“What written pledge?”
The Poison King guessed my intention.
“You write a pledge, and in exchange I have to teach you one poison art a day? That sort of pledge?”
“No.”
“Then a pledge saying that even if you steal my poisons here, or secretly learn my poison arts, I won’t hold you responsible?”
“Poison King. Your poisons and poison arts frighten me. I’d like to keep as far away from them as possible.”
“Then what kind of pledge is it?”
The pledge I wanted him to write contained something the Poison King could never have expected.
“A pledge that if you lose this wager, you will come out of your world.”
The Poison King flinched in surprise. His expression changed in a strange way.
“And what sort of world is my world?”
“The world where you research alone, compound alone, think alone, laugh alone. Dig holes alone. That world.”
He thrust his face close to mine. His absurdly youthful face came right up before my nose.
But in that moment, I could feel it. Though his body had come closer, the person called the Poison King had retreated from me. Standing on the boundary between his own world and the outside world, he had stepped back and hidden himself away.
“All you need to do is take me with you and get the Cult Leader’s permission, isn’t it?”
“That’s right. That’s why I came.”
“Then whether I’m in that sort of world or not has nothing to do with you, does it?”
“It does.”
“How?”
“Because I am the one who will become the Heavenly Demon. The next Heavenly Demon wishes for the Poison King of our cult to be not a lonely Poison King alone, but a Poison King who roams the world.”
“!”
“Well? Will you write the pledge?”
The Poison King gave no answer for a while. He must have been curious about my true intentions. What purpose I had in putting forth such a condition.
But he would never know. Because he could never know that I intended to prevent the terrible incident that would occur in the future.
“Why are you hesitating? In any case, that would only happen after you’ve become a dog. It shouldn’t matter, should it?”
I had even attached the condition of losing the wager.
Though he believed there was no way he would lose, he still hesitated. It seemed that leaving this place was that much of a burden to him.
I no longer pressed him and picked up the brush.
“At any rate, fine. I will write mine. I am learning so much from you, Poison King, so I should write a pledge.”
I wrote a pledge stating that even if I were poisoned by any poison here in the Thousand Poisons Forest, it would not be the Poison King’s responsibility, but my own for having come here of my own will. I even signed it with my seal.
The Poison King was genuinely startled when I actually wrote the pledge. It seemed that even when he brought up the matter of pledges, he had not expected me to truly write one.
“Are you an idiot? Now even if I poison you and make you die in agony, I won’t be held responsible.”
“That won’t happen.”
“And what makes you so confident?”
“Because only intelligent people can learn poison arts. You are the smartest among the Demon Venerables, so you would never do something so reckless.”
I looked around and said,
“Now that I’ve come here, I understand. The person who learns poison arts is the smartest of all. You have to memorize all these poisonous herbs and venomous creatures, and to create poisons, you must make hundreds, thousands of combinations and mixtures, don’t you? On top of that, you must also make antidotes. And is that all? You have to learn the art of poisoning in earnest, don’t you? A person standing at the pinnacle of such intelligence would do something like that? Impossible. You may laugh while digging holes alone, but you would never do something that stupid.”
The Poison King’s eyes went round. His reaction was as cute as his appearance. After blinking his large eyes a few times, he said as if amazed,
“You talk a lot, and you talk well.”
In that moment, the Poison King was sincerely impressed.
Poison King, I haven’t even begun yet.
“If you are with me, you won’t be bored. Now then, I’ll continue what I was doing.”
After handing him the pledge, I continued working. I brought over a sack of poisonous herbs and untied it. As the Poison King watched me sort the herbs, he suddenly said to me,
“What should I write? You wrote one, and I don’t. Then I’m the only petty one, aren’t I?”
In the end, he had made up his mind to write the pledge.
“Ah, it’s nothing much. Just that you will leave the Thousand Poisons Sect once every ten days. That will be enough.”
“That’s enough?”
“Yes.”
“Can I stand in front of the entrance to the Thousand Poisons Sect and then come back in?”
“I don’t mind. As long as you leave this place.”
“What meaning does that have?”
“Because the scenery you see from here and the scenery you see from in front of the gate will be different.”
The Poison King stared at me in silence. You must be wondering what this is. If you’re a madman, then I’m someone who’s called a madman too. Let’s try it, Poison King. Let’s see who’s more insane.
The Poison King wrote the pledge and signed it with his seal.
“Second Young Master, you’ve lost. I will never be persuaded, so this pledge is nothing but a scrap of paper. My will is like this—how will you break it?”
