Countercharge
When a Transcendental Peak master joined the fray, the battle ended in an instant.
Dang Yeohye's martial prowess was nothing short of overwhelming. Dark green light flashed in her eyes as she swung both hands like a rakshasa, and Peak Realm masters collapsed one after another, screaming and coughing blood.
Watching that spectacle, I felt a tickle stir in a corner of my chest—exactly the same as when I had witnessed Jo Harang's Peak Realm awakening.
I want to reach the Transcendental Peak Realm.
But my enlightenment was still lacking. It felt like groping through a fog whose true substance I could not even grasp, always just out of reach. Still, someday I would surmount this wall. After all, a woman had just walked that path right in front of me today, as if to show me the way.
"So… how was it?"
And there was Dang Yeohye, covered head to toe in blood during the post-battle cleanup, suddenly dropping that question on me.
"It seems Big Sister's martial arts have reached their pinnacle. This little brother Dan Mujin is deeply moved."
Sensing she wanted praise, I laid it on thick with formal flattery.
"…Hey, that's not what I meant."
Was that not enough?
"And your poison qi manipulation just now was truly befitting a prodigy of the Tang Clan…"
"No, not that stuff, you idiot!"
I tilted my head at her flare-up, wondering what else she wanted to hear.
"Me, you know—don't I look different?"
"…Huh?"
I flinched hard at a question I had heard more than a few times back on modern Earth. The kind of question where a wrong answer could land you in serious trouble.
"Look carefully. There should be some difference."
I quickly scanned her from head to toe. Beside me, Neungsam tried to mouth some advice, but I could not make it out. He pointed to two finger joints, then pointed at the top of his head. What on earth was that supposed to mean?
"…I grew taller, my height! How do you not notice that?"
Ah, so that was it. After consuming the Face Spider's inner core and purging the poison that had caused her side effects, some physical change had apparently occurred. Though I had to wonder if that was really the kind of thing you asked right after mowing people down in droves. Well, for someone who had suffered a lifelong complex over her small stature, it was a big deal.
"I grew by two finger joints. How about it? Doesn't this big sister look even more mature?"
She said it while straightening her back proudly.
"Doesn't seem like much of a difference to me."
Dan Mujin's specialty: saying what needed saying even if it killed him.
Thud!
Her short leg kicked my shin.
"You little—your damn mouth is the real problem! Not a shred of delicacy in you!"
A surprise low kick from a Transcendental Peak master. But she had held back her strength, so it did not hurt much. She huffed and puffed, telling me I had a weird personality. I was only following the example of Uncle Neungsam, who said his piece even while getting smacked.
"Boss, seriously, you don't understand a woman's heart."
Ilhong had sidled up at some point to add her two cents.
"Is that something a guy should be saying?"
"…"
I shot down the cross-dressing girl spouting nonsense, then turned back to Dang Yeohye.
"So that's all? You just came over to ask if you'd matured?"
I was still recovering from the aftermath of a battle that had left me full of holes, after all. Plus, I was still searching for a clue to the next realm in the afterglow of witnessing Transcendental Peak martial arts firsthand.
"No? While chasing the stragglers, I caught the bastard who almost killed you."
"…What?"
She pointed to a human-shaped bundle she had dumped not far away. Apparently she had been chasing fleeing remnants of the Blood Cult and Poison Valley, sensed someone hiding in the forest to observe, and captured them. Trying to hide even from a Transcendental Peak master's sensory perception—maybe a Peak Realm martial artist could pull it off, but…
"What kind of guy is this?"
The fact that he had only been watching instead of joining the fight was suspicious too. With a puzzled look, I pulled back the wrapping. Revealing a suspicious outfit covered entirely in black.
"Oh, Boss! That's the guy we saw on the bridge that time!"
The crazy black-clad man whose legs I had snapped clean off was thrashing around going "mmph mmph!"
Where there is meeting, there is also parting.
