Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang Novel - Chapter 514

Chapter 514
Our retreat became a rhythm of flight, pause, and flight again.
This was by design—we were meticulously managing our speed.
We would burst past the Five Venoms Sect, put a hundred meters between us, only to be engaged again when Hoja closed the distance, and the conflict would recommence.
To elaborate on the process:
Tang Hwa-eun and Gun Hye-rin would confront the Five Venoms Sect leader and force him into a retreat.
Then they would soar in my direction and unleash a storm of palm strikes against the foes attempting to barricade the riverbanks.
With the way momentarily cleared, I would proceed along the watercourse with Seom and Byeok—just for the two women to be cut off once more by the pursuing Five Venoms Lord, and the entire sequence would start anew.
—THUMP!
“Ugh!”
It occurred again.
Gun Hye-rin met the Five Venoms Lord in the air and was thrown backward.
Her arm dangled uselessly—having taken a fierce blow from his palm strike.
As she hurtled back, Tang Hwa-eun and Cho lunged forward to cut off the Five Venoms Lord and Hoja, releasing a synchronized palm assault.
—BOOM!
The Five Venoms Lord parried the combined attack and let out a roaring laugh.
“Hahaha! You women have some fight in you! Excellent. Docile quarry is so dull. Struggle all you like—see how far it gets you.”
“Tch. Are you unharmed, Lady Gun?”
“I-I’m alright.”
Hwa-eun shot a look back as she inquired. Gun Hye-rin winced but corrected her posture.
She appeared to be in genuine distress.
『Lady Gun, you aren’t truly injured, are you?』
I asked over the group chat, concerned.
It looked completely authentic.
You know that expression when a playful hit among friends accidentally connects too hard? It was exactly that.
『No. It was an act. I focused my protective inner energy into one spot to mitigate the force.』
“Oh. That’s a skill?”
“Hehe. Have you forgotten my title? I am the So-Cheonma, am I not? Naturally, I can manage a minor thing like this. It’s merely a matter of physical control.”
I should have known—Gun Hye-rin was endlessly resourceful.
Her acting as my public consort is poor, and her facial cues often unsettle me—but when it involves controlling her body? She is unparalleled.
I was just admiring her inventive use of martial skill when—
Another volley of projectiles suddenly showered down toward me.
—Whiz. Whiz!
Those Five Venoms scoundrels on the shore were launching weapons again, forcing me to plunge beneath the water.
—Swish. Splash-splash.
The weapons cut into the surface but rapidly lost their drive.
They had already mindlessly leaped into the river on two prior occasions.
After being electrocuted by Seom and Byeok’s shocks, they had wisened up. Now, whenever I emerged, they would simply shoot darts or arrows from the safety of the banks.
They didn’t grasp the principles of electricity, but they had certainly learned that entering the water meant death.
However, without any inner energy reinforcement, those weapons became powerless the instant they touched the water. They posed no threat to me.
Hah. If you aren’t channeling energy into them, save your effort. You won’t even touch me.
I congratulated myself, thinking that no one beneath the rank of a genuine master could harm me now.
Then—immediately after coming up for air—
I noticed more formidable-looking opponents pushing through at the water’s edge. They shouldered other fighters aside and seized throwing weapons.
Then—with a surge—visible inner energy coalesced around their hands.
They were masters. Skilled enough to imbue their weapons with true qi.
Damn it! I spoke too quickly!
I cursed my careless words.
I submerged again at once, stretching my arms and torso over Seom and Byeok to protect them.
Those strikes were certainly going to penetrate the water—and I refused to let the children be injured.
So I covered them with my own body.
—Swish. Thud!
—Crackle. Sizzle-sizzle!
The water’s surface churned fiercely.
A sound like popping beans echoed through my entire frame.
I prepared for agony—certain I would be wounded.
But… oddly, there was no pain.
Wait… It doesn’t hurt?
『So-ryong! Are you unharmed!?』
“Master, are you okay!?”
“Uh… I’m fine?”
“You’re fine!?”
I ripped off my drenched, torn shirt beneath the water—and saw the clean holes where the projectiles had passed through it.
But my skin?
Unharmed.
In fact, my muscles seemed… fortified.
And I understood immediately.
