The White Tiger Clan’s Baby Cotton Ball - Chapter 104

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 104

 

“Are you alright?”

 

Soya carefully approached the woman’s soul and asked.

 

The soul looked down at her own body, then raised her head to look at Soya.

 

“So you’re the one who purified me. How did you do it?”

 

“I’m Soya. You’re the Shield Bearer who guards Hyeonmu’s divine artifact… right?”

 

“Me? Ah. Yes. I was that once upon a time. What a nostalgic name.”

 

Her voice sounded somehow sorrowful.

 

“Then this place is… the Dark Earth Underground Palace. If so, it must have been Hyeon Rabaek who brought me here.”

 

The woman looked around the cave and muttered bitterly.

 

Soya looked at the woman who claimed to be the Shield Bearer who once guarded Hyeonmu’s divine artifact and clenched her fists.

 

Three conditions were needed to awaken a divine beast.

 

And one of them was direct bloodline.

 

Long ago, Hyeon Rabaek had severed all of Hyeonmu’s direct bloodlines, making him the only one with direct blood.

 

However, if this woman before her truly was the Shield Bearer who guarded Hyeonmu’s divine artifact, if she was one of the seven tribal chiefs of the Northern Region.

 

‘This woman also qualifies as direct bloodline. I can awaken Hyeonmu without taking the risk of seeking out Hyeon Rabaek.’

 

Therefore, Soya spoke with an earnest voice.

 

“Please help me. Hyeon Rabaek is awakening evil and threatening people. We need to awaken Hyeonmu to stop him.”

 

“What…?”

 

At those words, the woman flinched and asked back.

 

The woman narrowed her eyes as she looked at Soya, then muttered as if realizing something.

 

“…I see. I wondered how you had awakened me.”

 

The woman bent toward Soya.

 

Then she slowly reached out and tenderly stroked the blue-green hair ribbon on Soya’s head.

 

“…?”

 

Soya looked at her with a puzzled expression, unable to understand what the woman was doing.

 

“I cannot help you. I’m sorry, young Dragon Emperor’s Bride.”

 

“Why…!”

 

“My body has already finished its life and cannot awaken a divine beast.”

 

“Ah…”

 

Soya looked at the corpse in the coffin that the woman was pointing to.

 

The woman’s purified corpse was finally meeting the natural order of time and slowly weathering away.

 

It wasn’t just the woman’s corpse.

 

The woman’s soul was also gradually becoming transparent.

 

The spirit of the dead that had been bound to the earthly realm was now preparing to depart for the world of the deceased.

 

“Was it Hyeon Rabaek who corrupted your spirit core?”

 

Soya knew how agonizing the pain of having one’s spirit core corrupted was.

 

Thinking of the woman who had become half demon beast in that agony, she felt a surge of sympathy.

 

“He wasn’t the one who corrupted my spirit core.”

 

“Then who on earth…”

 

“…”

 

The woman didn’t answer and just smiled softly.

 

“Hyeon Rabaek. That man made the wrong choice, causing you, young one, to walk a thorny path for all that long time. As one who was once among the seven tribal chiefs of the Xuanwu Clan, I apologize to you on his behalf.”

 

The woman spoke with sorrowful eyes.

 

“I must leave now, so I cannot stop him. Please, young Dragon Emperor’s Bride. Stop him in my place.”

 

“…”

 

“And, if what you possess…”

 

The woman said something more, but only her lips moved without any sound reaching Soya.

 

“Oh my. The veil of time is preventing my wish from reaching you.”

 

Realizing this, the woman smiled sadly and stood up.

 

“The veil of time…?”

 

Soya asked, but the woman didn’t answer.

 

Instead, she gave Soya advice.

 

“Young Dragon Emperor’s Bride with a soul purer than anyone’s. You are too clean to harbor thoughts of destruction.”

 

“…”

 

“But evil can never overcome good. So protect this land with your goodness.”

 

With those words, both the woman’s body and soul departed.

 

Soya was staring blankly at the spot where the woman’s soul had disappeared.

 

Clang—.

 

The seal of chains that had been wrapped around the shield was released.

 

‘The seal…!’

 

Snapping back to her senses, Soya approached the black shield and placed her hand on it.

 

At the cold, piercing energy that traveled up through her skin, Soya instinctively pulled back her fingertips.

 

It was an energy completely opposite to when she had touched the Azure Dragon Painted Halberd.

 

‘This is truly the power that devours living things…’

 

At that moment, Seolyeo shouted toward Soya.

 

“Someone’s coming!”

 

The black water surface that had risen on the cave floor rippled finely, and the sound of splashing water echoed.

 

Splash.

 

Splash.

 

Splash.

 

Soya tensely raised her head to look toward the cave entrance.

 

Soon, a man with black hair hanging down to his ankles slowly revealed himself.

 

“A visitor to the underground palace, how did you get all the way here…”

 

He was muttering in a desolate voice when he suddenly noticed the empty coffin and stopped.

 

“Siyeon…?”

 

In an instant, his eyes wavered violently, and his expression turned menacing.

 

“What did you do to her?”

