The Seven-Heart Begonia (simplified and traditional: 七心海棠, pinyin: Qīxīn Hǎitáng, jyutping: cat1 sam1 hoi2 tong4) was a poisonous plant held to be the king of all poisons (万毒之王) (SIDE ch. 20). Its poison was colourless and odourless, beyond the guard of even the most careful man, and those it killed died smiling, as if at peace (SIDE ch. 20). It was notoriously hard to grow, but Cheng Lingsu, youngest disciple of the King of Venoms, succeeded, and used it again and again in her travels with Hu Fei (SIDE ch. 11, 20).
Description
In leaf the plant looked like an ordinary begonia, but its flowers grew pressed close against the stems, its stems were hard as iron, and each petal bore seven small yellow spots. Root, stem, flower and leaf were all deadly, but the raw plant harmed no one unless eaten, the poison needing to be prepared before use (SIDE ch. 10).
It had to be watered with wine: water killed it. Cheng Lingsu found this out while growing her Tihu Fragrance (醍醐香); her shixiong and shijie, not knowing it, had tried for more than ten years without keeping a plant alive (SIDE ch. 11).
History
The seeds
The master of Great Master Wuchen (无嗔) and Shi Wanchen obtained the seeds from overseas. He taught them that the Seven-Heart Begonia was more fearsome than crane’s-crest red, peacock gall and every other poison, and gave each of them nine seeds, remarking that it was fortunate the plant was so hard to grow (SIDE ch. 20). Murong Jingyue, Jiang Tieshan and Xue Que, Wuchen’s three elder disciples, dreaded it; when Jiang Tieshan and Xue Que believed their son had been poisoned with it, they took Murong Jingyue to have grown it at last, and he denied it in terror (SIDE ch. 9).
In Cheng Lingsu’s hands
Cheng Lingsu had struck the Jiangs’ son with one of Murong Jingyue’s bone-piercing nails tipped with the Begonia’s poison, and forged a letter in Murong’s hand to bring the three together. She then came among them carrying a candle made from the Begonia, whose fumes had neither smell nor smoke, and overcame all three poison masters without their noticing (SIDE ch. 9, 10). The Jiangs’ son could not be cured without the Begonia’s pollen, and Cheng Lingsu treated him; she also gave the Jiangs bundles of Tihu Fragrance refined with the Begonia to drive off pursuers without killing them (SIDE ch. 10).
She carried a potted Begonia with her when she went with Hu Fei to heal Miao Renfeng’s poisoned eyes, and after draining the poison bound four crushed leaves over them; the leaves hurt ten times worse than a knife cut, and Miao, keeping still, crushed the chair beneath him with his inner force (SIDE ch. 10, 11). She readied a Begonia candle against the band that besieged the Feima Armed Escort (SIDE ch. 12), and used one to drop a hall full of Fuk’anggan’s guards when she and Hu Fei rescued Ma Chunhua (SIDE ch. 15).
At the Grand Assembly of Zhangmen under Heaven, she mixed the powdered leaves into the red scorpion powder she scattered over the Jade Dragon Cups, and the stamens into the smoke she blew from her pipe, which masked the poisons’ smell and made them stronger. Shi Wanchen, his eyes weakened, did not notice (SIDE ch. 20).
The last candle
As she lay dying, having drawn out the poison that was killing Hu Fei, Cheng Lingsu left a half-burned candle mixed with Begonia pollen in the ruined temple, knowing Shi Wanchen and his disciples would return and would not dare light a new one. When they came back, Murong Jingyue and Xue Que sank down and died, and Shi Wanchen, who had taken an antidote beforehand, was struck blind a second time and fled into the night crying “Seven-Heart Begonia!” Hu Fei, given a yellow antidote pill by Cheng Lingsu, was unharmed (SIDE ch. 20). She had chosen a thinner candle with a lighter dose so that Shi Wanchen would not die on the spot, leaving Hu Fei something to live for (SIDE ch. 20).
See also
- Side Story of the Flying Fox items
- Cheng Lingsu — who grew it
- King of Venoms — her shifu
- Shi Wanchen — blinded by it