Heavenly Heat Ice Palace
“So this is the North Sea Ice Palace I’ve only ever heard about.”
For all the grandeur of its outer walls, the interior of the North Sea Ice Palace was surprisingly plain. Ice statues placed here and there among the solemn stone walls gave the place a strange air, but almost nothing flashy or luxurious caught the eye. There were even signs of needed repairs scattered about — which made the claim that they’d sold off half the household just to save their youngest daughter feel all the more true.
Still, even after we stepped inside and the flesh-cutting wind died down, every breath still came out as a white puff of frost. I pushed my internal energy to the limit and drew every scrap of Yang qi in my body up to a roaring peak. Heat flooded my core; a flame-like current raced through every fine meridian. Warm blood finally returned to my hands and feet, and color came back to my face.
“Living somewhere like this can’t be easy.”
I muttered it while gaping at how savagely my energy was burning away — as if I were circulating the True Fire of Samadhi itself. An ordinary martial artist would’ve been dry in minutes and left shivering on the floor.
“…Tell me about it.”
Ilhong answered in a tiny voice, still wrapped around me like a human blanket to escape the cold. Why was a girl usually so bold speaking so softly? The palace was huge and the cold was brutal, but she wasn’t the type to shrink from either.
“Hey… um, Mujin.”
“Yeah, Harang?”
I turned at the tug on my sleeve. Jo Harang, greatsword still strapped across her back, had gently caught the edge of my clothes.
“I… I’m cold too…”
The look in her eyes was pure lost mountain beast staring at a warm fire. There was no way I could refuse.
“Fine. You can hold on too.”
I pulled even more energy up and let it pour freely into my fingertips. Her face slowly unclenched into a goofy little smile, as if that alone had made her day.
So there we were, hands linked, sharing warmth on the way to the main hall where the Palace Lord waited — when a massive set of doors appeared and the Seol siblings announced, “We’re here,” and flung them wide open without a second thought.
Every elder of the North Sea Ice Palace who had gathered with the Palace Lord to greet us took one look at our tangled pile and went wide-eyed.
“What in the world is that spectacle?”
“Good heavens, how shameless.”
“They say people from Beijing are open-minded, but this…”
Whispers stabbed our ears. We broke formation and scattered in an instant. All we’d been doing was sharing the overflow of my internal energy because it was freezing — and somehow we’d landed on the “outrageously free-spirited” misunderstanding.
“Ahem.”
Ilhong peeled herself off me with a reluctant face and immediately pretended to study a painting on the wall with intense scholarly interest. Jo Harang busied herself adjusting the scabbard of her greatsword and stared hard at the ceiling. Seol Sakwha, seeing our mortified expressions, stepped forward in front of the bewildered elders and cleared the air.
“They haven’t trained Ice Arts, so the cold seeps straight into their bodies. It seems they were circulating Yang energy and sharing it to keep it out.”
Her tone was politely apologetic on behalf of the cold-sensitive Beijing folk. The aged elders finally nodded with faces that said, Ah, so that was it.
“Ahem. Young Hero Dog-Beating Dragon. In any case, please come inside. Father is waiting for you.”
Seol Cheonsang gestured with an awkward smile. Great. One weird little stunt and we’d made complete fools of ourselves. Still, after that minor chaos we finally stood before the Palace Lord of the North Sea Ice Palace.
On the high seat of the main hall sat a middle-aged man with striking golden hair and an oppressive presence. Fatigue from his daughter’s fatal illness lingered in his eyes, but the moment he spotted us — guests who had come all the way from distant Beijing — he rose from his seat entirely to welcome us.
“Dog-Beating Dragon, Dan Mujin. You have come a long way. Even with the palace’s circumstances as poor as they are, you still came out of chivalrous spirit. You have my gratitude.”
The Seol siblings must have already told their father how they had hired me as a troubleshooter. Palace Lord Seol Jindo praised my “righteous deed” a few times, then brought forward his youngest daughter — the one suffering from the Nine Yin Blocked Meridians — and had her greet me.
“You greet him as well. This is the man who has come all this way to save you.”
A cute little girl shuffled out at her father’s voice and bowed deeply to the strange man from the Central Plains.
“…I’m Seol Soyeong. I heard you’re going to help with exploring the Heavenly Heat Ice Palace. Thank you so much.”
