The Youngest Prince of the Zhou Family - Chapter 17

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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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Youngest Master of the Zhu Family (17)

Position

Knock knock.

“Young Master, a guest has come to see you.”

A servant knocked on the door of my personal quarters and spoke.

“Oh, tell him to come in.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

Soon the door opened, and a familiar-looking man stepped inside.

Blood Hand Poison Emperor.

As expected, he had entered the Zhu Family Estate as I thought.

‘Someone who overestimates himself too much.’

I know him well.

One of the Twelve Demon Emperors, when it comes to poison, there’s no one who can match him – he is poison itself.

Someone who likes to reveal himself, approaches enemies in a friendly manner to test them and gain their trust to use as a weapon.

I approached him using his own methods.

“Please, come in.”

“….”

I sat in my seat and greeted the Blood Hand Poison Emperor.

He tilted his head with a puzzled expression.

“You’re not speaking casually this time?”

“Would you prefer if I did?”

At my question, the Blood Hand Poison Emperor shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, whatever suits you.”

He sat down in front of me as if it didn’t matter.

Soon after, a servant brought out tea.

The tea’s fragrance filled the room.

“Well, we’re not exactly on friendly terms to chat. Let me get straight to the point.”

The Blood Hand Poison Emperor spoke while placing bank notes in front of him.

“Ten notes worth ten thousand nyang each. One note worth fifty thousand nyang. Total of one hundred fifty thousand nyang.”

“Oh ho.”

I nodded my head.

Even without looking closely, I could see the seal of Heavenly Commerce Hall stamped on them, so they were genuine.

I drank my tea first.

“Now please give me the Great Return Pill. Young Master.”

“Let’s drink tea first and then talk.”

I put down my tea cup after drinking.

The Blood Hand Poison Emperor only stared at the tea cup placed in front of him without picking it up.

“Who knows what you might have put in here?”

“Hm? That’s hurtful. Are you worried I might have put poison in it?”

At my words, the Blood Hand Poison Emperor’s expression stiffened for a moment then relaxed.

It was only for an instant, but since I knew him well, only I could catch his reaction.

“How could that be? This is none other than the Zhu Family Estate.”

The Blood Hand Poison Emperor said this and immediately picked up the tea cup, downing it in one gulp.

“Mm, the aftertaste is strangely sweet. The fragrance is quite rich too. This is my first time tasting this tea.”

The Blood Hand Poison Emperor immediately showed a satisfied reaction.

I laughed casually and replied.

“It’s tea made from Beautiful Herb that can only be harvested from the peak of Jade Flower Mountain. In the Central Plains, only the Zhu Family can make this.”

With those words, I stood up from my seat.

‘I said these same words before, Blood Hand Poison Emperor.’

And I turned around so he couldn’t see me, quietly suppressing the rising resentment inside.

​

‘Ptui, what is this?’

​

Back then, the Blood Hand Poison Emperor took one sip of the tea I had carefully brewed for him and spat it out.

It was Beautiful Herb that I had barely managed to obtain.

I had served it to him with care.

I was that sincere.

​

‘I had expectations since they called you the last hope of the Orthodox Faction, but all you know how to do is make this pathetic tea. Damn, what a waste of time.’

​

While falling into a trap and losing consciousness, those were the Blood Hand Poison Emperor’s words I barely heard through my fading mind.

That tea you completely disregarded.

That tea you spat out saying it tasted bad – now you’re enjoying it, saying the aftertaste is sweet.

“Have you heard of ‘Flower in the Darkness’?”

At my question as I turned around, the Blood Hand Poison Emperor tilted his head.

“You mean a single flower blooming in darkness? Why are you asking about that….”

“When darkness fell upon the world, it was something I heard countless times.”

“….”

The Blood Hand Poison Emperor closed his mouth and listened quietly to this sudden topic.

I slowly walked to a corner of the room.

And I took out a small wooden box I had prepared while continuing to speak.

“That single flower ultimately couldn’t overcome the darkness. In the end, it was broken.”

“….”

I placed the wooden box in front of him.

“Is this the Great Return Pill?”

“Open it.”

“Oh ho.”

The Blood Hand Poison Emperor’s eyes lit up.

