Absolute Regression Chapter 210

In the middle of the 210th Grand Parade.

At the entrance of Cheondokrim, an old man with white hair was sitting. At first glance, he looked unusual, and he had several poison pouches on his waist. These pouches were the symbol of the poison people of Cheondokrim.

I counted the number of pockets in the old man and there were nine in total.

When you first learn poison, you wear one pouch, and the poison king has twelve pouches. So, you could guess how great of a master this old man was here by the number of pouches he wore.

“This is the Sword Dance Theater. I have come to see the Poison King.”

As I greeted him politely, the old man identified himself.

“This old man is called Sangseon (相仙).”

He was the right-hand man of the Poison King and one of the four great poisoners of the Heavenly Poison Forest.

“A noble person has come out.”

“A distinguished guest has arrived, so this old man must welcome him in person.”

I had already told you in advance that I was going, but I didn’t know that the merchant ship would come out like this.

“Follow me carefully.”

I followed the merchant ship into the forest. The forest was really dense.

“Of all the areas of Palmazone, this Cheondokrim is the largest.”

It was really spacious enough for him to brag about.

Sssssss.

The shape of the snake I saw along the way was unusual.

“It’s a white-blooded snake. It’s a strange snake with white blood. If you get bitten by one and don’t take antidote, you’ll die before you can even last a moment.”

It is said that there are a thousand poisons in this place. If you step into the place filled with all kinds of poisonous plants, poisonous insects, and poisonous snakes, you will not even find a body. This is the Thousand Poisons Forest.

On the way, I met some Germans who were collecting poisonous plants. The Germans here were called Dok-a (毒牙), and the number of pouches hanging from their waists varied.

After passing through the dense forest, we arrived at the residence of the Poison King. It was a circular building, low but very spacious.

“I’ll wait here. Let’s talk and then come out.”

“thank you.”

I went into the building.

The interior was not divided but was made up of one large space.

Everything was there. Dozens of bookshelves and desks, and all sorts of devices of unknown purpose, beds and tables, wardrobes, display cases, and even a wooden tub for bathing. Everything a person needs to live was in this space. This was the Poison King’s room.

The Poison King was squatting in the middle of the room, reading something, with all sorts of things spread out.

This was my first meeting with the Poison King.

Before returning, I had only seen him once or twice from afar in my youth, and when I returned to get Dafa materials when I was older, he had already passed away, so today was the first time I had seen him up close like this.

If I had to sum up my first impression of him in a nutshell, I would say he looked young and studious.

When people think of the Poison King, they usually imagine a hunched old man or a person with a shabby face and body with blisters, inflammation, and peeling skin due to the side effects of the poison. However, the Poison King of the time was very clean.

Even though he was middle-aged, he looked really young. If our school held a contest to choose the most youthful person, I’m sure that Dokwang would win first place.

He had a young appearance that made me think he was my friend, and he had an extremely intelligent air about him. Judging from his appearance alone, he seemed smarter than General Sima Ming.

If it weren’t for his dark green robe and the twelve pouches on his waist, anyone would have thought he was a bachelor. No, he had the appearance of a handsome boy who could have been a student learning from a bachelor.

‘Ah, the Poison King is so young.’

I even thought that maybe the poison had caused the growth to stop at some point.

‘You did something like that with such an innocent face? You dreamed of becoming the best in the world and ruling the martial arts world?’

He was a poisonous king who lived a life that really did not match his appearance.

When I approached him, the Poison King spoke with his eyes fixed on the book.

“Bring me the blue bottle that’s on the desk over there.”

The voice of the Poison King was as young as his appearance.

I walked up to him holding the blue bottle he had mentioned.

“Be careful. If you get even one drop of the blue poison, you’ll die.”

You won’t die! Even if you pour all the poison in this room, you won’t die!

The Poison King mixed the poison I gave him with another poison placed in front of him.

The moment you mix it up!

With a bang, smoke rose up. I stepped back and quickly waved both my hands. What a loud welcome party.

Phew.

I released my inner strength and held the rising venomous smoke between my hands.

I was just going to drive it and throw it out the window.

“No! Wait!”

The Poison King ran and brought a large sack.

“Put them in here.”

I put the poison I had collected in front of me into the bag.

The Poison King tied the mouth of the bag tightly with a rope and threw the bag containing the poison on the table.

