Chapter 42: Siblings (3)
Chapter 42
Siblings (3)
The deeper they ventured into the mine, the more potent the poisonous miasma became.
An ordinary martial artist would have collapsed instantly just from inhaling the air, teetering on the brink of death.
And that meant only one thing—
For Tang Se-rin, it was practically a feast.
Ah, how sweet.
She felt an exquisite sweetness, as if she had stuffed her mouth full of the finest Tang Clan candies.
Whoosh!
In an instant, the swirling miasma of poison filling the mine shaft was being drawn into her body like a vortex.
The Poison Heart Technique that Se-woon had modified—
No, it should now be called the Poison Cloud Technique, named after her brother—was absorbing all the unknown toxins and funneling them directly into her dantian.
Tang Se-rin, walking through this terrifying poison, was growing stronger in real time.
It feels like I'm swallowing the roots of Hundred-Year Snow Ginseng one after another.
The Poison Cloud Technique was extraordinary.
Not only could it absorb an unimaginable amount of poison, but it also stored half of it for later use as a weapon while converting the other half into internal energy—internal energy—that could be applied to other martial arts.
An absolutely absurd ability.
At this rate...!
Suddenly, a glimmer flashed in Se-rin's eyes.
She had a premonition—she might finally break through the bottleneck that had held her back for so long.
She was now thirty years old, yet she had remained stagnant at the threshold of the peak realm.
Compared to martial artists of her generation, she wasn't lacking, but—
Considering that she had once stood at the pinnacle of the younger generation's prodigies, even becoming one of the Nine Dragons and Four Phoenixes, it was undeniably frustrating.
But it wasn't due to any lack of effort on her part.
In fact, Se-rin had trained so relentlessly that it shocked those who witnessed it.
The problem lay in the inherent limitations of poison-based martial arts—once a bottleneck appeared, breaking through was extremely difficult.
Compounding that was the Tang Clan's financial struggles, which made it impossible to procure the rare poisonous materials or higher-level poison techniques needed to overcome that bottleneck.
So, she had reluctantly resigned herself to focusing on developing her hidden weapon techniques instead, hoping to make progress later in life.
But now—
I can see it...!
The threshold to the Extreme realm—beyond mastery—was right within her grasp.
Thud.
Suddenly, she stopped walking.
Unbeknownst to herself, she had closed her eyes and entered a state of self-forgetfulness—a trance-like focus where even one's own existence is momentarily lost.
Se-woon noticed the change and quickly took the torch from her hand, placing it on the ground.
Whoosh!
A dark emerald aura began swirling violently around Se-rin's entire body.
All the insights needed to reach the Extreme realm were already within her.
The only thing lacking was the sheer volume of poison and internal energy.
Huff.
Se-woon placed a hand on her back.
A stream of golden Warm Qi flowed from his meridians into hers.
Feeling the warmth seep into her, a faint smile appeared on Se-rin's face.
...So warm.
Like her brother's kindness, the gentle energy flowed slowly through her veins, reminiscent of a spring breeze.
Just as Abbess Abbess Geumhwa had done for Se-woon, he was now assisting his sister in breaking through to the next realm.
Swoosh!
The golden Warm Qi, capable of harmonizing all energies, spread throughout her body, doing its utmost to help her shatter the barrier.
BOOM!
BOOM!
A deafening roar echoed in Se-rin's ears, as if a battering ram was slamming against an enormous fortress wall.
Each time the sound reverberated, her face twisted in pain, but—
Just a little more...!
She refused to give up.
This was an opportunity created by none other than her own brother.
She couldn't let this priceless moment slip away.
Gritting her teeth, Se-rin endured the agony.
And finally—
CRACK!
A sound like a dam bursting erupted, followed by a torrential surge.
WHOOSH!
Simultaneously, the dark emerald aura around her body blazed even more brilliantly.
The overwhelming poison energy swirling around Tang Se-rin had unmistakably surpassed mastery and reached the Extreme realm.
The first to realize her own breakthrough, Se-rin couldn't suppress the surge of emotion welling up inside her.
How happy Father and Mother would be...
She remembered how her parents had always blamed themselves, apologizing for not being able to help her despite their own struggles.
"Phew."
"Congratulations, Sister!"
When Se-rin opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Se-woon's radiant smile.
He was overjoyed, as if it were his own achievement.
"Haha, now you're officially the strongest in the Tang Clan."
"...Thank you, Se-woon. This is all because of you."
"Oh, come on, you have nothing to thank me for. This was entirely your own effort."
Se-rin shook her head firmly at his words.
"No. This was something I could never have achieved alone. I truly mean it—thank you."
"Ugh, stop saying that. You're making me blush."
She wanted to express her gratitude a hundred, no, a thousand times over, but—
Se-woon waved his hands dismissively, insisting that this was only natural between family.
His flustered reaction was so adorable that she couldn't help but chuckle.
Despite Se-rin's breakthrough, the two still didn't leave the abandoned mine.
There's still more to gain here.
Se-woon insisted on continuing their exploration.
Had this been before reaching the Extreme realm, Se-rin would have tried to persuade him to leave.
But now, her mindset had completely changed.
There's something at the end of this tunnel.
With her heightened senses, she could feel it—
An overwhelming presence radiating a poison so potent it seemed to concentrate all the toxins they had encountered thus far.
And that, she realized, was the true reason Se-woon had demanded this mine as his reward.
