Chapter 43

Adopted Son

When Dang Yingying regained consciousness, she found herself lying on her bed in a familiar room.

“Oh, Father!”

The first thing that came to mind upon waking was worry about her father.

Yingying sprang up from the bed, quickly gathered her clothes, and used light body technique to head for the cave.

She didn’t know how long she had been unconscious, but the sky was already bright, and no one who knew about her father’s condition was left here.

‘Please, please, don’t be too late.’

She wondered if she had missed her father’s last moments or if Master Liu’s method had indeed saved him.

With each step, hope and despair intertwined.

Thus, with a heart half full of hope and half full of fear, she arrived at the entrance of the cave, where the family’s warriors and elders were guarding the cave entrance, and her aunt was just walking out, wiping sweat from her forehead.

Yingying ran up to her aunt and asked.

“Aunt, Aunt, how is Father?”

Yingying’s aunt smiled in response to her question.

With the fear that had been half occupying her heart receding like the tide, the news Yingying had been hoping for came from her aunt’s mouth.

“Go in, the head of the family is resting. He should be fine until Grandfather returns.”

‘Master Liu succeeded!’

With a heart full of relief, Yingying quickly ran into the cave. As she followed the cave path inward, she could see her father’s face, sitting cross-legged in a square cauldron far ahead.

“Oh, Father!”

In response to Yingying’s call, her father, with his eyes closed, answered.

“Yingying, have you come?”

“Yes, Father, I’m here. Are you alright?”

As Yingying, overjoyed by her father’s safety, tried to approach, her father asked her.

“Can you see the wall behind me, where the night pearl is embedded?”

“Yes? Yes, I can see it.”

“Find the book placed in front of it.”

Yingying carefully approached the place where her father’s night pearl was located.

There, on a small table hidden in the shadow of the night pearl, she found what seemed to be her father’s clothes and a book on top of them.

A very old and well-worn book.

“What is this book?”

Holding the book she had found, she asked, and her father slowly replied.

“It is a book containing the ancestors’ advice for the family’s martial arts. Look at the last page and see what is written there.”

Yingying, under the dim light of the night pearl, turned to the last page of the book.

Although the writing was somewhat faded in the dim light, the content was still clearly discernible.

“What is this?!”

“Read it.”

Following her father’s command, Yingying, with a trembling voice, slowly read the content revealed by the dim light of the night pearl, word by word.

“Descendants who wish to achieve the Thousand Toxin Immortal Body, remember this. Embrace the flower of the Dang family, the Ba flower, in your hearts...!?”

As Yingying finished speaking, a sigh of regret escaped from her father’s lips.

“What a foolish thing... The incantations or teachings were thought to be like Zen questions, meaning that to achieve the Thousand Toxin Immortal Body, one must embrace the poison heart like the Dang family’s symbol, the Ba flower, and endure the great law. How can I face those who were sent ahead in foolishness...”

A tear rolled down the cheek of the head of the Dang family, Yingying’s father, and fell into the medicinal mixture in the cauldron with a clear sound.

Gratitude towards Liu Qingyun followed.

“Our family has received a favor from Xiaoxia that we cannot repay...”

As he finished speaking, the fine toxins that had been scattered in the cave began to swirl around the head of the Dang family, and the medicinal and toxic substances in the cauldron where her father was sitting began to whirl.

A few of the Dang family’s elders and Yingying’s aunt, who had noticed the unusual activity in the cave, rushed in.

“Head of the family!”

***

After a while, the Dang family’s elders and Yingying, who had rushed into the cave, ran out and the first person they looked for was Liu Qingyun.

“Where is Master Liu?!”

“Where is Master Qingyun?!”

He had been seen faintly at the entrance just a moment ago, but had disappeared.

As the warriors moved to clear the view, something huddled on the grass behind them was revealed.

A man was lying on the grass, drooling, fast asleep.

It seemed that, not being able to practice martial arts, Liu Qingyun was exhausted and had fallen into a deep sleep in a corner of the grass.

“Hmm...”

“Ahem...”

“Oh...”

“Oh my...”

The elders looked at each other, appearing awkward, and Yingying’s aunt, to break the awkward atmosphere, informed the warriors and the remaining elders about what had happened in the cave.

“The head of the family not only survived with the help of Xiaoxia Liu but also achieved great success.”

At this, the attention that had been on Liu Qingyun shifted to Yingying’s aunt, and cheers began to erupt from the warriors.

“Wow!”

However, just as the cheers began, Yingying’s aunt, startled by the scene, called out in a low voice.