The moment he reached for the wooden box, I grabbed his wrist firmly.

The Blood Hand Poison Emperor twisted his expression and glared at me.

“Isn’t it ridiculous? A scoundrel of all scoundrels. A worthless scoundrel who only beat servants and chased after women, being called a noble flower blooming in darkness.”

“…Hm?”

“But you know what? Now that I think about it, that flower wasn’t broken at all.”

Sensing something was off, the Blood Hand Poison Emperor looked around.

The empty interior of the room.

Woo Jin, the youngest master of the Zhu Family, known for chasing women, coveting wealth, and being arrogantly insolent.

It was too sparse to be called his room.

Just as he was about to become suspicious, I casually released his wrist.

“Open it.”

“….”

The Blood Hand Poison Emperor immediately opened the wooden box.

With a clicking sound, the box’s seal opened and the sweet, fragrant scent contained within instantly drove out the tea’s aroma and filled the room.

“Hoo-eup.”

The Blood Hand Poison Emperor, pleased by the scent, soon nodded and reached for the contents.

A single pill wrapped in shabby packaging.

I’m sorry, but.

“Hm?”

When he opened it, what was inside wasn’t the Great Return Pill.

Instead, what was contained inside was the source of the fragrance filling the room.

“What exactly is… this? Young Master.”

When I unwrapped the package, what emerged was a small medicine bottle.

The Blood Hand Poison Emperor’s expression visibly hardened upon seeing it.

First came bewilderment.

Then anger at the realization that he had been deceived.

“Do you know? That single flower that bloomed alone in the darkness, though it couldn’t emit its fragrance and was plucked. Its roots were quite firmly planted.”

“Wh-what the hell is this…”

“Shut up. Blood Hand Poison Emperor. No wait, are you just the Poison Emperor now? One of the Demonic Cult’s Twelve Demon Emperors. Poison Emperor.”

“…!”

At those words, the Blood Hand Poison Emperor’s eyes widened enormously.

He looked around in all directions, and after confirming no one else was there, immediately raised his hand.

In an instant, he expelled all the fragrant scent that had filled the interior, and his suffocating killing intent filled the room.

But I was unaffected.

I had already given him all the gifts I intended to give.

“Urgh.”

Suddenly, the Blood Hand Poison Emperor dropped to one knee and collapsed.

“Uweeek.”

Then his eyes filled with shock.

‘Wh-when? How?’

Could it be poison?

He hadn’t noticed anything.

He was even called the greatest Poison Emperor under heaven.

If poison had been used, there was no way he wouldn’t have known.

The Blood Hand Poison Emperor’s anxiously trembling gaze turned to the tea cup he had been drinking from.

That fragrant and sweet-tasting tea contained poison strong enough to incapacitate even himself?

“Surprised?”

I approached the Blood Hand Poison Emperor.

“A type of Energy Dispersing Poison. Plus… the very poison you were trying to make.”

Nine Flame Soul Control Incense.

The very thing the Blood Hand Poison Emperor had been trying to create, I had made and presented to him.

​

‘Though I made it, this is a poison that even I cannot detoxify, one with no antidote at all!’

​

Recalling the Blood Hand Poison Emperor’s mad ravings from before, I grabbed his hair.

“D-damn it. Just how much did you figure out?”

“What? The Heavenly Demon’s ten-year plan? Or the fact that you dared try to poison the Zhu Family’s Foster Mother?”

At my words, the Blood Hand Poison Emperor’s expression became truly like he had eaten shit.

‘He knows everything. The Demonic Cult… the Twelve Demon Emperors. Even my schemes!’

All his deeds had been exposed.

If this small young master before him knew, it was the same as the entire Zhu Family knowing.

‘I need to escape.’

His internal energy was scattering completely.

This wasn’t some ordinary Energy Dispersing Poison.

His mind was even growing hazy, and his entire body was trembling weakly.

He, who was called the greatest Poison Emperor under heaven, had been defeated by an unknown poison.

Even in his confused state, the Blood Hand Poison Emperor quickly calculated.

‘Breaking through this guy isn’t a problem. The problem is still the Zhu Family…’

The Blood Hand Poison Emperor immediately took action.

Since his internal energy kept scattering, there was no time to hesitate.

