Natural Enemy
On a dark night veiled by clouds that had not lifted for three months, only the quiet hooting of owls echoed through the gloom.
Three shadowy figures raced across the shallow stretches of the Tang Family River that flowed silently along the base of Tang Family Mountain, stepping from one rock to the next where the stones broke the surface.
—Tak-tak-tak-tak.
They were men in black stealth garb and black hoods. Once across the river, the three slipped behind a large boulder at the water’s edge.
“One last check—we must not be discovered under any circumstances! That is why the order was given to us, the finest infiltrators of the Cult. Understood?!”
The moment they crouched behind the rock, the one who seemed to be their leader barked the warning. The other two masked men dropped to their knees in reply.
“Blood Cult’s Rebirth—Blood Beneath Heaven! Of course, Deputy!”
“Of course!”
“According to the intelligence we gathered, neither the current Family Head nor the Myriad Poisons Divine Lord is inside the Sichuan Tang Clan right now. Tonight is the perfect opportunity. We must succeed.”
“Yes!”
“Once you recover the secret manual, spare no means and head straight to where He awaits. But if you are caught while retrieving the Blood Hand Poison Claw, bite the poison pill in your mouth and die for the great cause. Should we fail, our identities must never be revealed. If our identities are exposed, the Murim will swarm us like hornets. Your blood will hasten the day of Blood Beneath Heaven!”
“Blood Beneath Heaven! Understood!”
Timing their entry to the changing of the Tang Clan’s patrols, the three slipped deep into the estate. They first checked the Family Head’s residence and found nothing. Next they tried the Hall of Myriad Poisons, but entry proved impossible—exactly as their prior information had warned.
“Last stop: the Myriad Poisons Divine Lord’s private quarters!”
“Yes, Deputy!”
They slipped into the Myriad Poisons Divine Lord’s residence as a final gamble.
“This is—!”
In the darkness the masked men seized a copy of the Blood Hand Poison Claw. Whether the Myriad Poisons Divine Lord had been studying the art, the copy—covered in scribbled notes—lay right on the bedside table.
“A copy of the Blood Hand Poison Claw!”
“We failed to find the original, yet we obtained a copy from the Myriad Poisons Divine Lord’s own quarters!”
“Heaven itself is aiding the Cult! Let us head to the rendezvous!”
Elated, the three left the residence at once and set their course toward the mountain range beyond Tang Family Mountain. They had entered by exploiting the patrol shift along the river, so they could not leave the same way.
Penetrating deep had been the easy part. Now the outer perimeter was far more heavily guarded than their intelligence had indicated.
“There are far more sentries than our information suggested.”
“With both the Family Head and the Myriad Poisons Divine Lord absent, have they tightened security?”
The leader of the masked men climbed onto the roof of the Myriad Poisons Divine Lord’s quarters, face dark with frustration, and scanned the surroundings. Clouds parted, revealing the training ground ahead—a wide field that ran from the heart of the Tang Clan toward the mountain peaks. Strangely, not a single sentry stood there.
Why?
According to the information they had verified before infiltrating, four warriors should always have been on watch. The lanterns were extinguished; no one was present. Odd, yet they had no other choice. The three masked men launched themselves toward the training ground.
The instant their feet touched the packed earth, a bizarre sound thundered from the hollow of an old tree standing on the field.
—Wooooong!
“A-a mechanical formation?!”
The three masked men leapt away in shock. Behind them, not a swarm of martial artists but a genuine swarm of bees came roaring after them.
“Halt, you bastards! How dare you sneak into the Tang Clan!”
“Stop right there!”
Shouts of warriors rang from afar. Torches bobbed rapidly up the mountain slope. We chased the voices and arrived at the training ground reserved for the main bloodline—now transformed into a beekeeping yard for the Golden-Haired Bee Kings.
“What on earth is going on?!”
At Noona’s sharp question, Gu Pae, deputy commander of the Poison Blood Squad, hurried out from the warriors gathered at the entrance and reported.
“Miss Hwa-eun, intruders! Two fled toward the mountains; the commander of the Poison Blood Squad is leading men in pursuit. One is over there…”
He pointed urgently into the training ground. In the moonlight a body lay face-down. The Golden-Haired Bee Kings kept everyone from approaching.
