Chapter 587: The Young Lady of the Ice Palace of the North (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 587: The Young Lady of the Ice Palace of the North (2)
“Euihyeon is dead.”
In a damp, subterranean chamber in Henan, a man knelt, delivering his report.
Before the bowing figure, an old man sat perched atop a jagged, broken rock. At the news, the old man shifted his gaze toward the messenger.
“The body?”
“We couldn’t recover it. But based on the circumstances, his death is certain.”
“I see.”
The boy is dead.
A flicker of bitterness touched the old man’s eyes. But that was not the only troubling news.
“Furthermore…” the man continued, his voice low. “…It appears the formation we deployed has been dispelled.”
At those words, the old man’s brow finally furrowed.
The formation was broken?
Now, that was interesting.
“When?”
“Less than two hours after it was set.”
“…Hoh…”
It was the most surprising thing the old man had heard in years.
Whose work could this be?
He considered the Murim Alliance for a moment before dismissing the thought. It was impossible. The Murim Alliance did not possess the expertise required to dismantle one of their formations.
It was only natural. It was the Murim Alliance itself that had stifled the advancement of formations and sorcery with its own hands. Having abandoned those paths, they could never hope to master them.
The old man rested his chin on his hand, lost in thought.
‘Two hours.’
Just two hours. If someone had dismantled their formation that quickly, they had to be an expert of incredible caliber. That was the mystery. In all the vast Central Plains, there should have been no one more skilled in the art of formations than his own people.
The old man’s gaze shifted.
“Could it have been you?”
At the questioning tone, a figure leaning against the far wall lifted his head. If there was one person capable of such a feat, it was him—a being whose knowledge of formations was as profound as his legendary medical arts.
“Immortal Healer.”
“...”
As the old man called his name, the deep wrinkles on the Immortal Healer’s face seemed to sink further.
“…That is impossible.”
“Indeed. It couldn’t have been you.” The old man let out a dry, rasping chuckle. “At the very least, if you have a shred of conscience left, you wouldn't have.”
“...”
“If not you… then who? I wonder.” A spark of genuine curiosity flickered in the old man’s eyes. “I want to know. Look into it.”
“…Yes, Captain.”
At the command, the kneeling man vanished into the shadows.
Only the two of them remained in the silence of the underground space. Finally, the Immortal Healer spoke.
“Tell me now.”
The old man looked at him. “Tell you what?”
“Why you summoned me here. I am asking for the truth.”
“Hmm.” The corners of the old man’s mouth curled upward. “What if I said I simply wished to see the kin who wanders the outside world?”
“...”
The Immortal Healer met the old man’s gaze with a blank, unimpressed expression. He knew it was nonsense.
Seeing this, the old man chuckled. “You’re as grim as ever.”
“Get to the point.”
“Yes… I suppose I should.”
Thud.
The old man stepped down from his stone perch and walked toward the Immortal Healer.
“How is it? Is life on the outside treating you well?”
“I repeat, get to the point…”
“I’m asking what it’s like to live as a dog of the Orthodox Faction after betraying your own clan!”
“…!”
The Immortal Healer’s face twisted in an instant. “Lord…!”
“Do you have an excuse, Immortal Healer?”
He had many. There were a thousand things he could say, a thousand justifications he could offer. But the words died in his throat. Because, as the man said, they would be nothing more than excuses.
“Whatever life you chose after leaving us, the only reason I never bothered you was because you are our blood. You know that, don’t you?”
The Immortal Healer’s eyes sharpened. “Then what is it you want from me now, after all these years?”
“I thought that after so much time, you might finally understand. I thought you would see that the Orthodox Faction has no future.”
The Healer didn't refute him. It was a truth he knew all too well.
Currently, the Orthodox Faction was stagnant. Countless "reforms" had been attempted since the Sword Venerable stepped down, but none had led to true growth. They were merely pretending the world was at peace while, beneath the surface, everything was rotting to the core.
“Therefore…” Recalling this, the Immortal Healer spoke. “Are you telling me to join your miserable plan?”
“Miserable…” The old man’s eyes grew cold.
“What else could it be but a miserable plan?” Ignoring the shift in atmosphere, the Immortal Healer pressed on. “You are so blinded by revenge that you cannot see an inch in front of your face. Because of your obsession, our few remaining kin are being sacrificed—”
Grip!
The old man lunged, seizing the Immortal Healer by the throat mid-sentence.
“Ghk…!”
“Zhuge Uicheon.”
The Immortal Healer gritted his teeth. It was a name he hadn’t heard in decades.
“Even if every member of our bloodline curses me, you, of all people, have no right to do so.”
“Kghh…”
“At the very least—the absolute very least—those are not words for the likes of you, who ran away to forget the clan's suffering.”
Just as the Healer’s breath was about to fail, the old man flung him aside.
Thump! The Immortal Healer’s frail body tumbled across the floor.
“Kuh… cough…”
“Yes, you were always like that,” the old man said, looking down at the gasping man. “Among our kin who lived in hiding, nursing their anger and unable to forget the humiliation we suffered at the hands of the Alliance, I remember you being exceptionally calm.”
It was a story from a distant lifetime. A tale from a past that few even remembered.
“‘We shouldn’t live consumed by revenge.’ ‘We must find a different way to live.’ You even offered such counsel to the Lord of that generation.”
The old man smiled at the memory, though there was no warmth in it. “How laughable and selfish those words were.”
“...”
“What exactly were we supposed to forget? What were we supposed to see differently?”
Heh, heh, heh.
His laughter deepened, echoing through the hollow chamber.
“Did you seek to live by forgetting your karma, Zhuge Uicheon? That’s right. Oblivion is such a convenient thing.”
