Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

At my answer, Gun Hye-rin stiffened with an expression of disbelief.

There’s a saying: “A quick-witted man can get meat even in a temple.” I’m one of those who swear by that philosophy, so I immediately moved to my next play.

Of course, it wasn’t about trying to appease Gun Hye-rin’s mood.

Then what was it?

She was clearly startled by my ability to speak with snakes or control spirit beasts, and I could sense she was trying to confirm whether it was real—meaning, there was something she needed from me related to my abilities.

So I decided to tease her further by showing off even more.

Pretending to look elsewhere to avoid her bewildered gaze, I focused my mind, searching the area to see if there were any more snakes nearby.

‘Hey, any friends around here?’

It was winter, so I worried if any of them would even be awake. I scanned for energy and spread my thoughts outward.

Soon, I sensed a cluster of snake energies in one direction.

A snake hibernation site nearby? Nice!

As autumn gives way to colder weather, snakes begin looking for places like crevices linked to underground tunnels or burrows to spend the winter—warmer underground over the frigid surface.

Because such places are limited, many snakes naturally gather in the same area. These groups are called hibernating colonies, and the places themselves are known as hibernation sites.

So if I could feel a group of energies clustered in one spot during winter like this, it meant there was definitely a hibernation site nearby.

Looking toward where the energy was coming from, I saw an overturned boulder near the spot where Hwa-eun and Gun Hye-rin had been clashing.

Right then, voices from the snakes started trickling in.

—Sss. 『Cold.』

—Ssssss. 『Who’s there? It’s cold...』

It seemed like the boulder they were hibernating under had been flipped during Hwa-eun and Gun Hye-rin’s fight, exposing their winter shelter. No wonder they felt cold.

Hearing their shivering complaints from all around, I sent them a wave of warm, gentle intent.

‘Come here. I’ll make you a new warm place to rest.’

—Shhii. 『Really? But it’s dark.』

—Ssss. 『Okay. Where’s the entrance?』

Their delighted voices rang out once I offered to build them a new hibernation site.

Soon after, the soil near the overturned rock started to # Nоvеlight # bulge, and a few snakes slowly slithered out toward me.

Still groggy from their disrupted hibernation, they moved sluggishly.

“You guys must’ve been startled. Let’s head to that sunny spot. Yeondu, dig a burrow for these friends. Cho, flip that rock and cover them with it.”

—Shaaa. 『Understood, Master So-ryong.』

—Trrr. 『Got it, Dad.』

I guided the snakes to a clearing formed by the fight, where the warm sunlight poured down. As we began construction on their new hibernation den, a shocked voice piped up again from the side.

“H-He really can communicate with snakes and spirit beasts! Who is that man!?”

It seemed Gun Hye-rin had given up asking me and turned her question toward Hwa-eun instead.

In response, Hwa-eun smiled and introduced me.

“My fiancé, So-ryong of the Beast Palace. He’s also known by the nickname ‘Venom Papa of the World.’ Haven’t you heard of him?”

God, how can she even make her introductions so cute?

Even included my favorite nickname in the intro.

Gun Hye-rin scratched her head and muttered in reply.

“N-Never heard of him. Ah, but that’s only because our sect has been in decline and we’ve fallen out of touch with current events in the Central Plains.”

Maybe she thought that simply saying she didn’t know would imply my reputation was too low to be recognized. So she added that her group just wasn’t well-informed about worldly matters.

I could feel she was being properly educated.

She’d started to read the room instead of treating everyone like they were beneath her.

‘I’m going to get a real apology out of her, no matter what.’

I swore to make that arrogant woman offer a sincere apology eventually, when Hwa-eun’s voice echoed in my head again.

『So-ryong, but why do you think she’s so curious about your ability to control snakes and spirit beasts?』

『Dunno. I figure if we keep teasing her a bit longer, we’ll find out.』

『Ah! I get it. You think she’ll come back and ask me instead, and then I can say I can’t answer without your permission!』

『Ooh, smart. Let’s go with that.』

Just as we finished scheming about how to make her even more desperate—

Sure enough, like Hwa-eun predicted, Gun Hye-rin asked again.

“Are you certain that man can control spirit beasts and speak with snakes?”

Even though she’d basically stated it earlier, she seemed to want a firmer confirmation now.

Hwa-eun answered with a smile.

