Chapter 149
Chapter 149
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 43
>Chapter Title: Repayment (2)
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“But what exactly is this item that the Ghost Sword gave to you, sir?”
He had said there was no reason to fight Island Poison King Baek Sa-ha after handing it over.
What on earth had he given?
Baek Sa-ha let out a faint sigh at Mok Kyung-un’s question before answering.
“Hoo. The Leader’s plaque.”
‘!?’
The Leader’s plaque?
Mok Kyung-un furrowed his brow at those words.
He had thought perhaps the Ghost Sword had no connection to the Heavenly Alliance after all from Baek Sa-ha’s words, but this changed everything.
“...So if he gave you the Leader’s plaque, does that mean the Ghost Sword is connected to the Leader?”
“This old man doesn’t know for certain either.”
“Doesn’t know for certain?”
“It means there’s no way to know if he has some tie to the Leader or what kind of instructions he received from him.”
It was a vague answer.
Mok Kyung-un pressed further.
“Then did you deliver the plaque to the Leader as the Ghost Sword requested?”
“Yes. I did.”
“May I ask what the Leader said?”
“Nothing.”
“Pardon?”
He had delivered it, but there was no reaction at all?
As Mok Kyung-un looked puzzled, Baek Sa-ha placed a light hand on his shoulder and said,
“The Leader’s only words were these.”
“These?”
“He commanded this old man not to speak a word of everything I learned while crossing swords with the Ghost Sword. That includes the plaque, of course.”
“......”
“Now do you understand why this old man told you not to let what you heard here slip out?”
It had all been by the Leader’s command.
The clash with the Ghost Sword had been humiliating for Island Poison King Baek Sa-ha as well, so their intentions aligned, and it had remained a well-kept secret until now.
‘The Leader......’
Mok Kyung-un’s gaze grew heavier.
He had tried to learn the Ghost Sword’s identity through Baek Sa-ha, but instead, he only discovered the close connection between him and the Heavenly Alliance Leader.
Cheong-ryeong, who had been listening to the story alongside him, inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.
‘It’s unfortunate, but fortunate for this Venerable in a way.’
She had worried that if the link between the Ghost Sword and the Heavenly Alliance vanished, Mok Kyung-un might leave this place.
But by coincidence, the connection to the Leader made his reason to stay here all the clearer.
It was a fortunate turn for Cheong-ryeong.
-In the end, your goals and this Venerable’s align to some extent.
-......Yes.
Mok Kyung-un’s eyes cooled coldly.
Things had grown more complicated.
He had hoped for a more straightforward clue about the culprit, but now he knew the Leader might be involved as well.
‘The clue is the Leader.’
He was connected to the Ghost Sword, who might have killed Grandfather.
It was from seventeen years ago, so the direct link was unclear, but one thing was certain: he knew about the Ghost Sword.
That meant he needed a way to contact the Leader.
The problem was that meeting the Leader was incomparable to meeting Island Poison King Baek Sa-ha.
He was the head of the Heavenly Alliance and one of the Six Heavens, called the pinnacle of the current martial world.
‘......I need a way to make contact.’
Nothing came to mind right now.
Baek Sa-ha at least had the excuse of the three senior plaques, but the Leader was different.
There was no natural pretext for close contact.
‘Hmm.’
As his mind filled with these thoughts, Baek Sa-ha spoke.
“Why no reply?”
“Pardon?”
“As a member of the Alliance, didn’t I say you mustn’t speak of it either?”
“Ah, yes. Of course.”
Baek Sa-ha eyed Mok Kyung-un suspiciously at his response.
He had broken the Leader’s command not to speak out of their agreement, yet Mok Kyung-un’s reaction suggested some connection to the Ghost Sword.
Baek Sa-ha cautioned him earnestly.
“I told you only because of our agreement, but it would be best for your own sake not to dig deeper into the Ghost Sword.”
“......”
“Besides, he vanished seventeen years ago. Whether it’s a good connection or a bad one, it’s best to forget him now.”
Vanished.
That remained to be seen.
The mark left on the late Grandfather’s corpse was connected to the Ghost Sword, after all.
In any case, Mok Kyung-un clasped his hands politely at Baek Sa-ha’s advice.
“I will keep it in mind.”
