Chapter 131: Dark (1)
Translator: bjgoofy
"In... in there...? Are you truly certain of this?"
The Divine Thief ran his hand along the red mound as he asked again.
I nodded at his question.
"Yes. Didn't you say that the previous Divine Thief obtained both the egg and the cocoon from this very place?"
"That's right."
"From what I can gather, I believe the previous Divine Thief likely happened upon the Heavenly Silkworm's cocoon and egg together when a Termite nest collapsed for some reason."
Considering that the previous Divine Thief was someone with no knowledge of insects whatsoever, the odds of him acquiring both the egg and cocoon, which would normally exist in separate locations, from a single spot could only point to coincidence.
The cocoon would be deep inside the Termite mound, at its very core.
The egg, on the other hand, would typically be found outside the nest, near the entrance.
So thinking through the possible scenarios, there was probably only one.
The nest had partially collapsed for some reason, causing the cocoon to spill out, and a mature Heavenly Silkworm had then laid its egg near the exposed cross-section of the ruined nest.
In my previous life, Twin-tailed Hairstreak Butterflies laid their eggs at the entrance of Matsumura's Crested Ant nests, so for both conditions to be met simultaneously, this kind of overlapping coincidence was likely the only way.
After that, the previous Divine Thief must have stumbled upon the find by sheer luck. That was my theory.
The Divine Thief listened to my explanation and bobbed his head as if it made sense.
"Hmm.... Indeed."
And then, suddenly, Hyang's urgent cry rang out.
-Tsururr! Tssrit!
She had definitely been perched on my shoulder, but when I turned, there was Hyang in front of the Termite mound, shrieking.
The little thing was pawing at her own head with her legs and rolling around in front of the nest entrance.
"Hyang, what's wrong? Are you hurt!?"
I had told her it was dangerous, but she must have crawled down at some point and gotten into another standoff with the Termites.
Not listening to Daddy and approaching the Termites again earned her a firm smack on the back later, but for now I rushed over and checked on Hyang first.
I was worried a Soldier Termite might have bitten her badly.
"What is it? Where did they bite you? Hold still, Hyang."
"Did Hyang get bitten? Soryong?"
I tried to calm her down with a worried voice, and Hyang played up her suffering as if she were in tremendous pain.
-Tssrit. Tsururr....
But after soothing her and examining her body thoroughly, no visible wound caught my eye.
"I don't see any injuries."
-Churr. Churr....
"Are you really hurt?"
There was no sign of any actual wound, but Hyang kept whimpering and carrying on.
Thinking I might have missed something, I looked her over once more, and only then did I notice that her antennae had taken on a strange shape.
Thankfully they weren't severed or bent, but they were twisted into an odd form.
Those antennae, always moving restlessly as if constantly sniffing out scents, the very trait that had earned her the name Hyang.
For some reason, the two antennae were stuck fast together.
"What happened to your antennae, Hyang? Does it hurt here?"
-Tsururr.
After calming Hyang down again, I touched the antennae that were stuck together for some unknown reason and felt a sticky liquid.
'Ah, this little rascal got hit with glue.'
It seemed Hyang had been fooling around and caught a blast of sticky secretion from the Termites.
Certain species of Soldier Termites shoot out a sticky fluid, and some even rupture their own bodies during combat to spray the adhesive substance from within.
Worker Termites, meanwhile, used the same secretion to mix with soil and build their nests. Hyang had apparently provoked the Termites and gotten her antennae glued together by the sticky fluid.
I wiped and pried her antennae apart with my sleeve, and only then did her whimpering finally subside.
"Hyang, Daddy told you no earlier, didn't he? It's dangerous, so be good and listen to Daddy from now on. Understand?"
-Tssrit....
At the stern tone of my voice, Hyang's antennae drooped limply, like the ears of a big-eared puppy losing all its spirit.
Seeing her so deflated tugged at my heart, but getting hurt again would be a real problem, so I scolded her firmly. The Divine Thief shook his head and spoke.
"That little creature is a real handful. Anyway, how do we dig this thing open?"
Once the commotion Hyang had caused died down, the Divine Thief turned his attention to the problem of how to crack open the Termite tower.
