"So-ryong! So-ryong!"
"Ryong!? Wake up! What's happening to him now?"
Just as So-ryong was about to fall into the campfire, his arms and neck were swiftly grabbed by two hands and a spider's web, pulling him back.
Hua-eun and Seol grabbed his arms while Yo-hwa shot a web to stop So-ryong's body.
Ki-shi!
So-ryong, pulled just before hitting the fire, was now gently laid back, as if he had fallen asleep.
As soon as his body was on the ground, Hua-eun and Seol examined him with alarmed expressions.
Hua-eun was the first to check his eyes. She had already examined his condition twice before he ate the white ants, both to make sure there was no poison and to understand why his consciousness had faded.
She quickly opened his eyelids and checked. His eyes were clouded and hazy.
If he had fainted, his eyes would have been rolled back, and if he had been paralyzed, his eyes would still have some life. But So-ryong's eyes, behind his closed eyelids, were empty, as if his soul had escaped.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.
"What happened?"
"Could it be poison?"
"No, I don't think so. I checked twice before he ate, and right now, I don't see any symptoms of poisoning."
Swift Walker asked urgently, but Hua-eun had already confirmed the absence of poison before So-ryong ate, and So-ryong himself had confirmed it too. Even now, it seemed unlikely that he had been poisoned or paralyzed.
Then, Seol, who had been checking So-ryong's pulse, grabbed Hua-eun’s hand.
With a dazed expression, Seol muttered something they had heard before.
"Beast Heart Skill..."
"Beast Heart Skill? What do you mean by that?"
If it was the Beast Heart Skill, it meant that So-ryong had activated one of the original techniques of the O-dok Returning to the Origin Art, which included the Beast Palace's mind techniques.
It reminded them of the time when So-ryong was put to sleep by the beast skill when Cho became the Heavenly Five.
"Cho! Cho! Come down here!"
Hua-eun quickly called for Cho, who was floating in the sky, to land.
She wondered if the reason for So-ryong’s condition was related to Cho growing larger recently, especially since Cho had molted. The only real suspect at the moment was Cho.
Seol also recalled that the Beast Palace leader had warned them that interacting with powerful poisons, like the Ten Deadly Poisons, could cause one’s mind to become unhinged.
With urgency, Hua-eun called Cho down. Confused, Cho flew down.
"Cho, my dad collapsed. Do you know anything about it?"
Cho froze when it saw So-ryong lying behind Hua-eun, and it cried out in shock.
It was unclear exactly what Cho said, but its panicked reaction made it clear that it wasn't the cause.
Seol also quickly concluded that it wasn’t Cho.
"Cho's not the cause. I don’t sense any Beast Heart energy like last time. If Cho was the cause, it would have fallen asleep like before."
Hua-eun thought this over and agreed.
After all, Cho had also fallen asleep when So-ryong had. If Cho had been the cause, it would have slept again.
"Then, could it be Hyang?"
"Hyang? Oh, wait a minute!"
Hyang, who had been scolded earlier for not listening to its father, was now sleeping peacefully on Hua-eun’s shoulder.
Was this really just a regular sleep, or something more?
Since Hyang hadn't woken up despite the commotion, it became the next suspect. Hua-eun gently called Hyang.
They didn’t want to wake Hyang forcefully if it was just resting, but they had to confirm whether it had lost consciousness like So-ryong.
"Hyang? Are you asleep?"
In the tense silence from Hua-eun and Seol, there was no response. It seemed like Hyang was really asleep. But soon, it started to scratch its antennae with its forelegs, making the same sounds it usually made when resting.
Tsrru... Tsrru...
It was clear that Hyang was just sleeping soundly.
Even amidst the chaos, Hyang was calmly scratching its antennae, fully immersed in its sleep.
Seol confirmed that it wasn’t the cause by gently touching Hyang’s body, then shook their head.
"I don’t think it’s Hyang either. I don’t sense any Beast Heart energy in it."
"Then, why suddenly? Could it be something like what you mentioned earlier, that So-ryong’s mind is being overwhelmed by the beast spirits?" Hua-eun asked with a worried expression, thinking about the possibility of So-ryong’s mind being consumed by the toxins.
Seol shook their head in response.
"No, that's not it. If he were overwhelmed, he would be rampaging like a wild beast. Right now, it looks like he's just asleep."
"So then... what’s going on?"
Hua-eun's worried expression deepened as she looked at So-ryong. Seol suddenly snapped their fingers, as if a realization hit them.
"Ah! So-ryong didn’t just connect with Cho and Hyang through the Beast Heart Skill, did he?"
"So it's not just Cho and Hyang... Ah! How could I have forgotten that?"
For a moment, they were distracted by So-ryong’s collapse, but they soon remembered that So-ryong had connected with more than just Cho and Hyang through the Beast Heart Skill.
"Bini?"
"Bini! We forgot about Bini!"
The youngest daughter, who had left the house earlier, was the key.
It was Bini, the one they hadn’t considered.
***
When I opened my eyes, the first thing that met my vision was a pitch-black mist, thick and heavy, filling the space around me.
No matter where I looked, all I could see was the dark fog. There wasn’t a single point of light, yet I could somehow sense the dense black mist surrounding me. It was strange, yet strangely clear to me.
“What... what is this?”
I was briefly stunned, but in such a situation, my first thought was:
Could it be? Am I trapped in some inner world!?
When they taught me the Beast Heart Skill, Seol and my adoptive father warned me that my mind might be overwhelmed by Cho’s spirit since spirits are much stronger than humans. They were concerned that I might get consumed by it.
