The Eldest Daughter of the Tang Clan of Sichuan Protects the Family

Part 1

Chapter 10. Yeonju Group

The cave wasn't long.

So-hwa squinted at the sudden light.

As her eyes gradually adjusted, a basin spread out below the hill came into view. Small fields and five thatched huts. A truly peaceful village.

It was smaller than she expected.

She had heard that the Yeonju Group had over a hundred disciples, and that the manor was as wide as a village.

So-hwa's gaze, as she looked down at the village, stopped at one spot.

Yeon-ah was in the yard of a thatched hut.

Yeon-ah, looking excited, was moving her hands and feet constantly while speaking without rest, and the old man standing in front of her simply nodded leisurely.

Unlike the excited Yeon-ah, the old man calmly listened to the child's words.

Moving her gaze to the side, she also saw a man leaning against the shade. Though he too wore shabby clothes like Yeon-ah and the old man, the aura he gave off was different. Tang Min must have noticed him as well, as he spoke in a cold voice.

"There's a guest who arrived before us."

At that moment, the man turned his head this way. But before their eyes could meet, her view was blocked by a green long robe. Tang Min had stepped in front.

Tang Min's shoulder blades were slightly raised.

She worried that another fight might break out.

So-hwa, who was about to say that she would try speaking, quietly closed her mouth.

A clear scent approached from afar.

It was the scent of internal energy accumulated within the body. Fresh internal energy filled by firmly pressing in nature.

Rather than being sensitive to internal energy, So-hwa was simply sensitive in general. She perceived others' internal energy through various senses.

Internal energy would stimulate her nose like a scent or stench, or brush her skin like heat or cold.

Usually, it was perceived as a fragrance. But occasionally, when the other person released their internal strength, or if they had a large amount of accumulated internal energy, she would feel it as temperature.

In her past life, there was only one time when she had perceived it visually.

It had been a light as intense as the sun.

The owner of that internal energy had been the head of a merchant group who visited Namgung Hyun and was said to be the fiancé of Zhuge Cheon-yu, the daughter of the Zhuge Clan's Head.

While watching the light spill out of Namgung Hyun's study, she had found it fascinating, but hadn't been able to assess the level of that internal energy.

Since the head of the merchant group wasn't known as a martial artist, she couldn't tell whether that visible internal energy indicated extreme strength or was of a different nature entirely.

Now, all she could tell was that the internal energy she sensed through touch was stronger than the scent.

At that moment, a calm voice flowed in.

"I heard someone is ill."

Tang Min turned his head to look down at So-hwa, as if asking whether she was now going to reveal her feigned illness.

To respond to that uncomfortable gaze, So-hwa stepped out to the side. Then, the old man's face came clearly into view.

The old man had a clear appearance that matched the refined energy he had condensed.

His posture was upright, and his complexion was bright.

There was a glint of peculiarity in the black pupils set within his wrinkled eyes.

The old physician's eyes shifted slightly as he examined So-hwa. He asked in a voice with a hint of amusement.

"Do you perhaps have a toothache, or did you bite your tongue?"

At the sudden question, So-hwa raised one eyebrow, and the old physician chuckled.

"Jeom-chil told me you were coughing up blood, but you don't seem like someone with internal injuries."

Jeom-chil?

She was confused by the name that didn't seem to suit Yeon-ah, when Tang Min's voice came.

"Tsk tsk. That's what happens when you tell lies bound to be caught. You end up disgracing yourself."

Tang Min clicked his tongue and tattled on her feigned illness. Then, he looked at the old physician with eyes full of admiration.

“By the way, it seems that the old man truly belongs to the esteemed Yeonju Group. Merely by observing the complexion, he could discern this child's feigned illness.”

"I'm Jin-cheol."

Perhaps bothered by being called "old man."

Jin-cheol smiled mildly and made a fist salute. Tang Min returned the salute in kind.

"Pleasure to meet you. I am Tang Min."

"You've come a long way from the noble clan in Sichuan. I can't let a guest remain standing. Though it's a humble place, I can at least offer you a cup of tea. Please, come inside."

A brief silence followed. Rather than replying, Tang Min and the deputy leader exchanged glances.

Jin-cheol smiled at their silent exchange.

"There's no need to be tense. If anything, we should be the ones on guard, shouldn't we? You've come from Sichuan to visit an old recluse hiding in the mountains."

With a gentle smile, he added,

"I happen to have a nice tea. Please, follow me."

There was a strange power in the old man's words. A force that eased tension. His upright posture and steady voice gave a sense of calm.

The old man turned his back and began to walk first.

So-hwa followed him toward the thatched hut. Then, Tang Min quietly grabbed her sleeve and pulled her behind him. He wasn't blocking her way—he simply meant for her to walk behind him.

So-hwa didn't refuse. She understood the burden Tang Min might feel and obediently walked behind the clan elder. Tang Hak quickly moved to stick close to Tang Min's side.

Tap.

As they passed the thatched hut, So-hwa furrowed her brow. From the houses lining both sides of the path, a thick scent of blood like mist was seeping out.

Each thatched hut was only big enough to fit maybe five or six people. So at most, there would be a dozen patients. But given the heavy stench of blood, it was clear their conditions were far from ordinary.

So-hwa tried hard not to show it and kept her expression composed.

"It would be a good idea to request support."

