The Hot-Blooded Man
They say that when your life flashes before your eyes, you see the faces of those you long for.
Seol Jindo, seized by a sudden wave of longing at the long-forgotten face of his wife, slowly clawed his way back to consciousness as a racket of noise drilled into his ears.
When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was his own body—completely unharmed, not a single wound on it.
The next thing that filled his vision was a young troubleshooter pulling some outrageous stunt right in front of the palace retainers who had already woken up and were staring in disbelief.
“What are you looking at, you damn monkey? You think you did something? You wanna go? Right now?”
Dan Mujin was thumping the black staff engraved with the name Jiokchammabong against his shoulder, practically spoiling for a fight as he provoked the White-Haired Lion King.
And the White-Haired Lion King—who had somehow already come to his senses—had an equally bizarre iron staff resting on his own shoulder and was glaring back at the man as if ready to kill him on the spot.
The two of them bared their teeth and snarled at each other without giving an inch.
“What in the world…?”
Seol Jindo pushed himself up from behind the palace retainers, who looked as though they had been watching the scene for quite some time.
When that red-haired woman of unfathomable power had appeared and they had all been struck down by something invisible, he had been certain everything was finished.
Yet here he was, feeling as if he had just stepped back from the threshold of death itself.
“Hey, this ape keeps staring at me. Can you do something about it?”
Dan Mujin turned to the red-haired woman and grumbled. Even in front of an absolute master who could unleash formless sword qi, he spoke without the slightest hesitation.
“What on earth happened…?”
What exactly had taken place while he was unconscious?
The other disciples of the North Sea Ice Palace looked just as baffled by the situation, though their bodies appeared perfectly fine. There were simply too many things that made no sense.
“Kyahaha!”
The red-haired woman standing between the two of them let out a bright, ringing laugh, clearly entertained.
“Looks like he’s still sore about getting thrashed by you. That glare is pure thirst for revenge.”
She read the meaning in the blazing eyes of the monkey spirit beast and casually translated it for them.
“This bastard… to the lord of all primates… Hey, you little shit, if it weren’t for that staff made of ten-thousand-year cold iron, I would’ve beaten the crap out of you ages ago, you hear me?”
“Oo-kkiik?!”
The eight-foot beast and the man glared at each other even more savagely, neither backing down as they poured out raw, ferocious energy.
“Well, without forming Gang Qi you would still have a hard time against that one. And since this lady helped him absorb the Ten-thousand-year Fire Carp, even if he comes at you for real now… who knows how it would turn out.”
Jeok-il tossed her shimmering crimson hair and declared with absolute confidence that the outcome of a fight was impossible to predict.
However it had happened, the true master of the cave—the one who had laid them all out—seemed to have set aside his hostility thanks to Dan Mujin.
But that did not mean everything had worked out. As she had just said, the greatest purpose for which they had entered this cave had been lost.
The moment the thought struck him, Seol Jindo’s face crumpled once more into despair.
He looked toward his youngest daughter, Seol Soyeong.
Her body seemed unharmed, yet her spirit looked as if it had wandered off somewhere; she wore a vacant, dazed expression.
Seeing her like that made his heart collapse all over again.
So, swallowing his fear, he slowly walked forward until he stood before the red-haired woman.
“I am Seol Jindo, Palace Lord of the North Sea Ice Palace. Might this humble one be permitted to hear the esteemed elder’s name?”
The other party was a transcendent master who had casually flicked a finger and dropped dozens of martial artists at once. His voice trembled ever so slightly as he spoke.
Seol Jindo still could not understand how that troubleshooter could speak so freely to a being who wielded formless sword qi.
“This lady is called Jeok-il.”
Eyes the color of swirling flames regarded him.
A pure white face framed by billowing red hair, an arrogant curl to her lips, and an expression that mingled absolute confidence with pure haughtiness—she was a mysterious woman through and through.
“The last Palace Lord of the North Sea Ice Palace I met was white-haired and aged. You are rather young. A later generation’s lord, are you?”
Neither her realm nor her age could even be guessed.
To think that such a person—an ancient master who had returned to youth—had been living alone in a place of killing cold where no human should survive.
