Ch.394Chapter 394 – The Final Journey

A few days later, after being thoroughly squeezed dry by Karen and the other wives, I was finally granted permission to go north.

“…Son-in-law. What on earth happened to you during those few days?”

His Imperial Majesty was quite surprised to see me looking so gaunt and haggard as he inquired about my well-being.

“Many things happened……”

Even though I could recover my physical body with my abilities, there was nothing I could do about mental exhaustion.

Despite resting properly for a day before coming here, I was still tired.

“Ho ho, if you’re like this at such a young age, what will become of you?”

His Imperial Majesty was teasing me for being unable to handle my nighttime duties despite my youth.

Father-in-law, you were at the level of a Sword Expert even in your youth!

I’m not at that level—I’m just someone with slightly better stamina than the average person!

“Well, I can handle up to two just fine… but it gets difficult from three onwards.”

At those words, His Imperial Majesty looked at me with truly pitying eyes.

He must have thought I could only handle one person per day.

“Hang in there, son-in-law. I’ll send you some health tonics later.”

“Yes, thank you.”

I’m already consuming health foods every day.

They’ve been procuring all sorts of foods and medicinal ingredients that are good for virility and stamina.

Cheonhyeryeong was especially attentive.

“When I asked the Shingyo’s Manoe, she told me that since I have a woman’s body, it’s difficult for me to conceive a child even when receiving seed. So when I asked how I could conceive, she said the seed provider needs to be sufficiently robust.”

So she had been stuffing me with all sorts of health foods every day to make me stronger.

Of course, she ended up absorbing all the energy from those effective medicinal ingredients herself.

It was mentally exhausting to experience in real-time what it meant to literally have one’s vital energy sucked out…

‘My lord! Impregnate me with your child!’

‘Aaaaargh!’

Wow, I really thought I was going to lose my mind.

Anyway, only after I had evenly shared my love with all eight wives was I finally granted permission for the journey north.

“This time, I plan to go with just myself and my wife.”

This journey would be just me and Cheonhyeryeong. Just the two of us.

Taking other wives wasn’t an option since Regina and Eterna, the next strongest, were both pregnant.

So Cheonhyeryeong, the strongest among the non-pregnant wives, was chosen.

The north was too dangerous to bring the other wives.

She was the only one who could protect herself and also protect me if necessary.

“Will the two of you be alright?”

“With the Cheonma accompanying me, what could possibly go wrong?”

At my words, His Imperial Majesty silently nodded.

She wasn’t just anyone—she was the leader of the Cheonma Shingyo. Moreover, she was skilled enough to hold her own in one-on-one combat against a Mashin without being overwhelmed.

That says it all, doesn’t it?

“Travel safely. If you need funds along the way, charge it to the Imperial Palace. I’ll support that much from my personal funds.”

“Thank you.”

Well, I don’t think I’ll need to spend money during the journey.

When I asked Cheonhyeryeong if she could break through the anomalies to reach the north, she immediately used Cheonma Dimension Step to visit the north and back.

Seeing how even anomalies become equal before the Cheonma, perhaps we should establish a “Cheonma Equality Theory.”

Before the Cheonma, all are equal. Hmm, that has a nice ring to it.

However, since the north is extremely cold, I had to prepare by wearing thick fur clothing.

“This is quite tight and uncomfortable. Isn’t there something thin yet temperature-regulating?”

“Your Grace, if such items existed, we would have mass-produced them for our intelligence agents long ago.”

At the imperial tailor’s words, I was rendered speechless.

His statement wasn’t wrong. If such convenient items existed, they would indeed be mass-produced for intelligence agents.

“How do you know about such things?”

“Though I’m nominally a tailor, I actually belong to the Intelligence Department.”

“Isn’t holding dual positions illegal?”

“That applies to ordinary civil servants. As I belong to the Intelligence Department, I’m publicly known as an imperial tailor.”

After my chat with the intelligence agent doubling as an imperial tailor, I moved to the rear of the Imperial Palace.

This journey needed to be kept secret, so we had to minimize exposure.

