Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang Novel - Chapter 465

Chapter 465
—Myuuu!
—Tsrurrrt! 『Over there, Father!』
Following Moji’s exclamation, Cho indicated a direction with his antenna.
I gestured the same way and addressed the party.
“They’re pointing that way. We should proceed.”
“Understood, So-ryong.”
“Y-Yes. Let’s go.”
Now that our pact was formally sealed with Gun Hye-rin, the Young Mistress of the Heavenly Demon Cult, and our terms were settled, she had officially joined our company.

However, before we could depart to seek the Thousand-Year Black and White Serpents, a final duty remained—dealing with the demonic cultivators still scattered throughout the region.
Abandoning the area now would leave the martial artists of Sichuan vulnerable to the remaining fiendish practitioners. We needed to eliminate this threat first.
Gun Hye-rin had pursued the remnants of the Blood Cult for a crucial reason: if those maniacs instigated a significant disaster, it would reveal her covert operatives and devastate their attempts to restore the cult.
She had almost no followers left after the collapse and had only just managed to increase their number sixfold. Any setback now would be catastrophic—hence her decisive action.
In this regard, our objectives were perfectly matched.

“Alright, kids, move out!”
—Tsrurrr. 『Yes, Father! Let’s go, Sister Yeondu!』
—Shaaa. 『Agreed. Let’s depart, Cho.』
After relaying the heading to Hwa-eun and Gun Hye-rin, I gave the order. Instantly, Yeondu and Cho rose into the air.
As we ascended, the five masked cultists below gazed up at us, their voices tinged with anxiety.
“Young Mistress! A-Are you certain you will be safe?!”
“This… this is of no consequence.”
Perhaps they were concerned seeing their Young Mistress airborne while entwined in a giant serpent. Maybe it was lingering trauma from the earlier beatings by snake spirit beasts, or fear of her departing with martial artists from the Central Plains.
Or perhaps Gun Hye-rin simply suffered from a fear of heights.
The moment we launched, her complexion turned ashen, and she looked on the verge of retching.
“Are you alright?”
She swallowed thickly and nodded with strained composure.
“I-I am fine. Kyahhh—!”
But the instant the wind rushed past her ears and the snakes gained velocity, she let out a scream reminiscent of someone on their first rollercoaster ride.
“Kyaaaaaaaa—!”
“Hey, could you try to be a little quieter…”
“Ggggh… v-very well…”
She just barely suppressed her voice, clenching her jaw and fighting through the sickness.
Just as the screaming seemed to cease—another shrill cry split the air.
“Hyiii-kyyaaaaa!!”
…This one had an oddly indecent quality to it.
‘Woman, are you trying to inform the entire province of Sichuan that the Heavenly Demon Cult’s Young Mistress is flying up here?!’
We had just agreed to confine knowledge of this arrangement to the four on our side and the six on theirs. At this rate, she was going to rouse the entire region.
I scowled and turned to look at her—then noticed something unusual about her immaculate white skin.
‘Hm? What’s this… all raised?’
Goosebumps.
They covered her entire body.
But mere flight wouldn’t cause this, so I tilted my head—and saw the cause.
Moji and Soji were attached to her.
The two little gluttons were snuggled against Gun Hye-rin’s form… licking her neck.
‘…What? What in the world is this?’ I suddenly recalled how Yeondu had offered no objection to allowing Gun Hye-rin to ride her.
The children typically only permit me, Hwa-eun, Sister Seol, Gungbong, and Unmirang to approach them.
They are cautious of all others—yet here they were, clinging to Gun Hye-rin without any hesitation.
And licking her, no less?
I inquired of Yeondu silently.
‘Yeondu, why did you allow her to ride you before?’
—Shaaa. Ah, Moji and ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) Soji requested it. Those two…
Before she could finish, a miserable wail erupted.
“Huwaaaah! C-Can you please control these creatures?!”
Turning, I saw Gun Hye-rin was nearly in tears.
I called out to the two troublesome hitchhikers.
“You two?”
—Myuuu.
