Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang Novel - Chapter 299

Chapter 299
Chrrrp. Chrrr…
A damp feeling spread across my skin as my awareness gradually returned.
Simultaneously, the distinct, agitated sounds of the children fussing loudly reached my ears.
Squelch!
Squee!
Kiik…
It appeared that after I collapsed, they had all begun frantically licking me in a desperate attempt to rouse me.
The wetness on my face was likely from the tongues of Seol, Bing, and Dong.
For them, licking was the highest form of affection and worry. They must have been terribly frightened.
‘These little ones were truly afraid for me.’
I wished to reassure them, but my body remained completely unresponsive.
As had happened before, it seemed my senses besides hearing would take time to recover. Right before I managed to open my eyes, I heard Hyang’s voice, choked with sobs.
Chrrrp! Chrrrp!
With that, the wet feeling ceased.
Seol, Bing, and Dong must have been diligently licking my face until Hyang regained her senses and cried out.
Then, my eyes finally opened.
Hyang had likely woken up a little before I did, and it seemed she had communicated something to the others—because the children clinging to my chest and shoulders now appeared somewhat reassured.
“My apologies, everyone. Were you frightened?”
Kiik!
Squee!
After soothing them, I assessed my own condition and the area around me.
I was uncertain how much time had passed, but I was still upright in the exact spot where I had lost consciousness.
Nearby, the two men who had claimed to be the village chief’s sons were lying on the ground, and the woman who was the Blood Cult spy had foam at her mouth, her leg jerking sporadically like an insect exposed to poison.
It seemed Cheongwol’s physical therapy had been entirely successful. Hongdan was positioned on the woman’s chest, his pincers wide open and poised at her throat.
“Hongdan, come over here. Daddy is alright now.”
Kiieee!
Hearing my words, Hongdan closed his pincers and sprang in my direction.
But not before delivering a final, contemptuous slap to the woman’s face with his folded pincers.
Since both Hyang and I had been unconscious, I needed to understand the events of that interval. I asked Hyang to consult with Hongdan.
He was the only one who had witnessed everything.
“Hyang, can you please ask Hongdan what occurred after you and I fainted?”
Chrrrp! Chrr chrr chrrr.
Kiiee. Ki. Ki.
Following a brief conversation, Hyang relayed the information to me.
Chrrrp. 『After Daddy and I fell unconscious…』
According to Hyang, the moment she fainted, Seol, Bing, and Dong instantly moved to shield me, while Hongdan charged the woman, menacing her.
Apparently, if I hadn’t woken up soon, Hongdan had been prepared to clamp his pincers shut on her neck.
I had been working on a method to break free from the inner world, and if I had been any slower, the resolution wouldn’t have been Cheongwol’s therapy—it would have been Hongdan’s execution.
‘Truthfully, the “mindless fool” result would have been far preferable.’
The idea that I might have awakened to a decapitated body caused me to shiver reflexively.
Just then, Hwa-eun’s voice sounded in the group communication channel.
『“So-ryong, are you awake now?”』
She appeared to be verifying that everything was alright on our side.
Always meticulous, Hwa-eun also inquired if the Blood Cult spy had indeed been reduced to a mindless fool.
『“Yes, Hwa-eun.”
“What is the condition of the Blood Cult spy?”
“I cannot confirm if she is a fool, but she was foaming at the mouth and is unconscious.”
“That is a relief. Ah, if the user of the Soul-Stealing Technique dies or can no longer sustain it, those affected by the spell will briefly lose consciousness. Please explain this to the elders—they are likely alarmed. Most of the villagers would have fainted.”
“Understood.”』
I had thought only the two people near me had collapsed, but apparently, everyone under the influence of the Soul-Stealing Technique had been knocked out for a short time.
I was preparing to go back and clarify the situation for the elders when Hwa-eun spoke again.
『“So-ryong, if there is anything you cannot recall, ask me. We must make haste. That spy was getting ready to depart.”
