Wow, I’d only heard that the Central Plains were vast, but experiencing it firsthand – the land truly was massive.

From Hainan we took a ship to Qinzhou Port[1].

Then through Nanning[2], and after a journey of just under a month and a half, we finally arrived in Sichuan.

The distance was incredible even using lightness skill.

The Clan Head was so worried about his daughter that he rushed madly along the way, leaving me looking almost like a beggar by the time we reached Sichuan.

We couldn’t even stay at inns along the way and had to mostly sleep outdoors, and being constantly carried on either the Deputy Commander’s or Clan Head’s back meant I often threw up whatever I ate in the mornings.

Though I suggested resting when it got tough, how could a newcomer show signs of struggling?

When I insisted I was fine and could continue, the manor people praised my perseverance without reading the room.

“I’m fine! A man doesn’t flinch at this much!”

“Indeed, you seem more than qualified to be our family member. Such perseverance.”

And so we arrived at the mountain entrance, me looking thin and disheveled.

After crossing the bridge over the river to reach the mountain.

Unexpectedly, at the mountain entrance appeared the Nine Advancing Gates[3] with nine connected gates, and a signboard hanging there.

Sichuan Tang Clan.

Why would they build gates and put up a signboard at the entrance to a mountain?

When I turned around in surprise at the sudden appearance of the Nine Advancing Gates and signboard, Gu Pae, the Deputy Commander, smiled and explained.

“This is the Sichuan Tang Clan, young hero.”

“This is the Sichuan Tang Clan? But this is just a mountain entrance?”

“This entire mountain is the Sichuan Tang Clan, young hero. That’s why we call it Tang Clan’s Mountain[4].”

“Gasp!”

Come to think of it, I’d been so distracted by the gates that I hadn’t noticed until now, but looking at the mountain ridges, I could see halls rising here and there along the ridges and terraced fields.

As it turned out, the Sichuan Tang Clan was a village encompassing an entire mountain.

I’d thought they were just some insignificant family in the Sichuan countryside, but the Sichuan Tang Clan was far more impressive than I’d imagined.

On the way here, I’d heard the manor people talk about the Nine Schools and One Faction of the martial world, the Eight Great Clans[5], and how the Sichuan Tang Clan was one of them, but I couldn’t believe people talking up their own family.

Having seen plenty of crazy people on the internet in my past life, I tended not to believe anything I hadn’t seen firsthand, but this defied explanation.

“So this is the Sichuan Tang Clan…”

As I stood dazed by the manor’s massive grandeur, Uncle Gu Pae gestured toward the mountain and said:

“Yes, young hero. This is our Sichuan Tang Clan. Soon to be your Sichuan Tang Clan.”

Is he saying something like ‘yours and mine Sichuan Tang Clan’? I like it.

Becoming a member of such a place made me feel a bit puffed up.

This seemed like something I could be proud of anywhere.

And as our arrival caused a commotion up on the mountain, people began running or flying toward the Nine Advancing Gates.

***

When she opened her eyes, she saw her mother’s tear-stained face.

“Mother… What happened to me?”

“You’re alive, Hwa-eun.”

And her grandfather, looking exhausted and covered in cold sweat.

“It’s done now.”

“Grandfather…”

She had fallen into qi deviation while being greedy to quickly surpass the realm of Ten Poisons[6] and reach Hundred Poisons[7].

She had thought this was the end, unable to overcome the final hurdle as poisoning symptoms came with the qi deviation…

Yet her mother and grandfather were looking down at her.

“Sob…”

The joy of survival was brief as tears immediately poured from Tang Hwa-eun’s eyes.

Surviving qi deviation meant losing all martial arts.

Or becoming a cripple.

Now she would no longer be able to practice martial arts – no, forget martial arts, even moving around would be difficult.

She had seen many times how martial artists who experienced qi deviation typically lived out their lives that way.

She had seen many martial artists come to the manor since childhood seeking to cure their qi deviation with the manor’s poisons and medicines, but that was how they all ended up.

Despair gripped her.

She had wanted to show the manor elders that she could be evaluated as more than just someone with outstanding beauty.

That even without being male, she could achieve much more by mastering the manor’s martial arts.

