Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

Early morning, about two days later.

I was listlessly rolling around on the bed.

“Since my wives aren’t coming to see me either, nights are really boring.”

Once you reach the Life-and-Death Realm, it’s enough sleep if you only sleep for an hour or two a week, but I’d raised my realm from being an ordinary person in too short a time, so I still hadn’t adapted to reduced sleep yet.

I had to close my eyes for a few hours a day to feel refreshed.

People think sleep is just resting because the body is tired, but that’s only because they don’t know what sleep actually means.

After I reached the Life-and-Death Realm, I could feel the movement of qi much better, and that’s how I learned it—sleep is the time when an ordinary person reaccumulates the energy they used during the day.

Even ordinary people, while breathing, unconsciously take in the energy of heaven and earth and all things, and they build it up in their bodies.

It’s a truly minuscule amount.

The efficiency is bad, and the individual differences are huge.

Because they don’t have anything like an inner-energy cultivation method, the efficiency and amount they can build up are poor.

And the amount they do build up gets slowly consumed during the day as they move around.

The amount they took in all night gets little by little consumed as they move around during the day.

And when all that energy gets used up, that’s when you start getting sleepy.

That’s why when you learn martial arts, your sleep gradually decreases, and when you reach around the Life-and-Death Realm, sleep becomes unnecessary except for briefly resting your brain because of mental fatigue.

But maybe I was starting to adapt—my sleep time started decreasing, and now, if I closed my eyes for one sijin every two days—so about two hours—I couldn’t fall asleep anymore.

On top of that, Ji-ryeon said she’d only come after she fully digested everything she’d learned from the sex masters, Gun Hye-rin said she’d had some kind of realization and hadn’t come because she was applying it, and Hwa-eun said her body still wasn’t dried out enough.

For those reasons, I was spending boring nights.

When they came every day in turns, my heart felt worn out, but then after living alone for about three days, I got bored.

‘Should I try to seduce Hwa-eun tonight? And check the mantis habit while I’m at it? They say all living things go into heat when their life is on the line, and since she’s a mantis wife, I’m weirdly getting worked up. It feels like she’s got this thrilling, on-the-edge charm.’

Just as I decided it wouldn’t do and that I should try to seduce Hwa-eun tonight—

Cho’s urgent voice rang out.

—Tsrut! 『Dad, Cheongwol unnie started molting!』

It was Cho’s urgent voice shouting through a private chat.

Since there were still people in the group chat who were in the middle of raising their realms, she’d used a private chat.

‘Really!? Got it. I’m coming right away!’

Hearing that Cheongwol had started molting, I thought about who could watch my body.

‘Gun Hye... Ah, she said she was in the middle of some realization, right? Hwa-eun said her body still wasn’t dried out enough, so it’s kind of hard to bring her out, and Ji-ryeon’s in sex-master mode, and Cho’s over there...

Ah, Sister Seol is at the entrance, isn’t she?’

I remembered that Sister Seol was waiting at the entrance to guard Zihwa, and for a moment I wondered if it would be okay.

Because of what happened last time, after all.

‘Hm. It should be fine, right? She said she’d stay still until that one moves, too.’

I decided I’d hurry inside and ask Sister Seol to go outside and keep an eye on my body.

It should be safe, but you can never be too careful—checking safety twice, three times still isn’t enough.

The moment I focused and quickly stepped into Dokmul-hyang, I saw Sister Seol sitting cross-legged in front of Zihwa.

It looked like she’d been dozing off while sitting cross-legged.

When I appeared, Sister Seol opened her eyes, and the instant our eyes met, she flinched.

“So, So-ryong...”

“Sister Seol, you’ve worked hard.”

“Mm.”

“Hey, I heard Cheongwol is waking up, so I’m going to go check. Could you go outside and protect my body for me?”

“Ah, th-that’s right. O-okay.”

“Then I’m counting on you.”

Maybe because it was still awkward, Sister Seol was stuttering like crazy.

I left those words and was about to go, when Sister Seol shouted.

“So, So-ryong!”

“Yes?”

“Y-you have to let me out.”

“Ah, right.”

Now that I thought about it, Sister Seol wasn’t registered, so she couldn’t go out and come back in by herself.

Only registered spirit creatures or people had the right to enter and leave this Dokmul-hyang at will, and once someone came in, the people living inside couldn’t leave by their own power.

The “entrance” was just where you arrived when you entered—it wasn’t a way out.

‘Should I register Sister Seol too...? No.’

For a moment, the thought crossed my mind—should I register Sister Seol too?

