Chapter 12
Chapter 12.
Is this just how it is, after all?
Seo Geum couldn't see the Yao Immortal Gallery.
“But I think I understand what Immortal Lady is saying.”
“You know about the Yao Immortal Gallery?”
“Yes. I've heard that some cultivators attain sudden enlightenment and gain a Dao Eye. Those who awaken their Dao Eyes can see the flow of the Dao and communicate with one another.”
“Oh, I see.”
It seemed that was how people understood it.
Well, with so many Yao Immortals in the Gallery, it would be strange if no one knew about it.
If she called it a Dao Eye, then human cultivators probably had similar communities too, not just Yao Immortals.
‘I need to be more careful.’
The best thing in the cultivation world was for no one to know who I was.
That way, I wouldn't be endangered by all sorts of sinister schemes, and I could stay safe.
In any case, this information alone made me glad I'd kept Seo Geum alive.
But she was trembling way too much.
Sweating cold and shaking like that, she looked just like a drenched mouse.
“I was born here. So I don't know much about the outside world.”
So I wanted her to tell me.
When I hinted at that, Seo Geum looked dazed for a moment, then bowed her head.
“Is that... all you want?”
“Your sister, who escaped, might make it here someday. Perhaps with the help of human cultivators or Yao Immortals. You're a kind of insurance for that possibility.”
Seo Geum looked at me strangely, but soon came to her senses and lowered her gaze.
“I have a mountain of questions. Keep me company while you recover.”
“As you command.”
And so, Seo Geum and I became temporary housemates.
Seo Geum was the eldest daughter of the Rat Yao clan, and she'd come to Golden Ring Immortal Paradise because her clan was in a bad state.
“What kind of place is Golden Ring Immortal Paradise to the outside world?”
“It's known as a Secret Realm that opens about once every hundred years. It's been famous since ancient times. Some say a True Immortal created it, while others claim it's a space that has existed since the beginning of time.”
Whatever the truth, a spatial rift appeared in Golden Ring Immortal Paradise at a certain point in the cycle, when the Golden Ring Eclipse began.
That gap was both the entrance and the exit.
“The entrance to Golden Ring Immortal Paradise remains open for about a month. Once the door closes, no one can leave for around a hundred years.”
“I see. Then it opened a hundred years ago, and before that, too.”
Seo Geum nodded.
“But I heard that this is the first time the eastern forbidden ground has opened.”
“Really?”
That was interesting, too.
“A cultivator who visited this place over a hundred years ago told us that the east was protected by a restriction that no being of any realm could enter.”
“Was it one of the Secret Realm's laws?”
“They said it certainly seemed that way. So we cast a divination this time, too, and found that the law governing the eastern forbidden ground had loosened.”
Now I was starting to understand.
‘Maybe it's a law that responds to my realm.’
A little over a hundred years ago, I was just a jiaolong. After a little time passed, I became a yao beast, then a Yao Transformation, and after a hundred years, I reached the Yao General realm.
The loosening of the law was probably closely related to my realm.
‘So the higher my realm rises here, the more the law changes to match it... Which means the realms of those who come here will be that much higher, too.’
Once the Secret Realm's gate closed this time, any enemies I had to deal with again wouldn't appear until a hundred years later.
It didn't seem like a big problem.
I wouldn't just sit around doing nothing, and with the Silver Veil Desert's ward in place, I wasn't afraid of however many people showed up.
“What about the rest of Golden Ring Immortal Paradise?”
“I haven't been there, so I don't know the details. I thought this was the safest place, since the eastern restriction had weakened and high-realm cultivators couldn't enter.”
“But you got captured.”
“...It was my mistake.”
I had a general idea of what was going on.
I really was glad I'd kept Seo Geum alive.
If I hadn't learned this, I might've lost sleep over needless worries.
‘My cave abode is safe.’
Nascent Soul cultivators couldn't even come to the eastern forbidden ground, and even if cultivators below them did come, they couldn't break through the ward.
Even if they found a way to break through the ward, it wouldn't be a big problem.
I could deal with them myself.
Basically, it meant there wouldn't be anything troublesome to worry about for the next hundred years or so.
