Chapter 27: Ice White Divine Art Training (2)
Chapter 27: Ice White Divine Art Training (2)
Objectively analyzing the situation, Seol Yu-ran was proving to be a more difficult woman to approach than anticipated. While women of the North Sea Ice Palace held considerable authority, they harbored the purest devotion toward their husbands.
The stronger their yin energy grew, the more they became irresistibly drawn to men with yang energy compatible with their own, transforming into devoted wives.
Among them, Seol Yu-ran, who had mastered the Ice White Divine Art, was especially extreme. If not for that, she wouldn't have married Wi Ji-ja, who had lost his dantian, and settled with him in such a remote mountain hut to build a family.
But this could also be interpreted another way—it meant she required a great deal of compatible yang energy. In other words, though she appeared refined and virtuous by day, by night, she became a seductress who drained her husband's essence.
However, due to my earlier suggestion, Wi Ji-ja had fallen into psychological impotence, leaving Seol Yu-ran unable to release the yin energy that had been accumulating within her. She was suffering from deep frustration.
If this had only lasted a short while, she might have endured it—even if her husband was effectively castrated, she wouldn't have looked at another man.
But after years of suppression, she was on the verge of explosion—and then I appeared, a male brimming with yang energy, positioning myself right beside her.
Still, I wasn't entirely confident, so I planted several more subtle suggestions in Wi Ji-ja's mind. They weren't strong enough to overturn common sense, merely gentle nudges to guide his thoughts. But after being nurtured in his mind for so long, he would believe them to be his own emotions without question.
Of course, for this to work, I'd first need to shake Seol Yu-ran herself.
If she were just any ordinary martial artist of the Ice Palace, she would have already been drawn out by my Yang Thunder Qi, our eyes meeting in mutual desire. A scorching wind might have swept between us in an instant.
But Seol Yu-ran was different. Having broken through her limits to reach the Peak Realm, she possessed extraordinary patience—or rather, exceptional emotional control. After all, even Chi-chi, a naturally impatient Demonic Human, endured harsh training without yielding, all because of her pride as the Heavenly Demon.
Yet I had no way of knowing just how unshakable the mental fortitude of a Peak Realm master—now a homemaker filled with maternal love—could be.
For now, I had no choice but to start by becoming her disciple, her most cherished pupil.
As usual, I ascended the mountain without fail and greeted Seol Yu-ran, who stood waiting in her martial robes.
"Good morning, Master. I trust your qi and health remain strong as ever."
"Yes. Good morning to you as well."
Despite the overwhelming presence of her voluptuous figure, Seol Yu-ran carried herself with dignified grace. Had she been born in the Central Plains instead of the North Sea with such beauty and those ample curves, she would have undoubtedly stirred a bloodstorm across the Rivers and Lakes.
Men would have fought like rabid dogs over the chance to bury themselves between those mounds of flesh, and even the Imperial Troops might have intervened under the pretense of protecting civilians from the ensuing chaos—only to try and claim her for themselves.
In fact, the original story had briefly depicted such an attempt.
Though she appeared as a vengeful spirit, Seol Yu-ran's beauty never faded. Instead, she wandered the Central Plains exuding a decadent charm so peerless it could topple nations.
She cut down martial artists who fell under her spell, and when a lord, hoping to frame her for murder and have her captured by the Imperial Troops, ended up dismembered, everyone quickly abandoned such ambitions.
That was how violently beautiful Seol Yu-ran was. Even Chi-chi, in a fit of jealousy, had unconsciously belittled her by calling her a "cow girl."
It wasn't for nothing that she had chosen to live in seclusion with Wi Ji-ja, who had lost his dantian.
"Will we be practicing mental cultivation again today?"
"No. Today, this master will spar with you."
"Eh?"
Just when I thought we'd only be doing Qi Circulation Breathing to accumulate yin energy, Seol Yu-ran suddenly declared we would spar and drew her sword. The blade, white as fresh snow, exuded a chilling aura.
"Master. May this ignorant disciple dare to ask the true purpose of this spar?"
"Of course I'll explain. You needn't be so cautious as to ask with such formality."
"Ah, yes."
At first, I wondered if she intended to vent her pent-up frustration on me, but she seemed far more rational than I expected.
I wasn't sure whether to be relieved or disappointed.
If she had been irrational enough to take her anger out on me, seducing her would have been much easier. Though, even if she did decide to vent, I was confident I wouldn't get hurt—so instead of survival instincts, it was my damn libido rearing its head first.
"The Ice White Divine Art is a martial technique for expelling Yin Cold Qi. While circulating it through the Microcosmic Orbit and expanding your internal energy via the Macrocosmic Orbit isn't bad, once you've mastered the basics, improving your control over Yin Cold Qi through actual combat is far more effective."
"Then does that mean the past Lords of the Ice Palace increased their internal energy solely through sparring once they had established a solid foundation?"
