Chapter 21 – How to properly establish a family (3)
Since I started practicing the Five Poisons Returning to Origin Technique yesterday, I thought we’d continue with that training for a while.
But Grandfather, Man of Ten Thousand Poisons, told me to sit and practice the inner energy cultivation method on my own whenever I found the time. Starting today, he said, I would be formally learning the martial arts of the Tang Sect.
“From today onward, you will begin training in the martial arts of the Tang Family.”
Since physical strength is the foundation of all body movement, I assumed I’d be facing some intense physical training, like ‘Run a hundred laps around the training ground starting now!’ But that was a mistake on my part.
“Are we going to do physical training as well?”
“Your body will naturally adapt to martial arts as you train in it. The Tang Sect values practicality above all, so you’ll be learning things you can put to immediate use.”
With that reasoning, he led me to the training grounds, where I found myself surrounded by countless hidden weapons.
As befitting the greatest assassination family in the Central Plains, Sichuan Tang Family, the first weapon I would train with was, of course, hidden weapons.
And among them, specifically the throwable hidden weapons.
Originally, assassination meant one shot from a distance.
That rule seemed to apply here as well.
“There are generally five types of throwable hidden weapons.
There are needles, coins, darts, powder, and also small swords or daggers that you can throw by hand. Things like short swords, flying swords, and flying knives. There are other variations, but broadly speaking, these are the five.”
“Needles, coins, darts, powder, and swords or daggers.”
“Yes. Now, of these, which one do you think is the easiest to handle?”
I pondered Grandfather Man of Ten Thousand Poisons’ question carefully before answering.
“Hmm… I’d say probably short swords or flying knives?”
“Correct. And which do you think is the hardest?”
“Hmm… would it be powder? Since you have to scatter it in the air.”
Naturally, short swords seemed the easiest to handle, while powder, which involved scattering fine particles, seemed the most challenging.
But Grandfather shook his head.
“No. The most difficult one is the needle.”
“The needle? Ah, is it because it’s small and thin, making it hard to throw accurately?”
Indeed, throwing something as thin as a needle would not be an easy task.
Thinking about it, powder could be scattered from a container, so I nodded, but Grandfather shook his head again.
“No. The reason needles are the hardest is not because they’re difficult to throw, but because you must remember the exact position of every needle you throw.”
“Remember the position of the needles? Do you mean I need to confirm if the needle hits its target?”
I tilted my head, puzzled at the notion of needing to remember the location of each needle.
After all, wouldn’t I have to check if it hit or missed anyway?
“Checking if it hit or missed is the same for other hidden weapons, isn’t it?”
Then, an unexpected answer came.
“No. It’s not about checking whether it hit. You have to remember where every single needle missed, where it bounced off the opponent’s weapon, where it fell, which tree it stuck to—you must recall all of these details.”
“Even the ones that bounced off? And the ones that fell to the ground?”
“Hmm, it’d be better to show you than to explain it.”
– Snap.
Seeing that I didn’t understand, Grandfather took a fresh brush out of his robe and snapped it in half in one swift motion.
He plucked the bristles from the brush and suddenly, as if he were levitating, scattered them throughout the training grounds.
– Whoosh!
The bristles spread out and covered the training ground in a fine layer.
“This is!?”
I couldn’t help but be astonished because the bristles Grandfather had scattered were standing upright.
They weren’t just lying flat—they were planted at regular intervals, almost as if they had sprouted from the ground.
Then Grandfather selected something from the pile of hidden weapons and held it out to me.
“Here, look at this. This is the Flying Needle used by the Tang Sect.”
What Grandfather handed me was a needle about the length of a toothpick, but what was unusual was that it was even thinner than a toothpick and sharpened on both ends.
“So, this is the Flying Needle of the Tang Sect…”
“Yes, that is the Flying Needle that any warrior of the Tang Sect can use. As you look at it, think about this: The Tang Sect has a hidden weapon technique called All-Encompassing Blossoming Rain. It’s a secret skill that blankets an entire area with thousands, sometimes even tens of thousands, of needles, just like the bristles I scattered earlier.
