Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

Cordyceps.

Literally, it means: In winter, an insect; in summer, a plant.

Cordyceps is known as a bizarre life form that lives as an insect during winter and appears as a plant in summer—but in truth, it’s not a plant at all.

It’s a type of ascomycete fungus, biologically closer to mushrooms than any grass.

Cordyceps was first discovered in the East and used in traditional medicine for centuries. In my previous life, it was renowned for its anti-aging properties and sometimes even dubbed the elixir of immortality.

“It was more expensive than gold by weight.”

And the reason I knew so much about it?

Because it's a parasitic bastard that feeds on my beloved insects.

So, why the poetic name?

Cordyceps was first discovered in the East, specifically right here—the Himalayas. That’s where the original species that inspired the name was found: a species so unique it only grows in the high-altitude regions of this mountain range.

In the West, it’s known as Cordyceps, and around 750 species have been identified globally. Of those, about 200 species exhibit a particularly sinister trait:

They parasitize insects—just like what I was seeing now, where sprouts were growing out of grasshoppers.