Why is it that every time my pet insects cause trouble, someone ends up dead? Ever since I joined the Tang Clan I’ve seen every possible spectacle.
I was the only one who could retrieve the body. After apologizing to the Bee Kings for waking them, I shut my eyes tight and dragged out the corpse that already looked dead. Gu Pae examined it.
Even though the man was a thief, I felt uneasy that my insects kept killing people. Then Gu Pae delivered an unexpected conclusion.
“This wasn’t the Bee Kings. He bit a poison pill and took his own life.”
“A poison pill?”
Relief that my Bee Kings hadn’t done it lasted only a second. At the words “poison pill,” Noona’s face turned ice-cold. She snapped orders to the assembled warriors.
“Biting a poison pill to die means he had much to hide. Ask Mother to take charge of restoring order in the clan. I will form a pursuit party at once—summon the elders!”
“Yes, Miss!”
Warriors scattered in every direction at her command.
—Kwaduk! Thud-thud-thud-thud!
While racing with light-footwork my body suddenly dropped with a mass of earth. I hadn’t misstepped.
“Kyaaaaah!”
“Young Master So-ryong! Take my hand!”
Gu Pae lunged and seized me as I fell. I had been sucked knee-deep into a pit that had opened without warning.
“Thank you. Whew, that was close.”
“Are you hurt? If you are injured, Miss will grieve. You must be careful.”
I pulled free of the pit with Gu Pae’s help. Then a chilling sound rose from beneath my feet.
—Sssssss!
—Sssss!
I jumped back and peered into the hole. The sound was both eerie and familiar—welcome, even.
“This is—?!”
The pit was deep enough that a person could not climb out alone. Inside, snakes lay coiled in tangled masses.
“A snake den, then?”
Gu Pae’s hand rested on my shoulder as he studied the hole and offered the answer. Snake den—exactly that. In my previous life I had known places where snakes gathered to hibernate or hide; many serpents thronged such dens. Yet something about this one felt wrong. A black, ominous aura clung to the pit, like the open maw of a living creature. I had no desire to approach. The snakes themselves seemed unnaturally agitated.
—Kurrrrrung!
As if agreeing with my unease, thunder rolled and distant rain clouds rushed toward us.
“Something feels off, doesn’t it?”
“Ah. Sometimes snakes build dens in places where yin energy gathers—snake blood holes. Their venom is especially fierce; caution is required.”
I had learned of yin and yang while studying martial arts, though I still did not know what a “snake blood hole” was. I nodded anyway; I would ask later.
“I see. Tiger keelbacks are not usually this aggressive… yet they look furious.”
Tiger keelbacks—also called flower snakes or yuhyeolmok-i—rarely bite people, yet the hissing from the pit told me Gu Pae was right: their venom was fully primed. I decided I would return for snake-catching another day and spoke to the warriors.
“I delayed us. Rain is coming. Let’s move.”
“Yes, Young Master. We should.”
Despite the brief mishap we pressed on, eyes on the advancing squall. We still had thieves to catch.
Two days after the theft, we were still wandering the mountains for one reason only: the remaining two thieves had fled into the range after their companion bit his poison pill the moment the Golden-Haired Bee Kings seized him. Mother-in-law’s martial strength was not high, so she stayed behind to restore order. When Noona insisted on leading the elders and warriors herself, I volunteered. I had promised Grandfather I would protect Noona and Mother-in-law; I could not let Noona go alone. The pursuit had split into groups, so we were scattered now.
We resumed light-footwork, following the trail left by the lead party. Not long after, a shout rang from ahead.
“There they are! Seize them!”
At the urgent cry, Gu Pae, the ten-man pursuit team, and I shot toward the sound.
“This way!”
We arrived at a clearing before a low cliff. The cliff was not too high for light-footwork, yet Tang Clan warriors already had the two thieves surrounded and were flinging flying needles whenever the men tried to leap upward.
—Ting! Ti-ting!
“Your escape ends here!”
“Tch!”
Gu Pae charged into the clearing and roared at the thieves. With needles already pinning them and our group arriving, the two masked men looked stricken and ducked behind scattered boulders at the cliff base.
“Tighten the encirclement, then rush them all at once!”
Ten warriors already present plus our ten made twenty. Leaving me—the weakest—out of the line, the other nineteen closed the net slowly around the rocks. When they were near enough the hunt began in earnest.
