Chapter 1: . The Bird That Drinks Poison (1)

Lightly, as though one had left the mortal world behind and stood alone.

As though one had grown wings and ascended to immortality.

To drift freely upon the wind and sever one’s ties to the mortal world, until wings sprouted at last and one rose toward the heavens as an immortal.

It was a line from a poem that appeared in 《Former Ode on the Red Cliffs》 by Su Dongpo, the poet and scholar of the Northern Song.

Murmuring the verse under his breath, Dang Sobaek, the head of the Sacheon Dang Family, stepped out of his chamber.

In the training yard, the retainers were practicing their concealed weapon arts alongside their poison arts.

A stale, acrid smell hung in the air.

’Tch. Danu has come to visit...’

He could not even clearly remember how many years it had been. The moment he pictured the man’s face, a surge of displeasure welled up within him. Without realizing it, the qi he had failed to contain bled out.

WHOOSH—

The flowers that had bloomed so brilliantly with the coming of spring could not withstand the poison qi and withered all at once.

The men and women in training turned to look at Dang Sobaek. A moment later, they stared at the wilted flowers, their faces filled with shock.

“Focus on your training.”

Dang Sobaek cleared his throat and turned his head away.

’I planted hepatica there precisely because it was so tenacious.’

To think it could not endure even that brief instant.

As he made his way toward the reception hall, Dang Sobaek found himself wondering whether, next time, he ought to plant not flowers, but Hundred-Node Wood, which possessed even greater vitality.

CREEEAK—

When the maid opened the door, he saw a young man seated within, one who looked as though he had only just come of age.

Dang Sobaek’s oldest friend, and his rival.

The current Number One Under Heaven.

The Azure Heavens Sword Emperor.

Namgung Danu.

“Hmph. You look far livelier than before. Have you undergone a rebirth of bone and flesh or something?”

Even at Dang Sobaek’s strangely barbed remark, Namgung Danu merely chuckled with the easygoing warmth of a good-natured man.

“I broke through my wall not long ago and rose to a higher realm. It is all thanks to you, old friend.”

Dang Sobaek’s brow twitched. Had the man truly come all the way to the Dang Family just to say that?

The ascent of an old friend to a higher realm ought to have been something worth celebrating, but to Dang Sobaek, it was not.

That smile which always seemed so untroubled, that attitude that looked as though he were detached from all worldly affairs, all of it felt like a fraud.

Even though he knew very well that none of it was Namgung Danu’s true face.

Yes, this was nothing but ugly jealousy.

“Your honeyed words are as tiresome as ever.”

Even at Dang Sobaek’s cutting remark, Namgung Danu paid it no mind and continued.

“Hm, tell me, Sobaek. Do you remember how long it has been since you and I first met?”

“Who can say?”

Dang Sobaek quietly cast his mind back over the years.

The first time they met had been at the martial tournament hosted by Shaolin.

He had first encountered Namgung Danu in the final round, and after crossing skills with him, Dang Sobaek had emerged victorious.

But that had been the first victory, and the last.

’Ha...’

A warm spring breeze drifted in through the window. As the memory of that day resurfaced, a bitter emotion rose from the depths of his chest.

Had it truly been such a shock to be defeated by him?

From that day on, Namgung Danu had set out on a journey of martial contests, and he seized victory in every single one.

At thirty, one stands firm.

When Namgung Danu had come to the Dang Family and crossed blades with him once more, that one sword of his had split the vault of heaven.

From then onward, Dang Sobaek had no longer been a worthy opponent. Before that overwhelming power, every art he possessed had been shattered and unraveled.

Unlike himself, who had received every manner of support as the young head of his family, Namgung Danu had come from a collateral line and achieved all things through nothing but effort and talent.

He did not want to lose.

He followed in Namgung Danu’s footsteps. He traveled from one martial contest to another, and he slaughtered the rabble of the unorthodox sects to temper himself through real combat experience.

He crossed the threshold of death more times than he could count.

And yet, even so, he had not caught up. He had not surpassed him. The gulf between him and Namgung Danu remained so vast and distant that it could not be narrowed.

Even after he brought the Dang Family’s secret art, the Myriad Poisons Ghost Art, to great completion.

Even after he honed his concealed weapon arts to their absolute limit.

That had been the passage of more than thirty years.

“After all that time, what kind of man do you think I believed you to be?”

“You speak shamelessly for a man discussing himself. What is it you are actually trying to say?”

“Your greatest strength has never been your concealed weapons or your poison arts. It is that poisonous will of yours that refuses to stop until it has achieved what it set out to do.”

