Chapter 211: A Single Plan Within No Plan

TL: FoodieMonster007

The Poison King guessed my intention. "What kind of agreement?"

"Is it something like, I have to teach you one poison art a day in exchange for you writing an agreement?"

I shook my head. "No, that's not it."

"Then is it an agreement that says I won't hold you responsible if you, Second Young Lord, steal my poisons or secretly learn my poison arts here?"

"Poison King, I'm afraid of your poisons and poison arts. I'd rather stay as far away from them as possible."

"Then what in the world is this agreement about?"

The agreement I wanted was something the Poison King could never have predicted.

"It's an agreement that if you lose this bet, you'll come out of your world, Poison King."

The Poison King flinched, his expression twisting strangely.

"What kind of world is my world?"

"A world where you research alone, mix alone, think alone, and laugh alone. A world where you dig in the ground alone. That's the world I'm talking about."

He thrust his face close to mine. His unbelievably young face was right in front of my nose.

In that moment, I felt it. His body moved closer, but the person known as the Poison King retreated from me. He stood on the borderline between his world and the outside, then stepped back to hide himself away.

"All you have to do is take me with you and get the Cult Leader's permission, right?"

"That's right. That's why I came."

"Then whether I'm in a world like that or not has nothing to do with you, does it?"

"It does."

"How so?"

"Because I'm the one who will become the Heavenly Demon. The next Heavenly Demon wants our Cult's Poison King to roam the world, not be a lonely man all by himself."

"!"

"Now, will you write the agreement?"

The Poison King didn't answer for a moment. He must have been curious about my true intentions and my motive for setting such a condition.

But he'll never find out. He can never know I'm thinking of preventing that terrible incident in the future.

"Why are you hesitating? It would only happen after you've become a dog anyway. It doesn't matter, does it?"

I had even added the condition 'if you lose the bet'.

He hesitated even though he thought he couldn't possibly lose. Leaving this place was clearly a great burden to him.

I didn't push him. I just picked up a brush.

"Anyway, fine. I'll write it. There's so much to learn from you, Poison King, so of course I should write an agreement."

I wrote an agreement stating that if I was poisoned by any substance in the Thousand Poisons Forest, it would be my own responsibility, not the Poison King's. I even stamped it with my hand seal.

The Poison King looked genuinely surprised that I actually wrote the agreement. He clearly hadn't expected me to write one when I first brought it up.

"Are you an idiot? Now I won't be responsible even if I poison you to a painful death."

"That won't happen."

"And what's with that confidence?"

"Because only smart people can master poison arts. You, Poison King, are the smartest among the Demon Supremes, so you wouldn't do something so reckless."

I looked around as I spoke.

"Now that I'm here, I understand. The one who masters poison arts is the smartest person of all. You have to memorize countless poisonous herbs and substances. To create a poison, you have to test hundreds, even thousands of combinations, don't you? On top of that, you have to create the antidotes, and you also have to master the art of administering poison. Would the person at the pinnacle of such intelligent people do something so foolish? No way. You might laugh while digging alone, but you wouldn't do something like that."

The Poison King's eyes widened. His reaction was as cute as his appearance. He blinked his large eyes a few times before saying in amazement.

"You talk a lot, and you talk well."

The Poison King was genuinely impressed.

Poison King, I haven't even started yet.

"You won't be bored with me around. Now, I'll get back to what I was doing."

I handed him the agreement and continued my work. I brought over a sack of poisonous herbs and untied it. The Poison King watched me organize the herbs, then suddenly spoke.

"What should I write? You wrote one, and I didn't. That just makes me look petty, doesn't it?"

He had finally decided to write the agreement.

"Ah, it's nothing much. Just 'Leave the Thousand Poisons Gate once every ten days.' That's enough."

"That's all it takes?"

"……"

"Can I just stand in front of the Thousand Poisons Gate entrance and then come back in?"

"That's fine. As long as you leave this place."

"What's the point of that?"

"Because the scenery you see from here and the scenery you see from the main gate will be different."

The Poison King stared at me silently.

He's probably wondering what this is all about. If he's a madman, then I'm also called mad. Let's do this, Poison King. Let's see who's crazier.