“Even if empty words, I hope you mean them.”
“How could I offer empty words to advice from you, sir?”
“Keuk. You have a way with words.”
“Thanks to you, my curiosity is satisfied, and you’ve obtained what you desired, so I shall return to the Dark Sect now.”
Mok Kyung-un had no further business with Island Poison King Baek Sa-ha.
‘What?’
Baek Sa-ha’s eyes gleamed at his words.
He had broken the Leader’s command not to speak, but this hardly counted as repayment.
And now he planned to just leave?
“Truly a peculiar fellow.”
“Pardon?”
“You came here just to satisfy that curiosity?”
“Ah, well......”
“You didn’t come to seek instruction from this old man.”
“......”
“Kuhahaha! What kind of fellow is this? Using the senior plaques of Blood River Valley merely as an excuse to meet this old man.”
Island Poison King Baek Sa-ha clutched his belly and burst into wild laughter.
Mok Kyung-un, bearing the senior plaques of Blood River Valley, had the privilege of receiving instruction from him.
Yet he declared he wouldn’t take it and would leave—what insolence.
He hadn’t intended to learn anything from the start.
‘He caught me.’
Mok Kyung-un scratched his head, wondering how to handle this.
Baek Sa-ha finally stopped laughing after a while and said,
“It’s been ages since anyone made this old man laugh.”
“My apologies.”
“What do you have to apologize for? But listen. Since you brought three senior plaques from Blood River Valley, this old man can’t just send you away empty-handed.”
“Send me empty-handed?”
“Naturally, I’ll pass on some martial arts to you.”
“Martial arts?”
“Keuk. Yes.”
“......Then may I ask what you’ll teach me?”
Baek Sa-ha stroked his beard at Mok Kyung-un’s question and replied.
“I’ll teach you poison arts.”
“Poison arts?”
“You seem to have become a poison master yet know nothing of poison arts. Who taught you about poisons?”
“......Just picked it up glancingly from physicians and apothecaries.”
Island Poison King Baek Sa-ha snorted at Mok Kyung-un’s words.
What did this brat take him for, saying such nonsense?
One might barely reach the poison master realm after a lifetime of poison arts cultivation—did he claim to have reached it with superficial knowledge from physicians and apothecaries?
“Hmph! Picked it up glancingly? Don’t talk nonsense.”
“It’s the truth, even if you don’t believe it.”
“Do you think this old man will eat your poison teacher alive just because I know who it is?”
“Well, no.”
“Then why hide it? Is there a reason to conceal it?”
‘Hoo.’
Mok Kyung-un inwardly grew annoyed at the question.
He’d keep prying if he didn’t give a proper answer.
Thus,
“Very well. There’s no need to hide it, so I’ll tell you. My teacher who taught me about herbs and toxic plants has already passed away.”
“What?”
“He passed away.”
“......He’s deceased?”
“Yes.”
“Heh.”
Baek Sa-ha let out a small sigh.
He had been genuinely curious who made Mok Kyung-un a poison master.
But from Mok Kyung-un’s tone and the faint grief in his eyes, it didn’t seem like a lie.
‘......It must be true.’
“Ahem. I don’t know who it was, but anyone skilled enough in poisons to make you a poison master without teaching arts must have been extraordinary. Even the Sacheon Tang Clan or the Gooyang Clan would envy......”
In that moment, a certain nickname flashed through Baek Sa-ha’s mind.
‘Sea Ying Apothecary Immortal?’
Until now, he had considered only his Baek Clan, the Sacheon Tang Clan, and the Gooyang Clan the pinnacle of poison arts in the Central Plains.
Yet the one who had inflicted a severe poison wound on the Ghost Sword seventeen years ago.
That person was called the Sea Ying Apothecary Immortal.
When one reaches the highest realm in a field, they naturally become proficient in opposing aspects as well.
Baek Sa-ha himself was a master of pharmacology, wasn’t he?
Poison arts might have been the same for the Sea Ying Apothecary Immortal.
‘Hmm.’
Baek Sa-ha stared piercingly at Mok Kyung-un’s face.
Then he shook his head.
‘Yes. It couldn’t be.’
No matter how he thought about it, this fellow and the Sea Ying Apothecary Immortal didn’t connect.
