In the bedroom Yohwa had left behind, only her clothes and scent remained.
The stray dog, who had lived as an orphan and never once longed for anyone, tossed and turned in gnawing loneliness before falling asleep for the first time that day.
Perhaps the pillow soaked with tears took pity on the stray dog, for it granted her sweet dreams while she slept.
In her dreams, Ogyo spent a joyful time touring the Li River with Yohwa on a small boat.
But it was merely a dream, so when she opened her eyes, her heart felt even more empty and tormented.
Ogyo, who had fallen asleep curled up on Yohwa’s bed, slowly raised herself.
She had terrible sleeping habits; by morning, her long hair was always tangled into a mess.
Every morning, Yohwa had combed it for her.
Still not fully awake, Ogyo looked around with drowsy crimson eyes.
Then she discovered a piece of Yohwa’s clothing clutched in her hand.
It seemed she had held it in her arms all night.
She lifted it and brought her nose near the collar; a piercing peony fragrance stung her nostrils.
A familiar scent. Yohwa’s scent.
She hugged the hem of the garment tightly and curled up, but soon raised her head again.
She mustn’t dirty this cloth with her filthy tears as well.
This clothing was all that remained of Yohwa’s fragrance.
Yes, Yohwa was gone now.
But she would return soon. How long was she going to keep sniveling?
Rubbing her swollen red eyes with the back of her hand, Ogyo climbed down from the bed.
Without even taking time to wash her face, she busied herself preparing to leave right away.
She closed all the windows and tidied up the scattered belongings.
They had lived there merely three years, yet every room and every object was engraved with memories, making her stop in her tracks several times.
She sat vacantly in the empty room, reminiscing, then soon smiled; then, as if waking from a dream, she sprang back up and continued what she had been doing.
Her luggage to take was simple.
She was a stray dog who had always traveled empty-handed wherever she went.
Not even a common pouch; she had merely carried hidden weapons coated in poison all over her body.
At least this time, she had a small bundle.
Inside were a small amount of silver Yohwa had left behind, the outer robe—a woman’s over-garment—that she had worn until the end, and a pair of silk shoes.
She placed the items neatly on cloth, rolled them up lengthwise, and tied them diagonally across her body; with that, preparations were complete.
When she came out to the yard, the sun was already nearing its zenith.
The dark clouds that had scattered sleet during the night had retreated into the distance, but the ground was still muddy.
She had considered building a grave for Yohwa before leaving, but abandoned the thought.
She hadn’t died. Why make such an unlucky thing?
“Stay well.”
Ogyo tossed the words casually as a farewell to the empty house and departed.
*
An extreme poison capable of dissolving the soul.
Yohwa had asked her to find it.
Last night, she had rashly agreed without grasping the weight of the request, but thinking on it now, this was no ordinary bizarre commission.
She was a dog that knew nothing, yet regarding poison, her expertise surpassed others.
For she had lived surrounded by it since childhood.
She had chewed poisonous herbs every meal, soaked her body in poison jars, and befriended all manner of insects and serpents.
Even the blood currently flowing through Ogyo’s veins was already a deadly poison to ordinary people.
There was no shortage of poisons that could kill people.
Hakjeonghong, Hwagolsan, Businokrin, Guyudan Jangsan… What was the point of listing them? Ogyo knew every method to poison others.
But an extreme poison that dissolves the soul?
From the start, Ogyo couldn’t even properly comprehend the concept of a soul.
Yohwa had told her to complete the Mandok Gwejong.
Clearly, this heart method involved conquering all the poisons in the world to refine them into a single extreme poison… but whether that poison would work on souls was another matter.
But Ogyo’s worries did not last long.
Thinking things through had never been her style to begin with.
The world was vast, after all.
If she poked around here and there, wouldn’t she catch something in her net eventually?
Collecting various poisons.
That was her goal from now on.
Ogyo unfurled her qinggong and swiftly leaped down between the precipitous cliffs covered in eternal snow.
Then, on a narrow path between some dark ravines, she halted.
There was somewhere she had to stop by before descending the mountain.
“Hey!”
She shouted toward the depths of the ravine, and her voice echoed in layers, traveling far into the distance.
The air was thick with gloomy fog, and the surrounding rocks were overgrown with moss.
“Hey, it’s me!”
As Ogyo shouted again toward the pitch-black darkness, a massive shadow slowly rose from within.
With a clear, clacking sound, what slowly crawled out from the darkness was a spider so enormous it could fill the ravine.
Its body was snow-white, and its face was covered with red eyeballs packed together like frog eggs.
It was the Blood-Eyed White Spider, one of the spiritual creatures dwelling on Mount Gilyeon.
According to Yohwa, this spider had lived for several hundred years already.
“Here, take this.”
Ogyo showed not a hint of fear before the giant spider, pulling a bottle from her bosom and tossing it to the spider’s feet.
The spider quickly moved its sharp legs and kicked the bottle beneath its body; soon, it vanished into the darkness.
