Chapter 2 – Blue-Spotted Centipede (2)

“What!? Really?”

“Do you think you know where it is?”

The two men asked with surprised voices and expressions of disbelief.

In my past life, such questions and expressions would never have been directed at me. It seemed like my former glory as Maewoon Fabre had truly faded.

After all, I was the man once known as the walking encyclopedia of venomous snakes, insects, and poisons.

‘Ha, such things never happened in my previous life… Oh, it’s not my reputation that’s dead; I am actually dead… Damn…’

My reputation wasn’t gone; it was me who was truly dead.

Escaping from the bewildering reality, I decided to answer the two men first.

“Yes, if it’s a large centipede, I think I know where it might be.”

“Where do you think it is!?”

“Exactly, where!?”

The men seemed eager for me to quickly tell them where it might be, but I decided to ask them first about the areas they had searched.

I wondered if they had checked the places I was thinking of.

Centipedes vary in species, each with slightly different habits and preferred environments.

“Could you tell me which areas you have searched and when?”

The two men looked at each other and then the old man nodded.

He explained where they had searched for several days.

“We searched to the north and east from here. Mostly during the day. Around the riverbanks in the north…”

If it’s the north of the hermitage, then the riverbanks; if it’s east, then the jungle.

I understood why they had been wandering around for days.

A giant centipede wouldn’t like such places.

Especially during the day, it would be extremely difficult to even catch a glimpse of a centipede.

“Then it’s natural that you haven’t found it.”

“What? Naturally? Is there a reason?”

I could list dozens of reasons, but I decided to keep the explanation simple.

It wasn’t the time to go into professional knowledge.

“Yes, it may seem easy to find centipedes in dark, damp places, in thickets or dense vegetation, but not all centipedes prefer such environments.”

Centipedes are quite unique animals.

They are arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda in the arthropod phylum.

Being ectothermic, centipedes engage in territorial behaviors and require hiding places.

Interestingly, most insects have smooth bodies with a waterproof layer that naturally repels water droplets in rain or when drops fall on them.

However, centipedes have weaker waterproofing and their shells have pores, so they do not favor very wet areas.

They need high humidity but dislike too much water.

On the other hand, they are animals that can’t survive long without water, probably due to their many legs.

Thus, it’s unlikely for them to settle in the jungle or near riverbanks where they can’t hide their large bodies.

“Do centipedes not prefer places like crevices in rotten wood?”

The old man’s voice conveyed his difficulty in understanding.

It seemed he had a basic understanding of centipedes, but I decided to explain why they couldn’t find them in such places.

“Some small centipedes are found in such places, but didn’t you say it was a large centipede?”

“That’s right.”

“Centipedes do like humid places, but too much humidity is actually bad for them. Moreover, centipedes prefer to hide, but if they are large, fallen trees in the dense forest or small rocks near riverbanks don’t suit them. There’s nowhere for them to hide.”

It’s easy to think of centipedes as creatures that love damp places because they are often found on moist soil, but that’s when the external environment allows for proper ventilation.

In fact, when breeding centipedes, too much humidity can lead to fungal infections and death of the centipedes.

“Alright, then where might it be!? If you find the Blue-Spotted Centipede in the place you mentioned, I will reward you handsomely!”

The people, now convinced by my explanation, looked at me with anticipation. I pointed westward with my finger and responded.

“I suggest you search the western rocky mountains.”

Centipedes usually rest under warm rocks during the day and roam around at night.

***

The red sunset was fading, and so was the patience of Tang Cheol-san, the Family Head of the Sichuan’s Tang Family and the Heavenly Poison Scholar.

The sun was setting again today.

“Family Head, could the young hero’s words be mistaken?”

The leader of the Poison Blood Squad asked cautiously, and Tang Cheol-san gazed at him thoughtfully.

It had been twenty days since they entered Haenam Island and four days since they left the young hero’s hermitage.

Tang Cheol-san, having barely rested since leaving the collapsing hermitage, had been searching with the warriors of the Sichuan Tang Family during the day in the rocky mountains and in the evenings along the boundaries of the mountains and the river.

They had all pinned their last hopes on the story told by the young hero.

“If it’s a large centipede, it will definitely need a lot of water, so check between the rocky mountains and the riverbank at night when the centipede is active. During the day, it would be good to check under the large rocks on the rocky mountains. Centipedes warm their bodies under hot rocks during the day and use that warmth to move around at night.”

‘Could the young hero’s words be wrong…’

The warriors standing behind the leader were visibly exhausted.

The dirt- and sweat-covered warriors were silently longing for rest, without a single complaint.

They probably understood the situation well.

Tang Cheol-san decided to allow his family’s warriors to rest.

They needed to eat dinner, and further searching for today seemed impossible.

“Let’s call it a day. We need to eat dinner. Send a signal to my father as well.”

“Understood, Family Head.”

-Beep.

Following his orders, a signal was sent, and the warriors began to lay their tired bodies down at various places on the slopes of the rocky mountain.

“Ah, I’m dead tired.”

“Finally, we can rest. I hope the young hero’s words are right. Why can’t we find this damned centipede?”

“Yeah, that warrior seemed pretty smart.”

The reason Tang Cheol-san had led the military force of the Poison Blood Squad and even his father, the Man of Ten Thousand Poisons Tang Mu-seong, from far-off Sichuan to Haenam was all because of his daughter.

Tang Hwa-eun, his daughter, was considered one of the most talented individuals in the history of the Tang clan.

At the age of eighteen, she had reached the first-class level but fell into Qi Deviation due to her greed for mastering the art of poison.

