“Hmm...”

The corners of Wang Geumsan’s eyes drooped.

He knew perfectly well that sects that revered martial might strove to gain even more martial strength.

After all, he thought it was similar to those who revered gold obsessing over money.

But he had never imagined the degree of that obsession would go this far.

“What is this?”

“They call it a Spirit-Saving Snake.”

At Jin Taesan’s answer, Wang Geumsan’s gaze turned once again toward the being called a Spirit-Saving Snake.

True to the name Spirit-Saving Snake, it had the shape of a snake, but it did not have the slick body unique to snakes.

Its entire hide looked impossibly hard, as if it were wearing armor, and with two small horns sprouting from its head, no matter how he looked at it, it was not the shape of an ordinary snake.

“You’re saying we’re going to feed this to the children?”

No matter how strong it might make them, it did not look like something a person should eat.

'Isn’t this a bit much?'

“... Strictly speaking, we are not feeding them the Spirit-Saving Snake itself. We would extract the energy inside it...”

He knew very well that the Taiyi Sect was currently struggling with the issue of internal energy.

He had heard that, since they lacked the ability to manufacture spiritual pills, they were searching everywhere for methods to supplement internal energy.

“Use every means and method available!”

That was what he had said.

He had even ordered the merchant groups and other businesses under him to gather information on spiritual elixirs.

He had handed the list of spiritual elixirs they secured to Jin Taesan, and his last memory was of sorting out the ones Jin Taesan said were necessary and giving them to the herb gatherers belonging to Wangga Manor to bring back the ingredients.

What on earth had happened in the meantime?

“Ugh...”

This bizarre-looking snake was now in their shared office.

“... We cannot simply feed it to them. They say that because the Spirit-Saving Snake has such a potent toxic aura, it must be specially processed. If we could make it into a spiritual pill, we could bring out its effects even more, but...”

Ah, well, he was making it sound difficult.

So, to put it simply.

“You’re saying it can’t be eaten right now?”

That much he understood.

The manufacturing of spiritual pills was one of the most secret arts each sect kept as its deepest esoteric knowledge, so they could not be easily obtained or made.

It was unavoidable that the Taiyi Sect had chosen to procure spiritual elixirs instead of manufacturing spiritual pills.

He could understand that among those spiritual elixirs, there was a strange snake.

But still.

'Why would you bring it into the office?!'

At Wang Geumsan’s question, Jin Taesan answered calmly.

“It is a spiritual elixir... is it not? We cannot treat it carelessly.”

“No... I understand that. But could we not simply leave it in a storage room? It is... somewhat distracting.”

Jin Taesan, who had been looking over documents impassively, turned his gaze to Wang Geumsan.

“Are you afraid?”

At Jin Taesan’s provocation(?), Wang Geumsan’s eyes flashed blue with indignation.

“... Hah! Ha! Good grief! This is enough to stop a man’s breath! Are you saying that I, Wang Geumsan, would feel fear toward a mere little snake?”

If he was not, then he was not, so why was he puffing his shoulders up so broadly?

“Did I not tell you? I, you see! Hm? Back in the day, when I was on escort journeys, hm! I even encountered a white tiger the size of a house!”

A white tiger, my frozen ass...

At that instant.

“...!”

Jin Taesan looked at the Spirit-Saving Snake with a startled expression.

“I-It... It opened its e-eyes!”

“What?!”

Wang Geumsan, startled in turn, sprang up and ran to the corner of the office.

Lord Wang said he had never learned martial arts, but that was an utter lie. To think that heavy body could leap so high.

“Y-You should hurry and escape too...!”

Perhaps he still had a conscience after all; just as Wang Geumsan turned his head, worried that his close friend Jin Taesan might suffer some calamity—

“White tiger...?”

He saw Jin Taesan’s brow stretch long and his nostrils flare.

When he lowered his gaze again.

... The Spirit-Saving Snake was still fast asleep.

“... Pfft, ahem, I think I saw wrong.”

At the sudden surge of shame, Wang Geumsan’s face flushed bright red.

Whether Wang Geumsan did or not, Jin Taesan pressed down hard on his laughter.

“You need not worry. They say winter is when the Spirit-Saving Snake hibernates, so it will not wake before spring.”

Wang Geumsan glared at Jin Taesan with the face of a demon, but Jin Taesan affected an utterly unconcerned attitude.

“If you are Lord Wang, who does not fear even a white tiger the size of a house, naturally you would not fear a mere snake.”

“...”

Now he was just toying with him outright!

But if he got angry here, he would lose in the end.

Wang Geumsan deliberately put on an exaggerated air of dignity.

“Ahem! What do you take me for?”

He huffed and strode over to the Spirit-Saving Snake.

“As if I would be afraid of a petty creature like this!”

TAP! TAP!

The motion was grand, but the impact delivered to the iron cage was small and entirely unbefitting of it.

Jin Taesan had to struggle to hide his mocking smile as he watched.

How could a man who did not easily lose heart even before high-ranking imperial officials be afraid of a mere snake the length of an arm?

