Chapter 753: The Meaning of Purple (8)

Watching the procession of dragons heading toward the inn district, I asked.

“Where exactly are those bastards from?”

My wives crowded toward the window.

Senior sister slipped out from between them, pointed below, and explained.

“The white dragon is the White Sea Dragon King, the red dragon is the Red Sea Dragon King, the yellow dragon is the Yellow Sea Dragon King, and the black dragon is the Black Sea Dragon King. They’re the ones who rule the Four Seas of the Eighth Heaven, junior brother.”

“You’re not lying, are you?”

“No. Some of the cultivators we recently accepted knew them. The master of the Nine-Heaven Demon Tower also said she knew them by face.”

As I listened, I tilted my head.

Because the last time I went to the Eighth Heaven, I had heard there was only one sea.

The Eighth Heaven was a massive sky island.

Unlike the other sky islands, it was surrounded by sea, and I had heard all of that surrounding sea was connected.

Sua’s base, the Jet-Black Sea of the Sixth Heaven, felt more like a salt lake, but around the enormous sky island of the Eighth Heaven, a sea stretched out, and I had heard that was the only sea in the Eighth Heaven.

“Were there really that many seas in the Eighth Heaven? Last time I went to the Eighth Heaven, I think I heard there was only one sea? I don’t remember there being white, red, yellow, and black seas.”

Senior sister continued explaining in response to my question.

“Ah, they just name the places they occupy after the colors of their own bodies. Dragons have strong pride in their race, so they tend to name the places they occupy after the same colors as their bodies.”

“Ahh.”

I felt like I understood roughly what she meant.

Those bastards had just made territories here and there across the sea of the Eighth Heaven and named those places after the colors of their scales.

But one question still remained.

“But that... wasn’t Dragon King supposed to be the position of a high-ranking immortal?”

“You mean the Four Sea Dragon Kings, junior brother?”

“Yes, that.”

“Well, Dragon Kings in the lower worlds and places like this are Dragon Kings in name only. They aren’t high-ranking immortals like that. There’s no way a lower heaven like this would have positions like those. They’re just imitating the title.”

“Ah.”

Now my questions were mostly answered.

It felt like the Dragon King title was something they had given themselves.

From what I had heard recently, among the immortals of the Upper Heavens, there were extremely high-ranking immortals called the Four Sea Dragon Kings, but the Dragon Kings of the lower worlds and other places were apparently just names those people had copied and given themselves.

Like a newbie who had just entered the martial world copying some title like the Four Heavenly Kings of the martial world.

Didn’t people say the same thing about the martial world?

Originally, the title Sword King was something incredible, so there was only one in the entire martial world, but if you went to Sacheon, there was a Sacheon Sword King, and if you went to Yunnan, there was a Yunnan Sword King. Every region had its own local Sword King.

Watching the dragons moving toward the inn district, I asked,

“What’s the purpose of their visit?”

I had heard they had come to greet my wives, but I wanted to hear the detailed purpose they were claiming.

“They said they came to use the inn and build friendly relations.”

It was the same answer I had heard when Sua came.

According to Sua, Jeokwol had eaten the dragon true blood, so one of the high-ranking immortals on their side had taken some damage.

Then they should have thought we had grasped their intentions and acted carefully, yet despite that, they had shamelessly sent in spies again under the same purpose.

And in a group, at that.

There were two possibilities.

Either they were confident because they were dragons and intended to use force if things came to that, or they had no idea we had noticed their intentions.

Apparently, they did not know that Sua had escaped the dragon oath and told us every little thing.

'Well, the trace of that being I met in the mindscape couldn’t contact the main body or anything, right?'

I had heard that something like a trace of the being I met in the mindscape could not connect with or contact the main body.

So their information seemed to be stuck before they realized Sua had betrayed them, before Sua had escaped the verge of being abandoned.

That was when something crossed my mind.

“Oh, right. Ji-ryeon and Sua.”

As I was thinking about their intentions, Ji-ryeon and Sua suddenly came to mind.

I quickly spoke to Ji-ryeon.

If they did not know Sua had betrayed them, they might have sent someone over there too to investigate.

Since they had sent people here, I thought they might have sent people there as well.