"Yes, Yun-jin has already gone out to send a letter."

Tang Min and the deputy leader's whispered voices could be heard. It seemed they had noticed the situation from the entrance.

Was that why they hesitated to enter the village? The condition of those who visited the Yeonju Group was unusual.

More than ten people were severely injured, to the point of being life-threatening. Given that they had hidden themselves in this mountain with such injuries, their circumstances must be extraordinary.

So-hwa cautiously scanned the surroundings. Her gaze fell on the dried herbs and medicinal ingredients scattered on the wooden platform. It seemed that the dried herbs had been picked to stop the bleeding from their wounds, not for consumption by the old physician.

As So-hwa inspected the medicinal ingredients, her brows furrowed.

A snake's corpse was piled up at one side of the platform.

Seven-Step Viper.

It was a venomous snake that kills a person within seven steps of being bitten.

So-hwa's expression darkened. She was very familiar with this snake. In her past life, she had used the venom of the Seven-Step Viper to improve her poison powder during this period.

The venom, which penetrated the respiratory system, took time to be absorbed into the bloodstream, and because it spread in the air, it wasn't very efficient. On the other hand, individually applying poison to hidden weapons in a chaotic battle and piercing enemies with them was costly due to the unrecovered weapons.

By reducing the poison's time of action, So-hwa was able to increase its potency while saving hidden weapons, which was also beneficial for the clan's finances.

So-hwa had spent a long time improving the poison powder, and the venom from the Seven-Step Viper had played a big role in her success.

The venom of the Seven-Step Viper causes bleeding. So-hwa had studied how to use the venom to cause internal bleeding in the lungs, shortening the time it took for the poison to be absorbed.

There was one issue, though. The Seven-Step Viper was hard to obtain, and its venom was very expensive. If the mixing ratio wasn't found correctly, the cost could become more than the benefit.

Fortunately, So-hwa had been able to appropriately combine inexpensive poisonous herbs with the venom of the Seven-Step Viper to create a poison called "Breathless Hemoptysis Poison", a painful poison that made someone cough up blood instead of exhaling.

So-hwa sighed, realizing something.

Thinking back, the venom from the Seven-Step Viper was hard to come by, but she had been able to obtain it easily. Strangely, the Umyun Merchant Group, which supplied medicinal ingredients to the Tang Clan, always had rare materials in stock. The Tang Clan called the materials used to make poison "poisonous materials", and many of these were difficult to acquire.

'I just thought I was lucky.'

If the Yeonju Group had been one of Umyun Merchant Group's clients, it would make sense. The Yeonju Group used a lot of unusual medicinal ingredients.

Poisonous materials and medicinal ingredients often overlapped, and sometimes poison was used as a medicine for treatment.

It would make sense if the Umyun Merchant Group had sent the materials they procured for the Yeonju Group to the Tang Clan first.

Even though snakes were common in the mountains, it didn't make sense for an old man and a young girl to catch so many venomous snakes.

It seemed that the Umyun Merchant Group owed the Yeonju Group a great debt, judging by how freely they procured rare materials for them.

At that moment, a doubt flickered in her mind.

'The Yeonju Group was in Sichuan, but why didn't the Tang Clan know of their existence?'

Not just her—her father, the Clan Head, didn't know about the Yeonju Group either.

Most information from Sichuan came to the Tang Clan.

And all information from the Tang Clan was relayed to the Clan Head.

Yet, it was strange that her father didn't know about the Yeonju Group.

As she continued to think, she heard the old physician's laughter.

"The scent is a bit unusual, but it's a rare tea. It's good enough to serve to a distinguished guest, so you needn't worry about the taste."

At the old physician's invitation, So-hwa set aside her thoughts and sat down on the wooden platform. She then tasted the tea as he had suggested.

Tang Min seemed to find the tea not to his liking, as he put down his cup after just one sip. So-hwa spoke on his behalf.

"The fragrance is nice."

"I'm glad to hear that it suits your taste."

Tang Min, uninterested in the tea, glanced around and casually asked,

"Do you brew the medicinal liquor yourself?"

His eyes fixed on the distillers placed in the yard, several of them constantly emitting steam.

The old physician smiled and shook his head.

"It's similar to medicinal liquor in the method of preparation, but that's not for drinking. It's made for disinfecting purposes."

"Disinfecting?"

Tang Min asked again, and the old physician nodded with a smile.

"Lady Yeonju said that although poisons are invisible to the human eye, they cling to people's hands. When handling wounds or cutting through flesh, it's crucial to remove those poisons. The liquor is used as a disinfectant to cleanse poisons that cling to hands and instruments."

"What a waste..."

Tang Min's eyebrows drooped, clearly disappointed.

"But can anything be more valuable than a person's life? The patient's body grows weaker, and their ability to detoxify diminishes. They can easily succumb even to a small dose of poison, leading to death. Therefore, a physician must prioritize cleanliness as much as treatment."

The old physician's voice became serious.

After a moment of silence, Tang Hak, who had remained quiet until then, spoke up softly.

"I heard that the Divine Physician performed a technique that cuts through the human body. It seems that it is true."

The old physician stretched his lips into a smile.

Instead of answering, he turned his gaze toward Tang Min and asked,

"By the way, it doesn't seem like you came here for treatment. May I ask the reason you are seeking the Yeonju Group?"