The Sky Demon's Copy
My mouth opened.
I was about to say something.
Seol Ye-rin immediately brought her finger to my lips.
“Ah, no more of that joke. This isn’t a question. It’s confirmation.”
“….”
“And what you should be focused on right now isn’t whether I’m Moyong Bi or not. There’s something else here. This worthless manual…”
Her foot kicked the manual book off the ground.
I remained kneeling, staring at the book sprawled on the floor.
“….”
It brought back memories of my old days.
Begging for lessons at the bottom of the city, crawling on the ground while requesting entry.
Being kicked away by a servant, barely surviving while hungry, and finding my iron sword snapped in two beside me.
“This action…”
“Huh?”
My momentum changed.
Seol Ye-rin, the Ice Jade Empress of the North Sea Ice Palace, looked at me with curious eyes.
She glanced at the manual carelessly left on the ground, then at her own foot beside it.
Her white shoes, above them her white ankles, and slowly she raised her head.
“What exactly are you doing?”
My and Seol Ye-rin’s gazes locked.
—Kiiing.
Red radiance began gathering in my two eyes.
My forehead started to wrinkle.
“What does this action mean right now? Are you about to slash an enemy line?”
The knights of the North Sea Ice Palace sensed something unusual.
They stepped forward one by one.
Seol Ye-rin raised her hand.
“Don’t interfere.”
At that single word, everyone stopped moving.
Seol Ye-rin bowed at the waist and stared into my eyes.
She blinked.
She looked at the manual on the ground.
Then back at me.
“Perhaps my earlier action disturbed something of yours.”
The corner of her mouth lifted.
“At first I was confused, thinking you seemed so rational… but you’re a thoroughly trained wild horse, right? On the surface fierce, yet inwardly calculating like a Zhongyuan gentleman. In the end, you’re a dangerous man whose soul itself is violence.”
“….”
My entire body began shifting into the mindset of facing battle.
Muscles across my body began contracting.
My eyes blinked.
With every blink, my pupils darted left and right.
Kneeling, my flat feet that had been spread across the floor gathered together.
My toes curled like eagle claws, gripping the ground as if ready to claw at it at any moment.
And Seol Ye-rin felt every single change vividly.
“Hah, any moment now and it looks like you’ll charge and tear me apart.”
“….”
“Now even no answer to my jokes. Young masters in the righteous path used to tease me with thick talk after just a little opening.”
“Shall I say just one thing?”
I ground my teeth and said.
“Don’t provoke me while pretending to show respect. Young Palace Master.”
“If you’re so confident in fighting, then try it. Moyong Bi?”
“…!”
Cold air began flowing from her body.
—Zze… zzezezek…
Ice crystals began forming along the floor where I had been kneeling.
“Back up, Young Palace Master!” the knights who had been retreating cried out in alarm.
White robes fluttered upward.
But I stared at them with eyes that didn’t waver an inch.
—Kkadeuk.
My fingers began clenching and unclenching with the sound of bones.
Beneath my already wrinkled forehead, the red radiance grew increasingly intense.
Behind that radiance, black flames began seeping out one after another.
The corner of Seol Ye-rin’s mouth lifted.
From her eyes, icy white radiance began flowing.
Her white fingers rose.
Everyone stared at her fingertips.
—Kugugu…
Every muscle in my body tensed as if ready to burst out at any second.
Every single one of my internal energies responded to the imminent kill intent wrapping the surroundings.
I began circulating my internal energy.
Internal energy flowing from all directions began mixing right before the explosion.
“….”
She looked down at me with a blank expression.
She let out a small sigh and opened her mouth.
“Hah, you’re even infiltrating my inner hall now. Truly, it’s driving me mad.”
“…What?”
—Pabatt!
Her hand moved like lightning.
“…!”
Seol Ye-rin’s two fingers pointed at the farthest knight among the line of knights stationed around the stage.
—Puh!
She raised her two fingers to the sky.
—Zze-eung!
A massive ice formation shot upward like an execution mechanism for criminals, piercing through one knight.
“Kur… kureoek?!”
“Annoyingly using internal energy in reverse order, just like the Blood Cult guys.”
Seol Ye-rin waved her palm.
—Chwaak!
The ice pillar that had pierced the knight’s body shot into the sky and grew hundreds of spikes like a porcupine.
“Kuaak!”
With a final scream, the knight’s body shot upward and was torn apart, scattering into pieces.
Chunks of flesh and organs flew everywhere.
