Chapter 762: Nine Heavens Mad Dragon (8)

When I opened my eyes, the jade-colored dragon had collapsed in front of me, cold sweat pouring down her face.

Her trembling hands and deathly pale expression.

It looked like she had suffered a huge shock.

Well, if someone suddenly sensed an existence from the Upper Heavens chasing after them, there was no way they could stay sane.

“Huff, huff...”

“Breathe.”

Sua was taking care of her, and the girl tightly grabbed Sua’s outstretched hand as she asked,

“W-we were...”

“Yes.”

Instead of explaining, Sua simply nodded.

Apparently, once registration severed their connection to those higher beings above, they instinctively realized what kind of state they had been in.

The moment Sua nodded, the girl suddenly burst into tears.

“Sniff... W-we were breeding sows...”

“What!?”

Ever since Sua had brought up sows earlier, the conversation kept spiraling in strange directions.

The faces of the other dragons standing behind her turned pale white.

What she meant was that she was lamenting the fact that she had unknowingly become someone’s slave, but in her shocked state, her explanation had been far too short.

No matter who heard it, it sounded like registering with me had turned them into some kind of livestock slave.

Originally, it should have been more like, “We had become breeding sows.”

And “breeding sow” was not exactly a flattering term either.

In my previous life, it was the kind of word that immediately brought R-rated stuff to mind, while here it just sounded like being treated as livestock.

『“No, girls, you’re making the atmosphere weird again.”』

I could not say it out loud, so I sent the message through the group mind-link instead. Sua looked at me.

The jade-colored dragon steadied herself, then rose and bowed deeply toward me.

“Elder, my name is Okryeong. Thank you for allowing me to realize what kind of state I was in.”

“Ah, y-yeah.”

I answered awkwardly, and after finishing her bow, Okryeong staggered back to her feet.

Then she turned toward the other dragons waiting behind her.

“Everyone, don’t be afraid. You’ll also realize how you ended up here.”

At that, confused voices rose from the others.

“How we ended up here?”

“What do you mean by that?”

Even I tilted my head at Okryeong’s words.

Because it sounded like she had not come here of her own will.

Seeing my expression, Okryeong nodded and explained,

“What cultivator pursuing the Great Dao would willingly choose to become someone’s concubine? They said we would be granted the honor of speaking directly with the higher ones at the altar, so I went there... and before I realized it, I was nodding along to their command.”

“Ah...”

I roughly understood what she meant.

Yeah, that made sense.

Everyone who ascended from the Lower Heavens to climb upward was someone pursuing the Great Dao of cultivation.

People who longed to rise higher and become immortals.

Stopping halfway meant returning to nothingness, so naturally they had no choice but to climb with everything they had.

But more than that, for most cultivators, cultivation itself was the purpose of life.

Otherwise, there would have been no reason to walk the path of cultivation in the first place.

So even if it was supposedly for the sake of their race, not one of them would willingly agree to become someone’s concubine—no, someone’s slave.

That was no different from entrusting their entire life to someone else.

It was the same as handing their life over to another person.

Once you began serving someone, the growth of the one being served naturally came first.

If things went badly enough, you could even become spirit pills for that person’s advancement.

Thinking about it like that, it seemed the dragons had used the power of whatever covenant bound them and sent these girls to me.

Something like hypnosis.

In a way, these girls had been swept up by my obsession with collecting things, so I did feel a little sorry for them.

But if you thought about it carefully, I was basically their savior.

‘Well, it’s a good thing you ended up with me. I’ll make sure Zihwa and Jayo never eat you. The other dragons are finished.’

Honestly, even if their current situation seemed pitiful, things would reverse soon enough.

The moment Zihwa woke up, these heavens would be thrown into chaos.

When that happened, dragons would probably become creatures just waiting for the day they died.

But these girls?

I was going to protect them thoroughly.

For now, I decided to finish the registration process first.

“All right, we’ll talk about that in more detail later. Next.”

The moment I called for the next one, a white-haired woman stepped out from among the remaining six dragons.

The others were hesitating because of the whole breeding-sow comment earlier, but she came forward without pause.

Judging by her hair color, this one was a white dragon.

“I’ll do it.”

She had a somewhat cold face and an intelligent atmosphere about her.

I nodded and gestured for her to come closer, and Okryeong explained,

“White dragons are known for their calmness and exceptional intelligence, So-ryong.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Dragons possess different traits depending on their color. White dragons are intellectual, calm, and exceptionally wise. Red dragons are quick-tempered, but their martial strength is correspondingly high. Black dragons possess depths as dark as night itself and excel at handling yin energy. Yellow dragons are essentially golden dragons, supreme among all dragons, with the ability to command countless creatures.

Silver dragons can deflect Law Arts with their scales. Azure dragons control both the depths of the great sea and the clouds above, bringing prosperity to the land. And we jade dragons are second to none in sturdiness.”

“Ooh. Just as I thought.”

I had suspected their colors corresponded to different attributes, and apparently I had been right.

Delighted, I reached out toward the white dragon’s mouth just as I had done before.

“Ah.”

The moment my hand moved, she had already opened her mouth.

Apparently, she had carefully observed Okryeong earlier.

“You remember what I told you, right?”

“Yes, elder. Once I awaken inside the mental-image space, the moment you appear, I run toward you immediately. I remember clearly.”

“Good.”

Just in case, I asked again to make sure she understood the important part, and the white dragon answered flawlessly.

I touched my fingers against her tongue and immediately entered the registration process.

My vision blurred, and what appeared before me was an enormous frozen lake.

The surface of the lake was covered in ice, and that frozen plain itself seemed to be her mental-image space.

I had awakened at the lakeside.

