Chapter 731: Martial Contest for Marriage (6)

That Venomous Water Crab bastard left with a smile, and Yubing was completely unconscious.

After getting hit by that sphere with three kinds of energy mixed together, Yubing still hadn’t come to.

At one side of the shore of the Black Water Sea, I laid Yubing down on a broad rock.

The sight of that fallen bastard’s plump belly and abdominal shell was right there in front of me.

'Cute little thing.'

I had already confirmed while bringing Yubing back that there was nothing seriously wrong with the body.

Yubing was lying belly-up, blowing crab bubbles, and I decided to make full use of this chance while Yubing was down and satisfy my private urges.

“Ahem. Is this area all right?”

'Damn. Hard. The abdominal shell really has changed completely into that of a female. Sh-should I open it just a little?'

I had seen Yubing’s crab form once back in the Ten-Thousand Demon Forest, but after that I almost never got to see it again.

Because whenever I asked to see it, Yubing got embarrassed and refused.

After spending so long in human form, Yubing said being in crab form felt like being naked, so it was embarrassing.

That was why, even though I wanted to examine it, I almost never had the chance to see it, so this worked out perfectly.

Also, back in the Ten-Thousand Demon Forest, I had seen the crab body, but I had never had the chance to touch it directly.

Because I had to watch Bulsiho’s reaction.

You can’t exactly go around groping Yubing right in front of your lover, can you?

It also felt like Yubing would have made a huge fuss.

That brat was a male anyway, even if the body was female, so why get so stiff about it?

So after spotting my chance, I started touching Yubing’s body all over like a sparrow dropping by a mill.

Like I was playing doctor.

“So this part is...”

It was while I was examining Yubing’s body from one angle to another.

Cho, Yo-hwa, Ji-ryeon, and Cheonhae were surrounding me to guard me while I treated Yubing, when I suddenly heard Ji-ryeon’s voice.

“So-ryong?”

“Yes!?”

I was just barely starting to slip Yubing’s abdominal shell open when I jolted in surprise.

As far as I was concerned, I was just petting a spirit creature, but it could definitely look bad.

Because opening the abdominal shell was, well, if this weren’t a spirit creature, basically like a gynecology exam...

But then the question that came made me relax.

“It’s not a serious injury, right?”

“I think Yubing just fainted from the shock.”

Maybe because Yubing’s defense was so high, there weren’t any wounds or injuries on the body.

It had simply blacked out from too much impact.

So I thought Yubing would wake up soon enough, and after I had fully satisfied my private interests, Yubing’s crab eyes seemed to move slightly, and then I heard a bubbling sound.

-Bblblblblbl.

Since Yubing hadn’t been registered in the mind-space, it just sounded like a crab making bubbling foam noises.

Because the transformation had been broken due to emotional agitation.

Yo-hwa, who had been listening, interpreted Yubing’s words for me.

-Kishi. “Yubing says Yubing is sorry, Brother.”

I shook my head and said,

“No. Are you hurt anywhere?”

-Bbl.

Answering shortly, Yubing turned those eyes away from me.

It seemed Yubing felt terribly sorry for losing.

“Don’t dwell on it, so don’t worry too much. Is there anywhere your body feels uncomfortable?”

At my question, smoke went poof, and Yubing, having turned back into a person, nodded and answered.

“Yes, Brother... But I-I’m sorry. It was something you entrusted to me.”

Even though Yubing was fine, the bastard was still apologizing.

There was really no need to feel that sorry.

“From what I saw earlier, that Venomous Water Crab bastard didn’t seem in its right mind either.”

“It seemed like it had madness, right?”

“Yes, Ji-ryeon.”

It had even felt like the thing was insane, judging by how it suddenly started speaking in another voice.

Well, of course you’d lose if you fought a crazy bitch.

“Well, it’s only one loss. There’s no need to feel that sorry over it.”

“Only one?”

Yubing tilted Yubing’s head at my words.

I grinned and answered.

“Yeah, only one. I was planning to keep fighting until we won anyway, so don’t worry. We’re not giving up here, are we?”

There had been no condition saying we could only challenge once.

So this was a challenge we could try as many times as we wanted.

At my words, Yubing’s eyes trembled violently.

