These days, unless it's some insignificant creature, it's hard to come across a proper Spirit Beast, but… the records on them remain quite detailed.
That's only natural—up until Seomun Hwa-rin's generation, powerful Spirit Beasts were discovered frequently enough that living alongside or competing with them wasn't something from the distant past.
Among them, the ones with the most surviving records are snake-type and centipede-type Spirit Beasts.
The reason these two are particularly famous is simple. They're generally large in size and have foul tempers, so they often encroached upon human territory.
Well. Occasionally, there were cases like the North Sea Ice Palace's flood dragon, where humans were the ones encroaching on a Spirit Beast's territory.
At any rate, the fact that they fought often meant they inevitably came to know much about each other.
Spirit Beasts that branched out and evolved in various ways depending on their environment. It didn't take long to notice that among them, there were some particularly peculiar ones.
Seven-Fire Centipede.
Despite the name, it is not a ferocious centipede wreathed in seven kinds of flames.
Each individual carries at least seven types of poison, and every time one is afflicted, the victim feels an intense burning sensation.
If poisoned by several toxins at once, the toxicity intensifies, and the victim perishes in agony as if consumed by fire — hence the name.
Ordinarily, a creature that harbors poison must possess immunity to its own venom, so it can only carry a single type. The same holds true for Spirit Beasts.
Yet the Seven-Fire Centipede carries multiple poisons and somehow manages to harmonize them within its body.
Perhaps because of this nature, the Seven-Fire Centipede's poison blends readily with any other toxin, and depending on the combination, it is said to produce a variety of effects.
"But the Seven-Fire Centipede has another trait as well."
Tang So-wol, who had been explaining in an excited voice at the mention of buying the Seven-Fire Centipede, curled the corners of her mouth into a sly smile.
"They say that because the potent poisons blend while maintaining a balance with one another, a mysterious pattern rises on the carapace. It's said to be so beautiful that the shell of a Seven-Fire Centipede captured in the past was presented to the Imperial Court."
"It must sell for a high price."
"Is that all you have to say…? Don't you feel any anticipation, or anything like that?"
"It's still just a centipede, isn't it? Ah, of course, I do expect that you, Tang So-wol, will be pleased."
It would certainly be nice if it had such effects, but unlike Seol Ri-hyang's new Yin Art and Seomun Hwa-rin's gauntlets, which made me wonder whether they were really all that impressive, the Seven-Fire Centipede's poison could actually be of practical help to Tang So-wol.
…Well. I don't know how it will actually turn out. Before the regression, the Seven-Fire Centipede's poison fell into the hands of the Heavenly Poison Sect, not the Tang Clan.
As I nodded to myself, Tang So-wol spoke up with a complicated expression.
"I wonder if your appreciation is a bit too dry… ahem. No, that's not it. This level of barrenness is about the best you could do, young hero Cheon, isn't it? You said you couldn't speak for the centipede, but you expected a reaction from me… yes. Well done indeed!"
"?"
For some reason, I was being praised.
Ever since she'd glimpsed my memories, her expectations of me? Her baseline? It felt like those had dropped considerably.
I wasn't sure whether to take that as a good thing or a bad thing…
"Ahem. In any case, what concerns me is that you bought the Seven-Fire Centipede. How on earth did someone from the South Man Beast Palace come to tame a poisonous spirit beast and then sell it off?"
"It's nothing special. A very simple reason."
"…Was it that you needed money?"
"It's a more pressing reason than that. I was hungry."
The South Man Beast Palace is a massive sect that, along with the Heavenly Poison Sect, divided Yunnan between them. Considering that it's a region where the Imperial Court's power barely reaches, it's practically on the level of a king of a small nation.
As such, the Palace Lord's blood relatives can enjoy considerable authority within Yunnan… which is why a somewhat strange one tends to show up from time to time.
"She was the third or fourth daughter of the current Beast Palace Lord. Anyway, one of the daughters far removed from the succession happened upon the Seven-Fire Centipede by chance and managed to tame it."
If she had tamed the Seven-Fire Centipede in the South Man Beast Palace's way, there would be no problem.
They would have even celebrated it, saying they'd discovered a new possibility for their martial arts.