"For the most part, yes. When they eventually reached a wall, the problem was no longer their internal strength but their enlightenment, so they would return to Qi Circulation Breathing to train. But by then, the sparring they had done up to that point had given them all the experience they needed."
"Ah. So that means..."
With the Yin Cold Qi they accumulated and the martial arts incantations of the Ice White Divine Art, the finest divine art in the North Sea, they could reach First-rate with ease. The real problem, as expected, was breaking through the wall and reaching the Peak Realm.
From the Peak Realm onward, enlightenment accounted for nearly everything, so accumulating more internal energy was meaningless. That was why they resumed Qi Circulation Breathing, observing their bodies from within in order to temper their minds.
But I was already a master who had reached the Peak Realm before learning the Ice White Divine Art. A master so formidable that I could confidently call myself the Number One Under Heaven.
Moreover, thanks to my Thousand Martial Bodies constitution, I possessed a physique capable of harmonizing with any martial art I learned, so long as it wasn't an absolute mismatch. Of course, the Yin Cold Qi was an absolute mismatch for my Yang Thunder Qi, but I was keeping them both in check with the Yin-Yang Sexual Art, so that wasn't a problem.
In any case, since I had already broken through the wall and reached the Peak Realm, that meant I no longer needed something like Qi Circulation Breathing.
"From now on, you will spar with me repeatedly. And we must impose one restriction on these bouts: you may perform your techniques using only Yin Cold Qi."
"So the more accustomed I become to using Yin Cold Qi, the more proficient I'll grow in the Ice White Divine Art, and the more my internal energy will expand."
"That's right. You've already grasped its essence."
Seol Yu-ran wore the look of a teacher gazing at a promising student who learned two things for every one she was taught, and smiled warmly.
"But, Master, this foolish disciple wishes to ask you a question that may be discourteous. Will you permit me?"
"What is it you're curious about?"
"I'm worried you might get hurt sparring with this foolish disciple, Master."
"......"
My tone and expression conveyed genuine concern, but my true intention was to provoke her on purpose. Even if we sparred, she would obviously hold back to some extent when exchanging blows with her disciple.
So I might as well provoke her into putting her full strength into it.
If we jostled against each other in a fierce sparring match, a few lewd incidents might occur, and we might even manage to create a rather suggestive atmosphere.
I had more than enough martial prowess to put that plan into practice.
But Seol Yu-ran, who didn't know that, would be unable to shake the feeling that a master on her level was simply looking down on her. And as proof of it, her spirits having sunk, Seol Yu-ran sent me a cold gaze so frigid it seemed the north wind and snow were blowing from it.
The gaze held an edge sharp enough to cut me if I made the slightest mistake. It wasn't murderous intent, but it was certainly enough to count as hostility.
"Heh, hehehe. Our disciple is certainly full of himself. Thanks to you, this master will get to unleash her full strength for the first time in ages."
"...Master. The Sword Saint and your daughter are a little ways away. Please restrain yourself."
"It's all right. I installed a formation here in advance to block the cold, so it wouldn't spill into the surroundings and destroy nature. As long as we fight using only Yin Cold Qi, we won't cause any great damage to the area."
When had she installed something like that? Come to think of it, I had wondered why the cold was overflowing so intensely in this particular area.
I'd thought perhaps she had settled here because the region was naturally like this, but it seemed this was a training ground she had prepared herself.
Seol Yu-ran took up a proper stance. She had no intention of killing me, but her determination to teach me a harsh lesson was so apparent that the pressure I felt was no joke.
What I want to feel isn't pressure like that. It's the pressure of my master's breasts.
So, I'd pass on the contest of wills.
I released Yin Cold Qi and imitated Protective Aura. I called it an imitation because the modest amount of Yin Cold Qi that had only just begun to take root in me couldn't completely block out this frostbitten cold.
Even so, just because it was an imitation didn't mean the boring outcome of it simply shattering on impact was inevitable.
Whoooosh.
Seol Yu-ran's cold flowed past without colliding with mine, as smoothly as water.
Wasn't the very foundation of the Yin-Yang Sexual Art in keeping with the Great Ultimate so loudly proclaimed by the Wudang Sect? Just as I had used the Great Ultimate to become one with nature, I had used my small and frail Yin Cold Qi to let her cold flow past me.
When my faint Yin Cold Qi gracefully turned aside the cold charged with her force, Seol Yu-ran raised the tip of her brow. She looked as though she hadn't thought this would be possible.
"You handle Yin Energy better than I expected."
"Please remember, Master, that when it comes to handling Yang Energy and Yin Energy, my Yin-Yang Sexual Art is a match for the Wudang Sect's Great Ultimate."
"Hmph! You're still a greenhorn, no matter how well you say that."
Though she knew it wouldn't work, Seol Yu-ran continued to release her aura.
"Still, as your master, I can't strike first. You go ahead."
"Then, with no regard for propriety, I'll take you up on that!"
I answered at once and immediately launched myself toward her.