Chapter 67: Five Poisons (2)

Translator: bjgoofy

Now that another proposal had been mentioned, along with talk of the five venomous creatures, the most suspicious connection was, as expected, with the 'Five Poisons Returning to Origin Technique' I had learned.

When I asked whether it was related to that, the Man of Ten Thousand Poisons Grandpa nodded, just as expected.

“So, the 'Five Poisons Returning to Origin Technique' I’ve practiced has something to do with those Five Poisons?”

“As expected of you, Soryong. Yes, you’re correct. The 'Five Poisons Returning to Origin Technique' is fundamentally based on those Five Poisons. The centipede, snake, scorpion, lizard, and toad these five venomous creatures form the foundation of both the technique and the poisons it utilizes.”

Grandpa’s answer came, just as I thought it would.

And I became filled with anticipation upon realizing the curious coincidence that two of the five venomous creatures forming the foundation of the 'Five Poisons Returning to Origin Technique' happened to be among the ones I was raising.

Though one was a low-grade and one was nameless, they were still my children, weren't they?

Honestly, the 'Ten Great Venomous Creatures of the Central Plains' were impressive in terms of title, but how could they compare to my babies?

It was like the difference between an idol and a girlfriend, I suppose.

That’s the vibe I was getting.

After all, a girlfriend is more precious than an idol you can’t even touch.

However, among the lizards found in Asia, venomous ones are rare, and our Ice and Snow, the lizards I had, weren’t venomous either, so I tilted my head at the notion that lizards were considered part of the Five Poisons. But before I could ask about that, Grandpa continued his explanation.

“In the Tang Sect, venomous creatures are broadly divided into two categories: common beasts and spiritual creatures.

Common beasts refer to ordinary snakes, centipedes, and lizards, while spiritual creatures are those that possess supernatural traits, high intelligence, or an inner core. Even among them, there are high, medium, and low grades.”

So that’s what they meant by spiritual creatures - ones that are smart and capable.

In that regard, the ones I had captured were indeed spiritual creatures, so I quickly asked back.

“Ah, then the Golden-Furred King Bee, Ice-Snow Lizard, Blue-Spotted Centipede, and Human-Faced Spider that I captured all qualify as spiritual creatures, don’t they?”

Ice and Snow weren’t recorded in the Tang Sect, so I had named them as a new species myself.

Hence the name Ice-Snow Lizards.

Naming a new species is the discoverer’s right, so I exercised that right.

Grandpa nodded at my question and continued.

“Yes, as you said, the venomous creatures you brought back are indeed spiritual creatures. That’s why we were thinking of offering you a different proposal.

The original 'Five Poisons Returning to Origin Technique' is an internal energy cultivation method that absorbs the poisons of the Five Poisons. But because the poisons of common creatures are weak and cannot lead to great achievements, the current version of the technique has been modified by the Tang Sect to allow for absorption of other poisonous herbs, mushrooms, or manufactured poisons.”

“Then?”

“The original version of the 'Five Poisons Returning to Origin Technique' is called the 'Five Poisons Returning to Origin Divine Technique'.”

Just by adding the character for ‘Divine’, the technique sounded far more prestigious.

That’s how Grandpa’s explanation sounded to me.

“You already have the poisons of two spiritual creatures, the centipede and lizard. If you can just obtain the poisons of spiritual-grade snake, scorpion, and toad, you’ll be able to master the 'Five Poisons Returning to Origin Divine Technique' as it was originally intended, using the potent venoms of five spiritual creatures. That’s what we wanted to ask, whether you’d be willing to cultivate this technique.”

Listening to the explanation, it appeared I could practice the original version of the 'Five Poisons Returning to Origin Technique', not the modified one designed for ordinary warriors by the Tang Sect.

But again, the issue was the lizard.

Our Ice and Snow weren’t venomous, after all.

“But Grandpa, the Ice Snow Lizards don’t have any venom, do they?”

The Man of Ten Thousand Poisons Grandpa shook his head at my question.

“I examined them, and while the lizards you brought don’t have fangs, they carry a venom that induces cold in humans.”

“Really!?”

“Yes, the chill they emit is itself a poison.”

I had no idea, but apparently our Ice and Snow were venomous after all.

Grandpa had asked to examine them, so I showed them to him, but to think he discovered a poison even I didn’t know about.

When I made a surprised expression, Grandpa smiled.

“So now two paths have opened before you. One is to pursue mastery of the 'Five Poisons Returning to Origin Divine Technique' by absorbing the poisons of the Blue-Spotted Centipede and the Ice Snow Lizard. The other is to absorb the poison of the Human-Faced Spider, one of the 'Ten Great Venomous Creatures', and slowly fill the Ten Poisons Returning to Origin Technique one by one.”

From his explanation, it seemed I had to choose between the Five Poison path using spiritual-grade poisons, or the Ten Poison path by collecting the 'Ten Great Venomous Creatures'.

