Companion Poisonous Creature Culture
After breakfast, I gathered Commander Gu Pae and the Poisonous Creature Squad for a proper mental education session.
I had wondered why the warriors had laid hands on the hamsters yesterday. Apparently, the Tang Family had always harvested venom from poisonous creatures and then either cooked the carcasses or distributed them for food. Snake soup, grilled snake—that sort of thing.
So while a creature still carried its venom, it was treated as living raw material. Once dead, it was just cooking ingredients. They had never regarded poisonous creatures as precious in the first place, so the feed those creatures ate? Completely outside the scope of anyone’s concern.
At least Deputy Commander Gu Pae had seen firsthand how much I cherished them, which was why he had dragged the guilty warriors over to apologize yesterday.
There was no pet culture to begin with. Even dogs were livestock that ate table scraps and, on occasion, became a special delicacy themselves. The fact that the venom of living poisonous creatures was considered a minor, non-mainstream resource had also played a part in yesterday’s mess.
What the Tang Clan truly prized were the secret formulas they synthesized themselves and a handful of high-grade natural toxins. Poisonous creatures? If supplies ran low, you just went out and caught more. That was the prevailing mindset.
My own earlier announcement—that it would take at least a month or two before Chinese hamsters could be bred in steady numbers, and that in the meantime the Hoban Yusa would be fed frogs and small toads—had probably contributed to the incident as well.
“We were already planning to catch frogs once the Hoban Yusa arrive because the numbers were insufficient. From this moment on, however, no one is to lay a hand on any poisonous creature or any living thing inside the Poisonous Creature Garden. Is that understood?”
“““Yes, Young Master So-ryong!”””
When the lecture ended and we stepped out of the garden, Gu Pae approached me with a heavy face.
“Young Master, I am truly sorry. I will punish those three severely.”
Punishment alone would not solve this.
“No. This is not a problem that can be fixed by punishing a few people. I have an idea. Wait a little.”
“You have a plan, Young Master?”
“I do.”
Leaving the Poisonous Creature Garden, the first place I headed was the Family Head’s Hall. I needed to see Grandfather, who was currently serving as interim Family Head.
“Grandfather, are you there? It’s So-ryong.”
“Ah, So-ryong. Come in.”
Inside, Grandfather was in the middle of a meeting with the family elders. They had been swamped with guest receptions, yet the moment I entered, every face lit up with warm smiles.
“Well, if it isn’t our grandson-in-law!”
“So-ryong’s here. How’s the body holding up?”
“Our proud Tang Family member has arrived. Hahaha.”
Between the Blood Sect affair and the Zhi Dan pills, the atmosphere was extremely favorable. I offered respectful greetings to the elders and stepped farther in.
“I’m sorry to bother you when you’re so busy.”
“Nonsense. We were about to take a short break anyway. So what brings you, So-ryong? Ah, sit down first. Shall I pour you some tea?”
“Tea isn’t necessary. I’ll just sit and explain.”
I took the seat Grandfather offered and first reported that preparations for bringing in the Hoban Yusa he had ordered were complete. Then I laid out the real reason for my visit.
“…So everything is ready on that front.”
“Excellent news. And?”
“Yes. The thing is, from what I’ve heard, the family’s warriors don’t treat poisonous creatures with any particular care. That’s how yesterday’s incident happened…”
“Something like that occurred?”
“Yes, Grandfather.”
I explained that as the number of poisonous creatures grew, the current attitude inside the Tang Clan would become a serious problem. Grandfather and the elders nodded slowly.
“If things continue as they have, So-ryong is right—there will be trouble.”
“Supreme Elder, what if we make an example of a few of them?”
“That would be the usual course. Well then, So-ryong, what do you think we should do?”
At Grandfather’s question I voiced the idea I had been turning over. Rather than a one-time severe punishment, what the Tang Family truly needed was for a culture of companion poisonous creatures to take root.
I will spread Companion Poisonous Creature Culture throughout the Central Plains’ foremost assassin clan, the Sichuan Tang Family!
“Would it be possible to establish a set of rules that every member of the family must never break?”
“Rules?”
