Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

The tiny note-like letter didn’t have any mark showing who sent it, and the place it mentioned was somewhere I didn’t even know the location of.

The paper was yellow talisman paper, the kind you’d normally use for a charm.

The ink felt ordinary too.

It didn’t look like I could squeeze any information out of this, so I spoke to Hwa-eun through the group chat first.

『”Hwa-eun, are you there?”

”Yes, husband. What is it?”』

I needed Huiyang—who might be with Hwa-eun—to figure out the location mentioned on the paper.

Huiyang would be helping Hwa-eun and the others right now, after all.

I did consider going back into the Ink Shadow Altar to ask about the place, but I’d just been properly received and escorted out, so walking back in to ask again felt wrong.

And since that place dealt in information, if this letter had come from someone connected to Master—or one of his helpers—I didn’t feel safe letting any information leak.

Other people’s grudges were still deep, and if the person who sent the letter ended up being identified, they could get hurt.

They didn’t have sturdy backing like I did.

『”Is Huiyang nearby?”

”Yes, we’re having tea together right now. What is it?”

”I’m on my way out of the Ink Shadow Altar, and someone sent a bird made of paper. When I held it out, it turned into a letter, and it says that if I want to hear about Master Tang Hwa-seong, I should come to the Black Tree Forest in the Eighth Heaven. Please ask for the detailed location.”

”Just a moment.”』

Hwa-eun would tell me the location soon, but before that, I decided to move toward the Sixth Heaven.

I was going there anyway, and even if I didn’t know where the Wind Passage was, I could just grab someone nearby and ask.

I quickly climbed onto Yo-hwa and Cho’s backs and pointed them in the opposite direction from the Wind Passage that led toward Sacheon.

”Cho, let’s go that way.”

—Tsrrr. 『Got it, Dad.』

I was moving away from the Ink Shadow Altar while checking the energies below when Hwa-eun’s voice came through the group chat.

『”Husband, I just asked, and they said the Black Tree Forest is... if you compare it to the Central Plains, it’s like the back alleys behind a market.”

”Back alleys behind a market?”

”Yes. They said that most cultivators in the Lower Heavens, from the First to the Eighth, belong to an association or a sect—but it isn’t always like that. There are cultivators who hate belonging anywhere, too.”

”Right. People like that exist.”』

Sure, those were the basic rules over here, but there were always people who hated belonging to anything.

Lone-wolf types.

It sounded like a place those people gathered.

Hwa-eun continued.

『”Yes. They said the Black Tree Forest is where those people flock. Up above, powerful groups have taken the best spots on earth veins or heaven veins, but the Black Tree Forest is a place where even people who don’t belong to any group can still get earth-vein energy, even if it’s weaker.”』

The upper levels of these Lower Heavens were built so that strong groups got the most benefits.

But a place called the Black Tree Forest seemed to be somewhere you could still profit a little without joining a group, so once I confirmed the location, I quickly set my course that way.

『”So where exactly is it?”

”They said the Wind Passages are located from the Fifth Heaven—”

”Thank you, Hwa-eun.”

”It’s nothing. Be careful. It could be a bad person. No, a cultivator.”

”Of course.”』

If they were in their right mind, they wouldn’t be able to lay a hand on me after Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo had claimed me.

I hadn’t asked outright, but Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo was probably a Da Luo–level immortal.

Meaning: if you touched me, you didn’t want to live.

Hwa-eun was saying it because she was worried, so after answering her nicely, I headed for the Eighth Heaven at speed.

『”Don’t worry too much. I’ll be careful.”』

***

Traveling around taught me this: the First Heaven was about the size of Seoul, but the farther down you went, the bigger everything got.

The Fifth Heaven was about the size of the Korean Peninsula, and when I reached the Eighth, I realized it was as wide as the Central Plains continent.

Near each Wind Passage, there were people selling maps, so I bought one °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° and confirmed it—but the scale was no joke, and it took a long time to find the Black Tree Forest.

No matter how straight you flew, you could still drift off course little by little while traveling.

I had to constantly confirm the location with cultivators I ran into along the way.

”Hey.”

”Hiiik!”

”I have no intention of treating you badly. Tell me where the Black Tree Forest is, and I’ll leave quietly.”

”I-it’s... if you go about one sikgyeong that way... it’s there.”

”Thank you. Here, this is for your trouble.”

”Th-thank you!”

It felt like I was almost there, but the Black Tree Forest still didn’t appear, so when I showed up and a raccoon cultivator tried to hide in the nearby woods, I confirmed the location one more time.

