The place where the daughter of the Sichuan Tang Clan’s leader and a member of one of the Five Great Clans was born was not a warm, spacious room but rather an experiment table in this laboratory where poisons were studied and developed.
“…It seems that even before I was born, the Tang Clan was researching something called a Poison Human.”
A Poison Human.
It was, like the name suggested, an experiment to create a person who would embody poison itself.
In reality, the term “Poison Human” originally referred to masters of poison techniques who had reached the pinnacle of their art.
As a martial artist refined his poison techniques and reached higher levels, he could store not only ordinary energy but also poison energy in his core. This allowed them to master poison techniques and even mix the essence of poison into ordinary attack; so that they could poison their opponent instantly.
However, to become a true Poison Human, which was the dream of every martial artist who practiced poison techniques, one would need to reach at least the peak master level, accumulate poison energy, and then progress through the transcendent peak realm to be able to wield true poison attacks.
“At that point, one of the researchers researching poison for the Tang Clan came up with an idea.”
Instead of merely using poison in their attacks, why not turn a person into one whose every breath, every drop of sweat, was laced with poison? Wouldn’t that be the ultimate Poison Human?
“It was a crazy thought.”
No further discussion was necessary; this was research that should have been rejected out of hand. No matter how impressive the idea sounded, creating a human who exhaled poison with every breath was a deeply immoral pursuit.
“But surprisingly, this research was approved.”
The big and small matters of the Tang Clan were decided through meetings between the clan head and an elder council comprised of past masters.
After a fierce debate during one such meeting, they began the research by first experimenting on animals like rats and pigs.
“Injecting poison into the body. It wasn’t easy.”
The research faced numerous setbacks. Hundreds, even thousands, of rats perished after only a few doses as they tried to gradually build up tolerance to minuscule amounts of poison.
But progress came in slow steps. Rats, dogs, and cats that had initially died after just two or three doses began to survive through dozens of injections.
Eventually, one creature even began to emit a faint poisonous aura with each exhale.
“But that was as far as it went.”
The research, which had briefly shown a glimmer of hope, faltered again. Though they had succeeded in implanting a weak poison into the test subjects, attempts to implant a stronger poison resulted in the same outcome as before. The test subjects couldn’t withstand it and died.
“It seemed that the costly, forbidden research would end there… but the researcher made one final proposal.”
To end the research, which had drained vast amounts of the clan’s resources, would have meant death for the researcher.
In a desperate bid to avoid his own end, he thought of one last idea.
“Among the weaker poisons that could still permeate the body, he found the most effective one…”
She couldn’t continue; a sharp pain tore through her chest.
If she had wanted to hide it, she never should have come here. She should have kept quiet about it. But she had resolved to tell Baek Woo Jin everything; she didn’t want to live with secrets that might burden the man she loved for life.
“So… they proposed injecting an aphrodisiac into a woman’s body. That way, by tying the clan to the descendants of prominent families and merchants, the Tang Clan would grow more prosperous…”
It was a well-known fact that men found it nearly impossible to resist a woman they were attracted to. And with the aphrodisiac coursing through her, things would naturally proceed as planned.
Whether they forced a marriage to formalize matters or simply let a man fall hopelessly under the spell of a woman walking around as a living aphrodisiac, either way the Tang Clan would reap enormous profits. With such a scheme, they believed they could more than make up for the fortune squandered on the research.
“At the time, the elder council was facing severe financial difficulties, so they accepted the proposal…”
They not only accepted it but greeted it with enthusiastic applause.
The women of the Tang Clan had always occupied an ambiguous role; within the clan, they had limited practical use, and outside it, men instinctively avoided them.
When a Tang woman married, she would become an outsider to the clan, so they rarely learned the deeper secrets of the Tang Clan’s martial techniques, which made them less useful in the clan’s fighting ranks.
Yet, even though the Tang name alone was a significant advantage for marriage prospects, many men hesitated to wed Tang women, fearing that they might poison their food or drink someday. Such men found little appeal in Tang women due to this association with poison.
“In the end, finding a new purpose for Tang women must have felt like something worth celebrating with a dance.”
With overwhelming support, the final experiment was approved, and the focus shifted to the clan head’s soon-to-be-born child as the potential test subject.
