Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang Novel - Chapter 30

Chapter 30

With a clenched fist and a tight jaw, the bitter, acidic liquid stung my tongue before flowing smoothly down my throat. It burned its way into my stomach, hitting with the intensity of a strong liquor. I could trace its entire path, as though my esophagus and stomach were announcing their presence with every drop.

Amid all this chaos, a single thought eclipsed all others.
More than anything else, I had just had my first kiss… taken from me by the queen bee.
Yes, that was the notion that completely occupied my mind.
‘I always wanted my first kiss to be meaningful… an exchange of true feeling… but… my romantic dream…’

I was powerless to resist as the bees clung to me, their hold tightening with every struggle.
Finally, when I stopped fighting and let my energy fade, the liquid the queen bee had given me continued to pour down my throat.
Gulp. Gulp.
A moment later, I felt that brief yet endless kiss finally conclude as the queen bee tapped my head gently with her antennae.
*Chirp*
As her mouth withdrew from mine, a thin strand of liquid briefly connected us before snapping.
Utterly drained, I collapsed, and the bees hauled me out of the hollow tree. They retreated into their hole, leaving me standing there alone.

‘Did they just use me for their amusement… is that how it is, even for a queen bee…?’
The sheer absurdity of it all left me dazed, but I managed to stumble toward the entrance of the training hall.
Thud. Thud.
Walking in a confused haze, I hadn’t yet fully processed that the golden hornet queen had stolen my first kiss, but the sour aftertaste in my mouth began to take on a new significance.

‘What is this…? Wait, could it be… that liquid I just…’
Just as I started to understand what I had ingested, a fog of confusion clouded my mind. But as it lifted, a strange discomfort began to spread through my body.
With every step, a peculiar sensation overtook me.
A weird tingling, something entirely odd.
At first, I thought it might be my shattered mental state after the encounter with the golden hornet queen, but it wasn’t nausea—it was a strange feeling low in my abdomen, just below my navel.
Thump. Thump.
Focusing on it, I could feel a tiny pulse in my lower belly, a subtle, rhythmic throbbing.

By the time I reached the training hall entrance, that faint sensation had intensified, and other symptoms began to appear across my body.
My vision tinted red, and a scalding heat surged through me.
No, it wasn’t just a feeling—my sight was genuinely turning crimson, and the heat within me was very real.
The small pulse in my lower abdomen was now a distinct, steady throb.
Thump. Thump.
The heat rushing through my veins, combined with the throbbing in my core, made my head spin.
And throughout my body, I felt something stretching out, steadily moving along a specific pathway.

‘Wait, this is definitely the lower dantian I feel when practicing the Five Poisons Returning to the Origin Art! The queen bee’s honey is said to boost two months of cultivation… so then, what the queen bee consumes…’
The idea that the pulse in my abdomen was connected to my dantian entered my mind, and just as I began to grasp why it was reacting this way…
Through my dimming, red-hazed vision, I saw the blurred figures of Tang Mu-seong and my sister running toward me.
“So-ryong!”
“So-ryong!”
And then, an immense, consuming heat swallowed me whole.

***
Upon hearing that So-ryong had been taken by the golden hornet queens, Tang Mu-seong and Tang Hwa-eun rushed over in a panic.
The two arrived breathless from running, just in time to see So-ryong stumble out of the training hall entrance with a dazed, distant look on his face.
Thud.
So-ryong swayed for an instant before suddenly collapsing like a felled tree.
“So-ryong!”
“So-ryong!”
Before anyone else could move, Tang Hwa-eun shot forward faster than Tang Mu-seong, swift as a swallow, and caught So-ryong in her arms.
She immediately checked his condition.
His face was flushed a deep red, and his breath carried a strangely sweet fragrance.
Furthermore, a bizarre heat was radiating from his body.
The arms holding him were growing uncomfortably warm.
“What is this!? Grandfather, something is wrong with So-ryong. His body is burning up!”
“Step aside!”
Tang Mu-seong hurried over, checked So-ryong’s pulse, and stared at him with wide, alarmed eyes.
“It seems he’s only recently begun cultivating, yet he’s ingested a highly potent elixir!”
“An elixir?”
“Yes, I don’t know what it was, but he swallowed something incredibly powerful. There’s no time to lose. I will guide the elixir’s energy; you must provide Dharma protection!”
“Yes! Grandfather!”
It was strange; So-ryong had said the golden hornet queen’s honey took a long time to produce, so finding he had consumed something so potent was unexpected.
Tang Mu-seong hastily stripped So-ryong’s upper garments and began to guide the energy of the elixir.
No one knew just how powerful this elixir was, but despite Tang Mu-seong’s sweating and strenuous efforts, So-ryong’s blood vessels and meridians throbbed with rampant energy.
It felt as though they might burst at any second.
The three centipedes clinging to Hwa-eun’s body seemed agitated and began crawling up and down her anxiously.
“Don’t worry. Daddy will be fine.”
The three centipedes, still restless, skittered over Hwa-eun.
When Hwa-eun warned them that getting closer to So-ryong’s body could be dangerous for them, they finally settled down.
They were truly mysterious creatures.