We had secured our original goal—the Face Spider's poison spring—and as a bonus wrecked the Blood Cult too, so there was no reason to stay here any longer. As we packed up the provisions and long-distance travel gear prepared at the Nanman Beast Palace, Palace Lord Maeng Hogon approached with a bittersweet expression.
"There was a time I really wondered how things would turn out."
Having eliminated the Palace's greatest worries—Poison Valley and the Face Spider—at the same time, he seized my hand with a look of great relief.
"Looking back now, bringing you to the village was heaven-sent fortune. Instead of scolding those kids, I should have praised them."
Contact with outsiders had mostly brought only wounds, but starting with this incident, Maeng Hogon's thinking on that had clearly changed.
"Hyeol-ungmyo is the one who fished me out, so please praise her too."
"You're right. Maybe being a spirit beast really gave her an eye for people…"
He had thought she was only good at smashing things.
"Kuheung kuheung."
Hyeol-ungmyo thumped her chest with a proud look. The Palace Lord let out a hollow laugh.
"Anyway, I can't send the Palace's benefactor away empty-handed. I have a gift for you."
He handed me an iron box with a peculiar locking mechanism.
"What is this?"
"Face Spider Silk harvested from that cave."
"Face Spider Silk…?"
Face Spider Silk. From the name alone, it was clearly related to the Face Spider. Ilhong, who was packing nearby, solved my curiosity for me.
"Boss, you know about Heavenly Silkworm Silk, right?"
"That I know."
I had heard the guys at the sericulture facility mention it as a joke a few times while working. Silk spun by a silkworm spirit beast called the Heavenly Silkworm. Weave it into cloth and it becomes impervious to blades, even capable of blocking sword qi, or so they said. What they made from it was called Heavenly Silkworm Treasure Robes—worn by the emperor, I had heard.
"This is inferior to that, but it's silk made by cutting open a Face Spider's belly, extracting the web, and removing the toxicity."
It was still quite tough and durable, and so hard to obtain that the seller could name their price. In other words, Palace Lord Maeng Hogon was casually gifting me a treasure money alone could not easily buy.
"Thank you, Palace Lord Maeng Hogon."
"I should be the one thanking you. In a city the size of Beijing, there should be a skilled enough artisan to weave this into cloth. Look into it when you get the chance."
Make clothes from this and there would be nothing to fear. I knew better than anyone how tough and resilient this silk was—I had nearly had a heart attack when it seized my ankle.
"And if you ever pass through Nanman again, stop by anytime. The Nanman Beast Palace will always welcome you with open arms."
My chest grew warm with a swelling sense of pride and accumulated good karma. It had not been easy to get close, but once he had opened his heart, Palace Lord Maeng Hogon offered deep trust.
"Big bro."
"Oppa."
Maeng Pyo and Maeng Seol had also come to see me off. The two little ones from the Beast Palace wore glum faces at the news of our parting.
"Big bro, you have to come back."
"We'll wait until you come."
Their whining brought a smile to my lips unbidden. They were a bit cheeky, but it felt like looking at cute little nephews and nieces.
"If I ever head south, I'll be sure to stop by. And if you ever come north, make sure you visit my office in Beijing."
I roughly sketched the area where our shop was on a sheet of paper for them. The kids nodded, promising they definitely would.
"We'll definitely go."
"'Cause we're gonna grow up fast and head into the jianghu."
"Yeah, yeah. When we meet, I'll buy you a meal."
Let's grab a meal someday. I exchanged that classic open-ended Korean farewell with the kids.
"I hear Beijing cuisine is really fancy? Looking forward to it."
"You got it."
We might meet again when they made their jianghu debut. I waved to them.
"Kuheuwong."
And finally, I bid farewell to the bright red panda who had pulled me from the river.
"You're way better than any Bao."
Not just cute—she even saved people. Plus she could use martial arts. A versatile bear-cat if there ever was one.
"Kuheung. Kueung."
Apparently noticing my farewell, she even took a martial salute like a person. When the hell had someone taught her that? Maybe she really did understand everything we said.
"Let's go, Mujin! To our home in Sichuan!"
