Chapter 168: Centipede Poison Fang Claw (1)
Translator: bjgoofy
-Slurp. Slurrrp.
A wet, cold sensation on my face snapped me back to my senses.
Then something sticky began trickling down from my right eyebrow, sliding across my cheek and dripping onto my chest.
When I opened my eyes, the sticky liquid blurred everything in my right field of vision.
So I opened my left eye a little wider, and a large pink thing was drawing closer to my face.
-Plop.
Before I was fully awake, and far too suddenly for me to do anything about it, a pink mass plopped down and stuck itself to my face.
Then came a familiar cry against my ear, along with a languid voice I was hearing for the first time inside my head.
-Squee. 『Food....』
'So this is what Hwayang's voice sounds like.'
True to Hwayang's nature, even her deeply moving first words were about food.
There was no doubt about it. Hwayang had woken up before me, and was licking my face and pestering me for a meal.
It should have been a moving first conversation, our hearts finally connected through the Beast Heart Technique, and yet even that was about food.
I let out a small chuckle at her unwavering love of eating and answered her.
If this kept up, my face was going to wear clean away.
"All right. Easy, you little thing. Just wait a moment."
As I wiped away Hwayang's drool dripping down toward my mouth and answered, more voices rose up around me.
-Hiss! -Hisss! -Hiss!
-Hisst!
-Coo! -Cooo!
"Soryong! Did it work? How's your body? Your internal strength?"
"Ryong-ah, are you awake!?"
Cho, Bin, Yohwa, and the other venomous creatures, and Hwa-eun and Seol noona too.
When I turned my head toward the voices, the area around me was packed with people and venomous creatures.
They must have all been keeping watch nearby, worried sick over me.
"Yes, other than feeling a bit stiff, I'm fine. How many days have passed since then?"
Answering Hwa-eun and Seol noona's questions, I quickly circulated my internal strength and began examining my inner self.
Now that I'd come to, I needed to check exactly what the second realm of the Five Poisons Returning to Origin Divine Technique was like.
Focusing my mind on the slowly turning flow of internal strength, I traced it back to reach my Dantian.
Inside my Dantian, two poison energies were slowly rotating in one direction.
The two poisons balanced against each other, rotating in a form that resembled the Taiji.
When I'd learned the fundamentals of martial arts from Grandfather, the Man of Ten Thousand Poisons, he'd taught me that the Taiji was the same as the Wuji, a state of chaos, yet because it was the place where all things began, it was the most stable state of all. If that was true, then this was likely a picture of stability.
There was no doubt: Hwayang's new poison had safely settled into my Dantian alongside Cho's poison.
Since Hwayang's poison was the kind that burned internal energy, the thought had briefly crossed my mind that my body might not be able to accept it, but thankfully, Hwayang's poison had taken hold without incident.
There were no side effects of any kind.
It seemed that the absolute immunity granted by the Poison Technique caused the poison to be recognized as my own, so its effects simply didn't manifest on me.
Then again, if I could be poisoned by it, Hwayang would have been the first to die.
When I moved the two poison energies rotating as a Taiji according to the Oral Formula, a power unlike anything before surged up inside my body.
The internal energy stretching out from my Dantian carried the poison energy, and I could feel it shooting all the way from the tips of my toes to the tips of my fingers.
A thrilling jolt ran through my fingertips as the force pushed outward.
'So this is the world of the Two Poisons Realm? Hah.... incredible!'
Until now, I'd lacked the internal strength to even dream of Palm Techniques, but while the advanced stage of firing off a Palm Wind might still be out of reach, I thought I might at least be able to burst forth energy from my grip.
My body now held enough internal strength that I felt I could manage some Palm Wind practice, at least.
Finishing my inner examination with a light heart, I looked around, and the first thing my eyes fell on was a shade canopy made of bamboo.
Quite a bit of time must have passed, because a canopy of bamboo framing woven together with reeds was covering both me and Hwayang.
They must have rounded up people to build it to block the sunlight, and perhaps that was why, even with the harsh sun beating down, it felt cool inside the shade.
"Ten days, Soryong."
"Ten whole days have passed since that day, Ryong-ah."
Seeing that I'd finished my inner examination, Seol noona and Hwa-eun answered.
Seol noona had once told me that when registering beasts with the Beast Heart Technique, ordinary animals took only a few hours, but perhaps because Hwayang was a Spiritual Creature, each registration took ten days at minimum.
Once again, ten days had slipped by without my even knowing.
I set Hwayang down beside me for a moment and raised my creaking body.
This being the third time already, the hunger and the creaking joints were a familiar state.
When I stretched, my stiffened joints and muscles screamed in protest.
