Chapter 754: The Meaning of Purple (9)

It was just as I was wondering how to handle the dragons who had come with my wives.

A familiar aura could be felt from the basement of Blood Market Tower.

Ji-ryeon’s aura was coming from underground.

Ji-ryeon had taken a movement talisman fixed to the underground location, so it seemed she had returned with that.

She had definitely said she would be back soon, but this was a quick return.

‘She said she’d be back soon a moment ago, but this fast?’

“What is this?”

“It looks like Ji-ryeon has arrived?”

Hwa-eun, who had also sensed Ji-ryeon’s presence, seemed to realize Ji-ryeon had returned and told everyone that fact.

But everyone quickly withdrew their attention.

She had gone to a dangerous place, and wasn’t she a beloved wife and family member?

Of course, we should have gone out to welcome her.

So normally, we would have gone to meet her, but the meeting was not over yet, so we decided to continue the discussion, thinking she would come up soon.

No one said it aloud, but everyone seemed to be thinking the same thing.

Right now, finishing this was more urgent than greeting her.

They had said they wanted to build friendly relations, so we would have to go meet them and exchange greetings soon, and we had to decide what attitude to take then.

“For now, I think we should just pretend we don’t know, right?”

After thinking it over and telling my wives what I thought, my wives looked at one another and nodded.

Everyone was of the opinion that rather than acting rashly right now, we should first pretend not to know and watch how things developed.

My thought was that since the other side did not seem to have noticed most of the truth, there was no reason for us to go wild first, and my wives’ thoughts did not seem very different.

“I think that would be best. There’s no need for us to move first.”

“I think so too, junior brother.”

“Then shall we go greet them first? They said they wanted to see you, husband.”

Just as we were reaching the conclusion that pretending not to know was the right answer.

I felt something strange.

When I suddenly stopped talking and looked toward the floor, my wives tilted their heads.

“Hm?”

“What is it, So-ryong?”

“Junior brother, why?”

“Can’t you feel this?”

“Feel what?”

At this distance, they should have been able to feel that presence, but my wives could not sense that aura, perhaps because their realms were lower, or perhaps because unlike me, they were not the subject of the Heavenly Heart Venom Martial Peach Garden Map.

‘Is it because it’s registered in the Heavenly Heart Venom Martial Peach Garden Map, but another aura has slipped in, so only I can feel it?’

There was no way my wives, cultivators from the Central Plains martial world who were sensitive to qi, could not sense an aura like this, so it felt like the latter was probably right.

At the aura I could feel rising from underground, I immediately filled my dantian with yang energy first.

Honestly, there was no need to fill myself with yang energy right now.

But the yang energy filled me almost like a conditioned reflex.

Of course it did, because Ji-ryeon was coming this way with someone dwelling in her body right now.

Not a baby or anything. I meant a divine descent.

From Ji-ryeon, who was approaching this way, I could feel that aura I had felt a few times before.

One of Chaenyeo, Hyeonnyeo, or Sonyeo had clearly descended into her.

It seemed we would soon learn what we had been wondering about, so that frustration looked like it would ease a little, but I became slightly tense.

It was not because of the process of cooling her body after the divine descent.

Because considering Ji-ryeon’s body and that side’s circumstances, they had definitely said they would restrain themselves from divine descents, yet judging by the fact that she had descended before even meeting me, it felt like something serious had happened.

—Bang.

A moment later, the doors of the office opened to both sides, and Ji-ryeon stepped inside.

Seeing the peach-blossom pattern faintly visible behind her back, I first cupped my fist and bowed my head.

“I greet Sonyeo, Hyeonnyeo, and Chaenyeo.”

It seemed only one of them had descended, but since I did not know who it was, I finished greeting all three together, and then I heard a slightly cool, city-woman-style voice.

[So everyone is gathered at just the right time.]

A clear, beautiful, cool city-woman-style voice.

It was Lady Chaenyeo.

Lady Sonyeo’s voice was cute and lively, but somehow dangerous, while Lady Hyeonnyeo’s was warm and gentle, yet solemn.

“Yes, Lady Chaenyeo.”

At my answer, Chaenyeo, or rather Ji-ryeon, spoke with a look of approval.

[Oh? You can already tell our voices apart? Well, with this many women around you, I suppose you would develop such a talent.]

But what I heard was a slightly sulky remark.

My gaze moved toward my wives for no reason.

My wives had never said anything like that, but a guilty conscience needs no accuser.

Thankfully, my wives showed no reaction.

Just as I was thinking that was a relief, Lady Chaenyeo continued speaking.

[My older sister has not yet returned, but I thought it would be best to decide the truth for you all as quickly as possible, so I contacted you in haste.]

“Did Lady Hyeonnyeo go somewhere?”

When she said Lady Hyeonnyeo had gone somewhere, I asked about that first.

I had heard that she said she needed to confirm something with Ji-ryeon, but I had not heard where she had gone.

Then an answer that surprised everyone came out.

[Yes. She went to the Supreme Emperor.]