And they all lived happily ever after.
I was sure I could enjoy a peaceful, slow life of posting on the Gallery.
‘I don't have to train so hard!’
It seemed like I could devote a little more of each day to the Gallery.
Jackpot!
During the month Seo Geum was unconscious,
I'd been so anxious while training, worried that more thieves might break in.
I'd trained harder in that one month than I had over the past year.
Knowing I wouldn't have to work so hard anymore was a relief.
“Is there anything else you're curious about?”
“That's enough for today.”
Once we'd settled the matter of my survival, I couldn't think of anything else I wanted to ask.
“Then... may I ask you a question?”
“Yeah, what is it?”
“You seem never to have visited or even heard of places in the Lower Realm, let alone the Secret Realm. Is that right?”
“...Yeah. I was born here.”
“Might you have been born a little over a hundred years ago?”
“......Yeah.”
Seo Geum hid her surprise, but she seemed to have realized something.
“Why are you asking?”
“Please forgive my presumption. I couldn't help being amazed by how you reached the Yao General realm in barely a hundred years, and by the formidable strength you showed earlier...”
I thought she'd figured something out, but apparently not.
Well, even I wasn't certain the law changed to match my realm. How could Seo Geum know?
“Am I that fast?”
“Of course. It takes Yao clans and yao beasts in the Lower Realm an average of at least five hundred years to reach the Yao General realm.”
“I see.”
I already knew that.
Of course, I had some talent, but that wasn't the whole story.
“Anyone who cultivated in my cave abode would reach that level.”
In fact, my cave abode gathered Heaven-and-Earth energy of the fifth tier or higher.
It would be strange if you made slow progress training here. It was only natural that I'd reached the Yao General realm and taken human form in a hundred years.
It wasn't anything to brag about.
Anyone else would have reached the same level if they'd cultivated here.
“You are my benefactor, Immortal Lady. You showed mercy to a sinner, and I don't know how I could ever repay you.”
Her words were sincere, but it seemed like she had something else she wanted to say.
What a long-winded way to put it.
“...What do you want to say?”
Seo Geum froze for a moment, as if I'd caught her off guard, then confessed what was on her mind.
“Please... make me your servant.”
“A servant?”
A servant was a low-realm cultivator or attendant kept like a slave.
Large sects usually used people who had committed crimes or been captured that way, but Seo Geum had asked to be made a slave of her own accord.
‘She's pretty clever.’
It was unexpected, but she was quite sharp.
She wouldn't have said that if she didn't understand her position and circumstances.
She'd probably realized that her life depended entirely on my mood.
Not knowing when she might die, she'd rather become a servant and devote herself to me.
In other words, please don't kill me.
I'm useful.
That was what she was trying to get across, too.
‘I was actually considering it.’
I'd kept her alive because I needed information.
It was true that I felt sorry for her, too.
But what about after she'd served her purpose?
I wasn't sure what to do.
I was afraid of future trouble if I sent her outside, but I wasn't sure about keeping her here, either. I'd placed a restriction on her, so she shouldn't be able to stab me in the back, but it still made me uneasy.
I really had been considering what to do with her.
Killing her cleanly would put my mind at ease and avoid any future complications.
‘The Rat Yao clan is small and weak. Her sister is a potential threat, but I don't need to worry about her.’
There were the laws and wards of the Secret Realm.
It would take a hundred years for the Secret Realm to open again, and I wasn't going to spend that time just lazing around.
In truth, I didn't need to worry even if I didn't raise my realm at all. The laws and wards of Golden Ring Immortal Paradise would protect me.
But since she was asking to be my servant of her own accord, I had no reason to refuse.
A cave abode was just a place hollowed out of a mountain.
I could dig as many more caves as I wanted, and it was only natural that the place would grow even larger as I worked on more spells and techniques.
Managing such a cave abode was entirely my responsibility.
‘That was a pain, too.’
The more places there were to work on, and the larger they were, the more effort they required.
But if I had a servant?
I could save effort and time.
‘Sounds good.’
Seo Geum would be glad to have some assurance that I wouldn't kill her, and I would be even gladder to have someone handle the annoying chores.