“Strike!”
At Gu Pae’s shout the Tang warriors launched themselves toward the boulders. Glittering needles and flying daggers sprayed from their fingertips. One thief went down, but Gu Pae’s urgent cry cut the air.
“Careful! The other one’s movements are strange!”
“Understood, Deputy!”
Indeed, the remaining masked man’s body technique was no ordinary skill; he slipped through the needles and slammed two lesser warriors aside with his palms.
“Keuhak!”
—Urrung!
—Tok, tok-tok. Thud-thud. Thud-thud-thud.
Rain began to fall. In the first sparse drops the Tang warriors and the masked man exchanged a chaotic flurry of blows. Yet skill alone could not overcome numbers. The masked man was driven back against the cliff.
The moment his back touched stone—
Clear the way!
Gu Pae’s shout scattered the Tang warriors in an instant. A single flying dagger left his hand and streaked toward the masked man.
—Kang! Chae-kang!
“Keuhk!”
Only one dagger had been thrown, yet the man, swinging the short blades in both hands, produced two ringing deflections before a scream tore from his throat. He clutched his shoulder and sagged against the cliff. Blood bloomed across his shoulder and, mixed with rain, quickly painted the ground red.
“Lucky for him. If the rain hadn’t washed the paralytic poison off the dagger, he would be completely subdued.”
Gu Pae’s words suggested the downpour had rinsed the venom clean. Still, with a wound now opened, full capture was only a matter of time.
—Urrung!
While we all envisioned that hopeful future, thunder cracked and a figure flashed through the lightning into the space before the masked man.
“Eu-ha-ha-ha! Everyone clear out!”
—Chwaaaak!
“Keoheuhk.”
A hand swept between the Tang warriors and the masked man. Scarlet blood misted into the rain and vanished. One warrior, chest ripped open by the sudden claws, crumpled.
“Fall back—he’s a master!”
The newcomer wore crimson martial robes, thick brows, hair tied tightly back. Gu Pae hurriedly shoved the warriors behind him and shouted at the man.
“Who the hell are you?!”
The man ignored the question and instead addressed the wounded figure behind him.
“Did you recover it?”
“Yes! Here. We could not obtain the original, but it appears to be a copy transcribed by the Tang Clan.”
“A pity, yet unavoidable. Well done.”
The masked man produced a book wrapped in red paper and bound with yellow thread—exactly the volume I knew. The Myriad Poisons Divine Lord had studied it while teaching me.
“The secret manual of the Blood Hand Poison Claw?!”
Every eye turned to me.
Natural Enemy 4
“You claim that is the Blood Hand Poison Claw manual?!”
Gu Pae’s voice cracked with shock. I nodded.
“It looks like a copy Grandfather Myriad Poisons Divine Lord made. I have seen him examining it.”
I remembered clearly; once I had tried to peek and he had warned me not to grow curious. He had said he was studying only the method of using the Poison Claw itself to see if the Tang Clan could adapt it—so the full contents would not be present. Something about having the forms but lacking the oral formulas; I had not understood the distinction.
Gu Pae’s face twisted with rage as he roared at the two men.
“What bastards dare sneak into the Tang Clan to steal that cursed demonic art?!”
Back on Hainan Island, when we recovered the Blood Hand Poison Claw, they had stressed how evil an art it was—requiring blood and bone marrow. Yet the middle-aged man in red gave no answer. He slipped the book into his robes, smiled a ghastly smile, and spread both hands.
“The cowards of the Cult feared vermin and ordered us to take only the Blood Hand Poison Claw quietly. But so many insects have gathered…”
“F-forgive us!”
“No—this is perfect. The others will raise a fuss, yet what better pretext could we ask for? We have recovered the Blood Hand Poison Claw early, and the old Myriad Poisons Divine Lord is absent. There could be no finer sacrifice to announce our return. Since we must eliminate every one of them to escape anyway—Blood Shadow, I permit the use of the Cult’s martial arts! Leave none alive!”
“Understood!”
Cult?
The word meant a religious order. While I tilted my head, the wounded man behind the crimson-robed elder stretched a hand toward his fallen comrade.
—Chwaaaak!
Blood erupted from the corpse and, impossibly, streamed through the rain into the wounded man’s fingertips and injured shoulder.
“That is—!”
