The doors to the Palace Lord’s Hall of Beast Palace burst open from both sides.
—Bang!
Everyone inside the hall turned toward the entrance.
Three people rushed in through the open doors.
It was the Poison God of Ten Thousand Toxins, the Medicine Immortal, and the Healing Immortal.
The three wore extremely urgent and shocked expressions.
They had come to Beast Palace at the Martial Alliance’s request to conduct deep research into the Extinction Poison. They had been studying it in a separate location and only just now heard the news.
That the princess had been taken hostage by the Five Venoms Sect and the Blood Cult.
The Poison God of Ten Thousand Toxins asked in disbelief.
It was because something that absolutely shouldn’t have happened—had.
“Is... is what we heard really true?”
The Palace Lord of Beast Palace nodded silently.
“Those... lunatics...”
“They’re insane, aren’t they? If they want to die, they should do it alone—why drag everyone else down with them?”
“Are they trying to cause mutual destruction!?”
The three shouted, faces still disbelieving.
The senior leaders of the Martial Alliance, who had already gathered inside the hall, also added their thoughts.
“They’re absolutely insane.”
“They’d have to be, to dare threaten the imperial family.”
After the murmurs calmed down, the Palace Lord of Beast Palace gestured to the three.
“Please take your seats. We need to proceed with the meeting.”
“Understood.”
“Very well.”
Once everyone was seated, the meeting began.
It started with Hwa-eun.
“...That’s everything I heard from So-ryong via Beast Palace’s long-distance voice transmission technique.”
After Hwa-eun finished recounting what she had learned from So-ryong, a voice rang out immediately.
“We must rescue the princess immediately!”
The urgency was clear—they had to act at once.
The sudden lifting of the ban on the Five Venoms Sect and the Blood Cult by the imperial court had to have been due to coercion. It was obvious the emperor’s rage was quietly building.
Though not yet made public, they had insulted the dignity of the imperial family. Sooner or later, the emperor’s righteous fury would fall upon them.
The imperial court was never one to forgive such transgressions.
Like the sealing of sects five hundred years ago, which lasted thirty years.
That incident had begun when the Seomun Clan disturbed the emperor’s will in an attempt to raise one of their women to the position of empress. Their entire clan was eradicated, and many affiliated sects suffered the emperor’s wrath and were sealed off for thirty years.
Even back then, punishment had not come immediately—but once the emperor’s fury was unleashed, the consequences were massive.
Even minor sects with only casual ties were sealed by imperial decree.
“The same thing from five hundred years ago might happen again.”
Everyone nodded solemnly at Ji-ryong’s words. They were all thinking the same thing.
The atmosphere grew even heavier.
Then one of the Martial Alliance leaders asked cautiously,
“Then when will the Thousand-Poison Hero act?”
“As soon as we finish this meeting and contact him, he’ll move immediately.”
“If the rescue mission is being led by the Thousand-Poison Hero, there shouldn’t be any issues, right?”
Everyone responded as if it were obvious.
“Of course not. He has his spirit beasts, after all. And his martial arts have reached the stage of Fire Enlightenment.”
“Exactly, we all saw his prowess when he drove back the leader of the Five Venoms Sect.”
Everyone had already heard from Hwa-eun that So-ryong—now called the Thousand-Poison Hero—would be rescuing the princess personally.
Given what they had witnessed when he clashed with the Five Venoms Sect last time, no one doubted he’d succeed in rescuing the princess.
Once his spirit beasts entered the fray, everything would be swept away.
That was the shared opinion of everyone in the room. But at that moment, one member of the Murim Alliance’s leadership voiced a concern in a worried tone.
“Still, since it involves rescuing a person, I do have a few concerns...”
“Concerns? What do you mean?” Hwa-eun asked back sharply.
Though So-ryong had only recently reached the Fire Enlightenment level and hadn’t trained long in martial arts, her tone held clear irritation—as if questioning her husband’s ability was ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) personally offensive.
The Beast Palace Lord, Venom God, and the two sages of medicine and poison shared her reaction, their voices equally cold.
“Are you doubting my son’s abilities?”
“You question our son-in-law’s competence?”
“So-ryong is practically our grandson. That’s a troublesome thing to say.”
The man who had raised the issue frantically waved his hands.
“N-No, I’m not doubting the Thousand-Poison Hero at all.
If the mission was simply to eliminate someone, there would be almost no chance of failure. But if, by chance, the princess were to be injured—or worse, seriously harmed—during the operation, wouldn’t that be catastrophic? That’s all I meant.”
“Hmm... That’s true.”
The Imperial Court never bows to threats.
They must uphold their dignity, after all.
Yet the fact that the princess was being held hostage, and the court had actually met the Five Venoms Sect’s demands, showed just how much the Emperor valued her.
But if she were to be hurt—or worse, killed—during the rescue?
That would be a disaster.
The Imperial Court surely had the strength to rescue her themselves. The fact that they hadn’t meant they couldn’t risk even the slightest injury to the princess, and had instead yielded—temporarily.
If she were harmed during the rescue, the Emperor’s fury might not fall on the Five Venoms Sect or the Blood Cult—but on the Murim Alliance.
They’d essentially stirred a hornet’s nest.
But to this, Hwa-eun gave a knowing smile and replied:
“You don’t need to worry about that. As long as she’s not dead, we can fix her. Have you forgotten? The moths?”
“Oh, right... the spirit beasts...”
