Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

It was around the time dawn was dimly breaking.

When I woke up, a faint bluish light was seeping in through the window.

A quiet moment came into view, as though everything in the world was still sunk in a dream.

The air was cool and clear, and atop the bed, a soft silk blanket was wrapped around my body.

When I turned my gaze, Yo-hwa’s silhouette came into view.

The sight of Yo-hwa, with a figure similar to a human’s, was still fascinating.

Yo-hwa now had the shape of a perfect human woman, but it seemed lying down to sleep was instinctively still awkward for her.

Lying on her stomach, her slender back was curved in a soft line, and the hips rising beneath the blanket were boasting a fullness that seemed to defy gravity.

Her flesh was soft like a human’s, yet it had that elasticity that still carried traces of a chitinous base.

Like a living work of art, those curves were incomparably beautiful.

The instinctive attraction I had realized after getting married raised its head again.

That impulse where, if I saw my wife’s breasts or ass, my hand moved on its own.

Before I even knew it, my hand was already going.

As though there were intelligence in the hand itself.

The Creator had clearly planted that kind of AI in a man’s hand.

If I ever became a high immortal, I would definitely verify whether that was true.

When I slyly groped her, Yo-hwa whispered in a strangely alluring voice.

That voice was sweet, like sticky spider silk winding around and binding me.

—Kisit. 『Oppa... You’re awake?』

Smiling, I answered,

“Yeah. Did Yo-hwa sleep well too?”

—Kishishi. 『Yes, Oppa.』

In the dim dawn, I pulled Yo-hwa into my arms.

Her soft body pressed tight against my chest, and her faint body scent teased my nose.

Looking around in that state, I saw that this place was filled with luxurious furnishings.

Luminous stones were set into the ceiling, giving off a soft bluish-white glow, and the bed, made from wood that seemed to purify the air, was far more lavish than Senior Sister’s Blood Market Tower.

Carvings of spirit-creatures gleamed on the walls, and a faint herbal fragrance drifted through the air.

This was the room Bulsiho of the Ten-Thousand Demon Forest had given me.

Originally, I had planned to stay only one day and leave, but because Bulsiho insisted that she could not simply send away a benefactor, I ended up staying in this luxurious residence.

I buried my nose against the back of Yo-hwa’s neck, and Yo-hwa spoke in a cautious voice.

—Kit. 『But, Oppa...』

“Hm?”

—Kitsi. 『Why did we just sleep yesterday?』

We were staying in someone else’s house for the night.

And besides, spirit-creatures were waiting outside to attend to us.

In a situation like that, I could not very well dual cultivate, so I held back.

But disappointment was dripping from Yo-hwa’s voice.

Her eyes were shining moistly.

‘Should I put up a qi barrier and do it anyway?’

That thought had just crossed my mind when Yo-hwa threw out a direct line startling enough to make anyone jump.

—Kisitsi. Sisi. 『I was disappointed because yesterday Oppa did not put baby-seed into Yo-hwa’s body. Please put more of Oppa’s baby-seed into Yo-hwa so Yo-hwa’s body can be filled all the way.』

“Uhng!?”

I flinched at Yo-hwa’s strangely seductive words, plunging straight in like a fastball.

Yo-hwa seemed like a genius when it came to knowing exactly what kind of words excited a man.

But I soon understood exactly what she meant.

‘Ahh. I get what she means.’

Spiders originally mate in a peculiar way.

The male packages sperm in silk and hands it over to the female, and the female takes that into her body for fertilization.

That sperm stays stored inside the female’s body for a long time, so I figured that was probably the kind of meaning behind her words.

“Ahem. So it... wasn’t enough.”

Apparently Yo-hwa intended to store mine properly and use it later when she laid eggs, so I decided to live up to her expectations.

I could give it to her anytime, of course, but when she was asking me to fill her up, it was hard to just let that pass.

So, just as I was about to start dual cultivation while holding Yo-hwa from behind—

Bulsiho’s urgent voice suddenly rang out from outside.

“E-Elder! Elder!”

‘What timing.’

Bulsiho had picked one hell of a time to show up.

When I threw on some clothes and stepped outside, Bulsiho was in a state of panic.

“What is it?”

