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Chapter 86
Startled, Jeok Soya swung the White ‌‌‌‌Tiger Blade in wide arcs and charged toward the ghost in white robes.
―Ack, ugh, ah, baby bird, wait, this thing, ugh...!
The ghost ‌‌‌uttered ‌‌‌something, but Jeok Soya's ears, sharp with alarm, could not hear it.
―I'm not ‌‌a ghost, ugh, really not, gah....
Only after the tattered ghost collapsed to the ground with a thud did Jeok Soya cease her assault, breathing ‌‌‌‌heavily.
―Oh dear, what am I to do? The White Tiger Mountain Lord is beaten to a pulp. ‌‌
A woman in crimson robes murmured in a tone that was neither sorrowful nor delighted, but something ambiguous between the two.
Jeok Soya suddenly felt the ‌‌woman's voice was somehow familiar.
[Who are you...?]
―So we meet again, little bird. I didn't mean to startle you, ‌‌‌forgive ‌‌me.
The woman smiled gently at Jeok Soya and offered a greeting.
[W-who are you?]
Jeok Soya asked warily, still refusing to release the White Tiger Blade from her grip.
―My, you don't remember us at all.
The man who had collapsed on the ground rose to his feet, muttering as he did.
At this, Jeok Soya flinched and retreated, prompting the woman to scold the man.
―Stay still, you old tiger. Don't you see you're frightening the little ‌‌‌bird? ‌‌‌
'Old tiger...?'
At that vaguely familiar expression, Jeok Soya blinked her eyes wide.
―Who are you calling old? Even like this, I'm 500 years younger than that hag.
―It's 497 years, not 500.
―Same difference.
―How is ‌‌that the same? The tiger's judgment has grown clouded with age.
―Listen here, Phoenix hag. I'm telling you again, I'm 497 years younger ‌than you....
The man and woman resumed their bickering once more.
Watching them, Jeok Soya felt her tension ease, and she ventured to speak carefully.
[Um... ghost spirits?]
―Ah, little bird.
―Oh my, little bird!
The man and woman, belatedly noticing Jeok Soya's presence, stopped their quarrel and turned around with a start.
[Did... you two come looking for me?]
―Ah, well... we.... ‌‌‌‌‌
The man in white robes scratched his head, then introduced themselves.
―We're not ghosts. I am the White Tiger Mountain Lord, and this lady here is the Vermillion Bird Goddess.
[...?]
―The Divine Beast White Tiger ‌‌‌‌and Phoenix you awakened, that is.
[...!]
Jeok Soya's eyes widened in astonishment.
[But back then, you were so much larger...?]
Floating ‌‌about the size of a palm, they were vastly different from the White Tiger Mountain Lord and Vermillion Bird Goddess ‌‌that Soya had seen before.
For one, they were far too small.
"What you saw ‌‌‌‌that day was our true form."
The White Tiger Mountain Lord drifted before Soya as he explained.
Since their souls had departed to the heavens long ago, it was difficult to maintain their true forms on the earthly realm for extended periods.
[I'm sorry. ‌Since you were floating in mid-air, I thought you were ghosts.]
"It hurt a little, but it's fine, little bird. Rather, I'm relieved to see how spirited you ‌are. Hahahaha!"
The White Tiger Mountain Lord burst into hearty laughter, a large bump now adorning his head.
[But... if ‌‌‌you keep visiting like this, won't ‌‌‌people be startled?]
"Hehe, don't worry too much, little bird. Only you can see our forms and hear our voices."
"That's right. Only you are connected to us through your spirit ‌‌‌‌core."
[My spirit core?]
Soya quietly raised her hand and placed it over her chest. ‌‌‌
She felt her spirit core thrumming steadily within.
"We are ‌‌‌always within you, so whenever you have questions, come seek us out."
That had been half a month ago.
Since then, Soya had often conversed with them in this manner.
'The problem is that no matter what topic we start ‌with, it always ends in an argument between the two of them.'
Letting their bickering fade into the background, I collapsed onto the grassland.
The birds I had healed moments before now perched on my skirts and sang, while wild beasts circled around me, grazing on the grass.
[Borrowing power from beings of great strength—that is your true ability.]
Three years ago, Tae Irim had revealed to me the existence of "beings of great strength." Now I understood who they were.
The Vermillion Bird Goddess of the Southern Lands.
The White Tiger Mountain Lord of the Western Lands.
