Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

Apparently, the monk named Jaheo was truly an elite.

Big Brother praised him non-stop the entire way back to the ship.

And Big Brother wasn’t the type to hand out compliments easily.

”Welcome. If you’re helping us, it’s like gaining an army of thousands.”

”You’re being too kind.”

As Jaheo made an expression that said ’You’re exaggerating,’ Big Brother, as if noticing my doubt, explained.

”This Jaheo here is already among the Eighteen Arhats of Shaolin at a young age, So-ryong.”

”Eighteen Arhats?”

”At Shaolin, many come seeking martial teachings. Because of that, Shaolin runs a group called the Arhat Hall. Jaheo belongs to that Arhat Hall.”

”Seeking teachings... meaning like me, people come to ask about Buddhist doctrines?”

”No, it’s about directly competing in martial arts. Through matches, they let you experience Shaolin martial arts with your own body.”

”Ahh.”

Hearing the explanation, it seemed the people who sought teachings at Shaolin were more like dojo challengers than monks.

Meaning, the Arhat Hall acted like Shaolin’s security force against such visitors—or a show of external martial strength.

And if you were part of a display force like that, you absolutely couldn’t afford to lose.

Lose once, and you’d bring disgrace.

Thus, it made sense that the Arhat Hall gathered the strongest within Shaolin.

‘Hooh. So he’s part of Shaolin’s strongest external force?’

I nodded, thinking his skills must be pretty good, but the explanation wasn’t over yet.

”The Arhat Hall is composed of one hundred and eight members, all among the best martial artists of Shaolin. The formation they create, the Hundred and Eight Arhat Array, is so renowned that no martial master can penetrate it.

And among them, the eighteen strongest are called the Eighteen Arhats of Shaolin. Jaheo is already among those eighteen, even at a young age. And not just any—he’s the best among them. The First Arhat. That’s Jaheo.”

Meaning, although other revered monks existed, Jaheo was the top external martial force ranked number one within Shaolin.

At that level of name value, it was definitely something to be respected.

He was said to be the best fighter in Shaolin.

‘So, he’s Shaolin’s ace?’

”Ooh, that’s amazing.”

”I’m embarrassed. It’s not that big of a deal.”

As I admired him, he bashfully scratched his head.

Immediately, the Five Dragon Three Phoenixes swarmed him like bees.

”If that’s not amazing, then what are we?”

”We must be the Five Earth Dragons and Three Sparrows, then. I’m the Sword Earth Dragon, and you’re the Sword Fist Earth Dragon.”

”Then am I the Sword Sparrow?”

With that, they joked that if Jaheo was modest, then they must be worms and sparrows instead, making Jaheo look awkward.

”Ah, no, no. You people... Amitabha.”

It was clear Jaheo would be a great help in attacking the Five Venoms Clan, but with his bashful modesty being teased, I quietly moved next to Sister Seol.

Anyway, that was that.

What mattered now wasn’t Jaheo.

What mattered right now was our children.

Having new guests around was nothing new—we’d often had visitors before—but what really mattered now was finding ways to help the children grow internally and externally.

I could ask after we got to the ship, but I was too impatient to wait.

”Sister Seol, is there a way in Beast Palace to make the beasts stronger?”

Sister Seol, who was talking with Hwa-eun, turned at my question.

She smiled and said,

”Of course. We were just talking about that, Hwa-eun and I.”

”Ooh, really?”

It seemed Hwa-eun had already asked Sister Seol before I could.

Truly, a supportive partner.

Delighted, I asked again, and Sister Seol, as if she had been waiting, began explaining.

”Yes, just like martial artists, beasts can be trained. But since they are animals, we have to think carefully.”

”Think carefully?”

”Yes. Training beasts is about bringing out their best strengths. For example, an elephant is strong, so you train it to carry heavy things. A wolf, on the other hand, has great stamina for running long distances, so you focus on that.

So So-ryong’s children should also be trained according to their natural traits.”

”That does make sense.”

The Beast Palace’s training methods were surprisingly systematic.

Indeed, what Sister Seol said was absolutely correct.

Since we were teaching the children, it wasn’t just ’training’—it was ’education.’

The word ’education’ (Education) usually means teaching, but its root, the Latin word ’educere,’ means ’to draw out.’

Awakening a child’s potential and making them a contributing member of society—that is the essence of education.