“Y-Yubing’s shell has all come off!”

I had a rough idea of what had happened.

Following Bulsiho, I saw that, just as expected, Yubing had shed the shell and was in a soft state.

When infected by Sacculina, molting stops, bodily growth stops, and even autotomy becomes impossible.

So Yubing had been in a state of not having molted for quite a while.

Now that the body had been healed, the first thing left was naturally to molt.

Because growth had been halted until now.

The reason Bulsiho was so startled was probably because she had never once seen Yubing molt before.

“It is nothing serious. Crabs have hard outer shells, so in order to grow, they shed them like this from time to time. Do not touch Yubing in this state. Just wait until the shell hardens.”

“I-is that so?”

Bulsiho looked at me with a worried expression.

Inside, I was burning up.

‘So why did she have to pick a crab, of all things, when they are such a pain in the ass to raise...’

And that was because venomous crabs were incredibly rare, yet it looked like some newbie who knew absolutely nothing was trying to keep one.

It made me worry whether Bulsiho would really be able to raise Yubing properly.

Since Yubing was a spirit-creature, there was no need to do things like change the water, but when you raise one, random incidents always happen, and Bulsiho looked like the type who only knew how to dote on Yubing and had made absolutely no preparations—not a person, no, not even a cultivator.

In my opinion, Bulsiho was truly the worst kind of keeper.

It was then.

I caught sight of Bulsiho trying to cover Yubing with a blanket.

Probably because Yubing was lying naked in front of me, and Bulsiho wanted to hide the body.

I shouted quickly,

“You must not!”

“Eek.”

Bulsiho jumped at my shout.

I let out a sigh and explained.

“Bulsiho, crabs are like this: if you touch them after they shed but before the body hardens, the shell can harden in a crushed or warped state.

It would not be a huge problem right away, but if the next time Yubing sheds, the body gets caught on one of those warped parts and cannot get free, then Yubing could die just like that. So you absolutely must not try to cover Yubing with a blanket like that.”

“I-I’m sorry. I just thought Yubing would feel embarrassed...”

“Good grief.”

With a sigh, I decided to pass on some keeping know-how to Bulsiho.

Making sure a newbie did not screw up while raising something was also part of an old hand’s duty.

“Listen carefully. When raising a crab...”

“Raising?”

“I mean Yubing.”

“Yubing is already fully gr—”

“Just listen. Just listen.”

“Yes, Elder?”

“Where was I? Right. When raising a crab, there are quite a lot of things you need to be careful about...”

Our purposes for raising one were different, but if such a rare venomous crab spirit-creature got seriously hurt or died by some fluke, that would be a loss for the entire universe.

‘Damn, it’s been a long time since I had to train a newbie.’

***

I stayed in the Ten-Thousand Demon Forest for three more days.

I passed on my keeping know-how and even watched over Yubing until the post-molt body had fully dried.

“Thank you, Elder.”

On the day I left, just as I had expected, Bulsiho packed me off with a huge amount of spirit ice.

There were several whole boxes of it.

It seemed Bulsiho was grateful that I had both taught the keeping know-how and healed Yubing’s body.

Or maybe Bulsiho was simply in a good mood now that Yubing’s body had been healed and the real effort to help drive the polar bears to extinction could begin in earnest.

‘I hope Bulsiho keeps it moderate. The polar bears are pitiful, after all.’

“It is nothing. Well then.”

Just as I was saying my farewell while worrying about the polar bears—

Yubing, standing behind Bulsiho, flushed in the cheeks and greeted me.

“Th-thank you, Elder.”

Apparently Yubing was embarrassed about having shown me that naked body.

Not that I felt anything at all looking at Yubing.

‘No matter if the body is female, it’s still a man to begin with, isn’t it?’

“Right. Yubing, you be well too. If something hurts anywhere, come find me. Well, think of me as an older brother—no, an oppa.”

“Yes, Elder. Thank you for your words.”

After finishing the farewell like that, I set out right away.

I considered using the Movement Talisman, but Bulsiho’s Ten-Thousand Demon Forest was not very far from White Night City.

So I simply flew there.

Because we were settled in the center of the First Heaven, and Bulsiho’s Ten-Thousand Demon Forest was in the center of the Second Heaven.

