Chapter 764: Three Souls (2)

The moment Gungbong spoke, I was so startled my mind went blank and a sound burst out almost like a scream.

“W-what are you talking about!?”

What kind of ridiculous nonsense was that supposed to mean, becoming one body?

If the wives happened to overhear this conversation right now, they would not merely panic—they might faint on the spot.

They had already tolerated me taking other wives, and even accepted me suddenly gaining not one or two but eight concubines at once, but if they misunderstood and thought I had somehow even laid hands on Gungbong...

“Why? It’s true!”

“No, I mean, technically it is, but...”

Unfortunately, I could not even fully deny it.

At least at the moment, the three of us really were sharing a single body.

Of course, not the kind of “one body” where a man and woman united through yin and yang.

This was something far stranger—three souls stuffed together inside the body of some mysterious woman that might not even properly qualify as a living creature.

If you focused purely on the meaning, calling it one body was not exactly wrong.

All the physical sensations were shared equally between the three of us. Only our thoughts were separate. The body itself was completely one.

“S-so what I’m saying is... right! I told you before. Think before you speak! You can’t say things that people will misunderstand!”

“What misunderstanding? We’re sharing one body, so when I touched the chest, So-ryong got startled too. Was I the only one who felt it? You felt it too. It was soft.”

“Agh...!”

At Gungbong’s calm response, the sensation from earlier vividly resurfaced in my mind.

Just remembering it made my face heat up on its own.

At that moment, Soto—who had stayed quiet until now—suddenly stepped in like a mediator.

“Please calm down, both of you.”

Right. What was even the point of arguing anymore?

I was only exhausting myself.

Eventually I pressed a hand against my throbbing head while Soto smoothly regained control of the situation.

“Please calm down. So-ryong will control the body, and Gungbong can stay with me and only think.”

“But I want to try moving this body too...”

“You promised you’d listen to me.”

“Pff... fine. I wanted to touch the chest a little more, though...”

I had no idea what kind of agreement existed between those two, but as always, Soto settled the chaos with frightening speed.

After Soto finished directing traffic, I carefully climbed down from the bed.

The moment my bare feet touched the cold floor, I heard someone calling from farther away.

“So-ryong? Lady Soto?”

When I turned my head, a woman was entering through the open doorway.

Our side wore more accessories, but otherwise she was dressed exactly like the woman whose body we currently occupied.

Yes, she looked exactly like one of those celestial maidens painted on hanging scrolls in Daoist temples across the Central Plains.

I immediately rose and cupped my fists in greeting.

This was probably the Upper Heavens where the Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo resided.

Even a servant here stood above us in status.

“It is my first time meeting you.”

The woman smiled brightly at my greeting.

Then she lowered her head gracefully and spoke.

“I am the celestial maiden Gu Chae-a, servant of the Hyeonnyeo, Chaenyeo, and Sonyeo. Are you experiencing any discomfort with movement?”

At her question, I raised an arm and turned my head experimentally.

There was no discomfort.

After flexing my fingers a few more times, I answered honestly.

“Yes, it feels fine.”

Even moving the smallest parts of the body felt smooth and natural, almost like my own real body.

At my answer, the celestial maiden Gu Chae-a visibly relaxed.

“That’s a relief. Since we were placing two people inside, I worried there might be complications, but it seems the body was made properly. The ornaments on your body are protective treasures meant to shield you from the aura of higher beings, so please do not touch them and follow me. The Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo is waiting—”

From the way she spoke, it sounded like this body had been created by her.

At that moment, I realized I probably needed to explain the current problem to her first.

If she made the body, then she should hear about this situation before anyone else.

“Um, actually...”

Since she looked ready to guide us to the Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo, I hurriedly interrupted.

Chae-a, who had already begun turning away, looked back at me with a tilt of her head.

“Yes?”

“The body itself is fine, but there’s... another problem...”

“Another problem?”

“Well, you see, inside this body there’s... guh!”

I had been about to explain that there were three people inside instead of two.

But the moment I placed a hand against the chest, I jolted in shock.

The sensation hit me again instantly.

Seeing my reaction, the celestial maiden Chae-a blushed slightly and spoke.

“I made it in the same form as my own body, so this is a little embarrassing.”

“What!? S-sorry!”

I had not even seen this body’s face yet, and now she was telling me it had been modeled after her own?

As I stood there stunned, Gungbong’s voice echoed inside my mind.

‘Oh... so these are her breasts?’

‘Gungbong!’

‘Ah, okay... I’ll stay quiet.’

Soto immediately suppressed her before I could.

Then Chae-a spoke again.

“N-no, it’s fine. You were not trying to touch them on purpose, right? So what was the issue?”

I glanced around awkwardly before cautiously explaining the situation.

“Actually... there were supposed to be two people coming here, but I think three arrived instead.”

“Three people?”

The moment the words left my mouth, Chae-a’s eyes widened violently.

Then she rushed over and seized my wrist.

“H-how did this happen!?”

I wanted to ask that myself, so what was she asking me for!?

“I-I’m not really sure either...”

“It’s really three people. Two of them have nearly identical soul wavelengths, so they feel like one person, but there are definitely three! W-wouldn’t that cause overload? What do we do? J-just wait here! Please stay seated exactly where you are. D-don’t move no matter what!”

Perhaps because she was a celestial maiden, she practically flew away.

Even though she had ordered us not to move, Gungbong eventually got bored enough to start wiggling our fingers around until I scolded her.

Then three people entered the place where we were staying.

One was Chae-a.

The other two were likely the Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo and the Chaenyeo.