Bringing out their talents and specialties was the core of child education.

If a child had talent in art, you sent them to an art academy; if they had musical talent, you sent them to a music academy to let their talent bloom.

That was talent education!

A true Western-style approach.

Although in my previous life, it had been the opposite.

I lived in Korea—the absolute king of cramming education.

Parents always wanted to fix their children’s weaknesses.

If a child was bad at math, they were sent to math tutoring; if they couldn’t draw, they were sent to art classes.

‘I went to so many math academies, but I still became a math dropout.’

Even from my own experience, talent education was clearly the better path.

”I need to hurry back.”

I needed to grow the children fast so I could see their brilliant forms and move on to the next stage.

My mind was filled with thoughts of educating the children.

***

It took a whole day to return to the ship.

We could have arrived earlier, but even though we rushed, by the time we came down the mountain, it was dawn, and we had to hide in the forest until sunset.

We couldn’t cross the main road openly with all the children with us.

In the end, we waited until sunset, returned to the ship, and immediately began discussing with Sister Seol.

The moon was shining brightly outside the window.

”First, we need to figure out the children’s characteristics, right?”

”Exactly.”

”Let’s start with Cho.”

We began planning the children’s education process.

For things like this, it always started with Cho.

She was the eldest, and since Hyang was lazy and Bini was complicated to persuade, starting with Cho made sense.

She was the most cooperative and the best listener.

A true eldest daughter.

”Cho, come here.”

-Tsrr 『Why, Daddy?』

She had been letting Mirang wipe her down to remove any dust from the outing, but at my call, she came over and rested her chin on my thigh.

As I patted her head, I felt her smooth, glossy fur.

Mirang had polished her so much that her head squeaked when I rubbed it.

As I looked down at Cho, Sister Seol asked,

”What do you think Cho’s characteristic is?”

”Cuteness?”

”Don’t joke.”

‘But it’s true.’

I scratched my head under Sister Seol’s stern gaze.

Cuteness really was her greatest trait, but I had joked too, so it was fair.

So I decided to answer properly and think seriously.

”Yes, Sister Seol.”

-Tsrr?

”No, it’s not that you’re not cute, Cho. Daddy was just joking with Auntie.”

Cho was a spiritual creature based on a centipede.

A carnivore by nature.

Mainly active at night to avoid direct sunlight.

Her body was flat, allowing her to slip into narrow spaces easily, and her sharp jaws secreted a paralyzing venom.

However, because Cho was a spiritual creature, instead of paralyzing venom, she secreted a spray-type dissolving venom.

Centipedes’ antennae are unique compared to other arthropods—they usually point backward, but when sensing something, they turn forward.

Additionally, centipedes have the Tömösváry organ located on the base of their antennae.

This organ, composed of sensitive cells, detects vibrations and sounds.

Thus, you could say that a centipede’s ”ears” are attached to ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) its antennae.

Also, centipede legs tend to grow longer toward the back to avoid interfering with the front legs, and it’s the same for the children.

Unlike Ranghyang, who recently joined the family, Cho’s front legs are short, and the rear legs are long.

The very last pair of legs can easily be mistaken for a tail, but they are legs.

They are shaped like hooks and used to cling to walls—a pair of helpful legs.

If you had to describe centipedes with one word, it would be this:

”Hmm. O-gong can be called a kind of assassin...”

An assassin.

A silent assassin in the dark, you could say?

Even small centipedes are like that, but one of the largest, the Gigantea, lives in caves and is famous for eating birds, spiders, rats, lizards, snakes, and even bats.

It’s even said they can snatch flying bats out of the air—what could be a more perfect assassin?

”Then, should we train for agility and stealth?”

As Sister Seol said that, I thought of a training method and suggested we try it right away.

”I have a few ideas. Should we give it a try?”

”Sure. Then let’s head to the deck.”

”Cho, let’s go out to the deck for a bit.”

-Tsrrr.

Taking Cho with me, I stepped out onto the deck, where the full moon shone overhead.

Under the moonlight, I demonstrated first.

”Look, Cho. You just have to follow Daddy, okay?”

-Tsrrt!

The best training for agility is definitely shuttle runs.

I ran from one end of the railing to the other, then turned and ran back.

”Cho, you run like this. When you turn at the other end, your legs will bear a heavy force. Repeating this builds up strength and lets you move quickly in bursts.”