After flying for quite a while with Yo-hwa tucked close, we arrived at White Night City.

In the meantime, White Night City had changed quite a bit.

I could feel the energy of something like a qi barrier, and above all, there were presences inside White Night City that I was feeling for the first time.

Once you reach a realm like mine, you can distinguish between familiar qi and unfamiliar qi within a certain radius, and there were clearly unfamiliar energies moving around inside White Night City.

Since it seemed to be something like a qi barrier, it looked like I would not be able to enter from the sky, so I landed at the entrance to White Night City.

Then, perhaps because Hwa-eun had sensed my qi, Hwa-eun, who had been doing something with others at the entrance, hurried over.

“Husband.”

“Hwa-eun, have you been well?”

“Yes, Husband. Did you return safely? Yo-hwa, did you get back all right too? Did you sleep well?”

—Kishishi. 『Yes, Sister, I did. Thank you for looking after us.』

Since we still had not let the other girls know about our relationship, the two of them were carrying on like they were exchanging coded messages.

I took Hwa-eun inside and explained to my wives and to Senior Sister what had happened there.

“So what happened was...”

“You worked hard, Junior Brother. Because of me...”

Once I was more or less finished explaining, Senior Sister looked apologetic that I had gone through trouble because of her, but there was no need for her to feel sorry.

Nothing like a new spirit-creature had come out of it this time, but it had still been interesting.

And more than anything, I had gotten to see a venomous crab spirit-creature, had I not?

Even if I had not acquired one, I could still be satisfied with that much.

“Senior Sister, did we not agree that you would stop saying things like that?”

“But still...”

“If you say it again next time, I really am going to get angry. Ah, and it seems like there are cultivators inside White Night City that I do not recognize. What happened there?”

I cut off any chance for Senior Sister to apologize again and quickly changed the subject, asking about the other cultivators who had entered White Night City.

The answer I got was that they were cultivators from the Nine-Heaven Demon Tower.

Apparently, since the cultivators of the Nine-Heaven Demon Tower were helping us a great deal, Senior Sister had felt bad and given them permission to come and go anytime so they could use the qi of the earth veins and heavenly veins here.

“Ah, those are cultivators from the Nine-Heaven Demon Tower, Junior Brother. They have been helping us a great deal, so I let them come and go whenever they wish, so they can receive help in their cultivation.”

“Ah, I see.”

I might rule here, but I had left the small administrative matters to Senior Sister and Chief Steward Mong-a.

I had never run a city like this before.

Thinking those two would handle it just fine on their own, I resolved instead that I should treat my wives well, in case any of them might have felt hurt over my taking in Yo-hwa.

That was what I was doing, easing any possible lingering hurt one by one, starting with Hwa-eun.

Then, on the fourth day, while I was resting, Senior Sister came to me and reported,

“Junior Brother, a guest has come to see you.”

“A guest?”

“Could it be someone from the Ink Shadow Altar?”

At first I thought the Ink Shadow Altar had found the Fierce Poison Water Louse and gotten in touch.

The spirit-creature meant to treat Senior Sister, that was.

But Senior Sister shook her head at my muttering.

“No, Junior Brother. It seems someone came from the Ten-Thousand Demon Forest.”

“The Ten-Thousand Demon Forest?”

At those words, I immediately thought that something must have happened to Yubing again.

“After I went and told Bulsiho all that keeping stuff, did something already go wrong?”

Thinking I should have at least gotten a communication talisman while I was there, I headed for the reception hall on the first floor of Blood Market Tower.

There, unexpectedly, was a certain person—no, a certain spirit-creature.

Yubing, the crab spirit-creature I had healed, was waiting for me nervously, clutching some kind of bundle to the chest.

I had thought it would be some spirit-creature sent on an errand by Bulsiho, but it was Yubing in person.

“Yubing?”

It was the moment my eyes widened in surprise.

Yubing rose from the seat, confirmed it was me, and then said with tears falling,

“E-Elder, I got thrown out of the Ten-Thousand Demon Forest. Sob. I have nowhere to go, and you were the only one I could think of...”

‘What, got disowned?’

Absurdly enough, Yubing had been cast out and come looking for me.