But she had secretly learned martial arts leaked during the extermination of the Five Poison Sect—the predecessor of the Heavenly Poison Sect—and used them to tame the Seven-Fire Centipede.
The Five Poison Sect had been on bad terms not only with the Heavenly Poison Sect but also with the Beast Palace, so this was surely a situation that displeased the current Beast Palace Lord, who had led the Beast Palace to its heyday.
He ordered his daughter to leave the palace or kill the Seven-Fire Centipede, and surprisingly, she left the palace with the Seven-Fire Centipede.
"Of course, what could a young lady who left her home without any preparation possibly do on her own? It'd be a relief if she wasn't kidnapped."
"Ugh!"
Tang So-wol, feeling oddly stung by my words, glared at me, but I just shrugged and continued.
She left South Man and headed all the way to the Central Plains, but with a different place to live, the backing that had protected her gone, and no money or experience, how long could she possibly hold out?
She barely ate anything until she reached the Central Plains, and eventually, just as she barely made it to Guizhou, things finally came to a head.
The Seven-Fire Centipede, which needed to eat a lot given its size, couldn't withstand its hunger and devoured its master.
And the Seven-Fire Centipede, for all its faults, had been bound to its master through the secret art of the Five Poison Sect.
Because of hunger, the Seven-Fire Centipede had devoured its master, and in return, the faint spiritual consciousness it had gained upon becoming a Spirit Beast was destroyed, causing it to go on a mad rampage.
Naturally, since it went berserk in Guizhou rather than in the uninhabited jungles of Yunnan, word spread quickly.
Various sects in the area sent people to claim the precious inner core of the Seven-Fire Centipede, but in the end, it was the Heavenly Poison Sect that emerged victorious.
That was the story I had heard before my regression.
And if my memory served me right, this was around the time the Seven-Fire Centipede had been driven out along with its master.
Of course, I couldn't tell them everything, so I glossed over the ending. Fortunately, they now understood my somewhat awkward explanations well enough.
"…Anyway, it might be starving right now. If so, it might be willing to sell off the Seven-Fire Centipede for this much gold."
"What? If someone would abandon the land where they were born and raised, wouldn't they be the type to cherish that Seven-Fire Centipede like their own child? No matter how much gold is offered, who would sell their own child?"
"It's not uncommon for people to sell off their own children for a single tael of silver."
"That's a rather pessimistic way of looking at the world… Ah, no, that's not it. I've simply decided to accept young hero Cheon as he is! What can be done about the way you've lived your life?"
"…Do you realize that was the harshest thing you've said yet?"
A look of profound pity. It was the expression Tang So-wol often wore ever since she caught a glimpse of my memories.
Why was it that I sometimes wished she hadn't?
I let out a deep sigh and quickened my pace. At least it was fortunate that everyone's martial level had risen enough that traveling with Lightness Skill made the journey quick.
And so, we settled in the largest village along the border between Yunnan and Guizhou, waiting for half a month.
No matter how long we waited, neither the Seven-Fire Centipede nor the Beast Palace Lord's daughter appeared.
"Something's wrong."
"Not enough? Want it a little colder?"
Seol Ri-hyang tilted her head and reached out, patting the back of my neck.
Her hand was so cold it went beyond refreshing and bordered on chilling. When I instinctively shuddered, Seol Ri-hyang giggled as if she found it amusing.
She was in the middle of becoming a human icebox, spreading cold air throughout the room, so it was only natural her hand felt like a block of ice.
But that wasn't the reason I'd said something was wrong.
"I'm fine. Go do that for Tang So-wol or Senior Seomun Hwa-rin. And what I meant by something being wrong wasn't the temperature — it's that we still haven't heard any news."
"Oh?"
Seol Ri-hyang nodded and slipped her hand into the necks of Tang So-wol, who had just finished the day's training and come in drenched in sweat, and Seomun Hwa-rin, who had been sparring with her.
"Kuh! …Hyang-i, you started this first, didn't you?"
"Hehe. For one who has reached the state of being impervious to cold, this is nothing to me… but just how far are you going to reach?!"
"Oh, wasn't the back here?"
Seol Ri-hyang replied nonchalantly.
