Forbidden Garden - 9
"If you will make the antidote for us, we will pay whatever sum you ask."
The Tang Clan could produce the antidote, but it would demand time and manpower—and so the Moyong Clan would have to bear the expense. Faced with these terms, Moyong Seop, head of the Moyong Clan's delegation, agreed on the spot.
"Good. Then let's get straight to work on the antidote."
Returning to the Forbidden Garden, Tang Hwa-rin delivered the news to the Medical Pavilion Head and the Poison Martial Empress.
"There is no need to rush. I have already told the Moyong Clan's people that the antidote will take several months to prepare."
The Pavilion Head spoke thus, calming Tang Hwa-rin, who seemed eager to be done with it all as quickly as possible.
"It won't take that long."
"We have Tang Geohu's research materials. The problem is that the poison used on the Young Clan Leader was never formulated with an antidote in mind. It will not be easy."
It was a poison Tang Geohu had concocted to swallow the Tang Clan whole. Having been designed from the very first to leave no path to a cure, it defied antidote research even with his notes in hand.
For an ordinary physician, that is.
"Heh heh. I already have the antidote."
Tang Hwa-rin replied with a smirk.
"What is that supposed to mean? ...Your hands?"
The Medical Pavilion Head stared at the white energy and the green energy shimmering at the tips of Hwa-rin's index finger and thumb. The two energies touched, and in an instant they melted away into harmless wisps of smoke.
"Ever since I mastered the Poison Qi Art, I've learned how to neutralize the poisons I've absorbed, too. Of course, turning this energy into usable medicine is another matter entirely."
"..."
Dang Mugi, Head of the Medical Pavilion, found himself utterly speechless before the sight.
"The ingredients we need are probably amur cork bark (Huangbai), ephedra (Mahuang), croton seed (Badou), fish mint (Yuxingcao), and wolfsbane (Caowu)? My knowledge of herbs is too shallow to pin down every last one, but that's where we can start."
"Hoh... You can even tell which ingredients are required?"
"Yes. Once the antidote is finished, give it to me. I'll taste it and tell you whether it works or not."
To craft a medicine capable of undoing a poison of this caliber, countless trials upon animals and human subjects were usually indispensable. But Tang Hwa-rin was a complete Poison Human. What would normally demand an ocean of time could be condensed into a single moment.
"That will be enough. The Pavilion Head and I will handle the compounding of medicines and poisons, so you will devote yourself to your training."
"Yes, Master. I'll be at the training grounds."
Tang Hwa-rin nodded at her master's words and vanished to continue her own training.
"I knew she could move her poison qi at will and hold it within her body, but this is the first I've heard that she could whip up an antidote on the spot."
She carried Tang Geohu's poison inside her own flesh, and she had grasped precisely what the complete cure demanded. Better still, the moment she tasted an antidote she could tell what was missing and what was working, while the poison itself could not touch her. Her claim that finding the antidote would take no time at all had been no boast.
The Medical Pavilion Head could not contain his admiration for Tang Hwa-rin.
"I taught her the Poison Qi Art, and she awakened to it almost at once. Never did I imagine that a complete Poison Human who mastered the art would gain such an ability."
The Poison Martial Empress smiled as she praised her disciple's extraordinary talent.
"It is an ability that would strike dumb anyone who has spent decades studying poison arts and medicine within the Sichuan Tang Clan."
"I am occasionally baffled myself. She accomplishes in the blink of an eye what took me an age to master, and yet there are simple things she cannot do at all—which puzzles me in turn."
The Poison Martial Empress was a Half-Poison Human herself, but whenever she witnessed one of a complete Poison Human's unforeseen abilities, she would click her tongue inwardly.
"A complete Poison Human... Perhaps the next generation of the Tang Clan may yet produce a warrior counted among the five fingers under heaven."
As a child of murim, one could not carelessly speak of the Number One Under Heaven. But the Tang Hwa-rin of today—might she not become a supreme master worthy of being counted on a single hand?
Dang Mugi, as a warrior of the Tang Clan, made no effort to hide the hope in his voice.
"That child would sooner have her first baby in her twenties than become the Number One Under Heaven."
"Hehehe. Then you shall be spared the troubles of adolescence."
"So it would seem."
The Poison Martial Empress and the Medical Pavilion Head both turned fond smiles toward the training grounds.
"Everyone! Have you read Volume 3 of Dang Family Storm?"
While the antidote was being quietly developed in the Forbidden Garden, the Sichuan Tang Clan was in an uproar over Volume 3 of Dang Family Storm.
"Have I ever! Thanks to Dang Jeong, my heart pounded so hard last night I couldn't sleep a wink!"
"Why is it so thrilling to watch two women war over Dang Jeong?!"
"They say that over at Daseogak, they call a lovers' quarrel between women a 'catfight.'"
One of the guards who had visited Daseogak chimed in.
"A catfight! Whoever coined that word, they certainly had a knack for it."
