Chapter 858: The Way of the Sail Swordsman (5)

Qing slipped in at about that point.

“Alright, that’s enough. Holding down poison energy takes a lot out of you, doesn’t it?”

She phrased it as a question on purpose, because she didn’t actually know.

Sure, people said you could do this and that with inner energy, but she’d never had to suppress poison [N O V E L I G H T] energy before.

Deceive if you must, but don’t lie if you can help it.

There wasn’t any particular reason she had to live by that, but... if she told outright lies, it felt like she shouldn’t. Like she didn’t want to.

Why? Because I’m a lie myself?

No. Don’t think about it. She’d almost gotten depressed for the first time in ages.

Thankfully, wasn’t there a perfect change of mood standing right in front of her—a double-dyed bastard?

“Anyway, enough small talk. If you keep running your mouth, you’re going to poison yourselves for real.”

“What? You bastards are already poisoned! And you were the ones running your mouths!!”

“Sure, whatever. Does that matter? So. If you’ve got something prepared, stop stalling and hurry up and show it. You’re not killing us right away because you want something, right? So what is it?”

“...Watch your mouth. I could kill you right now.”

The deputy Great Lord snarled.

He definitely had something prepared.

But getting hurried like this made it feel like he was losing. This wasn’t the atmosphere he wanted.

“No, I am watching my mouth. How much more careful am I supposed to be? Want me to elevate you more? Ah—Your Highness, Blood Cult inn waiter! I am so desperately curious about the plan you have prepared for us lowly worms that I dare to ask whether I may ask whether I may ask whether I may ask!”

“Your Highness? If you’re going to do it, shouldn’t you elevate him more? Surprisingly stingy, aren’t you?”

“Come on, Elder. If I elevate him all the way to ‘Your Majesty,’ that’s treason. That’s not something you joke about.”

“True. That’s fair. But then... how am I supposed to answer? You ask whether you may ask whether you may ask whether you may ask, and then what? ‘Yes, then you may ask whether you may ask.’ Fine—ask whether you may ask. Yes, now ask whether you may ask again—”

It was a horrifying sight.

There were two terrifying mouths now.

The deputy Great Lord shrieked.

“You pieces of shit! You want to die!?”

“Of course I don’t. Is there anyone in the world who wants to die?”

“I wouldn’t say there aren’t. There are people who truly want to die.”

“But Elder, I think even those people are desperately yearning to live—desperately yearning for a hope that will let them live. Their circumstances are just so hard and so miserable that they sincerely believe those thoughts. Like that.”

“Hoh. A foolish question, a wise answer. You don’t look like the type at all, but unexpectedly—astonishingly—you have deep cultivation. They say you can learn something even from a dog bastard you meet on the road... and I truly admire you.”

“What is that? Is that a compliment? Is it? The Master said there are things to learn even from lowly people, but he didn’t say anything about dog bastards. I’m kind of not in a good mood.”

“Do you think the Master had an ordinary personality? If so, he would’ve said it like this. The disciples must have softened it because it was embarrassing to write down.”

BANG!

A fist slammed down on the table.

It was the deputy Great Lord’s special measure for cutting off a conversation that kept slipping away from him.

Of course, it was also packed full of personal rage.

“Enough! Kk-khk... you two look awfully close, but fine. Let’s see how long you can keep that up. Kh-heh-heh-heh.”

Qing and Gilun thought the same thing at the same time.

He’s forcing that laugh.

“Blood Cult disciple. That sounded forced just now. Was it? Of course, they say laughing brings fortune, so it’s not a bad attitude... but somehow, I feel sorry for you. I never thought I’d live long enough to pity a Blood Cult human vermin. How surprising.”

He didn’t just think it.

Gilun actually said it out loud.

Qing felt an inexplicable sense of defeat.

Ah. I’m still nowhere near enough. I need to cultivate harder...

And then stubborn competitiveness surged up inside her.

Even if she was hopelessly outclassed in martial arts, she couldn’t lose in scratching at someone’s nerves.

