After resting for about three days and gradually using my newly acquired field of vision, I was starting to get used to it.
So I decided to put it to use in earnest training.
"Hmm."
As I focused my mind, a sensation like heat rushing to my eyes accompanied a slight expansion of what I could perceive.
Over the open training ground, translucent halos of light overlapped in my vision.
Most were so faint that I could barely see them even with concentration, but some stood out with particular clarity.
The Aura rising from my sword was one such sight, and so were Tang So-wol's arms—she had stormed out of her poison research in frustration, unable to make progress.
Tang So-wol took her stance with a serious expression and spoke.
"I will confirm one last time, young hero Cheon. You wish for me to strike you with everything I have, by any means necessary, correct?"
"That's right. After all, I have resistance to your poison, Tang So-wol, so I won't be poisoned."
"Yeees. That may be true, but getting hit by a hidden weapon will still hurt, you know?"
"I don't think I'll fall to a hidden weapon, poison or not."
"…"
Tang So-wol pouted her lips, clearly displeased about something.
I let out a small chuckle at her expression and added.
"Of course, if we just spar like this, it won't be much fun. The gap in our realms is simply too wide."
"Hmph! It's only a single realm difference. I don't need to win the bout—just landing one hit is more than possible."
"That single realm is a steep climb, isn't it? Even one hit won't come easily. …So let's make a wager."
"A wager?"
"For the span of one Da-kyung, come at me with everything you've got. If you so much as graze my sleeve, Tang So-wol, you win. Conversely, if I hold you off without a scratch, I win."
"…If it's a wager, there should be a prize. What will you offer?"
"You've been cooped up sitting while researching lately, haven't you? Before you sleep, I'll give you a proper meridian cleansing."
"Meridian cleansing…?"
Tang So-wol would normally have let this pass without a second thought, but whatever she was imagining, her face flushed crimson.
"W-Won't this only benefit young hero Cheon in the end, even if I win?"
"If you don't like it, you can propose a harsher condition. Since it's what happens when you win, Tang So-wol, it'd be better for you to decide yourself."
"A free pass for young hero Cheon…!"
"I didn't go that far."
Whether or not he was taken aback by her unexpected choice of words, Tang So-wol's deep green eyes spun round and round. Then, a fierce determination blazed forth from them.
"Fine! I've decided! If I win—!"
"If you win?"
"Young hero Cheon, you must drink the wine I've prepared with me!"
"That's nothing much. If it's just that, then I suppose… wait, what kind of wine are you planning to prepare, exactly?"
"Oh my. Are you really going to make me say such a thing with my own mouth?"
"…"
What is it, really.
For my sake, as I blinked my eyes without even a hint of what she meant, Tang So-wol explained a little more.
"It's a snake wine made from a part of the Azure-White Flood Dragon I defeated the other day. The people at the Medical Pavilion say it's quite good for men."
"What."
"But as a daughter of the Tang Clan, plain liquor feels a bit lacking. So I decided to add a little flair. Did you know that poison liquor tastes better than ordinary wine?"
"If I drink poison, I'll be poisoned. How would I know that?"
"Not anymore, right? At least you've built up a resistance to the poisons I can make."
"That may be true… but at this point, I'm getting nervous. What kind of poison are you planning to put in it?"
"Why, an aphrodisiac, of course."
"…"
Her shameless confidence left me utterly speechless.
It was only after staring blankly at Tang So-wol for a long while that I finally managed to speak.
"…You're saying your poison doesn't work on me, Tang So-wol?"
"That's right. But aside from the intense urges that an antidote can't suppress, do you know what's left?"
"I wouldn't know. I'm not particularly interested in that side of things."
"It has a powerful tonic effect, you see."
"…Ah."
So she was saying she'd mix an aphrodisiac into a liquor that's already good for a man, and feed it to me.
I barely managed to grab hold of my slightly dazed wits and spoke.
"Are you planning to see things through to the end before we even hold the formal wedding ceremony?"
"Well. If the young hero Cheon simply cannot bear it, then so be it, no? From the very beginning…"
Tang So-wol let her words trail off, then met my gaze directly and continued.
"You have no intention of marrying me until the Heavenly Demon is defeated, do you?"
"…"
This time, I had no choice but to fall silent for a different reason.
"…You knew."
