Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

Black energy was whipping into a frenzy around Gun Hye-rin.

Seeing that, I realized my belief—that her realm increase would stop at the Profound Realm—was wrong.

She had told me herself.

After swallowing Moji and Soji’s demonic cores, she’d already been hanging at the very edge of the Transformation Realm.

So it was only natural that yin-yang union through dual cultivation would carry her past the Profound Realm, and after that, both Gun Hye-rin and I expected her realm to rise further to some extent—but an energy tide far beyond our expectations was coiling around her.

The momentum of breaking through the Profound Realm refused to die down, and it was charging straight toward the threshold of the Life-and-Death Realm without hesitation.

Maybe the harmony of our dual cultivation was deeper than we’d guessed, or maybe the energy contained in Moji and Soji’s demonic cores was unimaginably dense.

The energy that began in Gun Hye-rin’s lower dantian seemed to pause briefly as it reached the middle dantian, then it rose over her chest with a shape so vivid it looked visible.

Gun Hye-rin’s energy was a black fist.

A tightly clenched black fist.

It rose into the upper dantian.

Then it scattered above her head and was sucked into her nose.

That sight was clearly the sign of the Life-and-Death Realm.

Opening the upper dantian and sharing breath with heaven and earth—wasn’t that the most obvious hallmark of the Life-and-Death Realm?

By the standards of this cultivation world, she was already stepping onto the threshold of the Golden Core Stage.

A realm where a golden core forms in the upper dantian.

The same realm as me.

I hurriedly threw up a thick energy barrier around us, but there was no way I could block the endlessly incoming spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

I could suppress the outward-spreading energy, but I couldn’t do anything about that enormous current Gun Hye-rin herself was drawing in.

I couldn’t delay any longer.

I quickly shoved Gun Hye-rin—bed and all—into Poison Fragrance.

If there were any people nearby who were sensitive to energy flow, they might notice something strange.

Then I immediately called Hwa-eun.

『“Hwa-eun, are you awake?”

“...Mm. What is it, husband?”』

Maybe she’d been asleep, because Hwa-eun’s answer came a beat late.

I told Hwa-eun what was happening.

『“Sorry, but Hye-rin will be at the entrance to Poison Fragrance. Please act as her protector. The energy flow is huge, like her realm might rise all the way to the Life-and-Death Realm, so I put her into Poison Fragrance. Dual cultivation went well.”

“Ah! Okay!”

“I’ll go too!”

“Ji-ryeon, come out this way. I’m going to go in too, so guard this place for me. Bring one of the kids out with you.”

“Yes, I will.”』

If I went into Poison Fragrance too, I couldn’t protect my body while it was defenseless.

That was why I told Ji-ryeon to bring one of the kids out and guard me.

Normally, having Cho-na or Yohwa come out would be enough, but since the energy flow might have alerted the surroundings, I asked Ji-ryeon.

If something happened, it was better to have a person here than to leave the kids alone.

“So-ryong.”

-Chiii. 『Ryong-a.』

After waiting a little, Ji-ryeon appeared together with Jeokwol-i.

It looked like Jeokwol-i was going to cover my body while Ji-ryeon handled the watch.

“Then I’m counting on you.”

“Okay.”

-Chii. 『Go on, Ryong-a. Ji-ryeon and I will handle this place.』

“Please.”

Leaving my body to the two of them, I quickly sat on the floor and focused my mind.

And then—my mind awakening inside Poison Fragrance.

When I opened my eyes, white cloth filled my view.

And beyond it, the flow of energy continued inward.

It was fabric made from Yohwa’s thread.

It seemed Yohwa had put up something like a white curtain.

Since I was a ghost-like presence here, I passed through the cloth and went inside, and I saw Hwa-eun, Zihwa, and Yohwa already there, keeping watch over the surroundings.

Zihwa was quietly observing Gun Hye-rin, and Yohwa was finishing the curtain on the opposite side.

Maybe she’d noticed me, because Hwa-eun spoke.

“She’s naked, so I asked Yohwa.”

