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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: Sichuan Tang Clan (2)
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Sichuan Tang Clan (2)
Unless it was a completely new world setting, I had never read a martial arts novel that didn't feature the Sichuan Tang Clan.
The Sichuan Tang Clan was one of the five great families of the martial world. Though they belonged to the orthodox faction, their use of poison and hidden weapons often cast them as villains or as the ones who get beaten down after messing with the protagonist.
The Sichuan Tang Clan was synonymous with poison, so I'd wondered if I needed to ingest some to unlock the trait. But for that to actually be the case... it was absurd.
I have no idea who came up with a setting like this.
I was glad to have unlocked the Sichuan Tang Clan, but there was a more pressing issue.
I had just been poisoned.
I didn't know what kind of poison it was, but I could be dead in seconds. This was a serious problem.
Not knowing what to do, I froze, the spoon still in my mouth.
"Grand Prince?"
Arin called out to me, but I didn't answer, didn't even move.
"Grand Prince! Are you all right?"
I counted to sixty in my head, but my body still felt no change. There were no symptoms like pain or blurred vision.
I looked over at Arin, who was standing a short distance away. Her expression was blank, but her eyes were filled with worry.
[Name: Arin]
[Traits: Swift Sword lv2, Clear Mirror, Still Water (明鏡止水) lv1, Aura Adaptation lv1]
[Affinity: 20 (Deep Interest)]
Over the past month, Arin's affinity for me had steadily risen. There was no way she was the one who poisoned me.
At the moment, I couldn't think of who would have poisoned me. To be honest, there were far too many people who might want me poisoned.
"Grand Prince!"
"Ah! Sorry."
"What were you doing?"
"Just thinking for a moment."
I still felt no effects from the poison. This led me to consider four possibilities.
First, the poison was so weak that it had almost no effect.
Second, it wasn't a fast-acting poison but a cumulative one that would build up and cause illness over time.
Third, the Sichuan Tang Clan trait had activated, rendering the poison ineffective.
Fourth, it was a type of *gudok*—a curse poison—that would activate after a certain time or be triggered by the caster.
These were the reasons I could come up with. But since all four were plausible, it was hard to make a judgment right now.
The Yuren Lox I had possessed was a character destined to be killed by the protagonist later on. But to be poisoned so suddenly... it seemed some action of mine had altered Yuren Lox's story.
Come to think of it, I hadn't done much of anything. I had just been exercising and training constantly.
Exercise and training... could my exercise and training have harmed someone?
With the spoon still in my mouth, my mind raced furiously.
What was supposed to happen in the Lox House around this time?
As I thought about the story, a clear image of the plotline appeared in my mind as if drawn there.
First, the second son, Collin, would be unofficially named the successor. Then, Ilia would visit, be disappointed in Yuren yet again, and break off the engagement. Finally, the Marquis, who had hesitated until the end, would officially declare Collin as his heir.
Once I saw the story, the list of suspects who might have poisoned me narrowed considerably.
The problem was the succession. Originally, Collin should have been chosen as the heir by now. But that had changed because of me.
The Marquis must have changed his mind after I began my training. He decided to postpone the selection of the heir.
"Grand Prince, what is wrong?"
"Sorry."
I had a good idea now of who was behind this. The next step was to figure out what the poison was. But I had no idea how to do that.
Frustrated, I frowned and stared at the soup.
[Creator's Eye lv1 activates.]
[Chirein Soup]
Despite the creator's poor naming sense, this is a highly nutritious stamina food that slowly recovers health and mana, and accelerates the regeneration of damaged muscle fibers. Its effects are greater the more strenuous the training.
So far, it was the same description I had seen before. But below it, new text had been added.
+[Hanyangcho] (Attribute: Paralysis)
Hanyangcho is primarily used as a medicinal herb, but when aged, it develops a very weak toxicity. While the toxicity is almost negligible to an adult, if accumulated, it will gradually paralyze the body, leading to death.
"Whoa!"
The effect of Creator's Eye was going wild. It showed me exactly what poison was in the Chirein soup, and even detailed its effects.
"Grand Prince, if you are not going to eat, shall I bring something else..."
"No. I'll eat it."
One bowl of this would have almost no effect, so I decided to finish it for now.
"Hmm..."
As I finished the Chirein soup, a message window appeared before my eyes again.
[The unlock condition for Weak Paralysis Poison has been met.]
It said Weak Paralysis Poison had been unlocked. I needed to send Arin out quickly so I could check my traits.
"Then, please get some rest."
"Alright. Good night."
As soon as Arin left, I stood in front of the mirror and activated Creator's Eye.
[Creator's Eye lv1 activates.]
[Name: Yuren Lox]
[Traits: Creator's Eye, Sichuan Tang Clan (四川唐家)+]
[Status: Overweight, Mildly Poisoned, Minor Muscle Soreness]
[Synchronization Rate: 97.7%]
"How do I use the Sichuan Tang Clan trait?"
Focusing on the trait, I noticed a plus sign next to it. When I pressed the plus sign, several categories appeared, as if opening a nested folder.
"What is this?"
[Sichuan Tang Clan]-
[Sichuan Tang Clan - Poison (毒)]+
[Sichuan Tang Clan - Hidden Weapons (暗器)]+
[Sichuan Tang Clan - Martial Arts (武功)]+
[Locked]
[Locked]
The plus sign next to Sichuan Tang Clan had changed to a minus sign, and the other unlocked categories now had plus signs next to them, just like the main trait.
"So I can tap these to open them too. How smart."
The message I saw earlier had definitely said 'Weak Paralysis Poison,' so I pressed on 'Poison' first. The plus sign next to it turned into a minus, and a list of various poisons appeared.
Perhaps because it was unlocked, 'Weak Paralysis Poison' was at the very top, with many other poisons listed below it.
