Eve, Psyche, and the Daughter of the Sichuan Tang Clan (1)
"Hyah!"
Thud-thud-thud-thud...!
This was honestly the first time in my entire life—including my past one—that I had ridden a horse at a full, desperate gallop.
Thud-thud-thud-thud...!
My butt was killing me. Seriously. Was everyone else's backside made of Myriad Year Cold Iron? They didn't show even a hint of pain, completely focused on charging forward.
"I thought you said you hadn't ridden much?"
Seonwoo Seol, who was riding with a perfectly serene expression just like the Tang Clan warriors galloping alongside us, asked as she saw me grimacing in agony.
"I struggled for about half an hour back there."
"Is that why you've been scowling this whole time?"
"My thighs are one thing, but my butt is..."
"Just bear with it a little longer. The Murim Alliance post station is just ahead."
Seonwoo Seol, who clearly had far more equestrian experience than me, looked completely at ease. I guess even for martial artists who could leap across rooftops with lightfoot techniques, horseback riding was still a mandatory basic skill. If I hadn't taken those riding lessons holding my mom's hand when I was a kid, I probably would have ended up clinging to Seonwoo Seol's back.
...Wait.
Actually, would that have been better? No, no. Even so, people out there called me the Three-Virtue Chef. It would look a bit pathetic for me to be clinging to Seonwoo Seol's waist like a lost puppy.
After what felt like an eternity of riding, we finally arrived at the Murim Alliance post station. There, we spotted the Tang Clan warriors and Murim Alliance representatives who had been waiting for us.
The moment I dismounted, I instinctively reached back to soothe my aching backside, only for Seonwoo Seol to sharply slap my arm away.
"Why'd you do that?"
"Look over there!" Seonwoo Seol whispered, gesturing with her eyes.
Standing a short distance away was Dang Mieon, the Poison Dragon, talking to someone with his hands clasped behind his back. Ah, she was telling me to stop rubbing my butt and go greet him since he was nearby.
"Senior Poison Dragon."
"Ah, Chef Yoon."
"I never dreamed we'd meet again so soon."
Under normal circumstances, he would have welcomed me with a warm smile, but given the gravity of the situation, Dang Mieon greeted me with a deeply troubled expression.
"Have you been briefed on the situation?"
"I heard the gist of it on our way here."
Honestly, it wasn't a particularly grand tale. The two of them had set out to capture a rare, venomous python near Hebei. But then they heard a rumor in some village about a 'purple monkey' and ventured deep into an uninhabited mountain to catch it instead. Normally, one would think such a rumor required thorough investigation first, but both of them were greenhorns who had only recently stepped into the martial world.
"It's a relief I had Hanseok pack some preserved rations and misu before they left."
"Misu? What is that?"
"It's a powder made from roasted and ground grains mixed with sugar. Just half a cup of it mixed with water is enough to make a hearty, filling meal."
"Ah. So it is a type of survival ration. Roughly how many days' worth did you give them?"
"Enough to easily last the two of them for about a week."
"That is indeed a massive relief."
Dang Mieon added that the last known trace of them was at a village about ten li away, where they had restocked their supplies before heading into the mountains. Even if the Ten-Thousand-Li Tracking Incense was a miraculous, long-range GPS of the Central Plains, it still had its limits. To narrow down the search area, they didn't just need to track the scent; they needed someone who could deduce what the targets would actually do under pressure.
Dang Go-hye's actions could be predicted by the Tang Clan, but I was the one who knew Man Hanseok's habits best. It would take far too long to fetch his father, Naeng Hon-chang, the leader of the Donhwa Sect all the way from Guangdong.
"But is it true that there are other martial artists wandering around this area?"
"Yes, and from what we've gathered, they don't seem like ordinary martial artists."
"Not ordinary? In what way?"
"There are rumors that they travel with fierce guard dogs. And none of them are faces we recognize from this region."
"Guard dogs?"