Besides, as the master of a cave abode in a forbidden ground like this, I ought to have at least one servant for appearances' sake.
I didn't deliberate for long.
“I'll decide after I see how useful you are.”
“I am grateful beyond words just to be given the chance.”
I hadn't deliberated for long, but I didn't give her an answer right away.
I couldn't let her think I was easy to manipulate.
“Then get some rest.”
She was still a patient, so she could manage the cave abode after she recovered.
‘I should make another room in the cave abode soon. Maybe I'll ask the Yao Immortals.’
I immediately typed up a post.
[Baby Jiaolong: What's a servant?]
I saved a cute, well-behaved Rat Yao girl to get some information, and she begged me to make her my servant, so I said okay ㅠㅠ
As if they'd been waiting for my post, replies came pouring in.
└Yao Immortal (444.4): Oh-ho-ho! Not a sex slave but a servant? Are you out of your mind? If she's a Rat Yao, she's probably petite and cute! You should make her your sex slave and get busy with her! What are you doing?!
This was the Yao Immortal who always went overboard in the replies whenever someone posted something lewd.
The stuff they got worked up and wrote by themselves was ridiculous.
└Yao Immortal (333.3): Asking to become your servant on her own... What an odd one. A Rat Yao, huh... You must have had a reason to spare her, but don't let your guard down.
└Baby Jiaolong: I put a restriction on her, so it's fine.
└Yao Immortal (333.3): Even if you put a restriction on her, you can't restrict everything she does. She could slowly leak information about you and sell it.
I hadn't thought of that.
Yao Immortal (333.3) advised me as if they'd experienced something like that before.
‘They're saying that because they don't know my place only opens once every hundred years. Come to think of it, this one's surprisingly suspicious.’
└Yao Immortal (444.4): Fine, show us a picture of the Rat Yao. I'm pretty good at reading faces, and then we won't have to worry.
└Yao Immortal (178.1): For real. No proof, what is it?
└Yao Immortal (66.66): A lie~
“Proof, huh...”
Maybe because I'd told her to rest, or maybe because she felt at ease, Seo Geum had lain down in her bedchamber and fallen asleep again.
She wasn't in good shape after losing so much vital blood, so that was only natural.
‘I don't mind as long as her face isn't visible.’
At this point, I didn't think the Yao Immortals would be able to track me down anyway.
“Maybe I'll do a good deed.”
I took a picture of Seo Geum from a carefully chosen angle, showing just a little of her, and uploaded it.
I was grinning, expecting an explosive reaction from the Yao Immortal Gallery, but the responses were quite different from what I'd expected.
└Yao Immortal (444.4): Oh-ho-ho! This is what I'm looking at tonight!
No, that one was expected.
The others were acting weird.
└Shurisuri: That's a Treasure-Eyed Golden Rat. You have a rare Yao clan member like that as your servant? If that's the case, give her to me instead. I'll take her as my disciple and make much of her.
└LotsaTails: I've always thought Baby was lucky, but you really lucked out getting someone like her??
└HumansSuck: That Rat Yao... are her eyes gold, too? If so, I think that's right.
Their unexpected reactions made me the one whose curiosity exploded.
[Baby Jiaolong: No, seriously, what is it?]
-What is it that has you so surprised? Tell me, too!! I want to know!!!!!!!!!!!
Then an old Yao Immortal from the Gallery left a brief reply.
└Yao Immortal (12.12): Treasure-Eyed Golden Rat.
Treasure-Eyed Golden Rat (寶目金鼠).
A golden rat with eyes that could see treasures.
└Yao Immortal (12.12): They're also called treasure-recognizing Golden Rats. Their eyes instinctively seek out treasure.
In other words.
└Yao Immortal (178.1): That thing's a Golden Rat with eyes that can find fortuitous opportunities!?!?! A Golden Rat, in my mouth! My mouth!! Why did it end up in the mouth of that lucky bastard who already has everything!!!!!!!!
Seo Geum, my servant.
She was...
“A bundle of good fortune just rolled into my home?”
She seemed to be a much more precious girl than I'd thought.