The further down I scrolled, the more complex and vicious the names of the poisons became. I looked at the ones at the very bottom.
[Ten Great Poisons of the Tang Clan (唐家十毒) - Formless Poison (無形之毒)] - Requires unlocking of lower-tier poisons.
Formless Poison is formless, colorless, tasteless, and odorless, but its deadliness is among the worst in the Tang Clan.
"Does this mean I'll be able to use this later on?"
'Requires unlocking of lower-tier poisons' meant I had to master the poisons listed above it.
"So, the condition to unlock the Sichuan Tang Clan is to ingest poison, and the condition to unlock Weak Paralysis Poison is to ingest Hanyangcho."
When I focused my gaze on something I wanted to know more about, a description would pop up as if I were hovering a mouse cursor over it. Weak Paralysis Poison was unlocked, but I couldn't use it yet.
[Weak Paralysis Poison] - (Unusable) Internal Energy Technique Required
An internal energy technique. In a way, that made sense. The Sichuan Tang Clan used their internal energy to handle poisons.
I pressed the plus sign next to [Sichuan Tang Clan - Martial Arts (武功)]+. A message window appeared.
[Select Basic Internal Energy Technique]
[Gam Poison Art (紺毒功)]
[Gak Lightning Art (各電功)]
[Myriad Poisons Magnetic Divine Qi (萬毒磁電神氣)]
Anyone who's read a few martial arts novels would know which one to choose without even reading the descriptions. Of course, it had to be the third one, the ridiculously named Myriad Poisons Magnetic Divine Qi.
There was only one reason to choose the third one: its name contained the character for 'Divine' (神).
[Would you like to learn the Myriad Poisons Magnetic Divine Qi? You can only choose an internal energy technique once.]
After carefully reading the descriptions for all three, I made my choice with certainty. The Gam Poison Art focused on poison, while the Gak Lightning Art was for freely controlling hidden weapons.
The Myriad Poisons Magnetic Divine Qi took the longest to master, but it was a martial art that could lead to the pinnacle of both poison and hidden weapons. It was a no-brainer.
[You have learned the Myriad Poisons Magnetic Divine Qi.]
As the message window appeared, the knowledge of the Myriad Poisons Magnetic Divine Qi was etched into my mind.
It felt like I could circulate it as naturally as if I'd known how since birth.
Strike while the iron is hot. I immediately began to circulate the Myriad Poisons Magnetic Divine Qi. Without my conscious control, something tingling automatically coursed through my body in a set direction and sequence.
It was a strange and unique sensation. A bizarre sense of pleasure washed over me each time the small, hard, bead-like things passed through my body.
I suppose those bead-like things are my internal energy. Is this how it works? They circulate through the acupoints in my body, gradually accumulating more internal energy.
At first, my mind was filled with stray thoughts, but gradually they faded, and I became completely focused on the movement of my internal energy.
Chirp! Chirp!
The sound of birdsong that always came at dawn brought me back to my senses. I had been sitting in the same spot since dusk, circulating my internal energy without a wink of sleep.
"So it was true, what they said in martial arts novels about circulating internal energy without sleeping. I'm not tired at all."
Far from being tired, I was overflowing with vitality. It was probably thanks to the warm internal energy I could feel in my dantian, a few centimeters below my navel.
"Something's... different."
The world I saw now was somehow different from the one I saw yesterday. It wasn't just the confidence from gaining internal energy; it was a sense of being able to see the flow of the air, the flow of the world.
I felt like I knew how many birds were chirping outside and even who was standing outside my door right now.
*Click.*
The door opened without a knock, probably because she thought I was still asleep.
"You are awake?"
The person who entered was Arin, carrying a basin of steaming water. She placed it on the central table and looked around me.
"You did not sleep."
Seeing the neatly made bed, which I hadn't even touched, Arin seemed certain I hadn't slept.
"I guess I just didn't."
"That is not good for you. You should rest from training today."
Normally, Arin would have set down the water and immediately left to get my meal, but now she just stood there, staring at me with a worried look.
"No, I'm going. I feel great right now."
By the way, Arin hadn't reacted at all, even though I now had internal energy. She was an aura user with the Aura Adaptation trait, so her senses should be sharp. It was strange that she couldn't feel the change in me.
"Then I will prepare your meal and return."
"Alright."
After Arin left, I thought of the Sichuan Tang Clan in my mind. The trait's categories appeared before my eyes without me needing to look in a mirror.
"So it does appear."
[Myriad Poisons Magnetic Divine Qi (萬毒磁電神氣)] 1st Star 10%
Ten percent in just one night. That was incredible progress.
[Weak Paralysis Poison] - Temporarily paralyzes the target.
I looked at the Weak Paralysis Poison at the top of the poison category. Unlike yesterday, the poison was now active and had a description. This meant I could use it right away.
"Who should I try it on? I do need a test subject..."
Just below the Weak Paralysis Poison, there was an option labeled 'Antidote,' so it seemed I could reverse the effects immediately.
"Hmm..."
*Knock, knock.*
"Come in."
Arin returned to the room with a bowl of Chirein soup.
"You should eat first."
"Ah, thanks."
Whether it was from all the thinking or staying up all night, I was hungry, so I decided to eat breakfast first.
"Hmm..."
[You have ingested poison (Hanyangcho).]
[Myriad Poisons Magnetic Divine Qi is absorbing the poison (Hanyangcho).]
[The proficiency of Myriad Poisons Magnetic Divine Qi has increased.]
[The mastery of Weak Paralysis Poison has increased.]
Messages kept popping up before my eyes as I ate the poisoned food.
Now I understood perfectly what that system window was telling me.
And I've also decided on the first guinea pig for my paralysis poison.
"Just you wait."