Chapter 755: Nine Heavens Mad Dragon (1)

With a tense expression, I asked after hearing that my father-in-law was the Vermilion Bird, originally from the phoenix race.

“Um... will that be okay?”

[What do you mean?]

Ji-ryeon tilted her head.

Lady Chaenyeo, who had descended into her, wore an expression of complete incomprehension on Ji-ryeon’s face.

She probably did not know the deep emotional gulf between the pure-love faction and the harem-love faction.

It was a debate that always appeared if you enjoyed games or web novels in your previous previous life.

That thing where readers who liked pure love and readers who liked harems criticized each other’s tastes.

I carefully explained the current situation.

How much of a libertine would I look like if my pure-love-loving father-in-law saw me?

“No, I mean my father-in-law. He’s the Vermilion Bird, but originally he was a phoenix... If he’s a phoenix, then a male and female pair are, you know... And I don’t have only one or two wives...”

At my explanation, Lady Chaenyeo finally seemed to understand and laughed softly before speaking.

[Put Jayo in front. If it is his granddaughter, he will have no choice even if he hates you. He seemed very interested.]

“Oh-ho.”

Well, I probably could not avoid my father-in-law’s hatred, but the advice was to put Jayo in front.

Right. What grandfather could beat his granddaughter?

I decided to do as Lady Chaenyeo said and put Jayo forward.

She was my daughter, but her cuteness was extraordinary, so she should be able to cover this father’s faults well enough.

[And you brought the child who was cast down to the lower world back here, so how could he speak of your faults?]

“Ah, that’s true too.”

And the words that followed were also very reasonable.

Right. Thinking about it, wasn’t I the benefactor of his one and only daughter?

Compared to saving a life, something like this was extremely trivial.

‘Of course. It’s so trivial that normally it shouldn’t even enter his eyes.’

Then that was solved.

What remained was the dragons who had come here.

When I looked out the window, Lady Chaenyeo seemed to realize I still had a question left and was thinking about something with her chin in her hand.

Lady Chaenyeo let out a slightly sweet breath and spoke.

[Hmm... Ji-ryeon’s burden is great. I should withdraw for now.]

It seemed Ji-ryeon’s body was under too much strain, and she could no longer remain.

According to Ji-ryeon, once a divine descent began, her body heated up.

She had said that if she could not relieve it, she felt as if she would lose her mind, and it seemed Ji-ryeon’s body was at its limit.

Lady Chaenyeo’s final words followed.

[The Lower Heaven is ours, so it is fine no matter what you do here, but when considering the time you ascend to the Central Heaven, you cannot simply do as you please.

We will prepare someone to help, but if the dragon bastards confirm Zihwa, we do not know what they will do.

However, no matter what result comes out, we will prepare help accordingly, so do not worry.]

It meant that whatever result came out, they would help in some way, so I should handle it as I saw fit.

As Lady Chaenyeo withdrew, she left her last words.

[Well, it is fine even if you satisfy your own selfish desires.]

I flinched at those words.

It seemed she had caught what was inside my heart.

When Sua said she had no poison, I had not paid attention to her, but if there was poison in her inner core, I naturally wanted to collect it.

By color, at that.

If there was poison, my collecting desire burned.

Like the feeling of collecting colorful crayons when I was little?

Originally, venomous-creature maniacs like us go crazy over colors.

Because even in the same species, if the color or pattern is different, it feels completely different.

When you produce various colors or patterns through different breeding techniques and fix those traits, that gets recognized as a morph, and when that happens in nature, it drives you insane.

After all, artificially produced morphs often fix traits through inbreeding, meaning close-kin breeding, so many of them are unhealthy or have genetic diseases, but morphs that arise in nature are healthy and beautiful.

So I wanted several dragons too.

By color.

Lady Chaenyeo seemed to have read that heart of mine.

“U-Understood.”

Once I answered for now, Ji-ryeon collapsed limply.

When I quickly caught her in my arms, a honey-sweet breath burst out.

“Haaah. So-ryong.”

Ji-ryeon was already in a state where reason had vanished from her eyes, and pink hearts seemed to be floating in her pupils.

It looked like I had to put out this fire first.

I quickly explained what had to be done from now on to my wives.

“First, I’ll take care of Ji-ryeon’s condition. Hwa-eun, for now, tell the guests that something urgent came up, cultivation or whatever, and I’m outside, so I’ll visit and greet them tomorrow.”