"I've had a vague sense of it ever since I glimpsed the young hero Cheon's memories."
Tang So-wol shrugged once and gave a beaming smile.
"I haven't seen all of the young hero Cheon's memories, so I can't say for certain… but at the very least, I can tell that you've been through things that are hard for me to even imagine. And I can also tell that those things are holding you back."
"That's…"
"Ah, don't make such a face. I'm not trying to pry. Isn't it better to just quickly deal with troublesome matters? Two people are better than one, and four are better than two. However."
Tang So-wol paused, and her smile shifted slightly. How should I put it? It seemed a bit more cunning now.
"I am a daughter of the Sichuan Tang Clan. I'm a woman who prefers throwing hidden weapons from afar and scattering poison over fighting fairly with a sword. What matters is what you're fighting for, not how you fight."
"W-wait a moment. Surely not…!"
Tang So-wol gave a beaming smile toward me, who was startled.
"Wouldn't a little haste in the wedding be fine as well?"
"…"
"In the end, you'll be eating well, living well, and spending the rest of your days happily with me, won't you? I don't think a slight change in order is going to bring about any great disaster!"
Seeing Tang So-wol clench her fist, I almost found myself persuaded despite myself, but I barely managed to shake my head.
If things went the way Tang So-wol said, it wouldn't be bad in its own way… but the problem was that when the time came, I would choose to flee with the people close to me rather than fight the Heavenly Demon.
And Tang So-wol, who couldn't abandon the Tang Clan to the very end, would run out on her own even without telling me.
Recalling the image of the Poison Lady, who had been even more stubborn than me before the regression, I let out a deep sigh.
"Hoo. I've decided what I'll do if I win."
"Oh my? Already? How nice. What is it that young hero Cheon wishes of me? Do go ahead and say it."
"I'll spank your backside until you beg me to stop."
"My backside? Is that the kind of taste you have, young hero Cheon…?"
Tang So-wol made a wary expression as she covered her bottom with her hands, but soon her expression began to soften strangely.
"It might not be so bad."
"…Enough. Just start already. If you keep dawdling, I'll make my move."
"Th-that's not the rule we agreed on?! Ugh! Fine, I'll go all out!"
Still unable to wipe the blush from her face, Tang So-wol shot me a sidelong glare, and then her hands moved.
A posture that made it hard to guess what she was doing behind her sleeves. Her green robes fluttered, and a thick green Poison Mist spread outward.
The poison energy was slow to fly in, but it covered such a wide area that it blocked my view.
However, it meant nothing to me now.
Perhaps it was because the poison was created through the power of the Poison Spirit Constitution. The internal energy within the Poison Mist shimmered faintly, making its presence known.
And beyond it, Tang So-wol was preparing her next move.
Another energy condensed beyond the mist of light created by the Poison Mist. Thin and dense, it was clearly a hidden weapon of the Cow Hair Needle variety.
Normally, it would have been impossible to discern such details.
Because Tang So-wol's Poison Mist itself contained internal energy, no matter how sharply I sharpened my Qi Sense, once it was obscured by the Poison Mist, it was impossible to see through to the inside.
But there was a great difference between relying on one's senses to feel the presence of energy and seeing the energy directly with one's own eyes.
Enough to see through the veil of Poison Mist and discern what was flying toward me.
Sssssssss!
The Poison Mist slowly enveloped the space before me. Hidden at its edges, Cow Hair Needles flew in, aiming for my blind spots.
Before those slender needles could even cross the thick Poison Mist, I moved my arm.
What mattered was the line connecting all of this into one.
Swoosh.
A slash that cut through space scattered the Poison Mist and disrupted the trajectory of the Cow Hair Needles.
"How?!"
It was only the first exchange, yet Tang So-wol gritted her teeth—not only had every move been seen through, but she had been stopped before she could even fully unleash them.
And then the real barrage of poison and hidden weapons began.
Colorless, odorless poisons concealed within the brilliantly colored Poison Mist.
Hidden weapons that traced intricate, twisting trajectories too fast for the eye to follow, and needles that slipped in from blind spots between them.
Sometimes she would pour out such an overwhelming volume of poison that it was nearly impossible to disperse it all, and other times she would unleash a relentless stream of hidden weapons—not quite a Ten Thousand Flowers Rain, but enough to suppress by sheer area.
