Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

When I asked to be taught Disguise Art, Stealth Art, or Bone-Shrinking Technique, Gun Hye-rin looked at me in confusion.

“Disguise Art? Stealth Art? And Bone-Shrinking Technique? Why would you want to learn such cheap tricks? Those are the skills of lowly assassins.

It would be better to find a proper divine art that suits you. Even if the cult has declined, there are still at least one or two techniques worthy of a righteous martial artist.”

At the same time, Hwa-eun shook her head, speaking as if to admonish me.

“That’s right. So-ryong, those are things only assassins learn. If you don’t like what Hye-rin teaches, I’ll speak with Father and have him show you some of the Tang Clan’s other martial arts instead.”

I understood why they reacted this way.

Disguise Art, Stealth Art, and Bone-Shrinking Technique were mostly the trademarks of assassins in the martial world.

Hye-rin had learned Disguise Art herself, but that was only to hide her identity as a Westerner. Unless one was actively impersonating someone else to strike at a target, there was little use for it. Ordinary martial artists had no reason to practice such things.

Aside from Old Master Swift Walker, hardly anyone in the righteous world even knew these skills.

And generally, the ones who learned them were shady types.

Assassins were considered lowly in the martial world—why would a righteous martial artist willingly pick up the arts of the lowborn?

Smiling, I explained why I wanted to learn them.

“Remember, from the First Poison stage onward, each time I advanced, I gained one new ability? From spraying Cho’s poison from my claws, to adding Hwayang’s fire into the Exploding Palm.”

Cho’s excited voice rang out immediately.

– Tsrrr. 『That’s right! Dad, Cho can spray poison from her hands!』

I stroked her head, and with my other hand pushed Cho’s venom up through my nails. Cho buzzed her antennae even more excitedly.

Seeing this, Hwa-eun nodded and said,

“Ah, that’s true. You added Cheongwol’s hard shell into the Iron-Crushing Art, and gained night vision in the Beast-Eye Art.”

“Yes, exactly.”

“Ah!”

As if realizing something, Hwa-eun turned to Hye-rin and explained the rest of my reasoning.

“But when he registered Yo-hwa, he didn’t gain anything new. That made him think maybe he needs to already know martial arts that match the spirit beast’s ability, otherwise the ability won’t manifest.”

“Ah, I see. So you want Disguise Art to draw out Yo-hwa’s power to impersonate people, and Stealth Art to manifest Sister Jeokwol’s power of blending with her surroundings.”

“Exactly, Hwa-eun, Hye-rin.”

Thanks to their deep understanding of martial arts, they grasped my point right away.

But then both tilted their heads.

“But So-ryong...”

“But Master...”

“Why Bone-Shrinking Technique?”

“Yes, why would you need that one?”

“Their powers would be covered just by Disguise and Stealth, wouldn’t they?”

They didn’t catch my little ulterior motive, but Bone-Shrinking Technique felt odd to them.

If I slipped here, they’d realize my selfish reason.

Quickly, I turned to Hwa-eun and gave the explanation I had prepared in advance, keeping a calm expression.

‘I have to say this well. If I fumble, they’ll see through me.’

“Hehe, there’s a reason for that.

Think about it, Hwa-eun. When I got Cheong-yu Sojeo’s power, I thought it would be some kind of charm technique to captivate people. But instead, I gained eyes that can see clearly at night, even with my eyes closed. Totally unexpected, wasn’t it?”

“Ah, yes. I originally thought it would be something like that, but it turned out to be vision in the dark.”

“Exactly. That’s why I want to learn Bone-Shrinking Technique.”

But Hye-rin countered me.

She pointed out that neither Sister Jeokwol nor Yo-hwa had any ability to change body size.

“But Master, Cheong-yu’s night vision was something she actually had. Yo-hwa and Sister Jeokwol don’t have the ability to shrink their bodies.”

True, as she said, that ability didn’t exist outright.

But that only meant they hadn’t looked closely enough at Yo-hwa.

“No, Yo-hwa does have that power.”

“She does?”

“Yo-hwa has that ability?”

I said it firmly, and Yo-hwa, supporting my back, looked startled.

– Kishishi? 『I have that ability?』

She was surprised at the claim she could shrink her body.

I nodded and stroked her back.

“Of course you do. Remember when Hwa-eun rebirthed and her... chest grew? Yo-hwa’s size grew right along with it, didn’t it?”

At my words, Yo-hwa glanced down at her chest. Hwa-eun followed her gaze to her own chest and, blushing, shook her head.

“S-So-ryong, that wasn’t shrinking like Bone-Shrinking, it was enlarging.”

– Kishit. 『That’s right, Brother. That was getting bigger, not smaller.』

They only saw half the picture.

I wagged my finger and explained.

“Hehe, there’s no martial art in the world to make the body bigger, right? So if I learn a shrinking art, maybe Yo-hwa’s enlarging ability will manifest in reverse.”

Hwa-eun tilted her head uncertainly.

I had just reasoned that a shrinking art might allow the opposite effect, but judging by her face, it might not be so simple.

‘Am I forcing it?’

Just as I wondered if I was reaching too far, Hye-rin, who had been pondering with her chin in hand, nodded.

“It’s not entirely impossible. Bone-Shrinking is a martial art that uses internal energy to deliberately compress bones, muscles, and joints, shrinking and altering the body at will.

If applied in reverse, enlarging might not be so far-fetched.

All right. I’ll start by teaching you Disguise Art. As for Bone-Shrinking and Stealth, I’ll ask the cult’s subordinates if there are suitable versions.”

Truly, heaven never seals off every path.

I’d have to endure some pestering from the three of them, but at least I had found a way forward.

***

Strike while the iron is hot—so I began learning Disguise Art from Hye-rin.