The woman at the front spoke first.

“What in the world happened here?”

I had never directly seen her face before.

People of such high status could supposedly erase lesser existences merely by being seen.

But that warm, gentle voice—

It was one I knew well.

“I greet the Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo.”

“We greet the Hyeonnyeo.”

The Hyeonnyeo’s appearance far exceeded my imagination.

I had pictured someone with the kind warmth of a mother, but the Hyeonnyeo looked young enough to be around Hwa-eun’s age—or one of the other wives’.

Her skin was white as snow, and her face possessed the beauty of a blooming lotus.

Her brows were thin and perfectly shaped, her lips red like cherries, and her black hair flowed straight down past her waist with the sheen of a night sky.

“So-ryong, are you all right?”

The next voice unmistakably belonged to the Chaenyeo.

It carried that slightly cold, city-woman tone.

“So-ryong greets the Nine-Heaven Chaenyeo.”

“We greet the Chaenyeo.”

The Chaenyeo was a beauty with the same cold elegance as her voice.

Her dark blue-black hair framed eyes so deep they looked filled with starlight.

Not merely cold, but calm and compassionate at the same time.

“Sit down. Greetings are not the important matter right now.”

“Yes, sit first.”

As soon as I sat down, one of them grasped my wrist while the other pressed a palm against my chest to inspect my condition.

Light poured from their hands.

Soon, the two of them realized Gungbong’s presence within me.

“So this child is the one who stayed beside Soto?”

“The two were attached together for too long, so the wavelengths of their Three Souls became identical. That is probably why she was dragged along by the Great Soul-Seizing Art.”

“To think their wavelengths synchronized like twin fetuses...”

From their explanation, it seemed Soto and Gungbong had stayed together for so long that their soul wavelengths had become nearly identical, causing the Great Soul-Seizing Art to mistake them for a single entity.

“Do you feel any strain on the body?”

“No, nothing unusual.”

“The body was originally designed for only two people, so there should have been severe overload...”

“But since there are three, the boundaries have already collapsed, Hyeonnyeo.”

“I see...”

“Just in case, I’ll add more protective treasures to reduce the burden on the body. I’ll also add another treasure to stabilize the Three Souls.”

“Yes. Let us do that first.”

“Add rouge as well, and color around the eyes too. We should prepare for any possible situation.”

“Understood.”

After discussing something among themselves, the three women fastened an anklet around my ankle.

Then they tucked a flower behind my ear.

And after that came makeup.

I was already wearing a flowing skirt and layered celestial robes, which already felt strange enough, but once they added flowers and cosmetics too, the sensation became indescribably bizarre.

‘T-this is even more shocking than when I disguised myself as a palace maid...’

Moments even more traumatizing than entering the imperial palace passed by, and I cautiously asked,

“Will this solve the problem?”

The Hyeonnyeo answered calmly.

“Yes. There should not be any major issue now. Your Three Souls will not be damaged, nor will the body suddenly overload and force you back down to the Lower Heavens.”

Gungbong’s addition had definitely created an unexpected complication, but if the Hyeonnyeo herself guaranteed it, then it probably was not truly dangerous.

So just as I was about to ask why exactly they had summoned us—

“Then why did you call us—”

The Hyeonnyeo suddenly gazed off toward the distant mountains and spoke.

“Well... there is one minor problem.”

“Pardon?”

Humans had instincts.

And So-ryong’s instincts were particularly sharp.

At that moment, I immediately realized something terrible had happened.

Still, it was not like I could pressure or blame the Nine Heavens Hyeonnyeo.

The corners of my eyes twitched as I cautiously asked,

“Isn’t this... not actually minor?”

Then the Chaenyeo took over the explanation.

“No, it’s fairly minor. Nothing will happen to your body or your Three Souls.”

“Then what is it?”

“The body was originally designed for two people. Since there are three inside now, the boundaries weakened somewhat.”

“Boundaries?”

“You saw the doll, didn’t you?”

“Yes...”

“It was painted in two colors because the two souls were meant to be stored separately. But once a third person entered, that structure broke down, so the souls became slightly mixed together.”

“Mixed!? Isn’t that a huge problem!?”

Souls mixing together?

Even hearing that vaguely sounded incredibly serious.

I did not know about Soto, but mixing my soul with Gungbong’s?

At this rate my average intelligence was going to decrease, among countless other horrifying possibilities.

As expected, the Chaenyeo could not even meet my eyes while continuing.

“No, it’s not a major issue. Even if the Three Souls mix slightly, it does not mean the two become one person, nor will your minds or personalities fuse together into something strange.”

“Then what happens?”

A brief silence followed.

I looked not at the Chaenyeo, but at the Hyeonnyeo.

But even she seemed unable to answer easily, merely gazing out the window without speaking.

Finally, I turned toward the celestial maiden Chae-a.

Only then did I receive an answer.

“W-well... men and women naturally mix the colors of their Three Souls sometimes. So it’s fine.”

“...?”

Something about that explanation sounded strange.

Men and women mixing the colors of their souls?

My head tilted in confusion.

This body might be one body, but two people could still speak through it.

And the reaction came from Soto first.

“N-no way!?”

Her voice sounded utterly shocked.

As expected from intelligent Soto, she was the first to understand what the three women meant.

“What is it, Soto?”

At my question, Soto answered in a completely flabbergasted voice.

“I-it sounds like... we entered the same state as a royal consummation.”

“A royal consummation!?”

What Soto meant was—

Even though we had physically done absolutely nothing, the three of us had somehow ended up in the same state as if we had.