Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

Primordial Infant Stage.

The moment you cross over from the very edge of the Golden Core Stage into the Primordial Infant Stage makes it feel like the entire world you knew collapses all at once.

I thought that after reaching the Life-and-Death Realm and coming to understand the will of all things in heaven and earth, I had gotten it—but that was nothing more than the introductory level.

The real thing started now.

The instant I stepped into the Primordial Infant Stage, the will of heaven and earth came pouring down on me, carrying a new meaning.

After that shocking initiation came silence.

In that silence, my upper dantian began to open first.

The Baihui point at the crown of my head burned as if it had been heated by something, and then that heat flowed downward, passing through my middle dantian and piercing straight through to my lower dantian in one line.

The will of heaven and earth forcibly pried my body open.

-BOOM!

All three dantians opened at once with a sound like doors that had been locked for ages being thrown wide open, and I became completely connected to the energy between heaven and earth.

And then it happened.

It felt like heaven and earth were speaking to me.

No—more precisely, it felt like I’d finally become able to hear them.

The energy of wind and clouds, valley water flowing far away along the mountain ridges.

Even the sensation of water and earth deep underground tangling together and communing with each other.

Everything felt like a single, immense breath.

The laws of heaven, the will of earth, seeped into my skin like nourishment.

My eyes were definitely closed, but the world was clearer than ever.

Beyond my shut vision, countless threads of light were flowing.

Those threads descended from the sky and rose from the earth, soaking into my body and mixing with the internal power I’d already built up.

And then that mixture was no longer a simple mass of energy.

Every moment I’d lived until now, the traces of every martial art I’d learned, every poison creature and spirit creature I’d encountered, the memories of people and bonds—everything surged in like a great wave and melted into my internal power.

Up through the Golden Core Stage, internal power was ultimately something you stacked.

The inner energy I gathered in the lower realm, the incidental energy I gained by registering my child, and even the energy I gained through dual cultivation with my wives.

All of it was trapped inside a single solid golden core.

But the moment I crossed into the Primordial Infant Stage, that golden core was no longer sealed inside a hard shell.

The shell of the golden core softly melted away, and everything that had been trapped inside scattered freely, then began to reassemble into a new form.

The only way I could describe it was creation.

My internal power was looking at itself, understanding itself, and reconstructing itself—an eerie spectacle.

It was as if my entire life up to now had become one enormous crucible, and inside it, new life was being born.

And at last.

Deep within my lower dantian, something incredibly small and transparent revealed itself.

At first, it was a dot of light.

That dot slowly—very, very slowly—began to take shape.

Small hands, small feet, a slender torso, and a face that still hadn’t opened its eyes.

And a tail.

‘A tail?’

For a moment, I was slightly thrown off by the fact it had a tail.

I’d heard the “primordial infant” was usually something like your own avatar.

But my primordial infant very clearly had a tail.

In my surprise, that tiny being slowly opened its eyes.

And the primordial infant looked at me.

The instant our eyes met, the same voice burst out of both our mouths.

”You’re me.”

My primordial infant was incredibly mysterious.

This kid definitely wasn’t human, but it also wasn’t any single species either.

If I thought “scorpion,” it felt like it could become a scorpion. If I thought “snake,” it felt like it could become a snake.

It was in a state where it looked like it could develop into the corresponding form of any spirit creature I’d registered.

When I smiled at it, the primordial infant smiled with me.

This was the Primordial Infant Stage.

My flesh body was still mine, but now my essence wasn’t trapped inside my flesh alone.

Everything my life had accumulated was melted into the primordial infant in exactly the same way.

Now that the primordial infant had been born, even if this flesh body were to perish, as long as the primordial infant survived, I would be able to be reborn.

As the primordial infant fully awakened, my mind slowly returned.

I lifted my eyes and looked out the window.

”So-ryong!”

”Master, are you awake?”

”Junior Brother!”

Along with my wives’ and Senior Sister’s voices, I saw dark clouds beyond the window.

Dark clouds had draped across the sky outside, and far away, thunder rumbled low.

