Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang Novel - Chapter 85

Chapter 85

-Chwk!
A strand of silk shot from Yo-hwa’s abdomen, anchoring itself to the cliff face near the second entrance of the bottleneck where everyone was gathered.
A bridge of spider thread now stretched between the jagged central rock and the cliffside.
The instant the web held firm, Yo-hwa wrapped her arms around me and began swiftly crossing the silken line.
-Ksss! Kshhh! Ksshhit!
Even as she moved, she kept chattering—no doubt scolding me about something.
If I were to translate her speech, it probably went something like:
“I’m so angry! I’m going to tell big sister so she can really give you a piece of her mind!”
She was behaving like a fretful wife.
And since she was currently wearing my senior sister’s appearance, it truly felt like I was being nagged by my actual spouse.
-Chrrrrr!
Even Cho, perched on Yo-hwa’s shoulder, nodded along as though she understood every word.
They had been distant since that biting incident, but now they seemed like the best of friends.
‘Sure, go on. Bond over criticizing me. If it means peace at home, I’ll gladly be the one they complain about.’
-Ssssshhhh.
Amidst all the background scolding, Yo-hwa expertly navigated above the vast, churning sea of ants below.
As soon as we touched down from the thread, my senior sister was the first to hurry over.
“So-ryong! Are you all right? Were the demon ants’ fangs venomous? I told you not to get hurt—wait, is that blood!?”
My injuries weren’t even severe, but the sight of them made her anxious.
Even though my Iron Turtle Technique was still developing, proper circulation of internal energy helped prevent serious muscle damage.
I only had minor scrapes, but from her reaction, you would think I was on death’s door.
Just as she began fussing over me, I noticed the area around us growing dim.
I turned my head—
The warriors of the Beast Palace had quietly encircled us.
At some point, they had completely surrounded our group, watching in silent reverence.
Just as my senior sister started to roll up my pant leg to inspect my wounds, the deep voice of the Beast Palace Lord resonated across the area.
“The Beast Palace has been granted a great blessing!”
“A great blessing!”
Behind me, the massive vortex of demon ants continued to swirl.
Before me, the people of the Beast Palace knelt in gratitude, their eyes filled with respect and admiration.
‘Senior sister, must you try to pull my pants up in the middle of my heroic moment…?’
For the first time in my life, I was having a legendary instant—
But instead of looking like a champion, I resembled a farmer preparing to step into a flooded rice field.
***
-Ssssshhhh.
-Sssshhh…
Initially, the sound of the ant vortex had been like a bamboo forest rustling in a powerful gale.
Now, it was more like a soft breeze.
And even that breeze was gradually fading.
By the second day, ants had started collapsing around the edges of the swirling mass.
By the third day, the circular field was carpeted with dead ants.
Demon ants could live for up to two weeks without food.
But without water, their limit was around five days.
And since they had been running nonstop, with no rest, food, or water—
They began falling one by one.
No new ants had entered the bottleneck since the first day.
Now, with the ones inside perishing, the entire colony was nearing extinction.
Only the faint trace of their pheromones would linger in the valley.
-Crunch.
One final ant, stumbling toward my feet, curled up from exhaustion before I stepped on it.
Then, Meng Hu spoke.
“It appears to be finally over.”
“Yes. Most likely…”
Then, with a slightly dissatisfied tone, he muttered:
“Even so… We’re moving now because you asked…”
I understood his hesitation.
The reason we were advancing into the heart of the dying ant colony—
Was entirely my doing.
Technically, we could have waited until every last ant was dead.
But instead, we were entering while some still clung to life.
Why?
We were here to collect something.
This wasn’t just any gathering.
We were here for the queen ant.
By now, most of the workers had died, meaning there was nothing left to protect or tend to her.
In other words, this was the ideal opportunity to capture her.
Whether I could actually raise her…
Well, I would decide after I caught her.
Ants are creatures that live to serve their queen.
If she hadn’t died yet, she had to be in there.
I specialized in venomous creatures, so ants were a bit outside my usual focus—
But let’s be honest.
Ants are a fundamental part of the insect-keeping world.
Every child who’s ever been curious about bugs has tried raising ants at some point.
‘Every child dreams of keeping an ant farm.’
-Crunch.
All around us, ant heads crunched underfoot.
Wherever I looked, abandoned pupae lay dying, neglected by workers who had collapsed before they could tend them.
Finally, we reached the jagged rock at the center of the circular field.
A huge pile of dead ants lay beneath it.
I turned to the warriors following me and called out:
“Look for one with a much larger abdomen than the others!”
“Understood, benefactor! Everyone, you heard him!”
“Yes!”
Meng Hu, Snow Leopard, and the Beast Palace warriors fanned out, checking that the ants they found were truly dead and searching for the queen.
And then—
A voice called from the other side of the rock.
“Benefactor! You need to see this!”
‘Did they find it?’
I hurried to the opposite side of the jagged rock—
And what I saw was…
A massive ant, about the size of a six-year-old child, tearing into the bodies of its own kind, shoving the dead into its mouth.
-Crunch. Crack.
The giant ant was so absorbed in eating its fallen kin that it hadn’t even noticed our approach.
-Drip.
From its swollen abdomen, a mass of stark white eggs oozed out.
The eggs, neglected and uncared for, were mostly blackened and rotting, yet the queen ant did not stop. She kept eating. She kept laying eggs.
‘This… is definitely not normal.’
Except for rare parasitic species that infiltrate other colonies, every queen ant begins alone.
After a nuptial flight, she mates, lands, digs a nest by herself, and starts laying eggs to found her colony.
In the beginning, all ant queens are cannibals.
With no workers to bring her food, she consumes her own eggs to survive while slowly building her colony.
