Hall of Myriad Poisons 3
Dang Cheol-san wore a contented smile as he watched Hwa-eun explain the Tang Family’s poisons to So-ryong.
The earnest passion in his daughter’s teaching and the way So-ryong’s eyes stayed fixed on her every word told him he no longer needed to worry.
He had decided to match So-ryong with Hwa-eun, yet plenty of anxiety had still lingered. He knew exactly how his daughter thought.
The duty of carrying on the family line—something he himself had all but dumped on her shoulders—was no light burden. He had watched her strive to outshine every man in the clan because of it.
In Cheol-san’s eyes, So-ryong was worth far more than any scion of a powerful house or any youth blessed with superior martial talent. But Hwa-eun, hounded by the clan’s gazes and expectations, would almost certainly see things through a narrower lens.
“If only she had been born a boy…”
“Had she been a boy, she would have reached the Hundred Poisons long ago.”
Raised on such talk all her life, she would never be able to ignore the stares and remarks that would come pouring from the branch elders. Even the words she had grown up hearing would make her fear the heavier burden of choosing a boy whose talent fell short—So-ryong.
“Heh-heh, the sole direct-line daughter of the family stuck at the Ten Poisons? One can’t help but worry about the quality of the children she might bear.”
“The future of the Tang Family…”
Moreover, it was only natural for women of martial houses to seek out strong warriors or those of outstanding talent. That was a martial woman’s duty.
So of course the matter troubled him. The day might come when he would have to break his daughter’s heart by force. He himself had never taken a second wife out of consideration for his own lady; he could not bring himself to be harsh with Hwa-eun.
“I am a Tang as well. I understand what Father means by those words. But whether Young Hero truly has the right to have me—I will judge that myself!”
When she had stormed out in fury at the announcement that she would be given to the young hero, everyone had fretted.
“So, what of the young hero’s martial talent?”
“Mm… Father would judge more accurately, but from what I could tell, the Ten Poisons Realm seems to be his limit.”
“If you confirmed it, that is almost certainly correct. Still, a pity. Had it been the Hundred Poisons…”
“Oh dear—Hwa-eun is hardly likely to approve, is she?”
Both father and mother, who knew their daughter’s mind so well, grew dark-faced and worried the moment they heard So-ryong possessed only a Ten Poisons constitution.
“If what you say is true, the young hero is a treasure beyond price—yet winning Hwa-eun’s heart right away will be difficult.”
“Yes, Father.”
The Tang Family handled every kind of poison, yet that did not mean they used every kind. The toxins of the venomous creatures the young hero loved—centipedes, snakes, and the like—were something of a side branch within the clan. Those venoms carried too many problems.
But as the young hero had said on Hainan Island while showing them the lizard, if one could raise such creatures and draw out still greater toxicity, the story would change entirely. New possibilities would open.
No one knew that better than Cheol-san’s own father. Looking straight at him, the old man asked,
“Then what will you do? Force the boy into becoming your son-in-law? Hwa-eun may be hurt for a while, but you say the lad’s character is not bad—he can soothe her as they live together.”
Even a father who loved Hwa-eun more than anyone could speak of necessity for the sake of the clan. Cheol-san told him what he truly thought.
“For now, let us wait and see what decision Hwa-eun makes.”
“Wait and see?”
At the words of his father, the Myriad Poisons Divine Lord, Cheol-san nodded.
“Yes. First I will trust Hwa-eun. And second, I will try trusting So-ryong as well.”
“Hwa-eun I understand—but So-ryong?”
“Yes. Perhaps Hwa-eun will discover his potential and find herself drawn to him. Even if we must step in later, should we not first see how their own conversation unfolds?”
“That is true enough. She might well take a liking to him.”
Yes—she had gone out angry to confront So-ryong, yet things might still turn out well.
Though he had told his father to trust Hwa-eun, Cheol-san’s real hope rested on So-ryong. A boy with unmatched knowledge of venomous creatures. If the lad truly was the expert he claimed, might he not read the heart of the living treasure Cheol-san himself had raised—just as he had once drawn solutions from the Azure-Spotted Centipede’s young and the swarm of Kissing Bugs?
Dang Hwa-eun, the finest venomous creature of the Sichuan Tang Family. His greatest masterpiece.
“And did So-ryong not say so himself?”
“Say what?”