The Blood Hand Poison Emperor burst through the door and ran straight ahead.

‘What?’

The Blood Hand Poison Emperor glanced back.

Not a single person was chasing him.

It was natural.

“Yes, run away. Wherever you can go.”

I hadn’t even started yet.

I watched the retreating Blood Hand Poison Emperor and moved slowly.​

The hunt was beginning.

​

* * *

​

The fragrance emitted by the Nine Flame Soul Control Incense was so aromatic and unique that one couldn’t think of it as poison.

Because of that scent, thousands of Orthodox Faction martial artists had to lose their lives in my previous life.

I knew the manufacturing method for Nine Flame Soul Control Incense.

All thanks to the Blood Hand Poison Emperor’s fault of loving to show off.

Thinking he had me completely caught, the Blood Hand Poison Emperor had babbled countless things he shouldn’t have said to me as I was losing consciousness.

Among them was naturally the manufacturing method for Nine Flame Soul Control Incense.

The Blood Hand Poison Emperor who trampled on others and looked down from above with a triumphant expression.

The method he used on me.

I’m returning it exactly as it was.

I slowly followed the Blood Hand Poison Emperor.

His appearance as his internal energy scattered and he fled with his tail between his legs, unable to do anything.

The great Blood Hand Poison Emperor had panicked properly and fled.

The reason that guy, who was always cautious and thorough in everything, could carelessly reveal himself like this was none other than complacency.

Added to that was the existence of the Great Return Pill that would fulfill his long-cherished wish.

‘I was lucky.’

The situation rolled in my favor to a degree that could only be described that way.

And…

“Stop.”

Someone blocked my path.

At the entrance to the path leading to Jade Flower Mountain.

The scent from the Blood Hand Poison Emperor definitely continued beyond there.

“…”

I quietly examined the ones blocking my path.

Dark black martial robes and a very familiar energy emanating from them.

‘Black Longevity Group.’

One of the finished products raised by the Blood Hand Poison Emperor.

These guys were qualitatively different from the Black Blood Group I had met before.

Unlike the Black Blood Group that mainly lured people and committed kidnappings, these were high-level demonic practitioners who could truly be called a military force.

“I knew you guys would step forward.”

“…”

I nodded calmly.

It seemed the Blood Hand Poison Emperor had also called in all his subordinates.

Well, I expected this.

I had prepared thoroughly accordingly.

“The fact that you guys stepped forward means there are others nearby too, right?”

I turned my gaze following the energy I could sense.

If the Blood Hand Poison Emperor’s works were the Black Longevity Group and Red Longevity Group, then his masterpiece was naturally the Blue Longevity People.

“You’re all here.”

I rejoiced at the six powerful energies surrounding me from all directions.

All six remaining ones had gathered in one place, excluding the one Blue Longevity Person I had dealt with first.

In the end, luring the Blood Hand Poison Emperor to the Zhu Family Estate turned out to be a masterstroke.

His thorough nature had essentially trapped him in his own snare.

“You. What do you keep muttering about?”

A woman emerged, breaking through the ranks of the Black Longevity Group.

Beyond her sunken eyes, a flickering deep killing intent.

And judging by the blue spots that briefly showed, she was one of the Blue Longevity People.

“When I met you all before, you were complete products then. You were formidable. Those rigid bodies like jiangshi, and that lethal Poison Qi I could feel with just a breath.”

“….”

“But now… you’re ridiculously weak.”

Killing intent flared up.

“You all should become nutrients for the Beautiful Herb planted on Jade Flower Mountain.”

Bang!

I seized the initiative first.

Strong Wind Locks Moon.

One of the Zhu Family’s secret Light Body Techniques, a footwork method and movement art optimized for piercing straight distances in one go.

I closed the distance instantly and grabbed the throat of the Blue Longevity Person who had stepped forward first.

And….

Boom!

A heavy aura swept through the surroundings.

A familiar yet strange energy.

Solemn yet flowing without restraint, rough beyond measure as if it would destroy everything it touched.

“Got one.”

As soon as I channeled Dragon Heaven True Energy, ferocious Demonic Energy burst forth.

Dark Flower.

Under the clear sky of Jade Flower Mountain, a single dark red flower bloomed.

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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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