Homecoming
On the road back to Sichuan, I was wrestling with one serious problem.
Now that I had the Ice Jade, I needed to go fetch the stone lizards—but the real question was how to plan the journey.
Nonstop? Or drop by the Tang Family first?
Stopping at the Tang Family would only waste more time, so the sensible move was to head straight to where the stone lizards were waiting. The catch was Yo-hwa.
Would she even hold up through a longer trip? And more than that—she was the smartest venomous creature I had ever handled. How would she take being left behind while I ran off somewhere?
Bringing her along worried me. Leaving her behind worried me just as much. She still had not settled into the Tang Family at all, and I would have to abandon her alone for nearly ten days.
So I was stuck—too awkward to go straight for the lizards, too uneasy to leave Yo-hwa behind.
In my past life I had raised so many creatures at home that vacations were a fantasy. Here the details were different, but the headache felt exactly the same.
What else can I do? This is all on me.
I was still turning the schedule over in my head, standing watch over Yo-hwa under her cloth cover on the boat deck, when our ship put in briefly at Wuhan. The passengers who came aboard brought the latest news with them.
"I hear the Alliance Leader personally led the Azure Dragon Squad out this time?"
"Ah, so you heard too. The Blood Cult dogs they raided near Wuhan last time spilled the location of another base under questioning."
It looked like the fight with the Blood Cult was about to heat up.
In other words, the Tang Family and the Poisonous Creature Squad were about to get a lot busier.
We would need plenty of poison, after all.
And it also meant things could get dangerous.
The hotter the war with the Blood Cult burned, the harder it would be to leave the compound. That much was obvious.
I decided then and there to check Yo-hwa thoroughly and, while I was already out, take care of the stone lizards as well. That was when the conversation beside me continued.
"By the way, when they hit that base near Wuhan last time, the casualties were almost zero. You hear why?"
"Why?"
"Someone made an energy-dispersing poison that only works on Blood Cult scum."
That's me.
My ears pricked up at the sudden mention of my own work. I leaned in to listen.
This was basically live comment spam in real time.
"A poison that only works on the Blood Cult?!"
"Exactly. From what I heard, once they take it, those Blood Cult dogs can't move a muscle. They turn into frogs in front of a snake, just waiting to die."
"My word! Then that's one hell of a poison, isn't it? We're paying the Central Plains murim back in full for everything we suffered in the Blood Cult Blood Chaos. So which gallant hero discovered such a thing? A hero of the murim, no less!"
"Oh, he's a hero all right."
Not a single hate comment—nothing but pure praise.
Being called a hero made my face heat up for no good reason.
I glanced sideways and caught the Poisonous Creature Squad, Commander Gu Pae, and Big Sister all listening with satisfied little smiles and nodding along.
"So who was it?"
"Well, the Alliance is keeping his identity quiet—said he was a young junior hero and they didn't want the Blood Cult targeting him."
"If a young junior pulled off something that big, of course they should protect him. I can't wait for the day his name comes out. Doing great deeds at that age—imagine how big he'll be later. If you hear anything more about that junior, you tell me right away."
"Need you ask? I don't know who he is, but I've already decided to respect the man."
Huff. Is this a subscribe-and-like button?
After the flood of praise, people were basically hitting subscribe and like on my accomplishments.
I started wondering just how many follows and likes a person could rack up in this world.
Contrary to my worries, Yo-hwa adapted to travel faster than I expected.
I had been afraid her condition might suddenly tank, but she took yang energy just fine, turned out surprisingly affectionate, and followed instructions well.
The only real problem was that she was a picky eater when it came to yang energy.
What I mean is, she would not just take any yang energy.
The old man had spent nearly his whole life feeding her his alone, so she flat-out refused anyone else's under normal circumstances.
Looking back on everything so far, when she was truly starving she would go so far as to force yang energy out of other people, but day-to-day she was a picky little princess. That was the natural conclusion.
Aside from that, though, nothing went wrong, and we reached our destination—Mount Gongga—without further trouble.
-Kwaaaaaaah!
A massive waterfall thundered down in a violent curtain of water. Beyond the white mist rising where the torrent smashed into the pool below, I pointed up at the cliff and called out.
"Your friends are up there, Yo-hwa!"
-Kish?
Yo-hwa tilted her head at the news that friends were waiting. We had grown fairly close on the road, so I started to reach out and ruffle her cute head—then flinched and stroked the pedipalps that now looked like Big Sister's instead.
The reason I petted the mimicked head rather than her real one was simple: after Yo-hwa started taking Big Sister's form, Big Sister had made it very clear she did not like hands going between the legs.
It was only the calf, barefoot and all, but around here even that counted as ridiculously indecent?
It was not her actual body, yet it felt enough like her own that she got embarrassed. Nothing I could do about it.
Portrait rights had to be respected, after all.
After giving Yo-hwa her pets, I looked across the cliff and spoke.
"I don't think I can make the crossing myself. Lady Hwa-eun, Commander—would you go fetch the children?"
I should have gone myself, but the reason I asked Big Sister and the Commander to bring the stone lizards was that this time Family Head Peng was not here to hurl me to the other side.
Getting over there required a double-jump, and my light-body skill was not at that level yet.
Then the doubts started flying.
"Will they even follow us without So-ryong?"
"Then should we try stringing a kudzu vine across?"
Worries about whether the kids would listen without me, plus Commander Gu Pae's suggestion of hanging a vine across the gap—while all those concerns were bouncing around, a startled cry from one of the Poisonous Creature Squad warriors cut through the roar of the falls.
"Hah!"
The warrior's voice sucked in a sharp breath of pure shock.
We all turned toward the sound at once. The man was pointing across the cliff with wide eyes.
