Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

At Cheongcheong’s words, everything in Hwa-eun and Hye-rin stopped at once.

The two looked at each other once with their mouths shut, then froze on the spot as if time itself had stopped.

The words Cheongcheong had just spoken had certainly brushed past their ears, but it took a long blank stretch before they formed any meaning inside their heads.

Benefactor, love, servant.

Each of them alone was not a light word, yet those three had all poured out at once as if it were nothing.

Like stones thrown onto the surface of a calm pond, ripples spread through both their minds.

‘W-what did she just say...?’

‘Did I hear wrong? Or did Ancestor misspeak...?’

What forcibly dragged their dazed minds back into reality was, surprisingly, not sound or smell, but color.

The blue blood running down Cheongcheong’s white, delicate forehead.

It was a color utterly different from the red blood familiar to humans, yet instinctively they knew at once that it was blood.

The blue drops slid past the end of her forehead, ran down the bridge of her nose, and fell beneath her chin.

They made scattered stains across the cold, hardened floor.

“A-Ancestor, what is this—”

“Senior Sister, what are you doing!?”

Hwa-eun and Gun Hye-rin nearly screamed at the same time as they rushed forward.

Their hands seized Cheongcheong’s shoulders and arms in a panic.

Hwa-eun roughly rolled up her sleeve and hurriedly wiped the blood spreading across Cheongcheong’s forehead with fumbling hands.

The sight of the blue blood soaking into the white sleeve and spreading through it was painfully vivid.

Cheongcheong was the one they called Ancestor and Senior Sister.

Her very existence had never been light to begin with, but more than anything else, her physical condition was far from sound right now.

A body that had endured pain for decades, no, longer than that.

Both of them knew better than anyone that she was in a state like a glass bottle that looked as though it would shatter if handled wrong even a little.

“Ancestor, your body still isn’t well. What are you doing?”

But Cheongcheong did not move at all, as if she had put down roots into the floor.

Still kneeling bowed down, Cheongcheong spoke.

“Ancestor? That is a shameful thing for me to accept. I will do whatever you order, whether it is menial service or anything else, so please use me as a servant. If you do not permit it, I will not move even a °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° little.”

At those stubborn words, Hwa-eun and Gun Hye-rin looked at each other.

The truth was, the two of them had not been completely unable to imagine this sort of development.

There had already been Ji-ryeon’s example.

Toward So-ryong, who had saved her and her sect, Ji-ryeon had tried to offer devotion drawn from the depths of her heart.

A princess carrying the blood of the royal family had bowed to one man and stepped forward saying she would repay his lifelong grace.

If even a princess of her station had been like that, then what was there to say about Cheongcheong?

Cheongcheong had endured long years in suffering.

Even while her body was breaking apart, she had endured on mental strength alone, living days in endless darkness where no hope could be found.

It was not hard to imagine what sort of feelings would bloom inside someone like that when salvation came.

If anything, those feelings would be greater than Ji-ryeon’s, not smaller.

It was only that Cheongcheong was So-ryong’s Senior Sister and from the same clan line as Hwa-eun, so the two of them had still thought, surely not.

Honestly speaking, Cheongcheong and Hwa-eun were now very distant relatives.

They shared the same surname, but were separated by a vast distance.

Though they were of the same bloodline, since Cheongcheong was the daughter of the ancestor Tang Hwa-seong from hundreds of years ago, at this point, aside from the bare fact that they were truly of the same blood, they were no closer than strangers.

According to the laws of the Central Plains under Confucian doctrine, marriage within the same surname was forbidden and a grave sin, but if a wife had died, taking a woman of the same surname as a wife was not a problem.

In ancient times like the Zhou era, marriages taking a wife’s sisters and cousins together had also been widely practiced.

So taking Cheongcheong as a wife was not really a major problem.

The real problem was the fact that she was So-ryong’s Senior Sister.

In other words, the fact that Cheongcheong stood in a position similar to that of an elder sister.

Since in the etiquette of the Central Plains one treated one’s master as a father, the master’s daughter was practically the same as one’s own blood sister.

But this was the cultivation world.

If one thought that all ties to the lower world had already been severed, then even that was no problem.

Cultivators were beings freed from the ties of the lower world, so it was a natural way of thinking.

