Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

Our business had been to capture the Venomous Water Crab, so our goal had already been achieved.

I decided to send word to Sua, the mistress of the Jet-Black Sea that ruled this place.

“Please tell her we finished everything here safely, and that I was grateful.”

“A-all right, Elder.”

I caught one fish spirit creature nearby and sent a message saying that thanks to her, things had ended safely, and that we were now heading back.

Honestly, I didn’t want to get tangled up with her again, but if a high-level cultivator like me stomped around in someone else’s territory, of course it would weigh on their mind, so when leaving, it was only proper etiquette to send word.

If I said nothing and just vanished, wouldn’t it be natural for them to worry whether I was still wandering around inside their domain?

After sending the message like that, all of us moved together to the border of the Jet-Black Sea.

Before properly setting out for White Night City, we camped for one day.

Originally, I could have just stuffed everyone into Dokmul-hyang and left, but lilies were blooming inside, right there at the entrance to Dokmul-hyang, so I couldn’t depart like this.

If I put Ji-ryeon, Yo-hwa, Cho, and Cheonhae inside, something serious might happen.

Ji-ryeon and Yo-hwa had experience, and Cheonhae was old enough that she would be fine, but it was not something Cho should be seeing.

The next day.

I quietly tried speaking to Yubing.

‘Yubing? Are you still b-busy?’

I tried talking through the private chatroom, but Yubing gave no answer.

The private chatroom was a direct line, so if Yubing was awake, there should have been an answer right away.

‘Did Yubing fall asleep? Or is it still going on?’

There were two possibilities.

Either the lilies were still in full bloom, or Yubing had fallen into too deep a sleep.

I couldn’t just keep waiting forever, so I sent Ji-ryeon and Yo-hwa inside to check and asked them to see what the two of them were doing.

“Ji-ryeon, Yo-hwa, could you go inside and take a quick look at what those two are doing?”

“All right, So-ryong.”

-Kishit. All right, Oppa.

At my request, the two disappeared inside.

A little later, Ji-ryeon’s voice came through, clearly flustered.

[”So-ryong, this was almost a disaster.”

“A disaster?”]

At the words that it had almost become a disaster, I tilted my head, and Ji-ryeon told me to come inside quickly.

[”Would you come inside for just a moment first?”

“All right.”]

The moment I stepped into Dokmul-hyang, the atmosphere felt damp somehow.

The grasses near the entrance had all been pressed flat.

As if someone had rolled around on the ground and crushed them, every blade of grass was drooping weakly.

On top of that, their surfaces were thickly wet, as though they had drunk in a heavy coating of dew.

It was the kind of sight you would believe if someone said a midnight downpour had passed through.

And there was a strangely sweet scent floating in the air.

Even though it was an open space, there was a peculiar lingering energy, as if someone had heated the place intensely until just moments ago.

The instant I turned my head and looked deeper inside, I immediately confirmed the cause.

In one corner, wrapped up together in the blanket Yo-hwa had woven from silk, Yubing and the Venomous Water Crab were lying side by side, fast asleep.

Their breathing was subtly tangled together, and the blanket covering them was gently rising and falling.

Yubing had already been registered by me into the Beast-Heart Technique, so right now Yubing was in a woman’s form.

And perhaps due to the magic treasure the Venomous Water Crab carried, the silhouette showing beneath the blanket was wholly that of a woman as well.

If it had been a mere transformation, the form would have gone back to a jellyfish by now.

When I looked more closely, I could see steam faintly rising from between the blanket folds.

Their breathing also seemed a little rough.

No, not just that. Hot steam was shimmering up from the face and nape as well.

The blanket was also sticking slightly to their bodies, so they had obviously only just fallen asleep.

“Don’t tell me, all the way until now?”

When I asked with a shocked look, Ji-ryeon answered awkwardly with a strained smile.

“I-it seems that even if the energy of the Harmony Blossom Formula is released outside the body, it only disappears when male and female energies clash. B-both of them are women, so...”

“Oh boy.”

I pressed a hand to my forehead.

Because I understood what Ji-ryeon meant.

The energy of the Harmony Blossom Formula was energy that put a woman into peak condition.

That meant it would definitely only disappear when touched by male energy.

When we used it, it naturally mixed with the other party’s energy, so it vanished automatically, but this side’s situation was a little different.

