Lizards 2
At the promise of a reward, the young hero had shown every courtesy—only to make a request so unexpected it left everyone blinking.
They had assumed a youth of his age would ask for something practical, or at least something any martial artist would covet. Instead he wanted something altogether different.
"There is one thing I truly desire…"
"Out with it, then. An elixir? Silver? A weapon? After a feat like this, you may have whatever you wish. I’ll do everything in my power to obtain it—just name it."
Jegal Hu nodded encouragingly. The young hero’s cheeks colored with embarrassment.
"Ahem. What I need is… information on venomous creatures, I suppose."
"Information on venomous creatures?"
"Yes. My hobby—no, my ambition—is to gather the venomous creatures scattered across the Central Plains for the sake of the Tang Family’s growth. So I need to know where they can be found."
"You wish to collect venomous creatures?"
Raising the Golden-Haired Bee King had already seemed odd enough; hearing that he wanted to raise still more venomous beasts only deepened the strangeness. What a peculiar wish, Jegal Hu thought.
The young hero rolled up both sleeves, baring his wrists.
"These little ones are some of the ones I raise…"
"Hm?"
At first glance the yellow bands coiled around his arms looked like armored bracers. Closer inspection revealed them wriggling. When he unwound one and set it on the table, the creature immediately began crawling back up his arm.
"That is—!"
It was unmistakably alive. When asked what it was, the young hero answered with an awkward smile.
"They’re the young of an Azure-Spotted Centipede. I raise them myself."
"Y-young of an Azure-Spotted Centipede?!"
Ah—yes. There had been a report from the Tang Family. It had merely said the young hero defeated Tak Un-yang with an Azure-Spotted Centipede; the details had never been clear. These must have been the very creatures.
"R-right, I did hear that you used an Azure-Spotted Centipede to bring down Tak Un-yang…"
"Yes. These are those children."
Treating a Golden-Haired Bee King like a puppy and strolling about with Azure-Spotted Centipedes coiled around both arms—the sight defied belief. The martial world was full of eccentric geniuses, yet in all its long history Jegal Hu had never encountered one quite like this.
Truly remarkable. How do venomous beasts follow a person so faithfully?
Raising them, wrapping them around one’s body—no ordinary man would dare. Even the most docile venomous creature could kill with a single accidental bite, yet this youth remained utterly fearless. Jegal Hu could not help admiring the boy’s nerve.
And then, in the midst of his astonishment, a half-forgotten memory from several years earlier surfaced—something the young hero had once asked about.
Venomous creatures… whether that particular beast truly counted as one was uncertain, but still.
"Hm… I believe I can grant one of your rewards right now. Would a lizard do? Do lizards even possess venom?"
"A lizard?! Truly?!"
"Yes. Will that suffice?"
"Of course, Elder! Lizards carry venom in their eyes. Properly speaking, a lizard is…"
The young hero leapt with joy and launched into a stream of unfamiliar terms. Most of the words went over Jegal Hu’s head, yet one thing was plain: the boy was overjoyed.
Scratching his head in mild confusion, Jegal Hu reflected that the Murim Alliance had bestowed precious swords, beauties, and elixirs upon many heroes—but never before had he seen anyone so ecstatic merely at learning the whereabouts of a single lizard.
An eccentric genius, without a doubt.
—Kwaaaaaah.
A torrent of water thundered over the cliff’s edge, roaring as it fell. Through the gaps in that deafening noise came the voice of his nephew, Jegal Yong-cheon.
"Uncle, I believe we have arrived! Just as the writings of our forebear described—the waterfall and the turtle rock have appeared. And far off, the summit of Mount Gongga is visible."
To their right rose a colossal waterfall. Far to the left, the snow-capped peak of Mount Gongga gleamed white. Directly ahead, a rock shaped like a crouching turtle confirmed that they had reached the place left by their ancestor.
Jegal Hu nodded, then dipped a hand into the water—and jerked it back at the bone-chilling cold. Meltwater from the snows of Mount Gongga, just as the records claimed; it bit to the marrow.
He called back to his nephew and the warriors following them.
"All of you wait here! Cheon-i, follow carefully—the water is freezing!"
"Yes, Uncle!"
"Yes, Lord Jegal Hu!"
Without further delay he launched himself into the swirling river below the falls. Using the subtle principles of Wave-Treading Flying Swallow, he stepped once upon the turtle-shaped rock midstream, then again, and alighted upon one of the jutting stones on the opposite cliff.
Treading the river’s surface as lightly as a swallow skimming the waves, he crossed the freezing torrent in two effortless bounds.
They had not yet reached the true destination, so he sprang upward again, climbing the cliff by the stones that jutted from its face. After only a short ascent, a large, moss-covered boulder shaped like a clenched human fist came into view—previously hidden by the spray of the waterfall.
That was the place.
"Yong-cheon, there!"
"Please go first, Uncle. I shall follow at once!"
Glancing back to confirm his nephew was close behind, Jegal Hu leapt and landed atop the fist-shaped rock. A narrow hole, just large enough for a man to crawl through on his belly, opened before him.
"Uncle, it matches the account left by our forebear exactly."