Still, he should stop teasing him here before the man sulked any further.

He was just thinking that sharing an office made things a little less boring when.

“H-Hey.”

“Yes.”

Wang Geumsan’s face had gone white.

“L-Look at this. It o-opened its eyes.”

My lord truly is bad at lying. Does he not know that if he plays a prank this quickly, I will notice right away?

As expected of a man who could not stand being on the receiving end, he was already trying to get revenge, but Jin Taesan swallowed his laughter inwardly.

The Spirit-Saving Snake would not wake throughout the winter even if its body were set on fire, and yet it had suddenly opened its eyes. Did that make any sense?

Still, since he had teased him once earlier, he should play along.

If he did not respond properly here, he would have to look at a stiff, silent face for the next week.

Jin Taesan set down the documents in his hand and raised both hands playfully.

“Ah! Is that so? This is truly terrible.”

“N-No. I’m telling you, it really, really opened its eyes!”

“Yes, yes. We must quickly find someone who can make a spiritual pill and process it. I am truly worried whether the physician Jin Sowoon said he would send is skilled enough.”

He was about to give a half-hearted response and devote himself to his work again when.

CLANG!

“Eek!”

The iron cage shook violently, and Wang Geumsan let out a startled cry.

Good grief, is it that fun to play pranks at his age?

Still, he should start stopping him now.

The Spirit-Saving Snake might have value as a spiritual elixir, but it was said to be a spiritual beast so poisonous that even snake catchers could not handle it carelessly...

CLANG!

The sound of the iron cage shaking violently rang out once more.

Tch—this was going too far.

“Lord Wang... That is enough joking.”

Just as he was about to warn him to stop.

Jin Taesan saw it.

The gaze of the Spirit-Saving Snake, glaring at him and Wang Geumsan with two gleaming yellow eyes wide open.

'Why... did that thing open its eyes?'

The Spirit-Saving Snake did not even give Jin Taesan time to sink into thought.

WHOOSH!

The Spirit-Saving Snake coiled its body, then shot forward like an arrow and slammed itself into the iron cage.

CLANG!

The impact made the sturdy iron cage move a whole foot by itself.

Realizing that it was the cage restraining it, the Spirit-Saving Snake began thrashing around to escape.

“H-Hey... D-Do something!”

True to its name as a spiritual beast, the Spirit-Saving Snake seemed to grasp its situation quickly.

Realizing that the iron cage was sturdy and would not break, it moved to the edge of the cage again and coiled its body tightly around itself.

Then, as if using the method of an arrow loosed from a bowstring, it launched its body and continued slamming into the iron cage.

Jin Taesan, a martial artist, could not close his mouth at the graceful movement technique of nature itself.

Wow! It truly is a spiritual beast!

“Hey! This is not the time to admire it!”

At Wang Geumsan’s words, Jin Taesan snapped back to his senses.

He cleared his throat and slowly sidled toward the door.

“Do not worry. No matter how much of a Spirit-Saving Snake it may be, it will not be able to break that iron cage and come out...”

“Fuck! Then why does it keep trying to get out?!”

“Hm? Lord Wang! You curse too?”

“No, do something about this!”

While Wang Geumsan was clutching Jin Taesan’s robe hard enough to tear it.

The Spirit-Saving Snake coiled its body again and slammed itself into the iron cage with violent movements.

CLANG!

The sturdy iron cage moved another whole foot.

The Spirit-Saving Snake seemed to become even more vicious toward the cage that would not break easily.

HISSSS!

The Spirit-Saving Snake opened its maw wide, venom dripping from the four sharp fangs jutting out of it.

At that cry, Jin Taesan and Wang Geumsan shuddered.

“S-See? That thing absolutely cannot get out of there.”

“For that to be true, has the iron cage not been greatly dented?”

“It may dent, but it will not break. How could a mere petty creature withstand human craftsmanship...”

CLANG!

“Aaagh!”

Wang Geumsan, who had been supporting Jin Taesan when he nearly toppled over in shock, began pushing Jin Taesan toward the Spirit-Saving Snake.

It was such an instinctive movement that it made a mockery of how they had shown off their friendship all this time, saying that Guan Zhong and Bao Shu—the friendship of Guan and Bao—could not compare to them.

“H-Hurry and do something. Put it to sleep, or kill it.”

“We must not kill it! Then its value as a spiritual elixir will...”

“T-That thing! Look at that thing!”

Perhaps the Spirit-Saving Snake had decided that ramming its body would not work, because it soon began gnawing at the iron cage with those sharp fangs.

CHOMP!

The fangs jutting out beyond the iron cage felt even more chilling.

“D-Do not worry. No matter how strong that thing’s bite force may be, against an iron cage made of steel...”

“No, why did you use steel to make it?! You said it was a spiritual beast! Then you should have made the cage out of mystic iron at least!”

“Lord Wang! Is an iron cage made from metal used to make hoes? A mere petty creature...”

CHOMP!

SCREEEECH!

After biting the iron cage several times, the Spirit-Saving Snake seemed to have grasped the cage’s durability and began prying apart the gaps between the bars.