What the bottle contained was none other than Yohwa’s blood.
Yohwa had traded with this spiritual creature for a long time; in exchange for her blood, she received silk from it.
She didn’t know the details, but Yohwa’s blood seemed to be a treasure craved by all spiritual creatures.
The Blood-Eyed White Spider’s silk was excellent in elasticity and tensile strength, making it perfect for martial arts.
However, since winter had not yet passed, it was not the season to trade with the Blood-Eyed White Spider. The creature likely hadn’t prepared any silk either.
But since Ogyo was leaving the mountain now, she had decided to give Yohwa’s blood for this year ahead of time.
She had received no one’s orders. Ogyo had decided to do so on her own.
What a commendable stray dog she was.
“That’s the last one. I’m leaving the mountain now.”
“…….”
“Yohwa died. No, actually she didn’t die… Anyway, we’ll be away from this mountain for a while.”
The Blood-Eyed White Spider couldn’t speak, but possessed high enough intelligence to communicate.
As if it had something to say, the spider stretched its long front legs and tapped the ground.
“What? I don’t need silk. I already have plenty. I’ll come get more when I run out later.”
As if that wasn’t what it meant, the Blood-Eyed White Spider tapped its forelegs more firmly.
As Ogyo tilted her head in confusion, a tiny baby spider was seen quickly crawling out from beneath the Blood-Eyed White Spider’s abdomen.
The Blood-Eyed White Spider raised its leg high and pierced through the baby spider’s abdomen in one strike.
The baby spider spilled green fluid and flailed briefly before curling its legs and dying.
Ogyo frowned at the sight.
“What are you doing?”
“…….”
Instead of speaking, the Blood-Eyed White Spider extended the leg impaled with the baby spider’s corpse toward Ogyo.
At that, a pungent smell hit her nose, and Ogyo’s eyes went wide.
‘I see.’
It was spider venom. Ogyo realized that the baby spider’s poison sac had burst, releasing that scent.
Of course, it was a very small amount, but this stray dog had senses far sharper than ordinary.
“Is this for me?”
There was no answer, but that silence was itself an affirmation.
Was it because it was a spiritual creature? Or had Yohwa arranged this in advance?
Either way, there was no reason to refuse such rare goodwill.
Ogyo immediately prostrated herself on the ground and devoured the baby spider’s corpse.
An unfamiliar poison she had never tasted before passed down her esophagus together with a tingling pain.
This stray dog knew not the meaning of restraint; though she only needed to suck the venom from the poison sac, she insisted on eating the entire remaining corpse.
“You didn’t have to kill it.”
Ogyo stood up, smacking her lips and saying something she didn’t mean—quite a repulsive sight.
In any case, without its poison sac, the baby spider would not have been able to survive.
Unable to hunt for itself, it would have had to cling to its family and companions forever; its mother had made a resolute decision, believing death preferable to such a life.
It was mercy, and hidden within was grief.
How could this dull stray dog understand a mother’s heart?
Though it couldn’t speak, this spiritual creature was at least far more human than Ogyo.
“I’m leaving now.”
“…….”
Taptap.
As Ogyo was about to leave, the spider tapped the ground once more. Did it still have something to give?
This time, Ogyo turned back with a somewhat expectant expression.
The Blood-Eyed White Spider kicked something with its hind leg.
What rolled to Ogyo’s feet was a cylindrical piece of wood.
Picking it up and examining it, the wood strangely sparkled in the middle.
When she touched it with her hand, she felt a soft and thick texture. Something transparent was wrapped around the wood.
‘This is… thread?’
It was different from the silk the Blood-Eyed White Spider usually gave.
This thread was so thin as to be nearly invisible to the eye, and astonishingly soft.
Ogyo did not know, but this was a special thread imbued with the Blood-Eyed White Spider’s spiritual energy, called the Hidden Spirit Thread.
So precious was it that despite gathering and hoarding it for several years, the Blood-Eyed White Spider had barely managed to collect this handful.
The spider had readily handed over such a one-of-a-kind treasure as its own expression of condolence.
The Blood-Eyed White Spider already knew that Yohwa had left the mountain.
“Thank you. This will be helpful.”
So good deeds really do bring rewards.
Had Ogyo not decided to meet this spider before leaving, she would never have obtained such a treasure.
Ogyo had lived her whole life walled off from good deeds, yet having actually performed one, it wasn’t a bad feeling.
As if having nothing more to share, the Blood-Eyed White Spider quietly backed away and returned into the darkness of the ravine.
Ogyo carefully tucked the Hidden Spirit Thread into her bosom and left the ravine.
*
How could this city be so desolate and dull?
A corner of an inn.
The man sat askew, his arm draped over the table, fiddling with an empty wine cup in his other hand.
Zhangye in Gansu Province was a far more prosperous city than he had expected.
Nearby were a great lake and canals formed from the melting eternal snows of Mount Gilyeon, making for beautiful scenery, and within the city were great temples like the Great Buddha Temple.
