Chapter 432: The Lake of Regret (2)

The Poison King showed an unpleasant expression as if he wasn’t fond of my request.

I was making a request like this so early in the morning, so it was understandable for a Lord to think that I was being rude.

However, I believed that he wasn’t the type of person to make decisions depending on his mood.

Quite frankly, it was as I expected.

“You must be cautious of the poison from this point.”

I charged my Qi further after hearing the warning.

I was barely immune to poison in this life, so it was necessary for me to be cautious.

I was currently heading towards the Lake of Poison with a guide.

It was the treasure of Tang Clan that was created at the time the Heavenly Poison Tang Jaemoon was the Lord of Tang Clan.

The Lake of Poison.

It was a mysterious lake that endlessly formed poisonous water.

It may have not been a lethal poison, but the fact that it was infinite increased its value by an extreme amount, and Tang Clan took advantage of this to craft poisonous medicines.

They sold these poisonous medicines for a considerable profit, but it was only a thing of the past, as the Murim Alliance prohibited the sales of poison without their permission.

On top of that,

It’s where the White Demonic Stone lies.

The White Demonic Stone that the Heavenly Demon gave me in my past life after getting it herself from the secret vault.

It was right underneath the Lake of Poison.

I can’t believe I’m actually here right now.

I did always plan to come here and sneak away the stone, but I didn’t expect to attempt it before even reaching the age of twenty.

It was a good thing that I progressed faster than I expected,

But thanks to that, I learned that I’m going to die.

I didn’t know it would tie my feet like that.

Damaging one’s vessel because of one’s progression rate and increase in Qi was something I was unaware of.

Plus, it wasn’t like I consumed all these Qi because I wanted to which made it more frustrating.

But that’s just my luck, I guess.

Nothing went well in my life as I always expected, and it was no different this time.

As I continued to walk, I asked a question to the guide that was assigned for me.

“The Lord is not coming with us?”

“Our Lord said he has an important matter to attend to…”

“Hmm, I see.”

I was currently speaking to a lady, and I’ve seen her before.

I met her in Henan, when I was invited for a meal with the Poison King.

There were assassins scattered throughout the building to test me, and this lady was the most talented of all.

I didn’t get to learn her name from the Poison King, but I knew that her name was Nahee.

“Is it okay for you to be the only one guiding me?”

“…I can assign you a different guide if you aren’t satisfied with me.”

“It’s not like that. I just wondered if it’s okay for only one person to watch me even though this is the clan’s treasure.”

The Lake of Poison may have been an extraordinary treasure, but it was still a treasure of Tang Clan, so it made me wonder why they only sent one person to keep a watch on me.

It felt like their security was a bit poor.

Plus, the Poison King didn’t even come.

If a Lord was returning a favor after he received help, then it would be understandable for him to accompany the person he was returning the favor to at least for his good image.

However, he didn’t come because he was busy.

Hmm.

Then he should’ve sent at least someone like the Young Lord or Tang Soyeol.

But considering he didn’t send any blood relatives…

Is there something special about this lake?

It seemed like there was something I didn’t know about.

I wondered if it was because of the prisoners that were brought to the clan at first, but I a different thought in mind.

Did Tang Clan’s plan really come to an end?

The Celestial Martial Body Plan is one that Tang Duk was a victim of.

The Poison Queen in my past life as well. I was reminded of both things at once and it made me think from time to time.

I’m also bothered by what the Heavenly Demon did.

She insisted on destroying the Tang Clan and Sichuan.

In the end, she burned the lands of Sichuan and looked for the basement hidden in Tang Clan.

Back then, I wondered what Zhuge Hyuk had in mind for him to create such a plan,

…But maybe the Heavenly Demon knew something.

Such a thought kept popping up in my mind from time to time.

Perhaps this place had a few things that I was unaware of.

“It’s this place.”

I woke up from my thoughts after hearing Nahee’s voice.

It only took a few minutes to arrive in front of a small lake.

I opened my eyes slightly wider than before after seeing the lake.

…This place.

I saw a lake that glowed in a dim green light.

It wasn’t that big in size and it looked like a beautiful lake because of its faint light and calm waves.

I was expecting to see a boiling lake with a toxic smell considering it was a lake filled with poison, but it was way too beautiful unlike what I expected.

So it looked like this normally.

By the time the Heavenly Demon arrived in this place in my past life, it was no longer a lake anymore.

There wasn’t any water left and the only thing that remained was a deep hole.

Moreover, the lands at the time were melting down or rotting because of the Poison Queen’s poison, so it was rather surprising to see such a beautiful sight.

When I took another step forward, Nahee suddenly spoke to me.

“…You may not go any closer than you are permitted.”

“Is all that water consisted of poison?”

“Yes.”

“But it seems a bit clear, don’t you think?”

It was clear.

It was so clear that I was able to see the bottom of the lake even from far away.