“Yes. What I mean is…”
Meanwhile, Jegal Hu, military advisor of the Murim Alliance, was on the road to the Tang Family in Sichuan, leading one of the Alliance’s elite forces—the Fierce Tiger Squad—along with supporting troops from his own Jegal Family and from the Wudang Sect.
“We will soon reach the Tang Family River, Advisor.”
“Then we should be able to lodge at the Tang estate tonight.”
“Most likely.”
“At last, no more sleeping under the open sky.”
The report came from the Wudang elder riding ahead. Just as he said, the Tang Family River soon came into view. Jegal Hu already knew that crossing the bridge over that winding river would bring them straight to the Tang Family compound. As the bridge drew nearer, however, his expression grew troubled.
It was not the prospect of finally escaping night-dew camping that bothered him. It was the thought of the man who had sent him here—the Alliance Leader.
I need to bring back at least one piece of good news…
When word reached the Murim Alliance that the Blood Sect had reappeared and had even attacked the Tang Family, no one reacted more violently than the current Alliance Leader, Fist Emperor Ju Joong-hak. Thirty years earlier the Blood Sect had wiped out his entire family and his wife. The Ju clan had been annihilated in the Blood Sect Catastrophe; Ju Joong-hak alone survived. Even a three-year-old in the Alliance knew the depth of his hatred. Upon becoming Alliance Leader he had sworn he would not stop until he chewed the last Blood Sect heart himself.
The moment the report arrived he had intended to lead his personal Azure Dragon Squad straight to Sichuan.
“You must not, Alliance Leader. How can you leave in person? The fact that a sect which vanished for thirty years has resumed activity means massacres may already be happening in places we do not yet know. In times like these you must remain at the center and guard your position. What will you do if grave news arrives from elsewhere?”
“Kh… Then will the Advisor go in my stead? If you go, I can trust the results. Investigate thoroughly and seize their trail. While you are away the Vice Advisor and I will handle urgent matters.”
“M-me, sir?”
“Yes. I believe you will return with good news.”
Jegal Hu had talked him down, and thus he himself had been sent instead. Recalling the Alliance Leader’s parting words, he let out a long sigh. Ju Joong-hak had demanded good news, yet the kind of news the Fist Emperor truly wanted seemed hopelessly distant.
What the Alliance Leader craved was the Blood Sect’s trail—their base. Combining every scrap of information gathered on the road, however, Jegal Hu was certain that base would not be found. Rain had fallen and many hours had passed, but that was not the real reason. The attack itself felt wrong.
Thirty years ago the entire martial world had united to exterminate the Blood Sect, burning their branches and hunting down every last follower. The survivors had been forced into hiding. Yet after three decades of silence they suddenly appeared… and struck the Sichuan Tang Family of all places? Even with Mandok Singun and the Family Head absent, the attacking force and its composition had been absurdly inadequate. What they seemed to have been after was the secret manual of the Blood-Water Poison Palm. Looking at every angle, it felt as though they had come for the manual, something had gone awry, and the raid had been improvised.
Still, he would hear Mandok Singun’s account once more. With that resolve Jegal Hu arrived before the Tang Family’s Gujin Gate.
“Who seeks entry to the Tang Family?”
“I am Jegal Hu, Military Advisor of the Murim Alliance.”
“Ah, the Advisor himself. Welcome to the Tang Family. Please wait a moment. Supreme Elder Mandok Singun will come to greet you shortly.”
One Tang warrior hurried up the mountain path. While the party waited at the gate, another warrior approached with a cautious expression and clasped his fists.
“Advisor, before Mandok Singun arrives I must inform you of certain new rules that must be observed once you enter.”
“New rules?”
Jegal Hu tilted his head. Beside him, Elder Eun Seong-cheon of the Wudang Eight Swords also looked puzzled.
“Has the Tang Family installed a Sword-Deposit Pool like Wudang?”
To enter Wudang’s mountain gate one had to leave all weapons behind; the place for that was called the Sword-Deposit Pool. The elder was asking whether they would have to disarm. When martial artists from many different sects gathered, even a righteous great clan could see brawls break out. Given that the Blood Sect attack had only just occurred, he half expected protests. The Tang warrior scratched his head with an awkward face.
