-dok... surprisingly, doesn't work as well as you'd think."
Could a poison truly affect inner energy? It had to be something else masquerading as poison, not the substance itself.
"If something that profoundly affects the body is poison, then what of aphrodisiacs?"
"......"
Geomhu scowled at the Sword Saint's question.
"Back when you were... Geomhui, the Central Plains were overrun with lechers using aphrodisiacs to rape women."
"True enough. Ancient history now, but I once joined your mother in crushing a band of them."
Geomhu gazed wistfully at her sword, fiddling with it.
"As the one who slew more lechers than anyone in the Central Plains, I can say this with certainty: san-gong-dok can be suppressed with inner strength, but aphrodisiacs? Impossible."
"......Even for you, Geomhu?"
"Of course."
Geomhu extended her hand forward.
"Can't you feel it? Thanks to tasting this aphrodisiac, my body now craves a man."
"You don't look it at all."
"That's how deep my cultivation runs."
Geomhu clasped her hands below her lower abdomen, like a Buddha assuming the lotus position.
"No woman—no being—can escape an aphrodisiac. A deadly toxin might be rejected by the body, but this is just a pure stimulant."
"It ignites desires in a specific direction uncontrollably, potentially leading to relations with someone unwanted. That's why the Central Plains call it 'poison'."
The Sword Saint focused his energy on the aphrodisiac, igniting it with samadhi true fire.
Whoosh.
"Even without inner energy like this, just burning it in a regular fire lets the smoke seep into the nose, drowning you in ecstasy instantly. A highly dangerous drug."
"...Sword Saint."
"And now, these aphrodisiacs are circulating near the Moyong estate."
The Sword Saint clenched his fist tight.
"At first, it probably wasn't aimed at the Moyong Sega. It was just... with so many women from the Central Plains gathered here for my daughter's final-day celebration."
"Targeting other female experts?"
"They'll chat over drinks, slip it into cups unnoticed, wait for stupor to set in, then drag them to an inn rest area for forced acts."
"......"
Geomhu gave a bitter smile.
"Call it young love, or the so-called righteous successors of sects and clans abusing their prestige for schemes."
"Moyong doesn't stoop to that. And we won't sit idle."
The Sword Saint's eyes widened as he growled.
"If aphrodisiacs can't be suppressed by any means, then eliminate everyone scheming to use them. Geomhu, you handle it."
"Me?"
"Yes. You're not Geomhu now—you're Geomhui."
"......"
Geomhu furrowed her brows briefly.
"You don't mean... have me play bait for these would-be lechers using aphrodisiacs?"
"They'll target my daughter, but their eyes might wander to others for aphrodisiac fun."
"Me?"
"Yes. Those trying to use aphrodisiacs..."
The Sword Saint mimed a chopping hand strike toward his groin.
"Cut them all off. Just like you did in the past, Geomhu."
"Geomhu lopped off their heads."
"Whether direct disciples or successors, you'll rack up new feats eliminating these emerging lechers across the Central Plains. Aren't you curious, Geomhu? Will the world recognize you, or see you as Geomhu's hidden disciple—a new flower of the martial world?"
"...Heh heh heh."
Geomhu chuckled lowly.
"Fine. Only I can properly counter aphrodisiacs. Because in the end, an aphrodisiac..."
Crunch.
"Once affected, there are only two solutions. Endure the twisting ecstasy of pleasure and master the desire yourself..."
Geomhu pointed beyond the wall, toward the medical hall.
"Or adapt to the desire alongside the aphrodisiac."
"......"
"In that sense, their actions are right. Immunity to all poisons doesn't come from nowhere—it's built from experiencing countless toxins. Oh, but speaking of..."
Geomhu tilted her head curiously.
"You said to cut off everyone using aphrodisiacs, but what about Physician Seok over there?"
"That's different."
The Sword Saint drew a firm line, his face serious.
"Those lust-maddened lechers outside are forcing women with aphrodisiacs, but Physician Seok is preparing so my daughter won't suffer if someone slips her one against her will."
"...The son-in-law gets the benefit of the doubt?"
"It's called an aphrodisiac, not aphro< em>poison. How can we fault a pharmacist handling medicine?"
"Hm. Still."
Geomhu spoke cautiously.
"I've killed countless lechers using aphrodisiacs, but about one in a thousand were no lechers."
"......"
"Your wife—"
"Enough."
The Sword Saint cut her off.
"That story..."
"Disguised it as an aphrodisiac attack to pounce on you, didn't she?"
"She didn't pounce on me."
The Sword Saint sliced through her words sharply, drawing another line.
"I rescued her from aphrodisiac poisoning."
"...That's my point. Women hit by aphrodisiacs, unless resolved through yin-yang union, accumulate excess yin qi, putting them in peril."
Unneutralized yin qi surging from desire builds up inside.
"And if such a woman later bears a child, the suppressed yin from the aphrodisiac affects the offspring."
"......"
"That was the Murim Alliance Leader's conclusion on the 'Blocked Meridian Syndrome epidemic': yin qi that should dissipate lingers, passing its curse to the child."
Once upon a time, countless Central Plains women fell to aphrodisiacs. Instead of the surefire yin-yang union, elders from clans and sects doused them with cold water or sealed their acupoints to preserve chastity—brutal methods.
"...Not my fault, but it still weighs on me."
Like Geomhu, they endured through sheer willpower. Central Plains women gritted their teeth and bore it.
"Compared to that era, your daughter is truly blessed, Sword Saint. At least if poisoned by aphrodisiac, her betrothed can resolve the yin qi right away."
"Mm."
The Sword Saint nodded vigorously, then pouted discontentedly.
"But what about women who deliberately poison themselves with aphrodisiacs in Moyong territory, then shove their yin-qi-ridden bodies at my son-in-law?"
He raised his hand.
"'He's a martial hero, show restraint. The world's greatest can't just shed blood.' How long must I endure that nonsense?"
"Well—"
"How long must Moyong tolerate insults from martial world's rabble hiding behind 'hero' labels... Ha."
About to unleash a storm, the Sword Saint smirked instead.
"As expected of my daughter."
"......?"
"Geomhu. Looks like the women of the Jade Sword Sect... will self-destruct."
"Self-destruct?"
"More precisely..."
The Sword Saint mimed slitting his throat.
"Seol seems to have found a way to counter aphrodisiacs..."
He covered his face with his hand.
"Ha."
"Physician."
"Speak, little one."
"Isn't the way to counter aphrodisiacs just to always carry some on you?"
"What nonsense is that?"
"Simple logic."
Moyong Seol gazed at me with an enlightened expression.
"If your body's always buzzing from aphrodisiacs, suddenly ingesting more won't do a thing!"
"Is that even possible—"
Ah.
"Now, open wide. Ahh~."
"......"
I got sucked in.