“Ah, right.”

I’d shoved her straight into Poison Fragrance right after dual cultivation, so there hadn’t been time to put clothes on her.

No—even if we’d had time, we couldn’t dress her while she was in the middle of a realm increase.

This was when martial artists were at their most vulnerable; if you interfered, they could fall into qi deviation.

And since it was a process of harmonizing the energy inside the body with the energy of heaven and earth, we couldn’t even cover her with cloth.

So of course, Hye-rin was lying on the bed completely naked.

It looked like they’d covered her so no one could see.

“Good job. You worked hard, Yohwa.”

-Kishishit. 『No, big brother.』

It was when I reached out to pat Yohwa’s head as she came closer.

Zihwa, who had been watching Gun Hye-rin, spoke.

“To step into the Golden Core Stage. It seems dual cultivation wasn’t bad.”

“That’s what it looks like. Or Moji and Soji’s demonic cores weren’t bad.”

“She’s going up to the Life-and-Death Realm, husband?”

“Yes. Opening the upper dantian is proof of the Life-and-Death Realm, so it’s probably right.”

The energy being sucked in around Gun Hye-rin only stopped after about an hour—and at the moment that flow stopped.

Black energy burst out around Gun Hye-rin and completely wrapped her up.

It felt like Gun Hye-rin was inside a black egg.

“What is this?”

Since it wasn’t a process that had happened to me, I tilted my head, and Zihwa explained.

“I haven’t seen it myself, but they say those who cultivate demonic energy undergo bodily change. This must be that process.”

“Ah, so this is it.”

Zihwa had said that if Gun Hye-rin reached the Life-and-Death Realm, bodily change would come.

I’d been looking forward to it.

Feeling the energy flow, it really did seem like that was the process.

It looked like she was protecting herself for the transformation with an egg made of energy.

I was curious what she would turn into—when I had my expectations swelling to the fullest, my vision suddenly went hazy, then it snapped and changed.

“Huh, where am I?”

I’d definitely been outside, but now I was inside the shrine.

The building located at the center of Poison Fragrance.

Stone tablets carved with the poisonous spirits registered to me were coming into view.

As I looked around, I heard Hwa-eun, Yohwa, and Zihwa calling out for me at the same time.

『“Husband, what’s going on?”

-Kishit. (Big brother?)

“You?”』

It seemed I’d suddenly vanished, so that was why.

『“Ah, I’m in the shrine. Hye-rin must have grown and I got moved over here.”

“Ah. I see. You disappeared so suddenly, I was worried.”』

After calming my wives and Yohwa, I checked inside—and saw one newly added stone tablet.

Black Spot, the black-spotted white-moon powder person, had settled in among the other tablets.

Last time I needed a lake, so I registered Black Spot, and it must have been added then.

And on one side, the tablets carved with Hwa-eun, Gun Hye-rin, and Ji-ryeon were glittering, but they looked a little different.

When I walked up, I saw that the tablet had been split in two.

One tablet had Hwa-eun and Ji-ryeon.

The other tablet was blank.

“Huh? Why isn’t anything carved here?”

It seemed Gun Hye-rin’s realm had risen and she’d split off separately, but while Hwa-eun and Ji-ryeon were clearly carved, only Gun Hye-rin’s was gone.

“Her realm rose and she split off, but why can’t I see her?”

Thinking it was strange that Gun Hye-rin’s image had vanished, I placed my hand on the glittering tablet—and Gun Hye-rin’s feelings surged in through it.

That I could do whatever I wanted.

“Huh?”

Startled, I looked more closely at what the tablet was conveying, and I could understand exactly what it meant.

The reason those who cultivated demonic energy transformed was because of demonic energy’s special nature.

Demonic energy was something born from things that were discarded.

It was nothing like yin energy, even if the vibe seemed similar.

Yin and yang formed the Supreme Ultimate, and from there the Five Elements were born—but demonic energy was a heterogeneous, chaotic power formed from things that had been thrown away and excluded.

