Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

After putting in Gungbong and Soto and coming out of the cabin, I next went to find Ranghu.

The plan was to take that guy and his swarm, which had settled in the cargo hold on the deck, and put them into the world of the Heavenly Heart Linked Venom Wuling Map, Dokmul-hyang.

As I stepped into the open cargo space, a sweet scent drifted out.

A fragrant smell of honey tickled my nose.

Yunnan was warm year-round and perfect for gathering honey, so it seemed they had collected a huge amount.

And right now it was spring in Yunnan, too.

It was true that the plants of Yunnan blossomed in all four seasons, but of course in spring they bloomed even more.

I felt like I should ladle out some honey for my foster father later.

The Tang Clan had the Golden-Furred Wasp Queens, so they were fine anyway.

“Ranghu?”

– Bzzm.

As I softly called Ranghu’s name among the sleeping bees at sunset, a single head abruptly popped up from between them.

Ranghu’s cute little head.

When he spotted me, his big round eyes widened.

Ranghu shook his antennae like a dog wagging its tail in excitement and flew toward me.

Just like a puppy greeting its owner who’d come back from outside.

“Wah— hey, easy, Ranghu.”

Was he that happy that I’d come looking for him alone?

The little guy barreled into my chest and rubbed his face against me like a dog for a long while, then lifted his head and asked.

– Bzzm?

“Ah, nothing special. It’s just... you know about the mind-space. I can finally do all of it now, so I wanted to put you into the mind-space too.”

– Bzzzzm!

At the words that I’d put him into the mind-space, Ranghu opened his eyes wide and asked again if I meant it.

It seemed he’d wanted to be linked too but had held himself back this whole time.

I didn’t know why he had strange feelings toward me sometimes, but seeing how long he’d waited, the kid really was extremely normal, wasn’t he?

With the same sense of wonder, I spoke.

“Alright, I’ll do it right away. Just a moment.”

I placed my hand on his forehead and thought of putting him into the mind-space, and immediately Ranghu scattered like smoke and was inhaled into me.

After that, I went around finding the sleeping children one by one and put every last one of them into the mind-space.

And the last one was Geumdo.

“Geumdo, now you won’t have to tire yourself swimming around all the time.”

– Bgrrr?

“You’ll understand once you go in. But wait— will the boat go in too? If it goes in, will it just appear somewhere nearby? It won’t get hurt, right?”

Thinking that it’d be nice if the boat could go in too, I reached out and touched Geumdo’s head—and the boat vanished together with Geumdo.

Come to think of it, when I’d put in my wives, whatever they were wearing had been sucked in as well, so the boat must have counted as something Geumdo was “wearing” or “carrying.”

“Nice.”

After putting in Geumdo, the last one I added was Heukjeom.

“Heukjeom!”

– Tzzrrr.

At my call by the water, Heukjeom poked out his head.

I stroked his head, explained the situation, and then pushed him into the mind-space last.

After putting in even Heukjeom, I returned to the cabin, lay down comfortably on the bed, closed my eyes, and decided to enter the mind-space myself.

“Well then, shall we go see what it looks like?”

Wondering whether the children would look human or retain their spirit-creature forms, I drew up the energy of the Beast-Heart Technique.

***

When I entered the mind-space, a cool breeze blew first, and the smell of grass rode on that wind and drifted into my nose.

But as soon as I opened my eyes—a massive body blocked my view.

A golden body.

– Bgrrrrr.

“Huh, what the—?”

The gold in front of my eyes was Geumdo.

Once I calmed my startled heart, I noticed the Golden-Furred Wasp Kings flying in the sky, and nearby, my wives holding Heukjeom in their arms.

When Gun Hye-rin saw me, she rushed to shout something, then froze with her eyes wide open in shock.

“Master, I think the children who weren’t linked to the mind-space are in their original forms... Huh? Master?”

“So-ryong?”

“My lord? Why do you look like that?”

At their reactions, I looked down at my body and realized that I alone was still half-transparent.

I had no idea why.

“Uh, what? Why am I still like this?”

Even when I tried to touch the dirt on the ground, my hand passed through.

It felt like something had glitched, and I wondered if I should exit and re-enter.

After all, when a computer glitches, you turn it off and back on.

“Should I go out and come back in?”

At that moment, Gun Hye-rin and the princess, who had been holding Heukjeom, spoke.

“Master, more importantly, we have a problem here. Heukjeom has nowhere to go. It seems that the children who aren’t linked enter in their original forms.”

“So-ryong, we might have to send Heukjeom back out.”

It seemed this was what Gun Hye-rin had been trying to say the moment I entered Dokmul-hyang.

Now that I looked, all registered children were still in their human forms, but the unregistered ones were all in their original spirit-creature shapes.

Yo-hwa and Cheongwol, standing behind my wives, looked no different from their usual appearance, but Ranghu floating above, the Golden-Furred Wasp Kings, Geumdo, and Heukjeom were all in their true forms.

The Heavenly Heart Linked Venom Wuling Map was the result of Master’s attempt to create a world where venomous creatures and people lived together.

It seemed that for bound spirit creatures, it assisted them in taking human form even without learning the Transformation Art, while unregistered ones had to remain in their real bodies.

Which meant they needed fresh water—but since it didn’t exist, my wives had been holding Heukjeom.

“What should I do? Should I send him right back out?”

Among the registered spirit creatures, Cho had a water attribute, but her mind-space wasn’t water.

Cho’s mind-space was a stone mountain.

So there were no water-related spirit creatures bound here, meaning this Dokmul-hyang had no rivers or lakes.

Because of the princess, there was an ocean, but we couldn’t put Heukjeom in there.