‘Of course! A tech tree choice has to pop up at least once! But damn, this is a choice I really don’t want to give up either way!’

Even in my past life, the most important thing in RPG games was the skill tree.

Depending on which skill tree you picked, you could become a trash character or a god-tier character.

So it was a decision I couldn’t take lightly.

Just like how getting engaged to Nunim was a once-in-a-lifetime decision, this skill tree choice would also determine my entire life in this murim world.

It was like being forced to choose between the centipedes and Nunim, a tough question.

As I made a troubled expression, Grandpa added more explanation.

“Originally, we were going to recommend the 'Five Poisons Returning to Origin Divine Technique' since you already had the Blue-Spotted Centipede and were bringing a lizard. The Divine Technique is also a powerful and rare martial art. And besides, the 'Ten Great Venomous Creatures' are something you can’t encounter easily without heaven’s luck.

Of course, even if you choose the Five Poison path, you don’t have to stop at five poisons. You can still fill out all ten eventually, so don’t worry about that. However...”

As Grandpa continued, I learned that if I chose the poisons of the centipede and lizard, I wouldn’t be able to add any others until I obtained the poisons of the snake, toad, and scorpion to complete the Five Poison path. After that, I’d be free to add anything else.

But the Five Poison path had a drawback.

I’d have to give up two of the 'Ten Great Venomous Creatures'.

Since snake, toad, and scorpion were already included in both the Five Poison and Ten Poison categories, I could use them regardless of the path I chose. But if I used the poisons from low-grade creatures like the Blue-Spotted Centipede, or Ice and Snow, the Ice Snow Lizards, I’d be unable to use two of the 'Ten Great Venomous Creatures' due to my limited capacity.

My aptitude couldn’t handle more than ten, so once the ten slots were full, I couldn’t learn anything else.

“Can’t I fill the Five Poisons using only the 'Ten Great Venomous Creatures'?”

It must be impossible since Grandpa brought it up, but I still asked out of last hope.

As expected, Grandpa shook his head.

“All the others are present, but the 'Ten Great Venomous Creatures' don’t include any lizard.”

So even if I tried to fill the Five Poisons using only the 'Ten Great Venomous Creatures', I’d still have to leave one out.

As Grandpa told me to choose between the two tech paths, I began seriously deliberating.

‘Five Poisons? Or Ten Poisons? That is the question.’

***

On the way back after speaking with the two elders.

As I moved toward the Inner Courtyard, Nunim’s voice called out.

“Soryong, it’s okay if you don’t get tied down by the Ten Poisons just because of our engagement. From what I’ve heard, even though there aren’t detailed records, the documents that remain make the 'Five Poisons Returning to Origin Divine Technique' seem like a truly extraordinary martial art.

So even if you only end up with eight or nine of the 'Ten Great Venomous Creatures', it’s fine, as long as you make the decision that you truly want.”

She was telling me it was fine, and that I should choose whatever I wanted.

It seemed like Nunim had become extremely generous now that she had stamped me as her own.

“You’ve already done more than enough, and the path of the Ten Poisons might be far too difficult anyway....”

One good thing about being engaged was that I no longer had to call her Young Miss, I could call her by name.

I gently called out her name and said,

“Hwa-eun, thank you for thinking of me.”

“Ah, it’s nothing....”

She was saying it for my sake, but even so, it was a decision that wasn’t easy to make.

If I chose the Five Poisons path, I would ultimately end up missing one of the 'Ten Great Venomous Creatures' from my arsenal, and if I went with the Ten Poisons path, I couldn’t help but feel guilty toward the centipedes and my dear Ice and Snow.

Also, while “Ten Poisons” sounded kind of impressive, when I thought about it as “Subscribe to Ten”, all I could imagine was “Subscribe and Like.”

However, Five Poisons also had a certain appeal to it, so it was a real dilemma.

‘This is a hard one. Haa…’

For now, father-in-law had said that regardless of which path I chose, the preparation process for the Great Ritual would be the same, the only difference would be the poison I infused at the final step. So the preparations for the Great Ritual had already begun.

While the process went on, I continued to struggle with my dilemma, and then about two days later,

“Soryong, it looks like the centipedes are about to molt again!”

Just as I was deep in thought alone in my room, Nunim’s voice burst in.

Following her quickly, I saw the centipedes molting for the second time atop the pavilion.

From their second molt onward, the centipedes would begin to show the same coloring as their mother.

Just like the first time, the centipedes were pushing their heads out of the shell from the head end.

“They’re finally taking on the appearance of the Blue-Spotted Centipede, right, Soryong?”

“That’s right. Blue spots will start to appear on their bodies now.”

The centipedes were like little Dalmatian bugs, black bodies with blue spots.

Judging by the image of the mother centipede I had seen in my dream, they would probably look just like that.

