Translator: bjgoofy

"That's strange."

"It’s definitely strange, Seol noona. They should have arrived by now."

Seol noona and I wore expressions of confusion as we looked up at the open, pitch-black ceiling of the cave.

And for good reason, the main party led by foster father and grandfather had still not arrived here even though it had been two full days since we had reached this place.

No matter how we thought about it, the distance between us and the main party should only be about an hour or two.

When we first descended through the hole, we had even left behind Yohwa’s spider thread, so even taking that into account, that should’ve been the maximum estimate, yet it had already been two days, and we hadn’t sensed even the faintest trace of their approach.

"Yohwa? Still nothing?"

-Kiiit!

At my question, Yohwa poked her head out of the pitch-black hole in the ceiling and shook her head.

Just in case the cave was structured like a maze, Yohwa had been spinning a long, thin thread the whole time we moved. After climbing up through the hole to check, Yohwa reported that there was no vibration up there either.

Spiders are incredibly sensitive to vibrations transmitted through their webs.

Among the spiders known in my previous life, the one that spun the longest webs was the Darwin’s bark spider, which could spin threads up to 25 meters long, 250 times its body length.

This spider, which measures only about a centimeter, can detect vibrations from one end of its web to the other. Considering Yohwa’s size in comparison to this spider, her detection range should be at least 2 to 3 kilometers.

Since she’s a spiritual creature, it should be even longer, so if Yohwa couldn’t detect anything, it might mean the others hadn’t even entered the passage.

Thinking about it now, the main party should have caught up to us before we even reached the end of the hole.

We moved slowly since we couldn’t see ahead, but grandfather and foster father, who knew we were in front of them, should’ve had no reason not to catch up to us.

"Why is that, I wonder?"

"Hmm… could it be they didn’t find the message Ryong wrote?"

"I made sure to leave it clearly in two places, though? It was on a wall. No way they missed it."

As Seol noona and I leaned our heads together in deep thought about why the main party hadn’t caught up to us yet, Hwa-eun, who had been sitting on the curled-up body of Cho, spoke in a cautious voice.

"Maybe..."

"Maybe?"

"I'm just thinking out loud here, but… something about the mechanical formation is bothering me."

"You mean the mechanical formation?"

"Yes, Soryong."

Something about the mechanical formation was bothering her.

As I held my chin and mulled it over, I asked,

"Ah, like it might’ve activated once after a hundred years and then broke down?"

If, like Hwa-eun said, a hundred years had passed, then it could’ve easily broken down.

It seemed like a plausible theory, so I nodded, but Hwa-eun shook her head.

"No. That too, but… it’s the energy. The name of the Five Poisons Returning to Origin Technique written outside bothers me. What if the door doesn’t open with just any energy, but only when energy drawn from the Five Poisons Returning to Origin Technique is infused?"

"Ah!"

Right, it’s a secret door, if it opened for anyone, it wouldn’t be a secret. It’d just be an automatic door.

Since it was a door made by the Five Poisons Sect, like Hwa-eun said, it might only respond to energy infused through the Five Poisons Returning to Origin Technique.

"But grandfather should also know the Five Poisons Returning to Origin Technique, right?"

It was grandfather who taught me the Five Poisons Returning to Origin Technique, even having me perform energy circulation.

I offered that opinion, thinking he should definitely be able to pass through, but Hwa-eun shook her head.

"Of course grandfather knows the Five Poisons Returning to Origin Technique, but he didn’t build up his internal energy using only that. But you, Soryong, built your internal energy entirely using just that technique, didn’t you?"

Indeed, grandfather knew the Five Poisons Returning to Origin Technique, but it was more of a base martial art for him, with his main internal energy method being the Ten Poisons Returning to Origin Technique. On the other hand, my body was entirely cultivated through the pure Five Poisons Returning to Origin Technique.

If that difference was enough to prevent the door from opening, then it was certainly a convincing argument.

"Hmm… that makes sense too. Then what do we do now?"

If what Hwa-eun said was true, then grandfather would never appear through that hole. That meant we had to either continue our search on our own or make our way back to Nannuo Mountain on foot.

Or perhaps to the Beast Palace.

Seol noona picked up a piece of charcoal from the extinguished campfire and pointed upward as she spoke.

"We can’t just keep waiting here. Just in case, let’s write on the cave wall up there that we’ve gone back to the Beast Palace and then head back to wait.

Didn’t you say those Blood Cult bastards might be nearby too? It could be dangerous if it’s just us, so let’s return.

