Chapter 96: Evolution (4)
Translator: bjgoofy
As I screamed with joy, Seol noona looked at me with a dumbfounded expression and said,
“Well, it’s a shame about the Inner Core. But still, it’s as good as having eaten it....”
It seemed noona was still regretful that Cho had consumed the Inner Core.
But whether it was 120 years, 1,200 years, or 12,000 years, the Inner Core was no longer important.
Because after seeing how beautifully Cho had grown, none of that mattered anymore.
I quickly rushed in again and hugged Cho.
“Cho-ya, you’ve grown into such a beautiful form! Daddy is overwhelmed with emotion! You were upset because Daddy didn’t recognize you, weren’t you? But you became so pretty that I just couldn’t recognize you!”
Isn’t it a father’s duty to celebrate his daughter’s growth?
Especially when it was such a splendid transformation, it was only right to celebrate it a thousand, even ten thousand times.
-Ts, Tsurur....
With a shy sound, Cho’s body entered my arms, and I felt the slick yet firm texture of the chitin shell that filled my embrace.
However, Cho’s shell wasn’t simply hard and stiff.
Within that firmness, there was a peculiar elasticity characteristic of a centipede’s shell.
A texture both solid and stretchy, perfectly suited to the centipede’s ability to slip into tight spaces, this was Cho’s new body.
It was like the feeling of hugging the fully matured Blue-Spotted Centipede, the mother of these dreamlike creatures.
‘Yes! This is it! This is what I was waiting for!’
And with that came another wave of emotion, similar to what I used to feel in my past life when handling giant snakes or similar creatures.
That overwhelming strength unique to large creatures, now I felt that very same thing from Cho’s body.
‘This is like going from petting a cat to petting a tiger!’
I had filmed at zoos a few times in my past life.
As a venomous creature YouTuber, zoos were frequent filming locations, and by my last shoot, my channel was nearing a million subscribers. So I had the chance to interact with not only various venomous creatures but also animals directly. Cho’s body brought back the feelings I had when touching a 100-day-old tiger cub.
When people encounter something unfamiliar, they instinctively recall their past experiences to compare and understand.
So naturally, before touching the tiger, I thought of dogs or cats.
When touching the tiger’s ankle, I assumed it would feel like those of a dog or a cat.
But that was a foolish assumption on my part.
The moment I touched the leg of that 100-day-old tiger, what I felt was overwhelming strength.
Tough, muscular flesh packed under the skin.
Thinking of a cat just because it was from the feline family was an insult to the tiger.
When touching the leg of a dog or cat, the first thought is usually that they feel fragile. But when I touched the tiger’s leg, my first thought was, “This is a completely different kind of strong creature I’ve never encountered before.”
The skeleton, the muscles, everything told me this being possessed overwhelming power.
And now, as I held Cho in my arms, I felt the same.
Cho had grown to about six meters, maybe not quite as large as her mother, the Blue-Spotted Centipede, but still huge.
Unlike her previously fragile body, now she had the overwhelming power fitting for the apex of the ecological pyramid. I could feel it in her shell and the presence it radiated.
Though her body wasn’t as thick as the Flying Celestial Serpent, she seemed to emit a strength that surpassed even that.
From her powerful legs and firm body emanated an overwhelming sense of dominance.
I was so moved, I thought my heart might burst.
‘This is one of the Ten Great Venomous Creatures! And more importantly, one that I raised myself!’
Of course, I already had Yohwa, who is also one of the Ten Great Venomous Creatures. But this felt different from Yohwa.
Yohwa had been adopted under somewhat regretful circumstances, but Cho- Cho was a Ten Great Venomous Creature raised with my own hands, and that made all the difference.
To have personally raised a fully matured-level creature, one that exudes such strength and is the greatest venomous creature in the Central Plains, it was only natural that my heart swelled with emotion.
Weren’t they the ones I’d raised with utmost care from the egg?
I thought she was just a low-grade one, but she actually evolved.
Cho was now my pride and treasure.
“Oh my, how lovely. Our Cho. Daddy doesn’t regret that Inner Core one bit. You did great! You ate well!”
-Ts, Tsur....
It was while I was rubbing my face against Cho and rejoicing.
Voices came from beside me, Hwa-eun and noona.
The two spoke with worried voices.
“So, Soryong, please calm down.”