Now, imagine that you’ve scattered these needles all around. What do you think would happen?”
‘Throwing these needles all around? And they’re spread out like that? Oh…’
“If there are Flying Needles covering the entire area, there wouldn’t even be space to step, would there? If someone stumbled, they’d get pricked immediately.”
“Exactly. That’s why you must remember it. You can drive or lure the enemy into the area covered with needles.
Even if the person who threw the needles has an antidote or is immune to poison, it would be difficult to fight effectively while getting pricked by needles. That’s why you have to remember where each needle landed.
To make sure you don’t fall victim to your own tactic.”
‘As expected, the way they think is on a different level…’
This was truly the mindset of the Sichuan Tang Family.
Scattering needles all around and then engaging in a life-or-death battle on top of them.
I nodded, astonished, when suddenly, a question occurred to me.
There was one thing that still didn’t make sense, no matter how I thought about it.
“But after throwing thousands of needles, and with the opponent deflecting some, can a person really remember the location of every needle that’s fallen or bounced away? It doesn’t seem possible.”
After a bit of thought, I realized that remembering the location of thousands of barely visible needles while also fighting an opponent was completely unrealistic.
However, Grandfather Man of Ten Thousand Poisons nodded as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Of course. Even Hwa-eun could skillfully handle about a thousand when she reached the Ten Poisons Realm, so you’ll manage at least that much, too. Don’t worry.”
‘She could actually do that?’
“So, at the Five Poisons Realm, how many should I be able to handle?”
“The more, the better, but a hundred should be manageable, don’t you think?”
I’d boasted to numin about filling the Ten Poisons Realm with poisons from the Ten Great Venomous Creatures of the Central Plains, but for that, I’d need to reach the Ten Poisons Realm first.
But it didn’t seem like reaching the Ten Poisons Realm would be an easy feat.
It’s one thing to remember a hundred needles in theory, but in practice, I’d have to remember the surrounding terrain where I threw them, keep track of where each hidden weapon landed, and at the same time, fight an opponent.
They say dolphins sleep with one half of their brain awake to keep breathing—maybe I’d have to do something like that too.
Ha… Becoming an assassin in this family wasn’t going to be easy.
‘This is literally memorization-based training…’
It seemed I was in for some serious memorization training.
***
After finishing the morning training with flying knives, which was supposedly the easiest to learn.
Once I had lunch, numin came to find me.
Since I was going to gather medicinal herbs in the afternoon, training was canceled for the rest of the day, and I was looking forward to a bumblebee-hunting date with her.
“Xiaolong, shall we go?”
“Huh? What’s that?”
“I brought it just in case. Will it be helpful?”
As expected, even though the Tang Sect’s facilities for raising venomous creatures were somewhat rudimentary, they still had the basics. Numin had brought along various pieces of equipment.
Since we were going to catch bees, she had brought thick gloves made from sturdy fabric, a bamboo hat with a mesh veil, a collection jar, a pair of tongs, and something like a net for capturing them.
I’d heard that even within the Tang Sect, they periodically captured venomous creatures to collect poison, so it seemed they’d had experience gathering bee venom as well.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have all this equipment prepared.
“Of course. I was planning to wait, but with these tools, it looks like I’ll be able to catch them myself.”
“Wait?”
Numin tilted her head, puzzled by my request to wait, but responded with a smile.
“Oh, you’ll understand once we get there. By the way, do you happen to know where the bumblebee nest is?”
“I found one; it’s over there.”
Following numin, we headed to a spot near a stone wall not far from where we were. Bumblebees were bustling in and out of an underground nest, busy with their movements.
It seemed like a fairly large colony, judging by the number of bumblebees flying in and out.
I quickly turned around and said to numin,
“Hmm, I don’t think this is the right place.”
“It’s not? Wasn’t this the one you wanted to catch?”
“I do need a bumblebee nest, but I’m not actually here to catch the bees. Do you know of any flower fields a bit farther from here?”
“You’re not catching the bumblebees? Hmm… if we need to go a bit farther… there’s a flower field over that ridge.”
Following numin, we headed to a more distant flower field, one that this colony of bees wasn’t likely to be using.
