The Chairman of Pharmaceutical Company is a Poison King - Chapter 2

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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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Chapter 2: Same Soul in a Different World (2)

Jeoldaedokma Danggumak.

When the Demonic Cult invaded Gangho from distant Xinjiang, he was the young master of the Sichuan Tang Family.

The Demonic Cult’s massive uprising.

Their leader, the Heavenly Demon.

Gangho was cut down like bamboo before a blade by the Demonic Cult.

The Tang Family was no exception.

The family members fled east facing the crisis of annihilation, and during this chaos, the head of the Tang Family and Danggumak’s father lost his life.

Danggumak, who had fled to the outskirts of Central Plains, worked desperately for revenge.

He slept on a bed made of nails and chewed and swallowed the extremely poisonous heartbreak grass.

Thus he achieved the realm of the Poison Demon.

Eventually, he succeeded in his revenge and saved Gangho by melting the Heavenly Demon with a handful of poison water.

The title he earned then was Jeoldaedokma.

Danggumak led his household members back to his hometown.

Finally, the Sichuan Tang Family overcame annihilation and became the greatest family in Gangho.

He had achieved everything.

He passed the position of family head to his son and retired to the back rooms.

What remained now?

Surpassing the realm of the Poison Demon.

The Sichuan Tang Family, famous for hidden weapons and poison arts.

So despite being a righteous sect, martial artists looked down on them.

Especially those from Daoist sects like Wudang or Huashan treated them almost like an evil sect.

They claimed to be noble Daoists walking the path of the Dao? That they would become immortals by understanding the principles of the world and ascending to heaven?

Fine.

Let me try ascending to heaven too.

What did he lack compared to those damn Daoist bastards?

He obtained and read Daoist books, studied heretical arts, scriptures of Western Esoteric Buddhism, and even researched secret texts from the Western Regions.

Danggumak meditated and meditated again.

What are the principles of the world?

How were they created, and in what manner do they operate?

But he only felt sleepy.

Honestly, Danggumak knew it himself.

All he knew were poisons and hidden weapons.

Methods to kill as many people as possible, as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Such things couldn’t possibly be related to the Dao.

Was ascending to heaven truly the exclusive domain of Zen monks and Daoists?

Still, let’s see it through to the end.

Poison Demon Danggumak did not give up his training.

In his secluded training room, he abstained from food and practiced wall-gazing and meditation, training repeatedly to the point of damaging his body.

‘Hm?’

Danggumak felt it.

A sensation as if his body was floating upward.

Was it dizziness from fatigue? Or perhaps an illusion created by his desperate longing for ascension?

However, one thing was certain: something was happening.

The feeling of his consciousness being sucked somewhere.

And he realized it.

Someone was looking at him.

It was a young man wearing strange clothing.

He couldn’t possibly be an immortal.

Their eyes met.

At the same time, he understood.

Another young version of himself, met in that distant world.

‘You are me.’

A connection of souls.

Soul meeting soul at last.

Each other’s experiences and knowledge began to exchange.

Laughter came naturally.

* * *

The cliff near Jungcheongbong on Seorak Mountain.

Kim Tae-ju, who had been hanging from a protruding tree.

His body couldn’t move, but his mind was clear.

His older self from another world.

Multiple universes, multiverse, something like that?

They looked so identical that he thought this might be what he’d look like when he aged.

As soon as he recognized this fact, all sorts of memories flooded into his consciousness.

A connection made in an instant. But it was enough time to vividly and completely experience the entire life of Jeoldaedokma.

The strongest warrior of Gangho Murim who melted the Heavenly Demon with poison.

The achievements in poison arts that he had accomplished.

The Primordial Formless Poison Spirit Art, which refined poison essence and evolved it to the ultimate realm of poison spirit.

Blood Seal Poison Palm, Soul-Stealing Finger, Poison-Breaking Hand, Soul-Severing Blade, Blood Butterfly, Flying Waterfall Flash, Formless Poison, Rain of Flowers Filling the Sky, and countless other hidden weapon and poison techniques.

Phantom Confusion Step, Dark Fragrance Soul Chase, Golden Cauldron Body Method, Turtle Breathing Great Method, Stealth Technique, and various other movement and footwork techniques.

Martial art forms and application methods, poison manufacturing, methods of handling and creating hidden weapons, even the enlightenment that Danggumak had recently achieved.

He absorbed it all completely.

Everything was imprinted in his mind.

‘Whoa…’

This wasn’t something he had intended.

The moment their souls connected, it happened automatically.

Was this okay?

