Chapter 113: Coagulating Poison (1)
Translator: bjgoofy
-Buuung. Buung.
A space filled with the scent of a dried-up, dead tree and the sweet fragrance flowing in from all directions.
Inside the hive, the sound of the Golden-Furred King Bees flapping their wings to draw in warmth filled the air.
The sun was rising, casting its light, and the warmth that began to fill the dry tree was being spread widely.
Bee species do not see well at night and find it difficult to move without warmth, so they do not fly during the night.
That is why, when morning comes and the sun's warmth shines upon the hive, they flap their wings to spread that warmth inside.
The Golden-Furred King Bees had traits of both bumblebees and honeybees, so it was uncertain which habits they followed, but this behavior seemed to lean more towards the honeybee side.
Bumblebees sometimes go out to collect nectar even on bright moonlit nights, so this kind of activity early in the morning is rarely seen from them.
“Is the queen awake, by any chance?”
I looked up and asked between the beehives, and the wing flapping paused briefly.
Soon after, the flapping resumed, and the queen bee came down the hexagonal beehive to my eye level.
She was hanging upside down.
-Buuung.
Then, as if to say she was already awake, she flicked her wings once.
At that, the inside of the dry tree fell silent.
Sensing it was the right time, I quickly delivered the reason for my visit.
“The reason I came this morning is actually… there's a centipede I keep with me named Bin, who looks just like this one here, Hyang, wrapped around my wrist. You know who, right? That one has disappeared. If any of the Golden-Furred King Bee workers spot her while out collecting nectar, could you let me know?”
As I asked, showing Hyang wrapped around my wrist, the Golden-Furred King Bee queen flinched slightly in surprise, then nodded.
-Buuung!
“Thank you. I’ll be counting on you. Sorry to bother you so early in the morning. I’ll be going now.”
Just as I was about to turn and leave, thankful that she flicked her wings as if to say she understood.
-Tap tap.
Suddenly, I felt something on my shoulder.
When I turned my head, the queen bee who had tapped my shoulder was now tapping my forehead with her antennae.
-Tap tap tap.
Then her mouth suddenly began approaching my face.
‘No way. Again!? Even for me, this is tough…’
Tapping the other’s antennae with her own and bringing her mouth close was a prelude to nutritional exchange.
For some unknown reason, the queen bee was suddenly requesting a nutritional exchange.
Just yesterday other worker bees requested nutritional exchange and we came to an agreement that I would dip into the hive's honey to eat.
‘Am I going to end up starving?’
I understood the meaning, but my body flinched at the queen bee’s request for nutritional exchange.
One time had already shattered my mental state, doing it a second time would really be too much.
‘W-What do I do?’
In the brief moment as the queen bee’s mouth approached, I agonized deeply.
I couldn’t just refuse outright, because this was a very meaningful gesture.
Nutritional exchange is the highest form of trust expressed by social insects like bees and ants.
It means being acknowledged and accepted as a member of the society, being treated as an equal, and even being recognized as true family, nutritional exchange embodies all that.
So for the Golden-Furred King Bees, it was akin to a hug or handshake.
Because it was a request to confirm that level of trust, it was not something I could easily turn down.
Moreover, this wasn’t just any bee but the queen herself. If I refused, who knew how she would react? If things turned sour with the queen, it meant things would turn sour with all the Golden-Furred King Bees.
That was why, during that brief moment when her mouth was approaching, so many thoughts ran through my mind.
But in the end, I could only wave my hand and say,
“I-I’m actually really full right now. I even had h-honey yesterday. People can’t eat that m-much at once.”
‘I really thought it over, but this just isn’t it.’
-Buuung? Bu! Buu!
At my refusal, the queen bee violently flapped her wings twice.
‘She’s mad, isn’t she?’
I thought she might actually be angry, and just then, a bee from above the hive brought over a round object the size of a watermelon and suddenly placed it in both my hands.
-Buuung.
When I held it, it felt heavy, probably filled with honey inside.
Unlike honeybees, small bumblebees originally build round-shaped globes that hang like grape clusters instead of hexagonal structures, so the homes of the Golden-Furred King Bees being hexagonal was rather unique.
When I looked closely inside this unfamiliar object, I saw that the hexagonal frame was nestled inside the round globe.
It felt like they made a small beehive shape and then covered it round with wax?
“Are you telling me to take this and eat it?”
-Buuung. Buung.
From the fluttering of her wings, it felt like she was telling me to eat well and take care of myself.
Whether it was because I was in a growth phase or because I had been acknowledged as family, I didn’t know, but I felt grateful to these bees who were now even packing me lunch. I nodded to say I understood.
And I also felt a sense of relief for having avoided a crisis.
‘Did I somehow get through it?’
