Chapter 771: Descendant of Hou Yi (1)

Three days later, inside the office.

Newlywed Sister Seol was clinging tightly to me again today.

Like some sort of attachment doll.

She even suddenly kissed me while hugging me.

“S-Sister Seol.”

“Unni, please restrain yourself when there are people around.”

“But I’m just too happy. All this time, even when I wanted to hug him, I had to endure it. Please let me off just a little.”

“Haa... alright. But not outside.”

“Thank you, Hwa-eun!”

But could the human heart really restrain itself so easily?

If that were possible, addiction would never have existed in the first place.

Humans were weak against temptation.

When someone was beside you, you wanted to touch them, and once you touched them, you wanted to kiss them, and once you kissed them, you naturally wanted more—was that not simply human nature?

Once the morning reports inside the office ended and everyone dispersed, Sister Seol lingered awkwardly at the very back until she was left alone.

Then she approached, carefully kissed me, and suddenly began taking off my clothes.

It was behavior that made me wonder how she had possibly endured this entire time.

“S-Sister Seol?”

“So-ryong, your older sister can’t hold back anymore.”

“If we get caught doing this, we’ll get scolded.”

“Just a little.”

“No, there’s no such thing as ‘just a little.’”

“I’ll do the cat thing for you. Meow.”

“Haa... this really isn’t okay... Hwa-eun’s going to catch us at this rate.”

—Creeeak.

And just as I said that, apparently there was still something left to report because Hwa-eun opened the door and walked in.

“Husband, there was something I forgot to mention earlier... Unni? What exactly are you doing right now?”

“Slurp... A-ah, nothing.”

“That doesn’t look like ‘nothing’ to me.”

“S-sorry. I-I couldn’t hold back. I like So-ryong too much.”

“Haa... if you keep doing this, I’ll remove you from the rotation order next time.”

“I-I was wrong! Hwa-eun! I won’t do it again, so please forgive me this once. I was only trying to steal one bite— no, I only planned to secretly do it once.”

In the end, order was important.

Sister Seol had tried to pounce on me in broad daylight like a thief cat and got caught, earning herself a stern warning from Hwa-eun.

“Anyway, this is your final warning. If you pull another thief-cat stunt like this, you’re out. Everyone wants to do it every day, but we’re all enduring it.”

“O-okay...”

Hearing Hwa-eun say that, a thought suddenly occurred to me.

They said suppressing sexual desire caused spiritual relics to form inside the body, so if that was true, perhaps all my wives were already made entirely out of relics by now.

In any case, just as Sister Seol finished getting scolded by Hwa-eun and returned to my arms trying to steal another kiss—

Okryeong’s voice echoed through the mental connection.

“So-ryong, she said no...”

“I already told you no. Let’s just kiss.”

[“So-ryong, Soto is waking up.”]

“Oh! I’m coming right away.”

Together with Sister Seol, I hurried into Dokmul-hyang and immediately spotted Soto floating in the air while emitting sparkling light.

First, I moved Gungbong far away from the area.

The energy I currently sensed was practically at the level where a heavenly tribulation could descend upon the Nascent Soul Stage.

“Let’s move Gungbong over there first. Sister Seol, please stand guard.”

“Okay! Got it!”

Leaving Gungbong in the care of Sister Seol and the dragons, I stood before Soto once more.

Then Soto’s shell suddenly split apart, and a new body burst out from inside.

—Shraak.

Even though it was a body registered inside Dokmul-hyang, Soto had apparently lost consciousness during the breakthrough phase and thus remained in spirit-creature form.

The upper part of that body split open, and like molting, a completely new body emerged from within.

A figure rose upward from the round body.

Strangely enough, Soto’s form was not that of a harvestman.

Since Soto was originally a harvestman spirit-creature, I had assumed that upon reaching the Nascent Soul Stage, her evolved harvestman true form would reveal itself.

But surprisingly, Soto instead possessed the appearance of a perfectly complete woman.

The aura she emitted was unmistakably at the Nascent Soul Stage, yet she was neither half-human half-beast nor some humanoid beast form.

She looked entirely human.

No, looking closer, there was one difference.

From Soto’s waist extended ten slender transparent legs.

Like a dress, they rose gracefully around her waist and supported her body.

However, both her body and the legs were still small.

Was she not originally tiny enough to cling to a person’s head?