“…Lord…”
“Do not call me that.”
He was no longer the Lord. With no clan left, what was a Lord but a ghost? He had stepped down from that position long ago. He was the Captain now. For his purposes, that was enough.
“Was it peaceful? The days you spent living while ignoring the clan’s resentment?”
“I… have never once forgotten the clan.”
“How amusing. Don’t you see how pathetic those words sound?”
How could the man who abandoned his family to live as a healer say such a thing? To the old man, it was truly ridiculous. This man possessed the greatest talent for formations in the history of the Zhuge Clan. He was supposed to be the hope that would raise them from the ashes.
“No one ever imagined you would abandon everything and run.”
The old man stared into the eyes of the man who had done exactly that.
“…Are you saying you resent me?”
“Hmm, I wonder. Perhaps I did in the past… However.”
The Immortal Healer pushed his weary body up. The old man continued.
“Even if I did resent you, there’s not much you could say in your defense, is there?”
“...”
What could he possibly say? He was the man who had fled from his grieving kin to save the lives of the very Orthodox Faction bastards who had ruined them.
“Hundreds of years have passed since the Alliance framed our clan and brutally discarded us.”
The Zhuge Clan worshipped the Blood Demon.
Under that false accusation, the Zhuge Clan—which had once held a proud seat among the Five Noble Clans—fell in an instant. An extermination order was issued. Countless members of their bloodline were slaughtered. The few who survived were forced into the shadows, concealing their names just to breathe.
That was their reality.
“And yet you say we shouldn’t live for revenge… How can you say such a thing? Not then, and certainly not to me now. You, of all people, shouldn’t.”
“...”
He was right. The Immortal Healer knew he was the last person who should speak of forgiveness, but…
“Lord.”
“Speak.”
“How… How can you be so sure?” A faint tremor entered the Immortal Healer’s voice.
A question appeared in the old man’s eyes. “What do you mean?”
“…That their judgment was truly a frame-up. How can you be so certain?”
Shaaa—
The moment the Immortal Healer spoke those words, all emotion vanished from the old man’s face.
Seeing that void, the Immortal Healer knew.
“Lord… could it be that you already… already knew…?”
“...”
Silence fell. It was brief, but in that heavy stillness, the Immortal Healer felt a torrent of horrific realizations.
“Immortal Healer.”
The old man’s tone had shifted.
“I am aware that your path and ours are different.”
Expression returned to his face, but it was a mask of cold indifference. A chill ran down the Immortal Healer’s spine.
“It is a shame. There are so few of our bloodline left…” The old man spoke with a hint of genuine regret. But the Immortal Healer could read the darker meanings beneath the words. “Since our paths differ, it cannot be helped. You may go.”
“…Lord.”
“Do not worry. I have no intention of harming you just because we disagree. We are still kin, after all.”
Heh heh.
“The reason you came in person after receiving my letter… must be the same.”
“...”
“Let’s end our conversation here. You must be very busy.”
The old man acted as if he had no lingering attachments. Whether that was true, the Immortal Healer couldn’t tell.
Just then, a hidden door in the wall groaned open, revealing the passage beyond. It was the same entrance the Healer had used to enter. It was a clear order to leave.
“...”
The Immortal Healer turned without another word. There was nothing left to say.
Shortly after the Immortal Healer departed with a silent farewell, the old man returned to his stone seat.
“Will you be alright?”
A voice emerged from the pitch-black darkness. The old man didn't flinch; he had known the observer was there all along.
“About what?” the old man asked.
“…I’m not sure if it’s wise to let him go just like that.”
The traitor of the clan. The disgrace who sought peace for himself while his brothers sharpened their blades. The hidden figure couldn't understand the mercy.
“If you’ve judged that his path is different, it would have been better to kill him…”
“Vice-Captain.”
“…Yes, Cap—”
The old man turned his head, his eyes locking onto the man in the shadows. Meeting that gaze, the Vice-Captain flinched. The old man’s eyes were incredibly fierce.
“Have you forgotten our pact? I thought you, of all people, would remember.”
“…I… apologize.” The man bowed his head.
“We do not kill our own blood. Was that not the oath we made?”
“...”
“Even if we are crumbling after losing everything, that is the one thing we must protect.”
“…But.”
“Besides, our friend knows this as well.”
The reason the Immortal Healer had bothered to come. The reason he was still alive despite his betrayal. It was all the same story.
“What if the Immortal Healer reveals our plans…”
“Heh heh.” The old man laughed, a sound tinged with cold contempt. “Even if he does, it’s already too late.”
Even if the Immortal Healer shouted their plans from the rooftops, it was far too late to stop what was coming. Knowing this, the old man had let him walk away.
The old man shifted his gaze upward toward the dark ceiling. Beyond the stone, he was seeing something else entirely.
“The gears have already begun to turn.”
Once set in motion, they could not be stopped. The resentment and fury toward the Alliance that he had nursed for centuries was finally ready to be repaid.
“Vice-Captain.”
“Yes, Captain.”
“It seems we’ll need to lay low for a while.”
“I will relay the message to our men.”
The fact that their formation had been dispelled meant they needed to adjust their approach.
‘The fact that it was broken means…’
There could be complications with the plans they had just initiated in Henan. It wasn't a major setback, but they needed to be cautious.
Of course…
‘No matter what happens, it’s too late for them.’
Time had merely been delayed a little. The old man slowly closed his eyes.
‘It truly… is not long now.’
How long had he yearned for this? He struggled to calm his racing heart. All that remained was to watch the Alliance burn.
No one could stop it now.
Not unless an anomaly great enough to overturn the heavens themselves were to occur.