Chapter 34 – Natural Enemy (3)

A dark night shrouded in clouds, with even the moon hidden from sight.

The only sound breaking the silence was the faint hoot of an owl.

At a shallow part of the quietly flowing Tang Family River near Tang Family Mountain, three figures moved swiftly, crossing the water.

Stepping lightly on the scattered rocks protruding from the surface of the water.

-Tak tak tak tak.

The three figures were men dressed in black stealth suits with black hoods covering their faces.

After crossing the Tang Family River, the three hid behind a large boulder near the riverbank of Tang Family Mountain.

[Let me remind you again, under no circumstances can we afford to be discovered! That’s precisely why we, the most skilled in stealth within our cult, were entrusted with this mission. Do you understand!?]

As soon as they hid behind the boulder, the man who appeared to be the leader warned the other two, his voice sharp. The two masked men immediately prostrated themselves and responded.

[With the revival of Blood Cult the world shall drown in Blood again! Of course, Commander!]

[Of course!]

[According to the information we’ve gathered, neither the Tang Family’s Family Head nor the Man of Ten Thousand Poisons is currently in the Sichuan Tang Family. Tonight is the perfect opportunity, so we must succeed no matter what.]

[Yes!]

[When you retrieve the manual, head immediately to the designated location, using any means necessary. However, if you are caught during the retrieval of the Blood Water Poisonous Claws, bite down on the poison pill in your mouths and take your own lives for the sake of the mission.]

[If we fail, we cannot allow our identities to be exposed. If our identities are revealed, we will attract a swarm of martial artists like angry bees.]

[Your spilled blood will bring the Blood-Drenched World closer to reality!]

[Blood-Drenched World! Understood!]

Timing their movements with the shift change of the Tang Family guards, the three infiltrated the depths of the Tang Family grounds.

They first searched the Family Head’s Hall, but found nothing of value. Then, they moved to check Myriad Poison Hall, but it was so heavily secured that they couldn’t even enter.

As they had anticipated, entering Myriad Poison Hall was impossible.

[The last place to check is the Man of Ten Thousand Poisons’ quarters!]

[Understood, Commander!]

Finally, they decided to sneak into the Man of Ten Thousand Poisons’ quarters, just in case.

[This is it!]

Inside the darkness of the room, the masked men found a copy of the Blood Water Poisonous Claws manual.

It seemed that the Man of Ten Thousand Poisons had been studying it, as the copy was filled with various scribbles and was casually placed on the table beside his bed.

[A copy of the Blood Water Poisonous Claws!]

[We couldn’t retrieve the original, but to think we’d find a copy in the Man of Ten Thousand Poisons’ quarters!]

[Heaven is clearly aiding the cult! Let’s head to the rendezvous point!]

Overjoyed, the three immediately exited the room and began moving toward their destination, beyond the mountain range of Tang Family Mountain.

They couldn’t leave the same way they had entered, as they had synchronized their entry with the shift change of the Tang Family guards. The route back through the Tang Family River was no longer an option.

While their infiltration into the depths of the Tang Family grounds had gone smoothly, it seemed they had ventured too deep. Unlike when they entered, the outer perimeters were now heavily fortified.

[There are far more guards than we anticipated based on our information.]

[Is it because the Family Head and the Man of Ten Thousand Poisons are absent that the security has been tightened?]

As the masked leader climbed onto the roof of the Man of Ten Thousand Poisons’ quarters to survey the area, his expression turned grim.

The clouds shifted, and in the moonlight, he spotted the training grounds ahead.

The spacious training grounds, located deeper in the Tang Family grounds and leading toward the peaks of Tang Family Mountain, caught his attention.

Contrary to the information he had, there wasn’t a single guard stationed there. The lanterns were unlit, and the area was eerily empty of any patrolling guards.

‘Why is this?’

According to the intel they’d verified before infiltrating, there were always supposed to be four guards stationed there. Yet now, there was no light from the lanterns and not a single guard in sight.

It struck him as odd, but with no other options, the three masked men quickly moved toward the training grounds.

The moment they stepped onto the training grounds, a strange, thunderous sound began to echo from a hollow within the ancient tree standing in the center of the field.

-Wuuuuung!

[Is, is this a mechanism formation!?]

As the three masked men recoiled in shock and leapt away, it wasn’t a swarm of martial artists that descended upon them, but an actual swarm of bees.

***

“Stop right there! You scoundrels! How dare you infiltrate the Tang Sect!”

“Stop right there!”

The distant shouts of the Tang Family’s warriors echoed through the night.

Torches bobbed in the distance, moving quickly toward the mountain, and we followed the noise, arriving at the exclusive training grounds for the Tang Family’s direct lineage.

Except now, that space had been turned into a beekeeping yard, well, not quite, but more accurately, a battleground for the Golden-Furred King Bees.

“What on earth is going on!?”

At Nunim’s sharp inquiry, Gu Pae, the vice commander of the Poison Blood Squad, rushed forward from the group of warriors gathered at the entrance of the training grounds to give his report.

