bookpower Chapter 865
Chapter 865
In this world, dragons and their palaces exist, and I had just recently visited one, so I was quite familiar with them.
However, the combination of the Dragon Palace and the term "moving" felt awkward, and I couldn't easily follow the train of thought.
As I thought about it in my dazed state, a fundamental question rose.
"Move? Can the Dragon Palace even be moved?"
Typically, when we talk about moving, it refers to people or businesses relocating, not the entire location itself. Places, as a rule, do not move.
Moreover, wasn't the Dragon Palace supposed to be deep under the sea?
I recalled how difficult it had been to travel to the Dragon Palace in the first place. The Blue Dragon had drawn on the earth's energy, and the priestesses had used their mystical abilities to assist with the transportation.
Given that the Dragon Palace was so far from land, it didn’t seem likely that it could be moved.
Still, Yeongje-geon wouldn’t lie about something like this, so I decided to think more carefully.
"Considering the phenomenon caused by the interdimensional collision, it's not impossible. The cracks in the dimensions defy the laws of physics... no, that’s not what’s important. How it was moved is irrelevant."
Was it the pain that was clouding my thoughts, or was it Yeongje-geon's strange statement causing the confusion?
I almost missed the crux of the matter.
I should have first considered what the Dragon Palace meant to the dragonkin.
The Dragon Palace is not only a symbol of their power but also a conduit connecting them to the Dragon King.
When the Imugi’s power pressed down on the Dragon Palace, even the Blue Dragon and Yellow Dragon couldn’t use their full strength.
For the Dragon Palace to be moved would indicate a significant shift in the thinking of the dragonkin.
"The Dragon Palace is the boundary between the human world and the gods. Despite choosing isolation to protect that boundary, they have managed to move it."
“That’s something you should know as well, Hwang Ho,” Yeongje-geon said, smiling through his half-closed eyes.
While Yeongje-geon was smiling, he didn’t seem happy at all. It seemed like he was referring to the betrayal of the priestesses.
"From the previous incident, we understood that isolation was more dangerous," Yeongje-geon continued.
In the isolated Dragon Palace, the priestesses had lived secluded lives.
If they had been completely cut off from the mortal world, with no opportunity for the mastermind to manipulate them, this incident would not have occurred.
However, since the priestesses were selected from humans and the dragonkin in the Dragon Palace were connected to the mortal realm, no matter how far they were, the Dragon Palace and this world could not remain entirely separated.
In modern society, it’s nearly impossible to remain fully isolated from everything.
Ultimately, imperfect isolation led to decay, and the Dragon Palace had been on the verge of collapse.
Perhaps, even if they had succeeded in complete isolation, other problems could have arisen.
Yun Yeorang had once spoken about the cause of the priestesses' betrayal:
-“When you become a priestess, you forsake your name and adopt a title, not because the Dragon King forced you, but because of the nature of the position.”
-“When you hide your name and face and live in such a closed society, negative thoughts can easily spread.”
The Dragon King and the dragonkin agreed with Yun Yeorang’s words.
Recognizing that the closed society was the root of the problem, they likely intended to open up the Dragon Palace.
The first step toward this would have been to move the Dragon Palace itself.
"The dragonkin must have realized that isolating the Dragon Palace again would just repeat the same mistakes. That’s why they chose a new path."
Beep!
The air limousine's navigation alerted us that we were almost at our destination.
As Yeongje-geon said, the new Dragon Palace was indeed very close.
Previously, the Dragon Palace had been a place where great power was required, and dimensional pressure had to be endured just to reach it, but now we could drive there.@@@@
“I’ve seen this place before. This is where the dragonkin first settled after the interdimensional collision. I visited it when I was writing the barrier.”
Hwang Ji-ho spoke, looking out the window at the west coast.
As Hwang Ji-ho said, the dragonkin hadn’t always lived in the Red Lion Team building. The specific location had never been disclosed, but it was said they had settled on the west coast after the interdimensional collision.