Since it was a thoroughfare for merchants trading with the West, the markets were quite lively as well.
But the man was not pleased.
Because there were few beautiful women on the streets.
Was it because of the military camp?
When walking the streets, there were unusually many soldiers.
He had even visited the Flower Willow Lane, the street where brothels gathered, but found no establishment to his liking.
Perhaps because the desert was near, the women all had rugged, tough impressions.
How many graceful maidens strolling with fragrant scents filled the streets of Jiangnan in the Central Plains?
‘I’m parched, parched.’
To soothe a weary mind and body from traversing this barren frontier, nothing compared to a beauty’s face.
Yet no matter how hard he searched, there was not a single face that satisfied him.
The man, Wi Pungso, let out a long sigh, one of countless many.
The blue uniform with wave patterns he wore was the symbol of the Southern Sea Sword Gate.
The Southern Sea Sword Gate’s main base was on Yeomobong of Hainan Island, far across the southern sea.
How had someone from the Southern Sea Sword Gate ended up in this barren land?
To put it nicely, it was training; to reveal the truth, it was a rake’s pleasure tour.
The sect leader of the Southern Sea Sword Gate, Jin Mugyeong, had three direct disciples, each outstanding in talent but each possessing one flaw that prevented any from fully pleasing their master.
This Wi Pungso was one of Jin Mugyeong’s three disciples; though his swordsmanship was excellent, he was petty as a man, his obsession with vulgar carnal desires excessive—a petty man incapable of achieving greatness.
This wretched man thought not of elevating his own realm but only pondered ways to win popularity with women day in and day out—how pathetic he must have seemed to his master.
Jin Mugyeong had cast his disciple out into the martial world to wake him up, and that had already been three years ago.
Though Wi Pungso had wandered the world for three years, he had yet to accomplish anything of note.
Now and then, news had come that he had defeated a few renowned experts, but to his master’s ears, it was hardly satisfying.
His master’s stern order had been that he was not to return to the sect until his name had spread far and wide throughout the jianghu.
And so this man had continued his aimless life as a wanderer for years on end.
Yet even now, whenever he entered a large city, the first thing he did was look for pretty women. At this point, perhaps it was fair to say he was already unfit to inherit the true line of the Nanhai Sword Gate.
‘Of the women I’ve seen today, at least “that one” is the prettiest.’
Idly spinning the wine cup in his hand, Wi Pungso gazed at the girl seated across the inn.
A beauty was pleasant to look at even from afar. Whenever there was a pretty woman, it was this man’s usual habit to feast his eyes to his heart’s content without the slightest restraint, but this was… How should one put it?
She was pretty, yes, but far too young.
She likely had not even reached jihak, the age of fifteen.
Her body was tiny, her hair was a wild mess, and her behavior was truly frivolous and innocently careless.
Her skin was quite fine, but the scars whose origins he could not guess detracted from her beauty.
‘Another five years… No, she’ll need at least seven more before she’s worth looking at.’
That was how Wi Pungso appraised her inwardly.
He did not dare imagine that the girl he was looking at was actually one year older than him.
“Owner, this! Give me more of this!”
The girl stopped eating and cried out, swinging her short legs, and the waiter hurried over.
“Which dish do you mean?”
“This, this skewer.”
“You mean the kaoyangrou. I’ll prepare it at once.”
“Here’s the money.”
“You can pay after you’ve finished eating.”
The waiter spoke kindly, as if addressing a child, then withdrew.
‘She certainly eats well…’
She was small, but she had a fine appetite.
Whose child was she?
Judging by the luxurious clothes she wore, she seemed likely to be the daughter of some wealthy merchant.
What was strange, however, was that unlike her pretty appearance, her manners were rough, as if she had never learned etiquette in her life, and she had no attendants following her either.
It was odd for such a young girl to be eating alone in an inn like this.
For some reason, it bothered him, and Wi Pungso had been staring at the girl for a while now.
Moreover, there was one other thing that troubled him.
Far away, in the opposite corner.
Three burly men sat around a table, exuding a sinister air.
Seeing as each carried a weapon, they seemed to be martial artists, but for some reason, the three of them had been stealing murderous glances at that young girl for some time.
Perhaps they were thugs after the coin pouch she carried.
‘The world is murky, and wicked men endlessly covet wealth. It seems it is this hero’s turn to step forward once more.’
Saving a beauty from danger and receiving a sweet reward.
It was a scene he had pictured in his mind countless times.
Regrettably, this time he would not be saving a beauty… but as one who belonged to the orthodox path, how could he pretend not to see injustice?
Besides, though she was not yet a beauty, she was the sprout of one, and naturally, such a thing deserved to be cherished. Yes, indeed.
“I ate well! Owner.”
“I am the waiter.”
When the girl finally finished her meal and rose from her seat, the three unidentified men also quietly got to their feet.
After seeing them follow the girl out of the inn, Wi Pungso immediately followed after them.