Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

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Chapter 6: Spirit Medicine

“Why are you buzzing so much!”

“Calm down a bit. You’ve been running away, losing honey, and facing so much trouble, haven’t you? I’m just taking you to a safe place where you won’t bother anyone, so you can raise your little ones in peace.”

Because of the mugwort aroma, the queen bee had been calm and immobile during the dark night.

But the moment day broke, she started to flail around.

She was so strong that we had no choice but to tie her up like a caterpillar, being careful not to hurt her wings.

“Can she understand what I’m saying?”

While I could get used to the ogongs, my older sister stood a few steps back, a bit scared of the bees.

The bee’s tongue was quite long; it usually peeked out about the length of its head, and the queen was flicking hers in a creepy, disgusting way.

It was kind of cute, though.

A lower-level ogong could understand human words, so the mid-level venomous bee king would surely understand too! Besides, bees live in groups and are social creatures, so they should be able to comprehend better, right?

I answered my sister confidently but knew that centipedes and bees can’t actually hear human sounds.

They don’t have ears, after all.

It was well known that centipedes can feel vibrations, and bees detect sounds with their body hairs.

But if even the lower-level ogongs could comprehend human speech, why wouldn’t the mid-level bee king be able to?

Regular bees from my past life were said to feel pain, remember patterns and smells, and even recognize human faces.

Bees have a keen sense of smell and are smart enough that they can be used to find cancer or even detect drugs and bombs, so they must understand my words.

And even if they couldn’t, I just had to poke the queen bee once; I couldn’t give up on that!

A bee as big as a small dog.

Plus, with their soft, golden, and fuzzy fur, they looked ridiculously cute.

“Social creatures?”

“Yes! They live in groups and communicate using the aroma of Han So Hwa and all that.”

“Ah… I see! Oh! So Ryong, Chao, Hyang, and Bin, please take care of those little ones. It would be too hard to manage them all.”

“Is that so? Kids, go to mom.”

– Swish.

It was about time to hand the ogongs over to my sister since I was feeling a bit burdened.

The queen bee, still struggling despite being tied up, suddenly stopped moving when she saw the ogongs.

Just like a toy that had run out of batteries.

“So Ryong, this one suddenly calmed down?”

Even the Sub Commander Gu Pae seemed so intrigued that he had to tell me about her sudden stillness.

I wondered if she was just hungry, but the bees had already gorged on honey before leaving their hive.

Since the queen’s belly looked quite plump, I was sure she was full.

“Could it be? Has she lost energy?”

As I observed her closely, I noticed that the reflection in her compound eyes showed ogongs moving from my body to my sister’s.

It looked like an ultra-high-definition mosaic camera.

“Huh? Could it be because of the ogongs?”

When I cautiously approached the queen bee with one ogong, she instinctively jerked back.

Getting even closer, the ogong and the golden bee queen gently nudged their antennae together.

Then they began exchanging some peculiar sounds, like they were having a conversation.

– Zzzz!

– Why buzzzz!

After their little “chat,” the ogong pulled away its antennae and turned its head toward my sister.

I guess their talk was done.

I had no clue what they discussed, but I finished handing over the last ogong to her and decided to take a breather.

I had been running all night, just to break away from the Golden Hair Bee swarm.

Of course, I hadn’t been running myself!

I couldn’t do lightness skills, so I’d been carried by the Deputy Commander and the Sub Commander in turns.

‘Once I get back, I have to ask to learn lightness skills first. Throwing daggers is useless…’

I planned to ask the Mandok God Grandfather right away to teach me lightness skills, and proposed to the still-tense Deputy Commander that we should take a break.

“Let’s rest for now.”

“Understood. So Ryong.”

“Just to be safe, let’s notify the guards to be on the lookout for the direction we came from.”

“Good idea.”

After fetching water from a nearby stream to hydrate the queen bee, I dozed off.

“So, So Ryong! Wake up!”

I was jolted awake by the urgent voice of Uncle Gu Pae digging into my ear.

Based on his tone, it seemed I hadn’t been asleep for long, but Uncle Gu Pae quickly scooped me up.

“W-what’s the matter?”

“Look at the sky!”

I rubbed my eyes, trying to figure out what was happening as Uncle Gu Pae pointed toward the distance.

