Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

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Chapter 152: Spicy Fabre in the Four Heavenly Houses

“Just when I was about to scream in my heart to stop this rubbish—”

Before I could finish that thought, the boat started rocking violently, and I heard something crash against the bow.

—Thud!

—Screeeech…

At the same time, a jolt hit me.

—Splash!

“Gyaaaah…”

“Keuh… Hua Eun, be careful!”

Water from the container next to Wol-yeong spilled over, and Hua Eun and Older Sister Seol staggered, barely keeping their balance.

The impact wasn’t huge, but along with it, a rush of resentment towards the heavens exploded from my chest.

‘Why does heaven envy even my small wish for spicy Fabre like this!? Is that too much to ask!? It’s not even a Mandok or Thousand Poisons, just a Ten or Five Poisons!’

But I couldn’t keep up the resentment for long. I had to channel my inner nobleman, acting like it was nothing and hypnotizing myself into calmness.

A warm feeling suddenly swelled in my nostrils.

‘Y-yeah, things like this can happen, right? Even the heavens make mistakes sometimes, right? Haha… I can take this kind of shock. Just a little twig…

Wasn’t a trial sent down from the heavens supposed to build character?’

I had to control my mind to avoid nosebleeds; it was the heaven’s sneaky way of not letting me express my grievances fully. But thankfully, I was lying on a hammock made of Yo-hwa’s elastic thread, securely fixed in multiple directions.

The elastic thread was cushioning me like a car’s suspension, making this level of shock bearable, so I decided to take comfort in that.

—Snap!

Moreover, Yo-hwa rushed over with a shocked face, shooting webs around to secure me further.

“Yo-hwa…”

—Sizzle!

Seeing my moved expression, Yo-hwa patted her chest.

It seemed she was saying not to worry and just trust her.

I was deeply touched by Yo-hwa’s determination to save her brother. How could I not be moved by her fierce effort?

“Yeah, bring on all the little twigs you want. As long as we have our Yo-hwa…”

Just as I was about to say that with confidence, the boat lurched again, sharply tilting left.

At that moment, Captain Tao Master’s urgent shout rang out from the corridor.

“Starboard! Rowers, hold the boat! A uprooted tree is coming!”

‘Kyaaah! Please stop!’

It’s as if they were sending me bigger trouble just because I said I could handle twigs.

Hearing Captain Tao Master’s frantic voice echoing in the cabin, Older Sister Seol rushed to hold onto my hammock.

It felt like she was trying to lessen the impact even slightly.

—Screech!

—Scritch!

Then came the sound of something scratching against the side of the boat with the creaking of twisting wood.

Followed by the exhausted voices of the crew.

“W-we made it! It passed!”

“Made it!”

Thankfully, it seemed the uprooted trees had passed without causing harm.

‘Wow, if that had hit, even if I had multiple lives, it would be tough…’

My body slumped in relief, thinking I had just escaped death.

As I lay there, thinking it was finally over—

The Captain’s shout rang out again.

“More uprooted trees are coming!”

My resentment towards the heavens had turned into a scream now, and I could hear Older Sister Seol’s urgent voice next to me.

‘If this is going to happen, just kill me!’

“Long! Hurry! Just accept it! You need to survive to cultivate your martial arts!”

Those words meant I had to accept Wol-yeong’s poison.

But I wanted to somehow accept the poison of Bar Duo Wol-yeong. Yet how could I circulate my energy in this rocking boat at such a desperate moment?

My martial arts weren’t at a high enough level to do that in this trembling condition. In such a tense situation, I couldn’t even recall a single line of my energy practices.

My mind went blank.

“I want to, but… I can’t think of anything… Older Sister Seol.”

“What!?”

That’s when I looked at her with a dazed expression.

—Bang! Crack!

—Splish! Dab!

“Elder, this is dangerous! Hooah! A tree is shattering!”

“Elder is breaking the tree! Wow!”

