Fire Carp 2
High above stretched a clear blue sky and a blazing sun. A cool breeze swept across the ship’s rail. The moment the briny tang of the sea flooded my nose, an unwelcome sound reached my ears.
—Uweeeek.
It was Older Sister Seol, clinging to the gunwale and heaving up everything she had eaten. She had already looked ready to collapse on the river voyage; now that we had reached open water, a woman who had never set foot on a boat in her life simply could not hold on. River waves only pitch you forward and back. At sea they hammer you from every direction at once.
“Are you all right, Older Sister Seol?”
“Unni, are you okay?”
“Ugh… I-I’m fine…”
She claimed she was fine in answer to Hwa-eun’s and my worried questions, yet her face was deathly pale. After rinsing her mouth with the water I handed her, Older Sister Seol grumbled,
“Hey, if this is the reward for doing that favor, shouldn’t the princess have caught the Fire Carp herself and handed it over?”
The trip as far as Akyang had been fun, but the misery of the open sea had clearly soured her mood; she was demanding to know why the princess hadn’t simply delivered the Fire Carp she had promised as payment.
I scratched my head and answered,
“I only asked the princess for the location. I told her I’d go catch it myself.”
“What? Why!?”
Older Sister Seol stared at me as if I had lost my mind. The idea that all this suffering was my fault seemed to offend her deeply. But I had my reasons.
“Look, just between us—we’re feeding that Fire Carp to Yeondu, right?”
“Yeah?”
“But Yeondu isn’t the only one who needs an inner dan.”
“Ah, right. There’s Hyangi too.”
We needed more than one inner dan. Hyangi had sworn she would never evolve after seeing how big her older sisters had grown, but a daughter’s promise to “live with Daddy forever” is a lie you should never believe. When ordinary girls say that, it simply means they haven’t fallen in love yet. Applied to Hyangi, it meant she simply hadn’t found an inner dan worth coveting. If the Fire Carp’s core turned out to be something both Yeondu and Hyangi wanted, a fight was all but guaranteed.
“Exactly. That’s why I said I’d go myself.”
“Still doesn’t make sense. Why not just give it to one of them? Hyangi, for example?”
Older Sister Seol clearly expected me to put my own daughter first, but once Yeondu became family I couldn’t play favorites—no matter that Hyangi was the daughter and Yeondu had only recently joined us. Back when Yeondu wasn’t family I might have squeezed her a little; not anymore.
“Then Yeondu would feel left out. She already gave up one inner dan for us.”
“That so?”
“Yes. So I wanted to check the Fire Carp’s habitat carefully myself. See if there might be another one nearby, and if not, study the surroundings thoroughly so I can find similar places in the Central Plains later. Fish and venomous beasts only live where the environment suits them.”
We needed two cores right now. I had already been ridiculously lucky to find one, and the princess’s tip would hopefully give us a second—but every elder I had ever spoken to said an inner dan was something most people never obtained even once in a lifetime. Needing yet another one after this meant waiting for a miracle with no deadline. Searching similar habitats and environments was far smarter than thrashing around blindly, so I had insisted on going myself. If luck held and we caught a second Fire Carp—and if luck held even harder and the pair produced offspring—then we might never have to worry about cores for the next generation of our little venomous children.
“Ah, so that’s what you were thinking, Ryong.”
“Yes.”
“Haa, but it’s still too hard… Uweeh…”
Older Sister Seol could not hold it in any longer and leaned over the rail again. That was when Father-in-law approached, fighting back a laugh, and held out a fistful of something toward her.
“Take this, Miss Seol.”
“What is it?”
“Dried ginger. Nothing better for nausea.”
“Thank you, Elder.”
I had heard in my previous life that ginger helped with seasickness, so it seemed a solid remedy. Father-in-law then gazed toward the Central Plains and muttered,
“Still, Her Highness needs to hurry…”
“Ah—you mean the matter of the Blood Cult?”
“Exactly.”
The sooner the princess relayed word to the imperial court, the sooner the Murim Alliance would strike the Blood Cult’s stronghold, and the safer Tang Family, Beast Palace, and the rest of us would become. I nodded along, then suddenly remembered something I had completely forgotten.
I told her to take a sound-art master with her no matter what, right? If the Howling Tiger is there it could be a disaster. And speaking of those bastards… Ah!
I had advised her to bring a sound-art expert in case the creature the Five Poison Sect called “Gong”—the Howling Tiger—was at the place the Murim Alliance would raid. That thought now dragged up the Five Poison Sect’s combat unit that had pursued us before we ever met the Howling Tiger: the Toad Squad.
“Ah, I completely forgot to ask about that. Father-in-law—when we ran into that woman from the Five Poison Sect last time, the combat unit chasing us took no damage at all from Cho’s poison. Do you know why?”