Then what was that person’s true identity?
For now, this stubborn brat didn’t seem inclined to reveal it.
‘I’ll uncover it in time.’
Hiding his inner thoughts, Baek Sa-ha said,
“Keuk, in any case, if you learn poison arts from this old man, you’ll be able to fully utilize the poison within you.”
“Fully utilize the poison......”
“Yes. Shall we see if you can learn properly?”
At his question, Mok Kyung-un formed a fist salute and said,
“How could I refuse your generosity, sir? If you bestow instruction, I’ll learn with all my effort.”
There was no reason to refuse.
Learning poison arts wouldn’t hurt.
Then Baek Sa-ha suddenly asked Mok Kyung-un something.
“But what was that you fed this old man earlier? Wasn’t it some spirit elixir?”
“You mean the Heaven-Earth Pill.”
“Ah. So it was.”
Baek Sa-ha clicked his tongue as he looked at Mok Kyung-un.
Even if it was to save him, spirit elixirs were treasures no different to a martial artist.
Yet he had used it without hesitation on someone who might have died?
It could have been wasted if he truly perished.
This fellow was truly hard to fathom.
“You’ve piled a great debt upon me.”
“Please don’t think of it as a debt.”
“No. It is a debt.”
“......If you insist. Then will you repay it?”
“Of course. This old man never lets debts slide.”
“Is that so? Then how do you plan to repay it?”
“As it’s equivalent exchange, I’ll give you a special spirit elixir from my clan.”
“A spirit elixir?”
Repaying elixir with elixir.
It made sense.
“I’ll gratefully accept if you give it.”
“But there’s a condition.”
“......You sure have a lot of conditions.”
“It’s not a bad one at all. If you promise not to speak of this elixir to others, I’ll give you two.”
“Two?”
“Yes. Not bad, eh?”
Mok Kyung-un couldn’t hide his puzzlement at those words.
He had used only one elixir, yet two in exchange for silence—why refuse?
“It’s fine for me, but are you sure?”
“Keuk. If it weren’t, you wouldn’t take it?”
“Of course not.”
“Naturally. The elixir I’ll give you is the Dragon Ascension Pill, made by this old man’s father and founder of our clan, Baek Yu-gong. In some ways, it far surpasses the Heaven-Earth Pill.”
“Far surpasses it?”
“Yes. If the Heaven-Earth Pill grants ten to at most fifteen years of internal energy, our clan’s Dragon Ascension Pill can grant up to twenty years if absorbed efficiently.”
‘!?’
Mok Kyung-un’s eyes gleamed at his words.
If Baek Sa-ha was correct, it was far superior to the Heaven-Earth Pill.
“......I understand why you want it kept secret.”
“Yes. But it’s not unconditionally good.”
“Why not?”
“The Dragon Ascension Pill has far stronger resistance than the Heaven-Earth Pill, so after the first one, the effect drops sharply for subsequent pills.”
“Ah......”
“Keuk, don’t be disappointed. Even if I assist with Push Palace Pass Points for the second pill, you can still gain nearly ten years of internal energy.”
‘Ten years.’
If he was right, even with a high expert’s aid in absorption, the effect halved for the second pill.
Absorbing it alone would be even less efficient, so he understood why it wasn’t purely beneficial.
However,
‘It’s useless to me anyway.’
Spirit elixirs held no meaning or effect for Mok Kyung-un, who wielded deathly qi.
They would only be useful in situations like this one.
* * *
‘Damn it.’
Jang Neung-ak, the Leader’s second disciple, who had barely dispelled the poison qi, couldn’t hide his rage.
What disgrace was this?
He hadn’t expected to kneel, unable to withstand Island Poison King’s poison qi even briefly.
Fortunately, his third junior, Wi So-yeon, seemed to have been caught in the poison qi and circulating energy as well.
What irritated him was that she had dispelled it before him.
Her internal energy far outstripped his.
‘Damn wench.’
Why did the gap keep widening?
He even worried she might reach a level he couldn’t rival.
He might need to act before then.
But another matter took priority.
“Is Island Poison King still inside?”
Jang Neung-ak asked Baek Sa-ha’s second son, Baek So-gang.
Baek So-gang nodded in reply.
“Yes.”
