Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang Novel - Chapter 133

Chapter 133
“Bini!”
Tsrrut…
Bini had become a true All-Black—a breathtaking, jet-black being.
What manner of evolution had rendered her so exquisitely refined?
I was utterly transfixed by Bini’s lustrous black exoskeleton. It was an opulent, polished shell, deeply black from her eyes down to the very tips of her antennae.
This profound blackness radiated an elegance that held me completely spellbound.
In the natural world, the rarest and most sumptuous colors are pure white and pure black, with pure black being the most revered among them.
So uncommon! So extraordinarily rare!
Pure black stands as one of the most infrequent colors in the animal kingdom because it isn’t a common natural occurrence—it arises from a surplus of melanin, a condition referred to as melanism.
While pure white is also scarce and hard to come by, it can sometimes manifest through leucism or albinism, making it somewhat easier to find than black, which solely results from melanism, rendering it far more exceptional.
I had never even encountered a melanistic creature in my past life, making pure black a genuinely treasured spectacle.
And now, here was my very own black Bini.
Ah, so magnificent!
As I gazed at her, our eyes locked.
In that instant, our stares connected, each of us holding the other’s look.
The sunlight glinting off her dark exoskeleton created a glimmering, hazy effect in my sight, and before I realized it, we both surged toward one another without a second thought.
“Ahhh! My daughter! How can you be this stunning…!”
Tsrrut… Tsrrut…
Bini, who had been absent, and I, now sharing this deeply felt reunion.
Even Bini, who often maintained a distant demeanor, could not hold back her fondness at this moment.
While holding her, I was struck by her immense weight.
Cho was robust, yet she was lighter because of her capacity for flight, but Bini felt substantially heavier—her solid exoskeleton cloaked in black gave her a more powerful, earthbound substance.
Her form, solid and compact with that dark outer layer, felt like a natural power.
If Cho’s change felt like a fighter aircraft, Bini felt akin to a battle tank.
Right then, the understanding dawned on me—I had been entirely mistaken about why Bini left.
She had never fled from home. My assumption had been incorrect.
Bini, who adored her father so deeply, would never depart in such a manner.
No, she did not leave! I was in error! Our daughter would never do such a thing.
I had presumed Bini left due to being displeased, but I now saw my misjudgment.
Although they had been domesticated, the innate wildness of creatures like Cho, Hyang, and Bini always persisted within them. I had commenced their training from birth, yet their primal instincts were ever-present.
Bini’s vanishing was not an act of running away—it was more plausible that, like any wild being seeking a secure place to evolve or bear young, Bini had ventured off to locate a private spot for her own transformation.
Cho’s evolution had occurred suddenly due to the Neidan, but Bini’s was likely a process she had to undertake solo, requiring a hidden area for herself.
I was uncertain of how she achieved it, but it appeared Bini had done something remarkable on her own.
Seol had proposed that Bini might have been slumbering, which made this theory even more convincing.
If not? Then what?
She is my daughter, after all. She wouldn’t have committed any misdeed, correct?
As I held onto Bini, she coiled around me as if she would never release her grip.
It seemed as though she would never part from me again.
The onlookers—Hua-eun, Seol, and all the members of the Tang Clan—observed us in bewilderment, uncertain how to respond to this unanticipated reunion.
***
“Bini… you have returned!?”
After Bini and I had settled, the voice of Mandok Shingun echoed from the doorway of the Four Harmonies Hall.
I turned to see the astounded expressions of the three individuals standing there.
They had apparently trailed the disturbance caused by the warriors, as it seemed the leader of the Tang Clan, my father-in-law, and my mother-in-law had hurried from the main house and were now beholding Bini’s altered form. Their eyes were wide with amazement.
“Bini? Can this be Bini?”
“No… is this… the adorable Bini?”
It was evident that Bini’s metamorphosis had stunned them.
“Indeed, Bini is back. And she appears even more splendid than she did before.”
While I stroked Bini with pride, Mandok Shingun swiftly moved around her and then inquired, shocked,
“Might this be… Hyeon?”
“Hyeon?”
Abruptly, Mandok Shingun was speaking of “Hyeon.”
When I, Hua-eun, and Seol tilted our heads in puzzlement, Mandok Shingun instructed us to wait and then sprang into the air using lightness techniques.
“All warriors, withdraw! Everyone remain here for a moment!”
Soon after, he came back bearing an ancient tome.
The book was roughly four times the dimensions of any ordinary book I had encountered.
As he placed it on the pavilion, the sizable volume piqued my interest.
Upon opening the initial page, the title inscribed on the cover was evident: The Secret Compendium of Poisonous Creatures.
“Oh! This is the Secret Compendium of Poisonous Creatures!”
“Correct, this is the exact book you have desired to see.”
This was the fabled text, handed down through the Tang Clan—the Secret Compendium of Poisonous Creatures.
It was a kind of poisonous creature encyclopedia maintained by the Tang Clan. Despite my pleas to view it once, they had denied me, insisting I concentrate on martial arts. This book had long been an enigma to me.
The book was aged, with certain sections eroded and torn.
Mandok Shingun opened the first page and summoned me to view it.
“Approach, So-ryong. Observe this.”
“Understood!”
“Should I give you space?”
Seol, upon learning I was to examine the book, asked if she should depart, but Mandok Shingun declined.
“No need to withdraw. While this is a confidential text, it does not concern martial arts, so you are welcome to stay and watch.”
With my heart racing, I neared the pavilion, keen to discover what was within.
The opening words on the page seized my focus:
“I, the youngest son of the Tang Clan’s third-generation leader, Tang Mun-ryong, bequeath this account to the offspring of Tang Hwa-sung, for times to come.”
