The Savior of Jamun Village
The Yin Soul Ice Thread truly lived up to its name as the tail hair of a spiritual beast. It drew the filthy poison from a human body with effortless ease and, beyond that, even healed the organs the toxin had ruined. At last he understood why people risked their lives to obtain it.
“Hooo.”
Tang Cheonwi made a show of wiping sweat from his brow as if the work had exhausted him.
“Feed them a tonic to restore their strength and they’ll be on their feet in no time.”
“My thanks. How can we ever repay this grace, Young Master…?”
It was not only Tang Mansong. The villagers whose spirits had held firm were already rising from their beds, bodies light as they had not been in days. Joy at being free of the plague poured from their lips in endless gratitude.
“So that is the Young Master who saved us?”
“Handsome fellow, isn’t he?”
“Handsome doesn’t cover it. Village Chief says he cut down a Demon of the Poison Demon Sect like it was nothing.”
“A Demon of the Poison Demon Sect is at least a first-class master!”
“At that age?!”
“Come now. This is the Tang Clan—the greatest under heaven. That young man is its legitimate heir.”
The village chief’s tongue had inflated the tale. The Yin Spirit Ice Fox had slain the Demon, yet the story now named Tang Cheonwi the killer.
“They say he went straight to the Clan Head and asked leave to come save Jamun Village himself.”
That’s not it at all. I came because the Yin Spirit Ice Fox was here and I wanted the little beast. The rest was just convenient.
“Ha! Such righteousness! All that talk of a tyrant was pure nonsense.”
“Sheer slander. Enemies fabricated it to smear our Young Master.”
“We were far too naïve. Or rather, we lacked faith.”
They were inventing details no one had ever spoken. Tang Cheonwi gave up.
Fine. Say whatever you like.
“When he inherits the Tang Clan, it won’t merely be the greatest under heaven—it will stand as the greatest of all time.”
“That’s an understatement. At fifteen he already crushed several first-class Demons. A genius who appears once in ten thousand years. The title of greatest of all ages is already his!”
As if the plague had never touched them, the spirit of Jamun Village soared. The rumor snowballed with every retelling.
“Have you heard the latest?”
“That the Young Master has reached Peak realm?”
“Wrong—Transcendence.”
“Heavens! That strong? Then why the rumors of a tyrant?”
“The heir’s seat is a heavy burden. He must have pretended all these years to avoid the succession struggle.”
“Heaven-shaking martial arts and a noble character as well… I am ashamed I ever believed the lies.”
And so, by the end of the day, a fifteen-year-old had become a Transcendence master.
Two days later every soul in Jamun Village had recovered. Even Tang Saeng, who had stood closest to death, awoke as though by miracle.
“Grandfather…?”
“Saeng-ah, can you see this old man?”
“Yes… It feels as if I dreamed a very long dream.”
“Thank heaven. Truly, thank heaven.”
Tang Mansong’s eyes reddened. He had nearly lost his grandson after already losing his son.
“The Young Master who came from the main clan saved you. Pay your respects at once.”
“Me…?”
Tang Saeng forced himself upright. Tang Cheonwi spoke at once.
“You’re still weak. Just lie down.”
Yet the boy rose anyway.
“I was taught that a member of the Tang Clan must always repay a debt of grace.”
He clasped his fists and dropped to one knee.
“Thank you for sparing this lowly life, Young Master.”
Stubborn as his grandfather, just as expected. That was why, in the previous life, Tang Cheonwi had tried to turn their bad blood into good. Now that he had placed the boy under his debt, Tang Saeng would stand with him.
“Should the Young Master ever need the aid of this Tang Saeng, only call. For you I will walk through fire and water without hesitation.”
The future Ten Thousand Herb Guest, a Peak master in his own right, had become his man.
“Then rest one more day. After that we start work.”
“What work do you mean…?”
“The restoration of Biwon Forest. I need your hands. By now that little beast’s patience should be paper-thin.”
Out in Biwon Forest the Yin Spirit Ice Fox had spent the entire day waiting. Its rump lifted and settled against the ground again and again as it fretted over whether to go looking for Tang Cheonwi.
Meanwhile, the Yuhongak assassins who had followed Tang Cheonwi from the clan could barely contain their frustration.
“How much longer do we have to sit here?”
“Word should arrive soon from Jong-gu, who’s infiltrated Jamun Village.”
They were camped deep in the mountains, well away from the village. Tang Cheonwi’s escort made closer approach impossible: the Black Scale Guard, the Clan Head’s personal unit, had been assigned to the Young Master. To avoid detection they had pitched tents at a safe distance.
“And the message from those people?”
“Jong-gu will bring that as well.”
“Too many days have already passed. My patience is finished.”
Tang Pil, leader of the Seventh Squad, felt the same.
“How the hell are we going to kill that bastard Tang Cheonwi?”
Fathers of Tang Cheolung and Tang Su—both crippled by Cheonwi—Tang Daesan and Tang Pil burned to see him dead as soon as possible.
Heaven must have heard their prayers. Jong-gu returned from the village in a rush.
“Brothers!”
His voice was urgent.
“Well? Did you learn what we sent you for?”
Jong-gu shook his head at Tang Daesan’s question.
“The plague in Jamun Village has vanished completely.”
