Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

The place Master-of-the-Sect Tang Hwa-seong pointed out was the abandoned Taoist temple on Hainan Island.

It was definitely less ruined than in my memories, but it was unmistakably the abandoned Taoist temple.

I’d lived there a long time, so I couldn’t possibly forget it, and the location on the map was perfectly clear.

At my answer, Master-of-the-Sect Tang Hwa-seong asked again,

“You say you lived there?”

“Yes. I lost my memories as a child, and when I came to and opened my eyes, it was on Hainan Island. And the place I made my home there was that very temple.

It was very close to where I woke up...”

Hearing my words, Master-of-the-Sect Tang Hwa-seong said exactly what had just come to mind in my head.

“Heh-heh. Is there truly no such thing as coincidence in the affairs of the world? So all things in the world are inevitability.”

To think the place I’d lived had been the Ascension Platform, the place where those who had attained the realm rose up to the heavens.

Truly, there was no coincidence in the affairs of the world, only inevitability.

The first place I’d opened my eyes in this martial world and made my home would, if I ever had to leave for the Immortal Realm, become the place where I left my final footprints.

Naturally, I also wore a bewildered expression as I asked,

“But that place has already collapsed... will it still be okay?”

The location was one thing, but hundreds of years had passed already, so I didn’t think it would function properly.

It probably didn’t move with any kind of mechanical device or anything, but even back when I’d lived there, the only intact building had been the one I was using, and when I’d gone there recently, the other places had all collapsed further.

All that remained was basically the front courtyard of the main hall.

So I had a feeling it wouldn’t properly function as an Ascension Platform.

At my question, Master-of-the-Sect Tang Hwa-seong smiled and said,

“It only appears that way outwardly. In the stone-paved open space before the main hall, draw up your energy and try pouring it down into the ground. It must be on a night of the full moon, however.”

“Ohh, right there then. That part is relatively unbroken. Understood.”

The intact front courtyard was the spot of ascension, he was saying.

I was pleased—but only up to that point.

“Though I’m not sure I’ll actually ascend.”

Now, there was the Peach Garden Map, so I didn’t have to worry about going alone, and I’d learned where the Ascension Platform was, so you could say all the conditions for ascending were in place, if I just made up my mind to go.

But I didn’t really feel like going.

Here, I was the imperial son-in-law of a princess, the husband of the Heavenly Demon Cult’s cult leader, and on top of that, the Tang Clan of Sichuan’s live-in son-in-law.

Aside from my father-in-law constantly trying to make me a king, life was pretty good.

Being an imperial son-in-law, a religious cult leader’s husband, and the live-in son-in-law of one of the Central Plains’ major clans—honestly, wasn’t that like top 0.00001 percent status?

And up to now I’d done nothing but suffer and hadn’t even really gotten to use that status properly, so I wanted to enjoy it a bit.

’I mean, I am curious about the new spirit beasts and venomous creatures they say exist in the Heavenly Realm, but if I go, they say I can’t come back, so it’s hard to decide lightly, you know?’

That was why I said it that way, but at my words, Master-of-the-Sect Tang Hwa-seong spoke with a somewhat regretful expression.

“Hm. Well, I suppose it’s understandable if you haven’t been long in the Life-and-Death Realm. But you will have to decide quickly.”

“Sir? Decide quickly?”

It sounded like something that meant I absolutely had to go up.

I tilted my head, and Master-of-the-Sect Tang Hwa-seong explained.

“The moment you entered the Life-and-Death Realm, you became a being who has stepped outside the cycle of reincarnation in the lower world, so in the lower world a force begins to operate that keeps trying to send you up to the Immortal Realm.”

“A force that tries to send me to the Immortal Realm?”

“At first, signs of the path to the Immortal Realm will ‘coincidentally’ come into your sight. Traces left by ascended ones, for example. Things like that.

It’s highly likely that the fact you discovered this trace I left is also part of that force at work. Because a being like you remaining in the lower world runs counter to the natural order.”

I’d heard of the natural order when learning martial arts.

The natural order was a kind of force that guided human affairs, meaning the order of things.