This was Formless Poison recognized by the Tang Clan—she couldn’t lose with her tongue. Not when the Tang Clan had put their name behind it.

The Tang Clan would’ve felt wronged and baffled if they heard this, but Qing had, in fact, said “Formless Poison,” so.

“Shut up! Y-you—dog—You can look down on people, but there are limits—h—let’s see how long you can keep that calm face. Now, look. I have an antidote right here.”

The deputy Great Lord set a pellet down, bold as day, on the ruined table.

Then he placed a jade bottle beside it.

“This is an extreme toxin called Cliff’s-End Severance. Of course, it’s not on the level of Immortal-Slaying Poison, but Cliff’s-End Severance is a blood poison, which makes it difficult to suppress. In other words, no matter how powerful you are, if you drink this while already poisoned by Immortal-Slaying Poison, you will never survive. And this is—”

“Wait. Question. You said no matter how powerful... but what if it’s a Manifest Realm master?”

“It would take longer to detoxify, sure, but Manifest Realm masters aren’t common, and—what—shut up! I’ll rip your mouth open!”

“Hey. Why are you only picking on me.”

“You look easy to bully, don’t you.”

“No, Elder, you can’t do that. In the martial world, they say you should watch out for the old, the young, women, and beggars. If I’m easy to bully, that’s not right.”

“How would Blood Cult human vermin who’ve never learned anything know that. That’s why learning is impor—”

“FUCK! STOP!! SHUT UP!! I could just kill you right now! When I’m giving you a chance, just be quiet! Please! Huh!? Just shut your mouth!! Was I asking for something huge!? Shut up! Please! SHUUUT UUUUP!!!”

The deputy Great Lord finally exploded.

Honestly, he’d lasted a long time. You could say he’d done well.

“Huff... huff. Fuck. If it weren’t for the Heavenly Flower Sword...”

Qing and Gilun looked at each other.

Qing sent the meaning with her eyes.

Elder, I really think we shouldn’t provoke him any more right now.

Gilun gave her a look that said he understood.

Then he immediately parted his lips—

Qing desperately shook her head no, fast and small.

No. You didn’t understand at all.

Seeing that, Gilun closed his mouth again.

“Here is poison and here is an antidote. You bastards must choose one of them. But there is only one antidote, so one of you will die in agony, wishing for death.”

Ah. So this was what he wanted.

Qing understood immediately.

One person gets to live, now kill each other—something like that. Then you get ugly, desperate scenes of people clawing at each other to survive.

And the villain watches with a satisfied smile.

That kind of thing.

But he’d picked the wrong targets.

“Give the antidote to the Heavenly Flower Sword.”

“No. Hey, inn waiter. Hand over that poison. That one is mine.”

“What are you saying? When you leave, it looks best to leave in the order you came out. What meaning is there in devouring a junior so far beneath you just to live? You’ll die anyway. The Matriarch will beat you to death.”

“Come on, they say there’s an order to coming out, but there’s no order to going. You’re getting up there in years—eat only good things.”

A heartwarming sight—two people yielding the antidote to each other.

Only they looked so relaxed, like they were yielding some kind of tonic.

Which made sense. One of them was immune to poison, and the other was an apex master who could detoxify poison.

But in Gilun’s case, it was a little different.

If he added another poison on top of a vicious poison like this, then even in the Manifest Realm, it would already be overwhelming just to suppress it.

And there was one Blood Cult human vermin, plus four horrifying Blood Cult monsters.

The vermin was only at the peak, a pup not worth mentioning—but Poison Blood Guard were exactly what they sounded like: beasts with poison blood flowing through them.

Even if he was a Manifest Realm master, if he fought in this state, he would have to accept the possibility of ending up crippled from poison aftereffects.

But after seeing the Heavenly Flower Sword with his own eyes, wasn’t this exactly the kind of pillar worth paying that price for?

For the righteous martial world as well, he had to send the Heavenly Flower Sword out of here alive and intact.

