Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang Novel - Chapter 37

Chapter 37

A desperate shout tore from Gu Cheon-ak, the Blood Talon Eagle Claw and elder of the Blood Cult. Yet, in stark contrast to his anguish, the pale boy held in Hwa-eun’s arms managed a weak smile and cried out,
“What did I do? I am your natural enemy!”
“Natural enemy?”
The phrase suggested a foe destined by heaven itself, an inescapable counter.
Gu Cheon-ak tried to push forward, but a profound and debilitating weakness flooded his limbs.
It was as if his very blood was crumbling and flying apart inside his veins.
“Urgh…!”
The internal art he had perfected, the Ghost Blood Torrent Divine Art, was among the Blood Cult’s supreme techniques, second only to those of the Blood Demon.
This exalted method amplified blood flow to unleash explosive power, permitting its user to absorb qi and vitality from the blood of victims to restore their own strength and stamina.
So long as Gu Cheon-ak continued to consume blood, he could fight endlessly, even if worn down to stumps.
And yet, after circulating the boy’s blood through his own system, his command over his lifeblood had vanished completely.
The Blood Cult’s arts depended on mastering blood flow, merging qi with the bloodstream, and directing it rapidly throughout the body. Absolute control of one’s own blood was fundamental to their power, but now his blood was in open revolt.
“This… this is impossible,” Gu Cheon-ak stammered, his voice shaking.
A normal Scattered Energy Poison should have no effect on the Ghost Blood Torrent Divine Art. That poison worked by blocking the flow of qi through acupoints, but the Blood Cult’s techniques circumvented acupoints entirely, using blood vessels as their conduit.
It was this very immunity to ordinary countermeasures that had let the Blood Cult spread such chaos during the Blood Demon Rebellion three decades past.
But now, Gu Cheon-ak felt as if his blood was fracturing into a thousand pieces, scattering wildly through his veins.
“What… what have you done to me, you wretched child?!”
So-ryong, pallid but wearing a faint grin, turned to Hwa-eun and yelled, “Sister! Now! He’s defenseless!”
“S-sister?”
Jolted by his sudden order, Hwa-eun froze for an instant before her focus returned. She unleashed her whip, the Flood Dragon Whip, aiming it straight for Gu Cheon-ak.
The weapon, edged with sharpened steel blades, was crafted to shred limbs and torsos in a single blow.
-Snap!
The whip shot out with blinding speed, wrapping tightly around Gu Cheon-ak’s throat.
In his compromised state, evasion was impossible. The once-terrifying elder could only stare in dread as the coil tightened.
“Urgh!”
The whip sliced into his neck. He clawed at it desperately, but his hands were soon covered in dark red blood.
Hwa-eun’s cold, resolute expression was the last thing his dimming sight registered.
“This… this cannot be! The Blood Cult’s return… the era of blood…”
“Be quiet and die!”
Before he could finish his final proclamation, Hwa-eun gave the whip a sharp, merciless tug.
-Slash!
Gu Cheon-ak’s world spun as his head was severed from his body.
The feared Blood Talon Eagle Claw, elder of the Blood Cult, met a futile and meaningless end.
***
To be honest, I hadn’t been certain it would work.
But in that dire moment, it was the only plan I had any faith in, so I committed to it. I never imagined it would prove so effective.
My hope was that the venom might sicken him or at least drive him to retreat, but the outcome was far greater than anything I had anticipated.
As the monster’s head hit the ground, a crimson jet erupted from his neck.
-Thud.
His body fell backward, landing on the sodden earth with a heavy thump.
The dark red blood pumping from his corpse spread across the rain-drenched ground, dyeing it a deep scarlet.
A thick silence descended.
No one could find words.
The creature who had rampaged like a tiger among wolves had been felled so abruptly, so undramatically.
Then, a voice cut through the quiet.
“He’s dead! The young lady has killed the Blood Cult elder!”
“““Hooray!”””
A wave of cheers rose as the warriors understood what had transpired.
“The young lady has taken the head of the Blood Cult elder!”
“Glory to the Tang Clan!”
“Long live the Tang Clan!”
-Shriek!
A signal dagger flew into the now-clear sky, calling the scattered Tang warriors back to the clearing where the brutal fight had occurred.
Amid the swelling celebration, Hwa-eun held me, her face blank with shock. She gazed down at me, her voice quivering as she asked,
“So-ryong, what did you do? How did you… defeat the Blood Cult elder?”
Droplets of water fell from her hair onto my forehead.
Even soaked through, her embrace was warm.
Perhaps it was that warmth, or perhaps it was the combined toll of blood loss and venom, but my sight began to haze.
Looking up at her, I answered feebly,
“Sister, I… I think I need treatment for tiger keelback venom…”
“T-tiger keelback? But that venom is… it’s…”
Her eyes widened in alarm, and her panicked voice seemed to echo from a distance as my consciousness started to slip away.
“Someone fetch the antidote pearl! So-ryong is poisoned by a tiger keelback!”
“So-ryong! So-ryong!”
The final sight I registered before everything went black was Cho, Hyang, and Bini clambering onto my sister’s trembling shoulders.
***
A familiar sensation beneath me.