“No, Advisor. Nothing like that. This may sound strange, but there is one absolute request: once inside the Gujin Gate of the Tang Family, you must not take even the life of the lowliest insect.”
“Not even the life of a lowly insect?”
“Has the entire Tang Family converted to Buddhism?”
Such a rule normally applied only at temples like Shaolin. The party stared in incomprehension. The warrior scratched his head again.
“Well… you’ll understand once you go inside. But please remember it carefully.”
At that moment two figures came racing down from the mountain with lightfoot technique. One was a young woman, the other a boy. They stopped before Jegal Hu and offered formal fist salutes.
“We greet the Alliance’s Military Advisor.”
“We greet the Alliance’s Military Advisor.”
The woman’s face was one Jegal Hu knew well—Dang Hwa-eun, the precious jewel of the Tang Family.
“Ah, Miss Hwa-eun. It has been a while.”
“Yes. We last met at the Alliance last year, so exactly one year.”
“And Mandok Singun?”
“Grandfather is currently re-examining the site of the battle with the Blood Sect elders together with the family warriors. That is why we came out to greet you instead. Please forgive the discourtesy.”
“Not at all, not at all. To be welcomed by one of the Three Flowers of the Martial World is an honor, not a discourtesy.”
If Mandok Singun was inspecting the battlefield with the family warriors, his absence made perfect sense. Jegal Hu nodded and was about to follow Dang Hwa-eun through the Gujin Gate when he noticed the boy standing quietly at her side.
Ice-skin and jade-bones—usually a phrase reserved for women. Yet even standing next to Dang Hwa-eun, one of the Three Flowers, the boy did not seem lacking in the slightest. Jegal Hu stopped and asked,
“And the young hero beside you is…?”
“It is an honor to meet you, Advisor. My name is Wi So-ryong.”
“Wi…?”
Jegal Hu had assumed the boy was a Tang clansman. At the unfamiliar surname he tilted his head. Dang Hwa-eun answered in a shy voice,
“H-he is my… fiancé.”
“Your fiancé?!”
“““Fiancé?!”””
The fiancé of Dang Hwa-eun, one of the Three Flowers of the Martial World! The rear ranks of Jegal Hu’s party instantly began to boil. Quite a few members of the Fierce Tiger Squad and the Wudang disciples had long admired her. Among the Three Flowers—Poison Flower of the Monthly Rose, Peony King of Flowers, and Smiling Sunflower—the Peony King stirred the most hearts, yet plenty of men preferred the cool, slightly disdainful gaze of the Poison Flower. That haughty look somehow made their chests race. Young men’s tastes were truly mysterious, but if things went poorly, challenges to spar might rain down on the young hero starting today. Jegal Hu was already considering whether he should at least warn the White Tiger Squad; the stares drilling into the back of his head were growing uncomfortably hot.
Just then—
Bzzzz. Bzzzt.
A strange humming filled the air. Startled, Jegal Hu looked around, then jerked his gaze skyward at someone’s shout.
“Bees! Bees!”
Enormous bees were diving toward them from above. The Fierce Tiger Squad members crouched in alarm.
“Golden-Haired Bee Kings! C-careful! How can such poisonous creatures be inside the Tang Family—!”
Hands flew to sword hilts—only for the boy in front to leap forward, arms spread wide.
“Everyone, sheath your swords! I clearly told the gate guards to warn every guest. Are they not doing their jobs properly?”
“Young hero, that is dangerous! What are you doing? A Golden-Haired Bee King is a mid-grade poisonous creature—one sting can kill a man!”
Jegal Hu tried to pull the boy back, yet the boy only insisted they lower their weapons. Then an unbelievable claim left his lips.
“These are ones I raise. Everyone, please calm down.”
“Y-you raise them?”
Bzzzz. Bzzzt.
As if to prove his words, one of the Golden-Haired Bee Kings landed gently on the arm the boy extended. In a voice as tender as if he were speaking to a child, he murmured,
“Did you come looking for me? I have been away for a while, haven’t I? You mustn’t sting the guests with your venomous needles, all right?”
Several more Golden-Haired Bee Kings circled around him. Faced with that impossible sight, the heated glares that had been boring into the back of Jegal Hu’s head vanished without a trace.