Guard dogs—meaning security hounds. The idea of martial artists dragging around massive, savage beasts was highly unusual. Raising and training such dogs in the Central Plains was no simple task. This wasn't an era where you could just hire a famous dog trainer surnamed Kang to do the work for you; most had to seek out large breeds and train them manually through sheer trial and error. For an ordinary sect to invest in such an endeavor? It made no sense. In a land where most believed sheer willpower could solve anything, the only people who would invest massive amounts of time and wealth into breeding guard dogs were...
"So an unidentified faction with enough wealth and leisure to breed guard dogs is roaming those mountains? And there's a high chance the two of them are trapped in that same area."
"You catch on quick," Dang Mieon agreed.
As he spoke, the ominous foreboding that Seonwoo Seol had been mentioning washed over me like a tidal wave. I knew the political climate of the martial world was unstable, but to think such shady characters were operating right here near Hebei and Shaanxi? This meant not only were those two in danger, but our search party could be walking into a trap as well.
While I stroked my chin, pondering how to locate Dang Go-hye and Man Hanseok, Seonwoo Seol spoke up from beside me.
"We don't know exactly what kind of situation they've run into, do we?"
"We don't. However, I strictly instructed Go-hye to ignite the Ten-Thousand-Li Tracking Incense the moment she sensed danger so the clan could locate her. The fact that she actually used it means things have gone terribly wrong."
Listening to Seonwoo Seol and Dang Mieon's conversation only made the puzzle more baffling. If Man Hanseok and Dang Go-hye—both of whom were at the entry stage of the first-class realm—felt compelled to use the tracking incense, they were undoubtedly being hunted.
"When exactly did you first detect the tracking incense?"
"When was it again?" Dang Mieon turned to a Tang Clan warrior, who immediately bowed and answered.
"It was right after we discovered the bodies of the two escort warriors. Yesterday, around the Hour of the Monkey."
"Since both of them are only first-class martial artists, it would have been difficult for them to sustain high-speed lightfoot techniques in rugged mountain terrain. They couldn't have made it very far... I think our search direction will depend entirely on who made the decision on where to flee."
Seonwoo Seol's analysis was spot on. Their personalities were polar opposites, so identifying who took the lead would dictate how we should conduct our search.
"If it was Go-hye, she would have chosen high ground. The scent of the tracking incense would disperse most effectively from an elevated position."
"If it was Hanseok, he would have prioritized safety. He would have looked for a place to hide first."
Dang Mieon, representing Dang Go-hye, and I, representing Man Hanseok, both turned our gazes to Seonwoo Seol simultaneously.
"...Are you asking me to make the call?" Seonwoo Seol asked.
"What would you have done in her shoes, young lady?"
Seonwoo Seol cupped her chin, lost in thought for a brief moment, before looking up with a resolute expression.
"Miss Dang would have followed Junior Man's decision."
"Pardon? Why is that? Knowing Miss Dang's personality, I would expect her to drag Master Man around by the collar."
This was the same woman who spent half her time hurling insults at me and Man Hanseok. Would she really just defer to his judgment so easily? True to her title as the Seductive Horned Playful Girl, wouldn't she have badgered him until she got her way? Dang Mieon seemed to share my skepticism, his face twisting in confusion, prompting Seonwoo Seol to elaborate.
"That's under normal circumstances. But the moment she realized her two escort warriors had been killed, the entire dynamic would have shifted. In a crisis, people naturally defer to the decisions of someone they trust. Especially if that person is a man they have feelings for."
Is that so? Seonwoo Seol's logic sounded incredibly plausible. I glanced at Dang Mieon, who was also nodding in agreement.
"Are you certain Go-hye has feelings for Master Man?"
"The very fact that she left her escort warriors behind just to go hunting for venomous beasts with him alone proves it. If she disliked him, she would have either rejected his invitation outright or insisted on bringing her escorts along."
Now that she mentioned it, that made perfect sense. Was this the famous female intuition? Dang Mieon and I exchanged a glance and nodded. In matters like this, we had no choice but to trust Seonwoo Seol's judgment.
Dang Mieon immediately summoned the Tang Clan warriors and barked orders to the assembled ranks.
"The targets are highly likely to be hiding in a location they deemed safe! Given that two of our escort warriors have already been slain, everyone must carry a signal whistle and search in three-man cells!"
