Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

“White Night City?”

“Yes, elder.”

At his words, a faint doubt stirred in me.

If it was a place where they bought and sold cultivators, I naturally imagined a lawless hellscape—a bloody black market steeped in darkness. But from his explanation, it sounded oddly like some kind of neutral zone instead.

Listening to him, Blood Market Tower really wasn’t much different from a dark-path sect.

A place where people like that put down roots should have been a back alley, a lawless land where strength was the only law, or some gloomy, sunless, shadowed ground.

In my previous previous life, sure, gangsters sometimes took over legal companies and acted like respectable businessmen, but this wasn’t that kind of world, was it?

And yet he was saying no one was allowed to fight there.

I asked him again.

“They’re not allowed to fight?”

“Yes, elder. Not only in the Nine Heavens of the Lower Heaven, but in most of the cultivation world, humans, the Demon race, and spirit creatures all form factions and stand opposed to each other.

No matter how much they can refine spiritual pills out of them, it’s less repulsive to hunt other races than one’s own kin, so they hunt each other. But the central White Night City of the Nine Heavens is the one place where no race is allowed to fight.”

“What, there isn’t even something like a country’s laws here, so the strong are actually obeying that? Is there some powerful cultivator there or something?”

No matter what kind of law you put down, if strong people gather, a fight is bound to break out.

If that law was actually being kept, the only conclusion was that some powerful existence was forcing the others to obey it.

But the answer to my question was unexpected.

“No. A few hundred years ago, a very powerful cultivator, before ascending to the Middle Heavens, drove an extremely powerful Magic Treasure into the center of White Night City.

Inside White Night City, Law Arts cannot be used.”

From what he said, a powerful Magic Treasure had been driven into the center of White Night City, forcing a kind of compulsory disarmament.

“Ah. In that case, we should go see what kind of place it is. How do we get there?”

“I—I can use the Transfer Talisman I have, but...”

“Oh, that thing you must have used earlier when you suddenly appeared?”

“Yes, elder.”

It seemed we could use some kind of instant-movement talisman, but if we used that, we’d drop straight into these guys’ base.

And if I couldn’t use Law Arts there, there was a chance I wouldn’t be able to use any of my abilities either.

“If we use that, we’ll drop straight into your main tower, right?”

“Th-that is true, but...”

At my question, the guy fidgeted.

I smiled faintly and kept questioning him.

“If we use that and go, won’t there be a whole bunch of strong guys waiting around nearby, ready to subdue anyone who can’t use Law Arts?”

“...”

Unable to answer my question, his eyes just darted around.

This guy was a slippery one.

He seemed to be quite practiced in dealing with truth serums and the like, using the method of evading by simply never mentioning the truth itself.

“Well, well, look at this guy. Since he can’t lie, he’s trying to hide the truth by not talking at all? No wonder he surrendered so easily.”

“How dare this wretch! After all I said! I ought to grind your soul and turn you into a spirit pill!”

As Zihwa shouted in fury at discovering his trick, the man threw himself flat on the floor and begged.

“P-please, spare me! I-I was wrong!”

“There will be no second chance! I’ll grind you up right now and make a spirit pill out of you!”

“Hiiiiiik! P-please, spare me! Spare me!”

“Silence!”

The man sobbed and sniveled as he begged, but Zihwa remained firm.

Zihwa took a single, long step forward.

Was she about to perform some kind of ritual to make a spirit pill now?

Worried it might be brutal, I looked over at my wives—but their eyes were filled only with curiosity.

Come to think of it, Gun Hye-rin was from the Heavenly Demon Cult, the number-one dark-path sect, so she apparently had no sense of repulsion at all about turning people into spirit pills.

The dark path was a place where strength came before things like morality.

Hwa-eun belonged to the Sacheon Tang Clan, where they secretly carried out human experiments using captured criminals.

And the princess was a ruling imperial noble; a criminal’s life probably felt trivial to her.

‘Just whose wives are these...? Oh. Right. They’re mine.’

It didn’t feel like I needed to worry about my wives very much.

I should worry about myself instead, I thought, when Zihwa, who had stepped forward, simply stood there without taking any further action.

