Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

Just as I was thinking it’d be nice to hit the jackpot on the first try—

Tang Hwa-eun’s voice echoed in my mind.

『“So-ryong, how far have you gone?”

“We’ve just entered the Zhu River.”

“You do know you’re absolutely not allowed to do anything dangerous, right?”』

She asked for my location and then repeated the exact same warning she gave before I left.

I replied quickly and obediently in my head without showing annoyance.

If I acted irritated or even hesitated at a question like this, I’d be in for a scolding storm.

『“Of course. There won’t be any of that this time.”』

The reason Hwa-eun wasn’t coming with me and was only speaking through our mind-link—

Was because this time, I had only brought along Hwanji, Hwana, Baekhwa, Heukhwa, Hyang, Hongdan, Cho, Yeondu, Yo-hwa, Sister Jeokwol, Gun Hye-rin, Moji, and Soji.

My wedding had lifted some of the gloom, but inside the Beast Palace, the aftershocks of the Myeolse incident still lingered deeply.

Plus, it wasn’t certain whether the Five Venoms Sect had truly gone into hiding, so my adoptive father had insisted we leave behind the spirit beasts as a deterrent, in case they tried anything reckless.

If I took all the beasts and just vanished, those Five Venoms lunatics might decide to pull some kind of stunt.

That’s why we agreed I’d travel with a minimum crew—basically only the spirit beasts and Gun Hye-rin.

Guangxi Province was nearby anyway, and traveling light meant we could move fast.

Originally, I planned to go alone. But Gun Hye-rin ended up joining because last time, she got mad and started leaking demonic energy like a foghorn—and Hwa-eun told me to take her along.

She said hanging around orthodox Murim types would just get her in more trouble.

Honestly, traveling with an unrelated woman like Gun Hye-rin... wasn’t she trusting me too much?

But after hearing her reasoning, I had to admit—it made perfect sense.

When she told Gun Hye-rin to go with me, Hye-rin looked at her like she’d lost her mind.

“Go with him? Just the two of us?”

“Not just the two of you. There are the children too.”

“B-but... that’s still...”

“I know exactly what you’re thinking, and it’s completely unnecessary. I’ve said this before: unless Miss Gun sprouts scales and starts breathing poison, So-ryong’s not going to pay her any mind. At best, she’s like an ant on the roadside. No—actually, an ant would get more attention. It has venom. He probably sees her as a pebble or a weed. So don’t worry.”

Sprouting scales and spewing venom, huh?

...That actually might be kind of attractive.

Just as I had that thought, her voice came back again.

『“Okay. And if you mess up again this time, what did I say I’d do?”

“Tie me up and lock me in the room so I can never go out again.”

“Very good memory.”

“Of course.”』

How could I forget? She practically brainwashed me with it.

And I remembered the bonus line she added after that:

“If you mess up again, I’m going to tie you up, lock you in, and extract full compensation for worrying me.”

“Compensation?”

“Until I say I’m satisfied. Bound and—hmph. You get it, right?”

“H-Huuh!?”

I remembered something I read in my past life.

Human sexual desire is influenced by the hormone testosterone—it governs libido in both men and women.

Higher levels mean higher libido. Lower levels, and it drops.

And apparently, one way to temporarily spike testosterone levels is through exercise.

Vigorous strength training? Boosts testosterone.

So yeah—there was this theory that working out increases your libido. Turns out, it’s not a myth.

Because ever since Hwa-eun reached the state of Flower Realm, she’s been... different.

Or maybe it was after we got married?

After the wedding, once our wedding night was “unlocked,” she transformed into a woman with the aggressiveness of an unchained stallion. She wouldn’t let me rest.

Sure, she used to want affection before too—but not this much.

“She’s become a beast.”

I chalked it up to reaching Flower Realm.

If vigorous physical movement boosts ★ ★ testosterone, and Flower Realm is the martial pinnacle you reach through endless physical exertion, then yeah—your libido’s going to skyrocket too.

That’s my theory, anyway.

I was just thinking that if she reaches Profound Realm next, I’ll probably be left as nothing but skin—when her voice continued.