When I glanced toward where his finger was aimed, I began to see a yellow swarm growing closer in the hazy sky.

“They’re already!?”

I felt a spark in my brain.

Suddenly, my tiredness vanished.

Looking at the sun in the sky, I guessed it was still a little while past lunchtime, but the Golden Hair Bees had caught up with us!

We had no choice but to scramble and gather our things, then start running like mad.

The one redeeming fact was that they weren’t too fast.

Sure, honeybees can move quickly in short bursts, but their average speed during long-distance traveling is around 20 kilometers per hour.

Since they were stuffed with honey now, they were probably moving even slower.

“Everyone, use your lightness skills to run!”

“We’ll use lightness skills until we’ve completely lost them! Those knights from the Tang Clan won’t get left behind, right!?”

“Yes! Deputy Commander!”

At the cries from my sister and the Deputy Commander, the guards resolutely replied and began sprinting toward the Tang Clan Mountain.

‘But is the Deputy Commander really trying to lose them?’

From behind the Sub Commander sprinting through the woods, I glanced at the approaching bees and quietly whispered to the golden bee queen’s antennae that I held to my forehead.

[It’s okay; I’ll lead them all away.]

The Deputy Commander seemed to think I was planning to evade the bees by carrying just the queen, but I had no intention or reason to lose them in the first place.

The pheromones released by the queen last about a day, so even if we tried to shake them off, it would be futile.

Even from several kilometers away, bees can smell pheromones, so they would definitely follow us somehow.

When bees swarm and split, it’s the worker bees that continue to follow their queen to the end.

‘We’ll make it, right?’

Maybe because I felt uneasy, the Sub Commander turned his head back and asked.

“So Ryong, can we escape?”

“Probably?”

I felt the cool sweat soak the back of the Deputy Commander as he was piggybacking me.

*

If we keep going straight, we’ll reach the Emei Sect, and if we take the left road, we’ll find the path to Yunnan.

The Emei Sect’s top disciple, Yeonsu, had arrived at the fork between Emei Mountain and Leshan with offerings received from Zigong.

Having walked all this way from Zigong, some of the weaker female disciples were whimpering because they were exhausted.

“Sigh. We’ll reach Emei Mountain soon. It was hard enough getting here, but thinking about climbing Jindian Peak… feels so daunting.”

“Didn’t I tell you to focus on your lightness skills, younger sisters?”

“But, Master, we were short on time running errands for the others!”

“Exactly! Washing clothes and running errands. When are we even supposed to practice martial arts?”

“Not to mention, we also have to participate in rituals, right?”

The younger sisters grumbled.

It had already been a long time since they received initiation, yet the worldly burdens of life hadn’t fully washed off them, and Yeonsu couldn’t help but smile inwardly, recalling how she was just like that not too long ago.

“Other sects and clans work harder than you and still manage to practice martial arts. So shouldn’t we, under the great mercy of the Buddha, strive even harder?”

But the younger sisters had sharp retorts.

“Other sects and clans have servants doing all the work for them! And how hard could they really be putting in? They’re all precious young ladies and gentlemen…”

Right then, as the muttering continued, a cloud of dust began to kick up far off in the direction of Yunnan.

Soon, six figures appeared at the Yunnan fork.

People were sprinting like mad with lightness skills.

There was one woman and the rest were all men.

“Why are those people sprinting like crazy?”

“Are they being chased or something?”

As the Emei Sect disciples blinked in confusion at the rushing individuals, Yeonsu suddenly recognized the woman’s face.

Startled, she shouted.

“Is that… Poison Flower Moonlight? Hua Eun, Little One?”

“Huh? If it’s Hua Eun, then that’s Tang Hua Eun!”

With her hair undone, dusty shoulders, and dirty clothes, she looked as if she was fleeing from a calamity. Yeonsu hurriedly rushed forward and blocked Hua Eun’s path.

“Hua Eun, Little One!”

“Yeonsu…? S-student?”

“What’s going on!? Are you being chased? What’s happening!?”

But in response to Yeonsu’s urgent questions, Hua Eun replied with a dazed look.

“Wa-water…”

“Water?”

Hua Eun urgently reached for Yeonsu’s water gourd, and when she got it, she gulped it down like a madwoman.

Passing the water gourds from the other younger sisters that arrived, everything was gulped down until there was nothing left.

