Bone-Chilling Cold
They wanted to drag two Transcendental Peak Realm martial artists all the way to the northern frontiers—without a single coin to their name.
Instead of the expensive salt that actually fetched a decent price, I grabbed a fistful of cheap tea leaves and made as if I were about to fling them straight into their faces.
"No, please—just hear us out a little longer."
The male uninvited guest scratched his cheek, looking thoroughly flustered by my little exorcism ritual.
"What is this? You were all friendly a second ago—what's with the sudden attitude?"
Blue eyes narrowed at a slant. The female uninvited guest wore the expression of someone who had just confirmed every worst suspicion about people from the Central Plains.
"Do you two know the single most annoying type of client a troubleshooter can get?"
My face and presence turned deadly serious. She flinched at the corners of her eyes and asked back,
"…What is it?"
I clenched the ancient tea leaves tighter and continued.
"The ones who show up dressed to the nines and then tell me they have no money to pay me."
If they had simply come clean from the start—"We're broke, please help us"—I might have worked something out, adjusted the fee for the sake of a little good karma.
Instead they waltzed in looking like they belonged to some prestigious righteous sect and tried to hire me while admitting they didn't have a single copper.
The office funds were already stretched thin. These two had managed to disappoint me twice in one conversation.
"Get out."
I flicked the dried leaves at them like I was shooing livestock.
Through the fluttering green scraps, the blond man waved both hands, looking even more cornered.
"Just listen for a moment! I only said we can't pay right this second—there is definitely a way to get the money…!"
The woman chimed in right beside him, backing up her older brother.
"Just how little do you think of the North Sea Ice Palace? We happen to be short on cash for certain reasons at the moment, but if we put in the effort we can earn as much as we need."
Even through her desperation, the blue-eyed beauty radiated confidence, insisting her sect was full of highly skilled martial artists.
"And how exactly do you plan to scrape that money together?"
The moment I asked for a concrete method she clammed up again, lips working soundlessly. Her brother stepped in to explain.
"That is… something you will have to help us with."
He closed the distance by another step and lowered his voice as though sharing a precious secret.
According to him, the cave guarded by the spirit beast called the White-Haired Snake King was saturated with spiritual energy, overflowing with treasures of every kind. He stressed that this was confidential and begged me not to breathe a word of it outside.
"So let me get this straight. The money to pay our fee… is something we have to earn ourselves by fighting that spirit beast?"
I let every ounce of how ridiculous I found the proposal color my voice.
This was complete nonsense. Someone said they had a "great offer," I listened, and what I got was a con artist's pitch where I did all the hard work.
This did not even qualify as a proper commission.
And I never moved without an advance payment unless the person was someone I could trust completely. Too many times while working as a troubleshooter I had been stiffed after the job was done.
"In the end, I only get paid if I succeed at the job. Is that it?"
They exchanged glances and looked thoroughly uncomfortable.
"Ahem… well, yes."
"That is true, but…"
Unbelievable. Absolute nonsense. I shook my head hard, ready to refuse them flat-out.
Then Ilhong carefully took hold of my arm and whispered,
"Boss… something feels off. The North Sea Ice Palace isn't the kind of sect that should be this desperate. Why not at least hear them out? You never know."
While I was thrashing around like a man who'd just been scammed, Ilhong had taken a step back and offered the rational view.
Those cautious eyes of hers somehow cooled me down.
Well… listening didn't cost anything.
"Hmm. Fine."
No other clients were beating down the door anyway. I forced my temper down and dropped heavily back into my seat.
The blond siblings whispered to each other while watching me.
"That girl handles men pretty well, doesn't she?"
"Could she be the real power behind the throne?"
I can hear you, people.
"All right. Tell me what in the world happened that brought people from the North Sea Ice Palace all the way down here. Let's hear the story."
According to Ilhong, the North Sea Ice Palace had its own specialty goods unique to the north and its own ways of making money—they weren't some impoverished sect.
I jerked my chin, inviting them to explain.
"Speaking of it here… secrets might leak. If you accept the commission, I will tell you every detail."
They claimed a family member's life hung in the balance and promised to spill everything once we reached the North Sea Ice Palace.
