The Limitless Ice Heart Canon
A sealed chamber in the corner of the Demonic Physician Hall, cut off entirely from the outside world.
Yun Cheon sat alone in the pitch-black dark, deep in seclusion.
Despite the utter stillness around him, cold sweat was pouring down his forehead as though from a sudden downpour.
Vuuuum—
A violent tremor rumbled ceaselessly from deep within his lower abdomen. It was too unstable to call a dantian, yet too small to call a typhoon.
'…Crude. I need to stabilize the circulation and flow far more than this.'
Yun Cheon diagnosed his own condition with cold precision.
The spinning dantian he had improvised only last night to withstand Seol Yeong's Yin-cold qi had been nothing more than a desperate expedient to control her rampaging energy.
'It's like throwing up an earthen dike in a frantic hurry to hold back a flood.'
He had bound the Yin-cold qi by forcing it into rotation, but its flow remained so violent that one misstep could scatter it beyond all recovery.
'At this rate, the moment I channel my internal energy, it will run wild and rupture my blood vessels.'
And so he had set everything aside and entered seclusion—to harden a dam that would surely collapse if left alone into a fortress wall.
But that was easier said than done.
What, after all, is an internal cultivation art? It is a path carved out over decades—no, over centuries—by countless forebears who vomited blood and slipped into qi deviation refining it, stroke by stroke.
The crystallization of accumulated trial, error, and enlightenment across long ages. Like the old parable of the foolish old man who moved a mountain, establishing a single sect's internal art demanded an eternity of toil.
'And yet I must establish one, alone, right now.'
It was madness.
But Yun Cheon had no time.
He reached into his mind and drew out the countless scattered fragments of his martial learning.
'Kunlun's Great Pure Divine Art is clear and flowing. It struggles to contain this savage Yin-cold qi….'
It was the garment he knew best, but it did not fit his current body.
And mastering Seol Yeong's Ice Soul Divine Art as it stood would only worsen his blocked meridians, just as it had nearly killed her once before.
'Then… I must blend them.'
Fortunately, Yun Cheon possessed not one but several paths already trodden smooth by generations of masters who came before him.
At his core lay Kunlun's internal cultivation, polished over more than a thousand years. To that he added the Life-Prolonging Breathing Technique he had invented in his desperate struggle to survive. Then the Heaven and Earth Moving Art, a windfall from the martial library. And on top of it all, the Ice Soul Divine Art that Seol Yeong had passed on to him.
'Each and every one of them deserves to be called a peerless divine art.'
But even three feet of pearls are meaningless until they are strung together.
'The ancients said it well: strung together, beads become treasure.'
Yun Cheon built his framework upon Kunlun's Daoist heart method. The savage Yin-cold qi he would tame with the subtleties of the Ice Soul Divine Art, and the ceaseless flow he would harness with inspiration drawn from the Heaven and Earth Moving Art.
Finally, he made his own self-created Life-Prolonging Breathing Technique the vessel that would embrace this unprecedented dantian.
The principle of stillness within motion.
'There is quiet within movement.'
Not a still, stagnant lake, but an endlessly churning torrent trapped inside the body.
The agony of bones being scraped raw and the euphoria of a soul growing crystal-clear erupted within him all at once, and the scattered fragments of his martial learning began to fuse, one into another.
Crack. Craaack.
Strange cries burst from every joint in Yun Cheon's body. The pain of twisting conventional wisdom to forge an entirely new path. Hundreds of times his qi knotted; thousands of times his meridians nearly sealed shut.
Each time, Yun Cheon crossed the threshold of death by the thinnest of margins, guided by the experience of his past life and his genius-level intuition.
How much time had passed?
Suddenly, a lightning bolt of shivering current shot up along his spine.
The raging typhoon within him subsided, as if by magic.
It had not vanished.
'At last—I've settled the Yin-cold qi onto a fixed orbit.'
It had begun rotating along so perfect an orbit that it seemed frozen into stillness.
Like the eye of a storm.
'…Now it's done.'