"Yes, sir!"
After delivering a few more crucial instructions, Dang Mieon roared with fierce determination,
"Move out!"
With that command, the Tang Clan warriors mounted their steeds in unison and surged toward the village where the duo had last been seen. Dang Mieon watched them gallop away before turning back to me.
"Chef Yoon, what is your plan?"
"I will join the search for Hanseok and Miss Dang."
"I'll help as well," Seonwoo Seol chimed in.
When we both volunteered, Dang Mieon nodded approvingly.
"Excellent. Follow me."
Dang Mieon strode into the stables, and Seonwoo Seol and I followed close behind.
Snort!
Inside the stables stood three horses of a size and majesty I had never seen before in the Central Plains. The one in the center was particularly striking, boasting a coat of brilliant silver that looked as if it had been forged from pure, polished metal.
"Whoa, what on earth are these?"
"The one in the center is a Sweat-and-Blood Horse. The two black steeds on either side are rumored to be direct descendants of the legendary Wuchu Horse."
With those words, Dang Mieon nimbly mounted the Sweat-and-Blood Horse—a breed famous for sweating blood-red perspiration—and flashed a grin. As he guided his mount out of the stable, he called back to us,
"Those two are also peerless steeds, so they should have no trouble keeping pace! Hyah!"
Wait, couldn't he at least wait for us to mount? Flustered by Dang Mieon's abrupt departure before we could even grab our reins, I turned to Seonwoo Seol in a panic.
"U-Uh... Miss Seol, let's get moving!"
"He could have at least finished his sentence before taking off!" Seonwoo Seol grumbled, clearly sharing my frustration, before leaping onto her horse.
We scrambled onto our mounts and bolted after Dang Mieon.
Thud-thud-thud-thud...!
"Whoaaa!"
They were incredibly fast. The speed and raw power of these beasts were incomparable to the horses we had been riding earlier. Completely forgetting the stinging pain in my backside, Seonwoo Seol and I raced toward the village, desperately trying to keep Dang Mieon's distant figure in sight.
I just hoped those two were safe. They weren't starving out there, were they?
It was their third day of camping out in the wilderness.
Dang Go-hye, looking thoroughly disheveled after days of running with barely any sleep, was holding a silver needle close to a young boy's arm.
"...How is this even possible?"
She hadn't even pricked his skin. Simply holding the needle near his flesh was enough to turn the silver pitch black. And this was no ordinary needle; it was a secret heirloom of the Tang Clan, specifically crafted to detect hundreds of different poisons across the Central Plains. Yet, it had blackened so instantly and thoroughly that it was rendered completely useless.
Dang Go-hye stared into the boy's eyes. Amidst his deep brown irises, a gloomy, unnatural shade of purple was clearly visible.
Yes, I knew something was off.
The boy's behavior over the past few days had been incredibly bizarre. He adamantly refused to let anyone touch his body, and not a single insect or wild animal would venture anywhere near the spots where he sat or lay down.
He feels less like a living human and more like the limbs of those Poison Jiangshi Uncle once showed me.
It was no exaggeration to say that no clan in the world understood poison better than the Sichuan Tang Clan. Yet, Dang Go-hye had never witnessed a body like this in her entire life. A child who ate and slept perfectly normally, yet constantly radiated a lethal aura of poison—it was utterly baffling.
"Is it poison?" Man Hanseok asked, returning from a quick scout of their surroundings.
"Most likely. And it seems to be an incredibly virulent strain at that."
When Man Hanseok pressed for details, Dang Go-hye held her tongue. No matter how reckless she could be, she couldn't bring herself to tell him that they should abandon this boy immediately and undergo emergency detoxification.
"...Let's just say it's an extreme poison."
"Oh..."
The words 'Then isn't it dangerous for us to be near him?' rose to the tip of Man Hanseok's tongue, but he couldn't bring himself to say them in front of the child. He knew they had gotten themselves into something deeply dangerous, but the word 'poison' kept nagging at him.
"But carrying such a poison inside one's body... does that even make sense?"
"No, but there is one exception where it is possible."
