Chapter 35 Tang So-yeong
A man with red hair kicked the girl with the bun hairstyle, knocking her over.
They seemed to be in the same group, so why did he do that?
Honestly, it was quite infuriating, but there must have been another reason.
That woman might have told them to leave her and save themselves.
…Still, wasn’t kicking her too much?
The more I thought about it, the more infuriating it became.
But well, she cried and begged for her life, so I’ll let it go this time.
Forget the details.
Their circumstances weren’t important to me.
What I needed to know was that the woman had fallen.
And unlike the others, she didn’t run away but sat still in one place.
She didn’t seem to be seriously injured, probably just twisted her leg.
If not, she might just be an ordinary person who couldn’t understand why her group ran away from a docile creature like me.
Too lazy to move twice, I decided to gather what I needed.
Shlick.
I flicked my tongue and searched the ground.
Was it around here?
I found a particularly damp spot.
Crocodile King Lizard’s Dragon Claw Technique, Eighth Form.
Digging the ground furiously.
Like a dog burying a bone, I dug the soil with my front paws.
Tududududud!
What lay underground were various plants and objects.
It seemed to be a collection of somewhat rare-looking items, like a lightning-shaped stone.
It wasn’t something I would use immediately, but it was too precious to throw away.
What I needed now was…
Ah, here it is.
I gently lifted something that looked like a plant root.
What was its name again, Hasuo?
Applying Hasuo juice to a wound would heal it quickly.
Thanks to my title, my wounds healed on their own after a few splashes in the water, so it was an unnecessary item for me.
I had kept it for future use on Tus and Pus, but it turned out to be useful now.
I also picked up the spider silk carefully stored beside it.
If I wrapped the well-ground Hasuo in leaves and bound it with spider silk, she would be able to stand up soon.
She should be able to treat herself if I provided the materials.
Alright, let’s go.
Though it took some effort to find the medicinal herbs, the best outcome for me was for the fallen woman to escape on her own.
I still thought it was too early to get involved with humans.
Sadly, unless they were eccentrics like Baek Yeonyeong, they seemed to be afraid of me.
If I had to meet humans, I should leave a good impression. Maybe making some clothes would help.
I wasn’t ready yet.
Encountering humans was not part of my plan.
Though I could ignore it and sleep since I had chased them out of my territory, I didn’t want to see a human die nearby.
It might sound selfish, but I hoped she would heal quickly and leave my sight.
Tadadot.
To appear smaller, I crawled on the ground on all fours.
Worried that the knife in my mouth might be the problem, I moved it to my tail.
I should be almost there.
Yes, there she was.
The woman I saw earlier was still in the same place.
…She wasn’t dead, right?
Upon closer inspection, I saw her chest rising and falling, smaller than Baek Yeonyeong’s.
She must have injured her leg and couldn’t move.
I quietly moved behind her.
To avoid startling her, I gentlemanly tapped the ground a few times.
Excuse me.
“Hi, hiik!”
The woman was startled.
She looked at me with teary eyes and trembled.
“Please, don’t eat me…”
No.
That’s a misunderstanding.
I don’t eat people.
*
Tang So-yeong had no talent for martial arts.
However, she didn’t care about that.
The Tang family mainly used hidden weapons and poisons rather than honorable martial arts.
Although she had no talent for martial arts, she had exceptional talent for handling poisons.
While the poison she used wasn’t particularly strong, even a much stronger master could be unexpectedly affected. Hence, the Tang family members valued her greatly.
Yes, valued.
Just as they used poisons and hidden weapons, the Tang family naturally used their own bloodline.
The term “poisoned person” was not just a legend.
It was a derogatory term for those who became puppets of the family, reduced to mere poisons themselves.
Tang So-yeong refused to use her unique poison.
That was the essence of her existence, so it must have been hard to see her intact after saying such things in the Tang family.
Even if they shared the same blood, her life could have been at risk, or she could have been confined to a cave, becoming another mindless puppet.
However, Tang So-yeong didn’t end up that way.
She secretly gained power.
The name of that power was knowledge.
Instead of accumulating internal energy, she accumulated vast amounts of knowledge.
As she acquired knowledge unknown even to the elders of the Tang family, they decided to use her differently.