Tang Hwa-eun and Seol noona chimed in with their concerns.
"But Ryong, can we actually dig through this? It doesn't seem like something you dig. We'd need to bring stonemasons to chisel it apart."
"She's right, Soryong. I have no idea how the Termites built this thing, but it's practically solid rock. Can we really break through it?"
Seol noona and Tang Hwa-eun had a valid point, and it was a worry I shared.
Even in my previous life, the mounds built by tower-building termite species were notoriously hard, and these Termites were dozens, perhaps a hundred times larger than their ordinary counterparts.
They were creatures that could be considered low-grade, no, the lowest grade of Spiritual Creatures, so their nests would be proportionally harder.
The sticky secretion I had touched moments ago was no ordinary substance, and if they had mixed it with soil to construct the nest, the resulting strength must be formidable.
If the Divine Thief, Seol noona, and Tang Hwa-eun had all completely mistaken it for rock, then it would not be an exaggeration to say it was as hard as concrete, if not harder.
But the Divine Thief was a martial artist who ranked among the Five Emperors of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.
Hadn't I heard that the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors all possessed extraordinary levels of martial arts prowess?
On top of that, the Divine Thief had a remarkably sturdy build, much like the young thief.
Thinking he might be able to smash the tower apart with something like Palm Technique or Palm Wind, I looked at him with expectant eyes and asked.
"What we're looking for is probably at the center of this pillar, slightly below ground level. And the interior should be softer than the outer shell, so if we can just break through the surface, getting through the inside should be much easier. Could you perhaps manage it with Palm Technique or something similar?"
"Don't see why not. Well then, shall I put some muscle into it for once?"
"Oh, wonderful!"
"Master's palm strike! This is my first time seeing it!"
"We get to witness a palm strike from the Divine Thief Elder?"
At my request, the Divine Thief rolled up his sleeves and stepped forward.
Hearing his disciple Yeong-ryeon say she had never seen his Palm Technique gave me a twinge of worry, but the Divine Thief wore a nonchalant expression as he began gathering his Internal Energy before the massive red Termite tower.
-Parurr.
As he channeled a great surge of energy, his robes began to flutter and billow.
A moment later, his hand shot toward the pillar at a speed too fast for the eye to follow.
-Thwack!
A sharp impact echoed out.
The sound was lighter than expected, but this was still a palm strike from the Divine Thief, ranked among the Thief Emperors.
I clenched my fists in anticipation, waiting for the Termite tower to crumble, but the red pillar stood without so much as a crack.
At first, I thought perhaps it was Penetrating Force, the kind that leaves the surface intact while ravaging the insides.
So I waited eagerly for what would come next, but even after some time passed, the Termite tower did not budge an inch.
'What?'
Dumbfounded, I stared at the Divine Thief alongside Tang Hwa-eun and Seol noona. He cleared his throat awkwardly and spoke.
"L-look here, boy. I excel at Qinggong, Movement Technique, and Pressure Point Striking. Palm Technique is a bit.... Ahem! That is, it's quite solid indeed."
'Then what was all that posturing for?'
The Divine Thief was truly an absurd old man.
***
"We've found it, so I'll look into a solution. Whether it means seeking help from someone skilled in Palm Technique, or hiring stonemasons as you all suggested."
Tang Hwa-eun, Seol noona, and even the Divine Thief's disciple.
They had all taken turns striking it with palm techniques, but the white Termite tower would not yield.
There was no choice but to conclude that cracking it open would require a different approach.
The walls were simply too hard, and some other method was needed.
Either they would find and bring in several stonemasons as Seol noona had suggested, or ask a master skilled in Palm Technique for help.
I had considered bringing Tang Family warriors, but with the Five Poisons Sect and the Blood Cult to worry about, that seemed too difficult, so the Divine Thief agreed to search for a solution.
"Understood. Then let's come back once you've made preparations, Elder."
"Very well. In any case, it looks like we'll be camping here tonight."
At the Divine Thief's words, I looked toward the ridgeline of the basin, where the sun was already sinking low.
The sun perched at the edge of the ridge was scattering a red glow across the sky.
"So it seems."
"Those things won't come out and attack us during the night, will they?"
