Chapter 54
Anger burned in Dang Bo’s eyes as he declared my victory, but he still spoke like the head of a family that had to preserve its lineage to the end.
“Baek Mugeuk. You win. I’ll let you go, so take Dang Hye and get out.”
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
I stared at Dang Bo with a look of utter disbelief. For a moment, his expression twisted.
“Why are you deciding my wish for me? That’s something I should decide, not you, Dang Family Head.”
“Your wish?”
“No matter what else happens, there’s something else I want to ask for.”
“Say it quickly, then. You’re tiring me out.”
Dang Bo shot me a look of open irritation. I only smiled faintly and went on.
“The righteous gathering is in about a month, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’d like you to appoint the young sect lord of the Dang Family before then.”
“You madman.”
The curse flew from Dang Bo’s mouth. I didn’t stop.
“Aren’t you supposed to grant whatever you can?”
“Yes. But what you just said cannot be granted.”
“And why not?”
“Because it concerns an important matter for the family.”
“There’s no benefit for me in that important matter.”
He had nothing to say to that.
“You seem to be trying to make use of Dang Hye somehow, but Dang Hye is no longer a member of the Dang Family.”
“I don’t know what you think Dang Hye is for, but why isn’t she a member of the Dang Family anymore?”
“Because I was going to expel Dang Hye from the clan...”
“You never got the chance to say it. I asked for a wager before that.”
Dang Bo let out a long breath. Every word I said was right, and he knew it. So what could he do?
“Baek Mugeuk. You’ll regret saying that. No matter what happens, Dang Hye will never become young sect lord.”
“We’ll see once the long and short are measured. I’m sure you wouldn’t deliberately put aside someone with real ability just because you don’t like me. Right? This is a matter of the family’s major business, and to let feelings interfere... ah, come now... the mighty Dang Family Head himself?”
“Of course feelings have nothing to do with choosing a young sect lord.”
“Then that settles it. It’s a right she should fairly be given, so there’s no problem.”
“Haah... Fine. Then so be it. I’ll decide the young sect lord in exactly fifteen days. I won’t hear objections.”
“As you command.”
When he finished speaking, Dang Bo shot me one last glare and left. Then Dang Ho-yeop, carried away on a stretcher, came up to me and bared his teeth.
“Just because you made me like this, you think Dang Hye can become young sect lord? In fifteen days, I’ll have recovered fully. And my eldest brother is there too. I don’t know what scheme you’re hatching, but things won’t go the way you want.”
“Oh? Then do your best, in your own way. But if you want your body fully recovered, I doubt you have time to stand around here talking.”
“Shut up.”
With a face full of hatred, Dang Ho-yeop waved a hand behind him. The stretcher rose into the air and vanished from the spot.
One by one, everyone else began to leave, until only Dang Hye and I remained. Dang Hye kept her head bowed, as if she’d lost her soul, and didn’t lift it.
So I tapped her shoulder.
“Snap out of it.”
She was dragged back into reality in an instant and glared at me like she wanted to kill me.
“What the hell did you do?”
“What do you mean, what did I do? I had a drink with Dang Family Head.”
“Cut the jokes. Do you even know what you just did?”
“I took back your rights. And I did what was needed to keep my promise to you.”
“Your promise?”
I snatched Flickering Sword from Dang Hye’s hand and went on.
“The promise that I’d teach you martial arts, and you’d make me invulnerable to all poisons.”
“What the hell does that have to do with me becoming young sect lord?”
“Even Dang Family Head, who’s said to possess the poisons of the entire Central Plains, never reached invulnerability to a hundred poisons. Then what about me, who doesn’t have those poisons? Naturally, I can’t reach that state either. Which is why you need to become young sect lord.”
“Haah...”
Dang Hye didn’t answer. She only let out a sigh. What I said was part of the reason, sure, but it wasn’t the real reason she had to become young sect lord.
She had to remain in the Dang Family and find the bastard who poisoned the family head. Who else could have poisoned Dang Bo?
It had to be one of those masked Twelve Zodiac bastards. And the most likely accomplice was Dang Ho-yeop, the one who was supposed to be the next family head.
Besides, it would be a waste to let the Dang Family collapse like this.
“The board’s set. Whether you become young sect lord or get cast out of the Dang Family is now entirely your choice. What do you want to do?”
“I...”
Dang Hye’s face shifted through a whole range of expressions in an instant. She must have been torn. But I didn’t think she’d refuse.
Because I remembered the face she’d worn when she smiled happily at Danggata.
“I don’t want to become young sect lord. But...”
“Dang Hye. Right now, you only have two choices. Leave this place, or stay and take everything.”
“...I don’t want to leave the Dang Family.”
“Good. That’s enough.”
I turned around. I didn’t need to look at her face to know what expression she was making.
“Dang Hye, we only have fifteen days. In those fifteen days, I’ll turn you into a peak martial artist. And I’ll raise you to invulnerability against ten thousand poisons.”
“That’s impossible.”
“No, it’s possible. Because I’ll help you.”
“Haah... That unfounded confidence of yours...”
As I started walking, Dang Hye slowly began following my steps. She had made up her mind too. To become young sect lord.
“Dang Hye. Where’s your private training room?”
“Follow me.”
Dang Hye’s training room was small. So small it was hard to believe this was the room of a candidate for young sect lord of one of the Five Great Families.
“Are the other siblings’ rooms this small too?”
“No.”
The way Dang Hye was treated in the Dang Family was obvious at a glance. It was probably because of what Dang Ho-yeop had called her lowly bloodline.
