My body, wrapped in dragon-like energy, was being shot through a long, winding tunnel of black clouds.
A speed that felt like it would stop my breath.
The feeling of space twisting, of light being torn apart.
It felt like passing through a wormhole, the kind that often shows up in sci-fi movies.
Well, not that I actually know what it really feels like to pass through a wormhole.
I quickly fixed my posture and wrapped qi around my body to protect myself, and then suddenly thought that I must look pretty ridiculous.
Lying on my belly like this, sliding forward like a skeleton racer on the ice in the Winter Olympics.
The only difference was that instead of ice it was black clouds, and instead of wind, thunder and lightning were raging all around.
-Rumble.
-Craaack!
Bolts of lightning fired at me from the tunnel.
Blue-white lightning poured down like spears.
Lightning was shooting into my body from all directions, yet I barely felt anything.
Sure, my hair kept trying to float up, probably because of the lightning, but I was drawing on Cho’s lightning nullification ability, so there was no pain or anything like that.
Suddenly I got curious about how things were inside Dokmul-hyang and asked through the group chat.
『"Is everyone okay?"』
I was fine, since my realm was high and I was using Cho’s ability, but the Dokmul-hyang I’d formed in my upper dantian might be a different story.
In response, I heard all sorts of questions worrying about me instead.
『"We’re fine. What about you, Husband-in-the-Sky?"
"What about our Master?"
"What about So-ryong?"
-Scrrr. 『Dad, are you okay?』
-Kish. 『What about you, Brother?』』
The worry I felt from their voices.
It seemed that seeing the sky get torn apart by lightning right before we ascended had really set their hearts on edge.
I snorted a little and answered.
『"The lightning is still coming down, but I’m using Cho’s ability, so I’m fine. Anyway, Zihwa, how far do we have left to go like this?"』
After telling them not to worry, I asked Zihwa how long until we arrived where we were headed.
I’d forgotten to ask how long this part would take before we ascended.
I’d just vaguely assumed it would be like an RPG game portal and we’d be teleported in an instant.
But now that I saw it, this felt less like teleportation and more like a wormhole, didn’t it?
Her answer came right away.
Zihwa’s voice flowed out calmly.
『"My dear, it will take as short as three or four days to reach the Ninth Heaven, and as long as... I cannot say for certain. Falling down takes but an instant, but going up is like walking a thousand li one step at a time."』
According to Zihwa, the Heavenly Realm could broadly be divided into three regions.
Lower Heaven, Middle Heaven, and Upper Heaven.
The lowest sky, the middle sky, and the high sky—of those, the one that humans who ascend from the lower world can arrive in is the very lowest sky, the Lower Heaven.
Even in that Lower Heaven, there were nine layers, and the place we were headed was the last of them, the Ninth Heaven.
She said it was a bit different from the “Ninth Heaven” that meant the underworld, and that it would take three or four days to get there.
A little surprised at the fact that it took longer than I thought, I asked in a slightly raised voice,
『"It takes that long?"
"I’m saying that based on how long it took when I fell, so it might take even longer."
"Really? Then this is going to be a bit boring."』
It occurred to me that it might be pretty boring, but at my words, Zihwa warned me not to let my guard down before we arrived.
『"You, do not relax your mind and keep your wits about you. Ascending to the heavens is not something easy. There are some who end up falling back down to the lower world from here."
"Is that so? Got it. I’ll keep my mind sharp."
"And do you remember what I told you?"
"Of course. When we arrive, I must absolutely not approach any people or spirit creatures, and only gather information from a distance about where we ended up."
"Yes, remember that well."』
Zihwa said that, being from the upper region herself, she didn’t know the dirty details of this “floor” very well, but there was one thing she had heard.
That the Ninth Heaven of the Lower Heaven was a truly dangerous place.
Maybe not such a big deal from Zihwa’s point of view, but for a newbie at ascension like me, it was another story.
Since it was the very bottom of the sky, it ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) was crawling with dangerous bastards, and there were lots of vicious types there who preyed on fresh ascension newbies.
If we compared it to my previous life, it sounded like some place like Harlem in New York.
The kind of place where someone could walk up to you in the street, point a gun at you, and demand your phone and your wallet.
But from what I’d heard, Harlem would be a gentleman’s district compared to this.