Thunder was calling me, so I told everyone,

”I’ll step out for a moment.”

My body, having received my will, rose and flew into the sky.

Now that I’d realized the will of heaven, I would not defy it.

So now I could fly.

The moment my body shot up into the sky after slipping out through the window, the sky that had been growling shouted at me.

-RUMBLE! (Not permitted!)

A rebuke asking how I dared ascend to the sky even though I knew the will of heaven.

I felt metal energy from the storm clouds.

For a split second I thought the familiar lightning was about to strike down.

-RUMBLE!

But with a thunderous roar, a storm of swords plunged down instead of lightning.

I immediately raised my energy and wrapped Cheongwol’s stone armor around my body.

And then, mercilessly, the blades stabbed down and rebounded.

Dozens, hundreds, thousands of swords shot into my body, bounced off, and vanished.

That was how the blade tribulation that came down on me upon reaching the Primordial Infant Stage ended.

***

When I headed back toward the window I’d flown out of, I saw my wives and Senior Sister gathered there.

”Husband!”

”So-ryong!”

”Master!”

My wives shouted toward me.

I approached the window and stepped back inside, following behind them as they moved aside.

”Husband, are you alright?”

”Master, is your body alright?”

”Of course. I safely reached the Primordial Infant Stage, and the blade tribulation ended safely too.”

”Thank goodness, So-ryong.”

While my wives surrounded me, touching my face and asking me this and that, Senior Sister asked in a cautious voice,

”Junior Brother, what about your primordial infant? Was it formed properly?”

It seemed Senior Sister was curious about the primordial infant.

And since I’d been planning to bring it out anyway, I asked my wives,

”Yes, Senior Sister. Do you all want to see my primordial infant?”

”I do!”

”I want to see it, Master!”

I focused my mind and brought the primordial infant inside me out.

Then a translucent spirit-body sprang out through my body and solidified.

At first it had that translucent feel because it was a spirit body, but once it completely left my body, it became something like a living creature that truly existed.

”That’s So-ryong’s primordial infant?”

”Junior Brother’s primordial infant is this?”

First of all, its size was about that of a newborn baby.

And it looked similar to me.

But it definitely wasn’t human.

Its current state was... how should I put it—closer to a lizard?

Its color was white, and it felt different from Seol, Bing, and Dong.

It felt similar to a crested gecko, the kind of pet lizard that had been popular in my previous life.

However, that was just the form it was taking right then.

When I wanted it to take a different form in my mind, it immediately took a different form.

Its body bulged and changed into a centipede.

It was a little short, but it turned into an adorable centipede.

”It ch-changes!”

”Usually people form a primordial infant as a small child, but I’ve never even heard of something like this.”

”R-really?”

Senior Sister was clearly startled that it wasn’t a human primordial infant, just like she’d said she’d heard.

My wives also flinched at its transformation.

”Can I touch it?”

”Can I touch it?”

”Of course.”

It was no different from my wives touching my body—why would it not be allowed?

When I nodded that it was fine, my wives came closer and began touching it here and there.

”This kid... it kind of feels like So-ryong. No—rather than ‘like,’ it is So-ryong.”

”Of course. It’s Junior Brother’s primordial infant. It’s basically Junior Brother himself.”

”It’s cute. It feels like I’m looking at baby Master.”

My primordial infant was explosively popular with my wives, and then Hwa-eun asked,

”Husband, now that you have a primordial infant, does that mean you can enter Dokmul-hyang now?”

”Ah. I should check that.”

I drew the primordial infant back in, and when separating from it again, I imagined handing over Dokmul-hyang in my upper dantian to it so it would separate together.

Sure enough, Dokmul-hyang transferred from me to it.

Just like Zihwa had told me, once I had a primordial infant, I could hand Dokmul-hyang over to it.

”It should work. Everyone, try going in.”

”Okay!”

”Let’s go!”

As my wives and Senior Sister vanished into Dokmul-hyang first, to confirm that Dokmul-hyang had really transferred, the wives—turned into smoke—were sucked into my primordial infant’s nostrils.