As we stared at her with anxious expressions, wondering when she planned to start, Zihwa, the focus of everyone’s gaze, asked,

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

At that, my wives urged her impatiently to hurry up.

“Well, we were going to watch you make a spirit pill.”

“When are you starting?”

“Hurry up and start, Zihwa.”

The answer that came back was absurd.

“Ahem. I don’t actually know the method for making spirit pills...”

“Wait, then why did you talk like you did?”

“You mean you didn’t know how to do it?”

“No, I was just debating whether it would be a waste to kill him and only take the spirit stones. It felt a bit wasteful to just kill him and only take spirit stones.”

So Zihwa, who had talked like she knew everything, apparently didn’t know how to make spirit pills.

Well, she did seem like some high-ranking figure; someone like that wouldn’t personally be making spirit pills and losing face. She’d just have her underlings do it.

“Then we’ll just have to kill him. We’ll still get spirit stones.”

“P-please, spare me!”

Zihwa simply declared she’d just kill him.

Just as she raised her hand—

“You’re going to kill him yourself?”

“Why not? Is there some problem with that?”

“No, it’s just... there’s Jayo too. It feels a bit wrong to have the baby’s mother do something so brutal...”

It seemed Zihwa was planning to handle it herself, but it felt wrong to have the mother raising Jayo do something so grim.

When you’re raising a baby, the baby’s mother should eat good things, see good things, and hear good things.

Zihwa was the one raising my child—having her commit murder was absolutely out of the question.

“Hehe. So you were thinking of me. Then will you do it yourself?”

“I—I guess I’ll have to, won’t I?”

Thinking about it, there really wasn’t anyone I could order—any spirit creature I could make do this.

I couldn’t make my wives do it, and I couldn’t make the kids do it; as for the males, Orange was a brand-new father, and Bing didn’t have anyone to look after her child in her place.

So it seemed I really did have to do it myself—but just then, Cheong-yu Sojeo stepped forward and spoke.

—Sia. 『By the way, the energy here is getting thicker.』

At Cheong-yu Sojeo’s words, I checked the surrounding energy, and sure enough, the density of energy was changing.

Originally, it had been about the same as the lower realm, but now it was around half of the outside Ha-cheon.

“Doesn’t seem like people are coming and going and mixing it, so it’s probably that energy from outside is flowing in through the entrance.

Even the lowest Ha-cheon in the cultivation world has energy dozens of times denser than the lower realm. That energy is probably flowing in through the entrance, raising the energy density here.”

When Zihwa said that, I closed my eyes and felt the flow of energy, and I could clearly sense dense energy flowing in from the entrance and dispersing inside.

My wives could just do paired cultivation, but I’d wondered if we’d have to keep rotating the kids in and out. This made things perfect.

It meant we could cultivate stably even in here.

As she sensed the energy, Cheong-yu Sojeo glanced at the hostage and then spoke to me.

—Sia. 『Um... about killing him. I have a better idea. Would it be alright if I tried making spirit pills?』

“Cheong-yu Sojeo?”

Cheong-yu Sojeo suddenly said she wanted to try making spirit pills.

—Siaa. 『Yes, I mean with the Five Poisons Sect’s Five Poisons Explosion Inner Pill Great Art. If we use that, we might be able to keep making spirit pills without killing him. Spirit stones, was it?』

“You’re saying we can keep making spirit stones without killing him?”

—Sii. 『Yes. The Five Poisons Explosion Inner Pill Great Art was used to control people at will and artificially create inner pills, remember?』

“That’s true.”

—Siiia. 『The energy here is richer than in the lower realm, so it accumulates faster, right? So if we only apply the part that creates artificial inner pills, I think we might be able to keep producing inner pills.』

“Holy...”

In theory, it was possible, but I couldn’t help being worried.

The Five Poisons Explosion Inner Pill Great Art was the demonic art that had completely ruined Cheong-yu Sojeo’s life.

And now she was saying we should use it.

She might still have some lingering trauma about it.

I spoke with a worried expression.

“Cheong-yu Sojeo, it’ll be hard on you. You don’t have to...”