He still felt resentment over the White-Haired Lion King, yet he could not afford to offend a master who casually swung formless sword qi. He opened his mouth with the utmost caution.
“Yes, that is so. But for what reason does the venerable Immortal Fairy—”
Something about his words clearly displeased her; her brows twitched.
“Immortal Fairy?”
That was when the young troubleshooter beside her started frantically hissing and making faces at him.
Dan Mujin silently mouthed Are you insane? while frantically gesturing for him to change his wording. The large lump already swelling on his head suggested something had already happened.
Seol Jindo hastily corrected himself.
“May this one ask why the Fairy has chosen to dwell in this ice cave?”
In the Central Plains, those who had transcended the limits of humanity and lifespan were sometimes called Immortals or Immortal Fairies.
He had only meant to show respect after learning her name and thus could no longer call her “esteemed elder,” but he had nearly stepped on a landmine.
“Because it’s hot.”
Jeok-il answered flatly.
“I stay here to cool the heat and Yang energy I carry within me.”
“…”
Even the warriors of the North Sea Ice Palace, who were used to cold, had to prepare carefully before coming to the heart of this frozen land—and she claimed she had simply come here to cool off a little.
Since she herself had mentioned “Yang energy,” Seol Jindo gathered his courage once more for the sake of his daughter.
“Fairy, I have a young daughter. The child is currently suffering from the Nine Yin Blocked Meridians; her acupoints are filled with Yin-cold energy.”
Jeok-il’s crimson gaze shifted to Seol Soyeong, not far away. The girl was deathly pale and breathing in short, shallow gasps.
“Hmm. Yin energy has blocked and eroded her meridians. The heavenly curse of the North Sea Ice Palace bloodline, is it? A pitiful thing.”
Fortunately, this hidden recluse already knew about the North Sea Ice Palace’s curse.
That made the conversation much simpler.
“To cure it, one needs either a master of more than one jiazi who has cultivated a pure Yang divine art and is willing to bestow their inner energy, or a spiritual creature saturated with Yang energy such as the Ten-thousand-year Fire Carp. Yet unfortunately…”
His fingertip pointed at the White-Haired Lion King still facing off against Dan Mujin. The beast’s once-white fur now glittered gold, and Seol Jindo glared at it with eyes burning with resentment.
Jeok-il had already heard the entire story from Dan Mujin, so there was no need for further explanation.
“Just as you sought the Ten-thousand-year Fire Carp to save your daughter, that one swallowed it to protect its own life. Is that not so?”
She asked the question as if she saw no problem with it at all.
“B-but it suddenly attacked us without warning. We had no choice but to use the Ice Soul Divine Art—”
“Then that one also had no choice but to defend itself when a pack of uninvited strangers suddenly stormed into its home, did it not?”
No matter how desperate the motive, the means were not automatically justified.
With an utterly indifferent face, Jeok-il spoke as though neither side had particularly wronged the other.
“…”
Seol Jindo wordlessly ground his teeth.
In the Murim, when words failed, it was common to force one’s will with martial power. Yet the other party was a master whose realm could not even be measured.
The mere fact that she was listening to them instead of dismissing them outright could already be considered a form of mercy.
“Your face is dark. The previous Palace Lord was also a worrywart. For the sake of the old days I would like to show mercy… yet there is simply no method.”
The energy of the Ten-thousand-year Fire Carp had already melted into the spirit beast and could not be recovered. Even if she pitied their plight, she had no way to help them.
Seol Jindo’s desperation made him speak at once.
“B-but Fairy, you said you carry overflowing Yeolyanggi… If you would only bestow a single jiazi—”
His voice carried the desperate plea of a man clutching at the last straw.
Jeok-il’s inner power, steeped in Yeolyanggi, looked immensely profound; he was begging her to spare just sixty years of it for his daughter.
She rested her chin on her hand, thought for a moment, then slowly shook her head as if it were impossible.
“Why not…! To you it would be no more than scooping a single ladle from the ocean—”
A martial artist who had lived for centuries. She must possess an unprecedented amount of inner power in her dantian.
And yet she would not even bestow a single jiazi when a human life hung in the balance.
