After releasing the baby locusts, the four who had accompanied me from among the Dragon Fangs resumed the search inside the cave.

We were hoping to find any remaining documents or materials from the Five Venoms Clan—perhaps an important letter or manuscript—but there was nothing left to uncover.

“It’s way too clean, don’t you think?”

Tssrrrk. 『Dad, I don’t think there’s anything left here. Ranghyang said there’s no hidden chamber underground either.』

Even with the help of the children, we found nothing hidden. The cave interior was spotless.

We checked the entire underground passage that connected the temple to the stone wall, but it was all barren—no signs of documents, papers, or scrolls.

Of course, that didn’t mean there was literally nothing. The cave was divided into sections with signs of habitation and breeding equipment—plenty of human activity, scattered remains, and clutter.

But when I said “nothing,” I meant not a single scrap of paper could be found.

Besides the book the squad leader had kept on his person, we should’ve at least found logs, records of experiments, or inventory lists. It was suspicious.

Having given up on the interior search, we stepped outside the cave.

At the entrance, Ji-ryong seemed deep in thought before suggesting something.

“Even if the leadership is dead, there might still be someone who knows something. Let’s check with the captured Five Venoms bastards to see if any of them know where something might’ve been hidden.”

Just as he said, all the key figures were already dead.

The head of the Black Venom Unit, his lieutenants, and the squad leaders—they were all gone.

Only the deputy squad leader was unaccounted for, and according to Lady Cheong-yu, he didn’t appear to be here.

She’d said the deputy was a woman, and there were no women here.

She also mentioned only about one-third of the Black Venom Unit was here, suggesting the rest were likely back at the main Five Venoms base.

So we didn’t expect to extract any high-level information anyway. We hadn’t even considered interrogating the upper brass.

As Lady Cheong-yu had warned, anyone affiliated with leadership or the combat units would trigger a deadly curse if they said anything harmful to the Five Venoms Clan—their dantian would explode and they’d die instantly.

But such advanced curses weren’t placed on lower-level martial artists, which is why we’d taken prisoners in the first place.

Ji-ryong was essentially proposing we interrogate them now.

“I agree, let’s do that.”

The captured Five Venoms warriors had been confined inside a crude wooden cell within the cave, their blood paths sealed.

It was just a section of the cave blocked off with timber bars.

“It’s too dark in here. Hyung, could you light a torch?”

“Got it.”

It was so dark we hadn’t even lit a torch yet. Once we had some light, I turned toward the kneeling, subdued prisoners and asked:

“Not a single scrap of paper was found in the cave. Does anyone here know why that is?”

Only an echo answered me.

From the cave entrance, where my hyung and Hyang were standing, I heard her irritated voice.

“None of them are Black Venom Unit members, so they could speak. Are they refusing to talk even after surrendering?”

Tssrt! 『Dad, want me to ask instead?』

The captured group consisted of two types: members of the Black Venom Unit, and research warriors who seemed involved in internal projects.

Besides those I’d stunned earlier with my spitting cobra, a few more Black Venom Unit men had come along with their captain.

As we already knew, any Black Venom Unit members couldn’t speak without dying.

But the research warriors had no such restriction—still, not a single one opened their mouth.

They all kept their lips tightly sealed, and I couldn’t help but smirk.

There are plenty of ways to make someone talk.

“If none of you want to speak, then I guess we’ll have to show you what the Golden-Crowned Death King’s venom tastes like.”

Time to bring in Lady Cheong-yu and initiate her venom hypnosis.

If they were hiding anything, her venom would force it all out.

The prisoners began to murmur uneasily at the mention of her title.

“Th-The Golden-Crowned Death King?”

“If it’s that one...”

Just hearing the name of one of the Ten Great Venomous Beasts had them stiff with fear.

I immediately brought Cheong-yu—transformed into the Golden-Crowned Death King—and selected one non–Black Venom Unit warrior from the cell.

“Bite this guy and tell him to answer my questions honestly.”

