Boom 5
Thud-thud-thud-thud.
As the first pale light of dawn brightened the mountain slopes, we raced down until we reached the foothills. Changryong, who had been following a single step behind Big Brother Gyu-seong, pointed toward the distant flowing river and spoke.
“Huff, huff… Th-there’s the Lancang River. Once we cross that, we’ll finally be in the Central Plains.”
“Finally!”
“Not much farther now. Phew…”
Hope kindled in everyone’s eyes at the news that crossing that river would bring us to our destination—the Central Plains. Big Brother turned to me and asked,
“Huff, huff… So-ryong, are you holding up?”
We had already been running for two full days. He was probably asking because my martial arts realm was the lowest among the group, so he figured my inner energy would be running short. But I had eaten the royal jelly of the Golden-Haired Bee King, and Cho’s evolution had somehow made my efficiency better, so I could still endure. And if I couldn’t endure, I’d just die—so I had to hold on.
“Yes, Big Brother. Huff, huff…”
I wiped the sweat streaming into my eyes and answered with a look that said I was still fine. But Big Brother stopped in his tracks and spoke.
“The ground ahead is open plain, so we’ll have to break through in one go. And it looks like we’ll need to ford the river as well, so let’s rest a moment and take turns recovering our inner energy. Huff… If we run into enemies on open ground, we’ll have no choice but to fight.”
“Understood, Big Brother.”
“Got it, Do-ryong.”
At Big Brother’s words I looked toward the river once more. Not far ahead the mountain slopes ended, and from there to the distant river stretched pure flatland. On terrain like this, just as Big Brother said, every trace of our movement would stand out clearly. Crossing the river would leave us completely exposed, so we had to push through with everything we had. That meant we needed plenty of inner energy left. Charging across open ground right after racing at full speed with lightfoot arts was far too risky. If we met enemies while our energy was spent, we might not even be able to fight.
I glanced back. The torchlights that had dogged us were no longer visible. For the past two days the Blood Sect bastards had trailed us stubbornly from two or three kilometers behind, clearly trying to wear us down. But for the last couple of hours no one had been following, so we decided to rest and recover our energy as Big Brother suggested.
“Phew… I’m wiped.”
“Huff, huff… Is everyone all right?”
Changryong and Geom-bong dropped to the ground the moment Big Brother finished speaking. I checked on Big Sister Seol and Hwa-eun behind us; the two of them sat side by side on a nearby rock, wiping sweat from their brows.
“Hwa-eun, are you all right?”
“Yes. What about you, So-ryong?”
“I’m fine. Big Sister Seol?”
“I can still manage. How about you, Ryong? Not too hard? Your martial arts realm is the lowest here, after all.”
“I’m fine too, Big Sister Seol. What about Yo-hwa?”
Kssht!
Yo-hwa had worried me most after the long run, but she had been swinging on silk threads whenever there were trees and leaping whole valleys in a single bound, so she still seemed all right. I checked on the other little ones as well. Head counts during rest were mandatory.
“Hyang-i, Bin-i, you two okay? Cho?”
Tsrut!
Tsrrut!
At my call, Hyang-i and Bin-i lifted their heads from my shoulders and sent me feelings of reassurance. I scratched under their chins. Cho crawled out of the underbrush and shoved her head between my arms.
Tsrrr…
She made a contented sound when I stroked her head. The three sisters of the Oh-gong group seemed fine, so I turned to Hwa-eun.
“Hwa-eun, are Seol-i and Bing-i all right?”
Hwa-eun discreetly lifted the hem of her skirt just enough for me to see the two of them raise their heads from where they clung inside. After checking on Seol-i and Bing-i stuck to the fabric, she nodded.
“Yes, they seem fine.”
Gook-goo…
Goo…
The reason those two stayed so quiet even while traveling with us was simple: lizards themselves have slow metabolisms. As long as they have a decent meal and a place to hide, they simply don’t move around as much as the Oh-gong centipedes. Centipedes hunt actively at night, but lizards just lounge around once their bellies are full. The ice jade on Hwa-eun’s and my wrists was all they needed; they would occasionally crawl up when we rested to sip a little energy. That was why they had clung to Hwa-eun this whole time without making a sound. In my previous life people called lizards “lexas” and raised them by the dozens in little drawers. Even the recommended cage size from famous overseas reptile keepers was only about 45 by 45 by 60 centimeters.
“All right, everyone—just a little farther. Hang in there.”
Tsrut!
Kssht!
Gook-goo!
I gave the kids a quick pep talk, and we rested. The break lasted about one shichen. We circulated our energy to recover, found a nearby stream, and drank. We had dumped all our baggage to lighten our loads, so there was no food left—we simply didn’t eat.
“Phew…”
When Big Brother Gyu-seong finally finished his circulation and opened his eyes, everyone checked their weapons one last time. Then he spoke.
“Then let’s move.”
That was the moment Big Sister Seol stepped forward and asked for a moment.
“Ah, wait just a second, Do-ryong.”
“What is it, Miss Seol?”
Big Brother tilted his head at her request, and she asked again.
“Before we leave I want to call the beasts one more time. The Blood Sect’s pursuit might continue even into the Central Plains, so I’m going to try moving the Beast Palace. If Father and the Myriad Poison Divine Lord are still at Mt. Namna, they might come this way to meet us.”
We had gone south, then turned east and headed north, so Mt. Namna was now just a faint outline far off to the northwest. She meant to ask them, if they were still searching for us, to come out and escort us.
“Ah, I understand, Miss.”
It was a good idea, so Big Brother nodded. As she said, there were no border markers here, no checkpoints, no waiting troops. Even if we crossed the border, the pursuit could easily continue into Yunnan, and we would need friendly forces coming to meet us if we wanted any guarantee of safety.
Whee-eet.
Once more Big Sister’s whistle—sharp as a hawk’s cry—echoed through the valley.
Whee-eet. Whee-eet.
Three times in a row. The kind of call that said, if any Beast Palace creatures were nearby, they had better answer.
But even though the sound carried quite far, no answering cry came back. Just as Big Sister was about to give up and tell us to leave—
“Maybe the birds haven’t woken because it’s not fully light yet? Do-ryong, let’s just—”
Hoo-hoo. Hoo-hoo.
An owl’s call sounded from somewhere. Everyone looked toward the sky over the border, searching for the source, but the owner of the voice appeared from the mountain slope we had already passed. A huge eagle owl glided down from mid-slope and landed on Big Sister’s wrist.
“You came!”
She stroked its head several times, tore a strip from her skirt hem, and tied it to the bird’s leg, then whispered to it.
Whoosh!
“You have to bring the Beast Palace people. Understand? Search that mountain over there first. Got it?”
Hoo-hoo.
Big Sister repeated the instructions several times. Ordinary beasts, unlike the Oh-gong group or Yo-hwa or Seol-i and Bing-i, didn’t have clear thoughts and sometimes forgot commands. Sending Cho would have been certain, but Cho was our insurance for dangerous situations—we couldn’t spare her. So after drilling the message into the owl several more times, Big Sister launched it into the sky. Following the brightening dawn, the bird flew off toward Mt. Namna.
“All right, let’s go now!”
Once she confirmed it had completely vanished into the sky, Big Sister called for us to depart. The day was about to break fully, so Big Brother shot forward and shouted,
“Let’s move!”
Crossing the plain before full daylight was best. We had not gone far, just past the end of the foothills and about to step onto the open flatland, when it happened.
A figure rose from behind the scattered rocks that marked the border between mountain and plain. In a voice thick with rage he roared and lunged straight at Big Brother.
“Your escape ends here! This elder of the Blood Sect, Mae Cho-gwi—the Blood Wind Flying Snake—will deal with you personally!”
“W-watch out, everyone!”
Big Brother raised his saber sideways to meet the charge, but a thunderous crash exploded between them.
BOOM!
The shockwave hurled Big Brother’s body backward; he slammed into the brush.
“Guh!”
“Big Brother!”
“Do-ryong!”
Then came Hwa-eun’s urgent cry.
“Pursuit!”
I stopped and twisted around at her voice. Men in brown leather armor—different from the red martial robes we had seen until now—were racing down the ridge toward us at high speed. The so-called elder had us pinned while the pursuit force closed in.
“You all right?”
“Kh… Fast bastard!”
Blood trickled from Big Brother’s lips as Changryong helped him up. He gripped his saber again, shot forward, and shouted,
“Dok-hwa—use it!”
The reason Big Brother could charge a Blood Sect elder without flinching was the bleeding poison that worked so well on them. One solid hit and we could handle the rest. Geom-bong and Changryong followed right behind him while Hwa-eun began preparing the Nine Returning Needles, ready to launch nine throwing needles at once. In that same moment I called Cho down and asked her to stop the men in brown. Cho! Please! From the speed of their approach, even if we shook off the elder ahead of us we would be caught soon after—so the pursuit force had to go first.
Big Brother, Changryong, Geom-bong, Hwa-eun, and Big Sister Seol crashed into the Blood Sect elder while Cho sprayed venomous needles toward the warriors charging from behind.
Fwoosh.
From Cho’s mouth as she dove, venomous needles sprayed out in a radial pattern.
“Dodge!”
But the brown-leather warriors scattered with startling speed at the shout of the man who seemed to be their captain, slipping past Cho’s needles. Even those who took hits didn’t look seriously affected. What the—? Cho spat needles two more times in midair, but the way they dodged so nimbly only sent her confusion back to me. Then, far sooner than expected, a victory cry rang out behind me.
“How dare a junior brat—die, you bastard!”
Crunch!
“Guh! D-Dok-hwa!”
“On it!”
Even as the blade pierced his side, Big Brother clung to the man long enough for Hwa-eun to bury two poison needles in the elder’s shoulder. But the situation was far from good. In that short time Changryong had collapsed, coughing blood, and Geom-bong lay nearby gripping a broken sword. Still, the poison had taken hold. Hwa-eun shouted to Big Sister Seol,
“Unnie, we have to finish him! Every Blood Sect dog hits with that poison loses the ability to use inner energy—he’ll be completely powerless any second!”
“Got it!”
Unlike the previous elder who had sucked in a massive dose himself, this one needed confirmation that the poison was circulating. Hwa-eun was about to launch another volley of needles when the man, still dodging, pulled a small porcelain bottle from his robes. With a sneering smile he swallowed the medicine inside and declared,
“Did you really think we would keep falling for the Tiger-Striped Centipede’s poison forever? Kahahaha! The antidote is already complete—you’re all dead men walking!”
“A-antidote?!”
“They actually made an antidote!”
Even the Tang Clan hadn’t developed one yet, and in my previous life nothing short of antiserum worked. His shout that they had created an antidote stunned us. He clearly expected our faces to twist in despair after we had poured everything into the fight only for him to down the cure—but the real shock was simply that they had managed to make one at all. Hwa-eun and I locked eyes and laughed.
“Ahahahaha!”
“Heh…”
The man sneered.
“What’s so funny?! Have you lost your minds facing death?!”
Since he clearly didn’t understand why we were laughing, I called out to him.
“Death is what you’re facing. The poison should be circulating nicely by now—try circulating your energy.”
I taunted him. With a calm expression he did exactly as I said. Instantly a flustered cry burst from his mouth.
“W-why… I took the antidote, so why—?!”
Of course he was shocked. He had swallowed the antidote, yet he could no longer use his inner energy.
It was just before we set out across the plain, when everyone was checking their weapons one last time. Big Brother’s frustrated voice reached me.
“Damn it—we’re out of the poison.”
“Poison?”
I tilted my head at the news that a saber-user like him had run out of poison. He explained.
“The poison we received when we took this mission—the one that stops Blood Sect dogs from using their inner energy. We’ve used it all up.”
“Ah, that poison.”
“Ah—Dok-hwa might still have some. Dok-hwa, if you have any left, could you spare a little?”
They wanted to coat their weapons before we left, just in case a fight broke out. But Hwa-eun shook her head. We had carried a little ourselves, yet she had used it all throwing needles.
“I’ve used up everything I had as well.”
Everyone’s faces fell at her words.
“Then we’ll just have to go as we are.”
Big Brother was ready to leave, but more power was always better. I spoke up.
“Big Brother, I can’t get that exact poison right now, but I can get something similar.”
“Something similar?”
He asked as if he couldn’t believe it, and Hwa-eun chimed in from the side.
“That poison used against the Blood Sect—So-ryong made all of it.”
“You, So-ryong?”
“Young Hero So?!”
“Is that true?!”
The Murim Alliance must have managed the information well; everyone looked shocked.
“I’ll be right back! Yo-hwa, let’s go!”
I left the group and raced with Yo-hwa to the stream we had drawn water from earlier. Pointing to something I had spotted while filling our canteens, I asked her,
“Yo-hwa, wrap that in silk for me.”
Ksshi!
Yo-hwa immediately cocooned what I indicated. I pulled it free from the tree and shook it like a possessed bartender on the way back. Then I smashed it open on the ground and said,
“I’m going to need everyone’s help. They’re all knocked out, so just squeeze their butts.”
“Squeeze… their butts?”
“Yes, before they wake up.”
The creatures whose butts we squeezed were known as yellow wasps, tiger-head wasps, or hornets—simply put, wasps.
At my instruction to squeeze their rears, Geom-bong blinked and asked,
“And this is the same as that poison?”
“No. Not the same.”
“Then?”
“It’s stronger.”
The quantity was small, but ounce for ounce, wasp venom was a more potent hemorrhagic toxin than even the Tiger-Striped Centipede’s. It shreds the cell membranes of red blood cells, bursting the cells themselves and causing massive bleeding.
They must have been so pleased bringing that antidote, only for the timing to work out like this? The wasp venom was so scarce we could only coat Hwa-eun’s needles with it, but it still felt like Heaven itself was telling me to keep being their natural predator. Smiling, I called out to Hwa-eun and Big Sister Seol.
“Hwa-eun, Big Sister Seol—finish him!”
At my words Hwa-eun prepared to launch the needles loaded with lethal poison, but Big Sister Seol stepped in front of her. With a chilling expression she said,
“Hwa-eun, let Big Sister show you what the Beast Palace’s Leopard Fist really looks like!”
I had thought only bears tore people apart. Moments later the Blood Sect elder was being shredded by Big Sister’s claws. He stared in disbelief and gasped,
“Guh! H-how…?”
When someone is curious, answering is only human nature, isn’t it? I recycled a line I had used before.
“Why do Blood Sect elders always ask the same damn question? It’s because I’m your natural predator!”
I already told you I’m your natural enemy.