The Seven Spider Maidens of Pansidong

"Wait, Brother Sun. So you're telling me you just left all those demons at the spring alive?"

Zhu Bajie was practically hopping in place. Sun Wukong waved him off without much interest.

"The Cleansing Spring used to be where the celestial maidens of Heaven came to bathe. The demons who drove them out and claimed it aren't pushovers. What's the point of picking a fight we don't need? The only thing that matters is Sanzang. We wait until the demons are washing, snatch him, and go. That's it."

He had a reason ready. The truth was simpler: he couldn't be bothered.

They were just demons. And to Sun Wukong, King of Demons, they weren't even worth a single punch.

"We know where they're holding Sanzang. Let's just go get him."

"No, Elder Brother. That's not right. You can't just leave demons alive and walk away."

Sun Wukong gave him a dull look.

"What are you talking about?"

"If they're terrifying enough to capture even Sanzang, how many more humans are they going to eat? Don't you think?"

"Well, sure, but..."

Sun Wukong let the sentence trail off. Did he actually care? Hunting demons wasn't what mattered to him. Getting Sanzang to the West as quickly as possible — that was the job.

This bastard Sanzang. Kidnapped again, same as always.

If he could just find Sanzang, what did it matter how many humans the demons ate?

Zhu Bajie hopped even harder, as if that answer were completely unacceptable.

"The way I see it, we beat those demons to death first, then we rescue Master."

Sun Wukong flicked a dismissive hand.

"Do whatever you want. I'm going ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to find Sanzang."

"Aha, understood, Brother Sun! I'll go wring those demon wenches' necks myself!"

Zhu Bajie snatched up his rake as if he'd been waiting for permission and trotted off toward the Cleansing Spring with a positively cheerful spring in his step.

Sun Wukong clicked his tongue and righted the Ruyi Jingu Bang.

"Wujing. We're going after Sanzang."

"Elder Brother... is it really all right to send Second Brother off alone?"

"Your Second Brother might look like a dim-witted pig who thinks of nothing but food—"

"He is a pig, though."

"Ahem. Even so, he was once the Marshal of the Heavenly River. A handful of second-rate demons taking a bath? He'll flatten them in a heartbeat. Don't worry about it."

"That's not what I meant, Elder Brother."

Sha Wujing's face was tight with worry.

"You said they were female demons?"

"That's right."

"And they're naked. Bathing."

"That's... right."

A cold sweat prickled down Sun Wukong's spine.

"And they were beautiful?"

"They... were? Beautiful enough to mistake for celestial maidens, anyway."

"And Second Brother just ran off toward them."

"..."

"The same Second Brother who can't keep his pants laced if he so much as sees a pretty face, man or woman."

"Ah."

Sun Wukong squeezed his eyes shut.

He shook his head. This wasn't the early days of the pilgrimage, before they'd ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠even received Sanzang's teachings. They'd learned enough by now. They knew how to govern their hearts.

Wujing tilted his head.

"Do you really believe that, Elder Brother? Do you actually trust Second Brother?"

"...Bajie wouldn't. He's cultivated quite a bit by now."

"Elder Brother. Master's the one who got captured because he was bewitched by their powder-scent."

"I just thought the powder stank."

"That's because you're a monkey demon who's never known lust in the first place, Elder Brother."

Sun Wukong let out a long breath. Right. Come to think of it, these were the same seductive creatures who'd even ensnared Sanzang.

"Damn it. Let's go."

He headed back toward the Cleansing Spring, just in case — but he still believed in Zhu Bajie. Surely the pig could govern a little lust by now.

Zhu Bajie: demon of appetite and lust.

Even so, he wasn't some creature who couldn't tell shit from piss anymore. Sanzang had taught him so diligently!

...Goddamn it.

"Bwahahaha! Come on, then! Catch me if you can!"

"Oh, my lord, you're far too fast in the water!"

"My, my! Where do you think you're touching!"

"Wahahahaha! I once commanded the armies of the Heavenly River as Marshal Tianpeng! Just try and catch me!"

