Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

Sua stepped into the splendid house attached beside the place called the inn.

What brushed the tip of her nose was the sweet scent of spirit herbs.

Contrary to its outward appearance, the inside of the house was dazzlingly luxurious.

The railings hanging beneath the red-tiled roof glittered with a jade sheen, and the moment she crossed the threshold, she heard the sound of soft silk curtains rustling in the wind.

All kinds of spirit herbs were growing in the flower garden, and in the pond, little fish brimming with spiritual energy swam about.

After passing through that garden, what she arrived at was an extravagant bedchamber.

When she reached the bedchamber, a servant said,

“It is here, Elder. This is originally the residence So-ryong uses, but he gave it over for you.”

“Really? Thank you.”

Sua brightened at the servant’s words.

The servant’s words put her in a good mood.

And no wonder. He had given her his own residence.

‘Hmm. It isn’t a bad feeling. Definitely.’

She had thought she had been completely rejected, but it seemed that was not the case.

Earlier too, the greeting had not felt all that bad, and if he was giving up his own residence for her, it did not seem like he was trying to cut her off completely.

When he had come to the Jet-Black Sea in the Sixth Heaven, the atmosphere had definitely been good at first.

He had said he was excited, and Sua had been excited too.

But for some reason, he had turned cold, and when he left, he did not even come to say goodbye.

He had only passed along a message through some insignificant cultivator of the Jet-Black Sea.

-Kwarureung!

Before that cultivator could even finish speaking, blue lightning burst from Sua’s fingers.

Blue flames swallowed the cultivator’s body and roasted it golden-brown.

Even as she stared blankly at the traces of the cultivator, now reduced to ashes on the spot, Sua’s mind was empty.

She could not even tell whether it was anger or a sense of loss.

And she thought for a long while.

It was the first time since being born that she had ever agonized over whether she had done something wrong.

But no matter how much she thought, she could not come up with any wrongdoing.

Thinking that perhaps, because she was a dragon so arrogant, she simply could not understand human emotions, she had even called in her subordinates and asked them.

“Do you think I did something wrong by any chance?”

“N-no, surely not.”

“Don’t give me such sweet words. Speak the truth!”

“W-we did not hear much, so.”

But her subordinates also said they did not really know, so Sua’s curiosity could only grow stronger.

Then, in the end, she could not endure it any longer, and anger surged up.

Anger like a blaze surged up.

The dragon blood throughout her whole body heated as if it were boiling, and blue light glimmered in both her eyes.

Even if he had five females with him already, was she not a dragon?

She was an azure dragon and the master of the Jet-Black Sea, Sua. If she had shown her heart, the natural course was for him to accept.

That was reason.

Just as the heavens were higher than the earth, and dragons nobler than humans.

“I-I thought he was kind of cute, and yet! How dare he!”

But along with her anger, her sense of regret was also great.

Was he not a being who had made her heart tremble for the first time in a very long while?

While she was agonizing over whether there might be some way, she remembered that smell she had caught from him.

‘Ah! Right, that smell!’

A smell that was somehow dangerous and unpleasant.

But it absolutely had not been his body scent.

Because his body scent had been very sweet.

That smell was, yes, something that felt like a trace had been left behind.

Should she say it was a smell passed on from someone else?

It had been the sort of trace-like smell left behind after someone had stuck close to him and rubbed against him.

“Could it be the smell of one of his women?”

For a trace like this to remain, that meant bodies had been pressed together for quite a long time.

It was right at the moment she had that thought.

The identity of that smell, something she had smelled somewhere before, flashed through Sua’s mind.

“I was sure I’d smelled it somewhere before···. Ah! Right! That was it!”

Sua quickly put her hand into her storage pouch.

And from inside the pouch, she searched out the item from her memory and took it out.

A moment later, what appeared in her hand was an antique pouch.

When she opened it, a long bit of purple fuzz-like material appeared from inside.

When she brought it to her nose, that dangerous smell drifted out.