Her greatest knowledge was related to spiritual beasts.
Even before the sudden surge of spiritual beasts, the Tang family had shown the most interest in them. After all, strong spiritual beasts produced strong poisons.
Her past achievements allowed her to represent the Tang family on this expedition, even though she was only a second-rate martial artist. She was one of the few who could handle a sub-adult Dilophosaurus.
Of course, sending her to the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains was a gamble.
Tang So-yeong, with her insignificant power but valuable knowledge, and the precious sub-adult spiritual beast could both be lost.
Thus, the elders focused on Namgoong Yeon.
Based on information obtained from the spy Cheong Murin, they gathered various details about Namgoong Yeon. Though known as a second-rate martial artist, this was intentionally controlled information.
Upon learning his true identity, the elders decided to send Tang So-yeong and the sub-adult spiritual beast.
There was more to gain than to lose.
As long as Namgoong Yeon was with them, they wouldn’t die easily.
Assuming the Dilophosaurus could be controlled.
However, she lost the Dilophosaurus.
She almost lost her life to the sudden attack of beasts.
If she hadn’t used the smoke bomb she had, she would have been dead.
Now, all she had left was some food, a few hidden weapons, and needles.
In such a situation, she encountered a being like a mythical monster.
At first, she was terrified.
She realized the immense amount of internal energy it had.
Moreover, it wasn’t ordinary internal energy.
Even from the visible cores, there were at least four, and she could sense the energy of Azure Sky Immortal Dew.
Facing such a spiritual beast defenseless, how could she not be scared?
To make matters worse, she injured her leg.
She couldn’t move.
Until the spiritual beast returned.
“Please, don’t eat me…”
She said in a terrified voice.
Her heart pounded.
Shlick.
The tongue of the spiritual beast flickered as it stared at her.
At the moment Tang So-yeong felt the approach of death and closed her eyes, something fell in front of her.
Through squinting eyes, Tang So-yeong saw a plant root.
Hasuo.
And it was at least a hundred years old.
The spiritual beast stomped on it several times, then handed her something like silk and leaves.
Such precious Hasuo!
Normally, Tang So-yeong would have said something like that.
But given the situation, she could only tremble.
Was it telling her to apply it?
“Grr…”
“I-I’ll apply it!”
Scared.
With trembling hands, she applied the Hasuo juice to her injured area.
As time passed, the pain gradually subsided.
Tang So-yeong had one question.
Why was it treating her?
Was it trying to make her tastier, like feeding tea leaves to pigs before cooking them?
No, Tang So-yeong decided to think more optimistically.
This spiritual beast had no intention of harming her.
Though the tail holding the knife swayed anxiously, if it intended to eat her, it would have done so already.
Even if it was a mere whim, it was better than doing nothing and being eaten.
At least she could do something.
Tang So-yeong slowly raised her head.
She faced her opponent.
A large body.
Sharp claws.
A smile that wasn’t a smile but seemed eerie nonetheless.
As she slowly observed the creature, a piece of information flashed through Tang So-yeong’s mind.
It was related to a legend existing in the Tang family.
There was a spiritual beast. It was the ultimate poison beast, incomparable to any monster.
It was called by various names.
Ancient being, tail of death, ancient death.
It symbolized death and violence, an overwhelming existence long desired by the Sichuan Tang Clan.
An armor that easily deflected blades. Twenty claws said to be sharper than meteorite-forged swords. Teeth that pierced even protective qi with ease. The poison deadlier than any monster.
Gomodo.
The being before her resembled Gomodo.
Of course, there were differences from the descriptions in the legends.
Its size was slightly smaller, and its skin color was different.
It could pass quietly.
Going their separate ways might be the best conclusion.
But Tang So-yeong didn’t do that.
Was it because of her scholarly mindset, or the thought that the creature before her might be the one she had been searching for?
“Uh, um!”
Tang So-yeong called out to the spiritual beast that was about to leave.
“Are you by any chance, Gomodo Dae-hyeop?”
*
Wiiing wiiing.
A siren blared somewhere in my
mind.
A human calling me in such a situation.
My sharp mind turned.
A crazy person!
Oh, I need to escape quickly.