Considering how I could still maintain my clarity of mind in such a dark and eerie place, I started to wonder if my consciousness had been trapped and if Cho’s spirit had taken control of my body.
It reminded me of those manga where the protagonist gets their body taken over, and they’re left sitting in some dark, gloomy space, in a depressed state until someone comes to rescue them.
Am I really doing something weird? No... if Cho had taken over, there’s no way she’d do something like this.
I was fairly certain about that.
I decided to call out for Cho.
Cho wouldn’t intentionally take over my body. This ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) must have happened because of her strong spirit as a celestial creature. If my mind and hers were connected, she would surely help me.
Our daughter wouldn’t intentionally do something like this. Right?
“Cho! Cho! Dad’s here! Help me, Cho!”
Shouting loudly, the black mist seemed to ripple, like it was reacting to my voice.
This was definitely Cho responding.
Oh! There’s a definite response!
The mist swirled as I called out for Cho. She was definitely reacting, even though it looked like she was a bit startled by it.
I tried to be reassuring, hoping to calm Cho and get her to help me.
“This isn’t something Cho would do on purpose, right? This must have been an accident. Maybe Cho didn’t want it to happen, but it just did, right? Our Cho is kind and loves her dad more than anything. Let’s think of a way to get me out of here.”
As I called out and asked for help, the mist seemed to get darker, almost like it was angry, and then one side of the fog parted, revealing a narrow path.
A narrow path bathed in light.
It felt like the light was calling me toward it, so I hurried in that direction. It looked like Cho was guiding me.
“That's my daughter! Pretty Cho!”
I praised Cho, thinking she had found a solution.
As I followed the light, a figure appeared at the end of the path. It seemed to resemble Cho from the past.
“Cho!”
I ran towards it, but when I got closer, I realized it wasn’t Cho.
“W-who are you?”
The woman in front of me had black hair and dark eyes, unlike Cho, who had blue hair and eyes. She did give off a similar mysterious aura, but this woman was someone I had never seen before.
What... what is this?
Her expression made me think she was upset about something.
As I blinked in confusion, the woman sighed, as though exasperated.
The thought that immediately crossed my mind was ‘darkening’.
Could Cho have... darkened?
The woman’s dark appearance seemed like it could indicate that. After all, if Cho had turned from blue to black, it would be a sign of darkening.
Feeling uneasy, I asked cautiously,
“Cho?”
The woman’s eyes suddenly grew fierce.
Even if Cho had darkened, there was no way she would look at me with such malice, so I quickly began to doubt myself.
“Ah, wait... then who are you?”
Could it be the Queen Ant? No, I didn’t use Beast Heart Skill to register her...
I thought back to the last thing I ate before I collapsed—the roasted white ants.
Could the Queen Ant, being a celestial creature, have somehow been linked with me through the fluid exchange with the worker ants? Maybe that’s why I was now connected to her, even though I didn’t mean to?
But that seemed odd, because for a creature to be registered with Beast Heart Skill, I’d have had to use a special incantation to absorb its fluids, and that wasn’t something I had done.
As I continued to look at her, the woman’s gaze grew colder, and without thinking, I instinctively took a step back.
Just then, the woman’s expression changed to one of surprise. She turned away from me and grabbed the collar of my clothes.
I stared at the place she grabbed, recognizing it as the area where Bini, my daughter, used to grab onto when she wanted to keep me from going somewhere, pulling on my collar gently.
“Bini?”
The woman’s expression shifted from surprise to joy, and she immediately leaped into my arms.
Once again, the overwhelming feeling of a daughter who loves her father flooded me.
I should’ve known it was her.
Though there had been a misunderstanding earlier, I realized I was still a good father, and my consciousness began to fade.
***
“Bini!”
I opened my eyes to see a familiar ceiling.
As I quickly sat up, I heard the surprised voices of two women.
"So-ryong, are you awake?"
"Ryong, are you conscious?"
I turned my head to see Hua-eun and Seol looking at me with concern.
“Where am I? How did I get here?”
I was lying in my bed at the Tang Clan’s residence.
I had briefly seen Bini in my mind, but my last clear memory was of searching for the Blue-Spotted Centipede and eating the white ants. How had I ended up here?
When I asked Hua-eun what happened, she came over and gently wiped my forehead.
“It’s best to leave you resting, but Seol thought it would be better to move you to a more secure place, so we brought you here.”
It seemed they moved me to the clan after I collapsed.
“Where’s... Bini? Has Bini returned?”
I asked, but Hua-eun shook her head.
“No, not yet... Was this all because of Bini?”
“I think so...”
She trailed off, and just then, a commotion came from outside.
Thud, thud, thud.
The ground shook, and I heard the voices of warriors in panic.
“Block the way!”
“There!”
“Head toward the Four Harmonies Hall!”
I tried to get up, but my body felt too weak from lying down for so long.
I asked Hua-eun and Seol to help me.
“Quick, get outside.”
They didn’t hesitate, and as I was supported by them, we walked outside.
The courtyard’s ground seemed to heave and rise as if something were tunneling beneath, and in front of my room, a massive, shiny black creature burst forth from the earth.
Whoosh!
A gigantic centipede, gleaming and black, crawled out. Its body was bigger than Cho’s, likely even larger than the transformed Cho who had become the Heavenly Five.
Tsrru!
I couldn’t help but scream in awe at the real beauty of this dark creature.
It’s Bini... she’s come back upgraded!