Only after thoroughly ravaging Seomun Hwa-rin's cheeks did I finally let her go.
Clutching both of her flushed cheeks, Seomun Hwa-rin trembled. The gaze she cast up at me was several times sharper than usual.
At this rate, she'd forget all about it after a single meal.
I lightly tapped the tip of her nose—left defenseless while she tended to her cheeks—and spoke.
"Shall we go eat, then?"
"I shall not forget today's humiliation."
"If that's how I can leave a mark in Senior Seomun Hwa-rin's memory, then so be it."
"W-What! What exactly is your purpose in saying such sweet words?!"
"Just something I said."
I shrugged once and rose from the bed, heading toward Tang So-wol, who was sitting alone with her head in her hands.
"Are you busy?"
"Young hero Cheon…"
"Hm?"
Looking closer, she wasn't just grunting in frustration—she was nearly on the verge of tears.
Drooping eyes. A pouting mouth. And beyond those green pupils, a restless frustration rippling through.
Tang So-wol timidly tugged at my sleeve and began to plead.
"Will you hear me out, young hero Cheon?"
"What is it?"
"You know the poison that afflicted the Beast Palace Lord, right? Well, it turns out it's no ordinary poison."
"Hard to cure, is it?"
"No. It's a poison with no antidote at all."
A poison like that actually exists?
I tilted my head in bewilderment, and Tang So-wol let out a deep, long sigh before continuing.
"To be precise, I suppose I should say the antidote changes from time to time."
"What does that…?"
I may not have personally trained in the poison art, but appearances aside, I've already lived with the Tang Clan for over five years now.
In my previous life, I'd also spent a considerable amount of time with Tang So-wol, listening to all sorts of stories.
And when I achieved a Bone-Exchange Rebirth centered on Tang So-wol's poison and became something close to Immune to All Poisons, I'd even gone through books on my own to study the subject.
I'm confident that when it comes to knowledge of poisons, I go far deeper than your average physician.
Yet what I'd just heard was something my common sense simply couldn't comprehend.
"It's not as if the poison itself changes from time to time, so what do you mean the antidote changes?"
"Surprisingly, the poison does change from time to time."
"Huh?"
"I told you earlier that I had predicted several types of poison, right?"
Tang So-wol's next words were completely unexpected.
Having absorbed all the poisons of the Heavenly Poison Sect, Tang So-wol had narrowed down the types of poison the Poison Demon might have used on the Beast Palace Lord. She had been crafting antidotes little by little even before arriving at the Beast Palace.
But when she actually took the Beast Palace Lord's pulse, she was shocked to find that he wasn't poisoned by just one of the predicted poisons—he was afflicted by three types of Extreme Poison.
Each one was potent enough to poison even a Harmony Realm martial artist, so their characteristics were bound to be distinct.
With three such Extreme Poisons tangled together inside his body, things began to happen that couldn't occur through ordinary means.
The symptoms of the three poisons began to appear in sequence, alternating one after another.
"So… you're saying that when one flares up, the other two stay quiet, and when another flares up, the other two stay quiet—repeating that cycle?"
"Yes. The cycle is quite stable, so in a way, one could say they've achieved a kind of harmony. It's not a single poison, and I never imagined that different poisons could produce such a phenomenon."
"Then what about preparing three types of antidotes in advance and neutralizing whichever poison surfaces first?"
"That was the first thing I considered as well… but if one of the three poisons weakens, the balance would collapse, and the other two would likely flare up simultaneously."
"Neutralizing two at once…"
"It's possible, but the weakened Beast Palace Lord wouldn't be able to endure it."
"That's a problem."
"Yes, that is a problem."
Tang So-wol had now started rubbing her forehead against the back of my hand, whining softly.
"Either way, the Poison Demon is of no help whether alive or dead."
Tang So-wol herself seemed troubled… but the smooth sensation against the back of my hand, along with her warm body heat, gradually calmed my heart.
Still, the person who needed this calm the most was not me, but Tang So-wol. So I decided to return the favor in kind.
I pulled my hand away from her for a moment, then gently grasped her head as she looked at me in confusion, pressing my forehead against hers.
"Eep! Euk! Heok!"
Tang So-wol stiffened, letting out strange noises. But before long, the tension seemed to drain from her as her body went limp.
