Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang Novel - Chapter 100

C100

Apparently, a single bat had not satisfied Hyang.
She wished to impress by eliminating three.
And so, three more hapless bats were slain.
Even after that, she was still enjoying herself and continued to plead for more.
Chrrrrt!
“Aigoo, that is enough now. Three is sufficient. Hyang, you did wonderfully.”
“Yes, very well done.”
Chrrr…
We only just managed to soothe her before finally entering the tunnel.
But their soft chrrrt sounds persisted for some time.
Perched on my shoulders, Hyang and Bin seemed to be honing their killer instinct—chittering at the odd insect that wandered into our path.
Eventually, I had to issue a firm reprimand about slaughtering living things without cause.
“Listen carefully, we do not kill without purpose.”
Only after my stern warning did they settle down, permitting us to proceed.
For a while, the only noises were our footsteps and the occasional drip, drip of moisture falling from above.
Then, Sister Seol’s voice reverberated through the cavern.
“You know, I anticipated something more, given this place was sealed by the Five Poison Clan. But there is nothing here.”
She was correct.
The tunnel seemed to stretch on without end, and we had encountered nothing of note.
There were no indications that people had ever been here.
All we could see were narrow streams of water seeping from cracks in the rock and stalactites joining with stalagmites to create pillars of stone.
Chrrrk!
Hyang, sitting on my shoulder, flinched as a cold drop of water struck her head, shaking her antennae in alarm.
“Did that frighten you, Hyang? Wait, Daddy will dry you off.”
While using my sleeve to dry her head, I responded to Sister Seol.
“The first chamber might have held something, but the entrance collapsed and was buried under bat droppings… This tunnel, however, appears to be a passage. We should continue.”
“Yes, but how long does this go on?”
“I do not know.”
We kept walking.
Roughly fifteen minutes later—
“Oh! There’s something up ahead!”
Just as Sister Seol had said, the tunnel expanded, opening into an enormous space.
A rectangular, clearly artificial chamber, spanning over a hundred pyeong.
“What is this place?”
“Could it be a training ground?”
At first glance, it resembled a martial arts practice hall.
But as we ventured further, the light from our lanterns revealed more details.
“There are so many tunnels here.”
“Look!” Hwa-eun suddenly pointed directly ahead. “The Five Poisons!”
Exactly as she said, magnificent carvings of the five great venomous creatures adorned the wall before us.
A centipede, a snake, a scorpion, a lizard, and a toad.
The engravings had survived a hundred years perfectly intact, still as sharp and vivid as the day they were made.
And scattered across the ground—
Bones.
Innumerable skeletal remains were littered everywhere.
This was likely the location of the final stand.
“This must have been the last bastion of the Five Poison Clan.”
“It appears so. Should we wait here? Or look around a bit more?”
Our task was to investigate the remnants of the Five Poison Clan, but we had not defined clear limits on how far to explore.
So, I weighed our choices while examining the area.
‘It doesn’t seem like any survivors from the Five Poison Clan ever came back here…’
A layer of dust covered everything.
The skeletons lay undisturbed.
There were no signs that anyone had returned.
There had been no dangers so far, and I suspected we would encounter none.
I smiled at Sister Seol.
“Let’s explore a bit more. It seems entertaining, doesn’t it?”
Until now, the cave had been somewhat tedious, but this?
A hall filled with ancient carvings, like a site from an archaeological dig?
It was thrilling.
Almost like we were explorers in a tomb.
“Yes, this is finally becoming interesting.”
“You two… we are not here for amusement.”
“Oh, relax—we are just conducting a thorough search. Right, So-ryong?”
“Naturally! Sister Seol, let’s investigate that tunnel first.”
“Alright, let’s go!”
Sister Seol and I were far too alike.
Honestly, if we had been siblings in a past life, it would not have surprised me.
Hwa-eun merely sighed and shook her head but did not阻止 us as we headed for the tunnel on the right.
Inside, we discovered a long corridor lined with rooms.
Carved directly into the rock, the area resembled living quarters.
“This place seems to be… connected rooms?”
‘A residential section?’
It had already been completely ransacked—everywhere we looked, the area was looted.
Only torn bedding, shattered storage chests, and broken furniture remained.
Yet, the air circulation was surprisingly good.
The adjoining tunnel led to what appeared to be a dining hall.
The stored food had long since decomposed or desiccated, leaving behind only crumbled remnants.
Beyond that were storage rooms for provisions, clothing, and bedding.
After searching every room on the right side, Sister Seol refilled her lantern with oil and released a sigh of disappointment.
“This side was just for living. Dull.”
“Yes.”
As she stated, the right side was unremarkable—merely a section intended for daily existence.
Still, if we hoped to find traces of survivors, we had to keep looking.
So, we moved to the left.
“You know, any survivors from the Five Poison Clan would likely be people who had already left before the clan was destroyed, right?”
“Probably. If anyone inside had survived, they would have at least gathered the bodies.”
The remains, still dressed in tattered robes, indicated that the people inside this stronghold had not escaped.
Now, we needed to check the left section.
There, we found a fire-gutted archive and several destroyed storerooms.
The bookshelves were entirely charred, reduced to ashes.
“This was probably the archives. But it is all burned.”
“The Tang Clan must have set the fire when they eradicated the Five Poison Clan.”
In the end, we discovered nothing.
Returning to the main hall, we stood around, contemplating our next move.
I glanced about.
On the central wall, where the Five Poison carvings were displayed, I noticed something else—
A pedestal.