Naturally, that meant her transformed body resembled the size of a doll girls might play with.

But as bodily fluids began flowing and blood started circulating through her form, Soto’s body slowly grew larger.

Though she already resembled an adult woman, she had initially been somewhat miniature.

Now her body expanded further and further until she became the perfect size of a fully grown woman.

“Ooh.”

It was a face I had never seen before.

Apparently this was Soto’s human form.

The moment Soto opened her sparkling eyes—

A massive rumble echoed from the heavens.

—Ruuumble.

Apparently the heavenly tribulation was beginning.

I immediately retreated while shouting,

“Soto! It’s the heavenly tribulation! You have to endure it!”

While quickly raising the energies of Moji and Soji in preparation, a lightning bolt crashed down from the sky.

—RUMBLE KWA-BOOM!

The world flashed white as an overwhelming force descended toward Soto.

The smell of ozone rapidly spread everywhere from the immense lightning strike.

Then, once the light faded, an astonishing sight revealed itself.

At some point, Soto had created something resembling a long spear and now stood calmly beside it.

“Soto?”

“Lightning energy is attracted to the Metal element. So I made a metal rod to block it.”

She had supposedly received the power of the stars, and somehow Soto now seemed smarter.

As I stared in astonishment, Soto asked shyly,

“Um, So-ryong.”

“Yeah?”

“C-can I hug you?”

“Of course.”

Soto instantly launched herself at me and wrapped herself tightly around me.

The legs extending from her waist wound firmly around my body.

As though she never intended to let go again.

***

Gungbong’s realm advancement took two additional days.

I had no idea why there was such a difference despite them reaching the same realm, but regardless, it took another two days.

Two days later, after being summoned by one of the dragon girls, I hurried into Dokmul-hyang.

Like Soto before her, Gungbong floated in midair before slowly descending.

The instant Gungbong’s feet touched the ground—

An eruption of power burst forth.

A realm advancement completely different from anything before began unfolding.

“W-what is this?”

When Hwa-eun and the others advanced, their species themselves had changed.

But with Gungbong, that was not the case.

Instead, enormous energy exploded outward around her body before condensing into a single bow that settled into her arms.

Even her clothing transformed into flowing green robes like those worn by celestial maidens.

How should I describe it?

It felt as though the energy within her body had materialized into the shape of a bow.

Once the surrounding aura dispersed, Gungbong slowly opened her eyes.

“So-ryong.”

“Gungbong, are you alright?”

I immediately asked after her condition.

I wanted to know whether her breakthrough had succeeded properly.

—Rumble.

At that moment, the sky let out another cry.

As expected from a realm around the Nascent Soul Stage, it seemed the heavenly tribulation was beginning.

“Gungbong, you have to endure this. That’s called a heavenly tribulation, and it descends upon all cultivators. I can’t help you with it, alright?”

Just as I had done with Soto, I instructed Gungbong to withstand the heavenly tribulation.

The moment she heard me, Gungbong grabbed her head and crouched down.

“Uwaaaah!”

Apparently she was terrified of lightning.

Then the instant the lightning descended, something strange occurred.

—KRA-BOOOOM!

A massive bolt of lightning shot directly toward Gungbong—

But just before striking her body, it suddenly bent diagonally and crashed into the ground instead.

‘Wait, heavenly tribulations can curve now?’

Even stranger, perhaps because the first lightning bolt had curved away, another bolt immediately descended afterward.

—KRA-RUMBLE!

Yet that one also slanted away and completely missed Gungbong.

A moment later, Gungbong cautiously opened her eyes and blinked.

Two bolts of lightning had crashed down around her, yet she herself remained completely unharmed, leaving her visibly confused.

‘Huuuh?! Could it be...?’

At that moment, I finally understood what was happening.

The Ziwei North Pole Emperor of the Middle Heavens had bestowed upon her the power of the Fortune Star.

Apparently Gungbong had now become some kind of absurdly lucky existence.

Otherwise, there was no way something this fortunate could happen.

While I stood there stunned, Gungbong looked up at me and asked,

“I-is it over?”

“Well? I think it might be?”

“Really? It’s not going to strike again, right?”

“I’m not really sure either...”

I genuinely could not tell whether it had truly ended, but Gungbong puffed her cheeks slightly and complained.

“How do you not know that?”

“It’s not like I know absolutely everything.”

I was not some omniscient genius, so how could I possibly know everything?

