Chapter 19 – How to properly establish a family (1)

“I’ve explained various poisons. Do you have any questions?”

“Hmm. So you don’t usually use lethal poisons unless absolutely necessary? Since you showed me that golden poison, I thought you used it regularly.”

“Haha, that’s reserved for mortal enemies or those who must be eliminated. How could we use such vicious things in everyday situations?”

“Indeed. That makes sense. So far, I don’t have any particular questions.”

The Tang Family had clear standards for using poisons.

The strongest poison that could be used on fellow martial artists of the same rank was paralysis poison.

However, even against orthodox martial artists, if a Tang Family member was injured, the level of poison allowed would increase. If a Tang martial artist was killed, lethal poison could be used against up to a hundred people.

‘Punish one to warn a hundred’? No, ‘punish a hundred to warn the survivors’.

While punishing one to warn a hundred was the norm, the Tang Family would severely punish a hundred to send a stern warning to those who survived.

A ruthless standard.

‘This is quite a troublesome family in many ways…’

While I was pondering what I had learned, a question came.

“Well… if you have no questions, may I ask you something? Since you said you know a lot about venomous creatures.”

“Eh? Yes, of course.”

‘Is the next session related to venomous creatures? This is something I’m confident about.’

“The Tang Family rarely uses poisons from venomous creatures. Do you know why we don’t primarily use poisons from such creatures?”

The Tang Family’s training consisted of physical martial arts training in the morning and theoretical education on martial arts or poisons in the afternoon.

So in the morning, I was introduced to the basics of the Tang Sect’s Five Poisons Returning to Origin Technique, which allows one to absorb five types of poisons, and in the afternoon, I attended theoretical education.

During the theoretical education on the Tang Sect’s poison techniques, the grandfather teaching us asked why the Tang Family’s main poisons did not include those from venomous insects or creatures.

‘I think I know, but I need to answer this considering how an assassination family would think, right?’

Venomous creatures referred to all living things with poison, like venomous snakes and insects.

While I certainly knew the characteristics of such creatures’ poisons, simply reciting that knowledge like reading from a dictionary wouldn’t be the right answer.

Isn’t it said that humans are adaptable animals?

Since trying to escape would result in certain death, or rather, a golden kill, so I decided to adapt to this Sachuan Tang Family.

Nunim is also quite beautiful…

And I’d already committed myself anyway…

Nunim had risen to the top of my wishlist, surpassing all the venomous insects and snakes I’d wanted in my previous life.

‘I am an assassin. I am an assassin who uses poison. I am a psychopath.’

I started to self-hypnotize to the point of losing my mind.

The reason I was doing this was to consider how this assassination family in the Central Plains would think about the characteristics of poisons from venomous creatures before answering.

Because even if I was a venomous creature, venomous insect YouTuber in my past life, where could I use my knowledge here?

So, I simply possessed professional knowledge about venomous creatures, but people here in Sachuan Tang Family were thinking about how to use this to kill people.

In my past life, I focused on how people could survive after being bitten by venomous creatures or insects, but now I had to think in the opposite way.

For example, if I received an apple, instead of knowing what variety it is, what it tastes like, and when it can be harvested, I had to answer about the recipes that could be made with that apple.

Apple pie, apple jam, apple tart, and such.

Of course, in this context, apple pie, apple jam, and apple tart would be methods of poisoning.

That’s why I maintained a thoughtful expression while self-hypnotizing.

I felt I needed to think like these people to answer properly.

After a while, when I thought I had sufficiently self-hypnotized, I carefully answered.

“Well… there are several reasons, but isn’t it because they are tricky to use?”

“Tricky? Can you explain in more detail?”

The Man of Ten Thousand Poisons, the grandfather, showed interest in my words.

I elaborated on what I was thinking.

“First of all, if we take snake venom as an example… whether it’s made into powder or kept as a liquid, there’s only one way to use it.”

Snake venom is known to be the most complex natural toxin among poisons.

This is because it contains over a hundred proteins and enzymes, non-enzymatic polypeptide toxins, nucleic acids, amines, free amino acids, and many other compounds, including non-toxic proteins.

Moreover, it’s highly stable and doesn’t decompose easily.

There was even a study in Australia showing that venom stored at room temperature for 80 years still retained its toxicity after those 80 years.

However, snake venom has a significant drawback: since it is a substance created to be injected through the snake’s fangs, most of its toxicity cannot manifest unless it is directly injected under the skin, such as through subcutaneous injection.

