After the stormy game of hide-and-seek ended and the kids had gone to sleep, with no one—or rather, no spirit beasts—to disturb us, I decided to infuse the energy right away.

Cheongyu Sojeo wanted it too, and you have to strike while the iron is hot.

"Alright. Let’s do it right away."

-Siaa. 『Good. Hehe. I never thought I’d receive the energy of the Five Poisons Returning to the Origin Art as a venomous creature. I’m looking forward to it.』

"I’m also excited to see what new ability the Golden-Crowned Death Queen will awaken."

We were of one mind.

I gently clasped the hand Cheongyu Sojeo extended and immediately closed my eyes.

Gathering the Beast Heart Technique energy I had raised through breath control, I circulated it through my body and gathered it at my fingertips.

Starting from my lower dantian, circulating through my body, and focusing it at my fingertips.

Just as I was about to send the energy into Cheongyu Sojeo with the feeling of letting it flow—

-Creak.

"So-ryong, what are you doing?"

At the sound, I turned my head to see Hwa-eun standing at the door leading below deck.

Her eyes were wide as she looked at us.

Well, I don't know if they were literally wide open, but it felt that way, as if a guilty conscience made it seem so.

"What are you two doing?"

Normally, I think of myself as pretty lucky, but why did I always get caught by Hwa-eun at these awkward moments?

It wasn’t like we were doing anything wrong, but I quickly released Cheongyu Sojeo’s hand and hurried to explain.

"It’s a misunderstanding!"

-Sia! (It’s a misunderstanding!)

Cheongyu Sojeo chimed in loudly with me.

Hwa-eun approached and smirked.

"I didn’t even say anything. Why are you two acting like you got caught stealing?"

"Well, it’s just... the situation was easy to misunderstand..."

-Siii. (Th-That’s right.)

"In a melon field, don't fix your shoes; under a plum tree, don't adjust your hat."

We hadn't done anything wrong, but it felt suspicious, so I explained.

Still smiling, Hwa-eun asked,

"Then, what exactly is the misunderstanding?"

"I was trying to infuse Cheongyu Sojeo with the energy of the Beast Heart Technique. When venomous creatures are infused with it, they sometimes awaken new abilities. If bonds can cause internal and external growth, this counts as growth too.

Cho learned to swim this way, and Bini grew bigger, remember?"

"Ah... I thought Cheongyu Sojeo was teaching you something, but it was the other way around?"

Hwa-eun said she hadn’t doubted us at all.

She had naturally assumed we were practicing martial arts.

I didn’t realize how much trust she had in me.

My heart swelled a little.

'I guess I’ve become a trustworthy man to Hwa-eun.'

'Well, I am like a certified check of a man.'

"Thank you for trusting me."

I said it sincerely, but Hwa-eun shook her head.

"No, it’s not that I trusted you."

"What?"

If it wasn’t trust, then what?

At my puzzled look, Hwa-eun asked a strange question.

"So-ryong, imagine you’re walking down a path and a gust of wind makes a woman’s skirt flutter. At that moment, you see a red and a blue snake appear from the bushes. What do you look at?"

"Of course, the red and blue snakes. They’re new creatures. Why would I care about the skirt?"

Why would I stare at a fluttering skirt?

Even in my previous life, I could never understand the creeps who secretly filmed women.

Why would anyone be interested in someone’s underwear that probably smells bad?

Red and blue snakes, on the other hand—that’s a whole new species!

It might be a once-in-a-lifetime discovery.

'Of course.'

Hwa-eun smiled brightly and nodded.

"That’s why I don’t worry."

'...That somehow makes sense.'

It wasn’t about trust, but about my... preferences.

It stung a little, but somehow I couldn’t help but nod in agreement.

'Well, at least it means there won’t be any misunderstandings in the future.'

As I was thinking that, Hwa-eun dragged over a chair from the side of the deck, sat down, and motioned for us to continue.

"Go ahead. I’m curious too."

"Then let’s continue."

-Sia. (Let’s do it again.)

With Hwa-eun’s permission and her even setting the stage for us, I once again took Cheongyu Sojeo’s hands and closed my eyes.

