Chapter 51
With the faint scent of plum blossoms seeping into the tip of my nose, my eyelids slowly opened.
“Ugh!”
I stretched out lazily. It felt like I’d slept for days without interruption; my body was strangely refreshed.
“My condition...”
I sat up on the bed and rolled my shoulders, moving my body around lightly.
“Feels incredible.”
I’d thought the Invisible Venom would leave me with internal injuries. But there wasn’t even the slightest trace of that kind of damage, not even the fatigue I’d expected from pushing myself too far.
“Still, I should check properly.”
I crossed my legs and began regulating my breathing, settling into meditation.
This time had truly been dangerous. I’d clearly underestimated the Invisible Venom.
If the sect leaders hadn’t shared their inner force with me, I would have died. And even then, what bothered me was that although I’d received the inner force of two sect leaders, the total amount of my own power hadn’t increased at all.
It seemed all of that inner force had been consumed in neutralizing the Invisible Venom.
“Heh... Still, it wasn’t a complete loss.”
A laugh slipped out before I could stop it. Right then, the door opened.
Clack.
The face that appeared beyond it was Dang Hye’s. With an indifferent expression, she walked toward me.
“Why are you laughing to yourself like that? Did your head finally go completely wrong?”
As she spoke, Dang Hye grabbed my wrist and took my pulse.
“Your body’s fine. And...”
Her expression turned oddly uncertain. Then she looked into my eyes. The instant our gazes met, I let the corners of my mouth curl upward.
“Don’t tell me...”
“That’s right. I’ve reached Venom-immune Body.”
“......”
Shock began to fill Dang Hye’s face. Her words came faster and faster.
“Unbelievable. Venom-immune Body isn’t something you reach so easily... Normally it takes at least ten years of consuming poisons, and...”
Her eyes began to shine. She looked almost like a martial artist lost in a trance, and she kept muttering under her breath for quite some time.
Then, after the span of half an incense stick, the muttering stopped.
“So it was possible because it was the Invisible Venom.”
It seemed she had reached her conclusion. And she was right.
The Invisible Venom was a poison created from the Dang Family’s secret art. I didn’t know exactly what poisons it contained, but it possessed an astonishing number of them, held in a perfect balance as poison.
What I hadn’t expected was that the Invisible Venom would exceed my current level.
I looked at Dang Hye steadily. She shot me a sharp sideways glance.
“What are you staring at?”
“How long are you planning to keep holding my arm?”
“What?”
“My arm.”
“......?”
Dang Hye’s gaze dropped to my arm. For half an incense stick, she’d been holding on to it. She seemed not to have noticed it herself.
She hurriedly let go. No, tossed my arm away would be more accurate.
“I’m a patient!”
“Tsk. Patient, my foot. You’re far too healthy to be called one.”
“Have you ever even taken the Invisible Venom? Do you know how much it hurts?”
“Who told you to do that?”
Dang Hye looked at me as if I were hopeless. Still, I could tell her attitude had changed from before.
She was still prickly, but there was a little warmth in it now, somehow.
“From now on, if anything changes in your body, tell me.”
“Why?”
“Because if you want to reach Invulnerability to All Venoms, you have to react sensitively to every little change.”
“Do I really have to go that far?”
“......!”
I take back what I said about warmth. There was no warmth to be felt from those viper eyes.
“Got it.”
“Good. Now get up.”
“Why?”
“The sect leaders are waiting.”
“The sect leaders?”
I rose to my feet, following Dang Hye. I hadn’t noticed it because I’d been too busy checking my condition since the moment I opened my eyes, but this was one of Mount Hwa’s halls.
When I entered the banquet hall where the eve celebration of the Hwa-Jong Banquet was being held, the two sect leaders were standing at the center of the hall.
Both of them looked terrible. Apparently the aftereffects of the Invisible Venom were still lingering.
“Both of you look in excellent spirits. I see you’ve rested well while I was on the brink of death.”