The raccoon cultivator said I’d arrived within a sikgyeong.

I tossed him a mid-grade spirit stone and kept moving in that direction.

”Cho, are you tired?”

—Tsrrr. 『I’m fine, Dad.』

”Yo-hwa?”

—Kishit. 『I’m fine too, Brother.』

It was while I was checking on them, worried they might be worn out from the long trip.

Yo-hwa, who’d just said she was fine, hesitated before speaking.

—Kishi. 『But, Brother...』

”Hm?”

—Kishishi. 『I, um... yang energy...』

”Ah...”

So that was why she was hesitating—she was hungry.

When I let Yo-hwa bite my finger, I felt my yang energy being drawn out.

It was right when I was feeding Yo-hwa—

That black forest revealed itself up ahead.

When I heard “Black Tree Forest,” I’d imagined some ancient, overgrown forest that only looked black because it was so dense, but this place was literally packed with black trees.

The trees were pitch-black, literally.

”What kind of tree even is that? Yo-hwa, can you eat in a bit? Let’s check the area first, then you can eat.”

—Kishit. 『Okay, Brother.』

Since it looked like we’d arrived, I asked Yo-hwa—who’d been feeding—for a moment and decided to check the surroundings first.

The owner of the paper note had told me to come to the Black Tree Forest, but the information I’d picked up on the way here was that the Black Tree Forest was huge.

It was comparable to the size of the First Heaven, so if I wanted to find the cultivator who’d sent the note, I needed to get a rough sense of its size and terrain first.

I rose high into the sky to check the general size and position, then came back down and placed my hand on a tree.

If it was good wood, I wanted to plant some in Dokmul-hyang too, so I’d touched it—

And at that moment, a bright light began to pour out from inside my robe.

Startled, I quickly checked, and the paper note I’d tucked away was shining brightly.

Then, slowly, the paper began to transform again.

The paper was returning to the shape of the bird that had first appeared in front of me.

Once it fully turned back into a bird, it took off again—and as if telling me to follow, it bobbed its head.

”So I was worried about how I’d find the location when the forest is so huge, but they’d set things up for this.”

What I’d been worried about was how I was supposed to meet the person who sent the note when the forest was so big.

But it seemed they’d prepared everything in advance on their end.

”Yo-hwa, go inside with Cho.”

—Kishit. 『Okay, Brother.』

Before following the bird, I put Cho and Yo-hwa into Dokmul-hyang for a moment.

Then I spread my lightfoot technique and started chasing it.

Between the black trees, the bright yellow bird drew the eye easily, and after flying for quite a while, I reached the outer northern edge of the forest—where the bird, which had been flying so well, dropped to the ground near a tree.

Then it turned back into paper again.

”Here?”

I looked around, but nothing stood out, and I probed the area’s energy in case there was a barrier, but I didn’t feel any trace of one.

It was the moment I stepped closer to the paper and picked it up—

The ground right in front of me opened from below, and a voice spoke.

[Enter.]

What appeared as the ground opened was a kind of tunnel.

It looked like a burrow dug by something a little bigger than a human.

I bent at the waist and went inside, and soft cloth lined the walls, making the interior feel oddly comfortable.

After walking down the slanted passage for a long while, I reached a space of moderate size.

If you compared it to my previous life, it was about the size of a slightly-large studio.

In the center, at a table made of black wood, a woman was sitting.

She had sharp features and wore yellow clothing.

The exact same yellow as the talisman paper she’d used.

[Welcome.]

She was talking down to me, but I couldn’t feel the size of her energy.

Unlike the cultivators here, she seemed to be keeping her energy tightly gathered.

Like the Central Plains people did.

For now, I cupped my fists and asked.

”I am So-ryong, who inherited Elder Tang Hwa-seong’s martial arts in the Central Plains martial world. Who are you, that you sent me a letter?”

At my question, the woman smiled and said,

”I heard you confidently called yourself Tang Hwa-seong’s disciple in front of the others. If your claim is true, then I could be called your aunt-master.”

”Aunt-master!?”

What was an aunt-master?

An aunt-master meant your master’s younger sister—or his sister.

So she was Elder Tang Hwa-seong’s younger sister, or his sister.

‘Then... another poison-being of Master Tang Hwa-seong?’

I’d heard Master hadn’t taken any other poison-beings as wives besides one.

So she was probably the aunt my senior sister had mentioned—my senior sister’s aunt.

I didn’t know why she was here alone, but it seemed this woman was one of Master Tang Hwa-seong’s other poison-beings.