"I thought it was all over once Saekma got his poison into him! Who could have guessed the story would turn into a grand union with the Two Flowers of Blue and Red? I couldn't help but click my tongue at Author Hopil's plotting."
"And when the moving Poison Killing Domain made its debut—ah, how I marveled!"
"Exactly! If that Saekma bastard hadn't been one of the Demonic Cult, the story would have ended right there!"
"Demonic Cult bastards, every last one of them!"
They had waited in eager anticipation, and it had paid off. As expected of Author Hopil.
Inner court or outer court, family member or guest—whenever people of the Tang Clan gathered, the talk invariably turned to Dang Family Storm.
"Volume 3 was a fine read, mind you. But a Poison Killing Domain that moves? Isn't that a step too far?"
Amid the endless chatter, there were those who raised objections of their own.
"What? Are you doubting Author Hopil right now?"
"No, no! Hear me out. What is the Poison Killing Domain? A kind of formation laid down with poison and hidden projectiles, no? Even granting that Dang Jeong himself can move, the formation itself shouldn't be able to, should it?"
"Didn't his realm rise after he shared a bed with the Two Flowers of Blue and Red?"
"Even if it did, an unbridgeable gulf still yawns between Saekma and Dang Jeong. Isn't this a stretch? I've only read Dang Family Storm five times so far, but what needs calling out must be called out!"
"W-well, that is..."
Could it truly be a lapse in Author Hopil's own research? Shaken by the warrior's criticism, the other devoted readers of the Tang Clan began to waver.
"Tsk, tsk. These fellows simply haven't seen the Poison Killing Domain."
Someone appeared, clicking his tongue, and looked upon the critic with pity.
"What do you mean by that?"
The ones who had appeared so suddenly were warriors of the Medical Pavilion.
"So these fellows haven't even seen the moving Poison Killing Domain?"
"How could they have? Only we, who faced the Demonic Cultists ourselves, were granted the honor of witnessing it with our own eyes."
The Medical Pavilion warriors shook their heads as they gazed pityingly upon the other warriors of the Tang Clan.
What the hell had gotten into the Medical Pavilion bunch? As the Tang Clan warriors stood dumbfounded, someone remembered a clue.
"Hold on! You escorted Author Hopil once, didn't you!"
"What?! The Poison Killing Domain actually exists? A moving one, at that? Do you all know something?!"
"This is why one shouldn't so much as exchange words with fake readers who've never even traveled at Author Hopil's side."
"You said it. Do they really count people like that as readers these days? As a member of the Tea Book Club, I am beyond despondent!"
The Medical Pavilion warriors squared their shoulders at one another and snorted.
"Just tell us! You'll be the death of me!"
The devoted readers of Dang Family Storm clutched their chests and begged for answers, but not one of the Medical Pavilion warriors obliged.
What on earth could it mean? The Poison Killing Domain? What business did Author Hopil have with it?
The readers fixed the Medical Pavilion men with gazes burning with curiosity, and at last Tang Pae stepped forward, wearing a triumphant smile.
"The Poison Killing Domain is real."
"What?!"
"A martial art created by Author Hopil and the Young Lady Tang Hwa-rin—the two of them together. You all really ought to have seen the Demonic Cultists melting away inside the Poison Killing Domain with your own eyes."
"Good heavens. Tang Pae, is that true?"
Every astonished gaze in the room turned toward Tang Pae.
Tang Pae relished the attention. Hoping to savor it a little longer, he mimicked the stance of the woman who had stood so proudly before the Demonic Cultists and cried out:
"I'm telling you it's true! The Young Lady Hwa-rin stood before those Demonic Cultists and declared, 'I am the butterfly that strolls through the darkness. Come, enter my Poison Killing Domain!'—kuuuuh!"
The crowd's questions would surely come pouring in now. Tang Pae had steeled himself to reenact the whole scene—yet no reaction came at all.
Why is it so quiet?
Strangely cold. Especially behind him. Why did this feel oddly familiar? Doing his best to ignore the chill creeping up the back of his neck, Tang Pae turned his head around.
"Hey. Tang Pae. When exactly did I ever say that?"
The owner of the Poison Killing Domain stood there, smiling frostily.
"M-Miss Hwa-rin?! What brings you here?"
"I was on my way to gather medicinal ingredients."
"Hahaha..."
He was done for. Tang Pae cursed his own mouth, which opened so carelessly wherever the mood and moment carried it.
"Young Lady Hwa-rin! Can you truly use the Poison Killing Domain?"
"The butterfly that strolls through the darkness! Show us, I beg you!"
"What?! She'll deliver the famous line herself?! Everyone gather round!! All of you, together!!"
"Come, enter my Poison Killing Domain!" they all cried out as one.
The devoted readers of Dang Family Storm could feel the atmosphere turning glacial, but their curiosity would simply not be denied.
"KYAAAAH! Tang Pae! You are SO dead!"
"SPARE ME, I BEG YOU!!!"
"So it is finally complete."
"Thank you all for your hard work."
By the time the warm breezes of spring had faded and Sichuan's heat was closing in, the finished antidote sat before the Poison Martial Empress.