It was unpleasant and made her feel bad, and for some reason it made the space between her legs tingle.

A strange emotion that could not be put into words washed over her.

“Yes, it was very similar to this. That’s right!”

The thing inside this pouch, she had heard, had been passed down to her by the previous master of the Jet-Black Sea, and that it had been bestowed by a high-ranking dragon cultivator.

Since dragons treated other creatures as lowly, they tended to only exchange reverence among themselves, and she had heard that it had been bestowed by the high-ranking dragon cultivator whom the previous master of the Jet-Black Sea had served.

That was the being she served now.

“This?”

“It was bestowed from above. If by any chance you discover a being that gives off this kind of smell, report it immediately through a ritual.”

“I understand, Elder.”

She did not know where this had originated or what the smell belonged to, but that was what she had been told.

It did seem slightly different, but that did not matter.

Even if it was different, soon enough it was going to become the same.

Sua quickly poured out treasures from her storage pouch and prepared a tribute ritual.

It was to report to a higher being in the upper heavens.

She prepared the spirit tablet and piled up the offerings.

Then, together with the energy of the spirit stones, she shattered a Spirit Pill.

When the ritual was thus completed, she soon felt the gaze of some enormous being from above.

An annoyed voice could be heard.

[What is it?]

The higher being looked at Sua as if looking at an insect and sent her a gaze that seemed to say, why have you bothered me when I’m annoyed?

“I report to the exalted being above. I am called Sua, the one in charge of the Jet-Black Sea in the lower river, the Sixth Heaven.”

[So, what business does a loach-like thing that still has not even become a proper dragon yet have with me? If you have bothered me over something insignificant, then no matter that you offered energy through a ritual, I will not forgive it!

You have wasted my precious time on such low-grade energy, after all.]

The arrogant high-ranking cultivator compared Sua to a loach.

She was angry, but that being could do that.

Because it was strong.

Far stronger than her.

Sua bowed her head and reported.

“The truth is, I discovered someone carrying the smell of that purple fur from the pouch I received from my previous Elder. I was told that if I ever discovered this trace, I should certainly make contact···.”

[What! What did you say!?]

The languid, annoyance-filled voice immediately changed into a startled one.

Then came the next question.

The high-ranking cultivator asked in a pressing voice.

[Are you certain!?]

Honestly, she could not be certain.

Because it had been only a passing smell.

But even if it was not so now, it had to be so.

To say here that she did not know well would be nearly the same as saying she wanted to die, and only if it was right would the chances be higher that she could make him hers.

“It feels so to me.”

[Speak in detail! Tell me in detail!]

At Sua’s words, the energy on the other side swelled.

Just what was that smell, for it to react like this?

Sua carefully conveyed the current situation.

A little embarrassed as she spoke.

“I-it is an embarrassing thing to say, but I found a man like a yeouiju. My heart was stirred for the first time in hundreds of years.”

[If you say yeouiju, then he must be one of those fellows from the Central Plains murim. Their inner energy shines very brightly in our eyes. Yes, and then?]

“I expressed my heart, but he refused, saying he already had five wives, and when he passed by, I sensed that smell. I do not think it was his smell, but the smell of something someone left behind, and it was stronger than I expected. I think perhaps it might belong to one of his women···.”

At Sua’s words, the exchange cut off for a moment, and after a while the voice from the other side was heard again.

[Wait. I will give you an answer shortly. I must ask above me as well. Prepare a bestowal ritual.]

“Yes, E-Elder.”

Dragons were extremely arrogant and only wanted to receive worship, and they did not care to bestow things.

I am strong, so of course I am to be worshipped.

That was more or less the feeling, so unless a considerable tribute was offered, they would not bestow anything.

But at the high-ranking cultivator’s words telling her to prepare a bestowal ritual, Sua thought something big was involved.

A bestowal ritual was what was used when the other side sent something down, so long as this side only prepared it.

What was more, even the energy consumed when something was sent down was borne entirely by the other side.