What the hell?! A vampire? Is this Murim or a wuxia novel?
It looked exactly like the vampire movies of my previous life. Gu Pae spoke in a dazed voice.
“Th-the Blood Cult…”
Blood Cult?
The name jogged a recent memory. When I had shown the original Blood Hand Poison Claw to the branch-family elders, they had exclaimed in shock:
“Th-this is the word ‘Blood Cult’ and ‘Blood Hand Poison Claw’ written on the cover! And characters written in blood! It is unmistakably the Blood Hand Poison Claw!”
“Indeed. So the rumor that it leaked from the Blood Cult was true…”
As if confirming every suspicion, the man in blood-red robes finally answered.
“Yes. This body is Elder of the Blood Cult—Blood Eagle Dagger Claw Gu Cheon-ak! Become the sacrificial offerings that herald the Blood Cult’s rebirth!”
“An Elder of the Blood Cult…”
Gu Pae’s face went ashen, yet he recovered instantly and shouted to the warriors and me.
“Understood!”
At Gu Pae’s cry the Tang warriors snapped into formation. I thrust a hand into my robes for the signaling dagger used in place of a signal arrow. The Blood Cult Elder pointed at me and barked.
“Blood Shadow, if they all rush at once it will be troublesome. Stop him! Do not kill him—nothing restores better than a boy’s pure blood.”
“Yes!”
“Block him! Do not let him reach Young Master So-ryong!”
“Try and stop me! Kra-ha-ha!”
—Kwang!
“Kyaaak!”
Gu Pae dragged the Tang warriors into the path of the two enemies, yet a palm force from the Elder shattered the formation and Blood Shadow shot toward me like an arrow. Even faster than before. Before I could draw the dagger, his hand clamped my wrist.
“Rest a while. The Elder wishes to take your pure blood.”
“Young Master So-ryong!”
Gu Pae cried out even while clashing with the Elder, but he could not help me. Blood Shadow raised his arm to strike the side of my neck—
—Kwaduduk.
He was no longer of this world. The baby centipedes that burst from my raised arm, the seized hand, and my abdomen sank their fangs mercilessly into his belly, arm, and nape.
“Keuhk…”
The light drained from the eyes that met mine. Having molted once, the centipedes’ venom was stronger. Where Tak Un-yang had simply blackened and died, Blood Shadow’s flesh seemed to melt around the bites.
—Cheolbeok.
The Blood Cultist named Blood Shadow collapsed into a rain-filled puddle, a corpse. Poison aura from the body stained the ground around him.
—Kwagwang!
At the boom I turned. The man in blood-red robes had blasted the Tang warriors back with palm force and now stared at me in disbelief.
“A spirit beast? Things are getting interesting.”
He clearly had not expected death. I ignored his gaze and hurled the signaling dagger high into the air.
—Piiik. Piiik. Piiik.
At once Tang Clan members who had heard the signal began flooding in from every direction.
—Chwaaaak!
“Keueuk!”
“You looked so confident launching that signal dagger, yet without the Myriad Poisons Divine Lord you are all already dead. Kra-ha-ha.”
Another warrior staggered back, a long gash carved across his chest by the Elder’s claws, then toppled. Warnings followed.
“Do not approach him!”
“His internal energy is enormous! Do not engage directly!”
I helped drag the wounded man clear and tore cloth from his robes to stop the bleeding; I had to be useful somehow. So far I had learned only internal energy circulation, light-footwork, and basic flying-dagger technique. Noona had assigned me to first aid because without footwork I would only hinder the chaos.
“Keuk!”
“Hang on a little longer!”
Already twenty warriors and one branch-family elder lay around me. Barely one meal’s time had passed since the signal, and the situation was tipping badly. I had expected an easy victory once the clan members arrived. The Elder had thinned our numbers before reinforcements could gather, yet I had still thought of it as a raid boss—especially once Noona and several elders joined us.
“So-ryong! The Five Poisons Extinguishing Fire Formation?! What is happening here?”
“That man claims to be an Elder of the Blood Cult! We must help Deputy Gu Pae!”
“The Blood Cult?!”
“An Elder of the Blood Cult?!”
Shocked faces surrounded us, but Noona grasped the situation at once and issued orders.
“Everyone, support Deputy Gu Pae!”
