Fabre in Sacheon's Tang-Chapter 260: Where the Spirit Beast Went (4)

When Yeondu and I arrived in front of the pirates’ hut, we saw three campfires burning.

One had a pot of alcohol heating over it, and another was set up for grilling meat.

By the second fire, Senior Brother Gyu-seong was butchering some kind of animal.

“But... is this a sheep? Looks a bit different.”

At his question, I stepped closer for a better look. It turned out that Senior Brother, Gungbong, and the rest of the Dragon Fangs had caught mountain goats.

Three of them, to be exact.

They looked different from the Korean mountain goats I was familiar with, but it was unmistakably a type of goat.

“These are goats that live in the mountains. I don’t know what they’re called around here, though.”

“Mountain goats?”

Senior Brother tilted his head at my explanation, and just then, Sister Seol’s voice came from nearby.

“So-ryong, they’re called banryeong.”

I turned to see her approaching with Hwa-eun, both carrying skewered fish they had just cleaned.

Their banana leaves were piled with all kinds of fish—from catfish to smaller snakeheads. Apparently, they had claimed the third firepit.

“Banryeong, you said? Sister?”

“Yup, banryeong.”

Apparently, in Jongwon, mountain goats were called banryeong. Sister Seol crouched next to one of the carcasses and examined it closely.

“This one looks quite different from the banryeong outside Jongwon. The fur is especially thick and matted. Must be a local variety unique to Yizhou. It’s really cute. They usually live in mountain areas with heavy tree cover. Did you catch it around here?”

She sounded like someone from the Beast Palace indeed—calm and knowledgeable.

“Ah, so this is a banryeong? We caught it by the river.”

“Then it probably came down to drink water and got unlucky.”

“Yeah, we caught it mid-drink.”

Someone called out to us, saying the butchering was finished.

“You can take these now.”

“Understood, young master.”

The boatmen came over and took the pile of offal that Senior Brother had prepped.

“Then, as discussed, we’ll boil the offal and grill the meat.”

“Sounds good.”

The goat innards went into the boiling pot with a splash.

Then someone added five-spice (ohyang)—a must-have in Jongwon cooking—and the smell immediately reminded me of boiling pig trotters from my past life. The scent spread through the air, rich and savory.

As I watched the steaming innards, licking my lips, Hwa-eun’s voice rang out.

“So-ryong, where were you just now? I couldn’t find you and started to get worried.”

Looking over, I saw Hwa-eun beside Sister Seol at the empty firepit, grilling the fish on skewers while lightly salting each one.

Freshwater fish is usually better in a stew, but grilled like this? Looked pretty tasty.

I figured I should at least try the mountain goat, though.

“Oh, I was just scouting around the area with Yeondu. Since we’ll be searching tomorrow, I thought it’d be good to get a look in advance. Yeondu seemed restless and wanted to head out too.”

“I see. Did you notice anything unusual?”

“Yeah, there’s a marshland up north.”

“A marshland?”

“Yup. About one li past the tree line. It stretches out quite a bit.”

“There’s one like that in Sichuan, isn’t there?”

“There’s one in Yunnan, too, So-ryong.”

I hadn’t been to either place, but it sounded like both Sichuan and Yunnan had famous marshes.

Hwa-eun and Sister Seol mentioned wetlands near their homes, sharing their own experiences.

“There’s a beautiful area called Jiuzhaigou in northern Sichuan,” said Sister Seol.

“And the one in Yunnan is called the Beihai Wetland.”

In any case, they clearly had experience with such terrain.

I’d been to Korean swamps before in my past life to collect amphibians and reptiles, but their stories—especially Sister Seol’s, who came from a similar latitude—would be helpful for tomorrow’s exploration.

As expected, when I mentioned the marsh, both women offered suggestions.

“In that case, maybe we should prep a small boat? Marshes tend to have broken-up waterways. A little boat might be perfect.”