“From Cho’s poison?”
“Yes. They called themselves the Toad Squad. Even when Cho’s venom was sprayed everywhere, they weren’t hurt in the slightest.”
The Tang Family was already researching the venoms of the beasts I had brought home, and as family head Father-in-law was nearly as versed in poison arts as Grandfather Mandok Singun. He stroked his chin in thought, then struck his palm with a fist.
“Ah! Did they perhaps smear something on their bodies?”
They had been wearing leather martial uniforms, but whether anything was coated on them I had no idea. I shook my head.
“Well… they wore full leather gear that covered even their heads, but I couldn’t tell.”
“Leather? And did they carry torches?”
“No. Dawn was breaking, true, but even though it was still dark they didn’t carry a single torch.”
Father-in-law nodded at that.
“I’ll have to confirm it once we’re home, but it seems they soaked their leather in toad oil.”
“Toad oil?”
Toad oil—literally the fat of a toad. Seeing my blank look, Father-in-law explained further.
“Centipedes and toads have long been known as natural enemies. So those who call themselves the Toad Squad may well have coated themselves in toad oil to block centipede venom. Centipede poison is said to have no effect on toads, after all.”
“Is that true? Then our kids will have to be careful if they ever meet a toad or the Toad Squad?”
What!? I thought our daughters were invincible! Beaten by mere toads…?
I kept my voice calm for Father-in-law, but the idea that our girls might have a weakness against toads of all things made my heart leap into my throat. He shook his head at once.
“Not quite. Being natural enemies doesn’t work that way. When two true opposites meet, they destroy each other. Even a toad that swallows anything will die if it swallows a centipede. Both sides must be cautious.”
In other words they wouldn’t lose—but they wouldn’t win either. Better than outright defeat, yet I still resolved to warn the kids to watch out for toads.
Our conversation had just ended when Older Sister Seol wandered back, chewing dried ginger.
“Churp… So, Ryong. Where exactly is this Fire Carp supposed to be?”
“Ah—on the Spirit Peak of Mount Putuo, they said.”
Hwa-eun and Older Sister Seol exchanged startled glances.
“Spirit Peak?”
“Spirit Peak? I’ve heard of it from Father. Putuo Temple is a women-only sanctuary—men are forbidden—but they’ll accept guests in emergencies. Spirit Peak, though, absolutely no man is allowed to set foot on it. How do you plan to get in? Going to ask the nuns to fetch it for you?”
What is this, some murim girls’ high school or women’s university…?
When the princess first mentioned it I had thought only Spirit Peak was off-limits to men; apparently the entire Putuo Temple functioned like a murim girls’ academy. I still hadn’t told them about the cross-dressing, so both of them were staring at me with “just how do you intend to pull this off?” written all over their faces.
“They say the Fire Carp is as big as a human head. How are a bunch of nuns supposed to keep something that size alive and transport it? They’ve never even moved a live fish before. Only our Tang Family could manage that sort of thing; no one else stands a chance.”
The habitat was near Spirit Peak on Mount Putuo. The cargo was a carp the size of a man’s head. The Tang Family sometimes brought in live pufferfish while collecting venomous creatures, but a place like Putuo Temple had no means of transporting one alive. This era had no water carts, and most people didn’t even understand how fish breathe underwater.
“Yeah, but that still doesn’t answer how you’re going to do it.”
“Exactly, So-ryong. What’s the plan?”
I had tried to dodge, but both of them demanded a straight answer. I squeezed my eyes shut and confessed.
“Th-the princess told me to… to cross-dress. She’s sending a letter of introduction to the temple’s master…”
“Cross-dress?”
“Cross-dress?”
At the word “cross-dress” Older Sister Seol and Hwa-eun looked at each other, eyes round as saucers. Then both pairs of eyes slid over to me and raked me from head to toe. Almost in unison they declared,
“That… sounds like a lot of fun.”
“It does sound fun.”
Why!?
I had no idea what could possibly be fun about it, and the thought left me thoroughly flustered.
We docked at the largest island of the Zhoushan Archipelago and transferred to a small ferry bound for the tiny isle that held Mount Putuo.
“That is Mount Putuo-Luojia.”
“Putuo-Luojia? Not just Putuo?”
“Putuo and Luojia mountains are joined, so people here usually call the whole place Mount Putuo-Luojia.”
Two islands fused into one strange formation. The peak looked roughly three hundred meters high. As we drew near, the ferrywoman looked us over again—me, Hwa-eun, and Older Sister Seol—and laughed with a theatrical flourish.
“Surely none of you three young ladies is a man in disguise? If I ferry a man over I’ll catch hell. Haha—though looking at how pretty you all are, no chance of that, right?”
