Chapter 835: Ilcheonkyo.

After arriving at the Tang Gate, it had already become night.

I had arrived since the morning, processed the work, and even completed the Poison Heaven Pill, so I thought the work might be mostly finished, but even after that, research related to the Poison Heaven Pill had to continue.

It was only natural.

While it was true that it was completed, I had to figure out various possibilities.

And. Unlike the good results, the process wasn’t very smooth.

“…Cough…!”

Thud-thud-! Blood water poured onto the floor. Just enough blood water to slightly dampen the floor. It wasn’t my blood.

I approached the man collapsing as if exhausted and placed my hand on his back.

Woowooong-!! I untangled his knotted internal energy and examined his insides.

As expected, toxic energy had gathered again.

It wasn’t a large amount, but if this much had clumped together in just one day, it was quite a lot. This was proof that he had overused his internal energy.

I controlled his energy and also erased the toxic energy.

Then, the man, the Poison King’s, breathing rapidly calmed down.

“Hooook…. Hooo…”

“Are you alright?”

“…Thank you.”

“Not at all. I’m glad I could help.”

Staggering, the Poison King stood up. His face was filled with deep exhaustion.

It was only natural.

He had drawn out that much energy in such a short time; if anything had gone wrong, he could have even suffered qi deviation.

Fwoosh-! I flicked my hand, removing the toxic energy from the Poison King. It burned up, emitting a faint smell of rot.

The Poison King confirmed it, then looked at me with a strange expression and asked.

“It’s something I was curious about just before, too.”

“Yes.”

“How exactly do you catch the toxic energy?”

“…Huh?”

How I catch it. It was a rather peculiar question, so I tilted my head.

“I just catch it because I can see it.”

As I answered, I recalled hearing something similar before.

I think it was Baekryeon Geom…

She had asked me about toxic energy too.

‘My answer was the same as now.’

I would have given the same answer back then.

That I just catch and remove it because I can see it.

And when I did… Baekryeon Geom’s expression must have been the same as the Poison King’s now.

“…Just catch it, huh.”

An expression of not quite understanding. Seeing that face, I asked.

“…Is this really that difficult?”

It’s just catching the toxic energy, removing it, and burning it – why would that be so difficult?

For me, it was a mystery.

But.

“…Difficult, you ask?”

It seemed the Poison King also didn’t understand.

“You know that the energy within the body doesn’t stay still, but moves, even if subtly, right?”

“I know.”

While you can adjust its speed according to your will, completely stopping it was impossible.

Intentionally stopping moving energy meant…

‘It’s no different from causing qi deviation.’

For a martial artist, it was tantamount to attempting suicide.

“To extract only the toxic energy from such moving energy… does that sound easy? It’s like finding a needle in a flowing stream.”

“Hmm.”

Finding a needle floating in moving water. Just hearing it sounds quite difficult…

“But it worked for me.”

“…”

“Then it’s fine, isn’t it?”

What more needs to be said when I just see it and rip it out? That was all I could say. Hearing this, the Poison King eventually had to shut his mouth.

“…Well… I see…”

Soon after, he even let out a sigh as if giving up. He seemed to think further discussion was pointless.

Seeing his reaction, I scratched my head.

‘Well, this is something.’

I recalled something Paejon mentioned in passing. He said if I had any talent, my greatest ones would be sensing and controlling energy, didn’t he?

I didn’t think much of it when I heard it. But experiencing things like this makes it seem a bit different.

‘Do I have at least this?’

Even if it wasn’t talent in martial arts. Would having something like this offer some comfort?

‘Strange.’

The Poison King’s reaction is the same face I used to make when watching geniuses in my past life. The faces of those guys asking why this wasn’t working. The face I made hearing them was exactly like the Poison King’s.

‘Hmm….’

It felt novel, but I didn’t really feel it.

