Chapter 760: Nine Heavens Mad Dragon (6)

—Whoosh.

The offerings on the altar suddenly caught fire.

Spirit Stones, Spirit Pills, and other such things had been stacked neatly on the altar like ritual food for the ceremony, and they had ignited without anyone noticing.

Huiyang, the mistress of Nine-Heaven Demon Tower, had been sitting in a chair near the altar. She quickly dropped to her knees and prostrated herself before it.

Because overseeing this ritual was her job.

Guiding the smoke rising with her own energy so that the object of the rite could pleasantly enjoy its fragrance, she shouted.

“Th-they’ve come!”

Huiyang had been guarding the altar for days, so her face had been languid, but now she looked as though all drowsiness had fled at once.

Since I had happened to be standing by, thinking contact would probably come around today, I quickly took a place beside her, figuring the dragons had finally decided which direction they would move in.

That altar was the only means of communicating with the Dark Maiden, Rainbow Maiden, and Plain Maiden, aside from going through Ji-ryeon.

The offerings piled there catching fire was a sign that contact had come from the three of them, and the only message that would come to us was that the dragons had decided how they would move.

“Ooh, has it come?”

When I shouted in a delighted voice, a lecture came from beside me.

More precisely, it was Soto lecturing me through Gungbong’s voice.

“So-ryong, this isn’t the time to be so happy. In the worst case, a major fight could break out.”

“Ah, I know, I know.”

That is the problem with clever strategists.

Just when a person is trying to enjoy a bit of happiness, they insist on throwing him back into reality.

A race with no romance, you could say.

'Smart people really have no romance.'

My feelings cooled right off.

I had thought that much through too, more or less.

That things might not flow as easily as we wanted.

Because there was no way to know clearly how the dragons would move.

We were steering their choice in one direction, but just because a living creature was guided did not guarantee it would move that way.

But lottery tickets and gacha are most exciting before you open them.

Even if it led to a bad result, wasn’t it a man’s nature to want his heart to race for this one moment?

Pouting at Soto’s scolding, I stared at the altar. The blazing flames grew even larger, and a familiar voice rang out.

[Who is there?]

A benevolent, warm voice.

It was the voice of Nine Heavens Dark Maiden.

Huiyang was prostrated, and I was slightly behind her at an angle, so it seemed I was not within the altar’s field of view.

When the offerings burned, a flat surface made of mist appeared, but apparently the view was narrow.

Instead of me, Huiyang answered while prostrating herself.

“Huiyang is here. Nine Heavens Dark Maiden, mistress of the Nine Heavens.”

[Good. Hurry and call So-ryong or Ji-ryeon.]

At her words asking for me, I quickly popped out and cupped my fist.

“I’m right here, Dark Maiden.”

[Oh! Yes, there you were!]

When I appeared, Nine Heavens Dark Maiden’s voice rose slightly.

I looked at Soto and smiled broadly.

Judging by the Dark Maiden’s voice, it seemed what I thought was right.

'See, Soto? It worked out, didn’t it?'

As I sent him that feeling with my eyes, telling him he had been worrying over nothing, the answer came exactly as I expected.

[It went well! Just as you predicted, the dragons have decided to do it.]

“Ooh! As expected!”

The dragons deciding to do it meant they were accepting my proposal.

That they would accept my additional conditions in exchange for giving me dragons.

It meant we would have a give-and-take relationship.

At first, we had nearly become completely hostile.

If I pressed them and forced them to accept my conditions, their interest in Zihwa would vanish completely, and only their anger toward me would remain.

That had seemed much safer.

If Dokmul-hyang was placed in my Primordial Infant and we separated from one another, then I would become more endangered, but Zihwa and Jayo would become safer.

And then, when ascending to the Central Heaven, I could just tuck them all neatly into Dokmul-hyang and go up quietly. Would that not be the end of it?

But after hearing the explanation, apparently there was no such thing as going up quietly.

When ascending to the Central Heaven, a pillar of light appeared that anyone could see even from far away, so everyone would know.

And on top of that, heavenly tribulation came too, so it was basically the same as advertising, “I am ascending right here, right now.”

So we could not simply be hostile, and at the end I changed the condition a little.

In this state, the moment I ascended to the Central Heaven, danger was guaranteed, so I could not simply attempt this plan. Instead, I changed it so both sides would have a give-and-take.

I added that, as a condition for receiving dragons, I would guarantee that dragons from the First Heaven to the Eighth Heaven could safely use our White Night City.

From what I had heard, the reason they had deliberately settled in the Eighth Heaven was safety.

Since they were a long-lived race to begin with, the explanation was that rather than taking the very top spot and being checked by others, they wanted to grow safely.

If we gave such beings an opportunity for rapid growth, of course they would be tempted, and we could form a good relationship.

We had started off crookedly due to a bit of misunderstanding, but that is how social life is.

For the sake of mutual profit, even enemies can become allies. Is that not social life?

If this went well, then even after I ascended to the Central Heaven, I might be treated well as long as everyone kept their mouths firmly shut.

Well, I would be receiving a few dragons, but even the Jade Emperor was said to have taken eight dragons as concubines.

I would simply become a similar sort of person.

A dragon race son-in-law, you could say.

Of course, I did not mean I would actually become their son-in-law.

Sua was in the concubine position, so when the other side handed over other children, they were probably thinking of them as being around the level of concubines too.

'My intentions are truly pure, though.'

Of course, it did take some time to persuade Nine Heavens Dark Maiden, but after hearing me out, she was satisfied too.

When she asked whether there was any need for us to raise dragons with our own hands, I told her to think of it as “raising and harvesting,” and she was quite delighted.