The Poison King wrote the agreement and stamped his seal.

"Second Young Lord, you've lost. I'll never be persuaded, so this agreement is just a scrap of paper. How are you going to break a will like mine?"

In truth, I had no special plan to persuade him. I would just treat him the same way I had been, as the Blood Heaven Blade Demon said.

"I'll have to do my best."

"Do you really think I look like someone who would bark in the training grounds?"

"At least once in your life."

"How did the other Demon Supremes fall for someone as careless as you? I don't understand."

The Poison King's eyes filled with confidence and intelligence. He was a different person from the one who had been digging in the ground with a dirt-covered face.

"Be careful. From now on, I'm not responsible even if you die."

The next day, I worked hard as if nothing had happened.

The Poison King considered my every action intentional. Whenever I spoke, he would habitually say this.

"Even so, I know it's all a trick to get on my good side. It's a waste of effort!"

But I didn't care what he thought.

If I had one plan within my lack of a plan, it was this.

Don't focus on the person, focus on the work.

I learned the work with sincerity. I wasn't trying to learn poison for any particular use. I did it because working here was a new experience for me, and a first experience always has something to teach.

"When else would I get to carry sacks of poisonous herbs on my back and sort them? This is a valuable experience for me."

I was trying to live differently than before. It was something I had never experienced, even before my regression.

Think differently, use the body differently.

I hope this will positively impact my life and martial arts. Sometimes you can't come up with an idea no matter how hard you focus, but then it suddenly pops into your head while you're taking a bath or walking down a road.

It's the same. I hope this unfamiliar work in the Thousand Poisons Forest will have a fresh impact on my life and martial arts. I hope to achieve the Twelfth Star complete mastery of the Four Strides of the Wind God while sorting poisonous herbs. I hope to realize a new aspect of life while mixing poisons.

With those thoughts, the work here was no longer nerve-wracking, but enjoyable.

I believed that if I continued like this, an opportunity to move the Poison King's heart would surely come. That opportunity would arrive when I became genuinely immersed in the poison arts.

"Be careful! This time, you have to pour in exactly half!"

When else in my life would I get the chance to mix the fifteen ingredients of the Soul Shattering Acid?

"That's it! It's done!"

I followed his instructions precisely. With my level of martial arts, my actions were nothing but precise. I could probably work more to his liking than anyone else in the Thousand Poisons Gate.

"By the way, do you always do all this work by yourself?"

"……"

"That must be difficult."

I knew why he didn't carelessly allow poison masters in here.

His residence was filled with so many deadly poisons that a careless disciple causing an accident would become a huge problem.

In fact, the All-Knowing Hall strictly surveyed and investigated the Thousand Poisons Forest. Any use of poison had to be reported, and its inventory was always inspected.

After finishing the Soul Shattering Acid mixture, I smiled with pleasure and honestly shared my thoughts.

"This is fun! What poison are you going to mix next?"

Of course, he didn't believe me.

"I think you'd be a better street actor than the Heavenly Demon."

"Next time we go to the Central Plains, how about we join a performance troupe? With your looks, Poison King, I think you could even aim for a leading role."

The Poison King looked disgusted. His expression clearly said, I don't even want to leave this place, and you want me to what? Take the lead in a play?

"I see that in your imagination just now, Poison King, you poisoned all the actors on stage and everyone in the audience to death."

"And do you think you would've survived, Second Young Lord?"

As he spun around, I shouted after him.

"The performance is canceled!"

He walked away, pretending not to hear.

The Poison King had little interest in other people's affairs.

Since this was the level of interest he showed me on such an important matter, I could guess how he usually viewed others. To him, people probably existed somewhere below his poison herbs.

Of course, he sometimes asked questions impulsively. Just like now. The Poison King was grinding poison herbs when he suddenly asked.

"Hey, Second Young Lord, be honest. You're trying to steal and learn poison arts here to poison your brother, aren't you?"

I answered while transferring water into a large container.

"Everyone knows I'm here with you, Poison King. If my brother were poisoned to death, who would they suspect first? I'm the one who should be worried about my brother being poisoned."

THUMP, THUMP! Instead of a rebuttal, the sound of the Poison King grinding his poison herbs grew louder.

