Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang Novel - Chapter 123

Chapter 123
“Cho, you stay here with Seol for a little while. Your father and I need to go somewhere for a moment. Someone has fallen ill, so we must go and see them, alright?”
“Yes, Cho will stay with Auntie. We’ve had such a good time these last few days, right? Travel safely, Dad.”
— Tsrut!
After instructing Cho to wait, I accompanied Military Strategist Zhuge Hu as we hurried toward the guest quarters reserved for the Martial Alliance’s regular visitors.
My own accommodations were in a secluded annex behind the Lord’s Hall—a privilege of being one of the Five Venoms, with Seol and Gong staying as my guests. We had been granted a more private residence. Zhuge Hu’s nephew, Ji-ryong, however, would have been lodged in the general guest quarters where most visitors to the Martial Alliance stayed.
“The Five Dragons and Three Peaks… They don’t seem so impressive now, do they?”
The entire area around the guest quarters was already cordoned off by Martial Alliance warriors, a full security lockdown in effect. The noise and activity around the entrance and perimeter made it clear the situation was being treated with extreme seriousness.
An poisoning attempt on the nephew of a Martial Alliance strategist would naturally prompt this level of emergency response.
We moved through the ranks of vigilant guards and arrived at a long hallway lined with small, single-room lodgings. We came to a halt before one of them.
Outside stood three familiar figures—Kwon-ryong, Geom-ryong, and Gungbong—their expressions all deeply troubled.
“Strategist!”
“Report. Did anything occur in my absence?”
“Nothing, sir. Ji-ryong is inside. Eunbong, the physicians, and members of the Zhuge family are attending to him.”
Upon entering the room, we found it packed with more than a dozen people. Ji-ryong was laid out on the bed, his pallid face turned upward.
Beside him, a woman named Eunbong was clutching his collar, her eyes red and swollen from weeping. She stared vacantly at the ceiling, her despair palpable.
The moment we stepped inside, the crowd respectfully made way for us.
Seeing us, Eunbong sprang to her feet and cried out.
“D-Dokhwa! Please, I beg of you! Tianlang—please, save him…!”
Tianlang—an intimate term used between lovers.
So, Eunbong and Ji-ryong were involved.
She looked completely broken, but based on what Hwa-eun had previously told me, this woman was a master of Sound Arts—a fearsome skill that allowed her to kill by screaming or playing an instrument, rupturing eardrums or blood vessels.
Eunbong didn’t even acknowledge Zhuge Hu, instead rushing to seize Hwa-eun’s hands.
“I understand. You must try to remain calm.”
Earlier, her complexion had seemed unusually pale, and her lips a stark red, but that appeared to have just been cosmetics.
Hwa-eun gently extricated her wrist from Eunbong’s grasp and moved to Ji-ryong’s bedside, signaling for me to join her.
“So-ryong, come here.”
“Me too?”
“Indeed. Your knowledge of poisons is considerable, is it not?”
I wasn’t certain why she wanted me specifically, but her logic was sound.
While my specialty was biological venoms, the subject matter was still relevant.
I nodded and accompanied her to Ji-ryong’s bedside.
“Very well, let us see. What manner of poisoning is this?”
I looked Ji-ryong over.
His extreme pallor was obvious, but beyond that, there were no other clear external signs of poisoning.
Hwa-eun addressed a man standing near the bed who had arranged several needles nearby.
“You’ve sealed his acupoints and slowed his circulation. Are you certain it is poison?”
Given how normal Ji-ryong looked, even Hwa-eun seemed doubtful.
Poisoning should cause physical symptoms—difficult breathing, fever, bleeding, or other bodily irregularities. Ji-ryong displayed none of these.
The man bowed his head.
“Initially, we believed it to be an illness, but it matched no known malady. One of our physicians trained in toxins examined him and suspected poison.”
He glanced to the side, and another man stepped forward, offering a respectful salute to Hwa-eun.
“I… I am Won-gyu. I do not know if you recall me, my lady.”
“Won-gyu? Ah, you are one of the physicians our family sent to the Martial Alliance some years back, correct?”