“Miss Hwa-eun, we have intruders! Two of them fled toward the mountain, and the Commander of the Poison Blood Squad is leading the warriors in pursuit. As for the other one…”

As Nunim’s piercing voice urged him on, Gu Pae pointed toward the inside of the training grounds with an anxious expression.

There, illuminated by the moonlight, lay a man sprawled on the ground.

It seemed they wanted to retrieve and confirm his identity, but they couldn’t get close because of the swarm of Golden-Furred King Bees surrounding him.

‘Why is it that my pet insects always end up killing someone whenever there’s an incident? They’ve really taken it upon themselves to do all kinds of things now that I’m in the Tang Sect.’

Since no one else could step forward to retrieve the body, I apologized to the surrounding Golden-Furred King Bees, quietly telling them I was sorry for disturbing their sleep. Then, I closed my eyes tightly and pulled out what appeared to be a lifeless corpse.

As Gu Pae inspected the body, I couldn’t help but feel uneasy. Even if the man was a thief, why did my pet insects always seem to kill people?

But after examining the corpse, Gu Pae reached an unexpected conclusion.

“This wasn’t caused by the Golden-Furred King Bees. He bit down on a poison pill and took his own life.”

“A poison pill?”

I felt relieved to learn that it wasn’t the bees that had killed him. But as soon as Gu Pae mentioned the poison pill, Nunim’s expression turned icy, and her voice rang out sharply as she issued orders to the gathered warriors.

“Biting down on a poison pill to commit suicide means there’s much they wished to hide. Inform Mother and ask her to oversee the family’s recovery process. Assemble the elders of the family immediately; I will organize a pursuit squad at once!”

“Yes! Young Miss!”

At Nunim’s command, the warriors dispersed in all directions, moving swiftly to execute her orders.

***

-Crack! Thud thud thud thud!

As I executed qinggong, my body suddenly sank into the ground along with a heap of dirt.

I was sure I hadn’t made any missteps with my footwork.

“Ahhhh!”

“Young Master Soryong, grab my hand!”

Startled, I let out a scream as my body plunged downward, but Gu Pae swiftly leapt into action, grabbing me as I was being sucked knee-deep into the earth.

It was a moment when the ground suddenly collapsed, revealing a pit below.

“Thank you. Whew, I thought I was done for.”

“Are you hurt? You must be careful since Young Miss would be sad if you get hurt.”

With Gu Pae’s help, I managed to pull myself out of the pit, where I had been stuck up to my knees. But as soon as I got out, an eerie sound came from beneath my feet.

-Ssshhhhh!

-Ssshhhhh!

The chilling sound startled me, and I immediately stepped back, peering cautiously into the pit.

The sound was both unsettling and, oddly enough, familiar, a sound I couldn’t help but feel glad to hear.

“This is…!”

The pit I had almost fallen into was deep enough that it would be impossible to climb out of on one’s own. And inside the pit, I saw countless snakes coiled together in a tangled mass.

“A snake pit?”

A hand rested on my shoulder. It was Gu Pae, who had just saved me, peering into the pit and identifying it as a snake pit.

Snake pit meaning a den of snakes.

Even in my previous life, I’d come across places where snakes congregated in large numbers, typically to hibernate through the winter or to use as a shelter. So I understood what a snake pit was.

But this one felt… strange.

Normally, a snake pit would be in rocky crevices or holes where snakes naturally gathered. But this pit gave off a dark, ominous feeling. It was unnerving, like the gaping maw of some great creature.

It was the kind of place that made you instinctively not want to approach.

Even the snakes themselves seemed unusually agitated, as if they were furious about something.

-Ruuuumble!

Did the heavens agree with my thoughts? Thunder and lightning suddenly erupted, and in the distance, rain clouds began to gather and move in rapidly.

“But this feels strange somehow, doesn’t it?”

“Ah, sometimes snakes build their pits in Death Acupoints where Yin energy gathers. Their venom tends to heighten in such places, so we must be extra cautious.”

Since I had studied martial arts, I knew a little about Yin and Yang energy, but I didn’t know what Death Acupoints were. Still, I nodded in understanding, deciding to ask about it later.

“I see. That makes sense. Normally, Tiger Keelbacks aren’t so aggressive, but they’re behaving unusually fiercely now….”

The Tiger Keelback is not typically aggressive or prone to biting people. Yet, judging from their hissing and agitation, it was clear that their venom, as Gu Pae had said, had indeed intensified.

I made a mental note to visit later if I ever needed to catch snakes, and then I addressed the warriors.

“I’ve caused us to be delayed. It looks like it might rain soon, so let’s move quickly.”

“Yes, Young Master Soryong, we should.”

Despite the brief commotion, we hurriedly resumed our pursuit, watching the rain clouds advancing from the distance. After all, we still had thieves to catch.

Having left the Tang Sect two days ago, the reason we were wandering through these mountains was entirely because of the thieves we were hunting.

One of the thieves had been caught by the Golden-Furred King Bees in the dead of night and had immediately bitten down on a poison pill to commit suicide. But the other two had fled into the mountains, escaping toward the mountain range.