“That he is an expert in this field—venomous creatures. Hwa-eun is herself a Tang Family creature who carries poison. An expert on venomous creatures… shall we not trust him once?”
“Hmm… an expert, is it…”
His daughter too was a child who bore the Tang Family’s poisons. Since the boy called himself an expert, they would try believing him—whether it would work on a daughter was another question.
And so the next morning arrived.
Though neither of them showed it openly, Cheol-san and the family clearly sensed that the conclusion had not been a good one. They tried not to let it show, yet the way their eyes carefully avoided meeting told the whole story—something had gone wrong.
Seems the ‘expert’ talk does not work on my daughter.
After breakfast the three of them gathered to worry over how to bring the two together.
“Did you see them this morning? Something definitely happened.”
“It seems the young hero was rejected by Hwa-eun, Father-in-law.”
“Ahem… I fear the time has come for us to step in. Rather than force a wedding at once, I would prefer to let affection grow between them first. What method might bring them closer?”
“Why not appear to honor Hwa-eun’s wishes, then entrust the young hero’s basic martial training to her? Seeing each other often should foster fondness, don’t you think?”
“Not a bad idea.”
“Then we shall do that. And I must inquire of Senior Uiseon of the murim whether he can bestow the grace of Marrow Cleansing. If the boy’s talent is low, we simply raise it.”
“That failed even with Hwa-eun, so we should not place great hope in it.”
While the three of them fretted in the Family Lord’s study over how to make daughter and young hero take to each other, Hwa-eun’s voice floated in from outside.
“Father, it is your daughter Hwa-eun.”
“Hwa-eun?”
“What brings the child here at this hour?”
Cheol-san answered at once. He was curious about yesterday’s events and meant to probe gently how matters truly stood.
“Come in.”
Hwa-eun stepped inside, then faltered for a moment at the sight of all three gathered. She clearly had not expected everyone to be present.
“Oh? All… all three of you are here?”
Yet something felt odd. He had watched this daughter for more than twenty years, and today her atmosphere was strangely different.
What is it? Something has changed… but what?
While he pondered, Hwa-eun took her seat, poured tea, and spoke in a cautious voice.
“I… have something I wish to say.”
“Something to say?”
“Ah— I have decided to follow… follow Father’s words.”
Her ears flamed scarlet; a flush rose across her cheeks. At the sudden declaration that she would obey him, Cheol-san tilted his head. He had no idea what she meant.
“My words?”
His daughter answered with a face so red it seemed to radiate yang energy.
“The matter… with Young Hero So-ryong.”
“The matter with Young Hero So-ryong… Hmm!?”
“Oho! You will follow through, then?”
“Yes, Grandfather.”
“My goodness! Hwa-eun, have you taken a liking to the young hero?”
“I-it isn’t so much that I like him, as…”
The matter with Young Hero So-ryong meant the marriage. If she would follow that decision, she was saying she would wed him.
He had expected months of hard work merely to turn her heart, and if that failed he might even have issued a Family Lord’s command—yet in only two days?
Beaming, Cheol-san asked his daughter,
“H-how so suddenly? I was certain he would not please you much. So-ryong is only a Ten Poisons constitution, is he not?”
Looking bashful, she covered her mouth with one hand while gripping her teacup with the other.
“He… he promised he would become the Number One Under Heaven… for my sake.”
“What!? Number One Under Heaven!?”
“Oh my, oh my!”
The sudden talk of becoming Number One Under Heaven left Cheol-san burning with curiosity. He sprang up, moved to the seat beside his daughter, and clasped her hands tightly.
“Can you tell me exactly what that means?”
Now more shy maiden than girl, she explained in a careful voice.
“Though he is only of the Ten Poisons constitution… he vowed he would fill those ten poisons with the venoms of the Ten Great Poisonous Creatures of the World… for me, Father.”
“What!?”
“Hahaha! Fill the Ten Poisons with the Ten Great Poisonous Creatures? That boy has spirit!”
What a spirited son-in-law. Not for his own training, not for the clan, but for the sake of one mere woman he had sworn to become Number One Under Heaven. A single move that had melted the heart his daughter had locked tight under family pressure.
An expert on venomous creatures indeed—he had perfectly captured the heart of the living treasure the Tang Family had cherished and raised.
While they marveled at their expert son-in-law’s prowess, their daughter’s anxious voice came from beside them.
“B-but I am a little worried. What if it was only empty…”
“Ah, you fear the boy is merely smooth-tongued?”