But if I registered Sister Seol, she might fall even deeper for me because of the Beast-Heart Technique’s effect.

The Beast-Heart Technique had that effect where you come to like your registered master, didn’t it?

If I put that on Sister Seol in her current state, she might even come charging naked into my quarters in secret.

Like Gun Hye-rin and Ji-ryeon.

“Hahaha. I forgot. Then I’m counting on you.”

For now, I fixed my expression like nothing was wrong and quickly sent Sister Seol outside.

Then I moved locations and instantly shifted to the desert, and I saw Cho circling the sky like she was anxious, and below her, Cheongwol’s huge body.

Cheongwol was curled up tight, so she looked like a boulder.

But since it didn’t look like the armor on her head had split or anything, I tilted my head and asked,

“You said Cheongwol started molting?”

—Tsrut. 『Here!』

The spot Cho came closer and pointed at was the crystal-like protrusion on Cheongwol’s head.

When I looked closely, the crystal had a crack, split vertically.

“Ah, you’re right.”

The crystal on this carapace was a substance you couldn’t cut even with qi.

If that had split vertically, it really did feel like molting was starting.

Cho had seen it right.

And at that moment—

—Jjaeng.

With a loud sound, Cheongwol’s shell was splitting.

It wasn’t the sound of leather or armor so much as the sound of metal.

Just as I was about to put my hand on the small crystal rising from Cheongwol’s head to check whether her realm had risen well—

—Ureureung.

All of a sudden, dark clouds began to gather overhead.

“No way!?”

In an instant, I knew what kind of sign this was.

A heavenly tribulation.

Now that I thought about it, Zihwa had told me that when you reach the Primordial Infant Stage, a heavenly tribulation descends.

I quickly stepped back.

They said no one else could do this for you.

And besides, lightning of all things would probably be like a massage to Cheongwol.

The moment I retreated quickly—

A flashing light, blinking in my vision.

—Ureureung! Kwajijik!

Lightning struck, and once the whitened vision recovered, Cheongwol looked no different than before.

I quickly put my hand on Cheongwol’s body to check her condition.

Just in case.

But as expected, her energy had grown, yet it was stable.

Since Cheongwol’s defense was maxed out, it looked like she just passed through this level of heavenly tribulation.

‘Damn, it really is Cheongwol. And judging by what I can feel, her energy’s bigger than mine?’

The energy I could feel was bigger than mine.

It felt like she’d passed the Golden Core Stage.

Since Cheongwol was someone who could easily deal with even a peak expert of the Hwagyeong, that meant she’d gone beyond the Hyeongyeong.

It seemed she’d been at a realm above Golden Core in the lower realm, and with these Spirit Stones, she’d reached the Primordial Infant Stage, the realm that corresponds to the Life-and-Death Realm.

At the Primordial Infant Stage, you can create a Primordial Infant avatar, and I’d heard that spirit creatures can become half-human half-beast at the Golden Core Stage, and humanoid half-beast at the Primordial Infant Stage.

Their spirit-creature features remain, but they gain smooth limbs, or something like that.

My heart thumping, I waited, and Cheongwol’s body began to emerge from the shell that had split open with a crack.

—Chwaak.

The first thing to rise out of the shell was a woman’s upper body.

A gray-haired woman with no scars rose up, face first.

“Ooh.”

But she wasn’t in a normal state.

I didn’t know why she’d ended up like this, but Cheongwol was wearing a helmet made from the crystal that grew attached to her back.

It was kind of like Soyeon.

She was also wearing crystal armor, and while her arms were slender, at the ends of them were the strong pincers of a scorpion, and her legs were the smooth legs of a woman, but from her hips, a long scorpion tail extended.

She looked like some kind of scorpion woman general wearing crystal armor.

By the standards of the furry maniacs from my previous previous life, she was level 1.5 furry—no, an insect-person.

Level 2 meant you still had hands and feet and a tail and ears, but since her hands and tail were scorpion parts while her feet were human feet, she was 1.5.

Cheongwol, dripping bodily fluid after emerging from her huge body, opened her eyes and examined her body.

“Finally... I’ve got real, real legs.”

Cheongwol looked at her legs and rejoiced.

Maybe her vocal organs had formed properly too, because I didn’t hear that signature “krrrng” sound anymore.

I asked Cheongwol,

“Cheongwol, can you return to your true body too?”

“Of course.”

She returned to her true body in a puff of smoke.

I jolted in surprise at that sight.

She’d already been huge, over five meters, but now she looked like she was over eight meters.

“Gyaaaah!”

After shouting a joy-cry because I was so happy, Cheongwol returned to her humanoid half-beast body again.

