Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang Novel - Chapter 405

Chapter 405
“I can’t control my own body!”
“M-my body! Hngggg!”
The guide’s shrill cry shattered the night’s calm.
He didn’t answer my question, only continued to scream.
One by one, the children who had been watching from the tent entrance now emerged, their eyes fixed on the man sobbing while he clawed frantically at the ground with his bare hands. The bizarre contradiction seemed to captivate them.
-Tsrrrt? 『That man is crying.』
-Kssht?
-Kuuu? 『Was his head injured?』
-Skrrk. 『Tch. No. He’s just scared because the beating wasn’t convincing enough. Yeolbi acted the same once.
Hyung, this one didn’t receive a proper lesson before. Where is that stick? I had a suspicion you were holding back.
A couple of solid hits will bring him to his senses.』
That was Orange, tutting with clear disdain.
He was obviously convinced the guide was putting on another act—just like last time.
However, seeing the man digging with his eyes clenched shut, beads of cold sweat on his brow, I knew this was no performance.
His voice was also dripping with pure fear.
‘Alright, this isn’t sleepwalking. Then what in the world is it? Could he truly be that traumatized?’
I was on the verge of moving to intervene when noise started coming from Yo-hwa’s tent close by.
With the guide’s screams so loud, it would have been weirder if nobody had stirred.
“What is that awful sound?”
“There’s some commotion outside.”
“So-ryong?”
“Ugh… It’s that old fool again, isn’t it? I showed mercy earlier due to his age.”
I knew Hu-gae Makgok occupied the position of Second Whip in the Beggars’ Union, a rank just under the Chief Whip.
The knot tied at his waist was a mark of his high standing.
Despite his status, he had been somewhat respectful to the older guide during their journey—using informal speech, yes, but never being outright disrespectful.
At least, that was until now.
After the guide’s previous actions, Hu-gae plainly saw him as deceitful. Now, believing this was another similar trick—just as Orange did—he stormed out of the tent with his sleeves pushed up.
“The Master always taught that a stick speaks best to a beggar. Hard to disagree.”
As he got to the tent flap, Orange passed him a club that looked even more solid than the last one.
-Skrrrk. 『For you, sir.』
“Ahhh, my thanks, executioner.”
-Skraaah. 『Think nothing of it. I’ve raised young ones myself—I understand.』
It was a wordless, understanding moment between two men—even though Hu-gae couldn’t comprehend Orange’s words, they seemed to connect perfectly.
After taking the club, Hu-gae spat into his hands, hitched his sleeves higher, and advanced.
“You defied So-ryong and endangered us all, and now you have the nerve to disturb our rest? This is how we deal with a mad dog!”
I moved swiftly to block his path before he could strike.
“Hold on. Something isn’t right, Hu-gae.”
“Not right? What do you mean?”
“I mean something is seriously off. He claims his body won’t obey him.”
“?”
A visible question mark might as well have appeared above Hu-gae’s head.
Even so, he looked past me at the guide, stepped over, and made to seize him by the collar—
Or, he attempted to.
Shrrrk!
The guide’s ragged clothing ripped apart in Hu-gae’s grip.
His eyes widened in surprise.
“What…? What incredible power is this?”
“P-please! Somebody help me!”
Even with his clothes torn open and his chest exposed, the guide paid no mind. He remained prone, digging into the earth as if he were a part of the ground itself.
From Hu-gae’s reaction, it was clear the guide was displaying unnatural strength. To verify, he tried to shove the man aside.
But the guide didn’t yield an inch.
Hu-gae even adopted a proper grappling stance and tried to haul him backward, yet the guide’s body stayed completely immobile, anchored to the spot.
“That’s… genuinely unsettling,”
“You can say that again.”
“It’s making my skin crawl.”
“Children, you shouldn’t be looking at this.”
-Tsrrrt? 『Why not?』
“It’s… unseemly.”
A half-naked man pressed into the dirt, with another man wrapped around him from behind—it was a sight no one wished to observe for long.