Unlike Harlem, where it’s “relatively okay” if they just take your wallet and phone, here they boil people down and make spirit pills out of them, so you really had to be careful.
I remembered what Zihwa had said while we were preparing for ascension.
“The Heavenly Realm is not as beautiful a place as ordinary people imagine. It is a place where it doesn’t matter what you do to climb higher. A place with no law, no morality, no human decency.”
I carved Zihwa’s warning into my heart once more and answered.
『"Got it. I’ll stay on full alert. Then, everyone get some rest. If anything happens, let me know."
"All right, So-ryong. Somehow I feel kind of sorry."
"We’re sorry that only we get to travel comfortably, Master-in-the-Sky."
"Sorry, Master."
"No, it’s a relief that at least my wives can travel safely."』
-Rumble!
Lightning was still striking in the black-cloud tunnel.
***
In the kitchen of a simple house made of bamboo, a sweet scent of boiling rice drifted in the air.
The steam rising from the pot brushed against her face as softly as a spring breeze.
Mi-rang was crushing garlic and tossing it into the heated wok.
-Sizzle.
As the garlic stir-fried in the oil and its fragrant aroma rose, she dumped in all the sliced baekchae (Chinese cabbage) she’d prepared.
The baekchae fell in with a pattering sound like hail.
-Shaaah.
After a moment, what wafted up was the sweet scent of cabbage cooking.
Mi-rang waited until the baekchae was sufficiently cooked, then sliced a bit of daechong (green onion) and sprinkled it in, seasoning it with salt.
When the food was set out, she would add one more dish of pickled vegetables to this, but otherwise, that would be the end of this simple cooking.
It was a truly simple spread, but since the wives were martial artists, they didn’t eat much, so this was enough.
-Clang.
Taking the wok off the fire and setting it down to the side, Mi-rang checked the rice.
For a while now, the smell coming from the rice had shifted from the scent of boiling to the scent of something nicely toasting.
-Whoooosh.
When she lifted the lid of the pot, the savory aroma of rice rose up even stronger.
Mi-rang closed her eyes and savored the smell for a moment, then scooped up a little rice with her chopsticks and put it in her mouth.
The sweetness of the rice melted across her tongue.
Smiling, Mi-rang said,
"Ah, that’s delicious."
The rice was done, and the side dishes were already prepared.
All that was left was to get the meal ready to serve.
By the counter was a windowsill with good sunlight.
She set a bamboo tray there first.
Then she put the salted vegetables into one bowl and set it on the tray, and moved the stir-fried baekchae from the wok into a large bowl and placed it beside the first.
Last of all, she decided to fill ceramic bowls with rice, one by one, preparing five bowls.
Three for the wives, one for Young Lady Gungbong, and one for Mi-rang herself—five people who would be eating.
It happened the moment she turned to put the fifth and last rice bowl on the tray.
The tray felt a little empty.
Mi-rang quickly figured out what that sense of emptiness was.
There was one rice bowl missing.
"Hm? One, two, three..."
One rice bowl in Mi-rang’s hand.
Three on the tray.
She was sure she’d filled five bowls, but there were only three on the tray and one in her hand—only four servings of rice.
"Did I only fill four bowls?"
Mi-rang was sure she’d filled five, so she puzzled over it for a moment.
Just then, she heard Young Lady Gungbong’s voice from outside the kitchen.
"Mi-rang, is the rice ready yet?"
Gungbong was peeking her head into the kitchen, wearing a hungry expression.
Even when they’d traveled on the boat together, Gungbong was always the one to raise a fuss if the food was late.
Deciding she must have just miscounted, Mi-rang smiled and answered,
"It’s ready now."
"Really? Let’s go quickly! This is it, right? I’ll carry this one!"
She quickly scooped one more bowl of rice and put it on the tray, and Gungbong picked it up and hurried toward the bamboo platform.
In the now-empty kitchen, the warm smell of rice quietly spread.
***
"Be careful."
"Don’t worry. Kyaaah!"
"See? You almost fell!"
Once Gungbong and Mi-rang, carrying the tray, headed off toward the platform and were far away, a head slowly poked up at the kitchen window.
It was the head of a red-haired girl who looked about fifteen or sixteen, with a face that might as well have had “I’m a little rascal” written across it.
In the girl’s arms was a large rice bowl—the one Mi-rang had just filled and that had been stolen.
