Going Home Isn't Easy
We headed for the Palace Lord's hall of the Nanman Beast Palace, where the Human-Faced Spider's neidan was said to be stored.
Along the way we ran into Ilhong and Neungsam, who spotted me and let out sighs of pure relief.
"Seriously, when I heard you'd been bitten by that poison fang… I was worried sick!"
Ilhong, especially, looked like she'd been through hell. Only after seeing my face did she finally start to calm down.
"You were worried?"
"Yes! Lady Dang looked so terrifying and kept saying it was dangerous, and she wouldn't even let me come nurse you… I thought, oh god, this is really bad."
Dang Yeohye had only been trying to protect my secret, but Ilhong had no way of knowing that. She'd been fretting herself into a panic, convinced my life was hanging by a thread.
Well. To be fair, it had been hanging by a thread for a while there.
Anyway, we caught up on everything as we made our way to the Palace Lord's hall.
The moment we approached, Palace Lord Maeng Hogon set down a wooden box that reeked of sharp, acrid poison, as if he'd been waiting for us.
"Take it already. The longer I keep this thing around, the more I feel like it's shaving years off my life."
For something supposedly so problematic, he was handing the neidan over without a fight. What was going on here?
"This is the precious neidan of the Human-Faced Spider. You sure you don't need it?"
"We're not the Five Poisons Sect or Poison Valley. We don't train poison arts. Swallow that and you'd just be risking your life."
He shook his head hard, pinched his nose against the stench, and waved us off. Take it and get out, already.
"Even if you gave it to me, I wouldn't know what to do with the damn thing. Why Dang Clan and Poison Valley people like this vile sludge is beyond me. Tsk tsk."
Couldn't have said it better myself. The world was full of delicious, enjoyable things, and yet there were people who scraped together every poison they could find and shoveled it down their throats.
I nodded in approval at the sight of an actual normal person in this poison-soaked region.
"Besides, you lot did most of the work taking down the Human-Faced Spider, didn't you? Asking why I'm not greedy for it is just silly."
He was satisfied enough, he said — he'd gotten the chance to avenge his wife. That was enough for him.
"Hyeol-ungmyo played a big part too. Oh, right — is she okay? She got stabbed by the poison fang."
"She's fine. Whined and groaned for a few days, then beat the poison and came out healthier than ever."
Her bulk and weight were nothing like a human's to begin with, and she'd grown up eating toxic things her whole life. Sheer stubbornness had carried her through. On top of that, she'd absorbed the Human-Faced Spider's concentrated venom straight into her body and come out even stronger for it.
"She finally got to fight a real rival for the first time in her life, and now she's completely hooked on martial training. Whenever she's bored she comes over, pokes me, and demands I teach her."
Raising her realm and studying martial arts with real passion. Before long, the Nanman might produce a terrifyingly powerful expert.
I pictured a kung-fu panda rampaging through the Central Plains, sweeping masters aside. Not a bad look, actually.
"Huh."
Kind of cool, maybe.
"Anyway, I'm leaving this box with you. Split it however you like."
Probably off to check on the kids. He shoved the neidan toward us and strode out of the palace.
"Everyone seems pretty satisfied overall, noona."
I glanced sideways at Dang Yeohye. So what exactly was the problem supposed to be?
"I can't take that."
Turns out the problem was Dang Yeohye's own conscience.
"Why not?"
She bit down hard on her lip.
"You're the one who actually took down the Human-Faced Spider. You even gave up the poison spring so I could save my father… and on top of that you threw yourself in the way and saved my life…"
In short, she'd already received far too much. She couldn't bring herself to take this too.
"I have a conscience too, Mujin. You take it. If we help you neutralize the poison, it'll still boost your internal energy some."
She shoved the wooden box — thick with poisonous aura — toward me.
If this had been gold or something, I would have said, "Oh my, you shouldn't have," and slipped it straight into my pocket. But this was not gold.
"I don't even practice poison arts. If I eat this, the efficiency is garbage, noona."
This was the condensed essence of the Human-Faced Spider's deadliest venom. A poison pill, basically. Force myself to neutralize and swallow it, and the efficiency would drop to less than half. Pure waste — especially with the most efficient option sitting right in front of me.