Controlling energy well? It’s better than not having it, but it’s unclear how I could utilize it. At best, it’s only used for things like removing toxic energy or stabilizing energy, like I did for the Poison King.

‘Anyway.’

Right now, my talent or lack thereof wasn’t a major issue. What’s important here isn’t that…

‘…It’s the result of the current situation.’

While tending to the Poison King, I surveyed the surroundings. The place we were in was still the manufacturing room where the Poison Heaven Pill was made. The difference from the morning was that it had become much messier.

All the remaining magic stones were shattered on the floor, and several batches of the mixture were left lying around. Thinking that all of that was money was painful, but it was all for experiments.

Although the manufacturing of the Poison Heaven Pill was successful, fire energy, not poison energy, had permeated the result. Because of this result, I thought my energy permeating during the manufacturing process was the cause.

So, I repeated several experiments.

The first was.

‘The problem with the magic stones.’

Around the time I first attempted it, after removing energy and putting it back into the magic stones, grinding them, and adding them. I recalled that the magic stones were destroyed the moment they fell from my hand.

So the first experiment was about this.

Indeed, were the magic stones infused with energy destroyed by falling from the hand? Or were they destroyed because an appropriate amount was ground? I wanted to figure this out first. Fortunately, the result could be known immediately.

‘Magic stones are destroyed the moment they fall from the hand.’

It didn’t matter how much the magic stone was ground. They simply break by falling from my hand.

Furthermore.

‘If too much is ground and added, the ingredients cannot handle it.’

If dropping them from the hand was a problem, I also tried grinding and adding them without letting go, but when more than a certain amount was added, the light in the mixture faded. This meant the energy the Elixir was supposed to contain had completely vanished.

‘What bullshit.’

Seeing that made me let out a hollow laugh. Because it meant that adding too much would also create a mess.

In other words.

Add the right amount, control it, but don’t let go of it from your hand. This was the situation requiring caution when adding magic stones to the mixture. This was the fact I figured out while using about two red magic stones.

Right.

‘So far, so good.’

Although I confirmed this using two red magic stones, it was enough that I somehow found a solution.

…The problem is.

‘What comes next.’

The next problem regarding the magic stones. It’s how to fill the Poison Heaven Pill with poison energy. If my energy caused fire energy to enter the Elixir, then the method for adding poison energy was obvious.

‘Infuse the empty magic stone with the internal energy of someone possessing poison.’

Wouldn’t it become the Poison Heaven Pill if completed that way? It was the first thought that came to mind.

So, what should be done? Of course, I had to try it first.

What was fortunate here was.

‘Even if only I could absorb energy, anyone could infuse energy.’

As long as it wasn’t demonic energy. Infusing energy into an empty magic stone was possible for others too.

Then the answer is simple.

We just needed to extract the energy from the magic stone and fill it with poison energy. The person who could fill it with that poison energy was right beside me.

The Poison King (毒王).

Since the person most outstanding in the current Central Plains due to poison arts was right beside me, I immediately asked him for help.

The Poison King, having already seen the completion of the Poison Heaven Pill, helped without question.

So, until then, I thought everything would proceed smoothly. Fill it with energy, add it to the mixture, and complete it, I reasoned. That’s what I was judging, but.

‘…The biggest problem occurred.’

I discovered the biggest problem in this process.

‘I didn’t realize infusing internal energy into an empty magic stone wouldn’t be easy.’

That was the part I had overlooked.

The Poison King was undeniably a King-level martial artist. Poison arts, like fire arts, require a considerable amount of internal energy. Therefore, I thought it wouldn’t be that difficult for the Poison King to fill the magic stones, but.

Contrary to expectations, the Poison King struggled to infuse energy into the magic stones.

It was strange.

The energy the red magic stone contained. It was definitely not a small amount, but it wasn’t an amount that was difficult to fill either. At least, based on what I knew of the Poison King, I thought he would fill it without difficulty, but.

‘…He struggled far too much.’

