Chapter 747: The Meaning of Purple (2)

One place halfway up Mount Kunlun in the Upper Heavens.

The immortals referred to the splendid palace complex established there by a single name.

The Nine Heavens Palace.

The Nine Heavens Palace was where Hyeonnyeo, Chaenyeo, and Sonyeo resided—the women who had been the teachers of the Emperor who opened the lower world—and it was a beautiful place where pavilions with silver eaves rose here and there.

At its center stood the nine-tiered palace that was the heart of the Nine Heavens Palace itself: the Three Origins Yin Blossom Hall.

From within that place, whose name meant the hall where the yin energy of the three origins blossomed, the urgent voices of Hyeonnyeo, Chaenyeo, and Sonyeo were heard.

“It’s certain the Heavenly Emperor has not given up on that plan, isn’t it?”

“It seems that is probably the case. To think that child would inherit that fate.”

“How in the world?”

Until just recently it had been a place full of laughter after gaining a disciple they liked, but today, for some reason, grave voices were echoing through it.

“We have to find out starting now.”

“We have to hurry.”

“Then how do we move from here?”

At her two younger sisters’ questions, Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo quickly gave her orders.

“One of you, go to Mount Danhyeol. Meet Zihwa’s father and ask whether he can be persuaded to lend his aid. Tell him that the moment has come to correct what was done wrong. If he hears that, he will not be able to refuse.

We cannot handle this by ourselves. We need help.”

The first place to be sought out was Mount Danhyeol, the stronghold of Zihwa’s father and his people.

It was the place where red energy first settled in the heavens.

Though he had fallen into despair after losing his wife, Hyeonnyeo thought that if he learned his daughter was alive, he would give his aid.

Of the daughter and wife who had been taken from him while he could do nothing, if the daughter had returned, then he would probably not refuse.

But at those words, Chaenyeo asked with an expression that said she did not understand.

“You said we should find out first, so why Mount Danhyeol first?”

She was asking whether confirming the facts should not come first.

Because the most important thing was whether this truly was part of the Heavenly Emperor’s plan.

Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo shook her head and answered.

“They are searching for Zihwa, so protecting the child comes first. Whether we are right or wrong, if the dragons are watching her, they will not leave Zihwa alone.”

“I’ll go at once.”

Chaenyeo nodded to indicate she herself would go, then mounted her magic treasure and flew up through the open window.

Because there was not a single thing wrong in Hyeonnyeo’s words.

But just before she disappeared, a question was heard.

“What should I do if it looks like dragons are involved?”

“If you tell him, won’t he refuse?”

It was a question asking whether, if dragons were involved, that at least ought to be told to him first.

At that, Hyeonnyeo thought for a moment and answered.

“If he refuses, then tell him.”

“Understood.”

As Chaenyeo’s figure quickly disappeared toward the evening glow, Sonyeo asked,

“Then what about me?”

In answer to Sonyeo’s question, another decisive order came down.

“You are to go meet the Great Emperor of the North Star of the Middle Heavens.

So-ryong’s growth cannot be stopped. His dual cultivation with his wives is like that, and when the spirit-creatures he has registered grow, he grows with them, so because of the spirit-creatures that grow even while doing nothing but breathing, he will probably rise to the Middle Heavens before long.

So you must meet him and request his aid. The Nine Heavens are in the palm of our hands, so we can protect So-ryong and Zihwa here, but once he rises to the Middle Heavens, he will be defenseless.

Zihwa still has not accepted her mother’s energy, so if she rises in this state, her life and death cannot be guaranteed.”

Hyeonnyeo’s instruction was to go meet the Great Emperor of the North Star of the Middle Heavens.

Just as the Nine Heavens belonged to Hyeonnyeo, Chaenyeo, and Sonyeo, the North Star, lord of the Middle Heavens, was to be met so that they could ask the Great Emperor of the North Star of the Middle Heavens for help.

If they were to save them from the dragons’ clutches and get them safely to the Upper Heavens, his help was indispensable.

Since there were many dragons in the Middle Heavens, they had to obtain his protection somehow.

Sonyeo quickly nodded at Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo’s words.

Before flying up after taking out her magic treasure, Sonyeo turned her head and asked,

“What about you, elder sister?”

“I will go to the Lingxiao Heavenly Palace.”

At those words Sonyeo’s eyes widened.

Because Hyeonnyeo was saying she would go alone to a dangerous place.

The Lingxiao Heavenly Palace was where the Jade Emperor resided.