And then I started flipping through the books again.

“What the hell is wrong?”

He was lost in thought. He still didn’t give me a single glance. It wasn’t that he was deliberately pretending not to see me. He was now completely immersed in his own world.

I slowly looked inside. There were numerous bottles lined up on the shelves surrounding the four walls, and I could tell they were all poisons or antidotes. It was like a study with poisons instead of books.

“Oh! Is this wrong? Hey, bring me that poisonous plant over there.”

I took the poisonous plant from among the many herbs scattered on the desk and brought it to him. Even though he saw that I had taken the right one among the many herbs, he showed no reaction.

“Put that here and go over there and get a bucket of water.”

He kept sending people on errands. Bringing this and that. He was really busy. In the meantime, he was pounding and grinding herbs.

So when I mixed the poison again with the newly created poison, this time it didn’t explode.

“Okay! Okay! The poison ivy was the problem!”

This time, the poison king was very pleased that the mixture was mixed properly.

Then he found me next to him.

“But who?”

Our King, you ask so early.

“Do you know who I am and have me run errands like that?”

“I knew they were my kids. Who are they?”

“It’s a sword dance.”

“Oh, right. You said you were coming today. It’s you. The school’s hottest sword dance. What’s going on here?”

Even though he knew my identity, his speech and attitude did not change at all.

He acted like a crazy weirdo, but the green light that flowed softly from his eyes had been constant since I entered this room. It meant that his emotions were being consistently controlled. Just by looking at this, you should never forget that the Amazon is still the Amazon.

“I have a favor to ask.”

“What favor?”

“Please persuade my father.”

The Poison King suddenly thrust his face into mine. His skin was white and nice. How could someone who handles poison have such nice skin?

“no.”

The Poison King refused without even hearing the contents.

“Can I refuse? Isn’t this the kind of pressure from the cult leader’s son?”

“no.”

“Yeah, a young kid shouldn’t learn such bad things. Why aren’t you going now that your work is done?”

The Poison King was not easy, even though he was completely out of his mind.

“No, I’m going. See you later.”

I walked out after politely greeting them. The merchant ship I had guided earlier was waiting for me at the entrance. He didn’t ask me what happened inside at all.

“Please tell him that I will come see him again tomorrow.”

“I guess so.”

I followed him through Cheondokrim and memorized the route.

* * *

I went to Cheondokrim again the next day.

Today, the merchant guided me to the Poison King’s residence, but it was a different route than yesterday. I could see his intention. He wanted to keep me from knowing the way to the Poison King’s residence.

But that was an unnecessary attempt, not knowing how good my memory and sense of direction were. Today, I found another way to the Poison King’s residence.

When he arrived at the King’s residence, he was digging the ground near the house.

“It was definitely here?”

The ground was dug up here and there. It seemed like something had been buried there but couldn’t be found.

He looked cute with dirt on his face and body like a child. The cuter he looked, the more strange it felt because of the discrepancy between what he would do in the future.

The number of people who died from his poison later on was in the thousands. He truly caused massacre.

The Poison King pretended not to notice my greeting and was only focused on digging the ground.

I also borrowed a shovel from the merchant and started digging the ground.

A strange light flashed in Sangseon’s eyes as he looked at me like that.

On the other hand, the Poison King only cared about whether or not he would get what he was looking for from the land he was digging. He was not acting, but really focused on that. Sometimes he would laugh to himself. Just looking at him, he was clearly a crazy person.

Now I could clearly see why the magician had said that getting the Poison King out of the lab was key. I could also see why everyone had said that the Poison King would be difficult to persuade. This man lived completely in his own world.

I dug a few places on the side. When something came out, I collected it all on the side. All sorts of things came out. Boxes, bugs, larvae. Snakes, trash, and strange tools.

At that time, I was digging in several places.

“Oh! Why is it there?”

The Poison King came to where I was digging the ground, screaming. It seemed that what he was looking for was among the things I had collected.

The box he picked up contained a sticky liquid that gave off a foul odor.

“Wow! It’s matured well!”

“Is this what you were looking for?”

The Poison King looked at me and was shocked and astonished.

“When did you come?”

This is both acting and not acting. Because it recognized me and forgot me.

“I came just now. I thought you were looking for something, so I dug the ground too.”

“Good job, good job.”