Yubing was male in terms of sex, but the body was a perfectly proper female body.

And the Venomous Water Crab too was clearly in a woman’s form right now.

Of course, no matter how much the two hugged and rolled around together, the energy of the Harmony Blossom Formula would never have recognized the other as male.

In the end, instead of dissipating, the energy must have driven them nearly out of their minds under the influence of the Harmony Blossom Formula all the way until morning.

“Then what should we do?”

It seemed like I would have to step in and do something myself, so I asked, only to hear an answer that made me fluster.

“Please put some yang energy into them.”

“What!?”

My voice burst out reflexively and echoed inside Dokmul-hyang.

Put yang energy into them? The instant I heard those words, only one image sprang into my mind.

‘It can’t be what I’m thinking, right?’

While I was flustered for a moment, Ji-ryeon hurriedly continued explaining.

“N-not like that. I mean convert your energy into yang energy and inject just a little, like pouring in inner energy. So it can neutralize the remaining energy of the Harmony Blossom Formula.”

“O-of course that’s what you meant.”

Only then did I let out a breath of relief, drawing in a deep breath.

I kicked away the unnecessary thoughts and focused on the two spirit creatures in front of me.

I quietly sat down beside them.

I gathered yang energy into my palms and gently raised it, then little by little let it flow into Yubing and the Venomous Water Crab the same way one would pass on inner energy.

Because the energy of the Harmony Blossom Formula had spread throughout every corner of their bodies, I had to force in the yang energy somewhat strongly.

Fortunately, the effect appeared immediately.

The intense heat blanketing their bodies slowly began to subside.

The steam rising from their cheeks and napes gradually faded as well, and their breathing evened out.

Once the inside, where cold energy and hot energy had been colliding, stabilized, their expressions changed into the peaceful expressions of sleep.

Ji-ryeon let out a slight sigh of relief and began undoing their acupoints one by one.

As her slender fingers moved along the meridians, the rigid flow of energy loosened, and under the blanket I could sense their bodies shifting slightly.

A little later, the eyelids of the two spirit creatures trembled at the same time.

And then at last, four different tones of voice burst out almost simultaneously.

“Hm, hmm. That might not have been bad.”

“Little young master, so you were female? I like you even more.”

“I-it was nice for me too. Since it wasn’t a man’s rough body but a soft woman’s body.”

“What nonsense are you talking! This is fraud! I was only left burning up the whole time! Never fulfilled, only on the outside... Krrrgh! This cannot be tolerated!”

Those were the very first words the Venomous Water Crab spat out while picking up clothes and getting dressed.

The four voices were each giving their own impressions of the first night.

When the first words out of the mouth while roughly throwing clothes on looked like this, there was no need for any further explanation of what had happened inside.

Now I could more or less tell which voice handled which part of the creature. The voice full of a cold, overbearing feeling seemed to belong to the reproductive organs, while the one from the head was unusually clear and crisp in the way it spoke.

The one that stammered and watched the mood was the torso.

And the one that had taken a liking to Yubing and kept chattering in an informal tone was, most likely, in charge of the tentacles.

“Well, be satisfied with that much. If the reproductive organs rule the head, then that’s no better than a mere beast.”

“T-this much wasn’t bad, was it?”

“Exactly, how much more satisfied do you need to be?”

“Satisfied!? Satisfied, my ass!?”

The one in charge of the reproductive organs was boiling with rage.

Meanwhile, the other three clearly looked fairly satisfied.

The reproductive organs had wanted bolt-and-nut, precise coupling, but in the end it had turned into bolt-and-bolt, so I could understand the dissatisfaction shooting through the roof.

But the other parts seemed to prefer females more, and were reacting closer to having actually enjoyed it.

The one directly concerned was the creature in charge of the genitals, so it seemed like that opinion should matter most, but that opinion was being treated like a minority one.

‘Ah, maybe the head is involved a little too? Since they kissed?’

I asked with an even expression.

What exactly was supposed to be fraudulent?

“What? What exactly was the fraud?”

At that, the Venomous Water Crab shouted with an incensed expression.

“That female! Didn’t you say it was male!?”

“That definitely needs to be cleared up.”

“Right! It was nice, but you said male!”

“T-that’s right.”

“But the more I listen, female this, female that! Since you’re a young master, watch your mouth!”

At that question, I gave a grin and answered.

“You were pretending to be one too.”