And when Hua Eun, who I remembered as the Deputy Commander of the Poison Blood Team, finally emptied the last bottle, she smiled back at Yeonsu.

“Thank you, student. It’s nothing serious, um… Oh right, we’re just practicing lightness skills.”

“Practicing lightness skills?”

“Yes, with all our strength and… it turned out a little funny, huh?”

“But what’s in your hands?”

As she quickly hid what looked like a bizarre creature tied up in ropes, her eyes widened.

Smiling like a little rascal, she said, “It’s nothing special, student. Oh, thanks for the water, we’ll take our leave now, so you should hurry too. Everybody, let’s go! Hua Eun, Little One, hurry up! We just need to run a bit more and then we can rest when the sun sets!”

After the playful rascal and the Tang Clan’s people dashed away using lightness skills, the younger sisters looked at Yeonsu with bewildered expressions.

“T-the Tang Clan is training that harshly, huh? Even the renowned Hua Eun, Little One of the Martial Forest Triad, can look that worn out…”

“I thought you were lying to us, Yeonsu. Sorry about that.”

Yeonsu had never seen such rigorous training before.

Seeing that the renowned Hua Eun, Little One of the Martial Forest Triad, had appeared like this was surely a blessing from the great compassion of Buddha.

Yeonsu joined her hands together, facing the direction where the Tang Clan persons had disappeared.

“Amitabha.”

And just as Yeonsu’s group left, a golden cloud began to approach from Yunnan, swiftly pursuing the people from the Tang Clan.

*

“I-I’m sorry. So, So Ryong… Looks like this is as far as I go… Cough…”

The Deputy Commander collapsed into the bushes.

And soon, he began to fall into a deep sleep.

By now, the Sub Commander was somewhere behind us, already down for the count, and the suffocating chase with the Golden Hair Bees was reaching its climax.

We were so close to Tang Clan Mountain.

“So, Little One, just let me run…”

“Y-you can do it!”

Despite responding that I would now run on my own, my sister shook her head in daze.

It seemed my words weren’t reaching her after she had lost her mental grasp a bit since two days ago.

My sister, having run alone up until now and still having a bit of energy left from her Inner Dan, had hooked me by her waist to muster up her last strength.

However, as we crossed the river and reached the Nine Entrance Gate, she collapsed like the other warriors of the Tang Clan.

– Thud.

“Lady!”

– Beep! Beep! Beep!

The guards stationed at the Nine Entrance Gate were startled by my sister’s condition, launching flying daggers to signal for help, and soon the Artisan and Mandok God Grandfather appeared before the gate with swift movements.

The three signals were the direct call from the Tang Clan.

“Hua Eun! What happened here?!”

“Hua Eun! So Ryong! What happened?!”

The Artisan held my sister in shock while the Grandfather shook me vigorously.

With the Grandfather’s hand shaking me, I explained, “Hua Eun, Little One has barely slept and has been running with lightness skills for ten straight days; she’s completely exhausted! But this isn’t the time! We have to get to the training grounds!”

“Training grounds? Why the training grounds?”

“Why?!”

Instead of answers to both of their questions, I presented the queen bee that was tied up with a rope.

“This is the queen of the Golden Hair Bees. They’ll be swarming in soon; we must hurry to the training grounds!”

“What!? You went to collect honey and brought back the Golden Hair Queen!?”

“Ahahaha! So Ryong is destined for greatness! Let’s go!”

While the Artisan looked astonished at the news I had brought back the Golden Hair Queen, the Grandfather beamed with joy and immediately pulled me toward the training grounds where I usually threw flying daggers.

I aimed for an ancient tree that had been standing for hundreds of years but had recently seen better days.

Arriving at the hollowed-out trunk, I released the queen bee and said, “This is your home now.”

Once freed, the queen bee shook off her discomfort, appearing to inspect the inside and outside of the hollow before seeming pleased, she gave my head a gentle tap with her antennae.

Then she zipped inside the aged tree.

Simultaneously, a buzzing sound from bees filled the air above us.

Taking cover with the Grandfather, we saw the golden storm that had been hunting us from Yunnan get sucked into the hollow trunk.

– Vroooom. Buzz.

– Whoosh!

The capture of the Golden Hair Queen was a success.

‘Sweet!’