I came to my senses, but my body wouldn’t move. As I rolled my eyes around to take in my surroundings, a fantastical environment unfolded before me.

‘Wha—what is this!?’

It was a tropical jungle I’d never seen before, the kind of place I had only dreamed about.

The sky was clear and high, towering trees cast long shadows, and rays of light spilled through the gaps like stage lighting.

Tropical ferns and subtropical trees coexisted harmoniously, and a cool stream ran along one side. The humidity was just right—a perfect environment for reptiles, insects, and other venomous creatures.

‘Is this heaven?’

As I was contemplating whether I’d truly arrived in paradise, I heard a sudden shout.

—Grrr! Why won’t So-ryong wake up!?

“I-I don’t know either!”

—Grrt!? If you don’t know, then who does!?

“He was supposed to wake up as soon as I entered, but...”

One of the voices clearly belonged to Cheongwol.

The pleading voice, on the other hand, was unfamiliar.

Cheongwol was furious—but oddly, her angry voice overlapped with the sound of crying.

‘Could this be... a mental realm?’

The surreal setting, along with Cheongwol’s voice blending with sobs, strongly suggested this was a mental landscape.

A sudden mental incursion like this was definitely surprising.

I hadn’t registered a new spirit beast, after all.

And except for registering venomous creatures, I’d never entered anyone’s mental realm before.

As I tried to piece together what was going on, I heard the voices of Bini and Hwa-eun.

—Tsst! He keeps playing dumb. But Hyang-i said she saw you using Soul-Snaring Technique, didn’t she!? Also, Mom, what’s Soul-Snaring Technique?

“It’s not Soul-Snatching—it’s Soul-Snaring. A vile martial technique that steals a person’s will or makes them think you’re someone else.”

—Tsst? Pretending to be someone else?

“For example, pretending to look like Cho or Bini. It tricks people—like your father—into thinking this woman is Cho or Bini, so they feel close to her.”

—Ttch!? What!?

—Tsstssst!? She was going to pretend to be us!?

The shocked voices of Hyang and Bini echoed.

Thinking back on our earlier conversation, I remembered losing consciousness after the village chief’s daughter-in-law called out to me while I was heading out to gather herbs.

‘So I was caught in a Soul-Snaring Technique?’

Grandfather Tang Mu-seong had once taught me that Soul-Snaring was one of the many underhanded techniques I had to watch out for in the martial world.

Just as Hwa-eun said, it was a brainwashing technique that either stripped away one’s will or made enemies look like allies.

Judging by the fact that she knew how to use it, that woman posing as the village chief’s daughter-in-law clearly wasn’t a normal person. Then suddenly, a woman’s scream rang out.

“KYAAAAAH!”

The leaves in the jungle visibly trembled with the woman’s piercing scream.

Then her pleading voice followed.

“Aaaagh! I-I’ll do anything! Please, spare me! If you suffer a serious wound inside a mental realm, your mind can tear apart and you’ll either be mentally scarred in reality—or end up... brain-dead!”

—Tssrrr! You tried to impersonate us?! Gross! What were you trying to do to Daddy!?

—Tssrrrtt! You entered a place that belongs only to Daddy and us! That’s even worse!

I could finally move my head.

And when I turned it, what I saw was... honestly kind of funny.

The kids all appeared in their mental realm forms—as adorable little girls and young women. Hwayang, who looked like a young woman, was biting the ear of the woman who had posed as the village chief’s daughter-in-law. Hyang was gnawing on her forearm, and Bini was latched onto her thigh.

Because this was a mental realm, their bodies looked human—but clearly their core instincts remained. They were biting down with intense focus and vigor.

Their tiny jaws were fiercely chewing at the woman’s soft flesh.

Since it was a mental projection, there was no blood—but for someone who entered this private chatroom without an invite or access code, she was now getting the full turf-defense beatdown from its rightful inhabitants.

‘Wait... why does Hwayang look like she’s enjoying the taste?’

I had to stop the kids and confirm the woman’s identity.

She was clearly the root cause of everything that had happened in the village.