‘In my previous life, this was not a drawback but an advantage…’

While this was actually an advantage in my previous life, I was answering to the head of an assassination clan.

The grandfather who earned the title Man of Ten Thousand Poisons for handling ten thousand different poisons.

So I explained it as a disadvantage.

“Therefore, to poison an enemy, you have to apply it to something like a knife or needle and stab the person with it.”

In the past, when someone was bitten by a snake, it was common to cut the wound with a knife and suck out the blood with their mouth – all of this was possible because of this property of snake venom.

Since snake venom is primarily composed of proteins, it usually does not cause poisoning if ingested orally.

Snake venom in a wine cup killing someone?

That’s almost always nonsense.

Unless there are wounds in the mouth, throat, or stomach, it’s absolutely impossible to die from it.

Even cases of poisoning while sucking out venom are mostly due to wounds inside the mouth.

“Ah! Also, if you coat it on a knife or needle, the amount of poison would be too small to kill the target. Since snake venom doesn’t dry well, it would be difficult to store coated knives or needles too.”

In my previous life, there was a peculiar term used to express the standardized measurement of acute toxicity – the median lethal dose.

It’s marked as LD50, which literally means the amount that kills half.

The amount that kills one out of two who consume it is the median lethal dose, or LD50.

It’s the amount that kills half of the experimental animals like rats or rabbits.

It’s expressed as the dose of poison per kilogram of body weight, but naturally, the amount would be less when applied to a blade compared to a direct snake bite, and it’s not that easy to dry snake venom in its natural state.

So there would also be problems storing poison-coated blades.

After explaining everything I had thought of, the grandfather, Man of Ten Thousand Poisons, nodded with a smile.

“Oh, indeed, you know a lot about snake venom. Yes, snake venom can only be effective if it is injected into the opponent’s body. That’s why it’s not commonly used.

Without reaching a certain level of mastery in hidden weapon techniques or dagger techniques, it can never be effective.”

-Gulp.

‘Y-yes, I was right.’

Even though I was praised for being correct, it didn’t feel particularly good.

It felt like being told I had talent as a psychopathic assassination clan member, which naturally didn’t feel great.

Talent for methods of murder and massacre – is that even really talent…?

Therefore, I couldn’t help but muster an awkward smile, and as my lips trembled, the Man of Ten Thousand Poisons, Grandfather, tilted his head.

“Why such an expression when I’m praising you?”

“Ah, no. Haha. While I’m happy to receive praise, how could a man easily show such emotions?”

“You can be happy in front of me.”

“Yes, grandfather.”

I could only smile awkwardly again in this truly troublesome situation.

However, the awkwardness was mine alone.

Perhaps because he liked my answer, another question followed.

“Then what about the poison of a venomous spider?”

A venomous spider means a poisonous spider.

I self-hypnotized again before answering Grandfather’s question.

“Since the spider’s venom is generally weak and the spiders are small, isn’t it because it takes a lot of effort to collect the venom?”

While we know venomous spiders as quite dangerous, honestly, despite the pain they cause, spiders that actually threaten life are rare.

It’s not because the spider’s venom is weak, but because the spider is small, so it can’t inject enough venom into a person in one go.

Moreover, even though this is another world and there might be different venomous spiders, the most venomous ones are usually found in South America or Australia.

Considering these factors, I answered, and the Man of Ten Thousand Poisons, Grandfather, nodded again.

“Yes, this answer is correct too. While they can cause pain to humans, that makes them difficult to use when trying to kill someone. Also, when we want to capture someone, we can use paralysis powder, so why use spider venom and risk them writhing in pain and screaming?”

It was during this theoretical education session that I heard Nunim’s voice from outside.

“Grandfather, you need to come out for a moment.”

I felt rewarded for my self-hypnosis as an assassin when I heard Nunim’s voice.

“Look at this kid, his face brightens up when Hwa-eun arrives.”

“Ahem…”

Thinking about how obvious it must have been on my face, I quickly went to the door and opened it.

There stood Nunim in a bright red outfit.

She was truly like a rose, even now.

Although we shared the inner courtyard used by the direct descendants of the Tang Family and saw each other at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I never got tired of seeing Nunim’s face.

‘In my previous life, they said good looks and beauty are temporary. They said to compromise unless you’re planning to live by eating your spouse’s face after marriage, but Nunim’s face seems filling just to look at, like a miser’s satisfaction…’

As Nunim hesitated under my gaze, I quickly greeted her.

“Have you come, Young Miss?”

“Y-yes. Xiaolong, have you been working hard at martial arts and studies?”