“The Supreme Emperor?”

[The Jade #$ Emperor.]

“Yes?”

[Ah, it seems you cannot hear it clearly. Would you understand if I described him as the emperor of heaven?]

“Huuuuh. Don’t tell me, the Jade...”

Because of the weight that name carried, I had not understood it at first, but once she described it indirectly, I could tell who it was.

The greatest named figure in the heavenly realm.

The emperor of heaven, the Jade Emperor. It had to be his name.

Of course, I had heard that the Jade Emperor was not the strongest immortal.

Just as the emperor of the Central Plains was not the strongest martial artist, the Jade Emperor was in the position of the emperor who ruled the Upper Heaven, but that did not mean he was the strongest.

However, among the offices held by immortals, the highest one was precisely the Jade Emperor.

From what I had picked up, he was the immortal among immortals who governed the movements of heaven and the movements of human affairs.

‘Why is the scale getting this big?’

We were supposed to hear a story about Zihwa and dragons, yet from the very start, the name with the greatest scale in all of heaven had appeared.

I asked in a tense voice.

“Why did she go to someone like him?”

The brief time it took for Ji-ryeon’s lips to move and Lady Chaenyeo’s voice to come out felt incredibly tense.

Because I could not even estimate what kind of story would pop out.

If the Jade Emperor appeared right at the start, then I could not even imagine who would appear once we reached the heart of the story.

—Gulp.

The moment I heard someone swallow, the story we had been wondering about finally began.

[To explain this, I must first speak about the present state of heaven.

I will explain it as clearly as possible so you can understand, so listen well.]

“Yes, I will listen with all my heart.”

I pricked up my ears and focused.

It was not just me. My wives were the same.

The story continued.

[The present sky appears peaceful, but this sky is diseased by greedy dragons. From the moment they are born, they possess overwhelmingly superior physical ability and spiritual power.

Because they are a race that fundamentally lives for a long time, their numbers only continued to increase and did not decrease. They are even greedy besides, so they began occupying places throughout the heavenly realm where interests were involved and expanding their power.

Then the dragons committed a great sin. Blinded by greed, they touched one of heaven’s taboos. The result led to the Supreme Emperor creating a new spirit-creature.]

Listening to the story, it sounded like these dragons were pests eating away at the heavenly realm—no, if I said that, our pest spirit-creature Yeon-yeon would feel hurt.

Anyway, they seemed to be bad guys.

I had never seen any good guys among people who pushed others around with sheer numbers.

And at her next words, I had no choice but to interrupt Lady Chaenyeo.

“A spirit-creature?”

I had meant to listen quietly, but my ears perked up at the word spirit-creature, and I asked.

I was curious why committing a sin had led to the birth of a spirit-creature, and since it was a spirit-creature, if it had any poison or anything, it might become the final goal of my collection.

I had gathered all of the Twenty-Four Poison Branches and the Ten Great Venoms, and now my goal had disappeared, so I thought it would be nice if there were a heavenly realm goal.

“Yes. The Supreme Emperor created the Golden-Winged Bird.”

At my question, I heard an impressive name.

Though it did not seem to be the venomous creature I had been thinking of.

“The Golden-Winged Bird? Oh, that’s a cool name.”

After praising the name moderately with my social skills, I heard an incredible set of specs.

“Yes. Its two eyes are red like the sun, and lightning dwells at the tip of every feather. The Golden-Winged Bird received a heavenly mandate the moment it was born.

The authority to eat one dragon a day as its meal.”

“Huuuuh!”

Even though it was a spirit-creature, one a day. I was shocked by those words.

Because that meant it ate three hundred and sixty-five dragons a year.

It seemed like he had created a natural predator because dragons had none, but this was harsh beyond belief.

No matter how numerous dragons were, they were spirit-creatures to begin with.

Their numbers had increased because they lived long lives and had no natural predators, not because they popped out tons of babies.

So if one dragon were eaten every day, would extinction not only be a matter of time?

I did not know what sin they had committed, but it seemed the Supreme Emperor had been seriously angry.

“Wow, that punishment is no joke. So what happened after that?”

[At first, the punishment was carried out properly. However, for unknown reasons, the Golden-Winged Bird died.]

“Huh...”

She said the reason was unknown, but the cause was probably the dragons.

I did not know how they had done it, but it seemed certain they had killed the Golden-Winged Bird, yet the answer I heard was different from what I expected.

“The dragons must have done it?”

[Well, everyone thought that, but the reason was different.]

“It was different?”

[Because he did not intend to exterminate the dragons, it seems the Supreme Emperor gave the Golden-Winged Bird a limited lifespan when he created it in the first place. Dragons possess poison inside their bodies, and each time the Golden-Winged Bird ate a dragon, that poison accumulated in its body, until in the end, it died, leaving behind only a burning heart.]

“Sua said dragons didn’t have poison, though?”

[Because the poison accumulates in the inner core formed inside a dragon’s body, unless one is a dragon of the Upper Heaven, one would not know the story. So she could have said that.]

