I could’ve forgiven them for stealing my name and making knockoff products without paying royalties.
Whatever. It’s not like I was going to kill someone over that.
The Venom Elimination Unit leader or the Tang Clan might’ve felt differently, but I personally was going to let them live.
What happened afterward wasn’t my responsibility.
But murdering an innocent spirit beast?
Not a single one of them would walk away. Not a single one would be forgiven.
『“So-ryong!”』
Hwa-eun’s voice rang through my mind just as I plummeted toward the ground like a hero in a superhero movie.
—Kwa-deudeuk! Puh-buk!
Dust billowed up in the dark.
The stones lining the brickyard floor shattered, blasting in all directions.
The men who had been dismembering the spirit beast’s corpse were flung or struck by shrapnel.
As the dust scattered in the wind, some of them, slammed into walls or shattered towers by the impact of my landing, were completely unconscious. Others were writhing on the ground, badly injured.
“Aaaaargh!”
“Guhh!”
“M-My leg!”
When the dust fully cleared, the ones who were still able to move looked at me and shouted.
“A-An ambush!”
“We’re under attack!”
Then the martial artists poured out from the still-intact buildings of the brickyard.
Including those on guard duty and the ones inside, there were forty to fifty of them in total.
“Who the hell are you!?”
“Wh-What the hell!?”
They ran in but froze, aghast at the scene of devastation.
No one dared approach.
The ground had been torn open, and their comrades were smashed to pieces.
At that moment, three people rushed out from the building where they had been dragging out the spirit beast’s remains.
An old man, a young woman, and the younger man who had been handling the merchandise.
They must have been dissecting the spirit beast—both the woman and the old man were wearing gloves, and their hands were smeared with insect bodily fluid.
Seeing that made my stomach turn.
The old man, who looked like the leader, yelled at me.
“Who the hell are you!?”
I brushed the dust off my clothes with a flick and stepped forward.
Then I shouted.
It was time they knew exactly who they’d messed with.
Because if anyone had the right to be furious about this, it was me.
“I’m the true owner of the fake medicine you’ve been peddling. Son of the Beast Palace. Son-in-law of the Tang Clan of Sichuan. The one and only Father of All Venomous Creatures—So-ryong! And I will judge you according to Tang Clan law!”
“S-Sichuan Tang Clan!?”
Their faces turned deathly pale at the name.
Under the glow of the lanterns from the surrounding buildings, I could see their expressions twist in terror.
“Shit! What are you all doing!?”
Typical of Murim thugs—when things go sideways, they call everyone in for a gangbang.
Looked like they were planning to rush me.
I don’t particularly enjoy punishing helpless scum, but if they came at me?
Then I was more than happy to beat the shit out of them.
I smiled.
Time to commit some plausible intentional harm.
Yeah, come on. You bastards killed a spirit beast I was raising. I’ll crush every last one of you today.
Every spirit beast in the Central Plains belongs to So-ryong—my name is practically engraved on them like a Goguryeo watermelon.
To hunt one without my permission?
Absolutely unforgivable.
I began drawing in energy and prepared for battle—only to hear something completely unexpected.
“Run! The Venom Elimination Unit must already be surrounding the place! Scatter!”
“What!?”
I thought they were going to attack.
But the old man immediately shouted for everyone to flee.
I was stunned.
I’d barely finished announcing who I was, and he was already yelling for everyone to bail instead of fighting?
Maybe the Tang Clan’s Venom Elimination Unit was more feared than I thought.
Or maybe, since they were caught red-handed, running was the only logical choice.
Because if they got captured, they’d all be dead.
The moment the old man gave the order, he, the woman, and the man moved as one.
And the rest, who had been hesitating, began scattering in all directions.
Quick bastards, I’ll give them that.
“Where do you think you’re going!?”
It would’ve been better if they’d fought. Now they were just trying to run without resistance.
I launched myself toward the direction the old man, the woman, and the man had bolted in and shouted at Hwa-eun.
“Hwa-eun!”
“Got it!”
As she responded, I heard the faint whine of something slicing through the air.
—Siiing. Siiing.
Like the sound of mosquitoes, the sharp hiss spread out in every direction.
Then came the cries of those hit as they collapsed mid-flight.
“Guhh!”
“Urghhh!”
—Thud.
Under the moonlight, shimmering needles glinted as they scattered in all directions.
They were Tang Clan’s Flying Needles.
Fine, needle-thin darts shot from Hwa-eun’s hands into the air in every direction.
Anyone hit barely made it a few steps before collapsing on the spot.
She hadn’t poisoned the needles themselves, but had clearly infused them with paralyzing poison using poison arts.
Now that she’d reached the Flower Realm, she could synthesize toxins within her body like a real venomous creature.
Yes—just what I’d expect from the one I love.
She wasn’t just a person anymore. She was a venomous being now.
How can I not love her?
The martial artists hadn’t even made it past the open clearing of the brickyard.
The only ones left were those who’d been stationed on the perimeter.
They’d had a head start and were fleeing farther.
“Cho, those guys are escaping that way! Can you handle the three on that side? Mom’ll take the opposite flank.”
—Tsrururur. 『Got it. Don’t worry, Mom!』
I could leave the escapees to Hwa-eun and Cho.
The trio fleeing together in one direction—definitely thinking they could break through the perimeter—those were mine.
After all, I was most confident in my light footwork. And with my inner power now elevated, my qinggong had become far faster.
I was on top of them in no time.
“Halt right there!”
I shouted as I caught up to the man lagging behind.
“Shit! He’s catching up! I don’t think there’s an actual perimeter! Injure him and break through! Attack together!”
The old man gritted his teeth and spun around, thrusting his palm toward me.
The woman and the man followed suit from behind him.