“Sob… I’m sorry, Mother.”

Her mother, the principal wife, could not bear any more children after Tang Hwa-eun.

But her father had not taken a second wife despite pressure from the manor, and her grandfather had accepted this.

Though other branch families and manor elders disapproved.

That’s why Hwa-eun had wanted to prove herself.

To show that even without being male, she could be far more helpful to the family.

That’s why she had wanted to reach it.

The realm of Hundred Poisons that would recognize her as a supreme master beyond first-rate.

But now she had become a cripple, truly becoming useless, so tears flowed endlessly from her eyes.

That’s when it happened.

Her grandfather’s hand firmly grasped Hwa-eun’s.

Her grandfather spoke in his always warm voice:

“Child. Are you crying because you feel sorry for making your father and grandfather suffer so? But you’ve reached the Hundred Poisons realm you so desired. You can stop crying and be happy now.”

“Sob… What?”

Her grandfather’s words that she had reached the Hundred Poisons realm that Hwa-eun had so desired.

At first she wondered what this meant.

So she looked back and forth between her grandfather and mother, but both were smiling.

Tang Hwa-eun blinked and checked her body’s condition with a blank expression.

Come to think of it, all her bodily sensations were normal, and she could move all her fingers and toes.

Surely with qi deviation her movements should be impaired – no, even her bodily sensations shouldn’t be normal.

Without time to be surprised, Hwa-eun quickly closed her eyes and circulated her internal energy.

True qi[8] flowing without obstruction.

And enormous power[9] felt in her danjeon.

After frantically completing the Small Heavenly Circuit[10], not satisfied with just that, Hwa-eun completed the Great Heavenly Circuit[11] as well, then opened her eyes wide as her grandfather stroked her head and said:

“Are you satisfied now? You’ve accumulated internal energy sufficient to reach Thousand Poisons[12] that you so yearned for. Once you gain enlightenment, you can reach the realm of Thousand Poisons[13] at any time.”

“H-how?”

She had definitely collapsed from qi deviation…

Yet this massive accumulated internal energy.

As her eyes widened at the words that she had accumulated enough internal energy to reach the realm of Thousand Poisons, her grandfather spoke playfully:

“Of course, having eaten the precious Blue-spotted Centipede’s inner core.”

“B-Blue-spotted Centipede?”

“Yes, Hwa-eun, your father and I nearly died trying to catch it. This child. Oh my, I must be getting old for such a long journey to be so difficult.”

The Blue-spotted Centipede would be that enormous centipede described in the Compendium of Heavenly Venomous Creatures, the manor’s secret text.

It had to be the one she had read about once for fun since it wasn’t a martial arts manual.

“The Blue-spotted Centipede, said to be as big as a house. Y-you caught it?”

“Yes, child.”

Yes, as Hwa-eun remembered, the Blue-spotted Centipede described in the Compendium of Heavenly Venomous Creatures was a spiritual creature that lived for hundreds of years.

The inner core of such a being could raise her realm one step even from a state of qi deviation.

Only then did Hwa-eun understand how she could regain consciousness in a normal state and obtain such massive internal energy.

“Th-thank you, Grandfather!”

She jumped up from her bed and hugged her grandfather.

Her grandfather smelled of sweat and unwashed mustiness, but she didn’t mind.

“Ho ho. You’re that happy, child?”

“Yes. But where is Father?”

Only then did she realize her father wasn’t around.

She had heard he went with grandfather to catch the Blue-spotted Centipede.

“Only now noticing your father isn’t here?”

Hwa-eun blushed with embarrassment at her grandfather’s words.

After checking Hwa-eun’s condition once more by taking her pulse, her grandfather began telling the story of going to catch the Blue-spotted Centipede.

“Your father will be a bit late.”

“Late? Why didn’t he come back with you?”

“Ah, well, while catching our breath, shall I tell you that story? I went to catch the Blue-spotted Centipede on Hainan Island.”

“You went all the way to distant Hainan?”

“Yes, we rushed there after obtaining information that someone had seen a Blue-spotted Centipede a few years ago. But even after arriving in Hainan and confirming the location with the herb gatherer who had seen the Blue-spotted Centipede, we couldn’t find it. Even after searching for days. And then we met this mysterious young hero…”

The story of the mysterious young hero who appeared in her grandfather’s tale was truly surprising to all who heard it.

