Natural Enemy 1
Warriors stood arrayed before Gujin Gate on Father-in-law’s orders.
They were men I had never once laid eyes on since coming to the Tang Family of Sichuan.
It was because we had bought information from the Beggar’s Union—that loose confederation of beggars—about the whereabouts of the rats who had sold us out and then bolted. Their location: Yeongcheonbu, the capital of this country. Word was they had fled into a crowded place, hoping to vanish among the throngs.
Even in my previous life, the best place to hide had always been Seoul, where people packed the streets. Those fools had put their heads together after all. But what good did thinking do them? They were up against the most unhinged household in the entire murim. There was no future in which they would escape the death already waiting for them.
The moment their location was pinpointed, every Tang Family face had twisted into something murderous. Right up until the moment of departure, the compound had thrummed with the low growl of predators about to hunt. And today was the day of the formal send-off.
“I’ll be off then, son-in-law. Look after yourself while I’m gone.”
“Understood, Father-in-law. Please take care.”
“What do I have to take care of? They’re the ones who need to watch themselves. Haha. Don’t worry.”
“R-right. Haha… ha…”
That much we all already knew. When I gave an awkward little laugh, Father-in-law turned and roared at the warriors.
“We will deliver a hundred punishments and a hundred precepts upon those who dared sully the Tang Family’s name! Move out!”
“Yes, Family Head!”
At his cry the warriors shot out through Gujin Gate. My eyes caught the huge white castor-leaf crests emblazoned across their backs.
The ordinary warriors I usually saw around the compound wore green robes that spoke of poison, a small castor leaf stitched over the heart like a maple leaf. The men following Father-in-law were different: black combat gear, and an enormous white castor leaf that covered the entire back. Striking. And every single pair of eyes was unnaturally clear—like the bright, lucid eyes of madmen.
Even in my past life, the adults had always warned me to watch out for people who looked like they could shoot lasers from their eyes. There was nothing normal about the feeling those men gave off. Watching their retreating figures, I turned to my sister-in-law and asked who they were.
“By the way, Miss Hwa-eun, who are those people? I’ve never seen any of them since I arrived.”
“Ah. They handle the slightly rough work.”
“Slightly rough work?”
“Yes. Mostly the business of erasing people. That’s why we call them the Poison Annihilation Squad.”
That doesn’t sound “slightly” rough at all…
So the unit Father-in-law had led out was the Poison Annihilation Squad. In the Tang Family of Sichuan—the greatest assassin clan of the Central Plains—these were the people my sister-in-law casually described as doing “slightly rough work.”
There’s no way it’s only a little rough. And erasing things with a pencil is for writing, not for people…
The way she spoke of erasing people as if they were misspelled characters sent cold sweat trickling down my back. Once again the true face of the Tang Family shrank my liver to the size of a pea.
Miss Hwa-eun was so beautiful that every time I saw her I found myself daydreaming about the name I’d already picked for a third son—Tang Bul-hu, “Tang Never-Late”—but the family itself? I still hadn’t fully adapted, and her words just now had been pure carnage.
Family… Yeah, that word suddenly feels extremely dangerous.
A few days after Father-in-law left, my rest ended and training resumed.
First up, as always, was internal energy cultivation. Today was the day I would begin a new heart method said to be far more efficient. Trouble started right at the beginning.
Learning the detailed names of the dantian regions and what each of them actually meant turned out to be nightmarishly complicated. Not only the terminology—once you started weaving in the Taiji and the Eight Trigrams, my head was ready to explode. A complete novice like me couldn’t just cram it overnight.
Something about combinations of the Eight Trigrams and yin-yang, internal contemplation, blah blah blah. Still, it was necessary knowledge, so I had been studying bits and pieces with Miss Hwa-eun and Grandfather. Then my internal energy suddenly surged all at once and the whole schedule went sideways.
Originally, they had planned for me to build the Five Poisons Returning Origin Art slowly; theory study would finish in step with that progress. Once the Five Poisons art reached full mastery, I would naturally transition into the Ten Poisons Dual Circle Art. Problem was, all my energy had gathered long before mastery arrived. Theory lagged behind raw power, leaving me in an awkward limbo.
I still hadn’t finished learning the human body’s dantian and meridians, so I couldn’t even understand half of what Grandfather was saying. In the end I had no choice but to fall back on the same shortcut I’d used before.
