You’ve Been Waiting a Long Time, Haven’t You? (3)
Seol So-baek hid his clammy hands inside his sleeves. The trembling would not leave him.
It all felt distant, unreal.
For someone as young as he was, it was a sight far too shocking, far too terrifying to bear.
’The Demonic Sect.’
Only the words Chung Myung had once said came back to him in his whitened mind.
- Make sure you look carefully. Who’s in the North Sea right now. What exactly it is you’re up against.
What in the world had he been looking at all this time?
Simply because Seol Cheon-sang had been brought down and the North Sea reclaimed, everyone had cried out victory without the slightest hesitation.
Even though the real problem had been somewhere else entirely.
Seol So-baek wiped his face with fingertips gone cold.
When he thought back to the conversation that had taken place a moment ago in the Palace Lord’s hall, he couldn’t even bring himself to lift his head in front of the Mount Hua disciples.
How ridiculous must Chung Myung Daojang have thought the Ice Palace was?
They had known full well that those fiends were breathing on North Sea soil, and yet they had felt no sense of crisis at all. Like fools unable to notice a sharpened blade being brought right to their throats.
“Huff. Huff….”
Seol So-baek’s breathing gradually roughened. His face burned bright red, and even exhaling became difficult.
Then someone’s hand settled on his shoulder.
“Ah….”
Feeling a cool stream of qi seep into him through that shoulder, he jerked his head up. Dang Soso had come over at some point and was looking at him with concern.
“You don’t have to keep watching.”
“N-no… I’m fine.”
Seol So-baek shook his head and bit his small lip hard. Then he glanced sideways. Seeing Chung Myung sitting in meditation, he set his jaw and said, more resolutely, “I have to see it with my own eyes. Because Chung Myung Daojang said so.”
Even while his body trembled, he walked toward the window.
Step.
Step.
It was a strange thing indeed. In the middle of this chaos, for one person’s quiet footsteps to ring out so clearly.
All across this battlefield, there were only the screams of those fleeing and the final cries of those dying.
So there was no way such faint footsteps should have been audible.
And yet his movements pierced everyone’s eyes and ears all the same.
He crossed the battlefield as though he were out for a stroll, then came to the place where the Ice Palace and the Demonic Sect met and casually waved a hand.
“Fall back.”
“Yes!”
The Demonic Sect warriors, who had been slaughtering Ice Palace disciples without mercy, all withdrew at once and lined up behind the man.
“……”
But the faces of the Ice Palace disciples who saw this only grew even paler.
By any ordinary standard, it was an absurd order.
At this point, the momentum of battle had completely swung to the Demonic Sect’s side. To stop the fight now would be downright foolish.
And yet no one could laugh at that fact.
Because everyone understood.
That was not the act of a fool.
It was a command born of the confidence that he could wipe out every last person here whenever he pleased.
And….
’Those demon-like bastards are obeying just a single word….’
Those who had been raging like mad beasts responded to a mere word as perfectly disciplined soldiers would.
At that unbelievable sight, everyone here had no choice but to realize what the name Demonic Sect truly meant.
Even those who had been running away stopped in their tracks, and those who had been forced to the brink of death let out the breaths they’d been holding.
A dead silence settled over the Ice Palace, where countless people had gathered. It was the kind of stillness where even a pin dropping seemed audible.
The man at the front, the sect’s Law Enforcer, looked quietly over the Ice Palace’s disciples.
The moment he confirmed those fear-ridden faces, a twisted smile crept onto his lips.
“...I got a little worked up seeing these filthy unbelievers before me. I’ll have to seek forgiveness from the Bishop.”
The Law Enforcer did not forget his duty.
What he had to do was not judge the North Sea Ice Palace. These vermin could be swept away whenever he pleased.
His one and only mission was to recover the Ice Crystals and return. As quickly as possible.