Besides, if the entrance doesn’t open, the adults will surely return as well. Once we reach the Beast Palace, we can send someone to Nannuo Mountain. What do you think?"

Just as noona said, it was now meaningless to keep waiting here for grandfather and foster father’s main party to arrive.

But continuing the search?

If grandfather and foster father couldn’t make it here, then both waiting and continuing the search on our own would be extremely dangerous.

The people of the Five Poisons Sect, our enemies from a hundred years ago, might be nearby, and on top of that, the Blood Cult bastards could also be around.

So, just as Seol noona said, the right thing to do was to return to the Beast Palace and either send someone to Nannuo Mountain or wait there.

‘But going back isn’t exactly an easy task either, is it?’

Still, returning wasn’t going to be an easy thing for the same reasons that made waiting dangerous.

Given that warriors of the Murim Alliance and masters of various sects were conducting intelligence operations around here, there was a high probability that the Blood Cult’s base could be somewhere nearby.

Since returning wouldn’t be easy either, I was mulling over Seol noona’s words when Hwa-eun, sitting next to me, suggested an alternative.

"Since it probably won’t be easy for us to return to the Beast Palace on our own, how about joining up with Blade Dragon’s group and heading to the rendezvous point with them?"

"The rendezvous point?"

"Yes, I remember hearing that they were searching this area. They should know a safe route.

And if they’ve discovered any traces of the Five Poisons Sect, we might be able to gain some information too.

Given that the Blood Cult’s base might be nearby, it’d be safer to move with them than on our own. According to Sword Phoenix, they planned to return if they found any traces at the rendezvous point, right? We could join them there and return together."

Indeed, if we went to the rendezvous point where those carrying out the secret mission were supposed to gather after spreading out to search this area, we might be able to obtain information they had gathered.

Also, if we joined their return, we could travel back safely based on the intelligence they had gathered.

Thinking it was a good idea, I nodded, and Blade Dragon, Peng Gue-sung hyung-nim, who had been listening nearby, tapped my shoulder and said,

"Yes, let’s do that, little brother. This Peng Gue-sung will make sure the three of you return safely to the Central Plains."

"Shall we do that then?"

Just as we confirmed our plan and I nodded to Hyung-nim’s words, Spear Dragon, who had been quiet until now, cautiously spoke up.

"Young Hero Soryong, I was just wondering… do you know how to hunt? Or find water?"

"Hunt? And water?"

The sudden question about whether I could hunt or find water.

Thinking back, for the past two days, it had been Spear Dragon who had been in charge of our meals.

I had wondered why he was doing all the hunting and fetching water by himself like a servant, but now that he asked, Sword Phoenix and Gue-sung hyung-nim turned their eyes toward the dark cave.

"Ahem..."

"Hmm..."

Noticing their reactions and Spear Dragon’s question, I answered.

"Of course, both I, Seol noona, and Hwa-eun can do that…"

I had survived in the jungles of Yunnan, so I could catch and eat snakes if I had to, and more importantly, with Yohwa, hunting wasn’t a problem.

That went for both Hwa-eun and Seol noona as well.

Hwa-eun could throw hidden weapons laced with paralysis poison, so she wouldn’t miss any prey she spotted, and noona was from the Beast Palace.

For people of the Beast Palace, who rely on hunting for most of their meals, hunting is a basic skill.

"R-Really!?"

At that, Spear Dragon’s face lit up.

With teary eyes, he grabbed my hands tightly and pleaded,

"Then, since we’re not just guests anymore but companions, could you please help me!? Please!"

From our first meeting, I thought he seemed a little lacking, and I started wondering if he had been getting pushed around by the other two, but I replied,

"Well, of course we should help you, shouldn’t we?"

"Then, let’s start hunting right away! If we’re going to the rendezvous point, we’ll need provisions. We’ve run out of food too, and it’s not feasible to hunt while traveling, after all."

When I said we’d help, Spear Dragon mentioned that since the group had grown, we needed to prepare provisions.

It wasn’t as though we could go hunting throughout the journey, especially with the possibility of Blood Cult bastards lurking nearby.

Since the area around the cave was safe, his suggestion was that we prepare food here before setting off.

We only had about a day’s worth of jerky and dried rice cakes on our backs, so if we were to travel a long distance, we definitely needed provisions. I nodded at his words.

"Understood."

"But the problem is, I’ve only found rabbits around here."

Spear Dragon expressed concern, saying he’d only been able to catch rabbits here, but the food issue was resolved almost immediately.

"Oh! Yohwa, you caught a deer?"