The shortcut? Exactly what we did when I first learned the Five Poisons art: Grandfather Man Dok Shin Gun would personally guide his true qi into me. He would pour energy into my body and move it through the proper pathways while I memorized the sensation and copied it.
My talent was lacking, and for the sake of future enlightenment it would have been better for me to master both theory and practice thoroughly before attempting the art alone. But there was no time. My energy was overflowing right now; I needed to convert it into a more efficient cultivation method as soon as possible.
“Feel carefully what I am guiding. If the Five Poisons Returning Origin Art is the sensation of turning the energy inside your body in a great circle from left to right and drawing it back into the dantian, then the Ten Poisons Dual Circle Art creates two flows within that same space.”
“One from left to right and one from right to left?”
“What dangerous nonsense is that! All internal energy flows from left to right. Reverse it and you court heaven-defying disaster.”
“Heaven-defying?”
“That’s the sort of thing only demonic heretics and evil cultivators care about. Don’t even think about it.”
“Yes. So the two circles turn in the same direction?”
“Exactly. Both left to right. You rotate those streams of qi and draw them back into the dantian.”
So basically the Five Poisons art is a single-cylinder engine, and the Ten Poisons Dual Circle Art is a twin-core double-cylinder setup?
Grandfather’s explanation clicked instantly. I imagined splitting my body in half and spinning two separate circles inside myself, following the true qi he guided. Before long the slightly awkward sensation vanished; the two flows began to feed off each other, turning slowly but steadily.
What had been one slow, massive current transformed into two swift, ferocious streams racing inside a larger wave. Praise reached my ears.
“Yes, you’re doing well. Somehow you’re picking this up faster than the Five Poisons art.”
The first time I learned the Five Poisons art it had taken nearly half a day to get the hang of it. This time I succeeded after only two or three tries. After completing a full grand circulation I expressed my gratitude for Grandfather’s help.
“It’s all thanks to your guidance, Grandfather.”
“Haha, you rascal.”
Miss Hwa-eun had told me that courtesy mattered more than anything when learning martial arts. Recalling her words about politeness even for killing techniques, I had offered thanks—and Grandfather smiled, clearly pleased.
Good thing I did that.
Once my initiation into the Ten Poisons Dual Circle Art was complete, Grandfather pressed a throwing knife into my hand.
“Try circulating your energy and throwing it. It will feel completely different from the Five Poisons art.”
“Yes, Grandfather.”
I accepted the knife, circulated the Ten Poisons Dual Circle Art, and flooded my entire body with internal energy. Overwhelming power poured out of that twin-core engine! Having escaped the humble single-cylinder Five Poisons stage, my new heart method rampaged through every meridian, saturating me completely. At the peak of that fullness I flung the knife at the straw dummy exactly as I had been taught.
—Ssshing!
A speed utterly different from the Five Poisons art. The blade punched straight through the dummy, kept flying, struck the stone wall behind it, and bounced off with a sharp clang.
—Kang!
A pure gasp of awe burst out of me.
“Ooooh!”
Insane!
I stared at my own hand in shock. Grandfather Man Dok Shin Gun smiled.
“How was that? That is the difference between the Ten Poisons Dual Circle Art and the Five Poisons Returning Origin Art. You’ll also resist ordinary poisons far better now. To explain further, the way you take in poison—”
“So this is the Ten Poisons Dual Circle Art…”
I had expected maybe twice the power. This wasn’t twice—it was nearly four times. While I was still basking in my own awesomeness after Grandfather finished explaining, he continued.
“From now on you’ll begin proper training in light-foot techniques, palm methods, fist methods, and the like. Now that you’ve entered the Ten Poisons Dual Circle Art, you’ll be able to pour qi into a weapon or project it outward.”
I didn’t know much about wuxia, but even I had heard of palm winds, shrinking-the-earth, and Shaolin Temple. The idea of shooting qi made me look forward to tomorrow’s training with almost indecent eagerness.
Palm wind! Wasn’t that every man’s dream?
Unable to contain myself, I suggested we just start right this moment. Strike while the iron is hot, after all.
“Then why don’t we just begin now—”
“Heh heh, you little rascal. Anything done in haste sits heavy in the stomach. Your body still needs to adapt to the new heart method. Wait. If you’re bored, practice throwing knives some more. I have a book I need to look at.”