Everyone looked away.
As they did, Gwiseong murmured a quiet suggestion.
“Try using internal energy.”
“He’s exerting so much raw force, I fear my energy might injure him…” Hu-gae replied.
It was a reasonable concern. If the guide was already operating with immense strength, opposing him with internal energy could tear his muscles apart.
Finally, Hu-gae abandoned physical force and attempted to strike a specific pressure point to render him unconscious.
A moment later, his astonished voice cut through the air.
“I targeted the numbing point. But…”
The ma-hyeol—a point that should induce paralysis.
I saw Hu-gae apply pressure clearly. Yet the guide kept digging without any interruption.
“Perhaps you missed?” I inquired.
“No, Master Jaheo—my rank may be beneath yours, but I don’t err on fundamentals like that.”
“Allow me.”
“Please.”
Master Jaheo came forward and performed the same technique—applying precise pressure—but the guide still did not cease.
He continued moving.
Jaheo appeared truly bewildered.
“This is illogical. If he is alive, his pressure points must respond. And yet…”
This discovery shifted the atmosphere entirely.
When he initially said his body was moving independently, we were puzzled. But pressure points having no effect? That was grave.
To a martial artist, it felt fundamentally wrong.
Every living being possesses meridian pathways—conduits for their qi. Applying focused internal energy to these points yields specific results.
Strike the ma-hyeol, and the body is numbed.
Strike the sa-hyeol, and it can be lethal.
The su-hyeol induces sleep, the ah-hyeol takes away speech, and the hun-hyeol causes unconsciousness.
But if none have any effect?
It could signify that the person is effectively deceased—in terms of their energy circulation.
Certainly, pressure points may not work on grandmasters with profound cultivation, or those with unique skills to relocate their points.
But the guide was neither of those things.
“What of the fainting point—the hun-hyeol?”
Hu-gae nodded and swiftly struck the hun-hyeol, but the guide’s hand never paused. He kept digging, like a machine.
“What is happening here?”
“This is… astounding. His pressure points truly aren’t functioning?”
Everyone gazed, dumbfounded, as the truth sank in.
Seol pointed at the guide and said.
“Wait. Something’s different.”
“Different?”
“Yes. He’s stopped making noise.”
“…Now that you say it—”
None of us had registered it until she spoke.
The guide, who had been screaming in terror moments before, had fallen utterly silent.
Hearing this, Hu-gae went to check and suddenly exclaimed, his eyes wide.
“H-he’s unconscious!?”
“He fainted!?”
“But his body is still moving?”
‘He lost consciousness?’
It defied reason. How could someone move with such purpose if they were not awake?
We were all perplexed—but then a realization dawned on me.
The guide had now dug a reasonably deep hole, lowering his upper body. I knelt beside him to see his face.
His eyes were closed—exactly as they were before I woke him earlier.
Back then, he was asleep, yet his body was active. Now, it was identical: he was unconscious, but his body operated autonomously.
This wasn’t a matter of ineffective pressure points—it was evident the points had worked. But his body was still in motion.
“Yo-hwa!”
-Kssht?
I called out to Yo-hwa urgently.
“Restrain him. Leave only his head and hands free, and envelop the rest in silk—use your most pliable thread. Encase him completely.”
-Ksshhhee.
-Shrrrk.
Before I finished speaking, Yo-hwa had scurried over, entangled the guide with her limbs, and begun spinning her silk.
Given her strength, subduing a grown man was trivial.
In moments, the guide’s form started to become a white, spinning cocoon.
“Will he not be harmed? I avoided internal energy earlier for fear of hurting him…”
Hu-gae approached again, clicking his tongue but evidently still worried.
I gave him a reassuring smile.
“It’s alright. Yo-hwa’s silk can expand and contract as necessary. I instructed her to use the most elastic type; the constriction will be gradual. He will be unharmed.”
Yo-hwa’s thread was naturally supple—like an ideal bandage. It would apply firm, steady pressure without causing injury.
