Are You Really Going To Let It Go?

At first, Tang Ho said he could not believe it and tested it himself.

It was because the poison Gyo-ha had brought was highly lethal.

It was not a poison made to slowly poison an opponent.

It was poison that would incapacitate an opponent at once and lead them to death.

Crude though it might be, its potency was certainly not low.

Yet the more he tested, the more surprise rose in Tang Ho’s eyes.

Even so, he could not use just any poison.

Among the poisons in Tang Ho’s possession were deadly toxins that could be used even against peak-level masters.

This was the terrifying thing about poison.

Poison did not choose its targets. Even a child could kill a peak master with it.

So Tang Ho, unable to use just any poison, had no choice but to go to the Poison Hall to receive fresh poison.

And there was someone who had become even more interested in Gyo-ha than Tang Ho was.

“Oh. How does this one feel?”

“It is a little itchy.”

“You are not dizzy or weak?”

“One moment.”

Tong tong, Gyo-ha bounced on the spot.

Then he shook his head.

“No. Ah, my breathing feels a little constricted.”

“So your throat is swelling and blocking your airway. Good, good. Next, try eating this.”

The eccentric-looking old man fed Gyo-ha one thing after another.

An ordinary person would have lost consciousness just from ingesting them, but Gyo-ha did not.

The old man’s eyes sparkled.

Seeing that, Tang Ho cautiously spoke up.

“Hall Master. If it is just to check the poison, would the warriors of the main house not be enough?”

He was the Hall Master of the Poison Hall.

In name he was only a hall master, but he looked to be of the same generation as the elders.

“You know nothing. Once you learn poison arts, you cannot feel such delicate reactions. And if you feed this to just anyone, they will simply die.”

Having resistance to poison was not unconditionally a good thing.

From before they were even grown, they had eaten all kinds of poisons to get used to them, which made it hard to sense the finer details.

Otherwise, one could not even begin learning poison arts.

In that regard, Gyo-ha’s sensitivity was dazzling.

He could even perceive the gradual effects of poisons that were close to instant-kill.

The old man gazed at Gyo-ha fondly, as if he were his own child.

“It is a shame you adapt to poison so fast. It is frightening. You drank rock lily and green snake-head herb? Tsk, if only you had drunk it here.”

“Hall Master, Brother Gyo will have to leave soon.”

“Where would he go when that rascal Hyeok’s funeral is not even over yet?”

“I told you before. They must search for the missing members of the Murim Alliance.”

“Ah, did you now?”

The old man scratched his head.

Since they had to search for the missing, he could not stop them.

The old man’s name was Tang Ja-gyeong. He bore the unique title of Poison Physician.

He was one of the Three Great Physicians of the Central Plains.

Tang Ja-gyeong smacked his lips as he looked at Gyo-ha.

“If I followed my heart, I would tie you up here and feed you nothing but poison…”

“Hall Master.”

“I am joking, joking. Count yourself lucky you met me. If it were the others, they would drool just seeing that body of yours.”

Despite his talk of joking, Tang Ja-gyeong’s eyes felt like those of a predator staring at prey.

If not for the missing alliance members, he really might have tied Gyo-ha up.

And Gyo-ha had heard similar words in the past.

The Medicine Immortal.

He too was one of the Three Great Physicians of the Central Plains like Tang Ja-gyeong.

‘…Are all physicians like this?’

Two of the three physicians said to represent all physicians had said the same thing.

It was the moment Gyo-ha began to form a prejudice against physicians.

“Right. You asked for a poison that drains strength, did you not? Let us see…”

With unhesitating hands, Tang Ja-gyeong took out poisonous herbs and medicinal herbs.

He began putting them into several pouches one by one. Some he put together, others separately.

There was no guessing what rule he was following.

He did not stop there and even took out unidentifiable insects, placing them into a small wooden box.

“You can at least manage the mixing ratios, can you not?”

Tang Ho could not answer and gave an awkward smile.

The martial artists of the Tang Clan were all familiar with poisons and medicines, but that did not mean they knew everything in the clan.

Clicking his tongue, Tang Ja-gyeong looked to the man beside him.

He was a man who resembled Tang Ho.

“I will explain it in his place.”