"I have no interest in poisoning people. If I were to learn just one thing from you, Poison King, I'd want to learn something else."

"What is it?"

He still didn't look at me, focusing only on grinding the poison herbs. He could drift into his own world again at any moment, but my answer was sure to pull him back to this one.

"I want to learn the art of detoxification. Isn't the pinnacle of the poison arts detoxification, not administering poison?"

For a moment, the grinding stopped. His gaze fixed on me. It was the most surprised expression he had worn since we met, because I had stated exactly what he was thinking.

"It's only been a few days, but I've felt that creating a perfect antidote seems more difficult than creating the poison itself. That led me to this thought. A person who can create an antidote to surely detoxify their own poison. A person who can instantly detoxify an opponent's poison. Isn't that person the true master of the poison arts?"

This meant one could only grasp the ultimate secrets of the poison arts when they perfected detoxification as well as administering poison.

"Where did you hear that?"

From the next Poison King, who learned the poison arts from you.

"It's just my own thought. The analogy might be a bit strange, but it's the same with martial arts. Capturing someone alive is harder than killing them."

I threw down the gauntlet. It was a challenge most advantageous to me, with my Myriad Poison Immunity.

"Choose a poison and teach me its detoxification method. I'll detoxify, and you, Poison King, will administer the poison. How about it? Let's have a match!"

You've practiced the poison arts your whole life, so you can win something like this, can't you? Isn't this a matter of pride?

I didn't provoke him like that. A rash provocation would only be counterproductive.

Poison King, just agree to it. Say let's have a match!

If he just agreed, this bet would be my victory.

But the Poison King was not so easily swayed.

"No."

I asked, "Why not?" to the Poison King's firm refusal.

"Do you think I don't see your little trick? You're hoping I'll say something like, 'If you can detoxify my poison, I'll consider it my loss in the bet.' Right? That's what you want to hear, isn't it?"

I didn't deny it. In fact, if this wasn't about me, I would have wanted to applaud him.

"You just have to win the bet, don't you?"

"How can you guarantee I'll win? The detoxification method is also my method."

The Poison King started grinding the poison herbs again.

"Go practice your barking, Second Young Lord."

That evening, I went to see Father.

The more I knew the Poison King, the more frustrated I felt. At times like this, I needed someone to strengthen my resolve. No one was more suitable than Father.

I visited him just before he slept, so I saw Father's pajamas once again.

"That's a different flower pattern from last time. This must be the greatest protective armor in all of murim. Enemies will see it and think, 'Nah, there's no way the Heavenly Demon would wear pajamas like this,' and just walk on by. That outfit is the safest one you have!"

Father gave me a look that asked how long I would spout nonsense, but he seemed to have known I would come eventually.

"You knew, didn't you, Father? That the Poison King wasn't someone who would be swayed by me."

"Have you given up already?"

"Of course not. It's just that I've never seen someone so trapped in their own world."

That characteristic sneer formed on Father's lips.

Yes, I came today to see that very smile.

Seeing that smile gave me strength. In fact, it made me feel better.

Yes, enjoy yourself for now. I will definitely bring the Poison King before you.

I asked the question I had wanted to ask for a while.

"Father, you dislike the Poison King, don't you?"

Father neither confirmed nor denied it. As a man who truly loved martial arts, he naturally disliked things like poison arts or soul-manipulation techniques.

"If you dislike him, why do you let him live? You should just kill him."

"Because he is most threatening to our enemies."

"Couldn't he start a rebellion, or go mad and poison the people of our Cult?"

"If we are to use the Poison King as a weapon for 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 the kind of thing you say when you have about ten other children hidden away somewhere."

"Why do you think I don't?"

"You'd better not. Dealing with just one brother is already such a headache."

A faint smile touched Father's lips. If Sama Myeong or the Blood Heaven Blade Demon had said that, he might have burst out laughing.

"It's always been like this, but whenever I face a solid wall, I think of you first, Father. Seeing your face like this is enough. I'll take my leave now. Oh, and if things keep going this way, I might end up showing you a bit of filial impiety at the grand training grounds soon."

After that banter, I was about to turn and leave when Father suddenly asked, "Do you think the Poison King is trapped in his own world?"