As soon as morning broke, Hyang—who had woken up first—introduced the Seven-Colored Sea Wraith sitting on my shoulder to Cho and Yeondu.
“Kids, this is Cheonhae. She was just born recently. Say hello.”
‘H-hi, sisters.’
Cheonhae sparkled on my shoulder, connected a tentacle to each of them, and gave a polite bow.
The girls tilted their heads, puzzled.
– Tssrrt. 『Cheonhae?』
– Tssrr. 『Just born, you say?』
– Shaaa. 『Hmm?』
They looked visibly confused. Cheonhae flinched, her eyes darting around anxiously.
‘Th-their reactions are... kinda weird?’ (W-what’s going on?)
‘Why are they acting like that?’
“These kids aren’t usually like this... what’s wrong?”
It wasn’t like them to react this way—until I got the answer through the group chat.
『–Tssrrt. (Dad, why is that lady pretending to be a baby?)
–Tssrrr. (Yeah. She might’ve shrunk, but she’s totally a grown woman.)
–Shaaa. (Is she... sick or something?)』
Turns ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) out spirit beasts can apparently sense each other’s real age.
Cheonhae, being inexperienced in communicating with humans or other spirit beasts, must’ve assumed no one would notice her act. But unlike me, these spirit kids could clearly tell her true age.
Getting caught while cosplaying as a child? That’d be humiliating enough to make her flee on the spot.
And now she was one of my precious spirit beasts—I had to respect her kinks.
After all, old souls sometimes wish they could go back to childhood, right? Even if she was overdoing it, she deserved respect for her preferences.
‘Let her have her fantasy. It’s about respect.’
『“Just play along. Sometimes, pretending not to know is the adult thing to do.”
–Tssrrr. (Adult stuff? I don’t get it, but okay, Dad.)
–Tssrrt. (So we treat her like a little kid?)
“Yeah. She prefers that. Make sure to tell the others too, okay?”
–Shaaa. (Got it, So-ryong-nim.)』
Once I explained it properly, they all nodded in understanding.
Then the kids suddenly started waking the others up.
–Tssrrr. 『Everyone, wake up! We’ve got a new member!』
–Myu myu.
–Myuuu.
–Tssrrt. 『Miss—no, little one. Come on out, everybody.』
The girls dragged the other sleepy kids outside with them. Cheonhae panicked.
‘W-why are they doing that?’
‘Oh, nothing serious. They’re probably just talking among themselves. Don’t worry. They’ll be back soon to welcome you. Maybe planning a surprise or something.’
‘R-really?’ (Feels kinda weird... what’s going on...?)
At first, she seemed suspicious of their behavior, but once the cheerful welcome started, Cheonhae relaxed completely.
–Tssrrr. 『So you’re Cheonhae? I’m Cho. Let’s get along well.』
–Tssrrt. 『I’m—no, I’m Hyang. Cho’s little sister. You can call me Hyang-unni.』
–Shaaa. 『I’m Yeondu.』
–Kishishi. 『I’m Yo-hwa~』
When everyone welcomed her, she reconnected her tentacles to all of them and bowed her head with a bright voice.
‘N-nice to meet you all. I’ll be in your care.’
–Tssrrrt. 『Aww, she’s cute.』
–Shaaaah. 『Seriously. So tiny and adorable.』
While everything felt cheerful and friendly on the outside, the group chat continued with some anxious messages.
『–Tssrrt. (Dad, are we sure this lady’s okay?)
–Shaaa. (I’m kinda worried she might not be well...)』
***
Cheonhae possessed two distinct abilities.
As the Seven-Colored Sea Wraith, she could summon rain.
Not just normal rain—typhoon-grade downpours.
The storms we’d seen over the past few days? Those were apparently caused by her “mom.”
‘Yes, Mommy summoned it.’
‘Your mom did?’
‘Yes, well... to give birth to me. Safely!’
If her mother had summoned it, that meant she had. If it was to birth her safely, then it had been for her protection.
It made sense. For a spirit beast like the immortal Red Sea Jellyfish, the most vulnerable moment would be after reverting and emerging from a cocoon.
Floating helplessly in the sky for two full days—that required serious protection.
‘Cheonhae, can you summon typhoons too?’
‘Yes! I can do it too!’
‘Not just little ones?’
‘Nope! I can summon huge ones, just like Mommy!’
I’d wondered if her power had shrunk along with her body, but apparently not.
Turns out the power stored in a spirit beast’s Neidan doesn’t diminish even if their body changes size.
‘Can you control it?’
‘Of course! I can summon anything from a drizzle to a full-blown storm!’
A rain-summoning ability could be incredibly useful in this world.
This society was rooted in agriculture—drought meant starvation. In that sense, being able to make it rain was practically a cheat skill.
Besides that, Cheonhae had another ability: producing gray fog.
‘That’s poison.’
‘Poison? What kind?’
‘Hmm, how do I explain... It’s a kind of poison that slightly changes how people think.’
‘How they think?’
From her explanation, it seemed like her poison warped perception.
When we couldn’t find her for days, despite searching everywhere—it wasn’t that she was hidden. She had altered our perception so we simply didn’t recognize she was there.
‘I was right beside Mommy the whole time. Even if you brushed past us, your minds just wouldn’t acknowledge us.’
It wasn’t that she turned invisible—the fog just made people forget or overlook her.