“Yes, my lady.”
Hwa-eun gave a nod of recognition.
So, he was a physician from our Sacheon Tang Clan, assigned to the Martial Alliance.
Given how common poisonings were in the martial world, it was sensible for us to have experts stationed here.
Hwa-eun folded her arms and inquired,
“What were his symptoms?”
Her skepticism seemed to lessen now that the diagnosis came from one of our own.
“Fortunately, the dose does not appear lethal. His acupoints were sealed to halt the poison’s spread, but prior to that, he suffered severe convulsions and his speech was badly slurred.”
“Slurred speech and convulsions… Were you able to identify the poison?”
“My apologies. My skill in the Poison Arts is not advanced enough to determine that immediately.”
A true master of Poison Arts could often identify a toxin upon contact, but his abilities were not that refined.
“Then a proper diagnosis is required. I will begin by examining his pulse.”
Hwa-eun reached for Ji-ryong’s wrist.
After a moment of focused concentration, she nodded gravely.
“It is undoubtedly poison.”
This confirmation caused an immediate uproar in the room.
“As expected! Could it be those Blood Cult fiends?!”
“Who would dare poison our Ji-ryong?!”
“They have the audacity to target the Zhuge family?!”
The room grew thick with heated anger and lethal intent, but Hwa-eun cut through it.
“I need to observe the symptoms. Release the seals on his acupoints.”
Zhuge Hu’s eyes widened in alarm.
“Would that not unleash the poison and kill him?!”
Releasing the blocks containing the poison surely meant certain death?
Hwa-eun shook her head.
“If my assumption is correct, the poison will not spread.”
“It will not?”
She nodded again.
Zhuge Hu hesitated briefly before stepping forward.
“Do it.”
“Understood.”
At his command, several of the sturdy men in the room moved into action.
One of them pressed on several points on Ji-ryong’s body—
And then something remarkable happened.
First, the emptiness in Ji-ryong’s eyes was replaced by dawning awareness.
“Wha… What is going on…? My… my body…”
His voice, once confident, was now thick with fear, slow and mangled.
It was as if his tongue wouldn’t obey him, making speech nearly impossible.
But that wasn’t the most startling part.
His eyelids and the corners of his mouth began to quiver violently.
Then his entire body was seized by uncontrollable shaking.
Ji-ryong’s convulsions intensified, his limbs flailing wildly like a mortally wounded creature.
The men surrounding him swiftly moved to restrain his thrashing arms and legs.
“Khrrk… M-my body…”
“T-Tianlang! Hhkk…”
Tears poured down Eunbong’s cheeks as she witnessed his helpless agony.
Seeing Ji-ryong’s state worsen, Eunbong buried her face in his chest and wept openly.
Her loud sobs filled the room. Hwa-eun, observing this, issued a calm yet firm order to those nearby.
“That is sufficient. Reseal his acupoints and apply blood circulation techniques.”
“Understood!”
Soon, Ji-ryong’s acupoints were sealed again, and he fell back into unconsciousness.
Hwa-eun looked at him silently for a moment before asking,
“Has Ji-ryong suffered from frequent headaches recently? Or lapses in memory? Perhaps sudden, unexplained anger?”
Zhuge Hu stroked his chin, thinking deeply.
“Hmm…”
It was his nephew’s condition, but he was unlikely to know such intimate details. And what sane person would display anger toward their uncle?
Realizing he was the wrong person to ask, Hwa-eun turned to Eunbong instead. Their eyes met, and Eunbong flinched, pausing before she finally answered in a careful, quiet voice.
“I… I have been at his side, so I have noticed… Yes, he has had headaches and trouble with his memory. He even forgot plans we had made together, which upset me on more than one occasion.”
Hwa-eun nodded in understanding before addressing Zhuge Hu again.
“That confirms it. This poisoning did not occur today.”
“It did not happen today?!”
“No. The poisoning took place over a very long period, administered slowly.”
“What?!”
The atmosphere in the room turned frigid at her words.
Zhuge Hu’s voice became dangerously sharp as he asked in a low tone,
“How long a period?”
“A minimum of six months.”
