At first, the three of them had been casually using light footwork, hands clasped behind their backs, making their way from the Tang Clan's main residence halfway up the mountain.
But the mont they spotted Cheongwol from afar below us, they exchanged glances—and imdiately shot toward our direction.
Their eyes had already widened the instant they got a clear look at Cheongwol.
Understandably so—Cheongwol’s grand tail was curved elegantly over her back like a canopy, and her pincers were wide open, as if she were proudly puffing out her shoulders.
That was because I had told Cheongwol to tense her body and show off her best pose.
“Krorr. ‘Didn’t you say this was ho? Why do I have to pose like I’m about to fight?’”
“Because I want to show you off to people.”
“Krorr. ‘Show off?’”
“Yeah. Your beautiful self.”
“Kr-Krorr. ‘You’re... you’re really saying stuff like that now.’”
While Cheongwol was getting a bit flustered, the three elders arrived in front of us and imdiately burst out in astonished voices.
After all, anyone from the Tang Clan who saw and Hwa-eun riding on top of Cheongwol wouldn’t be able to keep quiet.
“This—this is! No doubt...”
“Ohh! That massive rocky body! That tail! This has to be one of the Ten Great Venomous Beasts, the Ten-Thousand-Year Stone Armored Scorpion!”
“This... this really is the Ten-Thousand-Year Stone Armored Scorpion from the Ten Great Venomous Beasts!”
As expected from the clan’s top elder, its strongest master, and its patriarch—both Mandok Shingun and my father-in-law recognized Cheongwol’s true identity at a glance.
Their lips curled up all the way to their ears.
‘Looks like we won’t get scolded too badly just for going to Qinghai without more than a notice.’
Judging by their expressions, it felt like we wouldn’t be severely reprimanded just for sending word and heading to Qinghai. As Hwa-eun and I both relaxed our expressions—
Krurrr!
A sharp cry rang out.
As the piercing sound echoed, I turned my gaze to the end of my right arm, where Hyang was lifting her head high, twisting her glowing body in the sunlight and casting reflections in all directions.
With her ruby-red body glimring like blood, Hyang lit up the area with a glow like club lights, making herself stand out even more. Beautiful as it was, her behavior probably ant she wasn’t too happy that Grandpa and Father-in-law looked at Cheongwol first.
‘Even though she respects Big Sis Cheongwol, is she saying she won’t give up being the favorite?’
As Hyang’s little show and cry spread out, just as she intended, the elders imdiately noticed her and exclaid in admiration again.
“C-could that be... H-Hyang?!”
“Father, that’s clearly—”
“Yes, yes. That’s undoubtedly the Fla-Blood Crystal Scorpion Technique!”
Hearing both Mandok Shingun and my father-in-law say it, Hwa-eun and I looked at each other and nodded.
“Fla-Blood Crystal Scorpion.”
“Fla-Blood Crystal Scorpion.”
The na ant a blood-scorching fire crystal scorpion. A pretty intense na, really. It was a straightforward, factual description, but also could be interpreted as “Little Fla-Blood Crystal Scorpion,” which suited Hyang perfectly.
As we were marveling at Hyang’s true form, the two elders continued their explanation.
“Yes, the Fla-Blood Crystal Scorpion. Of the Twenty-Four Venom Types: Heaven, Earth, Black, Yellow; Sun, Moon, Stars, and Dust; Cloud, Rain, Snow, and Thunder; Gold, Silver, Water, and Fire; Red, Blue, White, and Black; Flower, Tree, Grass, and Ink.
Among the Twenty-Four, it represents Fire—an incredibly powerful fla poison creature, known for never suffering injury even within flas.”
“They say its pincers may not match the Stone Armored Scorpion’s, but they can still pierce through riverbanks.”
As expected of the Tang Clan’s senior figures—they seed to know about Hyang’s evolved form.
And learning even the hidden abilities we hadn’t known about drew further admiration.
“Huuuh!”
So Cho, the eldest, had a water attribute. And Hyang, the second, had a fire attribute?
That ant Hyang was a fire-type filial daughter. I made a note to adjust my ideas about what made one filial or not.
Our Cho and Hyang were both good daughters—just with different elental alignnts. Cho, the water-type filial daughter. Hyang, the fire-type filial daughter.
There’s no way our Hyang could ever be a bad daughter.