“Good. For the first time, put in about twice the standard amount. After that, add one pun¹ or two pun more each time and it should come out about right.”

At Tang Ja-gyeong’s words, Tang Ho pulled a long face.

It was easy to say, but there were more than a few ingredients.

On top of that, some ingredients would spoil if prepared in advance. There was a reason he was handing them over separately.

At this rate, he was no different from being Gyo-ha’s exclusive apothecary.

Noticing Tang Ho’s silent complaints, Tang Ja-gyeong looked at him with displeasure.

“You youngsters always look for the easy path. What sense does it make for fellows learning poison arts to be unable to make a single proper preparation. You only stuff your faces with finished medicine. You should at least know how that medicine is made.”

As he spoke, Tang Ja-gyeong’s voice grew louder, as if his anger were rising.

“I am already busy enough to die, and now even the brats stationed at the Murim Alliance are ordering poison. Back in my day, if we had no poison, we went into the mountains, caught snakes, and gathered poisonous mushrooms. I ought to bring this up with the Clan Head.”

“Hall Master…”

As the matter suddenly grew bigger, Tang Ho’s face fell even further.

Though Tang Ja-gyeong was only a hall master, he was also the Clan Head’s uncle.

Tang Ho glanced sidelong at his cousin, the hall chief, but the man only quietly shook his head.

“This will surely be of use to you as well. So stop your whining and make it.”

“…Yes, Hall Master.”

Tang Ho could only quietly nod.

If he talked back here, there was no telling how things might escalate.

“Do not just pick things up and eat them because your body is sturdy. If you really want to eat something, save it and eat it in front of me.”

Leaving those strange words for Gyo-ha, he walked off.

After that, Tang Ho received the poison formulas from the chief of the Poison Hall, and they were only able to depart once morning came.

With Tang Ho now joining them, their group numbered seven.

It was not a small number.

As soon as the Tang Clan’s estate was out of sight, Gyo-ha immediately wanted to check the poison’s effects.

“Ooh.”

Not long after he drank the poison, his body went slack.

The reaction was so fast it could not be compared to the poison he had taken before.

When Gyo-ha turned to him with eyes full of admiration, Tang Ho did not know whether he should be pleased or sad.

Jeon Hong and Jeon Gwang picked up the wooden swords they had obtained from the Tang Clan and stepped forward.

Considering Gyo-ha’s tough hide, wooden swords were more effective than blades.

Thus the sparring match began.

The sparring was held every single day.

The others reacted as if they were used to it, but to Tang Ho it was a strange sight.

Normally, even among disciples of the same sect, sparring was approached cautiously.

But these people were not like that.

Though they did not mix internal energy into their strikes, they showed no hesitation in unleashing their techniques.

As they continued their sparring in this way, a problem arose.

Bong Seok was staring intently at Tang Ho, who was preparing poison as usual.

“…That stuff does work, right?”

Tang Ho gave a wry smile. It was the sort of question that could have angered him, since it doubted his skill.

However, he himself had thought the same thing before, so he had nothing to say.

Judging by Gyo-ha’s movements, one could not see him as poisoned at all.

The dosage kept increasing, yet he seemed healthier than before.

Normally, such doubts would have ended there, but Bong Seok went one step further.

He wet his finger with spit and plunged it into the finished poison powder.

“Young hero?!”

Tang Ho tried to stop him in shock, but it was already in Bong Seok’s mouth.

Smacking his lips as if tasting it, Bong Seok chewed.

“Why is it so salty. As I thought, it does not do any…”

Bong Seok collapsed on the spot.

In the end, since Bong Seok’s saliva was mixed in, they had no choice but to discard that batch of poison.

It would not matter if they used it on enemies, but for sparring, precise adjustment was essential.

However, Tang Ho was neither disappointed nor irritated.

It was because he had been able to properly confirm the poison’s performance.

It was not only Tang Ho.

The others also let out little exclamations as they looked at Bong Seok, who could not even twitch because he had passed out.

He had personally demonstrated what they had all secretly been curious about but could not bring themselves to ask.

‘…He is from the Beggars’ Union, so he should be fine.’

Aside from the Tang Clan, the sect among the Nine Sects, One Union that was strongest against poison was none other than the Beggars’ Union.