That thing is all poison?

I can’t even smell anything either.

With that thought, I slightly loosened the barrier around me and flowed Qi around my body.

…Hmm.

Then, I started to feel something enter.

It was very slight, but it was clearly poison.

I wrapped myself in a barrier again after feeling it, cleansed my body using my Qi and looked at the lake again.

Poison entered my body through my breathing even from this distance.

So if I threw myself in there…

I could at most survive for…

A few minutes at best.

It’s very short.

I had less time than I expected.

And I have to find the entrance of the secret vault in that timeframe?

At the time in my past life, I followed after the Heavenly Demon, so I only had a brief idea of where it was.

Considering how no one was able to find the secret vault even with how clear this lake was, it was obvious that it was kept hidden under a Formation.

Hmm…

As I continued to wonder about what I should do,

“Young Master Gu.”

Nahee came closer and spoke after slightly lowering her head.

“The time that our Lord has given us, is up. We must return now.”

“Already?”

“Yes.”

Haha.

This guy.

Did he really only plan to let me take a peek at it?

It hadn’t even been a few minutes ever since I arrived, and I already had to go back.

This has to be because I visited him so early in the morning, right?

He was definitely being petty.

This guy is more narrow-minded than I thought, huh?

To be fair, it was understandable for him to look at me suspiciously because it was weird for me to make such a request.

I never expected him to let me look at it for a long time anyway.

Plus…

It doesn’t matter if he puts a time limit.

It was something I expected after all.

I slowly looked towards Nahee and spoke.

“Hey.”

“…You may speak.”

“Do you want to make a deal?”

Nahee stared at me with a puzzled look on her face after hearing my sudden suggestion.

I briefly observed her face.

She was an ordinary lady with black pupils and hair that was slightly green.

“…What are you suddenly talking about…?”

“Oh, it’s nothing special.”

I stared at her and spoke with a bright smile.

“I have to go inside that lake for a moment. Could you just pretend you never saw it?”

“…!? What are you-!”

Nahee tried speaking in shock after hearing my words, but I cut her off midway.

“But in return,”

There was something I asked Tang Duk before.

Tang Duk may have been smarter than I expected, and it would’ve been difficult for him to create his ambush plans while observing the Poison King’s crew’s pathing by himself, yet it felt as if the bastard knew what move the Poison King was going to make every time.

It was very strange.

How was that possible?

The reason was simple and I didn’t have to think for long.

It was obvious.

It’s because he put a spy in the crew.

Such a thing wouldn’t have been possible for Tang Duk to do without a spy that was next to the Poison King.

Therefore, I asked Tang Duk who his spy was.

Then, the bastard told me everything about it.

“I won’t tell the Poison King that you are a bastard of a bat. How’s that?”

“…!”

It was none other than a lady named Nahee who stood in front of me.

Nahee flinched at first and immediately began pouring her killing intent.

I swung my hand.

Slap-!

“Agh!!”

Nahee’s head was turned away as soon as she was hit, and her Qi instantly fainted.

I then grabbed her neck and looked into Nahee’s eyes.

“I’ll ask again.”

I didn’t bother showing her any killing intent.

“Is it a deal or not?”

“…H…How…”

“How did I find out?”

What does she mean by how?

“Tang Duk told me all about it. Very kindly at that.”

It was true. I did indeed hear it from Tang Duk.

When I told her the truth, Nahee suddenly started to shout.

“That’s not possible! Big brother…! He wouldn’t tell you any-! “

Slap-!

I slapped her again as she was being loud. Nahee fell straight to the ground.

I then stepped on her chest and spoke again.

“Ugh…!”

“And what are you going to do about it if you won’t believe me?”

“Oughh…”

“Don’t scream because it’s annoying. I might break your neck out of anger by accident.”

Blood started to drip from her swollen cheek.

It was a pitiful look, but it didn’t matter to me.

“It’s fine even if you don’t take the deal. I can just kill you and report to the Poison King that you tried to push me into the lake because you are a spy.”

From the very beginning, I knew that Nahee would be my guide.

I didn’t expect her to come alone, but I knew that Nahee would try to learn more about me since she probably wondered why Tang Duk was acting as my escort.

Thanks to her, the situation became much easier for me.

It would be the fastest for me to turn her into a Demonic Human.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have the spare Qi to do that.

It would be a problem if I turned a Peak Realm martial artist like Nahee into a Demonic Human when I had to go inside the lake right now.

It would be difficult for me to survive in the lake if I didn’t have enough Qi.

That’s why I chose this method.

I still planned to demonify her once my Qi recovers, but I decided to kindly let her go for now since I wasn’t in a situation where I could waste my Qi.

I stepped on her harder.

“Ughhh…!”

I smiled kindly and asked Nahee again.

“So? Are you going to do it or not?”

I hoped that she answered as soon as possible.

Because even if she thought about it, she only had one choice anyway.