The Scent of Civilization
Long ago, the Poison Valley had contended with the Sichuan Tang Clan for the title of the greatest poison masters under heaven.
But as the Tang Clan steadily established itself as a great house of Sichuan and won recognition as a pillar of the orthodox path, the Poison Valley was naturally forced into the shadows.
In sheer toxicity alone the Poison Valley still held the edge, yet its methods were judged too cruel and its manufacturing processes too unclean. All worldly renown flowed solely to the Tang Clan.
Poison is just poison. What more is there to say?
A man with a corpse-pale complexion smiled coldly and tilted a teacup steeped from poisonous herbs. A sharp, tingling bite prickled the tip of his tongue—a peculiar tea fragrance that only a poison master who had reached the realm of Ten Thousand Poisons Immunity could ever savor.
“So then. The delivery date is not yet upon us. Why have you come rushing to our valley in such haste?”
Jang Hon, Lord of the Poison Valley, drained the herbal brew as he put the question to his less-than-welcome guests.
They were Peak Realm masters who had journeyed from the Central Plains, red kerchiefs the color of blood wrapped about their heads, each radiating a blade-sharp killing intent.
“Why is production of the Yin-Yang Gu so delayed?”
“The Blood Sect Leader is most displeased.”
They were supposed to be partners, yet the Blood Sect experts opened with nothing but accusatory demands. At some point they had begun demanding ever greater quantities of deadly poisons and poison bombs; when those demands went unmet, their tempers flared.
“Delayed? I seem to recall that our Poison Valley has been delivering a steady quota all along.”
The Blood Sect was currently the force pouring the most support into the Poison Valley—and at the same time the most troublesome ally to deal with.
“It is not enough.”
“For the next stage of the great work, we require far more.”
A people whose true designs could never be guessed. He had heard they once went mad over something and committed all manner of bizarre acts.
“Why the sudden urgency? Is it the aftermath of the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering? Word reached me that you took a thorough thrashing from that Dog-something-or-other.”
At the mention of the Blood Sect’s sore spot, the experts’ faces hardened and a murderous aura poured from them.
“Dog-Beating Dragon… Grrrk.”
“We merely let our guard down.”
They ground their teeth, hostility rising toward a certain someone. That Dog-Beating Dragon, or whatever he was called, had clearly landed a solid blow on the Blood Sect.
“Hmm. Let your guard down, you say.”
The Valley Lord looked down at the teacup that had already gone lukewarm.
“We need at least double the Gu. And the ‘item’ we discussed last time, as well as the Corpse Poison—the same applies to both.”
The demands kept mounting. And that item, plus Corpse Poison… This was no Pearl-Treasures Market. Did they mean to raise something from the dead?
“We trust it will be possible.”
From the way they spoke, the failed grand scheme had left the Blood Sect thoroughly desperate. Such frantic demands for increased production…
If I play this right, I might seize this chance to obtain what I have long desired.
In the end, they were the ones in a hurry. Another’s crisis was always one’s own opportunity.
A crafty smile curled at the corners of Valley Lord Jang Hon’s mouth.
“As I said a moment ago, our Poison Valley’s output is already strained to the limit. We cannot raise it further.”
“You will find a way. What in this world is truly impossible?”
“Increase it somehow, Valley Lord Jang Hon.”
The Blood Sect masters shoved their will forward with brute insistence.
“It is not so simple. Certain pests have been interfering; that is why we cannot expand production beyond this.”
Like an angler threading bait onto a hook, Jang Hon began to speak with a subtle, calculating expression.
“What pests…?”
At the word “interference,” the Blood Sect experts asked with chilly faces.
“Most of the materials for Yin-Yang Gu and our deadliest poisons are harvested from Akgui Mountain. The trouble is, that mountain lies within the territory of the Nanman Beast Palace—those bothersome people who command wild beasts.”
They were the power of the Miao tribes who had coiled themselves through these southern lands long before the Poison Valley ever existed. Racing through mountains and jungle as if they owned them, constantly disrupting the gathering of toxic materials, they had been a perpetual headache.