His nephew had already alighted beside him. Jegal Hu nodded and drew his personal weapon—the Iron Fan—from his robes. He would crawl into the tunnel first; who knew what beasts might lurk within? Though this was a rock hole high on a cliff, the ancestor’s writings had noted that the entrance was not the only way in or out.
"I shall enter first. Follow me."
"Understood, Uncle."
Sharpening his eyesight, Jegal Hu bent low and wormed into the passage. The floor was damp; icy droplets fell from the ceiling onto his head. Yet before long the tunnel widened until a man could walk upright, and ahead a bright light spilled inward.
It matched the description left by their forebear perfectly. Leading his nephew deeper, they emerged into a vast cavern. Overhead, a hole dozens of jang high admitted sunlight, flooding the space with radiance.
"Truly wondrous, Uncle!"
The place was mysterious indeed. Outside, the meltwater from Mount Gongga had left them chilled; here the air held a gentle warmth like late spring. Unknown flowers and fruits carpeted the floor. Exactly as the ancestor had written, it was a place where spiritual herbs could flourish.
"Indeed it is."
Jegal Hu nodded and walked slowly toward the center of the cavern, for that was where their goal lay. A few more steps brought it into view: beneath two man-sized boulders leaning askew against each other, in the full light pouring from above, a plant with white leaves glittered.
"Th-that is Snow Ginseng!"
His nephew’s astonished voice rang out. Yes—growing beneath those rocks was Snow Ginseng, one of the spiritual herbs that gathered the purest yin energy. After a hundred years it was called Century Snow Ginseng; after a thousand, Millennium Snow Ginseng.
Jegal Hu had come precisely for this plant. A century earlier their ancestor had discovered it here while it was still a mere sprout and left it untouched. Now a full hundred years had passed, and it was ready to harvest.
Until recently the family had intended to leave it for future generations, believing the longer it aged the better. But the Nangong Family sought a yin-aspected elixir or herb to treat a daughter born with a severed meridians, and an exchange had been arranged. The two-hundred-year-old Black Fleeceflower Root the Nangong Family offered would be an unparalleled treasure for a martial artist of the Jegal Family—perhaps even allowing his nephew Jegal Yong-cheon to reach the great completion of the Profound Origin Complete Sandalwood Divine Art.
Uncle and nephew approached the rocks, then first offered a deep bow of gratitude for their ancestor’s foresight.
"Later descendant Jegal Hu offers thanks for the arrangement of our forebear."
They bowed to the Century Snow Ginseng and carefully began peeling away the moss around it—when suddenly:
—Shaaaaaah!
—Shaa!
Something shot toward them from behind the ginseng with a hiss. Jegal Hu recoiled in shock, raising his Iron Fan just in time.
—Kang!
Whatever struck the fan was invisible, yet blue sparks sprayed across its surface and a heavy shock jarred his arm—force enough to have shattered bone had he been less prepared.
"Kh!"
"Uncle! Are you unharmed?!"
"I am fine! Watch yourself—another comes!"
As his startled nephew rushed toward him, a second blue streak flashed between them.
—Chwaak!
—Kwaduk!
This time Jegal Hu was ready. He swung the Iron Fan and felt it shear through something solid.
—Shaaaaah!
A bizarre cry rang out, and something vanished into the undergrowth behind the rocks, leaving a trail of glittering blue droplets. Frost coated the surface of the Iron Fan; a piercing cold crept into Jegal Hu’s hand.
"What in the world was that?!"
His nephew, Judge’s Brush drawn, stared in alarm. His internal energy was still too shallow to have seen clearly, but the image remained vivid in Jegal Hu’s eyes.
"Lizards?"
"Lizards, you say?"
Yes—almost certainly two lizards had launched themselves at him without warning.
The information handed over by Jegal Hu, military advisor of the Murim Alliance, was sweet as honey.
Blue lizards!
That meant blue-colored lizards. Apparently they were venomous beasts that grew by devouring the energy of spiritual herbs—but honestly, that hardly mattered. What mattered was that they were lizards. And blue ones, no less.
Natural blue is rare enough in the wild that a blue lizard was the finest intelligence imaginable. On top of that, lizards are the most enjoyable creatures to breed: adorable, a pleasure to handle, and even when they bare their teeth in a snit they somehow look cuter still.
Better yet, the discovery site was near Mount Gongga in Sichuan—not far from here at all. Best of all, he had promised that any future discoveries of venomous creatures in the Central Plains would be reported to me without fail. Around here they call a generous, open-handed man a great hero; this man truly deserved the title.
A man of truly grand spirit.
The only regret was that, thanks to the Blood Sect bastards, I would not be free to leave the family grounds for some time. To go after the lizards I would probably need either my father-in-law to return or Grandfather to regain his freedom—whichever of them could accompany me.
Thus I was sitting in the pavilion of the Four-Harmony Courtyard, checking Bing’s antennae and wondering when Father-in-law might return, when a roar loud enough to shake all of Mount Tang split the air.
"So-ryong! Where is So-ryong?!"
Bing, coiled around my hand, jerked in surprise and flattened her antennae. Moments later my father-in-law charged into the Four-Harmony Courtyard—normally forbidden to all but direct bloodline—leading the Poison-Exterminating Squad behind him.
Perfect timing.
It seemed Father-in-law, who had gone out with the Poison-Exterminating Squad, had finally returned.