『“Ji-ryeon, is everything alright over there? Dragons have gathered here.”』

But what I heard was a surprised voice.

『“Dragons have gathered there?”

“Yes. Is nothing happening there?”

“Nothing has happened here. Did they attack? Should I return immediately?”』

Fortunately, it seemed nothing had happened.

When Ji-ryeon said she would return right away, I reassured her and told her not to worry.

“No. They didn’t attack. Just like with Sua, several dragons have gathered, saying they’re here to visit. Anyone can see they’re here to spy.”

“Ah. You contacted me because you thought there might be some movement here too?”

“Yes.”

“Everything is peaceful here. Sua and I moved by talisman, so they seem not to have realized Sua betrayed them.”

From what she said, it sounded like they were not paying much attention over there.

It seemed they did not even know Sua had moved that way.

Maybe Sua, despite being arrogant, managed her subordinates well, because it seemed word that she had arrived there had not spread.

'Maybe she’s arrogant, but not a bad kid?'

As I was thinking that Sua might not be as bad as expected, Ji-ryeon’s voice continued.

“Oh, right. And we chose a spirit-creature to rule this place in Sua’s stead, and that one agreed to offer tribute to White Night City. The work here is almost finished too, so I’m planning to return today.”

“Oh, it was handled more neatly than I expected? I was worried about what we’d do if they refused.”

We could not leave Sua separately.

She had seen Jayo, so we could not let her go unattended.

The kid had no loyalty, so if she got caught again, she might spill information about our side.

So Sua absolutely had to stay by my side.

That left two choices.

Abandon the Jet-Black Sea, or choose someone to rule it in her place, and wasn’t it a waste to abandon a place like the Jet-Black Sea?

In the end, the conclusion was to find someone to govern it by proxy.

But then we had to make the one who would govern by proxy understand why Sua had to remain by my side, and we still had not decided that reason by the time the two of them left.

That was why I said it was amazing, but then I heard a story I had forgotten for a moment.

『“When they heard Sua had become your concubine, they didn’t really suspect anything.”』

Now that I thought about it, Sua was my concubine.

If she had become my cherished concubine, then there was no major problem if she said she wanted to stay by my side.

'Ah, right. She’s my concubine... By the way, how am I supposed to dual cultivate with a concubine?'

With that side’s problem settled, I was briefly wondering in what order I should proceed with dual cultivation when I heard senior sister and my wives’ voices.

“Ji-ryeon seems to be safe. Then what should we do about those bastards?”

“They seem to be trying to find Sua’s whereabouts and the owner of the feather at the same time...”

Their intentions were clear.

They were probably trying to find out whether the owner of the feather Sua had told them about really existed, and also what had happened to Sua.

“Should we pretend not to know for now?”

I thought about how to treat those bastards.

Should we capture them all like Sua, or pretend not to know and deal with each other while both sides wore masks?

***

A huge book spread open in midair was flying to one side.

Drawn on the book were a naked man and woman.

A beautiful woman stood in the wind atop the book, which showed a man and woman joined together.

The book’s name was the Classic of the Plain Maiden, and it was the divine artifact of the woman riding it.

The woman’s name was Sonyeo.

She was on her way to meet the Great Emperor of the Central Heaven’s Purple Tenuity North Pole under the orders of her older sister, Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo.

—Whoosh.

The place where the Upper Heaven and the Central Heaven met.

As she kept flying toward the center of the sky, a cold wind began to blow.

The center of the Upper Heaven and the northern sky of the Central Heaven was a place filled with yin energy.

Because it was the homeland of cold, dark, and eerie things.

When icicles formed on the book she rode and on the hems of her clothes, and misty breath poured from Sonyeo’s mouth, a sparkling light began to appear ahead.

That place was the Purple Tenuity Palace.

It was where the Great Emperor of the Central Heaven’s Purple Tenuity North Pole, said to be directly beneath the Jade Emperor and the emperor of the Central Heaven, resided.

As she flew closer, a towering palace appeared within the bright light.

It was a beautiful imperial palace made of purple jade.

The roofs of the palace were made in the shape of phoenixes, and at every roof edge, colors like phoenix flames rose and glittered with light.

But that was not phoenix light. It was starlight, starlight from the sky brought down and embedded there.

