Emperor Namgung Mu of the Thousand Years - Chapter 91

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#091

Hwang Nosa gestured to those around him.

The apprentices stepped back.

Only after the surroundings became quiet did he look at me.

“As you can see, this old man is still not familiar with the Fourth Young Master’s face.”

Though his words were respectful, his body was still turned toward the medicinal herbs.

Through this, what he thought of me was immediately revealed.

A greenhorn with poor martial arts.

Since he was the lowest-ranking Fourth Young Master among the young masters who aimed for the position of Young Master, there was an underlying contempt that he had probably come to make some body-strengthening tonic at best, or medicine that could supplement his internal energy by flattering him.

“Orders are backed up these days, so if it’s simple tonics, you’ll have to wait ten days.”

Hwang Nosa said curtly while wiping the sweat from his forehead.

“Simple tonics, you say.”

I smiled and scanned the medicinal herb warehouse.

“If you need something, there’s paper over there. Write it down there, leave it, and go.”

“Is that so?”

“If you don’t know, just ask. Not knowing isn’t a crime. Ah, but it would look bad for me to answer questions about too basic medicinal herbs, so you can just grab one or two of the apprentices passing by over there and ask them.”

“…Setting aside asking questions, if I tell you about the medicinal herbs and combinations I want right here and now, can you memorize them immediately?”

Hwang Nosa looked at me incredulously.

“Fourth Young Master. I’m an apothecary. There’s no way I’d forget. But why do you ask that? You could just talk with the apprentices and write it on paper anyway.”

“Because I’m going to do it like this.”

Instead of heading to the paper, I opened my mouth and began to recite.

“Prepare wild aconite and aconite root. However, use raw ones that haven’t undergone the purification process.”

Hwang Nosa’s hands paused.

I continued speaking.

“Add jack-in-the-pulpit to that, and use licorice as a neutralizing agent, but don’t let that ratio exceed ten percent. Boiling time should be two hours with strong fire, half an hour with gentle fire. Finally, add a pinch of cantharis powder and that should do it.”

Hwang Nosa slowly turned his body.

Bewilderment appeared in his eyes for the first time.

I hadn’t simply named medicinal herbs. These were all either potent medicines or ingredients close to deadly poison.

Moreover, the method of combining them was bizarre.

“…Young Master. Do you know what the medicinal herbs you just recited are?”

“Of course I know. And I plan to derive two more variations in this form and request them additionally.”

“Two more?”

Hwang Nosa laughed.

“This old man usually doesn’t say things like this, but this is truly absurd. It must be some amateur mistake. What you just described is absolutely not medicine. It goes directly against the principle of sovereign, minister, assistant, and envoy. Instead of suppressing the heat toxin of wild aconite and aconite root with licorice, you’re amplifying it with cantharis? This is poison that destroys the body and ultimately kills people. And not just one, but two more derived in this form?”

Hwang Nosa’s voice rose.

“Are you playing games right now? No matter if you’re the Fourth Young Master, this is my business premises. Coming here now and spouting nonsense is a statement that disrespects me. Please leave.”

“A disrespectful statement? I would be disrespecting you if I claimed this was medicine.”

“…?”

“Don’t misunderstand. I never once said it was medicine. Rather, you’re the one being rude.”

I stared directly into his eyes and spoke coldly.

I held up three fingers.

“The first derived form would corrode muscles, making them mushy and unable to exert strength. The second derived form would paralyze nerves, forcibly slowing reaction speed. The last, third derived form would blur the five senses, blinding the eyes and deafening the ears. This is what I want and what I’m trying to order. Am I wrong?”

“Huh…!”

Hwang Nosa’s eyes widened.

“You’re… you’re right.”

Then he let out a hollow laugh as if dumbfounded.

“I don’t know where you got such knowledge, but! Corroding the body, making the body sluggish, blocking the senses… Where on earth are you planning to use such insane poison? Don’t tell me that a Fourth Young Master of the great Namgung Family, having just received an official position, is immediately planning to harm someone with poison? If your martial arts are lacking, you should think about training, not shamefully using poison when you’re a Namgung, not the Sichuan Tang Family-.”

“I’m going to use it on myself.”

“You’re going to use such shameless- on yourself.”

Hwang Nosa froze.

“…What did you just say?”

“I said I’m going to use it on myself.”

Three breaths.

Hwang Nosa spoke slowly.