“Waaah!”

The Artisan dashed out to the bow, making strange sounds as if he were launching air blasts, followed by the astonished cries of the crew.

‘Father-in-law, I believed in you! Damn it!’

—Thump! Bang!

A small impact continued from the bow, but it wasn’t that big of a deal.

But soon, the sweating Artisan rushed into the cabin and shouted in a panicked voice.

“Son-in-law! Just accept it! My energy is too low to handle this anymore!”

‘Now I don’t even know what to do…’

It was clear that advanced techniques like air blasts couldn’t be used infinitely by Grandpa Mandok.

Just like heaven was playing with my life, I thought it would be whatever it was going to be at this moment.

Startled by the uproar, Seol, who had popped out from Hua Eun’s arms, a little baby Bing, suddenly shot out from her clothes.

This little one, who hadn’t popped out at all, suddenly poked her head out, climbed onto Hua Eun’s shoulder, glancing around before leaping toward me.

Then, she plopped down on my forehead and suddenly started exerting her strength.

—Cheep! Cheep…

‘W-what?!’

Could it be that the final moments of Spicy Fabre involve a baby lizard defecating on my face in a miserable state?

Did I really have to meet my end in such a miserable manner? At that thought—

Suddenly, a vapor wafted over from my forehead, and with it, I felt a coolness.

The feverish heat from being poisoned by Wol-yeong began to feel cool.

Then I heard a surprised voice from the Artisan.

“This, this is! Using poison to neutralize poison!”

That meant using poison to detoxify.

Thinking about it, Wol-yeong’s poison was associated with the Yang energy while Seol’s and Bing’s poison had Yin energy.

“Y-yes! Wol-yeong’s poison contains the Yang energy! Seol and Bing’s poison has Yin energy! I’m saved! Son-in-law!”

As Seol joined in, my body’s temperature began to gradually return to normal.

‘D-did I survive?’

I had somehow managed to find the antidote to Wol-yeong’s dangerous poison.

As I debated whether to laugh or cry, yet another urgent voice rang out.

“Tao Master! We can’t dodge this! Too many trees are coming!”

“Ugh! Everyone, brace yourselves for impact! Hold on tight so you don’t fall off the boat!”

I still needed time to completely shake off the poison, and if we were hit in this state, I might not die but could get seriously injured.

At the Captain’s shout that we couldn’t escape the trees, Older Sister Seol met my gaze with a panic-stricken expression.

Hua Eun looked at Seol and Bing, and quickly shouted toward Chao and Bin, who were clinging to the floor of the cabin.

“Chao! Bin! You need to protect your dad! Go out and help the rowers!”

In this urgent situation, I hadn’t even considered getting help from the kids, but I must have recalled Chao and Bin seeing Seol and Bing.

—Swish!

—Slide!

In a flash, Chao and Bin darted out of the cabin.

Not long after they had crawled out, cheers from the crew echoed, replacing the sounds of impact outside.

“O-Oh Gong! Oh Gong is pushing away the trees!”

“Oooh! Wei So-ryong’s Venomous Insects are pushing away the trees!”

“Another Oh Gong has encapturing the bow!”

‘Kyaaah! My daughters!’

Tears burst forth from my eyes.

Tears flowed endlessly, like the Niagara or Iguaçu Falls, as I realized I had survived and had protected the dignity of Spicy Fabre against ongoing troubles.

*

After the commotion settled, we arrived at Xingzhou and needed to check the boat for any issues.

I thought there wouldn’t be any significant problems. But it seemed the boat was starting to seep water after being impacted by the trees drifting downstream.

It was enough that my hands got wet simply touching it, but I decided we needed to thoroughly check on it to avoid problems during operation.

For that reason, when we’d docked at Xingzhou, the rowers were examining the boat when the Artisan returned from a quick trip to the shore, his expression one of shock.