“Th-that...”

“W-we never said from the beginning that we were one.”

“T-that’s right.”

So that was their claim—that they had never insisted from the start that they were one, so it wasn’t fraud.

The most common routine con men used in my previous life.

I grinned and said,

“Yubing is male by nature too. It’s just that a parasitic creature infected the body and turned it into a woman.”

“Wh-what nonsense is that!?”

“R-right!”

“T-the chest was bigger than mine, and t-there were clearly women’s parts elsewhere too, so how can that be male? Turned into a woman? How does that even make any—”

Voices of protest burst out from the Venomous Water Crab all at once.

Expecting something like this, I took out a talisman that could distinguish truth from falsehood.

If you use this, speaking the truth produces blue flames, and speaking falsehood turns the flames red.

When I infused energy into the talisman and spoke the truth, blue flames rose up.

“You all know this talisman, right?”

“Th-that is...?”

“Yubing is male. This is the truth.”

-Fwoosh.

The flames immediately burned blue.

The Venomous Water Crab’s expression froze on the spot.

Because I had never committed fraud.

Of course, it could have tried to pick a fight by saying how could a stupid talisman like that judge right and wrong, but this object was not some flimsy thing of that level.

If the Plain Maiden, Dark Maiden, and Rainbow Maiden were rulers of the Nine Heavens, then on this side there were separately immortal beings embodying the concepts of judging fairness and justice.

This talisman carried the energy of such a high immortal, literally a measuring stick of justice.

It was an item made and distributed by groups of cultivators who worshiped those immortals, so to deny this was effectively to deny that immortal outright.

That was why even the Venomous Water Crab could not casually say something like who cares about that, and had been left speechless.

Now that the truth of my words had been confirmed, I smiled faintly and said,

“Then shall we take a look at whether your claim is true too? Whether you should have told us before the fight that the four of you were one body, or not. If you don’t say that, is it fraud or not?”

“We did not cheat.”

“Th-that’s right!”

The smart head kept quiet while the tentacles and the reproductive organs answered, and immediately the flames burned red.

-Fwogrk.

Apparently, failure to disclose contract matters or omission of important information was classified as fraud on this side too.

It wasn’t much different from the standards of judgment I had seen in my previous life.

I nodded, smiling.

“Oh dear, what shall we do? Seems it really is fraud.”

“Tch.”

“D-does this mean I have to become th-that spirit creature’s... thing? That I’ll spend my whole life never properly experiencing the union of yin and yang? Aaaaargh!”

The voice in charge of the reproductive organs wailed in something close to a scream.

The other voices only sounded mildly irritated.

It seemed those ones simply preferred females more.

But the one in charge of the reproductive organs seemed deeply shocked, so I decided to offer hope as well.

That way it would listen better.

“I can turn that child back into a male, or completely make the child female, so if you behave and listen, I’ll do as you want. Of course, only if Yubing agrees.”

At my words, the Venomous Water Crab’s eyes went round.

“Is that really true?”

Judging by the voice, it seemed to be the one in charge of the reproductive organs.

Because whether it was female or male was probably a grave issue that affected that one’s entire life.

“Of course. I’m bound to Yubing by a special cultivation art, and I can change Yubing to one side or the other, female or male.”

That was something I had already confirmed on the slate.

The talisman’s flames rose blue.

Seeing that, the four voices immediately started arguing.

“Ahem. Then let’s change it into a male.”

“Wh-what nonsense! I like it better as a female just like this.”

“Right. I like females too. They’re cute.”

“T-that’s right! I-I like females too.”

The opinion split was three to one.

No matter how much the reproductive organs wanted it, the female side’s opinion was overwhelming.

Yubing too thought of the self as female, so I figured becoming male would feel like a distant wish, but the bickering among them suddenly started moving in a strange direction.

“Then I shall make a great concession, and let’s change j-just the reproductive organs into male. No, let’s only add that.”

“Only that?”

“The symbol of a man. Then wouldn’t you all be satisfied too?”

“Can that be done?”

“Well, wouldn’t it be fine to ask?”

“T-that much might b-be all right?”

Did these bastards have choice paralysis or something? Like people who couldn’t decide between black bean noodles and spicy seafood noodles, they were trying to pick the half-and-half option.

Even though the combinations that actually tasted good together were already set.

‘S-stop! You bastards!’