Fabre in Sacheon's Tang

Cheongyu’s body began to take on a faintly translucent hue, then immediately turned slightly murky and opaque.

That was a sign that her molting skin was starting to loosen.

—Rustle.

Then came a rustling sound, and a gap appeared as the skin around her lips peeled away.

A golden light suddenly spread, brightening the surroundings.

When Cheongyu’s horns emitted that golden light, everything around her was bathed in gold.

“Th-This is...”

“Gold...” fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com

The manifestation of that constellation had been amazing, but this was something else entirely—one of the Ten Great Venomous Beasts, the Golden-Crowned Snake King.

The whole place lit up like the inside of a flashy Gangnam club.

Snakes that don’t have hands usually rub their mouths against rocks or branches to peel off their skin.

But Cheongyu was a spiritual beast with hands.

She brought both hands up to her mouth, inserted them into the gap that had opened there, and began peeling the skin off from her head down.

Like taking off clothing, the molting skin slid down to her arms and waist.

Her ornamental headpiece and the collar of her disguise as a human—those, too, turned out to be made from her scales, shedding away as part of her skin.

The molt that started from her head spread down her shoulders, arms, waist, and then continued down her serpent body.

The skin slid off like a ring being pulled off a finger. Cheongyu moved forward, now beginning her full molting process just like any other snake.

As she crawled forward, the old skin continued to peel away.

Unlike lizards, whose skin shreds messily when they molt, Cheongyu’s skin came off cleanly from the head down, like peeling off a stocking inside out.

That’s just how snake molting works—it’s far cleaner than with lizards.

‘Should I give her a hand?’

In my previous life, I used to assist snakes during molting by pulling off the back half for them.

Since pet snakes don’t have many surfaces to rub against, their owners help by gently tugging at the skin.

I quickly stepped in, grabbed the curling, half-shed skin, and gave it a pull. She stopped moving forward.

—Shrrrriiip.

That refreshing sound of skin peeling off a snake filled the clearing.

‘There we go, nice and clean.’

Even in my past life, peeling off a snake’s old skin was always weirdly satisfying—and Cheongyu’s molt was so big, it felt like popping open a cold bottle of soju.

But there wasn’t much time to sit and enjoy the sensation.

Helping a snake molt doesn’t just mean pulling off the skin.

You have to check if the brille—the protective scale over their eyes—has come off properly.

Sometimes the lens-like brille stays stuck in their eyes like a leftover contact lens, and if left untreated, it can cause inflammation or even blindness.

So I made sure the skin around her eyes had come off cleanly.

Even though Cheongyu’s upper body looked human and she had eyelids, she was still a snake—of course she had brilles protecting her eyes.

‘Let’s see... did it come off properly? Ah, nice.’

I checked the old skin and saw the clear brille stuck to the eye holes of the face-shaped peel.

Her eyes were clean. Now I just had to finish the job by peeling the molt all the way down to the tip of her tail.

When it comes to snake molting, the two most important parts are the brille and the tail tip.

Sometimes the tail tip doesn’t shed completely, and when that happens, blood can’t circulate properly and the tip can rot—so you have to be careful.

‘Damn. Beautiful.’

—Shrrriiip.

—Pop.

I pulled the skin clean off to the very end of the tail. The glow slowly faded, and Cheongyu’s molt was complete.

Then, her beauty hit me.

Not in a romantic way, of course—don’t get the wrong idea just because she’d been affectionate earlier.

What I meant was, a snake looks most beautiful in the moment right after molting—their scales glisten, their colors are vibrant.

That moment, right after a reptile sheds its skin, is when its colors are at their most stunning.

Cheongyu’s glossy black scales looked like polished ebony, and the pale parts of her belly were pure, snow-white.

The only real difference from before the molt was that her horns had grown longer.

If the golden crown on her head had looked like a small tiara before, now it was more like an imperial crown.

A full-on empress vibe.