The one that let you change hair color and face.

“You can’t even memorize the mnemonic verses... but fine. I’ll guide your energy personally.”

My grasp of Daoist theory was shallow, and memorizing incantations to circulate energy was difficult. So Hye-rin placed her hands on my face and guided my qi directly.

“Close your eyes, feel the flow of energy, then picture someone’s face in your mind.”

“Understood.”

I shut my eyes and focused on the current of energy moving across my face.

The qi flowed through the small veins, from the crown of my head, across the temples, past the nose, down to the chin, then along the jawline back up to ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) the forehead.

Then Hwa-eun’s voice came.

“Oh. Amazing!”

Apparently my face had changed. Holding the qi steady, I leaned over the pond’s surface to check my reflection—and indeed, it wasn’t quite me, but neither was it exactly Elder Gwi-seong.

I had thought of Brother Gwi-seong’s face, and so it had half-formed like that.

But the qi unraveled immediately.

I had assumed it would be easy since Hye-rin did it so effortlessly, but keeping that focus was brutally hard.

‘How on earth did she maintain this the whole time we traveled together hunting the World-Destroying Golden Toad?’

I clicked my tongue in awe.

“Wow, this is really not easy.”

“It’s hard because maintaining concentration is the challenge.”

So we spent the rest of the day practicing Disguise Art in the pavilion. Around dinnertime, a maid arrived to announce the meal.

“My lady, Lord So-ryong, it is time for supper.”

“Oh, already? Very well. Thank you.”

“Let’s go.”

“Yes.”

Even though Hwa-eun and I had our own household, meals were usually taken with the elders. But now with two more wives added, we tended to eat just among ourselves.

In the dining hall, the Princess was already there, having been absent the whole day.

“So-ryong.”

“Ji-ryeon. Where have you been all day?”

She gave a sultry smile.

“I soaked in fragrant oils and applied balm to my body.”

“I-I see.”

‘She’s really serious about tonight.’

I thought the night would be a long one, when Hwa-eun cautiously asked,

“Ji-ryeon, don’t you need a bridal instruction painting?”

“A bridal painting?”

The Princess tilted her head.

Hwa-eun whispered softly,

“In noble families, before marriage, parents give their daughters erotic scrolls to teach them about the wedding night. I wondered if you needed them.”

So that’s what she meant—basically sex education for the first night. But looking at Ji-ryeon, it was obvious she had already self-studied plenty.

Otherwise, she couldn’t have teased me the way she had the other day.

‘She’s definitely gone through at least hundreds of erotic scrolls—if not actual films, had they existed.’

Normally, someone with no knowledge should be like Hye-rin—completely naïve.

The Princess smiled and replied,

“Oh, so that’s how it’s done in families. I was trained in the palace, so I’m fine.”

“Palace training? I’m curious.”

So was I. The Princess must have noticed, because she elaborated.

“In the palace, men usually go through a ‘trial marriage.’ Before wedlock, they practice with palace maids.”

“Practice?”

“Yes.”

‘Good heavens. Hands-on practice? The Imperial Palace really is something else.’

Not just theory, but real drills. Unthinkable.

Then Hye-rin blurted a shocking question.

“You don’t mean women too, do you!?”

The Princess looked at her like she was ridiculous.

“Of course not.”

“I-I see.”

“Obviously! For women, it’s just studying erotic scrolls before marriage.”

“I... I see.”

Hye-rin blushed and nodded, and Hwa-eun turned to her.

“By the way, Lady Gun, you never received bridal instruction, did you?”

She was asking if Hye-rin had ever gotten sex education. I could guarantee—if Ji-ryeon was a theory veteran, Hye-rin was an absolute newbie.

She had probably never even seen an erotic scroll.

And sure enough, her answer came.

“W-well, no.”

“Then before your first night, you’ll need it. Tomorrow is your turn. Should we ask Mother to handle it?”

“No, I couldn’t possibly... not from her...”

Perhaps the idea of the Heavenly Demon herself receiving sex education from a righteous matron was too much for her.

But the Princess leaned in.

“Then shall I teach you?”

“Ji-ryeon?”

“Yes. Palace-style.”

Normally, girls learned such things from friends, but the Princess’s sly smile made Hye-rin jump.

“No! Let Hwa-eun do it.”

If left to Ji-ryeon, she might truly corrupt Hye-rin.

“Why not me?”

“Because you’d teach something strange.”

“Strange? What do you mean by strange—”

She widened her eyes, about to argue back, when the food arrived.

Thankfully, that cut her off, though she shot me a sulky look as I stuffed food in my mouth.

Then I felt a tickle across my face.

“W-what!?” Ji-ryeon’s startled voice rang out.

“Heek!”

– Clatter.

At the same time, the maid carrying more dishes yelped and dropped the tray.

“What’s wrong?”

I asked the Princess, but the voice that came out of my mouth was soft and girlish.

Startled, I covered my lips. Hye-rin came over, touched my face, and said,

“Your face has changed. You look exactly like the maid. Even your voice.”

Hwa-eun handed me a mirror, and sure enough, the reflection was the maid’s face.

“Wait, could it be?”

It seemed Yo-hwa’s power had manifested the moment I learned Disguise Art.

But why had I suddenly taken the maid’s appearance?

As I pondered, I felt something odd in my mouth. I spat it out—it was a hair.

“Ah.”

Now I understood.

Yo-hwa could imitate someone’s form, but for a perfect transformation, she needed their hair.

By consuming a strand, she could flawlessly assume their likeness.

Apparently, I had gained that ability. But it meant I’d have to be very careful.

If I wasn’t, I might suddenly turn into one of my wives in the middle of the night.

‘I’ll have to be careful...’