If this had been the me of before, I would have blocked the weaker attacks with my Protective Qi, or broken through with the mindset of striking before being struck.
But this time was different.
Now that I could see the flow of Qi, I could perceive everything Tang So-wol wanted to show—and everything she wanted to hide.
Amid the countless poisons and hidden weapons, I distinguished the real from the feigned.
And so I began to block what needed blocking, and dodge what needed dodging.
Before I knew it, without having moved even a single step, I was suppressing Tang So-wol's onslaught—and the space itself—with a single sword.
"Kuh… I have no choice!"
Even though she was clearly attacking unilaterally according to the rules, Tang So-wol found herself being pushed back the moment she came to her senses.
She gritted her teeth and began her final desperate struggle.
The energy that started from Tang So-wol's Dantian spun violently, circulated through her body a couple of times, and then concentrated into both arms.
Puhwaaaah!
All the poison spread across the training ground was sucked into Tang So-wol's sleeves in an instant. And then.
"Haah!"
The Poison Mist condensed into poison ashes, and the poison ashes flew in, each droplet moving on its own.
Each one was as varied as a living creature, with unpredictable trajectories. It was as if she were recreating the Soul-Chasing Flying Butterfly without using a dedicated hidden weapon, relying instead on poison and the functions of the Poison Spirit Constitution.
It was nostalgic.
This was connected to the technique Tang So-wol had used as her signature technique before the regression.
Her control still seemed clumsy, and she lacked the overwhelming poison energy that could turn the entire surrounding area into a swamp, but…
It was the same in that it forced a choice between two options: risk your life and pull off a stunt to dodge them all, or face head-on a poison that could melt even your internal energy the moment you slipped up.
Of course, the strike Tang So-wol had just unleashed wasn't all that threatening yet.
The poison ashes had a narrow range, so it wouldn't be hard to dodge them, and while they might melt Sword Qi, they couldn't do anything to Aura, so simply wrapping oneself in Protective Qi would be enough to block them.
However, this time I decided to try a slightly different approach.
Sharpening my mind further, the flow of Tang So-wol's Qi became clearer to me.
Only after taking in every single bit of it did I understand.
Her current technique was like threading beads on a string—she was connecting each droplet of poison ashes and moving them in sequence.
Well, of course. For Tang So-wol, who hadn't yet properly awakened her Intent, this was probably her limit.
If everything was connected as one, then all I needed to sever it was a single sword strike.
I didn't need a hundred swords or an invisible sword. I didn't even have time to prepare such a thing. If it was just a Qi Barrier, I'd been cutting through them just fine even when I first reached the Harmony Realm.
Being able to cut through that much was enough.
"Hup!"
I traced my sword through the air along the thin thread.
At the same time, the sword strike that crossed the space between us sliced vertically through the thread connecting Tang So-wol's poison ashes—not horizontally.
To anyone watching, it would look like I was swinging my sword in some strange trajectory at empty air.
But I could see it. The poison ash droplets that had been organically linked together were losing their center of gravity and scattering.
"…What?"
Tang So-wol's hollow voice rang out as the severed poison ash droplets scattered in every direction. And that was the end of it.
The strayed poison never wet the floor, never lingered in the air to slowly corrode the surroundings, and never returned to Tang So-wol's will.
As if nothing had happened at all, the poison ash dissolved into the void and vanished.
It was merely internal energy, shaped by skill, becoming masterless qi and returning to Natural Qi.
"…The Intent drain is manageable, but this demands an absurd amount of pure Concentration."
I sighed inwardly, thinking I would need plenty of Practice, and returned my sword to my waist.
Tang So-wol, who had just thrown her internal energy away into empty air, let out a disbelieving laugh.
"Young hero Cheon. Just what exactly are you trying to become, young hero Cheon?"
"What else would I be?"
After a moment of thought, I opened my mouth.
"Aren't I the Tang Clan's live-in son-in-law?"
"…I don't recall our family being that strict."
I chuckled at Tang So-wol's deflated expression and moved closer.
Then I wrapped an arm around her waist, pressed my forehead against her temple, and whispered.
"What if I'm the kind of live-in son-in-law who's allowed to spank the Tang Clan's precious jewel until she begs me to stop?"
"…"
After a moment's hesitation, Tang So-wol quietly pressed her bottom against me.
It was a commendable attitude—conceding defeat in our wager.