Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang Novel - Chapter 132

Chapter 132
“So-ryong! So-ryong!”
“Ryong!? Wake up! What’s wrong with him now?”
Just as So-ryong was about to topple into the campfire, his arms and neck were seized by two sets of hands and a strand of spider silk, yanking him back to safety.
Hua-eun and Seol gripped his arms while Yo-hwa’s web snapped out to catch his body.
Ki-shi!
Pulled back from the brink of the flames, So-ryong was laid gently on the ground, appearing for all the world as if he had simply drifted into slumber.
The moment he was down, Hua-eun and Seol hovered over him with faces etched in alarm.
Hua-eun was first to inspect his eyes. She had already assessed his condition twice before he consumed the white ants, once to verify the absence of poison and again to determine the reason for his fading awareness.
She swiftly parted his eyelids. His eyes were glazed over and misty.
Had he merely fainted, his eyes would have rolled back; if paralyzed, some flicker of life would have remained. But So-ryong’s eyes, behind their closed lids, were utterly vacant, as though his very soul had departed.
“What happened?”
“Could it be poison?”
“No, I don’t believe so. I checked him thoroughly before he ate, and I see no signs of poisoning now.”
Swift Walker’s question was urgent, but Hua-eun had already verified there was no poison before So-ryong ate, and So-ryong himself had confirmed it. Even now, poisoning or paralysis seemed an unlikely cause.
Then, Seol, who had been monitoring So-ryong’s pulse, grasped Hua-eun’s hand.
With a distant look, Seol murmured a term they had encountered before.
“Beast Heart Skill…”
“Beast Heart Skill? What are you talking about?”
If it was the Beast Heart Skill, that meant So-ryong had involuntarily triggered one of the core techniques from the O-dok Returning to the Origin Art, which encompassed the mind arts of the Beast Palace.
It called to mind the instance when So-ryong was plunged into sleep by the beast skill when Cho underwent her transformation into the Heavenly Five.
“Cho! Cho! Come down here, now!”
Hua-eun urgently called for Cho, who was circling in the sky, to descend.
She questioned if So-ryong’s state was tied to Cho’s recent growth and molting. At that moment, Cho was the prime suspect.
Seol also remembered the warning from the Beast Palace leader: interacting with potent toxins, such as the Ten Deadly Poisons, could shatter one’s mind.
Hua-eun called Cho down with desperate haste. Bewildered, Cho obeyed and flew down.
“Cho, your father has collapsed. Do you know anything about this?”
Cho went completely still at the sight of So-ryong lying behind Hua-eun, and it let out a shocked, distressed cry.
Its exact meaning was unclear, but its frantic reaction made it evident that Cho was not responsible.
Seol also quickly dismissed the possibility.
“Cho isn’t the cause. I don’t feel any Beast Heart energy like last time. If Cho were responsible, it would be asleep again, just like before.”
Hua-eun considered this and agreed.
After all, Cho had fallen asleep simultaneously with So-ryong last time. If Cho had caused this, it would be unconscious now.
“Then, could it be Hyang?”
“Hyang? Oh, that’s right!”
Hyang, who had been chastised earlier for disobeying its father, was now dozing peacefully on Hua-eun’s shoulder.
Was this ordinary sleep, or something more profound?
Since Hyang had not stirred despite the uproar, it became the next subject of suspicion. Hua-eun called to it softly.
They were reluctant to disturb Hyang if it was merely resting, but they needed to confirm whether it shared So-ryong’s unconscious state.
“Hyang? Are you asleep?”
In the tense silence shared by Hua-eun and Seol, there was no answer. It seemed Hyang was indeed asleep. But a moment later, it began to scratch its antennae with its forelegs, emitting the familiar, soft sounds it made while at rest.
Tsrru… Tsrru…
It was clear Hyang was simply slumbering deeply.
Amid the chaos, Hyang continued to serenely scratch its antennae, completely absorbed in its rest.
Seol gently touched Hyang’s body, confirmed it wasn’t the source, and shook their head.
“I do not believe it is Hyang, either. I sense no Beast Heart energy within it.”
“Then, why would this happen so suddenly? Could it be what you mentioned before, that So-ryong’s mind is being consumed by the beast spirits?” Hua-eun asked, her expression worried as she contemplated the possibility of the toxins overwhelming his consciousness.
Seol shook their head in reply.
“No, that is not it. If he were being overwhelmed, he would be raging like a wild animal. Right now, he merely appears to be asleep.”
“So then… what is happening?”
Hua-eun’s concerned gaze deepened as she looked at So-ryong. Seol suddenly snapped their fingers, as if struck by a realization.
“Ah! So-ryong did not form connections solely with Cho and Hyang through the Beast Heart Skill, did he?”
“So it isn’t just Cho and Hyang… Ah! How could we have forgotten?”
For a moment, they had been distracted by So-ryong’s collapse, but they now recalled that his connections through the Beast Heart Skill extended further.
“Bini?”
“Bini! We forgot about Bini!”
The youngest daughter, who had departed earlier, was the key.
It was Bini, the one they had overlooked.