“Yes, Young Miss.”

Grandfather watched us greet each other with a smile.

As our greeting seemed to end, Grandfather stepped forward and asked Nunim.

“So, Hwa-eun, what brings you here?”

“Father seems to be in a difficult situation, and I think you need to go to the Black Tortoise Pavilion for a moment, grandfather.”

“The Black Tortoise Pavilion?”

The Black Tortoise Pavilion was explained to me as the office where the Family Head usually conducted his work.

As Grandfather tilted his head, Nunim spoke with a slightly darkened expression.

“The elders of the family…”

‘Family elders? If it’s the family elders, surely…’

Judging by Nunim’s expression and tone,

It seemed that the people who had been making Nunim suffer had arrived.

And my guess was correct, as the Man of Ten Thousand Poisons, Grandfather, frowned and asked back.

“Why are those people acting up again?”

“Um… there are two issues. One is that the medicine sent to the Magistrate of Sichuan wasn’t effective, so the Magistrate sent a letter full of complaints…”

As she spoke, Nunim trailed off and looked at me.

As Nunim met my gaze, she continued speaking.

“The other thing is about the Myriad Poison Hall.”

“The Myriad Poison Hall? Why?”

I had a bad feeling as soon as I heard the mention of the Myriad Poison Hall.

I sensed something unpleasant from Nunim’s expression.

I had a hunch it might be related to me.

“The elders are opposing the idea of entrusting the Myriad Poison Hall’s venomous creatures to Xiaolong.”

‘What, are these people trying to make enemies with me!?’

I had been trying to enjoy my hobby with ample support, but now these branch family members were causing trouble.

I couldn’t let this slide.

Right now, when I had a big sponsor lined up, they dared to try interfering with my hobby.

When I had secured amazing sponsorship that didn’t even require reactions, challenging that was basically asking for a fight.

“Let’s go, Young Miss!”

“What?”

As I quickly stepped outside, Nunim seemed surprised, but the Man of Ten Thousand Poisons, Grandfather, followed me.

We headed straight to the Family Head’s office, the Black Tortoise Pavilion.

When we arrived at the entrance of the Black Tortoise Pavilion, it was already chaotic inside.

“How could the Family Head make such a critical decision on his own!”

“Indeed! How could you handle this matter without consulting us and act unilaterally?”

“That’s right. Not to mention taking in an orphan with unknown origins and pairing him with our precious Hwa-eun!”

-Bang!

“An orphan? Unknown origins? Are you insulting my son-in-law right now?”

“No, Family Head, isn’t it a fact?”

I could hear the loud arguments inside, and they had started discussing me.

Unable to tolerate it any longer, Grandfather burst through the door and shouted.

“I ordered it! Do you have a problem with that!”

“Ta-Tae Sang Family Head.”

“Elder, you’re here?”

The people who had been crowding around the Family Head’s desk quickly backed off upon Grandfather’s entrance.

Nunim and I quickly entered and took our places behind the Family Head.

Then, voices followed.

Though they weren’t as loud as before, they still held discontent.

“Elder, how could you handle such matters this way? The Myriad Poison Hall is the most important place in the Tang Sect. The venomous creatures there are treasures of the Tang Sect. How could you entrust them to an outsider who hasn’t even had a proper marriage ceremony?”

“That’s right, Elder. The Myriad Poison Hall is a place we can’t easily enter. It’s not appropriate to allow an outsider access, especially when he hasn’t shown any abilities to convince the family members.”

In the end, they were using me to make things difficult for the Family Head and Nunim.

Even in my past life as the eldest grandson of the main family, I experienced all sorts of nonsense from strangers during ancestral rites. Seeing this situation made me remember those times and my anger surged.

‘Besides, I’m not usually one to step forward, but when my hobby is at stake, I can’t just stay quiet, can I?’

So, I stepped forward from behind the Family Head and clasped my hands together, bowing slightly.

“I apologize for interrupting your discussion, but it seems this matter has arisen due to my humble abilities. If I can demonstrate my abilities to convince the family elders, would that be satisfactory to everyone?”

All eyes turned to me.

[Xiaolong, what are you planning to do?]

Nunim’s worried voice reached me, but I smiled and picked up the papers on the Family Head’s desk.

“If I handle this matter, will you trust in my abilities?”

“Xiaolong, you mean?”

The Family Head looked up at me in surprise and confusion.

I believed this was the letter from the Magistrate of Sichuan.

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – 에르훗]

[Translator – bjgoofy]