With a chop sound, blood droplets scattered in all directions.
Red blood fell onto the white surface of the North Sea Ice Palace, creating a dramatic contrast.
Seol Ye-rin muttered.
“These rats are steadily increasing their infiltration rate.”
Mumyeong muttered in disbelief.
[No way, did she read every single qi flow within ten zhang of distance…?]
Against the background of red blood, Seol Ye-rin said to me.
“Good. Let’s stop the jokes and take the manual you can’t guess its use for. In exchange, you’ll have to accept one of my requests.”
“A request?”
She pointed at the scattered meat pieces on the ground.
“Ever since three months ago, these rats have been continuously sneaking into the Black Dragon Pavilion. The cause is guessable, so I suppose we’ll have to eliminate the root. Of course, I won’t do it myself. I still have a conscience.”
She looked at me and said.
“If you accept my request, in addition to the manual, you’ll receive one more irrefusable price if you are indeed a member of the Moyong family.”
“You seem to have a serious misunderstanding right now.”
I frowned and said.
“Right now I have no connection to the Moyong family. Therefore, the suggestion that our family would benefit from what you said has no meaning to me—”
“The alliance you were about to make with Moyong Jinryong, I won’t make it.”
I stopped talking.
Seol Ye-rin spoke slowly.
“On the upcoming day of the Moyong Family’s great purge, our North Sea Ice Palace, which faces the Moyong Family to the north, will not accept the exclusive alliance with Moyong Jinryong that we had originally agreed to accept.”
“….”
I let out a short sigh.
I stood up from my seat.
I walked toward the place where my weapons were piled.
“Eh, ehh…”
The knights whose faces still showed lingering shock moved sideways to block my path but quickly stepped aside.
I armed myself.
As I put on my clothes, I said.
“What was the request?”
***
“Here it is.”
The North Sea Ice Palace subordinate who had been leading the only one who followed me turned around and said.
I looked at Seol Ye-rin standing beside me.
Seol Ye-rin nodded as if she had understood.
I looked forward again.
In front of me lay desolate snow-covered mountains.
Snow was pouring down.
It was highland terrain.
The vast plain leading up the gentle slope seemed endless.
Here and there were traces of collapsed buildings with human marks buried under snow.
With the desolate land before me and snowstorm burying everything, I raised my voice.
“What is there here?”
“This place is called Seol-yeong-wol-sik, a highland area. Ahead of here is…”
Seol Ye-rin let out a short groan.
“A weird fox is here. That’s beside the point. She also ordered the subordinates to leave some people here on purpose because she told them not to bring three or more people here before.”
I tilted my head.
“…A fox? Not to bring three or more people?”
Seol Ye-rin’s face also twisted as if she didn’t understand.
“She said something about needing to stimulate the power of my mother who is sleeping in the north… anyway, the fox’s words that I can’t understand aren’t important.”
Right after I entered the North Sea region, my mental balance had been shaken the most.
I had to make a tremendous effort to hide it.
‘…The power of my mother.’
The only one I knew where her power would apply was this one.
‘No way.’
I looked at the boundless snowfield stretching before my eyes.
Unless there was a special reason, outsiders wouldn’t come to this place.
‘…I was planning to just take the Three Rounds of Return Heart Method and leave, but if I’m lucky.’
Seol Ye-rin continued as if she didn’t know my thoughts.
“I heard a rumor that one of the high-ranking members of the Blood Cult fled here. This Black Dragon Pavilion is probably the farthest outskirt of the North Sea Ice Palace and also has some connection with the Blood Cult, so that makes sense.”
She stood with her white hair blowing in the wind as if the snowstorm hitting her face was a favorable breeze.
“The righteous path is completely ruined, but the Blood Cult is also divided into seven palace lords right now and is fighting for power while aiming for the next successor to the fake Blood Demon. Recently, one of them, the Seventh Palace Lord, disappeared under mysterious circumstances.”
The face of Ryu Hwasa, the Seventh Palace Lord, who had been shouting with madness at me, flashed briefly in my mind and vanished.
He had vanished right after performing the ritual to summon Ilmanhyeolje in exchange for sacrifices.
“With the Seventh Palace Lord suddenly missing, it seems the assault unit leaders who followed him most faithfully have fled here. Their remnants who are being pursued are coming to our side, and other pavilions who thought we were hiding him have sent spies. It’s a complete mess, like a festering abscess that’s difficult to extract.”
Now I could guess what she wanted.
“Why don’t we release the subordinates and search thoroughly?”
