Chapter 78
Chapter 78
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 78
Chapter Title: Hand Over the Heavenly Poison Pill (2)
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Blood Hand Myriad Poison Spider.
In simple terms, it was a venomous spider whose legs were blood-red as if soaked in blood, hence the name.
Of course, it wasn't some humble spider that spun its web in the corner of an uncleaned window.
It was a type of large spider known as a bird-catching spider, one that preyed on small animals.
'In the original story, the adult size was described as about the size of an adult man's palm.'
According to the original work, its natural habitat was deep within the savage beast forests of the Southern Barbaric Regions, and it was depicted as an extremely rare species with very few individuals.
'Rare, and venomous, making it hard to capture in the first place.'
On top of that, it had many uses.
The first use was as an ornamental pet for very, very noble figures. The second was none other than as food.
'They say it tastes like lobster when grilled?'
How did they even think to try eating that?
Anyway, when grilled over fire, most of the spider's deadly venom dissipates, leaving behind its inner core. If a martial artist consumes that core, they gain about ten years' worth of internal energy. If an ordinary person takes it...
'It's an aphrodisiac.'
Something incredibly beneficial for men, with effects that are hard to put into words.
'No wonder there aren't any left.'
Well, anyway.
Tang Ok-gi planned to use the Blood Hand Myriad Poison Spider to complete her research. She might not be certain if her research would succeed or fail, but she clearly knew it required the spider.
When I offered to buy it for her, Tang Ok-gi's grip on the wooden box visibly loosened for a moment.
I didn't miss that instant and snatched the box from her hand.
Then I checked its contents.
Click-
A cyan-purple elixir that pungently carried a sharp, acrid scent of poison.
'Heavenly Poison Pill.'
Its appearance made my mouth fall open unwittingly.
"Exquisite."
That was when it happened.
As I admired the Heavenly Poison Pill's form.
Tang Ok-gi suddenly furrowed her brows crookedly and opened her mouth.
"W-Wait a second."
She reached out a pale hand toward the Heavenly Poison Pill.
But I didn't allow her approach.
"Where do you think you're going."
I quickly closed the wooden box and elegantly brushed aside Tang Ok-gi's hand.
Then I stretched my right arm high up, placing the box out of her easy reach, and finally scowled as I spoke properly.
"Trying to touch someone else's property."
"Why is it someone else's?! It was originally mine!"
"Ok-gi, if you give something away, it's gone. Don't you know that saying?"
At my words, Tang Ok-gi bit her lip and huffed in anger.
"O-Ok-gi...?"
I could tease her all day if I wanted, but as the saying went, once given, it was gone. The Heavenly Poison Pill was already in my hands.
Even if there were other elixirs to suppress its poison, I couldn't let my guard down.
'Tang Ok-gi didn't bring her medical kit for nothing.'
The Heavenly Poison Pill was the type that required monitoring until the end.
There was no reason to provoke her further and make her sulk.
Above all, Tang Ok-gi was someone I needed to keep around to see this world's end.
'There must be a reason she's suddenly acting like this.'
To ask that reason, I opened my mouth.
"Why give it and then try to take it back all of a sudden?"
"Because I suddenly feel like I got scammed."
At Tang Ok-gi's words, my master spoke from my waist pouch.
- The Tang Clan kid has finally seen through your true nature. Tsk tsk. She realized it faster than I did after entering the sword, but even that's too late. She should have realized before the Heavenly Poison Pill fell into your hands. Pitiful child.
'...?'
- Whatever.
Ahem.
Pretending I hadn't heard my master's words clearly.
I pressed Tang Ok-gi.
"Why do you feel that way?"
"Well, didn't you clearly say you had nothing and that's why your research was stuck? Right?"
"I did."
"And then a bit later, you said you had enough money to buy it and even knew where to get it. How do you know the price without knowing the name of the Blood Hand Myriad Poison Spider, and how do you know where to buy it?"
Hearing it, it wasn't incomprehensible.
Even an ordinary person would think, 'Huh?' Plenty of reason for suspicion. For someone from the Sichuan Tang Clan, where suspicion was ingrained like a serpent in the chest, it was natural.
Recalling our first meeting where she immediately brandished hidden weapons with a growl upon suspicion, this was actually progress.
Well, anyway.
If that was her reason, it was nothing much.
I chuckled and spoke.
"I misspoke."
Then Tang Ok-gi twisted her lips upward with a ha! and, for the first time in a while, wore a triumphant expression as she replied.
"See? You tricked me, didn't you? You don't even know the price and just threw it out there, right? It's shameless, but if you admit it was just bluffing, I'll let it slide this once. We can share some braised pork and spicy chicken feet; we've built some rapport."
"Whether it's that price or not, I can buy it."
"...?"
"That's how I should have said it. I misspoke."
"...Hm? Saying you can buy it no matter the price means..."
"Yeah. I've got money."
Well, saying I can buy it no matter the price might be a bluff, as Tang Ok-gi put it.
If the price was absurdly high, I couldn't buy it.
For example, if it went for one hundred million taels, an absurd amount, I couldn't.
So it was a bluff.
But a necessary one.
It was a bluff to steer Tang Ok-gi's suspicions away from how I knew about the Blood Hand Myriad Poison Spider and that she needed it exactly, narrowing it to whether I could afford it or not.
And it was a bluff backed by knowledge from the original story of how much a Blood Hand Myriad Poison Spider traded for.
'A live breeding pair went for around six hundred gold taels at auction, right?'