“Ooh! Raising and harvesting! So that is raising and harvesting?”

“Yes, Nine Heavens Dark Maiden.”

For the time being, the dragons would grow a bit and ascend upward, but in the long run, would they not all become food for Zihwa and Jayo?

So there was no need to worry.

If we raised them well, they would all become food for my wife and daughter.

Of course, their growth would not be free.

I would squeeze them thoroughly and use it for our own growth.

Nine Heavens Dark Maiden’s bright voice continued.

[Then I will pretend I suffered greatly and inform the other side that you accepted my mediation proposal.]

“Yes, Nine Heavens Dark Maiden.”

***

One day after contact from Nine Heavens Dark Maiden.

The yellow dragon from before appeared.

Perhaps because one of his horns was broken, he entered my office with his head tilted slightly crooked.

“Oh my, elder, it is good to see you again.”

The yellow dragon rejoiced as if meeting his dead father, though we were hardly that close.

I felt slightly sorry.

After all, I was the one who had broken his horn.

“Oho. It’s you. It’s been a while. So, you’ve heard the story?”

“Of course, elder.”

“But where are the dragons?”

As we talked, the space behind him felt empty.

I had thought he would bring my dragons with him, but there was no one behind him.

I thought I would be able to have them today.

But when my expression turned slightly disappointed at the emptiness behind him, he held out a document.

“Before that, please look at this...”

What he held out was a sheet of red paper.

Characters that radiated spiritual energy were written on it.

“What is this?”

“It is a letter of assurance sent down from above.”

“A letter of assurance?”

I knew what a letter of assurance was.

To put it in terms from my life before last, it was a contract.

Perhaps because they could not completely trust my promise of protection, the higher-ups of the dragons had sent a contract.

'Why are they so suspicious?'

According to what I had heard from Nine Heavens Dark Maiden, this used the principles that maintained this heavenly realm, and if it was violated, one would suffer a major blow, lose cultivation realm, or in severe cases even die.

“Hmmm.”

That was why I frowned as I accepted the letter of assurance, and at my expression, the yellow dragon flinched in fright.

He seemed to think I might get angry, tear up the contract, and beat him.

But I had expected something like this.

I must have looked like a madman, so there was no way they would entrust their race’s future to me without even a contract like this.

I crooked a finger toward Sister and Soto standing behind me on either side.

“Soto, Sister.”

“Yes, So-ryong.”

“Yeah, junior brother.”

I handed the contract to Soto and Sister and asked them to examine it legally.

Just in case they had pulled something.

A short while later, after the two had read through the contract, they asked the yellow dragon to revise several points.

“This part here. It says So-ryong and the dragons will absolutely not act hostile toward each other and will not take each other’s lives, but isn’t what happens to the dragons handed over to So-ryong within So-ryong’s authority? I don’t think there’s any right to force this.”

“There was a clause like that?”

“Hiiik! P-please wait. I’ll check it again.”

When I glared, the yellow dragon was startled and horrified.

He checked the letter of assurance and spoke cautiously.

“Th-that is true. Then shall we amend this so that the dragons sent to So-ryong are excluded?”

“Let’s do that. And here, the location is missing. Shouldn’t it include the phrase from the First Heaven to the Ninth Heaven?”

“That is true. Certainly.”

The problems with the contract were that the ban on mutual hostility applied even to the dragons I received, and that the location of hostility was too broad.

The dragons I received were mine, so I had the right to do with them as I pleased.

And since the location was not specified, there was an advantage in that I could be safe even if I went to the Central Heaven or Upper Heaven, but if that happened, later I would not be able to help Zihwa or Jayo strike them.

So I asked for those two clauses to be revised.

He confirmed the points that needed revision, went back, and returned with a new letter of assurance, and thus our contract was completed.

The other side seemed to accept it as well, because without further argument, the contract was prepared again exactly as we requested.

The next day, after finishing the contract, I asked him.

“So then, where are my dragons?”

The contract was done, so hurry up and bring me my dragons, I meant.

Then he rubbed his hands together and said.

“We are preparing clever children for you.”

“Oho. Is that so?”

“Of course. How could we send just any children?”

“Right, right. I thought I would be very sad if you sent useless children or something, so that’s a relief.”

“Oh dear. Surely not.”

Because my mind had been occupied with the fact that I would be receiving dragons, I had forgotten for a moment, but during adoption, one definitely had to watch out for scams.

Even when told they were perfectly healthy, there were often ones that turned out to be infected with parasites or sick, so one had to keep one’s antennae ?? (Original source) raised during adoption.

The individuals I received had to be healthy.

They had to be healthy for their coloration to be pretty.

And so, two days after the contract was concluded.

I was able to face the dragons I had wanted so badly.

Red, white, black, yellow, green, silver, and jade.

Seven in total.

Their cultivation realms were all at the Golden Core Stage.

For spirit-creatures, unless they reached the Nascent Soul Stage, they could not become half-human and half-beast.

But perhaps because dragons had learned transformation arts, all of them were beautiful women, and they were in fully human form.

They seemed very tense, as if they had heard something in advance, but after receiving them, I immediately brought them into Dokmul-hyang.

It was to proceed with the registration process right away.

The place I took them was in front of the cave.

“Now then, I’ll let all of you be reborn. First, take off your clothes.”

I had merely meant to see their true forms before registration.

But the dragons looked at one another, then grabbed their robe ties with expressions that seemed somehow resigned.

And among them, the jade-colored dragon spoke as if pleading.

“Elder, please, for the bridal night... one at a time. Please. W-we are all first-timers.”

“Hm?”

Apparently, these girls thought I was lining them up to dual-cultivate with them one by one.