Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang Novel - Chapter 241

Chapter 241
Though it was the very first time that name had ever been spoken to me, the instant I heard “Golden-Crowned Serpent King,” a deep and certain knowledge settled within me—it belonged to me.

It felt as if my very spirit resonated with the name.

Then again, most poisonous beings have that effect on me.

Even if this was nothing more than blind desire, it changed nothing.

From that moment on, I had decided it was mine.

The title “Serpent King” alone was enough information. Without a doubt, this was one of the Ten Deadly Venoms of Murim.

And that meant it was fated to be in my possession.

I must have laid claim to it in a previous life. Or perhaps the life before that? It didn’t matter. Each of the Ten Deadly Venoms already has my name written on it.

Of all venomous beings, the snake is the most quintessential.

That sleek, scaled, coiling form…

That cold, arrogant visage…

That smooth skin and its chilling touch…

It is an elegance born of being cold-blooded.

My dear Cho might possess the honed physique of a warrior, but the snake?

The snake is the epitome of sophistication.

A silent hunter that moves through shadows to deliver a killing blow.

Regardless, it was mine now.

I looked at Hwa-eun and inquired, “Hwa-eun, tell me, what is the Golden-Crowned Serpent King?”

The name implied a monarch of serpents, adorned with a crown.

But I needed to hear it from her.

I waited with hopeful anticipation.

She gave a soft smile, her feelings perfectly clear—she had anticipated my reaction.

“If it is called the Serpent King,” she explained, “there can only be one, So-ryong. The Golden-Crowned Serpent King. It is one of the Ten Deadly Venoms. Legend says it bears a golden crown on its head and is worshipped as the sovereign of all snakes within Murim.”

“Whoa! The king of every snake! And it truly has a golden crown?!”

My heart began to pound.

Not merely a snake—a royal serpent.

With an actual golden crown?

Absolutely… a crown because it’s a king… perhaps it even produces venom wine? It doesn’t matter! I’ll accept it all!

It could be a type of horned viper.

In my previous life, horned vipers were primarily found in Africa’s Sahel region, the Middle East, or the American deserts.

They had small protrusions to manage heat in extreme environments.

But honestly—those horns were little more than short, blunt nubs on the sides of their heads, like cosmetic lines. They were not what you would call majestic.

But this one—if it sported a golden crown shaped like horns?

That would be a masterpiece.

Like my Yeondu—genuinely exquisite.

If the gold was a brilliant, shining hue, substantial enough to appear truly royal—

Excellent. Just excellent!

Riding this wave of excitement, I turned back to Hwa-eun.

“Then let’s go look in the Secret Compendium of Venomous Creatures right now! I have to see its likeness!”

Somehow, while I was still questioning the prisoners, Hwa-eun had already begun to turn away, one hand resting on my shoulder.

But she paused and stated:

“Even if we look in the Compendium, we will not find an image.”

“…We won’t?”

“No, So-ryong. For some unknown reason, the Golden-Crowned Serpent King has never been fully documented. Not even within the Compendium maintained by our Tang Clan. All that is known is the name—and the legend that it wears a golden crown.”

What!? It’s not in the Compendium?

A deep groan of frustration rose from my soul.

Ohotongjae!

This was a tragedy of immense proportions.

Naturally, seeing the real thing would be ideal…

But how could Tang Mun-ryong, our third patriarch and the author of the Compendium, have overlooked this?

He stated he composed it to aid those who would follow.

This was sheer carelessness!

The Secret Compendium of Venomous Creatures was the Tang Clan’s essential field guide, the sacred text for all poisonous beasts.

Of course, not every single venomous creature is included, but one of the Ten Deadly Venoms absolutely should be!

Ugh… and just when things were getting interesting…

It was like expecting a full roll of paper and finding nothing but the barren cardboard core.

As I was sinking into this abyss of letdown, the voices of the two female prisoners cut through my thoughts.

“D-Did the information we provided assist you, Lord of Venoms?”

I turned to see them observing me with nervous caution.

Their eyes continuously flickered toward my hand—

More specifically, toward the Parasite-Dissolving Pellet I held.

A faint trace of desperate hope still lingered in their expressions.

I pulled a chair to the cell and sat, then asked:

“Hm… it’s a start. But tell me—precisely when did you hear mention of the Serpent King?”

As promising as the tip was, it was not yet time to reward them with the pill.

All I had was a name—no surrounding details.

I required the circumstances, the logic, everything.

The leader tilted her head as if searching her memory, then spoke with care:

“They were issuing our commands to infiltrate the Central Plains… and as we were leaving, one of the men from the Five Venoms mumbled something about the Serpent King. I was focusing my internal energy at that moment and only just overheard that single phrase.”

“Hmmm…”

So they had caught only a solitary word.

No context, no location, no additional remarks—nothing.

“Even the smallest detail is useful. Please, try to recall anything more.”

But despite my insistence, the two could remember nothing else.

Their faces contorted with hopelessness.

It was as if they had already resigned themselves to their end—and now that a sliver of hope had appeared, it only deepened their despair.

The leader bowed her head once more.

“P-please… have pity…”

At that moment, Hwa-eun observed them with a puzzled expression and asked:

“Forgive me, but something is unclear. May I pose a question?”

“…What is it?”

“So-ryong has not been part of Murim for long. He proposed this agreement believing you would choose life over death. But both of you understand the true meaning of living in dishonor, do you not?”