“Shh! Everyone, be quiet! We must not wake our benefactor! And now, Liu Xiaoxia is a great benefactor of the Dang family. Everyone must treat him with utmost respect!”

“Yes!”

“Shh! Be quiet!”

As Yingying’s aunt tried to calm the warriors with a low voice, a clear sound echoed in the open space in front of the cave.

*Clap*

It seemed there was a mosquito, and Liu Qingyun was scratching his neck and hitting his nape.

Yingying’s aunt, startled, ordered the warriors.

“What are you doing! Make sure not a single mosquito can get near our benefactor!”

Following the stern command of the elder, the warriors surrounded Liu Qingyun, using their Poison Claw technique to catch mosquitoes, with half guarding the cave entrance and the other half surrounding Liu Qingyun.

Determined not to allow any intrusion.

At the same time, Yingying heard her aunt’s awkward voice calling her.

“Yingying.”

“Yes, Aunt.”

“Um, ahem. Shouldn’t we wipe the drool from his face?”

Yingying looked at her aunt and smiled awkwardly.

***

“Chirp chirp chirp”

*Whirr*

*Smack!*

“Squish!”

Awoken by a sound like a bird’s head bursting, I scratched my neck and opened my eyes to find the Dang family’s warriors surrounding me, their eyes like lasers.

The burning gaze of the Dang family’s warriors.

Even though I had just woken up, the moment I saw the expressions and eyes of the warriors, I naturally understood the situation.

‘Damn. It’s a mess!’

It was clear that, as feared, the situation had escalated.

The warriors’ eyes suggested that things had gone very badly.

‘But, Aunt Yingying said the success rate was over 50%. Damn! What’s going on here?’

I slowly raised my head and forced a smile.

There’s a saying that a smiling face can hide a thousand sins, so I had to try to start a conversation.

However, the fist of the warrior closest to me, who was looking down at me, suddenly shot towards me without any warning.

‘Right, you can’t spit, but you can punch. This is the Central Plains...’

I instinctively covered my face with both hands and shouted.

“Oh, I was just trying to help...”

But strangely, the punch didn’t land. Opening one eye slightly, I saw the warrior clutching his fist in front of my nose, saying with a voice full of accomplishment.

“I got it!”

“But, I was the one who got it...”

I couldn’t understand the warrior’s excited behavior, thinking he had already surrounded and caught me, when I heard Yingying’s voice, which I had never been happy to hear before, now sounding welcoming.

“Master? Are you awake?”

“Miss Dang? Just in time! I was just trying to help... people like this...”

“Master? Are you still half asleep?”

“Huh?!”

Seeing Yingying’s expression asking if I was still half asleep, I found her face unusually bright.

With her father gone, her face being bright meant either she was a psychopath, happy to inherit the family, or...

“Um, um. Is, is the head of the family alright?”

Desperately checking the head of the family’s condition, a loud voice burst from Yingying’s mouth.

“Thanks to Master, he is unharmed!”

And immediately, Yingying, with a very solemn and serious expression, bowed to me and declared.

“Thank you, benefactor of the Dang family.”

Following Yingying’s declaration, everyone gathered in the open space in front of the cave bowed to me and echoed.

“Thank you, benefactor of the Dang family!”

‘Ah, it’s not cheap. Then, I’ve scored! I’ve scored!’

It seemed my second opportunity would be with the Dang family.

***

Yingying’s grandfather, the Poison King, returned in a hurry with a shocked face in the evening.

However, the head of the family had already walked out of the cave at noon, declaring the great law had succeeded, long before her grandfather returned.

His eyes, which had turned green, made him look even more ghostly than Zhuge Qing.

Personally, the sight of the head of the family walking out of the cave reminded me of a dead person walking out from behind a funeral screen.

I thought it would be fortunate if I could buy some time until her grandfather arrived, but for him to walk out unscathed...

I had thought he was doomed to die, but the Dang family was indeed remarkable when it came to poison.

And when I wondered why the Poison King had left his post during a dangerous moment, it turned out that the head of the family had secretly proceeded with the great law as soon as the old man left, despite the Poison King’s repeated failures and refusal to allow it due to the risks.

As expected, the old man, who had a problematic personality, was severely criticized by the head of the family, as Yingying later recounted.

“And Grandfather praised Master a lot!”

For the old man, who was so strict, to praise someone as much as a son, it seemed the Dang family’s favor was at an SSS level.

After the commotion that started with the pufferfish in the middle of the night and a few more days had passed, the head of the family called me to his pavilion, saying he would settle the score since I had scored a lot.

From the Poison King’s birthday party to saving the