Surviving as the Heavenly Demon’s Concubine - Chapter 64
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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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‘The standard approach would be to disrupt the enemy’s troop composition with the Sichuan Dang Family’s poison techniques, or to change the terrain itself favorably using the Jegal Family’s formation methods, right?’
In short, the “please help me” strategy.
The problem was that the girls from those two families had also left their positions.
‘Sigh. No matter how I think about it, the Orthodox Faction is at too much of a disadvantage.’
Namgung Yeonhwa planned to raise questions about the fairness of this test with the Swordmaster later.
Originally, the Swordmaster’s test wasn’t specifically about the girls splitting into factions to fight, but that detail had conveniently disappeared from her mind.
“Found them! Over there!”
At the familiar voice suddenly heard from above, the Orthodox Faction girls looked up.
At that moment, a man flew down from the sky like a meteor and landed on the ground with a loud noise.
Thoom-!
The blade trees clashed their leaves against each other, and sharp metallic sounds scattered through the area where he had passed.
The Orthodox Faction girls froze completely at the sudden appearance of an unfamiliar man.
‘Who is he?’
Tall and well-built with broad shoulders. Sleek muscles that fit perfectly on his frame.
Handsome features that could take one’s breath away.
Combined with mysterious eyes characteristic of mixed blood that harmonized with his fine black hair fluttering in the wind, creating a picture-perfect scene.
‘He’s really handsome…’
He had the magnificent appearance of a handsome man, more than enough to stir the hearts of girls in their prime.
“Where is Dang Ri-seo?”
However, Mujin paid no attention to the surrounding gazes, and after scanning the crowd with a somewhat condescending look, he suddenly interrogated them like a street thug.
“Excuse me?”
“Dang Ri-seo, I said. Are you deaf?”
Mujin’s appearance, which had reminded them of a male protagonist from a romance novel, quickly lost its luster due to his characteristically crooked attitude and confrontational manner.
‘Looking at him again, maybe he’s not that handsome after all?’
Just as their wavering hearts were regaining their center, a small, thin girl dropped from Mujin’s back.
“Um… she doesn’t seem to be here.”
At the appearance of a familiar face wearing a navy blue vest, interest flickered in Namgung Yeonhwa and Moyong Hye’s eyes.
“Jegal Lin!”
“Ah. Oh, hello.”
Jegal Lin, who had luckily avoided being kidnapped thanks to running away with formation techniques because she didn’t want to attend class, fidgeted nervously.
She had hoped to pass by quietly if possible, but somehow the situation had become so twisted that her embarrassing secret might spread throughout the neighborhood.
“Hey, you come here.”
“Huh? Oh, girls? Wait a minute…”
Fortunately for Jegal Lin, the Orthodox Faction girls weren’t interested in such trivial matters.
“Shut up and just bring out the formation tools.”
The Orthodox Faction girls, whose attention had been captured by the martial arts competition again, rushed over and whisked Jegal Lin away, leaving Mujin standing alone in bewilderment.
* * *
For a reincarnator, energy circulation and breathing regulation is quite a unique experience.
The energy circulation encountered through martial arts novels was a rather bland activity of sitting cross-legged, closing one’s eyes, and concentrating on special breathing techniques.
It was mainly for the purpose of treating internal injuries or advancing achievements through enlightenment, and the established theory was that protection was absolutely necessary since one became very vulnerable to external attacks during energy circulation.
Up to this point, these were facts that Riser knew well.
But why one became so vulnerable to external attacks could only be realized through actual experience.
‘All five senses are completely blocked.’
Once energy circulation begins, all nerves concentrate inward.
You can’t see, can’t hear, can’t speak, and all senses become so dull that you wouldn’t even notice if someone touched you.
It’s like falling into a deep sleep while sitting?
In this state, it would be difficult to notice even if someone held a knife to your throat and threatened you.
Even if you did notice, you’d just be trapped in your own body like being pressed by a ghost, flailing around and ending up drooling blood from your mouth.
From this, one could easily imagine how dangerous it would be to force energy circulation without ensuring safety.
‘The poison has spread more than I thought.’
The poison energy emanated by the mysterious poison master had entered Riser’s body through her breathing.
Fortunately, it hadn’t invaded her dantian, but quite a few blood channels were within the poison’s sphere of influence.
This is why poison mist and poison smoke are scary.
When poisoned through the respiratory system, no matter how quickly you treat it, it’s impossible to keep up with the speed at which the poison spreads.
That said, it’s not like there’s no method at all.
If it were the Sichuan Dang Family’s secret mental cultivation method, the Ten Thousand Streams Return to Origin Divine Art, Riser’s internal energy could absorb the poison energy spread through her blood channels.
‘The problem is… I never learned that.’
To learn secret martial arts like the Ten Thousand Streams Return to Origin Divine Art, one needed the Head of the Household’s individual permission along with personal instruction from a master who held a secret license.
Because she was only nominally a direct descendant of the Head of the Household, obtaining permission was like plucking stars from the sky.
Before that, since the only relative she knew was her half-sister Dang Solin, who was born four months earlier, she couldn’t have found a master anyway.
‘I wasn’t particularly disappointed though.’
It wasn’t sour grapes for mental victory – she genuinely wasn’t disappointed.
When even basic martial arts were difficult to master, why would she specifically request to learn difficult techniques?
As a reincarnator in a martial arts world, this could be called neglect of duty, but Riser had no particular interest in martial arts.
Riser respected the curriculum. If you can’t do basic arithmetic, you shouldn’t learn equations. Differential and integral calculus go without saying.
Instead, the mental cultivation method Riser had learned was the Guide Reverse Three Yang Return to Origin Art.
A basic mental cultivation method recommended for all blood relatives of the Dang Family to learn, whether direct or collateral descendants.
A mental cultivation method that could restore a body damaged by poison to its original state, making the body itself like a universal antidote to withstand poison.
The fact that Riser was managing to endure despite poison energy spreading throughout her blood channels was not unrelated to the influence of the Guide Reverse Three Yang Return to Origin Art.
‘Fighting poison with poison… is that the only way?’
An alternative came to mind without much deliberation, but honestly, she wasn’t inclined to use it.
To use the method of fighting poison with poison, the user needed to have considerable depth in poison techniques, but Riser hadn’t learned poison techniques very deeply.
The poison technique Riser had learned was the Five Poison Circulation Art, transmitted only to direct descendants of the Dang Family.
It allowed one to convert the energy of the five elements into poison energy for use in poison techniques.
It was said that the reverse was also possible upon mastery, but Riser wasn’t at that level yet, so she could only convert in one direction. (That’s why she would convert only what she needed into poison energy and discard any excess.)
In other words, this is how it works.
First, dissolve the energy of the elixir that hadn’t been fully absorbed yet and merge it with Riser’s available internal energy.
Then, if she converted all of Riser’s internal power into poison energy through the Five Poison Circulation Art, that poison energy could easily devour the poison energy contaminating her blood channels.
It would be literally fighting poison with poison.
However.
‘Hmm. It’s such a waste.’
The internal energy gained from elixirs is natural internal energy derived from nature.
But to drive out just this much poison energy by turning all the elixir’s energy into poison made her feel like she was losing out.
If she could just filter out the impurities properly, it had the potential to become pure internal energy that even the Mudang Sect or Shaolin Temple would covet.
‘Ha! Impurities?’
A good idea flashed through Riser’s mind.
‘Couldn’t I filter out just the impurities separately and convert those into poison?’
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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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