Chapter 230
“The first is Heavenly Poison Immunity, the second is Righteous Spirit Qi, and the third is the Vampiric Ring.”

Chris continued his train of thought.

“Heavenly Poison Immunity blocks the toxicity of the poison, and the Righteous Spirit Qi’s willpower neutralizes the poison’s spiritual force.”

If those poisons had come from outside, it wouldn’t have been so easy to neutralize them with sheer willpower.

But these poisons acted within his own body.

Since the Righteous Spirit Qi exerts its strongest power inside the body, it was entirely possible to deceive the poison’s effects.

“Of course, this alone has its limits.”

The ultimate cheat was the Vampiric Ring.

A legendary artifact that absorbs external energy and converts it into magical energy.

“I upgraded the Vampiric Ring’s rank just in case.”

The types and efficiency of energy the ring could absorb depended on its rank.

When Chris first obtained it, it was rank 1, only able to convert his own internal energy—light mana.

But after upgrading to rank 2, the ring could absorb a wider variety of energies.

“Now it can absorb any energy inside my body.”

That meant it could even absorb other people’s magical energy.

“Whether it’s Jin’gang poison or spiritual poison, they’re all made of magical energy, after all.”

Of course, he couldn’t just absorb the poison outright.

Because the poison contained toxic energy and willpower, those had to be removed first.

That problem was solved by Heavenly Poison Immunity and Righteous Spirit Qi, which neutralized the poison’s power, allowing him to immediately convert the absorbed poison’s magical energy into usable energy.

In other words, every time he drank poison, he recycled it into his own energy.

“Since I keep replenishing new energy, the Righteous Spirit Qi never runs out.”

On the contrary, the more poison he drank, the more energy accumulated.

“But wait, this isn’t just accumulating temporary energy—the total capacity of my core is increasing too?”

Normally, energy absorbed by the Vampiric Ring is volatile and single-use.

But Chris felt his mana and magical energy reserves steadily growing.

“It’s thanks to the remnants of the elixirs mixed in the poison!”

Chris realized the reason and quietly rejoiced.

“To make Jin’gang or spiritual poison, they must have used rare medicinal ingredients. This is an unexpected elixir intake time!”

Excited, Chris gulped down the poison.

Eventually, he even drank three or four cups at once.

“Let’s get this awful taste over with!”

The only hardship was how disgustingly bad it tasted.

It was the kind of flavor that could be used as tongue torture.

“Ugh, once this duel’s over, I’m definitely washing this down with champagne. Now that I have Heavenly Poison Immunity, the alcohol should hit harder. Definitely.”

With hopeful thoughts, he forced himself to drink the poison.

Finally—

Thud.

He set down the last cup.

“…”

A deathly silence fell over the room.

Everyone stared at Chris with eyes full of shock, disbelief, and horror.

“Th-This can’t be.”

“How is this possible?”

Chris rubbed his stiff back from sitting so long and spoke casually.

Since he couldn’t reveal the truth, he downplayed it.

“Nothing special.”

“!!”

“This is all there is? It’s far worse than I expected. What a disappointment.”

The faces of the Marquis Goras faction flushed red.

But unlike before, no one dared to speak up.

Then Chris went even further and caused another stir.

“Ending it like this feels a bit bland.”

He twisted the corner of his mouth and shifted his gaze.

“Old man, care to show me some real heat?”

“!!”

Everyone held their breath.

The one Chris singled out was Yohen, the second-in-command of Marquis Goras’s faction, a poison master, and the highest-ranked 7-star poison user.

“You want me to drink your poison?”

“I was expecting more, but this is just disappointing.”

Yohen’s face darkened.

“My poison contains death itself. The moment you swallow even a drop, you’ll die.”

This was no metaphor.

Yohen’s 7-star transgressive poison embodied death beyond the laws of nature.

The instant it entered the body, death would come regardless of any rules.

But—

“Well, I doubt it’s anything special. Hand it over.”

Everyone swallowed hard.

Especially Marisa, Melin, and Alos, who had just relaxed, felt their hearts drop again.

‘This idiot! A 7-star transgressive poison is on a whole different level from spiritual poison. Why is he committing suicide again?!’

But it was already done.

Yohen poured a drop of his poison into the chalice.

“My transgressive poison is death itself. Let’s see how long you last.”

Chris stared at the poison in the cup for a moment, then drank it.

As the poison was absorbed into his body, a dizzying sensation swept over him.

It was the feeling of death closing in.

“As expected, 7-star transgressive poison isn’t something to take lightly.”

Despite his confident words, even Chris couldn’t withstand transgressive poison easily.

It kills beyond the laws of nature.

Still, there was a reason Chris dared such a reckless provocation.

“By accepting this transgressive poison, I stand to gain a great advantage.”

An unexpected revelation.

He intended to use the transgressive poison inside his body for some purpose.

“Let’s do this.”

Chris focused his mind.

This time, unlike before, he summoned his magical energy.

“First, I have to resist the transgression.”

Being hit by transgressive poison doesn’t mean instant death.

You can hold out for a while.

He fought back with all his might, raising the dominance of his dark magical energy.