“If those people could somehow be dealt with, I believe our production could rise far higher than it is now.”
“……How much higher?”
“If we could harvest toxic materials freely without interference, perhaps double—or even triple—our current yield would be possible.”
They were a force that had ground endlessly against the Poison Valley. Their territories overlapped, and each side had at times used the other as poison test subjects or as fodder for beasts. Calling them mortal enemies was almost an understatement.
“Therefore, if you wish production increased, you gentlemen will have to lend a hand.”
“……Hmm.”
The Blood Sect experts exchanged glances beneath their crimson kerchiefs. They whispered among themselves for a while through transmission, then one of them spoke as representative.
“Triple is possible, you claim. Are you certain?”
“Of course—provided you help us strike the Nanman Beast Palace together.”
Whether the rumors were true that the Blood Sect ground human flesh into masters, three Peak Realm experts stood before him among their number alone. The lesser Blood Sect followers who had come with them also carried no small presence.
Ordinarily they had always been driven back in every clash by that huge red panda-beast whose hide no poison could pierce. But if these men joined the fray, the story would change.
Perhaps this time they could finally drive those reeking barbarian tribes from the southern wilds for good.
“……Very well. We will help.”
“But the promise you just made must be kept.”
Hearing that the Beast Palace possessed no particularly notable masters aside from the Palace Lord himself, the Blood Sect men nodded and agreed to lend their strength.
Jang Hon shot to his feet, face bright with delight.
“Naturally the earlier promise will be kept. A wise decision.”
Now we could not lose even if we wanted to.
Come to think of it, there was no need for so many sects to clutter a poison-soaked hinterland like this. One was more than enough.
“Heh heh. We shall gather our own numbers as well.”
In short, the hour had come for the Nanman Beast Palace to vanish from the southern wilds at last.
“Oppa’s eating habits are pretty much the same as our Hyeol-ungmyo’s.”
I was starving half to death, yet this damn southern wilds—whether flatland or mountain range—was so choked with brush and undergrowth that I could never get up to speed. All the way toward the village I had been picking and eating mushrooms, tree bark, berries, and insects. Maeng Seol, who had been watching me the whole time, spoke up as if fascinated.
“You’re saying I eat like that beast… no, like the delicate Hyeol-ungmyo?”
I pointed at the blood-red creature—massive frame, deceptively mild expression, yet fangs and claws that no predator could hide. One look told you it could shred a person without effort. My face asked exactly what was supposed to be similar.
“You’ve only been picking the poisonous ones to eat this whole time.”
As if I had done it on purpose. Around here the ordinary stuff and the toxic stuff looked almost identical; I had simply shoveled whatever I found into my mouth.
“Then you could have warned me before I ate it.”
“But…”
“You wanted to keep watching because it was interesting, right?”
They were cut from the same cloth as Dang Yeohye. Anyone who spent too much time around poison ended up with a slightly twisted personality.
“Kuheung…? Kuheooaagh!”
Just then Hyeol-ungmyo spotted something among the greenery and shot forward like a raging torrent. She smashed everything in her path, then leapt skyward as lightly as a swallow over water.
Squeeeal! Squeeee!
Beyond the shattered brush and swirling dust came the pitiful death cry of some wild beast. Steadying my startled heart, I approached and found a sizable wild boar hanging limp from Hyeol-ungmyo’s jaws.
“……That boar looks familiar.”
Blood-red fur and hide, massive bulk—there was no doubt it was the same Blood Boar I had once seen near Black Pine Ridge. Back then we had turned the whole district upside down hunting one of the things; here it simply strolled out like any other mountain animal.
Crunch. Crack.
Hyeol-ungmyo was already separating bone from flesh and devouring her kill. She took the prey with savage gusto, bones and all. Then she popped the Blood Boar’s toxic inner core into her mouth as casually as a piece of candy—the same core that had left Dang Yeohye unable to move for ages while she digested it. Covered in gore, Hyeol-ungmyo wore a bright, blissful expression, clearly savoring the poison spreading through her body.
