The Furnace of Ice
"I think it's time we brought this contest to a close."
Wuuung—!
The rotational force that had awakened in Yun Cheon's lower abdomen, at his dantian, surged up through his fingertips and came rushing into the teacup.
This was no simple infusion of cold energy.
It was the decisive move — acceleration piled onto a vortex that had already taken form.
"Like hell you will!"
Gongya Pae snorted and poured even more internal energy into the contest.
But events inside the teacup refused to unfold the way he intended.
The thin sheets of ice coating the bottom of the cup began to ride the ferocious rotation, climbing up the cup's inner wall.
Like a living serpent coiling around its prey.
A transparent membrane of ice enveloped the boiling water from below and from the sides all at once.
'Wh-what is this?'
Gongya Pae's eyes went wide.
It seemed as though the heat of his Flame Fire Demonic Art was failing to spread evenly through the cup.
No — it was worse than that. The heat he poured in couldn't linger in the cup for even a moment.
"I believe you've noticed."
"The heat...! It's leaking out of the cup!"
Yun Cheon was cunningly exploiting the inherent nature of heat itself.
That was why he had focused his strength on controlling the Yin Cold Ground Qi.
'This bastard...! He isn't just dumping Yin energy at me. He's deliberately stirring up a rotation to drive all my heat upward!'
Gongya Pae's heat, now with nowhere to go, blasted violently up through the only opening left — the mouth of the cup.
Like smoke escaping up a chimney.
The hottest energy vented into the open air, while what remained of the warmth swirled trapped inside the wall of ice.
Circulation and expulsion.
This was the solution Yun Cheon had devised — a vessel of Yin Cold Ground Qi capable of cradling Yang heat energy.
"You... you sly little weasel!"
Gongya Pae was dumbstruck.
No matter how much internal energy he threw at it, he was pouring water into a bottomless jar.
'I'm stronger, damn it. Power's on my side. And yet... I can't win?'
A crack ran through Gongya Pae's pride.
If this went on, he would be trapped helplessly inside that frozen prison, forced to concede defeat.
That was something he could not tolerate as the disciple of the Flame Fire Venerable.
'If it's a board I can't win on — then I'll smash the board itself!'
A murderous gleam rose in Gongya Pae's eyes.
Delicate control of force went straight out the window.
He withdrew the membrane of internal energy protecting the teacup and detonated his destructive Flame Fire Demonic Art outright.
"Hyaaah!"
KWAAAANG—!
The ferocious heat erupting from Gongya Pae's palm slammed into the teacup.
The explosive pressure expanding from within and the clenching cold bearing down from without collided — and the moment passed its critical point.
CHAENG—!
With a sharp crack of rupture, the teacup shrieked and shattered into a thousand pieces.
Fragments of porcelain sprayed in every direction.
Thick steam billowed up and swallowed the view.
"Oops! Lost control of my strength there. Come on now, why don't we just call it a draw?"
Feigning a slip, wearing an expression of utter chagrin, Gongya Pae clicked his tongue.
By the rules, the one who shattered the teacup was the loser.
"Or, well... maybe a decision loss on my side would do?"
Anything was better than the stigma of having lost a straight contest of internal energy. Breaking the cup through a failure of control, a mere ruling defeat — that hurt far less.
Gongya Pae was staring down at the floor with exaggerated disappointment when his words abruptly died in his throat.
"Huh? What in the...?"
The floor wasn't wet. Not even a little.
Because not a single drop of water had spilled.
"...It isn't over yet."
As the thick steam cleared and revealed the scene, Seol Yeong clapped a hand over her mouth.
"Ah...!"
There, between the shattered fragments, cradled in Yun Cheon's grip, was a strange object.
'A furnace wrought of ice.'
HWiiiing—.
A transparent membrane of ice forming a perfect sphere.
The shell of the teacup had broken, but the shape of ice Yun Cheon's internal energy had created stood unharmed.
And within that transparent orb, the scarlet flame Gongya Pae had unleashed in his final desperate burst was sealed inside, blazing furiously.
CHIIik—.
At the crown of the ice sphere, a small hole had been pierced.
From it, the unbearable heat came venting outward as plumes of white vapor.
'Without that little hole, it would have burst.'
A structure that held its own shape without even needing the broken cup — imprisoning clashing energies and cycling them in perpetual harmony.
This had not been a contest of raw internal force.
It was a victory of principle.
"Ha...! Hahahaha!"
The humiliation drained from Gongya Pae's face, replaced by a rising, almost manic elation.
He seized Yun Cheon by the shoulders hard enough to crush them.
"...Brother. You win."
Gongya Pae conceded defeat with perfect, easy grace.
"I'm ashamed of myself, trying to simply crush you with strength. A man who hammers iron all day long, and yet he understands the principle of making a vessel less than you do."
His gaze lingered, rapt, on the burning flame and the veil of ice embracing it.
"So even energies that repel each other in conflict... can coexist, depending on the shape of the 'vessel' that holds them..."
That was the moment.
"...The vessel!"