These two were still laboring under some serious misconceptions.
"If you don't want to talk, you're free to leave."
"Hmm."
"Umm…"
Both of them blinked their blue eyes, looking lost.
"Our boss's lips are sealed tighter than a vault. He has never once spread someone else's story carelessly. You two must have checked that much before coming, so just talk."
Not a single word of that was wrong. Confidentiality was one of the fundamental conditions of running an information bureau.
I nodded with quiet pride, completely agreeing with Ilhong.
The siblings looked back and forth between us again.
"I knew it…"
I had no idea what they were misunderstanding, but time was money, so I pressed them to get on with it. Only then did I finally hear the full secret history of the North Sea Ice Palace family and the true nature of the commission.
The steam that had once risen from the warm teacups had long since vanished. Only cold liquid now sat quietly inside the porcelain.
The temperature was perfect for me, but any other person from the Central Plains would have complained that this wasn't tea at all.
I looked between the North Sea Ice Palace siblings and organized everything I had just heard.
"So because of your youngest sister's Nine Yin Blocked Meridians, you need the Ten-thousand-year Fire Carp that lives inside that cave. Is that right?"
"Yes… that's correct."
At first I had assumed they were here with some get-rich-quick scheme.
What Seol Cheonsang and Seol Sakwha had actually brought was a story far more heartbreaking than I expected.
A father who had charged in first to save his daughter and suffered a deep internal injury. An entire family that had exhausted every famous spiritual medicine and treasure they could find, searching for any other method. And when every attempt failed, a final commission to gather every last strength and take down the spirit beast together.
Even carrying all that pain, the youngest sister Seol Soyeong was said to be an extremely bright girl who still looked after others.
The martial artists of the North Sea Ice Palace had thrown themselves into training all this time for the sake of that youngest lady.
Unlike me, who just wanted to make some easy money and loaf around, these people wore the faces of those who had come looking for their last hope—faces full of desperate resolve.
"Hic… Mujin! We have to take this job!"
Jo Harang suddenly clenched her fists and shouted.
True to the nature of the Purple Micro Star—who believed that removing the wicked would fill the world with goodness—she simply could not walk past something like this.
"Boss… think of it as putting the North Sea Ice Palace in our debt and accept…"
Even the calculating Ilhong seemed a little moved; she suggested we take the commission.
These people… they knew full well the office was short on funds right now.
If we took this job we would be gone for ages running back and forth to the north, leaving the office empty. What if we came back empty-handed and without any income?
The quarterly taxes the court collected in exchange for us holding the imperial capital didn't just materialize out of thin air, courtesy of some Buddha.
"According to the family records, deep inside that cave lies a precious treasure called the Ten-thousand-year Ice Essence."
The moment I heard an unfamiliar term I turned to Ilhong for advice.
With her usual scholarly expression she explained that the Ten-thousand-year Ice Essence was extreme Yin energy that had crystallized and hardened over ten thousand years.
Something that had frozen endlessly inside cold energy… basically a spiritual medicine icicle?
…
Salsung flared faintly without a word at my brief assessment.
"Even if we fail to obtain the Ten-thousand-year Ice Essence, the North Sea Ice Palace will transfer to you the Thousand-year Ice Essence we have prepared for the next Palace Lord."
Seol Cheonsang, eldest son of the North Sea Ice Palace, offered something they themselves needed more—willing to give it up for me.
In other words, even if things went sideways, they would guarantee a minimum return.
"Ilhong, are the Ten-thousand-year or Thousand-year Ice Essences actually valuable?"
"Of course. If you can find the right buyer, the price is almost impossible to set."
So there was still the risk of no advance payment and everything riding on the final fee… but the offer was more tempting than I had expected.
"Who needs them the most?"
"People from the North Sea Ice Palace."
"…Hmm."
Those people were the ones claiming to be broke; even if they wanted to buy it back, they probably couldn't.
"Can I consume it myself?"
"You would need to have mastered ice techniques strong enough to endure the cold, or possess extreme Yeolyanggi hot enough to melt the Yin energy completely."
In short, someone like me—who only carried the power of the star and a faint moon energy—couldn't use it properly. My body would shatter under ten thousand years of accumulated Yin energy.