Her voice was small, but clear and pure. She had Western features for a child, yet her hair had gone pure silver-white — no doubt from the dense Yin energy.
“It’s fine. I’m getting paid for it.”
I waved it off like it was nothing. Salsung writhed in protest as if my good-guy act made her sick, but I crushed her down with the Seongun Simbeop. The pay wasn’t exactly great for the job, but I wasn’t about to haggle in front of a kid on a death timer.
“Um… and this…”
Seol Soyeong pulled something from her robes and carefully held it out with both hands. On her small palm rested a tiny crystal that glowed like a transparent gem while breathing out white vapor.
“What’s this?”
“Whoa, Boss. That looks like the Ice Essence I’ve only ever heard rumors about. Is that a Thousand-Year Ice Essence…?”
At Ilhong’s words, Seol Soyeong nodded hard with wide, astonished eyes. The moment I took it, I felt the vast Yin energy nature had accumulated over a thousand years. A vicious chill immediately began crawling up my arm. Yeah — if I just swallowed this, I’d be in serious trouble, just like Ilhong warned.
“That is the advance payment my children could not give you in Beijing. It slowly melts once it leaves the north, so taking it out is rather difficult.”
Seol Jindo explained in his deep voice. On top of that, unless someone already carried enormous Yang energy or had trained Ice Arts, finding a buyer was a headache of its own.
“Is that so? Well, thanks, kid. I’ll put it to good use.”
I wasn’t the type to refuse free money. I tucked the Thousand-Year Ice Essence away as proper compensation, and a cool, refreshing sensation seemed to spread through my robes.
“Um… I’m not ‘kid.’ I’m Seol Soyeong.”
Curious blue eyes studied me steadily.
“Right. Soyeong.”
I met her gaze without looking away. With Yin energy starting to choke her meridians, she should have been in agony and terrified of dying — yet her eyes burned with the will to live and a fierce strength of mind. Just as the Seol sisters had said, she was a sharp, clear-headed child. It would be a real waste for something like this disease to take her.
“Young Hero Dog-Beating Dragon… your eyes look a lot like mine.”
The eyes of someone who refuses to die no matter the hardship. Far too heavy an emotion for a child that young to carry. What had I been like — the young Moyong Cheongjin of the past? I’d spent every day shaking, terrified of losing myself, starting a bloodbath, and dying as a public enemy of the Murim.
“I don’t know what your circumstances are, but let’s both keep fighting. For the people who’d be left behind.”
She worried more about the family she would leave than about her own pain right now. She was probably trying so hard to live because she had a family desperately trying to keep her alive. One look at the way the people of the North Sea Ice Palace watched her told me exactly what she meant to this place.
The North Sea Ice Palace… isn’t this supposed to be a cold place? Why does it feel so warm?
Only the temperature was cuttingly cold. The people themselves were warm. The more I thought about it, the more the cruel, icy past of Moyong Cheongjin rose up and made me feel a little wronged.
Someone like you… is actually… pretty lucky…
The red aura inside me snorted and swelled, as if saying that if this were a misery contest, she would win. The smug little snicker was so pathetic I pulled myself together and met Seol Soyeong’s eyes again.
“Don’t worry too much. There’s no such thing as a fate the heavens have already decided. You’re going to live a long time.”
“…Huh? Okay.”
Seol Soyeong nodded a little flustered, not quite understanding. And the words were a vow I was making to myself as well.
I walked up to Seol Jindo on the high seat. He was dressed in martial robes with a sword belt at his waist.
“Young Hero Dan Mujin, you must be exhausted from the long journey, but Soyeong’s condition is not good. We can only rest one day before heading to the cave tomorrow.”
Regret filled his face at being able to offer only a single day of rest. Looking at his martial attire, I asked, puzzled.
“Harang and I recover quickly, so one day is fine… but will the Palace Lord be coming as well?”
“I will.”
He nodded with grave certainty, as if he had expected the question.
“But I heard that in the past you went to that cave and suffered severe internal injuries…”
Among successive Palace Lords he had once been famous for the most dazzling talent and growth — until the spiritual beast shattered his meridians. No matter how hard he trained afterward, he had never risen beyond the First-class Realm.
“Huhu. Do not worry.”
Seol Jindo chuckled low and continued.
“I was once called the Ice God by the people of the jianghu. Even if I have lost some of my martial power, I still have the confidence to protect myself.”
