After the commander took the Five Venoms Sect and Blood Cult bastards away, Hwa-eun and I headed to Hyung’s estate.

We’d briefly caught up at the riverside, but we couldn’t talk in detail there—so we decided to head to Hyung’s home and discuss things more thoroughly.

If we were going to strike Yeongcheon Prefecture, the capital, we needed to hear Ji-ryong’s opinion.

—Clatter, clatter.

With Yeondu and Cho along, we couldn’t move around openly on foot during the day, so we rode in the carriage Hyung had brought with him on the way to his estate.

Through the window slit of the carriage, Beijing looked more extravagant than any city I’d seen so far.

The road to Hyung’s estate was in the heart of a bustling downtown area—shops selling exotic fruits I’d never seen before, stores with colorful bolts of silk, and blacksmiths lined both sides of the street.

Well, Beijing was the capital of the Central Plains.

It wasn’t the capital in my previous life, but it was still clearly one of the top-tier cities.

While I was lost in the view outside the window—

I heard the voices of Hyang and Cho in my head.

『Tsrrr! (Papa, that person just rolled across the ground!)

Tsrr! (That person is breathing fire! Do humans have venom like mine?)』

Breathing fire?

Breathing fire!?

I turned my head—

The two kids had poked their heads under the rear cloth of the carriage and were peeking outside.

I was about to pull the cloth closed in case someone saw them, but for a moment I forgot—captivated by the innocent dialogue.

Hwa-eun and I also peeked through the cloth slit to see what they were watching.

There, through the small gap, we saw performers doing backflips on the spot and spitting fire after holding oil in their mouths.

So that’s what the kids were amazed by—street performers.

In the Central Plains, you sometimes come across people performing acrobatics on the street to earn money, like circus acts.

That was what had caught the kids’ attention.

‘My kids really are still just kids, huh?’

Even though they’d eaten Neidan and grown both physically and mentally in under a year, they were still lacking in general knowledge.

Their hearts were still pure, so they were mesmerized by the performance.

『Ah, those are acrobats. They show off their skills and earn money doing it.』

As the kids watched in wonder, Hwa-eun gently stroked their heads and explained.

And then—suddenly, we heard someone exclaim in surprise.

“Ah!? T-that’s—!”

‘What now?’

I looked toward the voice—and saw that one of the acrobats on top of a ladder was pointing at our carriage with a shocked expression.

Judging by the eye contact, he’d definitely seen the kids.

I quickly reached to cover the cloth slit, but the man on the ladder stumbled and fell to the ground—

And in an instant, the performance turned into chaos.

—Thud!

“Kyaaah! Someone fell!”

“Oh no! What happened? Hey, are you alright?”

“Over there!”

The man who’d fallen was now pointing at our carriage.

So I quickly secured the cloth slit and whispered to Gwiseong-hyung sitting up front:

“Hyung, we should hurry. I think someone saw the kids through the cloth.”

“Really? Alright then. Let’s move fast.”

As the cloth was fully drawn and the carriage sped up, I heard the kids’ disappointed voices.

『Tsrrrrt... (I wanted to see more...)

Tsrrt... (Me too...)』

They really must’ve wanted to keep watching the acrobats.

But of course, we couldn’t let the kids out in public.

With an apologetic look, I patted their heads and said,

“I’m sorry. But I promise, Papa will work harder—soon, I’ll make it so you can go out freely too.”

Hearing their sad voices, I felt once again that I needed to become famous as fast as possible.

If I became known far and wide as Heavenly Venomous Fa-fa, and spread a culture of venomous creature companionship across the Central Plains, it might become okay to go out with the kids.

But still, their disappointed voices continued.

『Tsrr... (Hmph... acrobats...)

Tsrrr... (Acrobats...)』

Seeing their sad expressions, Hwa-eun clapped her hands as if she had an idea.

—Clap!

『Ah! Then how about we ask Papa to show you once we get home?』

Tsrrt? (Papa?)

Tsst? (Papa?)

‘Of course! Papa’s even better than them.’

Tsrrt... (Really?)

‘Of course. Isn’t that right, So-ryong?’

‘Y-yeah. That kind of stuff? I could do it with my eyes closed.’

The kids’ eyes sparkled with anticipation.

And in the end, even before greeting the Peng Clan Lord at Hyung’s estate—

I had to do tumbling.

『Tsrrr! (Amazing!)

Tsrrt! (So cool!)』

Just a simple tumble, but the kids were overjoyed.

Right then, a familiar gruff voice called out.

“And... So-ryong, what exactly are you doing ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) out here?”

The Peng Clan Lord had heard we’d arrived, but since I hadn’t come inside, he’d come out to greet us—now staring at me with a baffled expression, as if to say what in the world are you doing?

It was a bit embarrassing...

But seeing the kids’ joyful faces—

I thought to myself:

A father sometimes has to be a performer, a jester, and everything in between.

***

“There’s a rather large Blood Cult base in Yeongcheon Prefecture, is that right?”

Ji-ryong asked again with a surprised look after hearing the long explanation from Hwa-eun and me.

“Yes. According to the head of the Blood Cult’s intelligence division, it’s the biggest in terms of size.”

Like the saying “darkness under the lamp,” the capital of the Central Plains, Yeongcheon Prefecture, currently held the largest Blood Cult base.

In terms of martial strength and size, the one near the Martial Alliance in Wuhan used to be the largest, but after the Martial Alliance wiped it out, Yeongcheon Prefecture had become the biggest.

Its martial strength wasn’t particularly high, but in terms of scale, it was.

“There’s even a Five Venoms Sect base nearby... To think those bastards had spread so thoroughly through the Central Plains.”

Apparently, there was even a Five Venoms Sect base nearby.