The moment I had finished my goodbyes, Dang Yeohye snatched my left arm as if she had been waiting for it. With the Face Spider's poison spring in hand—the key to balancing the poisons and restoring her father—her strides were long and unburdened.
"Boss, just so you know, 'our home' is Beijing."
And then Ilhong snatched my remaining right arm. They each pulled my arms toward themselves as they walked. Both were trained martial artists, so it felt like my arms were about to be torn off. So this was what they meant by a burden in both hands.
Anyway, I even hoisted the two of them up as I waved, leaving the Nanman Beast Palace behind.
"Big bro! Next time you really have to buy us that meal!"
"You have to!"
It was farewell to the long jungle.
We retraced the exact path we had taken into Nanman. We walked and walked as the seasons changed, until at last the majestic walls of Sichuan Province came into view.
When we had left this place, we had been penniless castoffs driven out of the Sichuan Tang Family Manor. Now we were returning with a Transcendental Peak Realm breakthrough, the tough and durable Face Spider Silk, and the Face Spider's poison spring. Our clothes were a mess and we were filthy rather than clad in silks, so it was not exactly a glorious homecoming in brocade—but we could roughly call it a homecoming in poison robes.
"Ilhong, still worth the trip, right?"
"No. From now on I won't even piss in a southern direction."
"…"
Having spent so long disguised as a man, she sometimes came out with completely unhinged lines. I needed to overthrow the Haomu Gate soon so she could drop the disguise.
Anyway, we grumbled our way to the entrance of the Sichuan Tang Family Manor, which wielded enormous wealth and influence.
"Clan Head Dang Yangcheon is inside, right? I need to see him, so move."
She tried to barge in by flashing her well-known face instead of an identity token at the gatekeepers.
Clack.
The two gatekeepers insolently crossed their spears and blocked her entry.
"…Shit, what the hell do you think you're doing?!"
When Dang Yeohye glared at them, the gatekeepers—who clearly knew her temper—opened their mouths while trembling.
"F-forgive our impertinence, but…"
"The Young Master has forbidden Young Lady Dang Yeohye and her party from entering under any circumstances."
In other words, the Young Master had abused his authority to bar her even from her own home.
"Don't give me that bullshit. He's not even the Clan Head—what authority does a Young Master have to stop me—"
"Most of the Tang Clan's elders have agreed to this as well."
"…"
Apparently Dang Ak had put surveillance on us and roughly figured out why we had gone to Nanman. And seeing us return safely, he had concluded we had succeeded.
"Dang Ak, that goddamn bastard…"
We ground our teeth and returned to our lodging. Not the clean and luxurious quarters of the Tang Clan, but a smelly, shabby room at a nearby inn that cost a single silver coin.
"Uuurgh."
And true to a shabby inn, a thoroughly beaten black-clad man also lay sprawled on the floor. Dang Yeohye had personally and thoroughly demonstrated her temper to the guy after he refused to spill the necessary information.
"According to the info that bastard coughed up, Father Dang Yangcheon is locked away tight in the Main Hall."
"Mmph!"
The black-clad man, his eyes swollen into black plums, nodded frantically as if begging not to be hit again. Judging by that desperation, the information was probably true.
"So what's the problem?"
"Too many guards. Peak Realm and above, at that. There are also blood relatives of the Tang Clan—if we force our way in…"
She was worried about the clan's opinion, and the idea of smashing her own house and reverse-charging in instead of defending it clearly did not sit well with her.
"We got the poison spring and we're right here—and of all times…"
Like sticking your nose in a perfectly cooked meal, huh. I shrugged beside her and spoke up.
"Let's just hop the wall, Big Sis."
"You want us to smash the house and beat down every member of our own clan just to force our way in?"
What was the big deal? As long as we succeeded and woke the Clan Head, it was our win, right?
"Big Sis, you know this saying?"
"…What saying?"
"Succeed and it's a revolution. Fail and it's treason."
I said it while resting my staff—its covering still in place—casually on my shoulder.
"Let's countercharge into Big Sis's house."