“It is not that I begrudge the energy that would enter her Extreme Yin Acupoint. It is that I fear I would kill the child.”
Jeok-il’s pale finger pointed at Seol Soyeong, who was still sitting slumped on the ground.
“Kill her? What do you mean by that…?”
“This lady’s Yeolyanggi is now so fierce it can no longer even be called inner power. If it were poured into her meridians, the Yin energy would not melt—the person herself would melt, as if burned by fire.”
Most people who cultivated extreme Yin or Yang energy merely had their inner power take on a strong Yin or Yang nature. The Ice Soul Divine Palm was a classic example.
Jeok-il, however, had long since transcended human limits; her entire meridian system was filled not with ordinary inner power but with nearly pure Yeolyanggi.
“How can that be… Then is there truly no way at all?”
Seol Jindo collapsed where he stood. His shoulders sagged under the weight of crushing despair.
From a distance, Seol Soyeong watched with eyes full of sorrow. Even though she herself should have been the one suffering most from this conversation, she looked as if she had already accepted her fate and was only worried for her father.
“It is not that there is no way whatsoever…”
Jeok-il trailed off, then finished.
“It is simply far too dangerous.”
“Please, tell me! Anything is fine! I even made a promise to my wife—I cannot send Soyeong away like this!”
The head of an entire organization prostrated himself at a woman’s feet and begged for help, ready to do anything.
At the sight, his youngest daughter bit her lip hard and hung her head.
“If this lady’s violent Yeolyanggi were received not by that glass-fragile girl but by a sturdy martial artist who first filtered it… then perhaps it might be possible.”
“Then…! Please grant me the chance to save my daughter!”
Jeok-il waved a hand as if to say she was not finished.
“However, this lady’s Yeolyanggi is fire itself. If a martial artist like you—who has never cultivated a pure Yang divine art—were to receive it, your body would melt on the spot.”
In short, they needed a martial artist already steeped in Yang energy. The North Sea Ice Palace had once scoured the entire Central Plains looking for such a person—even the endless deserts of the Great Wastes where the sun blazed without mercy.
But how common was it for someone who practiced a martial art that shattered the balance of Yin and Yang to survive long enough to accumulate a full jiazi of inner power?
And even if they found one, there was no guarantee that stranger would willingly help an unknown girl.
“To forcibly suppress this lady’s energy without any Yang foundation of your own, you would need at least two jiazi of inner power…”
“…”
Two jiazi. Only a rumored master of the Transcendent Realm would possess that much.
Seol Jindo examined his own dantian. He had just under one jiazi—excellent for his age, yet nowhere near enough to save his daughter.
“If… even if my inner power is insufficient, if I use this body to filter and pass on the Yeolyanggi… could I at least extend Soyeong’s life a little?”
At that desperate question, Jeok-il’s brows moved ever so slightly.
“You could lengthen her life a little, yes. But you yourself would suffer burning agony and die before the day was out.”
In other words, the end would be anything but clean.
Hearing that, Seol Jindo closed his eyes. He drew a deep breath, let it out, and nodded as if his resolve had hardened.
“Father, I’m fine.”
As if sensing something ominous, Seol Soyeong had already approached and tightly gripped his wrist.
Even though she was clearly not fine, she kept saying she was.
Yet Seol Jindo—who had dragged his ruined body into this expedition for the sole purpose of saving his daughter—seemed to have already made up his mind.
“My son and daughters have grown into truly upright people. I can entrust the next generation to them without worry.”
The moment those words fell inside the ice cave, a cold silence settled over everything. Then his children’s immediate protests exploded.
“Father, what in the world are you saying?!”
Seol Sakwha’s sharp cry rang out while Seol Cheonsang stared at their father with a devastated expression.
The warriors of the North Sea Ice Palace, realizing what was about to happen, all bowed their heads with solemn faces.
Who would dare stop the Palace Lord? Just as that tragic, resolute melodrama was about to unfold—
“Uh, hey.”
The young man who had been locked in a staring contest with the monkey quietly raised his hand. His awkwardly interrupting voice drew every gaze.
Jeok-il looked at him with a chilly stare that clearly asked why he was butting into an important conversation.
“I think my inner power is about two jiazi.”