“Being linked to a Ten Great Venomous Creature might result in your consciousness being devoured. Did something really go wrong in his head like Father said!?”
“No, this... this just seems normal.... He’s always been like this.”
“He’s always been like this!?”
As I overreacted, Hwa-eun and Seol noona tried to calm me down.
Their conversation ended with noona wearing a completely exasperated expression, and Hwa-eun pulled me over to sit down and said,
“Soryong, please calm down. Now that you’re awake, you need to check your body first. Just calm down and sit here.”
“Oh, right. With Ryong going wild, I even forgot that we needed to check his condition. I’ll go bring Father and Elder Man of Ten Thousand Poisons.”
“Yes, Unnie.”
As noona tried to leave to call the elders, I held her back and spoke.
“There’s no need to call the elders. I just lost consciousness briefly, that’s all. There’s really no need to bother them....”
I probably lost consciousness for a short while, but my body was fine.
Well, aside from being overwhelmed by emotion.
But Seol noona raised her finger and spoke with a tone that brooked no refusal.
“You’ve just woken up after fifteen days, Ryong. So we absolutely must check your condition.”
“Fi, fifteen days?”
When I widened my eyes at the mention of fifteen days, Hwa-eun and Seol noona both nodded.
Seol noona ran outside saying she’d bring the elders, and Hwa-eun sat beside me and explained.
“As soon as Cho ate the Flying Celestial Serpent’s Inner Core, you collapsed. Then Cho suddenly grew and wrapped around you, and now, you’ve finally awakened after fifteen days. Cho woke up on the tenth day, and we were worried since you still hadn’t woken even five days after that.”
“Is that so?”
I had thought it had only been a moment, but it had actually been fifteen days.
With disbelief on my face, I looked at Cho once more.
And then Hwa-eun’s hesitant voice came again.
“Soryong, um... and there’s also a bit of bad news.”
“Bad news?”
Hwa-eun suddenly bringing up bad news.
But Cho had evolved into one of the Ten Great Venomous Creatures, what did a little bad news matter?
A great joy always overshadows a small sorrow.
I answered lightly.
“I don’t know how bad it is, but Cho grew up this beautifully, so if it’s something minor, then well....”
Then Hwa-eun, flustered, quickly sent a voice transmission.
[It’s not minor, Soryong! You need to watch what you say!]
“?”
I blinked at her warning to watch my words, and then her voice transmission came again.
[Th, there are two very angry... no, kids right now. I think it’d be best if you soothed their anger first....]
‘The kids are angry?’
At first, I didn’t understand what she meant, but then I saw Hyang and Bin crawling up onto Hwa-eun’s shoulder.
-Tsurur!
-Tsurururur!
Crying sounds that clearly conveyed anger.
Only then did I realize who the two angry ones Hwa-eun referred to were.
And I understood why they were angry.
The fight on the table had essentially been a struggle for the Inner Core, but because I intervened, only Cho benefited.
Like a father stepping into a fight among his three daughters, only to help the eldest.
「“Whoever wins the fight becomes the Flying Celestial Centipede!”
“Got it. Unnie, I won’t lose either!”
“I’ll eat that and monopolize all of Daddy’s affection!”
“Eh? D-Daddy, you can’t do this!”
“Unnie, that’s cheating!”
“Little sisters? This too is destiny.”」
I could roughly replay in my mind what kind of situation it had been.
I’d never tried to soothe an upset girl before, and now I had to calm down two of them, how was I supposed to do that?
'Oh no! Just like Hwa-eun said, this is a major crisis!’
***
"Daddy was wrong. Hyang, Bin, I didn’t know... Can’t you forgive me?”
-Tsrit!
-Tsrrit!
I was bowing and begging to soothe Hyang and Bin’s feelings, but they seemed thoroughly sulky and turned their heads sharply away on Hwa-eun’s shoulders.
According to Hwa-eun, even though they were a little upset, they had still been coming out to check on me whenever she visited before I woke up.
But now that they’d seen me, the buried feelings of hurt seemed to resurface.
The emotions I sensed from them were that Daddy was playing favorites with Cho unnie.
Especially since they had seen me clinging to Cho and rejoicing, their feelings of being left out must’ve grown even more.
“No, really, Daddy loves Hyang and Bin just as much....”
-Tsrit!
“I’m serious!”
Hyang and Bin let out a sharp warning screech that completely shut me down mid-sentence.