But Gungbong firmly insisted that was impossible.

“No. So-ryong knows everything.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re the smartest man in the world.”

“Me?”

“Yes. The smartest man I knew before was Ji-ryong, but you were the one who healed even Ji-ryong.”

So according to Gungbong’s logic, since I had once cured the sick Ji-ryong, that automatically made me smarter than Ji-ryong.

If someone other than my wife had said something this ridiculous, I would have asked what kind of nonsense they were spouting.

But hearing my wife genuinely think of me that way was adorable.

After all, she was basically saying I was the greatest man in existence.

“So our Gungbong thought of me that way?”

“O-our Gungbong?”

Gungbong jumped in surprise at the phrase “our Gungbong.”

When I approached and wrapped an arm around her waist, she flinched again.

“W-what are you doing?”

“We’re husband and wife now.”

“Ah right! That’s true! We became husband and wife. Gungbong greets her husband.”

Yet the moment I reminded her we were married, she immediately bowed deeply.

Conversation suddenly became much easier.

I had spent a long time wondering how to communicate properly with Gungbong, but eventually I found the solution.

If I simply turned my brain off while talking to her, conversation flowed surprisingly well.

Smiling slightly, I suddenly asked her something.

“Ah, right. What’s your actual name? Now that you’re my wife, I can’t keep calling you Gungbong forever, can I?”

Come to think of it, I still did not know Gungbong’s real name.

When had we first met?

Ever since meeting her at the Martial Alliance, everyone had only ever called her Gungbong.

I had never once heard her actual name.

Before, that had not really mattered.

But now that we were married, how could I not know my own wife’s name?

That was why I asked.

Yet Gungbong gave me a bizarre answer.

“It used to be Cho Myo-a, but now apparently it’s Yu Gong Myo-a.”

“...What?”

Could a person’s surname really just change like that?

Tilting my head in confusion, I asked,

“Why did your surname change?”

At that, Gungbong waved the bow in her arms and answered,

“This. This bow. The person who gave me this said I’m part of the Yu Gong clan now. Like an adopted daughter or something.”

“What does that even mean?”

The moment I turned my brain off, the situation became impossible to understand.

So I forcefully shoved my brain back in and demanded a proper explanation.

Then an alarming answer came out.

“Well, you see... in my dream, some mister appeared and asked whether I wanted to share his surname if he gave me this bow. So I immediately said yes. The bow looked really cool.”

“...What?”

Startled, I instantly grabbed Gungbong’s hand and ran straight toward Huiyang.

Because it seriously sounded like our innocent little Gungbong had just signed some kind of scam contract.

Apparently in the Lower and Middle Heavens, powerful existences occasionally appeared and offered contracts like this.

And it sounded very much like clueless Gungbong had casually accepted one.

“Huiyang!”

“So-ryong, what is the matter?”

“This is serious. Please contact Lady Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo immediately.”

“Lady Hyeonnyeo?”

“Yes. It seems Gungbong entered into some kind of contract with an unknown immortal. Haa...”

“T-this is terrible. I’ll immediately prepare the ritual.”

Huiyang quickly prepared the offering ritual and connected us to Lady Hyeonnyeo.

I hurriedly explained Gungbong’s condition.

“Lady Hyeonnyeo, something terrible has happened.”

[“Don’t tell me the dragons have invaded?”]

“No, no. It’s not that. Gungbong—”

“Myo-a, So-ryong. You said you’d call me by my name.”

“Right. Myo-a apparently made a contract with an unknown immortal.”

At first Lady Hyeonnyeo had panicked thinking it involved dragons, but after hearing that Gungbong had made an agreement with some unknown immortal, she became even more alarmed.

[“An immortal? Who was it?!”]

“I don’t know either. Apparently she traded even her surname for a bow.”

[“What nonsense are you talking about? Explain it properly. Hm? T-that is?!”]

Then, the moment Lady Hyeonnyeo saw the bow in Gungbong’s hands, she cried out in disbelief.

[“D-don’t tell me the one who gave her that called himself part of the Yu Gong clan?”]

“Yes, Lady Hyeonnyeo.”

“Do you know who it is?”

It definitely sounded like she recognized the name.

In response to my question, she answered:

“The Hero Who Shot Down the Nine Suns, Hou Yi himself. He is the progenitor of the Yu Gong clan... and the husband abandoned by Chang’e.”