As expected, the effect was good.
I let out a small laugh and whispered softly, our foreheads still touching.
"Don't worry too much. At any rate, this means the antidote itself can be made, doesn't it?"
"Th… that's true, isn't it?"
"If the problem is that the Beast Palace Lord's body can't withstand it, then we just need to find a method with less burden."
"It's not as easy as you make it sound…"
"That's true in ordinary cases. However, having caught a glimpse of the Beast Palace's martial arts, a plausible method has come to mind."
The Beast Palace's martial arts begin from the sharing between beast and man.
By sharing internal energy, they can turn an ordinary beast into a Spirit Beast, or conversely, borrow power from a Spirit Beast.
By sharing thoughts, they move as if they were one body, and by sharing senses, they can perceive things that would normally be impossible to feel.
The Beast Palace Lord's ability to endure this long was likely thanks to the help of his companion, the black panther Spirit Beast.
If he had been alone, he would have collapsed long ago. A Harmony Realm martial artist can be poisoned, but it's difficult for poison to kill them… but even that has its limits.
If three Extreme Poisons strike at once, not just one, it's only natural that most would die before long.
If they truly share their internal energy with each other, as I vaguely sensed, then wouldn't they also be able to share poison energy?
"If curing one poison would cause the other two to run rampant and become dangerous, then you simply shunt one of them onto the Spirit Beast. It will be painful enough to die, but it can endure. So, before its breath gives out, you, Tang So-wol, can treat it again."
"…Whether it's actually possible, and whether the Beast Palace Lord will permit it, are both concerns—but whether I can treat it in time is the biggest problem of all."
"He's the Beast Palace Lord, so he'll probably hold out well, just as he has until now."
"No. I'm talking about the black panther Spirit Beast."
"Ah."
Come to think of it, unlike the Beast Palace Lord, who had reached the mature Harmony Realm, the energy emanating from his Spirit Beast was only at the Transcendent Peak level.
I understood—the Harmony Realm wasn't as simple as it sounded. And this was just a rough guess, but…
Perhaps it was even harder for a Spirit Beast to reach the Harmony Realm than for a human.
Ever since martial arts had developed past a certain level, Harmony Realm martial artists had always existed in every era.
After all, weren't the heads of the Nine Great Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Families all Harmony Realm martial artists?
Beyond them, there would also be those who had set aside their positions, like the previous generation's masters or the Murim Alliance Leader, and while fewer than the Orthodox Sects, the Unorthodox Sects also had a fair number of Harmony Realm martial artists.
But what about Spirit Beasts? It was true that as Natural Qi grew thinner, Spirit Beasts themselves had become harder to find, but even searching through the records, the times when Harmony Realm Spirit Beasts outnumbered Harmony Realm martial artists could be counted on one hand.
I didn't know the reason.
If it were simply because martial arts were passed down and developed through the generations, then the Beast Palace, which taught martial arts to Spirit Beasts, should have produced Harmony Realm Spirit Beasts a little more often.
There was probably some other reason. For now, though, I only needed to know that the Beast Palace didn't call Harmony Realm Spirit Beasts divine beasts for nothing.
That was how difficult it was for a Spirit Beast to reach the Harmony Realm, and I had to assume that the Beast Palace Lord's black panther Spirit Beast wouldn't luck into becoming a divine beast either.
Could a Spirit Beast at the Transcendent Peak level withstand poison that could bring even an absolute master to his knees?
With such strong vitality, it would endure better than a human, but… there was no guarantee it would come through unscathed.
It could leave him crippled in one spot, or if luck was against him, he might die midway through, or even if the treatment was completed, his vitality might be so depleted that he would die anyway. But.
"If that's the case, the solution is simple."
"What is it?"
"Wouldn't it work if a Harmony Realm martial artist who can withstand Extreme Poison helped the black panther with its internal energy circulation? Similar to how the True Qi Taoist did it."
"It's simple enough, but that's…"
The meridians of a human and a beast are different. And it was precisely by figuring out how to connect them that the Beast Palace's secret art was created.
In other words, what I just said presupposed that I had at least partially mastered the Beast Palace's secret art.
It was simple, but in practice, it was not so simple a method to carry out.
"Thinking it over, there might be another way, but this is all that comes to mind for now."