Neither of them was particularly famous, but each was operating a fairly large brothel and tavern.

Since it was the capital, full of traffic and profit opportunities, it seemed both had secretly been running their operations without knowing about each other.

These days, I heard both were being operated under the Five Venoms Sect.

“But to strike the Blood Cult base in Yeongcheon Prefecture, I don’t think we can do it with just our own forces.”

Ji-ryong said this after reviewing the information we had given and compiled, his face clearly troubled.

I nodded as well.

I’d already thought we couldn’t do this with just our team.

“Yes, most likely not.”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

At that, Lord Peng, Gwiseong-hyung’s father, spoke up loudly.

“It’s not too far, so take one of our Peng Clan’s martial units. Just take them and smash everything.”

In true Peng Clan fashion, he meant to just bring their martial unit and beat everything to the ground.

Ji-ryong answered with an awkward expression.

“Clan Lord, you know the law—martial artists can’t use martial arts in Yeongcheon Prefecture without permission.”

“Ah, right! Damn it. That’s probably why those rat bastards set up there.”

That was something Hwa-eun had also told me.

In Yeongcheon Prefecture, martial artists aren’t allowed to use martial arts unless they have authorization.

Because the Emperor resides there, using martial arts without sanction is strictly forbidden.

Since martial arts can’t be freely used, the Martial Alliance doesn’t even have a branch in the capital.

Martial artists gathering in the capital could pose too great a threat.

That’s why I’d planned to consult Ji-ryong once the Five Dragons and Three Peaks regrouped—to see if he had any good ideas.

After pondering for a while, Ji-ryong asked Hyung’s wife.

“Lady Ak, would it be possible to get help from the government?”

“Ah, if it’s something like that, I’ll ask my father. Our family has elders in the military, so I’m sure they can help.”

Come to think of it, the Ak family had influence in the military.

Given her connections, it seemed help in the capital was quite possible.

Though martial artists were seen with caution, defense and security of the capital was the army’s job after all.

Technically, we had another powerful connection—the princess—but sending letters back and forth would take months.

So for now, our best shot was Hyung’s wife.

“Thank you, Hyung’s wife.”

“No need. Cousin So, of course I’ll help.”

As I thanked her sincerely, Ji-ryong was still staring at the list I’d shared earlier, looking like something was bothering him.

“You look troubled, Ji-ryong. Is something wrong?”

“It’s nothing major. It’s just—the person managing the Five Venoms Sect’s tavern was said to also be a eunuch in the imperial palace, right?”

That was something I’d also confirmed.

The operator of the tavern, one of the Five Venoms Sect’s strongholds, was a low-ranking eunuch.

I’d gotten that information from Cheong-yu Sojeo.

The Five Venoms Sect’s way of recruiting agents in the Central Plains was by using poisons to cure incurable illnesses, and then drawing people into their ranks through that favor.

He was said to be someone they recruited that way.

But he was a low-level eunuch, so it didn’t seem like a huge concern.

If he were in a high-ranking position, sure, it might be trouble. But a low-ranking eunuch wouldn’t cause much of a problem.

Hyung’s wife’s connections were likely with senior military officers, so there wasn’t much risk of interference.

“I confirmed that too—he’s a eunuch, yes, but only a minor one. I doubt it’ll be an issue.”

Ji-ryong thought for a moment, then nodded with a smile.

“Looks like I was overthinking it. If he’s really that low-ranked, I suppose it won’t matter much.”

Ji-ryong worried a lot, but he was thorough.

I smiled back at him.

***

We finished the meeting at the Peng residence and quickly returned to the house we’d borrowed.

We’d told the kids in the group chat when we’d arrive, so they must’ve been waiting—because as soon as Hwa-eun and I stepped into the yard, the children who had been watching the sky came rushing toward us.

『Tsrrr! (Papa!)

Kkyuit! (Grandpa!)

Piii! (Baaap!)』

They rushed us like loyal pets greeting their owner home from work.

Sister Seol came running from the kitchen.

“So-ryong! Hwa-eun!”

Seeing her face smudged with soot, it looked like she’d tried cooking again, even though she can’t.

Hwa-eun had made onigiri and dumplings before leaving, but those must’ve run out, so she’d stepped into the kitchen herself.

“Unnie, your face—”

“Haha... I tried making rice for the first time. Anyway, everything go okay?”

“Yes. We even met Hyung-nim there and discussed what to do next.”

“Then we’re heading to Yeongcheon next?”

“Yes, Hyung-nim said he’d head out immediately and join us here. He should arrive in a few days.”

Our next destination, Yeongcheon Prefecture, lay south of Jeongju between Kaifeng and Luoyang.

To the west, it bordered Mount Song and Shaolin Temple.

Fortunately, if we followed one of the Yellow River’s tributaries, we could reach it by boat—so we’d be using our ship, the Golden Venom.

Hyung-nim’s group was leaving Beijing and would rendezvous with us before we set out.

As I was finishing up the plan, Sister Seol seemed to remember something.

“Oh, So-ryong. Right after you left, a letter from Geum Gi-ryung arrived.

The courier said he was lucky to find us along the Yellow River and left the letter behind.”

“A letter?”

“Yup. You’ll see when you read it—but he says the ship is finished.”

“Oooh! Already?”

At first, I wondered what letter she meant—but it turned out to be the letter I’d been waiting for.

It had been just over two months since I parted ways with Geum Gi-ryung, and now word had come that the ship was complete.

He had promised to speed things up by putting more hands on the job—and sure enough, as expected from a merchant, he was reliable.

“I was worried our bamboo boat would stand out near the capital, but this is perfect.”

Hearing that the Golden Venom’s aircraft-carrier-like hull was complete made my heart race.

Our ship’s remodeling was finally finished.