“I’m saying this with my own mouth as the Young Palace Master.”
Seol Ye-rin shrugged her shoulders.
“In this palace, it’s funny to mobilize elites just to extract one festering abscess from this far place, and releasing low-level warriors for a search is meaningless loss of life. At the same time, from the North Sea Ice Palace’s perspective that stands for neutrality regardless of reason, if I personally go around and casually execute Blood Cult members, I can’t predict what diplomatic issues will arise. That’s why.”
She pointed at me.
“Dealing with outsiders as outsiders is the most reasonable thing to do. Do you understand now?”
I nodded.
“Good. Let’s try it.”
I expanded Mumyeong’s senses to the maximum and thought I could find it somehow by wandering around.
I thought I could solve it as quickly as possible and return to the Central Plains.
Seol Ye-rin said to me as I stepped forward.
“You have no fear at all. Even the Blood Cult’s Seventh Palace Lord’s assault unit leaders would hesitate.”
I looked ahead and said indifferently.
“I’ve already seen more hell than that.”
“…You.”
Seol Ye-rin opened her mouth.
“You’re a righteous path person, right?”
My pupils shook for a moment.
But to hide that sign, I deliberately turned my gaze away from the front and scanned my surroundings and said.
“Why suddenly.”
“At first you still showed respect, but now you speak casually. Perhaps you’ve got a strong grudge against me.”
Seol Ye-rin giggled and said.
“Earlier I pretended not to know because the subordinates were watching and I didn’t want to cause a big fuss, but I figured out why you wanted the Three Rounds of Return Heart Method so much.”
“You know why I want it?”
I looked at her.
Seol Ye-rin spoke like flowing water.
“The Three Rounds of Return Heart Method is clearly the only heart method of the North Sea Ice Palace and an utterly useless, colorless, odorless third-rate heart method with no advantages. But at the same time, because it has no characteristics or advantages, there’s no side effect even if used while possessing demonic energy.”
“….”
“At the same time, it can make people mistakenly think you have the unique cold qi of the North Sea Ice Palace on the surface. Just like using charcoal to filter dirty waste into clear water. It’s like wolves wearing sheepskin, you could say.”
I cut it off sharply.
“Nonsense. Even while saying it, do you really think that’s something someone would say? If you felt it as specialized in internal energy, you would have sensed the qi flowing from me.”
Seol Ye-rin looked up at me with a meaningful smile.
“That’s right, just watch and see. And another thing.”
Seol Ye-rin looked ahead and said.
“That person seems to have a lot of business regarding you?”
It was a highland area where snowflakes from the arctic were pelting down.
A red circle was being drawn.
It was a bloody circle.
“…That’s…”
It was clearly familiar to my eyes.
Surely when performing the Ilmanhyeolje summoning ritual, countless Blood Cult members had crawled out from all directions through that circular blood swamp-like sorcery.
Seol Ye-rin chuckled.
“Should I be happy or sad? The prey is coming right in front of me like this. And it’s itching to fight.”
I fixed my gaze on the red circle spreading before me.
From the red circle, a massive man walked out.
A storm of red qi began raging.
Seol Ye-rin backed away.
“As I said beforehand, we won’t withdraw from this fight. It’s fine, right?”
“….”
I waved my hand behind me as if to say get lost quickly.
The only North Sea Ice Palace warrior following us reacted to the action.
“T-that rude kid…!”
—Kuwoong…
From my body, Saturn qi began flowing.
It was no less than the red qi storm.
—Pa-jik… pa-ji-jik!
Black lightning began rising from my body.
With that state, I looked back.
The North Sea Ice Palace warrior quickly shouted.
“Hold on! I believe!”
“….”
Seol Ye-rin sighed and grabbed the shoulder of the North Sea Ice Palace warrior.
At the same time, a deep voice began rumbling through the heavens.
“I know you… the scent of dirty feelings. That black lightning… even from a distance it can be felt.”
—Kuwoong.
A massive boom echoed and one leg emerged from the red circle.
“…The butcher that the Seventh Palace Lord mentioned over and over again. Correct?”
—Kakakakak.
A massive blood-stained axe was pulled out with sparks of red fire.
“The Seventh Palace Lord’s butcher.”
I chuckled.
I reached my hand behind my shoulder.
—Buwoong.
I pulled out my blade.
With the other hand I grabbed Myeolseom and said.
“Even if it’s not the rest, I’m sure you’re connected to Ryu Hwasa’s kid.”