‘Right. I can’t let my narrow-minded thinking label Hyang as unfilial.’
Startled by Hyang’s true nature, I’d delayed giving my greetings. Realizing this, I jumped down in front of the three elders, with Hwa-eun landing beside .
We imdiately bowed and gave our greetings with clasped fists.
“We’re back. I’m sorry for heading to Qinghai without first discussing it with you.”
“We’ve returned.”
Since the mood was good, I tried bringing up the potentially scold-worthy part first—and sure enough, their responses were warmly predictable.
Just as I expected, the whole “we went to Qinghai without full permission” issue quickly faded into nothing.
“These little rascals. I was ready to scold you for running off to dangerous Qinghai without a word... but at this point, shouldn’t I be praising you instead?”
“Indeed, Father. Every ti he goes out, he brings back more venomous creatures. We ought to be praising him.”
“That’s right. This deserves praise.”
‘I knew it.’
Of course! Every ti their son-in-law ventures out, he returns with so of the most valuable creatures among the Ten Great Venomous Beasts or the Twenty-Four Venoms. Of course they’d praise .
Lifting my chin just a little, I responded.
“All for the clan...”
It was my doing, but I was trying to co off as humble—about to go on about how I’d given my all for the family when—
“Mother... hic...”
Suddenly, Hwa-eun cut off with a trembling voice.
The cheerful mood imdiately froze over like soone had poured cold water over it.
And when her tearful voice followed, my father-in-law, mother-in-law, and Mandok Shingun all looked at her in disbelief.
“Hwa-eun’s crying?”
“What in the world...?”
“Mother... So-ryong... hic...”
‘What the—?!’
Why’s she getting teary all of a sudden? Was she just overwheld from being back ho?
But when she ntioned my na and then ran into her mother’s arms and burst into full-on tears, the gazes of everyone who had just been praising instantly turned cold and suspicious.
The warmth from earlier was gone—now their eyes were filled with doubt.
“T-the thing is...”
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
I didn’t even know why Hwa-eun was crying over , so I started stamring—
And then I heard her voice from within her mother’s embrace.
“Sniff... Mother, please... don’t let So-ryong go out again. He almost died... twice this ti...”
“Ah, that’s what it was...”
Co to think of it, her face had looked troubled the entire way back. Maybe it wasn’t just about her worry or my broken ribs—maybe all that emotion just exploded once she saw her mom.
Her fiancé had nearly died—twice. Of course it ca pouring out now.
“What?!”
“Is that true?!”
“Hwa-eun, are you serious?!”
“Yes... hic...”
Their eyes widened even more than when they first saw Cheongwol and Hyang.
My father-in-law and Mandok Shingun rushed over and each grabbed one of my wrists.
“A-ah, no, I’m fine now...”
“Hold still!”
“I heard your heart even stopped. There’s no way you’re fine!”
Their voices were firm as they gripped my wrists tightly to check my pulse. After a short mont, both n spoke with grave expressions.
“Just as I thought—the pulse is irregular!”
“Feels like a fractured rib too. This won’t do. We’re heading to the dical Hall imdiately!”
“No, really, I’m fine... I haven’t even introduced Hohae and Hongdan yet...”
“You’re not fine, you fool!”
“No wonder Hwa-eun was crying!”
Before I knew it, I was being dragged toward the dical Hall even faster than when the three of them had flown down here with light footwork.
‘Wait, the praise... my welco-ho parade!’
My triumphant return had now turned into a hospital admission.
***
As soon as we got to the dical Hall, they stripped off my top. The elders stared at , faces stiff with concern.
Well, can’t bla them. My side was still marked with a long scar, and my chest was covered in bruises from my broken ribs.
“Good heavens... this isn’t just any wound. That scar on your side—it looks old. How did you get it?”
“I was stabbed by an assassin from the Five Venoms Sect.”
“What?! An assassin from the Five Venoms?! Those damn bastards!”
“They dared lay a hand on our son-in-law?!”
As soon as Hwa-eun explained how I’d gotten the wound, both Mandok Shingun and Father-in-law erupted in fury.
Thankfully, Mother-in-law stepped in to calm them down.
“Please, you two, settle down. Let’s focus on our son-in-law first.”
“Ah, right...”
After that short burst of rage, Mandok Shingun inspected my injury and spoke again.