***
Ughhh.
The first thing I became aware of as consciousness returned was a cool sensation on my forehead.
I slowly opened my eyes to see my sister’s concerned face. She was gently dabbing my forehead with a damp towel, her own cheeks faintly flushed.
Then, I heard her voice, full of worry.
With an anxious expression, she asked about my condition.
“So-ryong? Are you awake?”
“W-where am I?”
Since this wasn’t my room, I asked. My sister, still wiping sweat from my brow, explained.
“You’re in the Tang Clan’s medical hall. We heard you were dragged off by the golden hornet queens and rushed to the training hall, but you came out and collapsed. Grandfather and I brought you here. Do you remember what happened?”
Right…
That’s right. I had been taken by the bees and… had my first kiss stolen.
I’m sorry, sister!
I wanted to share it with you, but… to have my first kiss taken by a bee… A wave of sorrow made me lower my head.
“Are you okay, So-ryong? What’s wrong? Does something hurt? Should I call grandfather?”
But knowing it would only make her worry more, I took a deep breath and replied.
“N-no, it’s just… for a moment…”
My sister, still concerned, pressed on.
“What did you eat? Grandfather says it seems you swallowed a mid or high-level elixir. I don’t know, but it must have been from the golden hornet queen. Was it neidan (internal energy)?”
Elixir? Right… I had a feeling I’d been fed royal jelly…
My sister’s words reminded me of what I’d completely forgotten. The queen bee had fed me royal jelly.
And thinking about it, what happened with the queen bee wasn’t really a kiss—it was more like a nutritional exchange among bees.
I provided the hive, and she was merely offering me sustenance.
It was definitely royal jelly, so it wasn’t a kiss… more like being fed.
And moreover, it was an act devoid of any emotional intent.
Thank goodness, it doesn’t count.
Relieved, I answered my sister’s question.
“Ah, yes, what I ate… The queen bee fed me the special food she consumes, though I don’t know its precise name. If I had to give it one, perhaps bee queen’s milk?”
“Bee queen’s milk?”
Since explaining royal jelly required some context about bees, I continued, sensing her curiosity.
“There are three types of bees in a hive.”
“Three types? Didn’t you say there are just queen and worker bees? Is there another?”
I had mentioned the queen bee before, so I nodded and went on.
“Yes, there are worker bees, drones, and the queen bee. As I said, the queen bee lays eggs for her entire life, and the worker bees only work.”
“What about the drones?”
Seeing my sister’s curiosity about the drones, I smiled inwardly, anticipating her reaction.
I knew exactly what kind of response this would get.
“Well, the drones…”
“The drones?”
“Their sole purpose… is to share the pleasures of love with the queen bee… That is all they do. They are incapable of anything else.”
“…”
My sister fell silent, processing this new information.
After a moment, she spoke, her face slightly reddened.
“Hmm. I see. Well then, tell me more about this bee queen’s milk.”
Her expression returned to normal as she composed herself, and I found it incredibly endearing.
“Yes, the worker bees gather nectar and pollen to eat and survive, but only the workers consume these.”
“Then what does the queen bee eat?”
“The queen bee eats only bee queen’s milk, provided for her by the worker bees, from the moment she is born until the day she dies.”
Technically, worker bees only feed the larvae royal jelly for a short time before switching them to honey and pollen. Honey is for energy, pollen for protein.
But the queen bee consumes only royal jelly her entire life.
In a way, it’s like a kind of bee milk.
“Oh, I see. So she eats that her whole life.”
As my sister nodded thoughtfully at my explanation, I emphasized a crucial point.
“But bee queen’s milk has unique properties.”
“Unique properties?”
“A worker bee typically lives only about a month and a half. But a queen bee, who lives on bee queen’s milk, can live up to sixty times longer. Quite amazing, right?”
“Ah… So…”
I expected my sister to react with surprise, something like, “Wait, the worker only lives a month? And the queen lives sixty times longer?!” But instead, she just nodded calmly.
I was a little disappointed she didn’t react as I’d hoped, but then she smiled brightly and said.
“I understand now. Congratulations, So-ryong. You ate the bee queen’s milk, which was supposed to grant two months of cultivation, correct?”
“Congratulations? Right… You mentioned that, didn’t you?”
I tilted my head, confused by her sudden congratulations, and my sister continued.
“Since the cultivation method you’re using is the Tang Clan’s introductory method, the Five Poisons Returning to the Origin Art, you couldn’t fully absorb the elixir’s power. But because you consumed bee queen’s milk, which grants two months of cultivation, you’ve received sixty times that amount. You’ve gained ten years of cultivation, just as you said.”
“Ten years of cultivation?”
“Congratulations on your special fortune.”
As I focused inward on my cultivation energy, I could feel it clearly now—the dantian, once the size of a pea, was no longer small. A massive surge of power pulsed within it.
“This…?”
“Now, So-ryong, you possess cultivation at the level of the Ten-Poison Body. Once you pass the Tang Clan’s tests, you will be officially recognized at the Ten-Poison level.”
The joy of gaining such immense power was immediately dampened by the overwhelming challenge this presented. I hadn’t expected to be thrown straight into a major examination.
The tests would involve memorizing thousands of poisonous substances, and I began to feel utterly daunted.
‘I never thought studying could be this difficult…’
Just as I was becoming overwhelmed by the prospect, my sister spoke again, her voice now carrying a shy tone.
“By the way… later, you should look in the silver mirror. The bee queen’s milk… I believe it may have had some additional effects.”
“Silver mirror?”
She mentioned a mirror, and when I looked at her, I noticed her face had turned pink again, just like it was when I first awoke.