I didn’t want the kids forming biases against spirit beasts, so it was important to reveal the real culprit. But if what the woman said was true, and she really did end up mentally destroyed here, that would be a serious problem.

“Hwa... Hwa-eun...”

As soon as I quietly called Hwa-eun’s name, everything fell silent.

All heads turned toward me in an instant.

“So-ryong! You’re awake?!”

—Tssrr! Daddy!

—Shiaa! So-ryong!

Everyone abandoned the woman and rushed toward me. Cheongwol was last, dragging the woman across the ground by her ankle like a sack of potatoes.

—Grrr... So-ryong, are you okay?

I slowly nodded, and Hwa-eun let out a sigh of deep relief.

She helped lift my upper body and gently brushed my cheek with a look of sheer gratitude.

“I’m so glad, So-ryong. I was really worried you wouldn’t wake up.”

I felt guilty again for worrying Hwa-eun... but at least this time, it really wasn’t my fault.

‘Thank goodness. For once, I’m the innocent victim here.’

As she calmed down, I started to feel my strength return.

“How much time has passed since I entered the mental realm?”

“Not long at all.”

When I asked, Hwa-eun reassured me that not much time had passed.

“I must’ve been under a Soul-Snaring Technique, huh? I was heading out with that woman to gather herbs outside the village.”

“Yes. Hyang said that’s what happened.”

I turned my head to see the woman still trembling as Cheongwol gripped her ankle tightly.

I needed to confirm her identity.

“Can you tell me who you are, and what exactly you were doing in the village?”

“I... I, uh...”

—Grrrr! Talk! Now!

“EEP!”

—THWACK!

With a sharp whoosh, Cheongwol swung her like a flyswatter and slammed her flat into the ground.

The woman had hesitated to speak, so Cheongwol whipped her in an arc and smacked her to the floor.

“Guh...!”

With a hit like that, most people would have the wind knocked out of them.

All we could hear now was her ragged breathing as she lay flattened on the dirt.

“Hff... hff...”

“Cheongwol, she’s going to die if you keep that up. Just wait a little.”

I had a bad feeling she wouldn’t last long if we left her like that, so I held Cheongwol back.

Then Cheongwol spoke, sounding genuinely confused.

—Grrng. Why is she so weak? So-ryong was sturdy.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

She must’ve said that because she’d seen me practicing Iron Fortress Body Technique.

But of course I was sturdy—I’d trained in a specialized external art, the Iron Fortress Body Technique, a secret of the Martial Alliance Lord. This woman clearly hadn’t trained in anything like that, so naturally she was fragile.

“I trained in a special martial art that hardens the body.”

—Grrt? I-I see. But... would it be bad if this woman died like this?

“I don’t think she’ll die from this much.”

Cheongwol seemed worried she might’ve gone too far, but after a while, the woman pulled herself together and began revealing her identity.

“I... I’m Na-Nan-hwa, the vice-captain of the Blood Shade Division of the Blood Cult...”

“The Blood Cult?”

“The Blood Cult?”

Hwa-eun and I blurted it out at the same time.

We’d thought the Blood Cult had already been swallowed up by Five Venoms Sect, so its sudden reappearance caught us off guard.

‘Ugh, again with the Blood Cult? These bastards never die.’

Just hearing that name reminded me how endlessly annoying my ties with them were.

Honestly, the reason I even left Hainan Island and came to the Central Plains was all thanks to the Blood Cult. And ever since, our enmity had been never-ending.

I nearly died back on the island ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ to that guy who had mastered the Blood-Water Venom Claw. Then I had to fight the bastards who snuck into the Tang Clan to retrieve it.

And that wasn’t all.

Just recently, I’d fought off the ones who tried to steal the Parasite-Dissolving Pellet to get rid of the Gu parasite.

As I stared at the woman with an expression that screamed I’ve had it with your cult, she anxiously continued her explanation.

“Yes, I’m... I’m a sort of spy who gathers intel in the Central Plains and sends it back to the Blood Cult. I was operating around Hebei and Shandong, gathering info from places like Taesan Sect, Hwangbo Clan, the Shandong Ak Clan, Jinju Eon Clan, and the Peng Clan...”