***

I had never expected Yubing to win in one go.

That Venomous Water Crab bastard seemed confident in fighting, seeing how badly it wanted one.

This fight had been a kind of test.

It was to check the gap between Yubing and the opponent.

And I had come fully prepared for that too.

“All right, let’s go inside first.”

-Tsrurur. “Okay, Dad.”

“Yes, So-ryong.”

I switched places by bringing out my Primordial Infant, then quickly moved together with everyone into Dokmul-hyang.

It was time to make Yubing stronger.

Once we entered Dokmul-hyang, near the entrance I saw a bamboo hut that hadn’t been there before, probably brought there by Ji-ryeon or the kids.

They had likely put it there so they could rest here and come out when I called.

We passed by it and arrived at the flat ground where the underground cavern was, in the middle of the place where White Night City used to be. Golden-Furred Wasp Kings were flying around in the sky, and when we reached the entrance of the cavern, the Azure Steel Immortal Ants revealed themselves.

“Hello, Lord So-ryong.”

“Yeah. Have you all been doing well?”

The Azure Steel Immortal Ants greeted me, twitching their antennae.

They were hanging from the ceiling and looking down below.

The Azure Steel Immortal Ants had small human bodies now, but apparently they still felt awkward in them, so they were still acting according to their old habits like that.

“Should we inform Mother?”

“No. I’m checking on Zihwa too, and I came because I had business inside.”

“I understand. Then all right.”

We followed the path they opened for us deeper into the underground cavern.

“Greetings, Lord So-ryong.”

“Hello.”

Azure Steel Immortal Ants stuck to the ceiling and walls greeted us as we passed.

The reason these little guys were here was because they were guarding this place.

Wasn’t the place with the underground stone tablets extremely important?

So after tunneling underground and connecting it to this place, I had the Azure Steel Immortal Ants guard it.

Zihwa, who had been gathering her energy near the entrance to Dokmul-hyang, had now become something that felt almost like an egg, so I had moved her here.

Since I had sent the children out too, except for White Night City, there had been no one left to guard Zihwa while she was advancing her realm.

Of course, no one could get in here anyway, but I still needed someone to keep watch on Zihwa’s condition, and the solution was the Golden-Furred Wasp Kings in the sky and the Azure Steel Immortal Ants on the ground.

-Kishishi. “There are so many more children now.”

“Yeah.”

The Azure Steel Immortal Ants were no longer in that sparse state from when we had first met. Their numbers had grown a lot.

After passing the children who were welcoming us, we arrived at the deepest part of the underground cavern, and there I saw a stone door with a soft purple glow seeping out through the cracks.

“This is...?”

Maybe because Yubing felt fear from that light, the question came out in a slightly worried voice.

I smiled faintly and answered.

“This is where my wife is sleeping.”

“I-I didn’t know that. I-I’m sorry, Brother.”

It really did feel like she was sleeping, but Yubing seemed to have misunderstood something and got flustered.

When I brought Yubing inside, the two Azure Steel Immortal Ants standing watch inside recognized me and quickly stepped aside.

Zihwa, transformed into a huge purple egg.

I walked over and placed my hand on Zihwa’s body.

There was nothing wrong, and it felt like that massive power was being gathered in properly.

“This is?”

“This is my other wife, Zihwa.”

“S-she was alive?”

“Yeah. She’s gathering her energy.”

“Zihwa, it’s me. Nothing is wrong outside, so don’t worry and take good care of yourself.”

While Ji-ryeon and the other children greeted Zihwa,

I looked around the stone chamber.

The inside was now packed full of spirit-creature stone tablets.

The stone tablets of spirit creatures filled the front, back, left, right, and even the ceiling.

It seemed that when I had registered every spirit creature I had with me last time, all the tablets had been engraved.

I checked the stone tablets one by one, then said to Yubing, who had followed behind me,

“Yubing, if you’re engraved here, you can make your body stronger. You can make your shell harder, your claws sharper. Your body can become more agile too.

And you can gain various abilities. Do you want to try it?”

If Yubing had been a single female spirit creature, I would have been reluctant about doing the registration itself, but first of all, Yubing was male.

And there was already someone Yubing had in mind, so there was no need to worry.

