The Hundred Venomous Body

Night blanketed the Tang Clan estate, but within the depths of the Poison Courtyard, a tempest brewed. Not of wind or rain, but of toxic qi swirling in silence. The stone chamber hidden beneath Tang Yun's personal courtyard pulsed with eerie life, as if the poisons sealed within its walls had begun to stir in anticipation.

Tang Yun knelt at the center of the underground sanctum, shirtless and still. The walls glowed faintly green, their runes activated by the convergence of multiple venomous energies. Before him sat a jade box carved with serpentine patterns, sealed with layers of protective talismans.

This was the legacy of a forgotten line within the Tang Clan. A box containing a fragment of the ancient technique: The Hundred Venoms Body.

He had found mention of it days earlier in the Venom Scripture Pavilion, cleverly hidden behind a deteriorated scroll. Most would have dismissed it as corrupted text but Tang Yun recognized the cipher. And now, he was ready to gamble his life on what he had deciphered.

"Once opened," he whispered, eyes sharp with resolve, "there is no retreat."

With careful precision, he pressed the final talisman.

Snap.

The jade box shuddered open.

A burst of mist rushed outward violet, black, crimson, and green the colors of ancient venoms sealed for generations. Tang Yun gritted his teeth as the mist slammed into him like a tidal wave. It wasn't just toxic qi–it was conscious, malevolent, alive.

His skin blistered. His blood boiled. His meridians trembled.

And yet, his eyes did not waver.

He had consumed hundreds of low-grade poisons in recent weeks. Tempering his body. Weakening his natural resistance so the baptism would work. This pain was expected. Necessary.

The Hundred Venoms Baptism wasn't a cultivation technique. It was a transformation ritual one that would overwrite the body's natural constitution and remake it into something new. Something monstrous.

A Hundred Poison Body.

Capable of absorbing, refining, and even fusing poisons within the meridians, creating toxins that could shift in nature mid-combat. A body immune to nearly all conventional poisons but more than that, a body that thrived on venom.

But few ever survived the process. Most went mad. Some exploded.

Tang Yun bit down on his tongue, drawing blood. His mind buzzed as a thousand venoms assaulted his nerves.

He laughed through clenched teeth.

"You think I've never faced death?" he growled. "I was death. I delivered it to emperors and saints alike. And now, I command it again."

Aboveground, Poison Courtyard

Elder Tang Mo paused mid-sip of his tea. His old fingers trembled.

"What was that fluctuation..." he murmured.

He turned to the misty night, his spiritual sense sweeping the inner courtyard. It brushed against the edges of Tang Yun's chamber and recoiled.

"No... it couldn't be. That technique was banned."

He considered investigating, but shook his head. "If it's what I suspect... let the poison decide. If he survives, he deserves to be watched."

Back Underground

Tang Yun's veins turned black, glowing with pulsing light. The venom had found his core. It struck like lightning, tearing into the foundation of his dantian, seeking to erode his soul.

He screamed.

But not in despair. In defiance.

Boom!

A surge erupted from his core. Poison qi, once inert, exploded outward in a spiral. It swallowed the attacking venom and devoured it.

Crack.

Something within him broke.

Then reformed.

His bones solidified. His blood darkened. His skin became laced with a faint green sheen, almost invisible under moonlight.

His cultivation surged. From Early Qi Awakening... to Mid Qi Awakening Realm.

The chamber quieted.

Tang Yun collapsed to one knee, panting, his chest heaving. The baptism had ended.

And he was alive.

No not just alive. Reborn.

He reached out with his hand. A drop of crimson poison formed in his palm, then shifted to gold, then to icy blue. He blinked.

"...Adaptive poison qi."

He looked at his fingers. "And I can shift their properties mid-battle. Fire, frost, sleep, rot... I can produce them all."

He slowly rose, each movement precise.

"From now on," he whispered, "I'm no longer bound by ordinary cultivation. I don't walk the path of warriors. I walk the path of poisons."

A chilling grin crossed his lips.

The Next Morning

The Tang Clan stirred with usual discipline. Elders moved through the halls. Disciples trained with herbal toxins in their hands. Among the youngest outer disciples, rumors were spreading.

"Did you feel it last night? Something shook the venom well."

"I thought it was an earthquake!"

"Maybe the Patriarch returned?"

Tang Yun walked through the compound, his steps calm and measured. Not a trace of qi leaked from him. He wore his usual unassuming robe, slightly torn from a fabricated training accident.

When he passed by Tang Huian, the Thousand Venom Scholar glanced at him.

"You smell different," Huian muttered.

Tang Yun smiled. "New herb."

Huian narrowed his eyes, but said no more.

The other siblings didn't even look his way. Why would they? He was still the weakest. Still the runt.

Perfect.

That Night

Tang Yun sat before a black scroll he had been secretly copying from the Venom Scripture Pavilion.

Thousand Serpent Threads. A technique involving invisible venom threads that could move like silk in the wind.

With his new body, he could cultivate it ten times faster.

He flicked his finger.

A hair-thin thread lashed out from his nail, slicing through the air before retracting.

He smiled.

But just as he was about to continue, a soft knock echoed at the door.

He froze.

"Young Master Yun," a voice whispered.

He opened the door carefully.

It was Mei, one of the kitchen servants. Her face was pale.

"Someone's... looking for you," she said. "They're not from the clan."

Tang Yun's expression didn't change, but his mind raced.

"Where?"

"Outer walls. They gave me this. Said you'd understand."

She handed him a folded paper. Inside was a single symbol drawn in dried blood:

黑 — Heuk — Black.

He crushed the paper.

"Tell no one. You never saw me tonight."

Mei nodded and disappeared.

Tang Yun moved to the shadow of the courtyard and disappeared into the mist.

Outer Wall Grove

A lone figure stood beneath the dead willow. Hooded, cloaked in gray.

Tang Yun emerged silently.

"Who are you?"

The figure bowed slightly. "A friend of a forgotten Tang. We heard you survived the Baptism."

Tang Yun didn't respond. His killing intent thickened.

The figure lifted their hood, revealing a young girl about his age, with pale green eyes and a burn mark across her cheek.

"My name is Bai Qingmei. I came to offer you a pact. Not loyalty. Not servitude. Mutual survival."

He blinked. "You know who I am."

"Not just who. What. You have the Hundred Poison Body now. That makes you... hunted."

A pause.

"By whom?"

She smiled faintly. "Ask that in another hundred chapters. For now, know this: the moment you began this path, the world began watching."

Tang Yun studied her, then turned.

"Come. Speak under safer roofs. If you lie, I'll test my new poisons on your bones."

Her smile widened.

"Fair."

[Tags]: Reincarnation, Martial Arts, Poison, Scheming Protagonist, Cultivation, Weak to Strong, Anti-Hero, Cold Protagonist, Clan Wars, Hidden Identity, Revenge