“Understood, Miss! Move! Convert the Five Poisons Extinguishing Fire Formation into the Nine Poisons Extinguishing Fire Formation!”
With the Poison Blood Squad commander and the branch elders joining the assault, the balance momentarily equalized. It did not last.
The elder lying beside me spoke bitterly.
“Damn it! If only it weren’t raining!”
The downpour was our true disaster. The torrential rain washed the poisons from nearly every Tang Clan hidden weapon. Even the waterproofed ones became useless the moment they left the hand. Both the Five Poisons and Nine Poisons Extinguishing Fire Formations required poison smoke or powder to reach full power; rain rendered them impotent. We were forced to fight with pure martial strength—while the enemy kept recovering.
“Keuk! Kyaaaaah!”
I turned at the scream. Another warrior was caught, claws buried in his gut while the Elder drank his blood.
Damn it, another one.
Our side grew exhausted; he grew fresher with every victim. Because the rain muffled the signal dagger’s cry, not all the support forces had arrived. Roughly half the clan’s dispatched strength was present.
I dragged the cursing elder farther under the tree just as Noona’s clear voice rang out over the clash.
A higher form of the Three Illusion Kill
A volley of flying daggers streaked toward the Elder. The branch elder clenched his fist and shouted.
“Did we get him?!”
Ah, damn it—
He had uttered the forbidden words. The daggers that should have pierced the Elder simply reversed at a casual sweep of his hand and flew back at Noona.
—Kagagang!
“Tch!”
“The girl’s hand is quite fierce! That pretty face—are you the Poison Flower Moon Laurel? Try blocking this as well!”
—Kwang!
“Kyaak!”
Noona twisted aside from the returning daggers, yet the Elder was already in front of her. His palm strike sent her skidding toward me. She had crossed her arms to block, but blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. I rushed forward, caught her, and pulled her under the tree before she could collapse.
“Hwa-eun, Miss!”
“S-So-ryong… keuk. Uup!”
Staggering, she tried to return to the fight, took one step, and vomited another mouthful of blood. I steadied her again. She glanced at my hand, then clasped it tightly and spoke.
“So-ryong, I—I can’t! Hurry back to the clan and bring more of our people! The Blood Cult absorbs pure blood to restore internal energy and stamina; we are not enough as we are!”
Run for reinforcements. That was the only useful task left to me, yet I hesitated. Leaving them felt wrong.
While I stood frozen, other voices reached my ears.
“Young Master So-ryong, we beg you! For the sake of the Tang Clan’s people, please!”
“We will hold somehow until you return with more of our kin. Go!”
From Gu Pae to the commander to the elders—all nodded. I had no choice. My departure would not weaken the fighting line.
“Understood. But my light-footwork is still clumsy…”
I turned to leave. Suddenly I felt Noona’s rain-soaked, fever-hot embrace. She held me close and whispered against my ear.
“So-ryong, you remember what I taught you, right? You’ll do well. And… let’s train again together at night.”
Then she spun and launched herself back into the battle between the Blood Cult Elder and the Tang Clan. Our first embrace. Still dazed, I turned my back on her and raced toward the Tang Clan. There was no time to linger.
—Tak-tak-tak-tak.
I called up the fastest techno dance track I knew, using its relentless beat to drive my light-footwork.
How long did I run?
—Tak-tak-tak.
—Tak-tak.
—Tak.
My frantic steps gradually slowed. A doubt refused to leave my mind. We had been tracking the masked men for two days. Even without running all night we had covered a considerable distance—at least half a day’s full-speed travel back to the clan and another half day returning with reinforcements. Could the people left behind last that long?
Another doubt: the clan’s strongest fighters had already left with Father-in-law and Grandfather Myriad Poisons Divine Lord. Did anyone remain who could kill that man? Lesser warriors would only feed him. What we needed was a true master like Grandfather or Father-in-law.
All the doubts converged on one suspicion. Had the situation looked so desperate that they had invented the excuse of calling reinforcements simply to save me—the youngest—alone?
I recalled Gu Pae’s face, the commander’s face, the elders’ eyes as they sent me off, and the words they had all spoken:
“From now on you are one of our family.”
“Of course! Even in death you are a member of the Tang Clan!”
“Young Master So-ryong, we beg you! For the sake of the Tang Clan’s people, please!”