-Tsrrr!

At my demonstration, Cho scurried to the opposite end of the railing and turned back.

Her legs moved swiftly in neat rows, and she spun at the far end and raced back to me.

”Cho, are you tired?”

-Tsrr.

Cho shook her head at my question.

We repeated it several times, but Cho said she wasn’t tired at all.

”This only works if you actually get tired, though...”

”Maybe you didn’t make her do enough?”

I started thinking maybe I needed to make her run for several hours.

’Several hours of running?’

But making Cho exhaust herself for my own goals wasn’t right.

If I pushed my beloved children too hard just for results, I would be a failure as a caretaker of spirit beasts.

’Come on. They’re my daughters, not murder weapons.’

In the end, I abandoned the muscle training idea and moved on to stealth training, but somehow that evolved strangely.

”One, two, three... Okay, Daddy’s coming to find you.”

-Tsrrr.

It turned into a game of hide-and-seek.

Cho would hide her presence and tuck herself away, and I would search for her—it wasn’t much different from regular hide-and-seek.

And once the other kids got curious and came out, they joined in too.

Before I knew it, we were having a full-blown game of hide-and-seek under the midnight moon.

”Here you are, Cho.”

-Tsrrr. 『Caught.』

”Hyang, you’re in the water barrel.”

-Tsrr! 『What the! How did you find me so fast!』

”Bini’s behind the door!”

-Tsrrtsrrt... 『Ugh...』

’Who knew opening this door would be so hard!’

Turns out it wasn’t just physically hard—there was a psychological factor too.

I decided to give up on ”training” entirely after this realization.

After finding Cho up the mast, Hyang in the water barrel, and Bini behind the door, we all flopped down on the deck.

Then I heard Cheongyu’s cry.

-Siaa.

Looking up, I saw the full moon shining in the sky and Cheongyu’s face looking soft and expressive—not the cold Golden-Crowned Death Queen Cheongyu, but Cheongyu Sojeo.

It hit me—I always paid attention to the days when Cheongyu Sojeo would appear, but I had completely forgotten because of the trip to Shaolin.

”Ah, Cheongyu Sojeo.”

-Sia. 『What are you doing, So-ryong?』

”Ah, some training. Actually, I found a clue for opening the next gate at Shaolin. So basically...”

I started explaining to Cheongyu Sojeo the hints I obtained at Shaolin.

But even before I finished, the children pounced on me.

-Tsrrt. 『Daddy, do it again!』

-Tsrrt. 『Daddy, let’s play again!』

-Tsst! 『Hurry!』

”Just for a little bit, okay?”

-Siaa. 『Alright.』

After hearing my story, Cheongyu Sojeo looked lost in thought, while I had to play with the children.

And now, I understood why adults always said playing with kids was exhausting.

I hadn’t realized it before because I hadn’t played with them much, but their stamina was monstrous.

What I thought would be just a few rounds of hide-and-seek didn’t end until just before dawn.

”Aigoo. I’m exhausted.”

-Sia. 『Are you alright, So-ryong?』

Lying sprawled on the deck, I looked up to see Cheongyu Sojeo gazing at me with a worried expression.

First, I apologized.

She only got to come out once every two weeks, and now she’d have to go back without having done anything meaningful.

”I’m sorry... Because of the kids... You only just came out after half a month...”

-Siii. 『It’s alright. These things happen. Thanks to that, I got to think about something you said earlier.』

”Something I said?”

-Siaa. 『Yes. About internal and external growth.』

”Ah, that.”

-Sia. 『So, I thought of something we could try.』

Hearing that brightened my mind instantly.

If it was something thought up by Cheongyu Sojeo, who gave the best advice about the children and me, it had to be good.

I hurriedly asked.

”Ooh! What is it?”

-Siii. 『Breathing in the energy of the Beast Heart Technique. That’s a kind of growth too, isn’t it?』

”Ah!”

Now that she mentioned it, when we infused the children connected through the Beast Heart Technique with its energy, they sometimes awakened special abilities or powers.

I had forgotten because Hyang made a fuss about it, but it was definitely a form of growth.

Cheongyu Sojeo reached out her hand.

-Sia. 『Start with me first.』

It seemed Cheongyu Sojeo was just as curious as I was about what ability she might awaken.