She went on, her tone even, “Even if we let you live and you consume the Parasite-Dissolving Pellet, you will never practice martial arts again. Your meridians will be severed, your energy destroyed. For a martial artist of your caliber… is that not a fate worse than death?”

“…Is that what this means?”

I was taken aback.

She was correct.

I recalled Grandfather once telling me: in Murim, there exists a punishment known as energy collapse.

The victim lives, but loses all martial ability.

For a warrior, it is a more terrible outcome than execution.

Reflecting on it, I saw the truth.

They were not behaving like individuals fighting to survive.

They seemed more like people who had already made peace with dying.

It was the sort of declaration you’d hear from a captured noble knight: “End my life now!”

Then, the leader stared down at her own hands and murmured:

“I once believed… there was no one in this world these fists could not defeat…”

“But after encountering the Flame Dragon… I comprehended how insignificant and futile human martial arts can be.”

“When all my allies were erased in a flash—when only this young woman next to me remained—I finally grasped my own powerlessness.”

“I despise Murim now. I seek no vengeance. I only wish to bear a child quietly and live out my days in tranquility.”

The explanation was somewhat lengthy, but the essence was this:

The absolute, overwhelming power she had witnessed had completely broken her worldview.

She desired no retribution. She wanted no part of Murim.

She only wanted to vanish.

Was the experience truly that devastating?

She appeared almost pitiable, hunched over and shaking.

I glanced at Cho, who was wrapped around me, and he twitched his antennae back at me.

As we exchanged a look and a shared, knowing smirk, Hwa-eun spoke again.

“If that is your true reason,” Hwa-eun said gently, “then we should simply give it to them. I suppose letting them live is not without merit. But you must devote the remainder of your lives making amends for those you have killed.”

“Th-thank you! We are so grateful!”

I gave each woman a Parasite-Dissolving Pellet, and they took them with shaking, thankful hands.

As I prepared to depart—since the Tang Clan would handle the severing of their meridians and the crippling of their qi later—the two women suddenly bent over in agony.

“Ghhh…”

“Kaah!”

They grabbed their heads and started to shudder uncontrollably.

“What… what’s going on?!”

Alarmed, I looked to Hwa-eun—and found her wearing a deeply concerned and somber expression.

A moment later, she spoke, her voice laced with regret.

“The fact that it is the Tang Clan’s Parasite-Dissolving Pellet does not guarantee it can eliminate every parasite. Some are beyond its power to eradicate. It appears… this is one of those cases.”

“Th-then what occurs?!”

I asked in a panic, fearing they would perish immediately.

Then came the terrifying reply:

“When the pellet is ineffective… the site where the parasite has anchored itself ruptures.”

“The site where it’s anchored…?”

When Grandfather had removed the parasites from the dead, he said they were embedded in the brain.

Which meant—

Their heads were about to burst open.

GAHHHHH!

The mere idea of the horrific spectacle that was coming made me want to scream inside.

And then it started.

Their eyes turned back into their heads, their bodies shook as if in a violent fit, and a dark, reddish-black blood began to pour from their nostrils—a thick, clot-filled fluid.

Their pale, quivering forms jerked spasmodically.

I had just granted them a chance to live, and now they were dying regardless.

“Please… fetch Grandfather.”

I yelled to the guards, who immediately ran to get him.

When he arrived and examined them, he gave a grim shake of his head.

“It is uncertain if they will survive.”

***

The two women, hovering on the edge of death, were provided with only minimal care and left to whatever destiny awaited them.

They were guilty of serious crimes—their survival or demise was their own karma to bear.

The Tang Clan would merely watch and wait.

As for me, I went back to Hwa-eun’s room and, for the first time in ages, retrieved the Secret Compendium of Venomous Creatures.

Hwa-eun had told me there was no image, but I still felt compelled to see for myself.

—Flick.

A few pages in, and I found it:

Golden-Crowned Serpent King

And exactly as she had stated… the space for the illustration was empty.

Not a single stroke of ink.

Beside the name, there was only a brief note:

“The ruler of all snakes. Wears a golden crown upon its head.”

“That’s all? There’s truly no picture?”

“I told you, So-ryong. I remember it well because even as a child, I was so intrigued as to why this was the only entry without an image.”

I continued turning the pages, and indeed, it was the sole exception.

Every other entry, no matter how hastily done, had at least a basic drawing—except for this one.

No ink. No sketch. Not the slightest indication of an attempt.

Had the author never actually seen it?

Was this an account based on rumor rather than firsthand experience?

I asked, “Is it possible this was information from others? Something the writer did not see himself?”

But Hwa-eun shook her head.

“No… I do not believe so. This Elder was the one who established the classification of the Ten Deadly Venoms. And look—does this not sound like a man who met each one personally?”

She indicated the book’s introduction—the message to future readers:

“This modest volume is named the Secret Compendium of Venomous Creatures. Every being described within has been seen and documented by my own hand, including its environment and distinctive characteristics.”

He had explicitly stated that he recorded only what he himself had witnessed.

Then… why leave out the illustration of the Golden-Crowned Serpent King?

For someone like me, driven by a collector’s mentality, an absent piece is unbearable.

It is like a gap in a otherwise perfect set of teeth—it mars everything.

I mean, I suffered being envenomed by Hwayang without a single protest, all to preserve a slot for a venom.

The collection of the Ten Deadly Venoms must be finished.

But now… the one creature I am most eager for is missing its picture?

Something felt wrong.

Why did he not draw it?

The question consumed me.