So basically, she was a full-on embedded agent for the Blood Cult.

The more she explained, the clearer it became just how tangled up I was in all of this.

She claimed that after learning the Blood Cult had been devoured by Five Venoms Sect, she swore revenge. But then, when she heard that their forces had been wiped out trying to steal the Parasite-Dissolving Pellet, she started extracting more blood to grow stronger—and that brought her here.

So it was all my fault.

I was the one who wiped out that team of Blood Cult members.

Well—technically, my kids did the wiping out.

But still, if I hadn’t taken them out, this woman wouldn’t have overused her blood ritual, wouldn’t have drawn the authorities’ attention, and we wouldn’t be face-to-face now.

‘Wait... is this that butterfly thing from Brazil? The one where a flap of wings causes a tornado in Texas?’

The more I thought about it, the more it sounded like a textbook butterfly effect.

An American meteorologist once claimed that small initial changes could cause massive consequences—like a butterfly’s wings triggering a tornado.

By that standard, this whole situation definitely qualified.

After all, the reason this woman was in this predicament... was basically me.

Even the Blood Cult getting swallowed by Five Venoms Sect could be traced back to the spread of information about my blood-based poison technique.

So from the Blood Cult’s perspective, this wasn’t a butterfly effect—it was a So-ryong effect.

‘Honestly, I almost feel sorry for them. I mean, all I wanted was to enjoy my hobby quietly. Why poke the crazy guy? Leave him alone, and he’ll keep playing with his bugs in peace.’

I was starting to feel weirdly triumphant, like I was the living embodiment of what happens when you mess with someone obsessively devoted to one thing. But then Hwa-eun asked a follow-up question.

“You weren’t operating alone, were you? Where are your subordinates?”

“...”

The woman rolled her eyes nervously and stayed silent.

Then she finally spoke, her voice trembling.

“I-I’m alone.”

Neither I nor Hwa-eun believed her for a second.

Almost no one does intelligence work solo.

She claimed to be the vice-captain of the Blood Shade Division. There was no way her unit hadn’t been moving with her.

“Hwayang?”

At Hwa-eun’s quiet call, Hwayang tilted her head in human form.

—Piii? Food?

Then, with a kind and serene expression, Hwa-eun pointed at the woman.

“Eat.”

—Pii!

“Kyaaaaaagh!”

As soon as Hwa-eun gave the word, Hwayang lunged and bit into the woman’s ear again, prompting a scream of death.

And through her wails came Hwa-eun’s chilling voice.

“I didn’t introduce myself. I’m Tang Hwa-eun of the Sichuan Tang Clan. You’d better answer quickly. If you talk now, maybe some of them will survive.”

“Some of the Blood Cult bastards who attacked our clan are still alive, depending on the severity of their crimes. So if you don’t want to die like a dog, you should talk.”

That seemed to do the trick.

The woman shouted desperately.

“I-I’ll talk! They’re scattered across the nearby villages!”

“Hwayang, that’s enough.”

It seemed there were quite a few Blood Cult agents spread around the area.

As Hwayang backed off, Hwa-eun began interrogating her for locations.

“Now, tell us which village each one is in, and what identity they’ve assumed.”

“Hrk... So, one of them’s posing as the village chief’s son in the upper village...”

There were seven in total.

Once Hwa-eun had extracted all their locations, she asked in a satisfied voice:

“Alright, now tell us how to perform the Soul-Snaring Technique.”

“Soul-Snaring Technique?”

The woman blinked in confusion, caught off guard by the question.

Even I was taken aback—why would Hwa-eun want to learn a brainwashing technique?

There’s no reason for her to study something like that.

And then Hwa-eun turned to me with a bright smile.

“Now that we know the Soul-Snaring Technique lets people enter So-ryong’s mental realm, if Sister Seol and I study it a little... won’t we be able to see your face directly anytime we want?”

‘Gyaaaaah!!’

Hwa-eun was trying to invent mental-realm FaceTime!

And it came with 4D effects!