It was strange that dragons, who even when giving something made this side prepare everything, were now telling her to prepare a bestowal ritual in which the other side would bear everything from above.

Normally, it would be a granting rite.

After preparing the bestowal ritual and waiting a long while,

the flame of a burning talisman suddenly flared brightly.

When Sua prostrated herself, the exalted being spoke.

[That fellow came up from the Central Plains murim, you say?]

“Yes, Elde···. Khurk.”

She had tried to answer without thinking, but the energy felt even greater than before.

It was not the energy of the one she served.

It was a far greater and more immense energy.

When she coughed up blood under the crushing pressure, the great being clicked its tongue.

[Tsk tsk. You are a dragon, and yet you cannot even endure this much? Why are the youngsters these days so weak?]

Soon the pressure lessened, and the words of the great being continued once more.

[Can you answer now, at this level?]

“Yes, E-Elder!”

Honestly, it felt as though her mind might shatter.

But when she gritted her teeth and endured, the words of the great being continued.

[You may have been mistaken, but for it to be the Central Plains murim of all places. It is our opinion that we cannot simply pass this by.

So there is no choice but to verify the truth of what you have said. I will bestow my true blood, so make it so that either that fellow or someone around him can consume this.

Well, the true blood of an immortal-grade dragon is a treasure, so anyone’s eyes will turn over and they will consume it. Just hand it over. Then I will make that fellow my dependent and directly inspect that side through eyes or thought.]

Soon, blue true blood appeared before her eyes.

At the same time, one other thing was also sent down.

It was a glittering blue scale.

[Wear that in place of one of your scales. You will be speaking with me without any compensation.]

“I-I understand, Elder.”

It was just as Sua was stroking the scale she had received while thinking back on that time.

A voice came from outside.

“Elder, guests have arrived.”

“Guests?”

“They are So-ryong’s wives. They heard that a precious guest had come, so they have come to offer greetings.”

At present, Sua thought one of So-ryong’s wives was connected to that fur.

Thinking the timing was perfect, she said,

“Oho, is that so? Tell them to enter.”

“Yes, Elder.”

After a short wait, three women entered the room.

One, judging by the Daoist yin energy she could sense, seemed to be that woman said to be a disciple of the Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo.

Another was giving off demonic energy, and mantis energy at that, and the last was giving off the energy of a low-grade sea creature.

What filled Sua’s heart at the arrival of the three was absurdity.

At the fact that he had rejected someone as great and beautiful as herself because of things like those, she had nothing to say.

‘H-he rejected me because of things like these?’

It did not seem the owner of the smell was among them, but the three women across from her offered greetings.

“It’s our first time meeting. I’m Ji-ryeon. I serve Hyeonnyeo, Chaenyeo, and Sonyeo as my teachers.”

“I am Tang Hwa-eun.”

“I am Cheongcheong, So-ryong’s senior martial sister.”

At their polite greetings, Sua also smiled and greeted them.

“Ah, it’s nice to meet you.”

Honestly, she did not want to behave that way toward such lowly things, but if she treated them recklessly, So-ryong might come to dislike her.

Until that exalted one descended, or until So-ryong injected the true blood, there was no need to create trouble for no reason.

That was the current plan.

If he or someone around him injected the true blood, the one who injected it would become a dragon and at the same time become a dependent of the dragon.

Then, through that body, the exalted one would look for the owner of the smell.

And if the owner of the smell was found?

What would follow was annihilation.

It had already been promised that the remaining So-ryong would be handed over to Soyeon.

‘The best thing would be for So-ryong himself to inject the true blood···.’

If he injected the true blood, he would become a dragon, and then his current wives would seem lowly to him.

It was just as Soyeon was thinking that while exchanging greetings.

An angry voice came through the connected scale.

[Khhk. Y-you bitch! W-what did you do with my true blood!?]

[What?]

[M-my, t-true blood has been extinguished!]

At the furious shout of the exalted being, Soyeon’s eyes flew wide open.

After all, it was saying that the true blood of an immortal-grade being had been extinguished.