Looking at each other, Hwa-eun and Gun Hye-rin nodded, thinking there was no helping it.

“There’s no helping it, then?”

“There’s nothing else to do.”

At this point, they thought there was no choice but to accept her and bring her in.

“We are women too, so how could we not understand Ancestor’s heart? We know what is in your heart, so please stop this and serve So-ryong together with us.”

“Right. We already accepted Yo-hwa, so there’s no reason we can’t accept Senior Sister. Ji-ryeon is in a similar situation too, so she’ll understand. So stop this and stand up.

At this rate, something serious is going to happen.”

The two were trying to soothe Cheongcheong, when once again a dull sound rang out.

-Thud.

Before either of them could stop her, Cheongcheong slammed her forehead into the floor again and said,

“Thank you for such generous words. But I cannot forgive myself. Perhaps because I am by nature a lowly beast, I came to harbor a heart I should never have had, so please let me atone.”

Blood ran down from her forehead once more.

At the sight, the two were horrified.

Her body was trembling all over, and her eyes looked dangerously unsteady.

They had the feeling that at this rate, something truly terrible was going to happen today.

[“What do we do?”

“I-I don’t know either. How can someone be this stubborn?”]

The two could only cry out through the group chatroom used only by the wives, asking what on earth they were supposed to do, and upon hearing that, Yo-hwa and Ji-ryeon were added to the group chatroom.

[“What do you mean, what do we do?”

-Kishit? (Sisters, did something happen?)

“This actually works out. Something serious happened.”

“Something serious?”

-Kishishi? (Something serious?)]

“Ancestor Cheongcheong ended up falling in love with So-ryong because of the way he devoted himself to her, but she says she can’t forgive herself for feeling that way and is asking to be made a servant.

She keeps slamming her forehead into the floor, so things are serious right now. Her body isn’t even well.”

“Oh my, oh my, Senior Sister has ended up in the same state as me? Though it feels like her symptoms are even more severe.”

“That’s right.”

A brief silence.

Then Ji-ryeon spoke in a voice saying there was no helping it.

[“Well, what else can we do? I do not want to oppose it. Because when one is saved, the feeling is that even offering one’s whole body is still not enough.

This is the cultivation world, so there is no need to be bound by old conventions. Let’s make room for her. The order in which dual cultivation comes back around will just be delayed by one day.”

-Kishi. (Yo-hwa will follow the sisters’ wishes.)]

Ji-ryeon and Yo-hwa both said they would accept her, but the problem was that they had already made that proposal and Cheongcheong had said she could not follow it.

Hwa-eun quickly explained that fact.

[“We thought Ji-ryeon and Yo-hwa would say that, so we already said the same thing first, but the problem is that Ancestor Cheongcheong says she cannot accept that.”

“Why?”

“She says, how could a sinner possibly accept such a gracious offer? Aah! St-stop her! Hye-rin!”

“I-I stopped her!”]

At the voices of the two who had barely managed to stop Cheongcheong from smashing her head again, Ji-ryeon spoke as if there was no helping it.

[“So right now, it seems that although the feelings of love for So-ryong are great, the guilt is even greater. In that case, let us handle it this way.”]

Apparently, because the guilt was heavier than the love, she could not accept an offer that would burden her heart, but at times like this, there was a very good method.

After all, Ji-ryeon had thoroughly mastered ways of moving people through guilt back in the imperial palace.

[“This way? What way?”

“What method are you talking about? We’re in a hurry.”

“Well, so, here is the thing...”]

It was the moment Ji-ryeon’s explanation ended in quick succession.

As soon as the words in the group chatroom stopped, Hwa-eun and Gun Hye-rin smiled and said,

“Well, there is no helping it. Fine, Cheongcheong. If that is what you want, we’ll let it be that way. But atonement will not be so easy.”

“That’s right. Even if you cry later and ask for it to be changed, it will do no good.”

“Th-thank you. Wives. Thank you.”

Cheongcheong’s voice trembled.

She had not raised her face, so they could not see her expression, but the two could feel how deeply relief and emotion were mixed into that trembling.

So-ryong’s other wives hid the smiles rising to their lips.

In those smiles there was a trace of mischief, a bit of camaraderie, and above all, the intimacy of women who loved the same man.

***

“I’m back!”