“She’s right, Cheong-yu. You don’t have to force yourself.”

“Yes, there’s no need to go that far.”

My wives all looked worried as well.

Cheong-yu Sojeo smiled faintly and answered.

—Sia. 『No, it’s fine. You made sure we all forgot the bad memories, didn’t you?』

“Cheong-yu Sojeo...”

“Cheong-yu...”

‘Damn... This is what a trusting family looks like.’

It was a touching sight: Cheong-yu Sojeo and my wives holding hands and smiling softly.

Seeing that, my chest overflowed with emotion—and just then, Zihwa, my wives, and Cheong-yu Sojeo all approached the hostage and spoke.

—Siaa. 『Shall we start right away?』

“Alright then, shall we begin?”

Other men’s wives probably gathered with their friends to practice cooking or something, but my wives were getting together with their friend Cheong-yu Sojeo to make spirit pills.

Even I flinched a little.

The hostages stared at me with looks of horror.

I tossed them a word of comfort.

“At least they said they’re not going to kill you.”

***

While my wives and Cheong-yu Sojeo began the process of making spirit stones, I wrung some extra information on how to get to White Night City out of the screaming guy and stepped outside.

“P-please, spare me! Aaaagh!”

He already had two golden needles stuck in his crown.

I spoke with a kindly expression.

“Hey now, I told you they’re not going to kill you.”

“E-elder, I was wrong! I’ll stop fooling around and tell you everything!”

“Good, good. So where exactly is this place?”

“T-this is human territory. The Ascension Platform on the southernmost outskirts!”

“And how do we get from here to White Night City?”

“Y-you need to find the nearest city and use a Gate. There’s a Gate that goes straight to White Night City! They take spirit stones as payment, so you can use those!”

“How do we get there?”

“T-there’s a talisman inside my spatial artifact! You can use that!”

It looked like we’d be traveling there ourselves, so I got the direction we needed to go and how to confirm it.

When I stepped outside, it was already dark.

Night had apparently fallen.

Even in the sky, there seemed to be a distinction between day and night; Cho, who’d been guarding the entrance, immediately flew over to me.

—Tsrut. 『Dad!』

“Nothing happened?”

—Tsrrr. 『No.』

As Cho flew over and rubbed her cheek against me, I decided to confirm our direction.

『“Hwa-eun, could you go get that for me?”

“Ah, just a moment.”』

A little later, Hwa-eun appeared before me in a puff of smoke.

Hwa-eun pulled a talisman from her bosom.

It was a talisman written with a Law Art in spirit creature blood on yellow paper, its name the Six Harmonies True Square Talisman.

They said it was a talisman that indicated direction in the cultivation world; this one could be made to remember a specific location.

The location recorded was the closest city.

Just in case, we’d had him set it to point to the nearest city.

When I held it in my hand and sent energy into it, the talisman floated up over my palm and began to point in a direction.

—Flutter flutter.

“Alright then, shall we get moving?”

As I stood up to depart, Hwa-eun leaped into my arms.

Hwa-eun hugged me tightly.

It seemed she was charging herself with So-ryong energy.

From within my embrace, Hwa-eun looked up at me and spoke.

“Lord, you have to be careful. Alright?”

“Of course.”

I patted Hwa-eun to reassure her, then mounted Cho and immediately set off.

We flew for a long while in the direction the talisman indicated.

Lights began to appear below.

“Did we already arrive?”

I’d asked about the location, but not the distance.

I thought maybe it was closer than expected—but the talisman in front of me was still pointing ahead.

So what were those lights? As I raised my spiritual sight, the lights resolved into glowing spheres floating over people’s heads.

With glowing spheres over their heads, people were chasing something with rapid footwork.

I looked ahead of the people with the spheres and activated the Beast-Eye Art.

Then I saw a single armored person running in front of them.

‘What’s this? Some kind of trouble between people?’

Just then, a voice came from the group with the spheres.

“After her! The demonic beast wench is running away!”

‘Demonic beast?’

A demonic beast was a spirit creature that used demonic energy.

It was hard to just pass that by.