Originally it had been the safest place in all the Upper Heavens, but now it was a dragon’s pool and tiger’s den.

It was certainly a place that had to be visited, but since Hyeonnyeo said she would go alone, Sonyeo asked with a worried expression,

“Wouldn’t it be too dangerous alone? That place is a dragon’s pool and tiger’s den. If you’re going, then at least let us go together...”

“If they touch us, the Nine Heavens collapse, and if the Nine Heavens collapse, they will not be able to raise their young dragons. They know that, so they cannot move against us carelessly. Do you not know that?

And don’t we at least need to probe how much they know? And if we are to learn whether the Heavenly Emperor truly has not given it up, then it is right that I go myself.”

“Understood.”

After Sonyeo left, Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo watched her disappear outside the window, then stepped onto her fan and headed straight up into the sky toward the Lingxiao Heavenly Palace.

***

The Great Luo Heaven was the center of the thirty-six heavens and the highest place above all the heavens.

At the highest point of that Great Luo Heaven stood the Lingxiao, and “Lingxiao” meant a place higher than heaven, a place that surpassed the skies.

To reach this place from the Nine Heavens Palace required flying up for tens of thousands of li, and the beautiful woman riding a fan arrived there.

She was the ruler of the Nine Heavens and the eldest of the three women: Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo.

At the entrance to the Lingxiao Heavenly Palace.

Standing beneath the golden signboard, Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo lifted her head and looked up at it.

The words Southern Heavenly Gate, forged from the starlight of the Purple Enclosure, glittered as they poured down over Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo’s head.

Looking at that starlight, Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo spoke.

“Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo requests an audience with the Heavenly Emperor.”

Though it seemed as though she were speaking into empty air where no one stood, voices soon came from the two pillars at the entrance to the Lingxiao Heavenly Palace.

“We will announce you inside. Would you wait a moment, please?”

They were the voices of the two dragons coiled around the pillars on either side.

Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo clicked her tongue inwardly and answered the two dragons’ question.

“Very well.”

The reason she could not help but click her tongue was because the ones guarding the Southern Heavenly Gate had been changed to dragons.

Ordinarily, the chief guardian deity of the Southern Heavenly Gate was a being called the Spiritual Marshal Ma, who bore the office of Royal Inspector.

Clad in golden armor and possessed of three eyes, it was the Spiritual Marshal Ma whose third eye pierced through every lie and every evil aura in the world.

Holding a golden cudgel, he would drive back without exception anyone who tried to pass through the Southern Heavenly Gate without the Jade Emperor’s permission, yet that Spiritual Marshal Ma had been replaced by dragons.

Soon the gate bearing starlight opened, and once again the dragons’ voices were heard.

“Please enter.”

“The Heavenly Emperor has granted the audience.”

“Thank you.”

With a composed expression, she entered through the gate and quickly flew onward inside, where the next thing to appear was the Gate of the Heavenly Kings.

It was the place guarded by the Four Heavenly Kings, the beings who protected the four directions.

She had expected the Kings Who Uphold the Nation, See Broadly, Increase Growth, and Hear Much to appear at once, but what appeared instead were four dragons.

The Four Heavenly Kings too had been changed into four dragons.

“It is our first meeting, Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo.”

“So you are the new Four Heavenly Kings?”

“That is correct.”

“I have come to meet the Heavenly Emperor, so attend to your own duties.”

“May your inspection go well.”

Past the Four Heavenly Kings, what appeared next was Heavenly Street.

Heavenly Street, the street of heaven, revealed itself.

It was a place where the palaces and government offices of every kind of immortal stood in rows along both sides of the road, and where the bureaus overseeing the sun, moon, and stars, as well as the various offices whose posts determined the weather of the human world—such as the Wind Earl, Rain Master, Thunder Duke, and Lightning Mother—filled the streets.

But here too, it was packed full of dragon-born cultivators.

Had Sonyeo called this place a dragon’s pool and tiger’s den earlier?

No—this place had not become a dragon’s pool and tiger’s den. It had become a dragon’s pool where dragons lived.

After passing Heavenly Street, she arrived at the first of the thirty-six heavenly gates.

Each of these thirty-six heavenly gates was guarded by a Heavenly Gang Divine General, and every time she passed through another gate, Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo was aghast.

And for good reason: not a single Heavenly Gang Divine General she knew remained, and every one of them had been replaced by immortal beings born of dragons.

To think that the immortals would have been replaced to this extent.

Lamenting inwardly, Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo passed through the thirty-sixth and final heavenly gate, and before her appeared the forecourt of the Treasure Hall of Lingxiao.