『“So So-ryong, if anything happens, make sure you let me know right away and be extra careful.”

“I’ll keep an eye on him.”

“Understood.”』

I thought that was the end of the conversation.

But then, a final line came through on a private channel:

‘Don’t go wasting your energy on useless stuff while you’re out there.’

That one made me pause in serious reflection.

I would be better off getting some release now—but then I’d be even more drained later...

***

Two days passed following the water route.

We were nearly at our destination, so I tried to check our location.

Sister Seol had explained the directions, but since this was my first trip, I needed to confirm where we were.

While looking around for someone to ask, I spotted an old fisherman nearby.

Just as I was about to approach him, Gun Hye-rin jumped in and said she’d do it herself. So I let her.

Big mistake.

“Hey, old man. Got a question. Which way to Dayosan?”

“...”

The Yao tribesman elder frowned, glaring at her with displeasure.

Well, obviously. In this era, when a young girl speaks so rudely to an elder, of course he’d be offended.

It’s not like she was wearing silk robes, or looked like a noble.

And since she wasn’t in her usual Western Region appearance—which gave her a mysterious aura—she just looked like an average person from the Central Plains.

She’d changed her hair and skin color using a reverse illusion technique from the Heavenly Demon Cult, so now she appeared completely local.

I scolded her mentally while apologizing to the old man.

『“Hey! What are you doing speaking like that!”

“S-Sorry, Master. That’s all I know how to say...”

“Ugh... If only Sister Seol weren’t so busy at the Beast Palace, I would’ve brought her instead.”

“R-Right. My bad.”』

“Ah, terribly sorry, sir. My attendant’s a bit... tactless...”

Then I heard Gun Hye-rin yelling in my mind.

『But Master! What do you mean tactless? I’m brilliant, you know!’

“Just hush for a sec, I’m trying to fix this.”』

She was mad that I’d made her out to be slow-witted.

I tried to quiet her and looked back at the elder—but he was still staring at me with narrowed, angry, and cautious eyes.

The apology didn’t seem to be working.

‘That’s odd... huh?’

Then it hit me.

I must’ve looked strange without my usual headwear.

Sister Jeokwol had packed me a special hat bearing the Beast Palace insignia—

And I had taken it off and stuffed it in my robe.

I took the acorn-cap-shaped hat out from my robe and shoved it on my head.

Among the minority tribes, hats and clothes are used to identify each other—and while this particular hat might make the wearer look foolish, over here, it works practically like an official badge of authority.

As expected, the old man’s startled voice rang out.

“Ah, you’re from the Beast Palace?!”

Sure enough, the wariness and anger in his eyes immediately turned to favor.

In this region inhabited by minority tribes, the Beast Palace is like a big brother to them.

“Yes, I’m So-ryong, son of the Beast Palace Lord.”

“Oh! I’ve heard so much about you! The young lord the Palace Lord recently acknowledged, correct?”

“Yes, sir. And please allow me to apologize once again. My attendant seems to have spoken rudely. Her mind’s a little... erratic. Sometimes she talks to anyone in that tone. Please don’t take offense.”

“Nonsense! This old man has already forgotten it.”

Even if this Beast Palace hat made me look like an idiot, I thought once again about how much power it actually carried. I was just about to ask the elder for directions again when he suddenly thanked me.

“Actually, we were debating whether to send a letter to the Beast Palace—and now the young lord himself has come! What luck!”

I had just been about to ask him where Dayosan was, and here he was celebrating the fact that he could deliver a letter. I tilted my head and asked,

“A letter?”

“Yes, young master!”

“Is something going on at Dayosan?”

At my question, the old man pointed a bit downstream.

“You see that mountain faintly visible over there? That’s Dayosan.”

“Oh, I see. We’re almost there.”

“And the reason we were considering sending a letter to the Beast Palace is because there was a big fight at Dayosan.”

“A big fight?”

My eyes went wide at the word ”fight.”

If there are too many people around because of a fight, the creature we’re after might go into hiding, and it would also be harder for our kids to search the area.