“It seems the Princess rushed her work. The Wu Lin Alliance from Akyang departed a few days ago. The Imperial Army also seems to be moving.”

“Is that true?”

“Indeed. I heard it directly from the Wu Lin Alliance’s Xingzhou branch. It seems we need to hurry back.”

“Certainly. I’ll confirm with Captain Tao Master whether the boat can operate.”

We hadn’t planned to stop at Wuhuan on our way back, but I was shocked to learn that such a situation had arisen.

I rushed to find Captain Tao Master and asked, “Captain, can we depart today? I’ve heard that the Wu Lin Alliance has set out, and we must return immediately.”

“It seems it will take about three days to prepare the boat again…”

“Is there no way?”

After pleading to the Captain, who said it would take three days to prepare, he reluctantly nodded.

“Hmm… I shall try to hurry, my lord.”

But a problem arose just as we were nearing Yichang.

We should have thoroughly checked for issues, but after rushing to depart with only temporary fixes, the water that began to seep in was now leaking continuously.

—Gush, gush, gush…

“I’m sorry, my lord.”

“No, it’s my fault for rushing you to check properly.”

Ultimately, the boat was halted at Yichang, requiring several days of repair even for temporary operation, and due to that, the Artisan had to take half of the Venomous Insect Team and switch to another boat to rush to the Tang Clan.

Surely, they must have been in contact with the Wu Lin Alliance, and although Grandpa Mandok was around, the Clan Head was necessary in such situations.

Since we had the children, we had to use this boat, so we decided to wait until it was repaired.

Several days later, as the boat was finally repaired and we sailed through the Yangtze River Three Gorges—

The Three Gorges of the Yangtze River are the strongest currents in the river.

We were slowly moving upstream on the temporarily fixed boat when suddenly someone outside shouted.

“Stop the boat! Which boat dares to pass through our Zhang River Waterway Village without paying the toll!”

As I stepped onto the deck to check, I saw a swarm of small boats surrounding us.

Seeing that, Hua Eun, with a shocked expression, turned to Captain Tao Master.

“What is happening? Captain? Our family’s pride is at stake, right? Huh? The pride!?”

Then, Captain Tao Master, with a face ashen as a ghost, replied.

“I—I didn’t notice, but during the recent flood, our family banner seems to have been damaged and disappeared.”

“Oh no…”

“What are those guys? Hua Eun?”

“Well, that means…”

After listening, those guys appear to be a freshwater version of bandits, known as the Water Bandits.

Originally, with our family banner, they wouldn’t dare act like this, but it seems the banner was lost during the previous commotion, allowing them to swarm over, according to Hua Eun’s explanation.

“Then, does that mean they are bandits?”

“Yeah, Wei So-ryong, that is true, but they aren’t just regular bandits; they’re martial artists…”

“Who is the owner of the boat? Answer this instant!”

Once again, the shouts from the Water Bandits echoed, and Hua Eun’s face showed despair, then gathered her resolve and directed her attention to the small boats.

“Heroes of the Yangtze River. I am Hua Eun from the Four Heavenly Houses. It seems there has been a misunderstanding because the family banner was lost during the recent flood; could we just pass through?”

Then, from one of the small boats, a man who looked like their leader answered.

“Oh, so you’re the lady from the Tang Clan? Without your family’s banner, who is going to believe that? Even if you claim to be the Tang Clan’s lady, without the banner, you must pay the toll, for it is the unspoken rule of the Yangtze River Three Gorges. You cannot pass without paying the toll!”

“Ugh…”

“Well, if your beauty is unrivaled, perhaps if you can’t pay the toll, there’s a way to substitute… Hehehe…”

‘What did you just say?!’

It seemed there was a rule only they were aware of, and as I kept my calm, the bandit made a remark crossing the line.

I turned my head towards Chao, who was pressed against the railing, peering outside.

“Chao?”

—Sniff?

“Flip over.”

Let’s flip over these shabby little boats first before we talk.