I initially wondered what these thieves had to do with me, but with Mother-in-law lacking strong martial arts skills, she had stayed behind to handle the aftermath within the Tang Sect. When Nunim said she would lead the family elders and warriors to pursue the thieves, I volunteered to join.

After all, I had told Grandfather that I would protect Nunim and Mother-in-law, so I couldn’t let her go alone.

Though, during the chase, we had split into groups, and now we were scattered.

Once again, I propelled my body forward with qinggong, following the traces left by the leading pursuit group.

It wasn’t long before I heard someone shouting ahead.

“There they are! Capture them!”

At the urgent cry, I, along with Gu Pae and the ten other members of our pursuit team, immediately moved toward the source of the sound.

“Over there!”

We arrived at a clearing in front of a shallow cliff.

It wasn’t a cliff too steep to climb with qinggong, but the Tang warriors had surrounded the two thieves, pelting them with flying needles every time they tried to leap toward the top of the cliff.

-Ting! Ting ting!

“This is the end of the line for you!”

“Tch!”

Gu Pae shouted toward the thieves as he entered the clearing where the warriors and thieves were already facing off.

With their escape blocked by the flying needles, and now joined by our team, the two thieves looked panicked as they ducked behind the scattered rocks at the base of the cliff.

“Tighten the net, then charge all at once!”

Now joined by our group of ten, the total number of Tang warriors had risen to twenty.

Following Gu Pae’s orders, the warriors, excluding me, whose martial skills were weaker, slowly closed in, shrinking the encirclement around the thieves.

And when the thieves were finally cornered, the real hunt began.

“Attack!”

At Gu Pae’s command, the Tang warriors, who had been slowly closing the gap, suddenly launched themselves toward the scattered rocks where the thieves were hiding.

The shimmering flying needles and flying daggers were unleashed from the warriors’ hands.

One of the thieves was soon subdued and collapsed to the ground, but Gu Pae’s urgent shout rang out.

“Be careful! The other one’s movements are not normal!”

“Yes, Vice Commander!”

Sure enough, as Gu Pae had warned, the masked thief’s movements were extraordinary.

Dodging the Tang warriors’ flying needles, the thief threw himself toward the gaps in the encirclement. His skill was evident, two Tang warriors fell, struck by his palms.

“Gahhh!”

-Rumble!

-Plop, plop, plop. Pitter-patter. Patter-patter.

The rain began to fall, growing heavier by the second.

As the rain began to fall, the chaotic skirmish between the Tang warriors and the masked man unfolded.

But what good was skill?

There’s no winning against overwhelming numbers.

The masked man, unable to overcome the numerical disadvantage, was soon driven back toward the edge of the cliff.

And just as the masked man found himself with his back against the cliff.

“Move aside! Three Illusory Kills!”

At Gu Pae’s shout, the Tang warriors quickly scattered.

A flying dagger shot out from Gu Pae’s hand, aimed at the masked man.

-Klang! Cha-klang!

“Gahh!”

Although only one flying dagger had been thrown, the masked man, wielding a dagger in each hand, managed to deflect it twice. The metallic clashes were followed by the man’s groan of pain.

The masked man clutched his shoulder, now pressed against the cliff.

Blood began to seep from his shoulder, mixing with the rain and quickly staining the ground around him red.

“You’re lucky. If it weren’t for the rain, the paralysis poison on the dagger would have subdued you completely.”

Judging from Gu Pae’s words, it seemed that the rain had washed away the poison applied to the flying dagger.

Still, now that the masked man was injured, it was only a matter of time before he was completely subdued.

-Rumble!

But just as we all felt confident about the inevitable outcome, imagining a hopeful future, something happened.

The sound of thunder roared, lightning flashed, and suddenly, someone flew into the scene, landing right in front of the masked man.

“Wahaha! Step aside, all of you!”

-Slash!

“Guhhh!”

A hand lashed out as the newcomer wedged himself between the Tang warriors and the masked man.

Scarlet blood sprayed into the air like a mist, but it was quickly washed away by the falling rain.

One of the Tang warriors collapsed to the ground, his chest torn open by the claws of the sudden intruder.

“Retreat! He’s a master!”

A middle-aged man dressed in a crimson martial robe, with thick eyebrows and his hair tied back tightly, stood before us.

Gu Pae hurriedly ordered the warriors to fall back as he shouted at the newcomer.

“Who are you!?”

The man, however, ignored Gu Pae’s question. Instead, he turned to the masked man behind him, who was clutching his injured shoulder, and asked.

“Did you retrieve it?”

“Yes! Here. I couldn’t secure the original, but this seems to be a copy recorded by the Tang Sect.”

“Regrettable, but it’ll have to do. Good work.”

The masked man produced a book wrapped in red paper with an unusual yellow thread binding it.

Gu Pae and the warriors wore puzzled expressions as they looked at the item, wondering what it was.

But I recognized that book immediately.

It was something I was familiar with, something I had seen countless times before.

Grandfather, the Man of Ten Thousand Poisons, had occasionally studied that book while teaching me.

“The secret manual of the Blood Water Poisonous Claws!?”

At my words, all eyes turned to me.

***

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

Thank you for reading!

[Author – 에르훗]

[Translator – bjgoofy]