"An exception?"
Instead of answering, Dang Go-hye turned to the boy, her eyes filled with a mixture of doubt and dread.
"By any chance... did the people who kidnapped you force you to soak in a strange bath?"
"H-how did you know...?"
I knew it.
As Dang Go-hye's suspicions were confirmed, the boy hesitated before whispering in a tiny, trembling voice,
"Every day, they made me get into a giant cauldron filled with purple water..."
"Did anyone else lose consciousness after entering that purple water?"
"Sometimes... Some of them would foam at the mouth, or their entire bodies would turn bright red before they were carried away on stretchers..."
As Dang Go-hye nodded grimly at the boy's words, Man Hanseok's confusion only deepened.
"What does that mean?"
"You still don't get it?" Dang Go-hye gestured toward the boy. "Have you forgotten the demon who threw the entire martial world into chaos thirty years ago? You must have learned about him at the academy."
"A demon associated with poison... Ah, do you mean the Poison Star? The unorthodox demon who stood as the polar opposite of the Medicine Sage?"
"Exactly. And if this boy is a Poison Human—the ultimate weapon of the Poison Star—then all of this makes perfect sense."
"A... Poison Human?" Man Hanseok frowned, the unfamiliar term tasting bitter on his tongue. "But aren't Poison Humans just a myth?"
"Who told you they were a myth?"
"I learned that the Poison Star only utilized Poison Jiangshi, not living Poison Humans..."
"That's just what the orthodox sects teach so that future generations won't try to replicate the process! Poison Humans are very real, and the proof is sitting right in front of us."
When it came to poisons, the Tang Clan's knowledge was absolute, regardless of how classified the information was. As Dang Go-hye pointed at the boy, Man Hanseok scratched the back of his neck, still struggling to comprehend.
"I understand that touching him will poison us, but..."
"Are you... talking back to an expert?"
Faced with her ultimate, unarguable defense, Man Hanseok promptly shut his mouth.
"If this child is indeed a Poison Human, the Sichuan Tang Clan must secure and protect him at all costs."
Dang Go-hye had already made up her mind. It wasn't merely out of a desire for the Tang Clan to study a Poison Human. Because every single bodily fluid and breath of a Poison Human was a lethal toxin, bringing him to the Tang Clan—which possessed the only proper detoxification facilities in the land—was the most urgent priority.
"Then we should return to the village as quickly as poss—"
Before Man Hanseok could finish his sentence, he suddenly gripped his long spear, leaping to his feet. With an explosive burst of energy, he swung his spear in a wide arc.
Whoosh! Clang!
The sound of something being deflected by his spear echoed through the clearing, followed immediately by the rustle of approaching footsteps.
Another ambush!
There were limits to how far two martial novices could run, and the consequences of their exhaustion were now standing right before them. Unlike a few days ago, their pursuer was not alone. There were three of them.
Three figures clad in black cloaks stood in silence, their cold gazes locked onto the young boy.
"...Are they stronger than us?" Dang Go-hye whispered.
"...Yes. Formidably so."
Man Hanseok grit his teeth. The oppressive aura radiating from the three cloaked figures was dangerously close to the realm of Seonwoo Seol, the Little Heavenly Demon.
What do we do?
Naturally, there was only one choice.
Gripping his spear with white-knuckled intensity, Man Hanseok stepped forward and delivered a stern warning.
"You shall not pass."
"Mount Tai New Hero, Man Hanseok. Do you choose the cup of punishment?"
"The cup of punishment?"
As Man Hanseok assumed a menacing combat stance, the three figures flinched slightly. Seeing their hesitation, a thought flashed through Man Hanseok's mind.
Even peak experts are ultimately made of flesh and blood.
"I will run no longer."
With newfound resolve, Man Hanseok stood like an immovable boulder in front of Dang Go-hye and the boy, glaring defiantly at the three pursuers.
Sensing the fierce, unyielding hostility radiating from the young warrior, the leader of the three cloaked men finally spoke.
"...Subdue the boy and girl, and bring the child."
The moment the leader's command fell, the two cloaked figures flanking him lunged forward like striking vipers.