Chapter 180
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 180
Chapter Title: Caught It
The special suite on the top floor of the inn.
This was the room where Dang Ji-yeon would be staying for the time being.
Dang Ji-yeon sat cross-legged on the bed.
Ha Mu-baek had said he'd used his internal energy to gently prod the qi, accelerating the poison's growth.
But she couldn't do that herself.
So she simply watched the poison qi gathered on her tongue.
'He said a day or two at most. Looks like it'll be about a day.'
She'd eaten her fill upon arriving at the inn.
She'd also taken care of her needs.
Now she could devote a full day to focusing solely on the poison qi in her tongue without interruption.
This poison was peculiar.
It was slowly, steadily siphoning off her innate true qi—the energy that circulated evenly through her body to sustain her life.
Using that tiny bit of absorbed innate true qi as a base, the poison qi gradually grew.
True to Ha Mu-baek's word, it swelled from the size of a mung bean, steadily expanding until it reached the size of a rice grain.
The moment it did...
A maddening impulse dominated her mind.
"Roast duck..."
Dang Ji-yeon murmured without realizing it.
Her head was filled with thoughts of roast duck. An intense thirst, a craving to devour it right then and there.
'So that's it.'
Dang Ji-yeon rose from the bed and slowly undressed.
Swish.Swish.
Only the sound of fabric falling echoed in the room.
The sun was high in the midday sky.
It seemed about lunchtime again.
Exactly a day had passed.
But the windows were tightly shut, letting in almost no light, so the room remained dim.
The door was firmly locked.
Dang Ji-yeon stood utterly naked, not a thread on her pristine white skin.
In the dark room, she alone gleamed purely white.
She sat cross-legged behind the bed.
Then she slowly began circulating the Zaha Full-Flower Poison Art.
Internal energy flowed gradually from her dantian, spreading through her limbs and meridians.
As that energy reached her tongue and encountered the rice-grain-sized poison qi...
It enveloped it completely.
'Got it.'
All that remained was extracting it from her body.
From here, things didn't go as she willed.
The Zaha Full-Flower Poison Art's energy slowly swirled through her meridians.
How many full circulations had it made?
The internal energy encasing the poison qi began drifting toward one side.
Having experienced this several times before, Dang Ji-yeon easily guessed its destination.
'The sole of the foot. Yongcheon acupoint.'
As the energy slowly reached the Yongcheon point, it began seeping out of her body.
She carefully levitated the emerging qi using the Air Grasping technique.
She retrieved a small glass vial she always carried from among her clothes.
Uncorked it and guided the floating poison qi inside.
The poison qi coalesced into a single drop of liquid and fell into the vial.
She corked it and dressed again.
Once the poison qi was expelled, the duck cravings vanished as if they'd never been.
"Fascinating poison... but way too little."
Indeed.
Just one drop.
This amount would vanish after a few experiments.
And collecting one drop a day would take far too long.
It'd be great if she could have food brought from there, but that wasn't allowed.
"First, let's analyze what we've got."
Dang Ji-yeon unpacked her luggage in one corner of the room.
Various glass vials and reagents emerged.
With a serious expression, she began experimenting on the poison qi.
Late afternoon.
Her stomach was starting to rumble.
That's when Dang Ji-yeon appeared at the Fierce Dragon Corps' training ground.
"How'd it go?"
Dang Jin-san was the first to ask.
"I extracted the poison qi. One drop. I ran a few tests, but..."
Ha Mu-baek and the other disciples turned their gazes to her lips.
"Couldn't figure out the most important part. Why that impulse hits."
"Different from something like poppy sap?"
Ha Mu-baek asked, recalling Old Man Jo's story.
Dang Ji-yeon shook her head.
"I suspected it, but it's not like narcotics. If it were poppy sap, even made tasteless, I'd have sensed it the moment I ate."
An explanation no one could refute.
No changes could be detected until even the tiniest qi stirred.
"Seems like a combo of a specific poison and specific poison art. But... I've never heard of a poison art with these traits..."
"We'll need more poison."
Dang Ji-yeon nodded at Ha Mu-baek's words.
The one drop was already gone.
"And I have a favor to ask."
Ha Mu-baek's eyes turned to her at Dang Ji-yeon's words.
"You said you stimulated the poison qi with your internal energy to grow it faster. Can others do that too?"
Circulating energy in one's own body versus another's was worlds apart.
The difficulty multiplied several times over.
That's what she was asking.
"Seems possible, but why?"
"It takes too long to grow enough for extraction. I just waited a day for it to mature."
He caught her meaning.
"I can do it."
"Thanks, then."
That evening, it was settled.
The three headed back to the Moon Dragon Inn.
After eating and returning, Ha Mu-baek placed his hand on Dang Ji-yeon's back and circulated his energy.
Growing the poison qi to rice-grain size, then he returned to his lodging.
Dang Ji-yeon overcame the food impulse, entered her room, and extracted the poison qi.
"This way, maybe three drops a day?"
Breakfast, lunch, dinner.
Three meals a day at the Moon Dragon Pavilion.
Their unusual routine drew eyes inevitably.
The Dan-an Trading Company watched the trio closely, as did the Beggars' Sect's gaze trailing them.
"Hm. The beggars' surveillance has gotten lax. Should I be grateful?"