“The title of this compendium is the Secret Compendium of Poisonous Creatures.”
“I journeyed throughout the Central Plains, seizing poisonous beings and chronicling their looks, environments, and peculiar actions. I started assembling this log because, within the Tang Clan, the perils of poisons are frequently discounted. These creatures, which exist and perish in the hills, meadows, and woods—consuming and being consumed—possess promise.”
“I trust this shall benefit the forthcoming generations of poison users.”
“This?”
“These are the declarations of the forebear who documented this compendium.”
The text commenced with a proclamation brimming with zeal, albeit from a rather nonconformist member of the Tang Clan who had faith in the boundless potential of poisonous creatures. I was deeply stirred by these sentiments, as they resonated with the feelings I harbored regarding Bini’s evolution.
Turning the page, I discovered depictions of poisonous beings accompanied by brief accounts of their behaviors. It truly resembled a poisonous creature field guide for the Central Plains.
“When it unfurls its wings, they extend five feet. Its beak is bronze and keen, and its form is adorned with purple-red plumage. When provoked, it spreads its wings and induces everything in the vicinity to perish, converting to poison. Upon its head rests a golden crown, bestowing the dignity of a monarch.”
“This being is named Zhen, or Zhenbird.”
The first page was devoted to the Zhenbird, a creature we had met previously, but this time it was exquisitely depicted with elaborate descriptions of its traits.
Nonetheless, I had little opportunity to scrutinize the page before Mandok Shingun rapidly turned it.
The subsequent page halted abruptly, disclosing a darkened illustration.
What is this?
While browsing through the pages swiftly, I had observed that the majority of the illustrations were executed with delicate ink lines, but this specific poisonous creature was sketched with vigorous strokes, almost as if daubed with dense ink.
Looking more closely, I discerned a blackened centipede.
The text beneath it stated: The Twenty-Four Poisons of the Dark—Ink Dark Ghost Centipede.
I shifted my gaze to the attendant description, and what I perused amazed me:
“The Ink Dark Ghost Centipede is one of the Twenty-Four Poisons and a being of immense might. It emerges abruptly from the ground and assails both people and beasts. Its guise is a gigantic, black iteration of a centipede, with a sinister emanation, meriting the title Ink Dark Ghost Centipede.”
“It is reputed to possess a superb capacity to detect the noises of creatures on the surface, and it can even fracture stones. Regardless of your concealment, it will ascend from below the soil.”
“Wow!”
The portrayal in the book was unmistakably about Bini.
Although she was not categorized among the Ten Deadly Poisons, this being, holding the third rank of the Twenty-Four Poisons, was mighty.
“Bini is not a Ten Deadly Poison, but she is the Ink Dark Ghost Centipede of the Twenty-Four Poisons!”
I was unconcerned that Bini was not one of the Ten Deadly Poisons.
Even if she was not one of the Ten Deadly Poisons, she remained a being of astonishing power in my view.
I could not help but marvel at Bini’s transformation, so I called out to her:
“Bini, our Bini has ascended to the third of the Twenty-Four Poisons—Ink Dark Ghost Centipede!”
But Bini appeared to disapprove of the name, emitting a sharp cry of objection.
Tsrru!
“Why? Do you dislike the name Ink Dark Ghost Centipede?”
Tsrrut!
I experienced a sudden insight, as if Bini was not entirely opposed to the name, but instead…
Tsrrurrr.
Another profound, low sound reverberated from overhead.
Glancing up, I saw Cho gently descending from the sky.
I had noted Cho’s absence when I awoke. Cho, who cherished me as much as Bini, would certainly remain nearby if I had fainted, so her absence was somewhat peculiar.
With a quizzical expression, Cho floated down to me.
Hua-eun and Seol clarified the situation as Cho alighted.
“I instructed Cho to search for Bini. We believed Bini was the cause of your collapse, so we requested Cho to seek her out.”
“We surmised Bini was involved in your collapse since Cho and Bini were raised together, so we thought Bini was responsible.”
As Hua-eun concluded, Cho touched down directly before Bini and commenced examining her from head to tail.
Bini seemed inclined to shove Cho aside and pressed forward, resulting in a comical confrontation between them.
Tsrrut!
Tsrrurrr!
Although Bini was somewhat bigger, Cho, as one of the Ten Deadly Poisons, was not yielding readily.
I sensed a conflict was on the verge of erupting, but oddly, I started to perceive a form of mental dialogue between them.
Before, they only interacted through feelings, but now it seemed they were genuinely communicating in their thoughts.
What is this? Does their telepathic capability advance as well?
The thoughts circulating between them were distinct:
“Dad says I’m the most beautiful. More than you are.”
“Dad says I’m the most beautiful.”
As their thoughts clashed, a cold shiver traveled down my back.
The strain between them felt capable of exploding into an intense fight.
“So? Who is the most beautiful in dad’s view?”
“So? Who is the most beautiful in dad’s view?”
Ahh!
It appeared their “beauty ranking” was a matter of grave importance between them.
I felt a catastrophe was looming if I did not respond with care. Their dispute might even escalate into a poison battle, triggering a full-scale war!
I gulped anxiously just as I detected another movement.
Tsrru.
From Hua-eun’s sleeve, Hyang squirmed out and observed Bini and Cho.
As though she had just awakened, she now noticed the turmoil between them.
I was on the brink of despair at the approaching bedlam. But then, Hyang climbed up my neck and appeared to nestle there, directing a triumphant gaze at Bini and Cho.
It seemed she had staked her claim on me, resolving that she would not enlarge and would remain with me permanently.
Is she declaring she will stay with me for all time and never depart?
At that moment, both Bini and Cho’s antennae shot upright.