—Myuuuu.
They whined back.
I looked to Cho for a translation and saw her struggling to contain her laughter. Yeondu added helpfully:
—Tsrurrrt. 『Father, they request that you tell the food container to be quiet. Pfffft.』
—Shaaa. They stated, “We wanted to ride her because she is a food container…”
“Food container?”
In the Central Plains, a sik-hap typically means a box used to carry meals on a journey—essentially a lunchbox or picnic hamper.
In other words… they viewed her as a walking meal.
Looking between Moji, Soji, and the pitifully sobbing Gun Hye-rin, I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Pfft!”
I understood.
Moji and Soji were referring to the revered Young Mistress of the Heavenly Demon Cult as… their personal snack box.
The licking wasn’t a sign of fondness. They were consuming her demonic energy.
‘Well… I suppose to my children, a demonic cultivator of the Young Mistress’s caliber is merely a convenient source of sustenance.’
Nevertheless, they would need to preserve their strength for the upcoming task. So I sent a mental message to Cho.
‘Cho, instruct Moji and Soji not to drain too much energy from the snack box. We’ll require them to be prepared later. Kekeke.’
—Tsrurt. Understood, Father.
Shortly after, the two reluctantly detached themselves from her, sulking.
And I began to ponder—perhaps what they needed was a wet nurse.
‘These little ones must be famished. Maybe it is time we located a feeder.’
I had assumed Moji and Soji were absorbing energy from the environment, but it appeared their necessary sustenance was demonic qi.
And I possessed no means of generating that.
Learning demonic arts solely for their benefit would turn me into an enemy of the orthodox world.
I did have some ma-dan pellets, but… those were essentially their own waste—compressed droppings from before.
There was no chance they would consume those again.
So we required someone to supply qi. A living power source, essentially.
‘It’s not as if we need those pellets anymore regardless. I could always conscript someone under a servant contract…’
Truthfully, it was an idea worth contemplating.
‘Simply avoid getting caught, and it will be acceptable.’
As I reflected on how proactively I ought to live my life—
Because, honestly, constant anxiety over “What if I am discovered? What if I fail?” leads nowhere.

***
Thirty-three demonic cultivators had been tricked by the Blood Cult, administered mysterious pills, and lured into Sichuan under false circumstances.
Twelve had already been dispatched by Sichuan’s martial artists. Of the remaining twenty-one, Hwa-eun and Gun Hye-rin had swiftly eliminated eighteen.
It became a standard procedure: Moji and Soji would find the targets, and the two women would dispose of them—occasionally within a single day.
Frankly, locating them was more tiresome than killing them.
“I am beginning to feel that a quick death is too generous for them. Next time, I may prolong it.”
“I concur. Considering their actions, they merit a fate worse than a swift end. However, time is limited—if you must torture them, be expedient.”
“Heh. I am starting to believe we are truly kindred spirits.”
Their shared rage—one whose cult had been insulted, the other whose wedding had been despoiled—was a relentless force.
“Aaaargh!”
We stood deep within the northeastern woods of Sichuan.
Three demonic cultivators and five Blood Cult scoundrels remained—the final group.
It had taken three days without sleep to reach this moment.
The three demonic cultivators were already deceased. The remaining five from the Blood Cult were now being questioned.
They were ordered to reveal everything they knew.
“Guh…”
“Did another one perish?”
“Hye-rin, I instructed you to keep the talkative ones alive.”
“My apologies, Hwa-eun. I crushed him without thinking. He felt precisely like a grub.”
The two had become so familiar over the preceding days that they now used given names.
It was difficult to believe this was the same Hwa-eun who once cautioned me to avoid demonic cultists.
“Inform the others they will be spared if they talk.”
“Understood. Though I cannot guarantee I won’t crush them if they dawdle.”
As Gun Hye-rin employed a torture technique purportedly inherited from the Heavenly Demon Cult, the cultists perished one after another.
Or perhaps they were dead before a choice could be made.
Finally, the fifth and last man, shaking and shattered, divulged all he knew.