I gathered the energy, circulating it within my body.

Slowly, I guided the energy to my fingertips.

Just as the energy started flowing into Cheongyu Sojeo—

-Siii. 『Hngh.』

Suddenly, a soft moan escaped.

I flinched and let go, startled by the atmosphere.

"Wh-What’s wrong?"

-Siia. (Ah, it just felt strange...)

"A strange feeling?"

-Siii. (Yes, it was a tingling, odd sensation.)

"Uh, what should we do then?"

"It just surprised me because it was the first time. But now that I know what it feels like, I think I’ll be fine."

"So-ryong, try infusing the energy a bit more slowly. Don’t pour it all in at once. Even in humans, too much energy at once can damage the meridians."

"Ah, right. Got it."

Maybe I had been too rough thinking about when I did it with Cho?

Taking Hwa-eun’s advice, I tried again, this time slowly.

Starting very gently, in small amounts.

If I rushed it, it could damage the meridians, just like Hwa-eun said.

Though I wasn’t sure if the Golden-Crowned Death Queen even had meridians...

This time, the energy infusion went smoothly.

Cheongyu Sojeo didn’t react strangely either.

Although I started slow, the more I infused, the faster the flow of energy became, just like with the other kids before.

After about one full cycle of incense burning time, near the end, the energy was being sucked in like a wave.

Just as my internal energy was running dry, the infusion ended naturally, and our clasped hands separated.

'Wow, exhausting.'

Infusing energy was definitely tiring.

Still, I opened my eyes with a bright expression.

I was excited to see what new ability Cheongyu Sojeo had awakened.

But in front of me was Cheongyu Sojeo, blinking.

She tilted her head and asked,

-Sii? (Um... is it over?)

"Yes. Don’t you feel anything? Like your strength surging or new powers awakening?"

I asked eagerly, but the response was... odd.

Cheongyu Sojeo seemed lost in thought and didn’t answer right away.

"Cheongyu Sojeo?"

-Siia. (Yes? Ah, So-ryong.)

When I called her again, she finally looked at me and spoke in a somewhat apologetic voice.

-Sia... (I don’t feel like anything changed.)

"Nothing changed?"

-Sii. (Yeah. What is this?)

'Could it be... a passive skill?'

Cheongyu Sojeo seemed flustered, but since her reaction was similar to Cho’s before, I calmed her down.

The Five Venoms Sect probably never tried infusing spirit beasts with energy, so they wouldn’t know about passive versus active abilities.

When Cho first awakened her swimming ability, it had been the same.

At first, there were no visible changes or feelings.

"Don’t worry. When Cho learned to swim, it was like this too."

-Siia. Sii? (Really? Then that’s a relief. How did it happen for Cho?)

"Give me a second. I need to remember. It’s been a while."

I thought back to how Cho had awakened her passive ability.

After receiving a ton of energy, she had fallen asleep and... it had rained outside...

The rain had triggered her awakening.

Cho had realized her new ability after waking up in the rain.

"Let’s just sleep for now."

-Sii? (Sleep?)

"Yes, Cho figured it out after sleeping too."

At the word "sleep," Cheongyu Sojeo looked up at the sky.

The sky was starting to brighten.

I figured the kids’ endless hide-and-seek would lead to dawn—and I was right.

Cheongyu Sojeo looked at the sky and said,

"Looks like we really should sleep. I’ll leave the rest to the Golden-Crowned Death Queen. See you later."

With the brightening sky behind her, Cheongyu Sojeo slowly curled up and drifted into sleep.

***

When the sun rose over the port of Yeongcheonbu, where we had arrived overnight, sunlight poured down onto Cheongyu’s coiled body.

Cheongyu, blinking sleepily, kept trying to burrow deeper into her coils but eventually gave up and started looking around drowsily.

-Sia?

After confirming she was on the deck, she looked around, and when our eyes met, she shuffled over and buried her head into my chest.

Cheongyu was completely drunk with sleep.

Her human form, Cheongyu Sojeo, looked absolutely ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) soaked in drowsiness.

She couldn’t even open her eyes properly and was staggering from sleepiness.

Normally she would have woken up right away, but not this time.

