‘This won’t do.’

When I opened my eyes, I was looking at an unfamiliar ceiling.

As soon as I realized this, a sigh escaped me. No matter how excited he was to have found a successor in his later years, to think he would push a person to the point of fainting.

I frowned while lying on the bed.

Judging by the angle of the light seeping through the gap in the window, it seemed it was already morning.

‘It’s about time I have to use the Seven Star Ladle, so I should prepare to skip training, using overwork as an excuse.’

And so, after organizing my thoughts, I pulled the crooked pillow straight.

‘Huh?’

But the end of the pillow was tighter than usual. When I gently turned my head to the side, Tang Surin was looking this way from a close distance.

“You’re awake, Gaga?”

As our eyes met in that state, Tang Surin smiled bashfully and said.

“…You moved me.”

I quickly grasped the situation. I had wondered why there was no sense of unease in coming from the training ground to here. It was possible with Tang Surin’s secret footwork.

“Yes.”

Tang Surin, who nodded her head faintly. And then she fumbled in her bosom. And she took something out from her open front.

“I finally finished it yesterday! Gaga’s recovery speed is so fast that this time, I combined several of them to make a composite poison. It’s a bit strong, but if you just recover from this, you’ll be immune to ten poisons !”

Immune to ten poisons. At that level, I wouldn’t have to worry about the cheap poisons used by third-rate martial artists. It was worth taking the resistance poison steadily every day without missing a single day.

It would have been impossible without [Transcendental Growth].

Of course, Tang Surin’s contribution, who had exquisitely adjusted the compatibility and intensity, was also decisive.

‘I should at least give her a compliment.’

It is a rule that an achievement that exceeds the original goal requires a corresponding reward. Because you can’t plan big things with a small-minded spirit like a bad boss.

“Thank you. Is there anything you need?”

“Huh? Then, um… you’ve been busy lately, so play with me.”

Tang Surin said, bringing the poison bottle near my cheek.

“Let’s do that. Then let’s rest together all day tomorrow.”

“Oh! Really?!”

Tang Surin was delighted, her eyes wide. Seeing her kicking her feet slightly, it was worth the proposal.

Thanks to that, there was a minor accident where the pillow that was caught in Tang Surin’s palm was torn, but.

‘If there’s a problem, it’s the training appointment with Zhuge Hyeonguk.’

No matter how stubborn that old man was, he wouldn’t act like a ghost just because I was resting with my fiancée for a day.

‘I’ll just skip the training, using my promise with Tang Surin as an excuse.’

Thinking like this, I felt like I had become a model of a trashy human, but since I had entered a scoundrel’s body anyway, I was planning to use this as an excuse.

‘Today, I’ll complete the immunity to ten poisons, and tomorrow, I’ll go into body management all day.’

And so, as I was thinking and about to receive Tang Surin’s medicine bottle, I heard Tang Surin’s cautionary voice.

“When you’re operating the poison qi, it’s better not to let the blood go to your eyes as much as possible. You could go blind!”

At the supplementary explanation that it was better to try it on an empty stomach, I immediately sat cross-legged. And then I opened the poison bottle and drank the composite poison that was sloshing inside.

‘…This is a bit strong?’

It felt like I was hearing a dentist say that it would sting a little.

Soon, the blood vessels of my whole body melted into the poison, and an excruciating pain as if it were boiling began. If it weren’t for [Extreme Will], I would have collapsed long ago.

I focused all my nerves on controlling the poison. In order to suppress the several poisons that were running wild one by one, I couldn’t neglect any response.

And so, a whole day flew by.

When I finished the qi circulation, my whole body was full of waste, and it was morning again.

But something was strange inside.

“You… what did you put in the poison?”

“I also mixed in some poisonous elixirs! Since you seemed to be already resistant to elixirs, I prepared something that is close to a poison, but turns into an elixir if you handle it well. …Is it strange?”

“No.”

On the contrary, the circle was full of mana. It wasn’t just internal energy, but it felt like the mana of the circle had been filled.

And on top of that, the second circle, which had been growing gradually with the real battles and training before and after the vacation, had definitely grown bigger thanks to achieving the immunity to ten poisons this time.

‘The blood that has gained resistance is also responding to the grown circle.’

Whether it was because I had learned the Blood River Art, I could feel not only the improvement of the quality of the blood itself, which existed outside the energy veins and mana circuits, but also.

‘An unexpected opportunity.’

And so, as I was thinking, Tang Surin asked from the side.

“Then what should we play today?”

It seems Tang Surin had already told Zhuge Hyeonguk through a servant that I would be resting today. I answered, clenching and unclenching my sticky hands, which were full of waste.

“First, after I wash up. If there’s anything you want to do, tell me.”

I called a servant and had him prepare a bath and a meal.

After the meal, we got dressed and went on an outing.

We visited a waterfall in the mountain near the main house, or we escaped from a kaleidoscope room made of mirrors and formations that had been installed to block external intrusions.

And so, after finishing a tour of the Zhuge family grounds, playing as Tang Surin wanted all day, it was evening again.

‘As expected, playing is fast.’

“You go into the room first.”

“Huh? We can just go together. Where are you going?”

Tang Surin, who was holding a candy she had snatched from the kitchen, asked at my words.

She was reacting as if it were a foregone conclusion that she would be sleeping in my room.

‘Even if we’re engaged, this could be misunderstood. But it can’t be helped.’

The rumor that she had spent a day in my room had already spread through the servants. Then it was better to use this to divert Tang Surin’s attention.

“I’m going to the bathroom.”

“Then, I’ll go too.”

It didn’t seem like a joke, so I had nothing more to say.

In fact, as the night deepened, I felt a silent pressure from Tang Surin. At this rate, it seemed I wouldn’t be able to shake her off today.