Counting the return journey, the time they had to leave Hainan was drawing ever closer, and her grandfather and father’s hearts were burning with anxiety, when they met this mysterious young hero living alone in an abandoned temple they had entered to shelter from rain in the mountains.

After hearing the manor’s desperate situation, the young hero told them where the Blue-spotted Centipede might be, and when they searched there, miraculously, the Blue-spotted Centipede burst out from under the rocks.

“Then that young hero is my benefactor?”

Though the inner core was obtained through the sacrifice of her grandfather, father, and the warriors, they could never have caught it without knowing where the Blue-spotted Centipede was.

The young hero was certainly a benefactor to both the manor and Hwa-eun herself.

“Yes, Hwa-eun. Therefore we’re taking that young hero in as our manor’s guest. Your father remained in Hainan.”

“Grievances carved in blood[14], gratitude carved in stone[15]. Our manor never forgets gratitude. When the young hero comes as the manor’s guest, I will properly serve them as my benefactor.”

“Yes, yes. That’s what makes you our manor’s daughter.”

Tang Hwa-eun decided that when the young hero came as the manor’s guest, she would treat them just like a real sibling.

After all, they had not only helped fulfill her aspiration but practically saved her life as well.

***

“Sigh…”

Her joy at achieving the realm of Hundred Poisons and accumulating enough internal energy to reach Thousand Poisons was short-lived.

Tang Hwa-eun sat immersed in water with a troubled expression.

Osmanthus flower petals floated on the water’s surface, and various aromatic herbs submerged in the water released their fragrance.

The reason she was soaking in this herbal bath in the morning rather than evening:

For some unknown reason, starting the day after she emerged from qi deviation, a strange stench began emanating from her body unless she washed several times a day like this.

A strange odor stronger than sweat, emerging even when she hadn’t sweated.

Such an odor that made people uncomfortable and frown began flowing from various parts of her body.

Even when she showed herself to her grandfather and physicians, they said there was nothing particularly wrong with her body, and the cause remained unknown.

Moreover, the stench seemed to be getting worse, so Tang Hwa-eun couldn’t help but be serious about it.

Now that she had achieved the realm of Hundred Poisons, she should be quickly building up poison art realms she hadn’t been able to master before and focusing on reaching Thousand Poisons, but instead she had to bathe several times a day.

She could only scrub her innocent skin raw.

And as she continued her bath amid sighs, that’s when it happened.

The sound of her maids making a commotion outside came through.

“Young Miss! The Clan Head has arrived! Please come out quickly!”

“My father!?”

Almost a month after her grandfather arrived at the manor.

At the news that her father had finally arrived, Tang Hwa-eun quickly dried herself and put on clothes.

Then she used lightness skill to rush toward the manor’s Nine Advancing Gates.

At those Nine Advancing Gates she ran to.

She saw her father’s face, clearly showing signs of hardship.

“Father!”

“Hwa-eun! You’re alive!”

“Father! I’m sorry!”

“No. You’re alive, that’s all that matters. Thank goodness.”

As she rushed into her father’s arms, tears welled up from gratitude and regret.

And when their tearful reunion ended, that’s when it happened.

Her father smiled and stepped aside, saying:

“Hwa-eun, I have someone to introduce to you.”

Hwa-eun thought the person her father wanted to introduce must be that mysterious young hero she had heard about from her grandfather.

Hwa-eun quickly wiped away her tears and composed herself.

Even if they were a young hero, a benefactor was a benefactor.

She had decided to greet them with full courtesy.

As she quickly composed herself, a disheveled boy appeared from behind the Deputy Commander.

A thin, pitiful-looking boy stepped forward awkwardly.

Then came her father’s introduction:

“Ah, Soryong. This is my daughter Tang Hwa-eun. What was it you called her? Grass smell? Grass fragrance? Ah! That’s right. Weed girl! Yes, this is the weed girl.”

“What!?”

“What!?”

As her father smiled strangely after saying these incomprehensible words.

The young hero and Tang Hwa-eun looked at each other with startled expressions.