The Heavenly Demon Copies Martial Arts — Chapter 287: The Snow Falls, the Target Approaches
Yesterday before the official meeting with Seol Ye-rin.
“What? A mere Ha-mu-gwan disciple from Cheonsubaekryeonsa?”
A strange Central Plains wanderer who had suddenly appeared at the Black Dragon Branch had been trapped under the Ten Thousand Year Snow for only a single day.
During that time, the Ice Jade Empress Seol Ye-rin had ordered her subordinates to investigate the man.
And after receiving the report from them, she frowned the moment she read the first sentence.
“Is what I’m thinking right? Even a Ha-mu-gwan at Cheonsubaekryeonsa?”
“Y-yes… that is correct.”
The subordinate reporting was constantly scanning the surroundings.
He nodded carefully.
“Although this is very strange, every word on the report is true.”
Standing in for her mother who had entered closed-door training, the Young Palace Master possessed a rare talent that set her apart from the ordinary warriors.
Unique Sight and One Path
The Central Plains was vast. Beyond training, there were those born with superior senses.
Before understanding with the mind, they understood through instinct, animal-like. Some were sensitive to killing intent, others to ghost energy.
According to the history of the jianghu, those with such talents had achieved outstanding results in their respective fields.
Seol Ye-rin had been sensitive to the ‘flow of internal energy’ around her since childhood.
She could not perceive the qi stored in the dantian when it was still.
But the moment someone began circulating qi for an attack, she could feel the flow of internal energy along the attack’s path as clearly as observing water.
Even tracing the flow backward to observe the opponent’s origin. This meant she could never allow a surprise attack.
This gave her an enormous advantage in the chaotic succession structure.
Despite her weak body, she had defeated other competitors’ threats and risen to the position of Young Palace Master of the North Sea Ice Palace, the future ruler of the north.
Her mother and the master of the North Sea Ice Palace, Dae-mak-seol-ya, had been interested only in the perfection of martial arts.
When Seol Ye-rin was chosen as Young Palace Master, her mother Dae-mak-seol-ya had simply looked down at her and muttered one short sentence.
“It’s not that I dislike the weak, but delicacy is probably better than anyone else’s. Rather, she would be better at leading a group than a palace master like me.”
After that remark, she had entered closed-door training once more.
After that, Seol Ye-rin never saw her again. Everything had flowed under Seol Ye-rin’s rule.
In other words, her response to any foreign threat was entirely her responsibility.
“Hah… I thought we’d finally gotten a somewhat useful guy. What a misunderstanding?”
Seol Ye-rin set the report down and rubbed her brows.
“No. It definitely… that aura from a mere newborn Ha-mu-gwan could not have been it. Even though it was only an instant, what I felt was clearly…”
Seol Ye-rin recalled the moment she first met him.
She had met many Central Plains warriors in her life.
Most were men, and all of the Central Plains men had been kind to her exotic appearance.
Yet no matter who she met, afterward, the only impression left in her mind was ‘tasteless.’
Of course there was strength.
But all of it had come with the long peace of the jianghu, empty rituals, and endless techniques.
And one day, the man she accidentally met at the Black Dragon Branch was the complete opposite of every Central Plains man she had encountered before.
“He dies.”
That was the emotion she had felt the instant her eyes met Moyong Bi’s by chance.
White like the formal uniform of the North Sea Ice Palace, and the haughtiness of a ruler who protected everything.
And the instant those met the man’s barbaric eyes, with faintly red light shining in them, it had shattered like a lie.
She had unconsciously stepped back a little.
At the same time, she was surprised at herself.
Seol Ye-rin had lived through the chaotic succession structure with a weak body and had become exceptionally skilled at concealing her true feelings.
In the world she had lived in, revealing her weak inner feelings meant death, so it was natural even for survival.
Even if she was withdrawn and scary, she never showed it.
Instead, she went one step further, showing the opposite, to gain the upper hand in negotiations with her opponent.
That was why her own action had been extremely exceptional.
“But… a Ha-mu-gwan?”
She had checked the report several times, yet it clearly stated the man’s name was Moyong Bi.
There was a complicated entanglement of interests regarding Moyong Family origins, and occasionally periods of disappearance, but nothing else particularly notable.
Seol Ye-rin bit her lip.
“To crush barbarians with something superior to their own. That was the plan to use the Barbarian Suppress Barbarians method. This is troublesome. No matter how you look at it, that Blood Sect guy is definitely not ordinary.”
There had been a strong feeling during the instant they met.
But the gap with his true identity left her extremely confused.
After that, Moyong Bi had not used any qi circulation.
Qi perception comparable to Seol Ye-rin’s Unique Sight was almost meaningless.