“Still, it looks like the treatnt was done well?”
“The wound was deep, so I was treated with healing arts and dicine by the Kunlun Sect. While we were in Qinghai, So-ryong managed to defeat a massive Wind-Swelling Beast the Five Venoms had unleashed on the locals. The Kunlun Sect gave us a gift in return.”
“So that’s what happened!”
“Yes, and it’s also where we found the Ten-Thousand-Year Stone Armored Scorpion. Cheongwol saved So-ryong’s life when he was on the brink of death.”
“Hoho, a spirit beast indeed. Still, even though Kunlun treated you, the scar remains. If you’d used the Tang Clan’s Golden Healing Salve, that scar wouldn’t even exist now.”
Everyone in the Tang Clan swears by that Golden Healing Salve. It’s almost like a point of pride.
As I was thinking about how proud they seed of it, Father-in-law continued.
“Well, it’s fortunate the wound has healed. But the real issue is what cos next.”
“Yes, of course. How did your ribs end up like this?”
I’d thought the stab wound was the main problem, but it seed they were more concerned with sothing else.
A puncture could potentially affect the heartbeat, and from what I’d heard earlier, my irregular pulse might be due to that. Which probably ant I’d need a recovery period until things stabilized.
“I believe the irregular pulse is due to the Thunderflare energy from Hohae...”
As Hwa-eun finished explaining the cause of my condition, both n nodded and responded with serious expressions.
“So the irregular pulse was caused by that violent energy, Thunderflare? And on top of that, five broken ribs...”
“We’ll have soone monitor him until the pulse stabilizes. Until the ribs heal, you’ll need to rest for a while.”
“Most likely, yes.”
Sensing the mont, I quietly spoke up.
“I—I’m sorry for worrying you.”
I thought I was about to get seriously scolded, so I apologized first. But then both of them turned their eyes from my body to my face, glanced over at Hwa-eun and Mother-in-law, and said,
“We’ll need to check the lower body. You two, step out.”
“M-my lower body’s fine, really...”
It looked like they were about to take my pants off, but I’d never been injured there, so I tried to object.
Still, they insisted they had to check, so Hwa-eun and Mother-in-law stepped out of the room. The mont they were gone, both Father-in-law and Mandok Shingun looked at and smiled.
...Wait. I thought I was about to get chewed out? What was with this unexpected warmth?
I blinked, and the two of them spoke again.
“You fool, do you think it’s right to worry Hwa-eun like that?”
“Exactly. When she started crying, we were shocked, you know.”
I must’ve looked dumbfounded, because the two of them lowered their voices to explain more gently, just in case I’d misunderstood.
“Do you know why we didn’t scold you right away?”
“...Sir?”
“Haha, don’t even worry about that. You pulled off sothing huge. Who’d scold you for that?
Just... please, take care of yourself. No matter how great the deed, what’s the point if you die doing it? There’s always a price to pay for doing great things—but if the price is your life, that’s not acceptable.
And as I said before, are you trying to make our Hwa-eun a widow before the wedding night?”
“N-no, sir!”
I shook my head wildly at Father-in-law’s comnt. His face softened, and Mandok Shingun patted on the shoulder.
“That’s right, So-ryong. It’s normal to get banged up when doing sothing important. We can heal your body, sure—but your life is precious, so always be careful.
Hwa-eun’s obviously still shaken up. So for now, just take it easy for a while.”
‘Is this... ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ the bond between n?’
Yeah, maybe I’d gone through a lot, but that’s just how it goes for guys doing fieldwork. Sotis you get bitten by venomous creatures and end up in the hospital, right?
It felt like we were all on the sa wavelength, n understanding n—until the two of them smiled and kept going.
“And from now on, you’ll need to improve your martial arts to make sure this never happens again.”
“Exactly. If your martial arts were stronger, this wouldn’t have happened. Getting nearly killed by Five Venoms dogs? That’s unacceptable for a son-in-law of the Tang Clan!”
“Once your body recovers, you’ll need to train even harder.”
“From what Hyang said, you’ve probably reached the Three-Venom Realm. When your body’s healed, you’ll need intensive training so your body can fully adapt to that level.”
“Yes, sir!”
‘Wait, hold on—how did we end up here?! I thought we were bonding!’
No doubt about it... I was headed straight for hell training.
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