Shiaa! 『Understood, So-ryong.』

Dawn ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ was breaking. Lady Cheong-yu’s conscious mind had retreated, and the Golden-Crowned Death King Cheong-yu had emerged.

As Cheong-yu approached the man, he recoiled and screamed.

“H-Hiiieek! P-Please, spare me!”

“Relax, we’re not going to kill you.”

“You say that, but being bitten by the Golden-Crowned Death King doesn’t kill you!?”

It seemed the research warriors didn’t fully understand Cheong-yu’s abilities. Just the idea of being bitten by a spiritual beast was enough to terrify him.

They probably assumed it would be fatal.

But being a prisoner, he had no say. He was going to feel her fangs sink into his arm whether he liked it or not.

As Cheong-yu stepped into the torchlight, her face became visible, and the man gasped in disbelief.

“Y-Young Lady? Lady Cheong-yu!?”

More voices echoed from inside the cell.

“Did he just say... Lady Cheong-yu?”

“Lady Cheong-yu is here?!”

I glanced inside. In the darkness, even with their blood paths sealed and only their heads able to move, several non–Black Venom warriors had turned toward us.

What’s this?

They seemed utterly shocked. Maybe they hadn’t recognized her earlier due to the chaos with Hwanji and Hwana.

Could it be that they didn’t know she had died?

But judging by what the Black Venom captain and others had said earlier, they definitely knew she was dead—even if they didn’t know she’d become the Golden-Crowned Death King.

“But... she definitely died... How is she—?”

They couldn’t wrap their heads around how someone known to be dead was now standing before them in that form.

Could it be they never knew she was raised on human elixirs? That was a high-level secret, so it’s entirely possible.

If my hunch was correct, this might make them easier to break.

With a cold expression, I spoke:

“Hmph. To hear worry in your voices for Lady Cheong-yu? Disgusting.

You people raised her like livestock on human elixirs, intending to harvest her Neidan and feed it to your Clan Lord—and let her die a miserable death.”

“W-What did you just say?”

The research warrior looked shaken. But something seemed to click, and his face turned to horror.

“D-Don’t tell me! You mean the Young Lady was—?!”

It seemed he hadn’t known Cheong-yu had been kidnapped as a child. His panic began to ripple through the other prisoners.

“No... That can’t be...”

“What the hell were they thinking...”

“That’s a lie! You’re really going to believe a Central Plains scumbag!?”

As a Black Venom Unit man tried to silence them, I continued, voice icy:

“You want to know how she’s like this? The Golden-Crowned Death King, moved by pity for the girl’s tragic death, retrieved her soul and gave it new life in this form.”

The warrior before me grew visibly agitated. Then finally—he broke.

“I... I saw it. When the poison fog rolled in earlier, the captains threw something into the furnace in the back.”

“You’re not lying, are you?”

Tssrrk! 『You’re not lying, right?』

Hyang bared her fangs beside me, adding to the pressure, but his answer remained the same.

“Now that I know what really happened to the Young Lady, I have no reason to lie. It was... in the second cave, the furnace in the back...”

My hyung rushed to the location and checked.

“They definitely burned something. The furnace is still warm.”

That heat meant the burning had happened recently.

I didn’t think he was lying—but since Cheong-yu’s venom worked like hypnosis, it could help him remember something he might’ve forgotten in the chaos.

“It's not that I doubt you—I just want to see if you’ve forgotten anything. May I use the Golden-Crowned Death King’s venom? Sometimes it helps recover repressed memories.”

“...Alright.”

I had Cheong-yu administer the venom and then asked:

“Did you see anything else?”

“No.”

“Are you absolutely certain everything you said is true?”

“Yes. I have answered without the slightest error.”

With glazed eyes, he confirmed everything.

The interrogation ended rather anticlimactically.

There truly were no documents left behind.

We were able to glean a few more details about how they got here and what they’d done, but that was all.

***

Tatak. Tatak.

Three days had passed since the battle.