Perhaps because she had jumped up like a frog mid-seat, Tang So-wol's clothes were in considerable disarray as she glared at Seol Ri-hyang.
Seomun Hwa-rin raised her chin triumphantly, then flinched and covered her chest in surprise.
A brief silence. Then the bickering resumed. Perhaps they had formed some kind of bond while peeking into my memories together.
I watched the three of them, who seemed to have grown closer, and continued speaking.
"At this point, we should be hearing rumors. But there's no news at all, which means something is wrong."
"Hehehe. In this hot weather, could you two survive without me? Just take it quietly!"
"Oh my! I never thought the day would come when Hyang-i would threaten me! You've grown so much. But I always knew this day would come. Let's see if you can still say that after being poisoned by three thousand times the venom!"
"S-s-stop! Don't tickle me! And don't pinch me either…!"
The three of them ignored half of what I said and played among themselves. Perhaps they had become too close.
…Come to think of it, I was sure I had slipped my hand toward her shoulder, so what was that strange reaction from Seomun Hwa-rin? Was it not her shoulder? That was the most pressing question.
"A sense of smell three thousand times stronger? Is there really such a vicious poison?"
"Oh my? Young hero Cheon, are you interested as well? Unfortunately, three thousand times is merely an exaggeration. In reality, it's at most a little less than twice that? It's a byproduct that came out of the process of creating a poison that awakens the body."
Only then did Tang So-wol lend an ear to my words, and the others, after a few more bickers, finally turned to look this way.
"So you're saying your thoughts have changed, Cheon Hwi? Don't worry about it. There are more things in this world that you can't control even when you know about them, aren't there? That's why what matters now is what you plan to do next."
"Come to think of it, I told the Tang clan head that I would return soon, so it wouldn't be right to wait here any longer. It's a shame about the Seven Flower Centipede's poison, but considering the time and effort I'd have to spend on something uncertain, I think it wouldn't be bad to just go back to the Tang Clan."
That made sense in its own way. However, even if that were the case in other situations, this time it felt a shame to just back down.
It also bothered me that I had given something to Seol Ri-hyang and Seomun Hwa-rin, but had nothing to give Tang So-wol.
It was only a matter of if possible, but I had been thinking of using the Beast Palace Lord's daughter to establish a connection with the South Man Beast Palace.
Before the regression, after the Demonic Cult's invasion, the strongest force rampaging through the Central Plains from the Outer Murim had been the South Man Beast Palace.
An alliance… was unlikely, since there was little to gain for either side, but at least I wanted to build a good relationship in advance.
When they eventually invaded the Central Plains amid the chaos, it might help reduce the damage, even if only a little.
I didn't care about the other sects, but I wanted to make sure we never had to clash directly with the Tang Clan.
That was all I hoped for.
Tang So-wol, who had been listening to my story, scattered a suspicious poison from her fingertips and gave a faint smile.
"If the young hero Cheon says so, then it wouldn't hurt to look into information on the Seven Flower Centipede within Yunnan. If we can't find any news at all, it won't be too late to turn back then."
"Our schedule will be delayed a bit, and unexpected problems might arise… is everyone alright with that?"
Seol Ri-hyang and Seomun Hwa-rin shrugged their shoulders as if it were nothing when I asked again to confirm.
"It's not like you've never stepped away for other matters before, Cheon Hwi. No need to make such a fuss now."
"When we return, I'll carry Hyang-i on my back, and Hwi, you can carry So-wol. If we use our Lightness Skill at full strength, we won't be all that late."
"Thank you, both of you."
I gave a small bow of my head and immediately gathered the luggage I had set down.
***
Once we entered Yunnan, we were able to get word faster than expected.
Perhaps because the Heavenly Poison Sect had been wiped out in this life, they had taken the Seven Flower Centipede not to the Central Plains, but to the place where the Heavenly Poison Sect's grounds once stood.
Since I had walked this path before, I found the place quickly. And then.
"E-everyone, run!"
"The Sword Demon! That butcher has returned!"
"Sect Leader! Protect the Sect Leader!"
Those who appeared to be survivors of the Heavenly Poison Sect stood blocking the path of the massive centipede and the woman beside it, trembling all over.
It felt strange saying this with my own mouth, but…
It was a rather solemn sight.