“That is a relief. Thank you.”
Soon, the guide was fully restrained.
Even within the cocoon, he continued to shudder and squirm—like a grub bound in its own silk.
“What is this phenomenon?”
“You examine his pulse. Your training in the Beggars’ Union internal arts makes you best suited.”
“Very well.”
His head and wrist had been left exposed for this reason, so checking his pulse was straightforward.
As I gave Yo-hwa a brief appreciative pat on the head, Hu-gae’s voice cried out in shock.
“Wh-what in heaven’s name?!”
He looked ashen.
Master Jaheo turned to him.
“What is it?”
Hu-gae gestured toward the cocooned man, his face a mask of confusion.
“There is something within him.”
“Inside his body?”
That captured everyone’s focus. We all instinctively retreated a step from the guide.
Jaheo moved closer and felt the pulse himself.
“This could be perilous, so pardon me,” he said quietly, then looked toward Hwa-eun.
“There truly is something inside him. But I cannot discern what. Would you examine him, please? The Tang Clan’s understanding of the body is as deep as its mastery of venom.”
“Is it permissible?” she asked, hesitant.
She was uneasy about inspecting a Beggars’ Union member’s body without clear consent.
Jaheo nudged Hu-gae, bringing him back to the moment.
“Y-yes, of course. Please—proceed.”
Hwa-eun stepped forward and delicately felt the guide’s pulse, observing his writhing form.
After a moment, she nodded.
“You are correct. Something is developing inside him. Delicate, thread-like filaments… extending through his entire body. I cannot identify it, but it is active.”
Yet she couldn’t pinpoint what it was.
“I believe… it is directing his movements.”
‘Directing his body? Wait—it can’t be—!’
Hwa-eun’s words ignited a sudden connection in my thoughts.
“Is it possible…?”
“What is it, So-ryong? Have you thought of something?”
“Do you have a notion?” Seol asked.
With both women’s eyes on me, the group’s attention naturally followed.
I looked around, then gave a slow nod.
“I cannot be sure… but I have a suspicion.”
“And that is?”
“The Locust King’s toxin.”
That declaration turned all eyes toward Hwa-eun.
She had stated it wasn’t poison before, and if this was the Locust King’s doing, it questioned her judgment.
“But didn’t Lady Hwa-eun say it was not a poison?”
Hu-gae asked cautiously. I nodded and continued.
“She was correct. It is not a poison in the strictest sense.”
“Then what is it?”
“Do you understand what Cordyceps truly is? Many believe it is a plant. But it is not.”
“Not a plant? Then what?”
“It is a fungus.”
“Cordyceps… is a mushroom?”
Everyone stared blankly. By the understanding of this time, it was a difficult concept.
A full explanation would take too long, so I bypassed the details and gave them the essence. Seol also motioned for me to be concise.
“Yes. It is a peculiar type of fungus that develops inside insects.”
“Alright, but how does that relate to this?”
“Well, fungi like Cordyceps, which live as parasites within insects, possess a certain capability—a horrifying one. They mature inside a host and command its body from within.”
“You mean… like manipulating a puppet?”
It is a relatively new discovery, but some Cordyceps varieties can indeed seize control of an insect’s mind.
“Yes. Certain types compel insects to climb high or dangle from leaves before killing them and fruiting from their heads.”
“Then… are you saying Cordyceps is growing inside the guide’s body?”
“Almost certainly. I suspect that yellow cloud we saw was teeming with Cordyceps spores.”
“Then… what can we do?!”
Truthfully, I didn’t know the complete answer.
But one thing was certain.
“We must locate the Locust King. Quickly. If anyone possesses a cure, it is him. If we delay too long, the fungus inside will…”
“Will… what?”
“…mature.”
“And then?”
I clenched my hand into a fist and slowly opened it.
If we are too late, the mushroom’s fruiting body—its means of reproduction—will erupt from the host’s skull to disperse more spores.