“Yeah, really, thank you.”
With that, I received the honey from the queen bee and turned to leave.
Not fully understanding their behavior, I thought it would be better if the Golden-Furred King Bees were also registered in Beast Heart Technique, so that communication could go more smoothly.
They were probably going to keep requesting nutritional exchange every time I visited, so I needed to understand the reason to avoid it.
Though I couldn’t do that right now.
According to Noona and adoptive father, social creatures like these have a strong group consciousness, so registering with one could mean registering with several at once, so I needed to be very careful.
I was already connected with three spirit-grade centipedes, so they said I should proceed step by step with registering any new venomous creatures after reaching the next level.
That’s why I couldn’t immediately register friends like Yohwa, Snow, or Ice.
‘Right, let’s not rush. There are benefits, but it’s not always a good thing.’
Though the sudden requests for nutritional exchange were frustrating, thinking about the Bin incident, I realized that just because there’s a deep connection, it doesn’t always mean good things will happen.
Since Bin and Hyang could sense what I was feeling, they picked up on my emotions toward Cho, and that caused the whole mess.
Jealousy could be triggered.
So I held the honey the Golden-Furred King Bees had given me and left the Training Grounds.
As soon as I stepped outside the gate of the Training Grounds, a slightly chaotic scene awaited me.
“This way!”
“Divide the Poison Blood Squad into five groups and head up!”
The family’s martial artists were rushing up toward the summit of Tang Family Mountain in small groups.
“What in the world is going on...”
Just as I was about to stop a warrior passing quickly by to ask what was happening, a clearing of the throat interrupted.
“Ahem!”
When I turned my head, the Man of Ten Thousand Poisons grandfather was approaching with a displeased look on his face.
Following behind him was Hwa-eun, looking slightly tense.
Though I didn’t know what was going on, I greeted him first as part of my morning respects.
“Good morning, Grandfather.”
But Grandfather ignored my greeting and scolded me loudly.
“What do you mean, you didn’t inform anyone even though something so serious happened during the night! Why are we only hearing about it at this hour?!”
“Huh? Ah... w-well, that is...”
From what he said about last night, it seemed Hwa-eun had informed him that Bin had left the house. If that was the case, then this commotion must be because Grandfather ordered the family warriors to go search for her.
I never expected he would go this far over a single venomous creature of mine, but apparently, he had become more attached than I realized.
That’s usually how elders are, after all.
In my previous life too, I once got my parents a puppy. At first, they hated it, said it smelled, and were totally against it.
But when I visited a few months later, I suddenly found myself being called the puppy’s older brother.
‘Did he get more attached than I thought?’
“What did you do to make the little one so upset she left home! That tiny thing has never even been outside, she could be trembling out there?”
I thought maybe he was just really attached to her, but as I listened to his scolding, I started to feel the focus was a bit different.
Looking closely, Grandfather was fuming as if his actual granddaughter had run away from home.
“And even if it was the middle of the night, if the child disappeared, you should’ve sent people out to look! What kind of so-called parents are so carefree!”
“Uh...”
Grandfather was furious, as if Bin were truly the daughter of me and Hwa-eun.
It felt like more and more people were getting involved in this pretend family between Hwa-eun and me.
Because of that, Hwa-eun and I had to keep our mouths shut and obediently endure the scolding.
There’s a saying that when a child gets hurt, the parents are to blame, and apparently, even when a child runs away, the parents are still guilty.
‘Bin, your dad’s getting scolded by Grandpa! Come back!’
From the perspective of promoting the companion venomous creature culture, it seemed like a good development, but at the same time, I felt wronged and frustrated.
***
Three days of searching passed, but in the end, Bin was not found.
That rascal Bin had completely disappeared without a trace.
Spurred on by Grandfather’s insistence, I had been trying to reach her with my feelings this whole time, but she gave no response at all.
The Tang family’s warriors turned over every rock on Tang Family Mountain and even searched through all the owl nests just in case, but she was nowhere to be found.
“Ahem!”
Grandfather once again showed clear signs of displeasure today.
As I sent my frustrated emotions out, Seol noona asked me,
“She’s not responding at all?”
“No, Seol noona.”
“That’s strange.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Even if she’s a spirit creature and might behave differently, beasts don’t know how to hide their emotions like people do. It’s weird for a beast connected through Beast Heart Technique to not respond at all. That only happens when they’re in a very deep sleep.”
“Sleep?”
“Yeah. A very deep one. It’s only when they’re completely asleep that they feel distant like that, not normally.”
‘Don’t tell me that rascal ran away from home and is just lying around sleeping somewhere!?’
The thought that she might be sleeping made me feel dizzy for a moment.
I’d been getting chewed out by the Man of Ten Thousand Poisons grandfather for three days straight, after all.