***
When my eyes opened, the first thing I saw was an impenetrable, pitch-black mist, dense and heavy, saturating the space all around me.
No matter where I looked, there was only the dark fog. Not a single point of light existed, yet I could perceive the thick black haze enveloping me. It was bizarre, yet the sensation was unnervingly distinct.
“What… what is this?”
I was momentarily stunned, but in a situation like this, my first instinct was:
Is it possible? Am I trapped inside an inner world!?
When Seol and my adoptive father taught me the Beast Heart Skill, they warned that my mind could be overpowered by Cho’s spirit, as celestial creatures are far stronger than humans. They feared I might be consumed by it.
Given that I could still think clearly in such a dark and eerie place, I began to suspect my consciousness had been imprisoned and that Cho’s spirit had assumed control of my body.
It reminded me of those stories where the protagonist’s body is usurped, leaving them stranded in some bleak, shadowy realm, languishing in despair until rescued.
Am I really in such a predicament? No… if Cho had taken over, she would never do something like this.
I felt certain of that.
I decided to call out to Cho.
Cho would not seize my body on purpose. This had to be an accident caused by her potent spirit. If our minds were linked, she would undoubtedly help me.
Our daughter wouldn’t do this intentionally. Would she?
“Cho! Cho! Dad is here! Help me, Cho!”
As I shouted, the black mist seemed to shudder, as if reacting to my voice.
This was definitely a response from Cho.
Oh! She’s answering me!
The mist swirled in response to my calls. Cho was definitely reacting, though she seemed somewhat startled by it all.
I tried to sound reassuring, hoping to soothe Cho and enlist her aid.
“You wouldn’t do this on purpose, right, Cho? This must be an accident. Maybe you didn’t want this to happen, but it did. Our Cho is kind and loves her dad more than anything. Let’s find a way to get me out of here.”
As I pleaded for help, the mist seemed to grow darker, almost angry, and then one section of the fog tore open, revealing a slender path.
A narrow trail illuminated by light.
It felt as if the light was beckoning me forward, so I hurried toward it. It seemed Cho was guiding me.
“That’s my girl! My wonderful Cho!”
I praised Cho, believing she had found an answer.
As I followed the light, a figure materialized at the path’s end. It bore a resemblance to Cho from before.
“Cho!”
I ran toward it, but as I drew nearer, I saw it wasn’t Cho.
“W-who are you?”
The woman before me had black hair and dark eyes, unlike Cho’s blue hair and eyes. She possessed a similar mystical air, but she was someone I had never met.
What… what is this?
Her expression suggested she was annoyed about something.
As I stood blinking in confusion, the woman let out a sigh that seemed full of exasperation.
The immediate thought that came to me was ‘darkening’.
Could Cho have… darkened?
The woman’s dark appearance seemed to suggest it. If Cho had changed from blue to black, it would signify a darkening.
Feeling apprehensive, I ventured cautiously,
“Cho?”
The woman’s eyes abruptly turned fierce.
Even if Cho had darkened, she would never look at me with such hostility, so I quickly began to second-guess myself.
“Ah, wait… then who are you?”
Could it be the Queen Ant? But no, I hadn’t used the Beast Heart Skill to bind her…
I thought back to the last thing I ate before collapsing—the roasted white ants.
Could the Queen Ant, being a celestial creature, have formed a link with me through the fluid exchange with the worker ants? Was that why I was connected to her, even unintentionally?
But that seemed strange, because to register a creature with the Beast Heart Skill, a specific ritual to absorb its fluids is required, and I had done no such thing.
As I continued to stare, the woman’s gaze turned icy, and I instinctively took a step backward.
At that moment, the woman’s expression shifted to one of surprise. She turned from me and seized the collar of my clothes.
I stared at where she held me, recognizing it as the very spot Bini, my daughter, always grabbed when she wanted to prevent me from leaving, tugging on my collar gently.
“Bini?”
The woman’s expression transformed from surprise to delight, and she immediately threw herself into my arms.
Once again, I was flooded with the overwhelming affection of a daughter who adored her father.
I should have known it was her.
Despite the earlier confusion, I understood I was still a good father, and then my awareness started to fade.

***
“Bini!”
My eyes opened to a familiar ceiling.
I sat up quickly and heard the startled voices of two women.
“So-ryong, you’re awake?”
“Ryong, are you back with us?”
I turned my head to see Hua-eun and Seol watching me with concern.
“Where am I? How did I get here?”
I was lying in my own bed at the Tang Clan’s residence.
I had a fleeting memory of seeing Bini in my mind, but my last clear recollection was searching for the Blue-Spotted Centipede and eating the white ants. How had I ended up here?
When I asked Hua-eun what occurred, she approached and gently wiped my brow.
“We thought it best to let you rest, but Seol believed you would be safer moved to a more secure location, so we brought you here.”
It appeared they had transported me to the clan after my collapse.
“Where’s… Bini? Has Bini come back?”
I asked, but Hua-eun shook her head.
“No, not yet… Was all of this because of Bini?”
“I believe so…”
Her words trailed off as a sudden commotion erupted from outside.
Thud, thud, thud.
The ground trembled, and I heard the panicked shouts of warriors.
“Block that path!”
“Over there!”
“It’s heading toward the Four Harmonies Hall!”
I attempted to rise, but my body felt weak and heavy from prolonged inactivity.
I asked Hua-eun and Seol for assistance.
“Quickly, we need to get outside.”
They did not hesitate. Supporting me, they helped me walk out.
The courtyard earth bulged and churned as if something massive was tunneling below, and directly in front of my room, an enormous, lustrous black creature exploded from the ground.
Whoosh!
A gigantic centipede, gleaming with a dark sheen, crawled into view. Its body was larger than Cho’s, likely even surpassing the size of Cho when she transformed into the Heavenly Five.
Tsrru!
I could not contain my cry of awe at the magnificent beauty of this dark being.
It’s Bini… she’s returned, and she’s been upgraded!