If she lays five eggs, she eats one to sustain herself, raises four, and as they grow, she may consume another to nourish the rest.
It is a cycle of sacrifice, ensuring the strongest survive.
But that is only at the very start of a colony’s life.
Once the colony is established, a queen never eats her own.
Yet here she was, devouring her offspring—her own dead.
This was not natural.
And worse, although she was eating corpses… to her, they weren’t truly dead.
Ants don’t immediately recognize their fallen as dead.
It takes three days for an ant’s body to begin producing oleic acid, the signal that it is a corpse.
Until then, living ants treat their fallen sisters as if they are still alive.
So, to this queen, she wasn’t eating dead ants.
She was consuming her own children while they were still alive.
She was devouring them in a state of madness.
Everyone stood frozen, staring at the grotesque spectacle.
Then—
“So-ryong, look over there.”
My senior sister pointed at the queen’s forehead.
At first, I thought it was just part of her shell or a compound eye.
But no.
There was something glinting in the middle of her head, between her antennae.
A streak of gold.
“What is that?”
“It looks like… a gold needle.”
A golden needle.
The Tang Clan sometimes used gold needles for acupuncture and medicine.
Cautiously, my senior sister reached toward the queen’s head.
“Be careful,” I warned.
She nodded and carefully drew out the golden needle embedded in the queen’s head.
The moment it was removed—
The queen, still in the middle of her meal, suddenly went limp.
Her grotesque feast was cut short.
The ruler of the enormous ant army, a queen capable of leading a swarm that could overwhelm elephants, had died in the most pitiful, undignified way.
“Why… was there a gold needle in the queen’s forehead?”
“Lady of the Tang Clan, do you recognize it?”
Meng Hu, the Beast Palace Lord, questioned my senior sister.
She wiped the needle on her sleeve, examining it closely.
“Well… the Tang Clan does use gold needles, but… this length, this shape… it’s unusual. Hm?”
“What is it?”
She tilted her head, frowning.
“This needle is hollow in the middle. It must have contained some kind of drug or poison.”
At those words, the Beast Palace Lord erupted in fury.
A roar like that of an enraged tiger thundered across the battlefield.
“Does this mean… someone caused this catastrophe!? WHO DARED BRING THIS DISASTER UPON MY BEAST PALACE!?”
The queen’s unnatural behavior.
The ant colony’s rapid expansion.
The sudden outbreak that drove them from the valley to spill into the world.
If this was engineered, then someone had manipulated these ants from the shadows.
“If someone is behind this… I will hunt them down and tear them limb from limb!”
Just as his roar echoed through the valley—
Figures descended from the sky.
The Heavenly Poison Deity, my grandfather, along with warriors of the Tang Clan, arrived on the scene.
“Hwa-eun! So-ryong!”
“So-ryong-nim!”
My grandfather and Gu Pae, the leader of the Venom Blood Squad, rushed over, checking me over with concern.
I had already sent a message ahead via the Beast Palace’s owls, but it seemed they had still been worried.
Now that the ants were gone, they had come without delay.
“Grandfather.”
“I apologize for worrying you, Grandfather.”
“Hmph. It looks like you’ve been injured. Nothing serious?”
“Nothing major, thanks to my Iron Turtle Technique.”
After our brief reunion, Meng Hu stepped forward and bowed deeply.
“The Beast Palace owes a great debt to the Tang Clan’s son-in-law. I, Meng Hu, express my deepest gratitude.”
“Oh, you don’t have to—”
My grandfather, who usually maintained his composure, looked genuinely taken aback.
My senior sister quickly sent him a telepathic message, explaining the situation.
[Grandfather, while your standing in the martial world is higher, the Beast Palace is from the Outer Lands. For the Palace Lord to show this much respect is highly unusual.]
“My name is Heavenly Poison Deity. I am honored by your gracious hospitality, Palace Lord Meng Hu.”
“It is only right. We will treat you with the highest courtesy. Please, come inside.”
“Then, we humbly accept.”
After wandering through the jungle for days, the Tang warriors were in dire need of rest.
Naturally, we accepted the invitation.
As we began moving inside, my grandfather chuckled and remarked:
“So-ryong, you certainly attract trouble wherever you go. Haha. I have many questions for you—you will have to explain everything in detail. But first, tell me… what exactly were you doing here?”
It sounded like he was calling me a magnet for disaster.
I scratched my head awkwardly.
Then, my senior sister held up the golden needle in her hand.
“So-ryong insisted we track down the queen demon ant. And we found this lodged in her forehead. Grandfather… does this resemble the Tang Clan’s gold needles?”
She handed it over.
My grandfather held it up, studying it intently.
And then—
His eyes widened in shock.
“Where… where did you find this!?”
“In the queen demon ant’s head,” my senior sister answered.
Without another word, my grandfather rushed over to the queen’s corpse.
Carefully inspecting her face, he pried into her mandibles and antennae—
And then, his expression darkened.
There were two more golden needles, hidden deep within her skull.
They had been buried so well that we hadn’t noticed them at first.
“Great Elder, do you recognize them?”
Meng Hu’s voice was sharp.
His fury had not subsided.
“If these needles were used to control the ants, then we have a mastermind behind this.”
My grandfather’s voice dropped to a low, ominous growl.
“It seems… an old enemy of both the Tang Clan and the Beast Palace is still alive.”
“The Tang Clan and the Beast Palace…?”
I frowned.
Who in the world would hold a grudge against both?
As I stared at my grandfather in confusion—
He spoke a name that made even Meng Hu’s eyes widen in shock.
“The Five Poison Clan (O-dok-mun).”
At that moment—
A chilling silence fell over the valley.