"Aigo. My body takes a real beating every single time I do this."
"Are you sure you're all right, Soryong-ah?"
"Yes, even this is something I'm getting used to, going through it so often."
I'd just finished loosening up when it happened.
As I let my outstretched, stretching arms drop, I heard the sound of something falling.
-Thud. Thud thud.
Wondering if something had dropped off my body, I bent at the waist to check around my feet, and there on the ground, a mix of ash and dirt, several translucent shell-like things had fallen.
'What's this?'
They had clearly come off my body, but they were something unfamiliar.
I reached out to pick one up.
The instant my fingertips touched the ground, a strange sensation ran through them.
Feeling an odd dullness in my fingertips, I picked up the fallen object to check it, and what met my eyes was something translucent and round.
When I looked closer to figure out just what it was, I realized it was a nail.
"A nail?"
"A nail?"
It wasn't a clipped nail. It looked as if a whole nail had come away from my finger in one piece.
Seol noona tilted her head at the nail in my hand, and just then Hwa-eun's startled voice reached my ears.
"Soryong! Your nails...."
At Hwa-eun's cry, I turned my hands over to check, and my nails were nowhere to be seen.
No wonder the sensation in my hands had felt so strange.
Somehow, every last one of my ten nails had come away, not a single one remaining.
The sound of something dropping from my body a moment ago must have been nothing other than the sound of my nails falling off.
"H-how are my nails...!?"
When I looked at Hwa-eun and Seol noona in shock, Hwa-eun rushed over, took my hand, and examined it.
Staring at the empty nail beds, Hwa-eun spoke in a puzzled voice.
"That's strange. All the nails fell out and new ones are already growing in. Why on earth...?"
At Hwa-eun's words, I checked the spots where my nails had fallen out too, and there they were, new nails coming in.
Beside us, Seol noona backed up Hwa-eun's remark with a puzzled expression of her own.
"It's not a Complete Rebirth, so only the nails falling out is strange no matter how you look at it. Why would the nails grow back? It seems certain it's because of a martial art....
But I don't think this is because of our Beast Heart Technique. The Beast Heart Technique affects the mind more than the body.
Hwa-eun-ah, think carefully. If it isn't the Beast Heart Technique, then it must be something caused by the Poison Technique."
It wasn't a phenomenon to be pinned on the Beast Heart Technique, so Seol noona said she suspected it was likely the Poison Technique's doing.
At Seol noona's question, Hwa-eun answered with a troubled expression.
"I haven't trained in the Five Poisons Returning to Origin Divine Technique myself, so I really don't know why it turned out this way. I think we'll have to ask Father, no, Grandfather...."
Having answered Seol noona, Hwa-eun fiddled with my hand with a worried expression and asked again.
"Soryong, when you examined your body, was there anything else wrong?"
"Huh? No. Nothing at all."
Hwa-eun's expression was deeply worried, but since I'd found nothing unusual when I examined my inner self either, all I could do was put on a face that said I didn't understand it any better than she did.
That was when it happened.
Hwayang's cry rose up again from around my feet.
-Squee!
If my business was done, she wanted me to hurry up and go feed her already.
"All right, all right. Let's head down, let's go."
Apart from simply losing my nails, there was nothing particularly wrong, and since I'd already delayed the whole group's journey by ten days, I decided to head down the mountain quickly.
Of course, Hwayang had gone ten days without eating too, so I had to feed her as well.
"Other than the nails coming off there's nothing seriously wrong, so as for my body, we'll ask Grandfather once we're back at the family home. For now, let's head down the mountain. I've got to feed Hwayang, after all."
When I scooped Hwayang up into my arms, urging everyone to hurry back, she started trying to clamber up my shoulder onto the top of my head.
Watching her struggle with her stubby little legs to somehow climb up top, I chuckled and lifted her onto my head.
The way her short legs flapped about was just too cute.
Hwayang had shrunk a little upon reaching her adult form, and so she settled onto the top of my head, sitting there like a hat.
Her soft belly pressed against my head.
The weight of Hwayang bore down like a bulletproof helmet.
But even so, I could feel her soft belly against my head, so I smiled and said,
"All right, let's go!"
That was the moment, just as I'd called out to head down the mountain and taken my first step.
-Grip.
Two hands landed on my shoulders.
At the touch suddenly barring my way, I slowly turned my head, and Hwa-eun and Seol noona were looking at me with icy expressions.
"Soryong, I'm quite sure there was something you and I needed to talk about?"
"Ryong-ah, this noona is quite sure she said she wanted a word once you'd fully recovered?"
I'd thought everyone had forgotten, and here they'd all remembered.
I'd figured I could quietly let it slide, but the strong feeling washed over me that I wasn't going to get off easy.