“I have to draw this transgressive poison into my core.”

A strange thought, but there was a reason.

“This is part of ascending the second stage of Heavenly Poison Physique.”

The vessel of Heavenly Poison Physique is ultimately the core.

The core must be able to contain the poison of the heavens.

To do that, it first needs to hold ‘unrefined energy’ and purify it within the vessel.

“The 7-star transgression is the crystallization of impure energy.”

At last, the transgressive poison settled into his core, and Chris concentrated.

“I can do this.”

He had already laid the foundation of Heavenly Poison Physique.

His vessel held the potential to purify impurity.

The question was not just having potential, but how to actually perform the purification.

“Remember Andril’s perfection.”

Chris closed his eyes tightly.

Andril’s perfection, which could not tolerate impurity, was not so different from the purification of Heavenly Poison Physique.

He recalled the moment Andril severed Marquis Langham’s transgression, imprinting that sensation deeply in his mind, then applied it to his core—and a miracle happened.

The transgressive poison was purified!

Then something astonishing followed.

Fwoosh!!

The vessel of Heavenly Poison Physique strengthened.

But it didn’t stop there—Chris sensed his ‘consciousness’ changing.

“My thoughts as a poison master have grown stronger.”

The will to purify the vessel’s corruption was now embedded in his established consciousness.

The power of his spiritual poison grew even more potent.

“That’s not all. The total capacity of my core has increased again.”

As Heavenly Poison Physique strengthened, so did his core.

“I mustn’t forget to absorb the remaining energy with the Vampiric Ring.”

Since the transgressive power was lost, the leftover poison was just a supplement to recharge his energy.

Of course, the energy absorbed this way was temporary, but it was useful for now.

“You survived the transgressive poison?”

The poison masters gulped.

“Th-That’s not all. What’s that energy?”

Whoosh.

Along with the Jin’gang and spiritual poisons he’d absorbed earlier, now the transgressive poison’s energy surged through Chris’s entire body.

Though it was temporary power from the Vampiric Ring, at this moment Chris wielded energy like a monster.

He fixed a chilling glare on Marquis Goras’s faction.

“Now it’s my turn.”

“!!”

“This time, you’ll drink my poison.”

Drip, drip.

Black magical energy rose and transformed into poison.

Chris’s spiritual poison.

A deep darkness rippled.

Shhhhk!

The poison spread across the lined-up cups, and with a snap of his fingers, the cups floated and flew toward Marquis Goras’s faction.

“Drink up.”

They swallowed hard.

The poison looked ominous, as if it contained an abyss.

‘Don’t be afraid. I don’t know what kind of poison this is, but I’m a 6-star poison master. I won’t fall easily.’

They forced away their unease and raised the cups.

As the poison touched their lips, their instincts as poison masters screamed a chilling warning.

They must never drink this poison.

But this was the chalice duel.

There was no avoiding it.

“What are you waiting for? Scared?”

Chris taunted, and one by one, they drank and sealed their lips.

“…What is this?”

“Why is there no reaction?”

They looked puzzled.

There was no trace of poison energy, which should have been obvious.

It was as if they’d drunk clear water—no effect at all.

“What? No poison energy at all?”

Just as Chris sneered at their needless tension—

Suddenly, something strange happened.

“The poison is flowing toward the core?”

Their faces stiffened.

The poison seeped naturally toward their cores, like water flowing.

‘They can’t push it back?’

They tried to forcibly raise their energy to repel Chris’s poison, but there was no response.

Chris smiled slyly.

“That’s the nature of Heavenly Poison. It’s poison imbued with the will of the heavens. Resistance is impossible.”

Of course, that didn’t mean Chris had fully mastered the poison.

He had simply managed to infuse a portion of the essence of the “Celestial Poison” into his own mental poison through the insights he gained upon reaching six stars.

“The real power starts now.”

The Gorath Marquis faction stared at Chris, frozen in place.

The poison had settled into their cores, but nothing seemed to be happening.

Everyone looked perfectly fine.

“What kind of poison is this?”

“You’ll see soon enough.”

Chris glanced at them and suddenly broke into a sly smile.

“You all seem way too arrogant. How about you kneel first?”

“!!”

The room fell into stunned silence at the audacity of his words.

Were they all crazy? That was the look on everyone’s faces.

Then, something unbelievable happened.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

One by one, the members of the Gorath Marquis faction who had ingested the poison began dropping to their knees!

“!!”

Everyone’s eyes widened as if they were about to burst.

“W-why?”

What was even more shocking was the expression on those kneeling.

Their faces were flushed red, veins bulging, as if their actions were completely against their will.

“W-what is this?!”

They trembled, trying desperately to stand back up, but it was useless.

It was as if their bodies had been seized by Chris himself—they collapsed back down onto their knees.

“What do you think it is?”

Chris curled his lips into a cold, bitter smile as he looked down at the kneeling Gorath Marquis faction.

“It means you’ve all become my slaves from now on.”

“!!”

“This is my mental poison, ‘Dark Dominion.’ It’s a poison that amplifies the control of dark magic to the extreme. From now on, you won’t be able to disobey my orders.”