Chapter 3
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Ice White Divine Art
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Seol Hwa-un sat cross-legged in the room.
He suddenly let out a deep sigh.
“Nothing’s easy.”
He had focused for nearly two hours trying to circulate his energy and gather his internal power, but there was no gain.
‘Clearly, Nine Yin Primordial True Qi is scattered throughout my body.’
Even when a certain amount of energy gathered in his dantian, it soon dispersed.
‘Neither the Nine Yin Immortal Art nor the Ice Extreme Heart Formula works.’
The Ice Extreme Heart Formula was the introductory cultivation method that every warrior of the North Sea Ice Palace learned first.
The original owner of this body had a keen interest in martial arts, as various martial arts books filled the bookshelves.
However, absolute arts like the Ice White Divine Art were nowhere to be seen.
Instead, all the other basic martial arts were there, including the Ice Extreme Heart Formula.
Only then did Seol Hwa-un realize that the nameless yin-attribute technique was the Ice Extreme Heart Formula.
In the end, he failed to gather the Nine Yin Primordial True Qi into internal energy, but that didn’t mean he could learn the Heavenly Collapse Fist Emperor’s divine art, the Pure Yang Infinite Art.
His constitution was already overwhelmed by the strongly opposing yin energy, and even if he forcibly succeeded in cultivating the Pure Yang Infinite Art, it would be obvious to the Ice Palace members.
‘No helping it.’
Seol Hwa-un gave a wry smile and got off the bed, sitting in a chair. He felt anew the pathos of his situation.
‘Of all things, the young lord of the Ice Palace.’
Even without asking, they must hate the Heavenly Collapse Fist Emperor, the culprit who turned the Ice Palace into a field of ruins.
‘It’s unlikely, but... I must never let it slip.’
It was fortunate that his family, who had been worried about him, had left him alone, saying he needed rest after the big ordeal. It bought him time to sort his thoughts.
While alone in the room, Seol Hwa-un gathered various information through the occasional visits from the maidservants who attended him. But none of it was good news.
‘I’ve been dead for over two hundred years.’
It was truly despairing news.
During the attack on the North Sea Ice Palace back then, the Central Plains Guardian Corps had searched for their alliance leader when he didn’t appear, and eventually returned to the Central Plains.
‘They achieved their goal, so it wasn’t a bad decision.’
Thanks to that, the North Sea Ice Palace had preserved its lineage and now seemed to have recovered some of its former glory.
The North Sea Ice Palace’s fate didn’t matter to him. The problem was that a whopping two hundred years had passed.
‘I wonder what’s become of everything.’
After that, even the maidservants didn’t know the state of the Central Plains.
Seol Hwa-un also asked about his family. The maidservant answered readily, though puzzled.
His father was Seol Wi-myeong, the Ice Emperor, one of the Three Venerables of the Outer Realm, and his mother, Han Su-yeon, was a palace matron serving as the head of the administrative office.
And the beauty in palace attire who exuded chilling cold was this body’s sister.
Yesterday’s words from Seol Wi-myeong before leaving his room naturally came to mind.
“I’ll say it clearly. Your sister is a genius. No matter how hard you train in martial arts, it’ll be hard to surpass her. Still, you want to do it?”
‘Seol Eun-ji. Indeed, her presence is exceptional for her age.’
Out of curiosity, he subtly asked about the forbidden area, and the cave where he had died was treated as both forbidden and a sanctuary.
No one was allowed to approach it to honor the Ice Palace Lord who had sacrificed himself to protect the North Sea Ice Palace.
‘In any case, I need to recover my martial arts quickly.’
It wasn’t as if there were no methods.
‘I have no choice but to rely on the martial arts the Palace Lord will teach me.’
He had blurted out to Seol Wi-myeong that he wanted to learn martial arts, but now it seemed like the right decision.
‘He must know the Ice White Divine Art, the pinnacle of yin-attribute techniques. With that divine art, perhaps... I can gather the Nine Yin Primordial True Qi.’