Three days after leaving word that I was heading back, I arrived in the First Heaven.

After passing through the main gate, flying through the sky, and slipping straight into the office, my wives were waiting for me.

“Husband.”

“Master, you worked hard.”

The two hugged me, and behind them I saw Senior Sister.

Maybe because of Hye-rin, Senior Sister had misspoken and nearly called me Master before her face turned red.

“Senior Sister.”

“Master... Ah, no, Junior Brother. Y-you worked hard.”

Thinking Senior Sister really did seem out of sorts, I said,

“Senior Sister, please wait just a moment.”

I immediately brought out the Venomous Water Crab from outside.

I had already told my wives to prepare Senior Sister, because I intended to treat her right away.

With mist blowing from its nose, the Venomous Water Crab popped out.

The thing had its eyes closed, lips pursed, and tongue moving around.

It seemed to have been in the middle of some gate-joining.

The thing had been kissing empty air, but when it opened its eyes, it cried out in embarrassment.

“W-what is it!? It was j-just getting good.”

“Ah, sorry. Hae-rin, but I told you to get ready because I thought I’d be arriving.”

“No, I-I was putting clothes on, but everything started burning...”

Its name was Hae-rin.

Still, because it was a collective, it had many names.

For now, the name referring to the whole collective was Hae-rin.

There were separate names for each one of them individually.

The head was Il-rin, the tentacles were I-rin, the body was Sam-rin, and the reproductive organs were Sa-rin.

Fortunately, Yubing and the thing were getting along well.

Maybe because all but the reproductive organs had taken a liking to Yubing, it had stayed stuck right beside Yubing, making lilies bloom everywhere.

Though whether it would end up jjambbong, jjajang, or half-and-half still had not been decided.

“Anyway, this is the person. I’m asking you.”

“Ahem. Fine, I understand.”

Hae-rin held out a hand, since we had already discussed it beforehand.

That was actually one of its tentacles, so if Senior Sister simply consumed the stinging cells rising along the surface of that tentacle, then she should be able to heal her body.

Senior Sister turned to look at my face and wore an expression full of mixed emotions.

Looking at her like that, I gave her a small smile.

“Go ahead.”

Senior Sister nodded and, more precisely, took I-rin’s body into her mouth.

-Chup.

At first Senior Sister hesitated and took the finger into her mouth, but after a moment she began wildly licking the thing’s hand with eyes that looked almost spellbound.

It felt similar to the time she had kissed Cheonhae before.

Since she was tasting her staple food for the first time since birth, that was only natural.

She was eating something she had never been able to eat before, so it looked like her eyes had rolled back.

After licking its hands in turn for a long while, Senior Sister let go at some point and collapsed heavily to the spot.

“Ahh...”

She seemed to be feeling some kind of exhilaration, and in that instant, the energy of the Beast-Heart Technique inside Senior Sister’s body began to churn.

“Ah, this is... Senior Sister, sit in meditation.”

This felt similar to when my wives had undergone rebirth.

I quickly guided Senior Sister into a meditative posture, and sure enough, the moment she settled into position, energy burst from her body as if exploding.

It felt like the energy that had been blocked by the limits of the flesh was now circulating through her body, drawing it up to match her realm.

At the same time, her realm was also rising.

I watched Senior Sister for a moment, then tried to leave after deciding to entrust things to the others, but my wives grabbed me and said,

“So-ryong, where are you going?”

“Husband?”

“Hm? I was going to leave her in Chief Steward Mong-a’s hands until her body stabilized. I was going to go rest somewhere else for a bit...”

I had thought that what remained could be left to Chief Steward Mong-a, so I had been stepping back, but my wives shook their heads and said,

“What are you talking about?”

“What are you talking about?”

“That’s right, So-ryong. You understand the Beast-Heart Technique best, so you need to stay beside Senior Sister and watch over her.”

“Ah, is that so?”

Come to think of it, Senior Sister had a body that had been gravely ill until now.

There was no telling whether the rise in realm and the rebirth would proceed properly.

If something happened in the middle, I was the only one who could deal with it, so it was right for me to stay here.

“All right. Then I guess I should stay here and watch over her.”

I quickly sat down cross-legged behind Senior Sister as well.

That way, if anything happened, I could intervene immediately.