The Centipede Mother’s Dream
“I-Is this a dream!?”
If my big sister suddenly started crying in the middle of the forest and showed a completely different face from moments before, this had to be a dream.
Seeing her shed actual tears while calling me Benefactor only confirmed it.
Yet she shook her head at my words.
Wiping her eyes, she answered.
“It is a dream, and yet it is not a dream, Benefactor. I have merely appeared briefly in your dream.”
What on earth is she talking about?
When I made a thoroughly baffled face, she remained prostrated and continued.
“I am the mother of those three children you saved.”
“Three children?”
Only then did I notice the three little girls clinging to me.
Looking down, they were sucking their fingers and staring up at me.
Four or five years old, maybe? Absolutely adorable.
A strangely familiar feeling hit me and I answered in shock.
If it was three children I had saved, the only ones that came to mind were the little centipedes.
My head still refused to accept it, but those three were the only ones I had rescued.
“D-Don’t tell me… the little centipedes?”
“Yes, Benefactor. Lest I frighten you, I had no choice but to borrow the form of the girl who ate my inner elixir. I am their mother.”
“So you’re saying… the Azure-Spotted Centipede. A c-centipede?”
“Yes, Benefactor.”
The woman wearing my big sister’s face was declaring herself the Azure-Spotted Centipede.
And the children staring at her in fear from my arms were the little ones.
Wait—were they all girls!?
Remembering how they had stripped naked without a second thought when bathing made me feel a little guilty.
I asked the woman why she had appeared in this dream in the first place.
“But why? Why show yourself in my dream like this?”
Her face twisted with pure, venomous resentment as she shed tears of blood.
“I was slaughtered without mercy while my children were still with me. That grudge pierced the heavens, and so my soul remained inside the inner elixir.
Because of the grudge my soul could not scatter, and my spirit could not ascend.
Thus I lingered inside this girl’s body as the elixir melted, cursing her—until a path to resolve my grudge appeared and I manifested in this dream. All because you, Benefactor, arrived carrying my children.”
“I-I see.”
A mother who died leaving her young behind, her resentment deep enough to linger. Thinking back, I was the one who had pointed out the location, and cold sweat slid down my spine.
As if she had read the thought, she shook her head.
“No. You did not even know my exact whereabouts.
If we start tracing blame that way, would not the entire world become my enemy? The one who gave birth to you. The ones who helped you. And so on.
Therefore I am simply grateful that you at least saved the children who remained.
They would have died without ever seeing the light of day otherwise.”
“Even so, I acted rashly.”
I had saved my big sister, yet in doing so I felt I had helped destroy a happy family. The thought left me uneasy.
These adorable children would have to grow up without their mother.
I gently placed them into the woman’s arms so they could reunite, if only inside a dream.
“Here, kids. It’s Mommy.”
“Th-Thank you, Benefactor. Children…”
She gathered the three into her arms, weeping.
I watched the four of them with a heavy heart until the long reunion ended. Then she wiped her tears and made a request.
“If it weighs so heavily on you, would you grant me one favor?”
I nodded.
Unintentionally I had played a part; if there was something I ought to bear, I would bear it.
“Yes. Whatever it is, I will grant it without fail.”
She clasped her hands together in earnest plea.
“Then… could you look after my children until they are fully grown?”
“Huh? Don’t centipedes leave their mother’s side after molting twice?”
I could not help asking.
Normally a centipede hatches, molts twice while still on its mother’s body, then leaves.
I had planned to raise them longer anyway, but still…
She shook her head.
“That is true only of lesser creatures. We are different. So please… until the three are fully grown…”
The idea of them growing house-sized was a little alarming, yet they understood speech perfectly well, so raising them would not be hard.
This was no longer illegal collection; it was a legitimate adoption. I answered at once.
“Understood. Of course I will.”
“Th-Thank you!”
And just like that the little centipedes passed completely into my care, shifting from “collected specimens” to “adopted children.” Since their mother had appeared, I decided to ask everything I had been curious about—what they ate, how they should be raised.
“By the way, could you tell me what to feed them and what to watch out for?”
The Azure-Spotted Centipede wearing my big sister’s face brightened.
“As expected of you, Benefactor. To care so thoughtfully for the children.
Before they molt twice they absorb the energy that flows from their mother’s inner elixir. After the second molt they grow by taking in the qi of all living things. They can eat ordinary meat as well, of course.
So you need not worry about feeding them.”
No special food required.
I had imagined house-sized monsters devouring everything in sight and causing chaos; this was a huge relief.