‘Wait, but what about the paralysis? We couldn’t move our bodies.’
‘That’s because you believed you couldn’t. I told you not to be scared even if you couldn’t move... so your minds accepted that and made it happen.’
So the moment we inhaled the fog and felt paralyzed, it wasn’t a physical condition—it was a mental override. Our bodies were perfectly fine.
This was a completely new kind of poison.
Grandpa Tang Mu-seong, the Heavenly Poison Deity, would absolutely love this.
The more I thought about it, the more useful her abilities seemed.
Once the introductions were done and I had a good grasp of Cheonhae’s skills, we decided to finally leave Wolasa (Moon-Fang Temple), where we’d been stuck for a full week.
It was already a bit late to depart, but after being held up so long, it was time to move.
“The rain’s stopped—let’s head out, even if it’s late.”
“Understood, Master.”
After the typhoon swept through, the sky was clear and the air fresh. A day’s travel northeast brought us to Yizhou—the place Orange had asked me to visit to check on his younger siblings.
–Shaaa. 『It’s been a while... this place.』
Our first stop was where we’d once wiped out the pirates.
I wanted to make sure those bastards hadn’t come crawling back.
But when we got there, all that remained were ruins.
There, I ran into one of Orange’s siblings—a mountain goat-type spirit beast.
–Meeeeh.
“Oh hey, long time no see.”
I’m not a fan of fuzzy animals, but this guy came up all friendly like we were best buddies.
He filled me in on the rest of Orange’s siblings, and after taking a day to rest, we set out for Zhoushan Archipelago, where Princess Bo-ta resided at Mount Putuo.
***
–Crackle.
A campfire flickered.
Grilling skewered crabs over the flames, Hyehwa broke down in tears.
“Hhhhk...”
She was certain her sisters were suffering, yet she remained trapped on this island.
She’d tried to escape more than once—but every time, the waves tossed her back.
Her boat had cracked, and now even attempting to leave was impossible. Grief gave way to despair.
“Master... elder sister...”
It happened on a stormy night.
With her sister’s help, she’d managed to escape—but the storm blew her way off course, and she washed up on this deserted island.
Judging by the rising sun, she’d drifted south.
She needed to go west—but had no way to do so.
As she cried and stared blankly into the fire, the memory of that night came flooding back.
–Whooosh...
A night of crashing waves and screaming winds.
Her sister had led her to a tiny wooden boat by the docks.
Their sect had fallen to treacherous hands, and the storm was the first break they’d had in months.
The waves were so fierce everyone had retreated indoors.
“Hyehwa, go to the Central Plains and seek help!”
“Sister, you should be the one to go—”
“No. If I escape, they’ll hurt everyone else. How can the sinner who led our sect to ruin let the bloodline end with her? I won’t do that.”
“But sister...”
Her sister insisted she run—but the one who should have escaped was her sister.
She was a princess.
Even if she had become a Buddhist nun, she still carried royal blood.
That’s why Hyehwa had tried to put her sister in the boat instead.
But then—cutting through the roar of rain—a piercing whistle:
–Fweeeeeee!
“There she is! She can’t have gotten far!”
“Search the port!”
The enemy’s shouts rang out through the storm.
Her sister shoved her into the boat and yelled:
“Go! Now!”
In the next instant, the waves carried the boat away.
Her sister had untied the rope and pushed it out herself.
As the boat drifted from Putuo, Hyehwa screamed back toward the harbor:
“Sister! Who should I ask for help!?”
Her sister, staring at the enemies rapidly approaching, shouted:
“I’ve been taken hostage—neither the palace nor the Martial Alliance can help. Go to the Tang Clan of Sichuan! Find So-ryong! He’s the only one who can save us!”
At the moment her sister was seized once more by the enemy—
Hyehwa’s little boat was already vanishing into the waves.
“Sob... Great Buddha of Compassion... have you truly forsaken us? Is there really no way to save my sisters...?”
Tears pouring down her face, Hyehwa raised her voice to the heavens.
Then, from the quiet beach—
A voice.
“Found the island, Master.”
“Right? I thought we were going to be stuck floating at sea all night. Let’s head over to that campfire. Looks like someone’s there—we can ask where we are.”
Hyehwa jumped to her feet.
It felt like the Buddha had sent people to her.
–Tap tap tap tap.
She ran toward the beach as fast as she could.
“Amitabha! I am Hyehwa, disciple of Mount Putuo! Please, I beg you—grant me aid!”
She reached the source of the voices and shouted—only to freeze at what she saw.
Dozens of eyes gleamed in the dark, staring straight at her.
She’d run toward them in joy, but now froze in horror at the glinting gaze of beasts.
As her vision adjusted from the firelight to the shadows, the monstrous forms emerged.
A two-headed serpent.
A woman sitting atop a spider.
Creatures like flying centipedes soaring through the air.
“Eeeek!”
She collapsed in terror, but then came the calm voice of a man.
“Please, don’t be afraid. These are spirit beasts I raise myself. They won’t harm anyone.”
As the man approached, Hyehwa regained just enough composure to look up at him.
But what he said next startled her even more than the monstrous sights had.
“You said you’re from Mount Putuo, correct? I’m So-ryong, son-in-law of the Tang Clan of Sichuan. What brings you here—”
“So-ryong!? You’re really So-ryong of the Tang Clan!?”
The very man her sister had told her to find... was standing right before her.