"Ah, haha.... talk.... we, we should talk."
I felt like I'd better quickly examine my inner self one more time to see whether I could wrap internal energy around my back.
***
It was a fortunate thing.
I'd feared I'd be caught right there and dragged into a long private session with Hwa-eun and Seol noona, but thanks to hungry Hwayang's irritated cries, we had to hurry down the mountain.
Hwayang had even kindled a fire atop my head, and she was in no mood to be trifled with.
'From now on, anyone who gets between me and my food is an enemy.' That was the kind of aura radiating off her.
-Squeeee!
"Uh, y-yeah, Hwayang. Nice, no, I mean, right, let's go. I th-think the talk will have to wait a bit? Hwayang seems really angry."
"Hah.... Ryong, don't you think this is the end of it. This noona is not just going to let it slide."
"Soryong, we'll talk quietly tonight."
"Of, of course."
And so, ten days later, we arrived back at Lee Tae's Water Stronghold.
The Water Stronghold looked very different from ten days before.
A couple of the houses that had burned down during the war against the bedbugs had been repaired, and the Murim Alliance ship that had been docked in the village had already turned back.
From Hwa-eun's explanation, the cleanup of this whole affair was finished, and since the Blood Replenishing Pills needed to be brought to the Murim Alliance quickly, they'd headed back in a hurry.
Along with Wisdom Dragon's report, of course.
"Soryong, are you well?"
"Is your body all right?"
"Young Hero, are you all right?"
When we arrived at our ship, waiting inside were Wisdom Dragon and the rest of the Three Dragons Two Phoenixes party.
They'd promised to travel to the Tang Family with us, so it seemed they'd been waiting for me aboard our ship.
"My apologies for causing you worry. My body is fine, so there's no need to be concerned."
I was just offering the courteous apology for having caused them worry when it happened.
Once again, an irritated cry came from atop my head.
-Squeeee!
"Uh, right, all right. I think I'll have to feed this little one first and then come back to talk."
"Yes, do that. When I saw her sleeping up on the mountain I thought she was a docile thing, but she has quite the fiery temper."
It seemed I really did need to see to Hwayang's meal first.
Begging their pardon, I decided to call for Lee Tae.
Lee Tae arrived a short while later.
Since the flame from a lamp wick like before wouldn't so much as tickle Hwayang's appetite, I asked him to build a large fire.
"Lee Tae, could you cut some reeds and get a fire going? Hwayang needs to eat."
"Understood, Master Soryong. Please wait just a moment."
Before long a great fire was blazing, and Hwayang, having contentedly swallowed the flames, approached me with drowsy eyes and tapped at my leg.
"Ready to go now?"
-Squeak.
When I placed her atop my head, the spot she was so fond of, her full belly set her nodding off to sleep.
As I stepped back into the cabin, Wisdom Dragon, and Hyung-nims Sword Dragon and Fist Dragon, quickly came over, clapped me on the shoulder, and said,
"So you've come back, little brother?"
"Yes, I've delayed the schedule quite a bit on my account. I ought to tell them to set sail at once."
The ship had already been cleanly repaired, so when I asked how they'd feel about departing for the Tang Family right away, the two of them smiled.
"Well, what does it matter whether we go today or tomorrow?"
"Right, that's not the important thing at the moment."
At the two of them being so unhurried for some reason, I tilted my head, and their words continued from either side.
"You're probably wondering what we're going on about, but when we saw your martial prowess ten days ago, it struck us that we simply couldn't let this pass."
"Huh?"
"To think anyone could go flying through the air and come plunging down onto a mountaintop. When a man has that kind of prowess, how could we older brothers just let it slide?"
"Exactly. Seeing you ten days ago, the feeling struck us hard that we really ought to come up with an alias for you. You don't have one, do we hear?"
I'd wondered what they were getting at, and it turned out that my magnificent sight ten days ago, falling from the sky into the flames, had so blown them away that they wanted to give me an alias.
Having two men no less than Fist Dragon and Sword Dragon offer to name me was tempting to the ear.
So I answered with sparkling eyes.
"If it's an alias bestowed by my two Hyung-nims, this little brother will accept it with gratitude."
At that, the Hyung-nims glanced at each other, grinned, and answered in unison with a smile.
"""How about Mad Dragon of the Tang Family?"""
The meaning of that alias was, well, the mad dragon of the Tang Family.
Since my name have Yong meaning "dragon", it amounted to an alias meaning something like the madman of the Tang Family.
'Wait, these two...?'
Then again, these were the same men who'd given Wisdom Dragon the nickname Gecko for doing nothing but kiss. Expecting a normal alias had been my own mistake.
*****
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