We needed to locate a bumblebee nest, and the best way to do that was to follow a bee that was out collecting nectar.
“Here it is.”
“Wow, it’s beautiful.”
When we arrived at the place numin led me to, there were trees as tall as a person, and they were filled with gorgeous pink and white flowers in full bloom.
As I admired the beauty, numin raised a finger in warning.
“Don’t pluck the flowers or break off any branches to put in your mouth, even if they look beautiful. These are oleander flowers. If you accidentally get any in your mouth, it could be life-threatening.”
“O-Oleander!”
“Yes, these are flowers that our family cultivates.”
No wonder they were so neatly arranged in rows and columns—they were indeed flowers cultivated by the Sichuan Tang Family.
The Tang Family never did anything normal.
Even the beautifully blooming flowers on the mountain ridge weren’t ordinary.
Though I didn’t know much about Oleander, I knew it was used in death penalty poison, so I couldn’t help but be startled.
‘Isn’t it said to stop the heart?’
I calmed myself down and started searching for bumblebees with numin, circling the area.
Following the bumblebees’ movements, we managed to find two different nests, observing the entrances where the bees went in and out.
However, I still couldn’t find the specific bumblebee nest I was looking for.
After the third unsuccessful search, numin looked at me, clearly exasperated.
“Could you tell me exactly what you’re looking for? At this rate, it’s going to take a long time. It might be best to mobilize the family’s warriors.”
Using extra people would definitely speed things up.
I’d wanted to do that from the start, but I kept my mouth shut since I was trying to make this feel like a date.
“Well, should we do that, then?”
-Whistle!
As soon as I answered, numin threw a flying knife made from a tree branch down the mountainside.
The knife emitted a sharp, high-pitched whistle that echoed through the area.
And then, from between the peaks of Tang Family Mountain, clouds of dust began to rise as warriors gathered from the family’s various halls and pavilions.
“““You summoned us, Young Miss!”””
In no time, warriors flew through the air with Qinggong and soon kneeled before numin.
They were the Tang Family warriors, each with castor bean leaves embroidered on their chests.
‘Wow…’
“Yes, we need to find something for the family’s business, so listen um… Xia… no, Young Master Xiaolong’s instructions and find what he desires.”
“““Understood, Young Miss.”””
‘Whew… this is impressive.’
The warriors immediately awaited my orders as soon as numin finished speaking.
Although I had my concerns about being part of an assassination family, seeing such loyal subordinates made my shoulders instinctively square with pride.
“Find the bumblebees that are gathering nectar and pollen from the trees with blooming flowers, and follow those bumblebees to locate their nest.”
“Oh, and once you find the bumblebee nest, please wait for about fifteen minutes and count the number of bees going in and out of the nest, then report it back to me.”
“Understood, Young Master Xiaolong! Let’s go!”
The warriors immediately scattered, and after about half an hour had passed.
The warriors who went searching began returning one by one to report their findings about the bumblebee nests they discovered.
“Wei Feng of the Sichuan Tang Family’s Five Poisons warriors. The location I found had twenty bees over fifteen minutes!”
“Quan Ho-chung of the Sichuan Tang Family’s Ten Poisons warriors. The location I found had thirty-two bees over fifteen minutes!”
“Sichuan Tang Family’s……”
“Sichuan Tang Family’s….”
The reports from the warriors continued one after another.
“…There was one bee.”
A warrior reported finding a nest with only one bee.
‘That’s the one!’
“Could you lead me there?”
Following the warrior, I arrived at a spot beneath a boulder in a valley. Digging into the ground, we uncovered the bumblebee nest.
The nest looked like clusters of round beads clumped together, and the few remaining bumblebees inside rushed at us but were swiftly subdued by the warriors.
A few hidden weapons thrown their way immediately made the bumblebees into specimens.
The nest, now devoid of the last remaining bees.
Inside the nearly destroyed bumblebee nest, I used the tongs to pick up a black insect.
“Gotcha. You little pests!”
***
If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.
Thank you for reading!
[Author – 에르훗]
[Translator – bjgoofy]
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