The males I had registered only seemed to think of me as a good older brother or something, and in the cases of Yeondu, Bing, and Senior Yeonji, no matter how much I registered them, they had no particular interest in me anyway.

So it seemed that if someone already had another person in their heart, they didn’t end up developing feelings for me.

Bulsiho had said later she would come looking for Yubing, but that was for when Bulsiho could rise to the Middle Heaven, so it was fine to think about that later.

By then, maybe I would have met Master and learned how to cancel the registration of a registered child.

At my question, Yubing thought for a moment, then nodded.

“Yes, Brother.”

I was about to put my finger into Yubing’s mouth, pull it back out, and use that for the registration, but the fact that Yubing was male made my hand hesitate.

“?”

At the questioning look on Yubing’s face, I quickly smiled and did the registration.

Using a remote method possible because Yubing was already inside my body, without bodily fluid.

-Fwaaaaash.

Light burst from Yubing’s body, and for a moment Yubing reverted back into a crab.

A red, beautiful coral crab.

Then Yubing turned back into human form.

“Th-this? I didn’t even transform?”

Yubing looked at those hands from side to side, seeming amazed that inside Dokmul-hyang there was no need to transform anymore after being registered.

At that moment, I heard the sound of stone tablets moving from the wall of the stone chamber.

-Srrrrrrng.

-Kakakak.

The stone tablets moved like some kind of puzzle.

Among the tablets shifting up and down, left and right, one tablet sparkling red caught my eye.

When I walked over, it was a stone tablet embossed with a red crab.

It was Yubing.

When I placed my hand on Yubing’s stone tablet, the first things that came to mind were blue and red.

The tablet was blinking as if it were telling me to decide between blue and red.

'This has to be that, doesn’t it?'

I could feel it instinctively in my head.

Most likely red meant becoming completely female.

Blue clearly meant becoming completely male.

I decided to leave that choice to Yubing later, and next I touched Yubing’s carapace.

As expected, what came to mind was enhanced defense.

For the claws, sharpness could be enhanced, and for the legs, agility.

There was also enhanced crab bubbles, and that was an ability that improved hiding inside crab foam.

Yubing’s punch hadn’t become a critical hit in the first match, but even so, I couldn’t strengthen attack power right now.

Yubing had gone down in one hit, so I had to raise defense first.

Because if you go down in one hit, it’s over.

'Defense first.'

Yubing’s upgrade points were 3.

I placed my hand on the carapace and jammed 2 defense upgrades into it.

Yubing’s shell became thicker, and the sharpness around the edges increased.

The shell drawn on the stone tablet changed sharply, almost like the edge of a saw blade.

'I upgraded defense, but both offense and defense went up together!'

Thinking this was sweet as hell, I left the last upgrade point unused.

This one I decided to leave to Yubing later, to choose between the joy of a turtle-dragon or the joy of a clam.

Once the upgrade was complete, Yubing looked astonished.

“It feels like even more power is overflowing through my body now. I think I can definitely win this time!”

“Good. That’s good. I’ll trust you, Yubing.”

“Yes, Brother!”

Yubing was full of courage.

Well, Yubing might still lose, but that was fine because I had another plan besides this.

What was the other plan?

To use the spirit stones I had now and return Yubing to the previous realm.

If I restored the realm Yubing had lost by one stage after being driven out, the chances of winning would rise dramatically.

It was a waste of spirit stones, sure.

“All right then, let’s rest well for a day and challenge again tomorrow.”

“Yes, Brother.”

We decided to spend a day first at the entrance to Dokmul-hyang, and just before leaving the cavern,

I pressed my forehead briefly against Zihwa’s body, which had become egg-like.

“Zihwa, then I’ll come again later.”

It was just a final greeting to Zihwa.

And then it happened.

A single phrase that shook my heart.

'Beloved...'

“Zihwa!? Can you hear me?”

I called out again, thinking Zihwa had regained consciousness, but I heard Zihwa’s voice no more.

“What is it, So-ryong?”

“No, for a moment, I heard Zihwa’s voice...”

“We didn’t hear anything at all.”

Thinking it strange, I was just about to step away from Zihwa’s egg.

At that moment, Zihwa’s faint voice pierced my mind again.

'Beloved, be careful... of the dragon...'