In front of the cave, under the fading twilight, a campfire crackled—a simple meal that felt like a feast thanks to the abundance of deer meat, just like the day before.

Or to be more precise, it was called a “feast” only because there was a lot of meat. In reality, it was a very plain meal.

“I kind of miss that weird food the villagers used to give us.”

“I’m getting sick of this too.”

“Same. It reminds me of Qinghai.”

We’d run out of rice long ago, and all we had to eat now was the deer we’d caught after leaving the village. The members of the Dragon Fangs and Seol-nui Hwa-eun all wore the same weary expression as they chewed through yet another round of venison.

But there were two people for whom meat never got old.

Hu-gae and the interpreter.

Being beggars by status, they were more than content with a steady supply of meat day after day.

“Man, this meat is great! You're all just full, that's why you're complaining.”

Hu-gae tore into a deer leg, licking the grease off his fingers, utterly unfazed by everyone else’s annoyed looks.

After stuffing himself, he gestured toward the back of the cave with his chin.

“So, now that the interrogations are done, what are we gonna do with them?”

We had captured fourteen warriors from the Five Venoms Clan.

As we knew, five of them were Black Venom Unit members; the rest felt more like research staff.

The interrogation had continued until lunchtime earlier today.

After hearing about Lady Cheong-yu, the non–Black Venom warriors had become surprisingly cooperative.

While we hadn’t uncovered any physical records, we had still hoped to extract some intel about the Five Venoms Clan’s future plans using Cheong-yu’s venom.

But just like with the documents, we didn’t learn much.

After absorbing the Blood Cult, the Five Venoms Clan had reorganized into a tight, compartmentalized network. The warriors didn’t know anything beyond the orders they’d personally received.

Even after combing through their memories, that was all we got.

Still, with the interrogations complete, we had effectively wrapped up operations here.

All that remained was to follow Tenzin to the Podarlap Palace, which had been our next destination—and now, the only thing left to decide was what to do with the prisoners.

“It should be fine to take them with us. They’re already brainwashed from exposure to the Golden-Crowned Death King's venom. But... the food situation could be an issue,” my hyung pointed out.

They weren’t in an active hypnotic state, but the venom had left them susceptible to suggestion. Transporting them wouldn’t be difficult—but feeding them would.

Our party already included me, Hwa-eun, Seol-nui, half the Dragon Fangs, Monk Jaheo, Hu-gae, the interpreter, and Tenzin—eleven people in total.

Adding the fourteen prisoners would bring us to nearly thirty.

Feeding that many on the move was no small task.

“The village we stayed in before didn’t seem particularly well-off. If we’re planning to make jerky from deer meat for the journey, we’ll need at least a month to prepare,” Monk Jaheo said.

“And beyond that, our next stop is Podarlap Palace. I don’t think we should bring those guys with us. Sure, Tenzin can explain things, but it doesn’t feel right dragging those criminals there...” said Eunbong.

She had a point. Podarlap Palace was known for its deep-rooted disdain for Central Plains martial artists.

They were only tolerating us because they believed I was the reincarnation of a Buddha. Bringing a bunch of shackled prisoners to such a sacred place would be... awkward.

“There’s no need to worry about that,” Tenzin said calmly. “The Heavenly Master captured them in the name of punishing evil.”

He seemed to think I might divert to the Central Plains just to drop them off, and was reassuring us it wasn’t necessary to do so. Still, his voice held a note of unease.

Then, Lady Cheong-yu’s voice echoed in my mind.

Shiaa. 『Why don’t we just let them go?』

“Let them go?”

Everyone turned to look at us.

Cheong-yu explained her reasoning.

Ssshh. 『These internal warriors haven’t been in the Five Venoms Clan for very long. Most of them joined because they owed the clan a personal debt or got pulled in through emotional ties. That’s why they were so shocked when they heard what was done to me.

So... I was thinking—what if we release them and use them as spies instead?』

“Spies?”

Spies, huh?

They’d planted spies among us—so why shouldn’t we do the same?

It was... a tempting suggestion.