The Little Baby Snake of the Vermilion Bird Family - Chapter 74

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 74
***
The boy was a turtle beastman.
The moment Baeksa saw him, she understood.
‘Ah, we’ve come to the right place.’
There was no way not to understand.
From the young boy’s body, she could sense the faintest trace of Xuanwu Power.
It wasn’t as strong as what she felt from Siyeom, but it remained clear enough that she could tell a Divine Beast was watching over this place.
Just as Ju Jeokseo had said, Xuanwu Power seemed to linger throughout the entire forest.
The young boy spoke with evident delight.
“Last night, Jangwangshin said a young dragon would come to this place, but none of our clan believed it—and yet here you are!”
At his words, Hwaryeong immediately asked:
“How did you know Yeon is a dragon?”
This was something Baeksa herself had been privately wondering all along.
Baeksa was a small snake beastman.
She had no horns, and she couldn’t summon storm clouds.
The Divine Beast might call her a dragon, but aside from that, there was nothing about her that warranted the name.
‘But how could they know?’
The boy’s face suddenly clouded with annoyance.
“Jangwangshin told us, of course! How would I know otherwise?”
Then he spun around sharply.
“Come on, follow me! The elders of our clan are waiting!”
***
As Baeksa followed the boy through the forest, she was able to observe her surroundings.
The forest held something peculiar—all the leaves were faintly pale.
There was something about them that reminded one of white lotus flowers. The girl stared intently at a single white leaf she had picked up from the ground moments before.
“Why are you staring at that so hard?”
“Oh, this leaf. It’s so white.”
As Baeksa whispered softly and turned the leaf over to show him, Hwaryeong nodded.
“It is, isn’t it? Must be from the snow.”
At that remark, Ju Jeokseo looked at his son with a faintly pitying expression.
Just as Hwaryeong was about to flare up in indignation—
“We’ve arrived, it’s here.”
The boy pointed ahead sharply.
Everyone lifted their gaze to look where he was pointing.
There stood several houses, and roughly a dozen beastmen had come out to greet them.
When they saw Ju Jeokseo, Baeksa, and Hwaryeong arrive, they stiffened for a moment, then slowly bowed in formal greeting.
“We behold the young dragon.”
Baeksa, still unaccustomed to such talk, flinched.
The child unconsciously clutched the Bead in her arms even tighter.
Ju Jeokseo strode forward with long steps and asked:
“Are you the ones who live in this place?”
“That is so. I am called Ilmyeong.”
The oldest of the group answered slowly. The boy then trotted over and stood beside him.
The elder patted the boy’s head as though pleased with him.
“Are you a priest who serves Jangwangshin?”
“Something of the sort. Jangwangshin appears to us in our clan’s dreams.”
A Turtle-Human Clan that served Jangwangshin.
There was little known about them.
There were rumors they descended from a Branch Line of the Black Tortoise Family, but those were merely speculation.
Why they had journeyed from that distant Bukto to this Namto, and how they served their god, nothing was known.
So Ju Jeokseo himself was seeing them in person for the first time.
“So you listen to the god’s will in this manner.”
“However, to receive such a clear message was unprecedented…”
Ilmyeong slowly turned his gaze toward the small snake beastman.
Baeksa had been hugging the Bead, but now her eyes met Ilmyeong’s.
“Oh, hello!”
The child greeted him urgently, and Ilmyeong smiled gently.
“Young dragon, Jangwangshin awaits this meeting with great anticipation. Go now, quickly.”
At Ilmyeong’s words, the soldiers of the Vermilion Bird Family exchanged puzzled glances.
Hwaryeong, Ju Jeokseo, and Baeksa felt the same.
Hwaryeong could not refrain from asking:
“Where is Jangwangshin, that you tell us to go quickly?”
His tone was unusually respectful—he seemed to be taking into account that these were turtle beastmen who lived extremely long lives.
Ilmyeong spoke:
“Dragons are creatures who naturally know where they must go. Since she has come at Jangwangshin’s calling, the young dragon will surely know where she must proceed.”
“But… wait.”
Hwaryeong asked again:
“Does that mean Jangwangshin isn’t in any one specific place…?”