“......I need to speak with him again.”
“You must wait for now.”
“Wait? What do you mean?”
“Father is currently speaking with the Dark Sect successor.”
“What?”
Jang Neung-ak frowned and glanced at the stone wall entrance.
Did that mean Mok Kyung-un had endured that immense poison qi and entered?
What the hell?
No matter how versed the brat was in poisons, how could he withstand the poison from a poison arts master like Island Poison King?
He wasn’t the only one puzzled.
‘Mok Kyung-un.’
Wi So-yeon, who had dispelled the poison first, was equally shocked to hear Mok Kyung-un was inside the training chamber.
His internal energy and martial skill were several levels below theirs—how was this possible?
It was then.
-Kurrrr!
The sealed stone door opened, and someone emerged.
Wi So-yeon, spotting the figure at the entrance, panicked and turned her head aside.
‘Wh-why?’
It was because Island Poison King Baek Sa-ha emerged with his clothes nearly melted off, nearly naked.
“Father!”
Baek So-gang’s eyes widened at Baek Sa-ha’s state. He rushed to his side, asking in a trembling voice,
“Ar-Are...... your legs alright?”
“Keuk, can’t you see?”
Baek So-gang was overcome with emotion seeing his father standing firmly on both legs.
Hadn’t his lower body been paralyzed from failing to reach the eighth layer of Poison Demon Scripture?
Then he noticed the change in his father.
“Huh? F-Father...... could it be...... you’ve undergone bone transformation?”
“Bone transformation!?”
Jang Neung-ak also stared wide-eyed at Baek Sa-ha.
His face looked rejuvenated by nearly thirty years, completely different from before.
With his melted clothes, it truly seemed like bone transformation.
That meant,
‘He’s broken through the wall?’
A new Transformation Realm master had been born in the Heavenly Alliance.
Wi So-yeon, who had been stealing glances at the naked Baek Sa-ha, hurriedly clasped her hands and said,
“Congratulations on attaining Great Achievement!”
“C-Congratulations on attaining Great Achievement, sir.”
Jang Neung-ak, stunned speechless, followed suit in congratulating Island Poison King Baek Sa-ha.
His mind grew immensely complicated.
Now he couldn’t afford to lose support from Island Poison King Baek Sa-ha.
Already a poison arts master, and now reaching Transformation Realm on top—he had to pull him to his side somehow.
But then,
“Keukeuk, it’s merely a modest achievement, yet you all congratulate me so—truly grateful.”
“How could that be merely modest, Father? Sincere congratulations on attaining Great Achievement!”
“Thank you. But with clothes like this, it’s quite undignified.”
“Ah!”
At Baek Sa-ha’s words, second son Baek So-gang hastily removed his outer robe and handed it to his father.
Baek Sa-ha took it and tied the sleeve around his waist to cover vital areas as best he could.
Jang Neung-ak, seeing this, seized the chance.
“Sir, how can we let such a day pass plainly? Rather than this, let’s go out and celebrate your Great Achievement......”
“It’s fine.”
“Pardon? But......”
“I appreciate the congratulations on my achievement, but didn’t we conclude our business earlier?”
“What do you mean?”
“Didn’t we agree earlier? If you could raise this old man, I’d support you.”
“......”
Jang Neung-ak was at a loss for words at Baek Sa-ha’s statement.
He had thought the good mood from achieving Great Achievement would let him seize the opportunity.
But to think he’d draw the line with that earlier matter.
“Sir......”
“A man’s word is gold. This old man doesn’t go back on his word.”
‘Damn it. This stubborn old fool......’
Jang Neung-ak burned with anger but couldn’t show it.
Baek Sa-ha’s aura, already strong, had surged to an incomparable height.
Now he couldn’t even gauge the gap.
‘......What to do?’
Jang Neung-ak wasn’t the only one troubled by Baek Sa-ha’s firm stance.
Third disciple Wi So-yeon fell into thought as well.
Miss this chance, and persuading him would become remote.
-Tap tap!
Then, Island Poison King Baek Sa-ha patted his second son Baek So-gang’s shoulder, nodding toward Mok Kyung-un standing behind.
“From today, this child is this old man’s formal disciple and a new member of our clan. Treat him like a blood brother.”
‘!?’