One problem remained, however: I possessed no inner elixir of my own.
“Uh… but I don’t have an inner elixir.”
She patted her chest.
“It is fine. Is this girl not here? Since she consumed my inner elixir, the children can simply take the energy that flows from her body.”
“But that would mean I have to stay close to my big sister…”
To let them feed on the energy I would have to keep the little ones attached to me and remain near her—yet my relationship with her was still awkward and undefined.
As I frowned over the difficulty, the centipede mother smiled.
“There is a scheme by which I can repay my debt to you, Benefactor, while also letting the children eat their fill, and by which you may win this girl’s heart. Would you like to hear it? Of course she herself will also be grateful to you.”
A plan that would feed the kids, make my big sister mine, and leave her happy as well.
The idea that all five of us could end up happy hooked me at once. I asked eagerly.
A method that sweet was more than welcome.
And honestly, my big sister was beautiful.
“There’s a method that good!?”
“Of course, Benefactor. So I will tell this girl…”
According to the Azure-Spotted Centipede mother, my big sister was currently under her curse and emitted a foul odor from her body.
The grudge of dying while leaving her children behind had been so vast that she had cursed the girl so no male would ever approach her—intending to make her forever barren.
“So as the condition for lifting the curse I make my big sister mine, and whenever I sleep with her or stay close the children can naturally absorb the elixir’s energy?”
“Exactly, Benefactor.”
Hearing it laid out like that left a bad taste in my mouth.
It felt like catching a weakness and pressuring her with it.
“But that doesn’t sit right with me. It feels like taking advantage of her difficult situation for my own gain.”
A man using a petty hold over someone to demand favors—my sense of justice refused to allow it.
I wanted her to fall for me because she liked me.
I was a romanticist, after all.
At my answer the centipede mother nodded slowly.
“You are a most righteous man, Benefactor.”
“Not so much righteous… just stupid, really.”
“This girl desires a strong man, yet even if I wished to give her my inner elixir it has already been absorbed into her dantian…”
“And because of that Ten Virtues or Ten Poisons thing, growing stronger will be difficult for me.”
“Nor can I obtain the inner elixirs of the other Ten Great Poisonous Creatures…”
Ten Great Poisonous Creatures?
While we both fretted, the words “Ten Great Poisonous Creatures” suddenly sparked an idea.
“I have a good idea. Will you leave it to me?”
“A good idea?”
“Just leave everything to me for now. A method has occurred to me that will feed the children their fill and benefit me as well.”
It looked like I would have to strike a deal with my big sister tomorrow.
Yesterday So-ryong had looked devastated after learning he possessed the Ten Poison Body. When word came that he wished to meet her, Dang Hwa-eun’s face showed mild surprise.
She had kept a straight face during the meal, yet she had expected him to remain sunk in gloom for some time.
For him to seek her out the very next morning, right after breakfast, was unexpected.
“He said he would wait at the rear-garden pavilion?”
“Yes, Young Miss.”
“I understand.”
Dang Hwa-eun walked toward the pavilion with an apologetic heart.
Whatever the reason, she had wounded the young hero’s pride; the knowledge sat uncomfortably.
He was not yet a martial artist, but she had seen the expressions of those who came to the Tang Family seeking to become one and then faced their own limits more than once.
Because of my own greed I only hurt a young boy…
With that heavy feeling she drew near the pavilion.
In the distance sat the young hero, looking exactly as he had the day before.
Spotting her, he smiled and rose to greet her.
“I’m sorry for calling you out like this.”
“Ah, no. Young Hero. I’m the one who should apologize for yesterday.”
“You only told me the truth. There’s nothing to apologize for.”
“E-Even so…”
Even though he was five years younger, this strange boy somehow left her flustered and made her speak from the heart.
Dang Hwa-eun took her seat in the pavilion as before and asked So-ryong,
“But why did you call for me?”
What came from his mouth was completely unexpected—a secret she had wanted to keep buried.
“By any chance, after you ate the Azure-Spotted Centipede’s inner elixir, has a strange smell been coming from your body?”
“H-How do you know that!?”
Only her grandfather and a handful of others knew the truth.
Neither her grandfather nor her father would have spoken of her shame, so Dang Hwa-eun’s eyes flew wide with disbelief.
“H-How could you possibly know that?”
“Do you not wish to cure it?”
“What? There’s a method!? Of course I want to cure it!”
“It’s not that there’s no method, but… it’s, um…”
“What?”
