Chapter 169
I Became the Successor of the Martial God
Chapter 169.
Seol Hwa-ryeon was running away.
This news reached Bing Il-do as well.
“Where is she headed?”
“South. How should we—”
“What do you mean ‘how’? Move now!”
Bing Il-do, who had been searching for Seol Hwa-ryeon with his warriors, swiftly headed south.
The warriors forming the encirclement in the south were fighting beasts.
“What kind of disgrace is this!”
“L-Lord Bing Il-do!”
“Don’t disappoint the Ice Palace Lord! What’s so hard about killing these measly beasts?!”
Bing Il-do drew his sword and stepped forward.
The Ice Soul Sword unfolded from his fingertips. The blade, coated with frost, tore through the beasts.
“Where did Seol Hwa-ryeon go?”
“That way!”
“Follow me! We’ll pursue her immediately!”
The fight with the beasts wasn’t over yet.
But this wasn’t the time to worry about that.
Bing Il-do left the warriors to deal with the beasts and took a few with him to chase Seol Hwa-ryeon.
Tap-tap-tap!
His feet moved swiftly using a movement technique.
Ordinary movement techniques would struggle on this snowy terrain, but the North Sea Ice Palace’s technique made him even faster on snow.
Their figures dashed forward.
“Lord Bing Il-do! They say they saw Seol Hwa-ryeon fleeing that way!”
“Good!”
Warriors who had been tracking Seol Hwa-ryeon ahead of Bing Il-do reported her whereabouts.
Hope began to rise.
‘Seol Hwa-ryeon! If I can just capture her, I can reclaim the Eternal Ice Crystal! Then Lord Bing Cheon-ak can truly ascend as the Ice Palace Lord!’
The era of the Bing family would begin.
Suppressing his surging emotions, Bing Il-do ran while suppressing his swelling excitement.
And as if to cool those emotions...
Whoosh!
“Guh—!”
A sudden blizzard swept in.
The weather in the North Sea was unpredictable.
A sudden blizzard wasn’t unusual.
But.
‘What kind of blizzard is this…?!’
It was a blizzard of unprecedented intensity. He couldn’t see an inch ahead.
Bing Il-do urgently shouted.
“Everyone, stick close to each other! Stay together—!”
“…….”
His voice didn’t even carry.
He felt the warriors nearby being swept away. By the time he regained his senses, Bing Il-do was alone.
‘Damn it, this cursed blizzard keeps ruining everything!’
Ever since arriving in this snowy plain, the blizzard had been thwarting his plans.
Bing Il-do gritted his teeth.
‘Forward. Only forward!’
It was too late to turn back now.
Bing Il-do pushed through the blizzard, enduring its onslaught as he pressed ahead.
Endlessly, ceaselessly forward.
How long had he walked?
Whoosh!
The blizzard stopped.
The surroundings became visible. A wide clearing in an unfamiliar forest.
A woman was walking there.
“Seol Hwa-ryeon!”
“……!”
Seol Hwa-ryeon.
She, too, seemed to have lost her way in the blizzard, looking around with a startled expression.
“Ha! So this blizzard can be helpful too. Did you lose your allies and get lost?”
“Bing Il-do…!”
“Hahahaha!”
Bing Il-do burst into mad laughter.
He thought the damned blizzard had made him lose her for good, but here she was, right before his eyes.
“You wretched woman!”
Bing Il-do charged in rage.
The distance closed in an instant. His frost-coated sword unleashed the North Sea Ice Palace’s sword techniques.
The Ice Soul Sword was sharp and swift. Its icy blade, like a freezing wind, aimed for Seol Hwa-ryeon.
“How dare you, a lowly insect, disrespect the young lord of the North Sea Ice Palace!”
“Your era is already over!”
Seol Hwa-ryeon also drew her sword and countered.
She channeled her inner energy, spreading her left hand.
Cold energy gathered in her palm, forming an ice sword.
Crack!
The Snow Maiden’s True Sword.
Seol Hwa-ryeon began a dazzling display of dual-sword techniques.
Bing Il-do clashed with her, the sound of their blades ringing out.
“Ugh…!”
Bing Il-do grimaced.
As expected of the young lord of the North Sea Ice Palace, her skills were formidable.