It was the plaza before the main hall, and beyond the place whose breadth could not even be measured, the doors of the Treasure Hall of Lingxiao rose up faint and distant.

It was as Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo slowly crossed the forecourt.

She reached the place where Li Jing, the Heaven King Who Carries the Pagoda, ought to have been standing, but of course Li Jing was not here either.

Ordinarily Li Jing and his son Nezha should have been standing there, yet here as well there were only two dragons.

Already too irritated even to greet them, Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo passed them and flew quickly inward.

Thus she arrived at the jade steps.

The moment her foot landed upon them, energy burst out from the steps in all directions.

Then one step at a time, nine steps.

The instant she stepped onto the final ninth step, the doors of the great hall opened to either side.

—Creeeak.

Far inside the opened hall, the Emperor’s golden jade throne could be seen, and seated upon that throne, the Heavenly Emperor revealed himself from within the light.

The first thing one felt was overwhelming qi.

The primordial energy flowing out from the Emperor swept from the tips of her feet to the crown of her head, making it feel as though every impurity within her body was being burned away without leaving a trace.

Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo lowered her head under that energy and offered her respects.

“Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo pays respects to the Heavenly Emperor.”

After Hyeonnyeo greeted him and lifted her head, the sight of the women wrapped around the Heavenly Emperor’s body entered her eyes.

The eight women the Heavenly Emperor had taken in, half-undressed, were clinging to his arms and legs, his thighs and back, wearing suggestive smiles.

One woman was hugging his left arm in both hands while rubbing her cheek against his forearm, while another pressed her chest against his broad back and hung there with both arms wrapped around his neck.

On his right thigh, a woman with a small body was sitting outright, bringing one of the Heavenly Emperor’s fingers to her lips, while the remaining five loosely surrounded him and each touched some part of his body in her own way.

Their thin and light clothing had already become nothing more than formality.

They were worn, but did not conceal anything—things that had become mere ornaments meant only to make the body stand out even more.

Though they had reached the realm of complete transformation, the scales visible on their half-bared bodies were signs of their pride in the fact that they were dragons.

Among the eight women tangled around him like snakes, two breathed hot breaths into the Heavenly Emperor’s ears and said,

“Heavenly Emperor, Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo has come.”

“Kya-ha-ha. Heavenly Emperor, Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo has come.”

At the coquettish voices of the dragon women, Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo bit her lip hard.

She quietly steadied her breathing and forced down the things rising in her chest.

Those creatures were the very culprits gnawing away at the heavenly world.

They were the Heavenly Emperor’s eight concubines, the Eight Colored Dragon Consorts of Heaven.

It meant the eight-colored heavenly dragon consorts, but the immortals who knew the truth called them by another name.

The Eight Wanton Dragon Consorts.

Those things clung to the Heavenly Emperor and manipulated the Upper Heavens however they pleased.

Their official status was consorts.

Consorts were women of the rear palace.

Women of the rear palace could not enter the Treasure Hall of Lingxiao, and yet those creatures had erased the things forbidden to them one by one.

The first time was when the first woman appeared beside the throne during court in the Treasure Hall of Lingxiao, and after that the second climbed up onto the throne itself.

Now, even when all eight clung to him during matters great and small of the heavenly world being discussed, no one raised an objection.

No one could.

Because the Heavenly Emperor permitted it.

No—more precisely, because the Heavenly Emperor no longer distinguished between permission and refusal.

The Heavenly Emperor was now little better than a wooden puppet, and his wife, the Queen Mother of the West, was confined in the Cold Palace.

As Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo observed the Emperor’s state, his voice was heard.

“Yes... wh-why have you come?”

His eyes were vacant.

His voice stumbled.

The clear gaze that had once held wisdom and that intelligent voice were nowhere to be found.

Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo once again asked for permission for something the Heavenly Emperor had not permitted for the past several hundred years.

“I wish to see whether the Queen Mother of the West is well.”

“I refuse.”

The reply came without even a moment’s consideration, followed by the voices of the women.

“The Heavenly Emperor told you not to say that again, but honestly, you’re too much, Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo.”

“Heavenly Emperor, don’t be angry.”

After all eight had each said a word, the Heavenly Emperor’s voice was heard again.

“I will issue an order of expulsion.”

The Heavenly Emperor’s command was absolute.

It was just as Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo was withdrawing.

A single line of voice flew into her chest.

[I am sorry. Because of my mistake, that child was made to bear a cruel fate.]

[But through that child, heaven will be set aright and the earth will gain peace.]