Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

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Chapter 4: Five Poisons

“Not possible… It must just be a coincidence. Right, it could be just a coincidence.”

First, I took a moment to calm my racing heart.

Reflecting back, I remembered that when raising pets, such occurrences happen occasionally. It’s common for a pet to react to its owner’s words and for the owner to overreact as if the pet is a genius.

Owners often fall into the trap of thinking their pet is the cutest and smartest creature alive.

A pet may act without intention, but the owner assigns meaning and mistakenly believes their pet is a prodigy.

But not me, oh no! I’m a man of logic and contemplation.

There’s a need to verify if it’s really a coincidence, so I focused my thoughts again on Chao.

“Chao, come sit on my head.”

– Tsuru!

I thought again, and Chao responded with a sound before climbing onto my head.

I could feel Chao curling up like a hat on top of me.

“Whoa…”

Without even saying it aloud, Chao understood my silent command.

I was already past the peak of uncertainty, but still, who am I?

I’m the infamous Spicy Fabre, a YouTuber of venomous creatures from my previous life!

Thorough verification is a must in broadcasting.

I gently placed Chao down and asked it to stay put for a moment.

“Chao, wait right here, and when I call you, you must run over, got it? Just wait quietly until you hear Dad’s voice.”

– Tsuru!

Then, as Chao went out of sight, I thought again.

“Chao, there’s a door behind me, so come here.”

Soon enough, just like a game of peek-a-boo, Chao popped its head out from behind the door.

Chao confirmed I was indeed behind the door and approached, waving its antennae.

An electric thrill shot through me.

Once could be a coincidence, but twice felt like destiny, right?

Having confirmed it three times, there’s no way I was mistaken!

That meant I could finally relax.

“Gyaah! No way! Is Chao a psychic centipede?!”

Shifting from intelligence mode to a full-on explosion of excitement, I couldn’t hold back the shout.

How could I possibly restrain myself?

It felt like Chao and I had established a telepathic connection.

I couldn’t understand what Chao was saying, but it sure understood me perfectly.

I hugged Chao tightly and exclaimed, “How did you understand me? Chao, how did you do that?”

– Tsuru?

After comprehending perfectly, Chao tilted its head as if to say it hadn’t understood this time.

Truly, Chao was a master of tugging at my heartstrings.

Soon, many male centipedes would be in turmoil, thanks to Chao’s genius teasing and telepathy.

“Having shed its skin twice means it’s transformed from a larva, right? Is this what awakening as a spirit creature is like? I wonder if the other kids can do it too. Chao, can the other siblings do it?”

– Ts?

I quickly hugged Chao and headed towards my older sister.

I had to check if the others could do it as well.

So I dashed out of Mandok Hall towards the direct line of the Four Harmonies Courtyard and entered through the open door, passing the central hall to find my older sister questioning the kids on the pavilion.

“But where has Chao gone? I’m worried because it keeps wandering off. The others have been roaming too, making it hard to find them… Sigh…”

As I got closer, I heard my sister’s voice.

Apparently, she was interrogating the children about Chao’s disappearance.

– Tsuru?

– Kkuk?

With one hand casually resting on her waist, my sister looked quite concerned.

From her expression and tone, it seemed the centipedes had undergone their second molting session and were causing some chaos.

And Chao had somehow snuck up to me, creeping all the way to the entrance of Mandok Hall without my sister or the others noticing.

“Hua Eun!”

As I rushed towards the pavilion, my sister’s face went from worried to relieved as she spotted me.

Realizing she was smiling at me made her suddenly blush, and she quickly fixed her expression, rising from her seat.

“So-ryong… Are you okay?”

“Yes, of course! I’m perfectly fine. Thank you for your concern.”

“Hmm? Chao?”

During our greetings, my sister finally noticed Chao perched on my shoulder and understood the situation.

Scolding Chao, my sister said, “I told you not to wander off far, right? You need to tell Mom when you go somewhere!”

Chao’s antennae drooped at my sister’s scolding.

Quickly, I seized the chance to rescue Chao and shared my findings with her.

“That’s not the main issue right now. Hua Eun, Chao understands human words!”

My sister tilted her head in confusion.

“Chao always understands what I say, doesn’t it? That’s not new…”

‘Oh, right.’

I got so excited that I’d skipped over the earlier details, so I started again.

“It understands even when I don’t say it aloud, just by thinking about it!”

“Really?”

“Watch.”

“Chao, do a lap around here. Then jump onto Dad’s body.”

I commanded Chao from the pavilion to take a lap, then I had it jump onto my sister and leap back to me, turning to my sister, I said, “See this? I didn’t even have to speak it out loud, and it followed commands!”

“Wait, you mean you did all that just by thinking?”

“Yes!”

Seeing Chao in action seemed to captivate my sister. Her eyes widened in surprise.

“Whoa, how?”

“Isn’t it fascinating? Right?”

“Yes!”

“I need to check if the other kids can do it too.”

“The other kids too?”

My sister’s eyes lit up at my proposal to check on the others.

With her in active cooperation mode, we lined up the three kids, ready to see if they could respond too.

“Okay, everyone, lift your heads!”

We started the process of verification several times, but aside from Chao, none of the others reacted.

I tried confirming separately, but the other kids had no response.