“…”
In that instant, every eye in the cave locked onto the man named Dan Mujin in pure disbelief.
When the words “two jiazi” left Jeok-il’s lips, everyone had sighed.
Suddenly they needed two jiazi of inner power. That meant at least a martial artist of the Transcendent Realm—and there was no way someone like that would be present.
Except there is one right here.
I watched the conversation between Jeok-il and the Palace Lord with extremely mixed feelings.
“Oo-kkiik?”
The monkey tilted its head when I ignored it after walking up ready to swing my staff and settle things.
But right now I was busy gauging whether I had enough inner power to save Seol Soyeong.
Is it really two jiazi?
One jiazi meant sixty years. Two jiazi meant one hundred twenty years of inner power residing in the body.
The last time I had checked, it had definitely been over a hundred years at the very least.
I clearly remembered a mass of energy close to that of a Transcendent Realm master sitting inside my dantian.
With a clump this size… about a hundred years?
She had said at least one hundred twenty years were needed, so calling it two jiazi was a bit of a stretch. It might be dangerous.
But the scene unfolding before my eyes was more than enough to make me forget that risk.
“I’m really fine, Father…”
Seol Soyeong clung to the edge of Seol Jindo’s robe and kept insisting she was all right.
The five stages of accepting death were denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance, right?
Seol Soyeong’s face already looked as if she had humbly reached the final stage.
And Seol Cheonsang and Seol Sakwha squeezed their blue eyes shut and seemed to resign themselves along with her.
“Bullshit. What’s fine about this.”
Watching them made a fire of pure rage surge up from deep inside me.
I wasn’t usually this emotionally invested, but maybe it was because I had always felt we were in similar situations.
Something snapped. I couldn’t take it anymore.
“I think my inner power is about two jiazi.”
I raised my hand high and said it.
Jeok-il tilted her head as if the claim was unexpected, while everyone around us widened their eyes in shock.
They had known my martial arts were outstanding, but a wet-behind-the-ears kid claiming to possess Transcendent Realm-level inner power left them half believing, half doubting.
“Mujin… is that true?”
Jo Harang beside me stared at me as if she couldn’t believe it either.
“To be exact, I have about a hundred years’ worth of internal energy. That should be enough, right?”
Of everyone here, I was the one most likely to successfully receive Jeok-il’s energy.
The moment I stepped forward, she—who until now had only radiated the soft sparkle of moon and stars—began pouring out a presence like a blazing sun.
“Are you serious? This lady’s flames never die down. You could die.”
At least two jiazi were required. If your inner power fell short, the unrestrained Yeolyanggi would burrow into your body, thrash around, and roast you from the inside.
“Well, I’m not gonna die, am I?”
I ignored Salsung, who was frantically scribbling red letters in front of my eyes that said What the hell are you doing?, and answered like that.
“You will die, I said.”
“…”
In short, I could die after suffering unimaginable burning agony.
She really didn’t sugarcoat a single word, did she?
“You only die once, not twice. Enough talk—just shove that Yeolyanggi of yours in and let’s see.”
My entire body might melt. I had already experienced something similar once before when I was hit by the Human-Faced Spider’s poison.
And just like then, any pain that failed to kill me would only make me stronger.
“Kyahahaha…!”
She caught the slight tremor in my voice and the bravado mixed into my resolve, and burst into the most delighted laughter.
She even bent at the slim waist, completely unable to contain herself.
“You—I thought the moon’s energy seeping into you meant something, but you’re just a lunatic in the good sense, aren’t you?”
She thumped my shoulder with her palm as she spoke.
I’m not crazy, I swear. Why does everyone keep saying that?
“Fine. Normally this lady would never do something so half-baked, but…”
Fwoooosh!
An enormous mass of Yeolyanggi gathered in her fully opened palm.
As heat fierce enough to melt steel collected in her hand, the scarlet otherworldly being looked at me with eyes full of pure interest.
“Let’s see if you can live up to that big talk of yours!”
Boom!
A palm strike saturated with Yeolyanggi slammed into me three inches below the navel.
The instant it struck, an overwhelming burning sensation bored straight into my dantian.
An endless hell of fire came for me.
“Guaaaagh—!”