Wasting time on the Ice Palace’s trash would itself become an act of disloyalty to the Bishop and to the Great Heavenly Demon.
“Listen well.”
His voice dripped out, cold and sinister.
“The faithful servant of the Great One desires the Ice Crystals.”
At those words, everyone’s emotions shifted in different ways.
Some felt the faintest flicker of hope that perhaps they might not die here after all. Others were repulsed and terrified by the grotesque phrase, faithful servant of the Great One.
Some were shocked by the very mention of Ice Crystals, while those who already knew of the Demonic Sect shuddered at the true nature of the people they had treated so casually until now.
Confusion spread across the entire Ice Palace.
“So I ask you this.”
The Law Enforcer opened his mouth slowly.
“Where are the Central Plains dogs who took the Ice Crystals?”
“……”
Central Plains?
The moment they heard that word, all their faces took on a strange look.
Then they had come here to find those Central Plains people? Not to attack the Ice Palace?
Before they could even make sense of it all, the Law Enforcer said coldly, “Hand over the Central Plains dogs. If you do, we will leave here as we are. But if you refuse to hand them over… today, not even an ant will survive in the Ice Palace.”
At those words, nearly half the people present turned their heads toward one spot at once.
Yeo Sa-hon, the elder who had been watching the situation from the very rear.
“……”
Feeling countless gazes stab into him, he gave a slight shiver.
The Law Enforcer’s eyes naturally turned to him as well.
“Are you the Palace Lord?”
“……”
Seeing Yeo Sa-hon freeze without even being able to speak, the Law Enforcer frowned.
’A rat-like bastard.’
It was obvious at a glance that he was unfit to be Palace Lord. Seol Cheon-sang had been a pathetic man as well, but at least he had possessed some meaningless bravado.
“Answer me. Are you the Palace Lord?”
“I-I am not the Palace Lord. I am….”
At last, with Yeo Sa-hon’s answer, the Law Enforcer’s face twisted slightly.
“Not the Palace Lord?”
Then why was that man standing at the very back?
Staring irritably at Yeo Sa-hon, the Law Enforcer shook his head a little.
“It doesn’t matter. Hand over the Central Plains dogs. If you intend to refuse, then you should be prepared.”
Yeo Sa-hon’s breathing grew more and more ragged.
Countless eyes were fixed on him. He was not so dull that he could miss the meaning hidden in those desperate stares.
’Where is the Palace Lord?’
Countless thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant.
“W-what do you mean, return?”
“Exactly what it sounds like.”
“Then the Ice Palace will… again….”
“You little rat, how dare you….”
Suddenly the Law Enforcer bared his teeth in fury. Yeo Sa-hon flinched and shut his mouth.
“The sect is not a place where a vermin like you gets to negotiate. Do I need to tear your mouth apart before you understand that?”
“……”
“Make your choice. This is the last time.”
Yeo Sa-hon’s entire body began to soak with sweat.
’What exactly am I supposed to choose?’
From the outset, there had only ever been one choice.
However much the people of Mount Hua might be the Ice Palace’s benefactors, they could not possibly stand by and watch the Ice Palace collapse completely just to protect them.
“Th….”
Just as Yeo Sa-hon was finally about to force the words out—
“That won’t do, Elder!”
A firm voice came from behind him and stopped him short.
“……”
Yeo Sa-hon turned around, his face drenched in sweat. Han Yi-myung was walking toward him with a hardened expression.
“Do not lose your reason.”
“C-Commander Han….”
“Escaping this crisis is not the end. Have you forgotten why they want to take the Ice Crystals?”
“……”
“It’s clear now. We can never let them get what they want.”
Han Yi-myung spoke with resolve, then muttered inwardly, We were too late in realizing it.
If he could, he wanted to run to the Mount Hua disciples and ram his head into the ground in apology.
Even while living on North Sea soil, he had not understood what the Demonic Sect truly was. Even after the Mount Hua disciples kept warning them, he had not listened.