If he gathered it properly, he could recover his internal energy from his Heavenly Collapse Fist Emperor days in one go, so he couldn’t give up.
‘For now, I have to live as the young lord of the North Sea Ice Palace. Let’s do this.’
As he steeled his resolve, someone knocked on the door.
Knock knock!
“Young Lord, may I enter?”
“Come in.”
“Yes.”
The door opened, and a woman in thick martial robes entered. She was clearly a well-trained warrior at a glance.
As soon as she entered, she knelt on one knee and said,
“I greet the Young Lord.”
“What is it?”
“The Palace Lord summons you.”
Seol Hwa-un’s eyes gleamed.
‘It’s finally starting.’
He followed behind the female warrior out of the room.
It was the first time leaving the room since opening his eyes on the bed. As he followed her, he glanced around with sidelong looks.
‘What a grand scale. As expected of the North Sea Ice Palace.’
The Ice Palace had many buildings destroyed in the Martial Alliance’s attack two hundred years ago. Yet now, not even traces of that were easy to find.
Ice Palace warriors stood guard everywhere, each exuding a sharp presence.
‘With average skill, even escaping would be impossible.’
What stood out was the large number of female warriors. Roughly half seemed to be women by his estimate.
Considering that women made up less than ten percent in typical sects or families, the North Sea Ice Palace was truly special.
This was partly due to the palace’s higher female population ratio, but also because their innate physical conditions rivaled men’s.
Gazing around like that, they walked a long corridor for quite a while until a massive hall came into view.
It was the largest building Seol Hwa-un had seen in the North Sea Ice Palace. He instinctively knew what it was.
‘The Palace Lord’s Hall.’
Seol Wi-myeong and Han Su-yeon stood side by side in front.
Han Su-yeon greeted him with a warm smile.
“Come here, my son.”
The female warrior saluted Seol Wi-myeong and reported.
“I have brought him, Palace Lord.”
“Good work.”
Seol Wi-myeong nodded, and the female warrior turned and left.
Seol Hwa-un politely clasped his hands in greeting.
“I greet Father and Mother.”
Han Su-yeon looked at him and said,
“Son, your resolve to learn martial arts hasn’t changed, has it?”
“Yes.”
“Good. But you mustn’t overdo it. I’ve warned your father firmly.”
“I understand, Mother.”
A hint of disappointment appeared on Han Su-yeon’s face.
“Even among family, you call me Mother... The shock must have been great.”
“......”
Seol Wi-myeong cleared his throat and said,
“I’ll handle it from here, so please excuse yourself, Madam.”
“Alright. Don’t forget what I asked.”
“......Of course.”
“Hwa-un, then this mother will take her leave.”
“Yes, Mother.”
“Alright.”
Soon, only Seol Wi-myeong and Seol Hwa-un remained in the hall.
“......”
Seol Wi-myeong stared at him expressionlessly for a long while before speaking.
“Are you prepared?”
Seol Hwa-un nodded with a determined face.
“Yes.”
“Good. Then follow me.”
Seol Wi-myeong headed into the Palace Lord’s Hall. Seol Hwa-un followed behind.
Beneath the Palace Lord’s Hall was a private training chamber used by past lords. Seol Hwa-un’s eyes widened upon entering.
‘Oh.’
It was hard to believe this spacious room was an underground training chamber. Luminous pearls embedded everywhere kept it from being too dark.
In the center of the training chamber, Seol Wi-myeong and Seol Hwa-un faced each other.
“I heard from the Medical Hall Leader that you’ve lost all your dantian energy.”
“......Yes.”
Seol Hwa-un had been born with over half his major acupoints blocked.
It wasn’t as fatal as the Nine Yin Meridian Blockage, but his energy channels would gradually clog, eventually stiffening his body until death.
Of course, Seol Wi-myeong had infused energy to widen them, so his life wasn’t immediately at risk.
However, they would clog again over time, requiring periodic acupuncture to clear them.
“It’s a shame, but it doesn’t matter. No, treating your blocked meridians is actually a gain.”
Seol Wi-myeong walked behind Seol Hwa-un.