Her horns gleamed with an even deeper, richer luster.

“So this is the adult form of the Golden-Crowned Snake King.”

“Her horns really look like a golden crown now...”

As the others admired her transformed appearance, Cheongyu approached and rubbed her cheek against mine—maybe to say thanks for helping.

—Shaaa...

“Yeah, Cheongyu, congrats. Oh, and show me your fangs. I want to check if you’ve developed venom.”

I patted her head, congratulating her on reaching adulthood, and gently opened her mouth to check her fangs.

A snake only develops venom fangs once it reaches the Fourth Poison Level.

Until now, Cheongyu hadn’t had any venom, which meant she couldn’t be registered officially, nor could she advance in venom arts.

Now that she’d matured, I figured she might’ve developed venom—and I wanted to confirm that.

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—Shaaa!

When I asked to see her fangs, she cautiously opened her mouth.

I tilted her head down and looked up inside. Her canines had grown.

Just like Dracula, Cheongyu’s upper canines were now long and sharp.

Last time I checked, I thought her first molars were a little pointy—but it turned out they were her growing canines.

Looking closer, I saw tiny holes near the tips of those canines.

“How is it, So-ryong? Does she have venom now?”

“Yes. Definitely. The canines have grown, and there are clearly venom ducts in them.”

“I’m curious what kind of venom it is. Would you mind collecting a bit from your own snake?”

“No problem. Cheongyu, we’d like to examine your venom. Could you give us just a bit on Hwa-eun’s arm? Or... let me collect it myself?”

—Shaaa?

Just as I asked Cheongyu for a small venom sample, she suddenly turned her head and began crawling toward the tied-up pirate nearby.

That guy—the one Muhan was planning to hand over to the croc with the spear.

He was still loosely bound, only able to weakly kick his legs, tied near the building the pirates had thrown together.

Cheongyu slithered toward him, and I called out, thinking her behavior was odd.

“Cheongyu, where are you going?”

But instead of stopping, she left only her hind legs behind and moved straight toward the pirate.

She usually understood human speech perfectly, so her actions here felt strange.

The pirate, seeing her approach, panicked and backed away.

“W-Whoa...”

But his hands were tied in front of him, and his body was lashed to a tree like a puppy.

He couldn’t get far before the rope caught him—and that’s when Cheongyu lunged.

She sank her fangs right into his forearm.

—SHAAA!

“Aaaargh!”

The pirate screamed the instant Cheongyu bit him.

Startled, I rushed over and pulled her away by the arm.

“Cheongyu! No! You can’t put stuff like that in your mouth!”

“P-Please! Spare me!”

It was Cheongyu’s first venom... and to waste it on trash like that? What a shame.

Just as I was thinking how unfortunate that was, Gyu-seong hyung ran over and shouted, his voice full of concern.

Not concern for the pirate, of course—he was worried about what might happen to the pirate’s body, not ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) the man himself.

“I-It’s one of the Ten Great Venomous Beasts... Is his body going to start melting? I was supposed to take him to the Ak Clan...”

Having experienced the venom of Hwayang and Cho before, Gyu-seong hyung probably recalled just how dangerous something similar could be.

He turned toward the bitten pirate with a grim expression.

“The venom of the Ten Great Venomous Beasts is insanely potent. It could absolutely melt him.”

“Damn it. If we’re going to show him to the Ak Clan, we at least need his head intact... Should we cut it off now and save just the head?”

“What?”

“If the venom reaches his chest and starts spreading through his whole body, we’ll have to sever the limb immediately.”

They were talking about chopping someone’s head off like it was just trimming a radish.

Seriously. I’ll never get used to this part of the martial world.

Even though I was part of it now, I still couldn’t wrap my head around how casually they treated stuff like this.

The pirate clutched his arm, groaning in pain, his eyes widening in disbelief.

—Srrrip.

“P-Please! I-I’m fine, I swear—!”