After confirming that Mi-rang was completely gone, the red-haired girl vanished from sight for a moment, then appeared at the kitchen entrance.
-Scrt. 『You need side dishes, right? Dad and Mom always ate their rice with side dishes.』
The girl who appeared in the kitchen scooped up some of the pickled vegetables and some of the stir-fried baekchae, piling them on top of the rice.
Then, holding the bowl, she quickly started walking.
Following the little stream that trickled along beside the kitchen, the girl headed for a large lake.
A lake as wide as the sea.
At the lakeshore, the girl called out toward the water.
-Scrrr! 『Geumdo!』
In response, a huge golden head surfaced near a boat floating by the shore.
-Shaaah!
The golden turtle quickly drew near and lifted his head to let the girl climb onto it.
When the girl climbed onto Golden Turtle Geumdo’s head, he burbled something that sounded like words.
-Blub-blub.
-Scrrr. 『Yeah, yeah, I know. If we get caught, Hyang will take responsibility, okay?』
Yes, the red-haired girl was Hyang.
She was So-ryong’s second daughter.
Promising the worried Geumdo that she’d take full responsibility if they got caught, Hyang quickly headed for the cabin.
Ranghu, who had built his home in the hold, had moved his house into the forest, so there shouldn’t have been anyone on this ship, and yet Hyang headed into the cabin.
She reached the entrance of a room in the corner of the cabin that was supposed to be empty and knocked on the door.
-Knock, knock.
Then, from inside the cabin that should have been empty, a woman’s voice answered.
"Wh-who is it?"
A slightly nervous voice.
Hyang smiled and answered,
-Scrrrt! 『Auntie, it’s me!』
"Ah! Hyang!"
-Creeeak.
The door opened a crack, and the head that poked out belonged to Sister Seol.
She was So-ryong’s half older sister, and Hyang’s aunt, Sister Seol.
The very Sister Seol who should have been at the Beast Palace was secretly hiding here in the cabin.
-Scrrrr. 『Auntie, you’re hungry, right? Hyang brought you food.』
Hyang grinned like the little rascal she was and held out the rice.
It had passed through the forest, but it was still warm, and the sweet smell of rice drifted up.
Sister Seol’s eyes filled with tears as she took the bowl Hyang held out.
"Oh my. You’re such a good girl, my Hyang! Thank you, Hyang. This auntie only has you."
And no wonder—when she’d been upset because So-ryong was going to abandon her and ascend, it had been Hyang who came to her and arranged for her to stow away.
And now Hyang was even bringing her food like this.
At first, when Hyang had come to Sister Seol’s quarters and started going scrrr-scrrr at her, Sister Seol had wondered what was going on.
"What is it, Hyang? Don’t tell me you came just to say goodbye to your aunt? Hngh, my sweet Hyang. I only have you."
Then Hyang had touched Sister Seol with her antennae and taken her to a place Sister Seol had never seen before.
A strange place with mountains and a lake, and soon she heard someone’s voice.
-Scrrr. 『Auntie!』
When she turned her head, standing next to her was a red-haired girl.
In that moment, Sister Seol immediately knew who it was.
There was no way she wouldn’t recognize the scrrr-scrrr sounds of her cute niece.
"Hyang?"
-Scrt. 『Yeah!』
"Wh-where is this?"
-Scrrrrr. 『Dad said it’s some kind of mind-space, Dokmul-hyang or something? If you stay here, now we can all ascend together! So I came to bring you, Auntie!』
"What!?"
Sister Seol was flustered by Hyang’s answer.
But soon she shook her head.
She was a little worried about the house she was leaving behind, but if she disappeared, Father would naturally think she’d followed after So-ryong.
After all, she’d been throwing a fit about going with So-ryong somehow, no matter what.
And as for the family successor, Father had said he’d just adopt another foster son anyway, so that was fine too.
Originally, she’d thought of taking one child from So-ryong to inherit the line, but once he ascended, Father had planned to adopt a foster son to carry on the family line.
At the next question that came, Sister Seol smiled broadly.
-Scrt. 『Auntie, do you not want to go with Hyang?』
"No, I’m completely happy!"
And that was how Sister Seol ended up here.
Soon the warm smell of rice filled the cabin, and outside, Geumdo’s long sigh drifted on.
-Blub-blub-blub.