“Sit cross-legged.”
“Yes.”
Seol Hwa-un sat down readily.
“Since you’ve decided to properly learn martial arts, we’ll skip the Ice Extreme Heart Formula you’ve already tried and go straight to the Ice White Divine Art.”
“......!”
He inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.
‘Good.’
Seol Wi-myeong knew that an energy presumed to be from the Ice Essence resided in Seol Hwa-un’s body.
He thought that rather than handling it with the mediocre Ice Extreme Heart Formula, teaching the Ice White Divine Art might yield unexpected achievements.
That’s why he decided to pass it on.
Seol Wi-myeong recited the incantation of the Ice White Divine Art in a low but precise voice.
Seol Hwa-un focused intently, his eyes gleaming.
‘......As expected of the North Sea Ice Palace’s supreme divine art. It’s profound.’
“It’s several times more complex than the Ice Extreme Heart Formula. I’ll recite it once more, so commit it to memory as best you can......”
“I’ve memorized it all.”
“......Hm?”
A look of bewilderment crossed Seol Wi-myeong’s face.
“Really?”
“Yes. Shall I recite it back?”
“......Do it.”
Seol Hwa-un recited the incantation perfectly, without a single mistake. Seol Wi-myeong’s eyes gradually widened as he listened.
‘He memorized this intricate incantation in one go?’
It was partly due to Seol Hwa-un’s excellent memory, but mostly his profound understanding of martial arts.
‘Was this kid always this smart?’
He knew his son loved reading, but he hadn’t shown such sharp intellect.
‘A late-blooming talent? Or the influence of the Ice Essence.’
A faint smile appeared on Seol Wi-myeong’s lips. Either way, it wasn’t bad.
He placed his hand on Seol Hwa-un’s back.
“Good. Now, I’ll guide your true qi. Remember well the path my energy takes.”
“Yes.”
No sooner had he answered than a cool, refreshing energy flowed into his body through Seol Wi-myeong’s palm.
Seol Hwa-un inwardly admired it.
‘Yin yet pure. As expected of the North Sea Ice Palace Lord.’
The energy Seol Wi-myeong infused began slowly moving from the dantian along the eight extraordinary meridians.
Seol Hwa-un recalled the Ice White Divine Art incantation and memorized the energy’s flow. He soon grasped the essence of the Ice White Divine Art.
‘Amazing.’
It was more profound and systematic than any yin-attribute technique he had seen. And astonishingly stable.
His previous notion that outer realm martial arts couldn’t be that impressive vanished.
‘With this, I can gather the Nine Yin Primordial True Qi!’
Seol Wi-myeong asked without removing his palm.
“Have you memorized the flow?”
“Yes.”
“......!”
Seol Wi-myeong’s eyes widened slightly at the immediate reply before returning to normal.
“......Good. Then circulate your energy alone. I’ll watch, and if it seems dangerous, I’ll help.”
“Yes.”
Seol Hwa-un immediately circulated according to the remembered flow, reciting the Ice White Divine Art incantation.
‘Please......’
The response came faster than expected.
Wuuung!
The scattered Nine Yin Primordial True Qi began gathering into the dantian at a terrifying speed, following the Ice White Divine Art incantation.
Unlike before, Seol Hwa-un clearly felt it accumulating solidly in his dantian.
‘Success!’
The more he circulated, the clearer his understanding of the Ice White Divine Art incantation became.
His experience creating Nine Yin Primordial True Qi based on the Nine Yin Immortal Art and Ice Extreme Heart Formula helped greatly.
‘So this is the Ice White Divine Art!’
As his attainment in the Ice White Divine Art rose at an astonishing speed, the gathering of Nine Yin Primordial True Qi accelerated too.
Kwaaakwaa!
Seol Wi-myeong’s eyes widened, sensing Seol Hwa-un’s internal energy exploding in growth.
“......!”
The growth speed was too fast.
‘He’s just completed his first cycle of energy circulation?’
Suddenly, an immense storm of qi erupted from Seol Hwa-un in all directions.
“......!”
Boom!!