“The elder council agreed that if the clan head’s child was born a daughter, they would proceed with the experiment, but if a son, they would reluctantly seek another test subject.”
Baek Woo Jin couldn’t understand her words.
“Why would they think of using the clan head’s child as a test subject?”
It defied logic. Even if they had succeeded with animals like rats, cats, and dogs, this was still uncharted territory when it came to humans.
How could they even consider making the clan head’s own child the first subject for such a dangerous experiment with so many unpredictable variables?
“…It was about responsibility. When the research was first approved, those who voted in favor were members of the clan head’s faction, including his own father.”
The elder council had split into two factions: the clan head faction who was loyal to the clan head, and the elder faction who was centered around First Elder, who was the highest-ranking elder within the council.
When the debate first broke out over whether or not to approve the researcher’s research, the elder faction had strongly opposed it, while the clan head faction had argued in favor. They pointed to the many benefits that could come from the experiment.
“At the time, my father… was against the experiment. But when the clan head faction members who followed him began to support it, he felt he had no choice but to go along with the current.”
The Poison King had only recently become the clan head.
Since the two factions were nearly equal in number, he feared that if some within the clan head faction turned their backs on him, he would spend his entire time as clan head as a puppet of the Elder Council. Unable to risk that, he had no choice but to go along with the experiment sentiment.
“The ridiculous part is that, when the time came to take responsibility, every Elder in the clan head faction who had backed the experiment turned and pinned all the blame on my father.”
“Hah.”
There was only one thing Tang Yeon Shin could do back then. That was to pray that the child soon to be born would be a son, not a daughter.
Her mother, who was gripped by deep anxiety, had felt labor pains and as soon as she delivered the child, she closed her eyes as if she had fainted from exhaustion… but she would never open them again.
In a final act of strength, her mother had delivered a newborn who cried out with a robust wail, and yet ironically, it was not a son, but a daughter.
Tang Yeon Shin fell into endless despair, and, as if they had been waiting, the elder council and his researcher began administering trace amounts of an elixir to the newborn’s body.
They continued until it had fully seeped into her system.
“You know that, right?”
Tang Seon Yeong rolled up the sleeve covering her arm to reveal her smooth, white skin.
“That human skin has things that produce sweat.
Sweat glands.
Baek Woo Jin, though not exceptionally diligent, had still been through an education on Earth, so he was well aware of what she was implying.
“My body is completely infused with the elixir. So when I sweat or my emotions get intense… the scent of the aphrodisiacs mixes with my natural scent.”
She had no idea how many times, as a child, she had barely escaped crises from men because of this. Until she learned to control her emotions and could, to some extent, manage her scent through poison cultivation, she had no choice but to remain confined in a secluded chamber with only a few maids to care for her.
As if loathing her own body, she gripped her exposed arm with a force that looked like it could bruise her skin.
“Starting from then… my father, who had once been so passionate about everything, began to change.”
Tang Yeon Shin, who had always taken the lead in handling the clan’s affairs, started to become different.
He became a weak, lazy man with no will or determination. He simply followed whatever the elders of the council told him to do.
Baek Woo Jin approached her and gently pried her hand away from her arm, which she had been squeezing so tightly.
Tang Seon Yeong, feeling the warmth of his hand on hers, looked at him with both joy and a deep sadness and asked,
“Can you really bear being with someone like me? A woman who is no different from a monster? Are you sure you won’t regret it? If you’re not…”
She didn’t even finish telling him to leave the Tang clan while he still could when Baek Woo Jin pulled her by the waist into his embrace. He then leaned in close, brought his face to her neck, and took a deep breath.
Alongside her natural scent, he inhaled the sweet aroma of the aphrodisiac that had now become familiar to him.
“Wh-What are you doing…?”
When she asked her question in flustered confusion, Baek Woo Jin responded with a smile.
“This mixed scent is exactly to my taste. I really like it.”
His usual smile, as if none of this bothered him in the slightest, made Tang Seon Yeong feel all the tension she’d been holding up to now melt away at once.
“Let me hold you, just for a little while.”
“Come here.”
Baek Woo Jin pulled her into his arms.
As she leaned against him, completely relaxed in his embrace, he stroked her hair gently. But his eyes that were fixed on one of the laboratory walls were sharp and cold. As if he was ready to cut through anything they touched.
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