The floor?
I opened my eyes and blinked in confusion, because the first thing I saw was the ground.
Normally, when you collapse and wake up, you expect to see a ceiling—not the floor.
But there I was, lying flat on my stomach, as though strapped to a punishment rack from a historical drama.
When I tried to shift, urgent voices called out around me.
“Don’t move, So-ryong!”
“So-ryong, you mustn’t move!”
“Stay still, boy.”
All three voices were known to me.
One was from the family elder in charge of the Medical Hall, another was my sister’s, and the last belonged to Grandfather, the Mandok Shingun himself.
“Where am I?” I mumbled.
“You’re awake? So-ryong, you have been unconscious for ten days,” my sister said, kneeling beside me, her face lined with worry.
“Ten days?”
As I absorbed this, she wet a cloth and gently wiped my forehead, her expression softening.
“Yes, ten days since you collapsed. Do you remember anything?”
“Yeah… I remember the Blood Cult elder falling…” I replied weakly.
My sister nodded. “Thanks to you, we were able to take his head. After you fainted, we brought you straight back to the estate. The venom was so potent that if Grandfather had not returned early, it might have ended very badly.”
Grandfather spoke next, his tone firm. “Tell me, boy—what happened? They said you were poisoned by a tiger keelback. Does that snake truly carry venom?”
“Yes, Grandfather. The tiger keelback possesses not one, but two distinct types of venom,” I answered, still lying prone.
“Two types?”
“Two kinds? But I believed tiger keelbacks were not venomous…” my sister added, repeating the widespread belief.
It was true. Tiger keelbacks, common across Korea, China, and Japan, had long been considered harmless. Even when captured, they typically chose flight over fight, their passive nature cementing this idea.
The Tang Clan, it appeared, had never studied the snake in enough depth to learn of its venomous nature.
“No, it has two venoms. It is simply very non-aggressive, which is why it is rarely seen as a threat.”
Grandfather leaned in closer, his keen eyes fixed on me. “I also heard you used something like a Scattered Energy Poison on the Blood Cult elder. Explain—was the tiger keelback’s venom truly the cause?”
As expected of the clan’s master of poisons, Grandfather had deduced most of the story from observation alone.
“Yes, I believe so,” I said. “Though it seems to only work on those from the Blood Cult. I didn’t expect it to be so effective, either.”
“Astounding!” Grandfather declared, his voice a blend of wonder and remorse. “Do you know how many perished in the Blood Demon Rebellion thirty years ago? If we had known this then…”
He fell silent, emotion weighing on him. Then, as if his curiosity could not be contained, he asked, “Why does the tiger keelback’s venom affect them so profoundly? Explain it to me.”
I did my best to explain.
Venoms are typically classified by their function:
Neurotoxic venom assaults the nervous system, paralyzing feeling and movement, eventually stopping the heart or lungs.
Hemotoxic venom attacks blood and muscle, destroying cell walls and causing internal bleeding, organ shutdown, or brain hemorrhages.
Most would assume hemotoxic venom shouldn’t spread quickly because the body produces fibrin—a protein from platelets—to form clots and seal wounds.
But snake venom contains anticoagulants, which prevent clotting, letting the venom spread rapidly. Combined with its power to rupture red blood cells and stop coagulation, the result is devastating organ failure or fatal brain bleeds.
“The venom stops the blood from clotting?” Grandfather questioned.
“Yes, exactly,” I replied.
In that moment of desperation, I had put it all together.
The Blood Cult’s very name indicated a reverence for blood, and their techniques seemed to depend on manipulating it.
Their vampiric practices—draining blood directly from the living or freshly dead—made them seem like parasitic monsters.
So I had wondered: what would occur if I introduced hemotoxic venom into their bloodstream?
The result had surpassed my hopes. The elder himself had called it a Scattered Energy Poison, meaning his internal energy had shattered and become ungovernable.
The gamble had succeeded. If it had failed, I would likely have been on my third life by now.
“…Therefore, I believe their martial arts are dependent on their blood to function. That is why the venom had such a catastrophic effect,” I finished.
Grandfather erupted into robust laughter that filled the room.
“Haha! I heard from Hwa-eun that you declared yourself the natural enemy of the Blood Cult. Is that true?”
“Y-yes, Grandfather…” I admitted warily, concerned I had sounded like an overdramatic youth.
But Grandfather only laughed more heartily.
“Haha! Well said, boy! If this venom cripples their arts so utterly, then the Tang Clan is indeed their natural enemy! The Blood Cult has returned after thirty years, but this time, we will eradicate them completely!
“They dared to harm our family while I was away. But as you said, So-ryong, the Tang Clan will be their ultimate downfall!”
The room hummed with a fresh sense of resolve.
With the tiger keelback venom now known as their weakness, harvesting the venom en masse would mean the end for the Blood Cult’s parasitic reign.
Grandfather’s words rang with conviction.
“Yes,” I stated firmly. “Those who injure the Tang Clan will face immediate justice. They must pay for their actions.”
You chose the wrong family to trouble, you bloodsucking monsters.
I silently pledged to create my own poisons to exterminate them utterly.
Even if it left scars on my arm… it would be a price worth paying.