From the time they were white-clothed beggars, or perhaps even earlier, they picked up and ate all sorts of things from the streets, so resistance naturally built up.

At the same time, they could understand just how monstrous Gyo-ha’s body was.

Even Tang Ho, who trained in poison arts, could taste poison in front of him, but he had no nerve to eat it that recklessly.

In the midst of that, Gyo-ha slung Bong Seok over his back as if he were used to it.

As he started walking, Tang Ho stopped the group.

“Wait, Jinchuan is this way.”

“We know. There is somewhere we must stop first.”

As Jeon Pyeong spoke, he tapped the wooden plaque he held.

It was not only her senior and junior sisters who welcomed So Yeong back to Emei.

“Keong.”

A small animal wagged its tail at the sight of her.

Its form resembled a wolf, but its behavior was no different from a fox.

When she picked it up, it licked So Yeong’s hand.

Naturally, So Yeong’s expression softened.

“So your wounds have healed.”

When she looked to the side, Abbess Hyeong-un was watching Hye-ah.

So Yeong naturally checked Hye-ah as well.

The large wound along its side had already healed.

“It seems we can return it to the wild now.”

Leaving only those words, Abbess Hyeong-un departed.

She was going to report to the Sect Leader.

Once Abbess Hyeong-un was gone, So Yeong cautiously looked at Gyeong Yu.

“Master, you do not believe what he said, do you?”

Hye-ah tilted its head adorably.

There was no way such a lovable creature was a yokai.

At So Yeong’s question, Gyeong Yu spoke calmly.

“We cannot raise it in our sect anyway. So there is no meaning in such worries.”

Whether Hye-ah was a yokai or not did not matter.

At Gyeong Yu’s cold words, So Yeong puckered her small lips.

“It’s still so young.”

“Other animals are young once as well.”

She was saying Hye-ah was not special.

“If we send it out like this, it will be targeted by predators. If we keep it a bit longer…”

“If time passes, it will forget how to hunt on its own. This is not where it is meant to be. Even if it is eaten, that too is the order of nature.”

It was not something humans should interfere in. Gyeong Yu was unsparing.

Because she was right, So Yeong could not argue.

With a gloomy face, So Yeong nodded. She was not the only one.

She could see her senior and junior sisters and the young third-generation disciples watching from a distance.

“It is late at night now, so send it back to nature tomorrow morning.”

She was giving them one day.

After saying that, Gyeong Yu strode off.

Once even Gyeong Yu had gone, So Yeong’s senior and junior sisters and the third-generation disciples trotted over to her.

“Sajeo, are you really going to let it go?”

“It might have an acci…”

Bright, gleaming eyes were fixed on So Yeong.

But So Yeong could only nod.

It was not as if they did not know the answer.

They could not go against the will of their elders.

“What about the hut?”

One of So Yeong’s younger junior sisters carefully spoke up.

What’s this talk of a hut all of a sudden?

At that moment, one of the second-generation disciples let out a small exclamation, as if she had realized something.

“The one behind the Lecture Hall?”

“Yes. That is not within the temple grounds.”

Hearing her juniors, So Yeong could picture it as well.

Over the single hill behind the Lecture Hall was a small hut.

Until only a few years ago, no men were allowed into the inner grounds due to the Emei Sect’s nature.

So that hut had been where male visitors or practitioners stayed.

Now they had built separate guest rooms, and the hut had gone unused for years.

Because of that, it was used as a hiding place for disciples who got scolded.

“The elders do not go there either.”

“We will not go often.”

Under the gazes of her junior sisters and the third-generation disciples, So Yeong reluctantly nodded.

“But you must not feed it.”

“Can we pet it?”

So Yeong nodded. She could not forbid even that.

Besides, she herself did not trust that she would be able to look at Hye-ah and not pet it.

At So Yeong’s permission, her junior sisters and the third-generation disciples rejoiced.

Watching the young nuns, So Yeong suddenly recalled what Gyo-ha had said.

‘Master said that otherworldly beings attract other beings of the same kind.’

But she soon shook her head.

‘A yokai. That is ridiculous.’

So Yeong smiled as she watched Hye-ah lick her hand.