Namgung Danu’s voice was unusually serious. Even the smile that always hid his true expression had vanished.

Perhaps, in his own mind, they were words of encouragement. Yet they did not reach Dang Sobaek at all. If anything, they only stirred his irritation.

“Ha! You are babbling nonsense today.”

“And yet I mean every word. It was because you existed that I was able to climb to this realm. You likely do not know how anxiously I lived through the years. The instant I let down my guard, you would already be standing right behind me, so how could I possibly squander my time? I endured endless years of hardship and swung my sword through them all, so that you would never catch me.”

Even after Namgung Danu’s praise, Dang Sobaek’s face remained as crumpled as ever. Harsh words slipped from his mouth on their own.

“You damned bastard.”

But Namgung Danu merely said what he had come to say. No doubt he was used to scenes like this.

“And so, this time as well, I am expecting something from you.”

Only then did Dang Sobaek understand what Namgung Danu had really come to say.

He was speaking of ascension.

A rebirth of bone and flesh was the sign that preceded ascension. It would likely not be long before Namgung Danu left the Lower Realm behind.

In other words, Namgung Danu was telling him to come after him.

But,

’That is impossible, old friend.’

Unfortunately, ascension was difficult for Dang Sobaek.

To ascend, one had to reach the ultimate profundity of martial arts and pass through the transformation of bone and flesh.

Wearing a bitter expression, Dang Sobaek shook his head.

“This time, you should give up on me.”

“What are you saying?”

“I cannot undergo a rebirth of bone and flesh.”

The Sacheon Dang Family’s Myriad Poisons Ghost Art had a clear and absolute limit.

The power it wielded was formidable, but that was because it was a form in which all manner of energies had been mixed together.

To achieve a rebirth of bone and flesh, the condition was this: the inner qi within one’s body had to be utterly pure.

That was why Wudang had produced the greatest number of those who ascended, and why, on the contrary, the Dang Family had never once produced even a single ascendant.

“So it is because of the poison art.”

“That is right.”

Namgung Danu fell silent for a moment and lifted his teacup. He savored the aroma, then moistened his lips with deliberate care.

“I have never once doubted you. So this time as well, you will accomplish it.”

It was a belief without any real basis.

And precisely because of that, ’Hm...’

it stirred something in him.

Because those words had come from Namgung Danu, and no one else.

If it had been Danu, he would have overcome even this situation. If Danu could do it, there was no reason he could not.

When had he ever attempted only the things that were possible?

At the end of grueling training, he had eventually brought forth the Rain of Myriad Flowers, a feat that had once been said to exist only in theory, and he had likewise brought the Dang Family’s secret art, the Myriad Poisons Ghost Art, to its utmost peak.

However lofty Mount Tai might be, it is still only a mountain beneath the heavens.

Dang Sobaek was not the sort of fool who merely stared upward without even attempting the climb.

He judged that this was the same.

“Then... I suppose I will have to rebuild the Myriad Poisons Ghost Art from its foundation.”

This was an unknown domain.

And yet martial learning, by its very nature, could not advance if it stagnated in place.

If the Dang Family was to move forward and one day produce an ascendant, then this was something that absolutely had to be done.

Namgung Danu closed his eyes and quietly watched Dang Sobaek as he sank into thought.

Refining a family’s secret martial art was by no means an easy matter.

In truth, it was not uncommon for someone to add their own interpretation and alter such an art, only for it to become a degraded shadow of the original.

He would suffer countless failures, and despair would become a daily companion.

But Dang Sobaek had always found a path.

To compensate for the weaknesses of concealed weapon arts, he had created a new martial art that made use of Heavenly Silkworm Thread, and during the great war between the orthodox and unorthodox sects, when everyone had fallen into despair after being trapped within the Heavenly Net, ’You always looked at the world with those eyes.’

That man had never given up.

If anything, when it came to the theory of martial arts, Dang Sobaek was someone far superior to himself.

With a bright smile, Namgung Danu rose from his seat.

He had delayed his own ascension for the sake of breathing life into the spirit of his old friend.

“I will soon be leaving the Lower Realm. The next time we meet, it will be up there. No matter how long it takes, I will be waiting for you.”

· · ·

The patriarch’s office of the Sacheon Dang Family.

On the scroll hanging against the wall, there was a single bird.

Dark green feathers, a long neck, and long legs.

And eyes of red that looked strangely sinister.

Seen one way, it seemed sacred. Seen another, it was eerie and uncanny.

The bird’s name was the Jim Bird.

It was the legendary poisonous creature said to keep venom within its body at all times, so that merely brushing past it was enough to kill every plant life around it instantly, and it was also the symbol of the Dang Family.

