Poison Blooms

The sun never truly rose in the Poison Courtyard.

Though dawn arrived in Murim, casting gold across sect mountains and verdant forests, the Tang Clan's sacred compound remained sheathed in mist a permanent haze laced with diluted toxins and spiritual residue. To outsiders, it was foreboding. To the Tang bloodline, it was home. To Tang Yun, it was a shroud.

And today, that shroud trembled.

In the Depths of the Outer Compound

Tang Yun had long stopped fearing the chill of dawn or the scent of death. Beneath the cracked tiles of his isolated courtyard, he sat cross-legged, shirtless, and covered in sweat. Around him, a circle of ink-black talismans pulsed faintly drawn with his own blood mixed with a rare toxin: Ghostspider Ink.

The air was dense with pressure.

His skin trembled, not from fear, but strain. The 100 Venom Body had awakened two nights ago and he hadn't stopped refining since. One by one, the poison bodies bloomed within him: Scorpion Bone Constitution, Widow's Veil Lungs, Azure Fang Blood, the Phantom Marrow...

Each one came with agony.

Each one carved a part of his spirit.

Each one made him more than human.

"You think poison is pain," he whispered, body convulsing.

"But poison is patience."

He bit down on a leather strip to silence his own scream. The 87th poison constitution Venomous Thread Nerves had activated. His meridians lit up like molten iron. Tiny rivers of qi surged across the newly awakened paths. Unlike normal cultivators, whose dantians gently spun like a moon's tide, Tang Yun's poison qi thrashed like a trapped serpent.

He had absorbed over a hundred poisons to awaken this body collected secretly from the Alchemy Hall's disposal pit, from rotted herb gardens, even from the corpses of dead snakes he found behind the martial halls.

"I'm not the weakest."

"I'm the most silent."

On the 100th breath, something clicked. No, not clicked cracked.

His dantian.

A fracture, like an eggshell breaking from within.

Qi surged.

A spiral formed within his core. The wisps of poison qi twisted, darkened, and sharpened—until they turned into a whirlpool. Unlike before, it was no longer sluggish. It no longer crawled.

Tang Yun had broken through.

[Qi Awakening Realm – Middle Stage]

A rush of spiritual awareness surged through his mind. He could now sense movements fifty meters away. He could hear the faint flutter of insect wings behind the walls. He could smell the metallic tang of blood from three courtyards down.

"Finally."

His body collapsed backward but he was smiling.

Elsewhere, Within the Inner Courtyard

The elders convened.

It was rare.

The Poison Throne, the Tang Clan's inner council hall, was lined with black marble and veins of greenish jade. Poisonous incense curled from the carved serpent-braziers. The patriarch was absent as always, locked in seclusion. But four chairs were filled.

Elder Tang Mo – Whispering Venom

Elder Tang Ren – Frostbite Venom Master

Elder Tang Liansu – Venom Scripture Guardian

Elder Tang Bai – Bloodroot Sabre

The fourth elder was new to Tang Yun's ears. Tang Bai was rarely seen, and when he appeared, corpses followed.

"What of the twelfth son?" Liansu asked, flipping a worn venom scripture closed.

"Growing," Mo answered. "More than expected."

"More?" Tang Ren's breath came out cold. "I heard he took Widow's Blanket extract and survived."

Tang Bai chuckled, the sound rough as bark. "Survived? The boy consumed it and refined it."

Liansu tapped his fingers against the table.

"Too many children. Too many agendas. We let the strongest rise... but some roots are hidden deep."

"What do you propose?" Mo asked, his tone soft.

"We test him."

Back in the Outer Disciple Grounds

Three days later, the test came.

A bell rang clear and commanding. A sect-wide summons. Outer disciples and children alike gathered in the Jade Serpent Ring, a dueling arena made of petrified jade coils said to have been formed from a great serpent's bones.

Tang Yun arrived late.

He wore simple robes, loose and grey. His hair was tied back with a thread. His skin was pale, but his eyes burned with hidden clarity.

Whispers followed.

"That's the twelfth son?"

"Didn't he almost die last season?"

"I heard he drank venom and laughed."

"Who would he fight?"

The answer came with a stomp.

Tang Mingzhe – Duskgloom Talon

Sixth child of the Tang Clan. Famous for his claw arts and slow poisons.

He walked onto the stage, dragging his poisoned claw blades sheathed in a metallic green hue. His eyes were full of contempt.

"You should've stayed sick, Yun."

Tang Yun stepped up, silent.

A referee elder raised a hand.

"Begin."

The First Move

Mingzhe lunged. Fast. Not wasting time.

Tang Yun didn't dodge.

He stepped forward directly into the strike and raised his left arm, coated in black qi.

Claws met flesh no, poison qi. A spark of green clashed with black.

Tang Yun moved like mist. He slid beneath the claws and tapped Mingzhe's side with two fingers.

A simple touch.

But Mingzhe staggered.

He blinked. "What...?"

His leg gave out.

"Your poison is slow," Tang Yun said. "Mine is patient."

Mingzhe growled and unleashed his full qi, trying to burn the invading toxin. Tang Yun stepped back, hands still behind his back.

"You rely too much on fear."

Another step.

Another flick of his finger.

And Mingzhe fell.

Unconscious.

Silence. Then Roars.

Disciples stared in shock.

Elders narrowed their eyes.

Tang Yun bowed. "Thank you for the opportunity."

He stepped off the stage without looking back.

That night, his name spread like wildfire.

Within the Patriarch's Sealed Chamber

Though no one saw him, the Poison Emperor stirred.

Tang Qingshan – The Poison Emperor

His seclusion chamber was carved into the heart of a thousand-year-old serpent fossil. Around him floated glowing orbs of venom qi.

One orb flickered.

He opened his eyes.

"The 100 Poison Body has awakened."

"At last."

Poison Throne – A New Motion

Elder Tang Mo stood before a jade serpent statue, stroking his beard.

"He won't stay in the outer sect for long."

Tang Liansu nodded. "Shall we bring him into the inner court?"

Mo shook his head. "Let him grow under pressure. When he enters the Inner Sect... he will reshape it."

That Night

Tang Yun sat by a pond, moonlight glinting off the water. He held a jade scroll in his hand one passed secretly from a servant under Elder Mo.

It was an old technique.

Karmic Thread Toxin Sutra

He read the first line:

"To poison fate, one must know fate."

He smiled.

And the shadows around him seemed to stir.

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