“I’d love to answer your question, but... if the demons hadn’t shown up in Sichuan, we were supposed to have our wedding yesterday. So, he’s essentially my husband.

And I can’t give a detailed answer without his permission.”

“Grr...”

*‘Damn, my Hwa-eun is so good with words. She’s right—we just haven’t had the ceremony yet, but I’m absolutely her man.

Sure, we haven’t gotten physically connected yet, but we’ve got something even deeper—a bond of the soul, baby.’*

Gun Hye-rin started grumbling, clearly irritated by Hwa-eun’s answer that she couldn’t answer without her husband’s consent.

Then, a familiar signal rang out again.

—Beeeeep.

The last time I heard that, it seemed like someone was calling Gun Hye-rin. This one sounded more like an urgent nudge.

Gun Hye-rin frowned, seemed to hesitate for a moment, then pulled a small flute-like object from her robes and mimicked the earlier tone.

—Beep. Beep. Beep.

Three short beeps.

She then turned toward me and said:

“A-hem. It seems I was rude. I treated you too much like someone beneath me... I-I apologize. Could we talk for a moment?”

Finally, it felt like she was ready to have a real conversation, so I replied with exaggerated nervousness:

“As the weaker party speaking with someone so strong, I am trembling... but I’ll try to muster the courage.”

Gun Hye-rin then turned to Hwa-eun and asked,

“Will your marriage be all right?”

She probably meant: “Is this man really cut out to be your husband?”

Hearing that, I suddenly thought—

‘Damn. I forgave her too fast. Should’ve dragged it out more.’

***

I had already answered the question about whether I could speak with snakes.

Naturally, Gun Hye-rin asked it again, as if needing to hear it from my own mouth.

“You can really speak with snakes?”

“Yes. It’s true—I can speak with snakes.”

“Oh! I knew it! Then... is there any chance you could help me?”

“Let’s talk after I finish building a proper winter shelter for these little ones.”

“All right. Understood.”

I asked for a bit of patience—we could talk afterward. I couldn’t just leave the snakes exposed to the cold like this.

We dug the burrow and packed the earth, and Cho was just about to flip the rock into place when—

Five masked figures burst into the clearing and shouted in alarm.

“We were called back mid-pursuit and didn’t understand why—but Central Plains scum?!”

They immediately drew their swords and pointed them at us. Alarmed, Gun Hye-rin jumped in front of them and barked,

“Why are you drawing swords first?! Put those away! I-I apologize. I should’ve explained sooner.”

Cold sweat ran down her face—probably afraid I’d be offended again.

The masked warriors looked baffled.

“L-Lady Gun Hye-rin... apologized?”

“What in the world...”

—Thud.

They looked like they couldn’t believe she’d actually apologized. But then, just as Cho finished flipping the rock, Yeondu and Cho’s full forms were exposed.

The masked warriors gasped in shock.

“What the—?! H-How is that snake so big?! A spirit beast?!”

“Wha—Another one?!”

Gun Hye-rin, seeming to explain the situation in a single phrase, simply pointed to me and said,

“That man can communicate with spirit beasts and snakes.”

“!”

I could practically see exclamation marks pop up above their heads.

All five froze, their expressions identical, stunned into silence.

With the hibernation site complete and Gun Hye-rin’s words only deepening the group’s curiosity, I figured it was time to get to the point.

“So, why are you so curious about my ability to communicate with snakes and command spirit beasts?”

One of the masked men glanced at Gun Hye-rin, then gave a slight nod—likely having exchanged a message via sound transmission. Gun Hye-rin then stepped forward and asked, almost pleadingly,

“What we’re about to discuss is a closely guarded secret of our sect. Can you promise that only the two of you will hear it and speak of it to no one else?”

“Promise?”

Her wording was a bit much, and I wasn’t sure how to respond. That’s when Hwa-eun spoke up.

“If this concerns ambition toward the Central Plains or brings harm to it, we can’t make such a promise.”

Gun Hye-rin quickly waved her hands.

“No, absolutely not. That’s not it at all.”

“In that case, we agree.”

Hwa-eun looked to me, and I nodded. Only then did Gun Hye-rin begin her story.

“Then I must begin with the final days of the Heavenly Demon Cult—fifty years ago...”