In fact, my sister even attempted to communicate with the others, but even they didn’t respond, including Chao.

My sister looked disappointed and a bit sad and eventually, we gathered in front of the kids for a meeting on why only Chao and I could do this.

“I thought it was because Chao shed its skin twice and transformed from a larva, but maybe that’s not it?”

“What’s different about Chao compared to the other kids?”

“Hmmm…”

It was while pondering why only Chao could do this that my sister suddenly had a spark of realization.

“Ah! Chao has something different from the others!”

“Chao has something different?”

“Like what?”

Even though my sister claimed Chao was different, the three of them all looked so similar—Chao, Hyang, and Bin—that I could only tilt my head.

“Great Method!”

“Great Method? Ah! The Great Method!”

Thinking back, that made sense.

The link between Chao and me was indeed the Great Method.

I had directly absorbed Chao’s poison, after all.

“We need to run to Grandfather and confirm this!”

“Let’s go together, So-ryong!”

Together with my sister, I dashed back toward Mandok Hall, spotting Grandfather as he was exiting.

I eagerly showed him Chao and shared our discovery, which shocked him just as much.

“W-What is this?!”

“Isn’t it amazing? It understands even when I think silently. It seems to be because of the Great Method, right?”

“From what I see, it doesn’t work for the other kids, so it’s likely due to the Great Method. But did you know anything about this, Grandfather?”

Our revelation quickly sent waves through the Clan, and within hours, a secret meeting of the direct descendants began in the Clan Head Hall.

Discovering something new about martial arts deemed an emergency.

“Is it really likely due to the Great Method?”

The meeting commenced with my question in a hushed atmosphere.

Grandfather shook his head.

“No.”

“Not so? But there’s no explanation for how Chao and I could do it without the Great Method!”

“That’s correct. Without the Great Method, it’s hard to explain how Chao and So-ryong would have this ability.”

I couldn’t comprehend Grandfather’s words, affirming my sister’s perspective.

Yet as he expanded on his thoughts, I began nodding along.

“Throughout our Clan’s history, quite a few have tried to accept spirit creature poisons through the Great Method. While it is on the fringe, attempts have always been made to study it. Nonetheless, I’ve never personally encountered or heard of such occurrences.

Most spirit creatures were killed to extract their poisons for the elixir, but they were definitely raised at some point. If such abilities were discovered, there would be records of it.

But I’ve never seen nor heard of anything like it, so it must be due to something else entirely.”

“That makes sense, Father. I resonate with that thought.”

If that’s the explanation, then I can understand why.

“So then, what could be the reason?”

When I asked what the cause might be, Grandfather answered.

“It must be due to the Five Poisons Return to Origin Divine Skill.”

“That’s right! I agree, Father. The Great Method was designed to accept poison. And having absorbed the poison of a spirit-level five poison makes So-ryong the only one able to do this.”

“Exactly, and the events transpiring stem from that influence.”

“Yes, I believe so too. I checked historical records from a century ago, and there was quite a contentious dialogue about that Five Poisons Return to Origin Divine Skill and Five Poisons Martial Art.”

“About that place?”

Nodding thoughtfully, my father responded to my sister’s question.

“Yes, the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace.”

“Oh, the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace…”

Reflecting on my memories of the previous days, I realized that the skills I acquired—the Five Poisons Return to Origin Divine Skill and Five Poisons Martial Art—were said to have been crafted from a fusion of our Clan’s martial arts and the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace’s advantages.

With a sense of conviction heightened by Mandok God’s words, I absorbed what he said.

“You may not understand it fully, but the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace wields beasts like they’re extensions of their bodies. It seems their secrets are woven into the Five Poisons Return to Origin Divine Skill.”

“Then determining why this is happening may prove difficult, won’t it?”

“Indeed, it appears so.”

I struggled to follow the conversation between my sister and Grandfather, but my father, ever the perceptive one, explained it in a way I could grasp.

“They’re called the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace because they tame beasts, and now you too have the ability to command venomous creatures, haven’t you?”

“That’s right?”

“To unveil this secret, we would certainly need their assistance. Yet why would they share their most prized secrets with us? Moreover, if they discover that the secret leaked to our side over a century ago, we have no idea how they might react.”

The obsession with martial arts seemed to be an overwhelming force beyond my imagination, considering that they had completely annihilated a sect a hundred years ago just because secrets had flowed out.

It was clear that the substantial reward was tied to the martial arts skills they possessed.

And yet, if the most crucial content of that secret happened to be the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace, that left me feeling somewhat regretful.

Not only Chao, but Hyang, Bin, Seol, and Bing, and even the Golden Hair Bee King and Yo-hwa…

The vision of assembling a band like the Bremen Town Musicians flitted through my mind.

Thus, I was eager to know if registering other kids was even possible considering they shared the same poison, and so I inquired again with Grandfather.

“Is there perhaps a way? Like, even if we have to pay for assistance or something…”

Isn’t there an old saying that you can check if money is insufficient when deals don’t work?

Hence, I asked that, only to be greeted by Grandfather’s knowing smile.

“Well, unless we somehow prevent the annihilation of the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace.”

It seemed like Grandfather’s disposition wasn’t particularly good.

Wasn’t it unnecessary to twist his words like that?

It was devastating enough already…