We might not even be able to climb the mountain at all.

I asked the old man with a worried expression.

“Could you tell me exactly what happened?”

“You must not be familiar with this region, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

It seemed he already knew I had been adopted into the Beast Palace. At my request, the old man began drawing on the ground with his walking stick.

Scratch, scratch.

“The north side of Dayosan is land belonging to the Red Yao tribe, and the south side belongs to the White-Trousered Yao.”

“Red Yao? White-Trousered Yao? What are those?”

“Han people don’t usually know, but not all Yao are the same Yao. There are many branches. The ones who roam across mountains are called Mountain-Wandering Yao. The ones who grow tea are called Tea-Mountain Yao.

Those who wear red clothes are called Red Yao, and the ones who traditionally wear white pants are the White-Trousered Yao.”

I had thought all ethnic minorities were the same group, but it seemed like they had divisions even among themselves. Judging by the old man’s white pants, he must’ve been part of the White-Trousered Yao.

“Ah, so you’re a member of the White-Trousered Yao?”

“That’s right. Though we do enjoy wearing white pants, the real reason we’re called that has to do with spiders.”

“Spiders?”

I looked at him with interest at the mention of spiders.

He continued explaining.

“Our White-Trousered Yao ancestors were once pursued by villains and hid in a cave. The pursuers were already closing in, and they had nowhere left to run. At that moment of despair, a spider suddenly appeared and spun a web across the entrance to the cave.

The villains saw the web and figured no one could have entered without disturbing it, so they passed right by. Since then, our White-Trousered Yao have embroidered spiderwebs into our clothes and named ourselves after it.”

“Ahh. That’s a beautiful story.”

The tale of spiders saving people by spinning webs at the entrance of a cave is a common motif across cultures, East and West.

There’s a version where King David in the Bible is saved by such a spider, and one where Muhammad is protected the same way in Islamic tradition. It even appears in Indian folktales.

Back when pesticides didn’t exist, pests were a major problem.

So it’s only natural that cultures across the world came to see spiders—who eat those pests—as beneficial.

After I praised the story as a wonderful one, the old man looked at me with a hint of warmth and proudly pointed out,

“Here, this is our spiderweb design.”

“Oooh. That’s amazing.”

The embroidery on his pants turned out to be symbolic of spiderwebs.

Who would’ve thought a minority group had this kind of style? I looked impressed, and the old man smiled.

“As expected of someone from the Beast Palace—you have an eye for these things.”

“I like spiders too. Anyway, what was the fight about?”

“Ah, yes. Our White-Trousered Yao mostly live south of the Zhu River. The Red Yao live to the north. But both tribes revere Dayosan as a sacred mountain. We both built shrines there to offer rituals.

But recently, the dog raised at the Red Yao’s shrine was found dead.”

“Their dog?”

“Yes. And the Red Yao claimed our shaman killed it. That’s how this turned into a big fight.”

“You’re telling me a dog started a whole tribal fight?”

A dumbfounded voice came from beside me—I turned and saw Gun Hye-rin looking completely baffled.

I, too, liked animals. If a dog that felt like family had died, I could understand people reacting that way. But Gun Hye-rin clearly couldn’t relate.

The White-Trousered Yao elder bobbed his head as if to help us understand.

“People from the Central Plains may find it hard to grasp. But dogs are not trivial to the Yao.

Our ancestor was a divine dog named Banho.”

“Hmm. I see.”

“Yes. That’s why we were trying to ask the Beast Palace to mediate. Several people have already been injured.”

So, to summarize: the White-Trousered Yao shaman was accused of killing a sacred dog, which led to a tribal conflict. And they wanted the Beast Palace to intervene.

It made sense—conflicts between minority tribes are usually handled by the Beast Palace.

Gun Hye-rin asked in my mind,

‘What are we going to do, Master? We probably can’t search the mountain like this.’

What a pointless question.

We’re talking about a tribe that reveres spiders, aren’t we?

I couldn’t just ignore the suffering of kin.

-------

A real tribe, a real tradition.

Why is this actually real?