“Understood!”』
I had planned to return and explain the villagers’ fainting to the elders, but after Hwa-eun’s subsequent message, I chose to proceed directly outside.
The elders would be capable of managing the unconscious villagers. The immediate priority was to inform the Dragon Fangs of the situation and secure assistance quickly.
If the Blood Cult spy had been preparing to escape, the others might have been making similar arrangements.
We needed to apprehend them before they could flee.
‘The elders can handle those who fainted, correct?’
Without hesitation, I sprinted towards the village entrance.
As I navigated the narrow path through the woods and neared the entrance, the government soldiers noticed me and swiftly crossed their spears to bar my way.
“H-Halt right there!”
But as they got a clear look at me and shouted, the officer who had been resting under a nearby tent hurried over and berated them.
“You idiots! Do you realize who you are shouting at? This is an associate of the Immortal of Medicine and the Immortal of Herbs! Young hero, what has occurred? Was a treatment found?”
They say reputation is everything.
Those titles—Immortal of Medicine and Immortal of Herbs—truly commanded respect.
‘Someday, “Venomous Beasts Papa of the World” will be like that too.’
I replied, feeling a slight pang of envy.
“Could you please summon the individuals who arrived with me? I would prefer to explain it to everyone together.”
“Understood. You there! Go and call for this young hero’s companions!”
“Yes, sir!”
The Dragon Fangs must have been camped close by—they arrived almost instantly.
They were even licking their fingers, as if they had just been eating something roasted.
“So-ryong, what happened?”
“Young hero, what was the outcome inside?”
“Please come this way for a moment. We should talk in private.”
“In private? Understood.”
The officer and the Dragon Fangs followed me a short distance toward the village.
They were cautious not to come too close, likely concerned about contagion, but I quietly detailed everything we had discovered.
“This was not an illness.”
“Not an illness?”
“Not an illness, young hero?”
“That is correct, elders. Remnants of the Blood Cult infiltrated this village and employed a Soul-Stealing Technique to harvest the blood of the villagers.”
“The Blood Cult!?”
“It was the Blood Cult?!”
At the mention of the Blood Cult, the officer’s face contorted with fury as he unsheathed his sword.
This was understandable—after all, the Blood Cult scum had once attempted to assassinate a princess, a direct descendant of the imperial line. They were utterly vile.
Furthermore, a large-scale purge of the Blood Cult was actively ongoing throughout the Central Plains.
Srrrng.
“Where are they!? Those wretches!”
The officer drew his sword and yelled—clearly less powerful than me, yet causing a commotion despite the actual suspects being absent.
I urged him to calm down and continued.
“Please compose yourself, Officer. We have subdued the woman who infiltrated this village. However, it appears she is not alone—other Blood Cult members are concealed in neighboring villages as well.”
“What!?”
“Is this true, young hero?”
As anticipated, the news that the Blood Cult was hiding in other villages stunned them.
I promptly requested a search and arrest operation.
“Yes, I obtained this information from interrogating the woman. I am certain of it. As the Blood Cult members are trained in martial arts, I request that the five of you aid the officer in apprehending them.”
“Understood, young hero.”
“Understood!”
And so, the operation to capture the Blood Cult members commenced.
“Where do we begin!?”
“Ah, before that—we will require someone to deliver medicine into the village and inform the elders. Also, the woman lying unconscious on the road is one of them, so she must be taken into custody as well.”
Naturally, I did not forget to mention the medicine, the message, and the unconscious woman.
『“So-ryong, you are doing well, correct?”』
Hwa-eun was still guiding me mentally.
***
We advanced with great speed—reminiscent of the German army’s blitzkrieg during the Second World War.
First, we hastened to the nearest village, which was said to contain not one, but two Blood Cult agents.
After running for approximately fifteen minutes, we reached it.
Shortly, the Dragon Fangs and the government troops swept into the village.
A rustling noise emerged from the bushes, followed by the sound of someone gasping for breath and sprinting using light footwork.
