Chapter 200
The guest room of the Murim Alliance, which I hadn’t used since the Yongbong Gathering, was as satisfactory as ever—aside from the fact that it still didn’t feel familiar.
“Ah~ Frostjade Celestial Hand is such a great martial art~ It would go so well with Glacial True Qi~”
“...”
There was just one minor issue—the martial artists from North Sea Ice Palace were staying in the room right next to ours.
As usual, everyone had abandoned their own rooms and gathered in mine—some lounging around, others quietly circulating their inner techniques. A heavy silence hung in the air.
That was because Bing Yerin’s voice coming from the other side of the wall was far too intentional—there was no mistaking that she wanted us to hear.
Perhaps having fulfilled her daily quota of whining, Seorin, who had been meditating quietly with a serious expression in a corner of the room, opened her eyes.
“You there.”
“I know. Now that we’ve finished speaking with the Alliance Leader, she’s clearly pressing to schedule a visit to the North Sea Ice Palace. I’ll pick a date—tomorrow or the day after—and tell her to keep it down.”
“Still, Frostjade Celestial Hand really is an excellent martial art.” “…?”
Hearing the same line come out of Seorin’s mouth made me tilt my head in surprise.
Yet Seorin continued her explanation with a serious face.
“Frostjade Celestial Hand is the famed ultimate technique of the previous Ice Palace Master, Bingcheon Divine Lord. They say that even blazing flames would freeze if touched by that snow-white hand.”
“That sounds like an exaggeration. Freezing even flames?”
Martial artists—and gossipmongers interested in Murim affairs—often exaggerate stories to suit their purposes. Whether to make a loss sound less humiliating, to glorify a victory, or simply for fun.
So, tales of the Bingcheon Divine Lord’s martial arts probably got blown out of proportion over time.
Not to mention the common tendency in the Central Plains to regard outer Murim sects like the North Sea Ice Palace as mysterious.
But Seorin wasn’t talking about that kind of hearsay.
“In most cases, you’d be right. But this one is more of a metaphor for something that really happened.”
“A real event?”
“Have you never wondered who would win in a fight between someone who mastered a blazing technique and someone who mastered a yin-cold one?”
“Don’t tell me…”
“It happened when I was about your age. There was a master known as the Solar Fist King—born with an innate Yang meridian, and though his sect was long destroyed, he had mastered the famed Yeolyang Arts that everyone acknowledged.”
According to Seorin, this Solar Fist King rose quickly to the Peak Stage using his rare natural constitution and a fateful encounter that let him master exceptional fire-based techniques.
Then, at the height of his prime, he decided—just out of curiosity—to test himself against a master of cold yin-based techniques, and journeyed to the North Sea Ice Palace.
When he returned much later, he reportedly said:
“The Bingcheon Divine Lord was so formidable that blaming the defeat on the cold of the North was laughable. The Frostjade Celestial Hand was fierce beyond measure. He even showed me a chunk of my own qi, frozen into ice the size of a fist.”
“Seriously? That was actually possible?”
“We’re not talking about normal flames and ice—it was qi. When opposing willpower clash, such things can happen.”
“Opposing willpower…”
To put it simply, willpower is the power to impose your inner will onto the world.
In other words, it’s the force that allows a person to partially override reality to make the impossible happen.
So then, what happens when two impossibilities collide?
It’s only natural that something hard to rationally comprehend occurs.
The phenomenon of burning qi freezing solid likely stemmed from just that.
“I’ve heard North Sea Ice Palace has opened up and now lets anyone learn their martial arts freely… but I didn’t expect they’d even share the former palace master’s divine techniques.”
“Then their current situation must be quite urgent. Or they must see Seol Lihyang’s value as very high.”
“Exactly. So it wouldn’t hurt to take advantage of this.”
“I’ll keep that in mind… also, I think it’s about time I take Seol Lihyang out for a walk.”
“Mn. My ears are starting to hurt…”
From Frostjade Celestial Hand to all sorts of martial arts names—her murmurs had gone on for nearly an hour now, loudly enough to be not-so-subtle monologues.
She’d been rambling on about how yin energy needs to be pure, how it pairs well with Glacial True Qi, and how women could achieve great things with such arts…
Now even emotion—grief, anxiety—was starting to seep into Bing Yerin’s voice.
“Seol Lihyang.”
“Yeah. No way I’m sleeping like this. Let’s just get it over with.”
“Just to be clear—go sleep in your room.”
“Won’t she be lurking outside my door then?”
“Exactly my point—”
“You jerk…!”
Seol Lihyang stomped on my foot, but not hard enough to hurt. It was more like she just placed her foot on mine.
In other words, our usual playful complaints.
With a shrug, I stepped outside with her.
Just as expected, Bing Yerin was pacing outside, mumbling nonstop to herself.
“Finally…!”
“Didn’t we say we’d pick a date later? Why are you so impatient?”
“Impatient? I don’t know what you mean. I was simply thinking about which martial art to teach first, should Miss Seol become the next Young Palace Mistress.”
“But you just said ‘finally,’ didn’t you?”
Seol Lihyang’s flat remark made Bing Yerin flinch, but she quickly acted innocent and carried on.