Yun Cheon slowly opened his eyes. From deep within his pupils, a cold jade-green light flickered once and faded away.
'…The principle of the Limitless, in harmony with the Ice Heart.'
Once the euphoria of enlightenment settled, Yun Cheon slowly opened the chamber door and stepped out.
Outside, Saeng Sa Jon and Seol Yeong were waiting for him with anxious expressions. The moment the two saw him emerge from seclusion, they both flinched in surprise.
"…Master Yun?"
Seol Yeong's eyes went wide. The aura of the man who, mere days ago, had seemed on the verge of collapse had transformed completely.
The sharply piercing cold was gone; in its place, an aura as serene as a deep lake—yet still utterly chill—wrapped around him.
"Before, you were merely suppressing the Yin-cold qi in haste… but now the energy has been fully gathered and refined."
Saeng Sa Jon, too, could not hide his admiration. Yun Cheon gave a light nod and reached a hand toward the teacup resting on the table.
"I've had a breakthrough. For now… it seems I've succeeded."
Ssshh.
A wisp of mist-like energy rose from his fingertips. The water in the cup began to spin furiously around its own center.
Whiiiing—!
A tiny vortex formed inside the teacup—and then, in the space of a heartbeat, it froze solid in that exact shape.
A spiraling pillar of ice.
A bizarre form—stopped not in stillness, but in the very midst of motion.
"……!"
Saeng Sa Jon lifted the teacup and stared at it in shock.
"This is no mere ice art. Rotational force and binding force, held in perfect unison… for a boy who's handled Yin-cold qi for barely days to reach this level of mastery!"
Beside him, Seol Yeong's eyes trembled faintly. It was the awe of someone witnessing something on a higher plane than her own family's secret art.
"I can't believe it. It's the same Yin-cold qi as my Ice Soul Divine Art, and yet the flow is completely different."
Seol Yeong stared at the vortex in the cup with shaking eyes. This could no longer be called the Ice Soul Divine Art at all.
"I can't even begin to guess the circulation formula behind this energy… what is the name of this heart method?"
Yun Cheon answered her question calmly.
"I drew inspiration from the Ice Soul Divine Art you taught me, Lady Seol Yeong. I've named it the Limitless Ice Heart Canon."
Even Saeng Sa Jon nodded in acknowledgment.
"…Indeed. A most fitting name. You've contained the Yin-cold qi within endless rotation, after all."
Outwardly he remained composed, but inwardly he could not contain his astonishment.
'A boy not yet even twenty, and he's established an original heart method of his own?'
Saeng Sa Jon's eyes sank deep.
'Even with inspiration, giving it form is a matter of an entirely different dimension. This is no mere talent. This is the vessel of a Grandmaster who will one day found his own school!'
Seol Yeong's gaze grew heated. It was more than simple admiration.
"Master Yun… would you spar with me?"
And the pride of a martial artist, longing to test herself against it at least once, had awakened within her.
At her request, Yun Cheon smiled. There could be no better opponent for testing his new power.
"Of course. I was just thinking I need to refine the circulation further by wielding the Limitless Ice Heart Canon in live combat."
Saeng Sa Jon stroked his beard with evident interest.
"Wait a moment. You've both only just stabilized your blocked meridians, so as long as you don't overdo it, a spar will do you both good. But before that…."
Saeng Sa Jon's expression turned grave.
"There is something I must tell you both."
At that same moment, at the main gate of the Mad Path Pavilion.
Before the massive iron gates, the gatekeepers crossed their spears to block a rough-breathing man.
"Halt! No outsiders may enter!"
The muscular man held an enormous black iron hammer in one hand, with a pack the size of his own torso slung across his back. His appearance was rough and unkempt, yet the scorching heat radiating from him made even the surrounding air shimmer like a heat haze.
"Outsider? I'm a guest. Can't you tell just by looking?"
The man casually pulled a palm-sized red plaque from his belt and thrust it before the gatekeeper's nose. It was the Flame Fire Plaque, engraved with a blazing fire motif.