It was a question born of worry that the Termites might launch a nighttime raid, but there was no need for concern.
Termites were insects that almost never ventured outside their nests.
And even if they did emerge, it would be at the far edges of the basin.
Their foraging for the trees and grasses they fed on was what had carved out this basin in the first place, so they would have no reason to come to this barren side where not a single blade of grass grew.
"No, there shouldn't be anything to worry about. Termites never come outside their nests. Even if they did, it would be toward that ridgeline."
"Good. Then I'll go do some hunting. Catching a wild pig or something should do the trick, eh?"
The Divine Thief nodded at my explanation and declared he would go catch a boar or the like.
I tilted my head at his words and asked.
"With this much food right here, is there really any need to hunt? Though someone might want to gather some firewood from up the slope."
"Hm? There's food here? Where exactly? Is there something left from what the Tang Family packed?"
I smiled at the Divine Thief's question and answered.
"Termites are quite delicious, you know."
"Wh-!? You're saying we eat the Termites?"
"We're eating those!?"
The Divine Thief and his disciple Yeong-ryeon looked aghast, but Tang Hwa-eun, who had already tasted Yellow Powder Bug, and Seol noona, a Yunnan native, took it in stride.
"So those are edible too?"
"Well, in Yunnan we eat Bamboo Worms, grasshoppers, cicadas, you name it."
"Will they be nutty too, I wonder?"
There was even a hint of anticipation in their expressions.
'I haven't actually tried them either, but I've always wanted to.'
Honestly, I had heard that queen termites were the most delicious and had been dying to try one, but as things stood, there was no way to dig into the nest.
In Uganda, people caught termites and ate them fried, stir-fried, or roasted.
I figured this was a good opportunity to add to my Maewoon Fabre experience.
***
Reluctance was written all over their faces, but the Divine Thief and his disciple Yeong-ryeon brought back armfuls of branches.
Meanwhile, Cho and Yohwa took over from Hyang to catch the Termites.
Being considerably larger, they found Soldier Termites far less threatening. Whenever Cho or Yohwa tapped a Termite with a foreleg, it was skewered neatly on the leg, one by one, forming a Termite kebab.
Of course, even though they posed no danger, they avoided catching Soldier Termites.
Those had surprisingly well-developed exoskeletons on the surface, making them far too tough and unsuitable for eating.
-Sizzle sizzle.
The captured Termites were threaded onto sticks and slowly roasted over glowing charcoal.
As juices from the roasting Termites dripped into the campfire, a rich, savory aroma wafted out.
"It... it does smell good."
"I-I'll admit it does."
Once the Termites were skewered and grilled, the legs and antennae burned away, leaving them looking somewhat like rice cake skewers, and the smell was absolutely divine.
"Please, Elder, you first."
I offered the first perfectly golden-brown skewer to the Divine Thief, who flinched visibly.
The Divine Thief gave an awkward smile and said.
"Y-you eat first, boy. I'll take my time. You're the youngest and worked the hardest, after all."
"But how could I? There are proper customs of the martial world to observe."
"Now, now, it's, it's fine, I said."
I extended the skewer toward the Divine Thief once more, but he flinched again and waved his hands in refusal.
It seemed a demonstration was in order, so I decided to be the first to try the fragrant, savory giant Termite skewer.
"Well then, I'll gratefully dig in."
-Crunch.
The moment I bit into one of the skewered Termites, rich, savory juices burst across my tongue.
They called it a delicacy, and the taste was genuinely wonderful.
After finishing off an entire Termite, I turned to the group with a smile and began to speak.
"These are delicious. Everyone, please go ahead and...."
And in that instant, my mind suddenly went hazy, as if fogging over, and the alarmed voices of Tang Hwa-eun and Seol noona began echoing in my ears.
"So, Soryong.... Soryong......."
"Ryong!? Snap out......."
'Poison.... There definitely wasn't any, so what is this?'
I had checked for toxins before catching and roasting them, and there had been none, which made this baffling.
And yet, what I was feeling now somehow seemed familiar, as if I had experienced it once before.
My consciousness drifted away, fading into the distance, and the world before my eyes turned pitch black.
*****
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