I greeted her again, respectfully.

”Then... Master’s other spirit creature? So-ryong greets Aunt-Master.”

”You’re a brat who knows manners. Sit.”

”Yes, Aunt-Master.”

The chair was a stone chair with armrests, strangely enough, and when I sat down, Aunt-Master poured me a cup of tea.

”Drink.”

”Yes, Aunt-Master.”

The tea was a sweet liquid that felt like honey.

It went down extremely smoothly.

Thinking it was delicious, I drank it down and asked Aunt-Master,

”Then why are you here alone? The Ink Shadow Altar said Master reached the Spirit Transformation Realm and ascended to the Middle Heavens.”

At my words, Aunt-Master said like it was nothing.

”Because I split from him.”

”You split?”

Splitting meant she’d completely separated from Master.

When I made a shocked face, Aunt-Master began telling me what I’d wanted to know most.

”You already know he abducted other spirit creatures, right? That happened at the Ascension Platform.”

”Yes, Aunt-Master.”

”That’s why I split from him.”

”If that’s the reason... then why?”

”He caught the eye of a Taiyi immortal in the Nine Heavens. That immortal ordered him to abduct spirit creatures. I told him it wasn’t right, but he said it couldn’t be helped for the greater cause. That’s why we split.”

It sounded like, just like Ji-ryeon, Master had caught the eye of one of the higher immortals.

That order had been to abduct spirit creatures, and it seemed the two of them had fought over it.

I asked Aunt-Master,

”But if it’s for the greater cause... huh?”

It was at that moment.

My vision spun.

My body started to stiffen.

At the same time, threads surged up from the chair’s armrests and from around my legs and waist, wrapping around my body.

Aunt-Master’s voice came.

”Looks like the medicine is finally kicking in.”

I stared at the cup in front of me.

It had to be because of that sweet tea Aunt-Master had given me earlier.

But it was strange.

I was Invulnerable to Ten Thousand Poisons, so poison shouldn’t work on me—yet it was.

I looked at Aunt-Master and asked,

”How?”

Aunt-Master spoke like she was venting.

”I tried to escape Tang Hwa-seong’s Heavenly Hearted Enchanting Poison Dance and walk my own path. But that cursed martial art... even if you break free, it isn’t over.

If you swallow even a single drop of that energy, after that, you can’t break through realms without it. And other yang energy won’t satisfy your hunger anymore.

You can keep living, but you can’t ever feel full. You end up suffering from that endless hunger.”

Aunt-Master slowly approached and licked my finger, bound to the chair.

”Ah... yes. This is it. Sweet.”

Her eyes were already gleaming with madness.

That was when I realized my waistband was bulging.

‘Why?’

Aunt-Master’s behavior didn’t arouse lust so much as it made her look like a crazy bitch, so this reaction made no sense.

Maybe she read my expression, because Aunt-Master said,

”You’re from the Tang Clan, so you’ll think it’s strange that this works on your body, right? Of course it does—this isn’t poison. It’s medicine. It’s just good medicine for a man.”

Smiling, Aunt-Master started undoing my waistband.

It was obvious what she intended to do.

After suffering decades of hunger, she seemed to be going for the most efficient way to take yang energy.

What was more reliable than oral intake? Injection.

I shouted desperately.

”A-Aunt-Master, you can’t do this!”

Aunt-Master gave a small snort and said,

”Aunt-master? Who says I’m your aunt-master? I split from Tang Hwa-seong. Don’t worry too much—I won’t kill you.”

As if the table was in the way, Aunt-Master shoved it aside and approached me again.

And that was when spider legs emerged from behind her back.

Seeing that, I realized what kind of spirit creature she was.

She was a spider spirit creature like Yo-hwa.

A human-faced spider spirit creature.

The cloth I’d seen on the walls when I entered was probably spider silk.

The “paper” I’d thought was paper—and the clothes she was wearing—had to be clothing woven from her own silk.

Yo-hwa was closer to a crimson spider-type human-faced spider, but judging by this burrow, this one seemed to be a spirit creature based on a trapdoor spider.

A trapdoor spider refers to a spider in the order Araneae, family Ctenizidae.

They live by digging burrows underground.

They dig a burrow, line the walls with webbing to make the inside warm and cozy, then cleverly camouflage the entrance and wait for prey.

I shouted quickly and called Yo-hwa out.

‘Yo-hwa!’

If the other side was a human-faced spider spirit creature, then Yo-hwa—the Gold-Faced Spider King—could stop her.

My chastity was in a life-or-death crisis.