When I thought about going in too, my smoke-like body was sucked into the primordial infant’s nostrils as well.

When I opened my eyes, Dokmul-hyang came into view.

The green scent of nature hit me hard and flowed into my nose.

Clean, clear air and a warm temperature.

The wind brushing past made my hair flutter.

Senses I hadn’t been able to feel at all when I was only a spirit body were coming through vividly.

”It worked!”

Now I no longer had to stay outside alone.

It felt like I could finally sleep under a proper roof too.

While I was happy, Hwa-eun suggested,

”Husband, let’s go. Since you came in after so long, I’ll tell Mirang to make a celebratory meal. Senior Sister, come with us too.”

”Shall we?”

”Thank you for the invitation.”

It felt like a small feast was about to be held to celebrate my breakthrough to the Primordial Infant Stage and the return of the head of the household after so long.

The primordial infant outside would be awake, and since it was at the same realm as me, there was no need to worry.

Then I could enjoy the feast at ease—just as my wives and Senior Sister were about to head out first.

From behind, I heard Sister Seol’s voice.

”S-So-ryong, stop for a second and look at me.”

When I turned around, Sister Seol, who’d been standing guard beside Zihwa, was calling me with a hesitant face.

At Sister Seol’s call, my wives all turned back too.

Tilting her head, Hwa-eun asked,

”Is it urgent? If it’s not urgent, Sister Seol, leave the kids with someone for a bit and come with us too. Go and talk there.”

”Uh, y-yeah. I have something I need to t-talk to So-ryong for a moment.”

Maybe she could tell Sister Seol had something to say from her expression, because Hwa-eun took the other wives and Senior Sister and left first.

”Sounds like you want to talk privately, so we’ll go on ahead.”

”Shall we? Sister Seol, come with So-ryong.”

”Yeah. I-I’ll follow soon.”

”Finish talking and come quickly.”

With my wives and Senior Sister gone,

Sister Seol spoke with a hurt expression.

”So-ryong.”

”Yes?”

”You promised—so why won’t you do it for me?”

”Me? What?”

The promise I’d made was that when I accepted Senior Sister, I’d accept Sister Seol too.

But I hadn’t accepted Senior Sister, so there was no reason to accept Sister Seol either.

So I made a confused expression, but Sister Seol said,

”You said you’d treat me and Senior Sister without discrimination. You registered Senior Sister. So why won’t you do me too?”

”Th-that—wasn’t it when I accept Senior Sister, you said I should accept you too? I haven’t accepted her yet.”

Our promise had obviously been about a wedding.

Sister Seol shook her head.

”H-hey. You accepted her with the Beast-Heart Technique. I definitely said ‘if you accept her.’”

Thinking about it, it wasn’t wrong.

Sister Seol had said “if you accept her.” She hadn’t limited it to the word “wedding.”

Contracts were supposed to be handled carefully because even one syllable could change everything.

If there was no way around it, I’d have had to accept I screwed up the contract and swallow my tears, but I grinned and said,

”Ah, you’re right. Then let’s register you right away.”

”R-really?”

”Of course. Let’s register you right away.”

Since there was a method where even if I registered Senior Sister, her feelings wouldn’t deepen into liking me, there was nothing to worry about.

I quickly registered Sister Seol.

The terrain created by registering Sister Seol was a shallow hill.

A sunny hill with a big tree planted on top—somewhere that felt like it would be good to lie down with animals and spend a lazy afternoon.

After finishing Sister Seol’s registration, I hurried straight to the village.

And the moment I arrived at the village like that.

Senior Sister, who had been drinking tea and talking, said,

”Junior Brother, but what do we do.”

”Yes?”

With a slightly troubled expression,

she said something that shocked me.

”I tried using the method to protect the heart from deepening after being registered to the Heavenheart Abyss Poison-Grove Sanctuary, but... maybe because your realm is so high, it j-just didn’t work.”

”...Holy shit.”

Looking at Sister Seol’s face, who had followed behind me, I dropped heavily into a seat.

This... I think we’re screwed.