"I've got plenty of internal energy already."
I was walking around with a portable divine elixir called the Heavenly Killing Star inside me. Factor in the mountain of good deeds I'd racked up from this whole mess, and I could harvest a ridiculous amount of star energy. What I needed wasn't more internal energy. What I needed was enlightenment — a deeper understanding of martial arts, of the energy of heaven and earth, of internal power itself.
Because some old man had decided the best way to "teach" me martial arts was to beat the living hell out of me. Pure cram-school education. Thanks to that, my actual study of the martial path was critically lacking. I needed to rebalance that enlightenment before I could push into the next realm.
"If you're not going to eat it, just throw it away."
I gave the box a little shove like I was about to knock it off the table. Neungsam nearly had a heart attack. Of everyone locked in this bizarre game of "no, you take it," he was the only one still thinking straight.
"You're even giving up the neidan?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Then… then what am I supposed to do?"
What do you mean, what are you supposed to do? Just swallow the damn thing.
Dang Yeohye floundered, firing an absurd reverse-question back at me.
"No — doing this much for me… it's a first. Nobody's ever… Why are you even like this?"
She clutched her head and started grilling me, completely unable to process it. A woman far more familiar with other people's malice than their kindness.
"What are you even—"
While she stood there looking lost, Neungsam latched onto her like a dedicated bodyguard. Our conversation was going nowhere, and he clearly decided someone had to do something.
"My lady. My lady."
"Just squeeze your eyes shut and gulp it down."
That was Neungsam for you — pure pragmatism. No wonder he and I always got along.
"Hey, you bastard. Don't you have any sense of honor? I haven't even paid back the earlier debts, and now you want me to take on more—"
"Hoo. Listen carefully, my lady."
Looking thoroughly exasperated, he pressed right up to her ear and whispered advice in a low voice.
"Just… there's nothing to pay ba—… make it a done de—… ah…! ma!"
"Uung? Hwaak? Maa?"
That old man was definitely teaching her something weird.
He was stuffing ideas into a girl whose brain was pure and simple outside of her fighting-cock temper. I funneled internal energy into my ears to eavesdrop — and she immediately raised a thin veil of energy to block me.
"Oh, for the love of— these people."
Neungsam pointed at the box holding the poison pill and kept going.
"Community… debt or whatever… one body…"
"S-so if we become each other's… is that it?"
"Exactly th—"
"What the hell are these people talking about."
A sudden, indescribable sense of doom hit me. I reached for the box to snatch it myself — and Dang Yeohye's hand shot out like lightning, claiming the poison pill first.
"…I'll take it. And I'll repay this debt somehow. Any way I can."
Yeah. About that "somehow."
The ominous scraps of vocabulary I'd overheard between them made me narrow my eyes.
"Heh heh."
From a distance, Neungsam flashed me a big thumbs-up, as if to say, Leave it to me. I trusted that look about as far as I could throw a mountain.
The Human-Faced Spider's neidan had already been exposed to the open air for about a week. If we dragged it all the way back to the Dang Clan to refine it, there was a real risk it would go soft and become useless. So Dang Yeohye decided to do what she'd done with the Blood Night Boar's neidan — swallow it here, raw, no refinement.
"I'm eating it?"
She held up something that looked like a black pearl. Deadly poison to ordinary people. A peerless elixir to anyone who cultivated poison arts.
"Why are you looking at me for permission? Just eat it already."
As far as I was concerned, the internal energy I'd gain by giving it up would outweigh anything I'd get from eating it myself. I shrugged, telling her to do whatever she wanted.
She popped the pitch-black Human-Faced Spider neidan into her mouth, closed her eyes, and settled into a lotus position.
"Miss Ilhong, hand me the golden needles."
"Huh? Oh — yes."
After handling Dang Clan gear for so long, Ilhong had somehow become the default assistant. She passed over the sharp needles.
"My lady, from this moment on you must keep your mind sharp."