And then.

“Aaaaaah! The cage! The cage!”

“Aaaaaah!”

A thin cry rang out, hard to believe it had come from men old enough for frost to have begun forming at their temples.

CHOMP! CLANG! CHOMP! CLANG!

Now the Spirit-Saving Snake, driven completely to the end of its rage, began rampaging madly.

Each time the iron cage, only the size of a small box, rolled and clattered about on its own, Jin Taesan’s and Wang Geumsan’s hearts dropped with a thud.

SCREEEECH!

In the end, the moment the iron cage was pried open as far as it could go and a space for escape was secured.

The Spirit-Saving Snake coiled its body to the utmost, then shot out like an arrow and widened the entrance of the iron cage even more.

At last.

CLANG!

BANG!

The body of the Spirit-Saving Snake that had come out of the iron cage rolled across the office floor and struck the wall.

“...!”

“...!!!”

Jin Taesan’s and Wang Geumsan’s faces went white.

“S-Save me!”

The first to move was Wang Geumsan.

He moved like a flash of lightning and was just about to open the office door and bolt out when.

RATTLE!

“... Huh?”

RATTLE, RATTLE!

... The office door would not open.

RATTLE, RATTLE, RATTLE!

“Aaaaaaaaaah!”

While Wang Geumsan shook the door like a madman, Jin Taesan came up beside him and shook the door with him, but the door did not open in the slightest.

“Did I not say we should fix this sooner, Lord Wang?!”

“Are you blaming me now?! The one who brought in that damned monster was none other than you!”

“What are you going to do now?!”

“Why are you asking me that?! You are the one who learned martial arts! Subdue that thing with the martial arts of the legendary swordsman, the Taiyi Sword Emperor!”

“... Step aside. I will break the door with Great Yang Palm.”

“No! Not the old Taiyi Sect martial arts, use the Taiyi Sword Emperor’s martial arts!”

“I told you, I could not learn them because I was busy earning money!”

“Damn it! I am disappointed in you! Truly disappointed!”

“Great Yang Palm!”

THUD!

The Great Yang Palm imbued with Jin Taesan’s internal energy shot out, but there was no way a martial art that did not have particularly great destructive power to begin with could break an office door made by Wangga Manor’s first-class carpenter.

["Lord Wang! Since this is the office door, I will make it sturdy enough that it will not break even if a cannon explodes!"]

For an instant, it seemed as though the first-class carpenter’s damned smile flashed by as he raised his thumb.

While Wang Geumsan was briefly seeing that damned smile of the first-class carpenter.

HISSSS!

The Spirit-Saving Snake, having escaped the iron cage and filled with toxic aura, approached the two men.

As if it knew exactly who had locked it in the iron cage.

“Aaaaaaaaaah! Is no one there?! Save me! We are over here!!”

“Great Yang Palm!”

While the Spirit-Saving Snake kept a certain distance from the two men and coiled its body, preparing to spring out.

Despair settled over the two men’s faces.

Then.

CLICK.

The door opened from outside, and the two men’s bodies tilted and collapsed out the door.

“L-Lord Wang? Merchant Group Leader?”

The two men had fallen in an unsightly heap.

While the servant expressed confusion at the inexplicable situation.

“R-Run! A monster! A monster is chasing us!”

“A monster?”

“Yes! A monster that chewed through an iron cage by its own strength and escaped...”

While Jin Taesan and Wang Geumsan hurriedly rushed out the door.

A strange man who had come with the servant looked inside the office.

“May I take a look for a moment?”

“Hm?”

But before Wang Geumsan could answer, the Spirit-Saving Snake, its body fully coiled, launched itself like an arrow and shot toward the four people.

“Aaaaagh!”

The servant shrieked in terror, and the man calmly stepped into the office, reached out, and snatched the Spirit-Saving Snake by the neck.

“Oh my. This one is strong as an ox. Is this not a Spirit-Saving Snake?”

“Hm?”

“If you slowly raise the temperature, a Spirit-Saving Snake wakes from hibernation very quickly.”

For some reason, the Spirit-Saving Snake that had chewed through and broken the iron cage could not move an inch in the man’s hand.

“On the other hand, cold is its greatest weakness.”

The man carried the subdued Spirit-Saving Snake out to the yard and shoved it into the snow.

The Spirit-Saving Snake, which had been thrashing violently, slowly grew still.

Soon, how much time had passed?

The Spirit-Saving Snake went limp in the man’s hand, as if dead.

“When storing it indoors, it is best to keep it in a cool place.”

“...”

The man’s face was extremely serene.

Jin Taesan and Wang Geumsan stared at that face with blank eyes.

“May I ask who you are?”

His face was shining with a halo, for he was practically their lifesaver.

Wang Geumsan asked his honored name in an exceedingly respectful tone.

As if receiving such a greeting were only natural, the man raised the corners of his mouth with an easy smile.

“I am Sama Jeong. I came through academy student Jin Sowoon’s introduction.”

It was a delicate smile, hard to believe it belonged to a man who had subdued a monster in a single move.