“I don’t… understand. Just the first one alone, if you consume it, you won’t even have the strength to lift a spoon. With just one spoonful, it’s toxic enough that three dogs’ muscles wouldn’t just melt but their hearts would stop!”

“That’s by ordinary people’s standards.”

I tapped the table.

“That’s not enough for me. I want intensity strong enough that a cow would foam at the mouth and collapse on the spot.”

“Young Master!!!”

Hwang Nosa finally shouted loudly.

“I cannot watch someone die in my alchemy lab! Go back immediately!”

“Shut up!!”

I glared at him.

“I have been officially granted the authority to use one pavilion for personal use as the Fourth Young Master, and I’ve designated this alchemy lab as the first. Hwang Nosa, while I naturally respect that you are the manager and chief responsible person of this place, going beyond that to issue an eviction order to me is an act that goes beyond my authority as Fourth Young Master and disregards Master Namgung Cheonhyeok’s decision! I ask you again now, did you just tell me to leave?!”

“…That… that’s!”

“And second! I’ve been showing you respect this entire time! But what’s your attitude right now? And one more thing! Among everything I’ve said to you so far, have I given you any insult or humiliation? Also, have I ever failed to properly answer what you asked? Whether you’re an apothecary or whatever! I don’t care about that, and if you want the same respect from me as before, don’t cross the line any further!”

“…!”

“And assuming you keep to the line.”

I took a deep breath.

And as I exhaled, I smiled coldly and said.

“If you don’t know something, feel free to ask anytime. Not knowing isn’t a crime. I’ll answer personally.”

I repeated Hwang Nosa’s earlier response word for word.

I spoke to the frozen Hwang Nosa.

“My body is special, so Hwang Nosa might not know. I’ll understand. Anyway, don’t worry. I’m doing this because I have related martial arts. Would someone who can recite medicinal herbs like this and knows clearly what they want make a mistake?”

“…That… that’s true, Young Master.”

Apothecary Hwang Nosa bowed his head after a moment.

“I apologize for my rudeness. It seems this old man has gone senile from staring only at furnaces in places where sunlight doesn’t even reach.”

“It’s fine. I’m sorry for shouting too.”

“…I’m truly sorry.”

After that, Hwang Nosa obediently cooperated as I wanted.

Of course, he was still half-doubtful about what I was trying to do and why I was applying this to my body.

‘I must seize this opportunity.’

The reason I chose the alchemy lab despite the risk. It was because this was the optimal move combining my current physical condition and martial arts characteristics.

Currently, I was practicing both Bukmyeong Singong, the ‘martial artist’ method of accumulating pure internal energy, and Pasabeolsik, the ‘assassin’ method of activating blood techniques for momentary explosive killing power.

Internal energy accumulation through Bukmyeong Singong and growth as a martial artist through it was going smoothly.

There had been some problems in the middle due to the collapse of Buk Hai’s danjeon and blood vessels, but that was resolved too.

And now the problem was Pasabeolsik.

‘Growth is still too slow.’

Pasabeolsik wasn’t martial arts created with systematic growth as a premise from birth.

As a result, even when trying to grow by consuming internal energy, the efficiency was terrible, and I chose the path of raising proficiency first to improve efficiency even slightly, but that proficiency was also difficult to raise easily beyond a certain level no matter how much I trained using Pasabeolsik to the extreme.

Unable to find an answer to this, I felt it keenly during the battle with Ha Song at Samyeong Mountain.

That this wouldn’t work.

‘Even if I try to use Pasabeolsik’s ultimate secret technique, the fourth blood technique Flow… if the foundation of Body, Speed, and Movement don’t support it, it’s only half-complete.’

My current achievement level was dismal.

First Technique Body – Second Level

Second Technique Speed – Fourth Level

Third Form Movement – First Stage

I needed to raise my proficiency to use internal energy to expand my blood techniques, but I’d been stuck in place and nearly died this time due to insufficient skill.

However, the opportunities I gained through encounters with Guiryeongseuui and Sword Master Hwirong in that process became a new turning point that could break through my current situation.

My body’s recovery rate was abnormal right now.

Whether this was due to Sword Master Hwirong’s influence, or literally a temporary phenomenon that occurred as my body readjusted to match my Buk Hai danjeon, I didn’t know.

Any ordinary muscle fatigue was resolved with just a brief nap, to the point where I didn’t even need Tianwang Bidao’s elixirs.

I didn’t know if this was permanent or temporary. But one thing was certain.

‘While this recovery ability lasts, I need to literally squeeze every drop out of it.’