“Then we’ve got nothing to worry about.”
Exactly. There was Moji and Soji.
They’d seen them save people who were on the brink of death during the Four Insects incident.
So-ryong was with Moji and Soji now, too. Unless the worst happened and the princess truly died, the rescue mission would end safely.
“Then we leave the rescue to the Thousand-Poison Hero, and now let’s discuss how to prevent the Emperor’s wrath from falling upon the Murim once the princess is secured. We can ask her to speak favorably of us—but we should prepare regardless.”
“That’s wise. Let’s try mobilizing the more Murim-friendly officials.”
Reassured by Hwa-eun’s words, everyone began discussing how to avert the Imperial fury once the princess was rescued. Meanwhile, Hwa-eun sent So-ryong a final word of caution.
Nothing should go wrong—but just in case.
If the princess were to die, this wouldn’t just become a public disgrace for Murim—it could be enough for three generations to be executed as traitors.
『“So-ryong? We’ve finished our discussion on this side.”』
***
『“As long as she’s not dead, Moji and Soji can heal her, but still—you need to be careful. If the princess dies, it’ll be a disaster for the entire martial world. And So-ryong might end up shouldering all the blame.”
“Ah, understood.”』
Having finished the meeting, Hwa-eun added a piercing remark. She had repeated it enough to drill it into his ears.
Such a catastrophic event—where the princess might die during the rescue—must never happen.
Anyway, the problem was always getting involved with the princess.
The princess herself was a decent person.
Royal bloods usually didn’t consider people like us, mere commoners, to be human. They were so noble that they didn’t even see us as the same species. Especially in this era—what more needed to be said?
But the princess wasn’t like that. She wasn’t high-handed or discriminatory.
She treated people sincerely, and she was open-minded enough to believe even I could understand her.
The problem, however, was her status.
If this were a past life, she’d be the daughter of the CEO at the company where your dad works.
It’s fine to hang out as friends, but if something happens while you’re together—your whole family has to start worrying about their future.
Because if the CEO’s daughter gets hurt, your dad gets fired.
And in this era, what gets fired isn’t the job—it’s the head.
Grimacing, I replied to Hwa-eun’s plea:
『“Don’t worry. I’ve thought of a very safe way to rescue her.”
“Safe, you say?”』
Hwa-eun was still harping on the issue, but her concern was unnecessary.
Because this time, we had a new family member: Cheonhae.
With Cheonhae’s skills, these bastards wouldn’t even notice their own noses being cut off.
『“Yes. I’m thinking of asking Cheonhae to help.”』
***
—Swoooosh.
It had rained for days, stopped briefly, and now had begun again—for the third straight day.
At first, it seemed like it would let up soon, but then it grew heavier. By the third day, anyone who stepped outside was instantly soaked to the bone.
“Damn it, what’s with this rain...”
The vice-leader of the Five Venoms Sect’s assassination unit entered Botaa Temple’s Hall of the Head Monk.
Shaking off the water, he was met by an order from the unit’s leader to gather the warriors.
“The rain looks like it’ll last a few more days. Tell them all to assemble, except for those standing guard!”
“Huh? Understood, Leader!”
They needed to keep things tight in case someone tried to escape again.
Last time it rained, the princess had helped someone escape, and they’d spent a good deal of effort trying to track her down.
In the end, they’d concluded the small boat capsized in the storm and fed the fish—but the whole thing still didn’t sit right.
Until the ship carrying the gu from Daewol Nation arrived, no more incidents could be allowed.
Not that a few runaways would change anything with the princess still captive, but—
Even the Imperial Court couldn’t touch them now. The Murim Alliance had no way to rescue her.
“Gather the rest of them!”
“Yes, Vice-leader!”
The subordinate vanished outside at once, and the leader and vice-leader waited for the warriors to assemble.
Licking his lips, the vice-leader asked:
“By the way, Leader... can’t we have a little fun with the women? Heh. Just watching them all this time without even laying a finger—it’s driving the men crazy...”
They’d been trapped on the island for over two months, and the itch was getting to them.
But the assassination unit’s leader shook his head firmly.
“I told you already. The Lord wants to enhance their power. Those girls are practicing something similar to Child Energy Retention. Touch them, and they’ll lose their internal strength.”
The vice-leader grumbled.
“Damn it. What kind of girls learn crap like that...?”
The leader gave a faint smile.
“Well, there are two who aren’t practicing it. Want to try bedding one of them? Should be fine with those two.”
“Oh! We’ve got girls like that?”
The vice-leader’s face lit up with anticipation—until the leader opened his mouth.
“Yeah. The princess and the head nun of Botaa Temple.”
The vice-leader’s face twisted in disgust.
“Ugh, come on, Leader! We can’t touch the princess, and the head nun’s an old hag! Jeez...”
“Keh keh keh. That’s why I said stop spouting nonsense. Once the ship with the gu arrives, we’ll drag those bitches back to Daewol Nation. You can go enjoy some local girls then.”
Fair enough.
The head nun was an old woman.
No matter how horny he was, that was a hard pass.
And now, the warriors began gathering one by one.
When most had assembled at the Head Monk’s Hall, one of the late arrivals shook off the rain and reported to the vice-leader.
“Vice-leader. There’s a sea fog rolling in outside.”
“Sea fog?”
“Yes.”
Opening the door and looking out, just as the warrior said—a thick gray sea fog, blending into the night, began to drift in from the ocean, creeping toward the island.