It existed naturally, but since it felt opposed to yin-yang and the Five Elements, you needed a special organ to accept it efficiently.

Only by departing from an ordinary human born within yin-yang and the Five Elements could you efficiently accept and handle demonic energy.

That was what horns, tails, wings, and the like were.

And the person in question could choose.

Choosing what to use as the organ that best accepted demonic energy was their choice.

But Gun Hye-rin had handed that choice entirely to me.

Telling me to change her however I wanted, according to her husband’s taste.

I almost burst into tears on the spot.

This was real love.

Saying I could change her body however I wanted, to match my taste.

Overcome, I bit down on the back of my hand and turned my eyes to the list of options.

“H-Hye-rin. I’ll love you forever... Let’s see. There are lots of horn types. Single horn, twin horns, three horns, four horns, wow—and tails: arrowhead tail, cow tail, snake tail...”

Vowing to make her into a form I couldn’t help but love.

***

On top of the wooden table, Hwangwoo—having lost his dignity as a man—wore a face that had given up on everything.

A vacant, stunned look.

After calmly confirming that expression, Mong-a grinned and said,

“It seems he’s broken, Miss.”

In this state, he would answer anything he was asked.

“Then let’s confirm where and how he heard that name.”

“Yes, Miss.”

When Mong-a released the sealed pressure point near Hwangwoo’s neck, tears rolled out of Hwangwoo’s eyes and dropped onto the table.

Seeing that, Mong-a pressed the awl right beside Hwangwoo’s eye and asked,

-Crunch.

“So if you’d cooperated, this wouldn’t have happened, right?”

At those words, Hwangwoo looked up at Mong-a with dead eyes and said,

“I was...”

“You were?”

“I was going to... but... Nghhk.”

Hwangwoo suddenly burst into tears.

Tang Cheongcheong looked slightly flustered, but Mong-a jabbed the awl between Hwangwoo’s legs again and snapped,

“Stop crying and talk already!”

Maybe it felt unfair—Hwangwoo sobbed as he answered.

That he’d only been given orders by a high-realm cultivator.

“Hk... I-I was only given orders by a high-realm cultivator.”

“A high-realm?”

“You were ordered by a high-realm cultivator?”

“Yes, th-the Golden Core Stage...”

At that answer, a vein bulged hard at Mong-a’s temple.

There was no way a Golden Core Stage cultivator could exist in the Nine Heavens of the Lower Heaven.

Blood Siru, which dealt in intelligence, knew exactly which cultivators in these Nine Heavens were at what realm—and there were zero Golden Core Stage cultivators in these Nine Heavens.

There were a few Core Severing Stage cultivators, but at that level, most of them either went up above or decided whether to stay.

“Don’t lie to me! Next is the only intact chunk left in the middle! I’ll make you feel like it’d be better to receive the grand technique that erases even the traces and turns you into a woman!”

Maybe breaking two eggs hadn’t satisfied Mong-a—at those vicious words about permanently erasing even what remained, Hwangwoo shrieked and shouted,

“I-it’s true! It was a cultivator from the Central Plains murim!”

At that, Mong-a and Tang Cheongcheong’s eyes went wide.

The same words burst from both of them at once.

“Central Plains murim?”

Someone from the Central Plains murim was looking for her father?

In that instant, a memory surfaced in Tang Cheongcheong’s mind.

Words her father had left behind when he departed.

“Cheongcheong, later on, someone might come from the Central Plains murim looking for me.”

“Someone looking for Father?”

“Yes. I left behind a fast path to ascend, so someone might follow after me. So if such a person appears, treat them well. They might be something like my disciple.”

With a blank expression, Tang Cheongcheong sent a mind-message.

[Could it be the main family?]

Because she thought someone from the main family her father had spoken of might have cultivated.

Mong-a tilted their head and asked,

[The main family?]

[Father’s main family. The Sichuan Tang Clan of the Central Plains murim. Someone might have come up from there.]

Her father’s main family—the Sichuan Tang Clan.

It seemed someone had indeed come up from there.