“We will hold somehow until you return with more of our kin. Go!”
“Family… Was the word that meaningful? Or is this also just Murim chivalry? Because I am weak, do they tuck me under their wing to protect me?”
I was family to the greatest assassin clan in the Central Plains. I had never taken the meaning seriously; I still felt I had not fully become one of them. They, however, already considered me family. A smile escaped me at the warmth so unsuited to an assassin clan.
And I began to think—no, I had to think—of a way to break this deadlock.
Gather the scattered Tang warriors nearby? No—too late. Even if I gather them all I cannot guarantee victory.
Honestly, I was terrified. I had never experienced a life-or-death battle like this. Yet perhaps I had watched too many hero movies in my previous life. I refused to become the coward who abandoned people who called me family.
Blood Cult, blood, pure blood, recovery… Countless thoughts raced through my head. Then a cool, familiar sound slid into my ears.
—Sssssss!
“That sound?”
I sprinted toward it and found the black maw of the snake den—the same pit I had nearly fallen into earlier. The snakes inside were hissing. I walked slowly to the edge and looked down. They hissed up at me.
“Wait here a moment. It’ll be fine.”
I set the baby centipedes aside, cut a length of kudzu vine, and dropped it into the pit. Then I followed the vine down into the black snake den.
“Spicy Fabre solves things the spicy Fabre way.”
Ha… If this ends with me dying of snakebite again, that would be a problem…
I had shouted boldly, yet my heart hammered. The approaching black hole looked like a gigantic serpent’s maw ready to swallow me whole.
Natural Enemy 5
—Ssssssss!
—Sssssss!
The moment I dropped into the gaping black pit, the snakes’ warning hisses filled my ears. The instant my feet touched bottom they began striking at my ankles.
—Kwaduk! Kwaduduk!
It only stung a little; they had not yet bitten in earnest.
—Tseureureureu!
Above me the baby centipedes cried out in alarm at my plunge.
“It’s okay. I’ll be out soon—just wait a moment!”
I soothed them and looked down at the writhing mass. These were tiger keelbacks—flower snakes. Their English name, Tiger Keelback, came from their habit of swallowing prey tail-first, opposite most snakes. That was not their only peculiarity. Though long believed non-venomous, they actually possess two toxins. First is the nuchal gland poison stored from the toads they eat, sprayed to deter predators. Second is their fangs—Backward Curved Teeth, tiny and located at the very rear of the mouth, a rear-fanged arrangement. That is why they were misclassified as non-venomous until the early 2000s. The fangs are so small and so far back that a casual ankle bite cannot inject venom; the snake must gape wide and drive the rear of its mouth deep into a thin body part such as a finger or wrist. Even then their venom glands lack strong compressor muscles, so fatalities are rare.
—Gulp.
Looking down at the seething wave of snakes fighting to bite me, I swallowed hard. Now I had to let them bite properly. I liked snakes, but I had no hobby of being bitten—especially since a snake had killed me in my previous life. Still, I possessed the Ten Poisons Twin Origin Art and the Tang Clan had many antidotes. I had to trust that. And if there was any hope of saving the people who kept calling me family, this was the only path I could see. The clan was too far; even gathering every nearby warrior offered no guarantee of victory.
You can do this, Fabre!
I recalled the flow of the Ten Poisons Twin Origin Art that Grandfather had engraved into my body. All Tang Clan internal arts resisted poison and slowed its progress. I felt the energy circulating through my dantian and body, quieting my frantic heart. Grandfather had said the Tang Clan’s introductory art was the Five Poisons Returning Origin Art; the Ten Poisons Twin Origin Art I now practiced was the advanced form. I had first mistaken the name for an art limited to ten poisons—fitting my Ten-Poison Body—but he explained that the clan’s founder had created it after observing a two-headed snake. Ordinary warriors learned other methods to accept poison; this art was reserved for the main bloodline. In theory it could accept a thousand or ten thousand poisons, yet my talent was insufficient beyond ten. Each additional poison increased efficiency and power, but my body would fail past that limit. Knowing the tiger keelback’s venom would simply become one of my ten brought me a measure of relief. I let both arms hang limp. The only places a tiger keelback could reliably envenom were fingers and wrists.
—Kwaduduk! Kkwak!
The moment my arms dropped, the snakes latched on. I waited until they could drive their rear fangs deep.