Hot air rises and cold air sinks, people grow old and die—that sort of law.

You could say it was like the principle by which all things in the world moved.

So what Master-of-the-Sect Tang Hwa-seong was saying was that now that I had become a being who stepped outside the cycle of reincarnation, I no longer belonged to the lower world but to the Immortal Realm, and so this world called the lower world itself would keep trying to push me up to the Immortal Realm.

’So basically, my tier went up and now I’m being told to hurry up and rank up, huh?’

It seemed like in a game, my tier had gone up to Challenger, so this place where the Gold-and-below brackets lived was telling me to vacate the room.

Because with a single move from me, the natural order of the world could now be shaken.

But it felt dog-level unfair.

Just when I was about to start enjoying myself a little, they were trying to kick me out.

Honestly, if they’d just left the Blood Cult alone, the world might have gotten wrecked, and instead of giving me a reward, they were talking about expelling me.

What kind of setting was this, it wasn’t even some fantasy world with heroes.

You know how in fantasy comics, they just summon any old person from the modern world as a hero, work them like a dog, and then in the end, because the hero is too strong, they either send them home or slaughter them ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) like livestock?

That was exactly what this felt like.

“I—if I resist?”

If they kept shoving, I just had to resist.

Wasn’t I already planning to resist when my father-in-law told me to be king?

The heavens would be shoving me toward the Immortal Realm, and on the earth my father-in-law would be shoving me to be king.

It would be a pretty ridiculous situation, but I could stubbornly hold out.

When I decide to do something, I do it.

But from the sound of it, that wasn’t the end of it.

At my question, Master-of-the-Sect Tang Hwa-seong told me something serious would happen.

“The ties you have in the lower world will be cut, one by one, starting from those closest to you. That is why I chose to ascend. Baekrang kept getting hurt in strange incidents.”

“Holy...”

’So if I insist on staying in the lower world, they’ll forcibly cut my ties in the lower world?’

At the words “starting from those closest,” the first to come to mind were Hwa-eun, Hye-rin, and Ji-ryeon.

Weren’t my wives the ones closest to me?

Honestly, when one became two and then three, I’d been flustered, but now, missing even one would be a problem.

Seeing my alarmed expression, Master patted my shoulder and said,

“Well, don’t worry too much. I ascended in a rather confused state, but you have me, don’t you? When you come to the Immortal Realm, make sure you seek me out.

You call me Master-of-the-Sect, but strictly speaking, I’ve had no disciples besides Baekrang, so you’re practically my disciple. This memory will not be delivered to my true body, but once I hear your story, of course I’ll regard you as my disciple. All the more so since we are of the same clan, are we not?”

Senior Tang Hwa-seong smiled faintly and told me to just trust him, but honestly, it wasn’t all that reassuring.

I didn’t know about anything else, but people like us didn’t exactly have strong life skills.

The odds were high we’d pour most of our income into our hobbies and end up sucking our fingers.

In my previous life, my breeding had gone pretty well, but if not for the streaming income, I probably would have had a hard time of it because selling the kids was too difficult.

Still, since they were kind words, I replied cautiously.

“Th-thank you, Master.”

“Master? Haha. Yes, call me that. It feels good, it does.”

I chatted a bit more with Ancestor Tang Hwa-seong, who had gone from patriarch to Master.

About the Beast-Heart Technique.

Since he was the one who had directly created it, I was curious with what intent he had devised it, and I needed to confirm what state I was in now.

“By the way, Master, with what intent did you create the Beast-Heart Technique? I’ve learned that it’s the Peach Garden Map, but what was your intention in creating it?”

“Ah, you said you called it the Beast-Heart Technique? The real name of that inner art is Heavenly Heart Linked Venom Wuling Map. I made it out of a desire for spirit creatures to escape this lower world where they are hunted and to live more mingled with people.”

A Peach-Blossom Spring that linked hearts with venomous creatures.

That was probably why Master had devised this martial art.

In other words, he’d meant to create a paradise just for venomous creatures inside his own mind-space.

It was certainly a martial art needed in a place like this, where spirit creatures were hunted for their inner cores.

