Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

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Five Poisons 1

“Human-faced Spider!? No, how could the one going to collect food for the Lizard bring back a Human-faced Spider!? And this ferocious Human-faced Spider is so well-behaved?!”

“Son-in-law, where on earth did you capture the Human-faced Spider!? Moreover, it takes the form of our Hua Eun! What on earth is going on here?!”

“Oh my! This is the Human-faced Spider! It looks exactly like Hua Eun!”

The surprised voices of Mandok God, my father-in-law, and mother-in-law echoed when they saw Yo-hwa.

The clan members behind us nodded rapidly at the three’s reactions. After all, if every time the son-in-law went out he returned with more venomous creatures, it was no surprise they were all astonished.

Tension filled my shoulders like a tightly wound spring. With a strange blend of arrogance and humility, I nonchalantly replied, “It just happened that way.”

Implying ‘I just picked it up on the way,’ ‘Well, I’m just this capable,’ I meant.

As it turned out, bringing back a Human-faced Spider, one of the Ten Great Venoms, allowed me a little of that arrogance, as the elders nodded with satisfied expressions.

“Right, if you brought back a Human-faced Spider, it’s only natural for a man to walk proudly. Hahaha.”

“You’ve done well, So-ryong.”

As this warm atmosphere enveloped us, we headed towards the Four Harmonies Courtyard, where the clan’s direct descendants gathered.

My older sister, who had been following closely by my side, cautiously asked the elders, “But father, I believed the Human-faced Spider only had a human face. Why does this one have a human body too? I was really puzzled at first whether it was even a Human-faced Spider.”

Named Human-faced Spider, which means a spider with a human face, yet as my sister said, our Yo-hwa had developed human features.

If we were to refer to her accurately, we should call her a Human-body Spider instead.

Since my sister confessed she held reservations even after I captured one of the Ten Great Venoms, I shared her curiosity and awaited my father-in-law’s response.

My father-in-law smiled and replied, “Looks like you haven’t read the Tang Clan’s Secret Record of Venomous Creatures properly, have you? It’s because this child is a female. What you know of is the male Human-faced Spider. It’s rare to find a female, which is precisely why it’s called a Human-faced Spider. They are both indeed the same species. This one you’ve brought is the more precious catch.”

“Oh, I see. So, Yo-hwa doesn’t just mimic a woman but is genuinely a woman?”

My sister seemed to grasp this for the first time, but I had already known Yo-hwa was female. This knowledge came from confirming her pedipalps.

Knowing Yo-hwa could mimic my sister was due to two reasons: my curiosity about her mimicking abilities and my curiosity about her gender.

I understood that while Yo-hwa consumed my Yang Energy to take my sister’s form, replicating details, like the mole on Nangong Seol’s chest—something unseen by others—was puzzling.

If the transformation depended on the memories of the man whose Yang Energy was consumed, replicating subtle features of the body seemed impossible.

So when I checked Yo-hwa’s pedipalps, it was clear that the aspects I was unaware of hadn’t been perfectly mimicked. When I asked Yo-hwa about it, instead of answering, she sneakily consumed a strand of my sister’s hair.

After that, her mimicry became flawless.

Only then did I fully understand why she could transform into Nangong Seol perfectly.

It was because she had consumed the fallen hair of Nangong Seol, who was honing her martial arts.

When a male consumes Yang Energy, they can mimic the appearance of someone they find beautiful, but perfect mimicry seemed reliant on hair.

Confirming Yo-hwa’s gender further, male spiders typically have reproductive organs developed on their pedipalps.

With reproductive organs on a spider’s pedipalps, you could tell if it was male or female.

However, since Yo-hwa’s pedipalps imitated a human’s but showed no reproductive organs, I naturally assumed she was female.

Also, female spiders tend to be much larger than males; if Yo-hwa were male, then the female would be even more gigantic, which simply didn’t add up.

So my sister’s expression relaxed as her questions were answered, and my father-in-law chuckled while patting my shoulder.

“Hahaha. So, you are officially my son-in-law now?”

“Oh, now that I think about it, it does seem so. Our promises are now fulfilled, right?”

“Heh!? How did you know that!?”

The expressions and responses made it clear they knew about my pact with my sister.

As I widened my eyes in surprise, my father-in-law replied with a smile, “What does it matter? What’s important now is that we are truly a family.”

I turned my gaze to see my sister avoiding eye contact with me, her cheeks flushed as she innocently looked up at the moon.

While I had been in a state of anxious deliberation all this time, it turned out my sister had probably already informed the family about our agreement.

Then came my grandfather’s words.

“Ke ke. Then, So-ryong, starting tomorrow, go to the river and catch a live goose.”

Out of nowhere, my grandfather randomly ordered me to catch a live goose.

As I blinked in confusion at the absurdity of catching a live goose, my grandfather spoke, his voice filled with mirth.

“You, you knucklehead. For the betrothal ceremony, shouldn’t you prepare the goose yourself? The wedding can’t happen right now since you aren’t of age yet, but the betrothal ceremony can be arranged.”

“Father-in-law, the betrothal ceremony is when we formally promise to wed in front of many people before the actual wedding, right? And why must I catch a goose…?”

After hearing my mother-in-law’s explanation, everything clicked into place.

Now I understood why Mandok God asked me to catch a goose; it was all because of the symbolism of geese.

Geese mate for life with their chosen partners, so they are an essential gift for the betrothal ceremony.

They are migratory birds that fly north in the spring and return in the autumn, with a widespread recognition of understanding the harmony of yin and yang, thus making them necessary for the ceremony.