"If it's at all possible, I think we can make it work somehow."
"Then the most important thing is ultimately the Beast Palace Lord's judgment."
If he were willing to allow even a portion of the secret art in order to cure the poison… then I, too, might find a way to deal with the remnants of the Azure-White Flood Dragon still left within me.
***
On the way to the dining hall, bringing along Seol Ri-hyang, who had been training alone on the training ground. A servant came running up breathlessly to find us.
The Beast Palace Lord had invited us to dine with his other children.
We had already shared all the important matters, and though he had left the family, it had been a long time since Maeng Yu-baek had returned, so I thought they might want to catch up as a family, even if it was a little awkward…
It seemed he had something else in mind.
Nodding inwardly, the moment I stepped into the dining area, I could immediately discern the Beast Palace Lord's intentions.
The Beast Palace Lord sat at the head of the table. The fact that he remained mounted on the black panther even during the meal was expected, so it elicited no particular reaction from me.
But the two young men seated side by side on one side, bearing a resemblance to the Beast Palace Lord, and Maeng Yu-baek sitting alone on the opposite side, trembling yet trying not to show it—the meaning of this arrangement was all too blatant.
They wanted our party to sit beside Maeng Yu-baek, to make it appear as though we were his political backing.
"So this was the reason."
"Don't I need insurance as well?"
Though spoken in a jesting tone, the Beast Palace Lord's gaze was cold and heavy.
His gaze was fixed not on me, but on his own son. More specifically, on the younger-looking of the two men.
He had a strangely dark impression. Perhaps because of how quickly he scanned his surroundings even in this situation, he seemed even more sinister.
Of course, judging a person solely by first impressions is hasty, but…
Judging by the killing intent that subtly rose whenever he passed by Maeng Yu-baek, he seemed to be exactly the kind of person his appearance suggested.
It was a faint aura that most wouldn't notice. But to me, who was sensitive to killing intent, it was clearly perceptible.
It was probably a precaution laid out in advance—to prevent reckless behavior during the succession competition, and to ensure that no matter who won… even if Maeng Yu-baek, who had once left the palace, became its lord, there would be no discord.
Maeng Yu-baek himself, and the Beast Palace Lord who had barely managed to convince him through explanations, knew I had no interest in the South Man Beast Palace. But others wouldn't be so sure.
After a moment's thought, I shrugged and went to sit beside Maeng Yu-baek.
As I took my seat, the other women shuffled over to sit close beside me.
Perhaps seeing a familiar face had put him at ease. Maeng Yu-baek's trembling subsided slightly.
"Hehe. Come to think of it, White Moon Sword Lord, this is your first time tasting the Beast Palace's food, isn't it? I can guarantee it's the most delicious cooking in all of Yunnan!"
"You haven't even seen half of Yunnan—can you really make such a guarantee?"
"Well, it's true in my memory, at least!"
"Hmph. I suspect it's more that you've been starving for so long that you've simply forgotten what it was like to eat well and live well."
"Ahh…!"
Instantly refuted, Maeng Yu-baek wilted in a slightly different sense, and the Beast Palace Lord laughed, gesturing at the dishes laid out on the table.
"Come now. Eat before the food gets cold. I haven't seen all of Yunnan myself, but I know enough to say that the Head Chef's skill is remarkable. You won't be disappointed."
"So this is the food of the Beast Palace…!"
Seomun Hwa-rin, who had been brimming with anticipation all along, was momentarily drooling over the unfamiliar dishes that were unheard of on the Central Plains.
Before I picked up my chopsticks, I decided to bring up what I had prepared to say.
"Beast Palace Lord, I have a question. If you were to show me the Beast Palace's martial arts for the sake of treatment, how much of it would you be willing to reveal?"
"For the sake of treatment, you say… Why don't you just go ahead and loot the Beast Palace's storehouse while you're at it?"
"Oh. That works too."
"You're shameless."
At the Beast Palace Lord's dumbfounded reaction, the two of them let out wry chuckles.
"Well, the storehouse has already been looted once, so there isn't much left to take anyway."
"…Ah."
Come to think of it, Gwiyeong Sin-tu had said he'd robbed the South Man Beast Palace once too, hadn't he?
I'd better watch my words.