“In Yunnan, the tribe folks tie together reeds to make floating rafts. But since we have a proper boat, it’d be easier to just lower that.”

They suggested using the small dinghy we had aboard the ship.

As we were chatting, Ji-ryong and Eunbong walked over from the north and joined us.

“We’ll join you here, too. Just the thought of meat again reminded us of Qinghai...”

“Right? I swear I can still smell the grease...”

Seemed like they were also pretty done with meat. After months of eating nothing but meat and greasy cheese in Qinghai, it was no surprise.

“Welcome.”

“That’s why we brought these—fish.”

Sister Seol and Hwa-eun welcomed them, and Ji-ryong and Eunbong smiled gratefully.

Ji-ryong’s lips were glossy in the firelight.

‘Looks like she’s still using the lip balm I made.’

Seeing her wearing the homemade lipstick I’d given her filled me with pride.

Ji-ryong settled down by the fire and asked,

“So, what were you all discussing just now?”

“Oh, So-ryong scouted a bit and said he found a marshland to the north.”

“A marsh, huh?”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

“Yeah. So we were talking about using the small boat during tomorrow’s search.”

“Searching over water will definitely limit movement.”

“Yeah, probably.”

“By the way, young sir, which direction are you planning to start searching tomorrow? We scouted downstream a bit earlier, but didn’t find anything noteworthy.”

“I think we’ll start with the marsh. I’ve got a feeling about it...”

Just as we were discussing that tomorrow’s search would begin at the wetlands, Sister Seol suddenly spoke up.

“Who’s on the boat? Looks like someone lit a lamp.”

At her words, we all turned toward the boat.

Sure enough, a faint light was shining from the cabin.

In my past life, boats had electric lights. But in this era, a fire on a ship meant oil lamps or lanterns.

And those had to be handled with extreme caution.

The entire vessel was made of wood, and some parts had been coated with oil for waterproofing. One little mishap and the whole thing could go up in flames.

‘I told them a hundred times to be careful with fire on the boat! Can’t they treat my baby Number One with a little more love?’

Fire had to be put out before leaving the cabin—it was basically a rule.

I started grumbling inwardly, wondering who forgot to extinguish the flame again.

Both Sister Seol and Hwa-eun turned to look at Ji-ryong and Eunbong.

Which made sense—those two had been the last to go inside the ship. To apply lipstick before dinner.

Under their gaze, Ji-ryong stammered a defense.

“Oh, now that you mention it... when we left, the light was on in young sir’s cabin. We assumed you were still in there...”

“In my cabin?”

Ji-ryong’s excuse was that they saw a light coming from my cabin.

‘But when Yeondu and I left earlier, the lights were off... Wait, it’s getting brighter... Don’t tell me—Cheongyu?!’

My thoughts immediately jumped to Cheongyu.

A sudden possibility hit me—could it be that the Ji-yeong Snake was nearby and Cheongyu had begun to evolve?

But just then, Cheongyu jumped off the boat and came darting toward me like a bolt of lightning.

–Shaaa! Shaa!

“It wasn’t Cheongyu?”

I’d assumed Cheongyu was the only one on our boat who could be undergoing evolution right now, but her startled expression and urgent tone said otherwise.

Sliding up to me, she grabbed my arm and began tugging me back toward the ship.

–Shaaa!

“A-Alright, I got it!”

She clearly wanted me to come with her to the ship, so I quickly took off with her.

–Creak. Creak. Creakkk.

As we crossed the rickety harbor that hadn’t seen human upkeep in ages, I heard Hwa-eun and Sister Seol shouting behind us.

“Wait for us, So-ryong!”

“I’m coming too, So-ryong!”

Hwa-eun, Sister Seol, Ji-ryong, and Eunbong were all following me.

When we reached the boat and entered the corridor that led to the cabins, I saw a light spilling from the open door at the end.

From outside, thanks to the curtain over the window, it just looked a little brighter than usual—but inside the corridor, it was impossible to miss.