“….”
The Ice God Seol Jindo showed me his resolute will. I desperately swallowed something that nearly slipped out of my mouth. When you thought about it, in a world where a master of the sword became the Sword God and a master of the saber became the Saber God, calling a grandmaster of Ice Arts the Ice God wasn’t actually strange at all.
“Boss, why’s your face like that? You look like you’re holding in a dump.”
“…It’s nothing.”
I shook my head, got my expression under control, and turned back to Seol Jindo.
“Then, Palace Lord. Once everything is ready, we’ll meet at that cave tomorrow morning.”
“Yes, do so.”
He answered with a smile.
“And since you have come to aid us, instead of the stiff title of Palace Lord, you may call me Ice God Seol Jindo, Great Hero.”
A touch of pride in his old moniker colored his voice.
“…That’s a little much for me. I’ll… consider it later.”
“Very well.”
Seol Jindo smiled faintly, completely missing my awkward reaction. My private little struggle, invisible to everyone else. And so I spent one night in the North Sea Ice Palace before setting out for the cave that held the spiritual beast.
The next morning.
We pushed through snow that crunched and squeaked underfoot, heading for the Heavenly Heat Ice Palace. The party was fairly large: me, Jo Harang, Ilhong, Seol Jindo, the Seol siblings, and martial artists of the North Sea Ice Palace. At the very rear, Seol Soyeong followed with small, determined steps.
As for the Ten-thousand-year Fire Carp, its energy could be damaged by cold if transported, so it had to be consumed on the spot. That was why, dangerous as it was, they had no choice but to bring her along, Seol Jindo explained.
“Still, I heard her body is frail. Is she all right in this bitter cold?”
He answered my worried question with a small smile.
“Cold and chill are no problem for my daughter. Far stronger Yin energy already fills her body, after all.”
Right — that was exactly why we were heading to this cave. His words left me with a faintly sorrowful feeling.
“Father! The Heavenly Heat Ice Palace is just ahead!”
Seol Cheonsang pointed and shouted. Like explorers entering the unknown, we stepped into the cave that had only ever existed in rumor.
“Oh. I can feel heat.”
The ice-covered cave mouth looked like the jaws of a giant beast. The moment we entered, the freezing air flipped into scorching heat.
“Wow…”
Seol Soyeong’s soft gasp bounced off the transparent cave walls and echoed back. The place was exactly as the stories said. In the middle of frozen tundra, hot spring water bubbled up and poured out heat. Ice and water droplets tangled and sparkled on the walls; steam rose here and there from the ground as if the earth itself were feverish. Walking on edge, half-expecting the White-Haired Lion King to leap out at any second, I could already feel sweat starting to bead.
“How does this even work? A place like this right in the middle of a snowfield…”
It had sounded vague when I only heard about it. Seeing it in person made it completely defy common sense.
“It feels like a place that goes against the laws of nature.”
That was Jo Harang of the Purple Micro Star’s honest take. I nodded in agreement beside her. The heat was fierce enough that the ice cave should have melted, yet the howling cold from outside kept everything locked in this bizarre state — neither melting nor freezing.
“Is there some other mysterious spiritual beast here? Or is it really just a natural phenomenon?”
We moved deeper into the cave, eyes glued to the endless strange sights — until Ilhong pointed something out.
“This… looks like someone cultivated it.”
Something like a fence had been set up, and inside it plants of uniform height stood in neat rows like a vegetable garden. At my puzzled look the others scanned the surroundings with startled eyes.
“Boss, could people have been living here?”
Seol Jindo cut in at Ilhong’s question, dismissing the idea as absurd.
“Impossible. This cave is the territory of the White-Haired Lion King, a terrifying spiritual beast. How could anyone live here?”
His tone said he knew the danger of that beast better than anyone. The garden was far too orderly for a beast to have tended. So what exactly was going on? The unsolved question was rising in everyone’s minds when—
“Huh? B-Boss! Look at the pond — that’s it! That’s the one!”
Ilhong suddenly grabbed my arm and shouted in an excited voice.
“What’s what?”
I looked where she pointed. In the bubbling hot spring water, something with a scarlet radiance cut through the current. Beautiful scales that scattered light, a considerable size, and a presence that radiated spiritual power.
“Th-the Ten-thousand-year Fire Carp…!”
Someone’s cry of pure shock shook the cave.