Hyeong Ui-cheon murmured, peering out the window.
His poison eye gleamed.
He'd scoped out what he could see, so it was time to move.
The Thunderclap Beggar being in Wuchang was a snag.
But it didn't matter.
He wouldn't move personally.
Nor would the trading company's men.
'The Cult will handle it.'
It was a deal with the Cult from the start.
The clan arts he couldn't learn himself.
To obtain them.
The Cult had balked at operating in Wuchang with Ha Mu-baek there.
But what could they do?
Nearly a decade, and they still hadn't secured it.
Besides, wasn't he handling the development of their Hypnotic Poison too?
Void Serene Heart Decree.
Eighty-One Forms of the Galaxy Phantom Sword.
The Dan Mok Clan's secret among secrets.
Even in clan history, those who achieved great success could be counted on one hand.
And those who did were called the world's best.
Master it fully, and you'd be unrivaled under heaven.
He'd married the clan head's niece precisely to claim that art.
He knew an outsider and collateral like him had no shot otherwise.
But he trusted his talent to create the opportunity.
Dan Mok Cheon-seung, the clan head then.
He'd delighted in his talent, cherished him.
Generously taught him the clan's prized techniques, save those two.
Even after mastering Galaxy Meteor Sword and pushing Unity Serene Heart Method to the peak, Dan Mok Cheon-seung said it wasn't time yet.
His temperament needed refining.
So he took the shortcut.
Allied with the Blood Cult.
He knew where the manual was.
The Dan Mok Clan's secret repository, location unknown.
"If not for that Thunderclap Beggar..."
He'd lured him away knowing as much.
But at the final moment, the Thunderclap Beggar appeared, foiling his chance to learn the repository's location from Dan Mok Cheon-seung.
He'd had to flee.
The enraged Thunderclap Beggar was terrifying.
So he gouged out one eye himself.
Scarred his throat to alter his voice.
Gained weight deliberately to change his features.
Changed his name.
Thus evading the Beggars' Sect vermin's eyes.
He joined the Blood Cult, planning a one-off alliance then cut ties.
To survive the Beggars' Sect's watch and secure the repository's location.
But he never learned Blood Gong.
That would bar him from Void Serene Heart Decree.
Instead, he sealed his own internal energy.
Lest someone recognize the Dan Mok Clan's energy.
Living that way was suffocating agony.
He, who once roamed the world at transcendent level, now a bloated pig unable even to climb stairs freely.
Of course, he could unseal it.
But he couldn't.
The Beggars' Sect's eyes were sharp.
"Hm. Wuchang, huh. Not thrilled."
The old man grimaced and muttered.
He had reason.
Walking into the lair of Ha Mu-baek, that monster.
But it was that bastard's demand.
The first key to the Blood Cult's revival: Hypnotic Poison.
A secret among secrets, with only fragments in the cult's archives, most production methods lost.
Hyeong Ui-cheon was tasked with recreating it, making progress.
Truth be told, the contract with that guy lingered from their war with the orthodox sects.
Thanks to him, they'd exterminated the Dan Mok Clan, a pillar of the righteous side.
Yet the promised reward remained unpaid.
His current demand tied to that reward.
Couldn't refuse forever citing Ha Mu-baek.
"But that Ha Mu-baek bastard sniffs out blood and demonic arts like a ghost."
The old man's face was etched with worry.
Understandably.
The Ten Elders from the Shadow Gate had vanished after tangling with that monster.
Undoubtedly dead.
Rushing into Wuchang rashly could mean the same for him.
"Tch. Have to use those guys?"
A gong that was Blood Gong but not quite.
Crafted in secrecy after their war's defeat, honing their grudge.
Essential for surviving as Blood Cultists in a world without the Cult.
Come to think of it, Hyeong Ui-cheon had been instrumental in creating this art too.
A man of terrifying martial talent.
In the end, the old man had no choice but to send twenty practitioners of the newly named True Blood Gong into Wuchang.
Just before the city gates closed.
They entered in twos and threes.
Dispersing into different paths.
Bound by promise to scale the wall at the appointed time and place.
As dusk fell.
Ha Seol-ran's qi sense training began.
Night, with fewer movements than daytime, made it easier to discern each qi without confusion.
Once accustomed to night's qi senses, she'd advance to daytime.
Ha Seol-ran's qi sense spread across all of Wuchang.
The fallen-dark city was as quiet as ever.
Around the Moon Dragon Inn and Moon Dragon Tower, people still bustled.
She'd heard of poison use, so she scrutinized there especially, but sensed no poison qi.
Night had fewer movers, but some still hurried about busily.
'More than usual today.'
Slightly more than the previous night.
Numbers had spiked once after the Dan-an Trading Company entered Wuchang.
Now again today.
Truthfully, night movements were always from those who had to.
Drunks and travelers aside, usually occupational necessity.
Spotting the twenty new presences was easy.
But their movements were odd.
Seeming to scatter haphazardly.
Yet the twenty presences, moving in twos and threes, subtly converged on one spot.
Ha Seol-ran opened her eyes and bolted up from the bed.
"What's wrong, Seol-ran?"
Yeon Ha-min, cross-legged in meditation, asked at Ha Seol-ran's sudden move.
"I need to go to Brother."