“That’s it—bite hard.”
Snakes coiled up to my wrists. Fortunately they lacked the climbing ability of tree snakes, so the living wave stopped at my forearms.
—Tseureureureu!
—Tseureureu!
Despite my reassurances the baby centipedes above were shrieking madly, clearly frantic.
“I’ll be out soon—calm down, kids.”
I soothed them again and waited until the snakes had injected as much venom as they could, then yanked my arms free. Countless puncture wounds dotted my fingers and arms; beads of blood welled up. Perfect. Now I had to return at once. I reached for the kudzu vine—only to find my legs immovable, wrapped in a living mass of serpents.
“Uh… I didn’t plan for this.”
The colony coiled around my legs so thickly I could not pull free; some were even slowly climbing higher.
This was definitely not in the plan.
While I stood frozen—
—Tok. Tok. Tok.
Something dropped onto my head. Immediately the baby centipedes raced down my face.
—Tseureureu.
Their warning cry. Then a miracle occurred. The snakes wrapped around my legs recoiled like an ebbing tide, fleeing to the pit walls. One slow straggler was seized by Bini, who leapt from my body and slammed it to the ground.
—Tseureureuk! Tseureureureuk!
—Sssssss!
Every time Bini lunged and threatened, the snakes tried to press themselves into the dirt. Her antennae whipped with fury. The bitten snake blackened at once.
“Bini, let’s go. It’s fine.”
Only after two more threats did Bini climb back onto me.
Keuh, Dad is so moved by you girls!
My chest swelled. The three sisters—Cho, Hyang, and Bini—had charged to rescue their father the moment he was bitten by snakes. That was far more impressive than any cat or dog. I forced the emotion down, seized the kudzu vine, and climbed. Time was everything.
“Let’s go! Back to where Mom is!”
I poured internal energy into my legs and launched myself toward the battlefield, once again riding the beat of that techno dance track. It was the fastest rhythm I knew.
—Swaaaa.
After two exchanges both sides stepped back into a brief lull. The Elder had driven his fingers into another warrior’s chest and was drinking blood. No one could stop him.
Ragged breaths escaped Dang Hwa-eun’s lips.
“Haa… haa…”
Two clashes against the man who raged like a great tiger had swept away most of the clan’s warriors and elders. The ground was littered with groaning bodies. Without So-ryong there was no one left to tend the wounded.
I wonder… is So-ryong all right?
Worry for the boy she had sent alone flared up. What if the enemy had posted more men nearby? Then the image of So-ryong’s light, almost frivolous footwork vanishing through the rain toward the Tang Clan rose before her, and a faint smile touched her lips. She vowed that if she survived she would ask him exactly what song he had been hearing.
She wiped the blood from her mouth with a soaked sleeve and shouted to the remaining warriors.
“Do not approach him—keep your distance and harass him! The rain will stop soon. Then send the signal again to the scattered warriors!”
“Yes, Miss!”
Sending So-ryong for reinforcements had been her decision. The moment the Elder’s palm struck her and she leaned on So-ryong’s support, she had known she could not leave him here. A fifteen-year-old boy who still did not fully realize he was already a member of the Tang Clan could not be left in a situation without light. So she had ordered him back to the clan—a lie. Distance aside, only her father with several elders, or her grandfather, could subdue this man. Her father had taken the Extinguishing Poison Squad out on a mission; her grandfather had left with every high-energy elder to treat the Sichuan Provincial Governor’s poisoning. Even if every remaining warrior and elder were gathered, victory was uncertain. The Extinguishing Poison Squad specialized in fighting people, and no one left possessed internal energy strong enough to block even one of the Elder’s palms. Treating a high-ranking figure like the Provincial Governor required multiple masters to drive out the toxins, so all of them had gone with Grandfather.
As she issued what might be her final orders, a branch-family elder who had been carried under the tree early in the fight shouted to her.
“Hwa-eun! You too—escape like So-ryong!”
“No! How can a member of the main bloodline abandon the clan members who are still fighting and flee alone?!”
She rewound her whip in her grip. Her hidden weapons were exhausted. Approaching meant being seized and drained of pure blood, so she had drawn the whip.