Cheonhyeryeong was waiting for me, dressed in the black martial attire symbolizing the Cheonma Shingyo.

“My lord looks like a bear.”

“Is that a compliment or are you teasing me?”

“It’s a compliment. My lord looks quite adorable like that.”

I accepted it as such and took Cheonhyeryeong’s hand.

“Then I shall transport us to the north. Do you know the location?”

“The location is close to the North Pole. I heard power is gathering there.”

“Can you show me roughly where on the map?”

I unfolded a map and pointed out our destination to Cheonhyeryeong.

“Hmm, this area? It’s quite far. However, nothing is impossible for me.”

Cheonhyeryeong faced north without a compass and closed her eyes.

I could feel invisible waves spreading in all directions from her.

After a while, Cheonhyeryeong opened her eyes and looked at me.

“I found it. I sense energy similar to what I felt at the Shingyo headquarters coming from the north.”

“Similar energy?”

“Didn’t you witness strange creatures pouring out in the southern part of the Western Continent? I too have witnessed similar phenomena.”

“Similar things happened in the Eastern Continent as well?”

I couldn’t close my mouth at Cheonhyeryeong’s subsequent words.

Anomalies had begun occurring in the Eastern Continent too, and several houses that were slow to respond had vanished into history.

Houses with some power managed to hold out somehow, but even they were overwhelmed.

The Cheonma Shingyo, originally a group that revered strength, suffered relatively little damage.

They evacuated all newly initiated disciples to safe locations, while those who had reached the level of manifesting sword energy or infusing qi into their swords fought hard.

“Even my ordinary attacks couldn’t dispel those bizarre phenomena, so I eventually had to use Cheonma Gunrimbō and Cheonma Shinkwon.”

“If you had to use Cheonma Shinkwon, it must have been truly serious.”

I knew the power of Cheonhyeryeong’s Cheonma Shinkwon.

If the situation required its use, it must have been extraordinarily grave.

“Fortunately, once I eliminated the strongest energy source, the other phenomena naturally disappeared. It was truly strange.”

“Similar things are happening in the northern part of the Western Continent. That’s why we need to go there.”

“Indeed.”

Cheonhyeryeong reached out toward the empty air and rubbed her fingers together.

“The energy flow toward the north is greatly distorted. You and I might be able to penetrate that energy somehow, but it would be difficult for anyone else.”

“Even with Cheonma Dimension Step?”

“Cheonma Dimension Step is essentially a form of space-folding technique. It folds the space between where I stand and where I wish to go, but the strange energy is making that difficult.”

“That’s serious.”

To hear the word “difficult” from the proud Cheonma’s mouth was unexpected.

She rarely admits difficulty, so this journey must be extremely challenging.

“Well, we have you, don’t we? You suppressed strange phenomena in the south with your abilities, right?”

“That’s true.”

“Then there should be no problem. You are an even more exceptional being than I am.”

Hmm, how many people in this world have been told they’re more remarkable than the supreme being of the Cheonma Shingyo?

I might be the first in this world.

“Let’s go north. We need to suppress what’s happening there and return.”

“Understood, my lord. Take my hand.”

I took Cheonhyeryeong’s hand as she instructed, and with each step we took, our surroundings changed instantly.

After just a few steps, we were greeted by swirling snow and cold so intense it made our skin tighten.

The blizzard was so fierce that even the distant mountains were barely visible as faint outlines.

“Even with my abilities, I can only use Dimension Step this far. Beyond this point, we’ll have to walk.”

“Then let’s go.”

“As you wish.”

I took out a hammer and an iron rod from the bag I had brought.

This blizzard might also be a type of anomaly.

How could the outline of distant mountains be visible through such a fierce blizzard?

Convinced this blizzard was definitely an anomaly, I drove the iron rod into the ground and struck it three times with the hammer.

Waves of light spread out from the iron rod, and soon the blizzard cleared, revealing the true landscape around us.

“Oh my.”

“It seems we’ve walked right into enemy territory.”

What we saw after the blizzard disappeared were crimson portals being created all over the northern region.

It looked as if beings from the outside world were preparing for all-out war.