Surprisingly, the Poison King struggled just to fill one magic stone. How could that be? Unable to understand, I asked, and the Poison King, sweating coldly, told me.

What he said then was clearly.

‘That the amount going in was small, separate from the amount being given.’

Even when he exerted force, only about one-tenth of the force given actually went in. That’s what the Poison King mentioned, but. Hearing this, questions arose in my mind.

‘Why?’

It was because I was different from the Poison King. While energy went in exactly as I put it in, the Poison King stated that only a very small amount was injected. I couldn’t figure out what the problem was.

‘Could it be related to possessing the Demonic Heaven Absorption Art?’

Having demonic arts versus not having them. I wondered if that could be the problem, but this is something that requires further experimentation.

What was fortunate was that even in this situation, the Poison King gritted his teeth and finally succeeded in filling one magic stone. The mixture containing the completed magic stone also absorbed light without incident.

Thus, four Poison Heaven Pills were finally completed.

‘This is the real deal.’

The completed Poison Heaven Pills contained poison energy, making them identical to the Elixirs I knew. With this, I became convinced.

‘It seems the properties are determined by what kind of internal energy is contained in the magic stone.’

Since I used fire arts, fire energy was contained, and because the Poison King’s poison energy permeated, it became the Poison Heaven Pill. I judged that if something else was contained, it would suit that purpose as well.

And.

‘If my prediction is correct.’

The manufacturing method in my hand holds immense value.

‘Because it means any energy can be obtained.’

Whether it was cold energy or fire energy, it meant obtaining energy or immunity that is difficult to acquire would become easier. There was a possibility of opposing energies causing repulsion, but that was something to be seen. For now, the fact that other energies could be easily obtained was already incredible.

‘Hmm.’

Looking at the completed Poison Heaven Pills, I glanced at the Poison King. Although his energy had barely recovered, he still looked exhausted.

‘If that guy ended up like this…’

He ended up like this just by adding one magic stone. If so, it was right to assume that those below the Poison King couldn’t do it.

‘I thought it felt a bit too easy.’

Is this where it finally gets stuck?

‘If I plan to commercialize it, I need to solve this problem as soon as possible.’

I had to find a way somehow. To do that…

“Go back and rest for now. You must be very tired.”

“… Hooo….”

“Since we found a way somehow, you can rest easier, can’t you?”

“… Yes, that’s also true.”

The Poison King had a face full of regret, but since the Poison Heaven Pill manufacturing was ultimately successful, he also felt relieved.

“Rest for today… I’ll see you tomorrow. And.”

Seeing the exhausted Poison King, I subtly added.

“I also have something I’d like to ask about Miss Tang. Is that alright?”

“…”

Upon mentioning Tang Soyeol, the Poison King let out a shallow sigh. He seemed to vaguely know what I was going to ask.

“…Let’s meet tomorrow.”

“Yes. Rest.”

The Poison King chose to avoid answering rather than respond properly, and I decided to respect that choice.

‘For now,’ that is.

After giving a slight bow. The Poison King left the manufacturing room first. I followed right after, but then suddenly lowered my gaze.

“… Hmm….”

Something was bothering me. The shattered, fading fragments of magic stones on the floor; seeing them, I recalled.

‘Everything is good, but…’

There’s one nagging thing.

‘In the end, the Poison Heaven Pill can’t be made unless the magic stone is infused with energy and ground.’

The final ingredient for the Poison Heaven Pill. The magic stone containing energy. That was making me feel unsettled, as if snagged by a hook.

The reason being.

‘Then… how was it made in the past?’

How on earth did they obtain the final ingredient? If energy had to be extracted from and re-infused into the magic stones. It meant someone had to have completely drained the magic stones’ energy.

Does that mean perhaps…

‘Back when the Poison Heaven Pill was made in the past.’

Just like me. Doesn’t it mean there was a being who could extract the energy from magic stones?

Such thoughts kept swirling in my mind.