Freshwater stingrays could tolerate brackish water, but not high salinity.

The same went for Geumdo, so neither Geumdo nor Heukjeom had anywhere to be.

Geumdo was semi-aquatic and could ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) endure being outside water for a while, but Heukjeom couldn’t.

So I thought I’d have to send him out immediately—when suddenly, Master’s words from earlier came to mind.

That once registered, their world would be added.

His last remark while explaining the new authority the spirit creatures would have.

‘Once it’s completed, that place is now both a Peach Garden Map and a world. Now, even without binding spirit creatures, you or the linked creatures can put in whomever you wish.

Of course, if you link one, that spirit creature’s mind-space will be added to the world.’

I didn’t know if it would work from in here, but I decided to try.

If it worked outside, it should work inside too.

I quickly stepped over, placed my hand on Heukjeom’s forehead, and thought of linking him.

Normally bodily fluid was needed, but since he was already inside my body, that didn’t seem necessary.

And just as expected, I felt the sensation of something linking—and Heukjeom, who had been held in the princess’s and Gun Hye-rin’s arms, slowly began transforming into a woman.

Arms and legs suddenly grew, and the tail disappeared.

When the transformation finished, what appeared was a black-haired woman dressed in sleek black clothes.

– Tzzrrr. 『What is this?』

Heukjeom had transformed into an incredibly attractive woman with glossy black hair and beauty marks near her mouth and eyes.

While the girl stared blankly at her own hands in confusion, I kissed the back of her hand.

As the added space settled in, I felt the sensation of a mind-space being attached near the entrance where I stood.

The ground trembled, and a massive lake began forming nearby.

– Rrrrumble.

It was a lake as vast as a sea.

It looked like the region around Lake Dongting, where Heukjeom had lived.

Just as I’d expected.

“Geumdo, go over there—no, wait. I’ll go with you.”

“We’ll take Geumdo over.”

“We’ll go. Master, you focus on figuring out why your body is like that.”

I’d intended to take Geumdo myself, but my wives tugged him along and disappeared.

They told me to worry about my body instead.

“What the— everything else works fine, so why only me?”

I was grumbling exactly as Gun Hye-rin said—why everything worked perfectly except for me—when Zihwa appeared, holding a child who looked about three, with purple hair, and explained the reason.

“Of course. This is a Peach Garden Map world, but it is also a world created in your upper dantian, is it not? One cannot place one’s own body inside one’s own body.”

“Ah...”

This place was indeed a space created by immortal-level arts, but its location was inside my upper dantian.

When the mind-space had only been accessible to the spirit, it hadn’t mattered, but now that my body existed externally, my body couldn’t enter a space that physically existed inside my own body.

It was like one of those fantastical Baron Münchhausen stories where someone grabbed their own collar and lifted themselves up.

It would break the laws of the universe.

So only my consciousness had entered.

“Then do I have to keep using this place in a transparent state?”

I wondered if I’d have to use this place in spirit-only form forever, when Zihwa shook her head.

“Once you can divide your Primordial Infant, you will be able to use it as though you were your true self. Primordial Infant means...”

“Oh! I know what that is! It’s like a clone, right?”

“Oh? Well, one could explain it that way, yes. Though to be precise, it is closer to another main body.”

Primordial Infant—exactly what Master had just told me about.

Thankfully, Master had said it would naturally resolve itself once my realm increased.

If I could create a clone, I could use it like an avatar.

Relieved, I then noticed something strange.

The registered spirit creatures all seemed to be assisted in taking human form, but what Zihwa was holding was clearly Jayo—and Jayo was in human form.

The purple-haired child was sucking her fingers.

“Huh? Come to think of it—that’s Jayo you’re holding, right?”

“Of course. Who else would I be holding?”

At Zihwa’s “why ask something so obvious,” I asked again, puzzled.

“No, because this Dokmul-hyang supposedly only helps registered children take human form, and unregistered ones can’t transform, right?

And Jayo definitely isn’t registered.”

At my words, Jayo tilted her head from her mother’s arms.

Zihwa gazed at her quietly, then spoke.

“It is most likely because she is our child.”

“...Huh?”

“She already contains half my energy, and you, the master of this world, provide the other half, so the world is likely treating her as registered.”

Zihwa didn’t sound completely certain, but it was a plausible explanation.

Very plausible.

According to Zihwa, the upper world didn’t confirm blood relations only through physical lineage but also through energy—an extremely reliable proof.

Since both my energy and Zihwa’s were present in Jayo, the world might consider Jayo half the owner.

Looking at Jayo nestled in Zihwa’s arms, I said,

“Anyway, our daughter is ridiculously cute. She really does look like me, huh?”

The kid was insanely cute, and I finally understood why Zihwa said she resembled me.

If I’d been small, I would’ve looked exactly like that.

At my words, Zihwa spoke as though it were only natural—then suddenly widened her eyes.

“Of course. She is our child, yours and mine. Hm? Don’t tell me you still didn’t trust what I said?”

Apparently she’d thought I had already accepted Jayo as my child completely, and the fact that I had been wavering shocked her.

“No, it’s just— it feels kind of like responsibility without pleasure? Something like that...”

“...Haa?”

After thinking for a moment, Zihwa spoke.

“As expected of someone from the lower world, you place heavy emphasis on physical connection. I understand. Raise your realm quickly and create your Primordial Infant. Until you gain unshakable certainty, I shall give you whatever pleasures you desire.”

Hm...

Creating that Primordial Infant or whatever might not be such a bad idea.

The order had gotten a bit reversed, but this was a very important matter, after all.