“You’re not late. You must be looking around the palace.”Diiscover new stories at novelhall.com
“Yes! I went around because the Dragon Palace was so cool and the energy I felt from it was really good.”
“I’m glad our candidates took a liking for the palace. Sit down, I want to start with the banquet now.”
Hwangryong welcomed the bright Yoon Yeorang.
The dragon talks smoothly so there’s no choice but to like him.
When the two other candidates waved to Yoon Yeorang, she asked the Dragon Palace shaman who was about to leave.
“Unnie, would you like to take a seat?”
“Why would I... N-no, no thank you.”
I don’t know what in the world they went through, but she must’ve suffered quite a bit from being caught up in Yoon Yeorang’s expedition around the palace.
The shaman responded rather emotionally before refining her words.
The candidness felt refreshing perhaps because everyone only showed courtesy and politeness in front of the guests.
The shaman wearing yellow moved away from Yoon Yeorang and joined her fellow shamans.
However, the others didn’t react that much.
‘Shouldn’t they ask what happened at least?’
It’s only natural to be curious why the candidate Yoon Yeorang would ask her to sit with them.
Although the Dragon Palace shamans were indeed less talkative than the Dragon King shamans, their reaction was too static.
The atmosphere seemed to have become colder after that particular shaman arrived.
It’s difficult to conclude, but I could guess what’s happening.
‘The shamans are like stale water. There must be an old conflict between them.’
Perhaps the shaman caught by Yoon Yeorang is someone who doesn’t fit in well with the others.
It’s strange that she’d waste a lot of time with the young human, even if all the shamans in the Dragon Palace are also traitors.
Though, if the shaman that Yoon Yeorang dragged along is a traitor, it makes sense if she’s ostracized.
“We must be thinking the same thing, Euishin-ah.”
“Probably.”
Yong Jegun saw my gaze and murmured.
I only observed them through reflections in cups and water, but Yong Jegun’s ghost-like vision caught it.
“I’ll be watching.”
That’s a good thing.
There’s a limit to what I can see.
I decided to leave Yong Jegun to watch the Dragon Palace shamans.
On the other hand, Kim Shinrok is still out of it since Jeokho and Cheongryong’s bragging contest was still going on.
It’s not good to have him do nothing in the enemy camp, but it will be difficult for him to move right now so I decided to leave him alone.
When all the guests sat down and the diligent Unryongs finished maintaining their seats, Hwangryong stood at the center of the pavilion.
“The shamans who visited the Dragon Palace said they would sing for our precious guests. This will be the last time we’ll hear a song from the shaman Yoohwang. Like the guests, I too am in luck.”
Hwangryong spoke as he took a few steps to make eye contact with all the guests.
His kind eyes and voice, ignorant of the betrayal of the shamans, contained nothing but joy and gladness.
A yellow cloud rose when Hwangryong stepped back after his speech.
Soon, the yellow clouds were obscured by five-colored clouds.
Hwangryong and the yellow cloud disappeared, revealing Yoohwang, Nok, Byeok, Ja, and Hong.
The shamans walked out of the clouds.
A subtle energy wave rose as Yoohwang sang the first verse.
‘It’s different from the song I heard before.’
When I first visited the Red Lion building, the shamans used the Dragon King’s power through a song to heal me.
Their purpose now is different, so the song is also different.
After Yoohwang sang a few lines alone, the other shamans continued.
The sight was spectacular as the energy rose through their song.
I would’ve enjoyed it if I was gullible.
All the Unryong also stopped moving and watched Hwangryong.
‘It’s a sweet sound.’
The song played by Hwangryong was the same one sung by the shamans.
In terms of technique and direction, the shamans’ voices would’ve been better, but I liked Hwangryong’s performance more.
Cheongryong also praised him with more emotions than earlier.
“That was a great performance.”
“It’s not at all close to Heukryong’s.”
“I like your performance better than that cold dragon’s. Though it’s a pity that I haven’t heard that dragon’s performance after he ascended.”
It’s said that Heukryong taught Hwangryong how to play the flute.
Heukryong left his flute to Hwangryong before ascending.
‘Did Heukryong stop playing after he ascended?’
The center of everyone’s conversations became Heukryong.
It was usually Cheongryong and Hwangryong who spoke, but everyone felt free enough to ask questions now.
Among them was Yoon Yeorang, the shaman most interested in exploring the palace.
“No one is using the Black Dragon Palace. Is there a reason why?”
“Nothing in particular, it’s just...”
Hwangryong’s gaze turned to the Black Dragon Palace in the north.
Black energy waves were rising there because of Heukryong’s influence, but perhaps because the whole palace is bright...
It just looked dark.
“It’s because Heukryong deals with cold air. The Black Dragon Palace is very cold. The sea is already a cold place.”
Among the five colors, black represents the north.
North is usually associated with cold and winter.
Hyunmoo, the Black Auspicious Beast, is also known to deal with cold air.
‘Come to think of it, Hyunmoo’s place was pretty cold too.’
I met Hyunmoo during the summer vacation.
I didn’t feel uncomfortable because it was hot in the summer, but his place might be too cold in the winter.
As he stared at the Black Dragon Palace, Hwangryong spoke again.
“Heukryong doesn’t feel cold so he always sprayed cold air. Everyone was reluctant to set foot on the Black Dragon Palace, except maybe for Cheongryong who can handle water well.”
“I didn’t really go visit either,”
Cheongryong spoke in a tone full of longing.
After pondering for a while, Hwangryong took his eyes off the Black Dragon Palace.
His gaze then landed on the tigers.
“There’s something I wanted to ask related to Heukryong.”
Hwangryong was looking at Jeokho.
“The Tiger Clan has tigers representing the same five colors. You’re called Hwangho, Baekho, Jeokho, and Cheongho, correct?”
“There is Eunho too.”
“Yes, I know that. You have yellow, white, red, and blue. But why is there no black?”
The five colors represent the five directions.
Yellow in the center, white in the west, red in the south, blue in the east, and black in the north.
The five palaces of the Dragon Palace are also composed of these five colors.
The Tiger Clan has four out of five of those colors.
Hwangho, Baekho, Jeokho, and Cheongho.
There must be a reason why he suddenly brought that up while we were talking about Heukryong.
Soon, Jeokho answered.
“You’re asking why there is no Heukho among the Tiger Clan?”
“That’s right.”
Hwangryong nodded.
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