That was why it was a flame that had not once gone out since the beginning of creation.

On the left and right, halls where many star deities resided, such as the Supreme Subtlety Palace and the Heavenly Market Enclosure, surrounded the Purple Tenuity Palace. They were the places where the celestial officials, the constellations embroidering the area around the North Star, the Great Emperor of the Purple Tenuity North Pole, stayed.

Because the North Star and the constellations around it symbolized the offices of heaven.

It was when Sonyeo flew through the sky and arrived at the place where visitors to the Purple Tenuity Palace landed.

She felt that something was empty, and after a moment, she realized what that emptiness was.

Normally, from this place onward, the divine generals of the Purple Tenuity Palace should have been guarding the surroundings with starlike gazes, but not a single one was visible.

“What is going on?”

After placing the Classic of the Plain Maiden into her robes, Sonyeo carefully moved toward the Purple Tenuity Palace.

While remaining sharply alert to her surroundings.

In her hand, she held her divine artifact, the White Lotus Needle.

It was a needle shaped like a white lotus, a unique divine artifact of hers that, when inserted into a person’s body, exchanged pleasure and pain.

As she gradually moved farther inside, one hypothesis arose in Sonyeo’s mind.

“D-Don’t tell me. An attack?”

The fact that there was not a single divine general meant one of two things: either the divine generals had all gone chasing something together, or a fight had broken out.

Unless it was something like that, there was no way the divine generals would have left their posts like this.

Even when the Jade Emperor was wrapped around a dragon woman’s skirt and forgot state affairs, nothing unusual had happened here, and even when Sun Wukong caused chaos, he had not dared covet this place.

The area around the Purple Tenuity Palace was strangely quiet.

The Supreme Subtlety Palace and Heavenly Market Enclosure were also extremely quiet.

—Gulp.

Sonyeo swallowed and arrived before the Purple Tenuity Court.

She lightly placed her hand on the gate of the Purple Tenuity Court.

A powerful formation was spread inside, so the situation within did not leak outside.

At the moment she tensed her hand, nervous about what kind of scene would unfold inside—

—Creeeeak.

The gate opened wide to both sides with a strange sound.

At the same time, light poured out.

Sonyeo looked ahead, fully on guard, the White Lotus Needle in her hand.

A moment later, what appeared in the light was the sight of dozens of divine generals and star deities staring at her.

Their eyes met.

But that lasted only a moment.

When someone’s voice rang out again, the star deities and divine generals began moving quickly.

As if Sonyeo were not there.

“Hah! Is this the time to lose your mind? The flow of destiny is moving this way. Move the light east.”

“E-East. Understood.”

“The Fate Compass is not that way. South.”

“South!”

“The flow of the stars has gone wrong!”

“No! What exactly are you doing!”

Sonyeo stared blankly at the sight, then blinked.

Because she could not understand what on earth was happening.

Then someone’s voice rang out.

“It is almost the Hour of the Rat!”

And then came the sound of a bell.

—Dong.

At the sound, everyone who had been working collapsed where they stood.

When Sonyeo carefully looked over them, she saw hollow eyes and drained faces.

She stepped over the star deities and divine generals sprawled everywhere like crossing stepping stones and went farther inside toward the throne.

The place where the Great Emperor of the Central Heaven’s Purple Tenuity North Pole should sit.

When she arrived before the throne, she felt like she understood why this was happening.

The Great Emperor of the Central Heaven’s Purple Tenuity North Pole was completely occupied with observing the heavens.

When the Jade Emperor abandoned his own work, it had spilled over to this side, and all of them were clinging to it so that the flow of heavenly secrets and the principles of heaven would move properly.

As Sonyeo blankly watched what the Great Emperor of the Central Heaven’s Purple Tenuity North Pole was doing, the Great Emperor seemed to sense something strange and raised his head, and their eyes met.

Then the Great Emperor of the Central Heaven’s Purple Tenuity North Pole greeted her joyfully, as if he had met his deceased father.

“Ohhh! Who is this! Isn’t it Sonyeo!? You came at the perfect time! Help me for a bit!”

She had come to ask for help, but the Great Emperor of the Central Heaven’s Purple Tenuity North Pole wanted help instead.