"You made us slave away right up to the very end. Who would have guessed the final ingredient would turn out to be ginseng?"
Tang Hwa-rin stared at the antidote with a deflated expression. Pooling the talents of three people, producing the medicine itself had not been difficult.
The problem was how to rouse a victim who had been steeped in poison for so long. In the end, agonizing over a method that could detoxify and treat the patient side by side devoured far more time than any of them had expected.
"If a physician without skill wishes to be called a master, the saying that he should carry Joseon ginseng wherever he goes did not come from nowhere."
After the three of them had racked their brains, the answer they finally alighted upon was the highest-grade ginseng the Moyong Clan had brought along as a gift.
"What an absurd elixir this is. At this rate, doesn't Joseon practically grow gold nuggets in its fields?"
Tang Hwa-rin found herself wondering, anew, about her fiancé's homeland.
"With so many people desperate for Joseon ginseng, why do you think even the Tang Clan struggles to lay hands on the genuine article?"
Joseon ginseng had simply too many uses. To buy ginseng that set out from Joseon, the land of the rising sun, on this soil of Sichuan where the sun sets, one had to pay an astronomical price.
"I was astonished all over again myself. I knew the virtues of ginseng well enough, but who knew the finest grade of Joseon ginseng possessed this much potency..."
The Medical Pavilion Head spoke as he jotted down, one by one, every ingredient the finished antidote had required.
On that paper, beside the name of ginseng—the all-purpose elixir brought from the Moyong Clan—stood a long litany of virtues: it expels toxins and mends sores, it restores qi and snatches men back from collapse, it enriches the blood and revives the pulse. Because of its countless virtues, he had written, it absolutely had to go in.
"Must be nice, being the Moyong Clan—to be able to fling about ginseng that precious."
Tang Hwa-rin said, half in awe.
"If any other household in Sichuan were told to take an antidote made with Joseon ginseng for the rest of their days, it would amount to telling them to pull their house up by its very pillars—yet for the Moyong Clan, I suppose even that is within reach."
"I hear they've brought every ginseng trade route under their thumb. Then just how much money do they make?"
Going by the ginseng consumed in their experiments alone, she couldn't begin to fathom how many copies of Dang Family Storm Yoon-ho would have to sell to cover it.
Tang Hwa-rin tried counting out Moyong Sang-ah's income on her fingers, then gave up at the dizzying figure.
"Hmm... Now that it's finished, we ought to meet with the Moyong Clan's people. Hwa-rin. Why are you getting up?"
The Poison Martial Empress asked her disciple, who was rising with sudden zeal, a puzzled look on her face.
"Because now I get to go skin them for every last coin!"
Both fists clenched, Tang Hwa-rin radiated the air of someone ready to storm wherever the Moyong Clan's people were lodged that very instant.
The Poison Martial Empress let out a small inward sigh at the sight of her disciple and, brow furrowed, opened her mouth to counsel her.
"I understand the toll of the labor you have poured into this at the expense of your precious time, but do not make demands beyond all reason. If, upon seeing someone in distress in the jianghu, your first thought is to seize their wealth, how would you be any different from the villains of the unorthodox sects?"
"She did earn that money by getting her own husband killed, didn't she? Seems fair game to me."
Tang Hwa-rin shot back flatly.
"Hwa-rin."
Why had her disciple grown so petulant? The Poison Martial Empress quietly reasoned with her.
"I don't know. That woman, Moyong Sang-ah. The more I think about her, the more strangely she irritates me. I simply don't like her."
Tang Hwa-rin answered, brows knit.
She didn't understand it herself. It had been the Demonic Cult's scheme, they said, and Moyong Sang-ah was a victim of Tang Geohu just as she herself had been—she had even made the medicine out of sympathy.
And yet, strangely, the mere thought of the woman named Moyong Sang-ah left her feeling dissatisfied. As a woman, some nameless hostility was blooming inside her. Why on earth was she like this?
Tang Hwa-rin could not make sense of it.
"Ahem."
"Poison Martial Empress. It's because the two of them both have Joseon husbands, of course."
The Medical Pavilion Head, looking as though he understood Tang Hwa-rin all too well, cut in—stopping the Poison Martial Empress just as she was about to say something.
"Still, there is such a thing as decency. The clan provides for her every need to begin with. What could she possibly mean to do, extracting a fortune from the Moyong Clan?"
No matter how she turned the matter over, the Poison Martial Empress found it baffling.
Tang Hwa-rin had no reason to covet wealth. So long as she received the treatment of direct lineage as a complete Poison Human, the Tang Clan provided for all her comforts.
Food, clothing, and shelter went without saying—and should she desire anything else, the clan would see it procured. There was no reason for her to need a fortune in the first place.
What on earth did she intend to do with the Moyong Clan's money? To learn her disciple's true intentions, the Poison Martial Empress asked.
And Tang Hwa-rin answered with a proud, unashamed smile:
"To spend it on Yoon-ho, of course."