Following her meridians, Neungsam tapped golden needles into her back one after another, guiding the neidan's energy along its proper course. The Human-Faced Spider's power must have started racing through her body — Dang Yeohye's face twisted. Moments later, black fluid began dripping from her pale skin like poisoned sweat, soaking into the floor of the Palace Lord's hall.
"We can clean that up, but is Poison Claw Mountain Blood going to be all right?"
Palace Lord Maeng Hogon, who'd been watching the process with open interest, jerked his chin toward Dang Yeohye.
"Yes. The new poison is driving out the old and settling into her body. It won't take too long."
"Ahh…"
So the whole point was to lock an even stronger poison into her system. The more I heard, the happier I was that I hadn't eaten the thing. Judging by his expression, Maeng Hogon felt exactly the same — thoroughly appalled.
Drip. Drip.
The Human-Faced Spider's energy must have been no joke. Dang Yeohye was pouring cold sweat from every pore and bleeding freely from the nose. I'd heard that when she was little, locking poison into her body this same way had gone wrong — something had dug in deep and twisted her personality. So what would happen once the old poison was fully flushed and the new one took over? Would that foul-mouthed, fists-first temper of hers change at all?
I was watching her, turning those thoughts over, when—
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Far off in the village, an iron bell began to toll. Palace Lord Maeng Hogon shot to his feet.
"Palace Lord! Palace Lord!"
"What is it?!"
"Poison Valley! They're leading Peak Realm masters the likes of which we've never seen and setting the village on fire!"
I'd heard they were enemies, but I never thought they'd attack the village itself.
"Evacuate the children and bring Hyeol-ungmyo!"
Everyone in the Beast Palace snatched up weapons and ran. Their faces were grim, as if they were marching off to war.
"Hah. We were planning to leave tomorrow."
Poison Valley, crashing in at the absolute last possible moment. Still — hearing there were multiple Peak Realm experts in the mix made me glad we'd stuck around. I owed Maeng Pyo and Maeng Seol a life debt, and I'd grown a little fond of this village.
"Guess I'll go take a look too."
Multiple Peak Realm fighters. They'd come prepared. First-class and Second-class were one thing, but Peak Realm… how many could I handle alone?
"Young Master Dan Mujin."
Neungsam's voice came from behind me.
"My lady asks that you hold out for just one shichen."
Still seated in lotus position, eyes closed, Dang Yeohye had somehow managed to raise a single finger. The Blood Night Boar neidan must have helped — she was processing this one far faster than before.
"Honestly. Focus on melting that neidan into your body, will you?"
She should have been busy enough just guiding the energy. Apparently she'd been listening the whole time.
Then I felt it — something turbulent and serious churning inside her. Internal energy rolling and surging until it was leaking into the air around her. She wasn't just increasing her power. She was trying to break through a wall.
"Transcendental Peak Realm, is it?"
The threshold of the true absolute masters. Poison Valley trash had no business interrupting a moment like this.
"Leave it to this humble junior."
From far away came the crash of weapons. I tightened my grip on the Dog-Beating Staff and sprinted out of the Beast Palace.
"Poison Valley! It's Poison Valley!"
"Defend the village!"
Outside the Beast Palace, the battle was already raging. Flames leapt up on every side. I shot forward on Whirlwind Steps, and every time some nuisance crossed my path I swung the Dog-Beating Staff with everything I had. The battlefield was chaos, but my internal energy was more than abundant now — the staff was wrapped in a brilliant white radiance.
"This is heaven's decree to thrash mad dogs."
A Heavenly Killing Star standing in the Nanman, having mastered the Starfall Heart Method and gripping the Dog-Beating Staff.
Thud! Crunch!
Poison pellets came flying. I didn't even blink. I carved through the rotting tide like a holy blade, swinging the sacred Dog-Beating Staff as I advanced.
And somehow, even among these enemies all the way out in the distant Nanman, there were bastards who recognized me on sight.
"You— it can't be…!"
"Dog-Beating Dragon! Why the hell is that bastard here?!"
"You bastard! How far do you intend to interfere with the Blood Cult's affairs?!"
Someone was screaming at the top of their lungs.
"Interfere? What are you even talking about?"
They must have assumed I'd tracked them down on purpose. Helpful of them, really — outing their own identities for free.