Even Hwa-eun, who had never been yelled at in her life, had shed tears from it.
Just then, Grandfather’s worried voice came from the side.
“There are many beasts in the mountains... C-Could something terrible have happened?”
“Elder, if she had died, the person connected through Beast Heart Technique would know right away. There would be a huge emotional shock.”
“Well, that’s a relief, but still... Ehng!”
Grandfather’s voice made it clear he was very displeased.
Flinching like a puppy afraid of getting scolded, I turned my thoughts to Cho and asked her instead of Bin,
[Cho, can you see Bin from above?]
Just in case Cho, who was searching from the sky, had spotted her.
But, as expected, her response told me she hadn’t found her either. Just as I was trying to stay quiet, Grandfather asked,
“Soryong, I know we haven’t found Bin yet, but you understand that we can’t waste too much time here, right?”
“Yes, G-Grandfather. Of course.”
“I’ll have the warriors continue searching for the child, but you need to prepare to head for the Murim Alliance.”
“Yes, understood.”
I had to report the location of the Blood Cult bastards to the Murim Alliance, and also inform them that those bastards had now allied with the Five Poisons Sect and acquired the antidote.
And more than anything, I had to prepare the new poison for the Murim Alliance to use.
Originally, our visit to the Tang Family was to secure a sample of Hemorrhagic Poison to deliver to the Murim Alliance.
“Do you have anything in mind? We already know that the venom of the yellow hornet works as well as the Tiger Keelback’s poison, but it’s difficult to acquire in large quantities.”
Hornet venom worked great as Hemorrhagic Poison, but the problem was the small quantity.
We had already ordered the warriors to prepare samples, but unlike snakes, hornets couldn’t be kept alive long to extract it continuously, so mass-producing hornet venom was difficult in many ways.
Of course, I was already aware of that, so I nodded and replied.
“Yes, I’ve already prepared something in the Venomous Creatures Garden. Let’s go take a look.”
“Really? You’ve already prepared something?”
“Yes, Grandfather.”
“Alright then, let’s go. If only you had done something like this before Bin ran away, how nice it would’ve been.”
“Ahem…”
When we arrived at the Venomous Creatures Garden, the place was in an uproar.
The warriors were nervously peering into a jar.
I had told them to prepare it in advance, but it seemed they still hadn’t managed to catch the creature inside the jar.
-Shiiik! Shiik!
“What kind of snake is this aggressive…?”
“Be careful. Young Master Soryong said to absolutely not try catching it with bare hands like other snakes.”
I spoke to the warriors who were fixated on the jar.
“Is it not done yet?”
“Ah, Young Master Soryong! Greetings to Grand Elder.”
“Greetings to Grand Elder.”
The warriors were flustered at our arrival, and Grandfather walked over to the jar and peered inside, then spoke.
“This is it?”
“Yes, Grandfather.”
“This one was captured recently in Yunnan. It’s called a mountain viper.”
The snake inside the jar was somewhat short and plump, with repeating oval-shaped patterns as its distinct feature.
Grandfather quickly reached into the jar and snatched it by the back of its neck.
In my previous life, no matter how skilled the hunter or expert, no one would ever dare handle that thing with bare hands.
‘As expected of a great elder of the Tang Family.’
That creature was extremely aggressive and had a tendency to bite at will. It was the kind of snake that even experts dreaded, the Russell's Viper.
“Bring the chicken blood, now.”
At my request, the Tang Family warriors quickly slaughtered a chicken and brought a bowl filled with its blood.
I then asked Grandfather to drop a bit of the Russell's Viper’s venom into the bowl.
“Just a single drop into the bowl of chicken blood will be enough.”
-Plop.
A single drop of venom fell as requested.
Moments later, I dipped chopsticks into the blood and lifted them, only to see that the blood had turned into a jelly-like consistency.
"This is?"
Russell's Viper venom is a powerful coagulation poison.
I explained to the astonished Grandfather.
“Poisons that either thin or coagulate blood are all called blood poisons. If the Tiger Keelback’s venom was a hemorrhagic poison that thins the blood, then this one is a coagulation poison that thickens it.
Since their martial arts relate to blood, when they’re struck by a hemorrhagic poison, it’s like being hit by Energy Scattering Poison. But if they’re hit by this, wouldn’t the meridians through which their internal energy flows get completely blocked, preventing them from using their internal energy?”
‘Work hard on making your antidotes, Blood Cult bastards. I’m going to hit you with a sweet and salty combo alternately.’
A poison that clogs the flow of internal energy like a lump of sweet potato, just like my heart is suffocated because of Bin.
Alternating between hemorrhage and coagulation, this was the second gift I had prepared for the Blood Cult.