Zhu Bajie, swimming through the spring, frolicking with the demons.

"Look at that. Look. He doesn't even realize he's been completely bewitched. He hasn't noticed the spider silk binding his body at all."

Sun Wukong heaved a deep sigh.

Zhu Bajie had no idea his entire body was being wound in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠spider silk. His face was flushed crimson, thoroughly enchanted.

"Ah, for crying out loud. Sanzang and Bajie, the pair of them."

Sun Wukong slammed the Ruyi Jingu Bang into the ground and roared with the force of a lion's cry.

That single, low, unyielding sentence locked every muscle in the Seven Shadows of Shandong.

A faint bewilderment crossed the courtesans' faces.

Sun Wukong's mouth curled, as if he knew exactly what that feeling was.

"Did you really think a little powder-scent could bewitch this Great Sage, Teacher Sun? It didn't work in your past lives, and it won't work now."

"How did you resist the Heart-Seizing Art...?"

The courtesan in the center murmured, her voice trembling.

Sun Wukong chuckled and settled comfortably across from them.

"All right. Let's take this one question at a time. Have you got the Hwangbo Clan sitting in the palm of your hand? Running them however you please?"

"..."

No answer. Sun Wukong clicked his tongue.

"If that mouth of yours is useless anyway, I suppose I might as well tear it open right now."

"...!"

His tone was peculiar. There was no killing intent in it, no harsh bullying. It was ordinary. As casual as commenting that the weather wasn't very nice today.

Which was precisely why every one of the Seven Shadows of Shandong felt their skin crawl. Tearing a mouth open sounded like the most ordinary thing in the world.

Sun Wukong smiled and pointed to the far left.

"Fine. Let's go one by one. You. What's your name?"

"..."

The leftmost courtesan glanced around, then answered.

"Yung."

"Hollyhock, is it? Pretty name. Good. The rest of you, in order."

He pointed down the line. The courtesan beside Yung went deathly pale — a crimson current of energy had gathered at the tip of the finger aimed at her. The power in it was anything but ordinary.

"Ran."

Then, one after another, they gave their names. Mae. Guk. Neung. Ryeon. Gyu.

Sun Wukong nodded, satisfied.

Nothing quite as useful as a threat, after all.

He looked at the courtesan in the center — Neung.

She appeared to be the eldest, and the other six were all watching her for cues.

A red thread of fate, linking them together.

He couldn't see their souls completely, but he wasn't particularly curious.

The seven spiders of Pansidong. The Seven Spider Maidens.

Born beauties, armed with the art of stealing hearts, and a Bewitching Fragrance no man could resist.

They would bind a bewitched man in spider silk, drain his vital essence through coupling, then boil him alive and eat the meat. That was their kind. They were formidable enough that even the great Tang Sanzang had been briefly enchanted and kidnapped.

Aigoo. That sloppy bastard Sanzang.

Even Zhu Bajie, whose martial prowess Wukong trusted without reservation, had fallen for it in a blink.

No. Knowing him, he might not have fallen for anything. He might've just wanted it.

That was the kind of creature he was.

Regardless, their talents were clearly extraordinary.

The same held true in this new incarnation.

Their innate beauty was enough to draw genuine admiration, and this faint powder-scent drifting through the air was certainly laced with Bewitching Fragrance. The only difference was that the sorcery had become a martial art — the Heart-Seizing Art.

Sun Wukong spoke, looking at Neung.

"Why did you use the Hwangbo Clan to come to the Namgung Clan?"

"...Don't you already have some idea?"

A ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠faint smile touched Sun Wukong's lips.

She wouldn't give a concrete answer. She wouldn't dodge the question entirely, either. She knew perfectly well that if she refused to speak, the Yoryeok gathered at his fingertip would tear her apart in an instant.

Even a vague answer was the answer he'd wanted.

There was only one reason she'd reply this way.

She didn't want to die.

She's bound by a restriction.

Just like Sa Hyeol-cheol-gwi.

She's choosing deliberately vague answers to slip around the geas.