She wasn’t an opponent he could easily defeat alone.
‘Has she recovered this much already?!’
Moreover, she had exhausted her inner energy when she fell off the cliff, but now she was at full strength.
This wasn’t easy.
Bing Il-do deflected her dual swords aiming for his neck and waist.
Clang!
Seol Hwa-ryeon was also surprised.
‘His condition is too good.’
According to that man’s words, he had suffered fatal injuries, described as being like a lump of flesh.
There should have been aftereffects, but there were none.
And his inner energy—
‘The purity of this inner energy… how?’
The quantity of his inner energy had increased, and it had become even purer. Naturally, the power of Seol Hwa-ryeon’s martial arts had also grown stronger.
“Gah—!”
Bing Il-do was pushed back.
His left arm deeply slashed, he screamed and retreated. Seol Hwa-ryeon pursued.
Whoosh!
“Guh—!”
Just then, another blizzard swept in.
His vision was obscured. Bing Il-do sighed in relief and created distance.
This blizzard was different from the previous one—he could still perceive his surroundings.
“Bing Il-do!”
“Damn you…!”
The two faced each other from a distance.
A tense standoff.
A clash could happen at any moment.
A suffocating silence fell.
Then, the silence was broken by footsteps from somewhere.
“That sound!”
Bing Il-do turned around, elated.
He thought the subordinates he had separated from earlier had found their way to help him.
A dark figure approached from a distance.
“You fools, finally! Help me! We’ll kill her and reclaim the Eternal Ice Crystal!”
The blizzard gradually weakened.
The dark figure beyond it became clearer.
“What are you doing? Hurry—!”
A man emerged from the blizzard.
“……!”
Bing Il-do’s eyes widened.
The figure was nothing like what he had expected.
Not his subordinates, but another man.
It was Yoo Baek-jun.
“Looking for these guys?”
Yoo Baek-jun threw something he was holding in one hand. Bing Il-do’s eyes bulged.
What he threw were severed heads.
The heads of Bing Il-do’s subordinates.
“Guh—!”
Bing Il-do stumbled back in shock.
The subordinates he had separated from earlier were all decapitated, their heads rolling on the ground.
All killed by Yoo Baek-jun.
“Your subordinates are all dead. They probably didn’t even know when they died.”
“Y-You bastard…!”
“You took the bait way too easily. Kind of disappointing, really..”
Bing Il-do gritted his teeth.
He’d been fooled.
Seol Hwa-ryeon being alone, all of it was this bastard’s trick.
“Reinforcements are on their way….”
“Yeah, sure.” A sneer played on Yoo Baek-jun’s lips. “But will you still be alive by then?”
Bing Il-do staggered back.
Even against Seol Hwa-ryeon alone, victory wasn’t assured.
With this bastard added, there was no chance.
He had to run.
But,
“Don’t underestimate me!”
Seol Hwa-ryeon charged with a furious cry.
The Snow Maiden’s True Sword unfolded from her fingertips.
Her dual swords danced like a blizzard, fierce and relentless.
Bing Il-do desperately raised his guard.
Yoo Baek-jun didn’t stand idle.
Whoosh!
Yoo Baek-jun’s frozen hands unleashed cold energy.
The Frozen Soul Palm.
A biting chill enveloped Bing Il-do, freezing his arms solid.
“Hah, ugh, aaaah…!”
His attempt to defend was in vain.
His frozen hands held his sword at an awkward angle, unable to move.
Seol Hwa-ryeon didn’t miss the opening.
Slash!
“Ugh…!”
The dual swords struck Bing Il-do.
His waist, then his right arm. The sword in his hand fell uselessly.
Seol Hwa-ryeon spun like a dancer, deeply slashing Bing Il-do’s body.
“…Aaaah!”
Blood splattered across the pure white snow.
Bing Il-do collapsed, blood gushing from his body.
His face twisted in agony.
His eyes locked onto Seol Hwa-ryeon.
“Hah, hahk…!”
Terror filled his gaze.
Bing Il-do opened his mouth to speak.
“Spare…!”
Thud!
Likely a plea for his life.
But before the words could fully leave his lips, Seol Hwa-ryeon severed his head.
“You vile bastard! My family died by your hands…!”