Hwa-eun and Older Sister Seol exchanged smug glances. After the morning’s chaos of forcing me into outfit after outfit and styling my hair like a woman’s, they clearly loved the finished product. Even the ferrywoman hadn’t the slightest suspicion.
Then why do I feel so sad?
Ever since I ate the Royal Jelly of the Golden-haired Bee King my skin had grown smoother; with nothing more than a change of clothes and a new hairstyle I looked, even to myself, like Hwa-eun’s little sister.
The moment the boat touched the tiny pier, two long-haired nuns shot out from the island on light-footwork and pressed their palms together.
“Namo Avalokitesvara. May we ask who the young ladies are and whence you come?”
“We are Dang Hwa-eun and Dang So-eun of the Sichuan Tang Family. And this is Miss Seolpyo of the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace.”
“Ah, the sisters of the Tang Family and a young lady of the Beast Palace? What brings you here?”
Hwa-eun’s plan of introducing me as her younger sister sailed through without a hitch.
Am I supposed to be happy about this or not?
While I suffered a quiet identity crisis, Hwa-eun handed over the letter she had taken from me and said,
“Her Highness Princess Gwando has sent a letter. Would you deliver it to Geomhu?”
“The princess!?”
The two nuns nearly jumped out of their skin. When Hwa-eun nodded, one of them seized the letter and flew toward Mount Putuo while the other addressed us still standing on the boat.
“Please wait a moment. Word will come soon.”
It wasn’t merely that men were barred; the entire entry process felt extremely strict. Roughly one meal’s time later the same nun raced back and granted us passage.
“Namo Avalokitesvara. The three of you are permitted to enter. Please disembark and ascend Mount Putuo. Geomhu awaits you.”
We were led to a hall inside Putuo Temple. Waiting for us was a middle-aged woman whose face could have cut glass, and her expression was far from welcoming.
“That… that child has caused another enormous mess, hasn’t she…”
She looked thoroughly exasperated. Pointing at the letter she said,
“Ah, I should greet you first. Amitabha. Young ladies—and young hero. I’m a bit flustered, so may I ask a question first? Is the content of this letter true? It says you helped her, so the young hero among you should speak.”
I opened my mouth to answer, but Geomhu’s gaze was fixed not on me but on Older Sister Seol. When Seol pointed at her own chest as if to say “me?”, Geomhu nodded.
“Yes—you, young hero.”
Older Sister Seol’s face twisted in disbelief. Geomhu looked apologetic.
“I saw the bare legs and assumed you were a man. Ahaha. Then this one must be the young hero.”
Her eyes shifted to Hwa-eun. The two women who had been so thrilled about dressing me up now wore identical expressions of deep offense.
Then why is my mood turning sour too?
And just like that, my own mood soured right along with theirs.
The letter laid out in exhaustive detail how the princess intended to stage a fake marriage and become Geomhu’s successor. This was clearly the first time the plan was being revealed—to Geomhu, through me. I learned today that even a murim master can nearly faint from high blood pressure. The moment I nodded, Geomhu swayed on her feet.
“What absolute nonsense is this…”
But the water was already spilled. Geomhu spoke with the air of someone who had given up.
“I-is this fate…?”
Yes—better to think of it that way. After pressing a hand to her forehead and steadying herself for a long while, Geomhu addressed us again.
“In any case, thank you for helping my disciple. Whatever else, you have secured my successor, so gratitude is due. Still, I must apologize.”
“Why?”
I half expected her to say she could not give us the Fire Carp. What I heard instead was even more flustering: the Fire Carp had no inner dan.
“Ji-ryeon said she wanted to give you that Fire Carp because of the great favor she received. She must have assumed it possessed an inner dan and wished to repay you. But the creature has none. It is still too young, it seems…”
—Shaaa!?
From inside my robes came Yeondu’s cry of pure outrage, every bit as flabbergasted as I was. It was a steamed bun without the red bean, a carp-shaped pastry without the carp. After all the trouble of cross-dressing, to be told there was no core was absurd—but I quickly composed my face and answered,
“I-it’s fine. I didn’t want it for the inner dan. I simply enjoy raising spirit beasts, so I wished to receive it.”
Even without a core, confirming the habitat and taking a juvenile home might still let us coax one into existence somehow. Even if it was only the size of a sesame seed…
Geomhu nodded.
“Is that so? Then there is no problem. Taking it at once will be difficult, so go and see it first. Choa, escort these people to Moon Reflection Pond on Spirit Peak.”
“Yes, Geomhu.”
We followed the young nun up to the place called Spirit Peak and its broad pond. After the news that there was no inner dan, even Yeondu inside my robes seemed thoroughly deflated, so I expected little. Yet the Fire Carp swimming in that pond was enough to leave me stunned.
Th-this is a Fire Carp!?
Because this was no Fire Carp at all.