As he dusted off the hanging scroll, Dang Sobaek sank into thought.

He had dug through every poison art possessed by the Dang Family, and even that had not been enough, so he had gone on to master the martial arts of the Five Poisons Sect of Namman and even those of Cheonchuk.

It had not been meaningless.

Because he had found a method.

Unexpectedly enough, the answer had been close at hand.

’The Jim Bird...’

One had to return to the root of the matter.

The reason one could not achieve ascension through poison arts was because the inner qi they produced was not utterly pure. Put differently, if that problem could be resolved, then there would be no issue at all.

The Formless Poison.

The legendary realm of poison arts spoken of as colorless, scentless, tasteless, and formless.

If one reached that state, then even with the Myriad Poisons Ghost Art, ascension would no longer be a dream.

There was just one problem.

To create the Formless Poison, one absolutely needed the venom of the Jim Bird, for it was the final ingredient required to reach that state.

’However... that is difficult. I must find a substitute.’

There were records concerning the Jim Bird in ancient texts such as 《The Classic of Mountains and Seas》, 《Huainanzi》, and 《Records of the Grand Historian》, but they were no more than legends in the end.

He could not afford to waste time searching for a creature whose very existence was uncertain.

“Is someone there?”

The moment Dang Sobaek spoke, the maid who had been standing by entered the office with light footsteps.

“You called, my lord?”

“Summon the heir.”

“At once.”

Before even the span of a cup of tea had passed, the voice of the heir could be heard.

“Family Head, did you call for me?”

“Yes, Seo-a. Come in.”

Judging by her breathing, she must have rushed over straight from training in the yard.

“What... is it?”

“As I told you before, I now intend to step down from the position of Family Head.”

Dang Seo-a’s pupils widened. She was more startled than he had expected.

“It is too... soon. I am not yet a vessel worthy of succeeding you. My martial arts, my experience, my renown, all of them are lacking. I ask that you reconsider.”

Maintaining perfect decorum, Dang Seo-a spoke with complete sincerity.

The Sacheon Dang Family was currently in the midst of its greatest golden age. And at the very summit of it stood Dang Sobaek.

Even leaving aside the height of his martial arts, she was still too young to bear all that he had built up. The people of the family still trusted in Dang Sobaek and leaned upon him.

“No. You will do well enough. Do you not know this already? This is a matter that cannot be delayed any longer. It must be done for the sake of the Dang Family as well.”

“...Your mind is made up.”

“Do not burden your heart with it too much. I have already spoken with the elders, and they will aid you and support you.”

“Do you mean to enter seclusion immediately?”

“I suppose... I must.”

Dang Sobaek rose from his seat and gently stroked Dang Seo-a’s head.

“Family Head...”

“I am sorry, as your father, for placing such a burden upon you.”

“It, it is all right.”

His heart was not at ease.

But it could not be helped.

If this were only for his own sake, he never would have passed such a burden onto her.

The reason Dang Sobaek had made this choice was because there were descendants who would come after him.

Only by finding a method to substitute for the Jim Bird’s venom and reach the realm of the Formless Poison would the Dang Family one day be able to produce an ascendant.

Dang Sobaek gently drew Dang Seo-a into an embrace. He could feel the faint trembling of her body.

“I will find a way, no matter what.”

“I believe you. If it is you, Father... then surely you will accomplish it this time as well.”

Dang Sobaek looked once more toward the painting hanging from the scroll.

The Jim Bird within it had its wings spread and was soaring toward the heavens.

· · ·

Dang Sobaek entered closed-door seclusion.

Unless something was absolutely necessary, he cut off all contact with the outside world and devoted himself entirely to his training.

At the same time, he left records of every step of the process.

— Year One

I forgot both food and sleep and focused only on analyzing the Myriad Poisons Ghost Art. Having already brought it to its utmost peak, I began to see the places where it remained lacking.

— Year Three

I corrected its flaws, yet I still cannot see the path ahead.

Today, after a long while, I met Dang Seo-a. She appears to be leading the family well.

I hear she has been meeting with some Namgung Family whelp...

I do not like it.

— Year Five

There are still no results. I hear that Danu has only now ascended. It seems the affairs of his family delayed him.

— Year Ten

It is theoretically possible to touch the Formless Poison through the Myriad Poisons Ghost Art.

I have made a small amount of progress as well.

Ironically, by mixing together a certain ratio of the three-branched nine-leaf herb, which has nothing at all to do with poison, the centipede native to Namman, and the Dang Family’s Seven Treasures Life-Severing Powder, I was able to obtain a translucent and pure poison.

