I Became an Evolving Lizard in a Martial Arts Novel-Chapter 329

I Became an Evolving Lizard in a Martial Arts Novel-Chapter 329

“Gerong...”
I gave my tail a subtle wag.
“Lord Go?”
So-Yeong instantly rushed over and grabbed the scales on my side, wearing that same old this guy again expression.
“You’re not, right?”
“Gek gek.”
No, I mean...
No one who goes ggerorong can be a bad person, okay?
“There totally is! Right in front of me!”
“Gegegek.”
“What even is ggerorong?!”
According to the Ggerorong Doctrine, you’re actually a villain who shouldn’t even exist.
“Hmm? What are you thinking?”
“Gek gek.”
Nothing at all.
While I was bantering with So-Yeong, Dan Hwa-Yeon’s expression relaxed a bit.
The wild move she threw out in desperation seemed to have landed harder than she expected, and it was leaving her looking conflicted.
“Ugh, wouldn’t it be better if I held you instead of some floppy body like that? I’ll give you a full dose of illuwat...”
“Ge-eek.”
Get lost.
Honestly, I’m not the hopeless lizard So-Yeong seems to think I am.
I know how to separate public and private matters. Just because her venom sacs are a little bigger doesn’t mean I’m gonna lose my mind.
“Ggerong...”
Heh... that royal butt, though...
“Gek.”
Kidding. I really don’t care.
I’ve been charging up my Ggerorong Gauge lately, after all.
Back when I was only hanging around with So-Yeong and Nephila, it might’ve been risky—but now? I’ve been enjoying ggerorong from the Serpent Queen, Baekrang, Lizamoun, Master, Seolhwa, and a hundred or so priestesses from the Heavenly Demon Cult whose names I don’t even know.
So yeah. I’m not the type to fall for that nonsense.
The reason I’m even responding to this is because I know the “body” she’s offering isn’t that kind of body.
“You’re saying you’ll take her as a subordinate?”
She’s a poison master at the level of Hwagyeong.
An undeniable asset to the Gae Gak Sect.
“Gegegek.”
“Of course it would be convenient if she joined us. She’s not on the same level as the Tang Clan, but that just means Odukmun ranks just beneath them, doesn’t it?”
A vein twitched visibly on Dan Hwa-Yeon’s forehead as she knelt, but to her credit, she didn’t show any other reaction. That was professional.
“But that only matters if she joins us. A high-level martial artist—though still beneath me—surrendering without a fight? Doesn’t that seem suspicious?”
It might be suspicious from a typical martial artist’s perspective, but from my point of view, it’s totally normal.
Even if she were at the Hyeon-gyeong level instead of Hwagyeong, she still wouldn’t be able to beat us.
Sure, she’s strong, but we’re absurdly stronger.
Picking a fight here would be outright stupid.
“N-No! I surrendered sincerely after seeing Lord Go!”
Dan Hwa-Yeon rubbed her hands together desperately.
“Who told you to speak?”
So-Yeong’s tone turned sharp and cold.
A second-rate martial artist speaking like that to a Hwagyeong master? You’d be hard-pressed to find another example of that in all of the Central Plains’ history.
I almost felt sorry for Dan Hwa-Yeon.
Should’ve met a better lizard, lady.
“Odukmun... I despise your kind. The way you abuse power, how you treat venomous beasts and spiritual beings... I just can’t stand it.”
So-Yeong spoke with weight in her voice.
She wasn’t wrong. Odukmun’s methods of using venomous creatures were completely different from the Tang Clan’s.
If the Tang Clan was more humane, Odukmun did whatever it took to perfect poison, regardless of the means.
Dan Hwa-Yeon looked around nervously, unsure what to do.
“...But it wasn’t you I hated. It was the previous sect master. I heard you only recently inherited the position.”
Ah, so that’s the setup: the beautiful, misunderstood master who’s actually working to purify a corrupt sect.
Dan Hwa-Yeon’s face lit up at So-Yeong’s words.
“But that doesn’t mean you’re forgiven. Maybe it’s improved a little, but not by much. Don’t even think about lying. I’ve already heard the truth from the venomous beasts here.”
Her expression darkened again.
We’d seen firsthand how poorly they were being treated.
Especially considering the Serpent Queen said they’d given plenty to Odukmun but received almost nothing in return.
“B-But... I clearly remember allocating twenty percent of our main resources to Jidokmun...”
“Lies. Do you know how long it’s been since we received even one elixir?”
Anansiv, who had been quiet this whole time, spoke up in disbelief.
“But I sent supplies every solar term...”
“What are you talking about?”
Wait, every solar term?
“We sent some too.”
“We were low on food.”
“We sent large slabs of Gavi-bala meat to Sadokmun every three days! And even included a few oxen when we had them! It’s a frontline post, so we made special efforts...”
So they were supplying the snake-lings too?
...Don’t tell me someone underneath just pocketed it all?
Come to think of it, yeah—that made more sense.
There’s no way you’d treat spirit beasts of that level poorly.
“You think saying that’s enough to get you off the hook? Even if it’s true, the fact that you didn’t notice it makes you either a liar or incompetent, doesn’t it?”
“I-I...”
So-Yeong went after her like a cat toying with a mouse.
A fish in water?
No—a poison user in poison.
She kept up the barrage without mercy.
Pointing to the Serpent Queen, she scolded her for what they’d done. Then she pointed at the snake-lings and accused her of mistreatment. Then the lizardlings, and asked if she’d been enjoying those plump tails alone. Then the centipedes, and said the Tang Clan would never stand for such behavior.