I had unconsciously triggered the Iron Tortoise Art.
Ah! The Iron Tortoise Art!
During my training with the Murim Alliance Leader, he said—if you can maintain this art perpetually, you have achieved true mastery. But even if you can only summon it in critical moments, it signifies you have entered the realm of ascension.
I had attained that level.
Just as Grandpa stated—martial artists evolve in life-or-death situations. It was true.
Excellent!
Invigorated, I raised my head above the water again. The Five Venoms warriors were astonished.
I couldn’t hear them over Hoja’s thunderous wingbeats, but from their lip movements, they were clearly shocked I had withstood an energy-infused attack.
Hold on… does this mean I can entirely negate qi attacks as well?
I read their lips more intently, and grasped a crucial detail I had previously missed.
I had always assumed acquiring Cheongwol’s trait simply made my physique tougher, like hers.
But now, after being directly hit by weapons charged with inner energy, without a single mark?
It was more than just toughness.
I was impervious.
Even considering the water’s dampening effect, those weapons were still carrying force that defied ordinary physics.
Yet they had done nothing to me.
This meant—I had inherited Cheongwol’s carapace capability.
This is near invulnerability.
Because of Cheongwol, I now possessed the same energy-nullifying armor as the Ten-Thousand-Year Stone Armored Scorpion.
A thrill of excitement coursed through me.
I understood I needed to dedicate myself to martial practice more earnestly from now on.
Gun Hye-rin was already a prodigy with phenomenal adaptability, and Tang Hwa-eun was matching her pace.
Meanwhile, I was also in the Flower Realm, but deficient in practical application and foundational strength. I hadn’t rightfully claimed my position among the masters.
As a man, certainly—excelling in one area is often sufficient. But for the family’s standing, I knew I must be more powerful than Hwa-eun.
But now, with the Iron Tortoise Art combined with Cheongwol’s carapace?
I had obtained the supreme defense in all of Murim.
And frankly, that gave me a sense that rigorous training might no longer be necessary.
If a confrontation arose, I would just hunker down, activate the Iron Tortoise, and let my adversaries wear themselves out.
Then I would only need to retaliate with a dose of toxin—be it Cho’s venom or Hwayang’s acid—delivered by a precise Toad Explosive Palm.
That would be enough to secure a win.
Regardless of the enemy—a single strike, a brief wait, and they would succumb to their own poison. Without fail.
“Incredible—this is it. This is true invincibility! I’m a fortress, yet I wield a lethal, lingering attack!”
Just as I was reveling in the fact that I had essentially gained an invulnerability skill—
“Kyah!”
I heard Hwa-eun cry out.
Snapping my head around, I saw her tumbling from the sky, torn away from Cho, and smashing into the river below.
Cho fell right after her, also plunging down.
『Wow! That looked incredibly convincing!』
I thought she was merely inspired by Gun Hye-rin’s physical performance and had committed to a full-scale dive, bringing her daughter along for added effect.
The sort of stunt that could deceive anyone.
I commended her via the group chat—but then Gun Hye-rin’s panicked voice cut in.
『T-That was real!』
“What!?”
I protected my back from the falling weapons and swam desperately toward where Hwa-eun had landed.
Underwater, Cho had already regained awareness. She raised Hwa-eun from the depths and broke through the surface.
“Hwa-eun, are you okay? What of Hyangi? Hongdan?”
“Haa… Haa… I—I apologize, So-ryong. I made an error. I didn’t anticipate his knowledge of Penetrating Force. Are you two unharmed?”
Tssrrr. “Hyangi is alright… but Mother…”
Hwa-eun gripped her chest, a trickle of blood escaping her lips.
Cho shook her wet antennae and communicated.
Tsssrrt. “Mother absorbed the main force of it, but the concussive blast threw all of us from the sky.”
Kiiii!
Hyangi and Hongdan seemed fine, but the attack must have utilized Penetrating Force—a technique that ignores external protection. It likely passed through Hwa-eun and created a shockwave that downed all three.
Damn it—so I’m not utterly invincible. Penetrating Force remains a threat…
Just as I was soaring on the confidence of my new defense, this occurred.
I still worried if Hwa-eun could continue fighting when—
The Five Venoms Lord, having repelled Gun Hye-rin, flew directly at us and scoffed.