I was disappointed that I couldn’t properly see the scorpion form, but then Cheongwol turned around, checked something at her waist, and looked back at me with a shocked expression.

“Why?”

I thought something had gone wrong, but Cheongwol said with a stunned face,

“Th-this armor... it won’t come off...”

For some reason, taking off the armor seemed extremely important to Cheongwol.

“At the next realm, they said you become a full transformation, so yours will come off then.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Zihwa said so.”

“I’m disappointed, but I’ll have to endure a little longer.”

I was soothing Cheongwol, telling her that once her realm rose, she’d become a full transformation and then the armor would come off—

When a voice reached my ears.

Gun Hye-rin’s voice saying that Cheong-yu Sojeo was waking up.

‘Master, Cheong-yu Sojeo is waking up.’

‘Ghk! Got it!’

“Cheongwol, Cheong-yu Sojeo is waking up too, so I think I have to go there. Dry your body well, got it?”

“Understood. Go check quickly.”

I hurried toward the cave where Cheong-yu Sojeo had entered her realm increase.

My vision blurred, and when it cleared again, what I saw was a torchlit cave.

Cheong-yu Sojeo’s forehead, where she’d been coiled in the center, was splitting open.

“Gun Hye-rin, take her out quickly. We have to take her outside. A heavenly tribulation might come.”

“What!? Got it.”

If Cheong-yu Sojeo reached the Primordial Infant Stage too, a heavenly tribulation could descend.

So I told her to take Cheong-yu Sojeo outside quickly, and Gun Hye-rin, floating Cheong-yu Sojeo with qi, dashed outside.

The moment we reached outside the cave—

—Ureureung.

Dark clouds overhead.

Today, those dark clouds were really moving around busily.

The moment Gun Hye-rin quickly set Cheong-yu Sojeo down and retreated—

—Kwajijik.

Lightning struck again.

Since Cheong-yu Sojeo was a snake, I worried whether she’d be able to endure it, but beneath the lightning that turned everything white, I saw Cheong-yu Sojeo emerging from her shed skin.

—Chwaak. Jureureuk.

As Cheong-yu Sojeo emerged from her skin while being struck by lightning, her horns shone brightly, buzzing with light.

Radiance was flowing from her eyes as well.

After waiting a little, the light from her shining horns faded, and the light in her eyes disappeared too.

‘Oh, so this is what it is for a descendant of a god?’

When the lightning’s energy faded, I lightly placed a hand on Cheong-yu Sojeo’s horns and felt her qi more precisely, and sure enough, maybe because she was a descendant of a god with good potential, she’d reached the Primordial Infant Stage too.

But there was no change in her appearance at all.

Cheong-yu Sojeo, having just emerged from her shed skin, looked the same as always.

I asked Cheong-yu Sojeo, who still looked damp, having only just come out of her skin.

“Cheong-yu Sojeo, congratulations. But you can’t transform into half-human half-beast or humanoid half-beast?”

—Shia. 『I think I can. Want me to try?』

“Yes.”

At my words, Cheong-yu Sojeo stirred her qi, and smoke rose from her body. In the Gold-Crowned Lion King Cheong-yu form, only her lower body became human legs.

Originally, when she was registered in Dokmul-hyang and in the human Cheong-yu form, she was in a complete Cheong-yu Sojeo state, but now she was a humanoid body with the Gold-Crowned Lion King Cheong-yu appearance—golden horns, a flicking tongue.

Maybe because she was in a humanoid half-beast state, it felt like that.

Both of their breakthroughs went smoothly, and now the only one left was Zihwa.

But even after ten days, Zihwa still couldn’t wake up.

“Why is it taking so long?”

“Could it be that, since it is Mother’s energy from such a high realm, it requires a long period to absorb?”

“That could be it, Master.”

I decided to end my closed-door cultivation and show Zihwa to Junior Sister, who was knowledgeable about qi and realms.

Junior Sister was waiting, and I couldn’t just keep making her wait until Zihwa woke up.

And if it was Junior Sister, I felt like she’d know what was going on with Zihwa too.

Even if her realm was low, she’d been here a long time, so wouldn’t she have experience?

“Where in the world did you get this?”

Junior Sister’s eyes went wide as she looked at the fragment lodged in Zihwa’s chest.

After I explained the situation, Junior Sister said,

“With this kind of energy, it could take years.”

I’d expected that when Zihwa’s realm rose, my realm would rise to match it, but if that was the case, I had to find another way.

After thinking it over for a few days, I decided to register all the remaining kids.

If quality wouldn’t work, I’d make up for it with quantity.