“Yes, husband.”

“Ah, when you meet the dragons, Jayo’s scent might still be on your bodies, so don’t forget to bathe and change into clean clothes.”

“Understood.”

For now, I left the reception of the guests to Hwa-eun.

Because Jayo’s scent might remain, I did not forget to tell them to wash their bodies and change clothes.

Sua had said she smelled the scent left on my body, and that was probably Jayo’s scent rather than Zihwa’s.

Dragons seemed to have sharp noses, so I did not think we should meet them just like that.

“Hye-rin is watching Jayo inside, right? Tell Hye-rin to be exclusively in charge of Jayo for the time being, and let’s have the people and spirit-creatures who came into contact with Jayo wash themselves as much as possible.”

And for Hye-rin, who was not here, I assigned exclusive marking of Jayo.

Finally, I left discussion of this matter to the strategists of our White Night City.

Senior sister, Soto, and Chief Steward Mong-a.

“Senior sister, discuss this with Soto, Chief Steward Mong-a, and, hm... Huiyang, the master of Nine-Heaven Demon Tower. As much as possible, toward capturing those bastards.”

I conveyed a demand filled with personal desire.

And at the end, since we might need more information, I also told them to discuss this matter with Huiyang, and a question came back.

“How much should I tell Huiyang, junior brother?”

“Hmm... Since she’s half one of ours anyway, let’s make her fully one of ours this time. Tell her we’ll take her along when we go to the Central Heaven and receive an oath of loyalty.

Since Lady Hyeonnyeo, Lady Chaenyeo, and Lady Sonyeo have decided to help Zihwa, that side has no path other than getting in the same boat with us anyway. If the three of them lose to the dragons, they won’t exactly remain fine either just because they served the three of them, will they?”

“Understood, junior brother.”

“Ah, we’ll hide Sua until tomorrow too.”

“Got it.”

“Hmm... So-ryong.”

When I finished speaking, I heard a heated moan from Ji-ryeon, who was clinging to me.

I quickly moved both of our bodies into the cave inside Dokmul-hyang.

While absorbing yang energy from all directions.

Because Ji-ryeon’s condition today was the worst it had ever been.

Not only her breath, but even the sweat flowing from her skin was giving off a candy-like sweetness.

It was so intense that even I felt like I would become intoxicated.

‘My bones are going to melt, seriously.’

***

The cave was very humid and hot.

Enough that dew gathered on the walls and flowed down.

It was also filled with an erotic scent.

Because I had blocked the cave entrance with leather, preventing air from circulating, and the inside had filled with the heat and scent Ji-ryeon and I had released.

Only when I lifted the leather blocking the entrance did fresh air flow in.

“Wow, I survived.”

Ji-ryeon, lying on top of a leopard hide I had brought from the Central Plains, was asleep.

It would take quite some time for her body to recover, so I decided to leave Ji-ryeon to rest and go outside to check.

I needed to see how the tasks I had entrusted yesterday had been handled.

Just as I was heading toward the entrance of Dokmul-hyang, I thought of Jayo.

I remembered how she had cried last time.

“Ah, before that, I should meet Jayo first.”

The matters outside were urgent too, but I could not make my feet move, so I decided to go to the log house.

No matter how much children in this world were raised by their mothers, as a father, I could not just leave her in others’ care.

When I put on clothes and flew to the log house, a cute scene appeared below.

I saw the children gathered and playing hide-and-seek.

—Chrrt. 『Is everyone hidden? I’m coming to find you now!』

The seeker was Hyang.

Hyang was touching a large zelkova tree and shouting.

Judging by the presences I could feel around, it seemed all the young spirit-creatures were participating in hide-and-seek.

Dong, the lizard spirit-creature, Hongdan, the earwig spirit-creature, Sandan, the orchid mantis spirit-creature, Rimrim, the panda ant spirit-creature, Ram, the Hail Newt spirit-creature, Yeon-yeon, the pest spirit-creature, Baekbaek, the baby White Snow Shell, and even Mari, the baby Exploding Jade Aquabug I had entrusted to Ranghu, as well as Yeondu and Orange’s children, had all gathered and were absorbed in hide-and-seek together.

Wondering how they were playing, I erased my presence and looked down. Hyang took her hand off the zelkova tree and started moving quickly.