The principle I came up with was the same as training muscles and fists.

The process of tearing and destroying muscles, then having them heal to become bigger and stronger.

The answer I found for growing Pasabeolsik was corruption using poison.

It involved injecting extreme poison that interfered with Pasabeolsik’s operation into my body, then forcibly operating the corresponding blood techniques.

Using Body while overcoming poison that melts muscles, using Speed while breaking through poison that paralyzes nerves. Using Movement while employing poison that numbs the senses.

When I recovered after breaking through such hellish resistance, my Pasabeolsik would surpass its limits and advance to the next stage.

Of course, all of this was a method I could never use under normal circumstances.

“Even if it’s masochistic, I must use this method. Only then can I overcome Pasabeolsik’s current limitations.”

Of course, I swallowed the rest. I had no obligation to explain the secrets of my martial arts to Hwang Nosa.

“So do you have all the materials I’ve mentioned so far, or not?”

Hwang Nosa closed his mouth at my intensity. He looked around the apothecary storage with trembling eyes.

“We have the materials, but…”

Hwang Nosa answered while swallowing dry saliva.

“We’re short on the final key ingredient, ‘Blood Thirst.’ Without it, no matter how much we space out the intervals, these three poisons will cause chain reactions with each other inside the body, making the toxicity grow beyond control. Then no matter what martial arts you have, you’ll really die. I can’t help this even if you think poorly of me for it, Boatman.”

I acknowledged that too.

Though not as much as Hwang Nosa, as I’d shown at the Sichuan Tang Family, at least with my experience as a long-time assassin, I could immediately understand the combinations of certain medicines and their degree of interaction when explained.

“So that one thing is the problem.”

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll bring it soon. Prepare the rest so it can be completed immediately when that’s added. And I’ll pay for the medicines first.”

I took out bundles of ten silver coins from my chest three times, stacking them on the table covered with medicinal materials.

Hwang Nosa looked at me in surprise.

“You don’t need to give this much…”

“I didn’t just pay for the medicines.”

“You didn’t just pay for the medicines?”

“I hate it when word spreads.”

I neatly stacked the scattered silver coins into towers.

I’d never carelessly wasted money before.

But I also didn’t avoid spending where I should.

I’d experienced countless times losing bigger money and taking long detours because of that.

Especially since this place was, in a way, the middle of enemy territory.

Sword Master Hwirong was unavoidable, but in the current situation where even Sword Master Yeomjak seemed likely to get involved, I needed to prevent information about me from spreading even a little.

In that sense, stacking the coins into towers also had meaning.

Even during my assassin days, I always stacked towers when handing over payment.

Neat towers of silver had substance beyond their actual amount.

In negotiations, the greater the substance the other party feels, the more weight my words carry.

I pushed the silver coin towers in front of me forward.

“Exactly one year. If after one year, no rumors about me making such strange medicines are heard within the family at all, I’ll give you the same amount I gave today once more, no questions asked.”

“The… the same amount?!”

“That’s not all. If the secret is perfectly maintained after that, I’ll pay double that amount every year on the same date. Is that possible?”

Hwang Nosa nodded frantically.

“Po-possible, of course! My mouth is as heavy as a thousand-year-old rock!”

Hwang Nosa’s eyes changed. Fear and bewilderment disappeared, replaced by greed and loyalty.

“With… with this money!”

People commonly think that the alchemy lab at Cheonju Mountain Headquarters would make a lot of money since it’s part of the Namgung Family.

But sometimes the middle of sunny places cast deeper shadows.

The Namgung Family provided unlimited high-grade medicinal materials and ingredients to the alchemy lab, but that didn’t mean they provided unlimited large amounts of capital.

In the end, money coming in personally was a separate matter.

Moreover, being at the main mountain made embezzling unthinkable.

When such a large sum came in openly like this, it was surely tempting even for medicine master Hwang Nosa.

Especially since it was honest money, not dirty money.

I smiled slightly and stood up.

“Good. Then I’ll take that as acceptance.”

“Of course!”

“Oh right, I almost forgot to mention this.”

“Yes?”

Hwang Nosa, clutching a handful of silver coins, looked puzzled.

“Separate from delivering the money, if even a single rat learns of this fact…”

I pointed at Hwang Nosa with an expressionless face.

“Regardless of the reason, I’ll unconditionally consider you the culprit and take every possible action and measure.”

Hwang Nosa’s brightly smiling face turned deathly pale.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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