The dragonkin had risked weakening the 12 Zodiac barrier to relocate to the Red Lion Team building, after forming marriages with humans.
This place must have been where the dragonkin had stayed before moving to the Red Lion Team building.
‘Since the dragonkin likely still own this land, it makes sense that they could move the Dragon Palace here.’
Although how they moved such a massive palace was still a mystery.
From a distance, the Dragon Palace was not visible.
The two dragons, after stepping out of the limousine, spoke while hiding their mouths or barely showing their lips.
It seemed they were being careful to avoid leaking any information by reading their lip movements.
Considering the possibility of their conversation being detected from a distance, they seemed to have been cautious.
It would have been better if they had just kept quiet instead of saying all that.
‘Anyway, as they said, I can now break the trajectory of the playable character.’
I confirmed that the five-colored clouds had completely closed behind me and deactivated my disguise.
In an instant, I reverted to Joi Shin's form.
The clothes, too large because of the size difference with Seong Guk-eon, felt loose, and my eye patch was a bit too loose now.
It felt like it would slip off if I moved incorrectly.
I wanted to adjust it, but Hwang Ji-ho had used barrier magic to fix the shape of the eye patch, so I wasn't sure if I could fix it just with my hands.
"..."
The surroundings were quiet.
The three of them were just silently watching me.
I didn’t know what I should do, as they were staring at me like that.
Though not much time had passed, the silence felt unusually long.
Fortunately, someone came to greet us.
Swoosh!
One of the yellow dragons, Un-ryong, quickly flew toward us on a small cloud.
It seemed like he had hurried here, as his cloud fragments were scattered, and his tail was disheveled.
Upon spotting me, Un-ryong seemed delighted, but then froze upon seeing my left eye.
It had been a while since we had met, but seeing me like this, it would have been better if he had dealt with things elsewhere.
The Yellow Dragon must have sent several attendants to greet us, as more Un-ryong dragons followed, all reacting similarly.
"...Seems like there’s been a lot of cloud action today. Get on with the guide."
Seeing the swarm of Un-ryong, Hwang Ji-ho spoke with a tired expression.
Indeed, there had been a lot of clouds around the garden today.
Un-ryong, as if snapping back to attention after hearing Hwang Ji-ho, gestured and began to lead us.
From a distance, the Dragon Palace looked just as I remembered, but the paths had been altered, perhaps because the Yellow Dragon had reorganized the layout.
‘The information about the Dragon Palace must have leaked to the mastermind, so they must have had to revise the path.’
Un-ryong led us toward the center of the five palaces, to the Yellow Dragon Palace.
Though I still didn’t know the exact destination, I admired the scenery as we walked.
It seemed that they had made the landscape more beautiful, likely in preparation for receiving guests at the relocated Dragon Palace.
Near the Huang Yun-ho, there was a pavilion I hadn’t seen before. Its exterior was beautifully decorated with ebony and pearls, making it hard to look away from.
It was so captivating that I felt it was a waste to only see it with one eye.
"Yellow Dragon was really disappointed and sad. Originally, he had planned to show this place to the benefactor of the dragonkin and guide them to this pavilion."
As I stared at the pavilion, Yeongje-geon spoke with a sharp tone.
It seemed the Yellow Dragon had been looking forward to showing the location to a guest, but my sudden visit had disrupted his plans.
I thought about apologizing to the Yellow Dragon, but before I could, Hwang Ji-ho clicked his tongue, as if he had expected it.
We continued, and soon we reached the underground of the Yellow Dragon Palace.
Un-ryong stopped in front of a giant door, and I felt a powerful energy coming from beyond it.
It felt like a large-scale ritual was being prepared.
Creeeak...
When the door opened, I saw five shadows between the gaps in the five-colored clouds.
Four of them were the Dragon King's priestesses, including Yun Yeorang, and the remaining one was the Yellow Dragon.
The Yellow Dragon, who had been controlling the clouds, stopped and turned to face us.
"You've arrived, I’ve been waiting for you."
The Yellow Dragon’s face was full of concern and sadness.