Wasn’t this practically theft of intellectual property?

He should have at least asked first.

But Jeoldaedokma smiled and nodded as if he understood Tae-ju’s thoughts.

‘Ah!’

It was a sign of approval that it was fine.

* * *

The abandoned training hall of Sacheon Hall in the Gangho.

Danggumak was in a good mood.

‘Of course it’s fine!’

Are we strangers?

If he could, he’d want to give away everything he had.

Not just the internal energy accumulated over nearly 100 years, but also all the various poisons he’d collected so far, all kinds of divine weapons, gold and silver treasures—if he could give them all, he would.

‘Hehe, even my entire fortune is being cleaned out. Yes, take it all.’

Nevertheless, Danggumak couldn’t help but be quite surprised.

Like water being absorbed into parched cotton, the enlightenment was being sucked up completely.

Who would have thought that having the same soul would produce such results!

So Jeoldaedokma Danggumak was pleased.

He even found joy in passing on his secret arts.

Moreover, glimpsing the artifacts, culture, learning, and new knowledge he’d never seen before from his young self’s consciousness was quite entertaining.

‘Earth, completely different from Gangho.’

It was a world that had undergone great changes and miraculously survived.

‘An omnipotent and divine being had intervened.’

Awakening and the system.

There were martial artists in that place too.

‘Demonic beasts… like monsters.’

A world with a completely different direction of development.

‘Interesting. Don’t you think so too?’

It seemed like that from over there.

That he too found it interesting, that he was so fascinated by this world called Gangho that he didn’t know what to do with himself.

Danggumak slowly closed his eyes.

A lifetime devoted solely to researching poison and hidden weapons.

He had killed the Heavenly Demon and risen to the position of the world’s greatest.

He thought that was all he could achieve.

But he was a frog in a well.

‘Ascension to immortality my ass!’

The universe is this vast.

Compared to that, the world he lived in was less than a speck of dust, a speck, a speck of that speck, even less than dust.

Perhaps there were worlds even larger and wider than the immortal realm.

The immortal realm would also be nothing but a mere speck like Gangho or Earth.

The moment he continued that train of thought.

Danggumak ascended to immortality.

* * *

Seorak Mountain.

Kim Tae-ju was mulling over the knowledge he had received from Jeoldaedokma Danggumak.

He had absorbed it all completely.

It was truly a copy-paste of souls.

It was as if Jeoldaedokma Danggumak’s soul had been transferred directly into his mind.

‘I never knew poison arts and hidden weapon techniques could be this incredible.’

These weren’t simple martial arts.

If you compared poison arts to Earth’s academic fields, it would be like mixing chemistry, biology, pharmacy, and medicine together.

And hidden weapon techniques?

Metal alloys and smelting, engineering design, fluid dynamics…

‘Is Blood Mark Poison Palm a palm technique?’

He knew exactly how to execute the moves.

His body was itching to try.

‘Blood Butterfly is a hidden weapon technique.’

The Blood Butterfly that creates illusions and flutters like a butterfly to strike its target.

‘Formless Poison is an extremely vicious poison that no one can detect.’

The most terrifying poison.

Colorless and odorless.

Probably wouldn’t show up even with scientific analysis.

‘Primordial Impermanent Poison Spirit Art is…’

Jeoldaedokma’s fundamental technique and the essence of all poison arts.

He needed to master this first.

‘And Ten Thousand Heavenly Flower Rain.’

A technique where flowers of hidden weapons blooming in the sky pour down like rain.

Those petals don’t just fall randomly.

Each one moves according to the caster’s will as if alive.

In other words, he could control thousands upon thousands of guided missiles. Of course, to do that, he would need to master the Primordial Impermanent Poison Spirit Art and borrow the power of poison spirits.

Jeoldaedokma’s achievements were profound beyond measure.

And he had received all of it without any effort.

But right at that moment!

‘Ah!’

His consciousness suddenly returned to reality.

‘Damn…’

He could no longer feel his presence.

It seemed the spiritual connection had been severed.

‘What a shame.’

All he could do was observe and feel.

It would have been nice if they could have had a conversation.

‘That aside.’

He needed to hurry.

The bastard who kicked him off might come looking to confirm his death.

‘Ugh.’

But he couldn’t move.

He had fallen from the cliff and gotten caught on a tree, but his body was badly injured from the impact.

The only parts that were relatively okay were his right arm and left leg.

Just then!

‘Hm?’

A pungent fragrance tickling his nose.

It was a smell he had encountered many times.

‘…It’s deodeok.’

He was certain.

He could tell just from the smell.