‘It can’t be helped.’

So I decided to be shameless instead. By borrowing the talent of [Arrogant Young Master].

“You’re so clueless.”

“Huh?”

I took a step closer and whispered softly, brushing her disheveled hair behind her ear.

“Go wash up first and warm up the blanket. It’ll take a while.”

“Huh?”

Tang Surin, whose two eyes widened for a moment at the words that came in with a hook.

“Yes…”

And then, with a trailing answer, she fidgeted with the two hands that were holding the candy.

But, unlike her shyly mumbling lips, the eyes that were looking up this way resembled those of a feline.

“Then, I’ll be waiting.”

I turned around, leaving behind Tang Surin who had said that.

‘Sleeping next to each other should be fine.’

I’m sorry to have gotten her hopes up, but in this world, I had no intention of getting into a deep relationship with anyone yet.

My feelings aside, how could I, in a state of being possessed and busy just surviving?

I headed to the Submerged Fish Lake, holding the Seven Star Ladle that I had secretly taken out through a servant in advance.

And tonight at midnight was when the crescent moon, which had the least moonlight, would rise.

‘I’ll do it today.’

I walked along the wide lakeside alone, having sent away the escorts and servants who were following me. The Submerged Fish Lake was not just a beautiful lake.

‘The real thing is hidden at the bottom.’

I looked at the surface of the lake, which was dyed black. At the bottom of it, the masterpiece of the great formation master, Zhuge Goya, the Daoist Scholar’s Fan, was sunk.

‘I also don’t know what will happen from here on out.’

I had only met the conditions of the guide that I had briefly skimmed, and this was the first time I had tried it like this.

As I was standing still and waiting for midnight, the stars slowly began to rise. It was a clear night without any clouds. The Milky Way was spread out in the night sky, and the calm lake also formed an image as if it were reflecting it.

‘When I was investigating, there was also a story like this.’

A legend related to the Submerged Fish Lake that I had found out during my investigation came to mind. That this place was where a submerged fish that had trained for a long time had ascended to become a dragon.

A being that had become a dragon after a long period of effort. It must be a metaphor for the great formation master, Zhuge Goya.

Because the record where the origin of the name Submerged Fish Lake was first used was similar to the period when Zhuge Goya was active.

‘And on top of that, the Seven Star Ladle and the Daoist Scholar’s Fan are also related.’

In the past, when I was searching through legends to see if I could find a clue related to the Daoist Scholar’s Fan, there was one question that came to my mind.

What did the fish that had become a dragon feel after that?

Everyone had only seen the process and the result of becoming a dragon, but no one had paid attention to what the dragon itself had felt.

But, rarely, in an old version, the story after that was also written.

‘Strangely, it was said that the dragon missed the fish.’

Even though a dragon is not that kind of being.

Recalling Zhuge Goya, who had been alone until his later years, I took out the Seven Star Ladle that I had brought on my back.

Around midnight. Before I knew it, the hollowed-out moon was hanging in the air, and the night sky was filled over the Submerged Fish Lake.

As the energy of the stars was imbued in the night sky, the seven points that were embroidered on the flower and the peak drew a line and shone in the shape of a ladle.

“So this is why it’s called the Seven Star Ladle.”

I put the energy of the five elements into the Seven Star Ladle.

Kiiing-

Along with a resonance, the Seven Star Ladle opened in the shape of a flower bud. It was a liberation method similar to the one in the treasure warehouse.

‘But it’s different from then.’

As if a dowsing rod were bending in a specific area, the Seven Star Ladle also began to react.

A faint tremor. Although it was very faint to detect, it was like a cry.

“A vibration, no, is it music?”

I began to control the energy of the five elements according to the wave that was spreading from somewhere.

As the energy of each of the five elements, which had been operated according to the tremor that was being led like a staff notation, brushed against the flower bud, the width of the vibration gradually grew larger.

‘It’s like a very difficult rhythm game.’

It required an absurd level of sensitivity, control, and an intuition to grasp all of this.

The performance continued. A beautiful melody as if it were not of this world. It was said that Zhuge Goya had a deep knowledge of music in his lifetime, and it was not an empty boast.

Just as the five elements constitute the world, the five notes and their variations were weaving a piece of music.

The resonance grew, and the surface of the lake rippled finely. The leaves of the grass trembled. The air rang, and an intangible formation was spread out on the lakeside.

And then at some point, the moon that had been floating on the surface of the water turned under the surface of the water like a doorknob. In an instant, the Milky Way that had been embroidering the lakeside swirled like a snowflake and took on a certain shape.

“…This is no joke.”

On the surface of the lake, a white point drew a line, and it became a three-dimensional object, and it became a staircase.

I couldn’t even guess how he had done it. To implement an illusion or an optical illusion so realistically.

The music stopped, and what was finally left on the lakeside was a spiral staircase that had appeared after the surface of the water had split.

In front of that strange sight, I stopped my feet.

The energy lurking at the bottom was considerable. It was a pressure that I had not expected at all when I had only read the guide.

‘I could come back later after I’ve grown stably… But that would be meaningless.’

In order to win the grade-skipping exam in the future, I had to get the divine artifact, the Daoist Scholar’s Fan, which was sunk at the bottom of the lake, during this vacation. And now was the time.

‘By the time the next crescent moon rises, it will be too late.’

Because if I missed this time, the next chance would be during the next vacation.

A dangerous gamble or a stable surrender.

At the crossroads of choice, I took a deep breath alone. This front was definitely dangerous. But I didn’t want to hesitate.

Because I had survived like this from the beginning.

If you don’t bet everything, you can’t achieve anything. It was the same now.

I took the steps I had stopped.

And a figure entered the inside of the staircase passage, which was filled with darkness.

(End of Chapter)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep