Running Away 1
At my words, Hwa-eun's eyes lit up with joy.
She must have been happy that I put on such a confident face even while a dangerous and strange woman was coveting me.
Isn't that the strength of a younger man?
Normally you tug at the protective instinct, then at the decisive moment you throw out a line like, "You're my woman, noona."
I may not know much about romance, but I know a good angle when I see one.
With several years of broadcasting under my belt, of course I knew which angles made the audience lose their minds.
My sole viewer seemed to like the nerd angle; her eyes fired off a rapid stream of "likes."
While Hwa-eun was pouring those hot "likes" at me with her gaze, the woman in black blankly repeated what I had said.
"The adopted son of the Beast Palace, and… the son-in-law of the Tang Family…"
At once the woman's eyes flushed redder and redder.
With bloodshot eyes she turned on Hwa-eun and shouted.
"The Tang Family and the Beast Palace bastards! What the hell are you thinking!? Do you mean to repeat what happened a hundred years ago!? You pieces of trash!"
She was probably asking whether we intended to put the Five Poisons Sect through the same nightmare all over again.
I had heard the Five Poisons Sect was founded by a son of the Tang Family and a daughter of the Beast Palace.
They were destroyed after both sides attacked them for bestial animal abuse and leaking martial arts—or so the story went.
Yet the woman who had just poured venom at Hwa-eun with bloodshot eyes looked at me with pity, as if she had become a completely different person.
"So you're a pitiful man after all… Now I have another reason to make you mine. I'll save you from the filthy hands of the Tang Family and the Beast Palace."
"What nonsense are you—"
"Yes. Right now you're being deceived by the Tang Family and the Beast Palace, so of course you'd say that."
I had thought that the moment I told her I was the Beast Palace's son and the Tang Family's son-in-law, she would want to kill me more than anyone from the Five Poisons Sect. But she seemed so unhinged that she saw me as a destined victim who would walk the same path they had.
When I asked what nonsense she was talking, she took it as proof I had been brainwashed.
Definitely not normal.
As her words sent a chill down my spine, the woman shook the ice chunks off her chest and arms and shot straight toward me.
"Come! Come with me!"
Crazy—wasn't she injured!?
I had thought Seol and Bing had properly struck her and given her internal injuries, yet the woman closed the distance at a mad speed.
My words seemed only to have stimulated her further.
Looking cool had been fine, but if things went this way it was a problem.
I might get dragged off by a crazy woman.
I didn't know how Yo-hwa and Cho's fight behind us would turn out, but if I got caught everything would be for nothing.
The kids might even abandon the fight to save me, so I absolutely could not be captured.
So I quickly retreated and prepared Hyang-i and Bin-i in my mind—ready to send them out the instant she grabbed me.
Hyang-ah! Bin-ah! Get ready!
As I prepared Hyang-i and Bin-i and threw my body backward—
Hwa-eun leaped in front of me and shouted toward Seol and Bing, who had popped out of her skirt earlier and taken positions on both her shoulders.
"Seol-ah! Bing-ah!"
-Kkukku!
-Kkuu!
Then Bing and Seol shot from Hwa-eun's shoulders like missiles.
They launched so hard that Hwa-eun, who had served as their launch pad, was shoved backward into my arms.
"Keuk…"
The three of them collided at a terrifying speed that looked ready to finish everything—
-Srrrk.
The woman's body blurred, and she simply passed through Seol and Bing.
An ultimate technique of the Lizard-Gecko Body Step of the Five Poisons Art.
The Gecko Illusion Step of the Lizard-Gecko Body Step!?
Grandfather had taught me the basics of that martial art.
A footwork I had only ever seen him demonstrate in slow motion—one of the ultimate techniques of the Five Poisons Art's Lizard-Gecko Body Step—had just unfolded from the woman's body.
Thinking about it, of course she would know it; it was a Five Poisons Sect art.
-Kwaaang!
Seol and Bing slammed straight into the ground. Confirming their attack had failed, Hwa-eun struck out with both palms at the woman flying in.
"Tsk! Ink Dragon Palm!"
But the woman easily dodged Hwa-eun's twin palms again, swung her hand in a wide arc, and sent Hwa-eun flying to the right.
"You're in the way, so move!"
-Peoeok!
"Kyaak…"
"Hwa-eun!"
Then she flew straight in, seized my wrist, and spoke—with eyes seething with desire and madness.
"Come, come with me!"
At that moment—
Venomous Snake Seeking Spring → Venomous Snake Seeking Peach
I unfolded the Venomous Snake Seeking Spring of the Venomous Snake Life-Seeking Hand, wrapping around the woman's hand, then continued into Venomous Snake Seeking Peach and stretched my hand toward her chest.
Seeing her use the Lizard-Gecko Body Step had reminded me of the Venomous Snake Life-Seeking Hand of the Five Poisons Art I had learned.
This way I could have Hyang-i and Bin-i definitely bite her chest, close to the heart.
With anyone else I would have just told them to bite an arm or leg, but earlier the Five Poisons Sect's Shaanxi Great had taken no damage from Cho the Flying Centipede's venom. The woman might have some antidote, so I aimed as close to the heart as possible.
The woman's eyes flew wide.
"Venomous Snake Life-Seeking Hand? You've learned the Five Poisons Art!?"
As her eyes widened again in shock, I shouted the words I hadn't used in a long time toward Hyang-i and Bin-i.
"Hyang-ah! Bin-ah! Bite!"
-Tseureureureu!
Hyang-i shot out of my wrist and flew like an arrow toward the woman's chest.
In that instant something occurred to me—I had clearly told both of them to bite, yet only Hyang-i had launched.
What!? Where did Bin-i go?
I turned my eyes to check why Bin-i hadn't leapt out to bite, and found the little one rapidly climbing onto my shoulder, antennae quivering fast.
-Tseureureureureu.
No… Bin-ah! Not killing intent…
I had told it to bite, yet it was shaking its antennae.
In its own way it was trying to fire killing intent—a more efficient attack.
Normally it would have been so cute I could die, but not now.
The woman still had her other hand free.
In the end, though I had aimed for the chest, Bin-i's unexpected move let the woman's free hand block Hyang-i, and Hyang-i bit the back of her hand instead of her chest.
"Keuk. A-Azure-Spotted Centipede!?"
I needed it to clamp down hard and inject a long dose of venom, but the woman, thoroughly versed in the five poisons, quickly shook her hand and flung Hyang-i off.
The back of her hand swelled at once, but that was all.
As expected of the Five Poisons Sect—she seemed to have some resistance to centipede venom.
Just as I had feared, to this woman the Azure-Spotted Centipede's venom was no different from an ordinary centipede's.
"To think you were even hiding an Azure-Spotted Centipede. How many more surprises do you plan to give me? But I like you even more. This is just like the master of the five poisons our Five Poisons Sect has dreamed of!"
Her mad eyes swept over me once more.
I must have given off the feeling of a talent prepared for the Five Poisons Sect.
Just as I was a good talent for both the Tang Family and the Beast Palace, I would be nearly the best for the Five Poisons Sect as well.
I was just a YouTuber who liked venomous creatures, yet in the murim my stock price was strangely high.
"Ah, and you don't need to worry. It hurts, but there's no way a baby Azure-Spotted Centipede's venom will kill me. Hehe."
The woman slowly pressed the acupoints on her shoulder to halt the venom's progress, then stabbed a needle-tipped cylinder into the back of her hand.
The swelling on her hand quickly subsided.
Other guys would melt if three or even two centipedes bit them, but damn the Five Poisons Sect.
Hwa-eun was down and couldn't get up. Just as I thought I was about to be dragged away—
From far away came the sudden roar of a great beast.
-Keoeoeong!
The woman snapped her eyes wide in shock.
"Th-this is the Beast Palace's Lion's Roar!?"
When I turned my head, racing toward us on all fours from the direction of the Mt. Namna plain was none other than my foster father.
Beside him, All-Poison Divine Lord Grandfather was also flying madly this way.
Their thunderous voices rang out almost at the same time.
-Ppeudeudeuk.
The woman ground her teeth and shouted.
"Of all people, the Beast Palace Lord and that old monster! Gong! Come here!"
Then the wingbeats of the wasp we had completely forgotten about until now approached, and the wasp flew swiftly to the woman's side.
-Uuung!
The wasp had spider silk stuck here and there and some scratch marks, but no major wounds.
The woman climbed onto the wasp's back and said,
"Because of the interference I can't take you with me right now. I can't use all my inner energy because I'm expelling the Azure-Spotted Centipede's venom, and only one person can ride Gong, so don't be too sad. I'll definitely come back for you.
Let's go! We can't get caught here!"
-Uuung.
The bee beat its wings and rose into the sky. As the woman and the bee floated upward, something glittered on both their heads.
Golden needles!?
I widened my eyes in shock at the fact that golden needles were stuck in the heads of the woman and the bee like army ants. Then the woman's voice transmission slipped into my ear.
"Remember this. My name is O Cheong-yu."
This was my first encounter with the Five Poisons Sect.
Thanks to the rescue by my foster father and All-Poison Divine Lord Grandfather, we were safely saved.
Moved to the Beast Palace, everyone except me was lying in sickbeds receiving treatment.
As you know, Hyung-nim had taken a huge wound with a hole through his side, and Geom-bong—whom I thought was dead—had fortunately survived.
But with internal organs damaged it was a serious injury, and the diagnosis was that he would need several months of recuperation.
And Changryong seemed to have a crack in the neck bone where he had been struck on a vital point.
According to the elder skilled in the Beast Palace's medical arts, he needed as much rest as possible.
Noona Seol had learned a Beast Palace art that made her hearing sensitive, so the Howling Tiger Fiend's sound had given her severe internal injuries, and Hwa-eun had contusions and internal injuries from the beating she took.
But as bad as the party's injuries were, what made me angriest of all was that two of Cho's legs had been torn off.
A disaster from fighting the wasp.
Looking at Cho with a furious expression, I said,
"That rotten Howling Tiger Fiend bastard. How much must our Cho have hurt. Cho-ya, are you okay?"
-Tseureut.
Cho conveyed that it was fine, but that was surely just so I wouldn't worry.
So I couldn't help being angry.
Well, Cho was a centipede so it could regrow its legs by molting, but as a dad I also couldn't just wait forever.
I spoke so the one still not fully tamed and sitting inside Yo-hwa's silk could hear.
"What do we do, Cho's hurt… To molt it needs something nutritious. Where am I supposed to get something nutritious… With two legs torn off, how much must it have hurt…
At times like this family has to help each other…"
Then the one that had been watching for ages made sad eyes and suddenly started hacking.
-Kek! Keek!
And spat out a single tiny inner elixir the size of a grain of sand.
Ha, look at this Yoshiki bastard, hoarding an inner elixir. I thought last time it hadn't spit everything out.
Just as I expected, the little guy had been hiding a scrap of inner elixir.
After spitting it out there was no drastic change like before, but if Hyang-i and Bin-i found out there would be chaos, so I quickly fed the elixir to Cho.
Cho's wound treatment was urgent, after all.
Moreover Hyang-i and Bin-i were currently with All-Poison Divine Lord Grandfather, so this was the chance.
Normally Hyang-i and Bin-i never went near Grandfather, but the reason they had gone to him was that they were sulking at me and Hwa-eun.
They were mad that we had tricked them about firing killing intent, and had gone off to Grandfather.
At the end it had seemed strange that the Five Poisons Sect woman hadn't been hit by the killing intent, so after returning to the Beast Palace Bin-i had apparently tried firing killing intent at various beasts alone—and nothing happened, so we were found out.
This morning the atmosphere felt chilly from the start, so I looked toward the head of the bed and saw Hyang-i and Bin-i looking down at me. I wondered why they had come when I had slept with Hwa-eun yesterday, and when I read their minds both were completely sulking.
After that they suddenly vanished, and it turned out they had gone to Grandfather and wouldn't come near us.
"Cho-ya, hurry and eat and recover."
-Tseureureut.
As soon as it ate the elixir, Cho curled up.
Just as I expected, the area below its head split open and Cho began to molt.
That way the lost legs would be restored soon.
No—it might even get a little bigger.
Next time we meet, that wasp is getting a beating.
Cho's treatment was somehow managed by squeezing the Flying Divine Snake (?), and now what remained was how to soothe my daughters.
Ha, last time I barely got them to forgive me by promising to get an inner elixir. How the hell am I supposed to fix this?
If I had internet I would have searched how to soothe daughters when they sulk.