“He dwells somewhere in this forest.”
“Elder, have you ever met Jangwangshin yourself?”
“In our clan, only my ancestor has ever beheld Jangwangshin once…”
“But you’re a turtle beastman, sir.”
“That is true.”
“Forgive me, but your age…”
“Hmm.”
Ju Jeokseo, who had been quietly listening to the exchange between the two, admonished Hwaryeong.
“Hwaryeong.”
At that, Hwaryeong stepped back, hugging Baeksa close to him.
The girl blinked as she listened to their conversation.
‘I’m supposed to know where to go on my own?’
Aside from the Bead guiding her on the way here, she had never even tried to determine the direction of the path.
Just as Baeksa was growing troubled, the Black Bead in her hand stirred.
And in that instant—
‘Gasp!’
An overwhelming hunger suddenly surged through her. It was far stronger than anything she had felt before.
A sense of hunger so powerful that it demanded immediate Absorption—a sensation that crashed over her like a wave.
“Yeon, what’s wrong?”
Seeing Baeksa trembling violently, Hwaryeong cried out in alarm and turned her around.
But she could not answer.
‘Get a grip, Baeksa!’
If she lost control here, she would absorb everything in sight—just as she had absorbed the Blessing Seal on Songra’s forehead.
Would his Flame of the Vermilion Bird be safe from her Abnormal Ability, a curse as terrible as any?
This was an Ability that had once seized the incomplete Blessing of a young dragon. The fear that she might harm Hwaryeong struck her once more.
It was an intensely primal sensation.
Her instinct as a beast surging ahead of her reason as a beastman.
It was too violent, too difficult, too unbearable for a child to endure.
As Baeksa trembled, Ilmyeong lifted his gaze toward the forest.
Then he spoke to Baeksa:
“Young dragon, go now.”
“I…”
“Jangwangshin is calling for you at this very moment.”
At Ilmyeong’s words, Baeksa lifted her head and looked into the forest.
She wanted to meet Jangwangshin right now.
Considering what had happened in Namto, there was no time to waste.
But where was she supposed to meet him?
‘Which way should I go…’
Then, from deep within the forest, a beautiful fragrance drifted out.
It was like the aroma of delicious food, yet also like the scent of a flower meadow stretching for a thousand miles.
Baeksa moved forward as if in a trance.
‘Is this what they meant?’
The young snake knew nothing, yet everyone insisted she would know where to go.
Until now, that had always seemed strange.
At the same time, it frightened her—as if she were not the dragon they spoke of.
But now, facing the forest itself, the hunger that had suddenly overcome her seemed to be guiding her forward.
‘All right. Let’s go.’
Baeksa took a slow, deliberate step forward, fighting against the overwhelming need.
The Bead that followed trembled with worry.
***
As the young snake began to walk into the forest, Ju Jeokseo and Hwaryeong naturally led their soldiers in pursuit at a distance.
Watching the small beastman’s figure move slowly ahead, Ju Jeokseo recalled his conversation with Ilmyeong.
‘You will not be able to meet him, no matter how far you follow. For only certain ones may meet a god.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘If you follow to the end, you will understand. If Jangwangshin does not wish it, even I cannot meet him.’
What could that truly mean?
Ilmyeong had said he would understand if he followed to the end, but it still remained unclear.
Ju Jeokseo gazed at the young snake’s round head ahead.
Each step, slow and deliberate, was so spirited and endearing that he wanted to rush forward and embrace her.
‘I should be stroking that round head…’
Lost in such thoughts for a moment, he suddenly realized something was amiss.
When had the child’s head become so round?
Baeksa’s head was admittedly cute and round-shaped, but not this round, surely?
As such questions began to pile up—
“Ah!”
He opened his mouth wide.
He had just realized the true identity of the ’round thing’ before his eyes.
It was not Baeksa’s head.
It was a round fruit hanging from a branch.
They had not been following Baeksa at all—they had been wandering through the forest.
“When did we lose her…?”
Ju Jeokseo gave a hollow, helpless laugh.
Now he could finally understand what that turtle Ilmyeong had meant.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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