Fwoooooosh—

A blizzard raged so fiercely inside her mental-image space that I could barely see.

The moment I launched myself toward the place where I sensed her energy, I heard a voice.

“Elder!”

I personally did not need a signal since my senses were sharp enough to track her presence anyway, but apparently she had called out just in °• N ?? v ?? l i g h t •° case.

So the thing about white dragons being clever was true after all.

My body cut through the icy winds as I rapidly closed the distance to the white dragon’s energy.

Inside the blizzard, where visibility extended less than an inch ahead, I grabbed hold of her body.

Then I looked at her face.

Her eyes had gone impossibly wide.

“W-what in the world is that!?”

She asked the question without even daring to turn around.

Above us, the blizzard was scattering apart as the traces of that higher existence gathered together, slowly taking shape.

Instead of answering, I covered her lips with mine.

I could explain later.

The moment our lips touched, the same voice echoed beside my ears as it faded away into the distance.

[Who dares attempt to break the great dragon’s covenant!]

The registration completed safely, and when I woke up, the white dragon was staring blankly ahead in shock.

Just like Okryeong earlier, her fingertips trembled slightly.

“S-so that’s why...”

“That’s right.”

The white dragon nodded at Okryeong’s words.

Then she turned around and addressed the remaining dragons.

“E-everyone, gather around. I-I’ll explain. The ‘breeding sow’ thing was... slightly inaccurate.”

Just as expected from the supposedly smartest and most rational dragon.

Without even being asked, she immediately began calming the others down.

Once the white dragon explained things to the others, the registration process became much smoother.

None of them doubted me anymore.

Though I still had to repeat the same process and hear the same words six more times.

[Who dares attempt to break the great dragon’s covenant!]

[Who dares attempt to break the great dragon’s covenant!]

[Who dares attempt to break the great dragon’s covenant!]

[...]

By the time I finished registering the final dragon, eight dragons stood before me, completely transferred over to my side without any further complications.

Azure, red, white, black, yellow, green, silver, and jade.

Eight dragons, each with beautiful colors.

They looked at me with eyes completely different from before registration.

So many different morphs at once?

So-ryong’s chest swelled up like Big Sister Jeokwol’s chest.

Normally, collecting them one by one through suffering was standard, but this time I had obtained them all at once.

There was no way my chest wouldn’t swell with pride.

“Kyaah! Collection complete!”

As I celebrated, the eight pairs of eyes looking at me had completely lost their fear and hesitation, replaced instead with trust and happiness.

“But when is our first night?”

“Now that we all belong to So-ryong, won’t it be soon?”

“That registration process may have consumed a lot of mental energy.”

“Oh my. Then should we at least give him massages?”

“That sounds good!”

And hearing them say that made one thought pop into my head.

‘Ah, crap! Then I can’t use the reverse scales...’

If they were already this cooperative, I could not move on to reverse-scale training.

Originally, I had planned to begin reverse-scale education after registration, but now there was no need for it at all.

A tiny part of me felt slightly disappointed.

‘Just a little disappointing.’

***

Just like the registration process itself had gone smoothly, the greetings between the eight dragons and the wives proceeded smoothly as well.

“Please take care of us, wives. We will serve the elder sincerely as concubines.”

“That’s right. Make sure there is not even the slightest inadequacy in the way you serve your husband.”

“Do not forget your proper place.”

“Of course, wives.”

The dragons did not act arrogant just because they were dragons.

Instead, they treated the wives respectfully and showed an attitude of absolute obedience.

As I had mentioned before, concubines in the Central Plains were treated poorly.

There were several reasons for that.

The Central Plains technically had no slaves or serfs, but the social status most looked down upon was that of concubines.

Main wives usually came from scholar-official families or powerful clans, while concubines were often former courtesans, prostitutes, daughters of fallen families, or maidservants.

Because of that, the women themselves were viewed as low-status people.

I did not know whether things worked similarly here, or whether these girls were simply smart enough to read the atmosphere, but their attitudes were extremely respectful.

“And your name was Baekyeon, correct?”

“Yes, wife.”

“I heard white dragons excel at calculation and administration. Would you like to help us manage White Night City?”

“If you entrust it to me, I’ll do my best.”

After the greetings ended, Tang Cheongcheong had apparently recognized the talent of the white dragon, Baekyeon, and was in the middle of scouting her.

Just then, the office door opened and a woman stepped inside.

“So-ryong.”

A woman wearing clothes covered in peach blossom patterns.

It was Huiyang.

She was essentially something like the vice leader of our White Night City.

Under Gun Hye-rin, she handled the construction of altars and assisted with communication whenever rituals were necessary.

“Yes, Huiyang. What is it?”

Our conversation with the Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo had ended last time, and afterward we had agreed not to exchange unnecessary congratulations.

After all, even delivering trivial messages required conducting a ritual, which consumed a considerable number of Spirit Stones.

It was like the old telegrams from my childhood.

Even the smallest message required a surprisingly expensive fee.

So we had agreed not to waste resources on pointless congratulations after everything ended, but Huiyang unexpectedly said,

“So-ryong, the Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo requests an audience with both you and Lady Soto.”

“Me, I understand, but Soto too?”

“Yes.”

It made sense for them to contact me.

The matter had technically ended, but discussions regarding the dragons were not completely over.

Information about the dragons’ condition after the contracts was important enough that they naturally had to inform me.

But specifically asking for Soto was unexpected.

Seeing my expression, Huiyang smiled brightly as she explained,

“It seems they were impressed by Lady Soto’s scheme last time. They wish to borrow her wisdom.”

“Ahh.”

So they had become interested in the intelligence Soto used to completely fool the dragons.

I nodded.

“Then of course we should meet them.”

But they wanted Soto’s help?

Just what kind of situation was this?