Gyu-seong hyung was already drawing his broadsword, ready to claim at least the guy’s head... when a thought struck me.

If Cheongyu’s venom really was that deadly, shouldn’t that pirate have already started melting by now?

From what I knew, the venom of the Ten Great Venomous Beasts—Hwayang, Cho, Chohwa, Cheolhyeol could melt or burn flesh....

Hwayang and Cho’s venom could melt flesh or set it ablaze—truly devastating.

But Yo-hwa and Cheongwol? Their venom wasn’t nearly as lethal.

Cheongwol’s was some kind of bizarre body-distorting toxin.

Yo-hwa’s was a strong paralytic.

Those weren’t really “kill you instantly” types of venom.

They caused status effects.

So what if Cheongyu’s venom wasn’t a lethal toxin, but one that caused... a condition?

Like Cheongwol’s or Yo-hwa’s.

“Wait a second, hyung. This venom might not be that deadly. He might not melt.”

“Huh? It’s not that potent?”

“Yeah... kind of like Yo-hwa or Cheongwol.”

“Tch, then why’d you stop me? Trash like that’s better off dead anyway.”

And so the execution halted.

Though honestly, people looked a little disappointed.

They were only keeping him alive to take him to the Ak Clan, and even then, feeding him felt like a waste.

And that’s when it happened.

The pirate bitten by Cheongyu suddenly began to tremble all over.

“Grrrhhhhh...”

He writhed on the ground like a broken-down massage chair someone threw into a fight pit.

His eyes rolled back into his skull, and then—he stopped shaking.

Wait... is he dead?

Just as I stepped forward to check his pulse, Gyu-seong hyung reached out and grabbed the guy’s wrist.

He was probably going for the pulse too.

Now that Cheongyu had venom, I could register her under the Five Poisons Returning to the Origin Art.

But if the pirate was poisoned and died, there’d be nothing we could do for him.

I had a way to resist it—but hyung didn’t.

“I’ll check. Even if I’m poisoned, I can survive using the Five Poisons Returning to the Origin Technique. But hyung, you can’t.”

“Alright, go ahead.”

“So-ryong, better put on the suit just in case.”

“Got it.”

Would it really stop the venom? Who knows.

But I slipped into my thin reinforced suit—crafted from Yo-hwa’s flesh.

Just as I reached for the guy’s neck—his body started trembling again.

“Ughhh... grhhh...”

With a deep gasp, the whites of his eyes rolled back down, and he blinked.

He came to.

“Ugh... damn, I thought I was gonna die.”

“Huh? He survived a bite from one of the Ten Great Venomous Beasts?”

“He’s alive?”

What the hell? Why is he still alive? And why am I... kinda disappointed?

Everyone else looked shocked.

But for me... it was just kind of a letdown.

I wasn’t expecting something on the level of Hwayang or Cho—a full-on banker-class venom.

But still, Cheongyu’s the Snake King!

I was hoping for something classic: hemorrhagic or neurotoxic.

Instead, this felt like... a tranquilizer? Or mild shock? That’s it?

While I stood there, sulking,

—SHAAA!

Cheongyu hissed behind me.

Snapped out of my thoughts, I turned—

The pirate, staring at the bite mark on his arm, froze at the sound of her hiss.

I waved a hand in front of his face. His eyes were vacant.

—Shaaa.

Cheongyu hissed again.

The pirate slowly got to his feet.

—Shaaa! Shaaaa!

Cheongyu hissed once more, and the man stood upright, facing her like a puppet on strings.

Everyone turned to look back and forth between Cheongyu and the pirate.

No way... is this...

A spark went off in my brain.

Cheongyu’s venom—it didn’t kill. It controlled.

It turned the bitten into puppets.

Is this... the venom of a Snake King?!

A venom that grants control over the bitten?

Holy shit. That’s awesome.

My disappointment vanished instantly.

This venom wasn’t lacking at all—it was perfect for the King of Serpents.

“GaaaAAAAHH!”