The first thing Hyang did was climb up the tree.

—Chrrt! 『Found you!』

Hyang found Hongdan up in the tree.

The little one, who had been clinging to the tree like a cicada, looked about to cry.

—Kkii. 『Hiiing. I got caught first again.』

Judging by what she said, it seemed she always clung to the tree.

After jumping down from the tree, Hyang next found Sandan, the orchid mantis.

—Chrrt! 『Sandan in the flower bed!』

Even though she was in human form, it seemed she had hidden in the flower bed because she remembered hiding in flower beds herself and then got caught.

Next, Dong, who had been hiding in the grass but was caught because of the cold air flowing from her body.

And Baekbaek, who could not go anywhere without the cold air and was caught together with her.

One by one, children began to be caught here and there.

—Chrrt. 『Ah, I got caught already.』

Bini, in the form of a girl, but perhaps playing with the children, grumbled as she was caught and reached the zelkova tree. At that moment, my gaze was fixed on the large chest inside the log house.

Because Gun Hye-rin was inside there, hugging Jayo.

‘That’s a little unfair, isn’t it?’

Hye-rin seemed to have joined with Jayo, and she had even erased their presence.

Like that, there was no way they would be found under ordinary circumstances, but I could feel Jayo’s heart pounding in Gun Hye-rin’s arms, worried they might be discovered.

It felt like her older sisters, elder sisters, and mothers were playing well with her.

I looked at it warmly, then headed for the entrance.

Because on this side, the daughters born from my heart and her mother were taking good care of her.

If I appeared, I thought I might instead ruin the mood, so I decided to withdraw.

‘Gun Hye-rin, thank you.’

‘Hm? Were you nearby?’

‘Yes. If I show up, I think I’ll get in the way, so I’ll withdraw.’

‘Understood.’

After leaving Gun Hye-rin a message saying I would withdraw, I switched places with my Primordial Infant at the entrance of Dokmul-hyang. I was in my room inside °• N ?? v ?? l i g h t •° the office, and I could hear voices talking outside.

I heard the voices of senior sister, Soto, Chief Steward Mong-a, Huiyang, the master of Nine-Heaven Demon Tower, and Sua.

“Then we’re going with this, right?”

It seemed some kind of conclusion had been reached, so I had just opened the door and stepped out when I heard Sua’s reluctant voice.

“...But.”

At Sua’s hesitant voice, senior sister asked.

“Is it because it is too humiliating?”

“N-No. I don’t mind. I don’t care how the other dragons think of me anyway.”

“Then?”

I did not know the reason, but I got the feeling Sua could not make some decision because of me.

If the legal wives told a concubine to do something, she should do it. Why did she have so many reasons?

Thinking I needed to straighten out the laws of the Wei family a little, I grabbed the doorknob, and Sua continued speaking.

“It is because of him.”

“Junior brother?”

“Yes. I’m fine, but we have to turn him into a madman obsessed with spirit-creatures.”

‘Hm?’

Just as I flinched at Sua’s words, her voice rang out again.

“It’s fine up to the part where I falsely reported upward that the scent was there because I wanted to obtain Lord So-ryong, and Lord So-ryong, who saw through my scheme, destroyed the true blood and made me his pet concubine.

But saying Lord So-ryong is a madman obsessed with spirit-creatures, so he demands another dragon as compensation, and if they do not grant it, he will threaten to capture and kill all dragons from the First Heaven to the Eighth Heaven?

Since the Lower Heaven is a place where low-realm dragons like me are raised, it will work, and even if it is to hide another legal wife’s identity through mixing fish eyes among pearls, his dignity...”

“No, compared to now, it’s not that big of a difference...”

Listening roughly, mixing fish eyes among pearls meant mixing fish eyes in among pearls.

It seemed they planned to put Sua forward first and say the story about Zihwa was false, then make me into a bit of a lunatic so the dragons could not focus on whether that was true or not and would stop thinking about Zihwa.

If crazy me went wild, they would focus on me and fail to think about Zihwa.

It was a strategy I quite liked, especially since I might obtain dragons of other colors too, but Sua seemed to be looking after my image.

I opened the door, came out, and spoke with a resolute expression.

“I am fine. If I can save my wife, what does a little dignity matter?”

Soto, who had been saying it was not very different from now, looked at me with an absurd expression.