Even if, in the worst case, he lost his martial arts—or even his life—this child would not betray the debt owed to Diancang. That would be fine.

Gilun made his decision.

Once the Heavenly Flower Sword swallowed the antidote, he would strike immediately and clean up the bandits.

Not realizing his neck was already beneath a blue-steel blade, the deputy Great Lord let out a heavy sigh.

“I knew it. Righteous-sect bastards... ha. Filthy bastards. Your ‘kindness’ is always aimed only at yourselves.”

And then the deputy Great Lord produced one more pellet from his robes and set it down.

Now there were two antidotes and one extreme poison.

“Here. There’s one more antidote. Enough for both of you to take.”

“What is this? Don’t tell me you’re moved? You saw us yielding our lives to each other and thought it was so nice to see? Inn waiter, you aren’t some mountain spirit, are you? Like, if I throw you an axe, you give me back a bundle of gold axes and silver axes?”

“Does the Central Plains have stories like that? But in the first place, why would you throw an axe at a mountain spirit? Still... repaying malice with goodwill? Hm. Forging an axe out of gold and silver and returning it... the same shape, but different hearts within? A killing sword and a living sword. Mm. A story worth pondering.”

...How did that even turn into that?

They said you only saw what you carried in your heart—maybe once you reached the Manifest Realm, you could find a path in even pure nonsense.

“Haaa. Fine. Now just eat the antidotes, you two.”

The deputy Great Lord looked completely drained.

Qing was a little disappointed.

Mm. This elder’s art of nerve-scratching was as impressive as his realm, but he went on and on and on.

Too much was worse than too little.

If you wanted to keep someone angry, you had to understand the nature of nonsense and profanity, read the situation, and control the dosage.

Mm. Elder’s tongue still wasn’t as sharp as hers.

And per the principle of Formless Poison, there were times when you had to say exactly what the other person wanted to hear.

Like right now.

“But you’re offering antidotes now? Doesn’t that make it even more suspicious? How are we supposed to trust this? How do we know what’s inside? How do we know this is medicine and not poison?”

The deputy Great Lord’s slumped shoulders snapped back into place.

His eyes glittered again, and a nasty smile slid back onto his lips.

“Kk-kh. It is an antidote. It simply contains a gu poison. Poison is restrained by poison. For dealing with you righteous trash, I can’t think of a more fitting tool than you two. Kk-khk.”

Now the deputy Great Lord even had a nasty laugh in him again. He looked much more alive.

Seeing Gilun start to open his mouth without reading the room, Qing hurriedly cut him off with Voice Transmission.

Wait!! Elder!! Hold on!!

Then she made her face vicious.

“Hah. So you want us to swallow gu poison? I’d rather die.”

“Well, then. This is your only way to live, you damned pair. If you won’t eat it, I’ll kill you right here, right now.”

“Y-you vile—!”

“Kh-heh-heh. So now you finally understand your situation?”

The deputy Great Lord was smug, practically glowing.

“The pain gu poison brings will be a hundred times worse than the worst pain you can imagine. Right now you’re pretending to stand tall like some knight-errant, but do you think there’s ever been one who didn’t end up crying, clutching trouser hems, begging for mercy?”

“You won’t know until you try.”

Qing put on an indignant expression.

Sure enough, the deputy Great Lord’s cheekbones lifted like he was ascending—

“Kh-heh-heh. But you—why did you get so quiet? Don’t feel like flapping that dog mouth anymore?”

“Mm. Living is better than dying. So... do I just eat it now?”

“Kk-khk, acting so calm—yet in the end you’re desperate to live too. Kk, k-hahah!”

Now the deputy Great Lord burst into a truly delighted laugh, a peal of madness spilling straight from his heart.

But of course—one common-sense truth in the Central Plains.

Gu poison didn’t work on the Manifest Realm.

Before it could do anything, a refined method of samadhi true fire would burn it all away.

Maybe that was why, in Gilun’s eyes as he looked at the deputy Great Lord, there was something like... faint contempt.