Nodding, I asked again,

“But something strange happened when all my venomous creatures entered the mind-space. They suddenly all turned transparent, and it feels like the mind-space Peach Garden Map has been completed. Is there anything else you can tell me about that?”

At my question, Master widened his eyes and asked back.

It was like he’d never expected I would complete it.

“Heh-heh, you completed it?”

“Huh, didn’t you complete it as well and then ascend, Master? Didn’t you have to gather ten spirit creatures to reach the Life-and-Death Realm?”

“No. I rose quickly to the Transformation Realm by taking elixirs in the clan and then, as I connected venomous creatures, I reached the Life-and-Death Realm with around five.

So I did not complete the Peach Garden Map itself. To complete it, you have to connect multiple mature or energy-rich spirit creatures.”

I had naturally assumed he’d completed the Peach Garden Map and ascended, but he hadn’t.

In that case, I asked what had become of the spirit creatures.

He surely hadn’t just left them behind when he ascended.

People like us couldn’t even go on trips because of that.

And above all, among the spirit creatures was his wife.

The one who’d made the clan drive him out of the house.

“What happened to Mistress and the other spirit creatures then?”

At my cautious question, Master explained how it had gone.

“Besides my wife, there were only four spirit creatures I had formed ties with. As their numbers grew, elders of the clan and other great clans in the martial world kept flocking in, trying to obtain or buy the spirit creatures’ inner cores.”

“Ah, so that’s why there were some entries in the Secret Compendium that didn’t quite fit.”

“Ha-ha, you noticed?”

“Yes, some of the content was off.”

“Well, I could only observe from a distance, so there was no helping that.”

Indeed, even in the Tang Clan, if not for my father-in-law being so enlightened, even my grandfather had wanted to extract Yeondu’s inner core when we’d caught her, hadn’t he?

Thinking about that, it was perfectly understandable.

Master Tang Hwa-seong’s words continued.

“Since you completed it, that place is now both a Peach Garden Map and a world. Now, even without binding spirit creatures, you or the creatures you have bound can put in whomever you wish.

Of course, if you bind more, the mind-spaces of those spirit creatures will be added to the world.”

“Ohh, I see.”

So registered spirit creatures were like citizens, and those citizens could invite others.

I was the mayor, so inviting was naturally my prerogative.

I was wondering if there was anything else I should ask when Master spoke again.

“Hm... Has the remaining energy run low?”

“?”

“I would like to talk more, but it seems this is as far as I can go. My energy is nearly spent.”

It felt like the battery had run down.

Master’s figure began to flicker.

Since he’d created this space using energy he’d left behind hundreds of years ago, the time was shorter than I’d thought.

It flickered in a worrying way, as if about to disappear.

I hurriedly asked,

“Master, how am I supposed to find you in the Immortal Realm?”

At that, Ancestor, founder of the sect, and now Master Tang Hwa-seong smiled faintly and said,

“Our connection runs this deep, so we are bound to meet naturally. Do not worry. We shall see each other later.”

My vision blurred and then cleared, and I was back in the cabin.

I was holding the book open.

It was probably just after I’d told Jayo it was okay; sensing a gaze, I looked toward Jayo, and she was peeking at me, half her face hidden behind Ranghyang’s body.

And when the light vanished, she stuck her head out and went “Piyo.”

It felt like she was saying, ’So it really was okay, huh?’

I crouched down and asked Jayo,

“Jayo, shall we go see Mom?”

– Piyo!

Since Master had said it was fine, I began putting the other children in the room into the Peach Garden Map one after another.

“Ranghyang, I’m entrusting Jayo to you, okay?”

– Kyuki?

“You’ll understand once you go in.”

– Kyukii!

Once I’d put in Jayo, who I’d entrusted to Ranghyang, the only ones left in the cabin were Gungbong and Soto.

“So-ryong, where did all the children suddenly go?”

“So-ryong?”

After a moment’s thought, I laid my hands on Gungbong’s and Soto’s heads and said,

“Hmm. For now, I’ll put you both in as well.”

Gungbong was like Soto’s nanny-cart.

Even if I took them back out later, for now, in they went.