“Kids, that panda doesn’t, uh… bite people, does she?”
At first I had felt a little fond of her for saving me, but the longer I watched the more savage she looked. I was never, ever going to mess with her.
“Probably not?”
“At least she never bit us.”
Probably? Answers that shaky only make me more nervous, kids.
I swallowed hard as I watched the Blood Boar’s head split cleanly in two and drop. She had finished her meal in the blink of an eye.
“Looks like Hyeol-ungmyo’s recovered her strength.”
“She says she can give hyung a ride now too.”
The little ones called down from their perches on Hyeol-ungmyo’s broad shoulders. As if to prove the words true, the beast lowered her body and made a clear gesture for me to climb on.
“Honestly, hyung, you’re way too slow.”
“Once you’re up on her back it’s crazy fast.”
I had thought I was blazing a decent trail with the Dog-Beating Staff, but in the eyes of the kids who lived here I had been painfully inadequate.
“Father told us to be back before sunset.”
“At this rate we might be late. So ride with us, oppa.”
Hearing only their voices, they sounded like ordinary neighborhood kids fretting about getting scolded by their parents.
“What does your father do in the village, anyway?”
The head of a household that kept a beast like this could hardly be ordinary.
“He’s the Palace Lord of the Nanman Beast Palace.”
“His name is Maeng Hogwon.”
“……Right. I kind of figured.”
No wonder they had grown up without a single wrinkle of care. These kids were the Palace Lord’s children.
“Come on. Hurry.”
“Hyeol-ungmyo says she’s getting bored waiting.”
Two scarlet eyes fixed on me, back fully spread as if asking whether I intended to ride or not. The pandas I had seen in zoos had been so cute…
“……Pardon the intrusion.”
“Kuheuheung!”
I carefully climbed onto her back and gripped the stiff fur. With two children on her shoulders and one grown man on her back, Hyeol-ungmyo heaved herself upright.
Thud-thud-thud!
Heavy footfalls thundered. With her house-sized body and vicious claws she began to charge, smashing everything in her path without the slightest hesitation.
“Kuheoooaang!”
Like a war chariot flattening minor obstacles, the dense jungle greenery crumpled helplessly before Hyeol-ungmyo’s bulk and monstrous strength. The speed was on an entirely different level from the sweat-soaked trail-blazing I had been doing earlier.
“How is it, oppa? Fast, right?”
“Our Hyeol-ungmyo’s the best, right, hyung?”
Proud little voices rose from either side of me. And they had every right to sound that way. If I had a living tank like this in my own family, I would have bragged about her all over town too.
“Kuheooang!”
She raced up the mountainside at terrifying speed, then cleared a small hill with an unbelievable leap.
Boom!
The landscape that opened with the landing made me suck in a startled breath. What I had taken for a hill was actually the raised outer wall of a basin; inside lay a broad plain and a village of quite considerable size.
Houses of stone and timber standing in harmony. People peacefully tilling their fields. In the heart of the jungle, the scent of civilization.
“This is the Nanman Beast Palace.”
“Welcome.”
The twins seemed delighted by my astonishment and were about to launch into a full tour of the village when—
“Oh my, isn’t that Maeng Pyo and Maeng Seol? Where have you two been? Off playing in the mountains again without a word?”
A passing village woman spotted Hyeol-ungmyo and immediately began scolding the pair as if this were a familiar routine. To the people of this village, the enormous beast was nothing out of the ordinary.
“These days the Poison Valley has been stirring up trouble, so you really need to be more caref—”
Mid-reprimand she noticed me riding on Hyeol-ungmyo’s back, and her face went rigid.
“Who… are you?”
“An outsider.”
“We picked him up on the way.”
Kids will be kids—they made me sound like a lost piece of luggage.
“…….”
The woman’s expression grew grave. She backed away a few steps, then spun around and sprinted off somewhere at full tilt.
This felt a little ominous.
“Kids… we’re going to be okay, right?”
“Probably?”
“We can’t really be sure.”
Unconvincing answers drifted in from both sides.
I mean it, kids—those kinds of answers make me nervous.