The gatekeepers' eyes went round.
"Th… the Flame Fire Plaque! You're a disciple of the Venerable!"
It stood on an entirely different level from the Chief Instructor's black iron plaque that Yun Cheon had once presented. Within the Cult, the standing of one of the Five Great Venerables surpassed even that of Gal Mu-heun, the Pavilion Lord of the Mad Path.
"Move, will you. It's hot."
The man tossed the words out flatly. Within the Mad Path Pavilion itself, fostering competition was Gal Mu-heun's policy—but no one had the gall to point spears at a Venerable's own disciple.
One warrior among the gatekeepers, a squad leader, worked up the courage to ask.
"Forgive our blindness! But… might we ask your destination?"
The man broke into a short laugh at the sight of them floundering.
"Tsk, soft as wet iron, all of you. Tails tucked and trembling. My destination? Where else would the old Life and Death Venerable be?"
"We… we aren't permitted to guide you there. First we must have the Pavilion Lord's approval—"
"Ah, what a bother. Fine, understood. Where's the Pavilion Lord's office?"
The man's stride knew no hesitation.
Gongya Pae. Disciple of the Flame Fire Venerable and a blacksmith who lived by fire and steel, he headed straight for the Mad Path Pavilion Lord's office. Disciple of a Venerable or not, unless he was the Venerable himself, slighting Gal Mu-heun—the master of the Mad Path Pavilion—would have been poor manners, after all.
A short while later, a hearty voice rang through Gal Mu-heun's office.
"It's been a long time, Pavilion Lord!"
Gongya Pae offered a fist-palm salute with an easygoing manner that never quite crossed the line.
"…Did the Flame Fire Venerable send you?"
"Yes, sir. I've come to pay my respects to the old Life and Death Venerable."
Gal Mu-heun, master of the office, set down his brush as he asked. His gaze lingered on the colossal hammer hanging from Gongya Pae's back—too crude to be a weapon, too monstrous to be a tool.
"Is that the whole of your business?"
"Partly. I also heard there's a promising lad the old man has taken under his wing, so I thought I'd come see his face for myself. If he's any good, I figured we might share a drink or two."
Gal Mu-heun chuckled softly. The Flame Fire Venerable was a man of fire in both temper and craft. If his disciple had come of his own accord to size up the boy, the outcome was obvious.
'So he's heard the rumors that the Life and Death Venerable became Yun Cheon's patron. That disciple's temperament is every bit his master's….'
Gal Mu-heun saw no reason to refuse. Yun Cheon was, after all, a rare seedling of his own careful selection.
"The Mad Path Pavilion welcomes the strong. With mutual consent, you may spar freely with anyone you wish."
"Now that's what I call reasonable, Pavilion Lord. Much obliged."
For Gal Mu-heun as well, it promised to be an intriguing spectacle.
'I do wonder. Can that boy Yun Cheon hold his own against Gongya Pae?'
With permission granted, Gongya Pae strode out of the office without hesitation. Officially sanctioned now, he strolled down the Mad Path Pavilion's corridors whistling.
Cutting across the training grounds, he swept a bored eye over the cadets mid-practice.
"Hmmm…."
His gaze roamed over the cadets training in the yard.
"Weak."
Nothing but disappointment reached his eyes.
"This whole place is soft as overcooked gruel. Couldn't swing my hammer, let alone work a forge."
As he passed, the cadets began to murmur.
"That outfit… is he one of the Flame Fire Venerable's?"
"What's that thing on his back? A hammer?"
Paying no mind to their whispering, Gongya Pae headed toward the deepest reaches of the Mad Path Pavilion—the Demonic Physician Hall. His eyes blazed with anticipation.
'A hand-picked find of old man Life and Death himself. Please, let him be worth something. Worth enough to withstand my flame….'
Return of the Cloud Dragon: Autumn Frost
Author | Chu Sang (Autumn Frost)
Publisher | Samyang C&C Co., Ltd.
Managing Editor | Editorial Department
Published by | Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. — Dreambooks
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