“Instead of just standing here, why don’t we go sit over there?”
“Good idea.”
“Yes, So-ryong.”
As we drew nearer, I got a better view of the carvings.
The snake, centipede, scorpion, lizard, and toad were all straining toward something—
A round stone orb at the center.
It almost seemed as if they were competing for it.
Curious, I took a cloth from my pack, spread it over the pedestal, and sat down.
Sister Seol and Hwa-eun sat next to me, all of us facing the ancient carvings.
And then—
We fell silent.
“···.”
A silent, eerie space where nothing but stillness endured.
It felt somewhat awkward to sit there quietly, so my playful nature emerged. I turned to Sister Seol.
“Sister Seol, were you aware of this?”
“Aware of what?”
She tilted her head, confused.
I walked up to the wall with the Five Venomous Creatures carved into it and tapped the round stone at the center.
“You see, in places like this, if you press on the orb in the middle, a hidden passage sometimes opens.”
“What?”
“Truly?”
In every escape-room-style game from my previous life, ancient-looking walls always had a secret mechanism like this.
Pressing a gemstone, turning a carved symbol, or inserting a missing piece—those were the standard tropes.
Naturally, this was real life, not a game.
Still, to lighten the mood, I casually rapped my knuckles against the orb, grinning mischievously.
“Like this.”
Tap, tap!
Sister Seol, intrigued, jumped down from the platform and rushed over to press the orb herself.
“Hmph. No hidden door.”
“Well, it is merely a theory, not a certainty.”
I smirked.
These tricks work in games, but there was no way something like that would happen here.
Sister Seol pouted.
“Hmph, how disappointing…”
“Perhaps… if you channel Qi into it or something—”
The moment I said it, I actually did channel Qi into the stone.
RUMBLE…
A deep grinding sound echoed from behind the stone wall.
And then—
The eyes of the five venomous creatures began to shine.
FLASH.
The centipede, snake, scorpion, lizard, and toad—
Each of their eyes started to glow in red, blue, green, white, and black.
‘No way. That actually worked?!’
Light from the Five Venomous Creatures shone onto the platform where we had been sitting.
Startled, we leapt back in shock.
Hwa-eun and Sister Seol gasped.
“S-So-ryong, that was incredible!”
“Wow, I thought you were just joking, but you actually unlocked the mechanism!”
RUMBLE!
And then—
The stone orb I had pressed sank inward.
At the center of the Five Venomous Creatures, a massive passageway slowly began to open.
“Ohhh! So-ryong, you truly did it!”
“Just as you said, a hidden door opened!”
Chrrrk!
Ksshh!
Grruk!
Even Cho, Yo-hwa, and the centipedes made noises that sounded like praise.
This was absolutely just a fortunate accident, but I put on a conceited expression and said,
“Haha, well, I did anticipate this.”
One must capitalize on moments that make one look clever.
***
A gust of wind swept through the newly revealed passage.
Sister Seol raised her lantern and held it aloft.
Beyond the faint light, the corridor extended deep into absolute darkness.
She peered into it, excitement flashing in her eyes.
“What do you think? Should we go further? Or wait for the others?”
A decision was required.
I turned to Hwa-eun.
Earlier, when we got carried away talking about fun, she had been the voice of reason.
To my surprise, she was not opposed this time.
Her eyes were gleaming.
“Let’s go!”
“Wait, truly?”
Even Sister Seol seemed astonished.
Clearly, she had expected Hwa-eun to object.
Hwa-eun, somewhat flustered, scratched one of the centipedes’ jaws and muttered,
“I-It’s… I mean, the mechanism was truly… fascinating… And, well, mechanisms are significant in the Tang Clan… and, uh, they can be applied to projectile weapons as well…”
‘Hold on. Does Hwa-eun actually adore things like this?!’
She seemed like the type who would be enthusiastic about traps, hidden doors, and mechanical devices.
Sister Seol would obviously want to explore.
I definitely wanted to press onward.
And now that Hwa-eun was also in agreement?
I immediately shouted,
“Wait just a moment!”
“So-ryong? Where are you going?”
“Where are you running off to, So-ryong?!”
With Hwa-eun now fully engaged, I sprinted back toward the scorched section of the ruins.
I needed something—
A piece of charred wood.
Gasping for breath, I hurried back to them.
“Hahh… Normally, in games, when you go through a hidden door, it shuts behind you… So we need to leave a message in case that occurs.”
“Aha! That is sensible! Hurry and write it!”
I quickly wiped the dust from the platform and wrote in large, clear characters:
“Channel Qi into the orb at the center of the Five Venomous Creatures.”
Then, merely as a precaution, I repeated the message on the stone wall beside the carvings.
With our trail marked, we stepped into the hidden passage.
And the moment we did—
RUMBLE…
“IT’S CLOSING?!”
“So-ryong, how did you know?!”
“W-Well… I simply had a suspicion…”
I scratched my cheek awkwardly, watching as the stone wall sealed shut behind us.
Hwa-eun’s question made me realize something—
In a way, video games from my past life were like training simulators for these ancient martial world mechanisms.
As that thought crossed my mind, I turned my gaze back to the now-sealed entrance.
Something stood out—
A message written in dark, dried stains.
Deep crimson letters—almost like dried blood.
“The Five Poison Clan will never forget this vengeance.”
Reading that, a sudden realization struck me.
This passage—
Some members of the Five Poison Clan had used it to escape when their sect was annihilated.