I ran down the corridor and stepped into the cabin.

There, in the corners of the ceiling—two sources of light glowing faintly.

I raised my hand to shield my eyes and looked toward the corner. Two shapes glowed in the shadows at either end of the room.

With plump silver bodies tucked into the corners, they were releasing glowing threads from the spinnerets beneath their mouths.

It was Moji and Soji.

Inside, Cho, Bini, and the other kids were silently watching them in a daze.

‘They’re spinning cocoons!’

They had been so quiet lately I’d barely noticed them.

Now I realized it must’ve been because they were preparing for this.

Silkworms prefer tight, enclosed places with lots of physical contact when they spin their cocoons. They must’ve chosen the ceiling corners of the cabin for exactly that reason.

And that meant only one thing: they were about to pupate.

After forming their cocoons and completing metamorphosis, they would become Silver Silkworms.

The moment I’d long been waiting for was finally just around the corner.

“What... what is this?”

“Moji and Soji?”

The startled voices of Hwa-eun, Sister Seol, Eunbong, and Ji-ryong rang out behind me.

I brought my finger to my lips to hush them.

–Shhh.

These weren’t just ordinary domesticated silkworms that had been selectively bred by humans to spin silk regardless of sound or movement.

These were spiritual creatures. Wild. Sensitive.

“Wait, So-ryong, silkworms don’t spin silk from their mouths in the stories about Yoha and Qingling, right?”

Hwa-eun asked mentally after seeing my gesture.

I pointed and quietly explained how silkworms spin silk.

‘Silkworms have a thing called a tosa-gwan—a silk-spinning gland located under the mouth.’

‘So it literally means “silk-spitting tube”? Makes sense.’

I nodded at her comment just as Sister Seol’s voice came into my head.

[So-ryong, but this one’s spinning silk differently from Yoha, huh? From its mouth?]

[Yes, Sister Seol. Silkworms spin silk from a special organ under their mouths called the tosa-gwan.]

[Ahh, so that’s what that’s called? Fascinating.]

I had just finished explaining to Sister Seol when Ji-ryong asked the exact same thing out loud.

“Y-Young sir, so Silver Silkworms spin silk from their mouths? That’s different...”

‘Please... someone explain it for me next time.’

I sighed internally. I was the one who asked everyone to keep quiet, so this was my burden to bear.

Just as I turned to explain to Ji-ryong—

“So-ryong, look!”

Hwa-eun’s urgent cry hit me telepathically, and I turned my head toward the corner.

Something dropped from Moji’s rear end and hit the floor with a soft plop.

–Plink. Plunk. Tap tap tap.

A gleaming orb rolled across the floor, about the size of a small medicinal pellet.

Then, from Soji’s rear, another—this one dark and ominous.

Two glowing orbs, one from each.

I stepped forward and picked up the luminous one first.

A strange energy flowed through my fingers—my hand felt instantly invigorated.

I reached for the dark orb too, but suddenly heard a sharp warning.

–Tssrrrk. 『Bad energy.』

It was Cheongyu, who had silently slithered up and wrapped herself around my ankle.

I hesitated, hand paused just before touching the dark bead.

“So-ryong, what are those?” Hwa-eun asked.

I had a pretty good guess.

Caterpillars and moth larvae, just before forming cocoons, completely purge their bodies.

Since moths undergo complete metamorphosis, everything inside ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ them—except vital organs—melts down and is reconstructed.

So just before pupating, they expel all waste.

It’s kind of like fasting before surgery, to prepare the body.

So technically, what Moji and Soji had expelled just now... was waste.

But thinking more deeply about it—it wasn’t trash at all.

Waste is the result of digestion. Residue from what was consumed.

But Moji and Soji’s diets had consisted of only two things.

Which meant, without a doubt, the luminous orb was a refined inner elixir that boosts internal energy, while the dark one held the opposite—a highly toxic or harmful essence.