"But there are plenty of people in the Central Plains who cultivate martial arts that push Yin or Yang to the extreme. If my information network and the Beggar Sect's connections work together, we could arrange a decent buyer."
So even if I had to suffer through hell, the Thousand-year Ice Essence could cover a decent portion of the losses.
Of course the absolute best outcome would still be getting my hands on the Ten-thousand-year Ice Essence instead of the thousand-year one.
"Mujin, I believe you'll take this commission."
Jo Harang looked at me with pure, utterly trusting eyes, already certain I would accept.
As if a chivalrous hero like me could never turn away from people in this kind of trouble.
Moments like this made her a little burdensome. I was only ever moving because I wanted to stay alive.
What… are you hesitating… for… Refuse…
A red, swaying aura insisted this wasn't like me and urged the only rejection among the whole group.
"Ah, what the hell. Let's do it."
So I grabbed the siblings' pale hands and spoke the words of acceptance.
…!
The Heavenly Killing Star flared in violent protest, but it was already too late. Doing the opposite of whatever that thing wanted usually turned out all right in the end.
Besides, when I asked earlier they said the Beggar Sect had strongly recommended me. That meant these two at least weren't harboring any hidden agendas.
I could trust them to a reasonable degree.
"Th-thank you! Just as the rumors said—Dog-Beating Dragon Dan Mujin!"
Seol Cheonsang cried out in a voice thick with emotion. The relief flooding his face tickled a corner of my heart.
"I thought all people from the Central Plains were the same… I'll never forget this debt, young hero."
The two siblings, faces soaked in gratitude, pumped our clasped hands up and down with great force.
The atmosphere already felt like we had slain the monkey spirit beast and claimed the Ten-thousand-year Fire Carp.
"Then, as they say—strike while the iron is hot. Shall we depart?"
And just like that, we set out on the road to the north.
The snowy mountains of the north mocked the spring of the Central Plains, blanketed in pure white cold.
Everything the eye could reach glittered as if wrapped in pure snow; even the horizon looked frozen solid.
Each step across the snow produced a crisp crunch, and every breath that left our mouths turned into white mist that vanished like a sighing ghost.
After forcing our way through endless snowfields, we finally arrived before a stone-walled palace steeped in chilling Yin energy.
Smooth walls of ice blended with the exterior, forming a natural fortress that looked utterly impossible to invade.
"B-B-Boss… I'm g-g-gonna freeze to death…"
Frost clung all the way to Ilhong's eyebrows as she shivered violently and complained of the cold.
She curled up like a shrimp against the flesh-cutting chill.
In contrast, the North Sea Ice Palace siblings strolled along as if walking through their own garden.
They had already stored Yin energy inside their bodies, so this absurd cold barely touched them.
"I told you to stay at the office, Ilhong."
My sigh turned into a white puff and scattered into the air.
Unlike Jo Harang and me, Ilhong had not yet reached the Peak Realm.
We could manage the cold to some degree with internal energy, but she was still only First-class Realm—taking the full force of this weather head-on.
"You're trying to leave me behind a-again… I w-won't allow it."
She sniffed hard and stuck close to my side.
That stubborn streak of hers hadn't changed one bit since the day I first saw her in the back alleys.
I clicked my tongue and pulled the girl who was trembling like a tiny winter animal into my arms, wrapping her in my internal energy.
"Eungit."
Ilhong always made that strange little sound at times like this.
The warmth I raised enveloped her like a thick cotton quilt, and her expression melted the way a person's does when they sink into a hot bath.
I circulated my energy and smirked.
"Well? Feeling a little more alive?"
"Yes… it's warmer now…"
Whether it was true or not, the tips of her ears had turned faintly pink. The flush on her face didn't seem to be entirely from the cold.
"…Mujin, can you do that for me too?"
Jo Harang, buried under layers of thick outer clothes, shot me a meaningful look.
"You look warmer than I am already."
"Eeeh…"
There were no discounts for Transcendental Peak Realm martial artists.
I shook my head and walked with our clients into the palace interior, where the Lord of the North Sea Ice Palace and the youngest daughter carrying the Nine Yin Blocked Meridians were waiting.