In truth, I did not have any special plan to persuade him. As the Blood Heaven Blade Demon had said, I would simply treat him the way I had treated the others until now.
“I’ll have to do my best.”
“Do I really look to you like someone who will bark in the training grounds?”
“At least once in your life, yes.”
“How did the other Demon Venerables fall for someone as sloppy as you? I cannot understand it.”
The Poison King’s eyes were filled with confidence and brilliance. Right now, he was a different person from the Poison King who had been digging in the ground with his face smeared with dirt.
“Be careful. From now on, even if you die, I won’t be responsible.”
* * *
The next day, I worked diligently as if nothing had happened.
The Poison King considered every action I took to be deliberate. Whenever I said anything, he habitually replied with the same words.
“I know it’s all a ploy to look good to me. It’s useless!”
But I paid no mind to what he thought.
If there was one plan within my lack of a plan, it was this.
Do not focus on the person. Focus on the work.
I learned the work sincerely. It was not because I intended to use poison for something after learning it. It was because working here was an experience I was having for the first time. There is always a lesson that comes with a first experience.
“When would I ever live a life where I carry sacks full of poisonous herbs and sort them? This is a valuable experience for me.”
I was living in a different way than I had until now. It was something I had never experienced even before my regression.
Think differently, move my body differently.
I hoped this would have a positive influence on my life and martial arts. Sometimes, no matter how hard one concentrates to bring a certain thought to mind, it does not come easily. Yet while bathing, or while walking down the road, it suddenly flashes into one’s head.
It was the same. I hoped this unfamiliar work in the Thousand Poisons Forest would have a fresh influence on my life and martial arts. I hoped that while sorting poisonous herbs, the Wind God Four Steps would reach twelfth-star great completion. I hoped that while compounding poisons, I would realize a new aspect of life.
Once I thought that way, everything I did here no longer made me anxious, and became enjoyable.
And as that continued, I believed an opportunity would surely come to move the Poison King’s heart. That opportunity would come when I truly fell into the poison arts.
“Careful! This time, pour exactly half!”
When in my life would I ever have the chance to compound the fifteen ingredients of Severing Soul Acid?
“That’s it! Good!”
As he instructed, I followed precisely. With my martial realm, how could anything I did be imprecise? I could probably work in a way that pleased him more than anyone else in the Thousand Poisons Sect.
“But do you usually do all of this alone?”
“Yes.”
“It must be difficult.”
I knew why he did not carelessly bring poison men into this place.
There were far too many lethal poisons in his residence, and if he let disciples in and they caused an accident, the problem would become enormous.
In fact, the Thousand Poisons Forest was a place under strict surveillance and investigation by Tongcheon Pavilion. Whenever poison was used, it had to be reported, and its inventory was always inspected.
After finishing the compounding of the Severing Soul Acid, I honestly revealed my thoughts with a pleased expression.
“This is fun! What poison will you compound next?”
Of course, he did not believe me.
“I think you’d be better suited as an actor in the marketplace than as the Heavenly Demon.”
“When you go with me to the Central Plains later, how about joining a theater troupe? With your looks, Poison King, I think you could even aim for the lead role.”
The Poison King looked horrified. His expression said exactly this: I don’t even want to leave this place, and what? You want me to take the lead role in a play?
“Just now, in your imagination, everyone onstage and even the spectators were all poisoned to death, weren’t they?”
“I wonder whether you survived, Second Young Master?”
As he turned away sharply, I shouted after him,
“The performance is canceled!”
He left without even pretending to hear.
* * *
The Poison King had little interest in other people’s affairs.
If this was the level of interest he showed in me, who had come to him for such an important matter, I could imagine how he usually regarded others. To him, people probably existed below poisonous herbs.
Of course, there were times when he impulsively asked questions. Like right now. While grinding poisonous herbs, the Poison King suddenly asked,
“Hey, Second Young Master, be honest. You’re trying to secretly learn poison arts here so you can poison your brother to death, aren’t you?”
As I transferred water into a large tub, I answered,
“It’s obvious that I’m here with you, Poison King. If my brother died of poisoning, who do you think they would suspect first? If anything, I’m the one who should be worried that my brother might be poisoned to death.”
Thud, thud! Instead of refuting me, the sound of the Poison King grinding the poisonous herbs grew louder.
“I have no interest in poisoning someone to death. If I could learn even one thing from you, Poison King, I would want to learn something else.”
“What?”