She tried to provoke him slightly to draw out qi circulation.
Yet even so, Moyong Bi did not move a muscle until the very end.
“Damn… he’s completely an evil one!”
Seol Ye-rin ground her teeth at the man who did not even react to her provocation.
Even if angry, he never raised qi until the end.
“Could he have noticed how extremely sensitive I am to qi flow?”
She had thought that, but since such a talent was rare, it was impossible.
“There are words that even a warrior who is extremely adept at real combat will not use qi until the very last moment to prevent waste of qi…”
Seol Ye-rin shook her head.
“No. That is literally something that would only appear in ancient books. Who fights like that these days?”
She had also thought of the method of directly sensing qi.
Moreover, Moyong Bi had willingly entered the unarmed state and been thrown into prison, showing he had no desire to fight.
But that was all.
He was quietly imprisoned in the cell, but the feeling was like a giant wolf curled up and holding its breath.
No one could even think of probing his body directly to stomp on his warrior’s pride.
A subordinate spoke to the deeply troubled Seol Ye-rin.
“What should we do, Young Palace Master?”
“…Take that man trapped in the Ten Thousand Year Snow and bring him out now. He seemed to have some pride. If we poke him a little, something will come out. And even if he really is an incompetent Ha-mu-gwan.”
Seol Ye-rin spoke with resolve.
“Throw him to that Blood Sect guy according to the original plan. Tell the Blood Sect guy it’s nothing special so he won’t feel burdened. Central Plains men are arrogant. With a little boost and calling them nothing special, they’ll respond right away.”
“A bait for investigation?”
Seol Ye-rin nodded.
“We need even a little information. Since Mother is not here, if that Blood Sect guy is indeed what I expect…”
She licked her dry lips.
“Even a North Sea Ice Palace sacrifice is not enough.”
……
……
“The target we need to find has suddenly come forward on its own.”
Seol Ye-rin’s voice, looking at the red circle drawn before her, was calm.
-Chiik.
A red circle was being drawn on the center of the snowy plain where a blizzard was raging.
A red swamp zone that gave off a sinister blood scent just from seeing it.
A spatial teleportation spell used by the Blood Sect.
And Seol Ye-rin’s calm did not last long.
“What… is this?”
Her pupils shook violently.
Between the opened circle, a massive red qi surged like a tidal wave.
-Kugugu.
Inside the completed red circle, a man emerged.
With sparks flying, a giant axe was pulled out.
Seol Ye-rin felt her breath catch.
Her mind went completely white.
“More than I expected… this is not some random Blood Sect assault leader. At the very least, a top-class rank that stands in the forefront even within the Blood Sect!”
Seol Ye-rin’s outward expression remained extremely calm.
As if she had anticipated this much in advance.
She had remained calm.
That was the way she had lived and trained.
But inside her head was complicated.
“Calculation error. I thought he was just a mid-level executive who had fled to the border… this is more than that!”
She was extremely sensitive to the flow of internal energy.
At the same time, the pressure she felt from such massive internal energy was even greater.
The qi of the Blood Sect person she felt was like a disaster.
Her mind burned as it became more and more complicated.
“Strategically… stay calm, Seol Ye-rin. It is not too late yet. Even now, if we distance ourselves…”
Seol Ye-rin tried to be cold.
Compared to herself who had instantly seen through the opponent’s massive qi, the foreign man beside her might not have noticed.
She spoke casually.
“As I said in advance, we will not participate in this fight. It’s fine, right?”
Moyong Bi glanced at her.
-…
He waved at her as if swatting a fly, looking annoyed.
Seol Ye-rin looked at Moyong Bi and smiled.
“Idiot. This man has not yet felt the opponent’s enormous power at all.”
Seol Ye-rin had never felt gratitude toward her talent for being so sensitive to qi flow as much as today.
She stepped back.
“Thanks to you, I’ve learned who the hidden Blood Sect person is. Sorry, foreigner. The jianghu is originally cold, so your sacrifice is worth my value…”
-Kkaduk.
Moyong Bi ground his teeth.
Red light exploded in Moyong Bi’s eyes.
-Kuuung!!!
Snowflakes flew, and the snow around Moyong Bi began to swirl.
-Pazik… pazijik!
Black thunder rose around Moyong Bi’s body.
“…”
It was massive internal energy.
Her white hair was shaken by the wind pressure.
“This… can’t be.”
Thanks to the last thread of rationality, she barely concealed her violently shaking true self.
But that was all.
Her head became numb.
“This is the internal energy of a mere human…?”
She looked at Moyong Bi’s back.
He was called a Ha-mu-gwan disciple.
A mere Cheonsubaekryeonsa soldier who would not even be looked at, said to be from the Ha-mu-gwan.