Both Nunim and I were getting curious to see just how cute they would turn out, but then I suddenly realized this wasn’t something to be happy about so casually.

‘Wait a minute. This isn’t something to just smile about, is it?’

I had a feeling the centipedes wouldn’t have time to harden their bodies before the day of the Great Ritual ceremony.

Even normal centipedes take a full day to harden after molting, and remembering the last molt, it was clear that these guys would need even more time.

But the Great Ritual preparations might be finished in just a day or two.

Since extracting the lizards’ poison required a specialized process, I had been torn between using the centipedes’ poison or Yohwa’s poison as the first. But if the centipedes didn’t harden and wake up in time, I wouldn’t be able to use their poison.

If you touch or handle a centipede when its body is still soft after molting, it can harden in strange ways or suffer serious issues.

The issue was that once the grand ceremony was prepared, if we missed that moment, all the medicinal preparations would have to be discarded, so I couldn’t just wait endlessly for the centipedes to finish hardening.

And so, two days later, in the Great Ritual Hall of the Myriad Poison Hall in the Tang Family, the ceremony for me began, without the centipedes.

As soon as I informed Grandpa and father-in-law about the centipedes’ condition, the preparations for my ritual picked up speed and were finally completed.

‘It was amazing, wasn’t it?’

The beginning of the ritual involved brewing medicine in the internal medicine hall of the Myriad Poison Hall.

Hundreds of medicine pots were lined up in rows, each boiling dozens or even hundreds of herbs to extract the liquids. These were then cooled and gathered in a massive jar at the center of the Great Ritual Hall, this was the first step.

In the second step, various poisons and even blood from venomous creatures were added to the liquid collected in the large jar.

Once that mixture was stabilized over a day, father-in-law and Grandpa Man of Ten Thousand Poisons summoned me to the Family Head’s Hall.

“Soryong, now that all the preparations are complete, let’s go.”

“Yes, Father-in-law.”

I had already steeled my heart when the centipedes began molting.

It might be painful, but thankfully, Yohwa’s poison was a paralysis-type, so it shouldn’t hurt too badly, and that was some comfort.

Following the two of them, I arrived at the Great Ritual Hall.

In the middle of a stone-paved chamber, a massive jar stood at the center.

A strong scent of medicinal herbs rose from the jar, and once I arrived, father-in-law and Grandpa said,

“We will begin the Great Ritual now. Soryong, take off your clothes and enter the jar and sit inside.”

“Yes, Grandpa.”

The Great Ritual required me to sit inside the prepared medicinal liquid with only my neck above the surface. Then, a single drop of poison from the venomous creature would be added to trigger a reaction, after which the prepared medicines would be infused to help absorb the poison into my body, that was the process of this Great Ritual.

After running through the steps I had memorized in my head like a simulation, I undressed in the changing area some distance away.

Then I quickly ran to the jar and immersed myself in the liquid, starting from my toes.

The feeling of being submerged in the medicinal liquid was like being in a traditional Korean herbal sauna.

There wasn’t anything particularly dramatic, until Nunim entered the Great Ritual Hall with Yohwa and the children.

Since we needed Yohwa’s poison for the ritual, she had agreed to bring her.

“Soryong. The children have woken up.”

“Oh, really?”

Following Nunim came Yohwa, with Ice and Snow perched on her shoulder.

And three others came quickly crawling at her feet toward me.

The ones that had now completely transformed into centipedes, I had expected them to look just like their mother, but strangely, their base color remained yellow, with the blue spots clearly standing out.

I was wondering if their bodies hadn’t fully hardened yet, when the moment they spotted me from afar, they scurried toward me at high speed.

They had grown so much that if one of them wrapped around my arm now, it would cover the whole arm, not just the forearm.

On top of that, they no longer needed to siphon energy from Nunim, so it seemed like they were moving around freely and with great agility.

“Cho, Hyang, Bin, you’ve all become so beautiful, haven’t you?”

I decided to put off the mystery of their coloration for later and looked down into the jar, praising them. The little ones quickly crawled up the edge of the jar.

And as if curious about me sitting in the liquid, they hung their heads over the rim and stared in fascination.

“It’s dangerous, so go back to your mom.”

Just as I warned them to back away in case they accidentally fell in, Cho’s antennae lightly touched the surface of the medicinal liquid.

Startled, Cho flinched violently.

It began to thrash its antennae, looking completely flustered.

-Tsururur! Tsurur!

“Hwa-eun, Cho dipped its antennae into the liquid! You need to rinse it off quickly!”

“Cho!? Come here, Cho!”

Just as Nunim hurriedly reached to grab Cho,

-Ttok.

A drop of poison fell from startled Cho’s mouth.

The moment that single drop of poison fell into the jar, the liquid began bubbling and letting out a sound.

-Kwarururuk!

'Why did I spend all those days agonizing over this decision?'

It seemed that our daughter wanted her father to learn the Five Poisons.