“If we cannot even save you, how will we face the Family Head?! The branch bloodlines exist for the main bloodline! You carry the duty of preserving the Tang Clan—escape at least yourself! Earlier, by your transmission, we sent only So-ryong, but how can So-ryong alone continue the clan?!”
“Stop talking nonsense! The Tang Clan never abandons its people!”
At their exchange the Blood Cult Elder slicked back his rain-soaked hair and sneered.
“If my playthings keep running, my amusement will run short. And if I begin to feel unsatisfied… since neither the Myriad Poisons Divine Lord nor the Family Head is present, it might be entertaining to wipe these insects out and turn the Tang Clan into a wasteland. Yes—when announcing the Blood Cult’s rebirth, that much of a grand greeting is only proper.”
If he could not slaughter to his heart’s content here, he would head for the Tang Clan. Escape was not an option.
“Damn it!”
The elder ground his teeth. Now the only choices were to die fighting or to kill the man. If even one person fled, the Elder would storm the Tang Clan, and whether the threat was true or false, no one remained at the estate who could stop him.
“Even if we all die here, we take at least one of his arms with us!”
“Understood, Miss!”
Every clan member present, including Hwa-eun, steeled themselves for the end.
“That’s right. The Tang Clan never abandons its people.”
A voice from behind. No—the voice of the boy she had been thinking of in what she believed were her final moments.
“So… So-ryong?”
“Young Master So-ryong?!”
“Wh-why have you returned?!”
For an instant she hoped he had brought someone. But So-ryong walked forward alone, having left the baby centipedes clinging to a tree.
“You said the Tang Clan’s people never abandon their own.”
Smiling, he shrugged off his upper robe like some third-rate thug, gripped flying daggers in both hands, and launched himself at the Elder.
“Ah! No!”
“Young Master So-ryong! You mustn’t!”
Desperate cries erupted at the boy’s reckless charge. So-ryong, who had never properly learned footwork or body technique, fighting that man was absurd. True to expectation, his light, almost frivolous steps carried him straight into the Elder’s grip. The man seized him by the nape while So-ryong thrashed.
“Keuhk…”
“Oh-ho. Have you come of your own free will to offer pure blood to the Blood Cult?”
Delighted, the Elder drove his claws into So-ryong’s abdomen.
—Kwaduk!
“Keueuk!”
“Hm? You blocked? Fool—blood flows through the arms as well, did you not know?”
So-ryong had crossed his arms in a last desperate defense, yet the Elder’s claws punched straight through the double guard and began greedily sucking blood. The veins on So-ryong’s arms pulsed visibly.
“Kyaaaaah!”
“So-ryong!”
“Save Young Master So-ryong! Everyone charge!”
Shocked into action, every remaining fighter hurled themselves at the Elder. The clash only hastened the Tang Clan’s ruin. In the frantic attempt to rescue So-ryong, the Elder simply threw the boy aside and counterattacked, crippling most of the remaining elders and warriors.
With nearly all the Tang Clan members downed, the sky finally cleared. Clouds parted and the sun emerged, yet the fate of the Tang Clan remained pitch-black.
Hwa-eun caught the flung So-ryong and cradled him, despair flooding her. The elders who had survived the old Blood Cult upheavals had spoken of how strong the Cult’s masters were, but this defied description. Monsters that grew stronger with every drop of blood they drank. How many people’s pure blood had this “Elder” already consumed?
“Aaaah…”
“Kra-ha-ha-ha. Those pesky hidden weapons were annoying, but thanks to the brat everything is settled at once. I’ll grant you a painless death as a special favor.”
The Blood Cult Elder walked slowly toward Hwa-eun. She clutched So-ryong tighter. He had taken perhaps three steps when his face twisted in sudden panic.
“Wh-what did you do?! You—keuhk… Th-this is… Dissipating Energy Poison?! No, impossible. The Cult’s internal arts are immune to Dissipating Energy Poison… This is absurd! What are you?!”
At the words “Dissipating Energy Poison” Hwa-eun’s eyes flew wide as she stared at So-ryong. Neither the Tang warriors nor she herself had brought any powerful or rain-resistant poisons—they had only been hunting thieves. So-ryong had never even been issued poison, much less learned poison arts.
Then, from within her arms, So-ryong—face deathly pale—smiled and shouted at the man.
“What am I? I am your natural enemy!”
At those words Hwa-eun’s heart began to race once more.