“Dang Hye. From now on, you’re an official candidate for young sect lord. That means the amount of poison the Dang Family allows you to handle should have increased. Bring every poison you can get your hands on here.”
“Got it.”
“Don’t just say got it. Move now.”
At my words, Dang Hye moved quickly and disappeared.
“I should prepare too.”
I left the Dang Family’s main hall at speed and headed for Danggata. The Dang Family’s halls were hidden deep within Danggata, which was why they had kept me blind to them. Not that it mattered—I’d visited in my past life, so I knew the route by heart.
The reason I’d come to Danggata was to get granite from the stone workshop.
“Aren’t you the young lady’s guard? How did you get out of the Dang Family?”
“It’s not an escape or anything. Don’t worry about it and just give me some granite.”
“...Looks like it. You wouldn’t need stone to run away, after all. Very well, how much granite do you want?”
“I’m going to make a bath barrel out of it.”
“Then a human body’s worth should be enough. Wait one day. I’ll make it right away.”
“I’m short on time. Just give me the material.”
The owner of the stone workshop brought out a block of granite as big as my own body. I immediately drew Flickering Sword and cut it into a round shape.
Then I climbed onto the granite and began hollowing out the inside into a basin.
It took less than the time needed to burn an incense stick. When the owner saw that, he grabbed my hand.
“Son, have you ever thought of becoming a stonemason? You’ve got the talent to become the greatest stonemason under heaven.”
“I have no such thought. I don’t have time, so tell me the price already.”
“What a pity, losing a talent like you. Since I got to see such a rare sight, I won’t take payment.”
Without another word, I hoisted the bath barrel onto my right shoulder and ran to Dang Hye’s training room. When I opened the door, the first thing I saw was a room filled with piled medicinal herbs.
“You gathered all this in such a short time? The Dang Family really is the Dang Family.”
“What’s that stone?”
“This? This is what’s going to make you a peak martial artist and invulnerable to ten thousand poisons at the same time.”
“This thing?”
I set the barrel down in front of the training room and poured water into it.
“What exactly are you planning to do?”
“The Dang Family’s core method is the Ten Thousand Poisons Heart Manual, right?”
“Yes.”
“The Ten Thousand Poisons Heart Manual works by taking poison into the body, slowly dissolving it, and converting it into inner energy.”
“How the hell do you know that?”
“Secret. And not important right now. Forget that method for now. It won’t help in your current situation.”
I placed my hand on the water in the barrel and began raising Samadhi True Flame. The water started boiling rapidly.
“The name of the method you’ll learn from now on is the Ten Thousand Poisons Return to Origin Heart Method. I’ll recite the mnemonic, so memorize it.”
I began reciting the formula slowly. At the same time, I chopped the herbs up and threw them into the bath barrel, cutting them as fine as I could.
“To think you’d use your sword skills to mince herbs.”
“Stop worrying about useless things and tell me whether you’ve memorized everything I said.”
“I memorized it, but I don’t really understand it.”
“The fact that you memorized it at all is impressive enough. And anyway, things that are impossible don’t make sense all at once. The fastest way is to learn by brute force, with your own body.”
It had to be difficult. This method was originally the heart method of a man called the Poison King of the evil path. If used as-is, it could twist the blood vessels and channels, so I had added my own interpretation to it.
“The special thing about this method is that it lets you quickly convert absorbed poison into inner energy.”
“That’s supposed to be such an incredible method?”
“It’s not incredible. It only lets you gather qi quickly at first. Later on, even that will slow down. Still, until you reach the peak, nothing compares to it.”
I began stirring the poisonous herbs and water in the barrel at speed. A pungent scent spilled out of the tub.
“Well. The mnemonic’s done, the bath’s ready, and all that’s left is...”
My gaze naturally shifted to Dang Hye.
“You.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. Get in.”
“Get in where? Into that barrel?”
“Of course. Why else would I have dragged this heavy thing all the way here?”
“Even I, who’ve lived in the Dang Family my whole life, think that looks dangerous.”
“You won’t die.”
Dang Hye wore a reluctant expression, but soon she lowered herself into the barrel. Seeing that, I curled the corner of my mouth.
“You’ve memorized the formula, haven’t you?”
“...”
Her silence told me she was probably reciting it. Without hesitation, I grabbed her head and shoved her under the water. At first she thrashed around, but soon the movement died away.
After a moment, Dang Hye lifted her head and dragged in ragged breaths.
“Haaah, haaah.”
“Baek Mugeuk. My body... the poison...”
Dang Hye trembled all over. Her face was turning bluer by the second.
“Good progress. Don’t stop reciting the formula.”
“Huuah...”
Even after surfacing, Dang Hye’s breathing remained harsh. No, it didn’t look like it would stabilize at all.
I put my hand on her back and pushed my internal energy into her. Her dantian was churning like mad.
Countless poisons were shaking her eight extraordinary meridians and dantian. At her current level, the speed at which she was being poisoned was far faster than the speed at which she could digest the toxins into inner energy.
So I began pulling the poison toward my own inner energy, leaving behind only as much as she could handle.
“Hoo. Things are going very smoothly.”
The two-birds-one-stone strategy was working perfectly, letting me improve both Dang Hye’s inner energy and her resistance to poison at the same time.
No, it was more like a three-birds-one-stone strategy, since the enormous amount of poison remaining in Dang Hye’s body would enter mine and improve my own immunity as well.
Of course, I was a little worried about the sharp look she’d give me after digesting all that poison.