Seol Yeong's eyes flashed open.
The ice held the fire without extinguishing it, and the fire, trapped within the ice, circulated without melting it.
'Of course... it exploded because we tried to force them to blend.'
As if in a trance, Seol Yeong drifted toward Yun Cheon.
"That's it — that's exactly it!"
Her cry drew the eyes of both Yun Cheon and Gongya Pae.
"Not forcibly fusing two opposing natures — but letting one energy become the 'vessel' for the other! That's the true solution to the Two Extremes Merging Art!"
Seol Yeong's eyes trembled with pure rapture.
The 'ice furnace' Yun Cheon had just demonstrated was the answer to the puzzle she had failed to solve for years.
"Master Yun... thanks to you, I think the research on the Two Extremes Merging Art is about to take a great leap forward!"
"I'm glad it was of help."
Just then, Gongya Pae eyed the ice furnace hanging from Yun Cheon's hand and licked his lips.
"Say, brother — that uncanny ice cup of yours... seems a shame to just let it melt, doesn't it?"
"...?"
"Pour me a drink in it! I can't stand not knowing what liquor tastes like, swigged from a cup of ice! Bwahahaha!"
Gongya Pae fished a bottle of fire liquor from his coat and tossed it over.
Yun Cheon snorted with quiet laughter and filled the ice cup.
"Your drink, sir."
Gongya Pae took the ice cup and drained it in one go.
"KUAAH! Magnificent! That ice-cold liquor swallowing fire and sliding down my throat — it's enough to tear my gullet apart, and I love it!"
He wrapped his arms around Yun Cheon's shoulders hard enough to crush them.
"We've exchanged cups now, so from today you're my sworn brother. No takebacks! There's no undoing it!"
Yun Cheon gave a wry smile.
I won the contest, and somehow I'm the one being made the little brother.
Watching from the side, Seol Yeong smiled shyly as well.
"Master Yun... might you pour a cup for me in the ice cup too?"
"Now, now, Yeong-ah! It's a joyous day, so a drink or two is fine, but..."
It looked as though the Life and Death Venerable was about to hold his granddaughter back — but what followed was entirely unexpected.
"Even plain water has its proper order, doesn't it? This old codger comes first."
Butting in without warning, the Venerable thrust his hand out toward Yun Cheon.
"Come on, then. Pour one for your guardian here."
"......"
.........A short while later.
Yun Cheon stepped away from the gathering and gazed up at the night sky.
From inside the Demonic Physician Hall drifted the hearty sound of Gongya Pae's booming laughter.
Not just Seol Yeong.
Even that cantankerous old Life and Death Venerable seemed unable to hide his delight.
'...How strange this is.'
These were the demonic cultists he had so despised in his previous life.
And yet just now, he had discussed medicine with them, matched martial arts against them, and only moments ago clinked cups with them.
Seen from within the cult itself, these people were simply warriors walking their own path.
'Perhaps it would have been easier on my heart if they were as openly vile as the Serpent Scorpion Muk Family, or the cultists I faced in the old days.'
But seen from within the cult, they were simply people.
Just warriors walking their own path.
In a corner of Yun Cheon's heart, an inexplicable guilt and confusion began to bloom.
'Do not forget. I am Yun Cheon of Kunlun.'
But Yun Cheon shook his head and cast the thoughts aside.
The teaching of his sect, carved into the very marrow of his bones.
Kunlun Never Forgets Grudges.
The target of his vengeance was the cult itself.
The destruction of the Heavenly Demon Cult.
That was Yun Cheon's goal.
'It makes no difference if these people are fiends of the Demonic Path. If it takes becoming the Heavenly Demon to tear the cult down from within, then I will gladly play along...'
As his purpose crystallized again, the light in Yun Cheon's eyes sank back into cold resolve.
When Yun Cheon returned to the Demonic Physician Hall, the Life and Death Venerable was waiting for them.
"That's enough of the drinking. There is something I must tell you all, starting now."
At the Venerable's words, Gongya Pae undid his bundle and set down a collection of weighty lumps of black metal.
"Prepared exactly as you asked, old master."
Gongya Pae grinned and turned to Yun Cheon.
"Brother, you didn't really think I shattered that iron ring for nothing, did you?"
What he laid out were rings of iron so dark they seemed to drink in the light.
"Yun Cheon. Seol Nui. Put these on."
They were no ordinary iron rings.
Smelted by Gongya Pae's own hands, they were restraint gear designed to suppress the wearer's energy and grind down the muscles.
"Ugh... they're enormously heavy!"
Seol Yeong, who took her pair first, groaned as she spoke.
"Training rings forged from Black Steel Cold Iron. They'll endure your cold energy, and they're heavy and sturdy as can be. Perfect for the two of you."
Yun Cheon silently fastened his own rings on as well.
They were certainly several times more ponderous.
But the difference wasn't only the weight.
'...This heavy, and yet my movements feel easy?'
He moved his limbs about — and despite the crushing load, the restriction actually felt less cumbersome.