***

Gun Hye-rin was the legitimate successor of the Heavenly Demon Cult, which vanished at the hands of Central Plains martial artists fifty years ago.

On the last day of the cult, as waves of Central Plains forces surged in, the cult was set ablaze, and the followers were slaughtered.

In the chaos, the surviving members barely managed to smuggle out the Young Master of the cult.

However, during the escape, the Young Master’s dantian was pierced, leaving him a cripple. That man was Gun Hye-rin’s grandfather.

She was the great-granddaughter of Gun Ja-gyeong, the last ruler of the Heavenly Demon Cult, who died fighting the Three Sovereigns of the martial world fifty years ago.

But now, she was grappling with a crisis of identity.

“What if I’m not the real one?”

The surviving cult members had fled endlessly through the Central Plains with their crippled Young Master in tow, always one step ahead of their pursuers.

Instead of fleeing to Xinjiang, the cult’s homeland, they chose to hide in the Central Plains itself—turning the enemy’s expectations on their head.

They settled in a remote mountain village on the edge of Shanxi Province, at the foot of Mount Halan.

Gun Hye-rin sat at the head seat in the village elder’s house, her voice heavy with doubt. The elders responded with outrage.

“That’s impossible, Young Mistress! The records left by our forefathers clearly show those others are fakes!”

“Yes, and the so-called successor they follow practices a twisted imitation of the Heavenly Demon Divine Arts!”

“No! That cannot be true!”

“But how can I prove that I’m not the Shadow?”

Gun Hye-rin had been raised her whole life for the resurrection of the cult, and now her identity was in crisis.

Recently, during a sweep of Xinjiang, they discovered other survivors.

Two groups.

A joyous revelation—until it turned out that both groups were following their own “Young Heavenly Demon” successors.

She’d believed she was the sole descendant of the Heavenly Demon... but now, there were others claiming the same.

Old records shed light on the situation.

On the day the cult fell, the Heavenly Demon, desperate to preserve its legacy, had his son and his son’s shadow each flee in different directions.

They were even placed under a soul-binding technique to ensure they wouldn’t reveal who was real and who was shadow, even under torture.

But both the Young Master and the Shadow had survived—leading to this bizarre situation.

Only one elder, the one who cast the soul-binding technique and escaped with the true Young Master, knew the full truth. The other survivors had no idea. They’d raised the Shadow as if he were the Heavenly Demon’s true heir all this time.

At first, they tried brute force—might makes right, as per the cult’s laws.

But those survivors, believing they served the true successor, saw Gun Hye-rin’s group as imposters pretending to be the cult and vowed to resist to the last.

She couldn’t very well slaughter the only other survivors of her sect.

While everyone pondered what to do next, Elder Ye Go-pung—descendant of the elder who knew the truth and current village chief—suddenly lit up with an idea.

“Ah! That’s right! Young Mistress, there is a way to prove you’re the true successor!”

“There is?”

“Yes! The Sacred Fire Bell!”

The Sacred Fire Bell.

A divine relic said to ring only in the hands of the Heavenly Demon’s bloodline.

If she could find it and make it ring, no one would be able to deny her identity.

“But the Sacred Fire Bell...”

It was said that only the Heavenly Demon’s direct bloodline could make it ring. If she could sound it, the others would have to accept her as the true successor.

However, Gun Hye-rin hesitated.

Because of her great-grandfather’s final words.

There was a reason the successors called themselves Young Heavenly Demon instead of Heavenly Demon.

On the day the cult fell, the great-grandfather—having had his dantian destroyed and lived out his life as a cripple—left a final will:

“Let none among the descendants claim the title of Heavenly Demon lightly. Only when your martial cultivation reaches the Profound Realm, and the Central Plains no longer dares look down upon us, may you seek out the Sacred Fire Bell and ascend as the true Heavenly Demon.”

So she couldn’t decide lightly.

“If we unite the others, the cult will recover rapidly. That would mean revival. The previous Young Master would surely understand given these circumstances!”

Persuaded by the elder’s argument, Gun Hye-rin finally made her decision.

“...Very well. I will go retrieve the Sacred Fire Bell.”

But as she and her followers approached the cave where the bell was said to be hidden, they were confronted by a formidable presence at the very threshold.

—Kiii-shaaa!

—Sha-kkii!

What stood in their way was none other than a pair of snake spirit beasts—one black, one white.