With that, Grandfather pulled a volume from his robes. The cover was red paper bound with yellow cord. When I eyed it with open curiosity, his expression turned stern.
“I can see you’re curious, but you are absolutely not to take interest in this.”
“What on earth is it that you’re so cautious?”
“A copy of the Blood Water Poison Claw manual. I’m examining it to determine what martial principles it contains. There is nothing good for you to see here.”
So he had made a copy of the boatman’s manual we recovered on Hainan Island and was studying it. When we first obtained it, Father-in-law had said we would take what was useful and discard the rest; Grandfather was simply doing the research.
That was when a strangely familiar sense of déjà vu arrived in the form of Miss Hwa-eun.
“Grandfather! You must come to the Family Head’s hall at once!”
I looked toward the entrance of the second training ground reserved for Grandfather and the direct bloodline. Miss Hwa-eun stood gripping the doorframe, face urgent.
“Why the Family Head’s hall? Your father is away; your mother can handle minor matters.”
Grandfather’s question was reasonable—with Father-in-law gone, Mother-in-law should have been managing everyday affairs. Why call him?
Miss Hwa-eun answered in an even more urgent voice.
“They say the household of the Provincial Governor of Sichuan has sent someone.”
“The Provincial Governor of Sichuan sent someone?”
“The Provincial Governor of Sichuan?”
The Provincial Governor of Sichuan—my VIP customer for the erectile-dysfunction remedy. Grandfather and I exchanged glances, both wondering why the man would suddenly dispatch a messenger. Miss Hwa-eun’s face flushed with embarrassment as she explained.
“Well… the Provincial Governor has taken a new concubine, and… he took more of the medicine than we instructed… He is now hovering between life and death…”
“What!?”
Oh no…
We had given him crystal-clear dosage instructions, and he still managed to cause a disaster. Grandfather’s face went pale; he sprinted for the Family Head’s hall. Word came that one of the Tang elders stationed in Chengdu was currently slowing the governor’s poisoning, but in the end Grandfather Man Dok Shin Gun had no choice but to go treat the man personally.
If the governor died, they might try to pin the blame on us. It wasn’t our responsibility—but did powerful people ever care about that sort of detail? Customers of that caliber had a long history of blaming the manufacturer for their own stupidity.
I’m not about to get dragged into this mess… right?
I was starting to worry they might come after me personally. Yet for all its bloodthirsty reputation, the Tang Family turned out to have a solid sense of loyalty. Seeing my face turn blue, Grandfather clapped my shoulder.
“Don’t worry, So-ryong. Whatever you did, the Tang Family did. You’re our family; the clan will take responsibility.”
“Ah—yes, sir.”
The Tang Family’s code of honor eased my nerves a little. Once preparations were finished, Grandfather Man Dok Shin Gun left through Gujin Gate exactly as Father-in-law had done.
“I’ll be back as quickly as I can. Look after the household.”
“Yes, Father. Don’t worry and go.”
“So-ryong, you are the only man left in the house. You must protect the women.”
He was heading off to treat a horny old man and somehow made it sound like he was shipping out to war. I chalked it up to an elderly man’s fussiness and answered with a smile.
“Of course. Until you return I’ll protect Miss Hwa-eun and Mother-in-law.”
“Good. That’s how it should be. Ah—and your training will be handled by Hwa-eun. Keep that in mind.”
“Miss Hwa-eun?”
“Yes.”
With that, Grandfather hurried off toward Chengdu, where the Provincial Governor of Sichuan resided. I watched him disappear into the distance, then turned my head. Miss Hwa-eun stood beside me, smiling.
“So-ryong, you’d better work hard. I intend to be strict.”
“Of course, Miss Hwa-eun.”
I was already steeling myself for rigorous training when she continued.
“If you work hard enough, I’ll teach you light-foot techniques and palm methods—and also the Tang Family’s whip arts.”
“Whip arts?”
“Yes. I’d say I’m the best whip user in the entire Tang Family.”
A whip. Hearing that she was skilled with a whip, a flood of forbidden knowledge from my previous life rose unbidden—leather, lashes, a certain kind of queen…
I really don’t like pain…
I found myself hoping her tastes were a little more ordinary.