 

* * *

 

There was an ancient oracle that had been passed down from long ago.

 

[On the night when the red moon rises, the Dragon Emperor’s Bride will awaken the sleeping Death God Beast, sweep away the darkness scattered across this land, and bring peace.]

 

The Dragon Emperor’s Bride, an existence that encompasses all Death God Beasts and seeks harmony to prevent the Imperial Dragon’s mighty power from being misused.

 

People had long awaited the day when the true Dragon Emperor’s Bride mentioned in the oracle would appear.

 

However, the Imperial Palace itself did not want the birth of an existence that would surpass the power of the Imperial Dragon, who was the Emperor.

 

If someone had to awaken the Death God Beasts, it should rightfully be the duty of the Emperor who rules this world.

 

Therefore, the previous Emperor resorted to evil magic to absorb the power of the Empress’s spirit core.

 

However, the evil magic was not successful.

 

The Empress’s spirit core began to turn black with corruption, and her body gradually weakened.

 

From a certain point on, even the Prince, her son, could no longer visit his mother.

 

The palace attendants turned away visitors with the excuse that the Empress was unwell, but in reality, by that time the Empress had already become so corrupted that she was half demon beast in appearance.

 

Even so, the Emperor, unable to give up that power, confined the Empress to her bedroom and continued attempting evil magic.

 

Then, 12 years ago, on the day when the oracle’s ‘red moon’ rose.

 

The Empress died.

 

More precisely, she was murdered.

 

Seeing the red moon rising in the dark sky, the Emperor was suddenly terrified that she might awaken the Death God Beasts for revenge and killed the Empress.

 

Hyeon Rabaek, who was the head of the Xuanwu Clan, attended the Empress’s funeral as the representative of his clan.

 

Unable to believe her death, Hyeon Rabaek was shedding tears in front of the coffin when he suddenly noticed something strange.

 

Following the faint traces of evil magic he sensed, he eventually discovered all the vile things the Imperial Palace had done to her and was enraged.

 

Hyeon Rabaek took her stolen corpse and returned to the Northern Lands, where he wailed for days and nights.

 

With even her soul corrupted, she was not even allowed to leave the earthly realm and find peace.

 

The Empress was originally the leader of the Brocade Snake Tribe, one of the seven tribes of the Northern Lands, and the Shield Bearer of the Hyeonmu Iron Shield, a divine artifact of the north.

 

And at the same time, she was the former lover who had promised eternal love with Hyeon Rabaek.

 

However, when the Emperor designated her as his consort, they had to face separation.

 

Hyeon Rabaek suggested they elope together in the night, but she refused, speaking of her duties to the direct lineage.

 

So he had to let her go like that.

 

And yet…

 

To commit such terrible acts against the woman he had taken away!

 

What was so important about being the Dragon Emperor’s Bride? What was so important about the power of some Divine Beast?

 

If only he had cast aside the duties of the direct lineage back then and somehow persuaded her to flee together…

 

Would a different ending have awaited them?

 

Such thoughts tormented him endlessly.

 

And the evil that slipped through that gap began to shake him with its cunning voice.

 

—Isn’t it truly terrible? Both the duty to the direct lineage that made you send away your lover, and the Dragon Emperor’s Bride that drove your lover to death.

 

—Join hands with me. I’ll take revenge on everyone for you. Awaken and accept me. You will become the true evil of this world.

 

Originally, the mission given to the Black Tortoise Clan was to guard against the evil sealed in the Northern Lands so it could never awaken.

 

However, his weakened mind was gradually consumed by the evil’s whispers…

 

‘Yes. This terrible world needs proper punishment.’

 

‘Therefore, if I can only destroy this world, I…’

 

In the end, the mad Hyeon Rabaek broke the taboo and awakened the sealed ancient evil.

 

The moment he accepted the evil, he felt burning pain in his Spirit Core.

 

However, this pain was nothing compared to the suffering she must have endured in the Imperial Palace.

 

With the desire to become evil himself and destroy the world, he endured the pain and accepted the evil into his Spirit Core.

 

He hated the Dragon Emperor’s Bride, and he hated the duties of the direct lineage.

 

What he wanted was only one thing.

 

To destroy the Imperial Family that drove his former lover to a terrible death, and the land of the Divine Beasts that imposed the duty of direct lineage upon her.

 

What stood most in the way of his purpose was none other than the Four Great Families that protected the Empire.

 

So he first massacred the Northern Black Tortoise Clan.

 

Even his wife from the Black Serpent Tribe, wed through an unwanted marriage, and their young child—everyone.

 

However, he could not destroy the divine artifact that his former lover, who had originally been the Shield Bearer of the Black Tortoise Clan, had protected, so he sealed it together with her coffin and stored it deep within the cave.

 

When he learned that intruders who had snuck into the Underworld Palace were heading toward this cave.

 

Hyeon Rabaek, who had become indifferent to everything since she left, felt his emotions stir for the first time in a very long while.

 

And when he discovered that her coffin was empty.

 

“What did you do to her?”

 

His surging rage turned toward the small girl standing before him.

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