“How?”
“With those people present the plague just disappeared? Explain.”
Tang Pil’s face twisted.
Jong-gu laid out the intelligence he had gathered.
“They say the Young Master wiped out every last one of them and neutralized the plague himself.”
“Ridiculous! A brat whose dantian is already ruined, killing Demons of the Poison Demon Sect? Impossible!”
Tang Daesan shared the same disbelief.
“Without the Black Scale Guard stepping in, he could never have handled those Demons alone.”
“I nearly choked when I heard it. The little bastard is the hero of Jamun Village now—can you believe that?”
Jong-gu himself still found it hard to accept, yet the villagers’ own mouths had said it: the Young Master alone had slain the Demons. Not one word of the Black Scale Guard.
“And the way he cured the plague is even more absurd.”
“How?”
“He set Biwon Forest on fire.”
Curses exploded from both squad leaders.
“Crazy bastard.”
“He’s lost his mind. The moment he left the Clan Head’s shadow he goes and does something this stupid.”
“Once he returns to the clan, the Young Master’s position is finished.”
“Trying to earn merit and ending up stripped of the title instead. Damn it—my son is a cripple because of this idiot.”
Tang Daesan clenched his fists until the knuckles cracked. Forgiveness was no longer possible. He turned to Tang Pil.
“Seventh Squad Leader, what will you do? Wait until he’s stripped of the Young Master’s seat and cast out of the clan, or end him here?”
“What kind of question is that? The second, obviously. I don’t want to breathe the same air as him for one more hour.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
“Then we strike when he heads back to the clan.”
Neither man believed everything they had heard from the village—especially the claim that Tang Cheonwi had reached Transcendence. A fifteen-year-old brat a Transcendence master? They sneered. The boy had clearly spread the rumor himself to inflate his reputation. Even the Demons must have fallen only with Black Scale Guard help; the Young Master had simply claimed the glory that came with his title.
“Brothers, what about the Black Scale Guard? We can’t face them with our current strength.”
Tang Pil bared white teeth in a grin.
“We only need to know their numbers. They won’t have sent more than two. Anything beyond that would look like special favoritism.”
If they reported that favoritism to their true master, the man could use it as a lever against the Clan Head. Nothing about the situation worked against them.
“Two Black Scale Guards we can handle.”
They numbered twenty. Ten men to each guard would be more than enough to cut them down.
“I will take that bastard Tang Cheonwi’s head with my own hands.”
“Leave me a piece, Fifth Squad Leader.”
Tang Daesan and Tang Pil counted the days until they could kill him.
Once his strength returned, Tang Saeng stood before the ruined Biwon Forest and nearly collapsed in despair.
“Ahh…”
Tang Cheonwi spoke to him.
“You can save Biwon Forest, can’t you?”
“After this much destruction…”
“No. You can bring it back.”
The voice held absolute certainty.
“I’m younger than you, Young Master. What makes you trust me so much?”
“I trust the knowledge you hold of the herbs and poisons you love.”
Love was too mild a word. Tang Saeng was obsessed. He had tested every plant on his own body, beginning at the age of nine. Now fourteen, he had been dosing himself for five full years. He must have eaten every herb and poison that grew in Biwon Forest dozens of times. That was precisely why the plague had nearly killed him. People with strong resistance often suffered worse when a fiercer toxin appeared. Survive and you gained a great opportunity; most simply died.
“You overcame the plague, so the herbs and poisons that grew here are clinging to life with the same stubbornness. But without new life they will die soon. You understand what I mean?”
“If the roots aren’t damaged… we might still save them. Looking at the soil, only the surface is scorched. Deeper down the nutrients should still be rich.”
He was right. Tang Mansong dug into the earth nearby.
“The cold energy flowing through the ground seems to have protected the soil.”
“Then begin the restoration at once. If you fail, you’d best prepare yourselves. This little one might just eat every last one of you.”
The adorable fox sat waving its tail, beauty enough to bewitch any man. The villagers stared, entranced.
Crack!
Only Tang Cheonwi’s sharp clap broke the spell before they were fully lost.
As expected of a spiritual beast.
Its soul-stealing power was terrifying. The old saying about foxes bewitching people existed for a reason.
“Get moving!”
“Come, everyone—time to repay the Young Master’s grace. No dawdling.”
The villagers snapped out of it and set to work with ordered haste.
Tang Cheonwi walked over to the Yin Spirit Ice Fox and sat cross-legged beside it.
“Listen, friend. I’m going to spread poison qi. You sink your energy into the ground so none of them get hurt.”
“Kyuing?”
The tilt of its head clearly asked, Why should I?
“Don’t you want a den that will finally satisfy you?”
“Kying!”
“Then help. If they all drop from my poison qi, there won’t be anyone left to rebuild Biwon Forest, and you’ll lose your new home.”
“Kyaak!”
“No use getting angry. You have no other choice left.”
“Kyuing…”
At last its spirit flagged. The Yin Spirit Ice Fox looked healthy enough, yet its yin energy had sunk dangerously low. If things continued this way it would collapse and lose its power entirely. Knowing that, the beast obeyed.
“We begin.”
The fox nodded.
Dark, lethal energy erupted from Tang Cheonwi’s body and flooded into the scorched earth of Biwon Forest.