Shhhhaaa.
Huff, huff, huff…
Then came my senior’s shout.
“So-ryong, one of them is fleeing in your direction!”
It seemed that, because there were two agents in this village, one had attempted to escape immediately after the other was captured.
Ji-ryong had mentioned that the village’s far side bordered a river, making this the sole exit route—and indeed, the escapee was coming straight toward us.
Positioning ourselves on the anticipated escape path had been a prudent decision.
It was a rapid plan formulated after consulting Ji-ryong and the officer about the landscape, and as expected—Ji-ryong’s assessment was accurate.
“Just as Ji-ryong stated.”
“Let us prepare, young hero.”
Eunbong and Geom-pung stood beside me.
The three of us fanned out—I took the center, Eunbong moved to my right, and Geom-pung to my left.
After a short wait, a man exploded from the underbrush.
He resembled a common cattle thief more than a cultist. As he ran, he evaluated us and then bolted directly at me—exactly as Ji-ryong had forecast.
He had reasoned that because I was young and clad in armor, I would be the clear target—and he was correct.
In the Murim world, martial artists did not wear armor. Doing so labeled you as weak.
In essence, I appeared to be the simplest opponent to overcome.
‘How irritating… Very well, give it your best shot.’
As I intentionally adopted a poor stance, the agent grinned and dashed at me.
His plan was to overpower me.
Eunbong and Geom-pung had distanced themselves deliberately.
The man closed in on me and, in a swift motion, seized my left wrist.
Based on the intelligence Hwa-eun had extracted from the woman, Blood Cult agents specialized in blood-sealing techniques—their primary martial art was the Golden Bind Technique.
Exactly as the intelligence indicated.
But the instant he gripped my wrist and offered a faint smirk…
Just before he could target a pressure point, a sharp cutting sound came from my left arm.
Ssshrk.
“Gkhh!”
The man’s eyes bulged with shock.
This was because while Hyang was coiled around my torso, right arm, and right leg—my left arm was exposed.
So what was on my left arm?
Hongdan.
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
From behind my elbow, Hongdan launched himself outward and cleanly severed the man’s wrist.
An insect’s reflexes are unmatched by any human. He likely never even perceived what struck him.
This is the combat style of the Venomous Beasts Papa!
From the back of my right hand, Hyang’s head appeared, emitting blood-fire poison. From the back of my left hand, Hongdan’s pincers produced a slicing noise as they cut through flesh.
And then, three projectile impacts fired from behind me.
BOOM! BOOM! BAM!
“Gahhhkk!”
The man received headbutts from Seol, Bing, and Dong directly to his chest and chin, and crumpled to the ground.
So I delivered back to him the same line that had once been declared when the Blood Cult assaulted our Sacheon Tang Clan.
“When you stand before King Yeomra, inform him it was So-ryong, the Venomous Beasts Papa, who sent you.”
***
The mission to apprehend the Blood Cult agents continued without pause—it persisted relentlessly for two full days.
“This one is the final one, correct?”
“Yes. We have apprehended everyone the woman identified.”
Although we said “apprehended,” there was truly only one alive.
The others all bit into poison capsules concealed in their teeth and ended their own lives.
Five took their own lives, and one remained.
While we were taking a brief rest back in the initial village, hauling another corpse who had died from his capsule, an officer rode up on horseback and dismounted quickly to report to the commander.
“Sir! A peculiar sickness has emerged in another village nearby!”
“Another outbreak!?”
The officer had not yet reported to his superiors that Blood Cult agents were hiding in the region, suspecting there might still be one the woman had not disclosed.
And it did seem there could be another one, just as he suspected.
But the subsequent part of the report felt unusual.
“Yes, sir. However, the symptoms are somewhat different from those in this village.”
“How so?”
“No one in the village awakens until the sun is well up in the sky, and they all claim… they are dreaming.”
“What do you mean by that!?”
It was undoubtedly a different manifestation of symptoms than we had previously encountered.