She must have been exhausted from not sleeping during the day after our trip to Shaolin.

Usually, Cheongyu Sojeo would sleep through most of the day, so staying awake at night hadn’t been a problem.

But because of the Shaolin trip, she had stayed awake both day and night, and it clearly wore her out.

"Cheongyu? Cheongyu?"

-Siia...

When I called her, Cheongyu rubbed her sleepy eyes.

But then, overcome by drowsiness again, she closed them.

"I guess it’s no use. Cheongyu, let’s go inside and sleep. It’s going to get too hot once the sun’s up."

I supported the drowsy Cheongyu and led her toward the cabin.

I had planned to put her to sleep anyway.

Maybe Cho’s passive ability had awakened because of the rain, but in my opinion, sleep had been the real trigger.

After all, sleep is not just for recharging energy—it’s also a process where the brain sorts through incoming information.

That meant there was a high chance of awakening unknown potential during sleep.

I guided Cheongyu to her sleeping spot inside the cabin.

It was a place lined with soft, dry grass and a cozy blanket.

As soon as we arrived, Cheongyu curled up the grass into a nest-like shape and immediately fell asleep.

"Alright, Cheongyu’s tucked in."

Since she was taken care of, I decided to finish a few pending tasks before grabbing some sleep myself.

First, I needed to send thanks to Eunbi Ruju, the head of the Hao Clan’s Yeongcheon branch, for sending a courtesan to help earlier.

And I planned to meet Elder Punggae to check how the operation against the Five Venoms Sect’s secret businesses was going.

I figured the operation might have already taken place.

Just before leaving the port, I managed to run into both of them.

Eunbi Ruju appeared wearing a veil, accompanied by a few beggars, and Elder Punggae followed at a distance.

When they saw me, their faces lit up, and they approached.

"So-hyeop."

"Where are you headed?"

"I was just on my way to find you both."

"Good timing. We were coming to find you as well. Let’s go inside and talk. We’re here to update you on the Five Venoms' situation."

"Looks like there’s been some progress?"

I led them inside the cabin and listened to the report.

The result was half success, half failure.

"In Guangxi, Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Yunnan, Guizhou, Hunan, and Jiangxi, the Five Venoms Sect secret branches had already packed up and fled by the time we arrived.

They must’ve sensed something due to how close they were to Great Yue and escaped."

"But in Hebei, Shandong, Anhui, Henan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Shaanxi, and Gansu, we managed to wipe them out.

Some were still in the process of shutting down their operations when we caught them, luckily."

"So, half a success?"

"More than half.

Even if we didn’t capture them all, shutting down their secret branches will cripple their income."

Indeed, even if we didn’t strip them completely, cutting off their secret revenue sources would massively hurt their finances.

Satisfied with having struck at their purse strings, I decided not to dwell on it.

Besides, we had other ways to mess with them.

"Right. Then we’ll consider this a win.

Next, how about we start cleaning up their spies? Interested?"

"You have a list!?"

"Is there a list?"

"Of course."

I had already identified the Blood Cult’s spies when we captured the Deputy Leader of the Bloodshade Unit.

Thus, we would move to Phase 2: Spy cleanup.

***

After finishing discussions about Phase 2, I saw the two of them off and decided to get some sleep myself.

After reaching the Three Flowers Gathering Stage, my fatigue had noticeably lessened, but if there was no urgent matter, it was still best to sleep.

It was already past noon, so once I woke up, it would likely be nighttime again.

"Hwa-eun, I’m going to sleep for a bit."

"Alright, So-ryong. Good work."

After telling Hwa-eun, I entered the cabin and fell into a deep sleep.

Then—

I felt someone shaking me.

When I opened my eyes, the surroundings were dark—it must have been the middle of the night—and Cheongyu, who had been shaking me, spoke.

-Sia. 『So-ryong, I woke up again!』

"Huh?"

Cheongyu’s surprised blue eyes glowed faintly in the darkness.

From the tone resonating in my mind, it was clearly Cheongyu Sojeo speaking.

At her words, a thought struck me.

Cheongyu’s passive ability—

It must be extending the time Cheongyu Sojeo could remain active.