The man she had judged not worth looking at was someone beyond what she thought.
Something made a ringing sound in her ear. A North Sea Ice Palace warrior beside her shouted.
“My lord!”
“This… this means…”
The man who had waved at her like swatting a fly drew his long spear from his back and his short sword from his waist.
The Blood Sect person also looked at Moyong Bi with killing intent, and she paid him no attention.
They seemed to be the only two people left in the world.
The Blood Sect person shouted with foaming mouth.
“The Slaughterer! Enemy of the Seventh Palace Lord!”
Both of the Blood Sect person’s eyes were filled with hatred.
From now on, he would use qi circulation in earnest.
Even if she was insensitive to qi flow, she would have noticed the opponent’s ability.
“…”
Yet Moyong Bi was not shaken in the slightest.
“That man… is really going to fight. He is still thinking he can win even while seeing that power right in front of him.”
Seol Ye-rin felt a sigh close to a short groan.
She pulled her frozen subordinate’s shoulder back and stepped back.
“The saying ‘there is no end to the sky above the sky’ was truly Mother’s words.”
The subordinate looked at Seol Ye-rin and said.
“As expected of the Ice Jade Empress. You saw through the foreigner who hid such power and brought him here! As expected…”
“…”
Even though Seol Ye-rin was skilled at controlling herself and concealing her inner feelings, she could not look straight into her subordinate’s face this time.
“No.”
“Huh?”
The subordinate looked at Seol Ye-rin with a foolish face.
She muttered softly.
“To build such power… what kind of hell did one have to go through… I can’t even imagine.”
……
……
-Huuiing.
Snow flurries flew.
Below them, the shattered flat-wrapped giant marble was visible.
The blizzard began to subside.
Under the gray snowstorm, the broken building ruins scattered here and there began to become clear.
On the desolate land, this place that was merely covered in snow was estimated to be the site of a vast ancient city where people once lived.
-Cheok.
From the red circle like a swamp, a man completely emerged and stood in front of me.
“…”
“…”
Their gazes intertwined.
They observed each other.
In the Blood Sect person’s hand was a giant axe.
He held a short hammer in one hand.
His build was one head taller than mine.
His entire body was wrapped in red light steel armor from face to toe.
All of it had countless wounds as if he had fought a fierce battle.
Protective gear was rare among Central Plains warriors.
[He has concentrated everything for killing alone.]
Mumyeong said.
[In short, he is the same type as you, Host. Prepare yourself.]
I took a deep breath.
Exhaled.
Looked back.
I felt Seol Ye-rin watching me.
Mumyeong noticed and said.
[Do not get distracted.]
I nodded.
The Blood Sect person facing me spoke in a rough voice like boiling phlegm.
“I am the First Guardian of the Seventh Palace Lord, Chu Ryung-tae. I have heard your story countless times. I waited so long for the day we would meet.”
First Guardian Chu Ryung-tae ground his teeth.
“Even after the Seventh Palace Lord disappeared, I spared no expense in tracking your whereabouts. I also recalled every day your characteristics and unique scent that the Seventh Palace Lord mentioned. That is why I can feel you so clearly now, and the day we reap the harvest has finally arrived.”
“…”
He began turning sideways.
-Jeobuk, jeobuk
The stone dust of the city site that had been ravaged by the storms of time felt like being stepped on.
-Kiiing!
My Myeolseom began to spin with sparks flying.
-Kagaga…
The Blood Sect person also pulled his giant axe blade sideways with sparks, slowly following.
“Palace Lord Ryu Hwasa talked about you every chance he got. Along with countless anecdotes tied to you, clearly… your story is widely discussed within our Blood Sect. And as a First Guardian, I cannot possibly overlook this.”
First Guardian, Chu Ryung-tae said.
“I will prove that Palace Lord Ryu Hwasa’s eyes were wrong. You are nothing but trash common in the jianghu, a false idol…. Today I will prove it.”
I frowned.
“…False idol? What are you talking about?”
“Yes, you don’t know. But false rumors about you are definitely spreading. The ancient Heavenly Demon who led the revival of the White Lotus Demon Sect, the mother of the Demon Sect and Blood Sect—”
-Kalarang
The axe rang with a clear sound.
“Such nonsense.”
Chu Ryung-tae pointed the axe at me and said.
“If I take your head, the nonsense and babble of the trash will subside—”
-Gwaarung!
With the sound of tearing the air, my body appeared in front of Chu Ryung-tae.
“Why do you Blood Sect people all talk so much?”
“…!”
-Kwaang!
The lightning-fast sword blade with a splash of blood pierced Chu Ryung-tae’s mouth.