Cheong Hae Yong Sin of the Eastern Lands. ‌‌‌
Hyeon To Yeom Wang of the Northern Region.
The four divine beasts who had once protected this ‌realm.
The White Tiger Mountain Lord lent me his strong, unyielding power of steel, while the Vermillion Bird Goddess lent me her precise, gentle power of flame.
Thanks to them, I could now conjure purifying flames without need of intermediaries, healing the wounded and afflicted creatures as I did now.
Though I had not used it once since the Mountain Lord Festival three years ago, I had also gained the power to protect those dear to me.
'I wish I could boast of this to His Majesty.'
Tae ‌‌Irim, who had explained my ability to me, had become the ‌‌perfect emperor of Taehwa Kingdom over these three years.
And over these three years, growing up as a lady of ‌‌Baek Ho Palace, I had learned one more truth.
That I, as a direct descendant of the Baekho Family, ‌‌must become a candidate for the bride of ‌‌‌‌the Yellow Dragon on behalf of my family.
'That feels... strange somehow.'
To become a bride candidate for someone who had been a childhood ‌‌‌‌connection.
Of course, Father had said I need not concern myself with such matters and should keep my heart light, but still.
As ‌‌‌I pondered the Yellow Dragon's bride, a sudden question occurred to me.
"But that prophecy... the one about the Yellow Dragon's bride awakening the divine beasts. Something about it seems odd."
At my words, the Vermillion Bird Goddess and White Tiger Mountain Lord ceased their bickering.
"I'm not ‌‌yet the Yellow Dragon's bride, am I?"
―That's because you possess the Yellow Dragon's Wish-Fulfilling Jewel.
"Me?"
At the White Tiger Mountain Lord's words, Jeok Soya's eyes widened in surprise.
A Wish-Fulfilling Jewel?
Wasn't that the legendary sacred gem that the Yellow Dragon bestowed upon his consort?
―White Tiger Mountain Lord.
The Vermillion Bird Goddess stripped away her playfulness and called to the White Tiger Mountain Lord in a firm, solemn voice.
―....
In an instant, the White Tiger Mountain Lord's lips sealed shut.
Jeok Soya was curious about what it meant that she possessed the Wish-Fulfilling Jewel, but they offered no further explanation.
* ‌‌‌‌* *
The Imperial Palace of Taehwa Kingdom.
The fourteen-year-old boy emperor was reading through a report sent from the Baek Ho Palace in the Western Lands.
"The head of the Baek Family, Sayeon, has perfectly ‌‌‌resolved the plague."
"I see."
A faint smile graced Tae Irim's lips as he ‌‌‌listened to the ‌‌report in silence.
It was a tender smile, as if recalling someone ‌‌‌‌deeply missed.
Everyone's eyes widened in astonishment at the sight of this emperor—who had coldly ‌‌‌slaughtered his own blood relatives with an expressionless face—now wearing such a gentle smile.
But the moment they blinked, wondering if they had seen ‌‌‌it wrong, the smile that had lingered on the emperor's face vanished without a trace.
Tae Irim rose slowly from his seat and made his way to the bedchamber.
The attendants who followed closed the door behind him, leaving him alone in the chamber.
Where his gaze directed, a massive painting hung on one wall ‌‌‌of the spacious bedchamber.
The Blue Dragon to the east, the White ‌‌Tiger to the west, the Vermillion Bird to the ‌‌south, and ‌‌‌the Black Tortoise to the north. And in the center of them all was a ‌‌‌Five-Directional Divine Beasts Diagram depicting the Yellow Dragon with golden scales.
"The Vermillion Bird, the White Tiger. And next is... the awakener of the east, the Blue Dragon."
As ‌‌‌‌he slowly traced the painting, he suddenly fixed his gaze upon the golden dragon depicted in the center.
The Yellow Dragon who ruled the center was a symbol of ‌‌authority and ‌‌‌‌harmony.
The Yellow Dragon's power was earth. Substantial yet scattered.
This entire ‌‌‌world upon which all beast-kin walked was entirely his domain.
He possessed power strong enough to destroy and recreate an entire world, yet great power always came ‌with an equal price.
Suddenly, a burning pain coursed through him.
Tae Irim's gaze flickered downward.
Black scales scattered on the floor caught his eye.
He stared at the black scales with cool, teal-colored eyes.
The price ‌‌of the great power that had overturned the world festered in pitch black.

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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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