The moment Yun Cheon's eyes widened, Gongya Pae saw his expression and burst out laughing.
"BWAHAHA! That's the face! That right there is why a blacksmith bothers swinging his hammer! Easy to move in, but the load hits you for real. Perfect for conditioning."
"...A treasure of an artifact, truly."
Yun Cheon bowed in a formal fist salute, genuinely moved.
Then the Life and Death Venerable spoke.
"To endure the Defying Heaven Secret Art, you must forge your bodies until the weight of Black Steel Cold Iron feels like a feather. The procedure requires three conditions to be met."
"And these three conditions would be?"
"First, the instruments. Gongya Pae has brought those, so that's settled."
The Venerable looked between the two of them.
"Second, your bodies. As they stand now, they fall woefully short of enduring the agony of the Defying Heaven Secret Art. If you don't wish to lose consciousness mid-procedure, you must temper your bones, muscles, and qi channels far harder still."
Folding down his final finger, the Venerable pointed to his own chest.
"And last, the third condition: the readiness of the one wielding the blade — myself."
A chill of tension flowed through his eyes.
"I, too, have let my medical arts lie fallow for a long time. The Defying Heaven Secret Art is a procedure of supreme precision that forgives not even an instant's mistake... I must raise my senses beyond even their peak."
This was not a battle for the patients alone — it was a battle for the physician himself.
"None of it may begin until all three conditions are fulfilled."
The Life and Death Venerable surveyed the three of them and declared solemnly:
"Half a year from now, on the night of the full moon, I will perform the Defying Heaven Secret Art here, in the Demonic Physician Hall. Until then, I will enter seclusion to sharpen my senses. Each of you, temper your bodies like your very lives depend on it — because they do. Never forget: failure means death..."
"Yes, Grandfather!"
"...Understood."
Yun Cheon's eyes gleamed cold.
'Half a year... long if it's long, short if it's short.'
In that time, Yun Cheon would return to first principles — don the Black Steel Cold Iron, and forge his body all over again.
A few days later.
The Heavenly Demon Cult, among the Twelve Guardian Families — the Poison Fang Hall, under the Serpent Scorpion Muk Family.
Within a dank inner chamber, the Master of the Poison Fang Hall sat upon a chair carved with serpents, receiving a report from a shadow in the darkness.
"...As of yesterday, the Life and Death Venerable has entered seclusion. Judging by his fast of abstinence, he will not emerge for at least half a year."
The Poison Fang Hall Master's voice was low and cracked, like the sound of dry leaves crumbling.
The shadow bowed its head and delivered the report.
"Kek kek kek... What an opportunity! The old tiger has crawled into his den of his own free will."
A grotesque laugh spilled from the Poison Fang Hall Master's lips.
It was a smile steeped to the marrow in venom — a sneer brimming with rancor.
"Yun Cheon, was it?"
The Hall Master chewed the name out as if grinding it between his teeth.
He had gathered even the children of the branch family and pushed them into the Hidden Demon Cave to support his direct heir, Muk Ha-jin.
The result was worse than if he had done nothing at all.
The honor of the Serpent Scorpion Muk Family lay completely in the dirt.
"...That is correct."
"To think a mere cadet could disrupt a function of the main house like this..."
"Our apologies, Hall Master."
Not only the branch family's Muk Wi-jin, but the direct heir Muk Ha-jin himself had been humiliated by a rootless beggar of a boy.
That alone would have been hard to believe — but worse, Elder Muk Wi-gyu of the family had been crushed by the Life and Death Venerable and left a cripple wracked with unspeakable agony.
And then... barely any time had passed before rumors spread that the Venerable had taken the boy under his own patronage.
"...Doesn't something about all this seem off to you?"
"...Now that you mention it, yes."
"No ordinary cadet could do this. Someone... there is a power behind him, without a doubt. His status and identity are certainly hidden."
"Shall we dig into his background?"
"Yes. Whoever he is, he moves the Life and Death Venerable in step with Elder Muk Wi-gyu's movements... he must be at least of Supreme-tier origin, or have ties reaching into the cult's leadership — that much is certain."
"...Whoever he is, sinking our fangs into an enemy of the main house is this hall's duty. It makes no difference."
"Good. Half a year gives us time enough. Don't move rashly — begin with a thorough background investigation. The Hidden Demon Cave, of course, and everything he ever did back in the Central Plains, down to the last detail."
The Poison Fang Hall Master's eyes glinted with sinister greed.
He drew a heavy pouch from his coat and tossed it to the shadow.
Jalang.
The clink of gold coins rang out, greedy and bright.
"If you must, actively recruit people from the Mad Path Pavilion. I can even offer seats as retained retainers of the main house. Focus on the ones with no backing of their own..."
"As you command."
The shadow dissolved into the darkness.
The Poison Fang Hall Master's eyes glistened, slick as a serpent's.
He reached out into the empty air, miming the gesture of seizing an invisible Yun Cheon by the nape of the neck.
"You whelp. The moment you show me an opening, I'll devour you alive."
Return of the Cloud Dragon
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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