Due to the nature of poison cultivation, Qi Deviation was both an internal demon and a form of intoxication.

As the intoxication from Qi Deviation set in, even his father, known as the Man of Ten Thousand Poisons, could not detoxify his granddaughter. As a result, she was slowly dying from poisoning in Sichuan.

The elders of the family and his wife had tried to slow the progress of the poison by blocking her meridians and infusing her with vital energy, but they could only delay her death.

Her body was gradually succumbing to the poison seeping into her bone marrow.

The last hope to save his daughter was to obtain an Inner Core from a venomous creature, which would forcibly elevate her martial arts level and neutralize the poison in her body from her poison cultivation.

Therefore, they desperately needed an Inner Core from a venomous creature that could enhance her martial arts level and neutralize all the poison inside her.

For this reason, the Sichuan Tang Clan had made requests to the Open Sect and Hao Sect, gathering information about various venomous creatures scattered throughout the Central Plains.

They dispatched warriors to all promising locations.

They searched the jungles of Yunnan where a two-headed snake was rumored to be seen and the forests of Guangxi where the Human-Faced Spider was reported to appear.

But all these efforts were in vain.

Eventually, the last place they turned to, which seemed to hold the most potential, was here in Haenam Island.

A few years ago, an herb gatherer had reported seeing a large centipede with blue spots on its body in the jungles of Haenam Island.

A large centipede with blue spots could not be among the “Ten Great Venomous Creatures of the Central Plains,” but it was definitely a Blue-Spotted Centipede, capable of forming an Inner Core, and its description matched the records in the Tang Clan’s secret document, “The Compendium of Venomous Creatures Under Heaven.”

After entering Haenam Island and securing the testimony of the herb gatherer, they ended up searching near an abandoned hermitage.

Then, upon hearing the strange advice of a young boy, they searched the boundaries of the rocky mountains and the river at night, as the boy had suggested, but after three days, they found no trace and were growing increasingly desperate.

‘Is Hwa-eun, the most talented in Tang Clan’s history, being abandoned by the heavens?’

Later, the remaining half of the warriors and his father, Tang Mu-seong, the Man of Ten Thousand Poisons, gathered around Tang Cheol-san after seeing the signal, and his father asked anxiously.

“Did we find nothing again today?”

“Yes, Father… Did you find anything?”

“…”

They both knew from each other’s expressions that there was no progress today, but the anxious questions continued.

With Tang Hwa-eun’s poisoning symptoms, she had at most three months left, so these questions were inevitable.

Both Tang Cheol-san and his father, the Man of Ten Thousand Poisons, were anxious as each day passed.

“Father, how about searching the south tomorrow? Since we haven’t found any trace, maybe we should change our search area…”

Tang Cheol-san, losing hope in the young hero’s words, asked cautiously.

He wanted to search as many places as possible in the remaining days.

It seemed difficult to find anything more in the western rocky mountains, so it made sense to check the south, which they hadn’t searched yet.

“We haven’t found anything… Certainly, nothing so far… Huh!? Nothing!?”

Man of Ten Thousand Poisons suddenly stopped speaking, as if he had realized something, and then answered with an excited voice.

“Yes! That’s it! How could I not realize this before! Yes, it must be here!”

Despite not finding any trace of the Blue-Spotted Centipede, his father exclaimed with certainty that it was here.

Wondering if his father had sensed something he had not, Tang Cheol-san quickly asked.

“Father, did you discover or feel something?”

“No, just as you said, I didn’t feel anything nor found any trace.”

But the answer was strange.

He hadn’t felt anything and hadn’t found any trace.

“Why then?”

“That’s why I feel it must be here.”

“What?”

Confused by the incomprehensible answer, Tang Cheol-san tilted his head, and his father asked in return.

“What trace have we found in these rocky mountains over the last three days?”

“No, we haven’t found any trace. Not animal droppings, nor any other sign… Wait, could it be!?”

A sudden realization struck them as they talked.

“Yes. Does it make sense that in these vast rocky mountains, there’s not even a rat dropping or a feather from birds? I just thought of it myself!”

Indeed, thinking about his father’s words, there were no traces of any animals on the rocky mountains.

Deer, roe deer, and wild boar – there were no signs of such animals anywhere.

Even the common rats were nowhere to be seen.

And then, at that moment.

Just as the warriors were starting a fire and preparing to eat.

-Rustle.

The flat rock where the warriors had lit the fire suddenly began to move, and then the rock was flung away.

-Crash! Bang!

And from the hole that appeared where the rock had been, a strange and chilling sound began to emerge.

-Sssss.

Under the completely set sun.

From a hole just big enough for a person to crawl into, came this strange sound.

Then, in the pitch darkness of the hole, under the rising moonlight, something slowly began to emerge.

A massive body and numerous legs.

Blue spots glistening on its back in the moonlight.

“That’s it!”

This must be the Blue-Spotted Centipede recorded in the Tang Clan’s secret document, “The Compendium of Venomous Creatures Under Heaven.”

-Drip, drip.

-Hiss…

As Tang Cheol-san watched the venom droplets falling from the Blue-Spotted Centipede’s poisonous claws, turning the green grass black, he immediately shouted a warning to the Tang Family warriors.

“Be careful, everyone! It’s the Blue-Spotted Centipede!”

Just as the young hero had said, the Blue-Spotted Centipede was really beneath the rock.

“Really, in such a rocky mountain?”

“I am an expert in this area. It’s certain.”

“An expert?”

The young hero’s once seemingly absurd answer now flashed through his mind.

***

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

Thank you for reading!

[Author – 에르훗]

[Translator – Roshi]