With that, I swayed my body slightly. The two sect leaders’ expressions immediately darkened. The first to speak was Cheonghyeon Jin-in, the sect leader of Mount Hwa.
“Is it really that serious?”
“Yes. It was the Invisible Venom, after all!”
“From the look on your face, I don’t find that very credible.”
Cheonghyeon Jin-in scanned me from head to toe. But then he smiled.
“What does it matter? In the end, you did save Mount Hwa and Jongnam. For that, I thank you.”
When he finished, Cheonghyeon Jin-in turned to look at Hyeonil Jin-in. Hyeonil Jin-in’s face twisted.
“You have something to say as well, do you not?”
“Haa...”
With a sigh, Hyeonil Jin-in opened his mouth.
“Because of you, Baek Mugeuk, the Jonghwa Banquet has become a laughingstock. And what you did to Lee Baek-un is unforgivable.”
His gaze bore down on me like a knife. But soon he lowered his head slightly.
“However, it is also true that you saved Jongnam and Mount Hwa. As the sect leader of Jongnam, I thank you.”
I could feel the sincerity in both their voices. And yet I only frowned.
“Is that all?”
“What?”
“What do you mean by that?”
My words warped the expressions on both their faces. But I had something to say, and I was going to say it.
“I nearly died. It was the Invisible Venom, for heaven’s sake. And that’s it? I explicitly asked for the Hwa-Jong Banquet to be canceled. It was continued only because the two of you insisted. And now you think a single ‘thank you’ is enough?”
“......”
“......”
Both sect leaders fell silent like lambs with their mouths stuffed full of honey. No, if anything, I could feel a strange murderous intent in the air. That didn’t mean I intended to stop.
“Understood. So this is how the righteous sects do things. If something like this happens again, I won’t be stepping in a second time. What’s the point of gambling your life to save two sects if there’s no reward at the end of it?”
The two sect leaders’ eyes sharpened further. At the same time, Cheonghyeon Jin-in’s voice came down on me.
“I haven’t finished speaking yet.”
“What’s the point of hearing more? A disciple of the Baek Family, not one of the righteous sects, should step aside now.”
The moment I turned my body away, Cheonghyeon Jin-in’s hand touched my shoulder. His expression looked like he was forcing down his temper.
“Mount Hwa does not forget a debt. We shall grant you the Taegyeong Pill.”
“The Taegyeong Pill?”
“That’s right.”
The Taegyeong Pill. One of the top three elixirs Mount Hwa possessed.
“That’s Mount Hwa for you!”
As I spoke, I deliberately glanced over at Hyeonil Jin-in. Veins bulged in his neck.
“Jongnam, too, is not a place that forgets its debts. Jongnam will give you the Guwha Pill.”
The Guwha Pill was also one of Jongnam’s finest spirit pills.
Normally, each sect would only present one elixir to the winner of the Hwa-Jong Banquet, but this time I was receiving both.
“Thank you. I almost misunderstood you, but as expected, the righteous sects are on a completely different level!”
A laugh slipped out before I could hold it back. Of course it did. Just absorbing the Invisible Venom and reaching Venom-immune Body was already enough to be called a wondrous encounter. And now I was also getting two elixirs that couldn’t be bought even with money.
Hyeonil Jin-in’s irritation flared at my smile, and he said testily, “Stop smiling. It’s irritating.”
“How could I not smile? Both sects are taking such good care of me.”
“Shut up and sit down.”
The two sect leaders took small boxes from within their robes and held them out to me.
“Eat them here. They are the secret treasures of our two sects, so you must consume them before our eyes. The protectors will be me and the current sect leader, so don’t worry.”
“I get that, but I’m not sure I can trust them.”
“What are you saying?”
At Cheonghyeon Jin-in’s question, I looked at Hyeonil Jin-in.
“Just look at the current sect leader’s face! He looks like he’d kill me the moment I swallowed them. How am I supposed to relax and eat that?”