I guess they figured they were going to get caught anyway, and now that I looked like I was alone, they thought they could injure me and escape.
I immediately unleashed my own palm technique in return.
The only palm technique I knew—Toad Explosive Palm.
The guy who got hit would die, but things were different if he came at me.
As I gathered Hwayang’s energy into the Toad Explosive Palm, blue flames flared up from both hands.
In the moment the blue flames lit up the surroundings—
–KWA-BOOM!
–CRACK-CRACK-CRACK.
My incomplete palm technique clashed with the old man's technique, and once the collision ended, I couldn't help but be shocked.
‘Wait, am I... really this strong now?’
We were too close to project energy, so our palms collided directly—and the old man had turned into a pile of minced meat.
The spot where he had stood looked like a bomb had gone off.
–WHOOSH.
The blue flames, symbolizing Hwayang, flared massively and burned up even the scattered bits of flesh until nothing remained.
I’d poured a lot of energy into it, worried the unfinished technique might be overpowered, but maybe I went too far.
‘Yeah... that might’ve been a bit much.’
Suddenly, I remembered what Grandpa once said.
“Now that you’ve reached Flower Realm, you must operate your energy with delicacy. Not only has your internal energy increased, but your meridians have also adapted to suit your martial arts. You can now draw out much greater strength with far less energy.”
Now that I thought about it, Mandok Shingun Grandpa had warned me that once I hit Flower Realm, both my internal energy volume and control would increase greatly.
He’d told me to study my martial arts and examine my body after finishing my metamorphosis, but I’d been too busy enjoying newlywed life with Hwa-eun to pay attention—so I’d totally misjudged my power.
‘I only checked the strength in my hips...’
Probably because all I did was core training to test the endurance of my hips, I’d missed everything else.
Come to think of it, when I crashed into the ground earlier, that also seemed a bit overkill.
I left a crater and scattered rock shrapnel everywhere, didn’t I?
The guys who got hit looked like they got shredded by buckshot.
–THUD. THUMP.
That’s when it happened.
The man’s punch slammed into my side.
His fist struck directly into my ribs.
At the same time, the woman’s dagger came flying at my face.
I snapped back {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} to my senses just in time to dodge my head, but the blade grazed my cheek.
Despite landing hits, the two looked stunned—maybe because their master, the sect leader, had just been vaporized.
“S-Sa... Master...”
“Master’s... gone...”
Lost in thought, I’d let the attacks land, which could’ve been fatal to a normal person. But I didn’t feel anything in particular.
Rather, the man who hit me staggered back, clutching his hand in agony.
“Keugh!”
Because he hadn’t hit my ribs—he hit Hyang.
And Hyang was one of the hardest-bodied spirit creatures in existence.
The guy’s wrist was flopping around like it was broken.
–TSS. 『Dad, should I bite?』
Apparently annoyed that he got touched, Hyang lifted his head like a snake and stared at the two, asking if he should bite.
“No, it’s fine. If you do, they’ll die. I have a lot to ask them first, so just wait a bit.”
Even if I planned to kill them later, I had to find out how these trash managed to catch a spirit beast, and what kind of spirit beast it even was. I intended to keep at least one of them alive.
So after calming Hyang, I spoke to them.
“If you don’t resist, I’ll spare your lives for now.”
The woman screamed in fury.
“Don’t be ridiculous, you filthy Tang bastards! How could you kill Master so cruelly! My dagger was coated with spirit beast venom! You’re as good as dead! Keuk—!”
“Guhhh—!”
Spirit beast venom?
As I widened my eyes in surprise, the two suddenly grabbed their necks and collapsed.
Under the moonlight, their necks glistened faintly.
Hwa-eun must’ve finished off the other martial artists and caught up—her voice rang out in alarm.
“What!?”
She landed urgently next to me and shouted quickly.
“So-ryong! Sit down cross-legged and push out the poison qi! You’ve absorbed six of the Ten Great Venoms—unless it’s also from those ten, you should be able to force it out easily!”
Though startled for a moment, Hwa-eun was right. My body had already assimilated six of the Ten Great Venoms.
And the spirit beast these guys caught—there was no way it was one of the ten. So I immediately sat cross-legged and summoned the energy of the Five Poisons Returning to the Origin Art.
That alone gave me natural resistance to poison.
But maybe I was a bit late—the poison qi had already spread pretty far.
I began meditative introspection to expel the poison, but then something strange happened.
As I activated the energy of the Five Poisons Returning to the Origin Art, the poison did start fading rapidly... but part of it began to move together, out of control.
I wasn’t even doing anything—yet it gathered and flowed quickly through my bloodstream toward my dantian.
If it entered my dantian, nothing good would come of it.
I focused hard, trying to redirect the energy—but the poison kept speeding toward my dantian.
‘No! Wait—!?’
Panicked, I shouted inwardly.
But the poison didn’t enter the dantian.
It passed right through and headed lower.
Suddenly, my lower abdomen grew warm—and Hwa-eun’s flustered voice called out.
“So-So-ryong...”
Her embarrassed tone made me crack open one eye to peek.
Something was definitely off.
And there it was.
The presence of the Great Dragon, on full display.
Come to think of it, this poison—they must’ve been using it as an ingredient in the fake drugs they were selling.
That had to be it. Otherwise, there was no way to explain why So-ryong suddenly went from Great Dragon to Colossal Dragon.
Then it happened.
From beside my ear, I heard Hyang’s panicked voice.
–TSS! 『Mom! A snake just went into Dad’s pants!』
The kid must’ve thought it was one of the snakes I often played with, sneaking into my pants.
Hwa-eun, staring blankly at me, blushed and responded.
“Y-You’re right. I-I guess Mommy has to take it out.”
Apparently, she was going to be the one to extract the venom.
Or something like that.