“So this is the conclusion? What a amusing pastime.”
Just as he smirked, convinced triumph was his—
—WOOOOOOONG. WOOOOONG.
The humming of wings abruptly intensified from downstream.
A recognizable sound.
“They’ve arrived!”
I yelled, overjoyed. But the Five Venoms Lord merely sneered.
“It seems your swiftest spirit beast—the Golden-Furred Wasp Queen—has come first. But what of it? They are only mid-grade in a swarm. Alone, they are low-grade refuse. This concludes before they become relevant. All forces—attack!”
As he called for a total onslaught—
I sent a message through the group chat.
『Hwa-eun! Can you hurl me at that fiend!?』
“Hurl you?!”
“Quickly!”
“V-Very well!”
Without a second thought, Hwa-eun seized me and launched me straight at the Five Venoms Lord mounted on Hoja.
As I soared toward him, I mobilized the energy of the Iron Tortoise Art, empowering both hands with the Toad Explosive Palm.
『Gun Hye-rin! You must dislodge that fiend from Hoja!』
“Understood!”
Gun Hye-rin acknowledged—and then started drawing in all the malevolent energy from the air at a high altitude.
Her presence expanded, dark and immense.
The Five Venoms Lord’s eyes widened at the abrupt transformation.
“D-Demonic energy!?”
Until this point, she had only circulated her power internally—but now Gun Hye-rin released her demonic energy fully.
A sphere resembling a black sun materialized around her.
As I approached, the Five Venoms Lord appeared cautious of my explosive palm, and veered to evade it.
“A missed strike is worthless!”
He shouted, confident that evasion would spare him from both my blow and Hye-rin’s technique.
But in the very next moment—
The black sun shattered into pieces, and Gun Hye-rin materialized behind him.
She had slipped from Yeondu’s form and translocated behind him as if by teleportation.
The black sun had been a feint—while he was preoccupied with it, she had executed her move.
Her fist was already against his back.
Baring her teeth in a fierce grin, she bellowed:
“Alright! Try dodging this! Heavenly Demon’s Infinite Fist!”
—CLAAANG!
The noise was like steel crashing against steel as her fist met his defensive inner energy.
“GAAAH!”
—CRAAAAAAASH!
Blood erupted from his mouth as he was blasted like a shooting star into the riverbank.
Simultaneously, the Golden-Furred Wasp Kings targeted Hoja.
Even without commands, they identified their mark precisely.
—BWOOOOONG.
—BWOOOOOOOOONG.
I had feared that Hoja’s wings would produce a shriek capable of disrupting their attack.
I had even contemplated assaulting him directly just to stop that sound.
But it appeared their own wing vibrations neutralized his frequencies—because the wasps charged in without hesitation, enveloping Hoja entirely.
“Everyone—attach and generate the heat!”
Alarmed, Hoja thrashed in the air, snapping his mandibles wildly in an attempt to destroy the wasps.
But the instant one landed on his back, the rest followed suit, adhering to his body all at once.
In seconds, a spherical cluster of wasps formed around Hoja in midair.
He dropped straight toward the riverbank, utterly shrouded.
Even then, the Golden-Furred Wasps persisted.
They rotated furiously, generating a ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) maelstrom of heat around him.
That swarm was undoubtedly emitting fierce, oppressive heat.
BWOOOONG! BWONG! VRRRRR! BWOOOOOONG!
One of them shrieked in triumph.
“Witness this?! This is how the minuscule overcomes the colossal!”
What the Golden-Furred Wasp Kings were executing was a method called Bee Ball Defense.
A tactic employed by certain Asian honeybees to eliminate giant hornets.
When a predator breaches the hive, the bees swarm over it and vibrate intensely, producing extreme internal heat.
They can collectively elevate the temperature beyond 40°C.
The hornet’s maximum heat tolerance is approximately 44–46°C.
But honeybees can endure up to 48–50°C.
Exploiting that mere 2-degree margin, they roast their adversaries alive.
So what if they are individually low-grade?
Even the lowest in the hierarchy can defeat the highest—such is the wonder of the insect world.
And with this piquant Fabre as their instructor?
Triumph was assured.