Hyeonil Jin-in’s face began to flush red as a plum blossom. At my words, he forced out an awkward smile.
“Eat them before I change my mind.”
“Then don’t change your mind!”
I quickly took the two boxes and opened them. The rich scent of plum blossoms and the clean fragrance of medicinal pills flooded the room at once.
“Eat one elixir at a time and circulate your breath.”
“I’m busy.”
I picked up both elixirs at once. Then I immediately stuffed them into my mouth. When the two sect leaders saw that, their faces drained into outright shock.
“What in the world are you doing, young man? If you eat both elixirs at once, you could suffer serious harm.”
Their angry voices burst out. Fair enough. If you consumed two elixirs with different natures at the same time, your blood and qi could twist out of alignment, or the inner force might fail to settle properly.
That didn’t apply to me.
I closed my eyes and began circulating my energy, reciting the formula of the Baek Cheon Gong.
Once the two elixirs reached my dantian, they began melting away at once, as if they had become a single elixir.
Before long, I opened my eyes and stood up. Cheonghyeon Jin-in hurried over and grabbed my body.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes. I’m perfectly fine.”
“That can’t be. Your blood and qi should be in chaos, your heart should be tightening...”
“Not at all. There’s no sign of any of that.”
The two sect leaders insisted that it was impossible. But what could I do? It had already all been absorbed.
The total inner force I’d drawn from the two elixirs came to ten years.
It wasn’t a small amount, but for two precious elixirs, it was still less than I’d expected.
“Whatever the case, I ate them well and with gratitude. If you have nothing more to say, may I leave now? I’m pressed for time.”
“Isn’t there one more matter we need to resolve?”
“What is it?”
The two sect leaders’ gazes turned to Dang Hye.
“We know the young lady of the Dang Family suffered greatly, but the Invisible Venom is a secret art of the Dang Family, one that only the family head can produce.”
At that, I made an uncertain face.
“And why are you telling us that?”
“Naturally, because you were the first one to realize what had happened.”
“That doesn’t mean I know the full story. In any case, the righteous alliance meeting will be held soon enough, so settle the matter then.”
“That would be best.”
I gave the two sect leaders a polite bow and turned away. At that moment, Cheonghyeon Jin-in’s voice reached me through transmission.
-When this is over, return to Mount Hwa.
-Why should I, old man?
-You left Mount Hwa without my permission.
-So?
-I never granted you leave. You are still a man of Mount Hwa.
-...
Look at this old bastard.
As Cheonghyeon Jin-in said, there was no way my records would still remain at Mount Hwa. The moment I descended the mountain, they had probably been erased in an instant.
The reason he was saying this was simple. He wanted something that belonged to me.
-I appreciate the concern, but don’t get greedy, old man.
-Greedy? I simply told a martial artist of Mount Hwa to return.
-Unfortunately, Mount Hwa is too small for me.
-...Arrogant brat.
Cheonghyeon Jin-in’s transmission stopped there. I didn’t need to turn my head to know exactly what kind of expression the old man was making.
But what could I do? Mount Hwa was too small a nest to hold a dragon like me.
After leaving the hall with Dang Hye, her sharp voice came from beside me.
“You’ve been lucky. Venom-immune Body, the Taegyeong Pill, and the Guwha Pill, too.”
“Lucky? There’s no such thing as luck in this world, Dang Hye. This happened because I’m exceptional.”
“You’re unbearable, you know that?”
“For now, let’s move fast. To Sichuan.”
“Fine.”
“But before we go, there’s something we need to do.”
“What?”
“Dang Hye. Give me half the throwing knives.”
“The throwing knives?”
“We can’t stop training.”
After taking the throwing knives from Dang Hye, I flicked my gaze forward.
“What are you waiting for? Run.”
“Haa...”
Starting with Dang Hye’s deep sigh, her figure shot forward in an instant. And toward her, the throwing knives began to rain down.