“Yes…”
Cheol-san smiled and spoke, feeling the need to ease her concern.
“Listen well, Hwa-eun. Every spiritual medicine, every spiritual creature, every wondrous fate in the murim already has its destined master.”
“That is so. Your father’s words are true. All strange and mysterious things have their rightful owners. When ordinary folk reach for them out of greed, calamity follows.”
“But why tell me that?”
His daughter tilted her head. Cheol-san fetched the wooden box containing the feather of the Poison Feather Bird, set it on the table, and continued.
“Think back. When you fell into cultivation deviation and we went to Hainan Island—recall what I experienced there. In nearly a hundred years no one had captured an Azure-Spotted Centipede, yet we did. We discovered the lewd insect no one had ever seen—the Kissing Bug. And that is not all. I myself beheld the sovereign of the Ten Great Poisonous Creatures, the Poison Feather Bird, with my own eyes. Why do you suppose such marvels occur?”
“I… don’t know.”
“Is it not because the master of these wondrous events has appeared?”
“The master of wondrous events?”
“One who knows more of venomous creatures than any other, one whom the creatures themselves follow. Watch and see—if he made you that vow, he will find a way to fulfill it, no matter what.”
His daughter nodded at the explanation. Finding it plausible, her face relaxed into a soft, rosy flush of relief.
And the discussion the three had been holding now became a discussion among four—no longer about how to bind the two hearts together, but about how to make their son-in-law a perfect member of the Sichuan Tang Family.
“Father, though I have given my heart… to the young hero—no, to… him—I told him the wedding would wait until after he comes of age, and only if in that time he succeeds in obtaining the venom of even one of the Ten Great Poisonous Creatures would I permit the marriage. Do you think he understood my answer?”
“Tsk, you should have made it three. One is too few to take our daughter away. Still, with conditions like that he must have grasped that you agreed.”
“No, Family Lord. He almost certainly did not understand. Men are thick-headed about such things. He is surely thinking he must truly capture one of the Ten Great Poisonous Creatures within three years.”
“Oh? Th-then should I explain it properly again?”
“No, dear. It is better he does not realize you have already consented. That way he will strive all the harder—for you.”
“F-for me?”
“If he grows lazy after believing he has already won you, what then? So it is better he remains unaware. In any case, as you said, no wedding can take place until the young hero turns eighteen.”
“Then we shall treat him as a son-in-law while pretending we know nothing. That will make him work even harder to become one. Before long he will be family through and through.”
The Family Lord’s study buzzed with busy plans.
The shock of learning they used ricin to kill people lasted only a moment.
Big Sister and the Family Lord’s family led me deeper into the cavern. From the chamber where finished poisons were stored, we followed a passage lit by something called night-luminous pearls still farther inward.
A wooden door appeared.
“This is where the Tang Family keeps its venomous creatures.”
“Oh—so this is it.”
My heart still hammered at the realization that Big Sister’s family were legendary mass murderers and an assassin lineage, yet the words “venomous creatures” sent me scurrying after her through the door.
I really am hopeless, aren’t I?
—Creeeak.
Beyond the opened door I froze in shock.
It was nothing like what I had expected. The place was little better than a slaughterhouse.
The snakes kept in jars were half-starved, their bellies sunken, and there were not many species to begin with. Since they raised no separate feed animals, this was clearly only temporary storage for extracting venom—never a proper breeding facility.
“This is…”
“It must look disappointing to you. Venomous creatures die easily, and they are far harder to raise than plants or mushrooms…”
True enough—castor plants could be grown in bulk, but venomous creatures were finicky unless one understood each species’ habits and ecology.
Reading the disappointment on my face, the Family Lord clapped my shoulder with an understanding tone.
“If you like, you may take charge of this place. The family will supply whatever you need—money, creatures, anything. Ask us to catch whatever you require and we will catch it for you.”
“Do you truly mean that?”
The Family Lord offering full support for my hobby. The Sichuan Tang Family—Central Plains’ psycho kill-clan. They specialized in offers that were impossible to refuse.
The dizziness from ricin faded in an instant. With the promise of total backing for my hobby, a thought began to form: maybe this place was still inhabited by ordinary people, and if they bankrolled my passion so completely, it might just be its own kind of heaven.
After all, a state-of-the-art computer, a zero-gravity chair, a giant screen, and fried chicken every single day—that was heaven too.