At that moment, Seol noona returned with grandfather Man of Ten Thousand Poisons and my foster father, the Beast Palace Lord, and entered the Palace Pavilion.
“Ohh, you’ve awakened.”
“Soryong, are you awake?”
And both of them rushed over and grabbed each of my hands.
"Let me see!"
"Let me see!"
“Huh?”
With those words, my arms were seized by both of them.
As I looked between my foster father and grandfather Man of Ten Thousand Poisons, the two exchanged awkward smiles and tried to yield to each other.
“Y-You should go first, elder.”
“No, no, the Palace Lord should go first.”
Though they kept trying to yield politely, neither let go of my arms.
It was like two people arguing over who would pay the meal bill, except no one was backing down, and it continued for quite a while.
In the end, the victor was grandfather Man of Ten Thousand Poisons.
He closed his eyes and examined my body, then nodded and said,
“Your Poison Technique realm has definitely advanced. It’s likely related to Cho’s poison becoming stronger. We’ll confirm it further once we return to the Tang Family.”
As grandfather said, my internal energy had indeed increased significantly.
I could circulate energy far more smoothly, and the poison I had absorbed from Cho had also grown much stronger, just as he mentioned.
Tang Family’s Poison Techniques feel like martial arts where internal energy is used as fuel, and poison is the additive.
For example, if you could generate a strong gust with internal energy like a fan, by mixing in the poison you’ve absorbed, you could produce an even greater effect with less energy, such is the Tang Family’s poison-based martial arts.
That’s why both the quantity and potency of poison are crucial, and according to grandfather, the efficiency had increased by three to four times compared to before Cho’s evolution.
"Yes, I understand, grandfather."
As I responded to grandfather’s words, my foster father spoke up.
“Then it’s my turn. Come here.”
It was finally the turn of my foster father, who had been waiting anxiously.
After examining me thoroughly like grandfatherMan of Ten Thousand Poisons, his face brightened as he spoke.
“Your Beast Heart Technique has reached a realm even I don’t recognize. Remarkable.”
“Really? I can’t really tell.”
He said something had changed, but to me, everything felt the same.
My connection with Cho was just like before, and there was nothing different with the other kids either.
I began to wonder if my realm had truly advanced, when my foster father turned to grandfather Man of Ten Thousand Poisons and asked,
“Elder Man of Ten Thousand Poisons, may I take Soryong back to the Beast Palace to examine his body more thoroughly?”
“Go ahead. Soryong belongs to the Beast Palace as well.”
“Thank you, Elder Man of Ten Thousand Poisons.”
Just when I thought the conversation had ended, my foster father, who had looked bright earlier, suddenly spoke again with a slightly worried expression.
“Ah, Ryong, by any chance, have you seen anything like illusions?”
“You mean hallucinations?”
He suddenly asked if I’d been seeing things.
When I tilted my head in confusion, my foster father explained.
“Yes. When someone at a low level in the Beast Heart Technique accepts the consciousness of many beasts, there are cases where they get consumed by the collective consciousness of the animals. Since you’re connected to one of the Ten Great Venomous Creatures, I thought you should be careful.
Those creatures can understand human speech, so their consciousness is likely to be quite strong. On top of that, even among spiritual creatures, cases like this are rare, so if it’s a Ten Great Venomous Creature, I couldn’t help but worry.
So if you see anything strange, don’t hesitate. Run straight to me and tell me, understood?”
“Yes, I understand.”
The mention of being consumed by a consciousness made me a little anxious, but Cho would never harm me, so I was able to shake off that worry quickly.
Now that I thought about it, the memory of the blue-haired woman that remained from when I lost consciousness, that was clearly Cho.
It hadn’t felt like my consciousness was being devoured, but rather like she was healing me.
‘There’s no way Cho would do something like that.’
With that, the check on my condition came to an end, and the two elders exchanged glances and said,
“Now that Soryong is awake, we should take care of what we’ve been putting off.”
“Yes, that seems like the best course.”
“Something you’ve been putting off?”
It sounded like there was something important they hadn’t been able to do because of me.
As I mumbled to myself, my foster father nodded.
“The Five Poisons Sect. We’re going to inspect the base of the sect that was annihilated a hundred years ago.”
It seemed the reason my foster father hadn’t been able to join our raid was that he had stayed behind to investigate matters concerning the Five Poisons Sect.
*****
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