It was colorless, but not scentless. It was formless, but not tasteless. Further refinement is needed.

— Year Twelve

Today, after a long time, I met Dang Seo-a, who is now the Family Head.

She said she was to marry that Namgung Family brat, just as planned.

They call him one of the rising stars of the current martial world. He resembles Danu.

...I do not like it.

— Year Fifteen

My health has worsened drastically. That is only natural, since I personally tasted and experimented upon myself with supreme poisons that came close to the Formless Poison.

Had it not been me, I would already have dissolved into nothing more than a puddle of blood.

Tell me, Danu, my old friend. Can I truly do this? ...A vicious doubt grips me.

— Year Eighteen

Why! Why! Why in the world!

I have combined every wondrous herb and every poisonous substance under heaven!

How much more must I...

— Year Twenty

It is dreadful. There is no substitute for the Jim Bird’s venom. No, what was I even researching the Formless Poison for in the first place?

...Seo-a, Danu, forgive me. It seems I can go no farther than this.

— Year Twenty-Two

I did nothing today. Listlessness has seeped through my entire body. With each passing day I grow thinner, and I can summon no will at all.

— Year Twenty-Five

I came to my senses. For a brief time, I sought out the records concerning the Upper Realm.

It is said that great martial families exist there as well. It is not certain. They are only records from old texts.

If that is true, then the Dang Family surely does not exist there.

My goal is not merely ascension. Once I reach that realm, I wish to stand before that fellow and cross martial arts with him openly and proudly.

...I began my research again.

— Year Thirty-Nine

Blood-mixed phlegm pours from me without cease. My life hangs by a thread. And yet, in the end, I have done it!

At long last, without using the venom of the Jim Bird, I have found a method to touch the Formless Poison!

And yet, it seems ascension itself will be impossible. Ah... there is too little time left. If only I had been granted one more year...

I am dying with each passing moment.

— Year Forty

Even if I cannot reach it myself, for Seo-a, and for the Dang Family, I leave behind a record of the method I discovered.

···

Dang Sobaek coughed harshly.

COUGH—

Blood-flecked phlegm stained the palm that covered his mouth. Dang Sobaek tried to form a bitter smile, but it did not work. The muscles of his face had been paralyzed.

“Had I not spent so long wandering astray... perhaps I might have seen Seo-a and Danu’s faces one last time. A pity.”

COUGH—

Blood-flecked phlegm burst from him once more. Fragments of ruined organs came up with it.

Dang Sobaek sat down at the desk set in the corner of the seclusion chamber and took up his brush, paper, and ink.

His arm would not move as he wished, so the handwriting was a mess, and the dark crimson blood that spilled from him every so often stained the book as well.

But he did not care.

’So long as it can be read, that is enough.’

The method he had discovered.

The enlightenment he had gained.

The insights he had grasped.

To pass them on to later generations was his final duty.

He could not even guess how many days had passed since he began writing the book. Forgetting food and sleep alike, Dang Sobaek devoted himself solely to completing it.

And at last, the final section of 《Myriad Poisons Ghost Art》,《Section on the Formless Poison》, was finally complete.

He himself had failed to realize his dream, but ’with Seo-a’s talent...’

she would be able to reach it.

Dang Sobaek slowly closed his eyes.

That night, he dreamed.

The wings he had longed for so desperately were spread across his back.

He roamed the blue heavens in perfect freedom and gazed down upon the earth below.

People looked no larger than fingernails, and he saw the lives they lived with such fierce desperation.

In the end, he had failed to ascend, yet did that not still possess meaning in and of itself?

Lightly, as though one had left the mortal world behind and stood alone.

As though one had grown wings and ascended to immortality.

To drift freely upon the wind and sever one’s ties to the mortal world, until wings sprouted at last and one rose toward the heavens as an immortal.

Murmuring the verse under his breath, Dang Sobaek, if only within the dream, ascended endlessly into the sky. Passing beyond the heavens, he reached the cosmos filled with countless stars.

’This is enough.’

Feeling a strange sensation, Dang Sobaek let go of his ties to the mortal world.

He was ninety-three years old at the time of his death.

· · ·

Dang Sobaek tried to raise his body, but it would not obey him.

Every sensation in his body felt so unfamiliar that it was almost unbearable.

’Am I not dead yet?’

Slowly, he opened his eyes.

The blurred shapes before him gradually sharpened into focus.

It was a pitch-black cave.

The terrible pain that had tormented him without cease was now completely gone.

He slowly opened his mouth, intending to say something.

But then,

CHEEP—

a sound that absolutely could not have come from a human mouth slipped out.