The protagonist's generation pooled their money to scrape together six hundred gold taels to acquire one.
But the actual auction price ended up much higher, and as Tang Ok-gi panicked about how last year it traded at six hundred—which was already expensive—Yin Ha-ryeon stepped in to resolve it. That's how it unfolded.
Well, anyway.
That wasn't the point.
I'd received a thousand gold taels from saving Yin Ha-ryeon, and there were profits from various dealings since then.
'Plus a thousand gold taels as consultation fee from Southern Jiang Merchant King Eun Se-pyeong, pocket money from here and there, bounties received, and compensation extorted from various scum under the guise of damages?'
I'd just skimmed through and entrusted it all to Yin Ha-ryeon, so I didn't know the exact figure, but conservatively estimating, my personal wealth easily exceeded three thousand gold taels now.
'At this point, enough to buy at least four Blood Hand Myriad Poison Spiders.'
Thus, I could calmly speak to the shouting Tang Ok-gi.
"How much is it?"
"Ugh. The price difference between dead and live ones is about tenfold? But I need live ones, and a breeding pair at that."
"So, how much?"
"...Um. Three to four hundred gold taels? If bidding heats up, it could go to five or six hundred?"
"My personal wealth alone is three thousand gold taels."
"...? T-Three thousand? Gold taels, not silver?"
"Gold taels."
"L-Liar. How can a scoundrel kicked out of his family have that much money?!"
"And how can the Tang Clan's disgraced daughter be so broke?!"
"Kyaaah!"
No need for detailed explanations.
"I don't have to explain why I have money, and why lie about something you'd find out immediately by checking the arena in front of the academy? I get that you Fragrance Orchid Hall guys are cautious living on the fringes, but still."
"......"
"Trust me a little."
"...W-Who said I don't? If it's a lie, I can just follow you around teasing like you did to me. 'Give me back my spider' and all."
"Do as you like."
Though that would never happen.
"Anyway, I'm going to take the Heavenly Poison Pill now. No more objections?"
"Hey!"
"Ah! What now?!"
"You have to take the Heavenly Poison Pill last! Chew and swallow the others first, then swallow the Heavenly Poison Pill whole without chewing."
That ended the scuffle with Tang Ok-gi.
She explained the proper method of consumption and precautions.
I memorized it all.
Then I chewed and swallowed the elixirs received for my academy sparring injury, and swallowed the Heavenly Poison Pill whole.
"!"
The Heavenly Poison Pill was a bit smaller than the others.
But as it slid down my throat, its searing poison scorched my gullet, feeling like I'd swallowed a dried persimmon whole, briefly choking me.
'This thing has a nasty temper.'
It was clearly different from the previous elixirs, evident from the first swallow.
But that was just the appetizer.
As it burned down my esophagus and settled in my stomach, the throat burn felt like mere warm-up. It began rampaging wildly through my meridians like a horse with its tail on fire, spewing poison in all directions.
"!"
If I were an ordinary person, I'd have passed out a dozen times by now.
But I wasn't ordinary.
'Listen well, Eon Yong-un. I've never taken the Heavenly Poison Pill this way myself, so this is just my guess, but according to the family medical texts, it's excruciatingly painful.'
I had a knack for enduring pain, and was outright immune on the mental front.
Thus, amid the onslaught of agony, I kept my smile and recalled Tang Ok-gi's words while circulating my energy.
'The texts say to protect your meridians with the power of the prior elixirs and digest the poison within your body to gain about thirty years of internal energy and a body immune to all poisons. But the key is not losing your mind. Even if you expel the poison, the poison immunity remains, so if it's too hard, circulate while expelling. Remember: don't lose your mind.'
Of course.
My master, who had heard Tang Ok-gi from my waist pouch, seemed extremely worried.
- Y-You, you, you. So greedy. This greedy disciple is at it again. Hey, do you know what you look like right now?
'...Whaddya mean whadda I look like...? Whadda I look like?'
- Like a swollen purple toad, you fool! The Tang kid said to expel the poison if it's too hard!
Ah, that explains it.
I'd felt like my whole body was puffy since earlier.
- A little? A lit-tle?!
Anyway, why waste it by expelling, Master!
Each bit is internal energy!
Once it's in my hands, whether item or energy, it becomes mine.
And don't worry too much.
If it's life-threatening, Tang Ok-gi will jab an acupuncture needle into my crown or wherever.
- Because of this brat, I can't even die in peace! Argh!
Hm.
You're already dead, though...?
Well, I didn't point out that minor detail.
Dismissing my master's concerns, I focused entirely on circulating my energy.
How long had I been circulating the mixed energy of Heaven-Splitting internal energy and the elixirs, from head to toe?
The poison rampaging in my meridians seeped sharply into my bones, muscles, and skin in sequence. Then suddenly, the sharpness faded. The puffed-up sensation vanished, a profound energy settled in my dantian, and seamlessly merged with my existing internal energy.
It felt like my internal energy had grown tremendously.
My eyes snapped open.
"!"
Immediately, a burp rose up with a gurgle-, and fearing any energy might escape with it, I hurriedly covered my mouth.
"Mm."
- Just vent that much! Come on!!
Seeing it, my master was utterly exasperated.
Tang Ok-gi widened her eyes and threw a question laden with various doubts.
"A-Are you okay?"
To her question, I immediately replied.
"Guess we'll have to check that."
"Check?"
"Yeah. Don't you always carry poison-dipped needles? Pull one out."