However, this wasn’t the beneficial and delicious medicinal herb, but poison deodeok that had been genetically mutated by mana’s influence and contained poison that could cause fatal harm to humans.

‘Lucky me.’

Now that he had obtained the Primordial Impermanent Poison Spirit Art, poison was food and elixir to him.

Sniff sniff.

Tae-ju frantically dug into the ground, following the scent of the poison deodeok.

‘Found it.’

It was a substantial one.

‘Looks like it’s been aging for over 100 years.’

At this size, it would contain enough poison to render a grown man unconscious. Actually, 100 years wasn’t that old.

Tae-ju slowly circulated the Primordial Impermanent Poison Spirit Art while chewing the poison deodeok.

Ugh!

It was bitter enough to make him nauseous.

But he forced himself to chew and swallow it.

‘Urgh!’

Intense pain from his lower abdomen.

And his heart too.

He endured it.

Poison was bitter, but the fruit it would bear would be sweet.

‘Are there more?’

Grass roots growing through the cliff crevices.

‘Oh!’

Poison deodeok was everywhere.

It seemed to be a colony.

He carefully pulled them out, shook off just the dirt, and chewed them thoroughly.

The poison flowed throughout his entire body.

Primordial Impermanent Poison Spirit Art.

Following the flow of the incantation, his blood vessels became filled with energy.

Surging vitality.

His muscles also gained strength.

Not to mention his mood improved.

‘This isn’t enough.’

To create dokjeong (poison essence), he needed at least a hundred roots of poison bellflower or more.

‘Should I try going somewhere else?’

His right arm and left leg were fine.

Then, Byeokhogong (Gecko Technique).

One of the versatile martial arts that allowed climbing cliffs.

Though his internal energy was insufficient since dokjeong hadn’t been refined in his dantian, he could at least imitate it.

Tae-ju climbed the cliff and moved sideways.

At the same time, he searched for poisonous plants scattered around.

Having fully accepted Jeoldaedokma’s experience and knowledge, finding plants containing poison wasn’t difficult.

‘Poison bellflower.’

There were incredibly many gathered together.

Their size was also very large.

At least 2-300 years old.

‘Just one for now…’

In fact, no matter how much one had learned poison techniques, consuming poison all at once like this was suicidal. Even for the poison grandmaster, Jeoldaedokma.

Chewing and swallowing, he operated the Honyeonmusangdokryeonggong to convert it into internal energy, then dug up all the rest to store in his pockets and inside his clothes.

He felt energized.

Using this strength, he climbed the cliff again.

Suddenly!

‘Hm?’

Voices coming from somewhere.

“Haven’t found him yet?”

“He definitely rolled down this way.”

It was Sergeant Go Young-ho and the squad members who had tried to kill him.

‘What should I do?’

He had to hide.

Right now, he couldn’t defeat them.

Tae-ju pressed his body tightly against the cliff.

Since he had created thread-like internal energy with Honyeonmusangdokryeonggong, he had sufficient strength.

They wouldn’t be able to find him easily.

And at the same time.

‘Gwisikdaebeop (Turtle Breathing Technique).’

A technique that eliminated presence by controlling the body’s metabolism.

Tae-ju slowly entered a state of light sleep.

“Where the hell did this bastard go? Did the orcs drag him away?”

“No sir. According to drone reconnaissance, nothing happened at the Orc Village.”

“Should’ve just killed him outright, why did we…”

He had rolled down from the cliff.

Even a Mana Adapter wouldn’t be unharmed.

Kim Tae-ju was a Mana Rejecter.

Physical abilities inferior to ordinary people.

Even if he didn’t die, suffering fatal damage would be normal.

“It would be perfect to process this as an accidental death. Just die quietly.”

The best scenario.

A young officer who died in the line of duty after missing his footing during reconnaissance.

That’s what the higher-ups wanted too.

“Let’s search a bit more and then return.”

Tae-ju heard all of their voices.

The voices growing distant.

Fortunately, he had overcome the crisis.

‘Fucking bastards!’

Once his body recovered…

‘I’ll kill them all.’

That’s when it happened.

Hiss! Hiss hiss!

An ominous sound accompanied by a fishy smell reaching his nose.

‘Could this be?’

Before Tae-ju’s eyes, who was staying perfectly still with Gwisikdaebeop, something black and long appeared.

Eerie eyes, triangular head, terrifying patterns on its body.

It was a mutant seven-spotted viper, massive like a boa constrictor.

Moreover, a venomous snake carrying poison made even stronger by mana mutation.

The crisis continued.

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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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