Even while claiming a treatment existed, So-ryong hesitated, looking almost apologetic.
Hwa-eun asked carefully,
“Is there something you want from me in exchange for the treatment?”
The thought that he might demand her herself as payment had crossed her mind.
At her reaction So-ryong waved both hands in alarm.
“Ah, no! Miss, want something? I will simply treat you.”
He would treat her for free.
More astonished than if he had demanded a price, Hwa-eun’s eyes rounded.
“What? W-Why?”
So-ryong smiled gently.
“I cannot become a shameless scoundrel who takes advantage of a woman’s difficult situation, can I?”
Thump.
Her heart beat again.
The third time.
The man who answered her rudeness with a smile, who when she asked what if she lied simply believed she would not—this boy five years her junior made her heart race.
Thus she apologized in a careful voice.
“I’m sorry, So-ryong… You’re a righteous person, yet I briefly misunderstood…”
“No. I must have spoken hesitantly and caused the misunderstanding. I hesitated only because the treatment method is… strange.”
“Strange?”
When she blinked at him, So-ryong peered into his robes.
“Little ones?”
Tssrrrr.
Three long, bright-yellow worms wriggled out.
Their pretty coloring almost made them look cute—though she already knew they were the young of the Azure-Spotted Centipede.
Startled, she edged away. So-ryong explained with an awkward smile.
“The smell comes because you consumed the centipede’s inner elixir. These young Azure-Spotted Centipedes live by absorbing the energy that flows from their mother’s body while they are small. If you keep them attached to you, they will consume that energy and the smell will naturally vanish.
Of course you need not do it forever—just attach them once every few days to draw the energy out, and only until they have molted twice.”
“A-Attach these!?”
“Yes.”
The little centipedes gently swayed their heads as they looked at her.
Certainly if this was the cure, any man would hesitate to announce it.
Hwa-eun stared at So-ryong for a long moment.
The person who had tried to comfort her despite her rudeness, who had called her a good person, who now offered her this kindness.
The same So-ryong who had helped save her life and her father’s as well.
Under the weight of that grace and consideration her voice trembled.
“I-I understand. I’ll do it. But I cannot keep receiving grace without return.
So…
Y-You seem like a truly good person. I will seriously consider Father’s words as well. Looking at you, So-ryong, I begin to think there may be something more valuable than mere talent…
Therefore, even with my lacking qualifications, can you give me the conviction to trust and follow you, Young Hero?”
So-ryong smiled.
He rose, stepped forward until he stood facing her, and looked up into her eyes.
“Perfect timing. I came with a similar thought.
Then will you give me a chance? If you do, I will give Miss Hwa-eun that conviction.”
“A chance?”
“Yes. A chance.”
“What kind of chance?”
When she tilted her head at the sudden request, he gazed toward the distant mountains and continued.
“I thought long and hard yesterday. About how I possess the Ten Poison Body—that I can accept only ten kinds of poison. They said it is the highest realm an untalented ordinary person can reach, did they not?”
“Th-That’s…”
“So I thought this: if my body can accept only ten poisons, why not fill those ten with the poisons of the Ten Legendary Poisons of the Central Plains?”
“The Ten Legendary Poisons!?”
“Yes. If I fill every one of my Ten Poisons with the Ten Legendary Poisons, would that give Miss Hwa-eun conviction?
If I promise to fill my Ten Poisons with the venoms of the Ten Legendary Poisons of the Central Plains—how about it?
No one has ever gathered all of them, yet the ten poisons of those legendary creatures are expected to rival—no, to surpass—the Myriad Poisons accepted by one who has reached the realm of Myriad Poisons within the Sichuan Tang Family.
In theory, a Ten Poison realm achieved with the Ten Legendary Poisons would be a realm beyond Myriad Poisons itself.
Perhaps a realm that could make one the Greatest Under Heaven.
So what I am saying is this: with the body of the Ten Poison Body I will reach the realm of Myriad Poisons and beyond.
Then—will you accept me?
I will become the Greatest Under Heaven for you!”
Such a confession.
To her—known among the Three Flowers of the Murim by the epithet Poison Flower Moon Laurel—men had always been creatures who could barely speak in her presence and only turned red, looking pathetic.
Though she was praised for her beauty, this was the first time a man had ever confessed to her so directly…
At the boy’s absurd yet utterly sincere words, Hwa-eun’s heart began to pound so hard she could hear it.
This confession—foolish and impossible—was the first she had ever received.
So much so that she felt embarrassed her heart was racing at the words of a boy five years younger than herself.