“No time for that. If we don’t leave quickly, more enemies will swarm us. They’ll pursue relentlessly—we need to put distance between us first.”
Seol Hwa-ryeon, about to strike the dead Bing Il-do again, lowered her arm.
She exhaled roughly.
“Enemies are coming….”
Seol Hwa-ryeon muttered, bowing her head, lost in thought.
Yoo Baek-jun urged her on.
“Let’s go. We need to get out of here fast.”
“…Understood.”
Yoo Baek-jun and Seol Hwa-ryeon quickly departed.
Only a headless corpse remained on the snowy plain, as a cold wind blew hollowly.
* * *
Yoo Baek-jun and Seol Hwa-ryeon escaped the forest.
It wasn’t easy.
Many warriors blocked their path, forcing them through several battles.
They barely broke through the encirclement, but—
“H-How much further to the Central Plains…?”
“Still several days.”
—Awooo…
The journey to the Central Plains would take a long time.
Yoo Baek-jun and Seol Hwa-ryeon walked endlessly across the snowy plains.
Everywhere they looked, there was only snow, distorting their sense of direction and time.
“Seol Hwa-ryeon…! Stop right there!”
“They’ve appeared again! How long do these pursuers plan to chase us?!”
The pursuers were relentless.
Even after killing Bing Il-do, their numbers had dwindled, but they were tenacious.
If they hadn’t killed him, it would’ve been even worse.
‘There’s no end to them.’
The pursuers’ behavior was strange.
They were trying to capture Seol Hwa-ryeon, but oddly, they weren’t aggressive.
It was as if they were just buying time.
“Doesn’t this feel strange to you?”
“…….”
Seol Hwa-ryeon also sensed something was off. Yoo Baek-jun knew why they were acting this way.
‘They must have something prepared.’
There’s a reason this gate’s difficulty was rated A+.
Yoo Baek-jun had used various tricks to make things easier, but the difficulty remained high.
“Huuu….”
There were several reasons the North Sea Ice Palace gate was rated A+.
First, the relentless pursuers. They chased Seol Hwa-ryeon obsessively, disregarding their own lives.
And second—
‘The extreme climate.’
The North Sea’s weather was truly horrific.
The average temperature was -60°C, dropping even lower at night.
Only those who practiced special techniques to handle ice, like the North Sea Ice Palace’s disciples or certain special races, could endure such weather.
That applied to hunters too.
‘No matter how strong a hunter is, they’re no match for extreme cold or heat. Anyone who enters here unprepared will freeze to death.’
Of course, this didn’t concern Yoo Baek-jun.
In fact, thanks to the cold, he was in the best condition he’d ever been in.
Not that he didn’t feel the cold at all, but he could endure it just fine.
“I did my military service in a place like this….”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing, never mind.”
Yoo Baek-jun and Seol Hwa-ryeon shook off their pursuers and pressed on, barely sleeping.
How long had they walked?
“We’re here.”
The edge of the North Sea came into view.
Beyond the frozen sea lay the winterlands.
Walking straight ahead would lead them to the Central Plains.
However—
“That’s…!”
An obstacle awaited them on that land.
“H-How are they already there?!”
Warriors of the North Sea Ice Palace.
They had formed a wide encirclement, waiting for Seol Hwa-ryeon and Yoo Baek-jun.
Fortunately, they hadn’t been spotted yet.
“There’s no other path to the Central Plains. Well, technically there is, but….”
It’s just extremely tricky.
Truthfully, Yoo Baek-jun had anticipated this.
The pursuers’ actions had focused more on ‘buying time’ than ‘capturing.’
And above all, he’d experienced this scenario before.
‘Naturally, I know how to handle it.’
They just needed to go undetected.
Instead of taking the blocked path, they could take the ‘extremely tricky’ one.
‘Well, this is wrapping up smoothly. Just a little further, and I can return to a warm home.’
Yoo Baek-jun hummed as he began unpacking the equipment he’d brought.
Gear needed to traverse the extremely tricky path.
He was about to hand some to Seol Hwa-ryeon when—
“Sir, I have a request.”
Seol Hwa-ryeon spoke cautiously.
With a resolute expression.
‘That’s not good.’
Yoo Baek-jun felt a sense of foreboding.
He had a feeling things were about to get complicated.