“…”
The moment she said six months, Zhuge Hu’s controlled killing intent permeated the entire room.
This implied someone had carefully and patiently poisoned Ji-ryong over a long stretch of time. Just like with Yeong-yeong, this wasn’t the work of an outsider—it had to be someone close.
Sensing the tension, Xiang slid out from my sleeve, turning its head toward Zhuge Hu.
— Tsrurur.
From Xiang’s thoughts, I sensed its confusion. “Dad, who is this man? Should I bite him? Should I?”
I stroked Xiang’s head to soothe it. Simultaneously, Hwa-eun, perhaps to temper Zhuge Hu’s rage, spoke in a measured tone.
“Please, compose yourself, Elder. This may not have been a deliberate act.”
“What? Not deliberate?”
“Yes, Elder. Ji-ryong has been poisoned with Hong.”
“Hong?”
That word triggered a memory.
During my studies of poisons with the Tang Clan, I had encountered the term Hong.
“If I remember correctly… Hong means mercury. Ah! And since she said the poisoning happened over a long time, it must be mercury poisoning!”
Ji-ryong’s symptoms suddenly clicked into place.
They closely matched chronic mercury poisoning—what was once called Minamata disease.
Even though my specialty was biological toxins, I had researched common poisons for broadcast segments before. From what I recalled, mercury poisoning caused neurological symptoms: tremors in the lips, impaired speech, loss of motor control.
Ji-ryong’s symptoms were a perfect fit.
And now, Hwa-eun’s suggestion that it might not be intentional also made sense.
In this ancient era, mercury was still used medicinally.
Even Emperor Qin Shi Huang had consumed mercury elixirs in his pursuit of eternal life.
Some people even drank liquid mercury as a purported health supplement.
However, liquid mercury isn’t easily absorbed by the body, so poisoning only happens with prolonged exposure.
In my previous life, mercury was common—one widespread example was in thermometers.
There were countless cases of children biting thermometers, swallowing the mercury, and being rushed to the hospital. Yet, even then, serious poisoning was rare.
For Ji-ryong to be affected, he must have ingested mercury over a very long time, or regularly consumed something that contained it.
“Has Ji-ryong been taking any medicine that could contain Hong? A tonic, perhaps, or some kind of spiritual elixir?”
At my question, both Zhuge Hu and Eunbong shook their heads.
“Not to my knowledge.”
“Nor mine.”
“That is strange… His symptoms point to prolonged exposure.”
The investigation seemed to be hitting a wall.
I wracked my brain, trying to remember everything from the Tang Clan’s toxicology lessons.
“Hong is produced by heating Zhusha to extract mercury. The fumes are highly toxic and can cause acute poisoning if inhaled… So Ji-ryong wasn’t poisoned by breathing mercury vapor.”
But then, a connection formed.
“Wait… Zhusha… Why does that sound familiar?”
Suddenly, I remembered something from my time with the Namgung Clan.
“The Sugungsa ceremony is a tradition where a woman proves her chastity by marking her skin with a special pigment. They raise lizards in jars, feeding them Zhusha (朱砂), which turns their bodies red. The lizards are then ground into a powder for the ritual. If a woman is truly pure, the mark is permanent, unable to be washed away by water.”
I had found the practice horrifying.
“Turns red? Wait… It can’t be…!”
A disquieting idea formed in my mind.
My eyes shot toward Eunbong’s lips.
That strikingly vivid red color.
I turned to Hwa-eun, alarmed.
“Hwa-eun… I, I recall learning that Zhusha is the source material for Hong. Can someone get mercury poisoning from ingesting Zhusha?”
Hwa-eun gave me a look of proud, knowing approval.
“Just as I would expect from you, So-ryong. Correct. You deduced it without formal teaching. Zhusha is indeed a source of Hong, meaning it can cause mercury poisoning in the same manner.”
I slowly turned to look at the unconscious Ji-ryong.
And released a long, weary sigh.
“Ha…”
“Ah… The follies of youth…”
This was precisely why lipstick needed to be non-toxic.
Now, how in the world was I supposed to explain this?