He smiled pleasantly, but then became serious.

“I’m sure I rejected it yesterday.”

“I came today purely to help the King. I saw yesterday that he needed someone to help him.”

“Are you planning to steal my poison and learn it?”

“Can you steal and learn the Poison King’s poison technique that easily?”

“That’s impossible.”

“Then it’s okay.”

The Poison King stared at me intently. The green light in his eyes seemed to pierce my eyes. Of course, that light had no effect on me, who had mastered the Shinanjutsu.

Rather, I felt about him. At this moment, an image came to my mind.

The image of the Poison King walking out of his world and standing on the border with the outside world.

At this moment, he was not a weirdo.

I could tell. This man in front of me was the one who wanted to become the only one in the martial arts world. He crossed that line just once, and thousands of people died at that time.

“Let’s see how well you do your job.”

His expression showed his emotions. Even if it’s just one day, it’s too hard. I won’t let you come back again!

The Poison King ordered me to do this. He ordered me to do this properly with the intention of chasing me away.

“Put all the poisonous plants over there in here and sort them out.”

As he instructed, I brought the poisonous plants piled in sacks and sorted them.

I gave up my intention to persuade the Poison King. I gave up my intention to look good to him. I just wanted to be with him and find out what kind of world he was in. If I didn’t understand his world, I would never be able to persuade him.

“Okay, let’s clean up the newly arrived poisonous plants too.”

Once a day, poisons brought in from the Central Plains by the poisonous animals were brought in here. It would have been fortunate if there were only poisonous plants, but there were also many kinds of disgusting poisons.

I was skilled at handling poisonous plants and poisons. After I became invulnerable to poison, my aversion to poison completely disappeared. Before, when I heard the word poison, I would frown and not want to get close to it, but now I don’t have that kind of feeling.

He seemed surprised to see me so readily doing what I was told.

“I thought you would show off since you grew up so well, but you work hard?”

I was originally a person who was good at poisonous plants. That’s why I easily passed the gate related to poisonous plants at the old Sochon-dong gate.

Of course, the poisons handled here were vast, far beyond my knowledge. Whenever I came across a poison I didn’t know about, I asked the Poison King. What is this? What is that? Until he said, “Stop asking!”

When I finished my work that day, the Poison King asked me about the poisonous plant he had told me about. Since I couldn’t find a solution to the problem, he attacked my memory.

“What did I say the name of this poisonous plant was?”

“It’s wild orchid. It’s a poison that’s usually ground up and added to spicy foods. Then, it doesn’t show any symptoms at all.”

He said exactly what he had explained.

“Then what about this poisonous plant?”

“It’s a black mountain zinnia. If you poison it, its effects will last for a hundred days, but it can cause you to suffer and eventually die.”

I explained exactly what he said.

“You little punk! Why are you so smart?”

His eyes were blazing with determination to find fault tomorrow. At this moment, he looked like a typical reckless kid my age.

“See you tomorrow!”

* * *

I went to see him the next day too.

It was a big mistake of the poison king to think that it would stop after a few days. He would not know. When I set a goal, what kind of effort do I make to achieve it?

Today, I finished my day’s work by doing what the King told me to do.

I made no effort to become close to him. I didn’t talk to him, I didn’t try to impress him, I didn’t try to flatter him. I just did what he told me to do.

That must have been why the Poison King spoke these words first.

“This won’t change my mind. I never go back on my word once I’ve said it. If you go back on it, I’ll stand in the middle of the arena and yell at everyone to say I’m a dog and bark five times.”

It was a moment when I made up my mind that I would never give up. So, it was meant to be a warning not to come again, and I made up my mind.

“Since the Poison King has set such a condition, I must do the same. If I fail, I will call everyone in the Great Demonstration Hall and shout. I will shout ‘Tiger Father, Dog Son’ and bark five times.”

The Poison King laughed loudly at the unexpected words.

“I wonder what kind of expression the leader will have then.”

When I made the bet, the king seemed excited and brought paper and a brush.

“Okay, since you’ll be coming here often, let’s write a memorandum first! You came to Cheon Dok Rim of your own free will, and if you get poisoned by an accident while working, you won’t hold me responsible. What do you think? Are you confident in writing it?”

I looked into his excited eyes and provoked him too.

“If even the Poison King writes one.”