He still did not look at me and remained focused only on grinding the herbs. There was no telling when he might go off into his own world again, but my answer now was one that would surely draw him back to this side.
“I want to learn detoxification. Isn’t the flower of poison arts not poisoning, but detoxification?”
In that instant, the sound of grinding herbs stopped. His gaze was fixed on me. It was the most surprised expression he had shown since meeting me. Because I had precisely spoken the thought he carried within him.
“It has only been a few days, but what I have felt since coming here is that making an antidote to perfectly neutralize a poison seems more difficult than making the poison itself. So I had this thought. A person who can create an antidote that can certainly detoxify the poison he made. A person who, when an opponent scatters poison, can neutralize that poison in an instant. Wouldn’t that person be the true expert of poison arts?”
It meant that only when not merely poisoning, but detoxification as well, was perfected could one finally comprehend the ultimate essence of poison arts.
“Where did you hear such words?”
From the next Poison King, who learned poison arts from you.
“They’re just my own thoughts. The comparison is a little strange, but martial arts are the same. Capturing someone alive is harder than killing them.”
I threw him my winning move. A contest most advantageous to me, who was impervious to all poisons.
“Choose one poison and teach me its detoxification method. I will detoxify it, and you will poison me. How about it? Let’s have a match!”
You have cultivated poison arts your whole life, so surely you can win at least that much? Isn’t this a matter of pride?
I did not provoke him that way. A clumsy provocation would only backfire.
Poison King, say you’ll do it. Say we should have a match!
As long as he said that, this wager would be my victory.
But the Poison King was not so easy to lure in.
“No.”
At the Poison King’s firm refusal, I asked,
“Why not?”
“Do you think I don’t know your little scheme? You want me to say something like this, don’t you? If you can detoxify my poison, I will consider myself to have lost the wager. Isn’t that right? That’s what you want to hear, isn’t it?”
I did not deny it. In truth, if it had not been my own business, I would have wanted to applaud him.
“You just have to win the wager, don’t you?”
“How can I guarantee that I’ll win? The detoxification technique would also be my detoxification technique.”
The Poison King began grinding the poisonous herbs again.
“Go practice barking, Second Young Master.”
* * *
That evening, I went to see Father.
The more I came to know the Poison King, the more stifled I felt. At times like this, one needed someone who could strengthen one’s resolve. In that regard, there was no one more suitable than Father.
Because I visited him right before he went to sleep, I once again saw Father’s pajamas.
“The floral pattern is different from the one I saw back then. This must be the greatest protective armor in the murim. Enemies will see it and think, ‘No way the Heavenly Demon would wear pajamas like that,’ and just pass right by. Those clothes are the safest clothes of all!”
Father looked at me with eyes that asked how long I planned to keep spouting nonsense, but he seemed to have known I would come at least once.
“You knew, didn’t you, Father? That the Poison King was not someone who would come over to my side.”
“Have you given up already?”
“Of course not. It’s just that I’ve never seen someone so trapped in his own world.”
At the corners of Father’s mouth appeared that distinctive sneer of his. Yes, I had come today to see that smile.
Seeing it gave me strength. If anything, my mood improved.
Yes, enjoy yourself as much as you like now. I will definitely bring the Poison King before you.
I asked the question I had wanted to ask for some time.
“Father, you dislike the Poison King, don’t you?”
Father neither affirmed nor denied it. Since Father truly loved martial arts, it was only natural that he disliked poison arts or soul-bewitching arts.
“If you dislike him, why do you keep him alive? You should kill him.”
“Because he is the most threatening to our enemies.”
“What if he starts a rebellion, or goes mad and poisons the people of our cult?”
“If we are to make the Poison King a weapon of our cult, we must accept that level of risk.”
“What if my brother or I die in the process?”
“That too must be accepted.”
“That’s something you can only say when you have about ten hidden children somewhere.”
“Why do you think I don’t?”
“You shouldn’t. My one brother alone is already this much of a headache.”
A faint smile formed at the corners of Father’s mouth. Perhaps if Sima Ming or the Blood Heaven Blade Demon had said it, he might have laughed heartily.
“It was the same before, but whenever I stand before a wall that feels completely blocked, I think of you first, Father. Now that I’ve seen your face, that is enough. Then I will take my leave. Ah, at this rate, I may soon show you an unfilial act that isn’t quite unfilial in the Grand Training Grounds.”
After making that joke, I was about to turn away when Father suddenly asked,
“Do you think the Poison King is trapped in his own world?”