Certainly, if he did not intend to exterminate them all, the punishment would have had a set duration.

I nodded and asked.

“What happened after that?”

[The punishment stopped there. And as time passed, the dragons recovered their power, but they did not dare do the same thing as before. They had learned their lesson well.

However, around the time their sin was forgotten in the memories of the immortals, things entered a new phase when, by chance, the Supreme Emperor took a concubine.]

“A new phase?”

[The Supreme Emperor happened to take one dragon woman as a concubine, and then that slowly increased until there were eight. I do not know what they did, but the Supreme Emperor entered a strange state. He lost his clarity and became like a wooden puppet. The present Upper Heaven is now a place controlled by dragons.]

“Huh...”

So, to summarize the conclusion, it was this.

Even in the lower world, if an emperor fell for women, the country fell into misery, and the same thing was happening up here in heaven too.

The explanation was that the Supreme Emperor had fallen for eight dragon beauties and was ruining heaven.

‘No, Supreme Emperor, what is with eight concubines? The state of heaven really is a total mess...’

If someone took eight concubines, of course the country would fall into misery, so I was thinking heaven was doing such a fine job running itself, but then I realized I was in no position to talk about others.

Hwa-eun, Ji-ryeon, Hye-rin, Yo-hwa, senior sister, Sister Jeokwol, Zihwa, and Sister Seol waiting in the wings.

I already had eight too.

‘I’m not in any position to criticize him. I apologize, Supreme Emperor! You were a m-man after all... Men can have things like that happen. There are things that can’t be helped.’

Just as I was apologizing to the Supreme Emperor in my heart.

One thing suddenly occurred to me.

What occurred to me was that Zihwa might be the newly created Golden-Winged Bird.

All the circumstantial evidence so far pointed to that.

So I thought Zihwa might be the newly created Golden-Winged Bird.

“Uh, then? Zihwa is?”

At my words, Lady Chaenyeo nodded.

[Correct.

A new Golden-Winged Bird created by the Supreme Emperor to set heaven right.

However, she was discovered before she could grow, and at the cost of her mother’s life, she was cast down to the lower world.]

So that was why Zihwa had been born with an appearance different from her own kind. It seemed she was a new Golden-Winged Bird the Supreme Emperor had created in secret from the dragons.

I also felt like I understood why she did not have golden feathers, but purple feathers, and why she had taken the form of a bird that ate poison.

It was to keep her from dying of the poison energy that accumulated inside her body after eating dragons.

Now I felt like I understood why the dragons were searching for Zihwa.

Because she was a perfect natural predator freed from a limited lifespan.

When Zihwa met me, she had said this.

That far from ascending again, even preserving her life had been difficult. So the dragons must have thought Zihwa would die in the lower world, but just in case, they had circulated her down feathers and prepared for the possibility.

Then they discovered traces of Zihwa in that state, so they had become desperate to find her.

If it was related to their natural predator, the bastards would never stop until they confirmed it for certain.

Not just any natural predator, either. If she ate one dragon a day, it was a story tied to the fate of their entire race.

It was not something they could confirm half-heartedly.

I looked out the window and asked.

“Dragons have come outside right now too, so what should we do from here?”

[I thought it would be best to wait until Zihwa accepted her mother’s energy and became strong enough to face the dragons of the Upper Heaven, but seeing the dragons behave like this, we cannot think leisurely.

Before they notice Zihwa, let us move quickly. Grow as quickly as possible and ascend to the Central Heaven, by any means necessary.]

She was telling me to ascend to the Central Heaven as quickly as possible, and while it did seem right to move quickly, I had a worry.

Here, I was currently a strong cultivator, but from the Central Heaven onward, I would become a newbie again.

“If I go to the Central Heaven, won’t I be the lowest cultivator there? Will that be alright?”

Lady Chaenyeo spoke in a tone telling me not to worry.

[We have prepared someone in the Central Heaven to help you, so do not worry.]

Someone to help me?

If the three of them had arranged that person, then they should be trustworthy.

That reassured me, but Lady Chaenyeo smiled and continued.

“If it’s someone Lady Chaenyeo arranged, they should be trustworthy, right?”

[Yes. He is your father-in-law, so he should be trustworthy.]

“Yes? My father-in-law?”

[Yes. The Vermilion Bird, one who realized the Dao from the phoenix.]

At Lady Chaenyeo’s words, I froze on the spot.

The fact that my father-in-law was the Vermilion Bird was shocking too, but had she not said he was one who realized the Dao from the phoenix?

It seemed the Vermilion Bird was apparently the evolved form of a phoenix, and if it was a phoenix, then it was a spirit-creature so affectionate as a pair that they were used even at weddings in the Central Plains.

There was no way the first meeting would go well if the son-in-law had many other wives.

My father-in-law was from the pure-love faction.

His son-in-law was from the harem-love faction.

This was a more serious problem than having different political leanings.

‘Please let it be a fabrication, not the Vermilion Bird!’

It was really the kind of thing that felt fabricated.