After a relentless string of blows, Dan Hwa-Yeon’s already sweaty body was soaked, # Nоvеlight # her clothes clinging to her skin like they weren’t even waterproof.
“Gerong...”
Absolutely a gerong moment.
“...I’ll stop here for now. And I still don’t like you. But I won’t deny that you could be useful to Lord Go.”
This technique...!
As expected of a master of poison—even her gaslighting is perfectly crafted.
“So that means...”
“If Lord Go allows it, we’ll accept you.”
Honestly, So-Yeong probably intended to take her in from the start.
She despised Odukmun, yes—but as she said, Dan Hwa-Yeon seemed to have only recently inherited the role.
Still, she had definitely continued some of Odukmun’s old practices, and the sect’s hostility toward the Tang Clan hadn’t changed.
That’s why she was putting this pressure on now.
To make it clear she personally opposed it, and was only accepting her because Lord Go insisted.
So don’t get any funny ideas—behave and follow orders.
So-Yeong might seem airheaded sometimes, but moments like this show how sharp she really is.
“And just in case... I’ll add a little safeguard.”
“A safeguard...?”
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
So-Yeong pulled out a small pill from between my scales.
It was a round pellet, colored almost identically to my scales.
“You’d recognize it at a glance, wouldn’t you?”
Despite her words, Dan Hwa-Yeon only tilted her head in confusion.
She didn’t seem to know what it was.
“Will you understand if I call it ‘Go Poison’? To be precise, it’s Go itself.”
In reality, it wasn’t Go Poison at all.
It was just a honey pellet that had accidentally fallen into my venom.
Looked like So-Yeong was trying to use a fake Go to bind Dan Hwa-Yeon’s actions.
But could she really fool a Hwagyeong-level expert with a fake?
“Lady...! Don’t tell me that’s the poison...!”
“It’s dangerous!”
“That poison... is one that could annihilate the world!”
The red and blue snake siblings stepped in with perfectly timed reactions.
“It’s deadlyyy! That extreme poison!”
“It’s gonna draw blood!”
“Graah! Just sensing it makes my body go numb!”
...Did you guys rehearse this?
Seeing their over-the-top responses, Dan Hwa-Yeon’s face grew tense—then slowly, she nodded.
“If it can show my sincerity, I’ll swallow such poison without hesitation.”
Before her words were even finished, she snatched the honey pellet from So-Yeong’s hand.
“But... I have one condition.”
Condition?
So-Yeong’s eyebrow arched.
“An act. Please—just let me act. Just once.”
Act?
Now my eyebrow went up.
What kind of act, all of a sudden?
Is she asking for a fluffy-tail-sway scene?
Gulp.
Without waiting for a response, Dan Hwa-Yeon swallowed the honey pellet.
“Ugh... kuh... As expected... this venom...”
It’s literally just honey, though.
“A poison so vile it deceives even the tongue... This must be... Go...”
I mean, yeah, honey pellets do taste great.
Shhhhhh!
Maybe because she believed she had consumed Go Poison, the poison veil enveloping the gate was dispelled.
“Master!”
“The enemies...!”
Martial artists who hadn’t been able to see what was happening inside shouted in panic.
Seeing that the poison veil was gone while we were still fine, they must’ve assumed their sect master had been defeated.
Technically, they wouldn’t be wrong. But really, there hadn’t even been a fight.
“...Please. If we can just get past this moment, I’ll do anything you ask.”
Dan Hwa-Yeon whispered softly into my ear.
I understood it as a sign that she’d follow my every command from here on out, and I gave a small nod.
And then—
“Hear me.”
It wasn’t the trembling voice of a frightened woman anymore—it rang out like the voice of a sect leader.
“The ones present here are no longer our enemies.”
Only then did it become clear.
Why the Master of Odukmun had maintained the high-cost poison veil for so long.
Why she asked for that little acting moment just before lifting it.
“The Master of Odukmun, Dan Hwa-Yeon, hereby declares an alliance—however temporary—with Yubin Poison Flower of the Tang Clan!”
In other words: Let me save a little face.
That’s what it was about.
She didn’t want it known that she’d groveled, prostrated herself, and offered up her whole body to her enemies.
“Uwaaaaah!”
“Bangyudokhui! Bangyudokhui!”
“Our Master is the Primordial Celestial!”
“...There’s a spy from the Malco Sect hereee!”
Judging from her voice, expression, and the way her disciples reacted, she’d decided to go for the image of a noble Poison Queen.
Even if that wasn’t her intent, she was certainly acting like the head of a martial sect.
Instead of trembling before a Tang Clan girl and a lizard, she had negotiated a strategic alliance with a mortal enemy—that’s the narrative she was building, and it would help her.
Of course, even as she said all that, her pupils were shaking like crazy.
It wouldn’t take much effort to reveal the truth.
But I wasn’t in a petty mood, and this was kind of a charming lie, so I let it go.
“Bangyudokhui...? Thick and soft...? Lord Go. Please stop them.”
So-Yeong seemed to be fixating on something completely different, but she wasn’t in a rush to expose the act either.
If we outed the sect master here and now, her disciples might turn against us and things would get annoying.
“Well then, before we head to the main hall... how about we rest and shake off the fatigue here for a bit?”
Trying to act all composed, even though she was clearly shaking—she was more like So-Yeong than I thought.
So for now, I decided I’d play along with her little performance.

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Chapter 329