I followed his finger—and found Yo-hwa already stuck to the cliff face like a magnet.
"Hah! Y-Yo-hwa! How did you even get up there?! Come down!"
Of course the same reaction burst out of me that had come from the warrior.
No—if anything I shouted even louder, terrified she might get hurt.
But my cry did nothing. Yo-hwa scrambled up the cliff at high speed, anchored a thread to the fist-shaped rock I had pointed out, and then simply launched herself back this way.
A long silk line trailed from Yo-hwa's rear like a bungee cord. The thread she had spun fluttered through the air like Big Sister's hair, and Yo-hwa rode the wind as gently as a feather, gliding straight across the river and passing right over my head.
Yo-hwa, you're a spider after all—of course you can fly!
Awe exploded through me at the sight of Yo-hwa in flight.
Most people never realize it, but spiders can fly even without wings. They have no wings, yet they can ride the wind for tens or even hundreds of kilometers. That ability is called ballooning.
Apparently Yo-hwa had the same gift.
My gaze drifted after her in a daze.
Spider flight was simply too beautiful.
-Kishit!
Yo-hwa landed as lightly as a feather a short distance away, then scuttled right up to me and offered her head as if begging for praise.
Needing yang energy to live was unusual, her venom was only a paralytic and not especially strong, and her pheromone ability was surprisingly potent—but throughout the whole trip she had been so gentle. I had wondered why a creature like her ranked among the Ten Great Poisons. Now that I had seen a body light and tough enough to ride the wind, it made perfect sense that she belonged on that list.
The reason living things stop growing past a certain size is that beyond that point they can no longer support their own weight. For a spider of Yo-hwa's bulk to take to the sky meant she was extraordinarily light and her body strength was extraordinarily high.
"Yo-hwa!"
-Ki, kish!?
"S-So-ryong. This is embarrassing, so please… It feels like I'm the one being hugged."
I had scooped Yo-hwa up in pure delight at her incredible ability, only for Big Sister to stop me. Once she had calmed down, the two of us clung to Yo-hwa and rode her silk line across the river and up onto the cliff.
"Lady, would you look after the kids for a moment?"
"All right, So-ryong."
I left the little ones with Big Sister at the cave mouth and hurried inside, racing toward the stone lizards' nest.
How far had I traveled just to secure their food?
The adoption preparations were finished. All that remained was the adoption itself.
My heart hammered. That moment right before you bring the animals home—when you finally get to see them—is always the most thrilling part. Even in my past life, the most exciting stage of adopting a creature had always been after the enclosure and environment were ready, the feeding plan locked in, and you were finally on your way to pick them up.
-Kyaaahk!
-Kyaaa!
As I approached their den at a quick pace, warning cries rose at the sound of my footsteps. The familiar alarms filled me with pure joy, and I plunged into the thick undergrowth.
"Kids!"
The moment I pushed through the brush and revealed myself with my voice, the two of them—who had been coiled tight—snapped their eyes wide open.
My reflection filled their clear little orbs, and cute startled chirps spilled from their mouths.
-Gukku!
-Ku!
The two of them stretched their necks out as far as they would go, double-checking that it really was me. Then both stone lizards shot through the grass like dogs greeting their owner home from work and launched themselves into my arms exactly like puppies.
-Gukku!
-Kuuuuu!
It sounded an awful lot like they were complaining about how late I was. Still holding them close, I pulled the Ice Jade from my robes and offered it while I spoke.
"Kids, come with me. I can take care of you properly now. What do you say?"
-Kuu!
-Kuku!
The two of them licked my cheeks over and over like dogs. Taking that as a yes, I told them,
"Then from now on you're Bing-i, and you're Seol-i. Let's take good care of each other, okay?"
I finally got to give them the names I had chosen ages ago and call them out loud.
In the dead of night we arrived at the Nine True Gates of the Tang Family. The Tang warriors' eyes went round the instant they saw us.
"A-a young lady… two of them?!"
"How are there two young ladies?!"
Yesterday when I fed her yang energy she had briefly sprouted lizard scales and given me a scare, but now Yo-hwa looked exactly like Big Sister again. The warriors' shocked voices rose at the sight of her.
Two Big Sisters appearing out of the darkness all of a sudden was clearly more than they could process.
In the dark her rear half was still hidden, so it really did look like two identical sisters standing there. Only when the lantern light slowly revealed every part of Yo-hwa did the warriors cry out again in fresh astonishment.
"Huuuh! Looking closer—that's a spider wearing the young lady's face!"
"A spider!"
I answered the disbelieving warriors with complete confidence.
By bringing Yo-hwa home, I was now a proper son-in-law of this house.
Thanks to the promise I had made with Big Sister, I no longer needed to watch anyone's face.
So I could declare it loud and clear.
"Would you kindly inform the elders of the family that the Tang Family's proud official son-in-law has captured—no, brought home—one of the Ten Great Poisons?"
"O-one of the Ten Great Poisons?!"
I turned my head and found Big Sister's face dyed bright red under the lantern light. She was covering her nose with her sleeve, looking like she had no idea what to do with her embarrassment.
Our Hwa-eun is so cute.
I tore my eyes away from her flustered face and looked up at Tang Family Mountain.
This was truly my home and my wife's family now.
Even in the middle of the night, the news that the son-in-law had brought back one of the Ten Great Poisons spread across the entire mountain in an instant.
How could I tell? Because I could watch the news travel in real time with my own eyes.
Lights that had been dark across Tang Family Mountain flared one after another.
Soon countless lanterns blazed, turning the whole mountain into a glittering field of light. Moments later the people of the Tang Family came pouring out to praise the achievement of the son-in-law who had brought home one of the Ten Great Poisons.