Then came my father-in-law’s playful voice.

“Once you go through the betrothal ceremony, even if Hua Eun grows tired of you, she won’t be able to run away.”

So my engagement ceremony was indeed on the way, according to the adults’ words.

It felt like there was truly no turning back; I was now firmly declared the son-in-law of the Four Heavenly Houses.

*

Yo-hwa seemed to take a liking to the large tree planted by the well in the center of the Tang Clan residence.

I had been considering where to set up her home, but the moment I mentioned this mountain would be her home, she dashed off to the well.

There she climbed up and down that big tree several times before settling right on top.

Despite being a hefty creature, I thought she would live on the ground like a spider, but maybe there weren’t trees she fancied until now.

She immediately began to weave her house made of webs atop the tree.

Not your usual familiar spider web, but a cocoon-like spider home.

“Do you like it here?”

– Kishi!

Nodding at my question, Yo-hwa confirmed.

“I’ll show you where I sleep, so just follow me.”

I guided her to my quarters, letting her know she could visit me whenever she got hungry, and she tied a thin, nearly invisible thread to the window of my room.

“What is this, Yo-hwa?”

– Kisit!

When I asked what kind of thread it was, she flicked it with her foot.

“If it’s flicked, it means you’ll come?”

When I inquired if I was right, Yo-hwa nodded.

Yo-hwa was indeed clever in many ways.

With Yo-hwa’s home settled, the remaining matter was the Lizards.

Since I couldn’t place Lizards in the Venomous Insect Garden or before the Venomous, I decided to set them up in my room for now.

They were too puppy-like to keep separate.

Only after arranging their new quarters could I finally wash up and sleep.

*

The betrothal ceremony wasn’t anything elaborate.

Except for the fact that Yo-hwa sneaked out at night to catch geese for me instead of me managing to hunt them for two days straight.

It was a simple affair—gathering the clan’s elders and presenting my sister with the betrothal gifts, vowing to wed before them.

However, there was a bit of a hitch in preparing the gifts.

The betrothal gift consisted of three items: one was the goose, another my handwritten letter, and the last was my prepared gift.

The goose was ready, and I penned the letter right away, but the final gift posed a problem.

I intended to use the ornament made from the Lizard that Nangong Seol had given me as a token, but my sister oddly proposed using Lizards as a gift instead.

“So-ryong, about the betrothal gift… could we use the Lizards?”

I had anticipated my sister eying the Lizards, but I didn’t think she’d be so bold about it.

It felt like a sudden blow to the back of my head.

I scrambled frantically to respond so as not to offend her, especially when we were discussing a betrothal gift.

“Uh, Hua Eun, traditionally the betrothal gifts should be something unchanging. The goose symbolizes that our bond remains constant; my handwritten letter emphasizes promising that we won’t change, and it’s natural, then, to use something like the Ice Orb, which is also unchanging, isn’t it? Furthermore, once the betrothal ceremony is held, everything I own becomes yours…”

As my words turned my sister’s cheeks rosy, she averted her face, responding in a trembling voice.

“Is, is that so? Then I will follow So-ryong’s wishes.”

‘Nice! Well said, me!’

Thus, I skillfully placated my sister and thwarted her Lizards’ theft, wrapping up the betrothal ceremony.

After it concluded, my father-in-law and Mandok God summoned my sister and me to the Clan Head Hall.

It seemed they were about to share some wise words.

Upon entering the Clan Head Hall, my father-in-law and Grandfather Mandok spoke.

“The reason we called you two here is related to your Great Method, So-ryong.”

“Great Method, you say?”

Upon hearing the word ‘method,’ I thought there might be some formality akin to registering a marriage, prompting my sister’s explanation.

“The method refers to the martial art principles of the Tang Clan, which involves the acceptance of poison.”

“Oh, the one where you accept the Ten Great Venoms?”

“Exactly, So-ryong.”

Since I now captured a Human-faced Spider, it was time to undergo the process of accepting poison into my martial arts.

Nodding, I awaited further explanation from Mandok God.

“Now that you’ve caught a Human-faced Spider, it’s truly commendable. Among the Ten Great Venoms, the Human-faced Spider is the weakest, making it suitable for accepting poison.”

The insight that Yo-hwa’s venom was mild and suitable for acceptance felt like divine assistance.

“After hearing this, I’m relieved. So, does the process commence right away?”

Seeing that the people of the clan seemed rather impatient, I wondered if the process could begin immediately, but both elders shook their heads.

Mandok God spoke, “Listen carefully, So-ryong. If you hadn’t brought the Human-faced Spider, your father-in-law and I would have proposed something entirely different.”

“A different proposal?”

“Indeed. As we reviewed the poisonous creatures you possess, it reminded us of something the clan has forgotten over time.”

I looked at my sister, asking her to explain, but she too wore a puzzled expression.

Mandok God opened a book and asked, “Do you know the meaning of the Five Poisons?”

Hearing my grandfather’s question, it felt as if he was referring to the Five Poisons Return to Origin Skill that I had learned, but I wasn’t entirely sure what the exact meaning was.

My sister then clarified, “So-ryong, the Five Poisons refer to the Centipede, Snake, Scorpion, Lizard, and Toad. They make up the five venomous creatures.”

So, the Centipede, Snake, Scorpion, Lizard, and Toad referred to the Five Poisons. That reminded me two of the kinds I was currently managing.

Curiosity about what this ‘other proposal’ could be was piqued.

[End of Five Poisons 1]