And now they were paying the price.
“We should have listened to them.”
“……”
“If the Heavenly Demon is resurrected, this won’t end here. Don’t you understand why he was called the Heavenly Demon?”
“J-just a moment….”
“We have to protect it.”
Han Yi-myung shouted louder and louder, his eyes bloodshot.
“At any cost!”
Yeo Sa-hon stared at him in a daze.
“B-but then if everyone dies, isn’t that the end of it?”
“If the Heavenly Demon is revived, everyone dies anyway. Do you think they’ll leave us alive once we’re no longer useful to them?”
“……”
“Don’t forget why the Demonic Sect is the Demonic Sect. We forgot what should never have been forgotten, and now we’re paying for having joined hands with those we should never have touched.”
Of course, at the root of it all was Seol Cheon-sang’s crime, but once they had chosen to clean up the Ice Palace, the responsibility for resolving this matter had fallen to them.
And didn’t they also bear responsibility for ignoring every warning the Mount Hua disciples had given them without pause?
“I… I….”
It was a truly instinctive, and fatal, mistake.
Overwhelmed by confusion and losing his reason, Yeo Sa-hon unknowingly turned his gaze toward the place where the Mount Hua disciples stood.
And the Law Enforcer did not miss that movement.
His head turned to follow Yeo Sa-hon’s line of sight.
His gaze locked onto one of the hundreds of windows carved into the great fortress. The people standing there came clearly into view.
They were dressed entirely differently from the Ice Palace warriors.
There was no need to check any further.
Even their eyes and expressions were different. Far from cowering in fear like the people here, they were glaring back with eyes full of fury and the will to fight.
The corners of the Law Enforcer’s mouth slowly curled upward in a bizarre smile.
“There they are.”
His eyes gleamed with joy and madness.
“Recover the Ice Crystals. Do not kill them until the Ice Crystals have been recovered.”
“What shall we do after that?”
“Do as you please.”
As soon as the order fell, the Demonic Sect warriors shot across the snowfield like streaks of black light.
Han Yi-myung, his face already drained white, shouted until his throat seemed ready to burst.
“Stop them! They absolutely cannot break through!”
Baek Cheon’s eyes were cold as ice.
“Sago.”
“I know.”
At Yu I-seol’s short call, his gaze gradually hardened.
“Jo Gul, Yoon Jong!”
“Yes!”
“Guard Chung Myung on both sides. Don’t let a single finger touch him!”
“Yes!”
Yoon Jong and Jo Gul immediately rushed to Chung Myung’s side, taking positions on his left and right as they drew their swords.
“Soso!”
“Yes, Sasuk!”
“Protect the Palace Lord.”
“Yes, don’t worry!”
Baek Cheon turned to Hye Yeon and said calmly, “Monk, I’ll need your help.”
“Amitabha. I will fight with faith.”
Hye Yeon nodded, his eyes free of even the slightest hesitation.
“I will fight with faith.”
“Thank you.”
Baek Cheon lowered his head slightly, then called out to Yu I-seol.
“Samae!”
“Yes.”
With a metallic ring, she drew her sword and asked, “Are you afraid?”
“……”
Yu I-seol shook her head without answering.
“The forebears of Mount Hua did not simply receive these men’s attacks—they went forth to strike down the enemy with their lives on the line. As their descendants….”
Baek Cheon’s lips curved.
“We can’t make a shameful showing of ourselves. Remind them that it was Mount Hua that brought the Demonic Sect to ruin!”
“Yes, Sasuk!”
Yu I-seol answered in a louder voice than was like her, gripping her sword tightly.
“They’re coming!”
“Yes!”
Feeling the rapidly approaching presence, Baek Cheon glanced back over his shoulder.
Chung Myung was still sitting there in full meditation.
There’s no need to rush.
He would protect him until the qi circulation was finished, no matter what.
Even if it cost him his life!