“…T-That is everything! I-I swear, I know nothing else!”
“Is that so? Then perish.”
“W-Wait! You promised—!”
“That was her promise. I said nothing.”
—Crack.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Gun Hye-rin crushed his skull beneath her foot.
She then turned to her masked followers.
“Purge this area.”
“Yes, Young Mistress!”
As the five masked men began sanitizing the site, Hwa-eun spoke.
“He spoke truthfully.”
I turned to look.
From the corpses of the dead demonic cultivators, reddish, parasite-like creatures were emerging.
“Ah, those vile fiends from the Five Venoms Sect.”
This explained how they had continued to emanate demonic energy even after limb loss.
They resembled enormous parasites—similar to tapeworms that can reach lengths exceeding ten meters—but artificially altered.
The true distinction lay in their nourishment.
While common tapeworms absorb nutrients from intestines, these abominations fed exclusively on demonic qi, growing within the host and magnifying their internal power.
Upon reaching the brain, they channeled demonic qi directly into it, transforming the host into a frenzied berserker.
We had missed them earlier because we hadn’t thoroughly inspected such tainted corpses.
Who would willingly examine bodies reeking of malignant energy?
Only by channeling pure qi deep into the corpse would these entities emerge.
“Incredible. The Five Venoms Sect truly created this filth.”
As I recoiled at the notion, I noticed the sky had grown dark around us.
Then one of the masked subordinates announced:
“It is finished, Young Mistress.”
I glanced around. Using Bone-Fire Powder, they had dissolved the corpses and eradicated all evidence. The sun had set during the operation.
With the cleanup concluded, Gun Hye-rin looked to me.
“Has your associate not arrived yet?”
“They will be here shortly.”
“Incidentally… we agreed this would remain known only to us. Are you certain adding another is permissible?”
“It is not a person, so it is acceptable.”
“…?”
Right on cue, the nearby underbrush rustled. Alarmed, Gun Hye-rin and her men gripped their weapons.
Then, from within the shrubs, emerged a massive twin-headed serpent.
It was Hwanji and Hwana.
—Shuu. 『So-ryong-nim, we have come.』
—Shhh. 『We are present.』
“Gaaah!”
“W-What in the—!”
Then Cheong-yu Sojeo revealed herself astride the serpent’s back.
The six cultists fell utterly silent, their mouths agape.
A moment later, Gun Hye-rin, collecting herself, asked:
“Is… is that the giant serpent? And that… is it a serpent or a human?”
I assumed the first question referred to my threat about stationing a giant snake at the Heavenly Demon Cult’s gates if they broke their vow. The second likely pertained to Cheong-yu Sojeo.
I smiled.
“These are Hwanji and Hwana. And this is Cheong-yu Sojeo, the Queen of All Serpents.”
“Q-Queen?”
“All serpents?”
As the six stared, bewildered and speechless, I dismissed Hwanji and Hwana.
We were maintaining a small group for the next phase.
The team journeying to the sacred ground at Mingsha Mountain in Gansu: myself, Hwa-eun, and Gun Hye-rin.
Plus Cho, Yeondu, Cheong-yu Sojeo, Moji, Soji, and Jeokwol in stealth mode, clinging quietly to my back.
“Compose yourself. Let’s go.”
“V-Very well.”
Still stunned by Cheong-yu Sojeo’s arrival, Gun Hye-rin required a prompt to act.
She turned to her subordinates and issued the command:
“Execute your mission until we return!”
“Yes, Young Mistress!”
One might question what mission remained now that Sichuan was secure.
But they still had a vital part to play.
If the demonic cultivators vanished abruptly, the martial world would grow suspicious. Inquiries might begin for me or Hwa-eun.
Therefore, these cultists would periodically reveal themselves to the martial artists, sustaining the illusion that the purge continued.
A game of cat and mouse.
“An impeccable stratagem.”
As Cho and Yeondu carried us into the sky—myself, Cheong-yu Sojeo, Hwa-eun, and Gun Hye-rin—the five masked cultists dispersed to their assigned posts.