Sun Wukong regarded Neung with a flicker of admiration. She wasn't stupid. If she were, she never could have taken the Hwangbo Clan in hand and run them as she pleased. Even if someone else was giving the orders, the ones who actually got things done were the people on the ground.

"So are you working in concert with Honamdo?"

"I don't know what you mean, so I can't answer that."

Sun Wukong's eyes gleamed.

Sometimes a gesture, a step, an expression, a look in the eye — all of it came closer to the truth than words ever could.

Neung was evading the question and, at the same time, giving the best answer she could to stay alive.

Wukong's expression turned faintly puzzled.

She looks like she has nothing to do with them at all.

Was she lying?

Was his opponent a performer skilled enough to fool even the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven — and possessed of schemes that ran that deep?

Unlike Sanzang, who fell for every trick in the book, Sun Wukong was adept at seeing through every deception at a glance and grasping the truth.

The world of the heart, visible through the Fiery Golden Eyes, did not lie.

So they really have nothing to do with Honamdo and the Cheonghyeopbang affair?

Sun Wukong was a little thrown.

He'd been certain there was a connection.

Or else...

A bigger organization than I thought, and they operate independently?

That would make a certain amount of sense.

Sa Hyeol-cheol-gwi, Honamdo, and one more whose identity remained hidden.

Those ones were hunting the Seven Star Sword.

The Seven Spider Maidens — the Seven Shadows of Shandong — had been tasked with seizing the Hwangbo Clan and driving wedges between the Five Great Clans.

That was one way to look at it.

Sun Wukong stroked his chin.

Come to think of it, they're being surprisingly cooperative.

Was it simply because they didn't want to die?

Sa Hyeol-cheol-gwi and Honamdo weren't like that.

Those ones had acted as if they had some kind of conviction.

Both of them had heaped praise on their master and seemed almost exalted by the fact that they were working for him.

Neung was different.

Excessive loyalty, blind reverence — none of it was there.

Which means she might not be working for that organization out of any genuine devotion.

A faint smile touched Sun Wukong's lips.

What if she was only doing this to stay alive — because of the restriction locked around her throat?

He stroked his chin and studied Neung in silence.

Her eyes were unexpectedly clear.

Even if a past-life bond was written in blood, that doesn't mean it applies the same way in this life.

The cycle of reincarnation is not a bottomless abyss.

One is reborn again and again, paying the karmic debts of previous lives, washing away one's sins.

Just because two people were bound by a bitter fate in a past life does not mean it must be so in this one.

Of course, every bitter fate he'd run into so far had ended in a collision, but...

Sun Wukong felt the need to watch a little longer.

If the only thing driving her is the will to survive...

He held the thought in his chest and kept asking questions.

Neung continued to answer in circles. I don't know. Don't you already know? I've never heard of that... Answers that needed a moment's thought, if only briefly.

Question and answer, back and forth, for some time.

The atmosphere loosened, just a little.

A thought flickered through the minds of the Seven Shadows of Shandong: if they just kept answering diligently, Sun Wukong might even let them live.

Sun Wukong smiled sweetly. As if that kind of thinking were a luxury they couldn't afford.

"Well. I've given you enough time, haven't I?"

"...!"

Neung's face went rigid. A heavy silence settled over the room. No one spoke. Sun Wukong smiled, and the Seven Shadows could only stare back with trembling eyes. They were the only ones who felt the pressure of that silence. At last, Neung spoke, carefully.

"I don't know what you mean."

This wasn't a vague answer meant to slip around the restriction. Sun Wukong chuckled. The genuine confusion on her face — now that was entertaining.

"Did you think I didn't notice the little rat on the ceiling? It's been long enough for them to get well away by now, hasn't it?"

Every face among the Seven Shadows, Neung's included, went deathly pale.

He knew?

Then why on earth had he just sat there and let it happen?

Neung looked at Sun Wukong with shaking eyes. He was still chuckling. And that laugh was terrifying.

More precisely — it was the ice-cold gaze sitting above that still-smiling mouth.