Se-rin's expression hardened.
The surroundings were littered with nothing but ore fragments.
So where was this poison coming from?
No ordinary poisonous herb or flower could emit such a terrifying miasma.
If something was capable of releasing poison of this magnitude—
...It must be a Poison Beast nesting here.
Poison Beasts—
Creatures that either naturally carried venom or could wield it at will.
Most were ferocious by nature, requiring life-or-death combat to subdue.
Yet despite the danger, she agreed with Se-woon's decision to press forward for one reason:
If we can obtain its core and poison energy, we might be able to cure Se-woon's congenital disability.
The Poison Cloud Technique had allowed her to break through the bottleneck of the Extreme realm in one go.
If they could harness the core of a Poison Beast brimming with such potent poison, perhaps it could sever the chains of suffering that had bound Se-woon his entire life.
She also suspected that Se-woon had brought her here precisely for this purpose.
But she didn't consider her brother's wish selfish in the slightest.
If there was hope of freeing him from the shackles that had tormented him since birth, of course she would help.
Now, I'm strong enough to make it happen.
Moreover, having reached the Extreme realm, she was brimming with confidence like never before.
(Though, of course, this was entirely her own misunderstanding.)
Thud.
Eventually, the two arrived at the mine's deepest point.
Se-rin, gripping her iron fan—her primary weapon—coated in poison, cautiously stepped forward with tense vigilance—
"...Huh?"
Only for her expression to falter in bewilderment.
There was no Poison Beast.
No, not just that—
There were no poisonous herbs, no flowers, nothing at all.
Just a dead end, with no further path ahead.
"...What is this?"
As Se-rin blinked in confusion at the unexpected situation—
"Found it."
"—!"
Se-woon spoke abruptly.
Before she could stop him, he strode confidently toward one spot, a bright smile on his face.
Following his gaze, Se-rin saw—
...Fragments?
A pile of discarded mineral shards and debris, leftovers from the miners' excavations.
Se-woon hadn't demanded this mine as a reward for a Poison Beast or rare herbs.
His goal was something the miners had treated as worthless waste—
Black Waste Ore.
True to its name, Black Waste Ore was a mineral nobody paid attention to.
But in his past life, Se-woon had used it to replace half of the Eight Great Extreme Poisons with his own newly crafted toxins.
At this point, mineral-based poison hasn't been discovered yet.
He was the first to reveal to the martial world that minerals—not just beasts or plants—could harbor poisons rivaling the Eight Great Extreme Poisons.
Black Waste Ore emitted extreme toxicity after being exposed to air for over a decade or when forcibly infused with internal energy.
While its raw poison couldn't surpass any single one of the Eight Great Extreme Poisons in potency—
When mixed with other poison ingredients, it transforms into entirely new toxins with endlessly variable properties.
A blank canvas capable of becoming the foundation for any new poison.
That was Black Waste Ore.
Originally, Se-woon had claimed this mine to develop his poison techniques using the ore.
But now that he possessed the supreme poison Angsinru, its role had shifted.
Now, it's not just about me—the entire Tang Clan of Sichuan must grow stronger.
To survive the coming war with the Blood Cult, his strength alone wouldn't be enough.
As the first step in that plan, he had elevated his sister to the Extreme realm.
And now, Black Waste Ore would be the trump card to rapidly boost the Tang Clan's currently lacking poison techniques.
Listening to Se-woon's explanation, Se-rin's eyes gleamed as she grasped its value.
Mineral-based poison was the perfect resource for the Tang Clan's current situation.
Harvesting or cultivating poisonous herbs required too much time and money.
Capturing or slaying Poison Beasts came with heavy sacrifices and casualties.
But Black Waste Ore?
All they needed was a simple pickaxe to extract it.
Nodding repeatedly, Se-rin couldn't help but marvel.
"This is astonishing. I had no idea mineral poison even existed."
"That's understandable. I only knew about Black Waste Ore from texts—this is my first time seeing it in person."
"But Se-woon, how did you know this mine contained Black Waste Ore?"
"I learned about it by chance from a patient who visited the Medical Hall."
"A patient?"
Without batting an eye, Se-woon smoothly recited the excuse he had prepared.
Among the patients he had treated was an elderly miner.
He detected traces of long-accumulated poison in the old man's body.
After analyzing it, he recognized it as the toxin of Black Waste Ore, something he had only read about.
After curing the man with an antidote, he asked which mine he had worked in.
And that was how he learned of this abandoned mine in Wol Mountain.
"My, your insight is truly remarkable, Se-woon."
"I was just lucky."
"I can't imagine how happy Father will be when he hears this."
"Right? Then shall we get started?"
"...?"
Started with what?
As Se-rin tilted her head in confusion—
Swish.
Se-woon suddenly bent down, picked up a shovel and a burlap sack, and handed them to her.
"...What's this for?"
"Right now, only you and I can withstand the poison emitted by Black Waste Ore."
The moment she heard those words, an ominous premonition crept over her.
The exposed Black Waste Ore had to be collected and stored separately—
Otherwise, the Tang Clan members who came to retrieve it would succumb to poisoning.
Which left only one solution.
"Come on, Sister. Who digs with just a shovel? Here, follow my lead."
"......"
She made a firm resolution.
From now on, she would never agree to any outings her brother suggested.
The Hegemon of Sichuan indeed.