“Still, since you’re here, I’ll just ask you directly. You wear a whip on your waist—how do you integrate that with Glacial True Qi? Did you know it’s generally more efficient to channel higher-level yin energy through the body rather than through a weapon? If you still want to use the whip while advancing—”
“Originally, like you said, I fought by wrapping my opponents with the whip and infusing yin energy to freeze them. But lately, I’ve been relying more on direct yin arts. Using the body as a medium limits power if the body isn’t trained enough, after all.”
Seol Lihyang cut her off mid-ramble and answered bluntly.
From the look of disinterest on her face, she clearly wanted to get to the point.
“Yin arts…? You’re saying you want to avoid body limitations, despite having a Pure Yin Physique and mastering Glacial True Qi… That’s…”
Bing Yerin murmured, clearly confused.
Understandable.
The North Sea Ice Palace must’ve developed their martial arts independently, with their own methodology.
And so did Seol Lihyang—though she learned Glacial True Qi, she never studied the Ice Palace’s techniques.
The Tang Clan only teaches foundational arts—whip techniques and movement skills.
She had to develop her yin-based arts on her own, reading a few rare manuals including Glacial True Qi, and evolving them herself.
From what the Ghost Shadow Thief once told me, Glacial True Qi was the oldest art in the Ice Palace.
So in a way, Seol Lihyang and the North Sea Ice Palace share the same martial roots.
But just like branches growing in different directions from the same trunk…
The Ice Palace evolved its techniques in isolation from the Central Plains, while Seol Lihyang walked her own path within it.
It’s no wonder Bing Yerin is confused seeing someone use the same root technique in a completely different way.
Yin arts are rare, even in the Central Plains and the North Sea.
Seol Lihyang’s achievement in this field is pure talent—unrelated to her physique.
That, personally, I find the most impressive.
As I nodded to myself, Seol Lihyang let out a deep sigh.
“Haa. I’ll show you once, so calm down.”
“Miss Seol’s… martial arts?! Shall we go to the training hall? Wait, but I don’t know where that is. Why is no one around when I need them…”
“This is a guest area, after all. Servants don’t wander unless called, and people rest here quietly. And I’m just showing you a simple example—no need to go all the way to a training hall.”
Seol Lihyang shrugged, took a deep breath, and opened her mouth.
It wasn’t quite a song—more like a pure vocalization.
But carried by that sound, refined yin energy spread outward, then condensed sharply into a single point.
Tap.
A thin tree branch, now covered in frost, dropped to the ground.
“Woooow…”
Bing Yerin stood there, mouth agape, eyes blank.
I knew this was the moment to speak.
“When we visit the North Sea, we’ll likely go as a full group. So we’ll need to contact the Tang Clan and wait for their reply. We can’t leave right away.”
“Yes, but how did she move not just her own internal energy but the surrounding energy as well—"
“Still, just sitting around and waiting seems pointless. Could you start by teaching her some basic martial arts in the meantime?”
“That won’t be hard. Honestly, I feel like I’ll be learning more.”
“Thanks. Ah, come to think of it, Seol Lihyang mentioned that her Pure Yin Physique alone isn’t enough lately—she needs elixirs.”
“Of course. I brought some decent ones to use as bribes—or for unexpected injuries. I’ll prepare them.”
“Is it okay if I…”
Still dazed, Bing Yerin nodded vaguely.
Huh. I didn’t expect her to be this stunned, but if everyone’s satisfied, I suppose it’s fine.
I glanced at Seol Lihyang. She gave a faint, exasperated nod as if thinking the same thing.
I focused my mind on the fallen branch.
My inner energy naturally followed my will, reaching toward it.
Though not as responsive as when wielding a sword, my qi extended smoothly, wrapping the branch securely.
Then, I simply recalled it along the same qi path.
“Object-Grasping Through Empty Air!”
Just as Bing Yerin exclaimed in surprise, I successfully performed Object-Grasping Through Empty Air.
Though I’m still not fully used to it—it only works on light objects while I’m stationary, and requires high concentration.
Still, the important part is that I’ve grown familiar enough with willpower to use it at all.
Smiling with satisfaction at how much faster it was than yesterday, I handed the frozen branch to Bing Yerin.
“Then I’ll send the letter today. Once we get a reply, we’ll head out.”
“Yes!”
Bing Yerin cradled the frozen branch with both hands and dashed off to her room.
Not long after, her voice rang out from inside, full of emotion.
—“Everyone, listen well! I think our Young Palace Mistress… might actually be a genius!”
—“Waaaaa!”
“I told you I’m not your palace mistress…”
Face flushed, Seol Lihyang muttered under her breath, embarrassed by their over-the-top praise.
***
A reply arrived from the Tang Clan.
—You said you were going to Jeomchang Sect, so what’s this about the North Sea Ice Palace all of a sudden, Sowol? And what in the world happened with the Heaven-Slaughter Star…?
Tang Sowol closed the letter halfway through and declared:
“Father’s letter has arrived. Everyone, let’s prepare!”
“Wait, did he actually say it was okay? The part I read clearly said—”
“Shhh.”
Tang Sowol raised a finger to my lips and shook her head.
“We haven’t read that far yet. So technically, we’re not disobeying—we’re just taking a slightly longer route home.”
...And here I thought they were the strange ones.