-Kissik!

I’d never actually asked her before, but assuming she'd be good at hunting, I told Yohwa to go catch something, and in no time, she returned with a large deer from somewhere.

Noona immediately rushed over and skillfully began processing the deer.

"For dinner, let’s clean and grill the heart, intestines, and liver, and smoke the meat to take with us. The innards spoil quickly."

Seeing Noona’s skilled butchering, Spear Dragon looked surprised, and then, with an even more amazed expression, asked,

"Gasp! Not only butchering, but you can s-smoke it too!?"

"Well, of course. If you live in the jungle, you naturally have to know how to do these things."

"J-just as I thought!"

When Seol noona said that, Spear Dragon looked toward Sword Phoenix with a look that said “See?” and Sword Phoenix pouted.

"What! What now?!"

According to what I heard from Spear Dragon, he had been doing servant work for nearly two months while accompanying Gue-sung hyung-nim and Sword Phoenix.

When I came to wash the organs with Spear Dragon and Seol noona, who was getting scolded for no reason, Seol noona grabbed me as I was about to drink from the gently flowing water .

"Ryong, don’t drink that. Drink this instead. You might get an upset stomach from that stream water."

"An upset stomach?"

"Yeah, an animal might have fallen in and died upstream or something. So if you're thirsty, drink this."

-Chwaak.

Seol noona climbed a tree and cut a vine, then handed it to me with a smile.

"From this thing?"

"Yeah, water comes out of it."

No sooner had she said it than droplets of water began to drip down.

When I drank the water from the vine, it had a slightly sweet taste, and it reminded me of gorosoe water I’d drunk in my previous life.

"A-amazing!"

Spear Dragon looked at Seol noona with eyes full of admiration.

No, actually, it was a gaze filled with something beyond simple respect, something passionate.

‘This bastard... don’t tell me he falls in love easily?’

It looked like Spear Dragon was the type who fell in love at the drop of a hat.

***

"Still, Young Hero Soryong, you’re quite something. These little ones grew this much? And one even flies in the sky?"

As we moved through the brush, Spear Dragon pointed at Hyang and Bin sitting on my shoulders, then stared blankly at Cho floating in the sky like a speck, with an expression of disbelief.

He was saying that when he last saw them, they were so small, and now one of them had grown so much and was even flying in the sky?

Cho had indeed come a long way.

Not just in appearance, but Cho’s flying ability was improving every day.

When we were following the Flying Celestial Serpent, her maximum flight time wasn't very long, but whether it was because Cho was one of the Ten Great Venomous Creatures or because the inner core she ate last time was being absorbed evenly inside, now she could fly around for three or four hours easily.

And the recovery time wasn’t that long either, after resting for about ten minutes, she could take off again.

At this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised if she could fly all day soon.

Isn’t it a happy thing to see your daughter growing up well and being praised?

Smiling, I replied.

"Well, you know...."

-Tsurut!

-Tsurut!

With a sharp sound of irritation, Hyang and Bin glared at Spear Dragon.

I wondered what was suddenly wrong, but they seemed clearly annoyed at being compared to their bigger "sister".

‘Aigoo, comparison is always the worst.’

As I was flustered, not knowing how to handle it, Cho and Bin’s antennae began twitching.

-Tsururururu...

A message was passed into my mind, I could feel that they were saying, “This bastard shouldn’t speak carelessly; he needs to be scolded a bit.”

That was probably their way of projecting killing intent.

It wasn't even real killing intent they could emit, but the two were trying to adjust it in their own way by controlling the speed at which they twitched their antennae.

At that, faced with the clearly hostile glares from Hyang and Bin, Spear Dragon looked flustered and suddenly turned to Hwa-eun with a disbelieving expression.

"Huh!? Wh-why are these little ones acting like this? Huh!?"

Then, Hwa-eun gave a cold nod in response.

It seemed she had sent him a voice transmission, because Spear Dragon suddenly shut his eyes tight and began writhing on the ground, letting out groans of pain.

"Aaah, oh no, I’m dying. It hurts! Oh, it hurts!"

It was obviously fake acting, but I could roughly understand how the situation was playing out.

A voice transmission from Hwa-eun, sounding annoyed, reached me.

[I told him to pretend he was hit by killing intent. Soryong, please step in and calm Hyang and Bin at the right time. Why would he go comparing them to Cho and calling them small, upsetting the kids like that…? Seriously, what a thoughtless person.]

Even I, who loved venomous creatures, hadn’t picked up on it right away, was this what they call a mother’s intuition?